Junior Exploration Sector – Page 31

Op-Ed Pebble Mine is a poison pill for Alaska’s wild salmon – by Carl Safina and Joel Reynolds (Los Angeles Times – November 9, 2017)

November 9, 2017

http://www.latimes.com/

Carl Safina is a professor of journalism at Stony Brook University and the founder and president of the Safina Center. Joel Reynolds is western director and senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The Bristol Bay watershed, in southwest Alaska, comprises 40,000 square miles of bogs and evergreen forests, rimmed by distant mountains and shimmering with rivers and feeder streams. In these waterways, miracles happen. Together they sustain the largest remaining salmon fishery on Earth.

For more than a decade, a Canadian mining company, Northern Dynasty Minerals, has wanted to gouge one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines into the heart of the watershed, putting its rivers on a centuries-long poison drip.

The company has failed to move forward with the project, known as Pebble Mine, due to intense and sustained opposition.

The $750 Million Magnesium Deal That Came Up $750 Million Short – by Danielle Bochove, Natalie Obiko Pearson and Kristine Owram (Bloomberg News – November 8, 2017)

November 8, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

It was one of 2017’s mega mining deals. And then it wasn’t. West High Yield (W.H.Y.) Resources Ltd. — the tiny Canadian explorer that surged nearly 1,000 percent last month after announcing a pact to sell its main assets for $750 million — said the deal has collapsed. The buyer couldn’t come up with a deposit for less than 1 percent of the transaction value, or $500,000.

“The purchaser failed to pay the deposit” by the Nov. 6 deadline, Calgary-based West High Yield, which trades under the ticker WHY, said in a statement late Tuesday. “The board of directors of the company decided to terminate the agreement.”

The collapse ends a transaction that sparked a review by regulators following West High Yield’s extraordinary surge on Oct. 5 after it announced the deal. The stock jumped to C$2, from just 36 cents the previous day, giving the company with no revenue a market value of C$114 million ($89 million).

Terry MacGibbon: Mining legend tells all – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – November 6, 2017)

November 7, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Terry MacGibbon has had a long and successful career in mining all over the world, to put it simply. The executive chairman at TMAC Resources was happy to share his story and thoughts on how he became a major player in the global mining industry at Laurentian University’s Goodman Lecture Series in Sudbury on Nov. 2.

The presentation looked at how the companies were acquired, financed, managed, the sites built and how the markets influenced their success. The overarching message, he said, is that to be successful, one has to have passion, persistence and be willing to do some hard work.

“I tell anyone getting involved with junior companies to only get involved with really great assets,” MacGibbon said. “Without great assets, you have nothing. All four of the companies I talk about had really good transformative acquisitions. You need a great management team as well. If you have great assets, they are nothing without a great management team to move ahead.”

Movers, shakers, even rock-breakers meet for mining conference in St. John’s – by Stephanie Kinsella (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – November 5, 2017)

November 6, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Old meets new at the Mineral Resources Review in St. John’s — billed as the largest event of its kind in Atlantic Canada, with more than 700 delegates and exhibitors.

The four-day conference, which started Thursday, has courses, technical sessions and a trade show — and it’s a chance for participants to network and show their strengths.

CBC caught up with a couple of them: prospectors who are keeping it in the family, and the creator of a new app for rock enthusiasts or the curious types. Prospecting might seem like a trade of the past, but it’s still very much alive. Just ask Mark Stockley who, with his brother Stephen and cousin Troy, “go out in the woods, cracking open rocks” in Gambo.

NEWS RELEASE: Increased Investment, Rising Consumer Technology Demands Responsible for Renewed Confidence in Junior Mining Sector

November 6, 2017

Click here to read the full report. https://www.pwc.com/ca/en/mining/publications/p386537_jr_mine_report_en_v5-04.pdf

• Market capitalization of the top 100 junior mining companies on the TSX Venture Exchange hit CA$12.2-billion, up 7% from CA$11.4-billion for the twelve-month period ended June 30, 2017
• Combined valuation returned to 2010 levels, but underperformed the TSX-V market overall, which gained 33%
• Mining remains the dominant industry on the exchange, accounting for 47% of the total value in 2017

TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2017 /CNW/ – Canada’s junior mining sector is seeing renewed confidence as valuations rose for the second year in a row, according to PwC Canada’s Junior mine 2017 report released today.

According to the report, upward trends in cash balances and deal activity were key indicators that the sector has moved into a delicate recovery period of cautious optimism. Investors in the top 100 mining companies on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) are pouring money into the sector, showing their willingness to embrace additional risk.

Penny Stock That Surged 1,000% Says Canada Mining Deal May Fail – by Natalie Obiko Pearson and Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – November 3, 2017)

November 3, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

West High Yield (W.H.Y.) Resources Ltd., the tiny Canadian miner that last month announced it was selling its main assets for $750 million, said the deal may fall through because the buyer doesn’t yet have financing.

West High Yield surged almost 1,000 percent last month, after the company — which has no revenue — announced it had sold a magnesium deposit in British Columbia for 46 times its market value. The shares have been halted since Oct. 6 and the Alberta Securities Commission launched an inquiry, citing “the magnitude of this transaction.”

“There is substantial risk that the purchaser may not be able to obtain financing necessary to complete the proposed transaction,” the Calgary-based company said Friday in a statement. “The purchaser does not have the financial resources” to complete the deal without third-party funding.

Could EV demand cause a shortage of battery-grade nickel? – by Andrew Topf (Stockhouse Publishing – November 2, 2017)

November 2, 2017

http://www.stockhouse.com/

FULL DISCLOSURE: North American Nickel is a paid client of Stockhouse Publishing.

Nickel: The dark horse in the EV battery race

Without a doubt, the barn door that has been cracked open on electric vehicles (EVs) is only going to swing further. One recent projection puts EVs at 16% market penetration by 2030 and 51% by 2040. Several countries including China, France and the UK have signalled they will eventually ban gas-powered vehicles, and one automaker, Volvo, recently announced that starting in 2019, all models will be hybrids or electrics.

This has investors flocking to companies that mine lithium and cobalt – two key ingredients of batteries used in EVs. But it’s a lesser-known fact that nickel, a cheaper, up-to-now industrial metal used primarily in stainless steel, will also be needed for EV batteries.

In fact, so much nickel could be demanded in the next few years that analysts are predicting a shortage of battery-grade nickel. Investors who can identify companies with properties that contain this type of nickel stand to make a bundle, especially those in the early exploration stages.

The Canadian Ghost Town That Tesla Is Bringing Back to Life – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com

Renewed demand for cobalt, the metal, is breathing new life into Cobalt, the town.

Ironically, Cobalt, Ontario—population 1,100—was built on silver. Remnants of a boom that transformed the town more than a century ago are everywhere. A mine headframe still protrudes from the roof of the bookstore, which was previously a grocery.

The butcher used to toss unwanted bones down an abandoned 350-foot shaft in the middle of the shop floor and keep meat cool in its lowered mine cage.

While the last silver mines closed almost 30 years ago, a global push for the village’s namesake metal is promising to breathe new life into the sleepy town 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Toronto.

Small mining companies turn to TSX after flopping on LSE – by Clara Denina and Barbara Lewis (Globe and Mail/Reuters – October 26, 2017)

October 26, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

Lacklustre performances by small mining companies on the London Stock Exchange are driving rivals in need of cash to find alternative ways to raise capital, either by merging or turning to other markets such as Toronto.

Six small miners have listed in London this year, up from two last year, but four of those are now trading below their offer price despite a rally in metals, led by a 27-per-cent jump in copper and aluminium prices and a 10-per-cent rise for gold.

London hosts the world’s biggest mining companies, including Rio Tinto Ltd. and BHP Billiton Ltd., but the poor performance of newly listed miners and other small miners trading in London is pushing some to change their plans.

Juniors oppose Barrick’s plans to turn an old mine into a ski resort – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – October 24, 2017)

October 25, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Junior miners say they oppose Barrick Gold’s (TSX, NYSE:ABX) idea to transform its old Mascot Giant nickel mine located near Hope, British Columbia, into a ski resort.

In an email sent out to the media, J.A. Chapman Mining Services Engineer, John Chapman, stated that his and other companies “are still actively conducting mineral exploration in and around the old Giant Mascot mine and are therefore against Barrick’s recreation proposal.”

Chapman attached a letter he sent back in 2012 to Gordon Hogg, the MLA for the B.C. riding of Surrey-White Rock, asking the provincial government to stop Barrick’s plans. He believes that the giant’s attempts to enter the hospitality business is just a way of turning a non-performing asset into a positive cash-flow operation.

Robert Friedland-backed cobalt company considering Canadian listing: sources – by Niall McGee and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – October 14, 2017)

October 16, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

An Australian cobalt company backed by mining financier Robert Friedland is considering a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, sources familiar with the matter said, as demand for the battery-making metal soars amid supply shortages.

The company, called Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd., is already public in Australia and has seen its stock hit a record high thanks in part to a spike in cobalt prices this year.

Clean TeQ is talking to investment banks Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. about a number of options, including raising additional funds through a Canadian offering, or a straight listing on the TSX, without raising new money right away, sources said.

A Gold Mine on Yellowstone’s Doorstep? – by Aaron Teasdale (Sierra Magazine – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.sierraclub.org/

“People come from all over the world just to fish this river,” says Max Hjortsberg, a local ecologist and poet, as his fly arcs through the warm July air. Beyond our drifting boat, a broad bottomland rises to alpine summits. Vaulting a vertical mile from the valley floor, one mountain dominates the rest—Emigrant Peak.

If the scenery seems like something out of a movie, that’s because it is. Much of A River Runs Through It (1992) was filmed here in the aptly named Paradise Valley, and the anglers and summer-getaway builders have been flooding in ever since. They come here because the country is big and wild and beautiful; when people imagine Montana, this is what comes to mind.

What they’re probably not thinking of is industrial-scale gold mining, which is what two companies wanted to do just over the border from Yellowstone National Park. Environmental groups feared that the resource-extraction-friendly Trump administration would OK the projects. It did not, and now Paradise Valley’s experience looks like a model for successful land conservation in the Trump era.

Finalists gather in the race for graphite production – by Christopher Ecclestone (InvestorIntel.com – October 11, 2017)

October 11, 2017

https://investorintel.com/

The “Big Beasts” of the Canadian mining scene are neither as evident nor as prominent as they used to be. Some have reconfigured their activities for the new reality of markets since 2011. One of the “Big Beasts” that temporarily disappeared from the scene and has now resurfaced is Sheldon Inwentash.

He is famed for his management of Pinetree Capital which, at its peak, commanded a market cap of over $1 billion and held a rather daunting 400 plus names in its portfolio. Pinetree Capital can be said to be the proto-mining hedge fund in the Canadian space and it revolutionized the resource investment model.

Pinetree veterans are spread across Toronto, churning out deals, raising hundreds of millions of dollars, and managing funds and mining companies themselves. In its heyday Pinetree was famous for having seeded companies such as Queenston Mining (acquired by Osisko Mining Corp. for $550mn), Aurelian Resources (acquired by Kinross for $1.2bn), and Gold Eagle Mines (acquired by Goldcorp for $1.5bn).

In Bre-X Country, Junior Miners Can Crash or Post 1,000% Gains – by Kristine Owram and Natalie Obiko Pearson (Bloomberg News – October 11, 2017)

October 11, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

It had the trappings of a Hollywood hit: greed, gold, love, treachery. No wonder the titanic hoax that was Bre-X Minerals Ltd. of Canada got a little star treatment this year, with the inspired-by-actual-events movie “Gold,” starring Matthew McConaughey (reviews were mixed).

Bre-X, which collapsed 20 years ago, may be the craziest story that ever came out of the wild west of the junior mining world — but it’s hardly the only one.

Unproven penny-stock companies, in Canada or anywhere else, are never for the faint of heart. But add to that the strike-it-rich ethos of energy and mining, major drivers of the Canadian economy, and the results can be explosive.

Gold, zinc explorers spearhead reversal of five-year global exploration downturn – by Samantha Herbst (MiningWeekly.com – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Boosted by increased exploration efforts in the gold and zinc sectors, the global nonferrous exploration budget is up in 2017 – for the first time since 2012 – by more than 14%, year-on-year, to $7.95-billion, according to new analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The twenty-eighth edition of the firm’s ‘Corporate Exploration Strategies’ (CES) report reveals that global gold budgets are up 22% year-on-year, while zinc-focused producers and junior explorers have boosted the zinc budget by 29% year-on-year to $489-million, based on improved zinc prices since early 2016.

“We know that the juniors have endured the worst of the downturn since 2012, accounting for most of the 40% drop in the number of active explorers over the past five years.