Republic of Mining

Don’t count mining shares out yet – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – January 11, 2017)

January 11, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Mining shares aren’t the dirt-cheap bargains they were a year ago, but still have room to rise in 2017. A pick up in global growth coupled with less in the way of new production should support metal prices this year, observers say.

While nobody sees stock-price gains to match last year – when Barrick Gold Corp. doubled, Glencore PLC tripled and Teck Resources Ltd. quintupled – the sector still seems reasonably priced and could benefit from factors ranging from Trumponomics to momentum trading.

“We think 2017 should be a positive year for miners,” Jatinder Goel and other Citigroup analysts wrote in a report this week. “We believe most commodities are moving up the recovery curve,” concurred David Gagliano and his team at Bank of Montreal.

Oversupply prompts Kazakh uranium production cut (World Nuclear News – January 10, 2017)

January 11, 2017

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

Kazakhstan plans to produce 10% less uranium in 2017 than previously planned in response to ongoing oversupply in the uranium market, KazAtomProm chairman Askar Zhumagaliyev announced today.

In total, Kazakh uranium production for 2017 will be 2000 tU less than previously planned. The reduction is roughly equivalent to 3% of total global uranium production based on 2015 figures.

Kazakhstan’s uranium mining operations are either wholly owned by state-run company Kazatomprom or operated through joint ventures between KazAtomProm with international partners. The exact production levels for each mine and joint venture have been determined and approved by their respective management boards, based on the circumstances and economics of each operation, and vary from the 10% aggregate, KazAtomProm said.

The Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company, Limited History (1927-1996) – by International Directory of Company Histories

January 11, 2017January 11, 2017

Centennial of the Flin Flon Ore Discovery (May 2015)

For a large selection of corporate histories click: International Directory of Company Histories

Company History:

The Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company, Limited, is a major Canadian producer of copper and zinc which operates mines and metal processing facilities in remote areas of the province of Manitoba. The company has been removing metals from the ground for most of the twentieth century, and its efforts to industrialize western Manitoba have helped to foster development in the region.

More than 23 mines have yielded ore to the Hudson Bay metal processing works over the last 60 years, as the company has engaged in aggressive geological exploration to support its metal refining activities.

Hudson Bay got its start in January 1915, when Tom Creighton, an early Canadian prospector, happened upon an outcropping of sulfide ore in an undeveloped area of Manitoba. In the previous decade, prospectors had discovered that an enormous greenstone belt stretched east from Manitoba into northern Saskatchewan. This geological structure contained numerous deposits of different metals mixed together, including zinc, copper, silver, and gold.

[Flin Flon, Manitoba History] By Tractor Train – by Emmett E. Kelleher ((MACLEAN’S Magazine – March 1, 1930)

January 16, 2017January 11, 2017

http://www.macleans.ca/

The story of a rail-less railroad which moved 23,000 tons of freight into the heart of a wilderness “on time”

IT WAS past midnight—the weather several degrees below zero. The snowmobile sped along a newly cut road in northern Saskatchewan. A night of inky blackness. Trees rushing by like black spectres of a lost army. With the hum of the motor and the whistle of the skis on the glazed snow, I was almost dozing to sleep when we rounded a curve and the swaying of the car roused me.

I blinked through the frosted windshield at a pair of strange lights that appeared suddenly up ahead. High, extremely bright, and set wide apart, they looked like the eyes of some ancient mammal that had returned to its northland home. The nearer the lights approached, the more deeply fascinated I became.

The orbs of dazzling white loomed right in front of us. Our driver swung his car off the trail. The machine ploughed easily through a three-foot snowdrift. A sterner and a mightier roar of machinery filled the northerh murk. Peering through the window I caught a glimpse of the largest tractor I had ever seen. Coupled behind were six loaded sleighs as large as circus wagons. At the rear end was a caboose, the warm yellow glow from its window contrasting vividly in my mind with the frigidity of the night.

Brazil’s S11D iron-ore mine a reality check for Australian politicians – CME – by Esmarie Swanepoel (MiningWeekly.com – January 10, 2017)

January 11, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) has warned that the commercial start of the $19.7-billion Eliezer Batista S11D iron-ore mine, in Brazil, is a reality check for Australian politicians looking to use the sector as a “bottomless cash cow”.

CME CEO Reg Howard-Smith said on Tuesday that commercial operations at the world’s largest iron-ore mine were expected to start this month, with mining giant Vale taking advantage of Brazil’s lower-cost taxation and royalty regime.

The Brazilian major inaugurated the new iron-ore project in December, with the mine ramping up to 90-million tonnes a year by 2020. Once the ramp-up is completed, about 2 700 employees will be working directly at the plant and mine and, at least, 10 000 indirect jobs will have been created.

Stories of Australia’s mining decline were greatly exaggerated – by Brendan Pearson (Australian Financial Review – Janaury 9, 2017)

January 11, 2017

http://www.afr.com/

Brendan Pearson is chief executive of the Minerals Council of Australia.

One of the questions posed most frequently by politicians and economists in recent years has been the following: “What comes after the mining investment boom?” New official commodity forecasts released on Monday provide a simple answer – a much bigger mining industry.

The forecasts, by the Industry Department’s Office of Chief Economist, revised up resources exports for 2016-17 to $205 billion. That’s an upward revision of nearly $40 billion since March 2016. Just the incremental increase in expected earnings is bigger than annual receipts from tourism.

The result surely dispels the proposition that the mining investment boom was a simple one-off event that left no enduring legacy and therefore needed to be “replaced” by something else.

‘We don’t give a damn’: Anti-oil activists step up opposition as honeymoon with Trudeau ends – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – January 11, 2017)

January 11, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

On Tuesday, Jane Fonda was in the oilsands to agitate against new pipelines supported by Alberta’s left-leaning NDP government and approved by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; more aboriginal lawsuits were flying in Vancouver over Trudeau’s approval of the Petronas LNG project; and in Toronto, environmental activists were scoffing at his efforts to reform the National Energy Board.

Clearly, the honeymoon is over between opponents of oil and gas projects and Canadian governments that hoped to win their approval by cranking up environmental regulations and carbon costs, even at the expense of the economy.

So much for Canada’s ambitious climate leadership program, sold to Canadians on the promise that it would satisfy critics and re-habilitate Canada’s reputation as a responsible energy producer.

Which begs the question: If there is no gain for the pain, why bother?

Gold hits highest in over a month on Brexit, Trump concerns – by Zandi Shabalala (Reuters Africa – January 10, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://af.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Gold rallied to its highest level in more than a month on Tuesday as the dollar dipped ahead of a news conference on Wednesday by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. The market is looking for more clues on Trump’s spending plans in the first speech since his shock win in November, pushing the dollar lower.

The pound and stocks also slid on fears of a “hard” Brexit after British Prime Minister Theresa May said at the weekend she was not interested in Britain keeping “bits” of its EU membership. [MKTS/GLOB]

Gold, often seen as an alternative investment during times of political and financial uncertainty, benefited from the risk-averse sentiment in the market.

2017 to be a positive year for mining sector following strong 2016: Citi analysts – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – January 10, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

The mining sector will enjoy a positive year of growth in 2017 following a strong performance in 2016, an industry analysis by Citi suggested Monday.

Mining stocks will have a strong 2017, thanks to industry-wide trends toward increased free cash flow, upward earnings momentum and the potential to return excess capital to shareholders, Citi said.

However, it added, they are unlikely to see the same percentage increases in share prices as they did in 2016. The odds of mining overperforming the rest of the market are weak. Last year’s strong mining and commodities performance follows five straight years of underperformance.

Can West Virginia’s New Governor Save Coal Country? – by Paul Barrett (Bloomberg News – January 10, 2017)

January 10, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Jim Justice—6 feet 7 inches, 375 pounds, rumpled in the extreme—has the friendly, shambling demeanor of a high school basketball coach, which he’s been for decades. He’s also the richest man in West Virginia, with holdings in coal, timber, and tourism.

This year he decided to run for governor—his second race for political office after a successful bid 17 years ago for a county school board seat. He ran as a Democrat, but kept his distance from Hillary Clinton and boasted of his friendship with Donald Trump.

Justice and Trump have similarities beyond their reputations as iconoclastic billionaires: Both own real estate that’s part of an intricate web of businesses run with assistance from adult children. Both refused to disclose their tax returns. And both vowed they’d somehow revive West Virginia’s slumping coal industry.

World Bank on a Trump economy and commodities – by Frik Els (Mining.com – January 10, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

A pillar of president-elect Trump’s economic plan is fiscal stimulus in the form of tax cuts and $500 billion-plus of infrastructure spending.

Trump’s victory sparked a rally in the copper price which is seen as a bellwether for metals and industry as a whole thanks to its widespread use in construction, the power sector, manufacturing and transportation.

The World Bank’s outlook for the world economy in 2017 released on Tuesday includes a look at the effect accelerating growth in the US could have in the rest of the world and on the commodities sector.

UPDATE 1-Indonesia to issue new mining rules this week -minister – by Wilda Asmarini and Bernadette Christina Munthe (Reuters U.S. – January 10, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

Jan 10 Indonesia will issue new rules for miners this week, the mining minister said late on Tuesday, which will cover contracts and permits, exports, taxes, divestment obligations and domestic processing requirements, among other issues.

Indonesia announced in 2014 a ban on ore shipments to push miners to build smelters to process ore locally, but gave some concessions to concentrate producers after protests from the industry. As part of this push, a ban on the export of mineral concentrates from Indonesia is due to kick in on Jan. 12.

Rules now being drafted will allow concentrate shipments to continue beyond that deadline in certain cases, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Insider Q&A: De Beers CEO Talks Diamonds, Millennials – by Joseph Pisani (ABC News.com – January 8, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://abcnews.go.com/

nstead of romantic proposals and engagement rings, the commercials trying to sell a new generation on diamonds show young couples rolling around on a bed, arguing in a car and even questioning whether they’ll ever marry.

The ads are one way the diamond industry is trying to reach millennials, the under-35-year-olds who may be more focused on paying off student loan debt than buying diamonds and getting hitched.

De Beers, the company that helped pay for the new commercials, says millennials are still purchasing diamonds, even though they are typically less affluent than their parents were at the same age. “They are buying smaller pieces,” says De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver.

PolyMet clears major hurdle with federal land exchange – by Josephine Marcotty (Minneapolis Star Tribune – January 9, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://www.startribune.com/

A bitterly contested copper-nickel mine proposed for northeast Minnesota cleared another major hurdle Monday, when the U.S. Forest Service approved a deal to trade 6,650 acres of federally owned forests and wetlands to PolyMet Mining Corp. in exchange for 6,690 acres scattered elsewhere across that part of the state.

The exchange, while expected, is a critical part of PolyMet’s plan because it provides the company access to mineral ore it owns beneath the publicly held land.

“This is an incredibly important milestone for PolyMet,” said Jon Cherry, president and chief executive of the company. It means PolyMet has the rights to 30 square miles of land for its planned $650 million project near Hoyt Lakes, which the company says could create up to 350 jobs.

Drones reaching new heights, and depths – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – January 10, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Mention drones, and imaginations float skyward to everything from aerial photography to package deliveries to weapons of war. But it was after a job underground two years ago that Pierre Filiatreault and his colleagues at Hatch in Sudbury began to see the true potential of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

“There was a local client that had an ore pass that was clogged underground,” said Filiatreault, who specializes in control automation and electrical, and serves as Hatch’s resident UAV expert.

“It’s very dangerous and there has been a few incidents locally where it has caused deaths, so the idea was to grab a drone and fly it up an ore pass so we could determine the height and capture some images of what the blockage looks like, so we could feed that to operations and they could make better decisions, all while doing it relatively safely and not putting anyone at harm.