Blair McBride, Author at The Northern Miner

VRIC: U.S., Canadian uranium companies set to soar on Russian ban

Analysis November 8, 2024

Infographic: Following uranium production and price trends in the US

The United States was the world’s leading producer of uranium until the 1980s. Though today other countries such as Kazakhstan, Namibia and Canada top the…

Commentary, Politics November 8, 2024

How oil and gas will fare in the Trump era

Trump is back, and the threat of tariffs looms large over China’s economy. On Wednesday, base and precious metal prices took a dive. Resource markets…

Exploration, News, Precious Metals November 7, 2024

Founders shares jump on new find, drilling expansion

Founders Metals (TSXV: FDR; US-OTC: FDMIF) shares hit a new 52-week high of $4.43 apiece Thursday as it reported a new high-grade gold discovery at…

News, People in Mining November 6, 2024

Agnico Eagle, Teck among winners of 2025 PDAC awards

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) has unveiled the names of five award winners at its upcoming convention in Toronto on March 2-5….

Exploration, News November 5, 2024

Probe Gold drills new high-grade zone at Novador in Quebec

Drilling by Probe Gold (TSX: PRB; US-OTC: PROBF) has uncovered a new, relatively shallow zone at its Novador property, near Val-d’Or, Que. The company’s drills…

Site visit: Dolly Varden Silver targets high-grade expansion at Kitsault Valley in BC

Exploration, News, Precious Metals November 4, 2024

Dolly Varden Silver logs high-grade hits at Homestake in BC as 2024 drilling wraps up

The final holes in Dolly Varden Silver’s (TSXV: DV; US-OTC: DOLLF) 2024 drill program at its Kitsault Valley project in northwest British Columbia returned high-grade…

Exploration, News October 31, 2024

Arizona Metals finds new copper-gold zone at Kay site

Arizona Metals (TSX: AMC; US-OTC: AZMCF) has discovered a new lens of mineralization in its Kay deposit on the namesake copper-gold project, outside the known…

Exploration, News October 30, 2024

Fireweed grows Boundary target beyond zinc-lead-silver resource in Yukon

Drill results from Fireweed Metals’ (TSXV: FWZ; US-OTC: FWEDF) Macpass project, which could hold one of the world’s largest undeveloped zinc deposits, expand an area…

Exploration, News October 29, 2024

F3 Uranium logs strong results at PLN project, extends A1 shear

F3 Uranium (TSXV: FUU; US-OTC: FUUFF) has reported “ultra high-grade” drill results from the JR zone at its Patterson Lake North project in Saskatchewan, and…

$Pentwater Capital Management LP, the second-largest investor in Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX: TQR) has increased its stake in the Canadian company while rejecting again Rio Tinto’s C$43-a-share offer for the 49% of the miner it doesn’t already own. The activist investor disclosed it had bought around 1.24% of common stock at C$41.01 per share in Turquoise Hill, for a total of C$102.5 million on September 15. It means it currently owns 13.77% of Turquoise Hill’s shares Rio Tinto agreed on earlier this month to take over Turquoise Hill after sweetening an initial offer by around 20% to “a best and final” $3.3 billion. Penwater, which joined minority shareholder SailingStone Capital Partners in publicly opposing Rio Tinto’s offer as too low, restated its discontent. “The proposed price implies an equity value of C$8.65 billion, which is a fraction of the free cash flow that Pentwater expects Turquoise Hill to generate over the next decade,” it said in the statement. Pentwater noted it expects Turquoise Hill to generate over C$10.5 billion of free cash flow through 2030 assuming a $3.50 per pound copper price and almost C$14.2 billion of free cash flow assuming copper prices of $4 per pound. It also said it was weighing options to thwart the deal, including but not limited to the possible exercise of dissent rights or other legal action. Rio’s offer equires two thirds of shareholders, including Rio Tinto’s, to vote in favour. More than 50% of minority shareholders must approve it. Rio’s final bid represents a 67% premium from Turquoise Hill’s closing price of C$25.68 a share on March 11, the trading day prior to the initial proposal. Pentwater has said the proposed premium is unacceptable for a mine that it expects to be “the third largest copper and gold mine in the world with a mine life in excess of 90 years.” Some analysts believe that Rio Tinto will need to increase its offer to win over some minority shareholders and so hold a direct majority stake in massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia. The global miner, which has mined copper from Oyu Tolgoi’s open pit for a decade, will have the task to conclude building the underground section of the mine. Once finished, it will lift production from 125,000–150,000 tonnes in 2019 to 560,000 tonnes per year at peak output, which is now expected by 2025 at the earliest. This would make it the biggest new copper mine to come on stream in several years.$