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AuRico Gold’s official opening of the Young-Davidson Mine spruces up regional economy

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Approximately 850 people were on hand for the official opening of Ontario Mining Association member AuRico Gold’s Young-Davidson Mine recently.  The new precious metals producing operation, which completed its first gold pour in April, is located near Matachewan in northeastern Ontario about 60 kilometres west of Kirkland Lake.

Rain didn’t spoil the enthusiasm of visitors from taking mill tours and visits to the open pit and a display site for underground mining equipment.  Guests included employees and their families, contractors and suppliers, seasonal cottagers, local First Nations residents, politicians from various levels of government and special guests associated with the history and development of the Young-Davidson property.

Various departments at the mine, including geology, environment, surveying and mine rescue, had booths set up to showcase what they do on the job.  A gold bar was on site, which proved to be particularly popular for photograph opportunities.  The local newspaper “Northern News” reported that “Young-Davidson employees, who were leading tours and at various displays, volunteered their time to be there.  That shows the pride the employees have in the mine.” 

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For Barrick, Tanzanian mines lose their lustre – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – August 17, 2012)

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.

JOHANNESBURG — Barrick Gold Corp.’s mining operations in Africa have been a publicity nightmare for the company for years, but until now the company had always seemed confident that the mines were profitable enough to withstand the damage to its reputation.

With a steady drumbeat of violent clashes and civilian deaths in recent years, the company’s North Mara gold mine in Tanzania has been one of the most controversial Barrick mines in the world.

Protesters and activists in Canada and Tanzania have accused Barrick of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses at its African mines. Last year alone, at least five villagers were shot dead at North Mara when they invaded the site to steal waste rock.

A report by a respected Tanzanian group, the Legal and Human Rights Centre, concluded that 19 villagers were killed by police and security guards at North Mara from the beginning of 2009 to the middle of 2010. (Barrick says it disagrees with this estimate but won’t provide its own estimate.)

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Barrick eyes Africa sale as problems mount – by Pav Jordan, Jacqueline Nelson, Andy Hoffman (Globe and Mail – August 17, 2012)

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.

TORONTO, VANCOUVER — Jamie Sokalsky has made his first big move as Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief executive officer, putting the company’s high-cost Africa unit on the block as part of a larger shift in strategy.

The world’s largest gold miner is in preliminary talks to sell African Barrick Gold PLC to state-owned China National Gold Group Corp. A successful deal, which analysts expect would bring in about $2.5-billion, would give some financial relief to Barrick Gold as it struggles with billions in cost overruns at a key growth project in the southern Andes, and continues to absorb the $7.3-billion cash purchase of Equinox Minerals last year.

The negotiations, which the company said are “at an early stage,” are a signal of intent by Mr. Sokalsky, who was appointed in early June to replace Aaron Regent, who was sacked by the board. The new CEO has pledged to focus on generating higher returns from its projects, rather than simply increasing production. They also highlight China’s growing desire to be an owner of large-scale resource projects around the world, an ambition that led another state-owned corporation, CNOOC Ltd., to make a $15.1-billion bid for Calgary oil and gas producer Nexen Inc.

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Barrick Gold says in talks on African Barrick stake – Reuters (Business Network News – August 16, 2012)

 http://www.bnn.ca/Home.aspx

Barrick Gold (ABX-T 35.54 1.28 3.74%), the world’s largest gold miner, is in talks to sell a majority stake in its African unit to a Chinese buyer, the first move by new boss Jamie Sokalsky to clear out poorly-performing businesses and revive its flagging shares.
 
News of the talks with China National Gold Group, which bills itself as the country’s largest gold miner, saw African Barrick Gold shares closed down, as investors bet the buyer would pay a premium to help satisfy China’s insatiable appetite for the metal.
 
If it goes ahead, the sale would be one of China’s largest mining deals in Africa and its most significant incursion into large-scale gold mining on the continent to date.
 
Barrick is grappling with falling profit, soaring costs and the fallout from what some investors see as mistakes, including the takeover of copper miner Equinox Minerals.
 
Barrick ousted its previous chief executive in June, saying it was frustrated the stock had languished while bullion prices had surged. Its shares are down 30 percent over the past year, trading at levels last seen in late 2008.

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Barrick in talks to sell Africa stake to China Gold – by Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – August 16, 2012)

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 in discussions to sell the African assets as the world’s largest gold miner struggles to rein in massive cost overruns and focus on key projects.

In a statement on Thursday, Toronto-based Barrick said it was in preliminary discussions with China National Gold Group Corporation regarding its 74 per cent holding in African Barrick Gold PLC, spun off two years ago as it removed the higher cost mines from its books.

“Discussions are at an early stage, and there can be no certainty that these discussions will result in the acquisition of all or part of Barrick’s holding in ABG,” Barrick said in a statement.

“As noted in Barrick’s 2012 Second Quarter Report, Barrick has adopted a renewed focus on maximizing shareholder value through a disciplined capital allocation program which includes optimizing Barrick’s portfolio of assets and maximizing returns on investment and free cash flow.”

Barrick is struggling to right itself as it emerges from some of the most most tumultuous quarters in its history as one of Canada’s largest companies.

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Dispelling the Myths of Goldcorp’s Guatemalan Marlin Gold Mine – From the Goldcorp Corporate Website (July 13, 2012)

http://www.goldcorp.com/blog/default.aspx

Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine has been the source of much discussion amongst activist groups and others. Misinformation has surfaced on a number of internet sites recently, so we thought we’d take this opportunity to once again set the record straight. This is a long post, so grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable – we’ll be together for a while! 

MYTH: Marlin discharges contamination into the local water supply.

Routine water discharges have been approved by the Guatemalan Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), and the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mining (MEM). Unlike most discharge situations, at Marlin the water is drawn from the tailings impoundment, treated in the treatment plant, then discharged back to the tailings impoundment. This means that all the water in the tailings impoundment must meet the discharge standards before water is ever released from the tailings impoundment. It also means that Marlin can and does sample the water prior to discharge to ensure compliance before discharge even begins.

Water samples taken by MARN and analyzed in their own lab in Guatemala City concluded no negative results from any discharges to date.

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Queenston Mining eyes 2016 gold pour at flagship project – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – August 2012)

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.

Queenston Mining has been focused the last few years on making the transition from an exploration company to a mining one. Its flagship project – Upper Beaver – and surrounding properties are located east of Kirkland Lake near the small community of Dobie.
 
President and CEO Charles Page, one of the founding members of the company that was established 20 years ago, said he always knew “they had something valuable.”
 
“We have had this property a long time but when we first put it together, gold was $400 an ounce and then it went down to about $260. It didn’t make sense at those gold prices so we kept adding more ground and doing some exploration along the way.”
 
The company plans to sink a shaft at Upper Beaver next year and expects its first gold pour in 2016. In 2007, Queenston raised sufficient capital to allow it to move Upper Beaver to the next stage and to further explore the surrounding deposits.

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Minister offers North thousands of reasons to celebrate – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – August 14, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – A crowd gathered at the feet of the three founders of Timmins on Monday morning, welcoming James Moore, the federal Minister of Heritage and Official Languages, whose presence confirmed the significance of the three men to his back and the city they founded.
 
Moore formally confirmed the federal funding that made the three statues possible, thanking the community and its people for their significance in the forming of the North and its continued prosperity.
 
Moore and the Canadian Heritage Fund provided the centennial committee along with the Porcupine Prospectors and Developers Association with $90,000 to immortalize Jack Wilson, Sandy McIntyre and Benny Hollinger.
 
“The $90,000 was the original seed money for the three statues,” he said. “These are three men whose discovery, vision, hard work and commitment to their craft led ultimately to a city that is thriving here in Ontario.”

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The story of mining prospector Don McKinnon: SPECIAL TO THE TIMES – (Timmins Times – August 12, 2012)

http://www.timminstimes.com/

A close-up and personal look at a Timmins man who changed our mining history

ED’S NOTE: Following is a story on the life on Don McKinnon presented by a close friend of McKinnon and his family. McKinnon died Thursday.

The Canadian mining fraternity has lost one of the most successful prospectors from its ranks with the passing of Donald Duncan McKinnon. Just eight days before his 83rd birthday, Don passed away peacefully Aug. 9 at the Timmins and District Hospital surrounded by family and loved ones.

Born and raised in the Town of Cochrane, McKinnon had made his home in Timmins since 1956. The man with the heart of gold always loved the city with the heart of gold. This was his base as he prospected all over Canada from the High Arctic to the Maritimes and British Columbia. As well as in the United States.

He was much more than a prospector, however, as his interests ranged from municipal and provincial politics to the economy of Northern Ontario and the need to preserve the region’s special way of life.

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Mining legend Don McKinnon dies – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – August 11, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The mining world is mourning the loss of an icon and Timmins has lost a dear friend. Famed prospector Don McKinnon died Thursday at Timmins and District Hospital, surrounded by his family. He was 83.
 
McKinnon earned success and fame with the majority of his vast knowledge being self-taught. Despite dropping out of high school, McKinnon set a goal of becoming a millionaire by age 40. He went on to become one of the most successful prospectors in the history of The Porcupine Camp.
 
Born in Cochrane in 1929, McKinnon enjoyed playing hockey as a youth, often with his childhood friend Tim Horton. But McKinnon also had a talent for art and acting. After dropping out of high school, he found work in construction in Iroquois Falls.
 
As a forest superintendent for paper-producing company Kimberly-Clark, he started studying rocks while in the bush. That’s when he took an interest in prospecting. He would spend hours studying geological reports and surveys, always watchful for promising claims, before heading out into the bush.

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Legendary Hemlo prospector Don McKinnon dead at 83 – by Peter Kennedy (Stockhouse.com – August 11, 2012)

http://www.stockhouse.com/

Don McKinnon and partner John Larche played a key role in the discovery of the Hemlo gold mining camp in Ontario, one of Canada’s richest gold districts. Don McKinnon, one of Canada’s best known mineral prospectors, died Thursday in a Timmins, Ont., hospital. He was 83.
 
It was the staking activity of McKinnon and partner John Larche that contributed to the discovery of the Hemlo, Ont. gold camp in the early 1980s, home of the Williams, Golden Giant and David Bell gold mines.
 
His staking in that area resulted in McKinnon being a key witness in the epic court battle between Lac Minerals and Corona Corp. for control of the Williams gold mine. At the time, it was the largest underground gold mine in Canada. A 1986 Ontario Supreme Court judgement awarded the mine to Corona. That decision was later upheld  in 1989 after Lac appealed.
 
The court battle centred on allegations that LAC had misused confidential information provided to it by Corona and committed a breach of confidence. Lac was swallowed by Barrick Gold Corp.  (TSX: T.ABX, Stock Forum) (NYSE: ABX, Stock Forum) in 1995.

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Kinross Gold hunts for ways to cut expenses – by Peter Koven (National Post – August 8, 2012)

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

TORONTO – Kinross Gold Corp. is looking at a plan to downsize initial production from its troubled Tasiast mine in Mauritania, as it tries to mitigate the impact of major cost pressures on the operation.
 
New chief executive Paul Rollinson also said the company is implementing a new company-wide cost-reduction initiative as its capital and operating costs continue to escalate. The announcements came in the company’s lower-than-expected second quarter earnings report, released Wednesday, a week after former chief executive Tye Burt was fired.
 
Toronto-based Kinross said it will study an option to build a mill at Tasiast that would process 30,000 tonnes of material, compared to a prior plan of 60,000. The result would be much lower gold production in the early years of mining (before the mill is expanded), but it could also mean lower costs.

The case for a smaller mill “is based on the impact of industry-wide pressures on capital costs, and a better understanding of the Tasiast orebody and associated mine plan,” Kinross said in a statement.

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Excerpt from Bootleg Gold – by Kevin Vincent

To order Bootleg Gold Volume One, please click here: www.bootleggold.net

Introduction

“Is my Dad in your book? You didn’t mention my grandfather by any chance did ya’? Is ‘you-know-who’ in the book?” As a writer, if you live in a gold mining town, and it becomes common knowledge that you’re writing a book about highgrading, which is basically the theft of gold from a mine, as well as long-forgotten gold robberies, almost everyone will approach you with a story to share.

Timmins, Ontario is such a town. There are others, such as Sidney, Nevada, Dawson Creek, Yukon, and Forbes, Australia. The same stories are heard in hundreds of towns and villages across Africa, dozens of communities in California, Colorado, Alaska, Québec and even the state of Idaho where the first thing that leaps to mind is potatoes, not gold.

Curiously, everyone wants to see their family name in print – not their own name, they’d prefer to see their uncle’s name or their great-grandfather’s name. It’s an unofficial badge of honour – one where “sticking it to the man” – in this case, multinational gold mines – was justified, and almost bordered, somehow on righteous.

None of these many people who approach the writer were ever personally involved in high-grading, of course, but they happen to know someone who, (wink wink, nudge nudge) just might have been “involved.”

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Days of drilling and blasting coming to an end -AngloGold – by Christy Filen (Mineweb.com – August 7, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

AngloGold has forced itself to think differently about deep level mining and this, they are hoping, will spawn an operating section employing the new technology by end 2013.

JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb) – When Apple launched the iPad, it didn’t just alter the numbers spinning about on its profit line, it changed the technology industry.
 
And if AngloGold Ashanti executive vice president of business strategy, Canadian engineer, Mike MacFarlane is to be believed the gold digger is looking to do something similar to deep level gold mining.
 
Since 2010, the group has been looking for ways to leverage old technology in new ways to mine gold even deeper than the current depths around 4kms. And, it is now aiming to introduce a new operating section at AngloGold by the end of 2013 that moves away from the conventional drill and blast methodology to one where the ore bearing reef is extracted with modified raise bore drills.
 
The raise bore drill, called an Amtek, is currently undergoing testing and is sourced locally in South Africa from a company called Atlantis.

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The heart of Timmins cast in bronze [Hollinger, McIntryre and Wilson]- by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – August 7, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

As the canvas wraps were pulled from the statuesque figures mounted on marble plinths on Saturday, the sun glinted gold on the bronzed faces of the three men whose triumph laid the foundation for the Timmins we know today.
 
Benny Hollinger, Sandy McIntyre and John “Jack” Wilson are three names that every Timmins resident knows, they are genesis, and finally, 100 years after their discoveries, they stand large as life in front of the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre.
 
“This is a very, very important event when you think about 100 years of Timmins and the next 100 years of Timmins,” said city Mayor Tom Laughren. “Back in 1908, when these gentlemen came here, what was here in Timmins?”
 
The group of onlookers, comprised of interested residents and members of the Wilson and McIntyre (Oliphant) families, took a moment to ponder the mayor’s question. “I have pictures in my office of this city in the 1920s and ’30s,” he said.

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