Mining Breaks

Turquoise Hill Resources has lifted 2018 year (FY/CY18) copper-in-conc expectations from its 66%-owned open pit/underground Oyu Tolgoi operation in S Mongolia from 125,000t-155,000t to between 140,000t-155,000t, with gold remaining at 240,000oz-280,000oz.
The increase follows Sept 2018 qtr (Q3 18) copper-in-conc steady at 39,400t on Q2 18, with higher grades/recoveries partially offset by lower throughput, but gold up 54% to 77,000oz on higher grades/recoveries and silver to 230,000oz from 225,000oz.
Output was on ore treated down 5% to 9.65Mt due to increased processing of harder Phase-4 ore and a planned maintenance shutdown, with the average copper mill head grade up to 0.51% from 0.48%, gold to 0.38g/t from 0.26g/t and silver to 1.19g/t from 1.17g/t.
Copper-in-conc sales fell to 36,000t from 46,100t, with gold up to 55,000oz from 51,000oz and silver easing to 201,000oz from 250,000oz, impacted by torrential rain in July and Aug, which affected Chinese road/rail availability.

The world’s biggest miner BHP has nearly doubled its stake in SolGold to 11.2%, bolstering its position against top shareholder Newcrest Mining as it eyes SolGold’s promising Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador, Reuters reports.
BHP, which bought in to SolGold 6-weeks ago, has paid almost $US60M (£45.6M) to increase its holding, not far off the 14.5% held by Newcrest, Australia’s biggest listed gold miner. The new deal takes BHP’s total spend on Solgold to $85M.
BHP says that subject to certain exceptions, it will not acquire any more shares in SolGold for 2-years without SolGold’s consent, but will be allowed to maintain its shareholding at 10% and will also get a board seat. No comment from SolGold or Newcrest.

Australian-based Davenport Resources believes it’s well on the way to declaring Europe’s largest potash resource after outlining an inferred 1.13Bt potash resource within the Mühlhausen‐Keula sub‐area of its Mühlhausen‐Nohra mining licence in Germany.
The resource, at 11.10% K2O, comprises mostly sylvinite within 834Mt at 12.10% K2O and carnallitite, contained in 295.8Mt at 8.2% K2O. It also holds significant amounts of sulphate and magnesium‐rich potash minerals, important for the production of multi‐nutrient fertilisers.
Davenport now controls over 1.7Bt JORC inferred resources grading 11.4% K2O within its Ebeleben and the S portion of the Mühlhausen‐Nohra licences.

Australian project developer Centrex has signed its first offtake contract for a 5,000wt trial shipment of phosphate rock concentrate from its Ardmore project near Mount Isa in Qld, where it’s constructing a 70tph modular wet processing plant.
The start-up operation is targeted to produce about 30,000t for trial shipments to priority customers in mid-2019.
They are expected to lead to long-term offtake agreements that will underpin the expansion of the plant to full-scale operations at 800,000tpa from late 2019.
With its first contract signed with a major local fertiliser manufacturer, Centrex is advancing negotiations on further trial shipments.

Major global commodities trader/miner Glencore is cutting 430 workers, 30% percent of the workforce, from its Bowen Basin Hail Creek coal mine in Australia’s Queensland, following a review of its operations.
Glencore, which bought the mine from Rio Tinto in Mar this year and began operational management on Aug 1, says it will introduce a 7-days on, 7-off roster system as part of a reconfiguration of mining methods. It expects the process to be phased in over the next 18-months, with majority of the changes to be in place by Q2, 2019.
In 2017, Hail Creek produced about 9.4Mt of hard coking and thermal coal for export.

Australian coal producer Whitehaven has reaffirmed its FY19 managed saleable coal production guidance at 22-23Mt despite a decline in ROM output to 3.98Mt (Q4FY18: 4.7Mt) for the Sept qtr (Q1).
The decline is attributed to a Narrabri longwall relocation due to previous production outages and delays that led to accelerated production at Maules Creek and other opencuts to compensate.
Whitehaven says production has now returned to normal at Narrabri and the opencut mines has normalised its mining sequence.

Prospective mineral sands miner Strandline is confident of reaching a development decision in early 2019 on its Coburn zircon and titanium-rich project near Shark Bay in Western Australia.
Strandline says the Coburn DFS is on track for completion in the March 2019 qtr, which will keep it on track for first production potentially in H2 2020.
The DFS is assessing plans for a development that will produce 23.4Mtpa over more than 19 years. It will include upgrades to Coburn’s current resource of 308Mt @ 24% zircon, 7% rutile, 5% leucoxene and 48% ilmenite.

“Safety pauses” across Rio Tinto’s West Australian iron ore mines following a fatal haultruck accident in August has contributed to a 7% drop in Sept qtr (Q3) production to 81.9Mt, down from 88.5Mt in Q2.
Production was also impacted by planned maintenance, but Rio says it’s on track for the upper end of its 330-340Mt guidance for FY2018.
Higher Kennecott (USA) contributions lifted mined copper production to 159,700t (156,800t).
Bauxite production slipped to 12.7Mt (13.3Mt) with lower output from Sangaredi in Guinea and Porto Trombetas in Brazil offsetting strong production from Weipa in Australia.
FY2018 aluminium guidance was reduced to 3.4-3.5Mt from 3.5-3.7Mt, primarily due to labour disruptions at Becancour smelter in Canada.

The record run by West Australian gold miner Saracen has continued through the Sept qtr (Q1FY19) with total output of 88,940oz, up from 78,930oz in the June qtr (Q4FY18). Costs performance also improved significantly to AISC of $A993/oz (Q4: $1,196/oz).
Of its two WA mines, Carosue Dam contributed 51,753oz (44,680oz) and Thunderbox 37,187oz (34,250oz).
Saracen is maintaining its FY19 forecast at 325,000-345,000oz @ $1,050-1,100/oz.
The company lifted cash and equivalents to $131M ($118.3M) after spending $38.9M on growth capital and exploration.

West Australian explorer EganStreet expects to appoint a preferred financier shortly for its 100%-owned Rothsay gold project in the MId West region after receiving a range of indicative funding proposals.
EganStreet proposes a $A36M development to produce 250,000oz gold over 6.5 years at AISC of $1,083/oz at Rothsay, 300km NE of Perth.
With adviser PCF Capital Group, the company is reviewing indicative and non-binding proposals for conventional debt alternatives up to $35M.
MD Marc Ducler says the interest from reputable project financiers reflects Rothsay’s robust nature. EganStreet remains confident of first gold production in 2019.

It’s taken explorer Podium Minerals just 8 months since its ASX listing to outline maiden mineral resources of 340,000oz platinum-palladium-gold, 14,300t copper and 11,400t nickel metal at its Parks Reef project in Western Australia’s Mid West.
Snowden Mining Industry Consultants detailed JORC inferred resources of 6.8Mt @ 1.48g/t 3E PGM for the platinum group metal horizon and 3Mt @ 0.25% Cu and 0.14g/t Au for the base metal-gold horizon.
CEO Tom Stynes says they indicate Park Reef’s unique potential for near-surface bulk openpit mine development.
The estimate covers 2.2km of 15km identified strike, with mineralisation open at depth and to the east.

With its San Gregorio project in Uruguay under care and maintenance since August, Orosur Mining has posted Sept qtr (Q1FY19) gold production of just 3,029oz, down from 8.626oz in Q1FY18.
Lower production and higher processing and administration costs held AISC to $US1,342/oz ($1,348/oz) despite the lower production and higher unit processing and administrative costs.
The average gold price received was $1,261/oz ($1,260/oz).
Reports on the restructuring of Uruguayan subsidiary Loryser SA are due to go to a creditors meeting in Dec.

UK-based Ariana Resources reports record gold production for the second successive quarter at the Kiziltepe mine, part of its 50-50 50 Red Rabbit JV with Proccea Construction in W Turkey. June qtr (Q3) production was 7,588oz, up from the previous record 7,171oz in Q2.
With Q4 still to come, Kiziltepe’s total output is 19,625oz compared to its FY2018 production guidance of 20,000oz.
MD Dr Kerim Sener says Kiziltepe has built a stockpile representing up to 6 months of mill feed ahead of the winter. Operational costs, in local currency, remain favourable.

Major Russian producer Polymetal intends to explore multiple strategic options after taking a majority position in the large, high-grade Veduga gold deposit in the Krasnoyarsk region's prolific Northern Yenisey gold belt.
Polymetal will issue 2.5M shares worth $US19.7M to acquire a 31.7% stake in the licence holder Amikan from two current shareholders, increasing its interest to 74.3%.
Group CEO Vitaly Nesis says Polymetal’s options include potentially selling the asset as a non-core investment. “In the meantime, Polymetal will continue to process Veduga's high-grade ore at our existing processing facilities," he says.

Australian rare earths developer Arafura says the signing of its first offtake agreement for neodymium-praseodymium oxide is a major step towards a financing deal at its 100%-owned Nolans project in the NT.
The non-binding MoU with Chinese Tier 1 permanent magnets manufacturer JingCi Material Science envisages long-term supply of up to 900tpa NdPr oxide, 25% of Nolans’ forecast 3,600tpa.
It also contains provisions for JingCi to assist project financing, potentially through the introduction of equipment manufacturers.
Arafura is negotiating similar agreements for the balance of its NdPr oxide, other rare earths products and phosphoric acid.

Global mining services company Thiess has been awarded a new 5-year, $A1.2B contract by BHP at its Mt Arthur opencut thermal coal mine in the Hunter Valley of NSW, Australia.
The new contract expands on the CIMIC Group company’s existing contract at Mt Arthur, adding the Ayredale and Roxburgh pits at the southern end of the minesite. Thiess will perform mine design, planning and scheduling services as well as drill and blast, overburden removal and coal mining.

Australian bauxite developer Metallica faces a distraction from its planned merger with Canadian company Melior Resources after a small shareholder group sought to sack its board.
The call under s249D of Australia’s Corporations Act for a general meeting comes from three shareholders with a combined 5.2% shareholding.
Metallica last month signed a binding agreement to acquire Melior, owner of the near-production Goondicum ilmenite and phosphate rock mine in Qld.
The challenge could also relate to slow completion of Metallica’s Urquhart Point bauxite project, also in Qld, blamed on delays in gaining approval for a 15km haul road construction.

Australian miner Evolution has posted gold production of 200,218oz in the Sept qtr (Q1FY19), down from 202,254oz in the previous qtr. Production of silver also declined to 189,553oz (223,737oz) while copper edged upwards to 5,866t (5,634t).
AISC rose to $A885/oz (Q4FY18: $846/oz) while maintaining its ranking as one of the world’s lowest-cost gold producers.
Operating mine cash flow slipped to $196.9M ($221.9M), and net mine cash flow to $129.3M ($136M).
Net bank debt increased to $78.2M ($71.8M) and group cash balance declined to $296.8M ($323.2M).

Lithium miner and technology developer Lepidico is on schedule to commence commissioning of its L-Max 15kg/hour pilot plant in Perth, Western Australia in April 2019, leading to production the following month.
The $A3M capital cost plant will source its concentrate feed from the Alvarrões lepidolite mine in Portugal and one other deposit, providing material for further product development work.
Commissioning of the pilot plant should coincide with completion of the Phase 1 plant FS, allowing prospective offtake/finance partners to conduct comprehensive due diligence.

It’s had nearly 23,000 job applications and a local “yes” petition has over 1,600 signatures, but Berkeley Energia is still awaiting approval to begin construction of its Salamanca uranium project in W Spain.
Australian-based Berkeley is working with legal advisors to obtain the local municipality's okay.
After spending over €70M, MD-CEO Paul Atherley is anxious to progress the €250M further investment that will generate over 2,500 jobs in a region of high youth unemployment.
Berkeley has begun reducing local and corporate costs because of the uncertainty over a construction start date.