T

he term heavy mineral sands is generally

used to refer to placer type deposits of
zircon, ilmenite, rutile and leucoxene but
also by nature other minerals which may occur
in the same or similar deposits such as
staurolite, garnet and chromite. The deposits
are usually formed by concentration due to the
specific gravity of the mineral grains.
Zircon, used in high value markets such as
ceramic glazes, refractories and abrasives, is
the most valuable component and so high-
zircon sands are a major focus for exploration
and development. Next in importance are the
titanium minerals such as ilmenite, rutile and
leucoxene, much of which ends up being
processed into the white pigment, titanium
dioxide. China and other developing
economies are driving demand for zircon, with
urbanisation increasing floor space
construction and therefore demand for ceramic
tiles with zircon glazes.
Key producers
Production of mineral sands is centred on
Australia, Africa and the US. In Australia, Iluka
Resources stated recently that it has options to
increase zircon production at its Jacinth-
Ambrosia operation in South Australia, and is
planning a de-bottlenecking program in 2011
while evaluating options to achieve a more
substantial acceleration of mining, with a view
to implementation in 2012. A re-optimisation
of the Jacinth-Ambrosia ore body, associated
with higher zircon prices and reflecting
operating experience to date, may increase the
Jacinth-Ambrosia reserve base, underpinning
higher production and/or a longer mine life.
Comprising two contiguous deposits, Jacinth
and Ambrosia are located in the Eucla Basin of
South Australia, approximately 800 km from
Adelaide. Jacinth-Ambrosia is capable of
supplying approximately 25% of global zircon
supply, producing approximately 300,000 t of
zircon in its initial years of production. The
deposits are expected to produce
approximately 2.8 Mt of zircon and 350,000 t
of high grade titanium dioxide, mainly rutile
and approximately 1.5 Mt of ilmenite, over
their expected economic life, which is at least
10 years through to 2021.
Heavy mineral concentrate is transported a
distance of 270 km to port for subsequent
transport, by ship to Ilukas mineral processing
facilities at Narngulu, near Geraldton in
Western Australia. Iluka uses conventional dry
mining methods with overburden removal by
scraper and actual ore mining by dozer into a
dozer trap.
In addition to operating its own fleets, Iluka
uses contractors in some cases. Abigroup
Mining Services maintains scraper fleets at
Ilukas Kulwin mineral sands project in the
Murray Basin where the company is
completing an extended three year mining
contract. The project is expected to be
completed in December 2011. Four new
Caterpillar 657 scrapers are employed to
remove overburden waste material. The fleet is
also employed to assist in the construction of
tailing storage facilities.
Based in Picton in the south west of
Western Australia, Piacentini & Son is the other
main Australian dry mineral sands mining
contractor, with a fleet of over 90 scrapers,
mainly Caterpillar 627, 631, 633, 637, 639,
651 and 657 models.
In Africa, a key player is the Sierra Rutile Ltd
(SRL) mine in the south west of Sierra Leone
near the Imperri Hills, some 30 km from the
Atlantic Ocean, on low lying coastal plains
about 135 km southeast of the capital
Freetown. The mine is now owned and
operated by Titanium Resources Group (TRG).
The mining concession is one of the largest
natural rutile deposits known in the world. The
mine employs a bucket ladder dredge for wet
mining and conventional mineral processing
methods to produce rutile, ilmenite and small
amounts of zircon tailings. The mine generates
its own power and operates its own port.
Estimates for full year 2010 production are
70,000 t of rutile, 15,000 t of ilmenite and
5,500 t of zircon concentrate.
Dredge D1 was built by Malaysias OCI
Enginering, and is an electronically operated
bucket ladder dredge with a production
capacity of 1,100 t/h. It has on-board
processing equipment and the off-take is
pumped via a floating pipeline to the floating
concentrator. The processing on the dredge
consists of scrubbing followed by primary and
Paul Moore looks at the extraction of zircon and titanium mineral sands, which involves
specialised wet and dry mining methods that are very particular to this industry
MINERAL SANDS
60 International Mining FEBRUARY 2011
IHC dredge and processing
plant, Cristal Paraiba
operation, Brazil
An IMS Versi-Dredge
at Sierra Rutile
62 International Mining FEBRUARY 2011
secondary screening. The dredge product is
then pumped to the wet plant where slimes
are removed by primary and secondary
cyclones. The de-slimed sand is then fed to a
series of spiral circuits and the resultant heavy
minerals are pumped to a land based
stockpiling/drying area. A second dredge, D2
capsized in 2008.
Future development plans include upgrading
some of the existing equipment on the dredge,
wet plant and land plants. SRL is also looking
at several options to increase production such
as a new dredge, dry mining, and mobile
concentrators.
Sierra Rutile also purchased a self-propelled
auger dredge, the patented IMS Versi-Dredge,
from Ellicott's affiliate IMS, to remove slimes.
This dredge incorporates patented self-
propulsion technology and an auger excavator.
Also in Africa is Rio Tinto's subsidiary, Rio
Tinto Iron & Titanium, which has begun
production of ilmenite at its QMM mineral
sands operation in Madagascar. The current
mine site is at Mandena, to the north of Fort
Dauphin, and production in phase one will
ramp up to 750,000 t/y. Later phases will be at
Ste Luce and Petriky and there is potential to
expand production to 2.2 Mt/y. Ilmenite from
Madagascar is shipped for processing at Rio
Tinto's metallurgical complex in Sorel-Tracy,
Quebec, which has upgraded its facilities to
process this product. A floating dredge and
wet plant from IHC were successfully launched
in November 2008, and the dry mill launched
in December 2009.
However, QMM has since experienced
difficult mining conditions since commissioning
commenced in 2009 and some technical issues
have had to be addressed. Dry mining is being
started from February 2011 which should
double existing throughput, and further
options to increase throughput are being
evaluated.
Wet and dry mining
As stated there are two main mining methods
for mineral sands either using scrapers,
dozers and excavators in dry mining, or
floating dredges and processing plants in wet
mining. Caterpillar is by far the largest
manufacturer of scrapers, though other groups
such as Terex and K-Tec Earthmovers also have
models.
In the wet mining sector, the main company
that has delivered large floating dredges to the
mineral sands industry is IHC Merwede in
Holland. This includes six dredges at Richards
Bay Minerals (RBM) in South Africa, plus more
recent deliveries to Kenmare Resources in
Kenya for its Moma project, Indian Rare Earths
(IRE), QMM in Madagascar and Paraiba in
Brazil, owned by Cristal Group. Aside from
mineral sands, dredges have also recently been
sold to DRC (copper), Vale Brazil (iron ore) and
to a mining group in Indonesia.
Dick Knol, IHC Holland Area Manager
comments: In the larger projects, the
ownership of our own yards, financial
soundness and the ability to provide project
financing are really helping IHC. We are also
the only dredge builder which has in-house
mineral processing knowledge and extensive
experience. This means IHC can supply fully
integrated mining dredgers including the
mineral processing and concentration plants.
Dredging is used when large amounts of
solids need to be processed to extract the
heavy minerals. Dredging has the lowest cost
of solid handling per tonne, more than ten
times lower than a truck-shovel operation.
Most modern dredges now being sold are
hydraulic mining dredgers that use bucket
wheels. The reason is the more constant
production that can be achieved and the ability
to handle higher solids concentrations. The
disadvantage of mechanical dredging methods
such as bucket chain dredges is the relatively
low production per hour.
For hydraulic dredging, water is needed in
order to slurry the solids and act as a transport
MINERAL SANDS
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medium. Wet mining is not necessarily only
used below the water table. A good example is
RBM, where the mining ponds are all fed by
water pumps.
Also supplying dredges are Vosta LMG and
Damen in Holland; Ellicott in the US, and OCI
Engineering in Malaysia. Ellicott is a specialist
in small auger and suction dredger projects.
Vosta LMG is a leading engineering and
contracting company. Apart from custom-built
and standard dredges, the company also
markets various dredge component packages
and offers engineering and contracting
services. It does not own a shipyard, but
argues that this makes the company more
flexible; either in supplying a component
package to a dredge contractor or the process
of building a dredge from start to finish in co-
operation with a partner shipyard. In the
mineral industry, Vosta has supplied dredges
for salt and diamond mining.
Besides engineering and contracting of
custom-built and standard dredges, the Vosta
product range includes cutting, suction, discharge,
automation and coupling systems. Components
such as cutter heads, underwater cutting wheels,
dredge pumps, ball joints and automation
packages complete the product line.
Mineral sands processing
Key processing equipment used in the mineral
sands industry includes screens, spiral
separators, magnetic rolls and drums. The
leading players in terms of overall equipment
supply globally are Outotec and CPG Resources
Mineral Technologies (the former Roche
Mining). Multotec in South Africa is also a key
player, and in the magnetic equipment sector,
Eriez is an important supplier. The majority of
equipment being delivered in the current
industry is for use in wet concentrator plants.
CPG Resources Mineral Technologies has
had a leading position in providing process
technology and solutions to the mineral sands
industry for over 40 years. Currently, three new
projects are in the process of being
commissioned in 2011/2012. The company
also commits 3% of its revenue to ongoing
R&D projects. Examples of EPCM groups that
CPG has worked with on mineral sands
projects include Bateman, Walchandnagar,
Ausenco, Parsons Brincherhoff, Clough and
Kerman Contracting.
CPGs expertise includes mineral sands
testing, process flowsheet development, plant
engineering, plant commissioning and training.
Recent product developments have included
the high capacity roughing and scavenging
spiral HC1RS and fine mineral spiral FM1. Key
FEBRUARY 2011 International Mining 63
Dual dredging using IHC
dredges, Richards Bay
Minerals, South Africa
MINERAL SANDS
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models are the MG6.3 for roughing and
scavenging, the HG10l for cleaning, FM1 for
fine minerals, HC1 for high capacity
applications and VHGS for zircon cleaning.
A key delivery in recent years was the supply
of a 1,750 t/h wet concentrator plant for
Bemax at the Ginkgo mine, how part of
Cristal. The company provided newly
developed high capacity spiral technology to
cut plant capital expenditure by 25%, aiding
the projects viability.
CPG undertook extensive testwork to
analyse the deposit and determine its
amenability to processing. The plant was fully
modelled to allow online adjustment of
operation for varying feed. The company
processed bulk material from the Gingko site
at its headquarters in Carrara to determine the
best equipment and flowsheet for efficient
processing of the deposit resulting in the use of
innovative high capacity spirals being selected.
The group provided spiral separators,
magnetic separators for the wet plant and
HMC treatment plant and spirals to the
mineral separation plant.
CPG has also expanded its Reading Wet
High Intensity Magnetic Separator (WHIMS)
range with new 2, 24, 32 and 48-pole models.
The 2-pole model is specifically designed for
onsite or laboratory testing, with the new 24,
32 & 48-pole models increasing the treatment
capacity of the popular 16-pole production
model. The new models incorporate parallel or
two-stage processing, enhanced rotor bearing
design and an improved control system.
Over 230 Reading WHIMS units have been
installed worldwide in a range of mineral
processing applications including separation of
ilmenite from rutile and zircon, upgrading of
silica/glass sands; iron ore upgrading and
removal of magnetic gangue/contaminants
from slurried materials. RBM has recently
installed 15 new Reading WHIMS units in a
critical magnetic separation duty at its new
Tailings Treatment Plant (TTP) in Richards Bay.
To reduce costs and increase local content, the
bulk of the manufacturing and assembly was
completed in CPGs Richards Bay workshops
with key components sourced from the
Australian operations.
Outotec is also a key player in delivering
global mineral sands projects. Advancing
gravity circuits, Outotec has revamped the
H9000 series spiral in both wash water and
wash waterless varieties such that it is now
applicable to both mineral sands concentrators
and zircon sections of processing plants.
Recent advancements in magnetic separation
include a new high efficiency (HE) rare-earth
roll separator designed specifically to overcome
MINERAL SANDS
64 International Mining FEBRUARY 2011
Installation of
HC1RS spiral from
CPG. A single
example can
process 30 t/h
EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE
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traditional obstacles of zircon processing. Outotec has also licensed the
SLon high gradient wet magnetic separator for fine ilmenite
concentration and scavenging. The line of comminution, minerals
processing and thickening/clarifying technologies has also now been
joined by the full scope of Outotec Larox filters.
Peter Dunn, Business Development Director Physical Separation
comments: With gravity processing equipment there continues to be a
focus on consideration of high capacity spirals or otherwise to treat
lower grade feeds in manageable footprints. On the downstream circuits,
washwater spirals are being considered again to optimise separation
efficiencies in certain instances.
But a key area of focus for Outotec continues to be magnetic
separation. On the wet magnetic separation side of things for mineral
sands, the SLon machine with its vertical ring and slurry pulsation feature
is being evaluated for increased separation efficiencies and ease of
operation in traditional WHIMS applications.
The HE (high efficiency) line of rare-earth roll magnetic separators
continues to be broadly applied to zircon and similar mineral
applications, with dust-free operation, feed-point adjustability and belt
material updates to optimise performance.
The PyroMag separator is a specially developed rare-earth drum
separator with proprietary cooling technology in designed to operate at
temperatures exceeding 500C for applications in downstream
metallurgical processes.
Lastly, the 5T Cryofilter high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS)
machine has been investigated for upgrading zircon and other high value
mineral applications outside of its most common application to kaolin
clay upgrading.
Downstream, the focus is on further development of Outotecs
offering for titanium dioxide slag smelting, especially the application of
pre-reduction of ilmenite in order to significantly reduce the electric
power consumption for smelting.
Project-wise, Outotec is in the middle of plant finalisation and
commissioning efforts with Oregon Resources. This project will be
starting up in early 2011. As this is an alluvial deposit, the processing is
MINERAL SANDS
FEBRUARY 2011 International Mining 65
An Outotec SLon-2500 magnetic separator
very similar to mineral sands and will produce
a few chromite products as the project driver
followed by smaller production levels of
garnet, zircon and ilmenite. The wet process
employs spirals, attrition scrubbing and a
Floatex density separator to generate heavy
mineral concentrate, followed by a dry
processing plant that used electrostatic and
rare-earth magnetic separators to isolate the
varoius mineral products.
Eriez manufactures a range of permanent
magnetic roll and drum separators for the
mineral sands industry including ferrite
magnetic elements which are a lower intensity
(LIMS) and Rare Earth neodymium elements
(REMS) which have a very high gauss field.
LIMS with surface magnetic strength of
1,300 gauss are ideal for recovering magnetite
and high susceptibility minerals and are
generally installed prior to the stronger REMS
separators. LIMS for Eriez are available in
diameters from 300 mm to 610 mm and
widths of 3,048 mm for the larger diameters.
REMS can be manufactured either as a drum
(RED) with a surface magnetic strength of
8,500 gauss or a roll separator (RER) with a
surface strength of 21,000 gauss. Due to their
high gauss fields they are used extensively in
dry plants for recovering Ilmenite from other
less susceptible magnetic minerals such as
garnet and chromite; or used as cleaners for
recovering magnetic minerals from zircon.
Generally, the rare earth (RE) drum is used
as a primary separator with dimensions similar
to the LIMS. Eriez has a design for drum roll
separators in the same housing. The drum is
the primary separator followed by the rolls
which recover the weaker magnetic minerals
that may be present. The RE drum also can be
used as a wet drum for certain applications but
is not suitable for recovering ilmenite as a wet
separator due to the possibility of the hydraulic
influences dislodging the ilmenite from the
drum surface. As a dry drum separator the
magnetic field diverts the trajectory flow of the
ilmenite and with strategic use of splitters it is
possible to have three product splits.
Depending on the number of drums
and rolls in one housing, it is possible to
achieve multiple
splits, for
example, a
single RE drum
with two RE rolls
in one housing
can achieve eight
product splits
based on a housing
footprint of only 2
m by 1 m.
The company has
also supplied a four-
pass RE drum unit
which had an overall
height of 4.5 m. The
first RE Drum was a
double super strength
element of 3,300 gauss
followed by
three RE drums
of 6,500 gauss.
Eriez also utilises roll feeders to obtain an
even feed onto the magnetic separators and
variable speed controllers are fitted to all drive
motors. Safety features can be included in the
separators including temperature sensors for
excessive temperatures, to under-speed sensors
on the roll units.
In South Africa, Multotec HX5 spirals
continue to gain popularity. The HX5 spiral, the
result of intensive testing by Multotec Process
Equipment, was introduced into the heavy
minerals sector a few years ago and is today
finding ready acceptance in the market. The
high capacity HX5 version of the conventional
Multotec heavy minerals spiral can treat 5-8 t/h
of dry solids. The HX5 has been specifically
engineered for chrome and iron ore
applications. Its shallower slope and larger
1,000 mm diameter make it suitable for
rougher and scavenger applications,
Renira Reddy, Product Manager:
Gravity Concentration at Multotec,
explained. Fewer units are needed
to treat the same feed material
because it handles higher
capacities.
The spirals are equipped with
sliding splitters for simpler
adjustment for product collection,
resulting in an easier operation. It
allows for a larger mass pull to the
concentrate and can treat fine ores
ranging between 50 m and 1.50
m and is particularly effective on
the size ranges between 50 m
and 300 m. The spiral can be fitted
with wash water where required.
The HX5 can be assembled into
a quad, with four assemblies on a
centre column, further reducing the footprint
resulting in additional cost savings. Ease of
erection and the reduced number of units
A 380 mm diameter salient pole Eriez RE drum
producing three splits. The one nearest the drum is
ilmenite, the middle stream is garnet and the outside
stream is quartz and silica. The ilmenite and quartz
are then recombined and re-passed over another
drum to take out any final traces of garnet
An allmineral Gaustec GX 2000 installation at a
quartz/feldspar operation in Brazil
Multotecs new HX5 spiral
MINERAL SANDS
66 International Mining FEBRUARY 2011
required also lead to a reduction in capex
costs.
Multotec has also extended its experience
with trommel screens for mills to the mineral
sands industry with self-driven, large diameter
trommels. Both its extensive
knowledge of screen panels
and the engineering
competence
surrounding
trommels has
resulted in an
improved product
for this sector.
The largest self-driven
trommel ever built by Multotec was
successfully
commissioned at
QMMs
Mandena mine.
This trommel has
the same diameter
as one which was manufactured for the
Hillendale mine over ten years ago, but it is far
longer at 15 m. The self-driven trommel is
processing 3,200 t/h of dry solids.
Further downstream in the minerals
separation process, new developments in wet,
high intensity separators from Multotec offer
higher capacity and higher intensities at a
lower capital cost. An example is the new HIW
4 WHIMS machine which can treat up to 120 t
in a single machine.
Other industrial sands
In addition to heavy mineral sands, industrial
sands such as silica sand mined for glass
production are also important application areas
for mining and processing equipment. In Brazil,
allmineral has had a Gaustec GX 2000 wet
high intensity magnetic separator (WHIMS)
operating in an industrial sand (feldspar/quartz)
application since June 2010. This GX 2000 is
running in a process consisting of one rougher
and three cleaner stages to reduce biotite
content from 6% down to 0.5% in one
single unit only. The magnetic field is 15,000
gauss and the gap is 1.1 mm for a <150 m
feed. The capacity of the GX 2000 under these
conditions is 60 t/h and with the four steps the
total feed is 15 t/h.
The design of the GX 2000 corresponds to
the design of the GX 3600, the biggest WHIMS
in the world, has been operating since July
2010 at a feed rate of 700 t/h of haematite
ore (<1 mm) at the Itaminas plant in Minas
Gerais, Brazil.
So far, out of more than sixty units sold, this
Gaustec GX 2000 is the only application
outside the iron ore industry, but as the
technology is suitable for mineral sands
processing, allmineral is expecting to expand in
this market in the near to medium term,
because of the technical and economic
benefits of the use of large WHIMS units in
typically high capacity mineral sands plants.
Also in magnetics, for crushed granite and
silica sand processing, Steinert has delivered its
high gradient magnetic separators (HGMS),
which are used to improve the quality of the
sand/granite by reducing the amount of darker
(and more magnetic) minerals. The HGS model
consists of a short conveyor belt equipped with
a permanent magnet disk system in its head
drum. Powerful neodymium iron boron magnets
allow it to separate even weak magnetic
mineral components. Grain size handled can
be 0.2-2 mm with a throughput of 5 t/h. IM
Dry mining using scraper and dozer, Iluka Jacinth-
Ambrosia mine, South Australia
A 3D image showing the full design of the IMS Versi-
Dredge
MINERAL SANDS
68 International Mining FEBRUARY 2011
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Project News (21) June 10, 2007
News from those projects making progress towards production more every two weeks
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on
projects around the globe likely to be in the market for equipment and services.
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on projects around the globe
likely to be in the market for equipment and services. ..................................................................................................1
PREFEASIBILITY.........................................................................................................................................................2
MEXICO - Tyler Resources - COPPER/GOLD....................................................................................................2
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Harmony Gold - COPPER/GOLD...............................................................................3
PERU - Strike Resources - IRON ORE.................................................................................................................3
SLOVAKIA - Tournigan Gold - GOLD.................................................................................................................4
ZAMBIA - African Eagle Resources - COPPER....................................................................................................4
COLUMBIA - Greystar Resources - GOLD/SILVER...........................................................................................4
USA - Galway Resources - MOLYBDENUM/TUNGSTEN.................................................................................5
CANADA - Geodex Minerals - TUNGSTEN/MOLYBDENUM/COPPER.........................................................5
AUSTRALIA - Heron Resources - NICKEL.........................................................................................................6
ARGENTINA - Minera Andes - COPPER..............................................................................................................6
AUSTRALIA - Independence Group - GOLD.......................................................................................................6
RUSSIA Polymetal - GOLD................................................................................................................................6
FEASIBILITY STAGE..................................................................................................................................................7
BURKINA FASO - Goldbelt Resources - GOLD.................................................................................................7
USA - Great Basin Gold - GOLD/SILVER.............................................................................................................7
AUSTRALIA - Moly Mines - MOLYBDENUM....................................................................................................8
CHINA - Golden China Resources - GOLD...........................................................................................................8
AUSTRALIA - Goldstar Resources - GOLD.........................................................................................................8
CANADA - Western Copper Corps - GOLD/SILVER.........................................................................................9
AUSTRALIA - Minotaur Exploration/ Helix Resources - GOLD/SILVER............................................................9
SOUTH AFRICA - Eastern Platinum - PGMs .......................................................................................................9
USA - American Lignite Energy/ Headwaters Energy Services/ Great River Energy/ The North American Coal
Corp LIGNITE.10
CHILE - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold / Codelco - COPPER.......................................................................10
USA - FutureGen Alliance - COAL.......................................................................................................................10
CANADA - Atlantic Gold - GOLD.......................................................................................................................10
MEXICO - Baja Mining - COPPER/COBALT/ZINC/MANGANESE..............................................................11
GREENLAND - True North Gems - RUBY.........................................................................................................12
CANADA - North American Tungsten Corp - TUNGSTEN................................................................................12
MONGOLIA - Western Prospector Group - URANIUM.....................................................................................12
ALGERIA - Terramin Australia - ZINC/LEAD....................................................................................................13
INDONESIA - Finders Resources - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................................13
COTE DIVOIRE - Etruscan Resources - GOLD...............................................................................................13
SAUDI ARABIA - ADV Group/ Bariq Mining - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................13
BRAZIL - Mirabela Nickel - NICKEL...................................................................................................................14
PERU - Monterrico Metals - COPPER/MOLYBDENUM...................................................................................14
AUSTRALIA - Gindalbie Metals/ Anshan Iron & Steel Group - IRON ORE........................................................15
CANADA - Canadian Royalties - NICKEL/COPPER/PGM..............................................................................16

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content is copyright. IM Project News should not be passed on to others, either as forwarded emails, as photocopies, or copies in any
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Project News (21) June 10, 2007
News from those projects making progress towards production more every two weeks
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on
projects around the globe likely to be in the market for equipment and services.
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on projects around the globe
likely to be in the market for equipment and services. ..................................................................................................1
PREFEASIBILITY.........................................................................................................................................................2
MEXICO - Tyler Resources - COPPER/GOLD....................................................................................................2
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Harmony Gold - COPPER/GOLD...............................................................................3
PERU - Strike Resources - IRON ORE.................................................................................................................3
SLOVAKIA - Tournigan Gold - GOLD.................................................................................................................4
ZAMBIA - African Eagle Resources - COPPER....................................................................................................4
COLUMBIA - Greystar Resources - GOLD/SILVER...........................................................................................4
USA - Galway Resources - MOLYBDENUM/TUNGSTEN.................................................................................5
CANADA - Geodex Minerals - TUNGSTEN/MOLYBDENUM/COPPER.........................................................5
AUSTRALIA - Heron Resources - NICKEL.........................................................................................................6
ARGENTINA - Minera Andes - COPPER..............................................................................................................6
AUSTRALIA - Independence Group - GOLD.......................................................................................................6
RUSSIA Polymetal - GOLD................................................................................................................................6
FEASIBILITY STAGE..................................................................................................................................................7
BURKINA FASO - Goldbelt Resources - GOLD.................................................................................................7
USA - Great Basin Gold - GOLD/SILVER.............................................................................................................7
AUSTRALIA - Moly Mines - MOLYBDENUM....................................................................................................8
CHINA - Golden China Resources - GOLD...........................................................................................................8
AUSTRALIA - Goldstar Resources - GOLD.........................................................................................................8
CANADA - Western Copper Corps - GOLD/SILVER.........................................................................................9
AUSTRALIA - Minotaur Exploration/ Helix Resources - GOLD/SILVER............................................................9
SOUTH AFRICA - Eastern Platinum - PGMs .......................................................................................................9
USA - American Lignite Energy/ Headwaters Energy Services/ Great River Energy/ The North American Coal
Corp LIGNITE.10
CHILE - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold / Codelco - COPPER.......................................................................10
USA - FutureGen Alliance - COAL.......................................................................................................................10
CANADA - Atlantic Gold - GOLD.......................................................................................................................10
MEXICO - Baja Mining - COPPER/COBALT/ZINC/MANGANESE..............................................................11
GREENLAND - True North Gems - RUBY.........................................................................................................12
CANADA - North American Tungsten Corp - TUNGSTEN................................................................................12
MONGOLIA - Western Prospector Group - URANIUM.....................................................................................12
ALGERIA - Terramin Australia - ZINC/LEAD....................................................................................................13
INDONESIA - Finders Resources - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................................13
COTE DIVOIRE - Etruscan Resources - GOLD...............................................................................................13
SAUDI ARABIA - ADV Group/ Bariq Mining - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................13
BRAZIL - Mirabela Nickel - NICKEL...................................................................................................................14
PERU - Monterrico Metals - COPPER/MOLYBDENUM...................................................................................14
AUSTRALIA - Gindalbie Metals/ Anshan Iron & Steel Group - IRON ORE........................................................15
CANADA - Canadian Royalties - NICKEL/COPPER/PGM..............................................................................16