HighGrade is Australasia’s weekly online mining magazine delivering to readers the high-grade cut of mining industry news from around the region, and the globe. read more
CATATONIC would have to be one of the last words in the English language investors would want to hear associated with stock markets. But unfortunately, using it and the phrase “harsh but fair” seems completely accurate at the moment. And if Greece goes down the anti-austerity route, “look out below” could be the appropriate catchcry.
PRINCETON, USA, May 17 – A substantial increase in global lithium prices announced by major supplier Rockwood Lithium has been welcomed by new Australian producer Galaxy Resources.
BRISBANE, May 17 – Australian explorer Chesser Resources has outlined a maiden inferred resource of 5.9Mt at 2.4 g/t gold for 462,000oz (0.5g/t cut-off) at its flagship Kestanelik epithermal gold project 10km SE of the Dardanelles in western Turkey.
BRISBANE, May 17 – The Isaac Plains Coal Joint Venture has begun final negotiations with contractor John Holland on extended mining services work on the Isaac Plains openpit coal mine in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, Australia.
PERTH, May 17 – Gold seeker Boss Resources will push forward with exploration at its Golden Hill and Gourma projects in Burkina Faso with the support of a $A5M placement and $0.5M share purchase plan.
BRISBANE, May 17 – Carbon Energy has identified an exploration target of 4-8Bt conventional coal following an independent assessment of the exploration potential of its wholly owned Surat Basin coal tenements near Dalby in SE Queensland, Australia.
VANCOUVER, May 17 – Overall construction of the 1st phase of the big Oyu Tolgoi Copper/Gold Project in southern Mongolia is over 82% complete and on track for initial production in the second half of calendar 2012, with commercial production expected in the first half of 2013.
LONDON, May 17 – Ascot Mining is increasingly confident of hitting its initial quarterly production target of 1500oz gold this year based on steadily improving production from increased mining and improved operating performance at its 100%-owned Chassoul project in Costa Rica.
PERTH, May 17 – The Western Australian Government has pledged $A7.5M over 3 years for mineral research and support to develop new exploration and processing technologies.
VANCOUVER, May 15 – While predicting stronger full year 2012 production, Pan American Silver has had a costly latest March quarter with cash costs up and net earnings and operational cash flows down substantially, albeit on a 20% revenue rise.
PERTH, May 17 – With mining and ore crushing already under way, Kentor Gold says it is on budget and schedule for a mid-year start to production at its Murchison gold project 50km south of Meekatharra, Western Australia.
PERTH, May 17 –Two months of over-capacity production at Tiger Resources’ Kipoi copper project in the Democratic Republic of Congo has culminated in a one-day burst of 203t copper in concentrate, more than double the nameplate capacity of the heavy metal separation plant.
SYDNEY, May 17 – The Kayelekera uranium mine was returning to normal work for the Wednesday night shift after a settlement was reached in the illegal strike by Malawi employees.
BRISBANE, May 17 – Carpentaria Exploration is on the lookout for new partners for a 51% stake in the Hawsons iron joint venture in New South Wales, Australia after the liquidators of Bonython Metals Group failed to meet a May 15 deadline to pay $A25M and commit to a bankable feasibility study.
JOHANNESBURG, May 17 – The first sale of diamonds from Namakwa Diamonds’ Kao mine in Lesotho has yield $US6.47M at prices 17% higher than expected.
PERTH, May 17 – Iron ore developer Ferrum Crescent has substantially improved its confidence in the mineral resource at its Moonlight project in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
BRISBANE, May 17 – BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance has awarded a $A27.7M engineering, procurement and construction contract to upgrade the coal preparation plant at its Saraji mine in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, Australia to Sedgman.
LONDON, May 17 – The preliminary economic assessment for Horizonte Minerals’ 100%-owned Araguaia Nickel Project in N Brazil – targeting a global mineral resource of 100Mt -- is now expected at the end of the June 2012 quarter.
LONDON, May 17 – A scoping study on the Malelane iron ore project in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa has produced positive news for AIM-listed iron ore and manganese developer Ferrex.
AMSTERDAM, May 17 – Increased flows of US coal into Europe, the muted outlook for Eurozone economies and financial markets in general, has clobbered leading central Europe coal/coke producer New World Resources’ March (1st) quarter.
LONDON, May 17 – The reindeer are safe. UK-based Beowulf Mining has received approval for its 2012 drilling program at the Kallak 1 iron ore project in northern Sweden after satisfying the local community it would not affect the local reindeer herding.
VANCOUVER, May 17 – Fire River Gold Corp expects to reach the targeted milling rate of 150 metric tonnes a day within four weeks despite a slower than planned ramp-up at its Nixon Fork gold mine in Alaska, USA.
PERTH, May 16 – Talisman Mining has strengthened its Bryah Basin tenement portfolio in Western Australia by negotiating a farm-in agreement to earn up to 60% of Chrysalis Resources’ Doolgunna West copper-gold project.
TORONTO, May 16 – Canada Lithium is continuing to work on final environmental and provincial approvals for its under-construction $C207M Quebec Lithium Project after reaching accord with affected First Nations communities.
TORONTO, May 16 – Alacer Gold Corp has doubled adjusted net profit to $US27M for the March 2012 quarter from the corresponding quarter of 2011 after lifting total gold production by 10% to 100,290oz (91,377oz attributable).
PERTH, May 16 – Aphrodite Gold has lifted its JORC code mineral resource for the Aphrodite gold deposit 65km north of Kalgoorlie in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia to 1.04Moz, a marginal overall increase on the March 2011 estimate of 1.033Moz but a substantial lift in the indicated category.
SYDNEY, May 16 – Explorer Artemis Resources has expanded its gold, base metals and iron ore holdings in Western Australia’s prospective West Pilbara, Ashburton and Yandal provinces to 1,120sq km via the acquisition of Karratha Metals.
MELBOURNE, May 16 -- West Wits Mining is to sell part of its South African gold exploration assets to fellow Australian Mintails for $A9M.
SYDNEY, May 16 – OGL Resources has cranked up its $A45M and shares acquisition of the Ebenezer Coal Mine and Bremer View Coal Project in Queensland, Australia, via participation in a feasibility study into transporting, storing, handling and shipping an additional 600,000t to 1.5Mtpa of coal through the existing Brisbane port infrastructure.
PERTH, May 16 – Development of the Keysbrook mineral sands mine in Western Australia has taken a significant step forward with established producer/processor Doral joining a strategic alliance with project owner Matilda Zircon.
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, May 14 – A disastrous March 2012 quarter result has seen junior gold producer Jaguar Mining shut down one of its three producing Brazilian mines and instigate an aggressive restructuring/turnaround plan.
MELBOURNE, May 16 – Octagonal Resources has announced an inaugural near-surface inferred mineral resource of 114,000t at 2.9g/t for 10,480oz gold to support its application for a mining licence at Specimen Reef near Dunolly in central Victoria, Australia.
LONDON, May 16 – Hard on the heels of Irish-registered and Tanzania-focused Kibo Mining’s agreement to acquire Mzuri Energy, Mzuri has entered negotiations for the development of a 250-350MW power station at its Rukwa Coal Project.
PERTH, May 16 – The board of explorer Mindax has effectively terminated the proposed partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to fast-track feasibility and development of the direct shipping ore component of the Mt Forrest iron project in Western Australia.
PERTH, May 16 – Takeover target Magma Metals has reversed its shareholder advice on the bid by Panoramic Resources. With Panoramic now holding over 50% of the company, the Magma board unanimously advises shareholders to accept the revised 1-for-7 share offer.
MAY 14: “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” – Buddhist Proverb.
MAY 14: GENUINE gold bulls seem to have invested directly in gold. Less convinced investors look to have bought shares in gold producers and abandoned the trade more quickly. Australia’s listed gold equities barely reflected record gold prices and are now leading the way down.
WHILE resource sector investors seem to believe it is the end of the world, aka the end of the Super Cycle, there are four good reasons not to give up the ghost.
WHILE it is very likely Adrian Griffin would not appreciate a comparison with Australia’s biggest individual resource sector success story, Andrew Forrest, they do share a broad similarity or two. Both had shocking experiences with laterite nickel early last decade, and both are big picture players who look at opportunities others consider beyond the scope of reality.
MAY 14: I DON’T get Christmas cards from the suppliers of opencut mining equipment. You see, we know more about how productive their equipment is than what they do and if I was in their shoes I would also feel threatened. The value associated with the purchase of a new piece of equipment should include a dollar amount ascribed to its output, not just what it costs in capital or in operating. A true ‘life cycle cost’ must include opportunity costs including additional (or less) material moved.
THE latest signs of a slowdown in the Chinese economy have unnerved plenty in the market, leaving question marks over the outlook for the resources sector.
QUITE how the situation in Mali plays out in the months ahead will clearly have an impact on gold companies active both within the country in question, and potentially those elsewhere in West Africa – especially, potentially, near neighbours.
A DEEP drill hole to find the southern extension of the famed Golden Mile mineralisation near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia that has yielded tens of millions of ounces while being mined for over 100 years will begin next week.
PERILYA CEO Paul Arndt has again confirmed acquisitions for the company are firmly on the agenda, telling shareholders many companies and projects are becoming “available” in the current tough macro environment.
THE glass-half-full perspective on the current malaise affecting Mongolian mining and exploration plays is the opportunity for companies to finally acquire new assets in a less overheated market.
EXPECT more good exploration results from Kingsrose Mining and its swag of new prospects near its highly profitable gold and silver Way Linggo mining venture on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.
LAWYER David Davies has seen plenty of workers compensation, unfair dismissal and bullying and harassment cases cross his desk – many of them in the mining industry – but in the past 10 years he has seen the prevalence of mental illness as the root cause of these cases increase dramatically. While it’s too late for the cases by the time they get to his desk, Davies believes mine management can take responsibility and be pro-active to deal with mental illness and depression in the workplace.
MAY 14: “WE’RE not quite what we seem,” says Bauxite Resources managing director Scott Donaldson, and under the circumstances, with the company’s share price languishing, it sounds like a mea culpa. But Donaldson means to accentuate the positive. And on this score he seems to have a strong supporting case.
ACQUISITIONS have pushed ABB to No.2 in the world in the expanding enterprise asset management segment of the global enterprise software market.
US-BASED Mintec has rebadged its international seminars for software users, launching the MineQuest series of “global learning experiences” in Arizona last week. About 170 MineSight clients heard about a short-term planning tool set to achieve “killer application status”, Mintec’s Mine Performance Management system, and new MineSight Stope tool.
IT may be too early, or it may be too small … or the announcement might not even come at all. But a new mining technology acquisition by Canada’s CAE – if confirmed – will have been somewhat overshadowed by the company’s $C314 million purchase of Oxford Aviation Academy this week.
