Active miner's greenfields work pays dividends

摘要

Speaking during the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies Incorporated's recent 2006 National Congress held in Western Australia, BHP Billiton Ltd's Richard Schodde said the zircon content of Iluka's project areas had made them "exceptional ore bodies". During his presentation Schodde pointed out that world-class deposits were not just big in terms of geology, but were also large in relation to their economic return once they become a mine. While indicating there was a danger the description could be over-used, the mineral economist made it clear this was not the case with the Iluka discoveries near Ceduna, the first of which was found in September 2004. "It (the answer) is outside of the conventional expectations - it's not gold (and) in fact the last gold discovery of a world-class nature in Australia would be a Wallaby or something like that," Schodde explained.