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UPDATE 1-Kyrgyz MPs set new deadline for deal with Centerra Gold – by Olga Dzyubenko (Reuters India – June 5, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

BISHKEK, June 5 (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has set a new Sept. 10 deadline for the government to agree an improved mining deal with Canada’s Centerra Gold or unilaterally cancel the current arrangement.

Centerra, which runs the central Asian nation’s flagship Kumtor gold mine, has come under pressure to revise a deal struck in 2009 after a state commission said it was underpaying the government and had caused “colossal” environmental damage.

Last week, hundreds of protesters forced a brief stoppage to production at the mine, hidden high in the Tien Shan mountains near the Chinese border.

In late February, the legislature gave the government three months to strike a new deal with Centerra, but the government missed a June 1 deadline, saying it needed more time for talks. These include a proposal for Kyrgyzstan to swap its stake in the Toronto-listed company for joint ownership of Kumtor.

After hours of heated debates, the new deadline was adopted by a 65-5 vote. “There are three options. The first is to redraw the 2009 agreements and start working in line with Kyrgyz laws, including taxation,” Economy Minister Temir Sariyev said before the vote.

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Environment assessment for Alaska’s Pebble mine ‘theatre of the absurd’ – Northern Dynasty- by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – June 5, 2013)

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed project developer Northern Dynasty Minerals has filed a 205-page submission with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to its call for public comments on the revised draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment (BBWA), calling the draft report and the process used to complete it “biased, manipulative and contrary to the EPA’s own guidelines”.

Northern Dynasty president and CEO Ronald Thiessen said the 2013 draft BBWA, released in April, suffers from the same significant shortcomings as the original report published in May 2012 – in particular, that the EPA continued to assess the environmental effects of a hypothetical mine of its own invention, one that did not employ modern engineering standards, environmental safeguards or project-specific mitigation measures and could not be permitted under US or Alaska law.

Despite the fact that the EPA’s “hypothetical mine” was sited at the location of the Pebble deposit, Northern Dynasty believed the BBWA authors continued to refuse to consider the most extensive scientific data set available on the region – environmental baseline data collected by the Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) at a cost of about $150-million.

Northern Dynasty said the EPA’s failure to fully consider the PLP’s environmental data was contrary to its own guidelines for data quality and was compounded by the fact that the BBWA study authors had never set foot on the Pebble project site.

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Centerra mulls offering stake in Kumtor mine to Kyrgyz government amid violent protests – by Peter Koven (National Post – June 5, 2013)

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

TORONTO – As it faces a barrage of nationalization threats in Kyrgyzstan, Centerra Gold Inc. is studying a possible solution: giving the government a direct stake in its flagship mine.

Centerra revealed Tuesday that it negotiating a potential transaction with the Kyrgyz government that would convert the state’s 32.7% ownership of Centerra shares into direct ownership of the Kumtor mine through a joint venture.

The talks come amid a major crisis for Centerra. Last week, the Toronto-based miner had to temporarily shut down Kumtor after hundreds of protestors set up a roadblock near the mine and shut down a substation that was providing grid power.

The government later declared a state of emergency as hundreds of protestors clashed with riot police near Kumtor. The mine has since re-opened and the road is now clear again. “Probably by today or tomorrow, we’ll be at full capacity again,” said John Pearson, Centerra’s vice-president of investor relations.

The protestors were demanding that the government’s 2009 investment agreement with Centerra be torn up, with some calling for outright nationalization.

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High Ontario power rates blamed for deterring investment – CBC News Thunder Bay (June 4, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario say province’s rate double that of Manitoba, Quebec, Michigan

A growing number of Ontario mayors and manufacturers say the province’s energy prices and infrastructure are bad for business.

According to the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario, industrial customers pay approximately $85 per megawatt hour in Ontario when all components of the price of electricity is included. That’s more than double the $40 average paid in neighbouring provinces Manitoba, Quebec and the state of Michigan.

Ian Howcroft, the vice president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Ontario, said energy is a major factor when companies look to invest or expand in the province. “Companies are looking at all costs. It could be a deal breaker,” Howcroft said of energy rates. “Ontario is a high-cost jurisdiction, especially with the high dollar.

“It could be the straw that broke the investment camel’s back.” Howcroft said energy could account for as much as 30 per cent of a company’s expense, especially in mining and foundries.

“It depends on your sector, but it is a major concern we hear about from our members on an ongoing basis,” Howcroft said. “If we want to be globally competitive we have to address the cost concerns in a variety of areas but particularly in energy.”

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Least-mined Bushveld SA’s biggest iron-ore resource: Paul Jourdan – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – June 4, 2013)

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

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s Bushveld Complex was the country’s largest but least-mined iron-ore resource, independent South African mineral policy analyst Paul Jourdan told the International Mining and Metals third African Iron Ore conference here on Tuesday.

While the Bushveld hosted between 25-billion tons and 27-billion ton of iron-ore, it was the Kalahari basin with 3-billion tons in the Northern Cape where most of the mining was under way.

“The future resources are very much in the Bushveld Complex,” said the former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) deputy director-general and former Mintek head, who is currently working with the DTI, the Department of Mineral Resources, the Department of Science and Technology and the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on mineral value chain development.

Kumba Iron Ore was by far the largest miner, followed by Assmang, Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium and smaller start-ups. South African production was now at some 55-million tons a year, with plans for expansion.

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Cape Breton mines attract Chilean delegation – CBC News Nova Scotia (June 4, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/ns/

Chilean delegation interested in Cape Breton’s mining industry and Tar Ponds cleanup

A six-member delegation from Chile is coming to Cape Breton to learn more about managing mine closures and tackling environmental cleanups.

The Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation — a federal Crown corporation that fosters economic development — organized the visit by the delegation, which includes engineers from Chile’s mining and environmental companies and the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service.

Darlene Sponagle, the trade and investment officer for the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, said there is a need in South American countries for mine closure plans and there’s much they can learn.

“How we’ve all worked together to accomplish these projects here on Cape Breton Island, specifically around community engagement, stake holder engagement, First Nations engagement, as well as taking a look at some of the practices that were developed here between government and the private sector,” she said. Sponagle said the agenda is packed.

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Barrick delays Pascua-Lama mine start again (Reuters U.S. – June 4, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO, (Reuters) – Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp said it would delay the startup of its Pascua-Lama gold mine in Chile and Argentina past late 2014 and that the project would probably exceed its current budget of up to $8.5 billion as a result.

In a filing late with Canadian regulators late on Monday, Barrick attributed the delay to water management work required by Chile’s new environmental regulator.

A Chilean court in April partially halted construction of the project, which straddles the border between Chile and Argentina, to weigh claims by indigenous communities that Barrick has damaged pristine glaciers and harmed water supplies.

Chile’s environmental regulator then put its own halt on work at the gold-silver project in May, citing serious violations.

“While the company is assessing opportunities for potential reductions in certain expenditures, the delay beyond 2014 is expected to result in a related increase in capital cost,” Barrick said in the filing.

While all nonenvironmental work is halted in Chile, construction continues on the Argentine side of the project. The delay is just the latest hurdle for the project, which Barrick has had on its books for more than decade. Last year, the miner pushed back first production by a year and raised its estimate of capital costs by about 70 percent.

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Liberia wants neighbours to cooperate to boost mining hopes – by Clara Ferreira-Marques (Reuters India – June 4, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) – West African neighbours Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia should work together to resolve a dire lack of rail, port and power infrastructure that has held back the region’s mining ambitions, a senior Liberian government official said.

Sam Russ, deputy minister of operations at the ministry of mines in Liberia, said the region should collaborate on export links to make the most of major iron ore deposits, pointing to potentially lucrative cooperation with Guinea to the north.

The billions of dollars required to build rail or road have frozen many West African iron ore projects and rendered others all but impossible in an environment of uncertain prices and tough access to cash. Russ told an investor conference in London that cooperation could help resolve that.

“Our economies are certainly too small to take on these massive investments. If we think about collaborating, we can do a lot,” Russ said, pointing to the proximity of some deposits.

Key for Liberia – an emerging iron ore producer but also one of the region’s least explored destinations – would be cooperation with Guinea. That could, he said, help unlock the potential of Guinea’s giant Simandou mine and benefit Liberia.

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UPDATE 3-Beijing’s forced sale of Glencore Peru mine may play into China’s hands – by Denny Thomas (Reuters India – June 4, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

HONG KONG, June 4 (Reuters) – Beijing’s demand that Glencore Xstrata Plc sell a copper mine in Peru may bring rich dividends for China Inc., as two companies linked to Chinese state-backed groups are weighing rival bids for the $5 billion-plus project.

Interest from Chinese state companies in Glencore’s Peruvian mine is a rare case of an asset sale forced by a government as a condition of merger approval working in favour of its own national champions, and underscores China’s new-found clout in regulating global takeovers.

Chinalco Mining Corp International and Hong Kong-listed MMG Ltd, both linked to a Chinese state-owned enterprises, are considering offers for Glencore Xstrata’s Las Bambas mine, according to people close to the matter, less than three months after Beijing blessed Glencore’s $35 billion purchase of Xstrata.

Under the deal struck with Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce in April, Glencore has three months to begin the process of selling Las Bambas, one of the group’s biggest development projects, with the expectation of finding a buyer by the end of August 2014.

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Billionaire Rinehart Builds Rails as Iron Ore Plunges: Freight – by Elisabeth Behrmann & Sungwoo Park (Bloomberg News -June 4, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Gina Rinehart, Asia’s richest woman, built her fortune by heeding her own counsel. Now she’s testing that acumen by building her own iron ore railroad in Australia’s remote north — just as prices enter a bear market.

Samsung C&T Corp. (000830), South Korea’s second-largest builder, has started initial work after winning a A$5.6 billion ($5.4 billion) contract in March to build the railroad, plant and port for Rinehart’s Roy Hill mine. The 340-kilometer (211-mile) line to Port Hedland, the world’s biggest bulk terminal, will run parallel to two other rail networks and one planned route.

While Rinehart could cut costs by sharing infrastructure with competitors, according to UBS AG, she’s proceeding with her own railroad after passing on a potential investment accord with one of them: rival iron ore mining billionaire Andrew Forrest. The 59-year-old heiress, the world’s 35th-richest person, is seeking funding for her project, including the line, as costs peak and prices drop amid forecasts of a global supply glut.

“She’s taking on a lot of risk in terms of market outlook and the amount of capital that she’d going to need to build it,” Tom Price, a Sydney-based commodity analyst at UBS, said by phone. “It just seems like a very expensive path.”

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Mine rescue workers test their skills – by Jason Warick (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – June 3, 2013)

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/index.html

Fred Anderson didn’t hesitate when called to the scene of a fire at the Patience Lake potash mine near Saskatoon. “Your training just kicks in,” Anderson said of the incident last month.

Fellow rescue worker Rob Burford said he wondered at first if it was yet another practice drill. “When we saw the smoke, we knew. The adrenalin got going,” Burford said.

A series of pipes on the top floor of a building was on fire. Before rushing in, the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan workers donned their safety gear and assessed the situation. Only then did several of them enter the building and extinguish the fire. The damage was contained and no one was hurt.

“We practise a lot. It’s a big focus to ensure we’re ready for real-life situations,” Anderson said. Anderson, Burford and the other five members of the Patience Lake team got to practise even more over the weekend at the Saskatchewan Mining Association’s mine rescue skills competition at Prairieland Park. Teams of mine workers from across the province put out fires, rescued car accident victims and figured out how to survive encounters with poisonous gas in simulated drills. There was also an extensive written safety exam.

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‘Year of the Bear’ portends grizzly outlook for mining executives – MRG – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – June 4, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

“2013 is proving to be a year mining industry executives won’t soon forget; though most will not want to remember,” says the Mining Recruitment Group.

RENO (MINEWEB) – How bad is this year’s outlook for the international mining industry? So miserable that a measly 9% of mining executives recently polled by Vancouver’s Mining Recruitment Group said they are actually bullish on the year ahead.

In his second quarter 2013 survey, Andrew Pollard, president of The Mining Recruitment Group, observed, “2013 has been a year in which most involved in the mining industry will not soon forget; thought most will not want to remember.”

“Through the eyes of mining executives, this new report provides evidence that companies of all stage and size have had to make tough decisions in the wake of nearly unprecedented market turmoil,” said Pollard. “With investors sitting on the sidelines turning a blind eye, wildly fluctuating commodities prices and having to face escalating costs, executives aren’t counting on a short term fix, though long term, their sentiment is refreshingly rosy.”

In the document MRG: Mining Executive Outlook, Summer 2013, based on a survey completed by 2010 mining leaders, Pollard called 2013, “The Year of the Bear.”

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Greek opponents of Eldorado mine take message to company’s Canadian HQ: ‘Leave us alone’ – by David P. Ball (Rabble.com – June 4, 2013)

 http://rabble.ca/

Greek villagers brought their region’s fierce battle against Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold to the firm’s headquarters Friday, marking the end of the activists’ cross-Canada tour opposing open-pit gold mining in their homeland.

Over the past year, a growing conflict in Greece’s Halkidiki region — birthplace of the philosopher Aristotle — has seen thousands of residents blockade roads, raid mine sites, and skirmish with police they say are corrupt and beholden to the company. Another demonstration brought 20,000 protesters to the streets of Thessaloniki.

“Our will will not be curbed,” said Maria Kadoglou, a resident of Ierissos village, Greece. “We will keep on fighting until Eldorado Gold goes away.”

“Eldorado has been trying for a very long time to conceal from the Canadian public and its own investors that fact that there is huge resistance to its operations in Greece. When demonstrations got so big that they could no longer deny it any more … they have been saying the people protesting are anarchists, radical leftists, that we are flying in protesters from other parts of Greece; this is totally false. This is a genuine local resistance movement.”

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Impacts of climate change on mining industry studied – by Sheila Bautz (Regina Leader Post – May 25, 2013)

http://www.leaderpost.com/index.html

For L-P Specialty Products

Natural Resources Canada is funding a project to examine the impacts of climate change on mining in Saskatchewan. The goal is to distribute the results of the project’s recommendation documents across Canada by compiling the information in a program called “Enhancing Competitiveness in a Changing Climate.”

The federal government is funding the Saskatchewan project entitled, “Risk To Mining Companies Related to Extreme Climate Events: Case Studies of Adaptation Actions Focusing On The Qu’Appelle Water Sheds” for inclusion with their program.

Although federally funded, the Water Security Agency (previously Saskatchewan Watershed Authority) is leading the provincial project. The Water Security Agency leads management of the province’s water resources to ensure safe drinking water sources and reliable water supplies for economic, environmental, and social benefits for the people of Saskatchewan. Ben Brodie has been contracted as the project manager by The Water Security Agency to deliver the project. Brodie is managing the extensive research team undertaking various areas of research and documenting case studies, as well as integrating input from different agencies involved with the mining industry in Saskatchewan.

“You don’t have to go far to see the impact the extremes have had on the region, the prairies have always had an extreme climate which has been highlighted in recent years with widespread flooding having a major impact around the province.

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Mining in Zimbabwe: Where to from here? – by Arthur Mutambara (New Zimbabew – May 23, 2013)

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/index.aspx

Deputy Prime Minister Prof. Arthur G.O. Mutambara’s address to the chamber of Mines AGM at Nyamga on Developing and Managing the Mineral Wealth of Zimbabwe for Tomorrow

May 17, 2013

THE mining sector in Africa constitutes one of the largest industries in the world. Africa is the second biggest continent, with 30 million km² of land, which implies large quantities of resources.

For many African countries, mineral exploration and production constitute significant parts of their economies and remain keys to economic growth. The continent is richly endowed with mineral reserves and ranks first or second in quantity of world reserves of bauxite, cobalt, industrial diamond, phosphate rock, platinum-group metals (PGM), vermiculite, and zirconium. Gold extraction is the key driver of Africa’s mining activities.

However, in spite of this rich mineralization, African countries are still walloping in poverty. The primary problem has been the racist and colonial natural resource laws in Africa which empower the investor at the expense of the citizenry who are the bona fide owners of the resource. Based on this flawed framework, most of the mining deals and activities on the continent have been opaque and detrimental to Africans.

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