Asia Mining – Page 144 – Republic of Mining

Tax breakthrough at Rio Tinto’s Mongolia copper mine -source – by Terrence Edwards (Reuters U.S. – March 31, 2015)

March 31, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

ULAN BATOR – (Reuters) – Rio Tinto and Mongolia have made a breakthrough in a tax dispute that has been among issues stalling development of the $6.5 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper mine, according to an official familiar with the government’s position.

Disputes over costs and taxes have delayed an expansion of the mine that would extend its life beyond an estimated 15 years.

“Misunderstandings and issues surrounding the tax climates have been resolved,” the official told Reuters, without specifying the terms of an agreement or what other issues needed to be resolved for the next underground phase of the project to go ahead.

“The parties are working towards agreeing on the commercial terms of the underground project,” added the official, who asked not to be named because no announcement had been made yet. A Rio Tinto spokesman and a spokesman for Mongolia’s mining ministry declined to comment.

A spokesman for Rio’s Turquoise Hill Resources, which owns 66 percent of the mine, also declined to comment and pointed to a statement last week that said Oyu Tolgoi was appealing a ruling by Mongolia’s Tax Dispute Resolution Council to the country’s Administrative Appellate Court.

India: At the coalface – by James Crabtree (Financial Times – March 31, 2015)

March 31, 2015

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Failure to boost energy supplies will hurt Modi’s goal of turning India into a manufacturing force

A large, colourfully painted sign hangs above the entrance to the depths of Jhanjra, the largest underground mine in West Bengal’s Raniganj coal belt. The left side shows Indian mining as it once was, with roughly drawn cartoon figures wielding basic shovels and carrying woven baskets of coal, balanced on their heads. The right paints a more modern scene, featuring large yellow mining machines, operated by skilled technicians.

Take the cage-like lift down hundreds of metres into the darkness below, and walk for nearly an hour through narrow tunnels in stifling heat, and that second image suddenly becomes real as a cutting vehicle with fierce rotating metal teeth, known as a continuous miner and built by US manufacturer Caterpillar, rips tonnes of black rock from the coal face.

Digging up a culture clash [B.C. Jade Mining] – by Alan Campbell (Richmond News – March 27, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.richmond-news.com/

Richmond man finds himself between a jade rock and a hard place as the bridge between a rough and ready Canadian mining family and billionaire Chinese investors on a new TV show

Nowhere in the Lower Mainland has the coming together of two worlds — East and West — stirred emotions over the last few years than Richmond.

Throw in a hard-bitten, beer-drinking all-Canadian family, jade-mining in harsh conditions, with Chinese billionaire investors breathing over their shoulder, and you have a culture clash ready to ignite at any given second.

The poor guy caught slap, bang in the middle is Richmond family man Alan Qiao, who is one of the stars of a new Discovery Channel show called Jade Fever, which debuts March 31.

COLUMN-Bauxite and the limits of resource nationalism – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – March 27, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – It’s been over a year now since Indonesia imposed its ban on the export of unprocessed minerals. The aim of the January 2014 lock-down is to generate greater value for the country and its citizens by forcing operators to build processing plants and export value-added product not raw materials.

Other resource-rich countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, are travelling the same road but Indonesia is way out in front.

The country’s high-stakes strategy, implemented in the face of considerable opposition from both its own mining sector and overseas buyers, does appear to be largely working.

At a practical level flows of nickel ore and bauxite to Chinese buyers have been halted. Indonesia’s mining ministry says there are now 11 nickel-processing projects under way, many of them backed by Chinese nickel and stainless steel producers.

The country’s two top copper miners, Freeport McMoRan and Newmont Indonesia, have been successfully cajoled into committing to a new copper smelter in return for keeping their mining rights.

UPDATE 2-Iron ore slump set to shrink China’s mining capacity – by David Stanway (Reuters U.S. – March 27, 2015)

March 27, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

SHIJIAZHUANG, China, March 27 (Reuters) – A slide in iron ore prices is turning the screw on China’s fragmented mining sector, paving the way for closures and consolidation with three-quarters of the country’s mining capacity operating at a loss, industry officials said on Friday.

More mine closures in China, the biggest consumer of the steelmaking commodity, would increase its appetite for imported iron ore and help ease a global glut that has slashed prices by more than half in the past 12 months.

“I would like to thank the big four miners for driving prices down because it has given bigger domestic mines an opportunity and forced small miners to cut production,” Gao Yan, deputy general manager at the mining unit of Chinese steelmaker Angang Group, told an industry conference.

Top global producers Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have boosted output despite falling prices, prompting No. 4 iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group to propose limiting production. The commodity fell to $54.20 a tonne .IO62-CNI=SI this week, the lowest since records began in 2008, and Citigroup predicted prices will drop below $50.

Beijing to Shut All Major Coal Power Plants to Cut Pollution (Bloomberg News – March 23, 2015)

March 26, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Beijing, where pollution averaged more than twice China’s national standard last year, will close the last of its four major coal-fired power plants next year.

The capital city will shutter China Huaneng Group Corp.’s 845-megawatt power plant in 2016, after last week closing plants owned by Guohua Electric Power Corp. and Beijing Energy Investment Holding Co., according to a statement Monday on the website of the city’s economic planning agency. A fourth major power plant, owned by China Datang Corp., was shut last year.

The facilities will be replaced by four gas-fired stations with capacity to supply 2.6 times more electricity than the coal plants.

The closures are part of a broader trend in China, which is the world’s biggest carbon emitter. Facing pressure at home and abroad, policy makers are racing to address the environmental damage seen as a byproduct of breakneck economic growth. Beijing plans to cut annual coal consumption by 13 million metric tons by 2017 from the 2012 level in a bid to slash the concentration of pollutants.

Shutting all the major coal power plants in the city, equivalent to reducing annual coal use by 9.2 million metric tons, is estimated to cut carbon emissions of about 30 million tons, said Tian Miao, a Beijing-based analyst at North Square Blue Oak Ltd., a London-based research company with a focus on China.

THE DEADLY GLOBAL WAR FOR SAND – by Vince Beiser (Wired.com – March 26, 2015)

March 26, 2015

http://www.wired.com/category/business

THE KILLERS ROLLED slowly down the narrow alley, three men jammed onto a single motorcycle. It was a little after 11 am on July 31, 2013, the sun beating down on the low, modest residential buildings lining a back street in the Indian farming village of Raipur. Faint smells of cooking spices, dust, and sewage seasoned the air. The men stopped the bike in front of the orange door of a two-story brick-and-plaster house. Two of them dismounted, eased open the unlocked door, and slipped into the darkened bedroom on the other side. White kerchiefs covered their lower faces. One of them carried a pistol.

Inside the bedroom Paleram Chauhan, a 52-year-old farmer, was napping after an early lunch. In the next room, his wife and daughter-in-law were cleaning up while Paleram’s son played with his own 3-year-old boy.

Gunshots thundered through the house. Preeti Chauhan, Paleram’s daughter-in-law, rushed into Paleram’s room, her husband, Ravindra, right behind her. Through the open door, they saw the killers jump back on their bike and roar away.

Paleram lay on his bed, blood bubbling out of his stomach, neck, and head. “He was trying to speak, but he couldn’t,” Preeti says, her voice breaking with tears. Ravindra borrowed a neighbor’s car and rushed his father to a hospital, but it was too late. Paleram was dead on arrival.

What 60 Minutes Got Wrong About Rare Earths And China – by Tim Worstall (Forbes Magazine – March 23, 2015)

March 24, 2015

http://www.forbes.com/

Last night 60 Minutes ran a segment on how American industry, and more importantly, the American defense industry, is prostrate before a Chinese monopoly of rare earths production. This is of course very worrying for all sorts of Very Serious People and something no doubt should be done.

There is a slight problem with the analysis 60 Minutes presented though: that problem being that their analysis was wrong. And I say this as someone who works in that rare earth industry, someone who has, at times, been a near monopoly supplier of one of the rare earths and, even, a supplier to the US defense industry of non-Chinese rare earths.

Here are the most important lines in the 60 Minutes report:

But trouble is once again looming for the U.S. rare earth industry. Since restarting operations two years ago, Molycorp’s mountain pass mine has yet to turn a profit, and so deeply in debt that just last week, its own auditor warned it may not be able to stay in business.

China, Russia and the Tussle for Influence in Kazakhstan – by Arthur Guschin (The Diplomat – March 23, 2015)

March 23, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/

The two powers are pursuing competing interests in Central Asia.

Until recently, Central Asia played only a modest role in world politics, a reflection of its economic weakness, domestic problems, and distrust of integration. Russia’s presence in the region as the primary political mediator and economic partner was incontestable. In the last few years, though, China’s growing economic interest in Central Asia has come to be seen in Moscow as a threat to its influence. Russia is watching closely the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, which would give Beijing the dominant role and could supplant the Eurasian Economic Union. With Kazakhstan the core state in any integration project in the region, it looks set to become the frontlines of the tussle between China and Russia for regional influence.

Russian Interests

Driving Russian policy in Kazakhstan are the activities of four major Russian energy companies: Gazprom, Lukoil, Transneft and Rosneft. These companies allow Moscow to keep Astana within the sphere of Russian interests and help prevent Beijing from dominating Kazakhstan’s economy. Their participation in local energy projects gives Russia access to oil and gas reserves, while binding the two countries in the energy, transport, space and agriculture sectors.

The basis of the partnership rests on agreements covering petroleum contracts and energy supplies transiting through Kazakhstani and Russian territory to European or Chinese markets. Currently, the leading Russian investor in Kazakhstan is Lukoil, which operates seven projects and has a stake in the cross-country pipeline Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). In 2013, 32.7 million tons of oil was pumped through the pipeline, 28.7 million tons of it exported from Kazakhstan.

Zijin Mining Group to Acquire 9.9% Stake in Ivanhoe Mines – by Ben Dummett (Wall Street Journal – March 23, 2015)

March 23, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Chinese company could increase copper reserves through access to Ivanhoe’s projects in Congo

Chinese metals producer Zijin Mining Group Co. said Monday it would acquire almost a 10% stake in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. for about 105 million Canadian dollars ($82 million), as part of a potentially bigger investment to help the Canadian mining company develop projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa.

State-owned Zijin is a large gold, copper and zinc producer in China with additional mining interests in Australia, Russia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The 9.9% stake in Ivanhoe Mines offers Zijin the opportunity to increase its copper reserves by giving the Chinese company access to Ivanhoe’s Kamoa and Kipushi projects in Congo’s southern province of Katanga. Ivanhoe is also majority owner of the Platreef platinum, palladium, nickel, copper and gold project in South Africa.

China’s voracious appetite for copper is behind moves to seek out additional reserves of the industrial metal to help feed the Asian giant’s economic growth. However, Congo’s political uncertainty makes investing in that country relatively risky, and in the past has deterred other mining companies from investing there.

“Ivanhoe and Zijin are in detailed, friendly discussions about the strategic co-development of our Kamoa copper discovery,” mining magnate Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe’s executive chairman, said in a statement.

UPDATE 1- Indonesia may ease bauxite export ban to help fund refineries – by Wilda Asmarini (Reuters Africa – March 23, 2015)

March 23, 2015

http://af.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, March 23 (Reuters) – Indonesia is looking at easing its mineral export ban for bauxite producers to help promote the building of domestic processing capacity, a mines ministry official said on Monday.

Early last year Indonesia put in place export restrictions aimed at forcing miners to develop smelting and processing facilities so that it can increase the value of the minerals it produces and create jobs.

“We need a breakthrough in the law to accelerate bauxite smelter development,” Said Didu, head of the national smelter development team at the energy and mineral resources ministry, told reporters. “To accelerate bauxite smelter development, they should pay a guarantee bond to develop smelters to the government.”

The government has already offered a similar deal to copper miners, allowing them to export concentrates again after paying an export tax and a bond as a sign of good faith that they intend to build smelting capacity.

If bauxite miners have at least 30 percent of their smelter or refinery construction completed, they can apply for a government licence to resume some exports in order to get funding for the rest of their facility, Didu said.

China Cuts Coal Mine Deaths, But Count in Doubt – by Michael Lelyveld (Radio Free Asia – March 16, 2015)

March 20, 2015

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

China has announced continuing progress in reducing coal mine fatalities, although doubts remain about death counts and cover-ups in one of the most dangerous industries in the world.

On March 10, the director of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) told a Beijing press conference that coal mine accidents claimed 931 lives last year, as the death toll dropped below 1,000 for the first time.

“The situation has been greatly improved,” said the SAWS director, Yang Dongliang, according to Agence France-Presse. Speaking on the sidelines of China’s annual legislative sessions, Yang mixed praise for safety advances with a promise that the agency was determined to do more.

The most recent fatality figure represented an 86.7 percent decline from the toll of some 7,000 in 2002, the official Xinhua news agency reported. “The nation is still confronted with grave and complicated challenges in coal mine work safety, as the authorities aim to achieve a zero-death target,” Yang said.

There seems little doubt that China has made major steps forward in lowering the casualty count in an industry that accounts for half the world’s coal output.

Parliament passes bills to allow mine auctions – by Krishna N. Das and Nigam Prusty (Reuters India – March 20, 2015)

March 20, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI – (Reuters) – Parliament passed two bills on Friday to auction mines that produce minerals such as coal, iron ore and bauxite, in a boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid to kickstart an industry that has languished for years.

The Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation, and Coal Mines Special Provisions bills were seen as a test of the government’s ability to secure support from opposition parties in the upper house of parliament where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lacks a majority.

BJP has an overwhelming hold over the lower chamber, Lok Sabha, due to Modi’s resounding election victory 10 months ago. The bills have to be approved by President Pranab Mukherjee for them to become law – likely to be a formality.

India’s mining sector has been mired in controversy over the illegal allocation of resources, causing a near standstill in granting permits to open new mines, including an iron ore exploration licence for South Korean steel giant POSCO that wants to set up a steel plant in India.

Asia’s third largest economy was once the world’s third-largest exporter of iron ore but now has to import heavily due to court action on illegal mining. The Supreme Court has eased some of the curbs, but state officials have been slow to renew mining licences, fearing charges of corruption.

UPDATE 1-Investors fret as India defends reopening coal mine bids – by Krishna N. Das (Reuters India – March 17, 2015)

March 18, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – India’s coal ministry said it will decide this week the fate of nine winning mine bids it is re-examining to rule out any price discrepancies, despite criticism that its move to reopen some of the tenders will hurt business sentiment.

The government, which last month started auctioning off coal mine sites after a court said a previous method of awarding concessions was illegal, is re-examining “outlier” bids for the 33 mines auctioned so far, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said.

The winning bids for the nine mines were the highest in their individual auctions, but were considered low when compared with the winning bids for other similar blocks.

“We are not even looking at somebody doing wrong,” Swarup told Reuters on Tuesday. “We are looking at whether the price that was quoted is good enough for the government or not, and whether we could get a better price.”

Swarup said if any discrepancy is found, the mines may be re-auctioned, given to states or handed over to government-owned Coal India Ltd. This has left some companies, including Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, uncertain as to the status of what had appeared to be winning bids in the auctions.

India’s Conflict Minerals – by Anthony Loyd (National Geographic – April 2015)

March 17, 2015

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/

The gunman at the jungle’s edge lived and died by different names. Some knew him as Prashant, others as Paramjeet. Occasionally he called himself Gopalji, trading the alias with another insurgent leader to further confuse the Indian authorities trying to hunt him down.

When I met him, he was fresh from killing, and called himself by yet another name. “Comrade Manas,” he said as he stepped from the shadows beneath a huge walnut tree, machine gun in hand, a slight figure, his frame and features burned out and cadaverous with the depredations of malaria and typhoid, war and jungle.

The day was already old and the sun low. The silhouettes of a dozen or so other gunmen lurked in the deepening green of the nearby paddy fields, watchful and waiting. Manas and his men were on the move and had little time to talk.

In India they are known by a single word, Naxalites: Maoist insurgents at the heart of the nation’s longest running and most deeply entrenched internal conflict. Their decades-long war, which costs India more lives today than the embers of the conflict in Kashmir, has been described by former premier Manmohan Singh as India’s “greatest internal security threat.”

In the spate of violence 24 hours before our rendezvous, Manas, just 27 years old, and his men had killed six policemen and wounded eight more in an ambush across the range of low hills at whose base we now met.