Gemcom Software International Inc. has released Whittle 4.1, the latest version of its strategic surface mine planning software. In describing the product, Gemcom says Whittle allows its users to optimize mine plans and maximize NPV because it allows them to understand the impact of all the variables that can influence the profitability of an operation. New and improved features include: increased flexibility of the program’s GUI, with movable toolbars, menus and windows that enable users to tailor a working environment to their needs; improved 3-D visualization, including a new block survey option that allows different categories of blocks to be plotted by color code; increased memory support and program help system; and additional improvements to the data import wizard, grade tonnage graphs, binary file reblock and export, and individual stockpile limits. Whittle 4.1 has been tested for compatibility with Microsoft’s Vista operating system. www.gemcomsoftware.com
Donlin Creek Drill Results Favorable, But Project Cost Will Increase
NovaGold Resources Inc. in mid-December released final drill results from the 2006 Donlin Creek infill drill program and the majority of results from the 2007 program, and said the drill data continue to indicate resource expansion potential beyond the 2006 Preliminary Economic Assessment pit limits. These drill results, according to NovaGold, will be included in a resource update and a final feasibility study for the project, and are expected to convert a significant amount of the previously reported inferred resources to the measured and indicated category.
However, a news service report in mid-January indicated that overall project costs for Donlin Creek could increase significantly. According to Reuters,NovaGold’s 2006 estimate had Donlin costing C$2.1 billion, but project partner Barrick Gold said last year it could cost C$4 billion. Barrick’s plan calls for the use of on-site diesel and wind co-generation, while NovaGold prefers building a lower-cost power line. Speaking at a conference in Toronto, NovaGold Vice President Greg Johnson said the company will soon release an updated cost and resource estimate which will take into account cost inflation and higher resource prices. "We feel that the power line approach could be somewhere around C$3 billion," he said.
NovaGold owns a 50% interest in the Donlin Creek deposit along with Barrick, which managed the 2006 and 2007 drill program and sampling protocol. Located in southwestern Alaska, Donlin Creek is one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold deposits. As currently envisioned, the mine would be developed as a high-tonnage open-pit operation that would produce over 1 million oz/y of gold.
With the results of 100% of 2006 and more than 90% of 2007 drill programs now reviewed, the company reported that drill holes average 67 m of mineralization grading 3.61 g/t gold; that continuity of in-pit inferred resources is confirmed, with the expectation that a majority will convert to the measured and indicated categories; and that the deposit remains open to expansion laterally and at depth.
Drilling in 2006 and 2007 focused primarily on infill drilling to enable completion of a feasibility level study and initiation of the permitting process. Additional drilling was focused on geotechnical and metallurgical studies, engineering design work and facilities location.
NovaGold said work in the first half of 2008 will focus on completing a series of optimizing studies for power, logistics, processing and production levels, and will integrate all data from the 2007 drilling program into a final feasibility study. Once the final feasibility study is completed, it is anticipated that the permitting process will be initiated in cooperation with Native Alaskan Corporations, local communities and Alaska State and U.S. Federal regulators. Further exploration on the project will in part focus on resource expansion and fully testing newly identified targets adjacent to the main Acma and Lewis deposits. The 2006 and 2007 drill results will form the basis for an updated resource estimate on the project in 2008.
Encom has released the latest version of its geophysical interpretation package, Encom PA 7.0, which incorporates a change in name and feature packaging and a free viewer. Encom PA, previously called Profile Analyst, now supports drag and drop of 2-D and 3-D objects into 2-D maps and 3-D views using automatic interpretation of industry standard data formats and model objects. The range of acceptable formats is large and covers ground and airborne geophysical surveys, drillhole geology and geochemistry, mine models, geophysical models, remote sensing and GIS. Encom also has configured product packaging into three options: a fully featured professional version called PA Professional, a fully functional processing and visualization system named PA Explorer and a free viewer called PA Viewer. PA Explorer includes all visualization modes for 1-D and 2-D mapping, 2-D sections and 3-D data, including a 3-D fly-through generator. It also includes a range of specialized filter modules, object builders and processing tool kits. PA Professional extends the capabilities with a full 3-D object construction and editing environment, 3-D voxel toolkit and advanced FFT GeoFilter module. PA Viewer is freely distributable to colleagues and third parties and provides tools necessary to visualize, zoom, pan and print any PA Professional or PA Explorer project session file. www.encom.com.au
Lincoln Electric’s line of Vista auto-darkening welding helmets is topped by the full-featured Vista 3000, which provides one of the industry’s largest view sizes—up to 25% larger than many similarly priced helmets. These helmets include variable shade adjustment from shade 9 up to 13, as well as variable sensitivity, including a grind mode that fixes the shade at the light state of shade 3 for grinding. In addition, a TIG mode assists the helmet in detecting the arc in low amperage welding applications. Variable delay is also included, for protecting operators from the bright light of slow cooling weld nuggets during high-amperage welding.
Four independent arc sensors help ensure the auto-darkening lens reliably and safely darkens in any application, moving from light to dark in 1/10,000 of a second. The TIG mode is designed to detect a welding arc as low as 5 amps. The Vista line also features a cover/spatter plate that can be conveniently changed in seconds from the front of the helmet. Welders can custom fit the helmet with new Push-N-Turn headgear, and a patent-pending tilt mechanism adjusts the viewing angle and helmet down stop. This is backed by the Positive Lock-Up, which holds the helmet up until it is time to weld. www.lincolnelectric.com
MMX Starts Amapá Operations, Acquires AVG, Looks at Asset Sale to Anglo American (Latin America)
Brazilian iron-ore producer MMX Mineração e Metálicos S.A. announced in December that an operating license has been issued by the Amapa State Environmental Secretariat, authorizing operations by subsidiary MMX Amapá Mineração which include the project’s ore-processing installations and infrastructure such as the Amapá Railway and Port of Santana. The railway is operated under a 20-year concession agreement with the State of Amapá signed in March 2006. The Port of Santana, rebuilt and modernized by MMX Amapá, is reportedly now in its operational phase, equipped to receive, unload, stock and load ships with MMX Amapás iron ore. MMX also reported that it has concluded the purchase of 100% of the shares of AVG Mineracao S.A., for US$224 million, following an MMX-AVG shareholders agreement announced on July 5, 2007. MMX said the first installment of the purchase price, in the amount of $44 million, has been paid and the remaining four installments of $45 million each will be paid on August 30 of the next four years.
MMX said it has determined that AVG’s production capacity could be increased from 2.3 million mt/y to 5.8 million mt/y, as a result of technical and due diligence studies; and that it believes AVG also could increase overall efficiency and productivity through improvements in AVG’s operational processes, replacement of aging equipment, and implementation of maintenance procedures and routines. MMX’s management approved a 2008–2009 investment plan for AVG of $32 million, of which $12 million is earmarked for current operations and $20 million for expansion. MMX said it plans to increase investment in AVG to phase-in an increase in production capacity that could exceed 5.8 million mt/y, and is conducting engineering studies to support the this expansion.
Following that announcement, however, in mid-January Reutersreported that Anglo American Plc had begun negotiations with MMX to buy control of two of its iron ore projects for about $5.5 billion. The transaction would help boost Anglo’s annual output of iron ore to 150 million mt by 2017, up from 31.1 million mt in 2006. Anglo said it expected to reach an agreement with Eike Batista, the majority shareholder of MMX Mineracao, to buy his 63.6% stake in a new company demerging from the group. The demerged company will own MMX's 51% interest in the Minas-Rio iron project and 70% interest in the Amapá iron ore project. The deal would give Anglo full ownership of the Minas-Rio project after it paid $1.15 billion last year for a 49% stake.
NorthMet Project Ahead of the Pack in Minnesota Polymetallic Resource Rush
Polymet Mining, owner of the large NorthMet polymetallic deposit in northeastern Minnesota, USA, is hoping that a logjam in the state’s natural-resource regulatory bureaucracy will break early in 2008, allowing the Vancouver, B.C.-based company to move forward with draft Environmental Impact Statement preparation and to eventually obtain permits leading to an anticipated startup of production sometime in the first half of 2009—making it the first nonferrous metal mine in modern times to obtain official approval from this upper Midwestern state.
The company, which plans to spend an estimated $380 million to get the project up and running, plus an additional $72 million in sustaining capital over the course of a projected 20-year mine life, began the permitting process in 2004 and initially expected the state’s Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete their evaluation of its operating plans in November 2007. However, the agencies were unable to meet that target and said they needed another few months of study time.
During a conference call with analysts and investors in early November following the extension, company executives expressed confidence that the evaluation would be completed in January 2008 and downplayed any concerns that the regulators were deliberately prolonging the process or encountering unanticipated problems. LaTisha Gietzen, vice-president of public, government, and environmental affairs for PolyMet, said that during a meeting with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, the company had been assured of the state’s interest and support for the project. Chief Financial Officer Douglas Newby noted that the agencies had been previously engaged in similar studies for two other large projects and that "we had the [misfortune] to be third on the list."
Concurrently with the extension, Polymet said that in the latter half of 2007 it had focused on improving certain environmental aspects of the project. The company modified its proposed mining schedule to allow waste rock backfilling in mined-out portions of the pit, and eliminated plans for an overburden stockpile to reduce impact on nearby wetlands. In addition, mine-site water will be collected, treated, and pumped to the plant site where it will be used as process water, resulting in zero surface water discharge and a reduced requirement for makeup water.
PolyMet’s project is located just south of the northeastern end of the famous Mesabi Iron Range. The project comprises the NorthMet orebody—containing copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold with traces of zinc and silver—and a large former taconite processing complex situated 6 miles to the west of the deposit and connected by a private railroad. The orebody is in the center of a trend of polymetallic nonferrous metal deposits on the northwestern contact of the Duluth Complex, a mineral belt that is believed to be one of the three largest known concentrations of nickel in the world, behind the Norilsk district in Siberia and the Sudbury Basin in Ontario, Canada.
