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’…
Australian mineral exploration company, Tyranna Resources Limited has acquired private company US Cobalt Pty Ltd, who owns the Goodsprings Cobalt and Base Metals Project, in Nevada, USA. US Cobalt's Goodsprings Cobalt and Base Metals Project consists of 329 mining claims covering 6,580 acres located within the Goodsprings mining district in southern Nevada. In March this year, Tyranna entered into a binding option agreement to acquire US Cobalt, as part of the company's diversification strategy to capitalise on the battery minerals revolution. Tyranna’s Managing Director, Bruno Seneque said the acquisition was an ‘outstanding deal’ for Tyranna and their shareholders. “Historical mining results…
Rio Tinto recently opened a fourth diamond pipe, known as the A21, at the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada. The pipe is located adjacent to Diavik’s existing mining operations at Lac de Gras (a notable Lake in Canada that was the centre of the diamond rush of the 1990s). The new open-pit pipe will provide an important source of incremental supply over the next four years, assisting with sustaining production levels at the mine. First ore was delivered in March and the pit is expected to be at full production during the fourth quarter of 2018, following a four-year construction period…
Argosy Minerals Limited has successfully produced battery-grade life-cycle engineering (LCE) product from the Stage 1 Plant at the Rincon Lithium Project in the Salta Province of Argentina. [caption id="attachment_11937" align="alignleft" width="281"] Image courtesy of Argosy Minerals Limited.[/caption] The Australian owned company said that following the recent plant works at the site, approximately 30kg of LCE product was produced. The product was tested in-house and the results indicated that the product is a lithium carbonate content value of 99.6 per cent. “We are delighted at this significant milestone – to achieve such a result from our Stage 1,500tpa capacity plant is…
Canadian company McEwen Mining has just announced exploration results from their ongoing $15 million exploration program at the Black Fox Complex near Ontario in Canada. McEwen intends to grow its known deposits and will continue to make new discoveries that contribute to near-term gold production. The company recently completed a total of 39,300 metres of surface exploration drilling at the site, for a year-to-date total of 66,900 metres. “Our drilling continues to deliver very encouraging results, particularly from the three project areas highlighted in this release: Stock East, Froome and Gibson. Continued drilling success reinforces our view about the strong…
Mokran Solar Power Plants Complex was constructed in the eastern province of Kerman over a period of six months. The opening of the plant took place in the presence of Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, Deputy Minister and the Head of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency organization (SATBA) and other government officials, on Monday. The plant holds the capacity of approximately 20 megawatts and was built with an investment of US $27 million by Swiss company Durion, supervised by a German company, Adore. The plant includes a total of 76,912 solar panels, each producing 260 watts over an area of…
The companies behind the Zaldívar copper mine in Chile have plans to become the country’s first mine to operate with 100 per cent renewable electricity. The mine forms a part of a Joint Venture between the Chile-based copper mining group, Antofagasta PLC, and the Canadian gold-mining company Barrick. The Zaldívar copper mine is currently located in the Andean Precordillera in Region II of northern Chile, approximately 1,400 kilometres north of Santiago and 175 kilometres southeast of the port city of Antofagasta. If successful, the works at the Zaldívar copper mine will be able to replace greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to…
The announcement was made on July 21, that Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), ONGC, GAIL, Oil India Limited and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) have come together to sign a Joint Venture (JV) agreement for the execution of the North-East Natural Gas Pipeline Grid Project. The Joint Venture between the five companies was on the agreement to ‘develop, build, operate and maintain’ the new Natural Gas Pipeline Project which has plans to connect the Indian City Guwahati to other major North-Eastern cities, and major load centres such as Numaligarh Refinery. This agreement will also include the integration of the North-East Natural…
