Republic of Mining

No cobalt, no Tesla? – by Sebastien Gandon (Tech Crunch – January 1, 2017)

July 18, 2017

The battery industry currently uses 42 percent of global cobalt production, a critical metal for Lithium-ion cells. The remaining 58 percent is used in diverse industrial and military applications (super alloys, catalysts, magnets, pigments…) that rely exclusively on the material.

Approximately 97 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt comes as a by-product of nickel or copper (mostly out of Africa). Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and Lundin agreed to sell to Chinese players their respective stakes in the Tenke Fungurume mine, one of the largest known cobalt sources, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Tesla has stated that the cobalt it needs will be sourced exclusively in North America, but the math doesn’t seem to add up.

Is Tesla doomed? Not necessarily…

Top 10 Canadian-based diamond companies – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – July 13, 2017)

July 18, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

Canada is the fifth-largest diamond producer in the world, according to the Mining Association of Canada. Last year two new diamond mines came into production: Gahcho Kué in the Northwest Territories and Renard in Quebec. Here are the top 10 Canadian-headquartered diamond companies by market capitalization, as of early July.

1. DOMINION DIAMOND: Market Capitalization of $1.01 billion

Dominion Diamond (TSX: DDC; NYSE: DDC) is Canada’s largest diamond producer and the world’s third-largest diamond miner after De Beers and Alrosa. Dominion operates the Ekati mine, in which it owns a controlling interest, and owns 40% of the Diavik mine. Both mines are about 300 km from Yellowknife and 200 km south of the Arctic Circle in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories. Ekati officially began production in October 1998 and Diavik in January 2003.

Dominion also owns a 55% stake in the Lac de Gras joint-venture with North Arrow Minerals (TSXV: NAR), which holds the remaining 45% interest. The joint-venture property adjoins the mineral leases that host the Diavik mine, 10 km to the north, and the Ekati mine, less than 40 km to the northwest. Dominion also has sorting and selling operations in Canada, Belgium and India.

Canada’s Dominion Diamond accepts sweetened bid from U.S. billionaire – by Nicole Mordant and John Benny (Reuters Canada – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://ca.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Canada’s Dominion Diamond Corp on Monday agreed to a sweetened takeover offer of $1.2 billion from U.S. billionaire Dennis Washington that will take private the world’s third biggest diamond company by market value.

U.S.-listed shares of Dominion leapt 4 percent to $14.04, while its Toronto-listed shares rose nearly 5 percent, after Dominion said Washington Companies will acquire all of shares for $14.25 per share in cash.

The offer price is 5 percent higher than the Missoula, Montana-based company’s March 19 offer of $13.50 per share, which Dominion rejected as too low. Reuters reported on Friday that Dominion was in advanced and friendly talks with Washington on a sweetened cash takeover bid.

Canadian miner’s tennis ball-sized ‘diamond in the rough’ proves too big to sell – by Susan Taylor (Reuters/Financial Post – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO — In the mysterious world of diamond mining, it turns out that some stones are too big to sell. Canada’s Lucara Diamond Corp will have to cut its tennis ball-sized rough diamond to find a buyer, industry insiders say, following Sotheby’s failed auction for the world’s largest uncut stone last summer.

It’s not the ending that William Lamb wanted for his 1,109-carat stone, named ‘Lesedi La Rona’, or ‘Our Light’ in the national language of Botswana where it was mined. “It’s only the second stone recovered in the history of humanity over 1,000 carats. Why would you want to polish it?,” said Lucara’s chief executive.

“The stone in the rough form contains untold potential…As soon as you polish it into one solution, everything else is gone.” Lamb had gambled that ultra-rich collectors, who buy and sell precious art works for record-breaking sums at auction, would do the same with a diamond in the raw.

Divisive $13 Billion Potash Plan to Test BHP’s New Chairman – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd.’s plan to enter the potash market with a contentious $13 billion project in Canada is adding to challenges facing the incoming chairman of the world biggest mining company.

Ken MacKenzie, a 53-year-old board member who takes up the role in September, currently is on a global tour to meet investors in the wake of an activist campaign in recent months spearheaded by Elliott Management Corp. Issues of concern for some shareholders include the producer’s U.S. onshore oil and gas assets and its plans to accelerate the Jansen potash venture.

Proceeding with Jansen risks a “severe strategic misstep,” according to Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. analyst Paul Gait, as the new supply would risk depressing prices by delaying to about 2036 the ability of the potash market to work through overcapacity. Paul Singer’s Elliott went public in April with a campaign seeking asset sales and a corporate overhaul, claiming management decisions have eroded as much as $40 billion in value.

China’s steel, aluminum output at record as U.S. mulls penalties – by Muyu Xu and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – July 16, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – China churned out record amounts of steel and aluminum in June as producers rushed to cash-in on rallying prices in the wake of a drive by Beijing to crack down on output of low-grade metal.

That could fuel concerns the world’s top steel producer will export more metal, stoking global oversupply and fanning tensions with the United States after it accused the nation of flooding international markets with cheap aluminum and steel.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to use a Cold War-era law to restrict imports for national security reasons as bilateral talks between Washington and Beijing continue. China has long-denied that it has been offloading metals abroad at the expense of foreign producers.

Mining giant in radical program to fight suicide (Makay Daily Mercury – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.dailymercury.com.au/

ANGLO-Swiss mining giant Glencore is establishing an Australian beachhead in the fight against suicide with a radical program already under way in the historic mining town of Clermont, southwest of Mackay.

Glencore, along with the NSW Coal Services Health and Safety Trust, is a driving force behind Mates in Mining, which encourages workers to ask each other a confronting question still regarded as taboo: “Are you contemplating suicide?” The program fuses together workers, unions and employers in tackling an issue that’s at crisis proportions among men working in construction and mining.

Glencore is backing the charity, which is soon to be rolled out across the nation, while other mining companies such as BHP and Rio Tinto have in-house programs to deal with the issue.

In the age of fake news, making up facts is now part of the anti-mining rhetoric (The Ely Echo – July 16, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://www.elyecho.com/

The anti-mining crowd must be getting nervous. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN) has put together legislation to help get the PolyMet land exchange with the Forest Service completed soon. And, he’s still pushing for the feds to renew the leases for Twin Metals Minnesota.

In Ely on a barnstorming tour, Nolan accompanied Republican Representatives Gosar, Emmer and Westerman to get a first-hand look at what Twin Metals is proposing for a copper-nickel mine south of Ely.

Back in DC, the four congressmen sent a letter signed by a total of 26 members of Congress to urge the secretaries of the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture to rescind the federal land withdrawal proposal and renew Twin Metals’ federal leases.

Who cleans up the mess when oil and mining companies go bankrupt? – by Tim Gray (Globe and Mail – July 14, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Tim Gray is the executive director of Environmental Defence.

Last week, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) announced it would appeal a judge’s ruling that gave creditors priority access to a bankrupt oil company’s assets over its financial obligations to clean up abandoned wells. The AER is right to appeal because cleaning up environmental damage should take precedent over financial obligations. This appeal highlights a broader problem in Canada and the need for legislative action both provincially and federally.

The broader problem is that Canadians are burdened by the accumulating financial liability associated with cleaning up the environmental messes made by abandoned oil wells, closed mines and decaying tailings dams.

For example, in Alberta, the oil sands have been producing a vast and growing legacy of tailings ponds. These ponds contain leftover toxic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, water and sand. They now cover an area larger than the preamalgamation city of Toronto and Vancouver combined and are growing at a rate of 25 million litres a day.

HISTORY: Roots of Timmins’ storied links to hockey – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – March 24, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://www.timminspress.com/

Karen Bachmann is the curator/director of the Timmins Museum and a writer of local history.

TIMMINS – As you probably know (or maybe you never really thought about it), I don’t usually write about sports – I am smart enough to leave that to the professionals.

By no stretch of anyone’s imagination can I be considered a “sports person”. I know the very basics, have favourite teams (a Habs fan from time immemorial, and I follow Premier League soccer), but I am in no way equipped to conduct a semi-intelligent conversation on the finer points of the game – or any contest, match, bout or derby, for that matter.

Come to think of it, I cannot fully appreciate some of those sports discussions which invariably feature the minute deconstruction of a player’s performance and style, which, I am sorry to say, just sounds an awful lot like “man gossip” to me, but what do I know?

Bloom Lake Mine gets US$180M loan – by Andrew Topf (Mining.com – July 15, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Sprott and big Quebec pension fund step in to restart iron ore mine closed in 2014

The cash keeps pouring in to Champion Iron (TSX:CIA) and its subsidiary, Quebec Iron Ore (QIO), which is planning on restarting the idled Bloom Lake Mine in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Earlier this month Montreal-based Champion announced that Sprott Resource Lending and la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec- a large pension fund – will provide debt financing for the project totalling USD$180 million.

The large loan follows the granting of a $40 million bridge financing back in May plus offtake agreement. The combination of $26 million in debt and $14 million in equity is being put towards upgrades at the mine and processing facilities.

South Africa suspends contentious mining charter – by Joseph Cotterill (Financial Times – July 14, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.ft.com/

Move to increase stakes held by black shareholders put on hold

Johannesburg – South Africa’s government has suspended a contentious new charter for the country’s beleaguered mining industry, less than a month after it was introduced.

Mosebenzi Zwane, mining minister, agreed to stop implementation of the charter while South Africa’s chamber of mines, an industry body, seeks an “urgent interdict” on its provisions in the courts, the chamber said on Friday.

The mining charter would have required miners operating in South Africa, including Anglo American and Glencore, to permanently increase stakes held by black shareholders to 30 per cent or more within a year in order to redress post-apartheid inequality in the industry.

Sprott Sees Next Gold Bull Market Driven by Stock Correction – by Kristine Owram (Bloomberg News – July 14, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Sprott Inc., the precious metals-focused money manager, sees gold rising by the end of 2017 as weaker-than-expected economic growth drives stock prices lower.

“The next move on gold will be driven by an equity market correction,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Grosskopf said in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “It’s a pretty safe bet that if equity markets start to look volatile and dangerous then a lot of money will flow into gold as a hedge to that.”

A recent spate of hawkishness from global central banks has pressured gold prices, which have fallen about 5 percent since early June. The Bank of Canada raised rates on Wednesday for the first time since 2010 and other central banks from the U.S. Federal Reserve to the European Central Bank have indicated their willingness to tighten monetary policy. Gold tends to weaken in periods of rising interest rates, which bolster the U.S. dollar.

HISTORY: The Mac serves as Timmins’ hockey temple – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – November 26, 2016)

July 16, 2017

http://www.timminspress.com/

Karen Bachmann is the curator/director of the Timmins Museum and a writer of local history.

TIMMINS – In honour of Hometown Hockey Weekend here in Timmins, I feel that I have to go back and look at an article I wrote a while ago on the McIntyre Arena (home to Hometown Hockey, as it were, this weekend!).

While there is a lot of discussion out there about the arena itself, you cannot deny that it is our very own temple to the game.

Talk about history – it’s the rink that was home to many legendary local hockey teams (and quite a few NHLers to boot, including the Mahovlich brothers, Bill Barilko, Paul Harrison, Allan Stanley, Dean Prentice, Murray Costello and his brother Les, Steve Sullivan and so many others), as well as the headquarters for the world-famous Schumacher Skating School.

It’s also hosted umpteen concerts, circuses, conferences, trade shows, banquets and horticultural shows. It has been used to say goodbye to prominent citizens (Father Les Costello), and to ordain our local Catholic bishops. I would go even so far as to say that “The Mac” is a building that helps define who we are as residents in this city. Without it, we would be very much poorer.

Low grades, high power costs key snags to SA chromite sector’s competitiveness – by David Oliveira (MiningWeekly.com -July 14, 2017)

July 14, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Despite South Africa’s rich chromite endowment, the low chromium oxide (Cr2O3) grades in its orebodies and the high cost of electricity are significant barriers to the country becoming the dominant player in the global industry.

Mintek metallurgical project development consultant Dr Nic Barcza highlighted that the estimated global chromite produc- tion last year was about 30-million tons, with South Africa leading the charge at 14-million tons, followed by Kazakhstan at 5.5-million tons.

Barcza was giving a keynote address at the Southern African Institute for Mining and Metallurgy’s Chrome Colloquium at State-owned research organisation Mintek’s Randburg facilities, in Johannesburg, last month. He noted that South Africa and Kazakhstan, which collectively boast a shipping-grade chromite reserve of about five-billion tons, accounted for over 95% of global chromite resources.