Copper – Page 72 – Republic of Mining

Indonesia plans to buy out Rio’s share of Grasberg copper mine – by Wilda Asmarini and Fergus Jensen (Reuters U.K. – December 5, 2017)

December 5, 2017

https://uk.reuters.com/

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia plans to acquire Rio Tinto’s 40 percent participating stake in the Grasberg copper mine operated by the local division of Freeport-McMoRan Inc, part of government plans to control more of the country’s resources.

Under a joint venture formed in 1996, Rio has a 40 percent interest in Freeport’s Grasberg contract, entitling it to 40 percent of production above specific levels until 2021 and 40 percent of all production after 2022. Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport said in August it would divest 51 percent of PT Freeport Indonesia to the Indonesian government, to meet local ownership rules.

Indonesia plans to complete the acquisition of Rio’s interest in the mine in 2018, as part of a purchase of a 51 percent stake in Freeport Indonesia by the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) and other government units, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said on Tuesday.

Bisbee: a copper town first, last and always – by Tom Beal (Arizona Daily Star – July 10, 2011)

December 1, 2017

http://tucson.com/

Bisbee was the most prosperous city in the new state of Arizona on Feb. 14, 1912. It retained its rough edges, however, and celebrated statehood in true mining-camp style – setting off 48 sticks of dynamite in a mining hole near its downtown.

Next year’s centennial festivities will mimic that raucous salute – with a decrease in firepower necessitated by Homeland Security concerns. Copper mining ceased in Bisbee more than 30 years ago, but it remains the best place to envision what life was like in an Arizona mining town 100 years ago.

Its handsome Main Street, lined with substantial brick buildings, looks much the same as it did then. That streetscape was new when its residents celebrated statehood. Disastrous fires in 1907 and 1908 had leveled the wooden buildings in Tombstone Canyon.

[Arizona Copper Mining History] Bisbee Deportation of 1917 (Wiki)

December 1, 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/

The Bisbee Deportation was the illegal kidnapping and deportation of about 1,300 striking mine workers, their supporters, and citizen bystanders by 2,000 members of a deputized posse on July 12, 1917. The action was orchestrated by Phelps Dodge, the major mining company in the area, which provided lists of workers and others who were to be arrested in Bisbee, Arizona.

The arrested were first held at a local baseball park before being loaded onto cattle cars and deported 200 miles (320 km) to Tres Hermanas in New Mexico. The 16-hour journey was through desert without food or water. Once unloaded, the deportees, most without money or transportation, were warned against returning to Bisbee.

As Phelps Dodge, in collusion with the sheriff, had closed down access to outside communications, it was some time before the story was reported. The company presented their action as reducing threats to United States interests in World War I in Europe.

[Copper Mining History] Deportation ‘17: A Film About a Film in Bisbee, Arizona

December 1, 2017

Deportation ’17: A Film About a Film in Bisbee from Lone Protestor on Vimeo.

https://www.facebook.com/bisbee17/

July 12, 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Bisbee Deportation, where over a thousand striking miners were rounded up by the mining company, forced onto cattle cars and deported to the New Mexico desert. As a film crew comes to Bisbee to make a documentary about the Deportation, the whole town gets into the act.
The documentary Bisbee ’17 will be produced by 4th Row Films and is directed by Robert Greene.

The following is from Amazon.com: Bisbee, Arizona, queen of the western copper camps, 1917. The protagonists in a bitter strike: the Wobblies (the IWW), the toughest union in the history of the West; and Harry Wheeler, the last of the two-gun sheriffs. In this class-war western, they face each other down in the streets of Bisbee, pitting a general strike against the largest posse ever assembled.

Lundin Mining stock drops as Chile production outlook is cut – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 1, 2017)

December 1, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shares in Lundin Mining Corp. fell the most in more than six years after the company cut its near-term production forecast at its flagship copper mine in Chile.

In a news release late on Wednesday, the Toronto-based miner said production at its Candelaria operation will be about 20 per cent lower in 2018 than previously indicated. Lundin is encountering production problems because of a recent rock slide, which has led to pit wall instability at the mine site. The base metals company said it is taking a “more conservative approach” to mining the deposit over the near term.

Candelaria is by far Lundin’s highest-producing asset. In the quarter ending Sept. 30, it accounted for about 62 per cent of Lundin’s revenue. In 2014, Lundin paid about $2-billion (U.S.) to acquire an 80-per-cent share in Candelaria from U.S. base-metals giant Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

‘Miner’s Revenge’ Is Coming With Electric Cars, Friedland Says – by Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg News – November 30, 2017)

December 1, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Surging demand for metals like copper, nickel and cobalt for use in electric vehicles promises to overturn the balance of power between mining companies and their customers, according to billionaire investor Robert Friedland.

Automakers will have to change the way they approach procurement if they want to power their vehicles, said Friedland, who as a student befriended Steve Jobs before a career backing major discoveries from Canada to Mongolia.

“Coming soon to a theater near you: this is the revenge of the miner,” said Friedland. “No miner is willing to sell a high-volatility metal to a car manufacturer at a fixed price.”

Chile’s Codelco plans environmental impact pricing for copper (MiningWeekly.com/Reuters – November 30, 2017)

November 30, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

SHANGHAI – Chile’s Codelco will soon sell its first copper cathodes with pricing that takes into account the environmental footprint of production, its chairman said on Thursday.

The plan would mark a stark change from the traditional pricing model for copper producers where the quality of metal is the price differentiator for what is otherwise a standardized product.

Under the scheme, customers would pay different prices for copper depending on the carbon footprint or impact on a local community of its production. The move echoes steps taken by the palm oil industry to establish a sustainable supply chain to address a tarnished environmental reputation.

Carube seeks to reignite Jamaica’s copper industry – by Richard Quarisa (Northern Miner – November 28, 2017)

November 30, 2017

Drilling at Carube Copper’s (TSXV: CUC) 100% owned copper-gold Bellas Gate property in Jamaica returned positive drill results this October.

Carube owns 11 properties across Jamaica covering 536 sq. km of mineral rights, but its focus is on Bellas Gate, which consists of two 100% owned prospecting licenses covering 84 sq. km. The licenses are located within highly deformed, altered and mineralized Cretaceous rocks within the central inlier of Jamaica.

From May to September, the company carried out a 1,900 metre drill program on Bellas Gate that targeted three main zones: Provost, Hendley, and Provost South East.

Controversial measures to clear way for more Minnesota mining spark debate in U.S. House – by May Rao (Minneapolis Star Tribune – November 29, 2017)

November 30, 2017

http://www.startribune.com/

WASHINGTON – Two controversial measures from Minnesota congressmen, both of which would ease the way for mining expansion in northeastern Minnesota, have divided the state’s congressional delegation while spurring a broader environmental debate in the U.S. House.

The House on Tuesday passed legislation by DFL Rep. Rick Nolan that would finalize a land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and PolyMet Mining. Nolan said his bill is key to advancing PolyMet’s proposed northeastern Minnesota copper-nickel mining project, with 6,690 acres of private land becoming public while 6,650 acres of contiguous forest and wetlands would fall under PolyMet’s control.

“This bill is a win for taxpayers, for the environment, and for good-paying jobs,” Nolan said. Other prominent DFLers, including Gov. Mark Dayton, have supported Nolan’s proposal, although it does not currently have a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

Zambia’s state-controlled investment firm wants bigger stake in copper mines – by Zandi Shabalala (Reuters U.S. – November 29, 2017)

November 29, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Following the sharp rise in copper prices this year Zambia’s state-controlled firm ZCCM Investments Holdings wants to increase its stakes in the country’s mines and also expects higher dividend payments, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

ZCCM-IH, which was formerly called Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings, has assets of about $1 billion with minority stakes held in the local mine operating subsidiaries of foreign miners including Glencore, First Quantum Minerals, Vedanta and Jinchuan Group International Resources.

Zambia is Africa’s second largest copper producer behind the Democratic Republic of Congo and a 22 percent rise in prices this year has boosted profits for the miners.

Robots Will Run Mines Within the Next Decade, Anglo Says – by Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg News – November 29, 2017)

November 29, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Some mines in the next decade will run without humans and instead rely on robots, virtual models and sensors, according to Anglo American Plc.

Anglo is betting on technology, such as computerized drills with “chiseling ability as good as a human” to increase productivity, cut costs and reduce environmental impact, Tony O’Neill, technical director at Anglo, said at the Mines and Money conference in London.

“The industry that everybody currently knows will be unrecognizable” in five to seven years, O’Neill said. With mining processes automated, Anglo’s “employee of the future” will only need to focus on managing the company’s relations with governments and communities that live near its mines, he said.

BHP Billiton puts Olympic Dam plan on backburner – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

https://www.ft.com/

BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, has placed on the backburner plans to increase output from its giant Olympic Dam copper mine in Australia to 450,000 tonnes a year, opting for a less ambitious expansion project.

Ahead of a trip to the mine, the Anglo-Australian group told investors that its preferred development option was a $2.1bn plan that will see output rise from an estimated 150,000 tonnes this year to 330,000 tonnes by 2023.

BHP has talked for years about the potential of Olympic, the world’s third-largest copper deposit, which also boasts significant reserves of uranium and gold. As recently as 2015, the company was talking about the potential to increase production to 450,000 tonnes a year by 2025 by introducing a new heap leaching, or extraction, technology.

‘500 years’ of resource, BHP makes the case for Olympic Dam expansion – by Darren Gray (Sydney Morning Herald – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

http://www.smh.com.au/

BHP is eyeing a possible $US2.1 billion ($2.8 billion) expansion of its Olympic Dam underground mine in South Australia, where it says the copper resource is so large it would take 500 years to deplete at the current rate of mining.

Top BHP executives briefed investors and analysts on the global miner’s Olympic Dam operations and hopes for expansion on Tuesday in Adelaide, and confirmed that the so-called Brownfield Expansion (BFX) option at Olympic Dam was likely to be considered by BHP’s board in 2020.

But BHP executives stressed that any expansion at Olympic Dam would be “subject to strict capital allocation framework tests”. Investors and analysts are touring the site this week.

Papua New Guinea: Mothers Unite Against Re-Opening Bougainville Panguna Mine – (Telesur.com – November 27, 2017)

November 28, 2017

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/

The women noted that “foreign concepts” and exploiters supplanted traditional ways of life, resulting in the environmental catastrophe of the island.

Mothers Against Re-Opening the Panguna mine have released a statement championing traditional land rights of the Indigenous Black people of the South Pacific island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, expressing their emphatic opposition to re-opening the Panguna Mine located in the Guava Mountains.

Describing access to land as their “traditional birthright,” the women explained that their matrilineal lineage is a social reality which places them as custodians of the land, thus the need for them to make their voices heard in the vanguard, rejecting all attempts to re-open the mine.

The statement read, in part, that it was “women who led the protests against” Bougainville Copper Limiter, BCL, and Rio-Tinto, a British-owned mining giant, that operated the Panguna mine.

Indonesia has ‘no clear structure’ for a Freeport deal yet – by Fergus Jensen and Wilda Asmarini (Reuters U.S. – November 23, 2017)

November 24, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, tipped to oversee an acquisition of a majority stake in the local unit of Freeport-McMoRan Inc, has “no clear structure” yet for the deal, a ministry official said on Friday.

Under a framework agreement announced in August, Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport said it would divest 51 percent of PT Freeport Indonesia (PT-FI), but there has been little progress since then.

Freeport, operator of Grasberg, the world’s second-largest copper mine, also agreed to build a second smelter in Indonesia and to invest up to $20 billion in expansions.