United States Mining – Page 107

Cliffs’ massive closure costs at Bloom Lake stun analysts – by Peter Koven (National Post – November 20, 2014)

November 20, 2014

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

Three weeks ago, Lourenco Goncalves warned that shutting down the Bloom Lake mine in Quebec would not be a simple task. “Going away from [Bloom Lake] is not deleting it on a computer. It’s a pretty complicated process,” the chief executive of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. told the Financial Post.

He wasn’t kidding. Cliffs announced on Wednesday that it plans to exit Bloom Lake. And if it can’t find a buyer, it expects to be on the hook for astounding closure costs of US$650-million to US$700-million during the next five years. The stock plunged US$2.04 or 20% to US$8.17 in New York on the news.

The Cleveland-based miner did not respond to requests for comment. But analysts said a key problem for Cliffs is the penalty costs involved in breaking a “take or pay” rail contract between Bloom Lake and the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway Company. If the mine shuts, there is no choice but to terminate that contract.

Citigroup analyst Brian Yu was forecasting US$360-million of care and maintenance and transport penalty costs over three years to close Bloom Lake, noting the company’s estimate is “obviously much larger.”

Cliffs said in a filing this month that if Bloom Lake were to close, “various commitments including rail minimums, royalties, and other ongoing costs could be incurred.”

Twenty-Nine Coal Mining Deaths: Should The Former CEO Go To Prison? – by Ken Silverstein (Forbes Magazine – November 17, 2014)

November 18, 2014

http://www.forbes.com/

During the 2014 Midterm Elections, most candidates for federal and state offices in Appalachia couldn’t get enough of coal — races, in essence, to see who could be the most pro-coal. Now, though, with criminal charges just announced against one of the coal barons, elected officials are running in the opposite direction.

Those living in West Virginia’s coal towns have long known of Don Blankenship, the former chief executive of Massey Energy that is now owned by Alpha Natural Resources ANR -6.9%. To shareholders, he had been a no-nonsense guy, increasing mining production while adding to Massey’s bottom line. To miners and regulators, however, he has been the ultimate hard-ass, caring nothing about the little guy.

Lacking sentimentality is not a crime. But ignoring established mine-safety laws while misleading shareholders about those priorities is illegal. That is what the U.S. District Court for Southern West Virginia is alleging in its four-count indictment against Blankenship, released late last week. If found guilty of all charges, the former CEO could face up to 31 years in prison.

“He could have talked himself into believing that he knew the industry and the risks better than the government. He could also have chosen to close his eyes to the risks and was driven purely by greed. He could also try to justify it by reasoning that if someone dies, then it is simply a function of being in a dangerous business,” says Jane Barrett, professor of law and director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland Law School, in an interview.

Hal Quinn, U.S. mining’s advocate in Washington and beyond – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 17, 2014)

November 17, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

U.S. mining has “a world-class resource base, but we’re being shackled by a worst-in-class permitting system,” says Hal Quinn.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Hal P. Quinn, the president and CEO of the National Mining Association, believes the people employed in U.S. mining is the strongest asset the industry possesses.

In a recent interview with Mineweb, Quinn expressed confidence the new Republican-controlled Senate may accord the U.S. mining industry the access, the airing of concerns and the vetting of legislation that the industry has come to rely on in the U.S. House.

Convincing both houses of Congress that streamlining of mining permitting on the federal level is vital to the future of U.S. manufacturing and related industries is one of Quinn’s foremost goals over the next two years as a new U.S. President is chosen in 2016.

Appointed as chief of the National Mining Association in 2008, Attorney Quinn has been working in and around the mining industry for more than 25 years ever since he joined the Mining and Reclamation Council of America as legal counsel in the 1980s, which was subsequently merged into the National Coal Association in 1987, and then merged with the American Mining Congress in 1995, becoming the National Mining Association.

Florence copper leaching project stalls – by Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services (Arizona Daily Star – November 15, 2014)

November 17, 2014

http://tucson.com/

PHOENIX — A state board has blocked construction of a controversial copper leaching operation beneath Florence — at least in the form it was proposed.

The Arizona Water Quality Appeals Board accepted the findings of an administrative law judge, who concluded that the state Department of Environmental Quality’s permit allowing Curis Resources to pump acid into the ground would not adequately protect water quality. The judge’s report found a series of shortcomings.

But board members did not kill the project outright. They rejected Diane Mihalsky’s recommendation that the permit for Florence Copper Inc. be entirely voided, concluding that would place an “unnecessary burden” on both the company and the DEQ. Instead, they agreed to give the state and Curis a chance to change the operating plan — and the conditions DEQ is imposing — to put the proposed mining operation in compliance with state laws and regulations.

DEQ spokesman Mark Shafer defended his agency’s original decision as justified.

“We issued an environmentally protective permit,” he said, but acknowledged the judge disagreed. “Given that, we think the appeals board made the correct decision in remanding the case back to DEQ to take a look at it again.”

Don Blankenship, Former Massey Energy CEO, Indicted Over 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster – by John Raby (AP/Huffington Post – November 14, 2014)

November 14, 2014

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

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Don Blankenship, the steely-eyed executive once dubbed “The Dark Lord of Coal Country,” on Thursday became the highest-ranking coal official to face federal charges in the nation’s deadliest mine disaster in 40 years.

A federal grand jury indicted the former Massey Energy CEO on numerous counts of conspiracy in the April 2010 underground explosion that killed 29 men at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia.

The 43-page indictment said Blankenship “knew that UBB was committing hundreds of safety-law violations every year and that he had the ability to prevent most of the violations that UBB was committing. Yet he fostered and participated in an understanding that perpetuated UBB’s practice of routine safety violations, in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money.”

His attorney, William W. Taylor III, said in a statement that Blankenship “is entirely innocent of these charges. He will fight them and he will be acquitted.”

“Don Blankenship has been a tireless advocate for mine safety,” the statement said. “His outspoken criticism of powerful bureaucrats has earned this indictment. He will not yield to their effort to silence him. He will not be intimidated.”

Transboundary group wants a voice in BC mining process -by Angela Denning, KFSK (KTOO.org – November 14, 2014)

November 14, 2014

http://www.ktoo.org/ [Juneau, Alaska]

Proposed copper mines in British Columbia have a coalition speaking out on what they say could potentially hurt salmon runs for people on both sides of the border.

Salmon navigate through their noses and that sense of smell could be in jeopardy if proposed mines are developed in British Columbia, according to Sarah O’Neal, a fisheries biologist.

“That’s what they use to find predators and prey and mates and also to find their way back to the receiving stream where they were born,” O’Neal says. “So that’s how they know how to get back to spawn is by smelling.”

O’Neal is working with the campaign, Salmon Beyond Borders, which is trying to raise public awareness about the potential impacts of proposed mines in BC. She says it doesn’t take much contact with copper for salmon to be affected.

“Experiments have shown that salmon’s ability to smell can be impacted at just two to ten parts per billion of copper,” O’Neal says. “That equates to 2 to ten drops of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool … so, miniscule amounts.” O’Neal says those amounts are within water quality standards and can be legally discharged. And as the amount of cooper increases, the effect on salmon does too.

Lack of domestic minerals/metals supplies worry U.S. manufacturers – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

A growing global population relying on greater combinations of minerals have increased U.S. manufacturers’ minerals/metals demands.

RENO (MINEWEB) – A survey of 400 senior executives in the U.S, manufacturing sector or industries heavily impacted by manufacturing determined that more than 90% of them are concerned about the U.S. minerals and metals supply.

“The issue of minerals and metals supply is a growing concern among U.S. businesses, as U.S. manufacturers currently rely on foreign countries for more than half of the minerals and metals they use,” said the Edelman-Berland survey, Mining: The Foundation of U.S. Manufacturing.

Those executives are also concerned about supply disruptions outside of their control, “citing geopolitics and increasing global demand as the most pressure factors,” said the survey.

“Most executives surveyed also believe minerals and metals demand will only increase in the next five to 10 years,” according to the survey. Meanwhile, mineral and metal scarcity is also expected to increase during the same period and negatively impact business.

Of those surveyed, 40% said most of the minerals they use in their supply chains come from within the U.S., while 21% get 50% of the minerals domestically. Only 14% of those surveyed said all of the minerals they use come from the United States.

No strong U.S. mining policy trends evident in 2014 General Election – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 10, 2014)

November 12, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Perhaps, the Election vote demonstrates a lack of confidence among Alaska voters regarding the viability of the Pebble Project.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Across the United States, voters not only generated a Republican tsunami which solidified GOP control of both houses of the U.S. Congress, but cast their votes on 146 ballot issues last Tuesday, including two-mining specific initiatives in Alaska and Nevada.

“The results of the 2014 midterm election highlight opportunities for advancing important issues for the next election cycle—even if elected officials are unable or unwilling to act,” said the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

So, what lurked in the hearts and minds of U.S. voters when it came to mining-related ballot issues in the 2014 campaign?

This reporter, among many other voters, expected that Nevada voters would overwhelmingly vote in favor of State Question No. 2, which would have amended the Nevada Constitution to remove the cap on the taxations of minerals and other requirements relating to the taxation of mines, mining claims and minerals.

For an election campaign teeming with all kinds of political ads revolving around Nevada candidates and ballot issues, the lack of any advertising related to the measure was astounding.

Book review: John Grisham’s ‘Gray Mountain’ is a searing look at Big Coal – by Patrick Anderson (Washington Post – October 19, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

At the start of “Gray Mountain,” John Grisham’s angry and important new novel, Samantha Kofer — age 29, Washington native, graduate of Georgetown and Columbia Law — is a third-year associate at a huge New York law firm. She works 100 hours a week, doing boring chores that she hates, but she’s earning $180,000 a year and expects to be a $2 million-a-year partner by age 35.

Or she did expect that, until September 2008, when the economy tanked and panicked law firms began ridding themselves of associates and partners. We meet Samantha at the moment — “day ten after the fall of Lehman Brothers” — when the ax falls for her, with only one consolation offered. If laid-off associates will agree to intern with a nonprofit agency, they can keep their health benefits and will be considered for rehiring if prosperity returns. Thus it is that Samantha finds herself at the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic in tiny Brady, Va., in the heart of Appalachia.

That opening scene, wherein a world of privilege abruptly vanishes for astonished young people who have known only success, is startling, but no more than Grisham’s portrait of the world of poverty and injustice that Samantha soon enters. The author does justice to the physical beauty of Appalachia and to the decency of most of its people, but his real subject is the suffering inflicted on those people by mining companies and politicians who pander to them.

Samantha’s new boss, Mattie Wyatt, has kept the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic alive for 26 years. The first case she assigns to Samantha is that of a woman who needs protection from a husband who deals in crystal meth and beats her.

New tech-dependent nations desperate for non-Chinese REE sources – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 11, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

In recent years, Chinese production has accounted for about 95% of the REE global market.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The U.S. Geological Survey has released a report, which supports scientific research to determine where undiscovered/undeveloped resources of rare-earth elements may occur, as well as trends in the supply and demand of rare-earth elements domestically and internationally.

Because of the many important uses of REEs, nations dependent on new technologies, such as Japan, the United States and members of the European Union, which now must rely on Chinese REE exports, are encouraging discoveries of economic REE deposits and bringing them into production, says the Geological Survey.

“Most REEs are not as rare as the group’s name suggests,” says the new report, The Rare Earth Elements—Vital to Modern Technologies and Lifestyles. “Cerium is the most abundant REE, and is more common in the Earth’s crust than copper or lead.”

“All of the REEs, except promethium, are more abundant on average in the Earth’s crust than silver, gold, or platinum. However, concentrated and economically minable deposits of REEs are unusual,” according to the Geological Survey.

The real story of US coal: inside the world’s biggest coalmine – by Suzanne Goldenberg (The Guardian – November 10, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

In the world’s biggest coalmine, even a 400 tonne truck looks like a toy. Everything about the scale of Peabody Energy’s operations in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming is big and the mines are only going to get bigger – despite new warnings from the United Nations on the dangerous burning of fossil fuels, despite Barack Obama’s promises to fight climate change, and despite reports that coal is in its death throes.

At the east pit of Peabody’s North Antelope Rochelle mine, the layer of coal takes up 60ft of a 250ft trough in the earth, and runs in an interrupted black stripe for 50 miles.

With those vast, easy-to-reach deposits, Powder River has overtaken West Virginia and Kentucky as the big coalmining territory. The pro-coal Republicans’ takeover of Congress in the mid-term elections also favours Powder River.

“You’re looking at the world’s largest mine,” said Scott Durgin, senior vice-president for Peabody’s operations in the Powder River Basin, watching the giant machinery at work. “This is one of the biggest seams you will ever see. This particular shovel is one of the largest shovels you can buy, and that is the largest truck you can buy.”

By Durgin’s rough estimate, the mine occupies 100 square miles of high treeless prairie, about the same size as Washington DC. It contains an estimated three billion tonnes of coal reserves. It would take Peabody 25 or 30 years to mine it all.

At Alaska mining conference, talk of Pebble and Mount Polley – by Yereth Rosen (Alaska Dispatch News – November 6, 2014)

November 10, 2014

http://www.adn.com/

The owner of the Canadian mine that suffered a disastrous dam breach in August might face sanctions as serious as criminal penalties, British Columbia government officials said on Wednesday.

Decisions on corrective and possibly punitive steps will be made after provincial officials learn the findings of three separate investigations into the Mount Polley Mine dam failure, said Bill Bennett, British Columbia’s minister of energy and mines.

The Aug. 4 dam failure, though unprecedented for British Columbia, undercut confidence in the safety of mining in the province and around the world, Bennett told an audience at the Alaska Miners Association annual convention in Anchorage. “If it could happen there, where else can it happen? And that’s a question that’s on all of our minds, I think,” he said.

The Mount Polley dam breach has been cited by opponents of the controversial Pebble mine as a harbinger of risks that project poses to Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay region. Mount Polley is considered a moderate-sized mine for British Columbia; the proposed Pebble copper and gold project would be much bigger, with a much bigger tailings dam and much bigger potential damages, critics say.

Mount Polley’s woes also concern fishermen and environmentalists in Southeast Alaska, many of them already on edge because of spreading mine development just over the border in British Columbia.

Canada’s Potash to spend over $53 million in US Clean Air Act case – by Jonathan Stempel and Rod Nickel (Reuters U.S. – November 6, 2014)

November 7, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc agreed to spend more than $52 million on plant improvements and pay a $1.3 million civil penalty to resolve U.S. charges that it violated the Clean Air Act over the emission of harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, U.S. authorities said.

Thursday’s accord with the world’s largest fertilizer producer includes a consent decree, and is the largest in the U.S. Department of Justice’s effort to address Clean Air Act violations by sulfuric acid producers.

It resolves claims by the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that three Potash units built or modified several sulfuric acid plants in ways that allowed the emission of excess sulfur dioxide into nearby communities.

Potash spokesman Tom Pasztor said that while the company disagrees with the EPA’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act, “we opted, rather than litigate, to work with them and other regulators to resolve this dispute.”

Sulfur dioxide has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including premature death, and contributes to acid rain, haze and smog.

My Turn: Transboundary mines a looming problem [Mining on British Columnbia/Alaska border] – by Joe Mehrkens (The Juneau Empire – November 7, 2014)

November 7, 2014

http://juneauempire.com/

Joe Mehrkens is a retired forest economist living in Petersburg.

On Oct. 24, a public forum was held on the potential impacts to the Southeast fishing industry from new large mines in British Columbia. This is not the same old battle between greenies and boomers over development. It is a large, growing problem that has no institutional mechanisms to ensure environmental safeguards or provide any means to compensate third parties for potential damages.

This summer, a large tailings dam failed at the Mount Polley mine. The broken dam dumped 14.5 million cubic feet of water and slurry into salmon waters (Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Cariboo Creek). Even more disturbing, these polluted waters are a tributary of the Frazier River — the most productive sockeye salmon river in British Columbia. While total damages will be not quantified for years, it is characterized as Canada’s worst environmental disaster in modern times. Many more large mines are planned as BC expands its energy grid to new mineral deposits.

The Mount Polley failure may be a harbinger of the future. Environmental restoration will be minimal or nonexistent, and there will be no compensation for damage to non-mining interests — on either side of the border. Even if damaged parties successfully sue for damages, the mining company can go bankrupt. That process can result in shallow pockets when it comes to damage awards.

Alaska Legislature inherits mother of political footballs – the Pebble Project – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 6, 2014)

November 6, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Another ballot measure has thrown yet another hurdle into Northern Dynasty’s quest to develop the Pebble Project.

RENO (MINEWEB) – As Alaskan voters demonstrated they are more than willing to tax and regulate the production, sale and use of marijuana in the state, and resoundingly voted to increase the state’s minimum wage, they are not about to make it easy for the Pebble Mine near Bristol Bay.

Ballot Measure 4, or the “Bristol Bay Forever” initiative, was aimed squarely at the proposed Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. The measure was passed by a resounding margin of 65.32% to 34.68%, according to the Alaska Division of Elections.

Officially described as “An Act Providing for Protection of Bristol Bay Wild Salmon and Waters Within or Flowing into the Existing 1972 Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve”, the measure requires the Alaska Legislature to “approve future large-scale metallic sulfide mines in the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserves (BBFR) by passing a law”.

“The law would have to find that any proposed mine would not endanger the BBFR fishery. The approval would be in addition to any other required permits or authorizations,” according to the full ballot summary.