Australia - Strategic Elements has kicked off rock chip and pan concentrate sampling at the Mt Rangitoto prospect on the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand.

The company is targeting intrusion related gold, silver and rare metals around the historic Mt Rangitoto gold-silver mine.

The focus on intrusions is due to the large-scale nature of this style of deposit.

Mt Rangitoto, which forms part of the West Coast " Hohonu Project, comprises a high grade historic gold-silver mine and streams draining the mountain that contain high grade tungsten, tin, tantalum and niobium.

High grade gold samples of 21 grams per tonne (g/t), 29g/t and 32g/t have been reported from the Mt Rangitoto Mine.

High grade silver samples of 43g/t, 79g/t, 110g/t and 1,400g/t have also been discovered.

In previous pan concentrate sampling of the streams draining the mountain, grades of 1% tin and 1% tungsten have been returned.

The Mt Rangitoto Mine is believed to host gold in granite, with samples of 0.62g/t gold and 0.55g/t gold returned from previous exploration.

There is strong potential for metal to be sourced from a buried intrusion. Potential buried granite may preserve rare and precious metals.

Veins and silver in the mine increased with depth towards a granite.

Strategic Elements controls a large strategic area of over 1,350 square kilometres of highly prospective ground on the South Island.

The Hohonu Project covers over 10 separate intrusions with several primary areas of rare metal "rare earths, tungsten and tin " mineralisation.

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BERLIN - Whether it is its solidly high price per ounce or maybe even the end-of-year visit of Her Majesty, Elizabeth II, to view British gold reserves at the Bank of England, conspiracy theories are proliferating around gold – particularly as (or so rumor has it) some kilo bars appeared in Great Britain that were filled with virtually valueless wolfram.

Some insiders even believe that a large portion of Germany’s gold reserves are in fact gold-coated wolfram (tungsten) bars. The sheer values involved – a standard 12.44 kg gold bar is presently worth 500,000 euros – go a long way to explaining the stubborn attachment to theories such as these, the spread of which are aided considerably by the Internet, reports Die Welt.

The precious metal had another strong week, with gold's spot price closing Friday at $1,687 per ounce.

Eugen Weinberg, who heads commodities research at Germany’s Commerzbank, says that he is certain that – if indeed there are any tungsten-filled bars at all out there – the number of them is exceedingly small.

German theorists’ fears are particularly fueled by the fact that, according to the German Federal Bank itself, only part of German gold reserves are actually in Germany: the bank says that “a good two thirds” of the 3,396 ton German reserves worth 145 billion euros are not actually stocked inside the country.

Among the rumors accompanying the nearly two-year upward trend in gold prices is that key national treasuries – not least Fort Knox in the United States – have now actually been emptied out. Another fashionable conspiracy theory sees price manipulation of the precious metal by a powerful international elite that controls the market.

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In this ‘insights from industry’ interview, Dr Yuri Zhuk, Technical Director at Hardide Coatings Ltd., talks to AZoM regarding the importance of seal reliability, especially in adverse conditions.

GT: Could you please provide a brief overview of Hardide and some of the new coatings that Hardide is producing?

YZ: Hardide Coatings Ltd, an advanced surface coating company, is a leading innovator in the development and production of metal surface coatings based on Tungsten Carbide. The company is currently producing the Hardide range of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) tungsten carbide / tungsten hard coatings, which have exciting and wide-ranging applications in industries including oil and gas, valves, pumps, aerospace and advanced engineering..

GT: What are the primary applications of these coatings?

YZ: Applications where wear, erosion, corrosion or chemically aggressive media cause component and tool or equipment downtime, failure or loss of performance. The coatings are hard, tough, flexible, ductile and impact resistant and can coat internal surfaces and complex geometries so can be used in many applications where traditional hard coatings are not suitable.

An important application of these CVD coatings is their use on mechanical seals for heavy-duty rotating equipment.

Rotating equipment, including turbines, compressors and pumps, use mechanical face seals to prevent leakage, whilst also excluding any abrasive media and lubricating the mechanical assemblies. The importance of seal reliability cannot be overstated when looking at overall equipment reliability, because seal failure results in the damage of costly equipment, and would also cause higher downtime costs.

GT: Which industries benefit from these coatings?

YZ: Primarily the oil, gas and chemical processing industries will benefit from Hardide’s CVD coatings for mechanical face seals. However, any industry that employs heavy-duty mechanical face seals will benefit, especially if these are employed in adverse conditions.. In particular, these coatings are used to make the ‘primary’ sealing surface durable and capable of resisting three-body abrasion, erosion and corrosion.

 GT: What materials are traditionally used on mechanical seals and what are the limitations of these?

YZ: Solid hard materials, such as ceramic, silicon carbide, or sintered tungsten carbide are frequently used. However, these materials have several significant limitations and disadvantages, which are listed below:

    They are brittle
    They are expensive and difficult to produce (especially if there are finer features included in the seal design)
    The thermal expansion properties of these materials can differ significantly from steel, leading to jamming with a change in temperature.

HVOF, plasma spray coatings (such as WC/Co), DLC and other PVD coatings are already used on mechanical seals. However, these are often not effective for heavy-duty seal applications. For example, WC/Co HVOF and plasma spray coatings contain hard WC grains in a soft cobalt binder. These coatings can become very rough in abrasive/corrosive environments due to the selective leaching or abrasion of the binder.

GT: How do the Hardide coatings address these common problems?

YZ: An even wear pattern is ensured by the uniform structure of Hardide coatings, so an optimum finish can last for longer without hard asperities forming. Both tungsten carbide and tungsten have excellent resistance to chemically aggressive/corrosive media, particularly acids. The coating might be further alloyed with small amounts of Fluorine or Fluorocarbons (as disclosed in Hardide patents), which can further enhance its mechanical properties.

An alternative approach is to manufacture the mechanical seal components out of steel and then coat with a hard coating. Using steel is beneficial for the following reasons:

    It is tough
    It is inexpensive
    It can lead to improved and larger ranges of seal design
    It is relatively easy to machine

GT: How does using CVD tungsten carbide coatings effect the lifespan of machinery?

YZ: It has been shown that the coatings can triple the operational life of critical parts in abrasive conditions. Mechanical face seals display similar, long-lasting results.

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There are fresh hopes Cornwall's mining industry could be revived.

Test drills for tin and tungsten near Callington and Indian Queens are expected to start this year.

Companies New Age Exploration Limited and Treliver Minerals have acquired the rights to carry explore deposits underneath Kelly Bray near Callington and Treliver Manor Farm near Indian Queens respectively.

Similar work searching for tin, copper and zinc has already been carried out at South Crofty Mine in Camborne.

Chris Rogers, Mining Consultant for Redruth-based firm Cornwall Consultants, said: "It's to do with the economic heritage of the county, and obviously the future possible employment and wealth that might come from mining these deposits locally, and the benefit to the local communities.

"Obviously if they did find things, they'd have to go through mining and planning leases. They'd have to look at environmental constraints, they'd have to look at processing constraints, and the general viability of the deposits in these areas."

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