Mining news update:

 

Mining Industry News: for Mines Minerals and Mustangs

The current status of the mining industry is both a good-news and a bad-news story. The good news is that most commodity prices are up and those producing mines are making loads of money. The bad news is that the effect of the October, 2008 economic crash remains with us, and there is very little capital available for high risk ventures.
This status has brought a significant inequity to the mining business. The big companies are making loads of money from their operating mines and are plowing this money back into the ground in the form of mineral exploration, while the junior companies are having trouble finding cash to sustain their overhead. The big companies are staking loads of mining claims, quietly making discoveries, and quite frankly driving the junior companies out of the business. A good example of this is the onerous mining tax in Nevada, whereby the major miners recommended to the State legislators that a mining tax on claims would be an ideal method of raising money to pay off a mining debt. Low-and-behold the junior can’t afford this luxury and winds up dropping its ground. In the meantime, the major is right there staking the same ground as it becomes open.

The juniors are fighting back, and thanks to my buddy and colleague, Dave Shaddrick, he has organized the “Nevada Mineral Exploration Coalition” (NMEC), whose sole purpose is to fight to have this tax rescinded. If you haven’t heard of this group, please contact Dave to join (dshaddrick@aol.com).

The juniors are survivors and are applying this instinct to the maximum. The economy in the USA is showing some signs of improvements and raising capital for high risk ventures is becoming somewhat easier. Those companies that have been able sustain the bad times, maintaining their treasury and mineral property portfolio, are starting to be rewarded for their patience. Rumours are flying high that discoveries are being made in Tanzania, the Yukon, Australia, as well as Nevada. It is anticipated that the junior miners will again be rocking-and-rolling in 2011. Let’s hope that this time, there will be no more frauds or scams. None of us want to hear “Bre-ex”, “Timbuktu” or “Naxos” again.
My life in the mining business still focuses in Nevada. I am on the Board of three companies, all participating big-time in Nevada. I know Nevada geology and mineral potential well. It ranks second as a jurisdiction in the world for annual production of gold. There are more ounces of gold per square mile in Nevada than any other location on this planet, including South Africa, and there is no sign of this being super-ceded. I am proud to be part of the mining industry in Nevada, and now that we own a home in Reno, I can be part of the strong geological society, and hopefully participate in many more discoveries.

Look forward to a more favorable report at a later date.

 

John Kerr

September 2010

 

Mines Minerals & Mustangs has been:

Republished by Focal Impressions©

Reprinted in Canada by Friesens.

ISBN 978-0-9809603-0-3

 

$49.95 US/CND