Global news and projects
Southeast Asian population growth and
urbanisation as key factors for a strong coal
outlook on which it plans to capitalise.
Yancoal produced close to 50 million
tonnes of saleable coal in 2018, 59% more
than in the previous year. Moolarben
accounted for 33% of the saleable coal
production (16.5 million tonnes), achieving
an operational record, while Mount Thorley
Warkworth delivered 24.2% (12.1 million
tonnes) of the company’s saleable coal
production. The Hunter Valley Operations
represented 26.6% (13.3 million tonnes).
pr
oje
Block cave to expand Northparkes
cts
Global
A giant in the making
Two mining giants have entered into an
agreement that will create one of the world’s
leading gold mining companies. Newmont
Mining and Goldcorp have announced that
Newmont will acquire all the outstanding
common shares of Goldcorp in a stock-for-
stock transaction valued at USD10-billion.
According to the agreement, Newmont will
acquire each Goldcorp share for 0.3280 of
a Newmont share, which represents a 17%
premium based on the companies’ 20-day
volume weighted average share prices.
The new company will be known as
Newmont Goldcorp. Its portfolio includes
operating assets in favourable jurisdictions,
an impressive project pipeline, and
exploration potential in the most prospective
gold districts around the globe.
“This combination will create the world’s
leading gold business with the best assets,
people, prospects, and value-creation
opportunities,” says Gary Goldberg, CEO at
Newmont. “We have a proven strategy and
disciplined implementation plan to realise
the full value of the combination, including
an exceptional pool of talented mining
professionals, stable and profitable gold
production of six to seven million ounces
over a decades-long time horizon, the sector’s
largest gold reserve and resource base, and a
leading project and exploration pipeline,”
he says.
[12] MINING MIRROR MARCH 2019
New gold behemoth starts
trading
The new company that was created after the
merger between Barrick Gold and Randgold
Resources started trading on New York
(NYSE) and Toronto (TSX) stock exchanges
on 2 January 2019. The company’s executive
chairman, John Thornton, rang the opening bell.
Thornton was accompanied by the president
and CEO, Mark Bristow. The new company is
still known as Barrick but its trading symbol on
the NYSE has changed to GOLD, the ticker
formerly held by Randgold on the Nasdaq. On
the TSX, the ticker remains ABX.
Australia
Chinese ramp up exploration
work
Chinese coal miners Yancoal plans to ramp
up exploration work at their new South
Wales mines. The company has set ambitious
growth targets for 2019 and achieved record
coal production during 2018.
Its growth plans include a potential
six million tonnes per year underground
development at Mount Thorley Warkworth
in the Hunter Valley, which completed
pre-feasibility seam drilling at the end of
last year.
Yancoal has cited long-term demand for
thermal and metallurgical coal, driven by
An expansion project at China Molybdenum
(CMOC) and Sumitomo’s Northparkes
copper and gold operation in New South
Wales, Australia, will produce an estimated
40 million tonnes of ore over a 10-year
period once operational. CMOC and
Sumitomo have approved the development
of a new block cave mine to expand
Northparkes.
The USD200-million, three-and-a-
half-year project (called E26 Lift 1 North)
is expected to reach full production in
mid-2022. The project will involve 11km of
underground development, an underground
primary crusher, conveying systems, and
associated infrastructure.
The operator is currently upgrading
the ventilation system to provide the new
mine with sufficient airflow to support
development and production activities.
The site became the world’s most
automated underground mine in 2015 by
producing 100% of its ore from driverless
loaders.
The mine has been operating for 24 years.
The operation has development consent to
mine until 2032, with reserves of 125 million
tonnes of ore and a further 471 million
tonnes of resources. CMOC owns 80% of
the operation, which is 27km north-west
of Parkes. The remaining 20% is held by
Sumitomo.
Chile
Montero hunts for Atacama
lithium
Canadian company Montero Mining and
Exploration has been awarded exploration
licenses covering an area of 13 800 hectares
in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
The exploration licenses are located between
the Salar de Atacama and the coastal range
in northern Chile.
According to Dr Tony Harwood,
president and CEO of Montero, the
geology of the Avispa Project consists
of extensive sedimentary evaporite
salt deposits. “These salt deposits are
intercalated with fine-grained clastic
sediments of Tertiary age that occur in a
stratified package, partially exposed and up
to 30m in thickness. The evaporite deposits
are considered to have been deposited
as a lacustrine sequence that formed in
a tectonically isolated part of the early
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