Northern Star maintains $225m exploration budget

The Federal Government has called on China to resolve a standoff involving an Indian ship carrying Australian coal, one of more than 50 currently stranded off the Chinese coast. Trade minister Simon Birmingham raised concerns about the welfare of the Indian seafarers who remained on board, while making a broader appeal to the Chinese government to cease “what seems to be a recurring targeting of some Australian industries”. The Indian-flagged vessel carrying coal from Australia arrived at the port of Jingtang in mid-June but has been waiting five months to be allowed to berth. Mr Birmingham said crew on board the vessel were in need of urgent relief and are mentally and physically exhausted due to unprecedented prolonged stay on board....

THE WA Opposition Leader has introduced a motion to Parliament calling for an urgent inquiry into suicides among FIFO workers following a spate of recent deaths in the industry. WA Labor leader Mark McGowan’s motion called on the Parliament’s Education and Health Standing Committee to look into reasons behind the high suicide rate in the FIFO workforce and to recommend initiatives industry and government could take to reduce its prevalence. The push for the inquest came weeks after a worker took his own life on Barrow Island and just over a month after a man was found dead in his room in South Hedland in another suspected suicide. Four FIFO suicides last year were referred to State Coroner Ros Fogliani...

A global “confidence crisis” is hindering recovery in the mining industry’s current depressed climate, according to multinational professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In its tenth annual comprehensive publication Mining 2013, released in early June, PwC evaluated the apparent downturn of the industry in the past year and found a lack of confidence to be both a result and continuation of the current market position. The report cited a fall in net profits as a leading cause of declining investor confidence, with final net profit figures recorded at $68 billion – down 49 per cent from 2012’s $133 billion result. Despite a 6 per cent increase in production, revenue figures also dropped to $731 billion across the period, with the increased...

SOUTH Australian-focussed miner Rex Minerals is celebrating the announcement of a maiden ore reserve at its Hillside copper project, which has surpassed Prominent Hill as the largest copper open pit ore reserve in Australia. The Hillside maiden ore reserve totalled 120 million tonnes at 0.53 per cent copper, 0.14 grams per tonne of gold and 12.8 per cent iron for contained metal of 636,000t of copper, 540,000 ounces of gold and 14.5mt of iron ore. The ore reserve was completed on the back of Rex’s recent pre-feasibility study announcement in October 2012, and could support a 15-year mine plan at a production rate of 70,000 tonnes of copper per annum. Rex managing director Mark Parry said that with ongoing exploration...