[Wisconsin] Gov. Scott Walker signs iron ore mining bill – by Noah Goetzel (The Badger Herald – March 12, 2013)

http://badgerherald.com/

Gov. Scott Walker signed a controversial iron ore mining bill which streamlines the permit process into law Monday, more than a year after the legislation was first introduced.

The bill, supported solely by Republican legislators, will allow Gogebic Taconite LLC to create the largest open-pit iron ore mining operation in the world, according to a statement from the Wisconsin John Muir Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Walker said in a statement he was grateful to legislators statewide for moving forward a bill that will be deadline-oriented and environmentally friendly. He signed the legislation into law in Rhinelander and later in Milwaukee.

“Wisconsin’s seal and the state flag both depict mining in our great state,” Walker said. “In light of our mining tradition, I’m thrilled to sign legislation into law protecting environmental safeguards, while providing certainty to the mine permitting process.”

The governor added he is optimistic his endorsement of the bill will create thousands of private sector jobs in the future.

However, Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, criticized Walker in a statement for signing the bill at Oldenburg Group Company and P&H Mining Engineering manufacturing plants because both locations are more than 100 miles away from the proposed mining site.

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Indian government denies iron-ore scarcity – by Ajoy K Das (MiningWeekly.com – March 11, 2013)

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

KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – The Indian government has denied any scarcity in domestic availability of iron-ore and refuted reports that the country would be a net importer by 2020.

“There will be no shortage of iron-ore, even in 2020, when Indian steel production is projected to rise to 100-million tons a year,” Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said.

“Indian steel production is about 67-million to 70-million tons a year. It requires 1.6-million tons of ore for producing one-million tons of steel. Indian iron-ore production was 210-million tons in 2010 and came down to 167-million tons following a ban on mining in Karnataka. Even then there is no dearth of iron-ore,” he said.

Iron-ore production in the country has been steadily falling in the wake of a ban imposed in the southern Indian province of Karnataka a year-and-a-half ago, and a similar ban across the western Indian coastal province of Goa in October 2012. Mining was currently permitted in the eastern province of Orissa but with severe restrictions on transportation.

Indian iron-ore exports during the ten-month period between April 2012 and January 2013 were down 68% to 16.35-million tons, compared to the corresponding previous period.

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Cliffs Natural Resources: A bargain stock that’s only for the brave – David Milstead (Globe and Mail – March 9, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

When the shareholders of Montreal-based Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd. sold their company to Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. in the spring of 2011, they weren’t offered the high-flying shares of the U.S. acquirer as payment. They had to settle for cash, instead.

That proved to be fortuitous, as Cliffs’ shares have since, well, fallen off a cliff. At recent trades around $25 (U.S.), they are down by more than 70 per cent.

Cliffs’ plunge may suggest that it’s a buying opportunity – but if so, it’s an opportunity only for the brave. While the shares could conceivably double from current levels, there’s also a good chance they could approach zero.

Investors seeking upside in the sector have safer options in the three international giants BHP Billiton Ltd., Vale SA and Rio Tinto Group. But they should be aware that the clouds hanging over the iron-ore sector show no signs of clearing any time soon.

Cliffs’ fall from favour provides a dramatic demonstration of how quickly circumstances have deteriorated for miners. Only a couple of years ago, raw-materials producers were riding high, largely on the strength of China’s building boom. To investors and mining CEOs, it seemed clear the Asian country’s white-hot growth would require an endless supply of materials, from iron ore to copper to previously little-known rare earths.

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Dented by aluminum, Rio Tinto aims to unload Iron Ore Co. – by Andy Hoffman, Boyd Erman and Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – March 2, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VANCOUVER AND TORONTO – More than five years after pulling off the largest takeover in Canadian corporate history, Rio Tinto PLC is still dealing with the pain.

The multinational miner never truly recovered from the massive debt load it took on to buy Alcan in 2007, paying $38.1-billion (U.S.) for the Montreal aluminum producer at the peak of the commodities market.

Burned by a bad bet on the prospects of the metal used to make pop cans, Rio has had to sell billions worth of mining assets to repair its balance sheet. In January, Tom Albanese, the chief executive officer responsible for the Alcan deal and about $14-billion in acquisition-related writedowns during his tenure, resigned and was replaced by the former head of Rio’s iron ore operations, Sam Walsh.

With aluminum prices still failing to recover as much as many of the other commodities Rio produces and with production costs for most operations continuing to increase, Rio and its new CEO are now putting more assets on the block, including the company’s Canadian iron ore operations in Labrador.

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Wisconsin Clears Way for Mines – by Mark Peters and John W. Miller (Wall Street Journal – February 27, 2013)

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

Wisconsin lawmakers voted to ease restrictions on iron-ore production Wednesday, as the state looks to join a resurgent mining industry in the upper Midwest.

Mining legislation championed by Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, won approval in the state Senate, and passage is all but assured in the House. It passed the Senate by one vote, splitting mostly along party lines.

It will streamline the permitting process and ease protections on wetlands, ending a lengthy fight over reopening Wisconsin to mining after decades of little activity.

But the proposal comes as analysts warn of a glut in iron-ore supplies, and some mining companies in the region are looking to other metals, such as copper and nickel.

Wisconsin hasn’t had iron-ore mining since the early 1980s and has had tight restrictions on new mines since the late 1990s. Mr. Walker and GOP legislators failed to pass a similar bill last year in the Senate in a close vote, but Republicans have a larger majority this time, which helped clear the way for passage.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canada’s Northern Iron Corp. Releases Part 2 of “The New Iron Age” Video Series

 

www.northernironcorp.com

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – February 27, 2013. Northern Iron Corp. (“Northern” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: NFE) (OTCQX- NHRIF) (FRANKFURT: N8I), today announced the re-doubling of efforts to educate the investment community about Canadian hot briquetted iron (HBI), and the role it can play in addressing the forecast global scrap steel shortage. To that end, the Company has released its animated video ‘Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) – balancing global metallics supply and demand’, part two of a three-part educational series entitled ‘The New Iron Age’. Northern Iron will be airing ‘The New Iron Age’ in its entirety at its booth #2501 at the upcoming PDAC in Toronto at the Metro Convention Centre, South Building, from Sunday March 3rd to Wednesday March 6th, 2013.

“Northern Iron has a compelling story in working toward putting the past producing Griffith Mine back into production. The fact that the Griffith mine produced sponge iron, a form of direct reduced iron referred to as DRI, and pellets from 1968 to 1986 left us with infrastructure to access markets in the United States via Thunder Bay and the ability to ship to Asia via Prince Rupert. Essentially, we have a past producing mine with a history of producing a value-added ore based metallic product and I might add once again, the ability to move product and access markets, unlike the majority of potential iron ore producers who are located in remote locations and have no access to rail lines,” says Company CEO Basil Botha. “Canadians are familiar with iron ore but less so with ore based metallics.”

“The Griffith Mine was a producer of both DRI and pellets for 18 years and we believe the metallurgy on the mine will work for the production of HBI (hot briquetted iron) a value-added engineered metallic and a briquetted form of direct reduced iron (DRI). Metallurgical testing is part of our redevelopment plan for the Griffith mine and is subject to validation. Part two of this animated series explains HBI and its role in steel making.”

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Cyclone intensifies, Australia’s iron ore mines brace – by Rebekah Kebede and James Regan (Reuters.com – February 26, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – A powerful cyclone headed for Australia’s Port Hedland, that has brought half the world’s seaborne-traded iron ore to a halt, has intensified and is set to make landfall late on Wednesday, threatening to flood inland mine operations and rail links.

Weather warnings extend as far as 500 kms (310 miles) inland to the massive mining camps and towns of Tom Price, Mt Newman and Nullagine, operated by Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group.

Hardest-hit areas could receive up to 600 millimeters, or 2 feet, of rain in 24 hours, said the Bureau of Meteorology. Such extensive flooding threatens to submerge hundreds of kilometers (miles) of rail lines owned by the miners and used to transport ore to the ports.

“Extreme weather preparations continue across our mining operations in anticipation of the cyclone moving further inland,” BHP said in a statement emailed to Reuters. “Additional operations will be suspended if necessary.”

The Pilbara, a sparsely populated and inhospitable outback part of Australia, is the world’s largest source of iron ore. Australia’s three main iron ore ports, Port Hedland, Dampier and Cape Lambert, were closed on Monday. Offshore oil and gas fields have also been shut down.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canada’s Northern Iron Corp. Animates The Greatest Recycling Story On Earth: ‘The New Iron Age’ Premieres February 25, 2013

http://www.northernironcorp.com/

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – February 25, 2013.

Northern Iron Corp. (“Northern” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: NFE) (OTCQX- NHRIF) (FRANKFURT: N8I) is pleased to announce the premier of its animated short video series entitled ‘The New Iron Age’.

“’The New Iron Age’ is a complete departure for the Company, and as far as we know, for the Canadian resource industry,” says Company CEO Basil Botha. “This highly entertaining and informative style of animation is the perfect medium for us to use to tell an inherently fundamental but necessarily complicated story to a wide global audience. We are an iron ore company, which is about as fundamental as it gets, but when we begin to tell the story of our primary asset – a value-added engineered metallic and form of direct reduced iron known as HBI (hot briquetted iron), we were losing a percentage of our audience amid the variables and complexities.”

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Rio Tinto’s Canada ore assets may be divested – by Matt Chambers (The Australian/Herald Sun – February 25, 2013

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/

RIO Tinto’s $US1.7 billion ($1.64bn) Canadian iron ore assets could fall under the gaze of new chief executive and former iron ore boss Sam Walsh as he implements a more aggressive stance on sales of non-core or underperforming assets.

Mr Walsh, when asked specifically about the potential sale of the Iron Ore Company of Canada and whether it was considered a core asset, did not rule out a sale.

“I am looking hard at divestments,” Mr Walsh told North American investors in a conference call after the release of full- year earnings earlier this month.

“There are a number of assets for us that are not core or they are underperforming and you have got to say that any asset that falls into that category is going to fall within the radar screen.

“I am not confirming or denying any particular asset but we are going to take a very rational, a very logical approach and, quite frankly, if there are people out there who value these assets more than we do then certainly we will move forward and negotiate that opportunity.”

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India Likely to Become Net Importer of Iron Ore – by Biman Mukherji (wall Street Journal – February 21, 2013)

http://online.wsj.com/home-page?mod=WSJ_topnav_home_main

NEW DELHI–India, traditionally the world’s third-largest iron-ore exporter, is on course to be a net importer of the steelmaking ingredient in the next fiscal year, according to industry officials, who say a combination of export and mining bans is forcing domestic steel mills to seek the commodity elsewhere.

India is set to see its iron-ore output halved in the year that ends March 31, with its reduced contribution to the global trade having helped pull prices up from multiyear lows in September after the country’s Supreme Court banned exports from Goa and Orissa states earlier in the year due to complaints about illegal mining.

Exports will likely fall to 3 million-4 million metric tons in 2013-14 if mining bans in Goa and Orissa, along with another major producing state, Karantaka, continue, said Basant Poddar, vice-president of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, India’s largest mineral trade body. This compares with around 30 million tons this fiscal year and 62 million tons in 2011-12.

Meanwhile, Indian steelmakers, who lack their own captive iron-ore mines, are sharply increasing imports and likely to around 10 million tons in 2013-14, Mr. Poddar told The Wall Street Journal.

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Excerpt from “The History of Mining: The events, technology and people involved in the industry that forged the modern world” – by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of The History of Mining please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/products/books/23161/business/Michael-Coulson/The-History-of-Mining/

OPENING UP THE PILBARA (Australian Iron Ore Region)

The 1960s saw a huge iron ore development programme in Western Australia, the largest mines being in the Pilbara. Apart from Tom Price, major new mines developed there in the 1960s included Mount Newman (Amax, BHP, Colonial Sugar, Selection Trust), Mount Goldsworthy (Consolidated Gold Fields, Cyprus Mines, Utah Development) and Robe River (Cleveland Cliffs).
One of the key issues that had to be addressed in terms of opening up the Pilbara was transport.

The problem that first exercised Hancock and the international miners drawn to the Pilbara was how these fabulous riches were to be transported to market. The potential size of the deposits meant that the majority of the customers for the ore would come from overseas, with Japan being the obvious first port of call. The steel industry in Australia itself, dominated by BHP, was well served by the traditional supplies coming to it from South Australia where expansion was underway in the 1960s.

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Rio Tinto posts annual loss; new CEO vows to cut costs – by Sonali Paul (Reuters.com – February 14, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Rio Tinto’s (RIO.L) new chief flagged he would slash costs, focus on selling weak assets, and spend capital more carefully after the world’s no.3 miner reported a $3 billion loss, its first ever full-year loss.

Chief Executive Sam Walsh was anointed last month when his predecessor was sacked for misjudged aluminium and coal acquisitions that led to $14.4 billion in writedowns and left the company in the red.

“We can do better and I will improve this great company further,” Walsh told reporters, saying he would take a more aggressive approach to selling assets that no longer fitted with the company’s goals.

Rio reported a 47 percent plunge in half-year underlying profit, its worst since 2009 due to sharp falls in commodity prices, although the result was slightly better than expected and the company raised its dividend more than expected.

Underlying profit, which excludes writedowns, fell to $4.149 billion for July-December 2012 from $7.768 billion a year earlier, based on Reuters calculations. Analysts on average had forecast a half-year underlying profit of $3.93 billion. Investors were generally upbeat about the result.

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CN shelves study of $5-billion Quebec iron ore railway line – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – February 12, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Canadian National Railway Co. has shelved a study into a $5-billion project to build a major new railway line in northern Quebec to ship iron ore.

Montreal-based CN said on Tuesday it is suspending a feasibility study for the construction of the proposed 800-kilometre line that would run from Sept Iles on the Lower North Shore to Schefferville and then further on to the iron mines being developed in the Labrador Trough.

CN says the timing is wrong because of uncertainties regarding the completion of the various mining projects. The railway had teamed up with pension fund giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, with the backing of six mining companies, to fund the feasibility study.

CN said last week it is suspending preliminary planning work on the railway to give it time to evaluate the mining companies’ timetables on their respective iron ore projects. The initial deadline of June 2013 for completion of the feasibility study was pushed back. But now, CN says it’s putting the study – a key element of the project – on ice as well.

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Cliffs Natural posts loss after writedown, cuts payout – Staff (Reuters.com – February 12, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (CLF.N) reported a quarterly loss on Tuesday, dragged down by a writedown in the value of a Canadian acquisition, higher costs and lower iron ore prices, prompting the miner to slash its dividend by 76 percent.

Shares of the Cleveland-based producer of iron ore and metallurgical coal dropped 7.5 percent to $33.86 in after-market trading. The writedown was announced previously, but the dividend cut was a surprise.

The reduced payout was a sharp reversal from last March, when Cliffs more than doubled its payout and pledged to focus on boosting shareholder returns. The business also felt the impact of a sharp drop in iron ore prices, which plunged to $86.70 a tonne, in September from more than $180 a tonne in September 2011.

That partly reflected on falling demand from China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of steel. Benchmark 62-percent grade iron ore .IO62-CNI=SI has since recovered to about $155 a tonne.

“In their Canadian operations, which is really their platform for future growth, it cost on a cash basis $117 a tonne and they sold each ton at $101,” said Morningstar analyst Daniel Rohr. “So when your main growth area is turning in those kind of numbers, it’s not so hot.”

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UMD report underscores value of iron ore mining, potential for copper – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – February 7, 2013)

 http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Iron ore mining in Minnesota has a $3.2 billion annual impact on the state’s economy, according to a new University of Minnesota Duluth study, but that’s only half the story if copper mining begins as expected.

Iron ore mining in Minnesota has a $3.2 billion annual impact on the state’s economy, according to a new University of Minnesota Duluth study, but that’s only half the story if copper mining begins as expected.

The study, released Wednesday by UMD’s Labovitz School of Business and Economics, found that the existing iron ore industry — mining, processing and shipping taconite — pumped $3.2 billion into the state economy in 2010 and was responsible for 11,500 jobs.

But if the wave of new copper mines and expansion of traditional taconite mining planned in Northeastern Minnesota come to fruition, those numbers would more than double to $7.7 billion and 27,000 jobs, the study concluded.

Those numbers don’t include temporary construction jobs to build the projects like the proposed PolyMet open-pit copper mine near Hoyt Lakes, the massive underground Twin Metals mine proposed near Ely and the new Essar Steel taconite plant under construction in Nashwauk, among other projects on the books.

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