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Newsletter
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The official e-newsletter of the Asia Mining Congress |
26 - 30 March 2007
Grand Hyatt Singapore
www.terrapinn.com/2007/asiamining |
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CONTENTS (click on the links below to go directly to the article)
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Fuelling global demand
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What you'll experience.....
Only 4 weeks to Asia Mining Congress! Here's just a taste of what you'll experience:
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Networking activities
Networking cocktails!
Besides our traditional conference closing cocktail which was a huge success in 2006, our generous sponsor, IndoGold, will also be hosting an Investors cocktail on the 28th March (after conference Day 2). That’s another night of informal mingling with much fruitful networking potential!
Arabian Nights BBQ dinner
Belly dancers, snake charmers, fire-eaters, free flow of food and drinks…this is our main event party! Sign up for our new & improved themed networking dinner this year. Set amid lush greenery and in the tranquil surroundings of Hyatt Hotel’s garden, join us for an ‘Arabian’ night of fun! Hurry! Dinner places are limited and must be separately booked. You have to be there!
Speednetworking feature
A tried and tested ‘speed-dating’-style networking activity for you to meet all your fellow conference delegates in just 30 minutes. Bring plenty of name cards!
Contact
Contact is now LIVE! Interact, converse, arrange appointments and make new contacts with delegates at Asia Mining Congress BEFORE the event!
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| Industry news |
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Indophil, Xstrata share the limelight as Tampakan shows its world-class status
Indophil Resources NL is poised to hand over management of the world-class Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in the southern Philippines to global mining industry giant, Xstrata.
In late December 2006, Indophil and Xstrata announced that Xstrata's copper division had exercised its option to acquire 62.5% of the Tampakan project. The recently-completed pre-feasibility study revealed that Tampakan is capable of producing an average 210,000 tonnes of copper and 218,000 ounces of gold a year. Based on Indophil's scheduling, Tampakan could go into first production in 2011. With a two billion tonne mineral resource, it is considered a long-life, cost-competitive project.
Indophil's Managing Director, Tony Robbins, will speak at Asia Mining Congress 2007. He says that Xstrata decision to take a direct role in the Tampakan project sends a solid signal of support to mining in the Philippines. He also said the involvement of a major like Xstrata serves to reinforce Indophil's position as an emerging copper producer in its own right because Indophil now owns 32.5% of the Tampakan project, one of the world's most sought after future copper producers.
Indophil has exploration and business interests elsewhere in the Philippines, and has stated publicly that it plans to focus on the Australasia region to grow the company.
Contact Gavan Collery, Manager Corporate Affairs, at Indophil on gavan.collery@indophil.com or go the Indophil website www.indophil.com for more information. Or visit Indophil’s booth at the Asia Mining Congress 2007. |
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Asian Mineral Resources Limited Receives Approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment Report
Asian Mineral Resources Limited (TSX-V:ASN) announced on January 9, 2007 that its 90% owned joint venture company, Ban Phuc Nickel Mines Limited (“BPNM”), has received formal Vietnamese central government approval for its Environmental Impact Assessment Report on its Ban Phuc nickel project.
The application for a mining license for the project for which all required supporting documentation, including a feasibility study, are in hand is now being submitted. Since no master plan for nickel has yet been approved by the Vietnamese central government, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is authorized to issue the license in consultation with other ministries and after receiving Prime Ministerial approval. It is anticipated that, barring unforeseen delays, the mining license will be issued late in the first quarter of 2007.
"We are very pleased to have received this approval which moves us significantly closer to obtaining our mining license, after which we will be in a position to begin construction of the mine," commented Robert Thomson, President & CEO of ASN. "In the meantime, work is proceeding on various elements of the project in anticipation of license issuance."
Company Profile
Asian Mineral Resources Limited is currently engaged in the exploration and development of the Ban Phuc nickel sulfide project in which it currently has a 90% interest. The Project, located in Vietnam, is part of ASN’s Foreign Investment License covering 150 square kilometres of highly prospective ultramafic hosted nickel occurrences. |
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Updates on Wetar and Ojolali projects
Finders Resources is the operator of the exciting Wetar copper project and Ojolali gold-silver project both in Indonesia and holds an investment in the up and coming Geopacific Resources NL, an ASX-listed company with properties in Fiji.
At Wetar, Finders has commenced a Feasibility Study targeting near-term production of 25kt Cu per year from near surface high grade open pits. Initial mining and concentrate/hydrometallurgical studies are completed. Current work involves the selection of the optimum processing option.
Recent heap leach test results have indicated copper recoveries of up to 82% which are highly promising for this stage of the test program and may lead towards major project capital and operating cost reductions and the possibility of shortened timelines to production.
At the Ojolali Silver-Gold project in South Sumatra, Finders’ work to date has shown that the project has strong potential to establish a major mining district targeting 100,000 Oz per year production.
The Jambi prospect, with soft oxidized ore and low stripping ratio provides a platform for a fast-track low cost start up operation, supported by potential resource expansion from the adjacent Batu Kuning prospect where recent scout drilling has returned encouraging high gold and silver grades including:
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5.5m @ 11.23 g/t Au, 14 g/t Ag from 140.7m (hole BTK07)
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1m @ 8.17 g/t Au, 52 g/t Ag from 42m (hole BTK04)
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1m @ 11.89 g/t Au, 690 g/t Ag from 35m (hole BTK05)
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1m @ 4.12 g/t Au, 311 g/t Ag from 114.5m (hole BTK05)
Finders is currently listed on the AIM market in London (Ticker: FND) and has recently announced plans to complete a dual listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to improve access for Asian and Australian investors. |
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Erdene Gold Signs Agreement with Xstrata Copper to Explore Former Falconbridge Projects in Mongolia
On February 1, 2007 Erdene Gold Inc. (TSX:ERD) entered into an agreement with Xstrata Copper (“Xstrata”) to acquire rights to two Mongolian copper-gold properties referred to as Mogoit and Tsagaan Ovoo. The two properties host copper-gold porphyry style targets and were classified as high priority projects by Falconbridge. During 2006, Falconbridge completed exploration work to test for a porphyry-style copper-gold system beneath mineralized surface showings on both properties. Rock samples returned significant copper (up to 14%) and gold (up to 4 g/t) values associated with geophysical anomalies. Falconbridge identified six high priority drill targets on the two properties. Erdene has completed due diligence sampling and expects to complete a minimum of 1,500 metres of diamond drilling in the second quarter of 2007. These projects were acquired through Xstrata plc’s acquisition of Falconbridge Limited (“Falconbridge”), in August 2006. Erdene now has a number of porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum targets in their project pipeline for 2007 including Mogoit, Tsagaan Ovoo, Zuun Mod, Erdenet and Biger.
Under the terms of the Xstrata agreement Erdene can acquire 100% of Falconbridge’s interest in an option agreement with owner of the Mogoit and Tsagaan Ovoo properties by fulfilling the remaining obligations to the license owners, including incurring certain exploration expenditure and by making certain cash payments by January 2009, to earn an 80% interest in the licenses. Erdene has the right to earn a 100% interest in the license, subject to a minimum 0.5% net smelter royalty, by making additional cash payments.
In exchange for granting Erdene the rights and interest described above, Xstrata Copper has the right to acquire 75% of Erdene’s interest in the properties. Xstrata Copper must exercise its option within 60 days of receipt of a full feasibility study. They must also make a payment to Erdene equal to 200% of the funds expended on the properties by Erdene.
Erdene is a diversified mineral company with exploration properties focused on high-growth commodities and near-production assets. The company has a strong portfolio of exploration properties in Mongolia as well as three recently acquired near-term cash flow opportunities in North American. To learn more about Erdene visit www.erdene.com |
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Bhukia Gold-Copper Deposit, Rajasthan, India
The Bhukia Deposit is located within the state of Rajasthan, northwest India. It is approximately halfway between Mumbai and Delhi and is 150km south of the city of Udaipur.
Gold was mined in the area in ancient times, possibly more than 2000 years ago, however neither written records nor oral knowledge of this activity is known and the ancient workings were generally thought to have been only for copper until relatively recent times. During the early 1990’s, Geological Survey of India (GSI) geologists noted visible gold in gossan from the old workings. Sampling confirmed significant gold mineralisation and the area was subsequently evaluated as a gold prospect. This work concentrated on the ancient workings and resulted in the GSI defining several zones of gold mineralisation, reported to exceed 2 million oz in total. The GSI drilling was too broad spaced to put any degree of confidence in these estimates. Hindustan Zinc Limited, a government owned organization at the time, drilled out one of these zones at closer spacing. This work, combined with confirmatory and infill drilling by Indo Gold Ltd (IGL) has resulted in an inferred resource estimate of 38.5 million tonnes grading 1.4 g/t Au containing 1.74 Mozs Au (IGL equity share 1.22Mozs), compliant with JORC guidelines. Copper grade has not been estimated, as previous drilling was not analysed for copper. However, grades of between 0.1% and 0.2% copper are suggested by IGL’s drilling. This resource estimate is from only 2 of more than 11 known zones of mineralisation, and mineralisation remains open at depth. Surface geochemical sampling has delineated a greater than 7km long, plus 100ppb Au anomaly within which the existing resources only occupy about 2km combined strike. The existing resource can be seen to be a small part of a much larger mineralisation system which will be systematically tested during the next few years. |
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Slowing growth in the US remains a risk for base metals
Despite the recent correction, base metal prices have still shown the best performance of all commodity categories over the past two years. Since January 2005 the Goldman Sachs Industrial Metals Excess Return Index achieved a return of almost 90%, while the overall Goldman Sachs Commodity Excess Return Index even had to sustain a loss of more than 5%. Due to it's high proportion of energy commodities, which have performed rather poorly over the last two years, the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index was not able to benefit from the remarkable price increases in the base metal sector. This holds also true for the other major commodity indices such as the Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index or the Rogers International Commodity Index. In all major commodity indices, industrial metals have a weighting of less than 20%. Therefore, investors wishing to participate in the development of industrial metal prices should prefer more selective instruments that take into account the specific fundamentals of industrial metals rather than to invest into broad based commodity indices.
Regarding the further outlook for industrial metal prices, the slowdown of industrial prouction growth in the US and in some parts of Asia remains the largest risk. Already now, copper and zinc prices have seen a correction amid slowing demand growth. Other base metals such as nickel and aluminum have hold up quite well, as the inventory situation in those markets is quite tight. While the downside risks prevail for base metal prices over the short-term, low inventories should limit the declines in most markets from current price levels. Only later the year, when industrial production growth picks up again, we would expect more sustained price increases again.
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Mining investment opportunities in Thailand
Thailand's Department of Primary Industries and Mines (DPIM) has underlying policies for the private sectors to do exploration and development activities. DPIM is also amending the Minerals Act B.E 2510 (1967) to increase flexibility, reduce the complicated procedures and enhance atmosphere of mining investment.
Due to the high demand for minerals such as copper, aluminum, and steel, DPIM endeavors to promote and facilitate on the mining investment for both inbound and outbound by seeking the raw materials to support the local primary industries industrialized Thai economy. Therefore, we have established good cooperation on public and private sectors with not only ASEAN countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, but also China, Korea and Japan.
Since, the growing markets of steel increases each year, DPIM has encouraged the private sectors by conducting the investors to set up the iron and steel making projects in Thailand. Besides, we offer the best incentives for all investors and we have great facilities which are capable of sustainable projects. We also believe that aluminium and its alloy products are important for the primary industries, so we look for the investment on bauxite project in Vietnam to expedite the local entrepreneurs. In 2006, we granted the exploration licenses for the highly prospective minerals which are zinc, gold, tin, coal, gypsum, feldspar and gemstone.
The newest responsibility of DPIM is promoting logistics development for primary industries. We facilitate e-market for the primary industries, and we are interested in developing the logistics system and supply chain for the primary industries too.
The government welcomes and opens for all foreign investment in mining industry. For more details please contact “Department of Primary Industries and Mines”, Rama 6 Rd., Bangkok 10400 Thailand Tel: 66 2202 3661, Fax: 66 2640 9859. |
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PT Inco aims to empower people around its operations
Experience has convinced Arif Siregar, the president director and chief executive officer of mining company PT International Nickel Indonesia (PT Inco), of this principle: To start a business, a company should get a government license. But to make it sustainable, the company should win a social license.
Arif Siregar said that the social license he meant could only be derived through good relations with local people. People either like or dislike a company, depending on how it develops its relationship with the people living around it.
He gave as an example an incident in Kalimantan. At that time a number of people from a non-governmental organisation staged a protest and had blockaded the operation of the mining business. But then local people came to the rescue by driving the protesters out. The local people protected the mining company because they benefited financially from its business operations and would have lost their source of income if the mining stopped.
“We try to share with them the benefits of having the company operating around their villages. We try to involve locals as much as we can in our mining activities. We also employ as many locals as possible,” Arif said, adding that since locals were natives of the areas they had the right to benefit from the mining activities.
But unfortunately, the mining company’s efforts to employ locals and involve them in businesses related to the mining company was hampered by the low quality of education in remote areas. That is a reality facing all mining companies since all of their operations are located in remote areas, where education is typically poor. That is why a mining company should be responsible for empowering local people through improving the standard of their education.
According to him, education improves people’s intellect, makes them independent and gradually reduces their financial dependence on the company. He said that the higher their level of education, the less would be the social burden of the mining company.
“This is very important as the mining company will eventually end its operations in the area due to the depletion of reserves. When the time comes, they won’t be afraid of losing their source of income. They have been empowered before to deal with such a situation,” he said, adding: “Quality education will help local people better their lives with or without the existence of the mining company.”
To pursue the empowering program, PT Inco had established schools— primary, secondary and tertiary — especially for local people in Luwu Timurregency, South Sulawesi province, where the Canadian firm operates. It has provided scholarships for locals and has sponsored various kinds of training programs to improve the skills of locals, especially young people. They are also empowering them through health improvement, infrastructure development, the formation of small businesses and cooperatives run by locals, plus other business and social projects are being realized through its corporate social responsibility and community development programs.
“The difference is that we listen to the aspirations of the local people about what they want. For example, we told them that this year we can provide them with a certain amount of money. We asked them what projects they’d carry out with the money. Then we discussed it with them to make sure that the projects were what they needed, not just what they wanted,” he said.
He said that other companies might think that their corporate social responsibility and community development programs were finalized once they had given money to the public or to the local government.
“But not for us. Our philosophy is to empower the people. And that means we have to involve local people in selecting the projects they need and realize them in cooperation with local people with a view to bettering their lives,” he noted. |
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