Kinross partners with Project C.U.R.E. to deliver $7 million in donated medical supplies to Mauritania and Ghana

Toronto, Ontario, June 9, 2015 – Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K; NYSE:KGC) announced today a new partnership with Project C.U.R.E. to deliver US$7 million in donated medical supplies to Mauritania and Ghana over the next three years.

Project C.U.R.E. is a U.S.-based, not-for-profit organization that provides donated medical supplies from hospitals and clinics around the U.S. to countries in need. Under the partnership, a total of 15 ocean-going cargo containers filled with supplies, including X-ray machines, autoclaves, wheelchairs and operating tables, will be delivered. The partnership also includes support for Project C.U.R.E.’s specialized program in maternal and neonatal care, Helping Babies Breathe, which provides training to local health practitioners and provides basic equipment, such as neonatal resuscitation tools.

Kinross will provide a grant of US$167,000 per year for three years to fund the logistics surrounding the procurement and transport of the donated medical supplies, training costs for the Helping Babies Breathe program, and to support the monitoring and evaluation of the donation’s impact on improving capacity, affordability, accessibility and quality of care at the recipient healthcare facilities.

The donated supplies have already begun arriving, with the first cargo container delivered to Mauritania in May. The supplies are destined for clinics on the border of Mali, where the need is particularly acute. Kinross operates the Tasiast mine in Mauritania and the Chirano mine in Ghana.

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UPDATE 2-S.African mining union threatens strike over extension of wage deal – by Tiisetso Motsoeneng (Reuters U.S. – June 7, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

CARLETONVILLE, South Africa, June 7 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) will launch a wildcat strike if its rival union and gold mining companies impose a wage deal on its members, its president said on Sunday.

“If NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) and Chamber of Mines want to extend their deal to us, we will sit down, whether it’s legal or not. We will strike,” Joseph Mathunjwa said to cheers from thousands of workers gathered at a stadium in Carletonville, 80 km (50 miles) west of Johannesburg.

Under South African labour laws, wage deals between the majority union and employers can be extended to smaller unions.

The hardline AMCU union is demanding a more than doubling of wages from gold companies AngloGold Ashanti, Sibanye Gold, Harmony Gold and Pan African Resource’s Evander Mines.

About 10,000 AMCU members wearing trademark green t-shirts, waving the union’s flags and carrying placards with slogans such as “A Living Wage For All” streamed into the stadium outside Sibanye Gold’s Driefontein mine.

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For risk-wary gold miners, small is beautiful – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – June 5, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO – Bigger isn’t better for the world’s gold miners, who are increasingly making “bite-sized” developments that carry less risk of budget disasters and fewer of the political and environmental disputes that have derailed mega-mines in recent years.

Newmont Mining (NEM.N) is a prime example of how companies are responding to bleak industry conditions by building mines on a smaller scale than in the past, with the price of gold down almost 40 percent from its peak in 2011 and banks avoiding the sector.

The cautious approach will likely persist even if conditions improve, with miners increasingly teaming up on big, complex projects to share costs, expertise and risk, senior mining executives and industry watchers said.

“If there’s going to be something go wrong, you’d rather it go wrong after you’ve spent $1 billion than $3 billion or $4 billion,” said Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) Chief Executive Chuck Jeannes. Goldcorp, the world’s most valuable gold miner by market capitalization, owns stakes in a number of joint-ventured assets such as the Alumbrera gold mine in Argentina and the Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic.

The price of gold has fallen as concerns about inflation receded and the U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies. Gold is often used as a hedge against inflation, as prices typically rise when the dollar weakens.

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New mine in an old pit: Barrick begins mining at Arturo – by Marianne Kobak McKown (Elko Daily Free Press – June 4, 2015)

http://elkodaily.com/

CARLIN – An old mine site has been reborn.

Barrick Gold Corp. began mining in its Arturo Mine this year. The new operation is located in the former Dee Pit, which is about 45 miles northwest of Elko. Barrick owns 60 percent of the project and Goldcorp owns the other 40 percent.

The Bureau of Land Management issued the mine’s record of decision May 9, 2014 and construction on the project began the end of 2014.

The mine will be mined in three phases, but it is starting in Phase 2 first, said Jerry Johnson, open pit technical services superintendent. Phase 2 is predominantly refractory ore and it will be sent to Goldstrike’s roaster and autoclave.

“It is about 90 percent refractory and about 10 percent oxide mill,” Johnson said. “It’s a smaller pit. It’s about 107 million total tons. It will be about 800 feet deep when we are done with it and about a half a mile in diameter, so significantly smaller than the Goldstrike Pit.”

He said the phases were named before all the drilling was completed, which is why Phase 2 will be mined before Phase 1. Mining with the 4100 shovel started on March 26. “The active shovel bench is just a wee bit of a highwall,” Johnson said.

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Gold’s Peak Doesn’t Mean New Price Heights – by Helen Thomas (Wall Street Journal – June 4, 2015)

http://www.wsj.com/

The industry has been in survival mode, companies warn

Announcing that gold production is approaching its limits can be hazardous. In 2009 Aaron Regent, who shortly after became chief executive of Barrick Gold, said the world had reached “peak gold.” Three years later, Mr. Regent was out of a job and mined gold output was still rising. Indeed, it hit a record 3,133 metric tons last year.

Yet predictions of peak gold are again in vogue. It remains doubtful, however, that this heralds much elevation for the gold price.

Gold production may be plateauing: precious metals consultancy Metals Focus expects a slight fall in output this year. A decadelong rise in the gold price from 2001 fueled indiscriminate investment but miners have slashed spending since 2013. Substantial new mines, like Barrick’s Pascua Lama in Chile, have been halted and exploration efforts scaled back.

The industry has been in survival mode, argues Randgold boss Mark Bristow. Companies have tapped higher-grade resources to boost production, service debt and stay in business. But that hurts long-term production, while efforts to cut costs can also reduce the lifespan of mines.

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NEWS RELEASE: Agnico Eagle Pledges $1 Million Gift to Historic Cobalt Legacy Fund

(L to R) James D. Nasso, Chairman of Agnico Eagle; Tina Sartoretto, Mayor of Cobalt; Sean Boyd, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Agnico Eagle
(L to R) James D. Nasso, Chairman of Agnico Eagle Mines; Tina Sartoretto, Mayor of Cobalt; Sean Boyd, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Agnico Eagle Mines

http://www.agnicoeagle.com/

Fund to Support the Preservation of Cobalt’s Historical Past and Cultural Heritage

Cobalt, Ontario; June 4, 2015 – Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM; TSX:AEM) (“Agnico Eagle” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has pledged a $1 Million Gift to the Historic Cobalt Legacy Fund. The announcement was made earlier today in the Town of Cobalt at a ceremony honouring former employees of Agnico Eagle’s Cobalt silver division.

Former Agnico Eagle silver division employees gathered in Cobalt, Ontario for a plaque dedication ceremony in honour of all of Agnico’s former silver division employees who helped to transform Agnico Eagle into a leading international gold company.
Former Agnico Eagle silver division employees gathered in Cobalt, Ontario for a plaque dedication ceremony in honour of all of Agnico’s former silver division employees who helped to transform Agnico Eagle into a leading international gold company.

“We are very pleased to make this contribution in honour of Agnico Eagle’s founder Paul Penna, as well as on behalf of all the men and women whose commitment, perseverance and spirit helped to transform Agnico Eagle into a leading international gold mining company”, said Sean Boyd, Agnico Eagle’s Chief Executive Officer. “Cobalt is the foundation of our Company and as many of our former silver division employees remain in the region, they will continue to benefit from the preservation of these important cultural and community organizations.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Gold mining industry contributed over US$171 billion to global economy according to World Gold Council

http://www.gold.org/

Click here for the report: http://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-social-and-economic-impacts-of-gold-mining-june2015.pdf

3rd June 2015 – A new report released today from the World Gold Council, produced in association with Maxwell Stamp, a leading international economics consultancy, reveals that the gold mining industry directly contributed around US$83.1 billion to the global economy in 2013.

Once the indirect economic impact is taken into account, this figure increases to US$171.6 billion. The social and economic impacts of gold mining report builds on previous research, including studies by the World Gold Council, to provide an understanding of the socio-economic impacts of the commercial gold mining industry at both a global, national and host community level.

The report’s analysis of the impacts of large-scale commercial gold mining in 47 gold producing countries (accounting for over 90% of the world’s gold production) shows that gold mining companies in total contributed over US$171 billion to the global economy in 2013 when the value created by support services and indirect employment is taken into consideration.

Globally, gold mining companies directly employed over one million people in 2013, with over three million more people employed as a result of the industry’s suppliers and support services.

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Aureus Mining starts gold production in Liberia in shadow of Ebola crisis – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – June 2, 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.

Aureus Mining Inc. has survived the Ebola crisis to produce its first gold in Liberia, the West African country that had no gold mine until the Canadian company arrived.

Aureus, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on London’s AIM market, poured the first gold from its New Liberty open pit mine in Liberia’s northwest Friday evening. The $172-million (U.S.) mining project will be in full production in the autumn, when it will become one of the desperately poor country’s largest private employers.

David Reading, 59, the company’s Canadian-trained, British chief executive officer, said he was worried at one point that the Ebola crisis would doom the company’s Liberia plans. Liberia was one of the countries hit hardest by Ebola last year, with 10,666 reported cases and 4,806 deaths by the end of February, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“You go through sleepless nights as management,” Mr. Reading said. “If we stop everything, the company would go bankrupt. But if we keep going and we lose someone, we’d never forgive ourselves.”

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TMAC Resources Inc launches $105 million IPO – by Peter Koven (National Post – June 2, 2015)

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

TORONTO — Canada’s initial public offering craze is finally seeping into the mining sector, as TMAC Resources Inc. has launched the sector’s first significant IPO in many months.

The Toronto-based company, which is named after its well-known executive chairman Terry MacGibbon, is planning to raise $105 million, according to a preliminary prospectus filed with regulators. TMAC’s underwriters plan to sell 52.5 million shares at $2 each, with an option to sell up to 7.875 million additional shares if demand is strong enough. The stock will list on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

TMAC owns the Hope Bay project in Nunavut, a massive undeveloped gold deposit. U.S. gold giant Newmont Mining Corp. acquired the project for $1.5 billion in 2007, but was never able to put forward a good development plan and eventually wrote it down. That paved the way for TMAC, an upstart company, to acquire it in 2013.

Last month, TMAC completed a pre-feasibility study on Hope Bay that projected a capital cost for the project of $206 million. The study found that the mine would have a net present value of $626 million at a gold price of US$1,250 an ounce.

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Nevada mining innovates and endures – by Dana R. Bennett (Elko Daily Free Press – June 1, 2015)

http://elkodaily.com/

Dana R. Bennett is the Nevada Mining Association President.

Nevada mining is dynamic—an evolving industry that changes over time. From our 21st century perspective, after many years of solid gold production numbers, it can be hard to imagine a time when gold was not the preeminent mineral in Nevada. There was a time – a long period of time – when gold mining was essentially dying in this state.

In 1942, the U.S. War Production Board ordered the closure of non-essential gold mines in order to concentrate the production of minerals needed for the war effort. Some Nevada mines closed completely, but some, such as the Getchell Mine in Humboldt County, were able to remain open by focusing on the production of industrial minerals.

After World War II ended and gold mines were allowed to open, Nevada’s gold industry was slow to recover. Production continued to decline. Nearly 20 years after the federal government order, Nevada’s gold production dropped to the second-lowest point in all of Nevada history.

Instead, Nevada’s mining industry focused on industrial minerals, producing iron, lead, manganese, tungsten and zinc in the early 1950s. Lander County produced world-renowned turquoise. By 1957, however, even the industrial mineral industry began to slide.

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China plans to create US$16 billion gold stockpile to help drive new Silk Road – by Andrew Critchlow (The Telegraph/Financial Post – May 27, 2015)

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

China plans to establish a US$16 billion gold fund to stockpile the precious metal, in a move expected to provide a jolt to flagging prices.

State-endorsed media in China has reported that Shandong Gold Group and Shaanxi Gold Group will take stakes of 35 per cent and 25 per cent respectively in the new fund alongside other investors, as part of a scheme known as the “Silk Road” initiative aimed at boosting trade.

The new entity, which may include an exchange-traded fund for gold and investments in miners of the precious metal, aims to raise the US$16 billion in three tranches, according to the report.

News of the fund could restore some impetus to the gold market, which has been struggling to offset the growing strength of the US dollar. Gold fell below the psychologically important $1,200 per ounce level at the start of the week as traders bet on the timing of an expected rate rise by the US Federal Reserve this summer.

China is the largest producer and consumer of the precious metal, playing a significant role in determining the overall direction of the gold market. According to the World Gold Council’s latest market analysis, jewellery demand in China fell by 10 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter as slowing economic growth hit consumer sentiment in the world’s second-largest economy.

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The road to recovery for Ontario’s mining sector is paved in gold – by Robert Spence (Mining Global.com – May 28, 2015)

http://www.miningglobal.com/

Ontario is one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. In recent years, the jurisdiction has been in a downturn.

The province, which is home to more than 40 operating mines, is the largest producer of gold, nickel, copper and platinum metals in Canada. Ontario’s mineral production is valued at $9.2 billion with more than $4 billion annually invested in research and development (R&D), exploration, construction and equipment.

In a recent article by NorthernLife.ca, industry stakeholders agreed that Ontario is falling behind as a mining jurisdiction. The article spotlights that while the province has shifted its focus to the Ring of Fire, which many believe is moving slower than anticipated, key figures see the government neglecting other parts of the province.

“All we hear about is the Ring of Fire. Let me explain something about the Ring of Fire. It’s not the only thing going on in this province. I’m sick to death of it,” said Gino Chitaroni, president of the Northern Prospectors Association.

“We have a lot of projects out there that could be economic very shortly, but we have to encourage them,” Chitaroni said. “I don’t see it happening.”

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S. Africa Plans $124 Million Payout for Lung-Diseased Miners – by Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – May 29, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

South Africa plans 1.5 billion rand ($124 million) of payouts from a compensation fund for miners suffering from lung diseases that affect about 700,000 people, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.

Companies including AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the world’s third-biggest miner of the metal, are participating in the project rolled out by the Department of Health to unblock a backlog of 500,000 claims. Compensation will apply to sufferers of tuberculosis, silicosis, and other illnesses, Motsoaledi said. Workers from other countries are also eligible to apply, he said.

“Our goal is to compensate current and ex-mineworkers who have submitted valid and compensable claims,” he told reporters in Carletonville, a gold-mining town 86 kilometers (53 miles) west of Johannesburg. “I’m here to pay back the money.”

Silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling dust from mines, causes scar tissue in the lungs, increasing vulnerability to tuberculosis that can kill more than half of sufferers if not properly treated. South Africa is source of about a third of all gold yet produced globally and the continent’s biggest coal producer.

Separately, lawyers representing sufferers of silicosis say companies including AngloGold and Harmony Gold Mining Co. are to blame for workers catching the disease because they operated without adequate ventilation for the past 60 years.

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Can John Thornton save Barrick Gold? – by Racheelle Younglai (Globe and Mail/Report On Business Magazine – May 29, 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.

A floor of empty cubicles is what’s left of Barrick Gold Corp.’s boom years. A lone whiteboard leans against a chair, the last vestige of hundreds of people who worked at the miner’s Toronto headquarters when gold was hurtling toward $1,900 an ounce (all currency in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted).

The world’s biggest gold producer—one of Canada’s few global champions and formerly the envy of the mining industry—is on a desperate mission to recapture its magic after years of dismal results, humiliating missteps and rock-bottom investor confidence. Its share price on the NYSE is not much higher than where it was two decades ago.

The three-year slump in bullion prices to around $1,200 an ounce has devastated the industry. Mines that used to be profitable are now bleeding cash. In these conditions, Barrick’s every blunder—an ill-timed foray into copper, an attempt to build a mountaintop mine in the Andes—is exposed on its balance sheet, particularly in one remarkable number: Debt stands at $13 billion.

The company is vowing to cut that figure by at least $3 billion by the end of this year, even if it has to sell an heirloom or two to get there. A slew of top-rank Barrick veterans are gone and the company’s charismatic founder, Peter Munk, retired as chairman in April, 2014.

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Barrick investors welcome Chinese tie-up, debt reduction moves – by Nicole Mordant and Euan Rocha (Reuters U.S. – May 26, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

VANCOUVER/TORONTO – Barrick Gold Corp’s first step to long-promised partnerships with China, as well as progress in reaching an ambitious debt-cutting goal, are turning skeptical investors warmer toward the world’s biggest gold miner.

Barrick said on Tuesday it would sell a stake in its Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea mine to China’s Zijin Mining Group, and form a strategic partnership with Zijin. The moves marked an initial push in Executive Chairman John Thornton’s plan to forge closer ties with China, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of gold.

The former Goldman Sachs executive’s radical overhaul since taking Barrick’s reins a year ago, including eliminating the position of chief executive, had raised eyebrows among investors. Many also complained about his outsized signing bonus, lack of access, and most recently his 36 percent pay rise.

But a clearer strategy unveiled in February to slash Toronto-based Barrick’s mountain of debt, while seeking close links with China, looks to be winning approval.

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