Republic of Mining

New polishing facility a boost to Dubai’s status as a diamond trading centre – by Dylan Slater (MiningWeekly.com – December 8, 2017)

December 11, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The global diamond industry is either growing in affluent regions or remaining steady in less affluent ones, thereby reflecting a degree of positivity, as well as signs of growth.

This also points to untapped potential that is ready to be unlocked through increased investment upstream and downstream, says diamond industry integrity organisation World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) president Ernie Blom.

Driven by demand from the international market for luxurious large-stone diamond jewellery, a significant degree of this untapped market potential to beneficiate (cut and polish) diamonds has been unlocked by a rapidly expanding and thriving trading environment in Dubai with the launch of a high-tech, diamond- polishing factory.

Gold’s Beaten Down in Worst Week Since May on U.S. Rates Outlook – by Ranjeetha Pakiam (December 8, 2017)

December 11, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold is heading for the biggest weekly drop since May as investors anticipate higher U.S. interest rates and progress on tax reform buoys the dollar, deepening a slump for the metal that touched a one-year high as recently as September.

Bullion for immediate delivery has lost 2.6 percent this week, the most since the period ended May 5. Data on Friday showing the U.S. added more jobs than forecast in November bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is poised for its biggest weekly advance in a year.

While bullion is still heading for the first back-to-back annual advance since 2012, the rally has stalled this quarter as stock markets hit record highs and the Fed continues tightening monetary policy.

Lundin’s hurdle: Reassure investors after rock slide – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 11, 2017)

December 11, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The chief executive officer of Lundin Mining Corp. says the base-metals miner has “some work to do to get confidence back” after the recent sharp selloff in its stock. But Paul Conibear is also shrugging off any suggestions that the company was slow to disclose a damaging rock slide at its flagship mine.

Shares in the Toronto-based company have fallen roughly a fifth since Nov. 29, the date it disclosed a rock slide is hampering operations at its Candelaria copper complex in Chile. Production at the mine, which accounts for more than half of its revenue, will be 20 per cent lower next year than previously indicated, due to the slide. The company waited about a month after the slide happened to disclose the news to investors.

“It should have come out much sooner,” said Haywood Securities Inc. analyst Pierre Vaillancourt in an interview on Dec. 1. “It’s a material event and you can’t just hold on to that information.”

Ottawa says yes to Back River gold mine in western Nunavut (Nunatsiaq News – December 11, 2017)

December 11, 2017

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Canada’s federal government believes the Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.’s controversial Back River gold mine project should go ahead, Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said last week in a letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

This clears the way for the review board’s issuance of a project certificate to Sabina by Jan. 4, following a teleconference workshop with stakeholders they hope to hold on Thursday, Dec. 14.

And today, Sabina said in a statement that the Nunavut Water Board has started looking at the company’s Type A and Type B water license applications for the Back River project, and that they hope to get those licences by the end of March 2018.

Macron Aims to Keep Paris Climate Deal Alive – by Mark Deen and Ewa Krukowska (Bloomberg News – December 11, 2017)

December 11, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

French President Emmanuel Macron this week will seek to breathe new life into the fight against global warming and sway debate away from skeptics of the process led by U.S. President Donald Trump.

At a series of events in Paris starting Monday, Macron along with leaders from the U.K., Norway, Mexico and Netherlands will draw attention to a dozen major projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. They’ll also give a push for increasing climate-related aid to developing nations, in step with a United Nations goal of channeling at least $100 billion a year by 2020. Trump is not scheduled to attend.

The meetings are designed to preserve the the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change sealed two years ago. That deal brought together some 200 nations including the U.S. and China in calling for limits on fossil fuel emissions everywhere for the first time.

Canadian energy firms take issue with Trump administration’s nod to coal, nuclear power – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – December 9, 2017)

December 11, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian energy companies have entered a battle over the U.S. electricity market in which natural gas, hydroelectric and renewable-energy providers are opposing Trump administration efforts to favour coal-fired and nuclear generators with premium payments for “reliability.”

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has formally proposed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) impose rules creating new rate structures under which coal-fired and nuclear electricity generators could recover additional costs from consumers based on their contribution to system reliability.

That’s because those generating stations provide base-load power and maintain a 90-day source of fuel on site, unlike those providing electricity from other sources.

Australia’s first Indigenous mine opens in NT – by Matt Cunningham (Sky News Australia – December 10, 2017)

December 11, 2017

http://www.skynews.com.au/

The colour of the dirt might have been different, but according to the Gumatj clan, the moment was no less significant.

At Gulkula in Northeast Arnhem Land, Gumatj leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu poured a handful of bauxite into the hands of Rio Tinto workers Jim Singer and Ken Kahler, just as Gough Whitlam had done with Vincent Lingiari at Wave Hill 51 years ago.

‘I feel proud. I feel more proud than ever before,’ Dr Yunupingu said. The moment marked the opening of the Gulkula Mine, the first Aboriginal owned and operated mine in Australian history.

Small Canadian miners in pole position for electric vehicle battery boon – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – December 11, 2017)

December 11, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Canadian developers of cobalt and lithium mines stand to benefit from a round of investments from the makers of electric vehicles and the batteries powering them, a potential game-changer for small miners short on money to develop deposits of these critical battery ingredients.

Toronto-listed cobalt companies, Ecobalt Solutions and Fortune Minerals, are in talks, ranging from preliminary to more advanced, with more than a dozen groups, including car and battery makers, on financing their projects, their chief executives told Reuters.

The interest in miners from downstream players along the battery supply chain – a new area of investment for most – would provide a life-line to miners at time when equity funding for developers remains relatively tight after a five-year downturn on weak metals prices.

Iron Ore From Paradise Wins No Takers as China Upends Market – by Swansy Afonso (Bloomberg News – December 8, 2017)

December 8, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

A China-led flight to quality in the global iron ore market is punishing producers of the lower-grade material, with miners in India facing an increasing battle to find buyers for their cargoes as demand dwindles.

In Goa, exporters are struggling to sell even a quarter of what they shipped last year, according to Glenn Kalavampara, secretary at the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters’ Association. “There’s absolutely no market,” he said by phone from Panaji, capital of the western state that’s better known for its sparkling beach resorts. “The preference for higher-grade ore is a major concern.” he said.

While Indian exports account for just a fraction of the global seaborne market of about 1.4 billion tons that’s dominated by Vale SA, Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd., the plight of the low-grade shippers highlights the new dynamic.

Platinum’s discount to palladium hits 16-year-high – by Renita D. Young (Reuters U.S. – December 7, 2017)

December 8, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Platinum’s discount to fellow precious metal palladium reached its highest level since 2001 on Thursday, as the latter soared on heightened vehicle demand and an ongoing supply deficit.

Palladium hit a high of $1,022.70 on Thursday, just off a 16-year high from last week, while platinum hit a low of $887.50 per ounce, putting it on track for its biggest weekly loss in nine months.

The platinum discount widened to around $120 on Thursday, the steepest since April 2001, according to Reuters data going back to 1985. “Palladium is powering on with the demand for more vehicles,” said George Gero, managing director of RBC Wealth Management in New York.

Nunavut’s Dolphin and Union caribou herd deemed endangered – John Thompson (Nunatsiaq News – December 7, 2017)

December 8, 2017

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

A national committee of wildlife scientists now considers Nunavut’s Dolphin and Union caribou herd to be an endangered species. These stocky, large-hoofed animals spend their summers on Victoria Island and overwinter on the North American mainland. Their twice-a-year migrations across the sea ice of the Coronation Gulf have become increasingly perilous in recent years, as climate change causes the ice to freeze up later in the fall and to thaw earlier in the spring.

The growing use of icebreaking in the area is also being flagged as a major concern by scientists. The herd migrates across one of the routes of the Northwest Passage, which is seeing a growing number of transits.

And the herd roams not far from the proposed Grays Bay port and road that’s being aggressively pushed by the Government of Nunavut as a means of jump-starting mining projects in the region.

Zimbabwe flatters to deceive as reform doesn’t extend to mining – by Memory Mataranyika (MiningMx – December 7, 2017)

December 8, 2017

http://www.miningmx.com/

ZIMBABWE’S new cabinet has retained the controversial 51% indigenisation thresholds for foreign diamond and platinum miners, but it has deferred a 15% tax on unprocessed and semi-processed platinum exports as the country implements policy reforms to attract foreign investment.

The reforms follow the exit of Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe last month and the subsequent swearing in of a new leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa. The new Zimbabwean leader has committed himself to restoring respect for property rights and investment protection.

Zimbabwean Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, laid out some of the new policy measures in his 2018 budget statement on Thursday. He said the contentious 51% indigenisation ownership framework for foreign firms had been scrapped for all the other sectors of the economy, except parts of the mining sector.

Mining foe: No. No matter what; Twin Metals project, MINER Act injected into Joint Powers meeting – by Tom Coombe (The Ely Echo – December 8, 2017)

December 8, 2017

http://www.elyecho.com/

An item that wasn’t even on the agenda stirred some of the most passionate discussion at Monday’s sit-down with area legislators and other key officials.

One of the area’s leading opponents of copper-nickel mining, Ely business owner Steve Piragis, declared that he’d continue to oppose the Twin Metals Minnesota project even if federal regulators conclude it would “meet or exceed” current environmental standards.

That came during a mini-debate with Aurora Mayor-Elect Dave Lislegard and was spawned by discussion of the MINER Act, legislation approved just days earlier by the U.S. House of Representatives. As the bill advanced by U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) awaits action in the Senate, Elyite Becky Rom railed against it in an appeal to aides of both U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D), and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

HOW ETHICAL IS YOUR JEWELLERY? – by Ali Gray (Elle U.K. – December 8, 2017)

December 8, 2017

http://www.elleuk.com/

If you’re not asking questions about your gemstones, now’s the time to start

Thanks partly to Paris Hilton and the Ab Fab ladies, excessive opulence was everywhere during the ’90s and early ’00s. The “bling” mentality was the cultural norm – and, when it came to jewellery, many consumers were more concerned with the status it brought them than where the stones were sourced.

But over the past decade, the tides have been turning. Our stronghold on materialism has relaxed, making way for a generation that’s favouring more considered purchases.

When it comes to jewellery, that added consideration has led to an increased demand for ethical gemstones. If you saw the 2006 film Blood Diamond and began to question your own jewellery collection, you’re not alone. The impact from the Leonardo DiCaprio drama seemed to add to a conversation that was already gaining traction. More and more women were receiving the message: our jewellery decisions matter.