THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Altura Mining has received an increase to the Ore Reserve estimates for the company’s Mt Webber Joint Venture Direct Shipping Ore project located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The new revised Ore Reserve estimate stands at 29.7 million tonnes of DSO at 57.3 per cent iron and replaces the previous estimate of 25.2 million tonnes of DSO at 57.5 per cent iron.

Mt Webber JV Ore Reserves (as at 30 June 2012). Source: Company announcement

The JORC compliant Ore Reserve estimate was compiled by the JV managing partner Atlas Iron and represents an 18 per cent increase to the previous estimate released in August 2011.

The increase is the result of an infill and evaluation drilling program focussed on the Gibson and Fender deposits, which moved more material into the Proved Ore Reserve classification.

An independent review of Atlas Iron’s Ore Reserves, including the Mt Webber JV deposits, for which a separate review was undertaken in isolation, highlighted the potential for an additional 35 per cent of reserve inventory with the inclusion of the lower grade ore within the pits.

“The addition of this material would require a reduction in the cutoff grade and marketing of a product marginally below the 57.5 per cent iron product (planned by Atlas) to 56.3 per cent iron,” Altura Mining said in its ASX announcement.

“Altura will recommend that a further review be undertaken to upgrade the Mt Webber reserves in Altura’s tenement with a lower cut-off grade of 50 per cent iron as was applied to the resource estimate.”

The Mt Webber DSO project is earmarked to be the main feed source for Atlas’ North Pilbara Horizon 1 development and is planned to commence production in late 2013.

“Altura has had continued discussions with Atlas in order to progress and finalise the Joint Operations Agreement (JOA) for the development and mining of the Mt Webber JV deposit,” Altura said.

“The negotiation and signing of the JOA (and associated commercial terms) is a prerequisite to allow both parties to arrive at a unanimous decision to mine the tenement and will provide Altura with a market access point for its share of the DSO production.”

Atlas is currently planning initial production at the rate of 3 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) then rapidly ramping up to 6Mtpa from Mt Webber providing Altura with a 0.9Mtpa to 1.8Mtpa share of the annual production.

The production of 3Mtpa to 6Mtpa represents 40 per cent of the planned 15Mtpa production from the Horizon 1 area.

Disclaimer: The Roadhouse holds shares in Atlas Iron

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Kentor Gold can now add ‘Australian Gold Producer’ to its resume following the pouring of the first gold doré bar from the company’s Murchison gold project in Western Australia.

The first gold doré bar weighed 1.13 kilograms (36.3 ounces) and has been estimated to be approximately 90 per cent gold.

 “This is a big milestone for Kentor Gold as the Company joins the ranks of gold producers,” Kentor Gold managing director Simon Milroy said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The plant is settling down nicely with the mill continuing to achieve higher throughput than designed on a consistent basis.

“Initial gold production is sourced from the Burnakura plant’s gravity circuit.

“Gold loadings on the CIL circuit’s carbon are building steadily and it is anticipated the first carbon strip will take place later this week.”

Murchison gold project first gold pour. Source: Company announcement

Murchison is the first of Kentor Gold’s pipeline of three projects to enter production.

Gold mining commenced at the Murchison gold project at the Burnakura plant in mid‐2012, with the potential to add gold‐copper production from the neighbouring Gabanintha deposit.

At the Andash gold‐copper project in the Kyrgyz Republic, Kentor is targeting a commencement date sometime in 2013 for production at 70,000 ounces of gold and 7,400 tonnes copper of copper per annum for an initial six years, with potential for expansion.

The Jervois copper‐silver‐gold project in the Northern Territory has an anticipated 2014 start‐up following current studies being conducted into developing the copper‐silver resource with potential for gold, magnetite and other base metals.

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Perseus Mining has been granted an Exploitation Permit (EP) by the Côte d’Ivoire government to the company’s Côte d’Ivoire subsidiary company Occidental Gold.

The EP covers the development of the company’s Sissingué gold deposit (Perseus 85 per cent, Government and local partner 15 per cent), which is part of the Tengrela gold project, in northern Côte d’Ivoire.

Perseus said it expects to receive a copy of the exploitation permit within a few days once normal registration procedures have been completed.

“We are delighted to hear that the Exploitation Permit for the Sissingué gold project has been granted and we are now looking forward to moving ahead with the development of our second producing gold mine at Sissingué,” Perseus Mining managing director Mark Calderwood said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We will be making a formal decision to commit to full development once the terms of the Exploitation Permit and details of relevant fiscal terms are confirmed and at that time we will provide a further update on the project.

“Assuming that final preparations for the development come together as planned, we would expect to commission the Sissingué gold mine in late 2013, and by 2014 Perseus will be producing in the order of 400,000 to 450,000 ounces of gold per year, firmly entrenching us in the ranks of mid-tier gold producers.”

Schematic of the proposed Sissingué processing plant. Source: Company announcement

Back in 2010, Perseus published the results of a Feasibility Study (FS) for the development of the Sissingué gold deposit.

This study defined the following key parameters:

–    Initial Probable Ore Reserve of 657,000 ounces of gold (using US$950 gold price pit design);

–    Production of 340,000 ounces (3.5 million tonnes at 3.3 grams per tonne) of gold in first two years of a six year mine life;

–    Cash costs in the first two years of US$421 per ounce, with mine life average cash costs of US$505 per ounce; and

–    Start-up capital cost of US$115 million plus a further $33 million capital expenditure over the remaining life of mine including expenditure on a HV power line costing an estimated US$28 million in year one.

After the release of the FS, the company’s development of Sissingué was interrupted by political unrest in Côte d’Ivoire.

The company said since stability was restored in mid-2011, the permitting process has progressed methodically and efficiently, taking less than 12 months from start to finish.

Since it published the FS, Perseus has undertaken additional drilling in the vicinity of the Sissingué gold deposit and has subsequently accumulated a large amount of drill data.

This data is currently being incorporated into an updated Mineral Resource model, which the company said will be used for detailed mine planning purposes.

Perseus is planning to release an updated Mineral Resource model and mine plan by the end of 2012.

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Perth-based NSL Consolidated has secured a low cost unsecured Convertible Note the company said will enable it to further underpin and expand its iron ore production at its Kurnool project in southeast India.

The Convertible Note has been entered into with Resources First Pte Ltd, a company related to a major Singapore-based bulk commodities investment and trading house and an Indian bulk commodities trading house.

NSL Consolidated has also entered into a Marketing Agreement with Resources First where the latter will market the company’s iron ore and procure sales contracts.

This can include Resources First directly purchasing the iron ore.

NSL Consolidated will retain the ultimate and final say to whom, and for what price the iron ore is sold.

 “This package provides flexible, low cost expansion funding for our early iron ore production period,” NSL Consolidated managing director Cedric Goode said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“It will allow NSL to potentially bring forward both the development of Phase 2 at Kurnool, and to fully focus on optimising production rates, as we are now more than fully funded for our requirements into next year.

“This is a welcomed development against a backdrop of highly cyclical commodity and equity markets domestically and globally, and delivers certainty to NSL’s bulk commodity strategy in our key iron ore production ramp-up period.

“It also provides a marketing edge and access to a wider pool of potential offtake customers, either through direct purchasing of our iron ore, or access to strong steel mill relationships and supply history.

Resources First has an existing strong presence in India and global iron markets.

“Importantly, the product Marketing Agreement is non-exclusive so there is no restriction on NSL’s own sales endeavours and success to date.”

NSL Consolidated recently commissioned its new Phase 1 iron ore dry separation plant at Kurnool in the southeast Indian state of Andra Pradesh.

It is now aiming to progress during the current quarter to ramp up towards the plant’s anticipated nameplate capacity of 200,000 tonnes per annum.

The company anticipates the second stage, Phase 2 wet beneficiation plant for Kurnool, capable of producing final product grades of between 58 to 62 per cent iron will be brought into operation later in the year with completion and anticipated sales in the first half 2013.

This is targeted to increase production capacity by an additional 200,000 tonnes per annum to an anticipated total of 400,000 tonnes per annum from Kurnool.

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Blackham Resources is conducting a review of nickel potential at the company’s wholly-owned Fraser Range project following the recent discovery of the Nova deposit by Sirius Resources.

Blackham’s Fraser Range project lies approximately 20 kilometres from Nova, east of Norseman in Western Australia.

Blackham conducted drilling at Zanthus in January 2011 resulting in the completion of 18 aircore holes for 794 metres.

Drilling delineated the Zanthus lignite deposit of 350 million tonne with an average calorific value of 7.90 mega joules per kilogram.

This drilling penetrated basement rocks which Blackham routinely analysed for a suite of 36 elements including nickel and associated elements.

The company believes this geochemical data provides an advantage in the search for nickel discoveries similar to the Nova deposit.

Blackham said it remains committed to developing the Matilda gold project and may look at joint venture opportunities to unlock the potential mineral value at Fraser Range.

Blackham yesterday announced an update of resources at Matilda which have grown to 922,000 ounces of gold.