Republic of Mining

[New Brunswick mining] 6 Maliseet First Nations agree to Sisson mine deal – by Alan White (CBC News New Brunswick – February 10, 2017)

February 13, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

Agreement will see First Nations share in millions of dollars a year in royalties from $579M mine

The six Maliseet First Nations in New Brunswick have reached a multimillion-dollar financial deal with the provincial government that clears the way for the Sisson mine project north of Fredericton to proceed.

Under the accommodation agreement announced Friday, the six First Nations — St. Mary’s, Woodstock, Oromocto, Tobique, Kingsclear and Madawaska — will receive 9.8 per cent of provincial revenue generated from the metallic mineral tax. The six First Nations will share in:

$3 million upon federal environmental approval of the mine.
35 per cent of the first $2 million the province receives in royalties each year.
3.5 per cent of annual royalties above $2 million.
Read more

Trump may suspend rules on African ‘conflict minerals,’ say human rights advocates – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – February 13, 2017)

February 13, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

JOHANNESBURG — Congolese warlords and unethical U.S. corporations will be the big winners if U.S. President Donald Trump goes ahead with a reported plan to suspend the restrictions on “conflict minerals” from Central African war zones, human-rights groups say.

The latest Trump plan would jeopardize many years of effort to identify minerals from conflict zones so that consumers aren’t inadvertently financing war and rape when they buy cellphones, laptops, jewellery and other products, the groups say.

Canadian researchers have been among the leaders in developing a certification system to ensure that minerals in consumer products are not supplied from mines controlled by armed militias in war-torn countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Higher for longer: it’s all upside for mining stocks if restraint is shown – by Robert Guy (The Australian – February 14, 2017)

February 13, 2017

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

American writer Mark Twain may have dismissed mines as a hole in the ground with a liar at the top, but the surge in the share prices of some of the world’s largest dirt diggers shows that many investors are buying into the hopes of sustained strength in commodity prices.

The reversal in fortunes has been stunning: BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rallied 83 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively, over the past year. But those returns look a little meagre compared to the 190 per cent gain recorded by South32 and the massive 300 per cent gain notched up by Fortescue Metals as prices for iron ore, coal and copper have marched higher on hopes for a stabilisation in Chinese growth and a Donald Trump-inspired US infrastructure boom.

Iron ore, which sold for $US38 a tonne in December 2015, now fetches about $US87.

Wynne’s carbon schemes won’t reduce emissions – by Lorrie Goldstein (Toronto Sun – February 13, 2017)

February 13, 2017

http://www.torontosun.com/

Of all the expensive and inefficient ways to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, government subsidies to electric vehicle buyers are among the worst.

So of course Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government is doubling down on them, by restoring a public subsidy of up to $14,000 for Ontarians who can afford to pay up to $150,000 for, say, a Tesla.

This shows that all the Wynne government is interested in when it comes to carbon pricing is to take more money out of the pockets of average Ontarians through its $1.9 billion a year cap and trade scheme, and blow it on vote-buying subsidies like this one.

Uranium market conditions last year were the worst in 30 years, says Cameco Corp CEO – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – February 11, 2017)

February 13, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

Uranium market conditions in 2016 were the toughest that Cameco Corp. CEO Tim Gitzel has seen in his 30 years in the business, but he says he remains cautiously optimistic about the long-term picture.

“We’ve been saying for some time that uranium prices are neither rational nor sustainable,” Gitzel told investors during a conference call Friday to discuss its dismal 2016 earnings. “Current prices are failing to incent the investment decisions required to ensure reliable supply is available to meet growing demand out into the future.”

Cameco reported a fourth-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders of $144 million, or 36 cents per share, which was more than 10 times larger than the loss of $10 million, or three cents per share, reported in the year-earlier period. The fourth quarter of 2016 included an impairment charge of $238 million. The company booked a $210 million impairment charge in the 2015 quarter.

KWG favours railway to Ring – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – February 13, 2017)

February 13, 2017

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

KWG Resources sees a bright future for the Ring of Fire and believes the best way to reach that future is on iron rails.

KWG is an original player in the Ring, a large deposit of chromite and other metals in the mineral-rich James Bay Lowlands, about 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. In 2006, the company took part in the first major discovery of chromite, a key component in making stainless steel.

“We came to the realization that the biggest consumers of chromium on the planet are the Chinese stainless steel makers,” said Moe Lavigne, KWG’s vice-president of exploration and development. In the chromite-chromium-ferrochrome industry, the metals are exchanged under offtake agreements, between the resource producer and the buyer, rather than in an open market like nickel, copper and gold.

Regulation isn’t killing Trump’s ‘clean, beautiful coal,’ the economy is – by Barrie McKenna (Globe and Mail – February 13, 2017)

February 13, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA — Among President Donald Trump’s schemes to restore U.S. economic greatness perhaps none is more misguided than his pledge to put coal miners back to work.

“We will unleash the full power of American energy, ending job-killing restrictions on shale oil, natural gas and clean, beautiful coal,” Mr. Trump told congressional Republicans at their recent annual retreat in Philadelphia.
Lawmakers cheered. “And we are going to put our coal miners back to work,” he added. The applause grew louder. Good luck with that. Coal isn’t clean, it isn’t beautiful, and most compellingly, it is not economic.

Powerful market forces – more so than the “job-killing” regulations Mr. Trump rails about – are unstoppably pushing the sooty fuel and its workers to extinction. And no rational economic policies will bring those jobs back.

Why Trudeau’s economic policies are disastrous in the era of Trump – by Gwyn Morgan (Globe and Mail – February 13, 2017)

February 13, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Gwyn Morgan is the retired founder and CEO of Encana Corp. He has been a director of five global corporations.

“But the reality is that virtually all of Mr. Trudeau’s policies
are economically suicidal in the face of Mr. Trump’s avowed actions.
Clinging to those policies in the face of Trump-quake could prove
to be the biggest mistake made by any prime minister in Canadian
history.”

Donald Trump’s election victory set off a political earthquake that has deeply shaken Americans. Earthquakes are often followed by devastating tsunamis generating huge waves travelling far beyond the quake’s epicentre. Yet, even as those “Trump-quake” waves threaten to sink our economic ship, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems determined to maintain his pre-quake course.

Here are some of the dangerous shoals that lurk along that perilous route:

Mr. Trump is anti-free trade. His advisers have said that Canada isn’t their target. Even if that’s true, the recent decision by General Motors to move 600 jobs to Mexico demonstrates that Mr. Trump’s protectionist bullets can ricochet across our border. Given his bombastic threats, there’s no way auto makers will move jobs from the United States to Mexico, so their only option is to move those jobs from Canada.

ANALYSIS-As coal shortfall looms, miners enjoy unexpected boom – by Henning Gloystein (Reuters U.K. – February 9, 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://uk.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE, Feb 10 Many a swan song has been sung for thermal coal markets as renewable power generation and a push towards using more natural gas have gained traction. Yet a coal price spike last year, driven by a Chinese change in regulation that capped local mining operations, has shown how easily markets can swing from oversupply to shortfall.

While many analysts and investors see the long-term outlook for coal as bleak due to policies and technological advances that favour cleaner natural gas and renewable in power generation, the shorter-term outlook for the industry has seen a sharp reversal of fortunes.

This year, strong demand growth in Asia’s emerging markets will create a supply shortfall for the first time in at least half a decade. Consumption could even soon rise past the 2014 peak, according to Asia’s largest commodity trading house, Noble Group.

KGHM builds copper smelter in Poland (Resource World – February 9, 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://resourceworld.com/

The investment by one of the world’s largest copper and silver producers, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. [KGH-WSE], in the Głogów Copper Smelter (HMG I), in western Poland, represents a milestone in the history of Polish metallurgy and puts KGHM at the forefront of copper producers.

KGHM said the state-of-the-art copper smelter is world’s largest flash furnace and electrical furnace. This unique technology is currently used only in three places in the world – one of them is Głogów. The opening ceremony at the smelter was held January 20, 2017.

This completed the implementation of the multi-annual Programme for Modernisation of Pyrometallurgy. Construction of a concentrate roasting installation, which will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2017, is an additional part of the Programme.

China May Be a Hitch in African Miner’s Bid for U.S. Platinum – by David McLaughlin and Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – February 9, 2017)

February 10, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

What’s to keep South Africa’s biggest gold miner from buying a U.S. palladium producer? China, perhaps.

Sibanye Gold Ltd. is seeking regulatory approval for its $2.2 billion takeover of U.S.-based Stillwater Mining Co. Adding Stillwater’s two Montana mines — the only platinum-group operations in the U.S. and the biggest outside South Africa and Russia — would make Sibanye the world’s third-biggest palladium producer.

A Chinese consortium owns about 20 percent of Sibanye, making it the miner’s biggest single shareholder. That may spark concerns at the U.S. body that reviews whether purchases of businesses by foreign buyers could threaten national security. That regulator — the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. — has looked warily on some high-profile investments by Chinese investors.

Cliffs profits bounce back with iron ore demand – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – February 9, 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Cliffs Natural Resources, the nation’s largest supplier of taconite iron ore, rode the recovering domestic steel industry back to profitability in 2016, posting a net income of $199 million compared to a net loss of $748 million in 2015.

The Cleveland-based company on Thursday announced its revenues were $754 million last year, up 58 percent over a crippling 2015.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Cliffs recorded a net income of $81 million, up from a net loss of $58 million for the last quarter the year before, according to the company’s quarterly report issued Thursday.

Watch for gold’s renaissance as anti-currency – by Scott Barlow (Globe and Mail – February 10, 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

For investors, it’s not easy to value gold in a modern context. The most famous economist of all time, John Maynard Keynes, described it as a “barbarous relic,” best left to history classes. But there remains a small but vocal minority who believe the largely useless shiny metal should be reinstituted as the basis of all monetary policy.

There is no confusion about the recent strength in precious-metals prices, as bullion prices have jumped 10 per cent since Dec. 21, 2016. There is also little confusion as to why the rally occurred – the gold price is moving in exactly the opposite direction as U.S. real bond yields.

In addition, a hedge fund manager owning one of the strongest long-term performance track records ever, Stanley Druckenmiller, has again taken a significant position in bullion.

Russians Come in From Cold as Trump, Commodity Markets Align – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – February 10, 2017)

February 10, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

As Donald Trump edges the U.S. closer to a thaw in relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, commodity investors are already jumping in. A plan by United Co. Rusal, the biggest Russian aluminum maker, for a London sale of shares valued at about $1.7 billion is the latest sign that Russia’s exile from world markets is over for the nation’s metal and mining giants.

It’s a turnaround from years in which slumping raw-materials prices, a weak economy and sanctions imposed by then-U.S. President Barack Obama over the annexation of Crimea punished valuations and drove away foreign investors.

Share sales by Russian mining companies have been rare since 2010. Until two months ago, PhosAgro PJSC’s offering in April 2013 was the last major sale by a non-state Russian mining company. The fertilizer miner and processor is among those that have returned since December.

Eco-warrior lays waste to Philippines’ mining industry – by Manolo Serapio Jr and John Chalmers (Reuters U.S. – February , 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA – Mining industry chiefs had just assailed her order to shut down more than half of the Philippines’ mines, and Regina Lopez was in a combative mood: but, to keep her cool before an interview, she slipped into a side room and meditated for a few minutes.

There is a spiritual side to Lopez, the daughter of a media mogul who, at 18, left a life of privilege behind in the Philippines, took a vow of celibacy and became a yoga teacher and missionary in Africa, living in slums among the poor.

But Lopez is also a fiery environmental crusader. She has no qualms about attacking the powerful and flouting convention, just like the country’s blunt-spoken president, Rodrigo Duterte, who appointed her as his environment minister last year.