Nickel – Page 122 – Republic of Mining

North Shore nickel property reconfigured for future operations – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – September 2012)

September 17, 2012

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

The year 2011 was a tough one for Ursa Major Minerals.

Last June, a dissenting group of stakeholders sought to replace the board due to a lagging performance on the TSX. Their advances were rebuffed, but then operations at the company’s Shakespeare property west of Sudbury were halted when a processing agreement couldn’t be renegotiated with Xstrata Nickel for the use of its Strathcona Mill.

That’s where things stood until July when Ursa merged with Prophecy Platinum Corp., and now the discord has been laid to rest, according to Prophecy’s president and CEO John Lee. With a vote of 98.9 per cent in favour of the merger, stakeholders showed a vote of confidence in having a larger company carrying the project forward, Lee said.

“I wouldn’t say we’re one happy family…but I think we’ve comfortably put all that behind us and reunited in a way to look for ways to advance Prophecy Platinum going forward,” he added. Now the company is refocusing its efforts on Shakespeare, a nickel-copper-PGM interest located 70 km west of Sudbury near the town of Webbwood. Lee said the company is concentrating on “clearing up the accounts payable” and putting out an updated resource estimate based on the drilling that’s occurred in the last year.

Opening Up The Ring Of Fire: Wes Hanson Discusses Noront’s Nickel-Copper-PGM Feasibility Study – by Kevin Michael Grace (Resourceswire.com – September 11, 2012)

November 3, 2015September 15, 2012

http://resourceswire.com/

Noront Resources Ltd V.NOT announced September 5 the results of a 43-101 feasibility study of its Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-PGM mine at McFaulds Lake in the Ring of Fire, northern Ontario. Based on metals prices of $9.43 per pound copper, $3.60 per pound copper, $1,600 per ounce platinum, $599 per ounce palladium and $1,415 per ounce gold, the study forecasts an aftertax net present value (NPV) of $543 million (at an 8% discount rate), a 28% aftertax internal rate of return (IRR), a $609-million initial CAPEX, plus a $160-million life-of-mine sustaining CAPEX and a three-year payback period.

Eagle’s Nest contains proven and probable resources of 11.1 million tonnes grading 1.68% nickel, 0.87% copper, 0.89 grams per tonne platinum and 3.09 g/t palladium. The mine is forecast to produce one million tonnes per year, producing 150,000 tonnes of nickel-copper concentrate annually over 11 years, at $97 per tonne or $2.34 per pound of nickel equivalent.

Noront President/CEO Wes Hanson spoke to Kevin Michael Grace September 5, 2012.

RW: What’s your path to production?

WH: In addition to the technical and social risks associated with building any mining project, on top of it for the juniors you always have a challenge of how you’re going to finance construction. We are fortunate enough that the capital costs aren’t overly onerous. We’re only looking at a range of $600 million.

Cuba convicts 12 of corruption in nickel industry – by Laura Kane (Toronto Star – August 22, 2012)

August 22, 2012

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

A Cuban court has convicted a dozen people of corruption in the nickel industry, including two employees of a Cuban-Canadian joint concern, state media announced Tuesday.

Accounting executive Alfredo Barallobre Rodriguez and deputy production director Orlando Carmenaty Olmo of Empresa Moa Nickel SA, a joint operation of Cuba and Toronto-based mining company Sherritt International Corp., were sentenced to six and five years, respectively. Company officials didn’t return requests for comment, and the nationality of the two men couldn’t immediately be confirmed.

High-ranking government officials and an executive at a state-run nickel company were also sentenced in the case, involving a contract for the expansion of the Pedro Soto Alba nickel and cobalt processing plant at the Moa mine. The convictions are the first in a wider crackdown on corruption that has already seen several foreigners, including two Canadians, detained.

Vale says ‘no plans’ to shut down operations – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 20, 2012)

August 20, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

As senior mining analyst at Salman Partners, an investment dealer, Raymond Goldie keeps a close eye on the nickel industry. But he’s finding it difficult to keep tabs on Vale, one of the world’s largest nickel producers.

That being said, Goldie is predicting Vale could be planning a production shutdown because of the low price of nickel. Nickel has fallen to below $7 a pound, something that could prompt other companies such as Xstrata Nickel and Norilsk to cease production for awhile as well, he said.

Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said a planned maintenance shutdown is now underway at the company’s Greater Sudbury operations. Robson said the company has no other plans. “We don’t speculate on rumours, but there are no plans to shut down operations,” she said.

Goldie and other mining analysts who used to follow the former Inco Ltd. closely are finding it more difficult to do that now that it’s owned by the Brazil-based mining giant.

Drop in nickel prices temporary, profs say – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – August 18, 2012)

August 18, 2012

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

There may have been a drop in nickel prices in recent months, but there’s not much to worry about in the long term, as prices are likely to rise again, according to two Laurentian University professors.

A year ago, nickel prices stood at roughly $10 a pound, and now they’re sitting at around $7 a pound. Jean-Charles Cachon, a professor of strategy in Laurentian’s school of commerce, said the market has dipped because the Chinese government is buying less metals right now.

That’s because they’ve stockpiled a lot of metals over the last five years. “If they stop purchasing, then it has a huge impact on prices,” Cachon said. “My understanding is this is what’s happening right now.”

But Dave Robinson, an economics professor at Laurentian, said he thinks nickel prices are going to go back above their current levels quite soon. “I can’t see them staying down,” he said. “The long-run story is we’re going to get high prices.”

Will Vale sell [base metals divison]? – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – August 18, 2012)

August 18, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Six years after buying Inco Ltd. for $19.4 billion, speculation is growing that Brazil-based Vale may be considering unloading its base metals division, which includes nickel operations in Greater Sudbury.

Such a dramatic development can’t be ruled out, said Stan Sudol, a mining analyst who also operates the mining news website Republic of Mining.

Vale’s base metals division could be worth about US$30 billion, almost a third of Vale’s estimated $95-billion total market capitalization, said Sudol. Yet the base metals division may only contribute as little as 5% to the company’s profits.

That’s a scenario Vale executives in Brazil may not be inter-e sted in continuing much longer, especially if world nickel prices and demand continue to slump, he said.

“(Vale) might be saying, ‘This is a complicated business. We are dealing with underground mines. But our specialty is open pit.’ Then, there’s the fact that while Sudbury mining technology is among the best in the world, there’s a whole different culture (with Vale), as much of their business is open-pit mining versus underground mining.”

Nickel in the red and there is worse to come – by Robin Bromby (The Australian – July 12, 2012)

August 16, 2012

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

ABOUT one-fifth of the global nickel industry is operating in the red. British metals analysts Brook Hunt use the glossier term cash-negative but the end result is the same (although the nickel situation is not as grim as aluminium, where China’s growth is causing intense grief to non-China producers).

You would not want to be developing a new nickel mine at present, especially a laterite operation in which metallurgical complexity tends to cause unexpected, and often costly, problems.

So it is 20 per cent in the red, and — looking at Brook Hunt’s graph — it won’t take much more weakening of the nickel price to eliminate the profitability of another 20 per cent of world capacity. And that’s just on the basis of the cash production cost, leaving aside other overheads.

The portents are not looking good this week. The metal fell by 1.8 per cent in Monday’s session on the London Metal Exchange, then another 2.1 per cent in Tuesday’s trading to close at $US16,050 a tonne. A drop below that level would be a heavy psychological blow for nickel.

What Makes a Critical Metal “Critical” or a Strategic Element “Strategic”? – by Michael S. Fulp (The Mercenary Geologist – August 6, 2012)

August 8, 2012

http://www.themercenarygeologist.com/

I was a keynote speaker at the recent Murdock Capital Partners Critical Metals / Strategic Elements Symposium in New York City. This is my second gig at one of convener Tom Dean’s on-going series of symposia and I thank him for continuing support. Although the venue is small, intimate, and limited to 75 attendees, the investor quality is second to none, particularly in the amount of money represented and managed. In my presentation I categorized the metals critical to modern-day civilization and reviewed the minor metals that are increasingly used by society in new technological applications.

Recently a plethora of alternative names have been proposed and promoted for what were once known as the specialty or minor metals. These mostly obscure elements span the gamut from the lightest to the heaviest on the periodic table. In my opinion, analysts and investors alike have become confused by these newly-invented misnomers.

Much of the confusion can be blamed squarely on two recent reports from the United States government.

In December 2010, the US Department of Energy (DOE) produced a report entitled “Critical Metals Strategy”. It identified seven rare earth elements and three minor metals (lithium, indium, and tellurium) that are or could become in high demand and short supply from 2011-2025. The DOE list and analysis was predicated on future growth fueled by Obama’s proposed subsidies of the electric and hybrid vehicle, wind turbine, solar, and fluorescent lighting industries.

Big Nickel started as Szilva’s dream – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – July 23, 2012)

July 23, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Ted Szilva has something to say to people with big dreams: don’t give up. And as the creator of the iconic Big Nickel, Szilva knows what he’s talking about.

“What I want to do is throw out a challenge to each and every one of you, especially the children: if you have a dream … all you have to do is go after that dream. It doesn’t matter what anybody says — ‘oh, that’s a stupid idea, crazy idea, nobody will go see a big nickel, an underground mine’ — that’s what they told me.”

Szilva proved the naysayers wrong, and was happy for it, as he stood outside Dynamic Earth on Sunday for the 48th birthday of the Sudbury tourist attraction. He came up with the idea for the Big Nickel in 1963, as part of a newspaper contest for how best to celebrate Canada’s centennial. While his idea did not win, the idea stuck with him, becoming a reality in 1964.

“It’s a great project, and we’ve had people from all over the world come and go underground, learn about mining, learn about the minerals of the Earth found around here.”

NEWS RELEASE: Earth’s Oldest Meteor Impact Site Discovered at North American Nickel’s Maniitsoq Ni-Cu-PGE Project, Southwest Greenland

July 12, 2012

July 10, 2012 12:31 ET

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – July 10, 2012) – North American Nickel Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NAN)(OTCBB:WSCRF) (CUSIP: 65704T 108). North American Nickel (“NAN”) is pleased to note that on June 28, 2012 the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (“GEUS”) announced that the Maniitsoq Structure represents “The remains of a gigantic, three-billion-year-old meteorite impact…” This announcement by GEUS coincided with the same day publication of a paper on this subject in the prestigious journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters (Elsevier) authored by Adam A. Garde, Iain McDonald, Brendan Dyck and Nynke Keulen.

In the paper, the authors postulate that crustally contaminated intrusions of the Greenland Norite Belt (GNB) are products of the impact. The GNB has been the focus of the NAN’s work at Maniitsoq since it initiated the project last year. NAN is interested in the GNB because it is aerially extensive (the main belt is over 70 km long and up to 15 km wide), is comprised of noritic intrusions that show evidence of crustal contamination (believed to be important in the formation of nickel-copper sulphide ores), hosts numerous historical high-grade nickel occurrences (e.g. 9.85 m averaging 2.67% Ni and 0.60% Cu at the Imiak Hill showing) and is remarkably under-explored.

The Garde et al paper is exciting news because it suggests that the GNB is the result of an enormous and unique geological event. The impact hypothesis also has implications for exploration.

Sherritt as Cuba’s CP – by Peter Foster (National Post – June 29, 2012)

June 29, 2012

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

Once a catalyst, underperforming miner needs one now

When the recent proxy fight broke out over CP — whose repercussions continued this week with the resignation from the CP board of Rick George — my colleague Terence Corcoran cited another all-too-rare example of a catalyst investor taking on the Canadian corporate establishment. It was Ian “the Smiling Barracuda” Delaney’s successful 1990 fight for control of Sherritt, an historic but failing fertilizer and nickel-refining company based in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.

In fact, the CP link doesn’t end there. Mr. Delaney subsequently guided Sherritt into Cuba, where he declared that he would make the company the island’s answer to … CP! Unfortunately, he spoke truer than he knew. Although Cuba now accounts for only a fifth of its assets, Sherritt has been a less than stellar performer over the past two decades. Meanwhile Mr. Delaney’s adventures as Fidel Castro’s “favourite capitalist” remain one of the more controversial aspects of the company’s recent history.

After Mr. Delaney expanded his Cuban ambitions to embrace a joint venture at Moa Bay, a cucaracha appeared in the ointment in the form of Helms-Burton, U.S. legislation that allowed its citizens, including naturalized Cuban-Americans, to sue anybody “trafficking” in assets expropriated by the 1959 Castro revolution.

[Duluth Metals Ltd.] Company boosts projections for mine near Ely, Minnesota – by Associated Press (Canadian Business Magazine – June 13, 2012)

June 19, 2013June 14, 2012

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-publishing business magazine in Canada.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — New data suggest that a proposed mine near Ely contains one of the world’s largest deposits of copper, nickel and precious metals, along with some of the largest platinum and palladium resources outside South Africa, the company planning the mine told analysts Wednesday.

Duluth Metals Ltd., the Canadian-based parent of Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, significantly boosted its estimates of what could be pulled from the mine based on the data projections, which are measured two ways.

The company said the site has “indicated resources” of 8 billion pounds of copper, 2.5 billion pounds of nickel and 12.1 million ounces of palladium, platinum and gold. The company is highly confident in those estimates because they are based on samples taken from a high number of drill sites.

Duluth Metals separately projects “inferred resources” of 13.5 billion pounds of copper, 4.6 billion pounds of nickel and 15.8 million ounces of precious metals. Those estimates are less certain because they’re based on fewer bore holes.

[Minnesota] Ely copper deposit estimate doubles – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – June 14, 2012)

June 19, 2013June 14, 2012

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Already reported as the world’s largest untapped deposit of copper, the Twin Metals mine exploration area near Ely contains even more copper, nickel, platinum and other valuable metals than previously estimated, the mine’s parent company said Wednesday.

Toronto-based Duluth Metals released an updated resource estimate that’s double its 2009 estimate, though the new findings aren’t likely to change the already developing plans for Twin Metals mining operations.

Data gathered from exploratory drill sites, including 170 new drill core samples reviewed in the past nine months, indicate a staggering 8 billion pounds of copper, 2.5 billion pounds of nickel and 12 million ounces of palladium, platinum and gold underground at the site along Highway 1 near the Kawishiwi River.

New report confirms enormous potential of Duluth base metals/pgm/gold resource – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – June 14, 2012)

June 19, 2013June 14, 2012

www.mineweb.com

A new independent technical report from AMEC confirms the vast tonnages and economic grades in the Duluth Metals/Antofagasta Twin Metals base and precious metals project in Minnesota.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – We have always been very aware of the enormous potential of the ground held by Duluth Metals in eastern Minnesota on the edge of the old iron range which contains literally many billions of tons of complex ore grade material with significant copper, nickel, platinum group metals and gold content.

It has to be one of the world’s great mineral deposits – the major problems are permitting and finding the funding to mine it – neither necessarily an easy task nowadays, although one suspects the funding may be the easier of the two given that Duluth has brought in a base metals mining major, Antofagasta, to help it develop and mine a significant part of the resource under the Twin Metals jv (60% Duluth and 40% Antofagasta) banner.

On the permitting front there is bound to be considerable opposition to mine development there from environmentalists given it borders on the Boundary Waters recreational area. However Twin Metals reckons it can meet the environmentalists’ concerns using modern mining standards, mining the deposit underground to reduce the surface impact and use brownfield sites from old iron range operations to locate some of the key surface facilities.