On 8 March 2016, General Mining Corporation Ltd, along with its project partner Galaxy Resources Limited, announced the signing of two binding Term Sheets with two China based buyers for the sale of 60kt of spodumene concentrate (USD 600/t) in 2016, and a further 120kt in 2017 (subject to price agreement in the December quarter 2016) from the Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia. Completed Offtake agreement details The Company is pleased to announce that it has now signed a binding tri‐party offtake agreement with one of the offtake parties, and GMM’s exclusive selling and settlement agent, Tokyo based Mitsubishi…
The re-opening of Central Queensland’s Isaac Plains Mine underlines the solid long-term prospects for the Queensland resources sector. Officially re-opening the mine near Moranbah in central Queensland, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the mining sector was doing it tough, but demand remained strong for Queensland’s resources and expertise. “As the re-opening of Isaac Plains here today in Central Queensland shows, investors still have confidence in Queensland and our resources,” she said. “We have new faces, like Stanmore Coal, and new investors who are calling the bottom of the market, stepping up and creating jobs, like the 150 jobs here at Isaac…
The $1.4 billion Dugald River zinc project has gained special status to help cut red tape and create hundreds of jobs in north Queensland. State Development Minister and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dr Anthony Lynham has granted “prescribed project” status to MMG Ltd’s project, 85 km north-east of Mt Isa. “Projects like Dugald River are critical to economic development and job creation in the north-west during these tough times caused by ongoing resource commodity price lows,” Dr Lynham said. “Granting it prescribed project status will allow the Coordinator-General to assist MMG to navigate processes and timely approvals through…
Western Australian State Development Minister Bill Marmion has toured the Roy Hill project, the State's newest - and the nation's biggest - single-pit iron ore mine. "Roy Hill celebrated its first shipment in December 2015, and is now in the process of ramping up to its full production capacity of 55 million tonnes per annum," Mr Marmion said. "At full capacity, five ore trains per day will run between the mine and port facilities at Port Hedland, all controlled via Roy Hill's state-of-the-art remote operations centre in Perth. The Minister said the mine is expected to operate for more than…
Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy, Anthony Roberts, has announced that a billion dollar project in the State’s central west to mine rare metals and rare earths has now passed its final hurdle and will go ahead. “The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has granted an Environment Protection Licence to Alkane Resources after the company had already been granted a Mining Lease last December after it had met a rigorous government approval process. “Known as the Dubbo Zirconia Project, the mine will produce up to 30,000 tonnes of specialty metals and rare earths per year which are highly sought after to…
Thousands of new jobs in regional Queensland have come a major step closer with approval of the mining leases for the $21.7 billion Carmichael coal mine and rail project in the State’s Galilee Basin. Premier Annastascia Palaszczuk said Minister for State Development and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dr Anthony Lynham had today approved the grant of three individual mining leases about 160km north-west of Clermont. “This is a major step forward for this project after extensive government and community scrutiny,” the Premier said. “Some approvals are still required before construction can start, and ultimately committing to the project…
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…
Rio Tinto has approved the next stage in the development of Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) in South Africa through the construction of the Zulti South project. The $463 million (Rio Tinto share $343 million) investment will sustain RBM’s current capacity and extend mine life. RBM currently operates four mines in the Zulti North lease area, a mineral separation plant and smelting facility. The Zulti North orebody grade is declining, hence the Zulti South mine is required to maintain the output of high-margin zircon and rutile, and provide sufficient ore to support TiO2 sales. The Zulti South mine (Phase 1) will…
Canadian technology company, ELYSIS has announced the site for its new research and development facility in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Québec. The ELYSIS joint venture, by Rio Tinto and Alcoa Corporation, is working to commercialise a breakthrough technology that eliminates all direct greenhouse gases (GHG) from the traditional aluminium smelting process, instead producing pure oxygen. In Canada alone, the technology has the potential to reduce GHG emissions by 7 million tonnes, which is equivalent to removing 1.8 million cars off the road. The company believes this technology could reduce the environmental footprint of the aluminium industry on a global scale.…
ASX-listed emerging diamond group, Lucapa Diamond Company Limited, in partnership with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, have announced the recovery of a top-colour 55-carat diamond from the new 1.1 Million tonne per annum (Mtpa) Mothae kimberlite plant in Lesotho, Africa. The 55 carat stone is the fifth over 50-carat diamond recovered to date from Lucapa's 70 per cent owned Mothae project; in March, an 83.9-carat diamond was recovered. Commercial production from the Mothae mine commenced in January 2019 following the successful commissioning and ramp-up phases for the new plant and an earlier bulk sampling campaign. Mothae is considered…
Anson Resources Limited has commenced drilling the re-entry of the Skyline Unit 1 well at its Paradox Brine Project, located in Utah, USA. Anson is targeting lithium-rich brines in the deepest part of the Paradox Basin. Lithium values of up to 1,700ppm have historically been recorded in close proximity to Anson’s claim area. According to the company, the Skyline Unit 1 well had access that required little upgrade work and had previously recorded brine flow from historical drilling. This marks the third re-entry of an existing well carried out by the company at the Paradox Brine Project to sample brines…
BlackEarth Minerals NL has provided an update on the assay results received from trenching programs at the Maniry Graphite Project in Southern Madagascar. The Maniry trenching program was completed in early December with 47 trenches excavated for 4,314 metres, with 2,183 samples collected for analysis. 479 assay results were returned from the laboratory with the remaining assay results expected to be received and reported upon during the current quarter. The most impressive assay results were received from Trench MNT041 and MNT041a which were excavated at the Razafy NW prospect, these are summarised below: Trench MNT041: 0m at 9.89 per cent…
Newcrest Mining Limited has entered into an agreement with Roxgold Inc. for the sale of its Séguéla gold project and its portfolio of regional exploration tenements in the West African country of Côte d’Ivoire. Under the sale of the new agreement, Roxgold will pay Newcrest upfront consideration of AUD $14 million cash on completion. Roxgold has also agreed to a deferred payment of AUD $7 million cash contingent on first gold production from the portfolio. Highlights of the transaction: Prospective exploration permits covering 3,298 square kilometres in the mining jurisdiction of Côte d'Ivoire with significant scope to build upon existing…
Neometals Ltd has successfully commissioned the first stage of its lithium-ion battery recycling pilot plant (Pilot) in Canada. Despite worldwide regulation constantly tightening, it is estimated that only approximately 5 per cent of lithium-ion batteries are recycled across the globe. Increasing regulations coupled with developing corporate requirements for ethical sourcing and disposal of lithium-ion batteries have created an opportunity for Neometals to recover critical/non-renewable resources while reducing the environmental impacts usually associated with battery disposal. To capture this opportunity, Neometals developed a process flowsheet to recover over 90 per cent of all battery materials (in addition to recycling water and…
