Republic of Mining

Zambia, the copperbelt under pressure – by Christopher Mwambazi (The Africa Report – January 30, 2015)

February 2, 2015

http://www.theafricareport.com/

Lusaka – The Zambian government and mining companies are at loggerheads over plans to increase mine royalties, while the people complain they are seeing no benefits.

The Zambian government plans to revise the tax system and raise royalties to triple revenue from the mining sector by 2017 and prevent tax evasion. Some mining firms have already frozen their activities over tax disputes, and others say the new reforms will lead to the closing of mines.

For their part, residents from the Copperbelt say that mining has not led to an improvement in infrastructure and services.

In the 2015 national budget, finance minister Alexander Chikwanda proposed to redesign the fiscal regime by replacing the current two-tier system with a simplified structure resulting in an increase of mineral royalty to 8% for underground mining operations and 20% for opencast mining.

The government would then eliminate the 30% corporate income tax for mining firms. Treasury sources say the new tax formula would help the government to recoup some of the nearly $2bn it believes is lost from the mining sector each year. The proposal is part of a plan to treble revenue collection from the mining sector to $1.5bn by 2017.

Mount Polley spill taints Alaska-B.C. mine relations – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – February 1, 2015)

February 2, 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.

VANCOUVER — A provincial government report that found the tailings pond dam at Mount Polley collapsed because it was built on a weak foundation has heightened concerns in Alaska about British Columbia’s mine safety standards.

Commercial fishermen, native organizations and the mayors of two Alaska communities say they are worried the Red Chris mine, now being built in northern British Columbia by the same company that owns Mount Polley, poses a similar risk.

Both the company and the government, however, have issued assurances that the new mine is safe. In a joint statement, the Alaskans say they “want to have an equal seat at the table with Canada in discussions about how and if watersheds shared by both countries are developed.”

The Red Chris copper-gold mine is currently under construction near Iskut, B.C. It is located near the headwaters of the Stikine, one of the most important salmon rivers flowing into Southeast Alaska. Several other B.C. mines are proposed in the area.

“The Mount Polley tailings dam was approved by Canadian regulators to last in perpetuity, yet it failed in less than 20 years.

Nuclear licensing officials head to Nunavut next week – by Lisa Gregoire (Nunatsiaq News – Febuary 2, 2015)

February 2, 2015

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to hold information sessions in Kivalliq

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s decades of experience in northern Saskatchewan will help ensure any uranium mining in remote Nunavut won’t harm people, animals or the land, a commission spokesperson told Nunatsiaq News Jan. 30.

Sarah Eaton, a geologist and project manager with the commission, said Jan. 30 that even though the Kiggavik project near Baker Lake could become Nunavut’s first uranium mine, the commission’s experience and expertise should quell the public’s fears.

“The Nunavut environment is special and unique. so we have to look at those aspects, but it’s important to remember that mining has occurred in harsh environments around the world for a number of years and there are lot of lessons and technical expertise that can be gained from that,” Eaton said.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which licences uranium mines in Canada and is charged with monitoring and compliance reviews of those facilities, will hold public information sessions in the Kivalliq next week, in:

• Rankin Inlet, Feb. 3;• Baker Lake, Feb. 4; and, • Chesterfield Inlet, Feb. 5.

The agenda will consist of presentations from Areva Resources — the company proposing the Kiggavik uranium mine about 80 kilometres west of Baker Lake — the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and the Northern Projects Management Office, a unit inside the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency set up to help streamline northern development.

CORRECTED-Report criticises secrecy in Congo’s mining sector – by Aaron Ross (Reuters India – February 2, 2015)

February 2, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

Feb 2 (Reuters) – Scores of mining contracts in Democratic Republic of Congo have not been made fully public more than six months after it joined a global resource transparency body, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said in a report on Monday.

U.S. democracy watchdog the Carter Center and three Congolese NGOs identified 62 contractual documents for the 17 mining projects it reviewed that were not made fully available to the public even though the ministry of mines is required by law to publish them.

Congo, which competes with Zambia to be Africa’s top copper producer and is home to about half the world’s cobalt reserves, has more than 100 industrial mining projects. Investors include Glencore and Randgold.

Among the projects mentioned in the report were Mutanda Mining, a copper and cobalt project in southeastern Congo owned by Glencore and Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler’s Fleurette Group. Three amendments to Mutanda’s original contract were not published, it said.

Pieter Deboutte, who sits on the Mutanda board, said it was the responsibility of the government to publish the contracts. A senior official at the ministry of mines who was provided with an advanced copy of the report was not available to comment.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation and Hong Kong-listed MMG Limited were also mentioned but did not respond to requests for comment.

Mining Must Evolve to Prevent Future Mount Polleys, Reviewers Find – by Andrew MacLeod (The Tyee.ca – January 30, 2015)

February 2, 2015

http://thetyee.ca/

‘We can’t continue to use technology that’s 100 years old,’ chair warns.

A breach in the Mount Polley mine tailings pond dam was caused by a design flaw, an independent panel of engineers reported Friday.

Using a layer of material in the dam foundation that was weaker than thought was the equivalent of a “loaded gun,” said Norbert Morgenstern, the chair of the three-person Mount Polley Independent Expert Engineering Investigation and Review Panel.

“Building with the steep slope… pulled the trigger,” he said. “The two things together constitute the root cause of the failure.”

The dam at the copper and gold mine near Williams Lake, British Columbia was originally built in 1997 and had been added to over the years. In August 2014, a breach in a perimeter dam on the north side of the tailings pond spilled millions of cubic metres of toxic tailings and waste water into Polley Lake and Quesnel Lake.

“The panel recognizes we can’t continue business as usual,” said Steven Vick, a geotechnical engineer on the panel. “No failures are acceptable under the task we’ve been given… We can’t continue to use technology that’s 100 years old.”

Commodity prices tumble as gold rallies – Scotiabank – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – January 30, 2015)

February 2, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

Scotiabank has revised the gold price forecast to an average US$1,250-1,275 for 2015-16.

A safe-haven bid has re-emerged for gold, lifting TSX gold stocks, Scotiabank economist Pat Mohr noted in her latest edition of the Scotiabank Commodity Price Index published Thursday.

“After retreating to quite low levels, silver prices have also firmed up to US$17-18 per ounce, a positive development for the world’s major producers in Mexico (Peñoles, Frisco) and Peru (Buenaventura, Antamina, Volcan, Hochschild and Milpo,” she added.

However, Mohr observed, “The sharp drop in oil prices noticeably sideswiped base metals and other commodities,” as “ongoing jitters over a slowdown in China also pulled down industrial minerals prices.”

In her analysis, Mohr said, “A fight for market share in international oil and iron ore markets as well as general unease over lackluster global economic conditions and an almost ‘deflationary’ environment—particularly in the euro zone and Japan—contributed to widespread softness in commodity prices.”

With the U.S. economy among one of the few major economics expected to have a brighter outlook this year, “the recent upward spike in the U.S. dollar has created headwinds for many dollar-dominated economies and, in some cases, may even be pulling prices down,” she suggested.

Province pushing forward on Ring of Fire, finance minister assures (tbnewswatch.com – January 30, 2015)

February 2, 2015

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/default.aspx

THUNDER BAY — The province is doing everything it can to make the Ring of Fire attractive and competitive for business, says Charles Sousa.

The Liberal finance minister was in Thunder Bay Friday for pre-budget consultations, hearing from around 40 groups throughout the afternoon. Sousa said people understand that there are fiscal challenges in Ontario and that the province needs find a balance between being competitive and compassionate when it comes to spending.

“It’s not about creating more government, it’s about creating more opportunity,” he said before consultation, which was closed to media, began. Noront Resources is one of only two companies left in the Ring of Fire, and its project is in limbo while it awaits provincial permits. The company argued recently that Ontario is at-risk of becoming a place that business wants to stay away from.

Despite this, Sousa said getting the Ring of Fire going is a priority for the Liberal government. He said the $1 billion in last year’s budget for the project is proof.

“We’re working hard with the federal government to try and match that,” he said. “It’s not just critical for the communities in the North that $60 billion opportunity is good for Ontario and it’s good for Canada.”

A ‘doomed’ tailings dam and a system that ‘institutionalizes failure’ – by Vaughn Palmer (Vancouver Sun – January 31, 2015)

February 2, 2015

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

Report calls for systemic (and costly) change that will eliminate possibility of dam failures

VICTORIA — The tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine was “doomed to fail” and the remedies that could have prevented the reckoning were undertaken “too little and too late.”

Such was the depressing, persuasive conclusion of the trio of experts appointed to review last August’s breach of the dam — an environmental catastrophe that need not have happened at all.

The root cause of the failure, they determined, was literally at the root of the dam: an underlying deposit of glacial till that was never fully mapped nor properly understood. We only know about it now because of the forensic engineering work that was part of their review.

But if that were the whole story, their report would not be as troubling as it is. For authors Norbert Morgenstern, Dirk van Zyl and Steven Vick — all experts in engineering — painted a far from flattering portrait of the Mount Polley operation and the constant raising of the dam that preceded the breach.

“Dam-raising proceeded incrementally, one year at a time, driven by impoundment storage requirements for only the next year ahead,” they write. “More reactive than anticipatory, there was little in the way of long-term planning or execution.”

Sudbury’s ‘Sexy’ Byelection: David Robinson Profile [mining issues] – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – January 31, 2015)

February 2, 2015

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

Sudbury economist David Robinson says climate change was the deciding factor. The Laurentian University professor decided to throw his hat into the provincial byelection ring after considering the implications of carbon pollution and the inaction of the other parties.

“My family and I — like many millions of other Canadians — think cutting carbon pollution is essential. We don’t see action from the old-line parties on climate change,” he says.

He has harsh words for the Liberals, New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives. But ultimately, Robinson says duty compelled him to put forth his name.

“We see denial. We see cowardice. We see ignorance,” he contends. “We happened to have an economist in the family who has spent a lot of time studying the economics of carbon pricing. We decided it was a family duty to run our economist to help dispel the confusion and lies. We figured that I had earned some respect around the community over the last 15 years, so people might listen. At the very least the other candidates, who obviously don’t understand carbon pricing, might learn something in case they are elected.”

Robinson, who holds a PhD in economics from Queen’s University, is director of the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University.

Sudbury’s Hard Rock Medical returns – by Laura Stradiotto (Sudbury Star – February 1, 2015)

February 2, 2015

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

The medical drama series inspired by Sudbury’s own medical school is gearing up for its second season. Season 2 of the TVO series Hard Rock Medical premieres Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. with a special one-hour broadcast of two back-to-back episodes.

The critically acclaimed series, loosely inspired by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, follows eight medical students and the challenges they face practising rural medicine and living in the North. Filmed in Sudbury, it stars Northerners Jamie Spilchuk of North Bay and Stephane Paquette of Sudbury.

In Season 2, Spilchuk’s character, Cameron Cahill, receives divine inspiration when lightning strikes, while Paquette’s character, Charlie Riviere, struggles to support himself financially through school with a fourth child on the way

With a growing family and responsibilities, Charlie wonders whether he be able to continue medical school. “So ,I have to find alternative financial support,” Paquette said about his character.

Goldcorp’s Jeannes at Roundup 2015: Gold sector ‘on its way back to relevance’ (Northern Miner – January 28, 2015)

February 2, 2015

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

“I think in our business we’re really too insular. The reality is we have
a lot more people to convince in order to be given the broad social license
we need to continue to conduct our business. We have to operate in a way
that benefits more than just our shareholders.”
(CEO Goldcorp Chuck Jeannes – 2015 Vancouver Roundup)

VANCOUVER — When it comes to discussing gold markets there likely aren’t many people who can command as much attention as Goldcorp (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) president and CEO Chuck Jeannes. The company is positioned as the world’s biggest gold producer by market capitalization, and has been an industry leader when it comes to controlling operating costs and driving growth with a policy of strong capital discipline.

Goldcorp hit record production of 886,000 oz. gold during the fourth quarter, and produced 2.87 million oz. last year. The company brought two new mines into commercial production over the past six months — including the Cerro Negro operation in Argentina and Éléonore project in Quebec — and it is now positioned to generate free cash flow indefinitely, assuming a gold price of around US$1,200 per oz.

“Right now the multiples the market is affording our business is at a thirty-year low. When I say our shareholders have abandoned us I think that’s the biggest piece of proof. But that gives us great opportunity to improve moving forward, and I think you’ll see those multiples bounce back,” Jeannes comments.

Attention Premier Wynne: Turn Laurentian Into Global Harvard of Hardrock Mining – by Stan Sudol (January 30, 2015)

May 4, 2015January 30, 2015

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, mining columnist and owner/editor of www.republicofmining.com He can be reached at stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

This essay was also published in the Sudbury Star in two parts:

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/02/07/accent-laurentian-as-harvard-of-hardrock-mining-2

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/02/09/sudbury-needs-premier-needs-to-act-boldly

Sudbury Byelection

Laurentian University economics professor David Robinson, who is running for the Green Party in the current municipal by-election, has done a terrific job in highlighting mining issues and his plans to ensure that Sudbury continues to become Ontario’s centre of mining excellence.

It’s a refreshing policy approach that often gets overlooked by other politicians but in fairness to Glen Thibeault and even Premier Wynne, both have also mentioned – but not with the same passion as David Robinson – and promoted Sudbury’s mining sector.

However, as with many issues related to Premier Wynne and the mining sector – including the Ring of Fire – there seems to be more “political talk” and very “little solid walk”, actually dodging and spinning would be a better description of her government’s mining policy in general.

If Premier Wynne is truly serious about promoting and establishing Sudbury as a centre of mining excellence, than she must merge and relocate all of Ontario’s university mining programs to Laurentian and significantly expand and establish a “Global Harvard of Hardrock Mining” with a mandate to educate the next generation of miners in Canada and from around the world.

Reports of fisticuffs and blood after alleged spat at TD mining conference turns ugly – by Barry Critchley (National Post – January 29, 2015)

January 30, 2015

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

The old story has it that a visitor to Canada arrived eager to take in our national sport. Asked about it afterward, he remarked: “I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out.”

A visitor to TD Securities’ annual mining conference this week in Toronto, may have been mistaken had they thought they were at a fight – and not a mining conference.

The conference, held on Tuesday and Wednesday at Toronto’s Shangri-La Hotel, has been a regular TD event for the past few years. At the two-day session, presentations were made by about 60 issuing clients.

According to a post on the website IKN Daily Digest, which deals with “Latin America stocks, economics, politics and stuff like that,” it seems events got a little bit out of hand on Tuesday evening.

On IKN’s gossipy post Wednesday night, and under the heading “unconfirmed though decently sourced,” it alleged: “Clive Johnson, CEO of B2Gold (BTO.to) (BTG) and Daniel Earle, sell side analyst at TD Sec, got into a fistfight last night and according to reports picked up at IKN Nerve Centre, The Clive came off second best and today has a black eye and a pair of broken glasses for his troubles. Red wine was a third party in the fracas.”

B.C. report on Mount Polley results will decide Morrison mine’s fate – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – January 29, 2015)

January 30, 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.

VICTORIA — One of the little-known casualties of the Mount Polley mining disaster was a proposed new mine hundreds of kilometres away, its fate left in limbo since the tailings pond dam collapsed.

When the provincial government releases a report Friday on the cause of the massive breach at Mount Polley, it will be forced to reconsider its decision on the Morrison mine project.

In the fall of 2012, British Columbia refused to issue a certificate for the Morrison copper-gold mine, despite the fact a government report had concluded it would not result in significant adverse effects if mitigation measures were followed. It was a surprising decision from a pro-resource government that had systematically streamlined regulation and reduced oversight to encourage investment. Suddenly, the industry was questioning whether the ground rules for mining in British Columbia had changed.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge overturned the government’s decision in December, 2013, saying the province had failed to meet the requirements of procedural fairness. At the time of the original decision to reject the Morrison mine, then-environment minister Terry Lake explained that his government had applied new “risk versus benefit” criteria that the proponent, Pacific Booker Minerals Inc., failed to meet.

Russia’s biggest miner faces Arctic prices challenge – by Polina Devitt (Reuters India – January 30, 2015)

January 30, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

NORILSK, Russia – Reuters) – Russia’s financial crisis is posing a stark challenge to the country’s largest mining company. How can Norilsk Nickel protect the living standards of thousands of workers cut off inside the inhospitable Arctic while also satisfying its shareholders?

The slump in the ruble and a resulting rise in inflation could have an outsize effect in Norilsk, a town 300 km inside the Arctic Circle where more than a quarter of the 220,000 population work for the company, and it’s hard to shop around.

Winter temperatures in Norilsk plunge to levels that visitors can find distinctly uncomfortable, but for the isolated workers who live there any hint of a rise in the cost of living is equally unwelcome.

With the rouble down 50 percent against the dollar since early last year and Russian food inflation above 15 percent, it falls partly to the company to bear the cost of holding down prices in the grimy industrial city where it is based.

Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium, owns a loss-making chain of seven shops called “Sunflower”, which have sold staples such as milk and bread more cheaply than other stores in the city since 2011.

The company also helps other retailers bring food supplies to the city and subsidizes their transport costs. It increased its workers’ salaries on Jan. 1 and plans another review on April 1, said Vladimir Potanin, chief executive and co-owner.