One Partner. Full Scope. Project Success.

BY CAMERON DRUMMOND   CHINESE steel exports to global markets is increasingly volatile as it tackles industry reforms to decrease pollution in a period of slowing domestic demand.   The world’s largest steelmaking nation is reporting an increase in steel stockpiles due to sluggish demand, which has led to decreased demand for raw steelmaking materials and a drop in iron ore prices. Steel exports are down 30.5 per cent in 2018 compared with the same period last year. According to data from Steelhome Consultancy, rebar inventories held by Chinese traders rose to 9.79mt during March, the highest since April 2013. The looming possibility of a trade war between China and the US has also reduced confidence in the steel and...

Mergers and Acquisitions in Australia’s Energy, Mining and Utilities sector is on the rise. Image: Mergemarket.   BY CAMERON DRUMMOND   THE WA mining sector is leading the charge in the merger market on the back of increased foreign interest in a range of commodities. According to Mergemarket’s 2017 Australia M&A report, Energy, Mining and Utilities (EMU) has taken over Transportation as the most targeted merger and acquisitions (M&A) sector, with 77 deals worth a total $37.1 billion made during 2017– a 56.7 per cent increase on 2016 figures. Australia, and in particular WA, is poised for further increases in 2018 for deals in the tech metals sector, as the Federal and State Governments open doors to capitalise on growing...

SOUTH Australian-based Minotaur Exploration has sold its wholly-owned Roxby Downs tenements to BHP Billiton for $10 million. The sale and purchase deed between Minotaur and BHP involves five of Minotaur’s exploration tenements that cover 2555 square kilometres in the Gawler Craton, near BHP’s Olympic Dam operation in South Australia. As part of the agreement, another BHP subsidiary relinquished its 41 per cent interest in the Mutooroo/Thackaringa joint venture at Bonython Hill, allowing Minotaur to regain 100 per cent ownership of the base metal project. In a statement, Minotaur said the deep exploration of geophysical targets around Roxby Downs was inconsistent to its risk portfolio, and reported that it would turn its focus to exploration on its Cloncurry iron oxide copper...

PERTH-BASED Impact Minerals Limited (ASX:IPT) has received a grant of $75,000 from the $2m New Frontiers Cooperative Drilling grants program awarded by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. The funds, awarded on the technical merit of the proposed drill program, will be used to drill test specific targets along the Rockwell-Little Broken Hill Gabbro trend, a 6km-long maficultramafic intrusion that is highly prospective for deposits of high grade nickel-copper-platinum group metals (PGM), including palladium and rhodium, currently at near record prices. The entire trend is very poorly explored with only a few drill holes completed by previous explorers to shallow depths. As part of the preparation for a drill program, field checking and extensive rock chip sampling was...