News Desk
You say goodbye, we say hello
IT’S goodbye Ford, hello METS, with an estimated 38.4% of the $A90 billion fiscal 2012 revenues attributed to Australia’s mining equipment, technology and services sector derived from manufactured equipment, supplies and chemicals, according to a landmark survey of the sector.
Lonmin-union dispute heads for arbitration
MAY 23: Efforts by South African platinum miner Lonmin to conclude a new recognition agreement with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union will go to arbitration after the parties failed again to resolve the dispute.
Glen Eagle backed on Nicaragua tailings project
MAY 23: Canadian miner Glen Eagle Resources has moved closer to approval for its gold tailings project in the Nicaraguan mining district of Chontales.
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UK military drops objection to Sirius potash project
MAY 23: Some of the barriers that have been facing UK company Sirius Minerals are melting away as it pursues planning approval for its flagship 2.66Bt York potash project in North Yorkshire.
Australia still a land of opportunity: minister
MAY 23: Australian resources minister Gary Gray says investment in major minerals and petroleum projects remains at record levels despite the decline in project numbers.
Firestone closes on Waterberg bankable study
MAY 23: Australian explorer Firestone Energy has released an interim resource statement as it nears completion of a bankable feasibility study in June on its 60%-owned Waterberg coal project in the Lephalale area of South Africa’s Limpopo province.
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Primary targets higher recoveries at Toms Gully
MAY 23: Emerging producer Primary Gold has further good news as it completes the feasibility study, due this quarter, for its Toms Gully underground mine about 100km SE of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Pipeline firm plans big leap to Canadian iron ore
MAY 23: Struggling Australian technology firm Vortex Pipes has announced an ambitious leap into the mining sector, via an iron ore project in Canada’s Labrador Trough.
SubZero wins new BHP contract
MAY 23: Growing Australian mining service business SubZero has been awarded a $A2M contract for dozer push works at the Mt Arthur coal mine, the newly listed company’s second substantial success at BHP Billiton’s thermal coal mine in its home territory in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.
Sirius releases new Bollinger assays
MAY 23: Australian explorer Sirius Resources, aiming for a maiden resource figure in early July, has released more drilling results showing significant widths of sulphide mineralisation at its Bollinger nickel-copper deposit at its Fraser Range joint venture in the south of Western Australia.
VIEW FROM THE WEST END
Turn that frown upside-down
“A POSITIVE attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Herm Albright.
FROM THE CAPITAL
Pluton credibility deficit hobbles attractive value
PLUTON Resources claims to be coming back in better shape than ever: better funded, producing for the first time, growing and highly competitive. It edged excruciatingly close to trading again on Friday but, after raising hopes, announced another delay, this time until Tuesday. The balance between value and credibility will be tested this week.
EUROPE
Not all it’s fracked up to be
THE Polish government would be hoping that investment into its emergent shale gas industry provides some fast and long lasting stimulus for its ailing economy. But the obstacles in front of shale gas appear greater than first thought and its potential influence on the Polish economy overpowered by the fate of Europe.
FINANCE
Time to look anew at zinc?
THE person suggesting “zinc is the new copper” is the resource world’s best spruiker and the owner of a world-scale zinc development. Still, the underlying message in the line corresponds with what many others have been saying for some years.
FINANCE
Winter warmers could dull big chill
WHILE it currently feels like the onset of a long bitterly cold winter for the resources sector, there are six catalysts that could turn the situation around.
AFRICA
Papillon pushes hits uphill
WEST African exploration standout Papillon Resources has delivered further strong success at its Fekola gold project in Mali this month.
GOLD
ETF exits cause gold demand drop
THE World Gold Council last week wrapped some hard numbers around the demand environment for gold over the first quarter, which saw a mass exit from gold exchange traded funds by investors to underpin a 13% fall in overall demand.
CENTRAL ASIA
Mongolian reshuffle underway
THE ugly case for shareholders of Mongolian Resource Corp (ASX:MUB) looks to have finally come to a head with the now-former managing director Tony Bainbridge walking the plank together with his chairman and another non-executive director. However the company’s board still features the former chairman’s daughter (who is also the CFO), though fair to assume she’s on borrowed time with a shareholder meeting to turf her out due in Sydney early next month.
GOLD
Time, perhaps, to cover all bases
AFTER a decade in the wilderness, the chances of hedging being implemented by miners on a significant, industry-wide basis must surely be on the increase. The rub being, such a change of tack will put further pressure on the gold price.
AFRICA
A recipe for survival
A MAIDEN resource at the Manfo gold project in Ghana could be the shot in the arm Pelangio Exploration needs to distance itself from the languid junior exploration space and push on toward the relative safety of development.
MINING IT
Former pin-up boy returns
IT WAS back to familiar territory for Hugh Durrant-Whyte this week, though even he now sees something quite different on the horizon for the mining industry.
AustMETS
Hedweld extends market reach
MINE workshop equipment specialist Hedweld Engineering has received another award recognising the continuing expansion of its export profile, a course the company patriarch Ian Hedley sees as imperative given the durability of Hedweld’s products.
UNDERGROUND
Lapa ground support makes the grade
FREDERIC Mercier-Langevin set the bar high in the opening ‘squeezing ground’ segment of Ground Support 2013 with descriptions of rock-burst conditions at the Lapa mine in eastern Canada that certainly fitted the ‘extreme’ promotional tag. The images shown were also a far cry from the pristine underground tunnels usually seen in company annual reports.
UNDERGROUND
Rib supports as art – Wattle they think of next?
IF WATTLE Dam’s riches had of persisted at depth the mine’s successful ground support strategy might have faced a stiffer test, according to consultant Peter Mikula from Mikula Geotechnics.
MINING IT
Real-time data the key to improved profitability
WE ARE moving ever closer to a totally connected world, a state that some are calling “the Internet of Things”. It’s a world in which more and more inanimate objects are fitted with sensors that feed data onto networks. This rising flood of data is part of the Big Data phenomenon, and it’s increasingly being seen as a source of vital information that will enable companies to gain new insights into the way their businesses work, so improving performance through better decision-making.
MINING IT
Dynamic support simulations, not rocket science
RESPECTED rock mechanics engineer Peter Mikula welcomed aerospace engineering PhD Charles Lilley to the Ground Support 2013 stage with an optimistic aside. “Maybe we’ll get the fastest [rock] bolt we’ve ever seen”. Lilley suggested he and the team at Beck Engineering had something more valuable.
