Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Posted by AJJ in the other place
IRAQ PULSE
Iraq, China launch 'oil for reconstruction' agreement
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/10/iraq-china-india-oil-construction.html#ixzz621eLM8TN
Is there any concern over the closing paragraphs?
Should we be?
Extract:-
'The Iraqi government signed the agreements with China unbeknownst to parliament.
Haybat al-Halbousi, head of the parliamentary Energy Committee, told Al-Monitor, "Parliament and the Energy Committee know nothing about the agreements signed with China. We will assume our monitoring role in hosting officials in the upcoming days to learn about the nature of these agreements.�
He noted, �There will be a firm parliamentary stance and parliament will pass the agreements if they serve Iraqi interests.� He denounced the government for ignoring parliament in such major deals.
The government could face a new problem, namely the oil-rich provinces rejecting the implementation of projects in non-oil-rich provinces. Subsequently, internal tensions could be ignited and hinder such projects, similarly to what happened with the petrodollar project that allows oil-producing provinces to obtain $5 per barrel produced.
Sabah Alwah, a former adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, told Al-Monitor that Iran pressured Iraq to go to China in an attempt to embarrass the United States, has issued trade sanctions against countries doing business with Iran and in a trade conflict with China. Hence, China could relinquish its projects in Iraq if Beijing and Washington improve their relations.
He underlined that it's a good move to use oil sales to develop infrastructure, rather than obtaining loans from foreign countries or granting foreign companies a share of the projects� revenues. He said Iraq is still committed to OPEC's efforts to limit supply � yet Iraq reached record oil output in August of 4.88 million barrels per day.
Iraq has had booming oil revenues for years. Yet its budget has suffered from phantom projects and extortion, which pushed international firms away and prevented them from investing there. Now, Chinese companies could face the same fate.'
well worth a watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf2SriA_SeE&list=PL7aLbQ61M7ZUVW22nbQW8zMRTeRdntX5N&index=2&t=0s&app=desktop
GLA
'The Company also announces that it expects signing binding documentation for a finance facility of US$13,500,000 (net) later this week, at which point a further announcement will be made including the material terms of the facility and the status of the existing Mercuria funding and other initiatives as previously announced.'
HIGHLIGHTS:
Windidda Gold Project (Western Australia)
-- The Company's wholly owned Australian subsidiary has submitted applications over 1,600 sq km of the Yilgarn Craton as announced on 2 January 2019;
-- The application process is progressing, with all 9 exploration licence applications having now been advertised in line with local requirements;
-- The Company is closely monitoring the tenement application process, which is being handled through a local tenement management consultant;
-- ECR has been approached by a listed mineral exploration company seeking to farm into the project, and although we have not decided to proceed with this farm-in proposal at this time, we are encouraged to see the interest being shown by third parties at such an early stage.
Creswick Gold Project (Victoria)
-- Whole-of-bag testing process has now been completed successfully and remaining samples have been sent to the laboratory for assay testing;
-- Partial assay results released on 27 August 2019 demonstrated a substantial increase in gold grade on average in respect of the 17 samples tested;
-- A further 113 samples, which for completeness included samples believed to be of lower grade, have been sent to the laboratory for assay testing with results expected to be received in the near future.
Other Gold Projects (Victoria)
The Company is highly proactive across its Victorian Goldfields projects, with the current key activities summarised below.
Blue Moon Prospect, Bailieston Gold Project
-- Following a reverse circulation drilling programme at Blue Moon prospect resulting in gold grades of up to 17.87g/t ECR formally announced a new gold discovery on 1 May 2019. Blue Moon is a flagship project for the Company and we are working to agree access with landowners to enable us to continue drilling to the west where our work indicates gold mineralisation may intensify.
HR3 Area, Bailieston Gold Project
-- Preparation of a detailed 3D geological model for the HR3 area has been undertaken over the summer months and is nearing completion. When complete the model is expected to generate numerous high priority drilling targets.
Henry's Hill Gold Prospect - Avoca Project
-- Geological mapping and soil geochemistry has been completed in line with the Company's announcement of 14 August 2019 with approximately 200 samples collected during the field exploration. Geochemical analysis of the samples is to be undertaken shortly.
Timor Gold Project
-- On 6 August 2019 the Company announced the results of rock chip sampling with grades of up to 22.6 g/t. The data gathered from the rock chip sampling programme, together with historic exploration data, has confirmed the prospectivity of the Timor gold project and the Company is now reviewing a potential drill programme over the key target areas.