#Official Mining Thread

[Wayno]

thank Conrad V, lots of good reading there...

[Wayno]

jeez, i am so jealous. The Western Australia Govt will get an extra $1B in mining royalties per year based on the new Rio Tinto contract to sell Iron Ore to China at a massive 85% premium to current prices.

Sooo wish we had a bigger slice of that action!!!!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... tm?site=wa

Western Australia's iron ore boom is set for a massive boost with Rio Tinto signing a deal with China's biggest steel maker for a dramatic increase in the price of iron ore.

Rio Tinto has agreed to an 85 per cent rise in the price of iron ore after protracted negotiations with Chinese steel maker, Baosteel.

The two companies have been negotiating for months.

Western Australia Government coffers are set for a major boost with more than 40 per cent of the State Government's royalty payments coming from iron ore.

In the past, the deal has set the standard for other WA sales to European, Japanese, South Korean and Chinese steel makers.

Ongoing high demand and constrained supply have contributed to the dramatic increase on last year's 9.5 per cent price rise.

But the company which negotiated on behalf of the Chinese steel industry, said the traditional annual pricing system had been maintained despite an unprecedented divergence in the price rise of Australian ore and Brazilian ore.

"To maintain the traditional pricing system and normal market order and to hold a long-term friendly cooperation between the upstream and downstream sectors, Baosteel has settled 2008 benchmark iron ore prices with Rio Tinto after friendly negotiation," Baosteel said in a statement.

The company agreed to a 79.88 per cent price rise for Pilbara blend fines and Yandicoogina fines, and a 96.5 per cent price rise for Pilbara blend lump for the fiscal year 2008.

"This is an extremely healthy price for Rio Tinto," head of resources at Fairfax IS John Meyer said.

London-traded shares in Rio, which had been under pressure to get as high a rise as possible to justify its defence against a takeover bid from fellow Australian miner BHP Billiton, slipped slightly by 0.1 per cent.

BHP Billiton has yet to reach an agreement with Asian mills, whose shares rose by 1.1 per cent in London.

[Conrad Vassmann]

PRESS DIGEST-Australian General News - June 23
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/id ... 4320080622

...Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson last night suggested the Government could commit funds to developing alternative fuel sources such as gas-to-liquid and coal-to-liquid technology. Speaking after the Jeddah global energy meeting in Saudi Arabia, Mr Ferguson said a A$7.5 billion synthetic diesel plant in Qatar was the kind of project he wanted to see in Australia. He also urged Asian nations to follow the lead of China and lower fuel subsidies in order to reduce demand on world oil supplies in the short-term....

[UrbanSG]

Now it is even diamonds being discovered , from news.com.au:

Diamonds found in SA
June 26, 2008

DIAMONDS have been found in a new exploration program on pastoral land in South Australia's mid-north.

Flinders Mines Ltd said today that 10 diamonds had turned up in soil surface samples in an area 7km north-east of Peterborough.

"The results are the most significant soil diamond results known to the company in South Australia," Flinders Mines managing director Kevin Wills said.

"The only other area of similar soil diamonds in South Australia is on Flinders Island where we are also exploring."

Dr Wills said considerable work was necessary to determine the full significance of the new discovery.

He said it was exciting that the diamonds had been found at the surface and clustered together.

"This frequency and scattering in such a close-spread exploration footprint provides us with significant confidence to progress more detailed ground investigations," he said.

[Wayno]

Now it is even diamonds being discovered , from news.com.au:

Diamonds found in SA
June 26, 2008

DIAMONDS have been found in a new exploration program on pastoral land in South Australia's mid-north.

Flinders Mines Ltd said today that 10 diamonds had turned up in soil surface samples in an area 7km north-east of Peterborough.

"The results are the most significant soil diamond results known to the company in South Australia," Flinders Mines managing director Kevin Wills said.

"The only other area of similar soil diamonds in South Australia is on Flinders Island where we are also exploring."

Dr Wills said considerable work was necessary to determine the full significance of the new discovery.

He said it was exciting that the diamonds had been found at the surface and clustered together.

"This frequency and scattering in such a close-spread exploration footprint provides us with significant confidence to progress more detailed ground investigations," he said.

Were the cluster of 10 diamonds on a ring?

[Wayno]

An extra couple of thousand mining jobs within the next 12months. This will presumably put pressure on other trade & professional industries.

http://www.independentweekly.com.au/new ... 98475.aspx

Mining jobs growth to continue
26/06/2008 2:38:00 PM
Jobs growth in the South Australian mining industry is expected to continue in 2008, the State Government says.

Mineral Resources Minister Paul Holloway said employment in the sector was expected to grow by almost 20 per cent this year and the outlook for the future remained strong.

"Employment demand will be highest in the key skills provided by engineers, geologists, electricians, boilermakers, fitters and truck drivers," Mr Holloway said.

The minister said a recent survey of 65 companies showed they expected jobs growth of 19.5 per cent, taking total employment in the mining industry to 12,200.

He said figures also showed annual employment growth in the sector of 13 per cent since 1997 with its share of total state employment up from 0.5 per cent to 1.4 per cent.

"Recently, there have been some claims that employment in our state's mining industry is at its lowest in four years," Mr Holloway said.

"But I can assure that South Australian public that the strong jobs growth in this state's mining sector is expected to continue this year and into the future."

[UrbanSG]

From adelaidnow:

CAMERON ENGLAND
June 27, 2008 11:30am

IRONCLAD Mining will start a pre-feasibility study into its Wilcherry Hill iron ore project on the Eyre Peninsula immediately.

The company said today that despite unavoidable delays in receiving assay results from recent resource definition drilling, it was encouraged by "uniformly good assay results'' and "exceptional'' results from metallurgical testing.

"Commencing the pre-feasibility study now will assist in keeping the proposed mine development on track towards a production start in late 2010,'' the company said.

"IronClad is conducting a major drilling campaign on the Wilcherry Hill project to extend an existing JORC Code (Australian standards) compliant resource of 44 million tonnes of magnetite... to a target level of 100 million tonnes.''

The Wilcherry Hill project is about 40km north of Kimba on Eyre Peninsula.

IronClad said the high level of mineral exploration in South Australia and nationally had caused the delay in mineral assays.

IronClad shares were trading 2.3 per cent lower at 85c at 12:00 AEST.

[Conrad Vassmann]

ASX Listing and Tranche 3 Tongjiang Placing (Altona Resources)

RNS Number : 8416X
Altona Resources PLC
30 June 2008


Altona Resources Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: ANR / Sector: Exploration & Production

30th June 2008
Altona Resources Plc ('Altona' or 'the Company')

Intention to List on Australian Securities Exchange and
Tranche 3 Tongjiang Placing

Altona Resources Plc, the AIM listed Australian based energy company, announces its
intention to list on the Australian Securities
Exchange ('ASX') in Q4 2008, subject to market conditions. Leading Australian stockbroker and
financial advisory firm Bell Potter Securities
Limited ('Bell Potter') will advise Altona on the proposed listing on the ASX.

The Company has agreed with major investor Tongjiang International Energy Co. Ltd
('Tongjiang') that completion of Tranche 3 of the
share subscription agreement which was due to be completed by June 30th will be deferred, and
may constitute part of the proposed ASX
listing. The Company will provide further details in respect of the deferment of the
completion of Tranche 3 in due course.

Altona Chairman Chris Lambert said, "Given the geographic location of the Arckaringa Coal
to Liquids and Power Project in South
Australia, it has been our intention for some time to list on the ASX. With the Company now
proceeding to the final stage of the Bankable
Feasibility study for Arckaringa and favourable market dynamics for the energy sector, we
believe the time is now right to move to a
proposed dual listing. We believe an ASX listing will facilitate expanded investor awareness
and understanding of the exciting potential of
Arckaringa, in what is the Project's home territory."

[Conrad Vassmann]

ADVFN Altona Thread:

http://www.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=16628152

[Conrad Vassmann]

what do you think about CTP?
huge properties
Interview here:
http://www.dyor.de/central-petroleum-li ... mited.html

[Wayno]

ADVFN Altona Thread:

http://www.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=16628152

requires a login/pwd

[Wayno]

what do you think about CTP?
huge properties
Interview here:
http://www.dyor.de/central-petroleum-li ... mited.html

text is in german?

[Norman]

what do you think about CTP?
huge properties
Interview here:
http://www.dyor.de/central-petroleum-li ... mited.html

text is in german?

Ich verstehe es

[Wayno]

Not diamonds, cocky poo actually...

Seems the recent find of 10 diamonds in outback SA by Flinders Mines was incorrect i wonder how many Flinders Mines employees sold shares at an inappropriately elevated price...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 34,00.html

Flinders Mines (FMS) 22c
WHOOPSIES. After announcing a diamond find near Peterborough in South Australia last Thursday, Flinders Mines yesterday was forced to admit it was, in fact, a non-discovery.

Rather than finding 10 soil diamonds on the pastoral property, Flinders unearthed crystals called florencite. They're glittery like diamonds, but unlike the genuine girl's best friend aren't even worth their weight in cockies' poo.

Originally lauding the find as the "most significant soil diamond results known to the company in South Australia", the company did include the qualification that the samples were subject to verification.

Still, it's just as well that Flinders Mining, which changed its name from Flinders Diamonds, is more synonymous with Pilbara iron ore exploration these days. To ease the embarrassment, Flinders yesterday said it had sealed a deal with Cazaly Resources to buy a 44km patch in the Hamersley Ranges for $750,000. Never backwards in its claims, Flinders estimates a resource of 333-380 million tonnes -- of iron ore that is, not florencite.

We're wary of extravagant claims in the junior resources league -- especially in iron ore quarters -- and will avoid Flinders for want of better substantiated fortunes.

[Wayno]

Here is the Central Petroleum Interview:
<snip>Source: http://www.dyor.de

hi newzealaender, can you please explain how this article relates to south australia. Most people in this forum are not mining guru's. They just want to know the core facts. It really helps if you append a summary please (why this article matters to SA, potential benefits, specific items of interest). This saves everyone alot of reading. hope that makes sense. cheers...