Republic of Mining

Outfitters’ objections do not sway YESAB, which recommends mining road – by Philippe Morin (CBC News North – May 4, 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Yukon assessor says hunting outfitters ‘only one component of economic activity’, cites project’s benefits

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) has recommended a new 65-kilometre mining road in central Yukon be approved, despite concerns about its potential impact on wildlife.

The road is proposed by B.C.-based ATAC Resources as necessary, to allow heavy machinery to reach the Tiger deposit on its Rau gold property north of Mayo. Right now, the property is accessed only by air, or over a frozen swampy trail. The new road would require eight bridges and 38 culverts over small streams and rivers. It would be intended to last 10 to 20 years.

YESAB’s recommendation, published Wednesday, is that the road be approved with a number of terms and conditions, meant to minimize impact on wildlife, and traditional hunting and trapping.

Areva pulls out of Baker Lake, Nunavut uranium mine remains mothballed – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – May 5, 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

“We thank all the Nunavummiut who have welcomed us” Areva Resources Canada, the proponent of the Kiggavik uranium project, has decided to close shop in Baker Lake and put its office building up for sale.

“After over 10 years exploring in the territory, studying the possibility of developing the Kiggavik Project and making numerous friends in the Kivalliq region, it’s time to say good bye,” the company said in an advertisement in the Nunatsiaq News print newspaper of May 5.

“We thank all the Nunavummiut who have welcomed us, guided us and supported us over the years. It was a pleasure getting to know you and working with you.” The company is now seeking expressions of interest from bidders interested in buying building 2028 in Baker Lake.

China iron ore imports ease in April amid cloudy outlook – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – May 5, 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – The heat came out of China’s iron ore imports in April, with vessel-tracking and port data suggesting a decline of several million tonnes from the near-record levels recorded in March.

A total of 83.27 million tonnes of the steel-making ingredient was discharged at Chinese ports in April, down 3.7 percent from March’s 86.46 million, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters Supply Chain and Commodity Forecasts. It’s worth noting that the vessel-tracking and port data typically comes in below the official Chinese customs data, which reported 95.56 million tonnes of iron ore imports in March, the second-highest on record.

Nonetheless, the ship data does point to lower imports in April, most likely in the order of 3 million tonnes. Apart from a weak month in February, most likely related to the Lunar New Year holidays, the vessel-tracking figures show April to be the weakest month for iron ore imports since September last year.

The Daily Prophet: If You’re Long Commodities, Our Condolences – by Robert Burgess (Bloomberg News – May 4, 2017)

May 5, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Connecting the dots in global markets.

It would be an understatement to say it was an ugly day for anything related to commodities. The Bloomberg Commodities Index tumbled 1.82 percent, its biggest drop since November. Energy markets, agriculture-related raw goods such as wheat and cattle, and metals such as copper, nickel and the iron ore used to make steel were all hit hard.

Even gold dived. Economists like to say commodities are not the referendum on the global economy they once were, but it’s hard not to notice how closely the recent weakness tracks the drop in the Citi Economic Surprise Index, which measures the data that exceed forecasts relative to those that miss, to its lowest level since the start of the year.

The oil rally following OPEC’s deal to curb supply has disappeared. Futures on both sides of the Atlantic dropped to their lowest since late November on growing signs that the group’s production cuts are failing to clear a surplus of crude, according to Bloomberg News’ Mark Shenk. Oil stocks felt the pinch, with the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Index slumping as much as 4.9 percent Thursday to the lowest since August.

Sibanye Gold expands platinum holdings with US acquisition – by Matt Volz (Washington Post – May 4, 2017)

May 5, 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Associated Press – HELENA, Mont. — A South African gold mining company completed a $2.2 billion purchase of the only U.S. producer of platinum and palladium on Thursday, its third such acquisition in the past year as the company looks to expand its precious metals holdings.

Sibanye Gold Limited’s merger with Littleton, Colorado-based Stillwater Mining Co. on Thursday positions it as the world’s fourth-largest producer of precious metals that include platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold.

The value of platinum and palladium, which are used in vehicles’ catalytic converters and in jewelry, has plunged since a high in 2008. However, Sibanye officials said in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that they are optimistic about the future of the market, due to the expected growth in worldwide vehicle sales in coming years.

35 Reported Dead In Iran Mine Explosion; Others Remain Trapped – by Laurel Wamsley (National Public Radio – May 4, 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.npr.org/

An explosion of methane gas collapsed a coal mine in Iran, killing more than 35 people and trapping others underground, according to Iranian state media. Many of those who died had rushed into help miners who were trapped.

Wednesday’s blast was caused when workers tried to jump-start a locomotive, Reuters reports. IRNA, the Islamic Republic News Agency, says that according to Labor Minister Ali Rabiei, the blast occurred when workers changed the battery of the locomotive, creating a spark:

“‘There were some technical difficulties with the batteries in the depth of 700 meters and changing the batteries was carried out inside the tunnel rather than outside of it and that triggered the explosion,’ Rabiei said on Thursday.”

Randgold’s best first quarter in five years – Bristow – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – May 4, 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold mining company Randgold Resources has recorded substantially higher profit in the three months to March than in the corresponding first-quarter period last year. “This is probably the best quarter-one we’ve had for five years,” Randgold Resources CEO Dr Mark Bristow told Mining Weekly Online from London.

The “above-run-rate” output at all mines in the first three months of this year augurs well for 2017 guidance being met. Cash rose by 16% to $600-million in the first quarter, which had zero debt.

Earlier this week, shareholders approved a 52% hike to $1 a share in the yearly dividend. Profit was up 33% on the corresponding quarter of 2016 and down 10% quarter-on-quarter against last year’s record final quarter finish.

The Human Thread Of Suffering Behind The Production Of Our Cell Phones And Laptops – by Alexandra Willis (Huffington Post South Africa – May 5, 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/

Reports around the disregard for human and labour rights in the production of smartphones and other digital technology have been rife for years. Many of the components used in our devices are reportedly sourced through child labour and inhumane working conditions. The high value of these minerals has also fuelled competition, resulting in conflict involving mass killings and rape as a weapon of war.

All of us who own a PC, phone or other electronic gadget enjoy the benefits of new technologies, but rarely do we spare a thought as to how they are made. Inside many of these electronic devices are components that began life as minerals dug underground, sometimes at a great cost of human dignity.

Miners in countries such as Myanmar, Bolivia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) use children as young as seven who work in perilous conditions, scavenging for minerals in industrial mines and washing and sorting them before they are sold. The minerals travel through a chain of suppliers through Asia and elsewhere to be smelted into metals, and then onto the world at large where they end up in electronics, as well in vehicles and jewelry.

U.S. fires new salvo in escalating aluminium trade dispute – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – May 4, 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – “This is not a China-phobic program, this has to do with a global problem.” That was how U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross described the latest investigation into his country’s aluminium imports.

This one has been launched under Section 232(b) of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which lets a president act against imports on national security grounds. It follows hot on the heels of a similar Section 232 probe into U.S. imports of steel.

Although a Section 232 investigation is explicitly not supposed to be a substitute for trade complaints and despite Ross’s assurances it’s not about China, it’s hard to see this latest maneuver as anything other than exactly that. Namely, another turn of the screw on the Chinese authorities to do something about the country’s overcapacity and its exports.

Coal Jobs Prove Lucrative, but Not for Those in the Mines – by Hiroko Tabuchi (New York Times – May 2, 2017)

May 4, 2017

https://www.nytimes.com/

Glenn Kellow, the coal executive who led Peabody Energy through bankruptcy, just collected an estimated $15 million stock bonus. John Eaves at Arch Coal, another recently bankrupt coal giant, got an award valued at $10 million.

The view from the coal pits is far less rosy. An analysis of recent government data shows that the wage gap between the coal industry’s top executives and average coal workers has expanded, while low-end pay has stagnated.

From 2004 to 2016, the average annual wage for chief executives in the coal industry grew as much as five times faster than those of lower-paying jobs in the industry, like construction or truck and tractor operator jobs. Executive pay averaged $200,000, up 60 percent from $125,000, while paychecks for truck and tractor operators rose just 15 percent, to $43,770 from $38,060. Pay for construction jobs in mining rose just 11 percent, to $35,080 from $31,470.

Climate of Complete Certainty – by Bret Stephens (New York Times – April 28, 2017)

May 4, 2017

https://www.nytimes.com/

When someone is honestly 55 percent right, that’s very good and there’s no use wrangling. And if someone is 60 percent right, it’s wonderful, it’s great luck, and let him thank God.

But what’s to be said about 75 percent right? Wise people say this is suspicious. Well, and what about 100 percent right? Whoever says he’s 100 percent right is a fanatic, a thug, and the worst kind of rascal.

— An old Jew of Galicia

In the final stretch of last year’s presidential race, Hillary Clinton and her team thought they were, if not 100 percent right, then very close. Right on the merits. Confident in their methods. Sure of their chances. When Bill Clinton suggested to his wife’s advisers that, considering Brexit, they might be underestimating the strength of the populist tide, the campaign manager, Robby Mook, had a bulletproof answer: The data run counter to your anecdotes.

That detail comes from “Shattered,” Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes’s compulsively readable account of Clinton’s 2016 train wreck.

Answering Your Climate Questions – by Bret Stephens (New York Times – May 1, 2017)

May 4, 2017

https://www.nytimes.com/

My first column, “Climate of Complete Certainty,” was published last week, and drew more than 1,800 comments on the column and on Facebook. I’m answering some of them here, edited lightly for length and clarity.

Len Sherman: You rightfully questioned the ideological rigidity of progressives who sanctimoniously dismiss ANY legitimate questioning of climate change research. But what of the blatant ignorance professed by a president who dog whistles about a hoax perpetrated by Chinese leaders? Or a sizable faction of evangelical voters who reject science as a matter of religious principle?

At the end of the day, based on the scientific evidence I’ve seen, weighed against the credibility of opposing counterarguments, with Pascal’s Wager thrown in as a tiebreaker, the need and urgency for righteous behavior is a no-brainer.

Death toll in Iran coal mine explosion rises to 35 – by Amir Vahdat (CTV News – May 4, 2017)

May 4, 2017

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

The Associated Press – TEHRAN, Iran — A coal mine explosion that struck northern Iran killed at least 35 people, semi-official news agencies reported Thursday, as rescuers worked a second day to reach those trapped inside after the blast.

The Fars, Mehr and Tasnim news agencies all carried similar reports Thursday morning. State media did not immediately report on the rise in the death toll in the disaster Wednesday at the Golestan province mine. In a live broadcast by state television, Sadegh Ali Moghadam, the provincial director general of disaster management, said 22 dead bodies had been recovered.

The province will observe three days of mourning after the explosion, Iranian state television reported. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed deep sorrow over the “heartbreaking” and “disastrous” incident at a coal mine in Golestan province, which claimed the lives of a number of workers and entrapped several others, state TV’s website reported Thursday.

Glencore in talks to sell Peru, other mining royalties: sources – by Clara Denina and Nicole Mordant (Globe and Mail/Reuters – May 3, 2017)

May 4, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

LONDON and VANCOUVER – Mining-trading group Glencore Plc has hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to sell a portfolio of royalty assets, including one for the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru, four people familiar with the process have told Reuters.

The Antamina mine royalty makes up the bulk of the value of the package and could fetch up to $250-million, the sources said. The portfolio includes several much smaller royalties from other mines and exploration assets owned by Glencore around the world, they added.

It is not clear whether Glencore will sell 100 per cent of the royalties, which gives the owner the right to receive a percentage of production from a mining operation, or retain a stake in them.