Mining Exploration News

Reverse listing vehicle RLV No.3 hopes to transform into the Orion Mineral Group Ltd after signing an agreement to acquire Chilean iron ore company Minera Varry.

Minera Varry owns a mining concession for the excavation, processing and export of iron ore, and has also signed contracts with nearby ports to allow it to export iron ore. The mine is aiming to begin production and export in the third quarter of 2009.

RLV was established for the purpose of taking over a privately owned company to allow it to list on the sharemarket.

The acquisition transaction will include a cash payment of US13.5 million plus NZ$99.6 million which RLV aims to raise through the issue of new shares. Director Roger Gower says that the full sum will include initial operating capital for the project.

In addition, RLV will also be required to issue 20 million options for investors to subscribe for new ordinary RLV shares. The exercise price for each option is 12.5 US cents and the options must be exercised on or before 27 February 2009. Read more… »

The sharp slowdown in China’s economy, the biggest contributor to global growth, could have a ripple effect on Indian exports with demand for iron ore, cotton and soymeal set to take a beating. Although, most trade and industry representatives said that the immediate fallout would not be much, the situation could turn for the worse if growth continues to slow in the world’s fastest growing economy.

China’s gross domestic product rose 9% in the third quarter from a year earlier, its weakest since the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS epidemic that slashed growth in the second quarter of 2003, the state statistics bureau said in Beijing on Monday. India’s exports to China rose to around $10.8 billion in 2007-08, up from $8.3 billion in the previous year. “China is the largest buyer of iron ore from India and if its economy slows, we could see a further fall in demand,” said Glenn Kalavampara, secretary, Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association.

Goa exports the bulk of iron ore from India. He said that already exports are being tipped to fall by 25% - 30% this year due to the global slowdown and the hefty export duty on ore. The fall could be as much 40% - 50% if China stopped buying. India exported around 100 million tonne of iron ore from all ports in 2007-08 (April-March) of which around 80% was to China.
Read more… »

Adex Mining said Monday results from a phase two drilling program at its Mount Pleasant mine in southwestern New Brunswick, Canada, showed mineralization with areas grading 1.11% tin and 242 g/mt indium. “These results, indicative of significant near-surface and at-depth mineralization, further underscore the significant potential of the tin-indium areas of the Mount Pleasant mine property,” Adex President and CEO Kabir Ahmed said in a statement. “In addition, the completion of our 2008 drilling program is an important milestone for us as we continue our fast-track approach to moving the Mount Pleasant project to the feasibility stage of mine development.” The Toronto-based miner said the site also contains grades of zinc, copper and arsenic. Adex said it was also splitting and sampling historical core on the property and completing an analysis of missing indium for sample pulps and split corestored at the site to better define the shape and extent of the ore bodies, especially at shallow depths.

Polaris Metals NL will examine the feasibility of exporting Yilgarn, WA, iron ore through Esperance, as an alternative to shipping through Fremantle Port’s Kwinana bulk handling facilities, after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Port of Esperance.
The company plans to start mining stage 1 of the Yilgarn project in 2010 based on the Carina and Chamaeleon iron ore deposits 60km north of Koolyanobbing. A recently completed pre-feasibility study confirmed the viability of the project and, as a base case, assumed export through Kwinana.

STOCK DASHBOARD: October 21, 2008
Polaris Metals
Price at 2:00 pm: 15.50c
Price change from previous trading day: 3.3%
Relative Strength (6 months percentile rank): 16.9
Market capitalisation: $24 million
Turnover volume: 37,000.0
Volume Index (1 is average): 0.4
Turnover value: $5,685
Turnover period: 4 years 2 months
Value of $1,000 invested 1 year ago: $238

China’s iron ore imports failed the expectations for a substantial decline in September, due largely to traders and steelmakers betting on possible mounting demand after the Beijing Olympics.
According to latest customs data, China bought from abroad 39.2 million tonnes of iron ores last month, up 1.8 million tonnes on the August figure. The arrivals were valued at 5.79 billion U.S. dollars, up 18.2 million dollars from the previous month.
The import volume went against expectations and failed to be in line with real demand at home over the past weeks, Xu Xiangchun, a steel industry analyst, said on Saturday.
Since the beginning of September, major Chinese steel manufacturers have announced to slash production upon falling steel prices on the domestic market.
Xu predicted that the less demand would be reflected in import figures for October and November.
Between January and September, China imported 346.11 million tonnes of iron ores, up 22 percent over the same period of last year. The arrivals were valued at 48.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 116 percent.

Australian shares rose 3 percent on Tuesday, led by rallies in miners BHP Billiton and its takeover target Rio Tinto amid signs the global credit crunch might be easing. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 125.4 points to 4,267.7 by 0405 GMT, adding to a 4.3 percent gain on Monday. BHP and Rio both put on 9 percent. New Zealand’s benchmark NZX-50 index rose 2.2 percent to 2,952.02.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Westpac Banking Corp Ltd, Australia’s No. 4 lender, cut its standard variable home loan rate by 0.2 percent to 8.36 percent, effective from Monday. Westpac is the last of Australia’s big four banks to fully pass on the central bank’s 1 percentage point rate cut earlier this month. The stock was up 0.5 percent at A$23.07. 0402 GMT

* National Australia Bank outperformed other banks, reversing early losses to rise 7.4 percent to a 9-day high of A$24.69. The nation’s top lender announced a year net profit of A$4.536 billion ($3.19 billion). NAB said its wholesale funding requirement this year was only A$14-19 billion, half of the previous year. ‘NAB came out and showed it still has a good core business franchise and there were no further nasty surprises,’ said Angus Gluskie, portfolio manager ate White Funds Management. ‘That’s reassuring for investors,’ he said. 0402 GMT
Read more… »

A full or partial closure of the Century zinc mine in Australia, the world’s second largest, is being considered as zinc prices continue to fall, Oz Minerals Ltd (OZL.AX
loading
OZL.AX , ) Managing Director Andrew Michelmore said on Tuesday.
“It’s not just all or nothing, this is one of the things we also will be looking at, do we slow this down,” Michelmore told Reuters after the company released its latest production figures.
“Zinc in the ground is worth a lot more in the future than it is now,” Michelmore said. “So we need to ask ourselves, what’s our cost of leaving it there.”
There was no timetable set out for taking a decision on Century’s future, “though there is no way we would want to keep producing if we are making cash losses there,” Michelmore said.
Read more… »

Cotton & Western Mining, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: CWRM) — Robert L. Cotton, President of Cotton & Western Mining, Inc., stated today that the company has finalized mineral rights agreements on several locations within 150 kilometers of the Pacific Ocean Port of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico; fulfilling needed iron mineral reserves to meet minimum production requirements of [...]

Steelmakers also firm; STMicroelectronics, Ericsson in partnership LONDON (MarketWatch) - European shares edged up from two-week lows on Wednesday, as strong gains from miners, oil producers and steelmakers offset some more weakness in the banking sector. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP: news, chart, profile) rose 0.1% to 279.97, with miner Rio Tinto (RTP:, , [...]

Lomiko Resources Inc. (”Lomiko” or the “Company”)(TSX VENTURE:LMR) announced today that Mr. Dennis Nikols has joined Lomiko as a consultant in relation to its decision to stake Saskatchewan coal leases with the assistance of Paleosands Petroleum Corp. Mr. Nikols is the President of Algo Energy Inc., and holds directorships with Retread Resources Inc. and Paleosands [...]