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  By Reuben Adams Friday, 19 June 2015 ROX Resources’ has successfully completed a $3.2 million over-subscribed share purchase Plan (SPP) as it works toward development of the Fisher East nickel project. The company will also complete an additional top-up placement of $700,000 on the same terms as the SPP. Rox managing director Ian Mulholland said it was pleasing to receive such strong support from the company’s shareholders in such tough market conditions. “We look forward to further rewarding this support by continuing active exploration on our high quality projects, and working towards development of the Fisher East nickel...

By Jane Goldsmith May 20, 2015 JUNIOR explorer Investigator Resources has uncovered new gold on the Yorke Peninsula, 150km northwest of Adelaide. Assays received from two diamond holes completed at the Roundabout and Spyall targets, within the wholly-owned Hummocks tenements, demonstrated assays of up to 0.23g/t gold within a 37m interval of anomalous gold at the bottom of the Roundabout hole, as well as 215 parts per million of copper at Spyall. Investigator said Roundabout’s peak value of 1m at 0.23ppm gold was “highly significant”, as “the highest gold value seen in the area”....

By Rachel Dally-Watkins 20 May, 2015 A coal dust report by Clean Air Queensland has been heavily criticised by the Queensland Resources Council for being “deeply flawed and misleading”. The Health Hazard in our Suburbs study claimed that air quality monitoring showed “alarming” rates of pollution in Brisbane due to dust from coal trains travelling to the port, with coal train pollution readings of 900 per cent above normal levels. Clean Air Queensland is a coalition of community groups and individual anti-coal activist groups, including Lock the Gate Alliance, Oakey Coal Action Alliance, Friends of the Earth Brisbane and Parent's Against Coal...

By Rachel Dally-Watkins 19 May, 2015 GINDALBIE METALS has nominated part of a pastoral station east of Geraldton, WA, for a proposed national radioactive waste management facility. The iron ore company, which holds a suit of tenements in the state’s Mid West region, including the Karara joint venture, nominated part of the 113,600 hectare Badja Station as a candidate site to store “intermediate level waste” and “low level waste created largely as a result of medical and other scientific procedures”. Gindalbie stated that it undertook a program of consultation with local communities and stakeholders prior to making the submission; however representatives from the Morawa Shire, which is about 70km from the site, claimed the proposal came as a surprise. “I...

By Rachel Dally-Watkins 13 May, 2015 THE Supreme Court has dismissed a fraud case brought against Federal MP and Mineralogy founder Clive Palmer by two subsidiaries of Chinese mining company CITIC Pacific. The case alleged that Mr Palmer appropriated more than $12 million CITIC deposited with Mineralogy – to cover costs of operating a port at Cape Preston, WA, related to the Sino Iron project – for his election campaign and other uses. The money was reportedly transferred from Mineralogy’s account to the accounts of Media Circus, which developed advertising for the Palmer United Party’s election campaign; and to...

By Jane Goldsmith May 12, 2015 BHP Billiton is slowing projected WA iron ore export targets after weakened Chinese demand and slumping commodity prices restricted its cash flow. The miner had planned to export 290 million tonnes per annum of iron ore by 2016-17 through a US$2 billion inner harbour debottlenecking project at its Port Hedland shipping terminal. However, in its March quarter results BHP announced it would defer the spending, which would slow its progress to hit the 290mtpa target by mid-2017. “WAIO production for the 2015 financial year is now expected to be 250 million tonnes (100...

By Jane Goldsmith May 6, 2015 FOR every $1 million invested in the WA Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS), the state receives $10.3 million in direct benefits, a report has found. The Exploration Incentive Scheme Economic Impact Study, commissioned by the Department of Mines and Petroleum, also found that WA received about $6.2 million in taxation and royalties, and stood to gain about $3.9 million in greater construction activity and $3.3 million in new wealth, from each new project development. The study found new pre-competitive geoscience was the main driver of private sector exploration investment. It also considered the potential economic impact from the discovery and commercialisation of new mines as a result of increased exploration. “This second stage of...