Latin America Mining – Page 77

INTERVIEW-Sherritt sees Cuban nickel venture returning to profit in 2017 – by Sarah Marsh (Reuters U.K. – November 17, 2016)

November 18, 2016

http://uk.reuters.com/

HAVANA – Nov 17 Sherritt International Corp’s joint nickel venture in Cuba will return to profit next year if prices for the metal sustain themselves at the current level, the Canadian mining company’s head said in an interview.

Speaking at Sherritt’s office in Havana on Wednesday, Chief Executive David Pathe said the price, which has risen around 20 percent this year from multi-year lows, could even improve given global nickel supplies were expected to swing into a deficit.

“If prices can sustain where we are now, we will be EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) positive at these prices with some upside in 2017,” Pathe said. “It looks like the nickel market… is moving into deficit, with forecasts of deficit for few years, and we are optimistic it will be positive for pricing going forward,” Pathe said.

Colombia’s ‘Blood Gold’ Turns Up in Everything From Smartphones to Cars – by Andrew Willis (Bloomberg News – Novmeber 16, 2016)

November 17, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Deep in the jungles of Colombia, thousands of small, illegal mining operations, many under the control of Marxist guerrillas or drug traffickers, are working long hours to pull gold out of the ground. Miners are digging in out-of-the-way places such as Timbiquí and Río Quito. From there, the gold is hauled by boat, truck or small airplanes to smelters in Cali and Medellin.

Enter the international gold refiners, armed with certificates of good business practices, who buy the gold and in turn, sell to U.S. corporations large and small. Underscoring just how fraught global supply chains can be, the gold finds its way into products ranging from smartphones to cars and gold coins made by the U.S. Mint.

Corporations, buying in good faith, as well as companies that use gold for jewelry, rely on organizations whose task is assuring the legality of the gold. Many, including Apple Inc. and General Motors Co., also do independent audits of their supply chains, including gold and other metals. Despite those efforts, experts say, illegal gold slips through the system.

BHP Said to Seek Samarco Restructure as Vale Wants More Time – by R.T. Watson and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 15, 2016)

November 16, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd. is pushing to restructure debt at its Samarco venture as joint owner Vale SA prefers a grace period on payments until it secures licenses to resume mining, people familiar with the matter said.

While the owners have said they don’t intend to cover Samarco’s more than $3 billion in debt, they’re at odds over how the Brazilian iron miner should approach banks and bondholders after a year-long halt in output, the people said, asking not to be identified because talks are private. BHP’s preference for restructuring now would mean a haircut for creditors, the people said.

Samarco Mineracao SA, as the joint venture is formally known, has been shut since a tailings dam ruptured a year ago. The accident, described by the government as Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster, killed as many as 19 people and polluted waterways in two states. The venture has already missed two bond coupon payments. Its bonds due 2022 are trading at about 35 cents on the dollar, down from 39 cents at the end of last month.

Gold mining invades new areas of Peruvian Amazon – by Benji Jones (Mongabay.com – November 11, 2016) Environmental Headlines

November 14, 2016

Illegal gold mining in Peru – once restricted to the southern states – is now spreading across new territory in the northern and central Peruvian Amazon. In a report released earlier this month, Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) revealed three new “frontiers” of gold mining in the departments of Amazonas and Huánuco – regions that boast exceptional biological and cultural diversity.

Across the frontiers, MAAP detected 32 hectares of mining deforestation – an area equivalent to about 42 soccer fields. These mining scars are fresh, and relatively small, indicating that a larger-scale deforestation event can still be prevented.

“Deforestation in these cases is still in its early stages, so there is still time to avoid larger-scale damage, as in the case of [the southern region of] Madre de Dios,” the report states.

Anti-mining groups force Hudbay to keep Peruvian operation suspended – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 10, 2016)

November 14, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

Operations at Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX, NYSE:HBM) Constancia copper-molybdenum mine in Peru remained suspended Thursday as a group of locals that has occupied parts of the pit since Monday evening refuse to leave the site.

The trespassing by the crowd of about a thousand, according to local paper La Republica (in Spanish), forced Hudbay to temporarily suspend operations as a safety measure to protect both employees and protesters.

Most of the intruders are from the Chamaca district, about an hour away from the mine, Hudbay said in a statement. It added that their representatives had signed an agreement with the national and local governments, as well as with Hudbay Peru within the previous two weeks, confirming their willingness to work together and cooperate.

Ecuador Says BHP, Billionaire Rinehart Join Metals Chase – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 8, 2016)

November 8, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest miner, and billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting Pty. are among commodity producers to have held talks over a potential entry into mining and exploration projects in Ecuador, according to the nation’s government.

Both producers had discussions with officials on the prospects of making investments or securing exploration leases, Mining Minister Javier Cordova Unda said Tuesday in an interview in Melbourne. Cordova has met with BHP personally, he said.

BHP has shown interest in a number of copper projects, including in a potential partnership with state-owned miner Enami and Chile’s Codelco in their joint Llurimagua copper and molybdenum project, Cordova said. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.

Brazil’s president delays pushing for new Vale CEO until next year: report (Reuters U.S. – November 6, 2016)

November 7, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Brazilian President Michel Temer will not push to replace the head of the nation’s largest mining company, Vale SA (VALE5.SA), until the current executive’s mandate expires in May, a local newspaper reported.

Temer has been seeking a replacement for Chief Executive Murilo Ferreira, who was the preferred choice of impeached former President Dilma Rousseff and is considered by Temer’s camp to be too close to the previous administration.

But the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported at the weekend, without citing sources, that Temer will not try to force Ferreira’s early exit after coming up against resistance from state pension funds that have seats on Vale’s board. Temer’s office did immediately responded to requests for comment and Vale said it would not comment on the report.

New water treatment plants help secure a positive legacy (Barrick Beyond Borders – October 20, 2016)

November 4, 2016

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

Water treatment plants at the Pierina mine in Peru are an important part of the mine’s closure plan

As part of its mine closure obligations, Barrick’s Pierina mine has built two new water treatment plants to safeguard local water quality. The Peru-based mine, which is winding down operations after 18 years, also built a cyanide detoxification plant to treat cyanide contained in the site’s heap leach pad.

“Cyanide is often used to leach gold contained inside ore, and this was the case at Pierina,” says Jorge Lobato, Environmental and Closure Manager at Pierina. “Even when operations at Pierina come to an end, cyanide will be present in the solutions from the heap leach pad and must be treated. The cyanide detoxification plant will operate until all cyanide has been consumed or destroyed on site.”

Pierina is located about 185 miles north of Lima in a high precipitation region of Peru. Average annual rainfall is 1,200 millimeters which, combined with natural conditions of the area, make conditions ripe for acid rock drainage. Acid rock drainage refers to the acidification of water that occurs when sulfide-based ore is exposed to air and water.

Chile holds line on lithium exploration limits despite price rise – by Maytaal Angel and Amanda Cooper (Reuters U.S. – November 2, 2016)

November 3, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – Nov 2 Chile is sticking to its policy of limiting the exploitation of its vast lithium reserves, the country’s mining minister told Reuters on Wednesday, despite a surge in prices for the battery and electronics ingredient.

Battery-grade lithium prices tripled to more than $20,000 a tonne in top consumer China over the summer as demand surged, but Chile continues to consider the mineral as “strategic” and limits its production.

Private investors, desperate to cash in on the demand-fuelled boom for lithium, which is used in electric vehicles, have criticised Chile’s policy of limiting production of a mineral that is no longer really used in nuclear applications.

Justin Trudeau and the Sludge of Canadian Mining Companies – by Jaime Porras Ferreyra (New York Times – November 3, 2016)

November 3, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

Jaime Porras Ferreyra is a writer and a consultant in international affairs.

MONTREAL — “Canada is back,” says Justin Trudeau, the charismatic and bilingual prime minister of Canada, at international gatherings, seeking to showcase the imprint he wants to put on Canadian foreign policy in contrast to that of his predecessor, Stephen Harper.

The prime minister has used very precise terms in his speeches: justice, environmental care, democracy and human rights. He even dared to invoke some of them during his official visit to China in September, although the Chinese did not applaud him for it.

Mr. Trudeau, who was elected last year, has already taken some steps toward his ambitious agenda. He welcomed thousands of Syrian refugees, he included Canada in the fight against climate change, and he offered troops for United Nations peacekeeping forces. Latin America also began to feel the effects of this diplomatic turn.

BHP Billiton one year on from the Samarco Fundão dam disaster – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – November 2, 2016)

November 3, 2016

http://www.afr.com/

Andrew Mackenzie was rushing towards South America when he took a call from an old friend. A dam failure had killed scores of people at a BHP site in Brazil just days earlier, and there was little time for social calls.

But the BHP chief executive made an exception for Tony Hayward’s call. The two men had been friends for more than two decades, having spent a significant part of their careers at BP, where Hayward was the much-maligned chief executive who wished he could “get his life back” during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Upon hearing of the dam collapse at BHP and Vale’s Samarco iron ore business, Hayward felt there were messages his friend had to hear. Mackenzie had already won plaudits for fronting the media in Melbourne within 12 hours of the dam spill on November 6, 2015, despite confusion reigning at the time amid the darkness of night in Brazil.

Vale may reconsider selling $10 billion in core assets — report – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 1, 2016)

November 2, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

Brazil’s mining giant Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world’s biggest iron ore producer, may reconsider the sale of $10 billion of its best assets by the end of 2017 if market conditions remain favourable, a local media outlet reports.

The Rio de Janeiro-based company swung to a net profit in the third quarter of the year helped in part by better prices for the commodities it mines, mainly iron ore and nickel. And if the situation remains the same or improves, Noticias de Mineracao reports (in Portuguese), the board may reconsider selling some of its key assets, as announced in February.

Until then, Vale’s streamlining efforts continue to be centred on cost cutting, moving to higher-quality deposits and offloading less-important assets, such as its fertilizer business and its Australian coal mines.

Vale cuts waste storage spending after disaster at BHP joint venture – by Paul Kiernan (The Australian/Dow Jones – November 1, 2016)

November 1, 2016

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

Brazilian mining giant Vale SA has slashed spending on waste storage even after a catastrophic dam failure at its Samarco joint venture with BHP Billiton last November killed 19 people and triggered tens of billions of dollars in lawsuits.

Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore and nickel, reduced maintenance capital expenditures on waste dumps and tailings dams by 51 per cent in the first nine months of 2016 from the year-ago period to $US86.7 million, according to its financial statements. That followed similarly large cuts in 2014 and 2015 as Vale doubled down on belt-tightening measures in a bid to shore up cash reserves and pay down debt amid the commodity downturn.

In an emailed statement, Vale said its 2014 spending was elevated in part by the construction of a large tailings dam at its Brucutu mine in Brazil, while subsequent investment in new dams was slowed by licensing delays. Vale also said it has been shifting to high-grade ore that can be processed without water and therefore doesn’t require tailings dams, though it uses this method for only 40 per cent of iron-ore output at present.

Canadian miners complain of hefty taxes, weak rule of law in Mexico (Reuters Canada – October 31, 2016)

November 1, 2016

http://ca.reuters.com/

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Canadian miners are seeking a meeting with Mexico’s president to air grievances about issues ranging from the rule of law to aggressive tax collection, according to an unusually strident letter by an industry group published on Monday.

President Enrique Pena Nieto should intervene for Mexico to “recover its position in relation to other investment destinations in the hemisphere,” the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico (CanCham) wrote on behalf of the miners, in a letter printed in Mexico’s Reforma newspaper.

The letter cited unrest earlier this month at Goldcorp’s G.TO Penasquito gold mine in the state of Zacatecas, where a week-long blockade by a trucking contractor forced operations to shut down temporarily.

Chinese miners eyeing Barrick mine face regulatory morass Susan Taylor and Luc Cohen (Reuters U.S. – October 28, 2016)

October 28, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO/BUENOS AIRES – Chinese state-owned miners considering buying into Barrick Gold Corp’s (ABX.TO) operations in Argentina would take on assets that are under regulatory scrutiny and entangled in lawsuits and investigations.

China’s Zijin Mining Group Co (601899.SS) and Shandong Gold Mining Co (600547.SS) have held separate talks to buy a 50-percent stake in the Veladero gold mine, one of Barrick’s core mines, four sources with knowledge of the process told Reuters this week.

Barrick would like any buyer to also make an investment in its nearby Pascua-Lama gold and silver project, two of the sources said. On Thursday, Barrick’s president said the company will consider offers to buy some or all of its core mines.