Chromium/Platinum Group Metals – Page 40

[Sudbury Wahnapitae] Natives work with Cliffs – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – October 25, 2012)

October 25, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Members of Wahnapitae First Nation regard plans by Cliffs Natural Resources to build a chromite smelter just 20 kilo-metres from their border as an opportunity.

But the president of the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association, a Wahnapitae First Nation member, says they also view the plant as a threat. That’s why the First Nation, and the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association, are working with Cliffs on a baseline environmental review of the project, getting involved on the ground floor.

Hans Matthews has been a member of his First Nation’s Mining Industry Working Group for a decade and president since the beginning of the association, which will mark its 20th anniversary with a conference in Toronto next month.

Headquartered in Wahnapitae First Nation, Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association drew a handful of guests to its first annual convention. Eight hundred delegates are expected to attend this year’s event, cochaired by Matthews and Bill Boor, Cliffs’ senior vice-president of global ferroalloys.

Cry, the beloved country [South Africa] – The Economist (October 20, 2012)

October 24, 2012

http://www.economist.com/

South Africa is sliding downhill while much of the rest of the continent is clawing its way up

NOT so long ago, South Africa was by far the most serious and economically successful country in Africa. At the turn of the millennium it accounted for 40% of the total GDP of the 48 countries south of the Sahara, whereas Nigeria, three times more populous, lurched along in second place with around 14%. The remainder, in raw economic terms, barely seemed to count.

Despite South Africa’s loathsome apartheid heritage, solid institutions underpinned its transition to democracy in 1994: a proper Parliament and electoral system, a good new constitution, independent courts, a vibrant press and a first-world stockmarket. Nelson Mandela, whose extraordinary magnanimity helped avert a racial bloodbath, heralded a rainbow nation that would be a beacon for the rest of Africa.

Since then, Africa, once harshly labelled by this newspaper as “the hopeless continent”, has begun to make bold strides (see article). Meanwhile South Africa, though still a treasure trove of minerals with the most sophisticated economy on the continent, is on the slide both economically and politically (see article). By some calculations Nigeria’s economy, messy as it is, will overtake it within a few years. What went wrong with South Africa, and how can it be fixed?

Over the rainbow [South Africa] – The Economist (October 20, 2012)

October 24, 2012

http://www.economist.com/

It has made progress since becoming a full democracy in 1994. But a failure of leadership means that in many ways, South Africa is now going backwards

ON JUNE 26th 1955, 3,000 South Africans gathered in a dusty square in Kliptown, a district of Soweto, a sprawling black township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Members of the African National Congress (ANC) congregated alongside their anti-apartheid confederates to proclaim a new vision of the future. The next day police broke up the meeting (Nelson Mandela disguised himself as a milkman to escape). But the dream had already been declared.

“The people shall govern,” announced the Freedom Charter. South Africa would belong to all of its people, no matter what their colour. There would be work, education and security for all. Everyone would be equal before the law. It was an extraordinary affirmation, full of hope and the promise of a better future.

Today the square is named after Walter Sisulu, an ANC hero and mentor to Mr Mandela. It boasts shops, offices, a conference hall and a pricey hotel. As the birthplace of the new, inclusive South Africa, it has become a stop on the tourist trail. But just across the railway track, rickety shacks huddle together. The roads are rutted and muddy. Communal latrines stand useless, their doors open and rubbish piled inside. Next to them on the uneven ground wobbles a portable toilet, its door padlocked against vandals. A sludgy stream trickles past, fouled by children unable to find the key in time. Walter Sisulu Square is close by, but the aspirations of the Freedom Charter are nowhere to be seen.

[Marathon’s palladium] Mine on track for 2016 start – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – October 22, 2012)

October 22, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

The new Stillwater Mining Company executive spearheading the company’s proposed copper and palladium mine on Marathon’s outskirts says the project remains “fully funded” and on track to meet the previously announced production start-up date of 2016.

Stillwater Canada president Terry Ackerman, who is based in the company’s head office in Billings, Mont., was in Thunder Bay and Marathon last week to attend three open houses about the Marathon project.

Ackerman said the company hopes to have completed an ongoing environmental review into the project and obtain necessary operating permits by 2014. Construction at the proposed mine site just north of Marathon’s airport is expected to take two years and require 400 construction workers.

About 360 full-time miners are to be required once mining operations are underway. Ackerman, who was previously Stillwater’s vice-president of corporate development, replaces former Marathon project general manager Stan Emms. Ackerman said Emms has moved on to other projects.

Citizens form Cliffs watchdog group – by Heidi Ulrichsen – (Sudbury Northern Life – October 16, 2012)

October 17, 2012

http://www.northernlife.ca/

‘We only get one shot at doing it right’

There’s strength in numbers. That’s one of the ideas underpinning a newly-formed citizens’ group examining all aspects of the chromite smelting facility Cliffs Natural Resources wants to build near Capreol.

“People together are stronger than individuals,” Capreol resident Bob Johnson said. “The public have come here and said ‘Yes, these are the concerns that we have.’ They can’t be ignored, but individuals can be ignored.’” About 50 people gathered at the Capreol Millenium Centre Oct. 15 to learn about the new committee.

In the end, the group unanimously passed a mission statement to focus on ensuring the Cliffs plant, if it materializes, is safe and healthy and provides a net benefit for its workers, the surrounding communities and the environment.

Former Sudbury East NDP MPP and Capreol resident Elie Martel was elected chair of the committee, with Johnson as secretary and Black Cat owner and former Laurentian University professor John Rutherford as treasurer.

Martel said the idea for the committee started after he did a media interview where he talked about his concerns about the project’s potential environmental impact. He immediately started receiving phone calls from concerned citizens. Then he realized that the environmental assessment process for the project is already underway.

[Sudbury] Citizens question Cliffs – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – October 16, 2012)

October 16, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A group of citizens in Capreol voted unanimously Monday night to form a citizens’ committee to explore the net benefits and potential downsides of the planned Cliffs chromite smelter near the community.

Environmental concerns were front and centre at the meeting. Judy Sumner, a retired chemistry teacher at Cambrian, explained how chromite turns into a carcinogen when it comes into contact with oxygen.

That hazard was publicized in the case of Erin Brokovich and her fight against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993. Her exploits were later made into a film starring Julia Roberts.

Sumner said a modern closed smelter was built in Tornio, Finland that does not allow the burned chromite to escape into the surrounding air. She said her concerns about the project would be alleviated if Cliffs built a similar plant.

Elie Martel, who was voted the committee’s chair, said he attended an open-house meeting hosted by Cliffs, but the answers he received on environmental issues were not very forthcoming.

‘Inaccurate report,’ says Cliffs rep – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – October 12, 2012)

October 12, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A CBC News report claiming that Cliffs Natural Resources ‘is not locked into its decision’ to build a smelter near Capreol is just plain wrong, the company says.

“That is an inaccurate report out of CBC,” Patricia Persico, a Cliffs spokesperson, said in a release. “If you read the article, it is referencing 2011 discussions.

“At that time, Cliffs was exploring various locations in Ontario and Quebec. We made the announcement in May 2012 that our decision for the ferrochrome processing facility will be in Sudbury. “I hope this clears up the confusion and inaccurate report issued today.”

The CBC report did not say whether its reporter talked to Cliffs, a Cleveland-based mining company. Cliffs, meanwhile, has remained visible in Sudbury, holding open houses as part of its environmental review process. It is planning another open house Oct. 26, and Bill Boor, the senior VP of Cliffs Global Ferroalloys, is speaking to the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce on Nov. 6.

The smelter, which will process chromite ore shipped from the Ring of Fire area of northwestern Ontario, will create 300-400 jobs. Hundreds more jobs will be created by the mine.

Cliffs’ Sudbury smelter location not final – by Jody Porter (CBC Radio Sudbury – October 11, 2012)

October 11, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Documents reveal the company is still looking for a deal on energy costs

CBC News has learned Cliffs Natural Resources is not locked into its decision to build a smelter near Sudbury. Documents obtained through Freedom of Information reveal the American company’s plans to shop around for the best deal on electricity prices and tax rates.

In an e-mail to his colleagues, Bill Thornton with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines recapped some “confidential highlights” from a 2011 meeting with Cliffs. “Not mentioned in the document [Cliffs’ base case] is the fact that Cliffs will also examine whether other jurisdictions outside of Ontario offer better costs (sic) advantages for locating their ferrochrome production facility.”

A slide from a Minister’s office briefing from Dec. 16, 2011 labelled “confidential draft for discussion” said: “Cliffs base case scenario has identified a potential site north of Sudbury (Capreol) but intelligence suggests that Quebec has been aggressively lobbying for a site near Becancour where there is an existing industrial complex supporting aluminum production.”

South African platinum and gold mine mechanisation – no simple path – by Lawrence (Mineweb.com – October 11, 2012)

October 11, 2012

www.mineweb.com

South Africa’s platinum and gold mining companies are being told to cut their workforces and introduce more mechanisation – but this is not as easy as it sounds

LONDON (MINEWEB) – With the focus over the past couple of months first on South Africa’s platinum mines, and subsequently its gold mines as labour problems have appeared to intensify we find the international mining community, for the most part, totally baffled by the sizes of the huge labour workforces working at some of these properties.

As an example – although this is going back a bit – after working on a South African gold mine where perhaps you would find a gang of 20-30 miners working on a single 3m x 3m development tunnel, the writer went to work on a Canadian underground mine where a similar sized development drive would be staffed by a gang of just two people.

The part answer to this, of course, was mechanisation, whereby the drilling itself would be undertaken by an early stage single boom drill jumbo rather than by four or five rock drill operators plus their attendants, working off and under a drill platform in the South African case.

South Africa’s ruling party paralyzed as strikes choke off economy – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – October 8, 2012)

October 9, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — Fuel and food supplies are beginning to run out as labour violence escalates in South Africa, leaving its ruling party facing a mounting national economic crisis while it is paralyzed by a leadership struggle.

The wildcat strikes are inflicting heavy damage on some of the world’s biggest gold and platinum producers in a country that remains Africa’s economic powerhouse. South Africa is the world’s biggest platinum producer and the fifth-biggest gold producer.

Two more people were reported murdered on the weekend in Marikana, the platinum mining town where 34 protesters were gunned down by police in August.

The labour unrest could become more chaotic this week as rail and port workers threaten to join 28,000 truckers whose strike has already disrupted fuel and food deliveries across South Africa, leaving some gas stations out of supplies, bank machines running out of cash and supermarkets suffering shortages of some products.

12,000 striking South African miners fired as unrest deepens – by Rodney Muhumuza (Globe and Mail – October 6, 2012)

October 6, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — The Associated Press – Anglo American Platinum has fired 12,000 striking miners for staging an unlawful strike that is one of several that are slowly paralyzing South Africa’s crucial mining sector.

About 80,000 miners, representing 16 per cent of the country’s mine work force, are currently striking in a wave of wildcat work stoppages that have serious economic and political implications for South Africa.

Strike leader Gaddafi Mdoda, a mine worker at Anglo American Platinum, or Amplats, said he was one of the workers who received e-mails or SMS messages telling them they had been dismissed. “Things are bad here,” Mr. Mdoda said. The strike leader said he was shocked by the decision to dismiss striking workers, even though “it is nothing to be afraid of.”

“Approximately 12,000 striking employees chose not to make representations, nor attend the hearings, and have therefore been dismissed in their absence,” a statement from Amplats said, according to the South African Press Agency.

Platinum producer fires 12,000 striking South African miners as unrest deepens – by Agnieszka Flak (Globe and Mail – October 5, 2012)

October 5, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — Reuters – Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) fired 12,000 wildcat strikers on Friday, a high-stakes attempt by the world’s biggest platinum producer to push back at a wave of illegal stoppages sweeping through South Africa’s mining sector and beyond.

The rand fell sharply after the announcement, suggesting investors fear the sackings could worsen what is shaping up to be the most damaging period of labour unrest in Africa’s biggest economy since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Police shot dead one striking miner overnight, bringing the death toll in two months of unrest to 48. Strikes have spread beyond the mining sector, with Shell declaring on Friday that it would not be able to honour contracts to deliver fuel near Johannesburg because of a trucking strike.

The unrest is causing political trouble for President Jacob Zuma and his ruling African National Congress (ANC), the veteran liberation movement with long-standing ties to labour unions. “You fire 12,000 people, and it’s like ‘Oh my god, what happens now?’” one Johannesburg-based currency strategist said.

[Sudbury] ‘Pro-Cliffs’ group worried – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – October 5, 2012)

October 5, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A group of concerned citizens, comprised of people who are all “pro-Cliffs,” will hold a public meeting Oct. 15 in Capreol to strike a formal committee to hold the company’s and government’s feet to the fire on the issue of environmental health and safety.

Retired mining health and safety activist Homer Seguin said half a dozen citizens, including former longtime New Democrat MPP Elie Martel, have been meeting to discuss Cliffs Natural Resources’ plan to build a ferrochrome processing plant north of Capreol.

“We’re pro-Cliffs,” said Seguin, “because the jobs are welcome. But first and foremost comes safety.” Cliffs announced in May it plans to build a $1.8-billion smelter at the former Moose Mountain Mine site to process chromite ore the Clevelandbased company will mine in the Ring of Fire.

The committee’s support will come with the condition that the plant be built and operated so as not to adversely affect the health of its employees, and the air and water in the city, said Seguin. Little is known about chromite processing, said Seguin, and that’s something at which a formalized committee would examine.

Ex-Implats CEO speaks out on strikes, mine conditions – by Christy Filen (Mineweb.com – October 1, 2012)

October 2, 2012

www.mineweb.com

In his first interview with Mineweb since leaving Impala Platinum, David Brown, hits back at critics accusing the company of starting the wave of strikes.

JOHANNESBURG (MINEWEB) – The former CEO of Impala Platinum, David Brown, has said that accusations that the miner had, while he was at the helm, kicked off the recent spate of wild-cat strikes by negotiating and settling with illegally striking workers is misplaced.

Brown said that the accusations are not accurate as nothing extra was given to striking workers until they had returned to work and there was normality.

In the CEO’s first interview since announcing his resignation from the platinum miner, Brown said “Well you can go back to Adam beget Cain, as to who started it, I think that they are missing the point. The point is that we all pay subtly different wages and benefits and that has been one of the issues”.

We saw Implats hurry up an annual increase to workers earlier on in the year after a violent six week strike in which three people died and then Lonmin agreeing to a 11% to 22% increase across the categories after a lengthy strike resulted in the deaths of 46 people and scores injured.

South Africa on the brink – Northern Miner Editorial (October 1, 2012)

October 2, 2012

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Post-apartheid South Africa has provided duelling optimists and pessimists with plenty of fodder to back up their long-standing positions. There have been unabashed triumphs — such as the country’s avoidance of Zimbabwe-style de-evolution, and its wonderful job hosting the World Cup — bumping right up against major societal obstacles, such as the flood of truly appalling violent crime, and the intractability of the nation’s simmering racial, class and tribal divides.

The strikes this year in the country’s platinum and gold mines, and particularly the recently settled strike at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine near Rustenburg, are once again causing miners and investors around the world to pause and wonder what’s next for South Africa’s mining sector, which accounts for a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product.

The 46-person death toll during the now-settled Marikana strike made headlines around the world, as it echoed some of the worst political violence of the apartheid era. As has been detailed in this and past issues, on Aug. 16, what appear on video to be trigger happy police — both black and white — opened fire with automatic weapons on a group of 3,000 strikers that had refused orders to disperse, killing 34 workers and wounding another 78. Some 270 strikers were arrested.