Posts by Michael Allan McCrae:

Obama to have final say on Keystone

President Obama will have the final say on whether the Keystone XL gets built. In an interview with the Nebraska news station, Obama said that the State Department will be giving him a report "over the next several months", which he will use to make a decision. "The state department is in charge of analyzing this, because there is a pipeline coming in from Canada. They'll be giving me a report over the next several months. My general attitude is what is best for the American economy and what is best for the American people short term and long term," said Obama to KETV NewsWatch 7's Rob McCartney.
Michael Allan McCrae | November 2, 2011 | 2:03 pm

Gold coin weighs one tonne and is worth $55 million

Perth Mint announced that it minted a one-tonne gold bullion coin that is worth over $55 million. It is the world's largest gold bullion coin. The previous record holder was a coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. Dimensions of the coin are 80 centimetres wide and over 12 centimetres thick. Watch the video on how the coin was made.
Michael Allan McCrae | November 1, 2011 | 8:30 pm

Miners whipsawed by Greek news

The decision to hold a referendum on the euro zone debt deal is roiling the markets. S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 1.68%, and the TSX Venture Exchange has lost 2.65%. Spot gold fell from yesterday's close of $1,715.10 and is currently trading at $1,707/oz. Gold majors Newmont Mining declined 2.06% and Barrick Gold slid 2.16%. Prime Minister George Papandreou announced a surprise referendum on the euro zone deal that was reached last week.
Michael Allan McCrae | November 1, 2011 | 5:35 pm
Miner hat light mining

Stillwater releases name of fatally injured miner; operations expected to resume tonight

Dale Alan Madson, 42, a Leadman Operator at Stillwater Mining died in a mining accident on Monday at the company's Stillwater Mine. Madson was working on the 3800 level of the mine The accident is being investigated by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. No other details of the accident were released. Mining operations were suspended following the incident and will resume with the evening shift today.
Michael Allan McCrae | November 1, 2011 | 5:07 pm

The Royal Canadian Mint tries to one up gold ETFs

For those who feel they need a little more security than buying gold through an exchange traded fund, the Royal Canadian Mint is offering exchange traded receipts backed by physical gold bullion held in the mint's facilities in Ottawa, Ontario. The Canadian mint, which announced this product on Friday, says that ETRs are different than other gold investment products since the purchaser of an ETR owns the actual gold rather than a unit or share in an entity that owns the gold. When someone buys an ETR, the money will be used to purchase gold at the London pm fix price on the closing date of the offering.
Michael Allan McCrae | November 1, 2011 | 2:44 pm

Hackers target Canadian government’s potash documents

The Ottawa Citizen reports that computer hackers went after potash documents in the Finance Department and Treasury Board networks. An email, pretending to come from an aboriginal group, was opened by department officials. A link in the email installed malware on the worker's computers, which facilitated the attacks. Industry officials believe the attack was launched from China.
Michael Allan McCrae | October 31, 2011 | 2:53 pm
staff cuts expected in 2016 hays coal_bucketwheel_shutterstock

Japanese and Chinese firms spend $1.0 billion for Grande Cache Coal

Albertan metallurgical coal producer, Grande Cache Coal (TSX:GCE), was acquired by a Japanese and Chinese firms for about $1.0 billion. The purchase, announced on Monday, represented a 112% premium over the 20-day volume weighted average trading price of the company's common shares. Shares of Grande Cache Coal shot up 66% on the news. The new owners are Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Limited and Marubeni Corporation.
Michael Allan McCrae | October 31, 2011 | 2:22 pm

Production woes send Paladin’s stock lower

Australian uranium producer, Paladin Energy, announced that its U3O8 production was 15% lower due to planned shutdowns and unscheduled remediation work. The company's stock declined 4.15% to $1.50 after Paladin announced on Monday its quarterly report for the three-month period ended September 30, 2011 The company did have record sales of 2,001,673lb U3O8, which generated revenue of US$102.74M. The average sales price for U3O8 was US$51.33/lb.
Michael Allan McCrae | October 31, 2011 | 2:02 pm
truck mining side

Perilya is raising $110 million

Perilya Limited, an Australian base metal miner, plans to raise $110 million to delever the company's balance sheet and fund the company's ongoing activities. The company said on Wednesday that it plans to issue 263,037,782 ordinary share at 42 cents per share. UBS AG is the underwriter. Perilya Limited has a zinc, lead and silver mine in Broken Hill, New South Wales. Perilya's operations also include the Flinders Project in South Australia and the Mount Oxide Project in Queensland.
Michael Allan McCrae | October 28, 2011 | 1:46 pm

Commodities and markets up higher on Eurozone resolution

After sensing that Europe's economic tailspin may have been halted, the markets and commodities opened higher. The S&P/TSX Composite index was up 2%, and the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index was up 1.59%. Spot gold was largely unchanged from yesterday's price at $1725/oz. Oil was up sharply. ICE North Sea Brent crude was up three percent to $112.23 a barrel, and the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Index was up 2.45%
Michael Allan McCrae | October 27, 2011 | 3:13 pm
Agrium predicts 30% drop in potash sales

PotashCorp doubles earning in Q3

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE:POT) doubled its third quarter earnings, reporting 94 cents per share or $826 million compared to 38 cents per share or $343 million a year ago. The company's stock opened 2.3% higher at $50.65 a share. During the first the first nine-months of 2011, the company's earnings have doubled from $1.39 per share during the same period last year to $2.73 per share today. The company said demand was strong from both North American and international customers.
Michael Allan McCrae | October 27, 2011 | 2:15 pm