Indonesia forges ahead • Project Survey 2011 ... - The ASIA Miner

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March/April 2011 | Volume 8 | Issue 2 | Industry Technical Information | 矿 业 技 术 信 息
COAL POWERS ON
煤 炭 走 热
Indonesia forges ahead • Project Survey 2011 • Conveyors • Drilling and blasting
印 度 尼 西 亚 大 步 向 前 • 2011 年 度 项 目 调 查 • 带 式 输 送 机 • 钻 孔 和 爆 破

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Asian Intelligence
TOP 10 LEGAL ISSUES FACING MINES HIT BY FLOODS
BY ROBERT MILBOURNE, MINING/RESOURCES PARTNER AT NORTON ROSE AUSTRALIA, BRISBANE
THE Queensland floods have been described
as unprecedented and their impact on
the energy and resources industry will be extraordinary.
Early estimates place the cost of
direct damages to the state’ s economy in
the billions of dollars, and some commentators
say it will become the most expensive
disaster in Australian history.
More than 40 mines wer e shut down for
various periods and these extraordinary conditions
may give rise to a range of legal issues
which impact on the operation of r esources
projects. Set out below ar e the top 10 legal
issues for resources companies facing flood
conditions, with many applicable to other natural
disasters in the Asia Pacific.
The floods are a reminder to the mining industry
that emergency response and contingency
plans should be proactive, not reactive.
Safety
Queensland's mining safety legislation r e-
quires operating mines to ensur e that risk is
at an acceptable level. Risk is to be kept at
an acceptable level by developing and implementing
a Safety and Health Management
System (SHMS). The SHMS for the mine
must include a Principal Hazard Management
Plan (PHMP), which must be developed for
any hazard that has the potential to cause
The floods also damaged infrastructure, including this rail line in the Bowen Basin.
multiple fatalities. Where mines are close to
watercourses or in other flood pr one areas,
flooding should be addressed in the PHMP.
PHMPs should provide for adequate mechanisms
to warn of potential flooding and guidance
on the appr opriate actions to take
depending on the likelihood and severity of
such flooding, which may include a system of
evacuation or moving people to a place of
safety and ensuring the site and equipment
is properly prepared to minimize risk.
As floodwaters subside and companies
start returning to operational mining, they
need to conduct an appr opriate Occupational
Health and Safety (OHS) assessment
of the changed operational conditions and
have appropriate resources and procedures
in place to ensur e continued compliance
with OHS obligations.
Environmental risks and remediation obligations
Intense rain, flood and inundation will create
environmental risk. Flooding may cause
sumps, environmental traps, tailing dams
and mine water ponds to overflow or fail.
Mismanagement of contaminated wastewater
or unauthorized release of floodwaters
may contravene envir onmental authorities
and could lead to penalties and pr osecutions.
The Department of Envir onment and
Resource Management (DERM) has been
notified of 13 coal mines and 4 coal seam
gas operations that released water outside
their environmental authority conditions.
Even though ther e is an extraor dinary
cause from the flooding, the DERM will investigate
the cause of these br eaches and
prosecutions may result.
Mines should consider whether it is necessary
to carry out additional water testing
and may also need to consider the extent to
which they are capable of complying with remediation
obligations under the mining/petroleum
tenement given the impact of the
floodwaters.
Develop or review Targeted
Action Response Plan
In addition to ensuring compliance with mining
safety and health obligations, Queensland
Mines and Energy has advised operators to
consider developing and activating a Targeted
Action Response Plan (TARP) on the basis of
warnings and observations to assess and
communicate the onset of sever e weather
events to anyone potentially affected and ensure
the safety of workers and mine sites.
ASX continuous disclosure
ASX listing rules require listed entities to inform
ASX of information that a r easonable person
would expect to have a material ef fect on the
price or value of the entity's securities. Such an
obligation arises once an entity becomes
aware of any information concer ning it. Companies
should consider their disclosure obligations
in light of flood events and continue to
update the market as they assess the impact
on previous financial disclosures and operations
and as they return to operational mining.
Force Majeure provisions
Most mining-related contracts will include a
Force Majeure (FM) provision which should be
carefully considered in light of the floods. For
example, in relation to commodity sales contracts,
mines should consider whether they will
be able to meet contracted deliveries. FM provisions
may allow them to miss contracted deliveries
for reasons beyond their control.
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Asian Intelligence
Many companies in Queensland made FM
declarations as a result of the floods. Mines
should ensure compliance with the relevant
contract when making such declarations
and the implications for contracted deliveries
and mining operations moving forwar d as
floodwaters subside. They should also consider
whether delivery obligations have been
simply postponed, or whether they may be
excused as a result of the FM events under
the agreement terms.
Early notification may also assist in avoiding
disputes concerning demurrage or associated
transport and logistics expenditur e.
As water subsides companies need to ensure
they give appropriate and prompt notification
of the end of the FM.
Review material contracts that
may not have Force Majeure
Major contracts normally include FM pr ovisions
but where a material contract does not
have an FM clause and a party is not able to
perform its obligations under the contract,
companies will need to evaluate the contract
to determine who bears the risks associated
with non-performance. In addition, it will be important
to consider whether the non-performing
party must pr ovide notice to the other
parties in relation to the non-performance and
the parties' obligations to mitigate loss.
Key services, dry hire, lease, infrastructure,
supply or procurement contracts, for example,
may have covenants to maintain plant and
equipment in good working condition but may
not have provisions for FM. Where a contract
includes covenants or warranties in relation to
maintaining the condition of plant, materials or
other assets, mines should consider whether
they are at risk of br eaching such covenants
or warranties due to flood conditions.
Again, mines should evaluate the contract
to determine which party assumes the risk
in such plant, materials and assets, notice
requirements and obligations to mitigate loss
or damage. It may also be the case that the
contract may be terminated by frustration. It
will be important to carefully consider the allocation
of liability for loss r esulting from
such termination.
Allocation and resourcing
of clean-up obligations
Most mining services contracts include an allocation
of responsibility for cleaning up the
mine site. Subject to suspension of obligations
under an FM pr ovision, companies
should consider who is responsible for cleaning-up
the mine site after the flood and who
will bear the costs of the clean-up, for example
the costs of hiring additional equipment
and engaging additional labour as required.
Given the number of mines in Queensland
facing operational issues due to the floods, it
will be important for mine operators to take action
promptly to secure the resources (ie personnel,
equipment, plant and parts) r equired
for clean-up, recovery and the resumption of
operations. Recovery efforts may be hindered
by labour shortages and delays in delivery and
installation of replacement equipment. Mine
operators may also need to be pr epared for
labour costs and the price of equipment, plant
and parts to rise as demand increases.
A number of Queensland mines were flooded,
including the Baralaba coal mine.
Review finance contracts including
material adverse change provisions
Material adverse change (MAC) clauses ar e
commonly used in acquisitions and project financing
transactions as a means of allocating
risk between the signing and closing of an
agreement with respect to adverse business
conditions or developments. MAC clauses
generally provide the purchaser with a right
to terminate or r enegotiate if events occur
that are detrimental to the target asset/company.
MAC clauses may also allow a lender
to foreclose or restructure financing arrangements.
Companies may want to revisit MAC
clauses in acquisition/sale agreements or financing
arrangements in light of the flooding
and consider whether early notification or negotiation
is appropriate.
Lenders to participants along the production
to end-user chain will need to consider the impact
on borrowers of any deferred or lost revenues
during this period. For example, where
affected mines have been pr oject financed,
the cash flow available for debt service will be
affected which could potentially cause payment
default or a br each of applicable cover
ratios. Similar considerations apply for debt
service cover ratios that might apply under a
structured trade finance facility.
Consider whether the impact of the floods
will cause issues with making repayments to
financiers and whether the events and any
loss suffered will cause a breach of any banking
covenants. If this has occurred or is likely
to occur, companies should consider early
notification to financiers and negotiation of
appropriate extensions or waivers.
Stand-down of employees
The floods resulted in impeded access routes
and mine closures with potential to leave hundreds
of workers unsure about the future of
their employment. Companies should be
aware of the possibility of employees being
forced to stand down and consequential liability
should action to r einstate access routes
and re-open mine sites not be taken in a timely
manner. For example, if an employee cannot
be usefully employed because the floods have
resulted in a br eakdown of machinery or
equipment, then employers may be able to
stand down the employees without pay.
The right to stand down employees without
pay is subject to any expr ess rights that employees
may have in their contracts or enter -
prise agreements, which might impose
additional requirements on the employer. Stand
down should not be used indefinitely or for long
periods of time. If it appears that employees will
be stood down for a long period, employers
may need to start looking at obligations in relation
to redundancy and redeployment.
Extent of insurance cover
When considering whether to make a claim on
insurance, companies may find they ar e not
covered for flood damage. It will depend on
the precise wording of the policy and the
source of the water which caused the damage.
Companies will need to consider whether
a claim needs to be made for business interruption
as well as pr operty damage and
whether their current level of cover is adequate
to cover the loss. They will also need to consider
their obligations in terms of early notification
of the claim and mitigating the loss.
However, they may need to obtain the approval
of the insurer before incurring restoration
costs in some cir cumstances. It will be
necessary to document the losses and pr o-
vide evidence of expenses when quantifying
a claim. They need to consider whether certain
losses are excluded by the policy.
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Asian Intelligence
Copper and silver mineralization in a core sample from Crazy Horse Resources’ Taysan project in the Philippines.
Photo from Crazy Horse Resources.
All stakeholders need to review their potential
exposure to loss and liability that might result
from floods af fecting mines and
associated infrastructure. Certain actions may
be required under contracts or at law to ensure
exclusions or limitations of liability can be
fully enjoyed, and to otherwise mitigate potential
consequences.
Skills shortage to bite hard
THE impact of skill shortages on the mining
industry are set to increase during 2011 as
recovery from the global financial crisis gathers
momentum. The shortages will hit har d
throughout the Asia Pacific r egion but
threaten to take the gloss off a pending mining
boom in Australia.
Some 74% of the mining and r esources
companies surveyed for the Michael Page
Salary and Employment For ecast predict a
skills shortage for engineering and mining
professionals as the international demand for
resources increases, particularly from China.
In Western Australia, China’s demand for
mineral commodities, especially iron ore, has
driven strong jobs growth in the coal and natural
gas industries.
Demand is also strong for engineers, designers
and pr oject support pr ofessionals,
and this is expected to incr ease throughout
2011 as a number of long term rail and civil
infrastructure projects get under way.
On a national level, professionals in the exploration
geology, mining geology and mining
engineering areas are highly sought after. The
Michael Page survey revealed that civil designers,
civil engineers and rail engineers are
in particularly high demand.
It also points out that the r equirement for
exploration geologists, mine geologists and
mining engineers is also expected to grow as
there are a limited number of experienced
professionals with skills in mining engineering
and exploration geology in New South Wales
and Queensland.
Australia’s shortage of professionals is exacerbated
by the growing exploration and extraction
industries in Indonesia, Mongolia,
Africa, South America and other r esourcerich
regions owing to the strong demand for
Australian expertise in these locations.
Strong year for metal prices
THE Raw Materials Group (RMG) forecasts
another strong year in metal price incr eases
at a rate similar to 2010, after which prices
are expected to increase at a slower rate in
2012 then maintain similar levels thr oughout
2013. From 2013 to 2015 metal prices ar e
expected to soften due to the arrival of new
supply although the RMG index is not expected
to drop below current levels, implying
continued high metal prices for the long term.
RMG says ongoing industrialization and urbanization
of emerging markets will ensure a
high demand regime for at least the forthcoming
decade. Incr eased infrastructure
spend, such as increased power grid investment
in China and a budding material intensive
consumer consumption, including the
expanding auto-sector in both China and
India, supports this assumption, thus spreading
demand across all base metals and all
emerging economies. RMG r egularly compiles
forecasts for base and precious metals,
and combining these forecasts, constructs its
RMG metal price index.
Last year, the RMG index surpassed the
2007 peak. The general r ecovery from the
global financial crisis was expected but what
has been surprising is the speed and strength
of the r ecovery. RMG expects the tr end to
continue with a price level in 2011 similar to
2010 with a slowing though still incr easing
price level in 2012. The rationale behind this is
the pause in mine development, both for new
mines and existing mine expansions, and
hence supply increases from 2008 to 2010.
Of specific metals, gold drew a particular following
in 2010 reaching record weekly average
highs from week 35 until the end of 2010,
based mostly on investor demand shifting
from paper to metal as currencies depreciated
and government bonds took a hammering.
The real standouts were silver and palladium,
up from US$14.58 and US$261 per ounce in
2009 to $20.23 and $529 in 2010 r espectively.
The precious metals ar e again expected
to increase this year and next, with
particular higher prices expected for platinum
and palladium due to continuing str ong demand
from China’s automotive industry. In
fact RMG’s long term forecast for these two
metals is bullish until 2015, wher eas the
other base and precious metals are expected
to soften from 2013 onwards.
Of base metals copper is the expected
standout performer due to continuing supply
shortages and maintained strong global demand
forecast. This may be further accentuated
with the arrival of copper EFTs. For 2012
zinc is the forecast strong performer due to
tightness in the metal balance driven again by
shortfalls in supply as production from existing
mines decreases and is not r eplaced by
additional supply.
RMG’s forecast nickel price increases over
the next two years are subject to further delays
in the technically difficult but large metal
output high pressure acid leach operations
coming online later than scheduled.
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Project Survey 2011
ANNUAL SURVEY OF GLOBAL MINING INVESTMENT
THE VOLUME OF GLOBAL MINING INVESTMENT GREW AT AN UNEXPECTEDLY QUICK PACE IN 2010
By Magnus Ericsson, Luleå University of Technology and Viktoriya Larsson, Raw Materials Group
THE slump in mining industry investment was shorter than most observers—including
the Raw Materials Group (RMG)—expected only a year
ago. In last year’s project review we predicted renewed growth to take
place mostly toward the end of the year. Mining investments did increase
over the year but the start was faster than predicted and hence overall activity
was much higher than projected.
During 2010, 105 new mining investment projects with total announced
costs of $60 billion wer e registered in our Raw Materials
Data Metals Mines/Projects database. This represents sensationally
healthy growth and the industry seems to be heading for a new
boom in the next few years.
Our prediction from 2009 holds for another year: Investment activities
are bound to continue to increase in the next 12 months.
Recovery Under Way, Not There Yet
The total amount of investment in the global mining industry’ s project
pipeline as recorded in RMD Metals’ Mines/Projects database is $562
billion at the end of 2010. This figure increased by more than 21% compared
with the previous year, when investment growth was only 14%. The
industry has recovered from the 2009 slump but has not yet r eached
2008’s peak, when growth was almost 30%.
RMG’s oft-repeated conclusion that metal prices will be underpinned
by a rising long-term investment cost level still holds. In 2010, the level
of these long-term prices incr eased again after a dr op in 2009. RMG
does not anticipate metal prices will drop to the level of the early 2000s,
however. In today’s market there is an upside developing if metal demand
continues to soar.
The growth of the investment pipeline illustrates the industry’s crisis
is over and the future looks bright. The inflow of projects is once again
increasing and will most pr obably continue to grow as metal demand
increases. A slowdown in new projects may, however, become evident
in a couple of years due to the very sharp drop in exploration activity in
2009, although there’s no current trend in that direction. In fact, there
has been strong growth in the number and volumes of early stage projects
while the number of late stage pr ojects, including feasibility and
construction phases has been reduced, as few projects were brought
into the final stages during the crisis in 2009–2010.
The amount of investments in br ownfield projects has increased
in absolute terms while the relative share has increased marginally.
As would be expected, brownfield projects demand lower investments,
with the average project costing only $264 million, while
the average greenfield project is $542 million. Admittedly such a comparison
does not take the capacities of each project into account but
in our view brownfield projects are likely to be mor e cost effective
measured on a capacity basis.
All of this year’s survey statistics are based on projects with an announced
investment estimate. The RMD Metals database also includes
Mining Project Investment Pipeline, 2010
Greenfield Projects
Investment Share Share Trend
( x US$ B) (Percent) (2009 to 2010)
Early Stages
Conceptual &
Prefeasibility 232 041
Feasibility 147 026
Construction 057 010
Brownfield Projects
All Stages 126 023
TOTAL 562 100
Source (for all data): Raw Materials Data, Stockholm, Sweden, January 2011.
approximately 1,800 projects—mostly in the conceptual stage—for
which no investment figure has been announced. The investment total
for all mining projects, including projects for which no investment estimate
has been published, is ther efore larger than the $562 billion
recorded at the end of 2019. It is difficult to estimate how much bigger.
If it is assumed that the projects without published investment estimates
have a similar cost structure to those projects whose costs are known,
the total figure would increase considerably.
Many of the early stage projects included in the $562-billion total
will not, or at least not during a period of low metal prices, pass from
the conceptual study phase to the construction stage for a number
of reasons, including insufficient profitability, inadequate ore reserves,
failure to secure financing, technological problems or excessive political
risk. Historically RMG has observed 60%–75% of all projects announced
will materialize during a three-year period.
Top Metal: Iron Trumps Copper
Iron ore, copper, gold and nickel, in that order are the most important
investment targets for mining companies. These four metals account
for 84% of the total pr oject pipeline. They also dominate the mining
business in terms of the total value of its output; they are cumulatively
valued at $280 billion or 76% of the total value of all non-fuel mineral
Mining Project Investment by Metal, 2010
Investment Total Share Share Trend
(US$ billion) (Percent) (2009 to 2010)
1. Iron ore 127 27
2. Copper 124 27
3. Gold 75 16
4. Nickel 65 14
5. Uranium 15 03
6. Lead/zinc 14 03
7. PGMs 13 03
8. Diamonds 8 02
9. Other 24 05
Total 465 100
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Project Survey 2011
production during 2008. Continued high demand for ir on ore and
healthy increases in prices paid has gradually moved ir on ore to the
top of the list. Iron ore investment has surpassed that of copper with
a project pipeline of $162 billion—compared with $155 million for copper—while
gold and nickel ar e at much lower levels ($83 billion and
$69 billion, respectively) distantly followed by the sector, valued at $15–
$20 billion, in which uranium, lead/zinc and PGMs are to be found.
Investment in gold projects increased considerably in 2009, but
then dropped in 2010 to just under 11% of total pr oject investment
despite the high level of gold prices during this period.
Iron ore outpaced the other metals in terms of new investment, registering
an increase to $28 billion. New gold project investment totaled
$7 billion and copper to just under $6 billion in 2010.
In 2010, 36 new gold projects were announced, along with 22 iron
ore projects and 12 copper projects. The average iron ore project investment
was almost $1.3 billion, up from $750 million, while the average
gold project has remained steady at $204 million. Ir on ore’s
share of total new investment announced in 2010 increased again after
a decline in 2009, reaching 47%. The continuing demand growth for
steel and the concomitant high prices paid for iron ore point to a strong
increase in iron ore production in the next three to five years.
High metal prices drive exploration and subsequently, investments
in new mines. In 2010, the favorable price levels for silver resulted in a
number of new projects being launched, particularly towar d the end
of the year. Six new silver projects were announced with a total investment
of more than $4 billion. The political inter est in rare earths also
resulted in four new projects outside China with a total investment of
more than $3 billion. The Chinese near-monopoly of rare earths production
has caused serious concern in many countries and has been
seen as a Chinese attempt to take control over vital metal resources.
The low production level of rare earths outside China is, however, more
a function of quick gr owth in demand that has not been possible to
meet in the short term, given that mine startup often takes five to 10
years, rather than a problematic long-term supply situation. So far, demand
has been limited and the pr oduction volumes of these metals
so small—with total volume a few thousand metric tons annually, valued
at the mine at a few hundr ed million dollars—that none of the
major mining companies has bothered to get involved. The new projects
outside China indicate the situation is changing.
Latin America Back at No. 1
Latin America regained its position at the top of the list in 2010, attracting
more than 32% of total global investment—mor e than double of any
other region, each of which attracted roughly 13%–15% except for Europe
with 11%. Asia, which was the top region in last year’s survey, fell
Mining Project Investment by Region, 2010
Investment Share Change Trend
(US$ billion) (Percent) (2009 to 2010)
Africa 080 014
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Asia 073 013
Europe 062 011
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Latin America 180 032
North America 086 015
Oceania 081 015
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TOTAL 562 100
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behind in 2010. The Latin America investment pipeline grew by US$46
billion in 2010, much stronger than the global average of 21%.
The Latin American project pipeline includes more very large projects
than any other region. Currently, 58 projects have an investment
figure of more than $1 billion each, which makes the Latin American
average investment roughly 50% higher than in Oceania and 20%
higher than in North America.
Europe is still the least favored region with only 11% of the total or
$62 billion. But the downward trend is broken and, interestingly, new
European projects are located mostly outside Russia, which had earlier
dominated the region. Several new projects in Greenland, Sweden,
Finland and Romania ar e indications of an investment climate
slowly becoming more positive as the European Commission gradually
understands the benefits of a domestic mining industry . One of
the objectives of EU’s new Raw Materials Initiative is to impr ove the
conditions for mining in Europe.
Australia Top Target for Investment
The share of total investment accounted for by the top 10 countries
increased again in 2010 to 67%, almost back to the 2008 figur e
(68%). The discussion in the three last Project Surveys as to whether
there is a trend toward spreading mining investments more evenly
across the globe or not continues: At the end of 2009 we wer e almost
convinced there is a tendency to find new target countries,
but this year we are less sure.
There is a growing political interest in securing a stable mineral and
metals supply among consuming countries in Eur ope, and in Japan
and the U.S. Governments of producing countries, in particular those
of emerging economies, are trying to retain more of the profits from
mining within their economies. Royalties and taxes are increasing and
in some countries such as Ghana and Guinea the state has the right to
a certain free carried interest in each project. Such political initiatives
change the competitive situation between countries, at least in the short
term. Currently it appears that political instability in certain ar eas—for
example, West Africa—is making investors think twice before they engage
in the region, in spite of fantastic geological potential.
Australia is once again the leading country for mining investors,
riding a continuing iron ore boom. Of the 20 largest projects in Australia,
11 are for iron ore and all require investment of more than $1
billion. In Canada, the mix of pr ojects is much broader with several
gold and base metal projects among the 20 largest—but total investments
has not grown as fast on average as has the number and size
Top 10 Countries for Mining Investment, 2010
Investment Share Rank in
(US$ billion) (Percent) 2009
01. Australia 064 11 02
02. Canada 063 11 01
03. Brazil 051 09 03
04. Chile 045 08 06
05. Peru 043 08 05
06. Russia 039 07 04
07. South Africa 023 04 08
08. United States 023 04 07
09. The Philippines 017 03 09
10. Mexico 013 02 10
TOTAL 381 64
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Project Survey 2011
of the iron ore projects in Australia, thus making Canada’s tenure at
the top of the list one brief year. Both countries account for 11% of
total mining investment, or some $65 billion each. Brazil r emains in
third place but the gap between it and the top two has shrunk as a
result of strong growth in investment in the country and the r egion.
Below third place, there has a complete r eshuffle: Russia has fallen
from fourth place to sixth, and Chile has risen to fourth. Peru remains
in fifth. South Africa’s downward trend has been broken and it moved
up again to rank seventh. It is interesting to note that high costs and
antiquated mining legislation in the U.S. is finally and gradually undermining
its attractiveness for miners. In 2010, the U.S. was the only
top-10 country that did not incr ease its project pipeline, with its investment
total remaining at $23 billion.
Below the top-10 cutoff are Guinea, Indonesia, Argentina, Kazakhstan
New Caledonia, China and Papua New Guinea in that or der,
each with a portfolio of projects between $8–$11 billion. It should be
noted that as some pr ojects are much bigger than others and one
new project announced in a small country or one major project completed
makes a big difference in the position of this country relative to
others. In Guinea, for example, one new iron ore project increased its
total investment figure by 70%; thus, not too much importance should
be attributed to relative country rankings below the top 10.
The figure for China is most certainly an underestimate, since many
of the projects run by the state-owned companies are never reported
in such a way that they r each the international mining press. With
comparable reporting from China there is no doubt that the country
would be high up among the top 10 countries. Chinese pr ojects are
mostly small at an average of $150 million per project, compared with
Canada where the average project is priced at $545.
China’s scramble for resources in Australia, Africa and elsewher e,
which has come into political focus, is still negligible in spite of rapid
growth in recent years—although it represents growth from almost zero.
It will take years before Chinese companies, and China, become a powerful
global player in the mining industry. Further it is a mistake to view
the Chinese investors as a homogenous group. There are many different
types of Chinese companies active inter nationally: small companies
earning a quick dollar in the Congolese copper industry, and major companies
like Chinalco cooperating with global giants such as Rio Tinto.
ABOUT THIS SURVEY
The annual review of metal mining projects is compiled from Raw Materials
Group’s Raw Materials Projects database. The full database is available from
RMG on an annual subscription basis and includes more than 3,100 projects
as of January 2011, ranging from those in the prefeasibility stage to those
currently under construction. Of the total number of projects listed in the
database, more than 1,200 include detailed descriptions of resources/reserves,
grades, planned investment cost and completion date.
This survey includes all countries with known projects. In the process chain
from ore to metal, its main focus is on the mining stage. Pure smelter projects
are not listed. In some cases, however, where the process is fully integrated
from mining to refining, such as acid pressure leach hydrometallurgical nickel
projects, all stages are included.
Eligibility for a full listing requires each project to have an announced in
vestment cost estimate, reserve/resource data and an estimated annual production
figure. Comparability of information from different companies, countries
and regions varies, as specific project information or definition may be unclear
for various reasons, or the project may also involve large unreported infrastructure
costs. Raw Materials Group attempts to resolve these factors, but cannot
rectify all discrepancies arising from definitions and comparability.
Information contained in the survey is global in scope. However, it should
be noted that completely accurate coverage of some regions is difficult to attain
due to lack of information or corporate reporting standards and requirements.
In total, mine projects are included from more than 70 countries and
the survey’s aggregate figures are considered to reflect overall investment
trends in the mining industry reasonably accurately. For more information, visit
www.rmg.se or call +46-8-7440065.
MAJOR MINING INVESTMENT PROJECTS WORLDWIDE, YEAR END 2010
Project Name Location Status Type Products Controlled by Project Cost (US$ M)
Gold
Galore Creek Canada Conceptual (on hold) OP Au, Ag NovaGold, Teck 4,384
Donlin Creek USA Feasibility OP Au Barrick, NovaGold 4,274
Cerro Casale Chile Prefeasibility OP Au, Cu Barrick, Kinross Gold 4,200
KSM Au/Cu Canada Prefeasibility OP Au, Cu Seabridge 3,370
Pascua-Lama Chile Construction OP Au, Ag Barrick 2,800
Metates Mexico Prefeasibility UG Au, Ag Chesapeake 2,701
Pueblo Viejo Dominican Republic Susp, restart/constr OP Au, Ag Barrick, Goldcorp 2,700
Natalka Russia Susp, restart/constr OP Au Polyus Gold 2,500
Minas Conga Peru Feasibility OP Au Newmont, Buenaventura 2,500
Casino Copper Canada Prefeasibility OP Au, Cu Western Copper 2,003
Cadia East Australia Feasibility UG Au, Cu Newcrest 1,718
Sukhoy Log Russia Feasibility (on hold) OP Au, Pt State of Russia 1,240
South Deep South Africa Operating, exp/plans OP, UG Au Gold Fields 1,141
Bystrinskoye Russia Conceptual OP Au, Cu Norilsk Nickel 1,021
Bloemhoek South Africa Conceptual UG Au Wits Gold 1,000
Rosia Montana Romania Feasibility OP Au, Ag Gabriel Res 0,876
Courageous Lake Canada Prefeasibility OP Au Seabridge 0,848
Detour Lake Canada Closed, reopen/plans OP Au PDX Resources 0,844
Prosperity Canada Feasibility (on hold) OP Au, Cu Taseko 0,807
Malartic Canada Feasibility OP Au Osisko Mining 0,789
Target North South Africa Prefeasibility UG Au Harmony 0,785
Brisas Venezuela Feasibility OP Au, Cu Gold Reserve 0,731
Kodu Papua New Guinea Conceptual OP Au, Cu Frontier Res 0,724
Lihir Mine Papua New Guinea Operating, exp/plans OP Au Newcrest 0,696
Bakyrchik Mine Kazakhstan Susp, restart/plans OP, UG Au Rio Tinto plc 0,682
Livengood Au/Ag USA Conceptual OP Au, Ag Intl Tower Hill 0,665
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Project Survey 2011
Lobo/Marte Chile Prefeasibility OP Au Kinross Gold 0,650
Angostura Colombia Feasibility OP, UG Au, Ag Greystar 0,638
Tropicana Gold Australia Feasibility OP Au Anglogold, Independence 0,620
Ernest Henry Australia Operating, exp/constr (on hold) OP, UG Au, Cu Xstrata 0,542
Fruta del Norte Ecuador Prefeasibility OP Au, Ag Kinross Gold 0,500
Vasilkovskoye Kazakhstan Operating, exp/constr OP Au Polyus Gold 0,500
Akyem Ghana Feasibility OP Au Newmont Mining 0,500
Driefontein Gold South Africa Operating, exp/plans UG Au Gold Fields 0,448
Twangiza Congo (Dem Rep) Construction OP Au Banro 0,444
Mt Todd Australia Susp, restart/feasib OP Au, Ag Vista Gold 0,441
Kibali Congo (Dem Rep) Feasibility OP, UG Au Anglogold, Randgold, State of Congo (Dem Rep) 0,438
Gaby Ecuador Prefeasibility OP Au IMZ 0,432
Skouries Greece Feasibility OP Au, Cu Euro. Goldfields 0,417
Aurora Gold Dep Guyana Feasibility OP, UG Au Guyana Goldfield 0,409
Copper
Tampakan Philippines Feasibility OP Cu, Au Xstrata, Indophil 5,200
Udokan Cu Russia Feasibility OP Cu, Ag Metalloinvest 05,000
Oyu Tolgoi Mongolia Construction OP Cu, Au Rio Tinto, State of Mongolia 04,600
Ainak Afghanistan Susp, restart/plans OP Cu State of Afghanistan 04,400
Andina Chile Operating, exp/constr OP, UG Cu, Mo Coldelco 04,390
Las Bambas Peru Feasibility OP Cu Xstrata 04,200
Escondida Chile Operating, exp/plans OP Cu, Au BHP Billiton, Rio TInto, Mitsubishi, IFC, Mitsub Materials 03,500
Resolution USA Prefeasibility UG Cu, Mo Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton 03,000
Rekodiq Pakistan Feasibility OP Cu, Au Antofagasta, Barrick, Government of Balochistan 03,000
Los Azules Argentina Prefeasibility UG Cu, Au Degerstrom 02,851
Haquira Peru Conceptual OP, UG Cu First Quantum 02,824
Schaft Creek Canada Prefeasibility OP Cu, Au Copper Fox, Teck 02,814
Cumo USA Prefeasibility OP Cu, Mo Mosquito Cons 02,800
Frieda River Papua New Guinea Prefeasibility OP Cu, Au Xstrata 02,570
El Morro Chile Feasibility OP Cu, Au New Gold 02,520
Sierra Gorda Chile Prefeasibility OP Cu, Mo Quadra Mining 02,500
Galeno Peru Prefeasibility OP Cu, Au Minmetals, Jiangxi Copper 02,500
La Granja Peru Prefeasibility OP Cu, Mo Rio Tinto plc 02,500
Collahuasi Conc Chile Operating, exp/feasib OP Cu, Mo Anglo American, Xstrata, Mitsui, Nippon Mining 02,400
Esperanza Chile Construction OP Cu, Au Antofagasta, Marubeni 02,300
Ministro Hales Chile Feasibility OP Cu Codelco 02,300
Cobre Panamá Panama Feasibility OP Cu, Au Inmet 02,227
Quellaveco Peru Feasibility OP Cu, Mo Anglo American 02,200
Toromocho Peru Prefeasibility OP Cu, Mo Chinalco 02,150
Agua Rica Argentina Feasibility OP Cu, Au Yamana 02,055
Caserones Chile Construction OP Cu Nippon Mining, Mitsui Mining 02,000
Chuquicamata Chile Operating, exp/feasib OP Cu, Mo Codelco 02,000
Bozshakol Kazakhstan Feasibility OP Cu, Au Kazakhmys plc 02,000
El Pachón Argentina Feasibility OP Cu, Mo Xstrata 01,900
Salobo Brazil Feasibility OP Cu, Au Vale 01,808
Kov Congo (Dem Rep) Susp, restart/plans UG Cu, Co Glencore, State of Congo (Dem Rep), ENRC 01,800
Los Bronces Chile Operating, exp/constr OP Cu, Mo Anglo American 01,740
El Teniente Chile Operating, exp/constr UG Cu, Mo Codelco 01,720
Aktogay Kazakhstan Feasibility OP Cu, Au Kazakhmys plc 01,500
El Arco Mexico Feasibility OP Cu Grupo Mexico 01,500
Rio Blanco Cu Peru Feasibility OP Cu, Mo Zijin Mining 01,440
Nokomis USA Prefeasibility UG Cu, Ni Duluth Metals, Antofagasta 01,330
Iron Ore
Serra Sul Brazil Prefeasibility OP Fe Vale 11,297
Simandou Guinea Feasibility OP Fe Rio Tinto plc 06,000
Minas Rio Brazil Construction OP Fe Anglo American 05,000
RGP5 Australia Operating, exp/constr OP Fe BHP Billiton Gr 04,800
Kalia Fe Guinea Conceptual OP Fe Bellzone 04,456
Pilbara expansion Australia Construction OP Fe Rio Tinto 04,300
Mary River Canada Feasibility OP Fe Matachewan 03,842
KeMag Canada Feasibility OP Fe Tata Steel 03,800
Prioskolskoye Russia Conceptual OP Fe MMK OJSC, Ural 03,656
Cerro Copan Peru Conceptual OP Fe Cuervo 03,500
Pampa de Pongo Peru Conceptual UG Fe Nanjinzhao 03,280
Mbalam Cameroon Feasibility OP Fe Sundance 03,277
Sino Iron Ore Australia Construction OP Fe Citic Pacific 03,095
Timir Fe Russia Conceptual OP Fe Alrosa Group 02,903
LabMag Canada Prefeasibility OP Fe Tata Steel 02,750
Jibóia Brazil Conceptual OP Fe ENRC 02,600
Tonkolili Sierra Leone Prefeasibility OP Fe African Minerals 02,600
Bong Mine Liberia Closed, reopen/plans OP Fe China Union 02,600
Apolo Brazil Feasibility OP Fe Vale 02,509
Putu Liberia Conceptual OP Fe Severstal, african Aura 02,509
Vale Northern Brazil Operating, exp/feasib OP Fe Vale 02,478
Apurimac Peru Prefeasibility n/a Fe Strike Res 02,300
Guelb el Aouj Mauritania Feasibility OP Fe SNIM, Sphere 02,140
Exi Fe Dep China Conceptual n/a Fe Wugang 02,120
Balmoral South Australia Feasibility OP Fe Clive Palmer 02,110
Corumba Brazil Operating, exp/plans (on hold) OP Fe Vale 02,110
Valentines Fe Uruguay Prefeasibility OP Fe Zamin 02,100
RGP6 Australia Operating, exp/constr OP Fe BHP Billiton Gr 01,930
Nickel
Ambatovy Madagascar Construction OP Ni, Co Sherritt, Kores, Sumitomo, SNC Lavalin 04,760
Goro New Caledonia Construction OP Ni, Co Vale, SMM, Mitsui 04,083
Halmahera (Weda) Indonesia Feasibility OP Ni, Co Eramet, Mitsubishi 04,000
Koniambo New Caledonia Construction OP Ni Sud Pacifique, Xstrata 03,800
Marlborough Australia Feasibility OP Ni, Co Clive Palmer 03,400
Onca-Puma Brazil Construction OP Ni Vale 02,646
Voisey’s Bay Canada Operating, exp/constr OP Ni, Cu Vale 02,281
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Project Survey 2011
Mindoro Philippines Feasibility OP Ni, Co Severstal 02,200
Pujada Philippines Conceptual OP Ni BHP Billiton Gr 02,000
Vermelho Brazil Construction (on hold) OP Ni, Co Vale 01,908
Wingellina Australia Feasibility OP Ni, Co Metals X 01,837
Mt Margaret Australia Feasibility OP Ni, Co Glencore 01,524
Kalgoorlie Heron Australia Prefeasibility OP Ni, Co Heron Res 01,500
Barro Alto Brazil Construction OP Ni Anglo American 01,500
Ramu Papua New Guinea Construction OP Ni, Co MCC 01,370
Agata North Philippines Conceptual n/a Ni, Co Mindoro Res 01,330
Turnagain Canada Conceptual OP Ni, Co Hard Creek Ni 1,299
Yerilla Ni Australia Conceptual OP Ni, Co Heron Res 1,200
Wowo Gap Papua New Guinea Conceptual OP Ni, Co Resource Mining 1,200
Gag Island Indonesia Feasibility (on hold) OP Ni, Co Antam 1,160
Sorowako Mine Indonesia Operating, exp/plans OP Ni Vale, SMM 1,100
Goongarrie Ni Australia Prefeasibility OP Ni, Co Heron Res 1,094
Fenix Ni Guatemala Feasibility OP Ni Hudbay Minerals 0,984
Mindoro Philippines Feasibility OP Ni, Co Severstal 0,960
Nonoc Philippines Susp, restart/feasib OP Ni, Co Philnico 0,950
PGMs
Ferguson Lake Canada Conceptual OP, UG Pd, Cu Starfield 1,330
Bafokeng Pt South Africa Construction UG Pt, Pd Anglo American, Royal Bafokeng Nation 1,247
Garatau South Africa Feasibility UG Pt, Pd Nkwe 1,127
Fedorova Tundra Russia Feasibility UG Pd, Pt Barrick 0,640
Sheba's Ridge South Africa Feasibility OP Pt, Pd Aquarius, Anglo American 0,972
Afplats South Africa Feasibility UG Pt, Pd Implats 0,815
Sedibelo South Africa Prefeasibility OP Pt, Pd Bakgatla 0,700
Mogalakwena South Africa Operating, exp/plans OP Pt, Pd Anglo American 0,692
Frischgewaagd South Africa Feasibility UG Pt, Pd Anglo American 0,688
Akanani South Africa Conceptual UG Pt, Pd Lonmin 0,650
Impala South Africa Operating, exp/constr UG Pt, Pd Implats 0,543
Impala South Africa Operating, exp/constr UG Pt, Pd Implats 0,489
Arctic platinum Finland Conceptual OP Pd, Pt Gold Fields 0,429
Marathon Poly Canada Feasibility OP Pd, Pt Norilsk Nickel 0,335
Konttijärvi Finland Prefeasibility OP Pd, Pt Gold Fields 0,260
Silver
Brucejack Canada Prefeasibility OP Ag, Au Silver Standard 3,465
Bolshoi Kanimans Tadjikistan Conceptual UG Ag, Pb State of Tadjikistan 2,000
Navidad Argentina Prefeasibility OP Ag, Pb Pan Am Silver 0,760
Corani Peru Prefeasibility OP Ag, Pb Bear Creek 0,339
Escobal Guatemala Prefeasibility UG Ag, Au Tahoe 0,327
Saucito Mexico Prefeasibility UG Ag, Au Penoles 0,309
Diamonds
Star Canada Prefeasibility Dia Shore Gold 1,526
Argyle Australia Operating, exp/constr OP Dia Rio Tinto 0,803
Venetia South Africa Operating, exp/plans OP Dia Anglo American, Ponahalo 0,772
Cullinan South Africa Operating, exp/plans UG Dia Al Rajhi, Petra Diamonds 0,632
Lomonosov Russia Operating, exp/feasib OP Dia Alrosa Group 0,531
Gahcho Kue Canada Feasibility OP Dia Anglo American, Mountain Prov 0,525
Jwaneng Botswana Operating, exp/plans OP Dia Anglo American, State of Botswana 0,500
Renard Canada Prefeasibility OP, UG Dia State of Canada, Stornoway Diam 0,487
Luo-Camatchia Angola Construction (on hold) OP Dia Escom Minig, Alrosa Group 0,300
Verkhotina Russia Feasibility (on hold) UG Dia Arkhangelskgeol 0,300
Uranium
Viken Sweden Prefeasibility OP U, V Cont Precious 3,669
Elkonskoye Russia Conceptual ISL U Atomenergoprom OJSC 3,600
Kvanefjeld Greenland Prefeasibility OP U, REO Greenland Min, Westrip 2,295
Imouraren Niger Feasibility ISL U Areva, State of Niger 1,669
Khiagdinskoye Russia Operating, exp/plans ISL U Atomenergoprom OJSC 1,367
Michelin Canada Prefeasibility OP, UG U Fronteer Gold 0,862
Rossing South Namibia Prefeasibility OP U Rio Tinto, Itochu, NIger Uranium 0,704
Cigar Lake Mine Canada Construction UG U Cameco, Areva, Idemitsu Uran, Tepco 0,579
Etango Namibia Prefeasibility OP U Bannerman Res 0,555
Trekkopje Namibia Prefeasibility OP U, V Areva 0,461
Pecs Uranium Hungary Conceptual UG U Wildhorse 0,400
Zinc
Ozernoye Russia Feasibility OP Zn, Pb IFC Metropol 1,330
Mehdiabad Iran Feasibility OP Zn, Pb State of Iran, Union Res 1,300
Gamsberg Mine South Africa Feasibility (on hold) OP Zn, Pb Anglo American, Exxaro 0,860
Admiral Bay Australia Prefeasibility UG Zn, Pb Kagara Ltd 0,730
Bahuerachi Mexico Conceptual OP Zn, Ag Tyler 0,619
Selwyn Canada Conceptual OP Zn, Pb Selwyn Resources 0,601
Izok Lake Canada Feasibility OP Zn, Pb MMG 0,539
Hilarion Peru Prefeasibility UG Zn, Pb Milpo 0,500
Terrazas Mexico Prefeasibility OP Zn, Cu Constellation Cu 0,500
Dugald River Australia Feasibility UG Zn, Pb MMG 0,418
Oued Amizour Algeria Feasibility UG Zn, Pb Terramin Aust, State of Algeria 0,413
Hackett River Canada Conceptual OP, UG Zn, Ag Sabina Gold 0,409
Crandon USA Conceptual (on hold) UG Zn NRWG 0,350
Emba Derho Eritrea Prefeasibility OP Zn, Cu Sunridge Gold 0,332
Neves Corvo Portugal Operating, exp/constr UG Zn, Cu Lundin Mining 0,250
Lombador Portugal Prefeasibility UG Zn Lundin Mining 0,250
Red Zinc Manto Mexico Prefeasibility UG Zn Metalline 0,250
Zhairem Dalnezap Kazakhstan Susp, restart/plans UG Zn, Pb ENRC 0,250
San Nicolas Mexico Feasibility (on hold) OP Zn, Cu Teck, Goldcorp 0,246
Dairi Indonesia Feasibility UG Zn, Pb Herald, Antam 0,227
Jabali Yemen Feasibility OP Zn, Pb ZincOx, Ansan Wikfs 0,216
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Indonesia
COAL OUTPUT EXPECTED TO RISE BY 19% IN 2011
Energy through a complex reverse takeover by
UK firm Vallar Plc. The new company, involving
Indonesia’s powerful Bakrie family and the
Rothschild banking empir e, will be named
Bumi Plc and will be the first Indonesian company
to list on the London exchange.
Indonesia's power industry is likely to consume
50 million tonnes of coal this year, followed
by the cement industry with 10 million
and the metallurgy and paper industry with 7
million. Indonesia will need an additional 45
million tonnes of coal a year on top of existing
power plant requirements to support its electricity
expansion program that aims to add
20,000MW of generation capacity by 2014.
The government plans to expand coal's
share of the energy mix to 33% by 2025 from
about 17% currently. Oil's share is expected
to fall to 20% from 53% over the same period.
Coal from Indonesia is not only helping feed the growth of China and India, it is also set to play a major role in
Indonesia’s economic growth. Photo courtesy of VisualMedia
INDONESIA’S coal output is expected to increase
about 327 million tonnes this year, up
by 19% from the expected 2010 output of
around 275 million tonnes. The for ecast has
been made by the Energy and Mineral Resources
Ministry on the basis of normal
weather patterns, after unseasonal heavy rain
in September and October reduced the 2010
output by around 10%.
The Ministry’s director general of coal and
mineral resources, Bambang Setiawan, says
most of the nation’s producers are ramping up
production from existing and new operations
amid growing domestic and regional demand.
“Demand for coal is good so far . But production
can change depending on the weather so
hopefully the weather will be better this year.”
The 2011 for ecast is a step towar ds Indonesia,
the world’s leading thermal coal exporter,
doubling its current annual production
levels to 560 million tonnes by 2025, of which
300 million tonnes will be allocated to the
growing domestic market and the remaining
26 million tonnes will be exported. Domestic
coal consumption is expected to surpass export
volumes between 2020 and 2025.
PT Indo Tambangraya Megah (ITM) president
director Somyot Ruchirawat told a r e-
cent mining conference in Bali that growth in
Indonesia's coal output will be sustained in
the next five years by expansion fr om the
country's top 10 miners that make up about
two-thirds of the country's pr oduction. PT
ITM is the country’s fourth largest producer
and a unit of Thai miner Banpu.
“We forecast that Indonesia coal production
growth to 2015 will be ar ound 11% per year
and mostly from the major producers as well
as newcomers. Supply will be suficient to meet
both the domestic and overseas market.”
Indonesia's largest coal miner, Adaro Energy,
has earmarked $603-628 million on capital expenditure
this year, compared with $300-350
million in 2010. The company has for ecast
production of between 46 and 48 million
tonnes in 2011, up from 42-43 million in 2010.
With domestic demand increasing, demand
for Indonesian coal from China and India is
also growing as both continue to gr ow. Investment
from both countries is expected to
increase again in 2011 with Somyot Ruchirawat
saying, “A lot of companies from India
and China will be participating in coal investment.
Some will look to be operators while
others will just seek to hold equity stakes.”
A major move on the domestic scene, which
also has inter national implications, is the
merger of Bumi Resour ces with Berau Coal
Pakar due diligence extended
KANGAROO Resources and PT Bayan Resources
have agreed to extend the due diligence
period r elating to acquisition of the
world-scale Pakar Thermal Coal Pr oject in
East Kalimantan. The date was originally set
for January 28 but it has pr oved difficult to
complete the complex exercise.
Kangaroo is acquiring 99% of Pakar from
Bayan for $277 million in an all script deal
which will see Bayan emerge with a 57%
stake in the Australian-listed producer with
eight advanced coal pr ojects in the East
Kalimantan region.
Both companies remain committed to the
proposed transaction and are confident in
the ultimate outcome that Pakar will be
vended to Kangaroo with shares to be issued
as consideration to Bayan.
Kangaroo’s managing director Mark O’Keeffe
says the due diligence has been complex
owing to the licensing, permitting and other
legal requirements in Indonesia. As a r esult
both parties have agreed to extend the due
diligence to enable completion of a small
number of outstanding items. No specific
date is given for the completion but both parties
aim to finalize the process in the shortest
possible timeframe.
Kangaroo has also signed an MOU with
Bayan to immediately take operational control
of Kangaroo’s Indonesian projects. With a mar-
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Indonesia
ket capitalization of US$5.4 billion, total coal resources
of more than 1 billion tonnes and total
reserves of about 500 million tonnes spanning
eight mining concessions in East and South
Kalimantan, Bayan is one of the dominant
companies in the Indonesian coal market.
Pakar is a large-scale, substantially developed
and integrated coal mining operation
with total JORC-compliant resources of 3.8
billion tonnes, including coal reserves of 116
million tonnes. The infrastructur e includes
road, port facility, crushers, conveyors, mine
camp and other key essentials r equired to
move into production in 2011.
Together with its other Indonesian coal assets,
including the operating Mamahak Coking
Coal Project, the Tanur Jaya Thermal Coal
Project and the GPK Thermal Coal Pr oject,
the Pakar acquisition will reposition Kangaroo
as a world-scale Indonesian coal producer.
Kangaroo late last year completed the acquisition
of the remaining 15% of the Mamahak
project from Indonesian company Score Resources.
Since beginning mining in Mar ch
2010, Kangaroo has been ramping up production
and in January it sold 20,950 tonnes of
semi-soft coking coal, up fr om sales of 9882
tonnes during the entire December quarter.
As part of the Bayan alliance, Kangar oo
will now sell the Mamahak coal at the port
site/mine gate moving forward and will not
have to manage the logistics associated
with barging, stockpiling or ultimate completing
coal sales fr om Mamahak. This
means it can concentrate on exploring for ,
mining and producing coal.
Kangaroo has already begun working with
Bayan on Mamahak, taking advantage of
Bayan’s experience and expertise to assist
ramp up the project as quickly as possible.
Palace to acquire coal prospects
PALACE Resources is set to acquir e a 75%
stake in three extensive coal exploration projects
in West Papua Province through its proposed
purchase of Primecity Holdings.
Palace proposes to acquire Primecity for an
initial consideration of Aus$2.86 million with
a further US$10 million payable upon certain
milestones being achieved.
The prospects – Mier, Joyehi and Hiyejo -
cover about 1970sqkm towards the northern
tip of West Papua, about 300km south of the
township of Manokwari. The area is considered
by Palace to be prospective for high-grade and
high calorie coal based on reconnaissance exploration
results in the region.
The prospects are close to existing r oads
and operating ports and adjacent to significant
acreage held by a coal investment company.
The roads are reasonable throughout
the majority of the Prospects, but will require
upgrading to permit the movement of heavy
mining equipment in the event of future mining
operations.
Coal outcropping is clearly evident on the
tenements adjacent to and immediately along
strike from those to be acquir ed by Palace,
with one 2.5 metre outcrop containing highgrade,
semi-soft metallurgical coal. Geologists
have reported numerous outcrops on
the Palace leases.
Mier and Joyehi each cover about 500sqkm
and are prospective for coal while Hiyejo covers
970sqkm and is prospective for coal and
gold. Exploration licences (IUPs) ar e held for
each prospect and are valid for seven years.
Palace has assembled a team of five geologists
who are collecting samples for metallurgical
testing. An aggr essive exploration
program has been planned in conjunction
with SRK Consulting which will see as many
as seven drilling rigs in operation as part of
Palace’s strategy to calculate a maiden JORC
resource by the end of June.
Primecity has signed a binding agr eement
for the development of a dedicated coal terminal
at the port of Mumiwar en, which is
about 10km fr om the Joyehi lease. The
agreement follows completion of a scoping
study to identify a suitable location for a port
capable of receiving coal from the company’s
proposed mining operations.
Detailed technical assessments were undertaken
by internationally recognized infrastructure
consultants on thr ee port sites with
Mumiwaren identified as most suitable. Development
costs are anticipated to be up to 30%
lower than in the industrialized world while initial
coal shipments are expected to be made
utilizing existing facilities, thereby significantly
reducing start-up capital requirements.
The study highlights Mumiwaren’s suitability
for a beach/barge/ship operation. The location
holds the most pr omising potential to
provide safe mooring necessary for the export
of coal, as well as commercial and recreational
fleets in the Manokwari Regency. This
conceptual port is to consist of an integrated
world-class open access port ultimately capable
of exporting a minimum of 10 million
tonnes of coal products annually.
Discussions are now under way with West
Papuan authorities to upgrade the port to a
bulk-loading port that has an unimpeded navigational
land to the Pacific Ocean.
The Pakar Thermal Coal Project which Kangaroo Resources has acquired in a $277 million transaction with
PT Bayan Resources.
Adaro lifts coal production
ADARO Energy intends to pr oduce 46-48
million tonnes of coal from its Indonesian operations
during 2011, including 4-5 million
tonnes of Envirocoal from its Wara operations.
The figure is slightly higher than the
2010 target of 45 million tonnes, a target that
was revised down to 42-43 million tonnes following
unprecedented rainfall.
Adaro was not the only company af fected
by the weather with coal production for 2010
re-forecast by the Indonesian Coal Mining Association
to 90% of earlier estimates.
Adaro expects flat to moderate growth from
the mature Tutupan pit over the next few
years as it focuses on plans to increase over-
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Indonesia
Adaro Energy operates the largest single site coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere.
all annual production to 80 million tonnes in
the same timeframe.
In terms of incr easing capacity at the 18-
year-old, very large Tutupan pit, one of the key
challenges and major input costs is overbur -
den hauling and handling. It will become more
expensive for contractors and Adaro as the pit
gets deeper and hauling distances increase.
As ensuring the production growth of Tutupan
is a higher priority than incr easing coal
hauling efficiency, Adaro has advanced plans
to increase and improve overburden removal
at the mine. Plans to construct an out of pit
crusher and conveyor (OPCC) are progressing.
With an expected cost of US$250-
US$300 million, the OPCC is estimated to
deliver similar or better economic benefits as
the overland conveyor, which has been put
on hold. Adaro expects the OPCC will be operational
by 2013.
The company continues to target 30 million
tonnes of Envir ocoal-Wara and 50 million
tonnes of Envirocoal-Tutupan by 2014. After
beginning shipments of Envir ocoal-Wara in
the second quarter of 2010, Adaro has continued
to receive strong interest from existing
customers in countries such as India, China,
Indonesia and South Korea.
Adaro’s new 2X30MW mine-mouth power
plant will power the new conveyors and the
entire mining operation, bringing cost savings,
less dependency on oil and more reliability.
The plant is expected to begin in 2012
and will be fuelled by about 300,000 tonnes
of Envirocoal-Wara each year.
PT Adaro Indonesia has signed thr ee new
innovative long-term coal barging contracts,
which will strengthen the barging segment of
the coal supply chain and lower freight rates
by an estimated 15%. The deals wer e done
to support growth, improve efficiency and reliability
and lengthen the maturity of contracted
barging volumes.
Rather than select a solitary winner to fulfil anticipated
additional barging tonnage, Adar o
split the volumes amongst the thr ee winning
bidders and structured a competitive environment,
where additional future tonnages will only
be awarded to the best performing contractor.
Churchill secures port land
CHURCHILL Mining has completed the
purchase of land to be used as the site of a future
port facility for shipment of coal fr om the
East Kutai Coal Project. The port facility is a
key component for the dir ect access of exporting
thermal coal to international markets.
Churchill received internal sign-off on the
port site from the Department of Transportation,
thereby initiating the land acquisition
process in cooperation with the local community
and relevant government departments.
The port stockyard comprises an ar ea of
more than 340 hectar es and will have four
stockpiles of about 500 metres each in length
with a total storage capacity of 852,000
tonnes. Transportation of coal from the port
stockyard will be by a series of conveyors on
to a jetty extending 1500 metr es to deep
water. The wharf facility at the end of the jetty
will be equipped with two dedicated ship
loaders capable of annually handling 30 million
tonnes of coal. The wharf will handle
shipping from Handymax to Capesize
210,000 DWT vessels.
Churchill’s managing director Paul Mazak
says, “We believe that the port location is the
best available site within the r egion, and are
proud that our land acquisition team successfully
completed the acquisition of this site
in rapid time.”
East Kutai is a world-class thermal coal
deposit with a 961 million tonne JORCcompliant
mining reserve and 2.73 billion
tonnes of r esources. Exploration and r e-
source drilling continue along with scoping
and pre-feasibility work.
Churchill has a 75% interest in the project,
with its Indonesian partners the Ridlatama
Group owning the r emainder. Churchill is
working with the Ridlatama Group to develop
the project. Once operational the pr oposed
open pit would produce 30 million tonnes of
high grade thermal coal each year, for an initial
25-year life and would generate cashflow
of US$500 million each year.
The scale of the pr oject is reflected by the
US$1.2 billion needed to build the mine. W ith
this in mind the company is evaluating various
options to take the project forward. Paul Mazak
says, “Realizing the huge potential of the project
requires significant capital investment and
as part of the pr ocess, potential partners are
undertaking detailed and lengthy due diligence
in order to formulate their proposals.
“There has been a significant response from
interested parties in a number of countries,
primarily India, Indonesia, South Kor ea and
South East Asia, and as expected, discussions
with potential partners, financiers and
purchasers remain ongoing.”
A number of media reports state that Indian
companies are at the forefront of negotiations
and Paul Mazak has confirmed that it is dealing
with several private Indian companies and
a couple of Indian state-owned enterprises,
along with companies from other countries.
Major TCM resource increase
THE second phase of drilling at Pan Asia Corporation's
TCM Coal Pr oject in South Kalimantan
has substantially incr eased the
JORC-compliant resource to 53.2 million
tonnes comprising 22.4 million indicated
tonnes and 30.8 million inferred tonnes.
Prior to the drilling, the r esource was 30.7
million tonnes, including 19.7 million indicated
tonnes and 11 million inferred tonnes.
The quality of the coal has an average
calorific value of 6566 kcal/kg, 6.41% total
moisture, 13.52% ash and 1.52% sulphur .
This compares with the phase 1 drilling aver -
age calorific value of 6682 kcal/kg, 4.64% total
moisture, 12.09% ash and 1.83% sulphur.
Pan Asia’s CEO Alan Hopkins says, “The
TCM project features strongly in our corporate
strategy to be a major supplier of key re-
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sources into the expanding Asian markets.
The substantial incr ease in the pr oject's
JORC resource is great progress.
“TCM continues to generate consistently
good results. We are confident this pr oject
has great potential to re-rate the company,
and we look forward to moving forward rapidly
to the next phase.”
Pan Asia is well advanced in its due diligence
and requirements for regulatory and
shareholder approval for the acquisition of
a number of significant coal and manganese
assets in Indonesia. This diversified portfolio
of assets includes projects in both production
and exploration stages as well as a significant
opportunity to participate in key
infrastructure development which will complement
its existing coal projects.
The acquisition of a mix of Indonesian coal
assets has seen the company r ecently reinstated
to the Australian Securities Exchange,
which followed a fully-subscribed Aus$1 million
fundraising. Alan Hopkins says, “With the
acquisition of Innovation West, we have a significant
pipeline of thermal coal projects in Indonesia,
including immediate cashflow fr om
an initial four-year, 4.8 million tonne financing
and offtake arrangement.”
Apart from the pre-development TCM project,
Pan Asia also has the BKCP exploration
coal project that has large tonnage potential
and a pipeline of other opportunities.
Antam buys coal mine
PT ANTAM (Persero) Tbk subsidiary PT Indonesia
Coal Resour ces (PT ICR) has acquired
the Sar olangun coal mine in Jambi
Province for consideration of Rp92.5 billion.
The purchase represents PT ICR’s first move
into coal mining.
The Sarolangun mine began operations in
June 2010 with 2010 pr oduction of around
200,000 tonnes. PT ICR plans to ramp up coal
production to around 500,000 tonnes in 2011.
PT ICR estimates the coal r eserves of the
Sarolangun mine amount to 8.25 million tonnes
with average calorific value ranges between
5300 to 5500 Kcal/kg. The coals are currently
sold to the domestic and Indian markets.
PT ICR was formed to support Antam’s plan
to build a coal-fired power plant to partly supply
the electricity for Antam’s ferro-nickel facilities.
This year, inline with its optimization plan
for ferro-nickel smelters I and II, Antam is
targeting production of 18,000 tonnes of
nickel contained in ferro-nickel (TNi) with a
sales target of 18,500 TNi. It is targeting
nickel ore production of 7.65 million wet
metric tonnes (wmt) consisting of 4.5 million
wmt of high grade nickel ore and 3.15 million
wmt of low grade nickel ore. It aims for
5.86 million wmt of nickel ore sales in 2011
with 3.71 million wmt of high grade ore and
2.15 million wmt of low grade ore.
In 2010 Antam produced 3,617,563 wmt of
high grade nickel ore and 3,375,891 wmt of
low grade nickel ore, totalling 6,993,454 wmt.
Total nickel ore production exceeded its 2010
internal target of 6.15 million wmt. Sales of
total nickel ore amounted to 5,863,840 wmt
in 2010, generating Rp2.36 trillion in revenue
or a 39% increase over 2009.
In 2011 Antam targets gold pr oduction of
3804kg with the Pongkor mine to contribute
2007kg and Cibaliung to contribute 1797kg.
Production in 2010 of 2780 kg was lower
than the internal target of 3080 kg. Pongkor
produced 2485kg while Cibaliung pr oduced
295kg. Antam is yet to mine the planned,
higher grade gold veins at Cibaliung.
In 2010 Antam produced 104,692 wmt of
bauxite and sold 191,615 wmt of bauxite ore.
In 2011 it aims for bauxite pr oduction of
200,000 wmt.
Northern Leases licence issued
INDONESIA’S Minister of Forestry has issued
the principle licence (Izin Prinsip) to Straits
Asia Resources for the Norther n Leases at
the Sebuku coal project. This area is a key
part of the company’s long-term strategy for
mining its Sebuku concessions.
The Izin Prinsip is the precursor to the Izin
Pinjam Pakai (borrow and use licence) and
its main purpose is to confirm rights to conduct
extraction of coal provided certain final
conditions are met. The Izin Prinsip sets out
the conditions and, once they ar e fulfilled,
mining and exploration may commence in
the permitted area.
The area lies immediately to the north of the
mine’s Tanah Putih pit and the same coal
seams are continuous into the Norther n
Leases. Straits Asia already holds a general
body of information about the coal and geology
in the Norther n Leases and expects to
begin work in the area relatively quickly after
the borrow and use licence is issued, which
will lead to the long-awaited ramp up of production
from the mine.
Sebuku Island lies on the most easter n
position of South Kalimantan, affording easy
access to open, deep water seas and to the
major shipping routes in and out of Asia.
The island’s highest point is only 125 metres
with Straits Asia’ s mining ar ea defined
mainly by marshy swamps and hills ranging
from 5 to 25 metres.
Sebuku has a population of about 5000 of
which more than 750 are employed at the operations.
Straits Asia’s concession area totals
more than 18,000 hectares on the west portion
of Sebuku and extending into a shallow
Operations at Straits Asia’s Sebuku coal project on Sebuku Island, South Kalimantan.
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Indonesia
sea water basin about 3 to 5 metres deep between
Sebuku and the larger neighbouring island
of Pulau Laut.
Straits Asia has been mining at Sebuku since
1997. The first pit, in souther n part of the island,
has been mined out and operations ar e
now conducted in the mid-western part of the
island, currently still on land from a single pit.
The coal is a multi-seam formation and extends
generally in a north-west dir ection
under the shallow strait. Coal outcr oppings
on Pulau Laut and the company’ s drilling in
the seabed area suggest that the coal seams
that being mined, or similar formations, extend
from Sebuku on to Pulau Laut.
A feature of Sebuku is its very low strip
ratio, averaging about 5:1 or half the average
strip ratio for Indonesia. The mine pr oduces
single burn thermal coal which is sold primarily
to Asian and European power utilities.
Straits Asia also has the Jembayan project
which has coal reserves of 127 million tonnes
and resources of 610 million tonnes. The second
load-out facility is due to be commissioned
during the curr ent quarter, bringing
Jembayan’s total annual installed infrastructure
capacity to 12 million tonnes.
Evidence of Tabang coal seams
PHASE one exploration by Challenger Deep
Resources at the Tabang Coal Project in East
Kalimantan has provided evidence of at least
eight separate seams in the norther n half of
the property. A scout drill pr ogram is now
being undertaken to test the quality, continuity,
width and number of coal seams at depth.
The exploration program has consisted of
geologic mapping, outcrop sampling, trenching
as well as the excavation of test pits.
Work completed to date covers about 55%
of the project area and was focused on the
north and central portion of the property.
The program is continuing and as well as
the drilling, includes outcrop mapping of the
remainder of the property, excavation of test
pits to fully expose foot wall and hanging wall
of coal seams and interpr etation of results.
The scout drilling will include at least 1000
metres of drilling in 25 to 30 holes.
Through its exploration to date, Challenger
has discover ed 56 coal outcr ops.
Preliminary interpretation of the discovered
outcropping coal is that at least eight separate
seams are evident in the norther n half
of the property. The width and number of
seams cannot be confirmed until initial
drilling operations have been completed.
The seams appear to be shallow dipping.
Based on the sample analysis performed,
coal quality in the discovered seams is in the
5000-6000 Kcal/kg range. This quality of coal
is highly marketable.
The 2900ha Tabang Project is in the Tabang
district, Regency of Kutai Kartanegara. The
project area is accessible by vehicle with well
established logging r oads and is in close
proximity to the Belayan River, a major tributary
of the Mahakam which in turn is the coal
transport route to Muara Jawa, the anchor -
age point for mother vessels and export to
market. This river has the capacity to handle
3500 tonne barges from projected port facilities.
Coal operations in the area currently use
the Belayan River as a transportation highway
for commercial coal production.
Challenger’s president Ranjeet Sundher
says, “I am very encouraged by the initial
exploration results. The extent of coal outcrops
discovered and the quality of the coal
looks very promising.
“Challenger is one step further in its business
plan of acquiring and developing numerous
coal projects in Indonesia as a precursor
to achieving commercial production. Based
on the success of our recent program, Challenger
has started due diligence on several
other acquisition opportunities in this area.”
The company has r ecently completed a
non-brokered private placement of up to $2.1
million with proceeds to be used for the fur -
ther exploration of Tabang property and for
the investigation and acquisition of additional
Indonesian coal exploration projects.
Trial mining begins at B26
TRIAL mining is under way at Orpheus Energy
Group’s joint venture B26 Coal Project in East
Kalimantan with the first trial shipments made
recently. Heavy earthmoving machinery pr e-
stripped the overburden during January to enable
the trial mining to begin while trial
shipments were scheduled for February.
Orpheus, whose Indonesian partner is PT
Mega Coal Inter national, has an of ftake
agreement for the first 25,000 tonnes of coal
and has received an advance of $500,000.
The joint venture partners have also started
a drilling pr ogram to advance the existing
database and mine plan to JORC standar d
for conversion to a JORC classified resource.
The drilling is testing areas of more complex
structure and other features which may affect
seam continuity within and outside the cur -
rent mining area at B26.
Orpheus Energy Group is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Australian-listed Coalworks and
is proposed for divestment this year into a separate
listed company called Orpheus Energy .
As part of the listing pr oposal, Coalworks will
receive 35 million shares in the new company.
Orpheus Energy Group has recently raised
$3.45 million through a private placement of
Pre-stripping work at Orpheus Energy Group’s B26
Coal Project in East Kalimantan.
unlisted converting notes which are expected
to convert into shares on or after the listing.
A prospectus for the listing is expected to be
issued during the current quarter with the ASX
listing proposed for the first half of the year.
As well as the B26 project, the divestment
by Coalworks will see Orpheus take on the
Hodgson Vale Thermal Coal Project in southeast
Queensland and the Ashford Limestone
Project in northern New South Wales. The divestment
will allow Coalworks to focus on its
core Australian coal properties.
Toka Tindung production in March
ARCHIPELAGO Resources expects to start
production at the Toka Tindung Gold-Silver
Project in North Sulawesi by the end of March
at an average annual pr oduction rate of
150,000 ounces of gold and 250,000 ounces
of silver for the first six years of the curr ent
eight year project life.
The project contains a JORC-compliant resource
of 1.75 million ounces of gold equivalent
of which 1.1 million ounces is initially
mineable by a series of open pits feeding a
central processing plant.
The company’s CEO Colin Loosemore says,
“The open pit mining operation is straightforward
and the processing operation is simple
carbon-in-leach (CIL), so we don’ t see any
risk attached to mining or pr ocessing. Production
cost of US$442/ounce is about a third
of the current gold price and well below world
average. That leaves a high surplus margin
and makes for a financially robust project. We
are going to commit some of our surplus rev-
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Indonesia
The Toka Tindung mine of Archipelago Resources
where gold and silver production will start by the end
of March.
enues to exploration with a view to maintaining
and extending the mine life.”
Archipelago believes there is potential to
add to resources and mine life, and as a r e-
sult it is embarking on a major exploration
program, planning to spend nearly $30 million
over the next couple of years.
Colin Loosemore says, “We’ve spent almost
nothing on exploration for the last decade
which is purely because of our limited finances
and focus on production. The ground is very
prospective and we have a high probability of
adding substantially to resources.”
The drilling that has been done has pr o-
duced encouraging results with intersections
encountered demonstrating that the high
grade mineralization pr eviously defined in
deeper drilling extends to the surface. About
4km to the north of Toka Tindung is another
prospective area that has not been followed
up for a decade and which is also a priority
target for early testing.
Toka Tindung was discovered in the early
to mid 1990s. A lot of exploration work was
done by previous owners in the late 1990s,
however, while they were trying to get the
project into production, the gold price was
falling. It dr opped to about US$255 an
ounce, at which price the project wasn’t viable.
As a r esult it was put on car e and
maintenance for a couple of years befor e
being put up for sale.
The project was acquired by the curr ent
owners in February 2002 when the gold price
was about $280 an ounce and was put it into
Archipelago, which was listed on the AIM
market in September 2003. Leighton Asia’ s
Indonesian division PT Leighton Contractors
is doing the development work and will carry
out the contract mining.
Scout drilling at Pelitalira
HILLGROVE Resources will undertake a
scout drilling pr ogram at the Pelitalira
prospect of the Tanah Daro Gold Project in
Central Sumba after r eceiving encouraging
results from sampling programs. The company
hopes to begin the program before the
end of March.
Surface sampling at Pelitalira resumed after
the company completed land access socialization
programs. Pelitalira comprises a
prominent hill of silicified, intermediate volcanic
lithology cut by quartz lodes in a number
of locations. Intense hydr othermal
alteration is also evident.
Soil sampling has identified a 200 metr e x
300 metre gold anomaly grading mor e than
1 gram/tonne gold, trending WNW where it
disappears under shallow cover. Rock chip
sampling of alter ed volcanic lithology and
quartz lodes has returned significant gold, silver
and, in places, copper values.
Best rock chip samples are 37.13 grams/
tonne gold and 406 grams/tonne silver; 6.1
grams/tonne gold, 76.4 grams/tonne silver
and 0.39% copper; 18.9 grams/tonne gold,
765 grams/tonne silver and 0.08% copper;
and 3.44 grams/tonne gold and 54.3
grams/tonne silver.
Best float samples ar e 3.2 grams/tonne
gold, 215 grams/tonne silver and 3.58% copper;
3.29 grams/tonne gold and 43.4 grams/
tonne silver; and 15.55 grams/tonne gold,
185 grams/tonne silver and 3.36% copper .
Best subcrop samples are 3.16 grams/tonne
gold and 21 grams/tonne silver; 3.62 grams/
tonne gold, 6.4 grams/tonne silver and
0.09% copper; and 2.055 grams/tonne gold
and 30.6 grams/tonne silver.
Exploration is also continuing at the Masu
project in the south of Sumba with an air -
borne geophysical survey flown following the
first phase of diamond drilling.
Hillgrove’s managing director Drew Simonsen
says, “Drilling and sampling has confirmed
widespread gold mineralization across
Masu. Although r esults to date indicate
tested targets are relatively small, the Masu
corridor is both large and significant, and remains
highly prospective for large gold deposit
occurrences. Our activity to date is really
only just scratching the surface. The more we
look, the more we find.
“With the help of specialists in this type of
extensive epithermal mineralogy , Hillgrove
has determined to undertake a geophysical
examination of the project area, and re-evaluate
work and interpretation to date with a
view to gaining a deeper understanding of
controls on gold mineralization.”
The company has received strong support
from existing shareholders for a recent share
purchase plan, which raised $12.7 million. It
follows a fully underwritten $65 million shar e
placement.
Drew Simonsen says the funds raised will
provide the company with additional comfort
that construction of its Kanmantoo Copper
Project in South Australia can be achieved
within available cash resources. “In addition,
the funds will also allow Hillgrove the opportunity
to consider additional strategic investments.
These opportunities may include
exploration in and around Kanmantoo or by
making further investments that fit within Hillgrove’s
tightened strategic focus and in Indonesia
in particular.”
Bumi Resources mineral plans
WHILE the future looks bright for PT Bumi
Resources owing to expanding coal pr o-
duction and an exciting merger with Berau
Coal Energy, its non-coal assets spin-off PT
Bumi Resources Minerals (BRM) also looks
set for a big year in 2011 with two projects
to start production.
BRM listed on the Jakarta stock exchange
in December after the spin-off occurred earlier
in 2010. Although it has no mining pr o-
duction apart fr om a 24% stake in
Newmont’s Batu Hijau gold project, BRM has
attracted plenty of interest from investors domestically
and further afield.
The miner raised more than 2.095 trillion rupiah
($232 million) by selling 3.3 billion primary
shares, or equal to 17% of its enlarged
capital, in its initial public offering.
BRM expects to start production at its iron
ore mine in the West African nation of Mauritania
in the fourth quarter of 2011 with annual
output of 600,000 tonnes and is also expecting
approval of a mining permit for the Dairi
Prima lead and zinc project in North Sumatra
where production may also begin this year.
BRM’s finance director Yuanita Rohali says
the company is also ready to invest $271 million
to bid for another 7% stake in the Batu
Hijau mine, since Newmont has to divest
under Indonesian law. She says the company
is also looking for further acquisition targets
in gold and iron.
The Bumi spin-off included its non-coal
assets such as tin, zinc, gold and copper ,
and several r ecent acquisitions, such as
Herald Resources, which contr olled the
Dairi Prima project.
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Indonesia
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
LEIGHTON ASIA GROWS ALONG WITH INDONESIA
THE growth of PT Leighton Contractors Indonesia
has reflected the growth of Indonesia’s
mining industry and with the country’s
economic prosperity quickly accelerating,
the road to future growth seems to be lined
with success.
PT Leighton Contractors Indonesia, a division
of Leighton Asia, has a packed pipeline
of work in Indonesia, including two gold mining
projects, three coal projects and number
of civil projects right across the archipelago.
Leighton Asia’s managing director Hamish
Tyrwhitt says the division has a very bright future
in servicing Indonesia’s mining and infrastructure
needs. “Indonesia is gr owing in
economic prosperity and has had a r ecent
ratings upgrade by Moody’s. It is approaching
the magic US$4000 GDP per capita amount
and when that happens, the country moves
to a consumer-based economy.
“The need for infrastructure starts increasing
and people’ s individual r equirements
change, which is often associated with energy,
thus leading to an increased demand for
natural resources. This is what is occurring in
China and India,” he says, “with Indonesia
now following suit.
“Indonesia is also feeding the exponential
growth in India and China through its natural
resources. Indonesia will see, in my view, a lot
more infrastructure projects coming to market
over time as it starts upgrading infrastructure
and improving its efficiency.”
A strategic move by Australian construction
firm Leighton Holdings into Asia in the early
1970s culminated in the formation of
Leighton Asia in 1975. PT Leighton Contractors
Indonesia has been operating in Indonesia
since 1974 and became part of the
Leighton group of companies after it was acquired
by Leighton Asia in 2009. Over the
past decade, PT Leighton Contractors Indonesia
has built a solid track record and experienced
exponential growth, with annual
turnover increasing tenfold. With a pipeline of
major projects, the business looks set for further
growth at a significant pace.
“PT Leighton Contractors Indonesia has
grown at double-digit figures since its inception
because we have a balanced portfolio of
projects in civil, building and mining ar eas,
and we are diversifying in commodities; gold
projects as well as coal. What we are seeing
is that mining pr ojects are becoming more
significant, of longer duration and ther e are
more projects.”
Training is crucial
PT Leighton Contractors Indonesia has almost
4000 employees in various locations
around the country, establishing it as an employer
and contractor of choice. Hamish Tyrwhitt
says, “W e self-perform everything in
Indonesia, which means we employ the
whole workforce to take car e of the entir e
task from start to finish.
“We have people at pr ojects in Sulawesi,
North Sumatra, East and South Kalimantan
and in Java, at the head office in Jakarta, as
well as at the logistics/fabrication centr e at
Bekasi, just outside Jakarta, and at the supply
base in Balikpapan, Kalimantan. Acr oss
the whole business, about 99% of staf f are
national, only 1% are expatriates.
“Training is crucial. We have a large centre
at Balikpapan and run appr enticeship
schemes and other focused training needs.
You can’t get people who have been through
traditional Australian-style appr enticeship
programs so we brought that system to Indonesia.
We run new people through training
and then take them on to our pr ojects for
practical experience.”
Much of Leighton’s business in Indonesia is
repeat business, with Hamish Tyrwhitt estimating
it to be almost 90%. “W e have been
well placed in recent times as commodity and
resource prices have held up well, so existing
clients have done additional exploration and
opened up new pits while mines have grown
both in the duration that we are present and
in size. Among these are the large Indonesian
mining companies such as PT Harum Energy
Tbk, PT Bayan Resources Tbk and PT MHU
with whom we have worked for many years
on different phases of mining activity.
Rig teams ready for through seam blasting at Wahana Coal Mine in South Kalimantan.
Gold projects
“We also have new clients, such as G-Resources
which is undertaking the Martabe
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PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Indonesia
Gold Project in North Sumatra. W e haven’t
worked for them previously and are doing all
mine infrastructure to get the pr ocess plant
area established and then will move into the
contract mining phase. This is an example of
a new client we ar e supporting all the way
through – from establishment of a camp to
contract mining.”
Leighton won the Aus$172-million Martabe
contract last year. The project has a resource
base of 6.5 million ounces of gold and 66 million
ounces of silver with annual pr oduction
at full capacity to be 10 million tonnes.
Toka Tindung is another gold pr oject
Leighton is working on in North Sulawesi.
Last year it signed an addendum allowing it
to recommence work on an Aus$125-million
contract to service the mine with land clear -
ing, civil works, drilling, excavating, loading,
hauling and dumping of waste, selective mining
and hauling of ore. After the initial equipment
and personnel mobilization,
infrastructure establishment, clearing and
haul road preparation, mining began in the
Toka pit in July 2010.
combination of local knowledge, international
experience and the quality of our national staf
sets us apart from our competition.
“People make a career of Leighton and in
turn Leighton has been able to be successful
and provide opportunities for those people
over long periods of time.”
Leighton Asia is focused on success
throughout the r egion and is committed to
continuing to grow and change to meet the expectations
and demands of Asia’s communities
and clients. The maintenance of its
on-ground presence, its solid client and community
relationships and consistent ability to
skillfully deliver high-pr ofile and challenging
projects allow Leighton Asia to develop local
staff, enabling the company to better under -
stand local needs and operating environments.
It has about 8000 people working throughout
Asia. The company has the financial r e-
sources and industry expertise to undertake
the development and construction of largescale
and sophisticated civil, infrastructur e,
building and mining projects.
Coal projects
On the coal front, Leighton is working on the
Wahana (PT Bayan Resources Tbk), Mahakam
Sumber Jaya (PT Harum Energy Tbk) and PT
Multi Harapan Utama projects in Kalimantan.
PT Wahana Baratama Mining’s Wahana project
in Satui, South Kalimantan, is its largest mine
and Leighton is providing project management,
mine planning, surveying, supervision, site security,
materials, equipment, equipment maintenance,
labour, transportation, medical
services, consumables and site infrastructur e
required to carry out the works. The mining
works are progressing very well and encompass
all land clearing, drilling and blasting, loading
and hauling of overburden and coal.
There are also opportunities opening up
elsewhere and Hamish Tyrwhitt says that for
the Freeport mine in Irian Jaya the company
is doing infrastructure work, such as camps
and mine structur es. “We are looking
throughout Indonesia and are not geographically
constrained. We seek viable, lower-cost
operations with larger reserves and that we
believe will be sustainable.”
Leighton’s strengths
“Our strength lies in our ability to develop
competitive, innovative, practical solutions for
our clients throughout the region. Our unique
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 29

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Mongolia
EXPANDED COAL CRUSHING FACILITY AT OVOOT TOLGOI
In October 2010, the company enter ed into
a contract for $48 million to design and construct
a coal-haul highway. The 45km highway
will link Ovoot Tolgoi with Ceke, will be 17 metres
wide and will consist of four fully paved
lanes, with a one metre central median in order
to provide capacity well in excess of 20 million
tonnes of coal per year. The highway is scheduled
to be completed by the end of 2012.
Haul trucks move coal at SouthGobi’s Ovoot Tolgoi project in southern Mongolia.
AFTER deciding to expand its coal handling
facility at the Ovoot T olgoi Coal Pr oject,
SouthGobi Energy Resources now expects
the re-designed US$25 million plant to be
completed by the end of 2011.
In order to further enhance product value, the
company began construction of a basic coalhandling
facility in June 2010. The basic facility
includes a 300-tonne capacity dump hopper ,
which will receive run-of-mine coal fr om the
Ovoot Tolgoi mine and feed a coal r otary
breaker that will size coal to a maximum of 50
millimetres and reject oversize ash.
In November the company appr oved an
expansion of the coal handling facility and it
will now also include dry air separation as
an additional stage through the insertion of
vibrating air tables.
Prior to operation of the permanent coal handling
facility, temporary screening operations
have started at Ovoot Tolgoi. This performs a
similar function to the basic coal handling facility
in that it r ejects oversize ash and sizes the
coal to a maximum of 50 millimetres.
Ovoot Tolgoi is in the southwest cor ner of
the Omnogovi Aimag of Mongolia, 270km
southwest of the provincial capital of Dalanzadgad
and 700km southwest of Ulaanbaatar.
As at July 1, 2009, it had 105.0 million
tonnes of proven and 9.1 million tonnes of
probable surface coal r eserves. The r e-
sources, inclusive of reserves, are 135.9 million
measured tonnes, 35.1 million indicated
tonnes and 13 million inferred tonnes.
There is scope to add considerably to these
figures with exploration adding to resources at
the Soumber deposit, 20km to the east. There
are estimated measured coal resources of 13.1
million tonnes, indicated resources of 8.3 million
tonnes and inferred resources of 55.5 million
tonnes but the deposit is open to the west
and east as well as at depth.
SouthGobi has recently completed its first direct
delivery coal sale fr om Ovoot Tolgoi to
Risun Mining Co. All previous SouthGobi coal
sales were mine-gate sales, in which customers
took delivery and ownership of the coal
at the Ovoot Tolgoi site and made their own
arrangements to transport the coal to China.
The initial delivery to Risun at the end of
January was the first delivery under a
500,000 tonne, 2011 sales contract.
Using a logistics service pr ovider, South-
Gobi transported coal to a customs bonded
yard at Ceke, China, about 50km south of
Ovoot Tolgoi. Ceke is a major Chinese coal
distribution terminal with rail connections to
key coal markets in China. Risun then undertakes
its own logistics fr om there, with the
coal destined for use in coke-making.
Initial Tsant Uul resource
AN initial JORC-compliant resource estimate
of about 90 million tonnes has been received
for Hunnu Coal’s Tsant Uul Coking Coal Project
in southern Mongolia. The r esource includes
61 million tonnes in the measured and
indicated categories.
The 59,000 hectare project is ideally located
for development of a coal mine being within
40km of the giant Tavan Tolgoi Coking Coal
Field in South Gobi Pr ovince and about 5km
from an existing coal haulage road to China. A
proposed rail line is peripheral to the project.
The resource has been calculated following
a total of 28,029 metr es of drilling in 187
holes and is based on data acquir ed up to
January 12, 2011.
The company is continuing an aggr essive
drilling program with the intention of fast
tracking mining development studies. Ther e
are six rigs operating with an additional two
rigs being mobilized. Hunnu believes this
drilling has considerable potential to expand
and increase the resource.
A large diameter drilling pr ogram was due
to start before the end of February to obtain
bulk coal samples for full washability and
metallurgical test work as well as for potential
offtake partners.
The company has started the mining licence
application process and is completing
a study with the aim of generating initial production
in the latter part of 2011.
Hunnu has r ecently acquired the nearby
Bulanbulag Coking Coal Project and will also
undertake drilling programs at the Khuree-2
and Tsokhio coking coal projects, all of which
are close to the Chinese border.
Hunnu now has total coal r esources to
JORC reporting standards of more than 400
million tonnes across its projects, with new
resources being estimated for the Unst
30 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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News 2_Layout 1 2/15/11 3:46 PM Page 3
Mongolia
Coal core samples from Aspire Mining’s Ovoot Coking Coal Project.
Khudag and Tenuun-2 projects. The company
has recently acquired a further 15% interest
in Unst Khudag and surr ounding
licences, including the new Har T oirom discovery.
It now has an 80% inter est in Unst
Khudag in Dundgobi Province.
Positive Ovoot coal tests
POSITIVE coal quality test results have been
received from Aspire Mining’s Ovoot Coking
Coal Project in northern Mongolia. Based on
early results, it is expected that the Ovoot
washed product will be a high fluidity , midvolatile
coking coal, which should be well received
in metallurgical coal markets.
Coal washability test r esults from a PQ
sized metallurgical drill hole indicate a very
high theoretical yield of 87.7% to pr oduce a
simulated product with 9.5% ash content and
a CSN of 9. Coal washability test work involves
float/sink tests and froth flotation.
Aspire has also r eceived raw coal quality
test results from a further 97 samples, which
confirm the high quality and consistency of
the coal across the Ovoot deposit.
A total of 221 samples have been received
from 18 holes, which r epresent 65% of the
samples submitted from Aspire's 2010 drilling
program. The results are consistent with previous
analysis received, the only differences
in raw coal averages being a 1.7% incr ease
in ash and a fall in volatile matter of 1%.
Aspire's managing dir ector David Paull
says, “We are very encouraged by the high
indicative yield to a low ash, high CSN coal
product. There is no apparent thermal fraction
in the washing results to date which enhances
the economics of the Ovoot pr oject
and increases our capability to send a larger
volume of high-value coal to end customers.”
Aspire's 100%-owned Ovoot Project is in
Khuvsgul Province. It was purchased by Aspire
in February 2010 and exploration drilling
began in late April 2010 with more than 8000
metres of drilling completed before the end of
the year and 338 samples in 7 batches taken
for quality assessment. An initial r esource of
330.7 million tonnes was released in October
2010, with three-quarters of this sitting above
250 metres from surface.
The company is undertaking a 2D seismic
program to further delineate the deposit and
identify new exploration targets for the 2011
drilling program.
Commodities trading house Noble Gr oup
has increased its interest in Aspire to 4.1%.
David Paull says Noble is one of the world’ s
largest marketers of coking coal and the company
welcomes its investment. “Noble is active
in Mongolia and Aspir e and Noble have had
very preliminary discussions about how the two
companies can cooperate in the future.”
Noble's acquisition has resulted in suspension
of the two year standstill agr eed to by
SouthGobi Resources as part of the 19.9%
placement and strategic partnership agr eement
entered into last October. “The rest of
the agreement with SouthGobi r emains in
place and we look forward to continuing with
our strategic alliance,” David Paull adds.
Galshar scoping study under way
XANADU Mines is undertaking a scoping
study into the options and costs for moving
the Galshar coal project forward into a mining
operation. Galshar has an exploration target
in the range of 175 million to 225 million
tonnes of thermal coal.
As part of the study, drilling of identified coal
seams was expected to begin in February to
further refine the geological model and define
JORC mineral resources. About 7500 metres
of drilling will be required for this purpose.
A project team has been selected to evaluate
the project economics. The team comprises international
standard mining, engineering, hydrological
metallurgical and envir onmental
consultants based in Australia and Mongolia.
The team, which is assisting with the study , is
being coordinated and managed by Xanadu.
It is expected that Galshar , southeast of
Ulaanbaatar, will be a conventional truck and
shovel open pit with initial coal transfer by road
truck to the rail line 65km away . The scoping
study will evaluate construction of a rail spur
from the open pit to further reduce operational
costs and reduce environmental issues.
Marketing options, beneficiation potential, hydrology,
mining methodology and transport will
form the basis of the study and, if positive, will
provide a firm basis on which to move the project
forward. Xanadu expects the study will take
four months to complete and that a pr e-feasibility
study will then be started to gain a tighter
control on costs and process methodology.
Concurrent with the scoping study, an aggressive
exploration program aimed at delineating
further r esources within the entir e
project area was expected to begin in late
February. Only a small area of the total ground
holding has been explored and an ongoing
wide-spaced drilling program will systematically
work through the known coal basin targeting
further coal resources. This program
will continue for most of the 2011 Mongolian
field season.
Xanadu has formed a strategic alliance with
Noble Group to explore and develop coking
coal, iron ore and ferro-alloys opportunities in
Mongolia. The companies intend to participate
in the alliance through joint venture companies.
Existing assets held by Xanadu do
not form part of the alliance.
The agreement includes a placement of
shares to take Noble’s interest in Xanadu to
9.9%. Xanadu’s chairman Brian Thor nton
says, “The alliance will allow Xanadu to continue
to advance its existing thermal coal projects
and copper-gold assets.”
JUST buys Ulaan Ovoo coal
MONGOLIA’S fifth largest company JUST
Group has agreed to purchase at least 1.2
million tonnes of coal annually for three years
from Prophecy Resource Corporation’s Ulaan
Ovoo Coal Project in the country’s far north.
Prophecy and JUST have signed an MOU
that enables JUST to r e-sell the coal to end
users pursuant to back-to-back sales agreements
entered into by all relevant parties.
Ulaan Ovoo, which contains 209 million
tonnes of measured and indicated economically
recoverable high quality bituminous thermal
coal, started production last November.
An updated pre-feasibility study for Ulaan
Ovoo has confirmed and impr oved the project's
strong economic viability, and recommended
the deposit be mined by open pit
methods. A contractor was scheduled to
32 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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Mongolia
mine 250,000 tonnes in 2010, with 1.1 million
tonnes to be mined in 2011 and 2 million
tonnes annually thereafter.
The MOU pr ovides for JUST to assist
Prophecy with customer acquisition, r evenue
collection, customs and rail transportation
within Russia's Buratya province,
which is 10km from Ulaan Ovoo, as well as
towards Russia's east seaports such as
Vladivostok and Vostochiny.
The minimum sales price at Nauski, the
northern Mongolian-Russian border crossing
130km from Ulaan Ovoo, is US$35 per tonne
of coal, subject to quarterly market adjustment.
Prophecy and JUST will also cooperate
to rail coal to Russian eastern seaports in the
soonest time frame possible, wher e coal of
Ulaan Ovoo's quality is trading at a two year
high of $84/tonne.
Prophecy’s CEO John Lee says, “Since
Ulaan Ovoo's commissioning last October ,
Prophecy has received numerous expressions
of coal of ftake interest from local Russian
power plants and Far East clients at Russian
east seaports. Our alliance with JUST ensures
seamless coal delivery to end customers.
“Again I'd also like to thank the Mineral Resources
Authority of Mongolia and the Ministry
of Mineral Resources and Energy for expediting
Ulaan Ovoo permitting, which allows Prophecy
to serve local and regional thermal plants.”
JUST Group, which employs 3300 people,
is a private Mongolian company incorporated
in 1999 that is, thr ough subsidiary
companies, active in the trading, distribution
and bulk transportation of energy products,
logistics, and mining in Mongolia. The company
has extensive experience in rail transportation
between Mongolia and Russia and
currently carry by rail bulk energy products
such as oil and coal.
Prophecy controls more than 1.4 billion
tonnes of open-pittable thermal coal in Mongolia
comprising 839 million measur ed
tonnes and 579 million indicated tonnes.
Chandgana Khavtgai Tal is its major flagship
asset with coal r esources of 1.048 billion
tonnes of which 509.3 million tonnes ar e in
the measured and 538.8 million tonnes are in
the indicated categories.
MEC has ramped up monthly production to
100,000 tonnes and its CEO James Schaeffer
says it intends to continue the upwar d
trend to enable it to reach the annual target.
By 2014 the Hong Kong-listed company
hopes to have an annual capacity between 6
million and 7 million tonnes, and James
Schaeffer says it has a ready-made market in
its neighbour, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region of China.
Khushuut is a 600 hectar e site on MEC’s
332,000 hectares of concession ar eas in
Western Mongolia.
The company was first listed in 1972 and
was engaged in the technology, real estate
and private aircraft charter fields, to name a
few, throughout its lifecycle before the transformation
into MEC. In 2006 and with the energy
sector on the company’ s radar, the
Khushuut coking coal mine became a serious
prospect. The company hir ed coal mining
consulting firm John T Boyd Company to assess
the commercial viability of the site and
surrounding areas.
John T Boyd affirmed the preliminary assessment
that the site showed pr omise.
After a 34,000 hectare acquisition of concession
areas at Khushuut and Darvi, the
company changed its name, divested it varied
portfolio and positioned itself to become
MEC ramps up production
THE start of operations at the Khushuut Coking
Coal Project in western Mongolia should
help ensure Mongolia Energy Corporation
(MEC) produces between 2 million and 2.5
million tonnes of raw coal in 2011.
Development of the open pit at Prophecy’s Ulaan Ovoo project.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 33

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Mongolia
strictly an energy company.
MEC then completed a second transaction
for an additional 32,000 hectares and a third
transaction for 263,000 hectar es. Finally,
MEC completed a fourth transaction, acquiring
3000 hectares of an iron ore deposit. The
properties are all run by Mongolian subsidiary,
MoEnCo LLC.
James Schaeffer says, “Khushuut has
149.2 million tonnes of r esources that ar e
economically minable, and we can market a
very high quality coking coal to the W estern
China market. W e have hir ed professional
contract miner Leighton to develop and mine
the resources, under the supervision of
MEC’s in-house experts.”
The company is constructing a 340km,
two-lane paved highway to transport coal to
the Chinese border. Other planned infrastructure
projects include a wash plant, which is
being designed, and an initial 12MW power
generation facility.
MEC also has taken a 19% interest in a Chinese
corporation in Xinjiang. That company
is engaged in coal, copper, iron and other resources
related businesses.
New UHG coal washing plant
MONGOLIAN Mining Corporation (MMC)
this month expects to launch commer cial
coal washing operations at its new Ukhaa
Khudag (UHG) coal handling and pr eparation
plant (CHPP).
MMC began commissioning the CHPP ,
with an initial annual capacity of 5 million
tonnes, in January 2011.
In addition the company also expects to
start supplying power this month for the operation
of the CHPP fr om a new coal-fir ed
power plant. Construction of the plant will be
fully completed by mid-2011, ensuring a reliable
source of electricity for the CHPP.
The UHG mine, which is within the T avan
Tolgoi coalfield, surpassed its 3.8 million
tonnes annual production target by December
9, 2010, ahead of schedule, and by mid-
December had transported and exported
about 3.7 million tonnes of coal to its customers
in China.
MMC considers that this r epresents a significant
achievement compar ed to its coal
production of about 1.8 million tonnes in
2009. Furthermore, in the eight months between
May and December 2010, the monthly
average production rate r eached 400,000
tonnes, which results in an annual production
rate of almost 5 million tonnes.
The company is confident it will be able to
achieve its target of 7 million tonnes by December
31, 2011.
The construction of the water supply facilities
at UHG was completed in the final quarter
of 2010 and these ar e undergoing
commissioning and testing work.
Construction of a 245km paved r oad parallel
to the existing coal transport gravel road
from the UHG deposit to Gashuun Sukhait is
on track with majority of work completed and
full completion is expected to take place in
the second half of 2011 as originally planned.
The company began exporting coal pr oducts
to China last September and a fleet expansion
program is under way.
Full speed ahead at Oyu Tolgoi
IVANHOE Mines has embarked upon the
peak year of construction on the first phase
of the Oyu Tolgoi Copper-Gold Project after
approving a US$2.3 billion capital budget for
2011. Approval followed full approval of the
100,000 tonnes/day project by the Ivanhoe-
Rio Tinto joint technical committee, which is
overseeing the project, and the board of Oyu
Tolgoi LLC, the Mongolian company that
holds the licences.
Ivanhoe’s president John Macken says,
“Our ramp-up to full-scale construction dur -
ing 2010 was so successful that we now are
targeting to deliver the first ore to the concentrator
up to six months earlier than previously
projected. Oyu Tolgoi should be making its
first sales of copper and gold in concentrate
produced from the Southern Oyu open pit
during the fourth quarter of 2012.
“Outstanding work by our pr oject team,
which includes 3000 Mongolian men and
women, means that the accelerated development
program will generate earlier r evenues
from the gold-rich open-pit ore while
we also are maintaining the pace of development
of the futur e underground blockcave
mine at the copper -rich Hugo
Dummett Deposit.”
Total capital required to the start of commissioning
of the ore processing plant, planned
for the second half of 2012, is projected to be
US$3.5 billion, including about US$2.9 billion
to complete construction of the Souther n
Oyu open-pit, processing plant and essential
infrastructure, including electricity , water,
roads, a paved airport runway and passenger
terminal. It also includes taxes and continued
underground development of the phase-two
Hugo North mine.
Commissioning will be followed later in
2012 by initial phase-one pr oduction, and
then by commer cial production expected
during the first half of 2013.
Ivanhoe will use the US$1.18 billion raised
in a recent strategic rights offering to advance
construction.
Iron ore mining to start
FOLLOWING completion of trial mining and
testing at the Oyut Ovoo ir on ore project in
south-central Mongolia, North Asia Resources
expects to begin commercial mining
operations in the next few months and expects
to produce more than 1 million tonnes
of iron ore products in 2011.
Development work at the project is almost
complete with the top soil cover being r e-
moved in preparation for mining.
The company also expects to begin mining
at its gold operation in northern Mongolia during
April or May, providing strong cashflow for
further acquisitions and project development
in Mongolia, with an emphasis on iron ore.
North Asia’s president Xie Nanyang says
that during the past 12 months the company
has spent about US$60 million on exploration
of the iron ore and gold prospects, and now
has about 150 million tonnes of ir on ore reserves
in Mongolia.
It is also providing another CNY 170 million
to acquire two ir on ore projects and will
spend a further US$50 million on exploration.
The investments will also extend to infrastructure
with the company pur chasing 20
hectares of land near the Chinese bor der to
establish a railway sub-station.
Oyut Ovoo is a high-grade ir on ore and
copper project 270km west of Choir Station
along the Trans-Mongolian Railway. The main
property comprises an area of 12.01sqkm.
North Asia has completed a technical valuation
exercise on the First Mine Ar ea, which
covers about 1sqkm, or about 8.33% of the
total Oyut Ovoo area, and is the area where
commercial mining will begin.
An independent technical report estimated
a total First Mine Ar ea JORC-equivalent
measured, indicated and inferred resource of
148.9 million tonnes of iron ore and 174,000
tonnes of copper. The report indicates the
iron ore resources have an average grade of
about 40% and copper r esources have an
average grade of about 0.51%.
34 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Mongolia
OYU TOLGOI CONSTRUCTION PROGRESSING AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
JUST over 600km fr om Mongolia’s capital
Ulaanbaatar and 110km from the Chinese border,
the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine is located
deep in the south Gobi. W ith an annual
rainfall of around 70mm and temperatures that
can range from a winter low of -40 to a summer
high of +50, this is one of the most remote
and inhospitable places on the planet.
Driving in from Oyu Tolgoi’s temporary airport,
the first sight of the project is of the blue
framework of the concentrator rising out of
the frozen Gobi Desert. Under construction
since June last year, it is being built with a
budget of US$1.2 billion and is already nearly
20% complete.
Underground development exceeded its
targets for 2010 and the first production shaft
will be sunk this year. With a height of 96 metres,
shaft diameter of 10 metr es and depth
of 1300 metres, it will be one of the biggest
shafts in the world.
In the open pit, the large mine equipment
will begin arriving in May 2011 and pr e-strip
mining will start in August. Everything is on
track, it seems, for pr oduction to start next
year. The undergr ound block cave is expected
to become operational in 2014.
Oyu Tolgoi is a three-way joint venture between
the Government of Mongolia, Ivanhoe
Mines and Rio Tinto. In December Rio T into
and Ivanhoe Mines signed a new agreement
under which Rio T into will assume dir ect
management of Oyu T olgoi and pr ovide a
comprehensive financial package to Ivanhoe
Mines that is expected to help secure the development
of the pr oject approximately six
months ahead of schedule.
When it is fully operational Oyu T olgoi will
have a 90% Mongolian workforce while 54%
of the revenues will go to the Government of
Mongolia and the copper and gold it exports
will account for a quarter of Mongolia’s GDP.
For now though, it’s a construction site. This
year will see work begin on a number of largescale
infrastructure projects including the new
international-standard airport, the 98km paved
road to China and the 220 kilowatt power line
that will bring electricity up fr om the Chinese
border until a permanent domestic power station
can be built closer to the project.
Work will also start on laying the under -
ground pipeline that will carry water in fr om
the deep Gunii Hooloi aquifer, 45km to the
northwest. The discovery of the Gunii Hooloi
aquifer was a significant milestone for Oyu
Tolgoi. Modeling shows that this is a sustainable
water source capable of supplying the
mine far into the future.
Much of the work in the head ofice in Ulaanbaatar
is concerned with getting things lined up
according to the terms of the Investment
Agreement that allowed construction to go
ahead. US$58 million is being invested in training,
scholarships and upgrading existing educational
facilities and Mongolian construction
companies are winning contracts for pr ojects
at the mine. The Mongolia First initiative is developing
South Gobi enterprises so that they
can become suppliers of goods and services,
and the environmental department is working
towards ISO14001 certification.
Meanwhile, partnerships with NGOs ar e
being developed to protect the South Gobi’s
cultural heritage, preserve the rangelands, protect
the herders and ensure that local villages
have the services they need far into the future.
Oyu Tolgoi’s new CEO Camer on McRae
says, “This is an exciting time in Mongolia. The
Oyu Tolgoi mine is a huge pr oject by world
standards and it has the opportunity and potential
to make a significant contribution to
Mongolia’s development. As the resource currently
stands it has a life of over 60 years and
there's potential for it to go far beyond that.”
The expansive camp established at Oyu Tolgoi in the Gobi Desert for the construction stage.
Construction work at the Oyu Tolgoi Copper-Gold
Project in southern Mongolia.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 35

News 2_Layout 1 2/15/11 3:46 PM Page 7
China
DATONG TO EXPAND DOMESTICALLY AND OVERSEAS
Datong Coal Mine Group’s Tashan Mine, which is part of the group’s Circular Economy Park.
AS part of China's 12th five year plan from 2011
to 2015 Datong Coal Mine Gr oup aims to increase
domestic coal production, secure more
coal through overseas investments and intends
branching out into clean energy production.
Domestically it aims to continue the pr o-
gram of consolidation and r efurbishment to
help create a safer, more efficient and productive
coal industry.
Prior to 2008 it acquir ed 23 small coal
mines in three cities in Shanxi. In 2008 it examined
more than 500 mines ar ound the
province and took in 129sqkm of coalfields
with 2.1 billion tonnes of coal. In 2009 the
group took in 85 collieries in six cities and
turned them into 31 larger, more mechanized
mines. This move brought 2 billion tonnes of
additional reserves and 22.5 million tonnes a
year in additional capacity.
Datong Coal's pr esident Wu Yongping
says, “The consolidation of r esources laid a
base for a bigger, stronger company. It is a
strategic project that will benefit the country,
the province, the industry and the people. It
can drive the regional economy and protect
the nation's energy safety.”
In 2010 Datong, China's thir d-largest
state-owned producer, continued the program,
making technological improvements
at seven mines, adding 9.45 million tonnes
of annual capacity. This year it aims to upgrade
18 mines for an extra 20 million
tonnes of additional capacity.
The group owns 54 coal mines in Shanxi and
Inner Mongolia covering a total area of 300km
east to west and 600km north to south. It is
accelerating work on new coal mines with three
opened towards the end of 2010 adding annual
capacity of 10 million tonnes and mor e
new operations planned in 2011.
Its coal production topped 100 million tonnes
for four consecutive years and hit 122 million in
2008. The total output of the gr oup reached
150 million tonnes in 2010, the highest in the
61 years since the group was founded.
As well as the domestic expansion, Datong
is seeking coal mines overseas. Wu Yongping
says, “We are mainly looking at partnerships
in these overseas ventures, but we won't rule
out developing any mines on our own.”
He says Datong is exploring opportunities in
countries such as Australia, Indonesia, South
Africa and Russia, but added that in Australia
the firm would rather team up with an existing
player than start a large greenfield project due
to a lack of infrastructur e. “Labour costs are
high in Australia. The lack of railr oads and
ports in these gr eenfield mines means the
capital investment and operational costs for
running such mines will be very high.”
The five year development plan will also see
Datong invest 'tens of billions' of yuan in the
new energy sector. Wu Yongping says the
group wants to branch out into clean energy
production, such as solar cells, polysilicon
and batteries, as part of larger plans to tap
into the country's growing demand.
One of the initial steps in this plan involved
the signing late last year of a cooperation
agreement with China Recycling Energy
Corp, a leading industrial waste-to-energy
solution provider in China.
The agreement will see both companies work
together to provide energy solution services,
energy audits, energy conservation plans, project
investments and operation management
based on Datong's existing industrial flow. Additionally,
both will work together to integrate
the use of existing top gas r ecovery turbine
(TRT) systems, blast-fur nace gas, converter
coal gas and waste heat streams.
大 同 煤 矿 集 团 计 划 进 行 国 内 外 扩 张
作 为 中 国 2011 年 到 2015 年 的 “ 十 二 五 ” 规 划
的 一 部 分 , 大 同 煤 矿 集 团 计 划 提 高 国 内 煤 矿
产 量 、 通 过 海 外 投 资 获 取 更 多 煤 矿 资 源 , 并
且 打 算 涉 足 清 洁 能 源 产 品 。
在 国 内 , 大 同 计 划 继 续 执 行 整 合 与 改 造 规
划 , 推 进 建 立 一 个 更 安 全 、 更 有 效 及 产 率 更
高 的 煤 矿 行 业 。
36 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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China
在 2008 年 之 前 , 大 同 在 山 西 省 的 三 个 城 市
收 购 了 23 个 小 型 煤 矿 。2008 年 , 大 同 在 山
西 省 查 看 了 500 个 以 上 的 煤 矿 , 整 合 煤 田 面
积 129 平 方 公 里 , 扩 充 资 源 21 亿 吨 。2009
年 , 集 团 在 6 个 城 市 整 合 了 85 座 煤 矿 , 并 将
它 们 变 成 31 个 规 模 更 大 、 机 械 化 程 度 更 高
的 煤 矿 。 此 次 行 动 带 来 了 20 亿 吨 资 源 , 年
产 能 增 加 了 2250 万 吨 。
大 同 煤 矿 的 总 裁 吴 永 平 称 ,“ 资 源 整 合 为
公 司 变 得 更 加 强 大 奠 定 了 基 础 。 这 是 一 个 具
有 战 略 性 的 项 目 , 将 为 国 家 、 省 份 、 煤 矿 行
业 以 及 百 姓 带 来 好 处 。 它 将 推 进 区 域 性 经 济
的 发 展 , 保 护 国 家 的 能 源 安 全 。”
2010 年 , 大 同 煤 矿 集 团 , 这 个 中 国 第 三 大
国 有 生 产 商 , 继 续 执 行 该 规 划 , 在 7 个 矿 山
完 成 了 技 术 改 造 , 年 产 能 增 加 了 945 万 吨 。
今 年 , 集 团 的 目 标 是 完 成 18 个 矿 山 的 改
造 , 使 年 产 能 增 加 2000 万 吨 。
集 团 拥 有 54 个 煤 矿 , 分 布 在 山 西 和 内 蒙
古 , 东 西 跨 度 300 多 公 里 、 南 北 跨 度 600 多
公 里 的 区 域 内 。 目 前 , 集 团 正 在 加 速 新 煤 矿
的 开 发 工 作 ,2010 年 年 底 运 营 了 三 个 新 煤
矿 , 年 产 能 增 加 了 1000 万 吨 , 计 划 在 2011
年 运 营 更 多 的 煤 矿 。
2008 年 煤 炭 产 量 1.22 亿 吨 , 连 续 四 年 突
破 亿 吨 。 集 团 的 总 产 量 在 2010 年 达 到 1.5 亿
吨 , 达 到 自 公 司 成 立 61 年 以 来 最 高 纪 录 。
除 了 国 内 扩 张 以 外 , 大 同 同 时 也 在 寻 找 海
外 煤 矿 资 源 。 吴 永 平 说 ,“ 我 们 主 要 在 这 些
海 外 企 业 中 寻 求 合 作 伙 伴 , 但 也 不 排 除 自 己
开 矿 。”
他 称 , 大 同 正 在 澳 大 利 亚 、 印 度 尼 西 亚 、
南 非 和 俄 罗 斯 等 这 些 国 家 寻 找 勘 探 机 会 , 但
是 在 澳 大 利 亚 , 由 于 基 础 设 施 的 缺 乏 , 与 启
动 一 个 大 型 的 新 建 项 目 相 比 , 公 司 更 倾 向 于
Loading coal at a Puda Coal operation.
与 现 有 的 参 与 者 合 作 。 这 些 新 建 矿 区 铁 路 和
港 口 的 缺 乏 意 味 着 运 营 这 些 矿 区 的 资 本 投 资
和 运 营 成 本 相 当 高 。
根 据 五 年 发 展 规 划 , 大 同 将 会 投 资 百 亿 元
人 民 币 用 于 新 能 源 领 域 。 吴 永 平 说 , 集 团 想
涉 足 清 洁 能 源 产 品 , 例 如 太 阳 能 电 池 、 多 晶
硅 和 电 池 , 作 为 为 国 家 日 益 增 长 的 需 求 做 准
备 这 个 较 大 规 划 的 一 部 分 。
这 个 规 划 的 初 始 步 骤 之 一 包 括 去 年 第 四 季
度 与 中 国 循 环 能 源 有 限 公 司 签 署 的 合 作 协
议 , 中 国 循 环 能 源 是 中 国 能 源 循 环 行 业 的 领
导 者 。
根 据 这 些 协 议 , 双 方 将 共 同 合 作 , 根 据 大
同 的 工 业 产 能 提 供 能 源 解 决 方 案 、 能 源 审
计 、 节 能 规 划 、 项 目 投 资 和 运 营 管 理 。 另
外 , 双 方 将 合 作 对 现 有 的 回 收 气 体 透 平
(TRT)、 高 炉 煤 气 、 转 炉 煤 气 、 余 热 蒸 汽
进 行 综 合 利 用 。
Puda to double Dajinhe capacity
WORK has started on a project to double production
at Puda Coal’s Dajinhe Coal Mine in
Shanxi Province. The mine has total recoverable
reserves of 10.8 million tonnes and the project
is expected to boost annual production capacity
from 300,000 to 600,000 tonnes.
Puda’s 90%-owned subsidiary Shanxi Puda
Coal Group Co r eceived approval from
Shanxi Yuncheng Municipal Coal Mine Industry
Bureau to undertake the expansion with
work beginning in January. Puda says the Dajinhe
mine is in good condition, which r e-
duces the complexity of construction and
production expansion. It expects the work to
take 8-12 months to complete.
Since the improvements are based on the
existing coal mine, which had a good operating
record prior to the gover nment mandated
shut down under Shanxi Pr ovince's
coal mine consolidation program, coal will
be produced during the construction period
and the company estimates the mine will
produce 150,000-290,000 tonnes of ther -
mal coal during this period.
Dajinhe is part of Puda’ s Pinglu pr oject,
which involves consolidation and r estructuring
of about 12 coal operations in Pinglu and
Huozhou counties in Shanxi Province, over a
number of phases. Puda’s CEO Liping Zhu
says, “Receipt of construction design approval
marks an important milestone for
phase I of our Pinglu pr oject. Our continued
progress in executing our coal mine consolidation
projects supports our plan to become
an integrated coal mining company.
Puda has this quarter signed agr eements
covering the acquisition of three further coal
mines as part of phase II of the pr oject -
Pinglu County Anrui Coal Industry , Pinglu
County Chuntouao Coal Mine and Pinglu
County Xiapingcun Coal Mine. The assigned
coal reserves are owned by eight coal mines
with good operating track r ecords prior to
their mandatory shut down and Xiapingcun
Coal, a permanently closed small mine with a
mining area of 0.7sqkm.
Shanxi Puda Coal will pay about $37.43
million for Anrui Coal, about $20.96 million
for Chuntouao Coal and about $9.16 million
for Xiapingcun. Upon completion of the
transfer of the mining rights and mining assets,
Chuntouao Coal will be closed and its
underground coal r eserves together with
the reserves of Xiapingcun will be consolidated
into Anrui Coal.
These transactions followed a series at the
end of 2010 which saw Shanxi Puda complete
the acquisition of four coal mines under
phase II - Pinglu County Sanmenzhen
Xuhutuo Coal, Pinglu County Daqi Coal,
Shanxi Pinglu Renling Coal and Pinglu
County Donggou Coal. Shanxi Puda placed
all purchased assets of Xuhutuo Coal and
Daqi Coal into a new pr oject company,
Shanxi Pinglu Dajinhe Jinmen Coal, and all
the purchased assets of Renling Coal and
Donggou Coal into a new pr oject company,
Shanxi Pinglu Dajinhe Jinyi Coal Industry Co.
Puda has recently completed a public offering
which raised about $101.5 million, which
will be used to fund the coal mine acquisitions,
and their consolidation and construction.
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普 大 煤 业 计 划 使 大 金 禾 煤 矿 产 量 翻 番
普 大 煤 业 公 司 旨 在 使 大 金 禾 煤 矿 产 量 翻 番 的
项 目 已 经 启 动 。 大 金 禾 煤 矿 总 可 采 储 量 为
1080 万 吨 , 该 项 目 期 望 将 年 产 量 从 30 万 吨
提 高 至 60 万 吨 。
普 大 控 股 90% 的 子 公 司 山 西 普 大 煤 业 集 团
有 限 公 司 获 得 了 山 西 运 城 市 煤 炭 工 业 局 的
批 准 , 将 在 1 月 份 着 手 进 行 扩 产 工 作 。 普 大
称 , 大 金 禾 矿 的 条 件 很 好 , 减 少 了 建 设 和
扩 大 产 量 的 复 杂 性 。 预 期 这 项 工 作 将 花 费 8-
12 个 月 。
因 为 改 造 工 作 是 建 立 在 现 有 煤 矿 的 基 础 上
的 , 该 煤 矿 在 山 西 省 煤 矿 整 合 项 目 下 由 政 府
强 制 关 闭 之 前 有 着 很 好 的 营 业 记 录 , 所 以 煤
炭 在 建 设 期 间 得 以 继 续 生 产 , 公 司 估 计 在 此
期 间 将 生 产 15-29 万 吨 热 煤 。 大 金 禾 是 普 大
平 陆 项 目 的 一 部 分 , 该 项 目 包 括 整 合 与 重 建
位 于 山 西 省 平 陆 和 霍 州 的 大 约 12 个 煤 矿 运
营 , 项 目 将 分 多 个 阶 段 进 行 。 普 大 的 首 席 执
行 官 朱 黎 平 称 ,“ 建 设 设 计 的 通 过 成 为 我 们
平 陆 项 目 第 一 阶 段 的 重 大 里 程 碑 。 我 们 在 执
行 煤 矿 整 合 项 目 上 不 断 地 努 力 , 以 推 进 我 们
成 为 一 个 综 合 的 煤 矿 公 司 。”
普 大 这 个 季 度 签 署 的 协 议 , 包 括 对 另 外 三
个 煤 矿 的 并 购 - 平 陆 县 安 瑞 煤 矿 、 平 陆 县 椿
头 凹 煤 矿 以 及 平 陆 县 下 坪 村 煤 矿 , 将 作 为 项
目 第 二 阶 段 的 一 部 分 。 指 定 的 煤 炭 储 备 由 八
个 煤 矿 所 有 , 在 强 制 关 闭 之 前 都 有 良 好 的 营
业 记 录 , 下 坪 村 煤 矿 是 一 个 被 永 久 关 闭 的 小
型 煤 矿 , 煤 矿 区 域 仅 为 0.7 平 方 公 里 。
山 西 普 大 煤 业 将 支 付 安 瑞 煤 矿 3743 万 美
元 , 椿 头 凹 煤 矿 约 2096 万 美 元 , 下 坪 村
煤 矿 约 916 万 美 元 。 在 完 成 采 矿 权 和 采 矿 资
产 转 让 后 , 椿 头 凹 煤 矿 将 继 续 关 闭 , 其 地 下
煤 矿 储 量 加 上 下 坪 村 的 煤 炭 储 量 将 并 入 安
瑞 煤 矿 。
这 些 业 务 是 在 2010 年 年 底 进 行 的 一 系 列 整
合 活 动 之 后 展 开 的 , 山 西 普 大 在 第 二 阶 段 完
成 了 对 四 个 煤 矿 的 收 购 - 平 陆 县 三 门 镇 徐 滹
沱 煤 矿 、 平 陆 县 大 旗 煤 矿 、 山 西 平 陆 任 岭 煤
业 和 平 陆 县 东 沟 煤 矿 。 山 西 普 大 将 购 买 的 徐
滹 沱 煤 矿 和 大 旗 煤 矿 的 所 有 资 产 并 入 一 个 新
的 项 目 公 司 - 山 西 平 陆 大 金 禾 金 门 煤 业 有 限
公 司 , 将 购 买 的 任 岭 煤 矿 和 东 沟 煤 矿 并 入 另
一 个 新 的 项 目 公 司 - 山 西 平 陆 大 金 禾 金 亿 煤
业 有 限 公 司 。
普 大 近 期 完 成 了 公 开 募 股 , 筹 集 资 金 约
1.015 亿 美 元 , 将 被 用 于 煤 矿 并 购 、 整 合 及
建 设 。
Chinese coal producer lists on ASX
THE listing of Blackgold Inter national Holdings
on the Australian Securities Exchange
(ASX) has cr eated corporate history with
Blackgold becoming the first Chinese mining
company to float on a bourse outside Asia.
The initial public offering for the thermal coal
producer closed in mid-November with about
30% of the company’s equity of $234 million
offered in the float.
The company aims to expand and modernize
its Chinese operations, acquire new mines and
secure access to higher quality Australian coal.
Blackgold’s non-executive chairman Chi Ho
Tong says the listing is a critical step. “An ASX
listing gives us access to Australian mining
expertise, higher quality coal and the status
from being associated with a stock exchange
that has an inter national reputation, particularly
in resources.”
Blackgold's current assets are in Chongqing
province of central China. It contr ols two
mines, Caotang and Heiwan, employs 800
staff and produces about 700,000 tonnes of
thermal coal each year. This is forecast to rise
to 1.2 million tonnes by 2012.
When coupled with expected acquisitions and
coal-trading activities, Blackgold forecasts an-
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 39

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China
A sample from Silvercorp Metals’ TLP project showing silver and lead mineralization.
nual production of 2.7 million tonnes by 2012.
The company sells its thermal coal to Chinese
electricity pr oducers, who pay spotbased
prices. The electricity pr oducers are
responsible for all transport and logistical
costs, meaning Blackgold generates all r evenue
and margins at the mine gate and is
also paid by clients in advance of delivery.
Within the Chongqing r egion about 4000
smaller coal mines have been closed down in
the past five years to a curr ent 100 mines.
The region contains mor e than 2.5 billion
tonnes of known coal r esources and consumers
in the Shanghai r egion, which includes
Blackgold’s clients, annually use about
50 million tonnes of coal.
澳 大 利 亚 证 券 交 易 所 上 市 的 中 国 煤 矿 生 产 商
黑 金 国 际 控 股 有 限 公 司 近 期 在 澳 大 利 亚 证 券
交 易 所 上 市 , 这 创 造 了 企 业 的 历 史 , 使 黑 金
成 为 中 国 首 个 在 亚 洲 以 外 的 证 券 交 易 所 上 市
的 矿 业 公 司 。
该 热 煤 生 产 商 的 首 次 公 开 募 股 在 11 月 中 旬
结 束 , 此 次 股 票 发 行 共 筹 集 了 2.34 亿 澳 元 ,
出 售 公 司 了 30% 的 股 份 。
公 司 旨 在 扩 大 和 现 代 化 其 在 中 国 的 运 营 ,
收 购 新 的 矿 山 以 及 获 得 高 品 位 的 澳 大 利 亚
煤 矿 。
黑 金 的 非 执 行 董 事 童 Chi Ho 称 , 此 次 上 市
是 至 关 重 要 的 一 步 。“ 在 澳 大 利 亚 证 券 交 易
所 上 市 可 以 使 我 们 接 触 到 澳 大 利 亚 的 采 矿 专
业 技 术 和 更 高 品 位 的 煤 矿 , 并 获 得 在 有 国 际
声 誉 的 交 易 所 上 市 的 市 场 地 位 , 特 别 是 在 资
源 领 域 。”
黑 金 的 现 有 资 产 位 于 中 国 中 部 的 重 庆 。 公
司 控 股 两 个 矿 山 ,Caotang 矿 和 Heiwan 矿 ,
拥 有 800 名 职 工 , 每 年 生 产 70 万 吨 热 煤 。
黑 金 期 望 在 完 成 预 计 收 购 和 煤 矿 交 易 活 动
后 , 到 2012 年 使 年 产 量 达 到 270 万 吨 。
公 司 以 现 货 价 格 将 热 煤 出 售 给 中 国 的 电 力
生 产 商 。 电 力 生 产 商 承 担 所 有 的 交 通 和 物 流
费 用 , 这 意 味 着 黑 金 不 用 出 矿 山 就 得 到 了 所
有 的 收 入 和 利 润 , 同 时 客 户 还 需 要 在 运 输 之
前 支 付 费 用 。
在 重 庆 , 大 约 有 4000 个 较 小 的 煤 矿 在 过 去
五 年 内 相 继 停 止 营 业 , 目 前 只 剩 下 100 个
煤 矿 。 该 区 域 已 知 的 煤 矿 资 源 超 过 了 25 亿
吨 , 上 海 的 消 费 者 , 包 括 黑 金 的 客 户 在 内 ,
每 年 大 约 使 用 5000 万 吨 。
Drilling success at TLP and LM
DRILLING by Silvercorp Metals at Ying Mining
District properties in Henan Province is producing
strong silver intersections while the
company has purchased a gold, lead and
zinc mine in Hunan Province.
At the TLP mining permit underground drilling
has identified 18 additional high-grade silver -
lead veins, including a 7.51 metre interval grading
925 grams/tonne silver and 1.12% lead. At
the LM mining permit underground drilling has
discovered 12 new high-grade veins including
a 4.13 metre interval @ 671 grams/tonne silver,
2.29% lead and 1.73% zinc.
The diamond drilling and undergr ound tunnelling
program at LM was aimed at upgrading
inferred mineral resources to the indicated and
measured categories, and to explore and define
new mineralized veins. A total of 12,255 metres
of drilling comprising 44 undergr ound holes
were completed by two underground drill rigs.
The program extended the existing veins
further to down dip and striking dir ections,
and discovered 12 new veins, increasing the
total number of mineralized veins to 19.
LM mining and exploration activities ar e
conducted through a main access tunnel and
two declines. One decline is down to 810
metre elevation while another is bottomed at
790 metre elevation. Since the beginning of
2010 the company has been developing a
400 metre deep shaft from 903 metre elevation
down to 500 metre elevation and it is expected
to be fully operational by mid-2011.
Once operational, this shaft will provide access
to mine these veins and provide access
for drilling at depth. A r e-suing mining
method, which has been successfully used
by the company at LM with a 30% dilution,
will be applied to mine these veins.
The program at the southwest cor ner of
TLP had the same aims with 56 underground
holes completed by three underground rigs
for 16,984 metres. As well as identifying 18
new veins, the program extended the existing
veins to depth and along strike. It also r e-
vealed a new type of mineralization as some
silver-lead veins contain high grade gold that
may indicate the existence of gold-dominated
mineralized veins in the area.
Additional tunnelling and drill holes have
been designed and work is under way to further
define the striking and dipping extensions
of these veins. A 380 metre deep shaft
is being developed from the 980 metre elevation
down to the 600 metre elevation to access
these veins for mining.
Silvercorp has signed a shar e purchase
agreement and a Sino-Foreign cooperative
joint venture contract to acquire a 70% interest
in Yunxiang Mining, a private mining
company in Hunan Pr ovince. Yunxiang's
primary asset is the BYP Gold-Lead-Zinc
Mine, about 220km southwest from Changsha,
Hunan's capital city.
BYP has a mining permit covering 3.67sqkm,
a safety pr oduction permit, and a 400
tonne/day flotation mill. The mine and mill has
been in production since 2006 and has mined
and processed about 300,000 tonnes of lower
grade lead-zinc mineralization near the surface.
Currently the mill is not in operation as the tailings
pond is full. A new tailings facility is under
construction and is expected to be completed
in the second quarter of 2011.
The company has also r eceived a mining
permit for the GC silver, lead and zinc project
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China
in Guangdong Province. The permit has a
term of 30 years, covers the entire 5.52sqkm
area of the project and allows for the operation
of an underground mine.
TLP 和 LM 矿 钻 探 施 工 取 得 显 著 成 绩
加 拿 大 希 尔 威 金 属 矿 业 有 限 公 司 目 前 在 其 位
于 中 国 河 南 省 的 月 亮 沟 铅 银 矿 实 施 的 钻 探 作
业 发 现 了 大 型 的 银 成 矿 带 , 同 时 , 公 司 已 经
收 购 了 河 南 省 的 一 个 金 铅 锌 矿 。
在 TLP 采 矿 许 可 区 域 实 施 的 地 下 钻 探 作 业
探 明 了 另 外 的 18 个 高 品 位 的 银 铅 矿 脉 , 其
中 包 括 :7.51 米 岩 芯 , 银 品 位 为 925 克 / 吨 ,
铅 品 位 为 1.12%。 在 LM 采 矿 许 可 区 域 实 施
的 地 下 钻 探 作 业 探 明 了 12 个 新 的 高 品 位 矿
脉 , 其 中 包 括 :4.13 米 岩 芯 , 银 品 位 为 671
克 / 吨 , 铅 品 位 为 2.29%, 锌 品 位 为 1.73%。
在 LM 矿 实 施 的 金 刚 石 钻 探 和 地 下 坑 探 作
业 旨 在 将 推 断 资 源 量 转 化 为 探 明 的 和 控 制 的
资 源 量 , 并 勘 探 和 确 定 新 的 矿 脉 。 共 计
12,255 米 包 括 44 个 地 下 钻 孔 的 钻 探 作 业 是
通 过 两 个 地 下 钻 机 完 成 的 。
该 钻 探 项 目 使 现 有 的 矿 脉 沿 下 倾 方 向 和 走
向 延 伸 , 并 探 明 了 12 个 新 矿 脉 , 使 矿 脉 的
总 数 增 至 19。
LM 矿 的 采 矿 和 勘 探 活 动 是 通 过 一 个 主 入
口 隧 道 和 两 个 斜 坡 道 进 行 的 。 其 中 一 个 斜 坡
道 向 下 延 伸 至 海 拔 810 米 , 另 外 一 个 底 部 位
于 海 拔 790 米 。 自 从 2010 年 初 开 始 , 公 司 建
造 了 一 个 400 米 深 的 竖 井 , 即 从 海 拔 903 米
向 下 至 海 拔 500 米 , 公 司 期 望 到 2011 年 中 期
全 面 投 产 。
一 旦 运 营 , 竖 井 将 为 进 入 这 些 矿 脉 以 及 进
行 深 部 钻 探 提 供 通 道 。 公 司 在 LM 矿 成 功 应
用 的 回 采 法 将 被 应 用 于 开 采 这 些 矿 脉 , 其 中
矿 石 贫 化 率 为 30%。
在 TLP 矿 西 南 角 实 施 的 共 计 16,984 米 包 括
56 个 钻 孔 的 钻 探 作 业 , 是 通 过 3 个 地 下 钻 机
完 成 的 , 其 目 的 与 LM 矿 的 相 同 。 该 项 目 也
探 明 了 18 个 新 矿 脉 , 使 现 有 矿 脉 向 深 部 和
走 向 延 伸 。 同 时 发 现 了 一 种 新 型 的 成 矿 带 ,
一 些 含 有 高 品 位 金 矿 石 的 银 铅 矿 脉 可 能 表 明
该 区 域 存 在 以 金 为 主 的 矿 脉 。
公 司 已 经 设 计 了 额 外 的 坑 探 和 钻 探 孔 , 以
期 进 一 步 确 定 这 些 矿 脉 沿 走 向 和 下 倾 方 向 的
延 伸 带 。 一 个 300 米 深 的 竖 井 正 在 建 造 中 ,
即 从 海 拔 980 米 向 下 至 海 拔 600 米 , 旨 在 为
这 些 矿 脉 的 开 采 提 供 通 道 。
希 尔 威 已 经 签 署 了 一 份 股 权 购 买 协 议 以 及
一 份 中 外 合 作 经 营 合 同 , 获 得 了 位 于 湖 南 省
的 一 家 私 营 矿 业 公 司 - 云 湘 矿 业 70% 的 股 份 。
云 湘 矿 业 的 主 要 资 产 是 BYP 金 铅 锌 矿 , 距 离
湖 南 的 省 会 城 市 长 沙 西 南 大 约 220 公 里 。
BYP 的 采 矿 许 可 覆 盖 3.67 平 方 公 里 , 包 括
一 个 安 全 生 产 许 可 证 , 及 一 个 400 吨 / 天 的 浮
选 厂 。 该 矿 山 和 选 厂 自 2006 年 开 始 运 营 ,
共 开 采 和 处 理 了 30 万 吨 较 低 品 位 的 近 地 表
的 铅 锌 矿 。 目 前 , 由 于 尾 矿 库 已 满 , 选 厂 已
经 停 止 运 营 。 新 的 尾 矿 设 施 正 在 建 造 中 , 预
期 在 2011 年 第 二 季 度 完 工 。
公 司 同 时 还 获 得 了 位 于 广 东 省 的 GC 银 铅
锌 项 目 的 采 矿 许 可 证 。 该 许 可 证 期 限 为 30
年 , 覆 盖 了 该 项 目 5.52 平 方 公 里 的 全 部 区
域 , 并 且 允 许 地 下 矿 运 营 。
Developing technology for Jiama separation
CHINA National Gold Group Corporation will
collaborate with the Nonferrous Metals Society
of China (NMSC) in Beijing to develop
multi-metal separation technology. The parties
will focus on impr oving the methods of
separation and recovery rate of the various
metals contained in China Gold International
Resources Corp’s Jiama Pr oject in T ibet,
which contains copper, molybdenum, gold,
silver, lead and zinc. Special technical staf f
from Jiama will work closely with pr ocessing
specialists from NMSC to test separation technology
of the project in order to further optimize
the metal recovery rate.
NMSC is a national industry society com-
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 41

News 2_Layout 1 2/15/11 3:46 PM Page 13
China
prising scholars, scientific and technical personnel
and enterprise management fr om all
fields in the non-ferr ous and related industries.
NMSC includes, in particular, the Academic
Committee of Flotation - China's top
professional committee on this field.
China National Gold Gr oup owns about
39% of China Gold Inter national Resources
and is committed to mining r esources using
only the most advanced technology fr om
China and abroad during development.
China Gold International has completed a
95 hole, 50,000 metr e diamond drill pr o-
gram at Jiama, which is in the Gandise Metallogeny
Belt in Tibet. The program focused
on extensions to the north, west, and to the
centre zone of the main skarn and hornfels
ore bodies where previous drill holes yielded
significant inferred copper, molybdenum,
gold and silver r esources. There were 87
holes that reached their planned depth, 5
were terminated earlier and 3 wer e abandoned
due to the complex geological conditions.
The high drilling success rate
demonstrates that the high-grade skar n
type mineralization is continuous.
The company expects that the drill hole
data will allow it to upgrade some or all of the
previously defined inferred resources to the
indicated and/or measured category and to
expand the overall resource estimate. In addition,
the drilling has identified a new standalone
high grade gold zone in the southwest
corner of the existing mining licence area and
a large deep copper-molydenum deposit underlying
the skarn and hornfels type deposits.
Highlights are: a 451.5 metre mineralized
body including 263.20 metr es of hor nfelstype
mineralization @ 0.18% copper, 0.03%
molybdenum and 0.8 grams/tonne silver, and
188.30 metres of skarn-type mineralization @
0.48% copper, 0.086% molybdenum,0.24
grams/tonne gold and 9.87 grams/tonne silver;
a cumulative 471.10 metr e mineralized
body including 134 metres hornfels-type mineralization
@ 0.25% copper, 0.04% molybdenum
and 1.10 grams/tonne silver, and 337.10
metres silicified biotite grano-porphyry type
mineralization @ 0.10% copper , 0.08%
molybdenum and 1.0 grams/tonne silver; a
cumulative 827.20 metre mineralized body
including 446.0 metres hornfels-type mineralization
@ 0.36% copper, 0.03% molybdenum,
0.02 grams /tonne gold and 1.16
grams/tonne silver, and 381.20 metres hornfels
and skarn mixed type mineralization @
0.25% copper, 0.07% molybdenum, 0.03
grams/tonne gold and 2.32 grams/tonne
silver; and a cumulative 900.29 metr e mineralized
body @ 0.24% copper , 0.06%
molybdenum and 0.98 grams/tonne silver.
“The results of the program are encouraging,”
says China Gold's chief executive oficer
Dr Song Xin. “We will continue drilling to further
define the deep porphyry deposit and
potential standalone gold deposit after updating
the NI 43-101 compliant resource report.”
甲 玛 项 目 分 离 工 艺 的 开 发
中 国 黄 金 集 团 公 司 将 与 位 于 北 京 市 的 中 国 有
色 金 属 学 会 (NMSC) 合 作 , 共 同 开 发 多 金
属 分 离 工 艺 。 双 方 将 着 眼 于 提 高 中 国 黄 金 国
China Magnesium Corporation’s Pingyao project is in Shanxi Province, close to raw materials and magnesium markets.
际 资 源 公 司 甲 玛 项 目 涉 及 的 各 种 金 属 的 分 离
方 法 和 回 收 率 , 该 项 目 位 于 西 藏 , 包 含 铜 、
钼 、 金 、 银 、 铅 和 锌 。
来 自 甲 玛 的 专 业 技 术 人 员 将 与 NMSC 的 专
家 紧 密 合 作 , 测 试 该 项 目 所 需 的 分 离 工 艺 ,
以 期 进 一 步 优 化 金 属 回 收 率 。
NMSC 是 一 个 国 家 级 的 工 业 学 会 , 由 有 色
金 属 和 相 关 行 业 各 个 领 域 的 学 者 、 科 研 技 术
人 员 和 企 业 管 理 人 员 组 成 。 除 此 之 外 更 为 重
要 的 是 ,NMSC 还 下 设 浮 选 学 术 委 员 会 – 中
国 在 该 领 域 顶 级 的 专 业 委 员 会 。
中 国 黄 金 集 团 持 有 中 国 黄 金 国 际 资 源 公 司
39% 的 股 权 , 集 团 致 力 于 在 开 发 阶 段 采 用 国
内 外 最 先 进 的 技 术 开 采 资 源 。
中 国 黄 金 国 际 资 源 公 司 甲 玛 项 目 实 施 的 金
刚 石 钻 探 作 业 共 得 到 了 95 个 钻 孔 , 共 计 钻
进 5 万 米 , 甲 玛 项 目 位 于 西 藏 的 冈 底 斯 多 金
属 带 。 此 次 钻 探 作 业 重 点 为 主 矽 卡 岩 和 角 岩
矿 体 向 北 部 、 西 部 和 中 心 地 带 的 延 伸 带 , 之
前 实 施 的 钻 孔 在 这 里 发 现 了 显 著 的 铜 、 钼 、
金 和 银 推 断 资 源 量 。
共 有 87 个 钻 孔 达 到 了 计 划 的 深 度 ,5 个 较
早 完 工 ,3 个 由 于 复 杂 的 地 质 条 件 终 止 了 。
高 钻 探 成 功 率 表 明 了 高 品 位 矽 卡 岩 型 成 矿 带
的 延 续 性 。
公 司 期 望 钻 孔 反 馈 的 数 据 可 以 使 先 前 定 义
的 推 断 资 源 量 部 分 或 全 部 转 化 为 控 制 的 和 / 或
探 明 的 资 源 量 , 并 扩 大 总 体 的 资 源 估 计 量 。
另 外 , 钻 探 作 业 已 经 在 现 有 采 矿 许 可 区 域
的 西 南 角 发 现 了 一 个 新 的 独 立 的 高 品 位 金 成
矿 带 , 并 且 在 矽 卡 岩 和 角 岩 矿 床 下 面 发 现 了
一 个 大 型 的 较 深 的 铜 钼 矿 床 。
钻 孔 样 品 分 析 结 果 亮 点 包 括 : 见 451.5 米
厚 的 矿 体 , 其 中 包 括 263.20 米 厚 的 角 岩 型 矿
体 , 铜 品 位 为 0.18% , 钼 品 位 为 0.03%, 银
品 位 为 0.8 克 / 吨 ; 188.30 米 厚 的 矽 卡 岩 型
矿 体 , 铜 品 位 为 0.48%, 钼 品 位 为 0.086%
, 金 品 位 为 0.24 克 / 吨 , 银 品 位 为 9.87 克 / 吨
。 见 累 计 471.10 米 厚 的 矿 体 , 其 中 包 括 134
米 厚 的 角 岩 型 矿 体 , 铜 品 位 为 0.25% , 钼 品
位 为 0.04%, 银 品 位 为 1.10
克 / 吨 ;337.10 米 厚 的 硅 化 黑 云 母 花 岗 斑
岩 型 矿 体 , 铜 品 位 为 0.10% , 钼 品 位 为
0.08%, 银 品 位 为 1.0 克 / 吨 。 见 累 计 827.20
米 厚 的 矿 体 , 其 中 包 括 446.0 米 厚 的 角 岩 型
矿 体 , 铜 品 位 为 0.36% , 钼 品 位 为 0.03%,
金 品 位 为 0.02 克 / 吨 , 银 品 位 为 1.16 克 / 吨 ;
381.20 米 厚 的 角 岩 与 矽 卡 岩 混 合 型 矿 体 , 铜
品 位 为 0.25% , 钼 品 位 为 0.07%, 金 品 位 为
0.03 克 / 吨 , 银 品 位 为 2.32 克 / 吨 。 见 累 计
900.29 米 厚 的 矿 体 , 铜 品 位 为 0.24% , 钼 品
位 为 0.06%, 银 品 位 为 0.98 克 / 吨 。
中 国 黄 金 首 席 执 行 官 宋 鑫 博 士 称 ,“ 这 些
钻 探 结 果 非 常 鼓 舞 人 心 。 我 们 将 继 续 甲 玛 项
目 的 钻 探 工 作 , 以 期 在 NI 43101 资 源 量 报
告 发 布 后 通 过 进 一 步 的 勘 探 确 认 这 个 较 深 的
斑 岩 矿 床 和 潜 在 的 独 立 的 金 矿 床 。”
42 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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China
Expansion for Pingyao magnesium plant
CAPITAL works are under way at China Magnesium
Corporation’s Pingyao Magnesium
Project in Shanxi Province to upgrade and refurbish
the existing magnesium plant. The work
will progressively increase annual production
capacity from 5000 tonnes to the licensed output
of 105,000 tonnes by the end of 2013.
The first phase of the expansion project is targeting
annual capacity of 20,000 tonnes with
the work being overseen by Zhengzhou Magnesium
Science & Technology Company Limited.
Phase one is scheduled to be completed
by December 31, 2011, phase 2 by December
2012 and phrase 3 by December 2013.
The demand for magnesium in China is increasing
as a lightweight substitute for aluminium
in many applications such as
lightweight vehicles and mobile electr onic
devices. China Magnesium believes magnesium's
light weight is important in minimizing
lithium battery power consumption for
electric cars, and is generally used in the
automotive, computer and consumer electronic
markets, where China has a str ong
and growing manufacturing industry.
The Pingyao Magnesium Project is strategically
located about 1000km from Beijing, with
production forecast to be relatively cheap for
the company. Production costs will be lower
than in wester n countries due to the abundance
of cheap coal nearby, low cost ferro-silicon
as the main suppliers are in Inner Mongolia
and Ningxia provinces, combined with the generally
low labour costs. There is also a nearby
source of magnesium or e in dolomite in a
quarry that is owned by a family member of the
company’s joint venture partner.
The upgraded Pingyao plant will be at the
leading edge of magnesium industry developments,
with environmental, efficiency and productivity
standards far superior to almost every
other magnesium plant now operating in China.
Rationalization of small, less ef ficient magnesium
producers by Chinese regulators together
with projected increases in world magnesium
consumption are expected to ensure a strong
market for the expanded operation.
China Magnesium was admitted to the
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in November
2010 and has r ecently increased its
interest in the Pingyao project to 90.7% by injecting
an additional Aus$5.4 million of capital
contributions into the Chinese joint ventur e
company, Shanxi Luyuan Magnesium Company
Limited (CMC China), an investment
which was approved by the Shanxi Administration
for Industry and Commerce.
Magnesium is the lightest of all the structural
metals with a density two-thir ds that of
aluminium and one-quarter that of steel. The
main advantage of magnesium is its weight
to strength ratio, which is considerably higher
than that of competing structural metals. It is
the eighth most abundant element in the
earth’s crust.
平 遥 镁 厂 扩 建
中 国 镁 业 公 司 旗 下 位 于 山 西 省 的 平 遥 镁 矿
项 目 旨 在 改 造 和 整 修 现 有 镁 厂 的 主 要 工 作
正 在 进 行 中 。 这 项 工 作 将 使 年 产 量 从 5000
吨 逐 步 提 高 , 到 2013 年 年 底 许 可 产 量 达
到 10.5 万 吨 。
扩 建 项 目 的 第 一 阶 段 目 标 是 年 产 量 达 到 2
万 吨 , 郑 州 镁 业 科 技 有 限 公 司 负 责 监 督 该 项
工 作 。 第 一 阶 段 计 划 在 2011 年 12 月 31 日 前
完 成 , 第 二 阶 段 计 划 在 2012 年 12 月 前 完
成 , 第 三 阶 段 计 划 在 2013 年 12 前 完 成 。
由 于 现 在 许 多 应 用 中 轻 量 化 材 料 替 代 了 铝
的 使 用 , 例 如 轻 量 化 车 辆 和 移 动 电 子 设 备 ,
中 国 对 镁 的 需 求 不 断 增 加 。 中 国 镁 业 相 信 镁
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 43

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China
Construction work at Eldorado’s Eastern Dragon project.
的 轻 量 特 点 对 减 少 电 动 车 的 锂 电 池 电 量 消 耗
至 关 重 要 , 而 且 镁 通 常 可 以 用 在 汽 车 、 计 算
机 和 消 费 性 电 子 市 场 , 中 国 这 些 产 品 的 制 造
业 非 常 强 大 而 且 不 断 发 展 。
平 遥 镁 矿 项 目 地 理 位 置 优 越 , 距 离 北 京 大
约 1000 公 里 , 公 司 的 产 品 预 测 相 对 便 宜 。
产 品 成 本 与 西 方 国 家 相 比 较 低 , 因 为 附 近 有
大 量 廉 价 的 煤 炭 , 而 且 由 于 硅 铁 的 主 要 供 应
商 分 布 在 内 蒙 古 和 宁 夏 使 其 可 以 以 较 低 的 价
格 获 得 , 另 外 , 劳 动 力 成 本 通 常 很 低 。 同
时 , 公 司 合 资 伙 伴 的 一 个 家 庭 成 员 拥 有 附 近
的 一 个 采 石 场 , 该 采 石 场 中 的 白 云 石 中 含 有
镁 矿 石 资 源 。
改 造 后 的 平 遥 镁 厂 将 处 于 镁 业 发 展 的 前
沿 , 环 境 、 效 率 和 生 产 率 标 准 远 远 高 于 目 前
在 中 国 运 营 的 几 乎 所 有 的 镁 厂 。 中 国 监 督 部
门 对 小 型 的 、 效 率 较 低 的 镁 生 产 商 的 合 理 规
划 以 及 世 界 镁 消 费 量 的 预 期 增 长 将 会 为 不 断
扩 大 的 运 营 生 产 提 供 一 个 强 健 的 市 场 。
2010 年 11 月 , 中 国 镁 业 在 澳 大 利 亚 证 券 交
易 所 (ASX) 上 市 , 近 期 已 经 通 过 向 其 中 国 合
资 公 司 - 山 西 陆 源 镁 业 有 限 公 司 (CMC 中 国 )
额 外 注 入 540 万 澳 元 的 资 本 投 入 , 将 平 遥 项
目 的 股 份 增 至 90.7%, 该 项 投 资 已 经 获 得 山
西 工 商 管 理 局 的 批 准 。
镁 是 所 有 结 构 金 属 中 质 量 最 轻 的 , 密 度 是
铝 的 2/3, 钢 的 1/4。 镁 最 大 的 优 点 是 其 重 量
强 度 比 大 大 高 于 其 他 具 有 竞 争 性 的 结 构 金 属
的 比 率 。 它 是 地 壳 中 第 八 种 最 丰 富 的 元 素 。
Eastern Dragon to boost Eldorado production
THE start-up of the Easter n Dragon Gold
Project later in the year will help Eldorado
Gold increase annual gold production by up
to 20% during 2011. The company expects
the new operation will contribute 20,000-
25,000 ounces to total 2011 pr oduction of
715,000-770,000.
Eastern Dragon, in Heilongjiang Pr ovince,
northeast China, will become the company’s
sixth operating mine during the fourth quarter
and the fourth operation in China, following
Jinfeng, Tanjianshan and White Mountain.
Eldorado expects Easter n Dragon to
process 40,000 tonnes of or e this year at
17.38 grams/tonne gold and 132 grams
/tonne silver. It has budgeted US$62.5 million
in 2011 to complete project construction.
The company’s forecast of 15-20% growth
in annual gold production follows a very successful
2010 where production grew 74% to
632,537 ounces compar ed with 363,509
ounces in 2009. It expects production to continue
growing in 2012 as Eastern Dragon and
the other new 2011 mine, Efemcukuru in
Turkey, ramp-up and pr ovide a full year of
production. Jinfeng is its largest Chinese operation
and the company expects to process
1.55 million tonnes of ore in 2011 at a grade
of 4.06 grams/tonne gold for 175,000-
185,000 ounces. About 500,000 tonnes of
ore will come fr om the open pit, 500,000
tonnes from underground and the remainder
from existing stockpiles.
It is planned to spend $8.2 million on un -
derground development, $5.8 million on capitalized
waste stripping and $4.9 million on
underground mining equipment. The exploration
program includes surface and under -
ground drilling in the mine ar ea as well as
regional exploration on 11 licences with sediment-hosted
Carlin-type potential.
Production of 110,000-120,000 ounces is
expected at Tanjianshan where mining will
continue from the JLG open pit. There will be
$3.6 million spent on tailings expansion while
exploration will comprise infill drilling at the
323 deposit, underground development and
drilling at the QLT Deep area.
White Mountain will process 707,000 tonnes
of ore @ 4.02 grams/tonne for 70,000-75,000
ounces. This represents a 15% increase over
the tonnes processed in 2010 and is being accomplished
mainly by taking advantage of the
excess throughput capacity in the grinding circuit.
The company will spend $4.8 million on
underground development and $1 million for
tailings dam expansion.
Eldorado president and chief executive officer
Paul Wright says, “In addition to meeting
our operating objectives, completing construction
and commissioning of two new
mines and executing our exploration pr o-
grams, we will be developing plans designed
to optimize our existing asset base with the
objective to raise annual pr oduction to 1.5
million ounces by 2015.”
东 龙 金 矿 项 目 提 高 埃 尔 拉 多 公 司 产 量
今 年 稍 后 时 间 将 启 动 的 东 龙 金 矿 项 目 将 使 埃
尔 拉 多 黄 金 公 司 年 黄 金 产 量 在 2011 年 期 间
提 高 20%。 公 司 期 望 这 个 新 项 目 的 运 营 能 带
来 2-2.5 万 盎 司 的 产 量 , 使 2011 年 总 产 量 达
到 71.5 万 -77 万 盎 司 。
东 龙 金 矿 位 于 中 国 东 北 部 的 黑 龙 江 省 , 将
在 第 四 季 度 成 为 公 司 的 第 六 个 运 营 矿 山 、 也
是 继 锦 丰 、 滩 间 山 和 白 山 之 后 公 司 位 于 中 国
的 第 四 个 运 营 矿 山 。
埃 尔 拉 多 期 望 东 龙 今 年 可 以 处 理 4 万 吨 矿
石 , 其 中 金 品 位 为 17.38 克 / 吨 , 银 品 位 为
132 克 / 吨 。 公 司 2011 年 完 成 项 目 建 设 的 预
算 为 6250 万 美 元 。
与 2009 年 363,509 盎 司 的 产 量 相 比 , 2010
年 产 量 增 加 了 74% 达 到 632,537 盎 司 , 在
2010 年 取 得 辉 煌 成 绩 之 后 , 公 司 预 期 今 年
的 黄 金 产 量 可 以 增 长 15-20%。 同 时 , 公 司
还 期 望 在 2012 年 产 量 可 以 持 续 增 长 , 因 为
东 龙 金 矿 和 2011 年 运 营 的 其 他 新 矿 山 - 位 于
土 耳 其 的 Efemcukuru 矿 产 量 增 加 并 提 供 全 年
的 生 产 。
锦 丰 是 埃 尔 拉 多 位 于 中 国 的 最 大 运 营 矿
山 , 公 司 期 望 在 2011 年 可 以 处 理 155 万 吨 矿
石 , 金 品 位 为 4.06 克 / 吨 , 即 含 金 17.5-18.5
万 盎 司 。 约 50 万 吨 矿 石 将 出 自 露 天 矿 ,50
万 吨 矿 石 出 自 地 下 矿 , 剩 下 的 将 出 自 现 有 的
储 备 。
公 司 计 划 花 费 820 万 美 元 用 于 地 下 矿 开
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发 、580 万 美 元 用 于 资 本 化 废 料 剥 离 、490
万 美 元 用 于 地 下 矿 开 采 设 备 。 勘 探 项 目 包 括
在 矿 山 区 域 进 行 地 表 和 地 下 钻 探 以 及 在 11
个 可 能 存 在 沉 积 卡 林 型 矿 床 的 许 可 证 范 围 内
进 行 区 域 性 勘 探 。
滩 间 山 的 产 量 预 期 在 11-12 万 盎 司 之 间 ,
开 采 工 作 将 在 JLG 露 天 矿 持 续 进 行 ,360 万
美 元 将 用 于 尾 矿 库 扩 容 , 勘 探 活 动 将 包 括
323 矿 床 的 加 密 钻 探 、 地 下 矿 开 发 以 及 QLT
深 部 区 域 的 钻 探 。
白 山 将 处 理 70.7 万 吨 矿 石 , 品 位 为 4.02 克 /
吨 , 即 含 金 7-7.5 万 盎 司 。 与 2010 年 处 理 的
吨 位 数 相 比 增 加 了 15%, 这 主 要 是 由 于 利 用
了 磨 矿 回 路 中 处 理 能 力 过 剩 的 优 势 实 现 的 。
公 司 将 花 费 480 万 美 元 用 于 地 下 矿 开 发 、
100 万 美 元 用 于 尾 矿 坝 扩 容 。
埃 尔 拉 多 的 总 裁 兼 首 席 执 行 官 Paul Wright
称 ,“ 除 了 满 足 我 们 的 运 营 目 标 、 完 成 建 设
工 作 并 使 两 个 新 矿 山 投 产 、 以 及 执 行 我 们 的
勘 探 计 划 外 , 我 们 将 持 续 制 定 计 划 , 以 期 最
优 化 我 们 现 有 的 资 产 基 础 , 使 年 产 量 到
2015 年 提 高 至 150 万 盎 司 。”
Sterling Group to develop phosphate project
STERLING Group Ventures has signed a letter
of intent (LOI) with Shimen Mer chants Bureau
to put into production the Shujiatai phosphate
property in Shimen County, Hunan province.
The property, a sedimentary phosphate
type deposit, hosts 36 million tonnes of or e
with a grade of about 17.5% phosphorus
pentoxide based on a Chinese feasibility
study report conducted by the Design and
Research Institute of Hubei Jingxiang Phosphate
Chemicals Industry Co. The pr operty
has the necessary infrastructure and the ore
body is near surface.
Under the terms of the LOI, Sterling will
conduct due diligence on the property within
18 months and update any Chinese study reports
if necessary to build a mining, processing
and chemical plant. After the due
diligence is completed, Sterling will set up a
joint venture for developing the deposit.
Sterling’s president Richard Shao says that
as a result of this transaction, Sterling will
have access to about 94 million tonnes of
phosphate ore of which 58 million tonnes of
ore is from the acquisition of Hongyu Mining
which was announced in October 2010.
The company signed two agreements with
Chenxi County Hongyu Mining Co relating to
the Gaoping mine in Chenxi County , Hunan
province. Hongyu’s business licence and mining
permit on the property is in effect until November
10, 2014 and covers 42.5 hectar es
encompassing the sedimentary phosphate
type deposit. The mining permit allows initial
annual production up to 100,000 tonnes of
phosphate ore.
斯 特 林 集 团 推 进 磷 矿 项 目 发 展
斯 特 林 集 团 风 险 投 资 公 司 与 石 门 县 招 商 局 签
署 了 一 份 旨 在 推 进 位 于 湖 北 省 石 门 县 的 Shujiatai
磷 矿 投 产 的 意 向 书 (LOI)。
根 据 湖 北 荆 襄 磷 化 工 实 业 有 限 公 司 的 设 计
研 究 所 完 成 的 一 份 中 方 的 可 行 性 研 究 报 告 ,
该 矿 权 地 - 沉 积 型 磷 矿 床 , 拥 有 3600 万 吨 矿
石 , 大 约 含 有 17.5% 的 五 氧 化 二 磷 。
该 矿 权 地 拥 有 生 产 所 需 的 基 础 设 施 , 且 矿
体 靠 近 地 表 。
根 据 意 向 书 条 款 规 定 , 斯 特 林 将 在 18 个 月
内 对 该 矿 床 进 行 尽 职 调 查 , 如 果 需 要 的 话 ,
将 更 新 所 有 的 中 方 研 究 报 告 , 以 期 建 造 一 个
集 采 矿 、 加 工 及 化 工 为 一 体 的 工 厂 。 在 尽 职
调 查 完 成 之 后 , 斯 特 林 将 为 进 一 步 开 发 该 矿
床 成 立 一 个 合 资 公 司 。
斯 特 林 的 总 裁 Richard Shao 称 , 这 次 交 易
使 斯 特 林 有 机 会 获 得 约 9400 万 吨 磷 矿 石 ,
其 中 5800 万 吨 矿 石 是 由 收 购 宏 宇 矿 业 获
得 , 此 次 并 购 是 在 2010 年 10 月 份 宣 布 的 。
公 司 与 辰 溪 县 宏 宇 矿 业 公 司 签 署 了 两 份 关
于 湖 南 省 辰 溪 县 高 坪 矿 的 协 议 。 宏 宇 在 该 矿
权 地 的 营 业 执 照 和 采 矿 许 可 有 效 期 截 止 到
2014 年 11 月 10 日 , 覆 盖 面 积 为 42.5 公 顷 ,
涵 盖 了 该 沉 积 型 磷 矿 床 。 采 矿 许 可 允 许 的 磷
矿 石 初 始 年 产 量 可 达 10 万 吨 。
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STREAMLINING PERMITS WILL BOOST INVESTMENT
THE Philippines Government intends streamlining
the permitting process for the mining industry
in a bid to boost investment in the
sector to $17.35 billion by 2016. It sees the
sector as playing a major role in its promotion
of the country as an investment area.
The Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) says the Philippines has
drawn $560 million in investments for priority
development and exploration pr ojects since
July 2010 and more are in the pipeline. As of
early May 2010 official cumulative mining investments
since 2004, the year when the
Supreme Court allowed full foreign ownership
of capital intensive, large-scale mining pr ojects,
have reached $2.89 billion.
Investment last year was much higher than in
2009 when the global financial crisis took hold
and it is again expected to increase this year.
According to the Mines and Geo-Science
Bureau (MGB), $375 million was invested in
the Philippine mining industry in 2009, which
was about half the downscaled $650-million
target for the year, and much lower than the
$577.25 million posted in 2008 and $679.65
million reported in 2007.
As part of the str eamlining process, the
DENR has given its local r egional offices two
deadlines to act on the 2180 mining tenement
applications that have been pending for more
than a decade. All r egional directors of the
Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau should either
approve or disapprove half of their pending
and inactive mining applications by February
20. The rest should be done by the end of the
year. Mining tenements include mineral pr o-
duction sharing agreements, exploration permits
and financial & technical assistance
agreements.
DENR secretary Ramon Price says, “W e
have to decide once and for all what to do
with all of these mining applications long
pending in our regional offices, otherwise the
public will continue to per ceive us as inefficient
and corrupt.”
The reform also aims to enhance the management
of the country’s natural resources.
“We are now moving towards enhancing our
implementation of the ‘use it or lose it’ policy
where we will be cancelling not only mining applications
that are unable to comply with all the
requirements set by the gover nment but also
mining tenements that have remained inactive
and unproductive for a long time.”
The country’s largest miner, Philex Mining
Corp, provides an example of how the mining
sector is growing. In 2010 Philex r eported a
36% jump in the estimated value of its shipment,
while the value of pr oduction from its
Padcal mine surged 40%.
Based on the company’s disclosures to the
Philippine Stock Exchange, the company
made 13 shipments of copper concentrates
amounting to 65,361 dry metric tonnes (DMT)
in 2010. Shipments were worth P12.95 billion,
significantly higher than the P9.51 billion
recorded in 2009, due to rising metal prices in
the world market.
Philex also reported that production from its
Padcal mine rose to 9.36 million DMT last year
from 8.2 million DMT in 2009, with the estimated
value at P13.24 billion in 2010 compared
to P9.48 billion in the previous year.
Aside from continuing production in Padcal,
Philex chairman Manuel Pangilinan
says, “We are focused on getting the Silangan
project closer to completion of its prefeasibility
study in the first quarter of 2011.”
The Silangan copper -gold mine is estimated
to hold significantly mor e resources
than Padcal, which has been in operation
for a little more than half a century.
Drilling at Crazy Horse Resources’ Taysan copper-gold-silver porphyry project.
PFS next for Taysan project
CRAZY Horse Resources expects to begin a
pre-feasibility study (PFS) on its T aysan Copper-Gold
Porphyry Project shortly after completing
a confirmatory drill program and with a
scoping study scheduled for completion by
the end of February.
Taysan hosts a large and only partly explored
copper-gold porphyry deposit similar to other
copper-gold porphyry deposits pr eviously
mined in the Philippines. The pr oject is in
southern Luzon in a well-developed mining
province and readily accessible by road 20km
east of the provincial capital and deep-water
commercial port of Batangas City.
Taysan comprises two mining exploration
permits and three mining exploration permit
applications over five contiguous claim
blocks covering a combined total ar ea of
11,254 hectares.
Crazy Horse is well capitalized to start the
PFS, which will be based on the drill program
and scoping study. It recently closed a private
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Philippines
placement which was oversubscribed and
raised US$10 million.
The results from the 10-hole, 5715.3 metre
drilling program complete the dataset to be
used to confirm an NI 43-101 compliant r e-
source on the project.
Results from the final four holes of the program
are: 161.1 metres from 6.9 metres @
0.26% copper, 0.12 grams/tonne gold and
1.2 grams/tonne silver, including 4 metres
from 94 metr es @ 1.92% copper , 1.5
grams/tonne gold and 8.05 grams/tonne silver;
17.5 metres from 24.5 metres @ 0.13%
copper and 0.023 grams/tonne gold, and 14
metres from 52 metres @ 0.27% copper ,
0.12 grams/tonne gold and 1 gram/tonne
silver, including 4 metres from 48 metres @
0.58% copper, 0.29 grams/tonne gold and
2.3 grams/tonne silver; 150 metres from 26
metres @ 0.24% copper, 0.11 grams/tonne
gold and 1.1 grams/tonne silver, including
10 metres from 46 metres @ 0.98% copper,
0.53 grams/tonne gold and 5.7 grams/tonne
silver; and 386 metr es from 56 metres @
0.26% copper, 0.125 grams/tonne gold and
0.73 grams/tonne silver.
Earlier holes returned 477 metres @ 0.41%
copper, 0.11 grams/tonne gold and 1.44
grams/tonne silver, including 16 metr es @
2.27% copper, 0.16 grams/tonne gold and 9.4
grams/tonne silver from 101 metres; and 216
metres @ 0.5% copper, 0.32 grams/tonne gold
and 2.12 grams/tonne silver from 54 metres.
The company is continuing with drill definition
of the deposit in order to establish a measured
and indicated r esource suitable to
complete a bankable feasibility study . There
are five drill rigs active on site.
Acoje DFS is prime focus
EUROPEAN Nickel is primarily focused on fast
tracking the definitive feasibility study (DFS) at
its Acoje project on the island of Luzon. The
process of identifying principal consultants for
the study is under way.
The company is transferring the technical
team from its Çaldağ project in Turkey to
Acoje while a significant amount of metal -
lurgical and engineering data is r eadily
transferable from Çaldağ to the Acoje DFS.
The DFS can occur mostly in parallel with
remaining test work at the heap leach trial
(HLT) and Acoje Test Centre (ATC). All data
required for the DFS fr om the HLT will be
complete within 12 months and the company
believes the study should be complete by the
middle of 2012.
The ATC is a custom-built metallurgical laboratory
which has been in operation for 30
months. With six metallurgists and two
chemists, substantial progress has been made
in the areas of agglomeration, heap leaching,
wet weather mitigation measur es, downstream
nickel and cobalt recovery processing,
nickel and cobalt product enhancement, and
environmental issues specific to Acoje ore and
conditions.
The HLT facility is a 2500 tonne heap leach
and integrated downstream nickel and cobalt
recovery process plant which has been constructed
and is r eady for operation. V arious
vendors have provided purpose-built equipment
to gather operating and design data, allowing
a high degr ee of confidence in the
scalability from HLT to commercial production
scale of operation. The HLT will allow various
nickel and cobalt flow-sheet options to be
tested and compared.
ATC tests show that it may be possible to increase
nickel and cobalt recoveries and to produce
a higher value end-pr oduct than
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assumed for the base case flow-sheet used in
the pre-feasibility study (PFS).
The incorporation of the operation of the
HLT into the DFS will allow the optimum
flow-sheet to be selected and allow accurate
process and equipment design data to
be obtained.
A positive PFS confirmed an economically
viable nickel heap leach pr oject. The base
case scenario is an operation annually producing
24,500 tonnes of nickel metal in a
mixed hydroxide product over an initial 10
year life of mine.
There is significant potential to extend
mine life by converting the JORC inferr ed
Acoje and Zambales Chromite Mining Corporation
(ZCMC) resources to indicated status.
The Acoje indicated r esource is 34.41
million tonnes @ 1.09% nickel. Ther e is
15.94 million tonnes @ 1.01% nickel of inferred
resource at Acoje and 23.5 million inferred
tonnes @ 1.15% nickel at ZCMC not
used in the PFS. This material could increase
mine life to more than 20 years if upgraded
to indicated category. There is also
further potential to add pr esently undrilled
ore to the resource.
A detailed diamond drilling program comprising
293 drill holes has been prepared for
Acoje and ZCMC to bring the drill spacing
to a minimum of 100 by 100 metr es and
some areas to 50 by 50 metr es. This program
is scheduled to begin in late May.
The path to Philippine Metals’ Taurus project on the island of Leyte.
Taurus surveyed from the air
AN airborne survey over Philippine Metals’
Taurus project on the island of Leyte has potential
to lead to discovery of multiple highly
prospective massive sulphide targets. The
survey was completed in January with results
expected shortly.
The Versatile Time-Domain Electromagnetic
(VTEM) survey covered about 1440 line-km
with 100 metre line-spacing and tie-lines every
1000 metres. Specific areas of interest were
surveyed at 50 metre intervals.
The survey is expected to provide more understanding
of the 3-dimensional extent of the
drill target pursued through an initial drill testing
phase conducted in the Kambalantong-
Malayahay area. It is also expected to identify
and define additional massive sulphide targets
within the 9896 hectare tenement.
Philippine Metals’ president Marshall Farris
says, “It is the first time such a technologically-advanced
survey has been flown over
the entire project area. We are quite optimistic
that the use of this cost-efective geophysical
survey could potentially lead to the
discovery of multiple highly pr ospective
massive sulphide targets.”
Philippine Metals is focused on exploration,
discovery and development of highly prospective
copper and copper-gold deposits in the
Philippines. The initial projects - Taurus, Malitao
and Dilong - are examples of management's
ability to source quality, highly prospective targets.
The company has r eceived positive results
from initial drill testing at T aurus, which
tested one of the areas of known copper mineralization
to better determine its nature, mode
of occurrence and the calibration/orientation of
an IP survey. Six drill holes aggregating 792.5
metres were completed, with the first four holes
focusing on the Buen Suerte area and two on
the Malayahay area.
Results indicated the copper mineralization
in the Buen Suerte ar ea is gently dipping
stratabound-type volcanogenic massive sulphide
(VMS) mineralization, rather than the
structurally bound mineralization management
anticipated. With this new understanding of
the system, management put on hold further
drilling activity and decided to accelerate the
airborne survey, believing this to be the most
appropriate, cost-effective and time-efficient
tool to identify this type of VMS mineralization
and progress exploration.
The company’s CEO Feisal Somji says,
“Given the size of the mineralized ophiolite covered
in the tenement and widespread nature of
the mineralization known to date, we expect a
significant cluster of copper-zinc targets will be
discovered. This expectation is supported by
new discoveries stemming from our ongoing
mapping, sampling and trenching activities.”
Didipio construction to resume
OCEANAGOLD is fully committed to developing
the Didipio Copper-Gold Project in northern
Luzon and is on schedule to achieve commercial
production in the first quarter of 2013.
The company has started pr e-construction
activities with detailed engineering designs
of infrastructure and the processing
plant now under way , and construction
proper scheduled to start before the end of
June. OceanaGold placed the partially constructed
Didipio on care and maintenance
in December 2008 as a result of continued
deterioration of the global economic conditions
and challenging financial markets for
mineral development projects.
Following an equity financing and appointment
of Martyn Creaney as project director
in early October 2010, the company has
been assembling the project management
and construction team while evaluating various
contractors and consultants to assist
with the build-out.
The detailed engineering design work uses
much of the previous work as the basis far a
head start toward completion. Upgrades to the
site access road are also being undertaken.
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Philippines
OceanaGold estimates it will take 15-21
months to build and commission the pr oject
with required capital expenditure expected to
total US$140 million.
It is expected that much of the operations,
health and safety, and environmental training
will be carried out at the company’ s New
Zealand mines where the incoming Filipino operating
team will be trained and then will return
back to roll-out the processes at Didipio.
The project has proven and probable reserves
of 29.7 million tonnes, averaging 1.48 grams
/tonne gold and 0.57% copper. It has a 20 year
mine reserve life. Didipio was acquired through
the Climax Mining merger in 2006. The project
is about 270km north of Manila and 100km to
the east of the country’s largest gold-copper
mining operations centred on the Baguio area.
Up until the start of 2011 the company had
spent US$80 million with the majority of long
lead-time items held and 60% of bulk earth
works completed. During this time the company
has shifted its intended focus at Didipio
to an underground mining method in order to
de-risk the project.
Second stage of Agata testing
RESULTS from the second stage of hydro-metallurgical
testing at Mindoro Resources’ Agata
nickel laterite resource in northern Mindanao will
form the basis of a pre-feasibility study into what
is potentially a very low operating cost project.
Mindoro’s exploration targets to the north of the Agata
project on Mindanao.
A large-diameter drill core sampling program
has produced material for the second stage
testing, which is based on the exceptional
nickel and cobalt metallurgical results returned
in the first stage completed late last year. In addition,
detailed grade-control drilling will examine
variability and potential to upgrade highgrade
material for direct shipping.
The metallurgical sample drilling comprised
300 metres of larger, HQ, diameter drill core
to generate about 1400kg of samples for a
second stage of bench scale metallurgical
testing, which will include further testing of
acid leach processing as well as thermal upgrading
(pyrometallurgical) to pr oduce a
value-added shipping product.
The high-grade definition drilling will comprise
735 metres of standard diameter drill core, in
three areas, to define variability and determine
the extent of low-grade boulders in high-grade
saprolite material. This will allow the company
to determine the feasibility of selectively extracting
higher-grade, greater than 1.8% nickel, material
suitable for electric arc furnace nickel pig
iron production, for which the market remains
particularly strong in China.
Mindoro expected the testing programs to
start in late February. The results of these programs
will form the basis of a pr e-feasibility
study into a staged and integrated on-site
nickel processing project. Any additional re-
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source defined during the regional drilling program
will be added to the pre-feasibility study
development plan.
Mindoro is assessing the potential to develop
a value-added dir ect shipping or e
(DSO) nickel operation to generate early cash
flow as well as large scale potential for an onsite
processing plant in the Surigao District of
Mindanao, where the company contr ols
major nickel laterite resources and is drill testing
regional targets.
It has NI 43-101 mineral resource estimates
on its Agata nickel-cobalt project of 32.6 million
dry metric tonnes (DMT) at 1.04% nickel
and 0.05% cobalt, and inferr ed resources of
1.68 million DMT at 1.04% nickel, 0.04%
cobalt. It also has NI 43-101 r esource estimates
on its Lobo and Archangel (Kay Tanda)
gold-silver projects, as well as an additional 22
porphyry copper-gold prospects.
The company has recently received strong
drill results of potential economic interest from
the Bolobolo and Karihatag nickel targets.
Significant Bolobolo intercepts include 15.8
metres of 1.27% nickel, 13 metres of 1.26%
nickel and 10.2 metres of 1.12% nickel while
at Karihatag there was one 6.6 metr e intercept
of 1.04% nickel and another 4.9 metres
of 1.08%.
A 7000-10,000 metre drilling program is
systematically testing the company's r e-
gional nickel targets with the objective of
converting the exploration targets to r e-
sources. The regional nickel targets are to
the north of Agata.
Hinoba-an production in 2014
NEWLY-listed Copper Development Corporation
expects to begin production at the Hinoba-an
Copper Pr oject by the end of
2014. A pre-feasibility study is expected to
be completed in about six months to be followed
by a bankable feasibility study.
Copper Development holds a 92.5% economic
interest in the project, subject to a 3%
royalty to the original tenement holders. Hinoba-an
is on the island of Negr os, about
700km south of Manila. A significant amount
of exploration and metallurgical test work has
been conducted, including drilling over
90,322 metres.
There are two known porphyry copper deposits,
the Don Jose deposit and the A1 deposit,
with a gross mineral resource of 173
million tonnes @ 0.42% copper. Measured
and indicated resources of 96 million tonnes
@ 0.44% copper have been defined at Don
Jose. Inferred resources of 74 million tonnes
@ 0.39% copper have been defined at A1
and about 2.7 million tonnes @ 0.36% copper
at Don Jose.
It is pr oposed that Hinoba-an will be a
conventional open pit operation, with a
combination of bulk and selective mining
exploitation methods involving a drill, blast,
load and haul operation. Open pit mining
methods using backhoe excavators and
rigid frame dump trucks to mine and haul
material will be used.
The process flowsheet follows a typical design
with run-of-mine ore projected to be delivered
to the ROM pad wher e it will be
reclaimed by a front-end loader for feeding into
the primary crusher. The primary crushed product
will discharge onto a coarse ore stockpile.
Based on metallurgical investigations, the
plant will be a SAG mill followed by two ball
mills in parallel. The flotation feed is to be
sized to that needed for adequate separation,
and fed to the flotation circuit.
An open cir cuit rougher flotation is pr o-
posed, with tails going out of the plant as the
major part of the r eject stream. The rougher
concentrate will be reground prior to cleaning.
The cleaner cir cuit will comprise thr ee sequential
stages of closed circuit cleaners with
the tailing from the first cleaner going to a
cleaner scavenger. The tailings fr om the
cleaner scavenger will join the rougher tailings
and feed to a thickener before being pumped
via pipeline to the tailings storage facility.
The concentrate from the third cleaner stage
constitutes the final value product from the circuit.
The concentrate will be thickened to a
controlled underflow density level as the feed
to a product filtration step. The filtered concentrate
will be transported by road to the port site
prior to despatch by sea freight to customers.
Upon listing on London’s AIM, Copper Development’s
chairman Mitch Alland said, “We
are pleased with the response received from
investors. The funds raised, together with our
team's extensive experience in the region, will
enable us to bring the Hinoba-an project into
production through an accelerated development
program.
“We believe the curr ent upward trend of
copper prices signals a gr owing supply-demand
imbalance in the copper market. The increasing
global demand for copper represents
a significant opportunity. In Asia this gr owth
has been particularly robust, most notably in
China which accounts for 37% of world refined
copper consumption.”
Balabag decision expected
AN internal scoping study at the Balabag
Gold Project is on track and TVI Pacific expects
to make a decision regarding a ‘bootstrap’
mine development plan before the end
of the March quarter. The study involves an
evaluation of the economics of mining a minimum
identified core resource.
It entails scoping capital costs including infrastructure,
plant and pit development, and
operating costs such as mine and mill costs,
tailings disposal, environmental remediation
and social pr ograms. Metallurgical testing
and social and environmental baseline studies
are ongoing.
The phase 2 drilling program consisting of 55
new holes is on schedule with mor e than 20
holes drilled. The exploration portion of the program
is focusing on step-out drilling in downdip
mineralized zones with a view to confirming
and extending the Balabag resource.
This component of the program is expected
to be completed by the end of the first quarter.
It is intended that this program will also include
further infill drilling in the core area of the Tinago
vein zone for mine development planning.
Eight holes have been drilled in the zones
down-dip of the T inago vein system. Five
holes confirmed an extension of the mineralized
zone and three tested the boundaries outside
the limits of the system.
Phase 2 drilling has included six holes at
Miswi and seven holes at Lalab, adding to the
resource database for these vein sections.
Drilling is also continuing at Siennalynn
with results confirming the pr esence of a
stockwork zone at Pinili prospect containing
appreciable zinc, copper and silver in at
least two mineralized breccia bodies, which
join together at depth.
The strike length of the zone appears to be
at least 250 metres and is open along strike
and at depth. Additional drilling will test the
continuity and intensity of the mineralization in
this multi-element breccia system.
Surface mapping and sampling have identified
a 1km strike length quartz vein br eccia
zone at Bailos, 700 metr es south of Pinili. To
test for subsurface continuity of the mineralization,
TVI has drilled two holes and the breccia
zones wer e intersected in both. The
breccia zones show copper, gold and silver
mineralization. Drilling is continuing at Tatfu and
Nanao West prospects.
At the operating Canatuan project, the company
expected to begin zinc concentrate production
during the first quarter. Copper-zinc
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separation has been achieved using a revised
reagent regime and reconfigured process flow
sheet. During commissioning, the continuous
production of copper concentrates has been
achieved to meet shipping requirements.
A helicopter-supported geophysical survey
covering all TVI's norther n tenements in the
Zamboanga peninsula is complete. The high
quality data received from this survey will assist
the company in identifying specific exploration
targets for future program planning.
A second helicopter survey over the greater
Canatuan area involves acquisition of a combination
of Versatile Time-Domain Electromagnetics
(VTEM) and magnetics data. This
survey is expected to be flown during the first
quarter with processing and interpretation to
follow. Data will assist locating mineralization
in the vicinity of the operations with the goal
of providing additional mill feed.
Lepanto focusing on upper levels
LEPANTO Consolidated Mining Corp is embarking
on aggressive mine development at the
upper levels of its V ictoria Gold Project where
Operations at TVI’s Canatuan copper and zinc project.
production activities this year are concentrated.
Internal ramps and stope development of
more than 16km is being undertaken to fully
delineate production panels ahead of extraction.
This process will make the mining operations
more efficient.
The Victoria Project in Mankayan, Benguet,
has produced more than 1.2 million ounces
of gold from 1997 to 2009. Lepanto sells its
gold bullion production to Heraeus Ltd, a refinery
based in Hong Kong.
Lepanto has been mining gold in Benguet
since 1936 and has mining claims covering
more than 4000 hectares in Mankayan alone.
The company invested about P442 million in
2010 in mine development and special pr ojects
in support of mining operations. It has
also recently undertaken a P3 billion stock
rights offering with proceeds used to develop
the Victoria project, settle liabilities to suppliers,
repay advances from shareholders and update
its retirement benefit obligation.
A prospectus released for the offering shows
that total capital expenditure for the first three
quarters of 2010 reached P350 million, P182
million of which went to mine development
and special projects while the rest was spent
on exploration, tailing dam maintenance and
purchase of mine machinery and equipment.
The total capital outlay for the year was estimated
at P442 million, including last-quarter
spending for development of Victoria.
It states: “Metal production is expected to improve
as tonnage is expected to increase from
the upper levels, where gold grades are relatively
higher than the lower levels. Pr oduction
cost at the upper levels is also lower as ther e
are no or e re-handling costs. Mining at the
lower levels will continue at its present rate.”
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EXTENSION TO THAR COAL EXPLORATION LICENCE
PAKISTAN’S government has approved the
extension of an exploration licence at Block VI
of the Thar Coalfield. The one year extension
has been granted to Oracle Coalfields, the UKbased
developer of the 1.4 billion tonne,
JORC-compliant measured coal resource in
the southeast desert of Sindh Province.
The original exploration licence over an area
of 66.1sqkm was granted to Sindh Carbon
Energy, a subsidiary of Oracle, in November
2007 for three years. The extension to November
25, 2011, has been granted in accordance
with the company's plan to complete
its feasibility study for Block VI.
Oracle’s CEO Shahrukh Khan says, “The
extension of the licence demonstrates the
continued governmental support for the development
of the Thar Coalfield and will
allow us to complete our work program for
the bankable feasibility study.”
The Thar Coalfield is 380km from Karachi,
and covers an ar ea of 9100sqkm, with a
total lignite coal resource in excess of 175
billion tonnes. The coalfield is in close proximity
to good infrastructure, with ongoing
development of a road and power network
in the region.
Oracle intends to work with Karachi Electric
A copper sample from the Aynak project.
Supply Company to use output from the mine
to feed new power plants. While coal production
is expected to begin in 2012 at an annual
rate of about 1 million tonnes, it could be another
three years before a power plant is up
and running. Until this occurs, Oracle plants
to supply coal to Lucky Cement, Pakistan’ s
biggest producer of the material.
Oracle has planned a two-stage development
process for the mine. Shahrukh Khan
says, “The first will have more than 100 million
tonnes in the proven category and will get the
mine up and running, while the second phase
with another 200 million tonnes on top pr o-
vides the scalability over the life of the mine.”
Oracle believes coal will help Pakistan overcome
its chr onic energy shortages which
have led to power outages. Coal, which currently
accounts for less than 1% of Pakistan’s
energy, could supply 17% by 2025.
To help finance its plans it intends to move
from the Plus exchange to the Alter native
Investment Market (Aim) before June. Aim
is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange,
allowing smaller companies to float
shares with a more flexible regulatory system
than is applicable to the main market.
The Plus listing is a dry run before attempting
the lengthy process of listing on Aim.
The company has also r ecently finalized a
subscription agreement with Regency Mines,
a company with inter ests in Australia and
Papua New Guinea. The subscription has
raised more than 1 million pounds with Regency
now holding about 10.04% of Oracle.
Aynak crucial for Afghanistan
DEVELOPMENT by the Metallurgical Corp
of China (MCC) of the Aynak Copper Project
in Afghanistan is likely to continue with little
delay despite the discovery of ancient Buddhist
relics. Aynak, southwest of the capital
Kabul, is due to begin production in 2013.
The project is a crucial component of plans
to get the country to self-suf ficiency and off
the foreign aid that makes up most of its
budget. It has been embraced by Pr esident
Hamid Karzai and the alliance of industrialized
nations that is supporting Afghanistan and
pouring cash into the country.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Mines
and Industry says, “The MCC project is the
biggest investment in Afghanistan and we
don't think the construction will be affected
by the discovery of ancient sites. The government
and MCC have an agr eement on
protecting cultural sites, ar e coordinating
construction work and will build a museum
at the site to house valuable finds.
MCC says the effort to uncover and pr e-
serve the relics had potential to slow its development
work but it is waiting on
government policies. Other work for the
project is proceeding normally.
The Aynak area has long been exploited for
its rich copper deposits and has many old
smelting sites. Archaeologists last year uncovered
Buddhist r emains, including a temple,
stupas, frescoes and statues several metr es
high, some more than 15 centuries old.
Aynak copper project is 75% owned by
MCC and 25% owned by China's top copper
producer, Jiangxi Copper. It is regarded
as one of the world's major copper ore bodies
with proven reserves of 9 million tonnes
and is expected to have annual capacity of
200,000 tonnes of metal in the first phase,
expanding to 320,000 tonnes. China is the
world's leading copper consumer but can
produce less than a third of its needs, mak-
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Central Asia
ing the Aynak supply vital. The mine is also the biggest overseas
copper project for MCC, which will channel concentrates into r e-
fined copper production at the firm's subsidiary Huludao, which
currently has to buy them on international and Chinese markets.
Another stumbling block to development is incr easing violence in
Afghanistan, which many believe is at its worst since the Taliban were
overthrown in late 2001, and has spread to previously peaceful northern
and western areas. MCC has also war ned that construction of
Afghanistan's first major rail line, which it plans to build as part of its
mining investments, could be in jeopardy if security worsens.
Benkala production in September
DEVELOPMENT work at Frontier Mining’s Benkala Copper Project
in northwest Kazakhstan is continuing with the company on schedule
for first production in September this year. Benkala is expected
to produce about 3000 tonnes of copper this year, rising to about
7000 tonnes in 2012 and 20,000 tonnes in 2013. It will become the
company’s third operating mine in Kazakhstan behind the Naimanjal
gold mine and the Koskuduk trial gold operation on the Naimanjal
licence area in the northeast.
Frontier has removed more than 3.4 million tonnes of waste to access
the ore body and with the ore body starting at 35 metres below
original surface, the company expects to r each the ore body sometime
in early March and is on schedule to start crushing ore in June.
There is also a large body of infrastructure work being carried out.
A 1300 square metre, 70 person camp has been built and Frontier is
expanding it to include another 1200 square metres of living and office
space. In addition, 10km of connecting r oads to the main highway
and railway, as well as internal roads, are under construction.
Foundations for the main plant and support facilities have been laid
with construction under way. A second electrical line of 10 KvA to
support construction operations was brought to the site in June 2010
and the main 110 KvA line with a budget of $4.8 million is under construction
with commissioning expected in April. Also, two 500,000
tonne pads for ore placement and leaching will be lined in March.
About 90% of all plant equipment has been identified, tender ed
and contracted. Some of the equipment, such as the main crushers,
was in Kazakhstan and is being shipped to site. It is not expected
that winter will be a significant factor in slowing construction
as most of the work vulnerable to sever e weather was carried out
prior to initial snow falls.
Benkala has measured and indicated resources of 194,147 tonnes
@ 0.45% copper for 878,400 tonnes of metal, and inferred resources
of 133,521 tonnes @ 0.42% copper for 564,900 tonnes of metal.
Frontier owns two licences in Kazakhstan, the Naimanjal exploration
and mining licence held by its subsidiary FML Kazakhstan,
and 50% of US Megatech BVI, which holds the Benkala licence.
Stans to revive rare earth processing complex
STANS Energy Corporation intends pur chasing a past-producing
rare earth (RE) processing facility and rail terminal in the Kyrgyz Republic
for US$5.5 million. Stans has signed an exclusive agreement
with the majority owners of the Kyrgyz Chemical Metallurgical Plant,
subject to due diligence.
For almost three decades, the facility produced 80% of the former
Soviet Union’s RE supply and an independent due diligence study
determined that 97% of the equipment previously used for process-
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The Shirotnaia prospect is one of three advanced projects and three early stage exploration projects at Uzboy.
ing was in good or satisfactory condition,
and only 3% needed repair.
The complex and rail terminal wer e used
to produce and transport materials, equipment,
chemicals and final pr oduct to and
from markets when the Kutessay II RE mine,
now owned by Stans, was last in pr oduction.
At that time the RE complex comprised
four individual plants that wer e part of a
larger industrial complex.
Much of the past technology used in plant
1 would not be used today , as newer technology
is more efficient and less damaging to
the environment. The plant has been decommissioned
and will not be used in Stans’ new
design. Historically, RE feed was br ought to
plant 1 to be refined into a higher grade concentrate.
At this stage, the radioactivity was
removed through roasting but modern technologies
have made this redundant.
Plant 2 separated the mixed rare earth solution
from plant 1 to pr oduce light rar e
earth (LRE), middle rar e earth (MRE) and
heavy rare earth (HRE) concentrates as well
as yttrium oxide. The equipment in plant 2
is intact but has been r emoved and stored
4km away for security purposes. Stans intends
to refurbish and reassemble plant 2.
Plant 3 separated the MRE and HRE concentrates
into final oxides, metals and alloys,
and was where various solutions were prepared.
The pr ocess was carried out on a
batch system where conditions in the ion exchange
columns were specific for each element.
REs wer e then pr ecipitated as the
oxalate (carbonate), then filter ed, washed,
dried and calcined to rare earth oxide (REO).
The RE metal section involved production of
metals from the REOs through various electrical,
induction and arc furnaces.
The Soviets never used this plant to its full
capacity as uses for HREEs were limited between
1965 and 1990. In the late 80s the
Soviets initiated expansion plans to process
3-4 times the amount at which it was operating.
The expansion was halted when the
plant stopped operating in 1991 and some
new equipment is on site but not installed.
The plant continued to pr ocess small
amounts of HRE concentrate into final metals
until 2009. The last of its HREE concentrate
and final products were sold in 2010.
Plant 3 is in good working condition.
Plant 4 separated light rare earth concentrate
from plant 2 into individual REOs. Like
plant 2, most equipment was removed and
securely stored. A feasibility study will de -
termine whether Stans sells light rare earth
concentrate derived fr om plant 2 or r e-
assembles plant 4 to produce final oxides.
The rail terminal links with the Central Asian
Rail Network, which connects to Russia,
China, Korea and by ferry to Japan. The terminal
purchase includes a gantry crane, two
warehouses, two offices and a weigh station.
It is about 15km from the processing plants.
Upon completion of the transaction, Stans
will engage the Russian institutes that designed
and built the complex to help r e-
design and r efurbish facilities. New
technologies and solvents that wer e unavailable
in the Soviet era will be tested in a
bid to improve efficiency.
New gold zones at Shirotnaia
DIAMOND drilling by Alhambra Resour ces
has resulted in discovery of two new zones
of higher grade gold mineralization at the
Shirotnaia deposit which forms part of the
Uzboy Gold Project in Kazakhstan.
Broad intervals of anomalous gold concentrations
were intersected in all nine drill
holes. One hole intersected 4.32 grams/
tonne gold over an interval of 36 metres, including
9 metres @ 16.8 grams/tonne. Another
intersected 2.13 grams/tonne over an
interval of 20 metres.
The drilling program consisted of nine holes
totalling 1141 metres and the objective was
to test the depth extension of the large gold
anomaly previously outlined by the 2008 r o-
tary air blast (RAB) drilling program.
Two significant widths of high grade gold
mineralization were encountered within a
large area of lower grade mineralization,
suggesting the probable continuation of the
high grades to depth as is usual for this
style of mineralization. In fact, previous RAB
drilling programs completed at Shir otnaia
identified a large gold anomaly and significant
gold mineralization with a high peak
gold grade of up to 51.6 grams/tonne.
The nine wide spaced diamond drill holes
confirmed the presence of two northeast
striking zones of hydr othermal alteration
that hosts numer ous zones of significant
gold mineralization in each drill hole.
Uzboy is in north central Kazakhstan, immediately
adjacent to the Aksu and
Quartzite Hills gold deposits which ar e
being mined by KazakhGold Gr oup and
which have resources of about 15 million
ounces. The target area of Shirotnaia, as indicated
by gold soil anomaly , measures
about 3.4km by 1.5km and is contained
within the even larger original target area of
10km by 2km which remains to be explored
by more modern methods.
An infill reverse circulation drilling program
consisting of 43 holes totalling 2250 metres
has also been completed at Shir otnaia to
further enhance and understand the geometry
of the large zone of anomalous gold
mineralization previously outlined.
Alhambra’s chairman and chief executive
officer John Komarnicki says, “These very
encouraging results continue to support our
interpretation that the three zones of gold
mineralization discovered at Shirotnaia have
the potential to be the northern extension of
the multi million ounce Aksu and Quartzite
Hills gold deposits immediately to the south.
“In our opinion, the combination of the hy-
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drothermal alterations and distinct zones of
widespread gold mineralization supports an
extensive exploration pr ogram this year
consisting of diamond drilling and RC
drilling which will be focused on further
defining both the potential and dimensions
of Shirotnaia.”
Kumtor production evenly spread
CENTERRA Gold expects to pr oduce
550,000 to 600,000 ounces of gold at the
Kumtor project in 2011 after pr oducing
567,802 ounces during 2010. The production
profile will differ significantly from recent
years as it will be spr ead more evenly
across all quarters.
The company achieved its 2010 pr oduction
guidance with a strong fourth quarter in
which 228,433 ounces were produced, despite
a 10-day shutdown. Production in the
first quarter was 180,562 ounces, in the
second it was 90,050 ounces and in the
third 68,757 ounces.
Centerra’s president and CEO Steve Lang
says, “We continue to expand our exploration
and business development efforts as
we look for additional operating platforms in
an effort to increase our future gold production
and help us achieve our goal of producing
1.5 million ounces of gold annually.”
This year will see Centerra continue its aggressive
exploration work at Kumtor with an
increase in exploration in the district with
target definition and drilling programs on the
properties acquired in 2010 and planned
expenditures of about US$13 million.
Centerra also has a capital expenditur e
budget of US$206 million at Kumtor out of
a total company budget of US$213 million.
There is US$36 million of sustaining capital
budgeted, including major overhaul maintenance
of the heavy duty mine equipment
($19 million), expenditures for the shear key,
buttress and tailings dam construction
works ($5 million) and for equipment r e-
placement and other items ($12 million).
Growth capital investment for 2011 is
forecast at $170 million primarily for the purchase
of seven CAT 789 haul trucks ($21
million), purchase of remaining equipment
for the North W all expansion project ($28
million), pre-strip costs related to the development
of the open pit ($63 million) and a
waste dump expansion project ($3 million).
Also, $52 million is included for the under -
ground growth capital, to continue to develop
the SB Zone and Stockwork Zone, as
well as, for delineation drilling and capital
purchases in 2011.
Overall the company expects 2011 production
of 600,000 to 650,000 ounces with
50,000 ounces expected fr om the Bor oo
mine in Mongolia. There is not expected to be
any mining activities at Boroo while the figure
also assumes no production from the Boroo
heap leach or the Gatsuurt project due to uncertainties
with permitting in Mongolia.
The Boroo mill is expected to pr ocess the
remaining direct mill feed stockpiled or e at
Boroo until the end of May with an average
grade of about 1.44 grams/tonne. Receipt of
the final heap leach operating permit would
add about 4000 ounces a month. At Gatsuurt,
the project is ready to begin production
of the oxide or e on receipt of the final approvals
and regulatory commissioning.
Tulkubash on a fast track
CHAARAT Gold Holdings expects to complete
the feasibility study for the T ulkubash
Gold Project before the end of June with
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construction to begin immediately after. It is
expected that first gold will be poured during
the second quarter of 2012.
Tulkubash is within the Chaarat licence
area in northwest Kyrgyz Republic and is
being fast-tracked to production without interfering
with development of the larger
Chaarat project.
The Chaarat licence area hosts two types
of mineralization - the Chaarat r efractory
mineralization hosted in the Main and Contact
zones, and the primarily fr ee-milling
mineralization of Tulkubash zone.
The entire area of the Chaarat deposit was
subject to a pr e-feasibility study which is
being completed now by SNC Lavalin from
South Africa. However, it was identified that
it may be possible to ‘ring-fence’ the
Tulkubash free milling project and fast-track
it to pr oduction. With this in mind, SNC
Lavalin is producing a definitive feasibility
study for Tulkubash and expects to complete
it shortly. Most of the investment in
The Chaarat Gold Project is within the Tienshan Gold Belt.
Tulkubash will be used later by the larger
Chaarat project, hence the capital cost will
be allocated accordingly.
The preliminary assumption is that
Tulkubash can process 700-1000 tonnes of
ore each day and that based on that, an annual
production rate of 30,000-50,000
ounces may be possible.
There is no power on site and the power
lines in Chatkal are not adequate. The company
plans to build a power line to the property
by late 2013 or early 2014 and the
Tulkubash project, which is not going to require
a lot of power, will initially be powered
by generators.
A resource of 336,000 ounces has been
delineated at T ulkubash @ 4.18 grams/
tonne. There is significant potential for increased
tonnage as the deposit has only
been partially explored. An extensive drilling
program is under way . Chaarat is 320km
southwest of Bishkek and 145km north-east
of Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Access is fr om
the main all-weather road running along the
Chatkal Valley. This road can be accessed
either from the Talas Valley up north going
through two mountain passes or fr om the
south from the Chapchama Pass.
From Chatkal Valley the road to the deposit
goes through the Kumbel Pass. Unlike the
two passes which are part of the public road
system, the 35km stretch from the Chatkal
Valley to the deposit is a private r oad to be
upgraded and maintained by the company.
The existing gravel road requires significant
upgrade before the site is suitable for
mining operation. Detailed design works for
the road are to be complete befor e March
31, 2011. The company expects the upgrade
will be done in stages based on pri -
oritizing the mor e needy ar eas over the
2011-2012 snow-free seasons.
Infill drilling success at Karchiga
DRILLING by Orsu Metals at the Kar chiga
project in northeast Kazakhstan has demonstrated
that the copper sulphide mineralization
in the North East area constitutes a single
lode. All results have been received from an
infill program in the North East lode of the volcanogenic
massive sulphide copper deposit.
Best intercepts are 8.56 metres @ 4.99%
copper and 0.39 grams/tonne gold, 4.05
metres @ 5.43% copper and 0.91 grams/
tonne gold, 8.5 metr es @ 3.28% copper
and 0.22 grams/tonne gold, 15.7 metres @
2.55% copper and 0.61 grams/tonne gold,
and 13.2 metres @ 2.10% copper and 0.60
grams/tonne gold.
The program is likely to lead to an increase
in resources at Karchiga, with a new NI 43-
101 compliant estimate now being prepared.
An exploration camp at the Tulkubash project of Chaarat Gold Holdings.
56 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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Central Asia
The Karchiga deposit consists of the Central and North East lodes.
The most recent resource estimate released in March 2010 for the
Central lode shows 1.085 million indicated tonnes in the oxide zones
@ 1.25% copper for 13,545 tonnes and 5.276 million indicated tonnes
in the sulphide zones @ 1.89% copper for 100,064 tonnes. At the
North East lode there were 2.77 million indicated tonnes in sulphide
zone 303 @ 1.98% copper for 54,894 tonnes, 1.507 million inferr ed
tonnes in sulphide zone 402 @ 1.26% copper for 18.918 tonnes and
319,623 inferred tonnes in sulphide zone 404 @ 3.24% copper for
10,342 tonnes.
A scoping study for Karchiga released in May 2010 is based upon indicated
and inferred mineral resources for pit optimization. However, as
the project progressed, and with the preparation of the definitive feasibility
study, it was necessary to carry out additional infill drilling to upgrade
resources in the North East lode for the purposes of full open pit
design. The infill drilling program, which consisted of 40 diamond drill
holes for 3876 metres, was therefore focused on upgrading the inferred
mineral resources to the indicated category.
The previous resource estimate showed that the mineralization in
the North East was within three shallow-dipping zones of massive and
disseminated sulphide bodies. The latest drilling, however , demonstrates
that there is continuity between these lenses and they form a
single lode with a strike length of about 1km.
Orsu’s chief operating officer and director of exploration Dr Alexander
Yakubchuk says, “We are pleased to receive such excellent results
from our infill drilling program. Modelling of the data received is under
way and we expect to have an updated and upgraded NI 43-101
compliant mineral resource estimate completed before March 31. We
also expect to receive the results of the ongoing comprehensive metallurgical
study. These studies will form a solid basis to deliver the definitive
feasibility study by quarter four of 2011.”
Funds for Chanach exploration
WHITE Cliff Nickel intends to use Aus$1.95 million raised in a private
placement book-build to accelerate drilling and exploration activities
at the Chanach Copper-Gold Project in the Kyrgyz Republic. Some
of the funds will also be used for exploration at the company’s Australian
nickel projects.
Australian-listed White Cliff will begin an extensive r ock chip and
trench sampling program at Chanach in mid-April targeting porphyry
copper-gold mineralized zones. It is also planning a 3000 metre reverse
circulation and diamond drilling program at the project in July-
August targeting the porphyry copper-gold mineralization at depth.
Chanach comprises 93sqkm and is 350km west-southwest of the
Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. The pr oject is in the wester n part of the
Tien Shan Belt, a highly mineralized zone that extends for more than
2500km, from western Uzbekistan, through Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic
and southern Kazakhstan to western China.
Mineralization occurs as porphyry and epithermal systems developed
within magmatic ar cs, and or ogenic type gold deposits
that are structurally contr olled. Major deposits within 100km
of Chanach contain up to 93 million ounces of gold and 25 million
tonnes of copper.
Initial work by White Cliff indicates that the project may host porphyry
and skarn style gold and copper mineralization. Sampling during
2007-2010 has identified several ar eas containing gold values
of up to 40 grams/tonne and copper values of up to 5%.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 57

News 3_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:19 AM Page 13
Cambodia
MAIDEN ANTRONG RESOURCE EXPECTED
A Brighton Mining field crew gathers samples from the Antrong Project.
BRIGHTON Mining aims to define a maiden
inferred resource for the Antrong Gold Project
in Mondulkiri Province by the third quarter of
2011 after recently completing a drilling program
at the O’Thmey prospect.
The drilling began in early 2011 and followed
up some exciting r ock chip samples
collected from Antrong which included
grades as high as 280 grams/tonne gold, 815
grams/tonne silver, 1.93% copper and
greater than 25% zinc.
Antrong shares a similar geological setting
and style of mineralization to OZ Minerals’
Okvau project where an inferred JORC-compliant
resource of 8.3 million tonnes @ 2.3
grams/tonne gold containing 605,000 ounces
has been defined to date and r emains open
along strike and at depth. The drilling program
targeted a similar style of mineralization and
geological setting as Okvau.
A series of diamond holes were drilled to an
average depth of 80 metres to test several auriferous
quartz veins and related hanging wall
and footwall mineralization, which occur in the
alteration halo of the Antrong granodiorite.
Brighton considered the drilling as the pr e-
liminary phase to test these structur es and it
has formed the basis for ongoing drill pr o-
grams to prove up any resources discovered.
The diamond drill core was processed on site.
During December 2010 the company conducted
a series of exploration pr ograms on
and around O’Thmey, including mapping,
trenching and sampling. A total of 110 geochemical
soil, 31 trench and 29 rock samples
were collected.
Results of the mapping and sampling have
identified additional mineralized float and subcrop
on strike to known mineralized occur -
rences and local mining activities, in some
cases extending mineralization by 200 metres.
The initial soil sampling pr ogram which was
based on a 400 x 100 metr es grid had extended
known mineralization by up to 2km.
Follow-up infill soil sampling and trenching is in
progress to define the mineralized structures.
The O’Thmey area is in the eastern portion
of the Antrong concession. Other anomalous
soil results elsewhere in the concession also
emphasize the northwest mineralized trends
and will be followed up with infill soil sampling,
mapping, trenching and drilling.
Antrong is 230km north-west of Phnom
Penh and covers 58.5sqkm. It is about 9km
northeast of the Okvau pr oject in the ar ea
known as the Antrong Mineral Field.
Brighton also has the Ropoah concession
area about 5km east-northeast of Antr ong.
The concession has an area of 11sqkm and
shares a similar geological setting to the rest
of the Mondulkiri mineral field. Ther e is also
the Kang Roland North concession which is
18km to the north of Antrong.
Wai Chun to acquire iron mines
HONG Kong-listed W ai Chun Mining has
agreed to acquir e two ir on mines in the
Kohkeo and Phnom Thmar r egions of the
Kingdom of Cambodia. The pr operties are
being purchased from Guangxi Non-Ferrous
Metals Group at a consideration of not more
than HK$258.8 million.
The purchase forms part of a recent agreement
with Guangxi Non-Ferrous and Guangxi
Sincerity Investments & T rading Company
Limited. Also included is the purchase by Wai
Chun of a 74% interest in a manganese mine
in Northern Cape of South Africa at a consideration
ranging fr om HK$1.2 billion to
HK$1.325 billion.
Wai Chun will satisfy the consideration of the
acquisitions partially in cash of about HK$400
million to HK$600 million and the remaining by
issue and allotment of new shares.
Upon completion of the acquisitions, W ai
Chun will become the flagship enterprise of
Guangxi Non-Ferrous in undertaking business
activities in the mining and mineral r esources
sector, and shall enjoy the right of first r efusal
to acquire both the overseas and domestic
mining and resources businesses of Guangxi
Non-Ferrous. It will also change its name to
Guangxi Nonferrous Metals Group Co while
Guangxi Non-Ferrous shall nominate the chairman
of the board of the company.
Guangxi Non-Ferrous is a state-owned enterprise
established in 2008 in Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is principally
engaged in the operation of state-owned assets
and exploitation, exploration, selection,
refinery, research and development of mineral
resources. It has the largest indium r eserve
and second largest tin reserves in China and
is ranked third in terms of tin pr oduction, indium
production and antimony production respectively.
It is one of the Top 30 non-ferrous
metal enterprises in China and one of the Top
500 manufacturing enterprises.
In commenting on the acquisitions, W ai
Chun management said, “We are delighted
to have the opportunity to collaborate with
Guangxi Non-Ferrous Metals. W ith the full
support of Guangxi Non-Ferrous Metals, and
benefiting from its strong background, network
and technical know-how, we are confident
that we will be able to develop ourselves
into a quality leading player in the mining and
mineral resources sector.”
The acquisitions represent a diversification
of business for W ai Chun, which has been
58 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

News 3_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:19 AM Page 14
Cambodia
engaged in the trading, manufacturing and
exporting of athletic and athlete-style
footwear, working shoes, safety shoes, golf
shoes, other functional footwear and bags.
伟 俊 矿 业 收 购 铁 矿
香 港 上 市 的 伟 俊 矿 业 已 经 同 意 收 购 位 于 柬 埔
寨 王 国 Kohkeo 和 Phnom Thmar 区 域 的 两 个
铁 矿 。 这 两 处 矿 权 地 是 从 广 西 有 色 金 属 集 团
手 中 以 不 超 过 2.588 亿 港 币 的 价 格 收 购 的 。
此 次 收 购 是 广 西 有 色 和 广 西 新 思 迪 投 资 贸
易 有 限 公 司 近 期 达 成 的 协 议 的 一 部 分 。 同 时
还 包 括 : 伟 俊 以 12-13.25 亿 港 币 的 代 价 收 购
位 于 南 非 北 开 普 的 一 个 锰 矿 74% 的 股 权 。
伟 俊 矿 业 收 购 南 非 锰 矿 资 源 资 产 的 代 价 中
有 4-6 亿 港 元 将 以 现 金 方 式 支 付 , 而 其 他 剩
余 代 价 将 通 过 发 行 及 分 配 新 股 票 来 支 付 。
收 购 完 成 后 , 伟 俊 矿 业 将 成 为 广 西 有 色 在
采 矿 和 矿 产 资 源 领 域 从 事 商 业 活 动 的 旗 舰 企
业 , 并 享 有 对 广 西 有 色 并 购 海 内 外 采 矿 和 资
源 业 务 的 第 一 拒 绝 权 。 另 外 , 它 将 更 名 为 广
西 有 色 金 属 集 团 股 份 有 限 公 司 , 同 时 , 广 西
有 色 将 任 命 公 司 委 员 会 的 主 席 。
广 西 有 色 是 一 家 国 有 企 业 ,2008 年 成 立 于
广 西 壮 族 自 治 区 。 它 主 要 从 事 国 有 资 产 的 运
营 及 矿 产 资 源 的 开 发 、 勘 探 、 筛 选 、 提 炼 、
研 究 和 开 发 。 在 中 国 拥 有 最 大 的 铟 储 量 和 第
二 大 的 锡 储 量 , 其 在 中 国 的 锡 、 铟 、 锑 生 产
量 排 名 第 三 。 是 中 国 有 色 金 属 前 30 强 企 业 ,
也 是 中 国 500 强 企 业 之 一 。
伟 俊 矿 业 管 理 层 表 示 :“ 很 高 兴 可 与 广 西
有 色 合 作 。 得 到 广 西 有 色 的 全 力 支 持 , 加 上
受 惠 其 强 大 的 背 景 、 庞 大 的 网 络 及 专 业 的 技
术 知 识 , 我 们 有 信 心 发 展 成 为 行 业 领 先 的 优
质 矿 产 资 源 企 业 。”
此 次 收 购 对 伟 俊 矿 业 来 说 , 是 一 次 业 务 上
的 转 变 , 伟 俊 主 要 从 事 贸 易 、 制 造 及 出 口 运
动 鞋 、 工 作 鞋 、 安 全 鞋 、 高 尔 夫 鞋 、 其 他 功
能 鞋 以 及 箱 包 。
OZ Minerals to conduct Mesam exploration
OZ Minerals has reached agreement with the
owners of the Mesam exploration licence to
conduct exploration in the area which abuts
the Okvau licence. Mesam contains targets
within possible trucking distance of Okvau.
Should results warrant it, OZ Minerals has
an exclusive right to enter into a full joint venture
to explore and develop the Mesam area.
Surface exploration and camp construction
has been completed and drilling is expected
to start during the current quarter.
Meanwhile, the company continues its exploration
efforts at its Cambodian tenements.
In the Okvau region scout drilling at Okvau
North, Okvau North-W est and Ar ea 6
prospects did not return significant results.
Efforts are now focusing on r econnaissance
of the Area 3 prospect which is a 10sqkm
area of anomalous stream sediment catchments
within 5km of the Okvau resource.
At the O Khlek Khlok joint ventur e, drilling
targeting veining and br eccia systems with
coincident soil geochemical and induced polarization
anomalies in the south western part
of the exploration licence did not r eturn significant
results. Infill str eam sampling and
prospect scale exploration has now commenced
over the large intrusive complex in
the north-east of the joint venture area.
The company has established a base at the
Phnom Peam Louk tenement to facilitate exploration
and reconnaissance stream sediment
sampling and prospecting has started.
Meanwhile, OZ Minerals expects to produce
110,000 tonnes of copper and up to 205,000
ounces of gold from its Prominent Hill mine in
South Australia during 2011, after exceeding
production targets in 2010. Total copper production
in 2010 was 112,171 tonnes and gold
production was 196,400 ounces.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 59

News 3_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:19 AM Page 15
Vietnam
FUNDS BOOST FOR BAN PHUC PROGRESS
THE $4.68 million proceeds gained from the
exercise of shar e purchase warrants give
Asian Mineral Resources confidence that it
will be able to continue with development of
the Ban Phuc Nickel/Copper Project in northern
Vietnam.
The project was put on car e and maintenance
during the global financial crisis owing
to falling nickel prices and lack of suf ficient
funds. This came at a time when development
of the project was about 60% complete.
The company is pleased with the result from
the warrants. Those exercising were members
of the Tecity Group and certain individuals.
Asian Mineral’s executive chairman Choo
Mun Keong says, “W e are delighted that
Tecity has confirmed its support for the company
and has provided important additional
funding which will allow us to continue with
some activities on our Ban Phuc project while
pursuing our efforts to obtain the r emainder
of the required funding for the project. We believe
Tecity's vote of confidence will gr eatly
assist our funding efforts.”
Members of the T ecity Group, including
Malaysia Smelting Corporation, now own
39.81% of the company's outstanding shares.
Asian Mineral Resources is developing the
Ban Phuc project, which is a five hour drive
north-west of Hanoi. At July 30, 2010, Ban
Phuc had proven and probable massive sulphide
reserves of 1.62 million tonnes @ 2.2%
nickel, 1% copper and 0.05% cobalt for
36,000 tonnes of contained nickel, 16,000
The development plan for the Ban Phuc project.
tonnes of copper and 800 tonnes of cobalt.
At June 9, 2010, it had measured and indicated
resources, comprising massive sulphides
and disseminated sulphides, of 14.167
million tonnes @ 0.84% nickel, 0.19% copper
and 0.02% cobalt for 119,228 contained
tonnes of nickel, 25,843 tonnes of copper and
2064 tonnes of cobalt. It had inferred massive
and disseminated resources of 7.585 million
tonnes @ 0.59% nickel, 0.03% copper and
0.03% massive sulphide cobalt for 45,003
contained tonnes of nickel, 2061 tonnes of
copper and 155 tonnes of cobalt.
The experience gained by the company during
development of two portals and the exposure
of the ore body on two separate horizons
has provided valuable insight into the geology
and ground conditions that can be expected
during production. This, together with the increased
confidence in the r esource, precipitated
a review of the mine design.
Geotechnical studies concluded that the level
spacing could be increased from 15 to 20 metres.
In addition the success of the strike drilling
program, which confirmed that the deposit is
open down dip to the west, led to a r epositioning
of the lower access decline to optimize
tramming distances and improve productivity.
Environmental green light for Nat Son
ENVIRONMENTAL approval has been
granted by the Vietnamese government for
Strategic Mining Corporation’s exploration
and development project at Nat Son where
recent assay results from rock samples have
shown gold values as high as 47.3
grams/tonne and silver values as high as
228 grams/tonne.
Nat Son is in Hoa Binh province about 50km
south west of Hanoi in the centr e of the goldrich
Kim Boi deposit, in northern Vietnam. The
property is on the same strike as the currently
producing Dong Thanh gold mine, a gover n-
ment-owned project 7km to the south.
In December 2010, the Vietnamese government
granted Strategic an exploration and development
licence for Nat Son after Strategic
released geological reports identifying goldbearing
ore veins and indicating the presence
of economical gold and silver resources.
Strategic’s president Todd Sterck says,
“Obtaining environmental approval is a key
milestone and represents an important step
forward for our company toward exploitation
of the potential resources.”
The company has signed a drill contract
with US-based Core One Drilling to carry out
a diamond core drill program at Nat Son. The
program will consist of about 2500 metres of
drilling focused on four zones of pr ecious
metal mineralization identified by the site geology
and mineralization r eport. The initial
phase of this r esource-evaluation effort will
consist of 13 cor e drill holes, with depths
ranging from 150 metres to 400 metres.
Core One will not only execute the drill program
but also provide training in drill methods
and use of advanced drill equipment to the
staff of Strategic's V ietnamese joint-venture
partner, Ba Dinh Minerals JSC.
Strategic expected to receive delivery from
the US in mid-February of a state-of-the-art
Boart Longyear LF 70 drill rig for use in the
program. The LF 70 is a versatile trackmounted
drill rig with a modular design that
enables drilling in challenging geographic terrains
and in all seasons of the year.
Strategic will be the first company to use an
angular drill rig in Hoa Binh pr ovince. The
company has received strong support from
the provincial government for importing advanced
mining technology into the region.
Todd Sterck says, “This resource evaluation
will be the first depth testing of the ore-bearing
veins at Nat Son. We’re optimistic that the drill
program will provide the critical data we need
60 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

News 3_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:19 AM Page 16
Vietnam
about the mineralization below ground to allow
us to advance to the next phase of exploration.
“The Nat Son project has the potential to
advance rapidly and we are preparing for exciting
developments throughout 2011.”
Investment into Masan Resources
US-BASED private equity group Mount Kellet
Capital Management has obtained a 20%
stake in Masan Resources through an investment
of US$100 million. Masan Resources is
a subsidiary of V ietnamese private sector
business group, Masan Group Corporation.
Masan Group owns 64% of Masan Resources
with 16% owned by Tiberon Minerals
and 20% by Mount Kellet. Masan Gr oup has
a call option to buy T iberon’s stake over the
next three years for about US$60-90 million.
Masan Resources now has 100% beneficial
ownership of the Nui Phao polymetallic mine
in Thai Nguyen Province, to the north of Hanoi.
Mount Kellet’s co-founder Jason Maynard
says, “We have invested on the expectation
that Masan Resources will ultimately become
the leading resources platform in Vietnam and
Indochina as a whole.”
A Strategic Mining crew visits the Nat Son project in
Vietnam.
Masan has also signed an agreement with
Vietnam Development Bank for an eight-year
senior secured facility up to US$120 million.
This, combined with the Mount Kellet investment,
means that Masan has significantly derisked
the Nui Phao project.
Nui Phao has about 55.4 million tonnes of
proven and probable reserves estimated by
independent specialists Aker Kvaer ner and
an expected mine life of more than 16 years.
The mine has a tungsten grade of 0.21%,
fluorspar grade of 8.46%, bismuth grade of
0.09% and copper grade of 0.19%. The mine
is open-pit, with a low strip ratio of 2.1:1.
Masan Resources has made considerable
recent progress in development of the asset including
attaining an updated investment certificate
and new mining licence, and completing
more than 80% of the compensation and r e-
settlement for the land r equired for construction,
about seven months ahead of schedule.
It has made several critical management appointments,
including Dominic Heaton as CEO,
Dale Smith as construction manager, Darryn
McClelland as processing manager and Wilson
Soon as deputy chief financial officer.
Nui Phao is well on track to begin operations
in January 2103 and once fully operational
is expected to annually generate more
than US$300 million in r evenue and mor e
than US$200 million in EBITDA. The revenue
base is well diversified with only about 50%
of the revenues expected to be generated
from tungsten.
Masan Group CEO Madhur Maini says,
“We have two very successful verticals, consumer
and financial services, and we continue
to execute on our strategy to build
Masan Resources into a leading private sector
resource company in Vietnam.”
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 61

News 3_Layout 1 2/15/11 10:15 AM Page 17
India
COAL INDIA LOOKS NEAR AND FAR FOR SUPPLIES
Part of Coal India’s display at the 10th International Mining and Machinery Exhibition (IMME) in Kolkata.
NTPC, National Mineral Development Corp
(NMDC) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, which
has been examining several major inter national
coal investments.
ICVL plans to bid for developing huge coal
reserves in Mongolia's Tavan Tolgoi mining deposit
which contains some of the world's
largest unexploited reserves of coking coal.
Overall, the mine has an estimated coking and
thermal coal reserves of 6.4 billion tonnes.
ICVL is likely to bid for a share in the mine's
western block with r eserves of 1 billion
tonnes. If it does bid, it will face stif f competition
from Japanese and Korean companies.
ICVL was also considering a counterbid for
Australia’s Riversdale Mining, which has
major coal deposits in Mozambique, but decided
in late January not to pursue the bid.
State-run Coal India recently raised $3.4 billion
in India's largest initial public ofering and
emerged as the fifth-largest company in the
country within an hour of opening trade. It is
now the third public sector firm in the top five
companies, and is well ahead of more fancied
private sector companies.
COAL India, the world’s largest raw coal producing
company and largest coal r eserve
holder, has planned major capital expenditure
over the next 12 months as it strives to reach
increased production targets.
It has an Rs 4600-crore capex plan for the
financial year ending Mar ch 31, 2012, up
from Rs 3800-crore budgeted for the 2010-
11 Indian financial year and has set a production
target of 486.5 million tonnes in 2011-12,
up from 260.5 million tonnes in 2010-11.
The production target for the curr ent year
seems likely to be missed by around 16 million
tonnes and the company is determined
to meet the next target thr ough domestic
growth as well as international acquisitions.
Coal India’s chairman and managing director
Partha Bhattacharyya says the company
expects to meet its capital expenditur e targets
through internal accruals.
“We are setting up 20 washeries and have
already placed the first or der,” he says. “We
expect to place orders for another two before
March 31, 2011, and tenders for 11 mor e
washeries have been floated.”
Coal India is keen to acquire stakes in overseas
coal mines to bridge the gap between
demand and supply in the local market. This
will also protect the firm against volatility in international
coal prices. India's coal demand
is likely to mor e than triple in the next two
decades to 2 billion tonnes.
The country produces 530 million tonnes
of coal a year and imports about 67 million
tonnes. Coal India has pr oven reserves of
52.55 billion tonnes, of which 21.75 billion
is extractable.
Partha Bhattacharyya says the company
will use its cash reserves for overseas acquisitions
and “we are moving in that direction.”
The company has been in discussions with
Peabody Energy regarding the acquisition of
a 10%-15% stake in one of its Australian
mines as well as a long-term of ftake agreement.
It is believed that the discussions centre
on the US-based coal pr oducer’s Wilkie
Creek mine. Coal India has also been in talks
with Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group, which has
coal interests in the island nation.
Coal India is part of International Coal Ventures
(ICVL), an Indian consortium also involving
Steel Authority of India Limited,
Bid to develop UCG projects
AUSTRALIAN company Clean Global Energy
continues to monitor progress by Hyderabadbased
Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals in
its bid for undergr ound coal gasification
(UCG) blocks to develop, construct, commission
and operate a UCG plant in India.
Clean Global proposed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with Nagarjuna after
receiving an invitation from that company to
work with it to develop UCG projects in India.
On August 24, 2010, Clean Global announced
that under terms discussed with Nagarjuna,
it would deliver and operate a UCG
Syngas pilot plant and subsequent commer -
cial plant, if one of mor e of the UCG blocks
were granted to Nagarjuna or its nominees.
Those terms included a technology licensing
agreement for Clean Global which would
provide it with licensing fees, per pr oject.
Clean Global would also assist Nagarjuna to
secure UCG coal blocks fr om government
body, Rajasthan State Petr oleum Corporation.
The company hopes that a licence will
be granted later this year. As discussed with
Clean Global, Nagarjuna intends to use the
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India
Syngas to make fertilizer products.
Clean Global can produce Syngas for use
in heating, power generation and the production
of chemicals, fertiliser, ultra clean diesel
and aviation fuels. It uses a pr ocess called
Linear CRIP (controlled retractable injection
point) UCG to pr oduce Syngas. The advanced
process provides greater efficiencies
and control with less overall operating and
capital costs.
Once the raw UCG Syngas is produced at
the production well the Syngas is passed
through a number of pr ocesses to produce
regular, premium or ultra Syngas depending
on the requirements of clients.
Clean Global has projects in Australia, Inner
Mongolia in China, and in the US. The Australian
projects are focused on the development
of its extensive coal tenement portfolio
into commercial income producing assets. The
US$400 million Chinese project is Inner Mongolia's
first major UCG project and is expected
to be completed in stages over three years.
Clean Global has also r ecently expanded
into the US with the early stages of development
under way to build and a commer cial
UCG Syngas plant in Oklahoma.
Big silver plans for Hindustan Zinc
HINDUSTAN Zinc aims to become one of
the world’s leading silver producers over the
next 12 months with an estimated output of
500 tonnes, or 16 million ounces, by the
end of March 2012, more than double current
production.
Most of the increase is expected to come
from the new mill at its Sindesar Khurd project
in Rajasthan state. The new mill, with annual
capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, began
trial production at the end of the December
quarter and will be ramped up progressively
during 2011.
Hindustan Zinc, which is a subsidiary of
London-listed diversified metals and mining
major Vedanta Resources, currently produces
about 180 tonnes of silver , as a by
product of its zinc and lead operations, for
which it is India's largest and world's second
largest integrated producer.
For the nine months to December 31 it produced
129,275kg of silver while in the December
quarter it produced 42,013kg, which
was roughly equivalent to production in the
corresponding period of 2009.
Hindustan Zinc’s chairman Agnivesh Agarwal
says that with 500 tonnes of pr oduction it will
contribute about 25% of the total silver demand
in India, which is at present 2000 tonnes,
the majority of which is met through imports.
A company spokesperson says it is ramping-up
silver production in other mines as well
as Sindesar Khur d, which initially had
500,000 tonne capacity, besides improving
silver recovery in smelters and mines.
The company’s overall mined metal output
in the December quarter was its highest ever
at 222,250 tonnes, 8.5% higher than the previous
quarter. The increase was primarily due
to higher contribution from the stream IV concentrator
at Rampura Agucha.
Zinc metal pr oduction remained flat at
178,254 tonnes, whereas lead metal pr o-
duction declined 22.6% to 12,521 tonnes.
The decline in lead metal output was due to
maintenance shutdowns.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 63

News 4_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:17 AM Page 1
Laos
DRILLING AT PAKIENG MOLYBDENUM-GOLD TARGET
THE first drill test of the Pakieng NW molybdenum-gold
target is being carried out by
Amanta Resources at the Luang Namtha
Project. The target was generated as part of
a reconnaissance sampling program followed
by grid soils and induced polarization (IP).
The initial drill test is part of an ongoing
2000 metre reconnaissance drill program in
the Pakieng area. Early results demonstrate
the presence of high grade copper/silver mineralization
at shallow depths in other areas of
the concession.
A steep exposure on one side of the tar -
get area was sampled with a 16 metre vertical
channel that averaged 0.25%
molybdenum with a maximum value of
0.8%. This channel also averaged 0.22
grams/tonne gold, with a high value of 0.4
grams/tonne gold and 24 grams/tonne silver
with a high of 41 grams/tonne silver.
Reconnaissance mapping was followed up
with a soil lines grid, with a line distance of
100 metres and sampled at 25 metr e intervals.
Soil analysis defined consistently strong
molybdenum in a soil anomaly of 400 by 500
metres, open to the north and west.
Drilling at MMG’s Sepon Copper-Gold Project in Laos.
Molybdenum-in-soils values of up to
170ppm are accompanied by strongly anomalous
gold in soils assays of up to 1.1
grams/tonne gold. IP surveys over the anomaly
display a str ong ‘resistivity high’, with
zones of high chargeability indicating areas of
sulphide bearing silicification and alteration
extending to depth.
The company has recently closed a nonbrokered
private placement which was oversubscribed
and raised $478,000.
Amanta is focused on mineral exploration
and development in Laos, where it is exploring
the Luang Namtha copper/silver pr oject
under a joint exploration agr eement with
Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation
(JOGMEC). Amanta has agreed to a joint
venture to explor e and develop a second
copper/silver project in Laos, and also holds
gold and tungsten interests in Thailand.
Amanta is accelerating exploration at Luang
Namtha after reconnaissance work uncovered
two new areas of copper/silver mineralization.
The company has signed a contract with
Intergeo Division, of V ietnam, to begin detailed
exploration work in the Nam Bo and
Chakamping areas, encompassing 40sqkm
along the southern and eastern boundaries
of the concession. Both ar eas host widespread
outcropping copper-silver mineralization
in volcanics, similar to that observed in
the Pakieng area.
Nam Bo is east of Pakieng and appears to
be a continuation of the Pakieng mineralization.
Reconnaissance sampling at Nam Bo,
including 15 samples over six diferent mineralized
outcrops, averaged 1% copper and 58
grams/tonne silver with individual values of up
to 2.14% copper and 200 grams/tonne silver.
Chakamping is adjacent to the easter n
boundary of the concession ar ea. Sampling
across a recently discovered 12 metre-wide,
partly leached outcrop there averaged 1.2%
copper and 27 grams/tonne silver. Mineralization
at Chakamping may be related to mineralization
at Yin Shuishan mine, which is about
2km east of the concession’s eastern boundary
and owned by a private Chinese company.
Minmetals Resources acquires MMG
WHILE remaining part of the large China Minmetals
Non-Ferrous group, Minerals and
Metals Group (MMG) has been acquir ed by
Minmetals Resources Limited (MMR) fr om
Album Enterprises. MMG, which has mining
operations in Laos and Australia, MMR and
Album are all subsidiaries of China Minmetals.
The new enlarged MMR now comprises existing
MMR operations in addition to MMG’ s
mining operations in Laos, including Sepon,
and in Australia, as well as its suite of development
and exploration projects throughout
Australia, Asia and Canada. MMR is expected
to derive an immediate substantial ear nings
and cashflow contribution from MMG.
MMR’s chairman Li Fuli says, “W e have
created the platform that will launch MMR
into 2011 as the inter national, upstream
base metals flagship of the China Minmetals
group. We believe that it will bring a wealth
of growth opportunities.”
With completion of the transaction, MMG’s
Andrew Michelmore and David Lamont were
appointed as chief executive officer and chief
financial officer, respectively, of MMR. They
also join the MMR Boar d, along with independent
non-executive dir ector of MMG
Peter Cassidy and non-executive director of
MMG Jiao Jian.
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Laos
Zhan Wei, Ms Shen Ling, Zong Qingsheng
and Li Dongsheng resigned from their positions
as directors of MMR while pr evious
MMR president Hao Chuanfu has been previously
re-designated as vice chairman and
remains as an executive dir ector. Li Liangang,
who was previously a non-executive
director, has been re-designated as an executive
director.
MMR’s chief executive of ficer Andrew
Michelmore says the successful acquisition
of MMG will result in a number of opportunities
for the enlarged gr oup. “Not only will
MMR gain MMG’s experienced, Australianbased
management team and its entire portfolio
of assets, but given the scarcity of similar
base metals groups listed in Hong Kong, the
new enlarged group, will be uniquely positioned
within the r esources sector of the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“This acquisition will make MMR a mor e
substantial and diversified listed global mining
company, and will position it well to pursue
development projects and future growth
opportunities.”
Meanwhile, in December MMG’s Lao subsidiary
MMG LXML Sepon officially presented
a dividend cheque of US$18.5 million to the
Department of State Owned Enterprise Finance
Management of the Ministry of Finance.
This made the total dividend paid for
2010 US$32.9 million.
Since becoming a 10% shareholder of the
company in 2007, the gover nment has already
received more than US$50 million in
dividends. Dividends are just one form of revenue
from the project. By the end of the 2010
tax year, the company was expected to have
contributed well over US$600 million to the
country’s revenue since the mine started operations
in 2003.
On track for bauxite feasibility study
ORD River Resources and NFC China are on
track to complete a feasibility study for the
Bolaven Plateau bauxite joint venture project
in southern Laos by the middle of the year .
The companies have r ecently completed a
drilling program and continue to make excellent
progress in field work.
Ord has identified undeveloped bauxite resources
with a potential to annually produce
up to 20 million tonnes. Ord maintains a 49%
interest in the JV with Sino Australian Resources
(Laos) Co (SARCO) until the end of
the feasibility study.
Feasibility study manager Sinomine Resource
Exploration has completed drilling
work at the project’s Yuqida tenement ahead
of schedule with 976 holes wer e drilled for
7619 metres. After a break for Chinese New
Year, it will complete the r emaining geology,
measurement and sampling work before the
onset of the wet season.
As well as drilling, Sinomine has been undertaking
land clearance and r oad works;
ground exploration; exploratory line schedule
construction; mapping of geology, hydrogeology,
engineering geology and environmental
geology; and maintenance of drill rig. Mor e
than 4750 samples have also been gathered
and delivered for processing. Ord and NFC
are on track for completion of the feasibility
study, which started on Mar ch 1, 2010, by
mid-2011 and are looking forward to a positive
recommendation from the study.
They are targeting an extensive good quality
bauxite resource on the Bolaven Plateau
over an aggregate area of 487sqkm. They
believe they have an excellent nearby market
for the bauxite with demand fr om China increasing
at a rapid rate.
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News 4_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:17 AM Page 3
Thailand
DRILLING EXTENDS CHATREE HIGH GRADE GOLD ZONES
metres @ 9.72 grams/tonne fr om 105 metres;
and 8 metres @ 3.87 grams/tonne from
50 metres, including 2 metr es @ 11.9
grams/tonne from 52 metres.
Kingsgate’s managing dir ector Gavin
Thomas says, “The drilling continues to confirm
and extend the high grade gold mineralized
structures below the A and S pits,
further enhancing the potential for under -
ground mining at Chatree.
“Similar high grade epithermal feeder zones
in other parts of the world have established
major underground gold mines. If the deeper
drilling success continues at Chatr ee during
the next 12 months we believe we will be in a
position to include initial undergr ound resources
in an upgraded resource base.”
The processing plant at the Chatree Gold Project.
RESOURCE drilling by Kingsgate Consolidated
at the Chatree Gold Project continues
to extend high grade gold zones, which fur -
ther demonstrates pr ogress in the under -
ground mining potential. The company owns
and operates Chatr ee in central Thailand
through its Thai subsidiary, Akara Mining.
The drilling has confirmed high grade gold
Kingsgate Consolidated’s Chatree leases in central
Thailand.
structures below the A Pit and extended the
high grade zones in S Pit.
At A Pit the best gold intersection is 8 metres
@ 6.0 grams/tonne gold from 295 metres
down hole, including 4 metr es @ 11.3
grams/tonne gold from 299 metres while in
S Pit the best intersections are 3 metres @
4.01 grams/tonne gold fr om 117 metr es
and 5 metre @ 6.63 grams/tonne from 156
metres, including 4 metres @ 8.11 grams/
tonne from 157 metres.
The A Pit hole confirms a new high grade
lens within the existing A East 2 mineralized
zone which is currently defined over a strike
length of about 500 metres. Further drilling
is planned to follow up this zone down dip
and along strike to assess the high grade
feeder zone potential.
At S Pit two holes have confirmed that S
Main Lode continues a further 100 metr es
below the current pit floor.
Another hole has extended the depth of the
new S2 structure, to the west of S Pit, by
more than 100 metr es giving a total depth
below surface of 200-2509 metres. The best
intersection is 5 metres @ 3.60 grams/tone
from 243 metres, including 2 metres @ 6.38
grams/tonne from 245 metres.
Further S Pit drilling has continued to confirm
mineralization along strike with the best
gold intersections being 4 metr es @ 5.36
grams/tonne from 104 metres, including 2
New Caterpillar manufacturing facility
CATERPILLAR has started work on its first Thai
manufacturing facility which will produce a full
range of underground mining articulated trucks
and loaders. This equipment will be used by
Caterpillar customers in hard rock underground
mining applications around the world.
The company broke ground on the 60,000
square metre factory early in 2011 and expects
production to begin in late 2012. The
factory is at the Hemaraj Rayong Industrial
Park in Rayong Province.
The new facility will increase the current production
of underground mining products produced
by Caterpillar in Australia and Brazil to
respond to growth in demand.
Once the Thai facility is fully operational and
at full capacity, it is expected to employ about
800 people.
Caterpillar Global Mining president Chris
Curfman says, “We continue to mark strategic
investments in our mining business to
support our customers. We are pleased to
announce our first manufacturing facility in
Thailand, which will increase our capacity for
our existing range of undergr ound mining
machinery, particularly as we sharpen our
focus on meeting long-term customer demand
in growth markets.”
Caterpillar group president with responsibility
for Resource Industries, Steve Wunning,
says, “The ongoing infrastructur e development
plans for the world’ s growth markets
combined with a long-term trend toward urbanization
and growing wealth in emerging
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Thailand
economies should continue to help drive
long-term demand for commodities. This facility
will help to position caterpillar for continued
leadership in the mining industry.”
Caterpillar has been established for mor e
than 85 years and is the world’s leading manufacturer
of construction and mining equipment,
diesel and natural gas engines,
industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotive.
In 2009 its sales and r evenue exceeded
US$32 billion.
Raisama begins drilling campaign
RAISAMA Limited’s proposed subsidiary
company Peak Oil and Gas is participating in
drilling of up to thr ee petroleum exploration
wells on the L20/50 concession area. Exploration
program and L20/50 concession operator,
Carnarvon Petroleum, started drilling
operations earlier this quarter.
Preparation of the first well site, T apao
Kaew, was completed in late December but
operations were not commenced until the
other well sites pr ogressed significantly
enough to be able to drill thr ee new wells
back-to-back.
The second well site, Krai Thong, was
ready by the end of January, well ahead of the
earliest release of the rig fr om Tapao Kaew,
while the third site, Chalawan, was expected
to be ready by mid to late February and a decision
on whether to drill this site was dependant
on results from the first two wells.
Drilling was expected to take 2-3 weeks
per well, with a further 3-6 days rig move
between wells. If logging r esults showed
sufficient encouragement, testing operations
were to commence after the mobilization
of appropriate equipment, which was
expected around a month after completion
of the first successful well.
In consideration for past costs of both acquiring
the seismic data and development of
the drilling prospects in the permit, Peak is
carrying 50% of the drilling expenses of the
first well in the pr ogram, capped at US$1.3
million, to earn a 7.5% equity inter est in the
L20/50 concession.
Following completion of the first well, Peak
is required to contribute only its 7.5% working
interest share to subsequent drilling and
permit expenses.
The multi-well drilling program is testing up
to 90 million barrels of oil, a speculative potential
which is a best estimate based on gross recoverable
oil. Each well will take about 2-3
weeks to drill and complete, with each well
testing multiple reservoir horizons where the
potential for stacked oil pools exists. Any discovery
at L20/50 can be rapidly commer cialized
with crude oil transported by truck to one
of Thailand’s nearby oil refineries for sale.
Raisama’s managing director David Berrie
says, “Raisama’s participation in its first petroleum
exploration drilling pr ogram via Peak is
exciting for the company. We are looking forward
to completing the acquisition of Peak and
becoming a truly diversified energy company.”
In November 2010 Raisama enter ed into
an agreement with Peak Oil & Gas under
which Raisama will acquir e all of the outstanding
shares in Peak. Under the terms of
the offer, Raisama will of fer 15 shar es in
Raisama for every 11 Peak shar es with the
total value of the of fer being $39 million.
Raisama is a diversified energy company
with primarily, petroleum and uranium assets
in Australia and Central Asia.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 67

News 4_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:17 AM Page 5
Australia
YANCOAL RECEIVES YANZHOU FUNDS FOR COAL PROJECTS
Drilling at one of Yancoal’s Australian coal properties.
CHINA’S third largest listed coal company
Yanzhou Coal Mining will incr ease its capital
investment in Australian subsidiary Yancoal
by Aus$909 million. The move will boost its
total capital investment in the subsidiary to
Aus$973 million and paves the way for a listing
in Australia.
Yanzhou made a commitment in 2009 that
the initial public offering of Yancoal Australia
will be launched in late 2012 but Y anzhou’s
executive secretary Zhang Baocai says the
company would like to bring this forwar d to
2011 if possible.
He says that the Australian-based company
will use the funds to r epay loans and bank
borrowings in order to decrease its liability
ratio. The investment will impr ove Yancoal's
asset-liability structure, increasing its total assets
to Aus$4.771 billion and reducing its liabilities
to $3.451 billion with the asset-liability
ratio falling to 72.34%.
Yancoal also intends to spend $250 million
on acquisition of a further 30% equity interest
in Ashton Coal Mine, a joint venture with Singapore
IMC Gr oup's wholly-owned subsidiary
in Australia. This will lift Yancoal’s stake
in the joint venture, which it acquire through
its purchase of Felix Resources in December
2009, to more than 90%.
The capital increase has been approved by
the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration
Commission of Shandong in
China, and is subject to appr oval of a
Yanzhou general meeting and related authorities
in China and Australia.
Ashton underground and open-cut coal operations
are about 12km northwest of Singleton
in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales.
It has an annual raw coal production capacity
of 520 tonnes and a rich r eserve of coking
coal. The total JORC-compliant r eserve of
Ashton is 96 million tonnes, among which 49
million tonnes are open-cut coal operations.
Zhang Baocai says the company will gain
strong competitiveness with the rich coking
coal reserves in Ashton coal operations due
to a shortage for such coking coal in the
Chinese market.
Yancoal Australia contributed 7 million
tonnes of extra production to Yanzhou’s total
increase of 9.2 million tonnes in the first three
quarters in 2010. As well as Ashton, Yancoal
also has the Austar operation and the
Moolarben open cut, which ar e both in the
Hunter Valley field, and the Minerva open cut
and Yarrabee open cut in Queensland’ s
Bowen Basin. Yanzhou owns and operates
eight mines in China.
兖 州 煤 业 增 资 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司
中 国 第 三 大 上 市 煤 炭 公 司 兖 州 煤 业 将 斥 资
9.09 亿 澳 元 为 其 在 澳 大 利 亚 的 子 公 司 兖 煤 澳
洲 公 司 进 行 增 资 。 这 将 使 兖 州 煤 业 在 兖 煤 澳
洲 公 司 的 投 资 额 达 到 9.73 亿 澳 元 并 为 其 在 澳
大 利 亚 上 市 铺 平 道 路 。
按 照 2009 年 的 承 诺 , 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司 将 于
2012 年 进 行 首 次 公 开 募 股 , 但 兖 州 煤 业 董
秘 张 宝 才 表 示 , 将 争 取 将 这 一 进 程 提 前 至
2011 年 。
张 宝 才 介 绍 说 , 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司 将 把 此 次 的
增 资 用 于 偿 还 贷 款 和 银 行 借 款 来 降 低 其 资 产
负 债 率 。 此 次 增 资 将 优 化 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司 的 资
产 负 债 结 构 , 经 初 步 测 算 , 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司 的
资 产 总 额 将 增 值 47.71 亿 澳 元 , 负 债 总 额 将
降 至 34.51 亿 澳 元 , 资 产 负 债 率 将 降 至
72.34%。 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司 还 计 划 将 其 中 的 2.5
亿 美 元 用 于 收 购 新 加 坡 万 邦 集 团 通 过 其 澳 大
利 亚 全 资 附 属 公 司 所 持 有 的 Ashton 煤 矿 合 资
企 业 30% 的 股 权 。 加 上 通 过 收 购 澳 大 利 亚
Felix 资 源 有 限 公 司 所 获 得 的 Ashton 煤 矿 合 资
企 业 的 股 权 , 此 次 收 购 将 使 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司 控
制 Ashton 煤 矿 合 资 企 业 90% 的 权 益 。
此 次 增 资 已 获 得 山 东 省 国 有 资 产 监 督 管 理
委 员 会 的 准 许 , 正 在 等 待 兖 州 煤 业 股 东 大 会
以 及 中 国 和 澳 大 利 亚 相 关 部 门 的 通 过 。
Ashton 地 下 矿 井 和 露 天 矿 井 位 于 新 南 威 尔
士 州 猎 人 谷 地 区 , 在 Singleton 西 北 约 12 公 里
处 。 年 原 煤 生 产 能 力 520 万 吨 , 炼 焦 煤 储 量
丰 厚 。 根 据 澳 大 利 亚 JORC 标 准 评 估 ,Ashton
煤 矿 的 煤 炭 总 储 量 为 9600 万 吨 , 其 中 露
天 井 4900 万 吨 。 张 宝 才 表 示 , 中 国 市 场 上 炼
焦 煤 的 供 应 量 不 足 ,Ashton 煤 矿 丰 厚 的 炼 焦
煤 储 量 将 大 大 增 强 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司 的 竞 争 力 。
2010 年 的 前 三 个 季 度 , 在 兖 州 煤 业 的 产 量
为 920 万 吨 , 其 中 的 700 万 吨 产 出 于 兖 煤 澳
洲 公 司 。 除 Ashton 煤 矿 之 外 , 兖 煤 澳 洲 公 司
在 猎 人 谷 地 区 还 拥 有 Austar 项 目 和 Moolarben
露 天 矿 , 在 昆 士 兰 州 的 Bowen 盆 地 拥 有
Minerva 露 天 矿 和 Yarrabee 露 天 矿 。 兖 州 煤 业
在 中 国 运 营 着 8 座 矿 山 。
Joint venture for Maules Creek coal
ASTON Resources has entered into a joint
venture for the Maules Cr eek Coal project
after selling a 15% stake in the pr oject to a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s ITOCHU
Corporation for Aus$345 million.
Aston will be the manager of the Maules
Creek Coal Joint Venture while ITOCHU will
be appointed exclusive marketing agent for
Maules Creek coal sold into Japan and has
the option to pur chase up to 15% of coal
produced from the joint venture on an annual
basis.
Maules Creek is in the Gunnedah Basin of
New South Wales and is one of the largest
coal deposits in Australia with 356 million
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Australia
The Maules Creek project is in the Gunnedah Basin of
New South Wales.
tonnes of JORC-compliant reserves, capable
of supporting a large-scale open-cut mining
operation for more than 30 years.
The transaction is subject to Australian Foreign
Investment Review Board approval, ministerial
consent to the transfer of the relevant
mining tenements and other conditions customary
for this type of transaction.
Aston and ITOCHU have agreed to extend
the exclusivity agreement entered into in August
2010 until June 14, 2011, to negotiate
the potential sale of up to a further 10% stake
The Gunnedah Basin is at the northern end of the New
South Wales coalfields.
in the joint venture to ITOCHU and its potential
consortium members. As part of this extended
agreement, and any additional
potential sale, ITOCHU will use r easonable
endeavours to procure that the Japan Bank
for International Cooperation provides financing
to Aston and the joint venture.
Aston’s CEO Todd Hannigan says, “I am
delighted to welcome ITOCHU as a joint venture
partner in the Maules Cr eek Project.
ITOCHU brings with it an outstanding management
team, extensive knowledge and experience
of inter national coal markets and
Australian coal joint ventures. The combined
skills and experience of ITOCHU and Aston
will be exploited to rapidly develop the worldclass
Maules Creek project.”
ITOCHU is a major Japanese trading house
and, among other things, has extensive experience
in the development of coal mines
and the marketing and sale of coal globally
and has investments in coal mines in Australia
and Indonesia.
Maules Creek is considered to be one of
only a few r emaining Tier-1 undeveloped
coal assets in Australia. It contains a large
delineated JORC resource of more than 610
million tonnes.
The production mix is expected to comprise
a majority of metallurgical coal (semisoft
coking coal and high volatile PCI coal)
and a premium, low ash, export thermal coal.
Aston has developed a detailed 20 year
mine plan and expects first coal in the second
half of 2012, with annual saleable production
exceeding 10 million tonnes from 2014. The
company has also accepted a take or pay allocation
from Port Waratah Coal Services at
Newcastle of 1.7 million tonnes/year fr om
2013 and 5 million tonnes from 2015.
Joint venture for Vickery South
COALWORKS Ltd has signed a joint venture
(JV) agreement with a subsidiary of Japan’ s
ITOCHU Corporation covering the V ickery
South coking/thermal coal pr oject in the
Gunnedah Basin of New South Wales.
The JV with ICRA V ickery follows an $11
million farm-in agreement between the parties
signed last April. ITOCHU has spent an
initial $5 million to ear n 29% of the V ickery
South project.
In addition, Vickery South Operations and
Vickery South Marketing have been formed
as JV companies.
Vickery South Marketing will facilitate
ITOCHU arranging the sale and marketing of
all coking and thermal coal to be pr oduced
Coalworks projects are in eastern Australia.
from Vickery South by the JV.
These JV companies are presently owned
29% by ICRA and 71% by Coalworks and
upon completion of a bankable feasibility
study (BFS) this ownership is expected to be
49% ICRA and 51% Coalworks.
Coalworks’ managing dir ector and CEO
Andrew Firek says: “I would like to welcome
ITOCHU as a joint ventur e partner for Coalworks
and thank them for their support
through the pre-feasibility study process and
in securing the key landholdings r equired to
develop this project. Already we are building
Vickery South into a very valuable asset with
their assistance.”
Coalworks has initiated the measur ed
drilling program at Vickery South, to support
completion of the BFS later this year. The aim
is to take the current JORC 42 million tonnes
resource to measured status while additional
exploration drilling will be carried out on western
exploration targets with the potential to
identify additional resources.
Vickery South covers 6.8sqkm and is 22km
north of the town of Gunnedah and 15km
southeast of the small town of Boggabri. The
tenement adjoins the V ickery project which
was recently purchased by Whitehaven Mining
and where an open cut mine operated
from 1991 to 1996.
Previous Vickery South drilling consisted of
15 holes, four of which were cored. Data from
these holes, in conjunction with historical data
from adjacent holes, produced an inferred re-
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source of 42 million tonnes of both export
semi-soft coking and thermal coal located in
the eastern zone of the project.
Based on positive r esults from the initial
drilling an additional 53 holes ar e planned
with 20 of these to be cored and the remainder
open. All holes which intersect coal will
be geophysically logged.
Drilling identifies further gold zones
DRILLING by Range River Gold at its Mt Morgans
project in Western Australia has intercepted
high-grade gold along strike from two
separate deposits.
High-grade mineralization has been identified
along strike fr om the Craic gold mine
while drilling has confirmed the existence of
a discrete high-grade zone to the north of the
Morgans North pit.
Range River’s managing dir ector Rick
Watsford says, “The exploration r esults emphasize
the low risk, low cost exploration opportunity
at Mt Morgans.
“The drilling results south and northeast of
the recently mined Craic pit indicate the potential
for discovery of near-surface high grade
gold mineralization. Similarly, along strike to the
north of the historically mined Morgans North
pit, the potential of repeat shallow gold mineralization
has been confirmed.
“The best r esult was 5 metr es @ 20.80
grams/tonne gold that included 1 metr e @
94.23 grams/tonne gold at Morgans North.
This result confirmed continuity of a zone
identified by historical drilling.
“Both these areas offer potential to add to
the inventory of open pit resources and extend
the current two year open pit mining program.
“These results add further weight to company’s
view that there is significant potential
to increase the mineral resource base at Mt
Morgan. An initial target mineral r esource of
1.5 million ounces of gold has been set.
“Achievement of this target will be the next
major step in the plan to achieve annual production
of 100,000 ounces within five years.”
Range River’s development plan for Mt
Morgans was initially based upon the open
pit mining of Craic and open pit cutback of
Ramornie gold mines. Following the r ecent
completion of open pit mining at Craic, the
plan is to go underground at Craic and then
re-open the Transvaal and Westralia underground
gold mines.
During the period of initial open pit mining the
plan was to undertake a parallel exploration
program to identify further open pit resources
and examine opportunities for cut backs of the
nine previously mined open pits. These plans
have been successfully implemented.
Range River has a portfolio of exploration
opportunities. These and any early stage exploration
properties it acquires will be farmed
out to exploration focused companies. One
such project is Indee which has been farmed
out to the Xian, China, based NWME.
钻 探 进 一 步 发 现 了 金 成 矿 区
Range River Gold 公 司 位 于 西 澳 的 Mt Morgans
项 目 通 过 钻 探 从 两 个 独 立 的 矿 床 发 现 了
沿 走 向 存 在 的 高 品 位 金 成 矿 区 。
在 Craic 金 矿 已 发 现 了 沿 走 向 的 高 品 位 金 成
矿 带 , 同 时 钻 探 工 作 进 一 步 确 认 了 在 Morgans
北 部 矿 坑 存 在 一 个 呈 分 散 状 态 的 高 品 位
成 矿 区 。
Range River Gold 公 司 董 事 总 经 理 Rick
Watsford 说 :“ 勘 探 结 果 映 证 了 Mt Morgans
项 目 勘 探 工 作 是 低 风 险 、 低 成 本 的 。”
“ 在 最 近 开 采 的 Craic 矿 坑 南 部 和 东 北 部 进
行 的 钻 探 结 果 表 明 很 有 可 能 发 现 近 地 表 的 高
品 位 金 矿 化 。 同 样 , 在 沿 走 向 、 历 史 上 曾 开
采 的 Morgans 北 矿 坑 北 部 地 区 , 已 确 认 存 在
连 续 的 浅 地 表 金 成 矿 潜 力 。”
“Morgans 北 矿 坑 最 好 的 一 段 钻 探 结 果 是 5
米 长 岩 芯 段 金 平 均 品 位 20.80 克 / 吨 , 其 中 1
米 平 均 品 位 高 达 94.23 克 / 吨 。 这 一 结 果 验 证
了 之 前 钻 探 所 发 现 成 矿 区 的 连 续 性 。”
“ 这 些 调 查 结 果 都 有 可 能 使 得 露 天 采 矿 总
资 源 量 得 到 进 一 步 提 升 , 延 长 现 有 的 两 年 露
采 方 案 。”
“ 这 些 结 果 更 加 坚 定 了 公 司 的 信 心 , 很 有 希
望 将 Mt Morgan 项 目 的 资 源 量 提 升 到 一 个 新
的 水 平 。 初 始 目 标 总 资 源 量 是 150 万 盎 司 。”
Outcropping at Dragon Energy’s Lee Steere iron ore project.
“ 达 成 这 一 目 标 将 成 为 开 发 方 案 中 下 一 关
键 步 骤 , 以 完 成 五 年 内 年 产 能 达 到 10 万 盎
司 。”
Range River Gold 公 司 对 Mt Morgans 项 目 的
初 始 开 发 方 案 是 基 于 先 进 行 Craic 矿 露 采 , 然
后 是 Ramornie 矿 的 扩 帮 露 采 。 在 刚 刚 完 成
Craic 矿 露 采 后 , 计 划 接 着 进 行 Craic 矿 的 地
下 开 采 , 然 后 是 Transvaal 和 Westralia 井 下 金
矿 的 重 新 开 采 。
在 初 始 露 采 阶 段 计 划 开 展 一 项 平 行 的 勘 探
工 程 , 以 进 一 步 找 到 露 采 资 源 , 并 考 察 对 之
前 已 开 采 的 9 个 露 天 矿 坑 进 行 扩 帮 开 采 的 可
能 性 。 这 些 计 划 都 已 成 功 实 施 。
Range River Gold 公 司 手 握 一 系 列 勘 探 机
会 。 这 些 机 会 以 及 公 司 收 购 的 其 他 初 期 探 矿
项 目 将 分 阶 段 与 专 业 勘 探 公 司 进 行 合 资 。 如
Indee 项 目 就 是 与 位 于 中 国 西 安 的 西 北 有 色
地 质 勘 查 局 进 行 分 阶 段 合 资 的 。
Funds for Dragon Energy project
DRAGON Energy will use Aus$21.4 million
from a rights issue and option entitlement
issue to finance acquisition of the Rocklea
iron ore project and other new ventures.
The company’s major shareholder, Shandong
Taishan Sunlight Group Company, has
committed to underwrite a minimum of
Aus$18 million for the rights issue. The group
has also confirmed its intention to subscribe
for their full entitlement under both issues.
Rocklea, in Western Australia’s Pilbara region,
has a JORC-compliant inferr ed resource
of 63.1 million tonnes grading 53.4%
iron, including a higher grade component of
28.2 million tonnes grading 55.6% iron. This
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project together with the r ecently acquired
Nameless project to the north will be
Dragon's flagship projects.
Dragon's managing director Gang Xu says:
“We will fast track our flagship pr ojects and
continue to build a quality portfolio of mineral
projects. We are very privileged to secure underwriting
support fr om our major shar e-
holder the Shandong Group.”
Dragon also has the Lee Steer e iron ore
project in Western Australia’s Midwest. Significant
assay r esults have been r eturned
from exploration in Lee Steere’s eastern tenement,
which covers 28km strike of the
prospective Frere Formation.
Ground traverses and r ock chip sampling
was carried out over 16km of the strike. Stratigraphic
units with variably elevated ir on were
observed within the formation. Numerous elevated
iron outcrops were identified with the
largest being a granular iron outcrop of 90x20
metres and which r eturned 59.6% ir on. A
number of outcrops, pods and surface encrustations
of manganese were also observed.
The highest manganese grade of 49.5% was
received from a discontinuous 100 metre pod
of apparent 24 metre thickness.
A number of significant r ock chip iron and
manganese assays have previously been reported
from the western tenement. Gold assays
have also been r eceived from these
samples with 19 from 23 samples returning
assays above 0.01ppm and the highest
assay returned 0.34 was grams/tonne gold.
Ground magnetic and 3D gravity modelling of
the western tenement are under way to define
potential drill sites.
Dragon Energy was admitted to the ASX in
February 2009. The listing was facilitated by
the Shandong Group, which controls 1.5 billion
tonnes of coal and 100 million tonnes of
iron ore resources in China as well as engaging
in steel making and power generation.
龙 能 源 的 期 间 项 目 。
华 龙 能 源 总 经 理 许 刚 就 此 次 配 售 表 示 :“
我 们 将 加 快 发 展 几 个 旗 舰 项 目 , 继 续 打 造 高
质 量 的 矿 产 组 合 。 我 们 很 荣 幸 能 得 到 大 股 东
山 东 泰 山 阳 光 集 团 对 承 销 的 支 持 。”
华 龙 能 源 还 在 西 澳 大 利 亚 州 的 中 西 部 拥 有
Lee Steere 铁 矿 石 项 目 。 对 该 项 目 东 矿 权 地
的 探 矿 工 作 取 出 了 重 要 的 采 样 结 果 , 覆 盖 极
具 勘 探 潜 力 的 Frere 成 矿 带 , 沿 脉 矿 走 向 28
公 里 。
公 司 对 Frere 成 矿 带 沿 矿 脉 走 向 16 公 里 进
行 了 地 表 和 岩 心 采 样 。 发 现 不 连 续 的 含 铁 地
层 , 确 定 多 处 含 铁 露 头 , 其 中 最 大 的 一 个 粒
状 含 铁 露 头 尺 寸 达 到 90 米 x 20 米 , 铁 品 位 为
59.6%。 公 司 在 该 区 域 还 发 现 了 很 多 锰 矿 露
头 、 柱 型 矿 体 以 及 表 面 矿 壳 。 在 长 100 米 厚
度 约 24 米 的 柱 状 矿 体 内 发 现 的 最 高 锰 含 量
达 到 了 49.5%。
公 司 前 期 公 布 了 在 Lee Steere 西 矿 权 地 发
现 的 一 些 重 要 的 含 铁 和 锰 的 岩 石 采 样 结 果 。
近 期 又 从 这 些 样 本 中 获 得 了 金 矿 检 测 结 果 ,
23 个 取 样 中 的 19 个 超 过 了 百 万 分 之 0.01 的
检 测 限 , 最 高 金 品 位 达 到 了 0.34 克 / 吨 。
华 龙 能 源 有 限 公 司 于 2009 年 正 式 在 澳 大 利
华 龙 能 源 筹 措 资 金
华 龙 能 源 将 配 售 2140 万 澳 元 的 股 票 和 期 权 ,
为 Rocklea 铁 矿 和 其 他 新 资 源 的 收 购 提 供 资
金 支 持 。
公 司 大 股 东 山 东 泰 山 阳 光 集 团 股 份 有 限 公
司 表 示 , 将 承 销 至 少 1800 万 澳 元 的 股 票 。
该 集 团 也 确 定 将 在 此 次 配 售 中 完 全 行 使 其 认
购 权 。
Rocklea 项 目 位 于 西 澳 大 利 亚 州 的 皮 巴 拉
地 区 , 拥 有 6310 万 吨 符 合 澳 大 利 亚 矿 业 和
冶 金 学 会 勘 探 成 果 汇 报 标 准 (JORC 标 准 )
的 推 断 资 源 量 , 铁 品 位 53.4%, 其 中 含 有 铁
品 位 高 达 55.6% 的 资 源 2820 万 吨 。Rocklea
项 目 与 近 期 收 购 的 Nameless 项 目 将 成 为 华
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亚 证 券 交 易 所 上 市 。 山 东 泰 山 阳 光 集 团 股 份
有 限 公 司 是 其 基 石 投 资 者 , 该 集 团 在 中 国 拥
有 15 亿 吨 煤 矿 和 1 亿 吨 铁 矿 资 源 , 也 从 事 炼
钢 和 发 电 。
Positive Baramine test results
BENFICIATION tests fr om Shaw River Resources’
Baramine project in Western Australia
demonstrate that material can be
upgraded from 20% feed to 43% manganese
through simple dense media separation
(DMS) and gravity separation.
Material tested comes from composite RC
drill samples from five different prospects at
Baramine spanning 4km of continuous min -
eralization and the r esults point to a highly
saleable manganese product.
There was 76% of manganese metal r e-
covered from 35% of the mass in the DMS
which suggests favourable mining and processing
economics.
Shaw River says that the tests provide evidence
that Baramine could host an economic
manganese project utilizing a low-cost DMS
process to upgrade the ore.
DMS separation processing plants are in
place at OM Holdings’ Bootu Cr eek Project
and at Consolidated Minerals’ W oodie
Woodie operations.
The tests were designed to determine the
potential for upgrading the combined
(blended) feed material from Baramine. The
company says strong encouragement can be
derived from the attractive yields fr om the
DMS and low contaminants. Overall for
coarse and fine material, a mass yield of 28%
was achieved, capturing 60% of the total
manganese in the feed material.
Most manganese projects around the world
beneficiate their or e in some way . The
process ensures maximum value is achieved
for the contained manganese units being
shipped. Ore grades ranging from 18% upwards
are being beneficiated to generate
products grading gr eater than 36% manganese,
achieving attractive market prices.
Baramine, which is 70% owned by Shaw
River, is 80km northwest of the W oodie
Woodie mine in the Pilbara region. Australian
Woodie Woodie-style ores, with low phosphorous
content, are particularly attractive in
world markets, with the 44% manganese ore
from Woodie Woodie often used as a benchmark
for pricing.
The test results will form part of the scoping
study, which Shaw River expects to start during
the first quarter of 2011. As this study progresses,
the company will conduct an
extensive drilling campaign comprising
20,000 metres of RC and 1000 metres of diamond
drilling to calculate the maiden r e-
source estimate and further extend
exploration targets.
The company’s most recent 10,000 metre
RC drilling program returned intersections of
up to 45.8% manganese and identified significant
mineralization at six pr ospects. It
identified five new discoveries and extended
two known mineralized trends. An initial exploration
target of between 10 million and 15
million tonnes of 18%-25% manganese has
been determined.
Yttrium discovery at Mount Dorothy
THE presence of the heavy rar e earth element
(HREE) yttrium at the Mary Kathleen
Project in Northwest Queensland has pr o-
vided an important target for futur e drilling
Drilling at Terramin Australia’s Menninnie Zinc Project in South Australia.
by joint venture partners China Yunnan Copper
and Goldsearch.
A significant HREE-yttrium intercept of 16
metres @ 1249ppm (1.24kg/tonne) fr om 71
metres was revealed in multi-element results
from drilling of the Mount Dorothy copper and
cobalt prospect at Mary Kathleen. The results
also enhanced widths fr om previously announced
copper-cobalt intercepts.
Revised analysis of results from one hole
show 36 metr es @ 1.54% copper and
198ppm cobalt from 50 metres, which compares
to the previously reported 28 metres
@ 1.9% copper and 247ppm cobalt from 50
metres, including 9 metres @ 5.5% copper
and 205ppm cobalt from 55 metres, and 2
metres @ 1.5% copper and 732ppm cobalt
from 61 metres.
This hole is now comparable in width and
copper content to a previously reported inter-
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cept in another hole of 35 metr es @ 1.52%
copper and 397ppm cobalt from 17 metres.
China Yunnan’s managing director Jason
Beckton says, “These additional results from
previously reported drill holes significantly enhance
the importance of this new zone. The
discovery of the heavy rare earth element yttrium
at Mount Dorothy is exciting, and the increased
element associations we are seeing
with HREE-Y suggest a very important target
for future drilling after the current wet season.
“Mount Dorothy is south of the Elaine REE
uranium inferred resource and the Mary Kathleen
uranium/REE deposit, which suggests
that the area may be an important new REE
province. The previous exploration work only
targeted uranium and so rar e earths would
not have been tested for and will have r e-
mained undiscovered.”
The company will now undertake geochemical
studies to further determine the nature
of the HREE mineralogy as some may be
also phosphates.
China Yunnan is an Australian company
formed to explore for and develop minerals in
Australia and overseas. Cornerstone investor,
Yunnan Copper Industry (Group) Co, is one
of China’s largest copper producers.
The company has resumed drilling at the
Elaine copper, REE-uranium inferred resource
with the pr ogram testing a new sulphide
zone. There is an inferred resource at Elaine
of 83,000 tonnes @ 3200ppm total rare earth
oxide and 280ppm U3O8. It is also planning
reverse circulation drilling at Stanley’s Hope
Gold and the Pentland JV with Activex.
多 萝 西 山 发 现 钇 矿
位 于 昆 士 兰 州 西 北 部 的 玛 丽 凯 瑟 琳 项 目 中 重
稀 土 元 素 (HREE) 钇 的 存 在 为 合 资 伙 伴 中
国 云 南 铜 业 和 Goldsearch 未 来 的 钻 探 提 供 了
重 要 的 目 标 。
在 玛 丽 凯 瑟 琳 的 多 萝 西 山 的 铜 钴 勘 探 作 业
中 得 到 的 多 元 素 结 果 表 明 :71 米 处 , 有 一
个 厚 度 为 16 米 的 、 重 大 的 重 稀 土 元 素 - 钇 矿
体 , 品 位 为 1249ppm(1.24 千 克 / 吨 )。
其 中 一 个 钻 孔 测 试 结 果 的 修 正 分 析 表
明 :50 米 处 , 厚 度 为 36 米 的 矿 体 铜 品 位 为
1.54%, 钴 品 位 为 198ppm, 与 之 相 对 比 的
先 前 公 布 的 结 果 为 - 50 米 处 , 厚 度 为 28 米 的
矿 体 铜 品 位 为 1.9%, 钴 品 位 为 247ppm; 另
外 还 包 括 55 米 处 , 厚 度 为 9 米 的 矿 体 铜 品 位
为 5.5%, 钴 品 位 为 205ppm;61 米 处 , 厚 度
为 2 米 的 矿 体 铜 品 位 为 1.5%, 钴 品 位 为
732ppm。
该 钻 孔 在 宽 度 和 含 铜 量 上 可 以 与 先 前 得 到
的 钻 孔 相 提 并 论 , 此 前 实 施 的 钻 孔 结 果 为 :
17 米 处 , 厚 度 为 35 米 的 矿 体 铜 品 位 为 1.52%,
钴 品 位 为 397ppm。
中 国 云 铜 的 总 经 理 Jason Beckton 说 ,“ 这 些
加 入 先 前 公 布 的 钻 孔 中 的 附 加 结 果 显 著 地 提
高 了 这 一 新 区 域 的 重 要 性 。 多 萝 西 山 重 稀 土
钇 矿 的 发 现 令 人 兴 奋 , 与 重 稀 土 - 钇 相 关 的 要
素 为 雨 季 之 后 的 下 一 步 钻 探 提 供 了 靶 区 。”
“ 多 萝 西 山 位 于 伊 莱 恩 稀 土 铀 矿 和 玛 丽 凯
瑟 琳 铀 / 稀 土 矿 南 面 , 表 明 这 个 地 区 是 重 要
的 稀 土 成 矿 带 。 此 前 的 勘 探 工 作 把 目 标 仅 定
在 了 铀 上 , 使 得 稀 土 并 没 有 被 检 测 过 以 至 于
稀 土 矿 可 能 仍 未 被 未 发 现 。”
公 司 现 在 将 进 行 地 球 化 学 研 究 , 以 便 进 一
步 确 认 重 稀 土 元 素 的 矿 物 学 特 性 , 其 中 部 分
可 能 是 碳 酸 盐 类 。
中 国 云 铜 是 一 家 旨 在 勘 探 和 开 发 澳 大 利 亚
及 海 外 矿 产 的 澳 大 利 亚 公 司 。 其 基 础 投 资 者
云 南 铜 业 集 团 有 限 责 任 公 司 是 中 国 最 大 的 铜
生 产 商 之 一 。
公 司 已 经 重 新 开 始 了 对 伊 莱 恩 铜 、 稀 土 - 铀
矿 推 断 资 源 的 的 钻 探 工 作 , 同 时 测 试 了 一 个
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 73

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Australia
Drilling at one of Yancoal’s Australian coal properties.
新 的 硫 化 物 区 域 。 伊 莱 恩 的 推 断 资 源 量 为
8.3 万 吨 , 总 稀 土 氧 化 物 品 位 为 3200ppm,
U308 品 位 为 280ppm。 同 时 , 公 司 还 在 计 划
与 Activex 公 司 一 起 对 Stanley’s Hope Gold 项 目
和 Pentland 合 资 项 目 进 行 反 循 环 钻 探 工 作 。
Sheep Hill port a ‘major project’
THE South Australian Gover nment has declared
‘major project’ status for the proposed
Sheep Hill deepwater bulk commodities export
port on the Eyre Peninsula.
The port will be developed by a joint ventur e
between Centrex Metals and Wuhan Iron and
Steel Company (WISCO), and will pr ovide direct
access to market for a number of mineral
projects.
The ‘major project’ declaration means the
economic importance of the pr oposal is
deemed such that the Government will be the
responsible entity for setting the guidelines on
how all factors of the project will be assessed.
Centrex and WISCO signed an agr eement
early in 2010 to form a 50:50 joint venture to
design and construct the deepwater port on
91 hectares of land secur ed by Centrex at
Sheep Hill, 26km northeast of Tumby Bay on
Eyre Peninsula’s eastern coastline.
WISCO is alr eady a 60:40 partner with
Centrex in the Eyre Iron JV to explore for and
potentially develop a range of magnetite iron
ore deposits on souther n Eyre Peninsula,
close to the proposed port. Centrex also has
a joint venture with Baotou Ir on and Steel
Company covering prospects further to the
north of the peninsula.
The port JV will now lodge a formal development
application (DA) and supporting in -
formation with the gover nment for
assessment. The DA and assessment is expected
to cover all aspects of the Sheep Hill
proposal including construction and operation
of a port terminal, ship loading systems
for cape-size vessels, bulk commodity stor -
age facility, mineral processing facility, all associated
infrastructure and r oad transport
access. Centrex expects the DA to be lodged
in this quarter under an objective of achieving
first exports by 2014-2015.
The Sheep Hill developments have
prompted Centrex to adopt a new multi-mine
production plan. Priority is now being given
to delivering maiden production in the company’s
first years as a pr oducer from the
rolling introduction of multi-mine sites, replacing
the previous plan for a single site start-up.
The new approach has been supported by
WISCO and Baotou.
Exploration on the pr ojects is continuing.
Eyre Iron is well into a drilling program at Carrow,
one of the JV’s five exploration licences.
Additional diamond drilling is under way at the
Greenpatch and Koppio magnetite deposits.
The Baotou JV expects to announce a
maiden inferred resource for the Bungalow
deposit by the end of March.
Sheep Hill 港 口 项 目 被 列 为 “ 重 大 工 程 ”
南 澳 大 利 亚 政 府 宣 布 将 位 于 艾 尔 半 岛 的
Sheep Hill 散 货 出 口 深 水 港 项 目 列 为 “ 重 大 工
程 ”。 Centrex Metals 公 司 与 中 国 武 汉 钢 铁 公
司 (WISCO) 将 合 作 开 发 Sheep Hill 港 口 , 该 港
口 将 为 许 多 矿 产 项 目 向 市 场 运 输 矿 石 提 供 直
接 的 通 道 。
“ 重 大 工 程 ” 意 味 着 该 项 目 具 有 很 高 的 经 济
价 值 , 政 府 将 负 责 对 如 何 评 估 项 目 的 所 有 因
素 设 定 指 导 方 针 。
Centrex 和 武 汉 钢 铁 在 2010 年 初 签 署 了 协
议 , 建 立 一 个 股 比 为 50:50 的 合 资 公 司 , 一
起 设 计 和 建 造 这 个 由 Centrex 获 得 的 、 面 积
达 91 公 顷 、 距 离 艾 尔 半 岛 东 部 海 岸 线 的 塔
姆 比 湾 东 北 26 公 里 的 港 口 。
之 前 , 武 汉 钢 铁 和 Centrex 就 已 经 成 立 了 股
比 为 60:40 的 艾 尔 钢 铁 合 资 公 司 , 勘 探 并 开
发 位 于 艾 尔 半 岛 南 部 的 一 系 列 磁 铁 矿 床 。
Centrex 还 与 包 头 钢 铁 公 司 成 立 了 合 资 公 司 ,
开 发 位 于 半 岛 北 部 更 加 朝 北 的 项 目 。
该 港 口 合 资 公 司 将 向 政 府 递 交 一 份 正 式 的
开 发 申 请 (DA) 以 及 支 持 性 信 息 用 于 评 估 。 开
发 申 请 及 评 估 预 期 涵 盖 Sheep Hill 项 目 的 所
有 方 面 , 包 括 港 口 终 端 的 建 设 和 运 营 、 超 大
型 船 舶 装 载 系 统 、 散 货 储 存 设 施 、 矿 物 处 理
设 施 、 所 有 相 关 的 基 础 设 施 和 运 输 道 路 。
Centrex 期 望 在 本 季 度 递 交 开 发 申 请 , 预 计
在 2014 年 或 2015 年 开 始 提 供 出 口 服 务 。
Sheep Hill 港 口 的 开 发 促 使 了 Centrex 采 纳
一 个 新 的 多 矿 山 生 产 计 划 。 目 前 优 先 考 虑 的
是 : 在 开 始 的 几 年 公 司 先 从 多 个 矿 山 滚 动 式
引 入 产 品 , 再 作 为 生 产 商 实 现 产 品 的 交 付 ,
替 代 先 前 计 划 的 单 矿 山 启 动 计 划 。 武 汉 钢 铁
和 包 头 钢 铁 已 经 对 这 个 方 案 提 供 了 支 持 。
项 目 的 勘 探 工 作 正 在 继 续 进 行 。 艾 尔 钢 铁
早 已 在 合 资 公 司 5 个 勘 探 许 可 区 域 之 一 的
Carrow 地 区 实 施 了 勘 探 作 业 。 另 外 , 在
Greenpatch 和 Koppio 磁 铁 矿 床 实 施 的 金 刚 石
钻 探 正 在 进 行 中 。 包 头 合 资 公 司 期 望 在 三 月
底 首 次 公 布 Bungalow 矿 床 的 推 断 资 源 量 。
Chinese funds for Terramin projects
FUNDS received from a placement with China
Non-Ferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering
and Construction Company (NFC) will
help zinc and lead producer Terramin Australia
implement its growth plans. The Aus$6.2 million
placement has been made under the
terms of an Aus$50 million subscription agreement
between the two companies.
The agreement with the 9.7% T erramin
shareholder has been structur ed to ensure
NFC does not obtain a controlling interest beyond
19.9%.
The placement will enable Terramin to fund
an aggressive exploration program on its projects
in South Australia. The program includes
drilling to define a new shoot at the Angas Zinc
Mine to expand the existing resource base and
extend mine life beyond 2015. It involves deep
drilling under the property. In addition Terramin
plans to undertake a mining scoping study at
the Menninnie Dam Zinc Project.
The Angas mine was commissioned in
July 2008 at an annual thr oughput rate of
400,000 tonnes and is 2km fr om the rural
town of Strathalbyn and about 60km southeast
of Adelaide.
The Menninnie Zinc Project comprises four
contiguous tenements on the norther n Eyre
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Australia
Peninsula - Menninnie Dam Project, Nonning
joint venture with Minotaur Operations,
Kolendo licence and the Taringa exploration
licence application area.
Terramin aims to complete the Menninnie
Dam scoping study early in 2011 and would
also like to increase the resource through a
drilling program. Menninnie Dam has a cur -
rent inferred resource of 3.8 million tonnes @
3.2% lead, 4% zinc and 34 grams/tonnes silver
at a 3.5% lead-zinc cut-off grade.
The funding facility with NFC can be utilized
to acquire advanced mining projects in Australia.
NFC’s global construction and plant engineering
capability is available to facilitate the
development of new projects.
Several recent transactions involving NFC
have combined funding and engineering support
including the $600 million Barrambie
Vanadium Project in Western Australia and the
Yandera copper/molybdenum project in PNG.
In both cases NFC is to provide a mix of equity
and debt funding, and will support this with its
design and construction capability.
Terramin’s chairman Dr Kevin Moriarty says,
“The financial and technical support from NFC
means Terramin can grow faster. We have been
evaluating mining projects that could be acquired
through leveraged merger or acquisition
and have initiated discussions with several parties
holding copper-gold assets; however leadzinc
projects are also under consideration.”
中 方 为 特 拉 明 项 目 注 资
澳 大 利 亚 铅 锌 生 产 商 特 拉 明 矿 业 公 司 通 过 向
中 国 有 色 金 属 建 设 股 份 有 限 公 司 配 股 筹 措 的
资 金 将 用 于 促 进 其 发 展 计 划 的 实 施 。 根 据 双
方 达 成 的 一 份 5000 万 澳 元 的 认 购 债 券 协 议
书 , 完 成 了 价 值 620 万 澳 元 的 配 股 。
9.7% 的 特 拉 明 股 东 组 成 的 团 队 确 保 了 中 色
股 份 公 司 控 制 的 股 权 不 会 超 过 19.9%。
此 次 配 股 筹 集 的 资 金 将 确 保 特 拉 明 可 以 投
资 其 位 于 南 澳 大 利 亚 州 的 一 个 勘 探 项 目 。 该
项 目 包 括 通 过 钻 探 来 确 定 Angas 锌 矿 的 一 个
新 目 标 , 以 便 扩 大 其 现 有 的 资 源 基 础 , 将 矿
山 服 务 年 限 延 长 至 2015 年 以 后 。 同 时 还 包
括 深 部 钻 探 工 作 。 此 外 , 特 拉 明 计 划 进 行
Menninnie Dam 锌 项 目 的 范 围 界 定 研 究 。
Angas 矿 于 2008 年 7 月 启 用 , 年 吞 吐 量 为
40 万 盎 司 , 距 离 斯 特 拉 萨 尔 宾 乡 镇 2 公 里 ,
位 于 阿 德 莱 德 东 南 方 向 约 60 公 里 处 。
Menninnie 锌 项 目 包 括 位 于 北 艾 尔 半 岛
的 四 个 连 续 的 矿 权 地 -Menninnie Dam 项
目 、 Nonning 与 Minotaur 运 营 的 合 资 项
目 , Kolendo 许 可 以 及 Taringa 勘 探 许 可 申
请 区 域 。
特 拉 明 计 划 于 2011 年 初 期 完 成 Menninnie
Dam 的 范 围 界 定 研 究 , 并 希 望 通 过 一 项 钻 探
作 业 增 加 其 资 源 量 。 采 用 3.5% 铅 - 锌 边 界 品
位 ,Menninnie Dam 当 前 的 推 断 资 源 量 为
380 万 吨 , 铅 品 位 为 3.2%, 锌 品 位 为 4%,
银 品 位 为 34 克 / 吨 。
此 次 与 中 色 股 份 公 司 的 融 资 可 用 于 获 取 澳
大 利 亚 的 优 质 矿 产 项 目 , 中 色 股 份 公 司 的 国
际 化 设 施 和 设 备 工 程 实 力 也 可 用 于 促 进 新 项
目 的 发 展 。
近 期 几 笔 涉 及 到 中 色 股 份 公 司 的 交 易 结 合
了 融 资 和 工 程 支 持 , 包 括 位 于 西 澳 大 利 亚 州
价 值 6 亿 澳 元 的 Barrambie 钒 项 目 以 及 位 于 巴
布 亚 新 几 内 亚 的 Yandera 铜 钼 项 目 。 在 这 两 个
项 目 中 , 中 色 股 份 公 司 将 提 供 股 票 和 债 务 的
混 合 资 金 , 并 在 设 计 与 设 施 方 面 提 供 支 持 。
特 拉 明 董 事 长 Kevin Moriarty 博 士 说 ,“ 来
自 中 色 股 份 公 司 的 资 金 和 技 术 支 持 意 味 着 特
拉 明 将 更 快 的 发 展 。 我 们 已 经 评 估 过 可 能 通
过 杠 杆 购 并 或 收 购 获 得 的 矿 产 项 目 , 并 与 几
个 铜 - 金 资 产 持 有 者 进 行 了 初 步 讨 论 ; 然 而
铅 锌 项 目 仍 在 考 虑 之 中 。”
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 75

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Papua New Guinea
NAUTILUS GRANTED SEAFLOOR LICENCE FOR SOLWARA 1
THE Government of Papua New Guinea has
granted the world's first deep sea mining
lease to Nautilus Minerals for development of
its Solwara 1 project in the Bismarck Sea.
The lease covers an ar ea of about 59sqkm
surrounding Solwara 1, 50km north of
Rabaul, where Nautilus intends to mine highgrade
copper and gold deposits on the
seafloor, at depths of about 1600 metres.
The lease has been granted for an initial 20
year term and the government has retained an
option to take up to a 30% stake in the Solwara
1 project as a joint venture partner. If the option
is exercised, the gover nment will contribute
funds to the project in proportion to its interest,
including its share of the exploration and development
costs incurred to date.
Nautilus is now pressing ahead to conclude
its strategic partnering discussions and continue
development of Solwara 1, which has a stated
resource of 2.2 million tonnes of or e, including
an indicated r esource of 870,000 tonnes @
6.8% copper and 4.8 grams/tonne gold.
When it begins pr oduction, which is expected
about two and a half years after full
project sanction, Nautilus plans to pr oduce
ore at an annual rate of more than 1.3 million
tonnes, containing about 80,000 tonnes of
copper and 150,000-200,000 ounces of
gold. Ongoing deep-sea drilling is also expected
to lead to expansion of the r esource
base before the start of production.
Recent assay results have confirmed gold
grades of up to 20.8 grams/tonne and copper
grades of up to 37.7%. The certified assay results
relate to the series of holes drilled late in
2010 and confirm the pr eliminary analysis
through hand held x-ray fluorescence (XRF).
More recent drilling, carried out as part of
the ongoing exploration campaign, has continued
to identify high-grade mineralization.
XRF analysis has revealed intersects including
12.57 metres averaging 9.4% copper and
9.28 metres averaging 12.2% copper.
Nautilus' CEO Steve Rogers says the
drilling results continue to show the highgrade
nature of the Solwara 1 deposit. “Laboratory
assay r esults such as these
demonstrate the remarkable combination of
high copper grades and gold mineralization
in this deposit. We are now drill testing additional
SMS zones, both on the r ecently
granted mining lease at Solwara 1, and on
highly prospective surrounding discoveries.”
Nautilus has been drilling since mid-November
on board the vessel Rem Etive, using
the ROVdrill3 drilling system. TSMarine is providing
the vessel, operating cr ew, remotely
operated vehicles (ROVs) and drilling equipment
required for the project. The ROVdrill3
drilling system is a wireline diamond drill designed
to recover up to 80 metres of 70mm
diameter core.
The Solwara licence area is in the Bismarck Sea, between the islands of New Britain and New Ireland.
Encouraging Star Mountain assays
HIGHLANDS Pacific is r eceiving highly encouraging
assays from the Star Mountain exploration
program targeting copper -gold
porphyry mineralization 28km northeast of
the Ok Tedi mine in Western Province.
The drilling is testing the extent of the intrusive
with a number of holes intersecting sediments
outside of the mineralization.
One hole that went to a depth of 500 metres
intersected 474 metres of copper-gold
76 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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Papua New Guinea
mineralization starting at 26 metres from surface
at the Olgal pr ospect. It included intersections
of 38 metr es @ 1.0% copper and
0.36 grams/tonne gold from 26 metres and
52 metres @ 0.58% copper and 0.34
grams/tonne gold from 330 metres. The hole
was still in mineralization when terminated.
Another 300 metre deep hole drilled fr om
the same location but on a 180 degree rotation
returned 210 metres @ 0.50% copper
and 0.37 grams/tonne gold, including 62 metres
@ 0.78% copper and 0.42 grams/tonne
gold from 15 metres down hole.
Highlands Pacific managing director John
Gooding says, “These assays are the first significant
copper hits in the Star Mountain r e-
gion for more than 30 years and a maiden
result for Highlands in this exciting pr ovince.
It is a fantastic start to the Star Mountain exploration
program and these important results
will make us re-evaluate the 2011 program.
“More assay r esults are to come which
should help build the geological understanding
of the region while assisting management
determine the economic potential of the r e-
gion as an additional or e source for the Ok
Tedi infrastructure.
“Copper porphyry systems generally occur
in clusters and the Olgal prospect is just one
of a number of identified targets and with the
recently completed Laser topographic survey
(LIDAR) further prospects may also be identified
and added to the target list. LIDAR will
assist us with target definition for exploration
and testing.”
Highlands Pacific will also advance engineering
studies in relation to potential execution
alternatives.
Star Mountain comprises the Nong River
and Tifalmin licence areas. Nong River is in a
joint venture with Xstrata Frieda River while
Tifalmin is 100% owned by Highlands Pacific.
Under the terms of the Nong River Joint Venture
Agreement, Xstrata has the ability to earn
a 72% interest by producing a bankable feasibility
study by 2019. The exer cising of the
sole funding option by Highlands during 2009
year meant that Highlands r etains 100% of
the joint venture. Xstrata has the right to r e-
claim its 72% inter est by paying Highlands
three times the exploration expenditur e incurred
by Highlands at the time it presents a
pre-feasibility study.
a new anomaly called W allaby Ridge. The
company is awaiting assay results and interpretation
from sampling of the Mogambos
and Wacheri epithermal targets.
At Aladdins the mineralized zone is now 20
metres @ 7.17 grams/ tonne gold, 0.5% copper
and 9.6 grams/tonne silver. This includes
high grade zones of 2 metr es @ 41.5
grams/tonne gold and 2 metr es @ 31.6
grams/tonne silver. The zone strikes northsouth
which is consistent with the Poi air -
borne magnetic structural anomaly which is
11km long and open to the north.
At Wallaby Ridge soil sampling r eturned
500 metres @ 0.13 grams/ tonne gold and
0.015 copper, and 860 metr es @ 0.06
grams/tonne gold and 0.02% copper, including
665 metr es @ 0.03% copper . Wallaby
Ridge is to the north of the Poi syenite intrusive
and is coincident with a pr ominent airborne
magnetic anomaly of about 1km x 400
metres. The anomaly is about 2km northeast
and along strike of the Aladdins prospect.
These results continue to provide evidence
that Poi, in Milne Bay Pr ovince in easter n
PNG, contains high grade gold and copper
targets within the intrusive system. These will
be further tested by drilling in a pr ogram
planned for this year.
MIL has started exploration work at the
Golden Peak Gold Copper Pr oject about
40km east of Port Mor esby. The project is
prospective for epithermal-style gold deposits
and MIL aims to r ecreate the 1989
Sampling extends Poi zones
SAMPLING at MIL Resources’ Poi Gold Copper
Project has extended the mineralized
zone at the Aladdins prospect and identified
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 77

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Papua New Guinea
A geochemistry map of MIL Resources’ Poi Gold Copper
Project.
Elders’ sample results in the Avo Creek alteration
target area.
Elders’ sampling returned gold assays up to
43 grams/tonne and included a high-grade site
with 15 metres @ 5.5 grams/tonne, including
2 metres @ 43 grams /tonne; and 6 metres @
2.8 grams/tonne.
Mil has reopened a trench to the south of
this high-grade site with samples yielding assays
up to 0.977 grams/tonne gold. The
trenching and sampling is now being extended
north and if a suitable target is identified it will
be further tested in a drilling program.
Meanwhile, SinoTech Minerals Exploration
of Beijing has completed due diligence in accordance
with a Memorandum Of Under -
standing entered into with MIL. The MOU
allows Sinotech to become a 30% shar e-
holder in MIL, raising Aus$5 million gross, and
for Sinotech to fund exploration on the T itan
Metals’ portfolio of copper/gold/nickel
/molybdenum exploration projects. MIL last
year completed the acquisition of Titan, a private
PNG registered company holding five
granted exploration licences and six licence
applications covering more than 8000sqkm.
Sinotech may earn up to 50% in any or all of
Titan’s projects through funding exploration expenditure.
Sinotech may then earn up to 70%
of the project by sole funding a feasibility study.
Nakru-1 targets extended
DRILLING by Barrick Gold has extended
known copper and gold mineralization at
Coppermoly’s Nakru-1 project by about 100
metres to the east and 100 metr es to the
south of the first hole which had an intersection
of 213.75 metres grading 0.92% copper.
Assay results have been received from two
additional drill holes at the Nakru-1 copper
system with the hole 100 metr es to the east,
intersecting copper and gold mineralization to
303.7 metres down hole depth. Intercepts included
23.5 metres @ 1.30% copper and 2.38
grams/tonne gold fr om 87.3 metr es depth
plus 20.6 metres @ 0.94% copper and 0.21
grams/tonne gold from 128.4 metres depth.
An intercept of 1 metre @ 42 grams/tonne
gold and 4.6% copper in this hole provides
impetus for the evaluation of separate
higher grade zones.
In the hole drilled 100 metres south and beneath
the first Barrick hole, mineralized intercepts
included 11.5 metres @ 0.99% copper
and 0.35 grams/tonne gold from 192 metres.
Mineralization is disrupted by post mineral
dykes ranging in thickness fr om 0.7 to 25
metres, complicating interpretation.
A more detailed interpretation of the geological
controls on the copper and gold mineralization
can be presented once the results from
the remaining two holes from the 2010 drilling
program that tested for western extensions to
the mineralization have been received.
All holes have been drilled through the mineralized
core of a major copper-gold system
which is partly related to a 3D-IP chargeability
geophysical anomaly. Coppermoly’s managing
director Peter Swiridiuk says, “The size of
this anomaly and its association with significant
copper and gold cr edits show that further
drill testing is strongly warranted.
“Very good continuity of copper and gold
mineralization has been demonstrated in the
assay results from the two drill holes”
Seven holes have been drilled by Barrick
into the Nakru-1 system for 2646.5 metres.
To date a total of 23 drill holes have
been completed at Nakru-1 for a total of
4614.1 metres. Drilling rigs and all personnel
have been demobilized from the field for
the wet season, which is expected to
continue until March.
Exploration is being carried out by Barrick
(PNG Exploration), a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Barrick Gold, under an agreement
with Coppermoly. The agr eement allows
Barrick to spend Aus$20 million to ear n
72% of tenements at Nakru, Simuku and
Talelumas. Coppermoly retains 100% ownership
until earn-in is complete.
These projects on New Britain island ar e
within a four hour drive fr om existing infrastructure,
including a deep water port, which
will be essential for future development.
Oxide expansion at Simberi
AN oxide expansion project under way at Allied
Gold's Simberi Gold Pr oject will lift annual
production to 100,000 ounces by the
end of the year.
The project will incr ease annual mill
throughput to 3.5 million tonnes from the current
2.3 million tonnes, a figure that is higher
than previously owing to the successful completion
of an optimization de-bottlenecking
program during 2010.
Pre-mining development for the enhanced
production profile has been accelerated
through the delivery of a larger haulage and
loading fleet.
Production at Simberi during the December
quarter exceeded the for ecast amount
with 18,921 ounces pr oduced from
about 580,000 tonnes at a grade of 1.14
grams/tonne. It was the thir d successive
quarter in which pr oduction exceeded
18,000 ounces.
Gold production for the six months to December
31 was 37,126 ounces with
1,153,504 tonnes processed at a grade of
1.11 grams/tonne. Total cash cost for the
quarter is expected to be between US$650-
US$675 an ounce with the realized gold price
for the period about US$1370 an ounce.
Allied's executive chairman Mark Caruso
says, “We have proven that we are one of the
few gold mining companies that can successfully
operate in the South Pacific. W ith
three years of operation and 200,000 ounces
of gold production Simberi is now operating
in a steady state and all operating inputs are
exceeding name plate capacity.
“During 2011 we will lift annual output to
100,000 ounces and advance our feasibility
study on a combined +200,000 ounce sulphide
and oxide circuit.”
Meanwhile, first gold fr om Allied's Gold
Ridge gold mine in the Solomon Islands r e-
mains on schedule for this quarter. Combined
with gold production from Simberi, this will lift
Allied's annual gold pr oduction towards
220,000 ounces early in 2011.
Drilling boosts Yandera confidence
MARENGO Mining’s drilling results have increased
confidence in the geological model
at the Yandera Copper-Molybdenum-Gold
Project with much improved prediction of geology
and grades for the drill holes, particularly
at the Gremi prospect.
Drilling has been occurring at the Gr emi,
Imbruminda and Dimbi zones with the objectives
at Imbruminda and Dimbi to extend the
78 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

News 4_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:17 AM Page 16
Papua New Guinea
known mineralized zones on about 100 metre
section lines. The objective at Gremi is essentially
infill, to increase drill sample density to
about 50 metre spacing and to be suf ficient
to produce a measured resource category
estimate in the first half of 2011.
At Gremi results include 363 metres from
6 metres @ 0.69% copper equivalent, 93
metres from 192 metr es @ 1.2% copper
equivalent, 138 metres from 39 metres @
0.65% copper equivalent, 33 metr es from
150 metres @ 0.49% copper equivalent and
285 metres from 120 metres @ 0.65% copper
equivalent.
At Imbruminda, drilling is enabling a better
predictive model and areas of better gold
values and shallower copper mineralization
are increasing the potential of this zone to
generate easily accessible tonnage. A 387
metre intersection from 60 metres depth returned
0.58% copper equivalent, including
78 metres from 339 metres @ 1.12% copper
equivalent.
At Dimbi further broad widths of mineralization
have been intersected, including 405 metres
@ 0.52% copper equivalent, however
this zone is at an earlier stage of drilling.
The third hole of Mar engo’s deep drilling
program returned 468 metres @ 0.65% copper
equivalent, including 45 metres @ 1.24%
copper equivalent. The fourth and final hole
has been completed in the Gremi zone at 998
metres. Geological logging indicates the
presence of chalcopyrite, bornite and molybdenite,
in variable amounts, associated with
different vein systems over almost the entir e
length of the hole.
Given the success of the first deep drilling
program further deep holes will be drilled during
the 2011 field season, which is expected
to lead to further resource definition below the
current resource. There are five drilling rigs
operating at Yandera for the 2011 season.
Drilling at Allied Gold’s Simberi project on Simberi Island.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 79

News 4_Layout 1 2/15/11 4:20 PM Page 17
Malaysia
OM HOLDINGS SECURES SMELTER LAND IN WEST MALAYSIA
OM Holdings’ wholly-owned subsidiary OM Materials (Johor) Sdn Bhd
is acquiring land in West Malaysia to accommodate a 40 hectare sintering
and smelting plant. The acquisition forms part of the company’s
strategy of establishing an integrated low-cost alloy production centre
in Southeast Asia to support Asia’s growing steel industry.
OM Materials Sdn Bhd is acquiring land in the Johor Bahru District of West Malaysia
to establish a sintering and smelting plant.
The total consideration for acquiring the 60 year leasehold land is
about US$21 million and plant development is expected to start by
mid-2011. The land was acquired from Johor Corporation, a statutory
body formed by the Johor State Government.
The land is strategically positioned in the Tanjung Langsat Industrial
Complex in Johor Bahru District of Johor Malaysia. The 40ha block is
in a newly established heavy industrial zone with access to infrastructure
including water and r oads, and is only 5km fr om the 40,000
deadweight tonne capacity Tanjung Langsat Specialized Cargo Port.
The construction of a sintering and smelting plant in West Malaysia
is intended to coincide with the pr ogressive ramp-up in production
supply of the carboneous manganese ore from OM Holdings’ interest
in the South African Tshipi project.
OM Holdings believes the West Malaysian location is well situated to
take advantage of further increasing its upstream processing and distribution
networks. The benefits including competitively prices and reliable
power supply; zero import duty and export tax on manganese ore
and alloys; well-developed road and port infrastructure; and strategic
location in terms of raw materials supply and product markets.
The company intends to initially fund the acquisition of the land 20%
on internally generated cashflows/cash reserves and 80% debt finance
which is presently subject to final negotiation. The acquisition constitutes
about a third of the total expenditure commitment expected to establish
this sister plant to the company’s existing Chinese facility in Quizhou.
80 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

News 4_Layout 1 2/17/11 9:07 AM Page 18
2011 Calendar
Minetech Mongolia, March 3-5, Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia. www.miningmongolia.mn
PDAC, March 6-9,
Toronto, Canada. www.pdac.ca
10th Coaltrans India, March 8-9,
New Delhi, India. www.coaltrans.com
Mines & Money Hong Kong, March 22-24,
Hong Kong, China.
www.minesandmoney.com/hongkong/
Global Iron Ore and Steel Forecast 2011,
March 21-24, Perth, Australia.
www.globalironore.com.au
OzMine 2011, March 29-30,
Jakarta, Indonesia.
www.austrade.gov.au/Mining-to-Indonesia/
7th Asia Mining Congress, April 4-8, Singapore.
www.terrapinn.com/2011/asiamining
9th Coaltrans China, April 14-15,
Beijing, China. www.coaltrans.com
Austmine 2011, May 17-18, Brisbane,
Australia. www.austmine2011.com
World Mining Investment, May 17-19,
London, UK. www.terrapinn.com/2011/mining/
Australian Energy & Resources Symposium,
May 21-25, Broken Hill, NSW, Australia.
www.symposium.net.au
17th Coaltrans Asia, May 30-June 2,
Bali, Indonesia. www.coaltrans.com
Mines & Money Beijing, June 14-15,
Beijing, China.
www.minesandmoney.com/beijing/
Attracting, Skill Development and Retention
for the Resource Sector, June 15-16,
Brisbane, www.criterionconferences.com
Central Asia Mining Congress, June 20-23,
Almaty, Kazakhstan.
http//expopromoter.com/event/lang/en/
Coaltrans Mongolia, June 21-22,
Ulaanbaatar. www.coaltrans.com
AMEC Convention, June 28-30,
Perth, Australia. www.amecconvention.com.au
Diggers and Dealers, August 1-3,
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
www.diggersndealers.com.au
Coaltrans Australia, August 23-24,
Brisbane www.coaltrans.com
Mining NSW, August 30-31,
Orange, NSW, Australia.
www.regionalminingevents.com.au
Safety in Mining Conference, June 21-22,
Perth. www.criterionconferences.com
Mining Australia Expo, April 6-8,
Perth, Australia.
www.miningaustraliaexpo.com.au
7th Balikpapan Expo, June 16-18,
Balikpapan, Indonesia. ww.sinarexpoprima.com
AIMEX 2011, September 6-9,
Sydney, Australia. www.aimex.com.au
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 81

Pages 54-71_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:06 AM Page 1
Merger & Acquisition
INDONESIAN COAL GIANTS MERGE
THE company formed by the merger of Indonesia’s
largest coal pr oducer Bumi Resources
and its fifth largest Berau Coal Energy
is looking to acquir e coal mines ar ound the
world and become a global giant.
The reverse takeover deal by UK firm V allar
PLC has surprised the coal industry with the
new entity to become the largest thermal coal
supplier to China. Vallar is an investment firm
formed last year by Nathaniel Rothschild and
several partners. It listed on the London Stock
Exchange in July after raising about $1.1 billion
from investors for a plan to acquir e a major
metals or mining company.
On November 16 Vallar announced a complicated
reverse takeover deal valued at $3 billion
in cash and shar es that will r esult in it
owning 25% of Bumi Resources and 75% of
Berau. After the deal, the Bakrie family, which
controlled Bumi Resources, will own 43% of
Vallar and Indra Bakrie will become its chair -
man. Vallar's original investors will own 32% of
the new company , which will be r enamed
Bumi PLC, and Nathaniel Rothschild will be its
co-chairman. The r emaining 25% is to be
owned by another Indonesian investor . The
deal is scheduled to close in April and Bumi
PLC will become the first Indonesian company
to list on the London exchange.
Nathaniel Rothschild says the combined entity
formed by the deal aims to raise cash starting
this year to help fund acquisitions. He said
one possible investor could be China Investment
Corp (CIC), the Chinese sover eign
wealth fund, which is a major creditor to Bumi
Resources, having bought $1.9 billion of its
debt last year.
“This could become a global coal company,
as opposed to an Indonesia-focused coal
company, and it's institutions like CIC that we
would look to involve in the futur e plans, because
they ar e inextricably linked to Bumi
through the debt instrument.”
He says the Indonesian market is undervalued
compared to other emerging nations like
Brazil, Russia, India and China, and is well positioned
to service the gr owing energy needs
of China and India. He says that he sees an
opportunity in coal for the kind of cr oss-regional
consolidation that has occurred in other
parts of the mining sector.
In combination, Bumi Resources and Berau
produced about 78 million tonnes of thermal
coal in 2010 and V allar expects that to gr ow
to 116 million tonnes in 2012.
Vallar has some cash available for small acquisitions
after spending only $739 million of
its cash in the coal deal but the company
hopes to raise more. The goal is to persuade
existing holders of shares in Bumi Resources,
listed in Indonesia, to trade their stakes for
London-listed shares in Vallar, or Bumi PLC
once the name is changed. This will incr ease
Vallar's ownership of Bumi Resour ces above
its initial 25% and ther eby increase Vallar's
market value.
China powers up Brazil
THE State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC)
has paid US$1.8 billion to acquir e seven
power transmission companies in Brazil. The
acquisition is one of the largest investments
made by a Chinese company in Brazil with the
companies purchased from Spanish groups
Cobra, Elecnor, Isolux and Abengoa.
Standard Bank acted as sole financial adviser
to SGCC, which is the world’s largest utility
company and was ranked as the eighth
largest company on the Fortune 500 in 2010.
It has more than 1 billion customers and more
than 1.6 million employees.
The Standard Bank’s chief executive in
China, Craig Bond, says, “Standar d Bank is
pleased to have been the financial adviser to
SGCC and to be involved in advising Chinese
companies on investing capital, technology
and skills into refreshing emerging markets infrastructure
to facilitate their economic growth.”
He says the bank combined its investment
banking expertise, its government and corporate
access and its on-gr ound capabilities
in Brazil and China to complete the
transaction. “The group’s deep understanding
and long-standing pr esence in these
markets played a key role in ensuring a high
quality solution for the SGCC.”
The stock purchase agreement was signed
in May 2010, r egulatory approvals were
granted in subsequent months and the transaction
was closed in late December.
The Standard Bank’s head of power and infrastructure
in Brazil, Marcio Santiago, says,
“This landmark transaction, the largest and
most significant of its kind in Brazil, is testament
to Standard Bank’s cross-border capabilities
in China and in Brazil, where the bank is
advising clients on a number of major infrastructure
transactions.
In March 2008 the Industrial and Commercial
Bank of China (ICBC) pur chased a
20% stake in Standard Bank Group Limited
and both banks entered into a strategic cooperation
agreement. As a result the Standard
Bank has developed a strong team of
almost 60 investment bankers in Beijing and
Shanghai and concluded cr oss-border
transactions with Chinese companies and
state-owned-enterprises in Brazil, Russia
and a number of African countries, including
Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia.
Total annual coal production from PT Bumi Resources’ Indonesian operations is expected to reach 111 million tonnes
by the end of 2012.
中 国 加 速 巴 西 电 力 事 业 发 展
中 国 国 家 电 网 公 司 以 18 亿 美 元 收 购 了 巴 西 的
七 家 电 力 供 应 公 司 。 这 是 中 国 在 巴 西 规 模 最
大 的 投 资 并 购 行 为 之 一 , 此 前 这 七 家 公 司 归
西 班 牙 Cobra、Elecnor、Isolux 和 Abengoa 集
团 所 有 。
82 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

Pages 54-71_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:06 AM Page 2
Merger & Acquisition
在 该 交 易 过 程 中 渣 打 银 行 是 中 国 国 家 电 网
公 司 的 独 家 财 务 顾 问 , 后 者 是 世 界 上 公 用 设
施 领 域 最 大 的 公 司 , 在 2010 年 的 福 布 斯 世 界
500 强 排 名 第 八 位 。 用 户 人 数 超 过 10 亿 , 雇
员 数 超 过 160 万 。
渣 打 银 行 中 国 区 首 席 执 行 官 Craig Bond
说 :“ 渣 打 很 荣 幸 能 成 为 中 国 国 家 电 网 公 司 的
独 家 财 务 顾 问 , 参 与 到 中 国 企 业 对 新 兴 市 场
基 础 建 设 领 域 的 资 金 、 技 术 、 管 理 投 资 过 过
程 , 促 进 其 经 济 增 长 。”
他 说 , 渣 打 银 行 将 专 业 投 行 业 务 知 识 与 在
巴 西 和 中 国 的 政 府 、 企 业 渠 道 和 在 当 地 的 实
力 相 结 合 , 推 动 完 成 了 交 易 。 “ 渣 打 集 团 对
这 些 市 场 的 深 入 了 解 以 及 长 期 业 绩 在 为 中 国
国 家 电 网 公 司 提 供 优 质 解 决 方 案 时 起 到 了 关
键 作 用 。”
股 权 购 买 协 议 于 2010 年 五 月 签 订 , 在 随 后
的 几 个 月 内 获 得 了 监 管 部 门 的 许 可 , 去 年 12
月 交 易 完 成 。
渣 打 银 行 的 巴 西 电 力 和 基 础 设 施 事 业 部 负
责 人 Marcio Santiago 称 :“ 这 样 一 宗 在 巴 西 境
内 规 模 最 大 影 响 力 最 广 的 里 程 碑 式 的 交 易 ,
展 示 了 渣 打 银 行 在 中 国 和 巴 西 跨 境 项 目 方 面
的 实 力 , 在 这 两 个 国 家 , 渣 打 作 为 财 务 顾 问
参 与 了 一 系 列 重 大 基 础 设 施 建 设 项 目 交 易 。”
2008 年 三 月 中 国 工 商 银 行 收 购 了 渣 打 银 行
集 团 20% 的 股 份 , 双 方 还 签 署 了 战 略 合 作 协
议 。 因 此 渣 打 银 行 在 北 京 和 上 海 建 立 起 了 一
支 近 60 人 的 投 行 业 务 队 伍 , 协 助 中 国 公 司 以
及 国 有 企 业 在 巴 西 、 俄 罗 斯 和 一 些 非 洲 国 家
包 括 博 茨 瓦 纳 、 加 纳 、 尼 日 利 亚 和 赞 比 亚 完
成 了 一 系 列 跨 国 交 易 。
Winchester acquires Killara assets
WINCHESTER Resources has agreed to acquire
the issued capital of Killara Resources,
a private Australian company focused on
mineral exploration and development opportunities
in Indonesia. The key asset is
Belu, an early stage pr oject where initial
rock chip results have assayed up to 53.7%
manganese.
Killara has an 80% interest in Belu, which is
in the Belu Regency of W est Timor in the
Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, adjacent to
the border of Timor Leste. The project consists
of two contiguous concessions (IUPs)
covering a combined area of 3234 hectares.
The area has been subjected to negligible
modern exploration with no drilling or modern
geophysics completed. Two reconnaissance
rock chip sampling pr ograms have
been completed in the ar ea during the past
12 months, one by local concession holders
and one by Killara. Results of these programs
highlight the distribution of high grade manganese
mineralization, with results ranging up
to 53.7% manganese.
Artisanal miners have in recent times been
extracting high grade manganese ore from
near surface deposits throughout the project
area which, combined with the rock chip
sampling programs, highlights the prospectivity
of the Belu project.
Winchester intends to begin field based
exploration on the project as soon as possible
following completion of the acquisition
of Killara. The initial phases of work will involve
detailed geophysical mapping and
sampling, combined with the collection of
geophysical data, to identify rill targets. It
expects the drilling of identified targets to
begin in the third quarter of 2011.
Killara has entered into discussions with
the holders of concessions adjoining the
project with the aim of securing additional
concessions. The discussions are ongoing
and there is no certainty as to their outcome,
however they offer significant scope
to materially increase the size of the project,
with a range of additional exploration opportunities.
Killara also has access to a pipeline of Indonesian
project opportunities which will be
available to W inchester on completion of
the acquisition. It has held discussions with
regard to the potential acquisition of, or joint
venture over, a number of coal concessions
in East and South Kalimantan.
Winchester intends to undertake a 1 for 2
entitlements issue and placement of 5 million
fully paid ordinary shares.
The Belu Manganese Project is in the Nusa Tenggara Timur province of Indonesia.
Barrick agreement on PNG properties
BARRICK Gold can acquire up to 80% of two
Sierra Mining properties in Papua New Guinea
by sole funding Aus$4 million on exploration
expenditure on the gold prospects in the next
five years. The Salumei project is in East Sepik
Province while the Magavara project is in Milne
Bay Province and has been the scene of artisanal
alluvial mining.
Barrick has committed to spend a minimum
of Aus$600,000 on the Salumei project and a
minimum of Aus$200,000 on the Magavara
project within two years. Once Barrick has
earned an interest in either project, Barrick and
Sierra will form a joint ventur e with Barrick
being the initial manager. Should a joint venture
be formed, Sierra may choose to fund its
share or dilute after this stage.
Sierra welcomes Barrick's involvement and
believes that its experience in exploring and
operating projects in PNG provides the best
means to progress these projects. The agreement
requires significant exploration on the
projects whilst enabling Sierra to retain a direct
interest. Sierra will continue to maintain its primary
focus on its gold and copper projects in
the Philippines.
Following a review in 2009, Sierra scaled back
all operational activities in PNG and has continued
to evaluate joint ventur e proposals for its
PNG exploration assets. Barrick’s main involvement
in PNG has been as a partner in the Porgera
gold mine joint venture, although it has also
been assessing projects owned by Coppermoly.
March/April | ASIA Miner | 83

Pages 54-71_Layout 1 2/17/11 10:06 AM Page 3
Conveyors
POWERFUL DESIGN TOOLS—AND COMMON SENSE—
CAN CONTROL CONVEYOR COST AND COMPLEXITY ISSUES
Computer programs can calculate, simulate and evaluate endless conveyor configurations, but for
buyers, a hard look at long-term cost-effectiveness vs. price may be the most important measure.
BY RUSSELL A. CARTER, MANAGING EDITOR E&MJ
Still the unchallenged king of bulk-material transport
over long distances, conveyor systems are becoming
increasingly complex as they’re tasked to carry more
material, at faster speeds and with greater reliability
than their predecessors. (Photo courtesy of Phoenix
Conveyor Belt Systems GmbH.)]
IN a 2009 Conveyor Design r eport (E&MJ,
June 2009, pp. 54-61) Norbert Becker ,
Siemens Mining Technologies’ vice president
for process solutions, stated that “belt conveyors
have proven to be the most ef ficient
method of moving bulk solids in mining operations.
In recent years, system designs have
become more complicated than ever through
increasing length between the axes on longdistance
belt conveyors, higher belt speeds,
and more challenging routes with horizontal
and vertical curves.” Despite these challenges,
“No other transportation medium comes close
to the cost effectiveness of belt conveyors for
transporting large amounts of bulk material
over long distances,” he concluded.
Against the backdrop of global economic
turmoil and a general trend within the industry
toward higher cost-consciousness, the
importance of conveyor systems in mining
obviously hasn’t diminished over the past few
years. If anything, conveyors designers ar e
being pressed to provide systems that can
carry more, carry it farther and with lower energy
consumption and life-ownership costs
than their predecessors. In response, system
suppliers are taking a closer look at almost
every element of conveyor component design
and application, from the rolling-resistance
properties of various rubber belt cover compounds
to the relative benefits of central vs.
distributed drive designs for long overland
conveyors. And, as conveyor systems become
more complex, Discrete Element Modeling,
Finite Element Analysis and other
computer-assisted analysis techniques have
become increasingly essential, replacing ruleof-thumb
assumptions that designers have
used for many years to formulate belt, pulley,
idler and chute specifications.
Imagine, for example, the number of calculations
required to specify, design and fabricate
a system such as that announced by
Sandvik, which signed an agr eement with
Netherlands energy company R WE Power
AG for a turnkey materials-handling system.
The $83-million order comprises a complete
materials-handling system for the Eemshaven
power plant in the Netherlands, and includes
a high-performance conveyor system with 38
enclosed conveyors for coal, plus two grabtype
ship unloaders, two stackers and thr ee
portal reclaimers.
Other recent examples of complex conveyor
design include an overland conveyor/belt
feeder system installed at the Boddington gold
mine, near Perth, Western Australia, owned by
Newmont Gold Corp. This system, described
by Todd Hollingsworth and T y Harris of
FLSmidth Conveyor Engineering in a paper
presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the
Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration
(SME), involved design and manufacture of 15
conveyors and 17 belt feeders with belt widths
ranging from 450 mm to 2400 mm and conveyor
lengths fr om 16 m to 2172 m. T otal
motor power exceeds 16,700 kW, total length
of all belting is almost 11.5 km, and fabricated
steel weight totaled about 3700 mt. It went
into service at Boddington in April 2009.
In an entirely different application, a pipe
conveyor—billed as the world’ s longest,
transporting a double load on a single,
troughed belt—was installed and commissioned
at the Cementos Lima cement operations
near Lima, Peru in early 2008. This
system, according to J. W iedenroth of Germany-based
FLSmidth Koch MVT, which designed
and installed it, had to meet several
challenges: It had to follow , by means of an
underground tunnel, the path of an existing
road through a town for 6.5 km, which r e-
quired 15 horizontal and 20 vertical curves,
some as tight as 60° with a 300-m radius.
The conveyor system also had to be very
compact so that the cross-section of the tunnel
could be minimized, and it was necessary
to eliminate any transfer points in the tunnel to
reduce dust emissions, minimize space
requirements and reduce maintenance costs.
Conveyors in certain applications are seen
not only as bulk material movers but also as
a tool to assist in an operation’ s energy balancing
and conservation strategies, adding
additional complexity. For example, Siemens
has again upgraded the downhill conveyor
system it installed at Antofagasta plc’ s Los
Pelambres copper-moly mine in Chile, increasing
both the carrying capacity and its
generating output. After its installation in
1999, at which time it was configured to carry
7,000 mt/h and power ed by eight electric
motors rated at 2500 kW each, it was capable
of generating up to 17 MW with sufficient
load on its steep downhill route. Following another
upgrade in 2006, when two of the conveyor’s
sections wer e given an additional
drive—raising total drive output from 20 MW
to 25 MW—the system’ s capacity was
boosted to 8700 mt/h.
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Conveyors
In that configuration, the system produced
about 90 million kWh, r epresenting about
15% of the mine’s power needs, reducing
energy costs and cutting carbon dioxide
output by more than 50,000 mt/y. More recently,
Siemens reported that the system is
capable of generating up to 21 MW in r e-
generative mode.
The average length of pipe conveyors used in the resource industries is gradually increasing, ranging anywhere up to 7
km in various overland applications. Capacities range from 50 t/h to 4,000 t/h, depending on material density. (Photo
courtesy of Dearborn Mid-West Conveyor Co.)
Software Solutions
A quick glance at any conveyor pr oduct directory
shows that there are a dozen or more
well-known software programs and packages—in
addition to the examples above—
available to anyone for analysis of practically
any facet of conveyor design. Major conveyor
equipment suppliers generally have specific
software suites or protocols for designing and
simulating their own systems.
Conveyor engineering and consulting
companies, such as Overland Conveyor Co.
and Conveyor Dynamics (now a unit of
FLSmidth), have updated their r espective
conveyor software products with features
that they claim allow users to analyze and
solve design pr oblems faster, easier and
more accurately.
Overland Conveyor Co. says its Belt Analyst
9.1, offers complete design evaluation of
any bulk material handling belt conveyor, allowing
users to input any vertical and hori -
zontal profile with up to 360 flights, 48 pulleys
and 20 unique drive locations. The pr ogram
allows use of CEMA 5th Edition calculation
methods, newer CEMA 6th Edition power
methods or International ISO/DIN methodology.
A new Pulley Setup W izard helps input
all the belt line dimensions and automatically
calculates all pulley wrap angles. A two-dimensional,
to-scale drawing illustrates exact
inputs and what is used in the calculations.
Other new features include a 3-D viewer
that shows to-scale drawings of the entir e
conveyor or any section, and allows the user
to rotate, pan and scale the drawing. A new
Lagging Analyst evaluates the interaction of
the belt and lagging at each drive pulley.
FLSmidth Conveyor Dynamics offers Belt-
Stat 7.0, which it says can analyze conveyors
of any length and topography having up
to 10 drive/brake stations. The program can
analyze downhill, regenerative conveyors,
and belt widths fr om 24 to 120 in. Drives
may be conventional head type, tail, and/or
intermediate drives of any combination.
Both acceleration and braking action can be
analyzed using either independently controlled
starting/stopping times or controlled
acceleration/braking torque. Starting and
stopping torques may be proportioned as
desired among the multiple drives.
In the latest version of BeltStat, a new
Quick Start menu allows users to conveniently
analyze a wide variety of conveyor
systems. By inputting basic conveyor information
users can quickly determine critical
conveyor specifications and components.
An improved element table gives the designer
a visual image of the conveyor system
as it is being built. It also allows vertical
curves and IP points to be dynamically
modified on the fly.
Other conveyor design pr ograms include
Beltcomp, Helix delta-T, Pro-Belt, Sidewinder
and mConveyor, to name a few.
Focusing on Cost-Effectiveness
With all of this design power available, and
taking into account the hundreds of millions
of dollars spent every year on new systems,
upgrades and parts replacement, a reasonable
question might be: Are customers getting
fair value, or better, for the price of their
conveyor systems, or ar e these systems
being under- or over-engineered Over the
years, there seems to have been a tug-ofwar
between these issues, but technology
advances now provide greatly improved capability
to make fully informed design decisions—if
the customer looks at the design
from the proper perspective.
To illustrate: In 2003, Lawr ence Nordell,
president of FLSMidth Conveyor Dynamics,
wrote: “Traditionally, belt conveyors for both
in-plant and overland systems have been notoriously
over-designed. Fifty-year-old engineering
design standards and methods are
still being applied today . The use of these
standards results in substantially higher capital
and operating costs when compared with
those incorporating today's technical advancements.”3
More recently, Todd Swinderman, chief
technology officer for Martin Engineering,
suggested that conveyor designers and suppliers
may actually be doing too good of a
job, by pr oviding customers with systems
that continue to perform adequately under
adverse conditions—including outright abuse
from overloading and neglect.
In a presentation at the 2010 SME meeting4
Swinderman said that, even though
evolving design trends for conveyor systems
increasingly focus on life cycle costs and sustainability,
many systems are still purchased
on the basis of lowest price, rather than lowest
cost. And, because it’s also common for
project owners to shift funding for important
conveyor equipment fr om the capital-expense
budget to the operating budget, the
money that will eventually be needed to correct
deficient conveyor designs may not be
available later, or if available, fixing the design
problems may not even be possible on a
cost-effective basis.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 85

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Drilling & Blasting
EXPLOSIVES INNOVATIONS OFFER CHEAPER, SAFER BLASTING
AEL Mining Services, a South Africa-based
supplier of commer cial explosives, initiating
systems and blasting services, r ecently reported
that the Rukodzi mine, part of Zimbabwe
Platinum Mines' Ngezi Mining Division,
converted its perimeter blasting practice from
AEL's PE Barrel to polypipes, after using the
former system in its bor d (room) and pillar
blasting operations since 2003.
PE Barrel is a water gel explosive that is
packaged in special plastic tubes that can be
clipped together for use in holes where a decoupled
charge is needed. Applications include
smooth blasting of perimeter holes in
shaft sinking, development or tunneling.
“PE Barrel, a specialist blasting technique
product manufactured at low volumes, is
supplied at a pr emium compared to other
standard explosives. Due to the drop in platinum
prices in 2008 driven by the global commodity
crisis, Ngezi Mining Division’s quest
for best practices in all its mining activities
was accelerated,” said Gift Zhou, Ngezi Mining
Division’s best practice manager.
Late in 2008, a team from AEL Mining Services
initiated a pr oject to find a mor e costeffective
alternative to PE Barrel, and subsequently
recommended an innovative approach
which was trialed during the mining of
tunnels for the Gautrain Rapid Rail project in
Johannesburg, South Africa. This innovation
involved a trial with emulsion charged into
polypipes as an alternative to PE Barrel.
“The results recorded were outstanding
and encouraged full scale trials in Rukodzi
mine, resulting in the total conversion to
polypipes, which was concluded in June
2010,” said Zhou.
Although the conversion resulted in a 3%
increase in powder factor, the net effect of the
conversion was a 3% saving in explosives
cost per metric tonne blasted.
AEL said its relationship with Zimplats Ngezi
Mining Division dates back to 2001 when
Ngezi issued an explosives tender to provide
Prime, Load, Tie and Shoot (PLTS) blasting
services for the open-pit mine. AEL was initially
awarded a three year PLTS contract.
Since 2001 mor e than 70,000 tonnes of
emulsion has been used to blast or e
and overburden totaling appr oximately
60,000,000 bcm using a fleet of four AEL
Mobile Manufacturing Units (MMUs).
AEL’s UBS technology in conjunction with
Tunnelmaster shock tube system was accepted
as the blasting system for Ngezi Mining
Division’s bord and pillar mining after extensive
trials at the start of underground mining in 2003.
In another offshoot from AEL’s involvement
in the Gautrain project, the company said it
recently completed the first phase of the
Goldfields South Deep shaft sinking pr oject
using its QuickShot electronic detonator system
to sink 110 m of the 9.4-m-diameter
shaft. This followed a contract awar ded to
AEL by Murray and Roberts in April 2010.
“Having seen the outstanding r esults from
the Gautrain Project blast, QuickShot electronic
detonators were the natural choice to deepen
the Goldfields’ South Deep Gold Mine, some
3000 metres,” said Mark Mocombe, vice president
Goldfields South Deep.
“AEL's QuickShot electronic detonator system,
developed by our sister company, Det-
Net, was debuted with the Gautrain pr oject
and achieved maximum advance rates, as
well as adherence to environmental restrictions.
Blasting was performed without incurring
damage to sensitive structur es on
surface with Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) levels
well under the target maximum of
10mm/s,” explained Carlos Goncalves, product
manager, AEL Electronics.
With existing foundations at the South
Deep shaft project very close to the perimeter
blast ring—a 234-hole by 1.2-m deep
round—care had to be taken to not inflict
damage on the winder and compressors.
“Given that this was new to us and the crew
members, we had no idea how complex the
drill and blast design could be. AEL demonstrated
leadership in undergr ound blasting
and we are satisfied with the work done so
far. The shaft is starting to take shape nicely,”
concluded Morcombe.
New alternative for secondary blasting
Meanwhile, the Dutch company NX Burst Europe
BV announced the intr oduction of
NXbursT, which it claims is a safer alternative
to traditional explosives used for specialized
and secondary blasting applications in the
mining and demolition sectors. The technology
is based on a non-detonating chemical
compound enclosed in a cartridge, which re-
Switching from a more expensive product to emulsion-loaded polypipe for certain blasting jobs allowed one of AEL Mining Services’ customers to cut costs by 3% in expensives
cost per metric tonne blasted.
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Drilling & Blasting
NX Burst Europe BV says its non-explosive NXbursT
product can provide fast, safe and simple results for specialized
blasting applications such as boulder splitting.
acts quickly when ignited to produce high volumes
of harmless gas, mainly consisting of
nitrogen, carbon dioxide and steam.
When the cartridge is sealed in a drill hole,
the gas generated by the ignition of the pr o-
pellant enters into the micro-fractures created
from the percussive drilling process and into
the natural fractures and planes of the r ock
to produce a shearing often known as splitting.
There are no expensive initiation systems
required or special tools needed. It is said to
be fast, simple and, most importantly safe.
Given its unique characteristics, the non-explosive
product is suitable for use in br eaking
rock and concrete in sensitive locations or in
built-up areas. Examples of use include: secondary
boulder br eaking; dimension stone
quarrying; and pass and boxhole excavations.
pits with the majority of or e coming from the
Apensu and Awonsu working areas. A blend
of both primary and oxide ore is fed to the mill
to balance the head grade and recovery in the
leach circuit. Ahafo operate a 54 x 75-in. gyratory
crusher for primary or e and a toothed
roll sizer for oxide or e. This is followed by an
SABC circuit comprising a 34 x 16.4-ft, 13-
MW SAG mill in closed circuit with 2, 600-kW
pebble crushers. SAG milling is followed by a
24 x 39-ft, 13-MW ball mill in closed cir cuit
with a cluster of 26-in. cyclones. After classification,
the milling product is thickened and the
overflow is fed to carbon-in-leach tanks.
Metso said the PIO methodology used at
Ahafo has been applied successfully at a
number of operations worldwide. A PIO project
normally consists of a number of site visits
spaced over a few months. The first site
visit is to establish curr ent operating practices,
initiate rock characterization and collect
measurements of blast fragmentation and mill
performance during a series of plant trials or
sampling surveys. This is followed by modeling
and simulation studies to determine how
to best exploit hidden inef ficiencies. These
recommendations are then followed by fur -
ther site visits to implement the changes,
monitor the results and ensure the improvements
are maintained over time.
Metso noted that in a PIO pr oject, it is important
that the material being surveyed in the
plant is the same that has been characterized
and closely studied fr om the audited blast.
This requires ore tracking. PTI has developed
a radio fr equency-based (RFID) material
tracking system, called SmartTag, that allows
parcels of ore to be followed fr om the mine
Throughout the PIO, Metso used it’s SmarTag RFID system
to identify and track the progress of various ore
parecels from mine to mine.
through the crusher, intermediate stockpiles
and finally into the grinding circuit. The RFID
tags are detected as they pass near antennae
that are normally installed on conveyor
belts. Being passive, the tags don’ t have a
power source and therefore can last an indefinite
period and r eside in stockpiles for
many years if necessary. Detecting tags before
and after stockpiles can provide a reliable
indication of their active residence time.
Two full grinding circuit surveys were performed
at Ahafo as part of the initial benchmarking
phase of the PIO pr oject. Both
surveys were completed while pr ocessing
material from a particular blast, tracked using
SmartTags. At Ahafo, each blast is mined in
two benches (or flitches) and the first survey
was conducted on the top bench while the
second was done on the bottom bench. This
would clearly show the effect of the coarser,
Process Integration Study
at Ahafo Yields Dividends
Metso Process Technology and Innovation
(PTI) reports that a recent mine-to-mill Process
Integration and Optimization (PIO) pr oject at
the Newmont Ahafo mine in Ghana resulted in
a significant increase in mill throughput without
capital investment. This was achieved by
reviewing the curr ent operating conditions,
identifying inefficiencies and then implementing
PTI’s recommended changes in drill and
blast, crushing and grinding practices.
Ahafo is currently mining a number of open
Trials conducted after the PIO’s recommendations for the pebble crusher, SAG mill rock and ball load monitoring, ball
mill media size and cyclone conditions were implemented, showed a signifigant increase in mill throughput.
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 87

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Drilling & Blasting
top bench fragmentation on mill throughput. At the end of each survey,
the SAG mill was crash-stopped and the rock and ball loads were
measured. The survey sample sizing data wer e then used for mass
balancing and calibration of crushing and grinding circuit steady-state
models. Blast design changes were modeled and the predicted runof-mine
fragmentation was input to the grinding circuit model during
A recent Process Integration and Optimization (PIO) project at Newmont’s Ahafo gold
mine began with a site visit that included collection of particle fragmentation data
from a typical blast.
a number of simulations to achieve diferent increases in mill throughput.
The blast patterns were designed to increase the amount of ultra
fines generated during blasting that cannot be created through conventional
crushing. These very fine particles ar e beneficial to both
semi-autogenous and fully autogenous milling as they pass thr ough
the mill and onto the ball mill circuit. Once the primary mill restriction
has been alleviated, issues ar ound the ball mill will need to be addressed
as this can become the bottleneck. For the Ahafo
As well as blast design changes, the performance of the crushing
and grinding circuits was reviewed during the PIO project. It was recommended
that Ahafo measure the primary crusher closed-side-setting
once a week and maintain it between 5 and 6 in, based on
operating power draw. This would ensure the additional fines generated
in blasting would be supplemented with good topsize control by
the primary crusher. Other PTI recommendations included operation
of the pebble crusher, SAG mill rock and ball load monitoring, ball mill
media size and cyclone conditions.
Following implementation of PTI’s recommendations, Metso said
plant trials conducted in the last quarter of 2010 showed a significant
increase in mill throughput compared with the benchmark surveys on
the same material earlier in the year . Metallurgical hardness tests
showed that the validation trial mill feed was even har der than the
benchmarked ore.
Metso said Ahafo is currently implementing further PTI recommendations
to develop standard operating practices for both SAG and
ball mill circuits.
Varel Acquires RPS
Varel International, a leading manufacturer of drill bits and global supplier
to the drilling industry, recently completed the acquisition of the
Rotary Percussion System (RPS) product line and the assets of Renegade
Tools LLC. The line of high fr equency, low impact percussion
hammer tools complements the alr eady robust suite of tools V arel
supplies to the mining and industrial drilling market.
This product line, under development since 2005, allows drillers to
utilize traditional roller cone or PDC drill bits in air, mist, or foam fluid
applications, increasing the rate of penetration through efficiently combining
the complimentary forces of both rotary and hammer drilling.
“We are very pleased with the addition of the RPS technology to the
portfolio of products Varel brings to the global marketplace,” said Jim
Nixon, President and CEO of V arel International. “RPS promises to
enhance drilling efficiencies for our blast hole mining customers and
is likely to have application in air drilling in the oil and gas side of our
business. We look forward to working with the team at Renegade to
rapidly bring RPS to market.”
“In field testing in several diferent applications in the Western Hemisphere
we have found that the RPS tools not only incr ease drilling
rate by 25% or more but additionally deliver a straighter, cleaner drilled
hole,” said Speed Collingsworth, vice president-mining and industrial
products, Varel. “A cleaner hole r educes the need for time consuming
back reaming and a straighter hole impr oves rock fragmentation
during blasting. Better r ock fragmentation impr oves
efficiencies at the crusher reducing costs.”
Renegade Drilling Tools is a private drilling technology development
enterprise based in Austin, Texas. The company focuses on
providing solutions to the mining industry through their expertise in
impact hammer development.
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Product News
BREAKING NEW GROUND IN UNDERGROUND MINING
AKER Wirth and Rio T into are combining
forces for the delivery and testing of the first
Tunnel Boring System (TBS) developed for
Rio’s Mine of the Futur e program. The TBS
consists of Aker W irth's Mobile Tunnel Miner
concept and will be tested at Rio T into's
Northparkes copper mine in Australia.
The new tunnel boring system is expected
to arrive in Australia in early 2012 and be operational
with trials completed at Northparkes
by the end of 2012. The TBS is 64 metr es
long, has a flexible boring diameter up to six
metres and has minimum tunnel dimensions
of five metres by five metres.
Aker Wirth’s CEO Christoph Kleuters says,
“We are proud to have this opportunity to partner
with Rio Tinto and be part of an important
development that may change the face of underground
mining. This project emphasises our
passion for technology. It confirms Aker Wirth's
commitment to maintain our position as technology
leader in hard rock excavation for the
underground mining and tunnelling industry.”
The Mobile Tunnel Miner concept combines
the flexibility of a roadheader operation with the
robustness of a tunnel boring machine and enhances
the many positive aspects of the previous
version developed and tested in the early
1990s.
Using the undercutting technology at the core
of the concept, the Mobile Tunnel Miner is capable
of meeting the challenges set by Rio Tinto
to improve the safety and speed of tunnel construction
in underground mining. Aker Wirth has
more than 40 years experience in the design
and construction of tunnel boring machines.
Rio Tinto’s head of innovation John McGagh
says, “Rio Tinto is developing new excavation
systems as part of its Mine of the Futur e program
to significantly improve the construction
and operation of underground mines. This new
investment offers the possibility for a stepchange
improvement over conventional drill
and blast practices. Depending on r ock conditions,
this system should provide a capability
to excavate at more than double the rate of
conventional methods.”
The Mine of the Future program is designed
to create next generation technologies for mining
operations that result in greater efficiency,
lower production costs, impr oved health,
safety and environmental performance, and
more attractive working conditions. Impor -
tantly, it provides an opportunity to intr oduce
fundamentally safer processes into the underground
mining industry.
Flex-Mat 3 improves screen capacity
THE Flex-Mat 3 high-performance, self-cleaning
screen media from Canada’s Major Wire
Industries helps solve rapid scr een wear and
blinding challenges in coal processing.
Available for modular or tensioned scr een
decks, Flex-Mat 3 panels have mor e open
area, providing up to 30% mor e screen capacity
than woven wire and up to 50% more
screen capacity than polyurethane and rubber
panels.
The panels have independently vibrating
wires that increase product throughput by
up to 40% over traditional woven wir e or
polyurethane panels by incr easing open
area and eliminating any blinding, pegging
and clogging.
Clay content within coal can cause sever e
blinding problems for both woven wir e and
polyurethane, resulting in significant lost screen
capacity and hours of downtime to clean the
screens. Coal is also very corrosive and quickly
wears out woven wire screens.
Some producers increase the size of their
woven wire screen boxes to increase capacity,
but at gr eat expense. Others shift to
polyurethane panels for longer wear life, however,
capacity is often greatly reduced in exchange
for the added wear life.
By using Flex-Mat 3, pr oducers can eliminate
these problems while putting more spec
product on the ground due to less downtime
for cleaning or replacing screens.
For tensioned screen decks, Flex-Mat 3’s lime
green polyurethane strips align to the scr een
box’s crown bars and hold individual wir es in
place as they run from hook to hook. Wear life
exceeds that of woven wir e up to three times
Aker Wirth CEO Christoph Kleuters and Rio Tinto head of innovation John McGagh sign a contract for delivery
and testing of a Tunnel Boring System developed for Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future program.
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Supplier-Product News_Layout 1 2/15/11 4:22 PM Page 2
Product News
Major Wire Flex-Mat 3 panels on a tensioned screen deck.
because there are no cr oss wires with high
wear spots like there are with woven wire.
On modular scr een decks, Flex-Mat 3’ s
modular panels install easily, similar to traditional
polyurethane and rubber panels. On
both screen types, Flex-Mat 3’s wires vibrate
independently to better separate material, virtually
eliminating blinding, pegging or clogging.
Flex-Mat 3 provides benefits on every screen
box deck - eliminating near -size pegging on
top decks, producing cleaner retained product
through the middle decks and preventing
fine material blinding on bottom decks. On
modular screen decks, Flex-Mat 3 modular
polyurethane panels can r eplace existing
screen media on each deck wherever throughput
is compromised or can replace the entire
deck for maximum production.
New network augments GPS technology
MINING fleet management specialists Leica
Geosystems have launched a GPS augmentation
network which incorporates exclusive
technology developed by Locata Corpora -
tion. The innovative terr estrial network ensures
24/7 positioning coverage even with
adverse GPS situations.
Open cut mines can present challenges for
satellite based positioning as the pit becomes
deeper, and where the walls are steep. Positioning
signals transmitted from satellites can
become obstructed by the pit walls, reducing
GPS availability and in tur n, accuracy. The
angle of ‘sky view’ is further r educed where
machinery is in close proximity to the pit walls
which block GPS signals.
Leica’s GPS augmentation network fills
these shortcomings in the GPS network and
ensures consistent and accurate positioning
is always available.
Under an exclusive technology partnership
with Locata, Leica’s Jigsaw360 is the first
fleet management system with the ability to
replicate the GPS satellite constellation from
the ground. This ground-breaking technology
enables a level of contr ol and flexibility
which is not possible fr om the standar d
satellite GPS network.
With this development, Leica Geosystems
and Locata have made a significant advance
in the availability of consistent positioning
signals. The efficiency and productivity benefits
of total positioning coverage also have
the potential to solve other problems where
the standard GPS network has fallen short
in the past.
This will have particular r elevance for GPS
collision avoidance systems and automated
mining developments, where constant and
accurate positioning is critical to safe operation.
The benefits are:
• Consistent and accurate GPS coverage
across the deepest and steepest pits
• Complete positioning availability ensures
the highest ef ficiency and pr oductivity
gains from Leica’s Jigsaw360 fleet management
and machine control systems
• A significant step in the development of reliable
collision avoidance and automated
mining systems.
Leica Geosystems’ integrated monitoring
and GPS guidance solutions can be utilized
for draglines, blast-hole drills, electric shovels,
dozers, excavators, haul trucks, loaders
and auxiliary assets. State-of-the-art real-time
analysis and reporting software gives entire
sites the tools that they need to contr ol resources
and equipment.
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Supplier-Product News_Layout 1 2/15/11 4:22 PM Page 3
Product News
Locata Corporation has developed new
radio-location technology which provides precise
positioning in difficult GPS environments.
The company’s technology solutions allow deployment
of a network of terr estrially-based
transceivers called LocataLites that transmit
extremely precise ranging signals.
LocataLites create a positioning network,
called a LocataNet, that looks just like GPS
and which, from a functional point of view ,
replicates the GPS satellite constellation but
on the ground.
The company says benefits of the Outotec
Larox filter cloths include:
• Optimized throughput and filtrate clarity
• High discharge level and dry cake
• Excellent cake release and resistance to
blinding
• Stretch, shrink and abrasion resistance
• Extended filter cloth life and high availability
of the filter
Adam Kennedy says, “Decades of experience
and intensive product development enable
Outotec to offer the best for its customers
in terms of filter cloth quality , price point and
delivery times.
He says, “Customers gain benefits such as
flexible ordering of spares, all from the same
supply channel, as well as access to a wide filter
cloth portfolio.
“With mineral pr ocessing plants globally
working to optimum levels to meet high demand,
OEM products such as Outotec Larox
filter cloth collection offer the confidence in
quality and performance that comes from national
and global leadership,” he adds.
New cloths help improve filtration
OUTOTEC has launched a new range of OEM
filter cloths which it says ar e designed to deliver
optimum performance and pr ocess results.
It states that the Outotec Lar ox Filter
Cloths cover the entire permeability range and
facilitate optimized performance and process
results for each application and filter.
Outotec’s service business development
manager Adam Kennedy says, “Filter media
are crucial for filtration efficiency. Efficient solidliquid
separation technology with tailored services
from Outotec’s global services network
leads to guaranteed availability, cost-efficiency
and environmental benefits.”
Outotec Larox filtration solutions ar e designed
to achieve significant savings in energy
and/or water consumption in most of the
processes they facilitate. Ef ficient filtration
leads to better quality waste water , thus reducing
the environmental burden.
Leica Geosystems ‘LocataLite’ positioned at the pit rim
March/April | ASIA Miner | 91

Supplier-Product News_Layout 1 2/15/11 4:22 PM Page 4
Supplier News
SEDGMAN WINS MONGOLIAN COAL CONTRACTS
The Sedgman plant at the Coppabella coal operations in Australia.
COAL mine engineering provider Sedgman
has secured contracts valued at US$31 million
in the emerging global coal r egion of
Mongolia, including the company’s first international
operations management contract.
Sedgman’s contracts include US$19 million
of Engineering, Procurement and Construction
Management (EPCM) contracts for the
second stage of Energy Resour ces LLC’s
coal handling and processing plant (CHPP) at
the UHG mine in the South Gobi region.
The contracts follow Sedgman’ s initial
EPCM contract for the CHPP at the mine’ s
first stage, UHG 1. The plant was the first to
be built in Mongolia.
Sedgman's chairman Russell Kempnich
says the contracts are further evidence the
company is successfully delivering on its international
expansion strategy. “We are very
pleased to be expanding our r elationship
with Energy Resources in one of the world’s
92 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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Supplier News
most prospective coal regions.
“These contracts are very significant for Sedgman. W e are very
proud of our work on the coal plant at UHG 1, a development which
is setting the standard in a region of Mongolia that is forecast to grow
rapidly to meet the coal demands of China’s major steel makers.
“The additional contracts for the management of the first plant and
for EPCM services on the second plant show recognition of our ability
to deliver on projects, including those in challenging and remote
locations, and our ability to develop strong client relationships which
result in repeat business.
“We are also very pleased to be expanding our operational management
services inter nationally, beyond the Australian market
where we have established a strong position.”
Sedgman is now engaged in initial works on both the EPCM and
CHPP projects. The three-year operations management contract for
the UHG1 plant is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of the
2011 financial year. Sedgman was established in 1979 and is a leading
provider of mineral processing and associated infrastructure solutions
to the global r esources industry. Specializing in the design,
construction and operation of coal handling and preparation plants
(CHPPs), Sedgman is recognized internationally for its mineral processing
and materials handling technologies.
The company has mor e than 800 personnel and services the
global coal and metalliferous markets by offering innovative engineering
and operations capabilities.
Geometallurgy cooperation agreement
SNOWDEN and SGS have signed a cooperation agreement to provide
an integrated geometallurgical methodology to the minerals
sector. The companies say the agreement delivers to mining companies
a better understanding of ore bodies by enhancing the technical
data set through all stages of ore body development.
The collaboration is grounded in the complementary services offered
globally by each company and combines market leading technical expertise,
operational excellence and proven delivery mechanisms.
The agreement will be managed on a non-exclusive basis and
does not affect services provided independently by either firm.
Snowden provides consulting services, technology solutions and
technical training to the mining and related sectors. Since inception
in 1978, Snowden has grown a substantial global footprint with offices
in Australia, South Africa, Canada, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
Snowden is a subsidiary of Downer EDI Limited.
SGS is a leader and innovator in inspection, verification, testing
and certification services. Founded in 1878, SGS has mor e than
59,000 employees, and operates a network of 1000 ofices and laboratories
around the world.
PT Atlas Copco Fluidcon general manager Robin Stephens.
service capability and efficiency of a new, consolidated company.
“By the end of 2011 all former Fluidcon employees will be trained as
Level 1 Atlas Copco service technicians. Likewise, all Atlas Copco service
technicians will be trained to install and service Fluidcon products.
“This company is people – Fluidcon and Atlas Copco employees –
it’s all about working together and taking care of the service needs of
our customers.”
Headquartered in Jakarta, the new 350-member PT Atlas Copco
Fluidcon company offers capital equipment field support and auxiliary
product installation through its Jakarta office and 11 regional hub lo-
Atlas Copco and Fluidcon combine
PT Atlas Copco Indonesia and PT Fluidcon Jaya have combined
service operations and product development to become one or -
ganization, PT Atlas Copco Fluidcon.
Atlas Copco Indonesia had operated PT Fluidcon Jaya as an independent
company since its acquisition in 2008, while continuing to
support Atlas Copco products and services separately.
PT Atlas Copco Fluidcon’s general manager Robin Stephens says
that by integrating the two companies and implementing an intense
cross-training program, customers will benefit fr om the increased
March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 93

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Supplier News
cations. Close customer support is provided
from remote and in-mine personnel in about
20 additional locations.
Robin Stephens says the Fluidcon name
has been a strong presence in the Indonesian
mining industry for 25 years. “The company’s
engineering staff understand the needs of the
region and this includes the products to support
remote field service technicians.
“In addition to being a trusted name in the
installation of pr oducts such as fir e suppression
and auto lubrication systems on
haul trucks, loaders and other equipment,
the company also pr oduces a line of fuel
decontamination and monitoring systems.
Other products include mobile workshops,
hydraulic hose manufacturing, hydraulic
training modules and electronic particle detectors.”
JJSEA expansion strategy
MANUFACTURING, engineering and distribution
company Jebsen & Jessen (SEA)
(JJSEA), is undertaking an ambitious expansion
strategy in 2011 to incr ease its
footprint across South East Asia.
In solidifying its presence in the region, the
group has executed a number of strategic
acquisitions and ventures spanning diverse
industries. These include acquisitions in
F&B packaging in Malaysia and material
handling in Taiwan, a joint venture in cable
manufacturing in Indonesia, as well as the
opening of a corporate office in Cambodia.
On January 1, 2011, JJSEA acquired Labplas
Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian packaging company
that specializes in pr oducing plastic
PET bottles, jars and caps. Labplas has an
extensive export business network throughout
the ASEAN region and beyond as well
as a str ong network amongst many of
Malaysia's multinational corporations and
local companies.
Another acquisition that took ef fect on
January 1 is MHE-Demag Taiwan’s takeover
of Realm Corporation in T aiwan. MHE-
Demag is a joint ventur e between JJSEA
and Demag Cranes & Components that engineers,
manufactures and maintains cranes
and other material handling pr oducts. The
acquisition signifies JJSEA ’s successful
penetration into the Taiwanese market and
marks the establishment of the company’ s
eighth crane factory in the region.
Indonesia is seen as one of the key
emerging markets of enormous potential for
JJSEA and recently witnessed the formation
of PT JJ-Lapp Cable SMI, a joint ventur e
between JJ-Lapp Cable, the cable technology
arm of JJSEA, and PT Sinarmonas, a
privately held company. This development
will see JJ-Lapp Cable’s transition from a
cable distribution to a cable manufacturing
company, with business volume expected
to more than double in the next three years.
Another milestone for the JJSEA Group is
the setting up of Jebsen & Jessen Cambodia
in Phnom Penh. JJSEA is already an active
player in the local market, having
completed numerous projects through its
various businesses such as cable technology,
material handling, communications and
chemicals. A local presence will enable the
group to gain deeper market access and
create a local point of contact for rapid customer
response.
Jebsen & Jessen’ s chairman Heinrich
Jessen says, “Jebsen & Jessen has been on
the ground with local expertise and facilities in
South East Asia for almost 50 years. These
recent developments are a reaffirmation of
our commitment to the region and are part of
a strategic focus to reinforce our presence in
a number of important growth markets.”
94 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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March/April 2011 | ASIA Miner | 95

Exploration_Layout 1 2/22/11 8:48 AM Page 1
Exploration
HIGH GRADE GOLD INTERCEPTS AT PELANGAN PROSPECT
Southern Arc properties on the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa.
HIGH grade gold inter cepts have been r e-
turned from drilling at the Central Raja target
of the Pelangan pr ospect at Souther n Arc
Minerals’ West Lombok Gold-Silver Project.
Two drill holes intersected the Central Raja
gold-bearing, structurally defined, epithermal
breccia zones, termed mineralized structural
breccia (MSB), at depth below an earlier shallow
phase 1 hole that had returned 10.7 metres
@ 2.93 grams/tonne gold, including 4.7
metres @ 5.8 grams/tonne.
The new holes targeted depths of 60 metres
and 120 metres below the previous interval
and r eturned 4.85 metr es @ 7.11
grams/tonne gold and 18.5 grams/tonne silver
from 56.55 metres, including 1.35 metres
@ 16.67 grams/ tonne gold and 17
grams/tonne silver; and 17.25 metres @ 5.73
grams/tonne gold and 11.7 grams/tonne silver
from 121.6 metres, including 8.75 metres
@ 10.51 grams/tonne gold and 20.7
grams/tonne silver.
Results indicate a bonanza episode within the
Central Raja MSBs, characterized by significantly
higher gold-tenor, low silver/gold ratio and
specific vein textures. Such bonanza episodes
can localize within the vein zone to form highgrade
ore-shoots which can add significant
ounces to a deposit within small areas.
Southern Arc’s CEO John Pr oust says,
“These initial results of phase 2 drilling are very
encouraging and highlight the significant gold
potential not only at Pelangan but also for the
Mencanggah area. There, surface mapping
and sampling of similar auriferous MSBs with
an average strike length in excess of 15km
have already identified a number of high priority
drill-ready targets.”
Pelangan is in the northwest section of a
13km-long, northwest trending structural corridor
of epithermal and porphyry mineraliza -
tion. This district-scale field also includes the
company’s Selodong porphyry copper/gold
prospect and the Mencanggah epithermal/
porphyry prospect.
Surface mapping and shallow scout drilling
at Pelangan defined extensive, MSBs occurring
over an ar ea of 3 by 2km. Five major
zones of mineralization - Raja, Kayu Putih,
Tanjung-Jati, Lala and Ratu - have been delineated,
comprising an aggr egate strike
length of about 4.6km.
Sumber survey reveals anomaly
A MAGNETIC survey at Haranga Resour ces’
Sumber Iron Ore Project in southeast Mongolia
has revealed that three distinct iron outcrop
zones located in the area are coincidental with
an intense and previously undiscovered magnetic
anomaly with a strike length of about 4km.
The Australian-listed company now intends
to drill the new target within the next few
months as part of a first pass scout r everse
circulation drilling pr ogram. Sumber is in
Dornogobi province, less than 50km from the
Chinese border crossing at Hangi Mandal.
The licence encompasses 64sqkm and lies
adjacent to the Agaruut iron ore development.
During a r ecent geological survey thr ee
large and distinct magnetite outcr ops were
discovered in the norther n part of the tenement,
spread over a distance of 2km.
Haranga then completed a 680 line km
ground magnetic survey over the entire Sumber
tenement, which revealed that the identified iron
mineralization is coincident with an intense magnetic
anomaly about 4km in length and between
0.5km and 1km in interpreted width. Additional
magnetic anomalism is found further to the
west, providing a secondary target area.
The magnetic survey results will require further
processing for better target generation,
but have already enhanced the priority of the
Sumber project within Haranga’s portfolio of
Mongolian iron ore prospects.
Haranga’s managing director Robert Wrixon
says the company believes Sumber to be
highly prospective due to the significant size
of the magnetic anomalies and r elated outcrops,
the excellent location of the pr oject in
terms of ease of access to the Chinese market
with it being only 250km fr om the major
steel production region of Baotou, and the existence
of a nearby known iron ore deposit.
Haranga manages and holds a majority ownership
in five promising Mongolian iron ore projects.
Apart fr om the survey at Sumber , a
magnetic survey of the Selenge pr oject area is
also under way as is a first pass RC drill pr o-
gram is at the Shavdal project in the east.
Exploration hole at Muguk
WOULFE Mining is drilling a 520 metr e exploration
hole to investigate the possible extension
of the Vein 2 lode at the Muguk Gold Project in
South Korea. Muguk was formerly the country’s
largest and most productive gold mine.
Vein 2 was historically the generator of around
75% of gold pr oduction from the mine and
analysis of geological trends and historical underground
sampling suggests that it may extend
to the north of the historically defined
resource. The drill hole is targeted to intersect
the ore position around 165 metres to the north
of the last mine working on level 12, 420 metres
from surface, and 125 metres below an historical
exploration drive on level 8, 285 metr es
from surface.
96 | ASIA Miner | March/April 2011

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