Republic of Mining

Protest camp built on proposed site of Sisson mine project – by Shane Fowler CBC News New Brunswick – July 18, 2018)

July 18, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

First Nations protesters in N.B. planning to last the winter at the remote site of Sisson mine project

Members of Maliseet First Nations have started to build a protest camp at the proposed site of the Sisson mine near Napadogan. Tents, campers, and other homemade structures have been set up in hopes of deterring future development of a proposed tungsten and molybdenum mine.

“I am a Wulustukyik grandmother and I am here defending the land,” said Terry Sappier, who has been living in the camp most of the time since it was built July 2. “I’m defending it for our future generations.”

On Monday afternoon, there were a half dozen men, woman and children at the campsite as part of the Wulustukyik Nation Grandmothers and Mothers group. Many were working to build additional structures, including a shower station, as the group plans to live in the remote location “for as long as it takes.”

India’s land conflicts will persist until acquisition policy is inclusive, says expert – by Rina Chandran (Reuters India – July 17, 2017)

July 18, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Conflicts over land in India will persist until the government’s policy on land acquisitions for industrial use is made more inclusive to benefit villagers and farmers who have to give up their land, said an expert who has studied recent clashes.

Standoffs between the state and farmers have risen in India as demand for land increases, affecting millions of people and jeopardizing billions of dollars of investment..

While a 2013 land acquisition law was aimed at protecting the rights of farmers, some key provisions have been diluted in several states. Officials say this is essential to ease acquisitions for faster economic growth.

How mining could be a boon for African women – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2017)

July 18, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In northeastern Congo, unequal pay and cultural taboos have kept women from sharing in the country’s mineral wealth. Activists are trying to change that, and Canada’s ‘feminist’ foreign aid policy has a part to play, Geoffrey York reports

Standing barefoot in a swampy pond, Bibicha Sanao sloshes the muddy water in her basin with an expert motion, panning tenaciously until she finds the hidden treasure: a few tiny slivers of gold. It can be hazardous work. She lifts her pant leg to show the scars from a water snake’s bite. Sometimes she gets sick from the contaminated water and the chilly rain. It’s not much safer when she toils in a nearby gold pit, where she was once buried in a landslide.

Yet, she won’t give it up. Her mining work here in northeastern Congo is crucial for supporting her family, and she’s been doing it for many years – despite obstacles that men never face. Now, activists are fighting to remove those barriers, giving African women a chance at the higher incomes that traditionally go to men, while improving the health and safety of their working conditions.

Mining Giant Hunts for Diamonds in the Canadian Forest – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – July 18, 2017)

July 18, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Rio Tinto Group’s pursuit of new diamond output to tap rising demand in Asia is focusing on an unheralded exploration project in the Canadian forest.

The world’s second-biggest miner on Tuesday added the Fort a la Corne joint venture, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Prince Albert in Saskatchewan, to its published list of advanced projects after striking an agreement last month to take as much as a 60 percent stake.

The venture’s Star-Orion South project holds an estimated diamond resource of 55.4 million carats and has potential development costs of about C$2.5 billion ($2 billion), according to 2015 filings by developer, Saskatoon-based Shore Gold Inc.

Vale’s future in New Caledonia uncertain (Radio New Zealand – July 18, 2017)

July 18, 2017

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/

New Caledonia is facing the possibilty of unprecedented job losses because of the continued low nickel price. The Brazilian company Vale is reassessing its commitment to running the Goro plant in the south of New Caledonia’s main island on which thousands of jobs depend.

Jamie Tahana asked Walter Zweifel what has triggered the concern.

WALTER ZWEIFEL: The low nickel price has been like a dark cloud over the entire nickel sector for years now, with losses being run up by all the three main operators. What sent the alarm bells ringing is the announcement by Vale’s new CEO Fabio Schvartsman in Brazil at the start of this month that it was reviewing its operation in New Caledonia. Vale runs a global network of mines and mining-related businesses which make it the world’s top iron producer. However Vale has been bleeding money in New Caledonia where it is reported to have lost $US1.3 billion in the past three years.

JAMIE TAHANA: What are the options that are being discussed?

No cobalt, no Tesla? – by Sebastien Gandon (Tech Crunch – January 1, 2017)

July 18, 2017

https://techcrunch.com/

The battery industry currently uses 42 percent of global cobalt production, a critical metal for Lithium-ion cells. The remaining 58 percent is used in diverse industrial and military applications (super alloys, catalysts, magnets, pigments…) that rely exclusively on the material.

Approximately 97 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt comes as a by-product of nickel or copper (mostly out of Africa). Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and Lundin agreed to sell to Chinese players their respective stakes in the Tenke Fungurume mine, one of the largest known cobalt sources, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Tesla has stated that the cobalt it needs will be sourced exclusively in North America, but the math doesn’t seem to add up.

Is Tesla doomed? Not necessarily…

Top 10 Canadian-based diamond companies – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – July 13, 2017)

July 18, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

Canada is the fifth-largest diamond producer in the world, according to the Mining Association of Canada. Last year two new diamond mines came into production: Gahcho Kué in the Northwest Territories and Renard in Quebec. Here are the top 10 Canadian-headquartered diamond companies by market capitalization, as of early July.

1. DOMINION DIAMOND: Market Capitalization of $1.01 billion

Dominion Diamond (TSX: DDC; NYSE: DDC) is Canada’s largest diamond producer and the world’s third-largest diamond miner after De Beers and Alrosa. Dominion operates the Ekati mine, in which it owns a controlling interest, and owns 40% of the Diavik mine. Both mines are about 300 km from Yellowknife and 200 km south of the Arctic Circle in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories. Ekati officially began production in October 1998 and Diavik in January 2003.

Dominion also owns a 55% stake in the Lac de Gras joint-venture with North Arrow Minerals (TSXV: NAR), which holds the remaining 45% interest. The joint-venture property adjoins the mineral leases that host the Diavik mine, 10 km to the north, and the Ekati mine, less than 40 km to the northwest. Dominion also has sorting and selling operations in Canada, Belgium and India.

Canada’s Dominion Diamond accepts sweetened bid from U.S. billionaire – by Nicole Mordant and John Benny (Reuters Canada – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://ca.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Canada’s Dominion Diamond Corp on Monday agreed to a sweetened takeover offer of $1.2 billion from U.S. billionaire Dennis Washington that will take private the world’s third biggest diamond company by market value.

U.S.-listed shares of Dominion leapt 4 percent to $14.04, while its Toronto-listed shares rose nearly 5 percent, after Dominion said Washington Companies will acquire all of shares for $14.25 per share in cash.

The offer price is 5 percent higher than the Missoula, Montana-based company’s March 19 offer of $13.50 per share, which Dominion rejected as too low. Reuters reported on Friday that Dominion was in advanced and friendly talks with Washington on a sweetened cash takeover bid.

Canadian miner’s tennis ball-sized ‘diamond in the rough’ proves too big to sell – by Susan Taylor (Reuters/Financial Post – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO — In the mysterious world of diamond mining, it turns out that some stones are too big to sell. Canada’s Lucara Diamond Corp will have to cut its tennis ball-sized rough diamond to find a buyer, industry insiders say, following Sotheby’s failed auction for the world’s largest uncut stone last summer.

It’s not the ending that William Lamb wanted for his 1,109-carat stone, named ‘Lesedi La Rona’, or ‘Our Light’ in the national language of Botswana where it was mined. “It’s only the second stone recovered in the history of humanity over 1,000 carats. Why would you want to polish it?,” said Lucara’s chief executive.

“The stone in the rough form contains untold potential…As soon as you polish it into one solution, everything else is gone.” Lamb had gambled that ultra-rich collectors, who buy and sell precious art works for record-breaking sums at auction, would do the same with a diamond in the raw.

Divisive $13 Billion Potash Plan to Test BHP’s New Chairman – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd.’s plan to enter the potash market with a contentious $13 billion project in Canada is adding to challenges facing the incoming chairman of the world biggest mining company.

Ken MacKenzie, a 53-year-old board member who takes up the role in September, currently is on a global tour to meet investors in the wake of an activist campaign in recent months spearheaded by Elliott Management Corp. Issues of concern for some shareholders include the producer’s U.S. onshore oil and gas assets and its plans to accelerate the Jansen potash venture.

Proceeding with Jansen risks a “severe strategic misstep,” according to Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. analyst Paul Gait, as the new supply would risk depressing prices by delaying to about 2036 the ability of the potash market to work through overcapacity. Paul Singer’s Elliott went public in April with a campaign seeking asset sales and a corporate overhaul, claiming management decisions have eroded as much as $40 billion in value.

China’s steel, aluminum output at record as U.S. mulls penalties – by Muyu Xu and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – July 16, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – China churned out record amounts of steel and aluminum in June as producers rushed to cash-in on rallying prices in the wake of a drive by Beijing to crack down on output of low-grade metal.

That could fuel concerns the world’s top steel producer will export more metal, stoking global oversupply and fanning tensions with the United States after it accused the nation of flooding international markets with cheap aluminum and steel.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to use a Cold War-era law to restrict imports for national security reasons as bilateral talks between Washington and Beijing continue. China has long-denied that it has been offloading metals abroad at the expense of foreign producers.

Mining giant in radical program to fight suicide (Makay Daily Mercury – July 17, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.dailymercury.com.au/

ANGLO-Swiss mining giant Glencore is establishing an Australian beachhead in the fight against suicide with a radical program already under way in the historic mining town of Clermont, southwest of Mackay.

Glencore, along with the NSW Coal Services Health and Safety Trust, is a driving force behind Mates in Mining, which encourages workers to ask each other a confronting question still regarded as taboo: “Are you contemplating suicide?” The program fuses together workers, unions and employers in tackling an issue that’s at crisis proportions among men working in construction and mining.

Glencore is backing the charity, which is soon to be rolled out across the nation, while other mining companies such as BHP and Rio Tinto have in-house programs to deal with the issue.

In the age of fake news, making up facts is now part of the anti-mining rhetoric (The Ely Echo – July 16, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://www.elyecho.com/

The anti-mining crowd must be getting nervous. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN) has put together legislation to help get the PolyMet land exchange with the Forest Service completed soon. And, he’s still pushing for the feds to renew the leases for Twin Metals Minnesota.

In Ely on a barnstorming tour, Nolan accompanied Republican Representatives Gosar, Emmer and Westerman to get a first-hand look at what Twin Metals is proposing for a copper-nickel mine south of Ely.

Back in DC, the four congressmen sent a letter signed by a total of 26 members of Congress to urge the secretaries of the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture to rescind the federal land withdrawal proposal and renew Twin Metals’ federal leases.

Who cleans up the mess when oil and mining companies go bankrupt? – by Tim Gray (Globe and Mail – July 14, 2017)

July 17, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Tim Gray is the executive director of Environmental Defence.

Last week, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) announced it would appeal a judge’s ruling that gave creditors priority access to a bankrupt oil company’s assets over its financial obligations to clean up abandoned wells. The AER is right to appeal because cleaning up environmental damage should take precedent over financial obligations. This appeal highlights a broader problem in Canada and the need for legislative action both provincially and federally.

The broader problem is that Canadians are burdened by the accumulating financial liability associated with cleaning up the environmental messes made by abandoned oil wells, closed mines and decaying tailings dams.

For example, in Alberta, the oil sands have been producing a vast and growing legacy of tailings ponds. These ponds contain leftover toxic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, water and sand. They now cover an area larger than the preamalgamation city of Toronto and Vancouver combined and are growing at a rate of 25 million litres a day.

HISTORY: Roots of Timmins’ storied links to hockey – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – March 24, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://www.timminspress.com/

Karen Bachmann is the curator/director of the Timmins Museum and a writer of local history.

TIMMINS – As you probably know (or maybe you never really thought about it), I don’t usually write about sports – I am smart enough to leave that to the professionals.

By no stretch of anyone’s imagination can I be considered a “sports person”. I know the very basics, have favourite teams (a Habs fan from time immemorial, and I follow Premier League soccer), but I am in no way equipped to conduct a semi-intelligent conversation on the finer points of the game – or any contest, match, bout or derby, for that matter.

Come to think of it, I cannot fully appreciate some of those sports discussions which invariably feature the minute deconstruction of a player’s performance and style, which, I am sorry to say, just sounds an awful lot like “man gossip” to me, but what do I know?