Latest issue of International Mining Project News available (August 28): The biggest news of the fortnight is undoubtedly the announcement by the Mongolian Parliament of the amendment of four laws. This clears the way for the finalisation of the Investment Agreement for Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines’ huge Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold complex in the South Gobi region. These amendments will have a big effect on Mongolia. As Tom Albanese, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto said, “the agreement is a landmark for the future development of Mongolia’s resources industry.” Oyu Tolgoi is expected to commence production as early as 2013 with an approximate five year ramp-up to full capacity. The mine is expected to produce 450,000 t/y of copper and 330,000 oz/y of gold on average over its lifetime.
Another project to reach an important milestone is Osisko Mining Corp’s Canadian Malartic gold mine project in Quebec, Canada. The Conseil des ministres du Quebec has approved the order in council authorising the completion of the project. Construction work on the mine and the mill will begin shortly, immediately upon issuance of the required formal authorisation certificates. The construction work is scheduled to be completed over a period of 18 months, with the mine and mill planning to be fully operational by Q2, 2011. The project will be a large-scale open pit, bulk-tonnage mining operation. It currently represents one of the biggest gold reserves in Canada for a single deposit, and is still growing through ongoing drilling on new mineralised zones. Current reserves for the project are 6.28 Moz, plus (including the Barnat deposit) a Measured and Indicated resource of 3.65 Moz and an Inferred resource of 0.84 Moz.
One of the hot metals at the moment is lithium. Mining companies are scrabbling to get hold of economical concessions in order to profit from the inevitable electric car influx. One company who is active in this sector is Galaxy resources. It has now signed a binding share subscription and debt facility agreement with Creat Group, which will result in a raising of at least A$26 million for the company’s lithium projects. Additionally, Creat is providing Galaxy with 100% debt finance of around A$130 million for the purpose of developing its Mt Cattlin spodumene (Ravensthorpe, Western Australia) and Jiangsu lithium carbonate (China) projects.
The company has completed a definitive feasibility study which suggests the Mt Cattlin lithium/tantalum project is commercially viable based on a processing rate of 1 Mt/y over a 15 year mine life. It is planning to commence the development of the mine and the construction of the mineral processing plant in Q3, 2009 with first concentrate production scheduled for Q3, 2010. It also commenced a prefeasibility study into the value adding downstream production of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3). The company plans to establish a 17,000 t/y lithium carbonate plant in China due to lower associated capital and operating costs, as well as being close to the strategic growing battery markets in Asia.
In iron ore the big news is the joint venture agreement signed by BC Iron and Fortescue Metals Group for the development of the Nullagine project in the Pilbara of Western Australia. This, according to BC Iron, opens the way for construction to commence later this year ahead of planned production in the first half of 2010. A recent feasibility study on the project confirmed an economically and technically robust direct shipping ore project based on a Probable reserve of 36 Mt at 56.9% Fe. It will commence production at an initial rate of 1.5 Mt/y, ramping up to 3 Mt/y and then 5 Mt/y as infrastructure is upgraded. As the study recommended, a 120,000 t bulk sample test pit at the Outcamp deposit is on schedule to commence in mid-September. BC Iron has received the native Title and Ministerial Approval for the removal of excess tonnes and is currently awaiting final approvals from the Department of Mining and Petroleum.
In gold, the Yellowjacket joint venture (Eagle Plains Resources and Prize Mining Corp) has completed final commissioning and permit compliance requirements to allow for commencement of full production at the Yellowjacket gold mine in north-western British Columbia, Canada. The joint venture recently received its BC Mines Act Permit for the development and operation of an open-pit gold mine and onsite concentrator processing up to 75,000 t/y of gold ore. The mining plan for this year includes extraction of a minimum of 32,000 t of gold ore from the existing open pit. Pit excavation is anticipated to be completed in about five weeks, and milling at a throughput rate of 317 t/d expected to continue until mid-late October.
In addition to these reports Project News features updates on Xstrata’s coal expansion plans in South Africa, Nautilus Minerals’ Solwara 1 Seafloor massive sulphides project off the coast of Papua New Guinea, Guyana Goldfields Aurora gold project in Ontario, Canada and Trevali Resources Corp’s Santander silver-lead-zinc mine project in west-central Peru, as well as many more.
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