World Mining Magazine

Magazine

enaex

thinking big for the future of mining Enaex is one of the leading providers of rock fragmentation services to international mining companies, focusing on safety and productivity to provide value and sustainability in mining operations.

Issue 22 2018

World Mining

the editor

The digital mine

Editor

The

Martin Ashcroft

A

t this time of year we love to speculate about the challenges we are likely to face and the opportunities that may present themselves. How can we fine tune our strategy to even out the bumps in a notoriously boom and bust industry? Some boardrooms will find this a slightly less painful process this year, as the mining sector emerges from a period of austerity, poised for growth.

Organising priorities in the mining industry can be a complex balancing act, especially if you cover the whole spectrum from exploration to production. Safety is always number one, but then there are competing demands to replenish resources, maximise efficiency, manage your social and environmental reputation and keep enough cash to reward your shareholders.

To help us focus on the major issues, Deloitte Global has released its tenth annual industry report, Tracking the trends 2018. Its top trend this year is ‘bringing digital to life’. It’s a good choice, as data has a contribution to make to many of the contradictory drivers that give miners a headache.

From a safety perspective, miners are increasingly focused on removing people from hazardous situations, taking the driver out of the cab and operating vehicles and equipment by remote control, sometimes from a nice comfortable office many miles

away. This is all fine and dandy, but as Len Eros of ABB pointed out to me some time ago, with remote control you lose the element of sensory perception – like feeling the vibrations and hearing the tone of the engine. You need a lot of data to replace what people would have been sensing themselves if they had been on the spot.

Data can play a huge role in the pursuit of efficiency, too, and it has become ever more sophisticated as its mining applications multiply. Starting simply with pieces of equipment that monitor themselves, data makes it possible to move from preventive to predictive maintenance. At its most advanced level, the data being collected now enables whole systems to be monitored to optimise the performance of the complete process.

Safety and efficiency are likely to continue driving mining trends, but social and environmental factors are playing an increasing role, too, as the ‘social licence to operate’ gains traction. The demand for data is everywhere, from water quality to noise pollution, from energy consumption to the control of emissions.

Digital thinking must be integrated into the heart of business strategy because the mine of the future will be a digital mine.

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Contents

Cover story enaex:

thinking big for the future of mining Page 6

Page: 3 • The Editor: The digital mine 6 • Enaex:

Thinking big for the future of mining 18 • AzerGold: Azerbaijan’s non-ferrous metal industry at a

new stage of development 21 • South32 retreat leaves Northern Shield in

control of Huckleberry

• Orefinders closes acquisition of the Shining

Tree assets 25 • New tailings facility approved at Topia Mine • Philippines adopts Canada’s Towards

Sustainable Mining initiative 29 •

•

Agnico Eagle to purchase exploration assets of Canadian Malartic Saudi Arabia clears Tronox acquisition of Cristal

31 • Argonaut Gold issues update and outlook 33 •

•

Monarques Gold acquires McKenzie Break and Swanson properties from Agnico Eagle NxGold completes acquisition of 80 per cent interest in Pilbara gold project

37 •

•

NextView to acquire Lithium X for $265 million Centerra Gold completes acquisition of AuRico Metals

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ADVERTISERS 2 16 17 22 23 24 26 27 28

Resemin Asia MOS Mobile Screener Applied Fiber WeatherSolve Structures Irwin Car and Equipment Altra Industrial Motion TowHaul GIW Minerals THEJO

Phoenix Conveyor Belt Systems 30 Canary Systems 32 Flowrox 34 Montabert 35 Shaw Development

36 A-1 Industrial Supply 38 Smith Power Products 39 Komatsu Equipment 42 Volvo Construction Equipment 48 spliethoff Epiroc Tenaris 68 Rammer: Sandvik Mining and Construction 69 PMP: Prairie Machine & Parts 70 Royston Lead 71 Scania Mining 75 AKG 78 World Mining Directory 81 ABB 82 United Mining Rentals 84 Rockwell Automation

contents

rio tinto Page 44

2018 silver market trends Page 40

40 • 2018 silver market trends: A forecast from the Silver Market Institute 44 • Rio Tinto: Value over volume 56 • Amalgamated Mining Group: The natural choice for underground mining and tunnelling equipment 72 • AKG: Cool customers 76 • AxleWEIGHr: Weighs truck at the job site

World Mining Magazine Contacts, Advertising Rates & Information News & Features Editor: Martin Ashcroft martin@ogsmag.com Editor Vanessa Ward editor@ogsmag.com Sales sales@ogsmag.com General email contact info@ogsmag.com Design and Artwork Steve Lazarus artwork@ogsmag.com Managing Director Simon Ward

Advertising Rates

Double Page £6000.00 Full Page £4895.00 Half Page £2450.00 Quarter Page £1450.00 Full Page (inside cover) £6000.00 Lead Article + Front Cover £19,995.00 All advertisement rates include design free of charge.

The magazine is printed in A4 format on 250gsm gloss laminated cover and 170gsm matt internal pages. The magazine is both a printed hard copy magazine and distributed electronically.

Currently our global readership is approximately 93,000.

World Mining Magazine 2018 World Mining Magazine is published

by Worldwide Business Media Limited, London, EC1V 2NX United Kingdom.

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VAT No. 972 7492 76. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or any part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

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Worldwide Business Media Limited, London. EC1V 2NX United Kingdom. www.ogsmag.com Tel: +44(0)203 5751249

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ENAEX THINKING BIG FOR THE FUTURE OF MINING After ninety seven years in the explosives industry, Enaex is one of the leading providers of rock fragmentation services to international mining companies, focusing on safety and productivity to provide value and sustainability in mining operations.

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Innovation is an essential and strategic pillar in the company’s response to clients' needs. To help overcome their major challenges, Enaex enables access to new mining resources, removes personnel from high risk areas and incorporates advanced new technologies.

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D

espite the global economic slowdown and a decline in performance in the mining industry in particular, Enaex recorded US$691.7 million in revenue and US$85.3 million in profit in 2016, representing 9 per cent and 18 per cent growth respectively, compared to the prior year.

Enaex is a subsidiary of the Sigdo Koppers Group, a Chilean conglomerate active in the engineering and construction sectors, and the distribution of heavy machinery and agricultural equipment, as well as mining.

Enaex was founded in November 1920 as Compañía de Explosivos de Chile, but renamed Empresa Nacional de Explosivos when the Chilean government took control of the company in 1972 through the Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO). The name was shortened

enaex thinking big for the future of mining

and further afield, including Mexico, USA and Australia.

Enaex also supplies rock fragmentation and blasting services in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, México and USA where it has a wide network of service plants at its customers’ mine sites. The company has contracts with a large portfolio of important clients including BHP, Anglo American, Codelco and Antofagasta Minerals among others, offering complete blasting engineering services from raw materials supply to full service blasting (down the hole).

Expansion

Over the last few years, Enaex has developed an international growth plan to expand its global presence and maximize its ability to provide innovative solutions with cutting-edge technology.

Elsewhere in South America, Enaex Colombia SAS has a high-tech packaged emulsions plant which has been in operation since 2010. Enaex Argentina SARL opened a bulk emulsions plant in 2014 and in Peru, Enaex acquired an 80% interest in the local company, now renamed Enaex Peru, which holds an ammonium nitrate supply contract for Minera Antamina, Peru's largest and one of the world's most important open-pit mines and also a full package service contract for Mina Constancia. Finally, the company strengthened its presence in Brazil in 2015, acquiring a 100% interest in the country's largest manufacturer and distributor of civil explosives and initiation systems, IBQ Industrias Químicas (now called Enaex Britanite).

to Enaex in 1989 and then in 1991 Enaex became a publicly held corporation.

The company has become the world's third largest producer of low-density ammonium nitrate, and the largest in Latin America. In Chile, the company owns the world's largest ammonium nitrate production in the Prillex América plant which has a nominal capacity of 850 thousand tons a year. The ammonium nitrate is sold as a raw material for onsite manufacturing of blasting agents.

Enaex also produces a large range of high explosives— including different types of dynamite, boosters, cartridge emulsions and detonators—at the Río Loa plant, which are used in blasting for open-pit and underground mining as well as small- and medium-scale mining operations. Its products are sold directly to clients within South America

In June 2015, Enaex began to expand beyond Latin America, acquiring a 91% interest in the French company Davey Bickford, a world leader in the manufacture of electronic detonators and initiation systems, with subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, Chile, the United States, Mexico and Peru.

The 2015 acquisitions helped the company achieve some of the first goals in its 2015-2020 strategic plan, like regional leadership and increased global presence. In 2016 it earned important recognition for strong leadership in innovation and development, which has focused on continuously improving process productivity with an emphasis on meeting client needs.

With the 2015 acquisitions, the company also benefited from diversification and vertical integration of its operations, with greater presence in other mining markets within the region and technological markets for initiation systems around the world.

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enaex thinking big for the future of mining

Innovation

Innovation has been a cornerstone of the company’s growth, and is fundamental to its future strategy. “Innovation is one of our strategic pillars and has been implemented as a systematic practice within the organization,” said Chairman, Juan Eduardo Errázuriz Ossa. “It is a fundamental tool for contributing to our clients' productivity and generating value in their operations. We believe that innovation is essential as the industry faces problems that require timely solutions and non-traditional insights.”

One its main innovations is Milodón®, a specialized manufacturing truck able to load up to 28 tons of explosives on site, designed for the production of ammonium nitrate/ fuel oils (ANFOs) and pumpable and pourable heavy ANFOs for rock blasting applications in open-pit mine sites.

Milodón provides large productive advantages compared to the current alternatives available in the market.

The blasting agent Vertex® is a recent addition, a robust explosive mixture, effective and easy to use. Its greater explosive power improves the fragmentation of rock and

allows the use of wider meshes, which reduces consumption of explosives and the number of holes that need to be drilled.

Pirex® is an Enaex development that delays the exothermic reaction with reactive minerals, without affecting fragmentation. This maximizes safety and optimizes borehole loading and blasting operations.

The addition of Davey Bickford broadens Enaex's ability to innovate and develop new blasting solutions. In order to increase global capacity, the company implemented its first automatic assembly machine for electronic detonators in 2016. It also launched a ‘Big Data’ innovation project to optimize client operations and has focused on integrating Latin American subsidiary teams with the Enaex Group.

As the Daveytronic® brand celebrates 20 years in the market, Davey Bickford has launched its new solution designed for high volume blasting with intelligent reportability: Daveytronic® Evolution. This is a high tech digital blasting system that increases productivity with next generation safety features.

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Enaex also created an innovation synergy group among its subsidiaries, which held global meetings in Santiago, Salt Lake City, Paris and Brisbane. One objective of these meetings was to create a road map to provide a thorough understanding of the problems facing clients around the world.

As a result of its corporate efforts to pursue innovation, The Most Innovative Companies Chile Ranking, carried out every year by the ESE Business School of the Universidad de Los Andes in association with La Tercera newspaper, recognized Enaex as the most innovative company within the national mining sector in both 2015 and 2016.

Automation Automation has become de rigueur in some industries, particularly in manufacturing. With their emphasis always on safety first, followed by productivity, mining customers have also started to demand more automation from their suppliers.

Enaex has therefore taken innovation to the next level with two new projects, Mine-iTruck® and RoboMiner®.

RoboMiner is a tele-operated robot that, in its first phase of development, will have the capacity to monitor temperature, measure topography and record in real time with 3D vision.

It’s being developed so that by 2018 it should be able to manipulate objects, allowing the remote control of priming

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and anchoring activities in the open-pit mine blasting process and in underground mine applications.

RoboMiner is equipped with 3D vision to provide feedback on operations using stereoscopic cameras with depth perception, and also has sensors for temperature and humidity measurement. It also carries a gas meter for the measurement of gases in the environment in post-blasting applications, including oxygen, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other gases.

The Mine-iTruck® is a 20-ton tele-operated mobile manufacturing truck, specially designed for the manufacture of heavy ANFOs and gasified products for open-pit mine blasting, at the mine site itself.

Like the RoboMiner, the Mine iTruck offers remote control handling via wireless networks and the assistance of peripheral cameras that provide feedback to the remote operator. Both devices have an antenna system that allows for wireless connectivity supporting multiple radio configurations, thus providing greater flexibility and ensuring a wide range of coverage, while achieving compatibility with the existing mine communications infrastructure.

enaex thinking big for the future of mining

“These projects were specially created to enhance mining operations, by taking care of our greatest asset, our people”

The Mine-iTruck and the RoboMiner will make a huge contribution to mine safety by removing operators from the blasting area to a remote, safe and comfortable control station. They also offer other benefits, by making it possible to exploit mining resources that cannot be recovered using traditional operations. Productivity can also be improved through more flexible and interconnected operations and the possibility of night-time working.

"These projects were specially created to enhance mining operations, by taking care of our greatest asset, our people,” said Juan Andrés Errázuriz, CEO of the Enaex Group, at the launch event in September. “Through advanced technology, these solutions will make resources available that are now inaccessible, safely and economically. Through the development of this type of project, Enaex wants to contribute in the conversion of Chile from a mineral exporting country to an exporter of innovative technology for the mining industry."

The projects were developed by Enaex in conjunction with leading international institutions such as the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), ASI Robots, Thecne, and SK Godelius. Support for research and development was provided by the Chilean Ministry of Mining and CORFO, the Chilean economic development agency.

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Awards

Enaex is no stranger to awards, earning important recognition in the first half of 2016 when Principal Financial Group and First People Consulting recognized its commitment to the future and financial wellbeing of its employees with its Best Employee Financial Future award. In the second half of the year, Enaex became part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Chile (DJSI Chile), created by Santiago Exchange, S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM. This was followed by the Most Innovative Companies in Chile award (Mining Services category) for the second year in a row, and to top it all, in August last year the Chilean Federation of Industry (SOFOFA) named the company 2016 Best National Supplier of the mining industry, one of its most important national accolades.

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enaex thinking big for the future of mining

“We have invested a lot in research and development to generate new products and solutions that help lower the total cost of mining”

"For our company it is very significant to be recognized by our own clients, since we have made a sustained effort to better understand the needs of mining companies and apply our talent to offer them the best solutions,” said Edmundo Jiménez, vice president of Enaex Servicios SA. “We have invested a lot in research and development to generate new products and solutions that help lower the total cost of mining. We know that our results depend on the success of our clients."

Enaex is known for its innovation, sustainability, exceptional quality, safety and passion for service. These values are key to satisfying client needs and providing on-site solutions. “Our new corporate vision focuses on thinking big,” concluded Chairman, Juan Eduardo Errázuriz Ossa. “We continue to make progress on the ambitious commitments that define Enaex's current and future roles, with services that offer comprehensive solutions while developing a business that adapts to industry changes quickly and efficiently.”

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For existing conventional feeding hopper: The installed rock breaker boom, roller screen and rock crusher can be switched off. The dumper material is sent directly from the apron feeder to the installed vibrating screen. All the OPEX expenses for these machines (electrical energy, operators, maintenance and so on) will be economized. Since the oversized waste material is already removed in-pit, the OPEX for waste disposal system will be cut. Moreover the feeding hopper will produce less noise and less vibrations, extending its operating life.

For installation of a new feeding hopper: with the MOS H3 series working in-pit, the related CAPEX expenses will be optimized and significantly reduced. Rock breaker booms, rollers screen and rock crusher are no longer necessary.

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Azerbaijan’s Non-Ferrous Metal Industry at a New Stage of Development Azerbaijan is known throughout the world as an oil and gas country. In order to provide steady and sustainable development of the country, the government has diversified its economy, supporting the development of a non-oil sector, and creating favourable conditions for local and foreign investors. One of the most promising areas in this non-oil sector is, namely, a mining industry. Therefore, AzerGold Closed Joint-Stock Company (AzerGold) was established according to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev dated February 11, 2015. The company’s activity covers the study, exploration, development and management of non-ferrous metal ore deposits located in the territory of Azerbaijan.

In a short time, AzerGold has addressed organizational issues and started operating. At the moment, AzerGold is actively operating its own Chovdar gold and silver mine in Dashkasan district, in the west of Azerbaijan.Mineral extraction by the method of oxide – open pit mining started in 2016 after extensive construction and repair works. It is planned to extract about 500,000 ounces of gold and silver in total within the scope of oxide phase to be continued until 2021.

Having successfully passed the procedures of KYC (Know Your Customer) and Due Diligence, AzerGold cooperates with a renowned Swiss company Argor-Heraeus SA on gold refining. In the first year of the mine operation – during April-December of 2017, the export of gold and silver has contributed approximately US$77,340,000 to Azerbaijan’s economy, which has brought AzerGold to a leading position in non-oil exportation business.

At the same time, AzerGold is carrying out active exploration works on other mine sites. When referring to non-ferrous metals in Azerbaijan, we must first mention the Filizchay polymetallic deposit located in Balakan district, in the north of the country, which is considered the “pearl” and the biggest deposit of the region and the second in Europe.

The deposit has more than 120 million tons of precious and non-ferrous ore reserves such as copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver. The scoping study of Filizchay deposit is under preparation by world-known SRK Consulting company and is expected to be ready by April 2018. The next steps for exploitation will be defined by this study.

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The preliminary drilling works in another deposit – Mazimchay will be finalized next year and its reserves will be evaluated accordingly. Due to the fact that the Mazimchay deposit is located near Filizchay, leads to the increase of reserves of the latter and the economical efficiency of both projects.

Another promising mine is Ortakand-Khanagha located in the southern part of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and distinguished with detection of particular gold, complex copper-porphyry, epithermal sulphide ores. Since the results of geophysical studies made by the method of electro and magnetic exploration are very reassuring at the moment, drilling works are expected to be carried out at the mine in the near future. If it is determined that the amount of reserves estimated after drilling works is cost efficient according to above-mentioned results, the preparation of mining works, feasibility study and implementation of construction works, as well as the operation of the mine in 2021 are to commence.

Daghkasaman mine located in the north-west of Azerbaijan is considered a promising area in terms of detection of gold, gold-polymetallic deposits. It is planned to undertake geological surveys at this mine in 2022.

There are three copper-porphyry deposits in Garadagh mine located in Shamkir district near Daghkasaman. Over recent years, the economical efficiency of those deposits has been achieved by increases in the copper price in the world market. Towards the center of the country, Kurakchay mine, located in the territory of Goygol district has been always considered a promising area due to the presence of splattered gold deposits, several occurrences and mineralization points. This mine is scheduled to be explored again according to requirements of international standards.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the most significant areas of AzerGold’s policy. Ninety per cent of the people working at Chovdar mine represent neighbourhood communities which is an important aspect of the company’s social policy. Regular meetings are organized with local communities and their needs are studied within the frame of CSR. Other social support projects are being and will be performed to improve the social welfare of local communities. AzerGold pays considerable attention to

environmental protection. More than 6,000 trees and shrubs have been planted in an aera of more than 10 ha within the scope of tree-planting events held in Chovdar mine during a year.

Generally, the five-year strategic development plan of AzerGold includes the development of mining production, exploration of ore deposits, strengthening of human resources, social responsibility and environmental protection, establishing international co-operation and other targets.

Azerbaijan is rapidly developing due to the economic reforms implemented in the country, socio-political and socio-economic stability, as well as the conducive environment created for foreign investors. The favourable conditions provided in the country, the application of technologies and innovation, the exchange of experience, as well as co-operation with foreign and local partners, all ensure the dynamic development of the young AzerGold.

The precious-metal-rich deposits of Azerbaijan are indicative of great potential. Establishing co-operation with foreign investors will be one of AzerGold’s priority areas, in order to realize its potential at the next stage of development. AzerGold is open to co-operation.

The company’s representatives regularly attend events of international importance, developing new business relationships, informing potential partners in detail on perspectives of deposits existing in Azerbaijan, and sharing best practices extensively.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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Have a news story or press release you would like to be considered for publication in the next Word Mining Magazine?

Please contact Martin Ashcroft at martin@ogsmag.com

www.ogsmag.com

World

news

South32 retreat leaves Northern Shield in control of Huckleberry

A

ustralian miner South32 has decided not to pursue its interest in the Huckleberry copper-nickel-platinum group metals property in northern Quebec, leaving Northern Shield Resources with sole ownership of the property.

The Huckleberry Option and Joint Venture agreement announced on 7 June 2016 has now been terminated, despite South32 having met all the phase one requirements to earn a

but it also intends to begin exploration of the newly acquired Shot Rock gold property in Nova Scotia.

“Exploration for 2018 at Huckleberry may be limited” 50% stake. There are no longer any third party rights associated with the property.

Northern Shield says it has identified two areas in the Labrador Trough that deserve to be followed up,

“We remain confident in the technical merits and exploration potential of the Huckleberry Project and Labrador Trough, including Séquoi and Sé2,” explains Northern

Shield President and CEO, Ian Bliss. “However, planned exploration for 2018 at Huckleberry and surrounding area may be limited as we focus on the Shot-Rock Gold Property in Nova Scotia and other NiCu-PGE targets in Quebec and elsewhere.

“This will also allow for research at Huckleberry and the Labrador Trough in general to come to fruition and assist in future exploration.”

Orefinders closes acquisition of the Shining Tree assets

O

refinders Resources Inc has closed all of its property acquisitions in the Shining Tree area.

With the consolidation now complete, Orefinders owns a 100% interest in each of the properties.

With the consolidation of nine properties each with individual names, the company has decided to refer to the cohesive and contiguous land package

as the Knight Project, with the individual property names reverting to zones within the broader project.

“Given the region’s recent consolidation and previous variety of names, we felt it prudent to give the Knight Project a singular name

and one which is distinct to Orefinders,” said Stephen Stewart, Orefinders CEO. “Knight is the name of the Township where our core interest in the district is located and it’s more geographically accurate given that Shining Tree is actually

30 kilometres west of our focus. We expect 2018 to be a busy year for Orefinders and we are looking forward to unlocking the value within each of our assets.”

The Knight Project is located immediately adjacent to Tahoe Resources’ Juby Gold Project, which has declared 1.09 million ounces of indicated gold resources and 2.91 million ounces of inferred gold resources.

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New tailings facility approved at Topia Mine

T “We will be commencing imminently the construction of Phase II”

he Mexican environmental authority, SEMARNAT, has granted permits for the construction and operation of Great Panther Silver’s new Phase II tailings storage facility at its Topia Mine in Durango, Mexico.

“We are pleased with the conclusion of the permitting process without interruption of operations at Topia”, said James Bannantine, President & CEO. “We will be commencing imminently the construction of Phase II and have sufficient remaining capacity at Phase I to continue mining operations allowing a seamless transition to deposition at Phase II.” The permits granted for construction and operation of the Phase II TSF and

the modifications to the processing plant earlier in the year will allow dry stack tailings disposal under the company’s current operating plan for the Topia Mine.

Great Panther Silver is a primary silver mining and exploration company listed on the NYSE and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Its current activities focus on the mining of precious metals from its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico: the Guanajuato Mine Complex and the Topia Mine in Durango. The company is also evaluating the restart of the Coricancha Mine in Peru, which it acquired earlier this year, and continues to pursue the acquisition of additional mining operations or projects in the Americas.

Philippines adopts Canada’s ‘Towards Sustainable Mining’ initiative

T

he Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) has said it will adopt the Towards Sustainable Mining initiative, a mining sustainability standard developed by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC).

COMP is the fourth national mining association outside Canada to adopt TSM in the last two years, but the first in southeast Asia. The national mining associations of Finland (FinnMin), Argentina (Cámara Argentina de Empresarios Mineros) and Botswana (Botswana Chamber of Mines) are currently implementing TSM. Launched by MAC and its members in 2004, TSM requires mining companies to annually assess their

facilities’ performance in key areas, including tailings management, community outreach, safety and health, biodiversity conservation, crisis management, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions management. Their performance results are evaluated by an external auditor every three years.

“There is so much that minerals development, done responsibly, can contribute to the economy of a nation and to the welfare of mining communities, as shown by numerous examples in the Philippines,” said Gerard H. Brimo, chairman of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines. “The adoption of TSM by members of the Chamber of Mines is intended to institutionalize practices that secure these contributions for the long term.”

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news

Agnico Eagle to purchase exploration assets of Canadian Malartic “The purchase of the CMC asset portfolio enhances our longer-term development pipeline”

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gnico Eagle has agreed to acquire the Canadian exploration assets of Canadian Malartic Corporation, including the Kirkland Lake and Hammond Reef Gold projects, from its joint venture partner Yamana Gold for US$162.5 million.

Agnico Eagle will acquire all of Yamana’s indirect 50% interest in the Canadian exploration assets of CMC, giving Agnico Eagle 100% ownership of CMC’s interest in the assets.

The transaction will not affect the Canadian Malartic mine and related assets including Odyssey, East Malartic, Midway, and East Amphi, which will

continue to be jointly owned and operated by Agnico Eagle and Yamana through CMC and the Canadian Malartic General Partnership.

“The purchase of the CMC asset portfolio enhances our longer-term development pipeline, and provides us with potential production growth post our current mine build-out in Nunavut,” said Agnico Eagle CEO Sean Boyd.

“The Kirkland Lake property package enhances our current mineral reserves and offers near-term exploration upside, while the Hammond Reef project provides good optionality to a potential rise in the gold price.”

The Kirkland Lake project in northeastern Ontario contains key deposits including Upper Beaver, Anoki and McBean, Amalgamated Kirkland

and Upper Canada. Hammond Reef is an advanced stage gold project in northwestern Ontario containing well defined mineral resources.

Saudi Arabia clears Tronox acquisition of Cristal

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he Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Competition has approved the proposed acquisition by Tronox of the titanium dioxide business of Cristal, a privately held global chemical and mining company headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. To date, Australia, China, New Zealand, Turkey, South Korea and Colombia have also approved the acquisition.

“We are pleased the Saudi General Authority for Competition has approved our proposed pro-competition, output-enhancing combination with Cristal,” said Jeffry N. Quinn, president and chief executive officer of Tronox. “This approval is an important step toward completion of this strategic acquisition. We are confident the significant synergies we have identified will enable

us to increase production and lower our cost position to the benefit of our customers around the world.”

Tronox is a vertically integrated mining and inorganic chemical business which mines and processes titanium ore, zircon and other minerals, and manufactures titanium dioxide pigments that add brightness and durability to paints, plastics, paper, and other everyday products. Cristal (also known as The National Titanium Dioxide Company Limited) operates eight manufacturing plants around the world.

Tronox intends to consummate the transaction promptly following the satisfaction of all remaining conditions to closing the acquisition.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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news

Argonaut Gold issues update and outlook

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rgonaut Gold produced 34,987 gold equivalent ounces in the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2017, bringing the total for the year up to 126,704 GEOs. Argonaut Gold is a Canadian gold company with three producing mines – La

with production of 53,286 GEOs. At San Agustin, we experienced a slower than expected ramp up in the mine and slower than anticipated flow rate to the leach pad. These issues have since been resolved and mining and flow rates are now meeting plan.

“Our main focus in 2018 will be adding cash to the balance sheet” Colorada mine in Sonora, Mexico, and the El Castillo and San Agustin mines which together form the El Castillo Complex in Durango, Mexico.

“Production of 126,704 GEOs falls within our stated 2017 guidance of between 122,000 and 130,000 GEOs,” said Pete Dougherty, President & CEO. “At La Colorada we exceeded our expectation of between 47,000 and 50,000 GEOs

“We had several major accomplishments during 2017,” he continued. “San Agustin construction was completed on time and 25% under budget, we produced a positive feasibility study for our Magino project detailing a project with significantly lower initial capital requirements, a higher grade profile, an attractive rate of return and we remain on track to achieve our 60% growth target from

2016’s approximate 122,000 GEO production to 2019’s projected production of over 200,000 GEOs. “2017 was a capital intensive year for the company due to San Agustin’s construction, the purchase of the San Juan mineral concession from Fresnillo Plc and the acquisition of the Cerro del Gallo project. Our main focus as a company during 2018 will be adding cash to the balance sheet through the free cash flow generated by our operations.”

The company expects to produce between 165,000 to 180,000 GEOs during 2018 at a cash cost of between $700 to $800 per gold ounce sold, and all-in sustaining costs of between $850 to $950 per gold ounce sold. By 2019, the company anticipates production of over 200,000 GEOs annually from its existing operations, which would reflect over 60% production growth from 2016.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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news

Monarques Gold acquires McKenzie Break and Swanson properties

Beacon Mill

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onarques Gold Corporation has entered into an agreement with Agnico Eagle to acquire the McKenzie Break and Swanson properties in Quebec, which both host gold deposits near Monarques’ whollyowned Beacon and Camflo mills.

“This is an excellent transaction for Monarques, as it could significantly increase the resource available for processing at our Beacon mill,” said Jean-Marc Lacoste, president and chief executive officer of Monarques. “The previous owners made significant investments on these properties, including building ramps to access the two deposits. Furthermore, both deposits have the benefit of lying close to surface.

“The next step for Monarques will be to confirm the historical estimate of the two deposits in line with NI 43-101 and

Camflo Mill

“This transaction could significantly increase the resource available for processing at our Beacon mill” explore the options for extracting those resources. We will also try to determine the potential for increasing the resources of the deposits, as most of the drilling done on the properties was at a shallow depth.”

Beafor Mine

The McKenzie Break property hosts a high-grade gold deposit just 40 kilometres north of the Beacon mill and 25 km north of Val-d’Or, Quebec. The property has surface and underground infrastructure, including a ramp providing access to the deposit, 80 metres below surface.

The Swanson property hosts a gold deposit 65 kilometres from the Beacon mill and 12 km northeast of Barraute, Quebec. The property is accessible yearround via Route 367 and a gravel road.

A railway track also crosses the property, as does a transmission line.

The agreement provides for Monarques to acquire the McKenzie Break and Swanson properties for a total of C$4.6 million, including C$1.6 million payable in cash and C$3 million in common shares of the Corporation over a four-year period.

NxGold completes acquisition of 80% interest in Pilbara gold project

NxGold

has received all the necessary approvals for the acquisition from Roe Gold of an 80 per cent interest in the Mt Roe Gold Project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Mt. Roe comprises two exploration blocks approximately 30 kilometres south of the port city of Karratha, Western Australia.

The project is situated immediately adjacent to the joint venture tenements of Novo Resources Corp and Artemis Resources Limited and contains outcropping gold-bearing conglomerates which have been traced for over 5 kilometres

of strike length within the project area. Additionally, gold nuggets have been discovered at surface on Mt. Roe with similar characteristics as gold discovered on nearby projects.

A Vancouver-based exploration company, NxGold has an earn-in agreement with Meliadine Gold Ltd. to earn up to a 70% interest in the Kuulu Project (formerly known as the Peter Lake Gold Project). The company also has an agreement to earn up to a 100% interest in the Chicobi Project located within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Quebec.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

33

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news

NextView to acquire Lithium X for $265 million “This transaction puts our flagship asset, Sal de los Angeles, in the hands of a well-funded, technically capable team”

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extview New Energy Lion Hong Kong Limited has agreed to acquire Lithium X Energy Corp for $2.61 per share. Lithium X’s main assets, the Sal de los Angeles and Arizaro lithium brine projects are located in the prolific ‘lithium triangle’ in mining friendly Salta province, Argentina.

“Today’s announcement successfully delivers on our team’s commitment to maximize value for our shareholders,” said Lithium X chairman, Paul Matysek.

“Lithium X was founded at a minimal market value and went public two years ago, with a mission to help wean the world off fossil fuels through the development of high quality lithium deposits.

“We believe this $265 million transaction puts our flagship asset, Sal de los Angeles, in the hands of a wellfunded, technically capable team. We thank NextView and its partners for their commitment to this transaction and provide our best wishes in their

continuing efforts to complete on our mission.”

Yaping He, managing partner of NextView, commented: “The acquisition of Lithium X’s wholly owned flagship project, the Sal de los Angeles lithium project, represents a key cornerstone investment in NextView’s strategy of developing a leading global player in the new energy sector.” The SDLA Project has a mineral resource exceeding two million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Centerra Gold completes acquisition of AuRico Metals

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anadian miner Centerra Gold has completed the acquisition of AuRico Metals in a cash deal equivalent to C$1.80 per share. Immediately after completion, the purchaser Centerra Ontario Holdings Inc. amalgamated with AuRico Metals, with the amalgamated company continuing to use the name ‘AuRico Metals Inc.’ AuRico Metals is developing the Kemess property in British Columbia, Canada, a low-cost brownfield development asset that is host to the feasibility-stage Kemess Underground and preliminary economic assessment level Kemess East projects.

“With the completion of the acquisition of AuRico Metals, we have expanded our existing development pipeline to include a

de-risked brownfield development asset, located in Canada,” said Scott Perry, President and CEO of Centerra. “We are also adding a high-quality, free cash flow generating royalty portfolio. The Kemess property has the potential to be a lowcost, long life, significant gold and copper producer.”

Centerra is a Canadian-based gold mining company with headquarters in Toronto, focused on operating, developing, exploring and acquiring gold properties in North America, Asia and other markets worldwide. Centerra operates two flagship assets, the Kumtor Mine in the Kyrgyz Republic and the Mount Milligan Mine in British Columbia, Canada.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

37

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2018 silver market trends A forecast from the Silver Market Institute Of all the metals in the periodic table, silver enjoys one of the most versatile landscapes, with its uses found in a wide variety of applications. Silver’s unrivalled characteristics serve many industrial products, while its weight and neutral colour make it very popular in jewellery. As a precious metal, silver serves as a store of value and can provide stability against the cycles of economic adversity.

Factors influencing the silver market primarily range from developments in the industrial and jewellery sectors to changes in the macroeconomic sphere that affect investor sentiment.

With this in mind, the Silver Institute provides the following insights on 2018 market trends.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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Silver demand

Silver demand from industrial applications, the largest component of silver off-take representing 60% in 2017, is expected to continue to grow this year. Due to silver’s unrivalled electrical conductivity, it will continue to play a vital role in major industry sectors that are moving towards increased electrification, such as

silver in photovoltaic applications in recent years, reaching an estimated 92 million ounces (Moz) in 2017. We expect the growth to continue this year and set another record for silver demand, driven by large scale solar capacity additions and continued strong demand uptake from individual households, particularly in China.

Jewellery demand is expected to

“Silver demand from the jewellery sector accounts for approximately one-fifth of total silver demand” automotive. Although silver is used in small quantities in some applications, the diversity is large, and the continued rising volumes of applications are expected to again have a positive impact on silver consumption from industrial products this year.

The strong increase in demand for small and large scale solar panels across the world has boosted the demand for

continue its steady increase in 2018, expanding consumption by another 4%, following a rise of 1% in 2017.

Silver demand from the jewellery sector accounts for approximately one-fifth of total silver demand. Many would argue that silver’s features lend themselves better than gold to fashionable jewellery because of silver’s colour neutrality, which provides more versatility for

silver market trends

many fashion-conscious consumers.

Coin demand almost halved to 73 Moz in 2017. Much of the weakness was concentrated in the United States where a buoyant stock market and parabolic increases in crypto-currencies diverted some capital away from physical precious metals. With equity and bonds in ‘expensive’ territory and Bitcoin’s stratospheric increase taking a breather

during the beginning of 2018, we expect some investment to flow back into precious metals, benefiting silver bar and coin demand this year.

Silver exchange-traded-products (ETP) holdings achieved a record high at 670 Moz at the end of 2017.

Since their introduction in 2002, silver ETPs have recorded a small decline in total annual holdings only twice, indicating the stickiness of their nature among investors (this is in part since a relatively high proportion of silver ETP investors are individuals rather than institutions). Although growth has been somewhat stable since 2012, drawdowns of silver ETPs are far and few between.

We expect ETP holdings to rise an approximate 3% this year.

Indian silver imports reported a strong year in 2017, almost doubling to 183 Moz compared to the previous year.

The strong increase is a combination of healthy jewellery demand and a shift from business conducted previously in cash to more formal channels.

The implementation of the Goodsand-Services-Tax (GST) has had a

positive effect on that development.

Indeed, silver demand from jewellery, silverware, coins and medallion retailers, who prefer a more transparent business model, substantially rose last year in India. In 2018 we expect silver demand from jewellery fabricators to remain strong, pushing imports to approximately 180 Moz.

Silver Supply

Global mine supply fell 1% in 2016, the first annual decline following 14 years of consecutive growth. In 2017 that trend continued with mine output expected to contract by a further 2% to 870 Moz. Production disruptions out of South America, along with a decline in capital expenditure among the primary producers in the past five years, is expected to constrain output again this year. However, the strong recovery in base metal prices will provide some support to output in 2018, particularly from by-product producers capitalizing on the trend.

Silver generated from scrap supply improved slightly last year on stronger

Silver Market Balance

The silver market balance (total supply less total demand) is expected to swing into a slight market deficit again this year with both supply and demand reaching above 1 billion ounces. Silver from above ground stocks will have

“The strong recovery in base metal prices will provide some support to output in 2018” to be drawn down in order to serve the shortfall. That will be a welcome development as above ground stocks rose 9% last year in the face of weak physical demand from the United States and Asia.

Silver Price

recycling waste generated from the manufacturing process. Scrap supply has been in a strong decline since 2011 due to a contracting pool of near market silverware, jewellery and coins. Scrap is expected to stabilize around 150 Moz this year, which equates to around 15% of total supply.

The silver price fell by just half a per cent last year to an average of $17.05/oz.

This year we expect the silver price to experience a volatile ride. Short covering in the beginning of the year has already propelled the price above last year’s average. On a ratio with gold, currently at around 72, silver has plenty of room for improvement and to migrate towards its long-term average of around 64. With physical gold investment likely to be robust via risk-hedging, silver should benefit by proxy, given the propensity of professional speculators to leverage gold exposure through silver, and retail investors to buy silver instead of gold if they cannot afford the latter.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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  World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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RIO TINTO VALUE OVER VOLUME

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At a time when the mining industry’s costs are rising and productivity is struggling, shareholder returns require strategic investment and an element of discipline. Rio Tinto has outperformed its peers with its world-class assets and has some quality growth projects in the pipeline.

C

apital investment in mining infrastructure has been somewhat stagnant of late, with new mines as rare as hen’s teeth. Much more common has been the disposal of non-core assets and the mothballing of marginal ones.

There were reasons to be cheerful, therefore, when Rio Tinto officially opened its Silvergrass iron ore mine in Western Australia at the end of August. The US$338 million project is the 16th mine in Rio Tinto’s world-class iron ore operations in the Pilbara region and will produce

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low-phosphorous ore crucial to maintaining its premium Pilbara Blend product.

“Silvergrass is a great example of our value-over-volume approach in action, as the mine will deliver the high-quality, low-cost ore used to maintain the world-class premium Pilbara Blend product our customers love so much,” said Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques. “Silvergrass is a further demonstration of our longstanding commitment to the Pilbara region in Western Australia where we’ve invested more than US$20

billion over the past decade.”

The brownfields expansion project will lower mine operating costs as a result of the construction of a ninekilometre conveyor system to replace traditional road haulage routes linking Silvergrass to the existing processing plant at Nammuldi.

More than 500 jobs, as well as opportunities for indigenous contracting, were created during the construction of the mine. Contracts worth more than $180 million were awarded during the construction phase, including contracts to Western Australian company Decmil and Perth headquartered company RCR Resources.

In May this year Rio Tinto approved an investment of $30.9 million to complete the project feasibility study on its Koodaideri iron ore deposit

rio tinto value over volume

“Silvergrass is a great example of our valueover-volume approach in action, as the mine will deliver the high-quality, low-cost ore used to maintain the world-class premium Pilbara Blend product our customers love so much”

in the Pilbara, which could be its next major mining development in Western Australia. “The Koodaideri development will require an expected 1600 construction jobs and a further 600 operational staff if approved,” said Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury. “We remain firmly focused on our value over volume strategy and maximising returns through enhanced productivity. We are examining the Koodaideri project as an option to help us maintain our low cost competitive position and assist in maintaining the Pilbara Blend product quality.”

The feasibility study will focus on obtaining necessary consent and permits, increasing the company’s understanding of the orebody and technical elements, and providing the data necessary to validate the project.

Pre-feasibility study information for the project was released in an investor seminar in November 2016, which included a 40Mtpa capacity dry crushing and screening plant, non-process infrastructure, product stockyards, rail loop and load-out and a 170 kilometre rail link to the main line. It suggested a capital requirement of approximately US$2.2 billion, with potential for construction to commence in 2019. The final decision on the progression of the Koodaideri iron ore development will follow the completion of the feasibility study and subsequent review by the Rio Tinto

investment committee and board.

Aluminium

Also in Australia, Rio Tinto is expanding in Queensland, too, continuing its 50 year history of operations in Cape York with a US$2.6 billion investment to build a mine and port to expand production from one of the world’s premier bauxite deposits.

Rio Tinto (originally as Comalco) has mined and shipped bauxite from Weipa on the Western Cape York Peninsula in Queensland since 1963, but the original reserves are gradually being depleted and with continued demand for bauxite, the business has identified significant reserves south of the Embley River.

The Weipa operations consist of two continuous mining operations at East Weipa and Andoom, two beneficiation plants, 19 kilometres of railway to transport mined bauxite to the port area, two stockpiles and two ship loaders. Rio Tinto also owns and operates two diesel engine power stations, which supply the mine, Weipa town and the neighbouring community of Napranum.

A key milestone for the future of the Weipa operations was reached with the Rio Tinto Board approving funding for the Amrun project in late 2015.

The project includes the construction of a range of infrastructure including a processing plant and port near Boyd Bay, a dam, tailings storage facility, roads and a ferry terminal on the Hey River to transport workers from Weipa to the mine.

World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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rio tinto value over volume

Construction on the project is well under way with first shipment planned for the first half of 2019.

In June this year Rio awarded an A$100 million contract to Aggreko Australia Pacific to build and operate a new 20MW power station at the Amrun bauxite project. A team of more than 20 Aggreko employees including engineers, project managers and technicians will come together to deliver the installation by December 2017 with go-live set for April 2018.

Once operational, Amrun will replace production from Rio Tinto’s existing East Weipa mine and increase annual bauxite exports. Planned initial output is 22.8 million tonnes per year with a range of options for future expansions up to 50 million tonnes per year.

Rio Tinto’s existing bauxite operations have hardly been slacking of late, however, with record bauxite ore production of 12.9 million metric tons in the second quarter of 2017.

The record output was a 7 per cent increase year-on-year, and a 14 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter. Total production for the first half of 2017 was 24.2 million metric tons, a four-

per cent increase year-on-year.

Rio Tinto attributes the record production total to corresponding record production at its Gove and Weipa operations, with Gove besting Q2 2016 production by 27 per cent and Weipa producing four per cent more bauxite year-on-year.

Debottlenecking at Gove and recovery from severe weather at Weipa are credited with buoying production in the quarter and half year.

“A key milestone for the future of the Weipa operations was reached with the Rio Tinto Board approving funding for the Amrun project in late 2015”

While some product is shipped to international customers, the majority of Weipa bauxite is supplied to the Queensland Alumina Limited and Rio Tinto Aluminium Yarwun refineries, both located near Gladstone on the central Queensland coast.

These refineries produce alumina as feedstock for Australian aluminium smelting operations and for sale on the international market.

The Gove Operation is located on the Gove Peninsula in North East Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. It is situated on extensive deposits of high grade bauxite, a burnished red ore with high aluminium oxide content.

Bauxite mining began there in 1970 to supply the export market.

Diamonds

While we’re in Australia, it’s worth mentioning that Rio Tinto owns and operates the Argyle diamond mine in the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of diamonds and the world's largest supplier of natural coloured diamonds, including World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

49

the highly coveted rare pink diamonds.

The Argyle diamond deposit, located in the AK1 pipe, was mined using conventional alluvial and open pit mining from 1983 to 2013. Over this period more than 800 million carats of diamonds were mined. In 2013 a new era of underground mining of the AK1 pit took over to access the pipe at further depth.

Block cave mining techniques – where the ore body is undercut, allowing it to break up and ‘cave’ under its own weight – are now being employed to extend the life of the Argyle mine until at least 2020. The block cave is expected to generate on average 20 million carats per year.

The Argyle underground mine is a challenge both in size and complexity.

There are around 40 kilometres of tunnels. The main thoroughfares in the underground network are four tunnels – two to carry vehicles, one for ventilation and one for moving ore. There are two large underground crushers and conveyor belts transport the ore from deep in the mine to the surface.

When Argyle was first established, it became apparent that purposedesigned processing machinery would be needed to recover and sort the high volume of characteristically small stones produced by the mine.

This included the development of sophisticated X-ray sorting technology to assist in the efficient identification and collection of the small diamonds.

Today, the Argyle processing plant is one of the most efficient in the world.

It is capable of processing up to 11 million tonnes of ore per annum operating 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

Argyle produces diamonds in a range of colours, including white, champagne and pink gems. The majority of Argyle’s diamonds are sold as “rough” or uncut diamonds.

These are sorted and prepared for international sale by Rio Tinto’s sales and marketing team in Antwerp, Belgium. The majority of customers are Indian based companies and the Indian cutting industry has been an important platform for developing the market for the small, coloured diamonds that characterize the Argyle production.

Rio Tinto also owns a 60 per cent interest in, and operates, the Diavik

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Diamond Mine in Canada's remote Northwest Territories, 220km south of the Arctic Circle. The design, construction and operation of the Diavik mine is an epic saga of success on a grand scale in the most forbidding of places. Diavik commenced production in 2003 and has an annual production of some 6-7 million carats of predominantly large, white gem-quality diamonds. It is expected to continue to produce high quality gems to 2023 and potentially beyond.

Rio Tinto now has a new joint venture partner in the Diavik mine, as Dominion Diamonds recently sold

its 40 per cent share to Washington Companies.

Also in Canada, Rio Tinto has become involved in a joint venture with Shore Gold, which acquired from Newmont Canada in June, all of Newmont's participating interest in the Fort à la Corne joint venture, resulting in Shore owning 100% of the Star-Orion South Diamond Project.

Shore concurrently entered into an option to joint venture with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada, granting RTEC an option to earn up to a 60% interest in the project on the terms and conditions contained in the option agreement.

rio tinto value over volume

Copper

Although Rio Tinto lists many of its assets in Australia and Canada, its copper interests are focused elsewhere, particularly in Mongolia. One of the most exciting developments in copper and gold mining for several decades, Oyu Tolgoi contains reserves and resources that make it one of the world’s largest known copper and gold deposits. The project is expected to be a significant contributor to Mongolia’s economic development.

Situated in the southern Gobi desert of Mongolia, approximately 550 kilometres south of the capital Ulaanbaatar, and 80 kilometres north of the Mongolia-China border, Oyu Tolgoi is jointly owned by the Government of Mongolia (34 per cent) and Turquoise Hill Resources (66 per cent, of which Rio Tinto owns 51 per cent). Since 2010, Rio Tinto has also been the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi project.

After decades of exploration and drilling, the first major discoveries at Oyu Tolgoi were made in 2001, leading to several years of further exploration which revealed the impressive scale of the deposit. While exploration continues, even with the reserves currently identified, Oyu

Tolgoi is expected to operate for over 50 years. Some $6.4 billion has been invested to develop the open-pit mine, concentrator and associated infrastructure at Oyu Tolgoi, with an additional $500 million of capital costs for initial development of the underground mine.

To this point, all of Oyu Tolgoi’s concentrate has been produced using ore mined from the surface using open pit mining. However, the majority of the value of Oyu Tolgoi, up to 80 per

cent, lies deep underground. In May 2015, Oyu Tolgoi’s shareholders, Rio Tinto, Turquoise Hill Resources and the Government of Mongolia, agreed upon a plan to progress the next stage of underground development, using block-caving mining techniques to extract the ore and transport it to the surface to the concentrator.

Block-caving, while technically challenging, is one of the safest and most cost-effective methods of mining ore from deep below the ground.

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rio tinto value over volume

Fourteen kilometres of lateral tunnels have already been constructed at Oyu Tolgoi, and over time, up to 200 kilometres of tunnels, at depths of up to 1,300 metres, will be built to allow safe mining of the deepest parts of Oyu Tolgoi’s ore body.

In the United States, Rio Tinto Kennecott is a fully integrated mining operation located just outside Salt Lake City, Utah. Kennecott is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto. For more than 110 years, Kennecott has been mining and processing minerals from the rich orebody of the Bingham Canyon Mine. In 1989, Rio Tinto acquired the Bingham Canyon Mine and other facilities in the Salt Lake Valley. Kennecott produces copper, molybdenum, gold, silver and sulphuric acid to be shipped around the world.

In Arizona, the Resolution Copper Project is a proposed world-class copper mine that is said to have the potential to supply 25 per cent of the current US annual demand for copper for 40 years. Resolution Copper is located near the town of Superior, 65 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona, in an

area known as the ‘Copper Triangle’ with abundant historic mining activity.

Some of the region’s mines have now closed, as their orebodies had become uneconomic, but the Resolution Copper project offers an opportunity to reinvigorate the area’s economy with an industry the state and its people know well.

Resolution Copper Mining (RCM) is a limited liability company owned 55 per cent by Resolution Copper Company, a Rio Tinto PLC subsidiary, and 45 per cent by BHP Copper, a BHP-Billiton PLC subsidiary.

In late 2014 the Resolution Project passed an important milestone when legislation was passed that provides

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for an exchange of land between the company and the US Government.

The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act provides for 2,400 acres of federally-owned land above the copper deposit to be exchanged for 5,300 acres of highquality conservation and recreational land owned by Resolution Copper.

By allowing the company access to this land near the deposit, Resolution Copper will be able to fully understand the deposit, and how to safely develop it.

The exchange will be completed when a final environmental impact statement (EIS) is issued under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The EIS will outline mitigation plans to protect land, cultural sites, and air and water quality on property included on both sides of the exchange. Once the final EIS is released, Resolution Copper’s property will become public land, and will be managed by the Government.

In South America, Rio Tinto has a 30 per cent interest in Escondida, in Chile, which is managed by BHP Billiton, giving it regular input on strategic and policy matters. The Minera Escondida copper mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert is the world’s largest copper-producing mine. In

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“Earlier this year Rio Tinto applied for exploration permits in Chile’s northern region of Arica, as the company searches globally for new deposits worthy of being developed into mines”

2012 it accounted for five per cent of global copper production and around 15 per cent of Chilean copper production. Escondida produces copper concentrate, through a flotation process of sulphide ore, and copper cathodes, using a leaching process of oxide and sulphide ore.

Earlier this year Rio Tinto applied for exploration permits in Chile’s northern region of Arica, as the company searches globally for new deposits worthy of being developed into mines. The company wants to start drilling in an area at an altitude of 2,100 metres, about 58km from Arica city, close to the border with Peru and Bolivia, according to the local Spanish language newspaper El Mercurio.

The so-called Palmani project aims to discover and characterize the mining potential of the area, which could eventually be developed into a mine, according to information provided by the country’s Environmental Assessment Service (SEA).

Rio Tinto also has an interest in Grasberg, in the province of Papua in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines in terms of ore reserves and production. Until recently it was owned and operated by Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), a subsidiary of USbased Freeport-McMoRan Copper &

rio tinto value over volume Gold Inc. Rio Tinto has a joint venture for a 40 per cent share of production above specific levels until 2021, and 40 per cent of all production after 2021.

The Indonesian government has taken a tough line on foreign owned mining assets, however, resulting in Freeport reducing its stake in the company to 49 per cent, with the government now owning the majority 51 per cent share. There is as yet no indication as to whether this will affect Rio Tinto’s interests.

Lithium

The lightest metal on Earth, lithium is in great demand as it is used in a vast array of products, most notably batteries for hybrid and electric cars. Rio Tinto Borates' Jadar project in Serbia is a significant, world-class lithium-borate resource.

Rio Tinto discovered Jadar in 2004.

It is a unique deposit near the town of Loznica, in Western Serbia, some 160 kilometres from its capital Belgrade.

The deposit contains Jadarite, a new mineral unique to Serbia, which has not been found anywhere else in the world.

Jadar has been ranked as one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. If developed, it is said to have the potential to supply more than 10% of global demand for lithium.

Borates are essential building blocks for heat resistant glass, fibreglass, ceramics, fertilisers, detergents, wood preservatives and many other household and commercial products. They are used in insulation that makes buildings energyefficient, and to produce TV, computer and smartphone screens.

Rio Tinto has recently elevated Jadar to become its most likely growth project, revealing that if it gets approvals and the economics support it, it will start construction in 2020 and reach first production in 2023. The company has so far spent around US$90 million on Jadar.

In July this year Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Serbia relating to the implementation of the Jadar Project. The MOU will enable the formation of joint working groups between the government and the company to progress the Jadar Project through the study and permitting phases. Under current plans, Jadar will be an underground mine, with the

opportunity for future expansion if demand warrants it.

“Jadar has been ranked as one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. If developed, it is said to have the potential to supply more than 10% of global demand for lithium”

At the 2017 Global Metals & Mining Conference in Barcelona in May, Rio Tinto’s chief executive J-S Jacques described his approach to delivering superior value for shareholders as being about a long-term strategy built on world-class assets; maximising cash through a value-over-volume approach; developing a highperformance culture across the Group and allocating capital with discipline.

“We have world-class assets and the best balance sheet in the industry,” he concluded. “This creates a strong platform for the future.“ * * *

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AMALGAMATED MINING GROUP THE NATURAL CHOICE FOR UNDERGROUND MINING AND TUNNELLING EQUIPMENT

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Amalgamated Mining Group is determined to become the supplier of choice for every aspect of underground mining and tunnelling equipment sales, rentals, parts and repairs. Tom Flanagan, President, and Colin Elson, General Manager, tell Martin Ashcroft how they’re going about it.

The concept of the one stop shop has been around a long time, long enough to be a cliché. However there isn’t a better term to describe a supplier who can provide the full range of equipment required for any type of mining or tunnelling project. Ask Tom Flanagan, President of Amalgamated Mining Group about his vision, and he’ll tell you it’s to be “the first name people think of when they need underground mining and tunnelling equipment. We’d like to be the one stop shop for sales, rentals and parts, anywhere in the world.”

“We aim to be the first name people think of when they need underground mining and tunnelling equipment. We’d like to be the one stop shop for sales, rentals and parts, anywhere in the world.”

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That vision has been guiding the company’s growth since Flanagan established Amalgamated Mining Equipment Ltd (AME) in 1990. Originally conceived as a single company focused on rebuilding and refurbishing underground equipment, AME has evolved in less than 30 years into three distinct corporations servicing different but complementary aspects of the underground mining and tunnelling equipment market.

Choosing the right machinery can be a complicated process. Understanding the application requirements is absolutely crucial. Is it better to buy a new machine with the latest technology or go for used equipment to save capital? How long will you need to use it? Would it make more sense to rent? Can you get parts for it quickly if it needs to be repaired? Does it need to be customized for your operation? After you have made those choices, where can you go to find what you are looking for?

Amalgamated Mining Group the natural choice for underground mining & tunelling equipment

“When you’re looking to expand into the global market you have to regionalise the business and build a base of equipment in each independent region. A global rental fleet is what we’re after”

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The Amalgamated Mining Group is based in Edmonton, in the business-friendly Canadian province of Alberta, Canada; one of the most popular jurisdictions in the world for oil and gas extraction. “We set up here because of the location of the city and its favourable environment for service industries,” says Flanagan. “It has everything you could want on the supply and services side of things.

“The irony of it,” he continues with a chuckle, “is that Alberta is the only Canadian province we don’t do business in because there are no underground mining operations here. We started

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here for logistical reasons (ie; proximity to the transportation infrastructure connecting all the major underground mining hubs throughout North America). We deal in most provinces in Canada, and also throughout the United States and South America. We have equipment in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe. That’s the extent of our world reach so far.

In the early days of AME, Flanagan spotted a niche in the market and began to buy new underground equipment from Caterpillar, which it converted into durable, customized underground vehicles. “The company has gone through

Amalgamated Mining Group the natural choice for underground mining & tunelling equipment

“By keeping every aspect of each purchase or rental in-house, the process is more transparent to the customer and serves to keep the equipment delivery on schedule to maximize up time”

several transformations,” says Flanagan. “We started an equipment sales division, but that soon became a sales and rental division, which is now Amalgamated Mining & Tunnelling. Then we added a parts division to back everything up.”

In 2007, AME expanded the parts division, resulting in a third new company, Amalgamated Mining Services (AMS). “When we started out, our speciality was rebuilding, but then we expanded into the resourcing of parts and equipment for customers,” Flanagan summarises. “That morphed into sales and rental, which is the biggest part of our business today. We’ve always had a parts division

but we never had a dedicated parts sales force. We created AMS to service our rental and services segment that has grown exponentially over the last 8 years due to global demand.”

AMS keeps a comprehensive stock of new and used spare parts to fit a wide range of equipment for all major underground mining equipment manufacturers and a full range of drilling tools (Mitsubishi, LHS, TRI-ROK, Brunner & Lay, etc). In addition, AMS carries a large stock of components (engines, transmissions, converters, axles, etc) to suit all major brands of underground mining and tunnelling equipment.

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“We have a memorandum of understanding with the two largest Caterpillar dealers in Canada”

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Amalgamated Mining Group the natural choice for underground mining & tunelling equipment

AMS represents about 15 per cent of the Group’s business, and repair and customisation around 20 per cent, with the rest being equipment sales and rental via Amalgamated Mining & Tunnelling. A glance at the web site reveals an exhaustive inventory from loaders, trucks, jumbos, bolters, drills and personnel carriers, to wheel dozers, apron feeders, buckets, truck boxes and man-baskets. AM&T has the lot. The company maintains a sales and rental fleet of between 500 – 600 underground mining specific machines in stock, but if a client cannot find what they need, it has the ability to source the item.

The rental fleet includes new and used equipment and rentals are typically between 6 -18 months, according to customers’ needs, with an option to purchase. Some customers have taken as many as 40 pieces, others much fewer, depending on the size of the underground mine or tunnel and their individual needs. Most contracts are revolving rentals where AM&T will replace some units as the operation develops to give them a continuous flow of updated equipment. Any rental returns are traditionally refurbished and repaired, ready for the next rental contract.

To put it all into perspective, Amalgamated Mining & Tunnelling Inc (AM&T) was formed in 1999, to focus on the sale and/or lease of new and used underground mining and tunnelling equipment. In 2007, building on the strong relationship it had developed with Caterpillar, AM&T broadened its stock with the addition of a full line of new underground Caterpillar equipment.

“We have a memorandum of understanding with the two largest Caterpillar dealers here in Canada,” says Flanagan, “Finning (Canada West) and Toromont (Canada East). We purchase 30 to 40 pieces of new and certified rebuilt underground machinery from them a year, according to what our customers predict their needs will be over the next 12 months.” It’s good business for all parties as Caterpillar has the best equipment distribution and service infrastructure.

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The Amalgamated Mining Group has supplied underground mining and tunnelling equipment to various major operations throughout the Americas and Australasia. The next expansion will be geographical, rather than new products or services.

“We want to develop our international rental fleet,” says Flanagan. “We are already international in the sense that we have equipment around the world, but we are striving to be more recognized throughout the industry.”

Having the right equipment in the right place is the Holy Grail of this business, as moving heavy underground mining and tunnelling machinery around the world is both time consuming and majorly expensive. The key is to have the right equipment in the right area so the customer can access it in a timely fashion. “We have two yards here in Edmonton, and one in Spokane, Washington,” says General Manager Colin Elson. “We have a yard in Western Australia as well as equipment stored at various locations around the world.”

The pressure on underground operations has never been greater. The regulatory laws become tighter

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every year and the price of metals and minerals is never stable for long. To achieve the highest levels of safety and productivity, underground operators need equipment that is code compliant, cost effective and easy to maintain.

Wherever the equipment is from, and wherever it’s going, the logistics process is organized in-house. “By keeping every aspect of each purchase or rental in-house, the process is more transparent to the customer and serves to keep the equipment delivery on schedule to maximize up time,” says Elson, “and this minimizes any confusion and down time. We have transported equipment by ocean from as far as Australia, Africa and Europe; also via air cargo to the extreme regions of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and by road throughout all of North America and Mexico.”

Amalgamated Mining Group AM&T maintains close relationships with customers to understand and anticipate their needs. You might not expect an international business to be seasonal, but there are highs and lows throughout the year.

“For example, in November and December we get an indication from customers about their future needs,” says Elson. “They might be looking to spend money that can’t be taken forward into the next year, so that will drive our business, and then their new budgets will be released in the new year, so January, February and March would be when we see the biggest spike in spending. But overall, it’s the strength of the underground mining and tunnelling industry that dictates our business.”

The company sources equipment from all over the world and is building a useful contact infrastructure with underground mining and tunnelling companies.

“A lot of equipment comes to us after a mine closure, for instance,” says Elson, “where we can bid on the whole asset pool. And we don’t always stick to the mobile equipment, we also look at some of the processing equipment.

the natural choice for underground mining & tunelling equipment

“If you have an orebody that you’re not 100 per cent sure is viable, you don’t have to go out and purchase the equipment right off the bat. If you rent it first, you have the option to tailor the equipment size to match the drift or tunnel dimensions”

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“Ten years ago we would have been customizing an individual piece of equipment. As we have become more of a one stop shop, we now customize fleets to meet specific customer requirements and local underground mine and tunnel regulations”

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Amalgamated Mining Group the natural choice for underground mining & tunelling equipment

“Some companies have special requirements and in those cases AME is experienced in making customised modifications to suit specific needs.

“But customization has changed quite a bit,” says Flanagan. “Customization would have meant a different thing ten years ago, in that we would have been customizing an individual piece of equipment.

As we have become more of a one stop shop, we now customize fleets to meet specific customer requirements and local underground mine and tunnel regulations.”

One of the advantages of rental is the flexibility it brings to the operation, and that is an important factor in uncertain times. “If you have an orebody that you’re not 100 per cent sure is viable, you don’t have to go out and purchase the equipment right off the bat,” says Flanagan. “If you rent it first, you have the option to tailor the equipment size to match the drift or tunnel dimensions. For instance, if the operation starts out with 5 x 5 metre heading size, and too much dilution is encountered, the operator may decide to go with a 4 x 4 metre, or even a 3 x 3 metre heading size which would require a complete equipment fleet change out. Now the operator just needs to return the originally rented fleet and

exchange it for the appropriate size of equipment to suit.

This allows the operation to continue to move forward without a costly long term investment in the wrong equipment.”

There are many challenges in the underground mining and tunnelling equipment business, including market fluctuation as a result of changing commodity prices, but it’s not all bad news, as market fluctuations also help to drive the rental market. “We complain about it on the one hand,” says Flanagan, “but we’re grateful for it on the other!”

Having a sound customer base located across a variety of underground mining and tunnelling geographies provides AM&T security, and this is one of the driving forces behind the next phase of Amalgamated Mining Group’s growth strategy. “Moving the equipment around is always a major challenge,” says Flanagan. “The equipment is getting larger all the time. When you’re looking to expand into the global market you have to regionalise the business and build a base of equipment in each independent region. A global rental fleet is what we’re after. That’s where we see the opportunity. We’d like to be the industry’s first choice, everywhere in the world.

That’s our goal for the moment.”

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AKG COOL CUSTOMERS AKG is a leading supplier of highperformance coolers and heat exchangers across a multitude of applications, including mining equipment and machinery, in which capacity five of its global plants have earned awards from Caterpillar’s supplier quality excellence program (SQEP) so far this year.

F

ounded in Germany in 1919, AKG now operates twelve manufacturing facilities around the world. The company has an international reputation for custom quality heat exchangers, and its products serve the construction, forestry, agriculture, on-highway, compressor, material handling, industrial, off-highway, and

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mining markets, including major manufacturers of mining equipment such as Hitachi, Komatsu – and, of course, Caterpillar, with whom it has had a close relationship for 35 years.

Seven of AKG’s global plants supply products to Caterpillar, and so far this year, five of them have been awarded honours in CAT’s supplier quality excellence program (SQEP). AKG’s Latvian plant has been awarded platinum level, the highest honour available, after achieving gold for the previous three consecutive years.

The Indian plant was promoted to platinum after last year’s gold award, and the US plant in Mitchell, South Dakota won gold as its first award. AKG’s plant in China won a bronze, and just at the time of writing it was announced that its facility in France had also been recognised with a bronze award.

“Our relationship with an OEM is just as important as the product,” says Adam Jury, AKG’s Global Key Account Manager for

“It’s not about achieving SQEP once, it’s about maintaining that consistency over time” Caterpillar, based in Mebane, North Carolina.

“We have strong competitors who make good products, so you have to differentiate yourself in every way possible.” Supplier awards amount to prestigious recognition, he says, “but it’s not about achieving SQEP once, it’s about maintaining that consistency over time. With the awards we have won this year we have demonstrated the consistency that Caterpillar is looking for.”

Companies often refer to a ‘partnership relationship’ with their customers, but what does this mean in practice? “For us, it means getting involved in projects at a very early stage and planning them together,” says Dr Armin Martin, Group Vice President, Sales and Engineering. “We work together in the research and development phase, sometimes years in advance of product introduction.”

The cooling manufacturer is one of the

first suppliers chosen after the engine is selected, he explains. “When you design a new machine, the first thing you do is choose an engine. The next thing is to choose a cooler for that engine and then the rest of it follows.”

The coolers are always individual to the engine, he explains, so if there are two different engine versions for the same dump truck, there would have to be two RFQs (requests for quotation), because every engine functions differently. As the design of the machine evolves, therefore, it’s important for the cooler supplier to follow every stage of development.

“When they add components to the machine, the performance of the engine changes and the requirements of the coolers change,” explains Martin. “It can take up to seven or eight iterations before the machine is fully developed, so we keep talking with them over the development of every project.”

The AKG plant in Latvia is the first to achieve Caterpillar’s platinum award.

It began to do business with CAT in 2012 and earned its first gold award after two years, going platinum this year after three successive golds. What does that say about the company? “It says we have very high quality, and a delivery performance not far short of 100 per cent,” says Gerhard Ritzmann, plant manager and managing director since the factory opened in 2005.

“This is what the customer wants.”

AKG Latvia supplies 30 or 40 different coolers to Caterpillar, including oil coolers, radiators, charger coolers and fuel coolers. Orders vary widely, week by week, depending on the machines that Caterpillar itself has taken orders

AKG Cool customers

for. “With this kind of complexity, quality and delivery performance are paramount,” says Ritzmann. ”You need to develop a production system that can follow the demands of the customer.”

Such a system is often known as lean manufacturing, a way of working based on the legendary Toyota Production System, which AKG has adopted. Make to order is a fundamental element of lean manufacturing, as is continuous improvement. To be considered truly ‘lean’, a manufacturing facility must have this embedded in its culture. “You don’t have to look for big improvements,” says Ritzmann.

“You must find thousands of small improvements.”

One aspect of the Japanese inspired system that is not easily learned in Western culture is ‘jidoka’, the principle that work should stop immediately a problem becomes evident. In the traditional Western factory, stopping the line used to be almost a hanging offence, but in the enlightenment of the Toyota Production System it’s seen quite differently, as it allows an aberrant process to be corrected before any defective products are made. “To develop this culture is difficult because people are not designed for stopping,” says Ritzmann. “People are designed

for working around an abnormal situation. We start teaching jidoka when we first hire people, so it’s part of their induction into the company. That way people learn that it’s OK to stop when something is wrong. They get into trouble if they don’t stop!” Even if someone stops the line mistakenly, this is not a hanging offence either, as it identifies a training need, which leads to another small improvement.

AKG’s facilities are all equipped to

“You need to develop a production system that can follow the demands of the customer” a high standard, so the quality of the product can be guaranteed around the world. In practice, however, as Caterpillar manufactures different machinery in different places, AKG’s plants tend to specialize accordingly, but they have to be ready to adapt when the need arises. “Our two US plants supply up to a dozen Caterpillar sites in the US,” says Adam Jury, “but they are relocating production of one of their machines to Indonesia. What makes us a good fit with Caterpillar is that we have a global manufacturing footprint that matches that of CAT’s.

We have very consistent technology,

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“Our new modular cooling system uses a special kind of air cooling fins, with a very high performance with low cooling air pressure drop.

That allows us to slow down the fan speed to reduce the engine’s fuel consumption”

tooling and quality levels across all of our plants, so we can easily transfer products from one location to another without significant investments.”

Caterpillar’s European footprint is different from the US, Jury explains.

The Dortmund plant in Germany is CAT’s global base for mining shovels, whereas in the US they build mining trucks and large dozers.

No matter how good you are, nothing stays the same for long, however, especially with a system in which continuous improvement is a fundamental philosophy. “We have recently been working on our new modular cooling system (MCS),” says Hans Palm, AKG’s New Product Introduction Director, based in Germany. Coolers in AKG’s existing range are all single units, but the company has patented a cost effective method of plugging together individual modules that adds great flexibility and versatility.

“How we put the cooler together is completely new in the market,” explains Palm. “There are other modular systems, but we have a special plug and seal connection which is a new development. We can use this connection for oil coolers, charger coolers and for radiators. The connectors are made of different materials according to their application and the modules are put together in a different way for each piece of mining equipment.”

A great advantage here is that the configuration of the individual modules can be adjusted to make them adaptable to different ambient conditions. So if an OEM sells a piece

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of equipment for use in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, it might need its cooling system configured a little differently from the same machine sold in Northern Canada.

“We can accommodate different ambient temperatures and dusty environments,” explains Palm. “We can fit them to meet any specific ambient conditions. But the cooler fits into the same envelope so they don’t need to redesign their surrounding structures for different conditions. We just rearrange them and plug them together in a different way.”

New product development also has to keep pace with ever tighter emissions standards and other regulations, and these are just some of the drivers behind continuous product improvement.

“Our new modular cooling system uses a special kind of air cooling fins, with a very high performance with low cooling air pressure drop,” explains Palm. “That allows us to slow down the fan speed to reduce the engine’s fuel consumption. We have also developed anti-clogging fins.

That means that we have less fouling in our cooling systems, so the cooling performance is always near 100 per cent. And you don’t have to clean it so

often. And the weight of our coolers is usually also lower than other systems.”

AKG is currently working on a major technological investment programme, as Dr Armin Martin explains. “We have a network of engineering offices all over the world that are interconnected. We have international teams working on particular projects because a requirement of a major customer is often for the same machine to be produced in different locations. It should be exactly to the same spec and the same quality. So we have global key account teams that cover all the locations from where a customer requires our products.

We have seven global key account teams, of which Adam’s Caterpillar team is one.” This team communicates with the customer’s engineering department and all the AKG facilities where the cooler has to be produced, in order to develop a common design that can be produced in the different AKG factories.

“We have a research and tech centre here in Germany,” Martin continues, “and we are currently investing a

couple of million dollars into a centre in America. Some of our research and development activities are also now in Asia because some of the big mining firms, like Komatsu and Hitachi, do their research in Asia, and they want us to be close. We have an engineering office in Japan, so we can talk in Japanese to their engineers.”

As it approaches its centenary, AKG’s growth has been entirely organic, and the North American market currently represents a little over a third of its global business. “Our plan is to grow our Asian market to a third, so we have a third in North America, a third in Europe and a third in Asia,” concludes Dr Martin. “We hope to achieve that by 2025.”

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NEW PATENT PENDING AXLEWEIGHR IN-MOTION AXLE-SCALE - WEIGHS TRUCK AT THE JOB SITE! Rinstrum’s new In Motion Axle Scale is a fast, accurate and economical way to weigh trucks and verify your net payload. The patent pending precast concrete design is semi portable and can be moved from jobsite to jobsite. Contractors, farmers, and plant managers will find this low cost scale indispensable to their operations. At 1/3 the price of a full length scale Rinstrum’s axleWEIGHr is excellent value Payload:

Always know what payload you are carrying. Roll across the scale at 2-3 mph and the easy-to-use controller will totalize the net payload for each truck as it passes over the scale. Up to 250 different trucks can be stored in memory. A door mounted printer records all transactions and data is captured to digital memory via USB storage drive, or Ethernet connection.

Convenient: The small footprint of this scale easily

integrates into the flow of traffic. No need to stop on the scale. Simply drive across at a constant speed (2-3 mph) and the scale will automatically do the rest.

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vehicle weight by truck ID, commodity, time and date. Use the optional truck ID clicker system to identify the truck and select the commodity on the large remote display. Each trucks tare weight is saved in memory and then recalled when the truck crosses the scale for single pass operation.

Data can be printed or stored to a convenient USB storage drive for easy transport to the office PC.

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Accurate: On average better than ±0.5% repeatability

can be expected. Company testing as well as extensive field trials have shown that with flat and level concrete approaches ±0.2% or better accuracy can be achieved.

truck scale, the axle scale is great value for the user that does not have legal for trade requirements. Save time and expense by not driving to a faraway truck scale and install the axleWEIGHr at the job site.

About Rinstrum Inc.: Rinstrum has been

designing and manufacturing weighing systems for over 20 years. Our global manufacturing network has facilities in the United States, Germany, Australia and Sri Lanka in addition to an extensive network of dealers, OEM’s and service companies. Our Troy Michigan facility proudly manufactures the axle scale and other weighing products in the United States.

For more information please contact us at: Call Toll Free 1 877 829 9152 or +1 248 680 0320 from outside the United States Rinstrum in-Motion Axle Scale – Proudly made in the USA www.rinstrum.com World Mining Magazine www.ogsmag.com

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world mining directory the directory for the global mining industries drilling & blasting

electrical equipment

Doran Manufacturing Lee Demis Director of Business Development 2851 Massachusetts Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45225 Ph: (513) 699-6230 Email: Demis_Lee@Doranmfg.com Web: www.doranmfg.com

Dyno Nobel 2795 East Cottonwood Parkway Suite 500 Salt Lake City, UT 84121 Phone: 800-732-7534 Fax: 801-328-6452 Email: marketing@am.dynonobel.com Customers in the mining industry choose Dyno Nobel for quality products, reliable service and technical expertise. Dyno Nobel is the market leader in North America with facilities in Australia, Canada, the United States, Indonesia, Mexico, South America and Papua New Guinea.

With a customer driven focus, Dyno Nobel develops practical products that will benefit customers in real time. Customers can count on real solutions to their pain points of today, helping them to reduce costs and increase production. Renowned for excellent safety performance and innovative explosive products and services, Dyno Nobel continuously delivers groundbreaking performance through practical innovation.

Established in 1953, Cincinnati, Ohio based Doran Manufacturing LLC. is a global leader in tire pressure monitoring systems and other transportation safety technology. Doran 360TM TPMS continuously monitor tire pressure and temperature data using wireless valve stem-mounted tire pressure sensors. Doran TPMS data can be integrated with telematics to communicate tire pressure and temperature data off equipment via wifi, gps and more for remote visibility of tire data.

LumAware Advanced Photoluminescent safety products include Personal Protective Equipment (PPE – Helmets, Safety Vests) Exit Signage and more that makes workers performing tasks in low light/no light conditions safer, and illuminates exits and escapeways in emergencies.

drivetrain solutions

geotechnics

Formed in 1997, Canary Systems provides integrated geo-monitoring solutions for a broad range of mining applications, including open pit, tailings, SW-EX, and underground. We help clients better manage risk, monitor performance, and increase the safety of their operations by tying together the loose ends: the hardware required for automatic or semi-automatic data acquisition – and the software to collect, store, and analyze data in a simple and efficient way on a single combined powerful platform.

We provide turnkey solutions – including system architecture, hardware and software development, telemetry, and instrumentation – as well as individual components customized to and augmenting existing project needs.

Canary Systems, Inc. Mining Group 4732 Oracle Road, Suite 112 Tucson, AZ 85705 USA Tel: 520.887.9800 info@canarysystems.com www.canarysystems.com

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• World Mining Directory mineral processing

GEA Group Peter-Müller-Str. 12 40468 Düsseldorf Germany Tel +49 211 9136-0 chemical@gea.com GEA is one of the largest supplier for process technology and components for sophisticated production processes for many industries worldwide. Across a broad range of mining and mineral operations, GEA offers technologies, equipment & services in evaporation and crystallization, drying, cooling, calcining and conditioning, classification, thickening and dewatering, crud treatment and solvent extraction and wastewater management.

Salter Cyclones Salter Cyclones specialises in fine solids removal with its own Hydrocyclones and Multi-Gravity Separators. These achieve powerful and precise separations in practical, compact, reliable, operator friendly and economic systems.

Salter Cyclones Limited Tel: + 44 1242 697771 Fax: + 44 1242 690895 Email: sales@saltercyclones.com Web: www.saltercyclones.com

MINPRO

MINPRO International have subsidiary offices in 4 countries all of which have the same business, supplying mineral processing equipment and engineering for the mineral processing industry worldwide. Our main products are AKER Flotation Machines; Hydraulic Roller Mills, Semi Mobile Modular Concentrators, Hydro Cyclone Batteries as well as Polyurethane wear parts for the mineral processing industry.

We deliver complete new mineral processing installations, renovation and upgrade existing mineral processing plants, retrofitting the AKER flotation mechanisms in existing flotation machines as well as engineering services and consultancy

Tel: +48 515 368 833 Minpro International Sp. z o.o. www.minpro.com

Want to advertise in the World Mining Directory for 12 months?

• Small Advertisement (12 month placement) Total price: £595.00 • Large Advertisement (12 month placement) Total price: £795.00 For more information please contact sales@ogsmag.com mining equipment rentals

United Mining Rentals (UMR) was born out of a specific niche in the market for both short and longer term rentals for both new and used, Sandvik & Getman equipment for both underground & surface mining and also tunnelling applications.

Coupled with +35 years of experience in the mining business, UMR provides both sales and rental of new & used mobile equipment for various mining & tunnelling operations across the world. In addition, our sister company, QME Mining Services Division (which operates as an International mining and tunnelling contractor), also operates a large fleet of predominately Sandvik equipment.

Tel. +353 (0)87 149 1945 www.unitedminingrentals.com

mining technology

Adrok is a cutting edge service technology company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, with exclusive global patents to Atomic Dielectric Resonance (ADR) imaging technology. This innovative technology has been developed for use in Oil and Gas, Mining and Civil Engineering sectors. Adrok’s technology has been used in several projects around the world to explore the sub-surface geology and locate accurately and identify precisely the fluids present at great depths providing high resolution without drilling the underground. This subsurface imaging scanner generates ‘virtual borehole’ logs of subsurface geology from the surface. It is lightweight, field rugged and portable, to enable cost-effective mobilisation.

49-1 West Bowling Green Street Edinburgh, EH6 5NX (Scotland, UK) Tel: +44(0) 131 555 6662 Email: info@adrokgroup.com Website: http://adrokgroup.com/

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world mining directory process water treatment

software

GEA Group Peter-Müller-Str. 12 40468 Düsseldorf Germany Tel +49 211 9136-0 chemical@gea.com GEA is one of the largest supplier for process technology and components for sophisticated production processes for many industries worldwide. Across a broad range of mining and mineral operations, GEA offers technologies, equipment & services in evaporation and crystallization, drying, cooling, calcining and conditioning, classification, thickening and dewatering, crud treatment and solvent extraction and wastewater management.

Formed in 1997, Canary Systems provides integrated geo-monitoring solutions for a broad range of mining applications, including open pit, tailings, SW-EX, and underground. We help clients better manage risk, monitor performance, and increase the safety of their operations by tying together the loose ends: the hardware required for automatic or semi-automatic data acquisition – and the software to collect, store, and analyze data in a simple and efficient way on a single combined powerful platform.

We provide turnkey solutions – including system architecture, hardware and software development, telemetry, and instrumentation – as well as individual components customized to and augmenting existing project needs.

Canary Systems, Inc. Mining Group 4732 Oracle Road, Suite 112 Tucson, AZ 85705 USA Tel: 520.887.9800 info@canarysystems.com www.canarysystems.com

Salter Cyclones specialises in fine solids removal with its own Hydrocyclones and Multi-Gravity Separators. These achieve powerful and precise separations in practical, compact, reliable, operator friendly and economic systems.

sump

Salter Cyclones Limited Tel: + 44 1242 697771 Fax: + 44 1242 690895 Email: sales@saltercyclones.com Web: www.saltercyclones.com

scales & weighing equipment

IVAC Industrial Vacuum Systems Ltd., manufactures a powerful pneumatic powered vacuum/ delivery system that allows you to pick-up and deliver your most difficult materials. The materials can be wet or dry including gravel, sand, slimes, sludge’s and water. The powerful, virtually maintenance free vacuum system is able to deliver the materials short or long distances, even up too kilometres through a pipeline or hose. Its is ideal for sump & ditch clean-up, tanks, under conveyors, around crushers and mills anywhere shovels, vacuum trucks or water hoses are being used for your clean-ups today!

Contact: Brad Fryburger Brad.Fryburger@rinstrum.com +1 248 680 0320 Website: www.rinstrum.com

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IVAC Industrial Vacuum Systems Ltd. 35-111 Chartrand Avenue, Logan Lake, BC V0K 1W0 Canada Phone 604-628-3367 Email zereko@zereko.com http://industrialvacuumunit.com

Motors, drives, mechanical power transmission – all from one supplier.

We have delivered reliable products to the mining industry for decades and being a valued partner with our customers is something we care about very deeply. One way we can help increase reliability is to make sure all the components in your system fit together seamlessly. When you are specifying a power train for your application, we can design and deliver a complete solution with variable speed drives, motors, couplings, bearings, gearing and pulleys.

Take your energy efficiency to the next level with the best possible cost of ownership. With our expertise and extensive product and service offering you can ensure safe processes for machines and people.

To learn more, call ABB or visit www.abb.com/powertrain-mining.

What can United Mining Rentals offer your company?

At a time when fiscal responsibility is becoming exponentially more important, in an industry where the highest safety standards and productivity must be maintained, providing your operation with the best fleet at a minimal cost is fundamental to any successful and profitable business. United Mining Rentals (UMR) has over 30 years of experience in the Mining & Tunnelling Industry and we are proud to offer rental and ownership opportunities for the full range of new Sandvik and Normet equipment. We trust you will find the product that suits your Mining or Tunnelling operation, backed by the numerous advantages associated with theUMR rental, or rent with an option to purchase models that will reduce cost of ownership and help maintain productivity.

Our full range of new Sandvik and Normet products are backed with full Factory Warranty, Technical Support, OEM Parts and a global network of local and regional OEM service centres. With such a robust range of support services, renting with UMR reduces maintenance costs and guarantees availability hence improving productivity for our customers whilst also eliminating rebuild down time.

Striving to provide quality at a reasonable price, UMR offers an innovative model of flexible rental or rental/purchase options tailored to suit every kind of end user in the Tunnelling and Mining industries, allowing customers to avoid tying up capital and invest it in the future purchase of rented equipment. Our rental/purchase option offers an attractive allowance for paid rentals against pre-agreed purchase price easing upfront capital spending and is a way of investing in the ownership of the Equipment at a pre-determined date.

For all mining equipment rentals visit www.unitedminingrentals.com

EUROPE United Mining Rentals Ltd. Coolfore Road, Ardbraccan, Navan, Co. Meath, C15 KXY3, Ireland.

NORTH AMERICA United Mining Rentals Ltd. Suite 1200, 220 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2W4, Canada.

Tel: +353 87 1491945 Tel: +1 647 267 8193 Email: info@unitedminingrentals.com www.unitedminingrentals.com Our philosophy at UMR is simple – Downtime costs money. This philosophy inspired our aim to provide solutions to one of the major contributors of downtime in the mining and tunnelling industries: low availability of equipment. To ensure our customers don’t experience any downtime, we offer rentals and rent to purchase plans for new Sandvik and Normet equipment on a global basis, making use of the vast network of Worldwide Service Centres provided by two of the world leaders in Mining and Tunnelling Equipment. We also offer the option of bridging units to keep our customer’s operations running smoothly until their new rental unit arrives.

We recognise that each customer has different requirements so we offer very flexible terms. Our first option is rent to purchase which allows for purchase of the equipment following a minimum one year rental period with a percentage of the rental payments deductible from the pre-agreed purchase price. Another option we offer is variable term rental from a minimum of 1 year upwards allowing the customer long term rental, consisting of 2-3 years allowing the customer to return the equipment with no commitment to purchase. We also offer a “Rolling Replacement” option, which allows the customer to return equipment to UMR following a 3 year rental and replace with new equipment for another 3 year term or pre-agreed period.

RENTALS AVAILABLE: Trucks and Loaders Underground Drilling & Bolting Roadheaders Exploration & Surface Drilling Lifting & Installations Scaling & Charging Underground Logistics Spraying

Our business model is designed with Mining Companies & Tunnelling Contractors in mind, who often have short or long term contracts, as well as Start-up mining operations which may wish to defer spending capital on expensive equipment for use in another area until positive cash flow is realized. Fixed rental payments simplify budget planning, and can be 100% Tax deductible against business income.

By using a reliable rental provider such as UMR for a long term rental the costs of acquiring, running and maintaining the right equipment for the job can be greatly reduced, as renting equipment can generate significant savings by avoiding depreciation, the total cost of the purchase price, and unnecessary unit and component rebuild costs.

UMR Equipment comes with a managed service tailored to each customer’s requirements covering bridging units, full technical support and immediate reaction to warranty issues ensuring availability at all times.

Making that vital decision whether to buy or rent is not just a matter of budget, but of business strategy. So weigh up the numbers, and make the right decision for your business.

For all mining equipment rentals visit www.unitedminingrentals.com

Are equipment trips slowing down your ore?

Operate to constraints to maximize flow.

Pavilion8ÂŽ drives your operation to maximum potential The Pavilion8 Material Flow Management application provides real-time visibility of complex multiple conveyor systems in a mining facility. By taking advantage of existing data, the application improves performance by initiating preventive or corrective measures prior to a system trip.

Discover how a Pavilion solution can help you operate your facility at maximum efficiency.

Discover.rockwellautomation.com/Mining Pavilion8 is a registered trademark of Rockwell Automation, Inc. Copyright Š 2015 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. AD2015-45-US