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Materials Stocks Set to Shine With Poloz Preparing Rate Hikes – by Kristine Owram (Bloomberg News – July 10, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

If Governor Stephen Poloz does the expected and raises Canadian interest rates on Wednesday, it may be time to load up on potash, copper and gold stocks.

A review of equity performances following Bank of Canada tightening cycles over the past dozen years shows that materials stocks including Lundin Mining Corp. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. significantly outperform all other sectors of the Canadian market.

Over five periods of higher interest rates, including 2010, 2007 and an extended eight-month cycle in 2005 and 2006, the S&P/TSX materials index has returned an average of 9.7 percent in the three months following a rate hike, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By contrast, financials have gained 1.8 percent, energy has returned 0.6 percent and the benchmark index has added 2.4 percent.

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Eldorado finishes Integra Gold acquisition, expands operations in Canada – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 10, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s miner Eldorado Gold (TSX:ELD) (NYSE:EGO) has taken over Integra Gold (TSX-V:ICG) in a move that helps it strengthen its position in the home country, particularly around the gold-rich Eastern Abitibi region, in Quebec.

The deal, worth about Cdn$590 million (US$457 at today’s rates), was approved by Integra shareholders and the Supreme Court of British Columbia last week.

The transaction gives Integra shareholders about Cdn$129 million cash and 77 million common shares of Eldorado, for all the issued common shares of Integra that the company did not already own. That represents roughly 10% of the total issued common shares of Eldorado, post-completion of the arrangement, the company said in the statement.

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Cuba sees 2017 nickel, cobalt sulfides output at 54,500 tonnes (Reuters U.S. – July 9, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

Cuba plans to produce 54,500 tonnes of nickel and cobalt sulfides this year, state-run television said at the weekend.

Nickel is one of the cash-strapped Communist-run country’s most important exports, but revenue from it has suffered in recent years due to a decline in production and prices. The country was ranked 10th in world nickel production in 2016 and sixth in cobalt.

Cuba produced on average 74,000 tonnes of nickel plus cobalt during the first decade of this century, but the oldest of three plants was shuttered in 2012 and another has suffered from obsolescence and hurricane damage. Cuban nickel industry executives told Reuters a year ago that the industry was averaging 56,000 tonnes per year.

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Kirkland Lake and the Amazing World-Class Abitibi Gold Mining Belt – Orefinders CEO Stephen Stewart Interviews RepublicOfMining.com’s Stan Sudol (July 10, 2017)


The Abitibi is the largest Archean greenstone belt in the world. It’s roughly 150 km wide and starts just west of Timmins in Ontario – some say it starts in the Wawa camp – stretches for about 650 kms. in an east/west direction to Chibougamau, Quebec.

Since the first gold discovery in Timmins in 1909, the Abitibi has been the source of about 200 million ounces of gold and at least 35 billion pounds of zinc and 15 billion pounds of copper.

Both Ontario and Quebec have a number of significant mining camps.

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Mining News: Prospects for change: NMA President Quinn encouraged by Trump’s resource development policies (North of 60 Mining News – July 9, 2017)

http://www.petroleumnews.com/

After eight years of battling anti-mining policies being promulgated by the Obama Administration, the National Mining Association is cautiously optimistic about the positive change in the tone and substance of U.S. resource development policies since Donald Trump has moved into the White House.

“The November election ushered in a surprisingly swift and dramatic change, particularly in the way people in Washington D.C. view natural resources,” NMA President and CEO Hal Quinn said during a June 28 keynote speech at the Resource Development Council for Alaska annual membership luncheon in Anchorage.

The leader of the United States’ top mining advocacy group said the about face in the tone and substance emanating from the White House when it comes to mining policies extends to the nation’s resource sectors at large.

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Potential rare-earths industry in the US must avoid China’s mistakes – by Carly O’Connell (Asia Times – July 8, 2017)

http://www.atimes.com/

As of 2016, the United States’ demand for rare-earth elements depended on imports, mostly from China. Rare earths are a class of critical minerals, 17 in number, that are used in many technologies such as smartphones, medical treatments, wind turbines and high-performance defense-industry equipment.

Recently, politicians from America’s coal country with the help of researchers, have moved to break that dependency. They hope to re-purpose old mines to produce rare earths, thus stimulating new economic growth in places like West Virginia. But we must learn from China’s example and avoid devastating environmental consequences, which are costing China billions of dollars to correct.

The US uses about 15,000 tonnes of rare-earth elements every year, more than 700 tonnes of which go to defense. West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin recently told the Washington Examiner that America’s reliance on foreign sources for such a vital material is “a national security concern that must be addressed.”

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Tesla to build titanic battery facility – by Dennis Normile (Science Magazine – July 7, 2017)

http://www.sciencemag.org/

Tesla announced today that it will build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery system to store electricity in Australia. The 100-megawatt installation—more than three times as powerful as the biggest existing battery system—will be paired with the Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, operated by the French renewable energy company Neoen, in a deal with the state of South Australia. The Tesla battery should smooth out the variability inherent in sustainable power generation schemes.

“Cost-effective storage of electrical energy is the only problem holding us back from getting all of our power from wind and solar,” says Ian Lowe, an energy policy specialist at Griffith University in Nathan, Australia, near Brisbane.

The Tesla system, he says, will “demonstrate the feasibility of large-scale storage.” It might also win over skeptics who doubt that renewables can match the dependability of conventional fossil fuel and nuclear power plants, says Geoffrey James, a renewable energy engineer at University of Technology Sydney.

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Community’s long history seen as a gift by residents – by Elizabeth Patterson (Cape Breton Post – July 8, 2017)

http://www.capebretonpost.com/

SYDNEY MINES – If you offered Sheila MacCormick a chance to buy a brand new house, she probably wouldn’t be that interested. MacCormick lives in a brick and stone home that was built in 1853 for a mine office manager by the name of Sutherland who worked for the General Mining Association. It comes complete with hardwood peg floors, five fireplaces and uneven windows and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I just love old buildings and old things,” MacCormick told The Cape Breton Post at a heritage display and storytelling session at Holy Family Church hall on Saturday. “It’s got a lot of history and I just love it.”

MacCormick is just one of about three dozen people who attended the session held to mark Heritage Day in Sydney Mines. While the morning event, an outdoor heritage hunt, didn’t attract a lot of people mainly due to poor weather, many instead came in the afternoon to hear a discussion led by Ronald Labelle, Cape Breton Regional Library’s storyteller-in-residence.

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Activists warn against more uranium mining in the Black Hills – by Kelsey Sinclair (Rapid City Journal – July 8, 2017)

http://rapidcityjournal.com/

Let’s clean up one mess before making another. That was the message from members of two local groups opposed to uranium mining on Saturday, when volunteers gathered at the Outdoor Campus West in Rapid City to set up public information and outreach booths to speak to visitors about the importance of clean water and the impact of uranium mining.

In the wake of Azarga Uranium proposing a uranium mine in South Dakota, the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance and Dakota Rural Action have opposed the idea, saying that uranium mining would bring only short-term economical benefits while harming tourism and land, water and cultural resources.

“The vast majority of the mines have not been cleaned up. They put radioactive materials into the rivers and into the soil sediment,” Lilias Jarding said. “The main thing we want is to clean up the old uranium mines and not start any new uranium mines in the Black Hills.”

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Diamond Hunting In The Arctic [Canada] – by Ludovic Hirtzmann (World Crunch – July 9, 2017)

https://www.worldcrunch.com/

GAHCHO KUÉ MINE — The old Jumbolino, a small, 1980s-model British plane, circles above the pack ice and its multitude of frozen lakes. Aboard, the 90 passengers, all of them miners, are waking up. “Welcome to Gahcho Kué,” the purser chants in a hoarse voice.

Gahcho Kué means “place of the big rabbits” in the indigenous Chipewyan language. But for outsiders, the name is synonymous with diamonds. The Gahcho Kué mine, owned by the De Beers company, is located in Canada’s Northwest Territories, about two-hour by plane from Edmonton, Alberta. It looks a bit like a lunar base, stranded on the tundra, endlessly flat and white.

After they land, the miners make their way onto a pair of school buses. The men are quiet. Later they arrive at the entrance of the camp, which is made of prefabricated huts arranged in parallel lines. A stern young man calls for silence.

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Coal no longer fuels America. But the legacy — and the myth — remain – by Karen Heller (Washington Post – July 9, 2017)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Boone County claims to be the birthplace of America’s coal industry, the rich and abundant black rock discovered in these verdant hills almost three centuries ago. Coal gives name to nearly everything in these parts — the Big and Little Coal rivers, the weekly Coal Valley News, the wondrous Bituminous Coal Heritage Foundation Museum and the West Virginia Coal Festival, celebrating, as we arrive in town, its 24th year.

The festival is more state fair than true celebration of coal. There’s a carnival, a talent competition, seven beauty queens (from Little Miss Coal Festival to Forever West Virginia Coal Queen).

Late in the afternoon of the second day, high on a hill graced with the statue of a miner, there’s a small memorial service for the West Virginia men who died on the job over the previous year. The most recent was 32-year-old Rodney Osbourne, pinned by mining equipment on June 14.

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Chinese demand for rubies expected to sparkle – by Tess Ingram (Australian Financial Review – July 9, 2017)

http://www.afr.com/

The takeover of London-listed gemstone miner Gemfields will leave an Australian ruby junior as the only direct-listed exposure to a burgeoning sector keenly watched by China.

Gemfields, one of the world’s largest miners of coloured gemstones and the owner of the Faberge jewellery brand, will be delisted at the end of the month after its major shareholder Pallinghurst Resources triumphed in a bidding war for the company over China’s Fosun Gold Holdings.

Minority shareholders in Gemfields were outraged when Pallinghurst, a South-African listed fund chaired by former BHP Billiton chief Brian Gilbertson, lobbed a nil-premium, all-share bid in May for the 53 per cent of the company it didn’t already own. Despite a rival cash bid from the Chinese conglomerate, Pallinghurst’s strong grip on Gemfields saw it prevail, with it now holding about 85 per cent of the company ahead of its offer closing on July 18.

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COLUMN-Funds return to zinc as LME stocks plunge – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – July 7, 2017)

http://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 7 The zinc funds-fundamentals pendulum has swung again. Back in May funds were beating a collective retreat from the London zinc market after a second failed attempt at the big-number $3,000-per tonne resistance level. The London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month price troughed at $2,427.50 on June 7, since when it has bounced back to a current $2,783.00.

Funds have returned with a vengeance, according to LME broker Marex Spectron, which estimates they have gone from net short at the start of June to net long. Indeed at over 20 percent of open interest speculative length is back to levels last seen in January.

What’s caused this sharp shift in positioning? The short answer is LME stocks. While the headline number continues to tick lower, now down by 146,600, or 34 percent, on the start of the year, “live” on-warrant tonnage has slumped to levels not seen since 2007.

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[Alaska] Robust Resources – Red Dog Mine celebrates milestone anniversary – by Melanie Franner (Mining North of 60 – April 14, 2015)

http://miningnorthof60.com/

It’s been 25 years since the opening of the Red Dog zinc and lead mine, created through an operating agreement between Teck Resources Limited (Teck) and NANA Regional Corporation Inc. (NANA), an Alaskan native corporation, to develop mineral resources on its territorial land. That agreement is still in effect today and has resulted in approximately $1 billion in royalties being paid to NANA.

“We have been operating the Red Dog Mine since 1989,” explains Wayne Hall, manager, communications and public relations at Teck’s Red Dog Mine. “There is a long history associated with the mine which began in the early 1980s when NANA began looking for a mining company to partner with that had experience mining in northern latitudes and cold climates.” That company turned out to be Cominco Limited, which eventually became part of Teck Resources, Canada’s largest diversified resources company.

NANA, owned by the Iñupiat people of Northwest Alaska, is the landowner of a region that measures 38,000 square miles, most of which is above the Arctic Circle. The region includes 11 communities that range in size from 122 to more than 3,500 residents.

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Jack Bickell Chairman of McIntyre-Porcupine Mines: The Man Who Built Maple Leaf Gardens in the 1930s

Video from: http://www.sportsnet.ca/

“You could say, without exaggerating, that Bickell was the cornerstone of the whole project.” – Conn Smythe on Bickell’s role in the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens

Canadian Mining Hall Fame: John Paris Bickell (1884 – 1951) Inducted in 2000

Most follow one path, but John Paris Bickell commanded several successful careers during his extraordinary life. He opened a brokerage firm at the age of 23 and was a millionaire by 30. In 1919, he left the investment business to become president and, later, chairman of McIntyre-Porcupine Mines, one of Ontario’s first and most important gold producers.

Bickell’s achievements went beyond the realm of business, as he had a keen sense of civic duty. During the Second World War, he was appointed by Lord Beaverbrook to Britain’s Ministry of Aircraft Production, where he served with the airplane supply board during the blitz. Upon his return to Canada, he assumed responsibility for Victory Aircraft, the federal agency that manufactured Lancaster bombers for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

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