November 26, 2014 – Republic of Mining

‘Significant progress’ on Ring of Fire: Gravelle – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – November 26, 2014)

November 26, 2014

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Responding to a sea of criticism over its handling of the Ring of Fire, the province’s Minister of Northern Development and Mines insisted Tuesday his government’s strategy will make the chromite discovery a success.

Michael Gravelle said he’s pleased with the progress his government has made, despite comments from opposition politicians and business that the $60-billion project is languishing under the Liberal guidance.

“We have a clear plan and we’re implementing it,” Gravelle said, who said they have made significant progress in recent weeks.

But the biggest stakeholders in the project is considerably less optimistic. In an interview last week, Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves told the ‘Financial Post’ there’s “zero” hope infrastructure and other issues plaguing the deposit will be resolved in his lifetime. He said had he been in charge at the time, the company never would have gotten involved with the project.

“And I plan to stay (alive) another 50 years,” he said in the article. “The Ring of Fire is a remote land with no railroad, no road, nothing … Without the infrastructure, there’s nothing we can do.”

Gravelle said Goncalves’ comments were “startling … and just plain unhelpful,” he said.

China Coal-Mine Fire Kills 26 Workers – by Chun Han Wong (Wall Street Journal – November 26, 2014)

November 26, 2014

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

Mine Operated by a Unit of State-Owned Fuxin Coal in Liaoning Province

BEIJING—A coal-mine fire in northeastern China killed 26 workers and left 50 others injured on Wednesday, state media said, in one of the worst accidents so far this year in the country’s accident-prone mining industry.

The predawn fire occurred in Liaoning province, at a mine operated by a subsidiary of the state-owned Fuxin Coal Corp., the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The report cited a hospital manager as saying 30 of the injured workers were in serious condition, including four with life-threatening injuries. Hengda Coal, the Fuxin subsidiary that operates the mine, has halted all work at its facilities to conduct safety checks, Xinhua said.

Local authorities were investigating whether the accident was related to a 1.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the area about an hour before the fire broke out, the agency said.

China is the world’s largest coal producer and consumer, but its more than 12,000 mines are notoriously deadly.

Ontario lecturing Harper on good government is laughable 133 – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – November 25, 2014)

November 26, 2014

http://www.torontosun.com/

TORONTO – They’re the terrible twins of Confederation: Ontario and Quebec. Yet like two wayward, know-it-all teenagers, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Quebec counterpart, Philippe Couillard, have taken to lecturing the grown-ups about what they’re doing wrong.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, like a bemused dad, rolls his eyes and ignores them — which as any parent will tell you is the best way to deal with kids who act out.

Except these two aren’t just seeking attention. They want his money. Quebec and Ontario are the two most indebted provinces. It’s almost as if they’re competing with each other. Who can dream up the costliest program to drive their province deeper in the red? Quebec comes up with $7-a-day daycare? We’ll raise that — and see you with full-day kindergarten.

Wynne and her government use any opportunity they can to slam Harper. Clearly, they’re trying to help federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau as we head into next year’s federal election. Don’t forget, some of Trudeau’s advisers are the people who brought former premier Dalton McGuinty to power.

NEWS RELEASE: Rubicon and Wabauskang First Nation Reach a Settlement Agreement and an Exploration Accommodation Agreement

November 26, 2014

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Nov. 24, 2014) – Rubicon Minerals Corporation (TSX:RMX)(NYSE MKT:RBY) (“Rubicon” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that is has entered into a Settlement Agreement (“Settlement”) and an Exploration Accommodation Agreement (“EAA”) with Wabauskang First Nation (“WFN”).

Under the Settlement, WFN has agreed to discontinue its appeal against Rubicon regarding the August 28, 2014 decision made by the Ontario Divisional Court to dismiss the application for judicial review in respect of Rubicon’s production closure plan for its fully-permitted Phoenix Gold Project (the “Project”). In turn, an EAA has been signed and terms of a potential benefits agreement are outlined in the Settlement.

The EAA governs the Company’s exploration work on WFN lands, which includes the continuing exploration work being done at the Phoenix Gold Project. The key features of the EAA include the following:

WFN will support Rubicon’s exploration work, including support of the application for licenses and permits for such work;

The Company will provide certain benefits to WFN based on exploration expenditures incurred by Rubicon on its mineral claims within lands used by WFN;

Quebec superior to Ontario for exploration, says junior miner [Northern Superior Resources] – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 26, 2014)

November 26, 2014

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

A million dollars doesn’t stretch as far as it once did; not if you’re in the exploration business in Ontario.

The province may be lauded for its rich mineralogy, but the president of a Sudbury-based junior mining company said it’s become a tad pricier and more risky to find new discoveries compared to Quebec.

“To actually make a discovery takes a huge effort and a lot of money, and you’re going to get a lot farther with that money in Quebec than you are in Ontario right now,” said Tom Morris of Northern Superior Resources. The exploration community is in dire straits with many junior miners struggling to raise project financing and their stocks trading below 10 cents.

The situation doesn’t appear to be getting any easier based on Morris’ recent presentation at a Sudbury mineral symposium describing the myriad obstacles that small mining firms face to operate in Ontario that go beyond just proving up geology.

Based on his company’s experiences in both provinces, Morris delivered a part-business analysis, part-cautionary tale on where the money is spent on a hypothetical million-dollar exploration budget.

Canadian investors outraged after being shut out of Paladin Energy’s $138-million rights offering – by Peter Koven (National Post – November 26, 2014)

November 26, 2014

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

TORONTO – A group of Canadian retail investors is outraged after they were shut out of a rights offering that is poised to crush the value of their investment.

Uranium miner Paladin Energy Ltd., which is based in Australia but also trades in Toronto, announced a A$144-million ($138-million) rights offering this week to bolster its balance sheet ahead of a US$300-million debt repayment due next year.

Under a rights offering, existing shareholders are given the opportunity to buy stock at a discounted price — 32% in this case — to maintain their overall stake in the company. But in the Paladin deal, the Canadian retail crowd is being deliberately excluded, meaning they can only watch as they get massively diluted.

“I think the whole principle here is outrageous,” John McNeil, the former chairman and chief executive of Sun Life Financial Inc., said in an interview. He owns Paladin shares, and like many other small investors, he is phoning the company to complain.

The central issue is inconsistencies between the Canadian and Australian regulatory regimes. Put simply, it is a lot easier and cheaper for Paladin to push this deal through in its home country than to offer it in Canada as well.

Progress seen in Coeur d’Alene River Basin cleanup efforts – by Becky Kramer (The Spokesman-Review – November 25, 2014)

November 26, 2014

http://www.spokesman.com/ [Spokane, Washington]

Cleaning up historic mine waste is paying dividends for water quality in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin, according to a new report published by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The report looked at two decades of water quality monitoring for the Coeur d’Alene River and its tributaries. Since the early 1990s, concentrations of lead, cadmium and zinc have dropped by 65 percent in the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River near Pinehurst, Idaho.

Other streams also showed water quality improvements, though most continue to exceed safe limits for heavy metals.

In addition, large amounts of mining waste continue to wash down the Coeur d’Alene River and into Lake Coeur d’Alene, the report said. About 400 tons of lead, 700 tons of zinc and 5 tons of cadmium flow into the lake each year, according to data collected from 2009 through 2013. Most of the metals settle at the bottom of the lake, with some flowing out of the lake and into the Spokane River.

Overall, the report is “good news for the people of the basin,” Rick Albright, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund cleanup director in Seattle, said in a statement. “We still have a long way to go in our cleanup efforts, but it’s nice to have scientific confirmation that we’ve made solid, measurable progress in reducing metals loads and improving area water quality.”

Ontario, Quebec should embrace Energy East pipeline – by Brad Wall (Toronto Star – November 26, 2014)

November 26, 2014

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Brad Wall is the premier of Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says the Energy East pipeline will be an economic boon to Canada, and to Ontario and Quebec in particular.

Plans for TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline that will move Alberta and Saskatchewan conventional oil to Atlantic Canada for refining while replacing the need for eastern Canada to import foreign oil are prompting considerable national debate. The National Energy Board is conducting a full review of the proposal as they are mandated to do.

We in Saskatchewan support the Energy East proposal. The project will generate significant economic activity, create jobs and increase tax revenue — particularly in Ontario and Quebec.

Energy East has been described as the largest pipeline project in Canada in over 50 years. A current gas pipeline with excess capacity will be repurposed to move western Canadian oil to refineries in eastern Canada. Two-thirds of the pipeline is already in the ground.

A pair of comprehensive analyses have been done on the proposal: one by Deloitte, the other by the Conference Board of Canada. Both point to the substantial benefits TransCanada’s plan will achieve.

Goldeye Groundwork: Hoping & preparing for Ontario’s next major gold discovery – by Bryan Phelan (Onotassiniik Magazine – Fall 2014)

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

http://issuu.com/wawatay/docs/ono_winter_2014_layout/

The mineral exploration agreement between Goldeye Explorations and Sandy Lake First Nation had been a long, long time coming.

Robin Luke Webster was just four years old when his father, Blaine, first staked claims near Sandy Lake in 1986. So much time had passed that Robin had gone from bring a pre-schooler to manager of corporate affairs and community relations at Goldeye, where Blaine is chief executive officer.

Sandy Lake hadn’t supported the initial exploration work that followed Goldeye’s claim staking in the ’80s – line cutting, surface geophysics, an airborne geophysical survey and a limited amount of drilling – so the project was put on hold. Goldeye tried to re-activate the project in the early 2000s, but Sandy Lake still wasn’t ready to endorse it. Representatives of the First Nation and Goldeye began to talk with each other at that time, however, and by 2004 the band council had assigned one of its members for liaison with Goldeye.

Finally, in the summer of 2013, Goldeye got the go-ahead to channel sample some of its claims in the Sandy Lake Greenstone belt, part of the First Nation’s traditional lands, and the results showed “significant gold values.” At the suggestion of a Sandy Lake resident, the exploration project name became “Weebigee,” Oji-Cree for the goldeye fish in area waters. And on Nov. 18 that year, Chief Bart Meekis of Sandy Lake and Blaine Webster signed a formal, five-year exploration agreement for Weebigee project activities.

Robin, who joined his father at Goldeye as an advisor in 2012, attended the signing, which took place in the council chamber at the Sandy Lake band office.

Sandy Lake blessing for gold exploration – by Bryan Phelan (Onotassiniik Magazine – Fall 2014)

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

http://issuu.com/wawatay/docs/ono_winter_2014_layout/

Robin Luke Webster, president of Goldeye Explorations, figures he spent about three months of a recent one-year period in Sandy Lake First Nation. It has been an extraordinary but necessary investment of time, Webster has found.

With the First Nation’s blessing, Goldeye has been exploring for gold on its mining claims south of Sandy Lake since 2013. The junior exploration company is based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, part of the Greater Toronto Area.

“First Nations and exploration companies need to understand each other better,” Webster says during a presentation at the Ontario Mining Forum in June. “In Sandy Lake, community members had no idea what exploration is and on our first visits there we had no idea what a remote First Nation is.”

Webster helped the learning process along by spending 92 days in Sandy Lake during the preceding year, when he held the titles of manager and then vice-president of corporate affairs and community relations for Goldeye. “None of that is project related; it’s just talking to people,” he says of that time in the community. “It’s not easy. A junior (exploration company) can’t really afford that time but that’s what we’ve got to do.”

Webster’s outreach activities in Sandy Lake have included hosting an information booth during Treaty Day and a community feast, supporting participation of youth hockey teams in the regional Little Bands tournament and making home visits to local elders.

NEWS RELEASE: Atikameksheng Anishwabek & KGHM International Sign Advanced Exploration Agreement for the Victoria Project

November 26, 2014

Sudbury, Canada, November 21, 2014 – Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation

(“Atikameksheng”) and KGHM International Ltd. (“KGHMI”) are pleased to announce that they recently signed the Victoria Project Advanced Exploration Agreement (“the Agreement”) on September 26th, 2014. The Agreement details the Advanced Exploration stage of the Victoria Project (the “Project”) including shaft sinking, bulk sample and diamond drilling. The official signing was completed by Chief Steve Miller and Adrian McFadden, Vice President, Underground Operations for KGHMI in front of several Atikameksheng council members and KGHMI employees. A formal signing ceremony at Atikameksheng Community Centre was held Friday, November 7, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

The Agreement includes provisions on how the Atikameksheng will benefit from the development of the Project, including employment and training opportunities, business development opportunities, and compensation for temporary interferences with the exercise of aboriginal and treaty rights by the Atikameksheng. The Agreement also establishes a Community Liaison Committee with representation by both Atikameksheng and KGHMI to share information about the progress of the Victoria Advanced Exploration Project and to monitor the implementation of the Agreement.

The Agreement reflects KGHMI’s commitment to protecting the environment and wildlife, and working with aboriginal communities affected by their operations in a spirit of respect and cooperation.

Adrian McFadden, Vice President, Underground Operations for KGHMI stated, “To date, it has been a positive and educational experience working with Chief Miller and the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek.

Suppliers face loss-making deals as miners tighten screws – by Silvia Antonioli and Sonali Paul (Reuters India – November 26, 2014)

November 26, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON/MELBOURNE Nov 26 (Reuters) – Mining companies, compelled to cut yet more costs as metal prices fall, are ratcheting up pressure on suppliers of everything from diggers to diesel, forcing them to agree to financing deals and even loss-making sales to secure business.

The mining sector’s huge supply chain — which builds equipment, maintains machinery and even feeds and clothes workers — has benefitted from the industry’s decade-long boom. But commodity prices have worsened almost relentlessly since their 2011 peak, thanks to weaker demand and growing output, and that has meant tough times for both miners and their suppliers.

Shares in mining equipment and services firms have plunged 22 percent this year, worse than the 13 percent fall experienced by metals and mining companies overall.

“Traditionally, the industry has taken all the risk and service providers have had a jolly good time. Now we demand that they partner in our risk,” said Mark Bristow, chief executive of Africa-focused gold producer Randgold.

Competition among suppliers has been stiff for the last few years, as mining firms began to come under pressure from investors to cut back. They have already slashed a total of $20-25 billion in costs, according to Ernst & Young.

Sudbury Basin formed by comet, not asteroid, researcher says (CBC News Sudbury – November 22, 2014)

November 26, 2014

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

Laurentian University’s Joe Petrus says comet likely created major geologic structure, not asteroid

It’s been long believed the Sudbury Basin was shaped by an asteroid that hit the region more than a billion years ago, but a Laurentian University researcher now says it was likely a comet.

The Sudbury Basin is the second largest known impact crater on Earth — 62 kilometres long, 30 kilometres wide and 15 kilometres deep. PhD candidate Joe Petrus’s recent research looks at what exactly came crashing down from space to form the massive crater.

“Impacts provide … a way to connect space [and] earth by looking at the interaction of things that were in space that have come and created a massive crater on earth,” he said.

“Sudbury is kind of unique in terms of meteorite impact. It’s one of the largest and one of the oldest.” The fiery object that struck near Sudbury, 1.8 billion years ago, formed a deep hole that can be seen from space.

When it slammed into the earth, it punched a hole in the Earth’s crust, allowing the mantle below to well up and fill the basin with a thick sheet of melted rock.