Spot sale linked to hydroxide chemical pricing
Pilbara Minerals Ltd announced it had signed a sales agreement for a 15,000-tonne cargo of spodumene concentrate to be delivered in the March quarter.
According to Pilbara Minerals, it is the company’s sale using a brand-new business strategy based on tolling for lithium hydroxide.
Pilbara Minerals said it chose this model for the cargo following investigating alternative sales channels such as short-dated off-tale and spot sales via the BMX platform.
Macmahon agrees terms for Batu Hijau Phase 8 and confirms FY23 EBIT(A) guidance
Macmahon Holdings Limited refers to the mining and leasing services arrangement in the form of an alliance between its subsidiary, PT Macmahon Indonesia (Macmahon Indonesia), and PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (AMNT) concerning AMNT’s Batu Hijau mine.
According to Macmahon, given the performance of the Batu Hijau mining contract to date and AMNT’s predicted prognosis for copper and gold prices, AMNT has decided to extend the Batu Hijau mine by completing Phase 8 of the pit cutback. In-pit mining is expected to be extended through June 2028 under the amended Batu Hijau Mine Plan.
Ausdrill secures contract extension at Fimiston
Perenti Limited reported the award of a new Australian surface contract to its subsidiary Ausdrill at the Northern Star Resources-owned Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) Fimiston open pit gold mine in Western Australia.
According to Perenti, the new $160 million, 60-month contract includes operations that began on 1 March 2022 and will last until 20 March 2027.
Perenti stated that Ausdrill had been contracted to supply up to 14 production blast hole drill rigs to support ongoing operations.
Baker twin holes confirm continuity of nickel mineralisation
Lunnon Metals Limited provided an update on the status of the Baker deposit at the Kambalda Nickel Project (KNP).
Lunnon Metals said the Baker Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is at 929,000 tonnes at 3.3% nickel for 30,800 tonnes of contained nickel.
Accordion to the company, a diamond drill (DD) program was completed at Baker to supply DD core samples for metallurgical testing of the upgraded MRE’s key geological domains.
Key management changes in preparation for transition to production and cashflow
Bellevue Gold Limited announced necessary management appointments as part of its preparations for the start of production and cashflow at its Bellevue Project in WA.
Darren Stralow, Bellevue’s Chief Executive since December 2021, has been named Managing Director and CEO, effective 1 March 2023.
As part of the transition to production, Bellevue has also appointed Bill Stirling as Chief Operating Officer, effective 1 March 2023. According to the company, Stirling has served as Bellevue’s General Manager since January 2022.
Additionally, the changes will see Steve Parsons’ six-year career as Bellevue’s Managing Director end. Bellevue said Parsons will now serve as a Non-Executive Director starting 1 March 2023.
Excellent metallurgical test work results from Callisto
Galileo Mining Ltd reported preliminary metallurgical test results from the Callisto palladium-nickel-copper-platinum-gold-rhodium finding within the Norseman project.
Galileo hired ALS Metallurgy Pty Ltd to conduct preliminary metallurgical testing and mineralogical research on NQ half-core diamond drill samples from NRCD337.
Galileo Managing Director Brad Underwood said Callisto’s preliminary metallurgical testing indicates that dispersed sulphide mineralisation responds very well to sulphide flotation under industry standard conditions.
Tivan inks Binding Term Sheet to acquire Speewah Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project
Tivan Limited announced the signing of a binding term sheet with King River Resources Ltd for the acquisition of 100% of the issued capital of Speewah Mining Pty Ltd (SMPL), the owner of the Speewah Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project.
According to Tivan, KRR’s beneficiation tests on Speewah ore to create magnetite concentrates demonstrated that vanadium values in Speewah concentrates are among the highest returned from any titanomagnetite resource in the world. The company added that the TIVAN® Process, the Company’s 100% owned proprietary processing technique for titanomagnetite ore bodies, is considered suitable for Speewah.
Expansion drilling consolidates RAM deposit extension at Jervois’ ICO
Jervois Global Ltd revealed new resource expansion drilling findings from its Idaho Cobalt Operations (ICO) in Idaho, United States.
According to Jervois, all six of the 2022 resource expansion holes encountered mineralisation, with all of their respective HW and, with the exception of one, all of their MMH intersections occurring outside of the current Australian JORC Code 2012 (JORC) and Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum (CIM) compliant Mineral Reserve and Resource Estimate (MRRE) and current mine model, as described in the ICO Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS).
The company added that all eight planned exploration or expansion holes outside the currently identified MRRE intersected mineralisation, together with two previous holes that examined FW targets beneath the RAM deposit.
Wood appointed for Vanadium Project pyrometallurgy
Wood Minerals & Metals has been chosen by Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL) to provide Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) services for the Australian Vanadium Project pyrometallurgical processing plant.
According to AVL, the ECI process will continue until Q2 2023, establishing the design and execution strategy for the vanadium extraction process’s palletisation and roasting areas. AVL said this would entail revising and finalising the process design requirements, as well as examining and updating the expected capital expenditures (capex) and operating expenditures (opex) and materials take-off (MTO) as needed.
