Lougher may open up M&A vista
February 1 - 7, 2012
UNSURPRISINGLY new managing director Dan Lougher wasn’t going to come into the top job at Western Areas talking big, brash and bold. But away from the headlines there’s certainly indications of balls being in the air. Indeed a deal or two in 2012 looks odds-on as management of the world’s best margin nickel mines wrestles with how to start moving its company up the market value chain.
Independence gloom unwarranted
December 15 - 21, 2011
WHILE the acquisition of Jabiru obviously hasn’t gone exactly to plan for Independence, the criticism of Independence seems a little wide of the mark. Since when did takeovers in the resources sector not come with risk?
No end in sight for Aquila iron ore journey
December 8 - 14, 2011
HOW long is a piece of string? That’s the oft-used cliché that springs most readily to mind when wondering how long it might be before participants in a major iron ore joint venture in Western Australia resolve their differences and get on with developing a significant new operation.
BC on the move
December 1 - 7, 2011
BC IRON has moved smoothly into production mode at its iron ore mining venture in Western Australia, according to an analyst site visit this week.
The writing on the wall
November 17 - 23, 2011
NOVEMBER 15: WHILE history, and indeed many current indicators, show mining projects get pushed through all kinds of investment risk safety barriers, there is a theory at least that says that ‘in the real world’, where available capital is restricted, selection of a project for investment should be based on an appropriate grading method. Cue Peter McCarthy, who maintains the choice more often than not boils down to quantity rather than quality.
Strategy risks include mine KPIs
November 17 - 23, 2011
NOVEMBER 15: AUSTRALIAN Centre for Geomechanics director Yves Potvin picked up where AMC Consultants chairman Peter McCarthy left off at a Perth mining conference focused on ‘strategic versus tactical’ mining last week. Leading mine KPIs, Potvin said, could feed the short-term focus and site behaviours that clashed with strategies set out in feasibility studies.
Senior managers talk tactics, strategies
November 10 - 16, 2011
MORE than 80 delegates turned out at this week’s Fourth International Seminar on Strategic versus Tactical Approaches in Mining, staged by the Australian Centre for Geomechanics, in Perth, Western Australia.
Plotting tactics fall short of geotech strategy
November 10 - 16, 2011
MICHAEL Dunn didn’t waste any time answering the question in his presentation title: Geotechnical data – a strategic or tactical issue? “I consider geotechnical management to be a strategic issue,” he told delegates at the Fourth International Seminar on Strategic versus Tactical Approaches in Mining. Suffice to say, the really important questions came later.
Reassuring Independence
October 27 - November 2, 2011
CONCERNS about Independence’s Jabiru project have apparently been allayed after the company took a bunch of analysts to the base metal operation last week to show them everything was back on track and going well.
Pieces of silver
October 27 - November 2, 2011
SILVER miner Alcyone Resources is moving forward with plans to establish a second mine close to its revamped Twin Hills processing plant as it commences drilling and blasting of ore in the main pit and sets about demonstrating the full design capacity of the restarted operation this quarter.
Iron appeal for earthmoving party
October 6 - 12, 2011
WITH BHP Billiton giving it the heave-ho in the Pilbara recently, would a large magnetite project on South Australia’s central Eyre Peninsular offer Leighton a nice business opportunity in the iron ore sector? Or another mining contractor?
Kings in sand castles
September 29 - October 5, 2011
THE miner’s response to the fantastic new world of mineral sands pricing that has emerged this year is building (so to speak!), with the corporate players, financiers and project developers comprising the bulk of the response thus far.
Single voice
September 29 - October 5, 2011
HEARING a mining executive having something positive to publicly say about the hot job market and, shock, horror, the Federal Government authorities as well, is, on account of its rareness, a rather extraordinary event indeed.
Nickel’s true believers make their case
September 29 - October 5, 2011
TRUE believers in nickel they unarguably are, but the sense of optimism in the medium and longer term from a gathering of nickel players in Australia last week stands in obvious contrast to the general short term gloom and doom bedevilling, so to speak, the devil’s metal.
A visit to Tampakan
September 15 - 21, 2011
THE thing that immediately strikes an observer about the Tampakan project in the Philippines is just how much of an all or nothing proposition it seems. It’s a project that will cost a stupendous amount to develop and will be a huge producer of gold and copper for a long time, but all in a geopolitical context that’s a long way south of being, so to speak, A1 quality.
Day gets to work on wiring, plumbing
August 18 - 24, 2011
KAGARA’S evolvement from an old style junior miner to one with serious growth ambitions is already being seen to an extent in its operational performance. But it is in the background that the more important foundations for Kagara’s future are being laid.
Rise of a mining goliath
August 4 - 10, 2011
AUGUST 1: FORTESCUE Metals Group’s incredible appearing act of the past five years has been a dress rehearsal for the major show it expects to put on over the next few years, when iron ore exports from its Pilbara operations are pegged to grow from 55 million tonnes per annum to 155Mtpa. It is a period in which new CEO Nev Power also wants FMG to become a serious miner.
Quoll result is in: grade still king
July 21 - 27, 2011
THERE are few pure-play nickel companies that have less to worry about with the fluctuations of the nickel price than Western Areas, which is not to say analysts are unconcerned about the metal’s near-term future. But as WSA chief financial officer David Southam says, when is the nickel price not a concern?
A good measure of management value-add
May 26 - June 1, 2011
NEXT time an investor is wondering about the quality of management at a mining company they are thinking of investing in, he or she might do well to take a close look at one particular, low profile, operational statistic.
Opening the floodgates
April 21 - 27, 2011
BC IRON is wasting no time ramping up production at Nullagine in Western Australia to fulfil the promise made to investors when it transferred half the project to Fortescue Metals Group. That pledge was simple: we’ll make hay while the sun is shining.
