Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining – Page 49

We won’t wake up tomorrow as Microsoft, but how will we pioneer the mining industry into the 21st Century? – by Jean-Sébastien Jacques, CEO Rio Tinto Group (IMARC Conference Melbourne, Australia – October 30, 2018)

October 31, 2018

“But I hate to tell you, our industry is one of the least trusted on the
planet. And unfortunately, it is a mainstream idea. You only have to take
a look at how mining is portrayed in the Avatar movie. What the heck?
And it makes me sad – or, depending on the day, mad.”

“And you know what, we need to use 21st century channels to communicate.
Today, who you are on social media is who you are to stakeholders.
That’s how they know us. So the culture we project online is incredibly important.”

“It is essential to make mining an attractive industry for the employees
we have now and those that we need to attract to thrive going forward.
The war for some of our talent is going to be fought with the likes
of Google, Facebook and other industries.”

**Check against delivery**

It’s great to be here in Melbourne to open IMARC. This is an important event, at an important time.

As an entire industry, we need to transform to stay relevant in the 21st century. There is absolutely no doubt about it, we have a long, proud history. But as we gather here today, we have a great chance to focus on our future.

Let’s open our minds to how we re-invent our industry, but before I say more let me acknowledge that we meet today on the lands of the traditional owners, the Wurundjeri people. Our industry works with Indigenous groups from the Pilbara to the far corners of Mongolia, and I would like to thank all of our
partners and Traditional Owners for making what we do possible.

‘One of the least-trusted on the planet’: Rio chief’s stark warning to miners – by Nick Toscano (Sydney Morning Herald – October 30, 2018)

October 31, 2018

https://www.smh.com.au/

Mining companies need to work harder to “change the barbecue conversation” and start restoring the level of public trust in the industry, says the head of Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.

“Mining is absolutely vital and this won’t change anytime soon,” Rio Tinto’s chief executive, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, will tell an industry conference on Tuesday. “But, I hate to tell you, our industry is one of the least-trusted on the planet.”

In an address to be delivered to the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne, Mr Jacques says it is a crucial time in the development of the mining industry – a time when protecting the environment is more important than ever, when technology is disrupting traditional processes, and when a lack of trust in business is creating even more questions about the benefits of the corporate sector, “including mining and the contribution we make”.

Climate change and renewables driving new mining boom, mining chief says – by Cole Latimer (Sydney Morning Herald – October 30, 2018)

October 30, 2018

https://www.smh.com.au/

The mining industry is addressing climate change head-on as it prepares for a new boom driven by renewable energy demand, a global mining council chief says.

The mining industry has been under fire following a recent UN report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said Australia must limit and eventually phase out its thermal coal mining to help fight rising global temperatures.

The mining industry and Australian government pushed back, saying mining has a long role to play in the country.

Mining and the environment: the biggest conservation projects in mining – by JP Casey (Mining-Technology.com – October 29, 2018)

October 30, 2018

https://www.mining-technology.com/

As the mining industry becomes more aware of the environmental damage large-scale extractive operations can cause, many are taking steps to reduce the harmfulness of their operations.

Often, this takes the form of extensive land rehabilitation projects, where companies set out long-term plans to redevelop land after a mine has been exhausted; however, many companies have adopted a more specific approach, engaging in operations to protect individual species of wildlife native to the lands where they mine. Here are five of the biggest conservation projects in mining.

Appalachian Wildlife Center, Kentucky, US

In July this year, biologist David Ledford announced the formation of the Appalachian Wildlife Center, a non-profit organisation that aims to construct a conservation area on former mining land in the US state of Kentucky. The area will cover 12,500 acres, a third of which will consist of plains and grassland built on former mine sites.

Papuans want Filipino miner out of their ancestral land – by Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star – October 29, 2018)

October 29, 2018

https://www.philstar.com/

A Filipino miner is causing social unrest in the Pacific island of Bougainville, the same way he stirred up Mindanao tribesmen against his mining. Tens of thousands of Bougainville natives are livid that SR Metals Inc., owned by Eric Gutierrez, is to log and consequently extract copper.

Central authorities in Papua New Guinea are being asked why an outsider has been allowed into the Panguna forest. Foreign mining in Panguna had triggered a ten-year civil war, 1988-1998, that claimed the lives of 20,000 people. Since then Panguna has been declared a “no-go zone.”

Gutierrez’s SRMI up to recently was extracting nickel in the mountains of Tubay, Agusan del Norte. Dispossessed Lumad had opposed his 20 years of supposed small-scale mining that actually exceeded legal limits. It also denuded forests in and beyond its 128-hectare concession.

Andrew Forrest’s lifetime of achievement – by Ben Creagh (Australian Mining – October 25, 2018)

October 25, 2018

https://www.australianmining.com.au/

Andrew Forrest’s optimistic view of the mining industry is undoubtedly one of his most noticeable traits. This optimism has driven the growth of Fortescue Metals Group from an ambitious exploration and development company in 2003 to the world’s fourth largest iron ore producer today.

It is what has made ‘Twiggy’ one of the most well-known and enduring personalities in Australian mining. And it is one reason why he has been honoured with the Liebherr Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 Australian Mining Prospect Awards.

As Fortescue’s inaugural chairman, then chief executive officer and now chairman once more, Forrest has guided the company into a powerhouse of the Pilbara. The Perth-based company today produces 170 million tonnes of iron ore a year from its Pilbara mine sites. Its focus on productivity and improving efficiencies has helped it become the lowest cost seaborne provider of iron ore into China.

COLUMN-China’s winter pollution cuts may boost high-grade iron ore – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – October 22, 2018)

October 23, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Oct 22 (Reuters) – With China’s anti-pollution restrictions starting to take effect, one of the conventional market wisdoms is that this will boost demand for high-grade iron ore.

The logic is sound: If steel mills are restricted as to how much they can pollute, they will use the best possible quality iron ore in order to maximise the amount of steel produced relative to the energy consumed.

This means that ore with an iron content of 62 percent or higher should command a greater period during the winter restriction period than those poorer quality grades, such as 58 percent ore.

Exclusive: Spain to block Berkeley uranium mine project – sources – by Belén Carreño (Reuters U.S. – October 16, 2018)

October 18, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish government has decided not to deliver the permits necessary to open the European Union’s only open-cast uranium mine near Salamanca, dealing a serious blow to Australian mining company Berkeley Energia’s (BKY.AX) plans.

The project was granted preliminary approval in early 2013 but has since faced local opposition. Berkeley later requested a trading halt on its shares, which fell nearly 29 percent in Australian trading hours on Tuesday, citing media articles about the Salamanca mine.

The company asked the Australian Securities Exchange to suspend trading until it released a statement on the Salamanca mine or until the opening of trade on Oct. 19, whichever came first, according to the letter sent to the regulator.

World’s Top Miner Embracing the Boom in Electric Car Batteries – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – October 16, 2018)

October 18, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd. is boosting sales of the top-quality nickel that’s needed for electric vehicle batteries, another sign the world’s biggest miner is targeting more opportunities in the booming sector.

Sales of refined nickel, a category that includes the premium products used for battery production, jumped 18 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 from a year earlier, according to a statement Wednesday. The company has begun offering more detailed data on nickel and cobalt production amid investor interest in its exposure to the rise of EVs.

BHP’s Nickel West operation in Western Australia aims to sell 90% of output to the battery sector by the end of 2019, switching away from a traditional customer base in the stainless-steel market.

Aussie iron miners struggle to keep pace with Vale – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – October 16, 2018)

October 16, 2018

https://www.afr.com/

Australian iron ore miners have struggled to keep pace with Brazilian miner Vale, with BHP and Fortescue expected to follow in Rio Tinto’s footsteps by reporting softer exports of the steelmaking ingredient in recent months.

Rio confirmed on Tuesday that maintenance disruptions and the death of an employee had contributed to weaker than expected iron ore exports in the three months to September 30, and data from Port Hedland suggests its tenants (BHP, Fortescue, Roy Hill, Mineral Resources and Atlas Iron) exported six per cent less iron ore in the period compared to the previous quarter.

BHP is scheduled to confirm its iron ore exports on Wednesday morning, with RBC predicting its Australian division shipped 72 million tonnes in the three months to September 30.

Rio Tinto owes Sam Walsh $28m, the time has come to pay or explain why not – by Matthew Stevens (Australian Financial Review – October 15, 2018)

October 15, 2018

https://www.afr.com/

The final weeks of November will deliver Rio Tinto’s board the opportunity to right what looks, for all the world, like a reputation-scarring wrong forced on the man who did so much to recover the miner’s financial standing.

One of the most immediate and delicate of the legacy issues facing Rio Tinto’s relatively new chairman, Simon Thompson, is whether or not to pay former chief executive Sam Walsh.

Now, you might wonder why the current chairman has any level of influence over the remuneration of an executive who left the business before Thompson joined the board and a full 19 months before the suave Oxon assumed the mantle of long-time Rio chairman, Jan du Plessis?

As Australia’s mining boom wanes, rehabilitation of abandoned mines offers lessons for the world – by Bianca Nogrady (Eco-Business.com – October 12, 2018)

October 12, 2018

https://www.eco-business.com/

Across the globe, countries are figuring out how to bring plants and animals back to abandoned mines. With as many as 60,000 such sites, Australia could offer important lessons.

The 1986 Australian film Crocodile Dundee brought global fame to its leading man Paul Hogan, but the real star of the show was the vast, ancient landscape of the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.

Kakadu is the jewel in the crown of Australia’s national parks, but this unique wilderness is also home to one of the world’s largest uranium mines. The Ranger mine has been operational since 1980 but its time is drawing to a close; mining ended in 2012, and processing of the remaining stockpiled ore is expected to finish in 2020.

So what then for the mine site? It’s a question being asked with increasing urgency around Australia as the mining boom that has powered the Australian economy for nearly fifteen years wanes. There are as many as 60,000 abandoned mine sites, some in otherwise pristine ecosystems found nowhere else on earth.

A deal to sell a failing nickel mine fell through, then they found gold — lots of gold – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – October 11, 2018)

October 12, 2018

https://business.financialpost.com/

But there is some concern about whether the gold strike — expected to be worth around $50 million — is the tip of the iceberg, or just a lucky strike

Kevin Small knew something was up, which was why he was driving a pick-up truck into the dark abyss of an Australian underground mine, occasionally swerving into turnouts to dodge 55-ton trucks hauling giant loads of rock.

A team of his senior colleagues had summoned Small, head of Toronto-based RNC Minerals Corp.’s Beta Hunt Mine, for reasons they declined to share over the radio system that everyone in the mine used.

After 15 minutes, he arrived at his destination, about 500 metres below the surface. Three colleagues, already on the scene, stood marvelling at a rock face that had been blasted open. Huge ribbons of gold streaked the surface and there was more gold lying on the floor than the entire mine had produced in months.

Chile: Questions about Water Availability could Threaten the Mining Industry – by Mervyn Piesse (Future Directions.org – October 10, 2018)

October 11, 2018

http://www.futuredirections.org.au/

South America holds two-thirds of the world’s lithium reserves and Chile alone possesses almost half of the world total. Copper is also important to the Chilean economy and accounts for almost half of its export earnings. Many large Chilean copper mines are ageing, however, and the supply of high-grade ore has diminished.

To maintain production, copper producers are increasingly forced to exploit copper sulphide deposits, using a process that is more water-intensive. The Chilean Government is also simultaneously moving to exploit the country’s vast lithium resources, which could further strain water supplies in the resource-rich, but water-poor, Salar de Atacama.

As most of Chile’s lithium is dissolved in briny water drawn from Andean salt flats, it can only be extracted through a lengthy evaporation process. Conversely, Australian lithium reserves are predominantly found in hard rocks. Australia is currently the largest world supplier, despite holding less than ten per cent of the world’s identified lithium resources.

RNC Minerals recovers giant gold slab from its mine in Australia – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 10, 2018)

October 11, 2018

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX), the company that last month unearthed more than 9,000 ounces of high-grade gold from a single blast at its Australian Beta Hunt mine, has recovered the first specimen.

The Toronto-based miner said the slab, weighing about 90kg, was cut in the field, revealing impressive visible gold and quartz structures. It’s estimated that the stone, which will be divided up into a series of smaller pieces, contains 1,000 ounces of gold.

Final weights and gold content will be determined for each specimen slab once all have been cut, RNC said.