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Gold and Silver

The ‘terrifying’ crackdown on mining companies in Africa’s coup belt – by Aanu Adeoye and Camilla Hodgson (Financial Times – January 13, 2025)

https://www.ft.com/

Military regimes in the Sahel have turned to tactics including arrests to assert control over critical mineral supplies

International mining companies are at the mercy of “terrifying” tactics from military regimes in Africa’s Sahel, whose leaders are using legal disputes, nationalisations and arrests to assert greater control over crucial minerals like gold and uranium.

Barrick Gold on Tuesday temporarily suspended operations in Mali after the government started seizing gold from its mine, weeks after the country issued an arrest warrant for chief executive Mark Bristow. Authorities separately detained Australian gold miner Resolute’s chief executive Terence Holohan for nearly two weeks.

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Mali seizes 3 tons of gold from Canadian company Barrick amid dispute over share of revenue – by Wilson McMakin and Baba Ahmed (Associated Press – January 13, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Mali’s military government has started seizing gold stocks of the Canadian mining company Barrick as part of a legal battle over the share of revenue owed to the West African state, according to an internal Barrick letter seen by The Associated Press.

The letter from CEO Mark Bristow to the Malian Mining Minister, dated Monday, says Barrick is “awaiting official confirmation of the proper receipt by the Malian Solidarity Bank,” a government entity. The seizure follows a warning letter to Barrick earlier this month from Mali’s senior investigating judge, Boubacar Moussa Diarra, saying three tons of gold would be seized.

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Mining the Northwest: Red Lake’s Madsen Mine ready to restart – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 13, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

West Red Lake Gold Mines building out its workforce to reach commercial production by year’s end

West Red Lake Gold Mines is aiming for a mid-year restart of its Madsen Mine at Red Lake. The Vancouver mine developer released a prefeasibility study in early January, laying out its plan to bring Madsen back to life in 2025.

In taking over a mine that struggled out of the gate and failed under previous ownership, company management is confident it’s delivered a pragmatic and conservative plan that it can deliver on. With 1.7 million ounces of indicated gold reserves and resources, Madsen’s new mine life is pegged at 7.25 years.

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Mali starts seizing gold stocks at Barrick site, company memo says – by Fadimata Kontao and Portia Crowe (Reuters – January 13, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

BAMAKO/DAKAR Jan 13 (Reuters) – Mali’s government has begun enforcing a provisional order to seize gold stock at Barrick Gold’s Loulo-Gounkoto site, the Canadian miner said in a note to Malian staff, warning again that it may have to suspend operations at the complex.

The move suggests that Mali’s military-led authorities are not ready to back down in a standoff over a contract based on new mining rules as they push for a greater share of revenues from Western miners. “A provisional order to seize our existing gold stock was issued last week and the Malian government began its enforcement on Jan. 11,” Barrick said in the staff memo.

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Barrick mine in Mali could be forced to close within a week, company says – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – January 6, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. says it will be forced to shut down its operations in Mali within a week if the military junta continues to restrict its gold exports from the West African country.

The Toronto-based company disclosed on Monday that the regime had imposed yet another restriction on the company’s operations by issuing an interim attachment order on its existing gold stock at its Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex.

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Opinion: When resource companies leave a toxic mess, First Nations are stuck with the consequences – by Tanya Talaga (Globe and Mail – December 14, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation Elder Jimmy Johnny no longer fishes in the waters that generations of his family members have relied on since memories are remembered.

This past summer, 68 dead fish were found in beautiful Haggart Creek, downstream from the site of an environmental disaster that occurred on June 24 at Victoria Gold Corp.’s Eagle Gold mine, on the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun traditional territory, near Mayo in central Yukon.

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Mining the Northwest: Opportunities abound for new Musselwhite owner to grow gold resources, shave costs – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 13, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Vancouver’s Orla Mining looks to fine-tune operations at the remote northwestern Ont. mine while putting money into the drill bit

Orla Mining may be new to the mining scene in Ontario, but the Musselwhite gold mine is not new to them. The Vancouver company’s pending acquisition of the remote northwestern Ontario underground mine from Newmont probably sent more than a few people scurrying to Google last month to dig into the details of the expanding seven-year-old outfit.

Unlike other mining newcomers to the region, Orla isn’t buying a broken operation that was mismanaged and in dire need of cash-infused resurrection. Musselwhite is one that, by all accounts, is well-run operation that no longer fit into Newmont’s ambitions to invest in so-called Tier 1 assets.

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Gold price faces strong headwinds ahead of Federal Reserve meeting – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – December 13, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – After testing resistance at $2,700 at the start of the week, gold is once again on the back foot as stubborn inflation takes its toll on expectations surrounding the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle.

The precious metal received a much-needed boost earlier this week as investors reacted to news that China’s central bank resumed buying gold. After a six-month break, data from the People’s Bank of China showed it purchased five tonnes of gold in November.

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Agnico Eagle wants to buy its gold exploration neighbour in western Quebec – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 13, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Agnico eyes O3 Mining’s Marbon deposit with $204-million cash offer

Agnico Eagle is looking to expand its mining footprint in the Abitibi region. The Kirkland Lake and Detour Lake gold miner is making a takeover bid for O3 mining, a neighbouring gold company on the Quebec side of the prolific Abitibi mineral belt.

Agnico announced Dec. 12 that it has entered into a definitive support agreement to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of O3 in an offer valued at $204 million. The proposed deal is built around the acquisition of O3 Mining’s main asset, its Marban Alliance property, located outside Val d’Or, that is next to Agnico Eagle’s Canadian Malartic mine complex.

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The Gold Rush at the Heart of a Civil War – by Declan Walsh (New York Times – December 11, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Famine and ethnic cleansing stalk Sudan. Yet the gold trade is booming, enriching generals and propelling the fight.

The luxury jet touched down in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on a mission to collect hundreds of pounds of illicit gold. On board was a representative of a ruthless paramilitary group accused of ethnic cleansing in Sudan’s sprawling civil war, the flight manifest showed. The gold itself had been smuggled from Darfur, a region of famine and fear in Sudan that is largely under his group’s brutal control.

Porters grunted as they heaved cases filled with gold, about $25 million worth, onto the plane, said three people involved with or briefed on the deal. Airport officials discreetly maintained a perimeter around the jet, which stood out in the main airport of one of the world’s poorest countries.

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Silver could outperform gold again next year, spot price forecast to hit $40/oz in 2025 – Heraeus – by Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News – December 11, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – While a likely U.S. recession in Q2 would impact industrial demand for silver, most of the gray metal’s recent strengths are expected to carry over into the new year, and the price of silver is projected to outperform gold in 2025, according to analysts at Heraeus Precious Metals.

In their Precious Forecast 2025, the analysts said that if market conditions unfold as expected, they believe silver will outgain gold once again in 2025. “This year, the silver price has seen the largest percentage gains across the precious metals (+26.82% to the end of November),” they noted.

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Mining company charged 10 years after spilling toxic waste into B.C. waters – by Andrew Kurjata (CBC News British Columbia – December 10, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Collapse of Mount Polley tailings dam considered one of the worst environmental disasters in Canadian history

More than a decade after spilling millions of litres of toxic wastewater into rivers in the B.C. Interior, Imperial Metals Corp. has been charged with 15 violations of the federal Fisheries Act.

The charges were announced Tuesday by the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, which said it worked with the Department of Fisheries and Environment and Climate Change Canada to build the case for taking the company to court.

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Analysis-Mali arrests, Niger site seizure rattle Western miners – by David Lewis, Melanie Burton and Portia Crowe(MSM.com – December 11, 2024)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/

The arrest of mining executives in Mali, threats by Burkina Faso’s junta to strip permits and the seizure of a French-run uranium site in Niger have unsettled Western miners operating in West Africa and could limit further investments. Day-to-day production in Mali and Burkina Faso has so far been largely unaffected.

The escalation is expected, however, to hit firms seeking finance and insurance – curbing supply growth in Africa’s engine of gold output, more than a dozen people, including mining employees, financiers, insurance providers and government sources, told Reuters.

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Saddened by Kidd mine news? McEwen Mining sees new gold production over the horizon – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 5, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto gold company drilling off Grey Fox deposit with bump in resources expected in early 2025

While Glencore’s Kidd base metals mine is slated for closure in two years time, the legendary Timmins camp is far from finished when it comes gold mining longevity. McEwen Mining is excited by a new prospect in its gold mining stable at the Fox Complex, east of the city, that contains a new and emerging deposit dubbed Grey Fox.

In releasing a raft of high-grade assay results this week, the Toronto gold company framed the ongoing exploration program at Grey Fox as opening up “new possibilities for resource and production growth” in what is already a very prolific mining area for McEwen.

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Gold consolidating outsized 2024 gains into December – by David Erfle (Kitco News – December 6, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

At present, gold is caught in a medium-term corrective cycle, while long-term price charts and macro fundamentals still firmly favor the safe-haven metal going higher once a now 6-week correction has run its course.

As mentioned in this column heading into the U.S. presidential election, gold had been long overdue for a 5-10% correction. The 54% 12-month surge in bullion into the end of October had yet to experience as much as a 5% correction heading into a chaotic U.S. election, with the overwhelming result having led to some healthy profit taking from an extreme overbought situation.

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