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Nevada Copper Plans Two-stage Development at Pumpkin Hollow
Nevada Copper announced it will develop its Pumpkin Hollow copper project near Yerington, Nevada, in two stages. Stage 1 will be a 6,500-mt/d underground mine and concentrator based on the property’s East deposit, where shaft sinking is currently in progress. An updated feasibility study for Stage 2 development of open-pit mines on the property’s North and South deposits is currently targeted for completion on or before August 2013. Cash flows from the underground operation.... read
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Maudore Pours its First Gold at Sleeping Giant
Maudore Minerals announced on April 22 the pouring of its first two gold bars, totaling approximately 945 oz of gold, at its Sleeping Giant processing facility in Quebec. Maudore acquired the facility when it acquired North American Palladium’s gold division, NAP Quebec Mines Ltd., in March. The purchase included the Sleeping Giant mine and mill complex, the Vezza mine, and a nearby portfolio of exploration properties. With the pouring of its first gold at Sleeping Giant, Maudore transitioned from an exploration company into a gold producer. The company also reported that it has renamed the former NAP Quebec Mines operations as Aurbec Mines Inc... read more
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Cameco Begins Production at North Butte
Cameco began production at its new North Butte in situ uranium mine in Campbell County, Wyoming, on May 13. North Butte is a satellite facility to the company’s Smith Ranch-Highland in situ operations in Converse County, Wyoming. Uranium-bearing resin from North Butte is being transported to an existing central processing plant at Smith Ranch-Highland for production of uranium concentrate. North Butte is expected to contribute about 300,000 lb (136,000 kg) of uranium concentrate in 2013 and ramp up to a targeted annual production rate of more than 700,000 lb/y by 2015. Cameco operates Smith Ranch and.... read
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| AROUND THE
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Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Agrees to Lease Amendments
Barrick Gold reported on May 8 that Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corp. (PVDC) had reached an agreement in principle with the government of the Dominican Republic concerning amendments to the Pueblo Viejo special lease agreement. PVDC is the operating company at the Pueblo Viejo open-pit gold mine and is jointly owned by Barrick (60%) and Goldcorp (40%). The mine achieved commercial production in January 2013 and is expected to produce more than 1 million oz/y of gold over its first five full…… read
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Chile Fines Barrick, Halts Construction at Pascua-Lama
Chilean environmental authority Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente (SMA) announced on May 24 that it was fining Barrick Gold about $16 million for violations of Chilean environmental regulations at the company’s cross-border Chile/ Argentina Pascua-Lama gold-silver project and ordered a halt to construction in Chile until all requirements of the project’s environmental permit are satisfied. The fine was the maximum permitted under Chilean law. Barrick had…. read more
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| AROUND THE
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Rio Tinto Opens Argyle Underground Mine
Rio Tinto officially opened its new blockcave Argyle underground diamond mine in the east Kimberley region of Western Australia in late April. The move from openpit to underground mining will extend the life of Argyle until at least 2020. The $2.2-billion underground development uses the latest in block caving technology and is the first of its kind in Western Australia. The mine will generate around 9 million mt/y of ore and, on average, approximately 20 million carats/y of diamonds over…. read
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Queensland Shortlists Five Groups for Aurukun Bauxite Development
The government of Queensland announced on April 23 a short list of five groups approved to submit detailed mine development proposals for the Aurukun bauxite deposits on the western Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland. The groups are Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco), Glencore International, Rio Tinto Aluminum, Australian Indigenous Resources Pty Ltd. (AIR) and Cape Alumina Consortium. Chalco, Glencore and Rio Tinto are wellknown international mining companies; AIR is a special-purpose vehicle formed to submit a proposal for the Aurukun project …. read
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Centerra Dealing with Waste-rock Dump Movement at Kumtor
Centerra Gold reported in early May that a large section of the principal wasterock dump at its Kumtor gold mine in the Kyrgyz Republic was experiencing a greater-than-anticipated rate of movement, requiring acceleration of planned relocation of some mine infrastructure. Employees in the affected buildings were moved to temporary work locations until new facilities are constructed. Kumtor operations are located in the Tien Shan mountains 350 km southeast of the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek at mining elevations ranging up to 4,400 m. Local valleys are occupied by active glaciers that extend down to elevations of 3,800 to 3,900 m….
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Tethyan Withdraws from Reko Diq Project
Tethyan Copper Co., a joint venture of Antofagasta plc and Barrick, announced on May 8 that it has withdrawn its request for specific performance in the international arbitrations it has brought against the governments of Pakistan and the province of Balochistan in Pakistan. As a result, Tethyan will no longer seek the grant of a mining lease for its Reko Diq copper-gold project in the Chagai district of northwest Balochistan and instead will seek solely monetary damages as compensation for Pakistan’s and Balochistan’s breaches of Tethyan’s contract and treaty rights. The government of Balochistan province rejected Tethyan’s application for a mining lease…. read
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Kinross Studying 38,000-mt/d Mill for Tasiast
Kinross Gold announced on April 29 the results of its pre-feasibility study (PFS) for a 30,000-mt/d expansion project at its Tasiast gold operations in northwest Mauritania. The PFS assumed retention of the existing 8,000-mt/d Tasiast mill. At the same time, Kinross announced a decision to proceed with a feasibility study based on a new 38,000-mt/d mill after trade-off studies concluded that such a mill would be expected to provide the optimum economics for an expanded project. Under this scenario, the…. read more
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Swakop Uranium Starts Construction at Husab
Swakop Uranium reports that construction is in progress at its $2.5-billion Husab uranium project in Namibia, following an official ground-breaking ceremony on April 18. The Husab project is located 60 km northeast of the major deep-sea port of Walvis Bay. The project feasibility study, reported in April 2011, was based on an initial reserve of 205 million mt grading 497 ppm U3O8 for a total of 225 million lb of contained U3O8. Husab production capacity is targeted at 15 million lb/y of U3O8, which will rank it among the largest uranium mines in the world……
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Bankruptcy Judge Allows Patriot to Abandon Union Contracts
On May 29, a federal bankruptcy judge in St. Louis ruled in favor of officials at Patriot Coal seeking to annul union contracts, a move allowing the financially distressed company to impose sharp wage and benefit concessions on current and retired miners. In a 102-page decision, Judge Kathy A. Surratt-States of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court granted Patriot’s motion to reject collective bargaining agreements…. read more
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Canadian Court Clears HD Mining in Worker Dispute
A federal Canadian court has dismissed a complaint filed by two unions against HD Mining International alleging the company hired 201 unqualified short-term Chinese employees for a coal mine in British Columbia in lieu of Canadians. Representatives of International Union of Operating Engineers and the Construction and Specialized Workers Union both claim HD Mining granted work permits for the…. read more
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Linc Energy Finalizes Exxaro UG Gasification Project
Linc Energy has formalized a deal with Exxaro Resources to jointly develop its first commercial underground coal gasification (UCG) project in sub-Saharan Africa, including the use of synthesis gas for power generation and gas-to-liquids, according to company officials. Under the agreement, Linc said it will receive $19 million in licensing fees, royalties indexed to Australian CPI from Q4 2012, indexes for synthesis gas, $6.7 million pending UCG’s initial regulatory approval in 2017 and engineering partnership fees. Linc Energy…. read
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Goldcorp Inc. has appointed Russell Ball executive vice president of capital management.
Midway Gold Corp. has appointed John Labate CFO.
Royal Gold Inc. has appointed Karli Anderson vice president of investor relations.
Former New Mexico Rep. Heather Wilson (R) has been appointed president of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Wilson succeeds the late Robert Wharton, who died in September. She will begin her duties on the Rapid City campus in mid-June, and will become the first female president in the school’s 128-year history.
Richard Bishop , who earned his bachelor’s in mining engineering at Virginia Tech in 2002, recently received Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering Outstanding Young Alumnus Award for 2013. While Bishop was enrolled at Virginia Tech, he completed an additional year of mining engineering studies in Europe. Post-graduation, he continued to further his knowledge in economics at the University of South Florida and mineral economics at the Colorado School of Mines. Bishop began his professional career working for Mosaic as a process engineer and was promoted to operations supervisor of its largest phosphate mining operation, with more than 250 personnel in three short years. Then, Bishop joined Harrison Western in Denver, Colorado, USA, as a project manager where he hired, trained, and managed hard rock miners to complete underground mining construction and mine rehabilitation projects in the western U.S. In 2008, Bishop was offered a job in Toronto, Canada, as a mining equity research associate for RBC Capital Markets, where he evaluated potential investments. Currently, he serves as vice president of investments for Aberdeen International, also located in Toronto. Bishop also currently serves as president and CEO of a new investment company in Mongolia, funded by Aberdeen.
Modular Mining Systems has appointed Greg Lanz general manager, North America.
Hardide Coatings has appointed Dan Wilson North American business development manager.
Guardvant Inc. has appointed John Capehart vice president of global business development.
