Colombia to seize major tungsten mine run by terrorists |
- Colombia to seize major tungsten mine run by terrorists
- Higher gold prices expected for next week —survey
- Gold headed for worst performance since 1981
- Canadian miners among the most hurt in 2013
- Copper hits four-month high, set for highest monthly rise since Sep 2012
| Colombia to seize major tungsten mine run by terrorists Posted: 27 Dec 2013 12:12 PM PST  Colombian soldiers patrol an area controlled by the FARC. (Image courtesy of AllVoices.com) The Colombian government is preparing a raid to seize and close a major illegal tungsten mine run by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which is said to have supplied top multinational companies, including BMW, Volkswagen, Samsung and Apple. According to Radio RCN (in Spanish), security forces are being deployed to an area of the Amazon jungle under the FARC's control, known as Cerro Tigre, or Tiger Hill, in the eastern Guainía department. Tungsten is a super-hard, heat-resistant metal that is used inside car engines, computer screens, phones, tablets, televisions, and also in the oil industry. The planned raid on Tiger Hill comes on the hills of the European Union decision to impose tough laws to prevent businesses from buying gold and other minerals that fund the conflict in Colombia. The Caribbean country is not alone. In the past few years illegal mining has spread through Latin America. Countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia and even Brazil, are currently said to be obtaining higher profits from the unlicensed activity than from drug trafficking, an illicit activity that used to generate profits in the area. Global intervention In an effort to curb the imports of tainted minerals from the beleaguered African country, the US and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed last year a set of strict rules requiring manufacturers to report from where they get its tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten. It also forces companies to disclose payments made to overseas governments to develop natural gas. While the ruling goes into effect in 2014, more than a third of US firms are absolutely unprepared to adopt it, revealed a poll conducted in April during the IHS webinar "The Clock's Ticking: How to Comply with the New Conflict Minerals Regulations." What's more, the US biggest manufacturing trade groups — the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable— began an ongoing court battle against the SEC, aimed to stop the rule from taking effect. No decision on the topic has been made to date.  |
| Higher gold prices expected for next week —survey Posted: 27 Dec 2013 10:56 AM PST Despite gold has lost more than a quarter of its value this year and looks certain to record its worst performance since 1981, 17 out of 34 gold dealers, investment banks, futures traders, money managers and technical-chart analysts predict gold prices head up next week. The Kitco News Gold Survey results show 50% of the experts interviewed see gold moving slightly up next week to $1,230. Short covering and the clearing of hedges may have triggered the modest gold rally, as the year-end draws near. |
| Gold headed for worst performance since 1981 Posted: 27 Dec 2013 09:57 AM PST
Gold futures for February delivery were up in New York 0.2% to $1,215.10 an ounce at 9:55 am ET. Prices improved 1.3% in the previous two sessions, but bullion is still set to drop for the fourth consecutive month. To add to the bad news, analysts are predicting that a fast rebound seems unlikely. Investment bank UBS, for instance, expects the price of the metal to remain at or below current levels for the next few years, ending at $1,210 in 2017 |
| Canadian miners among the most hurt in 2013 Posted: 27 Dec 2013 08:28 AM PST After about a decade of high metal prices, giant projects and major takeover, miners around the globe had to tighten their belts in 2013 as the cycle turned against them. While hardly any company escape the effects of the slowdown, Canadian miners stood out because, on top of the financial woes common to the industry, they faced political and environmental difficulties that hit them especially hard. Gold giant Barrick (TSX, NYSE: ABX) was one of the largest companies to have serious troubles this year. After months of declining gold prices, a second-quarter loss of $8.6 billion and project write-downs of over $13 billion so far in 2013, Barrick's stock is trading around the $19 mark, making it one of the worst performers in the sector this year. The company has slashed its dividend by 75% and has vowed to cut costs by selling non-core assets and reducing its workforce. The Toronto-based company was also forced to suspend nearly all of the work at its massive $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama project straddling the Chile-Argentina border. In Romania, Gabriel Resources (TSX: GBU) faced a substantial setback at its Rosia Montana project, after a draft bill that would have allowed the Canadian miner to proceed with what would be one of Europe's largest gold mining projects, was rejected by a Romanian parliamentary commission. Centerra Gold (TSX:CG) has been under pressure all year long over its flagship Kumtor mine, in the Kyrgyz Republic. Not only it faced massive and at times violent protests from locals demanding the mine's nationalization and more social benefits, but local authorities also made Centerra's future in the country quite uncertain. Early this month, the country's environmental protection and forestry office filed an ecology damage suit against the miner, which may force it to pay US$300 million in fines. Only this week, the company shared some good news, saying it had inked a draft agreement with the Kyrgyz Republic over a joint venture to run Kumtor. The deal still needs approval from Parliament. Juniors Canada, one of the world's largest centres for mining finance, saw its traditionally buoyant junior companies, struggle more than ever, with analysts predicting that most of them were to disappear by year-end. According to FT.com (subs required), up until the end of November, 62 companies had listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange or its junior counterpart, the TSX venture exchange (TSX-V), compared with 129 at the same time last year and over 200 in both 2009 and 2010. In the last two years, the nearly 1,600 mining companies listed in Canada have seen their combined stock market value fall almost 50%, and new mining listings in Canada continue to plunge, FT said. |
| Copper hits four-month high, set for highest monthly rise since Sep 2012 Posted: 27 Dec 2013 04:07 AM PST  Copper prices are usually a good indicator for economic trends and equity markets. Copper prices climbed to a four-month high Friday in London, driven by shrinking supplies and predictions that China, the metal's No. 1 consumer, will help lift demand for industrial metals in 2014. In New York, however, the red metal was that lucky, falling for the first time in three days as London traders caught up after a two-day holiday. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $7,365 a tonne, up 1.3% since hitting $7,410 last August.
On the Comex in New York, copper for delivery in March plunged 0.5% to $3.3815 a pound by 8:40 am ET. Dr. Copper, as investors call the industrial metal, is usually a good indicator for economic trends and equity markets. Image by Ehrman Photographic |
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