Australia is being targeted by a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor” “This activity is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors, including all levels of government, industry, political organisations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure.” According to PM Scott Morrison this morning.
A board led review of its heritage management has been announced by Rio Tinto. This follows on from events recently at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia. The review will be conducted by Michael L’Estrange AO, with the board, employees and the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people involved and with consultation of a number of groups. Simon Thompson, Chair of Rio Tinto said ” On behalf of the Rio Tinto board, I would like to apologise to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people. The decision to conduct a board-led review of events at Juukan Gorge reflects our determination to learn lessons from what happened and to make any necessary improvements to our heritage processes and governance. I am very grateful to Michael for agreeing to conduct the review on behalf of the board.”
An impairment to Evolution Mining at Mt Carlton is how Executive Chairman Jake Klein describes a decrease in the ounces from the operation. Mt Carlton is set to produce 60,000oz for the 20FY (down from the 70,000 – 75,000 ounces reported for January 10 announcement) and around 50,000oz for the 21 FY. “We are disappointed to be recording an impairment at Mt Carlton. We will be working hard over the next six months to optimise the future of the operation and to further understand the size and quality of the Crush Creek project.” Drilling at Crush Creek continues to bring exciting results for Evolution with highlights such as 31.7m (27.5m etw) grading 5.68 g/t Au from 61m including 9.0m (8m etw) grading 11.78g/t Au from 63m. Two diamond drill rigs are currently on site and an RC drill will be on location during the September quarter.
Drilling at Anglo Australian Resources Mandilla discovery has more than doubled the potential scale of mineralisation. Results at Mandilla East has revealed 26m @ 8.29g/t Au from 76m, 21m @ 3.7g/t Au from 35m, 17m @ 3.71g/t Au from 59m, plus 19m @ 0.55g/t Au from 83m. Mandilla South around 1km from Mandilla East brought results of 27m @ 1.79g/t Au from 168m and 10m @ 1.76g/t Au from 123m. A 3,000m diamond drilling program is underway and a 10,000m RC drilling program commencing in July. Managing Director Marc Ducler said: “This is the most significant drill program undertaken at the Mandilla Gold Project targeting mineralisation within the Mandilla Syenite. With over 9,000m of drilling already completed and another 13,000m to come, the mineralised footprint of the discovery from only three months ago1 has already more than doubled in size and remains open to the north and south. “The strong results support our view that there is a significant low strip ratio open pit opportunity. The recently completed DroneMag survey is also providing excitement with a number of anomalies yet to be followed up.”
Travel and airlines have been one of the most affected COVID-19 industries. Passenger Numbers at Sydney Airport have been revealed with 62,000 domestic passengers during May 2020 and 29,000 international passengers for a total of 92,000. Reverse to May 2019 and numbers for Domestic were 2,217,000 and International 1,294,000 for a total of 3,511,000. Around 2,000 domestic passengers per day passed through Sydney Airport in 2020 compared to 71,516 in 2019. While around 41,741 international passengers passed through Sydney airport in 2019, but for May 2020 it was merely around 935 per day.
Production runs for Australian Mines at its Perth demonstration plant using processed ore from it’s Queensland Sconi source has been completed. The aim of which is to supply battery-grade cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate to potential offtake partners. Australian Mines Managing Director, Benjamin Bell, commented: “Our recent successful production runs further demonstrate our ability to consistently deliver battery-grade precursor chemicals of cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate that can be applied directly into the manufacturing process of electric vehicle batteries, and support our negotiations with potential offtake and financing partners. Mr Bell also outlined the continued operation of the demonstration plant to seek a partner. “We will continue to operate the demonstration plant to produce premium-grade scandium oxide for a potential R&D partner that is working on new uses for scandium, which is now recognised as a critical commodity.”