Republic of Mining

Mining listings bring Indian gold and Irish zinc to London – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – December 20, 2017)

December 21, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Two exploration companies with assets spanning gold in India to zinc in Ireland will list their shares on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on Thursday, bringing to 11 the number of mining listings this year as commodities prices recover.

Shares in Panthera resources, whose prime asset is a gold project in Rajasthan and Erris Resources, which has gold in Sweden and zinc in Ireland, will start trading at 0800 GMT.

Commodity prices have stabilized after a steep downturn in 2015 and early 2016 and the number of share listings is up dramatically from just two in 2016. Junior miners who are exploring and developing assets, however, say it is still hard to raise capital.

Expect action on Ring of Fire in 2018: MPP – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – December 21, 2017)

December 21, 2017

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

It won’t be too long after ringing in the New Year that the Ring of Fire will begin to feel a bit closer to reality. “We’re talking about shovels in the ground in 2018,” said Glenn Thibeault this week, in reference to a pair of roads the Wynne government is committed to building to the mineral-rich region.

Earlier in the day the Sudbury MPP met with representatives of Noront Resources, which plans to both extract chromite from the James Bay deposits and refine it through a smelter that will be built somewhere in Northern Ontario — potentially Sudbury.

Noront CEO Alan Coutts was thrilled in August when the Liberal government announced it would fund road construction to The Ring, telling The Star at the time this was “the catalyst that was needed.”

COLUMN-China to remain the main game for global commodity demand – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – December 20, 2017)

December 20, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Dec 20 (Reuters) – China strode like a colossus over major commodity markets in 2017, as the world’s biggest buyer of natural resources made its presence felt on demand for coal, iron ore, crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

China’s influence on major commodities is likely to remain the single most important factor driving supply and demand in 2018, but that’s not to say next year will simply be a repeat of what happened this year.

Still, some trends established in 2017 will continue, or even accelerate, with LNG potentially the best example. LNG imports surged 48 percent in the first 10 months of the year, as Beijing encouraged a switch from coal to the cleaner-burning fuel. Add in pipeline imports from central Asia, and China’s total natural gas imports were up 26.5 percent in the first 11 months of 2017.

BHP misrepresented climate stance, says lobby group the World Coal Association – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – December 20, 2017)

December 20, 2017

http://www.afr.com/

BHP Billiton has been accused of “posturing” and misrepresenting the climate policies of the World Coal Association (WCA) in a controversial review the company has used to justify quitting the lobby group.

BHP said on Tuesday it was likely to cancel its membership of the WCA as a result of “material differences” between it and the WCA’s stance on energy and climate policy.

In justifying its “preliminary” decision to quit the WCA, BHP singled out comments by WCA chief executive Benjamin Sporton in The Australian Financial Review in September, where he endorsed the Turnbull government’s decision to abandon a clean energy target and urged Australian banks to support high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) coal-fired power stations.

Column: Sudbury, North not sharing Ontario’s recovery – by Steve Lafleur (Sudbury Star – December 20, 2017)

December 20, 2017

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Northern Ontario has seen the most unambiguously negative employment situation since 2008

While Ontario’s overall economy has largely recovered from the Great Recession of 2008 after a great deal of pain, it’s been an uneven recovery. The province had 5.9 per cent more total jobs in 2016 (the latest year of comparable data) than it did in 2008.

But that’s a lackluster rate of job growth and much of the province has fared poorly. In fact, 11 of the province’s 23 urban areas actually had less total jobs in 2016 than in 2008.

Three regions in particular have been left behind: Northern Ontario, eastern Ontario and southwestern Ontario — albeit to a lesser extent.

NEWS RELEASE: SABINA GOLD & SILVER ANNOUNCES 9.9% STRATEGIC INVESTMENT BY ZHAOJIN INTERNATIONAL MINING CO., LTD.(December 19, 2017)

December 20, 2017

http://www.sabinagoldsilver.com/

Vancouver, BC – Sabina Gold & Silver Corp (SBB.T), (“Sabina” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that Zhaojin International Mining Co., Ltd. (“Zhaojin International”) has agreed to purchase 24,930,000 common shares of the Company at a price of $2.65 per share for a total investment of approximately $66,100,000 in a private placement (the “Financing”).

Upon completion of the Financing, Zhaojin International will own approximately 9.9% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis. Zhaojin International is a subsidiary of Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. Ltd. (“Zhaojin”), which is a leading Chinese gold producer and one of China’s largest gold smelting companies.

“We are very excited to welcome Zhaojin, a leading Chinese gold producer, as a strategic investor. Zhaojin’s investment represents a significant milestone for Sabina and is a strong endorsement of the work completed to date at our world class Back River project. This financing with Zhaojin provides Sabina with a cornerstone investor that has financial and technical resources to assist us in advancing the project to production.

Zinke wants to expand critical minerals production, saying: ‘We are vulnerable as a nation’ – by Juliet Eilperin (Washington Post – December 19, 2017)

December 20, 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke launched a push Tuesday to expand critical minerals production in the United States, saying “we are vulnerable as a nation” because we rely so heavily on imports from China.

The move comes as the U.S. Geological Survey published its first assessment of the country’s critical minerals resources since 1973, an analysis the agency began in 2013. The report concludes that 20 out of the 23 critical minerals the nation relies on are sourced from China.

“It is time for the U.S. to take a leading position,” Zinke told reporters at a briefing. “And it’s not that we don’t have the minerals in the U.S. It’s likely we do.”

From Bitcoin to Trump: Mining Giants Identify 2018’s Challenges – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – December 20, 2017)

December 20, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

In 2017, miners finally got some tailwinds from their commodities as unsavory supply pressures — from lower ore grades to worker strikes — bolstered prices.

What’s ahead for 2018? We asked six top executives from companies including Newmont Mining Corp., Barrick Gold Corp. and Teck Resources Ltd. for their outlooks.

With depleting reserves top of mind, they expect more focus on exploration and inter-company collaboration to develop assets. There’s consensus that large-scale mergers and acquisitions are a thing of the past and the rising interest in bitcoin poses no threat to gold. But opinion is split on whether miners will be able to grow, or even maintain production, without letting the hard-won cost discipline of past years fly out the window.

Price spike in sulfur leaves farmers, fertilizer makers sour – by Rod Nickel (Reuters U.S. – December 19, 2017)

December 20, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Phosphate fertilizer producers, including Mosaic Co and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, are paying the highest prices in two years for sulfur, a key ingredient in their farm products, but farmers are the ones absorbing the extra cost.

Higher sulfur costs, the result of tight global supplies and strong Chinese demand, come as fertilizer makers struggle against a crop price slump that has diminished farmer buying power and as new global phosphate supplies come on stream.

The spike in thinly traded sulfur caused “a bit of pandemonium,” as it is a byproduct of oil and gas output, making it difficult to fill shortages quickly, said Andy Jung, director of market and strategic analysis at Minnesota-based Mosaic.

Rare earth element mine could mean big changes for Labrador town – by Evan Careen (St. John’s Telegram – December 20, 2017)

December 20, 2017

http://www.thetelegram.com/

Public asked to comment on project located near St. Lewis

ST. LEWIS, NL – The federal and provincial governments are looking for comments on a proposed rare earth element mine on the south coast of Labrador. The Foxtrot Rare Earth Element Mine Project is currently the subject of an environmental assessment by the provincial government.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) is deciding whether a federal environmental assessment is required. Both processes are currently asking for comments from the public and impacted groups.

The proposed project is near the Town of St. Lewis. Mayor Helen Poole said council certainly plans to submit comments. “I know it’ll have an impact in all the communities in the area, but it’ll really impact us,” she said. “We’re excited but we have to be cautious on how it’s going to impact us, so we want this environmental study done.”

He Struck It Rich in Ecuador. Now He’s Looking for the Lost Cities of Gold – by Laura Millan Lombrana and Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – December 20, 2017)

December 20, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

On the hunt with Keith Barron, an Indiana Jones who blends history with geology to dig up treasure in hostile terrain.

Keith Barron is deep inside a Vatican library, hunkered over a 17th century tome bound in Moroccan red leather. “The country is the richest in gold in all the Indies,” reads one passage. “The natives are cannibals and very warlike, and devastated the city of Logroño de los Caballeros, massacring the Spaniards and burning the churches.”

A geologist by training, amateur historian and professional gold hunter, Barron is on a mission. Ecuador’s two “lost cities of gold” exist only in legend and in fragments of old texts like this one, written by a Spanish priest traveling through the region a half century after the settlements were destroyed.

Spain eventually gave them up for lost after dispatching more than 30 failed expeditionary forces to reclaim them. Barron and a team of researchers have spent years sleuthing around the Vatican library, the immense General Archive of the Indies, in Seville, Spain, and in small churches and libraries scattered throughout Latin America.

U.S. sees foreign reliance for ‘critical’ minerals as security concern – by Valerie Volcovici (Reuters U.K. – December 19, 2017)

December 20, 2017

https://uk.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States needs to encourage domestic production of a handful of minerals critical for the technology and defense industries, and stem reliance on China, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said on Tuesday.

Zinke made the remarks at the Interior Department as he unveiled a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which detailed the extent to which the United States is dependent upon foreign competitors for its supply of certain minerals.

The report identified 23 out of 88 minerals that are priorities for U.S. national defense and the economy because they are components in products ranging from batteries to military equipment.

NEWS RELEASE: Critical Minerals of the United States (December 19, 2017)

December 20, 2017

https://www.usgs.gov/

It would be no exaggeration to say that without minerals, no aspect of our daily lives would be possible.

Click here for entire report: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1802

From the high-tech devices we use to access the information superhighway to the cars and trucks we use to drive the freeways, from the urban jungle to rural farms, every aspect of our lives relies on minerals. Thus, access to sufficient supplies of these minerals is a crucial part of keeping our economy and our security running.

In this new volume, entitled Critical Minerals of the United States, USGS geologists provide the latest and greatest on the geology and resources of 23 mineral commodities deemed critical to the economy and security of the United States. This work is meant to provide decision-makers, researchers, and economists with the tools they need to make informed choices about the mineral mix that fuels our society.

Could Cobalt Choke Our Electric Vehicle Future? – by Prachi Patel(Scientific American – January 2019)

December 20, 2017

https://www.scientificamerican.com/

Demand for the metal, which is critical to EV batteries, could soon outstrip supply

An electric car future is speeding closer; economic analysts project that a third of all automobiles could be battery-powered by 2040. Most of these vehicles rely on large lithium-ion batteries, prompting worries about whether the world’s lithium supply can keep up.

But another element—cobalt—is a bigger concern, scientists reported in October in the journal Joule.

“The best lithium battery cathodes [negative electrodes] all contain cobalt, and its production is limited,” says study lead Elsa Olivetti, a materials scientist and engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[Botswana Tati Nickel] TNMC re-opening delayed – by Chakalisa Dube (Mmegionline.com – December 19, 2017)

December 20, 2017

http://www.mmegi.bw/

FRANCISTOWN: Fresh information from the liquidator of the mines under the BCL Group suggests that Tati Nickel Mining Company (TNMC) will not open in April next year as anticipated.

The news will not be well received by the mine’s former employees, residents of Francistown and surroundings who have been eagerly waiting for the mine to resume operations. TNMC played a vital role in the economy of the city prior to its liquidation.

“We had put the April 2018 time frame (as the date TNMC was supposed to resume operations) because we anticipated that the potential buyer of the mine will put a firm offer (which would result in the conclusion of the sale) before the end of the year. Last week the potential buyer put an offer, which he wanted us to present to the creditors.