Mount Isa Mines levels up renewables

APA solar farm at Mount Isa, Queensland. Image: Glencore.

Glencore’s Mount Isa Mines operation is set to source 20 per cent of its long-term electricity needs from APA Group’s new solar farm in Mica Creek, Queensland.

Under a 15-year agreement, Mount Isa Mines can use up to 50 per cent of the solar electricity produced each year at the Mica Creek solar farm (also known as the Dugald River solar farm).

The agreement was first announced in December 2023, where Glencore zinc assets Australia chief operating officer Sam Strohmayr said the partnership will help Glencore reduce its emissions footprint.

“The partnership helps reduce our high-power costs which is one of the elements that make it difficult to compete with our international rivals,” Strohmayr said.

The 88-megawatt farm at the basis of the agreement was officially opened yesterday and is poised to boast 180,000 solar panels across 200 hectares of land. The official opening was attended by Strohmayr.

“APA has been working with us for many years providing reliable electricity for our Mount Isa Mines operations,” Strohmayr said. “We welcomed the opportunity to partner with APA on a renewables project and in the process contribute to a collective effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“There are several benefits from this agreement – not only for us but also for the community. Mount Isa Mines is reducing its carbon footprint, and in the process using renewable energy to help produce energy transition metals, such as zinc and copper, that are needed globally for a low carbon future.”

In October 2023, Glencore announced plans to close the Mount Isa Mines underground copper operations – Enterprise, X41 and Black Rock – and its copper concentrator by the end of 2025. The company cited low ore grades as the cause.

Glencore’s Lady Loretta zinc mine, which was a finite orebody with a seven-year mine life, will also close in 2025.

In response to the Mount Isa closures, the Queensland Government created the $50 million Mount Isa Transition Fund, which aims to boost projects that can commence quickly, create jobs, and build on the region’s reputation as a great place to live and work.

With $20 million going towards shovel-ready mining projects, $30 million will be used to accelerate resources projects in the Northwest Minerals Province. The initiative will be led by the Queensland Treasury and Department of Resources.

Other Mount Isa operations such as the copper smelter, the George Fisher mine, the zinc-lead concentrator, the lead smelter, and the copper refinery in Townsville remain operating.

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Significant high copper grades unlocked at Oak Dam

OLIVIA THOMSON

Image: Phawat/stock.adobe.com

An exploration program undertaken by BHP at its Oak Dam copper deposit has identified high-grades of copper deep beneath the Olympic Dam ore body, with some grades equalling more than two per cent.

The Oak Dam deposit is located 65km south-east of the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, one of the world’s most significant deposits of copper, gold, and uranium.

Once its acquisition of OZ Minerals was finalised last May, BHP established an integrated copper province in SA’s far north by combining the Prominent Hill and Carrapateena mines with the Olympic Dam mine, smelter and refinery, and Oak Dam deposit.

“BHP has created an integrated copper province that we hope will bring the scale required to economically and sustainably produce and process more copper here in SA and deliver it to global customers,” BHP asset president copper South Australia Anna Wiley said.

“Our South Australian operations are performing well and we’ve had further exploration success.

“The Oak Dam exploration project is progressing with 12 rigs currently on site, 150 kilometres of drilling completed, a core processing facility on-site and 150-person accommodation camp nearly complete.

“We’re also exploring in an area below the known Olympic Dam deposit, known as Olympic Dam Deeps.”

Alongside further exploration, BHP is also assessing options for a new two-stage smelter at Olympic Dam that would potentially double its capacity from 0.5 million tonnes (Mt) to 1–1.7Mt and lift its copper production to about 500,000 tonnes per annum.

The South Australian Government, which approved the Oak Dam exploration program last year, welcomed the Oak Dam discovery.

“Copper is a key component in our State Prosperity Plan,” SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said.

“BHP hope to more than double the size of their smelter – which means more jobs, opportunity and greater prosperity for our state.

“There are enormous amounts of copper in our state’s north, but to extract and refine it, we need something in short supply – water.

“That’s exactly (the SA) Government is partnering with industry to progress plans for the Northern Water project, which has the potential to deliver an additional five billion dollars in economic activity to our state each year.”

BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry took to the stage at the BMO Global Metals, Mining and Critical Minerals Conference yesterday, where he revealed that the potential two-stage smelter at Oak Dam is expected to reach a final investment decision sometime between the 2025–26 and 2026–27 financial years.

Australia’s new largest gold miner

TIM BOND

The Cadia gold operation in New South Wales.

Newcrest Mining disappears from the ASX, having been officially swallowed-up by gold giant Newmont.

The takeover creates a veritable gold behemoth in control of over half of the world’s Tier-1 gold assets. The enlarged Newmont, which sees foreign ownership of Australian gold assets rise above 50 per cent, will oversee 10 “large, long-life, low-cost Tier-1” operations across the world.

Newmont already owned the Boddington and Tanami gold operations in Australia and will now add Cadia and Telfer to the fold. This puts Newmont in control of four out of six of Australia’s largest gold mines.

Other additions include the Brucejack and Red Chris operations in Canada, which are located nearby Newmont’s Saddle North project. Newmont president and chief executive officer Tom Palmer called this combination of gold assets a “golden triangle”.

The Lihir operation in Papua New Guinea will also fall under Newmont’s control.

Newmont expects to generate pre-tax synergies of $500 million, and at least $2 billion in cash improvements, in the first two years after closing the deal as it optimises its portfolio of assets.

“Today marks a historic milestone in our company and the industry with the successful completion of this transformational acquisition of Newcrest by Newmont,” Palmer said.

“Our attention now turns to safely, efficiently, and responsibly integrating Newcrest’s assets and people into Newmont’s proven operating model, so we can accelerate the delivery of our value-focused strategy for all our stakeholders.”

Australia’s new largest gold miner

TIM BOND2 days ago

The Cadia gold operation in New South Wales.

Newcrest Mining disappears from the ASX, having been officially swallowed-up by gold giant Newmont.

The Lihir operation in Papua New Guinea will also fall under Newmont’s control.

Newmont expects to generate pre-tax synergies of $500 million, and at least $2 billion in cash improvements, in the first two years after closing the deal as it optimises its portfolio of assets.

“Today marks a historic milestone in our company and the industry with the successful completion of this transformational acquisition of Newcrest by Newmont,” Palmer said.

BHP scales new copper heights

TOM PARKER

BHP’s acquisition of OZ Minerals is paying dividends, with operational records falling across its new copper district in South Australia.

The Carrapateena mine, located 100km south-east of BHP’s Olympic Dam operation, achieved record development metres in September, producing 14,100 tonnes of copper in the September quarter. This is a 21 per cent increase on the previous three months (11,700 tonnes).

Olympic Dam, which BHP owned before the OZ Minerals acquisition, mined 2.64 million tonnes (Mt) of material during the September quarter – its highest mark since the 2014–15 financial year (FY15).

This equated to record gold production of 53,028 ounces, the second time Olympic Dam has achieved this in three quarters.

Combined with a 48 per cent increase in copper production at Prominent Hill, BHP produced 71,700 tonnes from its South Australia copper operations – a 44 per cent uplift from the same quarter last year (bearing in mind it only owned Olympic Dam at this point).

BHP achieved a 11 per cent group copper production uplift from the third quarter of 2022, with the Escondida and Pampa Norte operations in Chile also delivering strong performances.

Iron ore production fell three per cent from the same quarter last year, which the major miner attributed to “tie-in activity for the Rail Technology Programme (RTP), the ongoing ramp up and maintenance at the Central Pilbara hub (South Flank and Mining Area C), and the timing of track renewal maintenance”.

BHP said South Flank remains on track to ramp up to full production capacity of 80 million tonnes per annum by the end of FY24.

The miner’s quarterly was released on the same day as the divestment of BMA’s Daunia and Blackwater coal mines was revealed, with Whitehaven buying the mines for $US3.2 ($5.02) billion.

BMA is a joint venture between BHP and Mitsubishi Development.

Resource Capital Funds to sell Ausenco

OLIVIA THOMSON

Private equity firm Resource Capital Funds (RCF) has announced the selling of Ausenco, a multinational engineering company, to three key US investment firms.

The three firms – Eldridge, Brightstar Capital Partners, and Claure Group – will acquire Ausenco for approximately $US578 million ($900 million).

Resource Capital Fund VI (RCF VI), RCF’s fund that owns Ausenco, first acquired the company in 2016 for $153.7 million.

According to RCF, Ausenco has focused on delivering copper for the energy transition and constructing four major copper concentrators while under RCF VI’s ownership.

“These include Carrapateena, representing one of the largest copper reserves in Australia, Constancia and Mina Justa in Peru and Mantoverde in Chile, still under construction, for a combined annual copper capacity of more than 400,000 tonnes,” the firm said.

“In addition to copper, Ausenco has grown capabilities in sustainability, lithium and operational performance. Ausenco now has more than 3000 employees, up almost 1600 employees since RCF privatised the business in 2016.”

The transaction is expected to close in late 2023, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Ausenco team, whose dedication and unwavering commitment have been the driving force behind its success during our ownership… This is a fantastic outcome for all parties involved, and we wish Ausenco continued success,” Resource Capital Funds managing partner James McClements said.

RCF head of private equity Martin Valdes said this transaction is a “natural step” that will mark “the next chapter in Ausenco’s journey”.

“The decision to sell Ausenco was made after careful consideration, with the belief that this transition will allow the company to further expand its reach and make an even greater impact in the growing engineering sector,” he said.

“Our relationship will continue as like-minded collaborators to deliver the necessary commodities to support the energy transition.”

New Kalgoorlie gold projects secured

ALEXANDRA EASTWOOD

Horizon Minerals and Dundas Minerals have entered into a binding agreement to acquire the Windanya and Baden-Powell/Scotia gold projects in the Kalgoorlie region of WA.

Dundas Minerals has also made an application to acquire three prospecting licenses in its own right, contiguous to Horizon’s Banden Powell/Scotia tenements.

“The option to acquire these advanced stage gold exploration projects in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia is an exciting opportunity for Dundas Minerals,” Dundas Minerals managing director Shane Volk said.

“Given the competition for these projects, Dundas is pleased that Horizon viewed us as a worthy partner. We are keen to commence the first phase of exploration in coming weeks.”

The Windanya project is located approximately 50km north of Kalgoorlie, while the Powell/Scotia project is adjacent to the Goldfields Highway, about 60km north of Kalgoorlie.

The projects became available due to Horizon’s focus on advancing its Cannon, Penny’s Find and Rose Hill gold projects towards production.

“Being so near to Kalgoorlie, the Goldfields Highway, and several gold plants, the economics of advancing a gold deposit from within these project areas into production, and generating income for the company are favourable,” Volk said.

Dundas is currently finalising plans for its first phase of exploration at both projects, which will comprise soil and/or auger sampling programs covering multiple targets ranked by prospectivity.

Exploration is expected to commence in early September, and will take up to three weeks to complete.

Chalice Mining WA

矿业公司Chalice公布Gonneville项目更新股价两日跌三成

2023-08-31 14:01:05 (AET) by Edward Zhang 968

矿业公司 Chalice Mining（ASX：CHN）公布旗下Gonneville Nickel-Copper-PGE项目概略研究报告后，股价受挫25%。

【澳股资讯平台 – 61 Financial 8月31日讯】矿业公司 Chalice Mining（ASX：CHN）发布公告，提供了旗下Gonneville Nickel-Copper-PGE项目概略研究报告。

根据更新，概略研究概述了Chalice旗下西澳大利亚州项目成为一个新的长寿命、低成本、低碳绿色金属矿山，预计有可能带来强劲的财务回报和区域效益，以及显著的上升空间。

Chalice还概述了一个在世界级司法管辖区可执行的一级规模开发项目。

Chalice董事总经理兼首席执行官Alex Dorsch表示：“概略研究强调了开发现代化，长寿命，西澳大利亚关键金属矿山的绝佳机会，由于其规模，寿命和有价值的绿色金属的组合，它的范围生产，代表了该行业的独特机会。”

公司预计，Gonneville有潜力提供对全球脱碳和城市化至关重要的大量金属。如果不开发这样的新战略项目，预计世界将无法实现依赖于快速部署清洁能源和电气化技术的净零排放目标。

尽管Chalice在钻探方面取得了进展，但该公司预计要到2025年中期才能完成其预可行性研究。

此后，如果一切按计划进行，预计第一批生产将于2029年开始。

受此消息影响，公司股价周三收跌25.2%，位居ASX200指数跌幅榜首位。

本周四，Chalice股价盘中再度下跌5%，两日跌幅录得三成。

公司股价一年走势回顾：

text 【更多CHN公告和股价走势请点击CHN个股页面】

消息来源：

公司公告Gonneville Nickel-Copper-PGE Project Scoping Study

QMines acquires key copper-zinc project

OLIVIA THOMSON

BHP’s Oak Dam exploration program has received environmental approval from the South Australian Government.

QMines has executed a term sheet to acquire a 100 per cent interest in the Develin Creek copper-zinc-silver project from Zenith Minerals for total consideration of $4.5 million in cash and shares.

The acquisition is a two staged transaction with the initial interest of 51 per cent acquired for $1.2 million in cash and $1 million in shares. The additional interest is to be acquired for a further $1.3 million in cash and $1 million in shares within 12 months.

“Since listing in only May 2021, the QMines team has rapidly grown its copper resources at the Mt Chalmers project. We always believed that the Develin Creek asset was very complementary and would provide the scale required to progress the Mt Chalmers project towards sustainable copper production,” QMines managing director Andrew Sparke said.

“We wish to thanks the Zenith board for sharing our vision of a larger, combined copper business and for their patience and assistance with the transaction.

“We would like to welcome Zenith and their shareholders to the register as large owners in our company. We look forward to working closely with you as we test several exciting exploration targets and prepare the company for potential future production.”

Zenith Minerals executive chair David Ledger said that the company’s divestment provides itself with immediate cash and allows for it to maintain a focus on the development of its lithium assets.

“This has been a deliberate reallocation of our resources where we believe we can maximise value for our shareholders. We will continue to review the asset base and monetise projects at the appropriate times,” Ledger said.

The Develin Creek mine is located 80 kilometres north-west of Rockhampton in central Queensland, and is located approximately 90 kilometres west of QMines’ Mt Chalmers copper-gold project.

It is said that Develin Creek has an indicated and inferred resource of 4.9 megatons (Mt) at 1.79 per cent of copper equivalent (CuEq) for 87,173 tonnes of CuEq.

Gold Road breaks records

KELSIE HARFORD

Gold Road Resources has released its half-yearly results, sharing record profits.

Revenue from gold sales for the six months totalled $229 million, up from $196.5 million the previous financial year (FY22).

Gold sales reached 80,115 ounces, outstripping the 79,606 ounces sold in up to June FY22, with production benefiting from record throughput rates for the half year.

“The six months to 30 June 2023 has broken several financial records for Gold Road,” managing director and chief executive officer Duncan Gibbs said.

“The strong result reflects the consistent performance of the processing plant, a supportive Australian dollar gold price and Gold Road’s production being fully unhedged.”

Gold Road’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the six month period totalled $122.6 million, with a margin of 54 per cent.

Operating cash flow for the six months to June 30 was $110.3 million, smashing the $69.5 million of the previous June 30 period in 2022.

The consolidated net profit after tax for the six months was $55.7 million, compared to the June 2022 after tax profit of $39.9 million.

Gold Road ended the half year with cash and short-term deposits of $152.6 million, far above the $74.4 million from FY22.

Additionally, Gold Road’s Gruyere exploration project in WA is on target to achieve the restated 2023 annual guidance of 320,000 to 350,000 ounces of gold.

Gold Road also reported a strong exploration and investment portfolio with strategic listed investments in De Grey Mining and Yandal Resources valued at $416.1 million on 30 June 2023.

Drilling continues at Gold Road’s Mallina and Yamarna projects in WA with on ground activities commenced at the Greenvale project.

The Golden Highway project was also announced to have completed drilling in preparation for feasibility level studies.

Evolution updates Ernest Henry mineral resource

OLIVIA THOMSON

Evolution Mining has released an updated mineral resource estimate for its Ernest Henry project.

Ernest Henry is located 38km north-east of Cloncurry, Queensland and is a large-scale copper-gold operation. Its mine life was extended in June of this year.

As of June 30, the Ernest Henry mineral resource is estimated at 101.5 million tonnes at 1.25 per cent copper and 0.73 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 1.3 million tonnes of contained copper and 2.4 million ounces of contained gold.

This is an increase of 6.7 million tonnes, 76,000 ounces of contained gold and 63,000 tonnes of contained copper compared to the December 31 2022 mineral resource estimate (MRE).

The new MRE was said to be informed by results from 26 new drill holes completed from January 1 to March 8.

The new MRE will now inform the Ernest Henry extension feasibility study engineering work following the results of the mine extension pre-feasibility study that demonstrated an opportunity to extend the Ernest Henry mine life by 17 years to 2040.

“Ernest Henry continues to demonstrate its world class status with additional mineral resource growth since the previous estimate with the addition of only 26 new holes,” Evolution Mining chief executive officer Lawrie Conway said.

“This is the fourth increase in the first 18 months of 100 per cent ownership, with a net increase of 41–44 per cent in contained metal over this period.

“Resource increases outside the mine extension feasibility study footprint highlights the excellent potential for further resource growth and the potential to operate the plant at full capacity over the full 17-year mine life extension to 2040.”

Australia’s new largest gold miner

矿业公司Chalice公布Gonneville项目更新 股价两日跌三成

矿业公司Chalice公布Gonneville项目更新股价两日跌三成