Republic of Mining

CBC INVESTIGATES: Donkin coal mine racks up dozens of safety violations in first few months – by Frances Willick (CBC News Nova Scotia – August 4, 2017)

August 4, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

The first underground coal mine to operate in Cape Breton in a generation has been plagued by safety violations that one industry observer says has left some miners feeling afraid. Documents obtained by CBC News under freedom of information laws show a history of repeated infractions at the Donkin coal mine, some of which could endanger the lives of workers.

“I’m worried about the safety of the miners in Cape Breton,” said Gary Taje, the international staff representative of the United Mine Workers of America, which does not represent the Donkin workers. “It makes me scared, and I do know there are some scared miners there.”

Inspectors with the province’s Labour Department carried out six inspections between the first day of production at Donkin on Feb. 27 and June 15. During the mine’s first 3½ months of operation, the department issued 10 compliance orders and 29 warnings for violations of workplace safety and underground mining regulations.

BMI says outlook for Russian nickel sector bleak – by Staff (MiningWeekly.com – August 3, 2017)

August 4, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Fitch group company BMI has lowered its forecast for Russian nickel production in 2017, and says the outlook for the country’s domestic production over the next five years looks bleak.

BMI stated this week that Russia’s nickel production would remain on a negative trend this year, following a contraction of 4.8% year-on-year in 2016, citing ongoing operational challenges at Norilsk Nickel mines, which account for more than 80% of domestic output.

“We have revised down our previous forecast of 1% average nickel production growth this year to a decrease of 5%, meaning absolute production in the country will drop from 256 000 t in 2016 to 243 000 t in 2017,” the company said.

USGS Assesses Billions of Potential Potash Resources in Ukraine (United States Geological Survey – August 3, 2017)

August 4, 2017

https://www.usgs.gov/news/

The Dnieper-Donets Basin of Ukraine could contain an estimated 4.3 billion tons of undiscovered potassium-bearing salt according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey assessment. In addition, previous estimates show that the nearby Pripyat Basin of Belarus could contain 80–200 billion metric tons of undiscovered potash resources.

The term “potash” refers to potassium-bearing, water-soluble salts like potassium chloride derived from evaporite basins, where seawater evaporated and precipitated various salt compounds. In 2010, world potash production was about 33 million metric tons, mostly for use in fertilizers.

Potash resources are often expressed in terms of the amount of potassium oxide (K2O) that can be obtained from the potassium-bearing salt. For instance, the 4.3 billion tons of potassium-bearing salt in the Dnieper-Donets Basin is the equivalent of 840 million tons K2O, while the 80–200 billion metric tons of potassium-bearing salt in the Pripyat Basin could contain 15-30 billion metric tons of K2O.

China aluminum capacity cuts boost market leaders, prices – by Tom Daly and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – August 3, 2017)

August 4, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – China’s crackdown on its bloated aluminum industry is driving up the share price of the country’s major producers and raising the specter of a tighter global market that could buoy prices.

China is forcing the suspension of aluminum plants that have not obtained proper permits to build or expand, or that have not met strict environmental standards, as Beijing pushes to clear its skies and shore up loss-making industries.

China accounts for nearly 60 percent of global aluminum output and analysts estimate some 3-4 million tonnes of capacity could close this year, around a tenth of the country’s total, tightening the global market.

No provincial charges for Mount Polley mining disaster, but possibility of federal charges remain – by Gordon Hoekstra (August 3, 2017)

August 4, 2017

http://vancouversun.com/

The disclosure Wednesday that there will be no charges laid under B.C.’s environmental laws for Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam failure in 2014 has environmentalists questioning whether the province’s laws are strong enough.

There remains the possibility of federal charges under the Fisheries Act, but the B.C. Conservation Officer Service has said a B.C.-federal investigation will not be complete by Friday — when the three-year time limit to lay charges under B.C.’s Environmental Management Act ends.

The B.C. conservation service-led investigation — involving a dedicated team of officers and several federal investigators — started almost immediately after the Aug. 4, 2014, failure of the earth-and-rock dam at the gold-and-copper mine northeast of Williams Lake.

Canada so ripe with green activism old-fashioned employment has gone out of fashion – by Rex Murphy (National Post – August 4, 2017)

August 4, 2017

http://nationalpost.com/

Has there ever been a single energy project — just one — in British Columbia that has not faced protest and demonization?

It’s more than a touch odd or distressing how a project with an overall budget of some $36 billion — billion! — can get cancelled these days, and not kick up as much interest or internet play as, say, Justin Trudeau showing up on the cover of (the much diminished of late) Rolling Stone.

Yet this appears the case with the Pacific Northwest liquified natural gas (LNG) plant in British Columbia, undertaken by the Malaysian company Petronas some years back, and now, despite early expenditures of some billions, cancelled for good.

I don’t suppose there’s any need to point out that all the jobs, technical resources, local development and industry that would naturally follow from an expenditure of this magnitude are good things. Or that Canada hasn’t become so new-age, so ripe with green virtue-signalling as a surrogate for policy, so prideful of its climate change sanctimoniousness, that jobs, employment, old fashioned working for a living has gone utterly out of fashion.

Tech Guru Bill Joy Unveils a Battery to Challenge Lithium-Ion – by Brian Eckhouse (Bloomberg News – August 4, 2017)

August 4, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Elon Musk isn’t the only visionary betting that the world will soon be reliant on batteries. Bill Joy, the Silicon Valley guru and Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder, also envisions such dependence. He just thinks alkaline is a smarter way to go than lithium-ion.

On Thursday, Joy and Ionic Materials unveiled a solid-state alkaline battery at the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Energy Innovation Summit in Basalt, Colorado, that he says is safer and cheaper than the industry leader, lithium-ion. The appeal of alkaline: it could cost a tiny fraction of existing battery technologies and could be safer in delicate settings, such as aboard airplanes.

“What people didn’t really realize is that alkaline batteries could be made rechargable,” Joy said in a phone interview Thursday. “I think people had given up.”

Electric-Car Revolution Shakes Up the Biggest Metals Markets – by Mark Burton and Eddie Van Der Walt (Bloomberg News – August 2, 2017)

August 4, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The revolution in electric vehicles set to upturn industries from energy to infrastructure is also creating winners and losers within the world’s biggest metals markets.

While some of the largest diversified miners like Glencore Plc argue fossil fuels such as coal and oil still play a crucial role supplying energy needs, they’ll also benefit the most from a move to electric cars, requiring more cobalt, lithium, copper, aluminum and nickel.

The outlook for greener transportation got a boost this year as the U.K. joined France and Norway in saying it would ban fossil-fuel car sales in coming decades. That’s as Volvo AB announced plans to abandon the combustion engine and Tesla Inc. unveiled its latest, cheaper Model 3. Such vehicles will outsell their petroleum-driven equivalents within two decades, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates.

New generation of mining vehicles unveiled: Atlas Copco unveils new Boomer M2C Battery driller – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – August 3, 2017)

August 3, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Battery-powered vehicles are taking over underground mining. To meet current demands for cleaner technology and to stay ahead of the innovation curve, Atlas Copco has created an entire suite of battery-powered vehicles, covering the process from bolting, blasting, mucking and hauling.

They added to their ever-growing fleet with the launch of the Boomer M2C Battery driller on Aug. 2 in Sudbury to complements their fleet that includes Minetruck MT42, Scooptram ST1030, Boomer 282 and Aramine L150 miniloader, which were also showcased at the event.

“Mining is coming back and as a company, we have to stay ahead of the innovation and meet demands,” said general manager Jason Smith. “Mines are looking for ways to make the process safer and more cost-effective. These battery-powered machines have zero emissions, unlike diesel machines and they cut down on time spent refueling and maintenance.”

Lalor, ten years later: looking back a decade after discovery – by Jonathon Naylor (Flin Flon Reminder – August 2, 2017)

August 3, 2017

http://www.thereminder.ca/

A decade ago, following the old adage that the best place to find a new mine is in the shadow of an existing one, a team of prospectors found themselves at work near the town of Snow Lake. Truth be told, they were closer to Lalor Lake, a body of water named after Fintan Howard Lalor, a Canadian pilot officer and navigator presumed deceased after his plane went missing in eastern Canada in 1943.

In any event, the prospectors’ goal was the same as it always was: coordinate their drilling so as to pinpoint northern Manitoba’s next mine. The crew was in the employ of HudBay Minerals, formerly HBM&S and now known simply as Hudbay. Racking up sky-high profits at the time, the company was eager to build on its prolific mining legacy in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake region.

So why target Lalor Lake? The obvious answer was its close proximity to Snow Lake, which could supply workers to a mine, and even closer proximity to Hudbay’s lucrative Chisel North mine, indicative of the mineral-rich potential of the area.

Snow Lake Project showing potential for new mines – by Jonathon Naylor (Flin Flon Reminder – August 2, 2017)

August 3, 2017

http://www.thereminder.ca/

When prospectors talk about the mineral-rich potential of northern Manitoba, they’re referring to properties like the Snow Lake Project. Consisting of 283 claims covering an area the size of Winnipeg, the Project has undergone a decade of exploration at a cost of some $25 million.

The goal of any prospecting endeavour is a mine-worthy deposit. And while there are no Scooptrams or loaders on site as of yet, Ken Lapierre believes it’s only a matter of time.

“Our goal has always been to become a mine finder,” says Lapierre, president and CEO of Rockcliff Copper Corporation, which owns the Project. “Rockcliff was formed for that very reason. I feel extremely confident that our actions over the last 10 years have led us down the path to discovery and resource growth, which will ultimately lead us to becoming mine finders.”

RPT-COLUMN-Iron ore may eventually have to leave China’s steel party – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – August 1, 2017)

August 3, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Aug 1 (Reuters) – China’s surging steel sector is pulling iron ore along for the ride, but the strong gain in prices raises the risk that marginal supply of the raw material will start to flow into what is already a well-supplied market.

Steel prices in Shanghai received another boost on Monday on the back of an increase in China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the sector, which climbed to 54.9 in July from 54.1 in June, marking the third consecutive month that the indicator was above the 50-level that demarcates expansion from contraction.

The steel PMI was also at its highest in 14 months, which helped boost benchmark Shanghai steel rebar futures to a close of 3,663 yuan ($545) a tonne, taking the year-to-date increase to almost 38 percent.

No provincial charges in 2014 Mount Polley dam collapse in B.C. – by Camille Bains (Globe and Mail – August 2, 2017)

August 3, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

VANCOUVER — Canadian Press – There will be no provincial charges for a tailings dam collapse in British Columbia but the province’s new environment minister says a mining company may still be held responsible through federal laws.

George Heyman said Wednesday the August 2014 disaster has had tremendous economic and environmental consequences and British Columbians deserve to know what went wrong at the Mount Polley mine located in the province’s Interior.

“A disaster like this should never have happened in B.C., and it must never happen again,” Heyman said in a statement, adding that charges under the federal Fisheries Act“ remain very much in play and, in fact, potential penalties are more significant.”

Duterte threatens to impose minerals export ban – by Cliff Venzon and Mikhail Flores (Nikkei Asian Review – August 3, 2017)

August 3, 2017

https://asia.nikkei.com/

Philippine president pushes for more domestic processing

MANILA President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has said he is considering a ban on mineral exports to promote development of related downstream industries, rattling investors anew.

At the opening of the 17th Congress on July 24, Duterte said that he is fine with mining activities that benefit the poor but warned miners to observe environmental laws. He told them to comply or “I will tax you to death.”

“I call on our industrialists, investors [and] commercial barons to put up factories and manufacturing establishments right here in the Philippines to process our raw materials into finished products,” Duterte told a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

B.C. First Nation to battle Taseko Mines in court – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – July 31, 2017)

August 3, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

VANCOUVER – The Tsilhqot’in National Government and Taseko Mines Ltd. are scheduled to face off in a Victoria court Monday, marking the latest stage in a long-running battle over a proposed open-pit mine the company wants to build near Fish Lake, also known as Teztan Biny.

The Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG) will ask the B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction to stop exploration work Taseko wants to do at the site, about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, B.C. The site lies just outside an area to which the TNG have aboriginal title – as confirmed in a landmark 2014 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada – and within a broader area subject to aboriginal claim.

The standoff between TNG and Taseko sets up a conflict between the provincial and federal governments and a potential headache for the B.C.’s NDP-Green alliance. A permit for exploration work, including drilling test pits and buildings roads, was issued July 14, while B.C.’s former Liberal government was still in office and several Tsilhqot’in communities were under evacuation orders because of raging wildfires.