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Directional drilling success takes meticulous planning and attention to detail. With unplanned and unseen underground obstacles conspiring to thwart even the best drilling plans, there is always plenty riding on the outcome, including reputations, and potentially millions of dollars to be made or lost. But what if lives, not money, were riding on the outcome? If standing on the sidelines were not disappointed geologists, engineers, and drilling crews but families desperate for news of miners trapped kilometres underground. And what if, when you broke through to an area confident of finding those trapped miners, you found only rubble? The San Jose copper and gold mine in Chile is 800km north of Santiago, in the Atacama Desert which sits between the…

Commercial production has been declared at the Boston Shaker underground gold mine at Tropicana, located near Kalgoorlie in WA. The joint venture is managed by AngloGold Ashanti Australia (AGAA) with a 70% interest, and the remainder to IGO. The first production stope was fired in June, with underground mining now reaching a rate of 700,000t a year. Development of the Boston Shaker mine was approved in March 2019, and the mine transitioned into commercial production this month on schedule, below the $105.7m budget and with no recordable safety incidents. The mine will deliver about 1.1mt of ore per annum at an estimated grade of 3.5 g/t, contributing approximately 100,000oz per annum to gold production over a seven-year mine life.

When Adelaide glass blower Karen Cunningham made art using diamond and glass, she had no idea it would inspire a new kind of hybrid material. Now a consortium of scientists, including from RMIT University and University of Adelaide, are using the technology to make a new class of quantum sensors. The study, published in APL Materials, reveals how high-performance diamond sensors can be made using conventional glass fibres. By embedding micron-scale diamond particles within the cross section of a silicate glass fibre, the team has demonstrated the use of a robust fibre material capable of sensing magnetic fields. Study lead author and RMIT School of Science’s Dr Dongbi Bai said it was an exciting achievement that opened the door to…

Resources, Water and Northern Australia Minister Keith Pitt says the importance of the resources sector to the Australian economy has been highlighted in latest trade figures showing iron ore is the first Australian commodity to break the $100b a year mark in export value. Mr Pitt said figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed the new export record. “Iron ore exports in the 2019-20 financial year reached $101.7b, which is a great achievement at a time when our economy needs all the support it can get,” he said. “It smashes the previous annual export benchmark of $77.5b, also set by iron ore in the previous financial year. “The recent Resources Energy Quarterly revealed total industry exports will reach…

Latest national accounts figures have again revealed how important the resources sector is to the Australian economy through the global coronavirus pandemic. Resources, Water and Northern Australia Minister Keith Pitt said the industry is proving more than resilient. “The mining industry bucked the national trend to see a 0.2% increase in output during the June quarter, which is also a 1.1% rise on the same period last year,” he said. “Encouragingly, mining investment also rose by 1.3% on the previous quarter, and up by almost 8% on the previous year, which is a good indication of the confidence in the Australian resources sector, despite the impact of COVID-19. “It continues to directly employ more than 200,000 Australians and supports the…

It is hard to believe the historic Bellevue Gold Mine sat dormant for two decades. The WA mine was closed in 1997 despite being one of Australia’s highest-grade gold mines in its heyday, producing 800,000oz at 15 g/t gold from 1986 to 1997. Now “The Forgotten Treasure”, located in a major gold and nickel producing district near Leinster in the Goldfields, is once again proving to be one of the nation’s richest high-grade gold resources. Since taking ownership in 2017, Bellevue Gold Limited (ASX:BGL) has undertaken a successful exploration program and is now moving towards early-stage development work to resurrect the mine. Bellevue has appointed Macmahon company GBF Mining to complete stage one of development which includes the construction of…

The Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) will receive $81.7m for critical upgrades to help drive WA’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. WA Premier Mark McGowan and Pilbara MLA Kevin Michel visited the Port of Port Hedland this week to inspect the areas that will benefit from the huge funding injection for road and port repairs under the WA Recovery Plan. The program of works will be undertaken to support continued essential trade through Port Hedland and includes: $10.5m to upgrade the entrance road to Boodarie Strategic Industrial Area in Hedland $20m for Port Hedland’s Inner Harbour for upgrading retaining and sea walls and $51.2m to Nelson Point Tug Haven, one of the original tug havens at the port, for upgrading…

Titan Minerals Ltd (ASX:TTM) this week came to agreement to divest its non-core assets in Peru. In doing so, the company is now freed up to focus on its key Ecuadorian assets, including the development of its flagship Dynasty Gold Project and the Copper Duke Project in Ecuador. Dynasty is an advanced stage exploration project located in the Loja Province of southern Ecuador currently hosting a 2.1Moz Au foreign resource estimate averaging 4.5g/t gold reported in compliance with Canadian NI 43-101 standards. Titan reported assay results in July for diamond drilling completed at the Dynasty Gold Project that further support an emerging large-scale gold system and extend known mineralisation that remains open in multiple directions and at depth. The commencement…

Iron ore prices have hit a six-year high  on tight port stocks of mid-grade ores and optimism about Chinese demand on fresh injection of funds into the economy. Chinese furnaces, where more than half the world’s steel is forged, are rolling out crude steel at a never before seen pace. Benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China were changing hands for $128.57/t on Tuesday, the highest level for the steelmaking raw materials since January 2014 and brings gains for 2020 to nearly 40%. China produced 93.4mt of crude steel in July, the largest monthly volume on record. Crude steel output in July was 2pc higher than the month prior, and 9% higher than July 2019, according to data from…

MINING companies are in full recruitment drive after new modelling showed another 8000 skilled workers will be needed in WA’s resources sector following the state’s hard border closure. The modelling, released by the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA, warns of a looming shortage for key skills such as traditional trades and experienced technicians, front line supervisors, maintenance crew and safety and medical support services. Mining heavyweights including Rio Tinto and BHP are on the hunt for fresh talent to plug the skills gap, which is expected to last between 12 to 18 months due to the continued ban on travel. Rio will invest almost $60m in training and development in WA next year when it will take on…