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Day: March 10, 2011

An Overview of Nickel in 2011 – Excerpt From Global Mining Finance 2011

Global Mining Finance was created four years ago as an annual book to provide international mining executives and their peers in the financial community with an overview of the industry from a World-wide perspective. For the main website: http://www.globalminingfinance.com/past-editions.html

The following research on nickel was provided by Paradigm Capital, a research-driven investment dealer, providing Research, Trade Execution and Investment Banking services.

Commodity Focus – Nickel

Two-thirds of all nickel produced goes into stainless steel, but is also important in the world of hi-tech where the soft magnetic properties of nickel and its alloys are employed. In this article, Paradigm Capital takes a look at the market for nickel.

Demand: Driven by The Stainless Steel Recovery

Nickel has a high rate of recyclability, This distinction is often made between the use of newly produced metal and recycled scrap. By far the most important first use of nickel is the production of stainless steel which accounts for over 60% of total demand with other first-use sectors being alloys, casting, electroplating, chemicals and batteries. The stainless steel sector is growing at a CAGR of about 5-6% per annum.

The nickel market rebounded strongly in 2010 compared to a very weak 2009, as a result of improved stainless steel demand conditions in combination with an amplified restocking period. In addition, the austenitic ratio (i.e. nickel bearing stainless steel) which has traditionally run at around the 75% level, has slipped lower. This was due to nickel’s meteoric price rise in 2007 to $25/lb. which proved to be the catalyst that triggered substitution, particularly into lower nickel bearing intra stainless steel grades. This proved to be one of the double whammies.

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Vale supports francophone sporting and cultural event in Sudbury

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.
 

Ontario Mining Association member Vale has donated $75,000 to support the fifth Canadian Francophone Games, which are being held in Sudbury July 20 to 24, 2011.  Vale is the official presenting sponsor of the event, which will involve about 1,200 francophone youth from across the country.

“Vale is proud to be associated with the Canadian Francophone Games, the largest national gathering of francophone youth in Canada,” said Angie Robson, Manager of Corporate Affairs for Vale’s Ontario Operations.  “This is a great opportunity to help showcase Greater Sudbury on a national stage, while bringing significant economic benefits to the community.”

“Vale’s sponsorship will allow us to invest in our programming and eco-responsible planning,” said Paul Lefebvre, Chairman of the Board for the games.  “This will help make the Games an event that will be recognized on a national level.  Vale’s contribution also reiterates its commitment to the community.”

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NEWS RELEASE: YUKON PROSPECTOR IS AMONG THE 2011 ANNUAL AWARDS RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED TODAY BY THE PROSPECTORS AND DEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA (PDAC)

TORONTO (December 9, 2010) – Prospector Shawn Ryan will receive the Bill Dennis Award for prospecting success, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) announced today. Ryan is one of six awards winners to be honoured at an awards evening on Monday, March 7, 2011, in Toronto during the association’s annual international convention (March 6-9).
 
Ryan worked for close to 15 years to locate the source of the alluvial gold that sparked the Klondike gold rush more than a century ago. In 2004 he identified the anomaly that led Underworld Resources to its White Gold deposit and a subsequent $138-million takeover by Kinross Gold Corporation. Ryan’s efforts and prospecting success have had a substantial impact on exploration in Yukon, stimulating renewed exploration interest and activity in the territory.
 
One of the discoverers of gold in the Klondike was Skookum Jim Mason. An award commemorating him is presented by the PDAC for aboriginal achievement in the mineral industry. The winner of the 2011 Skookum Jim Award is Jerry Asp who is being recognized for promoting mining’s benefits to aboriginal communities in British Columbia. Asp established the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation to provide construction and maintenance services to northern BC mines and was responsible for negotiating two mining impact and benefits agreements in the province.

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Money, brains and buried treasure at PDAC 2011- by Norm Tollinsky

Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This article is from the March, 2011 issue.

It’s no accident that 22,000 members of the global mining community take over Front Street in Toronto every year about this time. Ontario, the epicenter of the global mineral exploration business, is where the deals get done. It’s where money is raised and expertise is sought for discovering and mining the resources that are more in demand than ever as prosperity in the developing countries puts cash in the pockets of hundreds of millions of new consumers.

Downtown Toronto is where it all happens, but Ontario’s stature as an international centre of mining expertise begins with the province’s inexhaustible natural endowment of gold, diamonds, copper, nickel, zinc, platinum group metals and now, chromite. After a brief dip in mineral exploration caused by the global financial meltdown in 2008, Ontario is once again firing on all cylinders.

As reported in our cover story this issue, the province reported record-breaking mineral exploration expenditures of $825 million for 2010 and there is every indication that 2011 will be just as busy. All across Northern Ontario, from Detour Gold’s 14.9 million ounce Detour Lake project in the northeast to Osisko’s 6.7 million ounce Hammond Reef project in northwestern Ontario, we are seeing former producing mines returning to production, new resources being discovered, shafts being sunk or deepened and head frames rising from the earth.

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Growing your mining supply company for a global market – by Dick DeStefano

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA). destefan@isys.ca This column was originally published in the March, 2011 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.

One of the most consistent questions from the SAMSSA membership is how do we build a truly viable and vital company that can meet all the needs and  demands of a global market. What model or dynamics works best and what is a waste of time and effort? A worthy question.

The list of options is somewhat endless and changes quite frequently as new models emanate from different economic conditions and research.  What works for one company is a waste of time for another depending on the attitude and resources available, but I believe that the most fundamental model is the generic structure that encompasses the strategic business plan.

The list of models presented here is not exhaustive but appear as the most applied.

Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining the strategy or direction and making decisions and allocating resources to pursue this strategy utilizing its capital and people. You can use a SWOT or PEST or STEER analysis or even a supplementary but comprehensive model called EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatic, Social, Technological, and Economic & Legal) as the primary map for success. All strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions: 1. What do we do? 2. For whom do we do it? 3. How do we excel?

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The not-new, not-a-cycle mining supercycle – by David Robinson

Dr. David Robinson is an economist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada. His column was originally published in March 2011 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.  drobinson@laurentian.ca

Mr. Keynes had it right: the financial community is very, very emotional. We are barely climbing out of what many were calling the great recession, and suddenly a flock of bankers and business reporters are babbling about a new economic supercycle.

Well, I have news for them. There is no new supercycle. Don’t run off and sell all your mining stocks, though. This isn’t bad news – it’s just a better way of understanding the good news.

To start with, the supercycle isn’t new. Even Gerard Lyons, the guy who wrote The Supercycle Report, shows the cycle starting in 2000. It is the same old supercycle that we were talking about five years ago in this space.

Second, it isn’t a cycle. An interesting thing about the figures from Gerard Lyons is that they show a gradually rising growth rate, not a series of cycles. Each of the so-called high cycles got a bit higher.

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