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Africa Mining

South Africa on the brink – Northern Miner Editorial (October 1, 2012)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Post-apartheid South Africa has provided duelling optimists and pessimists with plenty of fodder to back up their long-standing positions. There have been unabashed triumphs — such as the country’s avoidance of Zimbabwe-style de-evolution, and its wonderful job hosting the World Cup — bumping right up against major societal obstacles, such as the flood of truly appalling violent crime, and the intractability of the nation’s simmering racial, class and tribal divides.

The strikes this year in the country’s platinum and gold mines, and particularly the recently settled strike at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine near Rustenburg, are once again causing miners and investors around the world to pause and wonder what’s next for South Africa’s mining sector, which accounts for a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product.

The 46-person death toll during the now-settled Marikana strike made headlines around the world, as it echoed some of the worst political violence of the apartheid era. As has been detailed in this and past issues, on Aug. 16, what appear on video to be trigger happy police — both black and white — opened fire with automatic weapons on a group of 3,000 strikers that had refused orders to disperse, killing 34 workers and wounding another 78. Some 270 strikers were arrested.

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Africa’s investment boom offers valuable lessons – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – September 29, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

GOULGOULTOUN, BURKINA FASO – Within sight of the biggest gold mine in Burkina Faso, hundreds of children are slipping silently into starvation.

They live in flimsy wattle or mud huts in a scrub wasteland. They help their parents scrounge for flecks of gold in the sand. And every month, hundreds are so malnourished that they need emergency food at the village clinic – just a short walk from the perimeter of the massive high-tech gold mine, owned by a Canadian company.

I’ve seen the same contrasts and inequities across Africa: poverty and hunger in the shadow of gleaming new mines and plantations; luxury hotel towers rising near crowded slums; villagers gaining jobs from multinational projects while others lose their land; local entrepreneurs capitalizing on the economic growth even as most of the profits go to foreign shareholders.

Today’s investment boom is Africa’s biggest opportunity in decades, but will it seize the moment or squander it? Some African countries are getting it right and there are lessons to be drawn from their successes.

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S.African mine labour strife halts slide in chrome – by Harpreet Bhal and Silvia Antonioli (Reuters.com – September 26, 2012)

http://af.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The impact of South African mine labour unrest has spread beyond precious metals to UG2 chrome ore, a by product of platinum and key ingredient in stainless steel, with output cuts putting a floor under prices after four months of decline.

In recent months, violent labour unrest over pay has disrupted production at some of the largest South African platinum mines, including those owned by Anglo American Platinum, Lonmin and Aquarius Platinum.

South Africa accounts for more than 80 percent of global platinum supply, but it also produces over half of the world’s chrome. Both markets are in global surplus, but uncertainty created by production cuts has induced fresh buying.

Although disputes at some south African shafts have been resolved, strikes are in full force at others and continuing to spread, raising worries that prolonged disruptions might hit production further.

So far strikes have cut output of UG2 chrome ore by about 150,000-250,000 tonnes, market players said, a significant enough amount to have an effect on prices, even in an over supplied market.

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Africa next: With investment outpacing aid, is this a new golden age for the poorest continent? – by Geoffry York (Globe and Mail – September 22, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Sierra Leone — In the dusty streets of the tiny village of Romaro, a building boom is under way. Crumbling mud shacks are being replaced by new tin-roofed houses. Almost overnight, the village’s ancient way of life has vanished. Most of its farmland has been swallowed up by a Swiss multinational, Addax Bioenergy, which has leased more than 14,000 hectares of Sierra Leone for a $330-million sugar-cane plantation to produce ethanol for the European market.

Centuries of subsistence farming have been replaced by wage labour as the 200 villagers are propelled into the globalized economy. Most families in Romaro now have at least one person employed by the Swiss company, which pays leases and helps to plow the remaining farmland. The money has allowed the villagers to build 13 new houses.

“We get a wage every month,” says Mohamed Kamara, a security guard at the sugar-cane plantation. “Now, I have job security, and I can get credit from a bank. It’s far better than before.”

It’s the unexpected message of today’s Africa. Every week, another bank or investment fund is touting it as the next big thing, an emerging lion to follow the Asian tigers. Resource exports are soaring, and growth is climbing to unprecedented heights – second only to Asia, and fast catching up. And for the first time in generations, Africa is receiving more investment than foreign aid.

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Africa next: The quest for Africa’s riches – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – September 24, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

LUBUMBASHI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO – Driving north in Africa’s copper belt, Mark Crandon marvels at the new factories and offices along the highway. “It’s crazy,” he says. “None of this was here three weeks ago.”

upermarkets and shopping malls are opening too. They’re fresh fuel for his theory that anyone can make money in this corner of Africa. “You could almost blindly open any business here and it would be a success,” he says . There’s just no competition.”

It’s an unlikely place for a foreign investor to be raving about. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the world’s most corrupt, impoverished and war-torn countries. Millions have died in the military and political chaos of recent years. Yet even here, the lure of the Africa boom is proving irresistible.

In the copper-belt city of Lubumbashi, the nouveaux riches of the mining industry can be spotted at upscale businesses such as La Plage – a glitzy suburban mall with a gelato shop, high-priced supermarket and cafés, not to mention a swimming pool and an artificial sand beach with parasols and volleyball nets.

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[South African] Platinum output disruption – It ain’t over yet – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – september 21, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

As the platinum price discount to gold increases again following the Lonmin settlement it may yet be too early to write off the labour problems at the SA mines as being over.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – As the dust begins to settle at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine and workers drift back after the killings and walkouts, the platinum price has drifted back to a substantial discount to the gold price again.  This morning the price for platinum was some $140 below that of gold, back from a deficit that had fallen to as low as the high $60s at the peak of the Lonmin upheavals.

But perhaps the quick new rise in the gold:platinum price ratio has been overdone given the amount of lost production to date, not just at Lonmin – and at Impala earlier in the year – but also at the other platinum mines in the Rustenburg area which have all been affected to some extent, as well as the potential for further loss of output ahead. 

Notably, the world’s largest platinum miner, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has itself faced substantial disruption and had to temporarily suspend output for a few days and, perhaps more importantly, is still suffering in the fallout from the Marikana problems with militant miners blockading the streets and creating an atmosphere which is not conducive to their fellows returning to work. 

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Two more killed in crackdown on South Africa mine strikes – by Carley Petesch and Michelle Faul (Globe and Mail – September 20, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Rustenburg, South Africa — The Associated Press

South African police have killed two more people in a crackdown on striking miners, labour advocates said Thursday, with the victims being a ruling party municipal councillor who died of injuries from a rubber bullet and a miner who was run over by an armoured car.

Police threatened to take further action Thursday against illegally protesting strikers at the world’s biggest platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum. Wildcat strikes continued at several other mines even as miners returned to work at the Lonmin PLC platinum mine where police killed 34 miners on Aug. 16. The violence started Aug. 10 with a wage dispute and union rivalry.

Police in two water cannon trucks and several armoured cars moved in Thursday morning on a gathering of striking Anglo American Platinum miners at a shantytown where residents set up barricades of rocks and burning tires and logs. Strike leader Evans Ramokga told The Associated Press that one miner was run over Wednesday by a police armoured car and dragged several meters (feet) before it stopped. He said the man died overnight in the hospital.

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Lonmin deal stirs more South Africa mine strife – by Sherilee Lakmidas (Globe and Mail – September 19, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

MARIKANA, South Africa — Reuters – South African police fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse protesters near a mine run by top platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the first sign of unrest spreading after strikers at smaller rival Lonmin won big pay rises.

Within hours of Lonmin agreeing to a pay increase of 11 to 22 per cent, workers at neighbouring mines were calling for similar hikes, suggesting more trouble in store after six weeks of industrial action that has claimed 45 lives and threatened Africa’s biggest economy.

“We want management to meet us as well now,” an organizer for the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) at Impala Platinum, the number two producer, told Reuters.

“We want 9,000 rand ($1,098 U.S.) a month as a basic wage instead of the roughly 5,000 rand we are getting.” He declined to be named for fear of recriminations from the company. Lonmin shares soared more than 9 per cent to levels not seen since police shot dead 34 miners on August 16 outside its Marikana mine, 100 km northwest of Johannesburg.

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NEWS RELEASE: Australia’s mining sector in the balance

Baker & McKenzie launches global report examining the challenges and  opportunities facing the world’s key mining destinations

Australia, 17 September 2012 – Baker & McKenzie, the world’s largest law firm, has launched a report highlighting significant concerns about the future of Australia’s mining sector.

The Firm surveyed more than 300 senior industry leaders across six key mining jurisdictions – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia and South Africa – and the research suggests that investors in Australia are more pessimistic about the future of mining investment in this country than those investing in the other jurisdictions surveyed.

Of the executives commenting on Australia, 75% said that investing in the mining sector has become more complicated and costly due to factors such as increasing regulatory and environmental obligations, complex and uncertain project development requirements and the rising costs of mine development and operation.

The level of Commonwealth and State Government involvement in the Australian mining industry is also causing concern to investors, with 61% of respondents believing that the Government is too involved in the industry and 72% believing that sovereign risk is on the increase. 

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South Africa warns mine unrest could spur recession – by Justine Gerardy (Globe and Mail – September 17, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — Agence France-Presse – South African police barred firebrand Julius Malema from a rally of striking miners Monday, as President Jacob Zuma warned that the country could ill-afford a recession over mine stoppages.

Mr. Zuma told a conference of the country’s powerful Cosatu labour group that 4.5 billion rand ($548-million U.S.) had been lost in gold and platinum production this year and a further 118 million rand lost in the coal sector. “The impact goes beyond the mining sector,” he cautioned, saying the manufacturing sector was showing strain.

“We cannot afford to go into a recession, and revert to the 2008 and 2009 period where the country lost close to a million jobs, which we are still battling to recover.” The warning came as British mining group Lonmin PLC cut its platinum sales forecasts over the continuing strike at its Marikana mine, which has been blighted by a violent strike that has crippled production for more than a month.

Lonmin became the epicentre of a wave of unrest to hit the vital mining sector in recent weeks, with tensions forcing several firms to suspend operations in the country’s platinum belt of northwestern Rustenburg. The striking miners at the Marikana mine meanwhile have accepted for the first time to lower their monthly salary demand of 12,500 rands, the mediator in the dispute said Monday.

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Ivory Coast plans windfall tax on gold miners’ profits – by Loucoumane Coulibaly (Globe and Mail – September 14, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

ABIDJAN — Reuters – Ivory Coast plans a windfall tax of 19 per cent on gold mine profits to share in the benefits from soaring world prices for the metal. The decision, revealed in a government document, sets the scene for a possible dispute with foreign companies building up the sector.

West Africa-focused Randgold Resources Ltd., Australia’s Newcrest Mining and Toronto-listed La Mancha Resources all operate mines in the country. In August, the government granted production permits to Canada’s Endeavour Mining Corp. and Occidental Gold, a unit of Australia’s Perseus Mining Limited.

The document, seen by Reuters on Friday, also establishes a rate of 13 per cent, though it does not specify in what circumstances it will be applied. Under the proposal, submitted on Wednesday and adopted during a cabinet meeting, the West African nation will set an indicative cost of production at $615 (U.S.) per ounce, with profits taxed at a rate of 19 per cent.

“The price of gold, which was around $300 per ounce in 2002, is today above $1,700, or practically a six-fold increase without any comparable increase in production costs,” read the text of the proposal obtained from government spokesman Bruno Kone.

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Mining investment to grow ever more complex, costly, industry leaders fear – Baker & McKenzie – by Dorothy Kosich (September 17, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

“Mining jurisdictions must consider their competitiveness to mining investment or risk that investment being deployed elsewhere, said David Ryan of Baker & McKenzie, Australia.

RENO (MINEWEB) –  A survey of 300 mining industry leaders released Monday by the Baker & McKenzie, Australia, Global Mining Group found the common theme across all jurisdictions surveyed is that “investing in mining is becoming more difficult and less certain.”
 
Key themes from the study include the complexity of the legal and regulatory environment, political stability, increase in resource nationalism, and the need for access to infrastructure and skilled labor.
 
One theme that all jurisdictions seemed to have is common is that a majority of respondents said they believe that mining sector investment will continue to be more complicated in the future.

Baker & McKenzie surveyed more than 300 senior mining industry leaders across six key mining jurisdictions-Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia and South Africa-for the report Mining investment-local challenges, global implications.

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S. Africa’s “Juju” jinxes Zuma over mines unrest – by Jon Herskovitz (Reuters – September 14, 2012)

http://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 14 (Reuters) – South Africa’s ANC rebel Julius Malema has charged back from the political wilderness, seizing on a mines labour conflict to bait and harry President Jacob Zuma before an end-year leadership conference that will test stability in Africa’s biggest economy.

While Zuma has dithered over the industrial unrest that led to the Aug. 16 police killing of 34 striking miners, Malema is feeding his comeback with the discontent among South Africa’s poor and unemployed that poses the biggest threat to the ANC’s governing alliance since apartheid ended in 1994.

Wearing his trademark beret, the former ANC Youth League leader cast out by the ruling party for indiscipline this year has driven his upscale SUV into the heart of the dusty, scrub-covered platinum mining belt. Here, he heard the grievances of angry strikers carrying spears, machetes and clubs.

“Where are our leaders? Our leaders have sold out South Africa. Our leaders are sleeping with capitalists. Our leaders are enjoying dinners with capital. They have forgotten about us,” the 31-year-old, popularly known as “Juju”, told a raucous crowd of protesting miners this week.

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South Africa cracks down on ‘illegal gatherings’ in wake of mining crisis – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – September 14, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — After weeks of an escalating national crisis in its mining sector, South Africa’s government has announced a sweeping crackdown on weapons and “illegal gatherings” by thousands of striking mineworkers. The government is refusing to say whether it will deploy the army or arrest key political opponents such as Julius Malema, but it left the door open to both options

Reports in the South African media today said the government could arrest Mr. Malema and send soldiers into the mining regions in an attempt to halt the violent wildcat strikes that have forced the closure of the mines of some of the world’s biggest platinum and gold companies.

Many of the striking workers have marched with machetes, spears, sticks and clubs as they hunt down those who fail to join the strike. Another body of a stabbed worker was found this week at a spot where the strikers have gathered. “It appears now that the mining industry is at stake,” Justice Minister Jeff Radebe told a press conference today.

“We can no longer tolerate acts of intimidation, illegal gatherings, the carrying of dangerous weapons in South Africa,” he said.

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Oil sands ‘exporting jobs’, says NDP energy critic – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – September 14, 2012)

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

Peter Julian has seen the oil-and-gas industry from the ‘shop floor’ during his days as a labourer in a B.C. refinery. It’s not a job or career he pursued, instead moving to social enterprises and eventually representing Burnaby-New Westminster as an NDP member of Parliament. Before being handed the portfolio of energy and natural resources shadow minister, Mr. Julian watched over treasury board, international trade and transportation. The varied experience, Mr. Julian says, allows him to appreciate the energy sector’s impact on the wider economy. In a wide-ranging talk with FP energy editor Yadullah Hussain, the MP spells out the NDP’s stance on the country’s energy sector. Here are edited excerpts from the interview.
 
Q The federal government believes oil sands is crucial to its economic strategy. Given your stance on the oil sands, what would be the key pillars of your energy strategy?

 A We have to get the policies right so we are looking at the overall contribution of the oil sands. We want to see prosperity for average families right around the country and allow us to transition to a green-energy economy because we need to go where our major competitors are going. One of the concerns I have is the emerging and growing green-energy gap between Canada and other industrialized countries. In 2011, in one quarter in the U.S. there were 600 patents for sustainable-energy innovation; in Canada we had 10.

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