EDITORIAL: WHAT MINERS CAN EXPECT FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION / 3 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM
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NOVEMBER 21-27, 2016 / VOL. 102 ISSUE 41 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM
Rob McEwen happy with Donald Trump win INTERVIEW
| Mining entrepreneur says victory shows there’s “real desire for change”
Atalaya revives iconic Rio Tinto mine in Spain COPPER |
Proyecto Riotinto to produce 42,000 tonnes copper per year in concentrate
BY TRISH SAYWELL
R
tsaywell@northernminer.com
ob McEwen, chairman and chief owner of McEwen Mining (TSX: MU X; N YSE: MUX), shared his thoughts with The Northern Miner about the election of Donald J. Trump as the fortyfifth president of the United States. McEwen Mining’s principal assets consist of the El Gallo 1 mine and El Gallo 2 development project in Sinaloa, Mexico; the Gold Bar project in Nevada, U.S.; the San Jose mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest); and the Los Azules copper project in San Juan, Argentina. McEwen owns 25% of the company’s shares. The Northern Miner: Where were you on election night? Were you watching the results on television? What were your immediate thoughts when you realized Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States? Rob McEwen: I watched all of it and enjoyed the suspense. I like the outcome. It became so apparent that there is a big disconnect in America and maybe it’s true all around the world, that the politicians, the pollsters and the media are of one mind, and most of the country is of a totally different mind. Whether it’s Washington, Ottawa or London, or any of the major capital cities, their mandarins and residents are far removed from the drama and the trauma that’s going on all across their countries, and they don’t have a sense of the disappointment, the anger, the frustration and burning desire for change, to throw out the old order. I share the same opinion. TNM: Many were surprised by the See MCEWEN / 2
Processing facilities at Atalaya Mining’s Proyecto Riotinto copper mine in Spain’s Andalucia region, 65 km northwest of Seville. ATALAYA MINING BY TRISH SAYWELL tsaywell@northernminer.com
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talaya Mining’s (TSX: AY M ; L S E : AT Y M ) Proyecto Riotinto copper mine in the Andalucia region of Spain is on the verge of producing 90 million lb. copper (42,000 tonnes copper) in concentrate next year — or 200,000 tonnes copper concentrate — for some of the world’s biggest off-takers, but the company is relatively unknown in North America. The European junior — formerly known as EMED Mining — put the open-pit mine and mill, 65 km northwest of Seville,
back into production in February 2016. (Previous owners put the mine on care and maintenance in 2001, when copper prices were languishing at US$1 per pound.) Atalaya Mining has been ramping up the processing rate to 9.5 million tonnes per year, and expects to reach this capacity before the start of 2017. The mill operates at a 95% throughput rate, and the mine runs at 100%. “It has been quite a success,” Alberto Lavandeira, the company’s president and CEO, says in a telephone interview from Spain. “We completed the whole ramp-up in less than two years when the previous management team thought it would be done in three years, and we did it at half
the capital cost, or US$150 million, down from previous estimates of US$300 million.” The new management team, which took over the company two and a half years ago, has deep mine building expertise as well as knowledge of how to get permits for projects in Spain. Much of the team came from Rio Narcea Gold Mines, where Lavandeira worked as chief operating officer and later as president and CEO. During Lavandeira’s 12 years at the company (1995–2007), Rio Narcea built the El Valle and Carles copper-gold-silver mines in northern Spain, both of which are now owned by Orvana Minerals
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See ATALAYA / 2
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