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Gold mines are bleeding cash, but wave of closures unlikely – by Peter Koven (National Post – July 25, 2015)

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

The gold mining industry is in crisis. Prices are sinking. Mines are bleeding cash. Management teams are frantically trying to decide what to do.

One option, of course, is to simply shutter money-losing mines. Not only would this stop the bleeding, but it would also be very helpful to the overall gold market. Investors would love to see a vast wave of mine suspensions that could reduce supply and prop up prices.

Except, according to experts, there is almost no chance it will happen anytime soon.

This past week was a brutal one for gold, which sank 4.1 per cent to US$1,086 an ounce as the U.S. dollar continued to rally. Gold hasn’t been this low since early 2010, and it’s down more than 40 per cent from the high of US$1,900 that was reached four years ago.

At the current price, hundreds of mines that used to generate massive cash flow now operate on razor-thin margins. And many others are deep in the red.

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Gold Slump Not Over as Speculators Go Net-Short for First Time – by Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – July 27, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/

The slump in gold that took prices to a five-year low may have further to run after hedge funds swung into a net-short position for the first time.

The shift in New York futures and options came as speculators increased their bearish wagers to the highest since the U.S. government data begins in 2006. Long holdings declined for a fourth week.

Gold fell to the lowest since 2010 last week, and futures in New York are poised for the biggest monthly loss in two years. Prices are plunging amid mounting speculation that U.S. interest rates will climb this year, curbing the appeal of bullion because it doesn’t pay interest like competing assets. At the same time, China bought less of the metal than analysts were expecting, and the dollar is strengthening.

“You’re starting to see some real fear in the gold market for the first time,” said Eric Crittenden, the chief investment officer at Phoenix-based Longboard Asset Management LLC, who manages $304 million. The fund has been short since 2013 and increased those positions in March. “I’m not going to be the least bit surprised if this turns into something very significant and we get a lot lower prices.”

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Essar receives $60 M from governments – by Elaine Della-Mattia (Sault Star – July 27, 2015)

http://www.saultstar.com/

It’s being billed as the largest joint funding announcement Northern Ontario has seen in decades and could be the first of its kind since the Second World War.

And its being hailed by Essar Steel Algoma executives as an investment that will take the steelmaker into the next century, increase its output and competitiveness in the global markets, and create jobs.

In more than one year of planning and negotiations, the federal and provincial governments have joined together to provide Essar Steel Algoma with $60 million for its $240 million modernization plan.

The money includes a $30 million interest-free loan from the federal government’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund and a $30 million grant from the province’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines and Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. The company has 10 years to repay the loan.

The money will be used namely for three projects defined in the Plant Optimization and Expansion project, said Kaylan Ghosh, CEO of Essar Steel Algoma.

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Nunavik nickel firm wants to nearly double Raglan’s lifespan (Nunatsiaq News – July 27, 2015)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Glencore proposing to dig four new underground mines at Raglan

The operators of Nunavik’s Raglan nickel mine hope to expand its lifespan well beyond 2019, with the addition of five new underground mines across the region’s nickel belt.

Glencore, the corporation that operates Raglan and its four current underground mines, has submitted the project to the Kativik Environmental Quality Commission, which reviews the social and environmental impact of development in the region.

With current operations scheduled to wind down by 2019, Glencore completed a scoping study last year, the company said, which confirmed viable nickel deposits on the eastern half of the Raglan property. The first phase of the expansion would include two underground mines, called Mine 14 and Donaldson, which would operate from 2019 to 2032.

The exploitation of three new underground mines, Mine 8, Boundary and Boundary West, could extend production from 2023 to 2039, Glencore said in a preliminary information document submitted to the KEQC in 2014.

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Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest: A bundle of contradictions – by Stephen Long (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – July 27, 2015)

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

Andrew Forrest is a bundle of contradictions. He is a man who professes his love for Aboriginal people, but plays tough when they stand in the way of his mines.

He is a free-marketeer who went close to arguing for an industry cartel, and a generous philanthropist, who has shackled his charities to his commercial interests. This year, Mr Forrest has been calling for a Parliamentary Inquiry into the iron ore market.

Twiggy is standing up for the battlers and the national interest against “multinationals” BHP and Rio Tinto, he says, who have deliberately driven down the iron ore price.

He has accused them of talking down the price and of pumping out too much volume. Leave aside the inconvenient fact that no company is more responsible for the expansion of iron ore exports in recent years than his.

There is much to admire about the man they call Twiggy (a moniker, owing to his surname Forrest, he has been stuck with since childhood).

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Mozambique ruby mine boosts global supply – by Jessica Diamond (Financial Times – September 5, 2014)

 

http://www.ft.com/

Coloured gemstones dominate today’s global fine jewellery market, sparkling in the windows of Bond Street, Place Vendôme and beyond. Rubies, particularly the deep red colour known as pigeon blood, are among the most prized stones, but supplies had become scarce until recent months.

This was largely because of a US ban on imports from Myanmar, one of the world’s most important ruby mining countries. But human rights abuses under the country’s military dictatorship had led to sanctions.

Yet demand remained high, especially in India and China, where red is regarded as a symbol of wealth.

The ethical conundrum continued until 2012, when Gemfields, a mining company specialising in ethically sourced coloured gemstones, acquired a 75 per cent interest in the Montepuez ruby deposit in Mozambique.

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The dangerous world of Pakistan’s gem trade – by Adnan R. Khan (MACLEAN’S Magazine – May 24, 2014)


http://www.macleans.ca/

Inside the world’s oldest gem market in Pakistan, home to terrorist financiers and drug smugglers

“Twenty-thousand dollars.” That’s how much Jalil says the blood-red ruby he is holding is worth. “It’s not my best,” says the 47-year-old gem trader. “My best pieces I only show to people holding a bag of cash.” A hush descends over the small group of men huddled around a lamp in Jalil’s shop.

The ruby, three near-flawless carats, glimmers with a surreal clarity. Other gemstones lie scattered on crisp white sheets of paper—sapphires from Kashmir, emeralds from Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, citrine and aquamarine—making the dark, windowless office feel like a cave of treasures.

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Shelter From Gold Rout: Australian Miners Provide Safe Haven – by David Stringer and Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – July 24, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

As gold prices have sunk to the lowest level since 2010, canny investors are seeking refuge in Australian gold mining stocks.

The key is the plunging Australia currency that’s helping local producers boost margins even as the U.S.-dollar denominated metal slides. While spot gold tumbled 16 percent in the past year, the metal’s price in Australian-dollar terms has risen about 8 percent.

That’s helped the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index of 21 Australian miners gain 12 percent this year as of Thursday, as the benchmark Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index slumped 31 percent.

Suppliers in Australia, the second-largest producing nation, benefit by selling the metal in U.S. dollars while their costs and profits are mostly denominated in the weaker local currency. The Aussie fell Friday to a six-year low.

“A weak Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar powerfully expands Aussie miner margins,” William Kaye, the Hong Kong-based owner of The Pacific Group Ltd. and chief investment officer of its Greater Asian hedge fund, said in an e-mailed response to questions. This would make Australian miners attractive to investors, he said.

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PRESS RELEASE: Commodity Prices Expected to Remain Weak in 2015 Despite Slight Rebound in Oil Price

Special feature assesses how China and India play significant roles in world commodity markets

Click here for the World Bank July 2015 Commodity Markets Outlook report: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1304428586133/GEP2015c_commodity_Jul2015.pdf

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2015 –The World Bank is nudging up its 2015 forecast for crude oil prices from $53 in April to $57 per barrel after oil prices rose 17 percent in the Apr-Jun quarter, according to the Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook, a quarterly update on the state of the international commodity markets.

The Bank reports that energy prices rose 12 percent in the quarter, with the surge in oil offset by declines in natural gas (down 13 percent) and coal prices (down 4 percent). However, the Bank expects energy prices to average 39 percent below 2014 levels. Natural gas prices are projected to decline across all three main markets—U.S., Europe, and Asia—and coal prices to fall 17 percent. Excluding energy, the World Bank reports a 2 percent decline in prices for the quarter, and forecasts that non-energy prices will average 12 percent below 2014 levels this year.

“Demand for crude oil was higher than expected in the second quarter. Despite the marginal increase in the price forecast for 2015, large inventories and rising output from OPEC members suggest prices will likely remain weak in the medium-term,” said John Baffes, Senior Economist and lead author of Commodity Markets Outlook.

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People around Earl Grey, Sask., discuss proposed potash mine (CBC News Saskatchewan – July 23, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/

Public meeting held in Earl Grey

People from around Earl Grey, Sask., took part in a public meeting Thursday to discuss a proposed Chinese-owned potash mine in the area.

Yancoal Canada, which operates coal mines in China and Australia, is proposing a potash mine with an annual output of 2.8 million tonnes near the communities of Earl Grey, Southey and Strasbourg.

Prior to the meeting, local resident Cathi Beckel said she has concerns about the project, noting there are too many risks — including water security issues and a boom and bust job situation — with too few benefits.

“I’m concerned about our environment. I’m concerned about our farmers. I’m concerned about our communities,” Beckel said. “These big industries come in and they really change communities.”

Representatives from Yancoal, and provincial officials from the ministries of the economy and the environment were at the meeting to make presentations on the proposal. There was also a question and answer session.

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Commentary: Fulfilling CSR goals without violating anti-corruption laws -by Mark N. Sills and Jennifer L. Egsgard (Northern Miner – July 22, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly important to successful business operations. Yet CSR initiatives are often developed without attention to possible liability under anti-corruption laws.

CSR once referred primarily to a company’s voluntary philanthropic projects, such as donating to a local charity or building a school. While these types of projects are still important, today the term CSR refers more broadly to a corporate responsibility to understand and address the various impacts a company’s operations may have on its stakeholders in the economic, social and environmental spheres, as well as their relationships in the workplace, the marketplace, the supply chain, the community and the public policy realm.

An example of this newer concept of CSR is set out in the widely endorsed UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These “Guiding Principles” state that businesses have a responsibility to respect all internationally recognized human rights by avoiding infringement on the human rights of others, conducting due diligence to monitor rights impacts and addressing adverse human rights impacts that may arise out of their operations.

CSR and anti-corruption initiatives are often approached differently both conceptually and within companies, yet they are linked.

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Empire Editorial: Canada can say ‘no’ to mining (Juneau Empire – July 24, 2015)

http://juneauempire.com/

This newspaper in the past year has questioned Canada’s mining standards, including if they exist. In light of the August 2014 failure of the Mount Polley Mine tailings dam that sent billions of gallons of toxic tailings and contaminated water into Southeast Alaska waters, there is ample reason to be concerned.

But there’s also reason to be hopeful, however, that Southeast residents’ concerns are being listened to across the border.

The recent decision by Canadian officials to send Pacific Booker Minerals, Inc., back to the drawing board to reassess its plans for the Morrison Mine, a proposed open pit copper and gold mine in the Skeena River watershed, is a promising sign for those concerned with environmental consequences down stream.

Pacific Booker Minerals was denied an Environmental Assessment certificate not once but twice, as Empire reporter Mary Catherine Martin wrote in an article published in today’s Outdoors section. The second came after the mining company sued and the BC Supreme Court asked the country’s Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Energy and Mines to reconsider its 2012 denial.

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Sudbury study to examine mental health of miners – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – July 24, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A research project on the mental health of workers in the mining industry is exactly the type of study Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn would like to see more of in Ontario.

The three-year, $400,000 study, funded by Vale Ltd., is a partnership among the mining company, United Steelworkers and Laurentian University’s Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH).

The goal of the study, called Mining Mental Health, is to collect information to develop strategies to promote strong mental health among workers in Vale’s Ontario operations.

Flynn paid his first visit to a mine earlier this year when he went underground at Vale’s Coleman Mine.

Travelling 5,000 feet below surface “was quite the experience for a city kid,” Flynn told about 100 people in the lobby of Laurentian’s Ben Avery building Thursday.

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Lacking proof, Mitsubishi unwilling to apologize to Canadian POWs [Mine slave labour] – by Iain Marlow (Globe and Mail – July 24, 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.

On Christmas morning, 1944, 23-year-old Corporal George Peterson of the Winnipeg Grenadiers was told by his Japanese guards that he wouldn’t have to go down the Mitsubishi-owned coal mine that day.

Mr. Peterson, who had already spent three grueling years as a prisoner of war, said it looked as though the POWs were about to get a break from the slave-like working conditions. The guards first dragged out a fir tree, then brought out extra food for the famished prisoners, including riceballs and beer.

“They lined us up behind the table and took a picture,” says Mr. Peterson, now 94. But then “they said we could go back down the mine. … When we came up from the mine at about 5 p.m., the guards were laughing at us, saying the food was pretty good. We laughed right back, because we were trying not to let them know how much it hurt.”

Nearly 70 years after the end of the Second World War, Mitsubishi Materials Corp. has begun to issue historic apologies to POWs – but it has not yet apologized to Canadians.

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Canadian firms cry foul over Kenyan government as Obama visits – by Peter Koven (National Post – July 24, 2015)

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

U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Kenya, which begins on Friday, is an event that country’s government has awaited for years.

With the world’s attention focused on Kenya, the birthplace of Obama’s father, the East African nation has an opportunity to show it welcomes foreign investment and does not tolerate corruption. As such, one of the last topics the government wants anyone to bring up is Canadian resource companies that are fighting it in court.

Two small companies, Vanoil Energy Ltd. and Pacific Wildcat Resources Corp., have begun international arbitration cases against Kenya, claiming they lost access to their properties under very peculiar circumstances. Vanoil is seeking US$150 million (and is threatening additional litigation), while Pacific Wildcat wants more than US$2 billion, according to a report.

Interviews with executives at the two companies paint a troublesome portrait of Kenyan government officials willing to push out companies that own concessions. Kenya has traditionally been viewed as one of Africa’s most attractive places to invest, but political risk, along with a tenuous security situation, are harming that perception.

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