Republic of Mining

AUDIO: Sudbury researcher John Gunn meets Sweden’s environmentally minded king – by Samantha Lui (CBC News Sudbury – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

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

John Gunn shared the story of Sudbury’s regreening efforts with the king and other researchers

The regreening of Sudbury’s damaged landscapes is a story known across the world. In fact, it’s even caught the attention of Carl Gustaf, the king of Sweden. Sudbury’s John Gunn was recently invited to attend the king’s 12th Royal Colloquiam just outside of Stockholm.

The event’s been held since 1992 by Gustaf, and it invites leading scientists and researchers to take part in discussions about issues relating to environment and development. Gunn, who is the director of the Vale Living with Lakes Centre in the city, shared details about Sudbury’s progress over the years with the king and other researchers around the world.

“It was a great honour to participate in such a discussion group with the king of Sweden,” he said. “Sweden and the adjoining Norway are very supportive of international studies in the environment. I was pleased to be able to go and represent Sudbury and provide some information.”

Editorial: Young Mining Professionals’ new Toronto branch grows – by John Cumming (Northern Miner Editorial – July 12, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://www.northernminer.com/

Anyone who spends time in both of Canada’s biggest mining centres will quickly pick up on the differences in culture between the two mining communities. Vancouver is generally younger, more outdoorsy and entrepreneurial, while Toronto is broadly older, urban and more corporate. In Vancouver, mining types will brag about what they did after work and socialize regularly in the Howe Street district, while in Toronto they’ll brag about how many hours they’ve worked, and dutifully head straight home after leaving the office.

And so it’s no surprise that it was in Vancouver that the Young Mining Professionals (YMP) group was founded in 2007 by three 30-something accountants and mining executives named Greg D. Smith, Scott Jeffrey and Rohan Hazelton — all with various ties to the mining industry in Vancouver, particularly to accounting giant KPMG.

The trio continues as the branch’s sole directors to this day, with help from executive officers Daniel Dickson, Geoff Miachika, Devon Thiara, Jennifer Poirier and Andrew Nelson, as well as corporate sponsors KPMG, Endeavour Silver, Goldcorp and law firm Cassels Brock.

Scant short term impact seen on nickel from Philippine mine crackdown – by Manolo Serapio Jr and Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA/LONDON, July 13 An environmental crackdown on Philippine mines, which helped drive nickel prices to eight-month highs, is likely to have only a muted impact on exports to China in the short term because the biggest mines have met guidelines, experts said.

The Philippines is the biggest exporter to top metals consumer China of nickel ore, used to make stainless steel. A smattering of smaller mines are likely to be affected in coming months and new mines will probably face tough going in the future, but the review of the mining sector is not likely to result in a quick drop in shipments.

“The Chinese think the Philippines will continue exporting ore to China and only some small mines will be affected. They’re not worried about the situation at the moment,” said Peter Peng, analyst at CRU consultancy in Beijing.

Nunavut, Kitikmeot Inuit team up to build longest road in Nunavut – by Nick Murray (CBC News North – July 12, 2016)

July 13, 2016

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

Road would begin at Grays Bay and stretch south to the N.W.T.’s diamond mines

A project proposal to build the longest road in Nunavut — a 227 kilometre all-season road from the shores of the Northwest Passage — is moving closer to fruition. On Friday, the Government of Nunavut signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association to partner on the project.

The road would connect a proposed deep water port at Grays Bay — on the Northwest Passage between Bathurst Inlet and Kugluktuk — to the winter road that services the N.W.T.’s diamond mines. It’s one of Nunavut’s and the N.W.T’s richest area in minerals.

“The challenge has always been lack of road infrastructure to get the product out,” said Tom Hoefer, the executive director of the N.W.T. and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. “So this is nothing new in the sense of people wanting to get road access in that region.

Poised for a ‘gut check’, gold’s bull run is not over yet: Canaccord Genuity – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

This has been an incredible year for gold equities, with shares of most miners doubling or tripling off their lows in January. But if analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. are right, there is more upside to come.

Analysts Tony Lesiak, Rahul Paul and Peter Bures hiked their price targets on 27 precious metals stocks on Tuesday, with the large-cap producers being raised by an average of 25 per cent each. For example, they increased their target on Barrick Gold Corp.’s shares by 27 per cent (to $33), and on Kinross Gold Corp.’s shares by 26 per cent (to $9.75).

The analysts expect gold and silver prices to move higher, but just as important, they think valuation multiples across the sector are poised to increase. They noted that valuations appear “stretched” after this year’s run-up, but that the current environment of negative global interest rates is a “unique” one that justifies higher multiples.

India’s coal mining ambition hurts indigenous group, Amnesty says – by Rina Chandran (Reuters India – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://in.reuters.com/

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – India’s drive to ramp up coal output to meet growing energy needs has resulted in members of the Adivasi tribe being displaced from their ancestral lands and forced to wait years to be resettled, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

The global human rights group said the Adivasi had suffered disproportionately from India’s push for coal. One in six of the 87,000 Indians who have been displaced over the past 40 years by state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) is Adivasi, Amnesty said.

Laws to protect vulnerable communities such as indigenous groups are poorly implemented and regularly flouted, it said. “Adivasi communities, who traditionally have strong links to land and forests, have suffered disproportionately from development-induced displacement and environmental destruction in India,” Amnesty said in a report.

Researcher says Nunavut and Siberia, once neighbours, share geology – by Lisa Gregoire (Nunatsiaq News – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Mineral riches in Siberia likely shared in Canadian Arctic

Imagine a huge volcanic event which punches molten magma and all kinds of gases and liquids through the Earth’s crust for such an extended period of time that lava eventually covers the entire country of Canada to a depth of seven kilometres.

That actually happened millions of years ago — and happened repeatedly, to varying degrees and sizes and in different locations, every 20 or 30 million years or so, says Carleton University geologist Richard Ernst.

Such events, which originate below the earth’s crust in what’s known as the mantle, are so powerful that they have actually broken continents apart and carved away islands leaving behind, millions of years later, underground geological phenomena called “large igneous provinces,” or LIPs.

What does the future hold for GM’s Oshawa plant? Here’s a vehicle-by-vehicle breakdown – by Kristine Owram (Finanical Post – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO — Eleven years ago, General Motors Co.’s then-chairman Rick Wagoner announced plans to shut down an assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont., calling it “tough medicine.” Today, however, the plant is still lurching along on life support.

The Oshawa consolidated plant, as it’s known, received a fifth lease on life last year and continues to turn out the popular Chevrolet Equinox crossover. But it appears there won’t be a sixth.

Under current plans, the Equinox won’t be produced at the consolidated plant after next year, while the neighbouring flex plant has no product slated for it beyond 2019. GM already shifted production of the Chevrolet Camaro from the flex plant to Lansing, Mich., last November, cutting 1,000 jobs.

Northern Gateway ruling puts future pipeline consultations to the test – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

CALGARY — Ottawa’s haste to get an oil pipeline to the Pacific built ended up being a project’s undoing. The federal Court of Appeal’s quashing of the Northern Gateway pipeline’s approval exposed the slipshod approach the former Conservative government took with rules of consultation with First Nations.

Now, for the Liberals and the energy sector, there are lingering risks for future pipelines and other resource projects that go beyond what the court used to strike down the Northern Gateway decision.

They boil down to a fundamental question – what must consultation achieve? Yes, aboriginal groups have rights to be informed and accommodated, but it remains to be seen how much power an opponent who refuses to be swayed ultimately has over a project’s go or no-go ruling.

‘Good stuff, good value’ at gem show – by Keith Dempsey (Sudbury Star – July 13, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Because of the Nickel City’s history of being a mining town, most will assume a gem and mineral show will be related to mining. But that’s not the case when it comes to the 34th annual Sudbury Gem and Mineral Show.

“It’s a family event and there’s something for everybody there,” said Ruth Debicki, vice-president of the Sudbury Rock and Lapidary Society. The event, taking place at the Carmichael Arena July 15-17, will feature 21 dealers with wholesale and retail sales, hourly door prize draws, and a grand door prize of a large Brazilian amethyst geode, with a value of $750. The draw will be on Sunday, at 4:45 p.m.

Sudbury Rock and Lapidary Society members will have exhibits and displays including minerals, rocks, gems, fossils, lapidary arts, beads, jewelry, rock crafts and lapidary arts.

GN inks deal with Kitikmeot Inuit to build deep sea port, road (Nunatsiaq News – July 12, 2016)

July 13, 2016

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Infrastructure will support network of mines in Nunavut’s Izok corridor

Nunavut premier Peter Taptuna celebrated the territory’s annual holiday by signing off on an agreement with Kitikmeot Inuit to develop the first deep-water port and all-weather road in the western Arctic.

Taptuna signed a memorandum of understanding July 9 with Kitikmeot Inuit Association president Stanley Anablak to formalize the two organizations’ cooperation on the Grays Bay Road and Port Project (GBRP).

The massive transportation project includes a deep sea port at Grays Bay — just east of Kugluktuk along the Northwest Passage — and a 227-kilomtre all-weather road south from there linking it to Izok Lake, a well-known zinc-lead mining corridor under exploration.

The world is running dangerously low on helium. This discovery reinflates our supply. – by Chelsea Harvey (Washington Post – June 28, 2016)

July 13, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

For the first time ever, researchers have tracked and located a helium gas field. And the discovery, presented Tuesday during the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in Japan, could help allay fears about a global helium shortage, which could affect such sectors as medicine and manufacturing.

The new helium field is located in Tanzania’s East African Rift Valley, a continental rift system characterized by lots of moving tectonic plates. The researchers think that heat from volcanic activity in the region has helped release the gas from ancient rocks, where it had been trapped.

Although helium is perhaps best known for inflating balloons (and making your voice sound funny when it’s inhaled), it is also a critical component in many machines and industrial activities, mostly because it is so stable and doesn’t react easily with other chemicals.

All change in the world of industrial metals trading? – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – July 12, 2016)

July 12, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – China has loomed large over the world of industrial raw materials for many years. The prices of metals from aluminum to zinc have long swayed to the beat of the world’s largest manufacturing nation.

But this is the year that China has emerged from the limelight to take center-stage in the trading of those metals. On one day alone, March 10, trading volumes on the Dalian Exchange iron ore contract exceeded one billion tonnes, more than the combined annual output of the world’s biggest three producers, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale.

The following month, on April 21, more than 240 million tonnes of steel rebar traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), equivalent to around a third of China’s steel production last year, not just of construction-destined rebar but of every imaginable type of steel product.

Miners recall use of black powder during employment – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – July 12, 2016)

July 14, 2016July 12, 2016

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Danny Hway vividly remembers the impact McIntyre Powder had on his father, Nicholas, who worked at Timmins’ McIntyre Mine for 47 years. At home, his dad wouldn’t speak of it, but he didn’t need to. His grim appearance at the end of every shift did the talking for him.

“He’d come home and his hands were black all the time, and any exposed skin was black,” Danny recalled. “He’d be coughing all the time and, blowing his nose, it was black all the time. He didn’t really want to talk about it — (that’s) life, right?”

Nicholas was one of thousands of miners across the North who were required to inhale the finely ground aluminum dust as a condition of their employment. But for him the stakes were higher than for most: preparing the powder for dissemination was his job.

Botswana: Mining Job Losses Fears Mount (All Africa.com – July 11, 2016)

July 12, 2016

http://allafrica.com/

The aftermath of depressed commodity prices and slow uptake of locally produced minerals that has resulted in reduced production at Debswana diamond mines and copper mines is being felt as fears of more mining job losses escalate. The dreaded job cuts axe is hovering over workers at one of Debswana suppliers Multotec Botswana, with fears that the company may release some workers if their contracts, which end this year, are not renewed.

The company currently employs approximately 275 workers in different operations at Debswana mines in Orapa, Letlhakane and Jwaneng. The trade union representing miners, Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) said last week that they are awaiting feedback from Multotec Botswana to be presented at a Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) meeting on 07-08 July 2016.

“We do not know of any job losses. As far as we are concerned the company is still negotiating renewal of their contracts with Debswana. Some (contracts) have already been extended,” said Mbiganyi Moffat Ramokate – the Union Secretary General a day after the union presented a petition to Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi pleading that Government intervene to save jobs in the mines, particularly at the country’s leading copper mine BCL which faces closure.