Platinum demand outstrips supply
Demand for platinum grew 5% to 6.5 million oz. in 2002, driven by strong sales to the Chinese jewelry market and greater use in autocatalysts, according to Platinum 2003, a report by London-based John…
News
Montreal hosts dam conference
At a symposium on June 15 at the Palais des Congrs de Montral, specialists from the hydraulics and mining industries will exchange ideas on maintenance and environmental issues associated with taili…
Minefinders pushes Dolores to feasibility
Vancouver — Drilling along the 2.2-km-long main Dolores zone has enhanced the economic prospects of the large gold system in Mexico’s Chihuahua state.Minefinders (MFL-T) has sunk an additional 40,500…
Falco slashes Kidd workforce by 10%
With the planned 9-week shutdown of the Kidd metallurgical site already extended by a month, Falconbridge (FL-T) intends to cut 85 jobs at the Ontario operation.The jobs will be cut over three months …
People (June 16, 2003)
Barrick — Alex Davidson appointed executive VP of exploration.Canadian Oil Sands Trust — Allen Hagerman appointed CFO of wholly owned subsidiary Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. which manages the trust.Cu…
New kimberlite camp emerges north of Rankin Inlet
A $3-million investment to acquire a 14% minority stake in the Churchill diamond project in Nunavut is already paying dividends for BHP Billiton (BHP-N). The major reports that two separate kimberlite…
Umicore buys OM’s precious metals business
Cleveland, Ohio-based cobalt giant OM Group (OMG-N) is selling its precious metals business to Umicore (formerly Union Minire) of Belgium for E643 million, or US$752 million, in cash.Umicore will als…
Editorial Cartoon (June 16, 2003)
Geomaque raises $7.3m, eyes Midas Gold
Geomaque Explorations (GEO-T) has raised $7.3 million via a brokered private placement of 130.7 million subscription receipts priced at 5.5 apiece, plus 2.5 million receipts at 6 each, for company i…
Private placements — good, bad or neutral?
Private Placements can either be good or bad for a stock.Companies often need a rush of new money for many purposes. Maybe they aren’t earning enough to meet expenses, or maybe they need a big chunk o…
The Northern Miner Indices (June 16, 2003)
North American Mining: 72.34 (+1.59)Small Producers: 66.93 (+2.22)(Sept. 30/98 = 100)…
LME Warehouse Levels (June 16, 2003)
Metal stocks (in tonnes) held in London Metal Exchange warehouses at opening, June 10 (change from June 3 in brackets):MetalStock(tonnes)ChangeAluminium1126225(-71…