World Mining Exploration News

New Gold Inc. today placed its Amapari Mine in Brazil on temporary care and maintenance.

Robert Gallagher, New Gold’s President and Chief Executive Officer stated: “We had hoped to mine and process oxide ores through the third quarter of 2009, but efforts to maintain recent improvements in production and costs with the increasing amounts of hard transition ore and waste in the Amapari pits have been unsuccessful. While significant resources remain at Amapari, the additional capital required to maintain economic production levels and the limited remaining oxide reserves justifies the decision to place the mine on care and maintenance.”

New Gold has determined that it would be more cost-effective to process the remaining oxide ore (including transition material) with the underlying sulphide resource in a new process facility. New Gold is preparing a Preliminary Economic Assessment (”PEA”) to exploit this resource with a conventional crush/grind/CIL mill. (more…)

Kinti Mining Limited is pleased to announce receipt of positive and encouraging data from a radiometric airborne survey of its Itigi Manyoni Uranium Prospect, located southwest of the town of Manyoni in Tanzania.

The survey was conducted by Geo Survey International of Germany during the period of 1976 to 1979 to classify radiometric anomalies on the Manyoni Property, which encompasses a 170 km2 area.

The survey has identified a total of 14 anomalies in the license area lying in zone 141/8. Of the 14 anomalies, 7 have been designated as high priority with uranium counts of 44 to 72 per second. Uranium counts exceeding 25 cps have been classified as uranium point source anomalies. Such radiometric surveys are known in the industry, and proven to be a very efficient, (more…)

PT Bumi Resources expects a 10 percent rise in output and sales next year, despite the coal mining company reducing this year’s output forecast.

Asia’s biggest exporter of power-station coal forecasts that next year’s output volume will rise to 60.5 million tons, from an estimated production of 55 million tons in 2008, with the company aiming to boost capacity.

The 2008 output estimate is lower than the company’s earlier projection made in August when it was hoped to raise output to 57 million tons by the end of this year.

Bumi senior vice president for investors relation Dileep Srivastava said unpredictable factors such as rains, (more…)

Don’t count on President-elect Barack Obama’s plans for a massive investment in infrastructure to help out Caterpillar Inc , Terex Corp and other makers of bulldozers, dump trucks and excavators.
Those heavy equipment makers suddenly face a world of so many challenges, including a likely drop in spending by their well-heeled energy and mining customers, that even the biggest U.S. public works project in 50 years — exactly what Obama is proposing — won’t be much help.
Toss in the fact that there is a lot of perfectly good used equipment sitting around because of the downturn in residential construction, and the belief that spooked contractors are more likely to lease equipment until the economy starts showing signs of recovery, and the outlook for the sector doesn’t look good.
“Builders don’t have to buy cranes or bulldozers,” said Matt Collins, an analyst at Edward Jones. “And they’re probably definitely not going to do it if they’re worried about the economy.”
(more…)

JSE-listed manufacturer of prefabricated modular units Kwikspace Modular Buildings has successfully manufactured and delivered two modular buildings to diversified miner Xstrata for its Goedgevonden coal mine, near Ogies, in Mpumalanga.

The modular buildings are required to house in excess of 20 t of mining equipment valued at R15-million.

“These particular buildings are a noteworthy achievement for Kwikspace, since they are larger, broader and heavier than any units the company has manufactured before,” says Kwikspace CEO Keith Coulthard.

A cost-effective and time- sensitive solution was needed to house the switchgear mining equipment for protection against damage from weather conditions. (more…)

Global mining companies’ profits may plunge 60% next year because raw-materials prices will be under pressure for at least six more months, according to UBS.

Prices for bulk materials such as coal and iron ore may drop 40% compared with this year, while most commodities may fall from current spot prices, London-based UBS analysts Daniel Brebner and James Luke said today in a note to clients.

Demand for commodities ”has deteriorated at an unprecedented rate,” the analysts said. Planned production cuts won’t go far enough to bolster prices, Luke said in a telephone interview. The analysts said government spending to boost demand may ignite inflation, leading to an earnings surprise by the second half of next year.
(more…)

Indonesia, the world’s top exporter of thermal coal, is discussing plans to require coal producers to set aside about 28 percent of annual output for the domestic market from 2009, a mining official said on Wednesday.

The rule will apply to producers holding coal contracts of work, Bambang Gatot Ariyono, director of mineral and coal enterprises at the energy and mining ministry, said.

There are two types of mining contracts — contracts of work, which apply both foreign and domestic investment, and mining authorisation, which applies only to local companies.

“Producers must allocate around 28 percent of their total production (each year),” Ariyono told Reuters. “But the number is not fixed, it is still under discussion.” (more…)

THE county of Northumberland could become one of the most heavily mined regions in Europe, a new report suggests.
Research carried out by the Public Interest Research Centre, using freedom of information requests and council records, suggests Northumberland is likely to become the centre of coal mining in England, with plans to extract more than 20m tonnes of coal from some of the largest opencast mines in Europe.

This week The Banks Group said it had submitted proposals to Newcastle City Council and Northumberland County Council for a new opencast coal mine at Brenkley Lane, to the south of its existing site on the Blagdon Estate near Seaton Burn.

If approved the proposal would involve 2.4m tonnes of coal and 200,000 tonnes of fireclay being mined over a period of up to 11 years.
(more…)