Republic of Mining

The creeping revolution in industrial metals trading – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – January 9, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – The way in which industrial metals are priced is starting to change. Whereas once there was a single forum for trading metals such as aluminum, lead and zinc, there are now three.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has long dominated global pricing, its benchmarks hard-wired into much of the world’s physical trade. The last year, however, has seen LME prices sway to the increased gravitational pull of China’s Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE).

In the United States, meanwhile, CME Group has launched five industrial metal contracts over the last 12 months as it seeks to challenge the LME’s global franchise. To some extent this is a phoney war. The LME has just experienced a second year of falling volumes but is not going to lose its metallic trading crown any time soon.

Sudbury’s SNOLAB gets $28.6 million – by Staff (Sudbury Star – January 10, 2017)

January 10, 2017

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

A Sudbury-based cutting-edge, awarding-winning physics experiment has received a $28.6-million funding boost. SNOLAB, located deep inside Vale Ltd.’s Creighton Mine, is among 17 research facilities receiving support through Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Major Science Initiative fund.

The Major Science Initiative fund aims to secure and strengthen state-of-the-art national research facilities, enabling Canadian researchers to undertake world-class research, contribute to technology development and drive innovation.

The funding announced Monday will sustain scientific excellence at SNOLAB and ensure the facility maintains a leadership role in the global deep underground research community, the .Canada Foundation for Innovation said.

[Prolific Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone Belt] Rockcliff expands  presence in Manitoba – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – October 27, 2016)

January 10, 2017

While it may not be apparent from its share price, which has ranged between 1.5¢ and 16¢ over the last year, Rockcliff Copper (TSXV: RCU) has quietly expanded its grip on Manitoba’s Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt, with recent option deals on two of the mining camp’s highest-grade metal deposits.

In September, the junior explorer signed an agreement with a prospector to earn 100% of the Laguna gold property, which hosts a former high-grade gold mine, 20 km southeast of Snow Lake and Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) 2,150-tonne-per-day gold mill facility.

The deposit was mined intermittently between 1916 and 1939 — producing more than 60,000 oz. gold from 101,000 tonnes averaging 20.57 grams gold per tonne — and there has been virtually no exploration done there in the last 70 years.

Encanto Potash Corp. one step closer to financing $3B mine on Sask. First Nation – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – January 6, 2017)

January 9, 2017

http://thestarphoenix.com/

A junior mining company with plans to build a potash mine on a reserve northeast of Regina says two new 20-year agreements to sell a total of seven million tonnes of potash annually bring it one step closer to financing and building the massive facility.

The agreements, known as offtakes, with “bankable” India-based firms should help Encanto Potash Corp. secure the $3 billion it needs to build the mine on Muskowekwan First Nation, said the Vancouver-based company’s director of corporate development.

“We think that with this offtake, we can get our corporate financing,” Gary Deathe said, adding that while no junior mining company has successfully financed a potash operation into production, that is “100 per cent” Encanto’s plan.

Bye, bye BIPR: Nunavut port-road scheme still frozen – by Jim Bell (Nunatsiaq News – January 9, 2017)

January 9, 2017

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Two Kitikmeot road projects remain stuck in the ditch

The two mining companies that own the Bathurst Inlet Port Road project will keep their once highly-touted proposal in the deep freeze for at least one more year, if not longer, the proponents told regulators Jan. 4.

First conceived in the late 1990s under different proponents, the BIPR has long been touted as a way to supply mines in the interior of the western Kitikimeot and ship base metal ore to market.

But the current BIPR proponents, Sabina Gold and Silver Corp. and Glencore Corp., say they have no plans this year to submit a draft environmental impact statement to the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

World’s Worst Commodity Radioactive for Investor Portfolios – by Joe Deaux, Natalie Obiko Pearson, and Klaus Wille (Bloomberg News – January 6, 2017)

January 9, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

No major commodity had a worse 2016 than uranium. In fact, the element used to make nuclear fuel has had a pretty dismal decade. Prices tumbled 41 percent last year, touching a 12-year low below $18 a pound in November, according to Ux Consulting Co., which compiles market data.

The slump was the seventh in nine years. The rise of nuclear power has slowed as utilities shifted to cheaper natural gas for new generators. And after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, safety concerns led big uranium buyers including Japan and Germany to shut down or decommission reactors.

“It’s the world’s best asset in the world’s worst market,” said Leigh Curyer, chief executive officer of NexGen Energy Ltd., a Vancouver-based uranium producer. “I don’t think there’s a mine profitable at current spot prices. This short-term spot price isn’t reflective of the cost of producing a pound globally.”

Industry and indigenous communities let the sun in on the shared problem of diesel – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – January 7, 2017)

January 9, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

One of Chris Angeconeb’s first jobs was documenting diesel spills near schools, health clinics and airports on northwestern Ontario reserves for his Lac Seul First Nation.

Today, 25 years later, as vice-president of junior miner AurCrest Gold Inc., he’s trying to forge bonds between his company and nearby indigenous communities over a shared goal: ending their reliance on diesel.

Using diesel energy means companies and residents alike are susceptible to blackouts due to shortages as well as hazardous leaks and spills. The lack of reliability, volatile pricing and cost of hauling the fuel, often via ice roads or planes, in addition to the increasing viability of alternatives, has made getting off diesel a priority for both miners and remote communities.

Fortune hunters flock to Madagascar’s sapphire mines (Agence France-Presse -January 8, 2017)

January 9, 2017

http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/

(AFP) – The dusty figure is lowered slowly into the ground like a bucket into a well, armed with just a crowbar, a shovel and an old, unreliable headlamp. In the surrounding countryside, bodies rise and sink from hundreds of holes just wide enough for a man.

Children run between the rubble and the smell of cooking wafts from the makeshift shelters where women crouch over pots. Guards armed with hunting rifles stand by, turning the settlement of Betsinefe into a threatening scene. In the world of Madagascan sapphire mining, there are few rules.

Sapphires were first discovered in Madagascar in the late 1990s, and already the Indian Ocean island is one of the world’s largest producers of the precious stones. Its 250-kilometre-long (155-mile) deposit is among the biggest in the world and has sparked a sapphire rush.

Australia sees iron ore price heading sharply lower – by James Regan (Reuters U.S. – January 9, 2017)

January 9, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – Australia has forecast a steep decline in the price of iron ore, its most valuable export commodity, calling an end to an unexpected rally fueled by strong demand from China.

The forecast average price in 2017 of around $52 a tonne – down from about $80 a tonne at present – comes as big miners are set to report bumper profits in coming months, while smaller rivals are still getting back on their feet.

“If the iron ore price starts to go down the high performance of last year won’t be replicated this year,” said Shaw & Partners mining analyst Peter O’Connor. “It could be a trainwreck for the smaller, marginal producers.”

Fund set up by former Xstrata boss Mick Davis comes up short – by Martin Strydom (The Australian – December 28, 2016)

January 9, 2017

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

A fund set up by mining veteran Mick Davis to snap up bargains during the commodities downturn has spent more than £11m ($18.8m) on pay, rent and other costs over the past two years with nothing to show for it.

Three years after unveiling plans to build a “mid-tier diversified mining and metals group” and raising about $US5bn ($7bn) from private equity groups and sovereign wealth funds, X2 Resources has yet to strike a deal.

The accounts for the past two years show it has received £15.1m in advisory fees and spent £11.1m on administrative expenses. This includes £2.3m in office rent in central London.

Tahoe goes deep in Timmins – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 6, 2017)

January 6, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Tahoe Resources is rolling up its sleeves this year to expand and deepen the Bell Creek Mine in Timmins. The Vancouver miner announced its 2017 financial and operating guidance on Jan. 5.

Project capital expenditures this year will be between $150 million to $175 million, the two largest projects being the shaft deepening at Bell Creek, along with the construction of a crushing and agglomeration plant in Peru.

Tahoe acquired the former Lake Shore Gold in a $945-million deal last year, adding the Timmins West and Bell Creek gold mines in Timmins to Tahoe’s stable of operations in Guatemala and Peru.

Alaska Gold Mine Dispute Stayed as Operators Look to Trump – by Stephen Lee (Bloomberg – January 5, 2017)

January 6, 2017

https://www.bna.com/

Backers of the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska agreed to pause their lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, a move many are reading as a bid for friendlier terms under the incoming Trump administration.

In 2015, the EPA proposed under the Clean Water Act to limit where the massive mine would be allowed to dispose its waste, in order to protect the nearby Bristol Bay salmon fishery.

In response, the mine’s backers filed suit in a U.S. district court, alleging that the EPA colluded with three federal advisory committees to arrive at a predetermined conclusion that handicapped the proposed gold and copper mine.

Mining deals set to rebound as commodity prices recover – by Matt Chambers and Michael Bennet (The Australian – January 6, 2017)

January 5, 2017

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

Australian mining deals are expected to rebound from a more than 12-year low this year as confidence grows that the worst of the commodities downturn is over and as the big miners continue to hone their portfolios through sales and purchases.

Mining mergers and acquisitions involving Australian companies fell by $2 billion to just $6.9bn last year, according to analysis of Bloomberg M&A data by The Australian. This was the lowest in at least 12 years and less than a 10th of the $71.9bn worth of deals struck by Australian miners and their grateful investment bankers and lawyers in the boom year of 2007, when Rio Tinto disastrously paid $50bn in cash for Canada’s Alcan.

The slump in 2016 deals came as low commodity prices for much of the year left sellers who were not distressed on the sidelines, believing prices would rise. At the same time, most buyers would settle for nothing other than an absolute bargain.

Nunavut diamond mine clean-up to proceed this year as planned Nunatsiaq News – January 3, 2017)

January 5, 2017

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

INAC says no thanks to bid from junior miner to take over abandoned Jericho mine

The clean up of the old Jericho diamond mine will go ahead without a formal review this year despite a last ditch effort by a B.C.-based company to take over the assets and possibly restart the mine.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board issued a screening report Dec. 22 saying the federal government’s planned remediation and “stabilization” of the abandoned mine, about 260 km southeast of Kugluktuk, can move forward as planned this spring and summer so long as it follows 63 specific terms and conditions.

Those conditions address everything from the creation of the winter road to water use, waste disposal, fuel storage, wildlife disturbances and aircraft restrictions.

De Beers abandons diamond search in northern Saskatchewan – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – December 26, 2016)

January 5, 2017

http://thestarphoenix.com/

The world’s largest diamond mining company says it is walking away from its search for the precious stones on a 43,000-acre property in northern Saskatchewan after several “targets” turned out to be magnetic minerals mixed with organic materials.

De Beers Canada Inc. started looking for kimberlite — a volcanic rock famous for containing diamonds — north of the decommissioned Cluff Lake uranium mine in June after optioning the property from Vancouver-based CanAlaska Uranium Ltd.

On Dec. 23, the companies said in a news release that De Beers was returning 100 per cent of the project to CanAlaska after drilling seven targets and concluding that all 85 targets on the property were related to the same magnetic minerals.