Gold and Silver – Page 220 – Republic of Mining

Gold Falls on Janet Yellen Speech, Palladium Gains on Emissions Scandal – by Ese Erheriene and Christian Berthelsen (Wall Street Journal – September 25, 2015)

September 25, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Looking ahead, seasonal demand from China is seen lifting the price of gold

Gold edged lower Friday after U.S. growth estimates were nudged higher and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said a rise in U.S. interest rates is likely to happen later this year.

The tandem developments sent signals of an improving U.S. economy, and stocks and the dollar rose. Gold, a defensive investment that people look to in times of turbulence, loses appeal under improving conditions. Gold futures for the most-actively traded December contract fell $6.70 or 0.6% to $1,147.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Ms. Yellen told an audience at the University of Massachusetts that a rate increase could happen before the end of the year. The FOMC has two more scheduled meetings left in 2015 to make its move, one in October and one in December.

As a result, “the dollar strengthened and some selling was noted in gold,” David Govett, head of precious metals trading at Marex Spectron, said in a note.

Surveying the ‘golden’ landscape – by David Levenstein (Mineweb.com – September 25, 2015)

September 25, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

To see what this means for the ultimate store of wealth.

Gold prices retreated on Monday after a strong rebound last week after the US Federal Reserve announced that it will not be raising interest rates.

In what has become the most highly anticipated meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed announced that it was going to maintain its current policies, and left the policy rate at 0.125%. Yet, the accompanying statement and the economic projections came in more dovish than expected. The Fed showed concerns over the negative impacts of the recent global financial market volatility, as well as rapid slowdown in China and other emerging markets, on growth and inflation outlook.

In her press conference, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen made it clear that the U.S labour market is close to full employment, and that she’s reasonably confident that the inflation rate will drift back up to around 2% eventually.

While gold prices were given a boost on Thursday and Friday, after the Fed announced that it will not be raising interest rates, the U.S dollar tumbled but later staged a strong recovery towards the weekly close. However the greenback still closed the week as the second weakest major currency, after Euro. The dollar index dipped to as low as 94.06 last week but recovered to close at 94.86.

Gold stocks explode higher – Barrick up 11% – by Frik Els (Mining.com – September 24, 2015)

September 25, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

On Thursday, the price of gold spiked higher after turmoil on world equity markets and global economic fears sparked a return to safe-haven buying.

Futures contracts in New York with December delivery dates jumped 2% to a high of $1,156 an ounce – gold’s best level in a month.

After weeks of lacklustre trade ahead of the US Federal Reserve interest rate decision, volumes on Comex shot up to twice the daily average on Thursday with just under 20 million ounces traded.

With fundamentals pointing to further upside potential for the metal, gold investors piled into mining stocks in massive volumes. The world’s top gold mining stocks gained steadily during the day and traded at their highs at the close on Thursday.

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:ABX, TSE:ABX) jumped 10.8% with more than 33 million shares changing hands, 12 million more than already high post-Fed interest.

Goldcorp stays positive on Éléonore gold mine (Northern Miner – September 23, 2015)

September 24, 2015

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Goldcorp (TSX:G; NYSE: GG) highights the potential at its Éléonore gold mine in northern Quebec, despite recently lowering the project’s 2015 production forecast, partly due to higher-than-expected mining dilution.

“Looking forward, I’m not worried about Éléonore. It is a great plant; it’s a great orebody,” Chuck Jeannes, the company’s president and CEO, said in a Sept. 22 webcast presentation at the Denver Gold Forum.

The underground mine reached commercial production on April 1, 2015, after pouring first gold last October. The slower-than-anticipated startup resulted from commissioning issues in the first half of 2015, relating to the tailings filter press and primary crusher feeder. However, those issues have been resolved, Jeannes says.

In August, the Éléonore mill achieved nameplate capacity of 7,000 tonnes per day, with roughly 2,000 tonnes of the feed coming from low-grade stockpiles.

TMAC Resources, Pretium Resources key to future of junior mining sector – by Tim Kiladze (Globe and Mail – September 24, 2015)

September 24, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Few companies are reeling from the commodity collapse as badly as junior miners. Three years into the supercycle’s crash, investors who stick by the sector have largely abandoned smaller explorers and developers in favour of established companies whose projects are up and running.

The major knock against junior miners has been financing risk. No one knows if they will be able to raise the money they need to get their projects into production because shareholders have been so badly burned. That makes the recent developments at TMAC Resources Inc. and Pretium Resources Inc. all the more interesting.

In June, TMAC raised $135-million in a rare mining initial public offering, giving the company enough cash to get to the production phase. Last week, Pretium announced a $540-million (U.S.) financing package that gives the miner 70 per cent of the capital it needs to build its Brucejack mine in northern British Columbia.

Russian Billionaire’s Miner Sees Gold Pain as Buying Opportunity – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – September 22, 2015)

September 23, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov’s gold mining company is positioning for a price recovery by buying more assets, defying an industry trend of cutbacks and closures.

Besides expanding existing mines in Russia, Nordgold NV is looking for early-stage projects that improve its reserve base, Chief Executive Officer Nikolai Zelenski said in an interview Monday from the Denver Gold Forum.

While the world’s biggest producers including Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. sell assets and cut spending in a bid to contain debt levels exposed by gold’s more than 40 percent plunge from a 2011 peak, Moscow-based Nordgold sees the downturn and the ensuing drop in valuations as a good time to buy.

“That’s why we’ve been making deals in the recent past and we plan to continue to do so in the future,” Zelenski said.

Nordgold is interested in the Sukhoi Log deposit, considered one of Russia’s largest fields with resources of about 1,953 tons of gold. The government plans to sell the licenses for the Siberian deposit next year.

Co-operation, positives and negatives at major gold event [Denver Gold Show] – by Lawrence Williams (Lawrieongold.com – September 22, 2015)

September 22, 2015

http://lawrieongold.com/

The first full day of this year’s Denver Gold Forum opened with an announcement of a co-operative agreement between the Denver Gold Group (DGG) and the World Gold Council (WGC), followed by some extremely interesting presentations and a fascinating and informative panel discussion on paper gold, but which still left some key questions unanswered, or unclear.

Regarding the co-operation – in a joint announcement the DGG and WGC noted that between them the two groups represent almost all the world’s top gold miners in terms of production, mineral reserves and market value. Through closer co-ordination and collaboration they aim to ensure that miners are better informed on demand drivers, market trends and key developments. While both parties may have differing outlooks on the industry, arguably their purposes do coincide.

The DGG’s Executive Director, Tim Wood commenting on the agreement noted: ““For some time the interests of our members have been aligned, so it makes strategic sense to work more closely. After nearly three decades of service to the industry, the Denver Gold Group has evolved as a significant platform for sharing ideas, information and experience.

Miners turn to alternative finance to cut debt as downturn grinds on – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – September 21, 2015)

September 21, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

DENVER – A niche form of mining industry finance is emerging as the new go-to funding for miners bowed by debt, another sign of the sector’s distress as it plods through the fourth year of a commodities’ downturn.

Glencore, the world’s third-biggest miner, is in talks to raise more than $1 billion in so-called “streaming” deals, coming on the heels of transactions by No.1 gold producer Barrick Gold and diversified miner Teck Resources .

More such deals are expected as shareholders, ratings agencies and lenders pressure miners to slash debt amid a gloomy commodity price outlook and as other debt-cutting tools such as asset sales, dividend cuts and share issues are not enough.

Until now so-called “streaming” finance – upfront funds for miners in exchange for a portion of a mine’s future output – has most commonly been used by mid-sized miners with limited access to capital to fund mine builds.

That the world’s biggest miners are now prepared to do deals that see them giving up a portion of their future production, earnings and cashflow to cut debt is a reflection of their limited options.

Barrick says strong interest in U.S. gold asset sale – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – September 20, 2015)

September 21, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

There has been strong interest in a package of six U.S. gold assets that Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) wants to sell, a senior Barrick executive said on Sunday, adding that he expects a deal to close before year end.

The interest has been largely from North American-based miners, Barrick President Kelvin Dushnisky said.

Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp (NEM.N) and Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO) are likely buyers of the assets, an investment banking source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Kinross declined to comment and Newmonth could not immediately be reached for comment.

As part of its plan to cut at least $3 billion in debt this year, Barrick, the world’s biggest gold producer, last month said it would sell six of its U.S. gold mines and projects: Bald Mountain, Round Mountain, Spring Valley, Ruby Hill, Hilltop and Golden Sunlight assets.

“We just started it (the sale) but already the level of interest is extremely high,” Dushnisky told Reuters in an interview at the Denver Gold Forum, an annual gold industry conference.

Day at the Denver Gold Forum – How to invest in junior golds – by Lawrence Williams (Lawrieongold.com – September 21, 2015)

September 21, 2015

http://lawrieongold.com/

This year’s Denver Gold Forum got off to a good start Sunday afternoon/evening with early registration, a well provisioned opening reception and an opening keynote address. The reception featured also seventeen junior gold, silver and pgm miners/developers which attracted decent attention from the assembled throng.

The opening keynote was from Adrian Day of the eponymously named asset management company. Day was giving attendees his expert advice on investment in gold mining companies – a sector which has been on the decline for the past four years since gold came off its September 2011 brief peak, but which could well be offering tremendous upside should gold be on the recovery trail once more.

The past three years in particular have seen numerous occasions when investment advisers have been calling a bottom to gold’s decline, only for the price stutter and fall further. Could this be the time to climb in and make mega profits assuming one picks the right stocks. The optimistic investor may well feel it to be so – and it is perhaps fair to say the lower the gold price falls the less the potential downside, but it still remains a potentially very volatile market.

Definitely not one for widows and orphans. Some will feel that the best time to re-enter it is just when all the mainstream analysts are calling for ever lower prices – as happened when gold fell to its recent low point of around $1,080.

Kinross Gold struggling to reverse losses at Mauritania’s Tasiast mine – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – September 21, 2015)

September 21, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA — When the executives of Kinross Gold Corp. fly in from their Canary Islands office to the dusty capital of the desert country where their flagship African gold mine is located, they can’t avoid seeing the hulking symbol of mining failure that dominates the skyline: the empty shell of a 15-storey skyscraper that the state mining company had started building.

Mauritania’s state-owned iron-ore company, SNIM, was due to finish the tower months ago. Instead it sits half-built and abandoned, flanked by a pair of idle construction cranes. There are no signs of life. The foreign construction contractors are long gone, leaving behind piles of sand and cement blocks.

Plagued by strikes and weak iron-ore prices, SNIM is in deep trouble, while most of Mauritania’s other resource projects are winding down or shelved. The national economic slump has compounded the pressure on Kinross as it struggles to reverse the losses at its huge Tasiast gold mine on the edge of the Sahara in northwestern Mauritania.

How smaller Canadian gold miners are thriving despite today’s gloomy price environment – by Peter Koven (National Post – September 19, 2015)

September 21, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

KIRKLAND LAKE, ONT. – Deep underground in Kirkland Lake, 300 kilometres north of Sudbury, it is hard to think about the rich veins of gold near at hand. The heat and humidity overpower everything else.

Crews are currently working 5,400 to 5,600 feet below surface, making it one of Canada’s deepest gold mines. And in this part of the world and at these depths, a first-time visitor would find the temperature suffocating.

Work crews start dripping with sweat almost as soon as they step out from the shaft underground to begin their shift. Mining this far down is technically challenging and not for the faint of heart. But more than 100 years after the first shaft was sunk in this sturdy Northern Ontario community, it looks as attractive as ever — even if it is surrounded by an environment of gloomy gold prices.

The Kirkland Lake operation, known as Macassa, is one of the world’s richest gold mines by any measure — the data service IntelligenceMine ranks it second overall. The mine’s owner, Kirkland Lake Gold Inc., likes to say that of the world’s 10 highest-grade operations, this is the only significant one that isn’t owned by a major company.

India’s Gold Mining Sector Could Experience A Massive Renewal Soon – by Dave Forest (Oil Price.com – September 17, 2015)

September 18, 2015

http://oilprice.com/Metals/

I mentioned yesterday how global gold production hasn’t fallen much in the face of lower prices.

And this week we got some indications that supply could actually expand. With one of the world’s most famous gold mining districts looking to re-open, for the first time in nearly 15 years.

The place is the Kolar Gold Fields in India. One of the world’s legendary gold mines — with a production history that dates back to 1880.

According to local press, India’s government is very close to putting forward a plan to revive the Kolar. With officials saying they will table the scheme “within a month.”

The effort will reportedly include rehabilitating existing mining infrastructure — which consists largely of underground facilities, some extending two to three kilometres below surface. As well as reprocessing large amounts of gold-bearing tailings left behind by previous mining operations.

Barrick closing Utah office and copper unit in cost-cutting effort – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2015)

September 18, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Barrick Gold Corp. is shutting a major American office and dismantling its copper unit, the company’s latest steps to cut costs and overhaul operations amid the slump in gold prices.

The closing of its Salt Lake City office along with the unwinding of its copper business will help the world’s biggest gold producer save $2-billion (U.S.) by the end of next year, the company said.

Four years of declining gold prices have forced a broad retreat at Barrick and battered the company’s share price. In addition to selling a slew of mines and non-core assets, Barrick recently reduced its dividend again and sold a stake in its top copper mine in Chile as well as part of one of its most profitable gold mines, in the Dominican Republic.

Barrick’s Salt Lake office, which employs about 110 staff, will close in November after supporting the miner’s core Nevada operations for nearly two decades. It follows the shutdown of Barrick’s Perth bureau and job cuts in its Santiago office.

Detour Gold finds silver lining in current economic climate – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – September 18, 2015)

September 18, 2015

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The declining value of the Canadian dollar has actually been a great boost to Detour Gold and the mining supply sector in Timmins.

Those were among the revelations that came forward Thursday when Paul Martin, the president and chief executive officer of Detour spoke at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce lunch event.

Martin made reference to the fact the Canadian dollar, which was valued at 76 cents U.S. Thursday provided an unexpected benefit.

“The weak Canadian dollar, some people jokingly call it the Canadian peso, is a huge benefit for a company that sells its revenue in U.S. dollars,” Martin told the audience.

It has effectively dropped the price Detour has to pay to produce each ounce of gold. He said it this is a competitive edge for Detour that is not shared by U.S. gold producers, for example. The payoff for Northern Ontario and Timmins is significant, said Martin.