Gold and Silver – Page 206 – Republic of Mining

Kinross Gold Corp to proceed with first phase of Tasiast expansion – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – March 30, 2016)

March 30, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Kinross Gold Corp. has greenlighted development of the first phase of its Tasiast expansion project in Mauritania, positioning the company to finally generate some value from the long-troubled operation.

Toronto-based Kinross plans to invest US$300 million to boost capacity at the Tasiast mill to 12,000 tonnes a day, up 50 per cent from the current level. That move is expected to increase production at the mine by 87 per cent to 409,000 ounces a year, according to a feasibility study, and make the money-losing operation profitable.

The ultimate plan is to implement a second phase of the expansion, which would boost capacity to 30,000 tonnes a day and raise annual production to 777,000 ounces. The estimated cost for that second phase is US$620 million, and Kinross expects to make a decision on it by the end of 2017.

Once reviled, gold hedging makes an unexpected return – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – March 26, 2016)

March 29, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

New Gold Inc. was braced for a vicious backlash from the investment community when it decided to hedge some gold production earlier this month.

After all, hedging is the gold industry’s ultimate dirty word. It became such a toxic subject during the last decade that most chief executives decided that even talking about it was off limits. And New Gold is led by Randall Oliphant, who headed up Barrick Gold Corp. back when it had the biggest — and most reviled — hedge book in the business.

But the response to New Gold’s move wasn’t negative. Instead, almost everyone cheered. “We’ve heard nothing but positive reactions from shareholders, analysts and media people to what we did,” said Oliphant, New Gold’s executive chairman. “So that will give other people who want to do this sort of stuff some ammunition.”

Barrick chairman John Thornton takes $10-million cut in pay – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – March 24, 2016)

March 29, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

John Thornton has finally addressed the recurring outcry over his compensation – by taking a nearly $10-million (U.S.) cut in pay. The executive chairman of Barrick Gold Corp. will receive $3.1-million for his work in 2015, a dramatic reduction from the $12.9-million he pocketed for 2014.

Shareholders have twice voted against Mr. Thornton’s compensation package in recent years through non-binding “say-on-pay” resolutions, and he had vowed to address investors’ anger on the issue.

“Last year, our shareholders voiced concern about how we compensated our executive chairman,” said J.B. Harvey, chair of Barrick’s compensation committee. “We have listened carefully to their feedback.”

Rubicon Minerals Corp warns ‘significant doubt’ it can survive after breaching loan – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – March 23, 2016)

March 23, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO — Rubicon Minerals Corp. is at risk of collapse after breaching a debt covenant and halting its high-profile Ontario gold project due to technical problems.

The junior miner announced Tuesday that there is “significant doubt” it can continue as a going concern because of its debt, and may have to seek creditor protection.

To stay onside with the terms of its loan facility, Toronto-based Rubicon needed to have its Phoenix mine up and running by now. That has not happened. Rubicon had to halt development work at the Red Lake-based project last year after getting underground and realizing that the geology was far more complex than it initially thought.

Wait time for permits frustrates gold miner Harte Gold – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 23, 2016)

March 23, 2016

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Stephen Roman needs no reminder that Ontario is lagging behind the rest of Canada in wait times for approval of mining exploration permits.

“The permitting process is very slow, very cumbersome and you need a lot of money,” states the chairman and president-CEO of Harte Gold, a junior miner that’s advancing its Sugar Zone deposit in the Hemlo gold fields toward commercial production this year.

Roman was responding to a report by the Fraser Institute which labelled Ontario a “laggard” for the time it takes to approve mining exploration permits. The think-tank’s survey of mining executives indicates Ontario has work to do to restore the confidence of the industry when it comes to expediting permit approvals and providing greater transparency and certainty in the overall permitting process.

How A Greek Silver Mine Discovery Is Rewriting History – by Sarah Benali (Kitco News – February 15, 2016)

March 21, 2016

http://www.kitco.com/news

(Kitco News) – Archeologists in Greece have found a silver mine that may rewrite mining history during the Aegean times. It sounds like a plot line for a new Indiana Jones film, but it’s real.

“Mining archaeologists who were conducting a subterranean investigation of a silver mine discovered in Thorikos, Greece, have found a mining complex with infrastructure unlike any seen from this time period (around 3200 BCE),” said New Historian post Sunday.

The website, which compiles the latest news about history, noted that unlike any mining system in the area, the discovered mine is said to have open spaces that have been untouched for over 5,000 years. According to the post, other items discovered by the archeologists also prove that the mine was operational as far back as 3200 BCE.

Barrick CFO leaving to head up venture backed by Elliott Management – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – March 18, 2016)

March 18, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The departure of a key executive from Barrick Gold Corp. highlights the large amount of capital rushing into a red-hot corner of the mining world.

Shaun Usmar, the highly regarded chief financial officer at Barrick, is leaving to head up a new venture backed by the U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. that will focus “on royalty, streaming and other forms of investments in the mining industry,” according to a Barrick press release issued after markets closed on Wednesday.

Elliott Management has earned a reputation for smart, aggressive investing and is fresh from a resounding victory in its 15-year battle over Argentine debt. The involvement of the high-profile hedge fund demonstrates the lush potential payoffs that a growing number of investors now see in providing cash-strapped miners with access to capital.

Yellen Reignites Commodities Rebound From Gold to Copper – by Luzi-Ann Javier (Bloomberg News – March 17, 2016)

March 18, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s dovish message reignited a commodities rebound that pushed up everything from gold and copper to miners including Teck Resources Ltd. and Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

The Fed on Wednesday signaled it won’t raise interest rates as much this year as forecast in December amid weakening global economic growth, sending gold prices surging just after futures capped the longest slump since November.

A gauge of 14 gold miners climbed to the highest in more than a year, while the Bloomberg Americas Mining Index surged to an eight-month high. “With loose monetary policy and low rates, we’ll have a lot of money out there in the system and demand will be higher,” Bob Haberkorn, a senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago, said in a telephone interview.

Gold smuggling thrives across Myanmar’s borders (Bangkok Post – March 16, 2016)

March 17, 2016

http://www.bangkokpost.com/

YANGON — The thriving illegal business in gold across Myanmar’s porous borders is likely to continue unchecked until the government legalises trade of the raw material, traders and industry sources said.

Industry bodies have asked the Commerce Ministry to strike the precious metal from its list of restricted goods, saying this would boost government coffers and help to combat smuggling, the Myanmar Times reported on Wednesday.

Traders exploit international price differences for the raw material, selling to smugglers who transport the metal out of the country, said Myo Myint, chair of the Yangon Region Gold Entrepreneurs Association.

Gold enters and leaves Myanmar through Muse on the Chinese border, Myawaddy on the Thai border and Maungdaw on the border with Bangladesh, he said.

Kirkland Lake Gold says fire scare at their mine was handled well – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – March 16, 2016)

March 16, 2016

http://www.timminspress.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold is pleased with how professionally all their employees handled a fire scare at their mine on Monday afternoon. Within an hour of a potential fire being reported, all the underground workers had been accounted for and were gathered in the mine’s refuge stations waiting for the all-clear.

Vice-president of operations Chris Stewart said the situation could not have gone more smoothly.

“From out perspective, everything in the emergency response plan did exactly what it was supposed to do. Having everyone in a mine as spread out as ours reporting in and accounted for in one hour is certainly a benchmark time,” he said. “Overall, it turned out essentially to be a drill. But you don’t know that when you go down there.”

WHO Tests Hair to Probe Uranium From Johannesburg Gold Mines – by Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – March 16, 2016)

March 16, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The World Health Organization is collecting hair samples west of Johannesburg to see if residents near South Africa’s biggest city are suffering from excessive uranium pollution due to ore dumps from 130 years of gold mining.

The Geneva-based United Nations unit will analyze hair samples from about 1,600 people living in neighborhoods near mine-waste dumps, mainly west of Johannesburg, it said in an e-mailed response to questions. Uranium, which can cause cancer, can be ingested through drinking contaminated water or inhaling dust.

“The objective is to study the environmental exposure to uranium and its decay products of the population living in close proximity to gold mine tailing dumps in and around Johannesburg,” the WHO said. “These residue areas are often densely populated and create the potential for substantial levels of exposure to uranium.”

Why This Mining CEO Still Sees Triple-Digit Gold – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – March 16, 2016)

March 16, 2016

http://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Although gold has seen an impressive rally since the start of the year, one mining executive still doesn’t rule out the possibility of prices falling back into triple digit territory.

Ian Ball, chief executive officer at Abitibi Royalties (TSX.V: RZZ) bought up the idea of $900 gold prices at the end of 2015 when prices were hovering just above multi-year lows; and, in a recent interview with Kitco News, he said that his outlook still hasn’t changed since markets are still bottoming out.

“What I said in December was that the market was in the bottom third or bottom 20% of its bear market and I think we are still within that range,” he said. Gold has made significant gains against a broad range of currencies in an environment of global negative bond yields, but Ball explained that investors still need to use caution when jumping into the gold market.

Donald Trump’s grandfather ran Canadian brothel during gold rush, author says – by Alexander Panetta (CBC News – September 19, 2015)

March 14, 2016March 14, 2016

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

Friedrich Trump amassed ‘substantial nest-egg’ from Yukon hotel before heading to New York

The Canadian Press – Canadians amused by the improbable presidential run of Donald Trump might be surprised to learn the role their own country played in shaping his story.

Trump’s grandfather started the family fortune in an adventure that involved the Klondike gold rush, the Mounties, prostitution and twists of fate that pushed him to New York City.

Friedrich Trump had been in North America a few years when he set out for the Yukon, says an author who’s just completed a new edition of her multi-generational family biography.

That Canadian chapter proved pivotal for the entrepreneurial German immigrant, says Gwenda Blair, author of The Trumps: Three Generations That Built An Empire.

History: How the Trumps Struck Klondike Gold – by Eva Holland (Uphere: The Voice of Canada’s Far North – September 2012)

March 14, 2016

http://uphere.ca/

Long before ‘the Donald,’ his stampeder grandpa’s seedy restaurant gave birth to a glittering dynasty

There’s not much left of Bennett Town today: just the old wooden church high up above the blue water of Lake Bennett and the empty mountains and sky all around. In summer, the White Pass and Yukon Route train, its engine painted bright green and yellow, still chugs through the space where the tent city used to be. In winter, the whole area is quiet, layered in snow.

The abandoned townsite is more than 4,600 kilometres by road from Chicago’s Trump Tower – the 11th tallest building in the world. It’s a cool 6,000 kilometres from Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the Trump Taj Mahal, a neon parody, sits above the waves. And it’s 4,300 kilometres from Las Vegas, where the Trump International Hotel’s 64 storeys are sheathed, appropriately enough, in glass that’s tinted gold.

It’s a very long way from the Yukon to any of Donald Trump’s glittering properties, scattered across the major cities of the world.

Mauritanian firm target of Kinross probe, documents say – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – March 14, 2016)

March 14, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

JOHANNESBURG — More than two years after U.S. authorities began investigating Kinross Gold Corp. for alleged corruption in Africa, the case remains unresolved, but details of the company’s financial activities are starting to leak out.

Internal company documents viewed by The Globe and Mail suggest that one of the targets of the U.S. investigation is a Mauritanian firm that won the bidding for a $50.1-million (U.S.) transport and logistics contract from the Toronto-based gold miner.

Kinross awarded the contract to a French company in partnership with the Mauritanian company – which was owned by a former top Mauritanian government official – even though its bid wasn’t the lowest.