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WITH 600 square kilometres of tenure spanning three world-class gold structures – the Zuleika Shear, Kunanalling Shear and Ora Banda-Grants Patch goldfield – near Kalgoorlie, Phoenix Gold rapidly increased its mineral resources by 276 per cent in the 18 months to August 2012. In December 2011 Phoenix outlined its key goals for 2012, all of which have been achieved or will be by the year’s end. The company was aiming for another gold resource increase (targeting 2.5 million ounces); further acquisitions to consolidate its highly-prospective tenure; and the completion of a five-year mine plan for its flagship Castle Hill project. Phoenix’s resources have now increased to 2.24moz, with further increases imminent. During 2012, the company also purchased the Kintore tenements...

SILVER Lake Resources’ $426 million acquisition of Integra Mining will create one of the largest gold mining companies in Australia, boasting a 6.6 million ounce resource and $107 million in cash. With the merger likely to be finalised by the end of the year Silver Lake, which already has an extensive asset portfolio throughout WA, will be on track to produce 400,000oz per annum of gold in 2014. As part of the transaction, which was announced in August, Integra shareholders will be offered one Silver Lake share for every 6.28 Integra shares they hold. Silver Lake, which will be 40 per cent owned by Integra shareholders, will have four operating underground mines, one large-scale open pit and two processing facilities...

MOUNT Isa is a city built on mining. It owes its very existence to the discovery of a rich mineral deposit in 1923, and today the area’s mines produce a stream of wealth that shows no signs of drying up. The northwest Queensland city encompasses a civic area of 43,310 square kilometres and is home to Mount Isa Mines (MIM), a spectacularly productive holding that bears lead, silver, copper and zinc. Now owned by Xstrata, it has been in production since 1931. The region also hosts projects owned by Altona Mining, MMG, Aditya Birla, Ivanhoe Australia, BHP Billiton and FMR Investments. The existing mines produce a whopping $8.5 billion in gross domestic product for the region. According to one estimate,...

WA-based gold exploration and development company Excelsior Gold has certainly lived up to its name – ‘excelsior’ being Latin for ‘ever upward’ – as it moves rapidly to re-establish operations at its exciting Kalgoorlie North gold project in the WA goldfields, about 45km north of Kalgoorlie. The project covers granted mining and prospecting leases across 25km of the Bardoc Tectonic Zone greenstone belt. Historic production from the Bardoc mining centre, in the central part of Excelsior Gold’s tenements, occurred at the underground Zoroastrian mine between the late 1890s and early 1900s, and at the Excelsior and Zoroastrian open pits between 1987 and 1991. Excelsior Gold managing director David Hamlyn said that when the company acquired the project in 2009, it...

ADELAIDE-based exploration company Quasar Resources has announced it will resume development at the Four Mile uranium project in South Australia despite a key shareholder voting against the proposed start-up plan. Quasar, which holds a 75 per cent interest in the project, voted in favour of a 16-month program that will see in-situ recovery mining operations begin at the prospect in the second quarter of 2013, with first uranium sales scheduled for the third quarter. As part of the plan, uranium capture and processing will take place at facilities operated by Quasar affiliate Heathgate Resources, which owns the adjacent Beverly uranium mine. Alliance Resources, which owns the remaining 25 per cent interest in the Four Mile project, voted against the start-up...

WHITEHAVEN Coal has received approval from the NSW Planning Assessment Commission for its Maules Creek project and intends to go into production “as soon as possible”, the company announced. On the same day, the miner revealed plans to indefinitely suspend its operations at another Gunnedah Basin project, Sunnyside, citing lower coal prices as a major factor behind the move. Whitehaven managing director Tony Haggarty said he welcomed the Commission’s decision but noted that the project still needed approval from the federal Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water Population and Communities. “The Maules Creek project is one of the best coal development projects in the world, with a large reserve of high-quality coal, a low stripping ratio of 6.4:1, relatively low capital...

INVICTUS Gold has announced a two-for-one  renounceable rights issue at $0.04 per share, undertaken to raise $2.88 million for exploration at two projects and to fund the acquisition of a third. The company’s largest shareholder, Impact Minerals, has committed to taking up its entitlement of $1.28 million worth of shares and agreed to underwrite the balance of the  for up to $1.6 million, subject to its own capital raising. Turkey is the focus of much of the fundraising. According to a news release from Invictus, the company intended to further explore and drill its Himmetdede South project in the country. The 7 square kilometre prospect, 50km north of Kayseri, is adjacent to the Himmetdede deposit owned by Turkish company Koza...