Mining lithium from geothermal ‘lemonade’ by Elsa Wenzel
If Simbol Mining’s plans work out, within a decade it will deliver one-fourth of the world’s increasing demand for lithium, used in batteries of hybrid and electric cars without creating waste or pollution.
The start-up eventually aims to mine more than 100,000 tons of lithium carbonate each year from geothermal sources. That’s more than the current annual market for the compound; the company expects demands for it to quintuple by 2013.
Current mining methods won’t provide enough for the future need for lithium-ion batteries, according to Meridian Read more
Rocher Deboule Receives NI 43-101 Manganese Resource Estimate for Artillery Peak Arizona
Mr. Larry W. Reaugh, President & Chief Executive Officer of Rocher Deboule Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:RD)(PINK SHEETS:RDBHF) (”Rocher Deboule” or the “Company”), is pleased to report results of the NI 43-101 updated resource estimate on their 100% owned Artillery Peak Manganese project in Arizona.
The report, adhering to the NI 43-101 standards, quotes 10,865,929 tonnes of Indicated Resource at a grade 4.46% Mn backed up by an inferred resource of 96,933,724 tonnes of 4.52% Mn. There are several deposits on the property with historical production that remain untested in modern times and do not contribute to these resource estimates. Read more
Tombstone Exploration Corporation Sends Additional Samples to Copper State Analytical for Assay
Tombstone Exploration Corporation (OTCBB: TMBXF) has sent six additional samples collected on February 5, 2009 to Copper State Analytical for assay for Gold, Silver, Manganese, Copper, Lead and Zinc. Three of the samples were taken from the State of Maine Mine and three from Randolph Mine, both located on Tombstone’s Arizona wholly owned mineral acreage.
Alan Brown, Tombstone’s President and CEO, said, “Our crew continues to perform ground work on our extensive acreage in the Tombstone Mining District in preparation for beginning the Spring Phase 2 Drilling Program.”
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Ghana gold revenues rise to $1.1 bn in first half
Ghana’s gold output rose 3 percent to 1.27 million ounces in the first six months of 2008, but higher prices pushed revenues up 40 percent to $1.1 billion, the Chamber of Mines data showed on Monday.
Ghana is Africa’s second biggest gold producer after South Africa. It produced nearly 2.5 million ounces of the precious metal in 2007.
Average costs, driven by higher spending on electricity, rose sharply to $595/oz in the first quarter of 2008 and $602/oz in the second quarter, from an average $489/oz in 2007, the half-year report from the Chamber of Mines said.
The aggregated cash margin for Ghana’s mines was up in the first half of 2008, to $298/oz in the first quarter and $294/oz in the second quarter of the year, compared with $199/oz for full year 2007.
Prices of gold on world markets have benefited from worries about the health of the global economy as investors seek safe assets, as which gold is often perceived. Gold traded above $900 per ounce earlier this year, its highest in more than 20 years, and it has hovered in a range of $800-$900 for much of 2008, well above its $600-$800 trading band last year.
Ghana’s biggest gold producer is the local unit of South African-listed Gold Fields. Its Tarkwa and Damang mines were responsible for 37 percent of Ghana’s output in the first half of 2008.
AngloGold Ashanti was the second biggest producer with 20 percent of the country’s output from its Obuasi and Iduapriem operations, followed by Newmont.
The data showed Ghana’s manganese production fell 1 percent to 567,838 tonnes in the first half of 2008 but revenues more than doubled to nearly $33 million due to a revision in marketing and pricing at the Ghana Manganese Company Limited.
Below are figures for mine production and mineral revenues as detailed in the report. Some figures have been rounded off for presentation purposes. MINERAL FIRST HALF 2008 FIRST HALF 2007 Pct change Gold output 1,266,696 oz 1,231,424 oz 3 pct Gold revenues $1.12 bln $801 mln 40 pct Diamond output 395,236 cts 504,363 cts -22 pct Diamond revenues $12.6 mln $15.9 mln -21 pct Bauxite output 304,542 T 330,284 T -8 pct Bauxite revenues $8.6 mln $8.7 mln -2 pct Manganese output 567,838 T 576,357 T -1 pct Manganese revenues $32.6 mln $15.1 mln 116 pct TOTAL REVENUES $1.17 bln $841 mln 39 pct
Tags: GoldMining
Optimisation study expected this month on Cameroon cobalt project
Colorado-based Geovic Mining, which hopes to start construction in November on what may be the world’s biggest primary cobalt mine, expects to wrap up a key optimisation study on the project by mid-July, CEO Jack Sherborne said on Thursday.
In addition, financing activities are progressing and the company hopes to have the debt package for the mine in place before the end of March 2009.
Geovic holds 60% of Geovic Cameroon (GeoCam), which owns the Nkamouna cobalt/nickel/manganese project, in Cameroon. The balance is held by the National Investment Corporation of Cameroon and local investors. Read more
Itronics Silver-Iron-Zinc-Sulfur Leach Process to Increase Silver Refining Capacity Up to 10 Times and Reduce Costs by Up to 90 Percent
Itronics Inc. (OTCBB: ITRO) (FRANKFURT: ITG) (BERLIN: ITG) today reported that its wholly owned subsidiary, Itronics Metallurgical, Inc., has completed pilot leach tests which show that its new process will increase per melt refining capacity by up to 10 times and reduce per ounce refining cost up to 90 percent.
Itronics Metallurgical has been working on this process for several years and described the technology in press releases dated November 6, 2007 and December 11, 2007. The silver-iron-zinc-sulfur concentrate is produced by the Itronics Metallurgical photoliquid demetallization process. The concentrate is dried and sent to the refinery for silver recovery, refining, and sale. The concentrate has a relatively low silver content in relation to the iron and sulfur. Presently some of the iron and zinc goes into a glass slag and some of the iron and zinc combines with the sulfur to form an “iron matte,” which has some silver in it and which must be reprocessed to recover the remaining silver.
