Republic of Mining

Mining Alaska Part IV: Red Dog Mine – by Mallory Peebles (KTUU.com – November 5, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.ktuu.com/

ANCHORAGE – Red Dog Mine is Alaska’s only Arctic mine. Located 106 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the mine employs close to 500 people, not including about 130 additional contracted workers.

Beneath the frozen ground at Red Dog Mine is zinc and lead. The ore is so rich it could be seen from the sky 50 years ago when a pilot flying overhead first discovered the prospect.

“It’s a world class deposit,” says Teck Community & Public Relations Manager Wayne Hall. “Other mines may be around 5 percent. Just to put it in perspective, our average grade here is right around 17 to 18.”

Merge or die, major gold miners told – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Business Day/Bloomberg News – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

LONDON — The biggest gold miners, weighed down by record debt and with prices near a five-year low, will have to merge with others to survive, according to Randgold Resources, the best-performing producer of the metal in the past 10 years.

“The big producers have the biggest challenges of all,” Randgold CEO Mark Bristow said on Thursday. “Eventually, you’re going to see survival mergers.”

Gold’s 42% price slump from a record set four years ago is cutting profits and stressing balance sheets for mining companies, with the largest producers weighed down by debt totalling almost $35bn.

In September, the benchmark 30-member Philadelphia Stock Exchange gold and silver index, which includes Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining, fell to the lowest level since 2000.

Mining Alaska Part III: Striking gold at Kensington Mine – by Mallory Peebles (KTUU.com – November 4, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.ktuu.com/

A century of advances in technology and engineering has dramatically changed the way gold is mined. Pickaxes, wheelbarrows and pans have been replaced by remotely operated trucks and large industrial mills where gold is separated by the process of mineral flotation.

Kensington Gold Mine, in the Borough of Juneau, began production in July of 2010. The locally owned company, Coeur Alaska Inc., employs more than 300 people and is the largest property taxpayer in the borough as well as the second largest private company in terms of payroll, which exceeded $41 million in 2014 according to the Alaska Miners Association.

The mine does not produce pure gold. Instead, it ships out 2 ton sacks of gold concentrate, a mix of fine gold and dirt. Each sack contains between 10 to 17 ounces of gold which makes it worth about $20,000 at current market value.

At $27 Billion, Mining in Space Could Cost Less Than a Gas Plant – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 5, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Getting a mine up and running on the moon or an asteroid would cost less than building the biggest gas terminals on Earth, according to research presented to a forum of company executives and NASA scientists.

A mission to Ceres, a dwarf planet 257 million miles from the Sun and the size of Texas, may cost about $27 billion. The expense includes 10 rocket launches to convey equipment, the extraction of metals and water, and the construction of an in-orbit facility to process the raw materials.

The costing comes from graduate business students at Australia’s University of New South Wales, which is also collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the economics of space mining. By comparison, Australia’s biggest single resources development — Chevron Corp.’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas plant — has an expected price tag of about $54 billion.

Still, getting investors to buy into the grand vision that mankind has a future in the stars is a high bar to clear.

Chromite tax helped kill Capreol plant: Tories – by Keith Leslie (Canadian Press/Sudbury Star – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

TORONTO — Ontario’s Opposition says a Liberal government plan to tax the mineral chromite prompted Cliffs Natural Resources to pull out of the Ring of Fire mining project in the province’s north.

The U.S.-based Cliffs withdrew earlier this year from the Ring of Fire, a region 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay that is rich in deposits of copper, nickel, platinum and chromite, which is essential for making stainless steel.

The company, which spent $550 million to buy land in the area, was in negotiations with the Ontario government for a $3.3-billion capital investment to develop the Ring of Fire until it pulled out last spring. It also cancelled a planned $1.8-billion chromite processing facility in Capreol.

Documents released as part of an investigation into cancelled gas plants in the Toronto-area four years ago revealed the province wanted to impose a royalty on chromite mined by Cliffs of between $6.6 million and $34.4 million a year.

Cuts in China’s rare earth output not enough to revive hard-hit market – by Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – An output cut by six top rare-earth producers in China has spurred a modest rise in prices and is helping to steady a hard-hit market, but a continued glut of illegal output will likely cap any rebound.

Prices of 17 rare-earth elements used in high-tech sectors such as electronics, defence and renewable energy have been sliding over the past four years, hit by heavy oversupply.

Last month, the country’s top producer China Northern Rare Earth High Tech Corp and five other main suppliers said that due to weak prices, they would produce around 10 percent less than their 2015 government-set output targets.

China is the world’s dominant producer of rare earths, accounting for 90 percent of global supplies. “The cuts caused a short-term bump (in prices), but the real problem is that it’s only a small drop in the ocean,” said David Merriman, senior analyst at consultancy Roskill Information Services in London.

Taylor Mine is the newest mine in Ontario (Northern News – November 5, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.northernnews.ca/

KIRKLAND LAKE – St Andrew Goldfields Taylor Mine project is now in commercial production and will increase the company’s gold production.

With the acceptance of the Taylor Mine closure plan the company has three gold producing mines in operation.

“We are pleased to declare Taylor the newest mine in Ontario, one which we anticipate will bolster the company’s gold production profile for 2016 by 40,000 – 50,000 ounces and provide much needed jobs and economic benefits to the communities in the region. I would personally like to thank the SAS team, the provincial government officials, the First Nations and our communities for their hard work and support in helping us bring Taylor into reality.

The mine is expected to be a significant contributor in the future as we are ramping up to full production by the end of this year,” said Duncan Middlemiss, President and Chief Executive Officer. “With the addition of Taylor to the portfolio of producing assets, we are also pleased to raise our 2015 full year production guidance to between 100,000 and 110,000 ounces of gold with the Taylor contributing 10,000 to 15,000 ounces of gold for the balance of 2015.

AUDIO: Mine closure in Red Lake, Ont., surprises mining economist (CBC News Thunder Bay – Novemeber 5, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/

New strategy required for gold extraction, Lakehead postdoctural fellow says

The news of a temporary closure at the Rubicon Minerals mine in Red Lake, Ont., came unexpectedly to one mining economist at the Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Mining at Lakehead University.

The shutdown of the mine is leaving 330 workers without a job in the northern Ontario town with 5,000 residents.

In a paper highlighting key mining developments, Karl Skogstad said the Rubicon mine was one of the more promising projects in northern Ontario.

“That came as a bit of a surprise to me,” Skogstad said. “That was one of the two projects that we said, ‘this is going to open, you know, relatively on schedule, and it’s doing well.'”

The volatile price of gold is presenting challenges to companies such as Rubicon, he added.

Miners worried: Hydro One sale could spell price troubles – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Electricity-hungry industry depends on competitive power rates

If the controversial privatization of Hydro One results in increased hydro prices, it could spell trouble for the province’s mining sector, says the Ontario Mining Association.

“We’re concerned, obviously,” said Chris Hodgson, the association’s president. “The mining market is not great, so if you want to stay in business you have to be competitive.”

Hodgson and other mining industry representatives were a Queen’s Park on Nov. 3, where they met with various MPPs for the annual Meet the Miners lobby day.

The province’s rising hydro rates were a big topic of discussion during the meetings, Hodgson said. Hydro costs represent around 15 per cent of a mine’s operating costs, and with smelting operations that can increase to 30, or even 50 per cent, Hodgson said.

NEWS RELEASE: Fatal Brazilian mine waste disaster shows modern mining is increasingly dangerous

November 6, 2015

https://www.earthworksaction.org/

November 6, 2015 – Earthworks and Center for Science in Public Participation

New research validated: mining disasters on the rise because of modern mining techniques

Washington, D.C. — A mine waste dam at the Germano open-pit iron ore mine in Brazil’s state of Minas Gerais breached yesterday, flooding the downstream area with mining waste and causing fatalities. The Germano facility is co-owned by two of the world’s largest mining companies, Brazilian Vale SA and Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton.

A recent report, The Risk, Public Liability & Economics of Tailings Storage Facility Failure, demonstrates that catastrophic mine waste failures are increasing in frequency and severity because of — not in spite of — modern mining techniques, and will continue to do so until regulators and mining companies take active steps to prevent them.

“Our research shows that more mining waste disasters like Brazil’s Germano spill are inevitable,” said David Chambers, report co-author and director of the Center of Science in Public Participation.

[Noront] Junior miner wants faster government action on providing Far North infrastructure – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Noront Resources president-CEO Alan Coutts isn’t enamoured with the provincial government’s glacial pace of infrastructure planning in the Ring of Fire, but his junior mining company has no immediate intention to mothball its nickel project in the region.

“We don’t have any plans to stop activities at this time,” said Coutts, a day after Noront announced the start of a modest $650,000 step-out exploration program, three kilometres from its flagship Eagle’s Nest nickel deposit.

A rather upbeat Coutts was beating back a Toronto newspaper report that the main mineral developer in the Ring of Fire was threatening to suspend exploration in an effort to speed up a government commitment to build mining-related infrastructure in the Far North.

The article, citing unnamed sources close to the company, said Resource Capital Funds, Noront’s main financier, is supportive and that such a work stoppage could be made within weeks.

Exclusive: First Quantum hires Jefferies to sell nickel assets – sources – by Euan Rocha and Freya Berry (Reuters U.S. – November 5, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO/LONDON – First Quantum Minerals has retained Jefferies to explore a sale of its two nickel mines as the Canadian base metal miner looks to trim debt levels and double down on its bets in copper, three sources familiar with the matter said

The sources, who declined to be named as details of the plan are not public, said the move to sell the assets would help the company achieve its goal of reducing its debt levels by over $1 billion.

A spokeswoman for First Quantum declined to comment on the plan. A spokeswoman for Jefferies was not immediately reachable.

Two of the sources said the assets on the block are Kevitsa, a nickel-copper-platinum mine in Finland and Ravensthorpe, a nickel mine located in Western Australia that the company bought back in 2010.

Cure for low commodities prices is staring us in the face – by Merryn Somerset Webb (Financial Times – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.ft.com/

Low Chinese demand is blinding us to the obvious

China’s gross domestic product growth is slowing. It might even have stalled completely. That means China’s demand for all industrial commodities is falling and is going to keep falling. And that means you shouldn’t invest in any of the big mining companies ever again.

Without China importing 50 per cent of every commodity produced everywhere to build its millions of miles of super-fast railways, prices can’t rise, profits can’t rise and share prices can’t rise.

Sound like a familiar argument? It should do. It’s been in every paper and on every analyst’s lips all year. If you look at a couple of charts of commodity demand and prices you can see why.

China’s global metal imports were flattish until the late 1990s. They then soared into 2009 (the 10 per cent a year “miracle” growth period) before slowing and flattening again into 2011, when growth started to slow.

[Timmins] 2 local derelict mine sites among those cited in ECO report – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – November 5, 2015)

November 6, 2015

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Ontario’s environment watchdog has released a report slamming the provincial government and the mining industry for not putting in place adequate financial assurances to prevent the government from footing the bill for any clean-up after mining operations.

Such provisions are legally required in all mining project closure plans, but the Environment Commissioner of Ontario found that in July there were five idle operations in Ontario without sufficient financial assurance measures in their closure plans. Two of those projects listed in the report are in the Timmins area.

One is the Carshaw-Malga Mine and Mill property located in Shaw and Carman Townships, approximately 25 kilometres southeast of Timmins. The site, owned by Marshall Minerals Corp., was mined and milled gold-bearing ore in the mid-1980s. In 1990, the mill was reactivated to process nickel ore.

Brazil community flooded after dam burst at BHP and Vale-owned iron ore mine – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

At least 17 people are dead in Brazil following a mudslide unleashed after the collapse of a tailings dam at a mine half owned by BHP Billiton.

More than 50 people were injured, said local fire chief Adao Severino Junior, who added: “The number of missing is going to surpass 40 but that is not official.”

Television footage showed a torrent of industrial muck several hundred metres long that had swamped houses and ripped off their roofs in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

The structure that failed is a tailings dam, used to hold water and discarded minerals from a nearby iron-ore mine operated by Samarco Mineração, a company owned 50-50 by BHP Billiton (BHP) and Brazil’s Vale.

The village of Bento Rodrigues near the dam was practically buried in mud, the fire chief said.