Новости за 07.01.2020

NYSE-listed Hecla Mining produced 272 873 oz of gold in 2019, which was a 4% year-on-year increase and marked the highest gold production in the company’s history. The company also produced 12.6-million silver ounces, which was 22% higher year-on-year.

ASX-listed Sunstone Metals and its joint venture (JV) partner TSX-V-listed Cornerstone Capital Resources have amended the agreement over the Bramaderos gold/copper project, in Ecuador, giving Sunstone an immediate 87.5% stake in the project. Sunstone in August last year achieved a 51% stake in the JV by spending $3.4-million on the project area.

TSX-V-listed South Star Mining has completed and formally submitted the environmental permitting documents to the responsible permitting consortium for the construction and operations of a 5 000 t/y pilot plant facility at its Santa Cruz graphite project, in Brazil. The company will also be submitting the trial mining licensing documents to the National Mining Agency, South Star president and CEO Richard Pearce said on Monday.

One of the world’s largest openpit nickel sulphide mines, Santa Rica in Brazil, is back in production, with Atlantic Nickel on Monday announcing the first sale of nickel concentrate from the mine that it bought in 2018. Atlantic, which is owned by investment advisory firm Appian Capital, restarted blasting activities in July last year, and has now produced more than 11 000 dry metric tonnes.

Brazil-focused gold miner and developer Serabi Gold has received the results from its ongoing surface and underground exploration diamond drilling programme undertaken on the Sao Chico orebody at its Palito Complex. A 9 600 m step-out surface diamond drill programme began early in the fourth quarter to test the east and west continuity of the Sao Chico orebody. An underground drilling services contractor is currently also undertaking an 8 000 m underground drilling programme to test the depth continuity.

TSX-listed First Quantum Minerals (FQM) has taken steps to better defend itself against possible takeovers by adopting a new shareholder rights plan, as well as an advance notice policy related to the election of directors. The rights plan, which became effective from January 6, is intended to ensure that all FQM shareholders are treated fairly during any takeover bids for the company.

Chile’s government ruled out fresh funds for its strategic copper producer, as it plans to spend $3-billion this year to contain a wave of nationwide protests. Codelco, as the world’s largest copper producer is known, needs billions of dollars to upgrade its mines but will need to find other sources of financing, according to Finance Minister Ignacio Briones.

Shareholders in the world’s largest gold mining company stand to benefit from a substantial dividend increase this year, with US-based major Newmont on Monday announcing a planned quarterly dividend hike of 79%. The dividend increase to $0.25 a share, or $1 a year, would become effective upon approval and declaration of the first quarter dividend in April, the miner, which enters its centenary year in May 2020, said in a statement.

Gold is almost guaranteed to record losses in the next two weeks, if history is any guide. The 14-day Relative Strength Index for the yellow metal soared to 86 on Monday, well above the level of 70 that typically suggests securities are overbought.

Samarco Mineracao has rejected creditors’ formal request to resume talks to restructure its defaulted debt, signaling heightened risks for bond holders, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. The Brazilian iron-ore venture between BHP and Vale said it has yet to firm up its business plan. And without that, the company argues that it will be at a disadvantage if it were to resume talks that have been put on hold for almost a year on its $2.9-billion in defaulted debt, the people said.