Category: Legacy

A predicted tungsten shortage has prompted Plymouth Minerals to acquire an 80 per cent stake in Aurum Mining’s Morille project for $420,000. Morille is a 5796-hectare brownfield exploration and development site in Spain’s northwest, comprising five investigation permits with multiple historic underground and open pit tungsten and tin mines. Plymouth was confident it would recover high grade minerals in the area, as it historically produced high grade tungsten concentrate until a fall in the commodities price forced the mine to close in 1985. Plymouth managing director Adrian Byass said he looked forward to developing the project with partner Aurum Mining. “The Morille project brings together the specialty metal and development skills of the Plymouth board and management and combines them…

THE Northern Territory Government has awarded Major Project Status to TNG’s Mount Peake vanadium-titaniumiron project. The classification formalises the government’s support for the project and allows TNG to move forward with securing funding from investors. Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2014, with production starting the year after. Mount Peake has an estimated mine life of 20 years and would deliver 15,300t of vanadium oxide, 375,000t of titanium dioxide concentrate and 1.13 million tonnes of iron oxide each year. TNG managing director Paul Burton said he was delighted to receive support from the NT Government. “Mount Peake is a large long-life project that will bring a range of important benefits to indigenous communities…

FOLLOWING a weakening of the uranium spot price, Paladin Energy has announced measures to cut costs by US$23 million for the 2014 financial year. Paladin operates two uranium mines in Africa – Langer Heinrich in Namibia and Kayelekera in Malawi – and recorded a loss of $US420.9 million for the 2013 financial year due to massive write downs on the value of its assets, caused by the weak uranium price. The company stated that while the lower commodity price didn’t detract from the strong fundamentals of uranium in the mid to long term, it did make the revision of far-reaching rationalisation and optimisation strategies pertinent. Paladin intended to reduce corporate overhead and exploration costs by 24 per cent (US$10.8 million)…

AUSTRALIAN and Canadian listed Chalice Gold Mines will soon be in a position to develop its Cameron gold deposit in north-western Ontario, following a merger with Coventry Resources. The two companies entered a binding term sheet for the proposed merger, which would combine Chalice’s cash position of $55 million with Coventry’s 100 per cent interest in the Cameron Gold Camp project. The deal comprises one Chalice share for every 1.78 Coventry shares, and values the latter at 23 per cent higher than its closing share price on Friday 27 September. The merger is the first step in Chalice’s strategy of acquiring quality resource assets capable of generating cash flow, and the nature of the agreement was designed to preserve its…

WA gold company Gascoyne Resources has published high grade indicated and inferred JORC resource results for its Golden Wings prospect in the Murchison region of WA, just days after obtaining formal mining approval for the wider Dalgaranga gold project. Golden Wings – one of the most northerly prospects within Gascoyne’s Dalgaranga gold project – has an initial combined indicated and inferred estimate of 450,000t of ore grading 3.7 grams per tonne of gold, to produce 54,000oz of gold when mined to a 2.0g/t cut-off, as estimated by independent consultants Elemental Geology. While modest in size, the shallow, high-grade nature of the deposit and its proximity to existing infrastructure is thought to provide an excellent opportunity for a highly profitable open…

THE Commonwealth Bank of Australia was recently mandated to provide a funding package to Unity Mining for the development of its Dargues gold project in NSW. The $45 million finance facility would be structured as a Gold Prepay for a three-year period, with an associated gold hedging facility to protect a portion of the revenue during the first 24 months of the loan. The funding package was subject to credit approval, completion of documentation and satisfaction of conditions precedent normal for a facility of this nature. According to Unity, the funding package “appropriately reflects the reduced risk profile of the enlarged group”. Unity acquired the Dargues project at ‘development ready’ stage through a merger with Cortona Resources in January. Cortona’s…

A US$41.5 million funding package outlined in early October will allow MZI Resources to develop its Keysbrook mineral sands project in WA. International private equity fund Resource Capital Fund (RCF) is expected to provide the equity/mezzanine finance portion of the Keysbrook funding and pave the way for MZI to complete the debt funding agreement with two Joint Lead Arranger banks. With the funding secured, MZI would be in the position to begin construction of the project late this year, with the intention of reaching first production by the December quarter of 2014. The Keysbrook project, 70km from Perth, is expected to produce 91,000 tonnes per annum of product from 110,000t of dry heavy mineral concentrate (HMC). Keysbrook has an unusual…

THREATS of a hike in WA mining royalties have caused several mining companies to band together, joining the Gold Royalties Response Group (GRRG) as the government reviews the state’s royalty rates. The GRRG was originally formed in 2010 and recently re-united with six new allies, aiming to “communicate the detrimental impact a royalty rate rise would have on WA’s gold industry and related stakeholders for consideration in the state government’s review of mineral royalty rates”. The group now includes Doray Minerals, Evolution Mining, Gold Fields, Newmont Asia Pacific, Northern Star Resources, Norton Gold Fields, Ramelius Resources, Regis Resources, Silver Lake Resources and St Barbara. Gold miners currently pay 2.5 per cent of the value of their resource in the ground,…

AS one of the oldest and largest private sector coal companies in the world, Peabody Energy has experienced it all; from world wars and depressions to global financial crises. The US company has come a long way since the 1880s, when Francis S. Peabody used his cart and two mules to deliver coal from established mines to homes and small businesses throughout Chicago. With 9 billion tonnes of proven and probable coal reserves, Peabody has a considerable global presence servicing 30 countries across six continents. In 2012 alone, the company sold 248.5 million tonnes of coal to electricity and industrial plants worldwide. Despite a $430 million loss from reduced pricing, Peabody was able to increase its Australian sales volumes by…

THE island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea is said to have given copper its Classical Latin name. The phrase ‘aes Cyprium’ roughly translated to ‘alloys from Cyprus’ and was later shortened to Cuprum. According the Republic of Cyprus’ Mines Service, the small nation produced a total 852,717t of copper metal between 1931 and 2012. “The ancient Cypriots were not only experienced miners but also skilful metallurgists,” the Mines Service stated. “They discovered almost all copper ore bodies which have been exploited in modern years, and they were able to recover the rich part of the ore bodies by underground exploitation methods and produce high grade metal copper (copper talents) by metallurgical methods, of which their base is still…

BELEAGUERED junior Reed Resources is flagging a move away from gold after a resource estimate confirmed its Barrambie project was one of the world’s highest grade titanium deposits. Just weeks after Reed was forced to close its gold mine in WA’s Murchison region, the company announced a total indicated and inferred resource for Barrambie of 47.2 million tonnes grading 22.2 per cent titanium, 0.63 per cent vanadium and 46.7 per cent iron oxide. The company stated that Barrambie – south of Meekatharra in WA – was the world’s second highest grade hard-rock titanium deposit. The estimate included assay results from 782 reverse circulation and 36 diamond holes drilled by Reed between 2007 and 2008. Barrambie was modelled to about 60m…