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Insight – Global glut threatens West African iron ore ambitions – by Umaru Fofana (Reuters U.K. – 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.

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

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).

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[Ring of Fire] Minister marks mining week at TSX – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – 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.

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

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NEWS RELEASE: Harte Gold and Technica Mining (A Division of Technica Group Inc.) Sign Agreement to Mine Sugar Zone Bulk Sample

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – May 13, 2015) – HARTE GOLD CORP. (“Harte Gold”) (TSX:HRT)(FRANKFURT:H4O)(OTC:HRTFF) and Technica Mining (“Technica”), a Sudbury, Ontario based mining contractor, are pleased to announce the signing of a Heads of Agreement (the “Agreement”) on Harte Gold’s Sugar Zone Deposit.

Highlights of the Agreement, Technica will:

  • Mine the 70,000 tonne bulk sample under a $20 million fixed price contract.
  • Receive $5 million of the fixed price contract amount in the form of Harte Gold common shares at $0.15/share, which shares will be held in escrow pending completion of the Bulk Sample.
  • Receive 1/4 warrant/share exercisable at $0.30/share for 18 months following completion of the Bulk Sample.
  • Be responsible for surface works, collaring the portal, underground development and mining work.
  • Have the option to put the shares back to Harte Gold within a 36 month period following completion of the Bulk Sample at a 100% premium provided that any such purchases by Harte Gold account for no more than 25% of Harte Gold’s free cash flow.

Highlights of the Bulk Sample:

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Western Australia Budget Deficit Shows Boom Turning to Bust – by Jason Scott and Benjamin Purvis (Bloomberg News – May 14, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The state at the forefront of Australia’s biggest resources boom since the 1850s gold rush forecast a worsening budget deficit next year as plunging commodity prices hit revenue.

Western Australia’s government said its net operating deficit for the year ending June 30, 2016 will double to A$2.71 billion ($2.2 billion), from a A$1.29 billion gap in 2014-15, which was its first shortfall in 15 years. Economic growth is forecast to slow to 2 percent in the next fiscal year, the lowest rate since 1990-91, while net debt will peak at A$36.3 billion in June 2018.

Treasurer Mike Nahan is turning to asset sales to reduce debt as a 39 percent fall in iron ore prices in the past 12 months hits the state’s finances. Standard & Poor’s put Western Australia on notice last month that it may cut its AA+ rating due to falling mining royalties that are weakening its budget position.

‘There’s a sober realization now in the state that things have changed,’’ said Michael McLure, a professor of economics at the University of Western Australia Business School. “The government now has a growing debt problem that it’s trying to manage at a very difficult time.”

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Is Africa’s ‘resource nationalism’ just big business as usual? – by John Childs (The Conversation U.S. Pilot – May 14, 2015)

http://theconversation.com/us

Big mining firms in the Democratic Republic of Congo are worried. For the past decade they’ve made good money from the country’s huge reserves of cobalt, diamonds, gold and copper, and now the government wants to grab more of the action: a document leaked to Bloomberg reveals plans to raise royalties and profit taxes, and increase the state’s share in any new ventures.

This is so-called “resource nationalism” in action, and the DRC is far from alone in seeking greater economic control of its natural resources. The state is back, the theory goes, and it’s taking on the multinational. From Scotland to Namibia, Zambia to Ecuador, resource rich nations throughout the world are rhetorically reclaiming gas, oil and minerals as their own.

The trend is widely reported as the enemy of trade, investment and energy security alike. In the UK, for example, the Telegraph called it a “spectre” and government economists have labelled it as both a “threat” and “anti-competitive”.

On the other side of the coin, governments argue they are simply ensuring foreign businesses don’t unfairly benefit from resource extraction. Take Zambia, for instance. The landlocked African nation is a major copper exporter yet most of the population still lives below the poverty line. After the government looked to crack down on tax avoidance by multinational mining firms, one senior politician defended the move: “The situation is win on one side – only the shareholders are winning; the people of Zambia are still in abject poverty”.

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Norilsk to meet investors amid hopes of Russian reopening – by Michael Turner (Reuters U.S. – May 14, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, May 14 (IFR) – Norilsk Nickel is meeting bond and equity investors in London on Monday, as market participants grow increasingly optimistic that some Russian borrowers might melt through the international fundraising freeze before 2016.

The Russian palladium and nickel firm, rated BBB-/BBB-, is not marketing a specific bond at the meetings, according to two of the sources, but giving fund managers an update. Barclays is arranging the meetings.

“My personal view is that they do not need to raise funds,” said an investor from a Swiss firm who has been invited to the event.

Still, Norilsk Nickel is a potential issuer as the firm has not been sanctioned by the West. Bankers say that investors are showing more interest in potential Russian supply.

“We’ve had some reverse enquiry about Russian corporates,” said one banker. “We’re a way off the market properly reopening but we’re having more interesting conversations than six months ago.”

No Russian issuer has come to the international market since Gazprom sold a US$700m one-year note on November 5.

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BHP Rejects Supply Restraint in Iron After Glasenberg Salvo – by Jasmine Ng, Martin Ritchie and Jesse Riseborough (Bloomberg News – May 14, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd. defended its strategy of expanding iron ore output into an oversupplied market as prices decline, saying that the company’s approach was rational and it wouldn’t countenance cutting back on output.

“Our performance will be dependent on being the most efficient supplier and it shouldn’t be dependent on supply restraint,” Alan Chirgwin, iron ore marketing vice president, told a conference. “We have high-quality resources. We have a management team that’s operating in a very cost-disciplined way. We should be taking advantage of those things.”

Iron ore slumped 40 percent in the past 12 months as BHP and Rio Tinto Group in Australia and Brazil’s Vale SA expanded low-cost output to boost sales volumes and cut costs, spurring a surplus as China slowed. The strategy drew criticism from rivals including Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. and Glencore Plc, which said that the approach damages the industry. It’s also drawn flak from political leaders including Colin Barnett, the premier of Western Australia where BHP and Rio operate mines.

“What we’re doing very clearly is we’re operating our enterprise in a very economically rational way,” Chirgwin said in Singapore on Thursday. “We took action, so it wasn’t just words. In 2011, that’s the last time our board approved billions of dollars of additional investment in expansion.”

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7 Police wounded in growing protest against Peru mining project (Fox News Latino – May 13, 2015)

http://latino.foxnews.com/index.html

Seven police were wounded in fresh clashes with local residents protesting Southern Copper’s Tia Maria mine project in the Peruvian province of Islay, part of the southern region of Arequipa.

National Police Gen. Enrique Blanco told Radio Programas del Peru that slingshot-fired rocks struck the police Tuesday in Cocachacra, where earlier that morning officers took down barricades blocking the entrance to the town, the epicenter of anti-mining protests that have left three dead and more than 200 injured.

He said four of the officers were taken by helicopter to a hospital in the regional capital of Arequipa, whose inhabitants launched a 72-hour protest action Tuesday in support of the 52-day-old “indefinite strike” in Islay.

In Lima, Peru’s government suspended talks with Southern Copper, a unit of Mexican mining giant Grupo Mexico, due to suspicion of possible secret negotiations between the mining company and protest organizers aimed at lifting the strike in exchange for monetary compensation.

The national government also froze the bank accounts of municipalities opposed to the project to prevent them from bankrolling the protests.

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It seems Sudbury really is the centre of the mining universe – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 14, 2015)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Greater Sudbury was represented at an awards gala held by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) in Montreal on May 11.

The annual event celebrates leaders in the Canadian mining industry and their many achievements over past years.

Northern Ontario winners include Christine Bertoli, recipient of the CIM-Bedford Canadian Young Mining Leaders Awards.

Based in Lively, Bertoli is the chief mine engineer of Nickel Rim South Mine for Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (Glencore). The award recognizes workers 39 years of age or under for exceptional achievement, as well as their potential for future leadership in various sectors of mining.

Sue Tessier of Val Caron was recognized with the CIM Community Service Award. Tessier, who enjoyed a 34-year career with Inco/Vale, is now retired and volunteers her time with a number of organizations, including the CIM Sudbury Branch, GO Eng Girl, and the Sudbury Regional Science Fair. This award recognizes unsung heroes for their contributions to the mining industry.

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Inside the secret, intricate world of diamonds – by Rita Celli (CBC News Business – May 14, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa

Cash only, hyper-secure world where very few know how stones are priced

“If you think platinum or gold is secret. It doesn’t hold a candlelight to diamonds,” says a smiling Ron Gashinski, retired Ontario geologist and one of the lead players to set up a controversial diamond royalty in the province.

“No one touches the diamonds. Not even the people cleaning them. They have to put their hands in a glove box,” says Gashinski. “The daily production is in a thermos, about the size of a Tim Horton’s coffee, and a guy with gloves hits a keypad so a door opens, and this arm puts the diamonds into a vault.”

Ontario’s only diamond mine, north of Attiwapiskat, is part of a high stakes, and secret world of diamonds. From the way the stones are stored, valued, and shipped around the world, the De Beers Victor mine is a piece of an intricate global puzzle. Everything is precise, and hyper-calculated.

“There are no accidents,” says Gashinski. “It is a strange business. A cash business. Before anyone can buy those diamonds from De Beers, they have to put cash in the bank. There are no lines of credit. It’s a built in ‘I trust you when the money is in the bank, up until then these are my diamonds.'”

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Diamond cutting takes tenuous hold in Sudbury, Ont. – by Rita Celli (CBC News Business – May 14, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa

Community leaders say too many jobs were filled by outsiders

The future of diamond-cutting in Sudbury, Ont., remains unclear as De Beer’s Victor mine is set to operate only for the next four years, removing its highest quality supplier of stones.

Retired Ontario gemmologist Ron Gashinski says the government fought hard for a ‘beneficiation’ agreement with De Beers to ensure that at least 10 per cent of the diamonds harvested from the Victor mine would be cut and polished in Canada.

Many of the diamonds that are cut and polished at the Crossworks facility in Sudbury come from De Beers Victor mine, Ontario’s first and only diamond mine; a remote operation that’s a one-and-a-half hour direct charter flight north of Timmins.

“It’s like you’re only getting Dom Perignon. You’re not getting the Baby Duck,” enthuses Dylan Dix, an executive for Crossworks.

“You have such a high level of gem quality. It’s essentially an anomaly,” says Dix. “Such wonderful, beautiful diamond crystals. It’s quite a pleasure to polish them.”

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Excerpt From Call of the Northland: Riding the Train That Nearly Toppled a Government – by Thomas Blampied

To order a copy of Call of the Northland: Riding the Train That Nearly Toppled a Government, click here: http://www.northland-book.net/buy.html

Historian, author and photographer Thomas Blampied has been interested in railways for as long as he can remember. Growing up east of Toronto, he spent summer evenings sitting trackside with his father watching streamlined VIA trains race past and long freight trains rumble by. From these early railway experiences grew a lifelong passion for railways and rail travel which has manifested itself through model railroading, photography, writing, railway preservation and the academic study of railway history. This is his fourth book about railways in Ontario. He has studied in both Canada and the United Kingdom and currently resides in Southern Ontario.

Chapter 1: First Steps to the North

The day of the trip: before dawn. Up around five, I was packed and ready to go. My journey would take two trains: one west into Toronto and then one north to Cochrane. I had some breakfast, never much on travel or photo days, and got a ride to the Whitby Station. It was a cold and drizzly morning in late April as I waited on the platform for the 6:18 GO train to Toronto. I must have looked odd, standing with all my bags and winter coat in the rain, among the latest spring fashions.

The train arrived and I boarded with the commuters – all of them pushy and determined to have their seat. As usual, I sat up behind the crew, but was disappointed to see that the window separating the crew and passengers had been boarded up. I had liked looking through this window for years as I could see the track ahead from the crew’s point of view.

The weather did not improve as we rolled along the GO Subdivision (the operational name for a particular stretch of track, a subdivision is often referred to as a Sub), running parallel to Highway 401.

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NEWS RELEASE: New Mineral Science Shows Promise for Reducing Environmental Impacts from Mining (United States Geological Survey – May 12, 2015)

http://www.usgs.gov/

Mining companies, land managers, and regulators now have a wealth of tools to aid in reducing potential mining impacts even before the mine gets started. USGS and various research partners released a special edition of papers specifically targeted at providing modern environmental effect research for modern mining techniques.

Minerals play an important role in the global economy, and, as rising standards of living have increased demand for those minerals, the number and size of mines have increased, leading to larger potential impacts from mining.

“Approaches to protecting the environment from mining impacts have undergone a revolution over the past several decades,” said USGS mineral and environmental expert Bob Seal. “The sustainability of that revolution relies on an evolving scientific understanding of how mines and their waste products interact with the environment.”

Many research conclusions are contained in the special issue, and some of the primary findings are listed here:

Pre-Mining Tools

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