Rio Tinto diamond mine delivers final production

IN a move to deliver significant benefits to both companies, MetroCoal and Cape Alumina have signed a Merger Implementation Agreement (MIA) to create a diversified bauxite and thermal coal business with a staged development pipeline. Under the agreement, MetroCoal would offer 1.12 shares for every Cape Alumina share, in addition to providing Cape Alumina with a $3 million convertible note to supplement Cape Alumina working capital to accelerate work on the Pisolite Hills project, 50km northeast of Weipa in Queensland. The first $1 million would be made available on execution of the MIA, while the further $2 million would be available subject to the approval of Cape Alumina shareholders. Pending all required approvals, the companies reportedly expects the merger to...

Westgold Resources to not increase Musgrave Minerals offer Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) has decided not to increase its offer for the takeover of Musgrave Minerals (ASX:MGV) following a better offer from Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS). In early June, Westgold announced an all-scrip off-market takeover offer for all the outstanding shares in Musgrave Minerals with an implied value of $177.3m or 30¢ per share. Musgrave shareholders were to receive one fully paid ordinary Westgold share for every 5.37 Musgrave shares held. At the time, Westgold said the combination of the companies consolidates both groups’ regional assets into a larger scale, more profitable and highly investable WA-focused gold miner. Westgold managing director Wayne Bramwell...

Fortescue Metals achieves record iron ore shipments for FY23 Iron ore shipments of 48.9mt in Q4 FY23 contributed to Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) achieving record shipments of 192mt for FY23. This is 2% higher than FY22 and achieved the top end of market guidance. FY23 represents the fourth consecutive year of record shipments, reflecting strong performance across the entire supply chain.   Average revenue totalled US$96/dmt (A$141.80/dmt) in Q4 FY23, realising 87% of the Platts 62% CFR Index, and average revenue in FY23 totalled US$95/dmt (A$140.32) in FY23. This strong cashflow generation contributed to a cash balance of US$4.3b (A$6.35b) and net debt of US$1b (A$1.48b) as of June 30, 2023,...

Mining contributes record $455b in export revenue in FY23 In the 2022-2023 financial year, mining contributed a record $455b in export revenue, highlighting the importance of the industry to the nation’s economy, government revenue and regional jobs. Released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), this figure represents 66% of all export revenue for the nation and is 10.5% higher that 2021-2022, which was a previous record year. This figure showed that thermal and metallurgical coal export revenue totalled $128b, iron ore $125b, gold $27.4b, aluminium $14.9b and copper $12.5b. A strong growth was seen in technology metals such as nickel, 51%, zinc, 30%, copper, 17% and coal, 11%. A 5% increase was...