The resources sector faces new and different challenges due to the current global crisis. From border lockdowns, new health protocols, falling demand and prices, production pressures, project delays, supply chain and logistics issues, staffing, to declining optimism – like most sectors, the industry has been turned upside down. Many companiesContinue Reading
I have often encountered a problem they described in making decisions on key longwall equipment for underground coal mining. It can be stated as follows: “How does one make the best choice of equipment, so that it is not expensive, but at the same time high quality?” The most expensiveContinue Reading
South Deep, the mechanised Gold Fields gold mine in western Gauteng, is putting remote loading to the test. “We’re trialling remote loading from surface, where we have a person sitting in the control room that’s operating a loader 3 km under the ground beneath him. It’s very exciting to seeContinue Reading
As part of plans to establish a sustainable footing for its South Deep mine in South Africa, Gold Fields is trialling teleremote loading in a project with automation specialist RCT. Gold Fields’ problems at South Deep have been well documented, with the company, in 2018, launching a restructuring plan involvingContinue Reading
At the Kamoa-Kakula Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the first phase of development at the Kakula Copper Mine is in many respects exceeding the published plans, says 39.6% owner and operator Ivanhoe Mines (Zijin Mining also has 39.6%). Crews now are mining and stockpiling development ore withContinue Reading
Ivanhoe Mines has now completed 13.5 km of underground development at the Kakula copper mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The company is 4.2 km ahead of plan on the mine’s development. The development partner on the project is Citic Metal Group, led by president Yufeng Sun. Sun and Ivanhoe chairperson Robert Friedland say the mining team is on trackContinue Reading
anada-based copper and gold miner First Quantum has lowered its guidance for 2020 by 75 000 t of copper and 30 000 oz of gold, citing a reduction in production expectations at the Cobre Panama mine, which was temporarily idled after some workers contracted Covid-19. The TSX-listed mining company reduced its guidance for copper to between 755 000 t and 805 000 t and its gold guidanceContinue Reading
YSE-listed Freeport-McMoran (FCX) on Friday announced a 30% reduction in planned capital expenditure (capex) for 2020, as it unveiled a new operating plan in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant negative impact on the global economy. The group, which operates mines in North America, South America and Indonesia,Continue Reading
Mining companies’ will be able to weather the year despite the covid-19 pandemic, owing to having vastly streamlined their operations, cut debt and expenditures, and increased production efficiencies, Fitch Solutions forecasts in its most recent report. Fitch anticipates most metal prices faring worse than in 2019 and the global recession affecting physical demand. “We believeContinue Reading
hile Fitch Solutions Macro Research has long held the view that major miners are better positioned to weather unexpected storms, grow further and tackle new challenges, the ratings agency has questioned whether this would be the case with the Covid-19 pandemic – which brings with it operational disruptions and declining metal prices.Continue Reading
