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Newfoundland and Labrador Mining

Bloom Lake ‘bargain’ a long term investment, says iron ore expert (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – December 16, 2015)

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

The new owners of the Bloom Lake iron ore mining project in northeastern Quebec got a bargain, but a mining analyst says don’t expect production any time soon.

“We think it’s a great deal,” said Garrett Nelson Tuesday in an interview with CBC Radio’s Labrador Morning.

“We think this asset will have significant value, longer term.” Quebec Iron Ore Inc., a subsidiary of Champion Iron Ltd., said Friday it had agreed to pay $10.5 million for the mine, railway and mineral claims just across the border from Labrador.

It will also assume responsibility for nearly $42 million in environmental liabilities.

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Another blow for Labrador as IOC delays Wabush 3 project – (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – December 9, 2015)

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

The Iron Ore Company of Canada is blaming a weak outlook in the commodities market for a decision to delay development of the Wabush 3 project in Labrador West.

The project has been described as “critical” to the ongoing viability of the operation, but company officials said in a memo to employees Tuesday that it must limit capital spending in 2016.

With iron ore prices now at a 10-year low, and no signs of a rebound on the horizon, IOC officials said tough decisions have to be made.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government gave its approval for the new open pit mine in September, bringing some much-needed good news to an area hard hit by a prolonged slump in iron ore prices.

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Moving forward [Iron Ore Company of Canada] – by Ty Dunham (St. John’s Telegram – September 16, 2015)

http://www.thetelegram.com/

IOC’s Wabush 3 project approved for development

The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) has received approval for the expansion of the Wabush 3 pit.

The Iron Ore Company of Canada in Labrador City received the long awaited approval for the Wabush 3 open mining pit development. — Photo by Ty Dunham/The Aurora

The provincial government gave the green light to the environmental assessment last week, giving company the go-ahead on a critical project that will provide sustainability over the amount of ore that goes to the plant to meet the rate of production.

Marsha Power Slade, senior adviser for external relations and corporate affairs for IOC, said while IOC started focusing on the project 2 1/2 years ago, discussions on the expansion began five to seven years ago.

She added the additional pit would allow for greater ore flexibility due to its low strip ratio.

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Vale green-lights underground mine at Voisey’s Bay – by John Cumming (August 19, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. Editor John Cumming MSc (Geol) is one of the country’s most well respected mining journalists.  jcumming@northernminer.com

The natural resources industry of Newfoundland and Labrador — beaten down as it is by the steep decline in iron ore and oil prices — has received a most welcome board-level confirmation from Vale that it will indeed pursue underground mining at its Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine in northern Labrador, once the open pit is exhausted in 2020.

Based on current resources, that would add at least another 15 years of life to the mine, which started operations in 2005.

The Voisey’s Bay site consists of a 6,000-tonne-per-day open pit and a concentrator that produces nickel-copper-cobalt concentrate, plus a copper concentrate, at a rate of 40,000 tonnes of nickel in concentrate per year. The remote, coastal site is accessible by air and sea, with concentrate stored and shipped out on a seasonal basis before the site is locked in by ice.

The decision to go underground at Voisey’s ensures a steady feed of nickel concentrate to Vale’s new US$4.3-billion Long Harbour Processing Plant (LHPP) in the town of Long Harbour on southeastern Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula.

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Wabush pensioners angry about prospect of reduced incomes – by Terry Roberts (CBC News Newfoundland – August 18, 2015)

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

Former mine workers fearful of a hit if Cliffs Natural Resources winds up Canadian operations

Retired workers at the now closed Wabush Mines in Labrador West say they are facing a cut in their pension incomes as their former employer, U.S-based Cliffs Natural Resources, goes through the bankruptcy protection process for its Canadian operations.

More than 100 former workers filed into the Catholic church in Wabush Monday for an information session with pension experts from the provincial government, which oversees the Pensions Benefits Act.

The closed-door meeting lasted nearly three hours into Monday evening, and was described as a tense, emotional affairs as retirees sought answers about the fate of their pensions.

Ron Barron, who worked 27 years at the mine prior to its closure in 2014, said there’s a growing level of frustration, and people want answers.

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It’s a double-dose of uncertainty for Labrador’s iron ore industry – by Terry Roberts (CBC News Newfoundland – August 11, 2015)

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

Canadian analyst says IOC in danger of closing, while hope fades for Alderon’s Kami Project

here’s more unsettling news for the iron ore industry in Labrador West after a Canadian investment firm suggested IOC is in danger of closing, while hope continues to fade for Alderon’s much-hyped Kami Project.

A report by Raymond James Ltd., suggested that mining giant Rio Tinto, majority owner of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, is losing money at its Labrador City operation, which employs an estimated 2,000 workers.

“Iron ore prices continue to weaken and by our estimates are below the operating cost at the mine,” the firm wrote in an investment overview published in late April.

Analysts at Raymond James estimate IOC will receive an average price of US$62.50 per tonne this year while costs are estimated at $US68.50.

One analyst said the operation is a “drain” on Rio Tinto and “we believe there is a risk IOC may close if its costs and productivity do not improve.”

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UPDATED: Vale sanctions underground mine at Voisey’s Bay (CBC News Newfoundland – August 10, 2015)

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

Will extend mine life to 2035 and nearbly double workforce to 850

Mining giant Vale has approved construction of an underground mine at Voisey’s Bay that will extend the life of the northern Labrador mine by about 15 years and provide hundreds more jobs.

A company spokesman said construction will begin next year, and is timed to ensure a continuity of supply for the new multi-billion-dollar nickel processing plant in Long Harbour.

“For us it’s a natural evolution of the mine there,” said Cory McPhee, vice-president of corporate affairs for Vale’s base metals business.

“We’ve always known that the open pit was going to be exhausted at some point. And going underground was the next natural step. And that’s the key to exploiting the resource that’s available to us.”

It will take about five years to complete the underground mine, which is about the same time the surface mine is expected to reach the end of its lifespan.

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BOOK: Once Upon A Mine – Story of Pre-Confederation Mines on the Island of Newfoundland – by Wendy Martin (1999)

Chapter One – Dawn of Mining Days

Mark Twain once maintained that ‘a mine is a hole in the ground with a liar on top’, an unflattering view which supports the common belief that mines are prospective derelicts owned by derelict prospectors. The Newfoundland mining industry has, even so, survived for over 100 years and currently holds a lucrative position in the Newfoundland economy.

The mining history of Newfoundland extends further in time and space than is generally recognised. Nearly every major bay around the Island contains at least one abandoned mine that still lives within the memories of adjacent communities; and although the first recorded mining attempt happened only two centuries ago, a knowledge ofNewfoundland minerals has existed for twice that time span.

Sixteenth-century English explorers made the earliest documented references to Newfoundland minerals. When Sir Martin Frobisherexamined the shores of what is assumed to have been Newfoundland’s Trinity Bay in 1576, he found a shiny heavy stone(1) – probably pyrite, a mineral now known locally as ‘Catalina stone’after the Trinity Bay town of Catalina. Anthony Parkhurst returned to England in 1578 with pieces of copper and iron ore from the St.John’s and Bell Island areas.

On the strength of the Frobisher and Parkhurst discoveries, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took a Saxon ore refiner named Daniel of Buda with him to Newfoundland in 1583. Daniel, an energetic individual, retrieved an array of copper, iron, lead and silver ores from the Avalon Peninsula.

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GLOBE EDITORIAL: It’s not as if it’s the Iranians – let Australians mine our uranium (Globe and Mail – June 25, 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.

There’s no reason at all to object to the decision of Greg Rickford, the Minister of Natural Resources, to allow an Australian company, Paladin Energy Ltd., to develop a uranium mine in Newfoundland and Labrador, 140 kilometres northeast of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, with Australians holding the majority of the shares.

On the contrary, the odd thing is that Paladin had to seek permission to do so, as a foreign corporation – over and above the similarly unnecessary process of the foreign investment review under the Investment Canada Act, with its mysterious “net benefit” criterion. In the rejected takeover by BHP Billiton of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan in 2010, Ottawa even more mysteriously declared Potash to be a “strategic asset,” not a term used in the ICA.

The federal government has had a “non-resident ownership policy in the uranium mining sector” since 1987. The policy allows for an exemption from the requirement of at least 51-per-cent Canadian ownership if there aren’t enough Canadians who want to build the prospective uranium mine in question.

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Dust from abandoned Cliffs’ mine casts pall over eastern Canadian town – by Mike De Souza (Reuters U.S. – June 19, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

OTTAWA – Heavy dust clouds blowing from Cliffs Natural Resources’ abandoned Wabush iron ore mine into a small township in the eastern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador is putting a focus on the liability of miners that seek creditor protection and walk away from assets.

Iron ore and coal miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc announced in February 2014 it was shutting down its Wabush mine. This year it sought creditor protection for its Canadian assets.

The fate of the deserted mine is in limbo until it is either acquired by a rival or Cliffs is able to restructure and exit creditor protection.

Local residents say the abandoned site has many open pits, with drilling equipment, trucks and other equipment stranded on the site.

“Now that the company has gone into closure, it is very hard to maintain a relationship with them. From a corporate level, we have not heard anything from them in almost a year, if not longer,” said Colin Vardy, mayor of the town of Wabush.

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Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd wins historic approval to operate Canadian uranium mine – by Peter Koven (National Post – June 23, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Paladin Energy Ltd. has achieved a first for an Australian company: It has won the right to operate a uranium mine in Canada.

The approval from Ottawa, announced Monday by the company, is a signal that Canada welcomes more foreign investment in its uranium industry. And that has positive implications for a struggling sector that could really use some outside capital.

“This is an historic decision that could have implications for all uranium companies and projects in Canada,” Raymond James analyst David Sadowski said in a note.

Paladin said the federal government approved its request to be the majority owner and operator of the Michelin uranium mine in Labrador. The company hopes to begin production when the sputtering uranium market rebounds.

This approval was unique because Canada has a Non-Resident Ownership Policy (NROP) governing its uranium sector.

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Teck Resources dinner bittersweet, with mine closing at end of June – by CBC News Newfoundland & Labrador (June 13, 2015)

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

A mining company that’s about to shut down its copper and zinc mine near Millertown held an unusual celebration this week.

Teck Resources is closing its Duck Pond mine at the end of June, so the company invited workers and dignitaries to mark the occasion Thursday night with a sit-down dinner in Grand Falls-Windsor.

For some, Duck Pond, which opened in 2007 and has been the island’s largest underground mine, is more than just a workplace.

“Very sad. We’ve made some really good friends there,” said Sharon Coffin of Lewisporte, who started at the mine eight years ago on the security gate. She now works as an underground equipment operator. She told CBC that the closure is a big loss for the workers, but she’s remaining stoic about it.

“We spend about six months out of the year together, we’re family almost, and we look after each other,” said Coffin. “I’m still going to pursue the mining career and hoping not to have to move. But if we have to move for that — so be it.” The mine has employed more than 300 people, many of whom are from the central Newfoundland area.

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Battle between Canadian mining magnates for Coastal Gold Corp heats up – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 5, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Two Canadian mining magnates are fighting an increasingly heated battle for a tiny junior company, with one accusing the other of “incestuous behavior” within his empire.

Keith Neumeyer’s First Mining Finance Corp. has offered six cents a share (or about $10.2 million) for Coastal Gold Corp., which has a project in Newfoundland. The rival offer for Coastal, from Stan Bharti’s Sulliden Mining Capital Inc., is worth about 2.3 cents.

Given that First Mining’s offer is more than double Sulliden’s offer, one might assume that Neumeyer is convinced he will win. But that isn’t the case. Coastal’s board is currently endorsing the Sulliden bid, and Neumeyer would be surprised if that changes.

“It’s a joke,” he said in an interview. “They are obviously not acting in the best interests of shareholders and exercising their fiduciary duties properly.”

Neumeyer, who previously founded First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and First Majestic Silver Corp., thinks the problem here is inter-relationships between Bharti’s companies. Both Sulliden and Coastal are under the umbrella of Forbes & Manhattan (F&M), Bharti’s conglomerate of resource companies.

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Nickel: The Outperformer And Top Pick For 2015 – by Stephan Bogner (Seeking Alpha – April 21, 2015)

http://seekingalpha.com/

Summary

Nickel was the best performing metal in 2014.
Nickel is the top commodity pick of several investment banks, including Morgan Stanley.
The Voisey’s Bay area may host the next big nickel discovery since it is abnormally under-explored.
From today’s perspective, Voisey’s Bay wasn’t really a great nickel discovery, but still one of the world’s biggest.

• 22 years ago, Robert Friedland’s Diamond Fields Resources Inc. stumbled onto nickel while looking for diamonds in Canada’s remote north.

• Only three years later, in 1996, Friedland sold his lucky strike, the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Deposit, for $4.3 billion USD to Inco.

• Prior to being purchased by CVRD (now Vale (NYSE:VALE)) in 2006, Inco was the world’s second largest producer of nickel.

• In 2005, the Voisey’s Bay open-pit and concentrator started production. Vale is currently completing an engineering study for an underground mine to be constructed between 2016-2019, extending mine life to 2035.

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Labrador West dealt another blow as IOC announces 150 layoffs (CBC News Newfoundland – April 09, 2015)

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

Labrador West has been dealt another significant economic blow, with 150 layoff notices going out Thursday to unionized workers with the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

The workers are members of Local 5795 of the United Steelworkers, which represents some 1,400 people at the operation, said president Ron Thomas.

The layoffs come amid a significant drop in commodity prices, and many were expecting cost-cutting measures from the mining giant. IOC is majority owned by Rio Tinto, and employs roughly 2,500 people in Labrador West and Sept-Îles, Que. Labrador City Mayor Karen Oldford said it was a “sad day” for the community, but the number was roughly what the town expected if there were going to be layoffs.

“All we can do is try to work with the families that are going to be affected and hope that the commodity prices will turn around quickly, just as quickly as they went down, in order to try to get people back to work,” she said.

Earlier efforts by the company to cut costs at Labrador City failed, with the union overwhelmingly rejecting a proposed wage freeze in February. There was also very little participation in early retirement incentives.

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