Goldcorp Inc. – Page 13 – Republic of Mining

Inglorious writedowns: Gold sector’s bad bets wiping out lifetime earnings — and investor confidence – by Peter Koven (National Post – January 14, 2015)

January 14, 2015

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

TORONTO – Goldcorp Inc. could soon join an inglorious group: large gold miners that have a net loss to show for their entire history as corporate entities.

The Vancouver-based company warned this week that it expects to record an impairment charge of US$2.3 billion to US$2.7 billion on its Cerro Negro mine in Argentina. Given that Goldcorp’s retained earnings were US$2.2 billion as of Sept. 30, they may be completely wiped out in its next quarterly report.

That would not be unusual in the gold industry, where writedowns have destroyed historic profits in recent years. Barrick Gold Corp. has retained earnings of negative US$7.8 billion, while Kinross Gold Corp. is at minus US$8.5 billion. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. has a US$4 billion historic loss, while Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. has a slimmer loss of US$740 million.

These companies have highly profitable operations that continue to perform well in a tough gold market. But they paid the price for taking risky bets that backfired and crushed shareholder value when gold prices dropped.

“It matters when you write off more than you ever earned,” said John Tumazos, an independent analyst. “The message is these particular companies were reckless and irresponsible with their shareholders’ capital.”

A female face on aboriginal recruitment [Goldcorp Eléonore gold mine] – by Daniel Bland (Winnipeg Free Press – January 7, 2015)

January 7, 2015

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

When Yvette Mattawashish was eight, she remembers playing in the ditches along the roads of her native Mistissini, a James Bay Cree reserve 900 kilometres northeast of Ottawa. “I used to crawl in the tunnels they’d dig to put in the big water pipes and culverts,” she says laughing now at the memory. “I’d curl right up inside them.”

Today, at 22, Yvette is one of only three James Bay Cree women trained and employed as an underground development miner. And while the path she took to get there is typical in many ways to that of other young aboriginal women in the remote north, it is also extraordinary.

According to a report by the Conference Board of Canada, the annual gross domestic product of mining in Canada’s north, which was $4.4 billion in 2011, is expected to reach $8.5 billion in 2020. A lack of infrastructure in roads and energy is frequently mentioned as the major obstacle to development in the remote north.

Given the demographics of most First Nation communities — a very young population most of whom have not completed high school — effective strategies to engage aboriginal leadership and train local aboriginals to do jobs mines will require may prove to be every bit as important as building a road to access a mine or a deep water port to ship ore. Particularly crucial are efforts to target aboriginal women like Yvette.