CHEVRON remains bullish on the outlook for conventional liquefied natural gas prices after signing a non-binding heads of agreement with the Japanese utility Tohoku to sell gas from its $US29 billion Wheatstone development near Onslow in Western Australia.

Chevron Australia’s managing director, Roy Krzywosinski, said the deal to sell Tohoku 1 million tonnes a year over 20 years was in line with traditional pricing for conventional LNG, adding ”we have not seen a degradation in prices”.

Mr Krzywosinski questioned whether low Henry Hub gas prices in the US, caused by a glut of shale gas, were sustainable and said while it was likely that LNG exports from North America would grow, he did not expect they would be ”of a volume that will have a material impact on what we believe will be the LNG demand coming out of the Asia-Pacific region”.

He said the Wheatstone project now under construction and the first LNG hub in Australia to accept third-party gas, was off to ”a flying start” and Chevron expected further gas discoveries would be made in the Carnarvon Basin.

”We estimate there is between 25 and 35 trillion cubic feet of gas of what we would call uncommitted or yet to be discovered gas in the Carnarvon Basin and much of that gas … will need a home, so we think the hub concept is going to be the right concept to support this gas.”

After yesterday’s deal, struck with partners Apache Energy and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, Chevron has long-term contracts over 80 per cent of its gas to come from the two-train Wheatstone project. It expects to expand it, potentially up to 25 million tonnes a year.

Chevron is also developing the giant three-train, 15 million tonnes a year Gorgon LNG project at Barrow Island, where it is sticking to its $US43 billion budget and target of first LNG by 2014. The project – Australia’s largest – is 40 per cent complete. Mr Kryzwosinski said front end engineering and design on a $US10 billion-plus fourth train would begin later this year, before a final investment decision planned for next year.

Gorgon is running two years ahead of Wheatstone, which Mr Krzywosinski said was a ”sweet spot” offering significant synergies in terms of purchasing power and equipment from running the two projects as a portfolio.

Chevron is a partner in the Woodside-operated Browse project, where design work is under way on the controversial $US35 billion plan to build an LNG hub on the Kimberley coast. Chevron was supporting the design work, but Mr Krzywosinski said Browse ”does have a lot of challenges – technically, environmentally and from a heritage perspective”.

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Chinese malls look for more shoppers

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The East Coast basin is “literally leaking oil and gas” and provides potential for thousands of wells, an oil company with exploration permits in the area says.

New Zealand’s main oil and gas producing region is at Taranaki on the west coast of the North Island but Tag Oil says the East Coast basin on the other side of the North Island has “world class upside potential”.

A presentation by the small Canadian-based company on its website says it has identified widespread oil and gas seeps over a large area.

The presentation says the “East Coast basin is literally leaking oil and gas”.

The Sunday Star Times newspaper reported that the company regarded the East Coast as a “Texas of the south” and wanted to pursue an aggressive program there.

Last September the company said it was undertaking seismic testing in the region, with first exploration drilling planned after that. The region is seen as having potential for so-called shale oil extracted from rock.

The company has a farmout deal with Apache for the region, under which Apache may spend up to $US100 million ($A97 million) to earn up to half of Tag’s present 100 per cent share of exploration prospects.

“This is not where New Zealand’s economic future lies. We need to be investing instead in renewable solutions,” says Moana Mackey, Labour’s Energy representative.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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Preparations for Bulk Sampling at Krone-Endora at Venetia

KELOWNA, August 17, 2011 – Diamcor Mining Inc. (TSX-V.DMI / OTCQX-DMIFF) (the “Company”), is pleased to announce that it continues to make excellent progress on the completion of the recommended drilling programme and site preparations for the Company’s planned transition to recommended bulk sampling at its Krone-Endora at Venetia project (the “Project”).  In addition to the drilling efforts, which are now in their final stages, approximately +/- 20 employees, consultants and contractors, including heavy equipment, are preparing for the Company’s commencement of the recommended bulk sampling program.  Preparations include the establishment and upgrade of access roads throughout the Project, preparations for the installation of an initial water pipeline, preparation of the area selected for the anticipated delivery of the bulk sampling plant, preparation of areas which have been selected for bulk sampling, establishment of operational offices and infrastructure on-site, procurement of equipment necessary for bulk sampling, and the procurement of the bulk sampling plant for delivery to the Project.  Further details regarding Company efforts to support the transition to bulk sampling will be released by the Company in the coming weeks.

Drilling Programme Expanded:

The Company initially planned to drill approximately 390 targets on the K1, K3, Confluence, and areas of interest immediately adjacent to these areas of the Project as part of the recommended drilling programme.  Due to the encouraging results of the ongoing drilling efforts in identifying additional gravel bearing areas, and the desire to further extend drilling into new areas, the Company expanded the total number of drilling targets and has now successfully completed the drilling of 469 targets.  In addition to the drilling completed to date, the Company plans to further extend drilling to include an additional +/- 50 targets in new areas to the north east of the K3 and Confluence areas.  All targets drilled to date have been in areas outside of the current fence-line of Venetia.  In conjunction with the drilling of these extended targets outside the current fence line of Venetia, the Company also plans to complete the drilling of various targets inside the fence-line of Venetia in the coming weeks.  The drilling of targets inside the fence-line of Venetia is aimed at aiding in the identification of potential extensions of the known deposits from the K1 area through the areas to the East of K1 where drilling has now been completed up to the Venetia fence-line.  The Company is targeting the completion for all remaining drilling prior to the end of the third calendar quarter.

Data gained from the combined drilling efforts is designed to aid the Company, and independent geologists, in determining the depths of the underlying bedrock throughout the various initial areas of the Project being drilled, to provide additional information on both the known lower-grade upper gravels and higher-grade basal deposits in the areas of the Project which were previously identified by De Beers, and to identify potential extensions and the directions of any additional deposits into new areas from the proposed source of the deposits, the adjacent Venetia kimberlites.  Data is also being used to identify the target areas for the Company’s recommended bulk sampling programme.

The combined results of the recommended drilling and bulk sampling programmes are designed to support the filing of a new updated NI 43-101 Technical Report (the “NI 43-101 Report”) for the Project in the coming months.  These programmes will also be used to aid in the recommended advancement of the Project to trial mining exercises in the near-term, and to assist the Company in assessing a production strategy for the Project over the long-term.  The current NI 43-101 Technical Report as filed by the Company on July 30, 2009 was based solely on the areas of the Project on which De Beers previously performed initial work, with the average diamond dollar per carat price estimate in that report dating from 2005.  In addition to further establishing grades and other relevant information in areas being targeted for bulk sampling, the Company anticipates that the rough diamonds recovered during bulk sampling will allow the Company and independent geologists to establish the current rough diamond dollar per carat average for the Project.

About Krone-Endora at Venetia:

On February 28, 2011, Diamcor successfully completed the acquisition of the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project from De Beers. The Project consists of the prospecting rights over the farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which represent a combined surface area of approximately 5,888 hectares directly adjacent to De Beers’ flagship Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa.  De Beers previously completed various exploration efforts on initial areas of interest comprised of approximately 310 hectares, a summary of which has been reported in an initial Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report filed by the Company on July 30, 2009.  The deposits which occur on the properties of Krone and Endora have been identified as a rare, higher-grade lower “Eluvial” basal deposit which is covered by a lower-grade upper “Alluvial” deposit.  The deposits are proposed to be the result of the direct-shift (in respect of the “Eluvial” deposit) and erosion (in respect of the “Alluvial” deposit) of an estimated combined 1,000m (1 km) of material from the higher grounds of the adjacent Venetia kimberlite areas.  Based solely on the work completed to date, the current NI 43-101 Technical Report filed provided an inferred resource estimate of 54,258,600 tonnes of diamond-bearing gravels and 1.3 million carats of diamonds for the initial areas of interest alone.  The deposits on Krone-Endora occur in two layers with an average total depth of only 15.0 metres from surface to bedrock, allowing for a very low-cost mining operation to be employed, and the potential for near-term diamond production from a known high-quality source.  Krone-Endora also benefits from the significant development of infrastructure and services already in place due to its location directly adjacent to the Venetia Mine.

About Diamcor Mining Inc:

Diamcor Mining Inc. is a fully reporting publically traded junior diamond mining company which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol V.DMI, and on the OTC QX International under the symbol DMIFF.  The Company has a well-established operational and production history in South Africa, and extensive experience supplying rough diamonds to the world market.  Rather than exposing itself to the high risks and costs associated with exploration, the Company’s focus is on the identification, acquisition, and operation of quality near-term production based diamond projects such as the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project.  For additional information on Diamcor, please visit our website at www.diamcormining.com.

Strategic Tiffany & Co. Alliance:

As announced on March 29, 2011, the Company has established a long-term strategic alliance and first right of refusal with world famous New York based Tiffany & Co. to purchase up to 100% of the future production of rough diamonds from the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project.  To expedite the production and supply of rough diamonds from Krone-Endora at Venetia, Tiffany & Co. has also provided the Company with additional financing for the Project.  Tiffany & Co. is a publically traded company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TIF.  Originally founded in 1837, the Tiffany’s name is now globally recognised as one of the premier luxury jewellery and specialty retailers in the world.  Through Tiffany & Co. and various other subsidiaries, the company is engaged in product design, manufacturing, and retailing activities on a global basis.  As of October 31, 2010 Tiffany & Co. operates 225 retail stores and boutiques in the Americas, Japan, Asia-Pacific, and Europe and engages in direct selling through internet, catalog and business gift operations.  For additional information on Tiffany & Co., please visit their website at www.tiffany.com.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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Nearly all of non-Chinese rare earth projects

will fail, says Jack Lifton

Consultants in the mining industry  say that the high processing costs and level of expertise required in bringing rare earth mines into production means most of them will eventually fail. In an interview with Reuters, Jack Lifton, founder of Technology Metals Research, said of the 244 companies hoping to extract REEs, less than 4% will be profitable: “The choke point for all the companies is the question of what they can do with the concentrated REM ore once it’s above ground. You can extract the rare earths together, but then you have to separate them…the world’s REM separation capacity is 99 percent Chinese and they have unused capacity,” Lifton said. “The Chinese overwhelmingly control this and that is the key to the rare earth industry. Without separation capacity, all you have is a loss-making ore concentrate company.”

Sourced &n published from mining journals by Henry Saoiecha

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to mine the world’s largest salt flats

The Korea Herald reports a Korean consortium forged an agreement with Bolivia’s state-run miner Comibol over the weekend to manufacture lithium-ion battery parts, boosting Korea’s bid to tap the largest lithium deposits in the world.

A research project involving extracting lithium will begin next month at Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni – an 11,000 square kilometers salt flat (pictured) – with plans for constructing lithium-carbonate processing facilities. The soft, silver-white metal is widely used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops and electric cars and the price has been steadily increasing prompting talk of a Opec-style cartel to control production and prices among South American nations that together control 85% of the world’s resources.

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OLI GIExxon earned nearly $US11 billion ($A10.15 billion) in the first quarter, a performance likely to land it in the centre of the national debate over high gasoline prices.

The world’s largest publicly traded company on Thursday reported net income of $US10.65 billion ($A9.83 billion), or $US2.14 per share, in the first three months of the year. That compares with $US6.3 billion ($A5.81 billion), or $US1.33 per share a year ago. Revenue increased 26 per cent to $US114 billion ($A105.2 billion).

The results surpassed Wall Street estimates of $US2.04 per share on sales of $US112.6 billion ($A103.91 billion), according to FactSet.

The quarter was Exxon’s best since it earned a record $US14.83 billion ($A13.69 billion) in 2008′s third quarter. It comes at a time when some drivers are paying $US4 or more for gas and President Obama is threatening the oil industry’s multibillion-dollar tax subsidies.

Earnings grew across the company’s business segments. Income from its exploration and production business gained 49 per cent to $US8.7 billion ($A8.03 billion) while the company’s downstream business, which includes refineries, posted a huge 30-fold jump to more than $US1.1 billion ($A1.02 billion).

Anticipating a strong reaction to the results from drivers and politicians, Exxon said on a company blog on Wednesday that it has little control over the price of oil, which has risen to near $US113 per barrel. The company also noted that less than 3 cents of every dollar it earns comes from the sale of gasoline and diesel fuel.

That may not appease many motorists, however. The national average for a gallon of gas is $US3.89, about $US1.02 more than a year ago. It’s above $US4 in 8 states and the District of Columbia. And on Thursday, the Commerce Department said economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter, partly because of high gas prices.

On the blog, Ken Cohen, Exxon’s vice president of public and government affairs, said the company was anticipating “the inevitable headlines and sound bites about high gasoline prices and what to do about them” after the earnings were reported.

Exxon’s huge profit followed similar results by other oil companies.

Europe’s largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, reported $US8.78 billion ($A8.1 billion) in first-quarter profits, up 60 per cent from a year ago. BP PLC’s quarterly earnings rose 16 per cent to $US7.2 billion ($A6.64 billion). ConocoPhillips said net income grew 43 per cent to $US3 billion ($A2.77 billion) and Occidental Petroleum Corp said earnings climbed 46 per cent to $US1.55 billion ($A1.43 billion).

Exxon Mobil Corp increased earnings even though it produced less oil and natural gas liquids. Benchmark crude prices rose 20 per cent from a year ago.

The company has increasingly focused on producing natural gas. Exxon expects natural gas to displace coal as the second most important fuel source within the next decade, and last year it acquired XTO Energy to become the largest US natural gas producer.

Natural gas production increased 24 per cent in the quarter for Exxon, but prices declined as other companies followed Exxon’s lead and rushed to develop underground shale gas deposits in North America. Natural gas prices fell nearly 16 per cent from a year ago.

AP   Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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puts heat on phosphate

Barry FitzGerald

February 7, 2011

The political turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia has raised the potential for the same sort of winds of change to start blowing in Morocco, the world’s dominant producer of phosphate.

THE political turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia has raised the potential for the same sort of winds of change to start blowing in Morocco, the world’s dominant producer of phosphate.

Fitch Ratings, for one, thinks that Morocco is unlikely to suffer contagion in the short term, even if it also suffers from the same sort of social inequality that is breeding unrest elsewhere on the Dark Continent.

There is a bunch of investors out there who are not so sure. They are the ones that last week chased Phosphate Australia (ASX: POZ) from 11.5¢ to 19.5¢ by the close of trade on Friday – a gain of 69 per cent, if you don’t mind.

Fellow Northern Territory phosphate developer, Minemakers (ASX: MAK), has also benefited from the question marks over Moroccan supplies. Its shares have bounced from below 40¢ a month ago, to 59¢ on Friday.

Those gains came as Stuart White from the Institute for Sustainable Futures at Sydney’s University of Technology was telling a US conference that political instability in North Africa and the Middle East was an additional component in a looming supply-demand gap in global phosphorus resources.

”Morocco alone controls the vast majority of the world’s remaining high quality phosphate rock. Even a temporary disruption to the supply of phosphate on the world market can have serious ramifications for nations’ food security,” the good professor said.

Sort of puts the high price of bananas in perspective.

GARIMPEIRO has been banging on about the market’s apparent undervaluation of Exco Resources (ASX: EXS) since before his hair went grey.

The last rant was back in August last year when Exco was a 33.5¢ stock. It is now a 58.5¢ stock, valuing the company at a little more than $200 million (undiluted). So the undervaluation has been at least partly addressed, not because anyone listens to Garimpeiro, mind you.

No, the reason has been the stellar performance at the group’s White Dam goldmine in South Australia. The project really hit its straps in the December quarter, producing its gold at a class best, for mines without the benefit of by-product credits, of $289 an ounce.

All that allowed Exco to pay off its gold loan. It now looks forward to generating a net cash flow of more than $5 million a month for the rest of the financial year. As good as the December quarter effort was, it is the group’s Cloncurry copper project in soggy north Queensland that remains its key asset.

Xstrata’s Ernest Henry treatment plant sits 8 kilometres away and is the obvious place for Exco’s resource to be processed. But after more than five years of shadow-boxing on the subject, no deal has been struck.

If a deal is not struck some time soon, you would have to think a stand-alone development is on the cards. Either way, there is good reason to value Exco’s Cloncurry project at upwards of $400 million (61 million tonnes containing 519,400 tonnes of copper and 500,000 ounces of gold).

That’s what Shaw Stockbroking did in its recent report on Exco that set a target price for the stock of $1.12. Fox-Davies Capital has a target price on the stock of 88¢ a share. Needless to say, both targets are well north of the current share price.

WHEN you’ve got Tony Sage’s Cape Lambert (ASX: CFE) on the share register with a 17 per cent stake, it is best to get on with things.

And so it is with last year’s float of Peruvian exploration specialist Latin Resources (ASX: LRS). It has not set the world on fire since raising $6 million in September. But it could be a different story in 2011, with last year’s float giving Latin the funds to do some serious work on the portfolio of coastal iron ore projects it has assembled over the three years in a country that relies more on its resources industry than does Australia, if that is possible.

Watch out for drilling programs to generate news in the months ahead at the Guadalupito, Ilo Norte, Ilo Sur and Mariela projects. Garimpeiro’s listing there is more than alphabetical; it is saying that Guadalupito in particular is the one to watch.

It is part of a large coastal placer deposit of magnetite and other heavy mineral-bearing sands in an uninhabited part of Peru, some 25 kilometres north of the port town of Chimbote, home to Peru’s biggest steel smelter.

Some smarter guys than Garimpeiro reckon it has got serious potential as a multi-commodity play covering magnetite, andalusite, monazite rare earths elements, mineral sands, wolframite and, for good measure, maybe gold.

What would make it even more interesting would be if Latin could secure a bigger ground position than it already has. On that score, Garimpeiro’s Peruvian cousins have passed on the tip that a deal that would allow Guadalupito to shape up as something potentially much bigger for Latin could be close at hand.

THE ability of junior explorers to re-invent themselves is a joy to behold. That’s just what TNG has been doing, switching its focus from its Manbarrum zinc-lead project in the Northern Territory to its Mount Peake iron-vanadium project, also in the Top End.

The change of focus has put some much needed pep into the group’s share price. It motored off to 12¢ a share on Friday, a gain of 3.1¢ or 34.8 per cent on the day. Still, Garimpeiro can remember writing up TNG when it was a 50¢ stock and more.

While TNG may well extract some value from Manbarrum before long, it’s the potentially large scale Mount Peake project that is going to provide the near-term interest. A scoping study into the project’s potential is likely to hit the ASX platform this week.

The market’s main interest will be in what the study says about a new hydrometallurgical process that TNG and the Perth-based metallurgical consultant, METS, have been working up for use at Mount Peake to extract the metal units of vanadium, titanium and iron.

The new process has the potential to deliver major capital and environmental advantages over the conventional pyrometallurgical processes (roasting), making it a possible game-changer for TNG and its Mount Peake ambitions.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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Queensland LNG Project

January 13, 2011, 12:49 AM EST

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) — Santos Ltd., Australia’s third- largest oil producer, has committed to building a $16 billion liquefied natural gas project, helping the Queensland state economy recover from “devastating” floods.

Santos and partners Total SA, Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and Korea Gas Corp. will develop a venture at Gladstone that’s expected to produce 7.8 million metric tons of LNG a year and create 5,000 construction jobs, the Adelaide-based company said in a statement today. The site is about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of the state capital Brisbane, which is experiencing its worst floods since 1974.

“These floods will have a lasting personal, environmental and economic impact on Queensland,” Santos Chief Executive Officer David Knox said on a call with reporters. “This project will be helping Queensland to get back on its feet.”

The venture is one of four on the central Queensland coast planning to liquefy gas extracted from coal deposits for shipment to Asian clients. BG Group Plc, the U.K.’s third- largest gas producer, said on Oct. 31 that it would build the Queensland Curtis LNG development at a cost of $15 billion.

“It’s all down to project execution now,” said Benjamin Wilson, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney. Because of competition for labor, it’s important to approve engineering and construction contracts “as quickly as possible.”

Costs, Jobs

Santos rose after the announcement, advancing 2.2 percent to A$13.45 at the 4:10 p.m. close in Sydney, the most in more than three weeks, compared with a gain of 1.5 percent for the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index.

The oil and gas explorer has said it is signing contracts for the development of the project at fixed prices to reduce the risk that labor shortages will drive costs higher. Santos has awarded work to Bechtel Corp., Saipem SpA and Fluor Corp.

BG has said its venture is expected to generate 5,000 construction jobs during the next four years. BG’s project will have two processing units with a combined capacity of 8.5 million tons of LNG a year.

Santos anticipates 1,500 jobs from the project in the first half of this year and that construction will gradually “ramp up” before peaking in 2013, Knox said. The Australian company will own 30 percent of the project, while Kuala Lumpur-based Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, and Paris-based Total will each own 27.5 percent. Korea Gas will have 15 percent.

Rebuilding After Floods

“Proceeding now with projects like this will be a tremendous boost to the Queensland economy as we recover from the devastating impact of the floods,” state Premier Anna Bligh said in the Santos statement.

The venture aims to begin exports in 2015, generating an average of $6 billion in annual revenue and has combined supply agreements worth more than $120 billion, Santos said last month.

“This project and economic development more generally is important in underpinning the skills, tax revenue, wealth and capacity to respond and rebuild in the aftermath of the current flood crisis in Queensland,” Australian Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said in the statement.

ConocoPhillips and Origin Energy Ltd. plan a rival coal- seam gas-to-LNG venture in Queensland targeting rising Asian demand for cleaner-burning alternatives to coal. Arrow Energy, acquired last year by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co., proposes a fourth LNG project in the state.

Gorgon LNG

Santos is feeding its project with gas resources from the Bowen and Surat Basins in southeast Queensland and building a 420-kilometre pipeline to Gladstone. The floods aren’t expected to cause any delays to the development schedule, Knox said.

Santos has “plenty of reserves available to us” to support two LNG processing units, or trains, at the Gladstone site, Knox said on the call.

The Santos-led venture will have more than half the capacity of the A$43 billion Gorgon LNG project that Chevron Corp. and partners Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell are building in Western Australia. The country’s largest resources development is due to begin LNG exports in 2014 from a three-unit, 15 million ton-a-year facility and may add a fourth and perhaps a fifth processing unit.

LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume at minus 161 degrees Celsius (minus 259 Fahrenheit), for transportation by ship to destinations not connected by pipeline. On arrival, it’s converted back into gas for distribution to power plants, factories and households.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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