Nickel – Page 123 – Republic of Mining

[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.

NEWS RELEASE: Liberty Mines Receives Government Approval of the Hart Mine Closure Plan

June 9, 2012

Liberty on track to start production at Hart in Q1 2014

TSX: LBE

TORONTO, June 7, 2012 /CNW/ – Liberty Mines Inc. (“Liberty” or the “Company”) announced today that an important planning phase necessary for launching production at its Hart Mine has been approved and filed by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. The plan, which is a necessary requirement for mines operating in Ontario, provides details and financial assurance on the rehabilitation measures that Liberty will take during operations and after the life of the Hart Mine has been exhausted.

“With approval of the Hart Mine Closure Plan in place, we are one important step closer to launching production at our Hart Mine, which we expect in early 2014,” said Chris Stewart, President and CEO of Liberty Mines. “Over the coming months, we will continue on our deep drilling program at Hart and advance towards completion of a feasibility study by year end.”

The Hart Mine, which is located approximately 30 kilometres from Timmins, Ontario, is a nickel deposit currently consisting of 1.55 million tons of indicated resource with a grade of 1.40% nickel. Liberty expects production at Hart to start in Q1/2014 with an initial production of 250 tons per day, eventually ramping up to 750 tons per day.

NEWS RELEASE: Canadian Arrow commences mining at Kelex nickel project

June 4, 2012

SUDBURY, ON, June 4, 2012 /CNW/ – Canadian Arrow Mines Limited (CRO: TSX-V) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has commenced the mining phase on its Kelex nickel mine. Overburden removal is in progress and is planned to take one month in advance of production. The initial high grade/low tonnage open pit production from the Kelex open pit is scheduled for delivery to Xstrata Nickel’s Strathcona mill in mid-2012. Plans are underway on a second phase 216,000 tonne open pit and 260,000 tonne underground expansion.

Mr. Kim Tyler, President of the Company stated, “We are extremely pleased to announce the re-start of mining at Kelex. The Alexo/Kelex Complex will also be the catalyst for driving forward development of our much larger flagship Kenbridge nickel/copper project. Despite the recent dip in metal price we are encouraged by strong market fundamentals and projections going forward. Two thirds of world nickel produced is consumed in stainless steel production. Despite turmoil in the world’s economies, 2010 and 2011 were consecutive record years of world stainless and heat resisting crude steel production exceeding 32Mt and 35Mt respectively. Production statistics in 2012 follow a similar trend to date. ”

The Company’s recent sale of a non-core asset for a $2.45M have sufficiently capitalized it to proceed, most notably without diluting its share structure, in a difficult equity market disconnected from metal markets.

Nickel Slump Seen Ending as China Faces Ore Import Curbs – by Jae Hur, Agnieszka Troszkiewicz and Ichiro Suzuki (Bloomberg.com – May 31, 2012)

May 31, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/

After slumping more than any other industrial metal, analysts and traders say the worst may be over for nickel as restrictions on shipments from Indonesia, the biggest producer, diminish a worldwide glut.

Indonesia banned some ore exports from May 6 and imposed a 20 percent tax on the remainder to spur the development of its refining industry. The nation’s output will drop for the first time in four years in 2013, slashing global supply growth to 0.2 percent, from 4.9 percent in 2012, Morgan Stanley estimates. Prices will average $20,000 a metric ton in the fourth quarter, an increase of 23 percent, the median of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows.

The metal fell 13 percent this year on prospects for the biggest surplus since 2009. Morgan Stanley now predicts the glut will peak in 2012 and Barclays Plc says prices should rally toward the end of the year on strengthening demand from stainless-steel makers, the biggest consumers. The rebound may not happen until then as China runs down record ore stockpiles accumulated in anticipation of the Indonesian ban.

News Release: Cliffs Refuses to Provide First Point with Key Data on Decar Project

May 6, 2012

May 5, 2012, 9:35 a.m. EDT

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, May 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — First Point Minerals Corp. /quotes/zigman/157178 CA:FPX 0.00% (“First Point” or the “Company”) announces that it has served notice of arbitration on Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Canada Inc. and Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Inc. (collectively “Cliffs”) over Cliffs’ refusal to provide First Point with information prepared by their consultants with respect to the Decar Nickel-Iron Alloy Project in British Columbia.

Cliffs has refused to provide First Point with certain key reports prepared by consultants and contractors with respect to the Decar Project. The reporting obligations under the Option Agreement currently in effect require that Cliffs provide First Point, on a timely basis, with: “…copies of all reports…and consultants’ and contractors’ reports.”

First Point regrets having no alternative to taking this step against a major company such as Cliffs, but repeated requests by First Point for delivery of the information have been either refused or ignored, and Cliffs’ refusal thus far to provide these reports is damaging the interests of First Point and its shareholders. Management of First Point cannot speculate on the possible nature of the content of the reports that would cause Cliffs to refuse to share the information with First Point as required in the Option Agreement.

Partnerships forged [between Wallbridge Mining and South African companies] -by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – April 9, 2012)

April 9, 2012

MINING: Lively, South African companies strike agreements

A Lively-based company has struck two agreements with South African partners to continue exploring properties in Sudbury that may lead to important new mines.

In one agreement, South African platinum producer Impala Platinum Holdings Limited has taken a 50% share of Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd.’s Parkin Offset property, located near Capreol.

Impala had the option of doing so after spending $6.2 million looking for platinum group metals, nickel, copper and gold within the 9.4-km Parkin Offset dyke on the northeast margin of the Sudbury basin.

“The Parkin Offset dyke hosts (nickel, copper and platinum group metals) mineralization typical of other offset dykes in Sudbury, such as at Vale’s Copper Cliff North and South mines and the Totten mine development,” the company said in a release.

Duluth sets Bechtel parameters for 100 year copper-nickel-pgm mine PFS – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – March22, 2012)

June 19, 2013March 22, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Duluth Metals’ huge copper-nickel-pgm-gold resource on the Duluth complex in northern Minnesota moves on a stage with top engineering company Bechtel being given the parameters on which to base a PFS

HONG KONG (Mineweb) – Talking to Duluth Metals Chairman and CEO, Chris Dundas at Mines & Money Hong Kong he remains extremely enthusiastic about his monster mining project in Northern Minnesota, USA which, if and when it comes to fruition, will become one of the world’s great underground mining operations with a mine life probably well in excess of 100 years.

Top engineering company Bechtel has been retained to undertake the preparation of the NI 43-101 Prefeasibility Study (PFS) on the initial project based primarily on the Nokomis section of this vast resource and the parameters under which Bechtel has been instructed give a great indication of the scale of operations envisaged.

Bechtel has thus been instructed to prepare its study based on the following:

The Metallurgical Achilles’ Heel of the United States – by Richard (Rick) Mills (Ahead of the Herd.com – March 2012)

March 18, 2012

http://aheadoftheherd.com/

“The United States has consistently maintained that a strong domestic minerals and metals industry is an essential contributor to the nation’s economic and security interests…The United States has a fundamental interest in maintaining a competitive minerals and metals sector that will continue to contribute significantly to the nation’s economic strength and military security. The industry represents an $87 billion enterprise that employs over 500,000 U.S. workers and provides the material foundation for U.S. manufacturing.” The 1980 National Academy of Sciences executive summary of “Competitiveness of the U.S. Minerals and Metals Industry”

A concise summary of U.S. mineral vulnerabilities was presented to the Industrial Readiness Panel of the House Armed Services Committee as early as 1980 by General Alton D. Slay, Commander Air Force Systems Command. He pointed out that technological advances have increased the demand for exotic minerals at the same time that legislative and regulatory restrictions have been imposed on the U.S. mining industry.

The 1981 report “A Congressional Handbook on U.S. Minerals Dependency/Vulnerability” singled out eight materials “for which the industrial health and defense of the United States is most vulnerable to potential supply disruptions” – chromium, cobalt, manganese, the platinum group of metals, titanium, bauxite/aluminum, columbium, and tantalum – the first five have been called “the metallurgical Achilles’ heel of our civilization.”

Record Nickel Supply Expanding Glut Thwarts Bull Market Rally: Commodities – by Jae Hur and Ichiro Suzuki Bloomberg.com – February 22, 2012)

February 23, 2012

www.bloomberg.com

Mining companies and refineries are producing more nickel than at any time in history, expanding a glut that threatens to reverse this year’s rally.

Production will exceed demand by 45,000 metric tons, a 73 percent jump from 2011, Barclays Capital estimates. That’s equal to 46 percent of stockpiles tracked by the London Metal Exchange. Refined output will rise 12 percent, the most in at least eight years, according to Morgan Stanley. Prices, which rose 7.8 percent to $20,170 a ton this year, may fall as much as 13 percent to $17,630 a ton by Dec. 31, the median of 11 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows.

Metals have returned to a bull market from a 22 percent slump last year on an improving outlook for global growth with manufacturing in the U.S. capping the biggest two-month increase in more than two years in January and unexpectedly gaining in China. With new supply expected from Australia to Madagascar to Brazil, consumption still won’t expand fast enough to absorb the extra metal. Most markets for stainless steel, accounting for 76 percent of nickel demand, remain “depressed,” Deutsche Bank AG said in a report Feb. 15.

More nickel sulphide and chromite mineralization found in [Ring of Fire] mining camp – Northwest Bureau (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – February 11, 2012)

November 3, 2015February 11, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Noront Resources Ltd. has identified more nickel sulphide and chromite mineralization at its McFauld’s Lake Project in the Ring of Fire mining camp.

“While drilling to increase the chromite resource at Blackbird continued to return excellent results, the discovery of two new zones of nickel sulphide mineralization within 500 metres of (the company’s) Eagle’s Nest (deposit), highlights the tremendous exploration potential of this area,” company CEO Wes Hanson said in a news release.

“Both zones of nickel sulphide mineralization were identified by a new, ground-based geophysical survey that was completed in November,” he said. Hanson noted that the Eagle’s Nest feasibility study is progressing on time and on budget as is the resource update and preliminary assessment of the Blackbird chromite deposit.

Quadra FNX bidders [KGHM Polska Miedz] tour Sudbury – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 6, 2012)

February 6, 2012

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

Getting to know their neighbours in areas in which their company operates is the regular course of business for Polish mining company KGHM, say three of its executives.

The company prides itself on its relationship with employees at its three mines and two smelters in southwest Poland, and the communities they are in. KGHM has made what it is essentially a $3.5-billion offer to acquire Quadra FNX, which has holdings in Sudbury, the United States and South America.

Shareholders will vote on that offer this month. The company is calling it a “friendly acquisition” in which it will pay shareholders up to $3 billion — or $15 a share — and take on the company’s $500-million debt.

KGHM general director Jarek Romanovski, business development officer Chr is Kubacki and director Artur Wienowski visited Sudbury this week to meet with Quadra FNX managers and employees, and leaders in the community.

Glencore, Xstrata target powerhouse mining merger – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – February 3, 2012)

February 3, 2012February 3, 2012

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.

ROME—The pending marriage of Xstrata PLC and Glencore International PLC would create a mining powerhouse with both the muscle and the appetite to quickly gobble up smaller rivals.

Xstrata, which owns Canada’s Falconbridge Ltd., is in talks with part-owner Glencore aimed at an all-stock merger that would reshape the industry by uniting what is already a formidable miner with the world’s biggest commodities trader.

Xstrata said Thursday it was approached by Glencore, which already holds 34 per cent of the Anglo-Swiss miner. If a deal is struck, a giant with a market value of about $88-billion (U.S.) would be created overnight.

Both companies are run by forceful chief executive officers, both are deal-making machines on their own, and together would be a formidable takeover force that analysts believe could target companies whose market value is at least $10-billion. In its own right, it would be huge in zinc, thermal coal, nickel and copper.

Glencore in talks to buy Xstrata in blockbuster deal – by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Victoria Howley, Reuters (Sudbury Star – February 3, 2012)

February 3, 2012

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

LONDON — Commodities trader Glencore is in talks to buy mining group Xstrata in an all-share transaction that could create a combined group worth more than 50 billion pounds (US$79 billion), shaking up the industry with its biggest deal to date.

Glencore, the world’s largest diversified commodities trader, already owns 34% of Xstrata and a tie-up between the two — a deal which would trump Rio Tinto’s $38 billion acquisition of Alcan in 2007 — has long been expected, as Glencore aims to add more mines to its trading clout.

“We’ve always had the belief these two companies should be together,” Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg told a financial conference in Moscow. Xstrata owns Xstrata Nickel, which in Sudbury employs about 1,000 people who work at Nickel Rim South mine, Fraser Mine, a mill and a smelter.