Republic of Mining

UN Considers Canada’s Overseas Mining Record – by Ryskeldi Satke (The Diplomat – September 15, 2015)

September 15, 2015

Canadian mining outfits have come under widespread fire for their practices in Central Asia and elsewhere.

Human rights abuses linked to the operations of Canadian mining businesses abroad took center stage in Geneva in June, when the UN Human Rights Committee addressed a series of concerns over Canada’s extractive industry’s record.

Canada is a global leader in the mining sector, and mining alone contributed $54 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2013. However, complaints about human rights violations and mistreatment of indigenous peoples by Canadian mining companies have accumulated over the years, prompting Amnesty International and the Canadian Human Rights Commission to raise the issue with the UN. Canadian firms have been accused of damaging the environment, with mass protests in South America and Central Asia.

In Guatemala, Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals was criticized for its inability to stop the rape and murder of local environmental activists. The contractors of another Canadian mining giant, Barrick Gold, were allegedly involved in a mass rape of 137 local women aged between 14 and 80 in Papua New Guinea. In Kyrgyzstan, a Centerra Gold-operated mine triggered violent protests against the Canadian firm, which led to allegations that community activists were tortured by government forces and local police.

UPDATE 1-Petrobras chairman to take leave, to focus on job as Vale CEO – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Rodrigo Viga Gaier (Reuters U.S. – September 14, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Murilo Ferreira will take a leave of absence as chairman of state-run oil firm Petrobras, turning his full attention to his job as chief executive of Vale SA as the mining giant grapples with a downturn in the sector.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, did not give a reason for Ferreira’s leave, which it said would last until Nov. 30. A company source told Reuters he had requested time off to focus on Vale as it navigates a slump in iron ore prices and a slowdown in China.

Ferreira, 62, who has been CEO of Vale since 2011, was appointed chairman of Petrobras in April as it looked to send a market-friendly signal after a giant corruption scandal resulted in billions of dollars in writedowns.

At the time some mining executives criticized the move, saying Vale was going through a difficult patch and needed the full focus of its CEO. Ferreira shrugged off concerns, saying the double job would only eat into his “leisure time.”

But the world’s largest producer of iron ore has continued to struggle. Shares in Vale have lost nearly 40 percent over the past 12 months and touched their lowest in a decade last month.

Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh still a China bull – by John Kehoe (Australian Financial Review – September 12, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.afr.com/business/

The chief executive of global mining giant Rio Tinto, Sam Walsh, has expressed strong confidence in the Chinese government pulling “levers” to keep the economy on track, as he revealed that Rio’s internal economic measures for the nation were broadly in line with Beijing’s official estimates.

Mr Walsh admitted the world economy had become far more “volatile” and that potential “shocks” are in store for commodity markets, but was overall upbeat on China in the face of growing unease about its prospects.

Speaking in Washington on Friday, Mr Walsh pointed to reassurance from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the World Economic Forum on Thursday that China would avoid a hard landing and that Beijing will meet its 7 per cent growth target this year.

“Rio Tinto endorses that. We believe it will be around that,” Mr Walsh said, after delivering a speech at the US Chamber of Commerce.

“I am positive about China and I am positive about the Chinese leaders and what they can do in relation to pulling the levers they need to pull to keep the economy motoring,” he added.

Trial to begin over accusations of environmental crimes at Alaska mine – by Lisa Demer (Alaska Dispatch News – September 13, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.adn.com/

A first-in-Alaska federal environmental crimes trial over a mining operation is set to begin this month in Anchorage with a single defendant.

Two other managers with XS Platinum Inc. already have pleaded guilty — one earlier this month — which opens the possibility they might testify at the trial of Canadian James Slade.

Yet those at the top of the company have yet to answer charges that the effort to restart an old mine near the Southwest Alaska community of Platinum went terribly wrong. The Australians who led XS Platinum have not shown up in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, and prosecutors have been unable to find remnants of the company itself.

In all, five officials or managers were charged with felonies as was XS Platinum. The case is the first federal prosecution in Alaska related to mining under the Clean Water Act.

The focus now is on Slade, who is arguing in court that the government knew what the platinum miners were up to all along. His trial is set to begin Sept. 21 with jury selection and is expected to last about two weeks.

The losing battle against conflict minerals (Al Jazeera.com – September 14, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://america.aljazeera.com/

Minerals from countries where sales fund corruption and violence continue to enter the US, as oversight proves tricky

Efforts by the United States to reduce the devastating violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by regulating the trade in conflict minerals — a group of four minerals, mined in Congo and neighboring countries, where they help to finance conflict there — are proving difficult to enforce as illegal armed groups and corrupt members of the national military continue to create instability in the region, according to a report released this summer by the Government Accountability Office.

“We do see these armed groups are still present and they are most likely still benefiting from the mineral trade,” Evie Francq, a DRC researcher with Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera America by phone from Nairobi.

“What we see is there are still very big displacements of the population, people that are fleeing abuses by rebel groups,” said Francq, adding that civilians have also become caught up in army operations against those groups, like the Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

“Often civilians are targeted either by the armed group or by the [Congolese] army because they’re suspected of giving information about the group to the army, or about different groups that are fighting against each other,” she said.

Novelis manufacturing plant, once known as Alcan to generations of Kingstonians, marks 75 years in the city – by Steph Crosier (Kingston Whig-Standard – September 13, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.thewhig.com/

From Alcan’s Kingston Works to Novelis Inc., the aluminum manufacturing plant is celebrating 75 years in the Limestone City.

“I think in the heyday there was 4,100 to 4,200 employees, three plants,” Jake Czyz, Novelis plant manager, told the Whig-Standard Saturday. “We pretty much say everybody in Kingston knows somebody who has retired or worked here at the plants.”

The Aluminum Company of Canada plant was built in 1940 to support the Allied effort during the Second World War. The plant — referred to as “the annex” — housed manufacturing and research facilities. During the 1960s and 1970s, the plant was responsible for the research and manufacturing of aluminum sheet metal, cans and supplies for major industries such as automotive, transportation, beverage and packaging.

Today, Novelis, a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, has 25 operating facilities on four continents with approximately 11,500 employees. The Kingston location employs approximately 275 people and creates aluminum products for Ford, BMW, Mercedes, General Motors, Thyssen Krupp and Peterbilt.

Political leadership vacuum exacerbates Brazil’s economic crisis – by Stephanie Nolen (Globe and Mail – September 14, 2015)

September 14, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

RIO DE JANEIRO — When Standard & Poor’s downgraded Brazil’s sovereign debt last week, the news had a certain feeling of inevitability here – just the latest in a seemingly unending streak of terrible economic news.

The real closed at its lowest value in 13 years against the U.S. dollar on Friday, at just $0.258. That’s a drop of almost 40 per cent from a year ago and 60 per cent from 2011 levels. Meanwhile the GDP is expected to contract by 2.4 per cent this year, the worst recession in 25 years. Other investment ratings are expected to follow S&P to junk status imminently. Inflation is higher than it has been since the turn of the century. The jobless rate nearly doubled in the first five months of this year.

It is hard to imagine the situation could get much worse – and yet there is a sense here that it almost certainly will.

Consumer demand is in free fall, which will only drive unemployment higher, in an ugly spiral. The real is expected to continue its fall, with some analysts predicting it will drop by another 16 per cent. And rather than a knuckled-down government attempting to navigate the crisis, Brazil has a gaping leadership vacuum and a political stalemate.

Why Canada needs entrepreneurial clusters, and how to go about making them – by Rick Spence (National Post – September 14, 2015)

September 14, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Imagine you have an idea for a zillion-dollar business, but you need partners, skilled employees, industry contacts — and patient capital to build it.

In a perfect world, you could source all that with a few local calls. In this world, it happens in just a few places: Silicon Valley, New York City, London, and maybe Beijing and Tel Aviv. When the mix of entrepreneurial activity, knowledge, mentoring and funding reaches critical mass, help finds you.

Can Canadians build their own entrepreneurial clusters? That question is being explored this week in Waterloo, Ont., site of a three-day conference focusing on creating more innovation ecosystems. Waterloo Region, an hour’s drive west of Toronto, comes closest to the ideal in Canada.

Sparked by the University of Waterloo’s founding principles of industry placements and giving researchers ownership of their discoveries, the region has become home to 1,000 tech companies, as well as leading-edge science, think-tanks, and renovated co-working spaces where technology veterans and Google employees rub shoulders with ambitious startups and starry-eyed students.

Iran says finds unexpectedly high uranium reserve (Reuters U.S. – September 12, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

DUBAI – Iran has discovered an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium and will soon begin extracting the radioactive element at a new mine, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Saturday.

The comments cast doubt on previous assessments from some Western analysts who said the country had a low supply and sooner or later would need to import uranium, the raw material needed for its nuclear program.

Any indication Iran could become more self-sufficient will be closely watched by world powers, which reached a landmark deal with Tehran in July over its program. They had feared the nuclear activities were aimed at acquiring the capability to produce atomic weapons – something denied by Tehran.

“I cannot announce (the level of) Iran’s uranium mine reserves. The important thing is that before aerial prospecting for uranium ores we were not too optimistic, but the new discoveries have made us confident about our reserves,” Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Salehi said uranium exploration had covered almost two-thirds of Iran and would be complete in the next four years.

Glencore stock dives again on rating outlook, Zambia – by Chris Mfula (Reuters U.S. – September 10, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LUSAKA/LONDON (Reuters) – Shares Glencore fell almost eight percent on Thursday after Zambia said it wanted to save jobs at mines the commodities giant plans to suspend and ratings agency Moody’s changed its outlook on the company to negative.

Glencore acknowledged on Monday the severity of the commodity market slump as it suspended dividends and said it would sell assets and new shares to cut debt by a third to around $20 billion – built up through years of rapid expansion – to protect its rating.

The strategy, which also includes plans to shut down some copper mines to support flagging prices, had triggered a rally in Glencore’s stock and propelled copper – hit by worries over the Chinese economy – to a seven-week high.

But on Thursday the stock – which this month fell to the lowest level since being floated in 2011 – resumed its fall after Zambia said it would hold talks with Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) over parent Glencore’s plan to suspend operations after a drop in the metal’s price.

“We are about to start discussions with Mopani.

Once booming, Nevada gold output falls to 1988 level – by Sean Whaley (Las Vegas Review Journal – September 12, 2015)

September 14, 2015

http://www.reviewjournal.com/

CARSON CITY — Gold production in Nevada fell to less than 5 million ounces in 2014, the first time since 1988 that output of the precious metal has dipped so low.

A new state Division of Minerals report shows 4.94 million ounces of the precious metal was taken from 30 Nevada mines in 2014. There was about 5.5 million ounces of gold produced in Nevada in 2013.

The peak year in recent memory was 1998, with just under 9 million ounces.

Richard Perry, administrator of the Division of Minerals, said it appears production has leveled off in the 5 million ounce range over the past five years. While production has fallen, Nevada mines still throw of gold valued at $5.5 billion, at $1,100 per ounce, he said.

“We need better gold prices to see more projects and new mining,” Perry said. The lower gold production is due largely to the price of gold, which hit a high of nearly $1,800 per ounce in 2012 but has dropped to about $1,100 as of Friday.

Western Australian resources worth nearly $100 billion – by Cole Latimer (Australian Mining – September 11, 2015)

September 11, 2015

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/

New figures from the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum have highlighted the value of the state’s resources industry.

In statistics released today, the WA DMP said the industry was valued at $99.5 billion in 2014-15. Iron ore was the highest rated commodity, worth $54 billion in sales to Western Australia. This was despite falling Chinese demand for the metal.

“Western Australia produced 719 million tonnes of iron ore in 2014-15, a 15 per cent increase compared to the previous year, however the low iron ore price resulted in a decrease in the total value of sales,” WA DMP general manager for policy and co-ordination Richard Borozdin said.

Gold brought $9 billion worth of sales into the state, an increase of 1.5 per cent year on year.

Alumina was the third most value commodity to WA, reaching more than $5 billion in value, a 20 per cent jump compared to the previous corresponding period, which was buoyed by the weak Australian dollar.

Golden days for bullion expected to wane further as investors await Fed’s rate decision – by John Shmuel (National Post – September 11, 2015)

September 11, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Gold prices managed to snap a 10-day losing streak on Thursday, but the bad mood hanging over the precious metal hasn’t dissipated as a slew of banks cut their price targets this week.

Bullion prices are in particular focus this month as the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold what is viewed as a particularly important interest rate announcement meeting.

Some predict the Fed could move next week to hike its benchmark rate, which has been near zero per cent since the financial crisis. Such a hike would likely strengthen the U.S. dollar and drive gold prices down since they tend to move inversely.

“We expect investors to further reduce net long positions in the wake of Fed rate hikes this year and next year and a higher US dollar,” said Georgette Boele, head of FX and precious metal strategy at ABN Amro, a Dutch bank.

ABN on Wednesday cut its forecast for gold prices, and now expects prices to fall to US$1,000 by the end of the year and to US$800 by 2016.

NDP wouldn’t reverse historic uranium mine decision, Mulcair says – Rod Nickel (Reuters/Globe and Mail – September 10, 2015)

September 11, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Reuters – The New Democratic Party views Canada’s uranium as a “strategic asset,” and would not reverse a rare government decision to allow foreign ownership of a proposed mine, leader Thomas Mulcair said on Thursday.

The uranium industry is unpopular in Quebec, the NDP’s stronghold heading into next month’s election. But it is a key part of the economy in Saskatchewan, where the party hopes to add support.

The governing Conservatives in June made an exception to the country’s longstanding policy requiring uranium mines to be majority-owned by Canadian companies, and approved an application by Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd.

If the left-wing NDP forms government after the Oct. 19 election, it would not change that decision, Mulcair said during a Winnipeg campaign stop.