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Robert Friedland goes to Hollywood – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – April 24, 2017)

http://www.northernminer.com/

One of Robert Friedland’s pet peeves is that as people move away from the country to the city they become divorced from the supply chain and no longer understand where things come from. They don’t realize, he says, that everything they touch is either grown or mined. Take a look at everything around you, he urges, “we either mined it or we grew it—there are no exceptions.”

“Most people who live in urban environments think a ham sandwich comes from a refrigerator—they don’t really visualize all those pigs being slaughtered in a river of blood outside Chicago,” he adds.

“Most people don’t realize that when they walk into a dark room and turn on the light, somewhere a generator has to kick in and give them that power, because there’s virtually no storage of electricity in the grid. We think miners have to do a much better job of explaining how fundamental we are to improving this world. That’s why we have gotten into Hollywood—that’s why we are in the movie business.”

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Robert Friedland: Celebrating a lifetime of achievement – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – April 24, 2017)

http://www.northernminer.com/

Over most of the last two decades, the first voice Peter Meredith would hear at the crack of dawn each morning was Robert Friedland’s. “The phone would ring and he would say: ‘Hi Peter, it’s Robert,’ and I’d think, ‘What a surprise, who else calls me at six in the morning?’”

Meredith, who retired as a partner at auditing firm Deloitte in Vancouver to join Ivanhoe Mines full-time in 1996, says that over the following sixteen years, he was pretty much a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day guy, to keep up with his boss.

“Robert doesn’t take weekends off and he doesn’t like holidays much … He is a very energetic, driven guy—he knows no boundaries as to how hard he works—so the tone from the top is that you feel like a non-contributor when you aren’t working as hard as he is.”

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[Canada] The Power 50: Who has the influence, the connections and the cash to get their way in the world of business? (Globe and Mail/Report on Business – April 26, 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

We pull back the curtain on the financiers, scions, politicians and CEOs—plus a few bureaucrats and even one hip-hop star—who wield true power in Canada

Only one miner makes the list, Vale Canada’s Jennifer Maki. – Stan Sudol

1. Paul & André Desmarais | Co-CEOs, Power Corp.

If there is a key to the Desmarais family’s formidable wealth and influence, it is this: entree. Paul Desmarais Sr. possessed astonishing business acumen. But it was his ability to cultivate the crème de la crème in politics and finance that elevated him to the highest levels in North America, Europe and China. He met with Deng Xiaoping in Beijing; invited Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to his estate in Charlevoix, Quebec; and received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour from Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.

Most importantly, Desmarais, who died in 2013, meticulously groomed his sons, Paul Jr. and André, for succession. In 1996, he named “the boys”—now in their early 60s—co-CEOs of Power Corp. Since then, Power has quintupled in value. How have they done it? As magnate Peter Munk said in 2008: “The boys got introduced to his contacts. They were educated well, they married well and they’ve behaved.”

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Barrick shares tumble as gold miner sounds cautious tone – by Josh O’Kane (Globe and Mail – April 26, 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. shares slid 11 per cent Tuesday as investors reacted to the gold miner’s first-quarter results, which missed production and earnings estimates and revealed higher operating costs.

The world’s largest gold producer late Monday reported first-quarter net income of $889-million (U.S.) and adjusted net earnings of $162-million, or 14 cents a share, versus the analyst consensus estimate of 20 cents a share.

At the company’s annual meeting Tuesday, president Kelvin Dushnisky highlighted Barrick’s new era of caution, including cost savings through new joint ventures and debt reduction – having paid down $178-million in the first quarter.

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Climate-stressed Mongolia urged to put yaks before mines – by Thin Lei Win (Reuters U.S. – April 25, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Mongolia should diversify its economy in the face of climate change and other stresses, as reliance on mining at the expense of its livestock industry has put people at risk of commodity price shocks and rising unemployment, an international aid group said.

Ramesh Singh, Mongolia director for Mercy Corps, said strengthening rural livestock markets and establishing centers of economic activity outside the over-stretched capital would enrich the nation’s coffers, provide work for young people, and boost the country’s resilience.

Mongolia has struggled with an economic crisis since 2016 due to government over-spending and declining revenues from its exports, which include copper and coal. “We have reached a tipping point,” said Singh, whose U.S.-based organization has worked in Mongolia since 1999.

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Barrick’s bad day: Shares fall 10% as investor confidence shaken by third cyanide spill at Argentine mine – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – April 26, 2017)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s third cyanide spill in two years at its Argentine operation was among a number of environmental and social concerns that took centre stage at its annual general meeting Tuesday, the stock’s worst day in six months.

Barrick president Kelvin Dushnisky told shareholders that a cyanide pipeline rupture on Mar.28 at its Veladero mine posed no risk to people or the environment.

“However, this was the third incident at Veladero leach pad in the last 18 months and that is completely unacceptable,” Dushnisky said. “These incidents weaken our partnerships and the trust that underpin them.”

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Why Apple Won’t Be Able to Stop Mining Yet – by Adam Minter (Bloomberg News – April 26, 2017)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg View) — Just before Earth Day, Apple Inc. announced a new goal: to make its computers and phones and watches without mining any new raw materials. Instead, Apple would one day build its products “using only renewable resources or recycled material.” This is what’s known as a “closed loop,” in which new products are made exclusively from older versions of the same product.

If successful, Apple would no longer have to worry about digging holes in the ground, avoiding conflict minerals and the other messy details of high-tech manufacturing in the 21st century. It’s a bold idea, even for Apple, which can boast several past successes in promoting sustainable manufacturing and operations. Given both technological and commercial obstacles, however, it’s almost certain to fail.

Closed-loop recycling isn’t a new idea. In the 1930s, Ford Motor Co. spent several years operating a money-losing factory devoted to recycling old Fords into raw materials for new ones. More recently, Dell Inc. developed a breakthrough computer made using materials from old devices.

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Does a gold-backed digital currency seem far-fetched? Look who’s behind it – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – April 25, 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

As gold miners begin reporting earnings this week, it’s time to ponder the long-term future of bullion demand. One of the most intriguing developments in that regard is an audacious $1-billion (U.S.) project to create a freely traded gold-backed digital currency.

To be sure, it’s easy to mock the new venture as a way-too-trendy attempt to marry the traditional appeal of precious metals with today’s enthusiasm for the blockchain technology behind bitcoin.

But the project has two big-name backers behind it and their reputation suggests investors might want to pay close attention. CME Group Inc. is a U.S.-based company that operates the world’s largest options and futures market. The Royal Mint is a thousand-year-old institution owned by the British government.

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Goldman Sacks advises ‘sell’ in BHP Billiton downgrade – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – April 26, 2017)

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

Goldman Sachs has turned ­increasingly negative on the mining sector, downgrading BHP Billiton to “sell” and slashing its target price for Rio Tinto in the face of falling iron ore prices and what it sees as China’s potential to restrict credit.

In a report out of London yesterday, Goldman analysts led by Eugene King told investors they should sell BHP and London-­listed miners Antofagasta and Kumba.

The bank kept its neutral rating on Rio but still slashed its target price for the miner’s London shares by 20 per cent to £28. It cut its target price for BHP’s London shares by 21 per cent to £11.

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Freeport cuts copper production targets after Indonesia spat – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – April 25, 2017)

https://www.ft.com/

Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s largest publicly traded copper company, has cut its production forecasts following a stand-off with the Indonesian government stop exports from its Grasberg mine banned.

The Arizona-based miner company had previously expected to sell 4.1bn pounds of copper this year, a figure it has now revised to 3.9bn after Jakarta banned shipments from Grasberg, the world’s second biggest copper mine.

The new guidance was revealed in a trading update that saw Freeport report adjusted net income of $220m for the three months to the end of March, against a loss of $196m a year ago when commodity prices were much lower.

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Alcoa’s stock surges in its first full quarter as standalone company – by Joe Deaux (Bloomberg/Globe and Mail – April 25, 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Alcoa Corp.’s first full quarter as a standalone company vindicates investors’ faith and signals even better times may be ahead.

Profit excluding one-time items was 63 cents a share, New York-based Alcoa reported after the close of regular trading Monday, exceeding all seven estimates of analysts tracked by Bloomberg. Shares jumped as much as 7.1 per cent on Tuesday.

Shares have surged since the company separated from its jet– and car-parts business in November, helped by a jump in aluminum prices. Investors have also rewarded Alcoa for its thrift, as Chief Executive Officer Roy Harvey merges units and drives efforts to simplify operations. The results come as Arconic Inc., the downstream business that split from Alcoa, contends with a proxy battle fueled in part by concern over corporate spending.

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The Coal Mining Massacre America Forgot – by Lorraine Boissoneault (Smithsonian Magazine – April 25, 2017)

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

The mountains of southern West Virginia are riddled with coal—and bullets

The gunfight in downtown Matewan on May 19, 1920, had all the elements of a high-noon showdown: on one side, the heroes, a pro-union sheriff and mayor; on the other, the dastardly henchmen of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency. Within 15 minutes, ten people were dead—seven detectives, two miners and the mayor.

Three months later, the conflict in the West Virginia coal town had escalated to the point where martial law was declared and federal troops had to intervene. The showdown may sound almost cinematic, but the reality of the coal miners’ armed standoffs throughout the early 20th century was much darker and more complicated.

Then, as now, West Virginia was coal country. The coal industry was essentially the state’s sole source of work, and massive corporations built homes, general stores, schools, churches and recreational facilities in the remote towns near the mines. For miners, the system resembled something like feudalism.

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INTERVIEW-Colombia to clarify mining laws as ruling, vote worry investors – by Julia Symmes Cobb and Luis Jaime Acosta (Reuters U.K. – April 24, 2017)

http://uk.reuters.com/

BOGOTA – Colombia’s government will seek congressional approval to harmonize national and local mining laws, the mines and energy minister said on Monday, as legal wrangling over environmental regulations and community opposition threaten investment.

Voters in central Tolima province last month backed a proposal to ban mining projects in their municipality, raising questions about the future of an AngloGold Ashanti Ltd gold exploration in the area. Canadian company Eco Oro Minerals Corp, meanwhile, is waging a legal battle against a court ruling that bars exploration in half its concession.

The Tolima vote was made possible by a Constitutional Court decision that overturned the national government’s sole authority to approve mining projects, allowing mayors and provincial governors to challenge exploration permits, to the delight of environmental groups and some politicians.

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Miners Told to Move Congo HQs as Provinces Vie for Revenue – by Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg News – April 24, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The Democratic Republic of Congo told local units of Glencore Plc, China Molybdenum Co., Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and four other mining companies to relocate their head offices as newly demarcated provinces fight over tax revenue and control of mineral projects.

The companies, all headquartered in Lubumbashi, the capital of Haut-Katanga province, must move to Kolwezi town in neighboring Lualaba, where their mines are based, Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu said in an April 14 letter, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg and confirmed by the ministry.

“The objective is to move the administration of these companies closer to where they mine and consolidate the decentralization process by building stronger relationships between the mining companies and the relevant provincial authorities,” Kabwelulu’s chief of staff, Valery Mukasa, said by phone from the national capital, Kinshasa.

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Figures show how boom brought wealth to Western Australia – by Shane Wright (Perth Now – April 24, 2017)

http://www.perthnow.com.au/

THE mining boom delivered WA an income boost unlike anything seen across the country since the 19th century, spreading wealth from the suburbs to some of the most isolated communities.

A breakdown of tax figures covering the mining boom from 2003-04 until 2014-15 shows a record number of communities saw their average incomes at least double. The Australian Tax Office tracked the income details of more than 2570 postcodes nationwide.

Just 126 showed average taxable incomes at least doubling over the mining boom period. More than 70 of them were in WA, which accounted for almost one in three of the State’s postcodes. Incomes in the State’s richest postcode, which covers Peppermint Grove and Cottesloe, soared from almost $70,500 at the start of the boom to$144,273 in 2014-15.

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