Science décalée : les hommes mangent plus pour impressionner les femmes

Une étude de 2015 a montré que les hommes mangent beaucoup plus en présence des femmes : 93 % de pizza en plus, mais aussi 86 % de salade en plus ! Ce serait un moyen de montrer à ces dames qu’ils sont en bonne santé…

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Quand les avions font neiger

Alors que les skieurs guettent la neige, peut-être devraient-ils s'intéresser aux avions. En 2010, en effet, grâce à une observation fortuite, des météorologues trouvaient la clé d'une longue énigme : celle de ces étranges « coups de poinçon » dans les nuages, qui apparaissent comme des trous...

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Gastronomie : non, le vin rouge ne convient pas avec le poisson

En ce jour de réveillon, le choix du vin sera l'objet de réflexions, voire de débats. Sur la question du bien-fondé de la coutume consistant à bannir le vin rouge pour accompagner poissons et fruits de mer, un étude de 2009 avait apporté un argument fort. Oui, expliquaient ces chercheurs, cette...

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Science décalée : les spermatozoïdes plus en forme les mois d’hiver

Les spermatozoïdes humains apprécieraient l’hiver... Ils seraient en effet plus nombreux et surtout plus mobiles durant la mauvaise saison, du moins chez les hommes ne souffrant pas d’infertilité. Y a-t-il donc de meilleurs moments pour faire des bébés ? Oui, selon une étude de 2013.

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Mille années de climat reconstituées pour prévoir nos hivers futurs

L'hiver 2017-2018 s'annonce froid. Pourra-t-on prévoir plusieurs mois à l'avance ce genre de situation à l'échelle d'une région comme l'Europe ? Peut-être. En 2015, des chercheurs avaient proposé une analyse basée sur l’étude de mille annnées de variations de la NAO (ou Oscillation...

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Automédication : les médicaments à éviter

En cette fin d’année, la France métropolitaine (sauf la Corse) est entrée dans la phase épidémique de la grippe. C’est la période où l’on tousse, se mouche et où la gorge gratte… Mais s’il est tentant de se soigner par ses propres moyens, attention tout de même à l’automédication : certains...

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Silver-lead-zinc-mine to re-open in New South Wales

One of 12 sandstone sculptures in the Living Desert Reserve, Broken Hill, NSW, Australia. Image by Craig Gibson via Flickr Creative Commons license. 

The town of Broken Hill, New South Wales, will have something to shout about in the new year.

The state government has given the green light to Perilya, a privately owned mining company, to restart the North Mine, which last operated in 2008 and was mostly closed in the 1990s, ABC News reported on Thursday.

The mine is expected to produce in early 2018 and will create 140 jobs to reach deeper deposits.

According to a project page the North Mine Deeps resource contains 3.7 million tonnes at 11.3 per cent zinc, 13.5 per cent lead and 219 g/t silver, making it one of the highest grade deposits in the world.

"The North Mine has a mine operating plan that takes it out to 2032," general manager Bruce Byrne told ABC News, who added it will probably be four to five years before the North Mine can generate profits on its own. The mine is expected to generate up to $5.8 million in royalties to the state for up to 25 years.

 

The news is a turnaround from March of 2016, when Perilya announced up to 100 jobs at the mine would be shed due to low metals prices.

Perth-based Perilya currently has two producing mines: Broken Hill, which mines lead and zinc, and Cerro de Maimón, a copper-gold mine in the Dominican Republic.

The company manages 1,042 square kilometres including mine leases incorporating the Southern Operations, the North Mine, the Potosi Trend, and the historic Little Broken Hill and Pinnacles areas.

 

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West Virginia coal miner killed in dozer accident

CSX 5116 and 5113 (both AC4400CW's) lead a train of empty coal hoppers westbound near Handley, WV. Image by jpmueller99 via Flickr Creative Commons license

A coal miner in West Virginia has died following an accident at a mine owned by Revelation Energy, LLC.

WV Public Broadcasting reported the 34-year-old man was killed when a dozer he was operating travelled over the high wall.

"It’s heartbreaking when we hear that one of our coal miners has lost their life while on the job. Please join us in praying for the family, friends, and co-workers of Thurman A. Watts and all of our hard working and dedicated coal miners in West Virginia," reads a statement issued Friday morning by West Virginia Governor Jim Justice.

An investigation into the cause of the accident, in Fayette County, is being conducted by the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety & Training.

According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) branch of the US Department of Labor, the death is the 15th this year, with eight of those killed in West Virginia.

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Gold cracks $1300 to finish year up 12.5%

Gold bulls have something to cheer about today even before the champagne corks fly on Sunday night.

In afternoon trading on Friday, the last business day of the year, gold was bid up to $1306.50, before dropping to $1303 at 13:53 EST. It was the first time since August, corresponding with a terrorist attack in Barcelona, that gold crossed the important $1300 an ounce thresshold. The yellow metal hit a 52-week high of $1346 an ounce in early September but then quickly sold off. February Comex gold was last trading at $1307.10, up .76% on the day.

On Tuesday spot gold reached a three-week high of $1281.03 in post-holiday trade on geopolitical concerns, while February gold futures hit $1285.10.

The gains continued yesterday, with spot gold closing in New York at $1294.70.

Today's price jump means gold has posted a monthly rise of 1.51% and a yearly advance of 12.53% – its best annual performance since 2010.

A wilting US dollar, political tensions and less concern over the impact of US interest rate hikes, all fed into the gold rally.

Reuters noted the dollar is heading towards its worst year since 2003, "damaged by tensions over North Korea, the Russian scandal surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump’s election campaign, and persistently low U.S. inflation."

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index dropped 0.5% on Friday, deepening its 2017 loss to 9.7%.

According to analysts the $1300 target will be the psychological level to reach in the new year.

“Look for continued steady gold over the 200-day moving averages and as gold is under invested. If we close over $1,300 more asset allocators joining the long side,” Kitco quoted George Gero, managing director at RBC Wealth Management. “Gold is still much about the dollar weakness, bonds — ten-year [yields] not moving after rate hike — and tax season in full swing.”

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iPhone bridés : Apple présente des excuses et fait un geste commercial

Après avoir admis qu'elle bridait sciemment les performances des « anciens » iPhone pour préserver leur batterie, Apple a présenté des excuses officielles et annoncé un geste commercial. La firme californienne fait l'objet de plusieurs plaintes d'associations de consommateurs luttant contre...

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Une superlune pour le Nouvel An !

Le 1er janvier 2018 (et, dans une moindre mesure, le 31 du même mois), la Lune sera un peu plus proche que d'habitude de la Terre. Si le terme « superlune » est un peu grandiloquent, voire trompeur, notre satellite, pour ces deux prochaines Pleines Lunes, méritera que l'on sorte pour...

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Pieuvre géante du Pacifique : une nouvelle espèce découverte

Une nouvelle pieuvre géante du Pacifique a été découverte. Il a fallu y regarder de plus près et utiliser la génétique pour prouver qu’il s’agissait bien d’une nouvelle espèce. Il est vrai que certaines pieuvres sont douées en camouflage…

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Commentaires sur Cours de l’or du jeudi 28 décembre 2017 par grenadier

or en baisse vous e hausse pourquoi

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iPhone bridés : Apple demande des excuses et fait un geste commercial

Après avoir admis qu'elle bridait sciemment les performances des « anciens » iPhone pour préserver leur batterie, Apple a présenté des excuses officielles et annoncé un geste commercial. La firme californienne fait l'objet de plusieurs plaintes d'associations de consommateurs luttant contre...

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CryptoTrade, pour jongler avec les monnaies virtuelles

Bitcoin, ripple, litecoin, etherum… Les monnaies virtuelles se multiplient et donnent un peu le tournis. Beaucoup s’en servent non seulement pour acheter mais aussi pour spéculer, échangeant une « devise » pour une autre quand les taux changent. Alors un étudiant de l’Etna (École des...

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2018 : reprendre le sport en 5 conseils

Se mettre au sport : en voilà une bonne résolution pour la nouvelle année ! Mais avant de vous lancer, découvrez quelques conseils pour y parvenir, car la reprise du sport nécessite de prendre quelques précautions.

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On hold since 2015, oil sands project to pump at 10,000 bopd

New life was breathed into the Canadian oil sands with a decision by foreign-owned Harvest Operations Corp to commission its BlackGold project south of Fort McMurray.

The Calgary-based arm of South Korean state-owned Korea National Oil Corp announced on Dec. 21 it will start the 10,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operation, construction at which was halted in 2015 due to low oil prices.

In a press release on SEDAR, Harvest said that major work at the site has already started, with the aim of commissioning wells and starting steam injection in Q2 2018. Production is slated for the third quarter.

It cites "the stabilization of crude oil pricing and the improved operational and financial performance of Harvest’s conventional business as factors in its decision to move forward with BlackGold."

The start-up has been helped through a refinancing of $1.36 billion of maturing debt, plus the raising last month of an additional quarter-million in financing, the company said.

Global News notes the project was built for around $900 million and was "considered mechanically complete" when it was shelved in the spring of 2015 when WTI oil prices were around $50 a barrel, half as much as a year earlier.

WTI on Thursday closed at $59.84, for a percentage gain of 0.34%.

The Canadian oil sands have seen an exodus of foreign investment since the oil price collapse of 2014 and US shale plays gathered momentum. The divestments have included Royal Dutch Shell, Marathon Oil, Statoil and ConocoPhillips.

Yesterday AXA SA, the third-largest insurer in the world, said that it will divest about $822 million from the main oil sands producers and associated pipelines, and will stop further investments in these businesses. The move could affect companies such as TransCanada, Enbridge and Kinder Morgan.

But as foreign companies have pulled out money, Canadian firms have made multi-billion-dollar deals to expand their holdings. According to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, Canadian ownership of oil sands production now sits at over 80%, reported the Calgary Herald.

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Aussie penny gold stock jumps nearly 30% on drill results

Australian gold investors got a lift on Wednesday after Empire Resources (ASX:ERL) came out with some impressive new drill results at its Penny's Find gold mine.

The stock leapt 29.4% in morning trading to AUD$.022 after Western Australia-based Empire announced a new underground resource at the mine located 50 kilometres from Kalgoorlie, WA. Mineralization reportedly extends up to 250 metres below the base of the current open pit operation, which extends to 85m. Empire Resources poured its first gold from Penny's Find in October.

According to a press release the underground resource now comprises 56,000 ounces of gold, extracted from 248,000 tonnes graded 7.04 grams per tonne. A feasibility study is due out at the end of March.

Drilling highlights included:

• 9 metres at 20.6 g/t gold from 12 metres
•  7 metres at 12.5 g/t gold from 20 metres
• 7 metres at 12.1 g/t gold from 30 metres

“It is particularly pleasing to see a robust resource in terms of tonnes and grade existing beneath the currently operating open pit. As the resource remains open at depth, further deeper drilling will be required from underground, assuming the final feasibility is positive,” said Empire’s managing director David Sargeant.

Empire owns 60% of the project, with the remaining 40% held by unlisted Brimstone Resources.

A 2012 JORC-compliant resource is estimated at 470,000 tonnes at 4.42 g/t gold, which would yield 66,800 ounces. In 2010 the Company entered into an agreement with Brimstone Resources which subsequently earned a 40% interest in the project by funding exploration.

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Palladium touches 17-year high at $1,069.50

The metal most known for its use in car exhausts is on a tear as the year comes to a close.

Yesterday palladium hit the highest level since February 2001 at $1,069.50 an ounce – and was up 1.05% at $1,062.50 compared to the previous trading session.

Palladium, used in catalytic converters, was the best performer of the precious metals complex, up over 50% this year due to a supply deficit and expectations of rising demand from automobile manufacturers.

Platinum and palladium have gone in opposite directions with the latter stretching the gap with its sister metal to the widest in 16 years. This helps to explain why platinum is the pick among forecasters for an improvement next year, while palladium is likely to retreat from today's lofty levels, MINING.com said in a year-end metals summary.

While both platinum and palladium are used in catalytic converters, demand for palladium is higher in the US and the Caribbean as consumers replace vehicles damaged in storms according to George Gero, managing director of RBC Wealth Management in New York, quoted in a Dec. 8 Reuters story.

The fortunes of both metals are tied to vehicle sales. US auto sales rose 1.3% in November compared to the previous year while world number 1 automaker China saw car sales rising 2% in October compared to October 2016, Reuters reported.

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Osisko Metals pays $34 million for NWT lead-zinc mine

The town of Hay River, in the northern Canadian Northwest Territories, could soon have a nearby mine operating again, thanks to a deal between mining companies reached earlier this month.

Osisko Metals (TSXV:OM), an exploration company significantly held by Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK) and Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX:OR), purchased all of the shares of Pine Point Mining, which owned the Pine Point lead-zinc mine located on the south shore of Great Slave Lake.  The all-stock deal is worth approximately $34 million, and offers Pine Point Mining shareholders up to a 27% premium on its stock price as of December 15. The agreement also spun out a new company, Spinco, which will hold all the assets and liabilities of Pine Point Mining with the exception of the acquired mine.

Between 1964 and 1987 the Pine Point mine, operated by Cominco, produced 64 million tonnes grading 7% zinc and 3.1% lead. It shut down because deposits near the processing plant were mined out and zinc prices slid. Since then however the new town of Hay River was built and the mill was reclaimed, meaning a new facility could be built close to the remaining deposits – of which there are about 46 left unmined. The project has ready access to a railway, highways and electricity.

Pine Point tells an interesting history of the mine on its website, with it having been first discovered in 1899 by prospectors heading to the Klondike gold rush.

Cominco Ltd. began exploration at Pine Point in 1929, with test-pitting, drilling and shaft sinking. In 1948, Cominco began major exploration work, using the Mississippi-Valley-type model to guide exploration. It was a mega-project for its time, costing $133 million (more than $1 billion in today’s dollars), and included a railroad, hydro-electric dam and a town where up to 2000 people could live.

According to a recent media report assay data exists for many of the deposits but only 10 have been brought up NI 43-101 standards. The goal of Osisko Metals is to bring the remaining 36 up to modern technical standards.

"We can't take historical data per se," Jeff Hussey, president and CEO, told CBC News. "We have to go in, re-drill the assay and compare to previous data. If they're within an acceptable margin we can use the historic data, if not we have to re-drill completely."

Pine Point acquired the mine in December 2016 for $8 million in cash and shares when it was called Darnley Bay Resources; the company changed its name in August. A PEA completed in April shows the facility producing 1.35 billion pounds of zinc and 536 million pounds of lead over its 13-year lifespan. At full production the mine would employ an average 321 people including staff and contractors.

The project is envisioned as a series of 10 open pit deposits mined in sequence. Total mineral resources included in the PEA mine plan are 25.8 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources grading 2.94% zinc and 1.12% lead, and an additional 3.7 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 2.90% zinc and 0.77% lead.

Pre-production capital costs are pegged at $153.8 million, including a 15% contingency, with sustaining capex of $117.5 million over the life of the mine.

Lead and zinc both added more than 25% in value this year building on spectacular performances in 2016.

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Lancé par la Russie, le premier satellite de l'Angola ne répond plus

Après un lancement qui a, semble-t-il, été normal, la Russie vient d’annoncer avoir perdu le contact avec AngoSat 1, le premier satellite de télécommunications de l’Angola. Seulement quelques heures après la mise en orbite de celui-ci, les contrôleurs au sol ont cessé de recevoir les données de...

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Samsung Galaxy S9 : une évolution timide du Galaxy S8

Selon les dernières informations non officielles qui circulent à propos du prochain smartphone haut de gamme de Samsung, le Galaxy S9 n'apportera que peu de nouveautés par rapport à son prédécesseur. Il faudra sans doute attendre le Galaxy S10 pour voir un mobile réellement novateur.

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Lyreland : l’IA qui compose de la musique

Deux étudiants de l'Epita, une école d'informatique, peuvent se targuer d'une belle réussite : un réseau neuronal capable de composer des musiques originales après avoir appris de lui-même les règles d'un style musical. L'un de ses créateurs nous raconte l'histoire de cette innovation originale,...

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Thousands protest in Morocco against the “mines of death”

For four days in a row, thousands of people have been protesting in the city of Jerada, northeastern Morocco, in a cry for jobs, social development and government intervention in what the call “the mines of death.”

The massive rallies started around December 12 with people demanding lower electricity and water bills. However, the rallies were reignited last Friday after brothers Houcine and Jedouane Dioui died at an abandoned coal pit in the mountains surrounding the town, when the tunnel they were digging 85 metres below ground flooded. According to local residents who were interviewed by AFP, young people go down into inoperative mines to try to find something that would help them make ends meet in a place facing high unemployment rates.

For eight decades, mining was Jerada’s main activity employing more than 9,000 people, France 24 reported. However, most operations closed in the late 1990s and many left the city. Those who stayed are scrambling to survive and one of the things they do is find coal illegally to then sell it to local, powerful traders who then resell the fuel at a huge profit, AFP reported. The news agency added that people accuse officials of turning the blind eye to such activities and dismissing the growing number of deaths that take place as a consequence of those operations.

Tired of corruption, marginalization and perils, residents took it to the streets carrying Moroccan flags to signify that their protests were peaceful and, according to human rights activists, to avoid being accused of separatism.They blamed authorities for leaving them to their own fate and pressed for urgent action.

Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani is set to meet with Jerada’s lawmakers to "discuss problems in the region,” France 24’s newscast stated. At the same time, Energy and Mines Minister Aziz Rebbah said that his cabinet is working on solving the economic crisis by building a coal-fired power station near the city that will employ 500 people; the plant is being developed in partnership with China's Qingdao Huafengweiye Electric Power Technology Engineering Co. Rebbah’s office is also running an assessment of the area's mining potential to encourage investors to get there.

Half of the population 15 years and older living in rural areas of Morocco and who have previously worked are unemployed, national statistics for the first trimester of 2017 show. Overall, 10.8% of Morocco’s workforce is unemployed.

According to Global Finance, Morocco is the 75th poorest country in the world.

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Silver goes first, gold goes second: 2018 outperformers

For the second year in a row, people -and commodity analysts such as those at TD Securities and the Bank of Montreal- are being bullish on silver. This is according to a survey conducted by precious metals retailer Kitco among the readers of its website.

Some 151 people, or 39% of the sample of 386 participants, chose silver as 2018’s most likely outperformer, with gold taking the second place with 27% of the votes, followed by copper with 25%, palladium with 5% and platinum with 4%.

“Despite the optimism, silver has underperformed within the sector, up 5% since the start of the year. Gold is up more than 12% since the start of the year,” journalist Anna Golubova writes in the survey report.

And copper is not doing bad either. On Wednesday, the red metal surged to the highest in almost four years, fueling a 2017 rally that has seen continued gain sessions in the past month.

March Comex copper was last $3,286 a pound, up 0.2%, while February Comex gold was at $1,292.2, up 0.37% and March Comex silver was last at $16.76, up 0.97% on the day.

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Centerra Gold halts mill operations in British Columbia due to lack of water

Canada's Centerra Gold (TSX:CG) issued a media statement where it explains that it had to suspend mill processing operations at its Mount Milligan copper-gold project in central British Columbia due to insufficient water resources. The stoppage is expected to last until the end of January 2018.

Drier than normal conditions from March to August together with a limited amount of spring snowmelt resulted in lower than expected reclaim water volumes at the mine’s tailings storage facility. According to Centerra, the water shortage has been exacerbated by unanticipated extremely cold temperatures during the winter, which has resulted in a greater than expected loss of water volumes in the tailings pond due to ice formation.

Even though Mount Milligan’s staff recently drilled additional wells to draw water from nearby aquifers located within the property, the additional water obtained was not sufficient to offset the loss of water volumes due to difficult winter conditions.

“In addition, as a further, longer-term mitigation measure, the Company is pursuing an amendment to Mount Milligan’s Environmental Assessment (EA) to allow pumping of water from a nearby lake (Phillips Lake) and is applying for the additional related permits. It is expected that by the end of January 2018 there will be adequate fresh water available to restart mill processing operations utilizing just one of the ball mills (38,000 tpd to minimize water requirements). The Company expects that additional fresh water will become available after the spring melt, typically in April, at which time it expects to re-start the second ball mill returning mill processing operations to full capacity,” the press release reads.

The Toronto-based firm said that despite this situation, the mine itself, which has produced approximately 225,000 ounces of payable gold and approximately 54 million pounds of payable copper this year, will continue to expose, mine and stockpile additional ores for future processing.

Resource estimates at Mount Milligan are of 5.8 million ounces of gold and 2.1 billion pounds of copper in proven and probable reserves.

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Prosecutor orders three years of jail time for Spaniard couple with murky investments in Congolese copper mine

Pontevedra’s prosecution, in northwestern Spain, has accused Enrique Otero Cascallar and María del Mar Barros of investing dirty money in a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has requested three years of prison and a fine of some $713,790 for the couple.

According to El País newspaper, the prosecution found that the pair invested approximately $1.9 million in shares in Mhyrre Minerals and Metal SPRL, which operates in the Katanga Copperbelt. However, the accused did not reveal where they obtained such amount of money, nor they declared it for tax purposes.

The dealings with the Congolese company took place between 2009 and 2010 when Otero Cascallar and his wife started transferring large amounts of money from Spain to the African country. First, it was some $163,000; then $1.7 million. According to the prosecutor’s deposition, they did such transfers to avoid paying taxes in Spain given the “unknown and murky” origin of their funds.

When the investigation into Otero Cascallar and Barros’ dealings started in 2015, the couple was thought to be linked to entrepreneur Óscar Rial, known as El Pastelero (the pastry chef), whose fortune was thought to be built on drug money which he would launder by engaging figureheads such as this couple. However, the prosecution could not find enough evidence against Rial and it continued trying the duo in a separate legal process.

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Les enfants qui mangent du poisson auraient un QI plus élevé

Les enfants qui mangent le plus de poisson auraient moins de problèmes de sommeil. Leur QI serait également plus élevé, d’après une étude menée sur 541 bambins chinois. Ces travaux suggèrent un lien entre la consommation de poisson, l’apprentissage et le sommeil.

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Une truffe sauvage découverte sur un toit de Paris

À la surprise générale, une truffe qui poussait dans la terre d'un toit végétalisé a été découverte. Comment est-elle arrivée là ? C'est un mystère. Quoi qu'il en soit, cela démontre notre méconnaissance des écosystèmes urbains… et leur potentiel.

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5G : une étape cruciale pour un déploiement dès 2019

Une étape clé, le choix du spectre des fréquences à utiliser par les réseaux de téléphonie « 5G », vient d'être franchie par la 3GPP, l'instance en charge de l'élaboration des standards de télécommunication. La dernière phase de spécifications techniques devrait être achevée cet été.

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Les ondes gravitationnelles auraient rendu turbulent l'espace-temps du Big Bang

L'espace-temps n'est pas un milieu matériel mais, pourtant, sa dynamique ressemble à celle des fluides. Comme eux, ils pourraient donc devenir turbulent, au moment du Big Bang ou près de certains trous noirs, notamment quand il est parcouru d'ondes gravitationnelles.

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Surprise zoologique : un oiseau né de l'hybridation de deux espèces différentes

Une recherche de l'université de Toronto a mis en évidence une espèce hybride issue du croisement entre deux autres espèces. Ce serait la première espèce d’oiseau hybride décrite dans la forêt amazonienne.

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Spain’s OHL to oversee El Teniente’s tailings facility

Chile’s National Copper Corporation has awarded Obrascón Huarte Lain (BMAD:OHL) the contract to provide support services to the operation and maintenance of the canal that transports slurry, tailings and industrial wastewater at El Teniente mine site, located in the central province of Cachapoal.

The century-old operation, which is the world's largest underground copper mine and the sixth biggest by reserve size, is undergoing the construction of a new level, which is expected to be completed by 2023.

With the $20-million-dollar contract that it has just received, OHL is poised to introduce new research, development and innovation technologies such as drones to “enable observation, monitoring and inspection with detailed information and control of all of the activities of the tailing canal,” says a press release issued by the company.

“The scope of the work includes the efficient and timely ongoing maintenance, operational support and industrial washing of the equipment and installations in the various industrial wastewater, thickening and recirculation units, tailing process, hydrometallurgy process, support to maintenance service and Sewell process,” OHL’s media statement adds.

This is not the first project that Codelco, the world’s No.1 copper producer, awards to the Madrid-based construction and civil engineering firm. Back in 2012, OHL was in charge of developing a copper ore processing plant at División Ministro Hales in Antofagasta, while in early 2017 is was commissioned with the expansion of the Talabre Dam in the city of Calama.

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Public uproar in Colombia over waterfall polluted by illegal miners

Police in the central northwestern department of Antioquia and the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Antioquia Corantioquia announced that they will take urgent measures to protect a waterfall called La Quebrandona, located in the Zaragoza municipality.

The officials’ reaction comes in response to a citizen’s video that went viral and was reproduced on national television. The recording shows a local visitor crying at the natural site as she discovers that the water went from pristine blue to muddy brown. The woman blames gold miners for polluting the area.

According to Noticias Caracol, following the release of the video, Corantioquia, which oversees all environmental matters in the region, visited La Quebrandona together with the police and took sediment samples to further investigate the causes of the disaster.

The agency’s deputy director, Carlos Naranjo, told the broadcaster that the type of sediment found there is evidence of illegal mining activities, however, he said that they could not find workers or heavy machinery in the area. Still, police are going to start a campaign to try to find and arrest the people who caused the damage.

“Only by completely halting illegal mining we will be able to restore water quality and allow the waterfall to go back to its natural course,” Naranjo said.

A 2017 report by Colombia’s General Comptroller revealed that 80% of mining operations in the South American country are illegal. The report blames such activities for the widespread devastation of important natural sites.

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Why Tata Steel wants to expand capacity at its iron ore mines

Tata Steel is waiting for a permit from Odisha’s state pollution control board to expand capacity at its Khandabandh iron ore mines in eastern India from 1 million tonnes per annum to 5 million tonnes per annum. This is according to a report by the Business Standard, which also says that Tata is planning to send all the product from its captive mines at Joda East and Noamundi to its Kalinganagar plant.

The Kalinganagar facility is located in the same province and it is undergoing a series of upgrades aimed at expanding its steel-making capacity by 5 million tonnes per annum to 8 million tonnes per annum. The idea is to meet growing demands from the automotive, general engineering and construction segments, a media statement from the company explained.

The project, which is expected to be completed in four years and would take Tata Steel's capacity in India to 18 million tonnes per annum, will need 13.6 million tonnes of iron ore annually once it is fully operative. To meet such target, Tata is not only planning to grow its iron ore production but, according to the Business Standard and despite previous failures, the firm also wants to participate in auctions of iron ore blocks by the Odisha government.

The steelmaker is also examining the possibility of signing a long-term deal with state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation to secure iron ore for Kalinganagar.

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Independence Resources to sell gold, silver and cobalt-bearing property

Michigan-based holding company Independence Resources said it wants to sell a gold, silver and cobalt-bearing property in the historic Orofino Mining District of Deer Lodge County, Montana.

In a press release, the company explained that the property consists of a block of 60 patented and unpatented mining claims and that it has a long history of gold and silver mining, that dates back to 1875.

According to Independence, a 2016 report asserted that samples assayed returned “outstanding gold values,” while a 2017 rare earth assessment determined that the property also contains potentially massive cobalt depositions which are not constrained to the veins, but are is also dispersed throughout the fractured and altered ground near the veins.

The reason behind the sale -said president Tom L. Lee in the statement- is the firm’s lack of experience in hard rock metals mining. “Therefore, it has been determined by the company that maximum value can be achieved by making the mineral property available for exploitation by a metals mining company or an end-user of the property’s rich mineral resources,” the communiqué reads.

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Coal mine collapses in Afghanistan killing five

Five miners have been killed after an 800-metre tunnel collapsed in a coal mine in Afghanistan.

The mine is located in the rural town of Dar-i-Suf, Samangan province, in the northern part of the country. According to the Associated Press, district chief Mohammad Ali Hassani said that another four people were rescued after the accident but one worker is still missing.

Hassani told the news agency that the mine was dug with little regard for safety and that those working in it were poor labourers with no other way to make a living.

Providing additional details, Afghani news site Tolo News said that a methane gas explosion caused the mine’s failure.

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Oil-rich Venezuela is out of gas

After lining up an for an entire day to get a plane ticket to visit her relatives in the western city of Mérida, Josefina García did not know if she and her octogenarian mother were going to reach their final destination on time for Christmas.

The airport is located 76 kilometres away from the city and when they tried to book a cab in advance to take them to the place where they were going to stay, the taxi company said they could not make bookings because there is a shortage of gas and management did not know if they were going to have enough fuel on the day of Josefina’s arrival.

Once they landed, the 61-year-old and her mother found a cab that had enough gas to take them to a certain part of the city where a cousin would pick them up. In the meantime, another cousin was lining up for gas. He was able to fill his sedan’s tank after waiting for more than six hours.

According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the highest proven oil reserves in the world, including non-conventional oil deposits, are in Venezuela.

“Gentlemen: There is no more gasoline in Venezuela. In Venezuela, we are out of gas. In Venezuela, there is no gas oil. In Venezuela, there are no lube oils,” said Iván Freites in a televised press conference. Freites is the secretary of the professional and technician division of the United Federation of Venezuelan Petroleum Workers.

Iván Freites, secretary of the professional and technician division of the United Federation of Venezuelan Petroleum Workers.

In his address, Freites said that poor management led to the stoppage of 80 per cent of the country’s refineries. “Only Amuay and Cardón refineries are operative and that is nothing. They produce 40,000 barrels per day and the national demand is over 200,000 barrels of gas per day,” he said.

Venezuela’s oil production has fallen to levels not seeing since the late-1980s. According to the latest OPEC report, which is based on information provided by the Nicolás Maduro government, the country is producing about 2.3 million barrels of oil per day. In October, it experienced the steepest fall in production of 2017, as only 1.9 million barrels were extracted, 130,000 barrels less than the previous month. The oil industry, however, is still the major source of income as it generates about 96 per cent of the foreign exchange.

“Can you imagine how much it would be to bring our refineries back to operation? To recover production in the Eastern Coast of the Lake (of Maracaibo)?” Iván Freites asked during the media brief. He blamed corrupt government officials for the fuel crisis and dismissed the theory that it is all due to the sanctions that Donald Trump imposed on some key figures in the Venezuelan cabinet.

He also expressed concern about the fact that Maduro’s administration pulled out of a partnership with Cuba in its Cienfuegos oil refinery, taking into account that all of Venezuela’s oil products have been unloaded on the island for the past 15 years before making their way to other markets.

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Pour rester zen, mangez du poisson

Manger du poisson, c’est bon pour la santé. Voilà qui se dit. Et selon une petite étude coordonnée par un chercheur français, consommer du poisson et les oméga-3 qu’il contient limiterait l'agressivité.

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L'astronaute McCandless, le vrai héros de Gravity, vient de décéder

L'astronaute Bruce McCandless II faisait partie du groupe très restreint d'hommes sélectionnés par la Nasa pour le programme Apollo. Il n'ira pas sur la Lune et attendra 1984 pour découvrir l'espace. McCandless a cependant marqué son temps : il fut le premier à voler librement avec le MMU, un...

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Pourquoi le nez du renne Rudolph est-il rouge ?

Contrairement à ce que certains pourraient penser, si Rudolph — le renne chargé de conduire le traîneau du Père Noël à travers le ciel — arbore un nez rouge et lumineux, ce n’est pas parce qu’il apprécie trop l'apéritif. Ce serait plutôt le résultat d’un phénomène de bioluminescence....

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Un étonnant marquage lumineux testé sur une route de Vendée

La commune de Montréverd teste actuellement une portion de route « intelligente » nommée Flowell. Dotée d'un système d'éclairage à Led, elle permet de modifier le marquage au sol de façon dynamique selon les besoins : une place livraison devient place parking, une dépose-minute...

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Drone volant sur Titan ou retour sur Tchouri : que choisira la Nasa ?

Des douze missions en compétition dans programme New Frontiers de la Nasa pour un financement et un lancement en 2025, il n'en reste que deux : une nouvelle visite à la comète Tchouri (celle de Rosetta), avec retour d'échantillons, et une exploration de Titan. Bientôt, il n'y aura qu'un gagnant.

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Cette étoile géante fait des bulles plus grandes que le Soleil : du jamais-vu !

Depuis une décennie environ, on observe des détails de la surface de certaines étoiles. Et pour la première fois, les astronomes de l'ESO viennent de découvrir des cellules de convection bien plus grandes que le Soleil à la surface de la géante rouge π1 Gruis.

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Science décalée : porter le kilt pour un sperme de meilleure qualité

On dit souvent que porter des sous-vêtements serrés est mauvais pour la fertilité. En 2013, un chercheur néerlandais montrait qu’au contraire, porter un kilt de manière traditionnelle (sans rien dessous) contribuerait à améliorer la qualité du sperme.

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Google Maps : visitez le Système solaire sans bouger de chez vous

Aller plus loin, aller plus haut, Google vous le propose dans sa dernière mouture de Google Maps. Avant de pouvoir vous y rendre, découvrez 16 mondes différents de notre Système solaire, leurs plaines et leurs vallées, leurs couleurs et aussi, pour certains, leurs atmosphères, leur habitabilité.

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L'orgasme féminin serait un vestige de l'évolution

En ce mois de décembre, des sexologues et des neurologues taïwanais publient un rapport listant les médicaments à l'origine d'orgasmes spontanés. Des traitements antidépresseurs pour la plupart. Mais au fait, à quoi sert l'orgasme féminin ? Il y a un peu plus d'un an, des chercheurs américains...

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Science décalée : ils veulent transformer l'eau en vin

Une start-up californienne, Ava Winery, affirme pouvoir transformer de l'eau en vin en seulement 15 minutes grâce à des composés aromatiques et de l'éthanol. Ou comment accomplir un miracle biblique avec beaucoup de chimie, mais sans raisin.

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Un sapin de Noël héberge jusqu'à 25.000 invertébrés !

Un arbre de Noël est couvert d'arthropodes. Ces petites bêtes s’y nichent pour hiberner tranquillement durant l’hiver. On peut compter jusqu’à 25.000 acariens, poux, araignées… sur le même arbre.

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Le risque de crise cardiaque fatale augmente durant les fêtes de fin d'année

Les fêtes de fin d’année sont l’occasion de passer un bon moment en famille et avec ses amis. Mais cette période est aussi propice à des accidents cardiovasculaires graves… Afin de passer de bonnes fêtes, il est important de connaître ce risque. Chaque année, au moment de la période de Noël et...

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Solgold shares surge on latest drilling at giant Ecuador copper project

Shares in Solgold plc (LON, TSX:SOLG) surged after the company released the latest set of drill results from its massive Cascabel copper-gold project in northern Ecuador. In Toronto on Friday, Solgold shares added 7.2% in more than double usual volumes in afternoon trade for a market capitalization of $822m before paring some of those gains on a down day for the broader market.

The latest in a string of results from Ecuador, where the Brisbane-based company have completed 63,000m again shows the sheer size of the Alpala target of the porphyry deposit located on the Andean belt, the world’s richest source of copper:

• Hole 26-D2 (Alpala NW) returned 453.7m @ 0.53 % CuEq (open-ended), incl. 229.7m @ 0.75 % CuEq. Hole 26-D2 ended in mineralisation at 1333.65m due to reaching limits of drilling capabilities in that hole.

• Hole 26-D3 (Alpala NW) intersected approximately 1136m of visible mineralisation (936-2072m), and ended in mineralisation due to limit of drilling capabilities. Assay results are pending.

• Hole 29-D2 (Alpala East) returned 484m @ 0.49 % CuEq, incl. 146m @ 0.74 % CuEq.

• Hole 30 (Alpala Central) returned 772m @ 0.62 % CuEq, incl. 500m @ 0.71 % CuEq.

• Hole 33 (Alpala Central) intersected approximately 977m of visible mineralisation (585-1562m). Assay results are pending.

Such long intersections of relatively consistent grade are highly unusual and are of great interest to the major mining companies from a block cave mining perspective

Solgold, which has $110m cash in the bank, is planning to release Alpala’s maiden resource statement before the end of the year and the team plans 120,000m of further drilling in 2018. The company says Cascabel has produced “some of the greatest drill hole intercepts in porphyry copper-gold exploration history” and calls attention to Hole 12 which returned 1,560m grading 0.59% copper and 0.54 g/t gold including, 1,044m grading 0.74% copper and 0.54 g/t gold.

SolGold owns 85% of Cascabel with top Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining the remainder. Newcrest, the world’s sixth largest gold producer, put Craig Jones, the top exec at its giant Wafi-Golpu block caving project in Papua New Guinea, on the board of Solgold in March.

SP Angel, a London-based investment bank specializing in the resource sector which also acts as a broker for Solgold, points out that Wafi-Golpu appears to be of similar scale and characteristics as Alpala:

It is easy to forget the significance of these massive intersections of copper and gold. Such long intersections of relatively consistent grade are highly unusual and are of great interest to the major mining companies from a block cave mining perspective.
SolGold have promised a resource statement by the year end to quantify the scale of the Alpala resource which should add confidence to the prospects of mining this project.
We note that the Wafi-Golpu project is to publish a Feasibility Study by end March 2018 which will also make interesting reading by way of comparison with the Alpala project.

At the recently held Mines and Money conference in London, SolGold executive director Nicholas Mather won the global award for the CEO of the Year – Exploration, Latin America while Ecuador won the Country Award for Latin America.

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Prehistoric bling: Research uncovers factors behind the development of earliest copper alloys

A team of Serbian and UK researchers published a study today in the Journal of Archaeological Science where they explain how they developed a Cu-As-Sn (Copper-Arsenic-Tin) colour ternary diagram to uncover the original colours of archaeological artifacts now patinated through age and exposure.

According Miljana Radivojevic, lead author of the paper and a researcher at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, the colour properties of prehistoric copper alloys, such as tin bronzes or arsenical copper, have largely been understudied despite the fact that these are the most abundant type of metal artifacts in prehistory.

Knowing the importance of aesthetics in ancient metallurgy, Radivojevic and her team decided to dig into those objects’ initial colour by experimentally replicating the most common prehistoric alloys, made of binary and ternary combinations of copper, arsenic and tin. Once they did that, they were able to produce a colour chart that comes the closest to showing the true 'bling' of such artifacts in the past.

“We were inspired by modern jewellery-making where similar colour charts are used to explore properties of gold-copper-silver alloys," the lead-scientist said in a press release. The overall study, however, was prompted by the discovery of the world's earliest tin bronze artifacts four years ago in Serbia and the ongoing debate into what significance colour played in the advancement of metal-making technologies.

"The copper-tin-arsenic ternary colour charts enabled us to re-evaluate the claim that early tin bronzes in the Balkans had a distinctive golden hue", Radivojevic added. "It is now highly likely that the production of this new alloy in the Balkans at the same time as gold could have been dictated by the demand for the 'exotic' golden hue, or its closest imitation."

With this discovery, researchers now have the means to bring shine to the items that have lost their original aesthetic appeal by being buried for several millennia. The colour charts are also expected to be useful tools for museums and archaeology students, as they would help people imagine what metal objects looked like thousands of years ago.

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MINING.com's top news stories of the year

The outlook for copper was MINING.com's top story of the year.

Published at the start of January, a collection of analysts predicted copper would be the best performing commodity of the year. (It wasn't. Copper gained 27% while cobalt was up 127%.)

MINING.com wasn't immune to the gravitational pull of Bitcoin in 2017. Our second most popular story was about a gold company that switched to the cryptocurrency and watched its stock jump 1,300%.

Rounding out the top five was a warning about getting caught up in a gold scam, rare earth in North Korea and three reasons for the coming gold correction. Warning, these top trafficked posts are not really a measure of how important a news story is. Rather, lots of page views result from circumstances outside of our control: the story gets shared by the right person in a social feed or a Google news algorithm kicks into overdrive. That being said, the list is an interesting collection about what caught people's fancy. Stories about technology metals made up xxx of the list.

Note, this list excludes list articles, such as world's biggest gold deposits or the world's 40 biggest mining companies that are less news and more informational. Lists always do well, usually due to the reference-able nature of the article; someone is looking up the same subject of interest in his or her search engine.

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1. Copper to be best performing commodity of 2017 — analysts

Copper, until recently one of the worst performing commodities of the past two years, experienced a sudden spike at the end of 2016, posing several questions as to the direction of the market as we move into 2017.

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2. Gold company's stock jumps 1300% after switching to bitcoin

Bitcoin has been kicking the stuffing out of most mining stocks lately, as the cryptocurrency continues to climb to new heights.

Over the last three months bitcoin has doubled in value every month, but with the gains have come some truly scary volatility. In the last week of November bitcoin dropped $2,000, plunging from north of $11,000 to $9,428 in just one session. But as of Sunday, bitcoin was on the move again, last trading at $11,274.

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3. Largest known rare earth deposit discovered in North Korea

Privately-held SRE Minerals on Wednesday announced the discovery in North Korea of what is believed to be the largest deposit of rare earth elements anywhere in the world.

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4. How to avoid being caught in a common gold scam

Recently, I read an article about how Congo born, Dikembe Mutombo, an all-star NBA defender, was nicely scammed in a fake gold deal. Evidently, he and Houston based oil executive Kase Lawal were beguiled into believing that they could purchase around $30 million worth of the precious metal at a hugely discounted price to the prevailing global market price from dealers in the African country of Kenya.

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5. Three reasons for coming gold price correction

Gold advanced to an eight-week high on Monday in relatively brisk holiday trading in the US as the metal find support from safe haven buyers worried about the broader geo-political impact of the incoming Trump administration, the fallout from Britain's exit from the EU and upcoming elections in Germany and France.

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6. World’s first seabed gold, copper, silver mine to begin production in 2019

Canada’s Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS), one of the world's first seafloor miners, is on track to start operations at its Solwara 1 gold, copper and silver project off the coast of Papua Guinea in early 2019.

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7. This is how much copper, nickel, cobalt an electric vehicle world needs

Glencore's investor day on Tuesday painted a positive picture not just of the Swiss miner and commodities trader's business but also had good news for the mining industry as a whole.

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8. The lithium supply and demand story

Why lithium? Great question. In my opinion, it's simultaneously the simplest and most complex metal. Lithium's 'simplicity' comes from the fact that it's been used in industry for quite some time, and most of the general public know the metal in its battery form. Its complexity relates to the science behind how and why it's presently used, but more importantly, the role lithium will play in the future.

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9. Joy Global becomes Komatsu Mining

US mining equipment maker Joy Global will be now known as Komatsu Mining as the Japanese giant has completed the $3.7 billion takeover first announced in July last year.

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10. Freeport halts Grasberg mine, begins sending workers home

Shares in Freeport McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), the world's largest listed copper miner, were down 1% in pre-market trading Tuesday on the company’s decision to halt operations at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia.

Creative Commons image of Bitcoin computer screen by Jonas Lejon

 

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Trek Mining merges, now trades as Equinox Gold

Trek Mining (TSX-V:TREK), NewCastle Gold (TSX:NCA) and Anfield Gold Corp (TSX-V:ANF) have combined their businesses to create Equinox Gold, a Canadian mining company now trading on the TSX Venture Exchange as “EQX.”

Within the terms of the merger, Trek is now Equinox, Anfield shares have ceased trading by way of a trading halt and NewCastle shares are expected to be de-listed shortly.

The new company based in Vancouver will focus on finishing construction of the Aurizona Gold Mine, a past-producing open-pit operation occupying a 2,250 km2 land package in the Maranhão state of north-eastern Brazil.

After producing a total of 329,042 ounces of gold over a period of five years from 2010 to 2015, Aurizona ceased work because owner Trek (back then Luna Gold) said that it needed to raise money to build new crushing and grinding circuits to handle tougher ore.

Now that the merger provides the needed capital, Equinox’s has started refurbishing the existing plant, preparing for the installation of a new crusher, SAG mill and ball, and raising the tailings facility to allow for expanded throughput to 8,000 tpd to produce on average 136,000 ounces of gold per year. The first pour is expected by the end of 2018.

Moving north, EQX has a prefeasibility study underway at the company’s Castle Mountain project in California, United States. This is a heap leach gold mine that produced more than one million ounces of gold from 1992 to 2004.

According to the miner, Castle Mountain “has more than 4 million ounces of gold remaining and significant exploration upside,” and the plan is to resume operations there in a phased ramp-up scenario, starting with run-of-mine heap leaching of backfill material from previous operations, and ramping up to a full restart that will include milling of higher-grade ore.

“We look forward to reporting on progress in 2018 as we work to achieve production and build a leading gold company,” the firm’s CEO, Christian Milau, said in a media statement.

The Equinox Gold Board of Directors also includes Pan American Silver founder, Anfield Gold’s leader and Canadian mining tycoon Ross Beaty; Greg Smith, CEO of Anthem United Inc.; Marcel de Groot, co-founder and President of Pathway Capital and former director at Treck; Lenard Boggio, former director at NewCastle Gold; Marshall Koval former President & CEO of Anfield Gold; and Jacques McMullen, former director of NewCastle Gold.

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Yamana Gold shares jump 5% on asset sale

Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) was the biggest beneficiary of a deal announced Friday that its partner in the giant Canadian Malartic mine is buying out the exploration assets in the joint venture.

Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) agreed to acquire 100% of the Ontario and Quebec exploration assets of the JV, including the Kirkland Lake and Hammond Reef gold projects, for $162.5 million (CAD209m). The 50-50%-owned Malartic mine, Canada’s largest gold operation with 584,000 ounces of production last year, is not part of the deal.

Yamana shares jumped more than 5% on Friday affording the company a $2.9 billion value in New York. The stock is up nearly 20% during the second half of the year. Yamana expects to producer 960,000 ounces of gold this year.

Agnico Eagle also gained with shares in the Toronto-based company up 1.5%, bucking a weaker overall market on Friday. Agnico-Eagle, worth $10.5 billion in New York, in October increased its production guidance for the year from its eight mines in Finland, Canada and Mexico to 1.68m ounces.

"The purchase of the CMC asset portfolio enhances our longer-term development pipeline, and provides us with potential production growth post our current mine buildout in Nunavut," said Sean Boyd, Agnico Eagle's CEO.

"The Kirkland Lake property package enhances our current mineral reserves and offers near-term exploration upside, while the Hammond Reef project provides good optionality to a potential rise in the gold price."

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Workers end strike at Teck’s mine in Chile

Following an eight-day strike, Teck Resources (TSX: TCK.A, TCK.B) (NYSE:TCK) has reached a new contract agreement with Union No. 1, which represents one-quarter of its Quebrada Blanca copper mine workforce.

Quebrada Blanca is located in the Tarapacá Region of northern Chile and it is nearing the end of its life. So far this year, the mine produced 17,300 tonnes of copper. Last year the operation produced 35,000 tonnes, down more than 10% from 2015. Thus, Teck said that the strike action did not have a major impact on the company’s overall production.

Nevertheless, the Canadian miner wanted to settle things with the 105-member union whose leader, Jorge Flores, was asking for a bonus scheme that would put his organization on equal footing with the mine’s two other unions.

In a statement shared over email, the Vancouver-based firm confirmed that it had reached a compromise with Quebrada Blanca’s miners. “[We] have ratified a new collective contract for 24 months, effective December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2019. The previous collective agreement expired on November 30, 2017. The two other unions representing the majority (76%) of employees at the operation reached agreements in early 2017,” the release reads.

Keeping peace at Quebrada Blanca is key given that Teck is considering developing the second phase of the project. If management decides to move forward with it, the development of the hypogene orebody would come at a hefty price tag of some $4.7 billion for major infrastructure investments including a new concentrator and desalination plant and pipeline.

But regardless of what projects copper miners are developing in Chile, experts say that they can expect more labour disputes in the coming months. Not only higher prices for the red metal have workers expecting better salaries, a new labour code has also prompted many unions to schedule wage negotiations.

Chile is the world’s top copper-producing country.

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Intelligence artificielle : Facebook mise sur la reconnaissance faciale pour nous protéger

Facebook fait une nouvelle fois appel à l’intelligence artificielle pour contrôler l’utilisation des photos de visages. Ses algorithmes de reconnaissance faciale peuvent prévenir quelqu'un si sa photo est diffusée sur le réseau social. Un outil destiné à lutter contre les problèmes de...

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Ondes gravitationnelles : un trou noir binaire né dans une étoile ?

La première détection des ondes gravitationnelles émises par la fusion de deux trous noirs a surpris les astrophysiciens. Pouvait-il s'agir de deux trous noirs nés dans une étoile en rotation rapide et en effondrement gravitationnel ? Une réponse a été donnée en calculant précisément le signal...

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Drones et robots, unis pour créer un pavillon digne de la science-fiction

Une équipe de l'université de Stuttgart (Allemagne) a conçu un pavillon autoporteur fait de fils composites qui ont été tissés par deux robots assistés d'un drone. Une fabrication aérienne sans aucun moule inspirée de la nature et qui ouvre des perspectives prometteuses pour l’architecture.

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Un « système nerveux » pour les voitures et les chars d'assaut

Grâce à un matériau magnétiquement sensible, des chercheurs de l'armée américaine veulent créer l'équivalent d'un système nerveux pour les véhicules afin que ces derniers puissent « sentir » les dommages et alerter sur la nécessité d'une réparation.

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115 nouvelles espèces découvertes dans le Grand Mékong

La vallée du Mékong, qui s'étend sur plusieurs pays d'Asie du Sud-Est, recèle une biodiversité encore largement inexplorée. En 2016, 115 espèces inconnues ont ainsi été découvertes, annonce le WWF. Pourtant, celles-ci sont menacées par le trafic, qui bat son plein dans la région, alors que les...

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Bientôt des Hommes de retour sur la Lune ?

Au pays du capitalisme roi, la Nasa s’est convertie aux partenariats public-privé pour atteindre ses objectifs quels que soient les domaines. C'est le cas du retour sur la Lune. Dans ce contexte, Thales Alenia Space, spécialiste des modules pressurisés, vient de signer trois contrats.

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Graff buys new giant diamond from Sierra Leone

The chairman of Graff Diamonds, Laurence Graff, bought a 476-carat stone from Sierra Leone, called the Meya Prosperity Diamond.

The rock was unearthed back in November by Meya Mining, a company jointly owned by Namibia-based conglomerate Trustco Group and Germinate Sierra Leone. It was found in an area spanning from the Kamara Gbense to the Tankoro chiefdoms of the Kono district, located in the Eastern Province of the African country. Five days prior the discovery, Meya was announcing the final sign-off of its newly-built mining plant.

According to Graff, the Meya Prosperity Diamond is the 29th largest diamond ever uncovered and the 5th largest from Sierra Leone. It was buried in the same ground where the 709-carat Peace Diamond, which the jeweller bought for $6.5 million, was discovered.

“This year we have acquired four of the most important diamonds in history, we are extremely proud to be the custodians of such exceptionally rare stones. Our expert team will now spend time analysing the Meya Prosperity, and the coming months will bring much excitement as we begin to unveil the results of cutting and polishing these incredible stones,” the London-based luxury retailer said in a press release.

With this latest purchase, Graff Diamonds says it has acquired, cut and polished the majority of the top 21 largest stones of the 21st century.

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Barrick and Shandong join forces at Minera Andina del Sol

Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), the world’s top bullion producer by volume, and China’s Shandong Gold Mining Co. announced that the joint venture in charge of managing operations at the Veladero mine will be called Minera Andina del Sol.

Previous information published on MINING.com revealed that the joint venture board will consist of three nominees appointed by each company. In order to ensure continuity of operations at the mine located in the Argentinian province of San Juan, both firms intend to maintain the current management team.

Shandong bought 50% of Veladero for $960 million back in April 2017. Last year, the mine, considered one Argentina’s largest, produced 544,000 ounces and has proven and probable mineral reserves estimated at 3.4 million ounces of gold, according to the company's website.

The Pascua-Lama gold, silver and copper project straddling the border between Chile and Argentina will be also under Minera Andina del Sol’s oversight. The giant Andean mine, which was set generate about 800,000 to 850,000 ounces of gold and 35 million ounces of silver per year in the first full five years of operations, has been shuttered since 2013 when a court ordered the company to halt construction over environmental concerns.

In 2016, however, the Toronto-based miner began a “drastic revision” of both Pascua-Lama and Veladero and that was what led to bringing Shandong on board.

Now, the two strategic partners want to turn Minera Andina del Sol into a global leader in terms of innovation when it comes to mineral resource exploitation. This is according to Fernando Giannoni, the new company’s executive director in Argentina.

In Barrick's end-of-year celebration during which the creation of the emerging firm was announced, Giannoni stated that transparency will be at the core of its operations. “We want to create value, opportunities and prosperity for our shareholders and the communities in which we operate,” he said.

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Millennial expands lithium operations in Argentina

Vancouver-based Millennial Lithium Corp. (TSX.V: ML) announced that it has entered into a final agreement with the Salta Provincial Energy and Mining Company for the acquisition of 2,492 hectares of claims known as the REMSA ground, in the Argentinian Pastos Grandes Salar.

The property is contiguous to Millennial's current holdings in the area, which are located in the northwestern Salta province. The acquisition would increase the company's holdings there to 8,664 hectares.

According to the miner, recent drilling at Pastos Grandes brine project attests to the presence of superior grades at depths of 352 metres. The latest maiden lithium and potassium resource statement includes 2,131,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent and 8,141,000 tonnes of potash equivalent in the Measured and Indicated Resource categories, with an additional 878,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent and 3,263,000 tonnes potash equivalent in the Inferred Resource category.

In a press release issued Thursday, Farhad Abasov, President and CEO of Millennial, said that this previous drill campaign in the southern section of the existing Pastos Grandes ground adjacent to the northern section of the REMSA ground will guide their exploration and development program, which is set up to begin next year. “We are excited about the potential of this new ground and look forward to launching our technical programs on this ground,” he said.

The firm expects the Pastos Grandes project to go into production within three years.

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Copper price powers on

In brisk trading on Thursday in New York, Comex copper enjoyed its 11th straight session of gains touching a two-month high of $3.2185 a pound ($7,095 per tonne).

Copper is up nearly 27% in 2017 as it continues to recover from six-year lows struck early last year and expectations are for a positive if more modest performance next year.

Estimates that global mine output has slowed 2.5% in the period end to September, as Chile, world’s most prolific copper producer saw a 4% decline in output

SP Angel, a London, UK-based investment bank specializing in the resource sector, in a note to clients says "disruptive global supply surrounding wage negotiations are expected to tighten market conditions and draw the red metal price higher":

• Despite up to 38 unions scheduled for wage negotiations in the next year, supply disruptions maybe avoided with rapid signing of new contracts. Chilean miner Antofagasta Plc announced a new wage agreement with unionised workers at its Centinela mine, defusing the risk of a strike amid a volatile labour landscape across the world’s copper-producing nation.

• According to latest assessment conducted by International Copper Study Group, stagnant copper refined copper supplies, in combination with strong Chinese apparent usage in September, conspired to lift the deficit from an estimated 160 000t for first 7 months of the year. Estimates that global mine output has slowed 2.5% in the period end to September, as Chile, world’s most prolific copper producer saw a 4% decline in output.

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Political crisis pushes out auction of giant Peru copper project again

An auction for the $2 billion Michiquillay copper mine project in Peru scheduled for this week was canceled by the besieged government of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

A contract for the project according to state investment agency ProInversion will now be awarded on February 20. Reuters reports the Organization of American States said yesterday that it was preparing to send a delegation to Peru, the world's second biggest copper producer, to observe the "political situation" at the request of Kuczynski ahead of a vote in Congress to oust him on Thursday.

The Michiquillay copper project, located in the country’s northern Cajamarca region, was originally scheduled to be auctioned off in November, but Proinversión decided to push back the date to December 20 so that interested companies have more time to submit offers.

Among those who have expressed interest is precious metals miner Buenaventura which added that it could develop Michiquillay by sharing infrastructure with two other proposed mines in the region – Conga, owned by Buenaventura and Newmont Mining, and the China Minmetals copper-gold project Galeno.

Buenaventura produced 127,000 tonnes of copper last year, mostly through its 20% stake in Freeport McMoRan's 500,000 tonnes per year Cerro Verde mine in the country. According to Benavides, the Yanacocha mine, another Newmont-Buenaventura joint venture, is seeking to produce more copper as its gold production diminishes.

In its 2011 annual report, Anglo envisaged a 187,000 tonnes per year operation at Michiquillay with expansion potential to 300,000 tonnes copper per year

According to Proinversión, mineral resources at Michiquillay are estimated at 1.1 billion tonnes of copper with an average grade of 0.629% and a cut-off of 0.4% copper. The asset also holds gold, silver and molybdenum.

Milpo, controlled by Brazil’s Votorantim Metals, has also evaluated the project. But the miner withdrew from Michiquillay in March this year after Proinversión asked Milpo to modify its proposal for the mine’s development. At the time, the company said the proposed changes were not compatible with market conditions.

Anglo American (LON:AAL) acquired the rights to Michiquillay in 2007 for $400 million, but the mining giant pulled out of the project in December 2014. In its 2011 annual report, Anglo envisaged a 187,000 tonnes per year operation at Michiquillay with expansion potential to 300,000 tonnes copper per year.

Anglo announced in April this year that it's bringing forward construction plans for its Quellaveco copper project in Peru, which is set to produce an average of 220,000 tonnes per year (300,000-plus in the first few years) starting as early as 2020.

Peruvian production to spike

Newmont halted construction work at Conga in November 2011 after violent protests against the $4.8 billion project forced the country's government to declare a state of emergency. Conga could be a 500,000 tonne-plus operation while production at Galeno, which comes with a $2.5 billion price tag, is pegged at more than 400,000 tonnes per year. Earliest date for production at Galeno is 2021.

A recent study counted 18 major new and growth copper projects in Peru, including expansion at Southern Copper's Toquepala and Chinalco's Toromocho mine. Already the world's number two producer of the metal, the country's national output is expected to hit 4.8 million tonnes per year by 2021 — more than double the 2.3 million tonnes produced last year.

In brisk trading on Monday in New York Comex copper enjoyed its 11th straight session of gains touching a two-month high of $3.2185 a pound ($7,095 per tonne). Copper is up over 27% in 2017 as it continues to recover from six-year lows struck early last year.

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Western Australia government rejects Mineral Resources’ iron ore project

The Western Australian government announced Thursday that it has rejected Mineral Resources’ (ASX:MIN) proposal to exploit the Jackson 5 and Bungalbin East iron ore deposits, located at the Helena-Aurora Range.

In a media statement, Environment Minister Stephen Dawson reiterated some of the words he shared last month and emphasized that his office has advocated against the mine after evaluating the environmental, social and economic aspects of Mineral Resources’ plans.

“The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has twice found this proposal to be unacceptable on environmental grounds and last month the Minister agreed with the independent Appeals Convenor by dismissing all appeals against the EPA assessment,” Dawson wrote in the release.

The EPA report received nine appeals but following the Convenor’s review, the claims were rejected.

In today’s account, Dawson added that the economic and social benefits of allowing the project do not outweigh its impacts to the regional ecosystem. “This decision has taken into account the pre-eminent environmental values of the Helena-Aurora Range, including the significance of the intact landforms and risks to threatened flora if the proposal was approved.”

To further protect the site, the state government will seek to make the area an A class reserve.

The Helena-Aurora Range is among the world’s oldest banded ironstone formation ranges. It is located in Western Australia’s Northern Yilgarn area and is home to several rare and threatened species, such as the malleefowl.

"Once mined, these landforms cannot be restored and today's decision means the McGowan Labor Government is preserving this range for future generations,” Dawson concluded.

Following the government's announcement, Mineral Resources issued a press release where Simon Rushton, the joint company secretary, called the decision "disappointing." In his view, the negative would shake the local community and businesses. "The decision will also negatively impact the wider State as it will bring an end to the material revenue the Yilgarn operation contributed to State coffers in the form of royalties, port fees and general economic activity. However, this decision will not have a material impact on MRL’s business as the increasing discount and declining demand for low-grade iron ore products has continued to reduce the financial contribution the Yilgarn business makes to our overall financial performance," he said.

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Aux États-Unis, un bébé naît d'un embryon congelé il y a 24 ans

D’après l'association National Embryo Donation Center, une jeune femme américaine née en 1991 a donné naissance à une petite fille dont l’embryon a été congelé en… 1992 ! Une situation exceptionnelle dans le monde.

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Réalité augmentée : Magic Leap dévoile de mystérieuses lunettes

On sait désormais à quoi ressemblent les lunettes de réalité augmentée sur lesquelles Magic Leap planche en secret depuis plusieurs années. Leur sortie est prévue en 2018, la version étant réservée aux développeurs. Mais l'on ne sait toujours pas exactement comment elles fonctionnent ni...

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Les anneaux de Saturne sont jeunes, nous dit Cassini

Il existe de multiples théories concernant l'âge des anneaux de Saturne. La plus communément admise les fait remonter à l’aube du Système solaire, il y a presque 4,5 milliards d’années. Or, selon les données obtenues par Cassini avant son plongeon final, les anneaux seraient en fait bien plus...

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Intelligence artificielle : Facebook mise sur la reconnaissance faciale

Facebook fait une nouvelle fois appel à l’intelligence artificielle pour contrôler l’utilisation des photos de visages. Ses algorithmes de reconnaissance faciale peuvent prévenir quelqu'un si sa photo est diffusée sur le réseau social. Un outil destiné à lutter contre les problèmes de...

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L'addiction aux selfies, ou selfitis, est-elle une maladie ?

Au départ, c'était un canular, mais deux chercheurs ont voulu approfondir la question et proposent maintenant une description de ce soi-disant trouble mental. La selfite, ou selfitis en anglais, interroge sur l’évolution de nos comportements numériques, mais aussi sur la tendance de certains à...

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Scientists are searching for silver in laundry wastewater

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts are in a quest to recover silver from laundry wastewater and, according to a paper published today in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, they have discovered how different variations in detergent chemistry impact the amount of metal they can get.

But Tabish Nawaz and Sukalyan Sengupta, the leaders of this project, are not trying to become a new type of miner. With their research, they want to figure out how to avoid silver nanoparticles from coming off clothing and ending up in the environment.

In recent years, Ag specks are being used by clothing manufacturers because they can kill odor-causing bacteria. However, as the garments are laundered, those elements are released. “Silver nanoparticles can be toxic to many aquatic organisms and can impact the effectiveness of bacterial processing in wastewater treatment plants,” a media statement by the American Chemical Society reads.

Thus, the scientists want to learn how to prevent the tiny bits of metal from coming off. By analyzing how they interact with individual detergent ingredients, they were able to discern that silver mainly exists as a positively charged ion and that this ion will interact with negatively charged ions in the detergent at different pH ranges.

This discovery set the foundation that allowed them to use an ion-exchange resin with different pH and ion concentrations which, at a specific point, was able to recover as much as 99 per cent of the silver.

The resin was tested with detergent components and reused over five cycles, and it maintained the ability to remove silver. Yet, the addition of products, such as bleaching and water-softening agents, negatively impacted the efficiency of the resin.

Even though it may look simple, the process was not easy. According to the scientists, low concentrations of silver in the water, high concentrations of competing ions and an uncertainty as to which exact forms of silver are present made this work very challenging.

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Why a small Canadian city wants to by shares in Rio Tinto Alcan

The mayor of Kitimat, a district municipality in the North Coast of British Columbia where Rio Tinto Alcan’s aluminium smelter is located, told the CBC that his office is considering buying shares in the Montreal-based company in a bid to force it to install saltwater scrubbers at the facility.

As acknowledged by the both the City and the provincial Ministry of Environment, the local population is worried about the effects that SO2 (sulphur dioxide) emissions could have in both the environment and their health. In recent months, people have particularly criticized the fact that existing monitoring stations in the city don't measure SO2 levels in outlying outdoor recreation areas.

General concerns are not new, though. In 2015, when Rio Tinto wanted to grow production capacity by 125,000 tonnes by modernizing its smelter, it was allowed to increase emissions by as much as 56 per cent; the immediate public reaction forced the provincial government to accept a recommendation to develop a health advisory system. The main objective of the system, which is still being designed, is to alert residents of issues of air quality.

But back then locals also urged the miner to install scrubbers, which use saltwater to decrease the amount of sulphur dioxide released. This suggestion was dismissed and, even though the Mayor Phil Germuth would like Rio to reconsider it, he told the public broadcaster that it is ultimately up to the Province to make the rules.

Germuth also said that the health advisory system doesn’t address the root of the problem. At the same time, he criticised the fact that Rio Tinto is taking part in a monitoring program to track the effects on human health and the environment of the smelter’s upgrades, which are supposed to reduce overall emissions by nearly 50 per cent but, as mentioned before, raise those of SO2. For him, it’s like using his fellow citizens as guinea pigs.

Given this state of affairs, City Council is evaluating the cost of purchasing shares in the company in order to voice their concerns directly at investor meetings.

According to the B.C. Ministry of Environment, three quarters of the SO2 emissions in Kitimat come from the industry, Rio’s smelter being the largest source. The remainder is originated by fuel combustion from transportation sources, including marine vessels. Yet, levels tend to remain within acceptable health standards – which is below 300 parts per billion.

Rio Tinto Alcan's Kitimat smelter is one of the firm’s largest wholly-owned smelters and one of the three largest in North America.

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#OnlyinCanada: Homeless man helps recover lost diamond ring

A homeless youth who got a 14-carat gold ring with square-cut diamonds by mistake has returned the jewel to its owner.

Trinda Gajek, a nurse working in Nanaimo, British Columbia, had put the ring inside her wallet and lost it when she dumped all the change she had into the hands of the youth.

According to her account, which was reported on by CHEK News, the incident took place while she was waiting for her partner at the parkade of the hospital where she works and saw the young man wandering and looking a little lost. After offering her help and giving him some coins, she drove away. Later on, she remembered she had put the ring in the change compartment of her wallet.

The nurse shared the story with local media and, after learning about it, another homeless man, Raymond Ahlstrom, set out to help.

A veteran of the streets, Ahlstrom found the youth pretty quickly and recovered the ring. The young man had been keeping it safe in his water bottle.

The next day, Ahlstrom returned the gem, which lost a couple of diamonds on its journey through Nanaimo. However, the sentimental value of the piece remains intact. It was bought a few years ago by Gajek's teenage children who pooled together their own money to buy their mom a ring she had seen at a jewelry store in Vancouver but could not afford.

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Value of top 50 mining companies surge $140 billion in 2017

It's green across mining boards

Heading into 2018 the world's 50 largest listed firms are worth a collective $896 billion, adding $141 billion in combined market capitalization year-to-date, with the bulk of those gains recorded since July.

Going back to the start of the mining industry’s upswing around 18 months ago and $227 billion of wealth has been created for shareholders of the MINING.com Top 50.

The top 10 make up more than half the sector's market value and after underperforming the rest of the field during the first half of 2017, the big diversified and base metals companies caught up rapidly.

Of the gains since end-June nearly 65% have accrued to the top 10 largest mining companies. Year-to-date just two companies – Vale and Glencore – constitute 27% of market capitalization growth.

Gold companies have had a tough go of it this year with top producers Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold falling out of the top 10. Newmont overtook Barrick as the world’s most valuable gold miner this year, but was pushed out of the top tier by diversified giant Anglo American which continues to climb the rankings after years in the wilderness.

New entrant to the top 10 is high-flying China Molybdenum, the best performing mining stock in the world this year with a 150% gain in value year-to-date. The company started the year in 31^st spot. The Luoyang City-based base metal giant is now worth more than $20 billion (also the bar for admittance to the top ten) as its acquisition spree of recent years start to pay off in a big way.
New entrant to the top 10 is high-flying China Molybdenum, the best performing mining stock in the world this year with a 150% gain

Another company making the most of the rally in copper and zinc this year is KAZ Minerals which joins the Top 50 for the first time. The Kazakh company is up 120% in 2017 and worth $4.7 billion. At the beginning of 2017 a market value of less than $4 billion was enough for entry into the MINING.com Top 50.

Only nine out of 50 firms are trading in negative territory for 2017 with Russian operations and potash proving a deadly combination. Russian diamond miner Alrosa has had a dismal year suffering a similar fall as that of Uralkaliy, the worst performing mining stock this year. The potash producer's 24% decline drops the company from position number 30 at the start of the year down to a 44 ranking.

Dropping out of the Top 50 is German-based potash miner K+S after losing over 10% of its value in 2017. Of the four remaining fertilizer miners in the Top 50, Potashcorp of Saskatchewan bucked the weaker trend with an 8.4% gain this year as it looks to close the merger with US-based Agrium to create the world’s largest producer of the crop nutrient.

Fullscreen available. Scroll down for full ranking, best/worst performers, country data (drop down menu) and company contribution graphs (hover). Stock exchange and currency cross rates last reading December 19, 2017. See notes below for more information and selection criteria.

 

 

Notes:
As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion is a contentious issue. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That of course excludes giants like Chile's Codelco, Uzbekistan's Navoi Mining which owns the world's largest gold mine, Eurochem, a major potash firm, trader Trafigura, top uranium producer Kazatomprom and numerous entities in China and developing countries around the world.
Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.
For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or not even warrant a seat on the board?
This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan's Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile's Copec. Levels of operational involvement and size of shareholding was another central consideration. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or is are they just specialized financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada and Silver Wheaton (now Wheaton Precious Metals).
What about diversified companies such as BHP Billiton or Teck with substantial oil and gas assets? Or oil sands companies that use conventional mining methods to extract bitumen for that matter? Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem as does diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority owned subsidiaries. We've included Angloplat in the ranking as well as Kumba Iron Ore.
Chemical companies are also problematic – should FMC Corp not be ranked because its potash and lithium operations are such a small part of its overall revenues and what about Albermarle? While the merger of Potash Corp and Agrium is still to close we included only Potash Corp on this listing.
Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.
Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto is shown as Melbourne, Australia and Antofagasta is grouped with Chile even though the company is HQ'ed in London where it has been listed since the late 1800s. Trading data from primary listing exchange and currency cross-rates at the date of publication.
Please let us know of any omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

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