Latin America Mining – Page 72

China’s Shandong in advanced talks to buy half of Barrick’s Veladero mine: sources – by John Tilak and Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – April 5, 2017)

April 6, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO/VANCOUVER – China’s Shandong Gold Mining Co Ltd (600547.SS) is in advanced talks to buy a 50 percent stake in Barrick Gold Corp’s (ABX.TO) (ABX.N) Veladero gold mine in Argentina, people familiar with the process told Reuters even as the Canadian miner grappled with a pipe rupture at the site.

Barrick is no longer in discussions with China’s Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd (601899.SS) about the Veladero mine stake sale, the sources said. A sale could fetch more than $1 billion, they added.

Veladero, one of Barrick’s five core mines, was the site of a pipe rupture last week – the third incident in 18 months at the mine involving cyanide-bearing solution. In the wake of the incident, the government of Argentina’s San Juan province, where Veladero is located, said on Wednesday it has rejected a work plan presented by Barrick.

The green revolution; a double-edged sword for metal markets – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – April 5, 2017)

April 6, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

On March 29, El Salvador made a little bit of history. The tiny Central American country passed a law banning all exploration, mining and processing of metals. Without exception. It is the first nation to do so.

The decision, which enjoys broad popular support, is all the more remarkable given the parlous state of the country’s economy. But in a public debate that pitted water supplies against economics, water won.

The decision will not affect any metals supply chain. There are no major mines in the country, although one was planned. El Salvador has specific issues with water. Its Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources estimates that 90 percent of surface water is contaminated.

Chile copper industry urged to adopt sweeping changes – by Barbara Lewis and Mitra Taj (Reuters U.S. – April 4, 2017)

April 5, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO – The world’s biggest copper producer Chile needs to adopt new technologies and improve labor and community relations in order to maintain its global standing, industry leaders said on Tuesday.

Chile’s copper industry is grappling with falling productivity because much of the country’s best-quality ore has already been mined, although it still accounts for 30 percent of the world’s supply of the metal.

This week Chile hosts the CRU World Copper Conference in Santiago, where the nation’s declining ore grades and a dispute at its biggest mine, Escondida, are offsetting relief that copper prices have recovered from the lows of around $4,300 a tonne a year ago. They remain below $6,000.

Anglo American aims for copper expansion in Peru, but not yet – by Barbara Lewis and Felipe Iturrieta (Reuters U.S. – April 4, 2017)

April 4, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO – Anglo American could begin to expand copper capacity starting in Peru in 2018 after another year without added supplies as the company remains focused on cutting costs, the head of its copper division said in an interview. Copper prices jumped 18 percent in 2016 and have been supported so far this year by strikes and a lack of new capacity.

“All of that has kept the market in almost a neutral position where there wasn’t a surplus,” said Hennie Faul, Anglo American’s chief executive officer for copper. “I couldn’t call it a tight position, but at least it got the prices to stabilize.”

Given a broadly stable copper market and a continued need to shore up the balance sheet following the commodities market crash of 2015 and early 2016, Faul said the company would only look at copper expansion once a decision had been made around year-end on restoring dividends.

How Spanish immersion placed resource hunter Aurania on trail of Ecuador’s ‘lost cities’ – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 30, 2017)

March 31, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Junior explorer Aurania Resources is hot in pursuit of finding the last two of seven ‘lost cities’ in Ecuador abandoned by the Spanish conquistadors centuries ago.

With the Toronto-headquartered company on the cusp of closing a C$6-million financing led by Maison Placements Canada and Red Cloud Klondike Strike, Aurania’s president and CEO Dr Keith Barron is gearing up to head back to Ecuador in search of the lost gold mines that supported the Spanish settlements, and possibly local tribes, long before the Spanish explorers arrived.

Barron, who is also the founder of Aurelian Resources, is credited with being the geologist who discovered the Fruta del Norte deposit – one of Ecuador’s biggest gold discoveries that later sold for $1.2-billion and is currently under development by Lundin Gold – and is quick to point out to Mining Weekly Online during an interview that he is not on a Hollywood-style treasure hunt, based on some wild-eyed prospector holding a fragment of an old map, or who overheard a conversation in a bar.

UPDATE 1-Argentine province to suspend some Barrick activities -report (Reuters Africa – March 30, 2017)

March 31, 2017

http://af.reuters.com/

BUENOS AIRES/TORONTO, March 30 (Reuters) – Argentina’s San Juan province ordered Barrick Gold Corp to suspend some activities at its Veladero mine after a pipe carrying gold-bearing solution ruptured on the leach pad, state-run news agency Telam reported on Thursday.

Reuters could not immediately reach the provincial government to confirm the report. A spokesman for Barrick said the Toronto-based company was confirming its understanding of the order.

Barrick said on Wednesday that a monitoring system at the mine had detected a rupture on the pipe on Tuesday night. The issue was “quickly corrected,” it added, following procedures to contain and mitigate the situation. All solution was contained within the operating facility and there was no impact to people or the environment, Barrick said in the statement.

El Salvador becomes first country to ban metals mining – by Sandra Cuffe (Mongabay.com – March 30, 2017)

March 31, 2017

https://news.mongabay.com/

The results of the much-anticipated vote were unanimous: 69 in favor, none against, and no abstentions. Fifteen of the country’s 84 lawmakers did not show up for the vote.

The result “makes tiny El Salvador the unlikely hero in a global movement to put the brakes on a modern day ‘gold rush’,” MiningWatch Canada wrote in a statement Thursday. The Central American nation is the first country in the world to ban mining for gold and other metals, according to the industry watchdog group.

With the exception of a transition period for small-scale artisanal gold miners, the law provides for an immediate, definitive, and permanent ban on all metals mining, including exploration activities. No old permits or license applications will be grandfathered in, according to the succinct 11-article bill. It will take effect one week after its publication in the official government gazette.

El Salvador, Prizing Water Over Gold, Bans All Metal Mining – by Gene Palumbo and Elisabeth Malkin (New York Times – March 29, 2017)

March 30, 2017

https://www.nytimes.com/

SAN SALVADOR — Lawmakers in El Salvador voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to prohibit all mining for gold and other metals, making the country the first in the world to impose a nationwide ban on metal mining, environmental activists said.

Declaring that El Salvador’s fragile environment could not sustain metal mining operations, legislators across the political spectrum approved the ban, which had broad support, particularly from the influential Roman Catholic Church.

Supporters said the law was needed to protect the country’s dwindling supply of clean water. “Today in El Salvador, water won out over gold,” Johnny Wright Sol, a legislator from the center-right Arena party, wrote on Twitter.

Goldcorp-Barrick Partnership Shows Miners Tip-Toeing to Growth – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – March 28, 2017)

March 29, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

n the dark days of the commodities meltdown, mining companies turned to partnerships to lower costs and survive. Now, as prices recover, they’re hooking up for growth — or at least the possibility of it. Canada’s two biggest gold miners, Barrick Gold Corp. and Goldcorp Inc., are teaming up to develop a gold-copper deposit in Chile as part of a complex chain of transactions.

The cultures of the two companies are, in many ways, opposites. Where Goldcorp has been focused on boosting production, Barrick has repeatedly stressed that its priority is improving cash flow through better margins.

Barrick’s latest joint venture with Goldcorp means it’s off the hook for the initial development costs associated with a large project in the Maricunga mineral belt, in exchange for handing over control of part of the asset.

Colombia municipality, home of AngloGold project, votes to ban mining (Reuters U.S. March 27, 2017)

March 29, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

Voters in Colombia’s Tolima province have backed a proposal to ban mining projects in their municipality, a result that raises questions about the future of an AngloGold Ashanti gold exploration in the area.

South Africa’s AngloGold may not be permitted to extract gold at its flagship La Colosa mine – a $2 billion potential investment that could yield 28 million ounces of gold – after 98.8 percent voted against allowing mining in Sunday’s referendum.

AngloGold has been exploring at the site in central Colombia for more than a decade. Some 6,165 citizens backed the proposal, while 76 voted against, according to figures from the electoral authority.

Goldcorp spends nearly $1 billion to get into Chilean joint venture with Barrick Gold – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – March 29, 2017)

March 29, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

Two Canadian gold giants, Barrick Gold Corp. and Goldcorp Inc., will form a partnership in Chile’s gold belt in a multi-faceted deal that will see Goldcorp commit nearly US$1 billion as miners look for creative solutions to find and fund new sources of growth.

Goldcorp will pay upfront costs of about US$445 million to get into a lucrative gold belt in a friendly mining jurisdiction through a complex series of deals involving four miners. A joint venture with Barrick will see the companies own and operate at least three properties in Chile’s Maricunga region with further investments largely funded by Goldcorp.

For Vancouver-based Goldcorp, the deal represents an opportunity to take a stake in one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world. Goldcorp’s stock fell 6.7 per cent to $20 in Toronto.

Investors have it wrong. The Barrick-Goldcorp-Kinross deal is a smart move – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – March 29, 2017)

March 29, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The three-cornered deal announced on Tuesday by Barrick Gold Corp., Goldcorp Inc. and Kinross Gold Corp. is better than the market thinks it is.

While investors’ reaction was immediately and uniformly negative – Goldcorp stock plummeted and Barrick and Kinross shares both lost ground – the shuffle of assets seems like an eminently sensible transaction.

The agreement, which centres on the Cerro Casale gold and copper project in northern Chile, gives each of the companies something it values highly: cash for Kinross, new reserve potential for Goldcorp and a low-cost way to move forward a shelved project for Barrick. It also allows Goldcorp and Barrick to share the risk of developing a swath of Chile’s Maricunga gold belt, while letting the two companies spread expenses among a number of nearby projects.

2017 PDAC Thayer Lindsley Award: Peter Megaw, MAG Silver Corporation

March 10, 2018March 28, 2017

PDAC 2017 Thayer Lindsley Award: Peter Megaw from PDAC on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

(L to R) Peter Megaw (MAG Silver Corporation) and Felix Lee (PDAC First Vice President)

This award recognizes an individual or a team of explorationists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery anywhere in the world.

Peter Megaw, MAG Silver Corporation: For the 2003 discovery of the 200 million ounce Juanicipio silver deposit in the Fresnillo District, Mexico, ultimately leading to a further 600 million ounces being identified in the immediate area.

In 2003, Peter Megaw, a Professional Geologist and co-founder of MAG Silver, made a blind discovery known as the Juanicipio silver deposit that contains more than 200 million ounces silver. The discovery resulted from an understanding of structural controls and mineral zoning patterns of epithermal vein systems and persistent application of field-based exploration methods.

The Juanicipio silver deposit was discovered in the 500 kilometre-long Fresnillo epithermal belt in Mexico, which extends from the Guanajuato district (1.3 billion ounces silver) through Zacatecas (1.0 billion ounces silver) and Fresnillo (1.2 billion ounces silver) to the San Martin-Sabinas district (800 million ounces silver).

Vale taps veteran executive Schvartsman as new CEO – by Guillermo Parra-Bernal (Reuters U.S. – March 28, 2017)

March 28, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SAO PAULO – Vale SA surprised investors with the appointment of Fabio Schvartsman as chief executive officer on Monday, choosing a commodities industry veteran to lead transformation of the world’s No. 1 ore producer into a company with dispersed share ownership.

Schvartsman, who has been the CEO of Klabin SA, Brazil’s largest paper and cardboard producer, for the past six years, had not figured in media reports as a potential replacement for CEO Murilo Ferreira. The departure of Ferreira was announced last month.

In a career spanning four decades, Schvartsman occupied key positions in companies such as fuel distribution giant Ultrapar Participações SA, phone carrier Telemar Participações SA and U.S. oil driller San Antonio International. Vale’s board picked him from a list prepared by executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart.

Barrick, Goldcorp team up to develop one of world’s largest gold deposits in Chile – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 28, 2017)

March 28, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Barrick (TSX, NYSE:ABX) and Goldcorp (TSX:G) (NYSE:GG), the world’s No.1 and No.3 producers of the precious metal by value, are teaming up to develop projects in northern Chile, particularly Cerro Casale, one of the world’s largest gold-copper deposits.

As part of the agreement, Barrick has sold a 25% stake in Cerro Casale to Goldcorp, which will result in a 50-50 joint venture focused on building gold mines in Chile’s prolific Maricunga belt.

The move, a fresh sign that miners are moving from cost-cutting to expanding operations and investing in exploration, also prompted Goldcorp to acquire Exeter Resource Corporation (TSX:XRC) for about $250 million. The takeover makes of Goldcorp the sole owner of the Caspiche gold-copper project, conveniently located only 10 km north of Cerro Casale.