The Australian Mining Review January 2026 Edition

Lithium mica concentrates will be tested in a SiLeach pilot plant. Image: Lithium Australia.   BY ELIZABETH FABRI   LITHIUM Australia will commence testing lithium mica to determine if the material has potential to become base feedstock for its proposed large-scale pilot plant (LSPP) in WA.   Lithium mica, long considered a waste material by the mining industry, will be sourced from one of two sites in the Eastern Goldfields, and tested at ANSTO Minerals’ (a division of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) Lucas Heights laboratories in Sydney. Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said WA’s lithium fields hosted abundant pegmatites, many of which contained lithium micas. He said the company had already undertaken substantial bench-scale test work...

LOCAL opposition to Barrick Gold’s massive Pascua-Lama gold and silver mine in Chile has prompted the Copiapo appeals court to suspend construction on the project while complaints are addressed. The project, on the Chile-Argentina border in the Andes Mountains, has attracted complaints of “environmental irregularities” from the country’s Diaguita indigenous communities and various environmental groups, who claim it is destroying glaciers and harming the local water supply. Barrick reported it would suspend activities while it worked to “address environmental and regulatory requirements to the satisfaction of Chilean authorities”. The company stated that construction activities in Argentina, where the majority of the project’s critical infrastructure is located – including the process plant and tailings storage facility – would not be affected....

First shipment of Thunderbird product Kimberley Mineral Sands (KMS) completed its first shipment of about 300t of non-magnetic (zircon) concentrate from the Thunderbird project in northwest WA over the weekend. With production commencing ahead of schedule in Q4 CY23, KMS was able to ship its bagged product via Port Hedland to three existing offtake customers. KMS is a joint venture company equally owned by Sheffield Resources Pty Ltd (ASX: SFX) and YGH Australia Investments Pty Ltd (Yansteel). Sheffied Resources executive chair Bruce Griffin says the company congratulates the Kimberley Mineral Sands team. “ thank our offtake customers for this milestone achievement of first revenue for...

INDEPENDENCE Group has beaten its forecasts for copper, nickel and gold production for the half-year ended December 2019 as a result of higher output from its Nova and Tropicana mines in Western Australia. The company said gold output from Tropicana was 257,250oz in the six months ended December 2019, exceeding Independence Group’s guidance of 225,000 to 250,000oz for the period. Independence Group’s 30pc mine share from Tropicana was 77,550oz which was just over the company’s guidance figure of 75,000oz. Independent Group chief executive Peter Bradford said the company was expecting the Nova mine to maintain its production in line with company guidance as it focuses on delivering cost improvements and operational efficiencies. “At Tropicana, we also expect to produce within...