Mining and Exploration

Located in eastern South Africa and sharing borders with Swaziland and Mozambique, the province of Mpumalanga constitutes approximately 6.5 percent of the country’s total land mass. A popular tourist destination, with visitors being particularly drawn to Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga is also home to a number of extensive mining operations.

“The US alone,” managing director, Gordon Stove enthuses, “represents the single largest geophysics space in the world, with a revenue generation of over $2.4 billion a year from geophysical survey services alone. This is just one of the reasons why we are so keen to expand into that part of the world.”

The two drill holes in question are 185 metres apart and were drilled from west to east intersecting the Director Vein structure. Both returned assay values of 80.12 percent CaF2 over 3.95 metres in hole DS-13-100 and 51.94 percent CaF2 over 13.39 metres in hole DS-13ÔÇÉ101.

The Pilbara’s red earth, splendid scenery and vast extent combine to create the image of Australia that has caught the imagination of generations. The top-left corner of Western Australia is home to a population that has inhabited it continuously for over 40,000 years; to them it is a very precious landscape. However, today there is another dimension to that value, because the region is rich in the most useful mineral to mankind—iron.

Ciner Group was put together by billionaire Turgay Ciner, who owns a diversified portfolio of companies including electric power plants, copper aluminium and soda ash mines, hotels and a media company in Turkey in addition to owning the Istanbul soccer team Kasimpasa Spor. Park Elektrik is the only quoted company in the group, with Ciner himself the majority shareholder but trading 35 percent of its shares on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (─░MKB) following an IPO in 1997.

Soda ash is perhaps better known as sodium bicarbonate, and it is a substance with a very large number of applications and uses. Far from being just an antacid that one can take to counteract dyspepsia after a night out, it can be used as a regular food additive, giving sherbet its fizz and noodles their texture. It is also used in baking, photography, as a degreaser, a water softener or a fixative for dyes.

The Turkish economy grew in a highly protectionist mould for more than half a century following the foundation of the modern republic after World War 1. However, in 1983 Prime Minister Turgut Özal initiated a series of reforms designed to shift the economy toward a more private sector, market-based model and since then many former state-owned enterprises have been privatised. One of Turkey’s largest integrated mining and beneficiation company’s is Eti, which has a number of subsidiary units responsible for several mining activities throughout Turkey.

Over recent years, Cortez Hills has yielded well over a million ounces of gold annually, in the first quarter of last year at a cash cost of $308 an ounce, well below industry averages of between $400 and $500. The key to the success of this operation lies in the nature of the deposit, says George Fennemore, Barrick’s Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility and regional permitting specialist for the company.

Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled the three-year funding programme to support the Afghan Ministry of Mines at an event at Downing Street attended by a host of UK investors and mining contractors.

Estimates of what lies underground in Afghanistan range from $1-3 trillion worth of gold, gems, iron ore, and oil and gas.

The Afghan Minister of Mines, Wahidullah Shahrani, welcomed the new support, saying what Afghanistan needed was "sustainable development for its people in the long term."

Six short months can make a big difference: when we last spoke to Ed Rochette, the energetic chairman of Vancouver-based East Asia Minerals (EAS) his burden seemed heavy. Today it is a lot lighter. Let us recap. When Rochette came in as the chairman of the company he was alarmed by the heavy burn rate of capital.