IDM Mining expects environmental permits for Red Mountain by Sept. – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 14, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s IDM Mining Ltd. (TSX-V:IDM) (OTCQB:IDMMF), one of the several companies developing projects in British Columbia’s prolific Golden Triangle, said Monday it expected to receive the necessary environmental permits for its proposed Red Mountain mine in the third quarter of the year.

The Vancouver-based junior, which is working on a resource update for its gold-silver project, located just 15 km east of Stewart, B.C., said it would release the new estimate by mid-June.

It also noted it would complete an updated feasibility study in the second half of this year. That report, IDM said, will incorporate up to date estimates, an optimized mine plan, as well as capital and operating efficiencies.

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A Crypto Tycoon, Banking Heir and the Mysterious Fight for Gold – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – May 14, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The battle for some of Russia’s richest gold mines has an unusual cast of characters: the scion of one of Europe’s great banking families, a Kazakh tycoon with his own cryptocurrency, hedge fund D.E. Shaw, and mystery shareholders.

They’re all part of a new fight for control over Petropavlovsk Plc, a London-listed miner. For the second time in a year, the company is in the middle of a shareholder coup to throw out the board and revive its fortunes.

A decade ago, Petropavlovsk was worth $3 billion and was mentioned as a future member of the benchmark FTSE 100 Index, but sinking gold prices and management missteps reduced it to a penny stock. The company, started by Pavel Maslovskiy and banking heir Peter Hambro, still owns profitable mines and a new plant that’s about to start operating.

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First Nation and British Columbia to share gold mine tax revenue – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – May 11, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia and the Nisga’a Nation signed an agreement today that ensures that the latter receives a share of the mineral tax revenue collected from the Brucejack Gold Mine.

The project, owned and operated by Pretium Resources (NYSE:PVG), is an underground mine that has been operational since April 2017. It is located 65 kilometres north of the town of Stewart on a land package of more than 122,000 hectares.

Back in March, the mine reached record production of 32,910 ounces, while overall output for the first quarter of 2018 was 75,689 ounces.

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Editorial: sitting on a gold mine: Quesnel’s mining past may well be its future – by Melanie Law (Quesnel Cariboo Observer – May 12, 2018)

Quesnel Cariboo Observer

The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources has declared May to be mining month, and as a city with its roots firmly planted in the industry, we’ve got a lot to celebrate.

The Cariboo Gold Rush attracted Canadians from across the country in the mid-1800s, as well as Americans, Brits and Chinese people hoping to find their fortune.

Quesnel is one of the many communities that became important in those days – hence the iconic gold pan, hundreds of times larger than an actual pan, located at the city’s northern entrance.

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Gold industry running risk of becoming irrelevant – Bristow – by Marin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – May 10, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The gold mining industry is running the risk of becoming irrelevant to the investment community.

“It hasn’t delivered much value for a long time,” Randgold Resources CEO Dr Mark Bristow commented to Mining Weekly Online during an interview to mark the company’s presentation of first-quarter results, which saw a 22% jump from the company’s new Kibali underground gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a new broom sweep impressively at Tongon in Côte d’Ivoire.

As an operator of five gold mines in three African countries, the 23-year-old Randgold has been an industry exception in the consistent manner in which it has created value through the discovery, development and efficient operation of what have become highly profitable mines.

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Who’s doing what, and why?: Four banks manipulate six commodities to manage other markets, says Ed Steer – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – May 10, 2018)

http://resourceclips.com/

Probably the most facile way to dismiss a conspiracy theorist is to label the person “a conspiracy theorist.” Conventional thinking gives the term negative connotations, even though history and current events have an inconvenient tendency to reveal conspiracies in action.

Ed Steer’s interest in bullion manipulation started with the Hunt brothers’ 1970s silver conspiracy. Having spent decades watching the machinations of others, the newsletter writer and Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee board member adamantly declares that “there are no markets, just interventions.”

Drawing on the work of GATA and analyst Ted Butler, Steer believes precious metals “have been managed actively” in the COMEX futures market since 1973. Price suppression supports “the paper game they’re playing in the stock and bond markets,” a game that’s continued since the U.S. dropped the gold standard in 1971, he argues.

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Barrick makes small bet on junior with hope for big payoff – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 10, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Welcome to the era of the micro deal. In a transaction about as far away as one could imagine from the multibillion-dollar deals of the past great commodity boom, Barrick Gold Corp. is taking a tiny bet on a junior mining company.

On Wednesday, the world’s biggest gold producer announced a 19.9-per-cent investment in Vancouver-based Midas Gold Corp. worth US$38-million. Barrick is acquiring 46.5-million shares at $1.06 a share, a 9-per-cent premium to its Tuesday close.

It’s the latest example of a senior gold company making a so-called “strategic investment” in a junior, with the hope that it will eventually pay off in the form of much needed added production.

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Kinross Reels as Two More Africa Nations Seek Mining Payoffs – by Danielle Bochove and Aoyon Ashraf (Bloomberg News – May 9, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Kinross Gold Corp. is the latest miner to be hit by changing policies in Africa as governments seem increasingly willing to upend historic deals with foreign companies in their quest for more mining revenue.

Mauritania’s rejection of a key permit to expand a Kinross project, and a proposed mining code review in Ghana, dealt a double blow to the Toronto-based miner, sending its shares down the most intraday since 2014.

Ghana and Mauritania join a string of African countries — from Tanzania to Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo– that are trying to reap greater economic benefits from their natural resources.

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Gold price to average $1 360/oz this year – survey – by Simone Liedtke (MiningWeekly.com – May 8, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Thomson Reuters GFMS expects the gold price to average $1 360/oz this year and potentially briefly approach a 2018 peak towards $1 500/oz on any external shocks later in the year as it believes that the geopolitical climate and equity markets will continue to support gold’s role as a risk hedge.

Political uncertainty, including Brexit negotiations, along with ongoing tensions in the Middle East will remain gold’s key drivers, Thomson Reuters GFMS noted in its fifty-first annual ‘Gold Survey’, published on Tuesday.

The survey further noted that the prospect for higher prices depends on risk hedging at the professional level, while grassroots activity should support a higher base price this year and next.

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Freeport Indonesia divestment still targeted for this year, Inalum says – by Fergus Jensen (Reuters U.S. – May 7, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s (FCX.N) divestment of a controlling interest in Indonesia’s Grasberg mine is still planned for 2018, even though the price and some contract terms are still to be agreed, the head of state mining holding company PT Inalum said.

Inalum, which is arranging funding for the deal, already has a “committed” loan for the transaction with Freeport and Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) for the majority stake in Grasberg, Inalum’s Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a briefing on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Coaltrans Asia conference in Bali.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo had instructed his administration to complete negotiations to buy a majority stake in the world’s second-biggest copper mine by end-April.

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Pebble Mine: Taking the Battle to the Board Room – Again – by Joel Reynolds (Natural Resources Defense Council – May 07, 2018)

https://www.nrdc.org/

Bristol Bay Coalition Delivers Message of Unrelenting Opposition in Meetings with First Quantum Minerals in Toronto

Sometimes really bad ideas are hard to kill – especially these days. Take, for example, the Pebble Mine, which Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator Scott Pruitt rescued from its deathbed last May after cutting a deal with the project’s CEO. And just like that this reckless project had a new lease on life – and a new pitch for potential investors.

Last week in Toronto, together with a formidable delegation of leaders from the distant Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska, my NRDC colleague Chris Tackett and I attended the shareholders’ annual general meeting (“AGM”) of Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals and met with its Chair and CEO.

First Quantum, which draws 84% of its revenue from copper mines in Zambia, is looking to expand its operations to the United States by bankrolling the Pebble Mine – now solely owned by Northern Dynasty Minerals, a small Canadian mining exploration company based in Vancouver.

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Protesters Demand Ethiopia Cancel Billionaire’s Gold-Mine Permit – by Nizar Manek (Bloomberg News – May 7, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Protesters in Ethiopia’s restive Oromia region demanded the government withdraw a gold-mining permit from a company owned by Saudi billionaire Mohammed al-Amoudi because of alleged pollution.

Demonstrators have blockaded roads in Shakiso, 358 kilometers (222 miles) south of the capital, Addis Ababa, since April 30 to press their demand that Mohammed International Development & Research Organization Companies’ license to mine the metal be canceled, said Addisu Bullalla, a spokesman for the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress.

Protests have spread to the towns of Ginchi and Nekemte in western Oromia, he said. The demonstrations “will spread all across Oromia if the government doesn’t cancel this agreement, bring Midroc to justice, and make Midroc pay compensation for the damage they have caused,” Addisu said.

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Is overseas expansion on the menu for Saudi mining colossus Ma’aden? – by Richard Wachman (Arab News – May 6, 2018)

http://www.arabnews.com/

LONDON: Saudi mining colossus Ma’aden is riding a wave of investor confidence as profitability is driven by robust commodity prices, growth in production across its minerals suite of phosphate, gold, copper and aluminum, as well as a cost-cutting program that has strengthened the balance sheet.

Now, there is market chatter that the next chapter of the growth story could be overseas. Some say Ma’aden will one day follow SABIC, KSA’s petrochemicals champion, by expanding its footprint in growth segments abroad, although its core business will always be at home.

“At the moment there is plenty of growth to go for in Saudi,” said Yousef Husseini, a broker at EFG Hermes in Cairo. “But in the longer term, the company could shift its focus to global expansion similar to what SABIC has done in the last couple of decades as local market opportunities decline.”

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South Africa miners reach 5 billion rand silicosis settlement with mining companies – by Ed Stoddard and Patricia Aruo (Reuters U.K. – May 3, 2018)

https://uk.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African gold producers agreed a 5 billion rand (294.39 million pounds) class action settlement on Thursday with law firms representing thousands of miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis, officials said on Thursday.

The most far-reaching class action settlement ever reached in South Africa follows a long legal battle by miners to win compensation for illnesses they say they contracted over decades because of negligence in health and safety.

The six companies involved had already set aside the settlement amount in provisions in previous financial statements and it should not affect future earnings, unless the number of claimants who come forward exceed the current provisions.

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McEwen reports productive Q1 – by Suzanne Featherston (Elko Daily Free Press – May 3, 2018)

https://elkodaily.com/

TORONTO — McEwen Mining Inc. reported an industrious start to the year, especially in gold production, development and exploration, in its first quarter 2018 results released May 1.

The first quarter of 2018 “marked the beginning of an important year for McEwen Mining,” said Robert McEwen, executive chairman and chief owner, in an investor conference call. The company achieved production of 44,344 gold equivalent ounces in the first quarter of 2018.

Net cash flow from the business, excluding project development costs, was $12.4 million, offset by $22.7 million related to investments toward long-term production growth at Gold Bar in Nevada, Black Fox project in Canada and Los Azules project in Argentina.

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