Archive | Canadian Media Resource Articles

Here’s why silver could still outshine gold this year, despite weaker fundamentals – by Nicholas Sokic (Financial Post – August 16, 2019)

August 16, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

While gold enjoys all the spotlight, its poor cousin silver has been riding on its coattails and enjoying the safe-haven rally.

Silver has been up more than 11 per cent for the year to US$17.22 per ounce, but is still in gold’s shadow (which is in the midst of a blistering near-18-per-cent jump year to date).

Philip Newman, a founding partner at Metals Focus, a U.K.-based metals consultancy, estimates that silver could hit US$19 by the end of the year and, with central banks easing monetary policy and the U.S. dollar strengthening, prices could go higher. Continue Reading →

Junior Explorers Just Scratching the Surface In Northern Quebec’s Abitibi Gold Belt – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – August 15, 2019)

August 16, 2019 in Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector, Quebec Mining

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Northern Quebec is one of the most prolific gold regions in the world; it is home to the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, which has produced 180 million ounces of gold during the last century.

The Val d’Or/Abitibi region is also home to Canada’s largest gold mine: Malartic, which is run by Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM, TSX: AEM) and Yamana Gold (NYSE; AUY, TSX: YRI). However, junior explorers working in the area are demonstrating that miners have just literally scratched the surface and the region’s potential is limitless.

Since the 1920’s the region has been home to about 100 different mines; at the same time, about 300 gold deposits have been identified in the area. “There is no doubt. This is mining country,” said Philippe Cloutier, president and CEO of Cartier Resources (TSX.V: ECR), just one of the junior explores breathing new life into existing mining camps. “The mines in Northern Quebec shut down because of economics not because they ran out of ounces.” Continue Reading →

Billionaire Koch brothers dump Canada’s oilsands leases as foreign exodus continues – by Geoffrey Morgan (Financial Post – August 15, 2019)

August 16, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY – Once among the largest landholders in the oilsands, industrial conglomerate Koch Industries Inc. has sold off its upstream leases and abandoned licences in the heavy oil play, joining a stream of foreign companies exiting the bitumen-bearing formation.

Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries struck an agreement to sell thousands of hectares of land in the oilsands to Calgary-based Cavalier Energy Inc., a subsidiary of the Riddell family-controlled Paramount Resources Ltd., in a transaction that occurred in June, the Financial Post has confirmed.

Koch, one of the world’s largest private companies owned by American billionaires and Republican donors Charles and David Koch, has also abandoned the licences it did not sell in the transaction with Paramount and has been allowing its leases in the play to expire. Continue Reading →

Northern residents applaud pair of federal announcements paving way to long-awaited all-weather Arctic road – by Bob Weber (Globe and Mail – August 16, 2019)

August 16, 2019 in Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Mining Railway, Road and Other Infrastructure

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

CANADIAN PRESS: Two federal announcements this week are expected to kick-start a long-awaited road into the heart of the Canadian Arctic that would lower grocery costs for northern families and unlock billions of dollars in mineral resources.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau pledged more than $50-million to cover preliminary studies and planning for an all-weather road from Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to a deep-water port on Nunavut’s central Arctic coast.

“This will change the economy of Canada,” Wally Schumann, the NWT’s minister of industry, tourism and investment, said Thursday. A direct, all-weather connection to southern Canada’s highways – Nunavut’s first – would allow everything from fresh vegetables to construction materials to be shipped more cheaply and easily by trucks. Continue Reading →

Here’s a truth few dare to utter: Canada will benefit from climate change – by Joe Oliver (Financial Post – August 15, 2019)

August 16, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs

https://business.financialpost.com/

“Unfortunately, at only 1.6 per cent of global GHG emissions, Canada
cannot achieve a measurable impact on global temperatures, even if
it met the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change target,
which would devastate our economy.”

Why should Canada fight climate change? Finally, someone proclaimed an obvious truth that few dare to utter publicly. According to Moody’s Analytics, Canada will benefit from climate change. Although it will shock many, this forecast should surprise no one.

Canada is a very large, cold country, with 90 per cent of its population huddled within 100 miles of its southern border and an enormous agricultural potential if the land warms up. There will also be new opportunities for oil, gas and mineral development in the Arctic. And let’s not ignore the greater personal comfort of living in a more hospitable climate.

According to a CBC story about Moody’s study, “when all the changes to things like tourism demand, crop yields and the growing season are factored in, there’s a slight net positive.” Continue Reading →

Gold is beating stocks on its best tear in 6 years — but watch these risks before wading in – by Martin Pelletier (Financial Post – August 13, 2019)

August 14, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

Speculators can easily get burned by this volatile commodity

What started off as a great rebound year for investors is starting to show signs of weakness, amid fears that the global economic slowdown may worsen in the face of escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

That uncertainty may be weighing on equity markets, but for investors in gold it has been a whole different story.

Over the past month, while the S&P 500 has fallen four per cent, gold has surged by nearly seven per cent, with the price of bullion surpassing US$1,520 and reaching its highest level since April 2013. Continue Reading →

Thunder Bay: Opponents to copper mine in Northern Minnesota hope to rally support in Fort Frances, Ont. – by Jeff Walters (CBC News Thunder Bay – August 14, 2019)

August 14, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Mining Conflict and Opposition, Minnesota Duluth Complex and Iron Range, Ontario Mining

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

A proposed copper mine in Northern Minnesota will get some attention Wednesday evening at a public meeting in Fort Frances, Ont. The Coalition to Save the Boundary Waters hopes to get some support from Canadians, and wants people in Fort Frances to speak with government to try and have Canadian politicians oppose the mine south of the border.

“This type of mining in sulfide bearing ore inevitably leads to the degredation of water quality,” said Becky Rom, the Chair of the coalition. “And yet, what we have here are interconnected waters, and our water quality is extremely good.”

Rom said water discharged from the mine would lead to the Boundary Waters, and through Quetico Provincial Park before reaching Rainy Lake and Rainy River, which include Canadian and U.S. waters. Continue Reading →

Barrick Gold eyeing sale of 50-per-cent share in Australian mine – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 12, 2019)

August 14, 2019 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Nevada Mining

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is planning to sell its 50-per-cent share in the Kalgoorlie mine in Australia and has identified two Australian companies as possible buyers.

“There’s a lot of very interested parties in that asset, whether it’s Northern Star or Evolution [Mining]. Those mid-cap Aussie guys are doing extremely well,” Barrick CEO Mark Bristow said in an interview after the release of the company’s second-quarter results on Monday. Neither Northern Star nor Evolution responded to a request for comment.

After Barrick bought Randgold Resources Ltd. for US$6-billion earlier this year, the company said it intended to divest about US$1.5-billion in assets to concentrate on its highest-returning assets, such as its mines in Nevada and its massive Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic, which needs about US$1-billion in capital expenditure over the next few years. Continue Reading →

Nutrien aims for ‘mine of the future’ as Cory operation marks 50 years of potash – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – August 13, 2019)

August 14, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Potash/Phosphate, Saskatchewan Mining

https://leaderpost.com/

The visible portion of a Saskatchewan potash mine is dwarfed by what lies beneath the sun-baked prairie.

The gate clangs shut, blotting out most of the summer light filtering into the headframe. Gloved hands reach up to switch on headlamps; the beams jitter across the walls, echoing the nervous energy inside the cage as it descends into the blackness below.

For all the size and complexity of its surface operations — a vast network of mills, conveyors, warehouses and loading facilities — the visible portion of a Saskatchewan potash mine is dwarfed by what lies beneath the sun-baked prairie.

It’s like a small city, mine general manager Leon Boehm said as he drove an electric vehicle through the sweltering underground air toward one of the Cory mine’s active faces, the business end of Saskatchewan’s most iconic natural resource extraction industry. Continue Reading →

‘A lot of boxes ticked’: Barrick roars through summer as rival Newmont struggles with former Goldcorp mines – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 14, 2019)

August 14, 2019 in Africa Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

On Monday morning, Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief executive Mark Bristow visited the mining giant’s Toronto headquarters to announce second quarter earnings, and to take a victory lap on what’s shaping up to be a good summer.

“It’s a been a fun six months,” Bristow told the assembled analysts, bankers, journalists and others. “Today, I’m glad to share with you the enormous progress our teams have made.”

Barrick recently negotiated to purchase its troubled subsidiary in Tanzania, trimmed overhead and helped make other cost saving moves that helped propel its stock up 50 per cent since June. Continue Reading →

Barrick posts profit jump, flags significant work ahead on Acacia – by Nichola Saminather and Shanti S Nair (Reuters U.S. – August 12, 2019)

August 12, 2019 in Africa Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) (GOLD.N) reported quarterly adjusted profit that nearly doubled on higher production on Monday, and said it has a “great deal of work” ahead resolving problems around its African unit, whose buyout the company expects to complete next month.

Barrick also said it plans to begin the sale process for its 50% stake in the Kalgoorlie operation in Western Australia in the third quarter. Newmont Goldcorp (NEM.N) owns the remainder.

The world’s second-largest gold producer reported adjusted profit of $154 million, or 9 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, up from $81 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier. Continue Reading →

Apparently world-savers don’t need to worry about the little people – by Rex Murphy (National Post – August 10, 2019)

August 12, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://nationalpost.com/

Green Leader Elizabeth May’s plan to ‘transition’ the entire oil and gas industry’s workforce, without consulting them, is frightening

Every little world-saver, and the big ones, too, are stars in their own private movie. They write and direct as well. The script never changes. They, and they alone, see a world in menace; they and they alone know, absolutely know, what the danger is and what the world must — must — do to avoid collapse and devastation.

And that salvation always — always — means they must be granted the power to change the world and all it does, so that their vision and certitude can be validated.

Frequent world-saver Naomi Klein has a cause every half-decade, but the title of one of her books in particular, gives the trend: This Changes Everything. Naturally she was on about global warming, being the universal queen bee of protest politics. Continue Reading →

It’s time for Canada to act like the northern nation it proclaims to be – by Jessica M. Shadian (National Post – June 27, 2019)

August 9, 2019 in Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Media Resource Articles

https://nationalpost.com/

Opinion: The Senate is right: We need a Ministry of the Arctic and an Arctic Infrastructure Bank if the North is to be our ‘land of the future’

The Report: Northern Lights: A Wake-Up Call for the Future of Canada

Twelve years ago, Stephen Harper stated that when it comes to defending Canada’s sovereignty over the Arctic, “we either use it or lose it.”

Harper’s comments came a full 50 years after prime minister John Diefenbaker announced his government’s Roads to Resources Program. Ten years prior to that, prime minister Lester B. Pearson announced his vision of the north as “a land of the future.”

As the Senate Report on the Arctic, Northern Lights: A wake-up call for the future of Canada, went to press last week, the north as Canada’s “land of the future” is still yet to be realized. Canada has not only failed to “use it” to defend its sovereignty, it has also failed to see the human and economic potential that is the key to the future of this country and its role in the world. Continue Reading →

Iamgold under fire for alleged poor disclosure over miner death at Rosebel site in South America – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 9, 2019)

August 9, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Global Mining History, Latin America Mining, Mining Accidents, Deaths, Cave-Ins and Industrial Disease

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shares in Iamgold Corp. fell 14.6 per cent Thursday – their steepest drop in nearly five years – as the Canadian miner faces heavy criticism for its alleged poor disclosure over the death of a miner at a South American mine site.

Last week, the Toronto-based company suspended mining at its second-biggest mine, Rosebel in Suriname, after an “unauthorized” artisanal miner was killed, following a confrontation with police. Iamgold said the fracas, which involved an unspecified number of artisanal miners, also caused equipment damage. The company said there are continuing security concerns for its staff at Rosebel.

Artisanal mining is common in Africa and South America, often involving impoverished locals mining by hand. While occasionally legal, artisanal miners often trespass on concessions controlled by international mining companies. Continue Reading →

Nickel proves it’s the wildest metal with sudden $2,000 spike (Bloomberg/Canada.com – August 8, 2019)

August 8, 2019 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Nickel Laterites

https://beta.canada.com/

Nickel has long had a reputation as the most volatile base metal, but its biggest daily jump in a decade has left even the most seasoned traders astonished.

The metal spiked as much as 13 per cent, or almost US$2,000 a ton, in thin Asian morning trading, extending a rally over the past month triggered by rumours that top producer Indonesia might bring forward a ban on nickel ore exports. Prices eased after the nation’s mining ministry denied that any policy changes are imminent, but were still up a hefty amount as London trading opened.

“You can see that the market is barely trading now because people just don’t know what to do,” said George Daniel, a hedge fund manager at Red Kite who’s been trading metals since 1993. “It could come off from here, but everyone’s just waiting to see if China comes in and buys it again.” Continue Reading →