As International Mining Project News celebrates its centennial issue, Gindalbie Metals also looks set to achieve a significant milestone as it reaches towards A$1 billion in contracts. In contrast Fluor might be too busy on Mt. Milligan to celebrate its lucrative contract, but Cortona Resources may have felt like dancing as it discovered far richer results than expected at its Dargues Reef gold project.

Signalling a definite end to the recession Rio Tinto invests $469 million in a controversial and environmentally difficult nickel mine in the US while former MD, Barry Cusack, takes on a new role at Brockman.

In a more conservative move Ivanhoe Australia have spent A$17.4 million in acquiring an established copper and gold property and boosted its base metal production predictions. Another mine ready to spend is African Mineral’s 25 Mt/y Tonkolili project which has completed a Chinese investment deal worth almost £170 million and a Murchison affiliated company which has struck a deal with north Asian steel mills to buy more than 50 Mt/y of iron products.

There’s been a lot of promising movement in mine development over the past two weeks – Mongolia Energy has awarded a six year A$273 million building contract for its Khushuut project and Silvercorp has received an essential environmental permit for their fertile GC silver, lead and zinc project in China.

Solid Energy is facing the conventionally impossible in order to retrieve coal from seams in Waikato, NZ, with nothing but a pilot plant and underground technology. As the world of mining is becoming increasingly worried about our rising demand of rare earth elements Avalon is nearing its goal of bringing Thor Lake into production and, in Australia, a dispute between Aquila Coal and Bowen Central threatens a delay at Eagle Downs.

This and much, much more inside International Mining’s latest project news from all over the globe. To receive the full 40+ page report, subscriptions to this service can be registered and paid for on-line (SUBSCRIBE TO IM PROJECT NEWS BUTTON), or contact [email protected] for a free trial copy.