Category: Headline

FOR decades, the Broons ‘square’ Impact Roller has been improving the running surface on haul roads, tip heads and pit floors, resulting in reduced haul truck tyre wear at mine sites around the world. Large or sharp rocks can slicethrough and critically damage even a brand new tyre, while smaller rocks can lodge between the lugs and eventually penetrate and cause punctures. By turning rocks into rubble, the roller can improve a mine’s tyre management regime, simultaneously reducing mechanical wear and tear on haul truck suspension and associated components while delivering lower maintenance requirements and a reduction in spare parts costs. Towed by a 270 horsepower to 330hp tractor, the 1.3m-wide 8t (BH-1300MS) and 1.95m-wide 12t (BH-1950MS) modules quickly reduce…

HAVING successfully raised $10 million through a share placement earlier this year, emerging heavy mineral sands company Sheffield Resources is well funded for a busy year ahead. Concentrating on its Dampier zircon project near Derby in the Kimberley region and a feasibility study for its large Eneabba heavy mineral sands operation near Geraldton, Sheffield is in a sound position to make 2012 a standout year. Sheffield’s projects are all in WA and are all wholly-owned. As well as the Dampier and Eneabba projects, it owns the large-scale McCalls chloride ilmenite project 110km north of Perth, seven granted tenements and nine tenement applications at the Pilbara Iron Project, and 1152 square kilometres of tenements in the Moora Talc Belt. Exploration programs…

INNOVATION, hands-on management, and a strong sense of environmental and social responsibility are the qualities that New Hope Corporation believes set it apart from other coal producers. As it continues to develop its portfolio of projects, which includes the New Acland, Jeebropilly and New Oakleigh mines in Queensland plus its wholly-owned Queensland Bulk Handling (QBH) port facility, the company remains focussed on supporting the people, places and history at the heart of its operations. The thermal coal company caters to a niche market, with around 65 per cent of its production exported to Asia-Pacific customers including Japan, Korea and Chile. The remainder is consumed by customers in southeast Queensland. New Hope has been active in the Ipswich area of southeast…

EMERGING metal producer Millennium Minerals is on track to begin commercial gold production at its flagship Nullagine gold project in WA’s Pilbara region in the fourth quarter of this year. With construction on schedule and on budget, Millennium has announced it is financially positioned to assess the possibility of a future production expansion, having received firm commitments in March for a $16.6 million capital raising. Following Millennium’s 31 per cent ore reserve increase late last year, underpinned by solid exploration results, the company believes the optimum scale of the Nullagine operation will reach an annual production rate of between 2 million and 3 million tonnes – an increase from its current 1.5mt per annum capacity – in order to achieve…

A significant milestone has been reached by Specialised Bulk Rail (SBR), a related entity of the SCT Group, with the recent hauling of 1 million tonnes of iron ore from IMX Resources’ Cairn Hill mine to Port Adelaide as part of a long-term contract with the miner. Using purpose-built wagons and SCT locomotives, SBR has been running six trains per week: each hauling 6000t of iron ore. This equipment has allowed SBR to be 99.5 per cent operationally reliable and achieve a zero lost time injury status since the service was established. Operations were recently moved into SBR’s new facilities at Penfield, South Australia, allowing for even greater flexibility. The company has acknowledged its committed team of drivers as having…

MAGNETITE-copper producer IMX Resources has a clearer and more profitable direction under its new managing director, Neil Meadows. After officially coming on board in late November last year, Mr Meadows set to work evaluating IMX’s assets and creating a plan to make the company profitable once again. As a result, the IMX board is already anticipating a cash flow positive June 2012 quarter from its 51 per cent-owned flagship Cairn Hill magnetite-copper direct shipping ore mine, 55km southeast of Coober Pedy in South Australia. China’s Taifeng Yuangchuang International Development Company holds the remaining 49 per cent stake in Cairn Hill. IMX’s wholly-owned subsidiary Termite Resources operates the mine for the joint venture. An initial item on Mr Meadows’ list was…

CALLING itself “the Pilbara’s emerging powerhouse”, Atlas Iron is an independent Australian company hell-bent on the rapid and calculated expansion of its Pilbara-based iron ore operations. Since listing on the ASX in early 2004, the company has expanded its extensive project portfolio – including the established Pardoo and Wodinga operations – to cover an area of more than 18,000 square kilometres, primarily in the northeast Pilbara region. Atlas also plans to establish itself in the Pilbara’s northern area as a number of projects near development and first production. Atlas has established a competitive advantage in the WA iron ore sector by acquiring a strategic landholding in the formerly underexplored northern region of the Pilbara. These exploration tenements have resulted in…

RENOWNED as the largest iron ore and bulk minerals export facility in the world, Port Hedland is also the largest bulk port in Australia. The port provides vital infrastructure services to WA’s mineral-rich Eastern Pilbara region and its major export commodity is iron ore. Port Hedland Port Authority (PHPA) is a statutory authority owned by the WA Government, and its primary purpose is to facilitate trade through the port. One of the Authority’s major functions is to control all shipping through Port Hedland and maximise the loaded capacity of the ships the port services using world-leading technology that maintains safe under-keel clearance distances. The PHPA is also responsible for the planning and management of new developments at the port. Not…

The Australian Mining Review continues its special three-part series on the unprecedented expansion of Queensland’s mining industry, looking at the state’s big boom towns and how they are tracking. LESS than eight weeks after delivering a near-fatal blow to a stricken Labor Party in Queensland, the state’s new Liberal National Coalition Government told The Australian Mining Review that the future of the resources sector is secure under leader Campbell Newman. Basking in the afterglow of a defeat that reduced the ALP’s hold to just seven seats in a Parliament of 89, the new Government quickly sought to highlight its dedication to the resources sector, stating that it was determined to do everything it could to “get the state back on…

FOCUS Minerals is on track to become one of Australia’s top gold producers following the successful completion of its off-market takeover of Crescent Gold. Last October, the now fifth-largest primary ASX-listed Australian gold producer finalised a deal which saw it acquire 81.57 per cent of Crescent, a WA mining, development and exploration company whose flagship project was the Laverton gold mine. The acquisition doubled Focus’s mineral resources to 4.3 million ounces and tripled its ore reserves to 623,000oz overnight, and will see the company’s projected annual output increase to 200,000oz of gold this year. Focus now operates four mines across Laverton and Coolgardie in WA – Australia’s two largest gold producing regions – and has completed the first full year…

STRUGGLING gold play Apex Minerals has received support from the Andrew Forrest-led The Metal Group, with the latter agreeing to invest up to $18 million in Apex and provide advice and access to its extensive contact network. The investment will give The Metal Group a 20 per cent stake in the troubled miner. The former chief executive officer of iron ore major Fortescue Metals Group, Mr Forrest recently loaned Apex a $4 million short-term debt facility via The Metal Group’s subsidiary AMNL Financing. Apex has been struggling to maintain profitable operations at its flagship Wiluna gold mine, 1000km northeast of Perth. During the December 2011 quarter Apex received an average $1667 per ounce of gold, but its cash operating costs…