Archive | Canadian Media Resource Articles

Fortune Minerals considers putting Saskatoon-area refinery plans on ice – by David Shield (CBC News Saskatoon – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2018 in Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Saskatchewan Mining

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/

Mining company says businesses are talking about buying ore concentrate straight from proposed mine in N.W.T.

Plans for a controversial refinery project in the RM of Corman Park may be deferred by Fortune Minerals.

For years, the company has been talking about building a mine in the Northwest Territories that could produce ore containing cobalt, gold, bismuth and copper suplhate. The concentrated ore would then be refined at a facility near Langham, Sask., 30 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

However, Fortune has now said those plans might be changing. “We’ve been approached by large mining and refining companies with interest in directly purchasing the concentrate that we’d produce in the Northwest Territories,” said spokesperson Troy Nazarewicz. If that happens, the refinery wouldn’t be immediately needed. Continue Reading →

Paulson & Co says Detour Gold received buyout interest from ‘major mining company’ – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Paulson & Co. says Detour Gold Corp. has been approached by a “major mining company” interested in buying it.

New York-based Paulson, which owns about 5.5 per cent of Detour, is also pressing ahead with its efforts to push for a rehaul of Detour Gold’s board of directors, with the ultimate objective of putting the struggling junior up for sale.

In a press release on Wednesday, Paulson said that Detour’s chief executive officer, Michael Kenyon wrote to the firm and informed it that the junior miner had been approached by a potential acquirer, but that Detour would only sign a confidentiality agreement, if both the company and Paulson, agreed not to push for a rehaul of the board of directors. Paulson said it has no connection with the company in question. Continue Reading →

Ontario court quashes gold mining permit over lack of meaningful consultation with First Nation – by Jorge Barrera (CBC News Indigenous – July 17, 2018)

July 18, 2018 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining, Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/

Court says company’s potential Barrick deal drove ministry’s decision to issue exploration permit

A ruling issued Monday by the Ontario Superior Court quashing a gold exploration permit should send a message to the new Doug Ford government that it can’t “bulldoze” its way into the mineral-rich Ring of Fire development, says the chief of Eabametoong First Nation.

The Ontario Superior Court said in the ruling that the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, under the previous Liberal administration, failed to properly consult with Eabametoong First Nation before it granted a gold mining permit to Landore Resources Canada, a subsidiary of U.K.-based Landore Resources Ltd.

The court found that the ministry “changed course without any explanation” to the First Nation and issued the permit to ensure Landore had it in hand for talks on a potential deal with gold mining behemoth Barrick Gold Corporation. Continue Reading →

Should Nova Scotia’s uranium ban be lifted? – by Josh Healey (Halifax Chronicle-Herald News – July 17, 2018)

July 18, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

http://thechronicleherald.ca/

For the second time in as many weeks, New Brunswick’s Energy and Resource Development Minister Rick Doucet spread the news: his province welcomes nuclear energy.

“Your government sees energy as a way to grow the economy,” said Doucet of the province’s $10 million dollar investment into a nuclear research cluster.

Companies are taking notice of New Brunswick’s open energy stance as it looks to add to the only nuclear reactor in Atlantic Canada at Point Lepreau. Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC), an American-based company, recently announced a partnership with the province and an investment of $5 million into research and operations in New Brunswick. They are bringing jobs and industry to the struggling city of Saint John. Continue Reading →

Court cancels mining permit after Ontario failed to adequately consult First Nation community – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2018 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A permit for mineral exploration on the traditional territory of a remote First Nation has been cancelled by judges who say the Ontario government and the mining company failed to adequately consult with Indigenous people who hunt and fish in the area.

The decision issued this week by a three-judge panel of the Divisional Court of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice reinforces the obligation of governments to reach out to First Nations, Inuit and Métis when development could affect their way of life.

The court said Landore Resources Canada will have to complete consultations with the Eabametoong First Nation before a permit can be issued for the company’s claim near Keezhik Lake in Northwestern Ontario. Continue Reading →

Nevsun stock climbs 14% on Lundin’s $1.4B offer, but CEO eyes ‘strategic’ alternatives – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2018 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Europe Mining, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

Vancouver-based Nevsun Resources Ltd. on Tuesday urged shareholders to ignore a potential $4.75 cash per share hostile takeover offer from Toronto-based Lundin Mining Corp., and the chief executive has already signalled how his company may respond when an actual offer materializes.

In a press release, Nevsun chief executive Peter Kukielski said “several strategic parties” have expressed interest in participating as it seeks to build its copper-gold mine in Serbia, known as Timok, raising the prospect that his company could sell a stake in the asset, or strike a joint partnership with another company, which would complicate Lundin’s takeover offer.

The proposed deal came back into the news after Lundin Mining on Monday announced it intends to bid approximately $1.4 billion for Nevsun, at $4.75 per share, and plans to release a formal offer by the end of the month. In May, Lundin sought to purchase only Timok, and enlisted Euro Sun Mining Inc. to purchase Nevsun’s other main asset, a zinc-copper mine in Eritrea known as Bisha. Continue Reading →

[Alexandria Minerals Proxy Fight] How a penny stock miner came to face a multimillion-dollar problem – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2018 in Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector

https://www.thestar.com/

It’s tough to get anyone to pay attention when you’re running a four-cent stock. But then the name Sprott Inc. shows up. And Institutional Shareholder Services. And Glass Lewis. And Joe Groia, the lawyer. And Navigator, the crisis management firm. And a wagonload of mud slinging. And a full-on proxy fight with a voting deadline of this week.

All of which leads the reasonable person to ask: what the heck is going on here? The company in question: Alexandria Minerals Inc., a penny miner with dreams of gold. The agitator: geologist and ousted CEO Eric Owens, who founded the company more than a decade ago.

Owens found himself turfed from the firm in February four days after he publicly announced his intention to call a shareholder meeting to remove three board members, in what the chairman of the board calls a “costly and distracting proxy fight.” Continue Reading →

TRANSFORMATION: Digging out from a mine closure: Sussex gives itself a shake and tries new things – by Connell Smith (CBC News New Brunswick – July 16, 2018)

July 17, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, New Brunswick/Bathurst Zinc Mining Camp, Potash/Phosphate

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

Southern New Brunswick town lost 1,000 jobs almost overnight when PotashCorp pulled out

Uwe Fiehn has a numbers problem. Despite a fairly steady stream of lunch-time customers exclaiming over the pastries and European breads, the owner of the Country Home Bakery knows a lot more people should be stopping in.

“Every day we need 100 to 110 customers, then you have a very good business,” Fiehn said. “If you have 80 customers every day, that’s also perfect. “But we have at the moment just 50 to 55, you know?” Fiehn and his wife, Linda, bought the property in Sussex Corner, outside Sussex, in August 2015.

1,000 jobs gone

Five months later, PotashCorp delivered the shattering news to Sussex and surrounding communities that it was closing its mine in nearby Penobsquis. Continue Reading →

Lundin makes another move to buy Nevsun – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – July 17, 2018)

July 17, 2018 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Europe Mining, Gold and Silver

http://www.miningweekly.com/

Keen to bring the Timok copper project, in Serbia, into its fold, Canadian firm Lundin Mining has announced that it will take a C$1.4-billion offer directly to Nevsun Resources shareholders, after unsuccessful attempts to engage with the company over the past five months.

Lundin, which earlier this year tried to buy Nevsun in a deal with Canadian junior Euro Sun, is now going at it alone, with a C$4.75 a share cash consideration, which it points out is a 82% premium to the target company’s closing price of C$2.61 a share when it first expressed interest in acquiring Timok.

The offer is also a premium to Nevsun’s closing price of C$4.21 a share on Monday. The prize for Lundin will be the Timok project, which has a probable reserve of 27-million tonnes at an average grade of 3.3% copper and 2.1 g/t gold, containing 0.89-million tonnes of copper and 1.8-million ounces of gold. Continue Reading →

Trade war jitters have halted the commodity rally and could disrupt miners’ plans for big projects – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 14, 2018)

July 17, 2018 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Zinc, Lead and Tin

https://business.financialpost.com/

Speaking at a conference in early June, Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd.’s chief executive Don Lindsay raved that his company invested “in the right commodities at the right time,” with a nod to one of its biggest bets — copper.

Lindsay predicted copper soon would hit US$3.50 per pound, at which point his company’s long-planned Quebrada Blanca 2 project — a 300,000-ton per year copper mine to be constructed in northern Chile’s high desert — would add $1 billion dollars per year in cash flow.

“That price is not far off,” he said at the June conference in Chicago, organized by Deutsche Bank, at a time when copper had experienced nearly a year of gains. Continue Reading →

Canada Eyes New Quotas, Tariffs to Halt Flood of Diverted Steel – by Josh Wingrove (Bloomberg News – July 16, 2018)

July 17, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Steel and Stainless Steel Industries

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Canada is considering both quotas and tariffs to stop a spike in imports of foreign steel being diverted from the U.S. by Donald Trump’s trade policies, the industry minister said.

Navdeep Bains, speaking by phone from the Farnborough International Airshow, said Justin Trudeau’s government is weighing so-called safeguard measures to curb the influx of cheap foreign steel and could expand the list of products as needed. It previously identified three — energy tubular, steel plates and rebar — but the minister said that was only a first step.

“We did that based on the data and the information that we have” Bains said Monday. “That by no means is the final list so we’ll look at what option, either tariff or quotas, that we need.” Continue Reading →

Compass Minerals and Unifor reach tentative deal in Goderich salt mine strike (CBC News Canada – July 15, 2018)

July 17, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/

A vote will be held on Monday in Goderich to possibly end the 12-week strike

Compass Minerals and the union representing striking Goderich salt mine workers have reached a tentative three-year deal, days after both sides returned to the bargaining table. Unifor Local 16-0 and the company both announced the progress late Saturday.

“There is no doubt that the support from hundreds of members of Unifor and other unions, along with the ongoing support from the Goderich community made a powerful impact to help get Unifor back to the table,” said national union president Jerry Dias in an online news release.

A vote will be held on Monday at 9 a.m. in Goderich at the Knights Of Columbus Community Hall at 390 Parsons Court. It could possibly end the 12-week strike. Continue Reading →

Why Saudi Arabia’s Aramco IPO remains a pipeline dream – by David Olive (Toronto Star – July 14, 2018)

July 17, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://www.thestar.com/

As the largest oil exporter in the world, Aramco is the means by which Saudi Arabia has de facto control over the world oil price. Aramco was Saudi Arabia’s device in waging a ruinous price war against U.S. shale-oil producers, causing the world oil price to collapse, and driving foreign investment out of the Alberta oilpatch.

A more transparent Aramco would help Athabasca and other world producers to more accurately calculate anticipated rates and return on their costly long-term investments.

For now, the Saudi oil industry is opaque. For competitive and national-security reasons, Saudi Arabia provides only the sketchiest data on the true extent of its massive reserves, rivaled only by those of Athabasca and Venezuela. Continue Reading →

Miners test greener ways to dig – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Wall Street Journal/Toronto Star – July 16, 2018)

July 16, 2018 in Aluminium/Bauxite, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Green Mining

https://www.thestar.com/wsj/

Miners are considering new ways to make the dirt they dig up green.

Across the U.S. border in Quebec, a research facility will fine-tune a technology that its owners—Alcoa Corp. and Rio Tinto PLC—believe could turn aluminum smelters carbon-free for the first time. Another initiative under way in Sweden could see hydrogen replace coking coal in manufacturing steel.

Miners have long seen investing in technology as a way to bring costs down and protect profits during swings in the global economy. But a new force for change has recently emerged: customers such as Apple Inc. and Audi AG that see a marketing advantage in ensuring their products are cleaner and greener than before.

Nestlé SA’s coffee brand Nespresso, for example, wants to source all the aluminum for its capsules from sustainably managed operations by 2020, which includes strict limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. Continue Reading →

The odds are stacked against gold juniors like never before: Abitibi Royalties CEO – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – July 14, 2018)

July 16, 2018 in Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Quebec Mining

http://www.mining.com/

Huge hurdles are stacked against gold juniors in the quest to become a mine, says Abitibi Royalties’ CEO Ian Ball.

Ball, who spoke to MINING.com in March at PDAC in Toronto, was former President of McEwen Mining before moving onto Abitibi Royalties four years ago. During Ball’s tenure as CEO, the company’s stock has increased 3.1 times in value going from $3.27 per share to $10.44.

Ball sees a lot of headwinds in the industry. He does not see a significant gold price moves to the upside. Average gold grade is declining, which requires larger plants and more capital to move ore. Regulations are becoming more stringent. Productivity improvements are still lagging. Continue Reading →