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Gold and Silver

Mexican gold mines beset by robberies, kidnappings – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – April 9, 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.

For the third time this year, gold miners in Mexico have come under attack, highlighting the perils of mining in the country.

McEwen Mining Inc. became the latest victim, when armed robbers looted about $8.4-million (U.S.) worth of gold this week from the Canadian miner’s refinery in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

The Toronto-based company said none of its employees were seriously injured, nor were its facilities damaged, when the approximately 900 kilograms of gold ore was stolen. The ore is expected to contain 7,000 ounces of gold, but it is unclear how the thieves will process the rocks.

The robbery comes about a month after four of Goldcorp Inc.’s Mexican employees went missing after leaving the company’s Los Filos mine. Three of the four have since been found dead, the Canadian company said. A Reuters report said the bodies were found in a mass grave and showed signs of torture. The fourth employee was released with minor injuries.

The kidnappings took place in Guerrero, a southern Mexican state where 43 students were seized en route to a protest last year and are presumed murdered.

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Mining the depths of frustration in Halkidiki [Greece] – by Yannis Palaiologos (Ekathimerini.com – April 9, 2015)

http://www.ekathimerini.com/

Eldorado Gold CEO Paul Wright talks to Kathimerini about the Canadian firm’s major investment in Greece and the difficulties it is facing

“I have never encountered anything like it.” Paul Wright, chief executive officer of Hellas Gold’s parent company Eldorado Gold, has difficulty understanding the quagmire in which the firm’s large investment in Halkidiki has found itself.

In an interview with Kathimerini, Wright says that the project in northern Greece bolsters employment, exports and tax revenues for the Greek state during what is a very difficult period. He also points out that the project has survived a number of court challenges. “And yet the government wants to stop it.”

We met at the company’s Athens headquarters. Wright was visiting the country for a third time since the January election in a bid to reach some sort of understanding with the new government. Despite efforts made by the company, as well as Canada’s government, his contacts with Greek government officials have proved difficult.

“It is uncertain what the government’s intentions are. We are receiving mixed signals. There has been interference, negative statements about the investment,” he said. Have there also been some positive signals?

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Taking a closer look at mining’s economic impact in Elko, Nevada (Barrick Beyond Borders – April 08, 2015)

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

There are 670 mining vendors in Elko County alone, according to the Nevada Mining Association. At 53,000, the county’s population has climbed 7.5 percent since 2010 and 15 percent since 2002. Between 2003 and 2013, the gold-mining industry added 3,600 jobs across Elko, Lander, White Pine and Eureka Counties. Another 1,360 mine industry support jobs were added during the same period.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nevada’s unemployment rate is 7.1 percent as of October 2014. According to the same source, Elko County’s unemployment rate is 4.4 percent as of September 2014, down from 6.3 percent in February of 2014.

Below are a few vignettes that offer snapshots of mining’s impact in this Nevada community.

A carnival-like atmosphere

A new store opening isn’t a major event in big cities, but it is in rural America. So when a Jo-Ann Fabrics opened in Elko in late 2011, the local radio and television stations were both on hand to cover the event and so, it seemed, was half the population of northeast Nevada. That may be a slight exaggeration. But the new Jo-Ann’s in the Elko Junction Shopping Center did enjoy the largest grand opening in the history of the company. Within two months, a Rue21 and Famous Footwear had opened at Elko Junction and also reported record grand openings.

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Primero Mining CEO Sees Black Fox Fix Clearing Way for Expansion – by Christopher DonvilleLiezel Hill (Bloomberg News – April 2, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Primero Mining Corp. says a fix of its troublesome Black Fox gold mine in Canada is within reach, restoring the miner’s credibility for investors while clearing the way for future expansion through acquisitions.

The Toronto-based company, which has fallen 45 percent in the past year, expects to show signs of improved performance at the northern Ontario mine this year, Chief Executive Officer Joe Conway said. In July, the company cut its gold-reserve estimate at Black Fox, which it acquired in a takeover last year to add to output from its flagship San Dimas gold and silver mine in Mexico.

“The reality is we’re very much focused on demonstrating to the investment community that we’ve turned Black Fox to account,” Conway, 57, said in a phone interview.

Analysts, at least, are giving the former CEO of Iamgold Corp. the benefit of the doubt. With 15 buy, one sell and two hold ratings on Primero, they project the share price will rise at least 50 percent in the next 12 months, based on target prices compiled by Bloomberg. They also estimate the company’s per-share cash flow will expand faster than most of its Canadian peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Black Fox really drives the bus” in terms of expectations for the share price, Joe Fazzini, a Toronto-based analyst at Dundee Capital Markets, said by phone.

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Hollinger open pit taking shape – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – April 4, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Goldcorp has asked for, and has received permission, from Timmins city hall to extend the deadline for the Subsequent Land Use Plan — that’s the land reclamation plan on what will be created to replace the Hollinger open pit, once the mining has ended. City council recently approved the request, to allow Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM) push the deadline back from March 31, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2015.

This also means that the deadline for the final plan is being pushed back to the end of 2017. This is the second time the company has asked for an extension. Originally, the plan was to have been submitted by Nov. 11, 2014. Last fall, Goldcorp requested the first deadline extension to have a plan submitted March 31, 2015.

PGM was back at the council table just a couple of weeks ago to explain that things were not going along as quickly as anticipated. PGM general mines manager Brendan Zuidema told council the company has faced some delays and challenges.

“We have experienced several unexpected delays since signing the original agreement on Nov. 12, 2012, along with many other operational challenges caused by the worst weather we have experienced in many years,” said Zuidema. “Last year and this year, it has been pretty tough in the pit.

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Barrick open to sell-offs and joint ventures in debt drive – by James Wilson (Financial Times – April 5, 2015)

http://www.ft.com/intl/companies/mining

Barrick Gold is open to a wide range of asset sales and joint ventures as it tries to cut debt by $3bn and rebuild its reputation with investors, its chairman has told the Financial Times.

In his first interview since taking over as chairman almost 12 months ago, John Thornton, pictured below, said he could imagine Barrick ceding operational control of some assets — for example to Mick Davis, the former Xstrata chief executive who plans to re-enter the mining sector at the head of a private equity vehicle.

Barrick would also bring long-term investors into a group of its mines as minority partners, Mr Thornton said.

“There is a lot of incoming inquiries . . . of all kinds of stripes and sizes. We feel confident about hitting the $3bn number,” he said.

Mr Thornton’s comments show the range of options being considered to turn round Barrick, still the world’s largest gold miner by volume but one of the worst-performing large miners of the past two years. Barrick, which has a $13bn market capitalisation, has been hit by steep falls in the price of the precious metal and has suffered billions of dollars of writedowns since 2012 on poor acquisitions and stalled projects.

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Harte Gold has eyes on 2016 production – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 7, 2015)

Stephen Roman, president-CEO of Harte Gold, could bring the first new gold mine in Hemlo into production in 30 years.(Photo by Stan Sudol)
Stephen Roman, president-CEO of Harte Gold, could bring the first new gold mine in Hemlo into production in 30 years. (Photo by Stan Sudol)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

If all goes according to plan, Harte Gold could soon be commissioning the first new mine in the Hemlo gold belt in 30 years. President and CEO Stephen Roman said the high-grade deposit at the company’s Sugar Zone property has open-ended potential that could lead to a new gold camp in northeastern Ontario.

“The project’s really ready to go now,” said Roman, whose Toronto-based junior has a permit in hand to take a massive 70,000-tonne bulk sample by the middle of this year.

The Sugar Zone Property is 60 kilometres east of the Hemlo area gold mines and about 25 km north of White River off the Trans-Canada Highway. Roman comes from good mining stock. His father, Stephen B. Roman, a Canadian Mining Hall of Famer, steered Denison Mines in Elliot Lake for 35 years. But the younger Stephen G. Roman is already a well-established name in Northern Ontario mining circles.

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Mining Documentary: Yamashita’s Gold – World War Two History

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Yamashita’s gold, also referred to as the Yamashita treasure, is the name given to the alleged war loot stolen in Southeast Asia by Japanese forces during World War II and hidden in caves, tunnels and underground complexes in the Philippines. It is named for the Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita, nicknamed “The Tiger of Malaya”. Though accounts that the treasure remains hidden in the Philippines have lured treasure hunters from around the world for over fifty years, its existence is dismissed by most experts.[1][2] The rumored treasure has been the subject of a complex lawsuit that was filed in a Hawaiian state court in 1988 involving a Filipino treasure hunter, Rogelio Roxas, and the former Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos.[3]

The looting and the alleged cover-up[edit]

Prominent among those arguing for the existence of Yamashita’s gold are Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave, who have written two books relating to the subject: The Yamato Dynasty: the Secret History of Japan’s Imperial Family (2000) and Gold Warriors: America’s Secret Recovery of Yamashita’s Gold (2003). The Seagraves contend that looting was organized on a massive scale, by both yakuza gangsters such as Yoshio Kodama, and the highest levels of Japanese society, including Emperor Hirohito.[4]

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[Rouyn-Noranda Horn mine] Shuttered mine in Abitibi may live again – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – March 30, 2015)

http://montrealgazette.com/

A team of mining engineers and geologists is determined to relaunch the historic Horne mine in northern Quebec, which produced 11.6 million ounces of gold and 2.5 billion pounds of copper from 1927 to 1976, when reserves ran dry.

They believe the Horne 5 deposit, located immediately below the old Horne mine workings, holds reserves that could make it one of Canada’s top gold-silver-copper producers.

Their company, Falco Resources Ltd., in 2012 acquired a 100-per-cent interest in 74,000 hectares and effective control over most of the historic Noranda mining camp at Rouyn-Noranda, the Abitibi regional centre 630 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

Last year, Horne 5 exploration showed an initial inferred mineral resource of 2.8 million ounces, with an average grade of 3.4 grams per tonne of ore. An initial mine information report was based mainly on pre-1976 drilling data generated by Noranda geologists.

This year Falco plans 16,000 metres of drilling down to about 1,500 metres to confirm existing data and assess Horne 5’s silver content. Metallurgical tests will show new mineral recovery rates and studies will begin into hydrology (the old mine may have to be dewatered), ore hoisting and rock mechanics.

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B.C.’s Brucejack gold mine approved; first since Mount Polley tailings dam failure – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – March 29, 2015)

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Mine will not use a dam to store waste

The B.C. government has approved Pretium’s $450-million Brucejack gold mine, the first mine approved since the collapse of the Mount Polley mine tailings dam last year.

Construction of the mine, about 275 km northwest of Smithers, is expected to begin this summer and it is to be in commercial production by 2017. The project will create 500 jobs during the two-year construction period and 300 permanent jobs during its 16-year life.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines said the mine, unlike Imperial Metal’s Mount Polley gold and copper mine, will not have a facility to store mine waste held back with an earth-and-rock dam.

The failure of the Mount Polley earth dam last summer released millions of cubic metres of water and finely-ground rock containing potentially-toxic metals (called tailings) into the Quesnel watershed in the B.C. Interior.

It has raised concerns on the long-term effects of the spill on millions of spawning salmon and other aquatic life, and has led to intense scrutiny of tailings dams in B.C.

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PRECIOUS-Gold hits 3-1/2 week high as Yemen air strikes rattle markets – by Jan Harvey (Reuters U.S. – March 26, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) – Gold rallied to a 3-1/2 week high on Thursday and silver rose nearly 3 percent as escalating tensions in the Middle East knocked stocks and the dollar and drove investors into assets seen as lower risk, like bullion and German bonds.

European stocks tumbled 1.3 percent, the dollar fell and oil prices leapt 6 percent after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies launched air strikes in Yemen to counter Iran-allied forces besieging the southern city of Aden.

Spot gold hit a peak of $1,219.40 an ounce and was up 1.2 percent at $1,210.30 at 1028 GMT, while U.S. gold futures for April delivery were up $12.70 an ounce at $1,209.70.

That extended a rally in gold to a seventh session, its longest winning streak since 2012. Soft U.S. data earlier this week boosted expectations the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates low for the time being, lifting gold.

“Overnight we have seen risk aversion because of what’s going on in the Middle East, and the dollar is weak, because data has been weaker,” ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said. “The combination of dollar weakness and risk aversion is normally one where gold should do well.”

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Ivory Coast to clamp down on illegal gold mining – by Joe Bavier (Reuters India – March 24, 2015)

http://in.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Ivory Coast launched an operation on Monday to shut down hundreds of illegal gold mining sites blamed for violence, unregulated immigration and environmental destruction, the defence and mining ministers said.

The West African nation is recovering from a decade-long political crisis that ended in a brief 2011 civil war, and the government is now seeking to develop the mining sector as part of efforts to diversify the economy.

Informal, unregulated gold mining became rampant during the years of turmoil due to the absence of state authority, particularly in the rebel-occupied north.

Minister of Industry and Mines Jean-Claude Brou said the operations, which will be carried out by gendarmes, will begin by dismantling 148 illegal mining sites identified in Ivory Coast’s northern and central regions. They will be extended to the eastern and western regions later in April.

“Once we’ve cleaned things up, those who want to work will come to the administration and seek authorisation. We’ll give them training,” he told journalists in the commercial capital Abidjan. Brou said that, while laws exist to regulate the informal gold mining sector, there were no such permits currently active.

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Yellen Gives Gold Bulls Biggest Rally on Rates Since January – by Lydia Mulvany (Bloombeg News – March 22, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Janet Yellen gave gold bulls a gift when she signaled policy makers aren’t rushing to raise interest rates. Gold had its biggest weekly gain in two months on the prospect that U.S. rates will stay lower for longer. The value of assets in exchange-traded funds backed by bullion rose by $736 million, also the most since January.

The dollar had the steepest weekly slide since 2011 after Federal Reserve Chair Yellen and her colleagues cut their forecast on U.S. rates March 18. That revived interest in gold, which generally offers returns only through price gains. Some money managers misjudged the move, cutting their net-long position in gold futures to the lowest level since 2013 the day before the Fed statement.

“The market sentiment is that the Fed is going to take it easy, and that’s why the dollar has stopped gaining and gold moved up,” Donald Selkin, who helps manage about $3 billion as chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. in New York, said by phone March 20. “All of the experts got bearish right at the bottom.”

Gold futures, which jumped 2.8 percent to $1,184.60 an ounce last week, traded 0.1 percent lower at $1,183 on Monday. The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 raw materials rose 2 percent last week, as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 2.2 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 3.2 percent.

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TMAC aims to revive mothballed western Nunavut gold mine project (Nunatsiaq News – March 19, 2015)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

“The Doris North project is expected to change status from care and maintenance in 2015”

Two years after acquiring the Hope Bay gold mine project in western Nunavut from Newmont Mining Corp.,TMAC Resources Inc.says it plans to bring part of the mine complex out of mothballs in 2015.

TMAC owners said last September that they wanted to see their mine at Hope Bay, located 120 kilometres south of Cambridge Bay on the mainland, operating by 2020. On March 18, they told the Nunavut Impact Review Board that “the Doris North project is expected to change status from care and maintenance in 2015.”

That came in an update on a project certificate for the Doris North Mine, one of several sites on the TMAC property. This new timeline is considerably slower than the first envisioned by TMAC in 2013, which promoted an “aggressive timeline” to get the mine into production in 2015.

Now the plan is to build a mine that will be “multi-generational” — that is, with more gold resources and a longer lifespan than the earlier forecast period of 10 years.

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Gold price set to soar in ‘Asian century’ – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Herald – March 18, 2015)

http://www.smh.com.au/

The liberalisation of Asia’s financial system and the growing wealth of its populations are expected to boost demand for gold and push the price of the key commodity over $US2400 an ounce by 2030, ANZ predicts.

In a report titled East to El Dorado: Asia and the future of gold, released on Wednesday, ANZ said Asian gold demand would develop steadily as the emerging region’s consumption patterns began to more closely resemble those of developed nations.

The bank estimated annual retail and investor demand for the precious metal in the 10 largest economies in Asia, which it dubbed “the A10” – China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – could double to 5000 tonnes within 15 years.

ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan told Fairfax Media several fundamental economic arguments detailed in the report strongly refuted claims the gold price was on a downward trajectory.

Mr Hogan said increasingly higher incomes in the A10 would mean more gold jewellery would be purchased, noting that China would form the backbone of gold demand going forward. Despite total demand having risen significantly in recent years, on a per capita basis, China remained well behind most developed markets.

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