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Wood Mackenzie cuts iron ore price outlook as markets fall again – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – Januray 30, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

Despite beginning the year in good shape, the global iron ore industry is starting to experience a fresh drop in prices that has analysts trying to decide whether this is the start of a deeper downtrend or a pull-back.

According to the Metal Bulletin, the price for benchmark 62% fines slipped Tuesday below $73 per tonne, down $1.36 per tonne month-to-date average.

Chinese iron ore futures ticked higher, but kept near one-month lows on Tuesday, as ample supply of the steelmaking raw material countered transport disruptions caused by heavy snow in the country.

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TIMMINS HISTORY: What’s in a name? – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – January 28, 2018)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Am I dating myself if I ask the following – do you remember some of the old K-Tel commercials that were featured about every five seconds on television in the 1970s?

And yes, they were repeated at a high rate because I still remember some of the commentary “Octavian! Edward Bear! April Wine!” followed by a list of hits that you just had to own (I don’t know why those three bands have remained embedded in my brain, but there it is).

The records were a success and an easy way for kids to buy music – albums were $4.99, tapes $5.99 (pricey for the time, but oh so worth it if you were a young person collecting hit music). I admit it – I still have a few of those gaudy albums – and if you are feeling nostalgic, a lot of those early ads are on YouTube (pretty dated but fun to watch – the production values are worth the search alone).

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Alaska mine developer’s shares fall 20 percent; partner pressured – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – January 29, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Shares of mine developer Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd fell more than 20 percent on Monday, the first trading day after a U.S. regulator’s surprise move to keep restrictions on the company’s big copper and gold mine project in Alaska.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reversed itself on Friday by maintaining restrictions on the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, saying it needed more time to assess the project’s impact on the environment and area fisheries.

Pebble holds one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits. Its development, near one of the biggest sockeye salmon fisheries on earth, has been fiercely opposed by environmentalists, native groups and fisherman for years.

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More major mines tapping Indigenous labour force – (Business Vancouver – January 30, 2018)

https://biv.com/

First Nations increasingly a key piece of puzzle in solving mining’s HR challenges

In recent years, two major copper mine proposals in B.C. – New Prosperity and Ajax – have been rejected by government, either largely or partly due to First Nations opposition.

What gets less publicity are mines that have been built with the support and co-operation of First Nations – Red Chris and Brucejack being among the most recent examples.

At last week’s Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) annual Roundup conference, Kim Rudd, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Natural Resources Canada, pointed out that mining is the largest employer of First Nations in Canada, employing 11,000 Indigenous people.

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COLUMN-Five stand-outs in China’s base metals trade last year – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – January 29, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – China’s base metals imports stopped offering a simple, over-arching story line several years ago. The country has built out ever more processing capacity over the last decade, meaning that the “real” story is often what’s happening at the raw materials stage of the supply chain.

In cases such as aluminium, China has arguably constructed too much smelter capacity, to the point that the rest of the world has stopped caring about how much it imports but rather how much it exports.

Across the rest of the metallic complex, individual market dynamics have become ever more important, fracturing the Chinese trade picture into multiple, sometimes contradictory parts. Against an increasingly kaleidoscopic backdrop, here are five key take-aways from last year’s trade flows.

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As Global Economy Hums, Davos Turns Bullish on Commodities – by Javier Blas (Bloomberg News – January 26, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The last two editions of the World Economic Forum were somber affairs for oil industry chieftains and commodities tycoons. The consensus in Davos was that oil was going to stay low, OPEC would fail to lift prices, and the mining industry faced a difficult time.

Roll forward to 2018 and there’s been a near-universal shift in sentiment as strong and synchronized global economic growth drives demand for raw materials. “We have not seen this kind of growth since before the global financial crisis,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said in an interview.

In panel discussions, interviews, and conversations on the evening cocktail circuit at the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere, it was hard to find a bearish voice. The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index, a gauge that tracks raw materials from oil to wheat, has risen 41 percent over the last two years to trade at highs last seen in November 2014.

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Northern Ontario First Nation wants gold exploration permit quashed in case that could have impact on Ring of Fire – by Jorge Barrera (CBC News Indigenous – January 27, 2018)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/

Mining company pushed to end consultation after Barrick Gold came knocking

No one kept a record of what was said during the meeting between mining company Landore Resources Canada and the Ontario ministry in January 2016, but at stake was a potential deal with Barrick Gold, the largest gold mining firm in the world.

Landore, a subsidiary of Landore Resources Ltd., based in the Guernsey Islands, U.K., was eyeing potential gold deposits in an area with two lakes about 40 kilometres from Eabametoong First Nation where several families had camps, traplines and burial sites. Eabametoong First Nation is about 350 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont.

The mining company requested the “urgent meeting” with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines because it wanted to wrap up consultations and obtain a permit to explore for gold, according to court records.

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Sudbury delegation impressed by Finnish ferrochrome smelter – by Darren MacDonald (Northern Life – January 26, 2018)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Noront Resources plans to build similar facility in Northern Ontario

A delegation from Greater Sudbury that visited Finland last week came away impressed by the way the ferrochrome smelter operates in that nation, both environmentally and economically.

Mayor Brian Bigger led the delegation that returned Jan. 18 from Tornio, the Finnish community near the border with Sweden where the Outokumpu smelter is located.

The most technically-advanced chromite smelter in the world, Noront Resources plans to build a similar facility in Northern Ontario to process ore from the Ring of Fire. Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and Thunder Bay are all in the running to become home to the smelter, expected to create as many as 400 jobs.

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‘The last frontier’: Arctic drilling ban big blow to Northern Indigenous communities, premier says – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – January 29, 2018)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The southern part of the NWT is benefitting from diamond mining.
Three mines are in operation. The sector created more than 26,000
person-years of employment between 1996 and 2006, and half of
those jobs went to Indigenous people, McLeod said. During the
same period, diamond mines spent more than $13 billion on
northern businesses, including $5.6 billion on businesses
owned by Indigenous people.

Reconciliation with Indigenous people shows up in many aspects of the federal political agenda. So why is it falling so short on economic reconciliation? Indeed, it seems the federal government’s approach to reconciliation is about giving with one hand and taking from the other.

Bob McLeod, the Metis premier of the Northwest Territories, re-enforced the point last week, joining a growing chorus of Indigenous leaders complaining the federal government is undermining their ability to make a living by going too far on environmental protection based on rigid models designed by the green lobby.

“Full reconciliation can’t just be about political and legal authority, it also has to be about economic power,” McLeod said in a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade. “It is one thing to have the right to make decisions for yourselves, but if you have to depend on another government to fund their implementation, you have only achieved partial self-determination.”

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Robert Friedland tells Frank Holmes why copper is ready to run – by Frank Holmes (U.S. Global Investors – January 29, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

Interview syndicated from Frank Holme’s Frank Talk

Last week the U.S. Global Investors office was visited by a living legend in the junior mining industry, billionaire founder and executive chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, Robert Friedland. In case you don’t know, back in the mid-1970s, Robert was caretaker of an apple orchard south of Portland that one of his buddies from Reed College would often visit. That buddy’s name was Steve Jobs, who later went on to found a little company he named—what else?—Apple.

Before Robert and Steve Jobs began palling around, Jobs was known as shy and withdrawn. It was Robert who taught him his skills in what’s been described by many as “reality distortion.” Having seen numerous speeches by Robert over the years, I can attest to his masterful ability to utterly command a room of hundreds with his electric charisma.

Some of that charisma must have rubbed off on Jobs, helping the future iPhone innovator evolve into the shrewd, larger-than-life business leader he’s celebrated as today.

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China unveils vision for ‘Polar Silk Road’ across Arctic (Reuters Canada – January 26, 2018)

https://ca.reuters.com/

BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Friday outlined its ambitions to extend President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming.

Releasing its first official Arctic policy white paper, China said it would encourage enterprises to build infrastructure and conduct commercial trial voyages, paving the way for Arctic shipping routes that would form a “Polar Silk Road”.

“China hopes to work with all parties to build a ‘Polar Silk Road’ through developing the Arctic shipping routes,” the paper, issued by the State Council Information Office, said.

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Teck Resources says it will be weeks before Elkview coal mine dryer is fixed – Canadian Press (CBC News B.C. – January 25, 2018)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Vancouver-based company says work is ongoing to assess extent of damage and impact on production

Teck Resources Ltd. says it will take four to six weeks to repair damage at its coal drying complex at its Elkview mine in B.C., following a “significant pressure event” earlier this month.

The incident was described by a union executive as an explosion that workers said resulted in a “fireball” shooting through vents in the sides and roof of the building.

Vancouver-based Teck says repairs will cost less than $10 million and expects lost production to amount to about 200,000 tonnes of clean coal. It says Elkview is producing higher moisture steelmaking coals at approximately 80 per cent of planned production levels.

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South African mining seen a winner as Ramaphosa woos investors – by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo (Reuters U.S. – January 26, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 (Reuters) – South Africa’s embattled mining industry could be first in line to benefit from a boost in foreign direct investment (FDI) if the new leader of the ruling party Cyril Ramaphosa implements measures seen as vital to draw in more cash, analysts said.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) needs to water down black ownership targets in mining, roll out mobile broadband access and cut red tape in the labour market to revive investor interest, they say.

South Africa has failed in recent years to attract significant direct investment due to slow economic growth, policy uncertainty and higher labour costs.

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Cliffs CEO promises continued growth in 2018 – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – January 25, 2018)

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Cleveland-Cliffs had a good year mining and selling Minnesota and Michigan iron ore in 2017, the company reported Thursday, and should have an even better year in 2018.

Cliffs nearly doubled net revenue, hitting $371 million in 2017. That’s up from $199 million in 2016 as the company and industry continue to rise out of the global iron ore doldrums of 2015.

The nation’s largest producer of taconite iron ore pellets, used to make steel, had full-year 2017 consolidated revenues of $2.3 billion, compared to the prior year’s revenues of $2.1 billion, although revenue in the fourth quarter was actually down from 2016.

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Freeport points to progress in Indonesia permit talks – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.K. – January 25, 2018)

https://uk.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX.N) said it was edging closer to a permit deal with Indonesia for its massive Grasberg mine, but the world’s second-biggest copper producer cautioned that it has not yet struck any formal agreements.

There has been little sign of progress since last August, when Freeport promised to divest a 51-percent stake in Grasberg, the world’s second-biggest copper mine, to the Indonesian government, in exchange for long-term operating rights.

But negotiations have produced positive results, insisted Chief Executive Richard Adkerson on a conference call with analysts, adding that all parties aim to complete talks in the first half of 2018.

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