A NEW, previously unknown copper occurrence has been discovered by Golden Cross Resources in the course of detailed geological mapping, only 2km northwest of the company’s Copper Hill deposit in Central West New South Wales (NSW). The prospect, north of the town of Molong, has been named ‘Dash’.

PROMISING early-stage drilling and other exploration results have further confirmed the potential of Caravel Minerals’ Calingiri Copper Project, 120km northeast of Perth in Western Australia. The company says the exploration target at the Dasher prospect has been upgraded, copper potential has been confirmed at Kurrali prospect and a new target has been identified at Dasher East.

A PROGRAM of infill geochemical sampling and geophysical surveys at Marmota Energy’s West Melton Copper-Gold Project on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula has defined a significant geochemical target ready for immediate drill testing. A key target area that returned strongly anomalous coincident gold and copper-in-calcrete results was defined on the West Melton tenement, which is considered a high priority for immediate low-cost aircore drill testing.

KING River Copper has developed two exploration models to explain high grade copper, gold and silver surface results at Speewah Dome in Western Australia. The models will be used to direct drilling in May with a new portable diamond core rig arranged for this program.

ACACIA Coal continues to progress the environmental and mining studies required for the mining lease application and environmental assessment for the Comet Ridge Coal Project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. Acacia aims to develop a low capital, shallow open cut mining operation, producing a highly marketable semi hard coking coal.

AS a means of overcoming a difficult time owing to coal prices remaining low and reduced production, Gujarat NRE Coking Coal has restructured the workforce at its Southern Coalfields operations in New South Wales. The restructure was carried out in a bid to achieve a 20% reduction across its workforce without effecting mining operations.

WARATAH Coal’s proposed $6.4 billion China First coal mine, rail, infrastructure development and Queensland export facility, also known as the Galilee Coal Project, has received Federal Government approval for its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Establishing the mine, rail and associated infrastructure will generate 3500 jobs during construction and 2275 jobs during operation.

AN independent coal seam exploration target estimation report on Liberty Resources’ Moranbah project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin has outlined a shallow exploration target of approximately 478 to 638 million tonnes of coal. The report identifies product in the approximate range of hard coking to thermal coal.

MONUMENT Mining has proved its credentials with the Selinsing Gold Project in Malaysia and is now set to reap the benefits at other projects. Selinsing served as an anchor for the company’s expansion and the successful management team is using this experience as a springboard for development of the Mengapur Polymetallic Project in Malaysia and Murchison Gold Project in Australia.

The Australia-China Business Council (ACBC) has entered a landmark cooperation agreement with six major stakeholder groups from Western Australia’s northwest, aimed at extending the strategic relationship between China and the region.

TRIAL mining and processing by ABM Resources at the Old Pirate Gold Project in the Northern Territory has proved successful with head grades exceeding expectation and tail grades indicating high rates of in-plant recovery from gravity only processing. The company expected to wind up the trial by the end of December.

RECORD production and recovery rates at its three Australian mines have led Crocodile Gold to significantly increase its production guidance. These results along with quickening ramp-up of its Cosmo mine, its new Big Hill project and non-core asset divestiture plans mean that the TSX-listed company is poised for an even better 2014.

PIONEER Resources has intersected high grade gold during drilling at the Acra Gold Project in Western Australia. New holes were drilled at Kalpini South and results include 11 metres @ 3.77 grams/tonne gold and 3 metres @ 5.44 grams/tonne.