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The Taliban Is Capturing Afghanistan’s $1 Trillion in Mining Wealth – by Eltaf Najafizada (Bloomberg News – October 21, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Taliban fighters aren’t just making gains on the battlefield: They’re also bleeding away a revenue source that is crucial for Afghanistan to pay for its military without U.S. help.

The Afghan government will earn about $30 million in 2015 from its mineral sector for the third straight year, far short of a previous projection of $1.5 billion, according to Mines and Petroleum Minister Daud Shah Saba. That’s also a quarter of what smugglers — mostly linked to the Taliban and local warlords — earn annually selling rubies and emeralds, he said.

“Unfortunately we have failed to well manage and well control our mining sector,” Saba said in an interview. “With the current fragile and messy situation, it’s really hard to say when Afghanistan should expect any profits from it.”

Afghanistan’s struggles to generate cash signal that it could be decades before Kabul’s leaders wean themselves off funds from the U.S. and its allies. U.S. President Barack Obama last week decided to keep 5,500 troops in the country indefinitely after 2016, underscoring the Taliban’s strength after 14 years of war.

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China’s miners ‘must learn’ from bungled foreign acquisitions – by Eric Ng (South China Morning Post – October 21, 2015)

http://www.scmp.com/

Industry observers say Chinese companies must learn from their bungled foreign acquisitions

Tianjin – China’s mining firms have a mixed record on overseas acquisitions, but they can learn valuable lessons from missteps made in the past few years and adjust their strategies, say mining-sector executives.

“Chinese firms are still climbing the learning curve, many failures have dotted the path in the past few years,” said Wang Side, vice-president of Chinalco Resources – a unit of Aluminium Corp of China, the No 2 producer of the metal.

According to Dealogic, Chinese firms made US$4.25 billion in overseas mining acquisitions in the year’s first nine months, from US$8.8 billion in the year-earlier period, when the volume was boosted by a US$7 billion acquisition by state-backed MMG in Peru. The deal volume in the first nine months of 2014 was US$4.4 billion, and US$3.3 billion in the same period of 2013.

Wang told an annual mining conference that he considered the three main reasons for Chinese outbound-investment failures to be poor timing, poor selection of investment targets and poor deal pricing.

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India looks to buy South African coking coal mines – by Krishna N Das/Reuters (Business Day Live – October 20, 2015)

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

NEW DELHI — India is in talks to buy South African coal mines to feed its expanding steel industry, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said, adding that New Delhi also hoped to stop imports of coal used to generate power in three years as domestic output jumps.

After years of poor production crippling power supply, state-run Coal India is boosting output at a record pace to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of connecting to the grid millions of Indians who still use kerosene lamps.

But India, which wants to triple its steel capacity to 300-million tonnes by 2025, did not have enough reserves of coking or steel-making coal, prompting Coal India to look at assets abroad, Mr Swarup told the Reuters Global Commodities Summit on Monday.

“They are presently in negotiations with people in SA,” Mr Swarup said. “We imported around 80-million to 90-million tonnes of coking coal last (fiscal) year, and if that is the amount that can come through a mine owned by Coal India, it would consider it.”

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Indonesia’s Nationalism – by Neil Chatterjee (Bloomberg News – October 19, 2015)

http://www.bloombergview.com/

Indonesia has been plundered since the Dutch collected nutmeg and cloves from the archipelago they called the East Indies 400 years ago. With treasures strung across 17,000 islands, it’s home to the world’s largest gold mine and exports the most power-station coal, palm oil and tin.

Indonesia’s identity was forged by a half-century of sometimes savage dictatorship that sold its riches overseas. Now the country wants to keep more of its wealth at home. The pull of protectionism has characterized the presidency of Joko Widodo, who came to power in October 2014 as the country’s second freely elected leader.

A rising tide of economic nationalism is threatening to undo the formula that for many years brought much-needed investment to the world’s fourth-most-populous nation and its 250 million people.

The Situation

Widodo, better known as Jokowi, represents a new generation of Indonesian politicians: a self-made furniture seller and can-do bureaucrat focused on cutting graft and red tape.

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Iran to Seek Bids on 15 Mining Deals as Gold Supply on Rise – by Hashem Kalantari (Bloomberg News – October 19, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Iran will seek bids for 15 mining projects for international investors to develop, with production of zinc to gold and iron ore seen getting a boost with the end of sanctions.

President Hassan Rouhani plans to visit France and Italy in November to sign development agreements on some of the projects, according to Mehdi Karbasian, deputy minister of Iran’s Ministry of Industries, Mines & Trade, said in an interview in Tehran. Tenders to develop the 15 projects should be issued within the next four months, with the first one proposed in October to build the Neekouyeh gold mine west of Tehran, he said.

Iran’s gold production is forecast to triple from 2013 to 10,000 kilograms (321,507 troy ounces) by next year, with iron ore, steel, chromite, aluminum , bauxite, copper and zinc output also growing, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Indonesian battle over Freeport threatens to mar leader’s U.S. trip – by Randy Fabi and Wilda Asmarini (Reuters U.S. – October 16, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

Jakarta – Indonesian ministers are battling over control of U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan’s future in the country, threatening to mar the president’s first trip to the United States later this month.

President Joko Widodo starts a five-day trip to Washington and San Francisco on Oct. 25, as investor sentiment in Southeast Asia’s largest economy brightens following a cabinet reshuffle and a series of new stimulus measures.

One of Widodo’s first stops will be with Freeport executives at a breakfast ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, according to a tentative schedule obtained by Reuters.

At the heart of talks will likely be Freeport’s years-long bid to renew its contract, allowing the firm to continue operating beyond 2021 at the lucrative Grasberg mine in Papua, one of the world’s biggest deposits of gold and copper.

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LMEWEEK-BHP gloomy on iron ore price, but cautiously optimistic on China – by Maytaal Angel and Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – October 14, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, was downbeat on Wednesday about iron ore prices as low-cost producers continue to swamp the market and as the intensity of China’s demand for the steel making raw material ebbs.

However, there were some positive signs on the economic outlook for top commodity consumer China, BHP officials told a briefing during the LME Week industry gathering.

A global glut and falling Chinese steel demand have dragged spot iron ore prices .IO62-CNI=SI to less than $60 a tonne from a high of nearly $200 in 2011. The price is forecast to drop to $50 over the next two years, a Reuters poll showed.

“By the end of this year, there will be additional iron ore coming from Australia, from Brazil,” Arnoud Balhuizen, president of the group’s marketing unit, told a media briefing. “Our expectation is that the iron ore market cost curve will continue to flatten and continue to come under pressure.”

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Lynas blames illegal China miners for weak rare earth prices – by Sonali Paul (Reuters U.S. – October 14, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE – Oct 14 Australia’s Lynas Corp blamed illegal Chinese miners for adding to an oversupply of rare earths which has driven prices down to historic lows, while demand from magnet users has weakened due to uncertainty over global growth.

Lynas is now the only rare earths miner outside China, which controls about 90 percent of the world’s supply, following a move by U.S. rival Molycorp, now in bankruptcy protection, to mothball its Mountain Pass mine due to weak prices.

Lynas reported gross sales revenue fell 11 percent to A$46.2 million in the September quarter from the June quarter as falling prices offset a 14 percent rise in sales volumes to 2,691 tonnes.

Weaker prices were partly due to increasing competition between legal and illegal rare earths producers in China, said the company, which mines in Australia and processes the material at its plant in Malaysia.

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Centerra Gold hires former AuRico CEO to replace retiring chief executive – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 14, 2015)

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

TORONTO — Scott Perry is going to have his hands full. Perry, 38, has been named the next chief executive of Centerra Gold Inc. He will take over on Nov. 1 from Ian Atkinson, a veteran mining executive who is retiring.

Perry is stepping into one of the toughest jobs in the mining industry, or indeed any industry. Centerra’s flagship asset, the Kumtor gold mine, is located in Kyrgyzstan, where the political environment is as challenging as it gets.

Toronto-based Centerra has faced some massive obstacles over the years, including accusations from Kyrgyz officials that it engaged in international fraud, massive environmental destruction and other criminal acts.

None was ever proven. Len Homeniuk, the company’s founding CEO, got arrested and detained in Bulgaria this year after the Kyrgyz put him on Interpol’s wanted persons list on corruption allegations. Both Centerra and Homeniuk said the claims were nonsense.

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Lifting of sanctions seen boosting Iran’s mining sector after years of underinvestment – by Ilan Solomons (Mining Weekly.com – October 2, 2015)

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

The agreement reached between Iran and world powers in Vienna, Austria, in July over the country’s nuclear programme is reopening the Iranian economy to global trade and investment after ten years of international sanctions against the country.

US-based think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) recounts that the US, the United Nations (UN) and the European Union imposed multiple sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme since the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, found in September 2005 that Tehran was not compliant with its international obligations.

“The US spearheaded international efforts to financially isolate Iran and block its oil exports to raise the cost of Iran’s efforts to develop potential nuclear weapons capability and bring its government to the negotiating table,” the CFR says.

However, Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear programme and intensive inspections in the agreement signed with China, France, Russia, the UK, the US and Germany on July 14.

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‘Blood diamonds’ dug from African mines by children as young as 11, gold taken from 25m underwater by kids aged 9: The slave labour scandal behind the jewellery hanging around your neck – by Imogen Calderwood (Daily Mail – October 1, 2015)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

  • Children as young as 11 are working alongside adults in the ‘blood diamond’ trade in the Central African Republic
  • The chain of supply crosses so many country borders that most people don’t know where their diamonds originated
  • Thousands of children as young as nine work in ‘absolutely terrifying’ conditions in gold mines in the Philippines
  • Hard-hitting reports into the diamond and gold trade released by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch

The jewellery around your neck and on your fingers is still being dug out of the earth by slave children facing extreme danger, two new hard-hitting reports have revealed.

Amnesty International has released a stark warning that the global diamond market is about to be flooded with ‘blood diamonds’ prised from mines by children as young as 11.

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Philippine Activists Call for End to Foreign Mining – by Jason Strother (Voice of America – October 01, 2015)

http://www.voanews.com/

MARINDUQUE, PHILIPPINES—The Philippines has suffered numerous disasters from its mining industry over the decades, creating a legacy of health problems that continue to the present day. Now there is a proposal to reopen one foreign-owned mine with a checkered history, and the backlash from activists who are trying to stop it.

When a typhoon or heavy rain hits Marinduque island, many residents along the Mogpog River are evacuated to higher ground.

That is because the Philippine government says an upstream dam that holds back toxic waste from an abandoned copper mine is deteriorating and could overflow or burst, just like it did in 1993.

When that happened, the river was silted over with heavy metals and other debris, or tailings, from the mine. Farmer George Hayno, 53, lives alongside a branch of the Mogpog, and he said the polluted river cost him his right foot.

He said he used to walk back and forth across the river. In 2012 he noticed a cut on his foot that would not heal. A doctor determined it was infected with arsenic and needed to be amputated.

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Death Toll in Xinjiang Coal Mine Attack Climbs to 50 (Radio Free Asia – September 30, 2015)

http://www.rfa.org/english/

The death toll in a knife attack orchestrated by alleged “separatists” at a coal mine in northwestern China’s troubled Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has climbed to at least 50 people—including five police officers—with as many as 50 injured, according to local security officials who say nine suspects are on the run.

The attack occurred on Sept. 18, when a group of knife-wielding suspects set upon security guards at the gate of the Sogan Colliery in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) prefecture’s Bay (Baicheng) county, before targeting the mine owner’s residence and a dormitory for workers.

When police officers arrived at the mine in Terek township to control the situation, the attackers rammed their vehicles using trucks loaded down with coal, sources said.

Three sources, including a ruling Communist Party cadre from a local township government, told RFA’s Uyghur Service in recent days that at least 50 people were killed and as many as 50 injured in the attack—with most casualties suffered by the mine’s largely majority Han Chinese workers.

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NEWS RELEASE: Iran mining eyes $15 billion of foreign investment (Press TV – September 29, 2015)

http://www.presstv.ir/

Iran plans to attract $15 billion of foreign investment in its vast but largely underdeveloped mines and mining industry sector, an official says.

“The huge quantities of mineral resources call for attracting and absorbing domestic and foreign sources,” Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Khazaee said on Tuesday.

Iran’s mineral reserves are estimated at a whopping 60 billion metric tons, including 37 billion metric tons of proven deposits. Officials say known reserves have been found on explorations over only 7% of Iran’s total area.

“The mining sector is in fact the main base and the mother of development for other sectors which needs special attention,” Khazaee said.

“According to the sixth national development plan which is in the formulation stage, $15 billion in foreign investment is envisaged to be attracted in the mines and mining industries sector,” he added.

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Rights Group: Filipino Child Miners Risk Lives in Gold Mines (Associated Press/New York Times – September 29, 2015)

http://www.nytimes.com/

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government has failed to protect thousands of children, some as young as 9 years old, who risk their lives by working in illegal, small-scale gold mines under terrifying conditions, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch’s report said the children work in unstable 25-meter (80-foot) deep pits or underwater along coastal shores or rivers, processing gold with mercury, a toxic metal that can cause irreversible health damage. Those who dive for gold stay underwater for several hours at a time in 10-meter- (30-foot-) deep shafts, receiving air through a tube attached to an air compressor.

The New York-based group says it interviewed 135 people, including 65 child miners from 9 to 17 years of age, in eastern Camarines Norte and Masbate provinces in 2014 and 2015.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz told the Associated Press that the government is addressing the problem by prosecuting those forcing the children to work, and by providing the children with health, education and livelihood programs.

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