Republic of Mining

Message to the oilpatch: beware Neil Young – by Eugene Lang (Toronto Star – February 9, 2014)

February 10, 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.

For 45 years Neil Young has periodically entered the political fray by writing influential protest songs that shine a light on injustice.

“Tin soldiers and Nixon coming.” To baby boomers this is a familiar lyric from one of the most influential political songs of their youth. “Ohio,” as the song is simply titled, is an elegy for four student protesters who were shot dead by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in 1970 National Guard at Kent State University in 1970. It is an anti-government rallying cry for a generation of Americans that was penned and sung by a Canadian — Neil Young.

For 45 years Young has been in the business of periodically entering big political debates and writing conscience-ridden anthems aimed primarily at his adopted America. He does so sparingly, when he is truly enraged by injustices he sees around him. Mostly he’s been on the right side of history. Almost always his protest songs have been influential and popular if not major hits.

It was Neil Young who reminded Americans that official racism remained alive and well in the south years after the passage of the Civil Right and Voting Rights Acts.

From Warheads to Cheap Energy – by William J. Broad (New York Times – January 27, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

Thomas L. Neff’s Idea Turned Russian Warheads Into American Electricity

As the Cold War ended in the late 1980s and early ’90s, a new fear arose amid the rejoicing and relief: that atomic security might fail in the disintegrating Soviet Union, allowing its huge stockpile of nuclear warheads to fall into unfriendly hands.

The jitters intensified in late 1991, as Moscow announced plans to store thousands of weapons from missiles and bombers in what experts viewed as decrepit bunkers, policed by impoverished guards of dubious reliability.

Many officials and scientists worried. Few knew what to do. That is when Thomas L. Neff, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hit on his improbable idea: Why not let Moscow sell the uranium from its retired weapons and dilute it into fuel for electric utilities in the United States, giving Russians desperately needed cash and Americans a cheap source of power?

Last month, Dr. Neff’s idea came to a happy conclusion as the last shipment of uranium from Russia arrived in the United States.

Sweeping change across China’s Inner Mongolia – by Martin Patience (BBC News – February 5, 2014)

February 10, 2014

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

Inner Mongolia, China – Traditional music floated across the freezing grasslands that stretched far into the distance. Inner Mongolia is China’s strategic frontier and home to its Mongolian ethnic minority.

They are the descendants of the Mongol warrior, Genghis Khan, who on horseback eight centuries ago swept across much of Asia, creating one of the world’s greatest empires. Today, the Mongolians still celebrate their traditions at nadaams – or traditional games.

Hundreds watched as a train of camels swept into a small stadium on the grasslands, their hooves kicking up the snow. Some of the animals pulled wooden sleighs with children sitting in them.

They were ridden by Mongolian herdsmen wearing traditional blue, green and red lambskin outfits to protect them from the bitter winter cold. Throughout the day, the crowd watched camel racing, archery on horseback, and traditional wrestling. But most of this was for show. The nomadic way of life is fast disappearing.

Price tag on future pollution underlies PolyMet mine debate – by Josephine Marcotty (Minneapolis Star Tribune – February 9, 2014)

February 10, 2014

http://www.startribune.com/

State is trying to set size of PolyMet’s financial guarantee. Beneath the controversy over Minnesota’s first proposed copper mine lurks a hundred-million-dollar question: How much would it cost to protect the state from water pollution, environmental calamities and mining company bankruptcies that could occur decades, even centuries, after the mine opens?

The answer could make or break the project proposed by PolyMet Mining Corp. for Minnesota’s Iron Range, and it will be front and center at the State Capitol on Tuesday, as the state’s top mining regulators testify at a hearing on how much “financial assurance” might be necessary to protect future generations of taxpayers from a new and risky type of mining. The short answer for now is: They don’t know.

If the mine goes forward, they will have to walk a perilous line. If they ask PolyMet to post too large a financial guarantee, the project may not attract the next $450 million in investment PolyMet is seeking — jeopardizing a plan that could bring hundreds of mining and construction jobs to northern Minnesota. If they ask for too little, then taxpayers someday may have to pay the price of polluting one of the most beautiful corners of the state.

“Our concern is not so much whether PolyMet is profitable or not,” said Jess Richards, director of lands and minerals for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the agency that is leading the environmental review.

A vision for the Ring of Fire: 2014 Top 5 Northern Leaders: Frank Smeenk – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 2014)

February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

KWG Resources’ President-CEO Frank Smeenk (Photo by Stan Sudol)

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.

Call them the little chromite mouse that roared. Cliffs Natural Resources has grabbed the Ring of Fire spotlight over the last five years, but it’s been the strategic and shrewd moves of KWG Resources’ president-CEO Frank Smeenk that’s now placed the Toronto-based junior miner at centre stage.

While the company’s scheme for a low-cost model to develop the rich mineral deposits in the remote James Bay region was either deemed not credible or totally ignored at Queen’s Park, KWG has emerged with possibly the only solution to develop the mineral deposits in the Far North and establish Ontario as a global leader in chromite production.

The company has the only viable and secured route to haul potentially millions of tonnes of chromite ore out of Ontario’s Far North for perhaps many generations to come.

The legwork they did back in 2009 to use mining claims to stake a 328-kilometre-long corridor for a future railroad was done out of practical necessity, but it’s had wider ramifications.

“Getting stranded deposits to market is a movie I’ve seen a few times before in Canada,” said Smeenk, a lawyer by training with close to 27 years in the resource industry. “It was the obvious thing to do.”

The area has no transportation infrastructure to speak of.

[South Africa platinum] Mining has to get its Act together – by Lynley Donnelly (Mail & Guardian – February 7, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://mg.co.za/ [South Africa]

The issue of labour representation is central to the problems in the industry. The protracted strike by 70 000 mineworkers was the platinum elephant in the room at the 2014 Mining Indaba in Cape Town this week.

The volatile labour environment has become a major concern for companies and investors alike. Industry experts argued that, unless there is a major shift in industrial relations and the legacy of socioeconomic deprivation faced by mineworkers is meaningfully dealt with, South Africa’s mining sector will continue to suffer.

The opening speech by Minister of Mineral Resources Susan Shabangu provided little reassurance, failing to “decisively address continuing labour-relations challenges in the mining sector, especially the platinum sector”, Tony Zoghby, a partner at the professional services firm Deloitte, said.

Presenters at a discussion held by the South African Institute for International Affairs said violent strikes would persist if the labour relations framework did not become more democratic and miners’ living conditions were not addressed.

Goldcorp using analytics to reduce harm – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – February 6, 2014)

February 7, 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.

Goldcorp is undertaking a new kind of mining designed to improve the health and safety record across its operations. Data mining is the process of using analytics to find patterns or trends in data that can help predict outcomes and shape future actions.

Teaming up with financial advising firm Deloitte, Goldcorp undertook a pilot project to examine data gleaned from its Porcupine Gold Mine in Timmins. The goal was to help identify situations in which workers would be more vulnerable to being part of a serious accident.

“What we want to understand is why are some people more likely to put themselves in a situation where they’re vulnerable to something bad happening versus other people?” said Paul Farrow, Goldcorp’s senior vice-president for people and safety. “How can we change our training, our coaching, our leadership development programs to eliminate or, at a minimum, reduce that probability?”

Farrow said 90 per cent of the data examined already exists. Every mine keeps production and safety data, he noted. Analytics help find correlations amongst them.

Osisko-Goldcorp battle turns bitter (Northern Miner – February 6, 2014)

February 7, 2014

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

VANCOUVER – How quickly relationships between potential partners can sour.

For more than five years Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) and Goldcorp (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) considered joining forces in a series of meeting that gained momentum as Osisko finished building and commissioning one of the world’s largest gold mines.

The Canadian Malartic mine in Quebec produced 475,277 oz. gold in 2013 at an average cash of $760 per oz. According to Osisko’s calculations, only 13 of the 55 gold mines owned by North America’s five largest gold miners produced more, and Osisko expects production to increase and costs to decline at Malartic in 2014.

Goldcorp is one of those five gold majors and it wants Malartic. The mine sits on more than 10 million oz. of gold reserves in a low-cost, politically stable environment, making it precisely the kind of asset gold majors are seeking today.

Goldcorp’s interest in Osisko is no secret. Osisko and Goldcorp talked informally but regularly between 2008 and 2012, a relationship that led to three separate takeover bids that Osisko rejected as inadequate.

Northern College Aboriginal grads working in mining – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – February 6, 2014)

February 7, 2014

Northern College is experiencing another successful milestone in its legacy of miner training: nearly all recent graduates of its hard rock miner common core program are working, two-thirds of which have found employment in the Kirkland Lake area.

The success is thanks to a partnership between the college and AuRico Gold, which operates the Young-Davidson Mine 60 kilometres west of Kirkland Lake. Though the college has offered similar programs through partnerships with other mining companies in the past, this program is unique in that it was funded by the Mushkegowuk and Wabun Tribal councils and geared specifically towards Aboriginal students.

“With all the opportunities in mining and all the IBAs (impact benefit agreements), there are new opportunities there for the Aboriginal communities that weren’t there in the past,” said Bob Mack, Northern College’s vice-president of community, business development and employment services.

South Africa: Landmark Silicosis Case Reaches a Milestone – by Sibusiso Tshabalala (All Africa.com – February 6, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://allafrica.com/

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) hosted a special event on 5 February 2014 to highlight its landmark silicosis case and the implications for future legislative and policy reform in South Africa. The meeting took place as part of the 5th Alternative Mining Indaba.

For ten years, the Legal Resources Centre has represented 24 former miners who worked for Anglo American Mines. The miners, who come from some of Southern Africa’s most rural areas, had worked in Anglo American mines between 1970 and 2000 and had contracted silicosis.

Silicosis is an incurable but preventable lung disease. It is caused by prolonged and severe inhalation of silica dust particles.

The prevalence of silicosis in South African mines can be traced back as early as 1903 to the Miners’ Phthisis Commission (Milner’s Commission) which deplored the unsanitary underground conditions in the mines as being “conducive to contracting infectious diseases”.

China returns to hunt for African mine assets – by Andrew England and Javier Blas (Financial Times – February 7, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Cape Town – China is making a return to African mining after a hiatus of nearly two years – seeking out new copper, iron ore and uranium deposits in a sign that Beijing is still a keen investor in the continent’s industry.

However, executives and bankers attending the annual Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town – the biggest of its kind in Africa – have warned that China is unlikely to spend large sums solely to secure a flow of commodities, as it did until 2012. Instead, they said Beijing was more likely to buy smaller assets offering strong financial returns and raw materials.

“Selectively, yes, they [the Chinese] are coming,” said Michael Rawlinson, co-head of mining and metals at Barclays. “Some of their acquisition vehicles are on the hunt.” Since the beginning of the year, deals have started to flow: China National Nuclear Corporation has taken a large stake in one of Africa’s largest uranium mines in Namibia for nearly $200m, and China National Gold is in final talks to buy a copper mine in Congo.

Rajat Kohli, head of mining and metals at Standard Bank, which is 20 per cent owned by ICBC, China’s largest bank, said: “The clear message . . . from state-owned enterprises and some of the better established private companies is that they are open for business to Africa.”

‘Unlikely Radicals’ exposes the toxic Adams Mine Dump War – by Meg Borthwick (Rabble.ca – February 6, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://rabble.ca/

Everyone loves a good David vs. Goliath story and Unlikely Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War by Charlie Angus is as good as it gets. Centred on the campaign to keep Toronto’s garbage from being dumped in a decommissioned Northern Ontario mine, Unlikely Radicals isn’t just a story about the rural north vs. the urban south, it’s a story about the politicization of ordinary people — including Angus himself.

In the late 1990s Charlie Angus, NDP Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay (and current Official Opposition Critic for Ethics), “believed that organized politics was the domain of stuffy old men.” The former Toronto activist and punk rock musician was living in Cobalt, a town of fewer than 1,500 people in the heart of Northern Ontario’s historic Mining District. It was also part of the Timiskaming District, “ground zero” for the Adams Mine dump war, the fight to keep Toronto’s garbage from being dumped in the environmentally sensitive region.

Backgrounder: How Toronto reached critical load

In 1989 Dofasco, a steel company based in Hamilton, announced the closure of the 8000 acre Adams Mine site. For the mining-dependant local population, the closure spelled economic disaster and as a community facing massive job loss they were tremendously vulnerable.

Ontario-NAN agreement needed for [Ring of Fire] project ‘reboot’ – by Bill Gallagher (Onotassiniik Magazine – February 2014)

February 7, 2014

Onotassiniik Magazine is Wawatay’s Mining Quarterly: http://www.onotassiniik.com/

Lakehead University appears to have filled a gap in bringing together key perspectives in its attempt to ‘reboot’ the Ring of Fire. The university’s Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Mining and Exploration in December hosted a conference about the role of government policy in sustainable mining development.

My presentation at the conference was a strategic, follow-the-evidence approach of Cliffs Natural Resources’ Black Thor project in the Ring of Fire and major projects elsewhere that had likewise tumbled into the project ‘death zone,’ and what these parallels now meant for the Ring of Fire. In my view, that Ring of Fire project is now gone for 10 years and before it comes back, shaping the window of opportunity for its return has to be the priority of all pro-development policy makers, business leaders, politicians and strategists.

Contrary to popular opinion, I drew attention to the fact that the ‘elephant in the room’ was none other than Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), which represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario. I said it was delusional for Ring of Fire planners to think that if only Cliffs could get Matawa tribal council on board, we would be off to the races.

Indeed, it will take the support of way more than Matawa’s nine First Nations (which are also members of NAN) to reboot the Ring of Fire, as supply lines, hydro sites and transmission, rail and road, concentrate processing, and environmental cumulative impacts are broader, deal-making factors. Simply, all these factors make developing the Ring of Fire a pan-northern resource extraction process.

Goldcorp executive says standstill with Osisko was never discussed at key meeting – by Peter Koven and Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – February 7, 2014)

February 7, 2014

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

TORONTO and MONTREAL – As Goldcorp Inc. sees it, Osisko Mining Corp.’s lawsuit is based on a flawed analysis of a throwaway conversation that lasted less than a minute.

In fact, Goldcorp denies Osisko’s claim that a standstill agreement was even discussed in this conversation, much less agreed to.

Osisko launched the lawsuit last week to try to get the Quebec Superior Court to block a $2.6-billion hostile bid from Goldcorp. The key allegation is that Goldcorp misused confidential information when it made the bid.

It all revolves around a meeting the companies held last October at the Delta Calgary Airport Hotel.

The two miners held on-and-off merger talks since 2008, but this was a crucial meeting in which Montreal-based Osisko was prepared to hand over private data about its Canadian Malartic mine in Quebec. The companies were bound by a confidentiality agreement at the time, but a standstill agreement had expired, meaning Goldcorp could make a hostile bid.

Indonesia miners must pay smelter cash guarantee -govt officials – by Wilda Asmarini (Reuters India – February 7, 2014)

February 7, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JAKARTA – Feb 7 (Reuters) – Miners with smelter plans in Indonesia will have to pay a financial guarantee to prove they are serious about building domestic metal-processing plants, said mining ministry officials.

The move indicates the Southeast Asian nation may be unwilling to significantly roll back or make major concessions in its mining policy that have ground ore and concentrate exports to a complete halt.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last month imposed new mining rules, including a controversial mineral ore export ban and progressive export taxes on concentrates, aimed at forcing miners to build smelters and process their raw materials in Indonesia.

The policies have forced U.S. miners Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Newmont Mining Corp to halt all exports, as both firms say the export tax breaches their mining contracts and it is not economically viable to make such large smelter investments in Indonesia.

High level executives from both companies have been involved in talks with the government over the tax and building of smelters, and a breakthrough now looks a distant prospect.