Новости за 28.11.2018

The Montagne d’Or joint venture (JV), comprising Columbus Gold and Nordgold, has declared its official decision to French authorities to move forward with permitting and development of its gold mine, in French Guiana. The official declaration is considered a key milestone in the permitting process for the mine, which will produce an average of 237 000 oz/y over the first ten years of operations at an average grade of 1.73 g/t gold.

The workers union at BHP's Spence copper mine in Chile started a strike after layoffs earlier this week, the union leader said on Wednesday, shutting down operations at the northern Chilean deposit. Union President Ronald Salcedo told Reuters that about 50 workers had been laid off, in addition to eight supervisors, raising safety concerns for the mine's remaining workers and prompting the shutdown.

Diversified miner Exxaro Resources expects to increase its production by 3% year-on-year for the 2018 financial year. FD Riaan Koppeschaar reported in an update to shareholders on Wednesday that its thermal coal production from the Waterberg is likely to increase by 15% year-on-year, in line with demand from power utility Eskom, as well as strategic stockpiling for the implementation of the Grootegeluk 6 (GG6) expansion project.

ASX- and JSE-listed Orion Minerals has discovered a new copper/zinc-bearing massive sulphide body located near its flagship Prieska zinc/copper project, in the Areachap Belt, in the Northern Cape.   The discovery hole, OAXD002, was drilled at the Ayoba prospect, a satellite exploration target, and is both the first exploration hole drilled as part of the company’s near-mine exploration project and the first hole to test for new mineralisation surrounding the historical Prieska mine in more than ...

Integrated resource group Tharisa on Wednesday reported a 13.6% decline in headline earnings per share to $0.19 in the year to September 30, while operating profit fell 26.3% to $72.5-million. Revenue was up 16.3% to $406.3-million and the company declared a final dividend to shareholders of $0.02 a share, totalling four cents for the 2018 financial year, compared with $0.05 in 2017.

Global platinum demand will marginally outpace supply in 2019 – increasing by 2.4% and 1.6%, respectively – the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) announced in its latest Platinum Quarterly report on Wednesday. WPIC research director Trevor Raymond noted that the WPIC’s global platinum 2019 forecast shows a market surplus of 455 000 oz, which would be 10% lower than the surplus of 505 000 oz in 2018.

The World Gold Council (WGC) said on Wednesday it would appoint David Tait, an investment banker and member of the Bank of England's market standards board, as chief executive from next year. Tait will take over in February from Aram Shishmanian, the council's CEO for the last decade, the WGC said.

The Gahcho Kué diamond mine that Canadian miner Mountain Province owns in partnership with Anglo American’s De Beers is set to produce between 6.6-million and 6.9-million carats in the 2019 financial year – a level also forecast for 2020. The mine, located in the Northwest Territories, will process between 3.1-million and 3.2-million tonnes of ore in 2019 and 2020, at a production cost of between $110/t to $120/t.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of the Rincon lithium project, in Argentina, has estimated a 16.5-year mine life based on the production of 10 000 t/y of high value lithium carbonate. ASX-listed Argosy Minerals on Wednesday reported that the PEA estimated a pre-tax net present value of $399-million and an internal rate of return of 53%, with the project to cost some $141-million to develop.

The shareholders of TSX-V-listed Melior Resources have approved a merger with ASX-listed Metallica Minerals. The two companies in September struck a binding merger agreement to create a diversified Queensland mining company, which will combine mineral sands and bauxite assets.

This week: Coal to remain significant part of South Africa’s energy generation mix And, South Africa’s coal output continues to decline

A coalition of gold investors, including firms backed by billionaires John Paulson and Naguib Sawiris, is taking aim at mining executives who don’t have enough skin in the game. Businesses tend to perform better when top managers have a high ownership-to-pay ratio, according to the inaugural report of the newly launched Shareholders’ Gold Council, which tracked 17 gold companies.

Nigeria has awarded a mining contract to ten exploration and consulting companies as part of the country's efforts to develop the sector, the mining and steel development minister said on Tuesday. Abubakar Bawa Bwari did not say how much the contracts were worth but in July he had said eight firms would be awarded a government contract to the tune of 12.7-billion naira ($41.5-million).

Russian businessman Vladimir Potanin plans to appeal a London court decision to block him from buying shares in mining company Norilsk Nickel from fellow investor Roman Abramovich, representatives at Potanin's investment firm said on Tuesday. The ruling, taken in June, was considered to be advantageous for Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, who controls aluminium giant Rusal, and has long been at loggerheads with Potanin over control of Norilsk Nickel.