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.”
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.
Boss Energy has appointed James Davidson as general manager of its Honeymoon Uranium project and Jacobus van Rooyen as its construction manager.
Boss Energy managing director, Duncan Craib said James Davidson “has immense experience across project management and construction, with particular emphasis on uranium metallurgy and operations.”
Craib also said “Kobus is a team player, having held and achieved key senior roles as a multi-disciplined
construction manager, effectively managing resources to deliver small scale all the way through to mega project objectives and deliverables safely, on time and within budget, he will further bolster our team as construction at Honeymoon ramps up.”
Boss Energy
Oz Minerals saw an increase of total copper production in the December Quarter compared to the previous quarter, increasing 6,295 tonnes to 36,307 tonnes. Total gold production decreased from 56,334 ounces to 54,856 ounces.
Both copper and gold production of the FY2022 sat within the target figure – which was revised mid-year.
Managing Director and CEO, Andrew Cole said “A strong final quarter saw a 21 per cent lift in copper production, quarter on quarter, resulting in group production and cost guidance (revised mid-year) being met and creating positive momentum for 2023.
“We are pleased with how the team rest and recalibrated performance to end the year on a strong note after a challenging first half impacted by adverse weather, COVID-19 absenteeism, and supply chain disruption and inflationary pressure. The December quarter of 36,307 tonnes of copper is the highest group copper production on record.”
Iluka Resources has awarded SciDev a three-year contract for the supply of MaxiFlox chemistry, used for the treatment of mine site tailings to maximise water recovery and reduce the tailings footprint.
SciDev CEO, Seán Halpin said “Our ongoing relationship with Iluka reflects both the quality of our products and the skill set of our team.”
Iluka Resources
Liontown Resources has commenced open pit mining at its Kathleen Valley Lithium Project.
Iron Mine Contracting is providing open pit mining services at the site, including drilling; blasting; loading and hauling of ore and waste; hauling road construction; and pit dewatering services.
Liontown Managing Director and CEO, Tony Ottaviano said “Completion of the first blast and commencement of open pit mining at Kathleen Valley is a significant milestone for Liontown, signifying our transition from explorer to mining operator.”
Liontown Resources
The S&P/ASX200 markets have continued the strong increase from the start of the year, beginning the week at 7,492 points and finishing off at 7,558 points.
The All Ordinaries followed the same trend, setting a new 100-day high, and ending at 7,772 points.
Gold continues to stay around the highest its been since May, sitting at $1,919.07oz.
Silver started slow at $24.07oz and peaked at $24.47oz on Thursday but fell again at the end of the week to $23.75oz.
St Barbara and Genesis Minerals have announced their merger to create Hoover House,
St Barbara will acquire 100% of the shares in Genesis. Genesis shareholders will own 41% of Hoover House, with St Barbara shareholders owning 38%.
Hoover House will have a production target of over 300,000oz of gold per annum.
St Barbara chair, Tim Netscher, said: “The merger with our Leonora neighbour, Genesis, to create Hoover House, will accelerate our Leonora Province Plan. Shareholders will reap the benefits of more production at lower cost and lower risk from this prolific mining district.”
Genesis Managing Director, Raleigh Finlayson, said: “By combining with St Barbara, we are creating Hoover House, the premium Australian gold company we envisaged, with sustainable, high-quality production.”
St Barbara
The federal government has announced a cap on gas and coal prices as part of its Energy Price Relief Plan.
The plan includes the 12-month emergency gas price cap, a targeted energy bill relief for households and businesses, and investment in cleaner, cheaper and reliable energy.
Anthony Albanese said the action is designed to “provide all Australians with a buffer in unprecedented times.”
A South African researcher has developed a new way to remove contaminates from water used in mining.
The process involves small polystyrene beads that chemically bond with pollutants as the water passes through, cleaning the water and collecting the pollutants for reuse.
Ed Hardwick, owner of Cwenga Technologies said the beads extract valuable materials from the water: “What has been identified in some streams, especially coal mining streams, is that the acid that’s produced from the mine waters actually dissolves out some rare earth materials.”
Aruma Resources has announced its recently completed diamond core drilling program at their Salmon gums Gold Project has expanded the project’s Greenstone footprint to over 75km2.
The drilling, located at their Norseman Gold Camp was designed to provide a deeper geological understanding of the project and opened up the potential for the project to host multiple horizons.
Kin Mining has completed their first deep diamond drill-hole at Helens-Rangoon Fault – which saw wide zones of shallow gold – to test an Induced Polarisation anomaly.
The drilling was completed at their Cardinia Gold Project near Leonora and has intersected significant zones of gold mineralisation.
Kin Mining Managing Director, Andrew Munckton, said: “This represents a strong start to the 5‐hole diamond drill program, which is designed to test the first generation of deeper targets at Cardinia with the aim of uncovering new, high‐grade discoveries within the exciting Eastern Corridor.”
Shire of Leonora
S&P/ASX 200 markets started out the week a little lower, at 7,163 points before climbing to 7,253 points at the end of Wednesday. The markets saw a sudden drop Friday morning, falling from 7,209 points to 7,122 points before making a slight comeback to finish the week.
The All Ordinaries followed a similar trajectory, falling 91 points to 7,304 points Friday morning, before climbing again throughout the day.
Gold peaked at a 3-month high of $1,813.70USD on Wednesday, before dropping again to $1,787.85USD to round out the week.
Silver saw a 6-month high of $24USD on Wednesday before a slight decline to $23.35USD to end the week.
IGO’s Nova Mine will cease operations for several weeks after a fire started in the diesel engine room.
No one was injured in the fire, but the West Australian mine safety authorises have launched an investigation into the incident.
The mine is located in the Fraser Range, 160km east of Norseman.
IGO’s acting chief executive, Matt Dusci said “We are thankful that all our people are safe and unharmed. We have activated our contingency plans and will work to re-establish operations at Nova as quickly and safely as possible.”
IGO’s Nova Mine
The Saint Barbara Festival took place last week in Kalgoorlie.
The annual event consists of the Miners Memorial Service on Thursday 1st December and the St Barbara’s Parade on Sunday 4th December.
St Barbara’s Parade
Codrus Minerals has announced high grades at their Niobium-Rich Karloning REE Project in north of Mukinbudin in the Wheatbelt.
Codrus Managing Director, Shannan Bamforth said: “We are excited by the high grades returned from 3 samples that exceeded the upper detection limit in the original assaying. Seeing grades for heavy REE elements of this magnitude is very positive, particularly given that these metals are intrinsically linked to the decarbonisation thematic.”
The S&P/ASX 200 closed on a lower note this week. Starting at 7,321 points on Monday, before finishing at 7,213 points on Friday.
Champion Iron and Sandfire Resources were top performing shares, gaining 5.15% and 4.81% respectively.
The All Ordinaries finished on 7,406 points, falling from the high of 7,551 from Monday.
Gold dropped on Tuesday from $1,810.70USD to $1,7744.54USD before rising again over the last few days to finish up at $1,798.80USD.
Silver also fell significantly on Tuesday from $23.49USD to $22.63USD but gained it back during the week to $23.44USD
