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Fears grow about Reko Diq Gold mines…Baloch senator says deal offered to China; government denies – by Shaheen Sehbai ([Pakistan] The News International – August 28, 2013)

http://www.thenews.com.pk/

WASHINGTON: While major world mining and investment companies are preparing to invest big time, big money in Balochistan, specially in the mining sector, suspicions and doubts that the biggest gold mine of Reko Diq may be quietly handed over to China as part of the growing economic ties are also coming to the fore.

Official and business circles have been wondering for some time what will happen to the multi-hundred billion dollar Reko Diq gold and copper mines after the world’s largest mining company, Barrick Gold of Canada, was thrown out of Pakistan by the Supreme Court of Pakistan during the PPP regime.

But after the recent visit of high level government delegation to China and a flurry of quick MoUs and super-paced exchange of visits, an important leader from Balochistan, former Senator Sana Baloch has alleged publicly that the government has promised these mines to China in a year or so.

While the Government leaders strongly denied any deal or any promise made during the Beijing visit, an official Pakistan Government statement assuring that the Reko Diq mines will be given to the highest bidder in an international tender is still awaited.

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH NEWS RELEASE: Tanzania: Hazardous Life of Child Gold Miners AUGUST 28, 2013


http://www.hrw.org/home

Government, World Bank, Donors Should Address Child Labor in Mines

Click here for full report: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/tanzania0813_ForUpload_0.pdf

(Dar Es Salaam) – Children as young as eight years old are working in Tanzanian small-scale gold mines, with grave risks to their health and even their lives, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Tanzanian government should curb child labor in small-scale mining, including at informal, unlicensed mines, and the World Bank and donor countries should support these efforts.

The 96-page report, “Toxic Toil: Child Labor and Mercury Exposure in Tanzania’s Small-Scale Gold Mines,”describes how thousandsof children work in licensed and unlicensed small-scale gold mines in Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer. They dig and drill in deep, unstable pits, work underground for shifts of up to 24 hours, and transport and crush heavy bags of gold ore. Children risk injury from pit collapses and accidents with tools, as well as long-term health damage from exposure to mercury, breathing dust, and carrying heavy loads. A 17-year-old boy who survived a pit accident told Human Rights Watch, “I thought I was dead, I was so frightened.”

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NEWS RELEASE: A Letter from Brigus Gold’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

HALIFAX, Aug. 27, 2013 /CNW/ – (NYSE MKT: BRD; TSX: BRD)

Dear Fellow Shareholders:

Given the recent volatility of the precious metals markets, I would like to share my perspective on what’s occurred in the sector, while reviewing our progress at Brigus and outlining our strategy and outlook for the quarters ahead.

The second quarter saw a precipitous drop in precious metal prices, including gold’s one day dip of ~9% in April. Lower gold prices led to reduced financial results for gold mining companies compared to the previous quarter, and a significant reduction in the valuation and equity prices for virtually all gold mining companies, including Brigus.

Since hitting a 46 month low of $1,179 on June 27th, spot gold prices have now rebounded to the $1,400 level and equity prices are also beginning to recover. Investor sentiment for the sector, having reached extreme negative levels, is in the process of reverting to a more reasonable range.

Regardless of the short term volatility over the past few months, we at Brigus remain steadfast in our belief that gold will continue to play a very important role as a store of value for investors. We believe high quality gold mining companies will prove to be a worthwhile investment for years to come.

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Centerra reports ‘progress’ in talks over Kumtor mine in Kyrgyzstan – by Peter Koven (National Post – August 24, 2013)

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

TORONTO – After months of political turmoil, Centerra Gold Inc. may finally be closing in on a resolution to one of the mining industry’s most volatile disputes. Reports out of Kyrgyzstan suggest the government and Centerra are nearing agreement on a joint venture to operate the Kumtor mine. The Kyrgyz prime minister said they are discussing a 50-50 split of the project, according to one report.

Centerra cautioned that no deal has been reached, and warned investors not to speculate on the potential terms of a settlement. However, it indicated that talks with the government over its flagship mine are going well. The two sides have been discussing a transaction that would convert the government’s 32.7% stake in Centerra into a direct stake in the project.

“Centerra believes that progress has been made in those discussions,” the company said in a statement Friday. A settlement would be a relief for investors, who have feared the prospect of outright nationalization of Kumtor for more than a year.

The trouble started in June of last year, when a Kyrgyz parliamentary commission released an 800-page report on Kumtor that accused Toronto-based Centerra of massive environmental destruction.

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Environmental review wraps up for New Prosperity mine (Canadian Press/CBC News Business (August 23, 2013)

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

Open pit gold and and copper mine to be located 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake

It’s the tenth largest undeveloped gold-copper deposit in the world — at least nine-million wedding rings’ worth — and for half a century since its discovery, the deposit has remained buried among the pristine lakes and mountains of British Columbia’s wild Chilcotin region.

Opponents of a billion-dollar plan to develop the site want it to stay that way. The company behind the proposal that has already been rejected once says it has a new plan that will save a lake of cultural significance to First Nations — contrary to the original plan — and put millions of dollars into provincial coffers.

Public hearings on the New Prosperity mine proposal wrap up today following five weeks of hearings in nearby communities, and the proponent and opponents remain deeply divided.

“What it is we propose to do is not unusual. It’s an engineering exercise, not a science experiment,” John McManus, senior vice-president of operations for Taseko told the panel on the opening day of the latest set of hearings.

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Resource Nationalism Speech – by Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland (Johannesburg – August 15, 2013)

http://www.goldfields.co.za/

This speech was give by Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg on
15 August 2013.

Thank you and good evening, it is certainly good to be here and I’m glad that we’ve mentioned the fact that it’s the eve of the anniversary of the Marikana tragedy. I guess some of the things I’m going to talk about tonight are probably going to be appropriate in the context of that terrible tragedy of over a year ago.

A lot of debate has been raised on resource nationalism. It has been rated the number one risk in various surveys. I guess what is interesting is maybe that risk has been somewhat overshadowed of late by the decline in metal prices across the mining industry, which in of itself I think presents another challenge.So the reason that we’ve decided to look at this topic is to spark some debate. And I think there are going to be a lot of different views on resource  nationalism. What is it really? Is it good? Is it bad? And the other thing I just want to highlight is this is not a South Africa centric presentation.

Many of the problems that we’re currently experiencing in the South African mining industry are not unique to South Africa. The same issues present themselves around the world.

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Resource nationalism can mean growth and prosperity – by Nick Holland (South Africa Business Day – August 16, 2013)

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

Nick Holland is the CEO or Gold Fields.

AT A time when the global mining industry is besieged by falling commodity prices, soaring input costs and investor apathy, resource nationalism strikes fear into the hearts of many mining executives and investors. At Gold Fields we have a different view.

We are strongly in favour of a more equitable distribution of the benefits of the mining economy, provided that we — governments and the mining industry — are aligned on which economic pie it is we are sharing. Is it the ever-shrinking mining earnings pie that has become the norm in most countries, or is it the growing mining economy pie so elusive to most countries?

A debate of this sensitivity requires well-defined parameters. We view resource nationalism as “government actions to extract the maximum developmental impact and value from a country’s natural resources for its people”. We believe this is the right, if not the duty, of every government.

Most developing countries with a natural resource endowment, including South Africa, have a legacy of poverty and inequality. To address this, and to see more sustainable growth, we need to maximise the socioeconomic benefits from the extraction of natural resources without shrinking the mining pie.

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Barrick Gold Corp. to sell three mines in Australia for $300 million (Canadian Press/Toronto Star – August 23, 2013)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Barrick Gold Corp. has agreed to sell off three high-cost mines in Western Australia to South Africa-based miner Gold Fields Ltd. — a move analysts say will free Barrick up to focus on more profitable operations.

Barrick said it will receive about $300 million from the sale, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.

The company said the three mines that comprise the Yilgarn South assets produced a total of 452,000 ounces of gold in 2012 and a further 196,000 ounces in the first half of this year.

Kerry Smith, an analyst at Haywood Securities, said selling the higher-cost mines will reduce Barrick’s operating expenses and have only a minimal impact on the company’s production volumes. “By eliminating those three mines out of their portfolio, it frees their management up to spend more time on other assets that actually make more cash,” Smith said.

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Barrick Gold sells mines to Gold Fields as part of restructuring – by James Wilson and Andrew England (Financial Times – August 22, 2013)

http://www.ft.com/home/us

London/Johannesburg – Barrick Gold has started its promised restructuring by selling a trio of Australian gold mines to industry rival Gold Fields.

The $300m sale will help the Canadian miner’s stretched balance sheet and will switch Gold Fields’ main production focus away from western Africa to Australia, where it will bundle assets with its existing mines to try to lower costs.

Barrick, the world’s largest gold miner by volume, flagged the possible sale of the Yilgarn South mines earlier this month, when it posted an $8.6bn quarterly loss. The loss was linked to writedowns to asset values because of the fall in the price of gold this year.

The three mines at Yilgarn South produce 452,000 ounces of gold annually, equivalent to about a quarter of Gold Fields’ annual output. Barrick said the sale would not change its plan to produce between 7m and 7.4m ounces this year.

Nick Holland, Gold Fields’ chief executive, said there was “considerable opportunity for cost synergies” between the Lawlers mine, one of the Yilgarn South group, and its adjacent Agnew mine.

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RPT-INSIGHT-Barrick Gold’s Peter Munk seeks to regain his Midas touch – by Euan Rocha (Reuters U.S. – August 22, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 21 (Reuters) – Peter Munk has long driven the agenda for Barrick Gold Corp, the company he formed in 1983 and built into the world’s largest gold producer, but recent missteps have raised questions about the leadership of a man once seen as a visionary in the industry.

Munk, who owns a stake of less than a quarter of a percent in the company, still steers Barrick’s strategy from his position as chairman, and he is now attempting to shore up the miner’s position. But some investors, seizing on what they view as misguided decisions and problems at several mines, are questioning both the company’s direction, and Munk’s role.

In the last two years, gold miners across the globe have been stung by falling bullion prices and a surge in costs. Barrick has fared worse than its rivals, outlining about $13 billion in writedowns this year alone.

Its share price is down nearly 65 percent in two years, outpacing a 50 percent drop in the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index , and a 26 percent drop in the price of spot gold.

While environmental woes at its Pascua-Lama gold-mining project, high in the Andes, have been the biggest drag on Barrick’s share price, investors have taken the most issue with its disappointing push into copper and with a proposal to give Munk’s heir apparent, co-chairman John Thornton, an unusually large, $11.9 million signing bonus.

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An African gold rush slows to a crawl – by Iain Marlow (Globe and Mail – August 21, 2013)

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.

ACCRA, GHANA – On a shaded patio off a large pink and yellow building in central Accra, Kweku Boohene, a Ghanaian goldsmith with a stubbly grey beard, is watching the glowing coals of his makeshift smelter turn to white ash.

A colleague has just melted down a bit of gold, poured it into an ingot mould and returned inside to a cluttered workshop where five of them usually shape the precious metal into rings and chains with hammers and rolling mills. But for now, there is only one person working. As Mr. Boohene stands there in sandals and a loose-fitting green shirt, two others lounge in patio chairs.

“I used to make 10 rings a day, but now it’s not even one,” said Mr. Boohene, a 35-year veteran in the jewellery business.

In Ghana, Africa’s second-largest gold producer, the yellow metal is big business: Gold currently accounts for about 40 per cent of export earnings. As global gold prices have plummeted – 26 per cent in the first half of 2013 alone – the small-scale miners who supply this workshop have stopped coming by to sell the gold dust and tiny nuggets dug out of Ghana’s red earth.

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Another gold CEO bites the dust – this time at African Barrick – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – August 21, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

African Barrick Gold’s CEO Greg Hawkins has resigned and has been replaced by Bradley Gordon, formerly with Intrepid Mines, to try and improve the fortunes of the African gold miner.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – African Barrick Gold (ABG), which has seldom seemed able to meet its operating objectives since its spin-off from parent Barrick Gold and listing on the London Stock Exchange three years ago, has announced the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer, Greg Hawkins ‘to pursue other opportunities’, and his replacement by Australian Bradley Gordon who takes over with immediate effect. Gordon resigned from his previous position as CEO of Intrepid Mines last month – presumably with the ABG appointment already settled.

Thus, Hawkins is the latest gold mining company CEO to be ousted, in this case to see if new blood can revitalise the ailing African gold miner. African Barrick stock has lost 73% of its value since its launch in 2010 and, although part of this fall is attributable to the plunging gold price and so outside management control, Hawkins is seemingly carrying the can for the company’s continual underperformance.

ABG operates three mines in Tanzania and is that country’s largest gold miner. The flagship mine is the Bulyanhulu underground operation and the others are Buzwagi (open pit) and North Mara, also an open pit operation. A fourth mine, Tulawaka, was closed down earlier this year as it was uneconomic.

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Northern Promise: Home of the world’s richest gold mine braces for coming headwinds – by Peter Koven (National Post – August 20, 2013)

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

Northern Promise is a six-part series that explores the pace and progress of development in Canada’s remote communities. In this second instalment Peter Koven visits the home of the world’s richest gold mine

Fifty-four hundred feet below the surface, roughly underneath the local airport, a massive drill is pounding out a path to Red Lake’s latest set of riches.

Workers stand back and protect their ears as the driller carefully targets the sheer rock wall up ahead and begins to break it apart. It is slow and careful work; the horizontal drill makes about 15 to 23 feet of progress per day, sometimes less. But it is closing in on the destination, which will be reached later this year after more than three years of work.

The end result will be a five-kilometre drift connecting Goldcorp Inc.’s existing operations here with the Bruce Channel, a high-grade discovery that will be a flagship of the company’s Red Lake operations for decades to come. The ore from Bruce Channel (or Cochenour) will be hauled back to Goldcorp’s Campbell mill via an underground tram system, which is already running and is being expanded as fast as the drillers up ahead can open up the drift.

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NEWS RELEASE: Lac Seul First Nation and Goldcorp Inc. Sign Collaboration Agreement

August 19, 2013

RED LAKE, ON, Aug. 19, 2013 /CNW/ – GOLDCORP INC. (NYSE: GG) (TSX: G) (“Goldcorp”) and Lac Seul First Nation have signed Obishikokaang Collaboration Agreement setting a framework for continued consultation and support for current and future operations of Red Lake Gold Mines and defining the long-term benefits for the First Nation. A signing ceremony was held Friday, August 16, in the Municipality of Red Lake, Ontario.

The agreement will bring recognition and economic benefits to Lac Seul First Nation, comprised of about 3,200 band members with significant historical ties to the development of the Red Lake gold camp. Many band members reside within the Municipality of Red Lake.

“Goldcorp’s commitment to working with First Nations is once again demonstrated with this agreement, ensuring both the sustainable development of the areas in which we operate and long-term economic benefits for communities,” said Chris Cormier, Mine General Manager at Goldcorp’s Red Lake Gold Mines. “We look forward to working in partnership with Lac Seul First Nation to foster continued dialogue and to implement the initiatives set out in the agreement.”

“This agreement demonstrates that Lac Seul First Nation can work successfully with industry,” said Chief Clifford Bull of Lac Seul First Nation.

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Gold Bears Retreat as Prices Reach Two-Month High: Commodities – by Tony C. Dreibus (Bloomberg News – August 19, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/ 

Speculators cut bullish and bearish bets on gold simultaneously for the first time in two months as prices advanced to the highest since mid-June on signs of strengthening physical demand.

The net-bullish position rose 18 percent to 56,604 futures and options by Aug. 13, as the 17 percent contraction in short bets exceeded the 3 percent drop in long wagers, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Net-long holdings across 18 U.S.-traded commodities expanded 23 percent as the position in silver more than doubled and investors turned positive on copper for the first time since February.

Gold tumbled a record 23 percent last quarter as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value. The rout spurred losses for billionaire John Paulson, who joined George Soros in selling bullion holdings in three months ended June 30, government filings showed last week. Lower prices spurred demand in India and China, the top buyers, driving global coin and bar purchases to record in the second quarter and jewelry purchases to the highest since 2008, the World Gold Council said Aug. 15.

“People became more interested in holding gold as the price dropped,’ said Tom Stringfellow, the president of San Antonio-based Frost Investment Advisors LLC, which manages about $9 billion.

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