Republic of Mining

China exports growth hits eight-month high, imports defy pollution curbs (Reuters U.s. – December 7, 2017)

December 8, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s exports and imports unexpectedly accelerated last month in an encouraging sign for the world’s second-biggest economy, though analysts expect growth to continue cooling amid a government crackdown on financial risks and polluting factories.

As global demand has surprised with its strength, consumers have lapped up Chinese goods at a rapid rate this year, giving the economy a boost and providing policy makers room to tighten rules to curb high-risk lending.

Exports in November rose 12.3 percent year-on-year, the fastest pace in eight months, led by strong sales of electronics and high-tech goods, while commodity purchases helped lift imports.The number beat analysts’ forecast of a 5.0 percent increase and compared with 6.9 percent growth in October.

New frontiers – by Hogsback Column (Australian Mining Monthly – December 8, 2017)

December 8, 2017

http://www.miningmonthly.com/

AUSTRALIA was once famously called “the lucky country.” Hogsback reckons in 2017 that should be changed to “the myopic country”. Yes, we may have beaten the English cricket team in the second Test of the Ashes. Yes, we have claimed the Rugby League World Cup Championship on home soil thanks to another sterling effort by captain Cameron Smith and half back Cooper Cronk. And yes our economy is humming along at a fair clip as we head into another Christmas.

But what about the big picture of our future as a globally competitive exporter of minerals to the fast developing nations to our north? We don’t see entire news bulletins dedicated to this very important feature of our economy.

The Greens movement and other sundry protestors are getting a great lot of free publicity by telling everyone that Adani’s proposed $16.5 billion Carmichael coal and infrastructure project is going to kill the Great Barrier Reef.

This One Weird Thing Making Canada a Global Financial Hub for the Mining Industry (ValueWalk.com – December 7, 2017)

December 8, 2017

http://www.valuewalk.com/

The second-largest country in the world by landmass, Canada, has a vast wilderness and is blessed with an abundance of natural and mineral resources. Even so, it seems like a stretch to say that it possesses three-quarters of the world’s minerals. Why then are 75 percent of mining companies based in Canada?

The answer is metal streaming, a unique financial arrangement that makes Canada a prime spot for mining companies to make public offerings, even if they do not intend to operate mines in Canada. In attracting mining businesses, Canada draws off reserves, prices, financing, exploration, and capital investment, a combination which other countries, including the U.S., are not able to match.

Just looking at the numbers, Canada’s involvement in the mining industry is staggering. The Toronto Stock Exchange and Toronto Venture Exchange accounted for $12.5 billion, or 40% of global mining equity capital in 2011. Canadian law makes both listing mining companies and complying with federal regulations less burdensome than in other financial centers, including London and New York.

Australian Mining Cities Alliance is launched in Canberra – by Derek Barry (Northwest Star – December 8, 2017)

December 8, 2017

http://www.northweststar.com.au/

The Alliance is to ensure Australia’s mining cities have
a collective voice and to maximise cooperation with
Australia’s mining industry which underpins their economies.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Senator Matt Canavan has joined the mayors of the mining towns of Mount Isa, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Broken Hill to formally launch the Australian Mining Cities Alliance in Canberra.

Mount Isa Mayor Joyce McCulloch said the three cities all had similar issues. “We’ve all got questions around a successful future of our communities and sustaining the population as it is and growing it,” Cr McCulloch said.

“Mining is an industry that does rely on the world economy and we see booms and busts so we are coming together and working collaboratively and being recognised by the federal parliament as a body that can create and shape policy for the future.”

Mine Fatalities in South Africa Rise First Time in Decade – by Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – December 8, 2017)

December 8, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

For the first time in almost a decade, more people are dying in South African mines, the world’s deepest and among the most dangerous.

There were 81 fatalities from January through November, according to data from the Chamber of Mines, an industry lobby group. Harmony Gold Mining Co. reported a death at its Tshepong Mine Thursday, bringing the total to 82. That’s the first increase in nine years, and compares with 73 in 2016, the lowest on record.

South Africa has gone from being by far the deadliest place to work in a mine to ranking near rivals including the U.S. and Canada for fatality rates. Conditions have improved in the decades since whites-only rule ended in 1994 — a year in which 484 workers died.

Back River gold mine could break ground this spring in Kitikmeot – by Sara Frizzell (CBC News North – December 07, 2017)

December 8, 2017

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

Minister Carolyn Bennett has given Sabina Gold and Silver the go-ahead for Back River project

Sabina Gold and Silver announced Wednesday it had received approval from Carolyn Bennett, minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, to build a gold mine approximately 400 kilometres southwest of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

The minister’s decision follows approval of the Back River gold mine project from the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) in July, after previously rejecting the project in 2016.

“The government of Nunavut and the Inuit associations have acknowledged for some time that resource development is an important part of their potential future, so they are always cautious about industrial development, including mining, but at the same time they’re very supportive,” said Matthew Pickard, Sabina’s vice president of environment and sustainability.

Vale to mothball New Caledonia nickel mine if no stake buyers found – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – December 8, 2017)

December 8, 2017

https://www.ft.com/

Vale will mothball its troubled nickel project on New Caledonia in the second half of next year if it has not found a strategic partner prepared to purchase a stake of 20 to 40 per cent, according to its chief executive.

Speaking to journalists in London, Vale boss Fabio Schvartsman said the Brazilian miner would not continue to “invest and lose money” on the loss-making mine, which cost billions of dollars to build and has been dogged by problems.

Asked when the sale process would end Mr Schvartsman said June after which time the mine would be put on care and maintenance if a partner had not been found.

Massive Oyu Tolgoi mine to more than double gold production in 2018 – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – December 7, 2017)

December 7, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto-controlled Turquoise Hill (TSX:TRQ) is expecting its majority-owned Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia to churn in 2018 more than double the amount of the precious metal forecast for this year, with operating costs dropping about 2.8%.

In an update that went almost unnoticed, the Canadian miner said earlier this week it expected the massive Mongolian mine to produce 240,000 to 280,000 ounces of gold concentrate next year, more than double the 100,000 to 140,000 ounces initially expected for 2017.

The Vancouver-based company also forecast the mine to generate 125,000 to 155,000 tonnes of copper in 2018, slightly less than the 130,000 to 160,000 tonnes predicted for this year.

[Sault Ste. Marie ferrochrome] Plant needs public support – by Frank O’Connor (Sault Star – December 7, 2017)

December 7, 2017

http://www.saultstar.com/

So the prospect of a ferrochrome processing facility locating here has prompted a local group to mobilize an opposition effort. Members of the opposition group suggested that Mayor Provenzano’s comments that the team developing the proposal to be the potential host site have hit a home run was the motivation that rallied their troops to speak out in opposition.

With the Ring of Fire’s new access road development plans moving forward, as a result of the Ontario government working together with three northern First Nations bands, the rich mineral deposits in this James Bay region may now have a viable way out.

Chromite, nickel, copper, and platinum are present at this site, and may potentially be one of the richest deposits found in a very long time. Financial forecasts of the deposit’s value are in the 30 billion to 60 billion range. This is certainly a game changer for that northern region, and a potential major economic generator for all of Ontario.

Billionaire’s Mine Financing Hurdles Fuel Bondholder Jitters – by Ruth Liew and Perry Williams (Bloomberg News – December 7, 2017)

December 7, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises Ltd. is learning how one financing problem can lead to headaches for debt investors elsewhere as it tries to secure money for one of the world’s biggest coal mines.

Three of China’s largest banks this week ruled out any involvement in financing the mine in Australia’s Queensland state. That fanned investor concerns about debt elsewhere in the company’s businesses in the South Pacific nation.

Dollar bonds from wholly owned unit Adani Abbot Point Terminal Pty — which oversees a deep water port on the coast of Queensland — sunk to fresh lows after the news.

Court upholds decision to block Taseko mine near Williams Lake – by Ana Rose Walkey (Globe and Mail – December 6, 2017)

December 7, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A Federal Court judge has ruled against a contentious mine proposal in central British Columbia, upholding Ottawa’s decision to reject the project over concerns it would adversely affect the environment.

A pair of decisions, released this week, mark the latest blow for Taseko Mines Ltd.’s New Prosperity mine, which is opposed by local First Nations, has been rejected twice by the federal government and has been the subject of years of litigation. The company says it’s reviewing the court decision.

The New Prosperity project is a proposed open-pit copper and gold mine located 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, B.C., near the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation community, part of the Tsilhqot’in Nation.

Biggest Iron Ore Miner Threatens to Flood Market If Prices Surge – by R.T. Watson and Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – December 7, 2017)

December 7, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA has a somber message for anyone betting on iron ore prices returning to the heady days of 2011.

The world’s biggest producer of the steel-making ingredient is prepared to unleash as much as 50 million metric tons of spare capacity to balance the market if prices get too high, Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said.

High prices would lure inefficient producers back into the market and risk a repeat of past excesses that led to $1 trillion in value destruction, he said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television from the New York Stock Exchange, where Vale held its annual investor day.

COLUMN-Indonesia’s Freeport-Rio plan masks longer-term issues – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – December 7, 2017)

December 7, 2017

https://uk.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Dec 7 (Reuters) – A proposed three-way deal between the Indonesian government, Rio Tinto and Freeport-McMoRan to clean up the ownership of the giant Grasberg copper-gold mine looks like one of those rare situations where everybody wins.

Except that it isn‘t. Certainly all parties may walk away feeling that they have achieved the best outcome, assuming the complicated deal can be pulled off at a price acceptable to all three.

But this ignores the wider picture in which any short-term advantage is likely to be offset by compounding longer-term problems. First, a brief re-cap of what’s at stake. Grasberg is the world’s second-largest copper mine, as well as being one of the five-biggest gold mines, and is further advantaged by having high grades and low costs.

How J.P. Bickell helped shape Toronto, from Famous Players to the Maple Leafs – by Sammy Hudes (Toronto Star – December 7, 2017)

December 7, 2017

https://www.thestar.com/

John Paris Bickell’s life began with loss. But it would never hold him back. Born in Molesworth, Ont., and raised in Toronto, Bickell, most commonly known as J.P. or Jack, would grow up to run his own brokerage firm by 23, become a millionaire before 30, serve as an owner and director of the Toronto Maple Leafs — spearheading the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens — and contribute significantly to the war effort.

His influence touched the mining, banking and movie industries in Canada and his philanthropy profoundly impacted medical research and children’s health for years to come. Yet for Bickell, household name status never quite came, even in death.

“If anybody in Canada has owned gold, silver, flown in a plane, been in a sporting event, been in a hospital or benefited from medical research, been in a movie theatre, you have been touched by J.P. Bickell,” says Graham MacLachlan, who co-authored a book published in September titled J.P. Bickell: The Life, the Leafs and the Legacy.