United States Mining – Page 121

Robert Redford: National ecological treasure in danger – by Robert Redford (U.S.A. Today – February 20, 2014)

February 24, 2014

http://www.usatoday.com/

I, along with many others, have been working for years to protect Bristol Bay, Alaska, from large-scale mining. This spectacular, unspoiled landscape is home to the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. Every year tens of millions of salmon return to Bristol Bay to feed thriving commercial and sports fishing industries, as well as brown bears, whales, bald eagles and wolves. And they’re the centerpiece of sustenance and culture for Alaska Natives who have lived there for thousands of years.

Incredibly, a Canadian-based mining company wants to build a vast open-pit gold and copper mine, one of the largest in the world, in the heart of this national treasure. The operation, known as Pebble Mine, would threaten the ecosystem and salmon – the entire lifeblood of the region.

That’s why it has been crystal clear to so many of us that this misguided scheme must be stopped. And now the federal Environmental Protection Agency has provided what should be the definitive evidence that the Pebble Mine would be a disaster.

In a final assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed that took three years of extensive scientific research, peer review and public comment to produce, the agency last month found the following:

Reader’s view: Copper-nickel mining devastated Sudbury and its surroundings – by Roberta Plewa (Duluth News Tribune – February 23, 2013)

February 24, 2014

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Regarding the copper-nickel mining issue, I want to mention a bit of history I have witnessed.

In the 1940s, my father worked for the railroad, entitling families free train travel. My aunt’s family lived in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. Trains traveled circuitous routes then so we passed through Sudbury, Ontario. We were aware of mining there but unconcerned. In 1965 my family and I traveled that route to visit. On the way we decided to see the “big nickel.” When we reached the hilltop I looked around and observed a nightmare. It was black as far as one could see. Nothing but black. That was the legacy of copper-nickel mining.

The publicity for and against the Range project set me to thinking. My husband Googled the words “Earth/Sudbury” and retrieved significant information. Today “Greater Sudbury,” as it is called because of its expansion, has grown and prospered due to diversification. However, the original Sudbury, in spite of 50 years of reclamation efforts, still remains devastated.

The Chamber of Commerce of Sudbury acknowledges the devastation of the past but promotes the positive surrounding area. There is no mention of outcome for the watersheds that ultimately go to Lake Huron by way of the rivers and streams. There is no mention of health issues from breathing the black dust or birth defects.

Northeast rock salt supply at critical low as more snow hits – by Victoria Cavaliere (Reuters U.S. – February 18, 2014)

February 24, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

NEW YORK – (Reuters) – Rock salt was in short supply in the U.S. Northeast on Tuesday after successive winter storms led to critical shortages in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, while New Jersey scrambled to secure a huge shipment stuck at a port in Maine.

The shortages come as the East Coast was slammed by a third winter storm system in a single week, leaving many states over-budget for snow removal and running low on critical supplies, like rock salt, which is used to help melt ice and snow packed roads and public areas. The 40,000 tons of rock salt remained in Searsport, Maine, days after New Jersey was denied a waiver of federal shipping rules that would have allowed an available foreign-flagged vessel to bring it into a Newark port.

Instead, efforts to get the ice-melting material to New Jersey remained stymied by the 1920 Maritime Act, also known as the Jones Act, enacted to protect the American shipping industry from foreign competition.

“It’s very frustrating. We could have had that shipment here by this past weekend,” said New Jersey Department of Transportation Spokesman Joe Dee. Salt supplies were running so low in the state that crews were “scraping the bottom of the barrel,” he said.

Award-winning golf resort was once a Florida phosphate mine – by Tamara Lush (Waterloo Record – February 20, 2014)

February 20, 2014

http://www.therecord.com/waterlooregion/

BOWLING GREEN, Fla. — What do you do with 15 million cubic yards of sand? If you’re Mosaic, one of the world’s largest phosphate companies, you build two award-winning golf courses. And a spa. And an edgy, modern hotel.

In the middle of Central Florida, far from any theme park or beach. Streamsong Resort opened its golf courses and clubhouse in late 2012, and last month, it unveiled its 216-room lodge. It’s located in the tiny community of Bowling Green, which is closer in DNA to cattle ranches than Disney.

In fact, Streamsong is difficult to find; the journey from the Tampa Bay area included a turn at a ramshackle BBQ restaurant and a drive past several cows. A medium-sized metal sign with the resort’s name is the only thing signalling that one has arrived on the property.

Visitors are first greeted by the sight of large, grass covered dunes and blue lakes, and instead of the flat landscape of Central Florida, there are hills and dips and yes, some green of the golf courses. A modern-looking hotel, with its slightly curved exterior, is nestled near a lake.

The whole landscape is nothing like anything in Florida, possibly because it’s not groomed and plucked and patterned with palm trees. The property is oddly wild and rough, yet Zen-like and tranquil.

UPDATE 2-Hedge fund plans proxy fight with Cliffs to install new CEO – by Allison Martell (Reuters U.S. – February 12, 2014)

February 12, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

Feb 12 (Reuters) – The activist investor squaring off with Cliffs Natural Resources Inc named its preferred candidate for chief executive officer on Wednesday and said it plans to nominate enough new directors to form a majority of the iron ore miner’s board.

Hedge fund Casablanca Capital, which owns about 5.2 percent of Cliffs, said it is backing Lourenco Goncalves, former CEO of Metals USA, to take the top job at hard-hit Cliffs.

Last month Casablanca publicly urged Cliffs to spin off its international operations and form a master limited partnership from its U.S. assets, but the fund declined to say what its next steps would be if Cliffs refused.

Cliffs, a relatively high-cost producer, has been battered by weak iron ore prices. Operational issues and worse-than-expected costs have plagued its Bloom Lake Mine in Quebec, once seen by analysts as a key growth project.

After months of uncertainty, the company said on Tuesday it has decided to indefinitely suspend a planned expansion at Bloom Lake, and idle Wabush, another Canadian mine, slashing capital spending and cutting some 500 jobs.

HudBay Low Bid for Arizona Copper Invites Rival Offer: Real M&A – by Tara Lachapelle (Bloomberg News – February 11, 2014)

February 12, 2014

http://www.businessweek.com/

The prospect of mining copper in Arizona has traders lining up bets that Augusta Resource Corp. (AZC), the target of an unsolicited bid by HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM), will win a higher offer.

Shares of Vancouver-based Augusta rose 15 percent above HudBay’s all-stock bid, which was valued yesterday at C$2.78 a share, or about C$440 million ($400 million) including net debt. The gap, one of the widest among pending North American deals in which traders expect bidding wars, indicates investors are anticipating a boost from HudBay or another suitor.

Augusta’s Arizona copper project is in the last stages of attaining necessary permits. Laurentian Bank of Canada said it’s large enough to attract other producers including OZ Minerals Ltd. (OZL) and Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK/B) and estimates the company’s value is at least C$3.89 a share based on similar deals. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX:US) Copper & Gold Inc., based in Arizona, is another possible suitor with the financial (FCX:US) strength to outbid HudBay, according to National Bank Financial.

“The market expects that this may be the initial offer and Augusta could negotiate better terms,” Shane Nagle, a Toronto-based analyst at National Bank, said in a phone interview. “It’s a high-quality asset. There is room certainly to sweeten the offer.”

HudBay’s $428-million hostile bid for Augusta provides jolt to Canadian mining sector – by Peter Koven (National Post – February 11, 2014)

February 11, 2014

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

TORONTO – For the second time this year, a large hostile bid has breathed much-needed life into the Canadian mining sector.

HudBay Minerals Inc.’s $428-million offer for Augusta Resource Corp. has prompted strong speculation of a rival bid from analysts and investors. It has been months since the sector had a major takeover battle with multiple bidders, and the bid is seen as a potential catalyst for further M&A activity. “All of a sudden it lights a fire under everyone in this space,” said John Stephenson, senior vice-president at First Asset Investment Management.

The HudBay offer comes a few weeks after Goldcorp Inc. launched a $2.6-billion hostile bid for Osisko Mining Corp. The two moves have brought energy back into the mining space, which has suffered over the past 18 months because of lacklustre commodity prices, writedowns and investor disinterest.

Both the Augusta and Osisko bids reflect current realities in the sector: while they are priced well above the recent trading ranges of the stocks, they are worth fractions of what these companies traded at a few years ago.

‘Mine-to-Close’ method best for managing mine-closure risks – Beale – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 11, 2014)

February 11, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Heavy data gathering, lab testing instead of field tests, and standards-based regulation may not be the best approach to sustainable mine closure, says mining hydrologist Geoff Beale.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Mining hydrologist Geoff Beale of Schlumberger Water Services is urging mining companies to “take careful consideration of closure when planning their initial and expanded site layoffs” to reduce the chance of being saddled with mine pollution liability issues in perpetuity.

In a presentation to the Northern Nevada Section of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Monday night, Beale noted that mine operators increasingly adopt a “mine to close” approach when planning their initial and expanded site layouts.

Beale reminded his audience that the controlled mine closure has only occurred within the past two decades, and that many of the mines entering the closure stage now were developed before closure regulations existed.

HudBay makes hostile C$540m all-share bid for Augusta Resource – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 10, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

HudBay launched a hostile bid for Rosemont project partner, Augusta Resource, claiming it is in a much better position to develop the Arizona copper mine.

RENO (MINEWEB) – HudBay Minerals announced Sunday that it intends to make a C$540 million hostile all-share bid for Augusta Resource Corporation.

HudBay owns 15% of Augusta Resource’s Rosemont copper project in Arizona. Augusta Resource said its board of directors would discuss the bid offer this coming week. Under the terms of the HudBay offer, Augusta shareholders will receive 0.315 of a HudBay share for each common share held, estimated at C$2.96 per Augusta common share.

“Since our initial investment in August in 2010, we have been excited about the potential of the Rosemont project. We view the Rosemont project as an attractive complement to our existing portfolio of high quality, long-life assets that fits well with our construction timeline at Constancia,” said HudBay CEO David Garofalo.

From Warheads to Cheap Energy – by William J. Broad (New York Times – January 27, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

Thomas L. Neff’s Idea Turned Russian Warheads Into American Electricity

As the Cold War ended in the late 1980s and early ’90s, a new fear arose amid the rejoicing and relief: that atomic security might fail in the disintegrating Soviet Union, allowing its huge stockpile of nuclear warheads to fall into unfriendly hands.

The jitters intensified in late 1991, as Moscow announced plans to store thousands of weapons from missiles and bombers in what experts viewed as decrepit bunkers, policed by impoverished guards of dubious reliability.

Many officials and scientists worried. Few knew what to do. That is when Thomas L. Neff, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hit on his improbable idea: Why not let Moscow sell the uranium from its retired weapons and dilute it into fuel for electric utilities in the United States, giving Russians desperately needed cash and Americans a cheap source of power?

Last month, Dr. Neff’s idea came to a happy conclusion as the last shipment of uranium from Russia arrived in the United States.

Price tag on future pollution underlies PolyMet mine debate – by Josephine Marcotty (Minneapolis Star Tribune – February 9, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.startribune.com/

State is trying to set size of PolyMet’s financial guarantee. Beneath the controversy over Minnesota’s first proposed copper mine lurks a hundred-million-dollar question: How much would it cost to protect the state from water pollution, environmental calamities and mining company bankruptcies that could occur decades, even centuries, after the mine opens?

The answer could make or break the project proposed by PolyMet Mining Corp. for Minnesota’s Iron Range, and it will be front and center at the State Capitol on Tuesday, as the state’s top mining regulators testify at a hearing on how much “financial assurance” might be necessary to protect future generations of taxpayers from a new and risky type of mining. The short answer for now is: They don’t know.

If the mine goes forward, they will have to walk a perilous line. If they ask PolyMet to post too large a financial guarantee, the project may not attract the next $450 million in investment PolyMet is seeking — jeopardizing a plan that could bring hundreds of mining and construction jobs to northern Minnesota. If they ask for too little, then taxpayers someday may have to pay the price of polluting one of the most beautiful corners of the state.

“Our concern is not so much whether PolyMet is profitable or not,” said Jess Richards, director of lands and minerals for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the agency that is leading the environmental review.

Sage-grouse could become mining’s ‘Spotted Owl on Steroids’ – AMEA – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 4, 2014)

February 4, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Federal designation of the Greater Sage-grouse as threatened or endangered could result in the withdrawal of over 17 million acres from mining, says the American Exploration & Mining Association.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The America Exploration & Mining Association (AEMA), formerly the Northwest Mining Association, recently accused the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service of making an unprecedented attempted to limit multiple use on public lands through use of “the Spotted Owl on Steroids”—the Greater Sage-Grouse.

“BLM and USFS are inappropriately using concerns about a potential listing of the Greater Sage-grouse as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act to asset a need for widespread land use restrictions—including withdrawing over 17 million acres from operation of the US Mining Law,” said AEMA, which represents U.S. explorationists, as well as mining companies.

The association claimed that the “sweeping land use restrictions and prohibitions” in the BLM/USFS Draft environmental impact statements for sage-grouse exceed the agencies’ statutory authority “by proposing actions that fail to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and violate:

Coal Baron Digs a Deeper Hole – by Elliot Negin (Huffington Post – February 3, 2014)

February 3, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Robert E. “Bob” Murray, the pugnacious owner of Ohio-based coal giant Murray Energy Corp., keeps his lawyers busy. Besides appealing safety fines, over the past few years his company has sued two news organizations — the Charleston Gazette and Huffington Post — for defamation and the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration for levying “unfounded and baseless violation citations.”

More recently, the company turned it up a notch, announcing it will sic its lawyers on the Environmental Protection Agency. Why? The company — the largest producer of underground coal in the country — alleges that the agency has illegally ignored the impact of Clean Air Act enforcement on jobs in the coal industry.

“Over the past five years, EPA has waged what can fairly be described as a war on coal, repeatedly and consistently encouraging sources to switch from coal to other fuels, to shut down coal-fired sources, and to avoid constructing new coal-fired sources, all through EPA’s administration and enforcement of the Clean Air Act,” the company’s law firm, Squire Sanders, stated in a January 21 “notice of intent” letter, which plaintiffs are required to file in advance of suing a federal agency.

COLUMN-Critical minerals and mining reform in the U.S.: Kemp – by John Kemp (Reuters U.S. – January 31, 2014)

February 3, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

Jan 31 (Reuters) – Critical minerals like rare earths, lithium and tellurium are becoming ever more essential to the modern economy, yet production in the United States remains limited, leaving the country relying on imports from just a handful of countries led by China.

For many of these materials, there are few substitutes, raising obvious concerns about supply security. It wasn’t always this way. The United States was once the world’s leading producer of rare earth elements (REEs). However, mining at its Mountain Pass facility was largely suspended between 1998 and 2010 owing to environmental concerns.

China came to dominate production in the 2000s. Beijing’s decision to impose export restrictions on REEs, tungsten and molybdenum in 2011 and 2012 to reserve more of them for domestic manufacturers underscored the supply chain’s vulnerability and drew protests from the United States, the EU, Canada and Japan, as well as a complaint to the WTO.

Since then, Mountain Pass has reopened, following the construction of a new $1.55 billion processing facility by its owners Molycorp. New sources of supply are also becoming available from Mount Weld in Australia.

Getting the details behind copper-nickel mining in Minnesota – by Renee Richardson (Brainerd Dispatch – January 30, 2014)

January 31, 2014

http://brainerddispatch.com/

Is it a decision between jobs or the environment or is the technology there to protect both? Mining for copper and nickel offers to create jobs, but can it be done without causing environmental harm affecting generations of Minnesotans?

That was part of the discussion during a Rosenmeier Center forum at Central Lakes College (CLC) in Brainerd Wednesday night. The topic was copper-nickel mining in the state’s Arrowhead, centered on the proposed PolyMet mine on what is now public land in Superior National Forest. It’s an issue that has gripped attention across the state with voices in favor of the economic development and others worried about potentially toxic repercussions.

The proposal represents the first copper-nickel-platinum group elements mining in Minnesota. The precious metals go into such things as computers, cellphones and cars.

Kathryn Hoffman, staff attorney with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, said the proposed PolyMet mine represents the tip of the iceberg. Besides Canada-based PolyMet, other mining companies are exploring options in northern Minnesota.