Republic of Mining

COMMENT: Someone is counterfeiting the Mint’s gold bars – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – October 31, 2017)

November 1, 2017

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Forget Bitcoin and other cyber-currencies. Someone is extremely fond of gold these days. So smitten that counterfeit gold bar with the hallmarks of the Royal Canadian Mint has been created.

Last week, a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada in Ottawa allegedly sold a fake .9999-fine, one-ounce bar to a local jeweller. The purchaser said the bar looked authentic, but upon investigation in his shop, the jeweller found the piece of metal shattered rather than bent under pressure. Neither did it pass the acid test for carat content.

A spokesman for the Mint said the counterfeit was of exceptional quality (for a fake), but that it copied an old hallmark no longer in circulation. The Mint also denied that the fake could have been included in any shipment from that source. Several layers of security make that impossible.

Biggest Miner Tracking Trucker Brain Waves in Technology Race – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 1, 2017)

November 1, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Truck drivers employed by the world’s biggest mining company are wearing baseball caps and hard helmets with sensors mounted inside to track their brain waves so they can get early warnings of fatigue and cut accidents.

BHP Billiton Ltd. has deployed the technology for 150 trucks at the Escondida copper mine it operates in Chile as part of efforts to boost safety, Chief Technology Officer Diane Jurgens told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of a mining forum in Melbourne.

The company intends to adopt the method at other sites globally, including its giant iron ore mines in Australia, she said.

Goldcorp reveals good news for the Dome Mine Century Project – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – November 1, 2017)

November 1, 2017

http://www.timminspress.com/

More “positive” news has emerged about Goldcorp’s Century Project in Timmins which is a proposed expansion of the existing Dome Mine open pit operation.

Goldcorp has released a “reserves and resource estimate” that reveal the pre-feasibility study for the Century Project gold mine has been completed and the news was good.

“The Base Case Pre-Feasibility Study was positive and Goldcorp believes that exploration drilling and the upcoming optimization study could continue to add value to this organic project with low execution risk in a proven mining district,” said the report.

Everyone’s a Metals Bull as Global Economic Engine Fires Up – by Jack Farchy and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – October 30, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Global growth is on a tear, and that can only be positive for metals prices. That’s the message coming from the industry ahead of LME Week.

For the first time in years, optimism is widespread among traders, smelters, miners and brokers gathering in London, buoyed by a combination of strong growth across the world’s key demand centers, supply curbs in China and a return of investor interest.

“The global economy looks much better than it has done probably since the crisis, maybe before that,” said Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura Group Pte, the second-largest metals trader. “I’m pretty bullish.”

Canada’s 3rd largest mining IPO points to healthy investor appetite – by Frik Els (Mining.com – October 30, 2017)

October 31, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

On the eve of listing, Nexa Resources (TSX:NEXA, NYSE:NEXA), spun out of Brazil’s Votorantim conglomerate, lowered the price of its initial public offering to $16 per share from the previously expected range of $18–$21 per share.

Nexa, a major zinc producer with five operating mines in South America, raised just shy of $500m on Friday making it the third largest mining IPO in Canadian history.

The company may have left some money on the table for the 31 million shares offered – after a nice 10% pop on Friday, the counter was up again today adding 3.7% to trade at $18.05 a share for a market value of just over $2 billion in New York.

Fact Checker Analysis: The repeated, incorrect claim that Russia obtained ‘20 percent of our uranium’ – by Glenn Kessler (Washington Post – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

“How is it that our government could approve a sale of 20 percent of our uranium at the same time that there was an open FBI investigation?”
— Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto, Oct. 26, 2017

“Knowing what you know about Russia, was it really a good idea for the Obama administration and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to approve a deal giving the Russians control of 20 percent of our uranium supply? . . . Why did Hillary’s office and the Obama administration sign off on giving the Russians a fifth of our uranium? . . .

Why is that a good idea to give a hostile power 20 percent of our uranium supplies? It’s insane though. . . . How would Hillary Clinton not know if a Russian company was getting 20 percent of our uranium supply? What was she doing?”
— Tucker Carlson, on Fox’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Oct. 23

Rio Tinto adds alumina refineries to aluminum smelters sale: sources – by James Regan (Reuters U.S. – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Rio Tinto is attracting renewed interest in selling its Pacific Aluminium smelting unit by adding two alumina refineries in Australia to the portfolio, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Rio Tinto had tried to sell the division minus the refineries in 2011 and again in 2015 without success. Switzerland-headquartered Glencore, Liberty House of Britain, and Russia’s Rusal have all expressed interest, according to the sources, who declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak to media.

By including the refineries, Rio could potentially double the original $1 billion price tag for Pacific Aluminium, the sources said.

Global copper balance widens to 160 000 t deficit as refined output stalls – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The world’s refined copper balance has increased to 160 000 t for the first seven months of 2017, as refined copper supply has stagnated, according to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG).

The Lisbon-based think tank said the July deficit was in fact the lowest recorded so far this year, at 35 000 t, despite a 0.5% decline in refined copper use to 13 690 t, as scrap supplies improved and constrained use growth globally. This was significantly more than the six-month copper balance that showed a deficit of 75 000 t.

In the first seven months of 2017, the world refined copper balance, adjusted for changes in Chinese bonded stocks, indicated a deficit of about 90 000 t, up from a deficit of about 5 000 t reported last month.

Russia expands tax breaks to boost Far East gold mining – by Maxim Belousov (Asia Times – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

http://www.atimes.com/

Russia’s government plans to expand a special economic zone in the Far East of the country to secure an initial investment of US$38 million into a gold and silver mining project.

The Ministry for the Development of the Far East of Russia is backing an amendment to the legislation that will allow for an expansion of the Nikolaevsk Advanced Special Economic Zone (ASEZ).

The parameters of the zone are being changed to “help realize a large investment project,” an official at the ministry said. Russia’s NGK Resource, which specializes in geological exploration and production of metals and minerals, is behind the mine project in the expanded part of the zone, an official at the company said.

Archaeologists Startled to Find Remains of Pregnant Woman Buried in ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ – by Ariel David (Haaretz.com – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.haaretz.com/

Archaeologists digging at the ancient copper mines in Timna, a valley in Israel’s southern desert, were surprised to discover the 3,200-year-old remains of an Egyptian woman, where no women had been thought to have tread.

The woman was in the early stages of pregnancy when she died. She was buried near an ancient Egyptian temple in the heart of what archaeologists once nicknamed “King Solomon’s Mines” because they believed that the site was controlled by the biblical king, an idea that remains hotly contested.

“It is very rare to find human remains in Timna, and it is the first time we find a woman,” says archaeologist Erez Ben Yosef, who leads the Tel Aviv University team that has been excavating the site since 2012.

Mining trailblazer to be recognized for managerial prowess – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Professional engineers honouring Vale’s Samantha Espley in November

Sudbury’s Samantha Espley will soon be placing another award on the mantel.

The general manager of Vale’s mines and mills technical services department will receive the Engineering Medal for Management at the prestigious Ontario Professional Engineers Awards (OPEA) on Nov. 18 in Toronto.

The 70th annual black-tie gala takes place in the North Hall of the Toronto Congress Centre. Espley is a recognized trailblazer for women in the mining industry, serving as one of the few female engineers to hold several senior technical, operational and management positions.

Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill iron ore mine to introduce driverless mining trucks – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

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

Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill iron ore mine plans to roll out driverless mining trucks in the second half of next year and will look to increase capacity beyond current plans of 55 million tonnes per year, once the new operations are running smoothly.

The move to implement autonomous mining trucks sees Roy Hill join its three bigger rivals Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group in the Pilbara mining region of Western Australia in moving that way and follows a program to install autonomous drilling.

“We are looking at the phased implementation (of autonomous trucks) in the second half of next year,” Roy Hill chief executive Barry Fitzgerald said today on the sidelines of the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne.

LMEWEEK-Codelco’s lithium a magnet for more than 10 firms – chairman – by Pratima Desai (Reuters U.S. – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) – More than 10 companies have expressed interest in partnering with Codelco, one of the world’s largest copper producers, to exploit its lithium assets in Chile, the firm’s chairman told Reuters.

The chairman, Oscar Landerretche, was speaking during LME Week, a gathering of the metal industry in London. Lithium is a key component in rechargeable batteries that fuel electric vehicles, a segment of the auto industry expected to grow exponentially in coming years.

Companies with lithium assets are attracting huge investor interest, as can be seen in an exchange-traded fund comprised of lithium firms, up nearly 60 percent so far this year. Lithium in Chile is found in brine deposits, which can take seven years or more to develop.

The Canadian Ghost Town That Tesla Is Bringing Back to Life – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com

Renewed demand for cobalt, the metal, is breathing new life into Cobalt, the town.

Ironically, Cobalt, Ontario—population 1,100—was built on silver. Remnants of a boom that transformed the town more than a century ago are everywhere. A mine headframe still protrudes from the roof of the bookstore, which was previously a grocery.

The butcher used to toss unwanted bones down an abandoned 350-foot shaft in the middle of the shop floor and keep meat cool in its lowered mine cage.

While the last silver mines closed almost 30 years ago, a global push for the village’s namesake metal is promising to breathe new life into the sleepy town 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Toronto.

Electric cars set world’s nickel miners on new course – by James Regan and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Battery makers are increasingly turning to nickel to help power growing global electric car sales, but only half of the world’s producers of the metal are likely to benefit, mining analysts and executives say.

Lithium batteries containing nickel, which helps keep a charge over longer distances, are being installed in electric cars from Tesla’s top-of-the-line Model X to General Motors Co modestly-priced Chevy Bolt.

The battery boom promises a new and growing market for miners producing high-grade nickel products. However, half the world’s supply of the metal, comprised of so-called ferronickel and nickel pig iron grades, is unsuitable for battery production, according to analysts at UBS.