Republic of Mining

Interview with a Quaternary Geoscientist – by Samantha Bajc and Daniel Watchorn (Ring of Fire Blog – November 11, 2014)

November 12, 2014

http://ring-of-fire222.blogspot.ca/

We interviewed Dr. Andrew Bajc, a Quaternary Geoscientist from Sudbury, Ontario on issues regarding the Ring of Fire. In his occupation he studies the deposits and landforms left by the glaciers over the last few hundred thousand years in Ontario.

What is your involvement in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire?

I work for the Ontario Geological Survey, a branch of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. Our branch undertakes geoscience projects in the Ring of Fire area to help understand the geology and setting of mineralization in the region. We also do baseline geochemical studies to obtain a picture of the environmental conditions of the region prior to development. This is important should there be impacts on the landscape and drainage systems from the mining operations. We also map the surficial geology of the region to provide information required for infrastructure development. Knowing the location of aggregate resources for road building, clay for tailings ponds as well as determining optimal routes for road construction is critical to the success of this project.

What do you believe is the biggest factor slowing the development of the mining operation?

First Nations issues and infrastructure development. Need all season access to the site to construct infrastructure and transport people and ore out from the deposit area. An all season road is required. Also need full buy in from First Nations. Revenue sharing and employment of first nations peoples needs to be negotiated.

Underground entrepreneurs: Red Lake miners now members of small business cells operating with more autonomy – by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco (CIM Magazine – November 2014)

November 12, 2014

https://www.cim.org/en.aspx

Last fall Goldcorp’s Red Lake mine was organized conventionally, with teams reporting to supervisors who in turn reported to a general foreman. With a wicket system in place, employees arriving for their shift lined up to receive their assignment from their supervisor for the day, taking them to different parts of the mine. It was a hierarchical approach that managers had determined was less than ideal.

To build the foundation for a more employee-driven organization, Red Lake management chose to reorganize operations into 14 different cells – or business units – each comprising between 10 and 15 members. Each cell is assigned dedicated resources that include equipment, labour and support of organizational structures. And each one handles its own accounting and metrics.

“Essentially, we set up each cell to act as an independent small business,” says Bob MacDonald, operations manager at Red Lake. “Collectively, we get to learn from the best practices of each unit, and independently, each unit is best equipped to deal with its own unique operating conditions. It’s a win-win.”

The planning process for the new organizational structure took three months, carried out by a team made up of a general foreman and a technical services representative as well as Trevor Krawchyk, Goldcorp’s operations excellence manager. They also worked closely with daily supervisor and technical teams to revise and fine-tune every aspect of the plan.

Nickel’s Waning Price Boom Leaves BHP With Unwanted Mines – by David Stringer (November 12, 2014)

November 12, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The failure to find a buyer for its Australian nickel business has left BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) with unwanted smelters and pits after the collapse of a price boom.

The metal reached a two-year high on May 13, a day before the world’s biggest miner outlined a plan to sell all or part of the unit. Since then, the price has declined 27 percent. Nickel West, which includes mines, concentrators, the Kalgoorlie smelter and Kwinana refinery, didn’t attract a suitable bid, the company said today in a statement.

While Glencore Plc (GLEN) Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg said earlier his company planned to examine Nickel West and would be “kicking its tires,” no acceptable offers were made, BHP said.

The biggest miners have found some units more difficult to divest as they trim portfolios amid lower commodity prices. Rio Tinto Group (RIO), the second-largest, halted work last year to try and sell its diamond unit after failing to find a buyer.

BHP said the nickel unit will remain within the company’s main portfolio, after CEO Andrew Mackenzie signaled it wouldn’t be included in a planned spinoff next year of smaller assets. The division doesn’t fit with either BHP’s core businesses, or operations, which will form the proposed new company, he said in August.

As China demand slows, Indian iron ore imports surge to record – by Manolo Serapio Jr (Reuters India – November 11, 2014)

November 12, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE, Nov 11 (Reuters) – India’s iron ore imports jumped to a record 5 million tonnes in April-October, industry data showed, as a deepening shortage at home forces steelmakers to turn overseas for the raw material.

Gathering momentum in Indian imports should absorb some of the global surplus of iron ore and help stabilise prices that have been hammered by slowing demand from top buyer China.

But analysts warned that shipments to India, a country that holds vast reserves of iron ore and which was once the world’s No. 3 supplier, would not wholly make up for the drop in Chinese appetite or fuel a sharp rebound in global prices from their lowest since 2009.

India imported 5.06 million tonnes of iron ore in the first seven months of the fiscal year ending in October, according to data emailed to Reuters by industry consultancy SteelMint. The firm tracked shipments from 17 major ports.

Data collected separately by consultancy OreTeam puts April-October imports at 4.9 million tonnes. Official government data only covers April-August, with imports totalling 2 million tonnes.

Mining curbs due to court action against illegal mining have constricted iron ore supply in India.

No strong U.S. mining policy trends evident in 2014 General Election – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 10, 2014)

November 12, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Perhaps, the Election vote demonstrates a lack of confidence among Alaska voters regarding the viability of the Pebble Project.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Across the United States, voters not only generated a Republican tsunami which solidified GOP control of both houses of the U.S. Congress, but cast their votes on 146 ballot issues last Tuesday, including two-mining specific initiatives in Alaska and Nevada.

“The results of the 2014 midterm election highlight opportunities for advancing important issues for the next election cycle—even if elected officials are unable or unwilling to act,” said the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

So, what lurked in the hearts and minds of U.S. voters when it came to mining-related ballot issues in the 2014 campaign?

This reporter, among many other voters, expected that Nevada voters would overwhelmingly vote in favor of State Question No. 2, which would have amended the Nevada Constitution to remove the cap on the taxations of minerals and other requirements relating to the taxation of mines, mining claims and minerals.

For an election campaign teeming with all kinds of political ads revolving around Nevada candidates and ballot issues, the lack of any advertising related to the measure was astounding.

LBMA-Shaken gold bulls learn to accept ‘new normal’ – by Clara Denina (Reuters U.S. – November 11, 2014)

November 12, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

LIMA – Nov 11 (Reuters) – Blinking from sweeping reform on price benchmarks, even the most die-hard gold enthusiasts accepted the market’s glory days had faded for now, as the bullion industry’s annual conference agreed prices would nurse losses over the next year.

Gold, which hit a four-year low of $1,131.85 an ounce last week, was expected to stabilise around $1,200 an ounce by October 2015, some of the 400 delegates at the London Bullion Market Association annual conference in Lima, Peru, forecast.

Spot gold has shed around five percent this year, in the wake of last year’s 28-percent tumble that halted a 12-year rally. It is currently trading at around $1,170.

“The question is not anymore whether gold prices can rise, but how long they will languish at current levels,” one banking delegate said.

Dollar strength, boosted by the end of the Federal Reserve’s monthly bond purchase program, confidence in the U.S. economy and expectations that interest rates will be raised, are seen dictating the metal’s trajectory in coming months.

“The most savvy investors have already moved away from gold at this point, there is not much interest,” Bank of Scotia-Mocatta managing director Sunil Kashyap said.

NEWS RELEASE: Labec-century-awarded-the-2014-explorer-of-the-year-award-cim-newfoundland-branch

November 12, 2014

TORONTO, CANADA–(Marketwired – Nov. 10, 2014) – Century Iron Mines Corporation (“Century” or the “Company”) (TSX:FER) is pleased to announce that its 60% owned joint venture, Labec Century Iron Ore Inc. (“Labec Century”), received the “2014 Explorer of the Year Award” from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”) – Newfoundland Branch at its annual awards banquet in St. John’s on November 8, 2014.

The award recognizes the significant advancements in iron ore resource development and exploration at the Joyce Lake DSO (“Direct Shipping Ore”) deposit, which is 100% owned by Labec Century and located in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Receiving this award is a great honour. Labec Century is proud to have discovered the Joyce Lake DSO deposit from early stage prospecting in a previously unknown DSO area in the Labrador Trough. It means a lot to us, coming from this prestigious professional association, and we are truly grateful for this recognition,” said Sandy Chim, Chairman of Labec Century and President and CEO of the Company.

The Joyce Lake project is the first DSO discovery in the area in three decades. Century and Labec Century together have invested almost eight years of work and approximately $30 million to bring the project to its current advanced stage of feasibility and environmental studies, which are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015.

Micro-mining builds sustainability into extraction processes – by E. Hinton and K. Palmer (CIM Magazine – August 2007)

November 12, 2014

https://www.cim.org/en.aspx

While this article is somewhat dated, the subject is strategically relevant for First Nations communities. – Stan Sudol, Editor/Owner RepublicOfMining.com

In many parts of the world, communities are taking a “just say no” approach to the usual boom-and-bust style of mining. Rather than accepting a large influx of outside people, who may bring with them economic disruption and social problems, they are looking for a more sustainable future.

Resistance to traditional mining is made more acute as governments increasingly feel obligated to listen to their peoples’ wishes and heed them. Some of this is due to the growing power of non-governmental organizations, which can quickly mount Internet-savvy publicity campaigns that reach into mining companies’ boardrooms, to object to developments that local people are resisting. Some of it is also due to the growing influence of the Equator Principles, under which lending institutions refuse to provide financing for projects that do not pass accepted sustainability thresholds.

Do the words “mining” and “sustainable” fit together?

They can, through what we can call “micro-mining.” This involves a search for small, concentrated deposits that can be extracted at relatively low cost. This keeps the financial commitment relatively small. Aside from some startup capital, financing stays organic, through earned revenues. This means living within the means of the deposit. The workforce is largely local, backed by sufficient outside expertise.

Nickel West bids fail to find magic number – by Nick Evans (The West Australian – November 12, 2014)

November 11, 2014

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/

BHP Billiton has shelved the $800 million sale of Nickel West after bids for the struggling unit failed to meet its price expectations.

It remains unclear what the mining giant now plans to do with a business that employs about 1800 people across its mines, concentrators, nickel smelter and refinery.

BHP would not comment yesterday. Chief executive Andrew Mac- kenzie has made clear he does not want to keep the unit, which is part of the proposed NewCo spin-off that will house second-tier assets, including Worsley alumina.

Mr Mackenzie said three months ago that Nickel West was “neither a good fit with BHP Billiton nor with NewCo” and the best outcome was for it to be owned by an operator “much more committed to the nickel business”.

Industry sources said no final bids received over the past fortnight came close to the $500 million to $800 million valuation BHP is said to have initially put on Nickel West.

The failure of suitors to see sufficient value in the business came despite talk that BHP had dramatically revised its price expectations as the sales process dragged on.

Book review: John Grisham’s ‘Gray Mountain’ is a searing look at Big Coal – by Patrick Anderson (Washington Post – October 19, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

At the start of “Gray Mountain,” John Grisham’s angry and important new novel, Samantha Kofer — age 29, Washington native, graduate of Georgetown and Columbia Law — is a third-year associate at a huge New York law firm. She works 100 hours a week, doing boring chores that she hates, but she’s earning $180,000 a year and expects to be a $2 million-a-year partner by age 35.

Or she did expect that, until September 2008, when the economy tanked and panicked law firms began ridding themselves of associates and partners. We meet Samantha at the moment — “day ten after the fall of Lehman Brothers” — when the ax falls for her, with only one consolation offered. If laid-off associates will agree to intern with a nonprofit agency, they can keep their health benefits and will be considered for rehiring if prosperity returns. Thus it is that Samantha finds herself at the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic in tiny Brady, Va., in the heart of Appalachia.

That opening scene, wherein a world of privilege abruptly vanishes for astonished young people who have known only success, is startling, but no more than Grisham’s portrait of the world of poverty and injustice that Samantha soon enters. The author does justice to the physical beauty of Appalachia and to the decency of most of its people, but his real subject is the suffering inflicted on those people by mining companies and politicians who pander to them.

Samantha’s new boss, Mattie Wyatt, has kept the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic alive for 26 years. The first case she assigns to Samantha is that of a woman who needs protection from a husband who deals in crystal meth and beats her.

China commodity imports don’t fit soft economic narrative – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – November 10, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia – (Reuters) – It’s becoming increasingly hard to make Chinese commodity import data fit with the prevailing narrative of a softening in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Trade figures released Nov. 8 showed ongoing strength across a broad spectrum of commodity imports, with the only consistent weak spot this year being coal.

October iron ore imports may have slipped 6.3 percent from the previous month’s high to 79.39 million tonnes, but they are still up 16.5 percent in the first 10 months of the year over the same period in 2013, on track for the strongest annual growth since 2009.

Unwrought copper imports gained 2.6 percent from September, and are 9.3 percent up in the first 10 months of 2014, while imports of copper ores and concentrates have jumped 17.2 percent so far this year.

Crude oil showed a 15.5 percent decline on a barrels per day (bpd) basis from September, dropping to 5.67 million bpd in October, but total imports have gained 9.2 percent in the first 10 months of the year over the same period in 2013.

Only coal looks as anemic as many commentators suggest the overall Chinese economy is, with imports dropping 4.9 percent in October from September, taking the year-to-date decline to 7.7 percent.

Canadian platinum firms unbowed by South African labour unrest – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – November 11, 2014)

November 11, 2014

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 — Even as one Canadian mining company is abandoning South Africa’s troubled platinum sector, two other Canadian miners are plunging ahead with ambitious plans here.

Vancouver-based Eastern Platinum Ltd. announced the sale of its South African assets to a little-known Chinese company for $225-million (U.S.) in cash, provoking surprise and skepticism from some analysts.

Last year, the company suspended its Crocodile River platinum project in South Africa because of what it called a “perfect storm” of labour unrest, rising costs and stagnant markets.

Eastplats announced on Friday that it is selling Crocodile River and all of its other South African assets to Hebei Zhongbo Platinum, a company that seems almost unknown. The Chinese company “has never been mentioned in the press or online (as far as we can tell) prior to this announcement,” said an analyst’s report from Raymond James Ltd. on Monday.

Chinese companies have been dramatically raising their stakes in South Africa’s platinum sector with several acquisitions as other companies give up.

Trace Matrix Bribery Index: Canada 2nd-Least Corrupt Country In The World – by Daniel Tencer (Huffington Post – November 11, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/business/

http://www.traceinternational.org/trace-matrix/

Canada is the second-least corruption-prone country in the world, with only Ireland having a lower risk of bribery, according to a new index measuring business corruption.

The study comes as business groups across the country pressure the federal government into rescinding strict new rules that would ban companies convicted of bribery and other corrupt acts from winning government contracts.

The first edition of the TRACE Matrix, developed by the anti-bribery non-profit TRACE International and the RAND Corporation, names Nigeria as the country with the highest risk of bribery. It scored 97 out of 100; Canada scored 22, with Ireland coming in at 20 (the higher the score, the higher the risk of bribery).

The index looks at four broad areas: businesses’ interactions with government; anti-bribery laws and enforcement; government transparency; and and capacity for civil oversight, including media. But Canada being named one of the least corrupt countries is not the same thing as Canadian business being declared to be corruption-free.

Many Canadian companies that operate abroad have been accused of bribery and other forms of corruption. Since 1999, these companies have been subject to the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, which makes it a crime in Canada for a business to bribe officials in other countries, provided some part of the corruption involves Canada.

New tech-dependent nations desperate for non-Chinese REE sources – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 11, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

In recent years, Chinese production has accounted for about 95% of the REE global market.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The U.S. Geological Survey has released a report, which supports scientific research to determine where undiscovered/undeveloped resources of rare-earth elements may occur, as well as trends in the supply and demand of rare-earth elements domestically and internationally.

Because of the many important uses of REEs, nations dependent on new technologies, such as Japan, the United States and members of the European Union, which now must rely on Chinese REE exports, are encouraging discoveries of economic REE deposits and bringing them into production, says the Geological Survey.

“Most REEs are not as rare as the group’s name suggests,” says the new report, The Rare Earth Elements—Vital to Modern Technologies and Lifestyles. “Cerium is the most abundant REE, and is more common in the Earth’s crust than copper or lead.”

“All of the REEs, except promethium, are more abundant on average in the Earth’s crust than silver, gold, or platinum. However, concentrated and economically minable deposits of REEs are unusual,” according to the Geological Survey.

In China, Candu Energy sees promising future – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – November 10, 2014)

November 11, 2014

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.

BEIJING — Jean Chrétien was in a good mood when he came to Shanghai in late 1996 to sell two Candu reactors. He kidded around with Li Peng, the then-Chinese premier, going so far as to try to place a red pompon on the head of the famously dour leader.

Mr. Chrétien promised a future filled with more multibillion-dollar sales of Canadian nuclear technology to China. “I hope we will have many more Candus built in this great country of yours,” he said then.

For the nearly two decades that followed, that optimism bore no fruit.

Now, however, Candu Energy – divorced from the federal government and in the hands of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. – says it is working toward a deal that could see it partner with a Chinese nuclear giant to build new reactors, both in China and abroad.

By June, 2015, Candu hopes to finalize a joint-venture deal with China National Nuclear Corp., the massive state-owned atomic power and weapons company, “to develop global opportunities” for its advanced fuel reactor. The two sides signed an initial broad-strokes memorandum of understanding during the visit of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Beijing this weekend.