pd250-June17 mag-web_Neat

coated,” Flanagan said. “That will then Battery Minerals has built a resource of 100mt back of not much more than a year.”
be provided to a number of potential cus- @ 9% TGC at its Montepuez project in Battery Minerals plans to begin its bulk
tomers who have been heavily involved Mozambique
in the selection of the plant. sample mining campaign at the end of
cash flow to expand the business. With 2017, once mining and environmental
“The plant will be a full-scale produc- spherical graphite you are looking at re- approvals are in place.
tion plant but will be just one train, giving ally healthy margins and very quick pay-
us the capacity to produce up to 2,000 “Within 12 months we will be into Stage
tpa of spherical graphite. Doing that 1 with the plant installed and moving into
means you’ve demonstrated you can mining operations,” Flanagan said.
run at a commercial rate. By the time we
supply the customers with that 50-100t of The company has defined a resource
spherical graphite we will have a much of 100mt @ 9% TGC and while this is
better understanding of the price we are ample for its current plans, Flanagan is
going to get.” keen for the company to keep building its
inventory in order to ride the peaks and
Getting a fix on exactly how much they troughs in graphite and lithium-ion bat-
can expect to receive for their products tery markets.
has become a major hurdle for all graph-
ite developers but Flanagan believes “There is going to be disruption
sticking to operating cost fundamentals throughout this process and we are all
will give any company a chance of suc- going to have to work to protect our-
cess. selves against that disruption by having
really resilient balance sheets and lots of
“The market is so new that there isn’t flexibility and versatility in our orebodies,”
real depth around transparency in global he said. “We will continue to grow our re-
cost curves for the various products so source in order to create more options for
you can have a crack at what you think our business and our customers.
is the bottom of the cost curve,” he said.
“We are going to see volatility in the
The reduced capex also hands the market place and it is not going to be a
company some flexibility. game for the fainthearted.”

“The capital hurdle to get into produc- – Dominic Piper
tion isn’t $170 million, it is about $60 mil-
lion. From there, we can then generate

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 51

AUSTRALIAN GRAPHITE CONFERENCE REVIEW

BlackEarth joins the race

BlackEarth Minerals NL might be a 100 years of graphite mining history; pera were even better.
newcomer to the Australian graphite that means there is expertise and un- Revy emphasised the opportunities for
scene, but managing director Tom Revy derstanding, whether that is technical,
believes the junior company’s assets will government or community levels,” Revy ASX-listed graphite companies to work
go the distance. said. together.

“We’ve got some catch-up to do with- “It also has a favourable exploration “Rather than looking at each other as
out a doubt, but we will be able to move in environment, a mining code which is at- potential competitors, maybe there is op-
an accelerated fashion,” Revy said. tractive, a supportive government and I’d portunity there to discuss spheroidisa-
have to say a very supportive local com- tion opportunities as joint ventures for
BlackEarth was spun out of Lithium munity, which is important these days, products,” Revy said.
Australia NL, using the latter’s graphite particularly in Africa.”
assets and formed only last year. “We need to think broader than just
The Malagasy assets BlackEarth pur- single product mines and have the flex-
The company is awaiting an ASX list- chased from Capricorn Metals Ltd early ibility to change. Graphite is one of those
ing, and Revy said the junior was eager this year include the Maniry project in great commodities that allow a junior
to pursue its West Australian assets fol- the country’s south and the Ianapera miner to actually get funding and move
lowing the IPO. project in the north. into production.

“We class them as our marathons; “[Capricorn] undertook a fair amount of “Concentrators for copper projects
we’re here for the long haul and they’ve work between 2012 and 2015 and basi- these days start up at 6 mtpa. Iron ore
all been handpicked on the basis of ei- cally did about 3,000m of diamond core projects are massive in terms of infra-
ther historic graphite production or they drilling, they also did a lot of mapping, structure. [When] you sit there with a
have reported graphite occurrences,” geochem and kilometres of trenching,” market capitalisation of $10-30 million,
Revy said. Revy said. everybody, from investors to bankers,
shakes their heads and says ‘well good
“We are going to prioritise that the WA “The area that is particularly of interest luck with that’. But graphite truly gives all
assets go through a programme mapped in the Maniry project is actually a huge of us in this room an opportunity to real-
out and we will be pursuing them at dif- splay [of graphite] measuring 6.5km istically move from explorer to developer
ferent levels depending on the initial re- by 2.5km. The geochem sampling has to operator.”
sults we get back. It is a marathon, not a brought back consistent results of 7-20%
sprint. We are going to focus on quality and as high as about 50%. The initial – Jon Daly
and not quantity.” petrology indicates large flakes, which is
consistent with a lot of the historical data.
Revy said that in contrast to the mar- It really does size up to be an exciting
athon nature of its WA assets, Black- project.”
Earth’s newly acquired Madagascan as-
set was more like a 100m sprint. Revy said estimated grades at Iana-

“Madagascar is a country with over

Developers face funding challenge

Securing sales agreements is the $US30 million from Africa’s Nedbank for ness to produce expandable graphite,”
toughest challenge for graphite play- development of its Epanko project in Tan- he said.
ers, according to BatteryLimits director zania.
Phil Hearse. Hearse outlined a number of criteria
Hearse said a high equity component which he considered to essential for the
Striking the right balance between off- was desirable if it can be incorporated ideal graphite project, including coarse
take and project funding is hotly debated into the overall funding package. flake size, moderate to long mine life,
in the graphite industry, with Hearse de- high grade, low strip ratio and ease of
scribing the conundrum as a “Catch 22” Other recommendations include se- access to infrastructure.
situation for many companies. curing a cornerstone investor with a
stake in the graphite sector, partnering However, one factor stood out above
“If you can’t secure sales, it’s hard to with an operating company and setting all others.
fund,” Hearse said. “And if you can’t fund, up a demonstration-scale project that al-
you won’t be able to sell. It’s a tough lows sales to be established and funding “A lot of these points are about keeping
commodity. Securing sales is a difficult to follow. your operating costs low,” Hearse said.
challenge for those in graphite.”
Hearse said graphite companies can “Even though the emphasis is gen-
BatteryLimits, one of Australia’s lead- also reduce their barrier to funding op- erally on revenue in terms of flake size
ing mining project development and en- tions by looking to the traditional sales and pricing, it’s still like any other project
gineering consultancies, recommends markets rather than get caught up in the in that you want to keep your operating
graphite developers look at conventional excitement of the emerging yet small bat- costs and your capital costs as low as
debt funding options. tery opportunities. possible.”

Kibaran Resources Ltd has lined up “These are not necessarily as difficult – Michael Washbourne
$US40 million of debt funding from Ger- and as challenging as you might think in
many’s KfW IPEX-Bank and a further terms of being able to extend your busi-

PAGE 52 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Volt sharpens its
graphite pencil

Volt Resources Ltd has readjusted its Trevor Matthews and shareholders should focus on end-
sights and is now preparing its Na- products rather than in situ grade when
mangale project in Tanzania for a more the lithium-ion battery and composites it came to graphite and other industrial
modest start-up. markets – is fixed at a price above the minerals.
$US1,684/t basket price used in Volt’s
Volt completed a PFS on Namangale PFS. “It is not all about grade; it is about
– just west of the port city of Mtwara – what the end-product is which is enter-
in December, less than 12 months after Matthews said the company had the ing the marketplace, much as it is in min-
acquiring the project. The study found added advantages inherent in delineat- eral sands. Companies need to enter into
Namangale could support a 170,000 tpa ing Tanzania’s largest graphite deposit. contracts and get the appropriate pricing
graphite concentrate operation with a needed to make the project viable.”
NPV of $890 million and payback com- “It is a world-class resource and there
ing in less than 18 months, but managing is a lot of value in the project apart from He identified synthetic graphite – which
director Trevor Matthews said the com- scale,” he said. “Such a large resource currently supplies about 50% of the bat-
pany was reconsidering the optimum gives the company the ability to provide tery market’s current graphite demand –
size of the operation. product over a long period of time, which as flake graphite’s main competitor.
is what many customers are looking for.”
“We are now looking at a different “For the flake graphite sector to work
strategy rather than producing 170,000 Investors have struggled to get their itself into the market, the players have
tpa because it is problematic to sign the head around graphite and its myriad vari- to compete with product like synthetic
number of off-takes you need to fund that ables, products and pricing mechanisms. graphite,” Matthews said.
size of project,” Matthews told the Aus- Having experienced similarly opaque
tralian Graphite Conference. “Instead, markets in his previous role in mineral However, he warned price competitive-
we will look at a more scalable produc- sands, Matthews suggested companies ness was the only factor customers were
tion rate, producing smaller quantities considering.
from next year.”
“If you look at the cost curve, you will
Volt has three MoUs with Chinese find the flake guys at the bottom and the
groups for 160,000 tpa of off-take but synthetic guys towards the top so most
Matthews admitted it was a battle to con- flake projects make sense, it is now
vert the initial agreements into something about companies’ ability to enter into
more concrete. agreements and get end-users to com-
mit to buying products that currently they
In the meantime, the company is aim- don’t consume so much because they
ing to produce a niche concentrate for are buying synthetic,” he said.
US-based company Nano Graphene.
“The continuity of production from a
“The lower rate will allow us to supply manufactured process is more consist-
Nano Graphene, averaging 1,000 tpa ent and that is the area flake graphite
over five years,” he said. “Then, with fur- needs to compete on.”
ther off-takes, we can build a plant ap-
propriate for the market and expand over – Dominic Piper
time.”

The off-take agreement with Nano
Graphene – which supplies products into

GAURSATPRAHLIIATNE The CD-Rom of the
2017 Australian Graphite
27 April 2017 - Novotel Perth Langley
Conference
will be available soon

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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 53

AUSTRALIAN GRAPHITE CONFERENCE REVIEW

Kibaran slips back into gear

The pace of mar- um-ion battery market confident of placing that 40,000 tpa
ket announce- into the traditional markets. No financial
ments may have growth have proven analysis of the project has included any
slowed over the last reliance on these growth markets. The
12 months but the a barrier to graphite growth and the value of the project will
wheels are far from then grow as the market grows.”
spinning at Kibaran developers securing
Resources Ltd. Kibaran has struck off-take agree-
project finance but ments with three groups; ThyssenKrupp,
Tanzania-focused an unnamed European graphite trader
Kibaran completed Kibaran managing di- and Japanese group Sojitz, each taking
a BFS on its Epanko a different product group.
project in July 2015 rector Andrew Spinks
but has since made Spinks said the three groups were the
little public headway believes his company most prominent graphite companies in
in development as their respective regions, adding further
it grapples with how is more advanced legitimacy to the company’s plan.
best to secure fi-
nance in a commod- than most. Securing Kfw-Ipex as a project finance
ity class which has little reliable pricing partner has – along with a loan guaran-
data. “We see Epanko as tee from the German Government – also
given Kibaran an additional advantage
The financing challenge is one all one of the most ad- over its peers.
graphite companies face given traditional
financiers’ reluctance to lend on the back vanced projects glob- “We are unique in that we are receiv-
of such an opaque market. The lack of ing German Government support for an
clarity in existing graphite markets and ally,” Spinks said at Australian-owned project in Tanzania,”
the unknown longer term impact of lithi- Spinks said.
the Australian Graph-
The involvement of Kfw-Ipex has come
Andrew Spinks ite Conference. with its own additional challenges.
His confidence

comes from the

company’s decisions to plan the project

around traditional graphite markets –

rather than the emerging lithium-ion bat-

tery space – and enter financing discus-

sions with German development bank

Kfw-Ipex.

“The BFS is based on producing

40,000 tpa of graphite and we are very

PAGE 54 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

“We have had to meet stringent condi- Epanko, in Tanzania, is one of the most advanced graphite projects globally
tions for the finance,” Spinks said. “We
are updating the BFS to the highest the spherical graphite market outside of product is enormous but it is the consist-
standards possible to meet IFC stand- China.” ency of that product which is a massive
ards and Equator Principles. We are set task; once we achieve that we will secure
to be complete that this quarter, having Spinks said testing had proven suc- a supply chain into the Japanese and Ko-
spent 12 months on the update. It will be cessful at an industrial scale but proving rean markets.”
the foundation for the project. We will go to end-users that a consistent product
back to our banking partners and pro- could be produced was vital. – Dominic Piper
gress with the debt financing.”
“We have understood the quality of the
The 12 months of BFS updating has
also allowed Kibaran time to further in-
vestigate Epanko’s wider potential. While
the BFS remains focused on supplying
40,000 tpa to traditional markets, it will
also incorporate an expansion to 60,000
tpa in line with demand projections.

In addition, Kibaran has also launched
a feasibility study into downstream pro-
cessing options which would allow the
company to supply into the lithium-ion
battery market.

“We recently announced the com-
mencement of a BFS into a spherical
graphite plant and will be one of the first
graphite companies to announce full fea-
sibility results on downstream process-
ing,” Spinks said. “We are approaching
it in the same way by basing it on what
we think we can place into the end mar-
ket which is 10,000 tpa, or about 20% of

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 55

AUSTRALIAN GRAPHITE CONFERENCE REVIEW

Early Ajana hits excite Anson

Anson Resources Ltd’s “This is only the first testing, just to see if there was a possibil-
maiden drilling pro- round of drilling we’ve ity of turning it into graphene,” Richard-
son said.
gramme at the Ajana done. There’s a number of
“Graphene prices are a lot higher than
graphite project in West- other targets to be drilled.” graphite prices and given the compo-
sition of the material, we put it through
ern Australia has delivered Richardson said the three different tests at the University of
Adelaide and all of them generated gra-
exactly the result the com- grade appeared to im- phene.”

pany had hoped to achieve. prove as the mineralisation Meanwhile, Anson will look to under-
take a drilling programme at its flagship
Graphite mineralisa- continued at depth, with ULI lithium brine project in Utah, USA,
towards the end of the next quarter.
tion was intersected at deeper drilling to follow up
ULI sits in a known brine basin where
the Mary Springs North on this theory. concentrates of up to 1,700 ppm have
been assayed just 800m from Anson’s
prospect – an area not Anson has also under- tenements.

previously drilled for the Bruce Richardson taken metallurgical test “We’ve done some preliminary test
mineral – including hits of work on material from work to separate the magnesium from
the lithium and the results are promising,”
3m @ 2.3% TGC from sur- Ajana, including samples Richardson said.

face (up to 4.1%), 3m @ 4.8% TGC (up from an existing pit at Mary Springs Well “We’re looking to move on to a drilling
programme later this year, subject to ob-
to 6.7%) and 8m @ 3.7% TGC (including which readily beneficiated to an average taining the required permits.”

4m @ 5.2% TGC). 94.1% TGC. – Michael Washbourne

While it is still early days for Anson at With spherical graphite a market of in-

Ajana, 130km north of Geraldton, man- terest to many graphite hopefuls, Anson

aging director Bruce Richardson said the sent samples to ANZAPLAN in Germany

results were encouraging for future ex- to test for suitability in lithium-ion batter-

ploration work. ies, with a 99.97% TGC purity achieved

“We put in 20 holes, on a 40m by 40m (industry specification is 99.95%) from

grid, for 1,190m over the past six weeks,” conventional milling and purification

he told the Australian Graphite Confer- techniques.

ence in late April. “We also sent material off for graphene

PAGE 56 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Hexagon has the right mix

Hexagon Resources Ltd is behind the see their end product spheronisation test work
eight ball in the graphite game how-
ever managing director Mike Rosenstre- from a stable jurisdiction. was expected to start in
ich is confident the company’s McIntosh
project in Western Australia has a place Another key strength is China this month, with
in the sector.
that we circumvent that results available in July/
“A weakness for the project is that we
are not as advanced as some of the pro- sovereign risk issue by August.
jects around us and I have to be honest
and say that we are not as advanced as being located in Aus- “The way we summarise
we would like to be,” Rosenstreich said.
tralia.” our product is that we have
“We need to catch up and I would hope
that through the course of this discussion Contained graphite at a high-grade, high-quality
people will see we are giving this work a
real boost along at the moment.” McIntosh, north of Halls concentrate; it’s very pure

He said Hexagon had a number of key Creek, currently totals and has fantastic electri-
differentiators which set it apart from oth-
er graphite companies and identified the 941,000t @ 4.5% TGC, Mike Rosenstreich cal properties – that is the
benign nature and potential for a large- with Rosenstreich confi- proposition,” Rosenstreich
scale orebody at McIntosh as providing
the company with the right mix. dent there is a definitive said.

“Thirdly, the project is in Australia; path to increase tonnages to 10mt con- A PFS demonstrating that a high-
[think of] all the management, operation-
al issues that we circumvent by that third tained graphite. grade, high purity flake graphite concen-
key advantage,” he said.
From open cut mining, planned pro- trate can be produced from McIntosh
“I think that customers would like to
duction of 1.2-2.4 mtpa from multiple pits was to be delivered in late May, with

for 55,000-110,000 tpa flake concentrate some DFS work already under way.

is Hexagon’s vision. Product marketing, financing and off-

The company is targeting both the bat- take discussions are expected to ramp

tery market and high-end expandable up as PFS and DFS results are divulged,

graphite manufacturing sector. as Hexagon looks to bring McIntosh up to

Piloting of a 2.5t bulk sample to pro- speed with peer projects in the field.

duce 100kg of high purity flake concen- – Mark Andrews
trate aimed at the battery market was be-

ing completed at the time of print, while

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 57

AUSTRALIAN GRAPHITE CONFERENCE REVIEW

IMO surges in graphite
testing experience

In the last 12 months, Independent Met- tion at the 2016 con- the LECO technique.
allurgical Operations Ltd (IMO) has ference had really put “While we don’t
come on in “leaps and bounds” in its IMO on the map in
graphite test work knowledge and capac- terms of graphite pro- think [the double LOI
ity, according to senior metallurgist Peter cessing. method] is the most
Adamini. accurate method for
“I was sitting at my assaying graphite,
Speaking at the Australian Graphite desk at IMO’s metal- particularly in ore
Conference, Adamini said one of the lurgy lab when I an- grade tailings prod-
most exciting advancements in the past swered the phone to ucts, it … is still wide-
year had been the development of an ex- Tim McManus from ly used, particularly
pandable graphite testing procedure. Bass Metals [Ltd]. He on site and by graph-
asked me if I had any ite customers. When-
“[This procedure has] really enabled us graphite processing ever a sample is pro-
to expand our capabilities,” Adamini said. experience,” Adamini Peter Adamini vided to a customer,
said. the first test they do
“It is not just the international facilities is to confirm the graphite content, which
that have the capability to conduct good Adamini said it was not long before he they’ll do using the double LOI method.”
research test work. We have this capabil- was bound for the Graphmada project in Adamini concluded the LECO meth-
ity in our backyard as well.” Madagascar, to assist with the optimisa- od was still the best way to analyse all
tion of the processing plant and process graphite products.
IMO’s Perth facility has the capability engineering for the plant upgrade. LECO analysis heats a graphite sam-
to spheroidise graphite in a planetary mill ple up to 1,350C and measures the car-
and take surface area measurements to “Through the various piloting we’d bon dioxide gas to determine the total
gauge product suitability. done we’d already gained significant ex- carbon content.
Adamini thought the LECO results
According to Adamini, his presenta- perience and it was from the Bissett Creek graphite mine in
great to apply that Ontario, Canada, proved it is a superior
knowledge to the testing technique.
full scale process- “The double LOI method was the ba-
ing plant,” Adamini sis for much of the original resources
said. analysis done on the Bissett Creek ore,
we subsequently analysed a number of
IMO has also samples by LECO and we were able to
worked with other confirm that the LECO grades were con-
graphite develop- sistently 66% [lower than] the original
ers, including Tri- LOI grades established for the property,”
ton Minerals Ltd, Adamini said.
Kibaran Resources “We currently use LECO to analyse
Ltd and Comet Re- graphitic content on both ores and for
sources Ltd. metallurgical test work products.”
However, Adamini noted some analyti-
“As our knowl- cal facilities in Perth would not use LECO
edge has grown to test concentrates greater than 70%
over the last year due to a high level of error.
some of our conclu- “This is due to the infra-red detec-
sions have changed tor only being able to handle so much
on the further carbon-based gas, which means the
graphite flowsheet mass presented for the analysis has to
development test be reduced. This increased the sampling
work and process mass and mass measurement error,
designs we have which in turn increases the error associ-
conducted,” Adami- ated with the result,” Adamini said.
ni said.
– Jon Daly
Last year, IMO
formed the opinion
that the double LOI
method of meas-
uring graphite as-
says, while not quite
redundant in the
industry, certainly
wasn’t as good as

PAGE 58 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Lincoln to make
Kookaburra
laugh

Lincoln Minerals Ltd expects to
lodge its final submission for
government approval of its Kook-

aburra Gully graphite project on

South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula

by the end of the month.

As managing director John

Parker addressed the Austral-

ian Graphite Conference, the

remaining components of the John Parker
company’s programme for envi-

ronment protection and rehabili-

tation (PEPR) were being factored into the submission which

marks the final stage of the approvals process.

PEPR approval will pave the way for Lincoln to turn first dirt

at Kookaburra Gully in the second half of the year.

“As soon as that is approved, we have permission to put

a shovel in the ground and start development of the mine,”

Parker said.

“With all of that going to plan, we will become South Aus-

tralia’s – and Australia’s – next graphite mine. We’re going to

be a clean, green operation with low sovereign risk.”

Outstanding PEPR works include final mine design and

impact assessment studies on site water management and

infrastructure, as well as the mine rehabilitation and closure

plan.

It has been a busy time for Parker and his team since Lin-

coln was granted a mineral lease in early June 2016.

“Over the last 12 months we’ve spent a lot of time and put a

lot of effort into detailed design studies, to a feasibility study

level of confidence,” Parker said.

Lincoln is targeting the upper 30m of the oxidised deposit

at Kookaburra Gully, which hosts a 2.2mt @ 15.1% TGC re-

source, including 1.45mt @ 13.74% TGC classed as indicat-

ed, based on a 5% TGC cut-off.

A 40,000 tpa operation producing a high-quality concen-

trate of up to 98% TGC from conventional flotation is on the

agenda, with an option to upgrade to 99.9% TGC also con-

sidered.

“This is not like Africa, this is a very different deposit,” Park-

er said.

“Our flakes are fine to very fine in size. We’re targeting the

micronisation end of the market rather than trying to compete

with the African deposits which produce coarse flake.”

Kookaburra Gully – a top 10 global graphite deposit based

on grade – also stands to benefit from established key infra-

structure, including water and power, within 35km of export

facilities at Port Lincoln.

“We have a world-class deposit in what I believe is a world-

class graphite province on the Eyre Peninsula and we’ll be

developing this deposit later this year, subject to government

approvals.”

– Michael Washbourne

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 59

AUSTRALIAN GRAPHITE CONFERENCE REVIEW

Triton provides the scope
at Ancuabe

As Triton Minerals Ltd managing Shandong Tianye – while metallurgi-
director Peter Canterbury stood at
the lectern at the Australian Graphite cal and product test work has started,
Conference, a fine tooth comb was
being applied to a scoping study on along with water and geotechnical
the Ancuabe project in Mozambique.
studies.
The study focused on the potential
viability of open pit production from The company was also expected to
the T12 and T16 deposits, with Tri-
ton reporting positive results for the start the third and final phase of drill-
potential production of 60,000 tpa
graphite concentrate. ing, mainly targeting the T16 deposit,

Production is based on an indicated last month.
and inferred resource of 27.9mt @ 6%
TGC for 1.68mt contained graphite, “One of the interesting things about
with the indicated component com-
prising 9.2mt @ 6% TGC for 550,000t. T16 is that this is a very attractive de-

Based on current indicated resources, posit and it is likely to grow. It will be
a mine life of nine years has been esti-
mated, however, there is potential to ex- our first target for mining because it is
tend that by a further 17 years, subject
to further conversion of resources at T12 so near to surface, good grades, and
and T16 and developing targets outside
the main resources. some of it actually outcrops out from

To advance the proposed feasibil- surface,” Canterbury said.
ity outcomes, which includes a NPV of
$US128 million to $US246 million, Triton Peter Canterbury “One thing that we learnt pretty
requires more funding.
quickly coming into the space is that
In the event funding is not available to
the company when required, Triton has indicated other value realisation meas- grade doesn’t necessarily matter in

ures will be considered, including sale, graphite; what matters is flake size and

partial sale or a JV agreement at Ancu- concentrate purity.

abe. “What we are really enthused by is that

Ancuabe, in north-east Mozambique, on average 59% of our large flake graph-

is close to rail, port, power and roads, ite, or 32% jumbo flake size, we have

meaning estimated pre-production capi- excellent [average] concentration of puri-

tal costs have been curtailed to about ties on a simplified process; no acid or

$US83 million, with payback likely to oc- anything and we are getting about 97.5%

cur between 2.7 and 4.8 years. purity across all flake sizes.”

With numbers in front of it, Triton can – Mark Andrews
advance marketing and off-take discus-

sions with its cornerstone investor –

Thou shalt obey JORC

CSA Global principal consult- to investors who are still trying to
ant Andrew Scogings has
warned graphite companies they find their feet regarding the impor-
are often failing to fully incor-
porate all aspects of the JORC tance of metallurgical test work to
Code in their exploration results
reporting. project economics in the graphite

Scogings has worked on nu- space.
merous graphite projects in the
last five years, becoming a keen Scogings said all graphite explo-
observer of the entire sector, and
he has concluded that compa- ration results must include enough
nies are not always meeting their
JORC obligations regarding met- context to understand the results,
allurgical results.
no cherry picking of results, maps
“The reporting of metallurgi-
cal results are generally not up and sections with sample loca-
to scratch,” Scogings said. “These are
material in terms of JORC Clause 49 but tions, legends and units, appropri-
often there are no maps, no JORC Table
1 – and if there is a Table 1 it has most ate criteria of the activity reported

and competent person statements.

“Results must contain sufficient

information to allow a considered

Andrew Scogings and balanced judgement of their

significance,” Scogings said. “Ad-

likely been ‘borrowed’ from previous as- dress the criteria.”

say announcements and not appropriate – Dominic Piper
for metallurgy tests.”

The assessment could be of concern

PAGE 60 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



COPPER SPOTLIGHT

Carrapateena mine
schedule tinkered

Oz Minerals Ltd has delayed the release of financial details of its was still on track for the September quar-
Carrapateena feasibility study until the September quarter in ter.
order to redesign the mining schedule for the project.
“We’ll have the mining package to fea-
sibility study level by the third quarter and

all non-mining packages will have princi-

The South Australian copper miner $594 million, Oz plans to fund the $890 ple build contractors appointed by then,

had been expected to release financial million development without the need for meaning they will be more than feasibility

details of the study on April 28 but in- debt, but Cole reiterated the company’s study level by the third quarter. However,

formed the market prior to its April 21 desire to ensure the feasibility study was it won’t be bankable by then, I suspect

quarterly results that mine design and economically robust. that will come towards the end of the year

mining schedule “required further opti- “While it is unfortunate, it shows we or early next year.”

misation”. have good capital discipline to ensure The redesign will also incorporate the

Speaking during the quarterly presen- all key aspects of the project are rigor- planned second decline and the rede-

tation webcast, Oz chief executive An- ous and auditable,” he said. “It was a ployment of a third crusher from surface

drew Cole said the delays were neces- question of the work done not meeting to underground, increasing ramp-up

sary to build confidence in the project’s expectations. Rather than go ahead with rates and eliminating the need for truck-

mining schedule. a model that we were not 100% confident ing respectively.

“The mining scope is not yet at the in, we chose to redo the work.” “The second decline allows for quick-

level of detail [required],” he said. “We Cole said the redesign would not slow er development and allows the surface
“were not happy with the work done in the release of the feasibility study which crusher in the PFS to be moved under-
late 2016 and early 2017… ground… this will be incor-

it was not auditable. We It was a question of the work porated in the next release
had two external parties as we are working on the ex-
done not meeting expectations.
try and fail to audit it so we Rather than go ahead with a model act positioning and timing of
were not prepared to bank it. the top crusher now.”
We changed the consulting
Cole said Oz had man-

group and revisited the mod- that we were not 100% confident in, aged to keep the Carrapa-
el and are now rebuilding it.” we chose to redo the work. teena schedule on track
thanks to its adoption of an
With cash reserves of

PAGE 62 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Oz is rebuilding the mine schedule at its Carrapateena development project

early contractor involvement (ECI) pro- such as is used at Newcrest Mining Ltd’s from Carrapateena can be sold without
curement model. Cadia mine, would be suitable. treating the metal at the CTP because…
consistent and significant downgrades in
“The current approach is not expect- “The overlying sedimentary package impurities in the concentrate and higher
ed to impact first production because will cave with hydro-fracking pre-condi- copper grades have been achieved,”
essentially, the ECI cuts out the post- tioning, the same as has been done at Cole said. “That has allowed us flexibility
feasibility study tender process,” Cole places such as Cadia,” Cole said. in the timing of the CTP [development].
said. “The tender process of the last few We are still pushing forward with it as
months has given the board confidence The PFS saw Oz lift Carrapateena’s quickly as possible, but we have flexibil-
and allows us to take advantage of iden- scope to 61,000 tpa copper-in-concen- ity now. We can’t yet say exactly what the
tified opportunities quickly. It might make trate and 82,000 ozpa gold. The mine delay will be but it will be measured in
it hard to follow but it is about maximis- is expected to produce a 35% copper quarters, not years.
ing the long-term value of the project. concentrate, which is then flagged to be
Engaging contractors earlier on the non- further treated at a proposed $150 million “We are looking at how we can ap-
mining areas brings the company greater concentrate treatment plant (CTP). The ply the CTP to both Carrapateena and
certainty when we make commitments CTP is designed to remove impurities Prominent Hill concentrate; what the op-
on long-lead items.” such as uranium and fluoride to produce timum size is for the plant.
a higher quality more marketable copper
Optimisation work had also allowed concentrate and reduce freight charges. “The CTP is a strategic differentiator;
the company to eliminate Carrapateena’s allowing us to produce a clean, high-
top three project risks – power, water and The CTP had been included as an in- grade concentrate which will be pulled
ability to use sub-level caving – accord- tegral part of Carrapateena in original into the market and into countries we cur-
ing to Cole. PFS work but in the April webcast, Cole’s rently don’t sell to.”
comments suggested the development
“We have an agreement to take 55MW timelines had since diverged. – Dominic Piper
from the Mt Gunson line and have suf-
ficient water for construction and opera- “The first commercial concentrate
tions with copper recovery not affected
by the quality,” Cole said. Oz switches back on

On the suitability of the rock package With the impasse over South Australia’s power issues seemingly broken, Oz Miner-
to sub-level caving, Cole said studies als Ltd is intent on placing itself at the vanguard of new developments.
had shown standard pre-conditioning,
Speaking on the company’s March quarterly webcast, chief executive Andrew Cole
defended the company’s decision to sign only an 18-month power purchase agreement
for its Prominent Hill mine in the State.

“South Australia is right in the middle of a transition point and the things the State
and Federal Government are doing leads us to expect we will see stable and long-term
prices in the near future so we don’t want to lock into long-term prices [at the moment],”
Cole said.

Among the initiatives launched is a State Government grant for the use of battery
storage and Oz is backing one applicant.

“We think there is opportunity for onsite power, need to explore but haven’t got the
answers yet. We have supported one party in its application and it is now up to the
State Government to consider the merits of battery storage projects,” Cole said.

The company is also working with other members of the South Australian Chamber
of Mines & Energy to negotiate long-term power supply contracts for the sector.

Oz saw Prominent Hill’s quarter-on-quarter copper and gold production drop 16%
and 19% respectively to 25,100t copper and 32,200oz gold. The mine was impacted
by heavy rainfall and lower milled grades with total cash costs increasing on the lower
production to $US1.20/lb, from $US0.90/lb.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 63

COPPER SPOTLIGHT

Finders pushes through the wet

Wet season conditions in EBITDA of $US21.9 million was generated from Finders’ Wetar copper project,
Indonesia provided an Indonesia, during the March quarter
added challenge for Finders
Resources Ltd when commis- activities were suspended in January Wetar for the June quarter at C1 cash
sioning the new 25,000 tpa in response to the Government’s intro- costs of $US1.05/lb and continue with
SX-EW plant on Wetar Island. duction of new regulations to address pre-development activities at Lerokis.
exports of unrefined metals, including
Construction of the 25,000 copper concentrate and anode slimes, Open pit production at Lerokis will fol-
tpa plant was completed dur- and other matters related to the mining low on from Kali Kuning where combined
ing 2016 and later in the year sector. mine life of seven years currently exists.
was operating at the desired
run rate, giving the company Freeport will continue exporting con- Cahill said Finders was well placed to
total operating capacity of centrates for six months, in which time add reserves to the mine life without hav-
28,000 tpa. Finders has oper- a new special operating licence (IUPK) ing to rush the exploration process.
ated a 3,000 tpa SX-EW cop- and investment stability agreement are
per cathode demonstration expected to be negotiated with the Indo- “There are a number of anomalies
plant at Wetar since 2009. nesian Government. around the actual Lerokis reserves and
we doing extensional drilling around the
“We didn’t have any major Freeport’s nuances with the Govern- reserves, with some really good indica-
hiccups, just a lot of small lit- ment have not been shared by Finders, tions. We have some nearby prosects
tle operating issues that we Cahill said. within 1km of that which we can drill while
rectified,” Finders manag- we are up there. We have a nearby pros-
ing director Barry Cahill told “We produce 99% pure metal, so we pect at Merong which is next to our major
Paydirt. “Part of the problem have been exporting and selling it inter- orebody so we will move onto that next,”
for us was we actually did it nally for nearly two years without any real he said.
through the wet and there are issues,” he said.
some logistical issues. If you “We have enough to keep us busy for
need a mine part it is not like In the March quarter, Finders report- the next year or two. We have a seven-
you can just go down the road ed 6,125t produced at C1 cash costs of year mine life; to get an extra year of
and buy the part. You have to $US1.03/lb, with sales totalling 7,153t at mine life is about 1.6mt so we probably
hop on a boat, so logistically an average $US2.6/lb. see some more out of Lerokis and if Mer-
we had a minor issue when ong comes off it is potentially another 3-5
requiring parts; it took a little longer than EBITDA for the quarter was $US21.9 years. We have the targets to go on with;
it normally would. million, while debt was down to $US81.3 it is not like we are running around try-
million from the initial $US162 million fa- ing to find mine life. We have got a bit of
“We’re pretty happy with how it ended cility organised to build the 25,000 tpa time.”
up and pretty happy with the December plant.
and March quarterly reports. We are – Mark Andrews
happy with where the project is going. The company is expected to maintain
We’ve got rid of a bit more debt, so it is production at a rate of 28,000 tpa at
onwards and upwards for us.”

Copper prices since the middle of last
year have certainly helped Finders get its
financial footing, with the company clos-
ing out a hedge and reducing debt by
$US42.5 million in the process.

“Here we are today with copper at the
same price as our hedge position was in
the middle of last year. It [copper price]
moved from the low $US4,000/t to the
high $US5,000/t. It is a good time to start
producing quality cathode metal and if all
the forecasts are right, the market sug-
gests prices will keep moving up,” Cahill
said.

At the time of print, copper was trad-
ing at $US5,736/t, as copper concentrate
and refining charges increased in light of
a resolution at Grasberg easing some
short-term tightness in supply.

Last month, Freeport McMoRan Inc,
through its Indonesian subsidiary PT
Freeport Indonesia, resumed exporting
concentrates from Grasberg after such

PAGE 64 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Turning point for Antipa

The turning point for return to the market until
Antipa Minerals Ltd is it was under way with a

nearing, according to ex- scoping study, which is

ecutive chairman Stephen being targeted to start by

Power. the end of 2017.

“2017 is an inflection “We really see 2017

point for us where we as a turning point for us,”

can demonstrate we can Power said.

change from explorer to “We are currently drill-

something else,” Power ing and aim to finish at the

told Paydirt. end of May. We may keep

“Rio Tinto [Ltd] has put drilling into phase two

their best foot forward at while waiting for the re-

Citadel and Minyari offers sults and we will be pretty

us a pathway to produc- much drilling for the best

tion. We have stuck to part of the year.”

our knitting there and we Minyari and Waca gold-

chose the asset because copper deposits are part

of the big potential we see of the 1,310sq km pack-

there. Minyari has all the age Antipa has at North

hallmarks of turning into a Telfer, with the “bite size”

production opportunity.” Minyari deposit identified

Earlier this year, Rio as a lead into cash flow.

Tinto committed to stage “A lot of people see Min-

two of the $60 million yari as the main game,

farm-in at the Citadel pro- we do, and Citadel as the

ject where a variety of de- longer-term project where

posits are prospective for Rio Tinto are looking at a

gold, copper, silver and Tier One asset. We have

tungsten. to get cash flow, that is

In proceeding to stage the main game and then

two, Rio Tinto now takes that [Minyari] will grow

the reins as operator of the into however large we can

Citadel JV and after fulfill- make it. Minyari is around

ing $3 million in explora- a dome and can grow. We

tion expenditure in stage are drilling two areas at

one, it is now required to the moment and expect to

spend another $8 million With Citadel – a JV with Rio Tinto – and Minyari, Antipa is well placed find more mineralisation,”
within a three-year period in the copper-gold space in WA’s Paterson province Power said.
for a 51% interest. Between the Paterson

To earn a maximum 75% under the survey at Blue Steel to define drill tar- and Telfer Dome projects, Antipa has

current JV terms, Rio Tinto is required gets, RC and aircore drilling programmes over 1,600sq km of granted exploration

to spend a further $14 million within a for the Rimfire area and aerial EM over ground plus another 80sq km under ap-

three-year period for 65% and a further about 1,000 line-km to identify new tar- plication on the doorstep of the Telfer

$35 million within another three years for gets for evaluation in 2018. mine.

75%. Antipa will continue to have full access Power said there was a long list of

Power said Rio Tinto’s commitment to to results and information stemming from prospects with existing mineralisation to

stage two at Citadel, 75km north of New- Citadel, while it also gets busy at Minyari, be followed up on and Antipa would grow

crest Mining Ltd’s Telfer project, demon- within its 100%-owned North Telfer pro- its ability to cover them.

strated the project had the type of Tier ject. “There will be more arms and legs for

One potential the major is looking for. Phase one RC drilling for a total of boots-on-ground exploration at Paterson

“It is important to have Rio Tinto’s input 9,000m was in progress at the time of this year,” Power said.

and their commitment shows the poten- print, with work focused on the Waca de- Power said the market could expect to

tial of the project,” Power said. posit and testing 250-300m strike exten- see good news flow, with the company

Furthermore, Rio Tinto has indicated sion targets at the Minyari gold-copper now on the radar of big international

its fondness for the region by apply- deposit in order to increase the current resource funds such as Sprott Group

ing for more ground around Citadel and 300m strike length. which took up $2 million of a $7 million

more broadly in the Paterson province of At the end of the March quarter, Antipa SPP late last year.

Western Australia. had about $7 million cash and is well- – Mark Andrews
Some of the immediate work Rio Tinto funded for the rest of the year.

has proposed at Citadel includes an IP Power said the intention was not to

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 65

COPPER SPOTLIGHT

Downhole EM grants
KGL its wishes

KGL Resources Ltd’s wish to de-
liver more grade and tonnes into
its Jervois copper project could be

granted off the back of a single drill

hole.

KGL produced a PFS for Jervois

– in the Northern Territory – in Oc-

tober 2015, but the study suggest-

ed more than the 27.7mt @ 1.12%

copper and 16.6 g/t silver resource

would be needed to make the pro-

ject economically viable.

It had to do so using a restricted

budget. The company committed to

stripping excessive spending out of

the business after missing the PFS

target, with newly installed chair-

man Denis Wood leading a return

to the drill bit.

“At the last AGM we said we

would go back to fundamental ex-

ploration,” Wood told Paydirt. “We

got the costs down and put that

money back into drilling. But, we

knew we also needed to get more

robustness in the project. It was ap-

parent we needed more tonnes and KGL is awaiting results from a downhole EM survey on drill hole KJCD205, the first of several
grade.” conductor zones in the east of the company’s Rockface prospect

The change in strategy had al- The use of the downhole EM has prov- project out. If we make the same pro-

most immediate results. In April 2016,
KGL began drilling two downhole EM en particularly fruitful at Rockface and gress in the next 12 months that we have
conductors at the Rockface prospect. KGL plans to do further surveys in an ef- in the last 12 we will be very happy.”
When the two holes intercepted 16m @ fort to generate more targets. Wood said KGL would not be rush-

3.34% copper, 16.7 g/t silver and 0.17 g/t “We started in the west of the project ing into releasing an updated feasibility

gold (from 362m) and 9m @ 2.91% cop- area but there are known targets in the study, having learned from previous ex-
per, 17.6 g/t silver and 0.2 g/t gold (from east of the project as well,” Wood said. perience.
284m), KGL believed it had found a tar- “The original PFS also had a pit designed “The PFS was a bit low on the tonnes

get capable of fulfilling its needs. around an area in the north which has and grade so we paid the penalty,” he

“One hole delivered the kind of higher also demonstrated the presence of a said. “As a junior you shouldn’t go too
magnetite conductor so we can continue early, you should wait until you’re robust
grades we were looking for,” Wood said.
The results continued. In August 2016, to build our understanding and we may enough to withstand movements in com-
hole KJCD197 intersected 37.6m @ expand our horizons very quickly.” modity prices.”

5.98% copper, 27.9 g/t silver and 0.6 g/t KGL raised $2.48 million via a share The NT Government appears to have

gold from 535.4m. This was followed up placement plan in April to fund a new recognised KGL’s progress towards mak-
in February with hits of 10.15m @ 8.99% nine-hole drilling programme. Wood said ing its flagship asset more robust, award-
copper, 45.5 g/t silver and 0.6 g/t gold the programme would be sufficient to ing Jervois major project status in April.
and 28m @ 5.08% copper, 22.4 g/t silver bring Rockface into the Jervois resource,
Wood said relations with the NT Gov-

and 0.22 g/t gold. allowing the company to restart develop- ernment and Traditional Owners had

Wood said the company had been de- ment studies. been strong.

lighted with the drilling success and be- “Once the robustness is back in the “I am not complaining at all and hav-

lieved Rockface could deliver the tonnes project we can then focus on project ing put these projects in place around
and grades Jervois needed to become development. We are confident enough the world I can say NT compares very
that we have started looking at the ap- favourably as a jurisdiction,” he said.
economic.
provals process; Native Title, EIS and the
“You have to remember that it only like,” Wood said. – Dominic Piper
has to carry the rest of the resource, it
“The goal is to spend the next 18
doesn’t have to carry the whole project
months on approvals and then put the
on its own,” he said.

PAGE 66 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Encounter commits to copper

Copper remains a major focus for En- Encounter managing director Will Robinson at the Lookout Rocks copper-cobalt gossan
counter Resources Ltd despite the
greenfields explorer spruiking the gold has taken such a leap forwards that Diamond rigs will also be turning on
and cobalt potential of its ground in West- we’re focusing a lot more on it.” some of the gold projects, including at
ern Australia’s Paterson province. the Egg prospect, where a near-surface
Encounter’s proposed exploration position of stockwork mineralisation is
Encounter has watched its share price work for the rest of this quarter confirms being targeted.
double to 12c over the past six months copper is not taking a backseat, with drill-
on the back of strong exploration results ing campaigns planned for BM1-BM7, Programmes to follow up on the initial
at its Telfer gold project as well as a com- Lookout Rocks and Fishhook. gold hits at Telfer West and initial RC/dia-
mitment to explore the cobalt opportuni- mond campaigns at East Thomson’s are
ties at Yeneena. A follow-up programme to last year’s also in the immediate pipeline, with Rob-
drilling campaign at BM1-BM7 was inson and his team excited about what
In late April, the company reported the scheduled to begin at the time of print to could be found.
discovery of thick, near-surface, gold- test down-dip and along strike of an iden-
copper zones at Telfer West, including tified copper-cobalt shoot, plus additional “We’ve got what we think are two very
hits of 20m @ 1.8 g/t gold and 502 ppm near-surface shoots in the BM7 region. exciting gold projects in a district that has
copper from 94m (including 10m @ 2.8 obviously produced a 30 moz deposit
g/t gold and 812 ppm copper from 94m) Drilling is also planned for Lookout and not much else so far,” Robinson said.
and 14m @ 1.2 g/t gold and 1,179 ppm Rocks in the coming months following
copper from 66m (including 4m @ 3.3 g/t the discovery of a large outcropping cop- “There were some historical, high-
gold and 1,400 ppm copper from 74m) in per-cobalt gossan during a site visit last grade, near-surface gold reefs discov-
two holes just 200m apart. year with a potential JV partner. ered there [at East Thomson’s] in the
early 1990s and Barrick [Gold Corp] ex-
A recent review of historical explora- “We were standing on the first dia- plored there in about 2005, did surface
tion data from the East Thomson’s Dome mond hole we drilled there and about geochemistry and two deep diamond drill
project has also identified a large-scale 700m away, sticking out the side of a holes where they drilled a gold reef, but
gold soil anomaly over 2km, located just sand dune, was this brown ironstone we it was never followed up on, and that’s
5km north of Newcrest Mining Ltd’s Tel- hadn’t identified before because the drill where the opportunity lies for us at this
fer gold mine. line, 800m to the south, was on the other moment.”
side of that,” Robinson said.
With cobalt prices also providing incen- A drilling programme, also eligible for
tive for focused exploration, Encounter “We wandered down there, sampled it EIS co-funding, to test along strike and
opted to assess the base metal’s poten- and it had 0.2% copper, 0.2% cobalt and down-dip of a 0.7m @ 36.7% zinc from
tial at BM1-BM7, with reported intercepts all the sort of geochemistry you’d want to 430m intercept at the Millennium zinc
of 14m @ 0.45% cobalt and 0.38% cop- see if it was an outcropping, potentially project was being designed at the time
per from 14m and 9m @ 1% cobalt and once-upon-a-time sulphide position.” of print.
1.5% copper from 42m to end-of-hole
providing a timely boost. Also at the time of print, the company – Michael Washbourne
was completing the first diamond drilling
Such results could tempt a company to at the Fishhook prospect, about 10km
sideline copper exploration, but Encoun- south of Lookout Rocks, with EIS co-
ter managing director Will Robinson said funding of up to $150,000 available from
there were no plans to slow the search the WA Government.
for the red metal in the Paterson.

“We have a very clear focus on this
region and while we’ve got a series of
different commodity targets, we’ve delib-
erately employed a strategy of being ge-
ographically focused in one area so that
we’re not spreading ourselves too thinly,”
Robinson told Paydirt.

“The copper-cobalt has been going
along quite encouragingly, I think the
only thing that really has changed is the
gold projects at Telfer West and East
Thomson’s have taken such a massive
step forward since we secured East
Thomson’s in September and we only
had the West Telfer tenement granted in
August.

“We’ve got an open ball park, with
shallow mineralisation in a near-perfect
geological setting to form a significant
body of gold. So, the copper hasn’t nec-
essarily gone backwards, but this thing

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 67

COPPER SPOTLIGHT

Caravel set to grow Calingiri

Caravel Minerals Ltd will look to Caravel will release an updated resource and PFS for Calingiri later this year
incorporate an updated resource
into a PFS on its Calingiri copper pro- leased last June, with the company pur- Hilmer said there were advantages in
ject later this year. suing development of a standalone 15 preparing an economic assessment at a
mtpa operation at Calingiri. low point in the cycle.
Following positive initial results
from a geophysics and aircore pro- Highlights from the scoping study in- Copper was trading at $US2.50/lb at
gramme in the first quarter, Caravel cluded a pre-tax NPV of $800 million the time of print.
is planning to follow up with some with IRR of 31% and payback within
RC drilling at the project, 120km three years. A $440 million capex was “At that time, most of the studies we
north-east of Perth, over the coming estimated to build the project with an ini- looked at were using $U3-3.25/lb and
months. tial 21-year mine life. while we felt our project had the potential
to achieve those levels, we were more
Results from that programme will Other key financials from the study conservative and used $US2.75/lb,”
be fed into a pending update of the were net revenue of $7.1 billion and an Hilmer said.
existing 251mt @ 0.34% copper for operating cash flow of $2 billion over the
844,300t resource (0.25% cut-off proposed life of mine, using a base cop- “What we’ve found in recent times is the
grade) and a subsequent PFS which per price of $US2.75/lb. price has actually gone over $US2.70/lb,
could be released before year’s end. so our scoping study, when we refer to
While acknowledging the project eco- the robustness of it, looks very strong
Caravel managing director Mar- nomics were quite robust, Hilmer said his because we’re using today’s pricing, or
cel Hilmer said his company was team was constantly reviewing the num- within a reasonable margin of today’s
not setting definitive timeframes for bers for possible improvements. prices. It does give us some comfort.”
completion of either milestone.
“In any of these early technical stud- Hilmer and other members of the
“We hope to release it sometime ies, there’s always going to be opportu- Caravel team took the Calingiri story on
over the next eight months, but we nities and additional work required and, the road in April, including to Mines and
will need to be flexible, depending in our case, the opportunity we saw was Money Asia in Hong Kong, and met with
on the results of this upcoming work,” to potentially increase the size and grade several major funds and sophisticated
Hilmer told Paydirt. of the resource and then look at how it investors.
would be mined and the sizing of the
“In some ways, the more successful plant,” Hilmer said. TSX-listed First Quantum Minerals Ltd
we are through the drilling campaigns, is already a major shareholder in Caravel
the more likely we may need to extend “That’s been the driver in large part for and is seeking to acquire a 50.1% inter-
the time to complete the PFS because what we’ve been doing for this past quar- est in Calingiri through a $3.6 million ex-
we’ll have a lot more work to do around ter and for future quarters. We need to penditure commitment.
the resources and optimising those and do additional work and that will probably
the configuration of a suitable plant.” include a limited amount of infill drilling, Meanwhile, Caravel has shelved its
some hydro and commencing some en- secondary copper project, Bryah, to fo-
Caravel’s most recent exploration work vironmental work.” cus solely on Calingiri. Bryah is hosted
identified several new VMS-style targets on the same mineral belt as the DeGrus-
and four additional copper-molybdenum When Caravel releases the PFS, it will sa copper-gold mine.
zones, with the aircore programme eval- be hoping for a much better copper price
uating a series of surface geochemical than the $US2/lb the metal was trading – Michael Washbourne
targets near the existing Bindi and Dash- at the time of the scoping study, although
er resources, plus an undrilled trend on
the western margin.

Some of the best drill intercepts re-
ported were 17m @ 1,332 ppm copper
from 39m (including 1m @ 4,110 ppm),
3m @ 2,540 ppm from 42m and 6m @
2,432 ppm from 51m (including 3m @
4,540 ppm).

Caravel also reported that regolith and
bedrock copper geochemistry in the four
new zones defined a footprint “equivalent
to or larger than” the analogous footprints
of the Bindi and Dasher deposits.

“The main reason for this work was
that we felt we had underexplored some
highly prospective areas within this very
long 30km trend,” Hilmer said.

“We are very pleased with the results
and we feel that it is definitely compelling
to go back and do some follow-up work.”

Caravel will be looking to build on the
successful scoping study results re-

PAGE 68 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Caribbean escapade for Carube

Tourism and baux- With a piece of the
ite mining drive the limelight, Carube is look-

Jamaican economy but ing forward to complet-

there is belief a major ing a 2,000m drilling

porphyry copper system programme at Provost,

could be hidden some- Bellas Gate.

where on the Caribbean Drilling started last

island nation. month and is aimed at

The Cretaceous-aged following up on hole PVT-

rocks synonymous with 16-002 which intersected

major copper porphyry- 339m @ 0.34% copper

bearing systems in Chile, equivalent (0.28% cop-

Peru, Argentina and per, 0.12 g/t gold), includ-

other parts of the Carib- ing 10m @ 1.79% copper

bean, including the Do- equivalent (1.28% copper,

minican Republic, also 0.9 g/t gold).

extend into Jamaica, A private placement

where Canadian compa- of $C1.356 million was

ny Carube Copper Corp locked away by Carube to

is conducting early stage conduct the drilling, which

exploration activities. was in addition to $C1.6

Such is the qual- million raised earlier in the

ity of the ground held year, also by way of a pri-

by Carube in Jamaica, vate placement.

Australia’s Oz Minerals About two-thirds of the

Ltd found it compelling Oz Minerals spent $US14 million on exploration in Jamaica before pulling $C1.6 million came out

enough to enter a JV out of a JV with Canadian outfit Carube Copper of Australia, with players

agreement over seven associated and involved

licences in the country and went on to It could take Carube another 15 years with Tigers Realm Coal Ltd participating

spend $US14 million on a number of pro- to extract copper from any of its pros- in the raising.

grammes before withdrawing earlier this pects in Jamaica, however, the door is Tigers Realm first connected with

year. open to interested parties looking to en- Carube in Jamaica about six years ago

It was not a lack of prospectivity which ter the country. and since Oz has left, it has re-engaged

made Oz turn its back on Jamaica, rather There is little exploration activity cur- and thrown its support behind the Cana-

the demands of funding Carrapateena on rently taking place, however, since Oz’s dian group.

its own which forced the South Austral- departure, Carube has fielded much in- Tigers Realm’s backing will help

ian copper producer’s hand. terest from major companies looking for Carube build up its targets and beef up

Oz’s exit has meant Carube now has the next Tier 1 copper deposit. its negotiating power when potential JVs

100% ownership of 11 licences covering “We are in a sweet spot at the moment or partnerships are discussed.

535sq km of Jamaica, including the flag- with 100% of the properties [fully owned] “We have these targets that are ready

ship Bellas Gate project, west of King- and the market seems to be responding to go and instead of going in and bringing

ston. to investment in this kind of thing. There a partner right away and not having that

“Jamaica is in the right neighbourhood, are tonnes and tonnes of junior gold upper hand in negotiating the best terms,

right geology, and the fact that copper companies, but certainly not that many we are drilling some of our own holes to

has been mined there in the past is all the companies looking at copper right now, add some value to the company,” Ackert

appeal of why we are there in Jamaica. so we have got a little bit of attention in said.

We have had some very good success the market. We have a good following; “Hopefully that value will translate into

since we’ve been there and since work- the next year could be very fruitful for us a higher stock price and then we have a

ing with our former partner Oz Minerals,” and our shareholders,” Ackert said. better ability for negotiations for attract-

Carube president Jeff Ackert told Pay- “One of the things that we have appre- ing a partner or even going out and doing

dirt. ciated is the fact that since Oz pulled out, more. It will give us the flexibility of help-

“Because of Oz’s change in philoso- quite a number of major copper-produc- ing add some value and putting some

phy and exploration, they kind of had a ing companies have come knocking on targets on the map and then we will

Eureka moment when they realised the our door, reviewing our data. We have know if we really need to bring in another

need to develop all of Carrapateena on got four active CAs right now and we are partner. I think we can add some value

their own. When they looked at the capex lining up some property visits for the first before we need to, that is where we are

of some of the big systems which we are or second week of June. When you get at now.”

looking for in Jamaica. They then thought these size of companies, with a $15-20 – Mark Andrews
we may have to get another partner as billion market cap, knocking on your door

well to develop this thing, which doesn’t you kind of think that we do have some-

really fit their philosophy.” thing that is pretty good.”

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 69

COPPER SPOTLIGHT

CuDeco strives for nameplate

CuDeco Ltd chief executive Mark Mining activities at Rocklands will soon ramp up in a bid to rebuild depleted stockpiles
Gregory is backing the company’s
Rocklands operation to achieve regu- cessing through the plant,” Gregory said. the suspension was lifted last month,
lar nameplate capacity in the next few “Like any plant which is new and has dropping to its lowest levels – 25c/share
months. at the time of print – in a decade. How-
recently been commissioned, there are ever, CuDeco has managed to win the
Rocklands, 17km west of Cloncurry in teething issues, but I think it’s just ongo- support of a new strategic investor.
north-west Queensland, is coming off a ing improvement and refinement which
stellar April during which a record 6,844t has delivered these more consistent re- Gemstone 101 Ltd, a wholly owned
(7,562t wet) of copper concentrate was sults.” subsidiary of Valuestone Global Re-
produced, at a provisional average grade source Fund and sponsored by Jiangxi
of 25% copper, before being exported to Another near-term focus for Gregory Copper and China Construction Bank
customers in China. and his team will be ramping up min- International, tipped in $22 million via a
ing activities at Rocklands to rebuild the convertible note facility to aid CuDeco’s
The Rocklands process plant ran stockpiles which were depleted during bid to achieve nameplate in the coming
above nameplate for five consecutive the recent suspension. months.
days during April, achieving recoveries of
92.12% over that period. In total, name- CuDeco’s stock has taken a hit since “We see more than it just being a provi-
plate feed of 8,217 tpd was exceeded on sion of funds,” Gregory said. “We believe
11 different days. there are potential synergies and ben-
efits in other areas that will come from
Gregory, who joined CuDeco in late this. It’s a really good relationship and I
February, said the plant’s performance think they will be an investor who can add
during April was an encouraging sign for strategic value over the long term. We’re
the future of the operation. very pleased to have them involved.”

“We know what the plant is capable With copper prices on the rise –
of and now it’s just a matter of building $US2.50/lb at the time of print – at the
on that and doing it consistently week- same time as production at Rocklands
in, week-out and month-in, month-out,” ramps up, CuDeco is well positioned to
Gregory told Paydirt. take advantage of a perfect storm.

“I hate making predictions, but I think “Copper is one of those commodities
logically you tend to work in terms of which has been a bit difficult to predict,
financial years, so it would be fitting to but our view is that the underlying funda-
think that by June 30 we would be getting mentals for the long term strength in the
close to hitting nameplate. copper price are good,” Gregory said.

“We’ve still got some work to do and “Our focus is on delivering consist-
some teething issues still to resolve, but ent production levels and maintaining
we’re moving forward in a positive direc- the plant so that it is reliable long-term.
tion.” Achieving that position will underpin the
financial performance of the company.”
The concentrate shipped to China con-
tained an estimated 1,712t copper metal – Michael Washbourne
and 572oz gold. Metal recoveries dur-
ing April averaged 88.8%, just below the CuDeco hopes to achieve nameplate capacity
long-term nameplate estimate of 90%. at Rocklands in the coming months

CuDeco’s new management team –
led by Gregory, chief operating officer
Jiang Gongyang and mine general man-
ager Joe Skrypniuk – implemented a se-
ries of operational changes in mid-March
when production was allowed to resume
at Rocklands following a government-
imposed suspension for failing a safety
audit, just four months after the official
mine opening.

One of those changes was the ap-
pointment of a new mining contractor,
Andy’s Earthmovers (Asia Pacific) Pty
Ltd, but Gregory said he could not put
the turnaround in operations down to a
single initiative or individual.

“There’s no one silver bullet that just
turns things around, it’s been a lot of work
put in by a lot of people to get consistent
feed to the plant and then the actual pro-

PAGE 70 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

SAVE THE DATE

17 October 2017
Pan Pacific Perth

australiannickelconference.com

To present, exhibit or attend as a delegate please contact Christine Oelschlaeger
on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]

Image courtesy of Western Areas Ltd

SERVICES

PYBAR strikes innovative chord

PYBAR is now responsible for both development and underground declines at Carrapateena

The recent rebound in the resources from all-time highs, the precious metal one. We have noticed an increase in op-
sector has left PYBAR Mining Ser- has inevitably led the mining recovery but portunities and our team has certainly

vices confident its efforts to be Australia’s Rouse pointed to the increasing number been kept busy with tenders and mobili-

best underground miner will be rewarded. of base metal projects on the company’s sations particularly since the last half of

After the lows of 2014 and 2015, PY- books as evidence of a wider recovery. 2016. Our recent growth indicates that

BAR has staged a revival since the “The gold industry is quite buoyant at the industry has reached a turning point.”

middle of 2016, doubling the number of the moment and recently, some base The cautious optimism of miners will

projects on its books and returning staff metal mines have also successfully likely require more flexibility from con-

levels back to their pre-downturn mark of opened, although the main base metal tractors.

around 1,000. miners remain cautious. Nickel miners in Rouse admitted the downturn had
““We have experienced a period of re- particular remain subdued,” he said.
been tough on the firm but said it had

covery over the last 12 led PYBAR to creating

months,” chief operating We are working closely with our an agile approach which
officer Brendan Rouse would keep it competi-

told Paydirt. “New pro- client Oz Minerals to develop tive as activity in the
jects have included a Australia’s most innovative, technologically Australian mining space
number of large-scale, returned.

whole-of-mine projects advanced underground mine and have “As a private com-
such as Thalanga [zinc numerous initiatives underway, many of pany we can adapt
mine in Queensland], quite quickly to chang-

and the Mungana and which are firsts at least in the Australian ing market conditions
King Vol contracts [also industry if not internationally. and we acknowledged
in Queensland]. We the value clients put in
continue to see positive contractors that had a

developments across more flexible offering,”

the industry with exploration picking up “However, there is a feeling of optimism he said. “Being open to different types

and a number of new projects progress- around that probably wasn’t there 6-12 of contract arrangements and providing

ing, which suggest things are on a path to months ago but I think everyone is still flexible capabilities and services, such

more sustainable growth.” treading very carefully. It will be a steady as the capacity to scale our service of-

With the Australian gold price not far recovery and it needs to be a sustainable fering, tailoring equipment selection to

PAGE 72 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

the application, and specialised solutions PYBAR plans to use technological innovations at Oz Minerals’
such as unique drilling capability, created Carrapateena underground mine
new opportunities.”
erator can then switch to conventional “Underground mining in particular re-
The diversification process means PY- tele-remote function for the more com- quires an engaged workforce to deliver
BAR’s expanded portfolio now takes in plicated activities of bucket filling and the productivity that is the key to our suc-
all sizes of operations from small special- dumping at the stockpile. All video and cess,” he said. “We are really focusing
ist projects to large-scale, whole-of-mine data transfer is via a wireless network on creating a culture of innovation and
contracts. over a fibre optic backbone.” performance from the top down and the
bottom up, and building the company’s
“We have built a track record of be- The technological innovations applied brand as an employer of choice.
ing able to meet the changing needs of to Carrapateena will be backed up by
our clients,” Rouse said. “Through some a team which Rouse believes is one of “As a contractor we need to be trans-
strategic rig acquisitions such as the the strongest in the industry. He said the parent, forward thinking and, above all,
MUKI small scale drilling jumbo for nar- company worked hard to attract and re- create an engaged workforce that takes
row drives and the highly flexible Atlas tain “the best minds from fresh-thinking pride in its performance both in terms of
Copco Easer-L we have also built a fleet graduates and trainees through to the productivity and safety.”
that offers complete, competitive solu- highly experienced”.
tions to any underground hard rock mine – Dominic Piper
in the country.”

Perhaps PYBAR’s most important
contract of the last 12 months has been
at Oz Minerals Ltd’s new Carrapateena
development in South Australia.

In July 2016, PYBAR was awarded a
contract for the supply of labour, plant
and material to establish the greenfield
underground mine. When Oz announced
in April it was to build a second decline at
Carrapateena, PYBAR was again able to
secure the work.

By May, the mining contractor had
completed around 1,202m of develop-
ment and had started mining the con-
veyor tunnel from underground.

Rouse said the Carrapateena contract
would highlight PYBAR’s investment in
new technologies designed to improve
operational performance.

“We are working closely with our client
Oz Minerals to develop Australia’s most
innovative, technologically advanced
underground mine and have numerous
initiatives underway, many of which are
firsts at least in the Australian industry if
not internationally.”

Among the initiatives are the use of an
underground wireless, real-time tracking
and data communication system to im-
prove safety and productivity, automated
bogging for mine development and the
use of Sandvik’s high precision DD422i
jumbo.

Rouse said while the autonomous bog-
ging system was being rolled out across
Australian operations, Carrapateena
would be the first to apply the technology
for development and stockpile purposes.

“PYBAR will apply semi-autonomous
technology to its LHD to allow for waste
bogging to be undertaken while exhaust-
ing toxic fumes following a blast,” Rouse
said. “By shortening the face cycle time,
it is expected to deliver significant pro-
ductivity benefits.

“The system will allow autonomous
navigation of the bogger [from surface]
without any operator guidance. The op-

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 73

SERVICES

Kenex predicts big
data exploration

Exploration geologists can get their In the gold sector alone, MinEx Con- Global gold exploration expenditure
hands on more information than ever sulting analysis shows the rate of discov- rose from $US1.2 billion in 2002 to

but making sure they store it and use it ery has continued to fall over the last two $US10 billion in 2014 but the number of

effectively is an increasing challenge. decades despite record levels of expend- Tier 1 discoveries stagnated.

“Recent technological innovations, iture over the same period. Industry leaders have lamented the

particularly in geophysics, gold sector’s failure to
give explorers more infor-
mation than they could have The work is aimed at project achieve exploration suc-
dreamed of 15 years ago but cess.
while the breakthroughs have
improved productivity and generation and particularly “Growing expenditure
focused around prospectivity on exploration is delivering
fewer returns and since the

efficiency in exploration, the modelling because not many people turn of the century the in-
industry has struggled to in- dustry has failed to replace
are using it effectively for exploration the gold it mined,” Rand-
crease the rates of discovery

and the cost associated with targeting or project generation. gold Resources Ltd chief
exploration. executive Mark Bristow said

PAGE 74 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

in February. “It is bad enough that the

world gold inventory is shrinking, what

is even worse is the steady deteriora-

tion in the quality of those reserves. The

only way to reverse the decline in grades

is to…start exploring new deposits with

world-class credentials. Without that you

can see what is going to happen to the

world’s supply of gold.”

The wealth of new data should help to

reverse this trend but according to Ex-

ploration consultants Kenex, many ex-

plorers are not using the information they

generate effectively.

Kenex uses spatial data, GIS (Geo-

graphic Information Systems) and pre-

dictive modelling to define new targets at

both regional and mine levels for clients.

“The work is aimed at project genera-

tion and particularly focused around pro-

spectivity modelling because not many

people are using it effectively for explo-

ration targeting or project generation,”

Kenex New Zealand operations manager

Katie Peters told Paydirt.

Kenex’s strategy is to collect and col-

late the disparate datasets explorers pro-

duce or inherit when acquiring new pro-

jects into a comprehensive GIS.

“We then use our spatial analysis tech-

niques to define targets,” Peters said.

Last year, the company formed an al- must have it in order, and Kenex often Peters said new exploration technolo-

liance with junior explorer Emmerson deals with explorers who have difficulty gies allowed even greater detail in inter-

Resources Ltd to identify projects in New with data management. pretation and analysis, including the in-

South Wales’ Lachlan Fold Belt. “It is all about data, data, data,” Peters creasing use of 3D modelling.

Under the alliance, Kenex has pro- said. “But it is also about using it well, an- “There is definitely growing demand for

vided prospectivity modelling (including alysing it properly and many companies 3D modelling,” she said. “And, with the

compilation of exploration data), explora- definitely struggle with managing data. new down-hole surveying techniques,

tion targeting and project generation to We often come across companies who such as the optical televiewer, you can

Emmerson in NSW where it was eager to have picked up ground with historic data log down-hole images and wireline data,

pick up neglected, high quality, explora- which is all over the place. We are good interpret it and incorporate that into more

tion ground. at getting our hands on data which is in accurate 3D models.”

“Our approach involves creating data- a bad state and pulling it back together As well as explorers, Kenex is finding

bases of targets derived from prospectiv- which is something companies find dif- its services increasingly in demand from

ity models and mineral occurrences that ficult because they often don’t have the governments keen to increase their pre-
“are then attributed, ranked, filtered and resources.”
competitive data suites.

queried based on the needs of Kenex is currently working

the company,” Kenex business It is all about data, data, with the NSW Department of
development manager Andrew Industry to produce predictive

Wilkins said. “This is an effective data. But it is also about mineral potential models in or-
tool for project generation as well using it well, analysing it properly der to, both provide information
as for consolidating and prioritis- for land planning, and advice

ing existing ground.” and many companies definitely and promotion of the State’s
Kenex uses data gathered struggle with managing data. mineral potential.

from public sources to statisti- “This is the first time a gov-

cally assess the potential for min- ernment has used our models

eral deposits in targeted areas. like this for planning purposes

Wilkins said such regional scale strate- Effectively organising and analysing but it is the type of work all governments

gies were reliant on good quality informa- data will ultimately save explorers mon- should be doing.”

tion. ey, according to Wilkins. – Dominic Piper
“If you are looking at new ground, our “By using it effectively you will spend

approach allows you to tie back all the a lot less money drilling than you would

data to the mineral system. From there, by simply using long held assumptions.

you can put it all together to assess the Drilling is expensive and it is vital to de-

prospectivity.” rive as much value as possible out of

To interpret data effectively companies every drill hole.”

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 75

SERVICES

Mintrex finds fields of
brown and green

Engineering firm Mintrex how they can treat sulphides
is enthusiastic about the and oxides in one process

future of the mining industry plant for example.”

and not only from greenfields Last year, Mintrex assisted

projects. with commissioning of a co-

The firm has seen an in- balt electrowinning plant in

crease in study activity in re- Latin America and a scop-

cent times but also expects ing study to recover cobalt

more need for plant refur- at a copper mine in Africa.

bishments over the next few Lorenzen said this approach

years. was a good example of how

Executive consultant Dr companies were looking to

Leon Lorenzen said he ex- add value through by-prod-

pected more challenges for ucts. They are also exam-

existing brownfield opera- ples of beginning a project

tions in the near future. on a simpler flowsheet and

“We are seeing a lot of then adding value with ad-

brownfields upgrades and ditional commodities later,

changes to existing plants,” rather than having the cost

Lorenzen told Paydirt. and complexity of too many

“Generally, plants are de- processes up front.

signed for an eight-year Lorenzen said looking

mine life on a specific deposit. A lot of the process sometimes takes longer. at too many commodities during study

plants constructed during the boom time The more stringent focus on capex and phases of a project had the potential to

are getting to that stage now. As deposits opex has led to developers working hard make the flow sheet very complex very

of current operations become depleted to demonstrate robust project value. quickly.

and exploration finds new deposits with “Customers want the best bang for “Companies sometimes look at the

different ore characteristics, you need to their buck and there is a lot of a focus on possible revenue value of the different

re-evaluate if the existing process plant due diligence, but that suits Mintrex be- commodities in their deposit rather than

[flowsheet] can treat the new material ef- cause it has always been our approach,” the capex and opex that will make the

ficiently and I expect it will be a busy time Lorenzen said. “Some clients start with project viable,” he said. “The additional

on those mines in the next few years.” bigger and more complex plants but complexity means you will usually need

Mintrex business development engi- our focus can help them find ways to more capital cost and increased operat-

neer, Fil Resnik added that Mintrex’s ca- increase project value using ‘a whole of ing costs, and in many cases the overall

pabilities provided advantages in brown- project’ approach to risk which keeps resource is just not big enough to make
“capex low without sacrificing opex.
field design. multiple commodities work.”
“We offer expertise in opera-
Lorenzen also advised com-
tional support and brownfields
design and nimbleness which The additional complexity panies to make such decisions
helps quickly solve client prob- in early stages and well in ad-
lems, especially on operating
sites,” Resnik said. means you will usually vance of final feasibility studies.
need more capital cost and “Companies should be looking

at those options during the scop-

In the new project space, increased operating costs, and in ing study and PFS phases,” he
Mintrex expects to see some many cases the overall resource said. “Mintrex provides rigorous
of the current BFS studies con- peer review to companies whose

vert into developed mines. Lor- is just not big enough to make internal teams are leading the
enzen said the firm’s mantra of multiple commodities work. studies and welcomes external
disciplined design and delivery review to improve the studies we

would remain. lead.

“On new developments, some “Mintrex see this as an excit-

of our clients are finding it takes ing time in the mining industry

a bit longer to get from BFS to develop- “We don’t look at building the biggest with increased numbers of operations

ment because of complexities in financ- and most flexible plant, it is about which seeking excellence and new developers

ing,” Lorenzen said. “Financiers are process plant delivers the best econom- striving to deliver results for their stake-

questioning the clients about more tech- ics for the project. Milling material to bug holders.”

nical issues before final decisions are dust is not the main game anymore and – Dominic Piper
made. So, the review and due diligence companies are also starting to look at

PAGE 76 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP AFRICA

Giro is the Lucky Winner
for Amani

Acapital injection of $US25 Amani also plans to start
million could help Klaus aggressively exploring the

Eckhof realise his ambition of neighbouring Tendao pro-

defining the next Kibali. ject.

Eckhof’s Amani Gold Ltd “[Investors] are also

(formerly Burey Gold) has keen to explore Tendao,

entered into a non-binding which we are in the pro-

MoU with Hong Kong’s Luck cess of acquiring,” Eckhof

Winner Investment Ltd to said.

raise the capital required to “[Tendao] is around 5km

kick-start the Giro gold pro- of old workings and opera-

ject in the DRC. tions from the Belgians out

The capital raising com- of the 1950s. We’ve done

prises the issue of 500 mil- a lot there already, but we

lion shares at 5c/share, with won’t start drilling until the

additional free-attaching final signature is done.

options of 250 million at 7c/ “With that project

share with a term of two there is probably another

years from the issue date. chance to maybe find an-

Once completed, Luck other 2 moz fairly quickly

Winner will hold about 28% Amani is raising $US25 million to continue exploration at the Giro gold and at very good grades.”
of issued shares in Amani project in the DRC Once Luck Winner com-
and become the company’s pletes the next stage of

cornerstone investor. which Eckhof was instrumental in discov- due diligence, both parties will enter into

Amani chairman Eckhof told Paydirt ering. a binding subscription agreement.

the capital raising would put the compa- He is already noticing similarities be- The two key shareholders of Luck Win-

ny in a strong position to take the project tween it and Giro. ner are Yu Qiuming and Fu Shen, who

towards an initial PFS and measured re- “Kibali, I mean that is pretty much the both have several years of experience in

source. same as [Giro] in volcanoclastic rocks. developing and mining copper and gold

“[Luck Winner] were pretty keen on You have also got the granodiorite intru- projects in China.

production, so they want to do a big infill sions. It is pretty much the same sort of Eckhof said the Chinese offer wasn’t

drilling programme after the maiden re- setting,” Eckhof said. the only one on the table, but it was the

source and get it up to a measured re- “The question is if I have got multiple most attractive.

source fairly quickly,” Eckhof said. resources everywhere, I haven’t got that “[Lower offers] didn’t really interest me

“We are trying to get the resource up yet. But then again… it took me four or because the last placement was done at

to 4-5 moz hopefully, five years to develop all the 5c/share,” he said.

that’s basically the tar- other separate deposits [at “That is why I tried to get somebody

get. With the backing of Kibali].” else to come in who would also take it

the Chinese, we can be Made up of two exploration at 5c/share, rather than taking it at the

fairly aggressive. permits covering 497sq km, lower levels.”

“[Luck Winner] were the Giro project sits within Momentum seems to be building at

looking for a $US100 the largely unexplored Kilo- Amani and the Giro project, and inves-

million investment, Moto belt. tors are starting to notice.

which I couldn’t really Amani has reported signifi- “For the other companies I have, sud-

do. We agreed on a cant mineralisation from the denly I have started getting a lot of phone

$US25 million invest- maiden drilling programme at calls. People are wanting to take big

ment initially and they the Douze Match prospect, stakes in it,” Eckhof said.

will potentially look to with results including 2m @ “There seems to be a big appetite sud-

finance or actually buy Klaus Eckhof 196 g/t gold from 12m, 15m denly from China…I think they have to
the plant themselves. @ 255.6 g/t gold from 15m deploy the US dollar somewhere, in re-

They certainly have a and 3m @ 1,260 g/t gold sources in general. That is the only way

fast-tracked vision there at the moment. from 15m. they can do it.”

The exploration programme will also be Drilling at the Kebigada prospect has – Jon Daly
aggressive.” also returned some encouraging results,

Giro is only 30km away from the 17 including 97m @ 2.56 g/t gold from sur-

moz Kibali gold mine – the Randgold face, 47m @ 4.13 g/t gold from 25m and

Resources Ltd/AngloGold Ashanti Ltd JV 29m @ 5.93 g/t gold from 25m.

PAGE 78 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

15 YEARS OF ADU

6 - 8 September 2017

Perth, Australia

Presenters to Date

John Welborn, Tim Carstens,
Managing Director and CEO, Managing Director, Base Resources Ltd
Resolute Mining Ltd Chairman, AAMEG

Andrew Spinks, Phil Edmands,
Managing Director, Partner, Energy and Resources,
Kibaran Resources Ltd Gilbert + Tobin

Archie Koimtsidis, Julian Hanna,
Managing Director, Managing Director,
Cardinal Resources Ltd MOD Resources Ltd

Nick Martin, Andrew Cunningham,
Managing Director, Director,
Northcott Capital Ltd Walkabout Resources Ltd

Bertrand Montembault, Tim McManus,
Partner, Chief Executive Officer,
Herbert Smith Freehills Bass Metals Ltd

Sponsors include:

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For all enquiries please contact Christine or Namukale
on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected] or [email protected]

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Tulu Kapi steps closer to funding

Financing of the $US160 mil- aspects remain consistent with
lion Tulu Kapi gold project in
Ethiopia took another step for- recent guidance,” Kefi executive
ward last month, with Kefi Miner-
als plc releasing an updated DFS chairman Harry Anagnostaras-
on the proposed open pit opera-
tion. Adams said.

Lycopodium Minerals Pty Ltd “Comparison with Kefi’s 2015
was engaged last year and the
Perth-based services provider DFS two years ago summarises
has produced the goods for Kefi
with significant improvements the myriad of refinements since
on the 2015 DFS, including in-
creased production over an ini- then, such as the detailed opera-
tial eight years of open pit mining
to reflect greater profitability and tional plans with project contrac-
cash flows.
tors including accelerated ore
The latest DFS assumes op-
erations to be undertaken via processing that increases gold
contract mining, with an ore pro-
cessing rate of 1.5-1.7 mtpa for production to 115,000 ozpa, thus
115,000 ozpa @ 2.1 g/t gold at AISC of
$US777/oz. improving profitability and cash

A NPV at the start of construction, flows. The update also details
using an 8% real discount rate, was es-
timated at $US97 million. At the start of the technical rigour behind the
production, the NPV has been estimated
at $US272 million, with Kefi aiming for improvements made to the pro-
total production of 980,000oz gold to
generate $US55 million a year over eight ject since Kefi assumed control
years.
in 2014.”
Payback of the $US160 million capex
can be achieved in three years, with all In addition to the DFS, the
numbers used in the study based on a
gold price of $US1,250/oz. Harry Anagnostaras-Adams Ethiopian Government and Kefi

formalised the creation of the

Kefi has long indicated that under- Tulu Kapi Gold Mines Share Company

ground production can run concurrently Ltd (TKM) last month.

with open pit operations, with Kefi plan- Kefi will own 75% of TKM while the

ning to produce 120,000 ozpa gold Government, which received 20% of the

over the first eight years by running the equity in return for its $US20 million in

plant 10% above nameplate capacity the project (additional 5% free carried),

to achieve net operating cash flows of will retain 25% of the Tulu Kapi project.

$US61 million a year. Upon the creation of TKM, Kefi indicat-

“By today publishing an updated de- ed that development of Tulu Kapi would

finitive feasibility study, we are pleased start during the second half of 2017, sub-

to have completed another vital step to- ject to financing being locked in and com-

wards finalising funding arrangements. munity resettlement.

Total funding requirements of approxi-

mately $US160 million and other key

London ignited by Africa

ABritish firm hunting for mineral re- Altus employs 16 geologists to ex- seeks discoveries across a range of min-
sources in Africa is hoping to be the plore outcrops, whose potential can be erals and jurisdictions.
first venture of its kind to float on the Lon- assessed quickly and relatively cheaply
don Stock Exchange since a deep com- and it sells on finds rather than develop- “What we do is rather than one asset,
modity price crash wiped out the appetite ing them itself. we go for multiple assets,” Poulton said.
for exploration risk. “We provide a portfolio approach to ex-
It is active in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Cote ploration risk.”
Even after the sector recovered in d’Ivoire, Morocco and Liberia, and may
2016, new mining listings have been expand into other jurisdictions. The company has so far raised
sparse on the London market, which £500,000 and has expectations an IPO
is dominated by big players as smaller Referring to the huge spending by would raise a further £1 million to invest
exploration companies are more often some majors at the height of the com- in exploration, he said.
launched on the Canadian or Australian modity boom, Poulton said Altus’ ap-
exchanges. proach of modest investments through- The London market has seen only one
out the cycle was “the antidote to what listing this year in the sector.
Steven Poulton, chief executive of Al- went wrong”.
tus Strategies, describes his company Rainbow Rare Earths raised £8 million
as “a counter-cyclical mining project When the rally was followed by bust in to invest in a project in Burundi and its
generator” set up in 2007 and he told 2015 and early 2016, miners cut explora- chief executive Martin Eales told Reuters
Reuters he is considering listing on the tion budgets and have been slow to rein- it aims to begin selling rare earths con-
London small cap market over the com- state them. centrate by the end of the year.
ing months.
Altus, which takes its name from the – Barbara Lewis, Reuters
Latin word meaning both high and deep,

PAGE 80 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA

Lulo cash to go to Mothae

Fresh from receiving proceeds from its Endiama and Rosas & Petalas – to fund “Lucara was looking at a large-scale
Angolan alluvial operations, Lucapa its ongoing kimberlite exploration pro- development with a R2.6 billion capex
Diamonds Ltd has stepped up develop- gramme. which, at an 8.5:1 exchange rate made
ment funding arrangements for its Moth- the margins were a lot thinner. At the
ae diamond project in Lesotho. Under the terms of the Lulo JV, Lucapa current 13:1 exchange rate, the financial
is entitled to an effective 70% share of metrics are much better and we will also
Lucapa announced the $19 million future Lulo cash until it has recouped start with a smaller, low-risk develop-
funding package for Mothae on May 26. its expenditure over the last eight years. ment. The plan is to start mining early
The package comprises the underwriting After the recent payment, Lucapa is still to generate cash flow and development
of Lucapa options by Westar Capital Ltd, due $47.5 million. funding then scale up to Phase 2.”
a bridging loan from First Class Securi-
ties Pty Ltd and the issue of 11.6 million The company will be confident of The Phase 1 plan will see a three-year
new unlisted options at 35c/share to We- steady cash flow continuing after a year mining plan for the 50m of weathered
star. in which it achieved the highest aver- material sitting on top of the kimberlite
age price production in the world of with capex estimated at $US12 million.
Lucapa said when combined with the $US2,983/ct.
funds recently repatriated from its Lulo “That’ll raise cash flow, achieve pay-
alluvial diamond operations in Angola, If repatriation continues smoothly, this back in 18 months and give cash flow af-
the package placed it on-track to start will afford Lucapa further options for fi- terwards for Phase 2 development. That
commissioning Mothae in the first quar- nancing its Lesotho venture. Mothae’s $US12 million capex includes the XRT
ter of 2018. previous owner, Lucara Diamonds plc, machine and as has been shown at Lulo,
walked away from the project after be- you can pay for that with one large Type
On May 24, Lucapa announced it had coming unconvinced by the potential re- IIa stone.”
received $3.2 million of the $5.3 million turns on the large capex.
capital loan repayment it had applied Wetherall said the company would
to repatriate with the balance still being In March this year, Lucapa chief ex- continue to “advance additional project
processed. The company chose to use ecutive Stephen Wetherall explained financing options to complete its devel-
the $US1.6 million share of its pro-rate to Paydirt the company’s plans to limit opment plan”.
distribution to Lulo’s partners – Lucapa, upfront capex at Mothae by staging de-
velopment. – Dominic Piper

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 81

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Geopacific has Woodlark
in its sights

Under the current JV agreement, Geopacific is responsible for the management of Woodlark, with the option to
earn an 80% interest by spending $18.65 million and lifting the reserve to 1.2 moz gold

Geopacific Resources Ltd has company’s involvement at Woodlark, the not really trying to find anything new, we
launched a takeover bid for Kula level of progress proved its ability to un- are just extending the zones that we’ve
Gold Ltd, its JV partner in the Woodlark lock the value of the project. got and converting inferred resources
gold project in Papua New Guinea. into reserves,” he said.
Under the current JV agreement, Ge-
The company has made an off-market opacific is responsible for the manage- “There are some extremely nice high-
offer to purchase of all of Kula’s ordinary ment of the project, 600km east of Port grade zones which will allow us to bring
shares. Moresby, with the option to earn an 80% a higher grade feed on in the first few
interest by spending $18.65 million and years, which just helps with repayment.”
Geopacific released a bidder’s state- lifting the reserve to 1.2 moz gold.
ment last month, outlining an attractive Heeks said the company aimed to
premium, valuing Kula at 2.8c/share. The takeover process would not im- have debt paid back within two years of
Kula shares were trading at 2.4c on the pact on the current work programme at mining operations starting.
ASX when the bid was launched. Woodlark, Heeks said.
Four drill rigs have completed 8,000m
Geopacific managing director Ron Geopacific is set to deliver its JV prom- of the 15,000m drilling programme and
Heeks told Paydirt the takeover was ise of an expanded resource, with results have recently been moved to the Kulu-
purely about clarity of ownership. from a drilling programme at the Busai madau deposit.
deposit confirming strong gold values
“I think it is fair to say that everybody surrounding the original 2012 pit design, Geopacific aims to build confidence in
who is involved is keen to do a transac- both along strike and at depth. the project by improving on Kula’s 2012
tion,” he said. “Either way we are going to BFS which showed potential for a pre-
develop the project; the takeover and JV To the north of Busai, drilling encoun- tax NPV of $US237 million and IRR of
are two separate things. tered high-grade, near-surface minerali- 34% based on a 2.2 moz resource and
sation, found in a colluvial channel with 760,000oz reserve.
“But the JV is a little bit convoluted, an intersection of 9m @ 17.29 g/t of gold
as was necessary to do the deal, so we from 28m. The company has also received a per-
would prefer just to be able to say that mit to build a 1.8 mtpa gravity gold and
we have 100% of the project. We think it To the southern end of the deposit, di- CIL processing plant.
will reward both sets of shareholders the amond drilling has revealed an intercept
best, because then people can easily as- below the original pit design of 73m @ Construction is expected to start by the
sess what the value of the asset is.” 1.5 g/t of gold from 73m. end of this year.

Heeks believed a single ownership Heeks said he was happy with the re- – Jon Daly
structure would be significantly more at- sults.
tractive to investors. He said since the
“The important thing here is that we are

PAGE 82 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

ASIA

Estimated resource nearly
doubles for Aucu

Aucu is fast becoming the lead project in White Cliff’s base and precious metals portfolio

White Cliff Minerals Ltd’s Aucu gold- 200,000oz this year. The grade is fan- concentrate, and we would produce a
copper project in the Kyrgyz Re- tastic and it is at surface. Almost all of it flotation concentrate as well.”
public is an “absolute ball-tearer”, accord- will be optimised in the open pit,” Hibberd
ing to managing director Todd Hibberd. said. Considering the resource represents
less than 5% of the identified mineralised
Aucu is quickly emerging as the flag- “We are currently doing some open pit faults, White Cliff has only scratched the
ship asset in White Cliff’s portfolio, which optimisations to get a feel for what the surface of what it hopes will be a lucra-
includes a host of gold and base metals economics might look like. But, given tive project,” Hibberd said.
projects in Western Australia. that it is all at surface and the grade is
pretty high, I think it will be pretty good. “Our current idea is to go into produc-
A recent resource drilling programme tion. We are doing the baseline test work
resulted in a 93% increase in contained “We are doing met test work at the mo- this year for that, we’re doing a bit more
gold and 23% uplift in gold grade at ment as well. To date, the results have met work, some geotechnical and some
Aucu, which is 90% owned by White Cliff been pretty amazing; it has been 88% environmental baseline studies. They’re
with the remaining 10% retained by a lo- gravity recoverable and then 99% total.” all very low-cost, so we are just doing
cal Kyrgyz partner. that preparation for the PFS, which will
Should the new met results stack up probably start at the end of next year,”
The current inferred resource esti- against previous tests, Hibberd believes Hibberd said.
mate is now 1.8mt @ 5.2 g/t gold for a low-cost simple gravity plant can be
302,000oz. utilised, allowing the project to provide a “Our goal for this year is to get it to
healthy cash flow quickly. 500,000oz, get the prep work done for
Importantly, a high-grade zone of the PFS, so that next year we can con-
244,000t @ 9.5 g/t gold for 75,000oz at “I think the only difference [with testing] tinue to drill, get it to 700,000oz or more
surface has been identified. An inferred this year is that we are looking at a cop- and then, by the following year [2019], be
resource of 608,000t @ 0.64% copper per component, because there is a big in a position to have the PFS completed
for 3,870t of contained copper was also slug of copper in one of the zones,” Hib- and be looking for the capital to go into
reported by White Cliff. berd said. production.

Hibberd told Paydirt the company was “The quartz, which is our highest cop- “We have gone out and are doing
happy with the upgrade in the inferred per grade zone, has 244,000t @ 1.5 g/t some rough studies at the moment and
gold and copper resources. gold. So that zone has also got a few so far we think we can build a plant, all
thousand tonnes of copper in it as well. complete, for $US30 million.”
“We would have liked it to be higher We recognised that quite early on, our
but the drilling was a bit more compli- processing route is basically a gravity – Jon Daly
cated than we expected last year. So we concentrate and we would just sell the
expect to be able to add at least another

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 83

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Longford chases zinc at the
end of the rainbow

For the past few years resource by drilling across
Longford Resources Ltd the mineralised structure.

(formely Ram Resources) Guy expects the pro-

has been pushing forward gramme will intercept high-

with home-grown projects grade zinc and silver miner-

in Western Australia but alisation.

more recently the allure of “That first drill programme

Ireland’s promising zinc de- will confirm the historical re-

posits has taken the com- source completed by Amer-

pany’s focus away from ican Smelting and Refining

Australia’s shores. Company in 1971. That part

In February, Longford of the resource will be up-

entered into an agreement graded into indicated sta-

to acquire 80% of the Keel tus,” Guy said.

zinc project south of Long- “As drilling progresses,

ford Town, County Long- Longford will test for more

ford. Longford managing tonnes and grade within the

director Bill Guy told Pay- mineralisation model and

dirt Keel’s historical cre- for regional extensions and

dentials were compelling. conceptual targets within

“Longford sees the the Keel project area.”

Keel project as a genu- Keel’s mineralisation

ine brownfields play, with sits on the northern part of

historical data that had the Keel Inlier, which has

never even been put into Longford has entered into an agreement to acquire 80% of the Keel zinc the reputation for contain-

modern geological data- project, south of Longford Town, County Longford, Ireland ing some of the best zinc

base. Longford was able ground in the world.

to achieve a first-pass resource at very [the entire Keel resource is within 300m The structure, more than 25km long

small costs, just using the historical of surface], exploration potential [untest- with a 10km strike length, sits within the

data,” Guy said. ed by modern geophysics].” Keel project area.

“The Keel project sits within the Irish Since the 1960s Ireland has seen a “There is immense potential to upgrade

Midlands which is considered one of succession of high-grade zinc-lead dis- the existing resource and grow it by ap-

the great orefields, globally ranked first coveries, with an estimated 14mt of met- plying modern exploration techniques,”

in terms of zinc discovered per square al being found. Guy said.

kilometre. The world-class Tara under- With low corporate tax, established in- Longford is aiming to have a maiden

ground mine [more than 100mt contained frastructure, a skilled workforce and one resource and preliminary metallurgical

zinc] is only 90km down the road in same of Europe’s largest zinc production rates, tests released by September.

geological formation as Keel [the Navan Ireland is considered the world’s fourth If Vedanta Resources Ltd’s Lisheen

Beds].” most attractive mining jurisdiction, ac- zinc-lead mine, in County Tipperary, is

Worldwide zinc stocks have been de- cording to the Fraser Institute. anything to go by, Keel has a promising

clining for the last four years and are ex- Keel’s project area, covering 66sq km, future.

pected to be in deficit by 2019. Guy said consists of two prospecting leases which Lisheen was discovered in 1990 and

the supply/demand equation in zinc had have been held and explored by major over 15 years of operations, before its

led to the company’s interest in joining a mining companies since 1960s. closure in 2015, it was Europe’s largest

small group of advanced ASX-listed zinc Diamond drilling by Rio Tinto Ltd producer of zinc concentrate.

explorers. (1963-2001), Boliden Group, Lundin Min- “Longford has good ground, good

“Longford has been keen on zinc for ing Corp (2006-2012) and others have neighbours [Teck Ireland], cash, a first-

a while because of the closure of Brun- identified two main mineralisation zones pass resource, a large shallow zinc min-

swick, Century, Lisheen and others. of more than 1km in length. eralisation system with high-grade zones

Longford was looking at the supply side Longford’s maiden drilling programme and a strong exploration programme

with LME stockpiles shrinking, year-on- started in May, aiming to confirm known over the coming months,” Guy said.

year, below 360,000t now from 2013 high-grade zones of mineralisation and – Jon Daly
level above 120,000t,” Guy said. upgrade the current inferred resource of

“As part of the group of ASX-listed 6.9mt @t 5.6% zinc and 0.8% lead.

zinc explorers, Longford compares well Some 70% of the drill holes are verti-

in terms of location [with Ireland’s devel- cal, despite the deposit being sub-verti-

oped world status] and depth of resource cal, but Longford expects to upgrade the

PAGE 84 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

EUROPE

A New Age in UK mining

The mining scene in the UK is expe- New Age managing director Gary Fietz, Cornwall Resources community advisor
riencing a resurgence in activity, with Jeff Harrison and Strategic Minerals director Peter Wale hope to partake in
Australia’s New Age Exploration Ltd tak- a resurgent mining scene in the UK
ing part.
At the time of print, two rigs were in more interest in UK’s mining scene, par-
“It is a good place to be. Some people operation with 13 holes planned to be ticularly in Cornwall where Wolf leads the
might think it has challenges for mining drilled during phase one of the JV pro- way and the Cornwall Resources JV and
but I think Wolf [Minerals Ltd] has proven gramme and a further 10 holes sched- Canadian company Strongbow Explora-
that new mines can be built and permit- uled for later in the year, following results tion Inc are playing catch up.
ted in the UK. In fact, it has been very from phase one.
well received by the community there and “Cornwall is getting quite a lot of atten-
I think the UK is a place where you can A high-grade exploration target of tion, with one new mine [Drakelands, in
quite happily operate,” New Age manag- 4-6mt @ 0.9-1.5% tin equivalent and a neighbouring Devon] and two new pro-
ing director Gary Fietz told Paydirt. sheeted vein system exploration target jects in a bit of a race to see if Red Moor
of 3-4mt @ 0.3-0.6% tin equivalent have or South Crofty is going to be the next
Since Brexit, the British pound to US been set at Red Moor. new mine in Cornwall,” Fietz said.
dollar exchange rate has provided min-
ers and explorers in the UK with a rela- Success at Red Moor may just spur “But, it is always a question of resource
tively low-cost base to work with, while endowment. The UK doesn’t
the remoteness of mines and exploration have the deposits of Aus-
sites, such as in Australia, is not a factor tralia but there is certainly a
on the island nation. renewed interest. We partici-
pated in a conference earlier
“It certainly has a cost advantage in in the year organised by the
terms of the cost of labour in the over- London Geological Society at
all operation and capital costs combined the House of Commons and
with the exchange rates now; we think there were four or five compa-
it is a favourable destination. It is also a nies presenting with new min-
very low-risk destination, so we think it is ing projects. Bringing on new
a good place to be exploring and devel- [mining] projects is an area
oping mines,” Fietz said. they are really trying to get up
in the UK.
In 2015 and 2016, coking coal prices “There is interest, mainly
hardly demanded New Age pay much from international companies,
attention to its Lochinvar coking coal in mining in the UK and the
project on the border of Scotland and feeling we are getting is that
England, with the company’s time better mining is well received by
spent assessing the opportunities at Red
Moor, south-west England. governments at every level.”

Red Moor, a tin-tungsten play 30km There may be an opportunity for New Age to use Wolf’s – Mark Andrews
by road from Wolf’s Drakelands project, infrastructure at Drakelands to process ore from Red Moor
caught the eye of AIM-listed Strategic
Minerals plc which is now one
part of the Cornwall Resources
Ltd JV with New Age.

For a commitment of £1 mil-
lion, Strategic has earned the
right to 50% of Red Moor, with
the funds going towards drilling
at the brownfields project this
year.

“We have had some conver-
sations with Wolf Minerals but
they [discussions] are at a very
early stage, so whether we end
up going as a standalone project
or project based on delivering to
Wolf’s mill depends on the pro-
ject’s progress,” Fietz said.

“The option of off-site pro-
cessing and using their mill,
which has an almost identical
flow sheet to the one we use at
Red Moor, is an obvious thing to
look at.”

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 85

MACA in pilot’s seat at MACA has signed a $6 million contract to mine the Browns Range project
Browns Range for Northern Minerals

MACA Ltd has been awarded a $6 mil- Heron has awarded Sedgman an EPC contract to build a 1.5 mtpa processing
lion mining contract for Northern Miner- plant at its Woodlawn zinc project, NSW
als Ltd’s Browns Range pilot plant in
Western Australia.

Under the agreement, MACA will mine
180,000t of ore from the Wolverine and
Gambit West pits.

Waste material will be used to construct
the tailings storage facility at the site,
about 160km south-east of Halls Creek.

MACA and Northern Minerals are also
expected to sign an additional contract
for bulk earthworks in the near future,
taking the total contract value to about
$10 million.

Heron rolls out key
Woodlawn contract

Sedgman Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of
CIMIC Group Ltd, has secured the EPC
contract for a 1.5 mtpa processing plant
at Heron Resources Ltd’s Woodlawn zinc
project in New South Wales.

With a guaranteed maximum price of
$107 million, the contract will allow Heron
to start construction and development
at Woodlawn immediately after locking
down project financing.

Design will include a paste backfill
plant and supporting infrastructure to en-
able the processing of both underground
and tailings ore to produce zinc, copper
and lead concentrates.

More than 250 personnel will be em-
ployed during the peak construction
phase, with acceptance testing sched-
uled for late 2018.

Taste test for Salt Lake
pilot plant

Salt Lake Potash Ltd has appointed
Amec Foster Wheeler plc to prepare

PAGE 86 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

analysis of construction options of a pilot WorleyParsons has been appointed engineering consultant to Lithium Power
plant at the Goldfields Salt Lake project International’s Maricunga brines project in Chile
in Western Australia.
rated into a scoping study which is ex- The updated schedule will take into ac-
Amec Foster Wheeler has been asked pected to be completed later this year, count the revised processing plant output
to consider a 20,000-40,000 tpa pilot have already begun. WorleyParsons of 472,000 tpa, based on recommenda-
plant, which is expected to cost $US35 will undertake design of both the lithium tions from mining studies completed
million. carbonate and potassium chloride pro- since the DFS was finalised in late 2015.
duction plants during all study phases,
The pilot plant is part of Salt Lake’s including the DFS to be completed dur- AUMS contracted for
PFS on the project – potentially the first ing 2018. Subika underground
salt lake brine SOP operation in Australia
– and will operate for 1-2 years to estab- In recent years, WorleyParsons has Newmont Ghana Gold Ltd has award-
lish parameters for larger scale produc- undertaken extensive engineering and ed African Underground Mining Servic-
tion. feasibility work at Salar de Atacama, also es Ltd a $US280 million contract for its
in Chile, as well as the Cauchari lithium Subika underground mine in Ghana.
Construction is expected to begin later brine project in Argentina.
this year, with first salts harvested in 2018. The five-year contract will see AUMS
AMC to support provide a full suite of underground min-
Syrah gives Grindrod Colluli contract tender ing services, including development and
the nod production activities, diamond drilling
Danakali Ltd and JV partner ENAMCO and associated services.
Grindrod Mauritius Ltd has won the have contracted AMC Consultants Ltd to
distribution and logistical contract for assist with the mining contract tendering AUMS – the Ausdrill Ltd/Barminco Ltd
Syrah Resources Ltd’s Balama graphite process for the Colluli potash project in JV – expects to start activities this quar-
project in Mozambique. Eritrea. ter.

Under the terms of the contract, Grind- AMC will also be tasked with refining
rod will be responsible for long and short and optimising the DFS mine schedule.
haul logistics, construction and opera-
tion of a cross-dock facility and customs
clearing duties.

The contract has an initial term of five
years, with the option of two further five-
year extensions.

Operating costs for the logistics and
distribution services are tipped to be
lower than the $US125.70/t estimated in
the 2015 feasibility study.

Construction of the cross-dock facility
is expected to be completed towards the
end of the first half of 2018.

Latin expertise favours
WorleyParsons

WorleyParsons Ltd will provide engi-
neering input to the feasibility studies on
Lithium Power International Ltd’s Mari-
cunga lithium brine project in northern
Chile.

Engineering studies, to be incorpo-

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT JUNE 2017 PAGE 87

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Mark Papendieck Graeme Boden has re- years. The pair will fill the void Marcelo Bastos will depart
signed as joint secretary left by outgoing managing as MMG Ltd’s chief oper-
Mark Papendieck has of Capricorn Metals Ltd. Chief director Graeme Sloan and ating officer in August. Bastos
stepped down as man- financial officer Jonathan fellow board member John joined the company six years
aging director of Orinoco Gold Shellabear has been con- Russell. ago and assumed responsi-
Ltd, with recently appointed firmed as his replacement bility for marketing in 2015.
chief operating officer Craig and will share company sec- Martin Purvis has resigned
Dawson taking over as chief retary duties with Natasha as managing director of Ross Smyth-Kirk has as-
executive. Founding chair- Santi. Troy Resources Ltd to take sumed the role of execu-
man John Hannaford has also up the same post at min- tive chairman of Kingsgate
retired with non-executive di- Interim managing director eral Sands producer MZI Consolidated Ltd as an in-
rector Brian Thomas assum- Richard Lucas has been for- Resources Ltd. Purvis, who terim measure following the
ing the role. Meanwhile, Hel- mally appointed to the board joined Troy in September resignation of chief executive
cio Guerra and Terry Topping of Wolf Minerals Ltd. Lucas 2014, will begin his new role Greg Foulis.
have joined the company’s joined the company as chief on July 1, with interim chief
board, Richard Crew is the financial officer and company executive Steve Ward to re- Robert Danchin will retire
new in-country general man- secretary in 2011, having pre- sume his former position as as deputy chairman of
ager of operations and Alber- viously held senior roles with a non-executive director. Troy Mineral Deposits Ltd at the
to Longo has been appointed PwC, Lihir Gold and Geotech chairman Fred Grimwade will end of the month after more
chief financial officer. Group. A chartered account- assume an interim executive than 10 years with the com-
ant, he was elevated to the role at the company until a re- pany.
Blackwood Capital founder top executive role in early placement for Purvis is found.
Francis Harper has been April following Russell Clark’s Meanwhile, Stacey Apostolou Hexagon Resources Ltd
appointed a non-executive decision to step down. has resigned as chief finan- has appointed Charles
director of Vital Metals Ltd. cial officer and company sec- Whitfield as its new chairman.
Harper, who has helped Millennium Minerals Ltd retary. Whitfield is an experienced
Blackwood raise more than has appointed Dean Will executive in the battery min-
$1 billion for small companies as chief operating officer. Martin Purvis erals sector and played an
over the last 15 years, was Will was most recently head integral role in Galaxy Re-
previously chairman of West of mining and technical ser- Rhett Brans and Brett Lam- sources Ltd’s transition to
African Resources Ltd. vices at Anglo American plc bert have been appointed lithium producer. Following
and has previously held sen- to the board of Australian Whitfield’s appointment, for-
Gary Comb will retire as ior roles with Northern Star Potash Ltd as non-executive mer chairman Neville Miles
a non-executive director Resources Ltd, AngloGold directors, replacing outgoing elected to step down from the
of Aurelia Metals Ltd at the Ashanti Ltd, Metals X Ltd pair Brenton Siggs and Dean board, along with non-exec-
end of the month, with Lawrie and Mincor Resources Ltd. Goodwin. utive director Tony Cormack
Conway to take his place on Meanwhile. mining manager and co-company secretary
the company’s board. Con- Asareh Mansoori has been Ian Warland has resigned as Brent van Staden.
way is currently Evolution promoted to the role of gen- managing director of Mar-
Mining Ltd’s finance director eral manager, operations. mota Ltd for personal rea- Steve Tambanis has
and chief financial officer. sons. Kevin Wills will take the stepped down as chief
Asareh Mansoori reins of the company until a executive of Black Rock Min-
Caravel Minerals Ltd has permanent replacement is ing Ltd, but will continue with
appointed Dale Hanna Peter Reeve and Jeff Wil- found. the company until a suitable
as chief financial officer and liams have joined the replacement with construc-
company secretary to fill the board of AIM-listed Herencia White Rock Minerals Ltd tion, production and market-
roles vacated by Rowen Col- Resources plc. Reeve (non- has appointed Jeremy ing experience is found. In the
man and Simon Robertson. executive director) is a metal- Gray as a non-executive di- meantime, chief operating of-
Hanna has previously held lurgist who has worked for the rector. Gray is the nominee ficer John de Vries has been
senior roles with Helix Re- likes of Rio Tinto plc, New- of Cartesian Royalty Holdings appointed interim chief exec-
sources Ltd, Lemur Resourc- crest Mining Ltd and Ivanhoe pursuant to its right to nomi- utive and executive director.
es and Dominion Mining. Australia. Williams (executive nate a director under the fi-
director) is a resources indus- nancing package term sheet. Steve Tambanis
try veteran of more than 30

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LEFTFIELD

Ausdrill nets more hockey gold

Ausdrill Ltd has expanded its part- Ausdrill managing director Ron Sayers with players and coaches from the
nership with Hockey Australia to Hockeyroos national women’s team
include support for the Kookaburras
national men’s team. West Australian Goldfields and more re- it is our great honour to be associated
cently have also provided our services to with them and support them in their ef-
Having been the major sponsor of gold mining companies in Africa. forts to achieve continued success, both
the Hockeyroos women’s team since on and off the field.
2012, Ausdrill is now an official sup- “Likewise, gold has been central to the
porting partner of the world’s No.1 Hockeyroos, who have won gold medals “Similarly, the Kookaburras have an
men’s side. at three Olympic Games as well as gold outstanding record, including winning
at four Commonwealth Games. Their re- nine Olympic medals and five Common-
The diversified mining services com- cord as a team is virtually unrivalled and wealth Games gold medals.”
pany has also extended its major spon-
sorship of the Hockeyroos until 2019.

As a result, Ausdrill logos will feature
prominently on the shorts of Kookabur-
ras players and the tops of Hockeyroos
players in all future international hock-
ey matches.

Ausdrill managing director Ron Say-
ers said his company was proud to be
associated with two of Australia’s most
successful sporting teams.

“Gold has been central to the Ausdrill
story,” Sayers said. “Since the day this
business was founded, we have worked
in partnership with the gold miners of the



INDEX

Abermale 28 Danakali 87 Lincoln 59 Solgold 6, 20, 22, 26, 41
Dark Horse 30, 32 Lithium Australia 52 South32 20, 41
Acacia 9 Lithium Power 87 SQM 28
Longford 8, 84 Strategic Minerals 85
Altura 10 Lucapa 81 Stratex 7, 21
Lucara 81 Strongbow 85
Altus 80 Emmerson 14, 75 Lundin 84 Superior Gold 12, 16
Energia 8 Syrah 44, 87
Alicanto 19, 22, 29 Encounter
Evolution 67
Amani 78 14, 88

Andromeda 14

Anglo American 88

AngloGold 7, 78, 88 Ferrum Crescent 8 Marmota 88
Millennium 88
Anson 56 Finders 64 Mincor 4, 88 Talisman 13
Mineral Deposits 88 Tawana 10-11
Antipa 65 First Quantum 9, 21, 25, 26, 37, 68 MMG 8, 24, 34, 88 Teck 7, 19, 30, 84
MZI Resources 88 Tiger
Atlas Iron 50 Fortescue 6, 20, 25, 26, 38 Top End 76
Toro Energy 8
Aurelia 14, 88 Freeport 64 Triton
Troy 46
Auris 13 44, 58, 60

Austral 40 Galaxy 25, 28, 88 29, 88
Ganfeng 10, 11
Australian Potash 88 Geopacific 82 New Age 85
Glencore 34
AusQuest 19, 20, 22, 41 Goldcorp 21 Newcrest 20, 22, 26, 63, 65, 67, 88
Great Boulder 4
Australian Vanadium 13 Newmont 87

Azure 19, 21, 22, 30 Northern Minerals 86 Uranium Energy 27

Northern Star 12, 16, 88

Barrick 19, 29, 67 Helix 88 OceanaGold 7 Valence 44
Bass 58 Herencia 88 Orinoco 88 Variscan 8
Battery Minerals Heron 8, 86 Orion Vedanta
BHP 50-51 Hexagon 46, 57, 88 Orocobre 8 Venture 84
Boliden 7, 20, 22, 24, 42 Hot Chili 19, 31, 41 Oz 25, 28 Vimy 15
BlackEarth 20, 62-63, 69, 72-73 Vital Metals 46
Black Rock 84 Volt 88
Bryah 52 44, 53
88
13 Implats 9 PanAust 15
Incitec 12 Pantoro 12
Cameco 46 Independence 12 Petra Diamonds Walkabout 49
Capricorn 52, 88 Pilbara Minerals 9 West African 88
Caravel 68, 88 10, 11 White Cliff 83
Carube White Rock 88
Chevron 69 Kefi 8 Wolf 85, 88
Coeur 12
Comet 21 KGL 66 Rainbow Rare Earths 80
Consolidated Zinc 58
Cornwall Kibaran 4, 45, 52, 54-55, 58 Randgold 9, 74-75, 78
CuDeco 8
Crusader 85 Kimberley Diamonds 46 Red River 8 Zimplats 9
70 Zinc of Ireland 8
7, 21 Kingsgate 15, 88 Renascor 48

Kula 82 Rio Tinto 19, 30, 65, 84, 88

Lake Resources 12 Salt Lake 86-87
Sandfire 13
Latin American Minerals 27 Silver Lake 12

Latin Resources 19, 22, 28, 33

PAGE 90 JUNE 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



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