Republic of Mining

COLUMN – Seaborne coal market may shrink, total demand won’t – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – September 3, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – It’s tempting to mould events to suit your view of how the world should be, and there seems to be plenty of that in the coal debate.

There is certainly enough evidence to suggest seaborne coal volumes are trending lower, but it’s probably a mistake to use the sector as a proxy for the total market.

Environmentalists are keen to see coal as a sunset fuel that should be phased out as soon as possible given its role as a major contributor to climate change.

They have been heartened by recent news of the closure of a small coal mine in Australia and the decision by the city council of Australia’s Newcastle, home to the world’s biggest coal export harbour, to divest from the fuel.

Falling imports by China and India, the two largest buyers of the dirty fuel, have also been cited as further evidence that coal is on the way out.

Legacy of Hard Rock Mining in the West — Death of a River, a Community’s Response – by Michele Swenson (Huffington Post – September 2, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Michele Swenson is an author and activist.

A century and a half of hard-rock mining with no accountability, without consideration for environmental consequences or downstream neighbors has taken a heavy toll in the West. Metallic, acidic wastewater from mines have a long-term effect on agriculture, ranching, aquatic life, human and wild life, and aquifers.

A 3 million gallon dump of mustard-colored toxic waste from Gold King Mine into the Animas River on August 5 raised the most recent alarm, even as the EPA estimates that the overall discharges from local abandoned mines amount to one Gold King mine disaster every two days. Colorado officials estimate that drainage from 230 abandoned mines in the state result in the failure of 1,645 miles of 105,000 miles (1.6%) of rivers and streams to meet Clean Water Act standards.

Cited as the worst environmental disaster in Colorado history, the Summitville open-pit cyanide heap-leach gold mine sits at an altitude of 11,500 feet in the San Juan Mountains, southeast of the Gold King Mine and 40 miles west of the city of Alamosa, just east of the continental divide. The devastating fallout of this form of mining led one resident to lament that the San Juan Valley had become “the poster child for how not to do mining.”

First Mining Finance sees more acquisition opportunities after three-way deal – by Peter Koven (National Post – September 3, 2015)

September 3, 2015

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

Canadian mining heavyweight Keith Neumeyer is taking advantage of awful market conditions to snap up promising assets left and right.

First Mining Finance Corp., Neumeyer’s “mineral bank,” unveiled a three-way deal this week in which it will buy Gold Canyon Resources Inc. and PC Gold Inc. for a total of about $66 million in stock. This comes less than two months after First Mining acquired Coastal Gold Corp., its first acquisition.

Vancouver-based First Mining only went public in April, but the company sees this as the ideal time to buy junior mining assets on the cheap. Juniors are suffering through their worst bear market since the Bre-X crisis because of sinking commodity prices and a near-total lack of financing options.

“We don’t want the market to turn around soon, because we really want to load up on assets,” Pat Donnelly, First Mining’s president, said in an interview. “And so the longer this bear market continues, the better for us.”

PwC warns against overtaxation in Africa’s resources sector – by Esmarie Swanepoel (Mining Weekly.com – September 3, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Advisory firm PwC has warned African nations against overtaxing investments in the resources sector.

Launching a new report on the second day of the Africa Downunder conference, PwC African practice leader and resource sector partner Ben Gargett said taxation and fiscal settings had been a contentious issue across the globe for a number of years, with emerging markets at the forefront of the debate.

“There are only so many profits and so much cash flow generated by a mining project. If the costs are too high, the project is uneconomic. The same applies to government taxes. If they are too great for the project, there is insufficient [room] left for the miner to generate a commercial return, Gargett said.

He pointed out that it was the miner who was bearing the full capital and operating risk of a mining project and added that the miner’s capital was mobile and decisions were made in the allocation of this capital on a regular basis.

Nalco executives to visit Iran for talks on $2 billion smelter plan – by Swansy Afonso (Live Mint.com – September 3, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.livemint.com/

The company will discuss forming a joint venture with the IMIDRO, said T.K. Chand

Mumbai: India’s National Aluminium Co. Ltd (Nalco) executives plan to visit Iran this month for initial talks to build a $2 billion smelter in the Middle Eastern country, the first pick on its three-nation short list.

The company will discuss forming a joint venture with the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, or IMIDRO, T.K. Chand, chairman and managing director of National Aluminium, or Nalco, said in an interview at his office in Bhubaneswar.

“Our consultant has shortlisted Iran, Oman and Indonesia for the smelter,” Chand said. “We have started discussions in order of preference starting with Iran. We will take a view on all countries and shortlist one taking into account the availability of gas and energy for making cost competitive power.”

Strong trade relations and a rupee trade system between India and Iran, as well easing global sanctions, make the Middle Eastern country a preferred choice, Chand said. Nalco is bullish about Indian demand, with per capita consumption forecast to grow to about 5 kilograms to 6 kilograms in the next five years from about 1.8 kilograms now, he said.

Anglo American in talks to sell troubled platinum mines – by Andrew England and James Wilson (Financial Times – September 3, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.ft.com/

Johannesburg and Abidjan – Anglo American is in advanced talks to sell some of its South African platinum mines, as the UK group deepens its efforts to get rid of underperforming parts of its sprawling global operations.

The group said on Thursday that Amplats, its South African subsidiary, was in discussions with Sibanye Gold, a South African gold miner, over a sale of Anglo’s troubled Rustenburg platinum operations north west of Johannesburg.

Selling a slew of poor-quality assets has been a key priority for Anglo’s chief executive Mark Cutifani as he battles to improve the group’s financial performance while miners grapple with a prolonged collapse in commodity prices. Shares in mining companies have slumped amid global concern over the economic slowdown in China, the industry’s dominant customer.

Anglo’s South African exposure, and in particular its prominence in the platinum sector, has been one of the biggest concerns for investors. The Rustenburg operations are particularly problematic as they are lossmaking and have been at the heart of labour unrest in South Africa’s platinum industry.

Billionaire’s 20-Year-Old Son May Lead $5 Billion Polyus Bid – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – September 1, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Suleiman Kerimov’s son, a university student in Moscow, may lead a $5.4 billion bid to take Russia’s largest gold producer Polyus Gold International Ltd. private.

Wandle Holdings Ltd. and its Sacturino Ltd. unit, controlled by the billionaire’s son Said Kerimov, are considering an offer to buy the shares of the gold miner they don’t already own for $2.97 each, Sacturino said in a statement late Wednesday. The family already owns about 40 percent of the company, so a fully subscribed offer would value the deal at $5.4 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Polyus shares rose as much as 6.9 percent and were up 3.7 percent at 196.50 pence ($3) as of 12:24 p.m. in London. The stock has climbed 8.3 percent this year, the third-best performer on the 10-company Bloomberg Europe 500 Metals and Mining Index, which dropped 26 percent over the same period.

Kerimov senior, 49, Russia’s 18th richest man with an estimated fortune of $4.9 billion, is a member of the Federation Council, the nation’s upper chamber of the parliament.

The Blood Red Rubies of Burma (DOCUMENTARY) – June 2015

September 3, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuuRPqRkd4bUZxDSActiiog/feed

The Mogok Valley in Upper Myanmar (Burma) was for centuries the world’s main source for rubies. That region has produced some of the finest rubies ever mined, but in recent years very few good rubies have been found there. The very best color in Myanmar rubies is sometimes described as “pigeon’s blood.”

In central Myanmar, the area of Mong Hsu began producing rubies during the 1990s and rapidly became the world’s main ruby mining area. The most recently found ruby deposit in Myanmar is in Namya (Namyazeik) located in the northern state of Kachin.

Ruby Country – as the Burmese call their country, which is famous for the jewels as red as blood. In the old days the rubies were in maharajas ownership. They were sold to the Europeans. Today, trade with the red rubies is fully at the hands of the military government field in the. They are currently the new owners of the mines. The golden triangle is the largest and most dangerous ruby country in the world.

Afghanistan’s Secret Billion Dollar Emerald Mines (Journeyman Pictures – March 31, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.journeyman.tv/

Hidden Gems: Afghanistan is not only a country in perpetual turmoil, but also a geological miracle. Can they now harness 1,000 billion Euros worth of natural resources in order to lift the nation out of poverty?

“We have a lot of requests from Europe because the Emeralds from Afghanistan are the best in the world”, Raphael says. He’s a Frenchman who first came to Afghanistan to train Afghan security services before venturing into the emerald trade.

He sees a huge chance here to exploit a market that could easily increase in value twenty or thirty-fold, but the obstacles are not inconsiderable. Just to get to the mines Raphael has to travel the 150 Kilometres from Kabul to Panjshir, right through Taliban kidnap country.

Rio Tinto drags Ernst & Young into Vale case – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – September 3, 2015)

September 3, 2015

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

Rio Tinto has dragged big four audit firm Ernst & Young into a bitter conspiracy and theft case against fellow mining giant Vale, with Rio alleging EY altered an initial assessment of corruption risk in a Guinea iron ore deal after pressure from Vale.

Rio is chasing billions of dollars in compensation from Vale after two of Rio’s four Simandou mining tenements were stripped from it by the government in 2008.

The northern Simandou tenements were given to BSG Resources, a company run by Israeli diamond merchant Beny Steinmetz, who Rio alleges was acting in tandem with Vale as BSGR bribed Guinean officials to take the Simandou tenements from Rio. Rio wants to see EY’s due diligence for a 2010 report on BSGR that was commissioned by Vale on bribery and corruption risk.

“Information showing that Ernst & Young informed Vale that BSGR had engaged in illegal and corrupt practices is relevant to Rio’s allegations regarding the conspiracy involving Vale and BSGR … because Vale did nothing to pull out of the deal,” Rio’s lawyers said in an August letter filed in the southern New York district of the US Federal Court and obtained by The Australian.

Madagascar considers taking stakes in mining projects, increasing royalty fees – by Drazen Jorgic (Reuters U.S. – September 2, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

NAIROBI – Madagascar plans to increase royalty fees and claim 10 percent stakes in mining concessions, under proposed changes to its mining code, according to a draft document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

One of Africa’s poorest countries, Madagascar hopes to accelerate economic growth by developing natural resources but it has struggled to attract foreign investors in recent years due to political instability and falling commodity prices.

The draft, dated Aug. 27 and which could still be tweaked before parliament debates it in October, suggests the Indian Ocean island could take up to 10 percent stakes in concessions for free, and could acquire further shares at market rates.

The much-anticipated changes regarding concessions would apply to projects yet to be granted exploitation licences and are unlikely to affect the country’s biggest projects, including the $7 billion Ambatovy nickel mine, operated and 40 percent-owned by Canada’s Sherritt International, or the $1 billion ilmenite mine run by London-listed Rio Tinto.

Skeena Resources seeks three-peat in Golden Triangle – by Michael Allan McCrae (Mining.com – September 1, 2015)

September 3, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

Skeena Resources (CVE:SKE) is working the ground where it’s legendary chairman, Ron K. Netolitzky, discovered both the Snip Mine and Eskay Creek.

Walter Coles, Jr., the company’s president and CEO, told MINING.com during an interview that the company is in the midst of an aggressive drilling program on its Spectrum property, located in northwest British Columbia.

Spectrum is a structurally-hosted, high-grade, mesothermal gold deposit located in the prolific Golden Triangle, an area known for many discoveries and mines. Skeena’s corporate goal is to establish a 43-101 compliant, two to three million ounce, high-grade gold resource in multiple, closely spaced, steeply dipping, parallel zones. The Spectrum property includes 13 known gold prospects most of which have received no previous drilling.

Coles lauds his chairman’s experience in the area:

“Ron had some great fortune in the Golden Triangle region of northwest BC.,” says Coles.

NDP NEWS RELEASE/RESPONSE: Harper failure on Ring of Fire costing Northern Ontario jobs (September 2, 2015)

September 3, 2015

Recycled tax credit won’t make up for failure of Conservatives to support Ring of Fire

Northern Ontario NDP Candidates Howard Hampton (Kenora) and Claude Gravelle (Nickel Belt) blasted the Prime Minister for his failure to support mining jobs in the region.

“It’s pretty rich for Mr. Harper to come to Northern Ontario and pretend he supports mining jobs after he has so badly mishandled the Ring of Fire,” said Hampton. “The Conservative failure to support infrastructure in our region has cost billions of dollars of investment and thousands of potential jobs for Northern Ontarians.”

The Ring of Fire project has stalled because of the federal Conservatives’ failure to work with other governments to unlock the once in a generation potential of the mineral deposits. The Conservatives’ 2015 Budget ignored Northern Ontario and failed to allocate any funding for infrastructure and training to develop the project.

“The Conservatives claim of helping ‘hard to reach’ mines is laughable – many of these mines are hard-to-reach because their government has failed to invest in infrastructure in Northern Ontario,” said Gravelle, who has repeatedly demanded action on this critical file.

Harper pledges enhanced tax credit for northern mining projects (CBC News Politics – September 2, 2015)

September 3, 2015

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

Canada’s resource sector has taken major hit from plummeting commodities prices

A re-elected Conservative government would continue to provide tax credits aimed at encouraging mineral exploration, particularly in northern communities, party leader Stephen Harper announced today.

Speaking to a group of supporters in North Bay, Ont., Harper said the 15 per cent Mineral Exploration Tax Credit — created in 2006 — would be extended for at least another three years if he returns as prime minister.

He added that an enhanced credit would be offered to proposed projects facing steep overhead costs due to remote locations and distance from transportation routes. Projects like the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario or Plan Nord in Quebec would qualify for the 25 per cent tax credit.

The total cost of the extended credit and the enhanced one would be $60 million a year beginning in 2016-17.

“Having riches below the ground does not in and of itself guarantee prosperity above,” Harper said, stressing the need to move ahead with resource development projects that face considerable logistical challenges.