The stone was a 115ct top white colour type 2a diamond.Others found this year included the Lesotho Legend, an exceptional quality 910ct D colour Type 2a diamond, which was the second largest diamond recovered in the past century and the largest recovered at Letšeng to date. It was sold in March for US$40 million.Others recovered included top white colour type 2a diamonds of 169ct and 152ct...Read More
The stone was recovered during the first two days of trial processing through the bulk sampling plant after recent efficiency and security upgrades and came from the "neck zone" of the mine, which is not part of the current over 1 million carat JORC resource.It also recovered a 6ct diamond from the same zone during the trial processing.Once the plant's modifications are signed off, it will start p...Read More
Now in its third year, the search aims to showcase the impact and contribution of women within the global mining industry and identify inspirational role models.The 2018 edition is co-sponsored by BMO Capital Markets and is open to any women in the mining sector, including related or supportive industries."As ever, WIM is keen to see the full array of natural resource sector roles represented in t...Read More
Virginia Uranium says the state's ban on uranium mining is pre-empted by federal law and had filed the petition for writ of certiorari, to appeal an earlier court decision that found against the company.It is a subsidiary of Virginia Energy Resources (TSXV: VUI) which owns the Coles Hill uranium deposit that it has described as the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the US and one of the large...Read More
By Tom WilsonIt's becoming hard to keep track of all of Glencore's legal battles in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The world's biggest commodity trader is facing the possibility of a bribery investigation by British prosecutors over its work with Dan Gertler, an Israeli billionaire and close friend of Congo President Joseph Kabila.That's on top of other disputes, like a conflict with Gertler ove...Read More
A conversation with Michael Scherb, founder of private equity firm Appian CapitalAppian Capital Advisory founder & CEO Michael Scherb, a dual Austrian-Singaporean national, started his career structuring foreign investment into burgeoning China pre-supercycle before joining the mining team at JP Morgan Cazenove in London. He worked on deals as diverse as Rio Tinto's $153 billion 2008 defence again...Read More
A mining company that wants to transform its operations through digital adoption has to stop equating the work with past capital acquisitions, says Richard Sellschop, partner at McKinsey.He warns that digital work should be looked at as a holistic transformation as it's not just about the technical implementation."If you're building a new pump station, you can put that on a Gantt chart and underst...Read More
SHANGHAI, May 21 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last weekend and what is expected today.Last weekendAs the US treasury yield climbed, the US dollar index rose 1.2% to close at 93.66 and registered on Friday a new high at 93.83 since December last year.Base metals trading was rather weak and mixed on Friday. LME aluminium slid over 1% to a two-week low on smaller-than-...Read More
May 21 (Reuters) - Stock MarketsNet ChngStock MarketsNet Chng S&P/ASX 200** 6,087.4-6.90NZX 50**8,657.3353.95 DJIA**24,715.091.11NIKKEI**22,838.3791.99 Nasdaq**7,354.339-28.134FTSE**7,778.79-9.18 S&P 500**2,712.97-7.16Hang Seng**31,047.91105.76 SPI 200 Fut6,066-30.00STI**3,529.27-7.49 SSEC**3,193.047538.77KOSPI**2,460.6512.20 ----------------------------------------------------------------...Read More
Xing was 19.9%-shareholder CGN Mining's nominee on the board, an entitlement the company gained when it increased its interest in Fission in January 2016 by subscribing to a number shares for C$82 million (US$58 million at the time).CGN nominated its CFO and executive director Chen as Xing's replacement.Chen has 22 years' experience in the financial field and previously held senior roles with CGNP...Read More
SHANGHAI, May 21 (SMM) – Shandong's industrial production will face a series of restrictions in the following month as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit will be held in Qingdao on June 9. From May 20 to June 20, construction sites within 100 km of Qingdao will be completely suspended; steel plants within 300 km of the city have been required to cut 40-50% of their...Read More
At the La Hueca project, two new copper targets were discovered on the western side, with channel chip sampling returning 17.3m at 3.87% copper, 0.46g/t gold at one, Target 5, including 6m at 9.39% Cu and 0.98g/t Au.A total of 50 rock samples were collected from the second target, Target 6, and sent for analysis, with teams collecting additional samples and prospecting new streams. At the Por...Read More
SHANGHAI, May 21 (SMM) – China’s nonferrous metals futures closed higher except for aluminium and nickel on Monday May 21. Lead led the gains with a rise of over 1.4%, zinc grew nearly 1.1%, tin rose almost 0.8%, and copper inched up.Ferrous metals dropped across the board with iron ore leading the loss and closing 3% lower. Coke fell nearly 2%, hot-rolled coil and rebar lost over 1.8%...Read More
The PEA outlines an openpit mine for the gold camp with preproduction capex of US$380 million, an after-tax NPV (5% discount) of $367 million and an IRR of 25% with a 2.8-year payback.It estimates an average annual production over the initial 10 years of the 11-year mine-life of 188,500 ounces, at an all-in sustaining cost of $595/oz over the life of mine.President and CEO Phillip Walford said the...Read More
The Bernstein analyst has gone into bat for London-listed miners' value to the global economy, saying it was ludicrous the companies digging up the materials needed for all other industries were not sitting on higher valuations.Read More
SHANGHAI, May 21 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a discount of 50 yuan/mt to a premium of 20 yuan/mt over the SHFE 1806 contract on Monday May 21 in the Shanghai market. This compared with a discount of 80-20 yuan/mt on Friday May 18.Sellers raised offers from last Friday amid an optimistic outlook as US-Sino trade tension eased. The SHFE 1806 contract stood firm above 51,000 yuan/...Read More
The US Department of the Interior published the list on Friday after president Donald Trump called for a critical mineral strategy at the end of 2017.NioCorp said the Elk Creek Superalloy Materials project was one of the few polymetallic greenfield mining projects in the US that proposed to produce multiple critical minerals - namely niobium, scandium and titanium.It said the Elk Creek ore bo...Read More
SHANGHAI, May 21 (SMM) –Copper: Suppressed by the strong US dollar, the trading level of copper prices dipped. LME copper struggled among all the moving averages with strong pressure at the 60-day moving average, while the SHFE 1807 contract struggled between the five- and 10-day moving averages with support at the 40-day moving average. We expect LME copper to trade at $6,820-6,870/mt today...Read More
Centerra had gained both the portfolio and feasibility-stage Kemess copper-gold project from its acquisition of AuRico Metals, which was completed in January.Read More