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If the eco-fanatics hate Justin Trudeau this much, imagine what they think of you – by Rex Murphy (National Post – April 22, 2017)

http://news.nationalpost.com/

That Justin Trudeau is a genial and pleasant-tempered man may not be “a truth universally acknowledged,” but that he is as close to that perfect status as any human being is likely to get is not a proposition inviting dissent. From Flare to Vogue the oracles agree that our Prime Minister is the very model of a modern Major-General … er, Prime Minister.

Just last week a grand covey of the rich and gorgeous at the Women in the World Conference pronounced him as “near perfect” as perfect can be (his only deficit “that he is not a woman,” a failing that, properly speaking, is more the mischief of blind Nature, than a flaw of his own devising).

Now, beyond the borders of rational opinion, out in the badlands of raw outrage and wild surmise, a distempered few offer bitterly dismissive terms on the subject of Trudeau. One of the volatile tribunes of Toronto’s Black Lives Matter movement, yearning for a cheap headline and clearly out of the reach of any plausible dictionary, called Trudeau “a white supremacist terrorist.”

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In the quest of yet another Koh-i-noor – by Appaji Reddem (The Hindu – April 23, 2017)

http://www.thehindu.com/

Prospectors flock to Kollur mine area as the KL Sagar waters recede

While India’s battle to reclaim the Koh-i-noor diamond continues, summer has given a new lease of life to the mines along the Krishna river that spawned the crown jewel. They have surfaced after months under the waters of the Pulichintala irrigation project in Guntur district.

And as the deserted villages in the 2.4 lakh sq. km. catchment area reappear, prospectors flock to the area, hoping to find another Koh-i-Noor. The Kollur mine, the ‘Eldorado’ that yielded the enigmatic diamond and the eponymous village in Andhra Pradesh lie in a forested region some 100 km from Vijayawada, enveloped by Pulichintala project or the Dr KL Rao Sagar project on the Krishna river.

The region has been home to diamond mining for centuries, reaching its zenith under the Qutub Shahi dynasty with their capital Golconda a global hub of the trade. Millions of carats of diamonds are believed to have been mined from Kollur between the 15th and the 19th century.

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Mount Isa, a city of mining, huge distances and a close-knit community – by Oliver Lewis (Suff.co.nz/ – April 23, 2017)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, large white gumboots and a hard hat with a torch on the front we descend into the mine. I’m in Mount Isa, deep in the north-west of the Queensland Outback. It is a city built by mining, rising from the arid red dirt of the landscape in 1923, after prospector John Campbell Miles first discovered lead ore here.

From the air, the land surrounding Mount Isa, or The Isa as it is known by locals, looks like the scarred surface of an alien planet. From my window seat in the plane, the rocks below reflect back beams of light from the setting sun, hinting at the great seams of zinc, copper, lead and silver buried under the dirt.

We’re on the Hard Times Mine Underground Tour , just beside the Outback at Isa visitor centre, in the middle of the city of around 22,000. Because of health and safety precautions, tours into the actual mines closed a few decades ago, so the city built its own mock mine, with around 1.2 kilometre of tunnels. Our tour group is led by Alan Rackham, a miner of 49 years who over the course of the next two-and-a-half hours takes us through the history of mining in the area.

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For First Time Since 1800s, Britain Goes a Day Without Burning Coal for Electricity – by Katrin Bennhold (New York Times – April 21, 2017)

https://www.nytimes.com/

LONDON — Friday was the first full day since the height of the Industrial Revolution that Britain did not burn coal to generate electricity, a development that officials and climate change activists celebrated as a watershed moment.

The accomplishment became official just before 11 p.m., when the 24-hour period ended.
Coal powered Britain into the industrial age and into the 21st century, contributing greatly to the “pea souper” fogs that were thought for decades to be a natural phenomenon of the British climate.

For many living in the mining towns up and down the country, it was not just the backbone of the economy but a way of life. But the industry has been in decline for some time. The last deep coal mine closed in December 2015, though open cast mining has continued.

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Northern Ontario is Canada’s future; Conservative leadership candidate promises he will make Ring of Fire a national priority, boost regional health care – by Erin O’Toole (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 23, 2017)

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

THIS week in Thunder Bay, I visited the Terry Fox memorial and was reminded of the tremendous determination of this iconic Canadian and the community spirit he continues to inspire three decades after his death. Canadians are a generous people who help our neighbours at home and have long played a role in helping around the world from Vimy Ridge to Kandahar.

Northern Ontarians have always gone the extra mile to answer the call of service to help their neighbours. Local leaders know the needs of their communities far better than bureaucrats in Ottawa. That’s why it’s time we empower Northern Ontario to set its own course and become a national economic driver once more.

From Kenora to Thunder Bay to Timmins, northerners know the needs of their communities and the tremendous potential of projects like the Ring of Fire. As an Ontario MP, I also recognize that the development of resources in our north not only creates jobs in this area of the province, but will benefit all Canadians through resource royalties and the addition of secondary processing jobs.

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Towns on the clock: What comes after coal for B.C.’s mining towns? – by By Josh Pagé and Liam Britten (CBC News B.C. – April 22, 2017)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Coal has for decades been the way of life for miners in towns like Elkford, Sparwood and Fernie

Mining coal for steelmaking has been the way of life — a good life — for coal miners in towns like Elkford, Sparwood and Fernie for more than a century. But there’s also tension there, as coal truck driver Katie Bulger, who originally moved to the area for the snowboarding, explains.

“It is kind of a huge push and pull between … loving the mountains, being outdoors, and then going to a mine where it is just destroying mountains,” she said. Dean McKerracher, mayor of Elkford, feels tension too, but on a different matter.

While the major mines are expected to be in operation for several more decades, he worries what their inevitable closure will mean for the future of his community. The plan is to try to transition into tourism.

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COLUMN-China ratchets up the pressure on its aluminium producers – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – April 21, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

Is aluminium the new steel for China’s policy-makers? The country’s steel producers are already being subjected to a host of measures intended to weed out excess capacity. A wholesale restructuring of the enormous steel sector is a key component of the country’s declared war on pollution.

It also provides some negotiating leeway for China when it comes to dealing with the growing international pressure to rein in exports. China’s aluminium producers, which like their steel counterparts now dominate global supply, seem to be next in line for “supply-side reform”.

Threats to close capacity in the region around Beijing over the winter heating months had already propelled aluminium prices higher. They have just been given a further boost by news that Beijing has ordered the suspension of new capacity in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. Further measures seem certain to follow.

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[Australia Mining] Regional cities show resilience after mining boom goes bust, Productivity Commission report says – by Sarina Locke (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – April 20, 2017)

http://www.abc.net.au/

Benefits from the mining boom are still being felt in regional areas despite the prolonged downturn, according to a report from the Productivity Commission. In its interim report on transitioning regional economies, the Productivity Commission found about 80 per cent of regions had positive employment growth over the past five years, although most also saw decreases at times.

The report found employment in the mining sector was higher now than before the boom, and mining regions had been more resilient to the downturn than regions that were highly dependent on manufacturing.

Western Australia and Queensland had been most affected by the downturn in mining investment, with unemployment levels doubling in those states compared to the peak of the boom. Some regional centres, like Townsville in Queensland — a base for FIFO workers — had also been harder hit.

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South Africa’s Sibanye declares war on illegal gold miners – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters U.S. – April 21, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

WESTONARIA, South Africa, April 21 Illegal gold mining has plagued South Africa’s mining companies for decades, robbing the industry and state coffers of billions of rand through smalltime pilfering as well as networks run by organised crime.

Now, with unmined output dwindling and proving more diff cult to extract, one firm has had enough: diversified precious metals producer Sibanye Gold says that it will clear all illegal miners from its shafts by the end of January next year.

“We will have them out then,” Sibanye’s Chief Executive Neal Froneman told Reuters. His campaign slogan is “Zero Zama”, after the Zulu for illegal miners, “zama zamas” or “taking a chance”. A Gold Fields spin-off formed in 2013, Sibanye is the first company to set itself a deadline to stop the practice and has laid out 200 million rand ($15 million) to make it happen.

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Rio cuts copper output target after problems at giant mines – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – April 20, 2017)

https://www.ft.com/

Rio Tinto has cut production guidance for copper by 12 per cent following problems at two giant mines where it is involved in joint ventures, and reported lower than expected output from its flagship iron ore business because of bad weather.

The Anglo Australian mining group had previously predicted it would mine between 525,000 and 665,000 tonnes of copper this year.

But in a trading update late on Wednesday, Rio said it now thinks it will produce between 500,000 and 550,000 tonnes because of supply disruptions at the world’s two biggest copper mines — Escondida in Chile and Grasberg in Indonesia.

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Apple wants to try to “stop mining the Earth altogether” to make your iPhone – by  Zoë Schlanger (Quartz Media – April 20, 2017)

 

https://qz.com/

Apple just announced that it plans to stop relying on mined rare earth minerals and metals to make their products, and instead use only recycled sources.

Mines where rare earth mineral are extracted are often sites of exploitation, where workers, some children, are exposed to extremely toxic substances and dangerous working conditions for scant pay. The effluent from the mines poisons soil and groundwater supplies and wreaks environmental devastation, too.

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NEWS RELEASE: BC’S MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MINING INDUSTRY LAUNCH VOTE MINING CAMPAIGN

http://www.amebc.ca/

April 19, 2017, Vancouver, BC: The Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC), Association for Mineral Exploration (AME), and Mining Suppliers Association of British Columbia (MSABC) launched the Vote Mining campaign today to raise awareness about the importance of the mineral exploration and mining sector to the provincial economy and to encourage citizens to ask their candidates how they will support BC’s mining industry.

Votemining.ca is the campaign’s official website and it provides British Columbians with the tools and knowledge to ask their candidates the important questions. The Vote Mining ‘Take Action’ tool will also facilitate voters’ ability to write to their candidates and ask how they plan to support mineral exploration and mining in BC.

“BC’s mineral exploration and mining industry remains a major driver for the provincial economy. As partners in the Vote Mining Campaign, we wish to provide British Columbians with factual information that will showcase how important it is for candidates and voters to support such a critical industry that creates local opportunities for people living in every region of the province.”, said Gavin C. Dirom, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Mineral Exploration (AME).

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Koh-i-Noor: India says it should not claim priceless diamond from UK (British Broadcasting Corporation – April 19, 2017)

http://www.bbc.com/

The Indian government has told the Supreme Court that it should not try to reclaim the priceless Koh-i-Noor diamond from Britain. The gemstone came into British hands in the mid-19th Century, and forms part of the Crown Jewels on display at the Tower of London.

Ownership of the famous gem is an emotional issue for many Indians, who believe it was stolen by the British. But the solicitor-general said it was “neither stolen nor forcibly taken”.

Ranjit Kumar said the 105-carat diamond had been “gifted” to the East India company by the former rulers of Punjab in 1849. The case is being heard by the Supreme Court after an Indian NGO filed a petition asking the court to direct the Indian government to bring back the diamond.

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Despite slower growth, China still key market for miners and Africa – by Keith Campbell (MiningWeekly.com – April 21, 2017)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – There can be no doubt that, for the past two decades-and-a-half or so, the biggest single influence on the global mining industry has been China. Between 2002 and 2012, that country experienced an annual average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 10.4%, compared with India’s 7.6%, the UK’s 1.3%, Germany’s 1.2%, France’s 1.0% and Japan’s 0.8%.

During the period 1992 to 2002, China’s average annual real GDP growth rate had been 9.8% (India’s had been 5.8%). (These figures are from The Economist: Pocket World in Figures 2015.)

The result was the “commodity supercycle” and a global mining boom. But Chinese economic growth has, of course, decelerated significantly since 2012. In 2015, it grew at 6.9% and last year at 6.7%, according to official data released in Beijing. (The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, has estimated India’s 2016 growth rate at 6.6%, which makes China again the world’s fastest- growing economy.

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Diamond miners have India in sight with Real is Rare slogan – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – April 21, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

The world’s top diamond producers will try to spur demand in India with the launch of their “Real is Rare” slogan in September, after the withdrawal of high-value bank notes dented the world’s third biggest diamond market.

The marketing slogan was launched in the United States in 2016 by the Diamond Producers Association (DPA), which groups the biggest producers including De Beers, part of Anglo American, Russia’s Alrosa and Rio Tinto.

DPA Chief Executive Jean-Marc Lieberherr told Reuters early indications were that the slogan was effective and diamonds had captured the interest of the millennial generation, which the DPA’s research found wants “fewer and more meaningful things”.

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