Europe Mining – Page 61 – Republic of Mining

Jay Hambro: bridge to a future in Russia – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – January 26, 2016)

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016

http://www.ft.com/

When Jay Hambro was 17 his father sent him and his brother Evy to work at mines in Australia. He spent several months at a gold mine.“I suppose you could say I got the bug,” Mr Hambro says.

After stints in banking at Rothschilds and HSBC, he ended up joining his father’s gold mining company Petropavlovsk, at the beginning of what became a 12-year gold bull market.

Scions of a Danish merchant banking family — there is still a street in Copenhagen named after them — his father, Peter Hambro, had built the company after acquiring a new gold mine in the dying days of the Soviet Union. “He spent a lot of time when we were kids running around Russia looking at any number of projects,” Mr Hambro says.

Denmark and Greenland reach uranium export agreement (World Nuclear News – January 20, 2016)

January 26, 2016

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

An agreement has been reached between Denmark and Greenland on how they will cooperate on foreign, defence and security policy issues related to the mining and commercial export of uranium from Greenland.

The island of Greenland introduced a zero-tolerance policy concerning the mining of uranium and other radioactive elements in 1988, while under Danish direct rule. It took a step towards greater autonomy from Denmark in 2009 with the official transition from ‘home rule’ to ‘self rule’.

This saw Greenland assume full authority over its mineral and hydrocarbon rights, which had formerly been overseen by Denmark. However, Greenland remains part of the kingdom of Denmark and its defence and foreign policies are still determined by Copenhagen.

Greece says Eldorado must resume mining operations before talks on investment can continue (Reuters U.S. – January 14, 2016)

January 14, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Greece has asked Canadian miner Eldorado Gold Corp to reverse its decision to halt much of its Greek mining operations and safeguard jobs as a condition for the two parties to continue talks on the country’s biggest foreign investment.

The Vancouver-based miner has been in a dispute with the Greek government after Energy Minister Panos Skourletis in August revoked the company’s permit to further develop its Skouries mine in a forested area of northern Greece on environmental concerns. The case is widely seen as a test of the leftist government’s approach to foreign investment.

On Monday Eldorado said it would suspend construction at the Skouries project, putting more than 600 jobs at risk. It also warned it would do the same at its Olympias mine, risking another 500 jobs in northern Greece, if it didn’t secure necessary permits by the end of March.

[Eldorado Gold] Canada Mining Company Suspends Work, Cuts Jobs in Greece (Associated Press/New York Times – January 12, 2016)

January 12, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

ATHENS, Greece — Canadian mining company Eldorado Gold said Tuesday it is suspending work at a site in Greece and laying off 600 workers following protests by local residents and a spat with the country’s leftwing government.

The Vancouver, Canada-based company said it was halting operations at a gold mine at Skouries, on the Halkidiki peninsula, one of four major Greek sites where the company is involved.

CEO Paul Wright said a further 500 jobs were also likely to be cut later in the year.

Wright accused the government of holding up permits and using the mining project as a “political toy” but insisted the company had no plans to pull out of Greece and hoped to restart work at Skouries at a later date.

[KGHM] Poland studies energy sector mergers, copper concerns (Reuters U.S. – January 11, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

WARSAW – Poland surprised the markets on Monday with plans to merge its biggest oil and gas firms to forge central Europe’s No.1 energy company and prevent any hostile takeover threat.

Treasury minister Dawid Jackiewicz is considering tie-ups between the state-run oil refiners PKN Orlen PKN.WA and Lotos LTSP.WA, and gas firm PGNiG PGN.WA, with the analysis to be ready by the end of this quarter.

Put together their joint market value would stand at 60 billion zlotys ($15 billion), almost twice as much as Austria’s OMV (OMVV.VI) and three times the market cap of Hungary’s MOL MOLB.BU.

KGHM seeks global status amid commodities downturn – by Henry Foy (Financial Times – December 30, 2015)

January 4, 2016

http://www.ft.com/

Lubin – A kilometre below the rolling countryside of south-west Poland, scores of men labour in hot, cramped tunnels mining copper that has made KGHM Europe’s second-largest producer of the red metal.

Yet the future of the Polish miner lies halfway around the world, in the rocky hills of Ontario, Canada, and the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.

There, the success of two big investments will determine whether KGHM becomes Poland’s first truly global company, or an overambitious regional player that failed to achieve international status.

The state-controlled group has already spent more than $7bn on acquiring and developing the Canadian and Chilean mines, assets that give it control of the world’s fourth-largest copper deposits.

The Final Lump of Coal in Britain’s Stocking – by Steffan Morgan (Foreign Policy – December 23, 2015)

December 23, 2015

http://foreignpolicy.com/

Within a few years, there will be no visible reminder that coal was once dug out of the ground at the Kellingley Colliery.

As it has gone with so many other towns in Britain — Creswell in Derbyshire, Rhodesia in Nottinghamshire, Mardy in South Wales — so it will go with Beal, in North Yorkshire, the town where Kellingley was located. Today, these are small towns and villages — some with only one street, one pub, and one shop — but once they were places of international importance, whose coal powered the Industrial Revolution, drove the steam trains on Victorian railways, and fueled the ships that fought World Wars I and II.

The coal industry — a business that once defined Britain — ended in any meaningful sense with the closure of Kellingley, the last deep pit mine in the United Kingdom, on Dec. 18, though, realistically, the industry has been on life support since 1990. When the workers at Kellingley finished their final shift, surrounded by members of the media, it was with feelings of dejection and anger, but also with a calm resilience.

Boliden, Lundin Said to Weigh Final Bids for First Quantum Mine – by Dinesh Nair and Brett Foley (Bloomberg News – December 17, 2015)

December 18, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Boliden AB and Lundin Mining Corp. are among companies considering final bids for First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s Kevitsa mine as the Canadian explorer looks for ways to cut debt, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Kevitsa, one of the largest nickel reserves in Finland, may fetch at least $1 billion in a sale, the people said, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are private. First Quantum expects to receive final bids by early next year, one of the people said.

Mining companies globally are slashing costs and selling assets to counter a drop in commodity prices. First Quantum said in October that it plans to reduce debt by $1 billion through measures such as asset sales, as well as job and capital-spending cuts.

As World Debates Climate, Czechs Embrace Heavy Pollutant (Associated Press/New York Times – December 7, 2015)

December 7, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

CSA MINE, Czech Republic — While world leaders try to reach a deal to limit climate change, one of the most polluting fossil fuels, brown coal, is enjoying a revival in the Czech Republic, where entire villages are threatened by new plans for mining.

The Czech Republic is one of a group of countries that is turning to coal, a cheap but dirty energy source, as its economy slows. Neighboring Poland, which has big deposits, is doing so, as is China, the world’s biggest energy consumer.

The Czech variety of the coal, called brown coal or lignite, is a particularly bad source of greenhouse gases and pollutants.

Kellingley colliery: The pit that survived Margaret Thatcher prepares for closure – by Dean Kirby (Independent – December 6, 2015)

December 7, 2015

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

The North Yorkshire colliery, Britain’s last deep coal mine, will close on 18 December

The miners look almost otherworldly as they burst from the cage that has carried them from deep under ground – their white eyes shining from faces black with coal dust.

The 40 men are shouting and swearing and appear euphoric at being back in the daylight after eight hours working nearly seven miles from the surface in the dark.

But their only welcome, as they march quickly into the lamp room and remove their lanterns and turn into a cavernous changing room to scrub themselves human again, is a grey December fog that has fallen on the world outside like a shroud.

Europe’s Coal Curtain Is Complicating the Climate Fight – by Ladka Mortkowitz Bauerova (Bloomberg News – November 30, 2015)

December 1, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

At the Bilina mine 50 miles north of Prague, excavators the size of 10-story buildings claw at the earth and scoop out 2,700 tons of brown coal a day to feed the smoke-belching power station on the horizon. After the Czech government relaxed environmental regulations this fall, they’ll be able to keep going for another 40 years.

Some 130 miles away, in eastern Germany, Vattenfall AB’s Jaenschwalde coal pit is preparing to scale back production as the country shifts away from coal and the oldest units of the adjacent power station are scheduled to shut down by 2019.

The two mines highlight Europe’s growing divide on cutting greenhouse gases as global leaders descend on Paris for the biggest climate conference in history.

An Interview with Sir Mick Davis – by by Adam Treger (Tregernomics.com – November 23, 2015)

November 30, 2015

http://www.tregernomics.com/

Mick Davis was the CEO of mining company Xstrata, which merged with Glencore in 2013. He is now CEO of a new company, X2 Resources. For services to Holocaust Commemoration and Education, he was knighted as part of 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Q: Which emerging markets are you most optimistic about?

A: Well, I think emerging markets are generally not in great shape, for a whole range of reasons. This is partly because they are experiencing a decline of their large export markets, as world growth has not been stellar.

Clearly the most dominant emerging market, China, is going through a very important structural adjustment that is impacting its growth rates and is compounded by the anti-corruption drive, which I think is stultifying economic activity in that country.

End of Russian palladium exports may result in world market shortage – by Eugene Gerden (InvestorIntel.com – November 18, 2015)

November 19, 2015

http://investorintel.com/

Russia may significantly reduce exports of strategic rare earth elements to foreign markets during the next several years, despite the recently announced state plans for a significant expansion of their domestic production.

It is planned that at the initial stage such restrictions will apply to palladium, huge reserves of which were accumulated by the country during the Soviet era, which allowed Russia to become one of its world’s largest exporters of the metal in recent years.

In recent years exports of palladium from the reserves of Russian State Precious Metals and Gems Repository (Gokhran) has been varied in the range of 14-15 tonnes, however there is possibility that they might be completely stopped already starting from 2016.

UPDATE 1- Falling copper forces Poland’s KGHM to scale back – by Adrian Krajewski (Reuters U.S. – November 13, 2015)

November 13, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Nov 13 Europe’s No. 2 copper producer, Poland’s KGHM, cut 2015 production targets for its main overseas mine and flagged lower spending as well as mining asset write-downs on Friday, as copper prices hit a six-year low.

“The situation on the commodity market is getting worse and there are reasons to presume the possibility of testing our mining assets for value loss,” KGHM’s Chief Financial Officer Jaroslaw Romanowski said.

“We see 2016 as a turnaround year, but we presume that this crisis may continue into next year,” he added. “Our capital expenditures will surely go down or be postponed.”

Worries over growth in China, which consumes half of global copper production, have pushed copper prices below $5,000 a tonne, seen as a stress-test level for KGHM.

The melting Arctic is like ‘discovering a new Africa’ – by Leslie Shaffer (CNBC – November 12, 2015)

November 12, 2015

http://www.cnbc.com/

Governments and the private sector are positioning to develop the Arctic, where the wealth of resources is akin to a “new Africa,” according to Iceland’s president.

The melting of the Arctic is an ongoing phenomenon: In October, about 7.7 million square kilometers (about 3 million square miles) of Arctic sea ice remained, around 1.2 million square kilometers less than the average from 1981-2010, according to calculations by Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis that was published by researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

One effect of the melting ice has been newly opened sea passages and fresh access to resources.

“Until 20 or so years ago, (the Arctic) was completely unknown and unmarked territory,” Iceland’s President Olafur Grimsson told an Arctic Circle Forum in Singapore on Thursday. “It is as if Africa suddenly appeared on our radar screen.”