United States Mining – Page 114

Mining’s bearish pendulum swinging, in a big way, in other direction – MRG – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – June 17, 2014)

June 17, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

“The Silver Tsunami is fast approaching,” says a new MRG survey, bringing an executive brain drain, “the likes of which will shake the industry to its very core.”

RENO (MINEWEB) – “In an unprecedented turn of events, only 14% of mining executives now hold a bearish outlook as to the overall strength of the industry over the next 6-12 months,” reported Mining Recruitment Group’s Mining Executive Outlook, Q3 2014 Monday. “This is down remarkably from the 64% of executives who held the same view at this point of last year and the 52% who were bearish as of Q4 13.”

Vancouver-based MRG’s survey, which was distributed the week of June 9th and completed by 232 mining leaders, found, “Not only are executives not nearly as bearish any more, the pendulum in now swinging in a big way in the other direction with 35% of respondents now holding a bullish outlook for the next 12 months.”

“This is a massive reversal in sentiment from the 9% who held the same view at this point last year and the 11% from our Q4 polling,” said the report. “Though the marketed decrease in bears is promising, 51% of executives hold a neutral view for the industry over the short term.”

Mining making comeback in Michigan’s UP – by Associated Press (Mesabi Daily News – June 14, 2014)

June 16, 2014

http://www.virginiamn.com/

‘We’ve been kicked in the teeth so much over the years’

WHITE PINE, Mich. — A way of life dating back more than a century appeared over in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula when the last copper mine closed in 1995, idling more than 1,000 employees and turning this once-thriving company town into a forlorn outpost.

Now a Canadian company is planning a new mine at the site a few miles from Lake Superior, where screeching gulls hover over empty buildings and parking lots are littered with broken glass. If Highland Copper Co.’s plans go forward, the area will be astir once more as underground ores are blasted, hauled to the surface and crushed at a mill to extract valuable minerals.

White Pine’s impending rebirth is almost miraculous to local residents who have borne the brunt of its demise, but it’s part of something even bigger: a surprising resurgence of a mining industry that once was an economic pillar in three Upper Midwestern states but has been in serious decline.

In the past few years, at least six open-pit or underground mines have been proposed or started in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the first such ventures in decades. Additionally, four new Minnesota operations are using refined technology to extract iron from waste rock mined long ago. Other companies are exploring the region’s ample deposits of iron, copper, nickel and other metals, which have become more marketable because of improved technology and rising demand in the U.S. and China.

OPINION: It’s not Obama’s war on coal, it’s geology’s war on coal – by Leslie Glustrom and Zane Selvans (Denver Post – June 13, 2014)

June 16, 2014

http://www.denverpost.com/

Leslie Glustrom is a long-time coal industry watcher. Zane Selvans is director of research and policy at Clean Energy Action.

As the Environmental Protection Agency moves ahead with limits on carbon pollution from the nation’s coal plants, you’ll hear a lot of industry outrage about Obama’s “war on coal.” Don’t believe it.

The truth is, the U.S. coal industry is already in dire straits, including here in Colorado — and it is due primarily to geology, not politics.

Coal is undeniably a non-renewable substance. We have been mining the easily accessible deposits for the last 150 years, and the planet isn’t making any more on a time scale that matters to humans.

As a result, the U.S. coal industry is in serious financial distress — right now — months, and likely years, before any EPA carbon regulations actually go into effect.

Even if the EPA were to be eliminated tomorrow (not something we advocate), the U.S. coal industry would still likely be largely winding down in the next decade or so.

Mining and Water Don’t Mix: Acid Mine Drainage Threatens Lake Superior and Boundary Waters – by Meleah Geertsma (Switchboard:Natural Resources Defense Council Staff Blog – May 30, 2014)

June 16, 2014

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/

Think colossal industrial development in the Midwest – do the sparkling waters and gorgeous shoreline of Lake Superior, or pristine wilderness of the Boundary Waters, come to mind? If not, they should, given the new generation of massive metallic mines currently being slated for the Upper Midwest. These proposed mines would be among the largest in the U.S., and in some cases in the world. And they would be located in some of the country’s most treasured and unique freshwater ecosystems. The trouble is, sulfide mining and water just don’t mix.

In early June, the Michigan Court of Appeals will hear arguments in a case over the construction of an underground mine near the shores of Lake Superior in the Yellow Dog Plains of Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula. Due to the Eagle Mine’s potential for creating acid mine drainage – a highly toxic product formed when sulfides in the ore and/or overburden interact with oxygen and water – and a host of other environmental and economic concerns, the mine has generated significant controversy in the local area and beyond.

In addition, as the first mine permitted by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) under the state’s revised mining law (adopted by the legislature in 2004) and the first mover among the new generation of massive metallic mines facing the region, the Eagle Mine is an important example of the health and environmental onslaught from mining currently poised to hit the Upper Midwest.

Regulators should get out of takeovers – by Adrian Myers (Globe and Mail – June 12, 2014)

June 13, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Can an endangered wild animal determine the fate of a hostile takeover bid? In Canada, the answer seems to be “yes.”

On May 22, an ocelot was spotted on the site of Augusta Resource Corp.’s Rosemont copper project and speculation is that this wildlife sighting could be a boon for HudBay Minerals Inc.’s hostile bid for Augusta. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will now have to conduct further analysis of the project site, which means Augusta will likely not receive final development permits until the third quarter.

While this delay may seem minor, it may have a major effect on the outcome of HudBay’s bid by putting final permitting on the wrong side of the British Columbia Securities Commission’s (BCSC) arbitrary poison pill cease-trade deadline.

This reveals a fundamental issue with Canadian securities regulation: Regulators, not shareholders, are the ones who determine whether a hostile takeover succeeds or fails. By forcing companies to abandon takeover defences after arbitrary periods of time, regulators leave shareholders vulnerable not just to hostile bidders but to unexpected turns of fate, feline or otherwise.

Such deadlines mean that the most powerful voice in the debate over the fate of Augusta may not be the shareholder’s proxy ballot, but a dwarf leopard’s meek roar.

The Northern Minnesota [mining] political narrative: Real and Imagined – by Aaron Brown (Minneapolis Star Tribune – June 11, 2014)

June 12, 2014

http://www.startribune.com/

It’s an election year. Not just that, it’s another year fraught with continuing statewide debate over mining and environmental issues in northern Minnesota. This brings with it a combustable mix of political speculation, hammer-fisted rhetoric and economic obfuscation in a region populated by trees, deer and people (in that order).

I might not be the only political speculator in this state, but I might be the only one who can see two mines, a lake, a dirt road and the outskirts of a national forest from my roof. So off we go.

In the interest of shaking up the conversation, I’m presenting a contrast today: the real Northern Minnesota as contrasted with the imagined one often found in political speeches and media accounts. It’s not just a Cities vs. Up North thing: perceptions can be just as cloudy “up here” as they are “down there.” As we all should know by now, perception is not always reality.

The Imagined

Northern Minnesota is deeply split over copper and nickel mining, with the Iron Range being for it and Duluth against it. The DFL is split over the issue because of its environmental base, so Republicans’ full-throated support of mining threatens to shift this former DFL stronghold to the Republicans this year. After all, that’s what happened in 2010.

Coal isn’t dying – it just can’t compete – by Christina Simeone (Penn Live: The Patriot News – June 9, 2014)

June 10, 2014

http://www.pennlive.com/#/0

Christina Simeone is the director of the PennFuture Energy Center at PennFuture, a Harrisburg-based advocacy group.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposal to reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants, the nation’s number one source of these emissions. In Pennsylvania, opponents of the rule are saying this is a “war on coal” aimed at killing the coal industry and destroying jobs. So, what is really going on?

First off, coal isn’t dying.

Coal is being out-competed in the domestic electric power markets by cheaper, relatively cleaner natural gas. However, at the same time, coal is breaking records in the international export markets, indicating economic viability.

Second, there is no “war on coal.”

There is a market correction under way. Historically, energy markets have been artificially cheap because the economic costs of pollution have not been factored into market prices — rather, these costs have been externalized to the public in the form of health-harming pollution. This externalization is called a market failure. If you like competitive markets, then you should support correcting market failures.

Newmont Suspends Indonesian Operations As Minerals Export Issue Remains Unresolved – by Trefis Team (Forbes Magazine – June 9, 2014)

June 10, 2014

http://www.forbes.com/

Newmont Mining has announced the suspension of operations at its Batu Hijau mines in Indonesia. This follows the halt in production and processing of copper concentrate at its Indonesian operations after its copper concentrate storage facilities were filled to capacity.

The company had halted exports from Indonesia in January, as a law banning exports of unprocessed minerals from the country came into effect. Though last minute changes to the law permitted Newmont to export its copper concentrates, they imposed a 25% tax on exports which would rise to 60% by 2016. The company claimed that this tax violated the terms of its original investment agreement, or contract of work, with the Indonesian government.

The company is engaged in negotiations with the government regarding the export duty, leading to resumption of its exports from the country. The company invoked the force majeure clause of its contract of work, in order to suspend operations, after its storage facility was filled to capacity and production could not be continued.

The suspension of production will impact Newmont’s quarterly and annual results, though the extent of the impact will be determined by the duration for which operations remain suspended.

A law enacted in Indonesia in 2009 banned exports of unprocessed minerals from the country with effect from January12, 2014.

Under attack, coal maintains its political muscle – by Adam Beam (Minneapolis Star Tribune – June 8, 2014)

June 10, 2014

http://www.startribune.com/

Associated Press – FRANKFORT, Ky. — The coal industry is shedding thousands of jobs and facing the government’s most severe crackdown on carbon emissions yet. But king coal still flexes its political muscle in Kentucky and West Virginia, where Republicans and even Democrats try to out-coal one another by cozying up to the industry and slamming President Barack Obama.

In other coal-producing areas such as Ohio and Virginia, Democrats have been able to win even with the industry against them. That’s not an option for politicians in the heart of Appalachia.

Many people here still cling to coal as a source of work and cultural pride, so almost everyone running for office seeks the mantle of coal savior, or at least defender.

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican up for re-election, chided his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, for accepting money from “anti-coal activists,” including a group that worked closely with the Obama administration on the regulations. Grimes counters that McConnell and his super PAC have taken campaign money from a group whose goals include reducing the number of coal-fired power plants in Texas.

After the new emissions rules were announced June 2, she took out radio and newspaper ads to criticize Obama’s “war on coal.”

Smith River is too valuable to mine [Nickel] – by Jeff Thompson (SF Gate.com – June 9, 2014)

June 10, 2014

http://www.sfgate.com/

Jeff Thompson is executive director of California Trout, a nonprofit organization that has been working to protect and restore wild trout, steelhead, salmon and their waters throughout California since 1971.

The Smith River, stretching from Southern Oregon into the far reaches of Northern California, is the only major California river that remains undammed from its headwaters to its mouth. That’s no small thing. More than 7,000 dams and diversions clutter California’s rivers, making the Smith the last truly wild major river here.

A mining company based in the United Kingdom has set its sights on developing a nickel mine along one of the Smith’s major tributaries in Oregon. The proposed mining area is within a national forest; federal law allows mining on such lands. Just because mining can take place on this land, should we allow it happen?

Is it fair – or even logical – for a private corporation to reap a profit while placing California’s last wild river in harm’s way? Millions of dollars and countless hours have gone into protecting and restoring the Smith River watershed. Ninety percent of the land around the river and its tributaries are managed by public agencies. This tremendous investment of time and money has a singular goal: to protect one of the last salmon strongholds left in the lower 48 states, which provides essential support for a multimillion-dollar salmon fishery.

Pioneer Mine video: Crossing over from black and white to digital (The Ely Echo – June 8, 2014)

June 9, 2014

http://www.elyecho.com/

This week a new video on YouTube brings to life the underground world of Ely’s historic Pioneer Mine. Great photos, mainly in black and white, cross into the digital world. It’s a great step forward for presenting and preserving our mining history. Here’s why that’s important.

Today’s mining news is not about iron ore, it’s about copper, nickel, gold, platinum, palladium and other platinum group metals (PGMs). Just as iron built this country’s infrastructure and helped the United States to win two world wars, copper and other PGMs are helping us advance our digital infrastructure, from televisions to cellphones.
But in order to better understand where we’re going we need to understand where we’ve been. Thanks to volunteers with the Ely Arts and Heritage Center, that’s being done today.

PolyMet mining issue cuts deep into DFL unity at state convention – by Baird Helgeson (Minneapolis Star Tribune – June 2, 2014)

June 3, 2014

http://www.startribune.com/

DULUTH – Democrats averted a nasty public fight Sunday over a controversial Iron Range copper-nickel mining proposal that has vividly split powerful party factions.

Activists at the state DFL convention decided against debating a proposal to make support of mining part of the state party platform. The move took on enormous implications as environmentalists and labor supporters are bitterly divided over PolyMet Mining Corp.’s proposal to extract copper and nickel from the long-closed LTV mine in Hoyt Lakes.

“The mining issue has the potential to rip up the last remaining hard-core Democrats,” said Joel Holstad, a DFL activist from Forest Lake. “I have no idea which way this is going to go, but I think this issue has the potential to be incredibly impactful on the future of the party.”

Some elected Democrats, who control the governor’s office and the House and Senate, were dreading a bruising public fight that would have overshadowed DFLers’ overwhelming endorsements of Gov. Mark Dayton and U.S. Sen. Al Franken, who are heading into tough re-election fights.

Obama to Take Action to Slash Coal Pollution – by Coral Davenport (New York Times – June 2, 2014)

June 3, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Monday will announce one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change, a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, according to people briefed on the plan who spoke anonymously because they had been asked not to reveal details.

The regulation takes aim at the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States, the nation’s more than 600 coal-fired power plants. If it withstands an expected onslaught of legal and legislative attacks, experts say that it could close hundreds of the plants and also lead, over the course of decades, to systemic changes in the American electricity industry, including transformations in how power is generated and used.

It is also likely to stand as President Obama’s last chance to substantially shape domestic policy and as a defining element of his legacy. The president, who failed to push a sweeping climate change bill through Congress in his first term, is now acting on his own by using his executive authority under the 1970 Clean Air Act to issue the regulation.

Under the rule, states will be given a wide menu of policy options to achieve the pollution cuts. Rather than immediately shutting down coal plants, states would be allowed to reduce emissions by making changes across their electricity systems — by installing new wind and solar generation or energy-efficiency technology, and by starting or joining state and regional “cap and trade” programs, in which states agree to cap carbon pollution and buy and sell permits to pollute.

The Obama coal carbon plan flies in the face of global trends – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – June 3, 2014)

June 3, 2014

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

The new Environmental Protection Agency plan to reduce U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions is being hailed by environmental activists and green industry lobbyists as “momentous,” “historic,” “the most important in history,” “a critical step,” a triumph for President Obama and, by Mother Jones magazine, as a “really big deal.” All of which is a sure sign EPS’s 650-page rhetoric-filled plan to force a 30% reduction in carbon emissions from power plants is a really bad deal.

The EPA’s regulatory shambles of a plan, in which different states in the union will face different targets, aims to cut emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. It is one of these grand schemes that is destined to fall apart before it gets off the ground. It is, in fact, more of a political gambit than a policy initiative.

In that case, green enthusiasm may also be more political strategy than a genuine belief that the government of the world’s biggest and most dynamic economy is going to begin an internal war on relatively inexpensive coal-generated electricity at a time when the rest of the world is heading in the other direction.

Just about everywhere, including coal-free Ontario, the goal of curbing coal use in electricity production generated billions in costs for consumers at zero benefit to the climate.

THE RARE-EARTHS ROLLER COASTER – by Alastair Gee (The New Yorker – May 24, 2014)

June 3, 2014

http://www.newyorker.com/

Starting in early 2010, a small Canadian company called Elissa Resources spent more than $1.66 million exploring a hilly scrap of desert dotted with cacti, creosote bushes, and Joshua trees, at the southern tip of Nevada. The company was looking for rare earths: obscure metals with magnetic and luminescent properties which are used in such products as high-efficiency light bulbs, smartphones, and TV screens. The metals are also of enormous value to the defense and renewable-energy industries.

To find them, Elissa Resources employees mapped the landscape and used special devices to figure out where radiation was unusually high. The firm contracted an aircraft to measure the land’s magnetism, surveyed the area from a helicopter, and drilled twenty-one holes to figure out what was down below. But, in 2013, Elissa Resources halted major work at the site. A slump in the rare-earths market has made it hard to attract the investment needed to continue the investigations.

Most of the world’s rare earths are mined in China. In recent years, amid fears that China’s control of the market could jeopardize Western strategic interests, firms such as Elissa pursued deposits elsewhere—in the United States, Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, Vietnam, Greenland, Australia, and other countries. A boom was on. “A geologist would pick up a rock, lick it, and say, ‘Oh, I’ve got rare earths,’ and suddenly you’ve got a rare-earths company,” Gareth Hatch, a co-founder of the market-intelligence firm Technology Metals Research, said. The industry acquired an air of glamour, thanks to the futuristic uses of the metals, and a moniker suggestive of preciousness.