MINING.COM

Commodities boom drives economic growth in several Canadian provinces

A Conference Board of Canada report says high energy and metals prices "are prompting resource companies to invest billions in iron ore projects, nickel processing and offshore oil developments" in Newfoundland and Labrador, generating the largest growth in real GDP this year of all the Canadian provinces. The board's Provincial Outlook - Spring 2011 report issued Wednesday also forecasts that Saskatchewan "will benefit from tax breaks and a hot mining industry."

Mineweb | May 30, 2011 | 1:50 pm

Commodities boom drives economic growth in several Canadian provinces

A Conference Board of Canada report says high energy and metals prices "are prompting resource companies to invest billions in iron ore projects, nickel processing and offshore oil developments" in Newfoundland and Labrador, generating the largest growth in real GDP this year of all the Canadian provinces." The board's Provincial Outlook - Spring 2011 report issued Wednesday also forecasts that Saskatchewan "will benefit from tax breaks and a hot mining industry."

Mineweb | May 26, 2011 | 11:31 pm

Hathor Exploration doubles Roughrider uranium deposit

Hathor Exploration has released a new resource estimate that effectively doubles its uranium deposit in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin. The company said Tuesday it has identified over 30 million pounds of uranium oxide (inferred) at the East Zone of the property. That works out to 118,000 tonnes of U308 graded at 11.58%. According to the technical report, exploration consisted of a 21-hole drilling program, with about 368 sample intervals assayed for U308 and other metals, including arsenic, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, nickel and selenium. Image of mineralization in drill core, Far East Zone, by Hathor Exploration Limited

Andrew Topf | May 18, 2011 | 11:12 pm

Noront inks $17.4m deal with Baosteel in Ontario Ring of Fire

Noront Resources has completed a brokered placement worth $17.4 million, the Toronto-listed junior explorer announced yesterday. The deal will give Baosteel the right to increase its stake in Noront to 19.9%. It will also give Baosteel, a large steel producer owned by the Chinese government, a seat on Noront's board of directors. Proceeds from the placement will be used for feasibility studies on Noront's Eagle's Nest nickle-copper-palladium property and the Blackbird chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire poly-metallic mining district in northern Ontario, Canada.

Andrew Topf | May 17, 2011 | 7:29 pm

Guinea iron ore project pegged at 111 million tonnes graded at 38% Fe

West Africa focused Bellzone Mining has released an initial resource estimate for its Kalia iron ore project in Guinea. The AIM-listed iron ore and nickel company announced an initial inferred JORC oxide resource of 111 million tonnes, graded at 38% Fe, which would be beneficiated using a standard gravity process to produce 58% Fe fines.

Andrew Topf | May 13, 2011 | 7:06 pm

Infrastructure projects essential to Russian mining

Often located in some of the world’s most sparsely populated areas, developing mining projects in resource-rich areas more often than not means working in some of the most isolated regions known to man. From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, operators face a common challenge: that of ensuring the local infrastructure is able to support the demands placed upon it by a profitable mining operation.

GDS International | May 13, 2011 | 6:09 pm

Big Russian base metals company looking at Toronto IPO

Intergeo, the Russian copper and nickel company owned by billionaires Mikhail Prokhorov and Maxim Finskiy, hopes to raise from C$100 million ($104.2 million) to C$500 million in a initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange by the end of the year. Finskiy, the company's chairman and 20 percent stakeholder, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday the company would float about 10 percent of its shares in the offering.

Mineweb | May 12, 2011 | 4:37 am

Quadra FNX Mining announces earnings of $168 Million in the first quarter of 2011

The Company recorded first quarter earnings of $168 million or $0.88 per share (basic) compared to earnings of $55 million or $0.55 per share for the previous year. The higher earnings in the current quarter were driven by a $134 million pre-tax gain on the disposition of Gold Wheaton shares, higher average copper prices and the inclusion of the Sudbury operations following the merger with FNX. These factors were partially offset by lower sales volumes at Robinson and Carlota. Adjusted earnings for the first quarter totalled $51.8 million or $0.27 per share (basic) compared to $55.3 million or $0.56 per share (basic) for the previous year.

Marketwire | May 6, 2011 | 2:07 pm

China group in talks to buy Lundin: Globe and Mail

The months-long saga over the future of Lundin Mining took another interesting twist on Friday, when a consortium of Chinese companies jumped in with a potential bid, according to a story in The Globe and Mail. Lundin has been the target of two takeover bids, the first by Inmet Mining, which recently fell through, and the second by Equinox Minerals, which unveiled a $4.8 billion hostile takeover bid to counter the Inmet offer. That deal was derailed when China's Minmetals Resources tried to acquire Equinox, which has since been acquired by Barrick Gold, which presented a richer offer worth $7.3 billion.

Andrew Topf | April 29, 2011 | 7:49 pm

Sherritt’s Q1 earnings up 116% to $63.6 million

Sherritt's Q1 earnings rose 116% over the same quarter a year ago. The company reported net earnings on Thursday of $63.6 million or 22 cents a share. A year ago, the company reported only $29.4 million in net earnings or 10 cents a share. The company's sales volumes were up slightly. Sherritt's sales volumes of nickel, reported in thounsands of pounds, was 9,438 in 2011 and 9,392 in 2010, less than a one per cent increase.

Michael Allan McCrae | April 28, 2011 | 2:45 pm