Mining Breaks

Cradle Arc is seeking to place its 60%-owned Mowana copper mine in Botswana in provisional liquidation after a funding bailout by African trader Fujax Minerals and Energy failed.
Its application to the Botswana High Court seeks to stave off Fujax’s bid to place operating company Leboam Holdings under judicial liquidation.
Cradle Arc claims Fujax has provided no viable financing plan or credible business plan for the mine.
After signing a conditional $US4M working capital extension last month, Fujax demanded security over Leboam’s interest in the mine. Cradle Arc says its existing security holders rejected the move.
Mowana mining operations remain suspended while it seeks a sustainable funding solution.

A new study has added new positive fuel to 2 recent studies on the Mt Holland lithium mine-to-refinery project in Western Australia, cutting total capex for the 47-year LoM operation to $US737M from $755M, with production unchanged at an average 45,254tpa of battery grade lithium hydroxide (LiOH), but with cash costs up due to lower Li2O grades.
Kidman Resources/ Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile DFS expected to be completed in H1 2019, after which a final investment decision will be made.

Eastplats is targeting commercial production in early 2019 after commissioning the newly constructed chrome plant and producing its first chrome concentrate at its Barplats Zandfontein UG2 retreatment operations at the Crocodile River Mine in South Africa.
With all site teams in place to continue commissioning and initial pre-operations, the company expects to ramp up to full commercial production during the June 2019 qtr.
CEO Diana Hu says, rebounding from 5 years in care and maintenance, Eastplats is on the verge of generating production revenue once again.

Australian gold producer Ramelius Resources has confirmed it will advance an unsecured and interest-free loan to Explaurum after the explorer’s directors dropped their opposition to its improved offer.
The Explaurum board recommended shareholders accept the Ramelius bid following the addition of a 2c cash sweetener to its original $A60M 1-for-4 share-swap offer.
Ramelius confirmed it will declare the offer unconditional after Explaurum and Alkane Exploration agreed to terminate their prior $8-13.5M investment agreement.
Alkane says it will claim the refunding of its $0.8M deposit and payment of an $0.4M break fee.

Explorer/developer Core Lithium has added another resources increase to the current DFS mix for its rapidly expanding Finniss Lithium Project in Australia’s Northern Territory, construction of which is expected to begin mid-2019 for 1st production in late 2019, subject to financing.
The project’s global mineral resource has been increased to 7.1Mt at 1.4% Li2O from Nov 2018’s 6.3Mt at 1.4% Li2O, with a new estimate for the Carlton deposit, within the same mining lease application area as the Grants deposit and within a few hundred metres of the proposed mine/processing facility at Grants.

Bassari Resources has finalised a CFA7B ($US13M) loan agreement with project financier Coris Bank International to complete all pre-development work and acquire additional mining equipment for its 63%-owned Makabingui gold operation in eastern Senegal.

CIMIC global mining services provider Thiess has secured a $A150M contract extension with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s Caval Ridge Coal Mine in Queensland Australia’s Bowen Basin.
The variation will see Thiess mine additional overburden through until 2020, after beginning work at Caval Ridge in Nov 2017, including services required for the Caval Ridge Southern Circuit.

Australia’s biggest listed gold miner, Newcrest Mining, has increased its stake in gold-copper developer and fellow Aussie SolGold and its promising 85%-owned Cascabel copper-gold project in N Ecuador, moving further ahead of the company’s 2nd biggest investor BHP.
Newcrest has paid £11.148M ($US14.06M) for 27.87M SolGold shares at £0.40ps, a premium of 12.8%, raising its stake to 15.33% from 13.83%, ahead of BHP’s 11.1%.
Cascabel’s Alpala deposit has resources containing 5.2Mt of copper and 12.3Moz gold -- 7.4Mt of copper equivalent (CuEq) – within indicated/inferred NI 43-101 resources of 1.08Bt @ 0.68% CuEq, using a 0.3% CuEq cut, 40% indicated. Within this is a higher grade core of 120Mt @ 1.8% CuEq containing 2Mt CuEq, using a 1.1% CuEq cut, 60% indicated.

Aura Energy has reached a key development milestone for its 100%-owned Tiris uranium project in Mauritania with the grant of an exploitation licence for the 51.8Mlb (92.2Mt @ 254ppm U3O8) resource.
Exec chairman Peter Reeve says the licence is the precursor to full development of the DFS-stage project, providing more confidence for the Australian-based company in one of the world’s most compelling uranium opportunities.
Offtake and project financing discussions are continuing alongside DFS studies for the proposed start of production in 2020 from a 1Mtpa operation.

A Glencore-controlled mining company and some of its current/former execs have agreed to pay more than $US22M to settle Canadian allegations they hid the risks of doing business with an Israeli close to Congolese President Joseph Kabila, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The expected settlement between the Ontario Securities Commission and Toronto-listed Katanga Mining is related to the company’s business activities in the DR Congo between 2014 and 2016. A Glencore spokesman has declined comment and the Ontario Securities Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Investigations have included exploring Katanga’s ties with Israeli businessman Dan Gertler. The settlement is also expected to allege Katanga overstated copper production, understated mining costs and lacked proper internal financial controls.

Australian-based explorer Dome has given the go-ahead for its strategic relationship partner, mineral sands specialist IHC Robbins, to commence the DFS on the Sigatoka ironsand project on the south coast of Viti Levu in Fiji.
The 12-month study will assess the scale and economics of the proposed conventional dredge mining of riverbed and dunal deposits plus standard gravity and magnetic processing to extract magnetite, ilmenite and other heavy minerals.
Dome’s 2015 PFS assessed a $US83.2M development producing 351,000tpa magnetite sand at over 58% Fe, 260,000tpa non-magnetic HM concentrate, 1.96Mtpa industrial sand and 684,000tpa gravel over 10 years.

A 16% increase in gold reserves to 1.39Moz and commercial production nicely on track for the end of this month, has further underpinned Dacian Gold’s confidence in its Mt Morgans Gold Operation near Laverton in Western Australia producing ~200,000oz pa over an initial 10-year+ LoM.
Dacian exec chairman Rohan Williams says that “with 3.5Moz in resources, we are confident we can deliver on our LoM production vision.”
The ore reserves include Westralia up 17% to 575,000oz, a maiden 45,000oz for the company’s 3rd mining centre Cameron Well, with Jupiter reserves remaining at 611,000oz.

Intermin Resources is turning its attention to mining and processing pathways after highly successful infill, extensional and new discovery drilling lifted mineral resources at its 100%-owned Anthill gold project in Western Australia by 60% to 125,500oz (2.28Mt @ 1.71g/t).
The project 55km NW of Kalgoorlie includes indicated resources of 85,495oz (1.5Mt @ 1.76g/t).
MD Jon Price says Anthill’s 2018 drilling continued to demonstrate its potential scale and quality, extending its strike length to over 400m, highlighting its potential to be a significant part of its future production pipeline.

A 1st up 18.5Mt indicated resource at 3.60% zinc and 1.17% copper will underpin the BFS on Orion Minerals’ Prieska Zinc-Copper Project in South Africa’s Northern Cape, due for completion in Q2 2019.
The higher confidence indicated resource from ~85,000m of infill drilling sits within a total deep sulphide resource of 28.73Mt at 3.77% Zn and 1.16% Cu, including an inferred 10.22Mt at 4.08% Zn and 1.14%Cu.

Australian explorer Tando Resources has outlined a big maiden, high grade inferred JORC resource of 588Mt at 0.78% V2O5 at the SPD vanadium project in South Africa it’s earning a 74% stake in.
The resource includes an 80Mt at 1.07% V2O5 surface component, the focus of a near-term, low capex production opportunity. Phase-2 infill drilling has been completed to be included in an updated mineral resource expected in Q1 2019, with the current scoping study to be accelerated during Q1 2019 as vanadium prices continue around $US30/lb.
In Sept this year, Tando completed a deal to acquire up to 73.95% of the SPD project in the Eastern Limb of Bushveld Complex in SA’s Gauteng province.

More contract success for West Australian construction contractor SIMPEC with Rio Tinto Iron Ore, awarded the $A4.5M design and construction of a remote draft survey system at its Cape Lambert port facility, 40km N of Karratha.
By enabling more accurate calculation of shipments, the system will  improve ship turnaround times and safety at the two-terminal port with its 185Mtpa capacity.
Work starts this month, with completion due in the June 2019 quarter.
SIMPEC, which also begins a $4M electrical and communications systems contract at West Angelas Deposits C and D in early 2019, has now build an order book of $30M half-way through FY19.

The Royal Court of Jersey has sanctioned the scheme of arrangement merger of Randgold Resources and Barrick Gold to create the world's biggest gold miner with a $US18.3B market cap.
Trading in Randgold shares on the LSX and NASDAQ will end Dec 31, 2018, and the combined group's shares will start trading on the NYSE and TSX on Jan 2, 2019, under the Barrick name, with Barrick shareholders owning 66.6% and Randgold 33.4% on a fully-diluted basis.

Miner RNC Minerals has concluded $C10.34M of bought deal agreements primarily to fund exploration/development of the Sept 2018 “Father's Day Vein” bonanza grade gold discovery at its 100%-owned, traditionally primarily nickel Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia.
The raising includes a 13M common share agreement with Haywood Securities as sole book-runner/lead underwriter at $0.46cps for $6M and a concurrent bought deal private placement of 6.52M shares at the same price for $3M to leading resources investor Eric Sprott, along with options to increase the size of both by up to an additional 15%, taking the total to $10.34M.
RNC has initiated a 40,000m drill program on near mine exploration targets focused on the Father's Day Vein area, to be incorporated in an updated NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate targeted for Q2 2019.

Fortescue Metals has made the step up to higher grade production with the first shipment of its new 60.1% Fe West Pilbara Fines product to Chinese buyer Hunan Valin Steel.
The world’s No 4 iron ore supplier has suffered widening reductions on its standard 56-59% grade products due to Chinese buyers’ discounting ore below the 62% Fe market benchmark.
It aims to produce 5-10Mt of the West Pilbara Fines in 2019, ramping up to 40Mtpa once its new Eliwana mine begins production in Dec 2020.

An independent panel of commissioners has granted all resource consents for OceanaGold’s Martha underground mine and resumption of mining operations from stage-4 of the Martha open pit at Waihi in New Zealand’s North Island, ensuring mining can continue there for at least the next 10-years.
Earlier this year, the company lifted underground resources at Waihi to 479,000oz gold and 1.9Moz silver within 3.25Mt at 4.6g/t Au and 18.1g/t Ag.
The panel was appointed by the Hauraki District Council and Waikato Regional Council. Parties which provided submissions during the initial public hearing process have until Feb 1, 2019, to appeal the decision.