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Western Areas Ltd announced that it has negotiated and entered into an Offtake Contract with the Tsingshan Group, through its associated entity Golden Harbour International Pte Ltd, to import raw materials for the production of stainless steel. Tsingshan is China’s largest producer of stainless steel, particularly the high nickel content 300 stainless series. Tsingshan has advised that it is the largest consumer of nickel products in China and use approximately 25% of China’s total annual consumption of nickel.
Western Areas Managing Director, Dan Lougher, said the agreement with Tsingshan was many years in the making and followed from the Company’s desire to capture as much value as possible for the nickel in concentrate sold by Western Areas.
“Over three years ago, Western Areas recognised Tsingshan as an innovator in the production of stainless steel and since then we have developed a close working relationship through the sharing of technical knowledge and many site visits,” Mr Lougher said.
“Tsingshan is clearly leading the charge in China to produce a greater proportion of the higher quality 300 series stainless steel product, which contains up to four times the amount of nickel than 200 series stainless. With this in mind, it has been a specific Western Areas strategy to innovatively position itself in the stainless steel supply chain, with the ultimate objective of delivering a stronger bottom line to our shareholders through investigating non-traditional markets and thereby capturing a greater share of the value of the nickel we produce.
“Together with Tsingshan, we are capturing this additional value as Tsingshan intends to utilise a proven and highly integrated process to produce stainless steel, incorporating roasting of the nickel concentrate, which has significant productivity benefits over the conventional smelting and refining processes.
“As Tsingshan is China’s largest consumer of nickel and producer of ferro-nickel, it makes clear strategic sense to take the advantage of linking our company directly with the end user,” Mr Lougher said

Barrick Gold is reviewing the financial backing behind an approximately $US1.3 billion ($1.8 billion) bid for its stake in the Kalgoorlie mine by Minjar Gold, a unit of Shanghai-listed Shandong Tyan Home, two sources have told Reuters.
According to these sources, little-known Minjar has trumped offers by Australian, Chinese and Canadian companies for the asset and Toronto-based Barrick, the world's largest gold producer, is studying the offer for the 50-per cent stake to ensure Minjar has adequate resources and support to complete the transaction.
The sources declined to be identified as the matter is private.

Monthly trend employment in Australia decreased in October 2016, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
In October 2016, trend employment decreased by 1,000 persons to 11,946,600 persons, the first decrease in the trend series since November 2013. This slight fall in trend employment reflected an increase in part-time employment of 8,400 persons being more than offset by a decrease in full-time employment of 9,500 persons.
"Since December 2015 we have seen a continued decline in trend full-time employment and an increase in part-time employment, with a corresponding increase in the share of hours worked by part-time workers. This shift to part-time employment has been more pronounced for males compared to females," said the Program Manager of ABS' Labour and Income Branch, Jacqui Jones.
"Over the past year, part-time employment has increased from around 31 per cent of employment to 32 per cent. That's a relatively large shift, if you consider that it was around 29 per cent 10 years ago. "Since December 2015, there are now around 132,700 more persons working part-time, compared with a 69,900 decrease in those working full-time," said Ms Jones.
The trend monthly hours worked increased by 3.2 million hours (0.2 per cent), with increases in total hours worked by both full-time and part-time workers.
The trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.6 per cent. The participation rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 64.5 per cent.Participation has decreased by 0.6 percentage points over the past year.
Trend series smooth the more volatile seasonally adjusted estimates and provide the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market.
The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed increased by 9,800 in October 2016. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October 2016 remained at 5.6 per cent, and the seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate remained at 64.4 per cent.

Australian gold producers gave a big thumbs-up with key gold miners on the ASX finishing up over 10% for the day. Gold took off as Trumps shock likely win sent markets into turmoil around the world. Gold traded close to $US1340 as the market went into defence mode. It marked gold's biggest single-day gain since June 24 when it rose as much as 8 percent when Britain decided to leave the European Union. The economic uncertainly this brings has seen a flight to safe haven assets. Gold miners SARACEN MINERAL were up over 15% for the day to 1.40 and NORTHERN STAR closed up 10.5% to 4.64 for the day.

Canadian listed Newmarket Gold is the owner of 3 underground operating mines in Australia. The flagship operation, Fosterville Gold Mine, and the Stawell Gold Mine are located in the state of Victoria, and the Cosmo Gold Mine is located in the Northern Territory. Newmarket Gold produced 55,794 ounces during the third quarter and  and has achieved record production of 175,041 ounces for the first nine months of 2016. Fosterville achieved third quarter production of 36,967 ounces, only 1% off the record performance achieved in Q2 2016, accounting for 66% of consolidated production. Cosmo achieved a record recovery rate of 95.3%, up from its record of 94.2% in the previous quarter, contributing 10,677 ounces of production during Q3 2016, with Stawell contributing 8,150 ounces.
Douglas Forster, President & CEO, Newmarket Gold said “Based on record consolidated production in the first nine months of 2016, Newmarket Gold is on track to meet the Company’s improved guidance of 225,000 - 235,000 ounces of gold as announced in Q2 2016. The business combination with Kirkland Lake Gold is expected to close during Q4, more than doubling 2016 pro-forma gold production to over 500,000 ounces from a new operating platform of 7 underground mines in Tier 1 mining jurisdictions. In addition, the combined company will generate superior free cash flow and have strong financial and technical capabilities to exploit its pipeline of exploration and development opportunities to fuel future organic growth. We believe the combined entity will be a preferred investment among mid-tier gold producers, commanding an increased capital market profile and enhanced shareholder value.”
“Newmarket Gold achieved record production of 175,041 ounces of gold for the first nine months of 2016, led by high grade, low cost ounces from our flagship Fosterville Mine which produced 107,350 ounces of gold with YTD AISC per ounce sold of $743. Productivity improvements at Fosterville were achieved through increased mine production utilizing new higher capacity haul trucks and the opening of new production levels in the Lower Phoenix area, as well as increased mill throughput rates, all of which contributed to favorable third quarter operating cash costs per ounce of $471 and an AISC per ounce sold of $765. Newmarket’s liquidity position continues to improve, supporting our overriding objective to grow free cash flow which totaled $11.9 million in Q3 2016 and $38.2 million YTD. Since the start of 2016, we have generated cash flow from operations of $74.7 million and ended the third quarter with $82.5 million in cash, a 126% increase from the start of the year.”

Millennium Mineral today anounces that it has discovered a new 2.25 km-long zone of mineralisation at its Nullagine Gold Project in WA’s Pilbara. Drilling results highlight the strong potential to establish open pit operations along this trend, which stretches from the All Nations North deposit in the north-east to the Hopetoun deposit to the south-west.
Millennium has had three RC drilling rigs as well as a diamond rig (where required) operating at the Project for most of 2016 to assist with delineation of new Mineral Resources. Given the success of the exploration program and its positive impact on Nullagine’s mine life. Millennium has increased the 2016 exploration budget to $13.9 million with a similar expenditure expected next year.
Millennium Chief Executive Glenn Dovaston said the discovery of significant mineralisation along the Hopetoun – Endeavour trend provided further evidence that the Company’s strategy to grow. Nullagine’s mine life was working.“This discovery is incredibly exciting,” Mr Dovaston said. “The results are strong and demonstrate the presence of mineralisation along this 2.25 km stretch. “Once we get the final assays from this program, we will devise a strategy to establish the full extent of the mineralisation and its potential to be part of the inventory and mine plan at Nullagine.”

The opening of a $640 million copper mine near Cloncurry is another sign Queensland has weathered the storm of a worldwide resources price slump. Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland Coralee O’Rourke said at the official opening of CuDeco’s Rocklands Copper Mine was good news for the economy and for the region.
“Today we mark the opening of a $640 million world-class facility and its first shipment of Queensland copper, which will support up to 120 jobs,” Mrs O’Rourke said. “Queensland’s North West Mineral Province is known around the world as a highly prospective region and the opening of Rocklands Copper mine demonstrates the area continues to have a great future ahead. “During 2014-15, mineral production in Queensland was valued at $8.6 billion – and more than 70 per cent of that amount was sourced from Queensland’s North West Mineral Province.
“While Queensland’s mining sector has faced a challenging period in recent years, there continues to be green shoots across the state – highlighted by today’s official opening and the first shipment of exported copper.” Mrs O’Rourke said the Palaszczuk Government was considering recent recommendations by the North West Minerals Province Taskforce to help boost future exploration and production in the region. “We need to think differently and innovatively to unlock the next generation of mines and the work coming out through the Taskforce is certainly looking at how to make this happen,” she said.
“The opportunities for regional Queenslanders are evident – with Rocklands mine supporting jobs and putting accommodation in place to ensure the local community shares the flow-on economic benefits.” Mrs O’Rourke said the Government was committed to laying the foundations for sustainable economic development and growth in the Queensland resource sector, to enable more projects to come to life. “I am focused on driving economic development in this part of the State and creating jobs, which includes helping to grow this important sector,” Mrs O’Rourke said. “Through our Government’s Advancing North Queensland plan, I am working with my cabinet colleagues to find solutions in priority areas such as water, roads, trade and investment, which are vital to support the mining sector.”

Perth Gold miner Perseus Mining today reported an increase in gold production during its last quarter at its Edikan gold mine, in Ghana, on the back of improved mill performance. Gold production for the quarter was up 9% on the June quarter to 43 776 oz, with Perseus telling shareholders on Monday that the company was on track to achieve its full-year production guidance of between 80 000 oz to 100 000 oz of gold. Gold sales from the Edikan mine reached 43 952 oz during the quarter, up from the 39 642 oz sold during the previous quarter, with average sales prices also up from $1 172/oz to $1 223/oz. Meanwhile, Perseus noted that production of costs reduced by 6% during the September quarter, to $1 095/oz, while all-in sustaining cost was also down by 10%, to $1 388/oz.

Today South32, the world's biggest producer of manganese, said it more than doubled its cash on hand in the September quarter due to a cost cutting drive and as commodities prices recovered.
"Stronger commodity prices and cost saving initiatives delivered a further $US239 million increase in our net cash position to $US551 million, despite the impact of annual payments that followed year end and the typical lag in commodity pricing," chief executive Graham Kerr said.

Today Evolution Mining Limited advised that it has entered into a binding agreement with Newcrest Mining to acquire the Marsden copper-gold project.
Marsden is a copper-gold porphyry deposit located immediately to the south-east of Evolution’s Cowal gold mine in New South Wales, and is the nearest known sizeable mineral deposit to the Cowal operation outside the Cowal tenement package; as such, it has strategic value to Evolution’s exploration activities in the region. Technical review by Evolution has shown that the potential to develop the Marsden deposit is enhanced by utilising the Cowal milling circuit and associated infrastructure.
Jake Klein, Executive Chairman of Evolution said “The Marsden project provides long term optionality to our nearby Cowal operation and has the potential to further extend the life of what is already a long-life operation.”