Phosphate Australia Limited (POZ) announced an increase from 7 Mt grading 23% phosphorus oxide to 14 Mt grading 20% phosphorus oxide at the flagship Western Mine Target Zone (WMTZ) within its Highland Plains phosphate project in the Northern Territory. The company said the project’s total Inferred Resource comprises 56 Mt grading 16% phosphorus oxide. Phosphate Australia said WMTZ is planned to support an initial startup mine with the production of 500,000 to 1 million tonnes per annum of beneficiated rock phosphate with trucking to the Gulf of Carpentaria coast.
The Board of Polaris Metals NL (POL) have said that shareholders in the company should not accept the takeover offer of Mineral Resources Limited (MIN). The advice from the board comes following a counter-offer from Lion-Asia Resources Pte Ltd at 70c per share, which the board said represented a 6% premium to the implied value of 66c per share offered by Mineral Resources.
Contact Energy Limited, 51.4% owned by Origin Energy Limited (ORG), has appointed former regional director of Australia and Asia for the world’s largest zinc smelting company Nyrstar NV, Mark Elliot, as its new chief financial officer. The company said Mr Elliot would begin his new role next month. Contact said Mr Elliot spent two years as group manager at Zinifex, prior to which he worked for Shell Gas & Power in London. Mr Elliot has also held positions at Fletcher Challenge, ANZ Banking Group and KPMG.
Drillsearch Energy Limited (DLS) said it has commenced legal action against former chief executive of its 79.5% owned Canadian subsidiary Circumpacific Energy Corporation (“CER”) Peter Simpson as well as directors Roger Tidmarsh and Paul Johns. The company said it was taking action following the resignation of Mr Simpson and the refusal of the three directors to step aside from their duties and their attempt to dispose of material assets of CER. Drillsearch said it would allege in the Supreme Court of British Columbia that following Mr Simpson’s resignation, the three directors sought to enter into material transactions that involve the attempted disposal or farmout of interests in CER’s SW Queensland Cooper & Eromanga Basins interests. The company said it was seeking an injunction preventing the three directors from entering negotiations on those assets or acting as directors prior to an Annual and Special General Meeting of CER on 26 November 2009. In June this year, Drillsearch said Mr Simpson tendered his resignations from the boards of both Drillsearch and CER, however the company said it had not yet acted on Mr Simpson’s resignation and such failure has required Drillsearch to requisition a shareholders’ meeting to remove the three directors.
Norton Gold Fields (NGF) placed $40.5 million worth of shares to sophisticated investors at 32.8c per share the Brisbane-based gold miner said today. The money would be used to fund the company’s growth plans, including the Mount Morgan project in Queensland. In trading today, the company’s shares jumped nearly 10% to 34.5c.
Santos Limited (STO) said revised capital expenditure for Phase 1 of the PNG LNG Project is estimated to be approximately US$15 billion, up from the US$12.5 billion pre Front End Engineering and Design estimate. The company said the increase was principally due to the inclusion of pre start-up operating costs and scope changes including acceleration of some works from later phases of the project. Santos said it received the new cost and throughput information from the operator ExxonMobil. The company said the estimates remain preliminary as the contract awards have not yet been made. Santos added that at the same time, LNG plant output is expected to increase from 6.3mtpa to 6.6mtpa due to greater fuel efficiency.
