(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) A major milestone came at the tail end of the week for Spain focused ().
It announced it had obtained final permitting for the project and is now set to begin copper mining operations in the third quarter of this year.
Plant and infrastructure refurbishment will continue through the second and third quarters prior to commissioning in the third quarter and the mining of ore will begin during the second quarter.
Mining and drilling contractors are also now working to optimise the production plan for the first five years of mining.
Also this week Wolf Minerals ( ASX:WLF) continues to make good progress with its tungsten and tin mine in Devon - with construction on track and dry commissioning expected to kick off in March this year.
In a quarterly update for the period to end end-December the firm said construction of the project was 67% complete as at that point and that production is expected in the third quarter this year.
The project remains fully funded from existing company facilities.
In analysis this week diamonds have again been tipped to outshine an otherwise gloomy mining sector in 2015.
Prices in most base metals as well as iron ore and coal have declined in January adding to last year’s falls.
Given the uncertain outlook for the mining community South African broker ’s preferred exposure is to the diamond market.
The broker has downgraded forward earnings of most commodity producers as a result of the price declines but the exceptions are precious stone producers () and emerald ruby and sapphire miner ().
Elsewhere () said it is ready to begin exploration drilling at the end of the month after identifying four high priority copper targets on its properties in northern Oman.
A ground electro-magnetic survey helped pinpoint the potential mineralisation found on two separate prospects: Sarami West and Ghayth.
() emphasised this week that obtaining a forestry permit is now very much viewed by the company as procedural rather than an issue of undue uncertainty.
The sign-off of a forestry permit will allow the Red Rabbit gold project to move into the mine construction phase and subject to timing could mean ‘first gold’ before the end of the year.
“We are now most encouraged to begin 2015 in the knowledge that several revisions to the Turkish Mining Law have been submitted to the Turkish parliament and are currently with the Parliamentary Commission” the company said in a letter to shareholders.
To the Philippines and () has kicked off a second phase of drilling to include deeper exploration at the Itogon gold project.
The plan is for the diamond drilling now underway to answer key geological questions about the mineralised structures identified to date and to evaluate the continuity of grade.
Also worthy of follow-up are deeper intercepts previously identified the firm said.
() continues to hit thick layers of fluorspar with its drilling at MB in Nevada.
The latest two holes showed multiple wide intersections with grades over 10% and some over 15%.
Richard Clemmey managing director said the results confirmed the significant fluorspar mineralisation at MB extended laterally and at depth to the west and between the central and southern areas of the existing mineral resource.
() and fellow AIM-listed miner Metal Tiger (LON:MTR) are set to deepen their relationship through a joint venture at gold prospect Morogoro in Tanzania.
Metal Tiger recently became a shareholder in Kibo when it acquired a half share of its Pinewood uranium deposit in Tanzania.
The two companies are now closing in on a deal that will see Metal Tiger take 50% of the Morogoro South gold exploration portfolio of 18 licences and assorted applications and tenders that cover 1400 sq km.
() has dusted off plans for a second zinc re-cycling plant as the performance of its first has steadily improved.
The existing plant in Korea (KRP) has been dogged by teething problems and had another small outage in December due to a refractory failure.
In spite of this ZincOx said the plant has performed consistently above target since it restarted in November with zinc recovery at 90% only slightly below target.
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