The latest issue of International Mining Project News, out today, has reports on 22 prefeasibility studies, four feasibility studies, and eleven projects in development, four existing operations that are expanding, and one project that have gone into production as well as many new appointments to new positions. The report covers 20 gold projects, 12 copper projects, seven silver, two coal, nickel and iron ore projects, and one bauxite, uranium, platinum, diamonds, sulphide, rare earths, cobalt, vanadium, molybdenum and VMS projects. This fortnightly project watch is a great way of keeping up to date with your peers – other mining companies, other consultants or other engineering companies. These issues build into a global mine project overview. If you are a supplier – it is full of potential sales leads.
The construction of the Canadian Renard diamond project has completed negotiations on a series of financing transaction totalling C$944 million indicating that the world’s biggest undeveloped source of precious gems is nearing construction. Stornoway Diamond’s updated feasibility study filed in March last year shows the Renard project is sitting on one of the biggest undeveloped sources of diamonds in the world.
Dalradian Resources has announced an updated mineral resource estimate for its 100% owned Curraghinalt gold deposit, located in Northern Ireland. There is a 114% increase in Measured and Indicated resource to 1 Moz contained gold at a 5 g/t Au cutoff and an increase of 12% in Inferred resource to 2.49 Moz Au.
“Our infill drill program has more than doubled our M&I ounces at Curraghinalt,” commented CEO Patrick F. N. Anderson. “We used wider resource envelopes which will likely require less dilution in an eventual mine plan than was required for the previous narrower resource envelopes. This new modelling approach simply incorporates more dilution upfront. We have also developed a superior geological model that will allow us to better target additional ounces with a modest amount of drilling. Our deposit remains open in all directions.”
Codelco has revealed that in the last four years it has made new copper deposit discoveries close to current operations, mining.com reports. These finds are estimated to hold about 1,875 Mt of high-grade ore located between 500 to 1,000 m below surface.
Speaking at the World Copper Summit 2014 in Santiago, Codelco CEO Thomas Keller said the copper giant invested $60 million in exploration last year, 70% of which was allocated to brownfields exploration — that conducted within close proximity to known ore deposits.
