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THE board of Perth-based producer Atlas Iron has granted approval for the company to progress its Pilbara-based Mt Webber iron ore mine to development, in a joint venture with Altura Mining. Lying 230km south-southeast of Port Hedland, the direct shipping ore mine already has environmental approval, enabling the two companies to commence immediate development works. The fifth mine development for Atlas Iron in about five years, Mt Webber’s operations are expected to begin in the final three months of 2013, with first ore shipments from mid 2014. The new mine has an initial life of 18 years at a 3 million tonnes per annum production rate, with the ore trucked by road train to Utah Point port for the opening...

COAL production at Rio Tinto’s Kestrel Mine Extension is underway, with the US$20 million project adding a further 20 years to the life of the underground mine. Rio has run the hard coking coal (HCC) operation at Kestrel since 1999, but began the Kestrel South extension four years ago. At the peak of construction in early 2013 the extension provided work for about 1500 employees and contractors, and would require a workforce of about 400 people over the next 20 years. The expansion involved the construction of a new longwall, a 7.9km overland conveyor and upgrades to the existing coal handling and preparation plant, which has allowed a new series of underground panels to be mined to the south of...

MINERAL giant Rio Tinto has reversed its decision to sell out of the diamond trade after announcing the plans in March last year. Although the company cited “robust” market fundamentals for the move, the business sphere has had mixed reactions regarding Rio’s primary motivation for the strategy change. Maintaining fully integrated diamond mining units within Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe and India – including mining, cutting and polishing and marketing and sales of the precious stone – Rio Tinto was understood to have been considering a $2 billion float of diamonds assets across these countries. However, the company announced in late June it would conserve its diamond interests, and pulled its assets from the market arena. Some analysts have interpreted the move...

Despite current investor uncertainty towards the gold industry, Newmont is a company name increasingly synonymous with confidence. Maintaining an impressive portfolio of assets globally, the company sustains its security as a primary gold producer across four continents, with operations across the US, Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, New Zealand and Mexico. Founded in 1921 and publicly traded since 1925, Newmont is one of the world’s largest gold producers and is the only gold company included in the S&P 500 Index and Fortune 500. With headquarters near Denver, Colorado, the company has about 40,000 employees and contractors worldwide. The Australian division is controlled by subsidiary Newmont Mining Asia Pacific, and has become the company’s largest asset in the last decade. Its newest...

IN one of the world’s first deep sea mining (DSM) projects, a British joint venture aims to begin mining for polymetallic mineral-rich nodules across a 58,000 square kilometre sea bed in the Pacific Ocean, 1500km southwest of Mexico. With the resources industry reporting falling supplies of easily accessible minerals within land-areas the of earth’s crust, companies are gradually turning their attention to the mineral supply potential in virgin territory beneath the ocean floor. UK Seabed Resources – a wholly owned subsidiary of global aerospace, defence, security and advanced technology company Lockheed Martin – and joint venture partner the Department for Business Innovation and Skills hope to capitalise on these concentrations of valuable minerals, which are layered around a central core....

A successful Metallica Minerals rights issue has raised $2.125 million which will contribute to advancing the company’s Queensland projects towards production. Metallica received about $1.27 million from 220 shareholders, with the balance of the underwritten amount – $850,000 or 5.67 million shares – to be taken up by the underwriter, Patersons Securities. The company stated that net proceeds of about $1.9 million, in combination with existing cash reserves of about $1.5 million, would be used to advance its wholly owned Scandium-Cobalt-Nickel(SCONI) project, as well as its Weipa mineral sands project. “The company is pleased with the support it has received from shareholders, particularly in this very difficult market environment,” Metallica said in a statement. The company’s largest shareholder, Jien Mining,...

GOLD major Newcrest Mining plans to close its Brisbane office at the end of September and cut costs across its operations due to the deterioration of the gold price. Newcrest has reduced exploration activities and 20 per cent of corporate costs to deal with the price decline, in a move to focus on cash over growth. “Newcrest reconfirms its focus going forward will be on maximising free cash flow by reducing operating costs, corporate costs and capital expenditure,” a company statement said. Instead of spending a planned $1.5 billion during the 2014 financial year, Newcrest will spend about $1 billion and writedown assets to the value of between $5 billion and $6 billion. Spending would also be reduced in areas...

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of IMX Resources’ Mt Woods magnetite project in South Australia has delivered “highly favourable” results, demonstrating the potential for a viable near-term development at a cost of $295 million. In a statement, IMX Resources managing director Neil Meadows said the company believed Mt Woods was a unique opportunity in the Australian magnetite industry, as the infrastructure required to develop the project was already in place and being used by IMX’s existing Cairn Hill mine. “As a consequence, unlike most pre-development and current Australian magnetite projects, Mt Woods does not require large-scale capital investment and is not reliant on third parties for new infrastructure in order to develop a potentially economically viable project,” Mr Meadows said....

EMERGING WA company FairStar Resources has secured US$260 million from a mystery backer for its Steeple Hill iron ore project in WA’s goldfields. The unknown investor will fund 80 per cent of the project through Alliance Super Holdings, and carry the project through to production with an equal 50 per cent joint venture. The money will allow FairStar to fund infrastructure, begin construction and commission a plant at the project. Additionally, the deal will allow a line of credit totalling $640 million above the funding as extra capital for the joint venture. FairStar managing director Kevin Robertson said the company has considered all options and decided the deal was the best choice. “The future prospects for FairStar have never looked...

A successful structural study has outlined 11 priority targets for drilling at Paynes Find Gold’s flagship project 420km northeast of Perth. These include four ‘walk up’ reverse circulation (RC) drilling targets, as well as seven areas requiring further definition through shallow rotary air blast (RAB) drilling within the company’s 940 hectare tenement package. Paynes Find plans to submit a program of works to the WA Government for a 14,000m, 40-day RAB drilling program. Following a review of these results, it is expected to re-rank targets and plan the final coordinates for an 11,000m, 70-day RC drilling program. “Given the company’s recently announced mining services agreement on June 4 and associated 50 per cent profit share, Paynes Find anticipates being in...

REMEDIATION activities continue at a defunct uranium mine in Queensland as part of the State Government’s plan to unlock $4 billion worth of mineral resources in the northwest. State Government officials visited the Mary Kathleen mine near Cloncurry last month, as part of an ongoing assessment of the site’s remediation status and to address environmental and safety issues. Natural Resources and Mines minister Andrew Cripps said officers from the Abandoned Mine Lands Program – which oversees the management of historical mine sites – and the Geological Survey of Queensland would undertake in-depth field assessments, including drilling at the purpose-built tailings dam which contains 7 million tonnes of ore tailings. “This work will enable the department to gain a better understanding...