Latin America Mining – Page 70

Strike Suspended at Barrick’s Veladero Mine in Argentina – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – May 30, 2017)

May 30, 2017

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — Striking miners at Barrick Gold Corp.’s Veladero operation in Argentina will return to work as the two sides negotiate, alleviating the latest challenge facing the world’s largest gold producer.

The Toronto-based company has initiated “a formal dialogue process with the union leadership to address issues of concern,” it said Monday in a statement.

AOMA, one of nine unions at Veladero that’s focused on mine operations, downed tools on Sunday. Under local labor rules, striking employees are required to return to work once formal talks begin, Barrick said.

PDAC 2017: Lukas Lundin on patience and  his early successes – by Salma Tarikh (Northern Miner – March 25, 2017)

May 26, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

Mining tycoon Lukas Lundin, chairman of the Lundin Group, spoke with The Northern Miner at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in March about his early successes in Argentina and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), before touching upon his latest adventure in Ecuador.

Starting with the Bajo de la Alumbrera project in Catamarca, Argentina, Lundin says in 1990 he began investigating the classic copper-gold porphyry deposit, but was unfamiliar with porphyries at the time. “I was a bit naive. I didn’t know what a porphyry system was in the nineties. I thought it was a heap-leach gold project.

“It probably helped not to know too much, because if you knew too much, you’d probably think it was too far in the interior or too long to go to the coast … the majors thought it was too complicated.” Despite these challenges, Alumbrera has become one of the world’s top-10 copper producers.

Exclusive: Barrick’s Argentina mine may be allowed full operations in June – by Maximiliano Rizzi (Reuters U.S. – May 22, 2017)

May 23, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

BUENOS AIRES – The government of Argentina’s San Juan province has approved a plan for improving Barrick Gold Corp’s Veladero mine following its third spill of cyanide solution in 18 months and could allow full operations to resume in early June, a government official said.

Eduardo Machuca, the province’s secretary of environmental management and mining control, told Reuters in a phone interview that local authorities had reviewed and discussed Barrick’s improvement plan and improvements to the mine were well under way.

“I think that around June 10 there will be conditions to enable the mine, once the pneumatic, hydraulic and all engineering tests are done,” Machuca said on Monday.

Steinmetz Said to Skip $1.2 Billion Vale Hearing, Risking Loss – by Jesse Riseborough and R.T. Watson (Bloomberg News – May 19, 2017)

May 19, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s mining company may be asked to pay as much as $1.2 billion to former partner Vale SA after choosing not to attend an arbitration hearing in London in a dispute over one of the world’s richest mineral assets, two people with knowledge of the case said.

The decision by Steinmetz’s BSG Resources Ltd. to back out of hearings earlier this year will probably cost him the case, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is confidential. BSGR felt it wouldn’t be “treated fairly,” according to a letter sent by its lawyers Mishcon De Reya to Vale’s legal representatives dated Jan. 31 and seen by Bloomberg News.

An unfavorable ruling would be the latest setback for the 61-year-old Steinmetz, who’s facing a string of corruption investigations around the world resulting from his failed investment in the giant Simandou iron ore deposit in Guinea. Yet, Vale would still face years of legal battles to enforce any award from the case.

Investor lawsuits stack up against Barrick Gold over ‘misleading statements’ on cyanide spill in Argentina – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – May 19, 2017)

May 19, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

A number of class action lawsuits have been filed against Barrick Gold, alleging the world’s largest gold miner misled shareholders about the fallout of its most recent cyanide spill at a flagship mine in Argentina.

The class actions claim the company misled shareholders in public statements it made after a March rupture of a pipeline carrying a gold-cyanide solution at its Veladero mine in Argentina — the third spill at that mine’s leach pad in two years. Cyanide is used at mine sites to separate gold from the ore.

“Barrick Gold and certain of its senior executive officers made a series of materially false and misleading statements to investors about the Veladero mine and the company’s outlook and expected financial performance,” alleges the latest suit, filed Thursday by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP.

First Quantum to kick off massive $5.48bn copper mine in Panama in just months – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 18, 2017)

May 18, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Commissioning of the vast Cobre Panama mine will begin in early 2018.

Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (TSE:FM) is just a few months away from commissioning its massive $5.48 billion copper project in Panama, one of the largest of very few new red metal mines to begin production by the end of the decade.

The company, which gained control over the Cobre Panama project in 2013 with the acquisition of rival Canadian copper miner Inmet Mining, said Thursday the open-pit mine was now about 50% complete.

Speaking at the Paydirt Latin America Downunder conference, in Perth, First Quantum global exploration director, Mike Christie, said the firm would spend close to $1 billion this year to advance construction at the project, located about 120 km west of Panama City, and 20 km from the Caribbean Sea coast.

Billion-Dollar Gold Dream Lures Mining Maverick Out of Hiatus – by Natalie Obiko (Bloomberg News – May 17, 2017)

May 18, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Frank Giustra likes to see big where others think small. The Canadian mining maverick’s latest target is a subterranean patch of red earth in southwestern Mexico. In January his new undertaking, Leagold Mining Corp., bought the Los Filos mine from Goldcorp Inc. for $350 million. It wasn’t the open pits churning out 200,000-plus ounces of the precious metal that caught this attention — it was the untapped deposit stretching for roughly 600 meters below.

“We just looked at it and thought: This is a jewel,” Giustra, 59, said in an interview at his downtown Vancouver office, where a George Rodrigue blue dog painting hangs at the entrance. The plan is to use Los Filos to build “a major gold producer over the next two, three, four years,” he says. “Unless the world changes dramatically, I think we’ll pull it off.”

Giustra has a track record of finding the sparkle in the dirt. He’s used what he calls a grow-by-acquisition model to help build Endeavour Mining Corp. as well as a predecessor to Goldcorp, which is now one of the largest gold producers and Leagold’s biggest shareholder.

Continental surges 33% after securing $134m for Colombia gold mine – by Frik Els (Mining.com – May 11, 2017)

May 12, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Shares in Continental Gold Inc (TSE:CNL) surged 33% on Thursday day after world number two gold miner Newmont Mining forked out $109 million for just under 20% of the Toronto-based explorer and its Buriticá project in Colombia.

At the same time private equity firm Red Kite is paying $25 million for a 4.6% stake. Together with a Red Kite credit facility, Continental, now worth $388 million on the TSX, is fully funded to start building at 100%-owned Buriticá later this year.

Denver-based Newmont, which operates South America’s largest gold mine Yanacocha and the Merian mine in Suriname, gets a seat on Continental’s board and the two companies agreed on the formation of joint management technical, exploration, and sustainability committees.

Canada’s McEwen Mining aims for S&P500, sees gold on the rise – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – May 9, 2017)

May 10, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – Canadian resources magnate Rob McEwen aims to list his company McEwen Mining on the S&P 500 in two to three years’ time to meet a rise he predicts in demand for gold as part of investor portfolios. So far the only gold company listed on the S&P 500 is Newmont Mining.

“Our overriding goal is to get into the S&P 500,” McEwen said, adding he aimed to achieve that in two-to-three years’ time and expected an increased appetite for exposure to gold in investment portfolios.

McEwen made his fortune as the founder and former chairman and CEO of Goldcorp Inc., one of the world’s largest gold producers. He stepped down as head of Goldcorp in 2005 and his business card now describes him as chief owner of McEwen Mining, which in February this year announced it was buying Lexam VG Gold.

Colombia Urges Blood Diamond-Style Controls for Gold Buyers – by Oscar Medina (Bloomberg News – May 8, 2017)

May 9, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Colombia is calling for tougher controls over international gold purchases to curb the amount of illegally-mined metal entering mainstream markets, following similar moves by the diamond industry.

“There’s a responsibility on the part of buyers to make certain what the origin of the gold is that they are acquiring,” Colombian Mining and Energy Minister German Arce said. “My fear is that there’s a lot of illegally-extracted gold that ends up in central bank vaults.”

Less than a fifth of Colombia’s gold is produced legally, with much of the 60 metric-ton annual production controlled by illegal armed groups. These range from large capital-intensive operations to individual miners panning in streams and often handing over a percentage to local mafias.

Brazil prosecutors demand crackdown on illegal gold mining in Amazon’s “El Dorado” – by Chris Arsenault (Reuters U.S. – May 8, 2017)

May 9, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Officials in Brazil’s largest state are facing mounting pressure to crackdown on illegal gold mining in the Amazon rainforest where thousands of workers are destroying ecologically sensitive land, according to the Amazonas state prosecutor’s office.

Since 2007, thousands of miners have descended upon Apui in northwestern Brazil in the so-called “New El Dorado” hoping to strike rich but in the process destroying 14,000 hectares of jungle by cutting down trees and poisoning rivers with mercury.

In a drive to close these illegal mines, prosecutors are now suing Brazil’s environment enforcement agency, the Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), and other government departments which they say have failed to stop ecological crimes in illicit mines.

Exclusive: Barrick faces sanctions for Argentina cyanide spills, judge says – by Julianaa Castilla (Reuters U.S. – May 8, 2017)

May 8, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA – Barrick Gold Corp failed to complete improvements to the Veladero mine in Argentina that could have prevented the third spill of cyanide solution in 18 months, leading to eventual sanctions for the world’s biggest gold miner, a judge told Reuters.

Barrick appears to have missed deadlines on three orders from local authorities, including replacing pipes, before the March 28 spill, said Pablo Oritja, the judge overseeing cases related to Veladero in the nearby town of Jachal, where “Barrick out” graffiti lines the streets.

“If they had changed pipes as ordered, the decoupling (of pipes) would not have occurred,” Oritja told Reuters on Friday, the day after meeting the head of the mining police in western Argentina’s San Juan province, where Veladero and Jachal are located.

UPDATE 2-Brazil’s Vale slumps as ore price outlook, profit disappoints – by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Marta Nogueira (Reuters U.K. – April 27, 2017)

April 27, 2017

http://uk.reuters.com/

Shares in Vale SA slumped the most in two weeks on Thursday, as executives signaled lackluster trends for iron ore prices this year and investors reacted to a first-quarter profit miss with disappointment.

Preferred shares, world No. 1 iron ore producer Vale’s most widely traded class of stock, shed as much as 4 percent. The decline thwarted a recovery in the stock that had made gains this week on expectations Vale would report a near record quarterly profit.

On a results conference call, company executives said supply and demand of the main ingredient for steel look balanced, helping prices stay at $70 reais per tonne or less. In February, Vale’s head of ferrous minerals Peter Poppinga expected prices hovering around $80 a tonne this year.

Vale’s first quarter profit lower than expected as rains hurt iron ore output – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 26, 2017)

April 27, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Brazil’s Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world’s No.1 iron ore miner, logged Thursday net income for the first quarter that missed estimates, reflecting the impact of heavy rains that hampered output in the so-called northern system, which groups the Carajás, Serra Leste and S11D mines in northern Brazil, as well rising financial expenses.

The Rio de Janeiro-based company reported a net income of $2.5 billion, no less than a billion off the average consensus estimate of $3.325bn in profit. It was, however, the largest since the first quarter of 2014, according to Vale.

The miner had already announced a production record in iron ore of 86.2 million tonnes for the January-March period, which it credited to the ramp-up of its massive S11D mine in Pará, and the Itabirito project, in Minas Gerais.

Global Warming Costs Mount as Heatwave Hits Chile’s Glaciers – by Laura Millan Lombrana (Bloomberg News – April 27, 2017)

April 27, 2017

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — High, high up in the Andes mountains above Chile’s capital, at the foot of the glaciers that date from the last ice age, the temperatures were almost balmy this summer. That threatens long-term water supplies to the city of seven million spread out on the plain below.

At the Olivares Alfa glacier, 4,420 meters above sea level, temperatures rose above 10 Celsius on several days in January and rarely fell below zero, said Andres Rivera, a glaciologist at the Center of Scientific Studies in Valdivia. “It is not rare to have above-zero temperatures during summer, but high temperatures day and night, for several days in a row, that was unprecedented,” Rivera said.

The glaciers that supply much of Santiago’s water over the hot, dry summer months shrunk by a quarter to 380 square kilometers in the 30 years to 2013/14, according to a study by the Universidad de Chile.