Twitter

Globe in Ukraine: In a former mining town, nostalgia for Soviet era – by Mark MacKinnon (Globe and Mail – April 22, 2014)

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.

HORLIVKA, UKRAINE — You can smell Horlivka before you see it: the acrid output from the aging chemical plants and machinery factories that still limp along, though only at a fraction of the pace they once did.

Then you hit the jarring, metre-long potholes and get a glimpse of the city’s grim skyline of crumbling apartment blocks. The Soviet Union fell 23 years ago. Horlivka has kept falling ever since.

The next thing you sense in Horlivka is anger. Armed men have taken over the city’s main police station, and have built a wall of tires around it. Checkpoints flying the black-blue-and-red banner of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, often alongside the flag of the Russian Federation, block the roads into the city.

But residents of Horlivka and other parts of eastern Ukraine don’t really want to live in an independent Donetsk. In many ways, they don’t even want to live in today’s Russia, although there’s a lot of admiration for President Vladimir Putin here.

What they want is to go back in time, to when the Soviet Union still existed and Horlivka residents had jobs producing things that people in other places wanted to buy.

Read more

Elemental Human Rights and Sierra Leone’s Iron Ore – by Joe Kirschke (Engineering and Mining Journal – April 16, 2014)

http://www.e-mj.com/

It was the eye of a slow-forming, powerful storm in one of West Africa’s most weathered places. In spring 2012, Bumbuna, a hamlet in a war-ravaged Sierra Leone notorious for its “blood diamonds,” witnessed a confrontation between police and workers protesting conditions at a project owned by U.K.-headquartered iron ore producer African Minerals Ltd. (AML).

Authorities said strikers tried torching an AML fuel depot and a police station, allegations disputed by human rights monitors. But the events ending April 18 were clear: After decimating the town market, police unleashed tear gas and live ammunition on the unarmed crowd—killing a female contractor while wounding eight non-employees; three officers were also injured. Sierra Leone’s independent Human Rights Commission called it a “war zone.”

Whether amid indifference, dismay or connivance—or all three—such episodes have haunted mining for generations. There’s certainly blame to circulate: Barrick Gold Corp., BHP Billiton, Freeport McMoRan and Rio Tinto—among countless others—have long been under fire. But in a world economy globalizing astride social media, bad news—fairly and unfairly—spreads quicker than ever. Consequently, environmental concerns, once at Corporate Social Responsibility’s (CSR) forefront, are taking a back seat to human rights issues—with some companies adapting quicker than others.

Read more

The robot is ready – so when will deep sea mining start? – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Silvia Antonioli (Reuters U.S. – April 18, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

NEWCASTLE, England/LONDON – (Reuters) – The world’s first deep sea mining robot sits idle on a British factory floor, waiting to claw up high grade copper and gold from the seabed off Papua New Guinea (PNG) – when a wrangle over terms is solved.

Beyond PNG, in international waters, regulation and royalty terms for mining the planet’s subsea wealth have also yet to be finalized. The world waits for the judgment of a United Nations agency based in Jamaica.

“If we can take care of the environment we have a brand new day ahead of us. The marine area beyond national jurisdiction is 50 percent of the Ocean,” said Nii Odunton, secretary general of the U.N.’s International Seabed Authority (ISA).

“I believe the grades look good, the abundance looks good, I believe that money will be made,” Odunton said from the ISA offices in Kingston.

High-tech advances, depleted easy-to-reach minerals onshore and historically high prices have boosted the idea of mining offshore, where metals can be fifteen times the quality of land deposits.

Read more

Editorial: Still plenty of appetite for M&A – (Northern Miner – April 21-27, 2014)

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

While private equity financing was the talk of the mining industry in the first quarter, heavy duty mergers and acquisitions are punching their way back to centre stage, as mining majors take advantage of depressed metals prices and share valuations to realign their businesses.

The brawling between Yamana Gold and Goldcorp over Osisko Mining and its prized Canadian Malartic gold mine in Quebec has just seen Agnico Eagle Mines jump over the boards and join the All-Canadian slugfest as third man in on Yamana’s side.

In a surprise move on April 16, Agnico teamed with Yamana to table a joint friendly, cash-and-share takeover bid worth $3.9 billion, or $8.15 per Osisko share, trumping Goldcorp’s recently revised hostile cash-and-share bid of $3.6 billion, or $7.34 per share. The offer is a 10% premium to Osisko’s share price on April 15.

As detailed on our front page, the deal would end with Osisko shareholders owning 14% of Yamana and 17% of Agnico, and would include an innovative spin-out of a cashed-up company with a portfolio of royalties, plus assets such as Osisko’s grassroots project in Mexico.

Read more

Mine Tales: San Manuel was once world’s largest underground copper mine – by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star – April 14, 2014)

http://azstarnet.com/

Located in the Lower San Pedro River Basin 40 miles northeast of Tucson and a mile south of the Mammoth-St. Anthony Mine, the San Manuel area enticed 1880s prospectors attracted to the copper-stained exposures of Red Hill and other nearby localities.

The San Manuel group of mining claims was found in the 1920s and ’30s. Several claimants initiated exploratory drill holes in the area in search of a substantial ore body that would yield profit.

Concerned about potential copper shortages during World War II, the United States government classified copper as a strategic wartime metal in July 1942. As a result, extensive test drills were undertaken by the Magma Copper Corp., which by then owned an interest in the property.

The San Manual Copper Corp. formed as a subsidiary of the Magma Copper Co. to carry on the exploration, revealing reserve estimates for copper ore that totaled 30 million tons, averaging 0.80 percent copper. Development of the San Manuel ore deposit — 7,700 feet long, 3,500 wide and up to 2,700 feet deep — began in 1952 with the approval of a $94 million loan by the Reconstruction Finance Corp. to the Magma Copper Corp.

Read more

Hunt Becomes Billionaire on Bakken Oil After Bankruptcy – by Brendan Coffey (Bloomberg News – March 28, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

William Herbert Hunt was once one of the wealthiest men on Earth. With his brother, Nelson Bunker Hunt, the billionaire bought more than 195 million ounces of silver — 60 percent of the U.S. market — in the 1970s. By early 1980, their stake was valued at more than $9 billion.

The Hunts’ position imploded when silver prices plummeted 80 percent over the course of a few weeks in March 1980, culminating 33 years ago this week on what traders called Silver Thursday. The crash rattled Wall Street and sent the Texas brothers into bankruptcy.

Hunt is once again a billionaire, this time with oil. In October, he sold 43 percent of the North Dakota petroleum assets owned by his closely held Petro-Hunt LLC for $1.45 billion to Houston-based Halcon Resources Corp. (HK) The cash and stock deal made Hunt Halcon’s largest shareholder and boosted his net worth to $4.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“The numbers are out there,” said Hunt, 84, in a telephone interview from his Dallas headquarters. “We’re a family-owned company — a private company — and are really not interested in being out in the public arena.” Hunt hasn’t appeared on an international wealth ranking in 25 years. He said oil will continue to fuel the U.S. economy.

Read more

Northern Superior Resources Junior miner still not buying Ontario’s argument – by Staff (April 22, 2014)

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.

A Sudbury-based junior gold miner that’s suing the Ontario government for $110 million still maintains the province fell short of its legal duty to consult with a First Nation that “evicted” the company from a remote area of northwestern Ontario following a series of disputes in 2011.

Northern Superior Resources responded to a recently amended State of Defence from the province by contending that the government’s version of consultation consisted of a “standard form letter” sent to them that identified Sachigo Lake as one of the First Nation communities that they should contact to advise them of their exploration work.

The company maintains that the province didn’t undertake any formal consultation with Sachigo, nor were they of any assistance or even got involved, until after the company was “evicted” by Sachigo and other area First Nation communities.

Last fall, Northern Superior Resources sued the government for failing to consult with the Sachigo after multiple disagreements with the band caused the company to abandon exploration on its mining claims near Thorne Lake in late 2011. The company said the band made unreasonable demands – including monetary – that forced them to stop work and withdraw.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: It’s Gold Mining, MacGyver-Style, when FOOL’S GOLD Premieres on Discovery May 13

New original Canadian series mines for gold…and for laughs!

Discovery Fool’s Gold 

TORONTO (April 21, 2014) – Todd Ryznar and his ramshackle crew at Shotgun Exploration are looking to strike it rich in the gold-laden hills of Northern Ontario and retiring in style. The only problem for this start-up DIY mining company? They don’t know what they’re doing! Premiering Tuesday, May 13 with back-to-back episodes at 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery, FOOL’S GOLD follows modern-day prospector Ryznar and his ragtag gang of would-be miners in their search for gold. But first, they’ll have to figure out what to do and how to do it – after all, their search for gold won’t be easy when the main equipment is made from a rusty bed frame and a an assortment of old washing machine parts!

Commissioned by Discovery Canada and produced by Toronto’s 11 Television Canada, the humorous eight-part series joins the beleaguered Ryznar and his rookie crew – at the mine and on the town, through bug-infested days, frigid nights, and beer-fuelled weekends – as they make a hilariously haphazard foray into the world of the professional gold digger. Armed with backwoods ingenuity, perseverance, stubbornness – and little else – will their beginner’s luck be rewarded, or will their hopes be dashed?

A real estate speculator-turned-gold prospector, Ryznar purchased the Straw Lake Beach Mine near Fort Frances, Ontario in 2005. After years of failed attempts of finding gold on his own, Ryznar has convinced a hastily-assembled group of his friends to spend eight weeks in the Ontario wilderness in a single-minded search for their share of Northern Ontario’s surprisingly plentiful gold deposits.

Read more

[Norilsk Russia and Nickel Mining] Life behind closed doors in the Arctic is…..fun! – by Kate Baklitskaya (Siberian Times – April 22 2014)

http://siberiantimes.com/home/

Norilsk is home to the world biggest mining and metallurgy complex, and is shut off from the world in more ways than one.

From deep in Soviet times, it was ‘closed’ to outsiders, and currently remains exceptionally hard to visit for foreigners. It appears on lists of the top ten most polluted cities in the world, and yet has no road or rail connections to the ‘mainland’, as the rest of Russia is known here, and the sea port Dudinka, which is 100 km from Norilsk is closed for nine months a year. Yet, intriguingly, the 177,000 people living in Norilsk – which accounts for two per cent of Russia’s entire GDP – seem more contented than many others in Russia.

On a Saturday night, local photographer Nadezhda Rimskaya, 32, goes to OverTime bar to see the local rockabilly band. Nadezhda graduated from a college in St Petersburg but decided to return home and has been working here for the last four years. The concert finishes after midnight and the group of young people decide to go for a late dinner.

Luckily there are places where the kitchen remains open after midnight – for example Maxim pub. Indeed, Moscow-level restaurants and night clubs, bars and coffee shops, are increasing in Norilsk powered by the high demand, surprising as this may seem.

‘Norilsk misses just two things – oxygen and the internet’, says Nadezhda on her night out, referring to the general lack of oxygen in the air in the north and the absence of the high speed internet in the city. Everything else is fine here and in many ways much better than in many Russian cities. I’m honestly surprised when I hear people say that Norilsk is ‘horrible’. That’s just a misinformed stereotype.’

Read more

COLUMN-Everybody but the curve thinks iron ore is going down – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – April 22, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.

(Reuters) – It’s hard to find any bullish predictions for iron ore prices, with the consensus being that it will drop to below $100 a tonne. Except this isn’t reflected in the financial markets.

The latest bearish signal for iron ore is the decision by an Indian court to allow the mining of 20 million tonnes per annum in the state of Goa, most of which will end up on the export markets.

While this isn’t enough ore to cause prices to slump, it adds to the overall growth in supply, which is widely expected to overwhelm growth in demand, especially as top buyer China’s economy loses some momentum. But despite the bearish outlook, the actual pricing for iron ore, both in the spot and futures markets, is holding up well.

Asian spot prices .IO62-CNI=SI were $113.30 a tonne on Monday, down 15.6 percent so far this year. But they are up 8.2 percent from the year low of $104.70 on March 10 and 31 percent above the 2012 low of $86.70, which was the weakest price for three years.

But more importantly than the spot market, the main paper markets are also showing pricing resilience. The curve for Singapore iron ore swaps <0#SGXIOS:> has a good track record of pointing to turns in market pricing.

Read more

Goldcorp Inc abandoning hostile bid for Osisko – by Peter Koven (National Post – April 22, 2014)

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

Goldcorp Inc. has elected not to raise its hostile offer for Osisko Mining Corp., leaving the company to be acquired by Yamana Gold Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp announced on Monday afternoon that it will let its $3.6-billion hostile bid for Osisko expire on April 22 instead of raising it.

Goldcorp vowed all along that it would not overpay for Osisko, and most investors suspected it would not raise its offer for a second time. Goldcorp launched its first bid in January and increased it earlier this month.

“We stated from the beginning of this process that we would remain disciplined with respect to our offer to acquire Osisko, and our decision not to amend the offer is consistent with that commitment,” chief executive Chuck Jeannes said in a statement.

“We move forward with an outstanding portfolio of mines and projects, and our focus will remain on maximizing the value of our investments and generating strong returns for our shareholders.”

Read more

Barrick Gold-Newmont Mining ripe for merger as conditions favour tie-up of world’s gold giants – by Peter Koven (National Post – April 22, 2014)

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

Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. have held merger talks numerous times in the past without getting a deal done. But conditions finally appear right to bring together the world’s two largest gold producers.

A rough gold market, along with new personalities on both sides of the negotiating table, have helped the two companies overcome their longstanding differences and put them on the cusp of a deal that analysts and investors have eagerly awaited for years.

Recent merger talks between the two sides broke down over a disagreement on what assets to put into a spin-off company, according to sources. However, the broad terms of the merger were largely agreed upon, with Toronto-based Barrick planning to buy Denver-based Newmont for close to US$13-billion in stock, representing a small 13% premium over its recent trading range.

The two gold miners hoped to announce the deal ahead of Newmont’s annual meeting on Wednesday, but that now appears unlikely. Newmont shares rose 6.4% on Monday. Barrick shares opened higher, but then declined as gold dropped and investors absorbed the merger news. They ended the day down 4%.

Read more

Terence Corcoran: From Northern Gateway to Keystone, the undefinable ‘social licence’ movement is in control of jobs and growth – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – April 22, 2014)

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

The Northern Gateway and Keystone pipelines keep getting hammered, the result of what seems like universal adoption of a new free-market killing concept known as a “social licence to operate.” The idea is an outgrowth of the anti-corporate governance crusades and NGO activism of the last few decades. First came stakeholderism, then corporate social responsibility(CSR). At least with CSR corporations were seen to be in charge of their own affairs, taking it upon themselves to curb their carbon emissions and diversify their workforces, or whatever, as they saw fit.

Under social licence mandates, corporations must now negotiate directly with the people, in line with the old Communist maxim: “Everything belongs to the people.” The corporate sector fell for the idea, and now it is lost under what has become something of social licence to kill growth and jobs.

In a non-binding plebesite earlier this month, residents of Kitimat, B.C., appeared to reject Enbridge’s Northern Gateway gas pipeline and tanker port project. The 60-40 verdict was taken as a defeat for Enbridge, a sign that -–as the Vancouver Sun editorialized—the company “simply does not have the social licence necessary to proceed.”

Read more

Barrick must check its hubris to achieve a smooth Newmont merger – by Boyd Erman (Globe and Mail – March 22, 2014)

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.

Barrick Gold Corp. says its strategy is no longer about bigger, but about better. A successful merger with Newmont Mining Corp. has got to be about a bit of both.

Barrick is not talking yet, as no deal is done, but job one when a transaction is finalized will be to explain just how a combination with Newmont would square with Barrick’s new strategy.

Toronto-based Barrick has long sought to gain control of Newmont. Talks have gone on and off for more than decade as Barrick grew to become the world’s largest gold producer.

Newmont plus Barrick would create by a huge margin the world’s largest gold miner. There was a time when that would have been sufficient rationale for Barrick, but that is no longer good enough. Shareholders want returns and cash flow from their mines. They want profit from mining companies, not just growth.

Read more

Harper’s vision of Canada as energy superpower thwarted by opposition to pipelines – by Les Whittington (Toronto Star – April 21, 2014)

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.

A grassroots movement against B.C.’s Northern Gateway project and a White House decision to delay approval of Keystone XL are the latest blows to Conservatives’ plans to ship more oilsands crude abroad.

OTTAWA—The Harper government, which never foresaw that pipelines would become the battleground in a frenzied struggle over climate change, is contending with a continentwide wave of political opposition that has imperilled plans to sell more Canadian petroleum in foreign markets.

In British Columbia, a few thousand people in the small coastal town of Kitimat have given powerful symbolic momentum to the movement against pipelines designed to carry oilsands-derived crude for export.

In one of the first soundings of voter attitude toward the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline planned for B.C., the citizens of Kitimat turned out to reject the project in a referendum. The result of the unusual April 12 plebiscite, though non-binding, was seen as a serious blow to Enbridge Inc., the company behind the planned $6.5-billion conduit to carry oil from Alberta across the Rockies to an export terminal in Kitimat.

Read more