International Media Resource Articles – Page 755

Mining while female: The perils of Marikana – by Ilham Rawoot (Al Jazeera.com – January 20, 2014)

January 21, 2014

http://www.aljazeera.com/

Women miners in South Africa say they are often subjected to sexual harassment – and worse – while on the job.

Johannesburg, South Africa – It has been almost two years since 27-year-old Pinky Mosiane was raped and murdered hundreds of metres underground in an Anglo Platinum mineshaft in Marikana, South Africa.

A suspect in the Mosiane case was finally arrested three months ago. This was not the first time a woman mineworker had been raped underground in South Africa. But it was the first time that substantial attention was given to these women and the sexual harassment they are subjected to on a daily basis.

In August 2012, a mining town named Marikana, along the “Platinum Belt” in South Africa’s North West province, made headlines around the globe. Thirty-four mineworkers employed by platinum miner Lonmin were killed when police opened fire during a strike over wages.

But the women of Lonmin have often remained unnoticed. “Anne”, a miner employed by Lonmin in Marikana who asked that her real name not be used, has been working underground for three years fixing ventilation pipes. With her gold-painted nails and not a stray hair amid her tight braids, it is hard to imagine her labouring in overalls, covered in black dust.

Why Colombia halted a US company’s coal exports – by John Otis (Global Post – January 20, 2014)

January 20, 2014

http://www.globalpost.com/

Drummond Co. helped make Colombia the world’s No. 4 coal exporter. But after alleged dirty deeds, now Bogota’s punishing the Alabama firm.

BOGOTA, Colombia — By shipping 80,000 tons of coal per day, the Alabama-based Drummond Co. has helped turned Colombia into the world’s fourth largest coal exporter — but it’s always been a dirty business.

From Drummond’s Caribbean port near the resort city of Santa Marta, cranes loaded Drummond coal onto open-air barges for delivery to ships. This process kicked up coal dust that fouled the air, water and beaches, angering local fishermen, beachgoers, hotel owners and environmental activists.

But it all came to a halt Jan. 13 after the Colombian government ordered Drummond to stop loading coal until it meets new environmental standards. Under a Colombian law that took effect Jan. 1, coal must now be loaded directly onto ships via enclosed conveyor belts, a much cleaner system.

Duluth: Hearing on PolyMet mine project draws hundreds, for and against – by John Myers (Forum News Service – January 18, 2014)

January 20, 2014

http://www.twincities.com/

The main ballroom at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center had 1,500 chairs set up Thursday night for the public hearing on the PolyMet copper mine project, and nearly all of them were taken.

Another 100 or so people stood along the back wall for more than two hours of public testimony on the so-called Supplemental Joint Environmental Impact Statement, the environmental review document.

The hearing, the first of three, was hosted by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Forest Service — the regulatory agencies that ultimately will decide if the environmental review is officially “adequate” or not.

The audience appeared roughly split evenly, with half saying the science is sound and the project is ready to go ahead but half saying that too many questions loom unanswered.

PolyMet wants to build Minnesota’s first copper mining operation just north of Hoyt Lakes, an open pit mine and processing center that also would produce nickel, gold, platinum, palladium and other valuable minerals.

Deep-sea mining could make ‘largest footprint of any single human activity on the planet’ – by Kevin Douglas Grant (Global Post – December 19, 2013)

January 20, 2014

http://www.globalpost.com/

Honolulu, Hawaii is emerging as a hub for a race to extract billions of dollars worth of minerals from the ocean floor. Modern technologies like cell phones, laptops, wind turbines and hybrid vehicles all require rare minerals, often difficult and expensive to extract from the earth.

As demand for these kinds of products surges globally and more accessible deposits of those minerals are depleted, Civil Beat reported Wednesday, countries around the world are flocking to Hawaii to explore a vast undersea area believed to contain massive mineral deposits worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The area is called the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, and organizations from countries including Japan, Great Britain, Russia, South Korea, China, France, Germany and the US are now using Honolulu as a departure point for exploration. Though the zone is just one of several in the sights of deep-sea mineral industry pioneers, researchers involved believe it holds great promise.

Their expeditions are mapping parts of the zone about 500 miles southeast of Hawaii, which covers a total estimated area of 6 million total square miles.

Jakarta mired deep in mining mess – by John McBeth (The Straits Times/Jakarta Post – January 20, 2014)

January 20, 2014

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

Giving with one hand and taking with the other, the Indonesian government has effectively enforced a blanket ban on mineral ore exports in a bizarre, nationalist-driven decision-making process that will cost the country billions and put tens of thousands out of work.

While value-added is an understandable goal for a country blessed with so many natural resources, the implementation of the signature policy has been bedevilled by weak leadership, poor conceptualising, political grandstanding and bureaucratic ineptitude.

Miners are now threatening to head to international arbitration, with copper giants Freeport Indonesia and Newmont Nusa Tenggara facing the prospect of shutting down 65 per cent of their production – a huge chunk of the US$10 billion Indonesia makes each year from mineral exports.

The move to process all mineral ore onshore within five years was foreshadowed in the 2009 Mining Law, but only given clarity – and teeth – in a ministerial regulation issued belatedly in July 2012, which laid out the required purity levels for each individual mineral.

RPT-INTERVIEW-Chile’s environment lawyers say they’re just warming up – by Alexandra Ulmer and Fabian Cambero (Reuters India – January 20, 2014)

January 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Chile’s leading environmental lawyers, who have helped stall around $30 billion in mining and energy projects, say the battle is only just beginning – and copper investments are poised to come under increasing fire this year.

In a significant shift for business-friendly Chile, empowered social groups are successfully suing massive projects over threats to glaciers, health, indigenous rights and biodiversity.

Power projects have so far fared the worse, but Santiago-based lawyers Alvaro Toro and Lorenzo Soto say many communities are now turning up the heat on mining in the world’s top copper producer.

“This year is going to be very conflictive,” Alvaro Toro, a lawyer with environmental NGO OLCA, told Reuters in his tiny office, just a block from the headquarters of world No.1 copper miner, Codelco.

“Projects are increasingly being set up in fragile places. People’s opposition is completely rational,” he said on Friday.

UPDATE 2-S.Africa minister warns on economy as mines face strike threat – by David Dolan (Reuters India – January 20, 2014)

January 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 20 (Reuters) – South Africa’s ailing economy cannot afford more mine labour unrest, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Monday, as the platinum industry’s main trade union served notice on the world’s top three producers that it planned to strike this week.

A series of sometimes violent strikes in the factory and mining sectors constrained growth to a sluggish 2 percent in 2013, hampering efforts by President Jacob Zuma’s government to create badly needed jobs as it braces for elections this year.

The African National Congress has swept elections since overturning white minority rule in 1994, but the party Zuma now heads faces growing criticism that it has failed to lift millions of blacks out of poverty during 20 years in power.

Platinum producers Anglo American Platinum, Lonmin and Impala Platinum said they had received notice from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to strike in 48 hours, setting the stage for another crippling wave of unrest.

Call for greater State participation in mining could lead to conflicts of interest – by Leandi Kolver (MiningWeekly.com – January 17, 2014)

January 17, 2014

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Should the State play a larger role in South Africa’s mining sector, as envisaged by the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) 2014 election manifesto and the ‘State Intervention in the Minerals Sector’ (Sims) report, the establishment of an independent regulator would be essential to prevent conflicts of interest, Webber Wentzel head of Africa mining and energy projects Peter Leon said.

In his yearly January 8 statement, ANC and State President Jacob Zuma indicated that the ANC was moving ahead with measures to strengthen the State mining company and to ensure increased beneficiation for industrialisation. This statement was echoed in the ANC’s election manifesto, which stated that “the role of the State-owned mining company will be strengthened”.

Leon told Mining Weekly Online that, while the manifesto did not deal with the issue of the State-owned mining company in detail, the Sims document explained that the State would play a key role by ensuring the compulsory beneficiation of “strategic” minerals at “competitive” and “affordable” prices, and that a more direct role would be played by the State mining company through the “development of strategic minerals” and “supporting, where appropriate, vertically integrated value chains that strengthen strategic industries”.

Miners Chopping $10 Billion Search Bodes Next Price Boom – by Elisabeth Behrmann and Rebecca Keenan (Bloomberg News – January 17, 2014)

January 17, 2014

http://www.businessweek.com/

Mining companies are extending massive cuts in exploration budgets for a second year, setting up the next price boom as China continues its relentless pursuit of metals and energy.

Exploration spending plunged by 30 percent or $10 billion last year, squeezing budgets to search for minerals and sustain supplies, according to MinEx Consulting Pty, whose clients include BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest miner. Payments may drop another 10 percent this year for geologists, drilling exploratory holes and analyzing mineral specks to unearth the next copper, iron ore or gold El Dorado, MinEx said.

Investors in mining companies and metals may welcome the cuts because they’ll help propel a rebound in prices. Platinum, aluminum, silver, nickel, zinc, lead and uranium all are forecast to rise by 2017, according to the median of analyst estimates compiled Jan. 16 by Bloomberg. The losers will be buyers of cans, cars and all the goods made from metals.

Mining companies are extending massive cuts in exploration budgets for a second year, setting up the next price boom as China continues its relentless pursuit of metals and energy.

COLUMN-China moves to cut coal use look bearish for imports, may not be – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – January 17, 2014)

January 17, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

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

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Coal miners in Australia and Indonesia could be forgiven for feeling depressed, given the plethora of news coming out from top buyer China on how it intends to cut demand for the dirty fuel.

In the past few days China’s National Energy Administration has set a target of lowering coal’s share of energy use to below 65 percent in 2014 from last year’s 65.7 percent, three years ahead of initial plans. Beijing’s mayor has urged an “all-out effort” to tackle air pollution, pledging to cut coal use by 2.5 million tonnes a year in his polluted city.

In neighbouring Hebei province, the country’s biggest steel-making region, authorities have said they will block new projects, punish officials in areas of high pollution, and cut steel output and coal use by 15 million tonnes each this year.

This all sounds bearish for coal, and the gloom of miners that export to China could be deepened by signs that domestic supply in the biggest producer and user of the fuel is rising.

Is Goldcorp’s Osisko bid just the start of a gold M&A rush? – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – January 17, 2014)

January 17, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

While not the first recent takeover bid in the gold space, Goldcorp’s offer for Osisko suggests that the bigger players may now feel the decline in the gold price is near its end and could prompt others to follow.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – There has been considerable speculation as the gold price has fallen and previously profitable gold miners struggled to keep their heads above water that the predators with strong balance sheets are poised to strike and attempt to swallow up smaller – or just less well cashed up – miners in the gold space.

Goldcorp’s hostile bid for Osisko – the one time darling of the Canadian exploration and development sector, but now a mid-tier gold miner in its own right – could thus just be the start of a flood of M&A moves as the gold price looks to be nearing its bottom and gold stock valuations are seen as being close to their likely lows.

While there have already been other M&A moves in the space over the past year although mostly at a much lower level – Hecla’s ‘white knight’ acquisition of Aurizon, Centamin’s Ampella transaction and Asanko’s PMI takeover all immediately spring to mind. But none of these have had the impact of the Goldcorp bid given the sizes of the two companies involved.

Rio Tinto Slashes Costs as Iron-Ore, Coal Output Hit Records – by David Stringer and Jesse Riseborough (Bloomberg News – January 16, 2014)

January 16, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Rio Tinto Group (RIO), the world’s second-largest mining company, beat its 2013 cost-cutting targets as fourth-quarter iron ore production advanced to a record on increased Chinese demand.

Output climbed 7 percent to 55.5 million metric tons last quarter from 52 million tons a year earlier, London-based Rio said today in a statement, in-line with the 55.7 million-ton median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Rio cut cash costs by more than $2 billion and halved exploration spending across its suite of commodities to $948 million last year, beating the targets set by Chief Executive Officer Sam Walsh after he replaced Tom Albanese in February following failed aluminum and coal deals. The cuts came even as production of iron ore, thermal coal and bauxite rose to records, Walsh said.

“What Rio is trying to articulate is that it’s delivering on its promises, it has a very solid business and it’s leveraged to the iron ore price,” said Peter Esho, chief market analyst at Invast Financial Services Pty. in Sydney.

Struggling small miners vulnerable to mid-sized rivals – by Stephen Eisenhammer (Reuters India – January 16, 2014)

January 16, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – A year of tumbling share prices and a shrinking pool of funding have left smaller mining companies vulnerable to the approaches of medium-sized rivals with cash in the bank and an eye for a bargain.

Investors and executives told Reuters they saw opportunities for mid-caps and turnaround specialists in regions such as Latin America and Africa as some small companies, typically those involved in the capital-intensive early stages of a project, struggle to secure funding from banks or the market.

The gold sector is likely to see the most M&A activity as the metal price languishes 25 percent lower than a year ago, and a number of potential deals are already in the works. Equities were hit even harder than bullion; the Thomson Reuters Global Gold Index of 43 gold miners more than halved in 2013.

Industry insiders said the trend would also spread across base metals and iron ore. Nearly all junior miners were hit last year, with the Thomson Reuters index of 144 resources companies listed on London’s alternative market (AIM) down 33 percent in 2013.

UPDATE 1-India PM: POSCO to start work on steel plant in coming weeks – by Krishna N Das (Reuters India – January 16, 2014)

January 16, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI, Jan 16 (Reuters) – South Korea’s POSCO will be able to start work on its planned $12-billion Indian steel plant over the coming weeks, India’s prime minister said on Thursday, ending an eight year delay for environmental and legal clearances.

Manmohan Singh said the firm’s request for an iron ore mining licence – the final regulatory hurdle for the project which would be the biggest foreign direct investment in India – was at an “advanced stage of processing”.

The 12 million-tonnes-per-year plant in the eastern state of Odisha, formerly Orissa, will help world No.4 steel producer India to expand output.

India produced 77.6 million tonnes of crude steel in the past fiscal year, a fraction of top producer China’s nearly 800 million last year. India’s total iron ore reserve was estimated at 28 billion tonnes as of 2010 by the Indian Bureau of Mines.

India’s new Environment and Forest Minister Veerappa Moily last week gave approval to the plant but asked POSCO to spend 5 percent of the total investment on social commitments, which would raise the project’s cost to $12.6 billion.

COLUMN-Indonesia bauxite ban slow-burn issue for aluminium – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – January 14, 2014)

January 15, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

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

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Jan 15 (Reuters) – The immediate impact of Indonesia’s ban on exporting unprocessed mineral ores has been felt in nickel markets, but the slow burn, and potentially larger, may be in aluminium.

London Metal Exchange three-month nickel jumped 7.4 percent between the close on Jan. 9 and Jan. 14, when it ended at $14,340 a tonne. In contrast, London aluminium futures barely nudged up 0.6 percent over the same three-day trading period, and the benchmark contract in Shanghai weakened by 0.6 percent.

It may well be that the market is accurately reflecting more immediate concern over the supply of nickel, since Indonesia supplies about 13 percent of the world’s mined nickel.

But the likelihood is that any loss of Indonesian cargoes will act merely to lower the available surplus of nickel, suggesting that the current rally may not be sustained. However, the story with aluminium may be slightly different, at least over the medium to long term.