BHP Billiton has agreed to cease progression of the Caroona Coal Project, through the cancellation of Exploration Licence (EL) 6505. BHP Billiton Minerals Australia President, Mike Henry, acknowledged the NSW Government’s willingness to come to an acceptable agreement in respect of the cancellation. “While we believe that Caroona would have been developed responsibly, we accept the Government’s decision and appreciate its willingness to work with us to agree an acceptable financial outcome for the cancellation of our exploration licence,” Mr Henry said. “The Caroona Coal Project was studied extensively and developed cautiously for almost 10 years. We carried out extensive…
Rio Tinto will invest an incremental $338 million to complete the development of the Silvergrass mine in its world-class Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. The brownfield expansion of the high-grade Silvergrass mine offers attractive returns, with an expected internal rate of return for this investment well in excess of 100 per cent and a pay back of less than three years. It is a key element in maintaining Rio Tinto’s premium Pilbara blend, and also delivers incremental tonnage and lower unit costs. As anticipated in previous guidance, this Silvergrass investment adds 10 million tonnes of capacity. The investment…
BHP Billiton has confirmed that it will not be seeking a further extension to the Variation Deed to the Indenture, which was executed between BHP Billiton and the State of South Australia in October 2011 to accommodate an open pit development at Olympic Dam. The Indenture is the State Agreement which governs the operation of Olympic Dam. As outlined in December last year, BHP Billiton is now pursuing an underground development pathway for Olympic Dam that, subject to approvals and an attractive investment environment, could see copper production increase to 450ktpa from 2025. Therefore as BHP Billiton will not…
Blackham Resources Ltd has successfully achieved another milestone towards gold production with the commencement of open pit mining and underground development work at the Company’s Matilda Gold Project. Blackham’s open pit contractor, MACA Ltd has mobilised the initial mining fleet and commenced mining operations at the Matilda M10 open pit. Pybar Mining Services Ltd has also commenced underground development at the high grade Golden Age orebody. Blackham’s Managing Director, Bryan Dixon, said: “The commencement of mining represents another significant milestone in the Company’s transition from gold explorer to producer at a time of record Australian gold prices”. The 5.1Moz Matilda…
IM Medical Limited has entered into an exclusivity agreement with Rox Resources Limited in relation to an offer to acquire Rox’s interest in the Reward zinc-lead joint venture through IMI’s wholly owned subsidiary IMI Zinc Exploration Pty Ltd. The Reward project is currently owned 49% by Rox and 51% by Teck Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited. Teck has the option to increase its JV interest to 70% by spending A$15 million in total by 31 August 2018. As at 31 March 2016 Teck had spent approximately $13.85 million. The parties have entered into an exclusivity agreement…
Toro Energy Limited has taken another important step in the development of the Wiluna Uranium Project with the signing of an agreement with the Wiluna People providing the consent of native title holders. More than seven years of relationship building between the Wiluna People and Toro culminated in a community meeting at Wiluna to ratify the agreement. Toro’s Managing Director, Dr Vanessa Guthrie, expressed the Company’s deep appreciation for the constructive approach the Wiluna People had taken to the development of their relationship with Toro and the negotiation of the mining agreement. Speaking for Tarlka Matuwa Piarku Aboriginal Corporation (TMPAC…
Red River Resources Limited has announced that a review of the historic Thalanga exploration database has identified a number of additional high priority exploration targets at its Thalanga Zinc Project in central Queensland. The review has confirmed that the favourable Thalanga Horizon is open at depth to the west and the east, and has highlighted a number of areas for further high priority exploration. Of particular interest is the Thalanga East to Far East area, where the review highlighted a historic drill hole intercept of 4.6m @ 4.1% Cu beneath Thalanga East and multiple intercepts of polymetallic zinc rich mineralisation…
Rafaella Resources Limited has commenced a drilling campaign for up to 4,500 metres, through its Spanish subsidiary and 100 per cent owner of the Santa Comba tungsten and tin project, Galicia Tin and Tungsten SL (GTT). The drilling campaign will initially focus on converting existing Inferred Resources located within the current pit shells to Measured and Indicated status amounting to seven holes, totalling approximately 1,500 metres. Four of the initial holes are positioned within the existing aggregate quarry and all the targeted resource upgrade will fall within Stage 1 of the mine plan, which is to be undertaken through a…
Last year, Adriatic Metals PLC acquired TSX-listed Tethyan Resource Corp to advance the former Kizevak and Sastavci polymetallic mines in the Raska District in Serbia, and over the last few months the company has been progressing with drilling programs at these sites. This morning, Adriatic reported that assay results have been returned for 16 diamond core holes at Kizevak and three holes from Sastavci. Drilling at Kizevak has confirmed the down dip continuity of a high-grade lens in the central-northwest part of the deposit, beneath the limit of historic drilling, and the company advised that mineralisation remains open. Meanwhile, confirmation…
Eagle Mountain Mining Limited has recommenced drilling at its 80 per cent owned Oracle Ridge Copper Project in Arizona, USA. The first drill hole for 2021 is WT-21-01 and was completed last week, while WT-21-02 is underway. All drilling undertaken by the company last year was aimed at expanding the existing mineral resource base. Eagle Mountain outlines that assays received from the 2020 drilling program contained significant grades of copper mineralisation. Assays for the last five drillholes are still pending. The company remains confident in achieving its previously announced Exploration Target of adding an additional 14-29 million tonnes (Mt) at…
Rio Tinto is on-track to become the first producer of high-quality scandium oxide in North America, with the construction of a new commercial-scale demonstration plant underway at its Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (RTFT) metallurgical complex in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. RTFT expects to commence commercial supply of scandium oxide in the second quarter of 2021. With its world-class aluminium business, the company is also well positioned to produce aluminium-scandium alloys to meet customers' needs. Rio Tinto is investing US$6 million for the construction of a first module in the plant, with an initial capacity to produce three tonnes of scandium oxide…
Barrick Gold Corporation has announced preliminary full year and fourth quarter 2020 results which indicate that it has met its 2020 guidance targets. According to Barrick, preliminary gold production for the full year of 4.8 million ounces is at the midpoint of the 4.6 to 5 million ounce guidance range, while preliminary copper production of 457 million pounds is also within the guidance range of 440 to 500 million pounds. The preliminary Q4 results show sales for the quarter of 1.19 million ounces of gold and 108 million pounds of copper, as well as preliminary Q4 production of 1.21 million…
Pan Asia Metals Limited (PAM), has today provided an update on the drilling program at the Khao Soon Tungsten Project (KSTP) and has reported that a drill rig has been mobilised to the Reung Kiet Lithium Project, both located in southern Thailand. KSTP, located approximately 600 kilometres south of Bangkok, is one of PAM’s primary assets and a significant historical high-grade producer. PAM outlines that modern exploration has discovered potentially world-class district-scale tungsten mineralisation across numerous prospects. Today PAM announced that drilling of Priority One holes at the Than Pho West (TPW) Prospect have been finalised. Ten holes were drilled…
Rio Tinto has agreed to a new electricity agreement with Meridian Energy that allows New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) to continue operating the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter until 31 December 2024. The extension provides certainty to employees, the local community and customers while providing more time for all stakeholders to plan for the future. NZAS is New Zealand’s sole aluminium smelter. It commenced production in 1971 and produced 353,293 tonnes of aluminium in 2019. NZAS is 79.36 per cent owned by Rio Tinto and 20.64 per cent owned by Japan's Sumitomo Chemical Company. In July 2020, Rio Tinto announced the…
