Junior Exploration Sector – Page 28

Cobalt 27 is victim of warehouse heist: report (Resource World – August 30, 2018)

August 31, 2018

Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. [KBLT-TSXV, 270-FSE] was among the victims in a warehouse heist in Rotterdam, Holland last month.

According to a report by Bloomberg news service, which was also posted by Scotiabank, thieves stole more than $10 million worth of cobalt, a key component in electric vehicle batteries.

About 112 tonnes of cobalt was stolen from the warehouse, which is owned by Vollers Group Gmbh, according to a statement by Minor Metals Trade Association, a U.K. based industry group, Bloomberg said. That metal is worth approximately $10 million at current prices.

“… nickel sulphide discoveries in places like Ontario are very infrequent” (Mining Journal – August 28, 2018)

August 29, 2018

https://www.mining-journal.com/

Balmoral Resources (TSX: BAR) is bolstering its renewed nickel focus with plans to acquire the Gargoyle nickel sulphide project in Ontario, which it says has similarities to the prolific Kambalda nickel camp in Western Australia.

Balmoral last week said drilling at its Detour Gold Trend project had begun but the biggest component of its summer-fall programme would be expansion drilling at its Grasset nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE deposit, which had been put on hold in 2015 due to low metal prices.

The LME spot nickel price had slumped below US$7,500/t in early 2016 but last traded above $13,338/t, a similar level to September 2015.

“The Gargoyle property acquisition supplements our renewed focus on nickel exploration and nicely complements the recently announced drill programme at Grasset,” president and CEO Darin Wagner said yesterday.

McEwen invests in explorer Great Bear – by Mariaan Web (MiningWeekly.com – August 27, 2018)

August 27, 2018

http://www.miningweekly.com/

Precious metals miner McEwen Mining and its chief owner Rob McEwen will invest a combined C$6-million in Ontario explorer Great Bear Resources, which last week announced a high-grade gold discovery in the Red Lake district.

Rob McEwen has agreed to purchase $4.8-million and McEwen Mining $1.2-million of the TSX-V-listed exploration company’s private placement financing to raise C$10-million. The private placement, announced on Friday, is priced at C$1.45 a unit.

On completion, the two entities will collectively own 18.8% of Great Bear, which Rob McEwen believes could be onto a “significant new gold discovery” in one of Canada’s premier mining camps.

Meet the Canadian miner that plans to shake up the nickel industry – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 25, 2018)

August 27, 2018

https://business.financialpost.com/

If Royal Nickel Canada succeeds, it would show how Chinese demand for raw materials can stimulate the expansion of Canadian mining

To hear Mark Selby tell it, the Canadian nickel industry is actually an “oligopoly,” in which a few large companies control the smelters, and grab an outsized share of the profits.

Selby, chief executive of Toronto-based Royal Nickel Corp., which is raising money to build a mine in Quebec, thinks he can break that pattern.

On Thursday, his company announced it has devised a way to reverse-engineer a product that resembles nickel pig iron — a lower grade, cheaper form of the metal derived from ores found in tropical areas.

Ex Glencore bosses try to snatch nickel asset – by Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald (Australian Financial Review – August 19, 2018)

August 20, 2018

https://www.afr.com/

Mining giants Glencore and Barrick could have a prospective nickel and cobalt project taken from under their nose, if plans being hatched by ASX-listed Jervois Mining come to fruition.

As first reported by Street Talk on Sunday, Jervois has been making moves to win control of the Kabanga nickel and cobalt project in Tanzania, after the host government cancelled Glencore and Barrick’s joint hold of it in January.

The January cancellation was part of a broader push by the government to get a bigger share of its mineral wealth, but Glencore and Barrick have been upbeat in recent times about their chances of winning a fresh permit to explore and develop the asset.

Ontario is a tough place to do mineral exploration – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 8, 2018)

August 9, 2018

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Prospectors’ group wants revisions in provincial plans, permitting process to attract investment, improve Indigenous relations

An onerous permitting process, Indigenous relations and project financing continue to be a hindrance to Ontario’s exploration and prospecting community. Growing wait times for exploration permitting in Ontario and other provinces were the subject of a Fraser Institute report released in July.

The survey of mining executives, conducted in 2017, indicated industry and investors were losing confidence in the province’s exploration permitting regime with applications taking longer to be processed and approved.

The polling was done before the province officially made the switch from traditional claim staking to digital map staking earlier this year.

Ontario court dismisses junior miner’s exploration permit over failure to consult – by Robert Hiltz (CIM Magazine – August 08, 2018)

August 8, 2018

http://magazine.cim.org/

Landore Resources and Ontario mines ministry failed to properly consult Eabametoong First Nation over drilling permit, court rules

The Ontario Superior Court threw out a junior mining company’s permit for drilling work on Eabametoong First Nation’s traditional territory in northern Ontario after ruling that the company and the province had failed in their duty to adequately consult with the Nation.

Justice Harriet Sachs wrote in a mid-July ruling that Landore Resources Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) did not meet the required level of consultation to be seen as “upholding the honour of the Crown” when dealing with Eabametoong.

The judge wrote that both Landore and the MNDM dealt with Eabametoong in an opaque way that left the First Nation in the dark about why and how decisions were being made, and excluded them from parts of the process.

The cobalt blues: A rival closes in on Vancouver’s eCobalt amid delays and shareholder backlash – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 31, 2018)

July 31, 2018

https://business.financialpost.com/

The more cobalt prices rise, the more pressure companies with cobalt projects face. On Monday, Vancouver-based eCobalt Solutions Inc. found itself under siege from Australian rival Jervois Mining Ltd, which announced it has acquired 4.7 per cent of its shares — the potential rumblings of a hostile take over.

The announcement comes two days after Australian hedge fund Tribeca Investment Partners sent a stern letter to eCobalt’s board, rebuking its management for “unnecessary” delays and mistakes as it seeks to build a cobalt mine in Idaho.

The letter, obtained by the Financial Post from an industry insider, highlights the eCobalt’s struggling stock price, calling for a sale of the company and a change in management.

Newmont Mining buys stake in Canadian gold project (Reuters/Globe and Mail – July 26, 2018)

July 26, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Newmont Mining Corp, which topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit, said on Thursday it would acquire a 50 percent stake in a gold project in Western Canada as miners look for new reserves.

Major gold miners are racing to explore, expand and construct new mines as years of belt tightening have left them with diminishing reserves at their existing mines.

Newmont would pay $275 million to Novagold Resources Inc for its stake in the Galore Creek project. The remaining stake is held by Teck Resources Ltd.

Ontario court quashes gold mining permit over lack of meaningful consultation with First Nation – by Jorge Barrera (CBC News Indigenous – July 17, 2018)

July 18, 2018

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/

Court says company’s potential Barrick deal drove ministry’s decision to issue exploration permit

A ruling issued Monday by the Ontario Superior Court quashing a gold exploration permit should send a message to the new Doug Ford government that it can’t “bulldoze” its way into the mineral-rich Ring of Fire development, says the chief of Eabametoong First Nation.

The Ontario Superior Court said in the ruling that the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, under the previous Liberal administration, failed to properly consult with Eabametoong First Nation before it granted a gold mining permit to Landore Resources Canada, a subsidiary of U.K.-based Landore Resources Ltd.

The court found that the ministry “changed course without any explanation” to the First Nation and issued the permit to ensure Landore had it in hand for talks on a potential deal with gold mining behemoth Barrick Gold Corporation.

Court cancels mining permit after Ontario failed to adequately consult First Nation community – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A permit for mineral exploration on the traditional territory of a remote First Nation has been cancelled by judges who say the Ontario government and the mining company failed to adequately consult with Indigenous people who hunt and fish in the area.

The decision issued this week by a three-judge panel of the Divisional Court of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice reinforces the obligation of governments to reach out to First Nations, Inuit and Métis when development could affect their way of life.

The court said Landore Resources Canada will have to complete consultations with the Eabametoong First Nation before a permit can be issued for the company’s claim near Keezhik Lake in Northwestern Ontario.

[Alexandria Minerals Proxy Fight] How a penny stock miner came to face a multimillion-dollar problem – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2018

https://www.thestar.com/

It’s tough to get anyone to pay attention when you’re running a four-cent stock. But then the name Sprott Inc. shows up. And Institutional Shareholder Services. And Glass Lewis. And Joe Groia, the lawyer. And Navigator, the crisis management firm. And a wagonload of mud slinging. And a full-on proxy fight with a voting deadline of this week.

All of which leads the reasonable person to ask: what the heck is going on here? The company in question: Alexandria Minerals Inc., a penny miner with dreams of gold. The agitator: geologist and ousted CEO Eric Owens, who founded the company more than a decade ago.

Owens found himself turfed from the firm in February four days after he publicly announced his intention to call a shareholder meeting to remove three board members, in what the chairman of the board calls a “costly and distracting proxy fight.”

Nautilus Minerals tanks on shipbuilding contract cancellation – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 4, 2018)

July 5, 2018

http://www.mining.com/

Shares in Canada’s Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS), one of the world’s first seafloor miners, were hit hard on Wednesday after the owner of the shipyard where the company’s support vessel is being made said it had cancelled the contract with the supplier chosen by Nautilus to build its ships.

The Toronto-based company, which is in the last stages of developing its Solwara 1 gold, copper and silver project, off the coast of Papua Guinea, said Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding’s decision was in response to shipbuilder MAC Goliath Pte’s failure to pay the third instalment of the contract price — $18 million before interest.

The company’s stock fell almost 19% in Toronto on the news, hitting 15 Canadian cents at 12:21 PM local time, but between the average range it’s traded so far this year. In the last seven years, however, Nautilus’ shares have sunk around 90% and is now valued at just over Cdn $111 million.

Forging new bonds with First Nations: Indigenous-led AurCrest Gold sees a shared future with remote communities in northwestern Ontario – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 5, 2018)

July 5, 2018

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A pioneering First Nation-led gold exploration and sustainable energy company has moved beyond having a social licence to operate by forging deeper bonds with remote communities.

When Chris Angeconeb took the helm as AurCrest Gold’s president and CEO in March 2017, he was determined to build upon the good faith relationships the company had fostered with First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario, and then take it a step farther.

When Angeconeb joined the Toronto junior miner as a director in 2011, his knowledge of mining was limited. A handful of his uncles and cousins had worked in the industry and he’d received an earlier indoctrination while taking a course at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie taught by MiningWatch co-founder Joan Kuyek.

Critical Minerals Alaska – Chromite – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – June 28, 2018)

July 3, 2018

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Essential stainless-steel ingredient mined in Alaska during both World Wars

A vital ingredient in stainless steel and superalloys, chromium is considered by the United States Geological Survey as “one of the Nation’s most important strategic and critical materials.”

“Because there is no viable substitute for chromium in the production of stainless steel and because the United States has small chromium resources, there has been concern about domestic supply during every national military emergency since World War I,” the USGS explains.

Rich chromite deposits on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula were able to ease some of these concerns by providing a domestic supply of chromite, the only mineral of chromium metal, to help fill America’s increased demand for chromium during both World Wars.