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Rio Tinto Developing Diavik’s A21 Pipe
Rio Tinto has approved development of a fourth pipe, known as A21, at the Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Rio Tinto is operator of the Diavik Joint Venture, which is owned 60% by Rio Tinto and 40% by Dominion Diamond. Development of the A21 pipe has been in the Diavik mine plan since the start of production in 2003. Development will cost an estimated $350 million over four years. A 2015 works program has been approved, and production from the pipe is planned for late 2018...... read
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Seabridge’s KSM Project Clears Canadian Environmental Assessment
Canada’s Minister of the Environment Leona Aglukkaq announced on December 19 that Seabridge Gold’s proposed KSM gold-copper-silver-molybdenum project in northwest British Columbia is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects when the mitigation measures described in the agency’s "Comprehensive Study Report" are taken into account. The agency referred the project back to the responsible authorities— Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Natural Resources Canada—for appropriate action. Aglukkaq has also.... read more
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Allied Nevada Optimizes Hycroft Expansion Capital
Allied Nevada reported that ongoing studies of the planned expansion of its Hycroft gold mine in northwest Nevada have reduced capital requirements for the first phase of the two-phase project to approximately $768 million from the feasibility study estimate of $934.5 million. The first phase of the Hycroft expansion continues to be based on construction of a 60,000-st/d mill line, with potential to process up to 70,000 st/d depending on ore hardness. Phase two would add a second 60,000-st/d line.... read
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Coeur Adding to its Mexican Assets
Coeur Mining has entered into an agreement to acquire Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. in an all-stock transaction valued at $146 million. Paramount is a U.S.- based exploration and development company with advanced-stage precious metals projects in Mexico and Nevada. Its San Miguel project, which includes the Don Ese deposit, covers more than 121,000 ha surrounding Coeur’s Palmarejo mine complex in Chihuahua, Mexico…… read
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 Anglo American Withdraws from Michiquillay
Anglo American announced on December 1, that its wholly owned subsidiary, Anglo American Michiquillay S.A., had given notice to the government of Peru that it was withdrawing from the Michiquillay copper exploration project in Cajamarca province, Peru. Anglo American acquired the project in April 2007 through a government auction with a bid of $403 million. The company will return the project to Activos Mineros S.A.C., a Peruvian state company…. read more
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| AROUND THE
WORLD - Australasia |
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Poseidon Poised to Re-open Lake Johnston Nickel Operation
Poseidon Nickel has outlined plans to restart mining and processing operations at its Lake Johnston nickel property 150 km west of the town of Norseman in southern Western Australia. Poseidon acquired the Lake Johnston property from Norilsk Nickel in a transaction that closed in November 2014. The project last operated in April 2013 and has been on care and maintenance since that time…. read
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Harmony and Newcrest Opt for Staged Golpu Development
Harmony Gold and Newcrest Mining have reported the results of a revised prefeasibility study of their Golpu block cave mine project in Papua New Guinea. The study calls for two stages of development, with Stage 1 designed to access about 40% of the project’s gold and copper, which is contained in the higher-grade, upper portion of the Golpu reserves. Stage 2 encompasses the remaining 60%. Harmony and Newcrest are 50:50 partners in the Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture. The revised prefeasibility study covers only Stage …. read
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Alacer Boosts Çöpler Gold Heap-leach Capacity by 14%
CAlacer Gold plans to increase the capacity of the current heap-leach pad at its Çöpler gold mine in Erzincan province, eastern Turkey, by 14% to an ultimate capacity of 56 million metric tons (mt). The total cost of the expansion is estimated at $30 million. Alacer expects to spend $25 million of the expansion cost in 2015. Work is currently under way on a technical review to re-optimize the mine plan to….
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Barrick and Ma’aden Formalize Jabal Sayid JV
Barrick Gold and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) have formalized their agreement to establish a 50:50 joint venture to develop the Jabal Sayid underground copper mine 120 km southeast of Medina, Saudi Arabia. The agreement was originally announced in July 2014. Ma’aden acquired its 50% interest from Barrick for cash consideration of $210 million. Construction of the processing infrastructure for the Jabal Sayid mine was completed in the third quarter of 2012…. read
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Barrick to Suspend Lumwana Operations Over Royalty Increase
Barrick Gold announced on December 18, the initiation of procedures to suspend operations at the Lumwana copper mine in Zambia following passage of legislation that raised the royalty rate on the country’s open-pit mining operations from 6% to 20%. The new tax regime, which was expected to go into effect on January 1, eliminates corporate income tax but imposes a 20% gross royalty on revenue without any consideration…. read more
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B2Gold Pours First Gold at Otjikoto
B2Gold Corp. announced the first gold pour at the Otjikoto open-pit gold mine in Namibia on December 11. Mine ownership is 90% B2Gold and 10% EVI Mining, a Namibian empowerment group. B2Gold is a Canadian company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. During 2015, B2Gold expects Otjikoto to produce 140,000 to 150,000 oz of gold at cash operating costs of about $500/oz and all-in sustaining costs of about $700/oz. Predevelopment cost estimates……
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Ambre Energy to Divest US Interests
Citing a decline in global coal prices, Australian-based Ambre Energy is backing away from its involvement in two planned U.S. coal export terminals in Oregon and Washington, as well as its North American coal interests in the Powder River Basin. The company, which is planning to divest its interests to Colorado private equity firm Resource Capital Funds (RCF) in an $18 million deal, disclosed its plans in a recent …. read more
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CONSOL to Spin Off Coal
Pennsylvania-based producer CONSOL Energy, furthering its wish to grow its gas segment, will be spinning off its thermal coal business into a newly formed master limited partnership (MLP) that it plans to take public and will also set up a new subsidiary for its met coal properties and facilities. CONSOL officials said that the thermal MLP’s purpose will be to own interests in its mines and facilities in Pennsylvania including the Bailey, Enlow Fork and Harvey mines, along with its related …. read more
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Mitsui Invests in Vale’s Coal Infrastructure Project in Mozambique
Mitsui & Co., Ltd. has made a significant investment with Vale S.A. regarding the Moatize mine and the associated rail and port infrastructure project, referred to as the Nacala Corridor, in Mozambique. Mitsui purchased a 15% interest in the Moatize mine for $450 million, and a 50% interest in Vale’s investment in Nacala Corridor for $313 million. The amount for the mine will be adjusted based on the future actual performance results of the Moatize project, so the final payment…. read
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Midway Gold Corp. announced William M. Zisch as the new president and CEO.
Khanyisile Kweyama, executive director of Anglo American South Africa, has been nominated for a two-year term as CEO of Business Unity South Africa.
Royal Nickel announced that its CFO, Fraser Sinclair, willstep down. Tim Hollaar will be appointed the new CFO of RNC. He joins RNC from North American Palladium Ltd.
Claude Resources Inc. announced that its board of directors named Brian Booth, current lead director, as chair. Current Chair Mike Sylvestre will step down. Sylvestre will remain on the board as a director until February 19, at which point he will resign from Claude. Booth currently serves as the president and chief executive officer of Pembrook Mining Corp.
Golden Minerals Co. appointed Andrew Sharp as general manager for the Velardena properties located in northeastern Durango State, Mexico. He most recently served as vice president of technical services for Silver Standard Resources.
Dr. Dan Alexander is stepping down as CEO of JKTech at the end of 2014 to commence a role within Anglo American as head of open forum based in London. He initially started work within JKTech in 2000 and built a thriving flotation consulting business. Brett Cunningham, general manager of JKTech’s Technology and Knowledge Transfer team, will step into the role of acting CEO.
Russ Morrison, a founding member of BMT WBM, has been recognized for his long, distinguished and innovative engineering career by the senate of the University of Queensland who bestowed on him a doctor of engineering honoris causa. Previously, he had been acknowledged by his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), award of a Centenary Medal by the Commonwealth of Australia, election to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering, and award of the prestigious AGM Michell Medal by Engineers Australia.
McLanahan Corp.’s Mineral Processing Division and the Power and Energy Division (formerly the HSS Sampling System Division) have been combined to form one new division—the Mineral, Power and Energy (MPE) Division. This new division is managed by Jarrett Sidney,formerly general manager—Power and Energy Division.
