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What does Modi’s victory mean for gold in India? – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – May 16, 2014)

http://www.mineweb.com/

While Narendra Modi may be pro-gold in principle, there are doubts whether there will be any quick major gold policy changes following his BJP party’s Indian election victory.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – As I write it has become apparent that Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party has won the Indian election with what in Indian terms looks like being a landslide victory. The ruling Congress party has conceded defeat. The only unknown as I write is whether the BJP will have won enough seats in India’s parliament to rule on its own without the support of its potential coalition partners or not.

It is widely believed that Modi is favourably inclined towards gold and one suspects the very big Indian gold fabrication and trading sector will have voted en masse for the BJP in the hope that the import restrictions on gold will be eased at the very least.

This will have followed on in particular from Modi’s address at a Bombay Bullion Association meeting last October where he expressed sympathy for the plight of the Indian gold sector and poured scorn on the then government’s gold policies to try and reduce the country’s balance of payments problems. However it should be recognised that Modi is an astute politician and he would have been in full pre-election mode addressing a sector with a potentially significant electoral impact given India’s love affair with gold.

He did say at the beginning of his address that he personally had little connection with gold but did comment: “We have not seen gold just as money, it is related with all aspects of our social life.

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Nickel’s Roller-Coaster Tumble Seen Extending to Goldman (2) – by Maria Kolesnikova and Luzi Ann Javier (Bloomberg News – May 15, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/

Nickel’s roller-coaster ride this year isn’t over, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which expects the highest prices in two years to prompt expanded capacity for smelting and discourage purchases by steelmakers.

Prices plunged 11 percent the previous two days, and probably will fall 15 percent further in 12 months to $16,000 a metric ton, Goldman forecasts. Nickel had surged this year following a January ban on ore exports by Indonesia, the world’s largest supplier from mines, and as threats increased for economic sanctions against Russia, home to OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the biggest producer of refined metal.

Instead, exchange-tracked inventories rose, prompting some investors to judge the rally was exaggerated. China will “aggressively” build blast-furnace capacity in Indonesia to produce nickel pig iron, a low-grade alternative to refined metal, Goldman said in a report dated May 14 and e-mailed yesterday. Waning demand for the metal from makers of stainless steel is another “downside risk” for prices, the bank said.

“High prices will incentivize a substantial build out of blast furnace and other smelting capacity in Indonesia,” Goldman analysts Roger Yuan, Max Layton and Jeffrey Currie wrote in the report. “Demand destruction could also help to balance the global market in 2015 if the ban is not relaxed during the smelter construction period.”

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Ivanhoe studying break-up as large mining projects face funding crunch – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 15, 2014)

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

Less than two years after he took Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. public, Robert Friedland is already looking at ways to break it up.

Vancouver-based Ivanhoe revealed on Thursday it is studying a number of “potentially significant corporate and project-level options.” Those include splitting the company’s projects into separate publicly-traded entities, asset sales, joint ventures, and alternative stock exchange listings.

All options need to be looked at, because Mr. Friedland’s company is short of cash and has three very large projects to develop.

While Ivanhoe (formerly Ivanplats) exited the first quarter with US$170.2-million of cash and short-term deposits, it has committed US$146.7-million for the Platreef project in South Africa. That leaves very little capital for Kamoa and Kipushi, Ivanhoe’s two vast deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Ivanhoe wants to begin developing a mine-access decline at Kamoa this year, and also conduct an underground drilling program at Kipushi. But it warned it does not have enough money to do this work unless it can raise more by the end of June.

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Nickel, aluminium show signs of revival – by Peter Ker (Sydney Morning Herald – May 16, 2014)

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

They’ve been the dregs at the bottom of the diversified miners’ bottle for years, but nickel and aluminium are starting to show signs of life.

The two commodities have been bywords for poor performance over recent years, having dealt financial losses and multi-billion dollar impairments on their hapless owners at the big end of the mining industry.

But evolving attitudes in the developing world seem to be changing the rules of engagement in both industries, and tempting investors to think again. The nickel resurgence is more advanced and better understood.

Prices for the metal – used to create stainless steel – soared 56 per cent after January 10 when the Indonesian government placed a ban on certain raw metal exports.

The decision was designed to create jobs by forcing exporters to build processing plants on Indonesian soil, rather than exporting their raw ores overseas. As the world’s biggest nickel exporter, Indonesia’s removal from global trade has led to expectations of a shortage and price rises.

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Nickel price to reach huge highs, says mining exec – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 16, 2014)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. 

The price of nickel could reach highs previously seen in 2007, said Mark Selby, president and CEO of Royal Nickel, at a Canadian Institute of Mining event in Sudbury, May 15. Selby expects nickel prices to $15 to $20 per pound by mid-2015.

The reason is Indonesia’s decision to cease nickel exports indefinitely. The Asian country contains 25 per cent of the world’s nickel supply.

“To give you an idea of just how much that is, in the oil business that would be the equivalent of waking up Monday morning and finding out that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and all of the other Gulf states decided not to produce oil anymore,” Selby said.

The country has stopped exporting the metal to build the ore processing infrastructure needed to create more value from its nickel. In 2009, when the Indonesian Parliament first discussed ceasing copper and nickel exports, nickel left the country with only 10 to 15 per cent of its end value.

“There’s a massive amount of value to be captured by building these plants in the country,” Selby said. In January 2014, just before Indonesia halted nickel exports, the metal sold for around $6 a pound. In mid-May, nickel prices were as high as $9.50 a pound.

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Narendra Modi’s manufacturing push cheers steel makers – by Krishna N Das (Reuters India – May 9, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI – (Reuters) – When prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi asked at an election rally if anyone knew of a country that exported wheat but imported bread, steelmakers joined his followers to cheer.

For steel executives, it was just what they wanted to hear: their calls to restrict exports of iron ore further will be met if Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the election.

While the move would mean a captive supply of iron ore for steelmakers, it would further dim the prospect of Indian iron ore returning in a big way to the world market. A steep drop in Indian shipments in the past two years has given Australia and Brazilian miners a bigger share of top market China.

“The government in Delhi is such that it exports iron ore but imports steel,” Modi said at the rally in the steel city of Jamshedpur last month. “If you run your business like this, how will the country’s steel industry survive?”

One of Modi’s main election planks is to crank up manufacturing to create millions of jobs by focusing on exporting steel, not iron ore; textiles not cotton. Results of the five-week election are due on May 16.

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Public-private partnership needed to develop Ring of Fire: Hudak – by Maria Babbage (Canadian Press/CTV News – May 15, 2014)

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

LONDON, Ont. — A Progressive Conservative government would develop the mineral-rich Ring of Fire in northern Ontario through a public-private partnership scheme if elected on June 12, Tory Leader Tim Hudak said Wednesday.

He’d bring the federal government to the table along with mining companies, but didn’t say if he’d ask Ottawa for money to build a much-needed transportation route to the remote area.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper, saying he’s not coming to the table with a billion dollars to build the route. She’s also tried to paint Hudak as a weak leader who won’t stand up to his federal cousins to get it built.

Federal cash isn’t the real problem, Hudak said. The governing Liberals have “dithered and delayed” instead of coming up with a plan to develop the massive chromite deposit.

“They’ve neglected the north,” he said from an electronics store in London, Ont. “They’ve let that incredible investment fade away.” The Tories estimate the project could create 4,400 jobs over eight years in the hard-hit region.

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SA is committing economic suicide with platinum strike – by Mike Schüssler (Mineweb.com – May 15, 2014)

http://www.mineweb.com/

A shocking 1.4 million people stand to be affected in some way by the ongoing platinum strike in Rustenburg, now in its 16th week.

JOHANNESBURG – A shocking 1.4 million people stand to be affected in some way by the ongoing platinum strike in Rustenburg, now in its 16th week.

According to the Department of Mineral Resources the mineral economy makes up 9% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The sector also employs 525 000 people and a further 841 000 are employed in sub sectors supplying goods and services to the industry.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) make up nearly a quarter of mining production and is the largest sub-sector in mining. The latest statistics suggest that this subsector employs 196 000 people and highlights that PGMs is probably the most important in the mining sector, as it relies more on labour intensive methods than mechanisation.

However the 70 000 workers on strike have affected many more people. Firstly the mines involved employ 125 000 workers in the sector (including contractors) which is nearly 64% of all those working in the platinum industry.

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Turkey in mourning (Northern Miner Editorial – May 14, 2014)

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

Outside of the all-too regular horrors of China’s underground mines, the coal mine explosion on May 13 at Soma, 250 km south of Istanbul in western Turkey, is the worst mine disaster in recent memory.

The death toll stood at 274 and counting at press time, with some 450 miners having been rescued and many dozens still missing. The workings — which extend at least 420 metres — were still being vented of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and fires were still burning. The Turkish government has declared three days of national mourning.

The Soma disaster has beaten Turkey’s previous worst mining disaster: a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Initial reports out of Soma have authorities saying that the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a faulty power distribution unit, and the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of the explosion, and many were injured. A shift change was occurring at the time, so a maximum number of workers were underground.

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The Astonishing Nickel Eating Plant That Could Radically Change Mining – by Tim Worstall (Forbes Magazine – May 13, 2014)

http://www.forbes.com/

There’s been a discovery of a new species of “metal-munching” plant that has the possibility of radically changing how we go about mining for metals. Or at least, how we go about mining for certain metals. We’ve long known that certain plants concentrate certain metals in their tissues: for example, that coal has elevated levels of germanium in it is simply the result of the fact that those plant tissues the coal was made from contained Ge. But this latest finding concentrates metals, in this case nickel, to such an extent that it could radically change the way that we go mining for certain metals.

A report is here and this is the most amazing line:

“Professor Fernando said that the Rinorea niccolifera’s leaves can take in up to 18,000 parts per million of nickel. This is a thousand times more than what any other known plant species can safely absorb.”

It’s that thousand times which is the astonishing part. And it’s so astonishing that it completely changes the economics of the matter.

18,000 ppm is also known as 1.8%. So, for one tonne of the leaves of this plant we would have 18 kilogrammes of nickel contained. Well, OK, we would if it had been growing on highly nickel contaminated soil.

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Regulators Couldn’t Close U.S. Mine Despite Poor Safety Record – by HOWARD BERKES & ANNA BOIKO-WEYRAUCH (Texas Public Radio – May 14, 2014)

http://tpr.org/

The West Virginia mine where two workers were fatally injured on Monday consistently violated federal mine safety laws, but federal regulators say they were unable to shut it down completely.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration confirmed that two workers were killed on May 12 when coal and rocks burst from mine walls at Patriot Coal’s Brody No. 1 mine in Boone County, W.Va.

MSHA says one victim was operating a mining machine and the other was drilling bolts into the roof of the mine, a process that prevents rockfalls. But MSHA and Patriot both say the miners were engaged in “retreat mining” at the time, a dangerous practice that involves cutting the coal pillars that hold up the mine roof, yielding the last loads of coal after a coal seam has been fully mined.

Federal data reviewed and analyzed by NPR show serious safety problems at the mine going back to 2007. The threat to miners was so serious and persistent that MSHA responded with one of its toughest enforcement actions. In October of last year, the Brody mine was designated a “pattern violator” and received extra regulatory scrutiny.

Patriot objected, blaming the troubled safety record and pattern of violations on a previous owner. NPR’s review of data from MSHA reveals serious safety issues under Patriot management that put miners at risk of injury or death.

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Canadian Star Minerals suing province for not consulting Shoal Lake 39 and 40 ahead of its project – by Alan S. Hale (Kenora Daily Miner and News – May 14, 2014)

http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/

Canadian Star Minerals Ltd. is suing the provincial government for $152 million in damages because it believes Ontario failed in its obligation to perform the consultation with the Shoal Lake 39 and 40 First Nations.

According to court documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court on May 8, the mining company was attempting to explore a claim for gold deposits inside the traditional territory of the Shoal Lake First Nations after acquiring the necessary rights and mining leases to do so from the government in October of 2009. The company alleges representatives from Shoal Lake 39 arrived at the site and forced its drilling crews to leave.

“Canadian Star Minerals were subjected to having rocks thrown at them while they were on Canadian Star Mineral’s properties and having threats of physical harm being directed at them. Despite the fact the Crown and the OPP were advised of these events, no action was taken,” the claim states.

According to Shoal Lake 39’s recently-elected chief Fawn Wapioke, the company was told to leave the mining site because the province had given the company permission to dig in a culturally sensitive area of its territory without consulting and getting permission from the community.

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Historic silver price ‘fix’ coming to an end after 117 years – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 15, 2014)

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

The silver market is poised to undergo a major shake-up, as the ancient method of setting a benchmark price is coming to an end.

Since 1897, the London “silver fix” has been negotiated each trading day at noon through an auction between bullion dealers. Remarkably, the process has endured despite all the evolutions in trading since then. Similar daily fixings continue to be set for gold, platinum, and palladium.

The silver fix is now dying because the banks that set the price don’t want to do it anymore, and no one else is rushing forward to take their place.

Last month, Deutsche Bank said it planned to give up its seats on the silver and gold fixes as it scaled back its commodity business. That left only two banks to determine the silver fix: Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC. Now all of the parties have decided to withdraw, meaning the last fixing will take place on Aug. 14. All three banks will stay on until then.

The decision to end the silver fixing comes as regulators put more scrutiny on the fixing process amid concerns that it could be manipulated. That follows a scandal in 2012 over the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor).

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UPDATE 2-Mass funerals, mounting anger as Turkey mourns mine workers – by Ece Toksabay (Reuters India – May 15, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

SOMA, Turkey, May 15 (Reuters) – Loudspeakers broadcast the names of the dead and excavators dug mass graves in this close-knit Turkish mining town on Thursday, while protesters gathered in major cities as grief turned to anger following the country’s deadliest industrial disaster.

Rescuers were still trying to reach parts of the coal mine in Soma, 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul, almost 48 hours after fire knocked out power and shut down the ventilation shafts and elevators, trapping hundreds underground.

At least 282 people have been confirmed dead, mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning, and hopes are fading of pulling out any more alive of the 100 or so still thought to be inside.

Anger has swept a country that has boasted a decade of rapid economic growth under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government but which still suffers from one of the world’s worst workplace safety standards.

Furious residents heckled Erdogan and jostled his entourage on Wednesday as he toured the town, angry at what they see as the government’s cosiness with mining tycoons, its failure to ensure safety and a lack of information on the rescue effort.

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NEWS RELEASE: Supreme Court hears Grassy Narrows’ legal case for Treaty rights and against clearcut logging

Ontario’s new plan for clearcut logging at Grassy Narrows looms

Ottawa – May 15, 2014  – Today the Supreme Court of Canada will hear Grassy Narrows’ legal case for treaty rights and against clearcut logging. The case challenges Ontario’s jurisdiction to unilaterally award logging and mining licenses on a vast tract of Treaty 3 lands north of the English River (the Keewatin Lands). The case, called Keewatin v. MNR, has been winding its way through the courts for fourteen years.

In Treaty 3, signed in 1873, Canada promised to respect the right of the Ojibway to hunt and fish in their territory.

However, Ontario continues to plan for clearcut logging throughout Grassy Narrows’ Territory that will seriously limit Grassy Narrows’ rights, and has finalized a new 10 year Forest Management Plan for Grassy Narrows’ Territory that includes numerous large clearcuts permitted by Ontario against Grassy Narrows’ will. The new plan was scheduled to take effect in April 2014, but has been delayed due to a request for environmental assessment and widespread opposition including by grassroots Grassy Narrows youth and Ontario Regional Chief Beardy.

“We hope the Supreme Court will agree that the original intent of our Treaty with Canada must be upheld to protect our way of life,” said Chief Roger Fobister Sr. of Grassy Narrows.

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