Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Osisko Mining Provides Quebec Exploration Update (February 8, 2018)

February 9, 2018

http://www.osiskomining.com/

Exploration Budget for 2018: $100 million

(Toronto, February 8, 2018) Osisko Mining Inc. (OSK:TSX) (“Osisko” or the “Corporation”) is pleased to provide an update on the progress of exploration at its 100% owned Windfall Lake, Urban Barry and Quévillon gold projects located in the Abitibi greenstone belt, Eeyou Istchee James Bay, Québec.

Osisko has been conducting new exploration and definition drilling at Windfall for 26 months, since late October 2015. As of the end of January 2018, Osisko has completed 518,000 metres of the planned 800,000 metres to complement the pre-existing 180,000 metres drilled at Windfall by previous operators.

The company is rapidly advancing the Windfall and Lynx deposits through a balance of resource delineation drilling and exploration drilling for extensions and new mineralized zones. Osisko has been successful in the past two years at significantly expanding the known areas of mineralization in the Windfall system and reinterpreting the geological model of the Windfall deposit.

China gives new incentives to boost high-quality coal capacity (Reuters U.S. – February 9, 2018)

February 9, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING (Reuters) – China plans to increase high-quality coal supply by allowing mines to boost capacity if they shut outdated production processes, the latest effort by authorities to further streamline the industry and stabilize coal prices.

Coal companies will be encouraged to close inefficient and polluting mines and replace them with larger ones if they meet certain standards, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Friday.

Companies that agree to sign long-term contracts with power plants or to set up joint ventures with power companies will be allowed to expand their capacity by 130 percent to 300 percent.

Liberals unveil overhaul of environmental legislation – by Gloria Galloway and Shawn McCathy (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The federal government is proposing to overhaul the way environmental assessments are conducted in Canada, aiming to reduce red tape, provide greater transparency and allow greater input from the public and Indigenous populations.

At the same time, Ottawa says it will replace the National Energy Board with a Calgary-based oversight body designed to respond to emerging energy developments that will make faster decisions guided by science and Indigenous knowledge. Liberal cabinet ministers held news conferences in cities across the country on Thursday to roll out the long-promised environmental legislation.

“The legislation we are introducing today aims to restore public trust in how the federal government makes decisions about major projects like mines, pipelines, and hydro dams,” Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told a news conference in Ottawa. “These better rules are designed to protect our environment while improving investor confidence, strengthening our economy and creating good middle-class jobs.”

Noront sees some light from the Ring of Fire – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mine developer pleased First Nation partnership, government getting traction on access road

What a difference a year makes. Early last year, Noront Resources president-CEO Alan Coutts delivered a doom-and-gloom speech to a Sudbury crowd that cast doubt about whether the Toronto mine developer even saw a future in the Ring of Fire.

There was frustration over government inaction in planning an access road to reach the isolated James Bay mineral deposits, the glacial pace of dialogue with First Nation communities with the Regional Framework talks seemed to be going nowhere, and Coutts was dropping hints that the project could be shelved if the company’s financial backers weren’t seeing progress.

This time, an upbeat Coutts was striking a more optimistic tone as the featured headliner at the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce’s Procurement, Employment and Partnerships Conference on Feb. 6.

Noted banker Egizio Bianchini exits BMO, shaking up mining shop – by Niall McGee and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Egizio Bianchini, one of Canada’s best known mining bankers, is leaving BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. after nearly three decades of deal-making.

His departure is another blow to BMO, which is known internationally for its expertise in mining investment banking. The bank-owned dealer will now have seen three rainmakers exit in less than two years. A number of sources told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Bianchini is leaving to work for mining billionaire Robert Friedland.

In an interview with The Globe, John Armstrong, deputy head of investment banking at BMO, said Mr. Bianchini is retiring from the industry, and pursuing a “new opportunity outside of investment banking.” Mr. Bianchini, who did not respond to a request for comment, is expected to leave in March.

Smelters expected to reduce zinc processing fees amid mine supply shortage – by Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – February 7, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Zinc smelters are set to accept lower fees for processing concentrate into metal when annual contracts are hammered out next week at a conference in California, as a crunch in mine supply stretches into a third year.

Treatment charges (TCs), the fees miners pay smelters to process their ore, are likely to fall by at least 13 percent to $140-$150 a tonne or below for 2018 term contracts, from around $172 a tonne last year, according to four trader and analyst sources.

The fees are usually settled between major smelters and miners at the International Zinc Association’s annual conference, this year kicking off on Feb. 11 in Carlsbad, California. The first contract to be agreed leads the way for other deals, becoming a global benchmark.

Potash demand ‘robust’, but Nutrien CEO doesn’t rule out closing higher cost mines – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – February 7, 2018)

February 8, 2018

http://business.financialpost.com/

Nutrien Ltd., the newly formed company from the merger of The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Agrium Inc., is well on course to achieve savings of half a billion dollar in synergies annually, according to its chief executive officer Chuck Magro.

“When we look at it, the $500 million in annual synergies — we’re very confident about that number,” Magro told investors on Nutrien’s first conference call about the company’s 2018 guidance. Already, the company has saved $40 million, Magro said, predicting that more savings will be achieved through the combination of the transportation, operations, finance and procurement functions.

For instance, he pointed to the elimination of 200 railcars as one example of a cost-saving synergy that resulted from the combination. But integrating the two companies could send ripples throughout Canada, with impacts far beyond Nutrien’s bottom line.

Many big new copper mines likely to be needed – Anglo – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – February 6, 2018)

February 8, 2018

http://www.miningweekly.com/

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – Based on two relatively moderate and reasonable growth assumptions, the world will need the equivalent of another 22 Collahuasi copper mines to meet expected copper demand by 2030, Anglo American base metals marketing head Alex Schmitt said on Tuesday.

Collahuasi, which Schmitt described as the second biggest copper mine in the world, produced 506 000 t of copper in 2016. “That’s a true supply cliff that mining needs to deliver,” Schmitt said during a panel discussion at the Investing in African Mining Indaba, at which Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online is taking part.

Working on the assumption that the growth rate of copper over the next 13 years is 2% a year, which in historic terms is not high, the estimate is that the world would need the equivalent of another 13 Collahuasi copper mines by 2030.

North Korea eludes coal export ban via Vietnam – by Bertil Lintner (Asia Times – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

http://www.atimes.com/

Shipping records show a steady stream of North Korean coal shipments to Vietnam’s Cam Pha port, from where the fuel is likely re-exported in violation of UN sanctions

To carry coal to Newcastle is an old English idiom meaning to do something that’s obviously superfluous, as the northeastern English city is renowned for its coal-mining.

But the saying has new meaning in Southeast Asia’s context as security analysts in the region have recorded frequent arrivals of North Korean ships loaded with coal to the north Vietnamese port city of Cam Pha, in northern Quang Ninh province bordering China, from where coal is generally exported not imported.

Vietnam is a leading supplier of coal in the Asia-Pacific region and there would seemingly be no need for the country to import coal from North Korea.

‘I am not giving up on this’: Kinder Morgan president vows to fight for Trans Mountain – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

http://business.financialpost.com/

If the point of the British Columbia government’s continuing tantrums against bitumen pipelines is to get proponent Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. to quit in frustration, it’s not working.

President Ian Anderson, who has led the proposal to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline through years of erratic B.C. politics, said the project is staying the course — even if it’s moving forward at a slower pace than he or his investors would like.

“I am not giving up on this,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “We fought too long and too hard.” The battle to expand the capacity of Kinder Morgan’s Alberta-to-West Coast pipeline has escalated into an ugly trade war between neighbouring provinces.

Ivanhoe pleads for calm on Congo tax hike – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian mining billionaire Robert Friedland has pleaded with investors not to “freak out” over a Congolese plan to hike mining taxes, despite the heavy damage that the plan has already inflicted on the stock prices of miners in the country.

Mr. Friedland, founder and executive chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, says the international miners have been “gored” but they are like “a herd of antelopes with our horns pointing out” as they co-operate on a united campaign against the sharp tax increases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ivanhoe’s stock price has fallen by 24 per cent since the new mining code was enacted last week. Ivanhoe is developing the huge Kamoa-Kakula copper project in Congo, which Mr. Friedland predicts could eventually become the biggest producing copper mine in the world.

Canada ‘needs to act and act very soon’ on polluting mine, say Alaska politicians – by Dave Croft (CBC News North – February 6, 2018)

February 8, 2018

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Alaska politicians on trip to Ottawa ask for progress on Tulsequah Chief mine cleanup

Senior Alaskan politicians say U.S. federal and state agencies are ramping up their efforts to force B.C. to clean up the abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine, about 80 kilometres south of Atlin.

Dan Sullivan, one of Alaska’s two U.S. senators, and the state’s Lt.-Gov. Byron Mallot were in Ottawa Monday for a series of meetings with Canadian officials, including federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. Mallot said there will be more meetings on transboundary issues in April.

“Hopefully this will continue to create the kind of focus on the Tulsequah Chief mine that we raised in the last two years,” said Mallot. “Recognizing that the mine had been spewing water — waste water — for almost half a century, and we’ve got this focused at a level now that has never been focused on before,” he said.

Mexican activists ask Ottawa to investigate alleged support of mining firm – by Bill Curry (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A delegation of activists from Mexico – including the son of a community leader who was murdered after raising concerns with the Canadian embassy – are calling for an investigation into the actions of diplomats who allegedly supported a Canadian mining company accused of human-rights abuses.

The Public Sector Integrity Commission says it is considering the formal request for an investigation filed by the activists this week. The activists also met privately on Tuesday with senior Canadian government officials.

The call for an investigation comes on the heels of a major announcement by International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne that Canada will create a new watchdog position with a mandate to investigate human-rights complaints against Canadian companies operating in other countries.

COLUMN-Why Tesla is turning to Chile for its lithium – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – February 7, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Tesla, the pioneer of the electric vehicle revolution, is turning to Chile to secure the lithium it needs to power its mass production drive.

Tesla and Chilean lithium producer SQM are “exploring” opportunities after the automotive company expressed interest in buying “important volumes” of the battery ingredient, according to Eduardo Bitran, head of Chilean development agency Corfo.

It’s an obvious place for Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, to look for secure supply. The global lithium mother-lode is in the brine lakes of Chile’s Atacama desert.

Ebametoong First Nation Set for Court with Ontario Government – by Amanda Perreault (Netnewsledger.com – February 6, 2018)

February 8, 2018

Netnewsledger.com

EABAMETOONG FIRST NATION – “The Keezhik and Miminiska Lakes areas are very special and important cultural areas for a large number of our members… As EFN, we recognize these family groups as being the stewards of these lands because they live there or spend seasons out on the land exercising their rights. They have always been part of that land.

As we have heard throughout community meetings on this issue, there are burial grounds, birthplaces, cabins used by our families, sensitive spawning areas, and rich hunting grounds throughout the area staked by Landore,” states Eabametoong First Nation Chief Elizabeth Atlookan.

The uncertain future of a pristine area of Northern Ontario will be argued before three judges in Toronto on February 7-8th. Despite concerns raised by community members about impacts to the environment and Aboriginal and Treaty rights, in March 2016 Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines issued mineral exploration permits to Landore Resources Inc. to drill for gold throughout a culturally and environmentally sensitive area.