Category: Developments

RENASCOR Resources (ASX: RNU) has completed the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) at its 100pc owned Siviour graphite project in South Australia. The proposed Siviour mine would be an open pit with an adjacent graphite production plant, which the company said has the potential to be a world-class, low OPEX project. The DFS, completed by Royal IHC and Wave International, has been based on staged development, aiming for an average production of 80ktpa during the first stage, before expansion in year five that would be funded through the expected cash flows, ramping up production to 144ktpa between years five to 10. The projected life of mine operating cost is expected to be about $508/t, which according to the company is amongst…

AN attack on a convoy of five busses carrying employees to the Bongou mine in Burkina Faso has left 37 dead and 60 injured. Workers of African Mine Services, a subsidiary of Australian company Perenti (ASX: PRN), and Canadian mine owner, Semafo, were among the dead. Sefamo said the convoy was escorted by military police and was about 40km from the mine when it was ambushed by gunmen. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks at this stage, however suspicion has fallen on Islamic militants. The country has been plagued for the past five years by Jihadi violence that has spilled over from Mali. The attack is the deadliest in the five years of violence and the death toll,…

LITHIUM Australia (ASX: LIT) has confirmed an offtake deal with Korean battery recycler SungEel Hitech Co via its 24pc-owned subsidiary Envirostream Australia. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the exclusive supply of metals extracted from recycled lithium-ion batteries (‘LIBs’) out of Australia, specifically of mixed metal dust (MMD) containing the energy metals cobalt, nickel and lithium. Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said the MoU provides for immediate refining of the MMD that Envirostream produces. “Expanding Envirostream’s processing capacity to keep spent LIBs from landfill and export the energy metals they contain is an Australian imperative,” Mr Griffin said. “Closing the loop on the production of battery materials reduces the environmental footprint of the mining and processing…

THE extensive drilling program at Alkane’s (ASX: ALK) Tomingley Gold Project (TPG) has completed the first phase of drilling at the Roswell prospect. The company also continues to drill at San Antonio, and is confident it will release an initial resource by December. Roswell and San Antonio are located to the immediate south of the Tomingley gold operation, where Alkane is conducting an extensive drilling program to define additional resources with the potential for both open pit and underground mining. The additional ore feed would supplement the Tomingley Gold Operation’s 1mtpa processing plant. To date, 18,208m of drilling has been completed, with assays received for a further 8000m of the 60,000m resource definition drilling program at 40m by 40m spacing.…

INDEPENDENCE Group (ASX: IGO) has launched a $312m takeover bid for Panoramic Resources (ASX: PAN). IGO said the hostile all-scrip bid was taken to shareholders after a number of attempts to engage with the board for a friendly takeover were unsuccessful. The company cited poor performance and a “lack of engagement from the Panoramic board” as the reason for backing the takeover. “The offer represents, in IGO’s view, the best opportunity for Panoramic’s shareholders to crystalise and de-risk meaningful value from their investment in Panoramic in the foreseeable future,” it said. The offer would pay a premium 42pc to the last closing price of Panoramic shares before the date of the bidder’s statement, and 51pc to the one-month VWAP. Under…

MINERAL Resources (ASX: MIN) and Albermarle have mothballed the Wodgina lithium project in the Pilbara to wait out the lithium price slump after finalising the establishment of the unincorporated MARBL JV. The MARBL JV (60:40 Albermarle MIN), has joined a growing number of developments cutting back, or halting lithium production to wait for better prices as the US-China trade wars and the stalled EV boom continues to frustrate the international market. MIN said that it will take about four weeks to transition to care and maintenance. During that time, Albermarle will manage the marketing and sale of spodumene concentrate, and under the terms of the JV, will continue to manage it once Wodgina goes back into production. Mineral Resources managing…

WITH the development of BHP’s South Flank well underway, Iluka Resources is considering a demerger of the royalty it pockets from BHP’s Mining Area C (MAC). The development of South Flank means the capacity of the expanded MAC hub will sit at around 145 wmtpa from 2023 onwards and would equate to an increase in annual iron ore production (within the MAC royalty area) from around 55 million dmtpa to 135 million dmtpa. With this increase in production (and cash flow), it’s a no-brainer for Iluka to seriously consider a structural separation of MAC by way of demerger. Iluka managing director Tom O’Leary said that the MAC area is a high grade, low cost iron ore asset with a tier…

THE Victorian Liberal National Coalition will block the Andrew’s Government’s planned 2.75pc gold royalty when it is tabled in the state parliament. Introduced at the May budget, the royalty shocked the emerging Victorian gold industry which had seen something of a renaissance since 2015, with Kirkland Lake’s (ASX: KLA) Fosterville gold mine becoming Australia’s most lucrative pure-play gold mine. While a gold royalty applies in all other states, there was concern that it would cripple vital early investment in Victoria. Although the industry has said it was not opposed to a gold royalty, it said proper consultation on its structure was needed, and that it be introduced over three years. But successful opposition of the tax will be hard fought.…

RIO Tinto (ASX: RIO) chief executive J-S Jacques waxed philosophical to investors in London on Monday speaking of his vision of the company’s future. He spoke about the ‘deeper world’ awaiting the mining industry in the 2020s, and the importance of recognising the finite nature of the resources being mined. As Rio Tinto moves into the next decade, the shift from excess to discipline will be emphasised. Mr Jacques said that as the world becomes faster, so it becomes deeper too – meaning AI and big data present an opportunity to transform mining majors’ business models toward circular economies. “The world will not wait for us,” he said. “The time for change is now.” China’s insatiable appetite for resources in…

NEWMONT Goldcorp’s board of directors have unanimously approved the execution phase of the Tanami Expansion 2 project. The expansion will allow the miner to access the Auron deposit, first discovered in 2008, below the Callie orebody and could extend the mine life beyond 2040. Tanami Expansion 2 includes the construction of a 1460m shaft, additional capacity in the processing plant and supporting infrastructure that would allow the project to remain profitable as the mine heads 2140m below surface. Newmont Goldcorp began commercial production at the expansion project in 2017, and announced in March 2019 that the $245m power station project was complete. The execution phase of Tanami Expansion 2 represents a significant milestone for the operation. Newmont Goldcorp chief executive,…

THE Samarco joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Group has been given approval to resume operations at the Germano iron ore plant in Brazil, four years after a fatal dam collapse there. It is understood that 10 of the 12 members of Minas Gerais state environmental council, known as Copam, voted in favour of an operational corrective licence for the mine. Samarco has had its operations halted since the 2015 Fundão waste dam collapse that killed 19 people and resulted in flooding across more than 600km in one of the worst environmental disasters in the country’s mining history. The mining dam failure had affected the downstream Santarem dam, causing a “significant release” of mine tailings to flood the nearby…