Africa Mining – Page 192 – Republic of Mining

South Africa’s stricken ferrochrome industry eyes Canada’s Canpotex as potential turnaround model – by Martin Creamer (MineWeekly.com – March 16, 2012)

March 16, 2012

Mining Weekly is South Africa’s premier source of weekly news on mining developments in Africa’s most important industry. Mining Weekly provides in-depth coverage of mining projects and the personalities reshaping the mining industry.

South Africa’s once mighty chrome-to-ferrochrome industry, now threatened by an unexpected local oversupply of raw ore, is looking to get itself back on its feet by emulating what the Canadians did 40 years ago for their then teetering but now thriving Saskatchewan potash industry.

South Africa’s ferrochrome business is losing market share to China hand over fist and has been forced to temporarily shut furnaces left, right and centre.

Once the proud holder of a 50% share of the global ferrochrome market, the local industry now finds that China is stealing the show – ironically, with the help of South African ore.

China hosts no chromite deposits of its own, but imports the ore it needs from a string of countries.

South African ferrochrome in meltdown, urgent intervention needed – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – March 16, 2012)

March 16, 2012

South Africa has a long-standing chrome value chain that sustains 200 000 jobs and R42-billion a year in gross domestic product (GDP), but the industry speaks with one voice when it says that it is in meltdown mode.

If things go on like this, it could shed 60 000 to 80 000 of those jobs and lose its once dominant market position to China, despite China having no chrome of its own.

The contribution of the ferrochrome industry to South Africa’s GDP could plunge to R23-billion, and chrome ore prices could collapse.

On the environmental protection front, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from production would rise by at least 15% a ton as a result of the displacement of capacity from the world’s most efficient South African smelters to the world’s least efficient energy-sapping and CO2-spewing Chinese smelters.

Threatened ferrochrome eyeing Canada’s potash turnaround model – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – March 13, 2012)

March 14, 2012

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Stability can be brought to South Africa’s ferrochrome industry by creating a marketing organisation for ferrochrome similar to the Canpotex marketing arm that boosted potash in Canada, the South African ferrochrome industry says in a brochure handed to the media.

The stricken ferrochrome industry says that Canada in 1972 faced a similar situation in potash to what South Africa is facing in chrome – a long-term potash price depression.

It was then that Canada formed Canpotex, a marketing and logistics company that sells and delivers Saskatchewan potash to international markets as a wholly owned entity of potash producers.

“The Canadian potash industry provides an excellent case study,” says the South African ferrochrome industry in the nine-page handout to analysts, investors and journalists at the presentation of the results of the black-controlled Merafe Resources, which is part of a chrome-to-ferrochrome venture with the London-listed and South African-led Xstrata, the world’s biggest ferrochrome producer.

Export tax will destroy chrome ore mining [in South Africa] – Metmar – by Martin Creamer (Mining Weekly.com – March 7, 2012)

March 8, 2012

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The proposed $100/t tax on the export of raw chrome ore would destroy the South African chrome ore mining business and allow competitors from other producing countries to benefit, JSE-listed Metmar CEO David Ellwood said on Wednesday.

Ellwood was responding to Merafe CEO Stuart Elliot’s revelation of the proposed imposition of a $100/t export tax as a means of giving the industry “some breathing space” in the short term.

Elliot complained that South Africa’s ferrochrome production was being displaced by Chinese ferrochrome production. “It’s unbeneficiated ore that is leaving the country and growing the Chinese ferrochrome industry at South Africa’s expense,” Elliot said.

Ellwood claimed that the proposed tax represented a 100% tax on the chrome ore production cost and a 300% tax to upper group two (UG2) operations, many of which were community based.

FRASER INSTITUTE NEWS RELEASE: New Brunswick trumps Alberta as world’s No. 1 spot for mining investment;

February 23, 2012

February 23, 2012

TORONTO–New Brunswick is the world’s most attractive jurisdiction for
mineral exploration and development in the view of the international mining industry, according to the Survey of Mining Companies: 2011/2012, released today by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank.

“New Brunswick shot to the top of the rankings as miners lauded the province for its fair, transparent, and efficient legal system and consistency in the enforcement and interpretation of existing environmental regulations,” said Fred McMahon, Fraser Institute vice-president of international policy research and coordinator of the survey.

“Combine that with a competitive taxation regime and minimal uncertainty
around disputed land claims and New Brunswick has emerged as a superstar in the view of the global mining community.”

New Brunswick vaulted to first place from 23rd last year, unseating Alberta
at the top of the global rankings as that province fell to third overall.
Quebec, which enjoyed a three-year reign at No. 1 from 2007 to 2010,
continued to lose support among mining executives as it fell to fifth place
from fourth in 2011.

The principal risks affecting mining in Africa – by Christy Filen (Mineweb.com – February 16, 2012)

February 19, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Two risk analysis experts shared their views on the principal risks facing investment in mining in Africa on the fringes of the recent Indaba conference in Cape Town.

JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb) – Government intervention is a recurring theme in an analysis of the top risks for the mining industry on the African continent as identified by experts in their fields.

Ironically the nationalisation research report by South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party is entitled SIMS (State Intervention in the Minerals Sector).

Not surprisingly, the risk of war and strife to business is taking a back seat to the instigations of power wielding politicians in an effort to assuage the electorate.

On the fringes of the Invest in African Mining Indaba, Control Risks managing director for southern and east Africa, Dave Butler and Robert Besseling, the head of business development for Exclusive Analysis in South Africa, shared their views on the top risks facing the mining industry on the African continent.

AngloGold CEO says Warren Buffett just doesn’t understand gold and gold investors – by Alec Hogg (Mineweb.com – February 16, 2012)

February 16, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Mineweb’s Editor-in-chief, Alec Hogg, interviews AngloGold Ashanti’s Mark Cutifani and hears some forthright views on Warren Buffet’s most recent attack on gold.

JOHANNESBURG – Anglogold Ashanti’s CEO Mark Cutifani is to local South African gold mining what top South AFfrican asset manager, John Biccard is to the local asset management sector, the man other money managers would most trust to handle their savings. In mining, Cutifani’s astute management has raised the bar for an industry where performance was once measured by volume of rock through the mill rather than gold delivered.

The Australian-born head of Africa’s biggest gold producer has been walking on water lately. He took history’s biggest ever bet on the gold price by closing out the industry’s largest hedge book – at a cost of billions. As the gold price kept steaming ahead, that decision continues to reward Anglogold Ashanti. In the three months to end December it added another $200m to the bottom line.

Cutifani was clearly on a high during our chat this week after the release of his group’s December quarter results. Who could blame him? Apart from that $200m, costs were reasonably controlled, the company got more South African Rands for its gold and the result was a fresh record for profit in any three months. Shareholders joined in the applause when hearing that the yearend dividend was being doubled.

How First Quantum recouped its seized mine – by Matthew McClearn (Canadian Business Magazine – January 19, 2012)

February 10, 2012

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-publishing business magazine in Canada.

In 2007 the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced it would autocratically tear up and renegotiate contracts with foreign mining companies. The price Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals paid for resisting: the forcible seizure and resale of its properties in the country, including two operating mines and another on which construction was nearly complete.

The DRC investigated First Quantum for what it called “suspected widescale misconduct.” Its courts, which are not independent, slapped a stinging US$12-billion judgment on the company. The government transferred the properties for nominal sums to close associates of DRC president Joseph Kabila, who promptly flipped them for significant profits; Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC), a large London-based company dominated by Kazakh owners, paid just US$175 million for the Kolwezi project, which cost First Quantum nearly $800 million to purchase and construct.

First Quantum immediately sought redress, but its hand seemed weak. ENRC CEO Felix Vuilis had maintained his company owed nothing to the former owners. “Any dispute that First Quantum has is with the relevant DRC authorities,” he declared shortly after the purchase.

Africa: The Back Story to Cida-Mining Partnerships – by Catherine Coumans (All Africa.com/Mining Watch.com – February 9, 2012)

February 10, 2012

www.allafrica.com

Catherine Coumans is the research co-ordinator and Asia Pacific program co-ordinator for MiningWatch Canada. She is the author of Whose Development? Mining, Local Resistance, and Development Agendas.

Analysis

Mining companies’ branding of themselves as bringers of development needs to be critically examined against the burgeoning ‘resource curse’ literature that links mining to deepening national impoverishment in mining-dependent developing countries

The Canadian International Development Agency’s funding of Corporate Social Responsibility projects mostly near mine sites is intended to help Canadian mining companies compete for access to lucrative ore bodies in developing countries in the face of increasing local opposition to mining.

As I write this, thousands of Cajamarcans in Peru are protesting Newmont Mining Corp.’s proposed Conga mine that will destroy four lakes they depend on for their water supplies and livelihoods.

Gold cost profiles and nationalisation – Cutifani [AngloGold Ashanti CEO] – by Geoff Candy (Mineweb.com – February 10, 2012)

February 10, 2012

This interview came from: www.mineweb.com

In a wide ranging discussion, AngloGold Ashanti’s CEO Mark Cutifani talks about nationalisation, cash cost and the outlook for the gold price.

CAPE TOWN – GEOFF CANDY: Hello and welcome to this Mineweb.com Newsmaker podcast, my name is Geoff Candy and joining me from the Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, is Mark Cutifani, he’s the CEO at AngloGold Ashanti. Mark, I suppose the first question I wanted to ask you was if we look at where AngloGold is, one of the big unknowns at a macroeconomic level is what’s going to happen with oil and what I wanted to get a sense of from you is how much of an impact does oil play on your business and is this a concern?

MARK CUTIFANI: Ja, I think it is, it’s a concern for everyone. The good thing from an AngloGold Ashanti point of view is given the high proportion of underground operations that we have, oil tends to be less of an issue for us than, let’s say, compared to the North Americans, who have large open carts with lots of waste stripping and low grades but it’s still a 10% to 13% cost factor for us, so it’s material. But it’s not as material as, let’s say, for the North Americans but it’s one we watch carefully and if we saw a 20% rise, then from us that would have a 2% to 3% impact on our unit cost, so it’s one we watch fairly carefully.

Official Welcoming Address to the Mining Indaba Conference 2012 – by Susan Shabangu: Minister of Mineral Resources for the Republic of South Africa (February 7, 2012)

February 7, 2012

This speech is from the Resourceinvestor.com website: www.resourceinvestor.com

CAPE TOWN, South Africa –

Programme Director: Mr Jonathan Moore; Organisers of the Mining Indaba; Honourable Ministers of Mineral Resources from other African countries; Members of the Diplomatic Corps; The investment community; Senior government officials; Delegates; Distinguished Guests; Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

On behalf of the democratic Government of South Africa, I bid you the warmest of welcomes to our country, and to this region of the Western Cape, in whose capital city we meet today amidst its splendour and beauty.

Even if mining has always been somewhat elusive in this region, may you have a chance to make interesting side trips, for instance, viewing where oceans converge, where wine farms abound, or where a world famous mountain with a flat top towers over a beautiful city.

Investing in African Mining Indaba 2012

It was Mark Twain, travelling the world more than a century ago, who called Table Mountain “a majestic pile” (Following the Equator, Dover Publications, USA, 1989, page 710). He described visiting the old Cape Parliament, “where they quarrelled in two languages and agreed in none.”

Blood Diamond (Mining Movie – 2006)

February 5, 2012

This information is from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Blood Diamond is a 2006 political thriller film co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world.

Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1992-2002, the film shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces.[1] It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels’ amputation of people’s hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections.

The film’s ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, is in reference to an actual meeting that took place in Kimberley, South Africa in 2000 and led to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which seeks to certify the origin of diamonds in order to curb the trade in conflict diamonds. The film received mixed, but generally favourable reviews.

Congolese citizens will appeal to Supreme Court in suit against Canadian mining – by Sidhartha Banerjee (Winnipeg Free Press – February 2, 2012)

February 2, 2012

This ariticle came from: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

The Canadian Press

MONTREAL – A coalition of human-rights groups say they will make a last-ditch plea to the Supreme Court of Canada in an effort to sue a Canadian mining company on behalf of the victims of a massacre in Congo.

The Canadian Association Against Impunity, a coalition of human-rights groups and non-governmental organizations acting on behalf of Congolese citizens, says it’s imperative that those people have access to justice in Canada. Quebec’s Court of Appeal last week overturned a lower-court ruling from April 2011 that had paved the way for a civil suit to be heard in Canada.

In their claim, the groups had argued that Anvil Mining Limited (TSX:AVM) provided logistical support to the Congolese military as it moved to crush a rebel uprising in 2004.

Kinross Gold Could Be a Takeover Target – by Charles Mead, Liezel Hill and Rita Nazareth (Bloomberg.com – January 20, 2012)

January 22, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/

By paying too much for acquisitions in western Africa, Kinross Gold Corp. (K) is now turning itself into the cheapest gold-mining target in the world.

Kinross, Canada’s third-largest gold producer, fell the most in almost two decades after saying this week it will write down the value of its Tasiast mine in Mauritania. The company sold for 76 cents per dollar of net assets yesterday, versus the industry median of 2.5 times, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Writing off the excess $4.6 billion it spent on Tasiast would still leave Kinross at a 50 percent discount to its competitors, the data show.

While Kinross bought the Mauritanian mine for almost three times what the gold deposit is worth, the company is facing rising labor and raw material costs that may delay production at some of its projects. After more than quadrupling revenue in the past five years as gold prices reached a record, Kinross may now attract interest from Newmont Mining Corp. or Polyus Gold International Ltd. (PLGL) as they try to boost capacity to meet demand, said Stifel Nicolaus & Co. On its own, analysts say Kinross is worth 50 percent more than its current price.