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Asia Mining

Illegal gold rush hits Indonesia’s forest – by Lauren Farrow (AAP Southeast Asia/Yahoo.com – April 29, 2016)

https://au.news.yahoo.com/

It took illegal miners less than two weeks to destroy six hectares of lush forest in one of Indonesia’s precious national parks – all in pursuit of gold.

Underneath the now moon-like landscape of Central Sulawesi’s Lore Lindu National Park, people risk mine shaft collapses to dig up hundreds of kilograms of rock that will wield just grams of gold.

They will earn around $A1.40 an hour, while the men above ground – who haul large sacks of rock upon their shoulders down steep cliffs – will make even less. The mining site at Lore Lindu was once the territory of a small number of people who sat ankle deep in water, panning for gold.

Then a “story” of a woman finding a nugget at the site spread.

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China’s Investments in Africa: What’s the Real Story? (Knowledge@Wharton – January 19, 2016)

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/

In December, Chinese president Xi Jinping offered a whopping $60 billion loan and aid package to Africa, according to Voice of America. Xi said that China aims to develop infrastructure, improve agriculture and reduce poverty on the continent.

This is only the latest example of China’s burgeoning economic presence in Africa. Its investment there has skyrocketed in recent years from $7 billion in 2008 to $26 billion in 2013, according to figures cited at a Wharton Africa Business Forum held last fall. But the relationship is fraught with controversy.

Opponents assert that it is exploitative for China to finance African infrastructure projects in exchange for the continent’s natural resources. Some accuse China of “neo-colonialist” behavior as it acquires the raw materials like oil, iron, copper and zinc that it urgently needs to fuel its own economy.

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Newmont Hoping to Sell Entire Indonesia Stake to Private Group – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

A potential sale of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Indonesian assets to a group of private investors could include a stake that the government has so far snubbed, according to the biggest U.S. gold miner.

Newmont is working with partner Sumitomo Corp. to sell both companies’ entire stakes in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg said in a telephone interview on Thursday. The unit owns Batu Hijau, the second biggest copper and gold mine in Indonesia.

Through a holding company, Newmont and Sumitomo together own 56 percent of the unit. The remaining 44 percent is owned by local entities. The government has had the right to buy 7 percent of Newmont and Sumitomo’s share since 2010, Goldberg said. “They’ve shown no interest in acquiring it and haven’t figured out even when they could acquire it,” he said.

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Japan’s sole gold mine owner readies for overseas acquisitions (Bloomberg/Business Times – April 22, 2016)

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/

[TOKYO] Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, the copper and nickel producer that also owns Japan’s only gold mine, is scouring the world for bullion deals as assets become more affordable.

The Tokyo-based company signaled its appetite for overseas expansion in February with the US$1 billion purchase of an additional stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s Morenci copper mine in Arizona. Now, gold is the priority, President Yoshiaki Nakazato said in an interview.

Projects under consideration include a venture with Gold Road Resources Ltd to develop the Perth-based explorer’s Gruyere assets in Western Australia, Mr Nakazato said at the company’s headquarters this week. The Japanese company is among several considering a stake in the A$455 million (S$476 million) Gruyere project, people with knowledge of the matter said last month.

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China moves to increase gold power — and world supply looks to dwindle – by Robin Bromby (InvestorIntel.com – April 20, 2016)

http://investorintel.com/

Gold miners are, well, worth their weight in gold because they look likely to be beneficiaries of a seismic event and a trend. Both factors should ensure not only that demand for the metal stays strong, but the gold price remains robust.

The seismic event was China’s launching on Tuesday of a yuan-denominated gold benchmark. This is throwing down the gauntlet in two respects: one, to dislodge the US dollar as the sole currency in which gold is quoted, the first fix this week being 256.92 yuan a gram (equivalent to $1,234.50/oz); and, two, to wrest some power in the global gold market away from London and New York.

China is the world’s biggest gold producer, a vital importer of gold, and biggest consumer of the metal, but until now the gold price has been influenced by New York traders and the London fix (which was invented in 1919 by N.M. Rothschild & Son to bring some transparency to the pricing of the metal).

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UPDATE 2-BHP Billiton weighs getting out of Indonesian coal – by Sonali Paul (Ruters U.S. – April 20, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE, April 20 BHP Billiton is considering quitting its coal assets in Indonesia, where it recently started shipping steel-making coal from a small mine, amid uncertainty over Indonesian regulations and a weak outlook for coal.

BHP owns a 75 percent stake in the IndoMet Coal project, having sold the rest to Indonesia’s Adaro Energy in 2010 for $335 million. Coal asset prices have collapsed since then, and analysts said BHP would be lucky to fetch $200 million now for the stake in a largely undeveloped resource.

“Does it move the dial for BHP? No. But it’s a really high quality met-coal property and potentially a fantastic opportunity for an Indonesian company with the right connections,” said Shaw & Partners analyst Peter O’Connor.

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Fancy a trip down to the bowels of the earth? Coal India will take you – by Debabrata Das (Hindu Business – April 19, 2016)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

NEW DELHI – Are you an explorer at heart and crave adventure? Then Coal India Ltd (CIL) has just the right thing for you. This vacation, instead of going to a hill station or hitting the beaches, go for a trip to two active coal mines.

Coal India is offering a peek into its operations by promoting eco-mine tourism at two mines operated by its subsidiary, Western Coalfields Ltd.

In a bid to showcase the minimal environmental impact of coal mining operations, Western Coalfields has created a 15-acre eco-park between Saoner and Gondegaon mines near Maharashtra. Tourists can visit the depths of the Saoner underground mine and also watch the operations at the Gondegaon opencast mine from a distance.

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Koh-i-noor: India says it should not claim priceless diamond from UK (BBC.com – April 19, 2016)

http://www.bbc.com/

The Indian government has told the Supreme Court that it should not try to reclaim the priceless Koh-i-noor diamond from Britain.

The gemstone came into British hands in the mid-19th Century, and forms part of the Crown Jewels on display at the Tower of London. Ownership of the famous gem is an emotional issue for many Indians, who believe it was stolen by the British. But the solicitor-general said it was “neither stolen nor forcibly taken”.

Ranjit Kumar said the 105-carat diamond had been “gifted” to the East India company by the former rulers of Punjab in 1849. The case is being heard by the Supreme Court after an Indian NGO filed a petition asking the court to direct the Indian government to bring back the diamond.

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China shows renewed interest in developing resource-rich Ring of Fire – by Bill Curry (Globe and Mail – April 19, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA — Chinese officials looking to build a $2-billion rail line to Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire will meet with MPs on Parliament Hill Tuesday, a visit that underscores China’s strong interest in the region’s mining potential.

A group of engineers from a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Construction Co. toured the Ring of Fire region by helicopter last week along with officials from KWG Resources, a small Toronto-based mining firm that hopes to secure Chinese investment for its Ring of Fire plans.

The decline in commodity prices has led to a waning of momentum around the Ring of Fire project, which is believed to hold about $60-billion in minerals and more than 100 years of mining activity.

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Bauxite mining politicised; I would like to break that jinx: Tom Albanese – by Kunal Bose (Business Standard – April 18, 2016)

http://www.business-standard.com/

Interview with Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Resources

The right place to build aluminium smelters is where bauxite, coal and capital are available, Vedanta Resources Chief Executive Officer Tom Albanese tells Kunal Bose. Ideally, there should also be an expanding local market for the metal. Albanese says India has it all. Edited excerpts:

Your chairman, Anil Agarwal, says India has abundant natural resources and demand potential to lift annual aluminium smelting capacity to 20 mt from 4.1 mt. Is he not too optimistic, since a lot of local capacity now remains idle?

The question is, will demand be there in future to support that kind of capacity build-up? For local demand of 20 mt, we have to have a very long-term perspective, pitched on multiple decades of eight per cent annual gross domestic product growth. Now, the issue is: From where will India get that big a volume of aluminium?

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Afghan Mineral Wealth Being Looted by Strongmen, Experts Say (New York Times – April 14, 2016)

http://www.nytimes.com/

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – KABUL, Afghanistan — The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world’s poorest nations.

Instead, lapis has become a source of income for the Taliban, smugglers and local warlords, emblematic of the central government’s struggle to gain control over the resources and rein in corruption.

Afghanistan is missing out in millions of dollars in revenues from lapis as illegal miners extract thousands of tons from the mines in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to experts and officials. A local police commander named Abdul Malik has control over a major mine, charges illegal miners to use it and pays the Taliban to allow him to operate, according to an internal memo to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani from his top adviser on mines, seen by The Associated Press, and a top official.

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India mulls restricted window for atomic mineral mining – by Ajoy K Das (MiningWeekly.com – April 14, 2016)

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

KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – The Indian government has proposed tweaking the atomic mineral concession rules, which would offer limited leeway to provincial governments to undertake mining of atomic minerals, subject to conditions.

Currently, mining of atomic minerals was under the sole purview of the federal government’s agencies under the scrutiny of the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, within the purview of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

However, once the new concession rules kicked in, provincial governments would be permitted to undertake mining of such minerals, subject to atomic mineral content being lower than a pre-determined threshold.

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Indonesia businessman asks court to block sale of local company’s Newmont stake – by Eveline Danubrata and Yuddy Cahya (Reuters U.S. – April 12, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, April 12 An Indonesian businessman has filed a request to a Jakarta court to put on hold any deal that would involve transferring ownership of a nearly 18 percent stake held by a local company in Newmont Mining Corp’s Indonesian operations.

Gustaaf Merukh, who owns a stake in the local company PT Pukuafu Indah, is suing other shareholders in Pukuafu, including his own relatives, according to court documents dated Feb. 5 seen by Reuters and an interview with his spokesman.

Merukh says these shareholders faked his consent to use Pukuafu’s 17.8 percent stake in Newmont’s local unit, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, as collateral to get a $600 million loan in 2012 from the U.S. parent, Choky Simanjuntak, head of Merukh’s legal and public relations team, told Reuters by phone.

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India launches space technology to tackle illegal mining – by Sharon Masige (Australian Mining – April 12, 2016)

https://australianmining.com.au/

Rising levels of illegal mining in India is seeing the government implement space technologies in an effort combat the issue. Each state was also asked to gather information on past illegal mining activities and methods used to check them.

According to the Economic Times, Balvinder Kumar, India’s mines secretary, said mapping of mines by satellite will begin with major metals such as gold and iron ore, gradually expanding to include sand and limestone – where the problem is more prevalent.

In September 2015 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the use of space technology to prevent illegal mining activities. “Once fully implemented, the move will bring about transformation in the Indian mining industry. We have identified large chunks of illegal mining in many areas,” Kumar said.

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Decline and fall: the broken dreams of a Chinese coal-mining city struggling to address industrial overcapacity – by Zhou Xin (South China Morning Post – April 12, 2016)

http://www.scmp.com/

A grim, uncertain future hangs over the 1.7 million residents of Datong in the heart of China’s dusty, windswept coal-mining country about 350km west of Beijing. Amid the imminent threat of massive lay-offs, the city’s coal workers are battling for back-pay and timely salaries just so they can feed their families.

In another area of the city the local government’s boom-and-bust redevelopment plans lie unfinished. A multimillion-dollar “white elephant” sports stadium is slowly being reclaimed by the dust.

Elsewhere, the ruins of the partially built replica ancient walled city are a monument to the failed plans of the city’s former mayor – nicknamed “Demolition Geng” – who dreamed of remaking an “ancient walled city” in the urban centre, but who is long gone.

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