The Australian Federal Government has decided not to approve Phosphate Resources Limited’s exploration program on Christmas Island due to potentially significant and unacceptable environmental impacts.

OCEAN Minerals LLC has identified areas of prospective potential for rare earth elements, including scandium, in the Cook Islands’ Exclusive Economic Zone. The company has entered into an agreement with the government for exclusive rights to prospect and explore these areas.

DEVELOPMENT of the Coronation North deposit at OceanaGold’s Macraes Goldfield project on New Zealand’s South Island is expected to begin during the current quarter. In December the company said that it remained on track to receive the permits required to advance the project into development.

LION One Metals has signed an MoU with Ansteel-CapitalAsia Global Engineering for ongoing development of the Tuvatu Gold Project in Fiji. The MoU covers an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a processing plant and a vendor financing agreement.

OUTSTANDING results have been received from a resource definition drilling program at Axiom Mining’s Isabel Nickel Project in the Solomon Islands. Nickel grades of up to 2.14% have been returned from drilling on the San Jorge tenement.

Lion One Metals has secured a US$40 million debt facility with Chinese companies Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering and Baiyin International Investment.

PACIFIC Bauxite has completed formal agreements to acquire a 50% interest in Au Capital Mining which holds two bauxite projects in the Solomon Islands. The primary target is Nendo Bauxite Project in Temotu province of the country’s east with the arrangement also covering Choiseul project in the north.

Xinfa Aurum Exploration Fiji expects to start mining a bauxite deposit at Votua village in Lekutu, Bua once a mining licence is issued by the Fijian government.

Initial mining has begun at the Cayzer-Prince ore body at Vatukoula Gold’s underground mine on Fiji’s Viti Levu Island where the company expects to annually produce up to 100,000 tonnes of gold.

Data and analytical results from samples collected during the exploration program conducted aboard the R/V Mt Mitchell vessel over Nautilus Minerals’ Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) project in the South Pacific has confirmed the grade and extent of the nodule deposit.

Results from recent diamond drill holes at Lion One Metals’ Tuvatu Gold Project in Fiji have significantly extended the zone of mineralization at the site. The company says the results confirm thicknesses and grades of lodes mapped on the surface, after the drill holes targeted the western extension of the previously drilled mineralization.

Divestment of the Guadalcanal Joint Venture in the Solomon Islands has resulted in Brisbane-based explorer SolGold securing ownership of the Kuma prospecting licence (PL), which is considered prospective for epithermal gold and porphyry gold-copper systems. The licence is undergoing renewal for a two year extension. 

Lion One is preparing a robust economic model for a high-grade gold mine near Nadi on Fiji’s Viti Levu Island, after promising results from its 2012 work program. 

SOUTHWEST Pacific Bauxite Company has been granted a Mining Lease by the Solomon Islands Government to mine bauxite on Vaghena Island. The project has total JORC-compliant resources of 30.1 million tonnes, which translate into an in-situ mining inventory of 29.1 million tonnes.