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Sudbury Basin largely unexplored: geologist – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – July 16, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

But Sudbury’s mining outlook positive with new projects on horizon

Despite occupying one of the most mineral-rich areas of the world, large swaths of the Sudbury Basin have remained unexplored.

Dan Farrow, the Sudbury District geologist with the Ontario Geological Survey, said Vale and Glencore hold a large number of patented mineral claims, for tracts of land in the Sudbury Basin only they can explore.

Because both companies have a number of productive mines in the region, they haven’t yet bothered to explore many of those regions. The patented claims – which lease mineral rights to the companies in question – are in an area geologists refer to as the eruptive.

Researchers estimate a meteor made impact more than 2 billion years ago with what is now the Sudbury Basin. The impact left a crater 200 kilometres in diameter, and brought molten magma beneath the Earth’s crust to surface.

The prevailing theory, said Farrow, is that the magma was rich in minerals, such as nickel and copper. When it hardened, it formed the mineral deposits that have defined the Sudbury Basin.

Sudbury’s mining giants Inco and Falconbridge – and later Vale and Glencore, respectively – jumped on rich contact deposits of solid ore. “That’s what Inco and Falconbridge mined for years because it was so easy,” Farrow said.

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Glencore kicks off $2bn takeover race for Syrah Resources – by Amanda Saunders (Sydney Morning Herald – July 10, 2014)

http://www.smh.com.au/

Swiss commodities giant Glencore is understood to have made an informal approach to Syrah Resources that could value the graphite and vanadium junior at as much as to $2 billion.

Melbourne-based Syrah’s prized asset is the mammoth Balama graphite and vanadium deposit in northern Mozambique.

After the Fairfax Media revealed Glencore’s interest on Thursday, the company’s shares surged as much as 25 per cent before it dived into a trading halt before noon. When shares were halted, Syrah’s shares were up 19 per cent at $5.09. The shares have more than doubled in value since touching a 52-week low of $2 on July 10 last year.

Syrah responded promptly to the report and a share price query from the market operator on Thursday afternoon, saying, “From time to time Syrah receives informal,confidential and non-binding enquiries from various parties regarding Syrah’s interest in entering takeover discussions”.

“None of these enquiries have progressed to formal discussions or resulted in any indicative offers being received by Syrah.”

Sources say Ivan Glasenberg’s Glencore, one of the largest producers of primary vanadium in the world, is keen to exert control over the wider vanadium market. Pouncing on Syrah and ­secur­ing its Balama project would be an early strategic play to shut out fresh competition.

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Glencore slams Australian report that it paid zero tax in three years – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – July 3, 2014)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Global diversified mining giant and commodity trader Glencore has condemned a recent report by Australian media company Fairfax Media, claiming that through aggressive tax structuring, Glencore had paid zero tax over the past three years, despite earning income of A$15-billion.

Business and technology news website Business Insider had published an internal email to staff by Glencore’s coal CE, Peter Freyberg, in which he dispelled the media speculation surrounding its tax payments, saying that the firm had paid A$400-million in corporate income tax since 2011.

He also said Glencore had paid A$8-billion in royalties and taxes, including A$2-billion related to corporate income tax, in Australia since 2007.

“As you will be acutely aware, for much of this period the resource industries in which we participate have faced significant challenges including low commodity prices, high input costs and a robust Australian dollar.

“Profitability is significantly lower than during the preceding four years – the reality is that a significant proportion of Australia’s coal mines are currently operating at a loss and although we run an efficient business, we are not immune to the market conditions.

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Glencore tax bill on $15b income: zip, zilch, zero – by Michael West (Sydney Morning Herald – June 27, 2014)

http://www.smh.com.au/

Australia’s largest coalminer, Glencore, paid almost zero tax over the past three years, despite income of $15 billion, as it radically reduced its tax exposure by taking large, unnecessarily expensive loans from its associates overseas.

At up to 9 per cent, the interest rates on these $3.4 billion in loans were double what the company would have had to pay had it simply borrowed the money from the bank.

As it was claiming tax breaks in Australia on these inflated interest payments, the secretive Swiss-based multinational actually increased its lending to other related parties interest free. This may include its executives. Nobody from Glencore, which used to be called Xstrata, was available for comment despite repeated requests.

The aggressive tax avoidance tactics of Glencore Coal International Australia Pty Ltd have been identified in an independent analysis of the company’s accounts for Fairfax Media by an expert in multinational financing.

Along with the blatant irregularities in its borrowing and lending, the study also found a hefty increase in Glencore’s coal sales to related companies (up from 27 per cent to 46 per cent of total sales, with no explanation), indicative of transfer pricing – also known as profit-shifting – and an activity that appears to breach Section IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act – the part that deals with schemes designed to comply technically with the law but whose ”dominant purpose” is really to avoid tax.

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UPDATE 2-Miner Glencore appoints first female board director – by Silvia Antonioli (Reuters India – June 26, 2014)

 http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) – Commodity trader and miner Glencore Plc, the last London-listed blue-chip company with an all-male board, has appointed Patrice Merrin as its first female board director.

The group had come under fire from some shareholders over its apparent failure to follow recommendations in a 2011 British government review that called for more women on company boards.

Canadian mining expert Merrin, appointed a non-executive director with immediate effect, had worked at Canadian miner Sherritt for a decade before becoming chief executive of Canada’s largest thermal coal producer Luscar.

She is also a director of precious metals mining company Stillwater and has been proposed as director of MFC Industrial and Cliff Natural Resources. “This is a historic day for the FTSE and for the reforms I’ve been pushing for to ensure that there is more diversity in the talent running our biggest companies,” said UK Business Secretary Vince Cable.

“This last appointment has been long in the making but I congratulate Glencore Xstrata … The case for change is clear – businesses with diversity at their top are more successful. British businesses have embraced this move for change and done so in a voluntary way, without recourse for legal targets.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Acknowledging Glencore’s environmental excellence in Timmins

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Congratulations to Glencore’s Kidd Operations in Timmins for earning the 2014 Tom Peters Memorial Reclamation Award. This environmental honour was presented in Peterborough earlier this month at the seventh annual Ontario Mine Reclamation Symposium and Field Trip, which is jointly organized by the Canadian Land Reclamation Association and the Ontario Mining Association.

David Yaschyshyn, Superintendent of Environment at Kidd Operations, was on hand to accept the trophy. The specific project being recognized was for the closure plan design and reclamation of the Kidd jarosite pond area and Three Nations Creek. The jarosite (iron sulphate mud produced from zinc refining) pond, or landfill facility, was built in 1971 and it operated from 1972 until operations ceased in 2010. Rehabilitation activities included the removal of soils, re-vegetation and a remedial action plan for the aquatic ecosystem in Three Nations Creek.

Tom Peters was a pioneer in the field of mine reclamation and a founding member of the CLRA, which was established in 1975. Mr. Peters died in 2007. He enjoyed a lengthy and successful career at Vale’s predecessor company Inco where he led the company’s tailings re-vegetation and land reclamation programs. He played a major role in the re-greening of Sudbury and was awarded a honourary degree from Laurentian University in recognition of that significant contribution.

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Glencore to spend up to $400M on emissions upgrades – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – June 5, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Company hosted public forum Monday to share plans

Glencore expects to spend up to $400 million to make modifications to its Falconbridge smelter so it can meet new provincial standards for its nickel emissions.

The company hosted a public forum Tuesday to bring the community up to speed on its plans to meet the new, and more stringent, air quality standards.

The province’s new air quality standards, under Ontario Regulation 419/05, will take effect on July 1, 2016.

The new standard will switch from a daily averaging period — where contaminants cannot exceed 2 ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air) — to a yearly averaging period with a contamination limit of 0.04 ug/m3. One microgram represents one millionth of a gram.

Cathy Grant, an air standards and risk management specialist with the Ministry of the Environment, said she and her colleagues determined the new standard would be more representative of industrial emissions with a yearly average. Companies are still limited to a daily upper-risk threshold of 2 ug/m3.

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Diversity back in vogue for miners as iron ore price tumbles – by STEPHEN EISENHAMMER, SONALI PAUL AND SILVIA ANTONIOLI (Reuters U.K. – June 5, 2014)

http://uk.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – After pouring billions of dollars into producing more iron ore to feed China’s construction boom, the world’s mega miners now face a self-induced price slump and are counting on other commodities to revive their allure to investors.

Base metals copper and nickel, oil and gas, as well as more offbeat commodities such as fertilizer potash, are increasingly important differentiators between the kings of iron – Vale , Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – and could be welcome sources of growth this year as iron ore languishes near two-year lows.

BHP’s oil and gas portfolio and Vale’s nickel production have attracted positive attention. Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg, meanwhile, has spoken of the advantage of smaller exposure to iron ore, saying it provided an “opportunity against our peers.”

Lack of diversity has not been an issue in recent years as Chinese demand for steel to build cities, railways and ports tripled iron ore prices from 2008 to 2011 – a windfall for the “big three” who produce 70 percent of the world’s seaborne iron ore.

But in May the price fell below the $100 mark for only the second time in four years, as production jumps just as Chinese demand growth appears to be slowing. Although many analysts see the price perking up again later this year, the fundamentals are worsening and the trend is downward.

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Big miners to blame for iron ore fall, says Glencore Xstrata chief Ivan Glasenberg – by Amanda Saunders (Sydney Morning Herald – May 21, 2014)

http://www.smh.com.au/

Glencore Xstrata chief Ivan Glasenberg has criticised iron ore miners for putting pressure on prices for the commodity through aggressive brownfields expansions.

Speaking before the latest reading of iron ore spot prices in China showed the price had fallen a further 1 per cent overnight to $US97.50, Mr Glasenberg said Glencore had an advantage over its competitors because it did not produce iron ore.

“We are not big players in iron ore market … prices are coming off because we see massive expansions coming there from our major competitors,” Mr Glasenberg told shareholders at the company’s second annual meeting, on the shores of Lake Zug, in Switzerland, on Tuesday night.

“A large amount of them have these brownfields expansions, they continue to expand … and put more supply into the market. “So we are not heavily exposed to iron ore, except on the trading side, and therefore we believe we have an opportunity against our peers there.” Mr Glasenberg has historically not been shy about pointing out shortcomings among his pure-play mining competitors.

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Glencore seeks exception to air standards – Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – May 21, 2014)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Mining giant Glencore is requesting an exception for the Sudbury smelter’s nickel emissions.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment is introducing new air quality standards come July 2016. Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, a Glencore company, is applying for a Site-Specific Air Standard. Basically, it’s a temporary standard that – with approval from the ministry – gives the company more time to meet the new standards, and includes an action plan explaining how the company will get up to speed with those regulations.

“The new standard will be based on an annual averaging period, as opposed to the current standard that is based on a 24-hour averaging period,” Kate Jordan, a Ministry of the Environment spokesperson, said in an email. “For this reason it’s difficult to compare the two standards, but the current is 2 ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air) and the new is 0.04 ug/m3.”

A notice was sent to neighbours, informing of the application and a public meeting being held next month. Notices will also be printed in local newspapers. “The company is applying for a site-specific standard to allow us to research and implement the best technologies and processes in order to be in compliance with the new standard in the future,” it says.

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BHP Says in Talks for Nickel Unit Sale as Metal Price Rockets – by Elisabeth Behrmann and David Stringer ( Bloomberg News – May 14, 2014)

http://www.businessweek.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest mining company, is holding talks for the sale of all or part of its Australian nickel unit as prices rose to two-year highs.

“The review is considering all options for the long-term future of Nickel West, including the potential sale of all or parts of the business, Melbourne-based BHP said today in an e-mailed statement. Talks with interested parties have begun, spokeswoman Eleanor Nichols said by phone.

The sale announcement comes as nickel surged 10 percent in the past week and follows comments from BHP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie that he wants to run a smaller collection of assets. Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN), the global commodities trading and mining group, said in March it was assessing a bid for the assets, which could fetch about $800 million according to a report by RBC Capital Markets.

‘‘For BHP, it’s something that doesn’t move the needle any more,” Chris Drew, an analyst in Sydney with RBC, said today. “The overall size of the business means it’s not material enough for them to justify maintaining or potentially putting capital into, so it’s better off in someone else’s hands.”

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UPDATE 2-Glencore names ex-BP boss Tony Hayward as chairman – by Silvia Antonioli and Karolin Schaps (Reuters India – May 8, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) – Glencore Xstrata named Tony Hayward, the ex-BP chief severely criticised for his role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as permanent chairman of the mining and commodities trading group, ending a year-long search.

Hayward, who has been Glencore Xstrata’s interim chairman since Sir John Bond was ousted by shareholders last year, is also chief executive of London-listed oil company Genel Energy Plc.

His confirmation as chairman of one of the world’s largest mining groups completes Hayward’s return to the top of the corporate world after he was forced out of BP following the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Hayward is expected to eventually step down as chief executive of Genel, the oil and gas explorer he has invested in alongside British-born financier Nat Rothschild, a source close to the matter said.

Genel, which focuses on producing oil in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan, declined to comment on whether Hayward would leave.

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Glencore Xstrata plumbs new depths at nickel mine – by Neil Hume and James Wilson (Financial Times – May 6, 2014)

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Glencore Xstrata has revealed further problems with one of the “greenfield” projects it inherited through its takeover of rival mining group Xstrata, underlining the difficulties of developing large mines from scratch in far-flung locations.

Koniambo, a nickel mine on the Pacific island of New Caledonia, has been dogged by cost overruns and delays since it was approved by Xstrata seven years ago.

The budget has risen from $3.8bn to more than $6bn, and production forecasts have been revised several times.
Glencore had expected output to reach 26,000 tonnes of nickel this year, rising to 55,000 tonnes in 2015.

But in a trading statement released on Tuesday, the Swiss-based company said Koniambo had produced just 1,000 tonnes of nickel in the first quarter of 2014 because of problems with power supplies and maintenance. “Forecast full-year production levels are being reviewed in light of the quarterly operational performance and the start-up experiences to date,” Glencore said in a statement.

Koniambo is one of several instances where Glencore has had to revise the engineering plans left by the previous Xstrata management team.

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Enigmatic former Xstrata boss seeks to build another mining giant – by Silvia Antonioli and Sonali Paul (Reuters India – April 30, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON/MELBOURNE, April 30 (Reuters) – Former Xstrata boss “Big Mick” Davis wants to build another mining giant, partly driven by what several sources say is a keen sense of rivalry with Glencore’s Ivan Glasenberg, but it won’t be easy even for someone with his proven track record.

Davis has been involved in some of global mining’s biggest and most formative deals, including the creation of BHP Billiton and its smaller rival Xstrata. He expanded Xstrata over a decade from a $500 million company to a $46 billion one taken over by Glencore, which was already its largest shareholder, last year.

Now he has set up a fund, X2 Resources, which is looking to buy up mines again and is reportedly targeting some of the very assets he traded more than a decade ago.

Unlike then, when miners rode a boom powered by double-digit growth in China, coal prices now languish near four-and-a-half-year lows and the outlook for coal demand growth is uncertain.

Yet armed with $3.75 billion and rising, and planning to raise three times as much in debt, Davis was reported this week to be lining up a bid for BHP’s thermal coal assets, along with aluminium, manganese and nickel assets that BHP wants to jettison.

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Big ore find saved Timmins 50 years ago – by Jeff Labine (Timmins Daily Press – April 15, 2014)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Half a century ago, the Timmins economy faced possible collapse. The Hollinger gold mine, which had been operating since 1910, was on its last legs and there didn’t seem to be any suitable replacement to keep the economy flowing in the city.

Rumours started to spread about a possible ore discovery in the area, but few facts were known at the time. Texas Gulf Sulfur Company had made a discovery of a lifetime in November 1963 but the company kept that fact quiet for months.

The American-based company didn’t make the discovery public until April 16 1964. The Daily Press ran the news that the company had discovered more than 23 million tons of ore.

The Kidd Creek mine would become world-famous for its copper, zinc and silver deposits and also earn the distinction of being the deepest base metal mine in the world reaching depths as far down as 10,000 feet.

But trying to break that story was a difficult task for Gregory Reynolds, a reporter at the time for The Daily Press. He and a fellow reporter dogged miners and the higher-ups at Texas Gulf, trying to find someone who could confirm their suspicions that something big was going to happen.

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