Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Guyana Goldfields Inc. Pours First Gold at its Aurora Gold Mine

August 5, 2015

http://www.guygold.com/s/Home.asp

TORONTO, Aug. 4, 2015 /CNW/ – Guyana Goldfields Inc. (TSX:GUY) (the “Company” or “GGI”) is pleased to announce that first gold production has been achieved on-time and on-budget at its Aurora Gold Mine (the “Project”) in Guyana, South America.

First gold production was attained through the gravity and saprolite production circuits which allowed for earlier gold production (pre-commercial production) through the processing plant. Initial start-up gold was captured by processing the lowest grade ore available and GGI is now progressing towards full saprolite circuit operation and will gradually feed the mill with higher grade material. The commissioning and startup of the hard rock crushing circuit is projected to be completed later in the third calendar quarter of 2015.

The Company expects to produce between 30,000 ounces to 50,000 ounces of gold in 2015, depending on how quickly full ramp-up is achieved, and approximately 120,000 ounces to 140,000 ounces of gold in 2016. GGI expects to issue an updated National Instrument (NI) 43-101 Technical Report Feasibility Study in the first quarter of 2016 for the Project which will reflect an extended open pit mining scenario while deferring the underground production until later in the mine life, as well as, current operating cost parameters, and an updated ore reserve metal price.

South Africa strives to save jobs at under-fire mines – by Zandi Shabalala (Reuters U.S. – August 5, 2015)

August 5, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

PRETORIA – South Africa’s mining ministry held talks with companies and unions over planned job cuts on Wednesday, as President Jacob Zuma’s government frets over high unemployment ahead of key elections next year.

The mining industry, which contributes around 7 percent to Africa’s most developed economy, is struggling with sinking commodity prices, rising costs and labor unrest.

“It’s about jobs, jobs, jobs and none of us should leave this place without committing something to the table,” mining minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi told reporters.

Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC) heads into local elections next year with its main rival the Democratic Alliance (DA) targeting wins in key metropolitan areas, including Gauteng, home to economic hub Johannesburg.

The DA will target the ANC on its inability to reduce stubbornly high unemployment, which officially stands at 25 percent but some experts believe is much higher.

Zambia Copper Miners to Cut Power Use 15% to Ease Shortage – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – August 4, 2015)

August 5, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Zambian mining companies agreed to reduce their electricity consumption by as much as 15 percent to help ease a power shortage in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer.

The local units of Glencore Plc, Vedanta Resources Plc and other operators reached the agreement with Mines Minister Christopher Yaluma and electricity supplier Copperbelt Energy Corp. at a meeting on Tuesday, according to the Chamber of Mines.

Power cuts already enforced at projects run by First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Barrick Gold Corp. will be reversed on Wednesday, said Jackson Sikamo, the president of the chamber.

“The discussion was very open and the minister acknowledged the effort the mining companies have made,” he said by phone on Tuesday from Kitwe, about 280 kilometers (174 miles) north of Lusaka, the capital. The reductions of 10 percent to 15 percent will “definitely affect production,” though it’s too early to tell by how much, Sikamo said.

Centerra continues talks with Kyrgyzstan despite arrest of former CEO – by Seres Lu and Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – August 5, 2015)

August 5, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Toronto-based Centerra Gold Inc. says it remains in talks with the government of Kyrgyzstan on the future of the company’s massive Kumtor gold mine in the mountains of the former Soviet republic, despite word that its former chief executive officer has been arrested on corruption allegations.

“We are committed to concluding these discussions,” John Pearson, Centerra’s vice-president of investor relations, said Tuesday, a day after the company disclosed that former president and CEO Leonard Homeniuk was detained in Bulgaria at the request of the Kyrgyzstani government.

Mr. Homeniuk, a Canadian mining executive who spent 16 years at the helm of the company as it developed the mine in Kyrgyzstan, retired in 2008. In a statement released on Monday, the company said he was picked up by Bulgarian authorities while on a family vacation. His photo was on Interpol’s website, saying he was wanted by Kyrgyzstani officials for “involvement in corruption.”

Mr. Homeniuk, 68, is now a director of Polymetal International PLC, a London- and Moscow-listed Russian gold and silver miner with operations in Russia and Kazakhstan. He is also listed as the founder and CEO of a private company, Polygon Gold, involved in Russian mining ventures.

Don’t believe the nasty talk about gold. But don’t buy the stuff, either – by David Olive (Toronto Star – August 5, 2015)

August 5, 2015

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

That gold has plummeted in value is no surprise. All investing mania go too far, and the decade-long bull market in the precious metal is no exception. But the developing consensus that gold is heading toward extinction as an investment class is both surprising and misguided.

“Gold is doomed” is the headline for Matt O’Brien’s recent Washington Post examination of why its price has fallen 42 per cent since its most recent peak, in 2011, and experienced a stunning drop of 8 per cent in June alone. Gold closed last week at $1,085 (U.S.), down from its 2011 peak of $1,895 (U.S.).

“Gold is out of fashion like flared trousers: no one wants it,” Robin Bhar, a London-based analyst at Société Générale S.A., France’s third-largest bank, told Bloomberg News last week.

Iain Stewart, who runs the Newton Real Return fund in the U.K., is highly regarded for his fund’s superior results, managing clients’ money with a cautious strategy that emphasizes preserving capital over high-risk, high-return bets.

No pleasing Obama on Keystone XL: Why Canada’s climate change moves are futile – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – August 5, 2015)

August 5, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

With his crackdown on power plants and expectations he will finally kill Keystone XL this month, U.S. President Barack Obama is picking up the pace on high-profile climate change moves to pad his green credentials.

He’s also demonstrating that efforts by Canada — and particularly Alberta — to toughen up climate change regulations won’t result in pipeline approvals. They will just make the Canadian oil industry less competitive.

The latest proof is Obama’s continuing and unsurprising disregard for Canadian climate change initiatives in his review of the project, now in its seventh year.

There were significant ones in recent months, and to ensure they got the full attention of the U.S. administration, they were highlighted by TransCanada Corp. in a June 30 letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Calgary-based proponent of the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline talked up Ottawa’s new plan to cut Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 as well Alberta’s plans to increase emissions reduction targets for large emitters.

Skimpies still a ‘touchy subject’ at Kalgoorlie’s annual Diggers and Dealers conference – by Claire Moodie (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – August 5, 2015)

August 5, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/

Australia’s biggest and most colourful mining conference, Diggers and Dealers, is showcased on the world stage, but there are some images the industry does not want to share.

Television cameras are banned from Kalgoorlie’s busiest bars, where the real colour of the event unfolds after the forum has wrapped up for the day.

It is quite a spectacle – hundreds of mining types packed into bars with names like the Wild West Saloon, where the gold capital’s famous skimpy barmaids hold court to a sea of suits.

The “skimpies” – scantily clad and sometimes topless barmaids – have been entertaining Diggers delegates since the early days of the forum 20 years ago.

Many fly in from the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne, with the promise of big tips during the three-day event. Local hoteliers have special licences that allow the women to go “toppo” – topless. “It’s a very touchy subject,” Palace Hotel owner Ashok Parekh said.

Finnish nickel mining execs on trial for environmental damage (AFP – August 4, 2015)

August 4, 2015

https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/

Four former executives with a Finnish nickel mining company accused of contaminating lakes with uranium, cadmium and other toxic elements went on trial Tuesday charged with aggravated environmental damage.

Talvivaara Sotkamo, the bankrupt operator of the European Union’s biggest nickel mine, is also named among the defendants in the highly-publicised case in Kainuu, east-central Finland.

The prosecutor asked the district court to seize 13.3 million euros ($14.6 million) in illegal profits from Talvivaara Sotkamo’s estate and the four executives, according to court documents.

Situated around 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of Helsinki, the mine opened in 2008 amid expectations it would usher in a new era in nickel mining in Finland.

But the operation ended in environmental disaster and economic failure after toxic levels of nickel, cadmium, uranium, aluminium and zinc were detected in nearby lakes and rivers in 2012, and again in 2013 after waste water began to leak from the mine.

Zinc, nickel add a little lustre to Diggers – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Herald – August 4, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/business

As Diggers and Dealers delegates rolled in for day two of the annual mining conference, heavy heads from a late night in Kalgoorlie’s famous watering holes were unlikely to be relieved by an injection of optimism.

Commodity prices are down across the board. Since last year’s conference, base metals are down between 20 and 40 per cent, while gold is down about 15 per cent and iron ore has plummeted nearly 50 per cent during the year.

Australian domiciled gold producers, buoyed by the falling local currency, are a shining centre of attention at the conference but there are some other bright spots.

Despite a recent price slide that has forced some analysts to downgrade their price forecasts, zinc-focused companies at the conference attracted a considerable level of interest from analysts and investors at their marquee booths.

Zinc for delivery in three months has fallen to around $US1893 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.

Rob McEwen Interview: “This is Hurting Junior Miners More than the Gold Price” – by Angela Harmantas (Small Cap Power.com – July 28, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.smallcappower.com/

Mining executive Rob McEwen spoke with SmallCapPower correspondent Angela Harmantas recently, with the former Goldcorp CEO talking about his company McEwen Mining bouncing back from a robbery, explaining how junior gold miners can remain profitable in this environment and what is driving his belief that the gold price will bounce back in a big way.

Rob McEwen is one of the more vocal members of a diminishing minority of gold bugs. He certainly has the experience to back his claim that gold will hit US$5000 an ounce in the not-too-distant future: over his 25-year mining career, he grew Goldcorp into a multi-billion dollar company that ranks as one of the world’s largest producers of precious metals. Today, as the Chairman and Chief Owner of McEwen Mining (TSX: MUX), he is hoping to achieve the rarified status of becoming one of only two gold companies on the S&P 500 (the other being Newmont Mining).

There have been a few setbacks for McEwen Mining this year, however. In April, a brazen robbery occurred at the company’s flagship El Gallo 1 mine in Mexico, a loss of nearly $8.4 million in revenue. And the beating that gold stocks are taking in the market thanks to a depressed gold price has caused MUX shares to fall to levels that threaten its inclusion on the NYSE. In addition to these insular challenges, the entire gold industry is struggling to maintain a positive outlook as gold plummeted recently to less than US$1100 after China dumped nearly 5 tons of bullion and Morgan Stanley analysts predicted gold could soon hit $800.

Obama Didn’t Kill Coal, the Market Did – by Michael R. Bloomberg (Bloomberg News – August 4, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.bloombergview.com/

Critics of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Clean Power Plan are describing it in apocalyptic terms. But much of what they believe about the plan — that it will destroy the coal industry, kill jobs and raise costs for consumers — is wrong. And it’s important to understand why.

The overblown political rhetoric about the plan tends to obscure the market reality that the coal industry has been in steady decline for a decade, partly as a result of the natural gas boom, but mostly because consumers are demanding cleaner air and action on climate change.

Communities across the U.S. have led the way in persuading utilities to close dirty old coal plants and transition to cleaner forms of energy. The Sierra Club’s grass-roots Beyond Coal campaign (which Bloomberg Philanthropies funds) has helped close or phase out more than 200 coal plants over the past five years.

The primary reason for the public revolt against coal is simple: It causes death, disease and debilitating respiratory problems. A decade ago, coal pollution was killing 13,000 people a year. Today, the number is down to 7,500, which means that more than 5,000 Americans are living longer, healthier lives each year thanks to cleaner power.

COLUMN-Iron ore’s “bull market” shows rise of financial trading – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – August 3, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Aug 3 (Reuters) – One of the more fanciful notions from the recent rally in iron ore prices is that the steel-making ingredient is now back in a bull market.

Asian spot iron ore .IO62-CNI=SI does meet the technical definition of being in a bull market, having gained 25.4 percent between its record low of $44.10 a tonne on July 8 and the close of $55.30 on July 29.

Markets are said to be in a bull phase when the rally exceeds 20 percent, likewise they are in a bear period when the decline is greater than 20 percent.

Traders are more likely to talk about dead cat bounces than bull runs where iron ore is concerned, and the fact remains that despite the price rally, iron ore remains down 25.7 percent so far this year and is barely a quarter of what it was at its all-time high in early 2011.

The recent gain in spot prices is actually the second technical bull market already this year, following the 40 percent jump between the low of $46.70 a tonne on April 2 and the peak of $65.40 on June 11.

COMMENTARY: Mount Polley mine disaster’s first anniversary is no reason to celebrate – by Ana Simeon and Ugo Lapointe (The Stright.com – July 31, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.straight.com/

Ana Simeon is with Sierra Club B.C. Ugo Lapointe is with MiningWatch Canada.

On August 4 last year, Quesnel Lake residents and communities along the Fraser River were eagerly anticipating one of the largest sockeye returns in recent history.

What they got instead was a nightmare: over 24 billion litres of mine waste burst through Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley dam into their watershed.

Mount Polley is the largest mining waste spill in Canada’s history. The consequences and overall costs of this disaster concern us all, including a steep cost on the industry’s reputation and public trust.

Yet a year later, the mine is running again under a restricted permit. While both the company and the B.C. government attempt to be reassuring, many questions remain unanswered.

Rio wants exploration collaboration to discover next big seam – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Post – August 3, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/

Well-known West Australian explorer Mark Bennett has queried whether a plan by Rio Tinto to reinvigorate exploration in Australia through partnerships with junior mining companies will work as intended.

Rio has used its first presentation at the Diggers and Dealers conference in eight years to call for collaboration in exploration in order to find the next major mineral discovery in Australia.

The country’s miners are relying on deposits discovered at shallow depths more than 30 years ago and are struggling to discover further large, tier-one deposits at depth.

The current cost and risk of deeper exploration has meant many miners have abandoned exploration efforts altogether, opting for more bankable exploration around existing deposits (known as brownfields exploration) or in other countries, where resources remain shallow.

Speaking on the first day of the annual conference in Kalgoorlie, Rio Tinto exploration director Australasia Ian Ledlie extended an invitation to junior companies to use the global major’s mineral analysis technology to help prove up discoveries.

White House set to adopt sweeping curbs on carbon pollution – by Joby Warrick (Washington Post – August 1, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

The Obama administration will formally adopt an ambitious regulation for cutting greenhouse-gas pollution on Monday, requiring every state to reduce emissions from coal-burning power plants and putting the country on a course that could change the way millions of Americans get their electricity.

A retooled version of the administration’s Clean Power Plan, first proposed a year ago, will seek to accelerate the shift to renewable energy while setting tougher goals for slashing carbon emissions blamed for global warming, according to administration officials briefed on the details.

The new plan sets a goal of cutting carbon pollution from power plants by 32 percent by the year 2030, compared with 2005 levels — a 9 percent jump from the previous target of 30 percent — while rewarding states and utility companies that move quickly to expand their investment in solar and wind power.

Many states will face tougher requirements for lowering greenhouse-gas emissions under the revised plan.