Fenix Resources has completed the acquisition of Mount Gibson Iron’s Mid-West iron ore, port and rail assets.
In June 2023, Mount Gibson reached a conditional agreement to divest its Mid-West hematite iron ore mining and infrastructure assets to Fenix for $25 million. The deal comprised of $10 million in cash and 60 million Fenix shares and additional options.
The agreement makes Mount Gibson the single largest shareholder in Fenix with an approximate interest of 8.6 per cent.
The assets acquired by Fenix include:
the Shine iron ore mine, an operational iron ore mine currently on care and maintenance with a mineral resource estimate of 15 million tonnes at 58 per cent
two storage sheds at Geraldton Port that are on-wharf infrastructure consisting of Shed 4 with storage capacity of 120,000 tonnes and Shed 5 with storage capacity of 240,000 tonnes both with in-loading access via truck or rail
the two mid-west rail sidings, Ruvidini and Perenjori rail sidings, providing access to the main Mid-West rail network connecting to Geraldton Port and assembly locations for product storage and blending activities
assets at the Extension Hill iron ore mine that are large scale operational crushing and screening plant, associated equipment, and interests in an operational 138 bed mining camp, all currently on care and maintenance.
The acquisition is expected to provide Fenix with opportunities such as reducing the cost of its Iron Ridge project located approximately 600 kilometres north-northeast of Perth, Western Australia, as well as expanding the project’s production.
Fenix chairman John Welborn said the acquisition of Mount Gibson’s Mid-West iron ore and port assets is a game changer.
“This transformational event for Fenix will drive material economies of scale, provide flexibility to expand iron ore production and operate new projects concurrently,” Welborn said.
“In expanding a mine-to-port logistics solution for ourselves and other producers in the Mid-West, we also create employment opportunities which will strongly support regional economic growth and create exceptional shareholder value.”
The Northern Star Resources board has approved the expansion of the Fimiston Mill, part of the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines’ (KCGM) Super Pit.
The expansion from 13 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) to 37Mtpa is set to cost $1.5 billion and is due to be completed in 2026.
Located at the centre of the Kalgoorlie goldfields, the Super Pit is one of Australia’s largest open pit gold mines and includes the Mt Charlotte underground mine and the Fimiston and Gidji processing plants.
“Today is an exciting day for Northern Star and a historic new chapter for this world-class asset,” Northern Star managing director Stuart Tonkin said.
“The board’s decision to approve the KCGM mill expansion and optimisation represents the next stage to revitalise our largest asset as well as the surrounding district for decades to come.
This project is financially compelling, and a significant enabling step towards delivering our strategy to generate superior returns for our shareholders.”
Northern Star has had a productive start to the year at the Super Pit, increasing gold resources to 57.4 million ounces (Moz) and keeping ore reserves steady at 20.2Moz.
Tonkin said the company is confident the site will continue to produce significant value.
“Our confidence in the economics of KCGM to remain a long-life, low-cost gold mine has been further reinforced through the feasibility study phase,” he said.
“Expanding the processing capacity of KCGM will strengthen Northern Star’s portfolio, materially increase our free cash flow generation and progress our long-term strategy to be within the 2nd quartile of the global cost curve.
“Further, the project is important in our sustainability journey and will also sustain hundreds of local jobs, economic and social investment, and local procurement opportunities in the Goldfields region.”
Greatland Gold has announced that the management of the Juri joint venture (JV) will transfer to Newcrest, its joint venture partner from July 1.
The Juri JV is an unincorporated joint venture between Greatland Gold and Newcrest. Greatland own 49 per cent of the JV and Newcrest own 51 per cent. The JV was formed in November 2020 to accelerate exploration at the Paterson Range East and Black Hills exploration licences.
Under the terms of the farm-in and joint venture agreement which governs the Juri JV, Newcrest could elect to become the joint venture manager at any time following an initial period.
Newcrest has now exercised its right to do so and will assume this responsibility from the beginning of the 2024 financial year. The transfer of management of the Juri JV to Newcrest does not affect any of Greatland’s other rights as a joint venture participant.
Greatland managing director Shaun Day said the company welcomes Newcrest elevating its engagement and interest in the Juri JV.
“Greatland strongly believes in the prospectivity of the Juri Joint Venture tenure and will continue to be an active participant following the upcoming management transition,” Day said.
“The shift of Juri Joint Venture management to Newcrest provides Greatland’s exploration team the opportunity to put greater focus on our 100 per cent owned portfolio of highly prospective tenure together with our responsibilities as the new manager of the farm-in and joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto on the Paterson South project.”
As South32 looks to grow its portfolio, the company seems to have identified a copper mine that could be an M&A fit.
According to The Australian Financial Review, South32 has sounded out a potential acquisition of Khoemacau Copper Mining which operates its namesake copper mine in Botswana.
Khoemacau ramped up to full production in February – achieving 3.65 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of throughput – and has a nameplate production capacity of 60,000 tonnes per annum of copper, with silver as an added-value product.
Khoemacau has an estimated mine life of 20 years, producing copper at C1 cash costs of $US1.15 per pound. Mining is currently taking place from Zone 5 – an underground mine where three corridors are producing an average of 1.2Mtpa of ore each.
It is understood South32 has engaged RBC Capital Markets as it prepares an indicative bid for Khoemacau Copper Mining, while the AFR also believes the company could come up against opposition, including from Sandfire Resources.
Khoemacau could be seen to complement Sandfire’s Motheo copper mine, which produced first copper concentrate in late May.
The major currently produces copper from its 45 per cent stake in the Sierra Gorda mine in Chile – an asset it acquired in February 2022.
The company also has a series of earn-in agreements with resource companies around the world. This includes two emerging copper exploration projects in Argentina – Chita Valley and Don Julio.
Kerr said Argentina could be a copper jurisdiction to keep an eye on in years to come.
“Argentina’s become an interesting location,” he told reporters at a Melbourne Mining Club luncheon in late April. “When we first started doing some work there, we were probably the only ones. You’ve got BHP there, you’ve got Barrick there, you’ve Glencore there – everyone’s sort of pouring money into that jurisdiction at the moment.
“If you look at where it is, it’s on the other side of the Chile mountains where basically all the copper is. So I think that’s an area that’s going to develop pretty quickly. The challenge around that jurisdiction is it tends to be on average higher levels of arsenic, which typically you blend out, or you look at new technology to remove it.”
Elsewhere, South32’s portfolio is made up of commodities such as alumina, aluminium, zinc, silver, lead, nickel and manganese.
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With the Newmont takeover of Australian gold miner Newcrest now given the green light by the board, Australia’s gold landscape is set to change forever.
Newcrest has a strong portfolio of assets which the US gold giant is evidently keen to get its hands on, such as the Brucejack gold and silver mine in Canada, the Lihir gold mine in PNG, Cadia Hill in NSW, and the Telfer mine in WA – both among Australia’s largest gold mining operations.
Newmont already owns the Boddington mine in WA and the Tanami mine in the NT, so the takeover will put the company in control of four out of six of Australia’s largest gold mines.
But industry experts from the Australian Financial Review (AFR) are speculating that not all of Newcrest’s assets will make the cut, and will be divested before the dust settles.
Newmont chief executive officer Tom Palmer told AFR that he considers only two of Newcrest’s assets “tier one”, which are Cadia Hill and Lihir.
“Those assets are tier one, world-class by any measure. So, they are firmly in the portfolio,” he told AFR.
When the ink dries, this will give Newmont a portfolio of ten tier one assets.
Palmer also showed a keen interest in Newcrest’s Canadian assets, Brucejack and Red Chris, which are located nearby its own Saddle North project. Palmer called this combination of gold assets a “golden triangle”.
“I would call the golden triangle a tier one district,” he said.
That’s not to say that all everything else faces divestment, but it seems that Newmont will be considering its new assets very carefully.
“We are certainly looking for value over volume,” he said.
“So as we work our way through understanding the portfolio, we will be making judgements about what our go-forward portfolio is.”
Newcrest’s Cadia Hill is the second largest gold mine in the country.
“In the early 2000s, the control of the Australian gold industry stood at 80 per cent,” Surbiton managing director Sandra Close said.
“It dropped to just under 30 per cent Australian control as overseas gold companies bought up Australian operations, and it was when the Aussie dollar was down around 50 (US) cents, so it was pretty cheap for them to buy the operations.
“Over time a lot of those operations were sold, so we’re currently looking at 60 per cent Australian control in the gold industry.
“But the recent announcement with Newmont and Newcrest, and we’ll be watching that closely, if that did go ahead it would mean Australian control would fall just below 50 per cent again.
“Whether we’d see yet another round of acquisitions as we did in the early 2000s is a pretty interesting question.”
The spot price of gold is currently trading at US$2015.60 per ounce.
The Lincom Group has appointed as the exclusive distributor for MDS, a Terex brand, in WA, NT, SA, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia.
MDS is headquartered in Ireland where it designs and manufactures heavy duty rock trommels. Its equipment is designed to deliver maximum efficiency, reliability, and versatility.
The MDS heavy-duty rock trommels can screen rocks as large as 800mm and include features such as hydraulic jacking legs, remote control, modular drums, drum cleaners and electronic systems to monitor and control aspects of the trommel.
The range includes mobile, semi-mobile or static, and the MDS trommels are built to last in harsh conditions.
The Lincom Group has supplied equipment and services to the mining, quarrying, recycling and waste industries for more than 27 years. Its portfolio includes mobile crushers, screeners, conveyors, and other specialised equipment.
The partnership between the two companies marks a significant milestone for both businesses and is set to bring new opportunities to the local market.
Lincom Group CEO Stephen Watterson said the partnership with MDS is a testament to company’s core value of supplying only the best-in- class equipment.
“We are thrilled to be the exclusive distributors of MDS heavy-duty rock trommels in key regions. We are excited to be working with such an innovative manufacturer and look forward to bringing their industry-leading equipment to our customers,” he said.
Lincom Group has an established network of sales and service centres to provide its customers with fast and effective support across the equipment lifecycle.
The first MDS M515 track trommel will arrive later this year. This model will come complete with fold- out stockpiling conveyors and is ideal for creating RipRap and recovering rocks that are mixed with clay and other sticky materials.
BHP is now officially the parent company of OZ Minerals, with OZ set to be removed from the ASX today.
“This acquisition strengthens BHP’s portfolio in copper and nickel and is in line with our strategy to meet increasing demand for the critical minerals needed for electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels to support the energy transition,” BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry said.
“Combining our two organisations will provide options for growth, bring new talent and innovation to unlock these resources in a sustainable way, and deliver value to shareholders and communities.”
The takeover will allow BHP to focus on safe and reliable operation of the Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena assets.
This week OZ shareholders received $28.25 per OZ share, marking the implementation of the scheme of arrangement. This follows approval of the $9.63 billion deal by the Federal Court earlier this month.
The revised offer was an increase on the original $8.4 billion offer made in August 2022.
OZ Minerals has a number of operations in Brazil, including the Santa Lúcia iron oxide copper-gold mineral deposit, the Antas copper-gold mine, and CentroGold, one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Brazil.
The acquisition gives BHP access to the company’s significant portfolio of future-facing minerals – namely copper and nickel – that are vital to the world’s push for clean energy.
“As this is the final production report from OZ Minerals, the board and management would like to thank all our stakeholders for their contribution to the company’s success,” OZ Minerals chief executive officer Andrew Cole said.
After 20 years and 20 million work hours, Fortescue Metals reports its first magnetite production at its Iron Bridge mine in WA, which measured an impressive grade of over 68 per cent iron.
“Within a week of starting operation, Iron Bridge hit grade and that was the biggest relief of my career,” Fortescue executive chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest, told AFR.
The wet concentrate has been transported from the mine through 135km slurry pipeline to Port Hedland. There it will be dewatered, transforming it into a high-grade magnetite product ready for shipping.
The mine will produce 22 million tonnes per annum of high-grade magnetite concentrate, suitable for steel making.
Using magnetite in steel making has a lower overall carbon emissions than alternatives.
“Iron Bridge will lead the way for a successful magnetite industry in Western Australia and is a game changer for not only Fortescue, but the wider iron ore industry,” Forrest said.
The Iron Bridge project created over 20,000 jobs during construction, a workforce figure which peaked at 4,000. Another 900 full time jobs will be created when the project begins operations.
“I would like to congratulate every one of the 20,000 people who worked on achieving the most remarkable safety record during the construction of this incredibly complex project,” Forrest said.
Fortescue chief executive officer Fiona Hick said she was proud that the team was able to deliver the project while maintaining strong safety performance.
“The construction of Iron Bridge, Fortescue’s first magnetite operation, was complex particularly while managing the added challenges resulting from COVID-19 and border closures,” she said.
“Our focus is now on achieving safe and efficient ramp up.
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