Latin America Mining – Page 92

BHP battered by UN’s claims of toxic tailings – by Barry Fitzgerald and Matt Chambers (The Australian – November 28, 2015)

November 27, 2015

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

If there was a saving grace to the tailings dam collapse at BHP Billiton’s half-owned Germano mine in the mountains of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, it was that the iron ore waste which has since found its way to the Atlantic Ocean some 600km away was not toxic.

That was the accepted truth from BHP and Brazil’s Vale, BHP’s equal partner in the mine, and the mine’s operating company Samarco. After all, BHP managing director Andrew Mackenzie had seemed to say so, and he’s one of the great geoscientists of the modern era. Last year he became a fellow of the world’s premier scientific club, London’s Royal Society. Past fellows have included Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.

So when Mackenzie said that the tailings material that hurtled down the valley floor after the tailings dam was breached on November 5 was “relatively inert’’, there was relief all around.

Mud from Brazil dam burst is toxic, U.N. says – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Sonali Paul (Reuters U.S. – November 26, 2015)

November 26, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO – Mud from a dam that burst at an iron ore mine in Brazil earlier this month, killing 12 people and polluting an important river, is toxic, the United Nations’ human rights agency said on Wednesday.

The statement contradicts claims by Samarco, the mine operator at the site of the rupture, and Samarco’s co-owner, BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), that the water and mineral waste contained by the dam are not toxic.

Citing “new evidence,” the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement the residue “contained high levels of toxic heavy metals and other toxic chemicals”.

Rio Tinto’s fight with Vale over massive iron ore mine falls at first hurdle – by Matthew Stevens (Australian Financial Review – November 23, 2015)

November 23, 2015

http://www.afr.com/

How apt that a failed racketeering case by World Wrestling Entertainment sets a critical benchmark in a New York court’s refusal to allow Rio Tinto to continue its case for criminal damages against fellow iron ore major Vale and its allies in Guinean grubbiness.

Others tarred by Rio’s sensational racketeering allegations against its Brazilian competitor number an Israeli billionaire, Benny Steinmetz, a former mines minister of Guinea, the third wife of one of its deceased presidents and a bloke who is currently in a Florida jail as a result of bribes paid to her in the US.

The nub of the Rio case was (and will be again given the likelihood of appeal) that Vale “secretly” worked with a Steinmetz company called BSGR to steal rights to two iron ore mining tenements in Guinea.

Rio Director Copper Bullishness Sparked by Cisco Boffin’s Remark – by David Stringer and James Paton (Bloomberg News – November 17, 2015)

November 19, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

An engineer at Cisco Systems Inc. once told Rio Tinto Group director Megan Clark that electrons travel faster through copper than the air. That observation helps explain why she’s bullish on the red metal.

“It’s not going to be substituted any time soon — it’s still one of our best materials,” Clark, also a former chief executive officer of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, said Wednesday at the Bloomberg Summit in Sydney. “I like copper from every which way I look at it over the next 10 years.’’

Crisis of the Week: Collapsed Brazil Dam Trouble for BHP, Vale – by Ben Dipietro (Wall Street Journal – November 17, 2015)

November 17, 2015

http://blogs.wsj.com/

The crisis this week centers on BHP Billiton Ltd.BHP.AU -2.13% and Vale SAVALE5.BR -5.53% and how the companies have responded to a lethal burst at a dam they co-own in Brazil. BHP said the cause of the dam collapse at the iron-ore mine in Minas Gerais state remains unknown and that Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie was headed to Brazil to lead the response effort.

BHP Billiton, which co-owns the Samarco Mineracao SA mine with Vale, said Samarco is “responsible for the entirety” of operations at the mine. Samarco was criticized for how it engaged with the community before the collapse. BHP Billiton has provided a number of updates on its website, but investors still were selling shares in the company.

Vale issued statements as well on its website, pledging support to local authorities and communities affected by the disaster. Samarco has been providing near-daily updates on its website, and the company said it’s been putting up displaced residents and is offering paid leave to employees so it can focus on supporting the rescue operations. The CEOs of BHP and Vale appeared together to discuss the response.

Read more

Bacanora raises US$13.4 million for Mexican lithium project (Northern Miner – November 16, 2015)

November 17, 2015November 17, 2015

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Just a few months after Bacanora Minerals (TSXV: BCN) and Rare Earth Minerals (LSE: REM) signed a deal with Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) to supply the car maker with lithium hydroxide from their Sonora lithium project in Mexico, the companies have raised US$13.4 million in a private placement.

The proceeds will be used for a bankable feasibility study of the project, 180 km northeast of Hermosillo, and towards the upgrading and continuous running of a pilot plant in Hermosillo to produce bulk quantities of lithium products to long-term off-take parties.

BHP Billiton says reviewing two other mining ventures after Brazil dam disaster – by Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – November 16, 2015)

November 17, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – Nov 16 BHP Billiton said on Monday it is reviewing two other mining joint ventures, in Peru and Colombia, following a dam disaster at an iron ore mine in Brazil, which it jointly owns with Vale SA.

BHP told analysts and investors it was examining the structures of its Cerrejón coal joint venture in Colombia and its Antamina copper/zinc JV in Peru after the Brazil disaster.

Two dams collapsed on Nov. 5 in southeast Brazil, killing nine people and coating a two-state area with mud and mine waste. The Brazilian mine is owned and operated by Samarco Mineração SA, a joint venture of Anglo-Australian BHP and Brazil’s Vale.

“We will look into, for our own benefit … the arrangements that we have at Samarco which mirror similar arrangements we have at Antamina and Cerrejón,” BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie told a conference call.

Brazil mining flood could devastate environment for years – by Stephen Eisenhammer (Reuters U.S. – November 15, 2015)

November 16, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

RIO DOCE, BRAZIL – The collapse of two dams at a Brazilian mine has cut off drinking water for quarter of a million people and saturated waterways downstream with dense orange sediment that could wreck the ecosystem for years to come.

Nine people were killed, 19 are still listed as missing and 500 people were displaced from their homes when the dams burst at an iron ore mine in southeastern Brazil on Nov. 5.

The sheer volume of water disgorged by the dams and laden with mineral waste across nearly 500 km is staggering: 60 million cubic meters, the equivalent of 25,000 Olympic swimming pools or the volume carried by about 187 oil tankers.

President Dilma Rousseff compared the damage to the 2010 oil spill by BP PLC in the Gulf of Mexico and Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira called it an “environmental catastrophe.”

Chile’s Women of the Mines – by Margot Bigg (Slate.com – Novmeber 13, 2015)

November 13, 2015

http://www.slate.com/

Working the famed copper reserves of the Atacama Desert has forever been a man’s domain. But that’s changing.

The arid plateau of the Atacama Desert blankets the northernmost stretches of Chile, hemmed in only by the Andes Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Its vast expanse is nearly devoid of life, save for the occasional roadside alpaca pack or slow-growing cardon cactus.

But the Atacama’s bareness is deceptive, for just below the desert’s silky dunes and its moonscapes of salt and hardened lava sit Chile’s lifeblood—millions of tons of copper reserves.

I’ve come to the Atacama to visit Chile’s most important mine: Chuquicamata, known locally as Chuqui, run by the state-owned copper mining company Codelco. Though this century-old open pit copper mine—the largest on Earth—is still responsible for about one-fifth of the company’s total output, its resources have been largely depleted.

Dwindling production and the discovery of additional subterranean copper reserves spurred Codelco to start digging deeper, and the company is currently in the throes of a $4.2 billion underground mine development project.

Mexican drug gangs, an Argentinian tycoon and the illicit trade of uranium to China – by Gardenia Mendoza (Fox News Latino – November 13, 2015)

November 13, 2015

http://latino.foxnews.com/index.html

MEXICO CITY – A gang-related arrest in Mexico took a surprising twist last week when a portion of the suspect’s testimony was leaked, revealing that the criminal organization La Familia Michoacana is also involved in the illegal trade of uranium to China.

Sidronio Casarrubias – the head of the Guerreros Unidos crime gang who was arrested last year and interrogated about his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 college students from Iguala, in the state of Guerrero in September 2014 – said the uranium operation in Mexico is being carried out under the orders of mogul Carlos Ahumada, a prominent Argentinian-born businessman who spent a couple of years in jail in a bribery scandal.

Casarrubias said Ahumada, who holds a dual Mexican-Argentinian citizenship, owns two uranium mines in Guerrero.

“The cargo is moved by small boats,” said Casarrubias shortly after he was arrested, but whose testimony was released only recently and published by Milenio newspaper.

In The 33, ‘living under a rock’ describes both the characters and the filmmakers – by Chris Knight (National Post – November 13, 2015)

November 13, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Even if you don’t remember news reports from 2010 about the Chilean miners trapped by a cave-in, it’s clear The 33 is based on actual events. Take that title; Hollywood screenwriters working from a blank page would have made it The Seven, or The Nine tops.

The 33 is so crowded with Chileans, casting executives had to call in Spaniards (Antonio Banderas), French women (Juliette Binoche), Brazilians (Rodrigo Santoro), Cubans (Oscar Nuñez) and whatever nationality Lou Diamond Phillips is. In fact, The 33 is remarkably Chilean-free, although local boy Diego Noguera plays “man in suit.”

True or False: ‘The 33’s cinematic treatment of the 2010 Chilean mine disaster – by Jennifer Yang (Toronto Star – November 13, 2015)

November 13, 2015

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

What do the filmmakers get right and wrong bringing the harrowing rescue attempts to the big screen?

On Aug. 5, 2010, a gold and copper mine near Copiapo, Chile, collapsed and trapped 33 miners underground. Sixty-nine days later, they were brought back to the surface in a spectacular rescue televised around the world.

It was an event so momentous that some have compared it to the moon landing. And I was lucky enough to be there.

My three weeks covering the rescue of “los 33” were among the most memorable of my life and I often wish I could revisit that inspiring moment in time. Well, now I can — sort of. And you can, too. Today, the movie version of the rescue, The 33, hits the big screen.

Lawsuit against B.C. mining company should be heard in Guatemala: judge – Laura Kane (Canadian Press/Vancouver Sun – November 11, 2015)

November 12, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/

VANCOUVER – Seven protesters hurt outside a Guatemalan mine owned by a company registered in British Columbia must file their lawsuit in the Central American country, a judge has ruled.

The men launched a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court against Tahoe Resources Inc. (TSX: THO) after security guards sprayed protesters with rubber bullets outside the Escobal Mine in 2013.

The Guatemalan citizens had argued the case should be heard in B.C. because they had no faith that their country’s legal system would hold the company accountable.

But Tahoe asked the court to decline jurisdiction and stay the lawsuit, and Justice Laura Gerow agreed with the company.

Brazil vows to make BHP, Vale pay for deadly mine disaster – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Marta Nogueira (Reuters U.S. – November 11, 2015)

November 12, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

MARIANA, BRAZIL – Brazil’s government said on Wednesday it may fine mining giants BHP Billiton Ltd and Vale SA for the “environmental catastrophe” caused by ruptured dams at an iron ore mine jointly owned by the companies in a southeastern state.

The government is increasingly concerned over the rising death toll and contaminated mud flowing through two states as a result of the disaster. It is studying the mine’s permits and will ensure the owners pay for cleanup costs, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said in Brasília, the capital.

“If federal fines are applicable, we will apply them,” Teixeira told reporters. “There will be punishment, and under Brazilian law the environment has to be repaired.”

Her remarks are the strongest yet from the government, which was caught off-guard by a disaster that killed at least eight people and left another 21 missing in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais nearly a week ago.

Anger at burst dams in Brazil focuses on Vale, mining code – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Marta Nogueira (Reuters U.S. – November 10, 2015)

November 11, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

MARIANA, BRAZIL – As despair turns to anger over a deadly dam burst at a Brazilian mine, lawmakers pushed on Tuesday for tougher regulations in a new mining code and iron ore giant Vale SA came under pressure to help mourning families and contain the environmental impact.

In five days of rescue efforts in towns ravaged by the massive mudflow, six bodies have been found and 22 people are still missing, making it one of the worst mining disasters in Brazil’s history.

The tragedy in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais has displaced hundreds of residents, triggered investigations by prosecutors and spurred calls for stricter oversight of the mining industry, a huge provider of jobs and government tax receipts in the mineral-rich state.

The chief sponsor of a new mining code in Congress, Leonardo Quintão, told Reuters on Tuesday that he planned to add measures to tighten regulation of tailings dams like the two that collapsed on Thursday, which hold back waste water from processing iron ore.