International Media Resource Articles – Page 661

COLUMN-Indonesia, not Australia, doing heavy lifting on cutting coal output – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 5, 2015)

June 5, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 5 (Reuters) – Indonesia appears to be doing more of the heavy lifting than Australia when it comes to cutting coal output and exports in the face of persistently weak prices.

Coal production in Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of the fuel used in power stations, dropped 21 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to 97 million tonnes.

This put the country on track for 2015 output of about 388 million tonnes, which is near the mid-point of the 350-400 million tonnes forecast by Pandu Sjahrir, the chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association.

The low end of Sjahrir’s forecast would mean a decline of 24 percent in coal output in 2015 from 2014, and would also be 75 million tonnes below the 425 million forecast by the government.

In contrast, Australia’s official forecaster expects thermal coal output to be largely steady in the 2014/15 fiscal year.

UPDATE 2-Rescued Areva faces uncertain future as nuclear fuel group – by Geert De Clercq(Reuters U.K. – June 4, 2015)

June 5, 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – France’s Areva faces an uncertain future as a specialised nuclear fuel supplier, as a state rescue moves its core nuclear reactor activities to its utility customer EDF.

Shares in the state-owned firm briefly rose almost 6 percent on Thursday after the government said late on Wednesday it would recapitalise Areva and approved EDF’s plan to take over Areva’s reactor unit.

The government plan unwinds Areva’s much-vaunted model of an integrated nuclear group that mines and enriches uranium, produces nuclear fuel, builds reactors and recycles spent fuel.

Created fifteen years ago from the nuclear fuel group Cogema and reactor builder Framatome, Areva had ambitions to sell as many as 16 of its massive EPR reactors to energy-hungry developing countries.

But it has not sold a reactor since 2007 and the four it did sell have been plagued by delays and cost overruns. More than two decades after it was designed, not a single EPR is in operation today.

Odisha’s story about pollution, mining and the environment – by Priya Ranjan Sahu (Hindustan Times – June 5, 2015)

June 5, 2015

http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Bhubaneshwar – Odisha’s resource-rich Sukinda valley acquired infamy as the fourth most polluted place in the world in 2007, ranked by the Blacksmith Institute of the US.

The finding was vigorously contested by the state pollution control board as vastly exaggerated, but it did manage to cause a constructive debate on environmental issues in the region.

The valley in Odisha’s Jajpur district has around 97% of the country’s reserves of chromite ore, a vital component in the production of stainless steel, leather and alloys.

The downside to the heavy tapping of mineral resources from a dozen open cast mines in the area over 70 years has been the utter degradation of Sukinda’s landscape. Water in the region has been severely contaminated, the soil polluted with toxic substances, the forests almost wiped out and farms laid waste.

Locals say half the mines now stand closed but the damage has already been done, thanks largely to the improper disposal of waste in river water by the miners.

For risk-wary gold miners, small is beautiful – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – June 5, 2015)

June 5, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO – Bigger isn’t better for the world’s gold miners, who are increasingly making “bite-sized” developments that carry less risk of budget disasters and fewer of the political and environmental disputes that have derailed mega-mines in recent years.

Newmont Mining (NEM.N) is a prime example of how companies are responding to bleak industry conditions by building mines on a smaller scale than in the past, with the price of gold down almost 40 percent from its peak in 2011 and banks avoiding the sector.

The cautious approach will likely persist even if conditions improve, with miners increasingly teaming up on big, complex projects to share costs, expertise and risk, senior mining executives and industry watchers said.

“If there’s going to be something go wrong, you’d rather it go wrong after you’ve spent $1 billion than $3 billion or $4 billion,” said Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) Chief Executive Chuck Jeannes. Goldcorp, the world’s most valuable gold miner by market capitalization, owns stakes in a number of joint-ventured assets such as the Alumbrera gold mine in Argentina and the Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic.

The price of gold has fallen as concerns about inflation receded and the U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies. Gold is often used as a hedge against inflation, as prices typically rise when the dollar weakens.

Iron ore expansions drove down price: Glencore – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – June 5, 2015)

June 5, 2015

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

The most senior local executive at Swiss trading and mining giant Glencore has waded into the iron ore debate, saying rapid Australian expansions have driven down prices and cost the nation tax, royalties and superannuation dollars.

Speaking in Melbourne yesterday, Glencore coal mining chief Peter Freyberg said boomtime expansions that had seen Australian iron ore production surge and cost more than $US50 billion ($64bn) in development spending from Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals, had been a negative exercise.

“The numbers speak for themselves — if you go back a couple of years, there were 500 million tonnes of (annual) export at $US100 a tonne,” Mr Freyberg said.

“That’s versus 700 million tonnes of exports today at $US60, so there’s a whole lot of revenue that’s gone missing following a bunch of investment.

“At the end of the day, (with respect to) the returns to Australia, into superannuation funds, through royalties, through taxes, it’s been a negative exercise.”

Mining Union President Urges Members to Lobby Against Natural Gas Plants – by Kris Maher (Wall Street Journal – June 3, 2015)

June 4, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

The United Mine Workers of America is reeling from the loss of coal-mining jobs in Appalachia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts urged his members Wednesday to lobby against new natural gas power plants and rally around other political battles as the union reels from the loss of coal-mining jobs in Appalachia and threats to benefits plans for thousands of retirees.

The coal industry faces unprecedented competition as more natural gas is used to generate electricity, overseas demand has waned and the Obama administration proposes tougher emissions standards for power plants. Companies have laid off waves of miners in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky and Alabama.

“Our members are being laid off in numbers we haven’t seen in decades,” Mr. Roberts told several hundred union members and retirees clad in United Mine Workers of America shirts and baseball hats. The union called the meeting two days ago amid growing anxiety among its membership.

Mr. Roberts said a priority for the union is halting several gas-fired power plants planned for the region that compete directly with plants using coal. He said the union will oppose any tax breaks for natural gas projects.

Zinc price to struggle as more output, stocks expected – by Eric Onstad (Reuters Africa – June 4, 2015)

June 4, 2015

http://af.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) – Zinc prices are likely to struggle in the short term, weighed down by a more plentiful supply situation than forecast.

More inventories are due to move into LME warehouses while two mine operations will produce more than expected despite well-flagged closures, analysts and industry sources said.

Zinc is one of the best performing metals on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and has been a favourite of investors in recent years due to the prospect of shortages developing because of the shutdowns of major mines.

Benchmark LME zinc surged by a fifth during the six weeks to May 5, when it hit an eight-month peak of $2,404.50 a tonne, but has since given up about half of those gains.

Some analysts are concerned about more flows of inventories into LME warehouses after 36,400 tonnes arrived in Malaysian depots on May 19, the biggest one-day inflow in over a year.

State of Minnesota lowers mineral royalty for U.S. Steel – by John Myers Duluth News Tribune – June 3, 2015)

June 4, 2015

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Minnesota’s top elected officials voted unanimously Wednesday to cut the fees the state charges U.S. Steel Corp. to mine iron ore on state lands on the Iron Range.

The vote is an effort to help the big U.S. steelmaker navigate through tough economic times pushed by a flood of cheap foreign steel and iron ore.

The Executive Council—the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor and attorney general—voted to cut the royalty rates for U.S. Steel operations for 15 months, a break that could hit more than $4 million.

Royalties are the fees mining companies pay to whoever owns the mineral rights where they mine, in this case, the state of Minnesota.

The move means less money coming in to the state’s Permanent School Trust Fund and other funds stocked by the mining fees.

Gold’s Peak Doesn’t Mean New Price Heights – by Helen Thomas (Wall Street Journal – June 4, 2015)

June 4, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

The industry has been in survival mode, companies warn

Announcing that gold production is approaching its limits can be hazardous. In 2009 Aaron Regent, who shortly after became chief executive of Barrick Gold, said the world had reached “peak gold.” Three years later, Mr. Regent was out of a job and mined gold output was still rising. Indeed, it hit a record 3,133 metric tons last year.

Yet predictions of peak gold are again in vogue. It remains doubtful, however, that this heralds much elevation for the gold price.

Gold production may be plateauing: precious metals consultancy Metals Focus expects a slight fall in output this year. A decadelong rise in the gold price from 2001 fueled indiscriminate investment but miners have slashed spending since 2013. Substantial new mines, like Barrick’s Pascua Lama in Chile, have been halted and exploration efforts scaled back.

The industry has been in survival mode, argues Randgold boss Mark Bristow. Companies have tapped higher-grade resources to boost production, service debt and stay in business. But that hurts long-term production, while efforts to cut costs can also reduce the lifespan of mines.

Coal Giants Left Unscathed by Growing Divestment Campaign – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Jesse Riseborough (Bloomberg News – June 3, 2015)

June 4, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The biggest names in mining have so far found themselves immune to a rapidly expanding campaign that’s seeking to curb the use of the most polluting fossil fuel.

From Norway’s $900 billion sovereign wealth fund to France’s biggest insurer and the Church of England, investors are starting to turn the screw on coal producers by selling down their holdings.

The criteria they use to select candidates for divestment exempts some of the biggest producers, however. That’s because those companies are large, diversified miners and only get a small part of their revenue from coal.

Dodging the divestment bullet, at least for now, are companies such as Glencore Plc, the world’s biggest exporter of coal used in power stations, BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto Group and Anglo American Plc. Between them they mine more than 350 million tons, about one third of the world’s coal trade.

“There’s a view that if they stop investing in it, or take a stance, that coal will go away,” said Mick Buffier, chairman of the World Coal Association and also an executive at Glencore. “Our view is different. Coal will continue to be needed. It’s going to be used by these developing nations. ”

Commodity prices weigh heavily on top 40 mining giants June 4, 2015 – by Natasha Odendaal (MiningWeekly.com – June 4, 2015)

June 4, 2015

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The tough fight faced by the global mining industry in 2014 would escalate into a brawl this year as mining companies worldwide struggled to emerge from depressed markets, PwC’s Africa Mining Centre of Excellence head Michal Kotze said on Thursday.

Widespread government intervention, significant conflicts surrounding strategy debates and other internal industry conflicts, “huge” competition, weakening commodity prices with increasing short-term volatility and rising shareholder activism had left industry on the ropes.

A reduction in capital spend, somewhat higher production and “unexpected help” from currency devaluations and lower input costs had assisted the mining industry to “manage expectations” during 2014 despite continued headwinds from weak commodity prices, the latest PwC ‘Mine’ report showed.

By April 2015, iron-ore prices had dropped to below 50% of the value recorded in January 2014, while coal and copper prices dropped to below 75% and 80% of their respective price structures during the same period.

COLUMN-Big iron ore miners’ plan to displace everybody else losing steam – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 3, 2015)

June 3, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 3 (Reuters) – How well is the plan by big iron ore miners to displace high-cost iron ore from the seaborne and Chinese domestic markets going? Maybe just OK, certainly not great.

Much has been written about how the big three global iron ore miners will use their low-cost, high-output mines to muscle competitors out of the market, thus restoring the supply-demand balance and ultimately justifying the billions of dollars they spent boosting capacity well in excess of demand.

The problem for Brazil’s Vale and the Anglo-Australian pair of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton <BHP Billiton> is that the signs are this isn’t working perhaps as well as they may have hoped.

Certainly Chinese trade numbers show that Australia in particular has increased market share in iron ore imports, but the momentum may be stalling.

In the first four months of the year, Chinese imports of the steel-making ingredient from Australia were 195.845 million tonnes, or 63.7 percent of the total 307.282 million tonnes.

Keep Metal Prices Lower for Much Longer – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – June 3, 2015)

June 3, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd. delivered a sombre warning to global commodity markets that oversupply is very much here to stay. Tumbling prices are creating a testing environment for commodity producers, while demand is slowing to more routine levels amid a transition in China’s economy away from investment-led growth, the world’s biggest mining company’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie said Wednesday.

“In many markets, recently installed low-cost supply can now be stretched to meet growing demand,” Mackenzie said in a speech in Canberra. “Incremental supply, induced during periods of higher prices, will take longer to absorb and this means over-supply may persist for some time.”

Expansion by the biggest iron ore producers, including BHP and Vale SA, will see a global surplus swell to 215 million tons in 2018 from 45 million this year, UBS Group AG estimates. Teck Resources Ltd. plans to idle six Canadian coal operations amid a slump in prices and demand.

“The speed at which prices have returned to long run levels for each commodity has varied as a function of the time taken for low cost supply to come to market,” Mackenzie said.

RPT–Peru elections seen fanning flames of mining disputes – by Mitra Taj (Reuters U.S. – June 1, 2015)

June 2, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Mining conflicts in Peru, a top global minerals exporter, will likely heat up ahead of presidential and congressional elections next year as political outsiders whip up anti-mining sentiment, government officials and business leaders said.

Protests from local community groups have derailed three mining projects worth $7 billion in the past five years, and threaten to hold up more.

Carlos Galvez, head of Peru’s main mining association, said opponents of mining projects can win votes in rural areas where poverty rates are high and many eke out a living as farmers.

“Here everyone is anti. If you’re anti-mining then you’re in fashion,” said Galvez, who leads the National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy.

Southern Copper Corp’s $1.4 billion Tia Maria project was put on hold last month amid deadly protests.

David Montoya, a cabinet official tasked with conflict prevention, accused protest leaders of feeding fears about pollution from Tia Maria in order to win the dispute and pave a political future for themselves. “They shut down discussion,” he said.

Anger and Grief Simmer in Turkey a Year After Soma Mine Disaster – by Ceylan Yeginsujune (New York Times – June 2, 2015)

June 2, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

ELMADERE, Turkey — Through the lace curtains of her window, Beyhan Yilmaz cannot help but see the raw gash of the new coal mine carved through the green hills near her village. She is stung by the sight.

“I used to run away to that hill and have picnics with my husband under the pine trees,” Ms. Yilmaz recalled, with tears trickling down her cheeks. “As if the fact that they destroyed that beauty wasn’t painful enough, now every time I look out the window, I am reminded of the hell where my husband burned to death.”

Ms. Yilmaz, 26, is one of 10 women from Elmadere, in western Turkey, who were widowed by the deadliest industrial disaster in modern Turkish history, the explosion and fire that tore through a coal mine in the nearby town of Soma in May 2014, leaving 301 men dead.

The disaster led to protests in Soma and across Turkey that were broken up by the riot police using rubber bullets and water cannons. The anger here toward the government had barely receded a year later as the widows observed the grim anniversary. Families of victims say that no one has been held accountable and that they have been left to face the future on their own.