The UK’s financial watchdog is investigating Rio Tinto for allegedly misleading the market about a £5bn copper mining project in Mongolia.
According to the Daily Mail, Rio knew that the Oyu Tolgoi Mine was behind schedule and on a budget long before investors were notified. Rio, a mining giant, tried to raise £1.3bn in 2019 to finish the project. He blamed burgeoning technical costs.
Whistleblowers, however, claim that the majority of cost overruns are due to poor project management
Glencore PLC (GLEN.L) Investors are in line for a huge dividend payout because of the rise in coal prices according to the latest research by Deutsche Bank. According to the broker, thermal coal prices have reached record levels. This points to a US$15bn cash flow from the mining giant.
Xtract Resources Plc (XTR.L) advise that laboratory assays have been received from the first drill hole (BRDD-21-008) completed on the Phase Two diamond drilling programme at the Racecourse Mineral Resource on the Bushranger copper-gold exploration project, located in the Lachlan Fold Belt (“LFB”) of New South Wales, Australia.
Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA)
GreenRoc Mining PLC (GROC.L) was admitted to trading on AIM this week following the acquisition of all the Greenlandic mining assets of Alba being the Thule Black Sands Ilmenite Project, the Amitsoq Graphite Project, the Melville Bay Iron Project and the Inglefield Multi-Element Project. GreenRoc intends to progress exploration and development activities in respect of the Greenland Projects with the aim of securing a mining licence and commencing commercial production at one or more of the projects within the earliest practicable timescale.
Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.L) has published its first report about progress in improving Communities and Social Performance practices (CSP), following the destruction at Juukan Gorge rock shelters, Western Australia. The rock shelters were destroyed by mining operations last year and showed evidence of human habitation going back 46,000 years.
Mkango Resources Ltd (MKA.TSX.L) Announces Completion Of Project By Hypromag. Successful completion of groundbreaking project to recycle rare earth magnets from loudspeakers in vehicles and flat-screen TVs, led by HyProMag Limited (“HyProMag”), European Metal Recycling Limited (“EMR”) and University of Birmingham (“UoB”), funded via a grant from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, delivered by UK Research and Innovation (“UKRI”)
William Dawes, Chief Executive of Mkango stated:“This is a significant milestone for HyProMag, University of Birmingham and European Metal Recycling, demonstrating another potential source of both feedstock and route to market for recycled rare earth magnets. Recycling is a key component of Mkango’s “mine, refine, recycle” strategy via its strategic interest in HyProMag, and will become an increasingly important part of the rare earth supply chain in the UK, Europe and elsewhere. HyProMag is well positioned to unlock that supply chain with access to the technology, expertise and network of partnerships to make it happen, and Mkango looks forward to supporting HyProMag as it scales up to commercial production.”
Emmerson plc (LSE: EML) provided an operational update on the Khemisset Potash Project, highlighting the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) submission has progressed towards the final assessment stage and decline alignment drilling underway, to be followed by further deep drilling for a detailed mine design. Land acquisition programme advancing with relevant owners and stakeholders identified. The land acquisition process is being finalised with the Moroccan authorities. SOP feasibility study is ongoing, led by Barr Engineering.
Emmerson also released their interim results, stating; The period under review was shaped by both operational and corporate developments, including the completion of an AIM admission in April, providing Emmerson with a listing on the world’s most successful growth market.
Horizonte Minerals PLC, (HZM.L) has made a significant step towards the construction of its Araguaia Nickel mine in Brazil. This was after five institutions provided final credit approvals. The five lenders and two credit agencies (ECAs) arranged a senior debt financing facility of US$346mln.
Empire Metals ltd (AIM: EEE) released their interims results, which began with the commencement of a new drilling campaign at the Eclipse Gold Project, located 55km north-east of Kalgoorlie, in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. The objective of this drilling was to test extensions to the mineralisation at Eclipse both along strike and at depth, and also test known mineralised structures parallel to the main Eclipse vein, which historically yielded attractive intersections. Successive drilling campaigns were conducted at Eclipse during the first four months of the year, which delivered encouraging results and supports the scaling of the project’s mineralised footprint.
Panthera Resources PLC ( PAT.L) declared that the best assay results from the shallow aircore (AC), drilling at the Bassala Gold Project in Mali were obtained.
The AC results have confirmed the presence of additional significant gold mineralisation in the northern part of the project area, associated with a linear chargeability high and artisanal workings, where an intercept of 20m @ 2.11g/t Au from 10m has been returned, including 10m @ 3.79g/t Au from 20m.
Harvest Minerals ltd (LSE: HMI) has announced it has commenced construction of a solar power facility that will meet all the power requirements at its Arapua Fertiliser Project in Brazil. The solar power facility will supply 100% of Arapua’s power needs and is expected to be commissioned within five months. Operating expenditure (mining and processing) to be reduced by 8% because of reduction in energy costs
Premier African Min (PREM.L) Unaudited Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2021. The Group had an operating profit of $3.943 million for the six months ending 30 June 2021. This is due to the reversal of the impairment of the evaluation and exploration assets of Zulu Lithium.
Premier received continued financial support from its shareholders throughout the period.
AfriTin Mining Ltd, (ATM.L) reported revenues of £5.1mln for the six months ending August 2021. This is 468% more than the same six-month period one year ago.
Asiamet Resources Limited (ARS.L) announced initial assay results from the first three holes of the 2021 resource extension and exploration drilling program in progress on its 100% owned KSK Contract of Work (KSK CoW) located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Seven holes (1,482m) of a planned 3000 metre program have been completed to date with assay results pending for a further four holes. Full results have also been received for the recently completed Induced Polarisation (IP) geophysical survey undertaken to extend coverage to the north and northwest of the BKM deposit inclusive of BKZ and the link between the two deposits.
Endeavour Mining PLC (EDV.L) has established a new goal to find 15-20 million indicated ounces gold from its West Africa projects over the next five years.
Oracle Power PLC (AIM:ORCP) reported an update regarding its Thar Block VI Project in the Sindh Province of Pakistan following the recent approval of the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan 2021-2030, prepared by the National Transmission Dispatch Company in Pakistan.
The objective of the IGCEP, which is an annual plan prepared by NTDC, is to deliver an indicative optimum route through which energy supply should be undertaken over the current decade.
Power Metal Resources (POW.L) announced that two license applications were granted at Wallal, in the Paterson region. E45/5816- Wallal Main and HTML45/5880- Wallal West 2. Also announced the September quarterly business operational update for shareholders.
Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc, commented: We consider Power Metal to be a global project with thirteen project packages across three continents and targeting nine precious, base and strategic metals.
Trident Royalties plc (AIM: TRR) released their interim results for the period ended 30 June 2021, hghlighting the completion on 3 transactions, comprising a total of 8 royalties. Trident also welcomed Paul Smith to the board as Non-Executive Chairman and Peter Bacchus as a Non-Executive Director in the period. TRR continues to review a compelling pipeline of assets spanning various geographies and mining commodities, prioritising paying or near paying royalty opportunities
Trident also released a royalty portfolio updates on the Lake Rebecca Gold Project and highlighted recent announcements made by Apollo Consolidated Ltd and their Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum Presentation that provides a detailed overview of the project status.
ECR Minerals plc (ECR.L) Appointment of Independent Non-Executive Director Dr Trevor George Davenport (“Trevor” “Dr Davenport”) as a Independent Non-Executive Director of ECR Minerals plc, with immediate effect.
Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Trevor Davenport to the board of directors. I have known Trevor for over 26 years since I first started working in the mining industry, and I know his extensive knowledge in exploration of numerous gold and other mineral deposits and his experience will be an excellent addition to our knowledge base.”
Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited (FAR.L) posted its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2021. Highlights included the strategic investment led by Vision Blue Resources Limited, with US$10.1m invested to date as well as the board being strengthened with the appointments of Sir Mick Davis, former Xstrata CEO, as Chairman and Peet Nienaber, former head of Xstrata Alloys, as a Non-Executive Director. Further highlights included improved financial results from existing vanadium processing operations and enhanced financial position to support new Balasausqandiq vanadium project.
Eurasia Mining PLC (EUA.L) Reported on the Interim Report for the six months ended 30 June 2021 stating that they have successfully trebled our production capacity at West Kytlim, our ESG focussed PGM mine, while continuing to develop the electrification of the site to reduce the mine’s carbon footprint. To that end we have selected an electric dragline to minimise our impact on the environment as well as to increase the efficiency of the stripping and mining, thereby reducing costs. Thus, the next year is expected to be transformation for West Kytlim on both the mining side with a highly productive electric dragline and on the processing side with 3 plants already launched.
Vast Resources plc (AIM: VAST) continues to evaluate the recommencement of production at Manaila and as part of this process, the company has been working with TOMRA to assess the suitability of X-Ray Sorting Technology to optimise the mine’s production profile. The assessment demonstrated that by installing an XRT machine at the plant to pre concentrate ore at the pit, the technology would be highly effective. It is anticipated that processing and transportation costs could be reduced by up to 55%. This cost reduction could have a dramatic impact on the mine’s financial performance.
