As a new Financial year commences, Ramelius Resources have announced an offer for Musgrave Minerals. Directors of Musgrave have unanimously recommended that the offer be accepted in the absence of a superior offer. This comes after Musgrave was the target for Westgold Resources last week.
Ramelius’ Shannon Decline at Mount Magnet
The offer by Mark Zeptner`s Ramelius is 1 Ramelius share for every 4.21 Musgrave shares held plus an additional $0.04 in cash per Musgrave share held. This is secured by around 12.13 % in pre bid acceptance. The Managing Director said the company is looking to develop the Musgrave Cue project “Subject to the Offer being successful, Ramelius is looking forward to continuing drilling across the tenement package to expand the existing resource and ultimately developing the Cue Project into a high-grade satellite mine for the Mt Magnet production centre, to maximise value for all shareholders.” Zeptner said.
While the value for shareholders was prime for Musgrave Minerals Managing Director Rob Waugh “We are confident that the Cue Project will be in good hands should the Offer be successful and in the event that does occur, we would look forward to seeing the project contribute to the ongoing success of Ramelius’ Mt Magnet operations. By joining with Ramelius, Musgrave shareholders will have the opportunity to continue to share in the upside at the Cue Project while accessing the benefits that come with being an owner of an established, profitable mining company. The cash component of the offer provides additional certainty.”
The decline advance rate at Ora Banda Mining’s Riverina Underground development is progressing in line with forecast after the underground portal was established last month. The total advance is at 225.7m as of June 25 2023, with the main decline at 194.3m and a further 31.4m in other development according to the company today.
Jumbo at Ora Banda Mining’s Riverina Underground boring out the face. – Supplied.
In other areas of Ora Banda’s operations updated to the market today, Crushing circuit downtime will affect Q4 guidance by around 14%. The previous stated guidance of 14,000oz is now more aligned to around 12,000oz. The repairs and maintenance are ongoing with an expected operational date for the crushing circuit of July 1 2023.
All was not lost though for Ora Banda with an increase of over 40% for Q4 oz produced compared to the average of the previous three quarters via open pit mining. Managing Director Luke Creagh was disappointed with the downtime, but seemed optimistic overall. “Whilst the crushing circuit downtime is disappointing, it is a short-term impact that is not expected to have any long-term implications to the business. We expect the current circuit to be fully operational by 1 July 2023, and the previously announced crusher upgrades in FY24 will ensure the crushing circuit is no longer a bottleneck to performance.” he said.
Development is commenced with Byrnecut Australia in May 2023, with the portal established mid May 2023.
It’s been a busy start to the ASX on the last Monday of the 2023 Financial Year.
Heading off the big names on the list are Perenti Limited. The mining services group, has snapped up ASX listed drilling contractor DDH1.
DDH1 Rig in Operation – Via LinkedIn
According to Managing Director and CEO of Perenti Mark Norwell, this is the next step for Perenti, who also have BTP, Ausdrill and Barminco in their stable
“This is a compelling transaction that represents an exciting next step in delivering on Perenti’s purpose, to create enduring value and certainty, by building a portfolio of complementary high quality businesses. Perenti has a long history in drilling from its Ausdrill heritage and Barminco Diamond Drilling business and understands the attractiveness of the market. Norwell said.
While Northern Star Resources also announced to the market this morning an expansion to their portfolio by aquiring the Millrose Gold Project, from Strickland Resources Ltd. The location of the Millrose Gold Project is within a 40km distance of Northern Star`s Jundee operations. The asset adds a published Mineral Resource of 346koz gold at a grade of 1.80g/t. Stuart Tonkin, Northern Star Resources Managing Director said of the deal “This bolt-on acquisition, which also comes with significant brownfields exploration upside, will provide us with further confidence to plan organic and profitable growth for Jundee, which already is the lowest cost asset in our tier-1 portfolio.”
The take over of Musgrave Minerals by Westgold Resources has also been active on the market this morning. Musgrave has advised its shareholders to reject the offer and you take no actions. The offer was that Westgold all scrip offer of 1 Westgold share for every 5.37 Musgrave shares. Shareholders were provided with five reasons that the board considered the offer was not in the best interests.
KCGM owner, Northern Star Resources today announced a final investment decision in relation to the KCGM Mill expansion.
The Northern Star board has approved $1.5 Billion to increase and modernise KCGM`s processing from 13Mtpa to 27 Mtpa. The process is expected to comprise of a three year construction phase with planning and long lead items ordered.
Managing Director for Northern Star, Stuart Tonkin said
“Today is an exciting day for Northern Star and a historic new chapter for this world-class asset. “The Board’s decision to approve the KCGM mill expansion and optimisation represents the next stage to revitalise our largest asset as well as the surrounding district for decades to come.
This Project is financially compelling, and a significant enabling step towards delivering our strategy to generate superior returns for our shareholders.
Further, the Project is important in our sustainability journey and will also sustain hundreds of local jobs, economic and social investment, and local procurement opportunities in the Goldfields region.”
Rivet Mining Services has gone into administration due to extreme weather events, labour shortages, project delays and rising costs.
Mining services, which provides bulk haulage and ancillary onsite services to mining companies in WA, is the only business within the Rivet Group effected.
Chris Hill, Vaughan Strawbridge and Hayden White from FTI Consulting have been made receivers and managers of the company.
Rivet Mining Services
Desert Metals has begun extensive field work at three of its key projects near Meekatharra.
The projects include drilling of a previously untested 15m greenstone belt for gold and other base metals at the Belele project; heritage surveys at the Dingo Pass project; and metallurgical work to determine recovery rates of clay hosted REE mineralisation at the Innouendy project to identify the most cost-effective processing methodology.
Rio Tinto has been the victim of a data hack.
Data on GoAnywhere software regarding former and current employees may have been stollen by hackers who have threatened to release stollen data.
“While investigations into this incident are ongoing and threats have been made by a cybercriminal group to release data on to the dark web, to date none of the records described above have been released, and we still do not know if the cybercriminal group holds these records or not,” a memo to staff said.
Several companies using GoAnywhere have reported data breaches, including Hitachi.
Rio Tinto
Lightning Minerals has identified lithium soil anomalism at its 100% owned Dundas project in WA.
Lightning Minerals CEO, Alex Biggs, said: “Further positive lithium in soil anomalism being identified at our Dundas project again supports our exploration strategy and belief in the region as an emerging lithium and critical minerals district.”
The S&P/ASX200 markets had a turbulent week, falling from 6,974 points o Monday to 6,900 on Tuesday, the market jumped again on Wednesday to 7,030 points before falling to 6,961 points on Thursday then finishing off the week at 6,955 points on Friday.
The All Ordinaries has lost 0.70% over the last 5 days. The market was at its lowest at close on Monday at 7,085 points. The All Ordinaries closed at 7,138 points on Friday.
Gold fell Tuesday afternoon from $1,985.88USD to $1,943.47USD before recovering the remainder of the week to $1,990.70USD on Friday, the highest price since April 2022.
Silver finished at $23.22USD on Friday, the highest it’s been since the start of February 2023.
Roy Hill has awarded a $70m order to Epiroc to automate their mixed fleet, making it the world’s largest autonomous mine.
The contact involves driverless conversion of 96 haul trucks, including 54 Caterpillar and 42 Hitachi trucks, and future trucks.
Roy Hill
MACA has been awarded a mining contract with Atlas Iron at their McPhee Creek project in the Pilbara.
The tree-year project covers mine load and haul of up to 10million tonnes of iron ore per annum, and transportation to Roy Hill for processing.
Thiess Group executive and MACA CEO David Greig said “We’ve been working with Atlas for almost 15 years across our crushing, civil and mining businesses, and I look forward to working with them once again on the McPhee Creek Project.”
Atlas Iron
The West Australian Government and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources signed a Memorandum of Understanding to research and develop the critical minerals chain.
The MoU was signed by Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston in the Republic of Korea as part of the State Government’s mission to promote the resource capabilities of WA.
In a statement announcing the partnership, the State Government said the MoU will further strength the relationship between WA and the Republic of Korea following the signing of a historic letter of intent by Mark McGowan on February 1.
“The letter of intent signed with MOTIE (Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) recognises our strong strategic partnership with South Korea and charts a course for new opportunities into the future,” McGowan said.
“By signing an agreement with MOTIE, we are establishing a formal relationship to promote economic collaboration in the new energy and downstream processing sectors between Western Australia and South Korea.
The S&P/ASX200 dropped twice this week, dropping 102 points on Tuesday and 131 points on Thursday. The markets finished at 6,995 on Friday. Liontown Resources was the top performing stock on Friday, up 8.20%.
The All Ordinaries lost 161 points over the week, dropping on Tuesday and Thursday.
Gold had a good week, starting at $1,871.04USD, the price steadily increased throughout the week to $11933.43USD, following an upward incline since last week.
Silver had a slightly less stable incline over the week, slightly increasing from $20.80USD to $22.09USD.
Lynas has secured $200m in investments from Japan Australia Rare Earths through a subscription of ordinary shares.
Lynas CEO and managing director, Amanda Lacaze, said “JARE has been a valued and strategic partner to Lynas since 2011 and we welcome these new agreements which better reflect demand forecasts from the Japanese rare earths market.”
Lynas Rare Earths
MinRes has pledged $600,000 over 3 years to the Lion’s Healthy Hearing Outback Program for Aboriginal Children in the Pilbara.
The Lions Healthy Hearing Outback program is run by a conglomerate of health organisations, including Ear Science Institute Australia (ESIA), Rural Health West and the Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service.
“MinRes is proud to partner with Ear Science to help expand this life-changing ear health service into some of Western Australia’s most remote communities,” MinRes managing director, Chriss Ellison said.
“Far too many Aboriginal children experience ear disease and hearing loss, and Ear Science Institute are at the forefront of reducing that devasting burden.”
Mineral Resources
GBM Resources and Novo Resources have signed a sale and Purchase Agreement for GBM to sell its remaining 50% interest in the Malmsbury Gold Project to Novo.
The sale includes cash of $1M plus 4,037,872 Novo Shares, representing $1.45m.
The S&P/ASX200 dropped sharply on Friday, dropping 166.4 points to 7,144.7, setting a 20-day low.
The All Ordinaries followed suit, dropping 166.2 points to 7,348.2 points on Friday.
Gold fell sharply on Wednesday, falling from $1,881.58 to $1,816.17 but recovered slightly on Friday to $1,834.35.
Silver dropped sharply on Tuesday, falling from $21.35 to end the week at $20.24.
The Federal Government has prevented Chinese company Yuxiao Fund from raising its stake in Northern Minerals on grounds of national interest.
Yuxiao Fund wanted to increase its holding from 9.92% to 19.9% but needed approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Northern Minerals has been focused on fine-tuning its heavy rare earths processing system through a pilot plant, which could make the Western Australia-based miner one world’s first significant heavy rare earth producer outside of China.
Northern Minerals
The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has ordered Alcoa to clean out the toxic pipeline it built over Samson Dam in Waroona without approval.
The US based company had already built the pipeline to move firefighting PFAS contaminated water over the dam before even applying for approval.
DWER found the pipeline did not meet the requirements to prevent leaks and its location made it at risk of damage by vehicles.
This news is the latest in a series of potentially disastrous environmental blunders by Alcoa: earlier in the week the WA Forest Alliance called in the WA Environment Protection Authority to review Alcoa’s plans to mine jarrah forests after fear their mines will endanger Perth’s water supply and last week the state government expressed concerns Alcoa mines posed a risk to 1/3 of Perth’s drinking water in Serpentine Dam.
Forest Alliance convenor Jess Beckerling said the risks from Alcoa’s mining warranted a full and transparent assessment of its cumulative impact.
“This is obviously a matter of major public concern,” she said.
“The expectation must be that current best-practice WA government policy and aspirations are applied and maintained, and that the safety of drinking water and the integrity of ecological function is protected.”
Anon via WA Today
Austral Gold has completed the sale of its Pinguino project to E2 Minerals, receiving $3.7M on Tuesday, with another $3.7M over the next 3 years.
Austral Gold’s CEO Stabro Kasaneva said “The transaction resulted in the immediate cash injection of US$2.5M to partially fund the development of the Heap Reprocessing project at our flagship Guanaco-Amancaya mine complex in Chile.”
Austral Gold
Enegex has entered into a sale agreement with Caravel Minerals to sell them a tenement of Walebing Project.
Tenement E70/5442’s 82.4km2 are located 122km northeast of Perth.
Enegex will retain 100% ownership of the remaining 3 tenements at the site.
Enegex Director, Rae Clark, said they are excited the transaction will “provide Enegex with exposure to Caravel’s exploration expertise through a royalty agreement.”
The S&P/ASX200 markets had a positive week, finishing at 7,284 points, 0.39% higher than Thursday. The top performing stocks were Liontown Resources, up 13.19%, and Ramelius Resources, up 5.58%.
Liontown was also the top performing stock in the All Ordinaries, the markets finished at 7,484 points.
Gold has made a swift recovery after a disappointing end to February. The week started at February’s lowest of $1,812.73USD before steadily climbing to $1,850.38USD.
Silver peaked on Wednesday at $21.35, stumbling on Thursday before recovering on Friday to $21.31.
Weeks after the West Australian Government raised concerns that Alcoa’s mines posed a risk to the Serpentine Dam and 1/5 of Perth’s drinking water, it has been discovered that the US miner has risked another WA dam.
Alcoa applied for approval to build pipelines over WA’s Waroona Dam to pump PFAS contaminated water from firefighting foam, and despite not yet receiving approval, has already built the pipeline.
The Water Corporation worries a leak in the pipeline could contaminate the dam and said Alcoa built it without their knowledge.
A spokesperson from Water Corp said “It is Water Corporation’s view that such a pipeline would, along with other concerns, present an unacceptable risk to drinking water quality, therefore, Water Corporation does not support Alcoa’s proposal in its current form.”
Anon via WA Today
BHP has announced it is selling its Daunia and Blackwater mines in Queensland, citing a 9.3B (32%) drop in its half-year profits and increased royalties.
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance asset president Mauro Neves said the Queensland Government’s decision to raise cola royalties had made the state uncompetitive.
Mineral Resources has entered into two binding agreements with Albemarle Corporation, the first to change their 40% ownership of the joint owned Wodgina Mine to 50% and the second to increase investment in lithium in China.
MinRes managing director Chis Ellison said “We are delighted to have reached these binding agreements, which cement MinRes’ place as a world-leader in lithium mining and leverage our partner Albemarle’s strong track record in battery chemical production.
“By growing our battery chemicals business and expanding into global chemical marketing, MinRes will become one of the world’s largest fully integrated lithium chemical suppliers to auto manufacturers, capitalising on the increasing demand for sustainable battery mineral products.”
The Federal and West Australian governments will invest $565m into expanding and upgrading the port at Port Headland.
In the first stage, two seawalls and a causeway will be constructed, increasing the port’s capacity to export lithium and copper.
MGN Civil will complete the construction works, with 90 per cent of materials and suppliers being sourced within the Pilbara region along with partnerships with First Nations businesses.
Anthony Albanese said “Demand is growing locally and overseas for clean energy sources and our Government’s investment in the Lumsden Point expansion will help position northern Australia to take advantage of the economic opportunities this demand presents.”
Town of Port Hedland
Magnis Energy Technologies has entered into an agreement with Tesla to supply them with critical minerals for electric vehicles.
Tesla will buy a minimum of 17,500 tonnes per annum of lithium and other critical minerals from February 2025.
Magnis chairman Frank Poullas said “We are really excited to bring our high-performing AAM to market that requires no chemical or thermal purification throughout the whole process, which differentiates this sustainable material in the market and provides great value to all parties.”
Tesla
The S&P/ASX200 markets have continued its month-long downward path. The week started at 7,354 points, falling sharply on Tuesday and Wednesday, before raising slightly to 7,307 points at close of day Friday.
The All Ordinaries saw similar drops on Tuesday and Wednesday. The index lost 0.52% for the last 5 days.
Gold had a somewhat disappointing week, dropping from $1,848.42USD on Monday to $1,828.95USD on Friday, continuing the downward trend for the month.
Silver stayed steady at the start of the week, though stumbling at the end of the week to finish off at $21.58USD.
Newcrest has rejected Newmont’s $24.45B takeover bid after week-long deliberation.
Newcrest’s board said it is still open to negotiations but thought the offer didn’t represent sufficient values for shareholders.
Newcrest Minerals
The missing men whose vehicle fell into a hole approximately 100 meters underground in the collapse in the Dugald River underground mine have died.
Trevor Davis and Dylan Langridge were found on Thursday evening by drones.
Perenti chief executive Mark Norwell said “This is a devastating outcome and I want to extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to the families, friends, colleagues and loved ones of Trevor and Dylan, both of whom should have come home safely from work yesterday.”
Mineral Resources has secured control of Norwest Energy after their voting power increased to 53.86% on Thursday.
Norwest recommended its shareholders accept Mineral Resources’ $497M offer which would give them 1 fully paid Mineral Resources’ share for every 1300 Norwest share.
Mineral Resources’ managing director, Chris Ellison said “I’m delighted that so many Norwest shareholders have already accepted our revised offer and that we now have majority control of Norwest.”
Norwest Minerals
Catalyst Minerals now has 88.1% voting power in Vango Mining from its takeover offer which was declared unconditional on Wednesday.
Vango shareholders will receive 5 fully paid Catalyst shares for every 115 Vango shares.
Catalyst Metals
The S&P/ASX200 markets have continued to fall this week, with some ups and downs throughout the week.
Starting at 7,425 points on Monday, it peaked on Tuesday at 7,477 points before falling to 7,338 points on Wednesday. The markets recovered again on Thursday at 7,421 points then fell again on Friday to 7,347 points.
The All Ordinaries spiked on Tuesday to 7,672 points but fell to 7,552 points on Friday.
Gold stayed stable though much of the week, before falling to $1,827.50 USD on Friday.
Silver was slightly less stable, slowly decreasing throughout the week to $21.66 USD.
