The latest edition of International Mining Project News notes Sagittarius Mines spoke about its Tampakan copper-gold project, located on the Philippine island of Mindanao, at the Asia Mining Congress in Singapore. SMI General Manager Mark Williams has said that the project, which contains the largest known undeveloped copper-gold deposits in southeast Asia, could be an unprecedented opportunity for the Philippines. The company believes that the “potentially life changing” project could yield an average of 375,000 t/y copper and 360,000 oz/y gold, over a 17 year mine life, to contribute a 1% average to the Philippines annual GDP. In Australia TNG Ltd has received yet more significant results from an independent scoping study investigating the potential of producing up to 4,700 t/y ferro-vanadium product from its Mount Peake vanadium-iron-titanium project in the Northern Territory. The study has estimated a total cashflow of $5,340 million over a 24 year mine life, representing a 50% increase and improvement on operating and financial parameters of the project. TNG’s MD Paul Burton remarked that, although the ferro-vanadium study was still at scoping level, “the potential value which can be unlocked through a relatively small investment in an off-site downstream ferro-vanadium plant is remarkable”. In Brazil Largo Resources is well positioned, after securing a $114.95 million private placement, to fund its Maracas vanadium project and has already appointed Brazilian company Promon to engineer and build the 13.1 Mt project. Promon has now begun development work on the project and is targeting production from Maracas for Q1 2013.
Cortona Resources is also hoping for a productive partnership after entering into an MOU with GBF Mining to mine its high grade Darques Reef gold deposit in New South Wales. The arrangement will see the two parties contribute to mine planning and management of the 50,000 oz/y project in an incentive based scheme that will reward the contractor. Cortona believes that this arrangement will help rapidly develop the project and, according to Cortona MD Peter van der Borgh, the company plans to “push the development hard”. Focus Minerals has begun developing 3 of its open pits, Empress, Big Blow and Dreadnought, at the Tindals Mining Centre in Coolgardie, Western Australia, as part of its plans to increase production by 30,000 oz/y gold and reach a 130,000 oz/y production target by 2012. The development coincides with several reserve increases that was largely driven by a drilling program at Big Blow that almost doubled the ounces in reserve. After a successful capital raising Focus hopes to increase reserves further with several more drilling programmes due to start at other targets at Tindals.
Meanwhile Norton Gold Fields has reported a 14% resource expansion at its Homestead underground operations following positive results from a 5,387 m drill program targeting the VN03 vein increased VN03 Indicated and Inferred Resource to 53,000 t @ 16.1 g/t Au (27,000 oz). Norton MD André Labuschagne has said that there is yet more resource potential to be realised at VN03 as the mineralisation remains open and relatively untested at depth and along strike. The Homestead project, now with a total resource of 394,000 t @ 15.8 g/t Au (201,000 oz), is part of the 1.7 Moz Mount Pleasant gold project in Australia and will help feed Norton’s nearby Paddington mill. Norton is continuing drilling to define additional resources and reserves and is confident that the overall project will provide a long term, high grade, underground ore supply.
Avalon Minerals has had more success with exploration and resource development drilling at its wholly owned Viscaria copper-magnetite project in northern Sweden with wider and higher grade copper intersections than predicted in the September 2010 resource model still being discovered from the D Zone. Avalon believes that the results from D Zone provide the potential for a low cost, open cut, mining operation but the company is moving quickly to investigate below the open pit design as there is mineralisation amenable to underground mining techniques.
In Botswana Hana Mining is also investigating underground potential after unveiling drilling results from its Ghanzi copper-silver project. The results continue to prove that mineralisation at the Banana Zone is open at depth and the company believes that deeper drilling could considerably increase the resource base. Engineering and modelling, of both open pit and underground mining operations, are well advanced and the results are expected to be included in a PEA due to be completed in May 2011. In Namibia, after resolving to raise a $25 million placement, Shaw River Resources has outlined upcoming activities at its Otjozondu manganese project, currently on track for production in mid 2012.
Xceed Resources has joined the ASX after a $9 million capital raising. The coal company, which previously traded as a Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences company, plans to use the proceeds to build a multi-project coal business in South Africa – beginning with the 55 Mt Moabsvelden thermal coal project. Xceed intends to start construction of Moabsvelden in December 2011 and has targeted an initial 3 Mt/y production rate for Q1 2013. In order for it to focus on its Brazilian iron ore operations Centaurus Metals has become a major shareholder of Antipa Minerals, poised to list on the ASX next month, and has divested its Citadel gold-copper project to the new explorer.
All this and much, much more in International Mining’s Project News….
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