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First cartels, now vigilantes target Mexico mines – by Agence France-Presse (Global Post – February 25, 2014)

http://www.globalpost.com/

Dozens of trucks carry iron ore out of a mine in western Mexico, spinning dust into the air as they barrel past a guard booth peppered with scores of bullet holes.

The pockmarks are the scars of darker days, when the mine in the town of Aguililla, Michoacan state, was under the yoke of the Knights Templar drug cartel, which extorted the business.

The gang was chased out of town, but the mine still has to pay outsiders. The mine now forks out “compensation” to a vigilante movement which celebrated on Monday the first anniversary of a revolt that has driven the gang out of Aguililla and around 20 other towns in Michoacan.

The civilian militias say the mines are helping to finance their cause against the cult-like cartel which was deeply entrenched in Michoacan’s economy and terrorized the community through extortion, kidnappings and murder. Farmers and ranchers are also making donations to the militias that have liberated their towns.

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Ontario’s big industries plead for lower hydro rates – by John Spears (Toronto Star – February 26, 2014)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Province’s industries pay highest electricity rates in North America, says survey by big power consumers.

Ontario industries pay more for electricity than their competitors elsewhere in North America, according to a survey by Ontario’s biggest power users. That’s creating a growing risk of industries and jobs bypassing Ontario for lower-cost jurisdictions, says the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario (AMPCO).

The survey was to be posted on AMPCO’s website Wednesday. http://www.ampco.org/  Ontario industries pay 7.6 cents to 9.4 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity, according to the survey, based on 2012 power prices.

That’s higher than big U.S. jurisdictions, where the price at the time of the survey averaged 5.6 cents a kilowatt hour in New York, 5.4 cents in six New England states, 4.5 cents in 14 jurisdictions clustered around Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland, and 3.2 cents in a group of 15 midwestern states. (All prices in Canadian dollars.)

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NEWS RELEASE: Revealed: Why Dubai’s first conflict gold audit never saw the light of day

http://www.globalwitness.org/

Download the Global Witness report City of Gold here: http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/dubai_gold_layout_lr.pdf

25th February 2014 – According to a former partner at Ernst & Young, the global accountancy firm turned a blind eye when a report of major audit failures at Dubai’s biggest gold refinery went unpublished. A Global Witness report released today, City of Gold, considers the implications.

Documents seen by Global Witness suggest that the local metals regulator, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), changed its audit guidelines after becoming aware of negative findings in Ernst & Young’s report, with the effect that damaging results were not released.

Dubai is a key market – trading more than 20% of the world’s gold, worth $70 billion in 2012 – and Global Witness research indicates that it’s the main destination for Congolese conflict gold.

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Potash may show the way for First Nations to tap into resource based opportunites – by JP Gladu (National Post -February 25, 2014)

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

JP Gladu is president and chief executive of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

Community, local and regional initiatives can often be lost in the larger dialogue of multinational corporations and the work they do. The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business hopes to change that by providing the opportunity for that dialogue to happen between big business and the entrepreneurial spirit of the First Nations people through a series of aboriginal business luncheons.

At a luncheon in Regina on March 5 at First Nations University, the keynote speaker will be Alex Archilla, asset president for BHP Billiton Potash, who, this past summer took charge of the $2.6-billion Jansen Project in the Treaty 4 Territory of Saskatchewan.

Potash plays a vital role in feeding a growing and hungry world population. And Jansen, the world’s best undeveloped potash resource, is capable of supporting a mine with capacity of 10 million tonnes a year for more than 50 years.

There is a significant opportunity to create stronger business ties through potash development in Saskatchewan, which would strengthen long-term certainty for business, as well as create new platforms from which Aboriginal communities can thrive.

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Sudbury mine layoffs reduced – by Carol Mulligan
(Sudbury Star – February 26, 2014)

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

Even one job layoff is one too many, says the area co-ordinator for United Steelworkers. But representatives with KGHM International and USW Local 2020 have worked together to pare down what could have been the loss of 70 unionized jobs at KGHM’s McCreedy West Mine to 25 layoffs.

The company gave employees notice in January as many as 70 production and maintenance workers could lose their jobs at Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (Glencore Xstrata) exercised a 30-day cancellation clause in its commercial contract with KGHM to process McCreedy West nickel ore.

KGHM spokeswoman Kristina Howe said Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations indicated its processing facilities were at capacity and that it had a surface capacity, so it didn’t require additional custom feed ore. 
Myles Sullivan, USW area co-ordinator, said the company and the union had until Feb. 16 to figure out how to minimize job losses caused by that contract cancellation.

Some employees were given buyouts, “contractors are gone” and “a few hiccups” are still being worked out, said Sullivan, but no more job losses are expected at this time.

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Province mum on Capreol refinery – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – February 25, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Uncertain future for the project tied to Cliffs involvement in the Ring of Fire

The province has been silent on the future of a proposed $1.8-billion refinery in Capreol, that would have been tied to Cliffs Natural Resources’ involvement in the Ring of Fire.

Cliffs stopped work on its $3.3-billion Ring of Fire development in 2013 due to a number of major hurdles. Those included a lack of agreements with First Nations in the area, and a lost appeal to the Ontario Mining Commission late last year that would have allowed the company an easement on the property to begin planning the necessary infrastructure.

When asked about the future for the planned refinery in Capreol, Michael Gravelle, Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development and Mines, said the province needs to make decisions on transportation and infrastructure in the Ring of Fire before it can move on to proposed projects like the refinery.

“They are one company,” Gravelle said about Cliffs. “There are other companies with very specific proposals and interests in the Ring of Fire.” Junior miner KWG Resources Inc. owns land in the Ring of Fire area that could be used for a transportation corridor.

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Vale Sees Nickel Over $20,000 a Ton on Indonesia Ban – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – February 25, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Nickel will climb significantly in 2015 and may advance to more than $20,000 a metric ton in the next few years because of Indonesia’s ban on ore exports, said Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s second-biggest producer.

The restrictions that Indonesia put in place last month probably won’t be eased, Peter Poppinga, executive director for base metals at the Rio de Janeiro-based company, said in a Feb. 21 interview. Big price movements are unlikely this year because of the high level of stockpiles in China, he said.

The largest nickel-ore producer banned the export of unprocessed ores in January as it tries to transform itself into a maker of higher-value products. Nickel, used to make stainless steel, climbed 3 percent this year, beating all other base metals in London as Barclays Plc forecast that the curb will help to shift the global market to a deficit from 2015. Vale last week opened its Totten nickel mine in Ontario after investing about C$760 million ($686 million) in the project.

“Next year I see the nickel price jumping quite significantly,” Poppinga said in the interview at the mine. “It is about Indonesia today, everybody knows that. The ore ban is in place and it’s holding, and I think the authorities in Indonesia are very reasonable and very serious about that.”

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EXCLUSIVE-Small miners size up mergers, deals may be elusive -Reuters survey – by Allison Martell and Euan Rocha (Reuters India – February 25, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

Feb 25 (Reuters) – Many of the small Canadian-listed mineral explorers that supply global major miners with new projects are considering merging with peers, according to a Reuters survey, but for most it may be tough to close deals.

Just over half the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture-listed miners and explorers that participated in the Reuters survey said they are at least somewhat likely to announce a “merger of equals” over the coming 12 months, but only a handful said such a deal is “very likely.”

Out of favor with investors, most explorers – or junior miners – badly need cash. And the few with strong balance sheets figure there must be some great deals around. Several industry leaders have argued that consolidation could fix the sector.

But such discussions often come to a halt when executives at target companies realize that they will have to sell cheap. Some stocks have dropped more than 90 percent over the last two years, and bids reflect the low valuations.

“The guys running these small companies are promoters. They’re dreamers, and they’ll hang in until the cows come home,” said Tom Caldwell, head of brokerage and wealth manager Caldwell Securities. “Most would rather hang in there and end up with $10 in the treasury and start the game all over again in two years.”

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Top 10 gold miners losing billions – but are they really? – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – February 25, 2014)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Massive impairments suggest the world’s top 10 gold miners are in serious trouble, but this is just a financial accounting mechanism and doesn’t really adversely affect day to day operations and earnings.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – Based on recent headlines, non-financially-aware observer could be forgiven for thinking mining gold is a sure way to lose money, not to make it. Take the following batch from Mineweb over the past couple of weeks: Barrick cuts reserves 26%; reports $10.34 billion loss. Goldcorp reports $2.71 billion loss; cuts reserves 15%. Newmont Mining reports $2.5 billion loss for 2013.

Kinross Gold reports $3B loss: 33% cut in GEO reserves – to name the most recent. Overall, the world’s top 5 gold miners between them made book losses of some $20.8 billion in 2013. The smaller members of the Top 10 gold mining club who have reported to date all also made book losses, but not quite on the same scale, commensurate with their smaller outputs.

What may surprise the unsophisticated observer is that despite these enormous book losses, the companies have mostly still been able to pay dividends to shareholders, and also, in most cases, their stock prices are substantially higher than they were in December last year due to the rise in the gold price over this period.

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France targets Africa with new $550m state mining company – by Frik Els (Mining.com – February 25, 2014)

http://www.mining.com/

France plans to invest up to €400 million ($548 million) in a new state-owned mining company called Compagnie National des Mines de France (CMF).

The investment which will be spread out over five to seven years marks the establishment of the European nation’s first new state-owned industrial enterprise in 20 years.

CMF will be built around the same model as Japan’s Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) which was created a decade ago on February 29, 2004 and has an annual budget of $150 million.

France’s Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM) and the Agency for State Participation (EPA) will also be shareholders in CMF.

CMF’s exploration activities will focus on specialty metals including lithium, germanium, tungsten, antimony and rare earths inside France and around the globe including former colonies in Africa and South America.

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Augusta Resource rejects key permitting claim from hostile bidder HudBay – by Peter Koven (National Post – February 25, 2014)

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

The takeover battle between HudBay Minerals Inc. and Augusta Resource Corp. hinges on a key question: how far is Augusta from getting its permits?

When Toronto-based HudBay made its $428-million hostile bid for Augusta two weeks ago, it said Augusta’s management is being “overly optimistic” about when it will receive required permits for its Rosemont copper project in Arizona. Augusta expects to get its last permit by the end of the second quarter, allowing it to move right to construction.

Augusta formally rejected the HudBay bid on Monday, and in doing so, it provided a detailed breakdown of its permitting in order to convince investors that the timing for that final permit really is imminent.

The HudBay bid was launched “right before transformational events — events that our shareholders have been anticipating for years,” chief executive Gil Clausen said on a conerence call.

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Illegal mining getting out of control – Shabangu – by Leandi Kolver (MiningWeekly.com – February 21, 2014)

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Illegal mining in South Africa was getting out of control with about 6 000 people estimated to be involved in the practice of illegal underground mining and another 8 000 in illegal surface mining, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said on Friday.

She pointed out that it was estimated that, in 2011, illegal mining subtracted about R6-billion from the country’s fiscus, adding that as the practice grew this figure would also grow and, therefore, it was something that had to be dealt with.

Shabangu on Friday met with local stakeholders, aiming to establish a local Ekurhuleni illegal mining forum, including unions, mining industry players, the Metro Police, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Home Affairs.

After the meeting, she told media that while there was a Gauteng provincial forum on illegal mining, it was “not really moving in a way that helps us to take this process [forward] and deal with the matter decisively” and, therefore, the decision to set up the Ekurhuleni forum was made.

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Dover oil sands deal with Fort McKay band raises the bar for future projects – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – February 25, 2014)

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

In an agreement worked out after almost two years of negotiations, Alberta’s Fort McKay band didn’t get the buffer zone it was seeking to protect an area of great aboriginal significance.

What it got is a commitment it believes will achieve the same outcome — plus a broader lesson for the oil sands industry: Invest the time to work with First Nations on energy projects.

“If they come with the position that this is what we want, it’s going to be our way, and we are going to get all the approvals we need … I think that is the wrong approach,” Alvaro Pinto, chief negotiator for the Alberta community, said in an interview. “The more proactive you are in working with First Nations, the more creative you are in finding solutions together. That is what is necessary.”

The Fort McKay community, Brion Energy Corp., and Athabasca Oil Corp. reached an agreement late Friday to develop the Dover oil sands project after a meeting in the community near Fort McMurray between Fort McKay chief Jim Boucher; Zhiming Li, president and CEO of Brion, majority owned by PetroChina; and Sveinung Svarte, CEO of Athabasca.

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Is Hudak’s ‘million jobs’ plan the economic shock Ontario needs? – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – February 23, 2014)

http://www.ottawasun.com/home

TORONTO – A million jobs: Is it myth or miracle. That’s the question PC leader Tim Hudak was asked as he introduced his “Million Jobs Act” in the legislature last week.

I posed that question to economists.The province’s manufacturing sector is dying. We’ve lost 300,000 jobs over the last 10 years. Big companies such as Heinz and Kelloggs are pulling out daily. University of Calgary Professor Jack Mintz said he’s not sure public policy alone will create a million jobs. Other factors, such as the world economy, play a big part.

Mintz figures this province needs a kick start.“I think Ontario needs a shock in the positive sense. It’s dragging. It needs a serious look at the restructured role it’s going to have,” he said. “I think he (Hudak) has the right focus, which is to say,’ How can we get more economic growth and more jobs?’

“Whether he can create a million jobs or not is another story,” he added. Hudak’s plan to get energy costs under control makes sense, Mintz said. “I think the energy file is in a mess in Ontario and needs to be fixed. It’s going in the wrong direction right now and it’s going to make Ontario very uncompetitive,” he said.

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MINT: The Next Economic Giants – by Jim O’Neill (BBC Radio 4 – January 2014)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Economist Jim O’Neill was the first to spot the huge potential of the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and predict how the world would change. In this landmark series, Jim travels to four countries which could one day stand alongside them and join the world’s economic elite. Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey – MINT – could become the new name on people’s lips, and further overturn the old world order.

For the four-part radio espisodes, click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pn2h6/episodes/guide

Mexico

Mexico’s hope of becoming the workshop of North America was shattered by China’s domination of cheap exports, but recently, the Mexican dream is in sight again. As Beijing opts for “quality not quantity” of growth, companies are returning, drawn by competitive labour and proximity to the US market. In the first part of a landmark series, the economist Jim O’Neill travels across Mexico to investigate. He discovers that its ambitions now go far beyond cheap manufacturing. But can Mexico’s youthful, reforming government overcome the challenges of widespread poverty, crime and a huge number of people living outside the formal economy?

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