Republic of Mining

Cameco to cut 120 mining and milling jobs in Saskatchewan – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

Cameco Corp. says it plans to continue its cost-cutting program by eliminating a total of about 120 jobs from its McArthur River, Cigar Lake and Key Lake operations in northern Saskatchewan.

The Saskatoon-based uranium miner said the changes represent about 10 per cent of the workforce at its three major facilities in the province, and that the layoffs will be complete by the end of May.

Cameco’s announcement comes less than two months after it unveiled plans to save some cash by temporarily halting production at its northern mines and mill for four weeks over the summer.

[Australia mining tax] Expert panel needed to prevent misuse of DPT by ATO, mining body says – by Joanna Mather (Australian Financial Review – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://www.afr.com/

A panel of independent experts should be given responsibility for overseeing the application of the Diverted Profits Tax to prevent misuse of the “harsh” measure by the Australian Tax Office, the mining sector says.

New laws due to come into force on July 1 will give the ATO additional powers to go after multinationals that it suspects are diverting profits offshore and therefore minimising how much tax they pay in Australia.

If the ATO determines that the DPT applies, income tax will be payable on the amount of the “diverted profit” at a rate of 40 per cent. The company accused of avoiding tax must pay the final DPT assessment within 21 days and has no right of appeal until later in the process.

Brazil tips Samarco restart in two months – by Daniel Palmer (The Australian – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

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

The Brazilian government has tipped operations at the Samarco mine to resume in two months, although confidence has been tempered by part-owner BHP Billiton noting its timeline remained unchanged.

The joint venture of BHP and Brazil’s Vale has been offline since the tragic collapse of an iron ore tailings dam in Bento Rodrigues in November 2015 killed 19 people and all but wiped out several small communities.

Questions have been raised around whether Samarco would ever restart, although BHP said last month it hoped to resume mining at some stage in 2017.

King Solomon’s mines: Israeli archaeologists say fortified trading post a sign of his wealth, power – by Jamie Seidel (News Corp Australia Network – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://www.news.com.au/

ARE these the gates to King Solomon’s mines? Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a fortified trading post dating to the earliest days of the ancient Jewish state. Researchers from Tel Aviv University have uncovered what they call an ‘advanced’ military fortification in the Timna Valley, in Israel’s south.

It’s a site that’s long been associated with the legend of King Solomon’s mines. Dating techniques indicate the structure, and the cluster of copper smelting camps it protects, is about 3000 years old. That puts it squarely in the era of stories attribute to Solomon’s and King David’s reign.

Biblical archaeologists are elated: “The historical accuracy of the Old Testament accounts is debated, but archeology can no longer be used to contradict them,” says archaeologist Dr Erez Ben-Yosef, one of the research teams’ leaders. “On the contrary, our new discoveries are in complete accordance with the description of military conflicts against a hierarchical and centralised society located south of the Dead Sea.”

[Klondex Mines] This Canadian Mining Darling Finds Gold in Projects No One Wants – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

When Paul Andre Huet became chief executive officer of Klondex Mines Ltd. in 2012, he says the Canadian gold miner had just $400,000 in cash, one asset and $7 million in invoices.

“We never declared bankruptcy but on our financials we were literally done,” says Huet, who made the leap to the insolvent company from Premier Gold Mines Ltd.

Many might have considered the move career limiting but Huet knew Klondex’s sole asset well: Nevada’s Fire Creek gold project, having previously studied it for two other mining companies. Confident the deposit was more profitable than it appeared, he took the job, staving off Klondex’s creditors and turning Fire Creek into a producing mine in just over a year. Then he doubled down by looking for more assets that other miners shunned.

Rio Ends Quest for China Mine Riches With Biggest Holder – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Rio Tinto Group and its largest shareholder Aluminum Corp. of China have terminated their joint venture established to find copper deposits, as global mining companies tighten exploration budgets.

Chinalco Rio Tinto Exploration Co., a joint venture between Rio and Aluminum Corp., also known as Chinalco, was launched in 2011 to seek out deposits in China and had plans to expand its search to coal and potash.

“The joint venture exploration company has ceased operation and entered the liquidation phase,” Chinalco said in an e-mailed statement.

Philippines cancels permits of four more mining projects in green campaign – by Enrico Dela Cruz (Reuters U.K. – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://uk.reuters.com/

MANILA – The Philippines has canceled the environmental permits for four more mining projects, including one planned nickel venture, as the world’s top nickel ore supplier deepens a months-long crackdown on the resources sector.

The Southeast Asian nation has been reviewing hundreds of environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) including those granted to mines. That is separate from an environmental audit of the country’s 41 operating mines whose results are set to be released on Jan. 31.

The four revoked ECCs include one for Norwegian firm Intex Resources’ proposed $2.5-billion nickel mine on Mindoro island in the central Philippines. Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez told a media briefing the project would damage the environment as it would be located on a watershed.

GUEST COMMENT: The petroleum and mining sectors should put their heads together for a good cause: their future – by Bill Whitelaw (Canadian Mining Journal – January 17, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

It’s interesting to watch two sectors that should be joined at the hip in defense of their joint futures and wonder why they’re not; at least not in any publicly or politically discernible way.

The beauty of my day job is this: I am privileged to be involved with two teams that provide essential information insights to Canada’s two most important resource sectors: energy and mining. The men and women associated with venerable business brands such as Oilweek, The Daily Oil Bulletin, The Northern Miner and Canadian Mining Journal provide context, analysis and intelligence insights to the diverse stakeholders that comprise the “energy” and “mining” sectors.

Collectively, the brands represent more than three centuries of sectoral service and have been binding tools through the diverse and complex (and often brutal) cycles through which these industries pass. The teams also provide research and analysis services, including insights into external forces that impact the sectors; thus the brands also afford a perspective on the things which have put energy and mining under fire.

Cameco gets environmental approval to build Australian uranium mine – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – January 17, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://thestarphoenix.com/

Cameco Corp. is one step closer to building its proposed Yeelirrie uranium mine in Western Australia, after the state’s government overturned an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) recommendation that the project be halted.

It remains unclear, however, when the Saskatoon-based company — which operates two mines in Saskatchewan and an in situ recovery operation in Kazakhstan — will build the multi-billion-dollar open-pit mine, located 650 kilometres northeast of Perth.

“We are advancing Yeelirrie through the environmental assessment process so that we are ready to respond when the market signals a need for more uranium,” managing director of Cameco’s Australian subsidy Brian Reilly said in a statement.

‘It’s blindsided everybody’: New U.S. border tax could shut out Canadian oil – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

Canadian oil and gas producers happy to see the end of the Obama era are quickly coming to the realization that the imminent Trump presidency could be even more challenging if he moves forward with the adoption of a border adjustment tax.

While other Canadian sectors have been vocal in condemning the proposal, “no sector … will be more affected than petroleum,” according to Colorado-based energy expert Philip Verleger, who has been studying the recommended U.S. tax code changes since last summer.

Verleger, principal of consultancy PKVerleger LLC, believes Canadian exporters of oil and oil products are in for a nasty surprise. “Bluntly speaking, for oil the law’s passage is pure mercantilism. Exporters from Mexico, Canada, and the rest of the world could be shut out,” Verleger writes this week in a report to clients. “As Woody Allen would say, ‘Sorry, suckers’.”

Turns out Ontario’s painful coal phase-out didn’t help pollution — and Queen’s Park even knew it wouldn’t – by Ross McKitrick (Financial Post – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

Ross McKitrick is a professor of economics at the University of Guelph and a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. His study “Did the Coal Phase-Out Reduce Ontario Air Pollution” is available at fraserinstitute.ca.

The federal Liberal government plans to impose a national coal phase-out, based on the same faulty arguments used in Ontario — namely that such a move will yield significant environmental benefits and reduce health-care costs. One problem: those arguments never made sense, and now with the Ontario phase-out complete, we can verify not only that they were invalid but that the Ontario government knew it.

Together with Fraser Institute economist Elmira Aliakbari, I just published a study on the coal phase-out in Ontario and its effects on air pollution over the 2002–14 interval. Our expectation was that we would find very little evidence for pollution reductions associated with eliminating coal. This expectation arose from two considerations.

First, ample data at the time showed that coal use had little effect on Ontario air quality. Environment Canada’s emissions inventories showed that the Ontario power generation sector was responsible for only a tiny fraction (about one per cent) of provincial particulate emissions, a common measure of air pollution.

Indigenous reconciliation will never flow from a pipeline – by Jane Fonda (Globe and Mail – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

I’ve been accused of parroting half-truths and misinformation: well, here are the hard truths that brought me to Alberta in the first place.

For centuries, first nations peoples have been telling non-indigenous people how to live in relationship to the land rather than to see the land and its natural resources as commodities to be exploited. We did not listen and now, here we are, on the edge of a climate cliff.

Like millions of people, I believe we are living an existential crisis, one that humankind has never faced before: If we continue down the current road of fossil fuel dependency, if we expand the problem, climate science is telling us we will soon reach a point of no return.

Sabina confident proposed Nunavut gold mine will go ahead (Nunatsiaq News – January 17, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Company pledges jobs, infrastructure and “best-in-class approach to protecting the environment”

Sabina Gold and Silver Corp. says it’s confident that any issues and concerns about its Back River gold mine project can and will be addressed.

The mining company says it’s “extremely pleased” with Ottawa’s latest move: Indigenous and Northern Affairs minister Carolyn Bennett sent the project’s final hearing report back to the Nunavut Impact Review Board last week, saying it needs further review.

The project, located in Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region, would include a chain of open pit and underground mines at its Goose property along with a 157-kilometre road from the mine to a port facility and tank farm in Bathurst Inlet. In June 2016, the NIRB recommended that Ottawa reject the Back River gold mine proposal, citing environmental and social impacts.

These are the African countries investors should pay attention to … and not – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 17, 2017)

January 17, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

About half of all the African countries either host significant operating mines or have advanced exploration projects, yet investors tend to shy away due to perceived risks such as high levels of corruption and political uncertainty, a new report shows.

There are many rankings that aim to help companies choose the best countries to set up shop in the region, such as Canada’s Fraser Institute annual report and Transparency International’s corruption index, but London-based finnCap has come up with one of its own.

The investment bank analyzed the 25 (roughly) countries in Africa that have working mines or or advanced exploration projects, incorporating the best known rankings available, but factoring each country’s geological potential and their current security risk.

UPDATE 2-Gold miner Goldcorp details growth plan, shares rise – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.K. – January 17, 2017)

January 17, 2017

http://uk.reuters.com/

Jan 17 Canadian gold miner Goldcorp Inc detailed an ambitious growth plan on Tuesday that includes increasing production as well as yet-to-be-mined reserves by 20 percent over the next five years from existing operations and deposits, lifting its shares.

At an investor day event, the Vancouver-based miner focused on the exploration potential at its mine sites and projects in the Americas, a turnaround from recent years when most miners’ attention was on reducing costs, not growth.

“Growth is not as dirty a word as it was a couple of years ago,” Goldcorp Chief Executive David Garofalo said, warning that the gold industry risked becoming irrelevant if it did not reverse a trend of falling output and reserves.