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. Contact [email protected] for any enquiries.
Silver Standard Resources has announced the addition of Mineral Resources at the Marigold mine located in Humboldt County, Nevada. These Mineral Resources lie within the limits of Marigold’s existing plan of operations at the southern end of the 8 South pit and are comprised of oxidised gold mineralisation, leachable using the current run-of-mine heap leach process. The 8 South pit extension currently contains Indicated Mineral Resources of 2.13 Mt at a grade of 1.20 g/t gold and Inferred Mineral Resources of 1.70 Mt at a grade of 1.41 g/t gold. The gold mineralisation is open to the south, east and west. The grade of these Mineral Resources compares favourably to the Marigold mine average reserve grade of 0.51 g/t gold.
“Exploration efforts at Marigold continue to deliver positive results,” said John Smith, President and CEO. “Our goal was to confirm our understanding of the geology and to identify extensions to existing pits for higher margin oz. The results of our 2014 drill program have exceeded our expectations due to the gold grade encountered and the proximity to the historical 8 South pit.”
Flinders Mines has received the Western Australian Government’s approval for negotiations to commence that could pave the way for a State Agreement allowing construction of a new railway to its 100%-owned Pilbara Iron Ore Project (PIOP).
Flinders Mines is one of the last independent iron ore juniors operating in the Pilbara with its wholly-owned PIOP seen as one of the few remaining independent, high-quality hematite iron ore projects of scale left in Australia.
“This milestone approval from WA Premier, The Hon Colin Barnett, has injected new confidence into our ongoing efforts to complete a bankable feasibility study (BFS) this year for the development of the PIOP”, Flinders Mines’ Managing Director, Ian Gordon, said.
Rockwell Diamonds has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire certain alluvial diamond properties and associated plant and equipment from Bondeo 140 CC and its affiliates which own and operate alluvial diamond properties for a total consideration of $28.5 million.
The assets are contiguous to Rockwell’s existing properties and will significantly enlarge its operating and resource base, thus leveraging the Company’s growth in the Middle Orange River (MOR) region.
The total acquisition consideration comprises of $12.0 million for the mineral rights and three fit-for-purpose processing plants with such consideration payable on the closing date. The remaining $16.5 million, allocated to earthmoving fleet and other associated equipment, is made up of $3.9 million to be paid to the sellers over a period of ten months in equal instalments and the balance relating to equipment leases and hire purchases, intended to be refinanced on similar terms with South African financial institutions and / or current mobile fleet and equipment supply partners.
Cleveland Mining company has announced that, following recent progress with the ramp-up of gold production at its flagship Premier Gold Mine in central Brazil as a result of successful plant modifications, it has reached agreement with its joint venture partner to undertake a major expansion of the operation.
Under the agreement, Cleveland will increase its stake in the Premier Operation from 50% to 60% in return for funding and managing the expansion and some small staged cash payments.
The expansion proposal has been developed following recent positive progress with the ramp-up of gold production at Premier as a result of the successful installation and commissioning of recently announced modifications to the process plant. The modifications enable the plant to produce circa 1kg of gold dore per day, producing revenue around double the average break-even site operating cost of approximately A$21,000 per day.