Republic of Mining

Gold still has lots of runway – by Peter Marrone (Yamana Gold Blog – June 19, 2020)

June 19, 2020

https://www.yamana.com/blog/

Peter Marrone is the Executive Chairman of Yamana Gold.

Several notable people in the gold mining industry have told me over the years that anyone who claims they can predict the price of gold are either fools or liars. I generally agree, but with the utmost respect there are some nuances that need to be considered.

You can predict direction, you can certainly predict indications, and there are times when you can be bold and say, ‘This is where I think gold is going to go.’

Which brings me to the subject of this blog. Gold is trading at $1,731 per ounce, up 29% in the past 12 months, including 14% this year. Can it hold at these levels and is there more room to run? I believe the answer is yes.

Funding approved to install final statue in Elliot Lake’s Miner’s Memorial Park – by Colleen Romaniuk (Sudbury Star – June 19, 2020)

June 19, 2020

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Almost 20 years after Laura Brown Breetvelt was commissioned by Elliot Lake to design and produce the Miner’s Monument, the city is gearing up to install the final statue in the installation.

In a special session held on June 15, City Council approved a payment of $27,000 to Beamish Construction to install the statue at the site located on Highway 108 beside Horne Lake.

The final piece in what the Merrickville, Ont.-based sculptor calls “a trilogy” is a full-sized metal statue of a uranium prospector that pays homage to Elliot Lake’s former role as Canada’s uranium mining capital.

Exclusive: Peru miners restart pandemic-hit operations with mass testing, isolating workers – by Marco Aquino (Reuters U.S. – June 18, 2020)

June 19, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s miners are revving up stalled operations with mass testing, isolation periods and revamped shift patterns, setting up the world’s No. 2 copper producer to hit 80% of production capacity by the end of June, industry officials said.

The restart is key to Peru’s economic engine and metals output which was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and a nationwide lockdown. But unions for mine workers have voiced concerns that some planned shifts are too long while testing and protective measures need to be strengthened.

The mining and hydrocarbons industry, the top driver of Peru’s exports, fell over 40% in April, with output of copper, gold, zinc and silver down sharply. Companies are scrambling to avoid falling further behind larger neighboring producer Chile, which has maintained production through the pandemic.

Chinese gold miners continue junior shopping spree – by David Erfle (Kitco News – June 19, 2020)

June 19, 2020

https://www.kitco.com/

As the 10-week sideways consolidation continues to build a floor in the gold price just below multi-year resistance at $1800, Chinese global gold miners are making all-cash offers for small-cap juniors at large premiums. This recent wave of Chinese deals for junior firms has come while government lock-downs are systematically being lifted in select mining jurisdictions.

After Chinese firm Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. completed the takeover of Canadian miner Continental Gold Inc for C$1.3 billion in early March, Shandong Gold Mining, one of China’s biggest gold producers, entered into an agreement to acquire Toronto-listed TMAC Resources (TMR.TO) for around C$230 million on May 8th.

But the deal will be among the first pored over by Ottawa after it announced in April that it would bring “enhanced scrutiny” to bear on acquisitions by foreign state-owned investors in a period where the COVID-19 pandemic has driven down the value of companies.

Activists cautiously welcome decision as Oxford college’s board supports removing Cecil Rhodes statue – by Paul Waldie (Globe and Mail – June 19, 2020)

June 19, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Few statues in Britain have been more controversial than the stone figure of Cecil Rhodes that has stood in front of Oxford University’s Oriel College for more than a century.

The 122-centimetre depiction of the British diamond merchant has been sitting atop the Rhodes Building at Oriel since 1911 and has long been seen as a symbol of the country’s dark history of slave trading and empire building.

While Rhodes is best known as the creator of the Rhodes Scholarship and the founder of De Beers Group, he is also notorious for benefiting from slave labour and for his belief that the “Anglo-Saxon race” is “the best, the most human, most honourable race the world possesses.”

Column: Friend or foe? Canadian imports split U.S. aluminium sector – by Andy Bell (Reuters U.K. – June 19, 2020)

June 19, 2020

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – A surge in Canadian aluminium imports “is destroying what remains of the United States industry”. The dramatic warning comes from the American Primary Aluminum Association (APAA), which represents Century Aluminum and Magnitude 7 Metals, two of the last three remaining primary producers in the United States.

The solution, they argue in a May 27 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, is to revoke Canada’s exemption from import tariffs.

The U.S. Aluminum Association (AA), which has a much larger membership including the country’s third producer Alcoa, vehemently disagrees.

Gold-mining shares still ‘cheap’ based on historical metrics – VanEck’s Foster – by Allen Sykora (Kitco News – June 18, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold-mining stocks remain undervalued based on the statistical norm of share prices to cash flow, and this is occurring at a time when producers are on their best financial footing in recent history, said Joe Foster, portfolio manager of VanEck International Investors Gold Fund (INIVX).

Valuation is one of the factors that Foster focuses on when picking stocks, and the market was “very oversold” when share prices of producers bottomed back in March, he said. Shares have have risen sharply since, yet valuations are still below their long-term averages, Foster said in an interview with Kitco News.

“It looks like a spectacular performance when you go from the bottom of the crash [in mining stocks] to where we are now,” Foster said. “But you have to remember, at the lows in March, stocks were trading at about five times cash flow. They are currently trading around eight times cash flow.”

Exclusive: EU must engage in lithium standards or lose to China, EU’s Breton says – by Foo Yun Chee (Reuters U.S. – June 18, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU industry chief Thierry Breton has urged EU governments to be more active in setting global standards for ultralight battery metal lithium, key to many strategic industries and electric cars, or cede technological advantage to China.

Breton’s warning underlines the European Commission’s concern as China seeks to increase its influence in setting standards for a metal crucial to the bloc’s electric car and green energy ambitions, involving major companies such as Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), PSA (PEUP.PA) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE).

His warning comes ahead of a June 24-25 vote by the International Organisation for Standardisation’s (ISO) technical management board on a Chinese proposal to set up a committee on lithium standards. China has proposed itself as the secretariat.

HOW MUCH BALONEY IS IN THE RING OF FIRE SANDWICH? – by Frank Smeenk (June 18, 2020)

June 18, 2020

In a recent Sudbury Star article titled Stalled Ring of Fire worth
more than $117 billion, Carleton University Geology Professor
Dr. James Mungall asked “How much is the Ring of Fire really worth?”

Frank Smeenk is the President and Chief Executive Officer of KWG Resources Inc.

Stainless steel is approximately 18% chrome and 8% nickel with iron constituting most of the remaining 74%. A decade ago, the private Chinese enterprise Tsingshan Group, started to establish facilities in Indonesia to produce large quantities of nickel pig iron to make stainless steel there by adding ferrochrome melt made with coal-generated electricity.

In the first half of 2017 Indonesia produced no stainless steel. Now, Tsingshan produces up to 3 million tons per year there. This will increase to 4 million tons next year. That is about 8% of global production, from zero less than 30 months ago!

With that, Chinese companies currently generate more than 50% of global stainless-steel production. They intend to increase that as the world’s consumption of non-corroding steels continues to grow. This is a big boys’ game that Canada has just been suited-up for!

When chrome-containing chromite was discovered in an area of northern Ontario known as the Ring of Fire, China’s state-owned steelmaker, Baosteel, made a strategic investment in Noront Resources. It’s a Canadian exploration company with significant mining claims in the Ring of Fire.

Thompson bracing for job losses after northern Manitoba mine owner admits to bleeding $300K a day – by Ian Froese (CBC News Manitoba – June 17, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/

Vale says efforts to find ‘simpler and more nimble operating model’ will mean smaller workforce

A mining city in northern Manitoba is facing another setback as the owner of the community’s nickel mine is preparing to shed more jobs. Vale says it cannot continue to operate its Thompson mine under the status quo, after losing $300,000 per day in 2019.

“We need to find a simpler and more nimble operating model to ensure our future in Thompson,” said Franco Cazzola, manager of Vale’s Manitoba operations, in an email to media.

“This will mean a smaller workforce than we have today. We will consider every option available to us to ensure any job reductions are as limited as possible, and we will ensure they will not impact the safety of our ongoing operations.”

Despite COVID-19 challenges, Agnico Eagle says it’s in Nunavut for the long term – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – June 17, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://nunatsiaq.com/

The president and CEO of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., which operates two gold mines in Nunavut, says Canadian companies are best positioned to manage mines in the territory, where partnerships with communities are key.

Sean Boyd, speaking on Tuesday, June 16, at an online keynote session at the Canadian Mining Symposium, was referring to the proposed buyout of TMAC Resources Inc.’s Hope Bay mine in western Nunavut by the Chinese state-owned Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd.

“We think that should be done by Canadian companies run by Canadians, based in Canada, because we have the understanding of history and we have that sense of pride in the country and that willingness to see people benefit from that opportunity,” Boyd said.

China’s Shandong scoops up Cardinal Resources – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – June 18, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://www.miningweekly.com/

China’s Shandong Gold Mining has moved to buy another gold junior, with ASX- and TSX-listed Cardinal Resources on Thursday announcing that it had entered into a bid implementation agreement with the Chinese miner.

Shandong has agreed to buy Australia-headquartered Cardinal Resources, which operates in Ghana, for A$0.60 a share in cash, beating the preliminary proposal announced by Nord Gold on March 16 of A$0.45775 a share.

The Shandong offer, which is a 75.5% premium to Cardinal’s 20-day unaffected volume-weighted average price and a 39.3% premium to its 20-day volume weighted average price up to June 18, values Cardinal at about A$300-million.

Spotlight: What next for Mexico’s massive silver deposits? (bnamericas.com – June 17, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://www.bnamericas.com/en/

Mexico is the dominant force in the global silver mining space, with some of the world’s biggest primary silver producing assets. But the country also hosts some of the largest undeveloped silver deposits which have been held back by weak economics and shifting prices.

With mining and exploration activities restarting following a COVID-19 suspension, BNamericas takes a look at latest developments at four projects holding a combined 1.78Boz of silver in reserves.

Silver is currently trading in the US$17-18/oz range, down from a recent peak of around US$19/oz in 2H19, but up from a US$14.99/oz average in June last year.

TOP SILVER DEPOSITS

Vale to resume operations at Voisey’s Bay in July – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 18, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Vale (NYSE: VALE), the world’s top producer of nickel and iron ore, is fine-tuning details to reopen its Voisey’s Bay open pit nickel mine and concentrator in Canada, next month.

Full capacity at the northern Labrador-based operation should be reached in August, the Brazilian mining giant said on Thursday.

Vale initially placed Voisey’s Bay mine on care and maintenance for four weeks as a precaution amid the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. It later extended the measure for up to three months, leaving an ongoing mine expansion project on hold.

Screening Apps and 41-Day Vacations: Keeping Miners Covid-Free – by Yuliya Fedorinova, Danielle Bochove, Felix Njini and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – June 18, 2020)

June 18, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — With hundreds of people living and working in close proximity, mines — and the camps that house their workers — seemed like fertile territory for the coronavirus to spread.

So far, the global mining sector has yet to face the kind of outbreaks that paralyzed U.S. meat plants and wreaked havoc on the cruise industry. But, as lockdowns ease and mines start ramping up output, there’s reason to be cautious.

Vladimir Putin dispatched the army to Russia’s biggest gold operation last month after it reported hundreds of cases, and a couple of South African mines were temporarily halted as employees tested positive.