Gold and Silver – Page 128 – Republic of Mining

Randgold looking across the Atlantic – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – August 10, 2018)

August 10, 2018

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – African gold mining company Randgold Resources is looking across the Atlantic along the northern edge of South America, which effectively hosts the same geology as West Africa, where the London-listed company has its biggest gold-mining base.

This is in addition to intensifying exploration efforts in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Randgold’s geologists are building geological models and the area covering northern Brazil, Surinam, French Guiana and British Guyana and Venezuela, is on the company’s watch list.

“It’s exactly the same geology as West Africa,” Randgold CEO Dr Mark Bristow, who recently visited the area, told Mining Weekly Online. “Right now, Venezuela is a no-go area, but the geology is pretty good,” Bristow noted.

Fraser River rush revisited: A new book reveals how gold fever brought American warfare north of the border – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – August 3, 2018)

August 10, 2018

http://resourceclips.com/

Is this the price of gold—the murder of defenceless people followed by retaliatory beheadings as a private American army threatens genocidal war in the future Canada? There’s more to British Columbia’s first great gold rush than has been acknowledged and, 160 years after the fact, a newly published book casts harsh light on the Fraser River mania and its accompanying Fraser River War.

That the war even happened will take many people by surprise. Downplayed or ignored in Canadian research, its significance gets special emphasis in Claiming the Land: British Columbia and the Making of a New El Dorado.

The war constitutes one of a number of surprises in what author Daniel Marshall, a University of Victoria professor and descendant of 1858 arrivals from Cornwall, calls a “substantial revisionist history.”

Barrick Says China Partner for Copper ‘Makes All Kinds of Sense’ – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – August 10, 2018)

August 10, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. Executive Chairman John Thornton says the Canadian miner is looking at its copper assets “very seriously” to see if it makes sense to form a copper company with one or two partners, most likely from China.

“The question for us on copper is, ‘Can you take the copper assets, combine them with another party, or even two parties and build a first-tier global copper company over time?’ ” Thornton told employees on Wednesday. “Now in answering that question, the likelihood that your partner in that endeavor will be Chinese is very high.”

Ontario Mine developer waiting on provincial permits: Harte Gold close to starting White River gold production – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 8, 2018)

August 9, 2018

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The head of a White River-area gold mine isn’t pleased that the inaugural start of production is being delayed until year’s end while the company waits on the province for the last of its operating permits.

Back in May, Harte Gold was targeting July as the beginning of production at its Sugar Zone underground gold mine, 25 kilometres north of White River. The start date is now being pushed to the fourth quarter of this year.

In a progress report, Harte said on Aug. 8 that four permits remain outstanding before operations can begin. The company expects to receive them all by September. No issues are expected to be raised by the various provincial ministries they were working with, the company said.

[Kelvin Dushnisky] Manitoba-raised mining exec goes global – by Martin Cash (Winnipeg Free Press – August 8, 2018)

August 8, 2018

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Dushnisky doesn’t forget local roots while preparing to take control of South African gold producer

When he was going to high school in Birtle 30 years ago, Kelvin Dushnisky said he would never have imagined that he’d one day be moving to Johannesburg, South Africa, to take over management of the third-largest gold-mining company in the world, AngloGold Ashanti. But that’s exactly what Dushnisky will be doing in a couple of months.

The former president and second in command at Toronto-based Barrick Gold, where he’s risen up the ranks for the past 16 years, said he has never forgotten his Manitoba roots as he’s travelled the globe negotiating complex mineral resource enterprises with local and national governments and workers alike.

In fact, he said his small-town upbringing is one of the valuable assets he is able to bring when negotiating and planning out investments of hundreds of millions of dollars around the world.

Goldman Banker Takes On World’s Largest Gold Miner—and Gets Pushback – by Jacquie McNish (Wall Street Journal – August 6, 2018)

August 7, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/

John Thornton, former Goldman Sachs president, threw out the mining rulebook when he took over Barrick Gold Corp.

Mining is famously boom and bust. Money and patience are mandatory. In bad times, companies sell assets and close mines. In booms they buy up all they can.

John Thornton threw that rulebook out when he took over struggling Barrick Gold Corp. ABX -2.18% , the world’s largest gold producer. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president was an industry amateur, as were most of his top hires. He followed Goldman as a model for company compensation. Instead of buying when prices recovered, he cut costs and sold assets.

Mr. Thornton, 64 years old, spends only two or three days a month at Barrick’s Toronto headquarters. He communicates constantly with his team by email, sometimes firing off requests late at night or when executives are on vacation, according to people familiar with the matter. If he doesn’t receive a quick response, Mr. Thornton repeats the request with the new subject line: “resending,” these people said.

End of the rainbow: The search for more gold deposits is on – by Suzanne Featherston (Elko Daily Free Press – August 6, 2018)

August 7, 2018

https://elkodaily.com/

ELKO — Prospect. Claim. Explore. The search for gold in Nevada keeps its allure long after the 1849ers panned gold flecks from the Carson River. A gold discovery can catapult the finder into wealth while helping sustain community economies.

“Big deposits start small,” said Rich Perry, Nevada Division of Minerals administrator. “They begin to unravel the geology of the district. Gold deposits are very geology intensive.”

Whether a prospector searches for gold in unexplored territory or an operator seeks to expand an existing mine, finding unseen riches remains a challenge, a necessity and a thrill.

How Low Can Gold Go? Investors Keeping Eye On $1,200 – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – August 03, 2018)

August 4, 2018

http://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) -Although negative sentiment in the gold market is at historic highs, some analysts suggest that prices could continue to push lower and possibly below $1,200 an ounce in the near term as the market lacks a catalyst to reverse the current trend.

While gold is off its recent one-year low, the market is still preparing to end its fourth straight week in negative territory. Gold has closed lower seven out of the last eight weeks. December gold futures last traded at $1,224.40 an ounce, down 0.67% for the week.

“The rate at which gold is falling is slowing but the market is still in a classic downtrend,” said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.But it’s not all doom and gloom for the precious metals market. Silver has nearly stopped its seven-week downtrend as prices prepare to end the week with slight positive gains. September silver futures last traded at $15.49 an ounce, relatively unchanged on the week.

A Great Plain lie: The many fraudsters of Kansas’s goldless rush – by Cecilia Keating (CIM Magazine – July 19, 2018)

August 3, 2018

http://magazine.cim.org/

Despite no concrete evidence of mineable gold deposits in Kansas, far-fetched stories of riches have enticed adventurers, prospectors and mining investors to the state since the 16th century. But the frenzy for non-existent gold culminated at the turn of the 20th century, when a string of fraudsters capitalized on investors’ gullibility and greed with false promises and fake assay results.

Inspired by an 1851 map that revealed a tin mine on the Smoky Hill River in central Kansas, railroad magnate Cyrus Holliday sent prospectors to investigate the area’s geology in 1884. The map was a hoax, but the prospectors’ efforts piqued the interest of a high-ranking military official named Henry Artz.

Artz formed the Smoky River Mining Company in 1895, claiming to have found zinc. Two years later, he reported gold and silver. Despite many prominent assayers’ reports saying the shale contained nothing of value, Artz selectively worked with those who assured him of the opposite.

Investors Want Australia’s Gold Producers to Buy Their U.S. Rivals – by Ranjeetha Pakiam and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – August 3, 2018)

August 3, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold producers in Australia are outperforming their global competitors, prompting investors to encourage them to expand their horizons and acquire struggling North American rivals.

Boosted by some of the sector’s best margins, low debt and swelling cash piles, miners in the world’s No. 2 producer are defying a wider lull in gold equities. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd. and Northern Star Resources Ltd. have surged in the past year as rivals in Canada, the U.S. and South Africa faltered.

“Australian gold miners currently enjoy some of the highest margins in the world,” said Stephen Land, San Mateo, California-based portfolio manager at the $1.1 billion Franklin Gold and Precious Metals Fund. The producers are being supported by cuts to operating costs and stronger prices of bullion in Australian dollar terms.

NEWS RELEASE: Yamana Gold Celebrates Its 15th Anniversary (July 31, 2018)

August 2, 2018

https://yamana.com/English/Home/

TORONTO, July 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — YAMANA GOLD INC. (TSX:YRI; NYSE:AUY) (“Yamana” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce it is celebrating its 15th anniversary today. On this day in 2003, the Company was taken public with an initial portfolio that included the Chapada project in Brazil, which it subsequently developed and brought into production in 2007.

Yamana is proud that Chapada continues to return value to this day and the mine still has a life of 20 years. The success at Chapada is representative of the Company’s approach and of meeting its commitments to all stakeholders.

Over the years, Yamana has grown through phases of strategic acquisitions to enhance and diversify its portfolio as well as pursuing organic opportunities within its portfolio. Throughout, the Company has focused on the sustainability of its business and has sought to continuously improve its performance across all health and safety, environment and community metrics.

[McEwen Mining] Black Fox Mine purchase was the right thing investors are told – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – August 2, 2018)

August 2, 2018

http://www.timminspress.com/

McEwen Mining Inc. (TSX:MUX) investors were told Wednesday that the recently acquired Black Fox mining property (formerly Primero Mining Corp.) near Matheson, is on its way to becoming a sustainable cash-generating operation for the company.

The company also revealed that Chris Stewart is the new President and COO for McEwan. It was just a year ago this week that McEwen revealed it was setting out to purchase the gold mine near Matheson, with all its adjoining properties, for $35 million US. The deal went through last fall.

A statement from Andrew Elinesky, the company’s chief financial officer, as he provided an overview of finances and operations during the one-hour teleconference, indicated that McEwen is more than happy with the purchase.

Kirkland Lake stock surges on strong production forecast – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 2, 2018)

August 2, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shares in Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. posted their biggest daily jump in almost four months after the mid-tier miner beat analyst expectations in the second quarter, boosted its production forecast and delivered promising drilling results.

Toronto-based Kirkland Lake earned a US$61.5-million net profit for the three months ended June 30, a 78-per-cent year-over year increase.

Production at the company’s high-grade Macassa mine in northern Ontario hit a record 60,500 ounces of gold in the quarter, thanks to higher grades and lower costs. Cash flow per share came in at 54 US cents, five cents better than the Street predicted. Meantime, Kirkland Lake’s cash position swelled by US$43-million to US$318-million.

Barrick Gold makes China investor push as markets slump – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – August 1, 2018)

August 2, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp will make a bigger push to attract institutional investors in China under a new deeper-ties pact with Shandong Gold, aimed at bolstering its shareholder base, executives told Reuters.

Bruised by a strong U.S. dollar, the price of gold is nearing a one-year low, with speculators holding record short positions. China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of gold, is a largely untapped investor source for western miners, said Barrick’s China President Woo Lee.

“We’re establishing relationships with some of these large investors in China – that’s something that we haven’t had before,” Lee said in an interview. “Because Shandong knows the market far better than we do, they are potentially a good source of introductions to the best investors.”

McEwen Mining posts loss on strong investment to grow key assets – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 31, 2018)

August 1, 2018

http://www.mining.com/

Canadian precious metals producer McEwen Mining (TSX, NYSE:MUX) posted Tuesday a $10.6-million net loss for the first half of the year following a $49-million investment in its Gold Bar, Black Fox and Los Azules projects during the period.

Net cash flow from the business, excluding project development costs, came at $18.7 million for the January-June period, and translated into 72,027 ounces of gold and 1,468,083 ounces of silver (91,602oz gold-equivalent oz), it said.

The Toronto-based miner expects to generate 128,000 ounces of gold and 3,225,000 ounces of silver (171,000oz Au-eq) this year. The company will include first production from its Gold Bar mine in the US in the first quarter next year.