Image courtesy of Codelco.Copper prices hit Monday a six-year low after more equity losses in Shanghai increased concerns over the Chinese economy, the world's largest consumer of the red metal.The effects on most miners were as dramatic as quick. Diversified miner BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP), the world's largest mining company, reached the lowest in a decade, closing almost 5% down in Sydney to $15.55...Read More
Sometimes a market in turmoil offers opportunity. Independent investment adviser Jayant Bhandari regularly sifts through bourses to find opportunities that maximize his reward for the least amount of risk. Bhandari currently sees two paths to value: companies that were either oversold in heavy tax-loss selling late in 2015 or in the "free upside" offered in arbitrage situations. In this interview...Read More
Miners ending their shift at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine #4 near Richlands, Virginia in 1974. Wearing a red hard hat meant you were new on the job.While the official US payroll numbers released on Friday showing an increase of 292,000 jobs in December came in way above expectations, the mining industry suffered its 12th consecutive month of employment decline.According to the Bureau...Read More
Image: Everett Collection | Shuttersock.comLow commodity prices will continue to be one of the main drivers of political risk for investors this year in major producing countries across Africa and Latin America, a new report suggests.According to the 2016 Political Risk Outlook, released Friday by Verisk Maplecroft, there will be little respite for investors from the political instability, civil u...Read More
Lundin Mining is developing a new nickel deposit that could extend the life of its Eagle nickel and copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that ramped up to full production in 2015 and is expected to see output gradually decline from this year on, according to an official with the Canadian company."We're aggressively drilling Eagle East, a new deposit, and that's looking quite promising," the o...Read More
Courtesy of: Visual CapitalistTHE FIRST FOUR TRADING DAYS SHOW OPTIMISM FOR 2016 IS IN SHORT SUPPLY.The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.In our review of the economic events of 2015, we noted that the simple turning of a calendar page does not rectify the problems of the previous year.The first week of trading on major exchanges has made this even more clear.CHINA...Read More
The world's number five diversified mining company, Anglo American announced a "radical portfolio restructuring" a month ago. The company with roots going back more than a hundred years to South Africa's gold and diamond fields said it would cut around 85,000 employees, almost two-thirds of its workforce.London-listed Anglo also said it's reducing the number of mines it operates from 55 to the "l...Read More
Fears of a Chinese currency devaluation stalks the copper marketIt's been a brutal new year for copper with March futures in New York losing as much as 4.7% to dip below $2.00 a pound on Thursday before recovering slightly in early afternoon trade. That was the lowest since March 2009 and the fall comes on the back of a 26% decline in 2015. The metal traded below the $2-level only for a brief seve...Read More
Sukari gold mine, located 700 km from Cairo. (Image courtesy of Centamin)Toronto and London-listed gold miner Centamin (TSX:CEE) (LON:CEY) said Thursday it expects 2016 production from its main Sukari gold mine in Egypt to increase by 7% to 470,000 ounces, as it continues to ramp-up production in expanded areas of the mine.The company, which also aims to reduce all-in-sustaining costs at the opera...Read More
Last year was a horrible year for commodities and the resources sector, but it appears contrarian investing in the sector is alive and well.According to a new report by private capital tracker Preqin, fundraising for natural resources investment reached record levels in 2015, with 62 funds raising a total of $63bn. That was up 14% compared to 2014 and edged past 2013's banner year when more than 1...Read More
Image courtesy of Imperial Metals.Canada's Imperial Metals (TSX:III) became Wednesday the latest copper producer to announce tough measures aimed to weather the effects of low metal prices by suspending operations at its Huckleberry copper mine in British Columbia.The company, which owns 50% of the mine, said it would lay off 100 of its 260 workers, keeping the rest to mill stockpiled ore."While H...Read More
Courtesy of: Visual CapitalistIt's easy to pontificate about what the future may hold, but sometimes it comes with disastrous results. Instead, the best way to get a taste of the future may be to look at the most recent scientific developments that happened in the last year.Today's infographic from Futurism reviews some of the top science news stories from 2015.These include headlines in the field...Read More
The streaming deal has been a lifeline for many mining companies. In fact, 2015 showcased a record number of streaming deals for gold, silver, and copper. The number of transactions doubled from 11 to 27 year-over-year, with the dollar values associated tripling from $1.1 billion to over $4.0 billion!What was once considered a new and innovative way of raising money - the streaming deal has take...Read More
Unusual and massive storms flooded Chile's Atacama Desert, heart of the country's copper industry, in March last year. (Image: Screenshot via YouTube)The El Ni??o weather event, considered one of the strongest in almost two decades due to droughts caused in Asia and South America, as well as flooding and cyclones in Australia last year, has already peaked and it is likely to be followed by the opp...Read More
Mining companies like Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) and Thompson Creek Metals (TSX:TCM) may need to make some hard decisions in 2016 if they are to avoid solvency problems in 2017, warns the Bank of Merrill Lynch.In a recent outlook, Merrill Lynch singled out these two B.C. miners for solvency issues in 2017, and flagged First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (TSX:FQM) for solvency problems in 2018, based on co...Read More
Oracle Mining Corp. (TSX-V:OMN), a Vancouver-headquartered junior mining company focused on a single copper project in Arizona, has gone into receivership, is now halted from trading and its directors and chief executive officers have resigned en masse.Oracle, which has been focused on reviving an idled copper-silver mine-the Oracle Ridge mine near Tucson-has had financial problems since 2014.The...Read More
Image from archives.Global stock markets fell Monday as worries over China's economy and instability in the Middle East combined to scare investors.Chinese bourses tumbled 6.9% in their opening session of 2016, its biggest decline on record for the first trading day of the year, forcing exchanges to halt trade for the first time.This so called "circuit breaker" mechanism, which halts trade for 15...Read More
One of the hardest things for a mining executive to do may be nothing. But in a market that is not rewarding companies for pulling resources out of the ground, Sprott US Holdings Inc. CEO Rick Rule would prefer to see what he calls "optionality" rather than dilution from companies looking to justify salaries. In this interview with The Gold Report, he praises innovative precious metals streams on...Read More
Bill Bennett.Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett rang in 2016 with thoughts of a potential rescue package for B.C.'s beleaguered mining industry on his mind to ward off potential mine shutdowns.Options for assistance to mining companies struggling with low commodity prices could include deferrals on payment of power bills and delayed payments on mineral taxes, Bennett said in an interview. Ther...Read More
Despite the ongoing and deepening bear market for commodities and the junior resource sector, MercenaryGeologist.com continues to produce valuable analysis and research on commodities and equities. Our commitment to supply and demand fundamentals and contrarianism allows us to prosper in both good and bad markets.In 2015, the TSX Venture Index made its high of 707 on the year's first trading day...Read More