International Media Resource Articles – Page 758

Vale Tax Appeal Suspended as Justice Requests Revision – by Mario Sergio Lima & Juan Pablo Spinetto (Bloomberg News – November 26, 2013)

November 27, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s biggest iron-ore miner, had its appeal of a 30.5 billion-real ($13.3 billion) government tax claim suspended by Brazil’s Superior Court as the deadline approaches for an out-of-court settlement.

Justice Ari Pargendler, one of five presiding judges, asked to revise the case in a session today in Brasilia. The request followed Justice Napoleao Maia’s proposed approval, Justice Sergio Kukina’s rejection and Justice Benedito Goncalves abstinence. Vale shares fell the most since July.

The case, in which the Rio de Janeiro-based miner is arguing that earnings from foreign operations can’t be taxed in Brazil if they were paid abroad, probably will resume next week, Roberto Duque Estrada, a lawyer for the company, said from the tribunal. That would be after a Nov. 29 deadline for companies to accept a government proposal to scrap fines, interest and legal charges if they agree to pay in one tranche or reduce taxes and interest if they settle in installments.

“The market already priced in this dispute and just wants it to be over,” Leonardo Brito, an analyst at hedge fund Teorica Investimentos, said by telephone from Rio before today’s suspension. “This and the new set of mining rules that Brazil is establishing are pending like swords over the company’s head.”

Canadian Diamond Explorer Sees Irish Billionaire Backing – by Christopher Donville (Bloomberg News – November 25, 2013)

November 26, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (MPV), a partner with De Beers in the Gahcho Kue project in northern Canada, plans to raise C$125 million ($119 million) in a rights offering backed by Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond.

The Toronto-based company’s biggest shareholder will ensure the offering in the first quarter is fully subscribed by buying rights not taken up by other investors, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Evans said in a telephone interview. Mountain Province, which needs the money for its 49 percent share of the cost of building the proposed diamond mine, raised C$47 million in an offering a year ago.

“He backstopped that one and will backstop the next one as well,” the 58-year-old Evans said, adding that Desmond has owned Mountain Province shares for 17 years. “I don’t know that he is as forthcoming and generous with all his businesses, but he certainly is with ours.”

Mountain Province’s financing and plans for mine construction at Gahcho Kue, 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle, come amid renewed investor interest in diamond projects as a recovering global economy boosts demand for engagement rings and other jewelry in the U.S. and emerging-market countries such as China and India.

Pebble problems reveal issue facing U.S. mining investment – by Rebecca Logan (Fairbanks Daily News Miner – November 24, 2013)

November 26, 2013

http://www.newsminer.com/

Anglo American’s recent departure from the Pebble Mine project has generated contentious debate throughout the state and in our nation’s capital about the future of domestic mining. This withdrawal of capital from a promising venture is just one among many in recent years, as the United States’ uncertain regulatory structure around minerals mining deters major investment. It’s a hard pill to swallow considering that our nation’s $6.2 trillion worth of mineral resources could be developed responsibly, generate economic growth, support new high-paying jobs and strengthen domestic industries.

The proof is in the pudding — just look at the more than 9,500 Alaskan jobs the mining industry supported last year alone. These jobs are among the highest paying in the state with an estimated average annual salary of $100,000 — more than twice the state average. Mining not only creates jobs at mine sites, but also supports local businesses, generating employment at grocery and supply stores, auto dealerships and hotels.

Beyond Alaska, mining continues to bring economic opportunity to communities across the country despite trying economic conditions. Mining supported nearly 2.2 million American jobs and contributed $232 billion to the nation’s GDP in 2011 alone.

Beastie Boys vs. GoldieBlox: Viral Video Sparks Legal Battle Over Copyright Infringement [Women in Mining] – by Sara Gates (The Huffington Post – November 24, 2013)

November 25, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Millions of viewers around the world may love the GoldieBlox commercial that soared to Internet fame last week, but apparently the Beastie Boys aren’t happy with one aspect of the girl-empowerment music video.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the hip-hop band has accused the toy company of copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of their 1987 hit “Girls”. They are reportedly arguing that GoldieBlox’s adaption of the song does not qualify as fair use, and claiming that the inclusion of “Girls” in the video is a “big problem” that has a “very significant impact.”

Northern Dynasty CEO says Pebble has bright future, but no imminent permit application – by Yereth Rosen (Alaska Dispatch – November 21, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/

When the president of the sole remaining partner in the beleaguered Pebble Limited Partnership launched into a sales pitch on Thursday for the huge and controversial copper mine planned for southwestern Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, he acknowledged the “elephant in the room.”

Everyone wants to know what will happen to the project now that mining giant Anglo American has dropped out of the partnership, said Ron Thiessen, president and chief executive of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., the Vancouver-based junior company still pushing the Pebble Mine.

“It’s the day after Anglo. What’s next?” Thiessen, a keynote speaker at the Resource Development Council’s annual conference in Anchorage, said in his speech.

Northern Dynasty will keep pushing for the mine, he assured the audience. “We have the resources and the expertise and the will to advance Pebble or without a partner and that is what we intend and will do,” he said.

BHP talks up Canada potash prospects – by Peter Ker (Sydney Morning Herald – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

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

BHP Billiton says it has been encouraged by recent work that suggests its push into the Canadian potash sector will be supported by further resources of the commodity close to its proposed Jansen mine.

BHP confirmed a gradual push into the potash sector in August, when it approved $US2.6 billion worth of spending on Jansen over five years, and since then the miner has described potash as having the potential to become a ”pillar” of the company alongside iron ore, coal, petroleum and copper.

Speaking at the company’s annual meeting in Perth on Thursday, BHP Billiton boss Andrew Mackenzie said exploration work had suggested that Jansen could be just the start of a ”basin-wide play” for BHP in the Canadian state of Saskatchewan.
”On its own Jansen is probably not a big enough resource for us to be a business that would rival our other four pillars, we need several Jansens,” he said,

”The news is good, we feel very confident that we now have many more Jansens that future generations of management can consider to think about this as a basin-wide play.”

OPINION: Congo-Kinshasa: Blood Coltan – Remote-Controlled Warfare and the Demand for Strategic Minerals – by Giunta Carrie (All Africa.com – November 21, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://allafrica.com/

The atrocious war in Congo is tied to the huge appetite in the west for strategic minerals essential to the electronics and military industries. The criminal regimes in Uganda and Rwanda sponsor proxy militias whose violence facilitates the smuggling of these minerals through the two African nations.

The Congolese war, which has killed over six million people since 1996, is the deadliest conflict in the world since the Second World War. If you add the number of deaths in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Rwanda over the same period, it would still not equal the millions who have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Part of a solution to this is for western governments to hold Rwanda and Uganda accountable for funding proxy armies in the DRC. The retreat of M23 rebels from the Eastern DRC in recent days shows international pressure to stop Rwanda from supporting the rebels is working. The DRC insurgency is far from over, as other rebel groups are still to be defeated. There is a long way to go before stabilization in the region will be possible.

Opinion: Finding ways to cure the Indonesia natural resource curse – Edi Suhardi (Malaysian Insider – November 23, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/

Indonesia’s vast natural resource wealth has been the backbone of its economic growth for years. It started with the oil bonanza in 1970-1980s, followed by timber and forest extraction in the 1980-1990s, mining spree in the 2000s and palm oil windfall in the last 10 years.

Such diversity of valuable resources if managed under prudent governance would indeed be a viable driver to propel the country to prosperity. However, as in any third world country, Indonesia is also plagued with the “resource curse” or the paradox of plenty that the resource-rich countries have less economic growth compared with countries which have less natural resources.

The country has failed to capitalise on the abundance of resource wealth to spur sustained economic growth due to poor governance and mismanagement. As a result, the contribution of natural resource development to the country’s economic growth has been disproportionately minimal.

A number of studies show that Indonesia is one of the most resourceful countries in term of mining potential and cultivation land. However, its resource mismanagement and poor governance regime have failed to make the country attractive for investment and instead choked the otherwise effective engine for the economic growth.

Mittal’s Aperam ups bid for Outokumpu’s Italian steel mill – by Silvia Antonioli (Reuters U.K.- November 21, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON – (Reuters) – A consortium led by stainless steelmaker Aperam APAM.L has raised its bid for Italian steel plant Terni that its competitor Outokumpu has to sell, a deal that would reshape the European stainless steel industry.

The consortium, including Italian steelmakers Arvedi and Marcegaglia, submitted the higher bid last week – because Outokumpu sees all bids so far as too low – and it is valid until Friday, two sources with knowledge of the situation said.

Finland’s Outokumpu (OUT1V.HE) agreed to sell the Acciai Speciali Terni plant more than a year ago to gain approval for its purchase of ThyssenKrupp’s (TKAG.DE) Inoxum unit.

The plant – considered one of Europe’s most advanced stainless steel mills – is of strategic importance due to its vicinity to steel buyers in Italy, a major steel market, but its profitability has been hard hit by a slump in the steel market.

Loss-making Outokumpu faces a massive writedown on Terni, which is valued at more than 560 million euros ($750 million) on its book but is expected to sell for a fraction of that.

Who’s investing in copper-nickel mining on the Range? – by Trisha Volpe (Kare 11 News.com – November 21, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.kare11.com/default.aspx [Minneapolis-St. Paul]

NEW ORLEANS — As the autumn sun starts to peek over the horizon, a blazing mix of orange, yellow and red, Pete Gerica starts up his fishing boat as he’s done nearly every morning for decades. Gerica’s fishing roots run as deep as the water off the Louisiana coast. A good catch is his southern comfort.

“I’ve been actually on this water here for the better part of 55 years,” Gerica says about the Bayou Sauvage, which is located just east of New Orleans. “It’s kind of like a gambler. You get an adrenaline rush when you make good.”

Gerica is a 4th generation shrimper, an industry as important to the Gulf Coast as oil production in the nearby Gulf of Mexico. He brought KARE 11 trawling in the bayou, but the catch isn’t what it used to be.

“That’s nowhere near enough and nowhere near the right size,” Gerica says after he pulls up a test net and measures the few shrimp he caught.

Gerica and his family barely survived Hurricane Katrina and then the next disaster hit. In 2010, 11 people were killed when an off shore BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of barrels of oil poured into the Gulf for weeks.

Eramet chief warns of crisis in world nickel market – by Agence France-Presse (Global Post – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/

The chief executive of French mining group Eramet has blamed oversupply in the world nickel market for steep losses at a subsidiary as China ramps up its own production, with little end in sight.

Patrick Buffet said the global overcapacity was causing Societe Le Nickel (SLN), the group’s nickel subsidiary in New Caledonia, to rack up monthly losses of 2.5 billion French Pacific francs ($27 million).

“The crisis in the nickel (market) is very, very intense and nobody expected it to reach such a level,” Buffet told reporters in Noumea on Thursday after a board meeting of SLN, the largest private employer on New Caledonia’s main island of Grande Terre.

The French Pacific territory is home to a quarter of the world’s reserves of nickel, a key ingredient in the manufacture of stainless steel, rechargeable batteries and coins.

Buffet’s warning came after parent group Eramet last month posted a 5.0-percent drop in third-quarter sales to 754 million euros ($1 billion), mainly because of slumping nickel prices.

Copper nickel mining debate divides Range – by Trisha Volpe (Kare 11 News.com – November 21, 2013)

November 22, 2013November 21, 2013

http://www.kare11.com/default.aspx [Minneapolis-St. Paul]

HOYT LAKES, Minn. – A major proposed mining project on Minnesota’s Iron Range has nothing to do with iron ore, but could still hold the key to the region’s economic future or lead to its environmental destruction, depending on who you ask.

There is no doubt that the possibility of mining for copper, nickel and other precious metals in an area with a tradition of mining, as well as a tradition of impeccable cleanliness and beauty, has been contentious. The new debate is ramping up as a company that could be the first to mine for copper and nickel in Minnesota moves further along in the regulatory process.

The deposit of copper, nickel and other precious metals like platinum, palladium and gold is one of the world’s largest. It’s called the Duluth Complex and stretches approximately 150 miles from Duluth to the Canadian border.

The Duluth complex was discovered decades ago, but because of the geologic make-up of the deposit, only more recently has technology been developed to mine the ore efficiently. Geologists say the Duluth complex contains billions of tons of ore potentially worth trillions of dollars. Many companies have staked a claim in the rich mineral deposit.

BHP Billiton confident of Chinese demand – by Peter Ker (Brisbane Times – November 20, 2013)

November 21, 2013

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

Chinese demand for Australia’s natural resources may prove to be stronger than currently believed, according to BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie.

Speaking at the opening of the mining giant’s new headquarters in Melbourne, Mr Mackenzie said early indications from the Chinese government’s recent economic policy summit were positive for Australia and its mining industry.

”If you read the small print – and no doubt we will hear more about this in a couple of weeks – from the third plenum that has just happened in China, I think even more than we might think they are going to require us to supply the resources to continue to develop not just China but much of north Asia as well,” he said.

”These resources are going to be fundamental to them securing the economic prosperity they crave for themselves and their citizens.”

The speech was delivered to a high-powered audience of current and former political leaders, including former prime minister Paul Keating, former treasurer Peter Costello and current parliamentary secretary to the Treasury Steve Ciobo, who read a message from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Gold mine output set to reach record, disappoint bulls – by Jan Harvey and Clara Ferreira-Marques (Reuters U.S. – November 20, 2013)

November 20, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Output from the world’s gold mines is set to hit record highs this year, disappointing bulls who are impatiently waiting for production cuts following this year’s 24 percent plunge in prices.

Some gold miners have felt the squeeze of lower prices this year, and a number, including Canada’s Kinross and Russia’s Polymetal, suspended marginal mines and projects after a dramatic first-half price drop.

But as prices fall, others are actually increasing output to maintain revenue and profit levels. In some cases, they are targeting higher grade ore to keep marginal mines operating and generating cash, at the expense of future production.

Furthermore, several large projects put into motion during gold’s 12-year rally, which took it as high as $1,920 an ounce in 2011, are coming to fruition. “Our expectation is that we’re going to see a fresh record high in gold mining output this year,” GFMS analyst William Tankard said.

South Africa’s role in shaping the platinum market wanes – by Allan Seccombe (Business Day – November 20, 2013)

November 20, 2013

http://www.bdlive.co.za/ [South Africa]

SOUTH Africa, the world’s largest source of primary platinum, does not exert the influence it once did over the platinum market as alternative supplies become more available, and the country needs to address cost reductions for its production as a matter of urgency.

Speaking at a recent mining conference, Stephen Forrest, a director and chairman of SFA Oxford, warned of growing metal supply from recycling and countries with excess inventory.

Johnson Matthey said South African platinum supplies would rise less than 1% to 4.12-million ounces this year because of industrial action and safety stoppages. Zimbabwe, while a long way behind South Africa, was showing rapid growth, with output shooting up 15% this year to 400,000oz, a record high, it said.

South Africa provides three-quarters of the world’s platinum, but its role in shaping the market is diminishing, Mr Forrest said. “You’d think such concentrated supply would be enough to secure a significant influence on price, but look closer and it’s clear that South Africa’s mighty market grasp is slipping.”