Chuck Fipke is known as one of the pioneers of the Canadian diamond space after his Dia Met Minerals discovered the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories in 1991. The Ekati mine which is in the Northwest Terratories was the first surface and underground diamond mine in Canada and went into operation in 1998. … Continue Reading
Roxgold (ROG:TSXV) which is developing the ultra high-grade Yaramoko gold deposit in Burkina Faso has been approved by their banking syndicate for the previously announced $75 million debt package. The loan has a term of 6 years and an interest rate of between LIBOR +4.25% and +4.75%. The mandated banks, which included Societe Generale and Credit Suisse,… Continue Reading
Above: Bert Koth of Denham speaking at Mines and Money Hong Kong in 2012. Denham Capital is a $7.9 billion private equity firm that was founded to focus on domestic E&Ps, but has since expanded to power and mining. Since its inception in 2004, Denham has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the natural resources… Continue Reading
Canada’s most western province (BC) has had a rocky history with regards to the ease of doing business in the mining sector. Despite being one of the most endowed mineralized regions in the world, many large projects have encountered delays and setbacks especially in the areas of environmental and social licensing. The Imperial Metals disaster… Continue Reading
Every year Vancouverites wait to hear the unveiling of Business in Vancouver magazine’s Forty under 40 list. This year’s inductees include a number of mining professionals who have been able to navigate through the bear market and rise to the top of deal makers and value creators. The list includes: Kevin Campbell: Managing Director, Investment Banking,… Continue Reading
According to a report from The Sydney Morning Herald just moments ago, BHP Billiton has signed an alliance agreement with Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex. This marks the first major agreement signed ahead of Mexico auctioning off certain oil and gas concessions next year. BHP, like most other players in the offshore oil business, is seeking to… Continue Reading
This morning, one of the most undervalued Colombian light oil producers, Petroamerica Oil (PTA:TSXV), provided the market with an update on their recently acquired Putumayo Basin assets. Community issues in the region have impacted timelines for companies operating in this area, including Petroamerica and Gran Tierra Energy. This has forced Petroamerica to slightly revise 2014… Continue Reading
The Sydney Morning Herald (subscribe here) has a great summary article about a recent speech the one and only billionaire entrepreneur Robert Friedland gave to an undoubtedly packed audience in Melbourne. We had the opportunity to watch Mr. Friedland in action at this year’s Sprott Symposium in Vancouver and he lives up to his persona… Continue Reading
This morning on BNN’s Commodities with Andrew Bell, Dave Talbot who is Dundee’s uranium expert, spoke about the recent strength in the uranium spot market (click image above). The spot price for uranium is up over 30% from ~$28 per pound in June/July to $36.50 this week. Mr. Talbot believes the strength is overdone given that he… Continue Reading
Unsurprisingly one of the few groups in the out-of-favour resource sector spending significant money to build new mines and finance risky ventures are the Lundin’s. Yesterday, Lundin Mining (LUN:TSX), the $3.2 billion mining company that its namesake founder Lukas Lundin owns 12.5% of, announced that it started concentrate production ahead of schedule and on budget… Continue Reading
With most of the recent excitement in the uranium exploration space being focused on the new discoveries in the southwest part of the Athabasca Basin, including Arrow (NexGen Energy) and PLS (Fission), Lukas Lundin’s Denison Mines (DML:TSX) has made a new high-grade uranium discovery known as the Gryphon Zone at their Wheeler River project on the historic… Continue Reading
Iron ore is the lifeblood of industrial development with China’s ‘build it and they will come’ policy driving prices to a high of over $180 per tonne in 2011. Flash forward and iron ore prices have slumped to break below $80 per tonne, the lowest level in 5-years. This is causing more pain for an… Continue Reading
In 2008, Venezuela’s former President Hugo Chavez nationalized mining and energy assets in a failed attempt to gain control over his struggling economy. As a result, there are now 28 unresolved cases filed at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) by companies seeking retribution for these actions, including the energy giant Exxon… Continue Reading
This July, after two years at the helm of the world’s largest gold miner, Jamie Sokalsky stepped down as President and CEO of Barrick. Fast forward a few months and Sokalsky announced this morning that he would be joining a junior exploration and TSX Venture-listed company as Chairman. Probe Mines (PRB:TSXV), which is developing a high-grade gold project in Ontario,… Continue Reading
Lukas Lundin’s Lucara Diamond (LUC:TSX) has been one of the best performing natural resource stocks this year. Shares are up nearly 150% from this time last year on the back of their Karowe mine in Botswana continuing to produce a seemingly endless supply of exceptionally large and high-quality diamonds. In late August, Lucara announced the dates… Continue Reading
