Twitter

New shaft key to transforming Kirkland Lake into 1Moz/y producer – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – January 18, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Kirkland Lake has set its sights on producing one-million ounces a year in the next five to seven years, a target which is built on transforming the Fosterville and Macassa mines into 400 000 oz/y producers.

At Fosterville, in Australia’s state of Victoria, Kirkland Lake is aiming to achieve the 400 000 oz/y target by 2020, as it moves to full production at the Swan zone and starts production from additional mining fronts.

The path to 400 000 oz/y at the Macassa mine, in Ontario, Canada, will take longer and will involve sinking a new $320-million shaft in two phases.

Read more

Revived Pebble Mine in Alaska Reignites War Over Expansion – by Stephen Lee (Bloomberg News – January 18, 2018)

https://www.bna.com/

Pebble Partnership, which hopes to build a gold and copper mine in Alaska, isn’t denying suggestions that it might someday try to expand the project, as environmentalists fear.

But any expansion would have to satisfy federal regulators, Tom Collier, chief executive of the Pebble Partnership, told Bloomberg Environment.

“It wouldn’t surprise any of us that are working on this particular permit application that there might be another one at some point in the future,” Collier said. “But that expansion or second phase would require an entirely new, thorough, and rigorous process. You don’t get a leg up and an easy expansion once you’ve developed part of the project.”

Read more

Baie Verte Mayor reigniting talks around former asbestos mine – by Cory Hurley (Western Star – January 18, 2018)

https://www.thewesternstar.com/

Proposed federal asbestos regulations do not mention former operations in province

BAIE VERTE, NL — Baie Verte Mayor Brandon Philpott says it’s time for all key players to start talking about the open pit and exposed asbestos fibres at the former Advocate Mines site again.

His comment came following Canada’s recent action toward its promised ban of the use, sale, import and export of asbestos and products containing that hazardous material.

The federal health and environment departments are supporting changes to eliminate the market for asbestos products in the country. The proposed regulations include an exemption to allow for cleanup of asbestos residue around former mines in an attempt to redevelop the sites.

Read more

5 of Africa’s most under pressure mining bosses in 2018 – by David McKay (MiningMx – January 19, 2018)

http://www.miningmx.com/

RUNNING a mining company is not beer and skittles at the best of times, but there a number of industry bosses who are under particular pressure at the current time. Miningmx identifies those with the most to prove and what they must do to keep their seats.

Nico Muller – CEO: Impala Platinum
Appointed: April 2017

Impala Platinum mines palladium, which is doing rather well at the moment, but its main product – platinum – is stubbornly resistant to price improvement. The rand has also firmed as currency speculators line up the possbility of improving business conditions in South Africa.

Whilst this is net good for mining firms in the long-term, it’s not great for the revenue lines of struggling miners in the short-term.

Read more

China ‘tweaks’ nickel import taxes to favour electric vehicles, Wood Mackenzie says – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – January 18, 2018)

Northern Miner

In mid-December, China made adjustments to import taxes on some nickel products that favour the production of electric vehicles.

Starting from Jan. 1, the import tax on nickel sulphate — a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries — was slashed to 2% from 5.5%, Wood Mackenzie says in a new report, while the tax on imports of nickel cathode for smelting purposes jumped from 1% to 2% (but it remained at the lower end for cathode more suited to plating and sulphate applications).

“With local sources pointing to the fact that over 60% of imported nickel sulphate is used in the production of ternary materials for NCM/NCA batteries, it is evident that China is laying the ground to support her capabilities in this field,” Wood Mackenzie states. (Lithium-ion batteries are composed of three parts: NCM batteries contain nickel, manganese and cobalt oxide, while NCA batteries contain nickel, cobalt and aluminum oxide.)

Read more

Confidence returns for Australian coal miners – by Cole Latimer (Sydney Morning Herald – January 19, 2018)

http://www.smh.com.au/

Did the doubters declare the death of thermal coal too soon? Certainly the major listed Australian thermal coal miners have all seen positive movement in their share price from late 2017 through into 2018, bucking the wider perception of a market in decline.

That was in turn driven by a resurgent thermal coal price after its massive bust three years ago. From August 2015 to August 2016, prices languished below $US60 ($75) a tonne. By October of last year that had spiked to more than $US100 a tonne in October 2016 and remained in a healthy range rarely falling below $US80 a tonne.

There are combination of international and domestic market factors as well as smarter play by Australian miners that have created market conditions where thermal coal has regained ground, shaking off the zombie company taglines that have dogged the industry over the last year.

Read more

BASF Aims to Muscle Itself Onto Battery Materials’ Top Table – by Andrew Noël (Bloomberg News – January 19, 2018)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — BASF SE is prepared to dig deep, pouring money and expertise into developing materials for electric-vehicle batteries to catch up with rivals like Tesla Inc. supplier Sumitomo Metals & Mining Co.

The world’s No. 1 chemical maker is adding to its expansion plans in Europe, which is emerging as the next high-growth region for batteries, said Ken Lane, BASF’s global head of catalysts. Battery makers in the market currently rely on Asian suppliers like Sumitomo that provide nickel and lithium.

“We are the largest chemical supplier to the automotive industry, and this is the biggest opportunity that we see in that space today,” Lane said in a phone interview. “Asia has been the growth story till now and will continue to grow, but Europe is also going to be growing very fast over the next decade.”

Read more

Tracking Europe’s waste: ‘There’s gold in them landfills’ – by Alister Doyle (Reuters U.S. – January 17, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

OSLO (Reuters) – Some of Europe’s richest deposits of valuable materials are in the trash, ranging from gold in smartphones to cobalt in electric car batteries, according to a survey of urban mining published on Wednesday.

Scrap vehicles, batteries, computers, fridges and other electronic and electrical waste total about 18 million tonnes a year and contain materials worth billions of dollars, the report said, urging more recycling.

A smartphone, for instance, has a concentration of gold 25 to 30 times that of the richest primary gold ores, according to the study, “Prospecting Secondary Raw Materials in the Urban Mine and Mining Waste” (ProSUM). A database (urbanmineplatform.eu/) tracks and predicts flows of materials in 30 European nations, from sales to the dump.

Read more

‘A shock to all of us’: Teck Resources’ dam sale upsets workers, community in Trail, B.C. – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – January 19, 2018)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The sale is raising questions about whether Teck Resources is laying the groundwork to pivot away from its smelting business to focus on other businesses elsewhere

Mike Mozak’s union was in the middle of labour negotiations with Teck Resources Ltd. last spring when the company announced a proposed $1.2-billion deal to sell its hydroelectric dam that powers the lead and zinc smelter where his members worked. “It was a shock to all of us,” said Mozak, president of United Steelworkers Local 9705, who questions how the sale could affect the smelter’s future.

Nestled on a hill overlooking the town of Trail in British Columbia’s West Kootenay region, the smelter complex has operated for more than 100 years and is one of the largest in the world, certainly the largest in Canada where it supplies 1,400 jobs and props up the regional economy.

Last year, through the first three quarters, the smelter produced more than 230,000 tons of zinc, essential for rustproofing the steel and iron found in everything from bridges to frying pans, and a component used in fertilizers and batteries.

Read more

Regulator orders Barrick to close Chilean side of Pascua-Lama project – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 19, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Chile’s environmental regulator has ruled that Barrick Gold Corp. must shut down its above-ground operations on the Chilean side of its massive Pascua-Lama gold and silver project.

But the latest admonishment by Chile is not expected to overly affect Barrick’s plans for Pascua-Lama, which sits at an elevation between 3,800 to 5,200 metres in the Andes, and straddles the border between Chile and Argentina.

For some time now, Barrick has been exploring the possibility of restarting the suspended project by building an underground mine on the Argentinian side, which may be less detrimental to the environment.

Read more

Sherritt gets creative with debt and equity financings – by Barry Critchely (Financial Post – January 18, 2018)

http://business.financialpost.com/

For those who like their financings complex, the recent news from Sherritt International will provide sufficient fodder for at least a few meals.

Over two days, it announced: a $100 million offering of units; a plan to purchase, by way of a Dutch auction, up to $75 million of high-yield debentures; and the pricing of the unit offering, which because of strong demand, ended up at $115 million.

And, as a little something on top, the unit offering consisted of a share and half a warrant linked to the high-flying price of cobalt, a metal Sherritt produces. The equity deal is Sherritt’s first in a decade.

Read more

Expansion talk wipes billions off lithium miners – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – January 19, 2018)

http://www.afr.com/

Whichever narrative you choose to believe about the supply and demand outlook for lithium, there was something to suit your argument this past week.

If you’re convinced the world’s auto manufacturers will have an insatiable demand for the battery commodity, Ford’s announcement that it would more than double investment in electric vehicles over the next five years would have been music to your ears.

If you’re concerned about an oversupply of lithium coming from the salt lakes of South America, look no further than the royalty settlement struck by Chilean producer SQM, which gave the company permission to more than triple production over the next seven years.

Read more

India Seeks Steel Ministry Control of Iron Ore, Coal – by Archana Chaudhary and Swansy Afonso (Bloomberg News – January 19, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

India is considering a plan to hand over control of iron ore and coking coal mining to the steel ministry to boost supplies of the key steelmaking materials as the country is poised to become the world’s second-biggest producer, according to a person with knowledge of the plan.

The proposal to shift the regulatory authority from the current mines and coal ministries is under discussion and needs approval from the prime minister’s office and the ministries, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the matter is not yet public.

The integration would allow the steel ministry to make better trade policies, speed up approval of mining licenses and make it easier for foreign steelmakers to set up operations in India, the person said.

Read more

Second life for historic Cobalt silver camp – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – January 18, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Historic mining area near Ontario/Quebec border garnering attention for cobalt resources

The land around the town of Cobalt, despite the name, was once one of the richest silver finds in the nation. Decades after that boom ceased, another one is on the horizon, this time for the town’s namesake.

As demand for electric vehicles grows across the world, one company is taking a second look at the cobalt resources that were once thrown away.

First Cobalt Corp. gave a Jan. 16 presentation in Sudbury on their latest findings and plans to drill on several properties they purchased near Cobalt, many of them historical silver mine sites, to determine the scope and quality of the cobalt resources.

Read more

Exclusive: Most U.S. states lost coal mining jobs in 2017 – data – by Valerie Volcovici (Reuters U.S.- January 19, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly two-thirds of U.S. coal producing states lost coal mining jobs in 2017, even as overall employment in the downtrodden sector grew modestly, according to preliminary government data obtained by Reuters.

The statistics come as the administration of President Donald Trump claims credit for new jobs in the coal industry, a business he has promised to revive by rolling back Obama-era environmental regulations.

Unreleased full-year coal employment data from the Mining Health and Safety Administration shows total U.S. coal mining jobs grew by 771 to 54,819 during Trump’s first year in office, led by Central Appalachian states like West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania – where coal companies have opened a handful of new mining areas.

Read more