Republic of Mining

Sherritt poised to fend off dissident George Armoyan at annual meeting – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 6, 2014)

May 6, 2014

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

TORONTO – Sherritt International Corp. is poised to win its proxy fight against dissident shareholder George Armoyan, but the battle ensures the miner will be under pressure to deliver in the months ahead.

Sherritt is likely to receive enough votes for a victory at its annual meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, according to people close to the situation. Even Mr. Armoyan acknowledged he is in a tough fight. The chief executive of Clarke Inc. wants to replace three members of the board with himself and two handpicked nominees.

“It is what it is,” he said in an interview. “Life goes on. You give it your best shot and go on to the next thing.”

Mr. Armoyan is frustrated over some of Sherritt’s tactics, and thinks the company spent way too much money fighting him off. He is also very upset by the decision of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) to back Sherritt’s incumbent board, as he believes the proxy advisory firm did not give his arguments a close enough look.

“They never spoke to me. It looks like they had their mind made up,” he said. There is always a chance of a last-minute settlement before or during the annual meeting, but both Sherritt and Mr. Armoyan said that such a deal is unlikely. There were numerous attempts at a settlement early in the dispute, but the mud-slinging from both sides has gotten worse since then.

UPDATE 2-S.Africa’s Harmony Gold scales back Papua-New Guinea project – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters India – May 6, 2014)

May 6, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, May 5 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Harmony Gold has scaled back the size and expenditure on building its Papua New Guinea Wafi-Golpu mine, enabling it to raise funding for the project, its chief executive said.

The gold and copper project, a joint venture with Newcrest Mining, sits on deposits with a metal content estimated to be worth $85 billion at current prices. The plans unveiled in 2012 called for spending of almost $6 billion to develop it.

The mining firm is now looking at a “significantly lower capex, something that will be well within our reach to fund”, CEO Graham Briggs told Reuters on Tuesday, after Harmony released its results for the March quarter.

“August is the time when we will be able to release more information on that,” he added. Harmony has scaled back its original plans as mining investors globally have shied away from big capital expenditures on projects in the face of rising costs and falling prices.

“The timing of big builds and the raising of that sort of money, and debt levels and shareholder views changed our minds, and now we are talking about a significantly smaller mine,” Briggs said.

Conflict Will Be The Norm If Mining Company Ignores Our Concerns – by Annita McPhee (Huffington Post – May 5, 2014)

May 6, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Annita McPhee is the President of the Tahltan Central Council.

In a pristine corner of northwestern B.C. called the Klappan, a drama is unfolding that might seriously compromise the relationship between First Nations and the booming natural resource sector in B.C.

The 4,000 square-kilometre region southeast of Iskut is called the Sacred Headwaters by Tahltan people because it is the source of three wild salmon rivers — the Skeena, Nass and Stikine — and because it has been full of life for thousands of years. Tahltan people consider the Klappan to be Earth’s birthplace and it’s a well-travelled, traditional hunting ground that carries significant cultural, spiritual and social values for the Tahltan Nation.

Our territory is also rich in mineral and energy resources and that has led to both success stories and conflict as the province and private companies have sought to exploit the natural resources of our territory.

Our people support responsible development that protects the environment and respects Tahltan rights and traditional uses. Companies that understand this, and that commit to working with us in deciding how to use the resources of our territory, have thrived.

First Nations mining and mineral strategies critical for engagement – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – May 5, 2014)

May 6, 2014

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Engagement and consultation between mining and exploration companies and the First Nations is one of the most pressing issues for the Canadian sector today.

Get it right and a project will move forward more smoothly and with the additional benefit of robust support from aboriginal communities keen to assist in the success; get it wrong and a legal quagmire will almost certainly lay ahead, with project development hindered or even halted. The damage done to the corporate image can also be both lasting and deep.

KEEP TALKING

Some aboriginal communities inherently distrust the industry, pointing to some of the sector’s previous transgressions, while others may simply want to keep their territory free from any development whatsoever.

“Many aboriginal peoples like the remoteness of their communities,” Manitoba East Side Road Authority aboriginal economic development manager Norma Spence told Mining Weekly Online. “A lot of communities have had such bad experiences with the industry in the past that it’s hard for them to believe that nothing bad will happen to their lands.”

[Ontario] Wynne’s scary ‘safe hands’ – by Margaret Wente (Globe and Mail – May 6, 2014)

May 6, 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.

What does Kathleen Wynne have against hairstylists? The nice young woman who snips my bangs would like to know. To her surprise, she is now being regulated by a new body called the Ontario College of Trades. It wants her to fork over $120 every year (plus tax) for a piece of paper saying she’s qualified to do her job.

In order to get a licence, hairstylists already log 1,500 hours of school, write exams and serve apprenticeships. Now they must also have a Grade 12 diploma and pass a written government test. But hey! When it comes to protecting the public from rogue snippers, you can never be too careful.

The hairdresser tax is a small but potent example of what’s gone wrong in Ontario over the past decade. As manufacturing evaporated and jobs dried up, the Liberal government threw sand in the gears. All its instincts are regulatory and interventionist. At a time when we desperately need smaller businesses to create jobs, it has ratcheted up the cost of doing business and smothered them in red tape.

Meanwhile, it’s kept spending as if the good times never stopped. Prudent Ontarians used to deplore Quebec – those profligate French! – as the free-spending wastrel of Confederation. But now, we’re the wastrel. Our dour Scottish accountant forebears must be spinning in their graves.

Miners using microbes – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 6, 2014)

May 6, 2014

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

The marriage of life sciences and mining goes back 2,000 years and yet it’s a relatively new relationship. Miners in 20 A.D. used microorganisms in the Red River to dissolve and separate copper from copper sulphate, and mining companies in Sudbury today use similar bacteria in bioremediation projects.

But it’s an inexact science that could be improved upon, and progress toward that end is expected to be made today (Tuesday) at the Life Sciences and Mining Workshop at the Vale Living With Lakes Centre.

Dr. Mark Poznansky, president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Genomics Institute, which is hosting the workshop, said the goal is for his institute to better understand the challenges of the mining industry. Some of the solutions to those problems may be found in life sciences.

Miners around the world are using microbes to clean up tailings to increase the yield of whatever they are mining. Microbes are being used in bioremediation, natural and through human interaction, said Poznansky, pointing to the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where he said as much as 80% of the cleanup was done without human intervention.

Nickel price rise: too much too soon says new report – by Frik Els (Mining.com – May 5, 2014)

May 6, 2014

http://www.mining.com/

Indonesia surprised the mining world in January putting into effect an outright ban on nickel ore exports.

After a relatively subdued initial reaction on nickel markets – no-one thought the Asian nation would go through with the ban and when it did, the expectation was that the rules would be water down substantially – the price of the steelmaking raw material is now up 32% in 2014.

Indonesia accounted for around a fifth of global supply at an estimated 400,000 tonnes of contained metal so the potential was there for a big impact on the price.

But record inventories around the globe (hitting 285,000 tonnes in March), massive stockpiling by China’s nickel pig iron producers ahead of the ban, and years of growing mine supply (11% per year since 2009 to 2 million tonnes), kept the price near financial crisis levels by the end of January.

Traders only really entered panic mode when supply from the world’s largest producer Norilsk was also put in danger due to the possibility of sanctions against the Russian company over the crisis in Ukraine.

Fear of reprisals stifles mine safety progress: Steelworkers – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 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.

To improve health and safety standards in Ontario’s mines, workers must not face reprisals if they bring issues forward to management, said a member of the United Steelworkers.

Nick Larochelle, mines co-chair with Local 6500, said April 2 at the first public consultation in Sudbury as part of the Ministry of Labour’s year-long review of health and safety in the industry.

Under section 50 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act employers cannot discipline their employees for refusing to do unsafe work or bringing their health and safety concerns forward. But Larochelle said some members have been fired for complaining to their supervisors about health and safety issues.

He said employers use the guise of insubordination when they discipline workers for pointing out holes in their occupational health and safety practices. The fear of reprisals, he said, has created an environment where mining companies’ internal responsibility systems are not as effective as they should be.

RPT-UPDATE 3-S.Africa’s Zuma slams striking union for risking mining jobs – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters India – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, May 5 (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma has accused the AMCU union of irresponsibility for dragging out a wage strike in the platinum sector for almost four months, telling reporters there was a risk of workers losing their jobs because of the dispute.

Zuma, who has made little previous direct comment about the strike, took aim at the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) on Monday, underscoring political concerns about the stoppage and its impact on Africa’s most advanced economy, ahead of general elections on Wednesday.

“The union leaders have a responsibility … to ensure workers are protected so they don’t lose their jobs. You can’t get into a strike that at the end the workers lose their jobs. That’s your responsibility,” Zuma told a news conference.

Mining companies joined the attack on AMCU, saying intimidation was being used to keep its members in line and they would continue with their strategy of putting their offer directly to employees to bypass the union’s leadership. But using typically combative language and evoking class warfare, AMCU President Joseph Mathunjwa lashed out at the “platinum cabal” and its “exploitation of workers.”

Baffinland could start mining Mary River this summer – by CBC News North (May 05, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/north/

Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation could begin its first phase of extracting ore from the Mary River mine site this summer.

The scaled-down version of the iron mine on North Baffin Island got its final approval from Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Bernard Valcourt last week, following recommendations from the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

NIRB plans to hold a final workshop by conference call mid-May to prepare a project certificate, which will outline the terms and conditions, and the agencies responsible for them, that the mine will have to meet in order to keep operating.

Greg Missal, vice-president of corporate affairs with Baffinland, said the company was pleased with the final terms and conditions imposed on the mine and will start mining iron ore at the site this summer or fall.

“It’ll start to be trucked up to Milne Inlet and it’ll be ready to be loaded onto ships during the open water season of 2015.” The dock that will carry that ore on to ships is now being designed and engineered. Missal said that dock will determine the precise number of ships needed to move the ore.

Poison pill works in takeover battle for Augusta – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 2014

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

A ruling in the battle for Augusta Resource Corp. shows that Canadian securities regulators are willing to inject some actual poison into poison pills when shareholders clearly support the anti-takeover measure.

Late Friday, a British Columbia Securities Commission panel declared that Augusta’s shareholder rights plan (or poison pill) should stay in place until July 15. HudBay Minerals Inc. launched a $444-million hostile bid for Augusta back in early February, meaning the regulator gave Augusta more than five months to study its alternatives.

That is an extraordinary amount of time by Canadian standards. Historically, regulators have given hostile takeover targets mere weeks before striking down their poison pills. The pills were treated as a brief delaying tactic while the targets studied their options, and were not viewed as a serious impediment for hostile bidders.

However, that mentality is starting to change. After years of complaints that acquiring Canadian companies is too easy for hostile bidders, the Canadian Securities Administrators have proposed new rules that would allow companies to deploy rights plans for a full year as long as they are approved by shareholders. The plan could then be renewed for another 12 months with a fresh vote.

Asian coal demand is set for robust revival, study says – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 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.

SEATTLE — Global coal markets are depressed amid a supply glut, but reports of the commodity’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, a new study says.

Prices for thermal coal, a commodity used by power plants to generate electricity, fell recently to less than $75 (U.S.) a tonne, compared with $190 in mid-2008. And prices for metallurgical (or coking) coal, a key ingredient used in the production of steel, have tumbled to $120 a tonne, from $300 in late 2011.

Some industry observers have warned that there will be many more dark months ahead for the coal industry. But the long-term forecast calls for robust Asian demand, which should give producers hope, as long as they are able to ride out the tough times.

“Despite increasing environmental opposition to the use of coal, coal still plays a crucial role in the global energy mix and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future,” according to a study by Shoichi Itoh, senior analyst at the Tokyo-based Institute of Energy Economics. “The importance of coal use will be all the more important in Asia.”

Proposed mine by wild Smith River roils Del Norte County folks – by Peter Fimrite (San Francisco Chronicle – May 3, 2014)

May 5, 2014

http://www.sfgate.com/

The clear, flowing Smith River is a life force in the northern corner of California, where the locals keep a sharp eye out for threats to the pristine water and thriving fish.

That would explain why the folk who live along the river in Del Norte County nearly jumped out of their britches when they learned about a proposed nickel mine along a major tributary of the Smith, the last major river without a dam left in the state.

A London mining company has applied to the U.S. Forest Service to begin exploratory drilling over thousands of acres of forest lands, including Baldface Creek, in Curry County, Ore., which flows into the Smith and helps maintain one of the most abundant natural salmon runs in California.

Steelhead trout, chinook and coho salmon spawn in both Baldface Creek and Smith, a National Wild and Scenic River that also provides Crescent City and the surrounding communities with drinking water.

“Locating a strip mine in the headwaters of the wild and scenic Smith River is like putting ice cubes made with toxic waste in your favorite drink,” said Grant Werschkull, the executive director of the Smith River Alliance, in Crescent City. “It’s completely outrageous.”

PoV: Liberal promises like disappearing ink – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – May 3, 2014)

May 5, 2014

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

Want proof that the money the Liberals have offered in the budget, especially in the North, is just fleeting words?

It’s buried in the budget document released Thursday. It’s not in the speech, but it is mentioned in the budget document itself.

It’s the reference to the $1 billion the province “committed” to infrastructure to develop the giant Ring of Fire chromite and metals deposit in the James Bay lowlands.

“Committing up to $1 billion towards infrastructure development for the ring of fire contingent on matching investment by the federal government,” the budget document reads.

That word — contingent — was nowhere to be found in Monday’s original announcement. Three cabinet ministers got together in Thunder Bay and, led by Northern and Development Minister Michael Gravelle, announced $1 billion to develop the Ring of Fire. Granted, Gravelle spent much of the press conference beseeching the federal government for money, but the impression from the presentation was that the $1 billion was there, hard cash, ready to go when the actual nature of the infrastructure – east-west route, rail or road — was ready to go.

Driverless mine trucks heading for east coast – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 2014

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

DRIVERLESS mining trucks that are becoming more common in iron ore mines in Western Australia’s Pilbara region are expected to appear in NSW and Queensland in the next 12 months under plans being hatched by BHP Billiton.

The autonomous trucks, which cut costs by reducing the need to house, feed and employ four drivers, would be trialled at BHP coalmines, BHP coal president Dean Dalla Valle said.

BHP has followed the lead of rival Rio Tinto in introducing the robot trucks into the big iron ore mines in the Pilbara, but after coalmine trials in New Mexico, it is taking the lead in bringing them to the east coast, something Rio has not yet proposed to do.

“We’re looking at two opportunities in coal to do the same thing, in Queensland and NSW,” Mr Dalla Valle told The Australian. “There’s no doubt it will happen, and I’d like to think that within 12 months we will be running trials.”

BHP last month indicated its late-mover status in automated equipment was not a reluctance to employ the technology. It said it was extending a robot truck trial at its Jimblebar iron ore mine to the nearby Wheelara mine.