Republic of Mining

Cameco finally starts up production at Cigar Lake after years of delays – by Peter Koven (National Post – March 14, 2014)

March 14, 2014

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

Thirty-three years after it was discovered, and nine years after construction began, Cameco Corp. has finally brought the much-anticipated Cigar Lake uranium mine into production.

The company made the landmark announcement on Thursday. And after a seemingly endless string of delays and setbacks at the giant Saskatchewan-based project, it must have come as a relief.

“There were a lot of doubters who said it would never be done,” chief executive Tim Gitzel said in a phone interview from the mine site. “But I never gave up on the creativity and the perseverance of our workforce.”

When Cameco’s board approved construction of Cigar Lake in 2004, the expected capital cost was $450-million and first production was planned for 2007. By the end of last year, the cost was a staggering $2.6-billion and it still wasn’t in production. Needless to say, it has been a much tougher process than Cameco ever imagined.

ANALYSIS-Eyeing Brazil and Africa, potash juniors defy industry slowdown – by Rod Nickel (Reuters/CNBC – March 13, 2014)

March 14, 2014

http://www.cnbc.com/

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 13 (Reuters) – Two junior potash producers working in unusual locations look set to shake off the most bearish industry conditions in five years and open new mines, helped by their proximity to Brazil and Africa, two of the world’s most promising but under-served fertilizer markets.

Tepid global demand for the crop nutrient and sagging prices have crimped profits for producers across the industry and hurt prospects of many of the exploration companies aiming to develop new mines for the already-oversupplied industry.

The world’s biggest fertilizer company, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan , slashed 1,000 jobs in December, while Mosaic Co, a major U.S.-based producer, last year suspended part of its expansion plans.

Yet prospects are bright for Allana Potash Corp and Verde Potash PLC, two small producers developing low-cost potash mines in Ethiopia and Brazil respectively, far from the world’s main potash regions of Western Canada and eastern Europe.

Each promises a shortcut to fertilizer-hungry markets and has attracted strategic or government backing, removing some of the risk.

Canadian securities regulators ease financing rules – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – March 13, 2014)

March 14, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Reshaping the financing landscape for Canadian public companies, the CSA outlines a major new exemption.

HALIFAX, NS (MINEWEB) – It is just got a whole lot easier for Canadian companies – juniors most notably – to raise money issuing new shares to existing shareholders.

Today the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) outlined a new exemption – effective immediately in most provinces in Canada – that lets any shareholder, regardless of net worth or professional background, individually commit up to $15,000 a year to a financing.

Prior exemptions that let people take part in financings were more stringent and limited to people, for example, with net worths over a C$1 million. The new exemption was proposed last year by the TSX Venture Exchange largely in response to tight financing markets for smaller junior exploration companies which mostly depend on financings to fund their activities.

The new exemption will widen the pool of potential investors for juniors and other public companies in Canada.

Indeed, in this, the rule, published Thursday, went further than a proposal floated last year which was limited to TSX Venture companies.The CSA said it would open door for all companies on the TSX Venture, TSX and CSE to use the exemption.

Estimate of Undiscovered Copper Resources of the World, 2013 (U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet – January 2013)

March 14, 2014

http://www.usgs.gov/

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 3,500 million metric tons of undiscovered copper among 225 tracts around the world.

Introduction

Informed planning and decisions concerning future mineral supplies, sustainability, and resource development require a long-term global perspective and an integrated approach to land use and to resource and environmental management. This integrated approach further requires unbiased information on the global distribution of identified and undiscovered mineral resources, the economic factors influencing their development, and the environmental consequences of their exploitation.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the principal Federal provider of research and information on nonfuel mineral resources, has completed a geology-based, cooperative international assessment of copper resources of the world. Collaborators in this assessment include mineral resource experts from national geological surveys and from industry and academia worldwide.

‘Future mine’ research [South Africa] needs to begin now – Wits – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – March 13, 2014)

March 14, 2014

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Research into South Africa’s ‘mine of the future’ needs to begin immediately, says University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) School of Mining Engineering head Fred Cawood.

The programme for the mine of the future needs to be broken into various phases, with the immediate goal being to mine more for less in order to provide cash flow for more intensive research.

The underground mining environment needs to be better understood and technology already widely used on surface, including satellite technology, needs to be migrated underground.

For that purpose, a digital mine mock-up is being established at the Wits School of Mining Engineering to assure safety and generate the cash for more profound longer-term research. Cawood’s view is that mechanisation should follow optimisation and be accompanied by the introduction of a new mining layout.

Floating hotel draws workers to NW Canada boom town – by Julie Gordon (Reuters U.K. – March 12, 2014)

March 14, 2014

http://uk.reuters.com/

VANCOUVER – (Reuters) – Hundreds of construction workers in booming northern British Columbia will take up residence this week in unique digs on board a cruise ferry revamped into a floating luxury hotel.

The aging ship will help relieve a housing shortage in one busy Canadian port town already bursting ahead of a promised energy boom that could last more than a decade.

The Silja Festival – a Baltic ferry made over as the Delta Spirit Lodge – will spend at least a year docked outside Kitimat, British Columbia, where it will provide housing for about 600 workers in town for Rio Tinto Alcan’s $3.3 billion smelter-upgrade project, which is expected to wrap up in 2015.

After that, the ship’s owners hope more contracts will float their way as major energy companies like Chevron Corp, Petronas and Royal Dutch Shell push ahead with proposed liquefied natural gas export (LNG) projects along Canada’s Pacific coast.

“This kind of investment would never occur without the kind of mega-opportunities that are growing in the Pacific Northwest,” said Andrew Purdy, vice president of Bridgemans Services Ltd, the privately held company behind the hotel.

Intel lead on conflict minerals helps, challenges other firms – by Stella Dawson (Reuters U.K. – March 13, 2014)

March 13, 2014

http://uk.reuters.com/

March 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Intel Corp has spent more than five years figuring out how to rid its supply chain of minerals that finance violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo region, and now it is offering to show other companies how they can do the same.

Intel’s offer to “open source” its methods for verifying that none of its products contain minerals from armed groups involved in the DRC conflict could save other companies significant amounts of money and give them a head start in meeting new U.S. regulations that require them to certify their products are conflict free.

“For us, this has always been about doing the right thing,” Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said at a meeting in the U.S. Senate offices on Wednesday with DRC officials where he announced the move.

Its decision to work on stanching a multimillion dollar mineral trade – used by rebel groups to finance one of the world’s longest running and most brutal conflicts – stands in contrast to how leading representatives of corporate America have responded to the tragedy.

Goldcorp founder doesn’t see rival bids for Osisko – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – March 13, 2014)

March 13, 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.

Goldcorp Inc. founder Rob McEwen said he believes his former company will not face competition in its quest to own Osisko Mining Corp.

Goldcorp, which Mr. McEwen built into a serious gold player before leaving in 2005, is entangled in a hostile bid for Osisko and its large Canadian Malartic gold mine in Quebec. “The big guys aren’t looking, they are shrinking,” Mr. McEwen said.

Goldcorp’s cash and stock bid is valued at $3-billion and is the biggest deal in the Canadian mining space in more than a year.

Investors are expecting a higher bid to emerge. But there are not many other miners that can save Osisko from Goldcorp, as the major gold producers are hampered by costly acquisitions made during the commodity boom.

Mr. McEwen suggested that more work had to be done at Osisko’s prized mine. The former Goldcorp chairman said he remembers looking at Canadian Malartic’s ore grade and thinking to himself: “Wow, look at Osisko, they have less than a gram and they are going to process all this [rock].”

Water from a stone: Tiny diamond contains secrets of Earth’s mantle – by Tu Thanh Ha (Globe and Mail – March 13, 2014)

March 13, 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.

A pea-sized diamond picked up a decade ago by a Brazilian prospector has unlocked evidence that, hundreds of kilometres under our feet, Earth’s mantle holds as much water as all of our planet’s oceans.

The discovery by a University of Alberta team bolsters theories about the existence of a water-saturated zone between the Earth’s rocky layers that would explain volcanic activities and the interaction of tectonic plates.

The diamond’s route from the alluvial plains of Brazil’s Mato Grosso province to the University of Alberta’s labs is a tale blending an exotic setting with reminders of Jules Verne’s classic science fantasy of a sea in the centre of Earth. The research, published this week in the journal Nature, confirms the terrestrial existence of ringwoodite, a high-pressure form of a common silicate.

What was most striking about the ringwoodite discovery, by a team led by University of Alberta professor Graham Pearson, was that 1.5 per cent of it was water, bound chemically to the mineral. Based on projections of how much ringwoodite scientists believe is in the Transition Zone, between 410 and 670 kilometres down, Dr. Pearson estimated that it contains “a very, very large amount of water.”

Big money is on Sweden, not us – by Peter Delmar (Times Live.com – March 13, 2014)

March 13, 2014

http://www.timeslive.co.za/ [South Africa]

Congratulations. We’re pleased to offer you a position as a rock drill operator at Platneus Platinum Mines Number 11 shaft. You start next Monday. Thank you, Mr van Schalkwyk. Did you say I’d be getting R12 500 a month?

No, I’m afraid I didn’t. We can offer you half that amount. This business of R12 500 is pie in the sky; we have no idea where Amcu got that figure. Let me explain: if you look at the management car park, what do you see?

Erm, three Lexuses, two BMWs and four Mercedes-Benzes. No wait, five Mercedes-Benzes?

Precisely. Do you know what German luxury sedans cost nowadays? And I can tell you our stand at the Mining Indaba this year cost us northwards of half a bar – to say nothing about the sundowner Table Bay cruise and the drinks and snacks we laid on to keep the analysts, shareholders and media happy. Then we had to provide a belly dancer, of all things, to keep guests entertained once they were properly sloshed.

The government has told us to convert our hostels to single-occupancy rooms: that doesn’t come cheap either, you know.

Roping in Canada for food security – by A. Didar Singh, (Deccan Herald – March 1, 2014)

March 13, 2014

http://www.deccanherald.com/ [India]

(The writer is secretary general, FICCI)

Indo-Canadian agriculture and food relationship has to move beyond a mere buyer-seller framework. Recent spurts in food prices suggest that a purely domestic strategy will not suffice for India’s food security, where food security refers to assured supply at stable prices.

There is, thus, clearly a need to find international partners in the agri-food segment, given the sheer volumes required going forward, and the diversity of this sector. Now, while an India-Canada energy relationship seems a natural tie and is much talked about, it is less apparent that the North American country can play an equally significant role in aiding India generate enough food for its populace. In fact, in some ways Canada does already play a real role in helping India increase the availability of food for its population, through its supply of pulses and fertilizer.

Despite Canada being mainly a services economy, the agri-food segment has emerged as a major driver of economic growth in Canada in recent years. Food processing and beverage industries are actually Canada’s largest manufacturing estate and also its greatest industrial employers. Given Canada’s relatively small population compared to the size of its agri-food sector one can imagine that the country has a rather lot of surplus produce that is available for export.

Secretive Chinese funds: a potent force in copper rout – by Polly Yam, Fayen Wong and Melanie Burton (Reuters India – March 13, 2014)

March 13, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI/SYDNEY, March 13 (Reuters) – Chinese funds taking massive short positions played a powerful role in copper’s slide to around four-year lows this week, signalling the growing force of the sector in global commodities markets.

The funds had been building up bets against copper since December, according to sources at funds, futures dealers and analysts, in a market already edgy over slowing Chinese demand and fears that credit upheaval in the world’s second-biggest economy could unwind financing deals using the metal as collateral.

On Friday, funds and other speculators pounced and sold London Metal Exchange and Shanghai copper contracts heavily as they took advantage of worries over the Chinese credit market after a bond default by a solar equipment producer.

The scale of the sell off shows that Chinese funds are gaining greater sway over global commodity markets — influence that is likely to grow given China’s intention to liberalise the yuan and pilot projects for free trade zones.

Why miners aren’t panicking about the latest commodity drop – Peter Koven (National Post – March 13, 2014)

March 13, 2014

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

While steep declines in copper, iron ore and coking coal prices have spooked investors, they are not severe enough to disrupt the mining sector at this stage.

The vast majority of projects can generate decent margins at these price levels, according to experts. Though in the case of coal, there has been enough of a drop to make high-cost producers nervous.

Prices for all three commodities have been under pressure throughout 2014, but they plummeted over the last several days due to economic concerns out of China. Manufacturing activity has been weaker than expected, and a bond default by a solar company raised fears of tighter credit conditions. That hit the copper market in particular, as many Chinese companies use the red metal as collateral to raise money.

Chinese steel mills are also being threatened as the government tightens environmental standards. That is putting pressure on coal and iron ore.

Copper has sunk to near a four-year-low, falling below the psychological barrier of US$3.00 a pound.

Alan Coutts, President and CEO, Noront Resources (Global Business Report – March 12, 2014)

March 13, 2014

http://gbroundup.com/

What has changed for Noront Resources since Cliffs Natural Resources’ 20th of November announcement that it will suspend its Black Thor chromite project in the Ring of Fire?

AC: From Noront Resources’ perspective, not much has changed since Cliffs Natural Resources’ announcement. Our Eagle’s Nest project is fundamentally different from what Cliffs had envisaged for their open-pit, bulk-transportation model Black Thor Project: Noront is focusing on a high-grade nickel-copper-platinum group underground mine – from a logistics point of view, this means small volumes of high-grade concentrate.

Consequently, our project economics and infrastructure needs are completely different than those of Cliffs. Furthermore, during our permitting process, we developed our environmental assessment not only for the mine site itself, but also for our transportation corridor and we continue to believe that an East-West route is more appropriate for our needs at this time.

Obviously, having an industry participant leave the region is never a positive development but we are hoping that there is a silver lining to that and this event will underline the need for more timely-decision making regarding key issues such as environmental permitting and infrastructure. These questions cannot remain unresolved forever and we hope that Cliffs’ decision is going to galvanize the process and hopefully bring the federal government to the table as well.

SA platinum sector is dead, long live the new platinum sector – by Geoff Candy (Mineweb.com – March 13, 2014)

March 13, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

The future of South Africa’s platinum sector lies not in the deep-vein, shanty-town-lined mines of old but rather in the newer, shallower, more community-aware mines.

GRONINGEN (MINEWEB) – What was clear from the presentations and conversations in Toronto during this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference is that the long-term future of South Africa’s platinum sector lies not in the deep-vein, shanty-town-lined mines of old but rather in the newer, shallower mines that afford more opportunities to local communities and for mechanisation.

From a cost point of view, this, at least on paper, was obvious in a slide shown by Mike Jones, CEO of Platinum Group Metals, during his presentation.

As South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu pointed out to Mineweb last week, “If you look at the new mines in SA, they are completely different from your traditional mines, especially the old gold mines in the West Rand of Johannesburg and the platinum mines in Rustenburg.