RE: Copper21 Oct 2020 12:23
I've spent some time looking around BHP and Solg Australian assets.
Solg are trying to get joint ventures on their Queensland assets and have admitted that majors are reluctant to get involved at the moment, they say they have had plenty from smaller companies but nothing meaningful.
In the meantime Solg cash is required for their Ecuador assets so are not spending a great deal in Queensland.
BHP were reported by the Times in September to having an interest in buying Solg.
Looking at the presentations on BHP website there is an interview with the new CEO Mike Henry.
One question was about M&A opportunities and his reply was very guarded. He would only consider an M&A if they fit in with their strategy and what their suppliers need, if the price is right and won't overpay. He goes on to comment about the risks of covid and protecting the balance sheet.
Their products are approximately 25% iron, 25% copper, 2% Nickel, metallurgical coal, heating coal, gold, silver, and others.
They have a few issues at the huge Olympic Dam 550Km NW of Adelaide.
400km of exploration drilling to gain a better idea of the ore body has revealed the fractured state of the expansion zone and have deemed it uneconomic with the $3.5bn planned extension. However the gained knowledge of the ore body will prolong the life of the mine.
Water seems to be a big issue though as they acquire it from aquifers to the North and it's running out. A planned desalination plant on the coast has met a lot of objections, one reason is to preserve a rare cuttlefish which is susceptible to saline change.
Other issues are with anti-nuclear protesters regarding the huge amounts of the Uranium yellow cake the mine produces.
The geology of the Olympic Dam mine has some similarities to Havieron notably hydrothermal breccias at 6% content (Solg in Ecuador has 3%) it's been one of the global leaders in copper production.
It has Chalcopyrites and bornites where the former has about 35% copper and the Bornites has over 60% copper.
Another presentation from the Diggers and Dealers conference is showing how they are ramping up production of nickel in line with forecasted future demand.
They have a lot of nickel activity around Kargoorlie mainly to the north and east, they are planning to reopen their second nickel concentrator for third party materials, they also produce nickel cathodes at their Kargoolie refinery.
GGPs Bromus nickel licence is toward the SW of Kargoolie and the Carnegie nickel find at Ernest Giles to the North
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