Mining Breaks

87% Glencore-controlled Katanga Mining has agreed to pay more than $US22M+ to settle Canadian allegations of inadequate historical disclosures of its finances and activities in the DRC, Reuters reports.
The company has also confirmed its CEO Johnny Blizzard will resign and leave its board, which includes 3 new directors. 7 execs/directors named in the investigation, including Blizzard, will pay additional penalties/costs and be prohibited from serving as directors/officers of any Canadian public company for between 2-4 years.

Australian-based Orion is contemplating an H2 2019 construction start, subject to financing, after completing a positive scoping study on the re-establishment of the Prieska zinc-copper mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.
The study outlines a $A300-330M development producing 70,000-80,000tpa Zn and 22,000tpa Cu in concentrates over an initial 10 years at AISC of $1,701/t ZnEq.
A BFS is due in the June 2019 qtr.

Alara Resources says it can complete the capital requirements for the proposed 1Mtpa copper concentrate development at Washishi Mazzaza in Oman following the OMR3M sale of a 19% stake in JV company Al Hadeetha Resources.
The sale to Alara Oman Operations, a member of leading construction and infrastructure business Al Tasnim Group, will reduce Alara’s JV interest from 70% to 51%.
Australian-based Alara, which has been assessing opportunities to attract equity partners for its projects in Oman and Saudi Arabia, says having Al Tasnim as an equity partner in Al Hadeetha is a welcome development.

AVL will move immediately into a definitive feasibility study after its PFS raised expectations for its 100%-owned Gabanintha deposit near Meekatharra in Western Australia.
The study, based on Gabanintha’s maiden proved and probable ore reserve of 18.245Mt @ 1.04% V2O5, points to production of 22.5Mlbpa vanadium pentoxide at lowest-quartile C1 cash costs of $US4.15/lb over an initial mine life of 17 years.
MD Vincent Algar says the PFS encourages the company to engage with strategic partners at a time of developing markets for vanadium in higher quality steels and new energy metals.

An amended DFS on its Lindi Jumbo graphite project in SE Tanzania due in early 2019 is likely to deliver more positive news for Walkabout Resources after it posted a 41% increase in its JORC mineral resource.
The new estimate by independent geological consultant Trepanier shows measured, Indicated and Inferred resources of 41.8Mt @ 10.98% TGC for 4.5Mt contained graphite that will be part of the project’s initial mining and economic studies.
51% of the resource is in the measured and indicated classifications.
Walkabout technical director Andrew Cunningham says the unique, very high-grade domains from surface make the Gilbert Arc deposit at Lindi Jumbo stand out among its East African graphite peers.

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.