Republic of Mining

A window into Canadian history through the lens of commodity booms – by Colby Cosh (National Post – October 12, 2017)

October 16, 2017

To the layman it’s not the most inspiring title: “A Long-run Version of the Bank of Canada Commodity Price Index, 1870 to 2015.” But the name of this Statistics Canada research paper, published Wednesday, will warm the hearts of Canadian economists like a beloved old melody.

In Canada, we are a little used to being beggared by StatCan, which, it must be said, is obviously a treasure. We do not have access to the cornucopia of very long economic time series that Americans enjoy, and our national statistics agency is fussy about occasionally re-engineering the data series it creates, which then have to be knit together by anyone wanting a historical perspective.

Being a relatively small country also makes regional and local breakdowns of aggregate data more difficult. Cells in a table that contain counts of people or things can end up too small to be of much use, and may even have to be suppressed to protect personal anonymity.

Cape Breton museum commemorates mining strikes (CTV Atlantic – October 14, 2017)

October 16, 2017

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/

The Cape Breton Miners Museum is commemorating the violent mining strikes that attracted national attention in the 1920s’ by sharing the story years later, in Glace Bay. Back then, miners took to the streets for better collective bargaining rights, forcing federal and provincial governments to develop better labour policies that are in place today.

“The strikes of 1922 to 1925, the coal miners stood together and stood the gaff, that means they did not bend under the hardships the BESCO pushed on them and they stood together,” says executive director, Mary Pat Mombourquette.

She says the 1920’s weren’t an easy time to be a coal miner in Cape Breton as the British Empire Steel Corporation controlled the miners’ wage, fuel, food, clothing and housing.

Excerpt from ‘Miner Indiscretions’ – by Jon Ardeman

October 13, 2017

To order a copy of “Miner Indiscretions”: http://amzn.to/2hMreNl

Since graduating Jon Ardeman’s geological career has been in many guises; in exploration, mining, consultancy, conservation and research. He has worked as a National Park guide, a nature warden looking after tadpoles and orchids, as a researcher digging up cow shed floors looking for Ordovician brachiopods and preparing dinosaur bones for a museum display. Enthused by these experiences, Jon sought further adventures, and headed to Africa where he worked as a geologist on various mines for more than a decade.

He returned to university and after a few years of academic research and consultancy, Jon went back to mining and precious metal exploration. His travels have taken him from the Arctic to the Equator, from North America and Siberia, to Europe, Australia, Asia and back to Africa.

During this time, Jon wrote several “mystery and imagination” short stories for magazines and competitions, but his inspiration for a first novel ‘Miner Indiscretions’ came from get-togethers with fellow prospectors and miners; with the story embellished by imagination, cold beer, a hint of the supernatural and – of course – dreams of African gold! The author is married with several children and now resides in Hertfordshire, England.

Overview

A hilarious, action-packed story following Timothy, who starts his career as a junior geologist on a modern deep gold mine in South Africa. Unexpectedly and ignominiously dismissed from this post; he manages to get a new job exploring for gold on the dilapidated Yellow Snake Mine in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

Iron Ore Rallies as China Imports Bust 100 Million Ton Level – by Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Iron ore imports by China surged above 100 million metric tons to a record, smashing the previous high set in 2015, as the country’s concerted push to clean up the environment stoked demand for higher-grade material from overseas while hurting local mine supply. Prices rallied.

Purchases of iron ore expanded to 102.8 million tons in September from 93 million tons a year ago, surpassing the previous record of 96.3 million tons in December 2015, according to customs data on Friday.

Over the first nine months, imports climbed 7.1 percent to 817 million tons, putting full-year purchases on course to top 1 billion tons by a comfortable margin.

When the luck runs out for the Lucky Country – by Paul Bloxham (The Australian – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

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

Fans of the Matrix movies will be familiar with the way in which the lead character, Neo, leans back, seemingly defying gravity, while projectiles fly toward him.

Australia’s economy is much like Neo’s performance. Over the past 26 years, the country has managed to dodge an array of negative shocks from abroad. As a result, the current economic boom is the longest in its own history and, arguably, the longest period of expansion of any developed economy. Quite a feat.

In the movie, it turns out that Neo is capable of this partly because the rules of the game have changed — he is in a computer program, where gravity does not always apply — and he is also uniquely talented. For economists, a big question is whether Australia is also “uniquely talented” or just lucky, having benefited from a world that has changed in its favour.

Klondike Silver – The Silvery Slocan May Rise Again (Geology For Investors – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

https://www.geologyforinvestors.com/

There is a thing about old mining camps. A certain resonance in the atmosphere. It comes from the hundreds or thousands that once toiled, in dark, dirty and dangerous conditions searching for fortune and fame.

Perhaps it’s the psychic energy of a million broken dreams or the electric shock when just 10 feet more breaks into a whole new vein or the whack of a hammer reveals a boulder of pure silver. Sandon, in the heart of what was known as the “Silvery Slocan” is one such place. Boulders of solid galena (lead sulfide) fell from the mountains, spawning the wildest city in BC, Canada and the beating heart of British Columbia’s last great mining rush.

So confident in their future that they boxed up the creek and put their main street on it, 100 years later it’s piles of rotting timber beside a very free running Carpenter creek. It’s easy to imagine that the mines are as dead as those long ago ghosts.

Trump says he ended the ‘war’ on coal companies. But it’s too late to save them. – by Adam Federman (Washington Post – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

It was depicted by energy executives and conservatives as a “witch hunt,” “a politically motivated sham” and a move that would “destroy mining in the West .”

In January 2016, President Barack Obama imposed a three-year moratorium on federal coal leasing, which halted new projects and delayed pending applications for companies to extract coal from federal land. During that time, the Interior Department was to carry out an overdue review of the program’s social and environmental costs.

A year later, all this was an easy target for President Trump, who had promised to save the coal industry from oppressive regulations and slumping sales. On March 29, his administration lifted the moratorium and deep-sixed the study.

A Gold Mine on Yellowstone’s Doorstep? – by Aaron Teasdale (Sierra Magazine – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.sierraclub.org/

“People come from all over the world just to fish this river,” says Max Hjortsberg, a local ecologist and poet, as his fly arcs through the warm July air. Beyond our drifting boat, a broad bottomland rises to alpine summits. Vaulting a vertical mile from the valley floor, one mountain dominates the rest—Emigrant Peak.

If the scenery seems like something out of a movie, that’s because it is. Much of A River Runs Through It (1992) was filmed here in the aptly named Paradise Valley, and the anglers and summer-getaway builders have been flooding in ever since. They come here because the country is big and wild and beautiful; when people imagine Montana, this is what comes to mind.

What they’re probably not thinking of is industrial-scale gold mining, which is what two companies wanted to do just over the border from Yellowstone National Park. Environmental groups feared that the resource-extraction-friendly Trump administration would OK the projects. It did not, and now Paradise Valley’s experience looks like a model for successful land conservation in the Trump era.

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli ‘excited’ Northern passenger rail has been proposed – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.nugget.ca/

he return of passenger rail service to Northern Ontario is among the many policy proposals Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will be voting on early next month. “I’m very excited about this proposal,” says Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, noting the return of a viable passenger rail service is a “key piece” for the North.

He stresses, however, that a “viable plan” is required, noting the Ontario Northland Railway’s former Northlander passenger train is gone. “The Northlander was stripped by the Liberal government,” says Fedeli, suggesting the cars are no longer available and that a new train service be built from the ground up using Northern rail experts.

The provincial Tories have oft been criticized for advocating on issues related to the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) because of a proposal by the Mike Harris government to cancel the Northlander and a subsequent proposal to privatize other divisions of the Crown agency.

B2Gold up on higher-than-expected production – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 12, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Shares in B2Gold Corp (TSX:BTO; NYSE: BTG) were up on Friday after the mid-tier miner reported better-than expected gold production for the third quarter of the year.

The Canadian company logged an output of 135,628 ounces of gold, which included 6,340 ounces of pre-commercial production from its newly built Fekola mine in Mali.

Consolidated output exceeded the original budget by 2% (or 2,254 ounces) and reforecast production by 15% (or 17,372 ounces), which the company attributed to “very strong” operational performances of both its Masbate mine in the Philippines and the Otjikoto operation in Namibia as well as the successful early start-up of the Fekola mine in September.

[Jannatec Technologies] Technology for deep underground – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

As early as next spring, Jannatec Technologies could debut the first components of its wearable technology, which will help cool underground miners, monitor their vital signs and enhance their overall health and safety.

A contributor to the Ultra-Deep Mining Network, the Sudbury-based company has been working for three years on the technology that will allow miners to work in mines that descend to 2.5 kilometres or more.

As mines get deeper, temperatures are hotter, miners are more isolated, and it takes longer to ascend to surface. Companies like Jannatec are developing technology to combat the heat, isolation and other challenges miners may encounter.

New York City billionaires are battling over coal. And Kentucky is caught in the middle – by James BRuggers (Louisville Courier-Journal – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.courier-journal.com/

The two New York City billionaires are battling it out over coal. And coal-dependant Kentucky and Indiana are in the crosshairs. The moves come as Kentucky, once the third-ranked coal-producing state, has fallen to fifth behind Wyoming, West Virginia, Illinois and Pennsylvania, according to the latest numbers from the government. Indiana ranks 7th.

After President Donald Trump’s top environmental official came to Kentucky to announce that he intended to ditch the nation’s first crackdown on climate pollution from coal-fired power plants, former New York City Mayor and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg responded by sending tens of millions of dollars to environmental groups to fight against coal.

Bloomberg Philanthropies said Bloomberg has spent $100 million since 2011 on the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. It announced it would double down on that effort with another $64 million to the Sierra Club and other organizations fighting against coal and for a cleaner environment.

Leaders, Groups, and Unions Upset with Comments About Miners in Magazine Article (ABC Eyewitness News – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.wdio.com/

Union leaders, DFL officials, and environmental groups are upset after two well-known advocates were quoted with some disdainful comments about miners in a piece to be published in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.

Becky Rom and Reid Carron are leaders in the Save the Boundary Waters Campaign. They are quoted by many news media about the issue of potential precious metals mining in the region.

In the latest article, written by Reid Forgrave for the New York Times Magazine, they comment on the mining community. Rom said, “Danny Forsman drives to the mine in his truck, comes home and watches TV, and doesn’t know this world exists.”

25 years ago today… moment they killed King Coal – by David Behrens(Yorkshire Post – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/

Ackton Hall, Wheldale, Ledston Luck… the roll-call of names reads like a list of old, abandoned railway stations. They were among the 28 pits in Yorkshire that had already been swept away when, 25 years ago today, the government passed what was to be a death sentence on the rest.

It fell to Michael Heseltine, president of the Board of Trade in John Major’s Cabinet, to swing the axe. Some 31 out of 50 remaining deep mines would close, he announced. 31,000 jobs would go at a stroke.

It was the biggest redundancy ever announced in Britain. After years of decline, the news was not a surprise but it was a shock. “Politically there was no appetite for coal. Not after the strikes,” said Shaun McLaughlin, who heard the news, with the rest of his shift, at Stillingfleet pit in Selby.

Grasberg mine’s riches still a distant glitter for Papuan communities – by Hans Nicholas Jong (Mongabay – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

https://news.mongabay.com/

High hopes that the world’s biggest gold mine will finally bring meaningful benefit to the community for which it has for decades been a source of contention have been deflated as negotiations hit a wall.

Freeport McMoRan Inc. (FCX) and the Indonesian government are currently hashing out the details of a long-term agreement for an extension of the company’s contract to operate the giant Grasberg gold and copper mine in Papua province, due to expire in 2021.

Freeport announced in August that it had agreed to divest a 51 percent stake in its Indonesian subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), in which it currently holds a 90.64 percent stake, following sustained pressure by the government to reform a mining sector long seen as not doing enough to benefit local communities or contribute to the national economy.