Category: Exploration

PALADIN Energy has completed the first of a two-part prefeasibility study (PFS1) to assess the restart of its Namibian uranium mine, Langer Heinrich. The company said that it can return to production after a rapid 12-month ramp-up and would require about US$80m to return to production levels of about 5.2mlb pa. The capital would be divided into US$38m needed for plant repair and US$42 needed for working capital. Production could increase to about 6.5mlb pa through expansion of the mine during the ramp-up period, which the company said would target the processing of high and medium-grade ore over a six-year period at an additional cost of $US30m. PFS1 put the mine potentially back in production within 12 months of securing...

FINDING valuable gold and mineral deposits can costs millions of dollars, but UniSA’s Future Industries Institute senior research fellow Dr Caroline Tiddy has come up with a cost-saving solution. Dr Tiddy has developed a suite of geochemical tools to more accurately target valuable mineral deposits and save drilling companies money in the process. The tools use data collected from analysing drilling materials to help locate undiscovered precious metals buried by younger sediment and identify the right drill holes. “The global demand for copper and gold is growing, but it is getting increasingly hard to find these metals as companies are forced to drill deeper and deeper, costing them significant amounts of money,” Dr Tiddy said. Diamond drilling can cost to...

DACIAN Gold (ASX: DCN) looks to be back on track after announcing it had delivered 42,000oz in its preliminary Q3 results. Dacian has been clawing its way back from a vicious stock dump in June when it lost about three quarters of its value after the company was forced to lower its guidance twice in three months. While June quarter production guidance lowered from 50,000oz-55,000oz to 36,000oz-38,000oz, it is now in line with the projected first half of FY2020 guidance of 150,000oz to 170,000oz. The company paid back a scheduled $10.8m debt repayment, and increased its cash and gold on-hand position by $8.3m to $53.9m, leaving the outstanding bank debt at $94.7m. Dacian said that the mill reconciliation for the...

METALICITY Limited’s (ASX: MCT) latest drilling program has confirmed mineralisation extensions at the Kookynie project in WA’s eastern goldfields. The three holes at Leipold, McTavish and Champion bring the total brownfields exploration project to nine holes, with Metalicity indicating that a “significant” mineralisation exists beyond the historical data. The company said it would continue with “a staged, systematic drill program designed to not only address gold grade and geology relationships to a level to support a mineral resource estimate, but metallurgy, geotechnical and density aspects to aid in potential feasibility studies at a later date”. The Kookynie project includes six prospects, with Leipold, McTavish and Champion targeted for this program. Drilling at Leipold yielded 9m at 7.31g/5t gold from 34m;...

STAVELY Minerals (ASX: SVY) has reported “outstanding” shallow, thick, high-grade copper-gold intercepts at its 100pc-owned Thursday Gossan prospect in Victoria, 250km west of Melbourne. The WA company’s shares skyrocketed 264pc to 87.5c with the results that included two intercepts: 32m at 5.88pc copper, and 1g/t gold and 58g/t silver at 62m. The intercepts also included 12m at 14.3pc copper, 1g/t gold and 124g/t silver at 62m down hole, and 2m at 40pc copper, 3g/t gold and 517g/t silver. Stavely said that the current phase of drilling was evaluating near-surface high-grade mineralisation while it reviewed all results and data from the deep diamond drilling at the source porphyry. Stavely described the mineralisation as a “massive to semi-massive sulphide and quartz sulphide...

THE term “gold leaf” now has a whole new meaning. CSIRO research has shown that gold does grow on trees. Or perhaps it would be more correct to say that trees grow in gold. That’s the concept behind a mineral discovery technique CSIRO pioneered which is now being used successfully by gold exploration and mining companies. Marmota Limited, a gold mining company working out of South Australia, recently reported IT had identified new gold targets using biogeochemical sampling at its Aurora Tank prospect. Put simply, biogeochemical sampling involves taking samples of vegetation, such as leaves from trees and shrubs, and testing the material for the presence of gold or other chemicals that often associate with gold, so-called pathfinder elements. Using...

Q. Can you please tell me how the capital injection of up to $100m from OneSteel Manufacturing will impact Havilah’s iron ore assets and copper prospects? This proposed investment in Havilah by GFG Alliance will see Havilah’s work programs for its iron ore assets and its copper prospects in the Mutooroo Copper- Cobalt District, including the Mutooroo deposit, being fully funded through the completion of definitive feasibility studies. This will allow Havilah to make decisions about investing in the development of the projects and potentially transforming them into actual mining operations. Funding is an ongoing challenge for many junior explorers but this strategic alliance with GFG presents an opportunity for Havilah to advance its work programs to the benefit of...

There’s a lot to like about where Australia’s ‘critical minerals’ industry is headed, with many mines already in development to capitalise on the growing battery and EV markets. However, there are still knowledge gaps when it comes to mineral processing and manufacturing that require further investigation. Elizabeth Fabri spoke with Geoscience Australia Resources Division chief Andrew Heap about opportunities for Australia on the back of the agency’s recently released reports. Q. Tell us about your background in geoscience and some career highlights to date? I am currently chief of the Resources Division at Geoscience Australia with responsibility for energy and mineral, carbon capture and storage, and marine geoscience programs: a position I have held since September 2017. I am a...

BY AMY BLOM   MARMOTA has announced a significant high-grade gold intersection from drilling at its Aurora Tank project, about 50km northeast of WPG Resources’ Challenger gold mine in South Australia   Assay results turned up best results of 4 metres at 72 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 36m from the surface, following reverse circulation (RC) drilling in September. Marmota chairman Colin Rose said it was the explorer’s best ever gold drilling intersection. “We are delighted with the new numbers from Aurora Tank, particularly as they are from a new zone, located some 200m to the west of the previous best intersection,” Mr Rose said.   “It is also very pleasing that we have obtained our best intersection to date...

BY JESSICA CUMMINS   A NEW $218 million research collaboration has launched in Adelaide that will develop new technologies to increase the discovery of mineral deposits across the country.   The MinEx Cooperative Research Centre (MinEx CRC) was opened at the Australian Geoscience Council Convention in Adelaide on 15 October. The centre, backed by a $50 million Federal Government grant, was a collaboration between 34 companies in the Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) and majors including BHP, South32, Anglo American and Barrick, which will commit $165 million over the next decade. It would also be supported by research organisations including the CSIRO, University of Adelaide, Curtin University, University of South Australia, the University of Western Australia, University of Newcastle,...

BY AMY BLOM   MAMMOTH gold specimens found at RNC’s Beta Hunt mine in WA Goldfields could be among the largest ever discovered, with the potential to turn the miner’s fortunes around.   The Toronto-based company recently announced 9250 ounces of high-grade gold had been produced from a single cut about 500 metres underground over one week. The high-grade gold included about 190 kilograms of specimen stone, the largest of which was 95kg with an estimated gold content of 2440oz. A second piece came in at 63kg with an estimated gold content of 1620oz. Early estimates from RNC have put the total yield at about $C15 million in cash. RNC followed it up its success just two weeks later when...