EXPLORATION
Aussies dodge US delays
TWO words can mean the difference between lengthy permitting delays and uninterrupted advantages when it comes to staking out a mining patch in the US. Those two words are patented claims.
News Desk
AIMEX visitors looking ahead
MAY 17: AIMEX organiser Reed Mining Events’ switch from quadrennial to biannual staging of the Asia Pacific region’s major mining expo has landed the event in a subdued year for the industry as commodity prices sag and investment stalls. But exhibition director Paul Baker sees good reasons for optimism.
CAE profit nosedives
MAY 17: CANADIAN simulator training technology giant CAE booked $C2104.5 million of revenue for the year ended March 31, 2013, up 16% from $1821.2 million in FY12, with the ‘core new markets’ division (including mining software) contributing more than the $100 million targeted for the year.
Petropavlovsk reins in POX hub
MAY 16: Russian-focused mid-tier gold producer Petropavlovsk will push back the development period for its pressure oxidisation (POX) hub by up to 18 months as part of cost saving measures designed to save $US160 million this year.
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Barrick seeks comminution efficiency gains
MAY 16: Number one global gold producer Barrick Gold Corporation has agreed to sponsor the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) for two years in a boost for the Australian-based organisation seeking to increase awareness of comminution and energy efficiency opportunities.
Cold comfort for Albidon shareholders
MAY 16: Shareholders in Australian explorer Albidon have accepted the inevitable, voting overwhelmingly to accept the takeover offer of just $US0.0025 per share from major shareholder Jinchuan Group (Hong Kong) Resources Holdings.
Fortescue faces third party rail access bid
MAY 16: Australia’s No 3 iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group is being challenged to allow third party access to its private Pilbara region rail system.
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NATA ticks for GeoGAS labs
MAY 16: Laboratory gas testing firm GeoGAS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RungePincockMinarco (RPM) has attained accreditation in gas chromatography testing at its Mackay and Wollongong laboratories in eastern Australia.
Cash-strapped African Eagle stops Dutwa project
MAY 16: UK-based African Eagle Resources has drastically cut back on its operations in Tanzania after failing to find a strategic funding partner for its Dutwa lateritic nickel project.
Rope tangle slows Palabora hoists
MAY 15: South African copper producer Palabora Mining says the north hoisting winder at its Limpopo province mine will be out of action until at least the middle of next week due to tangled tail ropes.
Pay cuts to bring on Crusader’s Brazilian projects
MAY 15: It’s tough out there, even with a couple of Brazilian gold and iron projects getting a little traction.
Ausenco sees trend to process improvements
MAY 15: Australian-based global engineering and project management firm Ausenco has forecast a surge in asset optimisation projects for the resources and energy industry as interest in capital-intensive greenfield developments dries up.
Another record quarter for Centamin
MAY 15: Centamin’s Sukari Gold Mine in Egypt has followed a record 2012 financial year with a second successive qtr of record gold production, with Q1 (Mar) 2013 up 2% on the previous qtr to 87,016oz.
Mining sector fund-raising drops 24%
MAY 15: The first quarter of 2013 has been extremely challenging for the international mining industry, with the problematic combination of rising operating costs, falling metals prices, lower ore grades and a continued scarcity in the availability of funds, according to the latest IntierraRMG snapshot of the industry.
Kennametal secures tungsten supply
MAY 15: American specialty metals and steel products manufacturer Kennametal has moved upstream in buying a Bolivian tungsten supplier in a deal expected to be completed in July this year.
Big attendance booked for Austmine 2013
MORE than 400 people are expected to attend next week’s major event focused on the $A70 billion-plus Australian mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector, Austmine 2013, which will include a discussion about what the mine of the future – the future circa 2053 – will look like.
Maptek goes for gold in Brazil
MAY 15: MINNG technology and services company Maptek has committed to Gold level sponsorship of the 36th APCOM symposium, the major biannual mineral industry computing and operational research event, to be held in Brazil for the first time in November this year.
Firms collaborate on new Geopolymers
QUEENSLAND companies Reynolds Soil Technologies and Proof Engineers have launched a new Geopolymer range of engineered “super absorbent” products and they see opening up multi-million dollar markets in mining, oil and gas, and civil engineering.
VIEW FROM THE WEST END
Show us your assets
“EVERY MAN lives by exchanging.” – Adam Smith.
I think perhaps I have discussed before how most of the great cities of the world, in general, became so by accident rather than by design. London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc, can all trace their roots way, way back to distant antiquity starting out as crappy little, pestilent trading posts on some transport route or other. Most such places faded away, but some, for various reasons, survived and eventually dominated the other crappy little pestilent trading posts along the way.
FROM THE CAPITAL
Market continues search for cycle bottom
MIRABELA Nickel, Kasbah Resources, NuCoal Resources and Lynas Corporation have little in common apart from their shared sectoral background. That is a glimmer of good news for mining investors looking for signs of an end to the cyclical downturn in mining stocks.
FINANCE
Platinum’s rebalancing act
THE prospect of slightly stronger platinum prices this year is unlikely to do much for South Africa’s struggling PGM producers, who will continue to cop it from every angle.
EUROPE
Supply strife belies PGM price
SLIGHTLY lower demand for platinum was outpaced by a significant drop in supply from South African miners to push the platinum market into deficit last year, according to Johnson Matthey’s annual platinum review.
CABBIE'S CORNER
A recipe for success
AS THE fare was being paid, the question asked of the fund manager by the humble cabbie was remarkably simple: “Do you have any great investments I should be considering? You know the type ... massive asset potential, great management, cashed up to the eyeballs, and about to make a company transformational discovery or deal!”
MINING INTELLIGENCE
A real commitment to analytics
ASSET management consultancy ScottMadden defines analytics as “the process by which we attempt to bridge the gap between knowledge (data) and action, and how we seek to ensure future actions reflect these data-driven insights.” Some mines have used analytics for amazing results but many haven’t.
GOLD
Gold sector enters reinvention era
WHEN he was a young 24-year-old mining contractor Bill Beament had the unenviable task of standing in front of a bunch of miners to inform them they were facing a significant pay cut. Fast forward to 2013 and the now managing director of successful gold miner Northern Star Resources is seeing the distinct possibility of industry-wide wage cuts for those in the gold sector. The straight talking executive can see other significant changes on the way too.
EXPLORATION
Breaking the mould
WHILE the reverse circulation drilling currently underway will be the definitive judge of whether the market sizzle is warranted – at least in this first instance – greenfields gold explorer Breaker Resources has been one of the few market success stories of the past year.
AFRICA
Dirt cheap
WHAT exactly complete market capitulation looks like is a tough question to answer but clues can be seen in the treatment being savagely meted out to Gryphon Minerals (ASX: GRY).
ASIA DESK
New light on Stonehenge?
URANIUM and vanadium junior Stonehenge Metals may be just another microcap languishing among the train wreck that is the junior resources sector at the moment, but it may also have some big announcements in the coming weeks that could prove very significant for the company’s future.
CENTRAL ASIA
Kyrgyz coal project has a fat chance in China’s west
THE haves and have-nots of the Australian Securities Exchange-listed junior exploration company space are likely to become much more visible, one way or another, over the next few months. Kyrgyz Republic-focused Celsius Coal does have cash and a seemingly sound strategy. And its new CFO thinks it could have a lot more going for it too in the “near term”.
EVENTS
Rock mechanics focus to switch to optimisation
A SIGNIFICANT body of outstanding research and development results has helped turn Western Australia over the past 15 or so years from something of a “cowboy mining state” into a global centre of excellence for both mine ground support knowledge, and application of that know-how to achieve world-class mine safety. The cost of that transition has been high.
UNDERGROUND
A long way from Tipperary
WITH ore grading up to 30% zinc, it’s not surprising the owner of the Lisheen mine in Ireland has chased its base metal lodes through some of the worst ground any geotechnical engineer has laid eyes on. It’s also no surprise Lisheen continues to be a source of deep interest for the geomechanics fraternity.
UNDERGROUND
Lapa ground support makes the grade
FREDERIC Mercier-Langevin set the bar high in the opening ‘squeezing ground’ segment of Ground Support 2013 with descriptions of rock-burst conditions at the Lapa mine in eastern Canada that certainly fitted the ‘extreme’ promotional tag. The images shown were also a far cry from the pristine underground tunnels usually seen in company annual reports.
UNDERGROUND
Pain and gain
JOANNA Graaf was at the Cosmos nickel mine in Western Australia for nearly two years before it was shut down last September, resulting in about 150 people losing their job. She was lucky enough to land a new role as senior rock mechanics engineer at Golder Associates at a time when the consulting sector is also doing it tough. But Graaf had even more luck at Cosmos.
CONSULTING
After the fall
LESSONS – and more – from the Beaconsfield underground mine collapse in 2006 are being applied more widely by the key people involved in responding to the incident and mapping a safe path back to production. They are lessons that are becoming more valuable as more mines head into deeper, higher-stress environments, according to Peter Hills.
MINING IT
Dynamic support simulations, not rocket science
RESPECTED rock mechanics engineer Peter Mikula welcomed aerospace engineering PhD Charles Lilley to the Ground Support 2013 stage with an optimistic aside. “Maybe we’ll get the fastest [rock] bolt we’ve ever seen”. Lilley suggested he and the team at Beck Engineering had something more valuable.
MINING IT
Henderson a model subject
QUALITY data is still the key to valuable predictive studies, but current numerical modelling technology and methodology is proving accurate and more than useful in critical ground support validation and assessment work, as shown again by Itasca at the Henderson molybdenum mine in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.
TECHNOLOGY
Bolt-on strength in weak ground
IT’S so far, so good for the Expanding Stiff Split Set, “quite a new concept” in mine ground support, according to respected geotechnical engineer Peter Fuller, who is working with the concept’s creator at mining consultancy, Mining One.
MINING IT
Austmine platform for Micromine launch
LONG-TIME Austmine member Micromine will use next week’s Austmine International Exhibition and Convention in Western Australia to preview its flagship Micromine 2013 software.
