Australia’s Mineral Resources okays Atlas talks with other potential buyers

Altius Mining (ASX:AYM) has commenced an initial public offering (IPO) with the intention of raising A$12 million and a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The company, based in Toorak, Victoria, is offering a maximum 60 million shares at 20 cents apiece. It expects to list on the ASX by June 2nd.

After lengthy deliberations involving several software vendors, Fortescue Metals Group, Australia's third largest iron ore producer after BHPBilliton and Rio Tinto, has picked MineSight for its mine planning software needs. "We decided to use MineSight because we found it to have a comprehensive suite of mine planning capabilities most suited to our operations and a demonstrated track record of quality improvements," said Andrew O'Dowd, FMG's Manager of Operations Planning.

BHP Billiton today announced that the partners of Samarco had approved the US$3.5 billion (BHP Billiton share1 US$1.75 billion) Fourth Pellet Plant Project at Samarco (Brazil). The expansion will increase Samarco iron ore pellet production capacity by 8.3 million tonnes to 30.5 million tonnes per annum (100% basis). First pellet production is expected in the first half of calendar year 2014. BHP Billiton President Iron Ore, Ian Ashby, said “Samarco is a low cost supplier of high quality iron ore pellets and over the last several years has been very successful in growing its resource base. This investment builds on its resource and operational strengths and will further improve Samarco’s competitiveness and market position.”

Paladin Energy Ltd. (TSX:PDN)(ASX:PDN) ("Paladin" or the "Company") advises that Wyatt Buck, Executive General Manager – Production will be leaving Paladin in May. He has decided to change direction and depart the uranium sector, taking a senior role with a company focussed on other commodities. We wish Wyatt all the best in his new venture and, on behalf of myself, management and the Board, sincerely thank him for his contribution and dedication over the past 5 years during a time of great growth for the Company.

Greg Hall, managing director of Toro Energy Ltd (ASX: TOE), said the main nuclear power countries are continuing their new build programmes for nuclear power while adapting to lessons learned from the incident. The uranium spot price dropped significantly after the incident but had, by the end of the March quarter, returned to the December 2010 average of $US62.50 per lb of U308.

Sherwin Iron Limited (ASX: SHD) is pleased to announce that it has successfully undertaken a $8.5 million share placement at 16 cents a share to institutional and sophisticated investors as part of its strategy to accelerate drilling and development of its Roper River Iron Ore Project (Project) in the Northern Territory. Image by Sherwin Iron Limited

Shares in Equinox Minerals (EQN.AX) jumped 7 percent in Australia on Wednesday after the copper miner accepted a $7.7 billion takeover offer from the world's largest gold miner, Barrick Gold (ABX.TO).

A huge magnetite project in Western Australia could produce one and a half billion tonnes of magnetite and have a mine-life of 30 years, according to a story in The Kalgoorie Miner, posted on Mindax's website: A sleeping giant in the Yilgarn iron province is quietly ticking all the boxes on its way to production. Mindax's 1.48 billion tonne Mt Forrest magnetite project is the biggest JORC compliant iron resource in the region.

TNG Ltd (ASX: TNG), which recently released a positive scoping study review of Mt Peake said today it had a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a major Chinese engineering and development company. It was also now in discussions with other potential funding/development partners.