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Copper King Turns Money Pit as Serbs Wind Down State Economy – by Gordana Filipovic and Michael Winfrey (Bloomberg News – April 19, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Miners at Serbia’s state-owned RTB Bor copper pit are worried. Their equipment is crumbling, the workforce has been diminished and it costs them more to produce the metal than they can sell it for.

“Some of our machines are older than our oldest workers,” Vlada Stefanovic, a union leader, said Thursday from his office near the huge canyon’s rose-colored terraces, carved by years of mining the mountains four hours from the capital, Belgrade. “If we had five new trucks, one dredge and a drill, there would be more work for all of us.”

That’s probably not going to happen. Bor, once the pride of Socialist Yugoslavia, is at the center of a struggle to retool a $38 billion economy that missed out on the transformation that has lifted living standards in much of former communist eastern Europe.

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Ajax mine opponents challenge economics of project – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – April 18, 2016)

http://vancouversun.com/

Environmental opponents to the KGHM Ajax Mining Inc. proposal for an open pit mine near Kamloops are questioning whether the project will wind up being a marginal operation subject to early closure, according to a recent report.

The Kamloops Area Preservation Association, with the group Mining Watch, added an economic component to their case against the mine, arguing that company estimates for long-term prices of its key products are too high and costs too low, which could affect its long-term viability.

Those groups made their case in a report, characterized as an economic risk analysis, which was in their filings to the B.C. environmental assessment process.  “Copper is in trouble and this (mine proposal) isn’t different from others,” said Joan Kuyek, the analyst who prepared the report, who is the founding national co-ordinator for Mining Watch Canada.

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Poland feels the pain of its love affair with coal – by Agnieszka Barteczko and Barbara Lewis (Reuters – April 15, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

WARSAW/BRUSSELS – For generations, the region of Silesia has been at the heart of Poland’s love affair with coal as a source of pride and heroism.

Election to Poland’s top job has depended on maintaining coal’s special national status and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, a coal miner’s daughter from Silesia, swept to office in October on a promise she would ring-fence the industry’s 100,000 jobs.

It is a pledge she is now under almost as much pressure to break as to keep. The energy ministry has said the nation’s biggest mining firm, headquartered in Silesia, risks running out of cash at the end of the month. It is a familiar cry, and in the past, funds somehow appeared.

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France considering capital increase for Eramet – newsletter (Reuters U.S. – April 4, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

The French government is looking at a comprehensive solution to revive Eramet which could include a capital increase of the ailing mining group, newsletter Lettre de l’Expansion said on Monday.

The company posted a full-year loss of 714 million euros ($812 million) in February, mainly hit by a downturn at its nickel division that has been battered by 12-year price lows linked to global oversupply and slowing Chinese demand.

Discussions took place last week between the French Investment Agency (APE), part of the economy ministry, and the Duval family, the largest shareholder of Eramet, La Lettre de l’Expansion said.

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Greece says Canada’s Eldorado should compromise on gold mine project (Reuters U.S. – March 31, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

Greece said on Thursday that Canadian miner Eldorado Gold needs to reach a “compromise” with local communities and the government to move ahead with its gold mine project in the country.

The Vancouver-based miner had been in a dispute with Athens over plans to develop gold mines in a forested area in northern Greece, with the leftist government revoking its permit last summer over environmental concerns.

Tensions came to a head in January, when Eldorado said Athens was delaying the necessary permits. The company halted construction of its Skouries mine in Halkidiki and threatened to do the same with the Olympias mine unless a permit was granted on time.

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Mining Journal going fortnightly after 181 years – sad news – by Lawrie Williams(Lawrieongold.com – March 29, 2016)

http://lawrieongold.com/

I was saddened to hear that the mining and metals industry’s only truly global weekly business-oriented paper publication, Mining Journal has been relegated to fortnightly, having been a weekly for over 180 years, including maintaining weekly publication through two world wars.

As a former CEO of Mining Journal I feel deeply that this is a retrograde step and is a direct result of a failed attempt to transform a publishing company run by people whose hearts and souls were steeped in the mining industry to what is nowadays in effect a conference company run by professional event organisers and publishers.

The publications are now seemingly primarily a means for promoting the company’s various events. Perhaps this is necessary for a specialist publishing company to stay afloat in this day and age, but its whole ethos has changed as a consequence.

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Update: KGHM cuts 20 positions at Sudbury Victoria Mine – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – Mar 22, 2016)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Polish miner modifies project due to commodity prices

Updated at 1:56 p.m.: KGHM International confirmed Tuesday it has eliminated 20 positions at its Victoria project in Sudbury, and suspended some contracts.

“As a result of the decision to revise the Victoria project’s schedule due to the unfavourable macroeconomic situation on the metals market, the decision was made in March to optimize the employment structure of the Victoria project to adapt it to the project’s tasks which are planned in 2016,” said KGHM spokesperson Galina Meleger, in an email to NorthernLife.ca.

“This process will enable the project to optimize its activities in 2016 and at the same time will ensure maximum organizational cost efficiency.”

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Diamond traders ‘in shock’ following Brussels attacks – by Editor (Mining.com – March 22, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

As authorities locked down the Belgian capital after explosions rocked the Brussels airport and subway system early Tuesday, killing at least 34 people and injuring many more, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) expressed its horror at events.

In an e-mailed statement, the WFDB sent its condolences to the families of the people killed in the bombings, wishing those injured a speedy recovery.

“It was with enormous shock that I heard about the bombings in Brussels,” said “As many thousands of members of the diamond industry around the world, I have passed through the departure halls of Brussels Zaventem airport scores of times as I left Belgium after meetings or business in Antwerp,” WFDB President Ernie Blom said.

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How A Greek Silver Mine Discovery Is Rewriting History – by Sarah Benali (Kitco News – February 15, 2016)

http://www.kitco.com/news

(Kitco News) – Archeologists in Greece have found a silver mine that may rewrite mining history during the Aegean times. It sounds like a plot line for a new Indiana Jones film, but it’s real.

“Mining archaeologists who were conducting a subterranean investigation of a silver mine discovered in Thorikos, Greece, have found a mining complex with infrastructure unlike any seen from this time period (around 3200 BCE),” said New Historian post Sunday.

The website, which compiles the latest news about history, noted that unlike any mining system in the area, the discovered mine is said to have open spaces that have been untouched for over 5,000 years. According to the post, other items discovered by the archeologists also prove that the mine was operational as far back as 3200 BCE.

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[United Kingdom] North York Moors National Park at risk of being ‘industrialised’ by £2bn potash mine project – by Dean Kirby (The Independent – March 17, 2016)

http://www.independent.co.uk/

Business leaders say the mine will be the biggest private investment project in the North of England ‘by a billion miles’

One of Britain’s best-loved national parks is on the verge of being “industrialised” after a fertiliser company unveiled details of its plan to sink a huge potash mine, rural campaigners have warned.

Sirius Minerals says it will plough £2.4bn into the York Potash Project to build the mine to the south of Whitby in the North York Moors National Park in a move that will create more than 1,000 jobs.

Business leaders say the mine will be the biggest private investment project in the North of England “by a billion miles” and the firm’s economic forecasters say it will make an annual contribution to Britain’s economy of £2.3bn.

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UPDATE 1-Poland’s KGHM targets lower output after record 2015 loss (Reuters U.S. – March 17, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

Europe’s second biggest copper producer, Poland’s state-run KGHM, signalled on Thursday plans to cut its copper output this year after writedowns pushed its 2015 net loss higher than expected.

The miner posted a record loss of 5.01 billion zlotys ($1.3 billion) at the group level and 2.8 billion loss for the parent company, from which KGHM pays dividends. Analysts had expected losses of 4.81 billion and 2.29 billion respectively.

Earlier this year, the company reported writedowns of $1.3 billion on its foreign assetsdue to falling metal prices, with the largest drag coming from its main overseas mine Sierra Gorda in Chile.

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Soviet uranium legacy blights eastern EU – by Adrian Mogos and Michael Bird (Euobserver.com – March 14, 2016)

https://euobserver.com/

ROMANIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, GERMANY – The Soviet Union mined uranium across its empire for decades, leaving a legacy of environmental damage, social breakdown and widespread health issues. In the first of a two-part investigation, we reveal how the devastating effects are still being felt in Germany, Romania and the Czech Republic.

“We live here, with radon [radioactive gas] across the road and with chalk dust from down in the valley – God damn it – it will kill us all,” says 53-year-old Vasile Mocanu, a former miner.

He is describing how his life has been trapped between two sources of pollution – a uranium mine and a chalk mine. Baita Plai, an ex-Communist workers’ colony built by the Soviets in the 1950s, lies on the edge of the Transylvanian countryside, 500km north-west of Bucharest.

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Steel industry suffers new blow with more job cuts in Sheffield – by Alan Tovey (The Telegraph – March 14, 2016)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

The steel crisis is continuing to claim jobs in UK industry, with a round of redundancies at Sheffield-based Outokumpu and a warning from its parent company that the UK operations could be closed down.

The Finnish-owned business is consulting with staff about cutting 50 of its almost 600 staff as the steel sector battles lower global demand for the metal in the face of a global slowdown.

Steelmakers in Britain have been particularly hard hit by the crisis, as a flood of imports of cheap Chinese steel arrives in the UK attracted by the pound’s relative strength. Domestic steel-makers also face high energy bills.

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Norilsk calls for nickel production to be reduced – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – March 13, 2016)

http://www.ft.com/

London – The world’s biggest nickel producer, Norilsk Nickel, has warned that prices for the metal are unlikely to rise unless lossmaking producers start to shut mines and close production.

Up to a quarter of global nickel producing capacity needs to shut, Pavel Fedorov, vice-president of the company, said in an interview.

“If other producers are rational we shall see a market readjustment — but if other producers don’t behave rationally then prices will remain low until rational behaviour returns to the market,” he said.

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2016 PDAC Thayer Lindsley Award Winners: Cukaru Peki Discovery Team – Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan

PDAC 2016 – Thayer Lindsley Award – Reservoir Minerals & Freeport from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan - Cukaru Peki
Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan – Cukaru Peki (Photo by Envisiondigitalphoto.com)

This award recognizes an individual or a team of explorationists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery anywhere in the world.

Cukaru Peki Discovery Team/Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan: For the team’s discovery of high-grade copper-gold deposits in Serbia which may prompt explorers to look for a new class of mineral deposit.

In July 2012, a joint venture of subsidiaries of Reservoir Minerals Inc. and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. announced the discovery of what became known as the Cukaru Peki copper-gold deposit in the heart of Serbia’s Bor mining camp, which has been operating for more than 100 years.

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