China’s Demand for Gold to Rise
China's demand for gold is set to rise by about 20 per cent over the next few years. The announcement comes as China becomes the world's largest gold-consuming nation since last year, overtaking India. This estimate comes from the World Gold Council, as the population becomes wealthier. The council estimates private sector demand for gold in China will rise to at least 1350 tonnes by 2017. BBC News reports that Chinese customers bought 1132 of gold last year, in jewellery as well as gold bars and coins for investment. "China is at the centre of the global gold eco-system as rapid urbanisation creates a rising middle class," the World Gold Council. "The cultural affinity for gold runs deep in China and when this is combined with an increasingly affluent population and a supportive government, there is significant room for the market to grown even further," claims Albert Cheng of the World Gold Council. "Whilst China faces important challenges as it seeks to sustain economic growth and liberalise its financial system, growth in personal incomes and the public's pool of savings should support a medium term increase in the demand for gold, in both jewellery and investment." Consumers bought a record amount of gold last year according to the council, with China and India in the top spots. Western market demand for gold also remained strong particularly in the US, where people bought a considerable amount of gold jewellery as well as gold bars and coins.
Red Mountain Mining
Going for Gold Red Mountain Mining is a mineral exploration company focusing on the exploration for gold. The company has a portfolio of projects in the Philippines with the Batangas project being its flagship. Writer Rebecca Wigmore Project manager James Mitchell Red Mountain Mining is sitting on a goldmine. It's not often you can read such a sentence and take it literally, but in this instance, it's the truth. Jon Dugdale, the Australian CEO of this gold exploration and project acquisition firm, recently confirmed the discovery of high-grade gold in the firm's key project in Batangas. Batangas is located in the Philippines, around 200km south of Manila. "We have a resource already defined of around 400,000oz of gold grading about 2.2 per tonne." says Dugdale. At present, Red Mountain Mining is busy completing the scoping study – the first part of a feasibility study into a mine development. After this scoping study is judged complete, the company can head straight into feasibility. It's a complex process as Dugdale explains: "when you're exploring you go through a series of stages: testing the soil and the stream sediments – just as the early prospectors did – which is a process that has a moderate to low chance of success. The next stage comes when you've actually found some encouragement in the soil sampling, is to excavate trenches through the soil cover and sample mineralisation close to the surface." Recent very high grade trenching results, up to 1 ounce of gold per tonne, have got Red Mountain Mining to…
Cardno BEC
Into Asia: Cardno seeks expansion Asia is undergoing a period of unprecedented economic growth and this represents huge opportunity says Bruce Johnson, Area Manager/ Manager New Projects, Cardno BEC. Writer Ian Armitage Project manager James Mitchell Africa is undergoing a period of unprecedented economic growth and is increasingly catching the attention of foreign investors, who have contributed to a rapid increase in capital expenditure. In fact, it's nothing new - foreign direct investment in Africa has been on the rise since the early 2000s, increasing fivefold in 2000-2010. It is the real deal and the continent's economic outlook for 2013 and 2014 is promising, confirming its healthy resilience to internal and external shocks and its role as a growth pole in an ailing global economy. Africa's economy is projected to grow by 4.8 percent in 2013 and accelerate further to 5.3 percent in 2014. "Now is the time for Africa," says Bruce Johnson, Area Manager/ Manager New Projects, Cardno BEC, the head of project development, service and business development within the Cardno BEC engineering team. "We agree that Africa's potential is huge; there are fantastic opportunities in Africa. Its large reserves of undeveloped mineral resources are in demand and in that there is opportunity." Cardno BEC is part of Brisbane based environmental and engineering consulting services company Cardno Limited. Cardno, with its large project history in Africa, strong infrastructure capabilities, and prior experience working with government policy makers around the world, is uniquely positioned to provide the services to help Africa fulfil its potential, says Johnson.…
Dare to Dream
Q&A: Lian Beng Construction. It pays to dream big. And dream big is what Lian Beng has done. And within the first four months of 2013, it has secured six construction projects worth about S$750 million, taking its orderbook to record highs. Construction Director Jeffrey Teo tells us more. Writer Ian Armitage In 1978, Ong Pang Aik joined his father to help run the family business. At the time, the company, Lian Beng, was a civil engineering sub-contractor. Mr Ong wanted more. He wanted to build the flats themselves. It was his dream and a lot can be said for the power of the dream – he helped grow Lian Beng from a sub-contractor that took on small-scale civil engineering a to a Building and Construction Authority Grade A1 main contractor, and subsequently to an SGX-listed company with close to $250 million in market capitalisation and an annual turnover of close to $450 million. Today Lian Beng's wholly-owned subsidiary, Lian Beng Construction, is the chief revenue driver. While it has gone into property development and continues to grow along the value chain into other construction support services such as ready-mixed concrete, construction equipment and machinery leasing and engineering works, they are a secondary focus. "While we have ventured into property development and other fields, construction remains our group's main business, forming more than 75 percent of our turnover," Mr Ong said in a recent interview. Notable on-going construction projects include Thomson Grand, developed by the Cheung Kong Group from Hong Kong, Waterfront Isles, developed by Far…
India’s GVK in Australian coal deal
India's GVK has joined forces with Aurizon, Australia's largest rail freight company, to build the infrastructure needed for the development of the Galilee Basin in central Queensland. In a statement, GVK said GVK Coal Infrastructure (Singapore) Pte Limited (GVK Hancock) and Aurizon, the company previously known as QR National, had signed an "non-binding agreement" on joint development of rail and port infrastructure to "unlock Galilee Basin coal reserves", including GVK Hancock's Alpha, Kevin's Corner and Alpha West coal mines. The agreement also envisages a process to "support the next phase of coal growth in the Bowen Basin", which contains the largest coal reserves in Australia. According to a GVK statement, Aurizon would acquire a majority (51 percent) interest in Hancock Coal Infrastructure, which owns GVK Hancock's rail and port projects and "would invest through upfront consideration at completion of the transaction and deferred consideration at financial close of each phase of the projects". Both companies will have equal management rights and an equal representation on the board of all key committees. The chairman of the board will be G V K Reddy. "This is one of the most significant deals in Queensland's coal history," Reddy said. "The development of the rail and port infrastructure will unlock the Galilee Basin and see the development of Alpha, Kevin's Corner and Alpha West, creating one of the largest integrated coal development projects globally. I am sure it will be a win‐win relationship leveraging on each other's strengths in project development and operation." GVK Hancock and Aurizon are seeking development…
