Nevada Mining – Page 10 – Republic of Mining

Barrick estimates $2 billion costs if Nevada, Peru projects proceed (Reuters U.S. – February 22, 2016)

February 22, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) (ABX.N), the world’s largest gold miner, estimated spending of about $2 billion if it decides to proceed with projects in Nevada and Peru.

Barrick, releasing updated pre-feasibility and feasibility studies on the projects, also said on Monday it would redeem up to $750 million of notes to help cut debt by at least $2 billion this year.

The company’s U.S.-listed shares were down about 3 percent at $12.18 in premarket trading on Monday.

Barrick said a pre-feasibility study estimated $1 billion in initial capital spending on its Goldrush project in Nevada, based on a start of construction in 2020.

[Nevada mining] Editorial: Governor puts Jewell’s credibility on the line (Elko Daily – February 9, 2016)

February 10, 2016

http://elkodaily.com/

Gov. Brian Sandoval has thrown down the gauntlet in the battle over hardrock mining’s future in Nevada, taking the bold step of calling out Sally Jewell over management of agencies she oversees as Secretary of the Interior.

Their response will reveal whether the proposed mineral withdrawal is more about helping the sage grouse or harming the state’s mining industry.

The Bureau of Land Management’s comment period closed three weeks ago, and Nevadans could learn by the end of the month whether the current two-year ban will be extended to 20 years. If it is, there will be no exploration along the northern edge of our state, nor in much of Idaho and southeastern Oregon.

Fast-growing mining and oil & gas industries, and the huge number of supply-chain jobs they create – by Joshua Wright (New Geography – September 18, 2013)

February 2, 2016

http://www.newgeography.com/

Please note this is a dated article, but very interesting – Stan Sudol

The fastest-growing industry in the U.S since 2010 isn’t large or well-known. In fact, nearly half of the estimated 5,100 jobs in support activities for metal mining are located in one state: Nevada. Nonetheless, employment in this niche mining industry has ballooned 53% since 2010, and it creates a huge number of supply-chain jobs in other parts of the economy.

Four of the five fastest-growing industries from 2010-2013, based on EMSI’s 2013.2 employment dataset, are related in some form to mining and oil & gas. These industries (e.g., oil & gas pipeline construction and support activities for oil & gas operations) have been carried by the boom in oil and natural gas production in pockets of the U.S., from North Dakota to Pennsylvania to Texas. And their growth has sparked new jobs in other sectors.

Slow Suffocation of the US Mining Space – by Christopher Ecclestone (Investorintel – January 19, 2016)

January 20, 2016

http://investorintel.com/

The old adage about the frog in the boiling water slowly getting cooked without jumping out is a good metaphor for the mining industry in the US over the last 12 months.

While the big story in commodity circles has been the oil price decline, a far more potent force has been the currency moves. The rampant US dollar has “saved” the bacon of many a miner in Australia, Canada, South Africa and elsewhere while brutally pressure-cooking those that are focused on the mining space in the US.

The chart above sourced from US Global Investors shows the last twelve months’ move in the gold price in various currencies. The USD gold price is clearly the laggard while Brazil has been stellar. It’s a pity there are not more Brazilian gold mining opportunities on offer. Ironically the strength of the Real for the preceding five years meant that Brazil was not such a good place for junior explorers to spend their drilling dollar.

E.P.A. Is Moving to Designate Contaminated Nevada Copper Mine a Superfund Site (Associated Press/New York Times – December 24, 2015)

January 6, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

RENO, Nev. — Fifteen years after federal regulators started assessing damage and health risks at an abandoned Nevada copper mine, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to designate the contaminated land a Superfund site, a step the state could still oppose.

Rural neighbors of the World War II-era mine that has leaked toxic chemicals for decades won a $19.5 million settlement in 2013 from companies they accused of covering up the contamination to drinking water wells near Yerington, about 65 miles southeast of Reno.

The E.P.A. sent a letter to Gov. Brian Sandoval this week announcing its intention to place the mine on the Superfund’s National Priority List of the nation’s most polluted sites to “mitigate exposures that are a substantial threat to the public health or welfare or the environment.”

[Nevada] Mining Not Major Threat To Sage Grouse, Says Mining Association – by Casey Morell (Nevada Public Radio – December 22, 2015)

December 23, 2015

http://knpr.org/

The battle over the sage grouse continues.

The National Mining Association, a group representing mining companies, is protesting the federal government’s plan to protect the sage grouse.

Specifically, the group does not want the Bureau Of Land Management to protect the bird on land that can be mined for gold and minerals.

“I think our major concern is the proposed withdrawal of 10 million acres of land from mining operations,” said Katie Sweeney, senior Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, National Mining Association.

Tesla in stand-off over lithium supply – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – December 15, 2015)

December 15, 2015

http://www.ft.com/

On the edge of the Nevada desert, Tesla, the electric carmaker, is building the world’s largest battery plant.

The mile-long, so-called Gigafactory is expected to boost demand for lithium, the raw material used in the batteries that power most electric cars.

But the company has yet to announce any lithium supply deals with big producers, leaving it unclear where it will source the lightweight natural material it will need to start producing batteries by 2017 with Panasonic, its partner.

The Gigafactory is set to supply batteries for the 500,000 cars Tesla hopes to produce by the end of the decade, as well as to power homes.

There’s lithium in them thar … lakebeds – by Sandra Chereb (Las Vegas Review-Journal – December 13, 2015)

December 14, 2015

http://www.reviewjournal.com/

CARSON CITY — A new mining boom is taking shape in Nevada, one focused not on gold and silver but brines and clay containing an element critical to a 21st century world.

Interest in Nevada’s lithium supplies spiked after Tesla Motors Inc. chose the Northern Nevada desert as the site for its $5 billion lithium-ion battery factory, a joint venture with Japanese company Panasonic Corp.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s billionaire CEO, said mass production of the batteries is key to his goal of making the company’s fast and sexy electric cars affordable to the general public.

Since factory construction began last year, Musk has launched another endeavor — making energy storage units for homes and businesses capable of storing solar-produced electricity for use when the sun doesn’t shine.

Barrick sells $720-million of Nevada assets as it copes with low gold prices – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – November 13, 2015)

November 13, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Barrick Gold Corp. has sold several Nevada properties for $720-million (U.S.) in a flurry of transactions that underline how the gold industry is reshaping itself to deal with falling prices for the precious metal.

Kinross Gold Corp. of Toronto is the major purchaser of the assets. It will pay Barrick $610-million for its Bald Mountain mine and for its half interest in the Round Mountain mine. Kinross already owns the other half of the Round Mountain property.

In addition, Waterton Precious Metals Fund II of Toronto will pay $110-million to Barrick for its Ruby Hill mine and for a 70-per-cent interest in the Spring Valley project.

The deals demonstrate the impact of falling gold prices. Over the past four years, the metal has tumbled from $1,900 an ounce to below $1,100 an ounce.

NEWS RELEASE: Barrick Announces Sale of Non-Core Assets for $720 Million (November 12, 2015)

November 12, 2015

http://www.barrick.com/

TORONTO, November 12, 2015 — Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) (“Barrick” or the “company”) today announced that it has entered into agreements to sell a number of non-core assets in Nevada for $720 million in cash, including 100 percent of the Bald Mountain mine, 100 percent of the Ruby Hill mine, Barrick’s 50 percent interest in the Round Mountain mine and the company’s 70 percent interest in the Spring Valley project.

Including these transactions, Barrick has announced asset sales, joint ventures and partnerships worth $3.2 billion since the start of 2015. The company is on track to meet its stated debt reduction target of $3 billion for 2015, which, when completed, will represent a 23 percent reduction in total debt since the start of the year.

“The sale of these assets is consistent with our strategy to create long-term value for our shareholders by strengthening the balance sheet and further focusing our portfolio on core mines that will drive free cash flow growth,” said Barrick President Kelvin Dushnisky.

EWS RELEASE: Kinross Acquires Strategic Nevada Assets (November 12, 2015)

November 12, 2015

http://www.kinross.com/

Strengthens Portfolio With Two Quality Mines in World-Class Jurisdiction; Large Prospective Land Package Offers Clear Path to Upside Potential

TORONTO, ON, Nov 12, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — Kinross Gold Corporation (K) KGC, -2.78% announced today that it has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the Bald Mountain (“Bald Mountain”) gold mine, which includes a large associated land package, and 50% of the Round Mountain (“Round Mountain”) gold mine in Nevada from Barrick Gold Corporation for $610 million in cash.1

(This news release contains forward-looking information about expected future events and financial and operating performance of the Company. We refer to the risks and assumptions set out in our Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information located on page four of this release. All dollar amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.)

Radioactive dump that burned in Nevada had past troubles (Associated Press/Mining Gazette – October 25, 2015)

October 26, 2015

http://www.mininggazette.com/

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The operator of a closed radioactive waste dump that caught fire in southern Nevada had trouble over the years with leaky shipments and oversight so lax that employees took contaminated tools and building materials home, according to state and federal records.

The firm, now called US Ecology Inc., had its license suspended for mishandling shipments in the 1970s — about the same time that state officials say the material that exploded and burned last weekend was accepted and buried.

Nevada now has ownership and oversight of the property, which opened in 1962 near Beatty as the nation’s first federally licensed low-level radioactive waste dump and closed in 1992. State officials said this week they didn’t immediately know what blew up.

A soundless 40-second video turned over by US Ecology to state officials showed bursts of white smoke and dirt flying from several explosions on Oct. 18 from the dump in the brown desert about 110 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Editorial: Gold reigns over a menagerie of minerals (Elko Daily News – October 21, 2015)

October 21, 2015

http://elkodaily.com/

They say all that glitters is not gold, but here in Nevada that amounts to only about 15 percent.

Gold mining accounts for 85 percent of mineral revenue in the state, Nevada Division of Minerals Administrator Rich Perry recently explained. Still, there are a couple dozen other minerals that are regularly mined here – in addition to resources such as geothermal, oil and gas — and some of them have significant economic potential.

Northeastern Nevada’s quest for diversification beyond gold may include some of these marginal minerals. So far, it’s been a mixed bag.

Elko County’s fracking “boom” seems to have stalled out as quickly as it started. Noble Energy has drilled several exploration wells but whether they go into production depends on test results and oil prices – which have been at rock bottom.

The drilling activity has boosted production of barite, including a grinding mill constructed by NOV Minerals at Elko’s railport.

Lithium Market Set To Explode – All Eyes Are On Nevada – by James Stafford (Oil Price – October 6, 2015)

May 13, 2016October 9, 2015

http://oilprice.com/

While other commodities are floundering or completely collapsing in this market, lithium—the critical mineral in the emerging battery gigafactory war—is poised to explode, and going forward Nevada is emerging as the front line in this pending American lithium boom.

Most of the world’s lithium comes from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Australia and China, but American resources being developed by new entrants into this market have set up the state of Nevada to become the key venue and proving ground for game-changing trade in this everyday mineral. Nevada is about to get a boost first from Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) upcoming battery gigafactory, and then from all of its rivals.

For several years, experts have been predicting a lithium revolution, and while investors were being coy at first, the reality of the battery gigafactories is now clear, and nothing has hit this home more poignantly than Tesla’s recent supply agreements with lithium providers who will be the first beneficiaries of this boom, followed by a second round of lithium brine developers that are climbing quickly to the forefront.

As Jeb Handwerger—founder of Gold Stock Trades—recently told the Resource Investor: “This is just the beginning. We’re in the early stages of a revolution in powering transportation and homes.

Barrick closing Utah office and copper unit in cost-cutting effort – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2015)

September 18, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Barrick Gold Corp. is shutting a major American office and dismantling its copper unit, the company’s latest steps to cut costs and overhaul operations amid the slump in gold prices.

The closing of its Salt Lake City office along with the unwinding of its copper business will help the world’s biggest gold producer save $2-billion (U.S.) by the end of next year, the company said.

Four years of declining gold prices have forced a broad retreat at Barrick and battered the company’s share price. In addition to selling a slew of mines and non-core assets, Barrick recently reduced its dividend again and sold a stake in its top copper mine in Chile as well as part of one of its most profitable gold mines, in the Dominican Republic.

Barrick’s Salt Lake office, which employs about 110 staff, will close in November after supporting the miner’s core Nevada operations for nearly two decades. It follows the shutdown of Barrick’s Perth bureau and job cuts in its Santiago office.