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Newmont to Acquire Miramar Mining for $1.5
Billion - Newmont Mining Corp. and Vancouver,
British Columbia-based Miramar Mining Corp. announced
on October 9 that they have entered into an agreement
that provides for the acquisition by Newmont, with
the unanimous support of the Miramar board of directors,
of all the outstanding common shares of Miramar for
C$6.25 cash per common share. The acquisition will
be effected through a take-over bid, the full details
of which were to be presented in Newmont's take-over
bid circular..... read
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Minto Copper-Gold Mine Opens in Yukon - Sherwood
Copper Corp. held a formal opening ceremony on October
11 for its Minto copper-gold mine in Yukon, Canada.
Sherwood acquired the Minto project in June 2005 and
re-drilled the deposit to what it describes as "modern
reserve standards," then completed a bankable
feasibility study that outlined funding and building
a $100-million open-pit copper-gold mine. The company
began waste stripping in April 2006, plant construction
in June 2006, completed the feasibility in August
2006 and closed its bank financing.... read
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| Utah Uranium Mine Obtains Operating Permits
- Denison Mines Corp. said it has received all of
the necessary operating permits from the U.S. Bureau
of Land Management and the State of Utah for the company’s
Tony M mine located within the Henry Mountains Complex
west of Denison’s White Mesa conventional uranium
mill. Rehabilitation of the mine has been under way
under an exploration permit since May, and this activity
has, according to the company, enabled it to ....
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| Gold Fields Sells Venezuela Assets
- Gold Fields Ltd. said it has reached an agreement
to shed its assets in Venezuela to Rusoro Mining Ltd.,
for approximately $532 million. Rusoro will pay Gold
Fields a minimum of $150 million in cash, $30 million
in convertible debt, and 140 million Rusoro shares,
which will be approximately 38% of the outstanding
shares of that company after the transaction has been
concluded. The transaction includes Rusoro acquiring
…… read
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Kinross Reports on Paracatu Gold Expansion,
Mexican Exploration Agreement - Kinross Gold
reported in early November that the Paracatu gold
mine expansion project in Brazil is on schedule for
start-up in mid-2008. Physical construction is approximately
57% complete, with capital committed or spent to date
approximately 83% of budget. Steelwork for the crusher
and grinding buildings is well advanced with steelwork
beginning in the flotation area. All major equipment
has been received at site or is on schedule for delivery.
Preliminary environmental approval…. read
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Breakwater Suspends Milling After Leakage
Discovered - Toronto, Canada-based Breakwater
Resources Ltd. announced on October 18 that it recently
discovered discharge of water from the Soledad tailings
impoundment area, which has necessitated temporary
suspension of milling operations at its Mochito mine
in Honduras. According to the company, preliminary
investigations indicated that the discharge is related….
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Xstrata Approves Koniambo Nickel Project
- Xstrata plc has approved the development of the
Koniambo project, which encompasses a major open-pit
nickel mine, metallurgical plant and associated infrastructure
in the North Province of New Caledonia. Xstrata Nickel
owns a 49% stake in Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS); the
remaining 51% share is held by New Caledonian joint
venture partner Société Minière du Sud Pacifique (SMSP).
Xstrata Nickel will lead the project implementation
and operations development on behalf of KNS and has
the right to appoint the president of KNS. Xstrata’s….
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Vast Heavy Mineral Deposit Discovered in NSW
- Brisbane, Queensland-based Bemax Resources recently
reported a major new heavy mineral sands discovery.
The new prospect, named Atlas, is located in the Willandra
East area of New South Wales’ Murray Basin. The deposit
has been followed along strike northeast to southwest
and has been intersected on a further five drill lines
at this time. Lines have been drilled with approximately
2.5- to 3-km spacing…. read
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Varvarinskoye Initiates Mechanical Commissioning
of Copper/Gold Circuit - European Minerals
Corp. (EMC) reported that the president of Kazakhstan,
Nursultan Nazarbayev, visited the Varvarinskoye
gold/copper project on September 14, 2007, where
he initiated a 50,000-mt ore blast in the main pit
and started up the milling circuit ready for mechanical
commissioning. The operation is being run by EMC’s
Kazakh operating company, JSC Varvarinskoye (JSCV)….
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Production Continues to Ramp-up at CSH Gold
Mine - Jinshan Gold Mines reported in mid-October
that gold production from its CSH mine in China
had reached 13,926 gold ore oz, or 10,143 oz of
gold, since the company commenced operations on
July 29. The company said it continues to pursue
operational milestones at the mine, including ongoing
ramp-up of production to nameplate capacity of approximately
10,000 oz of.…. read
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First Phase of Kamoto Copper Project on
Track for Production Start - While the huge
greenfield Tenke Fungurume copper project in the Democratic
Republic of Congo has been center stage for some time,
the brownfield Kamoto project in the Kolwezi district,
about 220 km northwest of Lubumbashi, has also been
attracting attention lately as the Kamoto Joint Venture
is close to starting refined metal production. Key
mine components were ordered a year ago, the construction
team build-up began in January 2007, and extraction
commenced at the Kamoto underground and T17 open-pit
mines in April…. read
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 Goldbelt Acquires Barrick’s West African
Au Projects - Goldbelt Resources Ltd. announced
in October that it had concluded an agreement to
acquire all of Barrick Gold’s West African gold
projects in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. The agreement,
according to Toronto, Canada-based Goldbelt, gives
it the opportunity to capitalize on Barrick’s previous
gold exploration efforts in this region of West
Africa. The assets include two exploration licenses
in Guinea, nine exploration licenses and applications
in Mali and seven exploration licenses in Burkina
Faso……
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BHP
Billiton 
Lundin’s
Alvenius: 
Rio Tinto Explores Options for RTEA
- When Rio Tinto announced its acquisition of Alcan,
it also announced that a strategic review of all the
assets of the enlarged group would be undertaken.
As part of that review Rio Tinto has decided to explore
the option to sell some or all of Rio Tinto Energy
America (RTEA) its wholly-owned U.S. business unit
that is the second largest U.S. coal producer by tonnage…...
Conveyor
New 
Europe
Normet:
Going Global - Like other Nordic equipment
suppliers, Finland’s Normet is sensible to the evolution
of the mining and tunneling markets. The group has
been making moves necessary to operate most effectively
in the global marketplace and in October announced
the formation of a new distribution network, Normet
International Ltd. Founded in 1962, Normet has established
an excellent reputation in the niche market for mechanized
utility vehicles for…. 
Caterpillar,
Rio Tinto Reach Technology Agreement - Caterpillar
Inc. and Rio Tinto recently forged a three-year agreement
for Cat’s CAES and Aquila drill and dragline systems
to be the preferred standard at the mining company’s
open-pit operations worldwide. The agreement covers
nine Rio Tinto business units operating more than
30 mines in Australia, the United States, Canada and
Namibia. The Caterpillar high-precision GPS mining
technology products.…… 
Liebherr
Extends Mining Support Network - In order
to maintain the reliability and availability of mining
shovel and backhoe hydraulic excavators supplied to
mining customers worldwide, the Liebherr-France mining
division reports that the Liebherr Group will continue
to invest in its spare parts logistic structure. The
most recent investment, totalling €5 million, is in
a regional logistic center in Siberia…. 
Timken
Saves Millions at Robinson Copper Mine -
The Timken Co. claims it has provided a predictive
maintenance program to Robinson Nevada Mining Co.
(RNMC) that has helped the mine avoid several million
dollars of unscheduled downtime since April 2006.
RNMC, a division of Quadra Mining Ltd., turned to
Timken to provide condition monitoring and bearing
maintenance training as well as bearing repair services
for its Robinson open pit copper and gold mine near
Ely, Nevada, USA. Since the inception of Timken’s
training, RNMC technicians have been able to collect
data on…. 
Lundin
Buys Safety Chambers for Neves-Corvo - Lundin
Mining Corp. (See p. 5, this issue) has ordered two
20-person Refuge Chambers from MineARC Systems of
Australia for installation in its Neves- Corvo mine
in Portugal. The MineARC Refuge Chambers provide a
safe haven for underground miners in the event of
an emergency. According to the manufactuer, the MineARC
Refuge Chambers can sustain life for up to 36 hours.
Each chamber comes fitted with independent oxygen
systems, including oxygen candles…. 
Radar
System Improves Safety at Sunrise Dam Mine
- The Sunrise Dam mine, a deep open-pit gold operation
located in Western Australia, has selected the MSR
200 radar system to improve operational safety and
risk reduction in the pit. The MSR (Movement and Surveying
Radar) 200 scans the selected open-pit wall on a continuous
basis to detect movement in the rock surface. The
system will generate slope-stability alarms….
Rock
Machine Replaces Drilling and Blasting- The
RSMM1500-D10 is Rocksaw’s first production rock mining
machine, designed to excavate materials from locations
where drilling and blasting are not possible due to
environmental regulations or in areas where pipelines
and other underground systems pose a hazard. The Rock
Miner weighs 200 tons, is powered by a Caterpillar
3512TA diesel engine delivering 1,500 hp, and has
a production capacity of 500–750 t/h, depending on
the material being excavated…. 
Rio Tinto
and Alcan have named the executive management team
that will form the functional and operating structure
of Rio Tinto Alcan. The organization is conditional,
and will become effective, upon the completion of
Rio Tinto’s acquisition of Alcan Inc., expected in
the fourth quarter of 2007. Dick Evans,
Alcan’s president and CEO, will become chief executive
of the combined aluminum product group, Rio Tinto
Alcan. The leaders of Rio Tinto Alcan’s Business Units
will include: Steve Hodgson, president
and CEO, Bauxite and Alumina; Jacynthe Cote,
president and CEO, Primary Metal; Christel
Bories, president and CEO, Engineered Products,
Rio Tinto Alcan. Phillip Strachan,
who will lead the Finance function at Rio Tinto Alcan,
will also be responsible for Business Planning and
Analysis, Information Systems and Technology, and
Business Improvement. 
BHP Billiton
announced the appointment of Mike Ferraro
as chief legal counsel. The company also announced
the appointment of Graham Kerr as
president of its Diamonds and Specialty Products Customer
Sector Group.
Svante
Nilsson has been appointed acting CEO for
Boliden AB. Harri Natunen, currently
president of the Kokkola zinc smelter in Finland,
has been appointed acting president Business Area
Smelters. Tom Niemi, deputy CEO, has decided to leave
the company. 
Solvay
Chemicals, Inc. announced that Marcie Peters has been
appointed vice president, Supply Chain; Cameron Berry
has been appointed business director, Soda Ash; and
Gary Waller has been appointed director, Customer
Services and Imported Products. 
El Nino
Ventures announced the appointment of Jean
Luc Roy as CEO and director. Harry
Barr has resigned as chairman, CEO and director..
Endeavour
Silver Corp. announced the appointment of David
Howe as vice-president, Mexico Operations.
Becker
Mining Systems AG has appointed Stephan Becker
vice president of Technology.
Paul
Brereton-Stiles, has been appointed manager
of Mintek’s Measurement and Control division. The
company also announced the appointment of Deon
Slabbert as president of the Corrosion Institute
of Southern Africa. 