United States Mining – Page 129

Penny stock fraud: Alleged mastermind Sandy Winick once lived the high life in Toronto – by Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew (Toronto Star – August 15, 2013)

August 15, 2013

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Winick’s past includes bankruptcy filings, scrutiny by stock market regulators, and co-founding The Fight Network.

More details are coming to light about one-time Toronto resident Sandy Winick, the alleged mastermind of a worldwide pennystock fraud believed to be on the run in Thailand.

Winick’s track record in business includes bankruptcy filings, a dizzying number of subsidiaries and companies that traded over-the-counter, and co-founding testosterone-laden cable channel Fight Network, which features boxing and mixed martial arts.

Winick, who U.S. authorities alleged this week ran the $140 million fraud ring, also has a taste for the highlife, as can be seen in a Star article profiling his home in 2005.

Winick, an aquarium enthusiast, and his wife Jodi spoke about elaborate plans for one salt water and one fresh water tank in their north Toronto home.

Four Canadians charged in massive $140M international penny stock fraud scheme – by Adrian Humphreys (National Post – August 14, 2013)

August 14, 2013

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

Former Toronto resident Sandy Winick figured he was on to a good thing with his scam raking in millions of dollars from investors, U.S. authorities allege, telling a colleague his scheme was better than another: “That deal is obviously a pump-and-dump. We know enough to be subtle.”

His business partner, Kolt Curry, another Canadian, allegedly boasted: “The money is good, it’s easy. It’s easy money. Definitely easy money, and it’s good money.” And for awhile, they were right.

On Tuesday, however, they were two of four Canadians indicted in the United States, alongside five Americans, charged with running the largest international penny stock and advance fee frauds in history.

Mr. Winick, 55, was named as the mastermind behind the two related schemes that U.S. prosecutors allege bilked victims in 35 countries out of more than $140-million.

FBI arrests seven in $140 million penny stock fraud – by Bernard Vaughan (Reuters U.S. – August 13, 2013)

August 13, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

NEW YORK – (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors said on Tuesday they arrested seven people in a more than $140 million international penny stock scheme that involved fraudulently inflating share prices and trading volumes.

Two people charged, including the alleged mastermind, remain at large, according to the office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The fraud generated funds from investors in about 35 nations through various brokerage and bank accounts, according to a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch in Brooklyn.

The arrests, made in five states and in Canada, followed one of the largest international penny stock investigations ever conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, according to the statement.

“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants used our securities markets as a platform from which to run elaborate fraudulent schemes to victimize unsuspecting investors across the globe,” Lynch said in a statement. “Where others saw citizens of the world, the defendants saw a pool of potential marks.”

UPDATE 1-Freeport says Indonesia export ban may cut copper output – by Fergus Jensen (Reuters India – August 13, 2013)

August 13, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

Aug 13 (Reuters) – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc’s Indonesian subsidiary warned that output from Grasberg, the world’s second-biggest copper mine, could be cut by a ban on unprocessed ore exports that takes effect next year.

The Indonesian government is pushing miners, especially foreign-owned operations such as Freeport’s Grasberg, to add more value within the country.

Freeport, which on Tuesday signed two memorandums of understanding with Indonesian companies planning to build smelters that would process its ore, said it might seek a way around the rules during its contract renegotiation with the government.

The company currently processes only around 40 percent of its ore mined in Indonesia at one smelter in East Java, PT Freeport Indonesia Chief Executive Rozik Soetjipto said on Tuesday, but the law now requires it to smelt all of the ore in Indonesia from January 2014.

“If there is no dispensation from the government… our mining capacity will need to be reduced … It’s very complicated,” Soetjipto said at a news conference in Jakarta.

Mining industry’s view: Let mining boost state manufacturing – by Hal Quinn (Duluth News Tribune – August 11, 2013)

August 12, 2013

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Hal Quinn is president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Mining Association (nma.org), which advocates on behalf of America’s mining and minerals resources.

The economy is a top concern for state manufacturers who question whether Minnesota is a competitive state in which to do business, according to findings from Enterprise Minnesota’s fifth-annual “State of Manufacturing” report released in July. Chief among the features state officials should be touting to anxious industry leaders is Minnesota’s vast mineral wealth, which — through sound reform of the federal mine-permitting process — could provide manufacturers with ready, reliable access to the raw materials upon which they rely.

That’s not to say there aren’t already thousands of Minnesotans working to develop some key state resources. Last year, more than $4.5 billion worth of minerals were produced in Minnesota, minerals crucial to high-tech devices, electro-medical equipment, advanced-energy components, defense technologies and infrastructure.

COLUMN-More mines open, making rare earths less rare – by John Kemp (Reuters India – August 1, 2013)

August 2, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

Aug 1 (Reuters) – The United States has resumed mining rare earths after more than a decade, ending its total reliance on imports, mostly from China, for raw minerals Washington says are critical for the economy and national security.

Responding to a quadrupling of prices between 2005 and 2011 and growing anxiety about supplies from China, Molycorp’s Project Phoenix has sought to resurrect domestic production.

In 2009, the company started processing stockpiled concentrate. Last year it resumed mining at Mountain Pass in California’s Mojave Desert, which it had suspended in 2002.

Molycorp plans to raise output to 19,050 metric tonnes of rare earth oxide per year by the middle of this year, enough to satisfy more than 10 percent of worldwide demand. The resumption of domestic production comes after a period when shortages stoked tensions between the United States, the European Union and Japan and their main supplier, China.

In March 2012, the three consumers complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO) about China’s export restrictions on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum, which they claimed were intended to reserve scarce elements for its manufacturers, discriminating against users in their own countries.

Building facilities, building a work force, building a mine – by Anna Kurth (Hibbing Daily Tribune – July 30, 2013)

August 1, 2013

http://www.virginiamn.com/

Essar Steel Minnesota’s place in iron industry secure

NASHWAUK — For officials at Essar Steel, mining in Minnesota is all about location. Locating on the Iron Range provides immediate access to the rail lines and utilities necessary to mine and transport their product and employees with the skills they’re seeking.

Building a new plant also provides the advantage of mining next door to the facility, which allows Essar Steel to be in the first-quartile of low-cost producers, said Ken Kinsey, chief of operations. A large portion of mining costs come from mining operations — equipment and employees, he said. Essar Steel will start operations needing less of both.

Other mines first built their primary crusher right on the doorstep of the mine. But during decades of mining, operations have migrated and haul distances have increased. Now Essar will benefit from mining on its crusher’s doorstep.

“We’ve put our plant on the north side of the ore body so it doesn’t encumber any iron ore resources,” Kinsey said, adding that the plant is positioned so mining will start where stripping is lowest.

[Minnesota] Mine study still a resource – by Charles Ramsay (Mesabi Daily News – July 30, 2013)

August 1, 2013

http://www.hibbingmn.com/

Document a framework for how future of industry might look

The update came out in early February. The main author, Jim Skurla, director of the Labovitz School of Business and Economics’ Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Minnesota Duluth, noted in a recent phone interview from Duluth that while the worldwide economy and its need for steel “had slowed down a bit” recently, especially in China, it didn’t necessarily indicate a decline in demand for the metal.

“It really was red hot there for awhile,” he said of the world economy, but its steel demand has continued to be “cyclical.”

The study found, in the 2010 data, that Northeastern Minnesota’s mining industry made up 30 percent of the region’s economy, down from 33 percent found by the original study done with 2007 data. The newer iron mining operations, as well as the possibilities with the non-ferrous mining operations, project almost a doubling of workers and revenues in mining if all projects advance.

Iron mining had an impact of about $3 billion to the state’s economy in the 2010 data, with 3,900 employees directly involved and a total of 11,000 employees, including miners, directly or indirectly employed with suppliers or resulting from additional household spending. For every mining job in the industry, another 1.8 jobs are created directly or indirectly, the study found.

All Minnesota has stake in mining debate – West Central Tribune Editorial (July 31, 2013)

August 1, 2013

http://www.wctrib.com/

Northeast Minnesota has a natural attraction of wild land and clear water that draws tourists from Duluth to Ely to Grand Marias. The region also contains valuable ore that created a mining industry that helped develop the region and Minnesota

More than a dozen companies are exploring northeastern Minnesota for copper, nickel, gold and other precious metals. Mining officials claim that hard rock mining can now be done safely and with little or no environmental impact. Many citizens are looking forward to a possible new mining industry and the resulting economic growth.

However, not everyone is enthusiastic about the prospect of this new mining. Mining critics point to similar operations in the western United States that have polluted many streams, rivers and lakes with acidic runoff. The mining issue is dividing communities in the region as the debate grows over mining potential and possible dangers.

All in Minnesota have an interest in the prospect of mining and the protection of natural resources in northeast Minnesota. Both the precious metal ores and other natural resources of the region are part of Minnesota’s legacy.

Long view: Lundin Mining plans to be around for a while – by John Pepin (Marquette Mining Journal – July 31, 2013)

August 1, 2013

http://www.miningjournal.net/

HUMBOLDT – Lundin Mining Corp. President and CEO Paul Conibear said the company is looking to be a long-term success and pledged that high standards will be maintained for the Eagle Mine.

“Eagle Mine being successful – not just in the construction ahead of schedule or under budget – but to be able to look back in five, seven, eight, 10, 15 years and know this is an outstanding mine and being recognized in the international community that this is an outstanding mine and still being very welcomed by the community, those are our goals, factors for success,” Conibear said.

Conibear made the comments recently to a crowd of about 200 employees, government and business officials and residents who have supported the Eagle Mine. Those listeners were guests invited to a ceremony at the Humboldt Mill commemorating the transfer of the Eagle Mine project to Lundin.

In June, Lundin purchased the Eagle project from Rio Tinto for $325 million and the Toronto-based company will spend another $400 million through 2014 to get the mine and its Humboldt Mill into production by late 2014, earlier if possible. Full production is targeted for mid-2015 and is expected to last until 2022. Additional minerals to be extracted from the mine will include gold, cobalt, platinum and palladium by-products.

Women coal miners to gather in Jonesborough this weekend Archives of Appalachia to document their stories – by Sue Guinn Legg (Johnson City Press – July 30, 2013)

July 31, 2013

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/

Women coal miners from across the United States, Canada and England will gather in Jonesborough this weekend for a reunion at which their stories will be documented by the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University.

The first international gathering of women coal miners conducted in nearly 15 years, the Saturday and Sunday reunion will include guests from former underground miners’ organizations that pioneered gender integration in the coal industry in the 1970s as well as representatives from Women Against Pit Closures in England.

On Saturday, representatives of the Archives of Appalachia and ETSU’s Office of University Relations will film interviews of women miners to add to the archives’ existing coal mining collections, to strengthen the public understanding of the histories of mining and labor and to foster a greater appreciation for women miners.

Amy Collins, director of the Archives of Appalachia, said interest in the history of women coal miners draws researchers from across the country and abroad to archived collections at ETSU that document women miners’ efforts in the areas of mine health and safety, pregnancy research, parental leave and pay equity.

Twin Metals Minnesota: Building the state’s Mining Future – by Bob McFarin (Mesabi Daily News – July 31, 2013)

July 31, 2013

http://www.virginiamn.com/

Bob McFarin is vice president of public and government affairs of Twin Metals Minnesota.

Just over 150 years ago, people came to northern Minnesota in search of gold. Instead, they found a more enduring, but no less valuable resource — iron ore. The rest, of course, is history — Minnesota history shaped by generations of entrepreneurial, daring and hard-working “Iron Rangers.”

Good paying jobs, the ability to raise a family, vibrant communities, quality education and stewardship of the wilderness and environment — these are the past and present values and aspirations that define more than a century of mining throughout Minnesota’s Iron Range.

Twin Metals Minnesota (TMM) is excited to be joining Minnesota’s proud mining heritage. Working in partnership with local communities and state and federal regulators, TMM is pursuing the development and operation of an underground mining project that will be one of the world’s largest sources of copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and gold.

These critical metals are necessary components of myriad products, from simple to complex, that support a modern quality of life —

Mines on public land add $21bn to U.S. economy – DOI – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – July 30, 2013)

July 30, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

As the manager of one-fifth of the U.S. landmass and 1.7 billion acres offshore, the U.S. Department of the Interior has resources to help the country produce more fossil fuels at home.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) estimated Monday that federal public lands contributed $371 billion to the U.S. economy last year including $21 billion in hardrock mineral sales and employment of 111,000 persons.

At the end of FY2012, there were 406,140 active mining claims on public land, with about half of these claims located in Nevada.

“Most of the value associated with locatable mineral production is attributed to gold which is produced in significant quantities on public land,” said the report, The U.S. Department of the Interior Economic Report for Fiscal Year 2012. It is estimated that more than 3 million ounces of gold was produced from federal lands with the average price of gold in 2012 at $1,700 per ounce.

Domestic gold production last year was estimated to be 230 metric tons, down from 234 metric tons produced in 2011. The value of the U.S. gold mine production was about $12.6 billion, up from $71.8 billion in 2011, according to the Department of Interior.

Rio Tinto-Lundin mark Eagle Mine purchase – by John Pepin (The Mining Journal – July 26, 2013)

July 29, 2013

http://www.miningjournal.net/

Ceremony at Humboldt Mill finalizes transfer

HUMBOLDT – With the sounds of heavy construction equipment rumbling and beeping in the background, about 200 invited guests attended a ceremony in Humboldt Township Thursday commemorating Rio Tinto’s “handing over” the Eagle Mine and Humboldt Mill to new Toronto-based owner Lundin Mining Corp.

The ceremony was held under a tent at the mill, in a parking lot outside the local administrative offices for the Eagle Mine project. The crowd included employees and local officials and residents who have supported the Eagle Mine project.

Past Eagle Mine President Adam Burley – who is leaving Marquette County for a new Rio Tinto post in Salt Lake City – presented Lundin officials with a piece of polished ore from the mine, symbolizing the ownership transfer.

“The main message I want to get across is one of thanks and appreciation for the (Eagle) team support and the community support over these years and I also want to get across a message of pride,” Burley said. “Rio Tinto is proud of what we’ve achieved at Eagle. We do think we’ve raised the benchmark on industry standards and urge the community to share in that pride because they are the ones that have shaped the direction to a very large extent.”

Is return of metal mining threat to regional economy? – by Stephen Anderson (Houghton Mining Gazette – July 26, 2013)

July 29, 2013

http://www.miningjournal.net/

HOUGHTON – A recent study, which is part of a larger local education campaign, has concluded that a return to metal ore mining and processing would damage the western Upper Peninsula’s economy.

Dr. Thomas Power of the University of Montana Economics Department, through his organization Power Consulting, Inc., recently completed his 109-page report, “The Economic Impacts of Renewed Copper Mining in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan.” Power was contracted in September to do the report by Friends of the Land of Keweenaw.

The study recommends that future economic development in Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties continue to focus on “economic gardening” – a term coined by the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance describing a focus on nurturing existing businesses and supporting new start-ups – and the protection and enhancement of a “quality of life” amenity-based economy that has emerged over the last 40 years.

The report, which can be found in its entirety at folkminingeducation.info, summarized the following findings in its executive summary: There are significant costs associated with mining activities that tend to offset the positive impacts of the high pay associated with mining jobs.