Miners face continuing Mali unrest
May 16 - 22, 2012
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.
Facilitating change
May 9 - 15, 2012
THE bottom line would seem to be so-called ‘facilitation payments’ will be ultimately outlawed by the Australian authorities. Thus the question then is, just what should a company operating in certain African countries be doing where a standard government service needed to ensure the operation of an exploration company or miner isn’t currently forthcoming without money changing hands?
ABG approves flagship expansion
May 9 - 15, 2012
AFRICAN Barrick Gold has given itself the thumbs up to go ahead with its construction plans for a new carbon in leach circuit at the Bulyanhulu process plant in north-west Tanzania, which is the first of a string of brownfields projects set to get started in the near-term.
Investors selling Gryphon short?
May 2 - 8, 2012
ALL things being equal, a question investors interested in emerging gold companies might one day ponder is whether they looked hard enough at Gryphon Minerals during the current malaise for gold stocks.
Drake drill starts to turn
May 2 - 8, 2012
DRAKE Resources went to Scandinavia with Zinifex but is now predominantly in West Africa, where it is the biggest landholder in Mauritania and where it is about to start RC drilling just down the road from the outstanding, multi-million ounce Tasiast gold discovery being drilled out by Kinross.
Galileo stuns market with resource
April 18 - 24, 2012
AIM-listed rare earth elements hopeful Galileo Resources has surprised investors with a maiden resource from its Glenover joint venture property in South Africa of almost 29 million grading 1.24% rare earth oxides plus yttrium for 362,000 tonnes of treatable material.
Canyon in on ground floor
April 18 - 24, 2012
ABOUT a field season behind most of its high-flying Burkina Faso gold exploration peers, is how Canyon Resources managing director Phil Gallagher describes the company’s position vis a vis others featuring on West Africa gold charts. The fluidity of regional politics, and gold prices, notwithstanding, that tends to indicate an upward trajectory for the share price of a small-cap starting out in the right places.
Vital period puts spotlight on PlatAust
April 4 - 10, 2012
FAIR to say it has been a rather unrelenting struggle for Platinum Australia in recent times but the successful-looking change to owner-operator at its Smokey Hills mine may herald a distinct change in fortune for the company and its shareholders – with unprecedented trading volumes over the past week suggesting others agree a positive change is now in the wind.
Carbine firing its shots
March 21 - 27, 2012
WITH a new managing director installed, Carbine Resources is awaiting drill results – and the company is no orphan when it comes to awaiting results in West Africa these days – so as to make plans for its next campaign and, hopefully thereafter, have a resource for its Burkina Faso ground unveiled by the end of the year.
Time for a little show and sell
March 14 - 20, 2012
LITTLE known junior Kaboko Mining looks to be going through a bit of a hand-to-mouth existence just at the minute, but given it is in production – producing sought-after, high-grade manganese lump – its future should be assured so long as this tricky period is negotiated.
Minbos boss confident about first production
March 14 - 20, 2012
LOW profile phosphate junior Minbos Resources is set to ratchet up its marketing as high-grade projects in Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo reach development status.
Kasbah’s door opens a little wider
March 14 - 20, 2012
KASBAH Resource would no doubt have hoped for a bigger reaction to the sale of a 20% stake in its Achmmach tin project in Morocco, and while managing director Wayne Bramwell is a little puzzled by the lack of investment reaction to date, he can see some near term trigger points when all that should change.
Sit down, settle in
March 7 - 13, 2012
INVESTMENTS made by Gryphon Minerals and Azumah Resources in the West African space are eliciting slightly different responses from the targeted companies in question, Papillon Resources and Castle Minerals, respectively.
Canyon investors enjoying the ride
March 7 - 13, 2012
THE typical trajectory of an IPO in the resources sector is often depressingly negative post-listing, such that many investors would wonder why you’d ever get involved at that stage of the process. Thus far at least, Canyon Resources is one of those to restore the faith.
The only way is up
February 22 - 28, 2012
FEBRUARY 21 - “NOT for widows and orphans.” That was how one mining analyst described the investment environment for miners during a site visit in Zimbabwe last week. Still, he remained ever optimistic that the country could somehow find a way through the current mess, centred on indigenisation legislation, and set up a more stable mining framework.
Shaw certain Otjo will be worth the wait
February 22 - 28, 2012
FEBRUARY 21 - FAIR to say the end of 2011 couldn’t come fast enough for Shaw River Resources and its shareholders, but the past is history and the company’s managing director sees plenty of reason to be optimistic in the year ahead and beyond.
Apples and pairs
February 22 - 28, 2012
FEBRUARY 21 - SCOTT Lowe concedes comparisons can be problematic when referring to $A700 million Discovery Metals and the sub-$A100 million company Blackthorn Minerals that he runs, but between the jigs and the reels there are similarities to be seen all the same.
Indaba's sweet timing
February 15 - 21, 2012
THE organisers of this year’s Mining Indaba could hardly have timed it better. The event happened to find the sweet spot that occurred between the misery that marked the end of last year, and what looks like it may have been the end of the New Year optimism in the past few days.
Getting past first base
February 15 - 21, 2012
BASE Resources timed its entry into the mineral sands industry perfectly. Now the challenge is proving it can bring its flagship Kwale project in Kenya into production in time to take advantage of the sweet spot in the market.
Jungle souvenirs get tongues wagging
February 8 - 14, 2012
INDABA 2012: WARATAH Resources managing director Chubb Witham has come to the Mining Indaba armed with a couple of handy conversation starters.
