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K+S Potash Canada Breaks Ground for Legacy Project
K+S Potash Canada, a subsidiary of Germany’s K+S Group, held an official ground-breaking ceremony at the site of its Legacy solution mining potash project about 50 km north of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, June 19, 2012. K+S has approved C$3.25 billion in capital spending to develop the project. Initial production is planned for 2015, building to 2 million mt/y of potassium chloride in 2017, followed by a gradual expansion to 2.86 million mt/y by 2023. In a further expansion phase, production is planned...... read
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Royal Nickel Awards Contract for Dumont Feasibility Study
Royal Nickel has awarded Ausenco and SRK Consulting a contract for the preparation of a feasibility study for its Dumont nickel project in Quebec. Ausenco and SRK collaborated in preparing both the prefeasibility and revised prefeasibility studies for Dumont, released November 1, 2011, and May 14, 2012, respectively. With the leverage provided by work already under way or completed during the prefeasibility stage, the company expects to announce the results of the feasibility study by mid-2013.... read more
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U.S. Silver and RX Gold Agree to Merge
U.S. Silver Corp. and RX Gold & Silver Inc. announced on June 7 an agreement to merge the two companies, creating a new company to be called U.S. Silver & Gold Inc. The new company will have two producing mines, U.S. Silver’s Galena mine in the Coeur d’Alene district of Idaho and RX Gold’s Drumlummon mine 25 mi northwest of Helena, Montana. Their combined production currently totals about 2.7 million oz/y of silver and 26,500 oz/y of gold.... read
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AROUND THE
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Teck Advancing Quebrada Blanca Phase 2
Teck Resources has completed a feasibility study and filed an NI 43-101 technical report for the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 hypogene project in northern Chile. Teck owns a 76.5% interest in Quebrada Blanca. The other shareholders are a Chilean private company, which owns a 13.5% interest, and Empresa Nacional de Minera (ENAMI), a state-owned Chilean mining company, which has a 10% non-funding interest. The study estimates a capital cost for the development of the project of $5.6 billion (in January 2012 dollars, not including…… read
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First Majestic Targets 2012 Start at Del Toro First Majestic Silver reports that construction of the 4,000-mt/d, dual-circuit mill at its Del Toro silver mine project in Zacatecas state, Mexico, remains on schedule for first-phase production to begin in the fourth quarter of 2012. Through the first half of 2013, the mill is scheduled to process only sulphide ore through the flotation circuit at a rate of about 1,000 mt/d…. read more
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AROUND THE
WORLD - Australasia |
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Talison Expands Greenbushes Lithium Operations
Talison Lithium reported in early June 2012 that the Stage 2 Expansion at its Greenbushes lithium operations in southwest Western Australia had been completed and commissioned on time and within budget and that initial performance was exceeding expectations. The expansion more than doubled Talison’s production capacity and was designed to provide operational efficiencies and to enable Talison to supply the needs of the lithium market into the future…. read
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Worker Migration Agreement for Roy Hill Development Australia’s Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen announced in late May 2012 approval by the Australian government of its first Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA), granted to the Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. EMAs are customdesigned, project-specific migration agreements designed to ensure that skills shortages do not create constraints on major projects. They are available to resource projects with capital expenditures of more than A$2 billion and a peak workforce of …. read
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Hyundai Wins Contract for Saudi Aluminum Refinery
The Ma’aden-Alcoa aluminum joint venture has signed a contract worth SR5.6 billion (about $1.5 billion) with Hyundai Engineering & Construction for construction of its alumina refinery at Ras Al Khair in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. The contract includes completing detailed engineering, procurement, construction, precommissioning, commissioning assistance, start-up assistance and training services. The alumina refinery forms part of the fully integrated aluminum project currently under construction by Ma’aden and Alcoa. The project also includes a bauxite mine….
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China Reports on its Rare Earth Industry
The government of China published "Situation and Policies of China’s Rare Earth Industry" on June 20, 2012. The white paper is the first on the nation’s rare earth industry and was motivated in part because, "For some time now, some countries have been particularly fretful about the situation of China’s rare earth industry and related policies, doing a lot of guesswork and conjuring up many stories. We hereby give a presentation about China’s rare earth industry in order to further provide the international community with a better understanding of this issue."…. read
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Nevsun Targeting Second Quarter 2013 Start for Bisha Expansion
Nevsun Resources reports that the copper expansion project at its Bisha mine in Eritrea is proceeding on schedule and on budget. The project will expand ore processing capacity at Bisha from 2 million to 2.4 million mt/y and convert the operation from production of gold-silver doré to production of copper concentrate. When the expansion project is complete, production at Bisha is expected to total 180 million lb/y of copper in concentrate, with significant gold and silver by product …. read more
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Banro Moves to Owner- Operator Mining at Twangiza
Banro Corp. has transitioned from contract to owner-operated mining at its Twangiza open-pit gold mine in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Twangiza became Banro’s first producing gold mine when it entered production in October 2011. When mill throughput reaches full capacity of 1.7 million mt/y, Twangiza will produce about 120,000 oz/y of gold over an expected mine life of seven to eight years based on currently-defined reserves……
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Rio Tinto Makes First Coal Shipment from Mozambique
Rio Tinto has started exporting premium hard coking coal from its Benga mine in the Moatize Basin in Mozambique. The first shipment of 34,000 metric tons has left the Port of Beira, bound for an Indian steel mill. "This shipment marks an important point in the phased development of our tier one coking coal resources in Mozambique. It is the first step toward our aim to become a significant supplier of hard coking coal to the seaborne market," said Rio Tinto Energy Chief Executive Doug Ritchie. "The Moatize Basin is one of the most prospective coking coal regions in the world …. read more
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U.S. Senators Unable to Stop EPA, American Coal Industry Idles More Capacity
On June 20, 2012, the U.S. Senate failed to pass by a vote of 53-46 Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-Okla.) resolution (S.J. Res. 37) to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Utility MACT rule, according to the U.S. National Mining Association (NMA). The proposed EPA rules will lead to the closure of a substantial number of coal-based power plants. "Today’s regrettable vote locks in higher electricity rates for consumers and businesses for the foreseeable future, …. read more
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BHP Approves Appin Area 9 Project in Australia
BHP Billiton recently approved investment of $845 million to sustain operations at Illawarra Coal, in southern New South Wales, Australia, by establishing a replacement mining area at the Appin mine. The replacement area will have a production capacity of 3.5 million metric tons per year (mt/y) of metallurgical coal and will sustain Illawarra Coal’s production capacity at 9 million mt/y. Appin Area 9 will be operational in 2016 and will replace production at the West Cliff mine. The project includes roadway development, new…. read
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