International Media Resource Articles – Page 774

‘Price of Gold’: Mining in Mongolia [Documentary] – by Cynthia Fuchs (Pop Matters.com – September 17, 2013)

April 5, 2015September 18, 2013

http://www.popmatters.com/

I Think It’s Like a Human Life

“Everything is difficult.” As she speaks, Aagi bends over a cook fire, preparing supper for a crew of gold prospectors. “I’m the only woman and have to cook for many men,” she goes on, “This is a tough situation, I think. I’ve never cooked so much.”

Cooking isn’t the only difficulty Aagi faces. As revealed in the film Price of Gold, the current excursion employing her doesn’t have a schedule or even a specific goal so much as it has hope. Or, as the gold digger Khuyagaa puts it, the workers have dreams, dreams that come with a price. ““They say dreams cost nothing,” he says in voiceover as you look out on what seems the endless Gobi Desert in Mongolia “But today, you have to pay for your dreams. I think first you have to find the money, to make our dreams come true.” The frame cut to a close shot of Khuyagaa as he draws on his cigarette, backed by a pile of dirt and rocks, the result of his labor, the earth turned inside out.

Use it or lose it, miners warned by Coalition – by David Crowe (The Australian – September 18, 2013)

September 18, 2013

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

RESOURCE giants will be told to step up their spending on mammoth new projects or risk losing their rights to tap the deposits, under an Abbott government plan to accelerate investment and kill off fears of an end to the boom.

The incoming government aims to use its power over the vast gas deposits to bring forward up to $180 billion in new investment, sending a blunt message to companies to develop rather than hoard the nation’s resources.

As Tony Abbott and his ministers prepare to be sworn into office today, the resource plan marks another stage in an economic agenda that promises to lift growth, but will depend on stronger business investment to deliver results.

The policy is also set to reignite debate on the cost burdens – including high salaries – that global companies blame for stalling Australian projects and diverting their investments into cheaper projects in Africa and Asia.

Incoming industry minister Ian Macfarlane told The Australian that companies should extract “every molecule” of gas to boost exports and supply the domestic market.

What’s good for BHP is good for us all – by Terry McCrann (The Australian – August 24, 2013)

September 18, 2013

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

THE world’s biggest resources company is Australia’s BHP Billiton. BHP is also, in a sense, Australia’s General Motors.

That’s the 21st-century Down Under equivalent of GM when it was the world’s biggest company; so that today, Down Under, what’s good for BHP is good for Australia. This means at its simplest that if BHP is doing well, so also will be the country more broadly.

BHP’s profit showed that the company was doing pretty well, if not quite so wonderfully as two years ago. That pretty much captured the broader economic state of play: a glass at least half-full. At a deeper level, the aphorism takes on a darker, more challenging message. That what BHP needs to do well is also precisely mirrored in what the nation overall needs to do well.

The darker emphasis comes in the clear message from BHP that it is not getting what it needs to do well; the logical inference is that the nation is therefore also not getting what it needs to do well.

There is one huge difference between BHP and the nation. If the company is not getting what it needs here, it can go somewhere else. It is doing exactly that. The one big greenfields project it has on its radar is potash. In Canada. BHP will also continue to spend $3 billion to $4bn a year on shale oil and gas. In the US.

Guest post: more super, less cycle for commodities prices – by Paul Bloxham (Financial Times – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

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

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/

Paul Bloxham is HSBC’s chief economist for Australia and New Zealand

Commodity prices have been broadly steady over the past year. This is despite China’s slowdown, fears of Federal Reserve tapering and nervousness about the emerging economies. Indeed, commodity prices are still over 120 per cent above their 1990s levels, in inflation-adjusted terms. This may have surprised some observers, particularly those expecting the end of the so-called commodities super-cycle and forecasting large commodity price declines. So far, it has not happened.

For some time now, our view has been that commodity prices will stay at much higher levels than in the late 20th century. While we expect strong mining investment to boost supply in coming years and keep commodity prices below their 2008 peak levels,we still think prices will stay structurally high. In short, the so-called super-cycle may be more super and less cycle.

Two elements drive our commodity prices outlook, the first empirical, the second theoretical. Empirically, history shows us that commodity prices are not in fact exceptionally high right now. Rather, they were exceptionally low in the 1980s and 1990s. Data for the past 150 years reveal that real commodity prices are actually currently around their long run average levels.

COLUMN-Australia’s coal industry enters the final stage of grief – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – August 14, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 14 (Reuters) – Australian coal miners have been in mourning over the rapid loss of profitability and expansion opportunities, but the industry is entering the final stage of the grieving process.

The five stages of grief, as described by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross on how people face events like terminal illness, are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

While not all of the attendees at the annual Coaltrans Australia conference this week have got past the depression stage, most were looking at how the industry deals with the reality of its myriad of issues.

These include an apparent structural shift to lower prices for the foreseeable future, rising public opposition to mining on the back of a well-funded and organised environmental lobby, lack of capital available for new projects, still high labour costs and an increasing burden of government red and green tape.

The coal miners have limited influence over most of these issues, but they appear to be making concerted efforts to change what they can in a bid to strengthen their position and make sure Australia remains the world’s biggest exporter of coking coal and number two in thermal coal.

Will Pebble Project’s growing risks cloud investor rewards? – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

More bad news for Northern Dynasty’s massive, but struggling Pebble copper-gold-silver-moly project as the deep-pocketed Anglo American announces it is leaving the Pebble Partnership.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The withdrawal of Anglo American from one of the most controversial mining projects in the United States, the Pebble Project in Alaska, should not come as a major surprise to those who have following the project since 2001, the year it was acquired by Northern Dynasty Minerals. Anglo American would become a 50/50 partner in the massive project in 2007.

On Monday, however, Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani—who is definitely no dummy when it comes to determining project feasibility—said: “Despite our belief that Pebble is a deposit of rare magnitude and quality, we have taken the decision to withdraw following a thorough assessment of Anglo American’s extensive pipeline of long-dated project options.”

“We wish the project well through its forthcoming permitting process and express our thanks to all those who have supported Pebble and who recognize the opportunities and benefits that such an investment may bring to Alaska,” he added. Anglo will take a $300 million writedown on its Pebble investment.

KWG disappointed in rail delays, reaffirms support for union’s ‘New Deal’ – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – September 16, 2013)

September 16, 2013

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Chromite mining hopeful KWG Resources on Monday expressed its disappointment in the near three-year delay of a planned railway into the Ring of Fire and reaffirmed its belief that a 300 km rail track would open up the region for mining.

After staking the right-of-way claims and conducting preliminary railroad engineering design and assessment, the development of the Ring of Fire railroad concept was delayed as a result of the dispute with US iron-ore major and joint-venture (JV) partner Cliffs Natural Resources, before the provincial Mining and Lands Commissioner last week dismissed Cliffs’ request to the Natural Resources Ministry for a road-access easement over KWG’s claims.

“We believe the railway is in the public interest and can be used to benefit the various mines in the Ring of Fire, as well as local communities, and is a much better alternative to a private road; a higher-cost transportation option, which the government is currently considering funding,” KWG president Frank Smeenk said in a statement.

While KWG proposed a rail route connecting at Exton to transport chromite to export markets, Cliffs proposes an all-weather road south towards Capreol, in the Sudbury area, where it has proposed to build a chromite beneficiation facility.

UPDATE 1-Ousted Rio boss Albanese makes comeback at Vedanta – by Clara Ferreira-Marques (Reuters India – September 16, 2013)

September 16, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Former Rio Tinto boss Tom Albanese has taken on a senior advisory role at Indian mining group Vedanta just eight months after being ousted as chief executive of the world’s No. 3 mining group.

Albanese was one of several top mining chief executives who took the blame for their companies’ relentless pursuit of growth during the boom years that ended in 2011, and for acquisitions that soured and turned into billions of dollars of writedowns.

He is the only one to have returned to a full-time role at a major mining group, albeit a smaller one. Out of the world’s top six miners, only one still has the same chief executive as it did at the beginning of 2011.

Albanese, who held the top job at Rio for almost six years, is now chairman of Vedanta Resources Holdings, a subsidiary wholly owned by the oil and gas and mining group. He will act as adviser to both the operations and the main group board, providing advice on everything from operational troubles and expansion to reputational concerns and relations with investors.

It was unclear what weight Albanese would have in a company almost 65-percent controlled by its founder and chairman, Indian scrap dealer turned metals tycoon Anil Agarwal.

N.Y. trial to examine will of Montana Copper King heiress – by Associated Press (The Missoulian – September 15, 2013)

September 16, 2013

http://missoulian.com/

NEW YORK — She had wealth few could boast and used it to finance a life few would choose — an heiress to the fortune of the founder of Las Vegas spending 20 years voluntarily in New York hospital rooms.

Now Huguette Clark’s reclusive existence is about to be scrutinized in a Manhattan courtroom, where jury selection is due to start Tuesday in a civil trial over her will. With an estimated $300 million at stake, the case broaches questions about aging, caregiving and the line between encouraging gratitude and extracting gifts.

Clark’s distant relatives say hospital executives, a nurse, a lawyer, an accountant and others in her small circle induced a dependent, fragile woman to give them millions of dollars during her lifetime and in her will. The beneficiaries say she was a sharp-minded, strong-willed, munificent person whose decisions were as deliberate as they were unusual.

Signed when the childless Clark was 98, the disputed April 2005 will largely left her estate to arts charities, her nurse and a goddaughter. It provided nothing for her relatives, who were the main beneficiaries of a will she’d signed just six weeks earlier.

“Fundamentally, however, this tragic story presents much more than just a question of whether a particular will is valid or not,” the relatives’ lawyer, John R. Morken, said in a court filing.

28 miners die in Afghanistan coal mine blast – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – September 16, 2013)

September 16, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

Neighbors of the Abkhorak coal mine were among the rescuers who managed to bring 100 miners to safety after 28 miners perished in a coal mine blast in northern Afghanistan.

RENO (MINEWEB) – When 57 miners were trapped after gas explosion at the Abkhorak mine in the Ruyi Du Ab District of Samangan Province in northern Afghanistan, nearby residents dug through the rubble and debris with their bare hands.

However, 28 miners were killed, while 100 of their coworkers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Samangan provincial governor’s spokesman Mohammad Seddiq Azizi told the BBC that four members of the rescue teams were badly injured, while 14 men were overcome with fumes, but were brought out safely. Samangan’s Deputy Security Chief Mosadiqullah Muzafari said four rescue workers were badly injured.

Workplace safety standards are considered poor in Afghanistan and mine accidents are considered common. Javed Noorani of Integrity Watch Afghanistan told Al Jazeera that 90% of mining in the country is illegal. In December, 11 miners were killed in a mine collapse in the northern province of Baghlan.

U.S. Coal Companies Scale Back Export Goals – by Clifford Krauss (New York Times – September 14, 2013)

September 16, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/

HOUSTON — The ailing American coal industry, which has pinned its hopes on exports to counter a declining market at home, is scaling back its ambitions as demand from abroad starts to ebb as well.

Just south of here, New Elk Coal terminated its lease late last month at the Port of Corpus Christi, where it had hoped to export coal to Brazil, Europe and Asia. Two days later, when the federal government tried to auction off a two-square-mile tract of land in Wyoming’s Powder River basin, a region once poised to grow with exports to Asia, not a single coal company made a bid.

They were the latest signs that a global coal glut and price slump, along with persistent environmental opposition, are reducing the likelihood that additional exports could shield the industry from slipping domestic demand caused by cheap natural gas and mounting regulations.

United States coal exports this year are expected to decline by roughly 5 percent from last year’s record exports of 125 million tons, and many experts predict the decline will quicken next year. At the beginning of 2012, the coal industry had plans to expand port capacity by an additional 185 million tons. But those hopes have faded this year.

As a Boom Slows, Peru Grows Uneasy – by William Neuman (New York Times – August 19, 2013)

September 16, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/

LIMA, Peru — From his office window, Henrik Kristensen, the chief executive of the company that runs Peru’s main port, can still look out at rows of newly arrived, shiny Kia automobiles from South Korea and shipping containers stacked four high, full of imported items like television sets and brand-name clothing bound for the growing number of malls that serve this country’s burgeoning middle class.

“This is Peru,” he said. “When you go to the shopping malls they’re full of people, they’re full. That’s a good indicator that people are really spending money.”

Peru’s economy grew an average of 6.4 percent a year from 2002-12 after adjusting for inflation, according to government figures, a remarkable period of sustained expansion that has made it one of the world’s star economies.

But suddenly growth has slowed here, and just beyond the view from Mr. Kristensen’s window, under Lima’s perpetually gray winter sky, the reason becomes clear.

At Dock 5B, ships are loaded with Peru’s mining riches, including copper ore, lead and zinc — the raw materials that fueled the Peruvian boom with their rising prices in recent years.

Zambia’s economy set to grow by 8.1% in the next few years – by Zandile Mavuso (MiningWeekly.com – September 13, 2013)

September 13, 2013

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

The completion of major copper mining projects in Zambia next year is expected to contribute to economic growth of 8.1% from 2014 to 2016, advisory firm KPMG states.

“Copper production in the country peaked in the 1970s at 700 000 t and gradually declined to 255 000 t by 1998, as a result of depressed prices and under- investment in the then State-owned industry. However, as copper production soars on the back of the completion of major projects and also because of the development of the new Trident mine, operated by Canada-based mining company First Quantum Minerals (FQM), Zambia is set to be at the peak of copper production once again,” says KPMG senior partner in Zambia Jason Kazilimani, Jr.

FQM reports that one of its major projects, the Kansanshi mine, has under- gone several significant expansions – the most recent being a smelter that is currently being built. It is estimated that the smelter will produce 300 000 t/y of treated copper concentrate. Before this new development, the mine’s initial production capacity was 110 000 t/y of copper.

By 2015, the yearly production should reach about 400 000 t of copper, which is a major achievement that will ensure the mine reaches it one-million tons of total copper production by 2017.

UPDATE 1-Russia’s Norilsk to slim down, focus on top assets – by Polina Devitt (Reuters India – September 12, 2013)

September 13, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

MOSCOW, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Russia’s Norilsk Nickel , the world’s biggest nickel producer, said it plans to slim down and focus on its top assets, joining other big mining companies in shedding businesses in the face of weak metals prices.

The company, partially owned by Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin and aluminium giant Rusal, is having to cope with a more than 20 percent plunge in nickel prices this year, although it has remained profitable. Weak metals demand however is making it difficult to sell businesses.

Under its new strategy announced on Thursday Norilsk stuck to its plan to sell off assets in Africa and Australia, despite the failure to close any deals in recent months.

Deputy chief executive Pavel Fedorov said the company would focus on so-called “Tier 1” assets – high quality projects with large scale – with current or potential annual revenue of more than $1 billion, EBITDA margins of more than 40 percent and 20 years of viable reserves.

Mining M&A standoff tests bankers’ patience and skills – by Sonali Paul and Clara Ferreira-Marques (Reuters India – September 12, 2013)

September 13, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE/LONDON – (Reuters) – Bankers trying to move a mountain of mining assets for sale are being tested to the limit by unreliable buyers, stubborn sellers and a widening gap between them that has already caused billions of dollars’ worth of deals to be shelved.

Global mining firms are under pressure from investors to slim down after boom-year expansion ended badly for many of them. However, with demand from China’s steel mills holding up the iron ore price, big miners are unwilling to sell assets cheap – unwanted or no – while potential buyers want a bargain.

The result has been a sharp dip in the value of deals announced in the metals and mining sector so far this year – just over $64 billion, roughly half the value of announced deals at the same time last year, according to Thomson Reuters data. The number of deals is down by more than a quarter.

“There is some pressure to put assets into the market, but those that have been coming down the pipe so far have been more difficult for buyers to get comfortable with,” Julian Vickers, co-head of the global natural resources group at Barclays said.