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Donlin Project Reaches Permitting Milestone
Barrick Gold and NovaGold Resources reported in late November that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) published its Donlin Gold Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Donlin gold project in southwest Alaska. The Corps will hold public meetings on the DEIS and accept written comments until the end of April, with publication of a final EIS expected in 2017. Donlin Gold LLC, jointly owned by Barrick and NovaGold, has applied for permits to develop an open-pit, hard rock gold mine. The project would take about three to four years...... read
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Champion Buying Cliffs’ Bloom Lake Iron Ore Mine
Champion Iron has agreed to purchase the Bloom Lake open-pit iron ore mine, related rail assets, and the Quinto mineral claims in Québec from affiliates of Cliffs Natural Resources. The assets are currently subject to restructuring proceedings. The Bloom Lake mine and concentrator are located approximately 9 mi southwest of Fermont, Québec. Cliffs shut down production at the mine and placed it on care and maintenance in late 2014. Production in 2014 totaled 5.9 million metric tons (mt) of iron ore concentrate. Concentrate is transported 320 m by rail to a ship-loading port at Pointe Noire, Québec... read more
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Nyrstar Suspends Production at Middle Tennessee Mines
Nyrstar NV announced on December 7 that it is placing its middle Tennessee zinc mines on care and maintenance to further minimize cash consumption in its mining segment as it continues to address the impact of low metals prices. The decision will result in approximately 50,000 mt/y of zinc in concentrate being taken out of the market. Zinc metal production at Nyrstar’s Clarksville, Tennessee, smelter will be reduced by about 9,000 mt/y. The Clarksville smelter will continue to be supplied by Nyrstar’s east Tennessee mines and additional external sources. The smelter produced 110,000 mt of zinc in 2014.... read
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WORLD - Latin America |
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Barrick, Antofagasta Form Zaldívar JV
Barrick Gold completed sale of a 50% interest in its Zaldívar copper mine in northern Chile to Antofagasta Plc on December 1. Plans for the transaction were initially announced in late July. Under the new ownership structure, Zaldívar will have a joint Barrick-Antofagasta board of directors consisting of three Barrick nominees and three Antofagasta nominees. Antofagasta will act as the operator of the mine and will be subject to oversight and direction by the board. Zaldívar is an open-pit, heap-leach copper…… read
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Goldcorp, Teck Complete Project Corridor Transactions
Goldcorp announced in late November completion of transactions necessary for the formation of a 50/50 joint venture with Teck Resources to develop their respective El Morro and Relincho projects in the Atacama region of Chile as a single project. The combined project currently has the interim name of Project Corridor. Formation of the joint venture followed completion of purchase by Goldcorp of New Gold’s 30% interest in the El Morro project, giving Goldcorp 100% ownership…. read more
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| AROUND THE
WORLD - Australasia |
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Rio Tinto Approves $1.9B Amrun Bauxite Project
Rio Tinto has approved development of its $1.9 billion Amrun bauxite project on the west coast of the Cape York peninsula in north Queensland, Australia, about 40 km south of the company’s existing East Weipa and Andoom mines. Development will include construction of infrastructure required to support the bauxite mine, including a processing plant and port, a dam, a tailings storage facility, roads, and a ferry terminal on the Hey River to transport workers from the nearby town to the mine. Rio Tinto is targeting an initial bauxite production rate of 22.8 million…. read
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Hermes Deposit Will Add to Plutonic Production
Northern Star Resources has completed a scoping study of its Hermes gold deposit 60 km southwest of its Plutonic mine in Western Australia. The study suggested that the deposit can contribute 1.1 million mt of feed to the Plutonic mill at a grade of 2.6 g/mt gold over a two- to three-year period. Contained gold would total 86,000 oz. Capital cost to bring the Hermes deposit into production is estimated at A$10 million. All-in sustaining cost of production is estimated at A$1,095/oz of gold. Northern Star forecasts that completion of the Hermes project will increase …. read
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Political Controversy Shakes South Africa’s Struggling Mining Industry
South Africa’s battered mining sector recently took another hit with the unexpected sacking of a respected finance minister, sending the country's currency and stock market into a tailspin. In mid-December, President Jacob Zuma said he was replacing Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with David van Rooyen, a little-known legislator. South Africa’s banking sector plunged on the news with banking shares dropping more than 10%, a fall not seen since the 2008 crash. The Rand breached 16 to the dollar….
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Golden Star Going Underground at Prestea
Golden Star Resources has reported the results from a feasibility study of development of an underground mine on the high-grade West Reef deposit on its Prestea property in southwest Ghana. The Prestea property hosts a previously operated underground mine that Golden Star acquired and placed on care and maintenance in 2002. Extensive surface infrastructure and underground development are in place and can be used in developing a new mine on the West Reef deposit. Prestea is located 16 km from Golden Star’s existing Bogoso processing plant. West Reef ore will be hauled…. read
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Indian Bauxite Projects Scuttled
Ultra-left wing extremists have stalled India’s plan to kick-start greenfield bauxite mining projects, the first of their kind to be developed since the early 1980s. Armed insurgency, violence and abductions attributed to the extremists have forced the government of the southern Indian province of Andhra Pradesh to back away from bauxite mining projects on 1,212 hectares of forest land containing estimated reserves of about 617 million metric tons (mt). According to an official in the Andhra Pradesh state government, a government order permitting exploitation of the bauxite reserves by Andhra Pradesh Mineral…. read more
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Last U.K. Deep Mine Closes
Friday, December 18 was the final day of work for 450 mines at the Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire, also known as the Big K, as the mine will be permanently idled—bringing to an end a two-yearlong closure plan for British deep mines. Kellingley, the largest deep pit in Europe and the last deep mine in Britain, had employed about 1,600 in recent years, and at one time had a payroll exceeding 2,000. It first came online in 1965 and produced 900 metric tons (mt) per hour at prime levels …. read more
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Westmoreland Signs Long-term Deal Extension in Canada
Independent producer Westmoreland Coal confirmed it has lengthened a long-term supply deal with Saskatchewan Power Corp. (SaskPower) by an additional 14 years. The deal, which includes more than 58 million tons, will now run through the end of 2029. The coal will originate at Westmoreland’s Poplar River surface mine in the south-central Saskatchewan town of Coronach. The mine has been supplying coal to SaskPower’s Poplar River Generating Station since 1978. "We are proud to continue to be the sole provider of fuel to SaskPower from…. read more
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Wollongong to Restart Wongawilli in Australia
After placing the mine on care-and-maintenance status last year, New South Walesbased Wollongong Coal is moving toward a restart of operations at the Wongawilli mine and adding 110 workers. The move comes just three weeks after the New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission (NSW PAC) gave a greenlight to a five-year extension of the operation’s mining license. It had been idled since late August 2014. Officials told ABC News Australia that production should begin again early next year. "Wongawilli Colliery is an important asset for the company and a key part of our …. read more
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James R. "Jim Bob" Moffett, chairman and co-founder of Freeport McMoRan, will step down. The board has elected Gerald J. Ford as nonexecutive chairman. During his more than 50-year career in the natural resource industry, Moffett became an icon as an explorationist. He was instrumental in the discovery and development of the Grasberg deposit in Indonesia, which has grown to become one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits. Moffett has served as executive chairman of FCX since 2003 and previously served as the company’s CEO from 1995 to 2003. In 1969, Moffett and two associates founded McMoRan Oil & Gas Co., which merged with Freeport Minerals.
Goldcorp announced its President and CEO Chuck Jeannes will retire in April. He will be replaced by David A. Garofalo, who is the current president and CEO of HudBay Minerals. He will also join the board of directors. Jeannes has led Goldcorp since January 2007 and worked with Goldcorp and its predecessor company Glamis Gold Ltd. for almost 17 years. Alan Hair will replace Garofalo as president and CEO, HudBay Minerals. Hair has served as COO since 2012.
Highland Copperappointed Luc Lessard to the board of directors. He is senior vice-president, technical services, of Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. and president, CEO and a director of Falco Resources Ltd.
Rodney Lamond has been appointed as CEO of Jaguar Mining. Lamond is currently a director of Jaguar and was the president and CEO of Crocodile Gold Corp. before the July business combination of Crocodile Gold and Newmarket Gold.
Nyrstar NV appointed Christopher Eger CFO and a member of the Nyrstar Management Committee. He takes over from Heinz Eigner, who is leaving the company. Previously, Eger was senior member of the Mergers and Acquisitions team at Trafigura.
Lithium X Energy appointed David Hawkins as chief hydrogeologist for the Clayton Valley North project.
Mincor Resourcesannounced that long-serving Managing Director David Moore will step down from day-to-day management and move to a nonexecutive role. COO Peter Muccilli will be appointed CEO, effective February. Moore will move to the position of deputy chairman from March 1.
TerraSource Globalappointed Jason Burlage president, succeeding Mark Kohler, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Burlage joined TerraSource Global in 2014 as vice president of service and strategy, after 14 years with Hillenbrand.
