Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 318

Canada’s Aluminum Valley grapples with U.S. tariffs – by Emma Jacobs (Market Place.org – September 17, 2018)

September 19, 2018

https://www.marketplace.org/

Canada’s Aluminum Valley is a two-hour drive north of Quebec City, in the region of Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. Five aluminum smelters along a 50-mile stretch of the Saguenay River account for almost half of Canada’s aluminum production.

This has residents here following negotiations between Canada and the United States over a new North American Free Trade Agreement especially closely, with hopes an accord will clear the way to lifting tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in place since June.

The first smelter opened in this region in 1926 was built by Americans, attracted by plentiful hydroelectricity. The adjoining company town was named Arvida, after industrialist Arthur Vining Davis. The structures from the Arvida smelter are still part of the large Jonquière Complex, which includes two of the smelters and a refinery.

New Voisey’s Bay royalty calculation agreed on – by Marleny Arnoldi (MiningWeekly.com – September 17, 2018)

September 18, 2018

http://www.miningweekly.com/

TSX-listed Altius Minerals and Nasdaq-listed Royal Gold have entered into an agreement with Vale Canada to settle litigation related to the calculation of the royalty in respect of all concentrates produced from the Voisey’s Bay mine, in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Voisey’s Bay 3% net smelter return royalty is directly owned by the Labrador Nickel Royalty partnership, of which Altius is a 10% owner and a subsidiary of Royal Gold is a 90% owner.

The parties agreed to a new method for calculating the royalty regarding concentrates processed at Vale’s Long Harbour processing plant, which will be effective for all Voisey’s Bay mine production after April 1 this year.

Imperial Metals explores sale of company amid financial restructuring – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2018)

September 18, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Troubled junior copper producer Imperial Metals Corp. has kicked off a strategic review that may result in the sale of the company as it struggles under a mountain of debt.

In a Monday release, Imperial Metals said it will also consider selling assets piecemeal, entering into joint ventures or recapitalizing the company.

The Vancouver-based company, backed by well-known energy executive Murray Edwards, says it has taken a number of steps that give it financial breathing room in the short term. With a market capitalization of just $134-million, it has a debt load of roughly $857-million and a cash balance of $16-million as of the end of the second quarter.

BHP ditching ‘Billiton’ from its name, trims CEO pay rise – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 18, 2018)

September 18, 2018

http://www.mining.com/

World’s largest miner BHP Billiton (ASX, NYSE:BHP) (LON:BLT) is rolling out the second phase of a $10 million rebranding campaign launched last year, which may see it become dropping “Billiton” from its name an attempt to emphasize its Australian roots.

Documents released Tuesday to the Australian Securities Exchange, show the miner will ask shareholders at the annual meeting in October to vote to rename the company as BHP Group.

The rebranding, the first since BHP used the late actor Bill Hunter 30 years ago in its “Big Australian” promotion, can also be seen as an effort to regain public trust after the damage to the firm’s image caused by the November 2015 dam burst at its Samarco joint-venture in Brazil.

Canadian mining industry says goodbye to ‘turnaround man’ Bill James – by Robin de Angelis (CBC News Sudbury – September 17, 2018)

September 17, 2018

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

The man credited with making mining company Falconbridge Ltd. a success in the 1980s has passed away. William “Bill” James died on September 4, at the age of 89.

James took the helm of Falconbridge at a time when the company was losing millions of dollars each week due to flagging metal prices. He cut jobs and corporate spending, eventually making the company an attractive target for a takeover for Noranda.

Ed Thompson, a board member with the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame, remembers working with James for almost 50 years. “He was a very forthright, honest man,” Thompson recalled.

De Beers makes further inroads into Canadian diamond market as global discoveries prove elusive – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 17, 2018)

September 17, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

De Beers Group has high hopes for a small Canadian diamond project, as the world’s biggest diamond producer by value seeks to redress a global dearth in new discoveries and further diversify outside of its African base.

Last week, De Beers, which is controlled by global diversified miner Anglo American PLC Group, closed its acquisition of Vancouver-based Peregrine Diamonds Ltd., owner of the Chidliak project in Nunavut. De Beers paid $113-million for the junior, which was founded by Eric Friedland, brother of famed mining financier Robert Friedland.

Chidliak has 74 known kimberlite formations, a rare type of rock that can contain diamonds. According to a preliminary economic estimate (PEA), the inferred resource contains about 22 million carats, about two-thirds of De Beers annual production. It’s not yet known whether the resource can be profitably developed, but the PEA pegs the cost of building a mine that would last 13 years at $521-million.

IAMGOLD chief talks up economic benefits of new gold mine – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – September 15, 2018)

September 17, 2018

https://www.timminspress.com/

The new IAMGOLD Coté Lake gold mine project is going to be bigger than most people expect according to the company president and CEO Stephen J.J. Letwin, who spoke to the business community of Timmins at the Dante Club on Friday.

He said the project will generate more than $9 billion in economic activity over the 17-year production life of the mine as well as generating billions in payroll. Letwin said this would create a positive impact on the economies of Timmins, Sudbury, Gogama and Northern Ontario.

Letwin was in Timmins with several other company executives as they were taking part in an inspection tour of the new property located south of Gogama, and just a few kilometres west of Highway 144 in Chester and Yeo Townships.

Investors keep the faith in B.C.’s Golden Triangle mining despite recent setbacks – by Garbriel Friedman (Financial Post – September 15, 2018)

September 17, 2018

https://business.financialpost.com/

Decades before he started exploring for minerals in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, Hugh ‘Mac’ Balkam said he used to investigate stock fraud with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

So last week when a hedge fund levelled explosive accusations of fraud against a miner in his district, Pretium Resources Inc., the company behind one of the highest grade gold mines in Canada, and its stock started sinking, Balkam thought about his own investment portfolio.

“Myself, I actually sold some bank stock and bought more Pretium,” said Balkam, chief executive of Toronto-based Eskay Mining Corp. “I think that stock is worth a lot more.”

A ‘once-in-a-lifetime find’ has Eric Sprott thinking this is the start of something big for a small TSX gold explorer – by Brenda Bouw (Globe and Mail – September 17, 2018)

September 17, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Well-known gold bug Eric Sprott is signalling he plans to stick with his holdings in RNC Minerals after the Toronto-based company announced a “once-in-a-lifetime” gold discovery that sent its stock skyrocketing last week.

RNC shares soared 261 per cent to a near eight-month high of 32.5 cents over last Monday and Tuesday after the company announced on Sept. 9 that it uncovered 9,250 ounces of high-grade gold worth US$15-million at its Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia the week before.

The discovery captured global media attention from news outlets such as the Financial Times, the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC). “There’s a big potential here that this is not going to be a one-off,” Mr. Sprott said of the discovery on Friday on his weekly podcast, calling it “the biggest discovery in a small amount of tundra the world has ever witnessed.”

OPINION: Bill C-69: a step forward for Canada’s mining sector – by Pierre Gratton (Globe and Mail – September 16, 2018)

September 17, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Pierre Gratton is the president and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada.

Canada’s natural resource sectors are bedrocks of our economy. Our mining sector, in particular, is widely recognized as a global leader. We’ve also consistently been one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment, even more so when we include oil sands mining.

Today, unfortunately, this provider of three-quarters of a million jobs – the largest private-sector employer of Indigenous Canadians – and 20 per cent of Canada’s exports is at risk, with major implications for the overall health of the economy and our collective well-being.

Put simply, investment confidence in Canada’s natural resource sectors is in trouble. The politicization of pipelines and a decade of legislative uncertainty regarding the review of natural resource projects lie at the heart of it. This politicization needs to end. One way to end it is by encouraging Parliament to pass Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act (IAA).

Barrick Gold’s John Thornton won’t back down – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – September 15, 2018)

September 15, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

John Thornton will tell you he saved Barrick Gold Corp. from certain destruction and set it up for fresh success. The company’s shareholders are not convinced. To many of them, Barrick looks like the incredible shrinking company. Who is right?

Mr. Thornton, executive chairman of the world’s biggest gold company since 2014, and a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president, is utterly convinced his overhaul of Barrick has changed the Toronto company for the better – even though its shares have dropped almost 40 per cent in the past year alone and are down by more than half since their most recent peak, in 2016.

In an exceedingly rare interview – this is one boss who avoids the media – he is coming out of his shell to defend a turnaround strategy that seems to have alienated investors rather than please them. “Chasing ounces,” as he puts it, is not his strategy. His plan is to recreate Barrick as a gold company that does not operate like a gold company, while inviting big-name Chinese miners to invest in Barrick projects.

Chile lawmakers mull additional mining tax for copper, lithium – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 14, 2018)

September 14, 2018

http://www.mining.com/

The Lower Chamber of Chile’s Parliament has begun studying a project that would set a 3% mining royalty for all companies operating in the country, which is the world’s top copper producer and the one with the largest known reserves of lithium.

The proposed tax, to be applied on the nominal value of extracted metals, would affect copper miners that produce more than 12,000 tonnes of the metal annually and those extracting 50,000 tonnes a year of lithium, used in batteries that power electric cars.

The idea is to have miners contributing part of their profits to the regions where they operate, Radio Universidad de Chile reported (in Spanish).

[Yukon Mining] Coffee Gold project prepares for 2021, with support of Tr’ondek Hwech’in – by Philippe Morin (CBC News Canada North – September 13, 2018)

September 14, 2018

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

First Nation says Coffee Gold owner Goldcorp is hearing its concerns

Leaders from Yukon’s Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation got a tour of Goldcorp’s Coffee Gold project near Dawson City this week — and so far, they like what they’ve seen. The exploration camp at Coffee Creek, about 130 kilometres south of Dawson City, is a busy place these days, with crews already working in shifts 24-hours a day.

In a few years, it could be even busier — Goldcorp is proposing to open a large-scale gold mine by 2021, employing hundreds of people. The project is still under review by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB).

The Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation is now on board with the project. Last April, it signed a “collaboration agreement” with Goldcorp, which includes a number of benefits for the First Nation — such as jobs, contracts, and training for First Nation citizens.

Opinion: It’s time to end oilsands shaming – by Joseph Maloney (Edmonton Journal – September 13, 2018)

September 14, 2018

https://edmontonjournal.com/

Joseph Maloney is international vice-president for Canada of the Boilermakers Union.

Enough with the guilt trip. I’m proud to represent people who work in the oilsands. They’re proud of the jobs they do. And they should be.

As a union leader, I represent thousands of oilsands workers. These people are extremely skilled at keeping our oil plants and refineries operating. And guess what? They care just as much about the environment and global warming as the people who want to shut the industry down.

It might not be popular to say so, but the people who work in our oilsands are crucial to our way of life. Nearly 200,000 Canadians depend directly on the oil and gas industry for their jobs, almost three-quarters of them in Alberta. Hundreds of thousands more in just about every industry in Canada couldn’t work without refined oil products.

Lundin Mining has hefty M&A appetite for copper, says incoming CEO – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – September 13, 2018)

September 13, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s Lundin Mining Corp (LUN.TO) is on the hunt for copper mines and projects and willing to spend up to $3 billion on mergers and acquisitions, its incoming chief executive officer said in an interview on Thursday.

But Lundin will stick with its strategy of disciplined bids and a focus on low-risk jurisdictions, Marie Inkster said at the company’s Toronto head office.

The base metal miner was recently outbid by China’s Zijin Mining Group (601899.SS) in its hostile takeover offer for Nevsun Resources (NSU.TO). “We want to get more copper. We want to get more mines. We want good prospects,” said Inkster, who will take over as CEO when Paul Conibear retires later this year.