ASIAN Mineral Resources (AMR) has increased mine production at its Ban Phuc Nickel Project in northern Vietnam by 17% while ongoing operational efficiencies have contributed to a further reduction in operating costs.

THE Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in India has advised India Resources that it will sponsor the Aravalli Lead-Zinc Project before the Project Monitoring Group (PMG), a mechanism set up by the Indian Government to remove implementation bottlenecks for large, strategic projects on a fast track basis.

WITH India increasingly focused on growing its mining sector by modernising operations and standards, more opportunities are being identified for Australia’s mining sector. This was evidenced during India’s biennial mining exhibition, the International Mining and Machinery Exhibition (IMME), in Kolkata from November 16-19.

NSL Consolidated has made further significant progress in its plan to establish a greenfield steel making plant in Andhra Pradesh, India, through execution of a binding agreement for joint development.

Lionsgold Limited expects to make a decision by the end of the June quarter on whether to construct an open pit mine at the Jonnagiri Gold Project in India. The decision will follow the release of an economic feasibility study, which Lionsgold said was nearing completion.

NSL Consolidated has entered into a conventional secured funding loan agreement totalling Aus$5 million to allow construction, commissioning and operation of the phase two wet beneficiation plant at its Kurnool iron ore processing stockyard in Andhra Pradesh state. Phase two will be a wet beneficiation process, allowing NSL to produce a high grade, premium price iron ore product grading between 58-62% iron at an annual rate of around 200,000 tonnes.

Global diversified resources company Astra Resources is negotiating the terms of acquiring up to three iron ore mines in India’s Orissa state. A JORC drilling program to confirm reserves at the mines is being completed as a condition of the settlement.

International diversified resources company Astra Resources is moving closer to finalizing acquisition of two iron ore mines in the eastern state of Orissa. The mines have existing mining leases in place and Astra is renewing mining licences covering both sites.

Cameco Inc has signed a supply agreement with the Department of Atomic Energy of India to provide 7.1 million pounds of uranium concentrate from Canada under a long-term contract through 2020. The contract is Cameco Inc’s first with India which is the world’s second fastest growing market for nuclear fuel.

Coal India (CIL) has become the sixth-largest mining company in the world in terms of market capital, according to a recent report by global audit firm PwC. The State-owned company has moved up from eighth last year while another state-run company, iron ore miner National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), has moved up to 21st from 24th.

German consulting and engineering company DMT GmbH & Co KG (DMT) together with EPC company McNally Bharat Engineering Co (MBE) from Kolkata, India, has designed, engineered, supplied, built and put into operation a complete state-of-the-art by-product plant for the cleaning of coke oven gas.

NTPC Limited, India’s biggest power generator, hopes to start production from its allotted Dulanga coal block by March 2015. With a mineable reserve of 152 million tonnes, the block is in the Ib valley coalfields and is linked to NTPC’s 1600 MW super thermal power station being developed at Darlipalli in Sundargarh district and which is scheduled to be commissioned by 2018.

NSL Consolidated has doubled the exploration target at its AP14 magnetite project in Andhra Pradesh state to up to 377 million tonnes of magnetite. The previous target range was between 62 and 125 million tonnes of magnetite at grades ranging from 20% to 50% iron.

Indian mineral resource company Hindustan Copper is inviting Expressions of Interest (EoI) from mining technology suppliers for direct recovery from refinery spent electrolyte.

Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Resources company that did not meet its 2013-14 mining target, will rework its plan for the world’s largest lead-zinc deposits, the Rampura Agucha mine in Rajasthan.

Industry bodies have warned the Indian Government that the country’s troubled mining sector is on the verge of shutting down completely. The groups say this is due to a forest clearance requirement imposed by the former government’s environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan.

NSL Consolidated has signed a US$12.2 million joint venture with a prominent Andhra Pradesh-based company in a bid to expand its iron ore operations in the Indian state. 

A mining lease has been granted to NSL Consolidated for its AP14 project where significant banded magnetite quartzite mineralization has been discovered. The project site covers 117 hectares acres at Karimnagar which is 200km northeast of Hyderabad, in India’s south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh. 

NSL Consolidated has received the first tranche of its joint venture payment from the Vijay Group. The US$2.77 million payment marks the first step in cementing a strong partnership aimed at expanding the company’s operations including the Kurnool iron ore plant and pursuing additional opportunities for growth in Andhra Pradesh state.

Just six months after a successful commissioning of its Kurnool iron ore plant in southeast India, NSL Consolidated has been given approval for development of the Phase 2 wet beneficiation plant to commence.