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Day: April 15, 2014

More grassroots prospecting investment required in BC – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – April 14, 2014)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Investment in the grassroots level of prospecting and early-stage exploration are critically needed in British Columbia to uncover new deposits that, in turn, would encourage more investment in advanced exploration and resource development, the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) president and CEO Gavin Dirom said.

He told Mining Weekly Online that despite the province attracting significant investment in advanced-stage exploration and resource development, there is a critical need for more investment in grassroots level prospecting to ensure that the province’s mining output remains on an upward growth trajectory.

MONEY MAKES THE DRILLS GO ROUND

Dirom said that British Columbia had succeeded in recent years in attracting more exploration investment. He said the province had managed to lift investor confidence in the past five years or so, attracting more investment than what it typically did in the past, which was a significant development.

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Vale Lands $2.8 Billion Brazil Funding for Iron Expansions (1) – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – April 15, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5) secured 6.2 billion reais ($2.8 billion) of funding from Brazil’s state development bank for expansions at Carajas, the world’s largest iron-ore complex.

The BNDES loan will help finance Rio de Janeiro-based Vale’s railway network and a new mining and processing unit in Para state with annual capacity of 90 million metric tons, the bank said in a statement distributed by e-mail today.

Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira is seeking to recover ground in the seaborne iron-ore market that it lost to Australian rivals BHP Billiton (BHP) Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group since 2007. Serra Sul, part of Carajas in northern Brazil, is the industry’s most expensive project ever at almost $20 billion.

The expansion and related distribution network will generate about 30,000 jobs at the peak of construction and is scheduled to start operating in 2016, BNDES said. It will be the first major iron-ore venture to fully replace in-mine trucks with conveyor belts, according to the miner.

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News Release: Creating Cleaner Air in Ontario: Province Has Eliminated Coal-Fired Generation

April 15, 2014 5:00 a.m.Ministry of Energy

Ontario is now the first jurisdiction in North America to fully eliminate coal as a source of electricity generation. The Thunder Bay Generating Station, Ontario’s last remaining coal-fired facility, has burned its last supply of coal.

Operated by Ontario Power Generation, Thunder Bay Generating Station was the oldest coal-fired station in the province. The plant is scheduled to be converted to burn advanced biomass, a renewable fuel source. The province has replaced coal generation with a mix of emission-free electricity sources like nuclear, waterpower, wind and solar, along with lower-emission electricity sources like natural gas and biomass.

Ontario has fulfilled its commitment to end coal generation in advance of its target of the end of 2014. A coal-free electricity supply mix has led to a significant reduction in harmful emissions, as well as cleaner air and a healthier environment.

Providing clean, reliable and affordable power is part of the government’s economic plan that is creating jobs for today and tomorrow. The comprehensive plan and its six priorities focus on Ontario’s greatest strengths – its people and strategic partnerships.

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World Gold Council Press Release: NEW REPORT PREDICTS SUSTAINED STRONG GOLD DEMAND IN CHINA IN NEXT FOUR YEARS

http://www.gold.org/

Follow the World Gold Council @GOLDCOUNCIL and download the full report at http://www.gold.org/supply-and-demand/china-report

New York, 15 April 2014 – A major report published today by the World Gold Council “China’s gold market: progress and prospects” suggests that private sector demand for gold in China is set to increase from the current level of 1,132 tonnes(t)[1] per year to at least 1,350t by 2017[2]. Following the record level of Chinese demand in 2013, which saw the country become the world’s largest gold market, the report suggests that while 2014 is likely to see consolidation, the succeeding years are likely to see sustained growth.

The report examines the factors that have driven China’s rise to become the number one producer and consumer of gold since the market began liberalising in the late 1990s. It also highlights why despite this steep growth in demand, the market will continue to expand, irrespective of short term blips in the economy.

The next six years will see China’s middle class grow by over 60%, or 200m people, to a total of 500 million. Comparing this to the total population of the US, which stands at 319m, puts the size of this new market of affluent consumers, with the propensity to buy gold, in perspective.

In addition to these newly emerging middle classes, rising real incomes, a deepening pool of private savings and rapid urbanisation across China suggest that the outlook for gold jewellery and investment demand in the next four years will remain strong.

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HudBay CEO disputes Augusta’s claims of rival bidders – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2014)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

HudBay Minerals Inc. is asking Canadian regulators to get rid of Augusta Resource Corp.’s defense plan so that it can acquire Augusta’s copper project in Arizona.

HudBay already owns a 16 per cent stake in Augusta. But the Toronto-based company is blocked from acquiring more shares because Augusta adopted a shareholder rights plan, also known as a poison pill, when it found out HudBay had accumulated such a large position.

The plan allows non-HudBay shareholders to buy additional shares at a discount, which would make it prohibitively expensive for the Toronto miner to acquire the rest of Augusta. On Monday, HudBay asked the British Columbia Securities Commission to make a decision before its hostile offer expires May 5.

Vancouver-based Augusta is scheduled to hold a meeting May 2 where shareholders will get to vote on whether they want to keep their poison pill in place. HudBay’s chief executive David Garofalo said if regulators strike down the poison pill, that would make the shareholder vote moot.

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Uranium workers dying after time at Namibia mine, report warns – by John Vidal (The Guardian – April 15, 2014)

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Miners who dug ore to supply the military found to be dying of cancers and other illnesses at Rio Tinto’s Rössing mine

Miners who dug uranium ore that supplied the British and US military in the 1970s with the raw material for bombs and civil nuclear power are reported to be dying of cancers and unexplained illnesses after working in one of Africa’s largest mines.

A study based on questionnaires of current and former workers at the giant Rio Tinto-owned Rössing uranium mine in Namibia says that everyone questioned was aware of people who are now suffering lung infections and unknown illnesses thought to be linked to their work.

The mine, in the Namib desert, produces around 7% of the world’s uranium but was operated with rudimentary safety when it opened in 1976. “People get sick. We are seeing it in people that have worked for Rössing for a long time. They just go back and die after working at Rössing,” one man told researchers working with Earthlife Namibia and the Labour Resource and Research Institute.

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Bands go to bat for Ring of Fire road – by Staff (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 15, 2014)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Two First Nations that stand to benefit economically from the development of the Ring of Fire mining belt have “reaffirmed” their commitment to support a north-south road into the mineral-rich region.

“The development of the Ring of Fire requires infrastructure, and the first priority is to build a road that will allow people and goods to move,” Marten Falls and Aroland said Monday in a joint news release.

The two bands also expressed a willingness to “work with mining companies, governments and other partners” to ensure First Nations benefit form any development.

Potential chromite and nickel mines are located in the Ring of Fire about 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. Chromite is an ingredient in stainless steel.

A 340-km north-south road into the Ring of Fire proposed by Cliffs Natural Resources was kiboshed last fall when Ontario’s Mining and Lands Commission ruled it would infringe on mining claims held by other companies.

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At BHP, the stars align for second run at Potash Corp – by Boyd Erman (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2014)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

A window is opening for BHP Billiton Ltd. to once again try a takeover of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan.

Speculation is intense in the fertilizer industry that BHP may mount another campaign to win over Saskatoon-based Potash Corp. after being shot down in 2010. It failed the federal government’s murky “net benefit test” after a strong push from a Saskatchewan government that opposed the transaction.

Bankers, executives and advisers on the political side agree that BHP would be crazy not to look again. To be clear, there is no sign that any potential deal is under way. But there are numerous reasons that people are talking about the possibility.

The numbers work. The personalities are closer to working. Even the politics are not insurmountable because the landscape has shifted, especially in Saskatchewan. Finally, what was true in 2010 remains true now: Owning Potash Corp. is the best way to get into the potash business.

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UPDATE 2-Bad weather cuts Rio Tinto’s iron ore shipments – by James Regan (Reuters India – April 15, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY, April 15 (Reuters) – Rio Tinto’s iron ore shipments fell 8 percent in the first-quarter from the previous quarter due to weather-related disruptions in Australia and Canada, but the miner said it was on track to meet its full-year target.

Production still jumped 16 percent on the same quarter a year ago as the world’s No. 2 iron ore producer behind Brazil’s Vale ramps up production at its Australian mines to meet growing demand from China.

“It appears they were hit a litle harder than we expected by the weather, though we don’t see any issues in meeting their full-year target,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Chris Drew.

Iron ore has replaced other industrial and precious commodities such as coal, gold and silver as the mineral with the most profit potential, delivering bumper earnings for giant low-cost miners such as Rio and BHP Billiton.

Iron ore prices .IO62-CN=SOI have recovered 12 percent since a steep dip in March on weaker Chinese steel prices. At the current price of $117 a tonne, Rio Tinto enjoys a profit margin of over $60 a tonne.

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Copper miners look past present pain to future gain – by Xan Rice (Financial Times – April 14, 2014)

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Santiago – These are tough times in the copper world. Prices have fallen nearly 10 per cent in 2014, testing four-year lows. Meanwhile, the long-awaited global surplus of refined metal is mounting. So why is the gloom lifting among miners?

“Short-term pain, long-term gain?” – the title of one of the main presentations at the annual copper conference in Chile – offered a hint: better days surely lie ahead.

Several key reasons to be positive emerged from Cesco week in Santiago. First, the plunge in prices is no disaster. Some small, high-cost producers may be struggling, but the industry’s healthy margins mean larger miners and producers remain comfortable.

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Private equity investment still circling mining sector – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – April 14, 2014)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The growth in private equity investment within mining and metals has provoked greater debate about its role as a driving force within the sector over the past year. However, private equity is selective about when and where it deploys capital; it cannot be viewed as an industry panacea.

“It’s also fair to say that private equity funds usually approach the sector with a long-term perspective,” Norton Rose Fulbright partner Janet Howard told Mining Weekly Online.

Howard specialises in mergers and acquisitions, corporate and securities law, with emphasis on the mining and natural resources sectors. “Private equity firms view themselves as part of the team directed at problem solving,” she said. “They might say: ‘tell us what you think the potential problems are and we’ll help you fix it’.”

“Their money is sophisticated, deliberate, focused and professional. Often they’ve worked in other sectors during difficult times, so they understand where the risks are and form the necessary solutions,” she added.

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Is sad sack Ontario ‘dragging down’ the rest of Canada? – by Armina Ligaya (National Post – April 15, 2014)

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

Ontario’s government is facing growing calls to get its fiscal house in order, with a Fraser Institute study pegging the province as an economic ball and chain “dragging down the country as a whole.” Respected tax policy expert Jack Mintz made a similar claim in a Financial Post opinion piece last week.

“Ontario is sagging under the weight of monstrous public debt, uncompetitive energy prices and rising taxes,” wrote Mr. Mintz, Palmer Chair, School of Public Policy, University of Calgary. “Given Ontario’s size, other regions of Canada are being hurt.”

But economists are split over how much a weak Ontario — with its shrinking per-capita GDP and weak private-sector employment amid other struggles — is being felt across the country, or whether the province is bearing the brunt of its own demise itself.

Livio di Matteo, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and lead author of the think-tank’s study released Monday, says Ontario’s economic struggles over the last decade to become a “have-not” province, receiving federal transfers instead of serving as a foundation for the national economy, has implications beyond its borders.

He blames an “incomplete transition to a more competitive world economy,” aggravated by high energy costs, reliance on manufacturing tied to the U.S. market and interventionist government policies.

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First Nations proposes Northern Gateway pipeline alternative following plebiscite setback – by Yadullah Hussain and Jeff Lewis (National Post – April 15, 2014)

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

TORONTO/CALGARY — As Enbridge Inc. reels from the rejection by residents of Kitimat, B.C. of the Northern Gateway pipeline, a First Nations-led consortium is seeking to build an alternative project that would link Alberta’s oil sands to the British Columbia coast.

Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings Ltd. and Vancouver-based Aquilini Group say they have signed non-disclosure agreements with a “substantial number” of First Nation groups in northern B.C., including some “staunchly opposed” to the Enbridge project.

The one-million barrel-per-day pipeline has a tentative 2020 start date once it secures a “social licence” from First Nations to operate, the group said at a media conference in Vancouver on Monday.

“The only licence that matters to do this [project] in British Columbia is the social licence from the First Nations community,” said Calvin Helin, chairman and president of Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings, noting that he spent a year and a half listening carefully to the feedback from and concerns of First Nations. The group will file an application with the National Energy Board only after it has addressed all First Nations’ concerns and issues.

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