Republic of Mining

With the gold industry in a state of flux, the next big price move is up – Rob McEwen – by Henry Lazenby (Mining Weekly.com – January 6, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

ToRONTO (miningweekly.com) – While gold output is in decline as a result of falling grades, mine closures and new construction projects being deferred, and the situation compounded by gutted exploration budgets and capital markets being effectively closed for the gold industry, the next big price move could only be up, the chief owner, chairperson and CEO of McEwen Mining, Rob McEwen, tells Mining Weekly Online.

“Gold is cheap and gold shares are very cheap. I think we are at the bottom for gold. More consolidation and rationalisation is to come and today’s biggest producers will be surpassed by new leaders emerging from the mid-tier.

“These new leaders will have stronger balance sheets, good growth stories and management – more focused on building their share owners’ wealth first, rather than their personal wealth – will emerge and take the lead,” the founder and former chief executive of the world’s largest gold miner by market capitalisation, Goldcorp, stated in an emailed interview.

[Geography of Genius] Searching the world for our inner genius – by Martin Regg Cohn (Toronto Star – January 7, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.thestar.com/

A new book explains how places of genius are products of geography and history, demography and community.

If Kathleen Wynne wants to make Ontario smarter, The Geography of Genius should be on her post-holiday reading list.

Fresh from her trips to China and Silicon Valley late last year, and poised to visit India later this month, the premier is on a journey of economic discovery. With our industrial base in historic decline and rival economies on the ascendant, she joins other peripatetic politicians in trying to incubate an innovation future at home.

Wynne is not alone in her ambitions. Every elected official on the planet dreams of relocating and replicating foreign success stories, especially the genius of Silicon Valley.

TransCanada Corp launches US$15-billion lawsuit against U.S. government for rejecting Keystone XL – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 7, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY – TransCanada Corp. said Wednesday it intends to file a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) seeking US$15-billion in damages from the United States government over President Barack Obama’s denial of the Keystone XL pipeline.

In addition, the Calgary-based company filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Houston claiming Obama’s decision to deny construction of Keystone XL exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution.

In a 27-page notice of intent to pursue the NAFTA challenge, the Calgary-based pipeline company said Obama’s denial was politically driven, directly contrary to the conclusions of own administration’s studies, and in violation of U.S. obligations under the agreement.

Why the right is returning to Latin America – by Shlomo Ben-Ami (Globe and Mail – January 6, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BOGOTA — The crushing defeat of the long-ruling Chavista government in Venezuela’s recent parliamentary elections, together with the end of 12 years of Peronist rule in Argentina, mark the end of a cycle of left-wing hegemony in much of Latin America.

But this is not a political watershed marking the renewal of ideological confrontation. Rather, it is a measured transition toward political pragmatism. And it is very good news.

Perhaps the best evidence that this is not an ideologically driven sea change is to be found in what triggered it: an economic downturn.

The stagflation spectre: Why gold’s time may have come – by Avener Mandelman (Globe and Mail – January 6, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

I’ve been a gold bear for four years, but no longer: I think gold may soon rise significantly. Why did I change?

In a word: Stagflation. It is the toughest investment regime, composed of inflation and economic stagnation. The last time we saw this was in the late 1970s. And it’s coming again. In such a period, one of the only investments that appreciates is gold.

There are four investment regimes in all, defined by economic growth and inflation: In high growth and high inflation, real estate and resources do best. In high growth and low inflation, growth stocks outperform. Low growth and low inflation is where bonds shine. And low growth and high inflation is where most stocks underperform, but gold does best.

North Korea Says It Has Detonated Its First Hydrogen Bomb – by David E. Sanger and Choe Sang-Hun (New York Times – January 5, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

WASHINGTON — North Korea declared on Tuesday that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb. The assertion, if true, would dramatically escalate the nuclear challenge from one of the world’s most isolated and dangerous states.

In an announcement, North Korea said that the test had been a “complete success.” But it was difficult to tell whether the statement was true. North Korea has made repeated claims about its nuclear capabilities that outside analysts have greeted with skepticism.

“This is the self-defensive measure we have to take to defend our right to live in the face of the nuclear threats and blackmail by the United States and to guarantee the security of the Korean Peninsula,” a female North Korean announcer said, reading the statement on Central Television, the state-run network.

Global Stocks Decline, Bonds Rise as China Moves Unnerve Markets – by Kelly Gilblom and Jeremy Herron (Bloomberg News – January 6, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Stocks fell around the world, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 150 points, while bonds gained with the dollar on haven demand as China’s unexpected weakening of its currency once again raised fresh concern about the strength of the global economy.

U.S. stocks headed for a three-month low and emerging-market equities fell to the cheapest since 2009. Developing-nation currencies sank to a record, with Korea’s won weakening after North Korea’s claim of a nuclear test added to geopolitical risks already heightened by Middle East tensions. Brent crude reached its lowest level since 2004. The yen strengthened and Treasuries rose for a fifth session.

“This is risk aversion right now,” Benjamin Dunn, president of Alpha Theory Advisors, which works with hedge funds overseeing about $6 billion.

Editorial: The new year starts with a lurch – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – January 5, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.northernminer.com/

Those returning to work on Jan. 4 with a bit of optimism for the mining industry after a brutal 2015 were hit with a sick feeling in the stomach as global markets dove on the first day of trading in the new year, in defiance of the usual salutary “January effect” on stocks, when investors typically buy back stocks they sold in December for tax-loss purposes.

This latest global market weakness has been fuelled by more disappointing economic news out of commodities-hungry China, coupled with a new wrinkle in global geopolitics: a ratcheting up of tensions between Middle East heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran.

In China, fresh manufacturing data shows that activity contracted for the tenth straight month in December, and dipped below levels that show expansion.

MINE SITE NEWS Remembering the Polaris Mine – by Donna Cragg (Canadian Mining Journal – October 31, 2002)

January 6, 2016

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Teck Cominco’s Polaris base metal mine closed in August 2002. It was the most northerly base metal mine in the world

Teck Cominco’s Polaris base metal mine closed in August 2002. It was the most northerly base metal mine in the world, which meant dealing with permafrost and the Arctic. Life on site was unique. Here are the recollections of Donna Cragg, paymaster accounting assistant. More tributes to Polaris can be found at www.teckcominco.com and in the latest Orbit magazine.

When the Polaris lead/zinc mine on Little Cornwallis Island in Canada’s high arctic was being planned, commissioned and started up in the late 1970s and early ’80s, I had no idea how important a role the mine would play for me. Now, as operations wind down, I can’t imagine what life would have been like without the opportunity to work and live here in the north.

Copper, Nickel Rebound as China Intervenes in Stock Market – by Agnieszka De Sousa and Luzi-Ann Javier (Bloomberg News – January 5, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Copper climbed the most in two weeks and nickel gained after China sought to support its stock market following Monday’s rout that sent metal prices tumbling.

State-controlled funds in China bought equities and regulators signaled a selling ban on major investors will remain beyond this week’s expiration date, according to people familiar with the matter. Most metals traded in London and a gauge of mining shares rose.

On Monday, copper fell the most in three weeks, helping take an index of six main contracts on the London Metal Exchange to its biggest slump since September after a plunge in mainland China shares triggered a trading halt.

Four ways to fix the ‘broken’ TSX Venture Exchange – by Peter Koven (National Post – December 29, 2015)

January 6, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

The TSX Venture Exchange has real problems. Liquidity is drying up. Listings are declining. Hundreds of listed companies have almost no money and no apparent way to create shareholder value. Competition from both new and established rivals is growing.

And the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index is hitting humiliating new lows on a regular basis. It fell below 500 points for the first time on Dec. 14, down a mind-boggling 85 per cent from its record high in 2007.

None of these facts will come as a shock to investors who, for the most part, are avoiding this exchange like the plague. But the meltdown has finally reached a stage where TMX Group Inc. acknowledges that it is time to take action.

Resolute Forest’s day in court promises to expose global anti-development agenda -by Peter Foster (National Post – January 6, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Now the Quebec government is calling for the Forest Council to back down

Slowly but surely, multinational environmental enforcer Greenpeace is being dragged kicking and screaming to court to answer for its job-destroying misinformation campaigns in the name of “protecting” Canadian forests, which are among the best regulated in the world.

The company doing the dragging is Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products, which has distinguished itself for being prepared to stand up to Greenpeace’s brand of shakedown.

The case is immediately rooted in the rancid 2010 Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, under which a cabal of radical environmental non-governmental organizations, ENGOs,

Franco-Nevada: Royalty of the Gold Industry – by Frank Holmes (Frank Talk: Insight for Investors – January 6, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.usfunds.com/

In 1983, my friends and early mentors Seymour Schulich and Pierre Lassonde founded Franco-Nevada Mining, the world’s first gold royalty company.

The two uniquely gifted money managers were on to something big. It was originally Seymour—then an oil analyst at the Canadian investment firm Beutel, Goodman & Company, where he and Pierre met—who recognized that the royalty model used in the oil and gas industry had some of the highest returns on capital.

At the time, no one had applied this business strategy to the precious metals industry. Venture capital was challenging to secure. But with Seymour’s fastidious money management and Pierre’s vast mining expertise, the two raised $2 million. (That’s according to “Get Smarter,” Seymour’s 2011 memoir aimed at mentoring young Canadian professionals, which I highly recommend.)

In Canada’s far north, warm weather threatens vital ice road – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – December 24, 2015)

January 6, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Each winter, in the far reaches of Canada’s north, a highway of ice built atop frozen lakes and tundra acts as a supply lifeline to remote diamond mines, bustling with traffic for a couple of months before melting away in the spring.

This year, the world’s busiest ice road is running late. Unseasonably warm weather has set back ice formation on the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, named after the first and last of hundreds of lakes on the route.

The road is still expected to open on schedule in late January, but if current weather patterns continue that could mean more work for crews trying to build the ice or cut the road’s already short period of operation.

E.P.A. Is Moving to Designate Contaminated Nevada Copper Mine a Superfund Site (Associated Press/New York Times – December 24, 2015)

January 6, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

RENO, Nev. — Fifteen years after federal regulators started assessing damage and health risks at an abandoned Nevada copper mine, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to designate the contaminated land a Superfund site, a step the state could still oppose.

Rural neighbors of the World War II-era mine that has leaked toxic chemicals for decades won a $19.5 million settlement in 2013 from companies they accused of covering up the contamination to drinking water wells near Yerington, about 65 miles southeast of Reno.

The E.P.A. sent a letter to Gov. Brian Sandoval this week announcing its intention to place the mine on the Superfund’s National Priority List of the nation’s most polluted sites to “mitigate exposures that are a substantial threat to the public health or welfare or the environment.”