MAKING NEWS

Geosciences 2003 Conferences

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MAY

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AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

2002 International Conference and Exhibition: Ancient Oil - New Energy
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Cairo, Egypt
October 27-30, 2002
www.aapg.org/meetings/cairo/index.html

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Other Mining specific Conferences

NEWS ITEMS

Zinc producers under pressure to cut output: ABARE
Brad Ricks Miningnews.net
05 March 2003
WITH world zinc prices at historically low levels pressure is mounting on zinc producers to cut production, according to the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics.

Weak demand, rising stocks and historically low prices categorised the zinc market in 2002, ABARE said in its March commodities forecasts.

The government forecaster said the world market average price for zinc in 2002 sank to US$779 a tonne, and it predicted 2003 would not be much better at US$800 a tonne.

ABARE expected pressure to continue to mount on zinc producers to follow the lead of the copper miners and cut production to reduce stockpiles.

Copper producers will be rewarded for their decision to cut output, according to ABARE, which forecast a rise in the average price of copper to US$1700/t in 2003 from US$1561 in 2002.

ABARE said copper prices enjoyed a slight resurgence in December and January due to the announcement by major producers such as Chile's Codelco and Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton that they would continue to restrain production.

This story is courtesy of MiningNews.net

ABARE comodity price trends

Graphs by SkilledGeoscience from data on the ABARE webs site

Major Drilling posts record revenue
Rebecca Keenan Miningnews.net
12 March 2003
CANADIAN contractor Major Drilling Group International has recorded its highest-ever third-quarter revenue, reflecting strengthening market conditions.

The third quarter is traditionally the company's quietest period because of mine shutdowns over the Christmas/New Year period. However, this year it recorded total revenue of C$38.6 million, compared to $20 million in the same period last year.

Contract drilling revenue was up by almost 90% to $33.7 million, and manufacturing revenue more than doubled to $4.9 million.

The Australasian/African drilling operations continued to provide strong growth for the company, with revenue up to $15.2 million, compared to $8.2 million in the comparative period. The performance reflected "very positive market conditions" in Australia and the addition of revenues from the Mongolia branch from August 2002.

Revenue from the Canada-US drilling operations also reported an increase, up more than 55% to $11.7 million. South American and Central American revenue almost tripled for the quarter because of the strengthening market conditions and the very difficult markets in the previous year.

This story is courtesy of MiningNews.net

Leighton has $10 billion order book
Rebecca Keenan Miningnews.net
10 March 2003
CONTRACTOR Leighton Holdings has announced it has a record work in hand value of $10 billion after the acquisition of Transfield's construction business.

Leighton deputy chief executive and CFO Dieter Adamsas said the group had converted a number of the opportunities emerging from the upswing in civil engineering, building construction and resources infrastructure in Australia.

"Thiess has finalised an alliance for mining at WMC Resources' Mt Keith Operation, an open-cut nickel mine in Western Australia," said Adamsas. "The three year alliance, worth in excess of $250 million, will see Thiess remove over 70 million bulk cubic meters of ore and overburden at the mine."

The acquisition of Transfield's construction business by John Holland included $470 million worth or work. It brought to the group new specialist skills in structural, mechanical and process engineering.

Leighton's other businesses including Leighton Asia and Leighton Properties also have large contracts underway.

"It is pleasing to see a number of the big projects that we have been tracking for some time to come to fruition over the last two months. While there are still a number of significant opportunities emerging across the group's diverse markets, we are absolutely focused on the successful completion of our existing work and managing the growth coming from our large forward order book."

This story is courtesy of MiningNews.net

Gold mine development delayed by environmental concerns, and bureaucratic delays, in Australia, Sweden and Italy

SkilledGeoscience
17th July 2002

WHAT does Barricks Lake Cowal project in Australia, Dragon's Svartliden gold project in northern Sweden and Gold Mines of Sardinia projects in Italy, all have in common? They are all advanced projects with identified resources ready to mine but are being delayed by environmental concerns, and bureaucratic delays.

Chief amongst concerns is the use of cyanide in processing of gold ores. The companies argue that this concern is overstated by those opposing development. Maybe so, but such delays are driving away investors and have all but killed off the minerals exploration business in many developed and populated countries, for example in Europe and the USA.

According to MiningNews.net (29th May 2002)..." there have been renewed calls to block the development of Barrick Gold's controversial Lake Cowal project in New South Wales, this time from eight Upper House members of parliament...Although the 2.8 million ounce project has been subjected to sustained protests from environmental lobbyists, Barrick general manager business development David Tucker previously told MiningNews.net he was confident the Toronto-based company would succeed where others have failed. ..Australian environmentalists have staunchly objected to the project, recently launching a high-profile advertising campaign in Toronto featuring Australian actor Jack Thompson... They claim there is a growing coalition of conservationists and land rights groups that are saying no to this project going ahead".

According to MiningNews.net (16th July 2002)..." Dragon Mining has suffered a slight set back at its Svartliden gold project in northern Sweden with the news that the national EPA body, one of a number of departments consulted in the Environment Court process, has requested that the government consider the permissibility of the project. Such a move has the potential to extend final permitting. How long, however, is unknown because such a request has not happened before....Dragon is ready to begin development at Svartliden, having secured a US$9 million debt facility from Macquarie Bank. Svartliden, bought by Dragon for $3.5 million in 1997, is located near one of Sweden's main mining districts. An opencut 500,000tpa operation producing an average 50,000 ounces at cash operating costs of US$135 per oz is waiting to become a reality."

According to MiningNews.net (13th June 2002)... "Gold Mines of Sardinia, which is sitting on several undeveloped gold mines across the island of Sardinia, has been hamstrung, hogtied and neck-locked by the suffocating layers of government which infect all facets of life in Italy, and just about every other country in Europe....Gold Mines of Sardinia, in partnership with the regional government of Sardinia, started the island's first mine at Furtei in 1997. This was a small operation designed as much as a cash flow generator as a way of establishing a base for bigger developments....Then the problems started. A significant epithermal gold discovery at Osilo near the northern tip of the island has become locked in seemingly endless round of environmental appeals over the use of cyanide. An even bigger discovery at Monte Ollasteddu in the southeast is jammed up because it is on an old military training range and the army (or its civilian masters) cannot decide whether it should allow full-scale exploration despite the fact that it is closing the training range and the locals are screaming out for jobs....While the dithering goes on, the Furtei mine has almost completed mining its openpit ore and must make a decision within months (and possibly weeks) on whether to sink a shallow decline, or layoff its workforce....Gold Mines of Sardinia has Barrick Gold as a partner at Monte Ollasteddu.

These top stories were sourced in MiningNews.net

SkilledGeoscience
18 th July 2002

Minotaur Resources gets a reality check as drilling proceeds and the share price drops from last years spectacular gain, but there is no doubt that the company has found a significant resource, has cashed itself up and indirectly helped to inject over $100 million into the ailing Australian exploration sector.

There are now probably sufficient holes in the Prominent Hill Cu - Au prospect in the Mt woods Inlier on the Gawler Craton (Australia) to make an educated guess at the potential of this project. We present below a selection of data from the Minotaur website for the convenience of our readers. For more details please refer to the Minotaur website. To get a feel for the hype created both here and overseas following the strike at Prominant Hill last November take a look at the chart below and, for example, a flyer from the Sydney Mining Club from April 2002.

The Minotaur Share price has slid from last years peak of around $3 (trading at $1.02 today) but the company has found a potentially valuable resource, now has $7.5 million in cash and other prospects to test.

Below is a location map of drill holes on the Pominent Hill prospect, the colors are magnetic intensity and the contours gravity. The view is north up the page. Hole labels point to the collars and the trace of drill holes is shown on the diagram. Also refer to the cross sections (below the geological model) ordered from west to east. Finally this is followed by list of the most significant intersections, and a plan view of these (drawn at the stage hole DP0010 was reported).

With reference to their geological model (below), clearly the challenge is now to see if the main copper mineralisation actually plunges to the west below the volcanics as is inferred. A vertical hole located close to the collar of hole DP006 would test that hypothesis. The company has not yet announced its future drill plans, but expects to release more results in the next two weeks.

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT RESULTS TO DATE: from a presentation by Tony Belperio
Chief Geologist
Minotaur Resources Ltd
16 th Australian Geological Convention - Adelaide 2 nd July 2002
DDH URN1
108- 128m: 20m @ 3.03 g/ t Au
200- 307m: 107m @ 1.94% Cu, 0.65 g/ t Au, 1.6 g/ t Ag
429- 581m: 152m @ 1.1% Cu, 0.61 g/ t Au, 2.6 g/ t Ag, 267 ppm U
DP002 DP006
190- 206m: 16m @ 2.69 g/ t Au 563- 572m: 9m @ 9.5 g/ t Au
222- 234m: 12m @1.90 g/ t Au 585- 589m: 4m @ 5.65 g/ t Au
DP003
188- 216m: 28m @ 1.0 g/ t Au
400- 635m: 235m @ 1.05% Cu, 0.57 g/ t Au, 2.0 g/ t Ag, 130 ppm U
DP005
197- 568m: 371m @ 1.31% Cu, 0.78 g/ t Au, 2.4 g/ t Ag, 143 ppm U
DP010
389- 420m: 31m @ 4.31% Cu, 0.61 g/ t Au, 9.0 g/ t Ag, 173 ppm U
463- 520m: 57m @ 3.89 g/ t Au (uncut)
570- 587: 17m @ 1.65% Cu, 0.2 g/ t Au, 2.0 g/ t Ag