Employees gather at the Taimyrski Mine of the Norilsk Nickel company in the Arctic city of Norilsk January 23, 2015.
IN PHOTO: Employees gather at the Taimyrski Mine of the Norilsk Nickel company in the Arctic city of Norilsk January 23, 2015. Russia's Norilsk Nickel , the world's largest nickel and palladium miner, has started pilot operations at its Arctic-based Talnakh concentrator plant after the first stage of an upgrade to improve productivity. Picture taken January 23, 2015. REUTERS/Polina Devitt

The Thalanga Nickel Project will have its first exploration after 17 years with a new diamond drilling program held by the Red River Resources, an exploration company engaged in the production of minerals and metals in Australia.

Mining Australia reports that Red River has announced that its North Queensland campaign is set to begin on May 13. The initial drilling is expected to last for 10 weeks to test new targets located 65 kilometres west from the Charles Towers. These new targets have been identified as Thalanga East hanging Wall and Wattle Tree.

Donald Garner, Red River’s managing director, said that the targets were first classified by an IP survey and a re-examination of past exploration data. “As a team, we were all pleased to start drilling, as this marks the culmination of many months of hard work on our exploration strategy at the Thalanga Zinc Project. Red River is in a unique situation amongst our peers, as we own the Thalanga Mill, a 600ktpa capacity polymetallic processing facility capable of producing separate lead, zinc, and copper concentrates,” Garner told Mining Australia.

Garner added that Red River’s connection to the mill would allow the company to quickly monetise their exploration discoveries. Red River aims to restart production at the Thalanga deposit by the end of 2015.

Another mining company situated in the Russian Far East is about to start drilling to produce high-grade nickel. Amur Minerals Corporation (OTC: AMMCF) is on the verge of having its mining and production license approved by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Once Amur secures this license, drilling will begin at its Kun Manie deposit in the Amur Oblast Region to produce 67 million tonnes of nickel. Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals, explained in an interview that the long wait for the license is finally near its end.

“We have worked with all the appropriate Russian agencies, not to be confused with the Russian government, they’re slightly different. We’ve been able to get all our documentation and everything updated through the system. As a result and as of today, the documentation of the appropriate letters and reports are actually sitting inside the Russian government for signature by Dmitry Medvedev,” Young said in an interview with ProActive Investors in January 2015.

While Red River Resources is getting ready to drill and Amur Minerals is awaiting its signal to produce, another Australian mining company is engaging in community-friendly activities. BHP Billiton has partnered with Reconciliation Australia for a $3.9 million funding for the Narragunnawali program, an education initiative.

Justin Mohamed, CEO of Reconciliation Australia, described that the Narragunnawali program is the result of years of planning and cooperation with the Indigenous Education Consultative Bodies, students, teachers and all those involved in the Australian education sectors. BHP Billiton has been involved with the program for a decade, and this recent funding is the start of another four years of partnership.

“We are acutely aware that Indigenous people often have a very special connection to the land, and we work closely with individual communities as well as with specialist organizations, like Reconciliation Australia, to ensure we have a positive impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” said Ian Wood, BHP Billiton’s Vice President of Community Relations and Sustainability.

Contact the writer: a.lu@ibtimes.com.au

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