Welcome back to your weekly mining news recap. At the end of the week we’ll catch you up on the mining news from CIM Magazine and elsewhere that you may have missed. In this week’s headlines: short sellers do little to dissuade investment in B.C.’s Golden Triangle, trade disputes continue to affect metal prices and the Liberal government outlines part of its plans to get the Trans Mountain expansion approved.

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Allegations of fraud from anonymous short selling group Viceroy Research has hardly affected the stock prices of Pretium Resources, the operator of the Brucejack mine in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle region, Financial Post reported. Despite Viceroy releasing a 47-page report levying claims against the company, Pretium stock dropped to $6.65 per share, down from $7.81 per share, before fully recovering. The region is a hotbed for gold mining in the province, with several companies finding large deposits in the area.

The death of Pascal Goulet, a miner who was killed at North American Palladium’s Lac des Iles mine in 2014, was deemed accidental by a coroner’s inquest. Goulet was found with a rock weighing as much as 500 pounds on his head, outside his loader vehicle in a marked “no-go zone.” The five-person jury gave nine recommendations to agencies such as the Mining Legislative Review Committee, the Ontario Ministry of Labour and North American Palladium itself, to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. The United Steelworkers, Goulet’s union, pledged to ensure the recommendations are implemented.

Eldorado Gold has filed a request with the Greek government for €750 million in compensation for delays in receiving permits related to its Skouries project. Eldorado and the Greek government have been butting heads for a long time over the company’s operations in the country. The request — equivalent to approximately $1.14 billion — covers out-of-pocket costs and loss profits from Skouries, according to the company.

Imperial Metals says it will be restructuring its B.C. operations and is looking at several “strategic alternatives” to improve its finances, including an asset sale. It has also had preliminary discussions with a possible joint-venture partner, Mining Journal reported. Imperial’s finances have been affected by a two-month strike at its Mount Polley mine. Last week, the company announced that it had extended the due date of its $200 million secured revolving senior credit facility, its $50 million second lien credit facility as well as its $26 million bridge loan to February 2019.  

North American Palladium will extend the life of its Lac Des Iles mine by one year, in addition to doubling its throughput, according to its new feasibility study. The company has found success with its recent adoption of a sublevel shrinkage mining method, and is planning to implement it on all its near-surface resources. The company will expand its underground mine rather than push back the dormant Ruby open pit, allowing it to increase annual production to over 12,000 pounds per day, up from 6,000 previously.

The B.C. Court of Appeal issued an injunction that forced Taseko Mines to once again stop work at its New Prosperity project until the court hears an appeal from the Tsilhqot’in Nation. The First Nation is appealing a B.C. Supreme Court decision that dismissed its petition to quash Taseko’s exploration permit. “Sadly that’s just the new reality of trying to invest in British Columbia,” Taseko vice-president of corporate affairs Brian Battison told us. The appeal is scheduled to be heard in late November.

Although 2018 was supposed to be a strong year for metal prices, trade disputes have caused price drops for several base metals. The price of zinc dropped from $1.60 per pound in February to $1 per pound in August, and copper has also seen a significant reduction in price. However, nickel and cobalt have both avoided the slump, thanks in part to the growing demand for battery-powered electric vehicles.

The fall in metal prices might not be bad news for everyone. Cree Employability Skills Development Partnership coordinator Daniel Bland explains in his column how Indigenous communities can maximize their benefits once the market picks up. Bland suggests that Indigenous communities take account of their labour forces in order to adequately prepare for when the job opportunities at mines start coming back. This way, the remote communities closest to the mining operations will be able to better take advantage of the opportunity.

An armed attack on a residence near Continental Gold’s Berlin project left three employees dead and three more injured. Authorities believe the perpetrators to be former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This is the second attack at a Continental site this month — two engineers at the Buriticá project were attacked in early September — though the company said the two incidents are not related.

The federal Liberals have asked the National Energy Board (NEB) to reconsider its initial recommendation approving the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, this time taking into account the effects of increased tanker traffic on marine wildlife. Natural resources minister Amarjeet Sohi announced the plans today and said the NEB will have 22 weeks to return with its new findings.

And now, a message from our sponsors. One of Sandvik’s new generation of autonomous loaders navigates a tight maze of glass panels without a driver at the wheel in this video. Sandvik CEO Björn Rosengren even makes an appearance at the end to ensure that the test wasn’t faked — and to cause a bit of wanton destruction at the same time.