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By Mark Scott WA has lost its title as the world’s most attractive place for mining companies to invest, with the mining sector under pressure from slow bureaucracy, government policies and a drop in commodity prices. Canada-based The Fraser Institute’s annual Survey of Mining Companies, released in February, named Finland as the world’s most attractive investment destination in 2014, with WA slipping to fifth place after claiming the top spot in 2013. The report’s investment attractiveness index combines a mineral potential index, which rates regions based on their geological attractiveness, and a policy perception index, which measures the impact of government policy on attitudes to exploration investment. On policy perception, WA dropped from sixth to 10th place, while on mineral…

By Mark Scott & Jane Goldsmith March 2015 AN “iron clad” guarantee from Queensland’s newly elected government not to touch mining royalty rates has prompted calls in WA for Premier Colin Barnett to follow suit. The Annastacia Palaszczuk-led Labor Party picked up 33 seats in the January election to form minority government after pledging to leave royalties on coal, minerals, petroleum and gas unchanged. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) applauded a commitment by the two major Queensland parties to not increase royalties and has pushed for similar action in WA, where the state government is undertaking a review of its mineral royalty system. “The commitments on royalties made by the Liberal National Party and Labor Party…

By Mark Scott March 2015 WA’S biggest copper mine will soon be powered by the country’s largest integrated off-grid solar array under an agreement signed by Sandfire Resources and juwi Renewable Energy last month. Sandfire’s DeGrussa copper mine, near Wiluna in the northern Goldfields, will become home to a 10.6 megawatt solar power station that will be fully integrated with its existing 20MW diesel-fired power station. The $40 million project will involve 34,080 solar photovoltaic panels that track the sun and a 6MW battery, constructed on 20 hectares of land near the DeGrussa underground mine. Funding will be coordinated by juwi, which will own and operate the facility, with Sandfire to contribute less than $1 million. Once operational, the solar…

By Jane Goldsmith March 2015 ACTIVITY at Sirius Resources’ world-class Nova nickel project has begun, with formal mining operations ramping up alongside major construction works. Sirius managing director Mark Bennett said it was “very satisfying” to break ground at the Nova project, just two-and-a-half years after the deposit’s discovery. “We have started the project on time, on plan and significantly within original CAPEX budget estimates,” he said. According to the conditions of a $129 million, three-year contract, Barminconder will complete initial surface mining in three months, and then segue immediately into underground operations. Nova’s existing exploration camp is being expanded into a 200-person temporary construction camp, to house the workforce while the main accommodation village is being built. The temporary…

By Jane Goldsmith March 2015 WA resources companies need to reassess their business strategies and operations in the wake of China’s slowdown, according to an international advisory and procurement firm. The Beijing Axis founder and managing director Kobus van der Wath said WA industry had already felt the impact of China’s slowdown with plunging commodity prices and mass layoffs, but new opportunities could be leveraged in a post-mining boom era. “The beginning of 2015 has already seen significant bilateral developments in the agriculture, air services and property sectors,” Mr van der Wath said. “With the milestone achievement of the Australia-China free trade agreement last year, one can certainly expect an expansion and a shift in the strategic relationship between these…

By Reuben Adams March 2015 LATIN Resources subsidiary PLR will collect $1 million cash from project partner Compania Minera Zahena Sac (Zahena) in exchange for 70 per cent of the prospective Ilo Este project in Peru. As part of the deal, Zahena is expected to complete 5000m of diamond drilling within six months, another 3000m within 12 months, and a further 3000m – for a total of 11,000m within 18 months. With recent exploration showing signs of an enormous copper (plus silver and gold) porphyry system at Ilo Este, this key deal could provide the exploration strength required to move the project towards definitive feasibility study stage. A Newco will be formed once the 70 per cent share has been…

March 2015 JUNIOR explorer Platypus Minerals is focused on prospective copper-gold and base metals projects in the East Pilbara and Peru’s San Mateo mining district. Managing director Tom Dukovcic spoke to Jane Goldsmith about the company’s success. Q. What is your educational background? I’m a geologist, having gained my BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Melbourne. I grew up in the northern suburbs of Melbourne where my Croatian parents, brother and I settled after emigrating from the old Yugoslavia in 1969. I initially studied computer science at university, very much a ‘sunrise’ industry in 1979, and only took a few units in geology through general interest. I soon grew bored and disenchanted with computer science whereas I readily took…

By Mark Scott March 2015 WHEN Broken Hill became Australia’s first nationally heritage listed city, mayor Wincen Cuy spoke of the town’s “ever-present history” of mining and workers’ struggles. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Broken Hill was synonymous with Australia’s mineral riches and the country’s fighter for workers’ rights; often the two went hand-in-hand. As the namesake and birthplace of the world’s largest mining company, and the site of some of Australia’s most fierce industrial battles, the NSW town’s elevation to National Heritage status rightfully stakes its place in Australia’s history. The Broken Hill area, more than 1000km west of Sydney, was solely inhabited by the Wiljakali people until the 1840s, when European explorers first visited the area and…

By Mark Scott AT Northern Star Resource’s 2013 annual general meeting, chairman Chris Rowe told shareholders the company was on the lookout for WA acquisitions to help meet its goal of becoming a top ASX-listed gold producer. At the time, Northern Star was producing about 100,000 ounces per annum of gold from its Paulsen gold project in the Pilbara region and had a market capitalisation of $301 million, with its share price at $0.71. A year later, Mr Rowe could tell an entirely different story. The company was on track to becoming a 600,000ozpa producer; was the second biggest ASX-listed gold miner and, with a share price at $1 and rapidly rising, was the best performing ASX-200 company…

Cobre Montana managing director Adrian Griffin spoke to Mark Scott about the company’s new focus on lithium and its recent advancements in the industry. What is your experience in the industry? My experience in the industry commenced with Mt Lyell Mining and Railway company, then owners of the Mt Lyell copper mine in Tasmania. I worked there in exploration prior to working for BHP Billiton in iron ore and the Australian Antarctic Division in the 1970s. Like many others I branched out into gold in the early 80s as carbon in pulp (CIP) technology created the opportunity for juniors to become producers. I spent four years as chief geologist and open pit superintendent with Kia Ora Gold Corporation at Marvel…