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2004

Jan 2004 - Platreef

Platreef is different

In late November / early December 2003 I visited the northern limb of South Africa’s Eastern Bushveld, and concluded that the northern limb appears to consist of different types of Platreef that formed when a type of Merensky reef ingested different footwall rocks over which it passed.

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Feb 2004 - New Mining Frontier

CHINA - Australia’s New Mining Frontier

It seems lately that almost every week or so a new “deal” is announced between either a Canadian or an Australian company and a group in one of the Provinces of China. There have been a few recent media comments about the restrictions on geological information available for perusal in any of the recent agreements. However, based on our experiences with Michelago (MIC) we have found any required information to be available in detail.

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Mar 2004 - New Mining Cycle

Just like old times as the new mining cycle increases its pace

Bobby Godsell, the MD of Anglogold commented at the INDABA 2004 Conference in Cape Town that mega mergers are over for the time being, which is probably true for the time being apart from perhaps Newcrest possibly being taken over once Telfer is in production.

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May 2004 - Commodity Cycle

The Commodity Cycle is Over ! – What Already ?....

…I thought this was supposed to be a super-cycle with at least another 12 months’ to go (about every 12 to 15 years, commodities experience a super-cycle in which they rally for about 18 months’ or so).

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Jun 2004 - Calais’ Coming

Are there a number of Calais’ coming – discovering Gold below 500m from surface ?

Discovering gold below 500m from surface is standard practice for the South Africans, since their sub-outcrop is typically 2.5km below surface and so the mine is from there to 4km deep. However, for Australian gold companies it is a relatively new concept.

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Aug 2004 - China

Some things are relative in China

We have come across comments that Guangxi (where Michelago’s Jinya project lies) and Guizhou (where Sino Gold’s Jinfeng Project is located) are two of the poorest provinces in China.

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Oct 2004 - Fluorescent Minerals

Using fluorescent minerals to identify ore mineralisation

The use of fluorescent minerals to identify fluorspar and scheelite is known by those mining it. However, it is the first time that I have encountered it being used as an industry standard technique to identify gold and other ore mineralisation in drill-core and underground, which is what I encountered when recently visiting Dragon Mining’s gold mine operations in Finland.

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Nov 2004 - Gold Producer

Could China become the world’s largest gold producer ?

The latest GFMS Gold Survey 2004 lists the top 5 gold producing countries in 2003 as a still declining South Africa (376t), United States (285t), Australia (284t), China (213t) and Russia (182t).

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Dec 2004 - CHINA 2020 to 2040

CHINA – Targeting its Second Growth Phase from 2020 to 2040

We attended the China Mining Conference in Beijing in mid-November 2004 along with over 1000 delegates which like anything in China has undergone dramatic growth from the 40 that attended the first conference 4 years’ ago in 2000, and couple of hundred last year in 2003.

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