ATLAS Iron expects to resume operations in July at its Mount Webber mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It will be the latest of the company’s operating mines to resume production following the restart of Abydos and Wodgina operations in the June quarter. The targeted annual production rate by the end of the year is 14-15 million tonnes

Scientists from the University of Sydney’s School of Geosciences have led the creation of the world’s first digital map of seafloor geology. It is the first time the composition of the seafloor, covering 70% of the Earth’s surface, has been mapped in 40 years.

Australian-based dredging and civil construction company Hall Contracting has won an Aus$27 million contract to carry out remediation work at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory.

DEVELOPMENT and construction of Sirius Resources’ Nova Nickel Mine in Western Australia is progressing on or ahead of schedule. The establishment of the portal and start of the underground decline to access the Nova ore body remains on track for the last week of April.

AUSQUEST has identified two new conductors from recent reconnaissance ground electromagnetic (EM) surveys within its Balladonia South and Dundas East projects in the Fraser Range region of Western Australia. Drilling of both targets is planned for the second quarter of 2015, subject to completion of further work to optimize drilling locations and access approvals.

A GROUND electro-magnetic (EM) survey has identified two significant conductors at Ram Resources’ Fraser Range North Project in southern Western Australia. Both of these conductors are considered prospective for nickel sulphides and are associated with elevated nickel and copper geo-chemistry.

Monument Mining has announced an NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the Alliance/New Alliance areas of the Murchison Gold Project in Western Australia. An indicated resource has been reported of 1.13 million tonnes @ 2.2 grams/tonne gold for 80,400 ounces and an inferred resource of 5000 tonnes @ 2.2 grams/tonne for 3200 ounces.

Core Exploration has entered into a Federal Government co-funded research agreement with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) to accelerate exploration targeting mineral systems within the Jervois Domain and Albarta projects in the east Arunta region of Australia’s Northern Territory.

DRILLING at Minotaur Exploration’s Artemis copper-gold-zinc-silver prospect in northwest Queensland is intensifying. Two diamond rigs are in use at the prospect, which is 20km west of the Eloise copper-gold mine and southeast of Cloncurry, as part of a campaign of 40 holes for 18,000 metres of drilling.

KGL Resources has recorded a series of high-grade silver, gold and copper hits in recent months from drilling at the Jervois Copper-Silver-Gold Project in the Northern Territory. In late November the company received results from infill drilling at the Reward prospect which included the highest ever silver grade of 2350 grams/tonne while there were also high gold and copper grades in the zone between Marshall and Reward prospects.

RECONNAISSANCE exploration at King River Copper’s Speewah Dome project in Western Australia has identified a different style of mineralization near the intersection of the Pentecost and Todhunter fault systems. Surface assays have returned very high copper values of up to 35% and high silver of up to 10 ounces per tonne.

FULL operational approval has been granted by the South Australian Government for Havilah Resources’ Portia Gold Project. The company received the green light following written notification from the Department of State Development (DSD) that the Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) had been approved.

Cauldron Energy has received the equivalent of Aus$2.53 million in funding from Chinese investor Starry World Investment. The funds will be used towards defining the economics of a recently identified high grade uranium zone at Bennet Well in Western Australia.

Monument Mining and Gascoyne Resources have mutually agreed to terminate the Heads of Agreement for the proposed acquisition transaction between the two companies due to the fact that certain conditions precedent to its completion have not been met. The proposed transaction was announced on September 4, 2014.

Siemens Australia has expanded its local sales network with the appointment of Victorian-based UniWatt as a distributor for its range of low voltage and industrial switchgear products.

The introduction of new legislation into the Australian Parliament is a significant step towards the full implementation of the Exploration Development Incentive (EDI), according to Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) CEO Simon Bennison. “The legislation is now due to be debated in the first sitting of Parliament in February 2015.

“The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will boost the Australian resources sector,” according to Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) CEO Simon Bennison. “It will increase Australia’s international competitiveness and support Australia’s resources and energy exports into China, worth more than $83 billion in 2013.”

THE Hawsons Iron Project Joint Venture (JV) comprising Carpentaria Exploration (60%) and Pure Metals (40%) has secured port access for up to 12 million tonnes annually of iron ore concentrate through the existing berths at Port Pirie in South Australia and has also been granted foundation customer status.

ATLAS Iron expects to further increase iron ore production from its Pilbara region operations when stage two output from the Mt Webber project begins during the current quarter. This follows the start of stage one production at Mt Webber in July.

REMODELLING by Radar Iron of the iron ore resource at the Yerecoin Main deposit has resulted in about 25% of the resource being upgraded to the indicated category. There are 130.8 million indicated and inferred tonnes at the deposit at an overall grade of 68% concentrate iron.