Gekko has developed a bowl replacement system for all common batch centrifugal concentrators including the InLine Spinner and other gravity gold recovery […]

Finning International has announced that its Canadian division has been selected as the mining equipment supplier by Thompson Creek Metals Co for […]

Leighton Holdings subsidiaries Thiess and Leighton Contractors have announced three important new contracts. Thiess has secured a $166 million contract to provide bulk earth works and selected infrastructure for BHP Billiton Iron Ore’s Jimblebar mine near Newman in Western Australia.

A world breakthrough in extracting uranium from hyper saline water - previously not possible with conventional technology - has been announced in South Australia by uranium developer, UraniumSA.  Addressing the first day in Adelaide of the Paydirt 2011 Uranium Conference, earlier this qweek, UraniumSA’s Managing Director, Russel Bluck, said the breakthrough had been achieved after collaborative metallurgical research with international and Australian suppliers of the special chemicals used to help extract uranium.

Ausenco has been awarded a $15 million operations and maintenance service contract for the Tonkolili iron ore project in Sierra Leone. The Optimise phase contract involves the provision of operations and maintenance services to two onsite mobile crushing and screening modules for phase 1A of the Iron Ore Project. The contract commences immediately and runs until July 2012, providing an additional boost to Program Management’s growing recurring revenue base.

EMED announced that the provincial government of Andalucia has unblocked the process required to grant the mineral rights for the Rio Tinto Mine to EMED Tartessus, the company’s wholly-owned Spanish subsidiary. Further, the government has made a decision on the tailings dam issue and ruled that EMED will assume formal responsibility for its maintenance and operation.

The February International Mining Leader (page 3) exhorting better sharing of technical information within the industry has raised a lot of reader approval. Dr Knud Sinding, Honorary Lecturer at Dundee University’s Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy writes: “Great editorial on information sharing. I agree completely, but you might add a few more reasons:

The cyclone fuelled batterings this year of key Australian energy and mining operations should trigger a complete rethink on force majeure provisions, according to a senior resources lawyer. The caution comes as many of the country’s largest and mid-tier oil, gas and minerals producers, and owners of related export infrastructure, count the emerging full cost, liability and contractual exposure from operations shut down temporarily or permanently amid the massive floods, rain and storm damage that have swept Australia since New Year’s Day.

The Alice Springs-based Lhere Artepe Group has acquired 51% of the CDE Group, taking indigenous ownership of the Australian mining and civil works contracting group to 84%. CDE’s current activities include providing services to Fortescue Metals Group’s Christmas Creek iron ore mine in Western Australia through the Downer EDI contracting group, and to Xstrata for the McArthur River zinc mine in the Northern Territory.

Responding to rising metals prices and more stable markets, most mining companies increased exploration budgets in 2010. The result was a 45% increase in estimated worldwide nonferrous metals exploration spending over 2009. Regionally, Latin America (led by Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina) was the top exploration destination in 2010-a position it has held for the better part of two decades-while Canada was the top country overall. Gold was the leading target, attracting more than half the global exploration budget total, with copper a distant second.

What AMIRA describes as “one of exploration’s most important geological projects, P765A (Geochemical and Geological Halos in Green Rocks and Lithocaps), was completed as a resounding success in December 2010, and a new project P1060 (Enhanced Geochemical Targeting in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Systems) will shortly go on circulation to continue this work.”

“Worldwide, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Chile will likely remain the best jurisdictions in which to invest in and develop mining projects. Each of these nations will likely continue to see economic growth and mining investment.” This comment comes from a report, 2011 Ranking of Countries for Mining Investment Where ‘Not to Invest’. Most of us will agree with the company’s statement “the mining industry is vital to the creation of wealth and prosperity in any country. Countries that stifle it with detrimental political, economic, financial, and regulatory policies should be challenged to make changes that are more accommodative to its success.”