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Coloured gemstones miner Gemfields has found itself under investigation by Zambian authorities into possible tax evasion.
Gemfields says Zambian Revenue Authority inspectors served search warrants on its subsidiary Kagem Mining and South African company Limpopo Polygraphs during an unannounced visit to its 75%-owned Kagem emerald mine in the Copperbelt Province north of Lusaka.
The warrants authorised the seizure of documents and files relating to VAT, income and withholding taxes as well as other taxes.
Limpopo Polygraphs had a representative on site at the time of the raid. Gemfields says the total value of its work for Kagem is below $US7,500.

Two workers from SEMAFO’s Mana gold mine in Burkina Faso have died in an armed attack on a bus carrying employees to the mine from the town of Bobo-Dioulasso.
SEMAFO says the locally employed staff member and subcontractor employee were killed during an exchange of fire between the bandits and police about 80km from the mine.
Security at the mine is being increased, although the Canadian mining company says early analysis suggests  no link between it and an attack last week in which a subcontractor employee and five police were killed near its Boungou mine, about 500km away.
Operations at Mana mine have not been affected.

The strong recovery in the mineral resources market has delivered Australian-based Iluka Resources an 80% increase in underlying group EBITDA to $A278.5M for the June half-year, from $154.6M in H1FY2017.
With mineral sands revenue rising to $606.9M ($503.6M), despite marginally lower production, strong free cash-flow of $225.5M ($180.2M) enabled Iluka to reduce net debt to $34.4M ($182.5M).
Iluka says its Zircon Reference Price, which rose to $US1,410/t effective April 1, will increase further to $1,580/t effective from Oct 1 for six months.

Cost saving initiatives for Shanta Gold’s New Luika Gold Mine in SW Tanzania, executed in late 2017, have seen the company turn in an after-tax profit of $US7.1M for the June 2018 half (H1 18) from H1 17’s $2.1M loss.
The turnaround came despite gold production slipping to 38,207oz from 40,073oz, with cash costs steady at $549oz from $547oz, but AISC up to $757oz from $715oz.

Increased gold-silver production and cash costs halved have seen Ariana Resources lift June 2018 qtr (Q2 18) gross income from its sole producing, 50%-owned Kiziltepe open pit operation in Turkey to $US10.07M from Q1 18’s $6.97M, despite an average effective gold price down to $1,405oz from $1,433oz.
Kiziltepe, part of the Red Rabbit J/V, has had its best ever qtr with gold production up 47% and silver also well up to 49,508oz from 30,864oz, at operating cash costs plunging to $371oz from $612oz. The result, which sees the mine on track for at least 20,000oz gold in FY/CY18, was on ore processed up to 49,325t from 44,897t at an average head grade to the plant of 4.77g/t gold and average metallurgical recovery a consistently high 94.3%.

A 22% increase in sales and 20% higher average price have lifted Kazakhstan-focused copper miner KAZ Minerals’ revenue to $US1.1B for the June half-year, from $721M in H1FY2017), and generated operating profit of $464M ($291M). EBITDA rose to $690M ($429M).
KAZ ended the period with cash and cash equivalents of $1.6M ($1.2M) and net debt of $2.05M ($2,4M).
Copper production for the 6 months rise to 140,000t (118,000t) at net cash cost of $0.82/lb ($0.64/lb). FY2018 guidance remains 270,000-300,000t.

Australian mining services company Ausdrill has completed the $A175M, $1.47ps institutional component of its fully underwritten 1 for 2.13 pro rata accelerated non‐renounceable entitlement offer.
The institutional offer is the 1st stage of Ausdrill’s fully underwritten $250M entitlement offer to be used to partially fund the repayment of its senior unsecured notes due in Nov 2019 and follows its binding agreement earlier this week to acquire underground hard-rock drilling specialist Barminco for $271.5M via $25.4M cash and 150.7M shares.

Pan African expects to complete commissioning its Elikhulu tailings retreatment project in Mpumulanga, South Africa next month after reaching its inaugural gold pour ahead of schedule and within its R1.74B budget.
The company’s new flagship operation is expected to deliver 55,000ozpa at AISC of $US650-700/oz over a 13-year mine life.
And once Pan African completes the incorporation of the 200,000tpm Evander tailings retreatment plant in Dec 2018, gold production is expected to rise to 70,000ozpa.

Despite lower gold-silver production from its 6 Australian operations in the June 2018 full year (FY18), albeit at record lower costs, Evolution Mining has posted records on almost every other metric for a net profit after tax of $A263.4M, up 21% on FY 17.
Underlying net profit after tax increased 21% to $250.8M, with sales revenue up 4% to $1.54B, lifting EBITDA 11% to $795.1M for record operating mine cash-flow to $811.8M from $706.5M and net mine cash-flow to $539.9M from $461.5M.
The result was on gold production down to 801,187oz from FY17’s 844,124oz, with silver down to 989,253oz from 1.07Moz, but copper up to 23,268t from 14,956t.

Australian nickel hopeful Poseidon has confirmed receiving a binding, conditional proposal from US-based Black Mountain Metals LLC for what would be a $A60M takeover of the company at 6cps.
Black Mountain has offered Poseidon an immediate $A2M, 12-month loan if it is given rights to conduct due diligence on the company and its three near-operational projects in WA.
With no actual bid on the table yet, Poseidon is advising its shareholders to take no action while it seeks more information.

The chairman and principal shareholder of major battery electrolyte manufacturer Tinci Materials, Xu Jinfu, is among high net worth Asian investors backing West Australian company Cassini Resources and its West Musgrave nickel and copper project.
They’re among the institutional, sophisticated and strategic investors taking up a $A4.2M placement of 68.8M shares at 6.8cps, a 10.3% discount to its last closing price.
Cassini’s flagship project hosts over 1Mt contained nickel and 2Mt contained copper.
OZ Minerals is funding West Musgrave’s feasibility studies under a $36M earn-in. The placement will provide Cassini’s working capital at West Musgrave and fund its other WA exploration projects.

Mine safety authorities in Western Australia are investigating the death of a 28-year-old worker who was fatally injured when the haul truck he was driving veered off the haul road at Rio Tinto’s Channar iron ore mine in the Pilbara region late Wednesday.
Operations at the mine have ceased for the investigation.

South African-focused platinum explorer Nkwe is set to become a 100% subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group after its independent directors agreed on a revised bid from its majority shareholder.
Zijin is now offering $A0.10 per share, up from its early $0.08 bid, and valuing the ASX-listed target at about $90M.
Nkwe’s independent directors say it offers the minority shareholders the certainty of a cash offer at a significant premium to its closing share price of $0.03 at March 19, when Zijin’s initial bid was announced.

Symbol Mining is preparing for first high-grade zinc-lead production from its 60%-owned Macy project in Nigeria’s Upper Benue Trough by end-Sept after finalising a logistics agreement with GMT Nigeria.
GMT, now Sub Saharan Africa's largest logistics service provider, will haul up to 180 containers a month over the 1,200km to Lagos port using a dedicated truck fleet.
Symbol says all major operational contracts are in place for the conventional openpit operation, being developed at a cost of $US3.2M and expected to produce 38,100t of shippable product over 12 months.

African Energy is seeking a South African equity partner for the Mmamabula West project, part of its Sese integrated coal mine and power project in eastern Botswana.
Increasing global power prices are opening up export opportunities for Mmamabula West’s indicated-inferred resource of 2.4Bt high-quality thermal coal, which AFR considers would be attractive for South African regional coal markets.
It comes as AFR and First Quantum, its Sese project majority partner, gained environmental approval to increase its capacity from 450MW to 500MW, allowing the use of more efficient generating units.

Copper-focused miner OZ Minerals posted attributable NPAT of $A127.8M for the June half-year, up from $80.6M in H1FY2017, on the back of revenue of $A530.3M ($445.9M).
Prominent Hill in South Australia lifted contained copper sales by 2% to 52,5798t while contained gold sales dipped 2% to 61,132oz in line with expectations. C1 costs were on guidance at $US85c/lb.
OZ says it will continue to prioritise the higher-margin copper production over gold, maintaining its FY2018 guidance at 100,000-110,000t Cu and 1209,000-130,000oz Au at $0.75-0.85/lb, within the lowest cost quartile globally.

Iluka Resources faces a potential $US180M cost blowout on planned expansion of the Lanti and Gangama dry mines and Sembehun development at its Sierra Rutile project.
A DFS is due in Dec, but Iluka says preliminary studies indicate the capital costs may be 40-60% higher than its prior $300M estimate. It’s now considering options to reduce capital costs and maximise returns.
Sierra Rutile has been a drag on Iluka’s June half-year performance, with MD Tom O’Leary pinpointing commissioning issues on the in-pit mining unit and failures of ageing equipment on the dredge.
However, strong market recoveries lifted Iluka’s H1 EBITDA by 80% to $A279M.

One of the world’s highest grade hard rock titanium‐vanadium deposits will be the focus of a new ASX float after Neometals announced plans to de-merge its 100%-owned Barrambie project in Western Australia.
The demerger, expected to be completed in the March 2019 qtr, will see the new company develop and mine a first-stage DSO operation and evaluate longer-term proposals for production of high-purity titanium and vanadium chemicals.
It will leave Neometals free to concentrate on its proposed development of a refinery in Kalgoorlie to process material from its 13.8%-owned Mt Marion project into lithium hydroxide.

A maiden 109,000oz JORC gold resource with 650,000oz silver at the Emu and Southwark deposits within Alt Resources’ Bottle Creek Gold Project, 100km NE of Menzies in Western Australia, has lifted resources at the company’s overall Mt Ida Gold Project to 2.8Mt @ 2.25g/t Au for 206,800oz.
The new Emu/Southwark resources of 1.65Mt @ 2.1g/t Au, including 1.55Mt @ 13g/t Ag, is the 1st modern resource for the Bottle Creek project and the 1st estimate undertaken by Alt within its larger Mt Ida Gold Project, shaping up as a promising gold hub.

Record production at its Inmaculada operation in Peru have helped South American-focused Hochschild lift June half-year profit from continuing operations to $US22.2M before exceptional items, up from $18.2M in H1FY2017. Adjusted EBITDA also rose to $161.9M ($136M).
H1 attributable production of 19.9Moz silver equivalent (17.9Moz) at AISC of $11.90/oz ($12/oz) keeps Hochschild on track for FY2018 production of 38Moz AgEq at $13-13.40/oz).
CEO Ignacio Bustamante says Hochschild’s brownfields program is starting to generate exciting results, with 59.2Moz AgEq added at Inmaculada and good progress at Arcata in Peru.