(Bloomberg) — Barrick Gold Corp.’s top executive says it’s not just Saudi Arabia interested in his company’s massive copper project in Pakistan — some major mining companies are, too.
The Canadian miner’s $7 billion Reko Diq project in Balochistan — a region bordering Afghanistan and Iran — boasts one of the world’s largest copper deposits and could become a major source of the wiring metal.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/
EL CALLAO, Venezuela: At 10-years-old, Martin cannot read, but he is an old hand at detecting traces of the gold he and his young cousins dig for at an open-pit mine in south-eastern Venezuela. In the town of El Callao, extracting gold from soil starts as a kid’s game, but soon becomes a full-time job that human rights activists slam as dangerous exploitation.
Small and agile, the children’s size helps them shimmy into narrow wells to hack out muddy earth, hoping it will contain gold – which has become ever more precious as Venezuela’s oil production has plummeted.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
‘The value of Qamanirjuaq herd to Kivalliq Inuit cannot be underestimated’: NTI
The first few days of a final public hearing on a Nunavut mine’s proposal to extend its project heard repeated concerns about how those changes would affect caribou.
The answer to those concerns, for the most part, is unknown. That’s because the project includes a proposal to create a wind farm to power the mine, the first of its kind in Nunavut. Qamanirjuaq caribou in the Kivalliq, as hunters speaking at the hearing pointed out, have never encountered wind turbines.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/
The new owner of the copper and gold mine on the Baie Verte Peninsula arrived in the area this week to inspect his purchase. The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador approved the sale of the property to Australian junior mining company Auteco, after former owner Rambler Metals and Mining entered bankruptcy protection last spring.
“We’re really focused on Canada,” said CEO Darren Cooke. “We’ve been looking around Canada for different assets that we believe have a huge potential to grow and obviously we came across the opportunity at Baie Verte and really liked what we saw in terms of the potential to to have a a major copper project in such a great jurisdiction like Newfoundland.”
https://www.northernminer.com/
The discrepancy between mining company valuations and commodity prices is at its worst levels in decades, the Precious Metals Summit in Colorado heard this week.
“This is probably the worst disconnect I’ve seen in over 20 years,” Haytham Hodaly, senior vice-president for corporate development for streaming pioneer Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM; NYSE: WPM), told the conference.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Peter Marrone, former Yamana Gold Inc. executive chairman, is back at the helm of a Canadian precious-metals producer after putting US$30-million of his own money into Africa-focused Allied Gold Corp.
Allied went public earlier this week on the Toronto Stock Exchange after a reverse takeover and a US$267-million private placement financing anchored by Mr. Marrone and four other former members of Yamana’s management team.
The Mining Minds podcast crew recently went to the Nevada Gold Mines offices in Elko to visit with Mark Bristow, the president and chief executive office of Barrick Gold Corp. Barrick is the operator and 61.5% owner of Nevada Gold Mines, and Newmont owns 38.5%.
Bristow took the podcast listeners on a journey through his life story and the challenges and successes along the way. He grew up in South Africa and was always involved in sports and athletics – “I’ve run more than 200 standard marathons.” There were a lot of political changes going on in the country. He was conscripted into the military at the peak of apartheid.
Silver and sulphur-containing amino acids are the main components of a new antibacterial gel that is said to be a hundred times more effective than similar products.
A paper published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B states that the proposed medication is cheap, non-toxic and easy to synthesize, which means it could potentially be used to cure hospital-acquired infections.
https://www.mining-technology.com/
The Blood Gold Report will explore the extent to which Africa’s gold trade is funding Russian violence.
International researchers and human rights activists have established a joint investigation into the role western mining companies play in funding violence in Africa’s gold trade.
The Blood Gold Report research programme will explore deals between western mining companies, authoritarian African governments and Russian mercenaries including the paramilitary organisation, the Wagner Group. The research will initially focus on Mali, a resource-rich nation where the ruling junta is currently propped up by Russian mercenaries.
First Majestic Silver Corp. has announced the launch of its 100%-owned and operated minting facility, First Mint, LLC, in Las Vegas, Nevada. First Mint will expand upon First Majestic’s existing bullion sales through vertically integrating the production of investment-grade fine silver bullion. First Majestic said this will make it possible to sell a substantially greater portion of its silver production directly to its shareholders and bullion customers.
First Majestic owns and operates the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine, the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine and the La Encantada Silver Mine in Mexico, and the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine north of Elko where mining operations are currently suspended as exploration and mine evaluation continues.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Agnico Eagle proposes to install wind turbines, extend mine life by 11 years
Meetings on a proposal that could change the future of Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine gold mine get underway in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Tuesday. The Nunavut Impact Review board will host technical meetings and a site visit followed by a community roundtable that will run until Sept. 20.
the Meliadine gold mine lies about 25 kilometres north of Rankin Inlet and 80 kilometres southwest of Chesterfield Inlet. It was first approved in 2015. The proposal now under review would extend the life of the mine by 11 years, until 2043.
https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/
Kirkland Lake-based Agnico Eagle Mines celebrated the opening of its No. 4 Shaft at its Macassa Mine on Wednesday, which is expected to boost production and cut costs. To celebrate that milestone — and the mine’s 90th anniversary – the company announced it’s donating $3 million to the Canadian Cancer Society.
The donation will support “people living in rural and remote communities in northern Ontario by providing access to cancer prevention programs and support services to help them navigate through a cancer experience following a diagnosis,” Agnico said in a news release.
Shift to non-traditional mining locations required to give investors the high returns they expect, he says
After selling Yamana Gold Inc. in March, a company Peter Marrone founded two decades ago, some expected the 63-year-old mining executive to take up fishing since he had never played golf, or, at the very least, take some time off before his next business venture.
But barely weeks after selling Yamana for US$4.8 billion to Canadian mining rivals Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. and Pan American Silver Corp. in March, Marrone jumped at the opportunity to head a mining company with gold-producing assets in Mali, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Industry financier Frank Giustra’s first foray into gold exploration struck it big Tuesday, reporting bonanza gold grades of more than a kilogram per tonne at its Rowan property in the fabled Red Lake Camp of Ontario.
West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG; US-OTC: WRLGF) reported Tuesday that hole RLG-23-163B cut 70.8 grams gold per tonne over 8.3 meters, including a segment of 0.5-meter grading 1,120.19 grams gold per tonne.
This week Bill, as a tourist, takes us to Red Lake – like other Northern Ontario communities it has its share of gems
When you leave home and travel a short distance away from your usual routine you become a tourist. When you poke around you find interesting stops as you, yet again, visit another Northern Ontario community.
One example is Red Lake a long way to go almost at the end of the road. There is the natural and cultural heritage of the area, the real gems to be found and appreciated on the back roads and waters. There is more than a handful of “neat things” to discover.
