Paladin delays sale of Langer Heinrich stake

Australian Securities Exchange-listed Paladin Energy Ltd said the sale of a minority interest in its Langer Heinrich uranium project in Namibia has been delayed due to a revised bid from one of two interested parties.

Paladin said the sale was likely to be finalised by mid to late August, instead of the previous deadline of the end of June. Its shares closed 7% lower to A$0.82/share (US$0.76/share).

“The company is confident a sale will be successfully achieved, however, a revised bid from one of the parties has meant a reconsideration and the approval process will be extended,” Paladin said.

Langer Heinrich, which opened in 2007 and has a 5.2MIb/y uranium oxide capacity, produced 3.94MIb of uranium oxide for the nine months ending March 31, a 27% increase from the previous year.

“With an increase in the uranium price, the potential expansion up to 8.5MIb/y production makes this project even more attractive and adds to the board’s confidence that a successful deal will be achieved in the short term,” Paladin added.

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Fekola study reveals 306,000oz/y gold project

Papillon Resources Ltd has released the results of a prefeasibility study on the Fekola gold project in Mali estimating a 306,000oz/y open pit mine that would cost US$292 million to build.

All-in-sustaining cash costs of approximately US$725/oz have been estimated during the initial nine-year mine life.

Average annual operating cash flow would be US$190 million using the base-case US$1,300/oz gold price, with positive cash flows at lower prices.

Papillon’s managing director and chief executive, Mark Connelly said: “Our sensitivities show that, using our current mining schedules, Fekola will still produce average pre-tax (post royalty) operating cash flows in excess of US$130 million per annum using a flat US$1,100/oz gold price.”

The company would now undertake a review process prior to the award of the definitive feasibility study (DFS).

“Opportunities to further enhance the project economics through capital and operating cost reductions identified during the review phase will be incorporated into the final scope of the DFS,” said Papillon.

WODA Publishes Technical Guidance on Underwater Sound

The document is a follow up to the CEDA position paper on underwater sound in relation to dredging that was published in 2011. The position paper attracted great interest both from within and outside CEDA.

The WODA Technical Guidance goes beyond the position paper and has a broader international scope. It provides guidance for decision-makers, stakeholders and scientists on how to manage impacts of underwater sound from dredging and other sources. The document follows a risk-based approach.

The paper begins with some background on why underwater sound is an important issue and goes on to describe the risk-based approach. The chapters that follow cover impacts of sound on aquatic life, the measurement of sound and the presentation of knowledge on dredging-related sound sources.

Finally, it provides recommendations on managing and mitigating potential risks from dredging-related sound impacts in offshore and coastal areas, estuaries and inland waters.

The WODA Technical Guidance was produced by the WODA Expert Group on Underwater Sound (WEGUS) under the remit of the WODA Environment Commission.

Members of WEGUS are experts, scientists and practitioners with a broad range of expertise, representing knowledge institutes, government, manufacturers, ports and contractors.

Iron Planet Partners with GraysOnline for the Dispersal of Australia's Excess Mining Equipment

PLEASANTON, Calif. (June 27, 2013) – IronPlanet®, the online marketplace for buying and selling used heavy equipment, today announced it has partnered with GraysOnline, Australia's leading online retail and auction company, to facilitate sales of excess construction and mining equipment from Australia.

With international interest outpacing regional demand, at the moment, the partnership will enable Australian sellers to more easily find buyers for their excess inventory.

"Although the mining sector in Australia has slowed, there are still pockets of global demand," said Matt Bousky, Vice President of Global Mining, IronPlanet. "Through this partnership, GraysOnline/IronPlanet will offer sellers a worldwide marketplace to reach buyers both in Australia and around the world."

Since pioneering online equipment auctions over a decade ago, IronPlanet has built an audience of nearly 1 million members and has sold over $3 billion of used equipment to online buyers representing nearly every country on the planet. Its weekly auctions offer a selection of construction, mining and agriculture equipment as well as cranes and trucks.

IronPlanet buyers can bid on items conveniently from their home, office or on the road using their PC, tablet or mobile phone. IronPlanet also offers guaranteed inspection reports backed by exclusive IronClad Assurance®, allowing buyers to bid with a high degree of confidence.  Dedicated, hands-on customer care agents help buyers through the process from start to finish.

"In the current environment, accessing a global buyer base is essential to help our sellers move mobile mining and earthmoving machinery out of Australia and revenue into the hands of owners," said Adam Scharer, Director of Industrial for GraysOnline. "Traveling around the country we saw, first hand, the increased amounts of machinery "parked-up" in yards. We realized that we needed a better solution than a traditional auction or tender campaign to help our clients sell their equipment.  We're thrilled to complement our national marketing expertise with a strong global partner. The strategic alliance allows companies to sell their assets into the strongest markets internationally."

About IronPlanet

IronPlanet is a leading online marketplace for used heavy equipment. Our sellers achieve more profitable sales through low transaction costs and better price realization through a global audience of buyers. Our guaranteed inspection reports and exclusive IronClad Assurance enable buyers to bid with a high degree of confidence. IronPlanet is backed by Accel Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Caterpillar, Komatsu and Volvo.

About GraysOnline
GraysOnline is Australia's leading commercial and industrial auction company, offering a huge range of consumer, industrial and commercial goods, direct from manufacturers and distributors. With a heritage spanning nearly 100 years, GraysOnline have been pioneers in creating the most efficient way for buyers and sellers to connect – from their traditional auction heritage to the first online auctions in 2000. Today GraysOnline employs more than 350 people throughout Australia & New Zealand in a network of state-of-the-art warehouses, distribution centres and offices, a customer service centre, and are experts across key industrial assets categories. GraysOnline sell more than 120,000 items every month to both consumers and businesses.

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Gold Fields urges take up of new World Gold Council cost standards

The entire global gold-mining industry should consider the adoption of the World Gold Council’s (WGC’s) newly released gold-mining cost standards, Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland urged on Thursday.

Hours after WGC director Terry Heymann told Mining Weekly Online from London that the new metrics had been developed to help provide greater transparency and consistency, Holland expressed the hope that the entire industry would adopt the one cost standard, to allow all stakeholders to have a uniform approach to evaluating the industry.

Holland has been calling for cost-reporting reform for the past five years.

“It’s really good to see the council adopt something similar to what we have been looking at,” said Holland.

WGC on Thursday released two new methods of calculating and reporting gold-mining costs to improve clarity and provide greater investor understanding of the complete costs associated with the mining of gold.

The first method is an extension of the existing “cash cost” metrics and incorporates costs that are related to sustaining production, which the council refers to as the “all-in sustaining cost”.

The second method takes into account additional costs and reflects the varying costs of producing gold over the life cycle of a mine, which the WGC dubs the “all-in cost”.

“I hope they all take it up and I would strongly urge them to consider it,” Holland commented to Mining Weekly Online.

The “all-in sustaining” metric now includes sustaining capital and sustaining exploration as well as noncash employment costs, share-incentive-scheme costs and reclamation costs.

“They’ve got everything in there now,” he added.

The different “all-in cost” metric includes all the other capital expenditure, which includes factors like growth, life extension and reclamation.

“The ‘all-in’ is the one stakeholders should be thinking about because that has no interpretation gaps,” Holland said.

Up to now, the industry has been content to have a half-baked cost story because “cash costs” did not tell the real cost story.

It only showed the operating cost without including capital expenditure and exploration and accurately telling what it costs to produce an ounce of gold.

The industry often spoke loosely about its low cash costs and the money it was making at the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation level, which failed to give investors the true cost picture.

Romarco receives EIS schedule for S Carolina project

TSX-listed project developer Romarco Minerals late on Wednesday said it had received from the US Army Corps of Engineers a schedule for completing the environmental impact statement (EIS) required for the federal 404 wetlands permit for the Haile gold mine project, in Kershaw, South Carolina, after having encountered successive delays to move forward with the process from 2011.

The company said the schedule included a timeline for the remaining critical milestones for the EIS process, including publication the draft EIS and final EIS.

"The Corps' schedule provides clarity for our planning and will allow all stakeholders to closely follow the remainder of the EIS process step-by-step and monitor the progress being made on the permitting front.

“We are solely focusing on permitting and diligently managing our cash to ensure we are funded through to final permits,” Romarco president and CEO Diane Garrett said.

Romarco also said the Corps had indicated that the draft alternatives analysis, which was described as "the heart of the EIS" under the National Environmental Policy Act, was in the final review stage and would be published in August – ahead of publishing the draft EIS in March 2014.

After filing of the alternatives analysis, a public meeting would be held in Kershaw, on August 20, where the public would have the opportunity to discuss the alternatives analysis with the Corps.

The draft EIS public hearing is expected to take place in April 2014, after which the final EIS would be published in July 2014.

The 404 wetlands permit was the only federal permit Romarco required for the Haile project, and the Corps was the only federal agency regulating 404 permits.

The company had filed applications for its state mine operating permit, national pollution discharge elimination system permit, 401 water quality certification, air quality permit, and dam safety permit for the proposed tailing storage facility, for which the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) was the regulatory agency responsible for processing and issuing.

Romarco said that it was informed that once the draft EIS was publicly filed, SCDHEC could then start holding public meetings and process the state permits.

The company expected its cash balance to be about $40-million at June 30.

All exploration-drilling on the project was suspended during the second quarter, and the company had implemented other cash conservation measures to reduce its average net quarterly cash spend to between $6-million to $7-million over the next 18 months, to ensure a positive cash balance at the end of 2014.

Romarco had hoped to break ground on the Haile project at the end of 2011, but was halted when the Corps decided to request an EIS process, rather than the simpler environmental assessment Romarco was hoping for.

Over the past three years, the company had spent more than $4.5-million on environmental studies. In February, the company said it would undertake further hydrology testing to supplement existing data previously submitted in the permit application.

The company said it had modified its mine layout to reduce direct impacts on wetlands by 25% and impacts on streams by 32%. Detailed project engineering was about 76% complete at December 31.

The Haile project was expected to cost $275-million to construct, and production would average 155 000 oz/y in the first five years, at average cash costs during the same period of $379/oz.

The Haile project has a National Instrument 43-101-compliant proven and probable gold reserve estimate of 30.5-million tonnes grading 2.06 g/t for two-million ounces of gold, and a resource estimate for 71.2-million tons grading 1.77 g/t, containing about four-million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated categories, and an additional 20.1-million tons grading 1.24 g/t containing about 800 000 oz of gold in the inferred category.

INFOGRAPHIC: future mining success calls for improved comminution

CEEC International Ltd (Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution) released an infographic on Wednesday, which demonstrates opportunities for miners to improve earnings through more efficient comminution: the crushing and grinding of solid minerals.

Comminution accounts for the largest chunk of mine site energy consumption and represents a minimum of 10% of site production costs.

Have a look:

Proven ore processing alternatives such as smart blasting, mineral pre-concentration, novel flowsheets and new grinding technologies are just a few of the different strategies which can be deployed to improve throughout and cost effectiveness in the most costly step of mineral processing.

Innovation in mineral processing is well developed, but less widely implemented. Reports from the recent SME 2013 support the need to more advanced processing technologies to maximize recovery rates, and improve productivity. CEEC was established in 2011 to support knowledge sharing and change in an area of high energy consumption for the mineral industry.  CEEC is a not-for-profit company funded by grants from the mineral industry, whose mission is to accelerate knowledge and technology transfer in the field of energy-efficient comminution.

“This infographic is designed to catch the attention of time-poor managers, to raise their awareness of the potential benefits of alternative mine to mill processing strategies. Greater knowledge of these options will empower more informed query and enable key performance measures which reflect the potential gains. This is the first in a series of infographics CEEC plans to develop.” Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, CEEC Chair and Gekko Systems CEO.