Breaking mining’s ‘rock ceiling’ for women – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – March 6, 2015)

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

Goldcorp among companies taking steps to make industry more welcoming

By the numbers, the mining industry still looks very much like a boys club. Just 17 per cent of the sector’s workforce in Canada is female, according to Mining Association of Canada statistics.

Industry leaders know they need to raise that number over the long term if the sector expects to maintain a sustainable pool of applicants to fill jobs in its rapidly aging workforce.

The industry has also launched programs to recruit more minority groups and First Nations, which has proved a particularly successful strategy in northern B.C. Vancouver-headquartered Goldcorp Inc. has adopted its own edge in recruiting by expanding Creating Choices, its internal training and mentorship program for women.

The program is “becoming one of the tools” attracting potential recruits, said Anna Tudela, Goldcorp’s vice-president of regulatory affairs and corporate secretary and the program’s creator.

“In the mining industry, we’re lacking the (future) workforce,” Tudela said. “We will have to attract more women,” as well as workers from diverse backgrounds.

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Goldcorp Sees Investors Taking Shine to ‘Beaten-Up’ Industry – by Liezel Hill(Bloomberg News – March 3, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — The world’s largest gold producer by market value says investor sentiment for the sector may finally be starting to turn after years as one of the least-loved industries.

“There’s generalist value investors out there saying ‘OK, I like looking at beaten-up sectors, this sector is really beaten up,’” Goldcorp Inc. Chief Executive Officer Chuck Jeannes said in an interview Tuesday at Bloomberg’s Toronto office. “People are trying to call the bottom.”

Jeannes said he’s been fielding more calls from unfamiliar investors and has a new entity among its top 10 shareholders. Artisan Partners, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based investment company with more than $100 billion in assets, added 15.7 million shares in Goldcorp last year, making it the seventh-largest holder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold & Silver Index plunged 70 percent from the start of 2011 to the end of last year. Producers struggled to contain costs and wrote off billions of dollars after prices for the metal — which had risen to more than $1,900 an ounce — began dropping in 2012. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 64 percent in the past four years.

Goldcorp fell 2.4 percent to C$25.45 at the close in Toronto. The shares, which have risen 19 percent in 2015, have dropped in the prior four years.

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Probe’s David Palmer our Mining Person of the Year – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – February 25, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

When the discovery of a new gold patch rocks the mining world, it is a wondrous thing. When the discovery is made in an underexplored area with no previously known precious metal deposits it’s even more exciting, and when the discovery stems, in part, from a simple good deed, it becomes extraordinary.

The tale of how David Palmer discovered the Borden Lake gold deposit and earned the prestigious Bill Dennis Award and title to The Northern Miner’s Mining Person of the Year for 2014 begins in 2003, about four years after he graduated from McGill University with a PhD in economic geology.

The geologist, whose PhD thesis focused on ore-forming hydrothermal fluids associated with carbonatites, was working for a junior, when a prospector he didn’t know by the name of Bob de Carle, pitched a nickel property called Sunday Lake, north of Thunder Bay.

The property didn’t fit the company’s model, so it passed. But Palmer thought it still held promise. His view was that the material just hadn’t been presented in the right way, which masked some of what he felt were its most interesting features. So he offered to spend some personal time reworking the geological data to improve the odds that de Carle — a geophysicist by training — could find success the next time he shopped it around.

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Bad times for Canada’s big gold miners – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – February 20, 2015)

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, Goldcorp take massive Q4 writedowns amid weak gold prices.

Barrick Gold Corp. chairman John Thornton’s message to Bay Street came through loud and clear: he wants to take the world’s largest gold producer back to its roots as a smaller company with fewer mines and micro-managers — and hopefully return it to profitability.

To that end, the Toronto mining giant is slashing staff at headquarters by nearly half and selling two Asia-Pacific mines. It will be “laser focused” on reducing its debt by $3 billion this year amid rocky times in the mining industry and a weak gold price, he told analysts on a conference call Thursday.

It wasn’t a banner day for either of Canada’s two largest bullion miners, as Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. reported a loss of $2.4 billion (U.S.) in its latest quarter as it wrote down the value of its Cerro Negro mine in Argentina. Barrick also reported a massive $2.85 billion fourth-quarter loss due to an after-tax impairment charge on its soon-to-be closed Lumwana copper mine in Zambia and the Cerro Casale project in Chile.

Gold miners are struggling as the gold price has lost 35 per cent of its value since its peak of $1,900 (U.S.) an ounce in 2011 and as the industry suffers through a brutal downturn following a 13-year market rally.

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Goldcorp takes US$2.3-billion writedown on ‘cornerstone’ Argentine project – by Alexandra Posadzk (Canadian Business – February 19, 2015)

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Goldcorp Inc. reported a US$2.4-billion net loss in its latest quarter as it took a big writedown charge on its Cerro Negro project, but the company’s chief executive says he still has high hopes for the Argentine mine.

“This is an accounting charge and does not reflect losses of gold ounces in the ground or our expectations for this asset,” Charles Jeannes told investors during a conference call Thursday.

“Quite the contrary, we continue to believe Cerro Negro will be a cornerstone operation for Goldcorp for a long time to come.”

The news came after the gold miner announced a loss of $2.94 per diluted share in the fourth quarter compared with a loss of US$1.1 billion or $1.34 per diluted share in the last three months of 2013.

The loss includes the US$2.3-billion hit that Goldcorp took in relation to a drop in the value of the Cerro Negro project, which began commercial production last month.

On an adjusted basis, Goldcorp says it earned US$55 million or seven cents per share, down from nine cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2013. Analysts had estimated an adjusted profit of 12 cents per share for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.

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Dome still has ‘lots of life’ – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – February 13, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Goldcorp’s Dome Mine is the longest continuously operating underground gold mine in North America and it looks like that is easily going to continue for a few more years yet, according to the company’s newest mine general manager

“I think the Dome Mine has still got lots of life left in it,” said Brendan Zuidema, the newly appointed manager of Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM). He was the keynote speaker to the Timmins Chamber of Commerce “Inside Business” luncheon held Thursday.

Zuidema said a lot of the attention in recent months has been directed at the new Hollinger open pit, which observed the first anniversary of its first production blast just two days ago on Wednesday. Zuidema said there are other PGM operations that are just as important in sustaining the company and its 1,100 jobs in Timmins.

“We’ve got right now in reserves five years left at the Dome Mine, for underground,” said Zuidema. “I am not sure what we have in the open pit. The open pit is not done. The Dome Mine is one of those mines that keeps on giving and giving.”

As an example, Zuidema described a bulk stope (a large underground excavation) at the mine that was expected to provide about 400,000 tonnes of muck. He said it produced nearly double at 800,000 tonnes. “We called it the magic stope. The ore just kept coming,” he said.

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Gold positioned for comeback: Goldcorp founder, CEO – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – February 2, 2015)

http://montrealgazette.com/

Both the founder and the present CEO of Goldcorp Inc., now commissioning the big Éléonore mine in Northern Quebec, predict investors will soon start returning to the unloved gold mining sector.

“In the past two years, as bullion dropped from a record of almost US$2,000 an ounce, gold miners have dumped old management, slashed exploration spending, lowered operating costs and shifted to high-grade ore to focus fully on restoring cash flow,” said Rob McEwen, chairman of McEwen Mining Inc.

“You’ve got a serious gap developing between declining global output and steadily mounting demand from Asia where millions of new middle-class consumers are emerging,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “That gap could last several years.”

McEwen created Goldcorp via a string of mergers in the 1990s and left in 2005 after a disagreement over strategy. Goldcorp is now the world’s largest gold producer by market value.

He then formed McEwen Mining which plans to dig 96,500 ounces of gold and 3.12 million ounces of silver from mines in Mexico and Argentina in 2015 and aims at intermediate status with annual output of one million ounces of gold.

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Goldcorp, Wabauskang sign agreement – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 30, 2015)

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.

Goldcorp and Wabauskang First Nation have signed a collaboration agreement that paves the way for long-term economic benefits for the northwestern Ontario First Nation.

The new agreement, which marks Goldcorp’s sixth First Nation partnership in Canada, provides a framework for strengthened collaboration in the development and operations of Red Lake Gold Mines. A signing ceremony was held Jan. 29 in Wabauskang, located about 100 kilometres south of Red Lake.

Goldcorp now has collaboration agreements in place with all of the First Nations which assert Aboriginal and treaty rights in the vicinity of its active operations in Canada: Red Lake Gold Mines, Musselwhite Mine, Porcupine Gold Mines and Éléonore Mine.

“This new agreement is about so much more than economic benefits,” said Brent Bergeron, Goldcorp’s executive vice-president of corporate affairs and sustainability, in a news release. “It’s about long-term partnership, open dialogue and shared prosperity. It demonstrates our company’s ongoing commitment to develop Northern Ontario’s natural resources in a mutually beneficial and sustainable way, and will bring well-deserved recognition to the people of Wabauskang.”

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Goldcorp’s Jeannes at Roundup 2015: Gold sector ‘on its way back to relevance’ (Northern Miner – January 28, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

“I think in our business we’re really too insular. The reality is we have
a lot more people to convince in order to be given the broad social license
we need to continue to conduct our business. We have to operate in a way
that benefits more than just our shareholders.”
(CEO Goldcorp Chuck Jeannes – 2015 Vancouver Roundup)

VANCOUVER — When it comes to discussing gold markets there likely aren’t many people who can command as much attention as Goldcorp (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) president and CEO Chuck Jeannes. The company is positioned as the world’s biggest gold producer by market capitalization, and has been an industry leader when it comes to controlling operating costs and driving growth with a policy of strong capital discipline.

Goldcorp hit record production of 886,000 oz. gold during the fourth quarter, and produced 2.87 million oz. last year. The company brought two new mines into commercial production over the past six months — including the Cerro Negro operation in Argentina and Éléonore project in Quebec — and it is now positioned to generate free cash flow indefinitely, assuming a gold price of around US$1,200 per oz.

“Right now the multiples the market is affording our business is at a thirty-year low. When I say our shareholders have abandoned us I think that’s the biggest piece of proof. But that gives us great opportunity to improve moving forward, and I think you’ll see those multiples bounce back,” Jeannes comments.

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Acquisitions are vital for survival, Goldcorp chairman says – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – January 26, 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.

Goldcorp Inc.’s quest for new mines is a matter of survival, according to the company’s chairman. “The only way mining companies can grow is through acquisitions and the only way they can survive is through acquisitions. Sometimes, I’m not sure people outside the mining business appreciate that,” Ian Telfer said in a recent interview.

“You have to keep buying stuff or you shrink … When you get to the size that we are, you have to buy things that are considerable sized and the opportunities are limited,” he said.

Last week, the Vancouver-based company made a half-a-billion dollar all-stock offer for Probe Mines Ltd. for its gold property in Ontario. The site is near Goldcorp’s mine in Timmins, Ont., which will allow the company to use its existing operations to develop the mine.

Finding cheaper ways to dig up metal has become every miner’s mission amid persistently weak commodity prices. Goldcorp enjoys the status of being the biggest gold miner by market capitalization, while producing less than the world’s two biggest producers, Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. It has a healthy balance sheet and is one of the few gold miners that can use its shares for acquisitions.

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Mining mogul shares lessons in industry mistakes – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – January 23, 2015)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

While dishing out advice on how to avoid mistakes through a successful career in mining, Ian Telfer elicited startled silence from his audience with this tidbit: don’t listen too much to your shareholders.

“I know all you shareholders in Goldcorp love to hear that,” chuckled Telfer, chair of the company’s board of directors, during a Jan. 16 luncheon hosted by Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines in Sudbury.

It wasn’t the sort of pep talk you expect to hear from the chair of the world’s third largest gold miner. But Telfer’s guidance is gleaned from more than 25 years of experience in the precious metals business, including the last eight at the helm of Goldcorp’s board and six chairing the World Gold Council.

Everyone has an opinion on how a publicly traded company should function, he said, but shareholders just have temporary interest in the company, whereas a company’s employees and the communities in which they operate are its more permanent beneficiaries.

“You have to keep that in mind when they’re trying to advise you as to what you should do.” It’s difficult to suggest an appropriate avenue to reach a goal, Telfer said, but a good barometer for success is regret: try to make the best decision that has the least potential for regret, he said, and worry less about what other people think. Instead, focus on what you get excited about.

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Gold shines bright as hottest investment this year – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – January 23, 2015)

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.

Metals gold and copper proving to be very reliable barometers of economic stability

Forget oil. If you want to know how the world economy is faring, just look at two metals: gold and copper. They are usually discovered and mined in the same places, but the yellow and rusty red metals are going in opposite directions price-wise despite an overall slump in commodities — especially this year.

The price of copper — critical in manufacturing and construction — has fallen 10 per cent in 2015 as global growth stalls, while ‘safe haven’ gold has enjoyed a double-digit bounce this month as market and geopolitical volatility continues.

“Just when everyone gave up on gold, turns out the obituaries were premature,” says gold bug John Ing, president of Maison Placements Canada.

In fact gold has amazingly emerged as the top performer of 2015, not just among metals but also compared to stock markets and currencies, he notes. That is largely due to bullion’s traditional role as a fear magnet which investors tend to latch onto when everything else is rocky – and it is lately, from the tanking oil price to topsy-turvy stock markets.

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Canadian gold miners raising nearly $800 million as financing window opens – by Peter Koven (National Post – January 22, 2015)

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

The financing window is open for Canadian gold miners, and they are rushing through it at a frantic pace before it shuts.

Six companies have announced bought deal offerings since Tuesday evening: Romarco Minerals Inc., Detour Gold Corp., Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd., Primero Mining Corp., Asanko Gold Inc., and Richmont Mines Corp. Between them, they are raising a whopping $789.8 milllion. Last week, Yamana Gold Inc. unveiled a $260.2-million equity deal of its own, and Lydian International Ltd. tapped the market for $16.5 million.

The flood of financings coincides with a significant jump in the gold price that has reignited investor enthusiasm for the sector. Bullion is up almost 10% this month and topped US$1,300 an ounce on Wednesday for the first time since August.

Gold has been out of favour with investors for most of the past two years, so the opportunities for most miners to raise capital have been few and far between. Not surprisingly, they are keen to push these deals through quickly while sentiment remains positive and gold equities are performing very well.

“We see it over and over again. These windows open so quickly and might be so short,” said Jay Kellerman, managing partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP. “Who would have imagined this [financing wave] a week ago?”

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Goldcorp buys Probe Mines’ promising gold project – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – January 20, 2015)

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.

‘Feels like a new gold market,’ says analyst of the $526 million deal

Amid a struggling metals market, Goldcorp Inc. has struck an all-stock deal valued at $526 million to buy Toronto’s Probe Mines Ltd. and scoop up one of Canada’s most promising new gold discoveries in northern Ontario.

The friendly takeover gives the Vancouver bullion giant control of the highly-touted Borden gold project near Chapleau, Ont., about 160 kilometres west of Goldcorp’s century-old Porcupine mine in Timmins.

Shares in the Toronto-based junior explorer jumped 49 per cent after the Goldcorp announcement Monday that analysts say, among other recent industry acquisitions, signals new interest in the depressed gold mining sector.

“It feels like we are in a new gold market,” said analyst Barry Allan of Research Capital Corp. “It means we should see a lift on other gold assets if they are also well-located and high quality,” he said.

The price of gold has jumped 10 per cent so far this year after limping through a bear market that has rocked the cyclical industry since the heady days of its all-time high of $1,921 U.S. an ounce in September, 2011.

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Goldcorp to Buy Ontario Mining Company Probe for $440 Million – by Judy McKinnon (Wall Street Journal – January 19, 2015)

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

Goldcorp Inc. said Monday it has agreed to buy junior mining company Probe Mines Ltd. in a friendly, all-stock deal valued at about 526 million Canadian dollars (US$440 million), expanding the Vancouver company’s presence in one of its core districts in Northern Ontario.

“This transaction is consistent with Goldcorp’s long-standing strategy of securing growth opportunities in and around our existing districts with a focus on low-cost, high-quality gold production,” Chuck Jeannes, Goldcorp’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Toronto-based Probe Mines’ key asset is the Borden Gold project, a deposit minable through conventional underground methods and located west of Goldcorp’s Porcupine mine in Timmins, Ontario.

In an interview last week, Goldcorp Chairman Ian Telfer said the company is constantly looking for mergers and acquisitions. Unlike many other industries, mining companies need to grow through acquisitions because their assets are constantly being depleted and gold mines in particular tend to have shorter lives than other types of mines.

Companies the size of Goldcorp can’t rely on exploration to replace all their assets; larger mining concerns have a patchy record with exploration.

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