Republic of Mining

U.S. SEC charges Rio Tinto, former top executives with fraud – by Jonathan Barrett and Brendan Pierson (Reuters U.S. – October 17, 2017)

October 18, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday charged mining company Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) and two of its former top executives with fraud, saying they inflated the value of coal assets in Mozambique and concealed critical information while tapping the market for billions of dollars.

The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also said on Tuesday it had reached a settlement with Rio Tinto under which the company would pay a fine of £27 million ($35.6 million) to settle claims that it breached accounting rules in connection with the Mozambique assets.

The Mozambican coal business, which relied on barging the product down the Zambezi River to port, was acquired for $3.7 billion in 2011 from Riversdale Mining and sold a few years later for $50 million.

Electric cars driving BHP’s nickel dream – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – October 18, 2017)

October 18, 2017

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

BHP has flagged it could double down on its foray into supplying nickel chemicals to the growing electric vehicle market as it looks to capitalise on the “new energy revolution”.

The head of BHP’s resurgent Nickel West nickel division, Eddy Haegel, told The Australian Nickel Conference in Perth yesterday that the company was looking to bring forward stage two of its proposed nickel sulphate processing plant at its Kwinana refinery after being inundated with inquiries from the world’s biggest battery manufacturers.

He also revealed the company was investigating the economic and technical feasibility of moving even further downstream with the potential development of a cathode precursor plant at Kwinana. “The new energy revolution is coming and it will be very good news for our local nickel industry,” Mr Haegel said.

Rio Tinto’s Scramble for Africa – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – October 18, 2017)

October 18, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

It would be easy to suppose that the fraud claim against Rio Tinto Group filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is ancient history.

The miner’s Australian shares closed down 0.8 percent on Wednesday, only a slightly bigger loss than arch-rival BHP Billiton Ltd., which slipped 0.5 percent in the absence of a court case.

That would be a mistake, though. Rio Tinto’s scramble for Africa at the peak of the last mining boom may not have been anywhere near as destructive as the one sparked in the 19th century by another ambitious miner, Cecil Rhodes. Still, it carries a stark warning to an industry gearing up for a fresh round of spending as copper bursts through $7,000 a metric ton for the first time since 2014.

New bid to get at the Kimberley’s rare fancy yellow diamond deposits – by Courtney Fowler (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 18, 2017)

October 18, 2017

http://www.abc.net.au/

The Kimberley is believed to be home to the world’s largest deposits of rare, yellow diamonds and some of the biggest mining companies have tried and failed to profit from them.

Now a Perth-based company is about to have another go and thinks there may be a ”bonanza of hidden diamonds” waiting to be extracted and sold on the world’s diamond markets. The company is convinced it has what it takes to get at the “fantastic stones” known as fancy yellows which are coveted by wealthy dealers and buyers.

POZ Minerals and the Bunuba Dawangarri Aboriginal Corporation signed a Mining Agreement this week for the Blina diamond project, about 100 kilometres east of Derby.

After racist note, Marc Faber resigns from Sprott, Ivanhoe, NovaGold – by Nial McGee (Globe and Mail – October 18, 2017)

October 18, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

Marc Faber, the markets prognosticator known as “Dr. Doom,” has resigned his board seats at Sprott Inc., Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and NovaGold Resources Inc. on Tuesday after his latest newsletter ignited international outrage, with the publication of a litany of inflammatory and racist comments.

“Thank God white people populated America and not the blacks,” wrote Mr. Faber, who is managing director with investment advisory and fund management firm Marc Faber Ltd., in his latest monthly newsletter.

“Otherwise the U.S. would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look like one day anyway, but at least America enjoyed 200 years in the economic and political sun under a white majority.”

Global Warming Aids Gold Miners’ Pursuit Of Cold, Hard Cash In Northern Canada – by Nate Trela (Forbes Magazine – October 16, 2017)

October 18, 2017

https://www.forbes.com/

The Mitchell gold deposit in northern British Columbia is the largest ever found in Canada, but “you couldn’t see it until the glacier receded,” said Rudi Fronk, CEO of gold explorer Seabridge Gold. He said it took three decades and three kilometers of melting until it “revealed what was underneath.”

It’s an uncomfortable topic for some in the mining industry, but global warming is helping to make some of the multimillion-ounce gold deposits once trapped under glaciers and permafrost in or near northern Canada into some of the most attractive mining M&A targets in North America.

According to industry executives and bankers, gold majors are facing production cliffs that many think will require acquisitions of large deposits. And increasingly, they seem willing to chase frozen assets in northwestern British Columbia, the Yukon and Nunavut that were once considered unreachable or undesirable instead of similarly-sized deposits in politically riskier jurisdictions.

Vale searches for partner to invest in world’s largest nickel mine – by Neil Hume and Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – October 17, 2017)

October 18, 2017

https://www.ft.com/

Sale of stake in New Caledonian unit part of push to tackle underperforming assets

LONDON: Vale is searching for a partner to invest in one of the world’s biggest nickel mines as part of a push by its new chief executive Fabio Schvartsman to reduce debt and get to grips with underperforming assets.

The Brazilian miner is working with Scotiabank to sell a stake in Vale New Caledonia (VNC) on the remote South Pacific island of New Caledonia, according to people familiar with the process.

It has held discussions with a number of Chinese groups including Gem Co, a Shenzhen-based company that recycles and refines nickel cobalt for use in batteries, the people said.

Dictator-Era Rules Stand Between Carmakers and Lithium Riches – by Laura Millan Lombrana (Bloomberg News – October 17, 2017)

October 18, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

A little-known nuclear agency, designated as Chile’s lithium watchdog 38 years ago during the military dictatorship, holds the keys to unlocking the country’s massive reserves amid a nascent electric-car boom.

The Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission, or CCHEN by its Spanish initials, authorizes lithium quotas and exports in a throwback to a 1979 decision to declare lithium “strategic” because it was thought to be a key element in nuclear processes.

While that’s no longer the case, the government has no plans to remove CCHEN from lithium permitting even as authorities work on a new code for an industry struggling to keep up with growing demand from rechargeable batteries. More investor-friendly rules in Argentina have lured some interest away from Chile.

ON THE ARTICLE ON MINING PUBLISHED THIS PAST WEEK IN THE NEW YORK TIMES – by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Mesabi Daily News – October 16, 2017)

October 18, 2017

http://www.virginiamn.com/

My family is from Ely, and my grandpa spent most of his life working 1,500 feet underground in the iron ore mines. My dad and his brother also spent some time working in the mines. The way several people quoted in the article described the miners is just not accurate and I think it is important for people to know that.

Mining is a critical part of the economy in northern Minnesota. There have been and will always be disagreements on mining issues, and people are free to express their opinions. But no one should be making disrespectful comments. If they do that, they haven’t met Dan Hill. And they haven’t met my grandpa. Here are their stories:

I met Dan Hill in December of 2015 when we brought together miners and mining company executives to meet with the President’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough about steel dumping from China and the negative effect it was having on the Range. In front of a long table of at least 50 people, Dan — a long time Range resident who was then laid off — was one of the last to speak.

RPT-COLUMN-China’s Sept iron ore aberration boosts smaller exporters – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – October 17, 2017)

October 18, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Oct 17 (Reuters) – The detail of China’s record iron ore imports in September is likely to prove more interesting than the headline-grabbing surge above 100 million tonnes for the first time.

Preliminary customs data released on Oct. 13 showed China imported 103 million tonnes of the steel-making ingredient in September, a 16 percent jump on August’s figure and shattering the previous monthly record of 96.6 million from March.

The prevailing market view is that the sharp jump in September is most likely a last hurrah ahead of some slower months as winter restrictions on steel output come into force.

Investors pile into Peru’s $2 billion Michiquillay copper project – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 16, 2017)

October 16, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

More than 20 companies are hoping to grab one of Peru’s hottest copper assets, as the country readies to auction off the rights to develop it in December, authorities said Monday.

The $2 billion Michiquillay copper project, located in the country’s northern Cajamarca region, was originally scheduled to be auctioned off next month, but state bidding agency Proinversión decided to push back the date so that interested companies have more time to submit offers, it said in a statement (in Spanish).

Companies have until Nov. 2 to sign up for the auction. A contract for the project, said the agency, will be awarded on Dec. 20.

No One Wants To Talk About Ontario’s Disappearing Blue-Collar Communities – by Robert Waite (Huffington Post – October 16, 2017)

October 16, 2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

A lot can happen to a city or town in 35 years. Take Toronto — in 1982 the city still sported nicknames like “Toronto the Good” and “Hog Town.” Visitors from New York and Montreal had another word for it: “Boring.”

Several decades (and several million more people) later, Toronto has transformed into one of the world’s most vibrant and diverse cities.

But this story isn’t about Toronto. It is about a town in Northern Ontario, Kapuskasing, located a good 10-hour drive (about 800 kilometres) away. It is about the fact that even in an age of global warming, life in Canada north of 45 degrees latitude (49.4, to be exact) can be precarious.

As race for energy metals heats up, nickel expected to benefit most from EV revolution – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – October 13, 2017)

October 16, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Nickel prices stand most to gain from the advent of electric vehicles (EVs), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) said on Friday in its latest ‘Global Metals Weekly’ report.

According to the research team, despite China remaining an important driver of market demand, following on from being the secular demand driver for metals in the past decade, a push to make economies greener has given rise to structural demand increases from a range of sectors.

“EVs have been a focal point of late and copper (batteries, wiring, charging infrastructure), lithium (batteries), cobalt (batteries) and nickel (batteries) should all benefit. While we are bullish copper in the medium term, EVs are unlikely to be sufficient, on their own, to drive a sustained bull market.

Robert Friedland-backed cobalt company considering Canadian listing: sources – by Niall McGee and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – October 14, 2017)

October 16, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

An Australian cobalt company backed by mining financier Robert Friedland is considering a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, sources familiar with the matter said, as demand for the battery-making metal soars amid supply shortages.

The company, called Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd., is already public in Australia and has seen its stock hit a record high thanks in part to a spike in cobalt prices this year.

Clean TeQ is talking to investment banks Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. about a number of options, including raising additional funds through a Canadian offering, or a straight listing on the TSX, without raising new money right away, sources said.

New uranium mines: no simple answers – by Emery Cowan (Arizona Daily Sun – October 15, 2017)

October 16, 2017

http://azdailysun.com/

A town on the edge of the Navajo Nation that unknowingly drank uranium-tainted water for at least 12 years. Navajo babies showing increasing uranium concentrations during their first year of life.

Children swimming in natural pools near Cameron they later learned had been filled with water from abandoned uranium mines. The stories about the impacts of Cold War-era uranium mining on the Navajo Nation became highly personal during a forum hosted at the Museum of Northern Arizona Wednesday night.

Four decades later, the subject has come to the fore again as a grandfathered uranium mine moves forward with operations south of Tusayan and a new president stokes fears about the reopening of 1 million acres of the Grand Canyon watershed outside the national park to new mining.