The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency the Agency is making available $150,000 under its Participant Funding Program to assist groups and individuals to participate in the environmental assessment process of the proposed Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project in Ontario.
The takeover rumour mill is working overtime as speculation about the size of Harmony Gold’s Wafi-Golpu deposit increases. Harmony has already been forced to share the planet’s potentially third largest gold and copper mine with Australia’s Newcrest Mining, selling 50% of the project for $525m three years ago. Now, as the value of Wafi-Golpu climbs - Deutsche Bank recently put it at $9.9bn – and predictions of development cost reach $5bn, other suitors may be lining up for the assets. M&A activity in the gold sector is at a 10-year high and top takeover candidates are Harmony’s South African peer Gold Fields, Canada's Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining and partner Newcrest itself.
The Australian reports Fortescue Metals' Chinese shareholder Hunan Valin Steel plans to triple its capacity through mergers and capital investment and is eyeing a listing on the Hong Kong stockmarket to raise up to $1.68bn. The Chinese government last month began another push to consolidate the country's fractured steel industry and is planning to create six or seven mega-groups with the aim of boosting its negotiating power with iron ore giants including miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Hunan Valin is considered second-tier at the moment but wants to push production to over 30m tonnes/year, similar to industry behemoth Baosteel.
CPM Group recently released their 2011 Silver Yearbook, one of the industry’s most comprehensive sources of information on the silver market. Though mostly a reference book, I uncovered some interesting facts that paint a decidedly bullish picture for the metal going forward.
Coal has been mined across the world since the Bronze Age, becoming an important commodity during Roman times, especially in what is today Great Britain. However, the true Golden Age of coal began with the start of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America in the late 1700′s and early 1800′s.
Traditional Aboriginal owners in the Pilbara stand to receive more than $2 billion over 40 years under a watershed agreement with Rio Tinto that sets a new standard for negotiations between miners and indigenous Australia. Seven years in the making, the land-use agreement with five Aboriginal groups will allow about 40 new iron ore mines to proceed in an area of 70,000sqkm
Colombia Crest Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CLB)(PINK SHEETS:ECRTF)(FRANKFURT:EAT) is pleased to announce the discovery of porphyry gold-style alteration in the first of nine target zones being explored on the Fredonia and Venecia properties (see news release dated April 12, 2011). Alteration mapping of the highest-priority target, now named "Arabia", has delineated an area of quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration with dimensions 700 meters east-west by 900 meters north-south which is surrounded by a halo of propylitic alteration. Image by Colombia Crest Gold Corp.
The world's biggest consumer of steel is ready to raise the stakes. Steel demand in China is expected to rise by around 25% by the year 2015, to a huge 750 million metric tonnes. To ensure an adequate supply position, China is set to create three iron ore mining groups, with an output capacity of 100 million tonnes each. Six other groups with a capacity of 30 million tonnes are to be cobbled together to ensure steady supplies. Iron ore is the principal raw material used to make steel.
In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, Tata Chemicals said that its subsidiary Valley Holdings has bought a 32.9% stake in EPM Mining Ventures, which is the process of developing a potash prospect in Sevier Lake, Utah. According to the Financial Post talks between India and producers at the International Fertilizer Industry Association's annual conference in Montreal broke down on Friday. At some 7m tonnes/year India is the second largest importer of potash in the world and is asking for a 10% discount on the current price of $500/tonne.
To support training programs and fend off a future skills shortage, Queensland will be providing up to two-million-dollar grants for industry groups and individual companies.
The Premier said the Skills Queensland Strategic Investment Fund would have A$50-million provided by the state government each year, along with the complementary funding contributed by industry. The fund was aimed at plugging skills gaps and at supporting growing industries like mining.