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THE world’s largest and lowest-cost manganese mine is about to get bigger with the recent approval of the US$279 million Groote Eylandt expansion phase two (GEEP2) project in the Northern Territory, which is expected to boost output about 14 per cent. Named after the island on which it is located, Groote Eylandt mine has been operating since 1965 and is 60 per cent owned by BHP Billiton, with Anglo American retaining the remaining 40 per cent. BHP and Anglo own several manganese mines and alloy smelters through a joint venture subsidiary company Samancor Manganese, which, in turn, operates the Groote Eylandt mine through Groote Eylandt Mining Company (GEMCO). Alone, GEMCO contributes more than 15 per cent of global high-grade manganese...

AS dawn approached on the Ballarat goldfields on Sunday December 3, 1854, a makeshift stockade, hastily built by diggers at Eureka, was overrun by government troops. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was brutally short, but defeat would rapidly turn into victory for the diggers and, many believe, democracy for a young Australia. Mining has been a central figure in the fight for national identity and political equality in Australia’s history. The Eureka Rebellion, a revolt by Victorian diggers against heavy taxation and regulation by the colonial authorities, remains a powerful political symbol even today. As one of the only armed insurrections in Australia’s short history post-European settlement, it has taken on a mythology far greater, and longer lasting, than the...

THE Lachlan Fold Belt (LFB) is a geological subdivision in eastern Australia. Most prominent throughout NSW and Victoria, it extends into Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, covering an area of about 200,000sqkm. A long-standing proven mineralised region, the LFB has several world-class mines already operating within it, including Endeavour, Peak Mines and Mineral Hill, and recent discoveries at Tottenham, Mount Boppy, Hera, Nymagee and Wonawinta. Argent Minerals holds a 100 per cent interest in a pre-development project at Kempfield in Evans Shire, NSW. The project area lies within the LFB, and hosts a resource of more than 31 million ounces of silver, 260,000 tonnes of lead and zinc, 65,000oz of  gold and more than 2 million tonnes of...