Personal copy; not for onward transmission WMC in expansion mode WMC Ltd, the world’s third largest lion. Proven and probable reserves at nickel producer, said this Tuesday that that time amounted to 342 Mt at an it is considering a major capacity average grade of 0.65% Ni. The expansion at its Mount Keith open-pit expanded operation would have a mini- Georgian House nickel mine in Western Australia that mum mine life of 25 years. Mr Johnson Loeb Aron &63, Company Coleman Ltd. Street would raise output from the current said the expected capital cost for the London EC2R 5BB Tel :+44 (0)20 7628-1128 45,000 t/y to 70,000 t/y of metal. It is expansion represented US$4.50/lb of REGULATED BY THE SFA only a week ago that the Australian annual nickel capacity and he estimates producer announced that it is expand- that the equivalent for Western ing capacity at its Kwinana nickel Australia’s new generation of lateritic refinery near Perth, by 10% to 67,000 nickel mines is nearer US$10.00/lb. t/y by July next year, and that a further The new nickel laterite mines have Inside expansion to 70,000 t/y is planned been beset with technical problems eventually. Built in 1970, Kwinana was causing significant production delays, • Uranium missing an upgraded to a nameplate capacity of and WMC, which retains its faith in opportunity? (p.186) 42,000 t/y in 1994, and over the past mining conventional sulphide ore, has, • Miners die in mystery four years output has risen by 35% at a from the outset, been sceptical about capital cost of just US$0.20/lb of annu- some of the more extravagant claims aircrash (p.190) al nickel capacity. made for the new laterite projects • BHP’s Indonesian coal A decision on the expansion at which are heavily reliant on largely plan (p.196) Mount Keith is expected by the middle untested technology. of next year and a firm commitment The company has not doubted that • Gold producers shy from early in 2002. Speaking in Perth this the technology employed by the new exotic hedging (p.198) week, WMC’s executive general man- lateritic nickel producers will succeed ager for nickel, Peter Johnson, said that but it remains unconvinced that the • Bank withdraws a team of 12 people were working on the mining costs will be as low as some endorsement for Kroondal study, which would have to satisfy a within the industry have forecast. Mr merger (p.201) 25% internal rate of return and a two- Johnson said that the numbers “still year payback period. Mr Johnson said don’t stack up”, and he referred to mas- that the project is still at the prefeasi- sive cost overruns for some of the pro- bility stage but looks “very very attrac- jects, and very high maintenance costs. tive”.The expansion would cost around Also, he said that evidence was now Howards Pass A$300 million and would require new emerging that mining costs are much milling facilities, increased tankage higher than originally planned and he agreement and expanded mining operations which strongly suspects that the operators are could be supplemented by mining the having to mine high-grade ore. Mr Vancouver-based Copper Ridge JOURNAL nearby Cliffs nickel deposit. Johnson said that WMC believes that Explorations Inc. has signed a letter of Mount Keith is a low-grade, high- within two years all of the laterite intent with Billiton Metals Canada London, throughput, open-pit nickel sulphide mines will encounter grade reductions Inc. for the joint evaluation and possi- September 8, 2000 mine. It came on stream at the end of and will be forced to reconfigure their ble development of the Howards Pass Volume 335 1994 at an initial rate of 28,000 t/y and plants to handle lower-grade feed. zinc deposit in northwest Canada. The No. 8599 was developed at a cost of A$450 mil- Continued on p.187 letter of intent follows the recent sign- ing by Copper Ridge of a letter of intent with Placer Dome and Cygnus Mines (a subsidiary of US Steel Group) which allows it to purchase 100% of Howards Pass for C$10 million in staged payments over four years (MJ, July 14, p.26). The deposit is situated on the Yukon-Northwest Territories border and was discovered by Placer Dome in 1972. The latter subsequently outlined a resource of some 110.5 Mt at an aver- age grade of 7.7% combined zinc and lead, plus silver and cadmium, but chose not to go ahead with develop- ment because of the remote location In 1995, the A$450 million Mount Keith project was producing 28,000 t/y of nickel in concentrate. and lack of adequate infrastructure. Established 1835 Output is now 45,000 t/y and there could be an expansion to 70,000 t/y. Continued on p.187 ISSN 0026-5225 http://www.mining-journal.com COMMENT Editor Roger Ellis B.Sc., C.Eng. Deputy and Finance Editor Light and dark Richard Morgan M.Sc., DIC, C.Eng. t a time when there is worldwide con- how safe the industry is – 3,000 MW went Assistant Editor: Mineral Markets cern about global warming, and fossil out of control without casualties or any sig- Andrew Thomas M.Sc., DIC Afuels are in the dock because of their nificant off-site contamination. For the anti- Assistant Editor: Industry in Action major contribution to emissions of CO2, the nuclear side, though, it presents an example Dominic Mercer M.Sc., DIC, FGS nuclear industry should be a major bene- of the dangers of the technology, and it is a ficiary. Nuclear power produces the least fact that there has been no construction of Production Susan Roberts amount of CO2 emissions per unit of power new nuclear power plants in the US for sev- generated and is comparable to geothermal eral years. Eileen Smith and hydro power in this respect. For those It would be wrong to infer that de-nucleari- Advertising countries possessing it, nuclear power also sation in the US is under way, however. Last Michael Bellenger reduces reliance on oil and gas – of consid- year, the 103 US nuclear plants were operat- Frank Gordon erable long-term importance given the finite ing at 87% of capacity, power output rose by Shelley Hannan resources of hydrocarbons. Unlike fossil 8% and this was the main reason for a 3.8% fuels, the reprocessing of spent fuel and the increase in global nuclear energy use. The Marketing use of fast-breeder reactors make the recy- increase was well above the ten-year trend Gareth Bowers cling of uranium as fuel possible. and significantly more than for oil and gas. Carole Hoy However, every scientific technology has Nuclear advocates believe that new plants risks as well as benefits – the dark side and will eventually be built in the US, and they Executive Director the light side – and for the nuclear industry note that power consumption continues to Chris Hinde Ph.D., C.Eng. the dark side predominates in the public are- grow rapidly, not least because of the Mining Journal, published weekly, is available only as part of a na. There are three main areas of concern – growth of computer and internet-related subscription with Mining Magazine and Mining Annual Review. potential accidents, waste disposal and the uses of electricity, which now account for Annual Subscription: proliferation of nuclear weapons – and it is 14% of US demand. £247 (US$440) these risks with which the general public Nuclear power as a percentage of total © Mining Journal Ltd 2000 (and consequently politicians) are preoccu- power supply amounts to 24% in the OECD, pied, and which are preventing the uranium and the region accounts for 87% of world Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations industry from making hay. consumption of nuclear energy. However, At last week’s 25th Annual Uranium although most of the future growth in world WORLD GOLD Symposium in London, the case for nuclear energy demand is likely to be in the undevel- Paul Burton ACSM, M.Sc., MBA power was presented with considerable oped countries, the degree to which nuclear Helen Payne M.Sc., DIC energy but, as numerous speakers readily power will feature is uncertain. MINING MAGAZINE acknowledged, the task that the industry In a wide-ranging enquiry into the long- John Chadwick B.Sc. faces, as it has done for the past two term future of nuclear power that takes into Des Clifford B.Sc. decades, is to convey its message to a account the diversity in attitudes in differ- SUPPLEMENTS/REPORTS wider audience. Tokio Kanoh, a member of ent regions, the RIIA concludes that the Austin Wheeler B.Eng. the Upper House of the Japanese Parliament nuclear option should “in some sense” MINING ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT and previously an executive director of remain open. The RIIA says that this means Tracey Khanna M.Sc., MCSM Tokyo Electric Power Co., referred to the that it must be acceptable to the public and CONSTRUCTION PUBLICATIONS ‘spiral of silence’ whereby in a debate one the decision-makers; that its economics Ian Clarke B.Sc. side becomes increasingly vocal, over- must be favourable; that a workable and Alan Kennedy B.Sc. whelming the other side into silence, to the acceptable approach to waste management Mike Smith HND (Min.) extent that there is no longer fair represen- is in place; and that novel reactor designs RESEARCH SERVICES tation of the two sides.