Global projects and exploration
Argentina
Gold giants in strategic partnership
Powerhouse gold producer Barrick Gold
has signed another cooperation agreement
with Shandong Gold, one of China’s
leading mining companies. The latest
strategic agreement follows the one signed
by the two companies in April last year,
when Shandong acquired 50% of Barrick’s
Veladero Mine in Argentina.
“Over the past year, we have been
laying the foundation for a distinctive,
enduring, and trust-based relationship with
Shandong Gold,” says John L. Thornton,
executive chairman at Barrick Gold. “Based
on an identical culture and development
concept, the joint operation of the Veladero
Mine in Argentina has obtained good
effect,” says Chen Yumin, chairman of
Shandong Gold.
Shandong Gold is currently completing
an independent evaluation focused on the
potential to develop a mining project at
Lama in Argentina, including a high-level
evaluation of potential synergies between
Lama and the nearby Veladero operation.
According to a press release by Barrick
Gold, the two companies may agree to
conduct additional studies and technical
work to evaluate a number of development
options, including the construction of an
opencast mine at Lama, the feasibility
of using heap leach processing for low-
grade and easy-to-leach gold ore, and the
feasibility of adopting low-cyanide or other
environmentally friendly leaching reagents.
Mongolia
State sells coal assets
Mongolian lawmakers approved a plan to
sell up to 30% of the troubled Tavan Tolgoi
coal mine in the Gobi Desert, the latest
attempt to develop what is anticipated to be
massive coking and thermal coal deposits.
The North Asia country’s parliament
recently voted in favour of an initial public
offering in state-owned Erdene Tavan
Tolgoi.
“Based on the quality, a lot of commodity
players will be interested,” said Munkhjargal
Otgon, deputy chief executive officer of
Ulaanbaatar-based Golomt Capital. The
Tavan Tolgoi deposit holds 1.8 billion tons
of coking coal and 4.6 billion tons of high-
Australia
AngloGold Ashanti Australia has
selected MinLog’s MineSuite system
to provide an underground mine
management system at the Sunrise
Dam operation in Western Australia.
According to AngloGold, the
initiative will build capacity for
supporting increased production
targets at the gold mine. MineSuite
enables management, geologists,
mining engineers, shift supervisors, and
operators to schedule, track, monitor,
and control operations.
“The unique ability to provide
for short-term activity planning,
equipment scheduling, and tracking
of progress against plan — with the
ability to also adjust activity schedules
on the fly — was a key factor in
the decision,” the company told the
Australian media.
Another important aspect is
MinLog’s Distributed Store and
Forward (DSF) technology. This finds
the quickest path between equipment
and server via a combination of access
points and onboard field computer
equipment and safeguards the system
against communications black spots.
[14] MINING MIRROR SEPTEMBER 2018
Sunrise builds capacity
MinLog’s MineSuite will enable management at Sunrise to monitor and
control operations more effectively.
“MineSuite will provide Sunrise
Dam with a technology platform
for the future,” says Karel Gilliland,
managing director of MinLog. “It
applies the principles of a well-
connected mine, by means of modern
architecture supporting the industrial
Internet of Things,” he says.
MineSuite applications at Sunrise
Dam will include activity planning
and management, short interval
control, task management and
equipment allocation, material
tracking and certification, proximity
detection and traffic management,
and ventilation control.
MinLog and AngloGold Ashanti,
with the support of mining contractor
Barminco, will work closely together
in support of the AngloGold Ashanti
vision. The MineSuite system will be
deployed in stages, with the delivery
of the first outcome as early as July
2018.