Archive | Gold and Silver

Paulson says will not support Newmont takeover bid for Goldcorp (Reuters U.S. – March 21, 2019)

March 22, 2019 in Canada Mining, Gold and Silver, Goldcorp Inc., International Media Resource Articles, Newmont, United States Mining

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Paulson & Co Inc will not support Newmont Mining Corp’s planned $10 billion takeover of rival Goldcorp Inc as the premium offered is unjustified, the investor said in a letter on Thursday.

The transaction is dilutive to Newmont shareholders and only Goldcorp shareholders would benefit from the deal’s synergies, Founder John Paulson and Partner Marcelo Kim said in the letter to Newmont Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg.

Newmont made a friendly offer in January for Goldcorp in what would be the gold sector’s biggest-ever takeover transaction, a bid to create the world’s largest gold producer. Continue Reading →

How Venezuela’s Stolen Gold Ended Up in Turkey, Uganda and Beyond – by Lorena Meléndez and Lisseth Boon (Insight Crime – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019 in Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles, Latin America Mining

Insight Crime

What do such distant countries as Venezuela, the Bahamas, Ireland, Morocco, Dubai and Turkey have in common? They were all part of the trade routes for illicit Venezuelan gold in 2018.

The Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) sold 73.2 tons of gold in 2018 to two companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one in Turkey. The sales took place without the National Assembly’s approval, as mandated by Article 187 of the National Constitution.

The claim, presented in February 2019 by deputy Carlos Paparoni, president of the National Assembly Finance Commission, recalled there could be no contracts of national public interest with foreign states or companies without the approval of the parliament. Continue Reading →

200 gold bars have now been poured at Moose River mine in eastern Nova Scotia – by Paul Palmeter (CBC News Nova Scotia – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

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

Atlantic Gold mine employs hundreds; environmentalist concerned about January tailings leak

Close to $150 million in startup costs are now behind Atlantic Gold Corp. at its Moose River gold mine, a project now in full swing and which has brought hundreds of jobs to a remote part of Nova Scotia.

During the first 18 months of production at the open-pit mine roughly 40 kilometres inland from Sheet Harbour, N.S., about 200 gold bars, some worth nearly $1 million each, have been poured.

“In our first year of production we were actually able to surpass our 90,000-ounce goal and produce 90,500 ounces,” said Craig Hudson, chief metallurgist with Atlantic Gold. “We’re now looking at higher targets and an increase in our production.” Continue Reading →

Goal is to add 30-40 years of mine life at KL Gold with new shaft – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Kirkland Lake, Ontario Mining

https://www.timminspress.com/

The president and chief executive officer of Kirkland Lake Gold presented an optimistic future for the Macassa Mine while speaking to an audience of business people in Timmins on Wednesday.

The president and chief executive officer of Kirkland Lake Gold presented an optimistic future for the Macassa Mine while speaking to an audience of business people in Timmins on Wednesday.

Tony Makuch was the guest speaker at an Inside Their Business luncheon hosted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce at the Porcupine Dante Club. In January 2018, Kirkland Lake Gold announced plans to sink a new shaft at the Macassa Mine.

Makuch spoke of the Macassa Mine as a “success story” in which old assets have been revitalized and given new life. The shaft project added fuel to Makuch’s optimism. Continue Reading →

Gold keeps exploration drills turning in Timmins – by Len Gillis (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – March 4, 2019)

March 19, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining, Timmins

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Aggressive mining exploration continues throughout the Timmins mining camp, thanks to the efforts of at least one smaller producer located in nearby Black River-Matheson.

That’s where McEwen Mining set up shop after purchasing the Black Fox complex from Primero Mining in 2017. To say McEwen’s exploration plan is aggressive would be an understatement.

Company president Chris Stewart revealed in January the company has earmarked $20 million for exploration drilling on its properties in 2019, which include the Black Fox Mine, as well as the Froome, Grey Fox and Tamarack deposits. Continue Reading →

Golden executive payoffs hurt shareholders and economy – by Ian Madsen (Troy Media – March 19, 2019)

March 19, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Goldcorp Inc., Newmont

https://troymedia.com/

Ian Madsen is a senior policy analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

The Goldcorp Inc. merger with Newmont Mining Corp. has many people bemoaning the loss of yet another large, independent Canadian company to an opportunistic acquirer.

With the consequent loss of many Goldcorp executive and other head office jobs, the real tragedy is that too many Canadian companies have aimless, dysfunctional, or outright bad managers who rarely face the ramifications of their poor decisions.

Its not just left-leaning people who are frustrated with those at the top receiving enormous salaries, bonuses, performance incentives, stock options and other emoluments. So do professional, institutional and ordinary shareholders. Continue Reading →

‘Radical’ Foes, Red Tape Hinder Ecuador’s Quest to Become a Mining Superpower – by Laura Millan Lombrana and Stephan Kueffner (Bloomberg News – March 19, 2019)

March 19, 2019 in Copper, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles, Latin America Mining

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Ecuador has tethered its economic fortunes to a burgeoning mining industry. Now it just needs to get bureaucrats and community leaders on board.

Local opposition and red tape are hindering plans to become a mining superpower that can rival other South American nations. Less than two years ago the government hoped mining would become 4 percent of Ecuador’s gross domestic product by the end of President Lenin Moreno’s term in 2021. That’s now under question, according to Deputy Mining Minister Fernando Benalcazar.

“That 4 percent is aggressive, given the conditions of radical social and environmental opposition that we have been seeing,” Benalcazar said in an interview in Quito. “Mining belongs to all 17 million Ecuadorians and large projects can’t be decided by groups of people that don’t represent even one per thousand of the country.” Continue Reading →

Tanzania sets up mineral trading centers to curb illegal gold exports – by Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala (Reuters U.S. – March 18, 2019)

March 19, 2019 in Africa Mining, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.reuters.com/

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania has ordered all mineral-producing regions in the East African nation to set up government-controlled trading centers by the end of June, accelerating efforts to curb illegal exports of gold and other precious minerals.

The trading centers will give small-scale miners direct access to a formal, regulated market where they can go and directly trade their gold. They currently struggle to access formal gold dealers who mostly based in the capital Dar es Salam and major towns.

A statement from the prime minister’s office said the first mineral trading center was inaugurated in the northwestern town of Geita on Sunday, close to the country’s biggest gold mine owned by South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti. Continue Reading →

Mining Companies Polluted Western Waters. Now Taxpayers Have to Pay for the Clean Up. – by Mark Olalde (Mother Jones – March 18, 2019)

March 18, 2019 in Canada Mining, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles, Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution and Abandoned Mines, United States Mining

https://www.motherjones.com/

“They took the heart of the mountains away from us.”

This story was originally published by the Center for Public Integrity.

The remnants of an abandoned gold and silver mine scar the Little Rocky Mountains just south of the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana, bleeding polluted orange water into streams that meander through the reservation. Warren Morin remembers drinking the once-pristine water while he was growing up in the 1970s. Now it’s so acidic it makes his skin burn and turn red on contact.

Pegasus Gold Corp., a Canadian company that owned that mine and several others in the state, went bankrupt and folded 20 years ago. That left a legacy of water pollution and a cleanup bill nearing $100 million—with no end in sight. “They took the heart of the mountains away from us,” said Morin, chair of the tribal council’s natural resources committee.

Pegasus isn’t an isolated case. Especially in the drought-prone West, the outdated and opaque regulatory system meant to ensure money is available to restore water and land at gold, copper and other hardrock mines often falls short. Continue Reading →

Bristow’s masterstroke gives Barrick control of Newmont’s Nevada assets — but now he must deliver – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 16, 2019)

March 18, 2019 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Nevada Mining, Newmont

https://business.financialpost.com/

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow says investor’s poor reaction to the Newmont-Goldcorp merger created an opportunity and he pounced

One day after announcing a deal to effectively create the world’s third largest gold company, Mark Bristow, chief executive of Barrick Gold Corp., stayed in Elko, Nevada — a dry, rugged city situated near the Carlin Trend, one of the world’s richest gold mining districts — to assemble the team responsible for executing his promises.

For decades, Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. and its archrival Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corp., the two biggest gold mining companies in the world, have fuelled a large part of their growth through discoveries along the Carlin Trend, and tried numerous times to reach an accord to work together there.

Now, Bristow, 12 weeks into his tenure at the helm of Barrick, is holding up a joint venture agreement with Newmont to share assets in Nevada, which he claims will save both companies US$500 million per year, and billions of dollars over the long run. What’s more the deal was ramrodded through in a matter of days while Bristow proposed a $17.8 billion hostile offer to takeover all of Newmont. Continue Reading →

Goldcorp’s Ian Telfer gives up director seat at Newmont amid outcry over retirement payment – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – March 15, 2019)

March 18, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Goldcorp Inc.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Goldcorp Inc. says its long-time chairman will not be joining the board of Newmont Mining Corp. after an outcry over a huge bump in his retirement benefits.

Last week, Goldcorp’s board approved a near-tripling of Ian Telfer’s retirement benefit to US$12-million from US$4.5-million. The cash is payable to Mr. Telfer should Newmont succeed in its plans to buy the Vancouver-based miner. In explanation for the increase, Goldcorp has said Mr. Telfer’s compensation has not historically been adjusted for inflation.

The arrangement was met with scorn by some stakeholders, especially considering Mr. Telfer agreed to sell Goldcorp near a historic low in its stock price. Continue Reading →

SolGold’s Nick Mather our Mining Person of the Year for 2018 – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – February 27, 2019)

March 15, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector, Latin America Mining, Northern Miner – Mining Person of the Year Award

Northern Miner

Nicholas Mather, president and CEO of Australian junior SolGold, is The Northern Miner’s Mining Person of the Year for 2018 in recognition of his role as the driving force behind the wildly successful grassroots team that has drilled off the world-class Alpala gold-copper deposit at its Cascabel project in Imbabura province in northern Ecuador, with potentially many more discoveries to come in the region.

The past year was a pivotal one for Toronto- and London-listed SolGold. In November 2018, it tabled an updated resource for Alpala that tallied a staggering 2.1 billion indicated tonnes grading 0.41% copper and 0.29 gram gold per tonne, or 0.60% copper equivalent (at a 0.2% copper-equivalent cut-off), plus another 900 million inferred tonnes grading 0.27% copper and 0.13 gram gold, or 0.35% copper equivalent, at the same cut-off. These numbers are based on 133,600 metres of drilling.

That translates to a contained metal content of 8.4 million tonnes copper and 19.4 million oz. gold in the indicated category, and another 2.5 million tonnes copper and 3.8 million oz. gold in inferred. Continue Reading →

Delayed But Looming: The Question of Bougainville Independence – by Grant Wyeth (The Diplomat – March 14, 2019)

March 15, 2019 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, Copper, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles

https://thediplomat.com/

The referendum for Papua New Guinea’s eastern region is now set for October. How its outcome will be handled remains unclear.

Earlier this month the date of the Bougainville independence referendum was pushed back. Initially — although tentatively — scheduled for June 15, the poll will now be held in October. Under the 2001 peace agreement that followed a decade-long civil war in Papua New Guinea (PNG), it was negotiated that a referendum on the future status of Bougainville would be held prior to mid-2020.

While preparations have been ongoing, it is believed the Bougainville Referendum Commission (BRC), headed by former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, would have been both financially and structurally struggling to meet the referendum’s requirements by June.

While the delay in the referendum isn’t a great surprise, the exact meaning of the referendum continues to be contested. PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill recently stated that the referendum is nonbinding, and that after the poll is conducted the PNG parliament will debate the results, and ultimately decide on whether Bouganville will become the world’s newest country. Continue Reading →

Investors blast ‘terrible’ $12-million retirement deal for departing Goldcorp chair Ian Telfer – by Danielle Bochove and Anders Melin (Financial Post/Bloomberg News – March 14, 2019)

March 14, 2019 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

Telfer’s package to jump threefold if merger with Newmont goes through

A lucrative retirement package for the chairman of Goldcorp Inc. is raising the hackles of investors ahead of a key vote on the company’s planned merger with Newmont Mining Corp.

Ian Telfer’s retirement allowance will rise to roughly US$12 million from US$4.5 million if the miners merge, according to a regulatory filing from Vancouver-based Goldcorp, once the world’s largest gold miner by market value. Initially, the plan was for Telfer, 72, to join Newmont’s board as deputy chairman. On Tuesday, Goldcorp announced he wouldn’t accept the new job.

A group of investors tracking the merger welcomed the decision, but in an emailed statement said the two mining companies “have still failed to justify how the threefold increase in the payment to Mr. Telfer is in the best interests of their respective shareholders.” Continue Reading →

Northern Dynasty raises $10 million to develop Alaska Pebble project – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 13, 2019)

March 14, 2019 in Alaska Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector

http://www.mining.com/

Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX:NDM) has entered into a bought deal financing with Cantor Fitzgerald Canada to raise $10 million that will allow the miner to further advance its Pebble copper-gold-silver project in Alaska.

The deal prices the company’s shares at 64 Canadian cents, a 13.5% discount to the stock’s price before the financing was announced.

The Canadian miner has also granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to acquire up to an additional 2.34 million-plus shares, which could raise another $1.5 million. Continue Reading →