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Fatality rocks Grasstree

ONE of Anglo American's most improved coal mines - Grasstree in Queensland - has been shocked by the sudden death of one of its employees underground yesterday.

Attempts to revive the mine worker underground failed after he was found collapsed.

He was transported to the surface but emergency personnel could not revive him and he was pronounced dead the Queensland Police informed.

The company said in a statement: "Anglo American is working with the Mines Inspectorate and Queensland Police to conduct a thorough investigation into the fatality"

Coming on the heels of the tragic wall collapse at Yancoal's Austar colliery last month in which two mine workers died, the Grasstree fatality means 2014 is shaping up as a horror year for the Australian underground coal industry.

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Newmont to suspend Batu Hijau

THE inability to obtain an export permit from the Indonesian government has prompted US gold giant Newmont Mining to announce the suspension of its Batu Hijau copper-gold mine.

Mine operator PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara announced today that it would start the ramp-down of production from June 1 unless it could secure an initial export permit.

The process has stalled since last month when the company obtained registered export status from the Indonesian Ministry of Trade.

PTNNT said Batu Hijau's copper concentrate storage facilities would reach capacity by the end of this month, prompting the ramp-down of operations.

Once the facility is full, PTNNT will cease mining and milling and scale back contracted services, purchasing and capital expenditure, with corresponding adjustments in employee work schedules and reductions in overtime.

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Aquila's project development tardiness prompted takeover: Baosteel

BAOSTEEL and Aurizon decided to launch their $A1.42 billion cash takeover bid for Aquila Resources after Baosteel became frustrated with Aquila's pace in developing the West Pilbara iron ore project and the Eagle Downs coking coal project, its chief financial officer said.

Wu Yiming told a media briefing in Sydney that Boasteel had held a 19.8% stake in Aquila since 2009 but ran out of patience with Aquila management after attempts to organise funding with China Development Bank Corp failed amid an uncertain future over iron ore supply agreements.

"Our original investment is to support Aquila to develop its major projects but after five years, we haven't seen any projects being started," Wu said.

"We've become frustrated, so what we're going to do now is to get things started."

Aquila will form an independent board sub-committee to evaluate the offer and has appointed Goldman Sachs as its financial advisor and King & Wood Mallesons as its legal advisor.

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Norseman to be suspended

NORSEMAN Gold says its namesake operations will be put on care and maintenance next month as doubts continue over the company's ability to survive.

Contract miners have been engaged for remnant mining at the Bullen and Harlequin underground mines, as well as to remove the pillars at North Royal via open pit mining.

Mining at Bullen and Harlequin was allowed to restart after a worker was killed in a rockfall on February 15.

Despite the Department of Mines and Petroleum lifting the prohibition notices, the scene of the accident remains under control of authorities.

Norseman said the fatality had resulted in a delay to production and significant additional costs.

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Failure to launch

A SIGNIFICANT portion of Australian mining projects are tipped to be cancelled or put on hold as investment patterns divert away from grassroots development.

According to Industrial Info Resources, over 2013 and into the first quarter of 2014, 18% of projects have fallen out globally, with the Oceania region tracking the highest worldwide at a 31% fallout rate.

It saw about $US30 billion ($A32.3 billion) of projects being cancelled or put on hold.

"We're seeing a lot of project fallout occurring in the mining companies, both majors and minors," Industrial Info Resources vice president for global analytics Shaheen Chohan told delegates today at the Mining & Engineering Western Australia conference in Perth.

"Many of the projects which we're tracking at the moment are experiencing some degree of uncertainty and how the pipeline progresses will really be driven in part by the demand fundamentals out there for certain commodity classes."

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