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THE world’s third largest gold producer AngloGold Ashanti will bring its promising new WA gold mine Tropicana into production earlier than expected, despite stringent company plans to cut costs by up to US$500 million. In a 70:30 joint venture with Independence Group, primary owner AngloGold Ashanti is preparing to ramp up Tropicana Gold – a new project celebrated for its ‘enormous’ total estimated resources of up to 7.89 million ounces of gold. Lying 330km east-northeast of Kalgoorlie in Laverton WA, Tropicana Gold was originally forecast to begin production in December 2013. With commissioning already underway, the tailings facility completed and an operating team mobilised on site, Tropicana is now expected to produce first gold in the September quarter. Ramp up...

MINING powerhouse Rio Tinto has released detailed plans for a massive new $3.5 billion iron ore project, seeking public comment for what would be one of the Pilbara’s biggest mining developments. Lying 110km northwest of Newman, Rio’s Koodaideri project would export up to 35 million tonnes of iron ore per annum across a 30-year mine life. A planned site ramp-up by 2030 would see this initial figure increase to 70mtpa. Impacting the multibillion-dollar price tag, Rio’s plans emphasised the need for a new 165km rail system linking the site to its existing Tom Price-Dampier line. New roads, power supplies, water infrastructure and accomodation facilities would also need to be arranged, with estimated workforce figures totalling 2000 employees for the project...

RAMPING up its strategy to become one of the world’s top middle-tier uranium suppliers, Toro Energy is set to acquire the Lake Maitland uranium project from Mega Uranium. The new acquisition is 90km southeast of the first mining targets in Toro’s Wiluna project – the Centipede and Lake Way deposits. Toro will acquire eight exploration licences, two exploration licence applications, three prospecting licences, a granted mining lease and five miscellaneous licences, as well as the uranium rights for a further six exploration licences. Toro managing director Dr Vanessa Guthrie said the acquisition would support the company’s ability to commercialise the Wiluna project. Through integration into the Wiluna project, it would add economic benefits and increase the mine’s life to more...

A new mineral discovered in 2009 has been officially approved by the International Mineralogical Association. The cubic boron nitride, named qingsongite, was found in the mountains of southern Tibet, within chromium-rich rock of the paleo-oceanic crust that was subducted to a depth of 350km and recrystallised there at a temperature of about 2372 degrees Fahrenheit and pressure of about 118,430 atmospheres. University of California, Riverside geologists Larissa Dobrzhinetskaya and Harry Green uncovered the new mineral, together with scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of Maine and institutions in China and Germany. “About 180 million years ago the rocks were returned back to shallow levels of the Earth by plate tectonic processes leading to the closure of the...

FORTESCUE Metals Group has lost its High Court challenge against the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT), with the court rejecting the miner’s claims that the tax was ‘unconstitutional’. Fortescue was left “disappointed” when the court unanimously dismissed the argument that the tax discriminated between states and interfered with their government rights. “Fortescue challenged the MRRT because it was an unreasonable intrusion into an area of state responsibility and that it was also an unfair, discriminator and complex tax,” Fortescue chief executive Nev Power said. The ruling stated that “the treatment of state mining royalties by the MRRT Act…did not discriminate between states and the Acts did not give preference to one state over another”. Mr Power said the mining industry...

DEBATE is continuing about the future of Tasmania’s Tarkine region, after two mine proposals won federal environmental approval in as many weeks: a controversial move that provoked criticism from both pro-conservation and pro-mining groups. Shree Minerals’ $20 million iron ore mine at Nelson Bay River received the official green light in late July, as Environment minister Mark Butler overturned an initial rejection, stipulating 30 strict conditions to help protect the area. This was the second federal approval for Nelson Bay River mine, after the first was successfully challenged by environmentalists. Venture Minerals’ Riley Creek mine was similarly successful, with Mr Butler giving final environmental approval for the two-year DSO project in early August, subject to 37 conditions. Venture’s mine, 125km...