Pre-tax and pre-divestment expenditure on exploration and evaluation charged to the profit and loss account in the first nine months of 2012 was USD 1,503 million compared with USD 798 million in the same period of 2011. Of this 2012 expenditure, approximately 39% was incurred by the Copper group, 25 per cent by Iron Ore, 14% by Energy, seven per cent by Diamonds & Minerals, three per cent by Aluminium and the balance was incurred by Central Exploration.
During the first nine months of 2012, the Group realised USD 11 million (pre-tax) from the divestment of central exploration properties, compared with USD 88 million in the same period of 2011. This included the Chapudi and Kwezi property in South Africa.
Exploration highlights
Drilling programs to define potential resources continued at two projects in the region around the Amargosa bauxite resource in Brazil and are routinely intercepting encouraging bauxite intervals.
Further assays continued to indicate encouraging potash grade and thickness in the Saskatchewan potash project (Canada), a joint venture with North Atlantic Potash Inc., a subsidiary of JSC Acron. Preparations were advanced for a 3D-seismic survey to aid resource definition planned for Q4.
At Roughrider (Canada) a summer program of step-out drilling was completed at the Far East resource; results confirmed extensions to the previously known uranium resource.
At Rössing (Namibia) rigs were mobilized to site for the third phase of drilling at the Z20 uranium project. In the Bowen Basin ( Queensland, Australia), drilling programs to support Order of Magnitude studies at Mt Robert and Elphinstone, near Hail Creek, are nearing completion.
A summer drilling programme over iron ore targets in the Labrador Trough (Canada) was completed with thick intervals of encouraging iron ore mineralisation intersected in several holes.
At Tamarack (USA) a summer drilling program has intersected further significant zones of nickel sulphide mineralisation outside the currently known resource.
In South Australia RTX partners, Tasman Resources commenced drilling on the Vulcan iron oxide copper-gold target.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, drilling and other field activities at the Orientale iron ore project were suspended and the project is under review.
Source – Rio Tinto
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