International Media Resource Articles – Page 744

UPDATE 2-Miner Cliffs to slash 2014 capital spending, cut 500 jobs – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – February 11, 2014)

February 12, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

Feb 11 (Reuters) – Under pressure from an activist shareholder, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc said on Tuesday it will slash capital spending, forego a planned expansion at a key Canadian mine and shut another mine in Canada, cutting about 500 jobs.

Cliffs, a Cleveland-headquartered iron ore and coal producer, said it plans to reduce its capital spending in 2014 by more than 50 percent to between $375 million and $425 million as it cuts back its Bloom Lake Mine expansion and idles production at its Wabush Mine.

The miner has recently been targeted by an activist shareholder who wants the company to be broken up and Cliffs to spin out its “riskier” international operations, including the Bloom Lake and Wabush mines, into a separate business from its strong cash-generating U.S. operations.

Cliffs acquired Bloom Lake as part of its takeover of Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd in 2010 but higher-than-expected costs at the mine have weighed on Cliffs’ earnings. Cliffs delayed a planned expansion in 2012, and a year ago took a $1 billion goodwill writedown related to the Consolidated Thompson deal.

‘Mine-to-Close’ method best for managing mine-closure risks – Beale – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 11, 2014)

February 11, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Heavy data gathering, lab testing instead of field tests, and standards-based regulation may not be the best approach to sustainable mine closure, says mining hydrologist Geoff Beale.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Mining hydrologist Geoff Beale of Schlumberger Water Services is urging mining companies to “take careful consideration of closure when planning their initial and expanded site layoffs” to reduce the chance of being saddled with mine pollution liability issues in perpetuity.

In a presentation to the Northern Nevada Section of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Monday night, Beale noted that mine operators increasingly adopt a “mine to close” approach when planning their initial and expanded site layouts.

Beale reminded his audience that the controlled mine closure has only occurred within the past two decades, and that many of the mines entering the closure stage now were developed before closure regulations existed.

Mechanised platinum mines forecast for South Africa – by Brendan Ryan (Business Day – February 10, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

THE persistent climate of labour unrest and unsustainable pay demands could lead to a long-term structural change in South Africa’s platinum mining industry with the producers opting to develop new mechanised mines.

That is the conclusion drawn by JPMorgan Cazenove analysts Allan Cooke and Steve Shepherd in a recently published major review of prospects for the South African platinum industry. The implication of such a development is that the platinum industry would move towards the business model used by the country’s coal producers, where labour relations are far less volatile than on the gold and platinum mines.

The reasons are that the fewer skilled workers employed on the coal mines are far better paid than the larger numbers of unskilled workers employed on the labour-intensive, deep-level gold and platinum mines.

The new platinum mines would be built on the Northern Limb — or “Platreef” — section of the Bushveld Complex. That is where Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has already established its Mogalakwena opencast mine and entrepreneur Robert Friedland plans to develop his high-tech “Flatreef” underground mine.

COLUMN-Australia going back to coal has lesson on U.S. LNG exports – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – February 10, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

Clyde Russell is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The decision by an Australian power company to mothball a natural-gas plant and restart two coal-fired units seems wrong on many levels, but strangely, it has implications for U.S. liquefied gas exports.

Stanwell Power Corp, an electricity producer owned by Queensland state, said last week it would shut for three years its 385-megawatt (MW) Swanbank E power station, west of the state capital Brisbane, while restarting two coal units with a combined 350-MW capacity at its Tarong plant.

The decision was framed in terms of economics, with the company saying it made more sense to sell the gas to other users than to use it to generate power, and that returning to coal would improve its competitiveness.

This switch back to coal power in Queensland brings together several issues that show the difficulty of implementing policies designed to combat climate change, while keeping industry competitive and encouraging lucrative energy exports in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

How to kill an industry in Indonesia -by John McBeth (Asia Times – February 10, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.atimes.com/

JAKARTA – Indonesia’s exports of mineral ore are now at a standstill, with unprocessed bauxite and nickel the target of an outright ban and mining companies either refusing or unable to pay the draconian new export duty on copper and the other concentrates that were given a 12th-hour three-year extension.

That’s only half of the story. Far from clear is whether enforced on-shore processing of mineral ores will actually work when there are serious doubts about the economic viability of building smelters and hydrometallurgical processors in an already over-supplied global market.

The dysfunctional way in which the government has implemented the new value-added policy, with unrealistic deadlines and a clear lack of preparation or understanding of its own contracts of work (COW), has shaken the Indonesian mining industry to its core.

A government regulation extending the January 12 ban for copper giants Freeport Indonesia and Newmont Nusa Tenggara and 66 other, mostly Indonesian, mining companies was undercut the next day by the export tax, which rises from an already daunting 20-25% in the first year to a prohibitive 60% in the second half of 2016.

HudBay makes hostile C$540m all-share bid for Augusta Resource – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 10, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

HudBay launched a hostile bid for Rosemont project partner, Augusta Resource, claiming it is in a much better position to develop the Arizona copper mine.

RENO (MINEWEB) – HudBay Minerals announced Sunday that it intends to make a C$540 million hostile all-share bid for Augusta Resource Corporation.

HudBay owns 15% of Augusta Resource’s Rosemont copper project in Arizona. Augusta Resource said its board of directors would discuss the bid offer this coming week. Under the terms of the HudBay offer, Augusta shareholders will receive 0.315 of a HudBay share for each common share held, estimated at C$2.96 per Augusta common share.

“Since our initial investment in August in 2010, we have been excited about the potential of the Rosemont project. We view the Rosemont project as an attractive complement to our existing portfolio of high quality, long-life assets that fits well with our construction timeline at Constancia,” said HudBay CEO David Garofalo.

From Warheads to Cheap Energy – by William J. Broad (New York Times – January 27, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

Thomas L. Neff’s Idea Turned Russian Warheads Into American Electricity

As the Cold War ended in the late 1980s and early ’90s, a new fear arose amid the rejoicing and relief: that atomic security might fail in the disintegrating Soviet Union, allowing its huge stockpile of nuclear warheads to fall into unfriendly hands.

The jitters intensified in late 1991, as Moscow announced plans to store thousands of weapons from missiles and bombers in what experts viewed as decrepit bunkers, policed by impoverished guards of dubious reliability.

Many officials and scientists worried. Few knew what to do. That is when Thomas L. Neff, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hit on his improbable idea: Why not let Moscow sell the uranium from its retired weapons and dilute it into fuel for electric utilities in the United States, giving Russians desperately needed cash and Americans a cheap source of power?

Last month, Dr. Neff’s idea came to a happy conclusion as the last shipment of uranium from Russia arrived in the United States.

Sweeping change across China’s Inner Mongolia – by Martin Patience (BBC News – February 5, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

Inner Mongolia, China – Traditional music floated across the freezing grasslands that stretched far into the distance. Inner Mongolia is China’s strategic frontier and home to its Mongolian ethnic minority.

They are the descendants of the Mongol warrior, Genghis Khan, who on horseback eight centuries ago swept across much of Asia, creating one of the world’s greatest empires. Today, the Mongolians still celebrate their traditions at nadaams – or traditional games.

Hundreds watched as a train of camels swept into a small stadium on the grasslands, their hooves kicking up the snow. Some of the animals pulled wooden sleighs with children sitting in them.

They were ridden by Mongolian herdsmen wearing traditional blue, green and red lambskin outfits to protect them from the bitter winter cold. Throughout the day, the crowd watched camel racing, archery on horseback, and traditional wrestling. But most of this was for show. The nomadic way of life is fast disappearing.

[South Africa platinum] Mining has to get its Act together – by Lynley Donnelly (Mail & Guardian – February 7, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://mg.co.za/ [South Africa]

The issue of labour representation is central to the problems in the industry. The protracted strike by 70 000 mineworkers was the platinum elephant in the room at the 2014 Mining Indaba in Cape Town this week.

The volatile labour environment has become a major concern for companies and investors alike. Industry experts argued that, unless there is a major shift in industrial relations and the legacy of socioeconomic deprivation faced by mineworkers is meaningfully dealt with, South Africa’s mining sector will continue to suffer.

The opening speech by Minister of Mineral Resources Susan Shabangu provided little reassurance, failing to “decisively address continuing labour-relations challenges in the mining sector, especially the platinum sector”, Tony Zoghby, a partner at the professional services firm Deloitte, said.

Presenters at a discussion held by the South African Institute for International Affairs said violent strikes would persist if the labour relations framework did not become more democratic and miners’ living conditions were not addressed.

South Africa: Landmark Silicosis Case Reaches a Milestone – by Sibusiso Tshabalala (All Africa.com – February 6, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://allafrica.com/

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) hosted a special event on 5 February 2014 to highlight its landmark silicosis case and the implications for future legislative and policy reform in South Africa. The meeting took place as part of the 5th Alternative Mining Indaba.

For ten years, the Legal Resources Centre has represented 24 former miners who worked for Anglo American Mines. The miners, who come from some of Southern Africa’s most rural areas, had worked in Anglo American mines between 1970 and 2000 and had contracted silicosis.

Silicosis is an incurable but preventable lung disease. It is caused by prolonged and severe inhalation of silica dust particles.

The prevalence of silicosis in South African mines can be traced back as early as 1903 to the Miners’ Phthisis Commission (Milner’s Commission) which deplored the unsanitary underground conditions in the mines as being “conducive to contracting infectious diseases”.

China returns to hunt for African mine assets – by Andrew England and Javier Blas (Financial Times – February 7, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Cape Town – China is making a return to African mining after a hiatus of nearly two years – seeking out new copper, iron ore and uranium deposits in a sign that Beijing is still a keen investor in the continent’s industry.

However, executives and bankers attending the annual Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town – the biggest of its kind in Africa – have warned that China is unlikely to spend large sums solely to secure a flow of commodities, as it did until 2012. Instead, they said Beijing was more likely to buy smaller assets offering strong financial returns and raw materials.

“Selectively, yes, they [the Chinese] are coming,” said Michael Rawlinson, co-head of mining and metals at Barclays. “Some of their acquisition vehicles are on the hunt.” Since the beginning of the year, deals have started to flow: China National Nuclear Corporation has taken a large stake in one of Africa’s largest uranium mines in Namibia for nearly $200m, and China National Gold is in final talks to buy a copper mine in Congo.

Rajat Kohli, head of mining and metals at Standard Bank, which is 20 per cent owned by ICBC, China’s largest bank, said: “The clear message . . . from state-owned enterprises and some of the better established private companies is that they are open for business to Africa.”

Indonesia miners must pay smelter cash guarantee -govt officials – by Wilda Asmarini (Reuters India – February 7, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JAKARTA – Feb 7 (Reuters) – Miners with smelter plans in Indonesia will have to pay a financial guarantee to prove they are serious about building domestic metal-processing plants, said mining ministry officials.

The move indicates the Southeast Asian nation may be unwilling to significantly roll back or make major concessions in its mining policy that have ground ore and concentrate exports to a complete halt.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last month imposed new mining rules, including a controversial mineral ore export ban and progressive export taxes on concentrates, aimed at forcing miners to build smelters and process their raw materials in Indonesia.

The policies have forced U.S. miners Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Newmont Mining Corp to halt all exports, as both firms say the export tax breaches their mining contracts and it is not economically viable to make such large smelter investments in Indonesia.

High level executives from both companies have been involved in talks with the government over the tax and building of smelters, and a breakthrough now looks a distant prospect.

Mandela’s Contribution to Mining – by Gavin du Venage and Joseph Kirschke (Engineering and Mining Journal – January 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://www.e-mj.com/

Last month, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) leaders denounced South Africa’s mining companies for ignoring a day of mourning for Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Ironically, saddled with corruption, infighting and often voiceless workers, the NUM itself may be one of his struggle’s more unfortunate byproducts.

Still, since Mandela’s Anti-Apartheid campaign ended in 1994, it’s clear that were it not for South Africa’s heavy concentration of gold, diamonds and other metals, 46 years of white minority rule would likely have been impossible. Something he understood extremely well.

Indeed, a crucial element of Mandela’s decades-long fight was to free blacks from being indentured laborers in mines while ensuring they participated in the wealth the mines created. His greatest successes have included helping establish 1995’s Leon Commission, the country’s most comprehensive health and safety inquiry, and a mining-related Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The discovery of diamonds, then gold, in the late 1800s flooded white fortune seekers into the country. Unlike mineral rushes elsewhere, however, this one proved sustainable.

At least eight dead in S.African gold mine accident – by Ed Cropley (Reuters India – February 6, 2014)

February 6, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG – (Reuters) – Rescuers recovered eight bodies and continued to search for another missing worker on Thursday after a fire and rock-fall at a Harmony Gold (HARJ.J) mine near Johannesburg, the worst accident in South Africa’s mines in nearly five years.

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu ordered an investigation into the incident at the Doornkop mine, 30 km west (20 miles) of the city, after initial reports that the fire was triggered by a small earthquake on Tuesday evening.

“The situation is deeply regrettable,” Shabangu said in a statement. “We must ensure that we do all we can to get to the bottom of what caused this incident in order to prevent similar occurrences in future.”

It is the most serious accident in South Africa’s mines since nine workers died in a rock fall at a platinum mine in July 2009. Shares in Harmony, South Africa’s third-largest bullion producer, fell 3 percent at the start of trade.

Rescue teams battled through smoke and debris nearly a mile underground on Wednesday to reach eight other miners who had managed to flee to a refuge bay equipped with a telephone and other survival gear. They were brought to the surface unharmed.