Canada Mining – Page 230 – Republic of Mining

What Citi misses about mining revolutions – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – February 20, 2015)

February 20, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

Advances in mineral exploration are needed to support discoveries.

Citi Research takes a stab at so-called disruptive technologies concerning metals and mining in a recent research report. It’s a nice overview on a number of fronts especially as far as solar and silver, lab-grown diamonds and metal-use in cars go. In short: silver’s there to stay, lab-grown diamonds could disrupt the industry in the years to come (but consumers will decide), and PGMs look solid.

But the report misses, or doesn’t treat, a few areas that deserve some attention. In particular, there was scarce mention of exploration technology, seabed mining and mineral processing.

I won’t go into all these areas here. As it stands, I have some questions out to mineral processing specialists for their thoughts on what technologies or processes stand to have revolutionary (or at least pretty meaningful) impacts on the mining sector. That is, like the impact of heap leaching, what technologies might unlock hitherto uneconomic deposits or cheapen the conventional flow sheet? Seabed mining, I’ve recently touched on, so I won’t go back there right now.

Which leaves us exploration technology to consider.

Barrick goes back to mining roots with focus on gold – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – February 20, 2015)

February 20, 2015

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.

Barrick Gold Corp. founder Peter Munk had a vision for his company. Barrick’s new chairman John Thornton has another one.

Less than a year on the job as chairman, Mr. Thornton appears to have killed Mr. Munk’s dream of turning Barrick into a giant diversified mining company, and plans to forge a deep business relationship with China are no longer on the table.

Instead, Mr. Thornton wants the world’s biggest gold producer to return to its roots when it was a nimble operator with an entrepreneurial spirit, a streamlined corporate structure and a pristine balance sheet that earned a top credit rating.

Barrick, like the rest of the gold industry, was forced to clamp down on expenses when bullion began plummeting in 2011. Under Mr. Munk and previous management, Barrick had started becoming leaner by selling and suspending expensive operations and shrinking production.

But Mr. Thornton suggested Barrick had lost its way over the past decade and is pushing the company back to its “original DNA.” Gone are the layers of managers between Barrick’s executives and the 19 mines that it operates. Barrick’s Toronto headquarters is now a skeleton crew of 150, compared with 500 in its heyday.

Bad times for Canada’s big gold miners – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – February 20, 2015)

February 20, 2015

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.

Barrick, Goldcorp take massive Q4 writedowns amid weak gold prices.

Barrick Gold Corp. chairman John Thornton’s message to Bay Street came through loud and clear: he wants to take the world’s largest gold producer back to its roots as a smaller company with fewer mines and micro-managers — and hopefully return it to profitability.

To that end, the Toronto mining giant is slashing staff at headquarters by nearly half and selling two Asia-Pacific mines. It will be “laser focused” on reducing its debt by $3 billion this year amid rocky times in the mining industry and a weak gold price, he told analysts on a conference call Thursday.

It wasn’t a banner day for either of Canada’s two largest bullion miners, as Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. reported a loss of $2.4 billion (U.S.) in its latest quarter as it wrote down the value of its Cerro Negro mine in Argentina. Barrick also reported a massive $2.85 billion fourth-quarter loss due to an after-tax impairment charge on its soon-to-be closed Lumwana copper mine in Zambia and the Cerro Casale project in Chile.

Gold miners are struggling as the gold price has lost 35 per cent of its value since its peak of $1,900 (U.S.) an ounce in 2011 and as the industry suffers through a brutal downturn following a 13-year market rally.

Rio Tinto Alcan open to expanding Canadian smelters once market rebounds: CEO – by Ross Marowits (Canadian Press/Vancouver Sun – February 18, 2015)

February 19, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

MONTREAL – Rio Tinto Alcan plans to expand its smelting capacity in Canada once the fragile aluminum market gains strength, the mining giant’s CEO said Wednesday.

Alfredo Barrios says aluminum prices, which have retreated since rising last year, are not encouraging investment at the moment because of excess smelting capacity.

But strong long-term fundamentals, including demand expected to grow through 2025 in part from the automotive sector, should eventually encourage new investments.

“If the market starts improving and the returns start remunerating the investments then there are a number of projects that we have across the world, even in Quebec, to potentially grow,” Barrios, who took the helm last June, told reporters. He pointed specifically to a new Alouette smelter and expansion of its AP60 pilot project in Quebec.

“When the moment is right, Quebec is a clear place where we will be investing in smelting. That is where our core smelting business is.” However, the 48-year-old former oil executive wouldn’t say how long it could take before these new projects could be built.

Goldcorp takes US$2.3-billion writedown on ‘cornerstone’ Argentine project – by Alexandra Posadzk (Canadian Business – February 19, 2015)

February 19, 2015

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Goldcorp Inc. reported a US$2.4-billion net loss in its latest quarter as it took a big writedown charge on its Cerro Negro project, but the company’s chief executive says he still has high hopes for the Argentine mine.

“This is an accounting charge and does not reflect losses of gold ounces in the ground or our expectations for this asset,” Charles Jeannes told investors during a conference call Thursday.

“Quite the contrary, we continue to believe Cerro Negro will be a cornerstone operation for Goldcorp for a long time to come.”

The news came after the gold miner announced a loss of $2.94 per diluted share in the fourth quarter compared with a loss of US$1.1 billion or $1.34 per diluted share in the last three months of 2013.

The loss includes the US$2.3-billion hit that Goldcorp took in relation to a drop in the value of the Cerro Negro project, which began commercial production last month.

On an adjusted basis, Goldcorp says it earned US$55 million or seven cents per share, down from nine cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2013. Analysts had estimated an adjusted profit of 12 cents per share for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.

Barrick Gold Investors Get Answers as Thornton Outlines Strategy – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – February 19, 2015)

February 19, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Barrick Gold Corp. investors waiting to hear Chairman John Thornton’s plans for the world’s biggest gold producer finally have some answers.

Barrick will stay focused on gold and has no plans to diversify into other metals, Thornton said Thursday in his first appearance on a quarterly earnings call.

The chairman, who replaced Barrick’s founder Peter Munk in April, said he’s trying to go “back to the future,” returning the Toronto-based company to the nimble, entrepreneurial roots that first made it successful.

The last few years have been tumultuous for Barrick, with the departure of two chief executive officers, a sliding gold price and a tumbling share price. With shareholders looking for reassurance, at least two of them — ASA Gold & Precious Metals Ltd. and USAA Precious Metals & Minerals Fund — have complained that Thornton’s plans for the future weren’t clear.

“After having listened to the call, I do feel better about Barrick and its corporate strategy,” Diana Racanelli, a Toronto-based resources fund manager at Manulife Asset Management, said Thursday. “These have all been key issues that needed to be addressed.”

Barrick Gold posts another big quarterly loss (Canadian Press/CTV News – February 19, 2015)

February 19, 2015

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

TORONTO — Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX), citing massive impairment charges on mine projects in Africa and Chile, has reported another multibillion-dollar net loss in its most recent quarter.

Canada’s second-largest gold miner by market capitalization says it net loss in the three months ended Dec. 31 was US$2.85 billion or US$2.45 per share, compared with a net loss of US$2.83 billion or US$2.61 per share in the same 2013 period when it had fewer shares.

Revenue was US$2.51 billion, down from US$2.94 billion as the company sold fewer ounces of gold — 1.57 million versus 1.83 million — at an average realized price of US$1,204 per ounce compared with $1,272 in the 2013 quarter.

The quarterly loss reflected the impact of US$2.8 billion in after-tax impairment charges primarily related to the Lumwana mine in Zambia (US$930 million) and the Cerro Casale project in Chile (US$778 million), the company said in an earnings report issued Wednesday after markets closed.

Fourth-quarter adjusted net earnings were US174 million or 15 U.S. cents per share, compared with US$406 million or 37 cents in the 2013 quarter. For the full year, Barrick recorded a net loss of US$2.91 billion or $2.50 per share, reflecting the impact of $3.4 billion in after-tax impairment charges. The full-year net loss in 2013 was US$10.37 billion or US$10.14 per share.

UPDATE 1-Brazil’s Vale beats iron ore forecast, takes nickel crown – by Stephen Eisenhammer (Reuters U.S. – February 19, 2015)

February 19, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Feb 19 (Reuters) – Brazilian miner Vale SA said on Thursday it produced 319.2 million tonnes of iron ore in 2014, beating its forecast for the year, as it begins to boost production after years of stagnation.

Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore, produced 83 million tonnes of the steelmaking ingredient in the fourth quarter, an increase of 2 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Full-year iron ore production rose 6.5 percent compared with the previous year, breaking through the 300 million-tonne-a-year mark, where it has been practically frozen since 2007. Vale had forecast output of 312 million tonnes for the year.

The growth in production will be more than offset by falling iron ore prices, which fell by half last year as a massive increase in Australian capacity coincided with a slowdown in China, the main market for iron ore.

Vale took the crown for the world’s biggest producer of nickel from Russia’s Norilsk Nickel, reaching 275,000 tonnes of the ingredient used to make stainless steel in 2014. That was its best performance since 2008, despite falling short of guidance.

Barrick Gold Chairman’s Shakeup Keeps Investors Guessing – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – February 17, 2015)

February 18, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — On an icy late-January evening in Toronto, more than 30 Barrick Gold Corp. mine managers and country heads gathered in the basement of a pub to hear their executive chairman’s vision for the world’s largest gold producer.

In town for year-end meetings, the group listened intently as John Thornton outlined a plan to give them the authority they needed to run their units like their own businesses, according to a person present. Barrick’s Toronto headquarters would shrink in size and reach.

To outsiders these are eye-opening words, coming from a leader known within Barrick for a detail-oriented style which has placed him at the center of decision-making at different levels of the company.

While his comments suggest he’s trying to return Barrick to its nimble roots, questions remain within the investment community about what that may mean over the long run. Will Thornton, an ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker, keep Barrick focused on gold, or diversify further into other metals such as copper, as he has hinted in the past?

“I have no idea what’s going on,” said David Christensen, chief executive officer of ASA Gold & Precious Metals Ltd, a San Mateo, California-based investor that holds Barrick shares. “I feel like I’m looking into a black hole.”

A company where copper is as good as gold – by David Milstead (Globe and Mail – February 14, 2015)

February 17, 2015

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.

New Gold Inc. is, as its name suggests, a gold miner. But it’s another metal, copper, that plays a large role at the company – perhaps larger than a casual investor might suspect.

How so? New Gold’s New Afton mine, west of Kamloops, B.C., produces twice as much copper than gold, in dollar terms. That allows New Gold, quite legitimately, to report extraordinarily low company-wide mining costs, much lower than at its properties where gold dominates.

The role of copper at New Gold offers a window into how “byproduct accounting,” as it’s called, can impact miners’ financial statements. And it raises an important point for New Gold’s shareholders: To evaluate the company’s prospects going forward, it’s essential to keep an eye not only on the bullion that gives the company its name, but on the lesser metal that provides New Gold much of its cost advantage.

To be clear: The copper factor is not hidden. Investors can plainly see the effects by carefully reviewing the miner’s reports. New Gold released its preliminary 2014 numbers earlier this month, with full results to come Feb. 20. New Gold reported all-in sustaining costs (AISC), a number designed to capture the true long-term cost of mining, of $845 (U.S.) per gold ounce in the fourth quarter.

Light at the end of the tunnel – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – February 13, 2015)

February 13, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

Mineweb’s Kip Keen speaks at Mexican Roundup, sharing some hopeful thoughts about the junior market.

These are Kip Keen’s prepared remarks as the keynote speaker at Mexican Roundup in Hermosillo, Mexico:

Thank you Jackie Stephens, Mexican Roundup and GlobeXplore for having me. Ok. Buenos dias y lo siento.

I’m going to talk about the state of the mining industry. I promise, at least in the end, this won’t sound like a eulogy, at least as far as juniors are concerned. But first: What a year it’s been.

Just when you thought the mining sector, as a whole, had suffered its worst blows halfway through the year, 2014, it took some more.

By mid last year we had already been through a wave of impairments taken after overpriced boomtime acquisitions – Kinross on Redback Mining and Fruta del Norte; Barrick on Pascua; and so on.

The price of iron ore – the lifeblood of the large diversified miners – already was down by nearly half from close to $200/tonne in 2012 to about $100/tonne in the first half of 2014.

Agnico Eagle reports good financial performance in 2014 (Nunatsiaq News – February 13, 2015)

February 13, 2015

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Firm optimistic about new Amaruq deposit near Meadowbank

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., operator of Nunavut’s Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake and the Meliadine gold project near Rankin Inlet, posted earnings of $83 million for the year 2014, the company said in financial statements released near the end of the day Feb. 11.

That’s a big improvement over the $686.7 million net loss they reported in 2013. And the company’s president and CEO, Sean Boyd, said reduced fuel costs and favorable currency exchange rates, including a lower Canadian dollar, will help them in 2015.

“With projected year-over-year production growth of 12 per cent, lower fuel costs and weaker local currencies anticipated in Canada, Mexico and Finland, we expect to have another strong year in 2015,” Boyd said in the news release.

Minus certain non-recurring items, the company earned $16.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. That compares favorably with a net loss of $780.3 million reported over the same period of 2013.

Boyd, in an interview with the Business News Network broadcast Feb. 12, said the company holds high hopes for the Amaruq deposit, located north of Meadowbank. After about 18 months of exploration, AEM estimates the site holds 1.5 million ounces of gold.

Indigenous Canadians Are Fighting the Uranium Mining Industry – by Michael Toledano (Vice Canada – February 11, 2015)

February 12, 2015

http://www.vice.com/en_ca

This post originally appeared on VICE Canada.

On November 22, 2014, a small group of Dene trappers called the Northern Trappers Alliance set up a checkpoint on Saskatchewan’s Highway 955, allowing locals to pass while blockading the industrial traffic of tar sands and uranium exploration companies. On December 1, officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police descended on the site with an injunction from the province and forcibly dismantled the blockade.

Eighty days later, the trappers remain camped on the side of the highway in weather that has routinely dipped below -40 C. They are constructing a permanent cabin on the site that will be a meeting place for Dene people and northern land defenders.

“We want industry to get the hell out of here and stop this killing,” said Don Montgrand, who has been at the encampment since day one and was named as one of its leaders on the police injunction. “We want this industry to get the hell out before we lose any more people here. We lose kids, adults, teenagers.”

“They’re willing to stay as long as it takes to get the point across that any of this kind of development is not going to be welcomed,” said Candyce Paul, the alliance’s spokesperson and a member of the anti-nuclear Committee for the Future Generations. “It’s indefinite.”

Kinross Gold Corp puts massive Tasiast project expansion on ice – by Peter Koven (National Post – February 11, 2015)

February 12, 2015

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

TORONTO – Kinross Gold Corp. confirmed Tuesday it will not proceed with the massive Tasiast expansion project in Mauritania as the gold price remains weak and the company tries to preserve its balance sheet.

Chief executive Paul Rollinson described it as a “prudent” move that is in the best interests of shareholders. In an interview, he noted that the construction period at Tasiast is expected to last 35 months, and there is a chance the gold price could drop significantly during that period and leave the company short of capital to finish the job.

Gold needs to be higher for this project to make good sense. According to a technical report filed by Kinross last year, Tasiast has a net present value of just US$500-million at a gold price of US$1,200 an ounce (very close to the current level). That does not provide a great return on a project that is expected to cost US$1.6-billion.

“This is a major capital expansion and I want to be extremely disciplined as we contemplate embarking on that expansion,” Mr. Rollinson said in an interview. He added that he continues to look at ways to improve the project.

But this news closes the book on Tasiast for the time being. The project has simply been a disaster for Kinross. The Toronto-based miner acquired Tasiast in 2010 when it spent US$7.1-billion to buy Red Back Mining Inc.

‘Full speed ahead’ for Victoria Mine, says KGHM manager – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life -February 11, 2015)

February 11, 2015

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Project still waiting for full funding from KGHM

It’s still “full speed ahead” for KGHM’s Victoria Mine project in Sudbury, said a senior manager with the company in Sudbury.

Trevor Eagles, KGHM’s manager of engineering in Sudbury, said the project is finalizing a feasibility study, and is on schedule to complete a mining shaft by 2019.

In 2014 KGHM completed timbering at the site, located about two kilometres south of the historic Victoria Mine, which was first developed in the 1890s and then closed in the 1920s.

The former Inco reopened the mine in the 1970s, and made a deal with KGHM’s predecessor, FNX, in 2002, to take control. A long and thin ore body – about 50 kilometres long – was discovered in 2010, which the company now wants to bring into production.

KGHM estimates the new mine site contains 14.2 million tonnes of resources. The inferred resources include 700 million pounds of copper, 700 million pounds of Nickel and 3.5 million ounces of platinum group elements. “Everybody working on the project is fully confident we have a world-class ore deposit and a very strong business case,” said Eagles.

KGHM’s original plan was to sink two mine shafts at the site – an initial exploration shaft, and a second larger shaft for production – but in the last six to eight months, the company decided instead to go with one larger mine shaft.