Hidden Valley records ‘very disappointing Q4'

The National

Hidden Valley’s December 2012 quarter performance was a “very disappointing” 20,649 ounces of gold and 235,312 ounces of silver at a production cash cost of A$1,584 per ounce of gold, according to Newcrest Mining Ltd’s quarterly report released yesterday.

This compares with the September 2012 quarter performance of 22,137 ounces of gold and 223,936 ounces of silver at a cash cost of A$1,355 per ounce of gold.

“Hidden Valley’s production and cost performance continues to be very disappointing,” the report said.

“Significant effort is being applied to improve productivity and reduce costs.

“With the later commissioning of the crusher, production is expected to come in below guidance for the full financial year at around 90,000 ounces.

“Newcrest will carefully review the performance of the asset after the crusher is commissioned in April 2013.”

The report said material movements and gold grades were marginally higher in the December quarter.

“Lower gold production resulted from reduced mill throughput due to lower plant availability during the quarter,” it said,

“Silver production increased as a result of higher grades and recovery rates.”

The report said crusher installation at the start of the overland conveyor was progressing and would be commissioned in April, approximately two months later than forecast.

“After the crusher is commissioned, operating costs are expected to fall with the removal of higher cost trucking of ore to the mill,” it said,

“Higher unit cash costs in the December 2012 quarter resulted from lower gold production and increased site costs.

“Cost increases were primarily driven by higher energy costs associated with increased reliance on-site power generation, and higher levels of training and community expenditure.”

Lihir hikes gold output

The National

Lihir gold mine’s December 2012 quarter performance was 147,126 ounces of gold at a production cash cost of A$649 per ounce, according to Newcrest Mining Ltd’s quarterly report released yesterday.

 This compares with the September 2012 quarter performance of 129,311 ounces of gold at a cash cost of A$632 per ounce. 

The new semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) and ball mills at the Lihir mine which are in the final stage of commissioning.

“Gold production was 14% higher than the September 2012 quarter, associated with a 37% increase in mill throughput partially offset by lower grade and recoveries,” the report said.

“The previous quarter was primarily impacted by a production interruption due to an electrical fault in the main oxygen plant.

“Lower feed grade in the December quarter resulted from a planned transition from Stage 11 of the Lienetz pit into ore from Stage 12 of the Minifie pit.

“Total material movement was 20% higher in the December quarter, comprising both increased ore mined and additional waste stripping in Stage 12 and Stage 9 of the Minifie pit to access future ore sources.”

The report said site costs were higher than the previous quarter as both mining and milling rates increased.

“Unit cash costs were 3% higher than the previous quarter primarily as a result of milling lower grade ore,” it said.

“The progressive increase in production volumes associated with the Million Ounce Plant Upgrade (MOPU) ramp-up is expected to contribute to a reduction in unit costs in the second half of the financial year.

“Refurbishment projects are progressing to plan to improve the older sections of the plant.

“Projects include upgrading the electrical and control systems and replacing the neutralisation cyanidation adsorption (NCA) circuit.

“The expansion project of increasing the flotation capacity is proceeding on schedule to a July 2013 delivery.”

Newcrest is currently undertaking a major expansion of the Lihir process plant, known as the MOPU.

The US$1.4 billion MOPU project, which will be completed by the end of this month,  includes installation of a new crushing facility, upgrades to the ore processing plant, and additional power generation capacity and water supply.

This expansion of the processing plant will better match processing rates to mining rates and will increase throughput.

It will provide increased operational flexibility, reduce the exposure to single pieces of equipment and lower fixed costs per tonne, with the medium term objective being to lift annual gold production output to 1.2 million ounces.

Man sails from PNG to Australia island on raft made of twigs

AFP

A POLISH man was lucky to be alive today (Friday) after sailing from Papua New Guinea to a north Australian island on a raft made of twigs and sticks, through crocodile and shark-infested waters, during a cyclone.
The man was found washed up in mangroves on Saibai Island in the Torres Strait, a treacherous stretch of water that lies between the two countries.
What made his survival even more miraculous was that he attempted the trip in the aftermath of Cyclone Oswald, with 1.5 metre swells and 40 knot winds, rescue authorities said.
"It's the first time I've heard of someone trying to cross the Torres Strait in a raft in the middle of a cyclone," Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) spokeswoman Jo Meehan told AFP, adding that the raft was held together with string.
"It's not something we'd recommend. Navigation in the area is challenging for normal vessels, it's quite treacherous with reefs and rocks, and he did it in high winds and high seas.
"He's very lucky to have made it."
AMSA was alerted when residents of Saibai, which is part of Australia but only four kilometres (2.48 miles) from Papua New Guinea, spotted the man offshore on Thursday.
They sent a helicopter and a customs ship but failed to find him, so they called in local police who discovered the exhausted man in the mangroves.
Australian media reports said the Pole, who has not been named, set off from Sigabadura village in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday and that locals tried talking him out of the voyage, to no avail.
Australian immigration authorities said they were waiting to interview the man.
"He has been transferred to Thursday Island where he has been detained," a spokesman said, adding that he was being medically assessed before being interviewed to find out why he made the trip. -AFP

Mission aviation engineer burned in accident in Papua New Guinea

Jan. 24, 2013 Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia

Jarrod Stackelroth/SPD and ANN staff 

Adventist News Network

An airplane engineer serving a mission fleet in Papua New Guinea suffered burns on 50 percent of his body Tuesday following a fire during a routine maintenance on a new plane.

Linden Millist is an engineer for Adventist Aviation Services. Church leaders are requesting Adventists to pray for his recovery following a severe burn accident. [photo courtesy SPD]

Linden Millist, chief engineer for Adventist Aviation Services, was burned after a fuel tank caught fire at the AAS hangar at the airport in the city of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands. He was taken by medevac to Brisbane, Australia, where he remains in critical condition while undergoing treatment at a hospital.
Millist, 33, is the son of AAS CEO Roger Millist.
AAS is working with the country’s Accident Investigation Commission to determine the cause of the incident.
AAS plays a key role in the work of the Adventist Church in Papua New Guinea. Pilots transport pastors, teachers and building materials in the isolated and rugged highlands along the Fly and Sepik River systems. Many of the remote villages are otherwise a two-day walk from main roads. AAS also assists with medical evacuations.
The ministry owns two 10-seat planes and offered more than 1,000 mission flights last year. AAS also does commercial work to help financially sustain its ministry.
Millist is one of 13 AAS staff, four of whom are pilots.
The president of the Adventist Church’s Papua New Guinea Union Mission, Leigh Rice, is calling for Adventists to pray for Millist and his recovery.

Papua New Guinea LNG project on schedule for 2014 startup

Platts


ExxonMobil's Papua New Guinea LNG plant is on schedule to start up and ship its first LNG in 2014, Peter Botten, Managing Director of minority project shareholder Oil Search, said at a conference Thursday.
The 6.9 million mt/year, two-train LNG plant, supplied with feed gas from three gas fields in the highlands and associated gas from existing oil projects, will supply LNG to Japan's Tepco and Osaka Gas, Taiwan's CPC, and China's Sinopec on long-term contracts, Botten said at the the LNG Supplies for Asian Markets conference in Singapore.
"We have not deviated from the schedule, we are still looking at a 2014 startup, and the operator (ExxonMobil) confirmed that they are still on target," Botten said. The key construction objectives this year will be on well drilling, completion of the Hides gas plant, and the onshore pipeline.        The Hides gas conditioning plant will have capacity of 1 Bcf/day, and will be completed later this year, Botten said.
The cost of the Papua New Guinea LNG project rose to $19 billion from $15.7 billion, mainly due to exchange rate movements and work stoppages related to community issues, ExxonMobil said in November.
Oil Search holds 29% in the PNG LNG project, while ExxonMobil holds 33.2% and Australia's Santos holds 13.5%. The remaining equity is held by the government's National Petroleum Company of PNG (16.8%), JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation (4.7%) and PNG landowner group Mineral Resources Development Company (2.8%).

PNG opposition withdraws extension support

By EOIN BLACKWELL of AAP

PAPUA New Guinea's opposition says it is withdrawing support for an extension of a ban on votes of no-confidence in parliament, saying the government is putting the nation at risk.

Opposition leader Belden Namah says he is also talking with other parties and independents, and asking them not to support the extension.
"Papua New Guinea is fast becoming a banana republic," Mr Namah said.
"We say, with both anger and sadness, that the O'Neill-Dion government is a serious national threat to the independence, sovereignty and security of our country."
The law, which will extend the so-called "grace period" on votes of no-confidence from 18 months to 30 months after a government is elected, passed the first of two votes in November.
At the time, the opposition voted in favour of the law.
But Mr Namah says scandals - including the granting of citizenship to Indonesian fugitive Djoko Tjandra last year - is sending the wrong message internationally.
"Is the government sending a message to transnational criminals that PNG is a haven for them as long as it is in government?" he said.
The government on Wednesday night moved to revoke Djoko's citizenship.
Mr Namah also accused Indonesian security forces of making frequent incursions across the West Papuan border into PNG.
The extension of the grace period, aimed at stabilising PNG's often rocky politics, will become law if it passes a second vote scheduled for February 5.

PNG to revoke Indonesia fugitive passport

By EION BLACKWELL of AAP

THE Papua New Guinea government says it has started the process of revoking citizenship for wanted Indonesian fugitive Djoko Tjandra.

Djoko fled Indonesia in 2009, one day before the nation's Supreme Court convicted him in absentia for misusing government bailout funds meant for the now defunct Bank of Bali.
Controversially Djoko was awarded PNG citizenship last June and issued a passport under the name Joe Chan, despite being wanted by Interpol and the Indonesian government.

Djoko Tjandra

"Mr Tjandra is currently wanted by Indonesian authorities and has an outstanding arrest warrant issued in Indonesia," the PNG government's chief secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, said in a letter to Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato.
"The issuing of a passport under a different name allows Mr Tjandra to travel freely and evade the Indonesian authorities."

Mr Zurenuoc said in a statement he had advised Mr Pato to revoke Djoko's passport.
After securing the name change on his passport, Djoko as Joe Chan obtained visas to Taiwan and Japan.
The issuance of the passport is now the subject of an investigation by the PMG Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
Mr Zurenuoc said clear grounds exist for the passport issued to Djoko to be cancelled, notwithstanding the outcome of the investigation by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
Deputy opposition leader Sam Basil told the Post-Courier newspaper "two Papuan ministers" allegedly involved with Djoko must be disciplined.
The newspaper report said Mr Basil was referring to Public Services Minister Sir Puka Temu and former foreign affairs minister Ano Pala, who reportedly pushed for Djoko's citizenship to be approved.
"The two ministers must be dealt with," Mr Basil said.
"We are waiting and Papua New Guinea is waiting."
Mr Pala late last year told parliament Djoko was being defamed and should be afforded the rights and privileges PNG citizenship.