Republic of Mining

OPINION: B.C.’s gas-pipeline protest will end in a whimper, not a bang – by Gary Mason (Globe and Mail – January 10, 2020)

January 10, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

While uncertainty surrounds the final outcome of a blockade that has halted construction of an important natural gas pipeline in northern B.C., be assured that the protest by a small group of Indigenous leaders and environmental activists has zero chance of jeopardizing completion of the project.

There is simply too much at stake, not the least of which is Canada’s international reputation for resource development – which is not great as it is.

The rest of Canada has become inured to environmental confrontations in British Columbia. There is a long, sharp history of them, one that continues to shape the nature and scope of the crusades we are witnessing today. They have become intertwined more recently with court decisions that have handed Indigenous groups more power than they’ve ever known.

The burden of proof rests on Mark Carney, and he hasn’t made his case against fossil fuels – by John Constable (Financial Post – January 10, 2020)

January 10, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

Opinion: If any investments are likely to be stranded, it is those such as wind and solar, not fossil fuels

Mark Carney is using his final days as governor of the Bank of England to intimidate institutional financial managers by suggesting that investments in conventional energy are high-risk adventures requiring special justification.

However, consideration of the state of the global energy supply over the past 30 years suggests that if anyone has some explaining to do it is Carney himself.

Climate policy failure followed by distressed correction seems more probable than other outcomes, and if any investments are likely to be stranded, it is those such as wind and solar that are in effect wagers on the success of current carbon-reduction strategies.

Sudan opens up gold market in bid to raise revenue – by Ali Mirghani and Khalid Abdelaziz (Reuters India – January 9, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://in.reuters.com/

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan has begun allowing private traders to export gold, a measure designed to crack down on smuggling and attract foreign currency into the country’s cash-strapped treasury.

Until now Sudan’s central bank has been the sole body legally allowed to buy and export gold and set up centers to buy the metal from small-scale miners. Acting central bank governor Badr al-Din Abdel Rahim Ibrahim said on Jan. 1 the bank would end its gold purchases entirely.

Last week, a little-known private company founded in 2015, al-Fakher, became the first to take advantage of the new regulations, exporting an initial 155 kg.

Billionaire’s Letters to Congo’s Kabila Were Sought by U.K. Fraud Watchdog – by Franz Wild (Bloomberg News – January 8, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://www.bloomberg.com/

U.K. fraud prosecutors sought an Israeli billionaire’s correspondence with the former President of Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila as part of one of their largest bribery investigations, a lawyer for the Serious Fraud Office said at a London trial.

SFO attorney Jonathan Hall described the request at the start of the two-day trial against Anna Machkevitch, 37, who’s accused of failing to produce the documents concerning her mining magnate father, Alexander.

The case is an off-shoot from the SFO’s seven-year investigation into Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., a mining company owned by Machkevitch senior and two billionaire partners, collectively known as the trio.

Teck Resources coal deal with Ridley raises concerns about rival Westshore – by David Berman (Globe and Mail – January 9, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. has struck a deal with Ridley Terminals Inc. to double, and perhaps triple, its shipments of steel-making coal through Prince Rupert, B.C., sending the shares of rival Westshore Terminals Investment Corp. to their lowest levels since 2016.

The deal, announced by Teck on Wednesday, will run from January, 2021, to December, 2021, and will increase its coal shipments through Ridley from a capacity of three million tonnes a year to six million tonnes. Teck has the option to further increase this volume to a capacity of nine million tonnes, effectively tripling the company’s current shipments.

The diversified mining company, based in Vancouver, has overhauled parts of its steel-making coal operations in recent months as it attempts to reduce costs. In December, Canadian National Railway Co. won a five-year contract long held by rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. to haul Teck’s B.C.-mined coal to West Coast ports – boosting CN’s annual revenue by as much as $250-million.

Sokoman advances Moosehead gold project in Newfoundland – by Ron Wortel (Northern Miner – January 8, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://www.northernminer.com/

In November 2019, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum’s Newfoundland and Labrador branch named Sokoman Minerals (TSXV: SIC) the Prospector/Explorer of the Year for its 100%-owned Moosehead gold property.

Moosehead, 150 km to the northeast of Marathon Gold’s (TSX: MOZ) Valentine Lake deposit in central Newfoundland, sits along the extension of the Cape Ray-Valentine Lake–Alder Zone structural trend.

Tim Froude, Sokoman’s president, optioned the 24-sq.-km project from Altius Minerals (TSX: ALS) in November 2017, and completed the earn-in for a 100% stake in February 2019. The company has drilled 88 holes (18,600 metres) since 2018.

Mark Carney’s war against the fossil fuel industry is just the beginning – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – January 9, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

The corporatist left is scheming to control the flow of money and cut off funding to business activities that may be contributing to the climate emergency

It is hard to imagine the global policy environment around climate change can get any wonkier through 2020 than it has been through 2019.

The Oxford Dictionary declared the two-word slogan “climate emergency” to be the 2019 Word of the Year, although that was before the crash-and-burnout of the 25th United Nations’ intergovernmental Conference of the Parties (COP25) in Madrid. It’s a climate emergency, but let’s put the whole thing off until COP26 next November in Glasgow.

Propelled by Greta Thunberg, who attempts to live without consuming energy, the 2019 extremist policy options range from $250-a-tonne carbon levies to new climate taxes on ice cream, restaurant dining, meat and alcohol.

Gold miners set to build on record year for mergers and acquisitions – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 30, 2019)

January 9, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Deal making in the Canadian gold sector went into overdrive in 2019 and industry players expect that is likely to continue in 2020, with smaller companies becoming targets as fund managers push the industry to create bigger, more diversified miners.

In 2019, $31.8-billion worth of gold-mining deals were announced, the largest on record for the Canadian gold sector, according to data from Refinitiv. Headline deals included Newmont Gold Corp.’s US$10-billion purchase of Goldcorp Inc., Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.’s $4.9-billion bid for Detour Gold Corp. and China’s Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd.’s planned acquisition of Canada’s Continental Gold Inc. for $1.4-billion.

The merger and acquisitions bonanza is being driven by a number of factors, including the need for companies to replace reserves, cut costs, increase production and attract more interest from institutional investors.

A skeptic’s guide to the surging gold market – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – January 9, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Gold has had a nice run since last summer, but wise investors shouldn’t count on its winning streak continuing. Late Tuesday, the precious metal hit its highest levels in more than six years, surging briefly above US$1,600 an ounce, after Iran fired missiles on U.S. military bases in Iraq.

On Wednesday, the World Gold Council reported that eager investors have been pouring money into gold-backed exchange-traded funds, boosting the funds’ holdings to a record peak.

These sound like bullish developments for gold investors. However, there is good reason to be skeptical. Gold is just as likely to fall as rise over the next few months.

Exclusive: Brazil prosecutor aims to charge Vale within days over mining waste dam disaster – by Marta Nogueira and Christian Plumb (Reuters U.S. – January 8, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (Reuters) – A Brazilian state prosecutor expects to bring criminal charges “in the next few days” against miner Vale (VALE3.SA) over a mining waste dam collapse that killed at least 259 people, even as the prosecutor’s federal counterpart continues to investigate the case.

Andressa de Oliveira Lanchotti, coordinator for the task force of state prosecutors investigating the disaster, told Reuters they expect to indict 15 to 20 people, including executives from Vale and employees from German inspection firm TÜV SÜD – as well as the companies themselves.

“What we can take away from the investigations is there were several factors pointing to risk – the risk was not unknown,” Lanchotti said, disputing Vale’s contention that it had no way of knowing that the dam that unleashed an avalanche of mining waste on the Brazilian town of Brumadinho in January 2019 posed a danger.

Don’t shut in Canada’s oil yet: We just got a wake-up call on how important our oil actually is – by Maureen McCall (Financial Post – January 9, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

Opinion: Canada’s wealth of natural resources now suddenly looks a lot more useful and valuable than it did just weeks ago

Just three days into a new decade Canadians woke up to a new geopolitical reality. The U.S. drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani has raised fears that an escalation of the U.S.-Iran conflict could disrupt world oil supply.

Policy discussions have suddenly pivoted from weaning the world from fossil fuels to hard questions about global and energy security. Some analysts argue Iran will back attacks on oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf and the rest of the Middle East and maybe even on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure if tensions escalate sufficiently.

The political and even military disruption that could ensue could be considerable. The oil supplies and economies of almost every country could be affected, including Canada’s.

Nemaska Lithium gets lifeline, just as Tesla wins new interest in China – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – January 9, 2020)

January 9, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

Nemaska CEO hoping Tesla’s prospects there could spark strong enough investor excitement to help lift it out of creditor protection

On Tuesday, the same day that Elon Musk awkwardly danced on a stage outside Shanghai and delivered the first “made in China” Tesla Model 3, the Canadian company that hopes to build a foundation for an electric vehicle revolution in North America received a lifeline in Quebec.

The province’s Superior Court Judge Louis J. Gouin gave Nemaska Lithium an additional month to figure out a way forward, under court-granted creditor protection, as it seeks to build the country’s first mine and electrochemical conversion plant to produce battery-grade lithium to power electric vehicles.

Early last year, Nemaska was forced to pause construction on its project in Northern Quebec after a dispute with its bondholders and cost overruns created a roughly $600-million funding shortfall.

London, New York mayors urge cities to divest from fossil fuels – by Rachel Savage (Reuters – January 8, 2020)

January 9, 2020

http://news.trust.org/

LONDON, Jan 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The mayors of New York City and London have urged other cities to divest their pension funds from fossil fuel producers, as they introduced a toolkit to help cities shift investments away from companies that drive climate change.

New York City said in January 2018 that over five years it would remove fossil fuel investments from its public pension funds, which then had $189 billion in assets under management. London Mayor Sadiq Khan pledged to do so in his 2016 election campaign.

Investors with $11 trillion in assets under management have pledged to divest from fossil fuels, campaign group 350.org said in a September report.

Anglo American Seeks to Buy $3.8 Billion U.K. Potash Mine – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – January 8, 2020)

January 8, 2020

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — Anglo American Plc has moved to buy a giant U.K. potash mine that was running out of money, adding another major growth project for the century-old miner.

The deal for Sirius Minerals Plc is likely to secure 1,200 jobs and save the development of a mine in one of the U.K.’s most economically deprived areas. It’s also a further sign that Anglo is committed to growing its business — adding a second major project to its Peruvian copper-mine development — at a time when most rivals are reluctant to expand.

Anglo said it’s in advanced talks with Sirius about a possible 5.5 pence-a-share offer that values the company at about $508 million. While that’s a premium of 34% on Sirius’s closing share price on Jan. 7, the company was worth more than $2.3 billion 18 months ago, before its funding plans dried up.

Australia’s wildfires should get us finally thinking rationally about nuclear power – by Kelly McParland (National Post – January 8, 2020)

January 8, 2020

https://nationalpost.com/

One attitude change that might help would be a re-evaluation of nuclear, which is emission-free but hobbled by public fears

I was watching a TV news report on the wildfires in Australia the other day when the announcer suddenly veered off on a tangent.

Until then the report had focused on the astounding images: people huddling on beaches or bobbing offshore on boats, desperately spraying homes with garden hoses against backdrops of burnt-orange skies out of an apocalyptic nightmare.

No doubt there was more to tell, but without warning the host launched into a finger-pointing session on global warming. There was nothing new or different, more a case of claiming victory. Hah, people are suffering! See! We were right! Admit it, this is all your fault!