Новости за 30.08.2019

Diamond miner De Beers has provided a grant of €288 999, or R4-million, to a Limpopo-based company called Erada Technology Alliance to aid in its development of a technology focused on reducing the global malaria burden. Erada is pioneering work on the world’s first-ever saliva-based rapid test for diagnosing and identifying malaria – known as Saliva-based Malaria Asymptomatic and Asexual Rapid Test – to be marketed under the brand SALVA!

Intermediate gold miner New Gold has closed its previously announced offering of common shares, raising C$150-million through the issue of shares at C$1.60 a share. The miner would use the proceeds of the financing to enhance its financial flexibility, strengthen the balance sheet and for general corporate purposes, it said on Friday.

Notwithstanding a difficult operational period for South Africa’s embattled mining industry, diversified miner African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) increased its headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the financial year ended June 30 by 9% year-on-year to R27.18 a share. This compares with the HEPS of R25.26 reported for the 2018 financial year.

The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy has called for the South African Diamond and Precious Metal Regulator (SADPMR) to transform the sector, as well as to capacitate its existing transformation office to ensure these sectors reflect the demographics of the country. On Thursday, the committee visited three entities of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy – the SADPMR, Mintek and the State Diamond Trader (SDT) – as part of its week-long oversight visit in Gauteng.

Exploration and development company Kore Potash has appointed Andrey Maruta as CFO, effective from September 23. He will succeed John Crews, who is stepping down for personal reasons. Crews will remain available to Kore until November to ensure a smooth transition.

JSE- and TSX-V-listed Alphamin Resources completed plant construction activities at its Bisie tin project, in Democratic Republic of Congo, during the second quarter. The company on Friday said it expects to achieve commercial production at Bisie during the remainder of the third quarter.

State-run miner Coal India Limited’s (CIL’s) dominant position in the domestic market is unlikely to change any time soon even though the Indian government has permitted 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in coal mining, paving the way for the entry of global resource companies. The 100% FDI will be permitted through the automatic route, allowing global resource majors to invest in commercial coal mining in the country through wholly owned subsidiaries and permitting free pricing and free sale of production from their Indian mining projects.

The South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has approved the mining right application submitted by Aim-listed URU Metals’ Lesego Platinum Uitloop (LPU) subsidiary. LPU is the holder of three prospecting rights that form the Zebediela project, in the Limpopo province.

Mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) said on Friday its revenue increased by five percent to R9.595 billion in the year ended June, while headline earnings per share were up nine percent to R27.18. ARM declared a final dividend of 900 cents, which together with an interim dividend of 400 cents per share paid in April brings the total dividend for the year to 1,300 cents.

The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission (IPC) has approved a A$381-million mine to be jointly developed by major Glencore and US coal producer Peabody Energy. The United Wambo coal mine is a brownfields opencut mine combining the existing operations at Wambo opencut mine, operated by Peabody, and the coal reserves at United underground mine, owned by Glencore, which is presently on care and maintenance.

Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi has announced a $2-million investment in a Canada Mining Innovation Council-led initiative to develop technology that will reduce energy consumption at mine sites. The project will aim to replace conventional crushers with technology that can reduce the crushing and grinding component of a mining site’s energy consumption by up to 50%, lowering costs by 30%.

An independent review into the Woodlawn base metals project, in New South Wales, has supported the project fundamentals, with ASX-listed Heron Resources progressing a revised ramp-up schedule following delays during construction. The review found that the project was not facing any significant ongoing technical or operational flaws, with Heron saying on Friday that the revised ramp-up schedule is resulting in the routine production of marketable zinc, lead and copper concentrates.

Coal miner New Hope Group has warned on Friday that the company would be making 150 staff at its New Acland coal mine, in Queensland, redundant at the start of next week, unless the state government awarded a mining lease for the Stage 3 operation. The miner was also awaiting an associated water licenses for the Stage 3 operation and approval to continue using the Jondaryan rail facility.

Sierra Leoneans living next to the country's largest diamond mine are taking their government to West Africa's regional court for failing to protect them from alleged environmental lapses by the company that runs it, a subsidiary of Octea Limited The complaint, filed to the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) court of justice on Thursday, alleges that the government failed to act when residents of Koidu, the largest city in the diamond-rich Kono district, complained about water contamination... Читать дальше...

Submersible motor pump manufacturer Pleuger Industries presented an energy-efficient synchronous motor with permanent magnet drive at this year’s Asia-Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition 2019 (AIMEX) held in Sydney, Australia, last month. The launch is in addition to highlighting the company’s latest applications in the fields of mine drainage and process water pumping.

Sustainable gold miner Gold Fields’ Agnew gold mine, in Western Australia, will become one of Australia’s first mining operations to be predominantly powered by renewable and low-carbon energy. In June Gold Fields and global energy group EDL announced a A$112-million investment in the world-leading energy microgrid combining wind, solar, gas and battery storage. The microgrid will be owned and operated by EDL, which will recoup its investment via a ten-year electricity supply agreement with Agnew.

One of the largest solar-battery-diesel hybrid systems globally – Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa hybrid project, in Western Australia - has achieved its yearly generation targets one month ahead of schedule. The project, at copper miner Sandfire’s DeGrussa copper mine, is wind and solar energy provider juwi Australia’s most notable project, confirming that juwi’s hybrid systems can reliably power off-grid sites while reducing diesel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Since launching the X.e Series, an upgraded version of its X Series industrial gear drive unit, drive component manufacturer SEW-Eurodrive says the X.e Series has been well-accepted by the local mining industry. The revamped industrial gear units in the X.e Series offer between 15% and 20% improvement on emitted thermals, which allows for substantial energy savings, depending on the application and industry in which the unit is used.

South Africa should join its peers in adopting a minimum efficiency performance standard (MEPS) for electric motors, says Zest WEG Group rotating machines manager Fanie Steyn. An MEPS is a specification that effectively limits the maximum amount of energy that may be used by a product in performing a specified task.

The global coal sector can be likened to Austrian physicist Edwin Schrödinger’s cat, or rather, his famous experiment pertaining to quantum superposition. The scenario imagines a situation where a cat is enclosed in a box with a deadly poison. The poison would be released if some radioactive atoms decayed. While its possible to calculate the odds that the material has decayed, it cannot be determined, definitively when that would happen. There is also no way to peer inside the box and, therefore... Читать дальше...

The Minerals Council South Africa is in the process of developing a draft exploration strategy to present to the Council for Geosciences (CGS) and the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE), Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter told attendees of the Afriforesight Future of Metals Conference earlier this month. The Council has also established an Exploration Leadership Forum to assist in the realisation of this goal.

State-owned Swedish power utility Vattenfall and base metals mining company Boliden AB have signed a partnership agreement relating to technical development in the field of the electrification of mines and smelters, the circular economy and a fossil-fuel-free future. The agreement, which covers a four-year period, also includes battery solutions with a view to supporting the electricity grid and optimising electricity consumption.