Korab has Winchester at
the starting line
Korab Resources Ltd’s Win- from Winchester is estimated to
chester project is not far
from production. be $395 million.
The company’s large mag- While the established mag-
nesium carbonate project is
development-ready, with a start nesium carbonate markets in-
to operations dependent on the
grant of approvals. clude the likes of steel, cement,
“We can be in production glass, energy and chemical
within three months of the per-
mitting award,” Korab executive sectors, it is the emerging fields
chairman Andrej Karpinski told
Paydirt. of magnesium-ion batteries,
“We have the funding, we magnesium-diboride supper
have the off-takes, all we really
need are the permits and within conductors plus MRI scanners
three months of completion of
the permitting process we can and high-power electric motors
start. That of course depends
on the season; if they give us for naval propulsion where Ko-
the permits in say December/January
then April we can start work, if they give rab sees an opportunity to sup-
it to us in November then we obviously
won’t be able to start until it starts getting ply to.
into the dry season.”
Korab has an Australian com-
While it is still possible to operate dur-
ing the wet season, conditions are made pany locked in to take material
tougher for mobilising equipment to site
when heavy rain creates boggy ground from the mine gate, while it is
conditions.
in discussions with off-takers in
Trial mining conducted by previous
owners of Winchester back in 2000/2001 Winchester is 80km from Darwin port Europe and Asia.
was done during the November to Feb-
ruary period, with Korab hoping it can With an expected increase in
make a start by November 2017, if not
then by April 2018. Winchester is 80km south of Darwin, demand for its product, Korab is looking
The company may well be with supporting infrastructure for Korab at the potential to expand Winchester to
served by the Northern Territo-
ry Government’s push to have to leverage from. a rate of 1.5 mtpa at some stage.
the approvals process for min-
ing projects streamlined. Initial start-up designs are on a Winchester is the most advanced pro-
Currently, there are various 250,000 tpa operation, which based on ject in Korab’s portfolio, however, it does
departments presiding over
various approvals for a min- $US80/t magnesium carbonate, will de- have other interests in the State.
ing project and while there is
a committee in place to help liver profits of about $6-7 million in the The Geolsec phosphate project, near
steer companies in the right
direction, the process would first year of operations. Winchester, is currently under review as
be made more efficient if there
was one department in charge. Scoping study forecasts has the 16.6mt the rock phosphate market is becoming
A granted mining lease is in @ 91% pure magnesite Winchester pro- increasingly difficult to penetrate with
play at Winchester and when
operations are permitted to ject operating at a nominal 800,000 tpa North Africa production, particularly from
start, Korab is placed to fund
the estimated $4 million capex rate by year three of the operation, with Morocco, dominating the space.
requirement, which includes a
$1 million contingency. EBITDA in that year estimated at almost Korab has been selling samples of the
$32 million, assuming a price of $US80/t. Geolsec rock phosphate, however, there
Over a period of 14 years, EBITDA has been little success in converting its
endeavours into commercial
success.
While finding a way of gen-
erating some value from Ge-
olsec, Korab is also weighing
up the merits of spinning its
exploration projects into a sep-
arate vehicle and leaving Win-
chester to run its own course.
In addition to polymetallic
potential at Batchelor, within
the Rum Jungle field, where
it has an exploration licence
covering 170sq km and 50sq
km under application, Korab
has copper-gold interests at
Ashburton Downs, Western
Australia, and the 3.3 moz Bo-
brikovo gold and silver deposit
to consider.
There is a small capex requirement at Winchester – Mark Andrews
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 51
NORTHERN TERRITORY
New look Primary to
reinvigorate Mount Bundy
Primary Gold NL may have just
completed the acquisition of
the 200,000oz Coolgardie gold
project and could bring the West
Australian asset into production
next year, however, Mt Bundy in
the Northern Territory remains
the company’s main game.
“Coolgardie is really the pre-
cursor to our flagship Mount
Bundy project,” Primary execu-
tive director Patrick Walta told
Paydirt.
Primary acquired the project
from silver hopeful MacPher-
sons Resources Ltd and has
already started a mine optimisa-
tion study.
Resources at Coolgardie total
3.81mt @ 1.63 g/t for 200,600oz
gold. Mount Bundy is in the prolific Pine Creek region where 4 moz gold has been produced
The project is within 5km of
three toll treatment facilities, with FMR would be used to test extensions to the million free cash flow which will provide
Investments Pty Ltd’s Greenfields mill to resource. really good input for Mount Bundy,” Walta
the north an option for Primary to utilise. With a host of historical open pits said.
Existing mining leases are in place at ready to be developed, Primary is con- Along with Marat Abzalov (director),
Coolgardie while, at the time of print, Pri- fident it can nail a feasibility study in the Walta is part of the new board at Primary
mary was in the process of finalising ap- near-term and have Coolgardie back in and the company is looking to reinvigor-
provals for a drilling programme. commercial production by July 2017. ate Mount Bundy. Plans are in place to
Under a drilling-for-equity agreement, A trial mining parcel of 30,000t is start a scoping study on the project this
Ausdrill Ltd was expected to start drilling planned for early next year, with Primary year in addition to more drilling.
at Coolgardie in October. aiming for a scenario of 30,000-50,000 At the time of print, the company was
Walta said no serious drilling had tpm for 25,000-50,000 ozpa gold pro- waiting on approval for a drilling pro-
been conducted at the project since the duction. gramme at Mount Bundy aimed at ex-
late 2000s and the programme planned “Hopefully, that will generate $40-50 panding the resource – 26.9mt @ 1.5 g/t
for 1.235 moz gold.
“The 1,500sq km of tenements we have
got really haven’t been explored outside
of the mining leases,” Walta said. “There
have been about 10 holes put down over
the last 20 years, so there are lot of op-
portunities for greenfields exploration but
brownfields is also fairly evident as well.”
Mount Bundy is comprised of the Rus-
tlers Roost open pit, Tom’s Gully high-
grade underground and Quest 29 de-
posit as well as a 250,000 tpa processing
facility.
Rustlers Roost is being primed as the
epicentre of the 3-4 mtpa operation, with
high-grade ore from Tom’s Gully the
“sweetener” for the project, according to
Walta.
On current resources alone, Walta is
confident there is potential to muster a
150,000 ozpa operation running over six
A large, bulk 3-4 mtpa operation is planned at Mount Bundy to seven years.
PAGE 52 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
“That’s the sort of target we There has been limited drilling at Mount Bundy conducted in the last 20 years
are trying to achieve and hope-
fully we can grow the resource will be informing investors of the gold his- there are both technical and regulatory
base and get 150,000 ozpa tory and potential in NT. mechanisms in place to develop gold
over 10 years, that will be a fair- projects there,” Walta said.
ly serious operation,” he said. NT doesn’t have the prestige of West-
ern Australia’s gold sector, however, it is “That is evident and there are plenty
“There are not too many nonetheless as prospective, particularly of operations and plenty of exploration
listed developers in Australia in the Pine Creek region. success occurring and as that success
that can credibly say they have continues people will push more towards
enough resources to do that Mount Bundy is in the northern part of the NT.”
right now, certainly not with our Pine Creek, where Primary is the domi-
market cap anyway.” nant landholder, while $400 million Ca- – Mark Andrews
nadian outfit New-
Potential for resource ex- market Gold Inc is
pansion exists within the likes well spread in the
of Quest 29 – 3.4mt @ 1.4 g/t south.
for 148,000oz gold – where the
average drill depth is only 40m. Walta said about
14 moz in resourc-
Historically, only the oxide re- es and 4 moz pro-
source at Quest 29 was drilled duction had been
as ore was being fed into a extracted from the
heap leach operation. extremely gold-rich
Pine Creek region,
“They never bothered to drill while the efforts of
the sulphide component of the resource, Metals X Ltd and
so there is a lot of upside with those ex- Emmerson Re-
isting resources as well. Hopefully, over sources Ltd in Ten-
the course of 2017, we’ll do a series of nant Creek were
drilling campaigns up there and really starting to draw at-
grow the resource base. We’d love to get tention to the State’s
it above 2 moz gold, but we will see how wider gold sector.
that progresses,” Walta said.
“The NT has
In addition to resource drilling, Primary started to open up a
hopes to undertake a PFS/DFS and by lot, Tanami is open-
the end of 2017 be in a position to show- ing up and Newmar-
case the type of project it wants Mount ket is obviously very
Bundy to be. well established.
Groups in the Ten-
“We will have the cash flow from nant Creek area
Coolgardie to assist in funding it and it – Metals X, Em-
will be a Dacian [Gold Ltd]/Gold Road merson, etc – are
[Resources Ltd] style model, where you having success. It
have a large, bulk operation of 3-4 mtpa is putting NT gold
with high-grade feed inputs coming in,” on the map, which
Walta said. is really important
as people start to
Drawing parallels with Dacian and get comfortable that
Gold Road may well be a good selling
point for Primary as it looks to start mar-
keting Mount Bundy on the international
and local conference and broker circuits.
Gold stocks have been favourites
among the investment community this
year and Primary has received its fair
share of attention.
Starting the year at about 2.5c/share,
Primary has reached a 2016 high of 17c
and at the time of print was trading at
10c/share.
Walta said it had been a fantastic year
for the company and he was looking to
kick-start another wave of interest by
producing some drilling results and re-
leasing study information.
“The value proposition is there, it is just
about physically getting eyeballs onto the
project, no doubt about it. People are just
not aware of the company, and I suppose
that is up to me [to promote],” Walta said.
Part of Walta’s promotion of Primary
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 53
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Emmerson at home in the Creek
Emmerson Resources observed in other inter-
Ltd remains committed
to the Tennant Creek min- cepts, including 37m @
eral field despite adding
five projects in New South 0.23% copper (including
Wales to its portfolio.
6m @ 1.1%) and 154m @
The junior gold explorer
has been active in the 0.12% copper and 0.37 g/t
Northern Territory for al-
most a decade, making a gold.
number of discoveries –
including Goanna, Monitor Emmerson must spend
and Mauretania – on its
2,500sq km property. at least $100,000 in the
However, Emmerson’s first 12 months at Kadun-
JV partner Evolution Min-
ing Ltd is on track to ac- gle before a formal JV is
quire 65% of the permitted
ground in June, including established, with those
management rights, hav-
ing spent $10 million on ex- funds likely to be directed
ploration since mid-2014.
towards reprocessing of
Upon reaching the $15
million expenditure commitment, Evolu- existing data. By invest-
tion can elect to spend another $10 mil-
lion to lift its stake to 75%. ing another $500,000, the
Emmerson managing director Rob company can earn up to
Bills said his company had been plan-
ning for a potential diminishing role in 80% interest of the project.
Tennant Creek.
The other NSW projects
“Tennant Creek is fully funded by
Evolution and at some point in the near were identified through
future they can take over the manage-
ment,” Bills told Paydirt. Emmerson’s strategic al-
“Looking at it from an Emmerson Emmerson is anticipating production from Edna Beryl East liance with New Zealand-
shareholder perspective, we certainly before the end of the year based global target gen-
needed to have a few more irons in the eration specialists Kenex
fire and that’s why we’ve had this pretty
clear strategy of diversifying outside of strike and down plunge,” Bills said. Ltd – a partnership first tested in Tennant
Tennant Creek.”
“We are finding multiple ironstones Creek last year.
Despite the acquisitions in NSW, Ten-
nant Creek is still the project of highest that host the gold in the shallow super- The strategic alliance identified 10 pri-
priority for Bills and his team, with Em-
merson’s third and largest drilling cam- gene environment, which then appear ority targets on the Lachlan Fold Belt in
paign for 2016 under way at the time of
print. to coalesce into a more continuous gold NSW and Queensland’s Eastern Suc-
The 8,000m RC and diamond pro- system at depth. cession, with Emmerson claiming four
gramme will be split into 6,300m around
the high-grade Edna Beryl deposit and “Given the high grades to date, it’s available on open ground.
1,700m at the new Susan and Retsina
prospects. shaping up to be of commercial interest, The four selected targets near Wel-
Recent drilling at Edna Beryl returned however, this round of drilling will be piv- lington, Parkes, Temora and Fifield – col-
a number of “bonanza” gold hits, includ-
ing 5m @ 35.6 g/t (including 3m @ 44.5 otal in terms of better understanding the lectively totalling 768sq km – are pro-
g/t and 1m @ 77.6 g/t) from 120m, 2m @
30.1 g/t from 128m and 3m @ 36.6 g/t scale of the mineralisation.” spective for epithermal gold-silver and
(including 1m @ 65.6 g/t and 1m @ 31.8
g/t) from 227m. Emmerson will soon reap some small porphyry copper-gold and share many
“To date this shallow drilling is highly rewards from the tribute agreement it attributes observed in known, larger de-
encouraging, leading to the current pro-
gramme of testing the continuity along has with the Edna Beryl Mining Company posits on the Lachlan Fold Belt, including
(EBMC), with first production from Edna Cadia, Ridgeway and Cowal.
Beryl East possible before the end of the “One of the challenges of exploring in
year. NSW is the presence of younger cover
EBMC was recently granted its explo- sequences obscuring the prospective
ration mine management plan, paving host rocks and rendering traditional tar-
the way for development of the first small geting for the next big mineral discovery
mine under this agreement. obsolete,” Bills said.
“Under the terms of the tribute agree- “Emmerson entered into a strategic
ment, EBMC is responsible for the de- alliance with Kenex with the specific ob-
velopment, mining and processing, with jective of developing tools to predict new
Emmerson receiving a sliding percent- high quality gold and copper deposits be-
age of the gold dore,” Bills said. neath such cover and within these highly
“This underground development also prospective geological belts.
affords Emmerson the opportunity of “This initiative is aimed at greatly in-
undertaking further drilling from under- creasing the probability of successful
ground.” identification of new mineral deposits.”
Emmerson’s NSW portfolio includes Emmerson has about $5.1 million in
a 12-month option over Aurelia Metals the bank to put towards future explora-
Ltd’s Kadungle project where previous tion work.
drilling intersected epithermal minerali- – Michael Washbourne
sation from hits such as 12m @ 7.73 g/t
gold and 0.12% copper and 3m @ 7.14
g/t gold and 0.23% copper.
Deeper porphyry mineralisation was
PAGE 54 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
Teena talk spurs Pacifico
Pacifico Minerals Ltd roloola West project.
could be the quiet ben- “Sandfire has been and
eficiary of the recent mar- continue to be a great
ket spotlight on the Teena partner and it’s good to
zinc deposit in the North- know a company with a
ern Territory. great track record in ex-
Teena, part of the wider ploration supports our
Reward project, was con- strategy,” he said.
firmed in early June as the “They’ve been very
seventh largest zinc de- supportive of everything
posit in Australia. we’re doing up there in
Pacifico holds ground the Territory and I think
in a JV with Sandfire Re- that’s good for our explo-
sources NL – the Borrolo- ration team and good for
ola West project – imme- our shareholders.”
diately west of both Teena Noon said many of the
and Glencore’s McArthur targets drilled in the cur-
River zinc-lead-silver rent programme were se-
mine. lected after mineralisation
Teena has remained in Coppermine Creek was one of five main targets for Pacifico in the latest was identified at surface.
the news since the con- round of drilling at Borroloola West “This part of the world
firmation of the 58mt @ is highly prospective but
11.1% zinc and 1.6% lead for 6.5mt con- discovery of a large zinc-lead gossan just underexplored and you need to be pre-
tained zinc and 900,000t lead resource, north of Coppermine Creek. The gossan pared to walk the ground and then follow
with 49% owner Rox Resources Ltd was found during initial reconnaissance it up with some basic geology work,” he
quickly announcing plans to spin out the work on a new exploration licence, which said.
project via a backdoor listing into a shell is still under application. “Geophysics has not been hugely suc-
company. “It’s obviously a great start when cessful in this part of the world and that’s
Marindi Metals Ltd then put up its hand you’ve got gossanous material and zinc why our approach has always been to
to buy the project for $21 million and a at surface,” Noon said. get our best technical staff out on the
deal looked all but done until last month “We’re very keen to get our exploration ground.”
when Teck Australia Pty Ltd exercised its team back on this ground, it looks very Noon said his company had enough
pre-emptive right to match the bid. interesting. Hopefully we’ll see that ELA cash to complete this round of drilling,
With Teena hot on the minds of inves- granted early in the new year.” but would need to raise additional funds
tors and zinc prices also on the rise, Pa- Earlier this year, Pacifico elected to next year for future programmes.
cifico is excited about the opportunity for maintain its 51% holding in Borrolo- Meanwhile, Pacifico is also planning
a discovery at Borroloola West, particu- ola West rather than lift its stake in the an exploration programme for its Berrio
larly on the southern tenements. project to 80% via an expenditure com- gold project in Colombia.
At the time of print, Pacifico was drill- mitment. The decision was helped by Drilling at Berrio earlier this year fo-
ing at the Berjaya prospect, 16km west of Sandfire’s willingness to contribute 49% cused on new ground acquired from
Teena and 24km west of McArthur River. toward the JV, with Pacifico to remain the AngloGold Ashanti Ltd in early 2015 and
“It’s along strike and is reasonably operator. returned several promising intercepts,
close to those deposits,” Pacifico man- Noon said the exploration teams from including 0.36m @ 16.93 g/t gold and
aging director Simon Noon told Paydirt. both Pacifico and Sandfire share a posi- 13 g/t silver from 79m, 0.67m @ 6.69 g/t
“Importantly, we’ve got what appears tive view on the prospectivity of the Bor- gold and 6.5 g/t silver from 42.5m and
to be Barney Creek Formation within 0.7m @ 6.6 g/t gold and 74.1 g/t silver
several of our titles and as we know both from 56m.
Teena and McArthur River are hosted “This next programme will likely focus
within Barney Creek Formation. We’re on projected extensions to high-grade
particularly keen to get some initial holes shears in tenement package we acquired
in to these parts of the project and start last year,” Noon said.
to compile the data.” “In Colombia, the company is very well
Fourteen RC holes for almost 2,000m positioned with a pipeline of high quality
were punched into the Four Mile, Cop- gold and copper projects. With the re-
permine Creek, Johnstons and Mariner newed interest in gold, we think there is
targets in the preceding weeks. Indica- significant upside for Pacifico sharehold-
tions of copper, lead and zinc mineralisa- ers, particularly at the Berrio project.”
tion were observed in several holes and – Michael Washbourne
first assay results are due this month.
Perhaps the best result for Pacifico
during the current field season was the Simon Noon
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 55
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Ex-Gold Fields pair team
up at ABM
Not so long ago, the sky issue Pacific Road – ABM’s
appeared to be the limit
for ABM Resources NL. largest shareholder – would
With 3.3 moz in gold re- have ended up with 49.91%
sources identified at the
Hyperion project and the of voting power.
Old Pirate and Buccaneer
deposits at Twin Bonanza, The Takeovers Panel
ABM was recognised with
the prestigious Emerging deemed the capital raising
Company Award at Diggers
& Dealers 2012. unacceptable and ABM re-
Overall discovery and structured a new rights is-
definition costs were less
than $4/oz at that point in sue to be mandated by Pat-
time, based on expenditure
on the three prospects. ersons Securities Ltd.
Trial mining at Old Pirate However, in early June,
followed and by mid-2015
first gold was poured via the ABM reported gold produc-
Coyote processing plant,
leased from Tanami Gold tion and sales from Old Pi-
NL, in Western Australia.
rate had exceeded expecta-
Boasting resources of 640,000oz @
11.7 g/t gold, Old Pirate was scheduled tions, while operating and
to produce 50,000-60,000oz @ 11-13 g/t
gold at AISC of $750-870/oz in the first closure costs had come in
year of operations.
under budget.
However, shortly after the start of op-
erations, ABM encountered a number of Meanwhile, an unexpect-
problems to do with the mining inventory
model, mining itself and processing. ed $1.5 million cash injec-
As a result, ABM launched a review tion from Independence
into operations focusing on the discrep-
ancy experienced between mine esti- Hyperion at Suplejack is now the focus for ABM Group NL, which triggered
mated head grade and mill reconciled. It
was reported that mill reconciliation ac- its option under an explora-
counted for just 70% of estimated gold
production at that point. conservative resource estimate for Old tion agreement whereby it can earn 70%
Brett Lambert replaced Darren Holden Pirate of 760,000t @ 4.7 g/t gold for in Lake Mackay by spending $6 million
as chief executive at the time of the re-
view, which proved to be a difficult period 114,000oz. within four years, meant ABM was in a
as the company’s stock plunged from
26c/share in October 2015 in light of the The failure of Old Pirate resulted in a stronger financial position than it had an-
Old Pirate review to 4c/share by the end
of that year. net loss of about $21.6 million for FY2016. ticipated.
In December, the company reported Adding to the company’s woes in Therefore, ABM decided to scrap the
“the re-optimisation study did not support
modification of the original pit designs FY2016 was the stifled attempt to raise proposed raising and as at June 30 it re-
for Old Pirate”, and a revised production
guidance – 70,000t @ 5.5 g/t gold for $10-12 million through a rights issue pro- ported a cash balance of $10 million.
12,000oz – was given.
posed in March. Despite a disappointing period, ABM is
Mining was completed at Old Pirate in
April this year, with an independent re- The 3-for-5 non-renounceable rights in a sound financial position from which
source consultant called in to assess the
project. issue to raise $8.2 million was to be fully the new management team and board
The consultant’s findings led to a more underwritten by Key Pacific Advisory can re-launch.
Partners Pty Ltd and fully sub-underwrit- Tommy McKeith, former executive vice
ten by Pacific Road Capital Management president; growth and international pro-
Pty Ltd, a trustee for Pacific Road Fund II jects for Gold Fields Ltd is now chairman,
Managed Investment Trust. while long-time colleague Matt Briggs
The Australian Government’s Takeo- started as managing director last month.
vers Panel was concerned that if no oth- Briggs was less than two weeks into
er shareholder took up their rights in the the role when he spoke to Paydirt, how-
ever, he is no stranger to the ABM story.
“In my last role – long-term planning
and also feeding into the strategy at Gold
Fields and providing support to the cor-
porate development team – I have looked
at dozens of exploration and mining and
resource projects around the world and
been keeping an eye on ABM for the last
four years,” Briggs said.
Briggs rates ABM’s tenement holdings
in the Tanami on par with the Yilgarn and
East Lachlan region as the three best ad-
dresses for gold exploration in Australia
at the moment.
While the Yilgarn is pretty tightly
Tommy McKeith held and Newcrest Mining Ltd is best
PAGE 56 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
ABM has 12,500sq km of granted tenure in NT, with another 24,000sq km under application
equipped to deal with the complexity of A 2,000m diamond drilling at the first. We are putting the interest out there
the geology in East Lachlan, Briggs said
the typical oreogenic greenstone-style Hyperion-Tethys prospect at Suplejack at the moment. We haven’t committed to
deposits in the Tanami hosted exciting
prospects for ABM. was under way at the time of print, with selling it. It will be dependent on what the
“It [Tanami] hasn’t had that spend. It 9,500m RC drilling in June demonstrat- offers are,” he said.
has the same rocks, the same structures,
you see the same anomalism and min- ing gold mineralisation extends along the “Getting some cash or other structure
eralogy, but it just hasn’t had the same
intensity of exploration or spend or the east-west striking trend for at least 1.3km to the offer can bring forward the explo-
focus of the other [Yilgarn/East Lachlan]
areas,” Briggs said. to an average depth of 80m. ration of the higher priority areas that we
“I think there is opportunity to grow the Grades in the ilk of 14m @ 5.3 g/t think will give greater value to sharehold-
value for ABM to add discoveries through
successful exploration. We have got that gold and 7m @ 13.17 g/t coupled with ers and grow the business.”
package to allow us to make that discov-
ery and to farm-out parts of the projects good widths, makes While a heavy
or sell parts of the projects or deposits
that don’t meet with the strategy; that ap- investing in Suple- focus is on the Su-
pealed to me even before looking at the
role.” jack a “no brainer”, plejack project,
Early into his reign as managing di- Briggs said. ABM will also sys-
rector, Briggs said he had already had a
fair bit of interaction with long-standing Resources at tematically explore
shareholders “coming through the front
door” keen to get a handle on which di- Hyperion-Tethys are its Tanami project
rection he and McKeith are steering the
ship. 3mt @ 2.11 g/t gold and drill test targets,
Briggs and McKeith have worked to- for 202,000oz and while Briggs and
gether for 10 years, with the latter’s tech-
nical knowledge and experience a cru- with $10 million in McKeith run a fine-
cial cog in guiding strategy and direction
to a management team looking to rebuild the bank, ABM has toothcomb over the
ABM.
the clout to increase 12,500sq km tene-
The priority in the medium-term is the
Suplejack project, which ABM believes the resource base. ment package the
has camp-scale potential.
Furthermore, di- company has in the
vestment or farm- Northern Territory.
out of the Bonanza The company has
and North Arunta Matt Briggs a further 24,000sq
km of ground under
projects will bolster
ABM’s cash bal- application plus the
ance, as will any potential JV opportu- Lake Mackay gold and base metals JV,
nities entertained at the South Tanami on the WA/NT border, with Independ-
project. ence.
Briggs said there had been several Independence is scheduled to com-
unsolicited offers for the mining lease at plete a 14-hole RC drilling programme at
Bonanza. Lake Mackay this month and by commit-
“The company’s strategy going for- ting $6 million by May 2020 it can earn a
ward is that we are looking for larger 70% stake in the project.
scale deposits and we think that we have – Mark Andrews
got other areas that we are prioritising
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 57
NORTHERN TERRITORY
PNX starts PFS numbers
PNX Metals Ltd could be in a po- As well as increasing both the
sition to give the go-ahead for size and confidence in the re-
development of its Hayes Creek as- source, metallurgy stands as the
set within two years after initiating a major challenge of the PFS pro-
PFS on the zinc-gold-silver project. cess.
PNX launched the PFS in Octo- Fox said a definitive processing
ber following the positive outcomes route would be locked in as a result
generated from a scoping study into of the PFS.
Hayes Creek, 200km south of Dar- “We are envisaging a flotation
win. PNX managing director James plant at this stage and I can’t re-
Fox told Paydirt infill and exten-
ally see anything changing that,” he
sional drilling had already started said. “It will be more about ensur-
on the Mt Bonnie and Iron Blow de- ing we generate a clean, saleable
posits as part of the PFS. product that maximises the product
“We have been happy with the streams. The zinc concentrate will
results so far,” Fox said. “The infill have to be clean and high-grade
holes are coming back as predicted and the precious metals concen-
and we are confident the extension- trate will be about cleaning the con-
al drilling will provide us with some centrate up as much as possible
upside as well.” without losing too much in the re-
The scoping study was based on covery. It is all about that balance.”
an indicated-inferred resource of PNX is fully funded through the
3.885mt @ 4.59% zinc, 130 g/t sil- PFS process thanks to a recent
ver and 2.05 g/t gold, of which only $1.5 million placement to institu-
around 850,000t is in the indicated tional and sophisticated investors
category. and a $1.6 million forward sale of
“The scoping study certainly The Mt Bonnie zinc-gold-silver mine represents one half of silver production.
identified the need for more tonnes. PNX Metals’ two-mine strategy at its Hayes Creek project “We are fully funded for the PFS
This drilling programme is about but like all companies if we contin-
improving the project economics through 27m and 10m @ 1.4 g/t gold, 397 g/t sil- ue to be successful it is easy to spend
resource expansion but also optimising ver and 11.13% zinc from 46m. further money,” Fox said.
the mining plans and schedule for an Fox said the high gold and silver val- He said the sentiment towards compa-
open pit scenario at Mt Bonnie and an ues were particularly welcome. nies in PNX’s position was also changing
underground at Iron Blow,” Fox said. “We are seeing an increase in the gold for the better.
Results from drilling at Mt Bonnie in at Mt Bonnie and that will certainly have “There are a few windows opening
October included hits of 22m @ 2.33 g/t a positive impact on the economics of up and you can see from the volume of
gold, 143 g/t silver and 7.42% zinc from the project if it all pulls together,” he said. trade and the share price increase we
have had that investors are starting to
warm up,” Fox said.
With cash reserves boosted and ex-
ploration starting on the company’s wider
exploration programme, Fox is comforta-
ble with PNX’s decision to commit to NT.
“The move there was about going
somewhere in which we could acquire
more advanced projects with shorter de-
velopment lead times and there is less
focus on NT than other places.”
The company will continue to expand
its NT portfolio if the opportunity arises.
“We are always on the lookout for
things to enhance the value of the com-
pany and in the Territory in particular,”
he said. “We pegged new ground earlier
this year and acquired further tenements
off Newmarket Gold [Inc] as well. It is a
good place to do business and our initial
discussions with the new minister were
very positive.”
Recent results from drilling at PNX’s Mt Bonnie project delivered a best hit of – Dominic Piper
22m @ 2.33 g/t gold, 143 g/t silver and 7.42% zinc
PAGE 58 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
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IRON ORE
Production rock solid
for iron ore heavies
Against a backdrop of stable ing to BHP Billiton Ltd chief executive An- iron ore and metallurgical coal should
iron ore prices, production drew Mackenzie. further support strong free cash flow
from Australia’s big three pub- generation this financial year.”
lic companies was solid in the “We have seen early signs of market
September quarter. rebalancing,” Mackenzie said. Mackenzie’s comments came after
BHP Billiton announced it was on target
Spot iron ore prices at the time of print “Fundamentals suggest both oil and to meet full-year production and unit cost
were above $US58/t – the highest in gas markets will improve over the next guidance.
about a month. 12-18 months. Iron ore and metallurgi-
cal coal prices have been stronger than For the September quarter, BHP Billi-
Even more encouraging though is the expected, although we continue to ex- ton produced 67mt iron ore (100% basis)
outlook, not only for iron ore players, but pect supply to grow more quickly than and guidance for FY2017 remains be-
the resources sector in general, accord- demand in the near-term. Together, the tween 265-275mt (100% basis).
combination of steadier markets, contin-
ued capital discipline, improved produc- Major rival Rio Tinto Ltd also per-
tivity and increased volumes in copper, formed strongly during the quarter, with
shipments from the Pilbara totalling
PAGE 60 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
80.9mt (100% basis). amount of notes purchased to with the spot price around $US60/t, a
Port and rail maintenance during the $3 billion. WA Nationals’ policy proposal for an in-
crease to the 25c special lease rental,
quarter resulted in a 2% decrease in Fortescue Metals Group Ltd which hasn’t been touched in 50 years,
shipments from the previous quarter and was also on the front foot in ad- surprisingly represents Rio’s ‘No.1 global
5% less than in the corresponding period dressing debt concerns, with risk’, according to chief executive Jean-
in 2015. the company repaying $US700 Sebastien Jacques.”
million in the quarter to reduce
However, for the first nine months net debt to $US4.2 billion. It has been reported the special lease
of 2016, Rio Tinto has shipped more rental be increased to $5/t, which has
(239.9mt) and produced more (243.9mt) “Our focus remains firmly on prompted condemnation from industry
iron ore than the first three quarters of continuing to innovate, improve representatives.
2015. productivity and efficiency for
ongoing cost improvements, In 2014/15, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto has guided production of debt reduction and enhanced contributed $1.9 billion to the seat of Pil-
325-330mt iron ore for 2016 and during shareholder value,” Fortescue bara, with $1.4 billion poured back into
October it was looking to bring the total chief executive Nev Power said. the community, while almost 3,500 peo-
ple who live in the Pilbara were employed
Fortescue delivered in line by the big two iron ore producers in that
with expectations during the time.
September quarter, shipping
43.8mt iron ore and improv- While BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto ap-
ing C1 production costs to pear to be the ones mostly in sight of
$US13.55/wmt. the WA Nationals, the companies have
drawn support from some of its smaller
Costs were 5% better than the peers in the sector.
previous quarter and 20% better
than the 12 months prior. “Starting to introduce new costs to the
business does cause a level of angst and
“Key to our sustained perfor- the word sovereign risk does pop up,” Mt
mance has been the alignment Gibson Ltd chief executive Jim Beyer told
of our marketing and operations Paydirt.
strategy to optimise production,
maximise efficiency and con- “When you are balancing up your in-
sistently deliver quality prod- vestments all around the world, or other
ucts. This has driven C1 costs parts of Australia even, it just causes a
to $US13.55/wmt, the eleventh level of uncertainty which means if eve-
consecutive quarterly reduction, rything is equal, I’ll go where I know
generating continued strong things don’t change in the future.”
cash margins,” Power said.
Beyer said it was important people
As the iron ore miners start to understood the significant upfront invest-
find their feet again after a ter- ment resources companies make in de-
rible couple of years, there are veloping mining projects and the time it
still concerns iron ore will drop takes to make a profit on that investment.
back below $US50/t next year,
while another headwind prevail- “That kind of investment means takes
ing in Western Australia is the a long time to get a return on that and
State’s National Party calling for unfortunately sometimes I think people
an increased mining tax on the don’t look at the big picture, they look
industry. at the instant. Sure, some of these busi-
nesses might be making a good bit of
Leader of the WA Nationals cash, but at the end of the day they are
and Member for Pilbara, Bren- because in some cases they invested bil-
don Grylls, wants to revisit and lions of dollars,” Beyer said.
change state agreements and
contracts which would see the Association of Mining and Exploration
likes of Rio Tinto and BHP Billi- Companies chief executive Simon Ben-
ton charged a 25c special lease nison said the organisation opposed the
rental per tonne of iron ore produced. Nationals’ proposed tax.
As the WA State Election nears Grylls
is pushing his cause hard right now. “We think it is ridiculous,” Bennison
“State agreements must be capable of said. “Any increase to companies under
change. The world – and the iron ore in- state agreements is likely to be reflected
dustry – has changed significantly since in mining rents and the fear is that flowing
the 1960s,” the WA Nationals said in a from iron ore across the industry. That is
statement. our risk and we think it is totally inappro-
“Less than 12 months ago, in the priate.”
depth of the mining downturn, Rio Tinto
boasted about its resilience and profit- – Mark Andrews
ability, not to mention its aim to increase
production levels, despite the spot price
of iron ore dipping below $US40/. Now,
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 61
IRON ORE
Mt Gibson to make call
on Koolan Island
Some stability in the iron clear at this stage, there are
ore price during FY2016 still a few approvals sitting in
was welcomed by Mt Gibson the final approvals with de-
Iron Ltd chief executive Jim partments, but we will keep
Beyer. everyone informed as we
“We have seen some level go.”
of stabilisation in price over With Mt Gibson keen to
the last 12 months, it is oscil- get a decision on Iron Hill as
lating between $US50-60/t, soon as possible, it is doing
with spikes down to $US40/t detailed due diligence on the
and I think we touched on Koolan Island project.
$US70/t. It has been vola- A seawall failure at Koolan
tile, but at least we haven’t Island, off WA’s Kimberley
seen the continual slide coast, in 2014 forced the
which we experienced in the company to close the mine.
years prior,” Beyer told Pay-
dirt. The mine is on care-and-
maintenance, with Mt Gibson
Full-year sales revenue awarded $86 million in prop-
for FY2016 of $240 million erty damages earlier this
on 5mt at all-in cash costs Mining at Extension Hill was being wound up at the time of print year.
of $46/wmt was within guid- All funds were received by
ance, as the company reported underly- behind very big strip ratio material. We’ll the end of July, with Beyer telling Paydirt
ing gross profit of $19.4 million. keep chasing those opportunities but in that Mt Gibson would review Koolan Is-
Better iron ore prices enabled full-year reality the ability of the ease to find them land carefully and would not rush back
cash flow of $5.7 million, compared with of that magnitude is a lot harder.” into operations. Despite the status at
a loss of $91.1 million in FY2015. Mt Gibson will stick to a theme of cost Koolan Island, 12 months of production
Like many iron ore producers, Mt Gib- improvement across its business in was extracted from the operation, albeit
son has also implemented cost-saving FY2017, which will include continuing to at a lower rate, at all-in cash costs of $37/
initiatives across its business since iron work constructively with service provid- wmt Fob in FY2016.
ore prices started to slide in 2012. ers on contracts. “Koolan Island is high-grade, we have
Unfortunately, restructuring its busi- Forecast sales for FY2017 is 2.8-3.1mt a mine plan that has a lower strip ratio
ness led Mt Gibson to shed staff and at all-in cash costs of $48-52/t, including than what we originally ran it on. We
downscale scale operations, including all operating, capital, royalties and head know its costs very well, so what we are
Tallering Peak in Western Australia’s office costs. All-in site costs at Extension working on at the moment is finding a
Mid West, which was discon- Hill have been estimated at way of safely rebuilding that seawall and
tinued in 2014 as reserves $44-46/wmt FOB, with min- within a cost that allows us to restart,”
were run down and the high ing almost finished from the Beyer said.
strip ratio to access more ore project. “We think we have one, but as you
meant it became too costly Beyer said stockpiles at can imagine we have a lot of detailed
to operate. the mine, rail siding and Ger- engineering work that needs to be done.
Beyer said in light of the aldton port meant ore sales Then we have got reviews and second
tough conditions in the iron from Extension Hill would reviews of that because we don’t want a
ore sector, Mt Gibson was continue to occur into 2017. repeat of history on that seawall. At this
more prudent with how it op- “What we are working hard stage, we think that we will be in a posi-
erated its Extension Hill and at is getting Iron Hill, which tion to make a decision on whether we
Koolan Island mine sites. is on the mining lease about will restart Koolan, at the earliest, that
“Sometimes just running 2km away from Extension will be at the end of this year or January
things slightly differently has Jim Beyer Hill, [under way]. We need sometime.”
a way of being able to pre- to get a haul road in, but the Meanwhile, Mt Gibson continues to
sent an opportunity to basi- thing that is holding us up at pursue its growth strategy, with Beyer
cally do a little less work, but getting the the moment is government approvals, saying opportunities within iron ore, other
same amount of product out the door, environmental conditions,” Beyer said. bulks and base metals are on the radar.
which helps save money,” he said. “I think everybody is working as hard “Our first preference will be [projects]
“Our mine planning guys did some and fast as they can, but we are really in Australia and that is what we continue
very good redesign and we realised with trying to get that done, so as we wind to look at,” he said.
a little bit of a loss of reserves we could down the major activities at Extension – Mark Andrews
save ourselves a lot of costs by leaving Hill we can bring Iron Hill on line. It is un-
PAGE 62 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
IFC to sell Simandou stake
Rio Tinto Ltd said last The future of Rio Tinto’s Simandou has become less clear following the IFC’s decision
month that the Inter- to sell its stake in the project
national Finance Corpora-
tion (IFC), a partner in its it was shelving the project, despite sub- add $US5.6 billion to Guinea’s GDP,
$US20 billion Simandou mitting a feasibility study to government, making Guinea the fastest growing econ-
iron ore project in Guinea, because of the iron ore price slump. Rio omy in the world.
was selling its 4.6% stake. Tinto had previously applied a $US1.1 bil-
lion write-down to the project. “Despite the challenge of financing
The exit of IFC, an arm the project, we believe that a financing
of the World Bank, is the The entire Simandou project would solution will be found with partners who
latest setback in the de- comprise an iron ore mine in central share our long-term perspective,” Guin-
velopment of the project Guinea, a 650km railway and a deep- ea’s Ministry of Mines said in July.
– one of the world’s big- water port on the West African country’s
gest untapped iron ore Atlantic Coast. – Reuters
reserves – and follows a
series of political wrangles At full production, the project would
and depressed price envi- generate about $US7.5 billion in rev-
ronment. enues, according to a 2014 report, and
“We confirm that the IFC
has exercised a put option,
which it has held since
2006, to require Rio Tinto
and Chinalco to buy their
stake in Simfer,” Rio Tinto
said in an emailed state-
ment, referring to the JV.
Rio Tinto has a 46.6%
stake in the project; Chi-
na’s Chinalco has 41.3%
and the Guinea Govern-
ment has 7.5%.
A senior official at Guin-
ea’s mines ministry said he was not
aware of the decision.
The West African country is counting
on the project to spur economic growth
after Guinea was hit by a crippling Ebola
epidemic that officially ended in June.
When fully operational, Simandou has
the potential to double Guinea’s GDP, the
project partners have said, while China,
the world’s largest iron ore consumer
provides an obvious market.
In July, Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-
Sebastien Jacques told The Times that
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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 63
IRON ORE
Central Eyre a national priority
Iron Road Ltd’s Central Eyre iron project The infrastructure arm of Iron Road’s Central Eyre iron project has been
in South Australia has never looked bet- declared a project of national priority by Infrastructure Australia
ter, according to managing director An-
drew Stocks. Iron Road also confirmed in early at the latest, early next year. Then we’re
very much looking forward to moving into
Such a statement might seem strange March it had signed a MoU with Emerald the next phase of work with China Rail-
given some forecasters are predicting way.”
the iron ore price will drop back below Grain, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jap-
$US50/t next year. According to Stocks, China Railway
anese conglomerate Sumitomo Corp, identified the level of study work, the
But when you strip away the uncontrol- quality of the Central Eyre product and
lable market dynamics and take a closer to develop a grain distribution and sup- the overall infrastructure solution as
look at Iron Road’s list of achievements the key reasons for partnering with Iron
through 2016, Stocks makes a compel- ply network using the iron ore hopeful’s Road over others.
ling case for the company he founded
almost a decade ago. planned rail and port facilities. “These three ticks are very important,”
Stocks said. “When you understand your
Iron Road’s proposed rail and port fa- Stocks hinted more news relating to customers and you understand your pro-
cilities – servicing not only the new Cen- ject and you’ve made that journey, then
tral Eyre mine but other industries on the the infrastructure side of the business you become more attractive.”
Eyre Peninsula – was recently declared
a “priority project” by Infrastructure Aus- would be revealed before 2016 comes to Iron Road’s stock has held relatively
tralia (IA). firm around 13c/share over the past two
a close. years while the iron ore price has gone
The national government body’s as- through a period of instability, suggesting
sessment looks at whether a project “Later this year, with Regional Devel- to Stocks there are enough believers in
would have public benefits if commer- his company’s vision.
cially viable, with IA noting the benefits opment Australia, we’ll be jointly calling
of the infrastructure to SA and the rest of “People do believe in what we’re doing,
the country outweighed the high devel- for EOI to use excess capacity in the rail they understand we’re genuine, so when
opment and environmental costs. we say something we mean it, but I also
and port,” Stocks said. think there’s some healthy scepticism out
“There are only 10 priority projects there,” he said.
across the nation and the list is made “The introduction of competition into
up of urban congestion projects and na- “We’re trying to build a very large pro-
tional connectivity projects and one lone- the grain industry for the ject and people do say to me from time to
some opportunity for growth – the Iron time, ‘Andrew, iron ore prices are down,
Road project,” Stocks told Paydirt. first time in a long time why are you doing this?’. Well, the iron
ore price is down somewhat, but it’s not
“We’ve been working on the project for on the Eyre Peninsula the lowest it’s ever been and it’s not near-
eight years and I personally have been ly as far down as what a lot of people said
working on the project for nine years. It will be a great community it would go, so surely now is the time to
is a good feeling to know do the studies.
that should we build this dividend. And the farmers
project, where we’re not “We have a 2020 problem, not a 2016
only building a mine in need not do anything to problem. We just try to keep focused on
a regional area that will the bigger picture, keep an eye on what’s
create new business receive that.” going on and making sure we’re doing
opportunities and em- the right thing.”
ployment opportunities, Recent optimisation
but build much-needed – Michael Washbourne
infrastructure that will work on the mine design
most likely see new
businesses start up as a and schedule suggested
result. It’s never looked
better.” the shape of the Central
IA’s priority tag is the Eyre geology was best
latest in a series of posi-
tive news flow for the company over the suited to in-pit crushing
past eight months, including a strategic
co-operation agreement with China Rail- Andrew Stocks and conveying. Iron Road
way Group. is currently reviewing the
A successful $9.56 million capital rais- financial metrics of the
ing and shaving a further $US2/t off pro-
posed operating costs for Central Eyre project and Stocks is expecting to cut the
were other key milestones for Iron Road
during the same period. $US4 billion capex “a fair way”.
“We’ve done a lot of work to eliminate
the tails dam from the mine design and
now we’re very much focused on working
our way through the approvals process,”
Stocks said.
“We’re expecting to get the first round
of approvals by the end of the year or,
PAGE 64 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
More customers join queue for
Hawsons supergrade
Carpentaria Exploration Ltd will on the market is it’s about 97% iron
review its development plans
for the Hawsons iron project in New ore and only about 3% waste, so
South Wales after finding custom-
ers for nearly 80% of the proposed very little slag volume and slag gen-
production.
eration for a steel mill,” Hill said.
Direct reduction iron producer
Emirates Steel (900,000 tpa) re- “This is critical for high productiv-
cently joined the likes of Bahrain
Steel (3 mtpa), Formosa Plastics ity, low impurity blast furnace op-
Group (2 mtpa), Gunvor Group (1
mtpa) and Mitsubishi Corp (1 mtpa) erations, but in fact it’s also a criti-
in signing non-binding LOIs for a
share of the 10 mtpa production cal component of what’s required
from Hawsons, about 60km south-
west of Broken Hill. for direct reduction feed. The direct
The latest LOI differs from the reduction market uses a different
preceding four in that it involves the
purchase of direct reduction grade method to create iron and it’s not so
pellets instead of the “supergrade”
concentrate previously marketed by good at getting rid of the slag or the
the company.
waste.
It has prompted Carpentaria
managing director Quentin Hill and “Only around 10 projects in the
his team to consider their pelletising
options, including potential access world can produce such quality ma-
to spare capacity at the Whyalla
pellet plant. terial for the direct reduction market
“Some of our LOIs are for pel- and, as evidenced by our support
let feed, some for concentrate and
some of it will indeed be for pellets, from Bahrain Steel, Emirates Steel
so what this [latest LOI] has done is allow
us, through this next phase of work, to and other blue-chip buyers, there is
review the optimal size of the operation
and also to review whether a pelletising strong demand for new, reliable, low
option is worthwhile,” Hill told Paydirt.
cost suppliers for this material, so
“Initially in 2010 we were looking at a
large-scale 20 mtpa concentrate opera- we think the Hawsons supergrade is
tion, with some conceptual infrastructure,
but as the market adjusted we adjusted well placed.”
to a 10 mtpa operation utilising existing
infrastructure. Carpentaria recently raked in
“Now we’ve had a good look at what just over $800,000 via a placement
we can produce and what the market is
doing, it’s time to once again review the which netted the company’s first in-
configuration and product output of our
project.” stitutional investor, SG Hiscock &
Under the terms of the LOI, Carpen- Company. A rights issue to raise an
taria and Emirates Steel will look to enter
into a binding off-take arrangement for Carpentaria managing director Quentin Hill with a additional $2.6 million was due to
an initial term of 10 years, with first sup-
ply targeted for 2020. sample of Hawsons “supergrade” pellet feed close at the time of print.
Exposure to the direct reduction mar- Funds from the placement have
ket is an enticing proposition for Carpen-
taria, with direct reduction grade pellets According to analysts Wood Macken- already been directed towards a drill-
currently boasting a $US41/t premium
over 65% Fe Index products. zie, about 75% of current direct reduction ing programme to upgrade the mostly
feed production originates from just four inferred resource at Hawsons. The first
companies, with more than 90% of that holes are scheduled to be punched into
supply coming from Brazil and Sweden. the ground early this month.
“We’re very excited that we can pro- “Our plans are to upgrade the resource
duce amongst the world’s best raw ma- and then revise and optimise the mine
terial and the benefits that this will bring plan and complete a PFS,” Hill said.
to the development prospects of our pro- “We’re aiming to hit those two milestones
ject,” Hill said. in the coming months, subject to a suc-
“Magnetite hopefuls have spoken cessful capital raising, but the drill rigs
about the premium before, but our mate- will be out there regardless.
rial is likely to have less than half the slag “We haven’t had a drill rig out there
volume of a 66% or 67% concentrate, since 2010 because we had confidence
so it’s materially much better than those in the resource and we knew we need-
products.” ed to focus on other matters that were
Carpentaria’s stock has soared more deemed a higher risk to the project, such
than 108% since February when test as power, water, port access, product
work on the Hawsons supergrade prod- quality and flow sheet.
uct found it contained high iron and low “Going back to the resource signals
slag content, superior physical proper- we’re comfortable with the level we’re at
ties and excellent iron-making charac- for those other aspects of the project and
teristics, based on prospective buyers’ this is the next logical step in the devel-
criteria. opment of our flagship project.”
“The key difference with our super- – Michael Washbourne
grade product compared to what else is
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 65
REGIONAL ROUNDUP AFRICA
Borshoff backs Deep Yellow
John Borshoff has the critical first few ital of Deep Yellow for gross proceeds of
returned to the $1.42 million.
uranium space in Af- years of production
rica. ECP will be issued 321,648,376 fully
whilst the explora- paid ordinary shares at 0.0044c/share,
The Paladin Ener- which was calculated by reference to a
gy founder has been tion target demon- discount to the VWAP.
appointed as manag-
ing director of ASX- strates the longer The funds will strengthen Deep Yel-
listed junior Deep low’s balance sheet as is undertakes a
Yellow Ltd. life potential of the review of the uranium sector to evaluate
growth opportunities and advances the
Borshoff replaced project. We are existing assets.
Greg Cochran as
managing director looking forward to “Having carefully evaluated the current
of Deep Yellow last state of the global uranium sector, I am
month and will be in completing the geo- confident Deep Yellow represents the
charge of taking the ideal platform to establish a high qual-
Tumas uranium project into production. metallurgical drilling ity and strategically positioned uranium
company,” Borshoff said upon his ap-
The industry veteran takes the helm at programme shortly, pointment.
Deep Yellow with an updated resource at
Tumas at his disposal. which will further “I believe this is an unparalleled oppor-
tunity to create shareholder value in an
Prior to leaving the company, Cochran enhance our geo- out-of-favour asset class. I look forward
said starting a PFS at Tumas was in the to working with the Deep Yellow board
company’s sights. John Borshoff logical and metal- and Sprott to leverage the company’s
lurgical knowledge Namibian assets and take advantage of
“This is another step towards the ulti- the inevitable growth opportunities that
mate development of the Tumas project,” and commencing will occur, in anticipation of a recovery in
Cochran said in light of announcing an global uranium markets.”
updated resource of 16.6mt @ 366 ppm a fast PFS. With the recent milestones
uranium for 13.4 mlb uranium, at a 200
ppm cut-off. achieved it is no surprise that Tumas is
“This MRE will give us certainty for rapidly becoming recognised as Namib-
ia’s next uranium mine.”
Borshoff’s experience in taking Pala-
din from explorer to uranium producer in
Africa will be invaluable at Deep Yellow.
In addition to Borshoff’s appointment,
Deep Yellow announced it would enter
a strategic relationship with an affiliate
– Exploration Capital Partners 2014 Ltd
Partnership (ECP) – of Sprott Group.
ECP has agreed to subscribe to a pri-
vate placement of 15% of the issued cap-
Court approves scheme for Kasbah
The Federal Court of Aus- projected from Acchmach.
tralia has approved the
scheme booklet for Vietnam- Ore reserves of 6.56mt @
ese tin miner Asian Mineral
Resources Ltd to acquire 0.85% tin for 55,000t con-
Kasbah Resources Ltd.
tained tin is likely to see Ac-
A scheme of arrangement
whereby Asian Minerals chmach in operation for 10.5
would acquire all the ordi-
nary shares in Kasbah was years, with initial capex of
announced in August.
$US61.7 million required for
Kasbah has recommended
shareholders vote in favour start-up.
of the proposed scheme, in
the absence of a superior of- Acchmach is a JV with Kas-
fer.
bah (75%) and Toyota Tsusho
Asian Mineral is eyeing
off Kasbah’s Acchmach tin Corp and Nittetsu Mining
project, 140km south-east of
Rabat. Co Ltd (25%), with each en-
Earlier this year, Kasbah released a tity responsible for the same
DFS on a start-up option at Acchmach.
Based on an underground scenario of amount in project financing.
500,000 tpa, stage one is estimated to
produce 1.89mt @ 0.96% tin, followed by Discussions on project fi-
nancing and off-take are on-
going.
Asian Mineral’s proposed takeover of Kasbah has been With various contractors,
approved by the Federal Court of Australia and skilled personnel on
hand, Kasbah indicated if
4.67mt @ 0.8% tin in stage two. a decision to mine was made this year,
With average production of an esti- construction could start in 2017 and first
mated 3,970t tin at AISC of $US11,507/t, tin concentrates could be available to
life-of-mine free cash flow of $US120 mil- market in 2018.
lion, based on a price of $US17,830/t is
PAGE 66 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
15 YEARS OF ADU
6 - 8 September 2017
Perth, Australia
africadownunderconference.com
For all enquiries please contact Christine or Namukale
on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected] or [email protected]
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
Acacia Coal weighs
up Rio Tinto project
Australian junior Acacia Coal Ltd is Acacia Coal has started due diligence on Rio Tinto’s Riversdale
conducting due diligence on the un- anthracite colliery in South Africa
developed Riversdale anthracite colliery
(RAC) owned by Rio Tinto Ltd. completion of the acquisition. Further update the BFS.
payments of $2.33 million to Rio Tinto The capital raising comprises a 15%
A binding agreement will see Coal- and BEE owner Khulani Resources and
vent Ltd acquire RAC, currently held by $750,000 to African Onca Pty Ltd are re- placement at 0.003c/share for $410,000,
Riversdale Holdings Pty Ltd, a Rio Tinto quired at a later stage. while a one-for-two entitlements issue at
group, and vend it into Acacia. the same price for $1.56 million is fully
Together with the acquisition, Acacia is underwritten by Argonaut.
Subject to due diligence and all neces- undertaking a $2 million capital raising to
sary approvals attained, Acacia will end help with the deposit and conduct work to
up with 74% of RAC in South Africa’s
Kwazulu Natal coal region.
Mining at RAC dates back to the early
1900s, with the 2006 BFS last updated
in 2010.
A valid environmental management
plan (EMP) and new order mining right
has been granted at RAC and Acacia
has indicated an updated resource, re-
serve and BFS could be completed by
June 2017.
Acacia sees potential for a low-cost
start to operations, with RAC a short
distance from an unused rail siding and
highway, while power and port accessi-
bility is also available.
A timeline provided by Acacia indi-
cates the company can be in mine devel-
opment phase within 18 months of taking
on the project.
Acacia must fork out an initial deposit
of $340,000, with $970,000 due upon
Two selected for coal plants
South Africa has selected two local South Africa, which generates about emissions driving climate change.
consortia as the preferred bidders to 42,000MW of electricity, is aiming to The Government has previously said it
develop the first privately-built coal-fired diversify its energy mix to include gas,
plants in Africa’s most industrialised coun- wind and solar power. is also seeking alternatives in the gas, re-
try, the energy minister said last month. newable and nuclear energy to help stem
“Khanyisa (is) set to begin commercial electricity shortfalls.
South Africa is in a race to boost elec- operation in December 2020, followed
tricity supply and avoid power cuts that closely by Thabametsi in March 2021,” Khanyisa, which will use discarded
have previously hurt business and erod- Tina Joematt-Petterson told a media coal from dumps to fuel its power plant
ed the country’s appeal as an investment briefing in Cape Town. in Mpumalanga, counts Saudi Arabia’s
destination. ACWA Power, General Electric and lo-
“While South Africa’s energy build plan cal investment firm Thebe Investments,
The Thabametsi and Khanyisa consor- still incorporates the development of fos- which has a 15% stake, as its backers.
tia is expected to add more than 850MW sil fuel assets in the foreseeable future,
of coal-fired production to the national we are committed to transition to a low- The Thabametsi consortium, which will
grid in a country which has huge un- carbon economy.” develop a new mine in northern Limpopo
tapped coal resources. province, is backed by Japan’s Marubeni
Joematt-Petterson said the second Corporation, which holds a 24.5% stake,
The projects have the backing of for- round of bids to develop coal power and Korea’s Kepco with a similar stake.
eign developers from Korea, Japan, Sau- plants was being reviewed to consider
di Arabia and the South African banking the inclusion of clean coal technologies, – Wendell Roelf, Reuters
sector. as the world commits to reduce harmful
PAGE 68 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
AFRICA
Production delayed from Obuasi
llegal miners operating at AngloGold made it uneconomic to for them,” said Toni Au-
Ashanti Ltd’s Obuasi mine in Ghana
have ignored a government deadline to access new and deep- bynn, chief executive of
leave, delaying company plans to restart
production. lying reserves. Gold the commission.
Up to 5,000 miners were still working prices have since re- Local officials said
at Obuasi in the Ashanti region in mid-
October, four days after a deadline for covered somewhat. security forces were un-
them to leave, Benjamin Annan, spokes-
man for the Association of Small Scale Crime and unem- likely to evict the miners
Miners. He said relocation plans that
would enable them to move were yet to ployment have since ahead of a presidential
be finalised.
soared in Obuasi town election in December,
“We will move immediately, the Miner-
als Commission representative has done and in February men given that many fami-
the demarcations,” Annan told Reuters.
broke into the conces- lies rely on the miners’
AngloGold officials say previous deals
to get the miners out were ignored and sion, digging shafts that Ghana Minerals Commission income.
as a result it could not attract new invest- intersected with the chief executive Toni Aubynn The apparent deci-
ment or complete a study on how much it mine’s official tunnels
would cost to bring the mine back to life. sion not to force the
The Obuasi mine began production a and allowed them to ac- miners out is an exam-
century ago and is crucial to gold mining
in a country that also exports cocoa and cess ore thousands of feet underground. ple of what many business leaders say
oil. Output was halted and almost all staff
laid off in 2014 when falling gold prices At least 130 illegal miners have been is a slowdown in government decision-
killed, according to AngloGold’s figures. making as the election approaches.
The illegal miners were due to move to “All we can do is continue to monitor
a different part of the AngloGold conces- and hope to see results on the ground,”
sion under a deal worked out by a com- Eric Asubonteng, managing director of
mittee that included small scale miners AngloGold Ashanti Ghana, told Reuters.
set up by the government regulator, the The company is also pursuing arbitration
Minerals Commission. in Washington with the Government, he
“We are counting on them to leave said.
on their own, or be pushed out and also – Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Reuters
lose the ground that we have earmarked
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 69
REGIONAL ROUNDUP LATIN AMERICA
Lithium Powers into Maricunga
Newly-listed Lithium Power Interna- Lithium Power has entered a JV at the Maricunga lithium brine project, northern Chile.
tional Ltd has targeted completion of Maricunga is touted as one of the highest quality projects outside of Albermale’s
a DFS at the Maricunga lithium brine pro- and SQM’s projects in the Atacama
ject by the end of 2018.
coming back from the current campaign.” than $US30 million has been invested on
Maricunga is rated as one of the high- Holland said adjacent to Maricunga the tenements by the previous partners
est grade pre-production lithium brine in the past four years.
deposits in the world, with the Newco there is about 1,200ha on the salar that
JV of Lithium Power (50%), Minera Salar hasn’t been explored before and that a Holland said that the Maricunga JV
Blanco (32.3%) and Li3 Energy (17.7%) portion of the recent capital raising will would be targeting about 15,000-20,000
the owners. be spent acquiring those tenements and tpa production to be a significant player
further exploration of the project area. in the global lithium space.
Participation in Maricunga, Chile, en-
hances Lithium Power’s position in the Cash is not a concern for the company “If you look at the current supply glob-
sector, with its $8 million IPO in June and it appears it has the right expertise ally, obviously the demand is increasing
coming on the back of hard rock spo- on board to extract maximum value from along with the raw supply to the market.
dumene plays in Western Australia’s its spend. If you look at the current supply to the
Pilbara and Greenbushes regions and market it is about 250,000 tpa coming
the Centenario brine salar in Argentina’s Ricky Fertig (chairman), Luis Ignacio out at present, but we expect demand to
Salta province. Silva (director and regional manager increase and also supply in the next few
Latin America), Andrew Phillips (com- years,” Holland said.
The company’s IPO – 40 million shares pany secretary) accompany Holland on
at 20c/share – was heavily oversub- the board, while Murray Brooker (group While the swift surge in interest in the
scribed, indicating strong support for its technical and exploration adviser), Stuart lithium market has taken some by sur-
strategy to fast-track exploration at the Peterson (hard rock exploration manag- prise, Holland is not one and has been
projects. er), Todd Axford (independent hard rock preparing for this scenario for some time.
expert and Mark King (independent brine
Shortly after listing, the company expert) make up the technical team. “I have spent about three years re-
declared its interest in Maricunga – searching the actual commodity itself,”
574,064t lithium carbonate and 1.5mt “We believe that we have the best he said.
potash – and has since spent consider- technical team going around globally
able time negotiating an agreement to with the best experience from a hydroge- “Personally, I am not surprised, ob-
partake in the project. ology point of view,” Holland said. viously there is a lot on the EV side of
things as well. In terms of grid storage,
Last month, the company finalised “A lot of the team is ex-Orocobre [Ltd] I am not sure the market understands
agreements on the JV structure and and worked on that project in Argentina what the demand will be when that kicks
earn-in milestones, which includes Lith- from the start all the way through to pro- in. I see demand strengthening in the
ium Power providing an initial $US8.38 duction and have now joined our team.” next decade and for the paradigm shift
million to the incorporated Chilean JV, you are going to need more Maricunga-
Newco, for the execution of phase one With drilling under way at Maricunga, type projects to come on stream to suit
and two development programmes at Lithium Power hopes to have an updated demand.”
Maricunga. resource in hand by the first half of 2017.
– Mark Andrews
By completing a $12 million capital Based on the current resource of
raising, via a two tranche institutional 574,064t, a mine life of about 20 years
placement, Lithium Power can fulfil its was outlined at Maricunga, where more
obligations over the next 12 months as
its works towards finishing a DFS and
submitting an EIA.
At the time of print, final resource drill-
ing had started, with one hole completed,
while feasibility studies were also under
way.
“The overall resource is only drilled to
the first aquifer, which is 150m deep,”
Lithium Power chief executive Martin
Holland told Paydirt.
“The programme we are doing con-
sists of 16 diamond holes and two further
pumping test wells. The further diamond
holes we are drilling are adjacent to the
current resource where the tenements
have never been drilled. We are also
putting in some deeper holes to test the
second aquifers and we believe this is
going to be a large scale project for the
company if we get some positive results
PAGE 70 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
LATINSAVE THE DATE
AMERICA
17-18 May 2017
Perth,Western Australia
www.latinamericadownunder.com
To present, exhibit or attend as a delegate please contact
Melita Fogarty on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
Colombian risk based on
legal threats, not war
Gold mining companies Piedras, whose residents
have invested hundreds voted to ban extraction amid
of millions of dollars but not water quality fears.
extracted a gram. Palm Under current law, com-
farmers are told their land panies must get approval
belongs to someone else. from local ethnic groups be-
Some communities are vot- fore beginning projects, but
ing to ban mining in areas do not typically consult the
already awarded for explora- broader community. Some
tion. areas are using referen-
Whether or not President dums to change that.
Juan Manuel Santos can Both Cajamarca and the
salvage a peace deal with city of Ibague have pending
Marxist rebels that was re- votes. If passed, AngloGold
jected by voters on October Ashanti, which has invested
2, legal roadblocks and high close to $US900 million
taxes are a major deterrent in Colombia since 2006,
for companies looking to in- would be forced to abandon
vest in Colombia. the project.
Santos says ending Latin “Tell me what the rules of
America’s longest-running Some businesses in Colombia are believed to pay more than 50% tax, the game are, I’ll analyse
conflict would open up vast compared with 27% in Peru and 25% in Chile them and take a decision
areas of land to develop- about whether to invest in
ment, reduce corporate security costs “Changes in laws and legislation make the country or not. But don’t tell me in
and bring additional growth of up to 1.5% project development impossible,” chief the middle something isn’t constitution-
a year. executive Mark Moseley told Reuters. al,” AngloGold Ashanti executive Juan
Since voters narrowly rejected the The company is hoping it can reach a Camilo Narino said.
deal, Santos has scrambled to extend a compromise with the Government under For Ibague mayor Guillermo Jaramillo,
ceasefire with the rebels and meet with Colombia’s free trade agreement with there are clear health and environmental
opposition figures in a bid to find com- Canada. reasons to ban mining.
mon ground and resurrect hopes of a ne- Despite security improvements in re- “They are going for gold. We are de-
gotiated end to the 52-year war. cent years, industry insiders say compa- fending our land,” he said from his office
But even companies eager to explore nies may reconsider expansion plans or overlooking the city’s colonial square.
former conflict zones say other worries simply not move to Colombia altogether AngloGold Ashanti says it follows all
are more pressing. due to the legal uncertainties. regulations and mining at La Colosa
Many are wary of recent court deci- Of some 150 miners that arrived in Co- would not affect ground water.
sions banning exploration on land al- lombia during a gold price boom in 2009, Whatever the rights and wrongs of
ready awarded in concessions and giv- only 30 remain. each side, the panorama of uncertainty
ing local authorities greater power to Experts estimate half of Colombia’s is a deterrent to investment.
reject mining projects. For others, high territory has been starved of investment The Government says it understands
corporate taxes are a damenper. because of the war and Santos hopes challenges facing companies and will try
“It’s useless to have a post-conflict peace would triple foreign direct invest- to adapt.
window of opportunity if our neighbours ment to $US36 billion a year over the “We have to keep working on a series
have half the tax rate we do and if 30- next decade with companies exploring of institutional fixes that will give much
year contracts are signed and then the for gold, coltan, copper, rare earths, em- more clarity on mining and energy devel-
conditions change,” Santiago Angel, eralds, tungsten, potassium and coal. opment,” Deputy Mining Minister Carlos
head of Colombia’s mining association, Still, mining firms complain that tighter Cante said.
said. regulation and political pressures are He said solutions included better de-
Analysts calculate many businesses in hurting the industry. fining what areas could be explored and
Colombia pay more than 50% tax, com- AngloGold Ashanti Ltd is facing a pub- improving company relations with com-
pared with 27% in Peru and 25% in Chile. lic vote that could stymie its plans to ex- munities.
Canadian gold miner EcoOro Inc, tract gold at its flagship La Colosa project Potential new investors from Australia,
which has spent $US240 million on ex- in Tolima province. Canada and Asia have expressed inter-
ploration in Colombia, lost 50% of a con- Mining at the site – a $US2 billion po- est in Colombia, he added.
cession in Santander province after a tential investment which could yield 28 – Julia Symmes Cobb and Nelson
constitutional court ruling halted mining moz gold – would be banned if Cajamar- Bocanegra, Reuters
exploration to protect wetlands. ca municipality follows the lead of nearby
PAGE 72 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
LATIN AMERICA
Inca on the zinc trail
With 10% zinc at surface, Riqueza is now the focus for Inca
After negotiations stalled regarding The onset of drilling will herald a new in the restructuring of the agreement, you
terms and conditions pertaining to its chapter for Inca in light of its decision to don’t burn bridges. But, if he has similar
interest in the Chanape copper project, walk away from the Chanape porphyry attitudes to other people and doesn’t
Inca Minerals Ltd has quickly moved on discovery this year. have inflated expectations, then it is like-
to other interests in Peru. ly that he will come back to us or he will
With more than 10,000m drilled at drop the concessions and we’ll pick them
The company’s attention has shifted to Chanape, Brown said it was difficult to up cheaply.”
the Riqueza zinc project, Central Peru, leave the project behind. But, two ex-
and results to date have indicated Inca’s pert reports conducted on Chanape Even if Inca was to get another run at
decision has been a good one. revealed the porphyry system was too Chanape, it would likely sit on the back-
deep to warrant more exploration which burner as zinc is currently more popular
Inca managing director Ross Brown led to a renegotiation of terms under the than copper and Riqueza appears to be
told Paydirt that, approvals and licences Chanape Mining Option and Assignment a compelling project.
aside, Riqueza was pretty much a ready- Agreement (MOAA).
made project waiting to be mined. Shareholders have supported Inca’s
Under the agreement, Inca was to change in direction and participated in a
“Riqueza has grade, there is no tox- spend $5.33 million on further explora- number of rights issues and placements
ics in the mineralisation – no arsenic, no tion by the end of 2016, which the Chan- this year.
mercury – in terms of metallurgy it is Met- ape vendor wouldn’t budge on.
allurgy 101. Silver is concentrated to lead Inca’s top 20 shareholders account
concentrate and you burn off enough “We haven’t got any residual interest for about 40% of shares in the company,
silver and you get three products. It is [in Chanape], although I am in constant with RCF VI the largest shareholder with
pretty standard separation metallurgy,” communication with the owner,” Brown about 18%.
Brown said. said.
Essentially, Riqueza, hosting 10% zinc
Assays from mapping and sampling “Even though we didn’t see eye-to-eye at surface, opposed to Chanape’s 0.5%
at Riqueza have revealed new
mineralised veins and man- copper at depth, is the story
tos at Pinta and Humaspunco which has perked interest in
where gold equivalent grades of Inca again.
13 g/t have been identified.
“It [Riqueza] is very differ-
“At Humaspunco, we have 36 ent from Chanape and step-
veins and four mantos, they are ping into high-grade zinc from
all containing high-grade zinc- low-grade copper is a nice
silver-lead mineralisation circa change,” Brown said.
10% zinc, 200 g/t silver and
11% lead, it is remarkable the “Copper and zinc are in dif-
amount of mineralisation there ferent places right now as well
is,” Brown said. and we sort of start afresh with
a new project. The zinc grades
“It is sticking out of surface, are high-grade and robust and
you can trip over it and there the rate of discovery is pretty
are over 11 shallow workings; phenomenal. The momentum
the trace mineralisation is pretty has gathered pretty quickly
much visible on Google Earth.” and now we are ahead of drill-
ing, so there is a lot of anticipa-
An application for a permit to tion in that as well.”
drill 14,000m has been submit-
ted and Inca hopes to start by Inca managing director Ross Brown at the company’s – Mark Andrews
the end of the year. former flagship copper project, Chanape, in Peru
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 73
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
Kosovo saves Trepca mines
Kosovo’s parliament voted in favour of 120-seat parliament Once a mainstay of
putting a huge mining complex under
government control to save it from bank- voted in October to industrial production
ruptcy, despite objections from Belgrade
and protests by local Serbs. put the mine under in the former Yugosla-
The Trepca lead, zinc and silver mines, government control, via, Trepca employed
which before the armed conflicts that
swept through the Balkans in the 1990s adopting a law giving 20,000 people at its
accounted for two thirds of Kosovo’s
GDP, are currently operating at minimum the state an 80% stake height and accounted
capacity with creditor claims at $US1.57
billion. and miners 20%. for most of the coun-
The complex’s ownership structure has The new legislation try’s mineral wealth.
been the subject of dispute between Ko-
sovo and Serbia. Belgrade claims 75% of makes the Govern- Serbia considers the
Trepca, part of which is on its territory.
ment the guarantor of complex as belonging
Trepca straddles Kosovo’s Serb-Al-
banian ethnic divide and, since the ter- the company’s debt. to a list of “socially-
ritory broke away from Serbia in 1999,
the mine has been held in trust and read- The complex had been owned enterprises”
ied for sale by an agency created by the
United Nations. due to face bankruptcy and would view its ap-
However, the Privatisation Agency of proceedings on No- propriation by the new
Kosovo (KPA) has failed to come up with
a plan for the mine’s future, partly due to vember 1. Balkan state as theft.
its murky ownership structure. “The mineral re- The Kosovo Government has taken Kosovo says Serbia
control of the Trepca mining complex lost rights to state-
Seventy-nine deputies in Kosovo’s sources are the prop-
erty of the Republic of controlled enterprises
Kosovo and with this law Trepca’s assets on Kosovar territory when forces under
are and will remain in Kosovo,” Prime late Serbian strongman Slobodan Mi-
Minister Isa Mustafa told parliament. losevic massacred and expelled ethnic
Serb lawmakers boycotted the vote Albanians from Kosovo in a 1998-99
while local media said hundreds of pro- counter-insurgency campaign.
testers, together with Serb ministers, Kosovo declared independence in
blocked a road for a few hours in the 2008.
Serb-dominated part of northern Koso- – Fatos Bytyci, Reuters
vo, where the complex is located.
Steelworks reopened in Scotland
Scotland’s last major steelworks have steel market was thrown into the spotlight outperforming every part of the UK ex-
reopened under the ownership of in- earlier this year when Tata Steel put its cept London when it came to attracting
dustrialist Sanjeev Gupta, heralded by entire British operations up for sale. inward investment.
Nicola Sturgeon’s government as proof
the country can draw investment and pro- Several groups including Liberty have Steel plate is used in industries like
tect industry in difficult times. expressed an interest in those assets, construction, shipbuilding, automotive,
which include the Port Talbot steel plant mining and energy sectors.
Liberty Steel bought the 144-year-old in Wales, but Tata is currently exploring
Dalzell plant in Motherwell and its sister options for a joint venture with Germa- Dalzell is also looking to make plates
works at Clydebridge in Glasgow in April ny’s Thyssenkrupp. for the manufacture of wind turbines and
from Tata Steel for a symbolic sum, with in the longer term could seek to supply
the Scottish Government underpinning Gupta said recently he was now also projects like Hinkley Point, the new nu-
the process. looking to open an electric arc furnace in clear plant due to be built in south-west
Scotland. England.
Tata mothballed the plants at the end
of 2015 due to the impact of cheap Chi- “The most compelling place to build an Liberty has spent five months prepar-
nese imports, causing the loss of 270 electric arc furnace is the Midlands (in ing to reactivate Dalzell’s furnace and
jobs and sparking fears for the area’s England) because it’s a big generator of rolling mill to produce 150,000 tpa of
economy after the closure of a nearby scrap and a big consumer of steel,” he steel plate.
plant in Ravenscraig in 1992. told Reuters. “But we are looking to do it
in Scotland also, mainly because of the It has hired around 120 staff, mostly
Fresh from watching molten slabs of Scottish government, their enthusiasm. former employees, and hopes to in-
steel roll out of the furnace, Sturgeon de- It’s been a great experience working crease output to 500,000 tpa eventually,
scribed the revival of the steel plate mill here.” employing 200 people within 18 months.
as “a very positive signal that the steel
and engineering industries still have a fu- In a nod to Gupta’s Indian heritage, a Gupta said the Clydebridge works
ture in Scotland”. steel pellet sculpture of Ganesha, Hindu would come back on stream “in due
god of beginnings, had been erected for course as market conditions allowed”.
“It is a difficult market, but we now the opening. Britain currently consumes 700,000 tpa
have a company in the ownership of Dal- of plate steel, increasing at around 3%
zell that has a vision of what they want to Sturgeon, who has said she may seek annually.
achieve,” she told Sky News. another independence referendum for
Scotland, told a business conference in – Russell Cheyne, Reuters
Britain’s ability to compete in the global London that her country was consistently
PAGE 74 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
EUROPE
Europe beckons for
Australian services
Amassive opportunity exists for Aus- also help alleviate the fore making commit-
tralian service providers to benefit reliance on Russia for ments.
from the development of Europe’s energy gas supply. Understanding the
future. Rank said he hoped geopolitical and mar-
With more than €70 billion in oil and to alert Australian com- ket place dynamics
gas projects taking place in Central Eu- panies to such pro- is essential to doing
rope, Australian expertise would be wel- jects, however, the op- business in Europe.
comed in the region, according to Aus- portunities extended “A lot of the opera-
trade Senior Trade Commissioner for far beyond participa- tors – transmission
Central Europe, Steve Rank. tion in new develop- system operators –
“We are very lucky that we are viewed ments. are state-owned enti-
very positively across the world and in “There are sig- ties, so you need to
Europe I think that is the case,” Rank told nificant gas networks understand what is
Paydirt.
across the region. Po- happening in the mar-
“One point of difference between now land has more than ket place and what is
and 5-10 years ago, I think Europe is 10,300km of high pres- happening politically
paying attention to what’s happening in sure pipes, Czech Re- to understand the im-
our energy sector, particularly the LNG public 3,800km of high portance and prioriti-
sector. We have seen strong growth in pressure pipes and sation of these pro-
that sector and how it is developed and some of these pipe- jects,” he said.
with Australia becoming a serious en- lines are getting old,” Austrade Senior Trade Commissioner While companies
ergy player globally, they do take us seri- for Central Europe Steve Rank should be conscious
Rank said.
ously and they do understand that we are “We are getting fail- of the terms and con-
quite a technically sophisticated country ures occurring, corrosion is an issue and ditions of operating in Europe, Rank said
with good solutions as well.” accounts for about 26% of failures. The although there were many “Europes in
Currently there are 43 projects being maintenance market is huge, due to cor- Europe” companies can feel relatively
developed and more than 7,600km of rosion, some of this is preventable, some comfortable investing in the region.
gas pipelines to be laid. of it is not but certainly we think it is an- “Prioritisation of projects can change,”
“Poland and Croatia have been iden- other market where Australian expertise he said.
tified as countries offering the best op- could add a lot of value to that market.” “The more knowledge that you have,
portunities for Australian the better you can work out
companies in a number of I think that one of the things that what that risk is. The com-
areas. fort around this is that the
Rank said Australia’s is important for companies to EU has identified 53 projects
presence in the region understand is that EU guidelines are of common interest which
was low, which could be are important to the EU and
attributed to the fact that followed in the tender process, which gives them a degree of so-
awareness about the means there is a standardised process lidity and will be governed
significant works taking by EU rules. There are ad-
place in the region was in place, some of which [processes] are ditional levels of assurance
similarly non-descript. similar to what happens in Australia. but there is always a risk, no
doubt. As some of the trans-
Europe is dependent on mission operators in country
imported gas, with about
60-70% of its needs im- are state-owned, as well as
ported, however, limited infrastructure Pipeline integrity and repair (anti- some of the distributors, the role of gov-
means certain countries remain isolated corrosion maintenance and monitoring), ernment is a bit higher in the economy
and without sufficient energy supply. education and training, gas treatment, than we would see in Australia.
Russia currently supplies about a third environment and risk management LNG “I think one of the things that is im-
of Europe’s gas and there is a great push industry research, subsea pipeline de- portant for companies to understand is
happening now for diversity in supply, sign and construction, pipeline construc- EU guidelines are followed in the tender
with projects such as the $US45 billion tion and fault reduction plus FEED are process, which means there is a stand-
Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP), which just some of the areas Australian com- ardised process in place, some of which
would see gas from Azerbaijan delivered panies are well equipped to tap into, ac- [processes] are similar to what happens
into Europe. cording to Austrade. in Australia.”
Development of LNG terminals in Rank said companies considering op- – Mark Andrews
Poland, Lithuania and the proposed portunities in Europe needed to consider
$US655 million Krk project in Croatia will the jurisdictions they were entering be-
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 75
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
Red Mountain’s new direction
The new board at Red Mountain is evaluating how best to optimise its flagship Batangas project in the Philippines
Anew board and a change of direction Upfront capital costs of $22 million in- mising Batangas is somewhat in line with
seems to be the case at Red Moun- cluded a new CIL processing plant, how- the previous board’s strategy, the lithium
tain Mining Ltd. ever, sourcing second-hand equipment and cobalt ambitions are fresh.
was also an option Red Mountain was
The company, now led by directors assessing to save costs. However, before making public its in-
Jeremy King, Jason Bontempo and Lin- tentions to steer Red Mountain down
coln Ho, is looking to capitalise on op- Initial production of 100,000 tpa for another path, the incoming directors’ first
portunities in the “new energy sector”, 17,000 ozpa gold for the first two years item of business was cleaning up the
namely lithium and cobalt. was to start at South West Breccia along- capital structure.
side Japanese Tunnel at Lobo.
Under the guidance of former manag- It was stated that: “Due in no small
ing director Jon Dugdale, the Batangas With only 1km of a 14km strike of epi- part to a number of recent equity issues
gold project in the Philippines was driven thermal lode structures at Lobo, plus carried out prior to the current board’s
hard and was the company’s highest pri- another 320,000oz gold primed for con- stewardship, the capital structure of the
ority. version to reserves from the inferred cat- company has become unwieldy and un-
egory, Red Mountain was excited to start attractive”.
Dugdale was targeting completion of expanding Batangas courtesy of cash
a DFS and the approvals process to be flow from production. The directors have moved to consoli-
wrapped up by the end of this year, with date the company’s share structure and
production at Batangas, 120km south of When Paydirt last spoke with Dugdale proposed to raise $1.65 million via a
Manilla, due to start in 2017. in his role as managing director, the com- placement to institutional, professional
pany was eyeing near-term gold opportu- and sophisticated investors, while a SPP
By completing a total of $US1.7 million nities with exploration upside in Western to shareholders is also planned.
in funding, LSE-listed Bluebird Merchant Australia to offset any potential delays
Ventures Ltd’s investment helped the experienced in the Philippines. Proceeds will be designated to opti-
DFS progress as well as a 25% share of mising Batangas, which includes mining
Batangas. Bluebird can take its stake to It was reported that due to personal production sharing agreements with the
50.1% by paying a further $US1.7 million reasons, Dugdale would leave Red Philippines Geosciences Bureau Central
prior to the DFS and final permitting or Mountain on July 1, with chairman Neil Office, and assessing other opportuni-
committing an additional $US3.8 million Warburton and non-executive director ties.
upon completion of the Stage Two CPs, Michael Wolley following Dugdale out
including the DFS and final permitting. the door. Red Mountain has not entered any
agreements on project acquisitions yet,
PFS estimates indicated Batangas The new non-executive directors – but with improved sentiment toward jun-
could potentially spin $46 million of free Bontempo, King and Ho – have wasted ior mining companies, the company said
cash flow during the first seven years of little time putting their own stamp on the it looking for value-accretive opportuni-
production, based on an open pit reserve company. ties right now.
of 128,000oz gold, including 100,000oz
@ 4.2 g/t. While the latest announcement regard- – Mark Andrews
ing potential acquisitions in gold and opti-
PAGE 76 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
ASIA
Audit report on Didipio
handed down
Aletter from the Department of Environ- Didipio has been nominated by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, an agency of the
ment and Natural Resources (DENR) DENR, for the 2016 Presidential Most Environmentally Responsible Mining Operation
along with the Didipio Audit Report that
outlines the findings and recommenda- for a third straight year. OceanaGold won the award in 2015
tions from the recently completed audit of
the Didipio operations in the Philippines satisfy all of the findings and recommen- holds 1.5 moz of gold and 11.4 moz of
was received by OceanaGold Corp in dations that have been raised.” silver resources.
mid-October.
The Didipio mine continues to operate The company said in a statement that it
The company was notified by the without interruption and 2016 guidance was disappointed with the tribunal’s deci-
DENR that it had seven days to address of 130,000-145,000oz gold and 19,000- sion and would review the ruling before
the findings and recommendations out- 21,000t copper at AISC of $300-350/oz evaluating the next steps for its El Sal-
lined in the audit report. is forecast to be reached in 2016. vador unit.
In a statement, OceanaGold said a Meanwhile, the company has not had Pacific Rim first applied for a mining
number of the findings and recommen- so much luck in El Salvador. concession in 2005. El Salvador, how-
dations were discussed as a matter of ever, has blocked new mining permits
routine with the DENR audit team, with The company has lost a claim seeking since 2008 amid concerns about poten-
the “need to further educate a broader some $284 million in compensation from tial damage to a major river and water
group of stakeholders on specific as- El Salvador for failing to issue permits al- supplies from cyanide, which is used to
pects of the operations”, an area to be lowing it to dig a gold mine in the Cen- extract gold and silver from ore.
improved. tral American country, according to an
arbitration decision announced in mid- A coalition of non-profit groups, backed
Expanding the company’s Information, October. by the charity Oxfam, have long cam-
Education and Communication (IEC) paigned against mining in impoverished
programme was at the centre of the rec- The World Bank’s International Center El Salvador, questioning whether mines
ommendations. for Settlement of Investment Disputes with short lives can really aid long term
(ICSID) found in favour of El Salvador, development.
OceanaGold was commended for ex- OceanaGold said in a press release, and
tending “more than what is required legal- the Government was awarded $8 million OceanaGold, which also has assets
ly by law” and “was found to be comply- to cover legal costs for the claim, first in New Zealand and the United States,
ing its permitting requirements set forth brought by Vancouver-based Pacific Rim expects to produce 385,000-425,000oz
by different Philippine Environmental Mining in 2009. gold and 19,000-21,000t of copper in
Laws…Moreover its operations are be- 2016.
ing governed by an Environmental Man- Pacific Rim was taken over in 2013 by
agement System that is ISO 14001:2004 OceanaGold, which continued to pursue – Paydirt staff with Susan Taylor
compliant…”, the audit report stated. the claim while at the same time trying to and Sonali Paul, Reuters
negotiate with the El Salvadoran govern-
Furthermore, it was noted that Didipio ment to win mining and environmental
was in an area subject to “small scale permits for its El Dorado project.
mining activities that contribute to the
degradation of the immediate environ- OceanaGold estimates El Dorado
ment and waterbodies”.
It was recommended that government
agencies should act on illegal opera-
tions.
“The Didipio mine is a world class op-
eration that operates in accordance with
the highest industry standards for health,
safety, environment, community and sus-
tainability. The results of the audit report
and discussions we’ve had with the au-
dit team and with government officials,
including those within the DENR clearly
demonstrates this,” OceanaGold presi-
dent Mick Wilkes said.
“In our discussions with the DENR
and government officials, we have good
alignment and we look forward to our col-
lective efforts to advance a responsible
mining sector. As such, I am very confi-
dent that our responses to the DENR will
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 77
SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED
ments and electrical and fuel services. First Graphite believes the VFD has
Initial work began last month and is the potential to further enhance purifica-
tion and functionalisation of graphene
due to be completed before the end of produced from the company’s full-scale
this financial year. graphene production well and the tech-
nology has the potential to dovetail into
The second and third contracts are the work being undertaken at the Univer-
for Gullen Solar Pty Ltd, including an sity of Adelaide.
EPC contract valued at $19.2 million for
the construction of a 10MW solar farm, Centrex continues to
about 25km north-west of Goulburn in grow Oxley PFS team
New South Wales, as well as a two-year
operation and maintenance contract. CITIC SMCC Process Technology is
completing a design review of the grind-
Decmil was awarded the solar farm ing and crushing circuit at Centrex Met-
contracts in conjunction with Balance als Ltd’s Oxley potassium project, near
Utility Solutions Pty Ltd and will hold a Geraldton in Western Australia.
67% stake in the two contracts.
The review will analyse both wet and
Works under the EPC contract also be- dry crushing and grinding circuit configu-
gan last month October and are sched- rations and propose the optimal design
uled to be completed in August. option to be considered for the Oxley
PFS.
Mintec has entered into a $1 million First Graphite finds a
contract with PYBAR for the deployment friend in Flinders Centrex previously appointed Canadi-
of underground tracking technologies at an potash engineering experts Novopro
Sri Lanka-focused First Graphite has to review the hydrometallurgical circuit of
Carrapateena entered into a MoU with Flinders Part- the process plant, with Hatch assessing
ners Pty Ltd, the technology transfer and the pyrometallurgical circuit plans.
PYBAR, Mintec on communication company associated with
track at Carrapateena Flinders University in South Australia. Swiss licensor and engineering firm
Casale has completed feasibility study
Mintec, a wholly owned subsidiary of Both parties will collaborate on com- designs for ammonia and nitric acid
Codan Ltd, has entered into a $1 million mercially developing and scaling up plants at the Oxley site, with cost esti-
contract with PYBAR Mining Services graphite and graphene purification tech- mates to be delivered over the coming
Pty Ltd for the deployment of under- nology pioneered by Professor Colin months.
ground tracking technologies at Oz Min- Raston, winner of the Ig Nobel prize for
erals Ltd’s Carrapateena copper-gold refolding proteins with the Vortex Fluidic The PFS is under way and began with
project in South Australia. Device (VFD). a review of a start-up potassium nitrate
specialty fertiliser operation and associ-
PYBAR, recently awarded a contract Application of the VFD covers a grow- ated cost estimates considered in the
for the construction of a 7.5km decline ing number of processing capabilities, scoping study. This production scenario
and associated infrastructure at Car- from small molecule synthesis through to is based on a fraction – 38mt @ 10%
rapateena, selected Mintec’s SMARTS processing advanced materials. It works K2O (9% cut-off) – of the total 155mt
task management system and WASP by controlling a number of different pa- @ 8.3% K2O (6% cut-off) inferred re-
high-precision tracking in order to man- rameters that affect fluid dynamics and source.
age the development of the decline. the shear forces experienced by these
fluids.
Codan said the Mintec solution helps
underground miners “maximise produc-
tivity and safety by solving real world
problems in real time”.
Triple threat boosts CITIC SMCC Process Technology is doing a design review of the grinding and
Decmil’s portfolio crushing circuit at Centrex’s Oxley potassium project in WA’s Mid West
Decmil Group Ltd secured three new
contracts last month, including a $14.7
million construction project for Sino Iron
Pty Ltd at Cape Preston.
The Perth-based construction firm will
build and commission an airstrip and
associated facilities at Cape Preston,
about 100km south-west of Karratha.
The scope of the contract includes bulk
earthworks, clearing and airfield pave-
PAGE 78 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
groups, including Iberdrola and OHL.
Initial construction works have already
begun, including re-routing of the exist-
ing electrical power line to service the
project and a 4km realignment of an ex-
isting road to allow for the start of mining
of the Retortillo pit.
Salamanca is slated for first production
in 2018.
KEMworks Techology Inc will verify and optimise the process design for GR prepares to restart
phosphate recovery at Potash West’s Dinner Hill project Davyhurst plant
Dinner Hill on the ment required for the initial exploration GR Engineering Services Ltd is refur-
menu for KEMworks programme at Banio from the Republic bishing the 1.2 mtpa Davyhurst process-
of Congo at the time of print. ing facility for the Michael Fotios-chaired
Florida-based KEMworks Techology Eastern Goldfields Ltd.
Inc will verify and optimise the process Exploration will be based out of the
design for phosphate recovery at Potash Ndindi camp. Work on the $12.5 million EPC con-
West NL’s Dinner Hill project. tract began in late September and is due
MDM teams with for completion in the March quarter.
KEMworks will test a representative Spanish firms at
sample from Dinner Hill aimed at liberat- Salamanca The processing facilities have been
ing the phosphate minerals with the low- on care-and-maintenance since 2008,
est energy requirement and then optimis- MDM Technical Africa Pty Ltd, a wholly but are being refurbished and recom-
ing the flotation separation to produce owned subsidiary of Amec Foster Wheel- missioned to process ore from nearby
high-grade phosphate rock concentrate. er plc, will undertake front-end engineer- production sources within the Davyhurst
ing and design work at Berkeley Ener- hub, about 140km north-west of Kalgoor-
It will form part of the PFS for Stage gia Ltd’s Salamanca uranium project in lie ad 53km south-west of Menzies.
1 of the project, about 175km north of Spain.
Perth in the Dandaragan Trough. WorleyParsons to
Work will be based on Berkeley’s com- manage Ammaroo BFS
The programme is expected to be pleted DFS, with input from a number
completed in February. of Spain’s most reputable engineering Rum Jungle Resources Ltd has ap-
pointed WorleyParsons Ltd as BFS study
Previous studies have found the indi- manager for the Ammaroo phosphate
cated resource at Dinner Hill could sup- project in the Northern Territory.
port a minimum 40-year mine life, ena-
bling the project to be a leading supplier The BFS is to be completed in paral-
of phosphates and potash to the West lel with the environmental approvals pro-
Australian agriculture sector. cess, with some overlapping collabora-
tion.
GHD will be responsible for submitting
the EIS, which is expected to take 12-15
months to complete.
Plymouth drills into WorleyParsons has been appointed as BFS study manager for Rum Jungle’s
Congo Basin expertise phosphate project in the Northern Territory
Congo Basin specialists Meridian Drill-
ing Inc has won the contract to drill at
Plymouth Minerals Ltd’s Banio potash
project in Gabon.
UK-based Meridian has drilled many
thousands of metres targeting potash
mineralisation within the Congo Basin,
which hosts Banio and other potash
deposits, including Elemental Minerals
Ltd’s Sintoukola project in the Republic
of Congo.
Meridian was moving the drilling equip-
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT NOVEMBER 2016 PAGE 79
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Derek Carter tery anode market. Chairman be primarily responsible for Michelmore will oversee the
Jim Askew has stepped into managing operations at the production ramp-up of the
Roger Higgins will replace an executive role while the company’s newly acquired Las Bambas copper mine in
founding director and vet- company searches for new Paguanta zinc-silver-lead Peru before stepping down.
eran mining identity Derek managing director. Syrah has project in northern Chile. MMG has announced a global
Carter as chairman of Mino- also appointed Shaun Verner Meanwhile, Glenister Lamont search is for his replacement.
taur Exploration Ltd following as executive general manag- has replaced Rick Crabb as
the company’s AGM on No- er, sales and marketing. the company’s chairman. La- Andrew Michelmore
vember 17. Higgins joined the mont has served on the board
company’s board in July. Global Gold Holdings Ltd of Golden Rim since 2007. Plymouth Minerals Ltd
has appointed Michael Crabb will remain a non-exec- technical manager John
Michael Finnegan has Soucik as non-executive utive director of the company. Sanders has been promoted
been announced as chief chairman and Henko Vos as to the role of general man-
executive of engineering firm joint company secretary. Brian Hearne and Des ager, Africa, and will assume
Macmahon Holdings Ltd. O’Sullivan have joined many of the roles and respon-
Finnegan was most recently Founding chairman Peter Heron Resources Ltd’s sibilities of managing director.
the company’s general man- Cook and director David Woodlawn zinc project team Sanders is the former chief
ager of surface mining. He Osikore have retired from as general manager and pro- executive of Elemental Miner-
replaces Sybrandt van Dyk, the board of Pantoro Ltd fol- cess manager respectively. als Ltd. Current managing di-
who has decided to take up lowing the company’s transi- rector Eric Lilford will continue
a position with an unlisted de- tion to producer status. Kyle Graham Donahue has in a non-executive role, with a
watering business in which he Edwards and Michael Jeffer- been appointed to the consulting agreement for ad-
will acquire an equity stake. ies have been nominated as newly created role of head ditional workload.
their replacements, with the of corporate development
Atlas Iron Ltd founder Da- latter to become independent at Beadell Resources Ltd, GR Engineering Services
vid Flanagan has joined chairman. Meanwhile, Pan- based out of Toronto. Ltd has appointed Phil
Mozambican graphite hopeful toro managing director Paul Lockyer as a non-executive
Metals of Africa Ltd as non- Crmlec has resigned from the Greg Bittar has been ap- director. Lockyer is a min-
executive chairman. Flana- board of Metals X Ltd to re- pointed non-executive ing engineer and metallur-
gan is expected to play key move any perceived conflict chairman of Zambezi Re- gist with more than 50 years
role in leading the company of interest. sources Ltd following the of experience, including 20
through the development, resignation of director David years as general manager,
financing and construction Peter Cook Vilensky. Western Australia, for WMC
phases and into production. Resources. He is currently
Founding chairman Gilbert Peter Cole has resigned Klaus Eckhof has been a non-executive director of
George will remain on the as a non-executive direc- reappointed managing Swick Mining Services Ltd
board as a non-executive di- tor of Exterra Resources Ltd, director of AVZ Minerals Ltd. and RTG Mining Inc.
rector. coinciding with the company’s Eckhof will continue to be re-
move towards production sponsible for the company’s Joe Walsh has been ap-
Apollo Minerals Ltd has at the Second Fortune gold activities in the DRC and Na- pointed managing direc-
appointed Robert Behets mine. mibia, as well as identifying tor of Platypus Minerals Ltd,
as a non-executive director. and securing new project op- with Tom Dukovic transition-
Behets has previously served Black Mountain Resources portunities. ing to the role of exploration
on the boards of Mantra Re- Ltd has appointed Susan director after 13 years as the
sources, Papillon Resources Hunter and Nyasha Makoni Kah Hui Tan has resigned company’s chief executive.
and Berkeley Energia Ltd. as company secretary and as executive director and Meanwhile, Erasmus Con-
chief financial officer respec- company secretary of Siburan sulting principal Alex Neul-
Tolga Kumova has re- tively following Amy Fink’s Resources Ltd. Neil Sheather ing has been appointed joint
signed as managing di- resignation from both roles. has accepted the role of com- company secretary.
rector of graphite developer pany secretary.
Syrah Resources Ltd, but will Alex Raab has joined
continue as a consultant fo- Golden Rim Resources Caeneus Minerals Ltd has
cusing on business develop- Ltd as its exploration man- appointed Robert “Chip”
ment opportunities in the bat- ager. US-based Raab will Allender as a consultant to
the company. Allender will
oversee the upcoming drill-
ing programme at Lida Valley
in conjunction with the min-
eral exploration and project
management team from Dah-
rouge Geological Consulting
Ltd.
MMG Ltd chief executive
Andrew Michelmore will
retire from his post next year.
PAGE 80 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
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LEFTFIELD
App to reveal the geological
treasures of Rotto
Anew app for mobile phones The WA DMP has been involved in developing an app which will provide
and tablets, which is be- geological information about Rottnest Island
ing touted as Pokemon for ge-
ologists, is set to give visitors “We’re trying to reach a different au- To start exploring Rottnest online the
to Rottnest Island a deeper un- dience with his new app,” DMP special next time you visit the island, 20km from
derstanding of its geology in a project senior editor Jean Johnston said. mainland Perth, Everythere should be
bright new way. downloaded and the Rottnest Island – A
“In this increasingly digital age, this Geology Guide tab hit from iTunes before
The Department of Mines and app is the perfect partner to the pamphlet arriving at Rottnest.
Petroleum’s (DMP) Geological Rottnest Island – a Geology Guide that
Survey of Western Australia has we published last year. It joins a range “It’s important to remember that you
worked with software developer of geotourism products that we produce can download it before you arrive at
Everythere to develop the app, to give tourists a greater understanding Rottnest, but the app will not activate
which can be used on iPhone and An- of the natural wonders of Western Aus- until you are actually on the island,” Mrs
droid platforms. tralia.” Johnston said.
As users of the app near GPS location
points around the island, they receive
notifications with information written by
geologists from GSWA about the spot’s
geology.
Ancient fossil stromatolites, coral reefs
and salt lakes that were once mined are
all part of the history of sea-level change
over hundreds of thousands of years.
INDEX
ABM 49, 56-57 EBMC 54 Korab 51 Platypus 79
Acacia Coal 68 EcoOro 72 Plymouth 79, 80
Anglo American 9 Elemental 79, 80 Legend 27, 41, 43 PNX
AngloGold Emmerson 6, 53, 54 Li3 Energy 70 Poseidon 58
Apollo Minerals 5, 7, 55, 69, 72 Evolution 5, 6, 14, 54 Lithium Power 70 Potash West 27, 44
Asian Mineral 80 Exterra 80 Lonmin 23 Primary Gold
Atlas Iron 66 79
Aurelia 80 First Graphite 78 53-53
Aus Tin 54 First Quantum 34
Australian Mines 15 FMR 52 MacPhersons 52 Red Mountain 76
AVZ 13 Fortescue 61
Axiom 80 Freeport Marindi 55 Rio Tinto 4, 9, 60-61, 63, 68
9
27, 36, 43 Glencore Metallica 13 Rox 27, 39, 55
Global Gold 6, 31, 55
Gold Fields 80 Metals of Africa 80 RTG 80
Gold Road
Golden Rim 49, 56 Metals X 15, 27, 40, 53, 80 Rum Jungle 79
Golden Star 53
Great Boulder 80 Mincor 27, 40
10
Barrick 14 Harmony Minotaur 80 Sandfire 55
Heron 16-17 Saracen 5, 17
Beadell 80 Hot Chili MMG 80 Siburan
7 Sino Iron 80
Berkeley Energia 79, 80 Impact 80 MSB 70 SolGold 78
Inca 17 South32
BHP Billiton 4, 9, 20, 21, 25, 27, Independence Mt Gibson 61, 62 St Barbara 9
Intermin 27, 44 St George 20-25, 28
28, 39, 41, 60-61 Iron Road 73 Strandline
Syrah 17
Black Mountain 80 Kasbah 27, 37, 56, 57 Newcrest 6, 9, 56 27, 41, 42
Khulani 14 Newmarket 53, 58
Buxton 27 Kidman 78 Newmont 11 31
Norilsk 44 80
Caeneus 80 66 Northern Star 5
Carpentaria 65 68 Norton 14
Cassini 27, 35 44
Centrex 79 OceanaGold 77 Tanami Gold 56
Chinalco 63 Orocobre 70 Teck 39, 55
CleanTeQ 13 Oz 27, 35, 78 TNG
Coalvent 68 50
Vale 43
Dacian 53 Pacifico 55 Western Areas 27, 30-31,
Deep Yellow 66 Paladin 66 41, 42-43
Dragon Energy 12 Panoramic 27, 38
Pantoro 80
Eastern Goldfields 14, 79 Platina 13 Zambezi 80
PAGE 82 NOVEMBER 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
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