Aurelia Metals first gold-silver pour at Hera, Stellar Diamonds tests DMS plant at Baoulé, Guinea, and much, much more

Posted by Daniel Gleeson on 19th September 2014

The latest issue of International Mining Project News, out today, has reports on 31 prefeasibility studies, 12 feasibility studies, 33 projects in development, eight new mines that have gone into production, six existing mines that are expanding, seven merger and acquisition announcements and many new appointments to new positions. The report covers 34 gold projects, 18 copper, 17 silver projects, 10 iron ore, seven coal projects, four uranium, rare earths, and zinc projects, three tungsten and nickel projects, two projects on graphite, molybdenum, lithium, diamonds and lead, and one project each on anorthosite, manganese, cobalt, sulphur, niobium, tin, potash, vanadium, titanium, phosphate, mineral sands, ferro alloys and PGMs. [email protected] for a trial copy

Stellar Diamonds, the London listed diamond development company focused on West Africa, has announced that commissioning testing of its 100 t/hr DMS plant at the Baoulé kimberlite project in Guinea has commenced ahead of trial mining which is targeted for October 2014.

GoGold Resourceshas announced an update on the commissioning of its Parral Tailings project in Mexico. Commissioning of the main plant began in June 2014 and production rates have been consistently increasing as ramping up continues. As of August 31st, 2014, approximately 180,000 t have been agglomerated and stacked on the lined heap leach pad and a total of 61,000 oz of silver and 105 oz of gold have been produced as dore.

Aureus Mining, which is building Liberia’s first commercial gold mine, the New Liberty gold project has announced that progress on construction is on track for New Liberty to deliver first gold in Q1 2015 and be fully commissioned and operating at a steady-state nameplate capacity by 30 June 2015. Key construction highlights include:

  • The construction of the crushing circuits, ball mill, carbon in leach “CIL” and thickener circuits and the gold room continues on schedule with steel work at an advanced stage;
  • The first batch of power generators has arrived at New Liberty;
  • The first shipment of four Komatsu HD785 dump-trucks has arrived in Liberia and will be at New Liberty within a week;
  • Top soil removal, pre-strip mining and reverse circulation (RC) grade control drilling have commenced;
  • Marvoe Creek Diversion Channel (MCDC) completed, with the creek now diverted and flowing along the new channel alignment;
  • All families (households) have been relocated from Kinjor and Larjor to the New Kinjor Township; and
  • The project is 62% complete with first gold pour scheduled for Q1 2015 and full commissioning and steady state operations forecast to be completed by 30 June 2015.

The United Steelworkers (USW) has welcomed the news that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corp of Engineers will approve mine expansion at USS Minnesota Ore Operations, Minntac. The final permit will allow Minntac to expand mine capacity as well as adding an additional 16 years of mine life. This taconite plant currently produces 15 Mt/y of ore for use in steel mills.

“These are good-paying, family supporting jobs that produce an essential commodity vital to steel production and manufacturing,” said Emil Ramirez, Director of USW District 11, which includes Minnesota. Governor Mark Dayton, Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, and Congressman Rick Nolan all deserve our thanks for working with the regulatory agencies to perform the due diligence necessary to issue the permits for this expansion.”

Aurelia Metals Ltd has announced the first gold-silver pour at its Hera gold-lead-zinc-silver deposit. On Friday the 12th September, the first two gold-silver dore bars were poured. The first bar was from the Merrill Crowe circuit and the second bar from the gravity gold circuit.

The first bars are shown in the photo below. Both bars are white coloured owing to the silver content. The gravity bar (right) weighs 3.1kg, the Merrill Crowe bar (left) weighs 3.7kg Final gold and silver contents will be confirmed on bullion assay.

These pours form part of the mill commissioning and confirm the operation of the precious metal circuit at Hera.