Bawdwin, which in a first phase of operations would be running for 13 years, will be the world’s No. 3 producing lead mine and the tenth largest silver operation It’s also set to become a significant zinc producer.

Capital costs were put at $267 million, including $33 million contingency with operating costs estimated at $108 per processed tonne. The mine will process about two-million tonnes a year of ore to produce 118,000 tonnes of lead-in-concentrate per year, more than 10-million ounces of silver-in-concentrate and 49,000 t/y of zinc-in-concentrate.

“Bawdwin’s mineral reserve and mineral resources underpin a very long life mining operation. The PFS represents our plan for Phase 1 of mining operations and this phase of life-of-mine infrastructure is built and paid for,” the company’s chairperson and CEO, John Lamb, said in a statement.

“With the infrastructure paid for in Phase 1, it is clear that future mining operations, including the first two underground mines now under scoping study, have potential to be very value accretive.”

Construction is expected to take about 21 month, after which the starter pit will begin operations. Underground mining is slated to start around year six of the starter pit.

Modern Mining companies are seeing continual pressures and incentives to improve productivity, efficiency, reliability and safety. To meet these needs, companies are looking to innovate. So what role does Automation, AI, Robotics, Lasers, BIG DATA analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), Digitalisation and Digital Transformation play?

Come join us for the launch of our Innovation in Mining Series (IMS).

Our first event in this series is kindly sponsored by Murray Engineering Group. 
Murray Mining Services will be showcasing their very special and innovative product with a brief presentation followed by live demos and samples for viewing on the night. (drinks and finger-food will be provided)

Event Details:

This event is proudly sponsored by Murray Engineering Group as a <Diamond Sponsor>

Date: Tuesday, May 07, 2019
Time: 18:00 - 20:00
Venue: Blue Sky Lounge, Level 23 Blue Sky Hotel & Tower

RSVP: info@austchammongolia.com by 17:00 Monday, May 06, 2019

The contract was with construction and engineering company China Gezhouba Group International and China Railway Construction Corp. to build a 550-km railway in northern Mongolia. It will connect the Ovoot coking coal mine that Aspire is developing to Mongolia's Northern Rail Corridor going up to the Russian border.

"It is the cheapest and most efficient way to transport the coal to China and Russia," Paull said. "Transport time and cost will be slashed dramatically. The distance to Russia will be 40 percent shorter."

It will also be an economic route to the vast Chinese market for Russian exporters.

Aspire chose the Chinese companies because of their capability and funding prospects for connectivity projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. "It is an international mix," he said.

In its sixth year, the Belt and Road Initiative is showing several new trends. The first is the internationalization of the projects under its framework. Paull and his project represent the kind of international cooperation in trade and infrastructure development for mutual benefit the Belt and Road Initiative envisions to connect places along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.

"The projects are moving away from bilateral agreements between two countries to package deals," Rajit Nanda, Chief Investment Officer at Acwa Power, a Saudi Arabia-headquartered company engaged in power generation, desalinated water production and renewable energy plants, said.

Acwa's top officials were present at the Belt and Road CEO Conference, one of the events at the Second BRF on April 25, to sign three agreements. The first was with China Gezhouba to build a 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant in north Viet Nam that would require about $2.5 billion. The second was with Power China and SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corp., also from China, to construct a $900-million power and desalination plant in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"These are megaprojects," Acwa CEO Suntharesan Padmanathan said. "There's no way one country can do them on its own. Through collaboration we have greater strength."

Acwa's footprints in Africa are coinciding with the Belt and Road's. "We are now focusing on Africa and that's why China has become a very important partner for us," Nanda said. "It is a win-win partnership."

The participants of the consultation discussed assessments conducted on Mongolia’s legal and technical readiness for cross-border paperless trade and devised a National Action Plan. The action plan lays out proposed measures and activities to be carried out such as joining the UN treaty titled ‘Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific', fully digitizing domestic and foreign trade activities, as well as updating and harmonizing information technology systems of government trade agencies.

It is worth noting that export and import costs and time can be reduced through acceleration of paperless trade process.

He said that the distribution of the cargo among the most needy groups of Syrian population has already begun.

"This assistance is very much needed by the Syrian people today," said Smolinsky.

"We see that the Syrian people need support, so we are here," Tavacin Khavtar, head of the General Staff of the Mongolian armed forces, said in turn.

Representatives of the Mongolian military department did not rule out that in the future it will arrange another humanitarian mission with the help of Russian colleagues.

The westerners are said to be trapped in quarantine, sharing videos and pictures with the outside world as they wait in limbo.

To keep their spirits up the group were filmed singing and drinking around a table in a hotel.

Authorities in western Mongolia, which is close to the Russian frontier have instituted a quarantine to prevent the bubonic plague from spreading.

The tourists - seen wearing face masks when outside - are barred from leaving Uglii, population 28,000, and remain at a local hotel.

Reports in Russia say American, Dutch, German, Swedish, Swiss, and South Korean tourists are marooned in the city.

Footage emerged of an international group happily singing a Swedish song to keep up their spirits with a feast during the plague - but it is known they have pleaded with the Mongolian authorities to tell them when they can depart.

Separately, dramatic pictures from capital Ulaanbaatar have shown at least one aircraft being met by anti-contamination emergency workers in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease.

The tragic Mongolian couple who died from the plague got infected after eating the raw kidneys of a marmot, it is understood.

The city is closed due to some plague-contaminated marmots.

The man named Citizen T, aged 38, died on 27 April after hunting and eating a marmot, then his pregnant wife, 37, died three days later.

Russian tourists told of the lockdown preventing the international travellers from leaving.

“The city is closed due to some plague-contaminated marmots,” wrote traveler Elena Kovena from Kemerovo in Siberia.

“This is just so surreal.”

She said: “Did you think that the plague was something from the Dark Ages?

“Us too.

“We were just about to leave Ulgii to go deeper into Mongolia, but all exits of the city were shut and we were not allowed to leave.”

“We were told to wait for updates on Monday, 6 May,” said one named as Timur Konev.

From a local hotel, he said: “Six nationalities got together earlier today to plan the escape route.

“We spoke to local administration, to local police, but they didn’t allow us out.”

Neighbouring regions of Russia were said to be on “high alert”.

In Uglii a total of 158 people who came directly or indirectly into contact with the couple are ‘under supervision’.

The plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots.

The disease can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organisation.

The plague is believed to be the cause of the Black Death that spread through Asia, Europe and Africa in the 14th century, killing an estimated 50 million people.

“In the wake of Western sanctions against Russia, China has increased investment in Russia's economy,” the Pentagon report states.

The document also mentions China's massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), formerly known as One Belt One Road (OBOR), saying that the country may use the megaproject to create “military advantages.” It also claims that the initiative is intended to shape other countries' interests to “align with China's” as well as silence confrontation or criticism against it.

The Russian-Chinese cooperation has been rapidly growing in recent years. Last year trade turnover between the two countries hit a record $108 billion, demonstrating a growth of around 25 percent, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in April. He also stressed that Sino-Russian cooperation has reached a “historically high level,” and could serve an example for others.

Meanwhile in Khustain National Park, 100km southwest of the capital, it’s all about wildlife spotting opportunities: from Mongolia’s endangered wild horse, the takhi, to predators like wolves, Pallas’s cats and lynx.

Speaking at conference in Sydney this week, group executive of growth and innovation Stephen McIntosh said the company’s main goal for now is to determine whether Winu was a “Rio Tinto scale” project.

The copper-gold-silver discovery, a potential major boost for the company's growth options, is about 130 km. from Newcrest's Telfer copper-gold mine in the East Pilbara. It’s also close to numerous copper prospects discovered recently by juniors and 350 km southeast of Port Hedland, the world's largest bulk export port.

Winu copper-gold-silver discovery, a potential major boost for the company's growth options, is about 130 km. from Newcrest's Telfer copper-gold mine in the East Pilbara
Rio has so far drilled 24 holes at the site and will continue extensive drilling in months to come as part of its $250 million exploration program. If the company finds that Winu is not a “Tier 1” asset, it would move on to other exploration projects.

Analysts have questioned Rio’s ability to scale up its copper business quickly without making an expensive acquisition. The company recently had to delay first production from the $5.3 billion underground expansion of its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver mine in Mongolia. Originally scheduled for early 2020, it's now expected to happen in the third quarter of 2021.

In December, Rio sold its entire interest in the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the world’s second-biggest copper mine, as part of a deal that put an end to years of disagreements between operator Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) and the country’s government.

Rio Tinto believes the copper market will go into deficit by 2020 amid expectations that bigger power grids around the world and an electric-vehicle boom will boost demand, while supplies will remain constrained.

Last month, the world’s second largest miner decided to invest a further $302 million to advance its Resolution copper project, in the U.S. state of Arizona, as part of its bid for increasing its exposure to the red metal.

However, industry analysts at CRU say the coming online of major projects — Anglo’s Quellaveco (2022), Teck’s Quebrada Blanca expansion (2021) and First Quantum’s Cobre Panama (already in production) will momentarily eliminate the gap between supply and demand.

The research group has cut its forecast deficit and now expects the market will be in a small surplus this year and next, but short again by 250,000 tonnes by 2023.