International Media Resource Articles – Page 487

First-ever mining tourism project gives a cutting edge to Vidarbha – by Vinita Chaturvedi (Times of India – December 17, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

It all started in November 2015 when Western Coalfields Limited opened its mines for the tourists in Maharashtra, a concept that was visualised in March 2015. And now, a year down the line, it will be taken to the next level as WCL and Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation get ready to sign a memorandum of understanding tomorrow in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal. We track its far-reaching implications…

General manager of MTDC, Swati Kale shares, “Mining tourism that is popular in countries like Chile and Australia, is a novel concept for India. We are sure, along with a lot of Indian tourists, it would also attract several foreign tourists. This tie-up with WCL will put Vidarbha on world tourism map.”

This is the first ever eco-mining project in India, shares the managing director of WCL, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra. He goes on to add, “We have opened two mines for tourists — opencast mine at Gondegaon and underground mine at Saoner.

The mining industry two years on – by David Humphreys (Mining Journal – December 12, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.mining-journal.com/

Two years ago, I completed the manuscript for my book The Remaking of the Mining Industry. I judged that by 2014 the great commodities boom which started in 2004 was well and truly over and that it was an appropriate moment to take stock of what had happened during the boom years and why.

A lot has happened in the intervening two years. So, with the release of a paperback edition of the book,** I thought it might be interesting to check back on whether some of the assertions made in the book still hold up.

Not entirely unsurprisingly, the industry took a beating through 2015 as the global economy slowed and commodity prices tanked. Companies sought to shore up their balance sheets by squeezing out costs and curtailing exploration and capital spend. In February 2016, BHP Billiton made the landmark announcement it was ending the progressive dividend policy which had been in place for 15 years.

Influx of Chinese investors angers Madagascans (Daily Mail – December 18, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

AFP – The mine had not yet opened, but Madagascans were already seething with rage and the Chinese management finally quit Soamahamanina, leaving behind empty tents and cigarette butts. For months, this small city in central Madagascar was engulfed by protests targeted at a Chinese gold mining company, Jiuxing.

Every Thursday, city residents would take to the streets in downtown Soamahamanina to demonstrate against Jiuxing, which had secured a 40-year gold mining licence on a 7,500-hectare (18,500-acre) piece of land.

For the protesters, the mining operation risked ruining their farms — one element of a nationwide aversion to the new wave of Chinese investors on the large Indian Ocean island.

[Grenville Thomas] ‘Wind farms are a load of hot air!’ says Swansea-born multi-millionaire mining magnate (South Wales Evening Post – December 18, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/

MULTI-MILLIONAIRE mining magnate and Swansea boy made good Grenville Thomas has voiced his opposition to a wind farm that threatens to overshadow his childhood home.

Although now living in the Canadian city of Vancouver, having made his fortune harvesting the natural resources of the vast country, the 74-year-old has never forgotten his roots and is even said to have built an exact replica of the Red Lion in Morriston, which his great-grandmother used to run.

Mr Thomas, who started his working life as a coal miner in his home city, has sent a message of support to campaigners who tried to block a new wind farm being built to the north of Swansea on Mynydd y Gwair.

China gets an all-clear from the Taliban to mine for copper in Afghanistan – by Mariam Amini (CNBC.com – December 16, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.cnbc.com/

The Taliban say they’re giving China the green light to restart a $3 billion mining project, but Afghanistan’s legal government says the militant group is just blowing smoke.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan directs all its Mujahideen to help in the security of all national projects that are in the higher interest of Islam and the country,” the Taliban announced on Nov. 29, adding that a massive copper mine called Mes Aynak is among the sites it is “committed to safeguarding.”

Mes Aynak was signed over to China’s state-owned Metallurgical Group Corporation in 2008.Speaking to CNBC on Friday, the Afghan government dismissed the Taliban’s announcement.

Advanced Black Lung Cases Surge In Appalachia – by Howard Berkes (National Public Radio – December 15, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.npr.org/

Across Appalachia, coal miners are suffering from the most serious form of the deadly mining disease black lung in numbers more than 10 times what federal regulators report, an NPR investigation has found.

The government, through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reported 99 cases of “complicated” black lung, or progressive massive fibrosis, throughout the country the last five years.

But NPR obtained data from 11 black lung clinics in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which reported a total of 962 cases so far this decade. The true number is probably even higher, because some clinics had incomplete records and others declined to provide data.

Vale opens huge new iron ore mine in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest (Reuters U.S. – December 17, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Brazil’s Vale SA on Saturday inaugurated its biggest mining project ever, lowering costs in a cut-throat market and reasserting its place as the world’s biggest iron ore producer.

The S11D mine in the Amazonian state of Para will add 75 million tonnes of production when it reaches peak output in four years, lifting Vale over Australia’s Rio Tinto, which had rivaled its output after years of stagnation.

Vale Chief Executive Murilo Ferreira said at the inaugural ceremony that the company had staked its future on the giant mining project even as iron ore prices plunged in recent years.

In Chats, Silver ‘Mafia’ Traders Flexed Muscle, Drew Blades – by Christian Berthelsen (Bloomberg News – December 13, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — Until 2014, the global reference price for silver and other precious metals was set each day in a phone call or at a meeting with traders at a handful of banks, a century-old ritual known as the London Fix. Deutsche Bank AG was one of the banks.

As early as 2008, one of its traders began conspiring with a trader at Fortis Bank, via electronic chat, to manipulate prices, according to court documents filed by silver investors seeking to broaden their claims that the market was rigged.

“Cant wait for another day when we get the bulldozer out of the garage on gold and sil,” the Fortis trader wrote on Feb. 25, 2008. “Haha yeah,” responded the Deutsche Bank trader, in a chat-room transcript included in court papers.

The top 20 most influential people (Mining Journal – December 19, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.mining-journal.com/

The inclusion of those at the top of this year’s hierarchy of mining’s most influential was not debated within the Mining Journal offices but their positioning was the subject of vigorous discussion. Meanwhile, it was the activity at the margin – where individuals are included or omitted – that generated the most heated arguments.

1. Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China: We use Xi (pictured right, second from left) as a proxy for Chinese economic policy. That being the case, it is difficult to imagine the Chinese state being usurped as the biggest influence on the mining sector for several years.

The numbers clearly back up this selection, with China consuming more than 40% of the world’s copper, about half the world’s nickel, aluminium, and coal, and more than 70% of seaborne iron ore.

As if China’s importance needed further practical evidence, 2016 has provided plenty of supporting data.

China, South Africa to match mine wits – by Staff (Mining Journal – December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016

http://www.mining-journal.com/

South Africa and China will look to match – or possibly exceed – Australia’s leading position in underground mine communications and geospatial informatics through the extended mining research partnership between the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT).

Wits and CUMT earlier this month established the Joint International Research Laboratory of China-Africa Mining Geospatial Informatics at a ceremony in Xuzhou, China.

The collaboration, underway since January 2013, has directed research funds into underground communication systems, risk measurement through sensors, risk modelling and prediction of harm, but the new initiative will focus on accurately locating workers relative to mine risks, using GPS-like underground positioning.

Feds slam brakes on copper-nickel mine near Boundary Waters – by Jennifer Bjorhus (Minneapolis Star Tribune – December 15, 2016)

December 16, 2016

http://www.startribune.com/

Feds say Twin Metals plan poses too big a risk to BWCA.

In a major victory for environmentalists, the federal government said it will not renew two mineral leases held by Twin Metals Minnesota, saying its proposed copper mine near Ely poses too great a risk of contaminating the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

“The Boundary Waters is a national treasure, special to the 150,000 who canoe, fish and recreate there each year, and is the economic life blood to local businesses that depend on a pristine natural resource,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in announcing the decision Thursday.

The ruling slams the brakes on one of two copper-nickel mines proposed for northern Minnesota, and is likely to intensify an emotional debate that pits the region’s storied mining industry against a rare and much-loved forest wilderness.

Adding to the national value: is beneficiation the answer? – by Terence Corrigan (MineWeb.com – December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016

http://www.mineweb.com/

Among the many notable passages in Alan Paton’s 1948 novel, Cry the Beloved Country, are the comments of Mr Harrison about South Africa’s economy. The country’s mines – an important motif in the book – are the foundation on which everything is built, he remarks. It generates the wealth that provides jobs and wealth, and underwrites farming and industry. ‘I tell you, there wouldn’t be any South Africa at all if it weren’t for the mines.’

Decades later, do these words still hold true? Since 1980, the contribution of mining to GDP has fallen from around 20% of GDP to around 8% today. Over the same period, employment in mining declined, in round numbers, from 709 000 to 457 000 – or by over a third.

Yet, with our vast mineral endowments, mining remains an asset that we cannot afford to discard. A declining contributor to the economy, it remains an important one – if no longer the foundation, then still a pillar.

Philippines’ No. 2 nickel miner to appeal canceled permit for undeveloped mine – by Enrico Dela Cruz (Reuters U.S. – December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA – Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc, the Philippines’ second-largest nickel miner, vowed on Friday to appeal an “unlawful” government decision to cancel the environmental permit for its newly acquired Ipilan mining project.

The company said its Ipilan Nickel Corp (INC) unit has not violated any law or condition under the permit, and chided the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for making a decision “without procedural due process”.

Concerned at the environmental impact of mining, the world’s top nickel ore supplier has already halted the operation of 10 mines and another 20 face suspension, stoking supply concerns and spurring a rally in global nickel prices.

Trump Is Causing a Rare Trend in Commodities – by Mark Burton (Bloomberg News -December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/

One of the fundamental dynamics of commodities markets has being turned upside down, thanks in part to Donald Trump.

Industrial metals prices and the dollar are rising in tandem on expectations that U.S. economic growth and inflation will accelerate during Trump’s presidency. Usually, they move in the opposite direction as the dollar’s strength makes commodities, which are mostly denominated in the currency, more expensive for buyers outside the U.S.

The trend is so rare that it’s only happened a handful of times in the past decade, and it’s one of the many reasons that mining companies such as Glencore Plc are rebounding. The commodities giant is benefiting from lower costs and higher metal prices at its zinc operations, and is on track to resume paying dividends next year as part of a broader turnaround plan.

Congo gold mine innovates to solve illegal mining dilemma – by Aaron Ross (Reuters U.S. – December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MONGBWALU, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dec 16 (Reuters) – When Guy Robert Lukama looked out at thousands of illegal gold diggers hacking away at the verdant hills in remote northeastern Congo, he glimpsed opportunity where previous owners saw only an intractable problem.

Lukama’s former employer, South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti , had for years sought to develop the 3,260 square kilometre Mongbwalu concession but pulled out partly due to concern over the sprawling blue-tented camps full of miners.

When he led a buyout of AngloGold’s 86 percent stake in the Mongbwalu Gold Mine (MGM) last year, Lukama knew he couldn’t chase them away if he was to succeed in mining any of the 2.5 million ounces of gold estimated to lie trapped in the earth. Instead, he decided to put them on the payroll. “We cannot avoid the fact that…we (have) to manage the presence of (the diggers),” Lukama told Reuters.