United States Mining – Page 103

Montana mning proposes environmental safeguards – by Mark Thompson (Montana Standard – March 21, 2015)

March 23, 2015

Mark Thompson is the Montana Mining Association president and manager of environmental affairs for Montana Resources in Butte.

On Friday, legislation was introduced in the state Senate that would ensure Montana’s environmental protections are amongst the most rigorous in the world. Senate Bill 409 carried by Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, is the advent of a new era of mining in Montana, where industry proposes standards progressive in concept, comprehensive in scope and definitive in responsible management of tailings storage facilities.

Following a tailings area breach in British Columbia, the Montana Mining Association took a long, hard look at what the Treasure State had on the books to prevent a similar disaster from occurring in Montana.

Mine tailings are the uneconomic remains that result from the milling process, and are conventionally stored in large impoundments similar to the one which breached in British Columbia last year. No such occurrence with a large impoundment has ever happened in Montana’s more than 100 years of mining, yet the Montana Mining Association had the foresight to facilitate a bill which would add a laundry list of new requirements in law and would implement measures to ensure that Montana’s impoundments remain safe.

Through an exhaustive investigative process, the association pooled together resources and information from the industry’s foremost experts in mining and engineering and has proposed a process with significant engineering and review requirements ahead of any new mine tailings storage facilities or expansions.

Empire Editorial: On the topic of transboundary mines, a response to Mr. Bill Bennett Posted (Juneau Empire – March 22, 2015)

March 22, 2015

http://juneauempire.com/

The Tulsequah Chief Mine, located south of Juneau on the Taku River just across the Canadian border, has leached acid runoff into the Taku River since its closure in the 1950s.

Alaskans — Native tribes, commercial fishermen, local governments and ordinary residents — feel it is not at all respectful to leave a mine in ruin, leaching acid runoff. Nor do we feel this is in any way an example of “environmental protection.”

As B.C. forges ahead with 30 new mines to add to the existing 123 along the transboundary region, we’d like to see a firmer grip on reality and less public relations spin from our Canadian neighbors. We need actual compromise and solutions. (Juneau Empire Editorial-March 22, 2015)

It’s not often the Juneau Empire offers a rebuttal to an submitted column. Waging a back-and-forth war of words isn’t fair for the other party. We buy ink by the barrel and have dedicated staff to get the word out online as well.

However, we must respond to the Feb. 24 My Turn penned by Bill Bennett, the Minister of Mines for British Columbia.

Let us start off by addressing the first portion of Mr. Bennet’s piece when he states it was “unfortunate your editorial has seized upon the Mount Polley mine tailings storage facility failure to undermine the long tradition of respectful relations and co-operation between British Columbia and Alaska on mining development and environmental protection.”

Latin American Bishops Petition Inter-American Commission On Human Rights To Hold Mining Companies Accountable For Economic And Environmental Harm

March 20, 2015

March 19, 2015 – WASHINGTON—The U.S. and Canadian governments must hold mining companies from their countries that operate in Latin America to laws and standards that protect indigenous communities and vulnerable groups, as well as local economies and the environment, said representatives of the bishops of Latin America in a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), March 19. The hearing was held in response to a petition filed by the Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano (CELAM) and other member institutions of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network, which represents bishops’ conferences, religious men and women and Catholic relief agencies throughout Latin America.

Archbishop Pedro Barreto of Peru and Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of Guatemala represented CELAM, along with Father Peter Hughes and Enrique Pinilla of its Department of Justice and Solidarity. Bishop Donald Bolen, who heads the Peace and Justice Commission at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), as well as Archbishop Timothy Broglio, archbishop for the Military Services, were present at the hearing to express support.

A petition provided an overview of the issues pertaining to extractives in a number of Latin American countries, outlining calamitous public health and environmental consequences of mining operations by U.S. and Canadian multinationals. The testimony at the hearing focused on six countries, Brazil ,Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico, and focused on key themes including violence and criminalization of human rights defenders and the need for a new model of sustainable development.

Here’s What Coal Mining Is Doing to Communities in the Navajo Nation – by Laura Dattaro (Vice News – March 18, 2015)

March 20, 2015

https://news.vice.com/

For sixty years, the billions of tons of coal found beneath Arizona’s Black Mesa have powered the cities of the Southwest. But getting at all that coal has meant the displacement of more than 12,000 people of the Navajo Nation, one of the largest removals of Native Americans since the 19th century. For those that have remained, the mining process has compromised their health and their environment.

The mesa rises up from the dry Arizona landscape a few miles south of Kayenta Township, where Peabody Energy operates a mine that in 2013 produced nearly eight million tons of coal. The company proposed in May 2012 to expand its excavation, a plan that needs approval from the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE). Locals are concerned because that would add 841 acres of land to the Kayenta Mine complex — which would displace even more Navajo and ensure continued air and water contamination for decades to come.

A VICE News crew traveled to the Black Mesa area to document the effects of coal mining on their health, the environment, and the local economy.

Mining Revival Spurs Tensions Over Environment in Upper Midwest – by Matthew Dolan (Wall Street Journal – March 18, 2015)

March 19, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Remote rural community in Michigan divided over benefits of a proposed limestone project

REXTON, Mich.—In a small, sparsely populated community on Michigan’s remote northern peninsula, a crop of red-letter lawn signs have sprouted through the snow carrying a simple protest: “No mining.”

The placards in Rexton are the latest salvo in a battle among local residents that has been spurred by a nascent revival of mining in the upper Midwest. While some welcome the industry for the jobs it promises to bring, other members of the community fear it could harm the environment and spoil the area’s rural lifestyle.

On Thursday, the issue is expected to come to a head when Michigan’s director of national resources decides whether the state should sell a 10,000-acre parcel of publicly owned forest for a proposed limestone mine operated by Canadian company Graymont. It would be the largest chunk of state-held land ever sold by Michigan, with state documents putting the value of the deal in land sale and exchanges at about $4.5 million plus future mineral royalties.

Choosing sides in the debate over the sale of the parcel prized for its hunting and snowmobiling possibilities has divided the generations. Financially struggling younger workers with families have voiced support for the growing mining industry, while retirees who moved to the Upper Peninsula worry about protecting a quieter life.

Molycorp Inc at risk of financial collapse, signalling fall of rare earth industry – by Peter Koven (National Post – March 18, 2015)

March 18, 2015

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

North America’s flagship rare earth mining company is at risk of collapse, a symbol of how far the entire industry has fallen from its highs a few years ago.

Molycorp Inc. warned on Monday night that it may not be able to continue as a going concern if it can’t fix its balance sheet. The Colorado-based company has US$1.7 billion of debt, including US$206.5 million of convertible notes that mature in June of 2016. It is bleeding cash from operations and is not in a position to meet its future obligations. Its cash position was down to US$212 million at the end of December.

“We are focused on this issue and have retained financial and other advisers to assist us in strengthening our current financial position,” chief financial officer Michael Doolan said on a conference call.

The stock plunged 35% on Tuesday to close at just US48¢, giving Molycorp a market value of US$117 million. It is a stunning fall for a company that was worth almost US$80 a share at its peak in 2011, and acquired Canadian firm Neo Material Technologies Inc. for US$1.3 billion.

Molycorp went public in 2010, a period when prices for rare earth metals like dysprosium and neodymium were sky high.

Iron ore strategy the road to ‘self-destruction’, warns Cliffs chief – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – March 12, 2015)

March 12, 2015

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

AUSTRALIA’S big iron ore miners are on a path towards “self-destruction” and could leave the country with a case to answer before the World Trade Organisation, the head of North America’s largest iron ore miner has warned.

Lourenco Goncalves, chief executive of US iron ore miner Cliffs Natural Resources, yesterday told the Global Iron Ore and Steel Forecast conference in Perth the surge in iron ore supply from producers such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals could send the price of Australia’s most important export to permanently lower levels.

Iron ore prices have more than halved in the past year as surging production swamped cooling demand, although the key iron ore index rebounded slightly yesterday to end a six-day losing streak.

Mr Goncalves said the price of seaborne iron ore shipped by Australian miners could halve again from about $US60 a tonne to as low as $US30 as a result of the major miners’ expansion strategy. “You call that strategy? I call it self-destruction,” Mr Goncalves said.

On Tuesday, Rio Tinto iron ore chief Andrew Harding and his BHP counterpart, Jimmy Wilson, defended their companies’ roles in the creation of the supply glut, arguing that each tonne of supply they did not deliver would have been filled with lesser-quality ore from elsewhere.

Cliffs Shuns Seaborne Iron Ore as Australia Unit for Sale – by Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – March 11, 2015)

March 11, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., the largest U.S. iron ore mining company, is quitting the seaborne trade in the commodity after the world’s biggest suppliers flooded the market with low-cost output and hurt prices.

The Cleveland-based company will focus on the U.S. market, where demand for steel is increasing, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lourenco Goncalves said at an industry conference in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday. The company’s operations in Western Australia are for sale, he said.

Iron ore tumbled 47 percent in 2014 and has extended losses this year as surging low-cost supply from Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. outpaced demand growth, triggering a global glut. Goncalves, who took over as CEO in August after an activist investor ousted the previous management, has sold mines and rationalized other operations in the face of the slumping prices. Cliffs’ stock lost 71 percent over the past 12 months, and is at the lowest since 2004.

“Here in Australia, we have a very good operation,” said Goncalves. “The asset is for sale, even if someone comes and buys to shut it down, that’s fair game. We’d like to sell to someone that will continue to keep the mine in operation.”

Pebble Mine debate in Alaska: EPA becomes target by planning for rare ‘veto’ – by Joby Warrick (Washington Post – February 15, 2015)

February 27, 2015

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Just north of Iliamna Lake in southwestern Alaska is an empty expanse of marsh and shrub that conceals one of the world’s great buried fortunes: A mile-thick layer of virgin ore said to contain at least 6.7 million pounds — or $120 billion worth — of gold.

As fate would have it, a second treasure sits precisely atop the first: the spawning ground for the planet’s biggest runs of sockeye salmon, the lifeline of a fishery that generates $500 million a year.

Between the two is the Obama administration, which has all but decided that only one of the treasures can be brought to market. How the White House came to side with fish over gold is a complex tale that involves millionaire activists, Alaska Natives, lawsuits and one politically explosive question: Can the federal government say no to a property owner before he has a chance to explain what he wants to do?

As early as this spring, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to invoke a rarely used legal authority to bar a Canadian company, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., from beginning work on its proposed Pebble Mine, citing risks to salmon and to Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay, 150 miles downstream.

The EPA’s position is supported by a broad coalition of conservationists, fishermen and tribal groups — and, most opinion polls show, by a majority of Alaskans.

Controversial mining rules draw crowd in Augusta – by Kevin Miller (Portland Press Herald – February 25, 2015)

February 26, 2015

http://www.pressherald.com/ [Maine]

Opponents contend that the Maine DEP’s proposals would not protect the environment but supporters say the rules would strengthen, not weaken, existing regulations.

AUGUSTA – The fight over mining returned to the State House on Wednesday as dozens of people urged lawmakers to once again reject proposed rules linked to a Canadian company’s plans to extract gold and other minerals from a northern Maine mountain.

In a repeat of hearings held on an identical proposal last year, lawmakers heard eight hours of testimony from about 70 speakers focused largely on whether mining represents an economic opportunity or an environmental threat to Maine.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is seeking legislative approval of new rules that supporters say could help revive the state’s all-but-nonexistent metal-mining industry while protecting the environment. But critics, who accounted for the vast majority of speakers on Wednesday, argued the proposals do not go far enough to protect water from mine contamination or to hold companies accountable for long-term cleanup of sites.

“Weakening existing mining regulations is bad policy,” said Jim Gerritsen, who grows organic potatoes on a farm roughly 40 miles from Bald Mountain, the site of what is believed to be one of Maine’s largest mineral deposits. “Our priority must be protecting Maine’s environment.”

Newmont to Consider Gold Deals Even as It Reduces Debt – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – February 23, 2015)

February 24, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Newmont Mining Corp., the largest U.S. gold producer, said it will consider acquisitions as well as the expansion of existing operations.

Like some of its biggest competitors, Newmont is focusing on its most efficient mines following a decline in the gold price. The company has sold about $1.4 billion of assets in the past two years and is building a mine in Suriname. Still, it won’t rule out buying low-cost and long-life mines in safe jurisdictions, Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg said.

“We’re always looking to improve our portfolio,” he said Monday in an interview in Hollywood, Florida, where he was attending the BMO Global Metals & Mining conference. “We’ve got a great organic pipeline but also it doesn’t hurt to just look around.”

While Goldberg declined to comment on specific assets Newmont would consider buying, he said the 50 percent of the Kalgoorlie Super Pit mine that Newmont doesn’t own would “fit in” with some of his acquisition criteria.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold miner, is the other Super Pit owner. That stake would be Barrick’s last remaining Australian asset if it offloads the Cowal mine, the sale of which was announced last week.

Nevada’s new mining mantra: Quality trumps quantity – by Marc Davis (BNW News)(Mineweb.com – February 24, 2015)

February 24, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

A far less glamorous species of ore has become the quarry of a few shrewd mining juniors – copper oxides.

Due to its wealth of prolific gold deposits, Nevada is fondly known as ‘elephant country’ to mining companies – big and small – that hope to hunt down their own epic discoveries. However, it’s a far less glamorous but nonetheless potentially very valuable species of ore that’s lately become the quarry of a few shrewd mining juniors – copper oxides. This strategy reflects the new reality in mining: Quality trumps quantity.

In other words, cash-strapped mining companies nowadays are quite happy to find modestly-sized, relatively high-grade deposits that can be commercialized at a fraction of the cost of huge ‘elephant-sized’ deposits. If these buried riches are near-surface – as is the case with some oxide deposits – the returns can be even more robust due to reduced pre-production expenditures.

Among Nevada’s new breed of ‘quality-oriented’ explorers is Discovery Harbour Resources (TSX.V: DHR). This mining junior recently drilled into what appears to be a near-surface copper oxide skarn deposit near the town of Lovelock in west central Nevada.

This is where an initial drill program has intersected as much as 74.2 feet (22.6 metres) averaging 1.2% copper at a fairly shallow depth at the 2BAR Project. Additionally, sweet spots as rich as 5.6 feet (1.7 metres) averaging 5.89% copper were also encountered within about 100 feet of the surface.

B.C. mines minister aims for right audience with next trip to Alaska – by Tamsyn Burgmann (Canadian Press/Vancouver Sun – February 22, 2015)

February 23, 2015

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

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s mines minister is making plans to visit Alaska’s indigenous fishing community after admitting his first trip to the state following the Mount Polley disaster addressed “probably the wrong audience.”

Bill Bennett spoke at a major mining industry conference last fall, but met with none of the tribal groups in the southeast region presumed most threatened by upstream mining across the border in B.C.

In retrospect, Bennett said people living off the sea in the transboundary region have every right to be concerned about mines in his province, but that he wants to stem the rising anxiety by sharing more information.

“They do not have the kind of information and understanding of how we do things here in British Columbia that they need to have, and that’s probably our fault,” he told The Canadian Press. “I think that we can relieve some of these fears.”

Bennett has asked a binational economic think-tank to consider organizing a symposium to bring both sides together in one of the southeastern Alaska towns at the heart of its multibillion-dollar fishing industry.

Bennett said he hopes the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region will convene a forum in a few months to share best practices and raise awareness about B.C.’s “rigorous” permitting process.

Cliffs to return to core business – by John Pepin (Mining Journal – February 19, 2015)

February 20, 2015

http://www.miningjournal.net/

MARQUETTE – The top executive for Cliffs Natural Resources said Wednesday the mining company continues to pursue a “rock solid” revitalization strategy of shutting down and selling off its diverse assets elsewhere, reducing debt, and focusing on iron ore production in the Upper Great Lakes region.

“We are back to basics,” said Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs’ chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We are back to our business, to our real business, the business that made Cliffs a big company, the business that made Cliffs a powerhouse in the United States and abroad and that is producing iron ore in Michigan and Minnesota and that’s it. That’s our business.”

From coal to chromite, from Australia to Canada and the southeastern United States, under previous board management, Cliffs diversified and expanded.

“Everything else was done through a strategy that was not the best one for the company – that was not the best one for the community that the company serves,” he said. “Lots of money was spent and wasted in bad investments we’re correcting all that.”

Goncalves said Cliffs’ now realizes those “mistakes of the past.”

Lives Transformed: Education and the Iron Range – by Pamela A. Brunfelt (Home Town Focus – February 20, 2015)

February 20, 2015

http://www.hometownfocus.us/

Dear Readers,

Earlier this year Pam Brunfelt, distinguished historian, Vermilion Community College instructor and HTF contributor made available, through the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, four history articles that she researched and wrote.

One of those pieces, “The Arsenal of Democracy: Minnesota’s Iron Ranges in WWII,” was published in the January 2, 2015, edition of Hometown Focus. This week we’re sharing “Lives Transformed: Education and the Iron Range.”

These, and the remaining two pieces to be shared at a later date (“At the Center of Life: Women on the Iron Range” and “Industrialization and the Iron Range”), collectively comprise the IRRRB project, “Mining Our History.”

All four of Brunfelt’s history pieces can be accessed online at: http://mn.gov/irrrb/DataCenter/History/walk-through-our-history.jsp – Cindy Kujala – HTF Staff Writer

Mining changed the landscape of the Iron Ranges, and mining taxes created one of the finest education systems in the United States. Education served three purposes. First, to provide alternatives to employment in the mines; second, to transform a polyglot immigrant culture into a new Iron Range identity based on American values; and third, to provide a path to citizenship for thousands of immigrants in the first decades of the twentieth century.