Mining Breaks

BHP Iron Ore has chosen West Australian contractor NRW for bulk earthworks and the placement of about 14,000cum of concrete for the overland conveyors and primary crushers at its $US3.4B South Flank project.
The 15-month contract, valued at about $A176M, includes access tracks, clearing, pads and diversion drains as well as ancillary works relating to non-process infrastructure.
The 80Mtpa South Flank mine, 120km NW of Newman, is scheduled to deliver first ore in 2021.

Specialty metals producer Wolf has recovered from the big freeze in the March qtr, lifting June qtr (Q4FY18) production from its Drakelands openpit mine at the Hemerdon project in Devon, SW England to 42,314mtu tungsten and 70t tin, from 34,602t tungsten and 81t tin in the March qtr.
MD Richard Lucas says Wolf is accelerating an operating plan to enhance tungsten recovery and improve operating cashflows in the current strong tungsten market conditions.

The transition of its 75%-owned Langer Heinrich uranium mine in Namibia to care and maintenance in mid-May has lowered Paladin's June qtr (Q4FY18) production to 354,465lb U3O8 from 670,456t in Q3. C1 cash costs rose to $US34.55/lb (Q3: $29.82).
Total sales were 1,147,835lb at $20.58/lb for gross revenue of $23.6M, a 90% increase.
Paladin expects Sept qtr sales of 250,000-300,000lb U3O8.

Australian coal producer Realm Resources has achieved several operational records on the way to lifting June qtr (Q2) saleable production at its 70%-owned Foxleigh opencut mine in Qld's Bowen Basin to 633,000t, up from 519,000t in Q1.
Shipping delays attributable to delayed deliveries by co-shippers limited sales to 748,000t (Q1: 818,000t).
The company generated cash of $A34.4M ($34.9M) and ended the period with cash on hand of $136.2M ($100.9M).

Evolution Mining sees potential to materially extend the life of its Mungari gold project in Western Australia after agreeing to terminate Norton Gold Fields' rights over the Castle Hill deposit.
Castle Hill, 25km NW of the Mungari processing facility, holds ore reserves of 236,000oz.
Evolution says Norton's historic rights to mine and process ore from Castle Hill and other nearby tenements previously effectively quarantined its ability to explore and develop an important package of tenements.
It expects Castle Hill to provide baseload feed for Mungari once its White Foil openpit is complete in FY20.

Australian-based Anova has outlined plans to sell its 100%-owned Big Springs gold project in Nevada, USA.
Exec director Bill Fry says divestment will enable Anova to unlock value from its efforts since acquiring Big Springs in 2013 and focus on its Second Fortune gold project plus other projects and potential opportunities in Australia.
An independent assessment in Aug 2017 valued Big Springs and US exploration assets at $US51.2-75.8M, with a preferred valuation of $63.1M.
Resources specialist Haywood Securities has been named to manage the process, with completion targeted for the Dec qtr.

Lithium Australia has begun production of lithium-iron-phosphate battery cathode material following the recommissioning of its pilot plant at its specialist battery-component research and development laboratory in Brisbane.
MD Adrian Griffin says its wholly owned VSPC plant enables LIT to manufacture the world's most advanced cathode materials at the high-margin end of the battery metals market.
VSPC will also allow LIT to utilise waste batteries as a feed source in view of the looming immense pressure on the supply of energy metals such as lithium and cobalt.

A strong fourth quarter has lifted Australian driller Swick to a 41% increase in EBITDA to $A18.8M for the year to end-June, on revenue that grew 6% to $137.8M. The figures are unaudited.
EBIT staged a turnaround to $2.5M from negative $2.3B in FY17.
The result was achieved on an increase of just 1% in metres drilled, attesting to Swick's strategy of holding out for higher rates on contract renewals and quitting two of four underperforming sites.

West Australian gold producer Northern Star is budgeting for more significant growth after beating its best forecasts with production of 575,121oz at AISC of $A1,029/oz in the year to end-June.
The result exceeds its market guidance of 540,000-560,000oz and FY17 output of 514,735oz at $1,013/oz.
After achieving its targeted 600,000oz run rate in Q4, NST now predicts F719 production will be 600,000-640,000oz at $1,025-1,125/oz.
NST ended the year with cash and equivalents of $512M, up from $439M at March 31, and no bank debt.

BHP predicts more growth after lifting West Australian iron ore production to a record 238Mt in the year to June 2018, up from 231Mt in FY17.
The result reflects improved supply chain productivity and record output from Jimblebar and Newman mines. It now expects FY19 output of 241-250Mt.
A 57% increase at Escondida lifted copper production to 1.75Mt (FY17: 1.33Mt). FY19 forecast is 1.68-1.77Mt.
Record production at Queensland Coal lifted met coal output to 42.6Mt (FY17: 40Mt), with 43-46Mt forecast in FY19. Energy coal was steady at 29Mt, and expected to stay in the 28-29Mt range.

Equinox Gold and some minority shareholders of the 350tpd Koricancha ore processing facility in Peru have agreed to sell the mill to Inca One Gold for $C16.3M, plus some recoverable taxes.
Koricancha is 50km from Inca's ore processing facility and its acquisition immediately more than doubles Inca's current throughput from 100tpd to 250tpd.
The deal includes $6M Inca shares, a $9M promissory note and $1.3M working capital adjustments. For Equinox, the agreement also extinguishes the 3.5% stream on gold production from Koricancha and leaves it to focus on its new Aurizona Gold Mine in Peru and Castle Mountain Gold Mine in US, along with its recent copper company spinout.

A 15% increase in June 2018 qtr (Q3 18) gold production to 9,964oz at Fiore Gold’s 100%-owned Pan Mine in Nevada, US, from the previous qtr sees the company’s FY18 aspirations unchanged at 35,000oz-40,000oz.
The result was on mined ore up 21% to 14,246tpd to accommodate the increase in stripping ratio to 1.48, with gold sales up 22% to 10,584oz as the company moves towards gold output to between 40,000oz-50,000oz pa by FY 19 by advancing surrounding exploration and acquiring additional production or near-production assets in Nevada and surrounding states.

Osisko Mining could have its $C397.3M initial capex, 100%-owned Windfall Gold-Silver Project in Canada in operation in Q2 2022, rising to full output in Q3 2022 producing an 8.1-year LoM 1.76Moz of gold and 557,000oz silver at AISC net of by-product credits/royalties of $US704oz and all-in costs (CAPEX plus OPEX) of $879oz.
The independent NI 43-101 PEA provides a base case assessment for developing both the Windfall and nearby Osborne-Bell deposits in Quebec as underground ramp-access mines with a central gold processing mill, generating gross 8-year LoM revenue of $2.96B and $1.12B operating cash flow.

Turquoise Hill Resources’ 66%-owned open pit/underground Oyu Tolgoi operation in S Mongolia has lifted June 2018 qtr (Q2 18) copper-gold-silver production with the milestone completion of Shaft-5 opening the door for more with 1st output in 2021.
Fuelled by improved gold grades, production and recovery from processing Phase- 4A ore, expected to continue for the rest of the year, Q2 18 copper production increased 1.5% to 39,400t on Q1’18, gold up 19% to 50,000oz and silver to 225,000oz from 221,000oz on 6.3% better mill throughput to 10.16Mt due to higher utilisation rates and high intensity blasting. Oyu Tolgoi is expected to produce 125,000t-155,000t of copper and 240,000oz-280,000oz of gold in concentrates for FY/CY18 on mill throughput of about 40Mt.

The PFS on Equinox Gold’s $US489M total capex, 100%-owned Castle Mountain Gold Mine in San Bernardino County, California, US, envisages 2.8Moz of gold and more than $1B pre-tax cash flow over a 16-year LoM at current gold prices, with ore stacking/commissioning by the end of 2019.
The study on Equinox’ 2nd cornerstone mine envisages a low-cost, open pit, heap leach operation based on gold reserves of 3.6Moz to be developed in 2-phases with average production of 45,000oz pa over the 1st 3-years (Phase-1) and 203,000oz pa from years 4 to 16 (Phase-2) at an average LoM AISC $763oz.

Vale has credited the flexibility of its supply chain for the feat of producing a record 96.8Mt iron ore in the June qtr (Q2) despite 12 days of disruption to production and logistics in May due to Brazil's nationwide truck drivers strike.
The world's largest iron ore producer predicts output will exceed 100Mt in each of the two coming quarters, supporting its previously announced production guidance of 390Mt for FY2018.

Canada’s Lundin Mining has launched a new $C1.4B ($US1.07B) takeover bid for base metals miner Nevsun Resources, its second proposal in 3-months, Reuters reports.
The $4.75ps bid is a 12.8% premium on Nevsun’s $4.21 closing price.
Cash-rich Lundin has been eyeing Nevsun’s large high-grade Timok copper project in Serbia and its Bisha copper-zinc mine in Eritrea, in a partnership with Euro Sun Mining. Together the 2 proposed to buy Nevsun outright in May for $1.5B, but were rejected by the company saying the price was too low and the deal had a “problematic structure”.

Australian-based gem miner Mustang Resources has done a $A10M all-share deal to merge its producing Montepuez ruby assets in Mozambique with TSXV-listed Fura Gems for an 8% stake in Fura.
The transaction is part of a $15M cash/shares acquisition that includes a similar concurrent $5M merger deal with Mozambique-focussed Regius Resources Group for all its ruby interests and associated assets in the Montepuez region covering 518km2 (51,800ha).

Increased June 2018 qtr (Q2 18) production, with more expected from the current commissioning of the Wet Concentrator Plant B upgrade at prominent titanium minerals/zircon producer Kenmare Resources’ Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in N Mozambique, has sliced a further $US25M off net debt, reducing it to $9M since end Dec 2017.
Q2 18 heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) production increased 22% on Q1 18 to 377,900t, with Ilmenite output up 13% to 238,500t and primary zircon 4% better to 11,700t, but with rutile slipping 5% to 2,000t on excavated ore up 8% to 8.4Mt at grade up 4% to 4.68%. Total shipments were also up 21% to 322,000t.
Kenmore finished Q2 18 with $9.1M remaining debt and $84.2M cash. Full Q2/H1 18 results expected Aug 20, 2018.