Mining NZ Issue 1 2016

AUTUMN 2016

Rolling on at Macraes OceanaGold recently celebrated 25 years of production at its Macraes operation in East Otago, and there is plenty of life left in the mine yet.

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Contents »

Autumn, 2016

Contents

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9 A closer look at gold A comprehensive research programme is well underway on New Zealand’s gold deposits to help mineral exploration.

10 Plenty to celebrate at Macraes OceanaGold recently celebrated 25 years production at its Macraes operation in East Otago.

15 Sam’s Creek on the market MOD Resources is planning to sell all or part of its interest in the Sam’s Creek gold project.

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18 Waiuta clean-up plan The Department of Conservation has finalised a plan to remediate the contaminated Waiuta mine site on the West Coast.

15 If you have an image you think would look great on the cover, contact us: Email nick@waterfordpress.co.nz Phone 03 983 5500 www.waterfordpress.co.nz Cover photo courtesy of OceanaGold

PUBLISHER: James Lynch

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EDITOR: Nick Gormack

Ann-Marie Frentz, Sarah McQuilkin, Charlotte Frentz Phone: 03 983 5554 Email: annmarie@waterfordpress.co.nz

JOURNALISTS: Jo Bailey, Hugh de Lacy, Karen Phelps, Peter Owens

ART DEPARTMENT:

Ph: 03 983 5559 Email: nick@waterfordpress.co.nz

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4 Mining NZ » Autumn 2016

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ISSN 2324-1187

Samantha Stuart, Liki Udam, Anton Gray, Michael Perry, Jessica Ann, Connor Gosnell Ph: 03 983 5560 Email: art@waterfordpress.co.nz

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News »

Minerals explorer denied access Jo Bailey Australian base and precious metal explorer Silver City Minerals has been refused further entry for exploration at its tenements in the Central Volcanic Zone in the North Island, after spending most of 2015 undertaking low impact exploration activities in the target area.

Managing director Chris Torrey says the landowners Maori Investments, a corporate trust comprising some 5000 members, rebuffed a formal proposal from Silver City Minerals for a longer-term access arrangement, and the offer to include Maori Investments as a partner in the project.

“Although we had an amicable relationship with Maori Investments throughout, they refused us further entry and said please don’t correspond with us on the matter again.

“It was disappointing given we had spent over $200,000 to set up a company, and carry out a lot of activity and sampling on the ground. All that hard work was canned in one email.”

Chris says Silver City Minerals was aware of the access risks when it took on the project and was cautious about progressing to a full drilling and exploration phase without a comprehensive access agreement with Maori Investments in place.

“We had had a lot of meetings with Maori Investments, its board and local iwi, and did several field trips before getting agreement for the low impact exploration work for 2015.

“We were very reluctant to carry out expensive drilling and geophysical work without a new access agreement. I’m a Kiwi and knew the risks in the local environment but thought we could get through the process.”

Chris believes the company was refused access

by Maori Investments on “philosophical anti-mining grounds”, a decision he accepts.

What he is more concerned about is the general climate in New Zealand for potential mining and minerals investors.

“New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals is trying to promote New Zealand to foreign investors and companies as a great place to do business. In these tenements they (NZP&M) spent a great deal of time and money on a tender process, locking up the ground for over two years before seeking investors in an environment where there was a good chance we couldn’t get access anyway.”

Chris says this highlights the dangers of doing business in New Zealand.

“One of the best advertisements a government has in the mineral resources sector, is a vibrant participation of junior explorers, as they sell the story for you. Unfortunately you don’t see many in New Zealand which is a shame.”

It was back in May 2014 that Silver City Minerals acquired a five-year permit to explore for gold, silver and other metallic minerals in the government tender process.

Silver City Minerals’ two tenures covered around 94 square kilometres south of Kawerau and 35 kilometres east of Rotorua.

At the time, Minister of Energy and Resources Simon Bridges hailed the company’s entry into the market, saying it was a “great result” to see a new entrant investor in a project with “real potential to create jobs, and benefit the local and national economy over the longer term.”

Silver City Minerals’ two tenures covered around 94 square kilometres south of Kawerau and 35 kilometres east of Rotorua, under a Tier 1 permit that required a minimum investment of $1.25 million over the course of exploration.

The permit also required Silver City Minerals

to negotiate with local iwi as well as Maori Investments.

“The iwi leaders were generally very supportive of what we were doing as they could see the benefits of a new industry and potential new employment for Kawerau where unemployment is rife. I was optimistic we might be able to do a deal, especially with the offer to Maori Investments to become a partner in the project.”

In addition to the uncertainty around access, Chris says there are also issues with mining legislation for operators in New Zealand.

“There is no recourse for arbitration or discussion if landowners decide to block access, unlike the petroleum sector where these measures exist.”

Chris Torrey

“There is no recourse for arbitration or discussion if landowners decide to block access, unlike the petroleum sector where these measures exist.

“It seems odd a government would try and promote its minerals industry when it puts a whole lot of impediments in the way of it.”

Silver City Minerals’ exit could be potentially damaging to the wider industry, he believes.

“I’ve had several other potential explorers call to talk about what happened. Word gets around.”

He says a “whole government approach” and getting the right legislation in place is critical if New Zealand is to be successfully promoted to the wider minerals industry.

Silver City Minerals (which was set up in 2008) is focused back on its core operation at Broken Hill in Western New South Wales where it has 1200 square kilometres of exploration tenure.

“After what happened to us in the Central Volcanic Zone tenements, we are not interested in coming back to the North Island, and don’t consider the South Island prospective for the sorts of things we’re looking at.

“We still have a company set up in New Zealand, but I doubt we’ll be back in the short term.”

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News »

Parents of Pike victim give valuable insight Karen Phelps A recent visit to OceanaGold Waihi by parents of a victim of the Pike River disaster is proof that good things can come from tragic circumstances.

Carol and Steve Rose’s son Stuart Mudge died at Pike River and the couple spent three days at Waihi Gold meeting every team and crew to share lessons learned from the tragedy.

Issues that were raised included the fact that many of the miners affected by Pike River didn’t have up to date next of kin contact details and wills, which heeded communication to their loved ones when the disaster occurred.

“It is doubtful that any of us can really appreciate the ordeal faced by the families after the mine disaster,” says OceanaGold Waihi Senior Health and Safety Advisor Peter Lowe. “Carol and Steve spent time with us to provide a brief insight into their world, and equally importantly, share some practical advice based on their experiences.”

The visit by the Roses was part of a focus at the mine since 2011 to address safety performance.

While Lowe says that the operation’s safety performance was one of the best in the industry there was still room for improvement.

“Top down management initiated programmes had achieved only limited short term success and we decided we needed a culture change, one that made every person on the mine site actively and personally responsible for his or her safety and that of the team on a long term basis.”

He says that the first of OceanaGold’s nine strategic objectives is to have injury-free healthy work environments without fatalities.

At the Waihi operation they use the Vital Behaviours programme to obtain long term buy-in of staff and to maintain on-going interest in safety.

“The Vital Behaviours programme works with site crews so they self-identify the behaviours that they need to keep themselves and their colleagues safe,” he explains.

The focus is on bringing home the safety message in a fun and memorable way. Other past initiatives of the programme have included staff making their own corporate safety video and a staff and families open day.

Since the implementation of the Vital Behaviours programme in 2011 the mine has had one Lost Time Injury (LTI) on site and the total number of injuries recorded decreased from 55 in 2010 to 28 in 2015. The number of serious injuries decreased by over 300% from 2010 to 2015. By the end of March 2016 the company had 723 days LTI-free.

Peter Lowe says that the feedback from staff on the Roses recent visit has been that this was the most relevant presentation they had ever attended.

“We all learned a lot from Carol and Steve, and we really thank them for their time, energy, and commitment.”

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Exploration programme management Geological mapping and 3D modelling Resource evaluation and certification Mine drainage consulting, research, sampling and testing - Gas content testing of coal

6 Mining NZ » Autumn 2016

Waihi Gold’s C crew raised funds for 29 plaques to recognise those who lost their lives at Pike River.

Memorial unveiled to Pike 29 Karen Phelps A group of underground miners from Waihi Gold’s C crew has banded together to raise funds for 29 plaques to recognise those who lost their lives at Pike River.

OceanaGold Waihi senior community advisor Kit Wilson says it took the crew about two weeks to raise the funds, organised with assistance from a number of local businesses, and arrange for help with the installation from Hauraki District Council.

“Underground miner Tehuiroa Tawa organised everything, from funding through to plaque manufacture and delivery, and the final installation,” says Wilson.

“It was really something to see it all happen, and to have members of Pike River families with us for the dedication earlier this year was just the icing on the cake,” he says.

The Pike River Memorial Avenue features 29 kowhai trees and flush mounted plaques bordering a footpath leading through Gilmore Reserve towards the Tunnellers Memorial and Memorial Wall, which is part of an area of the reserve called the Miners’ Reflective Area.

The has been developed over the last five years by Waihi Heritage Vision to remember the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company, which dug under enemy lines there in preparation for the 1917 Battle of Arras.

The company included about 90 miners from Waihi and Karangahake. People from New Zealand as well as dignitaries from France,

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the Cook Islands, Australia, the UK and Canada as well as descendants of the tunnellers, Maori members of the Pioneer Battalion attached to the Tunnelling Company, servicemen and veterans, and miners and their families all attended the memorial dedication in January.

The dedication event included musical tributes, the blessing of the memorial, the mounting of a catafalque guard and the laying of wreaths and a concluding flyover performed by three Harvards.

Wilson says that Carol and Steve Rose, whose son Stuart Mudge died in the Pike River mine disaster, got to meet with C crew during a recent visit to Waihi Gold.

A special moment was when the Waihi Gold C crew performed a haka in their honour and as a mark of respect for them, their son Stuart, and his colleagues who died.

Says Wilson: “It reinforced what we all knew - we are all miners, and we need to look out for each other.”

His Excellency the Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae, and Hauraki District Council Mayor John Tregidga, pay their respects at the Pike River Memorial Avenue.

New Brisbane joint venture - CB3 Ltd Spontaneous combustion testing Combustion analysis and testing Gasification and carbonisation research Advanced nano-materials research and development Coal and minerals processing research

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Coal and combustion testing Chemical analysis on fuels Water analysis - domestic to industrial Magnetic and density mineral separations X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence (XRF & XRD) Acid base accounting and kinetic testing

News »

Gold price has experts guessing Martha Mine Hugh de Lacy The gold price rising at its fastest rate in 30 years since the start of this year, and breaching the $US1300/ounce ($NZ1884/oz) mark for the first time in 15 months, seems to be showing the way towards a global recovery of mining revenues.

In the first quarter of this year gold produced its best performance since the start of the global financial crisis in late 2008, though it’s still well short of its July 2011 peak of $US1900/oz ($NZ2754/oz).

That’s got some commentators, particularly afficianados of the Elliott Wave theory, to predict bullion heading towards $US2000/oz, a whisker short of $NZ3000/oz, by the end of the year.

The underlying drivers of this confidence appear to be continued uncertainty in the global economy, and a recent surge in mining stocks.

For example silver, usually joined at the hip to the gold price, has pushed through the $US16/oz ($NZ23/oz), its highest level in six months.

The International Monetary Fund fuelled the economic crisis scenario by revising downward its growth forecasts for the fourth time in a year, to 3.1 percent, as close as it can be to its own definition of 3% as a technical recession, as the world struggles under $US57 trillion of debt, nearly 300% of global GDP. Commentators such as UBS Wealth Management, however, spurn the notion of gold booming again on economic uncertainty, saying bluntly that it regards the current surge in the gold price as unsustainable. UBS expected gold to reach $US1310/oz ($NZ1900/oz), which it nearly did, but advised investors to cash up at that point and not start buying again until it settles back to around $1100/oz ($NZ1594/oz), the range in which it has bumped along for the past four years.

And, right on schedule, the price settled back under $US1300/oz in the first week in May. The optimists reckon it’s just taking a breather, the pessimists that it’s on the way back down again.

New Zealand’s biggest goldminer, OceanaGold Corporation, would seem to be among the optimists.

Revelling in a 25% fall in its production costs, from $1255/oz to $961/oz, as lower diesel prices and a lower kiwi dollar kicked in last year, Oceana told the market in April it was ramping up production at its Macraes opencast and underground mines in East Otago.

Oceana will also spend $US10m ($NZ14.5m) drilling 34 kilometres of exploratory holes at six new or historical mine sites under permits it holds in northern Bay of Plenty and Coromandel, not far from the Martha Pit in Waihi that it took over from Newmont Gold last year.

Learning from the ‘old-timers’ Karen Phelps Present and past miners spent time together recently at the 29th annual Miners’ Reunion held by OceanaGold Waihi.

“We are pleased to be able to invite our colleagues from an earlier era back to site. They are just a treasure trove of information. We find that there is always something new for us to learn from their wealth of experiences,” says OceanaGold Waihi senior community advisor Kit Wilson.

The event was originally initiated by community relations staff when the Martha mine reopened in the 1980s to provide the opportunity for miners from pre-1952 to get together and catch up with each other as well as view recent developments on site. This year the miners toured the site and visited the Tunnellers’ Memorial at Gilmour Reserve before having lunch at the mine Education Centre and trying out the Underground Experience - a facility which was originally built at the mine for the over 7,000 school and university students OceanaGold Corporation has on site each year.

Wilson says the miners were impressed with the changes between the mining operation they worked at and mining today.

“They had to walk to work so were impressed by the comparative comfort of 4WD utes and also how bright and open everything was underground compared to their cramped and dark working conditions. Part of the video they watched showed some of their workmates underground in 1949 with candles, so that raised a chuckle. Also several commented on safety equipment such as hardhats, self-rescuers and hi viz, which they never had in their day,” says Wilson.

OceanaGold Waihi general manager Bernie O’Leary talks with blacksmith Mock Tyson at the 2016 Miners Reunion in Waihi.

He says there are always interesting things to learn from the miners, which is what makes the reunion so special.

“For example this year Bruce Douglas, an oiler and assistant fireman who previously worked in the mine, brought along his framed reference from 1951 which is only five sentences long.

“The mine superintendent wrote: during the whole of his time his services have been satisfactory. He is of sober habits, good character, and attentive to his duties.”

The popularity of the event can be evidenced by

attendees such as Mock Tyson, who used to be the mine’s blacksmith. Wilson says he doesn’t think Mock has missed a reunion since they began.

“When you listen to men like Mock talk about their jobs, you realise how tough, adaptable and resilient these men had to be to work in the early mining industry in New Zealand,” he says.

“These ‘old timers’ are the foundations of the modern mining industry.

“At Waihi we are working in the same place they did – Martha – albeit in a very different way and with very different technology.”

rock falls not over yet Karen Phelps It is expected to take months rather than weeks to determine how best to deal with the approximately two million tonnes of rock, which fell from the wall of the Martha Mine on April 26.

OceanaGold Waihi senior community advisor Kit Wilson confirms there is still unstable material in the wall, which will fall.

“While we are waiting for this to happen we will determine the safest way of dealing with the fallen material and stabilising the north wall.

“Then we can determine the safest way of reentering the pit. In the meantime any work near the slip has stopped,” he says.

The large rock fall follows a smaller rock fall on April 2, 2015 after which mining in the open pit ceased. Since then OceanaGold has been monitoring the north wall using a radar system and other devices.

Wilson says it was as a result of this monitoring that the company knew the wall was moving and was able to close a section of the Pit Rim Walkway on April 20, and advise the community of the likelihood of another rock fall.

The current slip is the result of historic underground mining beneath the north wall combined with the previous slip weakening the area.

However Wilson says the rest of the open pit is stable.

“Monitoring of the other walls shows that the movement was restricted to the section of the north wall which has fallen. There may be some subsequent smaller rock falls as the area settles.

There are certainly some very large boulders within the slip area that will fall,” he says.

Wilson says that the company always planned to resume work in the mine if this could be done safely but this may now take longer than previously anticipated. He says that the rock fall has had no effect on mining operations at Correnso.

The public can also still have access to the popular pit rim walkway.

OceanaGold has rerouted a northern section of the pit rim walkway onto a public road and the remainder of the walkway is open.

Information sheets have been placed around the pit rim as well as additional information delivered to residents adjacent to the north wall.

“We will keep the community informed as we work through the issues and develop strategies and timeframes.”

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Autumn 2016 » Mining NZ 7

AusIMM 2016 »

Capital calling for AusIMM 50th Jo Bailey AusIMM New Zealand branch will celebrate its 50th anniversary at the organisation’s annual conference to be held at Te Papa in September.

Rene Sterk, director of RSC Consulting and chairman of the Branch, says Wellington is the ideal location to mark the half-century milestone, given it is home to central government and some major industry stakeholders.

“We are expecting quite a bit of input from this side of the industry throughout the conference and are planning some specific sessions that will hopefully generate discussion with local politicians and regulators.”

The conference theme is ’50 Years’, with several exploration history and mining heritage themed presentations being given to mark the occasion.

“Some of our long term members will give special addresses, including Mick Buckenham who will talk about the history of the AusIMM New Zealand branch and John Taylor who is covering mining heritage topics. It will be great to listen to some of the old stories.”

There will also be presentations looking ahead to the next 50 years, discussing possible developments in the minerals and coal industries, which will raise “some interesting questions,” says Rene.

These sessions complement the conference’s regular technical programme with its usual range of geoscience research, exploration, mining, geotechnical, environmental, legislative, and health and safety topics.

The latest New Zealand Mineral Potential Monograph will be launched at the start of the conference by the chair of the conference organising committee, Tony Christie, of GNS Science.

This “hefty doorstopper” document comes out every 10-odd years and provides all stakeholders with an up to date account of key projects and technical related matters in the New Zealand mining and minerals sector, says Rene.

“This is an important document that showcases a lot of New Zealand’s key projects, and provides an excellent reference to the type of active deposits we have in this country. It has been heavily supported by a range of industry sponsors, and we are very excited about its upcoming launch.”

The structure of this year’s conference has changed slightly, with field trips and short courses, taking place on Saturday September 3, followed by registration and welcome cocktails at Te Papa that evening.

Wellington will host this year’s AusIMM New Zealand 50th anniversary conference.

The first full day of presentations will get underway on Sunday September 4, the first time these sessions have been held at a weekend.

“We have scheduled the technical and geological orientated papers on the Sunday, which allows some delegates who find it difficult to attend for the whole three days, to attend either the Sunday/Monday or Monday/Tuesday sessions.”

Also on the Sunday will be the Tas McKee address given by AusIMM president, Rex Berthelsen, along with student presentations, and a Student/Industry function in the evening.

A packed programme of plenary sessions is planned for Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th September.

“We’ve had fantastic interest from presenters, with around 65 papers already received by the end of April,” says Rene.

He expects the history and heritage sessions

2016 AusIMM New Zealand Branch Annual Conference Wellington 3rd – 6th September 2016, Te Papa, Wellington

To mark the 50th anniversary of the New Zealand Branch of AusIMM, the 2016 conference will feature a group of exploration history and mining heritage themed presentations and also presentations that look forward and discuss possible developments in the minerals and coal industries in the next 50 years.

Registrations open: 27th May Early bird closing date: 1st July Further information: www.ausimm2016conference.co.nz

8 Mining NZ » Autumn 2016

to be popular, along with the exploration plenary, which will finish the day.

A networking function is planned for that evening at an exciting Wellington venue still to be confirmed.

The address by Minister for Energy and Resources Simon Bridges will be a feature of the Tuesday sessions, along with a forum on government mining policy, the industry leaders’ updates, and the annual state of the industry talks

by Tony Haworth and Matt Freeman.

“We have pencilled in a plenary on minerals access and competing land uses, which is an important subject the conference shouldn’t shy away from,” says Rene.

A “pick and mix” session after lunch is another new initiative planned for the final day of the conference.

This break out event will see various groups

sitting at different tables, discussing a wide range of topics.

The conference dinner at Parliament buildings on the Tuesday evening is expected to be another highlight of the programme, along with some special award presentations.

Rene says he is “really excited” at how the programme is coming together.

“Last year I was a bit apprehensive given the downturn in the industry and the fact we were holding the conference in a faraway destination such as Dunedin.

However the feedback from last year’s conference was overwhelmingly positive, and has led to a continued change of structure of the event.

We are excited to bring the conference to Wellington as we celebrate 50 years of the organisation and with the industry starting to turn around are hoping for a strong turnout of around 350 delegates.”

MWC to scale back 2016 forum The format for the 2016 Minerals West Coast Forum is likely to change from previous years, says Phil McKinnel, manager of event organisers, Minerals West Coast.

“We’re still working out the finer details, but at this stage are looking to reduce the focus and scale of this year’s forum, and hold a bigger event again next year, which could potentially be held biannually.”

This year’s forum has been tentatively scheduled for August 18-19 at Shantytown, where speakers from the Department of Conservation, local councils, regional council, and New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals are expected to talk around the theme ‘Let’s go mining’.

“We’re switching back to a more operational focus, and hoping to get some feedback from the various organisations and agencies around what mining applications should include, what aspects of the application process work well, and whether there are any potential areas for improvement.”

To provide real world examples of the application process, a couple of small to medium alluvial goldminers will present case studies on how they approached these organisations for access arrangements and consents. A speaker from Bathurst will also outline the process the company went through to gain its mining permissions.

“We hope these discussions will raise a series of key action points that may clear some room for improvement in the processes surrounding the mining industry to make life easier for operators, the industry, and the various organisations governing the industry into the future.”

The full programme for the 2016 Minerals West Coast Forum is still being finalised. However it will definitely touch on health and safety, with environmental topics covered by speakers from DOC and the various councils.

The Annual General Meetings of Minerals West Coast and the West Coast Gold Miners’ Association will kick off the event on the evening of Thursday August 18, with the forum proper getting underway on the Friday.

“We’re not sure whether there will be time for the traditional happy hour and speed dating on the Thursday evening given the condensed format of the event, although they may still happen.”

One of the big changes of this year’s event is the move away from the formal dinner on the Friday evening, which has been replaced with a more informal couple of social hours, with food and drinks and a West Coast theme, says Phil.

“This will give people the valuable opportunity to connect more informally. It is a good chance to catch up and see where everyone else is at.”

News »

GNS research to help exploration Jo Bailey A comprehensive research programme is well underway on New Zealand’s gold deposits to characterise features that can be used in mineral exploration to target and explore for new deposits.

Called GEM (which stands for gold exploration models) the programme is a collaborative four-year research initiative between GNS Science, University of Auckland, University of Waikato and University of Otago, and is funded by Science & Innovation of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for the period 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2018.

Tony Christie, programme leader from GNS Science, says the aims of the programme are to improve the understanding of New Zealand’s on-shore mineral resources, increase international perceptions of this country’s mineral prospectivity, attract new exploration investment, and contribute to the discovery of new gold deposits through the development of regional to deposit scale exploration models.

“New Zealand has a diverse range of gold deposit types as well as active geothermal systems that demonstrate mineral formation processes from hot geothermal waters. This makes New Zealand an ideal location for this type of research.”

The project team includes key researchers from the collaborating organisations, postgraduate research students, plus researchers from overseas organisations and assistance from staff of several mineral exploration and mining companies.

Some of the questions they are investigating include the factors that control the location of gold deposits; where new gold deposits might be found; looking at features early in the exploration phase that indicate the potential size of a new prospect; and how economic mineralisation within the prospect can be targeted and found.

Tony says the research follows three key research aims, each with a series of critical steps.

The GEM programme’s first research aim is to apply a variety of geological, geochemical and geophysical methods in order to determine the “footprint” of epithermal, orogenic and intrusionrelated hydrothermal systems, and identify the nature, scale and distribution of vectors towards mineralisation.

Identifying mineralised structures through the understanding of the relationship between tectonics, deformation and ore-mineralising fluid flow within New Zealand’s varied exploration landscape is the second research aim.

“This part of the project will utilise recently acquired high-resolution airborne geophysical survey data, available company geophysical and geological data, and existing and new petrophysical and structural data to understand the structural and tectonic contexts of mineralisation,” says Tony.

The results of the first two research aims will be utilised in the development and validation of ore deposit type and region-specific exploration models. In the programme’s final year, the research results will be synthesised into comprehensive mineral exploration models for specific mineral deposit types with region specific variations.

“These will identify new exploration opportunities and provide a solid basis for attracting international exploration investment.”

Tony expects international awareness of the

Champagne Pool at the Waiotapu thermal area south of Rotorua is depositing gold from geothermal fluids in the orange arsenic-antimony precipitate at the margin of the pool. Such features provide a modern examples of gold transport and deposition that help develop exploration models for gold deposits.

(Photo: Lloyd Homer)

Tony Christie final results to be raised through the project’s international research partners, and publication in international journals and at international conferences.

Although just one partner in the GEM programme, GNS Science was recently recognised as the top non-university publisher of peer reviewed science in New Zealand and the top institution in New Zealand for publishing papers on earth and environmental sciences in Nature Index’s 2016 table of NZ institutions, published in late April. GNS Science placed fourth overall on a league table of 52 science organisations in New Zealand.

Whangarei

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Autumn 2016 » Mining NZ 9

Gold » Macraes 25th

Macraes going strong after 25 years Jo Bailey OceanaGold recently celebrated 25 years of production at its Macraes operation in East Otago, and it appears there is plenty of life left in the mine yet.

General manager Macraes, Dale Oram, says exploration success was a highlight of 2015, which has extended the mine life to the end of 2019 and possibly beyond.

“The aim of the exploration work is to keep adding to the resource base and maintain a continuation of mining operations beyond 2019, extending the 25 years that have been achieved to date.”

Dale says one of the company’s major successes has been finding and now mining Coronation Pit, around 8km north of the Frasers Pit. “This operation is being extended with a further resource being delineated north of the area, another pit scheduled for consent submission this month and a three year pit being scheduled for mining.”

OceanaGold is still drilling in the Coronation area where the mineralisation has not yet been closed off, and has a couple of other regional targets where it is carrying out surface sampling and mapping.

The Coronation extension and further exploration success at Frasers underground mine has extended the life of mine for both the surface and underground operations, he says.

“We are pleased with the success of this programme, and have another big year of exploration work planned for this year.”

Dale says the 2015 production performance at Macraes was “very good” exceeding production guidelines and improving on the previous year.

Combined production with the company’s Reefton operation was down a little on the final quarter. However this was due to Reefton going into care and maintenance.

Some operational issues impacted on the company’s 2016 first quarter performance at Macraes, which was slightly behind target, he says.

“We had some extended downtime in our plant and had been struggling to get our open pit manning levels up to requirements since the reduced production profile following the slip in the Frasers pit. We are on top of these issues now which will see a much improved production profile for the rest of the year.”

Another pleasing milestone achieved by the company has been two years without a Lost Time injury.

“Our safety performance continues to improve which is a credit to all employees and contractors,” says Dale.

OceanaGold is still drilling in the Coronation Pit area where the mineralisation has not yet been closed off.

The success of OceanaGold’s exploration programme at Macraes has seen the company recently complete an extended recruitment process to add around 30 staff to the mine’s open pit operation.

New equipment has also been sourced, with five near new CAT789 dump trucks delivered in early May to assist the company to achieve its open pit production targets.

“Some mining equipment from the Reefton operation has also been relocated to Macraes to increase our open pit capability.”

Dale says that he is “very proud” to have marked a quarter century of production at the Macraes Mine.

“To achieve twenty five years is a magnificent milestone for a project that was initially only going to be for five years.

“The mine has been a strong performer in the New Zealand mining sector and has been a highly valuable resource for the regional community in terms of employment and service provision.”

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Gold » Macraes 25th

The 4 millionth tonne of gold was poured at Macraes in 2014 - new exploration has now extended the mine life to the end of 2019 and possibly beyond.

Fire protection crucial for expensive mine equipment Protecting mining equipment from fire could save companies millions of dollars, says Steve Benseman from Fire Suppression Systems.

“If companies have a complete burn-out of one of their key pieces of equipment, it could be out of action for up to a year which would cost them an awful lot of money.”

Benseman says the lead time to replace highly specialised mining and construction equipment is currently around 50 weeks from when an order is placed to when it arrives in New Zealand.

“That’s why it is imperative companies protect their existing machinery as the combination of large amounts of fuel, hydraulic oil, extremely hot surfaces and electrical components create an operating environment with an inherently high fire risk.”

Benseman has 13 years experience in advising, installing and maintaining fire suppression systems at New Zealand mine sites.

He says it is important companies deal with a specialist such as Fire Suppression Systems to ensure their systems meet the testing and certified standards required of the industry.

“Some of our competitors dabble in fire suppression work outside their core business, but I believe we’re the only company in New Zealand to focus solely on mobile equipment fire suppression.”

Fire Suppression Systems offers a full range of systems for the mining, construction, drilling, forestry and mobile equipment industries.

Benseman is based in Auckland and employs three mobile technicians who operate from other parts of the country.

Between them they visit clients’ often remote sites in fully set-up vehicles that enable them to

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Benseman is the New Zealand agent for foam fire suppression system Sandvik NFP 1000. Around 18,000 Sandvik systems are now being used worldwide, he says.

The system is fully compliant with the new Australian standard AS5062. A key feature is that it is completely self-contained so even if there is no electricity or person to operate the system it will still activate in the event of an emergency.

Benseman says Fire Suppression Systems recently installed fire suppression systems to 115 machines for the Downer/Solid Energy Stockton Alliance on the West Coast, its biggest single install to date.

“We continue to look after every other major mine in the country.

“We pride ourselves on delivering reliable, proven products that give our customers peace of mind that their equipment and staff will be protected should a fire incident occur.”

Fire Suppression Systems P.O. Box 334081 Sunnynook, Auckland Steve Benseman Ph: 021 918 900, E-mail: sbenseman@clear.net.nz

Autumn 2016 » Mining NZ 11

Gold » Macraes 25th

A long history of gold production Jo Bailey More than 4.4 million ounces of gold have been produced at OceanaGold’s Macraes Mine since it opened in 1990, with billions of dollars poured into the Otago economy over the last 25 years.

However mining at the site goes back well over 150 years, with some alluvial mining recorded as early as 1862, when prospector James Crombie and his mates were the first to discover gold at Deepdell Creek in the Macraes area.

Their discoveries resulted in the establishment of a canvas town 3 kilometres south of Deepdell, which was first known as Murphy’s Flat.

In 1865 the town name was changed to Macrae’s Flat.

By 1863 around 300 men populated the town, which had four hotels, including Donaldson’s Universal Dining Room, later rebuilt as Stanley’s Hotel, still in use today.

The Highlay Reef was discovered in 1888, which a year later was traced to the Golden Point/ Round Hill reef system.

On December 24, 1889, the Golden Point Quartz Mining Company was incorporated, and began underground mining operations – almost exactly a century before the Macraes Mining Company began development of today’s mine.

Between 1890 and 1930 around 15,000 ounces of gold and 100 tons of scheelite were recovered from ore at the Golden Point, Deepdell, Maritana and Round Hill mines.

Many mining areas ceased operations due to the Second World War, with only intermittent mining in the area until the 1950s.

The mines remained dormant from then until the 1980s when exploration by various companies was undertaken.

In October 1989 Macraes Mining Company Ltd was incorporated, its mining license granted, and in January 1990 the company was listed on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges.

Development and construction activities at Round Hill got underway in February 1990, with production starting 10 months later.

In 1994 an aggressive exploration programme

The Macraes processing plant in East Otago is capable of treating up to six million tonnes of ore per annum.

identified resources at Innes-Mills and Frasers.

In November 1995, the project achieved a significant milestone of 500,000 ounces of gold poured since start up.

Macraes Mining Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Gold and Resource Developments NL, with its name changing to Gold

Site aerial maps show the development of the Macraes gold project in recent years.

12 Mining NZ » Autumn 2016

and Resource Developments (NZ) Ltd in 1998, and later GRD Macraes in June 2000.

Gold recovery was significantly increased in 1999 through the construction of an autoclave and introduction of a pressure oxidation process.

The first millionth ounce of gold was poured at the mine in January 2000.

In 2004, OceanaGold (New Zealand) Ltd was incorporated and became the owner of the Macraes operation, listing on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges.

A year later Macraes poured its two millionth ounce of gold.

Frasers Underground mine was commissioned in January 2008.

On December 1, 2010 the Macraes operation celebrated a prosperous 20 years of mining life with an Open Day that was attended by 2,500 visitors.

By March 2014, the operation’s four millionth gold ounce was poured.

The actual open pit mining process has remained relatively unchanged during the last 20 years, with open pit benches of 7.5 metres drilled and mined in 2.5 metre flitches.

Around 3.5 million tonnes of ore are produced at the open pit Macraes mine utilising conventional excavator, truck load and haul, with drill and blast activities an important part of the process.

The Frasers underground mine produces a further 950,000 tonnes of ore each year using a highly mechanised mining fleet of drill rigs, dump trucks and remote controlled loaders.

The Macraes processing plant is capable of treating up to six million tonnes of ore per annum.

At the time of its 25-year anniversary in November 2015, Macraes remained New Zealand’s largest gold producing operation, with mining and exploration permits covering a contiguous area of 15,705 hectares.

The success of OceanaGold’s New Zealand operations, including Reefton, and the emergence of the Didipio gold and copper mine in the Philippines, which was mothballed for a time during the global financial crisis, saw the company awarded the prestigious Diggers Award at the Diggers & Dealers annual conference in Kalgoorlie late last year.

The recent addition of the Waihi mine in central North Island to its operations and the development of its gold mine Haile in South Carolina have cemented OceanaGold’s position as one of top mid-tier miners in the world.

Gold » Macraes 25th

Award presentations mark milestone Plant permit officer Barrie McLeod was one of three staff to receive an award for 25 years continuous service at Macraes at the anniversary dinner held to mark the mine’s quarter century milestone, last November.

“It was a great occasion and good to see so many different people recognised for long service at Macraes, an operation that has been great for the local community and economy,” says Barrie.

Around 120 people, comprising OceanaGold’s senior management, board of directors, long service members, new service award recipients and their partners attended the dinner, where the guest speaker was “local hero” Billy Graham, a former New Zealand and Australian light welterweight boxing champion and New Zealander of the Year.

Barrie was joined by Edward (JP) Pearce (supply support coordinator) and James (Judd) Davenport (production coordinator) in receiving the 25 year service awards.

Staff who had reached 10, 15 and 20 years service milestones were also recognised at the event.

Barrie started at Macraes in September 1990, on the same day as around 15 other staff at the new mine.

“The plant was still under construction at the time and it was a couple of months before production got underway.”

His first role was as a process operator, which he did for around 10 years before becoming a shift supervisor.

Around nine years ago Barrie started work in the permits office in a varied role, which includes equipment safety; carrying out staff training in health and safety aspects such as working at heights and in confined spaces; and organising

“It’s a unique environment and there are always challenges and new things to learn.”

Due recognition: Macraes plant permit officer Barrie McLeod with his award for 25 years continuous service at the mine.

plant shutdowns. For the last 15 years Barrie has also been a St John’s Ambulance volunteer, skills that have come in handy at the mine, where he has “sorted out” many staff with injuries or medical issues.

He says one of the most memorable times at the mine was during a nationwide power crisis, when he was part a team that switched the plant

from sulphide to oxide within a tight time-frame of just a few days to save power.

“When the power crisis was over about three months later we switched it all back.”

Another highlight of Barrie’s long career was being sent to Nevada to look at autoclaves and how they operated back in the early days.

“It was a wee treat.”

Seeing the growth of the Macraes operation has been a “fantastic” experience, as has meeting the various characters that have worked in the organisation, he says.

“I’ve made a good group of friends here that I’ll definitely keep in touch with when the times comes either for me to retire, or the mine to shut down.”

Barrie says it is not an easy mine to operate, and he imagines the guys “further up the ladder” have had a few sleepless nights over the years.

“It’s a unique environment and there are always challenges and new things to learn.”

He say that he never expected to still be working at Macraes 25 years after he started at the newly constructed mine all those years ago.

“The life of mine was only five years at the beginning, and after it had been operating for about a year that dropped down to three.

“It’s pretty amazing the mine will continue operating to the end of 2019 and possibly beyond,” he says.

“Right through my time at Macraes there has been a saying that there is another two years of mine life left, but as we got closer to each deadline it always extended out another two years,” he says.

I don’t think this place is ever going to close.”

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A strong quarter of operational and financial results, along with a continued improvement in safety were highlights of OceanaGold’s first quarter 2016 results.

Mick Wilkes, president and CEO said in a statement he was pleased to announce the results, which included record quarterly gold production of 46,811 ounces at Didipio and consolidated gold production of 122,782 ounces.

The company recorded revenue of $161.1 million with a net profit before undesignated hedges of $36.7 million, which was higher than in the fourth quarter of 2015.

“Our portfolio of high quality assets continue to deliver positive results with the construction of the Haile Gold Mine and Didipio underground progressing on time and budget. We are well placed to achieve our growth plans for 2016.”

He said in addition, with the received of the company’s FTAA exploration renewal, OceanaGold has remobilised its exploration team in the Philippines to carry out drilling on a number of high quality drill-ready targets across the FTAA to further identify and build its pipeline of targets within the 13,000-hectare area.

Drilling of the more advanced targets will

commence in the second half of 2016.

Development of the underground at Didipio continues to progress and is on track for the first ore to be processed by the end of 2017.

A total of 5,972 tonnes of copper was also produced at the mine in the first quarter.

Steady production was achieved at OceanaGold’s New Zealand operations, with encouraging results from exploration drilling of multiple targets at both the Waihi and Macraes operations.

The company’s Haile gold mine in the United States is also progressing well, with the completion of engineering and the full commissioning of the water treatment plant.

Exploration activities have been focused on resource definition drilling of the Horseshoe deposit, which is expected to continue in the second quarter in addition to further drilling of regional targets.

OceanaGold has also achieved an enviable safety record, having reduced the Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate to 2.57 million man-hours worked, while accumulating over 8.5 million man-hours worked without a Lost-Time injury.

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Gold » Industry News

Sam’s Creek up for sale Ngahere

gold dredge, consents, on the market

Jo Bailey MOD Resources is planning to sell all or part of its interest in the Sam’s Creek gold project in the top of the South Island to focus on its Botswana Copper Project.

Due to recent exploration success and a major expansion of MOD’s holdings in Botswana in joint venture with London AIM listed resource fund Metal Tiger Plc, MOD’s Board has decided to seek expressions of interest to acquire part, or all of the Company’s 80% interest in the Sam’s Creek Joint Venture.

MOD, through subsidiary Sam’s Creek Gold Ltd, owns 80% of Sams Creek Joint Venture with OceanaGold holding 20%.

Independent geologist, Paul Angus, director of ARC Ltd, who has been contracted to ASX-listed MOD Resources as the project manager at Sam’s Creek since the firm took over the project, says an information memorandum is currently being prepared for its sale.

Sam’s Creek mineralisation is contained within a granite porphyry dike that is up to 60m thick and can be traced for more than 7km along strike.

The project is New Zealand’s biggest undeveloped gold deposit and has an existing JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource estimate (prepared by Golder Associates) containing approximately 1.0Moz gold.

“To date only around 15% of the dike has been

Hugh de Lacy

Sam’s Creek mineralisation is contained within a granite porphyry dike that is up to 60m thick and can be traced for more than 7km along strike. drilled and there is potential to significantly increase the resource. Market conditions have made it difficult for MOD to raise cash to progress its exploration at Sam’s Creek,” says Paul.

Sam’s Creek is New Zealand’s biggest undeveloped gold deposit.

“The gold project would be a great proposition for a company with the money to fund it.”

Last year MOD slashed the value of the resource after taking an impairment charge on the future recoverability of exploration expenditure of more than $6 million.

Drilling at the site ceased in late 2013 pending a pick up in gold price.

Apart from an occasional site visit, no fieldwork is being undertaken at Sam’s Creek at present.

All of MOD’s current funding is being focused towards its copper projects in Botswana.

The MOD Resources / Metal Tiger Joint Venture, holds 14 prospecting licenses in Botswana, covering over 6000sqkm in the same region as MOD’s 100% owned licenses.

The Joint Venture is testing a range of quality targets in the high-grade Mahumo resource and previous high-grade copper intersections on its licenses in Ghanzi district with recent drilling intersecting thick high- grade copper mineralisation (eg 52m @ 2% copper from 78m in MO-G-12R).

Back in New Zealand, Paul says that MOD is open to partially divesting its interest in Sam’s Creek and continuing in the role of managers at the site.

“However it is a wait and see process to determine the level of interest in the project.”

It’s all consented and ready to start work on the next block at Ngahere, but the last alluvial bucket gold-dredge still operable on the West Coast is sitting idle as it awaits a buyer.

Birchfield Minerals owner Allan Birchfield put the 3500 tonne dredge into care and maintenance when it completed the working of its last consented block on the banks of the Grey River in November 2012.

Over the previous 12 years it had recovered around two tonnes of gold from its current Ngahere site after previously working at Kaniere between 1982 and 1987.

It has worked and rehabilitated into farmland about 250ha at Ngahere, and there’s that much to do again in the new consents.

Birchfield acquired the dredge in 1992 and is selling it along with all associated equipment and 106ha of rehabilitated land.

He reckons there’s about four tonnes of bullion waiting to be recovered from the new consented area.

With a staff of 20, depending on the hours worked, the dredge is electrically powered and can process up to 800 cubic metres an hour.

Over the last three years Birchfield, who is retiring after a lifetime of mining on the Coast, has succeeded in getting new consents by way of a public hearing, over the objections of three adjoining landowners and Fish and Game, that can keep the machine in work for up to 20 years.

“It’s all in the package now,” Birchfield told Business Mining.

“It’s got consents, a permit and access arrangements.”

The machine, built shortly before World War Two, was put on the market in January this year, and Birchfield said that while it has attracted “a bit of interest, there’s nothing solid at this stage”.

He said it was comfortably profitable at the current global gold price of around $US1300/ounce ($NZ1885/oz).

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Industry Focus » Health and Safety

Safety legislation ushers in a new era for extractives sector New health and safety legislation signals a whole new environment for the extractives industries sector. Hugh de Lacy reports.

I

t’s not just new regulations but a whole new health and safety environment in the extractives industries that came into force last month in the wake of the Pike River coalmine disaster that killed 39 miners in 2010.

That’s the way Chris Baker, the chairman of the Mining/Extractives (MinEx) Health and Safety Council, described the new Health and Safety at Work Act which incorporated the new mining regulations imposed in 2013.

The key change the new Act introduces at every underground, surface mining or quarry site is the designation of a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) – so that in the event of accident or death someone can be held to account – which didn’t happen in the Pike River case.

In most cases the PCBU is the operating company, but the “primary duty of care [is] now firmly sheeted home to the PCBU,” Baker said.

“The other key change is that company officers - generally only directors and the chief executive officer - now have duties and responsibilities for health and safety.”

While alluvial and quarry operations are not covered by the 2013 regulations, Baker said many companies in these fields had also adopted them informally, “assisted particularly by the very useful guidelines put out by WorkSafe”.

Aside from the PCBU and officer responsibilities, Baker says the other key change “is the need to shift to a risk management regime rather than a hazard management approach”.

Certificate of Competency (CoC) holders last year completed risk assessment and management training, and they will now need to keep up to date with continuing professional development.

While this would ensure the mining sector was able to absorb the changes, things would be more difficult for the many small operators in the alluvial and quarry sector, Baker said.

“For many small operators the Act brings challenges through lack of exposure to and knowledge of the new requirements and, sometimes less capability to adjust to a risk management regime.”

Chris Baker: the “primary duty of care is now firmly sheeted home”.

“For many small operators the Act brings challenges through lack of exposure to and knowledge of the new requirements and, sometimes, less capability to adjust to a risk management regime.”

Baker said MinEx, the extractives industry health and safety organisation, was working across all sectors to provide technical and practical assistance to these operators.

A particular challenge to all CoC holders would be meeting the Professional Development and Learning (PDL) requirements to renew their certificates.

The PDL requirements comprise the “systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of knowledge, understanding and skills, and the development of personal qualities

necessary to undertake duties throughout a CoC holder’s life,” as the WorkSafe’s Gazette notice puts it.

Coc holders are required to complete a certain number of hours a year – eight for most of them – in either formal or informal training.

Formal training, which must make up at least two-thirds of the training hours claimed, could comprise attending or delivering seminars or workshops, studying or training for tertiary qualifications, or the publication of articles in specialist newspapers like this one.

Informal learning can comprise such things as field trips, informal in-house training, attending industry expos or doing mentoring in the workplace.

Holders of the CoC in more than one category need to meet the PDL requirements for just the most senior category they hold.

The PDL requirements as much as the Act and regulations are aimed at putting New Zealand extractives industry health and safety at the forefront of world performance.

PDL requirements are common in the professions, but extending them into the commercial workplace is a relatively new trend, though some industries, such as plumbing, have comparable continuous learning systems in place.

The challenges they pose, however, are greatest for small companies.

Gary Birchfield, the working director of West Coast opencast miner Birchfield Coal, said health and safety issues had developed quickly after Pike River.

“It all happened in a bit of a hurry and some work still needs to be done, but we’ve got it now,” says Birchfield.

“It’s just been a matter of a culture change for many people, getting everyone to think along the lines of how their actions are going to affect themselves and others on the site.”

For larger companies, the change of culture Birchfield referred to, began with a massive shift in outlook by senior company staff which was then projected to on-the-ground staff.

Murray Francis, chief executive of big South Island quarrying company Road Metals, said he was one of the biggest sceptics when the new regulations were being proposed.

He admits that it was the attraction of the Accident Compensation Corporation’s 20% levy cut for safety-conscious operators that first drew him into the new culture.

With 100 employees, Road Metals could afford to employ a fulltime health and safety expert whom Francis describes as “brilliant”.

“She has brought about 100 percent participation of the work-force; there was a hell of a cost to it, but we had no option,” he told Business Mining.

Francis used to run the H&S side of the business himself, personally investigating incidents, and, “I changed attitude when personally involved”.

However he said there was an advantage to the company’s size. “I feel sorry for the person who only employs half a dozen people.”

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Industry Focus Âť Health and Safety

Under the new Health and Safety at Work Act every underground, surface mine or quarry site must have a designated Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) who has the primary duty of care.

Autumn 2016 Âť Mining NZ 17

Environment Âť

Plan outlined for Waiuta clean- up Jo Bailey

The Prohibition Mine was contaminated by an old

The Department of Conservation has finalised a plan to remediate the contaminated Waiuta mine site on the West Coast according to a briefing plan it released on May 6.

The proposed method will see the most contaminated materials (around the old condenser tower) being dug out and loaded into barrels or bags that will be shrink wrapped and transported to a facility in Canterbury for treatment and disposal.

Less contaminated materials will be contained and covered on site, with the site contoured to ensure any water flows off it before it can reach the contaminated materials.

This will significantly reduce arsenic leaches from the site.

A DOC spokesperson says costs are being assessed to carry out the works in the next month or so, so it is unclear whether the new plan will bring down the latest cost estimate of over $3 million to complete the works.

Due to the complexity of the project these costs had blown out significantly from the original $600,000 estimated by the government when it first announced plans to remediate the sites back in July 2013.

The Prohibition Mine was contaminated by an old roasting plant which was used in the extraction of gold from the ore from 1935 until the mine collapsed in 1951. At that stage the plant was only party dismantled, with toxic residues in the pieces left behind causing the contamination.

Earthworks had commenced at the Prohibition Mine in May 2015, but were postponed a month later when the project was put into review after it was found to be more complex than first anticipated.

Since then DOC has sought further technical input from West Circle which reviewed the encapsulation cell design, confirming more engineering input was needed.

roasting plant which was used in the extraction of gold from the ore.

The Department also consulted with water resource engineers MWH Global which carried out further investigations of the site to ensure the boundaries of the contamination were known and to analyse suitable remediation options.

This involved extensive sampling in and around the site of soil, surface water, groundwater, concrete, timbers remaining in place from demolished buildings, streams and their aquatic life.

An external project director with successful experience in mine remediation was also brought in to provide governance support to the project.

Resource consents for the new works have been approved by West Coast Regional Council and Buller District Council.

DOC is in the process of reviewing the performance specifications and design of the remediation in light of conditions imposed with the granted resource consents.

It will then progress to planning, documentation, and staff medical checks and training, along with the establishment of necessary buildings on site such as a staff room, First Aid room and decontamination suite.

The Department expects to complete the remediation works by Setpember 2016.

Once these works are complete, visitor infrastructure will be put in place so that people can visit the site safely.

A plan is also being developed to monitor the site and its environs for a period of some years to check if any contamination remains or recurs.

DOC says the most contaminated materials, around the old condenser tower, will be dug out and loaded into barrels or bags that will be shrink wrapped and transported to a facility in Canterbury for treatment.

18 Mining NZ Âť Autumn 2016

Environment »

Earthworks had commenced at the Prohibition Mine in May 2015, but were postponed a month later when the project was put into review after it was found to be more complex than first anticipated.

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Industry News »

World coal price remains flat CRP looking

to raise more capital

Hugh de Lacy It looks as if there’s no relief in sight for New Zealand’s struggling coking coal producers as the global price continues to flatten around the $50/ tonne mark.

The current slump, from a peak of $330/t in mid-2011, has led to a surge in distressed sales of mining companies round the world, including New Zealand’s state-owned Solid Energy, and big United States producers Arch Coal, Alpha Natural Resources and Walter Energy all filing for bankruptcy protection.

New Zealand’s other big coking coal exporter, Bathurst Resources, is keeping its head above water supplying, alongside Solid Energy, the domestic thermal coal market.

The coking coal outlook remains grim, though there are signs of renewed life in the market with iron ore, the other main ingredient in steelmaking, firming slightly in the last quarter.

But with production rising from the world’s biggest coking coal exporter, Australia, on the back of weakness in the Aussie dollar, no respite from the low prices is in sight.

American ratings company Fitch, noting a 30% year-on-year decline in the price between the first quarters of 2015 and 2016, expects prices to “remain weak over the near term, increasing only gradually in the coming years as market oversupply recedes.”

Fitch noted that North American supply has been rationalised by the string of coal company bankruptcies, but any gains there would be negated by increased Australian production.

The Chinese demand for coking coal is expected to remain weak, suppressing any upward demand from Japanese steelmakers.

The only bright spot on the New Zealand scene is that Rangatira Developments Ltd, which includes Stevenson Mining, is hoping to begin operating a mining permit it holds on Mt Te Kuha, near Westport.

The company is seeking Department of Conservation (DOC) approval for access to the 109-hectare site, which includes 12 hectares of the Mount Rochfort Conservation Area.

The opencast mine would bring $20 million of new investment and 64 new jobs to a region devastated by the mining downturn.

The access agreement with DOC, sought for 10 to 25 years and covering the entire operation through to rehabilitation and closure, is the key to the project going ahead.

Hugh de lacy

Bathurst Resources, is keeping its head above water supplying, alongside Solid Energy, the domestic thermal coal market.

Its reverse takeover of Antipodes Gold notwithstanding, Chatham Rock Phosphate (CRP) continues to drive towards a 2020 start-up of mining its 820sqkm seabed phosphate rock prospect 450km off the Canterbury coast.

The Antipodes takeover is aimed at providing CRP with a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the world’s largest mineral resources marketplace, which should give it greater access to investment money as it pushes its phosphate project towards completion.

“It’s got nothing to do with investing in gold,” chief executive Christ Castle said.

“The most recent action is that we need to raise some more working capital before they’ll let us merge.”

CRP is still considering whether to re-apply to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for a mining permit, after both it and would-be ironsands miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) were last year denied permit.

TTR has already decided to re-apply to take seabed ironsands off the west coast of the North Island, but CRP’s decision is influenced by its success in having the Ombudsman agree to investigate the way the EPA handled the first application.

“Basically we were unhappy with the way in which the EPA handled the whole [permit application], refusing to disclose information,” Castle said.

“So we complained to the Ombudsman.

“They told us they were going to investigate it, and then they allowed us to announce it.”

Last October the company announced it was seeking to raise $1 million, offering shares at 0.6c, a 14% discount on sales at the time, and last month it revealed an equity injection of $600,000 from a private investor.

Castle said the company’s post-merger goals are to gain the Chatham Rise consent to commence mining in 2020, diversify its product mix by acquiring overseas phosphate resources, leveraging its expertise as a pioneer of seabed mining, and developing a pathway for its products into the agricultural and retail sectors.

Consent finally granted for storage facility Peter Owens It has long been accepted that the application of superphosphate made from rock phosphate has been one of the main drivers of the position at the top held by New Zealand agriculture.

Unfortunately sources of rock phosphate have dwindled dramatically and very little is being mined expect in North Africa.

This rapidly increasing worldwide shortage of the basics for phosphate fertiliser has produced some strange side-effects and it is really needed in New Zealand. This has resulted in a company using the dross from alumina mined in Australia for the production of a substitute phosphate fertiliser.

Bahrein-based Taha Asia Pacific has had a difficult time since it first began operations in Southland several years ago. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taha International and it came to New Zealand with plans to process a new form of phosphate fertiliser for the local agricultural industries.

This was to have been produced from a substance known as Ouvea Premix. This substance is itself produced after aluminium dross is heated to a very high temperature at the company’s $11 million plant at Tiwai Point near Bluff.

20 Mining NZ » Autumn 2016

Recoverable aluminium is extracted and returned to the smelter. What is left is known as Ouvea Premix. This is a class six hazardous substance but it may be processed into a phosphate fertiliser.

Taha Asia Pacific has stockpiled a considerable quantity of Ouvea Premix and set about planning for it to be processed into fertiliser. It was then that it ran into serious problems.

In 2014 the company incurred the wrath of Environment Southland and indeed of the Environment Court for storing a large quantity of the hazardous substance at Edendale.

This resulted in the court ordering Taha Asia Pacific to pay the council $30,745 towards the cost of investigating and cleaning up premix stored in a gravel extraction pit at Edendale.

Then it was discovered that Taha had been storing Ouvea Premix at the former Carter Holt Harvey paper mill at Mataura and situated on the Mataura River.

The company did not have a resource consent to do so and said it was unaware one was required.

This aroused strong opposition in the local district and led to an uproar at a meeting Taha conducted with local people to apologise for its actions.

As a result of this strong feeling in the community, Taha abandoned plans to process the

Taha Asia Pacific has stockpiled a considerable quantity of Ouvea Premix and is planning for it to be processed into fertiliser. premix at Mataura but applied to the Gore District Council for retrospective resource consent to store it.

Now the company has received this retrospective consent but it will have to pay up a $2.3 million bond to comply.

The Gore District Council held two hearings into Taha’s retrospective application to keep up to 10,000 tonnes of Ouvea Premix - a class six hazardous substances used to produce phosphate fertiliser - at the site for up to two more years.

Dozens of Mataura residents submitted against the application, expressing concerns including whether it was safe to store Ouvea Premix so close to the Mataura River when the product was potentially dangerous if mixed with water.

Independent hearing commissioners Colin Weatherall and David Pullar approved the application, with conditions including the $2.3m bond, after finding the impact of continued storage

on the environment and surrounding community would be “no more than minor”.

The buildings at the old paper mill were structurally capable of storing Ouvea Premix, and because the site was in an industrial zone there was “an expectation for this type of activity”, the commissioners’ decision says.

Taha had stored the material in Mataura since at least September last year without the required resource consent.

Gore District Council chief executive Stephen Parry said the bond should help put submitters’ minds at ease.

In the meantime, Taha says that it has plans to build a processing plant for the fertiliser at the Invercargill City Council-owned industrial park near Tiwai.

The commissioners’ decision would give Taha the time it needed to remove the product from Mataura and begin storing it at the new site.

Industry News »

Group targets improved training “With the new safety

Karen Phelps

legislation now in place,

A new mining and quarrying industry training leadership group aims to promote effective and valued training.

The group, chaired by MinEx CEO Les McCracken, includes representatives from the Aggregate and Quarry Association of New Zealand/Institute of Quarrying New Zealand, WorkSafe New Zealand, MITO, New Zealand Qualifications Authority, Etú and coal and hard rock mining companies.

McCracken says that the group was born out of industry concerns about various training issues last year, which resulted in Straterra and MinEx, supported by WorkSafe New Zealand, holding an industry training forum last September.

McCracken says that since the new Health and Safety at Work Act came into force on April 4 this year the legislation is already having a big impact on the industry in terms of demands for training. “It is a time of considerable change in terms of training regimes,” he says.

“With the new safety legislation now in place, training has got more demanding. This is new for everyone – trainers, WorkSafe, MinEx, the Board of Examiners and others.”

For example, until recently, renewing a Certificate of Competency (CoC) was a simple once every five year exercise.

Now new competencies are demanded and CoC holders have little more than six months to ensure they have renewed their CoC by January 1 2017 or face cancellation.

They will then need to keep up to date with continuing professional development, which is why the industry now needs to place an even

training has got more demanding. This is new for everyone – trainers, WorkSafe, MinEx, the Board of Examiners and others.”

A number of quarry manager oral examinations for new Certificte of Competency holders have been held this year.

greater focus on training, says McCracken.

In order to outline issues on CoCs, oral exams, continuing professional development and new Health and Safety at Work Act the WorkSafe High Hazard Unit (HHU) is holding a series of WorkSafe workshops focusing on continuing professional development throughout New Zealand.

Last year MinEx and WorkSafe ran a number of health and safety forums with more than 300 people attending the interactive sessions.

In the last quarter of 2015 the Board of Examiners conducted oral examinations for site senior executives, superintendents, ventilation officers and mine surveyors.

With only 60% passing their oral examination McCracken says that WorkSafe has issued feedback on the oral examinations, which may assist those coming up to a CoC oral examination.

MinEx is also developing a database of contacts to support those renewing their CoC. A number of quarry manager oral examinations for new CoC holders have been held this year and MinEx is also looking to WorkSafe to provide feed back on the results with the pass rate also being lower than expected, says McCracken.

“An oral exam is about testing how you would apply the knowledge you have learned, not

simply the knowledge itself.

“The biggest area where competencies were not shown to be of a sufficient standard was in safety operating systems,” he says.

He says there are some issues around current training material including assessment tools for all extractive unit standards and these are now being reviewed by four sub-groups, drawn largely from industry, to the Training Leadership Group with support from MITO. Chair of the Aggregate and Quarry Association New Zealand, Brian Roche, believes that despite the recent changes the quarry sector is actually well ahead of many other industries in terms of health and safety: “After many years of hands-off regulation we are all having to adjust to the disciplines and demands of a more guidance-oriented approach.

“We have been required to make some major changes ahead of the new legislation, including the new requirements for COCs and digesting the detailed new guidelines on quarry safety.

“The fact is we are making progress on health and safety and there are those industries which are only starting this journey.”

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