June 9, 2015 – Republic of Mining

Oban Mining Corp brings consolidation to junior mining sector with five-way deal – by Peter Koven (National Post – June 9, 2015)

June 10, 2015June 9, 2015

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

The team behind Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. is bringing some much-needed consolidation to Canada’s junior mining sector by arranging a complicated merger of five different companies.

The deal brings the five unloved miners together into one entity that is well financed with $65 million of cash, has a well-regarded management team, and has a host of interesting gold projects in Ontario and Quebec. It is exactly the sort of transaction that investors have been clamouring for, as juniors need more scale, capital and trading liquidity if they hope to get noticed and develop their projects in the current rough market conditions.

“People have been talking about (consolidation). We decided to do it,” Osisko chief executive Sean Roosen said in an interview.

The focal point of the transaction is a junior called Oban Mining Corp., which was founded by members of the Osisko team. Oban will make friendly, all-stock offers to four tiny companies: Temex Resources Corp., Ryan Gold Corp., Eagle Hill Exploration Corp., and Corona Gold Corp. Osisko will invest up to $20 million in the company, and provide some management services.

Tim Hortons oil-sands tempest – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – June 9, 2015)

June 9, 2015

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

The good news for Tim Hortons is that Alberta isn’t a coffee-growing region, in which case the fast-food chain might today be forced to boycott its own products. According to The Sustainable Business Toolkit, coffee is “the world’s second most tradeable commodity after oil.” The question from SBT is: “Have you ever stopped to think what impacts the world’s favourite beverage is having on our planet?”

Advice to Tim Hortons’ senior executives in charge of corporate social responsibility: Don’t try to find the answer to that question. According to SBT, the world’s major coffee-growing regions are also home to some of the most delicate ecosystems on Earth and “the potential for serious damage is great.” In view of the planetary threat from coffee, Tims might have to suddenly send out a tweet to customers saying: “Thank you for your feedback and the product known as coffee is no longer available at Tims.”

But Alberta is an oil region, rather than a coffee nation, and so the coffee-and-doughnuts chain last week was manipulated into announcing that it would stop running oil-related Enbridge commercials on in-store video screens in some of its locations — presumably because the threat of oil to the planet is greater than the threat of coffee. The Enbridge commercials ran in Tim locations from B.C. to Ontario. They promoted good energy use practices to consumers, not the oilsands.

Qatar could turn off tap on mining funding after investment review – by Silvia Antonioli and Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – June 9, 2015)

June 9, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON/VANCOUVER, June 9 (Reuters) – An investment review at Qatar’s wealth fund could lead to a cut in money allocated to the mining sector, potentially hitting ventures such QKR Corp, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

Such a move would be the latest in a string of rethinks by sovereign funds and investment firms that have been badly burnt by bets in the natural resources sector, largely due to the recent pullback in oil, gas and metal prices.

Late last year, Qatar named ruling family member Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani as the new head of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), one of the top investors globally.

Under the new management, the QIA has started to review its strategy, and the mining sector — under pressure from weaker metals prices and shrinking margins — is now seen as less attractive, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they are not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

“Various changes happened at the fund in that part of the world and have created a situation where it seems there is no further support for mining,” a London-based banking source said.

China Commodity Appetite Weakens as Growth Seen at Risk (Bloomberg News – June 8, 2015)

June 9, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

China’s imports of oil, copper and iron ore slid last month amid a broader slowdown in trade that highlights the country’s weakening economy and threatens growth targets.

Inbound shipments of oil dropped to the lowest in 15 months, overseas copper purchases retreated from the highest in a year and iron ore cargoes slid for a second month, data from the country’s General Administration of Customs showed Monday.

Weakening imports of raw materials will add to speculation that domestic demand in the world’s biggest consumer of energy, metals and grains is faltering. The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 23 commodities is extending its biggest slide since the 2008 global financial crisis amid concern the nation will fail to contain a slowdown.

“The macro economy is still weak,” Li Li, an analyst with Shanghai-based commodities researcher ICIS-China, said by phone. “Demand from the downstream heavy industrial sector, including transportation and property, have shown no signs of recovery.”

The country’s total imports shrank by the most since February while exports fell for a third month. That coincides with a slump in investment growth that’s putting Premier Li Keqiang’s 2015 expansion target of about 7 percent at risk.

NEWS RELEASE: LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY TO HOST 6TH MINING AND THE ENVIRONMENT 2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

June 9, 2015

SUDBURY, ON (JUNE 11, 2015) – Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines, in cooperation with the Laurentian University School of the Environment, will host the 6th Mining and the Environment 2015 International Conference from June 20-25, in Sudbury, Ontario.

The Conference will bring together experts in the environmental sciences and environmental health sciences, industry representatives and researchers, as well as policy makers and regulators from around the world. Conference delegates will explore mine, land and waterway rehabilitation and related environmental protection issues.

The first Mining and the Environment Conference was held in Sudbury in 1995. Since then, more than 2000 professionals have attended a series of conferences culminating in this 20th anniversary conference, to be hosted by Laurentian University.

Ignorance pushed iron ore market into ‘dance of death’ – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Herald – June 9, 2015)

June 9, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/

Former Fortescue Metals Group chairman Gordon Toll says the heads of the world’s largest iron ore miners have exhibited “appalling ignorance of major economic market structures” and have created a global “debacle” that could last for decades.

Mr Toll, who now heads locally-listed magnetite hopeful Royal Resources, served as chairman of Fortescue from May 2005 to March 2007 while the company was in its development phase.

Adding his name to the list of prominent critics of the miners’ expansion strategies, Mr Toll said he was shocked shareholders of BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Vale and Fortescue had remained silent while their companies pressed ahead with expansion plans which would depress prices.

“The first thing is why are the shareholders not screaming and I think that’s part of the second thing which is both the executives of these companies and the shareholders are showing massive ignorance of major economics and market structures,” Mr Toll told Fairfax Media.

“I don’t believe Jimmy Wilson or Andrew Harding, any of those people, ever believed they were going to drive the iron ore price down to where they have driven it but that is because they do not understand major economics.”

Heroic and tragic truth behind Poldark: Cornishmen shaped mining in Britain and pushed boundaries the world over – by Boyd Tonkin (The Indepnedent – April 10, 2015)

June 9, 2015

http://www.independent.co.uk/

If you look beyond the bodice-ripping and family feuds, the BBC’s ‘Poldark’ delves into a fascinating period of Cornwall’s mining past. Boyd Tonkin looks at the real quarrying dynasties in a region that was once at the cutting edge of capitalism

Anyone who watches Poldark for a treatise on Cornish industrial history is clearly barking up the wrong tree – or, maybe, peering down the wrong shaft. The second BBC adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels has already secured a sweating, straining place in prime-time costume-drama folklore that promises to eclipse even the spiky courtship of Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice – almost 20 years ago.

Ask fans to divert their gaze from the unfastened gowns and naked torsos to those fascinating examples of Cornish beam engines in the background and you risk sounding like the country-pursuits writer who reviewed Lady Chatterley’s Lover for Field and Stream magazine.

Keeping a close watch on the “Ring of Fire” – by Grand Chief Lawrence Martin (Canadian Mining Journal – June/July 2015)

June 9, 2015

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication.

Lawrence S. Martin is the Grand Chief of the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council. He was elected in November 2014 and will serve to August 2015. He is currently leading and promoting a conceptual plan on the Ring Of Fire Mushkegowuk Energy Infrastructure Corridor. He previously served as Mayor of Cochrane for a period of 10 years and in Sioux Lookout from 1991 to 1994. Lawrence’s extensive knowledge in municipal and aboriginal affairs is a great asset in promoting benefits for the aboriginal population within Northern Ontario. His work focuses on promoting and lobbying for economic benefits and environmental protection for the land and the people he serves as Grand Chief.

As discussions continue on the development of the “Ring of Fire” between governments, industry, and First Nations, many are wondering if this opportunity is real, when it will kickoff, or how they will be able to participate.

Meanwhile at the Mushkegowuk Council, we are sharpening our pencils and watching the scene unfold. We are assessing our role in this newly perceived economic boom in Canada, taking place in our backyard, right upstream from our communities and traditional lands. What
environmental impacts will the development have on the rivers and the waters that run through the muskeg towards us?

Will we be able to secure jobs? Will there be opportunity for any kind of direct participation, economic opportunities, and off-shoot tertiary businesses?

“Further studies” are sad, shameful – by Russel Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – June/July 2015)

June 9, 2015

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

I hate to say it but it keeps getting more difficult to remain excited about the prospects for Ontario’s proposed “Ring of Fire.”

Initially when Cliffs Resources pulled its $3.3-billion plug on the project by packing up and going back home to Ohio, I thought the Ontario government’s $1-billion plan to move forward with helping develop the chromite-rich deposit in northwestern Ontario would help save the project.

In fact, I almost started feeling that the government actually recognized that the “Ring of Fire” could be Ontario’s answer to Alberta’s oil sands and that the billion dollars it dangled out there would kick start what should be the largest mining project in the province’s history by attracting more investors.

But now, thanks to the recent federal budget where Ottawa only valued the project as merely a $23-million investment over five years, the Ontario government has found a loop hole for its support too because the billion bucks was: “contingent on matching federal funds.”

In other words, both governments appear to have pretty much given up on the “Ring of Fire” and that’s not only sad, but shameful.

Kinross partners with Project C.U.R.E. to deliver $7 million in donated medical supplies to Mauritania and Ghana

June 9, 2015

Toronto, Ontario, June 9, 2015 – Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K; NYSE:KGC) announced today a new partnership with Project C.U.R.E. to deliver US$7 million in donated medical supplies to Mauritania and Ghana over the next three years.

Project C.U.R.E. is a U.S.-based, not-for-profit organization that provides donated medical supplies from hospitals and clinics around the U.S. to countries in need. Under the partnership, a total of 15 ocean-going cargo containers filled with supplies, including X-ray machines, autoclaves, wheelchairs and operating tables, will be delivered. The partnership also includes support for Project C.U.R.E.’s specialized program in maternal and neonatal care, Helping Babies Breathe, which provides training to local health practitioners and provides basic equipment, such as neonatal resuscitation tools.

Kinross will provide a grant of US$167,000 per year for three years to fund the logistics surrounding the procurement and transport of the donated medical supplies, training costs for the Helping Babies Breathe program, and to support the monitoring and evaluation of the donation’s impact on improving capacity, affordability, accessibility and quality of care at the recipient healthcare facilities.

The donated supplies have already begun arriving, with the first cargo container delivered to Mauritania in May. The supplies are destined for clinics on the border of Mali, where the need is particularly acute. Kinross operates the Tasiast mine in Mauritania and the Chirano mine in Ghana.