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The Hermosa zinc-lead-silver project.          Image: Arizona Mining. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND SOUTH32 will pay $C110 million ($107m) for a 15 per cent stake in Canadian multi-commodity miner Arizona Mining. Under the agreement, South32 will acquire 45,000,000 Arizona Mining shares at $C2.45 per share. South32 also has the right to nominate a director to the board of Arizona Mining providing it maintains a minimum 12.5 per cent interest. Arizona Mining is focused on its Hermosa zinc-lead-silver project, which includes the Taylor deposit, located in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. South32 chief executive Graham Kerr said Hermosa was a highly prospective project and was another step in the company’s strategy to identify opportunities outside of its current portfolio. “We look...

All images: BHP Billiton BY ELIZABETH FABRI AS the hangover from Cyclone Debbie subsides, BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) continues to push forward with investments across its Bowen Basins operations, including $US204 million towards the Caval Ridge Southern Circuit (CRSC) capital growth project. A joint venture between BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi Development, the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) is Australia’s largest coal producer and supplier of seaborne metallurgical coal, accounting for about 28 per cent of the world’s seaborne met coal trade. The coal giant owns nine mines covering a combined area of 75,000sqkm in the resource rich Bowen Basin in Central Queensland; seven of which are operational. Its current portfolio of operating mines comprises Goonyella Riverside, Broadmeadow, Daunia, Peak...

Water dust suppression at Dampier port. Image: Department of Water WA.   BY ELIZABETH FABRI   AUSTRALIA is one of the driest continents in the world, and mining is thirsty business. In remote areas of the country water can be both scarce and overabundant, forcing mining operations to continually advance water management strategies and technologies to secure supply, minimise environmental footprint, and ride through extreme weather events such as cyclones, flooding, and droughts.   Water management in mining is a hot topic in all mining jurisdictions across the country. During 2014-15, an estimated 76,140 gigalitres (GL) of water was extracted to support the Australian economy, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Of this amount, 768GL or 4.4 per...

DESPITE a long history digging up gold and coal across its major mining hubs – Bendigo, Stawell, the Gippsland Basin and Latrobe Valley – Victoria currently ranks the least or second least attractive destination for minerals investment. Yet the State is the METS capital of the country; and through Government backing more investment is expected to flow into the region. A proud advocate of mining in the State, Victorian Resources minister Wade Noonan spoke to Elizabeth Fabri about the importance of mining and the programs in place to promote growth.   Q. While Victoria doesn't top the list for mining investment in Australia it does have a proud history. How important is mining to the State economy?   The mining...

The JV will encompass the company’s southern tenements in Tanzania including Miteja, Kiswere, Sudi and Mtwara. Image: Strandline Resources. BY ELIZABETH FABRI RIO Tinto has entered an earn-in joint venture agreement with ASX-listed Strandline Resources for a majority interest in the company’s mineral sands tenements in southern Tanzania. The terms of the agreement require Rio Tinto to spend $US5 million within three and a half years to earn a 51 per cent participating interest, including a mandatory commitment of $US2 million within 18 months. A second stage payment of $US4 million was also required within two years to earn a 75 per cent interest in the project, plus cash payments totalling $US1.75 million over the course of the agreement. Both...

All images: Newcrest.   BY ELIZABETH FABRI   ON the back of one of its most eventful years to date, including an earthquake at its Cadia operation in April, Newcrest Mining remains in a comfortable position – on track to achieve its annual production guidance for the fourth consecutive year while advancing greenfields exploration overseas.   The Newcrest executive team made some big decisions in 2016. The global gold miner signed an agreement to sell its 50 per cent stake in its PNG Hidden Valley facility at a $10m loss, let go of its Marsden copper gold project in NSW, put its Ridgeway underground mine at Cadia into care and maintenance, and welcomed a new investment to its portfolio --...

Peabody Energy’s Metropolitan Colliery.       Image: Peabody Energy BY CAMERON DRUMMOND BHP Billiton spinoff South32 has scrapped its $US200 million purchase of Peabody Energy’s Metropolitan Colliery and associated port infrastructure near Wollongong, NSW. On 23 February, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a statement saying the proposed acquisition could substantially lessen competition in the coking coal supply to Australian steelmakers, as it would leave South32 as the only major supplier in the region. “The ACCC considers that competition is necessary for customers in a region to obtain export price parity,” the competition monitor wrote. “If there is a single exporter in a region, that supplier will likely set the price to local customers to match the...