Republic of Mining

North a battleground in pending election – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – May 1, 2014)

May 1, 2014

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

Premier Kathleen Wynne is trying to put Northern Ontario back in play for the Liberals. It will be a bumpy road – there are a lot of potholes on northern roads, both literally and figuratively.

The Liberals hold only four of the 11 seats in the North, dropping three in the 2011 election and barely holding on to Sudbury and Thunder Bay Atikokan. Three of their four MPPs in the North are cabinet ministers. The NDP, which holds five seats in the region, is putting on a heavy push. Leader Andrea Horwath is a regular presence, touring the region often and showing up at candidate nomination meetings.

The Progressive Conservatives’ have two northern MPPs, finance critic Vic Fedeli in Nipissing and Norm Miller in Parry Sound-Muskoka. Neither appears to be in any danger.

The rest of the North is becoming a battleground between the NDP and the Liberals, and unlike Dalton McGuinty – who refused to show up to a debate on Northern issues in Thunder Bay in 2011 – Wynne has realized the party must have a significant presence in the region if she is to have any shot at a majority government.

Eastern Ukrainian miners yearn for Russia, bygone Soviet era – by Kristina Jovanovski (Al Jazeera America – April 30, 2014)

May 1, 2014

http://america.aljazeera.com/

As crisis grips industrial Donetsk region, many workers dismiss politics but seek better living standards of yesteryear

SHAKHTARSK, Ukraine — Off a dirt road in the outskirts of this eastern Ukrainian town, Valeriy stands outside his house and cuddles his wife, Tanya. She wears a blue bathrobe and slippers, and Valeriy says the fading bruise high on her left cheek was caused by a fall at a party while they were both drunk.

Valeriy is a miner but has not been employed as one since completing his fifth prison sentence for theft. Previously, he risked his life working at an illegal coal mine in the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland now roiled by political unrest.

Despite the epic contest between forces, mostly Russian speakers aligned with Moscow against Ukrainian speakers loyal to Kyiv, he is more concerned with the daily struggle to get by and the desperate hope for some improvement in his life. Valeriy, who identifies as Russian, hopes for a better future if Donetsk becomes part of Russia — with a catch. “I don’t want it to be like Russia,” he says. “I want it to be like the past, the USSR.”

The future of the mines and the miners is at the center of the political battle being waged by pro-Russian separatists who have occupied public buildings and set up barricades in response to the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

Elliot Lake marks National Day of Mourning – by Kevin McSheffrey (Elliot Lake Standard – April 30, 2014)

May 1, 2014

http://www.elliotlakestandard.ca/

The National Day of Mourning is aimed at remembering those workers who died on the job or as a result of a workplace accidents or illnesses. Sue Girard, a representative from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, was the master of ceremonies at the event.

She reminded the crowd gathered at the Miners’ Memorial that the Day of Mourning was created 30 years ago by the labour movement to increase awareness of on-the-job injuries and fatal workplace accidents.

The following year, 1985, it was recognized by the Canadian Labour Congress. Eight years later, the federal government also recognized the day. Girard added that the Day of Mourning is recognized on more than 80 countries.

She continued by saying that Canada has some of the best occupational health and safety laws in the world. However, workplace deaths continue to rise in Canada. “In 2012, (a total of) 977 workplace deaths were reported in Canada, a six per cent increase over 2011,” Girard said.

“Statistics published by the Association of Workers Compensation Boards of Canada for 1993 to 2013 show that during this 20-year period, more than 18,039 people died as a result of workplace accidents.”

MiningWatch Canada Celebrating 15 Years of Mining Activism 1999-2014: Fifteen Major Achievements for our Fifteenth Anniversary

May 1, 2014

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

MiningWatch Canada was created in 1999 to push back against the mining industry’s ability to rewrite laws, mislead the public, and bulldoze communities, workers, and ecosystems – literally – in its quest for profit. We’ve done that. We’ve changed the debate and helped put power back into the hands of the affected communities. But global demand for metals continues to grow, and the industry continues to push into remote areas, finding new ways to advance its interests. There is still an awful lot left to do.

1. Growing Up

MiningWatch has not only survived, but grown by leaps and bounds in terms of the number of groups and key individuals we work with in Canada and internationally, as well as the strength and depth of those networks and relationships. We’ve also made huge strides in our recognition by the public, media, and decision-makers, and our presence in important civil society planning spaces and multistakeholder dialogues. We’ve grown in size, too, from the equivalent of two full-time staff in 1999 to five in 2014, and from eight member organisations to twenty-seven. Requests for assistance have grown even faster. It would be wonderful to have more staff – and more money – but we’re moving in a great direction.

2. Expanding media reach – both social media and traditional media

People continue to come to our website in the thousands weekly for information and analysis, while our email ists provide daily news, newsletters, alerts, and updates for over three thousand people. Our social media presence – something we couldn’t have even imagined in 1999 – is substantial.

First Nations community calls for help after string of youth suicides – by Carey Marsden (Global News – April 29, 2014)

May 1, 2014

http://globalnews.ca/toronto/

Imagine this: seven students at a Toronto high school with more than 400 kids commit suicide while 27 others attempt suicide in the span of one year.

“You’d have an emergency response,” former Liberal leader Bob Rae said. “And you’d have a long term response. There would be some government response, a group of people who are responsible and accountable and who have some money to say ‘well let’s see what we can do to solve this problem.”

But First Nation leaders say that is not happening in Neskantaga First Nation. The fly-in community, 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, has been under a state of emergency for more than a year.

Miners weigh in on billion-dollar Ring of Fire pledge – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 30, 2014)

April 30, 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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

The province’s billion-dollar promise to jump-start development in the Ring of Fire was not lost on the exploration companies operating in the James Bay region.

Earlier this week, the Wynne government announced it was earmarking $1 billion in its May 1 spring budget to develop transportation infrastructure to reach the Far North mineral exploration camp.

They challenged the federal government and Natural Resources Minster Greg Rickford to provide matching dollars on this “next great mining development” for Canada. “There’s an element of politics involved for sure, but ultimately no infrastructure gets built without funding,” said Alan Coutts, president and CEO of Noront Resources.

He called the funding a “logical next step” that dovetails with the province’s creation of a Ring of Fire development corporation and the signing of a framework agreement with the Matawa chiefs to begin negotiating how development will unfold.

Strategist criticizes Ontario’s management of Ring of Fire – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 30, 2014)

April 30, 2014

The Ontario’s government’s handling of the Ring of Fire has been a “mismanaged file,” according to a Toronto lawyer, author and strategist specializing in mining and First Nations negotiations.

Bill Gallagher didn’t come away impressed with this week’s announcement by the Wynne government to pledge $1 billion toward its fledgling Ring of Fire development corporation, calling the province largely “missing in action” for the last five years.

With the provincial budget reveal only days away, he said political optics were obviously at play in the April 28 funding announcement. “It comes very late in the day where the track record would point to a fairly inept political handling of the Ring of Fire,” said Gallagher, a former federal negotiator at the director-general level in the resources sector.

With last fall’s stop-work decision by Cliffs Natural Resources in the Ring of Fire, various mining-related legal actions underway, and uncertainty over how the entire mining camp will come together, Gallagher isn’t convinced that a billion-dollar promise will expedite any real development progress in the Far North, which he sees as being 10 years away.

Baffinland wins approval for scaled-down Nunavut iron mine (CBC News North – April 29, 2014)

April 30, 2014

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

Baffinland Iron Mines has won the go-ahead to proceed with a considerably scaled down version of its proposed iron mine on North Baffin Island.

In December of 2012, Baffinland was approved to move 18 million tonnes of iron ore each year, shipping it first by rail to the west coast of Baffin Island, then by ships that would travel year round through the ice-choked waters of Foxe Basin to markets in Europe.

Just weeks after winning approval for the plan, Baffinland changed it, proposing a phased approach that would move about 3.5 million tonnes of ore per year using an existing road and port on the eastern side of Baffin Island, and citing the poor economy as a reason for doing so.

To accommodate the change of the plans, the Nunavut Impact Review Board modified 44 of its initial 182 terms and conditions for the mine and added eight new ones.

In a letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board today, Bernard Valcourt, minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, accepted most of those changes, modifying nine and rejecting one.

War of Titans: Rio Tinto suing Vale over iron ore rights in Guinea – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 30, 2014)

April 30, 2014

http://www.mining.com/

In a new and unexpected twist in the battle to control Guinea’s rich Simandou iron ore deposits, the companies once operating in the area have began a series of billion-worth lawsuits, with iron ore miner No.2 Rio Tinto (LON, ASX:RIO), suing the world’s largest producer Brazil’s Vale (NYSE:VALE).

The first one to shoot was Vale, which filed Monday an action against his former partner in Guinea BSG Resources, the mining arm of Israeli tycoon Beny Steinmetz’s empire, before the London Court of International Arbitration, Swiss newspaper Le Temps reports (in French).

One of the paper’s sources said Vale is seeking a minimum compensation of US$1.1 billion, due to losses suffered because BSGR’s actions in Guinea. Last week, The West African nation concluded that BSG Resources obtained the Simandou and Zogota concessions through corrupt practices and decided to revoke all mining rights for both companies.

Vale had a 51% stake in the project, which acquire from BSGR in 2010 in a $2.5bn deal.The company however only paid $500 to Steinmetz’s firm, suspending all instalments left as soon as it learned of the accusations against its partner.

Guinea’s President Alpha Conde said Wednesday it was clear the Rio de Janeiro-based firm did nothing wrong, adding the mining giant is free to reapply to acquire rights to one of the largest untapped iron ore deposits in the world.

Gabriel may seek billions in arbitration over stalled Romanian mine – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 30, 2014)

April 30, 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.

The Toronto mining company whose 15-year effort to open Europe’s biggest gold project has gone nowhere is preparing an international arbitration case against the Romanian government that would seek billions of dollars in damages.

Gabriel Resources is making plans for the case, which probably would be heard in Vienna in the second half of the year, as it starts to wind down its activities in Romania’s Transylvania region to conserve cash. About 400 employees, or 80 per cent, of Gabriel’s Romanian subsidiary, Rosia Montana Gold Corp. (RMGC), have been suspended at three-quarters pay. The company has said it may fire them in May “if there is no progress in the advancement of the project.”

Gabriel, which is listed on the Toronto stock exchange but run from London, is not expecting a breakthrough any time soon. The Romanian parliament’s chamber of deputies is scheduled to vote on a bill that would give special legal status to the $1.5-billion (U.S.) project, allowing it to go ahead, on May 7.

But the company does not expect the vote to go in its favour, partly because public opposition to the mine and its cyanide-based extraction technology remains strong.

Gold giants’ merger falls apart as Barrick-Newmont spat goes public – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – April 29, 2014)

April 30, 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.

A spat between Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. erupted into a public war of words, with the companies accusing each other of ruining their $13-billion (U.S.) merger.

Barrick said its American rival reneged on their deal and tried to change key provisions, including the location of the head office in Toronto. Newmont disagreed with Barrick’s version and faulted the Canadian company’s incoming chairman John Thornton for not being constructive.

Over the years, the world’s two largest gold producers have made several attempts to unite and cut expenses in Nevada, where they both own multiple mines. The slump in the gold industry fuelled their latest merger ambitions, with the companies identifying about $1-billion in cost savings.

But they ultimately could not overcome two decades of personality clashes and cultural differences, which exploded into the public domain on Monday and likely killed any future merger discussions.

UPDATE 2-Guinea president – Vale did no wrong, can bid to reclaim mining permits – by Stephanie Nebehay (Reuters India – April 30, 2014)

April 30, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

GENEVA, April 30 (Reuters) – Guinea’s President Alpha Conde said on Wednesday he hoped Brazilian miner Vale would bid to reclaim two iron ore permits, because the company had not been involved in the alleged corruption that led to their cancellation.

Guinea cancelled the two mining concessions jointly held by Vale and BSG Resources earlier this month, after a government-appointed technical committee accused BSGR of obtaining the rights through corruption.

BSGR, the mining branch of Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s conglomerate, has denied the allegations and said it will seek international arbitration. Conde told reporters during a visit to Geneva on Wednesday that Vale, the world’s largest iron ore producer, had done nothing wrong.

“We will launch an open and transparent bidding process … Vale was not involved in the corruption or aware of it and we strongly hope that Vale will participate,” Conde said.

“Vale can come back through the bidding process,” he added.

Enigmatic former Xstrata boss seeks to build another mining giant – by Silvia Antonioli and Sonali Paul (Reuters India – April 30, 2014)

April 30, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON/MELBOURNE, April 30 (Reuters) – Former Xstrata boss “Big Mick” Davis wants to build another mining giant, partly driven by what several sources say is a keen sense of rivalry with Glencore’s Ivan Glasenberg, but it won’t be easy even for someone with his proven track record.

Davis has been involved in some of global mining’s biggest and most formative deals, including the creation of BHP Billiton and its smaller rival Xstrata. He expanded Xstrata over a decade from a $500 million company to a $46 billion one taken over by Glencore, which was already its largest shareholder, last year.

Now he has set up a fund, X2 Resources, which is looking to buy up mines again and is reportedly targeting some of the very assets he traded more than a decade ago.

Unlike then, when miners rode a boom powered by double-digit growth in China, coal prices now languish near four-and-a-half-year lows and the outlook for coal demand growth is uncertain.

Yet armed with $3.75 billion and rising, and planning to raise three times as much in debt, Davis was reported this week to be lining up a bid for BHP’s thermal coal assets, along with aluminium, manganese and nickel assets that BHP wants to jettison.

Peter Munk’s career comes to end as Newmont firestorm envelops Barrick – Peter Koven (National Post – April 29, 2014)

April 30, 2014

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

It wouldn’t be in Peter Munk’s nature to go out quietly. But no one expected this.

As Mr. Munk, 86, officially retires at Barrick Gold Corp.’s annual meeting on Wednesday, he does so in the midst of an appalling public feud between Barrick and Newmont Mining Corp., which went from eager merger partners to mortal enemies in a matter of days. It will take years to rebuild the bridges between these companies, if indeed that ever happens.

Mr. Munk was not closely involved in the Newmont negotiations — he left that to his hand-picked successor John Thornton. But he still found a way to stick himself in the middle of the dispute. In a detailed interview with the Financial Post last week, just as talks were collapsing, he ripped Newmont’s corporate culture and said the company is “not shareholder friendly.” Newmont was not amused.

Remarkably, that was one of the less incendiary things Mr. Munk said about his U.S. rival over a lengthy conversation that touched on many aspects of his career. He has always spoken his mind and never worried too much about what people think of it. But as his time in Canadian business comes to a close, he was even more candid, thought-provoking and entertaining than usual.

For example, if Newmont didn’t like the “not shareholder friendly” line, it certainly won’t appreciate his description of how Barrick found its flagship gold mine and became the dominant player in Nevada:

Barrick needs a deal maker, not a deal breaker – by Boyd Erman (Globe and Mail – April 29, 2014)

April 30, 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.

Barrick Gold Corp. co-chairman John Thornton has laid out a vision for creating a diversified miner – a vision that is going to be more difficult to realize after a nasty end to talks in his first major transaction.

Mr. Thornton has stated he wants Barrick to be a leader “in a range of minerals.” To do that, he is going to have to be a buyer, adding companies that produce other metals to complement Barrick’s output of gold and copper. So it’s all the more problematic that would-be merger partner Newmont Mining Corp. singled out Mr. Thornton as a particular obstacle to getting a deal done. Even if it’s not true (and it’s hard to know what is fact in any such situation), the statement is out there now and will be attached to Mr. Thornton’s name.

Negotiations break down all the time, between all types of companies. But rarely do supposedly secret talks spill into the public sphere quite so comprehensively as they have in the past week, as seemingly every detail of the talks between Barrick and Newmont landed in the press. Since the first reports that merger talks between the two had hit a snag, the premium, the timing, the consideration, the executive structure and other key terms all made their way to the press even though neither side ever publicly confirmed the negotiations.