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Zinc, Lead and Tin

Rockcliff Metals Corporation: King of Grade in Canada’s Most Prolific Mining Belt-Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone Belt (March 2, 2018)

http://rockcliffmetals.com/

Rockcliff Metals Corp. (TSX.V: RCLF) is a company set for success. With royalty revenues just around the corner, RCLF is getting ready to show the world its full potential as its properties in Manitoba are demonstrating excellent results.

What is also intriguing about RCLF is Management’s ability to pick up amazing properties from staking high-quality prospects or from seasoned prospectors or joint-venture opportunities, like they did with a senior base-metal producer Hudbay Minerals who has had continuous mining in the world-class Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone Belt (FF-SL GB) for nearly a century.

Over the past 10 years, RCLF has amassed over 45,000 collective hectares in this camp, spent over $27 million, completed over 80,000 metres of drilling and has grown its collective basemetal resources to over 11 Mt of high-grade copper, gold, zinc and silver, all in one of the richest and most prolific mining camps in the world.

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Mount Isa community reflects on 95 years as Australia’s ‘kindergarten of mining’ – by Harriet Tatham (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 22, 2018)

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

Founded on land belonging to the Kalkadoon people, one of Queensland’s longest-running mining towns has today turned 95. Known for its soaring plumes, spinifex, red dirt and heatwaves, mining is the lifeblood of Mount Isa — a fact the remote community steadfastly defends.

“Mount Isa really was the enduring strength of the mining industry,” long-time resident and former mayor of 18 years Ron McCulloch said. In an era of environmental consciousness, Mr McCulloch said the city could attract some criticism in 2018, but he did not believe the spirit had been lost.

“Nowadays I think people are much more motivated by wealth and looking after themselves more than looking after the city, so I think there’s been a little bit of a downturn in the affection people have for the mining industry and the city itself.”

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Teck sees strong demand for steelmaking coal in 2018 – by Susan Taylor (Reuters Canada – February 14, 2018)

https://ca.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Teck Resources Ltd, the world’s second-biggest exporter of steelmaking coal, said on Wednesday that growing global steel production is expected to boost demand for its coal in 2018, though coal trade competition will also likely rise.

Vancouver-based Teck, which also mines copper, zinc, gold and oil sands, said it is “feeling pretty good about 2018” after reporting in-line financial results.

“Most of us forget what this feels like, but it’s certainly very good for commodity markets, and they are now demand driven, rather than supply driven,” Chief Executive Don Lindsay said on a conference call.

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Smelters expected to reduce zinc processing fees amid mine supply shortage – by Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – February 7, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Zinc smelters are set to accept lower fees for processing concentrate into metal when annual contracts are hammered out next week at a conference in California, as a crunch in mine supply stretches into a third year.

Treatment charges (TCs), the fees miners pay smelters to process their ore, are likely to fall by at least 13 percent to $140-$150 a tonne or below for 2018 term contracts, from around $172 a tonne last year, according to four trader and analyst sources.

The fees are usually settled between major smelters and miners at the International Zinc Association’s annual conference, this year kicking off on Feb. 11 in Carlsbad, California. The first contract to be agreed leads the way for other deals, becoming a global benchmark.

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COLUMN-Five stand-outs in China’s base metals trade last year – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – January 29, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – China’s base metals imports stopped offering a simple, over-arching story line several years ago. The country has built out ever more processing capacity over the last decade, meaning that the “real” story is often what’s happening at the raw materials stage of the supply chain.

In cases such as aluminium, China has arguably constructed too much smelter capacity, to the point that the rest of the world has stopped caring about how much it imports but rather how much it exports.

Across the rest of the metallic complex, individual market dynamics have become ever more important, fracturing the Chinese trade picture into multiple, sometimes contradictory parts. Against an increasingly kaleidoscopic backdrop, here are five key take-aways from last year’s trade flows.

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Roundup 2018: Osisko’s Roosen on tackling ‘tough’ markets – by Matthew Keevil (Northern Miner – January 25, 2018)

http://www.northernminer.com/

VANCOUVER — Sean Roosen’s Osisko group of companies is among a rare breed of mining-focused entrepreneurial firms that have flourished over the past decade despite frigid capital markets and low commodity prices.

The group emerged as a major financial player following the $4.3-billion sale of Osisko Mining’s flagship Canadian Malartic gold mine in mid-2014 and now provides alternate capital funding to explorers and miners via stream financings, equity placements, and related partnership models.

On Jan. 23, Roosen took the stage at thee Association for Mineral Exploration’s (AME) annual Roundup conference to discuss the state of capital markets, and the challenges the mining industry must overcome to combat falling discovery rates and a lack of interest from generalist investors.

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‘A shock to all of us’: Teck Resources’ dam sale upsets workers, community in Trail, B.C. – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – January 19, 2018)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The sale is raising questions about whether Teck Resources is laying the groundwork to pivot away from its smelting business to focus on other businesses elsewhere

Mike Mozak’s union was in the middle of labour negotiations with Teck Resources Ltd. last spring when the company announced a proposed $1.2-billion deal to sell its hydroelectric dam that powers the lead and zinc smelter where his members worked. “It was a shock to all of us,” said Mozak, president of United Steelworkers Local 9705, who questions how the sale could affect the smelter’s future.

Nestled on a hill overlooking the town of Trail in British Columbia’s West Kootenay region, the smelter complex has operated for more than 100 years and is one of the largest in the world, certainly the largest in Canada where it supplies 1,400 jobs and props up the regional economy.

Last year, through the first three quarters, the smelter produced more than 230,000 tons of zinc, essential for rustproofing the steel and iron found in everything from bridges to frying pans, and a component used in fertilizers and batteries.

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Top 10 zinc miner Trevali lifts 2018 guidance 140% as zinc powers to 10yr high – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – January 16, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian zinc miner Trevali Mining expects to produce 140% more zinc this year, following a transformational 2017 that saw it produce a record 177.4-million payable pounds of zinc.

The 2017 output was boosted by the December quarter production from the newly acquired Perkoa mine, in Burkina Faso, and the Rosh Pinah mine, in Namibia, which it acquired from Glencore on August 31. Production for the assets from April 1 to August 31, was treated as part of the working capital adjustments captured in the purchase price calculation.

Trevali, which is based in Vancouver, on Monday reported record unverified fourth-quarter production of 104.8-million payable pounds of zinc, 13.5-million payable pounds of lead and 396 899 oz of payable silver. Preliminary 2017 output was reported at 45.8-million pounds of lead and 1.6-million ounces of payable silver.

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The Lost Town of Pine Point (Northwest Territories) – by Katie Weaver (Up Here Magazine – November 2, 2015)

https://uphere.ca/

A road runs through the bush in the NWT, and it tells a story of tragedy, hard truths and the circle of life

A poplar sapling has broken through the pavement in the middle of the street, reaching toward a violet twilit sky. The smell of the bush clashes with the feel of cement underfoot as I walk on the sidewalk past the tree. There are crosswalks but no traffic.

Roads but no buildings. The only thing that stands is a sign back where I turned left off Highway 6 to enter the old townsite. “Pine Point” is painted proudly upon it, with stuffed animals arranged around it on the ground and in trees. It’s a memorial. It ties my stomach in a knot, as if something terrible happened here.

Without that sign, the site would be a mystery. But with it, every memory, death, birth and anniversary held in this town still hangs in thin air. But this sadness and nostalgia was foretold from the town’s very beginnings. It was never permanent, after all. It only existed from 1964 until 1988. And now it’s gone. All I see is an eerie blend of forest and concrete. But then I look a little closer.

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Osisko Metals to acquire Pine Point zinc mine in NWT – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – January 8, 2018)

Northern Miner

Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM) is expanding its zinc footprint to northern Canada in a $35 million deal to acquire Pine Point Mining (TSXV: ZINC) and its Pine Point project near Hay River in the Northwest Territories.

Pine Point – once Canada’s most profitable zinc-lead mine – produced nearly 64 million tonnes of ore from 52 deposits between 1964 and 1987. Another 46 deposits on the property were identified but never put into production.

The acquisition, combined with Osisko Metal’s 50,000-hectares of zinc properties in New Brunswick’s Bathurst Mining Camp, gives the junior exploration and development company control over two world-class past-producing base metal camps.

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Mining listings bring Indian gold and Irish zinc to London – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – December 20, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Two exploration companies with assets spanning gold in India to zinc in Ireland will list their shares on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on Thursday, bringing to 11 the number of mining listings this year as commodities prices recover.

Shares in Panthera resources, whose prime asset is a gold project in Rajasthan and Erris Resources, which has gold in Sweden and zinc in Ireland, will start trading at 0800 GMT.

Commodity prices have stabilized after a steep downturn in 2015 and early 2016 and the number of share listings is up dramatically from just two in 2016. Junior miners who are exploring and developing assets, however, say it is still hard to raise capital.

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NEWS RELEASE: Osisko Metals Announces Friendly Acquisition of Pine Point Mining (December 18, 2017)

https://www.osiskometals.com/en/

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC and TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Dec. 18, 2017) –

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Osisko Metals Incorporated (“Osisko Metals”) (TSX VENTURE:OM)(FRANKFURT:0B5) and Pine Point Mining Limited (“Pine Point”) (TSX VENTURE:ZINC) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement dated December 15, 2017 (the “Agreement”) pursuant to which, among other things, (i) Osisko Metals has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Pine Point, and (ii) a newly formed company (“Spinco”) will be created to hold all of the assets and liabilities of Pine Point, with the exception of the Pine Point project located in the Northwest Territories (the “Pine Point Project”), all of which is to be completed by way of a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (the “Arrangement”).

The Arrangement will result in Osisko Metals acquiring the Pine Point Project in furtherance of Osisko Metals’ stated strategy of consolidating and developing base metal assets at the mining district scale.

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COLUMN-As Glencore restarts capacity, is time up for zinc rally? – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – December 14, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) – When Glencore announced it was curtailing 500,000 tonnes of capacity at its zinc mines in October 2015, the price of three-month zinc on the London Metal Exchange was $1,700 per tonne.

The price is now $3,175 per tonne, hovering within striking distance of last month’s 10-year high of $3,326. Glencore can’t take full credit for the bull surge of the last two years but its curtailments acted as a powerful accelerator to a structural shift towards supply deficit.

So what happens next, now the company has just announced the first restart at the Lady Loretta mine in Australia? The market seems unfazed. Indeed, LME zinc rallied on the news, the bear sting masked by a headline decline in forecast production next year.

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Osisko Metals consolidates Bathurst Mining Camp – by Trish Sayell (Northern Miner – November 30, 2017)

In the last year, newly minted Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: BWMXF) has picked up over 50,000 hectares in New Brunswick’s Bathurst mining camp, the third largest volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) camp in the world.

“We’ve been scouring the base metal space looking for new opportunity,” Jeff Hussey, the junior’s president and CEO, told analysts and investors during a presentation at Red Cloud’s recent annual fall conference. “We’re trying to get a cluster of deposits within a 25-30 km trucking distance that would feed a central concentrator.”

The company’s focus is on zinc, a base metal whose price has doubled to about US$1.43 per lb. over the last twelve months, and one which Hussey knows well after spending 20 years at Noranda, including a stint working at the Brunswick No. 12 mine in the Bathurst camp.

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Canadian Zinc hopes to start production at Prairie Creek mine in 2020 – by Randi Beers (CBC News North – December 1, 2017)

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

The Canadian Zinc Corporation believes production could start at Prairie Creek Mine by August 2020. This is according to results of a feasibility study commissioned by the company, which was released Oct. 31.

The study, put together by mining consulting firm AMC Mining Consultants, estimates the Prairie Creek mine could pull in $1.2 billion over its 15-year mine life and create 330 full-time jobs in the Dehcho region.

All of this is dependant on two major things, according to Alan Taylor, chief operating officer of Canadian Zinc. The company must get final approval to build an all-season road to the mine — which is at an advanced stage of construction already — and it must raise the money needed to both build the road and revive the mine.

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