International Media Resource Articles – Page 649

To talk transboundary mining, Taku Tlingit put folks in the same boat – by Katie Moritz (Juneau Empire – July 13, 2015)

July 14, 2015

Taku Tlingit reinforce cultural ties to land in discussion on transboundary mines

Lillian Petershoare’s family fishes the Taku River and has done so for decades. A new generation is now learning the tradition. John Morris “grew up on the Taku until I was 15 years old; I knew no other place.”

Barbara Cadiente-Nelson read a passage by Elizabeth Nyman: “This river, this watershed … know who you are and, if you permit it, it will tell you.”

Tlingit men and women whose lineage can be traced to the Taku River area spoke on their connection to the water and the land during a daylong boat trip down the Taku River on Sunday. The cruise was organized by the Douglas Indian Association.

The trip was meant to “put us on the same boat” — drawing a link between Tlingit connection to the land and the need for mainstream awareness and protection of its resources, said the DIA’s Morris, addressing the diverse group of passengers on the catamaran.

Iron ore miners unprepared for challenges, warns BHP – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – July 14, 2015)

July 14, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/

Australia’s iron ore miners are unprepared for the massive exploration challenges ahead of them, BHP Billiton’s head of iron ore exploration has warned.

Speaking at the AusIMM iron ore conference in Perth on yesterday, BHP’s Joe Knight said current exploration methods would be unable to discover and define the quantity of new ore bodies needed to sustain the Pilbara’s soaring iron ore output.

The Pilbara is home to three of the world’s four largest iron ore miners — BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group — and exports almost 800 million tonnes of ore a year.

That figure is set to grow to about 965 million tonnes a year by 2017, Mr Knight said, based on the current publicly announced plans of the region’s miners and explorers.

At that rate, Mr Knight said, companies would struggle to replace their mined resources unless they evolved their approach to exploration, given the forecast annual production was the equivalent of more than three so-called “tier one” iron ore deposits.

New study quantifies how much mine permit delays can discourage investment [U.S.A.] – by Hal Quinn (The Hill – July 13, 2015)

July 14, 2015

http://thehill.com/

Quinn is the president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

Lawmakers pushing for mine permitting reform found support recently in a new study showing that U.S. mineral mines can lose up to half of their value waiting a decade or longer for permits. The study by SNL Metals & Mining was unveiled at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing last month on a bill to make the U.S. permitting process more efficient.

The study, “Permitting, Economic Value and Mining in the United States,” quantifies how protracted permitting delays impair and discourage investments in domestic mineral development projects. The study suggests that an average mine can lose a third of its value due to permit delays, and in some cases, a mine’s value can be cut in half as a result of increasing costs and investment risk. After years of delays, a project can even become economically unviable.

Currently, it takes a mine in the U.S. about seven to 10 years to get the necessary permits to operate; whereas, in countries like Canada and Australia, which have similarly stringent environmental standards, it takes an average of two to three years. Luke Russell, vice president of Hecla Mining Company, told the committee that “The U.S. process is fraught with duplication [and] inefficiencies. … It is by far the most arduous and tortuous process in the world.”

Iran Nuclear Deal Is Reached With World Powers – by David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon (New York Times – July 14, 2015)

July 14, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

VIENNA — Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States said they had reached a historic accord on Tuesday to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.

The deal culminates 20 months of negotiations on an agreement that President Obama had long sought as the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency. Whether it portends a new relationship between the United States and Iran — after decades of coups, hostage-taking, terrorism and sanctions — remains a bigger question.

President Obama, in an early morning appearance at the White House that was broadcast live in Iran, began what promised to be an arduous effort to sell the deal to Congress and the American public, saying the agreement was “not built on trust, it is built on verification.”

ut Mr. Obama made it abundantly clear that he would fight to preserve the deal in its entirety, saying, “I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal.”

Vale Rallies Most in Month Amid Iron-Ore Supply Cut Plan – by Juan Pablo Spinetto (Bloomberg News – July 13, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Shares of Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore miner, rallied the most in a month as the company presses ahead with plans to cut production and boost profit.

Vale will withdraw output of iron ore by 25 million metric tons starting this month, Peter Poppinga, the company’s executive director for ferrous and strategy, said at an industry conference in Sao Paulo.

The cuts will come from its lower-quality products at its mines in south and southeast Brazil and from third-party purchases, he said.

“Our mantra is not volume at any cost anymore, it’s to maximize margins,” Poppinga told reporters at the event. “It doesn’t mean shutting mines, it means optimizing some production flows at plants.”

The Rio de Janeiro-based miner is moving to trim low-quality output as it focuses on boosting profit amid what it sees as an oversupplied market in 2015, and one that will probably be in surplus next year, Poppinga said.

China imports of coal go into steep decline but there’s a silver lining for Australia – by Angus Grigg (Australian Financial Review – July 13, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.afr.com/

China is demanding less coal and more wheat.

That’s the key message from first-half trade data released on Monday by the Customs Bureau, which showed China’s overall imports remained weak while exports were only marginally better.

In US dollar terms the value of trade in the world’s second biggest economy fell 6.9 per cent over the first half of the year as wheat imports surged and coal declined.

For Australia, these wildly divergent statistics are hard to ignore. Over the first six months of the year, the volume of China’s coal imports fell 37.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2014.

The volume of wheat imports was up 66.5 per cent over the same period. For coal, the decline is a combination of protectionism and falling domestic demand.

Swiss Question Witnesses in Guinea in BSG Resources Bribery Probe – by Scott Patterson (Wall Street Journal – July 10, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Investigators are looking into whether Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s mining arm paid bribes for rights

Swiss investigators said they have questioned several witnesses in the West African nation of Guinea in a broadening criminal probe into whether Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s mining arm paid bribes for the rights to one of the world’s largest iron-ore deposits.

The investigators, led by Geneva prosecutor Claudio Mascotto, left Guinea Friday after spending the week interviewing former government officials with ties to Guinea’s mining ministry and banking system who were involved in decisions related to the deal, according to people familiar with the investigation. The investigators also met with an attorney representing Mr. Steinmetz, the people said.

The interviews were another indication that individuals tied to BSG Resources Ltd., the mining arm of Mr. Steinmetz’s family-owned conglomerate, remains the focus of multiple investigations into allegations that bribes were paid to win mining rights in Guinea’s Simandou mountain range, where the iron-ore deposits are said to be among the world’s biggest.

Australian miners linked to hundreds of deaths, injuries in Africa – by Will Fitzgibbon (Sydney Morning Herald – July 11, 2015)

July 13, 2015

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

Australian mining companies are linked to hundreds of deaths and injuries in Africa, which can go unreported at home. Some of the Australian Securities Exchange-listed companies include state governments as shareholders. One company recorded 38 worker deaths over an eleven-year period.

In Malawi, litigation continues against Paladin Africa Limited, a subsidiary of Perth-based Paladin Energy, and its subcontractor after an explosion disfigured one worker with such heat that his skin shattered when touched by rescuers. Two others died in the same incident.

Other allegations include employees in South Africa hacking a woman with a machete and Malian police killing two protesters after a mine worker reportedly asked authorities to dislodge a barricade on the road to the mine.

An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in collaboration with 13 African reporters, uncovered locally-filed lawsuits, violent protests and community petitions criticising some Australian companies.

Gas overtakes coal at US power stations – by Ed Crooks (Financial Times – July 12, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.ft.com/intl/companies/oil-gas

New York – The US generated more of its electricity from gas than from coal for the first time ever in April — in a sign of how the shale boom is putting mounting pressure on the country’s mining industry.

Plunging prices for natural gas, which have fallen alongside oil since last summer, led to it being used to generate 31 per cent of America’s electricity in April, while coal contributed 30 per cent.

This was the first month in US history that gas-fired electricity generation surpassed coal-fired generation, according to SNL Energy, a research firm — although it came close in 2012 when gas prices were also very weak. In 2010, coal provided 45 per cent of US power.

Since then, competition from cheap shale gas — unlocked by the rise of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — plus a growing regulatory burden on coal-fired power plants, has squeezed out coal use. That trend has accelerated in 2015.

Brett Blankenship of Wood Mackenzie, the research company, said the combination of cheap gas and new environmental regulations such as curbs on mercury and related pollution from coal-fired plants was having a particularly deleterious effect on coal generation.

Debt Load Digs Into Mining Industry – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Wall Street Journal – July 12, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Resources firms borrowed heavily to supply China; now boom is ending, prices are down

SYDNEY—When Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, needed cash last year to build a massive iron-ore mine called Roy Hill in northwest Australia, five export-credit agencies and 19 banks teamed up to provide the US$7.2 billion required, sealing the largest project-financing deal in industry history.

The loan deal struck to fund the mine, cut into a vast red plain deep in the Australian Outback, now looks like the high point of a multiyear pileup of debt in the global mining sector.

As forecasts predicting endless growth in China’s appetite for raw materials became a matter of industry faith, mining companies borrowed extensively to build networks of pits, railway lines and port terminals. Megadeals abounded as a merger-and-acquisition frenzy took hold. Cheap borrowing costs, thanks to low global interest rates, fueled the splurge.

Now, as China’s hunger for resources ebbs and mining companies’ profits suffer amid falling commodity prices, those debts have become an albatross around the industry’s neck.

The Mining Supercycle’s Long Goodbye – by Helen Thomas (Wall Street Journal – July 8, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Commodity prices have tumbled and China’s markets are in disarray

On the way up, the catchphrase of the commodities supercycle was “stronger for longer.” Now, its demise feels just as enduring.

The mining sector once seemed invincible thanks to China’s rapacious appetite for raw materials. But China’s economic growth has cooled and recent signs of life in areas like its property market haven’t shifted the negative mood. The meltdown in its stock market is now raising fears of a sharper slowdown.

With the price of metals down again this year, the industry is now truly in the pits. Share prices in the sector have sunk again to their lowest levels since the financial crisis and it is hard to see what could meaningfully revive them in the near term.

Iron ore’s bounce this year, from lows of about $47 a metric ton to about $65 last month, has evaporated: low-cost supply will pick up in the second half of the year and keep on rising. Metallurgical coal is suffering too as Chinese steel production falls. Meanwhile, thermal coal-used in power stations—seems well on its way to becoming a global pariah.

Shock and ore: What iron ore’s 10% rebound means – by Nyshka Chandran (CNBC.com – July 9, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.cnbc.com/

Iron ore’s near 10 percent rebound on Thursday following a horror streak this week left strategists debating whether more pain is in store for the beleaguered commodity.

Benchmark ore for delivery to the Chinese port of Tianjin ended a ten-day rout overnight, rising to $48.30 a ton, a 9.5 percent increase from an all-time record low of $44.10 hit in the previous session.

Major banks like Citigroup remain bearish, predicting prices to fall below $40 a ton this year due to the commodity’s fundamental oversupply. HSBC meanwhile expects prices to trade around $45 during the third quarter. “We expect the market to go into oversupply and shake out mode again,” it said in a report this week.

But some analysts are optimistic.

“A near 10 percent bounce suggests people will think iron ore is now relatively cheap. A market that breaks to new lows and stays low is very weak, but to see such a bounce suggests there’s more comfort.

Miners’ focus shifts from investor returns to survival – by Silvia Antonioli (Reuters U.S. – July 10, 2015)

July 13, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) – Hit hard by the accelerated downturn in metal prices in recent months, global mining companies preparing to report results are likely to announce another round of austerity measures to cut costs and convince investors to remain committed to the sector.

With investors looking for evidence of continued capital discipline while credit ratings and dividends are pressured by a rout in prices for anything from iron ore to platinum, reductions in capital expenditure, operational costs and jobs could all be on the cards.

It comes as little surprise, therefore, that miners have been among the worst performers on London’s FTSE 100 index of blue-chip companies so far this year. The FTSE 350 mining index has fallen by about 15 percent since the start of the year.

“The picture has shifted to survival. With prices where they are, you wouldn’t expect any of the majors to think about big buybacks,” said Nik Stanojevic at British wealth manager Brewin Dolphin.

No Gold Rush as Greece and China Troubles Roil Markets – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Wall Street Journal – July 9, 2015)

July 10, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Gold is losing its shine as a safe-haven investment, as prices for the commodity trade near five-year lows

SYDNEY—Market mayhem is normally a buy signal for one asset: gold. But this time around the precious metal is the dog that hasn’t barked.

The commodity surged to a record high in 2011 amid rising anxiety over the eurozone’s unfolding debt crisis, as mass protests against austerity policies hit the streets of Athens. This year, faced with more turmoil from a deteriorating situation in Greece, investors haven’t yet rushed to gold.

Nor have concerns about China’s economy and its plunging stock market yet caused the sort of panic gold-buying seen in past years.

“Put simply, this year feels as if has had more than its share of drama,” Macquarie said in a client note. “Gold has done nothing. In fact worse than nothing—the price of gold is 3% lower than it began the year.”

Op-Ed: Why South Africa must do better – by Greg Mills and Jeffrey Herbst (SOUTH AFRICA Daily Maverick – July 8, 2015)

July 10, 2015

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/page/home/#.VZ_0N_lViko

While the end of Apartheid in April 1994 brought about political rights for the excluded black majority, their economic enfranchisement over the subsequent two decades has proven to be exceptionally difficult. The fundamental claim of our new book is that the overwhelming challenge that South Africa faces, and has to date failed to address, is unemployment.

As is well known, the current unemployment statistics are appalling and fall especially on young African youths who were promised a better future in 1994. If the unemployment crisis is not addressed, it will be impossible to lift many millions of people out of poverty. Especially in light of the Arab Spring – fuelled in good part by youths who believed that they had no future – the stability of South Africa cannot be assured given compounding issues of insecurity, unemployment and lack of investment.

The prospects of the African National Congress (ANC) will also be challenged if it cannot deliver jobs to the ‘born-free’ generation. Equally, the ANC’s trade union partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), with an ageing cohort of members, requires economic and employment growth to refresh their membership.

Two decades and five ‘new’ strategic economic plans into its democratic transition, South Africa does not have the luxury of too many more chances.