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Diamonds Aren’t Forever – by Tom Wilson (Slate Magazine – April 25, 2017)

http://www.slate.com/

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, artisanal mining is a remnant of the once-booming gem industry.

TEMBO, Democratic Republic of Congo—As the truncated rat cooks in the fire, its body slowly roasting over the smoldering logs, 30-odd diggers stand around in the sweltering midday sun. Some break boulders at the bottom of a 50-foot pit in a dry riverbed, trying to access the gravel beneath, which they hope holds hidden wealth. Others watch, talk or take shelter from the heat.

A mile upstream, the divers try their luck. In ragged, re-stitched wetsuits, young men resurface every few minutes, heaving sacks of earth from the riverbed into the hands of helpers on a patchwork flotilla of multicolored dinghies. The boats are as close to the Angolan side of the river as can be, tethered to Congo by 50-foot ropes and pale hosepipes that pump air to the divers.

These miners are the remnants of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s diamond industry, which once provided a quarter of the world’s supply. In 2015, Congo exported 17.1 million carats of the gems, down from 33 million carats 10 years earlier.

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Hey Watson! Is there gold in them thar hills? – by Frik Els (Mining.com – April 24, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

All the easy digging has been done. All the richest seams have been mined. All the big discoveries have been made. It’s become something of a cliché in mining to pine for the good ole days of rivers of gold, oceans of diamonds and mountains of copper (as if that ever existed).

But that ignores the enormous technological strides that the mining and exploration industry has made – mostly in the interest of efficiency and cost-cutting, but also for discovery.

Advanced technology is being deployed across the industry. From remote management of mines from 1000s of kms away using autonomous trucks and trains, equipment monitoring every tiny detail of plants and processes in real time, widespread automation and mechanization to sampling, detection, imaging and surveying systems. And drones; did I mention drones.

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“You don’t go start a war to give them jobs” – by Staff (Mining Journal – April 25, 2017)

http://www.mining-journal.com/

Former New York mayor and billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg has gone after US coal mining with both barrels this week, and said miners of the black gold need the same support as military veterans.

This week Bloomberg launched a book on the Paris climate agreement, a coal documentary and revealed a US$3 million donation to a programme that supports and retrains miners. In interviews, he said more support was needed for the workers hit by mine closures.

“No matter what [the Trump government] does, we are going toward a world where coal is going to be less-used, where fewer people are going to be working in the industry, and we’ve got to find ways to get jobs for people not just in this industry but in lots of industries around the world being pushed out by technology,” he told the Associated Press.

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Mining sector shines for province – by Karina Brino (Prince George Citizen – April 24, 2017)

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/

Karina Brino is the president & CEO of the Mining Association of B.C.

Community representatives, First Nation and government leaders, and members of B.C.’s mineral exploration and mining industry are gathered at the Minerals North conference in Prince George this week to discuss important opportunities and challenges facing the industry.

One of the issues on their minds is how the government will support the industry to be globally competitive and able to produce the commodities we all need and use daily, while providing a stable, prosperous and sustainable future for every citizen of British Columbia.

Exploration and mining are an essential part of the economic and social fabric of this province. The industry contributes more than $7.8 billion annually to the provincial economy, which includes 30,000 jobs that supporting families in rural and urban communities.

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Barrick plummets on triple-whammy disappointment – by Danielle Bochove (Globe and Mail/Bloomberg – April 25, 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. plunged after the world’s biggest bullion producer missed estimates on earnings and production — as well as costs after expenses increased at mines in Argentina and Nevada.

Reporting only its second earnings miss in seven consecutive quarters, the Toronto-based miner also said it expects to produce less gold this year after selling half of its Veladero mine in Argentina. Even as the company plans to sell the stake to a Chinese partner, costs jumped at the mine, and for the company overall. Shares fell 9.7 per cent at 11:08 a.m. in Toronto.

Barrick will need a strong performance in the coming quarters to meet guidance as the company kept its forecasts at other mines largely unchanged, Evan Kurtz, a Morgan Stanley analyst in New York, said in a note to clients.

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Strongbow’s South Crofty to revive age-old tin mining tradition in Cornwall – by Henry Lazenby – April 21, 2017)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VAANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Bolstered by strengthening tin prices and improving fundamental support in the long term, Canadian mineral exploration firm Strongbow Exploration is set to revive a mining tradition in England’s county of Cornwall, that reaches back thousands of years to the early Bronze Age.

The company’s flagship asset, the South Crofty project, is a past-producing underground tin/copper mine, located in the town of Pool, in the historic Cornwall tin mining district of south-west England. The project is located 390 km west-southwest of London, and is about 4.5 km south of the Celtic sea coast.

The Cornish mining industry, which started about 2150 BCE, reached its peak in the nineteenth century, when thousands of workers were employed in up to 2 000 mines, before the industry collapsed when ores began to be produced more cheaply abroad in Malaysia and Indonesia, among others, Strongbow president and CEO Richard Williams tells Mining Weekly Online in an interview.

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Gold and Bullion Miners Tumble as French Vote Cuts Haven Demand – by David Stringer, Ranjeetha Pakiam and Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – April 24, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold futures fell to the lowest in almost two weeks and bullion mining stocks sank as investors favored riskier assets on expectations that Emmanuel Macron will become France’s next president. Copper and other industrial metals rose.

The metal slipped as much as 1.8 percent in New York and a Bloomberg Intelligence gauge gold miners plunged as much as 2.7 percent after pro-growth centrist Macron and nationalist Marine Le Pen won the first-round vote on Sunday.

Le Pen, who wants to take France out of the euro and cut immigration, has trailed Macron in almost every opinion poll for the runoff. A second round takes place on May 7. With the second-round line-up avoiding the scenario of a contest between Le Pen and communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon, widespread relief across markets pushed European stocks and the euro higher, and cut gold’s gain this year to 11 percent.

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Galantas Gold plummets as it halts Irish mine expansion on terrorism fears – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 24, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

Shares in Galantas Gold (TSX, LON:GAL) collapsed in London Monday after the Canadian miner announced it had halted expansion work at its Omagh gold mine as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it was unable to guarantee it the necessary “anti-terrorism cover” for its blasting operations.

The Toronto-based company, which had has begun underground development at Omagh last month, was going to create 130 new jobs due to the expansion, but it now says it was reviewing potential redundancies with recently hired mine staff, and any new recruitment or ongoing investment had been “deferred”.

The stock plummeted on the news and it was down almost 33% to 4.65p at 1:41PM GMT, while it was trading 20% lower in Toronto at 9:38AM. PSNI told the company that due to resource constraints and competing priorities, it was currently only prepared to provide anti-terrorism cover for a maximum of a two-hour period, two days a week.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canadian Orebodies Doubles Land Position at Wire Lake Through Acquisition of the Black Raven Property

http://www.canadianorebodies.com

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – April 24, 2017) – Canadian Orebodies Inc. (the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE:CORE) is pleased to announce the execution of an acquisition agreement (the “Acquisition Agreement”) with StrikePoint Gold Inc. (the “Vendor”) to acquire a 100% interest in 33 mineral claims located 14 kilometres northeast of Marathon, ON, and generally referred to as the “Black Raven Property” or “Smoke Lake Property” (the “Property”).

“This is a highly strategic acquisition which ties directly onto our Wire Lake Property, and is along the known gold bearing trend currently being evaluated by Canadian Orebodies. This transaction more than doubles the size of our land package in the immediate area to over 11,000 hectares,” said Gordon McKinnon, President and CEO of Orebodies.

“This Property not only adds coverage over the extension of the Wire Lake gold trend, but adds numerous other highly prospective targets, including the bonanza grades of 312.90 gpt Au and 95.31 gpt Au from the Crocker Float.”

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Space May Be Next Frontier for Earth’s Crude Oil Giants, Analyst Says – by Dan Murtaugh (Bloomberg News – April 23, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The Middle East has an outsize impact on energy here on Earth. One analyst thinks some regional powerhouses may leverage that role into the development of natural resources in space.

Countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are developing space programs and investing in nascent private space commodity initiatives, said Tom James, a partner at energy consultant Navitas Resources. Doing so could give them a foothold in building extraterrestrial reserves of water — a substance likely to fuel travel within space — and other resources that could be used for in-space manufacturing.

“Water is the new oil of space,” James said in Singapore. “Middle East investment in space is growing as it works to shift from an oil-based to a knowledge-based economy.”

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Mining industry undergoing ‘remarkable transformation’ – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – April 24, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Modern Mining and Technology Week kicks off in Sudbury

At a time when the mining industry is undergoing a sea change in technology and innovation, it’s never been more important to engage youth and educate them about the available opportunities in the sector.

That was the message shared on April 21 during the annual business luncheon to kick off Modern Mining and Technology Week 2017 in Sudbury. The weeklong event features activities geared toward elementary and high school students to educate them about the mining sector and encourage them to consider pursuing careers in the industry.

Honorary chair Don Duval said the sector is in the midst of a “remarkable transformation” that is seeing the industry adopt innovation and new technology at an extraordinary rate, and he’s witnessing this change firsthand in his capacity as executive director of Sudbury’s Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT).

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Canada’s a global leader on clean air – by Lorrie Goldstein (Toronto Sun – April 20, 2017)

http://www.torontosun.com/

The question now is whether carbon pricing to reduce greenhouse gases is
worth the added cost to Canadians in terms of the higher taxes and prices
they will have to pay for almost all goods and services, considering that
Canada produces only 1.6% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

A Fraser Institute study released Thursday comes as a welcome breath of fresh air to Canadians tired of being harangued by politicians and so-called “green” activists as environmental laggards. The study shows a dramatic improvement in Canadian air quality since 1970, despite economic growth, an increasing population and greater energy consumption, making Canada a world leader in reducing air pollution.

It won’t change the debate over man-made climate change because the Fraser Institute is talking about traditional sources of air pollution, rather than industrial greenhouse gases – primarily carbon dioxide – linked to global warming.

But the study by University of Guelph economics professor Ross McKitrick and economist Elmira Aliakbari entitled, “Canada’s Air Quality since 1970: An Environmental Success Story” lives up to its name.

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Anglo American reports 9 percent rise in output – by Barbara Lewis and Sanjeeban Sarkar (Reuters U.K. – April 24, 2017)

http://uk.reuters.com/

Anglo American (AAL.L) reported a 9 percent rise in overall production for the first quarter of 2017 compared with 2016, but copper output fell 3 percent due to poorer grades and a temporary suspension at the El Soldado mine in Chile.

The miner also said Cyclone Debbie in Australia had led to coal production losses in the last week of March and affected the rail network, which is expected to affect sales volumes in the second quarter.

Anglo was among the miners hardest hit by a slump in commodity prices in 2015 and early 2016. In the depths of the downturn, it said it was narrowing its focus to a group of core, high-value commodities, but after becoming the top performer in Britain’s benchmark FTSE 100 index .FTSE, boosted by a recovery in raw materials prices, it said it would no longer be a forced seller of assets.

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Harte Gold Corporation’s Developing Mine: A New Camp in the Making Adjacent to Hemlo? – by Stan Sudol  (March 2017)


Harte Gold Corp. President and CEO Stephen G. Roman

Harte Gold Corporation is one of those “under the radar” junior explorers that is now well on its way to developing a high grade underground gold mine adjacent to northern Ontario’s world-class Hemlo camp where roughly 22 million ounces of gold have been produced to date since 1985.

Back in September 2008, when Stephen G. Roman and his partners sold their Gold Eagle Mine project in Ontario’s Red Lake gold camp, to Goldcorp for $1.5 billion, it took just one month for him to start investigating another project.

By early 2009, Roman took charge of Harte Gold, an underperforming gold exploration company that was on the verge of being de-listed. It took him about a year and half to put the corporation’s finances in order and acquire Corona Gold Corp’s 51% ownership of the property.

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Investors look for financial restraint as good times roll for gold miners – by Josh O’Kane (Globe and Mail – April 23, 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

With Canada’s biggest gold miners back in the mode of making deals and striking partnerships, analysts will be watching the companies’ self-discipline as first-quarter financials start rolling in.

Last year was a period of recovery for gold producers: balance sheets got better, gold prices were healthy and rising and share prices climbed. The S&P/TSX global gold index went up 50 per cent in 2016, and it’s up another 12 per cent so far this year.

In the past, strong gold markets have led to a round of mergers, acquisitions and mine-building, followed by a painful reckoning. Investors haven’t forgotten, so free cash flow, cost savings and debt reduction remain in their sights as precious-metal miners mull new projects in their march out of the commodity slump.

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