Mining Environmental, Water Shortage and Land Reclamation/Revegetation Issues – Page 10

Samarco iron ore won’t restart this year – by Frik Els (Mining.com – June 16, 2016)

June 17, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

The Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil – a joint venture Vale (NYSE:VALE) and BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) – is unlikely to resume operations before the end of the year.

Samarco Mineracao ceased operations in November following a deadly tailings dam burst. Benedito Waldson, the company’s head of human resources told Reuters the uncertain timing of a new licence from the South American nation’s environment authorities to restart operations “had forced the company to move to lay off over 1,000 workers.”

At 30 million tonnes per year before the disaster Samarco’s pelletizing operations supplied roughly one-fifth of the seaborne trade in the steelmaking raw material that attracts a premium price over iron ore fines and lump ore. Earlier Samarco said that should the mine reopen output would likely be capped at 19 million tonnes per year.

Australia clean-ups seek to reset mining’s tarnished image (Financial Times Next – May 31, 2016)

May 31, 2016

https://next.ft.com/

Drive to heal scarred landscapes to try to win back public support for industry

A wedge-tailed eagle soars above a picturesque hillside blanketed with shrubs and flowers, looking for prey. “The animals are coming back,” says Damien Ryba, environment and community officer for mining group Glencore. “This is a sign that the land is returning to a natural state.”

Five years ago outsized trucks crowded a track thick with coal dust near the company’s Mangoola mine, one of the biggest open-pit developments in Australia’s Hunter Valley. It is now part of a pilot project by the Switzerland-based miner to rehabilitate former mining sites as it attempts to rebuild support in the community.

Alarmed by growing concerns about new mines, some companies are placing more emphasis on rehabilitating existing ones, particularly in the developed world. These initiatives follow centuries of poor practice that have caused environmental disasters, threatened human health and left taxpayers with large clean-up bills.

New acid mine water process has huge agri potential in arid areas – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – May 25, 2016)

May 26, 2016

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

KRUGERSDORP (miningweekly.com) – The newly developed process that yields handsome profits by converting acid mine water into valuable fertiliser materials, also has the potential to process South Africa’s large volumes of currently unusable brackish groundwater.

The use of the process that eradicates acid mine drainage (AMD) for free can thus also be used to turn South Africa’s considerable sustainable groundwater areas in arid regions to positive agricultural account.

“We could turn South Africa into an agricultural Garden of Eden, quite quickly and quite easily,” Trailblazer Technologies director John Bewsey told Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video).

Regreening conference a head-scratcher for industry – by Ella Myers (Northern Ontario Business – May 11, 2016)

May 12, 2016

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The opening day of the Sudbury Protocol Conference got off to a shaky start with plenty of unanswered questions thrust upon the organizers. The Laurentian University initiative aims to take Sudbury’s regreening expertise, gained over the last 40 years from repairing the environmental damage from mining, and globally package it for use by other communities adversely impacted by industrial development.

As they launched the conference on May 10, local experts expressed uncertainty about the business side of the project and what financial benefits the protocol is proposing.

“I’m still fundamentally confused by what you’re trying to package. I’m asking you to create a business plan,” said Dick DeStefano, executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSAA)., on the opening day of the three-day conference held at Dynamic Earth. “If you don’t have a business plan, I can’t sell it.”

[Grupo México] A Mine vs. a Million Monarchs – by Dan Fagin (New York Times – April 29, 2016)

May 2, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

THE national tourism agency calls the Mexican mountain town of Angangueo a “Pueblo Mágico.” If so, it is a dark magic.

In recent years, Angangueo’s 5,000 inhabitants have been cursed by calamities natural and manufactured. Snowstorms, mudslides and flash floods have terrorized the town. Hulking piles of mine tailings line the main road, barren reminders of the silver, gold and copper mining that petered out a quarter-century ago after defining the community for 200 years.

Even the monarch butterflies that are the focus of the “magic town” tourism campaign are suffering. Millions still roost on nearby mountains, a wintertime spectacle that attracts the visitors from “El Norte” who are the town’s economic lifeline. But the overwintering population of monarchs has fallen by almost two-thirds over the past dozen years, and this year’s better-than-usual aggregation was abruptly devastated in March by another freak snowstorm, the worst in years.

Southern Ontario sewage helps Sudbury nickel miner regreen its tailings (CBC News Sudbury – April 25, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Treated sewage is commonly used on farms in other parts of the province

As part of a green solution to mining pollution, truckloads of sewage are heading to nickel miner Vale’s tailings ponds in Sudbury, Ont. But unlike the stinky, untreated haul that once came from the city’s sewage treatment plants, this sewage comes from southern Ontario.

The black, manure-like biosolids are normally spread on farms in the south as fertilizer, but during the winter or other times it can’t be used for agriculture. Since 2014, the company has been mixing biolsolids with straw, hay and yard waste and using it to help re-green thousands of hectares of sandy, acidic mining waste.

“Tough place to be a tree,” says Vale’s superintendent of decommission and reclamation Glen Watson. “The biosolids ends up being an all-in-one solution for us, because the tailings themselves are very nutrient-poor and they’re metal rich. You can amend the surface of the tailings much like a farmer would.”

Conga Mine in Peru Halted By Water Concerns, Civic Opposition – by Brett Walton (Circle of Blue – April 21, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.circleofblue.org/

Newmont Mining, the world’s second-largest gold producer, announced in a U.S. financial filing that it is abandoning a $US 4.8 billion copper and gold mine in Peru “for the foreseeable future.”

“Newmont will not proceed with the full development of Conga without social acceptance, solid project economics and potentially another partner to help defray costs and risk; it is currently difficult to predict when or whether such events may occur,” the company wrote in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on February 17. “Under the current social and political environment, the company does not anticipate being able to develop Conga for the foreseeable future.”

While Newmont’s decision is partly in response to souring market conditions — the price of copper is down more than 50 percent since a 2011 peak — the withdrawal from Conga is also a recognition that environmental concerns pose a serious financial risk to business. The mine was strongly opposed by Andes farmers because four natural lakes would have been drained and replaced by manmade reservoirs.

Mining group latest to sue government over sage-grouse land use plans (Elko Daily – April 20, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://elkodaily.com/

ELKO – The American Exploration & Mining Association has joined in the fight over federal land use plans and sage-grouse.

The group filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to overturn the Sage-Grouse Great Basin and Rocky Mountain Records of Decision and underlying land use plan amendments in seven western states. The lawsuit is against the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service and several federal employees.

AEMA becomes the latest to challenge the plans following lawsuits lodged by the states of Idaho, Utah, nine Nevada counties, the Wyoming Coalition of Local Governments, ranchers, miners and various industry groups. Elko and Eureka counties, a few mining companies, and the Nevada Attorney General were among the first groups to file.

Mining taps deep reserves of rage in Peru – by Andres Schipani (Financial Times – April 20, 2016)

April 20, 2016

http://www.ft.com/

Cocachacra, Peru – In a corner of southern Peru the land is so barren that Nasa uses it as a stand-in for Mars to see if potatoes can be grown on that lifeless planet. But the desert of red dirt gives way to the green Tambo river valley, where farmers live off an abundance of onions, rice and sugar cane.

Some locals are taking up arms to protect this oasis. Last year, three were killed and hundreds wounded in violent clashes over the $1.4bn Tía María copper and gold mine, owned by Southern Copper, which is perched by the valley. Black-clad anti-riot police are now stationed there.

“Whoever is the next president will have to deal with mining conflicts because neither companies nor governments respect communities,” says Jesús Cornejo, head of the water users’ association in the nearby town of Cocachacra, which is peppered with green flags reading: “Yes to farming, no to the mine.”

Canada can be part of the solution to Asia’s looming water crisis – by Eva Busza (Globe and Mail – April 8, 2016)

April 11, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Dr. Eva Busza is vice-president of research and programs at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, and former director of policy and strategic planning for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Last summer, as drought spread across Western Canada, water was the conversation of the day. Restaurants began providing glasses only on demand, strict watering restrictions were imposed and we heard a lot about innovations like smart shower heads.

Six months later, after decent rains and snowfall, Canadian public attention has died down, but the underlying problem of diminishing supply remains. As savvy futures investors have already realized, water is going to be the new “peak oil.”

The threat of impending severe and widespread water stress is particularly high in the Asia-Pacific region, with a population of 4.3 billion that generates one-third of the world’s GDP.

Drought likely to pose water challenges for mines in the medium term – by Ilan Solomons (MiningWeekly.com – March 18, 2016)

March 18, 2016

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – There is no evidence of water supply concerns related to the current drought compromising mining operations in South Africa, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) tells Mining Weekly.

However, project management and engineering consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV mining director Berte Simons said last month that the drought could become a bigger problem in areas where underground water reservoirs, mining operations and communities interacted, as this would “inevitably” lead to mines and their host communities competing for water.

The department does acknowledge, though, that mining might have an aggravating effect during the current drought on the quality of the water supplied in certain parts of the country, as historical mining activities governed under the previous National Water Act of 1956 have damaged certain water resources.

Water management can help improve community relations – by Prinesha Naidoo (Mineweb.com – February 12, 2016) http://www.mineweb.com/

February 12, 2016

http://www.mineweb.com/

JOHANNESBURG – Responsible, sustainable water management in the mining sector stands to enhance companies relationships with communities as well as their balance sheets, said Dirk-Jan Koch, special envoy for natural resources from the Netherlands.

According to him, some $25bn of stalled investments exist in mining due to disputes with local communities. Given that 70% of operations of the six biggest mining firms in the world occur in water-stressed areas like South Africa, a way for companies to build good relationships with the communities in which they operate is by taking on water-related challenges.

“Water risks are corporate risks,” Koch said at a public lecture on the Dutch Water & Mining Platform at a public lecture at Wits University. The “co-creation” platform is based on the country’s extensive water management experience.

Glencore gets Sudbury extension – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 28, 2016)

January 28, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury’s second largest mining company, Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, has received approval to exceed emission standards while it upgrades its Falconbridge smelter.

Glencore officials are pleased with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s recent decision to grant approval of its site-specific standard application for nickel at the smelter, said company spokeswoman Yonaniko Grenon.

“This approval allows us the required time to research, design and implement the technologies and processes required to further reduce nickel emissions from our Sudbury smelter facility while maintaining compliance with Ontario’s Air Quality Regulation,” she said.

MOE gives Glencore 10 years to meet new nickel emission limits (CBC News Sudbury – January 26, 2016)

January 26, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Laurentian University biologist says industry knew this regulation was coming 10 years ago

Another Sudbury smelter won’t have to meet stricter nickel emissions standards that are set to take effect this summer.

The Ministry of the Environment has given Glencore a 10-year extension to achieve compliance at its Sudbury smelter.

The company first took its emissions plan to the public in 2014, and MOE spokesperson Kate Jordan says the plan has been given a rigorous overview.

Vale smelter upgrades on track for 2018, Clean AER manager says (CBC News Sudbury – January 25, 2016)

January 26, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Sudbury mining giant Vale says its Clean AER project is now 55 per cent complete.

Upgrades to the smelter are required to bring the company in-line with the province’s updated air quality standards for nickel. They are expected to be finished in 2018.

Once smelter upgrades are complete, the company will greatly reduce sulphur dioxide emissions, said David Marshall, project manager of the mining company’s Clean AER project. AER stands for atmospheric emissions reduction.