Republic of Mining

Gravelle says province is committed to working with First Nations on Ring of Fire – by Jodi Lundmark (tbnewswatch.com – March 26, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/default.aspx

THUNDER BAY — The Minister of Northern Development and Mines is taking the concerns of First Nation leaders seriously and says they have an important role to play in the development of the Ring of Fire.

“The province, our government, remains absolutely committed to continuing the work we are doing with the Matawa First Nations related to implemented the regional framework agreement,” said Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North) Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, chiefs of the Matawa First Nations held a press conference to speak out against the news earlier this week that Noront Resources Inc. was maneuvering to purchase 103 Ring of Fire claims from subsidiaries of Cliffs Natural Resources, meanwhile setting a March 31 deadline to reveal the terms of reference for its environmental assessment process for claims the company had already staked, mainly it’s Eagle’s Next nickel project.

The Matawa First Nation chiefs believe the company is operating beyond a framework agreement they signed last year with Ontario and that First Nations should have a say in the transaction. Gravelle said he heard the chiefs’ concerns and is taking them seriously, but he is also encouraged.

Noront Resources Looking to Move Holistically with First Nations – Netnewsledger’s James Murray Interviews Noront’s CEO Al Coutts (March 27, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – MINING – Noront Resources CEO and President Al Coutts shares details on the company’s purchase of Cliffs Natural Resources properties in the Ring of Fire in Northwestern Ontario.

Noront Resources, Coutts explains has gone through a “game changing” process from being one of the very junior mining companies to a whole new status.

Coutts states that changes many things and he is looking to meet with First Nations leaders from Matawa First Nations, the Ontario and Federal Governments with an eye to seeing how this entire project can not move forward.

COLUMN-Bauxite and the limits of resource nationalism – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – March 27, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – It’s been over a year now since Indonesia imposed its ban on the export of unprocessed minerals. The aim of the January 2014 lock-down is to generate greater value for the country and its citizens by forcing operators to build processing plants and export value-added product not raw materials.

Other resource-rich countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, are travelling the same road but Indonesia is way out in front.

The country’s high-stakes strategy, implemented in the face of considerable opposition from both its own mining sector and overseas buyers, does appear to be largely working.

At a practical level flows of nickel ore and bauxite to Chinese buyers have been halted. Indonesia’s mining ministry says there are now 11 nickel-processing projects under way, many of them backed by Chinese nickel and stainless steel producers.

The country’s two top copper miners, Freeport McMoRan and Newmont Indonesia, have been successfully cajoled into committing to a new copper smelter in return for keeping their mining rights.

UPDATE 2-Iron ore slump set to shrink China’s mining capacity – by David Stanway (Reuters U.S. – March 27, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

SHIJIAZHUANG, China, March 27 (Reuters) – A slide in iron ore prices is turning the screw on China’s fragmented mining sector, paving the way for closures and consolidation with three-quarters of the country’s mining capacity operating at a loss, industry officials said on Friday.

More mine closures in China, the biggest consumer of the steelmaking commodity, would increase its appetite for imported iron ore and help ease a global glut that has slashed prices by more than half in the past 12 months.

“I would like to thank the big four miners for driving prices down because it has given bigger domestic mines an opportunity and forced small miners to cut production,” Gao Yan, deputy general manager at the mining unit of Chinese steelmaker Angang Group, told an industry conference.

Top global producers Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have boosted output despite falling prices, prompting No. 4 iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group to propose limiting production. The commodity fell to $54.20 a tonne .IO62-CNI=SI this week, the lowest since records began in 2008, and Citigroup predicted prices will drop below $50.

Barrick Gold Mints 35 Partners as It Seeks Revitalization – by Liezell Hill (Bloomberg News – March 26, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Barrick Gold Corp. Executive Chairman John Thornton wants his executives to have skin in the game. To do that, he’s rolling out a Wall Street-style partnership to give them significant stakes in the world’s largest gold producer.

Barrick this month named its inaugural 35 partners, a group that includes mine managers as well as the most senior officers at its Toronto headquarters, according an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg.

Partners will receive long-term incentive-based pay in the form of restricted stock that can’t be sold until retirement or departure. The shares will comprise more than 50 percent of total compensation for the six most senior executives in the partnership if targets are met, and after five years all the partners will be required to hold stock worth multiples their base salaries, according to Andy Lloyd, a Barrick spokesman.

A partnership model is something more typically associated with financial services, according to Steve Chan, a consultant who advises on corporate pay. Its adoption by Thornton, a one-time senior banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is indicative of his intentions to return Barrick to its entrepreneurial roots after becoming weighed down by debt amid falling gold prices.

NEWS RELEASE: Is Northern Europe the new mining Eldorado?

March 27, 2015

More information can be found on the website http://www.europeminingsummit.com

The Europe Mining 2015 Summit, organised by Global Summits organizer IRN on 17-18 June in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, will gather senior level representatives from the European Commission and the international mining industry to help delegates plan their business activities taking advantage of the new opportunities offered in the region.

London (PRWEB UK) 27 March 2015

As falling oil price fuels lower costs for miners, the iron ore market is expanding in Europe. International mining companies are in search of rare earths in the continent, in particular uranium, iron ore, nickel, gold and phosphorus. It is predicted that northern Europe will soon host more mining projects.

Finland is often described as northern Europe’s top destination for mining investment thanks to its significant copper, silver, iron ore, nickel and zinc reserves and as global warming uncovers precious metals, the country is expected to be one of the world’s next major mining frontiers.

Sweden is home to the world’s largest iron ore mine, which produces 90 percent of all the iron in Europe. A few days ago, a Canadian company has expressed to “look forward to exciting results ahead” after having successfully staked two nickel deposits with historical resources in northern Sweden. It is estimated that in 2025, Sweden could triple its mining production.

Northern First Nations concerned about the sale of claims in Ring of Fire – CBC Sudbury Points North’s Jason Turnbull Interviews CBC Reporter Jody Porter (March 26, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury Chiefs from the First Nations closest to the Ring of Fire say the Noront deal has left them disillusioned with their discussions with the province. Click here for the interview: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Ontario/Up+North/ID/2660868646/

Underneath the chrome [Ring of Fire] – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – March 27, 2015)

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

Why Franco-Nevada is playing in the Ring of Fire.

The Ring of Fire, an Achaean greenstone belt in Northern Ontario, has become synonymous with – and infamous for – chromite. Cliffs Natural Resources was until couple years ago to put the region on the map as a new global mining centre of the stuff. It has, as many will recall, scuttled those plans and agreed to sell its assets – chiefly a series of chromite deposits, but also a lot of interesting exploration claims – in the Ring of Fire to Noront Resources, the leading junior still operating in the remote region. Among other chromite assets it is chiefly developing a modest-sized nickel-copper-palladium deposit.

At the heart of the deal is Franco-Nevada, the leading gold royalty company. It’s lending Noront $22.5 million to cover the $20 million acquisition cost of the assets. Along with the five-year loan at 7% interest, payable in an accumulated lump sum at the end, it’s also paying Noront $3.5 million to secure Franco-Nevada a couple NSR (net smelter return) royalties. Most directly, Franco-Nevada is to get a 3% NSR in Cliffs’ large chromite deposit, Black Thor.

Franco-Nevada: Chromite? Of course in the grand scheme of things Franco-Nevada is not that floored about chromite. This should come as no surprise. For, if getting the NSR on Cliffs’ old stomping ground is kind of nice –

First Nations oppose Noront, Cliffs deal in Ring of Fire – by Jody Porter (CBC News Thunder Bay – March 26, 2015)

March 26, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay

‘We’re not in such a rush. We’re willing to do this well,” Eabametoong Chief Elizabeth Atlookan says

Plans by Noront Resources to buy Cliffs’ chromite assets in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining area are a “barrier to future opportunities” and a “threat to aboriginal and treaty rights,” say First Nations chiefs opposed to the deal.

Noront announced the $20-million deal on Monday. The purchase requires court approval and won’t be finalized until at least mid-April because Cliffs’ Quebec subsidiary is in restructuring proceedings under the Companies’s Creditors Arrangement Act.

The Matawa Chiefs Council, representing the eight First Nations closest to the proposed mine sites, went public Wednesday with plans to stall the deal before it is finalized.

“Our rights to the chromite deposit are recognized by the fact that the province and mining companies have already made promises to share revenues and benefits from development,” said Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias. “We should have had a voice in the sale.”

Beijing to Shut All Major Coal Power Plants to Cut Pollution (Bloomberg News – March 23, 2015)

March 26, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Beijing, where pollution averaged more than twice China’s national standard last year, will close the last of its four major coal-fired power plants next year.

The capital city will shutter China Huaneng Group Corp.’s 845-megawatt power plant in 2016, after last week closing plants owned by Guohua Electric Power Corp. and Beijing Energy Investment Holding Co., according to a statement Monday on the website of the city’s economic planning agency. A fourth major power plant, owned by China Datang Corp., was shut last year.

The facilities will be replaced by four gas-fired stations with capacity to supply 2.6 times more electricity than the coal plants.

The closures are part of a broader trend in China, which is the world’s biggest carbon emitter. Facing pressure at home and abroad, policy makers are racing to address the environmental damage seen as a byproduct of breakneck economic growth. Beijing plans to cut annual coal consumption by 13 million metric tons by 2017 from the 2012 level in a bid to slash the concentration of pollutants.

Shutting all the major coal power plants in the city, equivalent to reducing annual coal use by 9.2 million metric tons, is estimated to cut carbon emissions of about 30 million tons, said Tian Miao, a Beijing-based analyst at North Square Blue Oak Ltd., a London-based research company with a focus on China.

Barnett, Rio chief join Rinehart to pan Forrest collusion plan – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – March 27, 2015)

March 26, 2015

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

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has rejected fellow mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s call for an Australian iron ore cartel, adding to industry condemnation that has included Rio Tinto chief Sam Walsh calling the scheme “hare-brained”.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett, who has called for BHP Billiton and Rio to stop flooding the market with excess iron ore and said their strategy was “dumb”, has backed away from the notion of joint action between suppliers, saying it would be illegal.

Mr Forrest, chairman and founder of Perth’s Fortescue Metals Group, has come under investigation from the competition watchdog this week for declaring that Rio, BHP Billiton and Fortescue should unite to cut production to drive prices higher.

The plan, labelled “extraordinary” and “concerning” by Australian Competition & Consumer Commission boss Rod Sims and “absolute nonsense” by Mr Walsh, would benefit Hancock’s Roy Hill project if it pushed prices higher, as Mr Forrest claims it would.

But Mrs Rinehart, the nation’s richest person, rejects the call. “There is nothing Australia can do about price other than be ready for it, and from an Australian perspective that means driving down our costs,” Hancock executive director, and Mrs Rinehart’s right-hand man, Tad Watroba, said yesterday from Hong Kong.

THE DEADLY GLOBAL WAR FOR SAND – by Vince Beiser (Wired.com – March 26, 2015)

March 26, 2015

http://www.wired.com/category/business

THE KILLERS ROLLED slowly down the narrow alley, three men jammed onto a single motorcycle. It was a little after 11 am on July 31, 2013, the sun beating down on the low, modest residential buildings lining a back street in the Indian farming village of Raipur. Faint smells of cooking spices, dust, and sewage seasoned the air. The men stopped the bike in front of the orange door of a two-story brick-and-plaster house. Two of them dismounted, eased open the unlocked door, and slipped into the darkened bedroom on the other side. White kerchiefs covered their lower faces. One of them carried a pistol.

Inside the bedroom Paleram Chauhan, a 52-year-old farmer, was napping after an early lunch. In the next room, his wife and daughter-in-law were cleaning up while Paleram’s son played with his own 3-year-old boy.

Gunshots thundered through the house. Preeti Chauhan, Paleram’s daughter-in-law, rushed into Paleram’s room, her husband, Ravindra, right behind her. Through the open door, they saw the killers jump back on their bike and roar away.

Paleram lay on his bed, blood bubbling out of his stomach, neck, and head. “He was trying to speak, but he couldn’t,” Preeti says, her voice breaking with tears. Ravindra borrowed a neighbor’s car and rushed his father to a hospital, but it was too late. Paleram was dead on arrival.

[Ring of Fire] Canada’s “Next Oil Sands Miracle” a Bust – by Rich Duprey (The Motley Fool – March 26, 2015)

March 26, 2015

http://www.fool.com/?source=illsitima0000001

Once billed as the economic equivalent of Canada’s oil sands industry, the vast oil deposits in the country’s western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, where 97% of its oil reserves reside, Ontario’s Ring of Fire chromite region held the promise of being an engine of economic growth in its own right worth somewhere north of $120 billion.

Unfortunately it was also mired in parochial biases and competing interests that served to quench any fire for success.

A fraction of its value

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF ) was once thought to hold the key to unlocking its potential, but after suspending work in 2013 on its $3.3 billion Black Thor chromite deposit, it gave up all hope of the region ever being developed and began an orderly exit from Canada. That culminated earlier this week with the sale of all of its chromite projects to one of the Ring of Fire’s other interested parties, Noront Resources (NASDAQOTH: NOSOF ) .

Six years ago the two had engaged in a protracted bidding for the rights to the chromite properties with Cliffs emerging victorious and agreeing to pay about $240 million.

Mining analyst weighs in on sale of Cliffs’ Ring of Fire – CBC Sudbury Points North’s Jason Turnbull Interviews Mining Policy Analyst Stan Sudol (March 25, 2015)

March 26, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury The mining policy analyst and owner/editor of www.republicofmining.com, Stan Sudol says the Noront Resources got a good deal in its purchase of Cliffs Natural Resources stake in the Ring of Fire. Click here: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Ontario/Up+North/ID/2660705564/

Investors pinning hopes on a nickel comeback – by Barry FitzGerald (The Australian – March 27, 2015)

March 26, 2015

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

Talisman Mining (TLM)

It has got to be of some comfort to the band of ASX-listed nickel juniors that despite the price of the metal not going on with last year’s price rally, their market capitalisations have held up well.

Nickel got to $US21,000 a tonne last year on enthusiasm that Indonesia’s ban on the export of unprocessed ores was a big structural change that meant prices had to head higher. Prices for the steelmaking ingredient did for a while, but are now back at $US13,680 a tonne.

But again, the values of junior producers like Western Areas (WSA), Panoramic (PAN) and Mincor (MCR) have held up well, at least in the sense that they have not given back all of their gains achieved during last year’s price surge.

The fall in the dollar has helped. But the bigger reason seems to be that investors are betting that the nickel price is going to come storming back at some point. Macquarie’s equities desk estimates that the share prices of PAN and MCR appear to be factoring in a nickel price 50 per cent higher than the current price, and in the case of WSA, 27 per cent higher.