International Media Resource Articles – Page 753

Australian coal mining is entering ‘structural decline’, reports claims – by Oliver Milman (The Guardian – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Demand from India and China predicted to falter due to higher uptake of renewables and make huge coal mining projects commercially unattractive

Coal mining in Australia is entering a “structural decline”, with projects set to become unviable due to unrealistic expectations over the potential to export the fossil fuels to China and India, according to a new report.

The study, by the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, suggests that two huge coal mining projects in central Queensland, backed by Indian cash, “are likely to prove uncommercial” due to unfavourable market conditions.

The projects, backed by Adani and GVK, which bought its coal assets from Gina Rinehart in 2011, will attempt to open up vast deposits of coal buried in the Galilee Basin region. Clive Palmer’s China First mine is also slated for completion by 2017, removing a projected 40m tonnes of coal a year for export.

But the IEEFA analysis shows that the wholesale cost of electricity in India, a key export market, is half that of Galilee coal-fired power, making it financially unattractive for the Indian government.

RPT-UPDATE 3-S.Africa’s Zuma slams striking union for risking mining jobs – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters India – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, May 5 (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma has accused the AMCU union of irresponsibility for dragging out a wage strike in the platinum sector for almost four months, telling reporters there was a risk of workers losing their jobs because of the dispute.

Zuma, who has made little previous direct comment about the strike, took aim at the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) on Monday, underscoring political concerns about the stoppage and its impact on Africa’s most advanced economy, ahead of general elections on Wednesday.

“The union leaders have a responsibility … to ensure workers are protected so they don’t lose their jobs. You can’t get into a strike that at the end the workers lose their jobs. That’s your responsibility,” Zuma told a news conference.

Mining companies joined the attack on AMCU, saying intimidation was being used to keep its members in line and they would continue with their strategy of putting their offer directly to employees to bypass the union’s leadership. But using typically combative language and evoking class warfare, AMCU President Joseph Mathunjwa lashed out at the “platinum cabal” and its “exploitation of workers.”

Proposed mine by wild Smith River roils Del Norte County folks – by Peter Fimrite (San Francisco Chronicle – May 3, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://www.sfgate.com/

The clear, flowing Smith River is a life force in the northern corner of California, where the locals keep a sharp eye out for threats to the pristine water and thriving fish.

That would explain why the folk who live along the river in Del Norte County nearly jumped out of their britches when they learned about a proposed nickel mine along a major tributary of the Smith, the last major river without a dam left in the state.

A London mining company has applied to the U.S. Forest Service to begin exploratory drilling over thousands of acres of forest lands, including Baldface Creek, in Curry County, Ore., which flows into the Smith and helps maintain one of the most abundant natural salmon runs in California.

Steelhead trout, chinook and coho salmon spawn in both Baldface Creek and Smith, a National Wild and Scenic River that also provides Crescent City and the surrounding communities with drinking water.

“Locating a strip mine in the headwaters of the wild and scenic Smith River is like putting ice cubes made with toxic waste in your favorite drink,” said Grant Werschkull, the executive director of the Smith River Alliance, in Crescent City. “It’s completely outrageous.”

Driverless mine trucks heading for east coast – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 2014

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

DRIVERLESS mining trucks that are becoming more common in iron ore mines in Western Australia’s Pilbara region are expected to appear in NSW and Queensland in the next 12 months under plans being hatched by BHP Billiton.

The autonomous trucks, which cut costs by reducing the need to house, feed and employ four drivers, would be trialled at BHP coalmines, BHP coal president Dean Dalla Valle said.

BHP has followed the lead of rival Rio Tinto in introducing the robot trucks into the big iron ore mines in the Pilbara, but after coalmine trials in New Mexico, it is taking the lead in bringing them to the east coast, something Rio has not yet proposed to do.

“We’re looking at two opportunities in coal to do the same thing, in Queensland and NSW,” Mr Dalla Valle told The Australian. “There’s no doubt it will happen, and I’d like to think that within 12 months we will be running trials.”

BHP last month indicated its late-mover status in automated equipment was not a reluctance to employ the technology. It said it was extending a robot truck trial at its Jimblebar iron ore mine to the nearby Wheelara mine.

Indonesia needs to tackle infrastructure hurdles to build on its youthful potential – by Jim O’Neil (Emerging Markets.org – May 2, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://www.emergingmarkets.org/

Jim O’Neill is Visiting Research Fellow to BRUEGEL and Economic Advisor to the International Finance Corporation

Indonesians probably have the most justifiable gripe of any nation, along with Mexico, not to be included in the Bric group that I dreamt up in 2001.

Indonesia has a larger population than two of the four Bric nations, Brazil and Russia, and of course, it has a remarkably youthful population also, with demographic dynamics that give its growth potential a lot of hope in the next couple of decades.

These basic attractions are partly what led me to thinking of the notion of an additional group of emerging economies to focus on: the so-called Mint countries; Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. Each of these has the potential to be a significant part of the world economy if not quite as important as the Bric economies. I define a Bric in a global context these days, as an emerging economy that if not already 3% of global GDP or more, one that has that clear potential in the next decade or two. For the Mint economies, I think of them as emerging economies that either are, or have the potential to be somewhere between 1%–2% of global GDP.

The global business of mining [opinion] – by Cole Latimer (Australian Mining – May 2, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/home

You can walk on to most sites around Australia and find Aussies, Kiwis, Americans, British, Irish, South Americans, Canadians, and South Africans. And they’ll be using American, Japanese, Chinese, German, Italian and Russian equipment. It is an industry that encompasses the entire world like very few others do.

And it was this global alignment, coupled with the ability to tap into market opportunities, that helped Australia through the devastating global financial crisis in a way that many other countries couldn’t do due to their inability to access the same markets.

The mining boom, right after this devastating financial event, put Australia in an enviable position globally. But as the mining boom slows down, what does this mean for Australia, seeing we spent much of this century focused on just digging minerals up and exporting them?

Well, luckily for our nation we also spent a large chunk of this last century developing our skills and technology.

Australia may not be a mining manufacturing powerhouse like the US, Japan, or Russia, but we are damn good at mining, and even though our productivity has been dropping and become stagnant over the last few years, that hasn’t stopped the nation from making innovative technology and developing smarter ways in which to mine.

EXCLUSIVE: Memos show EPA officials tried to kill mine project before scientific review – by Phillip Swarts (Washington Times – April 30, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://www.washingtontimes.com/

Agency officials coached tribes on how to oppose Alaska’s Pebble Mine

Though President Obama has repeatedly urged that science guide environmental decisions, regulators inside the Environmental Protection Agency secretly worked with tribal and environmental activists to preempt a full review of an Alaskan mine and veto the project before the owners’ permits could be considered, internal memos show.

Charged with being neutral arbiters, EPA officials instead began advocating for a preemptive veto of the Pebble Mine project in western Alaska as early as 2008, long before any scientific studies were conducted or the permit applications for the project were even filed, the emails obtained by The Washington Times show.

“As you know I feel that both of these projects (Chuitna and Pebble) merit consideration of a 404C veto,” EPA official Phillip North wrote in an email suggesting that the mining project’s rejection be added to the agenda of an agency retreat in summer 2009.

EPA wouldn’t even announce the beginning of a scientific review of Pebble Mine until 2011, two years after Mr. North’s email, but discussion of a pre-emptive veto dominated internal discussions inside the agency for much of the three years beforehand.

Alaska Natives and First Nations Unite to Halt B.C. Mine That Threatens Salmon Habitat – by Paula Dobbyn (Indian Country: Today Media Network.com – May 2, 2014)

May 2, 2014

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/

It has become an all-too-familiar story: Pristine waters. Salmon habitat. Sacred significance. Mining.

The Unuk River watershed, straddling the border between British Columbia and Alaska, is on track to become ground zero in a struggle to stop the world’s largest open-pit mine, Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM). The fight against it is uniting First Nations and Alaska Natives as they battle to preserve stewardship of the pristine region. And it is just one of five massive projects proposed for the region.

If KSM secures the financing and the regulatory go-ahead, the giant mine would turn 6,500 acres of pristine land into an industrial zone that would generate more than 10 billion pounds of copper and 38 million ounces of gold, according to a project summary. As with any large mine, it would employ a hefty workforce—in this case mostly Canadians—and create taxes and royalty payments for Canada. But it would also produce a slew of waste. And that’s what critics say downstream Alaska communities stand to take on: none of the economic benefits but much of the environmental risk.

With its remote headwaters in British Columbia, the Unuk River is one of the world’s most prolific salmon waters. An international river, the Unuk flows into neighboring Southeast Alaska and its temperate rainforest, the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest, a place of towering coastal mountains, tidewater glaciers and fog-shrouded islands.

China’s need for steel will sustain ore miners: Rio – by Andrew Burrell (The Australian – May 2, 2014)

May 2, 2014

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

RIO Tinto iron ore boss Andrew Harding says iron ore prices will remain strong for at least another 10 to 15 years, declaring he pays no attention to short-term fluctuations in the price of the key export commodity.

Speaking at the In the Zone conference at the University of Western Australia, a bullish Mr Harding said the most important indicator for iron ore was the rate of urbanisation in China, which buys 60 per cent of the world’s seaborne iron ore.

With the iron ore price slipping to $US105.40 ($113.53) yesterday — a 20-month low — and prompting a sharp fall in iron ore miners’ shares, some analysts have forecast a return to prices well below $US100 in coming months as increased supply hits the market and Chinese economic growth slows.

That would hit the profits of Rio and its Pilbara iron ore rivals BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group. It would also eat into the coffers of the cash-strapped federal and West Australian governments.

The three big iron ore miners have pulled back on their future expansion plans, preferring to preserve cash and boost productivity rather than commit to multi-billion-dollar greenfields projects.

World’s heaviest haul railways defining the Pilbara then and now – by Ben Collins (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – May 2, 2014)

May 2, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/northwestwa/?ref=banner

Iron ore trains are one of the unsung heroes of the Pilbara’s mammoth industry. Leading the world in heavy haulage, these trains also track the history of the region.

It was an inauspicious dawn of the rail age in Australia’s north western Pilbara region. But what began with short tramways and a problematic narrow gauge line from Port Hedland to Marble Bar over one hundred years ago, eventually became the lifeblood of Australia’s economic engine room.

As in many North West towns established in the late 1800s, tramways were built to service the early ports at Cossack and Balla Balla in the Pilbara. A more substantial railway, though still just narrow gauge, was built from Port Hedland to Marble Bar to service goldmining and the pastoral industry. The 114 mile railway was completed in 1912, and proceeded to run at a loss for 39 years until the last train came to a halt in 1951.

But a new era of heavy haulage standard gauge railways burst into existence with a flood of iron ore mines in the 1960’s. The first earthworks for the rail bed began in 1965 as iron ore mining permits and sales contracts were put in place for the Goldsworthy iron ore deposit. Construction proceeded at a cracking pace with over 100 kilometres completed and the first train running by May 1966. The line was then extended by 67 kilometres to the Shay Gap iron ore mine in 1972.

Mine Waste Transformed to Tap Water for 80,000 Consumers – by Firat Kayakiran, Randall Hackley and Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – May 2, 2014)

May 2, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Anglo American Plc (AAL) was the first company to transform the wastewater from its coal mines into something 80,000 people drink. Now they’re seen as a model.

Purifying contaminated waters from three sites in South Africa has proven so successful that Anglo’s plant in Witbank is doubling in size and being replicated elsewhere in the country by BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the biggest mining company, and Glencore Xstrata Plc. (GLEN)

While the $130 million plant won’t upend the $600 billion world water industry, Anglo’s treatment center provides as much as 12 percent of the area’s municipal drinking supply and serves as a template for how the industry could treat waste in the future. It also shows how companies and municipalities are finding new ways to confront an increasingly water-stressed planet.

Water of a different sort — sewer water — is similarly about to be treated, purified and pumped back to residents in Wichita Falls, Texas, to augment shortages caused by growth and the area’s worst drought on record.

Mines often treat wastewater to some extent yet until the Emalahleni water-reclamation plant, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Johannesburg, none was of drinking quality.

Rio Tinto sues Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz – by Ian Cobain (The Guardian – May 1, 2014)

May 2, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Anglo-Australian mining company alleges that BSG Resources and Brazilian mining corporation Vale were guilty of taking their mining rights

The Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto is suing Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz, accusing him of stealing one of the world’s largest untapped iron ore reserves with a scheme that breached US laws against organised crime.

In the latest twist in the legal saga surrounding the ore reserves in Guinea, Rio Tinto has brought a claim in New York alleging that Steinmetz, his company BSG Resources (BSGR), and the Brazilian mining corporation Vale were guilty of “the theft of Rio Tinto’s valuable mining rights … through a scheme in violation of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organisations Act”.

The move comes three weeks after the government of Guinea announced it would strip Guernsey-registered BSGR of the concession because the company had obtained them through corruption.

The concession was taken from Rio Tinto in 2008 and subsequently handed to BSGR, with the company saying it had secured the deal through a $165m (£98.5m) investment in the exploration of the area. BSGR then sold 51% of its prize to Vale for $2.5bn.

UPDATE 3-Implats says most miners want to end platinum strike – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters India – May 2, 2014)

May 2, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, May 2 (Reuters) – Impala Platinum said on Friday that two thirds of its striking workers had indicated by text messages and phone calls that they want to accept the company’s latest wage offer and end South Africa’s longest and most costly mining strike.

The 14-week strike by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which has also hit Anglo American Platinum and Lonmin, has taken out 40 percent of global platinum production and cost the companies nearly 16 billion rand ($1.5 billion) in lost revenue.

Implats spokesman Johan Theron told Reuters that workers who were unable to send texts because they have no money for air time were making use of telephones at mine recruitment offices. “We will have a totally clear picture next week,” he said.

AMCU General Secretary Jeffrey Mphahlele declined to comment on the company’s claim, but the union said it planned to hold a press conference in Johannesburg on Monday.

The producers last week said they would take their latest offer directly to the roughly 70,000 striking miners after talks collapsed, setting the stage for a dramatic showdown.

Goldcorp sees year of ‘significant growth’. No regrets on Osisko – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – May 2, 2013)

May 2, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Goldcorp reported increased gold production and lower all-in sustaining costs for the first quarter. More significant forecast growth is to come this year, says CEO Chuck Jeannes.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes says in an interview with Reuters he doesn’t feel pressured to make another acquisition, after losing Osisko Mining to Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle, but continues to believe “quality growth is the best way to add value to our shareholders.”

During a conference call with analysts Thursday, Jeannes said, “While I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to the finish line on the Osisko deal, I am absolutely convinced that we did the right thing in not increasing our offer to a level that will leave us unable to deliver appropriate returns for our shareholders.” “We have an outstanding portfolio of existing assets and we’ll continue to be disciplined in the way we seek to enhance the portfolio going forward,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Jeannes told analysts, “We’re pleased to confirm this morning that we’re on track to meet our 2014 production guidance of between 2.95 million and 3.1 million ounces this year, which now excludes the forecast of the Marigold production [The Marigold joint venture has been sold to Silver Standard].

Barrick Gold’s chair lauds Glencore over BHP as a mining model – by Liesel Hill and Simon Casey (Mail and Guardian – May 1, 2014)

May 2, 2014

http://mg.co.za/

In an exit interview, Barrick Gold’s founder Peter Munk has said Glencore Xstrata’s boss is going to “eat them all”.

Ask Peter Munk, the founder and former chairperson of Barrick Gold Corporation, whom he most admires in the mining industry, and you get a passionate, digressive response, along with a possible clue to the direction of the world’s largest gold producer.

“What Ivan Glasenberg has done equals an Olympic record,” Munk said last week in an interview, referring to the billionaire chief executive at Glencore Xstrata Plc.

It was Glasenberg who led Glencore’s 2013 takeover of Xstrata Plc, the biggest in mining. Munk, who is 86 and retired at Barrick’s annual shareholder meeting in Toronto on Wednesday, says he’s good friends with the Glencore boss and admires his ambition to compete with the biggest miners, such as Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton and Vale SA.

“He’s taken Xstrata, he’s now very close to the BHP Billitons, he’s going to eat them all,” Munk said. Munk’s comments are being scrutinised particularly closely after failed merger talks between Barrick and Newmont Mining Corporation degenerated this week into a public dispute between both miners.