Archive | Canada Mining

Hudbay takes $242m Rosemont impairment hit – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – November 12, 2019)

November 12, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, United States Mining

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Canadian miner Hudbay has reported a third-quarter net loss of $274.8-million, reflecting an after-tax impairment loss of $242.1-million on the carrying value of its stalled Rosemont copper project, in the US.

The US District Court has blocked the company from constructing the copper mine in south-eastern Arizona, with the validity of mining claims that would allow for the disposal of waste on public lands adjacent to the operations at the heart of the matter.

Although Hudbay intends to appeal the court ruling, the company explained in its third-quarter results announcement on Monday that the recoverable amount of the Arizona cash generating unit was lower than its carrying value, resulting in an after-tax impairment loss. Continue Reading →

Semafo faces criticism for lax security after deadly attack on workers in Burkina Faso – by Nicolas Van Praet and Geoffrry York (Globe and Mail – November 12, 2019)

November 12, 2019 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Montreal gold miner Semafo Inc. is coming under criticism for ineffective security measures in Burkina Faso after one of the worst terrorist attacks on employees of a Canadian company.

“We have concerns about just how safe” the situation was for Semafo’s workers and business partners, said Odette Napina, project leader at Organisation pour le Renforcement des Capacités de Développement, an independent group that monitors the social and economic impact of the mining industry in Burkina Faso.

Assailants ambushed a convoy of five buses carrying Semafo employees, contractors and suppliers under military escort last Wednesday in one of the deadliest insurgent attacks in the West African country in recent years. No one has claimed responsibility for the incident. The company on Monday finally provided a clearer picture of the human toll from the raid. Continue Reading →

Reopening of Boungou mine in Burkina will depend on security: Semafo (Reuters Canada – November 11, 2019)

November 11, 2019 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://ca.reuters.com/

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Canadian gold miner Semafo will not resume operations at its Boungou mine in Burkina Faso until security in the area is assured following last week’s deadly ambush on a road to the site, the company said on Monday.

At least 39 people were killed in the attack on the Semafo convoy last Wednesday, the latest in a series of high-profile actions in a country plagued by jihadist violence.

A total of 241 employees, contractors and suppliers were caught up in the attack, which killed at least 39 and wounded 60 with one person still unaccounted for, Semafo said. Continue Reading →

A Canadian company wants to build Brazil’s largest open-pit gold mine: Now that Bolsonaro is in power, it just might succeed – by Jacob Lorinc (Toronto Star – November 9, 2019)

November 11, 2019 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Latin America Mining, Mining Conflict and Opposition

https://www.thestar.com/

On the morning of the annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, in February 2017, a group of samba dancers stood solemnly in front of a massive parade float depicting five venomous snakes, their forked tongues protruding from the back of a bearded man with bloodshot eyes.

The gruesome display was a publicity stunt — a symbol of agribusiness invading the eastern edge of the Amazon rainforest, said the dancers in a press conference that morning. To the delegation of Indigenous leaders in attendance, the monster allegorized several industrial projects recently encroaching on their territories.

For some, it represented the Belo Monte, a massive government-owned hydroelectric dam that flooded the shores of the lower Xingu River, a tributary to the Amazon River. For one delegate, the leader of the Juruna tribe, the monster represented a more recent perceived threat to the communities living near those shorelines — a Canadian mining company by the name of Belo Sun. Continue Reading →

Cost of Ivanhoe’s giant copper project in Congo hits $1.3 billion – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 8, 2019)

November 11, 2019 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) said Friday that initial capital costs for its Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is now estimated at $1.3 billion, and 18% increase over planned costs.

The fresh figure, which includes expanded plant capacity, additional mining fleets and pre-production ore stockpile, will allow the company to begin production at the mine in the third quarter of 2021, Ivanhoe said.

Capacity of Kakula’s processing plant modules increased by 26% in the three months to Sep. 30, from 3 Mtpa to 3.8 Mtpa, significantly boosting projected early-stage copper production, the Toronto-based miner noted. Continue Reading →

OPINION: Beware foreign CEOs: Sometimes they just want to go home – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – November 9, 2019)

November 11, 2019 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Want to lose another Canadian head office? Easy! Hire a non-Canadian CEO. Canadian boards of directors seem to have a fascination with foreign chief executive officers. Canada is (largely) an open economy, one with pretenses to corporate greatness, so why not pick the best and the brightest from the United States, Europe and elsewhere?

Load them up with fat salaries and share option packages, and watch them create a Niagara of shareholder value. And a flag-waving Canadian business champion as a bonus.

Canada and a few other countries that worship at the altar of shareholder value, Britain among them, have bought into the cult of the globalist CEO – big time. But the cult is wearing thin. Continue Reading →

Semafo suspends work at Burkina Faso gold mine as death toll from attack rises – by Nicolas Van Praet, Geoffrey York and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 8, 2019)

November 8, 2019 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Montreal-based gold miner Semafo Inc. has halted operations at its Boungou gold mine in eastern Burkina Faso as the fallout widens from one of the worst-ever terrorist attacks on employees of a Canadian company.

Semafo said on Thursday it was suspending work at its flagship mine in the West African country, a day after insurgents ambushed a convoy carrying its employees to the mine site.

Burkina Faso’s President, Roch Marc Kaboré, said 38 people were killed, increasing the previous day’s tally. More than 60 others were injured, and dozens are still believed to be unaccounted for after the raid, which occurred on a road 40 kilometres from the mine site. Continue Reading →

‘Obsession’ with world class assets leads Barrick Gold where others fear to tread – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – November 7, 2019)

November 8, 2019 in Africa Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive Mark Bristow pledged to continue exploring in West Africa and Latin America, even as a “rising tide of resource nationalism” has scared away other mining companies who see too much risk there.

“If you want to focus on world class assets, which is our stated objective, and my obsession, asset quality always overrides jurisdiction,” Bristow told the Financial Post on Wednesday when the company reported its third quarter earnings.

The reason why so many mining companies run into problems in emerging economies is because they’re unwilling to share benefits from mining with the local community, he said. Continue Reading →

Attack on Canadian miner in Burkina Faso threatens gold’s final frontier – by David Lewis, Helen Reid and Zandi Shabalala (Reuters Canada – November 7, 2019)

November 8, 2019 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://ca.reuters.com/

NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) – As jihadists wreaked ever more havoc in the last two years, mining firms in Burkina Faso rolled out extra security measures, from barracks for government troops protecting them to safe rooms for workers behind barbed wire and mounds.

Expatriates generally fly in and out, while local staff still drive but in guarded convoys. That has added millions of dollars to security costs for foreign companies, mainly from Canada and Australia, operating in the West African nation where industrial miners are forecast to produce 60 tonnes of gold this year.

Yet this week’s attack on a convoy ferrying hundreds of local employees and contractors from a mine owned by Canada’s Semafo (SMF.TO) has exposed how vulnerable firms still are. At least 37 civilians died, with another 60 injured and dozens more feared missing. Continue Reading →

Miners face ‘tsunami’ on environmental, social, governance front – by David Perri (Northern Miner – October 23, 2019)

November 8, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles

Global mining news

The next generation of mining leaders will arrive with a “tsunami” of environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns, says Claudia Mueller, associate director of the Global Mining Management program at the Schulich School of Business.

Mueller joined a panel of experts in October to discuss ESG issues at The Northern Miner’s third annual Progressive Mine Forum in Toronto. In recent years, she has seen a “tremendous increase” in questions about ESG from the youth who will run tomorrow’s mining companies.

ESG criteria is a set of operating standards used by socially conscious investors to screen potential investments concerning stewardship of the natural environment, stakeholder management (including local communities, employees and suppliers) and corporate governance (compensation, internal controls, shareholder rights, etc.). Continue Reading →

Environmental assessment of proposed Nova Scotia gold mine paused as feds seek more info – by Frances Willick (CBC News Nova Scotia – November 7, 2019)

November 8, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

Atlantic Gold’s environmental impact statement did not meet requirements, federal agency says

The federal agency responsible for conducting environmental assessments has paused its work on a proposed Nova Scotia gold mine, saying Atlantic Gold’s environmental impact statement for the Fifteen Mile Stream project does not meet the requirements.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) notified Atlantic Mining NS Corp. — a subsidiary of Atlantic Gold — on Monday that the company must submit a revised environmental impact statement before the assessment process can resume.

Atlantic Gold wants to develop a 280-hectare open-pit gold mine about 30 kilometres north of Sheet Harbour, N.S. It already runs Touquoy, the province’s only currently operating gold mine. Continue Reading →

Barrick’s dividend boost looks like a harbinger for the normally tightfisted gold industry – by Justina Vasquez (Bloomberg/Financial Post – November 7, 2019)

November 8, 2019 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

Bullion giant Barrick Gold Corp. pleasantly surprised the market by raising its dividend 25 per cent. Will the move portend a new era of largess from the normally tightfisted gold miners?

There are certainly reasons for investors to be hopeful. Producers have been striving to cut costs and consolidate operations, while the price of gold has climbed over 20 per cent in the past year to hover around US$1,500 an ounce. Barrick’s move Wednesday was echoed a few hours later when Canadian rival Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. raised its quarterly payout 50 per cent. B2Gold Corp. preceded both by announcing its first-ever dividend a day earlier.

“The companies are positioned to start to pay dividends and give more back to shareholders,” Joe Foster, a portfolio manager and strategist at VanEck, said by phone Wednesday. Continue Reading →

Barrick CEO Bristow Sees Long-Term Potential for Freeport Tie-Up – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – November 6, 2019)

November 7, 2019 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Copper, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles, United States Mining

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief said there’s a logic to combining with Freeport-McMoran Inc. as a way to expand into copper, but isn’t committing to any deals yet.

A tie-up with Freeport could bolster Barrick’s U.S. presence, where it already operates gold mines in Nevada, said Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow, who cautioned that it’s not something currently being considered.

“Everyone has been fingered as a potential suitor of Freeport,” said Bristow, when asked if he was interested in a combination. “There’s a bit of work for us to do before we can get our head around broadening our scope.” Continue Reading →

Dozens dead in attack on Canadian miner Semafo’s convoy in Burkina Faso – by Nicolas Van Praet and Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – November 7, 2019)

November 7, 2019 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Assailants ambushed a convoy carrying employees of Canadian gold miner Semafo Inc. in Burkina Faso and killed dozens of people, one of the deadliest insurgent attacks in the West African country in recent years.

The raid occurred on a road between the town of Fada and Semafo’s flagship Boungou gold mine in Burkina Faso’s eastern region of Est, the Montreal-based mining company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The local governor for the region said 37 people were killed and more than 60 injured in what he called an “ambush” by unidentified individuals. “The governor firmly condemns this barbaric and cowardly attack,” regional governor Lieutenant-Colonel Saidou T.P. Sanou said in an official statement. Continue Reading →

Close offices, cut jobs, Barrick CEO says as he calls for consolidation in the gold industry – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 6, 2019)

November 7, 2019 in Africa Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief executive officer says the gold-mining sector needs more merger activity to capitalize on the cost savings that come from closing head offices and cutting staff.

Mark Bristow helped kick start a wave of deal making in the industry last year when his Africa-focused Randgold Resources Ltd. agreed to be sold to Barrick for US$6-billion. A few months later, Newmont Mining Corp. announced it would acquire Goldcorp Inc. for US$10-billion, creating the world’s largest gold mining company. Barrick and Newmont also agreed this year to combine some operations in Nevada in order to reduce costs.

Now, he says, the time has come for more deals and more job cuts at gold companies. Under Mr. Bristow, Randgold was known for employing a skeleton crew at its head office. Continue Reading →