1.Valmin seminar and review

The second Valmin Seminar was held in Brisbane, on 17th April 2012. It was attended by A.S.Macfarlane, on behalf of the SAIMM. Messrs A. Clay and G. Njowa, both members of the Samval working group, also attended. Some 120 delegates were present.

The purpose of the event was to provide an eastern seaboard opportunity for participation in the Valmin review (the previous seminar being held in Perth, in November 2011), as well as to provide an update on the Valmin review process.

The one day seminar concentrated on discussions around issues critical to the Valmin process. This process has been, and is, strongly influenced by the ASX and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), which is the State regulatory body, that regulates reporting and activities under the Australian Corporations Act, and thus alignment issues dominated proceedings.

The Institute has reconvened the SAMVAL Working Group, in order to conduct a review and update of the SAMVAL Code.

This work has been initiated as a result of certain inconsistencies in the current Code, but also as a result of a number of external activities and events that have created the need for the update.

Mineral Asset Valuation Codes also exist in Canada (CIMVAL Code) and Australia (VALMIN Code), as well as the International Valuation Standards (IVS), promulgated by the International Valuations Standards Board in London. Both the VALMIN Code and the IVS Extractive Industries section are currently under review, and there is intent that CIMVAL will also be reviewed. A number of developments and discussions have also been undertaken by the Society of Mining Engineers (SME) in the United States, in consultation with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Furthermore, assistance has been given by the CIMVAL Committee to develop a similar Code for the Chinese Authorities, for possible use by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Kindly note that the JORC website was recently amended. The JORC Executive decided to extend the deadline for submissions as a result of agreement between JORC and ASX to provide mutual briefings of the outcomes of the consultation processes prior to any public release of information.

The date for submissions to JORC and ASX is now 27 January 2012.

19 October 2010: Russia's minerals industry took another step towards better access to global capital markets last month when it signed a protocol to bring its resource reporting systems in line with the CRIRSCO template recognised in most established capital markets.

Working in collaboration with the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO) – an industry group that promotes best practice in mineral reporting standards – Russia's State Commission on Mineral Reserves (GKZ) plans to make it easier for prospective investors and financiers to evaluate mining projects in that country.

Signing the Guidelines on alignment of Russian mineral reporting standards and the CRIRSCO template on 28 September with GKZ director-general Yuri Podturkin, CRIRSCO chairman Roger Dixon said this was a milestone for the global minerals sector, given the significance of Russia as a mining power. "This process will help open doors to project financing from across the world's stock exchanges, and will give a well-deserved boost to Russian minerals exploration and mining," said Dixon.

"One of the main differences that has separated the CRIRSCO standards and those used by GKZ is the requirement in most mining countries that a resource definition includes a reasonable expectation of economic extraction, with the emphasis on economic – which is to say, economically viable," said Dixon. "This is one of the issues that the working group had to deal with when drawing up the guidelines."

Competent Persons and others interested in public reporting are advised that JORC has released a paper calling for comments on the 2004 JORC Code. Comments on the JORC Issues Paper and any other matters related to the JORC Code are requested to be provided to JORC by 16 December, 2011.

• Issues paper can be downloaded on the JORC website at:  http://www.jorc.org/pdf/2011_JORC_issues_paper.pdf
• Notice including the relevant information about the paper: Download here (.docx)

Interested parties are invited to comment on the specifications and guidelines that will be inserted as an appendix to the USC209 high-level classification system on sustainable energy. This is a high-level code that the United Nations would encourage nations around the world to adopt.
 
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