Republic of Mining

Cliffs Natural Resources ‘can’t wait’ to exit ‘horrible’ Australian iron ore business – by Peter Ker (Sydney Morning Herald – April 30, 2015)

April 30, 2015

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

US miner Cliffs Natural Resources says the seaborne supply of iron ore to China is a “doomed, horrible business”, and declared it can’t wait to finish mining in Western Australia.

Speaking after a decision to cut jobs and close one of its three iron ore pits in Western Australia, Cliffs chief executive Lourenco Goncalves said big miners like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were trying to scare the iron ore market into pessimism with their expansion plans, but could no longer afford those expansions.

Cliffs’ Koolyanobbing operations in Western Australia made a slim profit of $0.26 per tonne during the March quarter, and the Cleveland-based company responded by reducing the remaining life of the operation from 4.5 years down to 3.5 years.

“The seaborne market is doomed, is cursed, is a place not to be in. I can’t wait to get out of Australia,” said Mr Goncalves. “As soon as I get to the end of life of mine in Australia, I’m out of there … I can’t wait to get out of the seaborne trade and let the Australians take that horrible business on their own hands.”

Ailing Fortescue begins job cuts, hits out at rivals BHP and Rio Tinto – by Andrew White and Andrew Burrell (The Australian – April 30, 2015)

April 30, 2015

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

Andrew Forrest has accused his two larger rivals, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, of jeopardising the budget by driving the iron ore price lower as his Fortescue Metals Group began cutting jobs.

Mr Forrest said the price would be driven lower unless the major producers checked their planned increase in production and stopped saying they intended to continue “oversupplying’’ the market.

“If we don’t get responsibility coming into the future actions and the current statements of the very multinational companies that derive their fortunes from our own land then the iron ore price will continue to fall, the budget will be thrown into jeopardy, the deficit will grow and our standard of living will fall,’’ Mr Forrest told broadcaster Alan Jones yesterday. “And it’s all completely avoidable. None of this had to happen.’’

Mr Forrest has refused to back down on calls for the producers to agree on slowing capacity expansion, despite attention from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission over the possibility of collusion.

Streaming miners get the glitter without needing to own the gold – by Bryan Borzykowski (Canadian Business Magazine – April 29, 2015)

April 30, 2015

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Royalty streaming companies have survived the gold crash so far—and are set to get stronger

Unless you’re a risk-taking contrarian, you’re likely giving mining stocks a wide berth. The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index is down 30% since 2010, and there are no signs of a rebound. Surprisingly, one part of the mining industry has quietly outperformed not only the sector but the overall Canadian market.

Mining royalty “streaming” companies—firms that help finance new mines in exchange for a cut of what’s produced—have posted impressive returns amid the industry’s gloom. One of the best performers has been Franco-Nevada Corp. (TSX: FNV), which has seen its stock price climb 120% over the past five years. While gold has fallen 37% from its US$1,921-an-ounce peak on September 5, 2011, Franco-Nevada’s stock rose 36% over that time. “That’s pretty startling outperformance there,” says Ryan Crowther, a portfolio manager with Franklin Bissett Investment Management in Calgary.

Though these companies are exposed to commodity prices, they have little in common with actual miners. They don’t own or operate mines and usually have only a handful of employees, meaning they have little overhead and (usually) no debt. It’s these costs that can sink a mining company in a low commodity price environment.

A Lifetime in the Mines: An Essay on Watching Films about Coal Mining + Complete filmography – by Steve Fesenmaier (July 23, 2009)

April 30, 2015

Steve Fesenmaier, director of WVLC Film Services – I wonder if coal miners ever watch movies? Frani Stone, native West Virginian and assistant director of WVLC, Film Services – I think miners spend enough of their time in the dark….. Summer, 1979

Recently a Pittsburgh filmmaker contacted me concerning his expanding film pertaining to the Monongah 1907 Disaster. He has completed a 25-minute version of a film, but plans to add another hour or so, making it a wider film. He asked me about “other films on coal mining.” This request caused me to spend a concerted amount of time compiling the following list of films about coal mining. Considering the fact that I, at this point, have spent 30 years watching every possible film on the subject, helping several films be made and showing coal mine films in numerous milieus, a brief essay on the subject may be worth writing in my case and worth reading in yours.

The first coal mine film I ever saw was “Harlan County, USA” at the Edina Theater in south Minneapolis, around May 1978. I recall staggering out of the theater, thinking that it was a powerful film. I thought, “How could Americans be treated by their bosses like that?” Within a month, I was in New York City at The American Film & Video Festival, standing back to back with the director, Barbara Kopple. I had just accepted an award at the festival for Les Blank. Kopple and I were shaking hands in the lobby, people thinking that I was Les. I called him on the phone, telling him that he had better get down to the festival so HE could shake hands.

Within a few months, now living in Charleston, I learned that Kopple had been invited to the Governor’s office in Charleston to talk to people about filmmaking in the state. Unfortunately I was not invited to the meeting.

Pebble Mine: Down to Lawyers, Lobbyists and Legislators – by Taryn Kiekow (Huffington Post – April 28, 2015)

April 30, 2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/

Taryn Kiekow is a Senior Policy Analyst, NRDC’s Marine Mammal Protection.

Pebble Mine is not grabbing headlines these days, but the battle to protect Bristol Bay is far from over.

In contrast to the significant headlines and victories in 2014 — Rio Tinto withdrawing from the project; EPA proposing specific restrictions on the development of Pebble Mine; Alaska voters passing an initiative aimed at protecting the Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale mining, which is harmful to Alaska’s wild salmon; and President Obama declaring Bristol Bay off-limits to oil and gas drilling — 2015 has been deceptively quiet.

All the major investors — Mitsubishi, Anglo American, and Rio Tinto — have fled the project, taking massive losses to walk away from Bristol Bay, and Pebble has been unable to find another moneyed partner to advance the project. This leaves junior mining company Northern Dynasty Minerals, now the sole owner of the project, with a serious cash-flow problem.

But the company hasn’t given up on its dreams to build a colossal mine at the headwaters of the world’s greatest wild salmon fishery. Last January, with the sale of special warrants to existing investors, it raised about $15 million — almost half of which came from a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands.

First Nations businesses growing with Saskatchewan resource boom (Business Vancouver – by Joe Ralko (April 28, 2015)

April 30, 2015

http://www.biv.com/

Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs embark on joint venture that provides services to the energy industry and trains workers for oilpatch jobs

A three-year agreement involving the Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC) and Site Energy Services Ltd. (SES) is the latest example of how the boom in Saskatchewan’s resource sector is helping the growth of First Nations businesses.

First Alliance Energy Services is the name of the new entity expected to generate revenue in the millions of dollars from work in the oilpatch, say BATC and SES officials.

“We felt it was a really good fit for us,” said Ed Standinghorn, director of industry relations with BATC. “In addition to providing a range of services in the oilfield, we also have a training module getting our clients work ready. For example, we help them get their driver’s licences, complete their GED and so on.”

He said the new joint venture is a natural progression of the projects BATC has under its belt. “Work we do is nationally recognized,” Standinghorn said.

Charges laid in deaths of two Sudbury drillers – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2015)

April 30, 2015

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

Two companies are facing 13 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in the deaths of two Sudbury drillers in almost a year ago, the Ministry of Labour announced Tuesday.

Norm Bisaillon, 49, and Marc Methe, 34, died May 6, 2014, at First Nickel Inc.’s Lockerby Mine.

Eight charges were laid against First Nickel, including:

– prevention of water accumulation or flow of water that might endanger a worker;

– ensuring an effective ground support system is installed;

– requirement that a report be made in writing of all dangerous conditions;

– the examination of and remediation of misfiring explosives;

Opal Dream (Australian Mining Themed Movie – 2006)

April 30, 2015

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Opal Dream (also known as Pobby and Dingan) is a 2006 Australian drama film, based on the Ben Rice novella Pobby and Dingan, directed by Peter Cattaneo and starring an ensemble cast including Vince Colosimo, Jacqueline McKenzie, Christian Byers and Sapphire Boyce. It was filmed on location around South Australia, in Adelaide, Coober Pedy and Woomera. Opal Dream was released in Australia on 28 September 2006, with eventual release around the world.

The film begins by introducing Kellyanne Williamson, playing with imaginary friends Pobby and Dingan. The family of Rex Williamson—his wife Anne, daughter Kellyanne and son Ashmol—have moved to Coober Pedy, known as the “opal capital of Australia”, because Rex believed he could make a fortune in mining opal. So far he’s had little success. Ashmol, while he loves his sister, is frequently annoyed when she talks to her imaginary friends, and some of the kids at school tease the siblings because of them.

Editorial: Not all pleased with Ring of Fire sale (Northern Miner – April 29, 2015)

April 29, 2015

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

April 28 saw the closing of Noront Resources’ acquisition of Cliffs Natural Resources’ chromite assets in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire region. The deal saw a last-minute bump-up in the price to US$27.5 million from the US$20 million agreed upon in late March.

The assets are comprised of three chromite deposits and associated claims that were held by Cliffs. The U.S. iron ore major says the sale is “another step in divesting interests in non-core assets” and that the proceeds will be used to cover costs associated with its bankruptcy filing in Canada.

Noront had a little more to say on the final price, however, commenting that in between the first offer and closing, Cliffs “had received an unsolicited, competing bid which it determined, after consultation … could reasonably be expected to lead to a superior proposal.” Thus, the reason for the higher price upon closing on April 28.

Noront’s flagship project has been its 100%-owned, high-grade, nickel-copper-platinum group metals Eagle’s Nest deposit — the only deposit in the Ring of Fire with a positive feasibility study.

West Virginia Mine Wars Museum aims to tell overlooked coalfields history – by Marcus Constantino (Charleston Daily Mail – April 28, 2015)

April 29, 2015

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/

Local volunteers and historians are opening a museum in Matewan dedicated to telling the untold and often-overlooked stories of coal miners’ long and bloody fight for labor rights.

The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is to open Saturday, May 16, with a grand opening celebration at 1 p.m. Charles “Chuck” Keeney, a history teacher in Logan and member of the museum’s board of directors, said the museum is a collection of artifacts and stories from the early 20th century labor uprising that has mostly been passed down informally from generation to generation.

“There’s not a whole lot of emphasis on the history of what coal miners did and the struggles they went through and the tumultuous time,” Keeney said. “The Battle of Matewan has all the elements of a classic Western shootout, yet while something like the Gunfight at O.K. Corral has become a part of American lore, Matewan has languished in obscurity for a number of generations. We’re promoting this regional history that has been overlooked.”

The May 19, 1920, Battle of Matewan, also known as the “Matewan Massacre,” broke out in front of the Chambers Hardware building — the current-day home of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum at 336 Mate Street.

Biggest Coal Exporter Says Climate Change Won’t Strand Assets – by Jesse Riseborough (Bloomberg News – April 28, 2015)

April 29, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc, the top exporter of coal used in power stations, expects efforts to curb climate change by keeping its fossil-fuel reserves in the ground to fail in the face of world energy demand.

Shareholders won’t be “prevented from realizing the full value of Glencore’s fossil fuel assets,” Ivan Glasenberg, 58, Glencore’s billionaire chief executive officer, said Tuesday.

His comments are a snub to a growing campaign that wants investors to shun fossil fuels that cause climate change. The world can’t safely extract all its oil and coal reserves, meaning some will end up as worthless stranded assets, campaigners say. Investors from Stanford University to the British Medical Association plan to cut fossil fuel holdings.

Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are among those defending their interests with the argument that the only way the world can feed its appetite for cheap, reliable energy is by burning fossil fuels. Coal supplies the world with about 30 percent of its main energy needs and more than 40 percent of its electricity, according to the World Coal Association. Global coal output reached a record 7.8 billion metric tons in 2013.

Canadian, American groups call on B.C. to end underwater storage of mine tailings – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – April 28, 2015)

April 29, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Mines minister says that is not going happen in the province, or likely anywhere in Canada

Dozens of Canadian and American environmental groups, First Nations and businesses, as well as scientists and individuals, have called on the B.C. government to end the use of storing mine waste under water and behind earth-and-rock dams.

But Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett said that is not going to happen in British Columbia. “I don’t think that’s in the cards for B.C. — or any other province in Canada — to adopt a policy where all you can use to manage tailings is dry-stack tailings,” Bennett said in an interview.

The demand from the U.S. and Canadian groups — sent in a letter Tuesday to Bennett and B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak — came as a result of Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam failure last summer.

The dam collapse released millions of cubic metres of water and tailings — finely-ground rock waste containing potentially toxic metals — into the Quesnel Lake watershed in the B.C. Interior.

Commentary: The shifting liability landscape for Canadian miners abroad – by Young Park and Rick Moscone (Northern Miner – April 29, 2015)

April 29, 2015

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Two recent lawsuits brought in British Columbia by foreign plaintiffs against two Canadian mining companies for alleged human rights abuses abroad have raised the stakes for mining projects in foreign jurisdictions.

On June 18, 2014, seven Guatemalan men sued Tahoe Resources Inc. alleging that private security forces hired by Tahoe’s Guatemalan subsidiary opened fire on them in San Rafael Los Flores. On Nov. 20, 2014, three Eritrean refugees sued Nevsun Resources Ltd. Alleging they were forced to work at a mine in Eritrea under threat of torture by Eritrea’s ruling party.

These lawsuits appear to be inspired by the decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on July 22, 2013 in Choc v Hudbay Minerals Inc, the first case against a Canadian mining company over alleged human rights abuse abroad that was permitted to go to trial in Canada. In light of this recent litigation, it may be worthwhile for Canadian mining companies to revisit Hudbay, to understand how plaintiffs are now using Hudbay to frame their claims and to consider a risk management plan to mitigate the risks raised by Hudbay and the litigation it has spawned.

Three related actions were brought by thirteen Guatemalan Mayan Q’eqchi’ plaintiffs against Hudbay in Ontario for human rights abuses allegedly committed by private security forces working for Hudbay’s Guatemalan subsidiary, CGN.

Flin Flon region remains key for growing Hudbay – by Jonathon Naylor (Flin Flon Reminder – April 28, 2015)

April 29, 2015

http://www.thereminder.ca/

As Hudbay commences a new chapter as a truly international company, David Garofalo is taken aback by the whispers of concern.

From Flin Flon and Snow Lake come worries that with his full-throttle expansion into Peru, and eventually the southern US, Garofalo is forsaking Hudbay’s traditional heartland in northern Manitoba.

“I’m surprised to hear it because when I was hired the first thing I did was put two mines into construction in Manitoba before we put any money into work anywhere else,” says Garofalo with a gentle laugh.

Those two mines, of course, are the massive Lalor mine near Snow Lake and its much smaller cousin, Reed mine, situated between Snow Lake and Flin Flon.

Between them the mines cost about $500 million and helped solidify Hudbay’s longer-term presence in northern Manitoba.

Hudbay is now working to expand known reserves at Lalor, its preeminent Manitoba asset, but the real wild card is Flin Flon’s 777 mine.

Hold the nickel price elation – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – April 28, 2015)

April 29, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

Beware promises of price booms.

There’s been some salivation over the spot nickel price lately. It’s beaten to smithereens, down from around $9/lb a year ago to well under $6/lb in recent weeks.

Indeed, nickel has “surged” in recent days bringing it just over $6/lb from about $5.60/lb a week ago. That move has piqued market interest in a metal heavily hammered in the past year or so.

Yet it’s worth checking excitement about any advertised boom in prices, especially with lofty targets (say back to $10/lb or more as nickel traded in 2010-2011).

For one, nickel supply hardly seems to be hurting at the moment, despite export restrictions in Indonesia. With supply from the Philippines bridging the gap, for now, few analysts predict giant supply holes in the market near term.

Credit Suisse assesses nickel as showing a “near-balanced market in 2015″ that may slide into deficit next year assuming higher cost nickel pig iron (NPI) production slows down.