Republic of Mining

Nigeria: 28 Kids Killed by Lead Poisoning From Gold Mining – by Michelle Faul (Associated Press – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

http://abcnews.go.com/

LAGOS, Nigeria — Twenty-eight children have died from lead poisoning from illegal gold mining in a remote west-central village, Nigerian health officials said, while doctors still are treating thousands from an earlier outbreak.

Dozens more children are sick in the Rafi area of Niger state and action must be taken quickly if they are not to suffer irreversible neurological damage, Michelle Chouinard, Nigeria director for Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press on Friday.

Her organization still is treating children from a 2010 mass lead poisoning, in Zamfara state, that killed 400 kids and left many paralyzed, blind and with learning disabilities because of a three-year delay in government funding for a cleanup.

Chouinard said they have cured 2,688 of 5,451 people infected and hope to complete treatment next year. They have had most success in the worst-affected village of Bagega, where all but 189 of 1,426 people have had the lead leached from their bodies.

Junior Health Minister Fidelis Nwankwo said Thursday all those newly infected in neighboring Niger state are under 5 with 43 percent of the 65 sickened children dying.

China is a global economic and political power. Soon, it will be a military one, too – by J.L. Granatstein (National Post – May 15, 2015)

May 21, 2015May 15, 2015

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

A few days ago, the Office of the Secretary of Defence in Washington issued its annual report on Military and Security Developments Involving the Peoples Republic of China 2015. This is a sobering document, appearing within days of a contingent of Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers marching past Russian leader Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping in Moscow’s huge Victory Day parade. At the same time, and for the first time, Chinese navy ships are engaging in live-fire exercises in the Mediterranean Sea alongside Russian warships.

The authoritative U.S. document notes that Beijing’s defence expenditures continue to increase by 9.5 per cent a year, as they have done for the past decade. The Defense report concludes that China remains focused on the possibility of conflict in the Taiwan Straits — it has 400,000 soldiers, sailors and air personnel in the area — and in the East and South China Seas, with substantial military buildups also continuing there.

The South China Sea archipelago of the Spratly Islands, claimed by Beijing, are undergoing extensive “land reclamation,” China creating what is now a 2,000 acre landmass out of what were hitherto essentially underwater shoals.

Naval vessels will soon be able to dock there, and an airstrip is all but certain to be constructed. As the South China Sea is thought be ripe for mineral and oil exploitation and as parts of it are claimed by several Asian nations, this is a dangerous flashpoint, an area where Beijing’s “low-intensity coercion” can be expected to increase. In response, the Philippines and Vietnam are doing “land reclamation” projects of their own.

Mexico plans land reform to boost investment – sources – by Gabriel Stargardter and Dave Graham (Reuters U.S. – May 14, 2015)

May 15, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

MEXICO CITY – May 14 Mexico’s government is drawing up a land reform to strengthen the rights of private companies dealing with rural landholders in a bid to lure investment and lift the economy, according to two people familiar with the plan.

The legislation being drafted will draw on an energy reform completed last year that gave the government more power to act in favor of investors in disputes with communal landholders over usage of rural areas such as those known as ejidos, said the two officials from the government and the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Part of a wider agricultural reform, the sensitive issue of how to create a firmer legal footing for developers without inflaming protests from poor landholders is with the ministry of agrarian, territorial and urban development (SEDATU), the sources said on condition of anonymity.

With almost half of Mexico’s population living in poverty, a large part of them in rural areas, the rights of communal landholders, or ejidatarios, have long been protected in Mexico.

President Enrique Pena Nieto risks major opposition to the reform plan, especially from left-wing groups.

BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

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

Short seller Jon Carnes has been cleared of fraud allegations by a British Columbia Securities Commission panel, which found his attacks on Silvercorp Metals Inc. were not prohibited. The panel did, however, raise serious concerns with his conduct.

“While we may find Carnes’ conduct unsavory, we do not find it was clearly abusive to the capital markets,” the panel said in its decision. The panel added that it is “not our role to sanction conduct we find morally unsupportable.”

In an interview Thursday evening, Carnes said he was “relieved” by the decision. “That’s always the right word to use in a situation like this,” he said.

He added that he still believes Silvercorp is the party the BCSC should have been targeting, and he thinks the commission should be held “accountable” for its allegations against him. He also disagreed with assertions that there was anything “unsavory” about his actions.

Carnes, a hedge fund manager better known by the pseudonym “Alfred Little,” is one of many short sellers that accused Chinese companies of fraud a few years ago and helped to get them de-listed from North American exchanges.

Canada should be the world leader in energy markets — so why isn’t it? – by Cody Battershill (National Post – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

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

Canada is a world leader in democratic freedom, transparency, environmental protection and worker rights. So why is it not also a world leader—the supplier of choice—to energy markets all over the world, selling more oil and gas to global markets, not less?

In a number of recent third-party reports on social and economic performance, Canada ranks at or very near the top of global rankings in every category. In other words, Canada has some of the best resources– and some of the best human, social and economic policies–but it still has trouble cracking world resource markets.

These days, the real obstacles to export growth come from within Canada. The political quagmire in British Columbia surrounding LNG exports is a case in point. While we squabble inside Canada, few countries can claim Canada’s level of achievement.

Just last week, a United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network report placed Canada fifth of 158 nations based on measures such as life expectancy, per capita incomes and perceptions of corruption

Earlier in April, the Social Progress Index ranked Canada sixth of 133 countries based on 52 indicators such as crime levels, literacy and gender equality.

Lost in the eelgrass with Canada’s LNG plans – by Peter Foster (National Post – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

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

The oil and gas industry has been comprehensively outplayed by the environmental
movement, which has cleverly stoked and exploited concerns about accidents, along
with aboriginal resentments and legal uncertainties, to achieve its
anti-development goals. (Peter Foster – National Post)

Remember Stephen Harper’s commitment to streamline regulatory approval for resource megaprojects? I’m not sure whether the process has in fact been sped up, but regulatory approval seems increasingly irrelevant.

This week, the Lax Kw’alaams band of Northern B.C. may have dealt a severe blow to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project (PNW) — a massive $36 billion development, including related pipelines – by rejecting outright a benefits package worth more than a billion dollars to its 3,600 members over 40 years.

The Supreme Court’s decision last year in the case of B.C.’s Tsilhqot’in Nation extended the scope of aboriginal title, and stressed consultation, but claimed that it did not give native groups a veto. Not de jure, perhaps, but de facto?

Sierra history: Nevada Comstock miners had guts, grit on their side – by Mark McLaughlin (Tahoe Daily Tribune – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/

Tahoe historian Mark McLaughlin is a nationally published author and professional speaker.

TAHOE-TRUCKEE, Calif. — It took skill, brains, brawn and endurance to work underground in a Nevada Comstock mine day after day and survive.

Air temperatures at the deepest depths nearly 3,000 feet beneath the surface ranged from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to nearly 130 degrees due to heat emanating from volcanic rock. Contemporary geologists considered Nevada’s 19th century silver mines to be the hottest in the world.

A labyrinth of clay seams throughout the Comstock matrix sealed off the flow of geothermally heated groundwater that riddled the subterranean rock.

Much of this exceptionally hot water was under considerable pressure and would suddenly flood a mine if a clay seam was breached by a drill hole or cut by excavation.

Sierra history: Big risk, big money came with Comstock mining – by Mark McLaughlin (Tahoe Daily Tribune – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/

Tahoe historian Mark McLaughlin is a nationally published author and professional speaker.

TAHOE-TRUCKEE, Calif. — If you haven’t been to Virginia City, Nev., recently you’re in for a surprise, but probably not a pleasant one.

For several years now, Comstock Mining Incorporated has run a massive open pit excavation operation on the old Comstock Lode in the Virginia Range.

The resumption of large-scale mining adjacent to the Virginia City Historic District has upset residents and businesses alike. The federal government has designated the integrity of the nationally recognized landmark as “threatened.”

Nevada has had a close relationship with mining since its first days as a territory in the early 1860s and it is a major component of its economy.

Although the primary ore in the 19th century Comstock bonanza was silver, today the state produces about 80 percent of all the gold in the United States.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s iron ore inquiry slammed – by Peter Ker and Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Post – May 15, 2015

May 15, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/

A parliamentary inquiry into the iron ore industry would be entirely inappropriate and damage Australia’s international image, former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel says.

Speaking after Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared his support for an inquiry into the behaviour of the struggling industry, Mr Samuel said the parliament should not be trying to intervene in a global market.

“I don’t know what parliament thinks it can do, is it going to limit the exports of BHP and Rio Tinto? I can’t imagine what role parliament has in dealing with an international market of this nature,” said Mr Samuel.

“The very reason we have independent competition authorities is to ensure politicians don’t get involved in political situations. This is an attempt to intervene in the market in a way that is entirely innappropriate.”

Mr Samuel’s comments come after ACCC chairman Rod Sims said last month it was “misguided” to think BHP and Rio were engineering the recent price fall.

[KGHM International] Energy plan to help new Sudbury mine – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

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

A provincial government program to help new or expanding companies create jobs and cut electricity rates will help move the development of KGHM International’s Victoria Mine project forward.

Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli was in Sudbury on Thursday to announce details of the two-year-old Industrial Electricity Incentive (IEI) Program and how it will benefit the mining company.

The IEI Program captures surplus electricity capacity in Ontario and “redelivers” it to the industrial and business community in the form of significant cost discounts, helping them be more competitive, said the minister.

Sudbury can “legitimately be called the mining capital of the world,” Chiarelli told a small audience. Ensuring mining companies and industry have access to a reliable and affordable source of electricity is a priority for his government.

Existing northern miners, such as Glencore and Vale, are already benefiting from the Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program, which is cutting about 25% of their electricity costs.

CSIS warns of ‘extremist’ opposition to oil and gas sector – by Alex Boutilier (Toronto Star – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

An internal threat overview by CSIS warns the federal government of “extremists” that have “converged” to oppose natural resource development.

OTTAWA—Canada’s spies are warning the federal government about an “extremist” threat to natural resource development, internal documents show.

“Extremists” have united both in person and online in their opposition to Canadian natural resource projects, according to a September 2014 “threat overview” prepared by CSIS for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney.

The heavily censored document does not outline specific threats or projects, nor does it single out particular groups. But it lists the threat between sections on terrorist travellers and a growing anti-Muslim movement advocating violence in Canada.

The CSIS report, obtained under Access to Information law, mirrors strong language in a January 2014 report from the RCMP warning of an “anti-Canadian petroleum movement.”

Insight – Global glut threatens West African iron ore ambitions – by Umaru Fofana (Reuters U.K. – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/

PEPEL, SIERRA LEONE – Red piles of iron ore and rusting railway wagons in the deserted stockyard at the port of Pepel bear silent witness to a crisis engulfing Sierra Leone’s mining industry and threatening others across West Africa.

The conveyor belt out to the jetty on the slow-moving Rokel river has remained idle for most of the past few months as only a handful of ships have anchored at the moribund port.

At the height of the commodities boom last decade, West African countries became magnets for miners seeking untapped iron ore, diamonds, gold, bauxite and other minerals.

In Pepel, locals anticipated an economic surge for their civil war-ravaged country when London-listed firm African Minerals (AMLZF.PK) started shipping ore four years ago from its Tonkolili mine.

Discovered in 2008 and lying some 200 km (124 miles) to the northeast, Tonkolili is one of the world’s largest iron ore deposits.

Grupo Mexico, S.A. de C.V. History (1892 – 2001)

May 15, 2015

For a large selection of corporate histories click: International Directory of Company Histories

Company History: Grupo Mexico, S.A. de C.V. is Mexico’s largest mining company and the world’s third largest producer of copper, fourth largest of silver, and fifth largest of zinc. It also engages in the mining and processing of other minerals, principally gold, lead, and molybdenum. In addition to its holdings in Mexico, Grupo Mexico owns ASARCO, Inc., a company with many mining facilities in the United States and a majority stake in Southern Peru Copper Corporation Grupo Mexico also holds the majority share in Mexico’s longest railway.

Under U.S. Ownership: 1892-1965

Grupo Mexico originated not with a Mexican company but with the activities of the Guggenheim family of the United States, through their M. Guggenheim’s Sons partnership, which had been investing in U.S. mining and smelting operations since 1880. In 1889 Simon Guggenheim persuaded some Mexican mine owners to send their silver ores to the Guggenheim smelter in Pueblo, Colorado. After Congress imposed a heavy duty on imported ores the following year, the Guggenheims established smelters in Monterrey (1892) and Aguascalientes (1895) and first leased, then bought, mines in Mexico yielding lead, iron, silver, and copper.

By 1901 Guggenheim-owned smelters were processing 40 percent of the lead and 20 percent of the silver mined in Mexico. Meanwhile, industrialists in the United States were forming a cartel-like trust of large smelting operations, founded in 1899 as the American Smelting and Refining Co. (ASARCO).

[Ring of Fire] Minister marks mining week at TSX – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

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

Anyone who says the federal government isn’t doing anything to advance development of the Ring of Fire hasn’t been paying attention, says Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford.

Rickford initiated the siren at the opening of business Thursday at the Toronto Stock Exchange to mark National Mining Week, a celebration of Canada’s leadership and expertise in the industry.

The minister hand-picked a who’s who of “movers and shakers” from Northern Ontario to accompany him at the ceremony and they met in a round-table session afterward to discuss mining in the Ring of Fire

Among those invited were Frank Smeenk, president and chief executive officer of KWG Resources, and Alan Coutts, president and CEO of Noront Resources. Noront recently purchased the assets of Cliffs Natural Resources in the Ring of Fire, making it the biggest player in the Ring.

Rickford took the opportunity when addressing the stock exchange to list the ways in which the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been working to get ready for mining the rich chromite deposits in the James Bay lowlands.

Poland fights for coal, but Russia may benefit – by Jan Cienski (Politco.eu – May 13, 2015)

May 14, 2015

http://www.politico.eu/

Poland’s defense of coal, which has been a measure of energy independence from Russia, might actually be an asset to the Kremlin’s influence.

WARSAW — When he was Poland’s prime minister, European Council President Donald Tusk called coal “the strategic foundation” of his country’s energy security, and Polish diplomats have acquired a reputation as some of the EU’s toughest negotiators, doing battle in summit after summit to minimize restrictions on its use.

But paradoxically, Poland’s dogged defense of coal, which generates almost 90 percent of its electricity, may now end up benefiting Russia. That is because cheap Russian coal is grabbing a growing share of Poland’s market, while local coal producers bleed red ink thanks to high production costs and very low prices.

“Individual mines can still be saved, but what cannot be saved is the state-owned coal mining sector,” says Jerzy Markowski, a former deputy minister of economy and coal mining executive.

Poland’s coal sector has long been a mainstay of the economy.