United States Mining – Page 83

Tesla Battery Drive Lures China Molybdenum Into Cobalt – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – May 9, 2016)

May 10, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

China Molybdenum Co. is the latest company to bet on the future of electric cars with its plans to acquire cobalt assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Monday, Freeport-McMoRan Inc. agreed to sell its controlling stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine to CMOC, as the Luoyang, China-based company is known, for $2.65 billion. CMOC is also negotiating to buy Freeport’s interests in other cobalt assets.

The deal marks the Chinese company’s entry into cobalt, one of the specialty metals used in rechargeable batteries. The battery market is expanding as more consumers turn to electric cars made by companies such as Tesla Motors Inc. and look to store renewable energy to power appliances when there’s little wind or sunshine.

Editorial If coal is too dirty for the U.S., why would Oakland build a dock to export it to Asia? (Los Angeles Times – May 9, 2016)

May 10, 2016

http://www.latimes.com/

If coal is indeed king, it is the lord of a shrinking realm, which ought to be good news for the environment. With the nation’s electricity production shifting to cleaner sources of power, U.S. coal consumption is declining.

But here’s a problem: As major coal-mining companies watch their sales diminish domestically, they are struggling to find export markets in which they can continue to do business. And what have we really gained if coal that the U.S. doesn’t use just gets shipped to other countries for them to burn?

That’s the question that needs to be answered as officials consider a proposal to build a new coal port in Oakland as part of the conversion of a decommissioned Army base. There are a lot of problems with the proposal, which we’ll get to, but just from an environmental standpoint, it is a bad idea.

Freeport Selling DRC Mine to China Moly for $2.65 Billion – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – May 9, 2016)

May 9, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. agreed to sell its Democratic Republic of Congo copper mine to China Molybdenum Co. for $2.65 billion as the Phoenix-based company reduces debt racked up in the commodities boom.

China Molybdenum will acquire Freeport’s indirect 56 percent stake in the Tenke Fungurume mine, which also produces cobalt, via a 70 percent interest in TF Holdings Ltd., Freeport said in statement Monday. The two companies also agreed to negotiate the sale of its interests in other cobalt assets.

Freeport, which plunged 71 percent last year as commodity prices collapsed, has been seeking to offload assets and reduce a debt load that stood at $20 billion at the end of 2015. Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson said last month he expected to sell more mines and the Tenke deal brings the total to more than $4 billion this year.

Trump sees receptive audience in West Virginia as job-loss anger burns hot – by David Shribman (Globe and Mail – May 9, 2016)

May 9, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

DRY FORK, W.VA. — The latest battleground in the altered presidential race is a battleground that has been dramatically altered over time – and that itself has altered American history substantially.

Amid the mountains and mines, the hollers and hillsides, the timberlands and trailheads, West Virginia has had an outsized influence on America for a state that is less than a tenth the size of Texas.

It has shaped the Civil War and the Cold War, given a distinct accent to the country’s food and folklore, added a surprising element to the country’s basketball and ski heritage – all to the twang of the distinctive country music that echoes through its “Almost Heaven” country roads.

Donald Trump Says He’ll Bring Back Jobs For Coal Miners But He’s Just Blowing Smoke – by Joe Romm (Think Progress.org – May 4, 2016)

May 5, 2016

http://thinkprogress.org/

Donald Trump markets himself as a business-savvy billionaire who will get American jobs back from countries like China. In the case of the coal industry, however, he appears to be just a very clueless politician making pro-pollution promises he can’t keep.

“I’m a free-market guy, but not when you’re getting killed,” he said recently at a rally in Carmel, Indiana. “Look at steel, it’s being wiped out. Your coal industry is wiped out, and China is taking our coal.” Huh? “China is taking our coal”? If China were taking much of our coal (in the form of U.S. exports) that would be great for coal jobs.

If Trump meant Chinese coal exports are taking away our coal market (i.e. potential U.S. sales overseas), then he is truly clueless about the coal business. China flipped from net coal exporter to net importer back in 2009 (!) and quickly became the world’s biggest importer.

Clinton begins Appalachia tour in Trump-friendly coal country – by Amanda Becker and Valerie Volcovici (Reuters U.S. – May 2, 2016)

May 2, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON – U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton begins a two-day tour on Monday through rural, traditionally coal-reliant parts of the eastern Appalachian region where Republican rival Donald Trump’s pro-coal, anti-trade message has resonated with economically distressed voters.

Clinton, in a move to reclaim her early pledge to focus on helping the struggling region resuscitate its economies, will meet the head of a local steel workers union, retired mine workers and others in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio affected by declining coal and steel prices.

Her pledge of more than $30 billion to help coal regions was overshadowed in March when Clinton, at an Ohio town hall, said the country would “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

A Crusader in the Coal Mine, Taking On President Obama – by Jad Mouawad (New York Times – April 30, 2016)

May 2, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio — The rolling hills of eastern Ohio show few signs of the frenzied activity unfolding hundreds of feet underground. Inside the Powhatan No. 6 mine, a machine the size of a city bus is slowly slicing the earth, scraping out coal and sending it on a 40-minute ride to the surface.

“It will see the light of day for the first time in 200 million years,” says Robert E. Murray, the 76-year-old chairman of the Murray Energy Corporation, rolling toward the coalface, where the coal is cut out of the rock, in an electric cart.

The digging occurs at the distant end of a forbidding maze of tunnels stretching more than 16 miles into the earth. The walls are coated with “rock dust,” or pulverized limestone, which acts as a fire retardant and gives the place a chalky, ethereal appearance. It is mostly silent but for the occasional whoosh of air venting from above.

America’s Most Notorious Coal Baron Is Going to Prison. But He Still Haunts West Virginia Politics. – by By Tim Murphy (Mother Jones Magazine – April 19, 2016)

April 29, 2016

http://www.motherjones.com/

Don Blankenship is looming large over the contentious governor’s race.

As CEO of Massey Energy, central Appalachia’s largest coal producer, Don Blankenship towered over West Virginia politics for more than a decade by spending millions to bolster Republican candidates and causes.

That chapter came to an end in April, when Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison for conspiring to commit mine safety violations in the period leading up to the deadly 2010 explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine. But even in absentia, he casts a long shadow over state politics. For evidence, look no further than the contentious Democratic primary for governor.

The campaign pits Jim Justice, a billionaire coal operator and high school basketball coach, against two opponents—state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, and Booth Goodwin, the former US attorney who prosecuted Blankenship.

Manufacturing key to US economy – by Harry Moser (Masfield News Journal/USA Today – April 28, 2016)

April 29, 2016

Harry Moser is the Founder of the Reshoring Initiative.

One surprise of the current, tumultuous presidential election cycle is the degree to which manufacturing has emerged as a significant campaign issue. Candidates are now openly pledging to oppose trade agreements perceived as hurting the nation’s manufacturers. And while trade policy is only one aspect of the overall debate, it’s clear that candidates are recognizing manufacturing’s importance to America’s economy.

A quick glance at the nation’s industrial landscape tells a profound story: America has lost more than five million manufacturing jobs since 2000, with more than 50,000 factories closed. Several factors are involved, but one critical aspect remains overlooked—the connection between America’s mining industry and the health of the nation’s manufacturing base.

Metals and minerals are integral to the American standard of living. Thanks to not-so-small luxuries like cars, homes, roads, and electronics, young Americans today will depend in their lifetime on an estimated 27,416 pounds of iron ore, 978 pounds of copper, 521 pounds of zinc, and 1.8 ounces of gold.

In bold move, U.S. Steel launches campaign to stop China imports (Reuters U.S. – April 27, 2016)

April 27, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

U.S. Steel Corp (X.N) has launched a campaign to prevent imports from China’s largest steel producers, it said on Tuesday, the boldest step yet by a U.S. company as a trade brawl with the world’s largest steel producer escalates.

In a complaint to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the U.S. steelmaker called on regulators to investigate dozens of Chinese producers and their distributors for allegedly conspiring to fix prices, stealing trade secrets and circumventing trade duties by false labeling.

Analysts said it could be the most significant development in U.S. steel trade in a quarter of a century, and will likely ratchet up tension between China and major steel producing nations, as the global industry grapples with chronic oversupply and sluggish demand.

Freeport confident of more copper asset sales by mid-year: CEO – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.K. – April 26, 2016)

April 27, 2016

http://uk.reuters.com/

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX.N) expects to have agreed $3 billion worth of asset sales by mid-year, its chief executive said on Tuesday, as the U.S. miner and oil producer tries to whittle down a nearly $21 billion debt pile he described as “a killer.”

Freeport, which is the world’s biggest listed copper producer, has already entered into agreements this year to sell $1.4 billion worth of assets, leaving another $1.6 billion’s worth to transact by end-June.

Chief Executive Richard Adkerson said Freeport was in “advanced discussions” on a number of its copper assets, but declined to name them. Freeport owns a number of world-class copper assets, including the Grasberg mine in Indonesia and the Cerro Verde mine in Peru.

Freeport mulls selling minority stake in copper mine portfolio – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – April 25, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Freeport McMoRan Inc. is considering selling a minority stake in its portfolio of copper mines, one of the options on the table as the company scrambles to slash its $20-billion (U.S.) debt load, sources familiar with the matter said.

Freeport had initially planned to take part of its energy business public to raise cash. But with oil prices in the dumps and scant investor interest, the company put those plans on the back burner, the sources said.

Now, Arizona-based Freeport is mulling selling a stake of up to 20 per cent in its suite of mining assets in the Americas and maybe Africa, the sources said. It is unknown how much Freeport is expecting to get or whether the company can find investors willing to buy a stake. One name that has been floated has been China’s Citic, a government-owned investment firm, sources said.

Coal’s demise threatens Appalachian miners, firms as production moves West – by Nathan Bomey (USA Today – April 20, 2016)

April 20, 2016

http://www.usatoday.com/

The crushing forces prevailing against the U.S. coal industry have triggered an unprecedented shakeout, sparking bankruptcies of the industry’s biggest players — such as last week’s collapse of Peabody Energy — and battering jobs in Appalachia even as mines in the west weather the fallout.

Peabody, the nation’s largest coal company, slid into Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, just five years after its market value reached a high of $20 billion, as the oil and natural gas shale boom shifts the seat of power to miners in states such as Montana and Wyoming, where extracting coal is cheaper.

Peabody’s bankruptcy filing follows at least 50 in the industry over the last few years including Arch Coal in January and last year’s filings of Patriot Coal, Alpha Natural Resources and Walter Energy.

Arizona’s lost mine: the mystery of Lost Dutchman – by Alexa D’Angelo (The State Press – April 20, 2016)

April 20, 2016

http://www.statepress.com/

There are crude X’s marking different spots where many have tried, and failed, to locate the intangible Lost Dutchman gold mine. The markers on different maps each tell stories of hikers in search of riches through the grooves, peaks and valleys of the Superstition Mountains. An arrow on a crumpled piece of paper points to where one treasure-hunter was killed in search of the mine. Another has dozens of X’s, each marking the transparent hope of finding treasure.

The map sits in a small, dimly-lit room in the Goldfield Ghost Town’s Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum, several miles away from the actual entrance to the Lost Dutchman State Park, where the treasure left by explorers long ago may lie.

The park is perched at the base of the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction, about 40 miles east of the heart of the Valley. “People still try and find the hidden mine and treasure here,” says Diana Bishop, a ranger at Lost Dutchman State Park for 31 years.

Western Women: Cashman saw opportunity in mining towns – by Jan Cleere (Arizona Daily Star – April 18, 2016)

April 19, 2016

http://tucson.com/

In 1800s mining camps, petite, persuasive Nellie Cashman, with a lyrical Irish brogue, opened boarding houses and restaurants within a matter of days upon entering town. Her ability to serve appetizing and affordable meals lasted over 50 years.

Born in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland, around 1845, Nellie was 5 years old when she immigrated to Boston with her widowed mother and younger sister Fanny. By the time she was 20, the family was living in San Francisco.

After her sister married, Nellie set off for the brawling mining district of Pioche, Nevada, to run the Miner’s Boarding House. But it was prospecting that lured Nellie to the Silver State — she would go wherever a strike looked promising. And as soon as she arrived in town, she set about opening a restaurant and boarding house, providing food and shelter to miners.