July 16, 2015 – Republic of Mining

Gold loses safe-haven allure as price nears 2009 level – by Stephen Cauchi (Sydney Morning Herald – July 16, 2015)

July 16, 2015

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

Gold has failed as a safe-haven commodity despite a plethora of global economic woes, Barclays says, as the precious metal slides towards a six-year low.

Bullion spiked to $US1301 an ounce in January but at Thursday’s level of $US1146.81($1558.76), was trading just a few dollars above the six-year low of $US1132.36 it plumbed in November.

In contrast, in the bull-market days of 2011, gold reached all-time highs of $US1900 an ounce. Unfortunately for bullion fans, things aren’t likely to improve any time soon, Barclays says.

Gold, traditionally a commodity that investors flock to in troubled times, has “failed to garner safe-haven interest” despite the recent unrest in Greece and China, Barclays said in a research note.

“Although gold’s losses have been modest in comparison to commodities, other safe havens have outperformed gold in its role as a currency.

UPDATE 2-Miner Anglo warns of up to $4 bln writedown on iron ore and coal assets – by Eric Onstad and Clara Denina (Reuters U.K. – July 16, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) – Mining group Anglo American has warned of a second multi-billion dollar writedown this year on its coal and iron ore assets, demonstrating the growing impact of sliding commodity prices.

The charge of between $3 billion and $4 billion flagged on Thursday, to be taken in its first-half results, comes on top of a $3.9 billion writedown Anglo took for similar reasons in February, when it also posted a 25 percent drop in underlying operating profit for 2014.

Anglo, the fifth-biggest diversified global mining group by stock market capitalisation, is not alone in feeling the pinch of tumbling commodity prices.

BHP Billiton said on Wednesday it will take a $2 billion impairment on its U.S. shale operations, the third writedown in three years.

Anglo has been fighting the impact of struggling metals prices by trying to improve the efficiency of its mining operations and by selling less profitable assets, including coal mines in Australia.

bama unveils new coal mining rules (The Hill – July 16, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://thehill.com/

The Obama administration Thursday unveiled new standards meant to better protect streams in Appalachia from the controversial mountaintop removal coal mining process.

The proposed rule, from the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM), would update three-decade-old standards that create a buffer zone around streams, prohibiting mining activities and waste from getting near them and harming the ecosystem.

Administration officials characterized the rule as a common-sense approach that uses the best available science to protect streams and groundwater from the effects of mining.

But Republicans and industry leaders immediately blasted the rule as part of President Obama’s “war on coal” and challenged the idea that the 1983 standards need updating.

“These regulations are meant to protect human health and welfare by protecting our environment, while helping to meet the nation’s economic needs and supporting economic opportunity,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters Thursday.

[Florida Mosaic mining] From Phosphate Mine to Golf Resort: Streamsong – by Robin Sussingham (WUSF News – July 15, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/

In remote central Florida, land turned inside out by phosphate mining has been transformed yet again — this time as an upscale golf resort that’s getting a lot of attention in the golfing world. The thousands of acres of Mosaic land that makes up Streamsong may be depleted of phosphate — but it’s rich in something invaluable in the golf business. Sand.

It may seem like a surprisingly remote location for the Streamsong clubhouse and 216-room Lodge, complete with fine dining, infinity pool, spa and a modern, minimalist award-winning design of stone, wood and glass created by Tampa architect Alberto Alfonso. But Mosaic’s developers are betting that golfers will travel for a course that intrigues them.

Doug Smith is one of those golfers. He flew down from Tifton, Georgia, with a friend from Atlanta, and says the course is unlike anything else in Florida. “And, he says, it creates an opportunity for a good friend and I to come down, spend a couple of days, and kind of disappear.”

There are a lot of golf courses in Florida, But Scott Wilson, Streamsong’s Golf Director, says the fast and firm conditions here set it apart, as does the landscape.

Sisson mine review raises water treatment concerns – by Julianne Hazlewood (CBC News New Brunswick – July 16, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick

System used to treat water from tailings after the mine closes is unreliable and untested: report

A Sisson mine cost review commissioned by the provincial government goes a step beyond looking at the numbers, pointing out that the system proposed to treat tailings water after the open-pit mine shuts down is “known to fail.”

Engineering firm Amec Foster Wheeler was hired by the Department of Energy and Mines to review the costs for water treatment and restoring the tungsten and molybdenum mine after it closes.

But the company’s report, which was obtained by CBC News through the Right to Information Act, also said “there are some concerns regarding design of the post-closure water treatment process.”

“Curtain systems in pit lakes have been known to fail, especially in freeze-thaw,” the report from April 2015 said. “Therefore the idea of a floating baffle curtain wall may not be feasible.”

Vale’s designs on China add to Rio, BHP drive for more iron ore – by James Regan (Reuters U.S. – July 15, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – As Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton ship more iron ore than ever to China, the Australia mining giants face a fightback from Brazil’s Vale for market share that threatens to drive already weak prices even lower.

Rio Tinto and BHP, which will release quarterly production data this week and next, have been racing to keep up exports to boost profits while lower prices eat into margins.

They now face stiffer competition from Vale, which is also working its mines harder, after the world’s biggest producer won approval for its giant Valemax ships to unload in China, cutting down on freight costs.

With a capacity of 400,000 tonnes each, the 34 Valemaxes are the world’s biggest bulk carriers and twice the size of vessels used by Rio and BHP, but a ban on entering Chinese ports had severely curbed the cost efficiencies of the larger ships.

“BHP and Rio have been looking to raise volumes in this environment to maximize every tonne,” said Morgans Financial analyst James Wilson.

Police Watch Over a Vision of Golden Riches for Northern Ireland – by Firat Kayakiran (Bloomberg News – July 15, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The explosives for the mine arrived with a police escort.

An hour after more than 30 blasts shook the Curraghinalt mine in Northern Ireland, dust still hung in the air. Through the haze, among the collapsed rock, were glints of gold. That’s the prize for Canada’s Dalradian Resources Inc. and a potential boost for one of the U.K.’s poorest regions.

“There is wealth here,” Patrick Anderson, Dalradian’s 47-year-old chief executive officer, said in the region’s capital of Belfast, where his ancestors worked in nearby shipyards that produced the Titanic in 1911. “I’m not talking about a single mine. We are working on building a mine camp here.”

Anderson, who co-founded a company that developed an Ecuador gold mine and sold it to Kinross Gold Corp. in 2008 for C$1.2 billion ($940 million), plans to raise $250 million for Curraghinalt. He says the mine can produce at least 2.9 million ounces of gold over 18 years more profitably than bigger deposits elsewhere.

So far, developing gold reserves in Northern Ireland has been a challenge.

Officials say mining sector in Saskatchewan being affected by wildfires – by Kurtis Doering (The Prince George Citizen – July 15, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/

CKOM/The Canadian Press – SASKATOON – As hundreds of wildfires tear through northern Saskatchewan, the province’s mining sector is being affected in more ways than one.

Claude Resources had to suspend operations at its Seabee gold mine as one of the over 100 fires came within eight kilometres of the site. Most of the roughly 355 employees were removed, with some essential personnel remaining behind.

Mining giants Cameco and Areva have had to stop shipping uranium from their northern operations as highways and airstrips are periodically closed by smoke and flame.

“It’s a bit of a juggling act, but we’re managing to get through it,” said Cameco spokesman Gord Struthers.

Though fire has not directly threatened Cameco’s mines, northern residents make up roughly half of the company’s workforce. Struthers said they have tried to remain flexible in the face of widespread evacuations.

Commodity price woes weigh on Australian miners – by Tess Ingram (Australian Financial Review – July 16, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://www.afr.com/

Challenging market conditions continue to batter miners exposed to mineral sands, nickel and uranium, as quarterly reports reveal the extent of the sustained downturn on Australian producers.

Mineral sands prices are languishing well below their 2012 peaks, with prices for rutile sitting at about $US800 ($1085) a tonne, compared to a high of $US2050 a tonne, Deustche Bank said.

On Tuesday, Citi commodities analysts dropped their 2015 average nickel price forecast to $US13,960 a tonne “in light of year-to-date price weakness”, with the price trading as low as $US11,495 a tonne on the London Metals Exchange overnight.

Uranium is also in the doldrums, with prices about $US36 a pound, a long way from their high of $US130 a pound set in 2007.

In its June quarter report on Thursday, mineral sands miner Iluka Resources said revenue for the first half increased by 2 per cent to $349.6 million compared to the previous corresponding period, despite a dip in production volume across its suite of products.

Peru renews raids on illegal gold mines as wildcatting spreads – by Mitra Taj (Reuters U.S. – July 15, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Peruvian police razed dozens of illegal gold mining camps at the edge of an Amazonian nature reserve this week, part of a renewed bid to halt the spread of wildcatting in a remote rainforest region.

The stings at the edge of the Tambopata National Reserve were the first in the southeastern region of Madre de Dios since a crackdown let up in December.

Another six operations planned for the rest of the year – about the same pace as in 2014 – could sap a fledgling rebound in gold output from Peru, the world’s fifth biggest producer and exporter.

Production from wildcat miners in Madre de Dios, who sell their ore up the supply chain, made up about 10 percent of national production before President Ollanta Humala launched the harshest crackdown yet on illegal gold mining last year.

In a two-day operation that ended late Tuesday, police burned down more than 50 mining camps, detained six people on suspicions of human trafficking, and blew up dozens of motors that power makeshift dredges in alluvial mining pits.

Barrick Poised to Sell More Gold Mines as It Whittles Down Debt – by Danielle Bochove and Scott Deveau (Bloomberg News – July 16, 2015)

July 16, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp., nearing a deal for its Zaldivar copper mine, is likely to consider three other mines as leading candidates for sale as it works to cut the biggest debt in the gold industry.

Among the remaining non-core mining operations that Barrick would examine selling are its 50 percent stake in Australia’s Kalgoorlie mine, Canada’s Hemlo and Bald Mountain in Nevada, according to analysts and investment bankers.

The world’s largest producer of the metal has pledged to raise at least $3 billion this year to reduce its $12.9 billion debt. The Toronto-based company is in advanced discussions to sell a 50 percent stake in its Zaldivar mine in Chile with final bids submitted last week by China Molybdenum Co., BHP Billiton Ltd. and others, people familiar with the matter said last week.

While Barrick has said it only wants to sell a 50 percent stake in the mine, some of the bidders were expected to have submitted bids for the whole operation, which is valued at more than $2 billion, the people said.

If completed, Zaldivar would mark the last of three deals Barrick has pledged to complete this year.