Category: Legacy

Tesla has 325,000 pre-orders for its new Model 3 electric car. Source: Tesla Motors. By Cameron Drummond THE use of lithium in industrial batteries has seen the popularity of the rock-bonded soft metal skyrocket. These batteries out-perform their predecessor, the traditional nickel-metal hydride unit, for use in clean energy technologies such as electric cars and home energy storage. Lithium as an industrial commodity has gone from strength to strength on the back of these exciting technological shifts, most notably through tech-entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Tesla electric-powered cars and home battery storage units. The Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) share price enjoyed a steep ascent from a February 2016 low of $185 to $326 on 11 April, when it announced it had received US$1000…

Exploration at Tyranna Resources’ Jumbuck gold project in South Australia is supported by an oversubscribed share placement. By Reuben Adams TYRANNA Resources will raise $800,000 before costs through a massively oversubscribed share placement as exploration at its Jumbuck gold project in South Australia continues to build momentum. These funds will be used for advancing exploration at four prospects within Jumbuck in the northern Gawler Craton – Campfire Bore, Golf Bore, Golf Bore North, and Mainwood – which are the focus of Tyranna’s current 6200m reverse circulation drilling program. This program encompasses wholly owned Tyranna tenements and tenements which form part of a 59:41 joint venture with Challenger Gold Operations (an equal ownership JV between WPG Resources and Pybar Mining Group), operator…

Independence Group (IGO) has operated in the goldfields region of WA since 2002, developing a multi-commodity focus on gold, nickel, copper, zinc and silver. The company expanded its reach in September last year with the acquisition of the world class Nova copper-nickel project. By Samantha James IGO’s takeover of junior developer Sirius Resources in a $1.8 billion deal saw the group acquire the world-class Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper development project. Nova was discovered by Sirius in 2012, labelled a tier 1 asset and immediately fast tracked to feasibility studies, which were completed in July 2014. Construction of a mine capable of producing 26,000 tonnes per annum of nickel and 11,500tpa of copper across an initial life of 10 years began in early…

OZ Minerals managed to get the ball well and truly rolling last year, with strong production numbers and a focus on cost efficiencies at Prominent Hill resulting in a 168 per cent profit jump and underlying EBITDA of $484.9 million. In 2016, OZ Minerals is using its sturdy financial position to accelerate development of the $770 million Carrapateena project, which it expects to fund from cash reserves and future profits. By Reuben Adams OZ Minerals managing director and chief executive Andrew Cole said that Prominent Hill, in South Australia, was proving itself to be “a strong foundation asset” which placed the company in the enviable position of being able to explore growth opportunities. “Production is at record levels and by maintaining…

In a weak commodity market, South32 has reduced its net debt by almost US$300 million and remains on track to meet production guidance for the majority of its upstream operations. By Rachel Seeley THE spinoff of South32 from BHP Billiton in May 2015 was touted as a major step in the evolution of BHP, designed to create long-term value for shareholders and create two successful companies. Since its listing on the ASX, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, South32 has worked to reduce debt and operating costs, placing it in good stead to achieve sustained growth by taking advantage of the low market conditions. “The continuing optimisation of our high quality operations and balance sheet has enabled us…

By Cameron Drummond FORTESCUE Metals Group has swung the axe at its last Christmas Creek contractor Downer EDI as it moves toward a cost-saving owner-operator business model. FMG consolidated its mine contractors from two to one in February 2015, dropping MacMahon Holdings to give Downer the remaining work at the time. Downer had serviced the Christmas Creek iron ore mine since 2010. Fortescue chief executive Nev Power said production from Christmas Creek was not expected to be affected during the transition as the company looked to further improve efficiency and productivity at its operations. “Adoption of an owner-operator model will further reduce Fortescue’s costs through ongoing improvement of the efficiency and productivity of our Christmas Creek mining operations,” Mr Power…

By Samantha James TWO anti-mining activists have chained themselves to a conveyor belt at Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri mine in NSW, a week after a woman stopped the movement of coal trains from in and out of the company’s nearby Maules Creek mine by locking herself onto the tracks. On 1 April a Whitehaven spokesperson confirmed that protestors had attached themselves to gantry cranes near the coal preparation area at Narrabri, adding that police had dealt with the situation. “This event will have no effect on our operations,” the spokesperson said. The protests come just weeks after the NSW Government announced a bill which called for new search and seizure powers for police and increased fines of $5500 for aggravated unlawful…

By Samantha James THE Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has welcomed Foreign Affairs minister Julie Bishop’s announcement that she will sign a cooperation agreement to supply uranium to Ukraine for use in power generation at the fourth global Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC. In a statement Ms Bishop said the contract with the Ukraine would “complement similar agreements Australia has with countries including Canada, China, France, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, the UK and the US” and assist in maintaining strong international cooperation on nuclear security. MCA executive director of uranium Daniel Zavattiero said in a statement that the agreement would offer Ukraine additional diversity of uranium supply, and Australia access to an important and growing market. “This…

By Reuben Adams THE arrival of three seafloor production tools (SPTs) at Duqm Port in Oman for extensive wet testing represents a major milestone for Nautilus Minerals’ Solwara 1 project. The SPTs will cut and extract high grade copper and gold from the seafloor at the Solwara 1 project site in the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea, with production to start in the first quarter of 2018. The SPTs were designed and assembled in Newcastle upon Tyne by UK company Soil Machine Dynamics, which was awarded the contract for the world-first deep sea mining vehicles in 2007. The SPTs and associated equipment weigh more than 1000t. The wet testing would examine control systems operations and feedback;…

By Samantha James WA junior Perseus Mining has announced an all-scrip bid worth $85 million to take over London-listed Amara Mining, aiming to pool the companies’ respective West African gold assets. Perseus and Amara agreed to a recommended scheme of arrangement in late February which would see Amara shareholders own 35.1 per cent of the merged company – a mid-tier gold producer worth about US$242.3 million. The merger would combine Perseus’ producing Edikan gold mine in Ghana (90 per cent ownership) and Sissingue development project in Cote d’Ivoire (86 per cent) with Amara’s Yaoure gold project in Cote d’Ivoire (90 per cent) and Baumahun project (100 per cent) in Sierra Leone. An optimised pre-feasibility study at Amara’s flagship 7.3 million ounce Yaoure…

By Samantha James BHP Billiton has been forced to cut dividends by more than half and rearrange executive ranks after its underlying profits slumped to their lowest in decades in the second half of 2015. The company reported a net loss of US$5.7 billion and its underlying profit slumped to  US$412 million for the reporting period ending December 2015 – well below market expectations of US$720 million profit. It also slashed its dividend to US$0.16 under a new policy that would pay out 50 per cent of underlying attributable profits each half. At this time last year the company’s dividend was US$0.62; it is the first time BHP has cut its dividend since 1988 and the lowest payout it has…