Republic of Mining

Netflix is lying about those falling walruses. It’s another ‘tragedy porn’ climate hoax – by Susan J. Crockford (Financial Post – April 24, 2019)

April 24, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

Opinion: Netflix and the WWF are misleading the public in the name of climate change — just as National Geographic did with the emaciated polar bear

Now that polar bears have failed to die off in response to a sea-ice decline as promised, climate alarmists are looking hard for a new icon. They think they’ve found it in the walrus. And for their purpose, walruses are more useful dead than alive, and best of all splattered against sharp rocks from a great height.

For instance, a now-famous episode of Netflix’s “Our Planet” documentary series, released this month and narrated by veteran BBC broadcaster David Attenborough, features walruses falling from atop a high cliff and bouncing helplessly over rocks to their deaths.

The incident occurs after what’s called a “land haulout,” which is when large herds of walrus females and calves emerge from the water to gather and rest on a beach. The show blames the land haulouts — and the deaths caused by falling from cliffs — squarely on lack of sea ice due to human-caused climate change.

Dig for gold in Ghana at your own risk, Chinese miners warned after arrests (Ghana Web.com – April 23, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://www.ghanaweb.com/

Chinese citizens who work at gold mines in Ghana will not be protected by their home country if they get snared in a crackdown on illegal mining, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned after some Chinese nationals were detained for working in the African nation.

Although Ghana allows licensed companies to do small-scale gold mining, “it’s still illegal for foreigners” to work in the sector, “and they will not be protected by Ghanaian laws”, the ministry said on Monday on the Chinese social media app WeChat.

Some Chinese citizens had been detained “in recent days” for working at Ghanaian gold mines illegally, it said, without providing details.

China slams province for failing to curb polluting industries (Reuters Africa – April 22, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://af.reuters.com/

SHANGHAI, April 23 (Reuters) – China’s environment ministry reprimanded provincial officials in Shandong, the country’s biggest aluminium producing province, for failing to comply with policies to cut coal consumption and curb the growth of highly polluting aluminium output.

Shandong has been a key part of China’s efforts to curb pollution in the industrial north, but it has struggled to find cleaner forms of growth.

Seven of the province’s cities were set targets to cut smog over the winter, but only one – Jining – managed to do so.

GOLD: Keith Barron loans $3 million to Aurania Resources (Northern Miner/Canadian Mining Journal – April 22, 2019)

April 23, 2019

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

ECUADOR – Keith Barron, who owns 53% of the outstanding common shares of Aurania Resources, has agreed to loan the company up to $3 million to support exploration at its 100% owned Los Cities gold project.

The chairman and CEO also participated in the company’s rights offering in March that raised $5.25 million. Barron acquired 1.48 million of the 1.95 million shares issued at $2.70 per common share.

The geologist privately co-founded Ecuador gold explorer Aurelian Resources and discovered the Fruta del Norte deposit in 2006. The company was acquired by Kinross Gold in 2008 for $1.2 billion.

LME to ban metal tainted by child labor or corruption – by Zandi Shabalala (Reuters U.S. – April 23, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The London Metal Exchange (LME) could ban or delist brands that are not responsibly sourced by 2022 under an initiative launched on Tuesday to help root out metal tainted by child labor or corruption.

But the LME, seeking to avoid overly punishing small mining brands to the benefit of larger miners such as Glencore, said it would not single out cobalt and tin for accelerated auditing.

Cobalt, a key ingredient in the batteries that power electric vehicles, is mined by small, artisinal operations mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where supply chains are not strictly monitored.

Proxy fight intensifies at Guyana Goldfields – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 23, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Junior gold company Guyana Goldfields is urging its shareholders to stick with its proposed slate of directors as it seeks to fend off a dissident shareholder group.

In documents filed on Monday detailing its attempts at a turnaround, Toronto-based Guyana said it has “turned the page” with a better mine plan in place, the right people in charge and improved financial controls.

Late last year, Guyana’s share price went into free fall when the company disclosed serious problems with its original mine plan, raising questions about the size and economics of its gold deposit.

Australians drawn to Iroquois Falls for nickel – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 18, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Perth explorer has high production hopes in expanding holdings in northeastern Ontario

A Sudbury junior miner has flipped a northeastern Ontario base metal property to an Australian exploration outfit.

Transition Metals announced April 15 that it has completed the sale of the Dundonald nickel-copper-near Iroquois Falls to Legendary Ore Mining. Legendary is a subsidiary of VaniCom of Perth, Western Australia. The two parties signed a binding letter of intent last August.

The terms of the sale involved an initial payment of $50,000 to Transition Metals at the signing the letter of intent followed by a second payment of $100,000 upon closing the definitive purchase agreement.

New Coal Plants Are Just Too Expensive in China, Analysis Says (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/

China’s green light to build more coal-fired power plants probably won’t usher in a flurry of new construction as most policies and investments in the top energy user will tilt toward renewable sources.

More than 10 regions will be freed of their overcapacity tag in 2022, clearing a hurdle for them to resume building coal-fired plants. But many of the nation’s largest power companies are under a state drive to develop more clean energy projects, according to Morningstar Inc., which expects growth in coal-fired capacity to lag other sources.

“The profitability of coal-fired power plants is so low, there’s no incentive for them to build more,” said Morningstar analyst Jennifer Song. “China as a whole has set consumption targets for renewable energy sources. We can see those large power groups also have quotas to build more renewable projects.”

ROB MAGAZINE: How Lundin CEO Marie Inkster plans to change mining’s bad reputation – by Trevor Cole (Globe and Mail – April 23, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Inkster opens up about her reluctance to take the top job and how she hopes to change the industry’s reputation

Based on the career of Marie Inkster, someone looking for adventure in business might want to consider accounting. Once a CA with Deloitte Canada, Inkster went to work for Geac Computer Corp. in the late 1990s.

When her boss left for Nortel, Inkster smartly decided not to join her. Instead, in 2002, she found herself in the three-person office of LionOre, being lured into a life in mining. Soon she was travelling the world. By 2009 she was CFO at Lundin Mining, a rising mid-tier miner run by the audacious Lukas Lundin, and walking through the Congolese jungle.

She orchestrated Lundin’s 2014 acquisition of the Candelaria Copper Mining Complex in Chile, raising $2.2 billion and nearly doubling the size of the company. In October of last year, Inkster replaced Paul Conibear as CEO.

Inside Australia’s deepest gold mine — how deep can history go at Gwalia? – by Jarrod Lucas (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – April 21, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://www.abc.net.au/

A truck driver working at the bottom of Australia’s deepest gold mine gets loaded up with about 55 tonnes of precious cargo — hard rock blasted from the Earth and containing small specks of the yellow metal.

For every tonne trucks cart to the surface there might be only seven grams of gold, the equivalent of about one teaspoon. Driving at the speed limit of 30 kilometres an hour, it takes drivers just under two hours to make their way to the surface to dump their load and head back down.

This is Gwalia in Western Australia’s remote northern Goldfields. Today, it is the deepest trucking mine in the world and can trace its history back to the 1890s when former US president Herbert Hoover was mine manager.

‘Wounded bulls’ remain nervous as oil prices rally ahead of earnings season – by Geoffrey Morgan (Financial Post – April 23, 2019)

April 23, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY — Despite a rapid spike in oil prices, investors are watching the rally from the sidelines as they ponder whether to jump in amid a broad rally in global energy stocks, led by the Canadian energy index.

“This is definitely not a crowded trade,” said Michael Tran, RBC Capital Markets managing director, global energy strategy, about rising crude prices.

Unlike the latter half of 2018, when bets that global oil prices would rise outnumbered short contracts by nine to one, funds are being more conservative during the current oil price rally. Tran said the number of long contracts for crude currently outnumber the shorts by just four to one.

Beware Of Gold’s Move To $1,250, All Eyes On U.S. GDP Figure Next Week – by Anna Golubova (Kitco News – April 18, 2019)

April 18, 2019

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Raging risk-on sentiment continues to keep gold prices down and analysts are worried that things could get worse before they get better.

Gold prices struggled through a major sell-off this week, falling 1.4% and touching a four-month low. June Comex gold was trading flat on the day on Thursday, last seen at $1,275.20.

Better-than-expected retail sales played a significant role, revealing improved consumer sentiment, with the best results since September 2017.

NEWS RELEASE: Newmont and Goldcorp Successfully Create World’s Leading Gold Company (April 18, 2019)

April 18, 2019

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Newmont Goldcorp Corporation (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT) (Newmont Goldcorp or the Company) today announced the successful conclusion of its transaction combining Newmont Mining Corporation and Goldcorp Inc. to form the world’s leading gold business.

The resulting company features an unmatched portfolio of assets, prospects and talent. This portfolio includes long-life operations and profitable expansion and exploration options in some of the world’s most favorable mining jurisdictions. Newmont Goldcorp will also offer investors the highest annual dividend and the largest Reserves and Resources per share among senior gold producers.

“We’ve met our goal to become the world’s leading gold business, and we’ll maintain that position by executing our winning strategy,” said Gary J. Goldberg, Chief Executive Officer. “That strategy focuses on constantly improving safety and efficiency at our current operations while we continue to invest in expansions and exploration to fuel next generation production. An equally important part of that strategy is to meet stakeholders’ expectations by continuing to lead the sector in value creation and sustainability performance.”

Thunder Bay: Project to build permanent road to northern Ontario First Nation ‘the right move’ chief says – by Matt Prokopchuk (CBC News Thunder Bay – April 18, 2019)

April 18, 2019

https://www.cbc.ca/

The chief of a northern Ontario First Nation says an ongoing project to build an all-season road to the community will help in many ways.

Marten Falls, which is about 300 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, is in the midst of the provincial environmental assessment process to construct a thoroughfare that will link the remote First Nation to the provincial highway system north of Nakina.

“There’s a lot of socio-economic benefits that would derive from having an all-weather road to the community,” said Chief Bruce Achneepineskum, adding that those would include lowering the cost of freight, making it easier for community members to travel and better positioning the First Nation to take advantage of various economic development opportunities in the forestry, mining and tourism sectors.

[Newfoundland] Valentine mine takes another step – by Barb Sweet (St. John’s Telegram – April 18, 2019)

April 18, 2019

https://www.thetelegram.com/

Central Newfoundland mine proposal registered for environmental assessment

It’s a gold reserve glittering with job potential but the proposed Valentine gold mine in central Newfoundland is several years away. The undertaking was registered this week for environmental assessment under the provincial Environmental Protection Act.

Marathon Gold Corp. is the Toronto-based gold exploration company proposing to develop the gold mine roughly 55 kilometres southwest of Millertown in central Newfoundland. The net present value of the project is about $500 million USD.

“It’s a major gold deposit, certainly the largest in Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada and it really stands out as one of the top projects in North America,” president and CEO Phillip Walford said in a telephone interview from Toronto Wednesday.