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SOME of the highest ever recorded grades of uranium mineralisation have been discovered at Toro Energy’s wholly owned Wiluna project, as it tries to bring nuclear energy into production in WA. Following geochemistry assays from its recently completed 2013 drill program, the company released results averaging grades of up to 2449 parts per million of triuranium octoxide across a 2.5m thickness at shallow depth at Wiluna. The grades peaked at 11,420ppm, or 1.14 per cent uranium oxide. According to a company report, the impressive figures substantiated previous data from the uranium-rich area, and the economic potential of utilising the resources across its three primary prospects: Lake Way, Millipede and Dawson-Hinkler. Toro pushed most of the test drills to 20m to…

THE board of independent directors of base metals company Perilya has unanimously accepted a takeover proposal from major shareholder Zhongjin Lingnan Mining. Perilya, owner of the historic Broken Hill mine in NSW, confirmed in early September it had received the takeover offer from its current 53.4 per cent state-owned shareholder. Each share available for purchase was valued by Zhongjin Lingnan at $0.35, in a deal totalling $269.3 million. Perilya stated the offer represented a substantial premium to the historical trading price of company shares, including a 59 per cent premium to the closing share price of $0.22 on the date that a trading halt occurred, and an 85 per cent premium to its one-month volume-weighted average price. The company’s unanimous…

AUSTRALIAN miners wanting to do business in South Africa have been advised to accept responsibility for the country’s development if they intend to continue operating there. Speaking at the Africa Downunder conference in August, South African Mineral Resources minister Susan Shabangu told delegates it was important for mining companies to optimise “social capital by ensuring that we grow the industry in a socially and environmentally responsible manner”. This year’s commodity-wide price drop has caused many investors to abandon the resources industry, making operations even harder for the many Australian companies pursuing opportunities in Africa. While in the past the lure of lower costs and higher returns had attracted investors to parts of the continent still considered risky, Ms Shabangu said…

THE market capitalisation of WA companies increased 9 per cent during July and a further 4 per cent in August, according to the Deloitte WA Index. The results bucked previous negative growth, spurred on by Fortescue Metals Group’s 42.4 per cent increase in market capitalisation during the two month period. Other companies that achieved significant growth included Saracen Mineral Holdings at 71.9 per cent, Lonestar Resources at 47.1 per cent and Calibre Group at 45.1 per cent. Deloitte Perth lead audit partner Tim Richards said the growth was stimulated by recovering commodities prices on the back of positive Chinese economic data. “The Chinese economy is transitioning to an economy that is driven by domestic consumption, as local demand in China…

A spike in reported bullying incidents on mine sites in WA’s South West has prompted the launch of a government awareness program. The Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) reported it had received three times the amount of bullying reports between 2011 and August 2013 than in the previous three years. Aimed at the region’s 60 medium to large scale mines, the program would include DMP site visits to examine preventative systems, policies and procedures. DMP Southwest Mines Safety team leader Tony Robertson said the program would provide assistance and information to companies to ensure they fulfilled duty of care. He said the safety and health of WA resources industry workers would remain the number one priority for the department.…