Copper M&A in Latin America, TNR Gold And McEwen Mining With Los Azules Copper.

  

  We have the great news from McEwen Mining, you can Google for the whole news release. Before the value for Los Azules was based on the acquisition price paid by US Gold for Minera Andes. After the collapse in Gold prices and Argentina troubled couple of years this accounting value has became the wishful history. Now based on the valuations of Taca Taca in First Quantum Minerals takeover of Lumina Copper McEwen Mining will make the conservative accounting valuation of Los Azules. Normally the selling price for the assets is above such an assessment. You will have to make your own numbers or contact Jim Mustard at PI Financial, who is acting on behalf of TNR Gold.

McEwen Mining:

"We are conducting an impairment test of our Los Azules project in Argentina as a result of the recently announced acquisition of Lumina Copper Corp. by First Quantum Minerals Ltd., for approximately C$470 million. Lumina's only significant asset is the Taca Taca copper project located in Salta, Argentina. While there are some notable differences between Taca Taca and Los Azules, we believe the similarities in project scale and location within Argentina warrant consideration for the Lumina transaction to be a triggering event for impairment analysis. Our preliminary analysis, which places a substantial weighting on the announcement day value of the Lumina transaction to value Los Azules, indicates a pre-tax asset impairment charge in the range of approximately $90-135 million⁽¹⁾. The actual amount, when we have completed the final impairment assessment, will be reported in our quarterly 10-Q which is due to be filed on August 7, 2014.

"With First Quantum acquiring Lumina Copper and their Taca Taca project, Los Azules moves to the forefront in terms of world-class, undeveloped, high-grade copper assets not owned by a major mining company. As we have said in the past, Taca Taca serves as a good proxy for the value of Los Azules and we believe this transaction demonstrates value in projects located in Argentina", said Rob McEwen , Chief Owner, Chairman and CEO.

(1) This is a preliminary estimate range and the impairment testing work, both internally and in collaboration with our external valuation consultants is ongoing, including with respect to various underlying assumptions and comparable transaction analysis. We note that the Lumina/First Quantum transaction is not scheduled to close until approximately August 30, 2014. As of March 31, 2014, we carried the Los Azules project at a pre-tax net book value of approximately $431 million."

Mining M&A in Latin America, China And Prospects For Copper Supply.

  "Chile, Indonesia, USA, Australia and Canada together account for 80% of the world’s copper supply, and with the revived interest in the metal, many national companies are now making headlines with plans of acting to relieve demand pressures and ease supply shortfalls, signalling the potential turnaround and the major bottom in this mining cycle anticipated in the copper market. Read more." 

All slides in this part of the post are from McEwen Mining presentations.

Please Note that TNR Gold Qualified Person - as it is defined by NI 43-101, was NOT able to Verify and Confirm Any Provided Information by The Third Parties; you must NOT rely in any sense on any of this information in order to make any Resource or Value Calculation, or attribute any particular Value or Price Target to any Discussed Securities.

  Please find more information on TNR Gold website.

End of slides from McEwen Mining presentations.

Mining M&A: China's Top Gold Firm Talking To Barrick And Friedland As Copper Rallies.

    

  As we have discussed before, we have really Hot Winter In Argentina for mining M&A. Now Frik Els confirms "China's Top Gold Firm Talking to Barrick Gold, Has Friedland "hotline":

"China's largest gold mining company, China National Gold, is officially setting up shop in junior mining hub Vancouver this week as part of a push into new markets and its global acquisition strategy.

President Xin Song told the Wall Street Journal ahead of Wednesday's event, the Beijing-based firm is on the hunt for global acquisitions and partnerships in gold, silver and copper:

"The growing strategy is very clear, we are going out looking at things globally. On our hands we have a few opportunities, at different stages."

Song, who also chairs the China Gold Association, has not ruled out acquisitions in developed countries, such as Canada, Australia and the US, but the main focus of its expansion strategy is assets in the region including in Mongolia, Russia and countries in central Asia.

Investments in "politically stable" countries in Latin America and Africa are also being considered Song said. Mining.com"

TNR Gold Los Azules Copper: Chinese M&A - Watch Out For Las Bambas Effect.

  

  "Frik Els provides a very good insight into the Chinese deal culture and mining M&A particularly. Las Bambas deal is not only the very good indicator of the turning mining cycle, but also provides guidance for the smaller companies in China to go on The Hunt For Copper and other commodities. You can witness this approach in our particular case of Strategic Commodities with International Lithium and Ganfeng Lithium as well. Read more."

TNR Gold Investor Presentation March 2014 from Kirill Klip

TNR Gold: Los Azules Copper And M&A in Argentina - First Quantum Minerals to Acquire Lumina Copper For $470 Million.

Gold Smells Bacon ... Sorry Inflation - Ready to Break Through $1,330.

  

  Gold is targeting the very important level these days $1,330, after that we can have the real party. Gold smells bacon or rather sky high prices for food and other non iPad related goods and services. Inflation is real and it is here. Gold can be manipulated, but it cannot be fooled any more.

Sufiy: Toby Connor: Gold Charts - Just To Keep Your Spirit High! $GLD $GDX $TNR.v $MUX $ABX

Copper M&A: Lumina Copper Hits Another 52 W High of CAD10.55 As Copper Companies Moving Higher.

  "Copper companies are moving higher these days, more fund managers are buying in on the Inflation picking up and IMF report that China will survive "The Downturn to 7.5% Growth". I will have to adjust my numbers for Lumina Copper valuation now. Read More."

Copper M&A: Lumina Copper Hits CAD10.36 - Is Another Bid Coming For Taca Taca Now?

FED Has Found ... Sorry, Created Inflation To Save Us All - Gold Celebrates ... Quietly So Far.

  Gold and Silver are acting today like if the Chinese virus "Missing Collateral" has finally reached the London BOE vaults!

Bullish For Metals?! Missing Collateral in China, Follow The Trail of Loans, Copper and Fraud.

   FED has finally "succeeded" and Inflation is raising its ugly head. Everybody mortal, apart from the DC and FED System, who has visited at least few times any grocery shop this year knows that food prices are going up. And gas, and insurance, and electricity bills, and ... yes plasma TV prices are going down and iPads, but they are not very tasty for those on food stamps.

   We have a positive resolution today in the Head and Shoulder Bullish Reversal pattern, which we have discussed before. Closing above $1,317 this week will be very important. Nobody can manipulate markets forever. Watch the headlines tomorrow: Inflation Is Back - Gold Surges On The FED News.

TNR Gold: Shotgun Gold Project - Why Do We Need New Gold Deposits?

  "This picture above is stronger than thousand words written by the FED's hired academics and even Austrian School of Economics - it cuts through the verbal mist to the bone of Inflation definition and what it really means. It means that your FIAT money are losing it purchasing power. It happens every day, day by the day. How much you can see from the McDonald's menu from 70s.

  And below is the chart representing "Strong US Dollar Policy" in action implemented by FED from the day of its inception in 1913. Some people even think that Federal Reserve is as Federal as Federal Express, but we will not go that road today.

  Inflation is the dirty open secret of all Central Banks in the world. It creates the Inflation Tax by gradually stealing from the value of your savings and deflating the government's obligations on all social programs. It is the way for governments to finance wars and "Inflate away" their debts without taxing you "directly". Inflation follows currency debasement - organised by money printing or by QE in the iPad's century - and it is making its dirty work by itself.

  Why Gold is so important here? It is the real measure of the rate of Currency Debasement and Inflation: Gold is the Real Money, not dollars. That is why it is manipulated so heavily:

  I will address you to James Rickards' books: "Currency Wars" and "The Death of Money" to get more information in depth on these subjects and Gold Manipulation is widely discussed on the web today. Read more."

  Investment banks are starting to connect the dots even for the clients, they are themselves all-in long time ago, as I would guess, and announcing that Inflation is ... bullish for Gold.

"Upgrade comes earlier than expected…

Canaccord Genuity North American Portfolio Strategist, Martin Roberge, has lifted his rating on the Gold Sector to Overweight, due to escalating inflation risk.

The upgrade comes slightly earlier than expected as Roberge believes that the Fed is cornered…following stronger-than-expected U.S. CPI on Tuesday and the marked jump in Roberge’s CPI diffusion index, Martin believes there is a non-trivial risk that the Fed temporarily abandons its 2% inflation target.

If the Fed is willing to take an inflation risk, investors should buy inflation-protection hedges. Already, bond vigilantes are doing so byfavouring real-return bonds (RRBs) over Treasuries. Inflationary pressures fuel inflation expectations, two positive drivers for the price of gold. Lastly, investors should note that U.S. inflation jitters are brewing while monetary reflation has gone global. World central bankers are in a race to reflate before a global bear market in bonds renders their easing policies impotent.

For those who remember, this looks like 1993 all over again and  Roberge further highlights that there are many seasonal factors that could lead to a rally in gold and gold equities in H2/14:

·         Golds tend to have a strong H2 in calendar years following a gold rout
·         2014 marks the third year of the gold bear market and the 200-week average sits at $1,500/oz
·         Roberge thinks gold stocks are cheap and should protect portfolios in a correction."

  The chart above provides you with idea why we need more Gold deposits now. Even if Major Gold Miners are squeezed on margins and divesting the projects now - it is these industry's fundamentals which will drive this market forward. Falling gold prices are the best cure from the low Gold prices. Gold miners are mining the "Gold Dust" by the 90s standards.

  Number of discoveries is going down and will go down even more with Junior Miners struggling to get access to the capital now to develop their projects. Grades and sizes of discoveries are going down as well - easy stuff is all  already found or is located in not so friendly places. We have Peak Cheap Gold in place now, whatever the Gold market massaged by BIS will tell you.

  China's buying record amount of gold last couple of years will be the very strong confirmation of Gold monetary value and recent pick up in M&A activity provides very important signal for the bottom in this mining cycle:

"China continues its buying spree of copper assets all over the Globe: last month the huge Las Bambas copper project in Peru was bought by Minmetals Group for $5.85 B and now Guandong is bidding for PanAust. Reuters reports on the deal and you can notice how the activity in M&A by Chinese companies is picking up during the "soft market". It is the very important indication of the major bottom in the mining cycle: it is cheaper "to dig" for Copper and Gold on the Stock Exchanges now, when valuations of assets in the ground of listed companies are discounted by the depressed mining markets. "

  This is another reason why I personally came into the TNR Gold - Shotgun Gold project in Alaska. Gary Schellenberg and John Harrop - our VP of Explorations, have done the great job over the years exploring this project with Nova Gold and now we have 100% of it and Nova Gold has become TNR Gold's shareholder. After our drilling results in 2012 Greg Johnson the founder of Nova Gold has joined our Board and we have published the first resource estimation on the Shotgun Gold project last May.

  It was the first confirmation of my personal dream to develop the important Gold deposit and even if it is still the very early stage of project development, this dream is not limited in size by the resource model at Shotgun Gold project at this time:

"The mineralization style observed at Shotgun Ridge bears a strong resemblance to the 40 million ounce deposit at the Donlin Gold project operated by Barrick and NovaGold," stated recently appointed director Greg Johnson, "The similar age and host intrusive rocks suggest that, with continued exploration, there is significant potential to locate larger volumes of mineralization in and around Shotgun Ridge."

  We are working on the corporate structure now, which will allow to develop Shotgun Gold with the potential new strategic partner on J/V basis like we are doing with Ganfeng Lithium in International Lithium. You can find more information in the Shotgun Gold Project presentation below, on our website and give us a call to discuss it at any time.

TNR Gold Shotgun Gold Presentation, Alaska - April 2014 from Kirill Klip

TNR Gold Los Azules Copper - Reuters: Fund Managers See Value In Copper Miners.

  

  

  M&A in Copper is heating up and now according to Reuters Fund Managers See Value In Copper Miners. Now projects like Los Azules will be moving onto the M&A radar screens in the industry, it will be interesting now to find out who will be the first to pick this developing story and issue a valuation report.

"Some of big funds have increased exposure to copper

* Copper market seen tilting into deficit from 2016

* Lack of investment to feed next boom-analysts 

By Silvia Antonioli

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - Some fund managers are increasing exposure to copper mining companies, betting the industry has reached the bottom of a downturn and that shares offer value for money.

Copper has lost almost a third of its value from a peak in 2011 due to a slowdown in top metals consumer China, which buys about 40 percent of global output.

Copper miners' shares represented by the Thomson Reuters GFMS pure-play copper companies index fell by almost 40 percent over the same period. Reuters."

All slides in this part of the post are from McEwen Mining presentations.

Please Note that TNR Gold Qualified Person - as it is defined by NI 43-101, was NOT able to Verify and Confirm Any Provided Information by The Third Parties; you must NOT rely in any sense on any of this information in order to make any Resource or Value Calculation, or attribute any particular Value or Price Target to any Discussed Securities.

  Please find more information on TNR Gold website.

End of slides from McEwen Mining presentations.

Copper M&A: Lumina Copper Hits CAD10.36 - Is Another Bid Coming For Taca Taca Now?

  "Please do not get very excited and read my legal disclaimer carefully, but as we have seen before this kind of price action in Lumina Copper case can tell us that something is going on. It can be the simple arbitrage play by the big guns, but the market cap of Lumina copper is already higher than the calculated at the announced acquisition price by First Quantum Minerals. The announced price was CAD 470 million. Lumina Copper has 46,978,235 Fully Diluted shares, price at CAD10.36 gives us already CAD 487 million! I do not think that it is bet on rising Copper price or rising First Quantum share price - you can more safely buy the First Quantum shares in that case. Somebody thinks that Taca Taca can be worth more...

  Let's see what the next couple of weeks will bring us here. I will repost my yesterday's entry and you will appreciate later why it is important. Now Los Azules Copper will be making its rounds in the industry.

Mining M&A: China's Top Gold Firm Talking To Barrick And Friedland As Copper Rallies.

    

  As we have discussed before, we have really Hot Winter In Argentina for mining M&A. Now Frik Els confirms "China's Top Gold Firm Talking to Barrick Gold, Has Friedland "hotline":

"China's largest gold mining company, China National Gold, is officially setting up shop in junior mining hub Vancouver this week as part of a push into new markets and its global acquisition strategy.

President Xin Song told the Wall Street Journal ahead of Wednesday's event, the Beijing-based firm is on the hunt for global acquisitions and partnerships in gold, silver and copper:

"The growing strategy is very clear, we are going out looking at things globally. On our hands we have a few opportunities, at different stages."

Song, who also chairs the China Gold Association, has not ruled out acquisitions in developed countries, such as Canada, Australia and the US, but the main focus of its expansion strategy is assets in the region including in Mongolia, Russia and countries in central Asia.

Investments in "politically stable" countries in Latin America and Africa are also being considered Song said. Mining.com"

TNR Gold: Shotgun Gold Project - Why Do We Need New Gold Deposits?

"We are working on the corporate structure now, which will allow to develop Shotgun Gold with the potential new strategic partner on J/V basis like we are doing with Ganfeng Lithium in International Lithium. You can find more information in the Shotgun Gold Project presentation below, on our website and give us a call to discuss it at any time. Read more."

TNR Gold Shotgun Gold Presentation, Alaska - April 2014 from Kirill Klip

  Gold smells Inflation and is moving higher these days, Chinese quest for resources will bring new deals into the mining M&A space and projects like Shotgun Gold will be on the radar screens of investors again.

  Now Copper is making headlines as well and Wall Street Journal reports "Copper Prices Seen Marching Higher":

"Some investors are turning bullish on copper prices, brushing aside concerns sparked by a probe into the metal's place in China's financial system. Instead, these investors are focusing on a rebound in manufacturing world-wide, which they expect will boost copper demand broadly. Increasing consumption by factories will offset any decline in the use of copper as collateral to back loans as a result of the probe, these investors say. China is the world's biggest copper consumer and importer, though how much of the metal goes to manufacturers is unclear. WSJ."

  As you already know, my personal take on the Missing Collateral in China is Bullish for the metals:

Bullish For Metals?! Missing Collateral in China, Follow The Trail of Loans, Copper and Fraud.

"In my personal opinion, we are witnessing the same game of the rehypothecation as it is happening with FED, BIS, Investment Banks and Gold. This, actually missing metal as collateral, will be the very bullish set up for the commodities markets. After initial selling due to the margin calls and unwinding of Paper Positions in the market, Mr Market will realise that all these metal accounted for the supply and demand picture is NOT there. Industrial demand will stay in place, but Supply which was supposed to be hoarded in the warehouses is missing: the collateral was used a few times for the different transactions. Read More."

TNR Gold Los Azules Copper: Chinese M&A - Watch Out For Las Bambas Effect.

  

  "Frik Els provides a very good insight into the Chinese deal culture and mining M&A particularly. Las Bambas deal is not only the very good indicator of the turning mining cycle, but also provides guidance for the smaller companies in China to go on The Hunt For Copper and other commodities. You can witness this approach in our particular case of Strategic Commodities with International Lithium and Ganfeng Lithium as well. Read more."

TNR Gold Investor Presentation March 2014 from Kirill Klip

TNR Gold: Los Azules Copper And M&A in Argentina - First Quantum Minerals to Acquire Lumina Copper For $470 Million.