United States Mining – Page 100

Alaska turns up the heat on proposed B.C. mines – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – May 3, 2015)

May 4, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Lt. Gov. Mallott to meet with cabinet ministers, business and First Nations leaders

B.C.’s push to develop mines in its shared watersheds with Alaska is under increasing scrutiny from the American side of the border.

Concerns over multiple proposed metal mines near the southeast Alaska border has drawn Alaska’s Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott — and a coterie of commercial fishing, conservation and First Nation groups — to British Columbia this week.

In a visit that coincides with mining week in B.C., Mallott will meet with B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett, Environment Minister Mary Polak, industry representatives and First Nation leaders.

The Alaskan fishing, conservation and aboriginal representatives are in B.C. to build alliances in their push for more scrutiny of the potential effects on Alaska waters that support a multi-billion-dollar fishery.

They believe that B.C.’s review process is not adequate and want Alaska to have a seat at a table, potentially through an international joint commission, to examine potential cumulative effects on water and salmon. The groups are also concerned about compensation if there is a disaster.

Giustra fights back after U.S. campaign smears – by Don Cayo (Vancouver Sun – May 1, 2015)

May 4, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Vancouver mining magnate Frank Giustra finds himself caught up in the repeated mudslinging that surrounds Hillary Clinton’s campaign to become the next U.S. president. He doesn’t like it, and he’s fighting back.

His story has yielded big headlines in big-name media — The New York Times and The Washington Post, to name just two. And it has been playing out over the better part of a month as new angles are explored and old ones rehashed.

It’s a story made complex both by innuendo and by the muddying, glossing over or ignoring of timelines that might cast factual information in another light. And, of course, the Twitterverse and Internet are awash in vitriol from those who accept innuendo and suggestions as literal truth.

But the basic facts, neither damning nor exculpatory in themselves, are simple. They include:

• Billionaire Giustra and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, have become fast friends in the past decade. They travel the world together in Giustra’s jet to look in on philanthropic projects they jointly support. Giustra has given Clinton’s foundation many tens of millions of dollars, and he has raised many tens of millions more from rich acquaintances.

U.S. to evaluate uranium mine cleanups on Navajo land -Justice Dept – by Sandra Maler (Reuters U.S. – May 1, 2015)

May 4, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON – (Reuters) – The U.S. government will put $13.2 million into an environmental trust to pay for evaluations of 16 abandoned uranium mines on land belonging to the Navajo Nation in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, the Justice Department said on Friday.

The Justice Department said the agreement was part of its increased focus on environmental and health concerns in Indian country, “as well as the commitment of the Obama Administration to fairly resolve the historic grievances of American Indian tribes and build a healthier future for their people.”

The investigation of the sites is a necessary step before final cleanup decisions can be made, it said in a statement, adding the work would be subject to the approval of both the Navajo Nation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The site evaluations focus on the mines that pose the most significant hazards and will form a foundation for their final cleanup,” Assistant Attorney General John Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in the statement.

The Navajo Nation encompasses more than 27,000 square miles (70,000 square km) within Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

Uranium Mines Dot Navajo Land, Neglected and Still Perilous – by Leslie MacMillan (New York Times – March 31, 2012)

May 4, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

CAMERON, Ariz. — In the summer of 2010, a Navajo cattle rancher named Larry Gordy stumbled upon an abandoned uranium mine in the middle of his grazing land and figured he had better call in the feds. Engineers from the Environmental Protection Agency arrived a few months later, Geiger counters in hand, and found radioactivity levels that buried the needles on their equipment.

The abandoned mine here, about 60 miles east of the Grand Canyon, joins the list of hundreds of such sites identified across the 27,000 square miles of Navajo territory in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico that are the legacy of shoddy mining practices and federal neglect. From the 1940s through the 1980s, the mines supplied critical materials to the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

For years, unsuspecting Navajos inhaled radioactive dust and drank contaminated well water. Many of them became sick with cancer and other diseases.

The radioactivity at the former mine is said to measure one million counts per minute, translating to a human dose that scientists say can lead directly to malignant tumors and other serious health damage, according to Lee Greer, a biologist at La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif.

Asarco Incorporated History (1899 – 1991) – International Directory of Company Histories

May 4, 2015

For a large selection of corporate histories click: International Directory of Company Histories

ASARCO Incorporated is a world leader in the production of nonferrous metals, including copper, lead, zinc, silver, and gold. Among the mines operated by ASARCO or its associated companies are the Mission and Ray open-pit copper mines in Arizona; the Silver Bell Mine in Arizona; the Continental Mine in Montana; four zinc mines near Knoxville, Tennessee; the West Fork and Sweetwater lead mines in Missouri; the zinc, lead, silver, and gold mine at Leadville in Colorado; the Troy silver-copper mine in Montana; and two silver mines in Idaho, at Galena and Coeur. Processing facilities operated by ASARCO include copper smelters in Hayden, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas; a copper refinery in Amarillo, Texas; a lead smelter in East Helena, Montana; and a lead refinery in Omaha, Nebraska.

In 1990 ASARCO and its associated companies in Australia, Mexico, and Peru accounted for 12% of free-world mine production of copper, 14% of silver, 14% of lead, and 9% of zinc. Through its subsidiaries, ASARCO is heavily involved in the manufacture of specialty chemicals for electroplating, metal finishing, and electronics applications.

In addition to processing the products of its own mines, ASARCO acquires ore from other companies, either to process for a fee or to process and then sell on the open market. Consumers encounter these refined metals in many forms, including zinc in the form of flashlight batteries, copper in the form of car radiators, lead in the form of automotive batteries, and silver in the form of coatings on photographic film. ASARCO has entered into hazardous-waste recycling as well.

History of the Carlin Trend (Elko Daily Free Press – May 1, 2015)

May 1, 2015

http://elkodaily.com/

CARLIN — On May 4, 1965, with little fanfare, Newmont poured its first bar of gold from the Carlin Mine. The pomp and circumstance of the official commissioning of the mine would have to wait a few more weeks. That first bar marked the start of one of the largest and longest-lived mining districts in the world.

In summer 1961, geologists John Livermore and Alan Coope arrived in Carlin to visit the Blue Star mine and the Gold Quarry prospect. Livermore had recently heard a talk by U.S. Geological Survey geologist Ralph Roberts about an area in northern Eureka County that had the potential for hosting gold deposits.

The type of deposit they were searching for was similar to Getchell, Gold Acres and Bootstrap, deposits in which the gold was dispersed as microscopic particles that could not be found using a gold pan. After visiting and examining the local deposits, Livermore and Coope began exploring an area approximately 2¾ miles south of Blue Star on Popovich Hill. They postulated that gold would be found in the limestone rocks below a regional fault known as the Roberts Mountains Thrust.

Drilling on the project began in 1962 and on the third hole intersected 100 feet of mineralization averaging 1.03 ounces of gold per ton, marking the discovery of what would become the Carlin Mine. Drilling to outline the orebody progressed quickly and by the end of 1963 had identified 11 million tons of ore averaging 0.300 ounces of gold per ton, a grade sufficient for mining when gold was selling for $35 per ounce. Construction of the mine and mill began in 1964.

(Nevada Mining) Editorial: The Romance of Mining (Elko Daily Free Press – May 1, 2015)

May 1, 2015

http://elkodaily.com/

(This editorial from 50 years ago is being republished in honor of Newmont Mining Corp.’s celebration of 50 years on the Carlin Trend.)

Historically, Nevada has been a mining state. The great Comstock Lode, which helped to bring this state into the Union, Tonopah’s silver and Goldfield’s gold are part of the romantic heritage which has come down through the years. The great copper mines of Ely and Weed Heights have added to the lustre, to say nothing of the wealth of this state and the nation.

There have been numerous other finds in the state’s history leading to the building of mining towns, some passing into oblivion almost overnight. Mountain City, the great Rio Tinto copper mine, Pioche, Austin, Eureka and such other romantic names as Tuscarora, Cornucopia, the Divide near Tonopah, Gold Aces and many others have passed in review.

As Dr. John Hulse said in his recently written “The Nevada Adventure”, “Nevada was basically unwanted and unloved in those days (before mining). It was a barrier to a promised land, rather than an asset in itself. But this soon changed.”

Yes, it changed with Virginia City and the mining finds which followed throughout the state. James Finney, whose real name may have been James Fennimore, according to Dr. Hulse, was exploring the hills at the head of Gold Canyon in the winter of 1858-1859 when he found a mound, soon to be named Gold Hill.

Pebble Mine: Down to Lawyers, Lobbyists and Legislators – by Taryn Kiekow (Huffington Post – April 28, 2015)

April 30, 2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/

Taryn Kiekow is a Senior Policy Analyst, NRDC’s Marine Mammal Protection.

Pebble Mine is not grabbing headlines these days, but the battle to protect Bristol Bay is far from over.

In contrast to the significant headlines and victories in 2014 — Rio Tinto withdrawing from the project; EPA proposing specific restrictions on the development of Pebble Mine; Alaska voters passing an initiative aimed at protecting the Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale mining, which is harmful to Alaska’s wild salmon; and President Obama declaring Bristol Bay off-limits to oil and gas drilling — 2015 has been deceptively quiet.

All the major investors — Mitsubishi, Anglo American, and Rio Tinto — have fled the project, taking massive losses to walk away from Bristol Bay, and Pebble has been unable to find another moneyed partner to advance the project. This leaves junior mining company Northern Dynasty Minerals, now the sole owner of the project, with a serious cash-flow problem.

But the company hasn’t given up on its dreams to build a colossal mine at the headwaters of the world’s greatest wild salmon fishery. Last January, with the sale of special warrants to existing investors, it raised about $15 million — almost half of which came from a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands.

West Virginia Mine Wars Museum aims to tell overlooked coalfields history – by Marcus Constantino (Charleston Daily Mail – April 28, 2015)

April 29, 2015

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/

Local volunteers and historians are opening a museum in Matewan dedicated to telling the untold and often-overlooked stories of coal miners’ long and bloody fight for labor rights.

The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is to open Saturday, May 16, with a grand opening celebration at 1 p.m. Charles “Chuck” Keeney, a history teacher in Logan and member of the museum’s board of directors, said the museum is a collection of artifacts and stories from the early 20th century labor uprising that has mostly been passed down informally from generation to generation.

“There’s not a whole lot of emphasis on the history of what coal miners did and the struggles they went through and the tumultuous time,” Keeney said. “The Battle of Matewan has all the elements of a classic Western shootout, yet while something like the Gunfight at O.K. Corral has become a part of American lore, Matewan has languished in obscurity for a number of generations. We’re promoting this regional history that has been overlooked.”

The May 19, 1920, Battle of Matewan, also known as the “Matewan Massacre,” broke out in front of the Chambers Hardware building — the current-day home of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum at 336 Mate Street.

Telfer, Giustra deny they tried to influence Russian uranium deal with donations to Clinton Foundation – by Peter Koven National Post – April 25, 2015)

April 27, 2015

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

A pair of Canadian mining magnates are denying suggestions that they donated to the charitable foundation of former President Bill Clinton and his family to help win U.S. approval to sell a uranium company to Russia.

Frank Giustra said the allegations have nothing to do with him, and are merely an attempt to “tear down” presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her election campaign. Ian Telfer, meanwhile, said he committed the funds before he ever realized he would do the deal with the Russians.

The New York Times reported on the donations in an explosive article this week. The story involves a former Canadian mining company called Uranium One Inc., in which Giustra and Telfer were two of the key principals.

In 2010, Uranium One began a process to sell itself to Rosatom, a state-controlled nuclear giant in Russia. Uranium One had assets in Kazakhstan and the United States, and multiple U.S. government departments had to sign off on the deal. One of them is the State Department, which was led at the time by Hillary Clinton.

Fox News uses input from New York Times reporter (!) for ‘Clinton Cash’ piece – by Erik Wemple (Washington Post – April 23, 2015)

April 24, 2015

http://www.foxnews.com/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Earlier this week, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow devoted considerable time to examining the agreements of major media outlets with Peter Schweizer, the author of “Clinton Cash,” a soon-to-be-released book highlighting overlaps between the work of the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

No surprise, said Maddow, that Fox News would be partnering with such an author, who advised Sarah Palin and assisted the George W. Bush White House with speechwriting. Some surprise, said Maddow, that a news org like the New York Times would strike an exclusive agreement with Schweizer.

Now for an even bigger surprise: Not only did the New York Times work with Schweizer; it also worked directly with Fox News! See the segment below, in which New York Times investigative reporter Jo Becker provides input for the report of Fox News host Bret Baier on a “bombshell rocking the Clinton campaign.”

How Putin’s Russia Gained Control of a U.S. Uranium Mine – by William Kennedy and Andy Hoffman(Bloomberg News – April 23, 2015)

April 24, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Since 2013, the nuclear energy arm of the Russian state has controlled 20 percent of America’s uranium production capacity.

Rosatom’s acquisition of Toronto-based miner Uranium One Inc. made the Russian agency, which also builds nuclear weapons, one the world’s top five producers of the radioactive metal and gave it ownership of a mine in Wyoming.

The deal, approved by a committee that included then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also followed donations from Uranium One’s Canadian chairman to the Clinton Global Foundation, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Ian Telfer, the former Uranium One chairman and current chairman of Goldcorp Inc., said he pledged a donation of $3 million to the Clinton charity in March 2008, “when it was never contemplated that at some point in the future the Russian government would become a major shareholder of Uranium One.”

Why did the Russian government want Uranium One? Russia is only the world’s sixth-largest uranium miner, but has a huge nuclear fuel industry. Rosatom had built that business partly by processing uranium from Soviet warheads decommissioned under the so-called megatons-to-megawatts agreement signed with the U.S. in 1993.

Local mining magnates drawn into American political arena – by Nelson Bennett (Business Vancouver – April 24, 2015)

April 24, 2015

http://www.biv.com/

Vancouver mining magnates Frank Giustra and Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) chairman Ian Telfer made generous donations to former U.S. president Bill Clinton’s charitable organization at a time when the company they built was acquiring assets in Russia and the U.S., according to the New York Times.

The story suggests the donations may have helped Giustra and Telfer conclude deals that eventually resulted in the Canadian mining company, Uranium One, being acquired by the Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp. It suggests former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might have had a hand in approving the deal.

Several major U.S. media outlets have weighed in, saying there appears to be little, if any, evidence that Hillary Clinton would even have had knowledge of the deal.

Neither Telfer nor Giustra deny making donations to the Clinton Foundation, but insist there was no lobbying on their behalf from either Bill or Hillary Clinton as a result of the donations.

Telfer told Business in Vancouver that the timelines don’t line up to support the suggestion that Hillary Clinton – former U.S. Secretary of State – would have even been in a position to help his company. Telfer is the former chairman of Uranium One.

Clinton, Giustra push back against New York Times’ Uranium One story – by Michael Allan McCrae (Mining.com – April 23, 2015)

April 24, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

Hillary Clinton and Frank Giustra both released statements claiming that the New York Times failed to prove any connections between the Clinton Foundation and the purchase of Russian assets.

Today the New York Times profiled Uranium One and gifts to the Clinton Foundation. Spokesman for Hillary Clinton, Brian Fallon, called the story wrong.

“Relying largely on research from the conservative author of Clinton Cash, today’s New York Times alleges that donations to the Clinton Foundation coincided with the U.S. government’s 2010 approval of the sale of a company known as Uranium One to the Russian government. Without presenting any direct evidence in support of the claim, the Times story — like the book on which it is based — wrongly suggests that Hillary Clinton’s State Department pushed for the sale’s approval to reward donors who had a financial interest in the deal. Ironically, buried within the story is original reporting that debunks the allegation that then-Secretary Clinton played any role in the review of the sale.

The Times’ own public editor has taken issue with the paper’s arrangement with the author of Clinton Cash, saying, “The Times should have been much more clear with readers about the nature of this arrangement” and “I still don’t like the way it looked.” It certainly doesn’t look any better that the lead Times reporter appeared in a taped interview for a Fox News documentary attacking the Clintons on this matter prior to receiving our responses to her questions.”

Iron Range slump appears set to last for a long time – by Lee Schafer (Minneapolis Star Tribune – April 23, 2015)

April 23, 2015

http://www.startribune.com/

A U.S. Steel spokesman last week emphasized the “temporary” nature of the idling coming at the company’s Keetac and Minntac operations in northeastern Minnesota.

But in looking around at the global industry, it’s shaping up as another of those slumps that sure won’t feel temporary when it’s done. It’s a global industry, and the news is bad all over.

Down in the Indian state of Goa, for example, an export industry that three years ago employed more than 100,000 may never come back. The government put it on hold for environmental reasons, and when it permitted mining to start up again this year there was no more market. Barge captains there can’t even sell their rusting hulks for scrap.

Over in western Australia, a leading market analyst last month asked for one of the iron mining companies to do the decent thing and go out of business. His other hope was that producers finally get serious about forming some sort of cartel to get a production cap, boosting prices. Financial analysts don’t usually openly call for price-fixing and collusion.

The pain isn’t just confined to ore, of course, because it’s just an input for making steel. In a recent steel industry report put out by the big Canadian bank BMO, none of the trend lines were heading up.