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Pictured in the photo, top to bottom are: Manuel Ramos, Asarco President and Chief Operating Officer; Shigenao (Sal) Sasaki, VP Corporate Planning, Road Machinery Komatsu; Tom Phillips, Asarco Mission General Manager; Oscar Gonzalez, Asarco Chief Financial Officer; and Dan Roush, President and Chief Operating Officer of Road Machinery. (Submitted photo)
Compiled by Mila Lira
Copper was being sold at $3.37 a pound at press time. The price has remained steady over the past few weeks.
The Mining report in a minute: Asarco and Road Machinery introduced the first Komatsu 930E Truck at their Mission Mine near Tucson. The new trucks will allow for larger payloads. There was no official word that the trucks would be used at the Ray Pit.
Rosemont received a necessary air quality permit from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. ADEQ now has complete jurisdiction over the environmental permitting for the Rosemont project, Pima County will no longer have any environmental permitting authority.
Oracle Ridge has appointed Doug Nicholson as the Chief Executive Officer. Nafissa Upright has joined the Corporation as Vice President Development and Human Resources.
Millrock Resources announced that they are moving forward with phase three of their drilling at the San Jose project in the Safford Mining District. The test holes will be used to test geological – magnetic survey targets that may represent porphyry-style mineralized intrusive rocks.
Dr. Richard Carmona a Democratic candidate for the US Senate seat recently took a tour of the Resolution Copper Project. In an interview with the Copper Area News, Carmona explained that he was impressed with magnitude of the project and the reclamation that the company has completed.
More details on these updates below:
ASARCO Commissions First Komatsu 930E truck at the Mission Mine
ASARCO LLC and Road Machinery commissioned the first of 14 Komatsu 930E haul trucks, five of which will be delivered this year. Each truck will move over 4.5 million tons of rock per year.
Manuel Ramos, President and Chief Operating Officer stated, “We’re very excited to add this equipment to our fleet. Each truck has a payload of 320 tons and will allow us to maximize our production. We’ll continue to invest to expand Mission production with a focus on our employees, safety, community, and the environment.”
Robert Leigh, Sales Manager Mining, stated “Road Machinery is proud to be a partner with Asarco now and into the future and in the upcoming delivery and commissioning of this large group of trucks.”
The acquisitions of the trucks are part of Asarco’s present expansion and replacement of existing fleet which will increase mining by 12%, reduce unit cost and decrease overall air emissions with the installation of new environmental controls. Delivery of the trucks will be completed over the next five years. The plant expansion is expected to create almost 50 additional jobs in the Tucson area.
Komatsu trucks are American manufactured in the United States.
Organized in 1899 and acquired by Grupo Mexico in 1999, ASARCO today is a major domestic integrated copper producer, producing over 400 million pounds of copper annually and employing over 2,600 employees. The Mission Mine employs over 600 Arizonans.
With more than a century of copper innovation in Arizona, ASARCO has maintained a strong commitment to safety, its people, facilities, operations and the environment. As a prominent contributor to the state’s economy and commerce, ASARCO and Arizona’s success has been a century in the making.
Rosemont Receives Air Permit from ADEQ
After years of opposition and lack of permitting from Pima County, Rosemont Copper last week announced that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) has asserted complete jurisdiction over Rosemont Copper’s (“Rosemont”) Air Quality Permit due to the confusion and uncertainty caused by the inappropriate denial of Rosemont’s Air Quality Permit application by the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality. Rosemont has thereby received the draft Air Quality Permit from the ADEQ.
ADEQ’s Air Quality Permit will ensure that Rosemont meets all federal, state and local requirements by operating with enhanced emissions controls at the mine site. The public comment period, which commences today, will be 60 days and will end on October 9, 2012. Soon after the conclusion of the public comment period, the final Air Quality Permit will be issued for Rosemont.
“We are happy to see the Air Quality Permit process continue to advance and have the ADEQ officially issue the draft permit,” said Rod Pace, Augusta’s Chief Operating Officer. “The ADEQ will give Rosemont regulatory certainty and specific timeframes that were lacking in the Pima County permitting process. The ADEQ has handled our application since the initial submission in November 2011 in a professional and consistent manner.”
Oracle Ridge
Oracle Mining Corp. announced that Doug Nicholson has been appointed Chief Executive Officer by the Board of Directors, effective today.
Nicholson joined Oracle Mining in February as Chief Operating Officer and has undertaken a rigorous review of the Corporation’s operations for the past month. He will continue to lead the Oracle Mining operations team in the re-start of the Oracle Ridge Copper Mine near Tucson, Arizona. He has extensive experience in the construction and management of mining operations in North America and will also lead all aspects of the Corporation’s strategic planning and business development.
“It is an honor to take the leadership role with Oracle Mining as we develop a near-term copper project in a desirable jurisdiction,” said Mr. Nicholson. “Oracle Mining is executing on a plan to production that will deliver value to shareholders and to the economy of the Tucson area.”
Eagland, who has served as interim CEO since June 2011, has resigned as CEO effective today and will continue to serve the Board as a Director.
“The planned CEO transition began last year and the introduction of someone of Doug’s accomplishments comes at the right time for Oracle Mining,” said Mr. Eagland. “Doug has immediately proven himself an operations and corporate leader and we are confident he will bridge the transition into production.”
Prior to joining Oracle Mining, Nicholson worked with NovaGold Resources Inc. and served as President of Donlin Gold LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between NovaGold and Barrick Gold Corp., assuming that role during nine years of service between 2002 and 2011. At Kinross Gold from 1992 to 2002, he was responsible for scoping, scheduling, developing mine plans and staffing for the Fort Knox Mine. He holds a BSc. in Mining Engineering from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
In addition, the Corporation is pleased to announce that Nafissa Upright has joined the Corporation as Vice President Development and Human Resources. Upright is a Certified General Accountant with experience in head office and project site offices at mining operations in the U.S. and Canada. Most recently with NovaGold Resources Inc. Upright served as Manager of Finance and Administration at Donlin Gold LLC. While at Donlin Gold, Upright was part of the leadership team that established the strategic direction of the start-up company. She was responsible for overseeing the financial and administrative functions, all HR programs as well as co-ordinating the annual capital budget process, corporate life of mine planning and budgeting. She recruited, developed and championed a high-performance team of administrative, procurement, HR, accounting and IT personnel.
Millrock Resources – Safford Project
Millrock Resources Inc. announced that a third phase of drilling has begun on the San Jose project in the Safford District of Arizona. The drilling program will consist of three holes totaling approximately 3,300 m. The holes will be drilled to test geological – magnetic survey targets that may represent porphyry-style mineralized intrusive rocks.
The San Jose project is positioned at the intersection of the exceptionally prolific Safford and Morenci porphyry trends. The Safford deposits, presently being actively developed by Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold, form a linear northwest striking trend. The San Jose project is located approximately six km from the Sanchez deposit at the southeast end of the Safford trend. Morenci is located approximately 30 km to the northeast. Together, Safford and Morenci account for approximately 10 billion tons of past copper production and future reserves and resources. A porphyry cell located on Millrock’s claims was discovered by drilling done by Noranda Inc. in the early 1990s. Drilling in the current program will focus on targets northeast of the San Jose porphyry.
The project is the subject of an exploration and option agreement with Inmet Mining Corporation (TSX: IMN) (“Inmet”). Under the terms of the Agreement Inmet has the opportunity to earn a 70% interest by incurring US$4.0 million in exploration expenditures and by making option payments of US$750,000.
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