Author: admin

Fruta del Norte mine is currently under construction with first gold expected in late 2019. Image: Lundin Gold.   BY ELIZABETH FABRI   NEWCREST will invest $US250 million to acquire a 27.1 per cent interest in Canadian miner Lundin Gold, which is developing the Fruta del Norte gold project in South East Ecuador.   The 340,000 ounce per annum Fruta del Norte project, currently under construction, is aiming for first production by the end of 2019. Under the deal, Newcrest has the right to appoint two directors to the Lundin Gold board, and one of its nominated directors to a project advisory committee that will oversee Fruta del Norte development. The companies have also signed a binding Heads of Agreement...

BY ELIZABETH FABRI   AUSTRALIA is no longer ranked the most attractive region for mining investment in the world after falling to second place in the 2017 Fraser Institute’s survey of mining and exploration companies.   According to the Fraser Institute, Canada was now ranked the most attractive region in the world for mining investment, with Finland rated the top jurisdiction. WA was the only Australian jurisdiction to appear in the global top 10, however it fell for the third consecutive year, dropping from first place in 2015, to third in 2016 and now fifth place in 2017 out of the 91 jurisdictions. QLD fell from 10th to 12th place, South Australia from 13th to 14th place, the Northern Territory...

NRW said it had strong order book growth prospects.  Image: NRW Holdings. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND MINING services contractor NRW Holdings has decided against an interim dividend, despite the business continuing to “meet or exceed our expectations”, securing contracts and contract extensions across all its businesses. The company almost doubled its yearly revenue to $345.3 million and increased profit from $11.9m to $15.3m. Last year, the company acquired east coast mining services business Golding for $85m, funded by a capital raising and debt facility. Because of this, the company decided to retain its cash balances and not pay an interim dividend to ensure its debt was fully serviced. It has not paid out to shareholders since a fully franked interim dividend...

BY ELIZABETH FABRI   AUSTRALIA’S third-largest gold producer Northern Star Resources will boost its exploration program after making multiple discoveries at and around its Jundee gold mine in WA.   As a result of the drilling success, Northern Star increased its FY18 exploration budget by $10 million to $45 million. It plans to accelerate a number of drilling programs to bring the recent discoveries into the Reserve category. The discoveries included high-grade finds at the Zodiac discovery and the Armada trend, 400m and 800m from the Jundee mine, respectively. Northern Star executive chairman Bill Beament said the results would change the way the 10 million ounce (moz) Jundee gold field was viewed.   “With production of 7moz over the past...

Doray Minerals’ flagship deflector mine. Image: Doray Minerals. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND GOLD producer Doray Minerals has tapped investors for $25m to reduce debt, accelerate exploration, and fast track underground development at the Deflector copper-gold project. Doray will undertake resource definition drilling at Da Vinci north of the current Deflector mining operation. If successful, the company will have the funds to complete capital development for underground access to Da Vinci to boost total production. At the end of 2017, Doray had $47.5m in debt and $23.9m in cash and metals. The company will use $14m from the placement, and $4.5m in existing cash to reduce its gross debt balance to $29m. Doray managing director Leigh Junk said the company had worked...