Nickel proves it’s the wildest metal with sudden $2,000 spike (Bloomberg/Canada.com – August 8, 2019)

https://beta.canada.com/

Nickel has long had a reputation as the most volatile base metal, but its biggest daily jump in a decade has left even the most seasoned traders astonished.

The metal spiked as much as 13 per cent, or almost US$2,000 a ton, in thin Asian morning trading, extending a rally over the past month triggered by rumours that top producer Indonesia might bring forward a ban on nickel ore exports. Prices eased after the nation’s mining ministry denied that any policy changes are imminent, but were still up a hefty amount as London trading opened.

“You can see that the market is barely trading now because people just don’t know what to do,” said George Daniel, a hedge fund manager at Red Kite who’s been trading metals since 1993. “It could come off from here, but everyone’s just waiting to see if China comes in and buys it again.”

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Returning investors see gold prices surge, but new M&A activity still unlikely – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 8, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Surging bullion prices might not stimulate blockbuster dealmaking, but there are signs generalist investors are wading back into gold stocks after a protracted period of shunning the sector.

“I hadn’t gotten a call about gold from a client in the better part of a year and a half, and I got one yesterday,” said Matt Barasch, portfolio manager with RBC Dominion Securities in Toronto, who manages money for retail clients.

Gold hit a six-year high on Wednesday north of US$1,500 an ounce, driven by escalating trade-war tensions between the United States and China, falling interest rates and a slowdown in global growth. Historically sought out as a safe-haven investment, gold has risen by 17 per cent in 2019, after languishing in the US$1,300 range for about three years.

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After protests, Alamos CEO defends Turkish mine project against misinformation’ – by Tuvan Gumrukcu (Reuters Canada – August 7, 2019)

https://ca.reuters.com/

ANKARA (Reuters) – Canada-based Alamos Gold has defended its environmental record at a mining project in western Turkey against a wave of protests, saying it had paid for future reforestation at the site and denying cyanide would leak into the surrounding area.

Thousands of Turks and opposition lawmakers protested on Monday in the Canakkale province against expected pollution from the mine, saying Alamos had cut down more trees than it had declared and would use cyanide, contaminating water in the region.

In an interview in Ankara, Alamos CEO John McCluskey said protests against the project near the town of Kirazli were based on politically-motivated misinformation.

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How pulling frozen mud ‘Popsicles’ from N.W.T. lakes can help make mining cleaner – by Priscilla Hwang (CBC North – August 6, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/

An Ottawa researcher developing new technology to pull up and analyze frozen mud samples from N.W.T. lakes says it will give regulators and mining companies a better tool to do their jobs.

“It’s a technology that’s going to allow mining companies to … better plan how they’re going to use the area around the lake, and make sure that their work is done sustainably,” said Tim Patterson, professor of geology at Carleton University.

“That’ll allow them to do better to protect the aquatic ecosystems.” Currently, mining companies have to follow strict cleanup protocols when planning to mine in the N.W.T.

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Deals by foreign buyers near $40-billion, set to eclipse last year’s pace – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – August 6, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Acquisitions in Canada by foreign buyers are already approaching the dollar value for all of 2018, as confidence in the economy trumps rising global trade tension and a dearth of deals in the oil patch.

Deals announced in the first half of 2019 topped $39.3-billion, only slightly less than the $40.2-billion worth of deals in all of 2018, a year considered to have been brisk for deal-making by foreigners, according to figures from the law firm Torys LLP.

Based on announced transactions and those the firm knows are being discussed, it is shaping up to be a strong year, though it is too early to predict a record, said Cornell Wright, co-head of Torys’ mergers and acquisitions practice.

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Mount Polley mine disaster five years later; emotions, accountability unresolved – by Dirk Meissner (Canadian Press/CTV News – August 4, 2019)

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/

VICTORIA – People are swimming and fishing in Quesnel Lake five years after the largest environmental mining disaster in Canadian history, but residents of Likely, B.C., are still struggling with unresolved emotions about what happened and who will be held accountable for the dam collapse at the Mount Polley mine.

A five-year deadline for federal Fisheries Act charges expired Sunday, while the possibility of other charges under the same act remains with no timeline for a decision. British Columbia missed the three-year deadline to proceed with charges under both the province’s Environmental Management Act and Mines Act.

Likely resident Lisa Kraus said the central B.C. community of about 350 people remains wounded, concerned and somewhat divided about the tailings dam breach at the Imperial Metals open-pit copper and gold mine.

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EDITORIAL: Mining industry has role to play in carbon capture – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – July 24, 2019)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The carbon neutral mine is on the horizon. That’s the aim of a collaborative program to test immobilizing carbon dioxide in mine tailings. Lab scale tests are promising, and now the research is moving into the field.

The technology could reduce – if not eliminate – greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at mines and result in the world’s first carbon neutral mining operation.

The research is headed by the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, Trent University, and Institut national de la recherches scientifique. The program is financially supported by Geoscience BC, Natural Resources Canada’s Clean Growth Program, De Beers Group, FPX Nickel, Giga Metals, and the governments of British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

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Kinross Gold buys Russian gold development property for US$283-million – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 1, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Kinross Gold Corp. has struck a US$283-million deal to buy a Russian gold development project, its first gold acquisition in four years. In a statement after the close of markets on Wednesday, Toronto-based Kinross said it had reached a friendly arrangement with privately held N-Mining Ltd. to purchase the Chulbatkan project for a combination of cash and stock.

Kinross hopes to eventually develop the property, located in the Khabarovsk region of Russia’s far east, into a low-cost, open-pit gold mine. Cyprus-based N-Mining was founded by a number of former executives of Polyus Gold International Ltd., Russia’s largest gold producer.

Kinross said its own drilling, conducted over the past 16 months, indicates the Chulbatkan property contains a resource of 3.9 million ounces of gold. Over the next three years, Kinross plans to do more drilling to try to prove the project’s economic viability. Kinross’s early study points to a six-year mine life, with an all-in sustaining cost of US$550 an ounce and an initial capital cost commitment of half a billion dollars.

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Big win for foreign plaintiffs as Pan American settles Guatemala mine case – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 1, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

The cost of litigating these cases can make them prohibitively expensive to bring, so there’s unlikely to be a flood of similar litigation in the future

In a case likely to set new accountability standards for Canadian mining companies operating abroad, Vancouver-based Pan American Silver on Tuesday apologized to four Guatemalans who were shot in 2013 while staging a peaceful demonstration at the entrance to one of its mines.

The company also struck legal settlements, though terms remain confidential, with the Guatemalans to end ongoing litigation in British Columbia accusing it of negligence.

It marks one of three cases filed in Canada in recent years, in which a mining company has been sued for negligence because of alleged human rights abuses connected with its operations overseas. The other two cases are still pending in Canada.

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Here are a few climate-change head scratchers for Canadian voters to ponder – by Gwyn Morgan (Financial Post – July 30, 2019)

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An eclectic list of little-known facts, head-scratching paradoxes and utter hypocrisy

With energy and the environment playing an important role in the fall election, Canadians face starkly different policy positions from political parties, together with a bewildering array of information and disinformation. Here is my rather eclectic list of little-known facts, head-scratching paradoxes and utter hypocrisy.

CLIMATE EMERGENCY

On June 17, the House of Commons passed a motion declaring a National Climate Emergency.

Firstly, there is no such thing as a “national” climate emergency. Climate change is global, not national, and Canada’s contribution to global CO2 emissions is a minuscule 1.6 per cent. Here are the answers to some questions that will help you assess whether there’s really a “climate emergency.”

Apocalyptic projections of rapid sea level rises are driving municipal and provincial governments on both our east and west coasts to implement “sea level rise plans” that include sterilizing waterfront from development, building sea barriers and even buying out and destroying homes that are deemed vulnerable.

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Canadian mining firm apologizes to protesters shot outside Guatemalan mine (AFP/CTV News – July 30, 2019)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

A Canadian mining firm has apologized after reaching an agreement with demonstrators shot and wounded while protesting the company’s Guatemalan gold and silver mine, according to statements Tuesday from both sides.

The agreement marks the first time that foreign complainants have received restitution for a human rights violation by a Canadian company in a Canadian court, the protesters’ lawyers said in a statement.

This “landmark conclusion,” the details of which are confidential, was made between a group of injured protesters, who sued the mining company Tahoe Resources Inc in British Columbia province in 2014, and the Pan American Silver Corp, which bought Tahoe in February.

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First Nations call for stepped-up financial assurance to mitigate mine disaster risk – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – July 30, 2019)

https://vancouversun.com/

The B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council is calling on the provincial government to close a policy gap that allows mining companies not to provide financial assurance to pay for the costs of a mine disaster.

The call comes on the eve of the five-year anniversary of Imperial Metals’ catastrophic Mount Polley mine dam spill in the Interior — which has still resulted in no environmental charges — and as the council released a report it commissioned on reducing the risks of mining disasters in B.C.

In 2014, the province ordered Imperial Metals to clean up the massive spill, which the company did, but the council’s report notes that if a company went bankrupt, the public could be on the hook for costs.

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Alaska mine developer Northern Dynasty wins U.S. EPA reprieve, shares soar – by Nichola Saminather (Reuters Canada – July 30, 2019)

https://ca.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – The Trump administration said on Tuesday it would lift an Obama-era restriction on the world’s biggest undeveloped gold and copper resource owned by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd, sending the Canadian company’s shares soaring.

Under former U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2014 proposed limits on large-scale mining in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, citing environmental concerns. Under President Donald Trump, the EPA has dismantled scores of environmental rules and Trump rejects mainstream climate science.

Northern Dynasty’s site is near Lake Iliamna in southwestern Alaska between the headwaters of two rivers that drain into Bristol Bay, and is known for its huge salmon runs, wilderness and abundant brown bears.

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Mineral-rich Ecuadorean province requests popular referendum on mining (Reuters Canada – July 30, 2019)

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QUITO (Reuters) – The government of a key mining province in southern Ecuador has proposed a popular referendum on the development of new mines in the region, the latest obstacle to market-friendly President Lenin Moreno’s efforts to attract foreign mining investment.

Azuay province is home to several potentially lucrative gold, silver and copper projects, including the Loma Larga project operated by Canada’s INV Metals (INV.TO) and the Rio Blanco mine, owned by a Chinese consortium consisting of Junefield Mineral Resources Limited and Hunan Gold Group.

But provincial prefect Yaku Perez on Tuesday requested the South American country’s Constitutional Court make mining development subject to a popular referendum, expressing concerns about mining’s environmental impacts.

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Court ruling against Venezuela in Crystallex case puts Citgo at risk (Reuters Canada – July 29, 2019)

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(Reuters) – A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday rejected an appeal by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company to set aside an order allowing a Canadian gold mining company to seize shares in its U.S. refining unit, Citgo Petroleum Corp.

Crystallex International Corp had won the $1.4 billion judgment as compensation for the expropriation of its assets in Venezuela under late leftist President Hugo Chavez. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said a lower court was right to attach Petroleos de Venezuela’s shares of its U.S. unit, which owns Citgo.

“The District Court acted within its jurisdiction when it issued a writ of attachment on PDVSA’s shares of PDVH to satisfy Crystellex’s judgment against Venezuela, and the PDVH shares are not immune from attachment,” Judge Leonard Stark wrote, referring to PDVSA’s U.S. unit.

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