Republic of Mining

Sun-Drenched Miners Look to the Skies to Cut Fuel Costs in Half – by David Stringer and Paul Allen (Bloomberg News – August 26, 2015)

August 27, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The DeGrussa copper and gold mine in Australia’s sun-scorched outback is getting a solar farm, the latest example of the industry embracing clean energy.

The plant will replace about 5 million liters (1.3 million gallons) of diesel a year, a fifth of the mine’s energy needs. Energy generated by the system may eventually cost about half that of diesel-generated power, according to Sandfire Resources NL, the deposit’s owner.

Miners including Rio Tinto Group are installing new solar plants from Chile to South Africa, betting they’ll deliver long-term savings even as tumbling oil prices cut power costs. The global solar-power market for mining companies may grow to about $2 billion a year by 2022 from about $42 million in 2013, according to Navigant Consulting Inc.

“Solar-power providers are specifically targeting mines right now and it’s about replacing diesel,” Dexter Gauntlett, a senior research analyst at Navigant said by phone from Portland, Oregon. With lower costs, “it becomes a no-brainer,” he said.

[Philippines Nickel Laterite Mining] King Of Ore: Despite Nickel Asia’s Raids, Zamora Did Not Retreat (Forbes Magazine – August 26, 2015)

August 27, 2015

http://www.forbes.com/

Jose Anievas still remembers Oct. 3, 2011 quite vividly. Early in the morning that fateful Monday, the chief operating officer of [prisoners of war] was seized by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who raided the company’s sprawling open-pit mining site in Claver, Surigao del Norte in Mindanao.

“We were being lectured on how POWs [prisoners of war] should behave when we noticed thick smoke rising in the sky,” recalls Anievas, then the resident manager at Nickel Asia’s Taganito mine, the Philippines’ biggest nickel producer last year: About 200 NPA men and women descended on the mine and burned construction cranes, hauling trucks, barges and four buildings.

The rebels did a lot of damage–about $11 million worth of assets went up in smoke. But they failed to destroy the foundation and steel framework of the nickel refinery being built by Sumitomo and Mitsui & Co. in partnership with Nickel Asia.

The NPA members took hostages, including Anievas, an experienced mining engineer who was forced to march with the rebels deep into the forest. The hostages were used as human shields to keep away pursuing government troops. Their agony lasted almost ten hours. It was nightfall when they were released in a densely forested mountain ridge.

Want to Make a Diamond in Just 10 Weeks? Use a Microwave – by Hannah Murphy, Thomas Biesheuvel and Sonja Elmquist (Bloomberg Businessweek – August 27, 2015)

August 27, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Microwaved stones—no dirty mines or bloody conflicts—might be a girl’s next-best friend

The 2.62-carat diamond Calvin Mills bought his fiancée in November is a stunner. Pear-shaped and canary-yellow, the gem cost $22,000. A bargain. Mills, the chief executive officer of CMC Technology Consulting in Baton Rouge, La., says he could have spent tens of thousands more on a comparably sized diamond mined out of the earth, but his came from a lab.

“I got more diamond for less money,” says the former Southern University football player, who proposed last year at halftime during one of his alma mater’s games at the Superdome in New Orleans.

While man-made gems make up just a fraction of the $80 billion global diamond market, demand is increasing as buyers look for stones that are cheaper—and free of ethical taint. Human-rights groups, with help from Hollywood, have popularized the term “blood diamonds” to call attention to the role diamond mining has played in fueling conflicts in Africa.

Unlike imitation diamonds such as cubic zirconia, stones that are “grown” (the nascent industry’s preferred term) in labs have the same physical characteristics and chemical makeup as the real thing.

Inside the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Diamond Mines – by Aryn Baker (Time Magazine – August 27, 2015)

August 27, 2015

http://time.com/

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, almost all diamond mining is done by hand. It’s a labor-intensive process that requires hauling away layers of dirt and rock, sometimes 50 feet deep, to expose ancient beds of gravel where the crystals are found. Miners then wash and sift that gravel one shovelful at a time in search of tiny glints of light that might be a diamond.

If they are lucky, a peppercorn-size crystal could fetch them a few dollars, once the mine owner gets his take. In New York’s diamond district such a gem, cut and polished, would be worth several hundred dollars.

Lynsey Addario and I journeyed to the heart of Congo’s diamond mining district in August to report on an $81.4 billion industry that links the miners of Tshikapa with the glittering salesrooms of the world’s jewelry retailers.

It was an arduous trip, one that required an internal flight on an airline that has been blacklisted by the European Union for its shaky safety record, followed by long 4×4 drives on red dirt tracks down to the mining sites.

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe seeks help from West as growth slows across Africa – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – August 27, 2015)

August 27, 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.

JOHANNESBURG – After furiously spitting fire at the West for decades, Robert Mugabe abruptly changed his tone this week. With his economy in tatters and unemployment soaring, the Zimbabwean autocrat now wants help from Western creditors and investors.

“My government values re-engagement of the Western world in the Zimbabwe economy,” Mr. Mugabe told the Zimbabwean Parliament on Tuesday in an unusually conciliatory speech. He pledged to “repeal all laws that hamper business,” and he called for stronger relations with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The 91-year-old President can’t afford his traditional disdain for the West any more. In recent weeks, more than 20,000 workers have lost their jobs in Zimbabwe and its earlier 3.2-per-cent economic growth forecast for 2015 has been cut to just 1.5 per cent.

Zimbabwe is just one of many African economies suffering from bleak economic news this month.

Global economy now on verge of perfect storm – by Gwynne Dyer (London Free Press – August 27, 2015)

August 27, 2015

http://www.lfpress.com/

Good things come in threes, but so do bad things. Especially in economies. The financial crisis everybody has been waiting for is a “hard landing” of the Chinese economy, the world’s second-biggest. It now seems to have arrived, though the Chinese government is still denying it.

The second crisis is a credit crunch sabotaging economic growth in almost all developing countries except India. Since commodity prices have collapsed, their dollar earnings from exports have collapsed, and in many cases their currencies have fallen to historic lows against the dollar.

A third crisis is looming in the developed economies of Europe, North America and Japan, which can see another recession on the horizon before they have even fully recovered from the effects of the banking crash of 2007-08.

These crises are all connected. When the huge mistakes and misdeeds of American and European banks caused the Great Recession of 2008, China escaped the low growth and high unemployment that hurt Western countries by flooding its economy with cheap credit. Between 2007 and 2014 total debt in China increased fourfold.

Keystone XL’s final blow from Barack Obama could come by Labour Day weekend – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – August 27, 2015)

August 27, 2015

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

As if conditions in Canada’s oilpatch weren’t bad enough, more pain could flow north from Washington, D.C., before the Labour Day long weekend, when President Barack Obama is expected to finally deny a permit to the Keystone XL pipeline.

The latest in the United States capital is that an announcement will be made next Thursday or Friday, when many are out of town, reducing potential for blowback, said a well-connected source.

After seven years of review and despite widespread U.S. public support, the President is expected to offer a convoluted rationale for spiking the Canadian project: that approving KXL would facilitate oil sands growth and make it more challenging for him to rally countries to unite for a greenhouse gas reduction deal in Paris in December; and that there is no need for it because the U.S. has plenty of oil of its own.

A denial has been widely expected since Senator John Hoeven, the North Dakota Republican, said last month that Obama would turn down the project in August. Obama has also been repeatedly dismissive of its benefits and earlier this year vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have bypassed his State Department’s review.

COLUMN-Worried about China? Ask a metals trader – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – August 26, 2015)

August 27, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 26 (Reuters) – Everyone’s worried about China. Collective concern about what exactly is happening in the world’s second-largest economy is roiling all parts of the financial universe.

Industrial metal markets have not been immune and the price of copper, viewed by many investors as a proxy for industrial activity, hit a fresh six-year low of $4,855 per tonne on Monday.

But while the rest of the world seems shocked that all is not as it should be in the industrial powerhouse that is China, metal traders have been grappling all year with the implications of a Chinese slowdown.

The omens were there as early as January, when London copper prices fell almost 12 percent in two days after a bear attack led by Chinese funds. They were expressing what with hindsight looks a good call on the impact on Chinese demand of weakness in key metallic parts of the economy such as construction, automotive and manufacturing.

Jim Rogers: Commodity bull market hasn’t gone away – by Frik Els (Mining.com – August 26, 2015)

August 27, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

While equity traders took a break from selling, Wednesday was another bloody day on commodity markets.

After a tepid attempt at a comeback on Tuesday the base metal complex fell again on Wednesday.

In New York trade copper for delivery in December dropped more than 3% to a low of $2.22 per pound or around $4,895 a tonne, the lowest since July 2009 and down 30% over the past year.

On the LME, three-month nickel continued to slide losing touch with the crucial $10,000 a tonne level and closing down 2% at $9,570 a tonne. Nickel has defied all expectations and is now trading down nearly 40% since the start of 2015.

Like nickel hopes have been high for stronger lead and zinc prices this year thanks to dwindling supply and stockpiles. Instead the metals moved deeper into bear territory with zinc touching a five-year low of $1,686 a tonne and lead prices dropping more than 2% to $1,648 a tonne on Wednesday.

[History] How Silver Wrecked China – by Stephen Mihm (Bloomberg View – August 25, 2015)

August 26, 2015

http://www.bloombergview.com/

China’s devaluation of the yuan last week surprised many market observers. The yuan, which is pegged to the dollar, had been rising in tandem with the U.S. currency — in part because of expectations the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates soon. With China’s economy slowing, currency markets were pressing for the yuan to depreciate, and the Chinese government, seeking to boost competitiveness in export markets, gave in to the pressure and moved the peg.

This isn’t the first time the two countries’ monetary policies have been closely intertwined. In the Great Depression, China found itself vulnerable to the price of silver, thanks to the misguided moves of U.S. policy makers.

The Great Depression was a global crisis — almost. Every significant economy was devastated, with one notable exception: China. The reason was simple. In 1929, the U.S. and every other major nation pegged their currencies to gold. As the economic historian Barry Eichengreen has described, adherence to this standard punished countries by imposing “golden fetters” that led to crippling deflation. The fixed exchange rates of the gold standard helped transmit the monetary shocks around the world.

China, alone among the world’s major economies, operated under a silver standard in which the currency was pegged to a specific weight of that metal.

B.C. Mine’s Minister Bill Bennett responds to Alaskan criticism (CBC News British Columbia – August 25, 2015)

August 26, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

B.C.’s Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett is traveling through Alaska in hopes to ease tensions from residents there caused by a tailings pond dam bust at Mount Polley over a year ago.

The disaster not only sent 24 million cubic meters of contaminated water and mining waste into creeks and rivers near Likely, B.C., but it also raised concerns from Alaskan residents and environmental groups who say they don’t have a meaningful role in the prevention of a similar disaster which could affect their state.

“We don’t have any voice and British Columbia and Canada have no accountability. We’re taking all of the risks of these large-scale mining projects and receiving none of the benefits,” said Heather Hardcastle, a commercial fisher in Alaska.

Bennett is currently undergoing his week long tour of the northernmost U.S state which began on Sunday. He spoke to Chris Brown of CBC Radio’s Early Edition about the trip and the need to repair any damaged relationships with the residents there.

How do you respond to that issue that the people of Alaska don’t have a voice [in B.C.’s mining projects]?

China, US Seek ‘Clean Coal’ Agreement as Industry Struggles (Associated Press/New York Times – August 25, 2015)

August 26, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. and China officials took a major step Tuesday toward an agreement to advance “clean coal” technologies that purport to reduce the fuel’s contribution to climate change — and could offer a potential lifeline for an industry that’s seen its fortunes fade.

The agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and China’s National Energy Administration would allow the two nations to share their results as they refine technologies to capture the greenhouse gases produced from burning coal, said Christopher Smith, the Energy Department’s assistant secretary for fossil energy.

Terms of the deal were finalized late Tuesday. Officials said it would be signed at a later date.

Smith spoke after he and other senior officials from President Barack Obama’s administration met with representatives of China’s National Energy Administration during an industry forum in Billings. The discussions took place near one of the largest coal reserves in the world — the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, where massive strip mines produce roughly 40 percent of the coal burned in the U.S.

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission slams Quebec uranium mining report – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – August 26, 2015)

August 27, 2015August 26, 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.

MONTREAL — Tempers in some quarters of Quebec are flaring after the head of Canada’s nuclear safety commission slammed a report by the province’s environmental regulation agency for allegedly “misleading Quebecers and Canadians” on the safety of uranium mining.

In a damning letter to Quebec Environment Minister David Heurtel, the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission – Michael Binder – says it “is very troubling to have the [provincial agency] present your government with conclusions and recommendations that lack scientific basis and rigour.”

Quebec’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) recently released a 626-page report recommending to the environment minister that it would be premature at this time to authorize development of a uranium mining industry in the province.

There are many uncertainties and unanswered questions about the environmental, health, social and other risks and concerns involved, the three-person BAPE panel, headed by former Le Devoir environment reporter Louis-Gilles Francoeur, cautions.

Iron and Steel: BHP’s big admission – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – August 26, 2015)

August 26, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

Steel demand in China is expected to be what BHP once thought.

HALIFAX – Just a couple of weeks ago I argued BHP and Rio should defend – in detail – their bullish steel demand forecasts in China given the growing number of forecasters that say the peak has already past.

Recall that Rio Tinto and BHP have long stuck to forecasts putting peak steel demand in China at, or over, a billion tonnes a decade or so from now. Others see it behind us already.

Well, I haven’t seen that defense, yet. We got a major revision of steel demand announced to the market instead.

In outlining its year-end financials August 25, BHP slashed its forecast of Chinese demand a decade or so from now by some 100 million tonnes steel.

A half year ago BHP argued peak demand would come in the mid-2020s somewhere around 1 billion to 1.1 billion tonnes.

Corruption, Death and Tin Mining – by Yoga Rusmana (Bloomberg News – August 25, 2015)

August 26, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

At the end of a muddy track through plantations of oil-palm and cocoa on the Indonesian island of Bangka, three dozen men on wooden rafts off the beach are dredging black sand from the shallow bay.

The workers, near the village of Sungai Liat, are among hundreds of illegal tin miners on the island, the first link in a chain of trucks, smelters and fishing boats that smuggles the metal out of the country. Backed by a complex web of corruption and international payments, the dark sediment is transformed into the solder that ultimately ends up binding the electronics in everything from smartphones to cars.

The trail begins on two islands off the coast of Sumatra in a sea channel that connects Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, to Singapore and Malaysia. These islands, called Bangka and Belitung, produce more than 90 percent of the tin in Indonesia, which is the world’s biggest exporter of the metal.

Most of that production comes from mining companies such as PT Timah, the world’s third-largest producer. Pits those operators abandoned and more marginal deposits are worked illegally by men and children using diesel-powered equipment on floating platforms off remote stretches of coast, or with high-pressure hoses on land.