Tweet

 

Email

Email to a friend:

To:

Separate multiple addresses with commas.

From:

Name: Please send me a copy Message:

Verification code

Enter the code from aboveRequired

Send

Mining News

Aquarius Platinum Limited (LON:AQP) advises that the partners in the Marikana Pooling & Sharing Agreement ("P&SA2") have agreed in principle to place the P&SA2 operations on care and maintenance, due to the enduring low PGM basket price environment. This decision has been made in the interests of preserving the P& SA2 ore reserves until an improved economic climate merits their extraction in the future. As a result, Marikana 4 Shaft and the Marikana concentrator plant will be placed on care and maintenance, and the remaining management functions at P&SA2 will be consolidated with those of the P&SA1 at Kroondal.

Bellzone Mining plc (LON:BZM) announced the appointment of Glenn Baldwin as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 3 September 2012. Mr Baldwin is currently CEO of Consolidated Minerals Ltd, a manganese and chromite producer with operations in Australia and Ghana. Mr Baldwin has held previous senior positions at Gold Fields Ltd, Ivanhoe Nickel & Platinum Ltd, Southern Era Diamonds Inc., Lonmin Investments Canada Inc. and Anglo American Plc. Mr Nik Zuks, incumbent CEO is to remain a Director and reaffirms his commitment to the Company as a major shareholder.

London Mining (LON:LOND) announced that it has reached an agreement with Fraser Turner Limited in connection with the termination of a consulting agreement dated 28 February 2007, and settled the dispute relating to a claim for a 2% revenue-related royalty brought by Fraser Turner over production at the Marampa Project. The Consulting Agreement under dispute contemplated the payment of royalties from production at Marampa including a 10USc/t sold royalty that was not in dispute and a 2% royalty on revenue. The Consulting Agreement has now been terminated and the 10USc/t royalty has been replaced by a fee to Fraser Turner of USD2.35 million in cash and a further fee of GBP2.38 million by the issue of 1 million ordinary shares in London Mining at a price of GBP2.38 per share. If the Shares are worth less than GBP7 per a share at the end of three years an additional payment equal to the differential must be paid which London Mining can elect to satisfy in shares. London Mining will also pay a royalty equal to 0.3% of the price received for iron ore sales from Marampa.

Nyota Minerals (LON:NYO) has released a progress update on the DFS and exploration in and around the Company's Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia. As the DFS cannot be conducted on an inferred resource, the Company has commissioned Wardell Armstrong International to initiate a 14,650m infill drilling programme to convert the inferred resource that falls within a conceptual pit outline to an indicated resource to a depth of 200m. Once this has been done the Company can finish the DFS and hopefully produce a probable reserve, expected in Q4. The Company states that geological modelling of the UNDP Target, adjacent to the main resource, demonstrates good continuity and indicated the possibility for further extensions and scope to increase in the current resource. Now the engineering and hydrogeological programme has been completed, the rigs and personnel have been moved to exploration work. Close to Tulu Kapi, a 2.5km2 gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly with coincidental rock chip samples of up to 7.2g/t and historical hard-rock mining has been identified. Further afield at the Bendokoro Prospect, first assay returns include 2.15g/t over 7m, which includes a peak of 11.65g/t at 153m-154m depth, corresponding to the visible gold observed during logging and airborne geophysical and regional soil geochemical sampling has identified additional targets to be followed up with trenching during Q3, 2012.

Sable Mining Africa Limited (LON:SBLM) announced initial results from its early stage surface sampling and mapping programme on the Kpo Iron Ore Project in Liberia. Preliminary results of 17 rock samples taken from across the central-northern and north-eastern section of the Kpo Project returned an average grade of 41.7% Fe with grades up to 68.3% Fe. This sampling indicates an apparent initial strike of 19km. A drilling campaign is anticipated to commence at the end of Q3 2012 following the development of access and infrastructure during the rainy season.

Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) has released a maiden resource for the YORK potash project. The NI 43-101 compliant Inferred resource is 1.35bt of 88.7% Polyhalite (25.6% K2SO4), which includes a high grade zone of 0.94Bt of 94.0% Polyhalite (27.2% K2SO4). The resource is calculated from 3 boreholes in an area representing only 2% of the revised project area. The Scoping study released in April, had an initial production rate of 5mtpa of Polyhalite (producing 1.4mtpa of Sulphate of Potash), before ramping up to ~15mtpa after 7 years. On this basis the Company only requires a resource of 690Mt for a 50 year mine life.

Triple Plate Junction (LON:TPJ) has announced that drilling at Gumots, the second target to be drilled at the Company's JV with Newmont, did not intersect any significant thickness of the targeted intrusive and there are no significant results to report. As a result, Newmont has decided to suspend drilling for an estimated 6 month period, whilst further exploration fieldwork is carried out at the other proposed drill locations, including further ground geophysics. The Company believes this is a significant project and expects the drill programme will continue "for many years".

Oil & Gas News

Cove Energy (LON:COV) With each successive discovery- this one has effectively doubled the lower limit of recoverability and tripled the top end- comes more impetus to up the bids for the Company. Will PTT's bid be topped again? The answer is a resounding "yes," although by how much and when is not clear. Management can only recommend each successive offer presented to it. We would expect Shell to launch a counter bid imminently. In this news:

• 300+ net feet (92 metres) of Natural Gas Pay encountered in two high quality Oligocene deep water fans

• Connected to the Golfinho Oligocene gas reservoirs with estimated recoverable gas resources of 10 to 30 plus Trillion cubic feet (tcf)

• Area 1 block wide recoverable gas resources now estimated to be between 30 and 60tcf

• Current upside for total gas in place for the discovered reservoirs on the block is approaching 100tcf

• Twelfth successful well in Area 1

• Golfinho/Atum gas complex entirely located in Area 1 and near to planned onshore development infrastructure

• Immediate 4 well appraisal/testing programme

Kea Petroleum (LON:KEA) Successful flow of high quality oil and gas to the surface is a step further towards establishing production flow and re-affirms original estimate of gross recoverable resource of 1mm bbl of oil with a potential upside of up to 3mm bbl. Also, it further reduces risk associated with the well, which we believe will be positive for PEP 51153 permit valuation. Expect positive movements today.In this news:

• Swabbing operations at Puka-1 produced oil and gas to the surface almost immediately

• Initial independent field analysis of the oil showed it to be of excellent quality light oil with a density of 43.7 Degrees API.

• Preparations are currently underway to commence a longer term production testing of the well to establish production rates and reservoir characteristics.

• The 100% owned Puka-1 well is in permit PEP 51153 within New Zealand's onshore Taranaki Basin.

• Kea announced on 10 April that Puka-1 had intersected a 40m interval of Mt. Messenger reservoir quality sands with a net pay of between 4.5m and 9m.