The Northern Miner September 12 2016 Issue

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BARRICK GOLD Rethinking Pascua-Lama1 /2016-06-24 3 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf

WESDOME GOLD MINES

AVINO SILVER & GOLD 4:27:20 PM

Milestone in Mexico / 16

VTEM™ | ZTEM™ | Gravity | Magnetics 905 841 5004 | geotech.ca

Discovery at Kiena in Val-d’Or / 11

SEPTEMBER 12-18, 2016 / VOL. 102 ISSUE 31 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM

Timely acquisitions set B2Gold on growth path

Defiance to resume drilling at San Acacio

CEO INTERVIEW

| New West African mines to propel annual output to 900,000 oz.

YEAR-END GOAL  |

Junior aims to kick off its largest drill program BY SALMA TARIKH starikh@northernminer.com

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efiance Silver (TSXV: DEF) is determined to advance the past-producing San Acacio silver mine in Zacatecas’ historic silver district in central Mexico, as investor sentiment and precious metal prices pick up. “There are a lot more smiles on people’s faces these days,” the company’s president and CEO Bruce Winfield says. “It’s really nice to see the difference in people’s attitudes. That’s going to assist us all.” Winfield, a geologist who has worked for both major and junior mining firms, has been involved in the exploration and development of five mines in Latin America, including La Libertad in Nicaragua and La Colorada in Mexico. He looks to make San Acacio his sixth success story. Defiance, which became a public company in 2008, signed an option agreement to earn a 100% interest in San Acacio from a private Mexican firm in October 2011. Given the tough capital markets, Defiance revised the payment terms for San Acacio several times, for enough financial flexibility to keep working on the deposit. The historic mine contains 10 mining concessions, covering 7.5 sq. km. It controls 65% of the 8.6 km long Veta Grande vein system, one of the three main vein systems in the Zacatecas silver district, where silver production started in 1546. Defiance describes Veta Grande as a “classic epithermal, silver-rich vein system with accessory gold and base metal credits.” Historically, Veta Grande churned out more than 200 million oz. silver, with half coming from the San Acacio mine. Past mining at San Acacio occurred over a 1.2 km strike length at See DEFIANCE / 14

B2Gold’s Masbate gold mine in the Philippines, 360 km southeast of Manila.  B2GOLD

“WE’RE THE FASTEST-GROWING GOLD PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, AND OUR COSTS ARE GOING TO DROP EVEN MORE WITH THESE NEW MINES.”

BY MATTHEW KEEVIL mkeevil@northernminer.com VANCOUVER

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2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSEMKT: BTG) is a story of savvy gold acquisitions and operational reliability in challenging jurisdictions. The company avoided writedowns and executive turnover during the most recent downcycle in gold prices, and it now promises to grow production through a trio of West African gold assets. B2Gold has ramped up its gold production from 150,000 oz. in 2012 to between 510,000 and 550,000 oz. this year. During the second quarter, the company produced 135,240 oz. gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$731 per oz. gold. Improved gold has helped double quarterly operating cash flows to nearly US$68 million. The company expects to meet the upper end of its annual production guidance in 2016, and will likely hit the lower end of its all-in sustaining cost guidance of US$895 to US$925 per ounce. Much of B2Gold’s success comes from two acquisitions. In 2011, the

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CLIVE JOHNSON PRESIDENT AND CEO, B2GOLD

company picked up Auryx Gold and built the Otjikoto gold mine in Namibia, which could produce between 160,000 and 170,000 oz. gold in 2016. In late 2012, B2Gold bought the Masbate gold mine in the Philippines via a US$1.1-billion deal for CGA Mining. The operation lies 360 km southeast of Manila, and could produce between 175,000 and 185,000 oz. this year. “We try to ignore the ups and downs of the market,” president and CEO Clive Johnson says during an interview in his Vancouver office.

“When gold falls like it has over the past few years, we see opportunity. In that sense we’re contrarian, because we take the long-term view. Just last year we’d hear about how we had a good growth story, but nobody was paying for growth. Masbate, he says, is “a prime example of one of our business strategies in action,” noting that at the time of the deal there was “sentiment that we overpaid, but we completed intense due diligence See B2GOLD / 2

FERTILIZER M&A: POTASHCORP, AGRIUM TO MERGE? / 13

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