Ahead of the Herd With Kootenay Gold
Today I’m speaking with Jim McDonald and Ken Berry of Kootenay Gold Inc.
Today I’m speaking with Jim McDonald and Ken Berry of Kootenay Gold Inc.
The Silk Routes, collectively known as the "Silk Road", refer to a 7000 mile network of interlinking trade routes that were used for three millennia.
Euphoria hit the financial markets as the news was announced of a one trillion euro bailout package. The large European banks jumped by as much as 20% in a single day increasing their market caps by billions. This burst of excitement followed through to the United States where the DOW leaped forward as the banking sector lead the way to higher ground.
Investments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo often get dinged with an "exotic locale" discount, but the jurisdiction is much less risky than even a few years ago.
The regulatory process for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline to connect Alberta's oil sands and markets in Asia, is shaping up to make the TransCanada's Keystone XL approval look like a cake walk. Starting in January, an unprecedented 4,000-plus people – the vast majority environmental activists – will speak for a collective 650 hours at public hearings on the controversial pipeline that would stretch for 1,170km from Brudenheim in Alberta to a new marine terminal at Kitimat in northern British Columbia, Canada. The project is already almost a year behind schedule and would not go into operation in 2017 at the soonest.
The Guardian reports the approval for Britain's only commercial goldmine despite opposition from environmental groups has sparked fears for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park national park. The mine is around 1 kilometre inside the park boundary. It was the second time Sydney-listed mining company Scotgold had applied to mine gold and silver at the Cononish site, which it bought in 2007. It was turned down last year over concerns about waste – 400,000 tonnes will be produced over the mine's 10-year life – and rehabilitation. At current prices, Scotgold believes there could be around $275 million of the precious metals at the site and it could start producing ounces early in 2013.
Writing in the Business Day, Clancy Yeates launches a scathing attack on Australia's mining industry. Comparing Australia to Greece would be patently ridiculous to most people. Sure, things here are hardly perfect. But no one would dispute that the debt-stricken nation is another league, with increasingly bitter protests over budget cuts required as part of last week's deal with its creditors. Despite these vast differences, conflating Australia's situation with that of Greece is exactly what some in the business community are carelessly doing.
Klondike Silver has been acquiring over 80% of the Sandon, BC silver camp over the past 20 years and its land position is now at 23,000Ha. Historical output from Sandon area mines starting in 1890s is over $35 billion (at today's mineral value) of lead zinc and silver. Klondike owns a 100 TPD fully operational flotation mill in Sandon which processes material from local mines. In its prime Sandon had 29 hotels, 28 saloons, 3 breweries, theatres, opera houses, cigar factory, soft drink plant, 3 sawmills, 3 churches, x2 newspapers, a schoolhouse, hospital, numerous lodges, clubs, organizations and a curling rink and bowling alley (in addition to one of the largest ‘red light’ districts in Western Canada). Klondike Silver is also reviving the Gowganda and Elk Lake silver camps in Ontario.
The West Virginia Coal Association is working shoulder to shoulder with FACES (the Federation for American Coal, Energy & Security) to encourage people in the coalfield region to ask their senators to either vote on H.R. 2018, the "Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011" or a companion piece of legislation that could come up for a vote in the U.S. Senate soon.
Reuters reports Peru's government on Friday brokered the first in a series of talks between townspeople and Newmont Mining in a bid to solve a conflict over water supplies at the $4.8 billion Minas Conga project, adjacent to South America's largest gold mine Yanacocha. Newmont was forced to shut down operations for two days at Yanacocha after protesters blocked access to the mine. Minas Conga, partly-owned by Peru's number one precious metals miner Buenaventura, would be the biggest investment ever in Peru's mining sector. Buenaventura reported a 6% drop in quarterly gold output on Friday.