| AROUND THE
WORLD - USA & CANADA |
|
|
|
Xstrata Expanding Raglan and Fraser Morgan Mines
Xstrata Nickel will develop growth projects having a combined value of $649 million at its Raglan mine in Quebec’s far north and its Fraser Morgan mine in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. At Raglan, Xstrata will invest $530 million to develop the high-grade Qakimajurq and Mine 2 Lower Zone deposits and to upgrade associated infrastructure to increase production of nickel in concentrate from 26,000 mt/y to 32,000 mt/y by 2014. In addition, Xstrata will increase Raglan concentrator capacity to 40,000 mt/y of nickel-in-concentrate by 2016 to support additional..... read
more |
|
|
Hecla Board Approves Completion of Shaft Project
Hecla Mining has received board approval to complete the No. 4 Shaft project at its Lucky Friday mine at Mullan, Idaho. The project entails sinking of an internal shaft from the mine’s 4900 level to the 8800 level. The hoist room and associated equipment installation for the project were completed in the first half of 2011, and shaft sinking is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2011. The project was 38% complete as of early August 2011, and 78% of major procurements had been ordered or installed. Project capital is estimated at about $200 million. Production ramp-up is scheduled for 2014 to 2016. Production metrics for the Lucky Friday mine once.... read more
Top
|
|
|
New Study Provides Outline for Galore Creek Development
NovaGold Resources has announced the results of a new prefeasibility study for the Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project, owned 50% by NovaGold and 50% by Teck Resources, in northwestern British Columbia. The companies previously initiated construction of the project in early summer 2007 but shut it down in November 2007 when it became clear the project could not be completed within then-estimated costs or time schedules. The new Galore Creek prefeasibility study.... read
more |
|
|
| AROUND THE
WORLD - Latin America |
|
|
|
Inmet Board Approves Cobre Panama Development
Inmet Mining announced on July 25, 2011, its board of directors approved development of its Cobre Panama project in Panama as described in the final frontend engineering and design study of March 2010. That study considers an open-pit mining operation, concentrate pipeline and port to be developed at a total capital cost of $4.32 billion. Production is forecast at 255,000 mt/y of copper, 90,000 oz/y of gold, 1.51 million oz/y of silver and 3.2 million lb/y of molybdenum in concentrate over a 30-year mine life. During years 2 to 16 of operation, production is…… read
more |
|
|
 Capstone Reports Positive PFS for Santo Domingo Project
Capstone Mining announced positive results for a prefeasibility study (PFS) of the Santo Domingo iron oxide-copper-gold project in Region III, Chile. The project is owned 70% by Capstone and 30% by Korea Resources Corp. (KORES). The PFS considers an 18-year mine life at average annual production of 144 million lb of copper, 4.1 million mt of iron concentrate, and 15,000 oz of gold. During the first five years of operation, copper production will average 255 million lb/y. Life-of-mine total cash production costs are estimated at $0.11/lb of payable copper, net of magnetite iron and gold by-product credits and selling costs. Total capital costs are estimated at…. read more
|
|
|
|
| AROUND THE
WORLD - Australasia |
|
|
|
Xstrata Launches Two North Queensland Projects
Xstrata announced in early August 2011 it has approved an A$47-million prefeasibility study into the development of a large, multi-commodity, open-pit mine within the existing Xstrata Mount Isa Mines footprint in Queensland, Australia. The announcement followed an announcement in late July that the company has begun construction to develop the high-grade, zinc-lead-silver Lady Loretta deposit 140 km northwest of Mount Isa as a new, greenfield underground mine.At Mount Isa, development of a largescale, zinc-lead-copper open-pit is thought to have the potential to extend the life of the combined operations beyond 2060. Approval of the prefeasibility study follows…. read
more |
|
|
Samancor Expanding on Groote Eylandt
Samancor Manganese is expanding beneficiated product capacity at its GEMCO operations on Groote Eylandt, Carpentaria Bay, Northern Territory, Australia, from 4.2 million mt/y to 4.8 million mt/y. The expansion will also address infrastructure constraints by increasing road and port capacity to 5.9 million mt/y, creating 1.1 million mt/y of latent capacity for future expansions. The $279-million project is scheduled for completion in late 2013. Samancor is owned 60% by BHP Billiton and 40% by Anglo American. The company produces a combination of manganese ores and alloys at sites in Australia and South Africa. BHP Billiton operates all of Samancor’s operations …. read
more
Top |
|
|
|
| |
|
Emirates Aluminum Proceeding with $4.5-billion Phase II Expansion
Emirates Aluminum reports it will proceed with Phase II of its operational development plan following approval by the company’s board of directors of the $4.5-billlion investment. The Phase II project will entail construction of a new potline within the Emirates Aluminum complex at Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi, and will double the smelter’s production capacity to 1.3 million mt/y of aluminum metal. The new potline will comprise 444 reduction cells powered. On-site power plant capacity will be increased to 3,000 MW. Emirates Aluminum is a joint venture between aluminum producer Dubai Aluminum (Dubal) and Mubadala Development Co. New generation DX+ reduction technology developed by Dubal will be incorporated….
read
more
|
|
Jindal and Rio Tinto Agree to Advance HIsmelt Technology
Indian steelmaker Jindal Steel and Power and Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding in early August 2011 to work jointly toward global commercialization of the HIsmelt direct iron ore smelting technology developed by Rio Tinto. The agreement calls for relocation of the existing HIsmelt plant at Kwinana, Western Australia, to Jindal’s steel plant in Angul, Orissa, India. The relocated plant will be fully owned by Jindal, and Jindal and Rio Tinto will work together to develop and market the HIsmelt technology in the future, with sharing of royalties…. read
more
|
|
|
|
| |
Costs Rising at Kinross’ Tasiast Project
Kinross Gold’s second-quarter 2011 report on its financial results stated it expects to see upward pressure on capital and operating costs at its Tasiast expansion project in Mauritania, where it is pursuing a project to expand mill capacity from 8,000 to 68,000 mt/d. At the same time, the company reported its aggressive exploration program continues to add significant gold ounces to the Tasiast mineral resource inventory. Based on a preliminary analysis, Kinross expects higher capital expenditures of $500 million to $1 billion above the original aggregate estimate…. read more
|
|
|
|
Shandong Agrees to Acquire 25% of Tonkolili
African Minerals and Shandong Iron & Steel Group have signed final agreements for acquisition by Shandong of 25% of African Mineral’s Tonkolili iron ore project in central Sierra Leone for a cash consideration of $1.5 billion. Shandong is one of the largest iron and steel groups in China and is currently ranked as the world’s ninth largest steel group. The agreements include discounted off-take arrangements for Shandong for iron ore produced at the Tonkolili mine, which will be developed in three phases. Phase I of the Tonkolili project is scheduled……
read more
Top
|
|
|
|
| |
El Cerrejón will Increase Production by 25% by 2015
A $1.3 billion project to expand the Cerrejón thermal coal mine in Colombia has been approved by Cerrejón’s three equal shareholders: Xstrata Coal, BHP Billiton and Anglo American. The project will increase saleable production and export capacity by 8 million metric tons per year (mt/y) from 32 million mt/y to 40 million mt/y. Construction is set to commence later this year and be completed by 2013 with production progressively ramping up to 40 million mt/y by 2015 …. read more
|
|
|
|
Mechel Moves Forward with Yakutugol and Elga
Russian coal miner and steelmaker Mechel OAO announced it has reached full production capacity at the Nerungrinskaya processing plant of Yakutugol Holding Company OAO and provided an update on the construction of Elga Coal Complex. In July, Yakutugol’s Nerungrinskaya prep plant washed 783,000 metric tons (mt) of coking coal and produced 536,000 mt of concentrate and 197,000 mt of middlings. This is the highest monthly result the plant achieved …. read more
|
|
|
|
Vale Increases Coal Production Targets for Mozambique
Brazilian mining giant Vale intends to produce 1.5 million mt of coal this year from its open cast mine at Moatize, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, a 75% increase on its previous estimate of 850,000 mt for the year, and to ramp up output to 6.3 million mt in 2012. According to NAM News Network, Vale had hoped to begin exporting coal in July, but delays in rebuilding the Sena railway line from Moatize to the port in Beira will result in postponement of export shipments until October. Production in the first phase will increase to 11 million…. read
more |
|
|
|
New Guinea Gold Corp. has appointed Greg Heaney acting CEO.
Ur-Energy Inc. has appointed Wayne W. Heili president and CEO.
Tetra Tech, Inc. has appointed Dale W. Halley vice president and senior mining consultant.
Vincent Tan has been appointed president of Volvo Construction Equipment’s Asian sales and marketing organization. He succeeds Eberhard Wedekind who was recently appointed executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Dr. Ying Gu was recently awarded the Innovation Heroes Award for 2011 by The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering at the University of Sydney for his conception and development of the Mineral Liberation Analyzer. This annual award is presented to Australian innovators who have developed new technology, developed it into a product or service, raised capital and commenced sales. As the inventor of the Mineral Liberation Analyzer (MLA), Dr. Gu worked closely with his JKTech team for more than a decade to establish the MLA as the global leader in automated mineralogy. JKTech’s MLA based service bureau business developed into a joint venture partnership with ALS in 2007 and the MLA sales business, including the MLA IP, was sold to FEI Company in 2009. Both businesses continued to benefit significantly from the MLA technology, which resulted from research outcomes produced by the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre.
Atlas Copco Construction Mining Technique USA LLC has appointed Bruce Beatty product and business development manager of horizontal directional drilling and raisebore.
Burrell Mining Products, Inc. has appointed Brian Travis president. He is replaces Charley Lash who is retiring later this year.
W.S. Tyler has promoted Sam Palombo to global mining manager for the Haver Screening Group.
