Republic of Mining

‘India poised to be world’s 3rd largest economy’ (Business Standard – March 9, 2015)

March 9, 2015

As India’s investment climate seems to be improving, the moment might not be far away for the country to emerge as the world’s third economy, says Jim O’Neill who is better known for coining the acronym BRIC.

“It is probably too early to say with certainty that India will soon take its place as the world’s third largest economy, behind China and the United States. But, given that India’s investment climate seems to be improving, that moment might not be too far away,” he said in a recent commentary posted on Project Syndicate website.

“By 2017, India could surpass Italy and Brazil to become the world’s seventh largest economy; by 2020, there is a reasonable chance that it will overtake France and the United Kingdom to become the fifth largest,” O’Neill, who was recently in India, said.

Way back in 2001, O’Neill, had coined the acronym BRIC — the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China — while mentioning about growth prospects in large emerging markets.

O’Neill, a former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is now a Honorary Professor of Economics at Manchester University and Chairman of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, among other roles.

Platinum in Your Car Set to Shrink Shiny Stockpiles: Commodities – by Andre Janse Van Vuuren (Bloomberg News – March 5, 2015)

March 9, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Shrinking platinum stockpiles, growing demand from carmakers and new uses being trotted out in the energy field are stoking producers’ expectations that prices of the metal are poised to rebound from a five-year low.

Production of the shiny metal, used for jewelry and in catalytic converters in cars, will fall short of consumption this year by about 500,000 ounces, according to a January estimate by Credit Suisse Group AG. That’s prompting industry leaders to debate how long it will take for buyers to use up reserves and start paying more for a less available product.

Platinum is “in its strongest position” in a decade, said Chris Griffith, chief executive officer of Johannesburg-based Anglo American Platinum Ltd., the industry’s largest producer. “The fundamentals are that demand is increasing.”

Griffith said he believes prices will begin trending upwards relatively soon. Meanwhile, Terence Goodlace, CEO of Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the second-biggest producer, sees increases further out, estimating it will be two to 2 1/2 years for excess supplies to be depleted, with prices starting to recover in the second half of next year.

“The above-ground stocks for us is still a very, very big thing,” Goodlace told reporters at a media round table.

Rick Rule: Gold price ‘could easily see $1,000’ – by Frik Els (Mining.com – March 6, 2015)

March 9, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

Gold on Friday plunged more than $30 an ounce after a better-than-expected US jobs report saw the dollar soar to multi-year highs.

In heavy trade of more than 20m ounces in New York, gold for delivery in April fell $32.33 an ounce or 2.7% from Thursday’s close hitting a low of $1,163.87 an ounce during one of the worst trading days in a year.

Gold is now at the lowest price since mid-November and more than $140 below its 2015 high struck January 22. Gold’s gains earlier this year were ascribed to safe haven buying amid currency turmoil, a slowing global economy, geopolitical concerns, the fallout of the collapse in oil prices and a debt crisis in the eurozone.

But with the first hike in more than six years likely at the Fed’s June meeting raising the opportunity costs of holding gold, traders refocused their attention on fundamental factors.

Gold reacts counter to confidence and it would appear that there is a lot of confidence in the market. Higher rates also boost the value of the dollar which on Friday hit fresh 12-year highs against the currencies of major US trading partners. The greenback has strengthened by more than 20% over the last year.

Prospector of the year – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – March 6, 2015)

March 9, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

And this year’s award for ‘Amazing Exploration Genius’ goes to…Western Australia. In an industry overweight with large, usual male egos and aggressive credit-taking, we tend to celebrate the individual.

The amazing CEO. The hardened, relentless prospector. The brilliant geologist. And each year they get their awards for driving, overseeing and being lucky in making significant discoveries.

Often, the praise is well-deserved, when they have played an instrumental role in doing one of the hardest things you can do: find a major deposit. I do it myself. I sometimes profile the person who “made” the big discovery, usually the geologist who targeted the obvious discovery drillhole. It’s exciting.

So we like to celebrate the genius – a trait shared by society at large, obsessed as it is with celebrity, of all kinds. But in focusing on the individual in mining, we overlook some very important players: namely governments that expend significant financial and cerebral resources on supporting exploration.

Indeed, maybe, given what can be their driving role in discovery, it’d be worth a class of award on its own: Best government in exploration. Really.

Can Mick Davis build another Xstrata? – by Stephen Bartholomeusz (Business Spectator – March 6, 2015)

March 9, 2015

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/

Mick Davis’s announcement overnight that his X2 Resources has raised $US5.6 billion could be a signal that he is about to begin the much-anticipated reprising of the game-plan that created Xstrata. Or else it could be another false dawn.

X2 announced that it had successfully completed its “initial” capital raising, securing $US5.6 billion in equity capital from a small number of “word-class” investors to create a new “mid-tier diversified” mining and metals group.

It described the raising, which comprises $US4 billion in committed capital available for immediate drawn-down and $US1.6 billion in conditional equity, as “one of the largest ever first-time raises by a private vehicle”.

The uncertainty about what the raising foreshadows relates to three earlier announcements by X2. The first, in 2013, not long after the merger/takeover of Xstrata by Glencore that saw Davis ousted as chief executive, announced that Noble Group and TPG had agreed to invest $US500 million each in X2.

The second, in March last year, was an announcement that X2 had secured $US2.5 billion in committed capital and another $US1.25 billion in conditional capital from five investors, including Noble, TPG, sovereign wealth and pension fund investors.

‘Major step forward for the Ring of Fire’ – by Greg Rickford (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – March 9, 2015)

March 9, 2015

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Greg Rickford, MP for Kenora, is Minister of Natural Resources and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.

This past week I was pleased to announce important support for Northern Ontario at the world’s largest mineral exploration conference and trade show. I feel strongly that the measures introduced by our government enhance Northern Ontario’s mining and resource development potential, creating and protecting Canadian jobs and opportunities.

Supporting the province’s efforts to develop the Ring of Fire is a priority for our government, and we are delivering. My provincial colleague, Michael Gravelle, and I met this January and agreed to further co-operation with a particular focus on specific, tangible infrastructure projects to support extractive activities and access to remote communities.

I agreed that should we become aware of appropriate initiatives, we would let one another know. FedNor became aware of a suitable proposal, and I engaged my counterpart.

One month later, we were joined in Toronto by First Nations and municipal leaders for the announcement of a plan to enhance economic prosperity and community access to the Ring of Fire region.

NEWS RELEASE: LAURENTIAN ENGINEERING STUDENTS MAKE HISTORY

March 9, 2015

Both Bharti School’s Junior, Senior Design teams Win Canadian Engineering Competition

SUDBURY, ON (MARCH 8, 2015) – Laurentian University’s Bharti School of Engineering makes history as both Junior and Senior Design teams win the 2015 Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Results of the CEC were announced at an awards banquet at Memorial University on Saturday evening.

After the Junior Design team won the Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) last month and the Senior Design team came in second, both teams qualified to represent Ontario at the nationwide 2015 CEC. Laurentian’s Junior Design team members are: Aidan Simpson, Colin Roos, Matthew Bennison and Stephane Labine. Members of the Senior Design team are: Caitlin Roos, Jasmin Lemieux, Louis-Francis Tremblay and Philip O’Connor.

“This is truly an exceptional moment for Laurentian University and for the Bharti School of Engineering,” said Dr. Ramesh Subramanian, Director, Bharti School of Engineering. “For the first time in our University’s history we had both Junior and Senior Design teams represent Ontario on a national stage in the same year and we are inspired by their performance,” he said.

Teams competed in the following categories: Communications Engineering, Consulting Engineering, Innovative Design, Junior Design, Extemporaneous Debate, Re-Engineering, and Senior Design.

Take-Over Bids in Canada – A Must Read for Businesses, Boards and Bidders

March 6, 2015

http://www.fasken.com/en/home/

Click here for the 2015 Canadian Take-Over Bid Study

Toronto (Canada) – February 19, 2015 – International business law firm Fasken Martineau has released the results of a new 10-year empirical analysis of contested corporate take-overs in Canada. It arrives just as Canada’s securities regulators are set to release a proposal to make the most significant changes to the take-over bid rules in years, with the goal of levelling the playing field between bidders and target companies in unsolicited acquisitions.

Examining all 143 hostile take-over contests for control between 2005-14, Fasken Martineau’s study offers a sweeping, insightful overview of a decade’s worth of contested M&A deals in Canada. The research offers some surprising findings and will be of interest to all participants in Canada’s thriving M&A market, including boards, shareholders, bidders, advisors and regulators.

The study was co-authored by Fasken Martineau corporate partners in Toronto Aaron J. Atkinson and Bradley A. Freelan, both of whom have extensive experience advising in M&A, including contested transactions.

The study is the first of its kind in Canada and coincides with expected amendments to the Canadian take-over bid regime by the country’s securities regulators. In Canada, unlike the United States, boards do not have the ability to “just say no” to a hostile bidder to prevent it from proceeding. This has led to a spirited debate in Canada as to the proper role of the board in a transaction that is ultimately between the bidder and shareholders.

Polish Coal Miners Ride Solidarity Legacy to Oblivion – by Ladka Mortkowitz and BauerovaMarek Strzelecki (Bloomberg News – March 6, 2015)

March 6, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — For decades, Polish coal miners have enjoyed benefits that are the envy of their working class countrymen: An annual bonus of two months’ pay regardless of performance, company-sponsored holidays, retirement before 50, and no weekend shifts. Today, that legacy of the communist era threatens the mostly state-owned mining sector and is digging a hole in the national budget.

To understand why reform remains elusive, take a drive through Upper Silesia, the coal-rich region in southern Poland that’s home to two dozen mines. The snowy countryside, drained of color in the feeble winter light, is framed by smoking chimney stacks and elevator towers that haul coal up from the pits.

Even as European coal prices have fallen by half in recent years and producers have struggled, powerful unions have foiled government attempts to close failing operations, cut jobs, and restore the sector to profitability. In January, the Economy Ministry cautioned that without significant restructuring Kompania Weglowa SA — the European Union’s largest coal producer — risked bankruptcy.

With their historical ties to Lech Walesa’s Solidarity, Poland’s roughly 100,000 miners are clinging to their jobs. Their unions’ links to the 1980’s movement mean they can easily forge alliances across the political spectrum — and threaten any reform-minded government with widespread strikes.

Cda. gaining poor rep starting up mining projects — Charest – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – March 5, 2015)

March 6, 2015

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Former Quebec premier Jean Charest told a breakfast audience in Timmins Thursday that government needs to be more pro-active when it comes to resource development because Canada is getting a reputation as a place where such projects do not get done quickly enough.

Charest was in Timmins as part of a quick cross-country tour for the Partnership for Resource Trade (PRT), a pro-resources organization.

Charest was in Vancouver and Winnipeg earlier this week and after his appearance in Timmins he will be speaking in Moncton and Halifax next week. The tour is sponsored by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

“The PRT is a group put that was together so we can have a much better dialogue about the future of resources in Canada and what role it plays in our economy,” Charest explained, adding there is growing concern about how resources are being managed.

“There is a sense that we must, in Canada, have a much, much better debate, dialogue, conversation, call it what we want, about the future of resources and how we manage them,” Charest told the Timmins business audience at Cedar Meadows Resort.

As a private sector lawyer, Charest travels the world setting up and negotiating agreements for Canadian mining companies. He said this gives him insight into how others see our country.

First Nations seek to reset relationship with Queen’s Park – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 3, 2015)

March 6, 2015

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy is confident that a new relationship is emerging with Queen’s Park following a summit late last fall designed to find common ground on key issues that will allow resource development to proceed in the Far North.

First Nation leaders from across Ontario met in late November for a “Leaders in the Legislature” event with Ontario cabinet ministers in Toronto to table Aboriginal priorities starting at the community level.

Beardy called the intensive three-day event “a step in the right direction” with a series of roundtables on resource benefits and revenue sharing, treaty awareness, health, education, infrastructure, economic development and missing and murdered indigenous women.

The chiefs matched their issues with the appropriate ministers based on their mandate letters from the premier. Beardy said First Nations aren’t out to block resource development projects, but the law is on their side and must be allowed to participate and benefit from them.

With a number of Supreme Court decisions recognizing Aboriginal title to land – include last June’s Tsilhqot’in decision in British Columbia – Beardy said First Nations are taking a more proactive approach in discussing priority issues with government.

Copper faces looming supply gap – Teck Resources – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – March 5, 2015)

March 6, 2015

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The level of new copper output will be unable to plug a supply gap that could develop as early as 2017, Canadian diversified miner Teck Resources manager for market research Michael Schwartz told an audience at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada 2015 convention.

Teck had calculated that the average yearly rate of copper demand growth would reach 2.7% in the coming years. This equated to about 680 000 t of new supply being required each year, a level producers would be unable to match.

This supply/demand fundamental was in stark contrast with copper’s performance over the past 12 months, with Schwartz noting that Wood McKenzie had recorded a 300 000 t surplus for 2014. “Although we are showing a balanced market to a slight deficit,” he added.

The overhang had been reflected in the red metal’s price, which was currently hovering at around $2.65/lb, compared with a 52-week high of about $3.25/lb. Producers with cost-of-production rates above $2.50/lb would continue to struggle, Schwartz pointed out.

Disruption to output, which offered price support depending on its severity, would become an increasingly important issue as the industry mined lower-grade zones in remoter areas.

Lukas Lundin: Guts, glory and betting against the grain – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – March 6, 2015)

March 6, 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.

Lukas Lundin has no tricks for how to play the market, but somehow he has timed his deals impeccably.

The mining tycoon managed to sell a big gold mine for billions at the top of cycle. Then after bullion slumped 30 per cent he bought another gold project for a fraction of the original cost.

“It was some luck and some skill,” the executive said in an interview at this week’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference. Mr. Lundin said he learned his deal-making skills from his father, Adolf Lundin, who founded the $11.8-billion Vancouver- based Lundin Group, a conglomerate of mining and energy companies.

“He had a big appetite for risk,” said Mr. Lundin. One of the family’s 11 companies is called NGEx Resources Inc. It stands for “No Guts, No Glory Exploration,” a play on patriarch Lundin’s “no guts, no glory” motto.

“He was a big speculator, took big risks, sometimes maybe not calculated. Hopefully I take more risks that are calculated,” said Mr. Lundin.

Breaking mining’s ‘rock ceiling’ for women – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – March 6, 2015)

March 6, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Goldcorp among companies taking steps to make industry more welcoming

By the numbers, the mining industry still looks very much like a boys club. Just 17 per cent of the sector’s workforce in Canada is female, according to Mining Association of Canada statistics.

Industry leaders know they need to raise that number over the long term if the sector expects to maintain a sustainable pool of applicants to fill jobs in its rapidly aging workforce.

The industry has also launched programs to recruit more minority groups and First Nations, which has proved a particularly successful strategy in northern B.C. Vancouver-headquartered Goldcorp Inc. has adopted its own edge in recruiting by expanding Creating Choices, its internal training and mentorship program for women.

The program is “becoming one of the tools” attracting potential recruits, said Anna Tudela, Goldcorp’s vice-president of regulatory affairs and corporate secretary and the program’s creator.

“In the mining industry, we’re lacking the (future) workforce,” Tudela said. “We will have to attract more women,” as well as workers from diverse backgrounds.

Rocky road ahead for sputtering China – by Brian Milner (Globe and Mail – March 6, 2015)

March 6, 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.

China has cut its growth target for this year by half a percentage point to about 7 per cent, a level that would mark its slowest expansion in a quarter of a century.

It also ought to dispel any notion that its leadership can engineer a fairly smooth economic transition toward the greater manufacture and domestic consumption of higher-value goods without serious growth hiccups and heavy state intervention.

The less optimistic outlook makes sense for a government that typically does whatever is necessary to meet – and preferably exceed – its publicly avowed goals for the economy.

The technocrats have known for some time that the sputtering economy has no chance of exceeding 7 per cent growth this year, and that it may take considerable data massaging (a government specialty) just to reach the lower bar. Major headwinds include continued weak demand in key export markets, serious manufacturing overcapacity and a bubble-ridden property market teetering on the brink.