April Newsletters – 18.04.16
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Tanya Matveeva, Senior Geologist will be speaking at the 7th Central Asian Mining and Exploration Forum, 19-21 April, Astana, on behalf of Behre Dolbear.
Behre Dolbear is sponsoring the SME’s 4th Current Trends in Mining Finance Conference on April 24-27th in New York City.
Behre Dolbear will be an exhibitor at the 35th International Geological Congress, 27th August – 4th September 2016, Cape Town, South Africa
TOP NEWS
China’s Stocks Climb Most This Month as Commodity Shares Advance
Bloomberg News April 11, 2013
- Monthly gain in producer prices is sign of recovery: JK Life
- CSRC says it’s planning to ease risk-management curbs
China’s stocks rose the most this month, led by commodity producers and financial companies, amid signs of a pick-up in industrial demand.
The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.6 percent, with a gauge of materials shares closing at a three-month high. The nation’s producer prices increased 0.5 percent last month from February, the first gain since September 2013, official data showed Monday. Inflation was 2.3 percent in March versus a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month’s gain.
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Iran, Kazakhstan Sign Deals Worth $2b
National Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Tehran and Astana have signed 66 memorandums of understanding and agreements worth $2 billion in various arenas, including economy, commerce, agriculture, industries and mining.
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev made the announcement in a joint press conference with President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Monday, according to President.ir.
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Coal giant Peabody Energy Corp files for bankruptcy as worst slump in decades takes toll
Tiffany Kary and Tim Loh, Bloomberg News, April 13, 2016
U.S. coal giant Peabody Energy Corp. filed for bankruptcy today, the most powerful convulsion yet in an industry that’s enduring the worst slump in decades.
The company voluntarily filed petitions under Chapter 11 for the majority of its U.S. entities in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, according to a statement dated April 13. All of Peabody’s mines and offices are continuing to operate in the ordinary course of business and are expected to continue doing so for the duration of the process, it said.
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COMMODITIES
Alrosa forecasts brighter times for diamond sector
Cecilia Jamasmie
Russia’s Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), the world’s top diamond producer by output in carats, is painting a “bright” outlook for the market and expects demand to start exceeding supply after 2019.
Reviewing its 2015 results, the company said output climbed to 38.3 million carats, a 6% increase when compared to the previous year, thanks mainly to improvements at its Mir and Udachny underground mines, as well as the commissioning of Karpinskaya-1 and Botuobinskaya pipes and other high-potential deposits.
Iron Springs
By David Fickling Bloomberg April 13, 2016
When iron ore surged above $60 a metric ton last month, the 19 percent gain was so abrupt that it was easy to dismiss.
The move was labeled (by Gadfly, among others) a short squeeze with hardly any fundamental factors behind it. Lo and behold, the measure fell $10 in the subsequent week.
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China Copper Imports Jump 36% to Record as State Buying Eyed
Bloomberg News, April 13, 2016
- State reserve purchases bolster local prices spurring imports
- Inbound shipments in first quarter climb 30% from year earlier
China’s imports of copper climbed to a record in March after domestic buying by the state reserve helped support prices in the biggest consumer and encouraged foreign purchases ahead of the peak demand season.
Inbound shipments of unwrought copper and products rose for the first time this year, increasing 36 percent on month to 570,000 metric tons, according to China’s customs administration Wednesday. Purchases soared 30 percent to 1.43 million tons in the first quarter from a year earlier, customs data show.
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International Copper Study Group latest copper market forecast 2016-2017
The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) met in Lisbon, Portugal on 9th – 10th March 2016. Government delegates and industry advisors from most of the world’s leading copper producing and using countries met to discuss key issues affecting the global copper market. In its meeting of the Statistical Committee, the ICSG view of the world balance of refined copper production and use was developed.
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LEGAL AND REGULATORY
AngloGold Says Illegal Miners Control Richest Deposits at Obuasi
Ekow Dontoh Bloomberg
- Miner may consider options as investor if takeover continues
- Government must restore law, order at Obuasi gold mine
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. said illegal miners have taken control of areas at its Obuasi mine in Ghana that hold the richest deposits of gold, slowing efforts to redevelop the facility.
The Johannesburg-based company may consider its options as an investor if the illegal takeover continues, Eric Asubonteng, general manager of the facility, told reporters in the capital, Accra, on Wednesday.
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From Coal to Toothpaste, China Tackles Glut with Investment Bans
April 12, 2016 Bloomberg
- NDRC releases `Negative List’ for trial program restrictions
- Limits will cover Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Fujian
China laid out trial rules to undercut capacity in oversupplied industries from coal mining to toothpaste as the country seeks to overhaul its bloated state-run sector
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FINANCIAL
NSR poised for … whatever it likes
Chris Cann, Mining Journal, 14 Apr 2016
A record quarter of cash flow from Australian gold producer Northern Star Resources has bolstered cash reserves and put the company in the Hollywood problem of having almost too many options for its next move.
In the March quarter, gold sales from the company’s exclusively Western Australian operating base was relatively flat at 143,469 ounces against 142,017oz in the December quarter, though with a higher gold price realised and all-in sustaining costs retreating slightly, NSR netted a healthy free cash flow of A$66 million (US$51 million).
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Are we there yet (again)?
Timing the market is no easy feat.
Wilhelm Hertzog, 12 April 2016
Our businesses have been adversely affected by the combined effects of lower commodity prices and the impact of the financial situation in Asia. Difficulties in bringing some important capital projects on-line have also impacted on our results. In response to these challenges, BHP is making changes needed to become a stronger, more competitive company that is able to deliver greater value to shareholders. Key elements include driving costs down and reshaping our asset portfolio. Our efforts in these two areas are gaining momentum with very encouraging results being achieved in many of our businesses…
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PROJECTS
The Canadian Shield could host the next bonanza discovery: Eric Lemieux
The Gold Report
Gold supply is getting tighter, deposits of quality are getting rarer and the project development timeline is getting longer. Enter Canada. The Canadian Shield still offers the possibility of break-out discoveries, says PearTree Securities analyst Eric Lemieux. The recent spate of M&A activity points to the potential of the region, and Lemieux discusses several companies that are well positioned to add value.
The Gold Report: In the month since the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention (PDAC), the markets have been holding steady. Has the “PDAC curse”—where mining equities fall after the PDAC convention—been broken?
Eric Lemieux: I hope so, although it really is still too early to say. Perhaps at this stage, with the drop in copper prices and gold in the $1,240/ounce range, we’re in a gray zone. However, there’s a certain sense of optimism based on the fact that we’re in the last amplitudes of a bottom. Certainly medium fundamentals look interesting. Gold supply is getting tighter, deposits of quality are getting rarer, and there is a lengthening timeline for the development of projects because of more stringent permitting and social acceptability elements.
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Cukaru Peki, Serbia: 136m grading 6.05% Cu and 6.80g/t Au from 463m depth
Mining Journal 14 Apr 2016
Reservoir Minerals is continuing to show why its Cukaru Peki copper-gold deposit in Serbia, part of the Timok project, is so highly sought after, following a diamond drilling update that included a couple of stonking hits.
Just over a month after Lundin Mining signed a US$262.5 million pact to take Freeport McMoRan’s stake in the Timok project off the US-based company, Reservoir has, once again, made the investment community stand up and take note of the project.
The highlight of the 12 infill holes focused on the Upper Zone at Cukaru Peki was a 136m intercept (true thickness of 119.3m) grading 6.05% Cu and 6.80g/t Au from 463m depth. Within this, was a 49m hit (from 509m depth) that came with an average grade of 13.74% Cu and 11.82g/t Au.
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Endeavour mining starts construction of its Hounde Project, its next low-cost gold mine
Reuters Apr 11, 201
- Hounde Project expected to increase group’s production to about 900,000 ounces per year
- Houndé Project is expected to deliver average production of 190,000 ounces per year over a 10- year mine life
- Initial capital cost is estimated at $328 million, inclusive of $47 million for owner-mining fleet
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NexGen discovers new high grade zone in the A1 Shear with 8.35 m of off-scale mineralization
Friday, Apr 15, 2016
NexGen Energy Ltd. (“NexGen” or the “Company”) (TSXV:NXE, OTCQX:NXGEF) is pleased to announce a new discovery of high grade mineralization at the Arrow deposit from our on-going winter-spring drilling program on our 100% owned Rook I Property, Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.
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INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Tree-Top Sampling Program May Help Uncover New Mineral Deposits in B.C.
Geoscience BC is looking at whether concentrations of trace amounts of metals found in trees could lead prospectors to the next big mineral discovery
British Columbia’s trees may hold the key to finding new mineral deposits in the province.
Geoscience BC is releasing the results of an innovative tree-top sampling program led by Noble Exploration Services Ltd. The study looked at whether trace amounts of metals found in spruce trees could lead prospectors to the next big mineral discovery.
As part of the Trek project, a total of 421 side-branch samples, comprising one kilogram of twigs and needles, were systematically collected near the tops of healthy, 80–100 year old spruce trees over a six-day period in June 2015. Samples were collected using a helicopter flying over a 1,000 square-kilometre area in the Chilcotin Plateau of central B.C.
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Ontario company to develop space prospecting tool
Resource World April 8, 2016
Deltion Innovations Ltd. of Capreol, Ontario has been awarded a $700,000 contract by the Canadian Space Agency to develop a multi-purpose device designed for future mining on the Moon and Mars.
The company, near Sudbury, will develop the combination drill and rotary multi-use tool that would be installed on the end of a robotic arm. The tool is designed to drill into rock and other materials enabling it to retrieve mineral samples, ice and test for water.
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“The response we’ve seen in flies to low doses of lithium is very encouraging”
Mining Journal 14 Apr 2016
Those questioning whether there will be enough future demand to soak up the apparently incalculable volumes of potential lithium supply being readied by existing producers and the junior mining sector, need question no more.
The UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing has given lithium hopefuls a shot in the arm with research that shows the lightest metal in the periodic table could one day prove to be a genuine Holy Grail, of sorts.
The study found lithium, at low doses, prolonged the life of fruit flies in lab experiments, leading scientists to suggest the findings could lay the foundations for a future drug that allows people to be healthier and live longer, according to a BBC report.
