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Terrane Moving Mt. Milligan Toward Construction Decision
- Terrane Metals reports encouraging results from a feasibility study update of its Mt. Milligan gold-copper project in north-central British Columbia and, subject to financing and receipt of certain permits and approvals, now anticipates a first-quarter 2010 construction decision. The new study, prepared by Wardrop Engineering, is based on 482 million mt of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.39 g/mt gold and 0.20% copper. Gold in reserves totals 6 million oz, and copper in reserves totals 2.1 billion lb..... read
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Sleeping Giant Awakens
- North American Palladium poured its first gold bars at its reactivated Sleeping Giant mine on October 6, 2009, and is ramping up to a commercial production rate of 50,000 oz/y of gold during the fourth quarter of 2009. The restart of production at Sleeping Giant is North American Palladium’s first step toward its corporate goal of becoming a diversified, mid-tier precious metals producer.The Sleeping Giant mine is located 80 km north of Amos in the Abitibi region of Quebec and is typical of the narrow-vein gold mines.... read more
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Santa Fe Gold Advances Summit Project
- Santa Fe Gold Corp. reported in October that the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer has issued a permit required to proceed with construction of the tailings dam impoundment at the Banner mill located near Lordsburg, New Mexico. The company expects to complete construction of the tailings impoundment during the current quarter and to begin processing operations shortly thereafter. "With this important permit now in hand, we are moving full speed ahead in executing our plan.... read
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Xstrata Developing Lomas Bayas II - Xstrata Copper has received approval from the company’s board to proceed with a $293-million investment to increase the life of its Lomas Bayas mine in Chile by eight years through the development of the Fortuna del Cobre satellite ore deposit, 3 km from the existing operation. The project, known as Lomas Bayas II, will extend the Lomas Bayas mine life to 2020 and sustain production capacity at the recently expanded rate of 75,000 mt/y of copper cathode…… read
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Aquiline Agrees to Friendly Takeover by Pan Am Silver - Pan American Silver and Aquiline Resources announced on October 14, 2009, that Pan American, with the support of the Aquiline board, would make a take-over bid for Aquiline valued at C$626 million in Pan American shares and warrants. Pan American has eight operating mines in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Aquiline’s primary asset is its huge Navidad silver development property in Chubut province, Argentina, with 639 million oz in measured and indicated resources. Pan American currently has 224 million oz of silver in proven and probable reserves, plus 82 million oz of measured…. read more
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Shaft Accident to Impact Olympic Dam Production - n October 6, 2009, a loaded ore skip dropped in the main hoisting shaft at BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. The falling skip heavily damaged shaft infrastructure, and an empty, counterbalanced skip shot into the headframe, damaging the headframe and hoisting equipment. No one was injured. On October 21, in a brief statement included in its production report for its fiscal first quarter (ended September 30, 2009), BHP Billiton said it expected the damaged shaft to remain out of production until sometime during its fiscal…. read
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Bass Starting Hellyer Development- Bass Metals plans to "kick-start" development of its Hellyer mine project in northwest Tasmania by producing a total of 851,000 mt of ore from the project’s Fossey deposit over a two- to three-year period. The Fossey production is expected to pave the way for larger-scale development at Hellyer through conversion of the existing 2.3-million-mt resource to reserves, providing scope for increase in production rate and mine life…. read
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Oyu Tolgoi Gets Investment Agreement - After years of negotiations, the government of Mongolia, Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto on October 6, 2009, signed a comprehensive investment agreement for the development of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold complex in Mongolia’s South Gobi region. The agreement provides for the government of Mongolia to take a 34% interest in the Oyu Tolgoi operating company and license holder, Ivanhoe Mines Mongolia Inc….
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Citadel Nearing Construction Start at Jabal Sayid - Citadel Resource Group, a Melbournebased Australian junior company, has awarded SNC-Lavalin the EPCM contract for the Jabal Sayid underground copper project in Saudi Arabia and is planning to begin construction in January 2010. The Jabal Sayid project is a 50:50 joint-venture between Citadel and CMCI, a Saudi company. The project is located about 300 km northeast of Jeddah and will produce about 60,000 mt/y of copper contained in 225,000 to 240,000 mt/y of concentrate. Capital cost to develop the project is estimated at $249.5 million, and cash operating costs are estimated at $0.94/lb of copper produced .…. read
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Prefeasibility Study Completed for Kalplats Platinum Project - Platinum Australia has received a completed prefeasibility study of its Kalahari Platinum project (Kalplats) in South Africa’s North West province from GRD Minproc, the lead engineers for the study. The study demonstrates a commercially and technically viable project able to generate a return of 25% on the base case assumptions and assuming open-pit mining of only four of the project’s seven known deposits. Platinum Australia is developing Kalplats under a joint-venture agreement with African Rainbow Minerals that provides for Platinum …. read more
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Northam Advancing Booysendal PGM Project
- Northam Platinum reported in early October 2009 that the feasibility study for its Booysendal platinum group metals (pgm) project in South Africa is complete and that final board approval for project development is expected in early 2010. The project is located near Lydenburg in Mpumalanga province on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex, adjacent to the existing Everest and Mototolo pgm operations. Mine planning for Booysendal assumes sequential development of two production modules. The first module will be based on mining at a rate of 150,000 mt/m……
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Mines Management has appointed Michael G. Rasmussen vice president-exploration.
Boliden has appointed Pierre Heeroma director, group strategy and business development.
Pangea Diamond Fields announced that Boris R. Kamstra has been named CEO. 
Alcoa has elected John Thuestad and Jean-Pierre Gilardeau as vice presidents. Thuestad is COO for Global Primary Products Worldwide, focusing primarily on reducing the cost of aluminum production. Gilardeau is president, Global Primary Products, North America and Iceland. In this role, Gilardeau strengthens coordination and best practices across Alcoa’s extensive primary operations in the U.S., Canada and Iceland. The company also announced that CEO Klaus Kleinfeld was named chairman of the U.S.- Russia Business Council (USRBC). A Washington-based association representing approximately 250 companies, the USRBC’s primary mission is to promote trade and investment between the U.S. and Russia. 
Fred George is retiring as president and chairman of Gammon Gold. Rene Marion, current CEO, will be appointed president and will continue as CEO. 
Paul F. Nelson has been appointed president and CEO of Adanac Molybdenum Corp. Christopher C. Kirby, the company’s former president and CEO, resigned to pursue a new career opportunity.
KBR announced that Colin Elliott has been appointed president of its infrastructure and minerals business unit. 