Asia Mining

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, July 6 (Reuters) – What’s the bigger risk? Greece leaving the euro zone in a messy debt default or China continuing to pump money into its faltering stockmarket while trying to boost the rest of the economy through cheap debt?

While Greece is probably ahead in the news headline count, especially in the developed world, the main impact from the weekend rejection by Greek voters of the terms of a new bailout is likely to be short-term market volatility.

This can be seen in crude oil, with West Texas Intermediate futures dropping as much as 4.4 percent and Brent futures falling as much as 1.6 percent early on Monday. The euro currency and stocks outside of China also stumbled as the Greek vote against austerity brought the Mediterranean nation closer to a debt default and leaving the single currency.

But the declines were relatively modest and probably reflected the reality that Greece is just 0.25 percent of the global economy, and accounts for a tiny 0.5 percent of the euro zone’s total exports.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/

Japan has rebuffed South Korean demands that it admits Koreans served as slave labour at seven mines, shipyards and factories that Japan is seeking to be listed as Unesco world heritage sites.

A Korean Foreign Ministry official said that Korea’s ambassador for Cultural and Unesco Affairs, Choi Jong-moon, had returned empty-handed from Tokyo after debating the case of the Korean workers.

Mr Choi had sought to reach an understanding on Japan’s bid for Unesco world heritage status for 23 Japanese industrial sites, including the seven where Korea says 60,000 Koreans were forced to work for no pay. Japan denies this was the case.

The row focuses on whether those sites qualify for world heritage status solely for their role in the rise of modern Japan in the late-19th century during the long reign of the Emperor Meiji. The Japanese say that era has nothing to do with the period in which Koreans laboured under Japanese masters while Japan ruled Korea from 1910 to the end of the Second World War.

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http://www.nytimes.com/

TOKYO — The Japanese government has acknowledged for the first time that Allied prisoners during World War II were made to work at a coal mine owned by the family of Prime Minister Taro Aso, contradicting his longstanding denials.

The admission came after the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, under prodding from an opposition lawmaker, released documents showing that 300 Australian, British and Dutch prisoners of war worked at a mine owned by Aso Mining during the last four months of the war.

At a parliamentary session on Thursday, Foreign Ministry and health officials acknowledged the validity of the documents, about 43 pages retrieved from the basement of the Health Ministry building.

The acknowledgment was another embarrassment for Mr. Aso, whose popularity has plummeted since he took office three months ago. His erratic stewardship over an increasingly shaky economy and insulting remarks about groups including the elderly have lowered his approval ratings to about 20 percent and drawn public attacks from his own Liberal Democratic Party.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/

Malaysia is emerging as an unexpected beneficiary of Indonesia’s ban on ore exports as mining companies from its larger Southeast Asian neighbor pump cash into local bauxite deposits to meet demand from China.

At least five Indonesian miners invested in Malaysia by the end of last year, teaming up with partners to extract the ore and ship it to China, according to Erry Sofyan, chairman of the Association of Indonesia Bauxite and Iron Ore Producers. More companies may follow, Sofyan said in an interview in Jakarta.

The investments highlight the challenge Indonesia faces in trying to boost its metal-processing industry. The policy, which also covered nickel, aimed to compel investments in higher-value facilities and shipments to address concern the country was selling off resources on the cheap.

While some smelters are being built in Indonesia, the curb boosted prospects for rival suppliers, including the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia.

“Malaysia is the winner from the Indonesian export ban,” Sofyan said on Thursday.

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

Kolkata (miningweekly.com) – Is illegal mining rearing its head in India again?

The concern has moved centre stage following the murder of a journalist in the central province of Madhya Pradesh for opposing the mining mafia and moving the courts against illegal mining.

Even though three people, all involved in illegal manganese mining and part of the mining mafia in the region, have been arrested on charges of murder, sections within the federal and provincial governments have expressed concern about whether the murder was an isolated incident or whether it signalled the re-emergence of the mining mafia despite changes in legislation and stringent punitive action.

Data collated from Indian Bureau of Mines showed that provincial governments had filed 727 cases during the past year following the inspection of 2 427 operational mines. The courts upheld charges in the cases of 25 mines.

Of the mines inspected, as many as 1 347 were operating in violation of the newly promulgated Mines Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDRA) 2015 and 357 mines had their mining licences cancelled over the past year.

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