December 10, 2014 – Republic of Mining

Anglo aims to shrink workforce by 60,000 – by Allan Seccombe (Business Day Live – December 10, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

ANGLO American plans to cut its global workforce by 60,000 people to 102,000 by 2017, with restructuring across its range of businesses and commodities as it seeks to drive up profits in a tough global market.

Anglo will know by the end of March next year whether it will list or sell its Rustenburg and Union platinum mines as it focuses on low-cost, high-margin, mechanised assets, removing about 20,000 employees from its books at a stroke.

Among the other assets up for sale or being considered for disposal are two coal mines in Australia, coal mines supplying Eskom in SA, the two platinum mines, along with two platinum joint ventures and the Thabazimbi iron ore mine in SA.

Copper assets are also being prepared for sale and Anglo was keeping its options open about whether to sell its nickel mine in Brazil, CEO Mark Cutifani said on Tuesday.

Anglo’s 80%-held subsidiary, Anglo American Platinum, has started the sales process for the Union mines, with Sibanye Gold, RBPlatinum and Northam Platinum understood to be the final three out of 81 expressions of interest in the assets. The sticking point is the price Anglo wants for the mines, but Mr Cutifani stressed Anglo was not chasing the best price.

Investors tapped to fund gold fraud film – by Ben Bland (Financial Times – December 10, 2014)

December 10, 2014

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

Jakarta – Two of the world’s toughest mining tycoons battle it out with a star geologist, a chancer and a dictator’s children for control of one of the world’s largest gold discoveries in the heart of the Indonesian jungle, until it is exposed as a huge fraud.

The true story of Canadian company Bre-X Minerals, which collapsed in 1997 after attaining a market capitalisation of $6bn, reads like a movie script and the producer of hit film Home Alone is trying to raise $18m from mining investors to put it on the silver screen.

Malcolm Burne, a serial mining entrepreneur and former Financial Times journalist, has given Hollywood producer Scott Rosenfelt $150,000 of seed capital and together they are tapping minerals investors from Canada to Australia to fund a film about a scandal that changed the industry.

“It’s an amazing story with political and financial intrigue and thousands of people’s lives shattered as well as those who are still standing tall like Peter Munk of Barrick Gold,” says Mr Rosenfelt, who has tentatively titled the film Bre X: King for a Day.

Gold-mining companies struggled to raise money for years after the fraud, which prompted stock market regulators in Canada and Australia to bring in rules forcing miners to disclose detailed technical information about new finds.

Marcotte, Smith in Sudbury hall of fame – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – December 10, 2014)

September 5, 2018December 10, 2014

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Many years after he passed away, Paul Marcotte helped his daughter, Alicia Woods, get started in the mining industry.

Wood was only 13, a Grade 8 student, when Marcotte, who helped found Marcotte Mining Machinery with his father and brothers in the late 1970s, lost his life unexpectedly in 1992, at just 37 years of age.

“Growing up, I would go to work with him and I wanted to follow in his footsteps,” Woods recalled. “But then he passed away and his company was sold to another company in southern Ontario, so I honestly thought that opportunity would not be there.”

She did take an alternate route initially and pursued a career as a teacher, but eventually found part-time, then full-time work in the mining supply and service sector.

Woods now works as sales director for MacLean Engineering, which designs and builds heavy equipment for the mining industry. She also founded Covergalls, a company specializing in workwear for women.

“You’re a young, 20-something female walking onto a mine site and it’s like, ‘What does she know about mining?'”

Province’s hands tied over Wabush Mines – by Ty Dunham (St. John’s Telegram – December 09, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.thetelegram.com/

Lack of dialogue between Cliff’s and MFC isn’t hopeful: Minister

The answer many have been waiting for may not become a reality, and Wabush Mines will likely be shut down for good. Talks between Cliff’s Natural Resources and MFC Industrial over the sale of Wabush Mines began in July, but the companies haven’t spoken together in weeks, and MFC hasn’t put anything in writing.

Cliff’s is stripping the mine away one piece at a time, honouring a multi-million dollar closure and rehabilitation plan with the financial assurances it can be carried out, according to the Mining Act.

It would cost millions for them to put the brakes on the closure while the MFC merely expresses interest, and Natural Resources Minister Derrick Dalley said the government is in no position to force a company to spend that kind of money.

“We don’t have authority as a government to stop a company from closing,” said Dalley in a recent interview with The Aurora. “For us to intervene, we would be highly concerned it may jeopardize the closure plan and financial assurance that have been provided.”

MFC has yet to provide a business plan, production plan, closure and rehabilitation plan or financial assurance, Dalley noted.

NEWS RELEASE: SNL Metals & Mining 25th Annual Corporate Exploration Study Finds Larger Players Account for 40% of Global Exploration Budgets

December 10, 2014

As part of the 25th edition of the Corporate Exploration Strategies (CES) study[1], a corporate exploration profile of each company budgeting at least US$50 million for exploration is available on the SNL company briefing books. In 2014, these 39 larger players budgeted a total of US$4.33 billion and accounted for 40% of the US$10.74 billion worldwide exploration total.

The top three explorers in 2014 include one copper producer (Antofagasta), a diversified major (Vale), and a major precious metal producer (Fresnillo). Chile-based Antofagasta has the world’s largest nonferrous exploration budget in 2014; this year’s program is growth-oriented and emphasizes late-stage and feasibility work. A strong grassroots effort includes programs in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Australia.

In second place, Vale is the largest explorer among the diversified majors, also with an emphasis on late-stage work. Vale continues to challenge Norilsk for the title of world’s top nickel producer; its output of 260,200 mt in 2013 was just 25,000 mt short of the 285,000 mt produced by the Russian miner. Vale also considers copper one of its core commodities, although production growth has been more gradual. Significant exploration expenditures are also directed to fertilizers in Brazil and Peru.

Liberal Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli should resign – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – December 10, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.torontosun.com/

TORONTO – Not only should Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli resign. He will resign. His performance Tuesday as he slammed provincial auditor general Bonnie Lysyk was shocking.

Now that voters have given the Liberals a majority, they’ve become arrogant. In my years at Queen’s Park, I’ve never seen a politician suggest an auditor got it wrong.

Lysyk had just released her annual report, which included a scathing review on the smart meter program. Chiarelli’s response was the political equivalent of patting her on the head, telling her it’s complicated and, well, what does she know.

Asked why we would believe a politician’s figures over those of an independent officer of the legislature, Chiarelli got testy, suggesting the electricity system was too complicated for her to understand.

“Why are my numbers more credible than hers? First, the electricity system is very complex, is very difficult to understand,” Chiarelli told reporters.

[Ontario government] Smart Meters continue to be stupid – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – December 10, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.torontosun.com/

Turns out Smart Meters were a really dumb idea. Who knew? Well, beleaguered homeowners desperately trying to pay their skyrocketing hydro bills certainly had a pretty good idea.

Now the provincial auditor has confirmed with cold, hard facts about what hydro customers have been saying for the past seven years.

In her damning report Tuesday, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk painted a sorry picture of how your hydro bill ran so far out of control. The savings we were promised for Smart Meters didn’t materialize – and the Liberal governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne have wreaked untold misery and hardship on households across the province.

Anyone who’s opened a hydro bill and groaned or wept at the staggering costs it’s added to their household costs can see how badly Smart Meters were bungled by the Liberals.

They massively over-estimated the net benefits – easy to do when you consider that, unlike other jurisdictions, they didn’t bother to do a cost-benefit analysis.

The Liberals projected Smart Meters would have a net benefit of $600 million over 15 years. Turns out, they were $512 million wrong.

NEWS RELEASE: PDAC Honours Six Industry Leaders With 2015 PDAC Awards

March 15, 2018December 10, 2014

TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – December 09, 2014) – The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is set to honour six industry leaders at the PDAC 2015 Convention in Toronto. The annual PDAC awards showcase the achievements of companies, individuals and groups in the mineral exploration and mining sector by highlighting the best in domestic and international mineral discovery, mine development, Aboriginal achievement, environmental and social responsibility, and distinguished service.

Recipients of the 2015 annual awards will be celebrated at the association’s Awards Evening on Monday, March 2 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel during the PDAC 2015 Convention.

Award recipients are selected by the PDAC’s Board of Directors based on the recommendations of the association’s awards committee. A summary of the awards and recipients are listed below.

Bill Dennis Award for a Canadian mineral discovery or prospecting success

David Palmer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Probe Mines Limited, is the recipient of this year’s Bill Dennis Award for a Canadian mineral discovery or prospecting success. David Palmer is receiving the award for the Borden Gold Project, a discovery located near Chapleau, Ontario. The Borden Gold Project is an exciting and important new gold discovery that continues to evolve, grow and improve with continued exploration.

Exxon sees abundant oil, gas far into future – by Jonathan Fahey (Blomberg News – December 09, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.businessweek.com/

NEW YORK (AP) — North America, once a sponge that sucked in a significant portion of the world’s oil, will instead be supplying the world with oil and other liquid hydrocarbons by the end of this decade, according to ExxonMobil’s annual long-term energy forecast.

And the “almost unspeakable” amount of natural gas found in recent years in the U.S. and elsewhere in North America will be enough to make the region one of the world’s biggest exporters of that fuel by 2025, even as domestic demand for it increases, according to Bill Colton, Exxon’s chief strategist.

“The world has such an improved outlook for supplies,” Colton said in an interview. “Peak oil theorists have been run out of town by American ingenuity.”

In a forecast that might make economists happy but environmentalists fret, Exxon’s two chief products, oil and natural gas, will be abundant and affordable enough to meet the rising demand for energy in the developing world as the global middle class swells to 5 billion from 2 billion and buys energy-hungry conveniences such as cars and air conditioners.

This is a result of advances in drilling technology that have made it possible for engineers to reach oil and gas in unconventional rock and extreme locations and quieted talk that the world was quickly running out of oil.

Vietnam’s emerging nickel-sulphide district – by Frik Els (Mining.com – December 9, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.mining.com/

Nickel investors have been on a wild ride in 2014. Indonesia, supplying more than a fifth of global exports, surprised the mining world in January by putting into effect an outright ban on nickel ore exports.

Initially record warehouse inventories, massive stockpiling by Chinese nickel pig iron producers and growing mine supply kept a lid on the price which was languishing at near five-year lows below $14,000 a tonne at the start of the year.

The Asian nation, against expectations, stuck to its guns and the ban, in combination with fears that tensions with Russia could affect supply from top miner Norilsk, eventually sent the price above $20,000 in May.

But as LME stocks continued to rise and the Philippines – the only other source in the region of high-grade laterite ore required by China and responsible for 9% of global mine supply – took up some of Indonesia’s slack, supply worries subsided and the price tanked again, nearly wiping out all 2014’s gains.

Prices are now back above $16,500 on the back of dwindling stockpiles in China and expectations of robust demand from steelmakers in the US, China and the EU.

Canadian mining companies face lawsuits over foreign activities – by Drew Hasselback (National Post December 10, 2014)

December 10, 2014

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

Vancouver-based Nevsun Resources Ltd. joined an interesting club last month when three plaintiffs said they are suing the company in a B.C. trial court, alleging forced labour and other human rights violations at the company’s Bisha gold mine in Eritrea.

Nevsun, which describes the allegations as unfounded, is the latest Canadian parent company to be sued over the alleged actions of a foreign subsidiary or contractor. Vancouver-based Tahoe Resources Inc. was named in a suit last June over an incident at the company’s mine in Guatemala.

Then there’s Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc., which has been sued in Ontario allegations that security personal assaulted women at its mine in Guatemala.

It was once believed that as separate legal entities, a Canadian parent company was distinct and therefore legally immune from the actions of its foreign subsidiary or contractors. Or so goes the legal reasoning if you believe the “corporate veil” insulates the parent from any liabilities that attach to its subsidiaries abroad. But plaintiff lawyers have developed a work around that appears to be putting Canadian parent companies on the hot seat. Lawyers expect more such cases.

“This is on the horizon more than ever. Companies traditionally think they were protected from these types of actions because of the corporate veil,” says Luis Sarabia, a partner with Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto. “Mining companies are just coming alive to this being a real risk.”

‘Falling through the garbage can’: TSX Venture sinks to record low amid resource sector woes – by Peter Koven (National Post – December 9, 2014)

December 10, 2014

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

TORONTO – Current market conditions aren’t as bad as the global financial crisis for Canada’s micro-cap companies — they’re worse.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index sunk to a low of 675.10 on Tuesday morning. That’s the worst level the index has ever traded at, dating back to when TMX Group Inc. bought the Canadian Venture Exchange in 2001. Prior to now, the lowest it ever reached was in December 2008, when equity markets around the world were bottoming out after the financial crisis. (It closed slightly higher at 684.88.)

The dreadful performance of the Venture index reflects the fact that junior resource plays have fallen badly out of favour with investors. More than 70% of the 406 companies in the Venture index are either mining or energy plays.

“The juniors have been in the garbage can, and they’re now falling through the bottom of the garbage can,” said John Kaiser, an analyst and small-cap specialist.

As with so much of the current market pain happening this week, blame the drop in oil prices as the catalyst that finally pushed the index to a record low, leading to a capitulation in tiny energy stocks. That’s on top of the nearly two-year-long depression experienced by mining equities, with weak metal prices and few companies able to raise decent amounts of capital.

Germany hopes to ‘beat China with CETA’ in race for raw materials – by Dario Sarmadi (Euractiv.com – December 10, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.euractiv.com/

On many issues, the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada is caught in the crossfire. But if the agreement fails, Europe is likely to lose the race for economically essential raw materials, analysts in Germany and Canada predict. EurActiv Germany reports.

Although the final text of the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada has been set for over one month now, critics are not giving up.

Among them is the organisation Campact, campaigning against the controversial arbitration courts and putting pressure on national parliaments to have CETA rejected in its current form. But Europe’s politicians see CETA as the beginning of a new era.

By removing trade barriers, the European Commission is hoping for €12 billion in additional growth. And industry also has high expectations for the measure; Canadian raw materials are particularly important for Germany’s automotive, chemical and high-tech industries.

“Where do the batteries for our electric cars come from? What about the nickel for our airplanes? Demand for critical raw materials is growing and that is why CETA is so essential,” explained Tim Aiken, CEO of the Nickel Institute, at the EurActiv Europe+Canada workshop last week. The Nickel Institute represents the combined interests of Nickel producers worldwide.

At the same time, Aiken warned against China, the sleeping giant seeking to challenge Western dominance in the competition for raw materials, and the fastest-growing economic power in the world.

TVI affiliate looking to build Philippines’ third nickel plant (Reuters U.S. – December 10, 2014)

December 10, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA – Dec 10 (Reuters) – A Philippine miner partly owned by Canada’s TVI Pacific Inc is looking to build what could be the Southeast Asian country’s third nickel processing plant ahead of a possible ban on exports of unprocessed ore, a Manila-based spokesman said.

TVI Resource Development Phils. Inc. (TVIRD), which in October began shipping ore to China from its newly developed Agata mine in Surigao province in southern Philippines, expects a feasibility study on the plant to be completed this month.

“The company’s direct shipping ore operations will pave the way for the opportunity to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange as well as the establishment of a nickel processing plant over the medium term,” Corporate Communications Director Kaycee Crisostomo told Reuters.

If the plant is proven feasible, TVIRD plans to build and commission it by 2016 at a cost of $150 million to $200 million. It is a looking at a technology cheaper than the most commonly used one called high pressure acid leach, or HPAL.

Nickel Asia Corp, the Philippines’ biggest nickel miner, and main shareholder Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd own and operate the country’s two existing processing plants, including the $1.7 billion Taganito HPAL facility commissioned about a year ago.