Republic of Mining

Mining the moon: The 21st century gold rush – by Stephanie Orford (MetroNews.ca – March 17, 2014)

March 18, 2014

Five years ago, if you had brought up moon mining among geologists, “you would have been laughed out of the room,” said Gordon Osinski, founder and director of the Canadian Lunar Research Network, and an assistant professor of geology at the University of Western Ontario.

Times have changed. Mining on the moon and on asteroids, formerly the stuff of science fiction, is clearly in the sights of governments and, increasingly, private companies.

In February, NASA announced it was accepting applications from U.S. companies to build robots for lunar prospecting, a step toward creating an economy in space.

And there’s certainly a market for what’s up there. Many elements that are rare on Earth can be found aplenty on the moon. Satellite imaging has shown that the top 10 centimetres of regolith (moon soil) at the south pole of the moon appears to hold about 100 times the concentration of gold of the richest mines in the world, according to a recent paper coauthored by Dale Boucher, the CEO of Deltion Innovations, based in Sudbury, Ont.

Saskatchewan Potash History – by John Burton (The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan – Unknown Date)

March 18, 2014

http://esask.uregina.ca/home.html

Potash production is a major Saskatchewan industry, which has played a significant role in the economy for over 40 years. The ten producing mines in the province are among the largest and most modern in the world. Underground potash deposits were laid down by evaporation in an ancient inland sea; three major layers of potash are separated by layers of salt. Potash deposits are located from the Alberta border west of Saskatoon, through much of the central portion of the province, to the southeast corner and beyond. Much of Saskatchewan’s deposits are 3,000-3,500 feet underground; but they are deeper further south, beyond conventional shaft and mining techniques.

Operations are located where potash-bearing ore is 7-11 feet thick. Most potash in Saskatchewan is in the form of potassium chloride (KCl). Recoverable reserves are well over 100 billion tons. Of the potash produced, 95% is used for fertilizer, and the remainder for industrial purposes. Potash was first found in Saskatchewan in 1942 during oil drilling. Further discoveries in the 1940s and early 1950s confirmed enormous deposits. However, three projects in the 1950s encountered formidable water problems during shaft sinking, which hampered development.

Production commenced in 1962 when water problems were overcome at the International Minerals and Chemical (IMC) mine near Esterhazy; the Potash Company of America (PCA) then rehabilitated its flooded mine. A surge of development by other companies resulted in twelve companies opening ten mines by 1970.

Rio unveils big potash find near BHP mine – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – March 18, 2014)

March 18, 2014

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

RIO Tinto has declared it is sitting on a big potash deposit in Saskatchewan in the same basin where its rival BHP Billiton is spending $US3.8 billion ($4.2bn) just to be ready to mine the fertiliser ingredient when global food demand warrants it.

In its annual report, Rio described the KP405 potash discovery as the eighth “tier-one” discovery in the past decade by its exploration group. “Drilling results indicate encouraging potash grade and thickness,” Rio said.

“Higher nutritional standards, population growth and limited arable land make potash a critical factor in maintaining global food security.” Rio’s Russian partner, Acron, has been more animated, saying there is the potential for a long-life, low-cost mine at the “massive” KP405 deposit.

BHP chief Andrew Mackenzie describes potash as a potential “fifth pillar” of BHP’s commodities business, indicating the potential he thinks the company has in Saskatchewan’s Elk Point Basin.

BHP last year approved a $US2.6bn spend to gain access to the deposit, bringing total approved spending to $US3.8bn before it has made a definite decision to mine.

NEWS RELEASE: One mine, a multitude of economic benefits

March 18, 2014

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Any new employer and enterprise in Ontario should be celebrated for the job and business opportunities it provides. Every one boosts the province’s economy, produces tax revenue to support infrastructure and provides stability to society. Because of the large scale involved, the start-up of a new mine multiplies the positive economic impact of most new businesses.

Last month, Vale officially opened the Totten nickel-copper mine in the Sudbury Basin. It is located in Worthington, which is about 40 kilometres west of Sudbury. Senior company management, employees, the Premier, the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, local First Nations leaders and municipal officials were on hand to show support and participate in the mine’s opening ceremonies. For sure this was an event worth celebrating, so let’s look at some of the numbers behind this new mine to see what benefits it offers.

The capital expenditures to bring the new mine into production were $760 million – more than three-quarters of billion dollars. The development of the project took seven years to complete. In order to put this sum into perspective, the 2014 operating budget for the City of Greater Sudbury is projected at $502 million and the projected operating budget for Windsor in 2014 is $722 million.

Juniors jump at chance in Mongolia – by Sarah-Jane Tasker (The Australian – March 18, 2014)

March 18, 2014

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

MONGOLIA — a landlocked country in central Asia — boomed as the resources cycle peaked but just as quickly as the investment flooded in, it flowed out as the government radically changed the rules.

Now, after years of largely being ignored by foreign investors, the country is trying to win favour with the global resources sector with another change of its rules — but this time in a move to say it is open for business.

David Paull, who heads junior Aspire Mining, has witnessed the rise and fall of Mongolia’s appeal in the competitive global resources space. Having penned an exploration deal in the country in October 2009, just weeks before a government agreement for the massive Oyu Tolgoi project was signed, Paull has been front row for the roller-coaster ride.

“It was a very hot environment, then it got extremely cold from mid-2012 onwards and that coincided with the fading of the global commodities boom,” he says.

Drug cartel a misnomer as Mexico criminal group earns more from mining, logging, extortion – by E. Eduardo Castillo (Associated Press/U.S. News and World Report – March 17, 2014)

March 17, 2014

http://www.usnews.com/

LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico (AP) — Forget crystal meth. The pseudo-religious Knights Templar drug cartel in western Mexico has diversified to the point that drug trafficking doesn’t even rank among its top sources of income.

The cartel counts illegal mining, logging and extortion as its biggest moneymakers, said Alfredo Castillo, the Mexican government’s special envoy sent to restore the rule of law in Michoacan, the state controlled by the Knights Templar the last several years.

Iron ore “is their principle source of income,” Castillo told The Associated Press. “They’re charging $15 (a metric ton) for the process, from extraction to transport, processing, storage, permits and finally export.” The ore itself doesn’t go for that price; the cartel skims $15 for every ton arriving in port. While it’s long been known that Mexican cartels engage in other types of criminal activity, including trafficking of people and pirated goods, this is the government’s first official acknowledgement that a major organized crime group has moved beyond drugs. The Knights Templar and its predecessor, La Familia, started out as major producers and transporters of methamphetamine.

The implications are enormous that organized crime in general in Mexico stands to diversify and become even more entrenched.

Activists allowed to reappeal Rio Tinto’s Kitimat smelter permit – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – March 14, 2014)

March 17, 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.

VICTORIA — The B.C. Supreme Court has granted environmental activists a chance to overturn the environmental permit for the $3.3-billion upgrade of the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter in Kitimat.

Last April, the provincial Ministry of Environment authorized Rio Tinto to increase sulphur dioxide emissions, paving the way for the massive modernization and expansion project. There are more than 2,400 construction workers on site, and the project is already over budget.

The opponents, including two environmental organizations as well as a handful of local citizens, want Rio Tinto to install sulphur dioxide scrubbers, which could add more than $150-million to the upgrade. The process removes sulphur dioxide from the stacks.

Two environmental groups, along with residents of both Terrace and Kitimat, sought to appeal the permit, saying the smelter upgrade would threaten human health and the environment in the Kitimat-Terrace airshed.

Miners: It’s innovation time – by Anthony Vaccaro (Northern Miner – March 14, 2014)

March 17, 2014

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

Chrysalix Global Network, a venture capital fund based in Vancouver, is looking to spearhead the next wave of innovation in the mining industry.

One of the fund’s partners, Charles Haythornthwaite, was in Toronto for the Prospectors Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and sat down with The Northern Miner to explain why Chrysalix has decided to target the mining industry and what sort of opportunities it sees.

Miners should pay heed as Chrysalix represents one of the first forays of venture capital into the industry — and it is a fund with the expertise and the capital to drive the sort of early stage technologies that may be standard process in the mines of the future.

“We are looking for transformation breakthrough ideas that could really move the needle in an energy intensive industry,” he says.

The two veins along which the fund is pursuing new technologies are ones that can deliver an environmentally cleaner process and ones that make the industrial process as efficient as possible. Two aims that clearly compliment one another.

Bruised gold miners start hedging output, in a limited way – by Silvia Antonioli and Clara Denina (Reuters U.S. – March 14, 2014)

March 17, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) – Increasing numbers of gold miners, battered by last year’s drop in bullion prices, are selling planned output forward to help shore up their finances for stormy times, but these hedges are only for the short term.

Large miners and their shareholders typically rail against the practice of forward sales because locking in prices ahead of production closes off opportunities to benefit from a rise in the metal’s value.

That was particularly pertinent during the 2001-2012 gold bull run, when prices swept from around $260 an ounce to a record $1,920.30 in late 2011. But last year, a 28 percent dive in bullion prices caught producers by surprise, putting balance sheets under stress.

Now some miners are warming up to the idea of selling a portion of their gold a few months forward at a fixed price, banking and industry sources said, and investors seem to agree.

“I see a short-term hedge as a weapon in the arsenal of a financial director to protect the company and generate some short to medium-term security,” said Markus Bachmann, manager of precious metals and global resources funds at Craton Capital.

Speculators See Gold Gaining With Wheat on Ukraine: Commodities – by Debarati Roy (Bloomberg News – March 17, 2014)

March 17, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

After shunning gold and wheat for most of last year, hedge fund managers are piling back in as the escalating crisis in Ukraine spurs a rebound in the prices of both commodities.

Speculators have the biggest bet on a gold rally since December 2012 and turned bullish on wheat for the first time since November, government data show. Bullion last week reached a six-month high and wheat entered a bull market as Crimea prepared for a referendum. Almost 97 percent of voters in the Black Sea peninsula yesterday backed leaving Ukraine to join Russia, the head of the election commission, Mikhail Malyshev, told reporters. The results exclude one city, Sevastopol.

Global equities erased this year’s gains last week as the turmoil in Ukraine escalated and the U.S. and the European Union discussed sanctions against Russia, poised to be this season’s fifth-biggest wheat exporter. Investors who rejected gold in 2013 are now buying the metal at the fastest pace since 2007, surprising bearish forecasters including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Investors also bought more coffee, sugar and corn.

“We have already seen higher prices for gold because of safe-haven bids, and I expect to see more tensions unfolding if sanctions are imposed,” said Ryan Larson, the Chicago-based head of U.S. equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.) Inc., which oversees $290 billion.

2013 U.S. gold production down 128,602 oz – USGS – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – March 17, 2014)

March 17, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Domestic gold mine production in 2013 was estimated to be about 227 tonnes, down 3% with an estimated value of $10.2 billion, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Preliminary 2013 annual U.S. gold production was 231,000 kilograms (7,426,822 troy ounces), down 4,000 kg (128,602 troy ounces) from 235,000 kg (7,555,425 troy ounces) from full-year 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey recently reported.

Gold was produced at about 50 lode mines, a few larger placer mines (all in Alaska) and numerous smaller placer mines in Alaska and in the western states. The USGS estimated that 1,140 persons were directly employed in U.S. gold mining, down from 1,673 persons in 2012.

Commercial-grade fine gold came from about 24 producers, the USGS estimated. Estimated domestic uses were electrical and electronics, 38%; jewelry, 36%; official coins, 19%; dental, 55; other, 2%, said the agency.

The state of Nevada, which led U.S. gold output, reported 172,000 kg (5,529,928 oz) of gold production last year, down from 175,000 kg (5,626,380 oz) in 2012.

Nickel’s run rekindles sale hope – by Barry Fitzgerald (The Australian – March 17, 2014)

March 17, 2014

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

SURGING nickel prices have boosted interest in a planned sale by Chinese-controlled MMG of its mothballed Avebury nickel mine on Tasmania’s west coast, which was developed at a cost of $880 million.

Nickel’s price surge — brought on by Indonesia’s export ban on laterite nickel ores — has already prompted BHP Billiton to put out the feelers on a sale of its West Australian nickel business, valued at up to $1 billion, because of the strategy of chief executive Andrew Mackenzie to focus on the “four pillars” of iron ore, coal, copper and petroleum.

Unlike the rest of the metals, nickel has started the year strongly, rising 13 per cent to a 12-month high of $US7.14 a pound. The rise for the stainless steel ingredient is a response to the tightening in supplies caused by Indonesia’s mineral ore export ban taking effect in mid-January.

The ban is an attempt to compel more value-adding to Indonesia’s mineral exports through the development of onshore processing operations. The country is the world’s biggest exporter of nickel and is the main supplier of low-grade nickel laterite ores to China’s nickel pig iron industry.

Couillard Announces Plan Nord +, Says PQ Government ‘Killed’ First Plan Nord – by Alex Létourneau (Kitco News – March 14, 2014)

March 17, 2014

http://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Quebec Liberal Party leader Philippe Couillard announced the ‘Plan Nord +’ this morning in Val d’Or, Quebec, which is an extension of the original Plan Nord.

Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest’s Plan Nord mining project, released in May 2011, was expected to create 20,000 jobs annually for the province and generate over $80 billion over a 25-year period.
In a telephone interview with Kitco News this afternoon, Couillard said that bringing the Plan Nord back to the table was a no-brainer.

“We’re putting most of it back as it was, because it was an excellent plan of sustainable development for Quebec,” Couillard said. “Unfortunately the Parti Quebecois (PQ) basically killed it when they came into office. They have a hostile attitude towards the mining industry, and private activity in general, so it wasn’t long before the signal was sent that this was over.”

The original Plan Nord covered an area of 1.2 million kilometers squared – an area twice the size of France, to put it in perspective – above the 49th parallel, a vast territory boasting a wide range of minerals including, but not limited to, gold, platinum group metals, iron ore, nickel, cobalt, zinc, lithium, vanadium, rare-earth metals, uranium and diamonds.

Junior mining firm dreaming of Alberta potash industry – by David Howell (Edmonton Journal – March 14, 2014)

March 17, 2014

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

EDMONTON – Brian (Griz) Testo has been a dreamer and an explorer all his life. He recalls panning for gold in the McLeod River near Hinton at age eight, and discovering a fossil pit at 14.

Now nearing 62, with a colourful background prospecting for diamonds and other minerals, the former pipeline welder is pursuing a commodity nearly unheard of in Alberta: potash.

“It’s the chase, and the discovery,” Testo said in an interview. “My dream is that we hit potash and we get a new industry for Alberta, we make our shareholders a ton of money, we create jobs, create wealth for people, and feed the world.”

Testo is president and CEO of Grizzly Discoveries Inc., which takes its name from his nickname. The Edmonton-based junior mining company announced this week it is in talks with a potential partner about a possible $15-million investment in Grizzly’s Alberta potash project.

Grizzly’s unnamed partner, which Testo will only say is based outside Canada, is now reviewing the company’s data and information. If a deal results, Grizzly would be in a position this year to drill four test wells near Vermilion and Lloydminster.

Can Coal Ever Be Clean? – by Michelle Nijhuis (National Geographic – April 2014)

March 17, 2014

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/

It’s the dirtiest of fossil fuels. We burn eight billion tons of it a year, with growing consequences.The world must face the question.

Coal provides 40 percent of the world’s electricity. It produces 39 percent of global CO₂ emissions. It kills thousands a year in mines, many more with polluted air.

Environmentalists say that clean coal is a myth. Of course it is: Just look at West Virginia, where whole Appalachian peaks have been knocked into valleys to get at the coal underneath and streams run orange with acidic water. Or look at downtown Beijing, where the air these days is often thicker than in an airport smoking lounge. Air pollution in China, much of it from burning coal, is blamed for more than a million premature deaths a year. That’s on top of the thousands who die in mining accidents, in China and elsewhere.

These problems aren’t new. In the late 17th century, when coal from Wales and Northumberland was lighting the first fires of the industrial revolution in Britain, the English writer John Evelyn was already complaining about the “stink and darknesse” of the smoke that wreathed London.Three centuries later, in December 1952, a thick layer of coal-laden smog descended on London and lingered for a long weekend, provoking an epidemic of respiratory ailments that killed as many as 12,000 people in the ensuing months.