Mining and Exploration

Multinational construction group Lend Lease today announced the award of a A$210 million contract for the Caval Ridge Mine project in central Queensland owned by the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA).

The contract will be delivered by Abigroup, a member of Lend Lease's Australian construction business.

It may not be quite the highest mine in the world, but Los Bronces in the Chilean Andes has its own set of challenges for its new general manager Sam Rasmussen, as Alan Swaby learns.

Readers of this publication will be long familiar with arduous mining ventures. Normally, this means somewhere miles from nowhere in some hard to reach corner of the country. But in the case of one of the richest copper mines in the world, all the challenges and feelings of remoteness stem from the fact that it lies some 11,000ft above sea level.

After exciting exploration results from the fluorspar veins at St Lawrence, Newfoundland, CEO Lindsay Gorrill and chairman Richard Carl talk to Gay Sutton about financing the first mines through the Newspar Partnership with Arkema, and using this as a springboard for developing a much larger mining complex.

Fluorspar must be one of the world’s best kept secrets. Few outside of specific manufacturing sectors are aware of its importance, but for those who are, the race is on to find new supplies.

Mining operations usually provide much needed employment in developing countries but these jobs have a finite life. As Alan Swaby learns, a longer point of view is what’s really called for.

There’s nothing new in the bigger mining companies, operating in third world or developing countries, having social responsibility policies. But the question is not what to do while the mine is in operation but rather how to put in place a sustainable structure that can still function even after the life of the mine is over.

Jack Liebenberg,managing director of Tranter Rock Drills, talks to Jayne Alverca about leading the company through the latest phase of its evolution.

Tranter Rock Drills may be a relatively new commercial entity, but it has an industrial legacy that stretches back more than half a century. The Rock Drills division of Boart Longyear, known throughout the South African mining industry by the acronym SECO, was originally founded in 1934 and has honed its expertise in rock drills and airlegs since the 1950s.

UK-based Sirius Minerals has announced plans for a potash mine in North Yorkshire, following the completion of a detailed scoping study (DSS).

The company said that York Potash has the potential to become one of the world's most important mining and fertilizer projects. Funding options are now being exploredfor the first $2.7 billion development phase.

The project will be sited between Whitby and Scarborough, although Sirius has not yet specified a precise location.

The world wouldn’t be quite as white as it is without an expanding titanium minerals mining operation in the wilds of Mozambique, as Alan Swaby learns from managing director Michael Carvill.

Anglo American has announced the sale of Scaw South Africa, completing its divestment of the Scaw Metals Group.

The company has sold Scaw South Africa to an investment consortium led by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa, Izingwe Holdings, Shanduka Resources and the Southern Palace Group of Companies.

Planetary Resources, Inc has announced a spectacular plan to mine near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for raw materials, ranging from water to precious metals.

The newly formed company has the financial backing of industry-launching visionaries including Google CEO Larry Page and Ross Perot, Jr, chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group.