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September 2016
MODERN MINING
43
EXPLORATION AND
GEOSCIENCE
feature
Email: info@united-scienti c.co.za • Website: www.unitedscienti c.co.za For more info, contact your nearest branch: Cape Town: Tel: +27 (0) 21 592 5240 • Johannesburg: Tel: +27 (0) 11 795 1900 Durban: Tel: +27 (0) 31 206 0930 • Port Elizabeth: Tel: +27 (0)86 133 3580 DRC: Cell: +24 382 0151 582 (Pty) Ltd We make Science Easier. Polychem Supplies cc UNITED SCIENTIFIC T OI Talk tous heexperts inanalysis • Field analysis results availabe in seconds • Direct measurement of drill cores, cuttings, rocks, powders, etc. • Wide element range from magnesium (Mg) to uranium (U) • Rugged design to withstand the harshest environments & weather conditions (IP54 compliant) • Easy to use: minimal training required • Powerful data management with GPS/GIS integration • Up to 10-12 hours battery life - operate for full day on a single battery charge. X-MET7500 Mining Analyser for rapid on-site multi-element analysis X-MET7500: the essential tool for mining & exploration professionalsoperating regions, with a focus on near-mine
activities. The company’s grassroots explora-
tion budgets went from a high of more than
US$92 million in 2012 to zero in 2015. By
contrast, Gold Fields has been very successful
with near-mine exploration, particularly at its
orogenic-style orebodies in Australia and at
Damang in Ghana.
As the shrinking grassroots spending sug-
gests, over the past six years the number of
new discoveries has fallen drastically com-
pared with the first decade of the 2000s. While
some of the decline can be ascribed to recent
discoveries still being too small to be con-
sidered ‘significant’, the two-thirds drop in
exploration budgets since 2012’s peak makes
it extremely challenging for explorers to define
new resources at their targets.
For example, Barrick Gold Corp is credited
with the only discovery identified for 2015 to
date: the 5,5 million ounce Alturas deposit
in Chile. Besides the discovery’s large size, a
crucial factor in Alturas going from discovery
hole to a defined, significant resource within
the same year was the simple fact that Barrick
has an ample early-stage exploration budget.
While the company has cut back its overall
exploration spending as much as the rest of the
industry, its grassroots budget has held compar-
atively steady, falling from US$73,5 million in
2012 to US$37 million in 2014, before rebound-
ing slightly to US$41,5 million in 2015.
Over the past decade, AngloGold Ashanti
Ltd was the biggest spender on gold exploration
among the companies in the study, with bud-
gets totaling US$2,53 billion from 2006 to 2015.
During the 2001-2015 period, the company is
credited with shares in eight major gold discov-
eries hosting 73,3 million ounces of attributable
gold in reserves, resources and past production
– the largest amount of gold discovered by any
of the profiled producers, and more than twice
the amount discovered by its nearest competi-
tor, Barrick Gold.
With gold prices continuing to rise through
late August, SNL anticipates that, while com-
panies will maintain their focus on existing
operations, most will begin to reactivate mod-
est early-stage efforts as part of their strategy to
address the lack of new discoveries.
Acknowledgement: The above article is authored by Robert
Anders and appears on the SNL website:
www.snl.com