New mines set to bolster gold production

A combination of new mine developments and the recycling of old operationfeldspar flotation machinerys is tipped to end the recent trend of falling gold production in Australia.

According to a survey of output by Melbourne mining consultant Surbiton Associates, gold production in the March quarter was 62 tonnes, worth $US3.13 billion at the current spot price.

Output was down 3 tonnes or 5 per cent on the previous quarter and 4 per cent lower than the previous corresponding period. Output has now fallen for three consecutive quarters.

Surbiton director Sandra Close said gold production was often lower in the March quarter and this year was no exception.

"As well as the usual ups and downs, wet weather caused access problems in several mines, particularly in NSW and the NT, so there was greater reliance on treating lower-grade stockpiles, which reduced gold output," Dr Close said.

She said several of the biggest mines -- Newmont's Boddington mine in WA, Newcrest's Cadia Hill in NSW and Newmont-Barrick's Super Pit joint venture in WA -- had lower output in the March quarter. Cadia Hill's March quarter fell by 27,000 ounces due to slippage problems and heavy rain, while at the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie, output fell by 16,000 ounces due to mill maintenance.

But the Super Pit regained the title as Australia's biggest gold producer in the March quarter, with output of 182,000 ounces, displacing Boddington with its slip to 162,000 ounces.

Dr Close said, on the positive side, a number of new or redeveloped operations would contribute to overall production. "Some new or recycled operations have already commenced production in 2012, such as Ramelius Resources at Mt Magnet, while others will join the list of producers by the end of the year. Among these are a number of copper-gold producers, including Osborne, DeGrussa and Kanmantoo," Dr Close said.

The biggest of the new operations is Newcrest's Cadia East gold-copper mine, near Orange.

"The Cadia East underground mine will replace the worked-out Cadia Hill open pit and when it reaches full production around 2016, it will produce about 700,000 to 800,000 ounces of gold and 100,000 tonnes of copper annually," Dr Close said.

The survey comes as goldmining equities suffer from a retreat in the gold price from about $US1800 an ounce to $US1562 on Friday.

Australian union seeks to block BHP coal ballot

An Australian labor union has applied to the country's independent industrial umpire to prevent BHP Billicoal mill pulverizers used in cement millston from balloting members over a proposed new workplace agreement, arguing hundreds of coal mine workers have yet to receive information packs outlining details of the offer.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in a statement said Fair Work Australia would hear its application early Wednesday. "We have grave concerns that many of our members will not have the opportunity to vote in this very important ballot about the future of their work conditions," said Andrew Vickers, general secretary of the union's mining and energy arm. The union, which rejected BHP's claim that negotiations were at an impasse, said it is seeking orders that the postal vote due to take place between April 13 and 30, be halted until the company meets employee representatives to conclude negotiations and consult over the process for a ballot. It also reiterated that thousands of members from three bargaining unions will strike from Thursday night through Saturday at seven metallurgical coal mines BHP jointly owns with...

Norsk may cut jobs at NSW smelter as it suffers from strong dollar

Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian aluminium company, is considering curtailing production at its planstone crushing business plan ethiopiat in Kurri Kurri, near Newcastle. A consultation process has started with the local employees.

Hilde Merete Aasheim, executive vice president of Hydro's primary metal business area, said today that the company would “continue to stay in close dialogue with all affected stakeholders”. The move comes in response to the weak macro-economic environment, with low metal prices and an uncertain market outlook. In addition, Kurri Kurri, which employs about 500 people, is suffering from a strong Australian dollar relative to the US dollar. In case of a curtailment at Kurri Kurri, Hydro is confident that customer commitments will be served through its global metal products supply system. Kurri Kurri, which is fully owned by Hydro, has three production lines with...

Murchison boss plans new venture fund

Murchison Metals managing director Greg Martin, who is in the throes of winding up the once-troubled company after liquidating its guidelines of process evaluation for ball mill grindingassets and amassing a cash pile of about $230 million, has begun planning a new venture to capture underpriced infrastructure and resources assets.

Mr Martin and a former colleague from Challenger Infrastructure Fund, Steve Bickerton, are setting up their own fund and are believed to have secured $300 million in seed capital commitments.

Their ambitions were boosted yesterday with news that JPMorgan's highly-regarded head of utilities and infrastructure, Alan Young, had quit the investment bank to join the Martin-Bickerton start-up.

Little is known about the new fund's set-up.

But it is understood that Mr Martin, who ran Sydney-based energy giant AGL for five years and remains on the board of Santos as a non-executive director, sees opportunities in a market where company share prices and asset values are depressed and funding options limited.

Mr Martin has won kudos for salvaging value for Murchison shareholders by striking a deal to sell its stakes in the Oakajee port and rail and Jack Hills mine developments to partner Mitsubishi for $325 million earlier this year. Mr Martin took over the managing director's role at Murchison a year ago when the Perth company was teetering on the brink of collapse because of a pending cash shortage and an inability to fund its share of the $10 billion cost of developing OPR and Jack Hills. The winding-up of Murchison and return of cash to shareholders is expected to be completed early next year.

JPMorgan has also lost its head of natural resources, David Hine.

B2Gold Announces an Updated Resource Calculation for the Gramalote Gold Property in Colombia

B2Gold is pleased to announce AngloGold Ashanti has completed a new JORC agold cradle plans rifflesnd National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the Gramalote Central Zone and Trinidad. The Gramalote property is a 51% - 49% AngloGold Ashanti - B2Gold joint venture, with AngloGold Ashanti as the manager, and is located 230 kilometres northwest of Bogota and 80 km northeast of Medellin in central Colombia.

Total measured and indicated resources at Gramalote Central at a 0.25 gram per tonne gold cut-off, within a US$1,600 per ounce gold optimised Whittle pit consists of 97.1 million tonnes grading 0.81 g/t gold for a total of 2.5 million troy ounces of gold. The Gramalote Central and Trinidad inferred resource is 95.7 million tonnes grading 0.44 g/t gold for a total of 1.36 million troy ounces of gold using similar parameters as the measured and indicated resource. The following table outlines the updated Gramalote resource calculation on a...

Auriga Gold reports high-grade gold intersections from Nokomis Deposit

Auriga Gold today reports high grade gold intersections from initial drill results from the Nokomis deposit, Maverick Gold Project, iron ore beneficiation process pdfManitoba. Intersections included A4-02 with 7.63 meters grading 9.22 g/t gold (cut to 2 troy ounces/tonne), hole A4-03 with 5.20 m grading 12.27 g/t gold, hole A4-11 with 6.43 m grading 5.10 g/t gold, hole A4-12 with 5.55 m grading 9.55.

Uncut results included an assay of 1,830 g/t over 0.5 m in hole A4-02. The Nokomis deposit is located 7 km northeast of the Company's Puffy lake deposit and 1,000 tpd on-site mill with related infrastructure. Richard Sutcliffe, Auriga Gold's President and CEO commented, "We are extremely pleased with the initial results of drilling at the Nokomis deposit. We have encountered some spectacular gold grades and wide intervals of mineralization. All of the intersections reported here are at depths of 63 meters or less and will be potentially amenable to open pit mining. The Nokomis deposit displays consistently wider...

Rio lights fire under junior

Combine a mention of Olympic Dam and a major prepared to throw as much as $92 chrome processing plant for salemillion at your project and no wonder the stock opened this morning 113 per cent up.

Rio Tinto has inked a deal to get involved in the Vulcan project owned by junior battler Tasman Resources. Vulcan just happens be 30km from the Olympic Dam copper-gold-uranium mine and – just as importantly – all eight holes drilled so far have returned the same magnetic signature as exists at the BHP Billiton mine. Tasman shares closed at 6.1c last week but raced to 13c on the opening today. The deal is also vindication for Tasman executive chairman Greg Solomon who brought the company to market almost 10 years ago with the Vulcan project as part of the $3m initial public offering and has never lost his faith in the ground. The junior – until now, at least – has never fired investors’ imaginations and...

GBM Resources announces drilling results for its Milo IOCG REE deposit

GBM Resources has announced a further update of its activities at the Milo IOCG-REE deposit in the North West Mineral Province of Queensland.

Results from four holes MIL017 to MIL020A - drilled on the northern area of used aac plant for sale europthe Milo REEY inferred resource have demonstrated that CuEq and REEY mineralisation extends to the north beyond the current resource and that the mineralising system remains open to the north and at depth.

These holes will contribute to an extension of the resource model in an upcoming re-estimation of the previously announced maiden inferred resource of 103Mt at an average grade of 760ppm TREEYO, containing 83,500 tonnes of total rare earth elements and yttrium.

Significant CuEq and TREEYO intersections from these new holes are summarised in the tables below.

All holes completed to the north in this round of drilling intersected mineralisation with significant intersections recorded for both CuEq and TREEYO mineralisation.

CuEq mineralisation includes 70 metres @ 0.8% CuEq, including 18 metres averaging 1.3% CuEq in MIL017 and 51 metres averaging 0.8% in MIL018. In addition, significant TREEYO intersections included 20 metres averaging 3,979 ppm TREEYO in MIL017 and 11 metres averaging 1,382 ppm TREEYO in MIL020A.

As a result of the recent successful drilling program the maiden rare earth inferred resource will be revised and the copper equivalent results will be incorporated to delineate a maiden copper equivalent resource. This work is expected to be completed later this month followed up by the completion of the preliminary scoping study, which will incorporate the revised resource figures.

Gold Fields returns to profit in first-quarter as bullion climbs to record

Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest producer of the metal, posted a fiused stone crusher for sale Indiarst-quarter profit, helped by rising bullion prices and as a stake sale to black investors in the preceding period wasn’t repeated. Profit excluding one-time items was 1.1 billion rand ($159 million), or 1.51 rand a share, compared with a loss of 776 million rand, or 1.09 rand, in the previous three months, the Johannesburg-based company said today in a statement.

Analysts who track South African gold producers compare consecutive quarters, rather than year-on-year numbers. Gold rose to a record $1,447.82 an ounce in London trading in the first quarter, helping Gold Fields and competitors AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Harmony Gold Mining Co. mitigate the effect of rising power and labor costs in South Africa. Gold Fields posted a fourth-quarter loss after selling a stake in the company to black South Africans to comply with the country’s ownership rules. Production fell 8 percent to 830,000 ounces in the period from 898,000 ounces in the fourth quarter, Gold Fields said. Barrick Gold Corp., Newmont Mining Corp. and AngloGold are the largest producers of the metal.

Mining sector to benefit $7.7bn from Vale venture

The Zambian mining sector is expected to benefit from an investment of US$ 7.7 billion which a Brazilian multi national firm plans to inject in its operations in Africa.

Vale is a mining giant that has embarked on the copper production in various countries in Africa and was planning to invest in a copper mining project on the Copperbelt. The $7.7 billion would be distributed among the nine African countries where it was present, with the greenfield Konkola North underground Copper Project (Konoco) expected to be one of the recipients of the money. According to a statement posted on its website, Vale said as part of its strategy to strengthen its position in the global mining industry, Vale plans to invest $ 7.7 billion in Africa soon. "Considered one of the last global frontiers in mineral exploration, Africa is attracting large-scale international investment and for this Vale plans to invest that amount in Africa in the coming years," the statement said. Apart from Zambia, Vale is present in Guinea, Liberia, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa. Konoco is a Greenfield project that Vale has started in...

Gold One completes appeals process

Gold One Internatused stone crusher for sale in USAional has concluded its appeals process for individuals who were dismissed on 12 June for their participation in illegal strike action at the company's Modder East Operation from 3 June.

The company said on Friday that management considered the representations made against dismissal and concluded that in all cases there were insufficient mitigating factors against the sanction of dismissal.

The Modder East Operation is currently performing at 50% of the budgeted June delivery targets, as the contingencies put in place by management continue to perform well, the company said.

The strike action, which Gold One was informed of on 31 May by the Professional Transport Allied Workers Union (PTAWU), began on 3 June and was interdicted by the Labour Court the following day.

Following the dismissals made on 12 June and the violent protest perpetrated by roughly 500 of the dismissed on 13 June, the company obtained an interdict from the South Gauteng High Court interdicting further violence.

Integra Mining boosts Randalls ore reserve 94%

Integra Mining continues to develop the vast potential of the Randalls Gold Project in Western Australia, with the latest positive for the company a 94% reserve boost to 480,000 gold ounces. The reserves estimate is now 6.0 million tonnes at 2.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for a contained 480,000 ounces, based on four open pit sources only, and comes less than a year after the first gold pour at the project.

This provides the enticing potential opportunity for underground production, which is not yet included in current ore reserves. Chris Cairns, managing director, told Proactive Investors today, that the only real means of assessing the potential production performance of the Cock-eyed Bob, Santa and Maxwells gold deposits as underground operations is to develop them. "In a nutshell, it is cheaper to develop for trial mining than it is to drill them and the trial mining gives us a much more realistic outcome – with associated revenue – than would any amount of drilling. "As for FY2012 revenue, we are investing in the business by reducing debt by a further $20 million, spending $23 million on exploration, expanding the process facility capacity by 25% for $12 million and risk-funding underground trial mining at Cock-eyed Bob for $8.2 million."...

Newcrest's Hidden Valley JV Denies Nuisance Claim

The Hidden Valley Joint Venture denies allegations made against it in a writ purportedly served upon the PNG Joint Venture companies late yesterday by the legal advisor acting for the Member of Parliament for Bulolo and a number of customary landowners living along the Watut River.

The Joint Venturers will vigorously defend the lused mobile crushers for sale in dubaiitigation should it proceed.

The writ alleges nuisance relating to mine-related sediment and seeks damages and injunctive relief in relation to the Hidden Valley Mine operations.

The issue and purported service of the writ is contrary to the agreement reached between the Member and the Joint Venture (jointly publicly announced on 6 December) to establish an expert technical advisory panel as a vehicle for constructive resolution of sediment related issues in a transparent and cooperative forum.

The pending legal action now prejudices the ability of the Member and his legal advisor to participate in this process.

The issue and purported service of the writ by the Member’s legal advisor appears to be prompted by voluntary compensation payments being made by the Joint Venture to communities along the Watut River. The payments were for flood damage to crops and gardens, to which mine related sediment may have contributed, along with natural events including land slips and major rain events.

These payments have been underway since November and are now almost complete. The vast majority of eligible people have now received their payment. The Member has been fully aware of the status of the payments throughout the payment period.

Additionally, in mid December the Joint Venture formally confirmed with the Member and his legal advisor, that by accepting these compensation payments landowners do not in any way infringe on their future rights to claim further compensation.

Importantly, at Hidden Valley Mine all tailings from the processing of ore are stored permanently in an engineered Tailings Storage Facility. No tailings are discharged from our site.

Hidden Valley Mine has a demonstrated track record of working with communities. A range of effective environmental and community programs are in place and ongoing. The Hidden Valley mine has a 2000-strong workforce, most of whom are local people.

The Joint Venture remains committed to addressing issues with affected communities in a constructive and expeditious manner.

Unions declare a dispute in gold mining sector wage negotiations

The three unions representing employees in the gold mining seused stone crusher for sale south africactor declared a dispute with the gold mining companies which are negotiating under the auspices of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa. Although the parties made progress on some of the demands, a number of demands remained outstanding.

AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields offered to increase wages to 5.5% for the lowest paid employees and 5% for all other employees. Harmony and Rand Uranium offered a differentiated increase of 5.3% for the lowest paid employees and 4.8% for all other employees. This was followed by a declaration of a dispute by the unions. Dr Elize Strydom, who is negotiating on behalf of the gold mining companies, said she was still hopeful that the parties would reach agreement under a facilitated process. “The way forward from here is that the unions will approach the CCMA to appoint a facilitator. We hope that the facilitator will be able to bring us closer together”, said Dr Strydom...

Emergent Commences Drilling at DSO Hematite Deposit at Beyondie Iron Project

Emergent Resources is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced at the Company’s Direct Shipping Ore (silica sand screening plantDSO) hematite iron deposit at the Beyondie Iron project in the mid west region of Western Australia.

The drill program will consist of a 40 hole, 4,000 metre Reverse Circulation (RC) program over a 5 kilometre strike length at the recently discovered DSO hematite deposit. Drilling will be conducted on a nominal 800 metre line spacing (angled at 60 degrees) to a depth of 100 metres into the steeply dipping mineralisation.

The aim of the initial program at the DSO deposit is to define the boundaries of the three zones of hematite that were identified at the time of the discovery as well as test the grade with the wide spaced holes.

Subject to successful results the Company plans to expand the drill program with a second phase campaign at the hematite deposit of an additional 10,000 metres (at a nominal 400 metre spacing) along an extended total strike length of over 12 kilometres.

The DSO deposit at the Beyondie project was discovered in June this year. It is located within the E52/2215 tenement at the Beyondie Project, adjacent to tenement E52/1806 - which hosts a JORC Inferred Magnetite Resource of 561 million tonnes grading 27.5% Fe.

The Company’s independent geological consultants AMC Consultants Pty Ltd have estimated a total Exploration Target of 70-120 million tonnes at an overall grade of 52-57% Iron (Fe) at the DSO deposit. This is made up of two exploration targets; 25- 45Mt @ 55- 60% Fe, and 45-75Mt @ 50-55% Fe (Refer ASX release 2 June 2010).

The DSO deposit outcrops at surface, and the surface iron is predominantly hematite. It is estimated that the depth of hematite is approximately 50-70 metres overlying fresh magnetite.

To date, geological mapping and sampling has been completed over an area of about 1,000 metres in width and a 15 kilometres strike length. Also, approximately 750 geological samples have been collected across 920 equidistant survey locations.

TVIRD to lose $448M due to open pit mining ban in Zamboanga

TVI Ressilica sand washing plantource Development stands to lose $448 million in revenue if the Canatuan copper-gold mine closes prematurely due to an open pit mining ban in Zamboanga del Norte.

The ordinance took effect on November 6 after its publication in local papers. It gave TVIRD one year to wrap up the Canatuan project. TVIRD said in a statement that it was challenging the ordinance in court for being “unconstitutional.” However, if the ordinance is fully effected and Canatuan closes in November 2012, TVIRD will lose four years’ worth of revenue amounting to $448 million, according to the company. The yearly gross revenue of the mine—located in Sitio Canatuan, Barangay Tabayo, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte—was estimated at about $112 million, company data showed. TVIRD also said that a “great part” of the revenue would have been spent on operating cost, royalty to IPs or indigenous people and community development. The company also stands to lose $100 million in profit for...

Oakajee doubts spark sell-off in Murchison Metals stock

Shares in troubled junior miner Murchison Metals plunged 23 per cent yesterday as investors savaged the comartificial sand making processpany over its admission that it cannot meet its funding commitments for the $5.9 billion Oakajee port and rail project in Western Australia, which is facing damaging cost blowouts and long delays.

Analysts said the sell-off, in which Murchison suffered its biggest single-day fall to close at 57.5c, was caused by a series of significant broker downgrades as financial estimates released on Monday were questioned and the company's credibility remained under scrutiny. Murchison's shares traded above $6 in June 2007 when it struck an infrastructure and iron ore mine joint-venture agreement with Japan's Mitsubishi, but they have been hammered in recent months amid doubts over the company's ability to deliver the project. The sharemarket carnage came as China's Sinosteel yesterday hardened its opposition to the corporate structure and business case for Oakajee, saying there was nothing new in Murchison's feasibility studies...

Rio Tinto approves US$1.6 billion investment in Hope Downs 4 mine

Riused stone crusher for sale Indiao Tinto today announced an investment of US$1.6 billion to develop the Hope Downs 4 iron ore project in Western Australia and link with Rio Tinto's existing rail, power and port infrastructure in the Pilbara.

Rio Tinto and its joint venture participant, Hope Downs Iron Ore Pty Ltd, will proceed with the development of the mine at an estimated capital cost of US$1.2 billion (Rio Tinto share US$607 million), to be shared equally by the JV partners.

The new open-cut mine will have an annual capacity of 15 million tonnes of high-quality iron ore, with first production anticipated in 2013.

The project is in the south eastern Pilbara, 30 kilometres north of Newman, and will include a permanent staff village for more than 600 personnel, mine dewatering, an open cut shovel and truck mining fleet and wet ore processing infrastructure. The project ore body has recoverable product Ore Reserves (at a Fe cut-off of 59.5 per cent) of:

• Proved Reserves of 73Mt @ 63.0% Fe


• Probable Reserves of 64Mt @ 63.2% Fe

Rio Tinto will also commit an additional US$425 million to fully cover the capital cost of the rail, rolling stock and power infrastructure owned by Rio Tinto required for this development. The 52-kilometre spur line connecting to the Lang Hancock Railway will link the mine to Rio Tinto's existing rail and port infrastructure.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Sam Walsh said: "Commencing the Hope Downs 4 project highlights the prospectivity of Rio Tinto's excellent reserves portfolio, and our ability to offer customers a reliable long term source of high quality ore.

"This demonstrates the extensive high-grade resources Rio Tinto can bring on line to sustain our current output at 225 million tonnes a year - an equally important consideration as we seek to expand our Pilbara production rate to 330 million tonnes a year by 2015."

Construction is anticipated to commence in early 2011, subject to obtaining necessary regulatory and other approvals.

Globe Metals & Mining expands African operations with second office in Mozambique

Globe Metals & Mining is continuing to expand its African operations with the opening of a second office in Mozambique in the capital city of Maputorobo sand making, to help facilitate Government relationships.

The new office, opened on 12 October 2011, complements the company’s existing regional offices in Tete and Lilongwe and will be headed by Andries Kruger, Globe’s general manager for Africa. Mark Sumich, Globe’s managing director, said “we have been operating in Muambe a long time and see the region as very prospective - the opening of our Maputo office supports Globe’s planned growth strategy in Mozambique.” Globe currently has the Mount Muambe REE-Fluorite Project in Mozambique, and four projects in Malawi: the Kanyika Niobium Project, the Machinga REE Project, the Salambidwe REE Project and the Livingstonia Uranium Project. Globe's main focus is the multi-commodity Kanyika Niobium Project in Malawi, which will commence production of ferro-niobium in 2014, a key additive in sophisticated steels. Globe also has a number of other projects at an...

Ghana Vice president warns on illegal mining activities

Ghana's Vice President Mahama has cautioned Chiefs and traditional leaders against condoning conniving with illegal small scale miners.

Herobo sand manufacturing said this practice will be to the detriment of public interest and will have a very negative impact on the environment.

He said: “We will want to assure the mining industry that as a government, we will do our best to curb if not to totally eradicate the activities of illegal miners popularly referred to as ‘galamsey’.

Vice President Mahama was speaking at the inauguration of the Edikan Mines belonging to the Perseus Mining Ghana, at Ayanfuri in the Central Region.

The Edikan Gold mine is situated 16 kilometres west of Dunkwa-on-Offin near Ayanfuri.

The mine commenced construction in June 2010 with the first gold poured in August 2011 to test run the facility.

Vice President Mahama announced that government had advanced the local content law, which would compel the extractive industry and other transnational corporations to employ a reasonable percentage of the indigenes in their enterprises.

He said government is also putting in place a number of regulations that would restructure the operations of the extractive industry and make it more purposeful and beneficial to the companies and the indigenes of their operational areas.

The Vice President commended PMGL for setting aside GH¢750,000 as a trust fund to undertake development projects in their operational areas.

He appealed to them to engage stakeholders in the definition of their social license and distribution of the projects to avoid bitterness.

“I will encourage Perseus Mining not to limit its training programmes only to the youth of its mining communities, but other less endowed communities in the country,” he concluded.