The approval of a new $1 billion rare earth and metals mine in Dubbo is great news for the region, the state and national economies, and the New South Wales minerals sector, says Australia’s resource industry employer group, AMMA. “AMMA welcomes New South Wales granting an environment protection licence to Alkane Resources, in what was the final regulatory hurdle after a decade long process for the Dubbo Zirconia Project,” says AMMA executive director, policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb. “Following construction which will create 450 jobs, this project will produce 30,000 tonnes of rare metals and rare earths annually and…
Decmil Group Limited was recently awarded a $30.6m contract with BHP Billiton Iron Ore to design and construct a warehouse hub at Kingsford Business Park, Port Hedland, Western Australia. The facility will consist of a 12,000m2 warehouse and 35,000m2 sealed hard standing area. Construction is expected to commence in May 2016 and adds to Decmil’s long history of providing non process infrastructure to the West Australian mining sector.
Gold Road Resources Limited has completed the Pre‐Feasibility Study (PFS) for the development of its 5.62 million ounce5 (Moz) Gruyere Project, located 200 kilometres east of Laverton in Western Australia. The completion of the PFS included detailed economic analysis and further technical work building on the findings of the first stage Options Study which determined that the best go‐forward case was a large‐scale open‐pit mine utilising a conventional 7.5 Mtpa SAG/Ball Mill Circuit gravity/carbon‐in‐leach processing facility, powered by a pipeline‐supplied, gas‐fired power generation plant. The full PFS confirms the Project as one of Australia’s best undeveloped gold deposits and indicates…
Doray Minerals Limited has successfully achieved another milestone in its plans to become a multi-mine high-grade gold producer with the recent commencement of open pit mining at the Company’s Deflector Gold Project. Doray’s open pit contractor, MACA Ltd recently completed the first blast in the Deflector open pit and has commenced open pit mining operations during February, as forecast. Doray’s Managing Director, Allan Kelly, said the commencement of open pit mining represented another significant milestone in the rapid development of the Deflector Project and came less than a year after completing the takeover of Mutiny Gold in March 2015. “We…
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection issued a final environmental authority (EA) for Adani’s Carmichael Mine project on 2 February 2016 with approximately 140 conditions, including 9 conditions relating to the black throated finch as required by the Land Court. The EA application was vigorously assessed by EHP and acted on recommendations made by the Land Court. EHP is confident the strict conditions placed on the EA, including extra requirements based on the Land Court’s recommendations, will ensure this mine will not pose an unacceptable risk to the environment and any potential impacts will be closely monitored. The project…
One of Victoria’s most productive gold mines, Fosterville Gold Mine near Bendigo, has reached a major milestone by extracting its millionth ounce of gold from the current operation. Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio joined the mine’s operator, Newmarket Gold Inc, to unveil a plaque on site of the Fosterville Gold Mine to celebrate the achievement. At today’s prices, a million ounces of gold is worth approximately $1.6 billion. Fosterville Gold Mine employs 400 people and boosts the local economy by $90 million a year through wages and sourcing goods and services regionally. The Fosterville mining operation is also…
Leading mining and civil construction firm BGC Contracting Pty Ltd has been awarded a five-year contract extension with Cliff Natural Resources at its Koolyanobbing Iron Ore Project in Western Australia. The current mining contract, previously due to be completed in 2017, will be extended through to 2022, and is valued at more than $520 million. Under the contract, BGC Contracting will continue to provide the full range of mining services, including drilling, blasting, loading, hauling, dumping, crushing, screening and train load-out. BGC Contracting CEO Greg Heylen said the contract extension was recognition of the Koolyanobbing team’s ability to meet Cliffs’…
BHP has announced four new renewable power agreements to meet power demand for two of its copper operations in Chile. BHP’s Escondida mine, located in Northern Chile, is the world’s largest copper producer, while Spence is BHP’s wholly-owned open-pit copper mine, located in the Atacama Desert, in the North of Chile. BHP aims to supply Escondida and Spence’s energy requirements from 100 per cent renewable energy sources from the mid-2020s. The new contracts are expected to meet Escondida and Spence’s current energy needs and also contain the flexibility to help manage future demand as well. President of BHP Minerals Americas,…
Rio Tinto now offers independently certified responsibly produced aluminium from all of its Canadian operations, with the extension of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative’s (ASI) Chain of Custody certification to include the BC Works smelter and Kemano Power Operations in Kitimat, British Columbia. The certification reinforces Rio Tinto’s commitment to responsible mining and metals production by providing independent verification that material can be traced through a ‘chain of custody’ which extends from Rio Tinto’s Gove bauxite mine in Australia to its alumina refinery, aluminium smelters and casthouses in Quebec and British Columbia. Being certified by the ASI means customers can be…
Zinc exploration and development company, Superior Lake Resources Limited, has announced the results of a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) for the Superior Lake Project, located approximately 200 kilometres east of Thunder Bay in the province of Ontario, Canada. The project spans an area of 175 square kilometres and consists of two deposits – Winston Lake and Pick Lake. It is owned by Ophiolite Holdings Pty Ltd, an Australian incorporated entity. Superior Lake owns 70 per cent of Ophiolite and recently announced transactions to acquire an additional interest of 15 per cent in Ophiolite. Since acquiring an interest in the project,…
Chesser Resources Limited has received first assay results from a recently completed Phase 2 Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program at the Diamba Sud project in Senegal. Covering 53.2 square kilometres over the gold-bearing Kédougou-Kéniéba Inlier, Diamba Sud is the company’s flagship project. It consists of two blocks referred to as DS1 in the north and DS2 in the south. The Phase 1 drilling program completed earlier in 2019 successfully intersected significant gold mineralisation in fresh rock at all four target areas. The Phase 2 Drilling program within DS1 was completed in mid-July, with a total of 26 RC holes drilled for…
Rio Tinto’s Resolution Copper project in the US has achieved a major permitting milestone with the release of an independently prepared Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the project. The rigorous review, conducted by the US Forest Service over a six year period included broad public engagement. Resolution, one of the most significant undeveloped copper deposits in the world, started the US permitting process in 2013 and the US Forest Service has conducted a comprehensive independent review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The publication of the DEIS triggers a further public consultation process over a 90 day period,…
Lake Resources NL (Lake) has discovered multiple lithium brines over a zone of 144 metres (from 172 – 316m) at its 100 per cent owned Cauchari Lithium Brine Project in Argentina. Lithium values from 340 to 538 mg/L were returned from multiple high flow brines with low Mg/Li ratios of 2.73.0. The brine zones and target sand horizon were intersected higher in the sequence than expected. The hole was terminated at 460m due to less permeable clay horizons from 326m, although conductive brines were intersected at 356m and 386m. Detailed sampling with a packer instrument has commenced from 387m up…
Rio Tinto will reduce the annual carbon footprint at its Kennecott Utah Copper operation, located southwest of Salt Lake City in Utah, U.S. by as much as 65 per cent by purchasing renewable energy certificates and permanently shutting its coal power plant. Kennecott’s electricity needs will now be paired with 1.5 million megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates supplied by Rocky Mountain Power, primarily sourced from its Utah allocated portfolio including wind power from Wyoming. The change will reduce the annual carbon footprint associated with the operation by over one million tonnes CO2. Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said…
