Republic of Mining

Vale fined $1M in Sudbury miners’ deaths – CBC News Sudbury (September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Vale Canada Ltd. fined $1,050,00 after 2 workers fatally injured in 2011

Mining giant Vale Canada has been fined more than $1 million in connection with a double fatality in 2011 in which miners were buried in a torrent of mud. Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram were killed when wet mud and ore flooded the tunnel where they were working at Vale’s Stobie Mine in Sudbury, Ont., on June 8, 2011.

Chenier and Fram were working in an ore pass at the 3000 foot level, transferring broken rock and ore upwards when there was a sudden release of muck, sand and water. The run of muck came through a transfer gate, burying one working and hitting another causing massive crush injuries.

The Ministry of Labour laid charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in the accident after finding there had been a blockage of wet muck in the ore pass. It also said Vale had failed to deal with earlier water issues in the mine. The company was fined $1,050,000, the highest fine ever given under the health and safety act, by an Ontario court.

Guest post: more super, less cycle for commodities prices – by Paul Bloxham (Financial Times – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

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

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/

Paul Bloxham is HSBC’s chief economist for Australia and New Zealand

Commodity prices have been broadly steady over the past year. This is despite China’s slowdown, fears of Federal Reserve tapering and nervousness about the emerging economies. Indeed, commodity prices are still over 120 per cent above their 1990s levels, in inflation-adjusted terms. This may have surprised some observers, particularly those expecting the end of the so-called commodities super-cycle and forecasting large commodity price declines. So far, it has not happened.

For some time now, our view has been that commodity prices will stay at much higher levels than in the late 20th century. While we expect strong mining investment to boost supply in coming years and keep commodity prices below their 2008 peak levels,we still think prices will stay structurally high. In short, the so-called super-cycle may be more super and less cycle.

Two elements drive our commodity prices outlook, the first empirical, the second theoretical. Empirically, history shows us that commodity prices are not in fact exceptionally high right now. Rather, they were exceptionally low in the 1980s and 1990s. Data for the past 150 years reveal that real commodity prices are actually currently around their long run average levels.

Scrap your career plans for Wall Street, study agriculture and mining instead: Jim Rogers – by Anthony Halley (Mining.com – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://www.mining.com/

The US economy is no longer producing anything and the finance industry is completely saturated, presenting a unique opportunity for young people to study agriculture and mining, Jim Rogers told a crowd at a recent public appearance:

The event’s moderator began by quoting Rogers to himself:

“Scrap career plans for Wall Street or the City, London’s financial district, and study agriculture and mining instead. Power is shifting again from financial centres to the producers of real goods. The place to be is in commodities: raw materials and natural resources.”

After hearing the quotes, Rogers asked who had done the “homework” for the event, suggesting that they deserve a raise.

VALE STATEMENT REGARDING RESOLUTION OF CHARGES UNDER THE ONTARIO OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT STEMMING FROM THE FATALITIES AT STOBIE MINE IN JUNE 2011

September 17, 2013

For Immediate Release

SUDBURY, September 17, 2013 – This afternoon, Vale and Crown prosecutors representing the Ministry of Labour agreed to a resolution of charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection to the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram at Stobie Mine in 2011. As part of this resolution, Vale entered a guilty plea on three counts, and agreed to a fine of $1,050,000 plus a 25% surcharge.

Kelly Strong, Vale’s Vice President of Ontario/UK Operations, released the following statement on behalf of Vale with respect to this matter:

“The deaths of Jason and Jordan have been extremely difficult for everyone involved, but no one more so than the families. Although the court proceedings have now been concluded, as a Company we cannot and will not ever forget what happened. We have a responsibility to the families, our employees, our Company and our community – all of whom have been deeply affected – to ensure we do everything we can to prevent this or any other tragedy from occurring in our operations again.

There is no higher priority than the safety of our people. We have concentrated significant efforts and resources on understanding what happened at Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011, and we have come very far in terms of implementing the recommendations that were made following this incident.

Investors turn up the heat on Barrick for boardroom change – by Jacqueline Nelson (Globe and Mail – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

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.

Some investors are seeking reform in Barrick Gold Corp.’s boardroom and want the company to hasten the transfer of power from co-chairman Peter Munk, according to a published report.

In the most recent sign of tensions at the world’s largest gold miner, about 10 shareholders based in Europe will soon send the board of directors a letter to push for faster changes, the Wall Street Journal said, citing sources close to the company.

“Some directors have sought change at a faster pace than others have been comfortable with,” the report said. The Journal said director Robert Franklin planned to give up his board seat if some new directors weren’t appointed.

Earlier this year, a group of seven major pension funds took issue with the beleaguered gold producer’s board after a large sum was paid to Mr. Munk’s co-chairman, John Thornton.

More than 85 per cent of the company’s stakeholders did not approve of the $17-million payout to Mr. Thornton, voting against it and other multimillion-dollar payments to board members, including Mr. Munk.

Cutting Risks to Move Forward: Agnico Eagle leads Nunavut into modern mining era – by Bill Braden (Canadian Mining Journal – September 2013)

September 17, 2013

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

February 24, 2010, was a big day for Agnico Eagle Mines Limited’s Meadowbank project, as Board chairman Jim Nasso, flanked by Inuit business and community leaders, watched the first pour of molten gold and silver doré from the roaring refractory furnace at the $700 million project.

Nasso passed that still-warm ingot among his guests, and later among the hundreds of excited workers who posed to have a photo with it. President and CEO Sean Boyd toasted their work at a gala mine site dinner with glasses of gold-flecked champagne and news that gold bullion that very day had touched a new record of $1,260 an ounce on world markets.

Before the Meadowbank mine was launched in 2010, the vast Kivalliq region of Nunavut hadn’t seen an operating mine for 25 years. But it has been the engine of a new economy, creating hundreds of jobs and fostered millions of dollars in business ventures for a cluster of small Inuit communities with very few other career opportunities.

For its veteran parent company, the mine’s $1 million-a-day output is the biggest in its portfolio of five mines in Canada, Mexico and Finland, making Agnico Eagle Canada’s fifth largest gold producer at $US1.8 billion in revenue last year.

Oil superpowers and their growth towers – by Peter Tertzakian (Globe and Mail – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

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.

Bakken, Permian, or Cardium? Where is all this oil coming from? New production from brittle, oil-bearing rocks in North America – otherwise known as light, tight oil – has been impressive. Yet that’s not all. A wider glance at the world of oil reveals a lot more new barrels coming to market. Other regions are busy pumping up capacity too – for instance, the Canadian oil sands and Iraq are notable for their scale.

Process differences are also important to highlight. Pulverizing subterranean rocks with fracking equipment isn’t the only way to deliver another million barrels a day. Mining and steaming bitumen in northern Alberta works too. Drilling good ol’ vertical wells into virgin Middle Eastern geology is proving to add a lot of capacity in Iraq.

Our feature chart this week shows towers of growth for 11 regions in three countries: the United States, Canada and Iraq. Each tower represents average oil output spanning 2005 to 2013 (the current year is estimated). The number at the top of each tower diarizes the change in output over the nine-year period.

Across all its oil fields, the United States is currently pumping a total 7.2 million barrels a day (MMB/d), up a remarkable 2.0 in less than a decade.

Gold is plentiful, getting it is painful – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – September 2013)

September 17, 2013

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

Gold is always an interesting topic to feature in the magazine because regardless of what it’s doing on the Commodity Index, it seems that everyone wants to read about who’s still producing, or who’s going broke trying to find it?

A few years ago when it was deemed to become a $2,000.00 mineral, gold companies were boasting about their vast reserves and how rich their investors were about to become over the next few months and years ahead. Now, however, with production costs reaching or, in some cases, surpassing the value of the product, many of those same companies have gone dark and silent.

And that’s understandable. After all, it’s a hard thing to accept that what was once a sure thing isn’t worth the effort anymore; even with all of those grams still in the ground.

In fact, anyone involved with gold mining will tell you that it’s one of the toughest minerals to find, and the costs associated with recovering and processing it are among the highest in the entire mining world. And what’s more, the hit-and-miss odds of finding gold, as compared with iron ore, coal and certainly potash, are stacked in Mother Nature’s favour. Quite simply, she hides and protects the stuff really well.

COLUMN-Australia’s coal industry enters the final stage of grief – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – August 14, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 14 (Reuters) – Australian coal miners have been in mourning over the rapid loss of profitability and expansion opportunities, but the industry is entering the final stage of the grieving process.

The five stages of grief, as described by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross on how people face events like terminal illness, are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

While not all of the attendees at the annual Coaltrans Australia conference this week have got past the depression stage, most were looking at how the industry deals with the reality of its myriad of issues.

These include an apparent structural shift to lower prices for the foreseeable future, rising public opposition to mining on the back of a well-funded and organised environmental lobby, lack of capital available for new projects, still high labour costs and an increasing burden of government red and green tape.

The coal miners have limited influence over most of these issues, but they appear to be making concerted efforts to change what they can in a bid to strengthen their position and make sure Australia remains the world’s biggest exporter of coking coal and number two in thermal coal.

A pitch for higher level of Ring review – by by Karen Peterson (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – September 16, 2013)

September 17, 2013

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Karen A. Peterson is a consultant in planning, development and impact assessment and a member of Environment North.

Northern Ontario is poised for development, anticipating a multi-billion dollar mining industry and the creation of thousands of jobs. To plan for a sustainable future and to avoid irreversible consequences, an Environmental Assessment (EA) at the highest level of scrutiny is in order.

Review panels are established when the potential for significant impacts is high and/or when serious public concerns are being raised. Although serious concerns are continually being raised regarding the adequacy of the current Comprehensive EA Study to address the magnitude of issues in the Ring of Fire, government has yet to bump up the process to the scrutiny of a Joint Review.

Joint Review Panels are set up when decisions are required by both the federal government and another jurisdiction to avoid duplication. Joint Reviews offer the most comprehensive analysis and public participation. The federal minister of environment, in collaboration with their jurisdictional counterpart, appoints a group of independent experts to conduct the Joint Review in relation to a set of guidelines.

Northern Promise: Mining projects spark much-needed Sept-Îles port expansion – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – September 17, 2013)

September 18, 2013September 17, 2013

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

Northern Promise is a six-part series that explores the pace and progress of development in Canada’s remote communities. In this fifth instalment, Nicolas Van Praet explores mining projects in northern Quebec

SEPT-ÎLES, Que. – The sun is setting on a cool September evening in this northern Quebec port town and three cargo ships sit anchored in the half-moon bay.

From this distance several kilometres away, the ocean-going freighters look like giant match sticks waiting to be struck. Above them, storm clouds hang like a menacing hook and behind, you can sketch the outline of North America’s biggest primary aluminum smelter — Alouette, its hill-perched electrolytic pots powered by transmission wires stretching from Hydro Quebec’s massive Churchill Falls hydroelectric facility.

Sept-Îles, named for the seven-island archipelago that fronts the bay, is a 10-km wide natural harbour in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence some 650-km downriver from Quebec City. The waters here are deep, plunging down as much as 80 metres, and they’re free of ice for year-round passage — a huge advantage for commodity producers getting their goods to market.

Indonesia’s widening deficit takes toll on resource nationalism drive – by Fergus Jensen and Randy Fabi (Reuters India – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Indonesian policymakers are scrambling to ease nationalistic resource rules that threaten to slash mining exports from January and potentially widen a current account deficit already at a near-record high.

The deficit, which reached $9.8 billion in the second quarter, or more than 4 percent of GDP, has become enemy No. 1 for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration, and any policies that worsen the situation have come under fire.

Regulations initially passed more than a year ago to allow Indonesia to seize more control over its natural resources are being reviewed as the government looks to bolster exports to offset a bulging import bill.

“For exports, this is an emergency,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik told reporters recently. “What is important is that the balance of imports and exports improves for our country.”

The trade deficit in July widened to a record $2.31 billion from $880 million the previous month due to a spike in oil imports. The trade balance along with investment income make up Indonesia’s current account deficit.

Will Pebble Project’s growing risks cloud investor rewards? – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

More bad news for Northern Dynasty’s massive, but struggling Pebble copper-gold-silver-moly project as the deep-pocketed Anglo American announces it is leaving the Pebble Partnership.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The withdrawal of Anglo American from one of the most controversial mining projects in the United States, the Pebble Project in Alaska, should not come as a major surprise to those who have following the project since 2001, the year it was acquired by Northern Dynasty Minerals. Anglo American would become a 50/50 partner in the massive project in 2007.

On Monday, however, Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani—who is definitely no dummy when it comes to determining project feasibility—said: “Despite our belief that Pebble is a deposit of rare magnitude and quality, we have taken the decision to withdraw following a thorough assessment of Anglo American’s extensive pipeline of long-dated project options.”

“We wish the project well through its forthcoming permitting process and express our thanks to all those who have supported Pebble and who recognize the opportunities and benefits that such an investment may bring to Alaska,” he added. Anglo will take a $300 million writedown on its Pebble investment.

Tories would speed up development of Ring of Fire, says Tim Hudak – by Richard J. Brennan (Toronto Star – September 17, 2013)

September 17, 2013

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.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak is promising to release northern Ontario from the shackles that have prevented it from reaching its economic potential.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak promises to release northern Ontario from provincial shackles that he says have prevented it from reaching its full economic potential. In his party’s latest policy paper, Hudak said a Progressive Conservative government would speed up development of the Ring of Fire — site of one of the world’s largest mineral deposits, which the plan likens to the riches of the Alberta oil sands or Saskatchewan’s potash.

“The Ring of Fire is the great mining discovery of a lifetime, but the project has gone nowhere. Our once-burgeoning forest industry has shrunk and mills have closed,” Hudak stated in the policy paper, which blames high electricity and energy costs for gutting the pulp and paper industry.

“I see a north of great destiny. A Northern Ontario that is going to drive renewed prosperity right across Ontario,” said Hudak, who released his party’s position on the north in Thunder Bay on Monday.

Vale’s Clean AER project forges ahead – by Laura Gregorini (Northern Ontario Business – September 2013)

September 17, 2013

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.

Installation of a converter at Vale’s Copper Cliff smelter in Sudbury, a major component of the company’s Clean AER Project, is nearly complete. The converter is the first of four converters to be replaced as part of the $1-billion project that will see sulphur dioxide, dust and metals emissions reduced by 85 per cent from current levels.

Citing volatile market conditions and cost challenges, Vale announced in January that it was scaling back the cost of its Clean AER (Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) project from $2-billion to $1- million. At the same time, Vale indicated it would move to a single-furnace operation from a two- furnace operation. Although a significantly less investment, Vale said that the environmental impact would be greater, by reducing emissions substantially more than previously anticipated.

“The original Clean AER project’s scope was designed for a two-furnace operation so it meant that when we made the decision, we had to go back and rescope the project to accommodate the one furnace,” said Vale spokesperson Angie Robson.

Vale doesn’t anticipate moving to a single furnace before 2016. A team was formed to study various aspects of the change and revise plans to accommodate the change to a single furnace.