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42 SEG NEWSLETTER No 90 • JULY 2012 SEG Foundation 2012 Graduate Student Fellowship Awards STUDENT NEWS The SEGF Graduate Student Fellowship Program provides fellowships to students who intend to pursue a course of study in economic geology leading to a Professional Master’s, Master of Science (M.Sc.) and/or Ph.D. degree, with preference given to those who will be entering graduate school following completion of a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree, or equivalent. A total of US$199,500 has been awarded to 33 students and CAN$30,000 has been awarded to five students who will be entering graduate school this year, or who are currently enrolled as first-year graduate students. This is one of the Foundation’s three core student programs “to encourage and develop a new generation of economic geologists.” The SEGF Graduate Student Fellowship Program is supported by major grants from Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti Limited, Barrick Gold Corporation, Gold Fields Exploration Inc., and Newmont Mining Corporation. The SEG Canadian Foundation (SEGCF) continues to significantly contribute to this program. The 2012 SEG Foundation Graduate Student Fellowships in Economic Geology have been awarded to the following students: (Listing in order: name of student, home country, amount of award, university where student is either attending [first year] or plans to attend graduate school, and degree being sought) Andersson Alirio Acevedo Serrato, Colombia - US$7,500, University of Campinas, Brazil, M.Sc. Michael Berger, USA -US$10,000, Colorado School of Mines, USA, M.Sc., Newmont Scholar Veronica Emilia Bouhier, Argentina - US$3,500, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina, Ph.D. Laurisha Bynoe, Canada - US$4,500, University of Western Ontario, Canada, M.Sc. Giovanni Cibrario, Italy - US$3,000, Camborne School of Mines, UK, M.Sc. Jack Dann, Canada - US$2,500, University of Ottawa, Canada, Ph.D. Matthew Dunlop, USA - US$5,000, Indiana University, USA, M.Sc. Vlad-Victor Ene, Romania - US$10,000, University of Toronto, Canada, M.Sc., Newmont Scholar Katherine Suzanne Frank, USA - US$7,500, Iowa State University, USA, M.Sc. Timothy G. Gross, USA - US$10,000, Colorado School of Mines, USA, M.Sc., Barrick Scholar Sarah Heinchon, USA - US$7,500, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA, M.Sc. Michael D. Hendrickson, USA - US$3,700, Colorado School of Mines, USA, M.Sc. Sara E. Hoffritz, Denmark - US$4,000, University of British Columbia, Canada, M.Sc. Russell Johnson, South Africa - US$4,000, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, M.Sc. Mathias Koester, Germany - US$3,700, Technisch Universität München, Germany, Ph.D. Patrick Loury, USA - US$10,000, University of Utah, USA, M.Sc., Gold Fields Scholar Matthew J. Manor, USA - US$10,000, University of British Columbia, Canada, M.Sc., Newmont Scholar Alysha McNeil, Canada - US$3,500, Uni - versity of Western Ontario, Canada, M.Sc. Brian McNulty, USA - US$4,000, Univer - sity of British Columbia, Canada, M.Sc. Jason D. Mizer, USA - US$3,800, University of Arizona, USA, M.Sc. Saave Ndapandula Nakashole, Namibia - US$3,700, University of Arizona or New Mexico Tech, USA, M.Sc. Kathryn O’Rourke, USA - US$3,800, South Dakota School of Mining & Technology, USA, M.Sc. Evan Orovan, Canada - US$4,500, University of Tasmania, Australia, Ph.D. Adam Pacey, UK - US$7,500, Imperial College of London, UK, Ph.D. Justin Palmer, USA - US$4,500, Colorado School of Mines, USA, M.Sc. Michael James Power, Canada - US$10,000, University of Ottawa, Canada, M.Sc., Gold Fields Scholar Anne Rahfeld, Germany - US$3,800, Colorado School of Mines, USA, M.Sc. Juanita Rodriguez Melo, Colombia - US$10,000, Universidad Estadual de Campinas, Brazil, M.Sc., Gold Fields Scholar Simone Runyon, USA - US$7,500, University of Arizona, USA, M.Sc. Amy Tuzzolino, USA - US$3,500, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA, M.Sc. Zachary Vance, USA - US$3,000, New Mexico Tech, USA, M.Sc. Stephanie Wafforn, Canada - US$10,000, Oregon State University, USA, M.Sc., Barrick Scholar Theresa (Morrison) Zajac, USA - US$10,000, University of Utah, USA, M.Sc., Barrick Scholar The 2011 SEG Canada Foundation Graduate Student Fellowships in Economic Geology have been awarded to the following students: (Listing in order: name of student, home country, amount of award, university where student is either attending [first year] or plans to attend graduate school, and degree being sought) Erin Brittany “Britt” Bluemel, Canada - CAN$5,000, University of British Columbia, Canada, M.Sc. Eric Buitenhuis, Canada – CAN$5,000, University of Western Ontario, Canada, M.Sc. Kristy Long, Canada - CAN$5,000, University of Maryland, USA, M.Sc. Alexandra McGladrey, Canada - CAN$7,500, Queen’s University, Canada, M.Sc. Alexander Timofeev, Canada - CAN$7,500, McGill University, Canada, M.Sc.
JULY 2012 • No 90 SEG NEWSLETTER 43 EXPLORATION REVIEWS Notice: Views expressed in the Exploration Reviews do not necessarily reflect those of the Society of Economic Geologists, Inc., and columnists are solely responsible for ascertaining that the information in this section is correct. To read additional exploration reviews for countries, please go online to the SEG Newsletter supplement. ALASKA Regional Correspondent: Curtis J. Freeman (SEG 1996) Avalon Development Corp. P.O. Box 80268 Fairbanks, AK 99708 Tel.: 1.907-457-5159, Fax: 1.907-455-8069 E-mail: avalon@alaska.net Website: www.avalonalaska.com The winds of change are once again blowing across Alaska’s mineral industry, not only because the industry is into another busy summer season, but because the mining investment climate has rapidly turned from cautiously bullish to decidedly bearish. The sea change occurred steadily and without a lot of fanfare between mid-January and mid-March. As is always the case, good projects continue to advance. Those that are drilling and adding resources or moving through advanced exploration and development stages are enjoying a significant funding advantage over earlier stage exploration projects. The result, exemplified by the entry of two new companies acquiring Alaska joint venture interests over the last month, is a buyer’s market for early and mid-stage exploration projects. Mergers and/or acquisitions of more advanced level projects or companies can be expected over the coming months. That’s all well and good if you happen to have 5 million tonnes of copper or 20 million ounces of gold, but what about the rest of us poor saps with a few good drill holes or a highgrade outcrop and a load of …blue sky? I heard the solution to this problem at a recent mining company presentation. The concept was so simple, it nearly evaded me: sometimes it is wiser to do less with less! Brilliant, eh?! Obvious, perhaps, but we all know of projects that are being stretched so thin (aka, trying to doing more with less) that the quality of the resulting product is suspect. We are in danger of being caught by a trap we have created for ourselves, wherein every program, every year, is expected to be bigger and better than the previous one. With increasing frequency and increasing litigation, companies are being punished severely by shareholders for advocating for a smaller drilling program or a less ambitious feasibility study. Since negative reinforcement is a powerful motivator, the desire to not get beheaded by shareholders causes companies to forecast ever more optimistic results. Inevitably, expectations reach stratospheric levels and then somebody notices that the Emperor has no clothes. At that point, it will be too late to do less with less. But there is an upside here: not all drip-fed projects are created equal. Some of the properties damaged by the more-for-less syndrome are in fact, high quality mines in the making. Recognizing those opportunities is a challenge but, is it any more challenging than creating new wealth out of a never-before explored patch of desert or mountainside? I don’t think so either, and that is why we should expect that both careers and companies will be won and lost in the coming months by astute mergers and acquisitions. As Ayn Rand said, “You can avoid reality but you can’t avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.” AUSTRALASIA Regional Correspondent: Russell Meares (SEG 1996) Malachite Resources Limited Sydney, Australia E-mail: rmeares@malachite.com.au Website: www.malachite.com.au With contributions from: Roger Thomson (SEG 1983) – Western Australia Lucy Chapman (SEG 2000) – Queensland Tony Christie (SEG 1992) – New Zealand Geoff Green (SEG 2000) – Tasmania Andrew Rowett – South Australia Bianca Pietrass-Wong – NSW Steve Russell (SEG 2009) – NT Paul McDonald – Victoria SUMMARY The life cycle of most mining operations commences with an exploration discovery, moving steadily through the mining phase, then finally into the closing-down and rehabilitation phase. In the case of the Ranger uranium mining operation, owned by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA), the company is transitioning from the mining phase back into a capital-intensive phase of exploration. The Ranger deposit is located in the Northern Territory, 250 km east of Darwin, and is totally surrounded by the World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park, famous for its wetlands flora and fauna. The deposit was discovered in 1969 using airborne radiometrics, long before the National Park was declared in 1979, and the Ranger operation is one of the largest uranium producers in the world, being one of only three mines in the world to produce in excess of 100,000 t of uranium oxide. However, due to the in - adequate estimation of annual rainfall in the design phase, the mine has con - tinued to suffer seasonal failures of the surface water management system. This situation has been exacerbated by a series of record summer wet season rainfall events over recent years, with the deci - sion being taken to close and rehabili - tate the current open pit by the end of this year, and to return to the explora - tion phase (although this explorer owns a plant, a power station, an airport, and a town!). The aim is to complete the exploration and development of the Ranger 3 orebody, which lies at depth below the current open pit, by late 2015. Ranger 3 contains an estimated 34,000 t of uranium oxide at a grade of 0.34% uranium oxide, triple that of the head grade of the current open pit operation. The company will invest an estimated A$120M in constructing a 2.2 km exploration decline to a depth of 350 m and conducting close-spaced underground exploration drilling to further define the Ranger 3 Deeps orebody, and to explore areas adjacent to that resource. In addition, ERA is conducting an extensive three-rig surface drilling program on prospective and underexplored areas of the Ranger project area over the period from 2012 to 2014 at an estimated cost of A$40M. This level of investment, to page and the decision to 44 ... EXPLORATION REVIEWS
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