TNM’s 2013 Mining Persons of the Year: Fission’s Ross McElroy and Dev Randhawa – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – December 23, 2013)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. Editor John Cumming MSc (Geol) is one of the country’s most well respected mining journalists.  jcumming@northernminer.com

Since the days of the Manhattan project, there have been three conventional rules for finding uranium mineralization in Saskatchewan: it occurs in the Athabasca basin, usually in the lowest sandstone unit that’s in contact with the basement rock; the best place to look is in the eastern part of the basin; and the shallow stuff has all been found, so you need to go deeper into the basin to find more.

Well, the new Patterson Lake South ultra-high-grade uranium discovery by joint-venture partners Fission Uranium (TSXV: FCU; US-OTC: FCUUF) and Alpha Minerals turns all that conventional wisdom on its head: the deposit is 8 km outside the southwestern edge of the basin in a relatively unexplored area, and it lies almost at surface, covered only by glacial overburden and a shallow lake.

And for this, we are awarding our 2013 “Mining Persons of the Year” to Fission president and COO Ross McElroy, the technical point man on the discovery, and Fission chairman and CEO Dev Randhawa, who has ably guided the company through not one, but two major corporate overhauls in a single year.

Ross McElroy is a veteran geologist with an uncanny ability to place himself at the heart of the discovery of high-grade Canadian mineral deposits.

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Colossus shocks market with cancelled financing, low resource estimate – by Peter Koven (National Post – December 24, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

TORONTO – A Canadian miner on the brink of financial collapse has surprised investors by releasing a shockingly low resource estimate for its flagship gold project.

Late Friday night, Colossus Minerals Inc. unveiled potentially fatal news to the market: that a desperation financing agreement with Arias Resources Capital Management has fallen apart. The Toronto-based miner, which has a small interest payment due on Dec. 31, warned it may not be able to raise capital to carry on business past that date.

Finding that money may not become any easier after what Colossus reported on Monday.

The company released a mineral resource estimate for its Serra Pelada project in Brazil that identified a miniscule 274,000 ounces of gold. Given that Colossus has raised more than $380-million for development of Serra Pelada, and the mine is close to production, this resource figure is absurdly low. Investors figured Colossus possessed millions of ounces at Serra Pelada, a past-producing property.

According to experts, that is likely the case.

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Where Arctic camels once roamed, coal mining can wait – by CBC News North (December 24, 2013)

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

A coal exploration project proposing to tread the same ground as the ancient fossil forests on Nunavut’s Ellesmere Island has been temporarily put on the shelf.

Canada Coal has delayed its exploration program on Ellesmere Island for at least a year, and withdrawn its application to Nunavut regulators, saying it needs more time to address a host of concerns raised by people in nearby Grise Fiord and scientists across Canada and the U.S. Canada Coal’s active exploration licenses cover more than 7000 square kilometres, mostly on Ellesmere’s Fosheim Peninsula. The company had proposed to set up a 20 to 30-person field camp next summer in order to map and drill for coal the region.

However, the project was controversial. The Fosheim Peninsula is a renowned source of unique fossils, including alligators, turtles and primates that lived on the Arctic Island 50 million years ago, as well as beavers and horses that occupied the site just a few million years ago.

“Frankly, when you discover something new, something people have never seen before, or something that really fills in an important piece of a puzzle, it’s a thrill,” says Jim Basinger, a paleontologist at the University of Saskatchewan.

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Americans’ appetite for bling on fire as gold prices sink – by Frank Tang (Reuters U.S. – December 23, 2013)

 http://www.reuters.com/

NEW YORK – (Reuters) – Tumbling gold prices, growing consumer confidence and aggressive discounting by retailers have Americans flocking to jewelers’ counters this holiday shopping season.

The U.S. gold jewelry industry is on track for its highest sales for the fourth quarter since 2010 and its first annual increase in gold sales in more than a decade, precious metal consultant Thomson Reuters GFMS has estimated.

“I always look for the price of gold in the news and pay attention to discounts and deals,” John Mora Gonzalez, a 31-year-old mechanic in New York, said after purchasing a necklace for his wife for Christmas. Mora had spotted J.C. Penney Co Inc’s 20-percent discount on fine jewelry, and paid $40 for a 10-karat gold necklace.

Gold prices have plunged almost a third this year, halting a 12-year run of gains. Bullion lost favor with institutional and retail investors as they braced for the U.S. Federal Reserve to reduce its monthly $85 billion bond-buying program, moving funds to equities and other riskier assets.

Renewed consumer appetite for gold is unlikely to counteract the lack of investment dollars and reverse the downward trend for prices.

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Schefferville enjoying resurgence thanks to iron ore venture – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – December 23, 2013)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

MONTREAL — In 1982 Brian Mulroney, then head of the Iron Ore Co. of Canada, suddenly announced the shutdown of the company’s Schefferville mines in Quebec-Labrador. The news hit Montreal 1,000 kilometres away like a thunderbolt.

Mulroney said the Schefferville mines, built in the early 1950s, were no longer economic at prevailing prices and IOC would focus on its newer mines and concentrators 217 kilometres south at Carol Lake, near Labrador City.

Now — more than 30 years after Mulroney’s coups de grâce — life is returning to Schefferville and the billions of tonnes of high-grade iron ore deposits lying along the 210-kilometre Millennium Iron Range.

In September, New Millennium Iron Corp. and India’s Tata Steel, through a 20-80 joint venture called Tata Steel Minerals Canada, began shipping beneficiated ore by rail from Schefferville to the Port of Sept-Îles. The ore is loaded into 150,000-tonne ore carriers for delivery to Europe.

This is known as the “DSO Project” and it is the New Millennium partners’ initial iron ore production effort at Schefferville.

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NEWS RELEASE: Sherritt to Divest of Coal Assets for $946 Million and Focus on Core Businesses

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Dec. 24, 2013) –

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Sherritt International Corporation (“Sherritt” or “the Corporation”) (TSX:S) today announced it is divesting its coal business for total consideration of $946 million.

A group led by Altius Minerals Corp., will acquire Sherritt’s entire royalty portfolio and its interest in coal development assets for cash consideration of $481 million, subject to closing adjustments.

Westmoreland Coal Company (“Westmoreland”) will acquire Sherritt’s operating coal assets, currently described as the Prairie and Mountain Operations, for total consideration of $465 million, comprised of $312 million in cash and the assumption of capital leases presently valued at $153 million, subject to closing adjustments.

“Today’s transaction to divest the coal business is the culmination of a competitive bidding process which has extended over several months. It simplifies our asset portfolio to concentrate on our core strengths, enhances our liquidity, and provides us with the opportunity to reduce our debt,” said David Pathe, Sherritt’s President and CEO.

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Rob McEwen on the outlook for 2014 (Northern Miner – December 23, 2013)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. 

Rob McEwen, chairman and chief owner of McEwen Mining (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX), shared his thoughts recently with The Northern Miner about the outlook for the mining industry in 2014. McEwen Mining’s principal assets consist of the San José mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest), the El Gallo 1 mine and El Gallo 2 project in Sinaloa, Mexico, the Gold Bar project in Nevada, U.S.A., and the Los Azules copper project in San Juan, Argentina. McEwen owns 25% of the company’s shares.

The Northern Miner: Some would say you are an eternal optimist. Are you optimistic about 2014?

McEwen: Anything can be better than 2013. On a relative value basis, gold is looking very attractive, compared to the broad market. So I think there might be some rotation into gold and gold shares … The producers are going through a lot of rationalization and cost cutting and they’ll be putting out some better numbers in the next few quarters.

And there are a few exploration companies that have put out fantastic drill results lately that have started to move their share prices up, like Reservoir Minerals and Balmoral Resources, and I think you’ll see a little bit more of that with the juniors.

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Potash dims economic glow in Saskatchewan, but premier says it’s still good – by Jennifer Graham (Canadian Press/Brandon Sun – December 23, 2013)

 http://www.brandonsun.com/

REGINA – Slumping demand for the pink mineral potash dimmed Saskatchewan’s economic glow at the end of this year.
But Premier Brad Wall says the outlook is positive for the year ahead, despite pressures in the potash industry and a report that Saskatchewan’s boom could be cooling.

“We have to take a look at the whole economy,” Wall said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press.

“Our economy is diversified. We’re more than just one sector. We have a lot of … cylinders that are firing in this economic engine … so when the natural resource sector is down, we’re still creating net thousands of jobs year over year.” Saskatchewan’s economy took off in 2007, based largely on revenue from natural resources, such as oil and gas and potash, which is used in fertilizer.

But potash and the companies that produce it were hit hard this year when Russian-based Uralkali, one of the world’s largest potash producers, quit an export partnership. China and India, key markets for fertilizer, then delayed purchases in expectation of lower prices. That sent shipments plunging.

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The Canada-Peru relationship: More than mining – by Tiffany Grabski (Peru This Week – December 23, 2013)

http://www.peruthisweek.com/

Canada and Peru have a long history of commercial ties thanks to the two countries’ endowments of natural resources which led to a close development of their mining sectors, but these two countries are now looking to diversify their relationship as well as their economies.

The timing is right – as mineral prices fall, concerns are being raised over the stability of Peru’s mineral-dependent economic growth.

For the last quarter of a century, the mining sector has been the motor of Peru’s growth – with a particularly strong influence in the last decades’ GDP, averaging over 7% growth from 2003-2013. But unlike many resource-dependent countries that have faced certain downward spirals once commodity prices fall or resources production drops, the outlook for Peru’s growth is looking up for years to come.
Local bank BCP even expects Peru’s economy to hit double-digit growth once a series of mega-projects in the mining sector hit production post-2015, the banks economic studies manager Carlos Odar said at a recent press conference.

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Lawsuit filed in Washington state claims B.C. [Teck] smelter’s toxins caused disease – by Dene Moore (Canadian Press/Vancouver Sun – December 21, 2013)

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

A Washington state woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B), claiming toxic pollutants from the company’s smelter in southeastern British Columbia are to blame for her breast cancer diagnosis and other health ailments.

Barbara Anderson is a longtime resident of Northport, Wash., a small community about 30 kilometres south of Teck’s lead and zinc smelter in Trail.

The lawsuit filed in the Eastern District Court says Anderson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 and inflammatory bowel disease in 2010.

“Teck negligently, carelessly and recklessly generated, handled, stored, treated, disposed of and failed to control and contain the metals and other toxic substances at the Trail smelter, resulting in the release of toxic substances and exposure of plaintiff and the proposed class,” says the claim, filed Thursday.

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US mining giant faces fight with Indonesia – by Olivia Rondonuwu (The West Australian – December 23, 2013)

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/

High in the snow-capped mountains, the sight of tribesmen roaming in loincloths contrasts sharply with that of miners using hi-tech machinery to extract gold and copper ore at a huge US-owned facility in remote Indonesia.

The heavily-guarded complex is the resource-rich Indonesia’s biggest mine and has been a controversial presence for more than five decades — accused of environmental devastation and extracting huge wealth while giving too little back to a poverty-wracked area.

On a rare visit by the foreign media to Freeport McMoRan’s Grasberg complex in Papua province, AFP saw first-hand the challenge of mining at one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mines, where thin oxygen makes it difficult for workers to breathe.

Now, the company faces a fight with the state as it looks to extend its contract at a time when emboldened politicians are taking aim at foreign miners with measures forcing them to leave more of their profits in the country.

Indonesia is transforming into a freewheeling democracy and booming economy, with mining firms among foreign companies under scrutiny in what critics say is a climate of rising economic nationalism.

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Digging into the Copper Coast’s past – by Paddy Woodworth (Irish Times – December 21, 2013)

http://www.irishtimes.com/

http://www.coppercoastgeopark.com/

Waterford’s geopark reveals what lies beneath our landscape, the long history of how it got there and how its minerals moulded our history

Everything we do, everywhere we stand and, ultimately, everything we eat is based on rocks, but most of us know very little about them. Very few of us could tell a visitor much about what lies beneath our local landscape, much less the long history of how it got there or how its minerals moulded our history and determined our vegetation.

The Global Geoparks Network aims to change all that. Geology, with its mind-boggling timescales and unfamiliar language, can seem a rather daunting subject, but the network wants to steer it into our cultural mainstream.

“Is a geopark just about geology?” Patrick J McKeever, vice-co-ordinator of this Unesco initiative, asked during his presentation at the opening of Waterford’s Copper Coast Geopark visitors’ centre by the Taoiseach last month.

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REPEAT-FEATURE-Dominican gold rush hits a bureaucratic slowdown – by Ezra Fieser (Reuters India – December 23, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

Dec 23 (Reuters) – Little more than a decade ago, one of the world’s largest known gold deposits sat abandoned in the foothills of the Dominican Republic’s Central Cordillera mountain range. Car-sized boulders leached heavy metals into what locals called the “blood river,” its waters ran so red from contaminants.

Today the mine, which reopened as Pueblo Viejo this year, hums with activity. Trucks with tires twice the size of an SUV roll through its massive open pits on roads that cut through the 11-square-kilometer site (4.24 square miles), transporting tons of rock to a processing facility.

Some 2,000 people already work here, churning out shimmering gold bars that are exported to Canada and the United States, but the mine has the potential to create 12,700 more direct and indirect jobs and contribute $1.3 billion a year in exports. This dynamic, foreign-operated enterprise is part of the country’s effort to develop an industry that could help boost and diversify its tourism-dependent economy.

Yet despite robust commercial production by two of the world’s largest gold mining companies, Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp and Goldcorp Inc, development of the mining sector is vexed by bureaucratic delays and agitation by activists still concerned about pollution and government deals with foreign companies to exploit the nation’s riches.

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PRECIOUS-Gold falls, set for biggest yearly loss since 1981 – by Clara Denina (Reuters U.S. – December 23, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Gold fell on Monday, on course for its largest annual loss in 32 years, as thin pre-holiday trade and signs of an improving U.S. economy growth kept investors fretting over the impact of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus tapering.

The metal posted its biggest weekly loss in a month after the Fed’s decision to start scaling back its bond-buying stimulus, which was followed by upbeat GDP data.

“Gold is in a bit of a limbo now because we know that the Fed starting to reduce their bond buying is a reality and the dollar should hold relatively strong from here,” VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.

“I would argue that there is support at $1,190 … but there may be more downside as it doesn’t take much to move the market in thin holiday trading.”

Spot gold fell 0.6 percent to $1,195.00 an ounce by 1051 GMT. It had briefly rebounded above $1,200 an ounce in earlier trade as investors found value in the metal after prices lost 4 percent in the previous three sessions.

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