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Africa Mining

Judge questions court’s role in SEC’s ‘conflict minerals’ rule – by Sarah N. Lynch (Reuters U.S. – July 1, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON – (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday questioned whether U.S. courts should intervene regarding a rule that forces public companies to disclose if their products contain minerals extracted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been castigated for committing human rights abuses.

Three business trade groups are challenging the “conflict minerals” rule from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it is nearly impossible to track minuscule amounts of such minerals in their supply chains. They also say the rule violates companies’ free speech rights because it makes them engage in “politically charged” speech.

The rule is championed by human rights groups, which say disclosing this kind of information will help socially conscious investors. Opponents say the rule is a compliance nightmare that will cost billions and unfairly tarnish companies’ reputations by forcing them to make political statements about their products.

During roughly three hours of oral arguments, Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia suggested to an attorney for the trade groups that federal courts should consider deferring to Congress on the matter. “This is a circumstance where a court should really defer to Congress and the executive in an area of foreign policy where the court has no expertise,” he said.

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Mining’s damaging ‘blame game’ destroying South Africa – Xstrata Alloys – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – June 26, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The South African economy could no longer afford the damaging “blame game” under way in the crucial mining sector, which needed to take urgent steps to prepare for the inevitable next commodities boom, Xstrata Alloys executive director Mike Rossouw said on Wednesday.

Speaking during a national radio debate on SAfm’s AMLive, hosted by Dhashen Moodley, Rossouw described South Africa as being “100% dependent” on mining to grow and transform its economy in that the country’s secondary and tertiary sectors were totally mining dependent in some cases and largely dependent in all cases.

The current mining decline was worsening South Africa’s already negative balance of payments at a time when the country needed money to grow and transform.

“We really need to understand mining’s role as a dynamo of the South African economy,” Rossouw added, to support from former Anglo American South Africa head Kuseni Dlamini, who called for recognition to be given to the mining industry’s advances on virtually every single front.

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After Labor Strikes, What’s Next for Platinum? – Interview by Brian Sylvester (The Metals Report – June 25, 2013)

http://www.streetwisereports.com/

Violent South African mining labor strikes shocked the globe in 2012, but the resulting negotiations underway could create more stable supply flows in the long term—that’s how CPM Commodity Analyst Erica Rannestad sees it. In this interview with The Metals Report, Rannestad discusses the key developments that could signal a price rise and which producers could clean up big on high-priced PGMs.

The Metals Report: Erica, the platinum group metals (PGM) sector created a lot of buzz at the beginning of this year. What can investors expect in the coming 12 months?

Erica Rannestad: There’s going to be a lot of development in labor and wage negotiation structures in South Africa. It could potentially improve labor conditions in the platinum mining sector, which would provide more certainty about supply flows.

The PGM markets are highly concentrated, meaning that both supply and demand are heavily reliant on only a few sources. On the supply side, about 75% of platinum mine supply comes from South Africa.

These metals are primarily industrial commodities and their prices move in tandem with industrial activity, mostly in the auto sector. At present, there is weakness in platinum prices because demand from the European auto sector is weak and contracting. During the next 12–18 months, growth could improve in the European auto market, which would be positive for platinum prices.

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Insurgency threat may dim Mozambique’s shine for investors – by Marina Lopes and Pascal Fletcher (Reuters U.S. – June 20, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

MAPUTO/JOHANNESBURG – (Reuters) – An economic take-off in Mozambique driven by bumper coal and gas discoveries two decades after the end of a civil war is facing disruption from disgruntled former guerrillas who feel they have not benefited from the post-conflict dividend.

A public threat by the ex-rebel Renamo opposition party to paralyze central rail and road links has put the Frelimo government on alert and alarmed diplomats and investors.

A slide back into the kind of all-out war that crippled the former Portuguese southern African colony between 1975 and 1992 looks unlikely. Nevertheless, Mozambique’s rebirth as an attractive tourism and investment destination could lose some of its momentum after armed attacks in the last two months blamed on Renamo.

The raids in central Sofala province killed at least 11 soldiers and police and three civilians and came after Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama returned with his civil war comrades to the Gorongosa jungle base where they operated in the 1980s.

“It does bring back all those fears of the war,” said Joseph Hanlon, a senior lecturer at Britain’s Open University and an expert on Mozambique.

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South Africans worried Nelson Mandela’s health more dire than officials saying – by Matthew Fisher (National Post – June 25, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

PRETORIA — With virtually no fresh information about the precarious state of Nelson Mandela’s health for four days, South Africans Tuesday feared his condition could be even worse than officially acknowledged.

“There are just so many rumours and nobody will tell us anything,” said Kgopotso Nkoe, a law student at Pretoria University. “We know nothing and it is frustrating. We want to know because we love him as a man who chose peace over revenge and because he did so much for our people.”

Ms. Nkoe and her friend, Faith Sithole, had come to the Mediclinic Heart Hospital to learn more than what the country had been told in three terse bulletins since Saturday, when Mr. Mandela was rushed to hospital in the wee hours.

As of late Tuesday, all that had been officially announced was South Africa’s revered first black president, the man who vanquished apartheid, was in intensive care in “serious, but stable condition.”

Despite the dearth of official news or perhaps because of it, the frail 94-year-old statesman’s anxious countrymen had been speculating — often wildly — about his health since he was hospitalized for the fourth time in seven months for urgent treatment for a recurring lung infection.

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Abe Offers $32 Billion to Africa as Japan Seeks Resources – by Isabel Reynolds & Takashi Hirokawa (Bloomberg News – June 1, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged 3.2 trillion yen ($32 billion) to Africa as his government seeks to catch up with China in pursuing resources, markets and influence on the continent.

Abe announced the five-year commitment of public and private support in a speech today at theTokyo International Conference on African Development. Officials from about 50 nations are attending the meeting, held every five years, which is the biggest African development event outside the continent since it began in 1993.

Africa’s economic growth is luring Japanese exporters, while the government wants to tap the natural gas and oil there after the 2011 Fukushima disaster led to the closing of Japan’s nuclear plants. Chinese firms helped fuel $138.6 billion in China-Africa trade in 2011, almost five timesJapan’s commerce with the continent, according to the Foreign Ministry, citing International Monetary Fund data.

“China has become a far greater presence than Japan in Africa — it’s overwhelming,” said Kazuyoshi Aoki, a professor at Nihon University in Tokyo who specializes in African matters. “The difference lies in the level of determination. There’s a different perception of Africa’s importance.”

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CORRECTED-UPDATE 2-Two dead in suspected Renamo attacks in Mozambique – by Marina Lopes (Reuters India – June 21, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

MAPUTO, June 21 (Reuters) – Gunmen killed two people in ambushes on vehicles in Mozambique on Friday, two days after the opposition Renamo party threatened to sabotage transport routes in the mineral-rich southern African country.

Just before the attacks, police arrested Renamo information chief Jeronimo Malagueta, who on Wednesday had announced that the ex-guerrilla group would halt traffic on main roads and the Sena railway linking the northwest coal-fields to the sea.

Persistent tension between Renamo and the ruling Frelimo party, who fought each other in a 1975-92 civil war, has alarmed citizens and investors just as the former Portuguese colony enjoys a boom driven by bumper coal and gas discoveries.

“We urge all Mozambicans to stay vigilant to premeditated and spontaneous attacks and threats to public safety,” Interior ministry spokesman Pedro Cossa told a news conference in Maputo.

Cossa said a truck driver and his passenger were killed and five others wounded in Friday’s attacks. He denied reports that a bridge was damaged in the central province of Sofala, a Renamo stronghold.

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[Mining] Anti-slavery campaign targets Nintendo for protest day – by Colin Campbell (Polygon.com – June 19, 2013)

http://www.polygon.com/

http://www.walkfree.org/

A new campaign has been launched by anti-slavery organization Walk Free that aims to persuade Nintendo to tighten up its supply chain and avoid the use of ‘conflict minerals’ mined by slave labor.

Walk Free has launched a video lampooning Nintendo characters Mario and Luigi, which states that Nintendo has yet to respond to a forceful campaign to join an electronics industry audit program for conflict-free mineral supplies. The video points out that minerals sourced from some suppliers come from slavery operations in conflict regions, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, where miners are often forced to work at gunpoint.

Walk Free’s website states that the campaign aims to tell Nintendo that “slavery is not a game.” It adds, “We’ve sent 430,558 emails calling on Nintendo to take concrete steps to ensure slave-mined conflict minerals are not in its gaming consoles, and we have heard nothing back.”

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SA platinum industry could shed 145 500 jobs by 2015 – by Idéle Esterhuizen (MiningWeekly.com – June 18, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s embattled platinum industry is at risk of losing 145 500 jobs by 2015, an analyst from Nomura said on Tuesday.

Assuming a breakeven platinum price of $1 500/oz for 2014 and 2015, Peter Attard-Montalto said in a report that about 24 000 jobs would be at risk next year, growing to 121 500 in 2015.

He stated that the number of job losses was linked to about 64-million ounces of production in 2014, or 14% of South Africa’s total supply, and about 277-million ounces, or 59% of the country’s output, the following year.

“We can therefore see that the necessity and effects of restructuring will spread widely beyond Amplats [Anglo American Platinum],” Attard-Montalto said in a statement, adding that the political clampdown on Amplats that banned restructuring job losses was only postponing the inevitable.

“Put simply, we do not believe that platinum mines will produce at a loss for more than two years…the jobs at risk could be shed after the election, when the mines will be under greater pain and the government will not be in the same place in the electoral cycle,” he put forward.

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Insecurity in Congo copper province a “serious concern” -UN – by Jonny Hogg (Reuters India – June 17, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

Rebels attack Congo Katanga mining province

KINSHASA, June 17 (Reuters) – Security in Congo’s copper-mining heartland of Katanga is a “very serious concern” that must be tackled politically and militarily, the outgoing head of the U.N. peackeeping mission said on Monday. The province, which sits on some of the world’s largest copper reserves, last year exported 600,000 tonnes. Miners including Freeport McMoRan and Glencore already operate there.

In March, hundreds of rebel fighters attacked the Katangan capital of Lubumbashi and then surrendered following bloody clashes with security forces. On Sunday, a soldier was killed during fighting between the army and insurgents 20 km (12 miles) from the city.

“It’s a quite significant problem, and I think it has all the prospects of becoming worse,” Roger Meece, the head of the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, said.

“One can do what is possible militarily and or with a police force but … the real solutions have to be found in these political factors,” Meece, who is leaving his post later this month, said in an interview.

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Tempers flare at mine as leaders dither – by Loni Prinsloo (South Africa Business Day Live – June 16, 2013)

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

AS HIGH-level leaders of government, business and labour met on Friday to stabilise the troubled mining environment, tempers flared at one of South Africa’s biggest platinum mines in Rustenburg.

Chris Griffiths, CEO of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), met Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and other senior stakeholders while about 2,400 workers were prevented by other employees from exiting underground operations at Amplats’ Thembalani mine near Rustenburg by shop stewards of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

Amplats said this followed the suspension of four shop stewards “for inappropriate behaviour that is against our behavioural procedure”.

The battle between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Amcu that boiled over in August 2012 has not died. Tensions are running high with the first round of wage negotiations due in about two weeks. Amcu is determined to gain majority recognition at the platinum mines.

“While it is a positive move for leaders from different spheres to come together to address the issues, it will ultimately be the buy-in from workers that determines whether such a framework will make any difference. Therein lies the real challenge,” said Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis.

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UPDATE 2-S.Africa’s Zuma talks tough against mining unrest – by Wendell Roelf (Reuters India – June 12, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

World’s top platinum producer rocked by unrest

CAPE TOWN, June 12 (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma vowed on Wednesday to take a hard line against labour unrest in the mining sector, which has been rocked by 18 months of killings and wildcat strikes that have threatened to destabilise Africa’s biggest economy.

Zuma’s decisive comments helped lift the rand about 8 cents to 9.94 per dollar, a stark contrast to last month, when the currency sank to four-year lows after he held a news conference to try and stem its slide.

“Our law enforcement agencies have been instructed not to tolerate those who commit crime in the name of labour relations. They will face the full might of the law,” he told parliament.

He also said his government would remain impartial in a turf war between the upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the National Union of Mineworkers, a long-standing ally of the ruling ANC.

“Government does not take sides and does not favour any labour union over others in the mining industry. Our interest is in finding solutions,” he said.

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The Worldwide Ramifications of South Africa’s Labor Disputes – by Uven Chong (Slate.com – June 12, 2013)

http://www.slate.com/

The country is the best source for metals critical for making lower-emission vehicles.

In May, security officials confronted 500 protesters at a chromium mine in Rustenburg, South Africa. Rubber bullets were fired, and 10 people were hospitalized. This is just the latest in a series of wildcat strikes turned violent in South African mines. Most notably, 34 miners died during a confrontation between miners and police in August at a platinum mine in Marikana.

These strikes are the result of rapidly deteriorating labor relations in the South African mining industry. Mining companies are facing increased financial pressure from rising costs and low global metal prices. They must also contend with rolling blackouts, which is crucial in the energy-intensive mining industry. This harms routine mining production and profits. As a result of these difficulties, companies are considering downsizing and laying off workers in an attempt to return to profitability.

Understandably, mine workers are not happy about the possibility of losing their jobs. They are also demanding higher wages because their salaries are not keeping up with the rapidly rising cost of living. To top this all off, rival labor unions are attempting to win workers’ support by making seemingly impossible-to-meet demands of mining companies. For instance, the National Union of Mineworkers wants to increase wages for gold and coal miners up to 60 percent.

The rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union—which has successfully poached enough members from the NUM to represent a majority of platinum miners—is expected to put in similarly ambitious wage demands.

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Allana Says Concerns for Potash Supply Glut Overblown – by Christopher Donville (Bloomberg News – June 10, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/

Allana Potash Corp. (AAA), the Canadian developer of a $642 million potash mine in Ethiopia, says predictions of a global oversupply of the crop nutrient are overblown because competing projects are being put on hold.

World potash production capacity will rise 38 percent to 96.5 million metric tons by 2017, while demand will increase 26 percent to 66 million tons, according to Green Markets, a fertilizer industry information provider.

Supply forecasts include mines that aren’t yet in production and may be shelved or canceled because of rising construction costs, said Farhad Abasov, Toronto-based Allana’s chief executive officer.

“On paper it seems like there is quite a bit of supply coming on line,” Abasov said in a May 28 telephone interview from London. “In reality only a handful of them will hit production.”

Soaring expenses are beginning to exact a toll on proposed potash mines around the world. Vale SA, the third-largest mining company, in March suspended its Rio Colorado project in Argentina after the estimated cost almost doubled to about $11 billion.

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Allana in Ethiopia Snubs Potash Supply Concern: Corporate Canada – by Christopher Donville (Bloomberg News – June 10, 2013)

http://www.businessweek.com/

Allana Potash Corp. (AAA), the Canadian developer of a $642 million potash mine in Ethiopia, says predictions of a global oversupply of the crop nutrient are overblown because competing projects are being put on hold.

World potash production capacity will rise 38 percent to 96.5 million metric tons by 2017, while demand will increase 26 percent to 66 million tons, according to Green Markets, a fertilizer industry information provider.

Supply forecasts include mines that aren’t yet in production and may be shelved or canceled because of rising construction costs, said Farhad Abasov, Toronto-based Allana’s chief executive officer.

“On paper it seems like there is quite a bit of supply coming on line,” Abasov said in a May 28 telephone interview from London. “In reality only a handful of them will hit production.”

Soaring expenses are beginning to exact a toll on proposed potash mines around the world. Vale SA, the third-largest mining company, in March suspended its Rio Colorado project in Argentina after the estimated cost almost doubled to about $11 billion.

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