Mining and Exploration

Alan Swaby talks to Brent Thompson, senior vice president of the Mining & Minerals practice of a global based engineering business that puts almost as much effort into differentiating itself from the opposition as it does on the engineering itself.

When the Diavik Diamond Mine went into production in January 2003, it had already achieved amazing feats of engineering. VP operations Marc Cameron tells Gay Sutton how the mine has rebounded from the 2008/2009 global financial crisis and is now completing a major investment to migrate from open pit to underground mining.

Manuel E. Bonilla, president of the Barrick Pueblo Viejo gold mining complex, talks to Jayne Alverca about the environmental, economic and social implications of the biggest single investment ever made in the history of the Dominican Republic.

UK investment vehicle Vallares, headed by the former CEO of BP Tony Hayward, is to merge with Turkey’s Genel Energy in a £2.5 billion deal.

The transaction, which will give Vallares oil fields in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, will see the new company trading as Genel Energy Plc, with Hayward as CEO.

The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region is thought to contain about 40 billion barrels of oil and 60 trillion cubic feet of gas.

UK oil company Northern Petroleum has announced the commencement of operations for an extended well test of the Markwells Wood oil discovery in West Sussex, England.

The test will enable Northern Petroleum and its joint venture partners—Magellan Petroleum and Egdon Resources—to evaluate the potential and plan future development of the Markwells Wood oil accumulation.

Northern holds a 50 per cent interest in the licence; Magellan holds 40 per cent; and Egdon Resources 10 per cent.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has announced its intention to sell its shareholding in South Africa’s Palabora Mining.

Rio Tinto currently holds a 57.7 per cent share in Palabora, whose primary asset is a copper mine in the Ba-Phalaborwa area of Limpopo, South Africa.

The mine has a current mine life until early 2016, and studies are underway for a potential extension to 2030.

Tullow Oil has announced that a long-awaited deal in Uganda is to be completed next month.

The news, which sent the company’s shares rocketing yesterday, was made as the company released its results for the first half of 2011.

Tullow has been waiting since last year to finalise a deal that will bring in new partners, France's Total and China's CNOOC, to commence a €7 billion oil development project in Uganda. The company now expects to complete the deal in September, at which time it will receive approximately €2 billion from the two companies.

Joshua Ngoma, CEO of Tranter Holdings (Pty) Limited, talks to Jayne Alverca about his desire to move beyond making a good profit and contribute to a lasting improvement in the economic conditions and livelihoods of the people of Southern Africa.

Until very recently, Greenland has been a sleeping giant with regard to oil and gas exploration. Hans Kristian Olsen and Stig-Morten Knutsen of the national oil company Nunaoil talk to Gay Sutton about the prospects for a significant discovery and how they will ensure the Greenlandic people will benefit.

Africa Oil Corp has signed a contract with Sakson Drilling and Oil Services to provide a rig to drill the first exploration wells in Puntland, Somalia, for more than 20 years.

Spudding of the first well in Dharoor is expected to commence during the fourth quarter of this year.

Drilling locations have been selected over two prospects in the Dharoor and Nugaal valleys covering nearly 36,000 square kilometres. Each prospect is targeting a gross best estimate oil-in-place of approximately 900 million barrels.