Nickel – Page 93 – Republic of Mining

Nickel downturn set to bring more pain – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Herald – February 7, 2016)

February 8, 2016

http://www.smh.com.au/

The Kambalda Football Club is in crisis. For the first time since it formed in 1968, the future of the small but prominent club in the historic West Australian mining town is in jeopardy.

The downturn plaguing the nickel sector has forced many of the region’s mines to suspend operations, robbing the club of players for its senior teams.

President Cyril Poke said the club’s woes started last year when local nickel miner Mincor Resources, a long-time sponsor, began cutting jobs as the nickel price sank.

Mincor suspended production at its Mariner and Miitel mines at the end of January. The football club has called a “crisis meeting”.

National view: Slow permitting devastating US mining, manufacturing – by Kevin Kearns (Duluth News Tribune – February 7, 2016)

February 8, 2016

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Kevin Kearns is president of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Business and Industry Council, a national business organization that advocates for U.S. manufacturers.

Imagine if significant gold deposits were found in northern Minnesota. That would be a boon for Minnesota mining, since gold is in great demand for use in such diverse products as smartphones and solar panels.

But what if it took 10 years for a mining firm to get the approvals needed to start extracting this gold? Imagine the disappointment in terms of lost job opportunities and lost tax revenue.

It’s not a far-fetched possibility, however, to expect a lengthy process before Minnesota could possibly enjoy any newfound gold wealth.

Commodity Markets Weighed Down By A New Factor, Environmental Metal – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – February 4, 2016)

February 5, 2016

http://www.forbes.com/

In theory nickel, a steel-hardening metal, should be poised for a big price recovery as high-cost material is driven from a depressed market, but that’s before a new factor started to influence the business of nickel mining, environmental metal.

Similar in character to another non-market price driver, social metal, the new influence is entirely man made or, to be more specific, government made.

Social metal has been around for decades and is most evident in South American copper-mining countries where governments keep loss-making copper mines open as a way of maintaining employment to avoid social unrest.

Signs point to uncertain future for PolyMet’s plans – by Marshall Helmberger (Timberjay.com – February 3, 2016)

February 4, 2016

http://www.timberjay.com/

The announcement late last Wednesday that Glencore had agreed to loan PolyMet another $11 million to pay for an update to its definitive feasibility study, was greeted by some as a piece of good news— that suggests the giant Swiss-based commodities broker still sees potential in the company’s NorthMet copper-nickel mine despite the recent collapse in metals prices.

Yet the terms of the loan, and the likely results of the feasibility update, point to a project that’s teetering on life support. While PolyMet saw a bump in its stock price in November with the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, investors have grown increasingly pessimistic ever since. As of this week, the company’s stock price had recovered slightly, to 89 cents, but is still down 20-percent since its post-FEIS peak.

Savvy investors can’t be unaware that major copper mines around the world are being shuttered by companies like Glencore, Rio Tinto, and others, in a desperate attempt to stem the financial bleeding and the production oversupply that has cut copper prices in half from their peaks in the late 2000s.

Canadians see appeal in [Australian] Beta Hunt – by Jarrod Lucas (The West Australian – February 3, 2016)

February 3, 2016

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/

Toronto stock exchange-listed Royal Nickel Corporation will take a controlling interest in the privately owned Beta Hunt mine near Kambalda in a $C7.5 million ($7.56 million) cash-and-scrip deal.

Royal Nickel will emerge with 67 per cent of Derek Fisher’s Salt Lake Mining, which acquired Beta Hunt for $10 million in 2013. Beta Hunt first operated in the 1970s and has the rare feature of nickel and gold resources in adjacent mineralised zones.

Nickel ore is delivered to BHP Billiton’s Kambalda concentrator, while gold is treated at St Ives, owned by South Africa’s Gold Fields, which holds the mining tenements at Beta Hunt.

Royal Nickel diversifies with gold, copper acquisitions – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – February 2, 2016)

February 2, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In a bid to break out of a depressed market for junior miners in general and nickel projects in particular, Royal Nickel Corp. is transforming itself into a gold and copper producer.

The Toronto-based company has spent years touting the potential of its Dumont nickel project in Quebec, but the steep decline in the price of the metal has deterred potential backers. As a result, Royal Nickel has yet to generate revenue and its share price has faded in line with the fortunes of its namesake product.

On Monday, it struck off in a new direction when it announced it was acquiring a stake in Salt Lake Mining, an Australian nickel and gold producer, as well as all of Vancouver-based VMS Ventures Inc., part-owner of a copper mine in Manitoba.

Is the party over for Clive Palmer? – by Jamie Smyth (Financial Times – February 1, 2016)

February 1, 2016

http://www.ft.com/

Sydney – In November 2010, Clive Palmer donned a Santa hat and posed in front of photographers as he gave A$10m of Christmas bonuses, including 55 Mercedes cars, to staff at Townsville’s Yabula nickel refinery.

It was the height of the commodities boom and the Australian mining magnate, who later turned his hand to politics, was celebrating the success of his acquisition of Queensland Nickel from BHP Billiton in 2009.

“It [Queensland Nickel] provides me with about US$250m of beer money a year. That’s why I’ve got larger and fatter, thanks to BHP,” he later joked to mining executives.

But the subsequent collapse in nickel prices has put paid to celebrations at Queensland Nickel, which was placed in administration last month with debts of A$100m.

Canada’s Royal Nickel turns producer with two acquisitions – by Susan Taylor (Reuters Africa – February 1, 2016)

February 1, 2016

http://af.reuters.com/

TORONTO Feb 1(Reuters) – Canada’s Royal Nickel Corp , capitalizing on discount asset prices as commodity markets swoon, announced two cash and stock acquisitions on Monday that transform the mine developer into a cash-generating nickel, copper and gold producer.

Royal Nickel Chief Executive Mark Selby said the company will acquire a 67 percent stake in Australia’s privately-held Salt Lake Mining Pty, in a deal worth C$7.7 million, and 100 percent of Vancouver-based VMS Ventures Inc, in a separate transaction worth C$11.4 million.

Salt Lake Mining owns the Beta Hunt Mine, a low-cost nickel and gold mine in Western Australia. VMS’s main asset is a 30 percent stake in Reed Mine, a Manitoba copper mine that is 70-percent owned and operated by HudBay Minerals.

Kambalda job losses make for sombre 50th anniversary of nickel discovery – by Sam Tomlin and Tara de Landgrafft (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – January 28, 2016)

January 28, 2016

http://www.abc.net.au/

ABC Goldfields – As nickel miners across Western Australia continue to warehouse their assets, the Goldfields town at the heart of the state’s original nickel boom is quietly marking its 50th anniversary.

Kambalda, around 60km south of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, dates its modern existence from January 1966, and the sinking of the KD1 drill shaft by the Western Mining Corporation.

On January 28, the results from the initial drilling became apparent, with the unprecedented quantities of nickel sparking a boom that continued nearly uninterrupted for three decades.

Nickel price bloodbath in Western Australia as Mincor, Panoramic announce closures – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Herald – January 27, 2016)

January 27, 2016

http://www.smh.com.au/

The sustained decline in the nickel price has forced three more West Australian operations into suspension at the cost of more than 100 jobs, as the toll of the price crash mounts.

On Wednesday, Panoramic Resources said the weak and uncertain nickel price had forced it to gradually suspend operations at its Savannah mine in Western Australia’s Kimberley region ahead of last shipments and a full care and maintenance position during April.

It came as Mincor Resources confirmed it would cease mining at its Mariner and Miitel mines, both in the historic Kambalda nickel district, at the end of the month “for a period of suspension until the nickel price recovers”.

Vale smelter upgrades on track for 2018, Clean AER manager says (CBC News Sudbury – January 25, 2016)

January 26, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Sudbury mining giant Vale says its Clean AER project is now 55 per cent complete.

Upgrades to the smelter are required to bring the company in-line with the province’s updated air quality standards for nickel. They are expected to be finished in 2018.

Once smelter upgrades are complete, the company will greatly reduce sulphur dioxide emissions, said David Marshall, project manager of the mining company’s Clean AER project. AER stands for atmospheric emissions reduction.

NEWS RELEASE: Transition Metals Acquires Advanced Stage Ni-Cu-PGM Projects

January 26, 2016

Sudbury, January 25, 2016 – Transition Metals Corp. (XTM – TSX.V) (“TMC” or “the Company”), is pleased to announce the acquisition of all of the former exploration and development assets of First Nickel Inc. The purchase includes approximately 1,100 hectares of leased and patented mining and surface rights property and 7,591 hectares of mining claims, including projects with defined historical NI 43-101 nickel, copper and platinum group metal (PGM) resources located in the Sudbury and Timmins areas.

The properties were purchased pursuant to an asset purchase agreement between the Company and the court-appointed Receiver of First Nickel Inc. (the “Receiver”). The Receiver has obtained a vesting order from the court and confirmation of closing is expected on or about January 25, 2016.

The Company has agreed to pay consideration of $100,000 cash and 980,392 common shares of the Company at a price per share of $0.102, representing a value of $100,000 based on the 20 day trading weighted average share price.

Massive Sudbury Vale pollution reduction project half done – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 23, 2016)

January 25, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The director of the largest environmental project ever undertaken in Sudbury wants to clear up any misconception that work on Vale’s Clear AER (atmospheric emissions reduction) project halted in 2013 when the project was revamped.

The Brazil-based mining company scaled back what was to be a $2-billion retrofit of the Copper Cliff Smelter Complex after the decision was made to operate one furnace instead of two.

Dave Marshall told an audience this week that the project is 55 per cent complete, $625 million has been invested in it so far and it is on target for completion by January 2018.

Vale N.L. plant processing Voisey’s Bay concentrate – by Ashley Fitzpatrick (St. John’s Telegram – January 21, 2016)

January 22, 2016

http://www.thetelegram.com/

Company living up to commitments to move off imported material: province

Vale Newfoundland and Labrador is still in the process of ramping up to full production at its new hydromet production facility in Long Harbour, to continue for several years, but the company is using material from the Voisey’s Bay mine.

“The Long Harbour plant began operating on only Voisey’s Bay concentrate in early January,” a provincial Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman stated in an emailed response to questions this week.

In February 2015, a then-Progressive Conservative government announced an amendment to the Voisey’s Bay Development Agreement, allowing the company more time before it would be required to process product from its Labrador mine at the plant.

Luck bottoms out for Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer – by Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – January 21, 2016)

January 21, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE Jan 21 Larger-than-life mining magnate Clive Palmer was riding a boom in mineral prices less than two years ago and had become one of Australia’s most influential politicians.

Now, rattled by a slide in commodity prices, the colourful and often controversial tycoon’s grip on parts of his business empire is crumbling and his political ambitions have also been dented by defections in the party he created.

Other Australian mining magnates such as Gina Rinehart, one of Asia’s richest women, and Andrew “Twiggy” Forest have also seen their fortunes plummet. Palmer’s problems came to a head this week when his embattled Queensland Nickel (QNI) refinery called in administrators after sacking more than 200 workers.