Mining and Exploration

Shares in Rockhopper Exploration jumped 7.8 per cent today following an update on flow tests at the potentially world class Sea Lion field in the North Falklands basin.

The UK-based company said that during an 18 hour test, the well flowed for sustained periods at over 2,000 barrels per day.

The group added that had it not been for several constraints on the well, it could have flowed at around 4,000 barrels per day.

With more optimal location, significantly higher rates could be achieved from future production wells, the company said.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has entered the battle for ownership of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, the world's largest producer of potassium carbonate, used as fertilizer all over the world.

Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has launched a hostile takeover bid to acquire Potash Corp for $39 billion, but Harper warned yesterday that his government could block a takeover if it was not a "net benefit" to Canada.

Cluff Gold brought two gold mines to production during 2008 and is now poised to develop a third, much larger prospect. Chairman Algy Cluff talks to Gay Sutton about the rocky road to success.

Russia and Norway ended a 40-year dispute yesterday when they signed an Arctic border treaty, opening up the region to offshore oil and gas development.

Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev and Jens Stoltenberg, the premier of Norway, attended the signing in Murmansk, a Russian Barents Sea port near the Norwegian border.

The disputed territory in the Barents Sea covered 175,000 square kilometres—roughly half the size of Germany—between the Novaya Zemlya archipelago on the Russian side and the Svlabard archipelago on the Norwegian side.

London-based miner Rio Tinto has said it will spend £518 million expanding its diamond operations.

The mining group’s diamond business is often overlooked, due to the success of its primary iron ore, copper and coal operations. However, its diamond unit is the third-largest in the world behind industry leaders De Beers and Alrosa.

Rio Tinto’s diamond division is based on three mines, including Argyle in the north-western desert area of Australia.

Rising gold prices have seen a global surge in gold mining operations. Todd Roth at Sumitomo Metal Mining tells Andrew Pelis how Japanese experience has been applied to North American reserves.

Alaska’s remote wilderness may seem an unlikely setting for Japanese prosperity, yet beneath the hills and valleys lies that most precious of commodities: gold.

Consolidated Thompson Mines is leveraging an experienced team, state-of-the-art technology and the quality of its in-the-ground resource on the global market to engineer significant growth in the near future, as Keith Regan finds out.

Kennecott Eagle Minerals has been feeling its way through the tough new mining law and regulations enacted in the State of Michigan in 2004. General manager Jon Cherry talks to Gay Sutton about the challenges of the process and why the new law will benefit the mining community.

Canadian mining giant Goldcorp has agreed to buy Andean Resources Limited for C$3.6 billion, thereby adding the Cerro Negro gold deposit in Argentina to its assets.

The Cerro Negro gold project is an advanced-stage, high-grade vein system in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina, with indicated resources of 2.54 million ounces of gold and 23.56 million ounces of silver. Inferred resources total 523,000 ounces of gold and 3.12 million ounces of silver.

Andy Haslam, managing director of iron ore producer Territory Resources, is delighted to be mirroring the growth of Asia’s resurgent economies. Jayne Flannery reports.