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PDAC 2016: Hope for a new bull market in metals springs eternal at mining conference – by John Shmuel (Financial Post – March 9, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO – Veteran analysts at the world’s largest mining convention said Tuesday that the commodity bear market might be near its end.

The comments were made during a panel at the 2016 PDAC conference. Several analysts noted that there are bullish signs building up in the market, including a dearth of new projects, signs of tighter supply and the rock bottom level of capital spending in the industry.

Bullishness around mining stocks in general has certainly increased this month, as prices for metals such as copper, iron and gold have posted impressive gains.

“New capital spending has been cut, no one is building new mines, no one is looking for new mines,” said Greg Barnes, analyst at TD Newcrest. “We’ll have quite a rally by the end of the decade.”

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New CEO David Garofalo sets realistic course for Goldcorp – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – March 9, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

David Garofalo has a graph that should appall any precious metals aficionado.

It shows how nine major gold producers’ share prices have fared over the past decade. Only one of those stocks – that of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. – actually achieved a lasting gain during the 10-year period.

All the other big global gold miners in the graph saw their share prices decline between 2005 and 2015. The sweeping, near-universal losses for investors in the sector – despite a gold price that shot upward over the time span – offer evidence of a massive case of value destruction.

Mr. Garofalo, who became chief executive officer at Goldcorp Inc. on Feb. 29, is clear that he doesn’t intend to let that sad history repeat itself, at least not on his watch.

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Bankers dream of a Canadian mining powerhouse – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – March 9, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The dream of seeing Inco, Falconbridge and other mining powerhouses return to Canada is alive and well. A decade after the country’s big mining companies were taken over by foreigners, Canadian bankers see an opportunity to reclaim lost ground.

More than 50 mines are on the auction block, as indebted miners Vale SA, Glencore PLC, Anglo American PLC and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. race to fix their balance sheets.

“We have an opportunity here because of the debt burden of these companies. The big companies will be much smaller,” said Egizio Bianchini, co-head of mining and metals at Bank of Montreal. “They have all announced major asset sales. Some of these companies are going to migrate to Toronto,” he said.

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‘Just do it,’ Sudbury’s female leaders say – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 9, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

When Jody Kuzenko left a law firm in 2004 to become in-house lawyer for what was then Inco Ltd., her employer asked her why she was returning to Sudbury.

“Inco isn’t a woman’s company,” the male employer told her. She replied: “Not now it isn’t, but I’m on my way.”

Kozenko, who moved from serving as legal counsel to director of refining at Vale, was one of three women who spoke about their non-traditional career paths at a breakfast Tuesday sponsored by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. The event was held to mark International Women’s Day.

Gender has been a “differentiator” in her career, Kozenko told an audience of about 200 people, mostly women, at the breakfast.

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[Australia nickel] Palmer squeezes back into refinery driver’s seat – by Ben Hagemann (Australian Mining – March 8, 2016)

http://www.australianmining.com.au/news

In a move long awaited by many, Clive Palmer taken responsibility for his business interests and swooped in to save the day for the Yabulu Refinery.

After months of insisting that both the Queensland and federal governments support his ailing business, which was used to donate millions to his Palmer United political party, Palmer has finally bitten the bullet and fronted $23 million in funding to keep the Yabulu nickel refinery from being closed down.

However, the new conditional fund facility has been introduced through a new company called Queensland Nickel Sales Pty Ltd, which will replace Queensland Nickel as manager of the Yabulu Refinery.

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NEWS RELEASE: TEAM SGS Geostat WINS THE INTEGRA GOLD RUSH CHALLENGE

L-to-R back row: Steve de Jong, President & CEO, Integra Gold; Luc Blanchette, Quebec Minister for Mines; Brent Cook, Gold Rush Titan; Sean Roosen, Gold Rush Titan; Shaun Majumder, Comedian and Gold Rush Finale MC; George Salamis, Executive Chairman, Integra Gold; Chantal Gosselin, Gold Rush Titan; Mark Stockton, Business Development, Integra Gold; Rob McEwen, Gold Rush Titan; Randy Smallwood, Gold Rush Titan L-to-R front row: Doug Hatfield, SGS Geostat; Jean-Philippe Paiement, SGS Geostat; Guy Desharnais, SGS Geostat Credit: George Pimentel Photography
L-to-R back row: Steve de Jong, President & CEO, Integra Gold; Luc Blanchette, Quebec Minister for Mines; Brent Cook, Gold Rush Titan; Sean Roosen, Gold Rush Titan; Shaun Majumder, Comedian and Gold Rush Finale MC; George Salamis, Executive Chairman, Integra Gold; Chantal Gosselin, Gold Rush Titan; Mark Stockton, Business Development, Integra Gold; Rob McEwen, Gold Rush Titan; Randy Smallwood, Gold Rush Titan
L-to-R front row: Doug Hatfield, SGS Geostat; Jean-Philippe Paiement, SGS Geostat; Guy Desharnais, SGS Geostat
Credit: George Pimentel Photography

SGS Geostat Awarded C$500,000 for their submission
C$250,000 in finale event proceeds donated to local charities in Val-d’Or, Quebec

VANCOUVER, BC – March 7, 2016: Integra Gold Corp. (TSX-V: ICG, OTCQX: ICGQF) (“Integra” or the “Company”) is thrilled to announce that SGS Geostat team from Québec was awarded first place in the Gold Rush Challenge last night in front of a crowd of 400 at the Gold Rush Challenge Live Finale at the Carlu in Toronto. The SGS Geostat team beat out 4 other finalists and emerged as the winner with their submission that utilized a combination of machine learning and traditional geological methods to produce targets across the Company’s Lamaque project in Val-d’Or, Québec.

SGS Geostat used sophisticated geostatistical methods to drive data into an expansive and unbiased block model. A prospectivity scoring system harnessed both geological knowledge and machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence, to identify high value targets, which were then vetted through Virtual Reality with Oculus Rift technology.

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Battered Canadian miners to face more shareholder activism – by Nicole Mordant and John Tilak (Reuters Canada – March 7, 2016)

http://ca.reuters.com/

VANCOUVER/TORONTO (Reuters) – Shareholder activism in the Canadian mining sector will gather pace this year, driven by investor fatigue after years of share price weakness and concerns about high executive pay levels and slim insider stock holdings, advisors to such situations said.

With few options left to salvage investments hit by a prolonged downturn in commodity prices, more shareholders are demanding change at miners they perceive to have strong assets but weak boards and management. Proxy advisers and lawyers said these shareholders see an opportunity to force more effective capital allocation and lower executive compensation.

An early year bounce in prices of metals like gold and silver may provide comfort to some activists who have been keen to pounce but concerned that metal prices could drop further.

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PDAC 2016: Giant bifurcation underway in junior mining sector – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – March 8, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

In mining, the great bifurcation is finally underway. After a multi-year bear market in which nearly every junior mining stock got decimated, the sector is enjoying an honest-to-goodness recovery in 2016. This year’s PDAC conference is ringing with renewed optimism as commodities, particularly gold, are rebounding.

But the early evidence suggests this recovery is limited to a very small group of companies. The high-quality juniors are raising money again and enjoying huge bumps in their share prices. Meanwhile, nothing has changed for most of the companies, which remains entrenched in an awful bear market with no end in sight.

During the commodity boom, the rising tide of metal prices really did seem to lift all boats. Hundreds of low-quality miners were able to raise billions of dollars of capital from willing investors. Venture-listed companies raised an astounding $4.2 billion from brokered deals in 2007 alone, according to Financial Post data.

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Malaysia’s Petronas threatening to abandon LNG project over new climate change rules – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – March 8, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY – Malaysia’s Petronas is frustrated that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s climate-change priorities are introducing new uncertainty for its proposed $36 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project in northern British Columbia and has threatened to walk away if it doesn’t get federal approval by March 31, according to a source close to the project.

The project, to be located on federal lands on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert, received a largely favourable assessment from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) last month, was greenlighted by the British Columbia government in November, 2014, and received conditional corporate support — or a final investment decision — from Malaysia’s state-owned company and its partners in June of last year.

But the new federal Liberal government is toughening up environmental reviews of major energy projects to regain “public trust” and as it strives to meet international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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PDAC 2016: How lithium has become a rare winner amid the commodity slaughter – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – March 8, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The commodity slaughter of the last five years has left almost no metal unscathed. Almost.

There is a notable exception. Little-known lithium has been a solid performer for the last several years, and has simply skyrocketed in recent months due to expectations of soaring demand from electric vehicles and market distortions in China.

“You could argue it’s done better than anything,” said Jon Hykawy, president of Stormcrow Capital Ltd., which tracks the lithium market. That said, he noted the sky-high prices coming out of China don’t tell the whole story.

The lithium market is tiny in the grand scheme of things, with total demand of roughly 180,000 to 200,000 tonnes a year.

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INVEST NORTH: Ontario and Canada Needs Full Inclusion of First Nations to Kick Start the Economy – by Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day (Metro Toronto Convention Centre – March 7, 2016)

PDAC Mining Convention Opening Remarks

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“Great Father – My territory extends to [Michissiwton] there already have they found my rich things, but I know nothing of what is going on; I see the people pass and I hear what is said but I have no certain knowledge. I want always to live and plant at Garden River, and as my people are poor, to derive a share of what is found on my lands […] Already has the white man licked clean up from our lands the whole means of our subsistence, and now they commence to make us worse off, they take every thing away from us father […] Now my father, I called God to witness in the beginning and do so now again and say that it is false that the land is not ours, it is ours.” – Chief Shingwauk

FN colleagues, Chiefs (bosses), federal and provincial officials and friends – good morning. I bring greetings from my bosses, the Chiefs across Ontario as well as my friends and colleagues, the AFN National Executive and NC Perry Bellgarde who could not be hear.

Since the last PDAC convention, the relationship between Ontario, Canada and First Nations has improved dramatically. At the same time, the Canadian economy has continued to worsen and cause worry!

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Companies already jockeying for first dibs on Ring of Fire infrastructure money – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – March 7, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

There could be battle shaping up on who gets first dibs on the government infrastructure money that has been promised for the Ring Of Fire mining development in far Northern Ontario.

Speaking out the annual convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) now on in Toronto, Alan Coutts said his company is ready to move ahead with an all-season road for the project.

Coutts is the president and CEO of Noront Resources Ltd., one of the major players in the Ring Of Fire venture a large mining development located about 600 kilometres northwest of Timmins, in the remote McFaulds Lake area. The prospect is identified mainly as a chromite project, valued in the tens of billions of dollars.

Monday’s announcement by Coutts is at odds with an announcement made earlier this year by KWG Resources Inc, the other big player at the Ring Of Fire.

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PM can save Ring of Fire – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – March 8, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury Star columnist calls for a Trudeau ‘Marshall Plan’ for Ontario’s Ring of Fire

Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” mineral belt, located in the province’s remote James Bay Lowlands, is thought to hold more than $60 billion of geological riches. When it was discovered in 2007, it was supposed to usher in a new era of prosperity for Northern Ontario, especially for the impoverished First Nations communities in the region.

Almost a decade later, the ore remains in the ground and doesn’t appear to be coming out anytime soon. Thanks to the Ontario government’s ineptitude, dysfunctional mining policy, lack of promised infrastructure spending and (to a much lesser extent) a broader commodity slump, American miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. left the province in frustration in 2013, permanently halting its proposed US$3.3-billion chromite project.

The ultimate indignity for Ontario came last year, when Cliffs sold its US$550-million investment in the Ring of Fire to junior miner Noront Resources Ltd. — the only significant player left in the area — for a bargain-basement price of US$27.5 million.

At the present time, Noront is focused primarily on its bankable Eagles Nest nickel/copper/PGM property, valued at about $10 billion, which can be developed only if a proposed east-west road is built into the mining camp and has put its world-class chromite deposits on the backburner for the foreseeable future.

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[Plan Nord] Québec’s Incentive – by Brian Burton (Lexpert Special Edition – Mining – March 2016)

http://lexpert.ca/

Québec is investing in mining infrastructure as part of its “Plan Nord” but the payoff is not immediate

Québec’s Plan Nord reads a lot like the recipe for stone soup. Like the hungry travellers of legend, who offer up a “magic” stone to cajole villagers into providing the ingredients for a community meal, Premier Philippe Couillard has tossed iron ore, assorted other minerals and $2.7 billion worth of infrastructure funding into the pot. Now he’s waiting to see whether the private sector will thicken the broth with mining and energy projects worth $50 billion.

If it works, Plan Nord will deliver electricity, roads, rail lines, ports, airports, schools, hospitals and thousands of mining jobs to the vast area north of Québec’s 49th parallel, while generating billions in royalties and taxes for government coffers. The 20-year plan covers a sparsely developed area of 1.2 million square kilometres, twice the size of France, that’s laden with iron, gold, diamonds, copper, nickel, zinc, uranium and rare earth minerals.

In Couillard’s favour, lower energy prices and a weaker Canadian dollar help to reduce project costs, and Northern Québec also contains enormous hydro-electric potential. Importantly, the monopoly provincial electric utility, Hydro Québec, is owned by the provincial government.

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