Republic of Mining

[Qubec Mining] “I would be surprised [if] someone [could] … raise capital right now to develop a uranium project until you know how this … will be settled” – by Staff (Mining Journal – December 20, 2016)

December 20, 2016

Junior Strateco Resources’ (US:SRSIF) looming C$200 million (US$150 million) court case against the Quebec government is expected to set the precedent for other uranium hopefuls.

Strateco is suing the provincial government for investment losses and punitive damages after its Matoush uranium project was blocked following years of preliminary work.

Strateco spent an average $20 million a year on Matoush between 2006-2012, The Globe and Mail reported, on the basis that uranium exploration and mining were allowed in Quebec.

[Indonesia] Smelting industry held hostage by policy uncertainty – by Viriya P. Singgih (Jakarta Post – December 20, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

A plan to allow more exports of raw and partly processed mineral products has irked businesses that have already invested heavily in smelters intended to add value to mineral ores and generate a multiplier effect for the economy.

The businesses argue that such a policy would not only send a chilling message to the international community that Indonesia cannot hold to its commitments, but also harm the downstream industry and put more pressure on the global prices of several mining commodities already experiencing a supply glut.

A draft regulation prepared by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, a copy of which was recently obtained by The Jakarta Post, will allow companies with mining licenses (IUP), or special mining licenses (IUPK), or former holders of contracts of work to have the privilege of getting five-year export licenses.

[Lithium Boom] TOSSED ASIDE IN THE ‘WHITE GOLD’ RUSH – by Todd C. Frankel and Peter Whoriskey (Washington Post – December 19, 2016)

December 20, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Indigenous people are left poor as tech world takes lithium from under their feet

In the thin air of the salt flats here, nearly 13,000 feet above sea level, the indigenous Atacamas people face a constant struggle. They herd llamas and goats on arid land, knit Andean hats for extra money and chew coca leaves to fight off the altitude’s dizzying effects. They live in mud-brick homes with roofs made of sheets of corrugated metal weighed down with rocks against the stiff winds.

Yet beneath their ancestral land lies a modern-day Silicon Valley treasure: lithium.

The silvery-white metal is essential for the lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles, and the popularity of these products has prompted a land rush here. Mining companies have for years been extracting billions of dollars of lithium from the Atacama region in Chile, and now firms are flocking to the neighboring Atacama lands in Argentina to hunt for the mineral known as “white gold.”

But the impoverished Atacamas have seen little of the riches.

Japan’s base metal firms tap materials market for growth – by Yuka Obayashi (Reuters U.S. – December 19, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

TOKYO – Stung by years of falling base metals prices, Japanese mining and smelting firms are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in specialized materials used in electric vehicles, smartphones and a host of everyday electronic devices.

Companies such as Sumitomo Metal Mining and JX Nippon Mining & Metals, a unit of JX Holdings, are seeking a steady revenue stream in the face of narrow smelting margins and recent heavy write-offs on base metals mines.

The firms hope to cash in on a push by global automakers into electric vehicles as well as new uses for their metals in the coming era of the Internet of Things when everything from screwdrivers to cars is expected to be linked to the Internet.

With Gold Prices Stuck in ‘Purgatory,’ Hedge Funds Pull Out – by Luzi-Ann Javier (Bloomberg News – December 20, 2016)

December 20, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold is in the doldrums. Prices have fallen for six straight weeks, the worst streak in a year, as prospects for higher U.S. borrowing costs damped demand for gold, a for non-interest-bearing asset.

Investors don’t seem too optimistic about the outlook for 2017. Hedge funds cut their bets on a rally to the lowest since February, while outflows are ramping up from exchange-traded funds.

After the metal’s best first half since 1979, bullion has been losing its luster as U.S. equities rallied to records. A stronger dollar and rising bond yields have also crimped demand for the alternative asset. Federal Reserve officials last week signaled a steeper path for interest rates in 2017, after raising borrowing costs for the first time this year. While money managers have cut their wagers on a gold rally for five consecutive weeks, their net-position is still more than double what it was at the end of January.

Mining companies scramble to fight burdensome new EPA rule – by Barbara Mannino (Fox News – December 19, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://www.foxnews.com/

Mining companies are fired up about a proposed federal rule change that would jack up the purse companies must have access to in order to cover any environmental damage their work might cause.

The proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) changes shift the burden of financing Superfund cleanups — which are also known as National Priority List, or NPL, sites — away from the federal government to the mining facilities, a move that would cost the industry $171 million a year and save the EPA $527 million over 34 years, according to the agency’s Regulatory Impact Analysis.

Companies see an added burden as much as 20 times higher from the insurance and bonds they would be required to get, and believe the change will have a devastating impact on the economy of states like Nevada, which leads the U.S. in gold production, and other metal-mining states, most of them in the western half of the country.

It’s time to expose the lie that expensive green energy won’t hurt Canada’s prosperity – by Philip Cross (Financial Post – December 20, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

It is naïve or wilfully misleading to pretend there is an overall
economic benefit from higher energy costs. There is no possible
way of putting a positive economic spin on the doubling of electricity
prices in Ontario since 2002. It is a drain on household budgets and
a burden to the competitiveness of businesses.

We heard it repeated ad nauseum in the ongoing debates over Canada’s climate-change policy, this hackneyed catchphrase that our society does not have to choose between clean energy and economic growth. This makes it sound as if there are no economic risks in our choice of energy sources. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The exploitation of energy is fundamental to economic growth. Ruth Sandwell, in her recent book Powering Up Canada, divides human economic development into two eras according to their principal sources of energy. The first was based on inefficient organic sources of energy, mostly plants and animals as well as wood, that produced a low standard of living for most of human history.

Ontario business owners say high electricity rates are a threat to their survival – by Showwei Chu (Globe and Mail – December 20, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Independent business group says energy prices are the number one issue for members

Tor Krueger has big plans for Udder Way Artisan Cheese Co., which sells handmade goat cheese in Stoney Creek, Ont. But crushing hydro bills are hurting the artisan cheese maker’s plans to modernize his facility so he can get federal certification and sell his cheeses across the country.

“After payroll, hydro is consistently one of my top three operating expenses,” Mr. Krueger said. Hydro One charges him upward of $2,000 a month, and “I don’t have any equipment in here that I would say is drawing a lot of power.”

Other small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Ontario, such as restaurants Berkeley North of Hamilton and Fred’s Not Here of Toronto, are struggling to pay their hefty hydro bills. “That right now is the No. 1 issue for our members,” says Plamen Petkov of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), which has 42,000 members in Ontario.

Revolution-era New York mine could produce hydro power – by Andrew Topf (Mining.com – December 19, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

Mine in Mineville, 100 miles from Albany, contributed iron for one of the first naval battles of the Revolutionary War

Flooding a mine is a closure strategy that mining companies often use as part of a rehabilitation plan usually decided at the beginning of a mine’s operating life.

Once the tunnels are flooded, the mine and its workings become submerged, not just in a physical sense but in the minds of the public, who then regard that mine as finished, and the lake that fills the former pit probably assigned a recreational use.

An abandoned mine in New York state seemed to be destined to a similar, ignominious fate, but for a group of engineers who saw the historically-significant iron ore mine serving a more useful purpose.

Shuttered Gold Mine Shows Investors Risks of Thai Power Grab – by Chris Blake (Bloomberg News – December 18, 2016)

December 20, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/

When Thailand’s junta leader-turned-prime minister used his absolute power to suspend gold mining — prompting an Australian miner’s shares to plummet 19 percent in a single day — he complicated efforts to attract foreign investors already spooked by military rule.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha announced the order last week, saying that gold mining will be suspended from the start of the year in a bid to address health and environmental concerns. By issuing the order under Article 44 of the constitution enacted when his junta toppled the elected government in 2014, Prayuth ensured it was “lawful, constitutional and final.”

The most immediate loser is Australia’s Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd., which through its subsidiary operates Thailand’s largest and only commercially viable gold mine. Its shares dropped as much as 19 percent last Wednesday and are down nearly 40 percent since May 10, when Thailand announced the Chatree mine might close amid complaints of arsenic and manganese contamination in nearby villages.

Gold outlook is hostage to uncertain Trump and India – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – December 19, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – It was supposed to be a good year for gold, given all the uncertainty and surprises over the U.S. presidential election, the British vote to leave the European Union and general concern about the health of the global economy.

But things didn’t quite pan out the way gold bulls would have hoped, and now they face a new year where the price of the precious metal is likely to be hostage to developments that are inherently unpredictable.

The two main risks for the gold outlook for 2017 are what actually happens in the presidency of Donald Trump and how the demonetization of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plays out in the world’s second-largest consumer of the precious metal.

Obama Sets Up Water Clash With Mining Rule Trump Opposes – by Ari Natter (Bloomberg News – December 19, 2016)

December 19, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The Obama administration issued new regulations to protect streams and groundwater from coal mining, a measure that’s targeted for repeal by congressional Republicans.

The industry says the U.S. Interior Department’s so-called stream protection rule will strand billions of dollars worth of coal in the ground. Even before it was issued Monday, President-elect Donald Trump had vowed to rescind it, calling it “excessive.”

The Interior Department says the rule, which updates 33-year-old regulations, will protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests primarily in Appalachia. The rule will end practices that permanently pollute streams and drinking water, requiring companies to restore streams once their mining work is complete and to monitor water quality.

Mining heavyweight Glencore could leave Sudbury in 5 years, says VP (CBC News Sudbury – December 19, 2016)

December 19, 2016

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

Company’s vice-president seeking $1.4 B from investors to continue deep mining operations in Sudbury

Glencore’s vice-president Peter Xavier says unless the company can raise $1.4 billion from investors, the life of its mining operations in Sudbury will end in 2021.

But in the face of “disruptive changes” from Asian exports — which Xavier estimates supply between one-third and a quarter of the world’s nickel — the company is trying to extend its presence by opening two new deep mining projects in the area.

And to mine deeper, the company needs to raise money. “The challenge for us in our future operations are at depth so you can imagine finding the time to find to develop, the challenge economically to bring those to a positive business case are getting more difficult,” Xavier said.

Indonesia draft rule could ease export ban on nickel, bauxite: paper (Reuters U.S. – December 19, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Indonesia’s government is drafting a regulation that could ease a looming export ban for not only copper concentrates, but also partly processed or raw nickel and bauxite, the Jakarta Post reported, citing a draft regulation.

Under the draft, unprocessed gold, silver, tin and chromium would remain on the export ban list, the paper said. Energy and Mining ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but a spokesman last week said the ministry was in talks with the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs to try to reach a solution on easing the ban.

The ore shipments ban, which requires miners to build smelters to process ore locally and halt mineral exports from next month, was implemented in January 2014, although last minute amendments were made to ease its impact.

Asbestos, Que., a town left pondering its name in wake of proposed ban – by Ingrid Peritz (Globe and Mail – December 17, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

MONTREAL — To Canadians and much of the world, the word “asbestos” is synonymous with poison and a slow, painful death. But to 7,000 people in southern Quebec, the word is the name of their home. Now they are struggling over whether to turn their backs on it.

Ottawa’s announcement this week that it would ban the fibre has revived a debate in Asbestos about changing the town’s name, a symbolic gesture that would, in effect, wipe the product and the word off the map.

“To improve the economy, I’m ready to analyze all proposals, including changing the name,” the mayor of Asbestos, Hugues Grimard, said in an interview on Friday. “People are talking about it. I’m not closed to it.”