The latest issue of International Mining Project News, out today, has reports on 18 prefeasibility studies, 11 feasibility studies, 19 projects in development, seven new mines that have gone into production, five existing mines that are expanding, eight merger and acquisition announcements and many new appointments to new positions. The report covers 32 gold projects, 13 copper, 10 silver projects, four graphite, and iron ore projects, three molybdenum, zinc, cobalt, and rare earth projects, two diamond, nickel, coal, ilmenite, zircon projects, and one lithium, tantalum, tin, lead, rutile, palladium, platinum, titanium, vanadium, mineral sands, tungsten, manganese, and potash projects. This report, released every two weeks, keeps you up to date on worldwide mine developments and contains many sales leads. For a free trial copy contact [email protected] .
EuroChem, Russia’s largest fertiliser company and a top ten fertiliser company globally, has won the auction for the right to explore and produce potash from the Belopashinsky potash licence area located in the Verkhnekamskoe deposit in the Perm region, Russia. The licence area for the deposit covers 65 km2 and is adjacent to the Palashersky licence area, where the company’s EuroChem-Usolskiy Potashsubsidiary is currently developing its mine.
Nautilus Minerals announces that the assembly of its third and final Seafloor Production Tool (SPT), the Auxiliary Cutter (AC), has this week commenced at Soil Machine Dynamics’ (SMD) facility at Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Nautilus’ CEO, Mike Johnston said “we are pleased that the assembly of the AC, the third and final of the three SPTs has now commenced, with the arrival of the chassis at the SMD facility. The next milestone for the SPTs will be the commencement of Factory Acceptance Testing on the already assembled Bulk Cutter (BC). We look forward to reporting on this progress next month”.
Focus Graphite reports the results of its feasibility study for the Lac Knife project performed by Met-Chem Canada. The deposit is located southwest of Fermont, Québec. The study was based on a 25-year mine life that produced a pre-tax NPV of C$383 million calculated at a discounted cash flow (DCF) rate of 8% pre-tax, the financial model has an Internal IRR of 30.1% and a capital payback period of 3.0 years
A study just released has backed the viability of establishing a new A$6.5 million heavy mineral sands mine 3 km southwest of Weipa on the western side of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula. The feasibility study – conducted by IMC Mining for the proponent of the Urquhart Point mine project, Brisbane-based Metallica Minerals Ltd (MLM) also found that high grade zones mined early in the mine schedule would allow a project payback within just 12 months.
Alacer Goldhasannounced the positive results of the DFS for the processing of sulfide ore through whole ore pressure oxidation (POX) at its Çöpler Gold Mine in Erzincan Province, Turkey. The company has completed extensive technical, design, engineering and procurement studies in preparing the DFS and will be carrying out basic engineering and further optimisation studies, as well as completing the permitting process, in advance of a construction decision anticipated in the first quarter of 2015.
Pan American Silver Corp announces the positive results of a PEA of expanding its Dolores mine in Chihuahua, Mexico by adding a milling and pulp agglomeration circuit to the processing flow sheet to enhance silver and gold recoveries of higher grade mineralisation, as well as by developing an underground mine to extract mineral resources that exist beneath and to the south of the ultimate open pit floor. The preliminary results indicate that the project has the potential to generate excellent after-tax economic returns using the company’s current reserve metal prices of $22/oz of silver and $1,300/oz of gold. The economics also remain robust at long term metal prices of $19/oz of silver and $1,200/oz of gold. The project will increase average annual silver production from 3.65 Moz to 5.04 Moz, while average annual gold production will increase from an estimated 111,000 oz to 148,000 oz.
Veris Gold provides an update on the progress of development at the Saval 4 underground mine which is part of the Jerritt Canyon operations located in Elko County, Nevada. Jerritt Canyon is operated by Veris Gold USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. Saval 4 will be the fourth underground mine to come into production at Jerritt Canyon since 2010. Development at the Saval 4 mine commenced in the third quarter of 2013 and the portal was completed on May 28, 2014.
Pre-production from the main development drifts is scheduled to start in three weeks. To date the company has already encountered 270 t of ore grading 0.11 oz/t in this early development period. The scheduled mining rate is between 250 and 350 t/d grading approximately 0.16 oz/t with estimated annualized production between 9,800 oz and 13,720 oz. Commercial production, based on achieving these run rate targets, is expected to commence in early August.
Graham Dickson, COO, states, “This fourth mine will add significant ounces to our current production pipeline. I would like to thank Chad Eklund, Mine Manager, his mining crew, and the Veris staff for their hard work and dedication to bring this mine into production.”