Republic of Mining

[Catholic Groups Divest] You don’t need hydrocarbons for performance: behind the divestment push – by Barry Critchly (Financial Post – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

It’s been described as one of the biggest decisions in the short history of fossil free divestment. We are referring to this week’s decision by forty Roman Catholic groups around the world — from organizations in Africa, Australia, Europe, South America and the U.S. as well a number of international bodies — to shun investing in fossil fuels.

While the exact amount of assets that will be affected was not disclosed, the decision, taken by the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) was made to demonstrate that the 40 groups were ruling out future investments while urging others to follow suit.

The decision, the GCCM said, was “based on shared value of environmental protection and financial wisdom of preparing for a carbon-neutral economy.” Wayne Wachell, chief executive at Vancouver-based Genus Capital Management, one of the country’s first fossil free investment management firms, more than welcomed the news.

Africa’s Richest Man Aliko Dangote Criticizes Tanzanian President Over Policies – by Mfonobong Nsehe (Forbes Magazine – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://www.forbes.com/

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has accused Tanzanian President John Magufuli of implementing policies that are unfriendly to foreign investors.

Speaking at the Financial Times Summit in London on Monday, Dangote, 60, said Magufuli is nationalist in his thinking and is trying to seize a majority shareholding of companies in Tanzania that are owned by foreigners.

Earlier this year President Magufuli signed a new mining bill into law which allows the government to take as much as 16% of foreign-owned mining companies for free. “The Government is coming through the back door to seize the assets,” Dangote said.

Gold, zinc explorers spearhead reversal of five-year global exploration downturn – by Samantha Herbst (MiningWeekly.com – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Boosted by increased exploration efforts in the gold and zinc sectors, the global nonferrous exploration budget is up in 2017 – for the first time since 2012 – by more than 14%, year-on-year, to $7.95-billion, according to new analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The twenty-eighth edition of the firm’s ‘Corporate Exploration Strategies’ (CES) report reveals that global gold budgets are up 22% year-on-year, while zinc-focused producers and junior explorers have boosted the zinc budget by 29% year-on-year to $489-million, based on improved zinc prices since early 2016.

“We know that the juniors have endured the worst of the downturn since 2012, accounting for most of the 40% drop in the number of active explorers over the past five years.

The toxic politics of pipelines just got even worse – by Margaret Wente (Globe and Mail – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

Depending on who you listen to, the demise of Energy East – the pipeline that would have shipped western crude oil to eastern Canada – is either a triumph or a disaster.

For politicians in Quebec and environmental groups across the country, it’s a triumph. “An enormous victory,” crowed Denis Coderre, the mayor of Montreal, who claims that he has saved his province from the certain ravages of environmental defilement. (He neglected to mention that Montreal has dumped megalitres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River, but never mind that now.)

For Alberta, it’s a disaster – yet more proof that major energy projects just can’t get done any more. It’s even more than that. It’s a double disaster for Premier Rachel Notley, whose opponents are jeering that her plan to buy a social licence with carbon taxes is, so far, an utter failure. But it’s manna for Jason Kenney, who could well be her successor. He thinks Alberta should strike back by stopping equalization payments to Quebec.

Talvivaara: Finland’s biggest environmental crime case returns to court (YLE Uutiset – October 9, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://yle.fi/

Finland’s most notorious corporate environmental crimes case returned to court on Monday. The founder and owner of the Finnish nickel mine Talvivaara – as well as other leaders of the company – could face massive fines and suspended jail sentences in appeals court.

An environmental crime trial about mining company Talvivaara’s past operations began at the Rovaniemi appeals court on Monday.

Under scrutiny in the trial are the construction and use of Talvivaara’s gypsum waste pond, alleged scheduled and uncontrolled dumping of effluents into nature, as well as issues surrounding the handling and placement of the mine’s various waste components.

Prosecutors claim that Talvivaara bosses committed their first environmental crimes as early as 2004 when the mine was in its planning and building stages.

Liberals divide country with unflappable Bombardier support, disregard for energy – by Kelly McParland (National Post – October 7, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://nationalpost.com/

TransCanada’s Energy East announcement will only cement the conviction that one Trudeau is the same as another Trudeau

TransCanada’s decision to abandon its Energy East pipeline proposal sends two negative messages, both brimming with potential for damage.

One is to the international community, signalling that — whatever Ottawa may claim — Canada is not a welcoming place for energy investment. The most ludicrous assertion offered in the wake of TransCanada’s announcement was Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr’s claim that it was solely a “business decision” that had nothing to do with the government.

Yes, the decision was made on a business basis, but in the face of a regulatory and approval process put in place by a government more devoted to favoured voting groups than to the development and expansion of one of Canada’s most crucial economic interests.

Mine Tales: Southern Arizona’s mining history dates back over 1,000 years – by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star – October 9,2017)

October 10, 2017

http://tucson.com/

Southeastern Arizona has a rich mining history dating back more than 1,000 years. The indigenous people known also as the Hohokam, or vanished ones, were the first to exploit the vast mineral resources in the area known today as Arizona. They used minerals such as copper and turquoise for ornamental jewelry and to trade among settlements.

Elsewhere in Arizona, Hopi Indians near the present day town of Holbrook mined coal as a means of keeping warm in the winter, for cooking and also for the firing of ceramics. Native Americans were involved in mining turquoise in the Cerbat Mountains and cinnabar in the Castle Dome Mining District near Yuma. They also mined salt near Camp Verde.

There is evidence that the Tohono O’odham mined hematite in the Ajo area for use as war paint in the 15th century shortly after the disappearance of the Hohokam. Although the O’odham were the first to mine the surface of Arizona, it was the Spanish who were the first to extensively penetrate its earth in search of mineral wealth, most notably in Southeastern Arizona.

[Norilsk Nickel] Russia and Norway make progress on cross-border environmental problems – by Anna Kireeva (Bellona.org – October 9, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://bellona.org/

Russian and Norwegian environmentalists and politicians gathering in the industrial town of Nikel to tote up advances in cross-border pollution for once had something positive to report: the joint efforts seems to be working.

The results of Russia’s Year of Ecology are so far mixed, but 2017 marks a quarter century since Russia and Norway started forging an often-brittle bond of environmental cooperation.

The event in Nikel – a company town to the Kola Mining and Metallurgy Company with a history of grievous pollution – was entitled “Days of Russian Norwegian near border cooperation,” and presented a best-foot-forward program that checked off several bilateral success stories.

Resource firms face tougher rules if provincial action on threatened caribou deemed lacking – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

The federal government is warning it will impose tougher rules for resource companies working in the boreal forest unless provinces act to protect endangered caribou.

Companies involved in oil and gas, mining and forestry are facing a call from scientists and environmental groups that many threatened boreal caribou herds face extinction unless urgent action is taken to protect and restore habitat.

Industry officials, for their part, warn that regulatory uncertainty and the potential for restrictive regulations is jeopardizing investment and threatening the significant job losses in Northern and rural communities.

Ottawa narrows ‘superclusters’ hopefuls to nine industry groups – by Sean Silcoff (Globe and Mail – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

“We’re very happy to have been successful to this stage,” said Doug Morrison,
chief executive officer of the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation, who
is spearheading a shortlisted bid backed by many of Canada’s largest mining
firms, including Barrick Gold. Corp., to turn Canada into a leading source
of cleaner mining technology and industry practices.

“The industry needs to make major changes to its technology platforms. And
Canada, more than any other country except for Australia, is best capable
of making that transition.”

Ottawa has chosen nine industry consortiums that will qualify to receive $950-million under the Liberal government’s flagship innovation initiative known as its “superclusters” program, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Groups comprising Ontario mining giants, Quebec aerospace manufacturers, Prairie agriculture companies, Atlantic Canadian fishing and energy enterprises, Alberta construction firms and dozens of other prominent Canadian corporations are among the nine bidders selected by government officials from more than 50 letter-of-intent applications submitted in July. Full applications are due from shortlisted groups by Nov. 24, and the government plans to announce up to five finalists in early 2018.

Protests test tribal authority on South Africa’s platinum belt – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters U.S. – October 8, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

MOGALAKWENA, South Africa (Reuters) – A new power struggle is unfolding in South Africa’s old homelands between global mining giants, traditional leaders and an impoverished rural populace.

Parts of an industry long used to labor unrest are now contending with community protests that have cut production of the country’s largest mineral export earner, platinum, and may shut some operations down altogether.

At the heart of the conflict are tribal leaders who have royal titles and feudal-style control over the homelands, poor rural areas designated to South Africa’s black majority by its former white minority rulers during apartheid. Tribal leaders are also key allies of President Jacob Zuma, whose political base has become increasingly rural, and his African National Congress party has drafted a law that would cement their control.

Why the ‘e’ in e-car actually stands for evil – by Lawrence Solomon (Financial Post – October 6, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

Electric vehicles are for city folk. For most rural residents, their role is to give, give, give

Electric cars, the vehicles of choice for the virtue signallers among us, epitomize the confusions and the divisions in society. These vehicles aren’t environmental exemplars, as their touters claim. And they of course aren’t economic. They excel in one area above all: in exploiting rural regions and their inhabitants, mostly for the benefit of affluent urbanites.

Electric vehicles — now a trivial proportion of cars on the road — do benefit the urban environments in which they operate, by limiting harmful vehicular emissions such as NOx, SOx and ground-level ozone.

If electric vehicles ever obtained a broader market, that urban benefit would increase. But it would come at a much greater cost to the rural environment, which electric-vehicle proponents would seek to sacrifice to provide the cities with electricity for charging.

Auto makers turn to lighter metals in bid to shed weight – by Greg Keenan (Globe and Mail – October 9, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

Battery-powered vehicles may eventually deliver a knockout blow to the internal-combustion engine, but auto makers and suppliers are developing counterpunches that will extend the life of the more than century-old technology that put the world on wheels.

The internal-combustion engine (ICE) is getting help from a tactic that seems simple on the surface, but is complex in practice – putting vehicles on a diet.

Materials that are lighter than steel, but were once too costly to replace steel for major applications in vehicles, are becoming more common. The use of aluminum, magnesium and carbon fibre is expected to grow to represent as much as 40 per cent of the body structure and closures in a vehicle by 2030, compared with 14 per cent currently.

Column: In people vs Adani’s coal mine, people may win – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – October 9, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://in.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia (Reuters) – Can thousands of people standing in lines to spell out “Stop Adani” actually scupper the Indian company’s plans to develop a huge coal mine in the Australian outback?

Perhaps a more relevant question is whether the protesters are enough to make Australia’s federal and Queensland state politicians lose their nerve, and quietly withdraw support for what is the world’s largest new coal mine planned.

While Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal Party, which holds federal power, and the Labor Party, which rules Queensland state, have maintained their backing for Adani Enterprises’ Carmichael mine so far, both have also previously backed down on political issues over possible electoral losses.

As Beijing Joins Climate Fight, Chinese Companies Build Coal Plants – by Hiroko Tabuchi (New York Times – July 1, 2017)

October 10, 2017

https://www.nytimes.com/

Over all, 1,600 coal plants are planned or under construction in 62
countries, according to Urgewald’s tally, which uses data from the Global
Coal Plant Tracker portal. The new plants would expand the world’s coal-
fired power capacity by 43 percent.

When China halted plans for more than 100 new coal-fired power plants this year, even as President Trump vowed to “bring back coal” in America, the contrast seemed to confirm Beijing’s new role as a leader in the fight against climate change.

But new data on the world’s biggest developers of coal-fired power plants paints a very different picture: China’s energy companies will make up nearly half of the new coal generation expected to go online in the next decade.

These Chinese corporations are building or planning to build more than 700 new coal plants at home and around the world, some in countries that today burn little or no coal, according to tallies compiled by Urgewald, an environmental group based in Berlin. Many of the plants are in China, but by capacity, roughly a fifth of these new coal power stations are in other countries.