Europe Mining – Page 73 – Republic of Mining

RPT-Turkish mine disaster highlights gaps in safety regulation – by Humeyra Pamuk, Ayla Jean Yackley and Tom Bergin (Reuters India – May 29, 2014)

May 29, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SOMA/ISTANBUL/LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) – Taner Yildirim was never surprised when safety inspectors turned up at the Soma mine in eastern Turkey, where 301 miners were killed this month just weeks after inspectors gave it a clean bill of health. He said he always had plenty of warning.

“They (management) tell us about a few weeks prior to the inspection; so we get ready,” the miner, who wasn’t working on the day of the disaster, told Reuters. Even then, he said there was no need to go to too much trouble to prepare for the visit.

“All the inspections I have seen are on paper. They are ‘office-based’ inspections. The plant managers and the inspectors are hand in hand and drink tea at the managers’ office,” said Yildirim, who has worked at the mine for 13 years.

The Labour Minister could not be reached directly, but his ministry, which is primarily responsible for regulating mine safety, declined to comment.

The governing AK Party has said the mine had been inspected 11 times over the past five years, sometimes unannounced, and denied there were loopholes in mining safety regulations.

Russia needs to change rules to encourage mining investment: Kinross CEO – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 23, 2014)

May 23, 2014

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

A geopolitical crisis and widespread boycott did not stop Paul Rollinson from traveling to Russia and offering some genuine criticisms of the host government’s mining laws.

Federal governments in Canada and the United States urged business leaders to skip an economic forum in St. Petersburg this week in protest of Russia’s seizure of Crimea. Some went along with the boycott, but Mr. Rollinson, the chief executive of Kinross Gold Corp., decided to attend. Russia is a crucial jurisdiction for Toronto-based Kinross, being home to the company’s lowest-cost mines.

With Crimea in the backdrop, there was more-than-usual interest in his presentation at the forum on Thursday.

Mr. Rollinson, who is cautious by nature, kept the geopolitics out of his speech. His message was that Russia has tremendous mineral potential, but needs to change the rules if it wants to attract more foreign mining investment. Kinross, which has expressed this view numerous times in the past, is the largest foreign miner in the country by far.

“We’re looking for certainty, transparency, stability and minimal red tape,” Mr. Rollinson said.

Miners Enter The Fray In Eastern Ukraine – by Claire Bigg (Radio Free Europe – May 20, 2014)

May 22, 2014

http://www.rferl.org/

The shrill wails of sirens resounded throughout Ukraine’s eastern rust belt on May 20, a rallying call for miners and steelworkers to unite against separatists seeking to take over their region.

Industrial workers have remained largely on the sidelines of the smoldering conflict in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian militants have been occupying key government buildings in a dozen cities.

But with separatists increasingly disrupting business, industrial bosses and trade unions are urging workers to rise against the insurgency. Coal and steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov, who has an estimated 300,000 employees on his payroll, this week called on his employees to stage peaceful protests at their workplaces.

“The rally will start tomorrow at noon with a siren ringing at all industrial businesses of the Donbass in support of peace and against bloodshed,” he said in a televised address late on May 19, adding that sirens would ring daily at noon “until peace is established.”

In his sharpest condemnation of the separatists so far, Akhmetov said people were “tired of living in fear and terror” and warned that the violent tactics used by separatists would spell disaster for the economy and lead to “genocide” of eastern Ukraine.

Kinross Gold caught up in Canada’s tensions with Russia – by Carrie Tait and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – May 22, 2014)

May 22, 2014

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.

CALGARY and TORONTO — Kinross Gold Corp. is caught in a diplomatic row between Canada and Russia. A third of the Toronto-based company’s gold production is in Russia, and Kinross is trying not to inflame relations with Canada’s Conservative government while carrying out its fiduciary duties.

The company ignored the Harper government’s plea to boycott Russian events and is sending its chief executive officer to St. Petersburg for an economic summit this week. Its decision is seen as shrewd given that the company has a lower profile than other global companies like Morgan Stanley and Alcoa, which have heeded Western requests to stay away from high-profile events in Russia in protest against its aggression in the Ukraine.

“I don’t think it is going to cause blowback to Kinross,” said Ian Lee, a professor of corporate strategy and public policy at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University. “They will win some kudos in Moscow, obviously, because they will be seen in Putin’s crowd to have stood up to the Canadian authorities who were pushing or promoting the boycott and the sanctions.”

UPDATE 4-Turkey keeps three suspects in custody in mine disaster probe – by Humeyra Pamuk (Reuters India – May 19, 2014)

May 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SOMA, Turkey, May 18 (Reuters) – A Turkish court ordered three suspects to be kept in custody on Sunday on a provisional charge of “causing multiple deaths” in last week’s mine disaster, as the last of the 301 victims were buried.

Of the remaining 22 people detained earlier, six suspects have been released but could face prosecution later. Questioning of the other 16 people was continuing. The detentions came five days after a fire sent deadly carbon monoxide coursing through the mine in the western Turkish town of Soma, causing the county’s worst ever industrial accident.

The disaster has sparked protests across Turkey, directed at mine owners accused of ignoring safety for profit, and at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government, seen as too close to industry bosses and insensitive in its response.

An initial report on the possible causes of the accident indicated the fire may have been triggered by coal heating up after it came into contact with the air, Prosecutor Bekir Sahiner told reporters outside the Soma courthouse, rejecting initial reports that a transformer explosion was responsible.

Turkey’s Preventable Tragedy – by Ozgur Ozelmay (New York Times – May 20, 2014)

May 20, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

Ozgur Ozel is a Republican People’s Party deputy representing the Soma-Manisa district in Turkey’s Parliament. This essay was translated by Zeynep Tufekci from the Turkish.

MANISA, Turkey — On the morning of May 13, Turkey finally woke up from its deep slumber on workplace safety — but at the cost of 301 lives. The subterranean fire last week at the Soma coal mine in western Turkey was the worst mining disaster in the country’s history. Hundreds of hardworking men in the district I represent are dead. And sadly, their deaths could have been prevented.

As early as last September, I had petitioned the Turkish Parliament to create a commission of inquiry, which is one way that the legislature can use its powers to oversee industry in Turkey. Ever since the Soma mine was privatized in 2005, the price of extracting coal has gone down dramatically — and so have safety conditions for workers.

My proposal merely called for research on previous mining accidents in Soma, inspections of the mine, and finding solutions. Along with other members of Parliament, I also urged Turkey to ratify the International Labor Organization’s convention on mine safety; if Turkey had signed the I.L.O. convention, there would have been mandatory alternative exits from the mine that could have saved lives.

Mine Disaster Casts Harsh Light on Turkey’s Premier – by TIM ARANGO, KAREEM FAHIM and SEBNEM ARSUMAY (New York Times – May 16, 2014)

May 16, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

SOMA, Turkey — There was no one to treat in the first aid tents near the entrance to the mine, where nearby an old woman wailed, “Our children are burning!” A man and his wife, dazed from a lack of sleep, walked the muddy grounds, looking for information that no one in the government could provide.

“This is how they steal people’s lives,” said the grieving father, Bayram Uckun, who like many here has become increasingly angry with the government for its response to the disaster. “This government is taking our country back 90 years.”

The body of Mr. Uckun’s son, and those of at least 17 other men, was almost certainly still trapped underground, after the deadliest industrial accident in Turkey’s modern history. But with the death toll from Tuesday’s accident expected to rise above 300, this disaster has quickly metastasized from a local tragedy into a new political crisis for the Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Relatives wept during a funeral service on Thursday in Soma, Turkey. Officials have confirmed 284 deaths in the mining accident, Turkey’s worst.Public Discontent Rises as Families Gather to Bury Victims of Turkish Mine DisasterMAY 15, 2014
Labor unions staged a one-day national strike on Friday as security forces shot tear gas and water cannons at protesters in Soma, in the capital, Ankara, and in Istanbul.

Moving Kiruna: what does it take to relocate a city? – by Rhys Thomas (World Finance – April 9, 2014)

May 16, 2014

http://www.worldfinance.com/

The irresistible call of the world’s biggest [underground] deposit of iron ore is forcing the Swedish city of Kiruna to move two miles east, signalling a new beginning for its citizens. But can this groundbreaking project succeed with so much at stake?

As the northernmost city in Sweden, Kiruna is used to seemingly endless winters, short, cold summers, and relative isolation in the vast expanse of Swedish Lapland. Its population, just shy of 20,000, has learned to expect adverse weather and the long dark night that descends on the city between December and January – all things that are part and parcel of living some 90 miles above the Arctic Circle. They could not have expected the gravity of the newest challenge that the city faces – a problem that simply must be overcome, before it swallows it whole.

When state-owned Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) – one of Sweden’s biggest mining companies – told the residents of Kiruna it needed to dig deeper into the mountain near the city to extract more iron ore, some eyebrows might have been raised. Veterans of the city would remember that in the 1970s rampant expansion forced the city’s Ön district to be vacated and the residents moved elsewhere.

What they probably didn’t realise was the scale of what would have to happen this time. LKAB didn’t want one district to be vacated.

Turkey in mourning (Northern Miner Editorial – May 14, 2014)

May 15, 2014

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

Outside of the all-too regular horrors of China’s underground mines, the coal mine explosion on May 13 at Soma, 250 km south of Istanbul in western Turkey, is the worst mine disaster in recent memory.

The death toll stood at 274 and counting at press time, with some 450 miners having been rescued and many dozens still missing. The workings — which extend at least 420 metres — were still being vented of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and fires were still burning. The Turkish government has declared three days of national mourning.

The Soma disaster has beaten Turkey’s previous worst mining disaster: a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Initial reports out of Soma have authorities saying that the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a faulty power distribution unit, and the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of the explosion, and many were injured. A shift change was occurring at the time, so a maximum number of workers were underground.

UPDATE 2-Mass funerals, mounting anger as Turkey mourns mine workers – by Ece Toksabay (Reuters India – May 15, 2014)

May 15, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SOMA, Turkey, May 15 (Reuters) – Loudspeakers broadcast the names of the dead and excavators dug mass graves in this close-knit Turkish mining town on Thursday, while protesters gathered in major cities as grief turned to anger following the country’s deadliest industrial disaster.

Rescuers were still trying to reach parts of the coal mine in Soma, 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul, almost 48 hours after fire knocked out power and shut down the ventilation shafts and elevators, trapping hundreds underground.

At least 282 people have been confirmed dead, mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning, and hopes are fading of pulling out any more alive of the 100 or so still thought to be inside.

Anger has swept a country that has boasted a decade of rapid economic growth under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government but which still suffers from one of the world’s worst workplace safety standards.

Furious residents heckled Erdogan and jostled his entourage on Wednesday as he toured the town, angry at what they see as the government’s cosiness with mining tycoons, its failure to ensure safety and a lack of information on the rescue effort.

Engineers hurl scandalous accusations after Turkish mine fire kills hundreds – by Ben Brumfield, Gul Tuysuz and Diana Magnay (CNN.com – May 15, 2014)

May 15, 2014

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

Soma, Turkey (CNN) — Turkey’s President spoke words of comfort to loved-ones of the nearly 300 miners who have died in a mine fire, a day after the Prime Minister was blasted over comments seen as insensitive.

The deadly mine fire in Turkey is a “sorrow for the whole Turkish nation,” President Abdullah Gul told reporters Thursday. He offered his condolences to the victims’ families.

Onlookers listened silently until a man interrupted Gul with shouts: “Please, president! Help us, please!” An investigation into the deadly Turkey mine disaster has begun, Gul said. “I’m sure this will shed light” on what regulations are needed. “Whatever is necessary will be done,” he said.

He commended mining as a precious profession. “There’s no doubt that mining and working … to earn your bread underground perhaps is the most sacred” of undertakings, he told reporters. Gul had entered the mine site with an entourage of many dozens of people — mostly men in dark suits — walking through a crowd of rescue workers who were standing behind loosely assembled police barricades.

Hopes fade for survivors after Turkish mine fire kills At least 245 – by Ece Toksabay (Reuters U.K. – May 14, 2014)

May 14, 2014

http://uk.reuters.com/

SOMA, Turkey – (Reuters) – Hopes faded of finding more survivors in a coal mine in western Turkey on Wednesday, where 245 workers were confirmed killed and around 120 still feared to be trapped in what is likely to prove the nation’s worst ever industrial disaster.

Anger over the deadly fire at the mine about 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul echoed across a country that has seen a decade of rapid economic growth but still suffers from one of the world’s worst workplace safety records. Opponents blamed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government for privatising the country’s mines and ignoring repeated warnings about their safety.

“We as a nation of 77 million are experiencing a very great pain,” Erdogan told a news conference after visiting the site. But he appeared to turn defensive when asked whether sufficient precautions had been in place at the mine. “Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time. It’s not like these don’t happen elsewhere in the world,” he said, reeling off a list of global mining accidents since 1862.

Fire knocked out power and shut down ventilation shafts and elevators shortly after 3 pm (1 p.m.BST) on Tuesday. Emergency workers pumped oxygen into the mine to try to keep those trapped alive during a rescue effort that lasted through the night.

Over 200 killed, hundreds trapped after deadly coal mine explosion in Turkey – by Desmond Butler and Suzan Fraser (Globe and Mail May 14, 2014)

May 14, 2014

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.

SOMA, Turkey — The Associated Press – Rescuers desperately raced against time to reach more than 200 miners trapped underground Wednesday after an explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey killed at least 201 workers, authorities said, in one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Istanbul, at the time of the explosion and 363 of them had been rescued so far.

“Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing,” Yildiz said. Turkey’s worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

As bodies were brought out on stretchers, rescue workers pulled blankets back from the faces of the dead to give jostling crowds of anxious family members a chance to identify victims. One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police restrained him from climbing into an ambulance with the body.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff. Erdogan postponed a one-day visit to Albania and planned to visit Soma instead.

Nickel price rise: too much too soon says new report – by Frik Els (Mining.com – May 5, 2014)

May 6, 2014

http://www.mining.com/

Indonesia surprised the mining world in January putting into effect an outright ban on nickel ore exports.

After a relatively subdued initial reaction on nickel markets – no-one thought the Asian nation would go through with the ban and when it did, the expectation was that the rules would be water down substantially – the price of the steelmaking raw material is now up 32% in 2014.

Indonesia accounted for around a fifth of global supply at an estimated 400,000 tonnes of contained metal so the potential was there for a big impact on the price.

But record inventories around the globe (hitting 285,000 tonnes in March), massive stockpiling by China’s nickel pig iron producers ahead of the ban, and years of growing mine supply (11% per year since 2009 to 2 million tonnes), kept the price near financial crisis levels by the end of January.

Traders only really entered panic mode when supply from the world’s largest producer Norilsk was also put in danger due to the possibility of sanctions against the Russian company over the crisis in Ukraine.

Eastern Ukrainian miners yearn for Russia, bygone Soviet era – by Kristina Jovanovski (Al Jazeera America – April 30, 2014)

May 1, 2014

http://america.aljazeera.com/

As crisis grips industrial Donetsk region, many workers dismiss politics but seek better living standards of yesteryear

SHAKHTARSK, Ukraine — Off a dirt road in the outskirts of this eastern Ukrainian town, Valeriy stands outside his house and cuddles his wife, Tanya. She wears a blue bathrobe and slippers, and Valeriy says the fading bruise high on her left cheek was caused by a fall at a party while they were both drunk.

Valeriy is a miner but has not been employed as one since completing his fifth prison sentence for theft. Previously, he risked his life working at an illegal coal mine in the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland now roiled by political unrest.

Despite the epic contest between forces, mostly Russian speakers aligned with Moscow against Ukrainian speakers loyal to Kyiv, he is more concerned with the daily struggle to get by and the desperate hope for some improvement in his life. Valeriy, who identifies as Russian, hopes for a better future if Donetsk becomes part of Russia — with a catch. “I don’t want it to be like Russia,” he says. “I want it to be like the past, the USSR.”

The future of the mines and the miners is at the center of the political battle being waged by pro-Russian separatists who have occupied public buildings and set up barricades in response to the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February.