Republic of Mining

Accent: Families press for mine safety inquiry – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – October 26, 2013)

October 28, 2013

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

Briana Fram misses being able to call her brother Jordan. On June 8, 2011, Jordan Fram, 26, and Jason Chenier, 35, were killed in Vale’s Stobie Mine when they were crushed by a 350-ton run of muck while working at the 3,000-foot level of the mine.

Briana was only 18 months younger than her brother. “It was a very close relationship that we had,” she told The Sudbury Star.

Since his death, she has gone to many of his friends’ weddings. “At every wedding there’s a picture of him standing there,” she said. “We always do a cheers to him. It never feels like the circle is complete, because he’s missing.”

On Monday, Sept. 16, Vale Canada pleaded guilty to three charges — linked to the deaths of Fram and Chenier — under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The company was fined $350,000 on each charge, plus a 25% surcharge. Crown attorney Wes Wilson said it was the largest fine ever levied under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. Six other charges were dropped, as were charges against a mine official.

Mongolia pushing for rail, pipeline links with China, Russia, official says – by David Stanway (Reuters India – October 28, 2013)

October 28, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

BEIJING – Oct 28 (Reuters) – Mongolia has agreed to establish a working group with China to oversee the construction of new road, rail and pipeline infrastructure connecting the two countries with Russia, a member of a Mongolian government delegation to Beijing said.

The official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said landlocked Mongolia aimed to become a “transit corridor” to facilitate trade between its two giant neighbours and reduce the costs of delivering Russian commodities like oil and natural gas to energy-hungry Chinese markets.

The topic was high on the agenda during talks between Mongolian Prime Minister Norov Altanhayag and his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, last week, according to the official, who is a senior adviser to Mongolia’s economics ministry.

Speaking by phone from the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, he said the working group would probably be set up soon and that Mongolia was open to allowing Chinese firms to invest and build the infrastructure. “Given the capacity that both countries can bring to the table, China is expected to be heavily involved in terms of financial resources and technology,” he said.

Doubts about developing Ontario’s Ring of Fire development – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – October 27, 2013)

October 28, 2013

http://www.torontosun.com/home

It has the potential to be the biggest financial boon this province has seen in a hundred years. The Ring of Fire, a massive ore-rich but remote part of northwestern Ontario, is estimated to be worth as much as $60 billion in economic development.

It has a massive chromite deposit — the largest in North America. Chromite is a key ingredient in the manufacture of stainless steel.

But the area — named for the Johnny Cash song — isn’t just about chromite. It’s the province’s jewel box. In addition to chromite, there’s palladium, platinum, nickel, diamonds and gold.

But it’s the chromite that attracted the interest of mining companies. There’s a tantalizing promise of jobs — especially for the many First Nations in the area. Increasingly, though, there are doubts it will ever be developed. The logistics are daunting.

The geography of the area makes development difficult. It is very remote — with no roads or rail line. There’ll have to be a massive investment in infrastructure to get the chromite out.

Northerners climb to top of corporate ladders – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – October 28, 2013)

October 28, 2013

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

Two multinational mining companies playing a significant role in Northwestern Ontario’s economy are being directed by former Northerners. Cliffs Natural Resources announced Friday that Sudbury native Gary Halverson is to become the company’s next president and CEO.

Halverson, 55, whose 30-year international career includes hands-on management of two gold mines in Timmins, is to assume his new position with Cliffs on Nov. 18. The CEO of Barrick Gold, which operates the renowned Hemlo deposit near Marathon, is Thunder Bay native and Lakehead University commerce graduate Jamie Sokalsky.

Halverson earned an MBA degree at Athabasca University, near Edmonton, after obtaining a metallurgy engineering degree from Michigan Technological University, on the south shore of Lake Superior.

Cleveland-based Cliffs is in the process of doing pre-development work on a proposed chromite mine in the heart of the Ring of Fire mining belt 500 kilometre northeast of Thunder Bay.

Canada’s slow oil, gas infrastructure development worry Chinese, minister says – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – October 28, 2013)

October 28, 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.

China’s state-owned companies are still keen to invest in Canada’s energy sector, but worry about the slow pace of infrastructure development to connect Western oil and gas producers with Asian markets, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver says.

Mr. Oliver returned last week from visits to South Korea and China amid concerns that Ottawa’s rules for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have sent negative and confusing signals to Asia’s government-controlled companies whose investment is needed to finance development in the country’s resource sector.

He met with Korean and Japanese executives attending an energy conference in South Korea, and with Chinese investors as well as President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing.

“I didn’t encounter any confusion about the rules; I wasn’t asked for clarity,” Mr. Oliver said, although some Chinese investors indicated they weren’t happy with the rules. “Nobody said to me directly or indirectly that the decline in SOE investment [in the Canadian energy sector] was the result of those rules …

Facebook friend calls for return of bear hunt – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – October 26, 2013)

October 28, 2013

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – A call to bring back the spring bear hunt through a newly created social media page is quickly gaining support. In less than a month since, the Bring Back Spring Black Bear Hunting page on Facebook has garnered more than 2,460 likes.

“Lately, it’s been like 200 a day,” said Raymond Boisjoli, the Kapuskasing resident who created the page. He said the concern has reached a point where Northerners are afraid to go for a walk if they live near the bush.

“I used to go in the bush in the summer and just walk. You can’t do that anymore because it’s too dangerous,” said Boisjoli, who also plans to launch a petition in the coming weeks.

The petition will be available at various locations throughout the North and eventually presented to the provincial government. “Something needs to be done,” he said. “A lot of people feel they can’t go into the bush or do as many activities as they used to.

Cliffs appeals mining commissioner’s ruling on proposed road – by Bryan Phelan (Wawatay News – October 25, 2013)

October 25, 2013

http://wawataynews.ca/

Cliffs Natural Resources has appealed a decision by the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner that stops Cliffs from building an all-weather road to the Ring of Fire over mining claims held by another company. KWG Resources, which through its subsidiary company Canada Chrome Corporation holds mining claims Cliffs wants to cross with its proposed $600-million road, received notice of the appeal Oct. 9.

Cliffs planned the 340-kilometre road to transport ore south from its proposed Black Thor chromite mine to Nakina, where it would then be taken by rail to a ferrochrome processing plant to be built near Sudbury. But KWG did not consent to the right-of-way requested by Cliffs for building the road over the Canada Chrome claims, staked on high ground in 2009 for a future railroad to the Ring of Fire mining development.

That put the matter before the mining commissioner, Linda Kamerman, in 2012. This fall, on Sept. 10, she dismissed the application from Cliffs for the easement.

“Canada Chrome Corporation’s ability to work its claims will be negatively affected by the existence of a road and all that goes with it, including the movement of numerous heavy trucks every day,” she wrote in her 43-page ruling.

Ring of Fire realities – by Matt Vis (tbnewswatch.com – October 25, 2013)

October 25, 2013

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

You can’t snap your fingers and expect to make issues surrounding the Ring of Fire development process disappear, says Bob Rae.

Rae, lead negotiator for the Matawa Tribal Council for all things concerning the region’s mega mining project, said the recent decision by the Mining and Lands Commissioner to reject Cliffs Natural Resources plans for a road may have been unexpected, but it is something that has to be worked around.

The former premier of Ontario and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada was in Thunder Bay Friday as part of Confederation College’s Wiicitaakewin Speaker Series.

“We obviously all want to see the companies continue to take an interest in what’s going on, and take an interest in building in the days ahead,” Rae told local reporters following the session. “But it has to be done in a way that reflects the interests of all the communities and reflects the reality that we have to work inside the law.”

Cliffs has since appealed the ruling, and has made public that its Ring of Fire projects could be in jeopardy if their plans for a 300-kilometre access road are not approved.

Cartel collapse hits Potash Corp., prompting mining giant to cut outlook – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – October 25, 2013)

October 25, 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.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. has cut its profit outlook for this year due to weak demand after the breakup of a Russian-Belarussian potash cartel sent prices of fertilizer tumbling.

The Saskatoon-based company, the world’s biggest potash producer, said on Thursday it would now earn between $2 to $2.20 a share this year, down from its previous forecast of between $2.45 and $2.70 per share.

The weaker forecast from Potash Corp. reflects difficulty the industry faces following the Belarus Potash Co. breakup in July. Russia’s OAO Uralkali withdrew from a partnership it had with rival Belarus’s Belaruskali, dismantling one of the two marketing alliances established to sell potash to the world.

The Belarus joint venture and its North American counterpart, Canpotex Ltd., controlled 70 per cent of the potash market before the breakup and therefore could influence the price and global supply of fertilizer. Potash does not trade on any public markets, leaving price formation almost entirely up to producers of the product and their customers.

Country roads crumble under the weight of grain trucks – by Sarina Locke (Australia Broadcasting Corporation – October 25, 2013)

October 25, 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/

Regional councils are fed up with the damage heavy trucks are inflicting on their roads, and they’re pointing the finger at the grain and mining industries. They claim a lack of investment in branch rail lines means more freight is travelling by road, leaving councils to foot the bill for road repairs.

At GrainCorp’s terminal at Port Kembla in NSW, 90 per cent of the grain arrives by rail, but that still leaves 10 per cent on heavy trucks through Wollongong’s suburbs.

“You only have to look at the roads and the M1, the standard of the roads buckling because of the trucks; the B-Doubles and B-triples. This is crazy stuff, these should be on rail,” said the Lord Mayor of Wollongong, Gordon Bradbury.

This coastal mayor is an ally of the central NSW councils like Cowra, who are developing a public/private partnership project to restore a 220-kilometre freight rail line.

A restored inland track would link with another rail line to the coast, taking heavy freight away from the Blue Mountains and the South Coast commuter train network.

COLUMN-Australia, Indonesia, Mozambique’s take different commodity paths – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – October 25, 2013)

October 25, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Australia, Indonesia and Mozambique appear quite disparate countries, but they all have one thing in common insofar as they want to supply Asia with large volumes of coal and liquefied natural gas.

But the paths being taken by the three governments in pursuit of this are vastly different, and will ultimately decide which nation is most successful in using its natural resources to its best advantage.

Perhaps the most stark contrast is between neighbours Australia and Indonesia, which are pursuing almost polar opposite policies.

Australia’s new Liberal-led government introduced legislation on Oct. 24 to scrap a tax on super profits from mining coal and iron ore.

This was part of a pledge made before the September general election that a Liberal administration would get rid of the Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT), the carbon tax and cut red and green tape for natural resource projects.

It’s part of new Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s message that Australia, the world’s largest coal, iron ore and soon to be LNG exporter, is once again open for business after six years of Labor Party rule that saw a raft of new taxes introduced.

NEWS RELEASE: Timmins miner aims to boost expertise of community social agencies

October 25, 2013

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.

Ontario Mining Association member Kidd Operations (Glencore) is helping to stage a conference to better align goals of private sector donors and community non-profit fund raisers. Kidd Operations and the Cochrane District Social Planning Council (CDSPC) are holding a Working Toward Sustainability Conference and Training event November 14 and 15, 2013 at the Timmins Native Friendship Centre. The goal is to help non-profit social agencies achieve sustainability in a competitive fundraising environment and be better prepared to fulfill funding applications.

“Local businesses and companies receive donation requests surpassing their budgets by several hundred thousands of dollars annually,” said Carole Belanger, Communications and Community Relations Coordinator at Kidd Operations. “With so many worthy projects, it is difficult and agencies applying for support need to understand corporate donors are moving from a traditional charity approach to strategic social investing for community development.”

Presenters at the conference include Helen Burstyn, former Chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and special advisor and chair of the provincial government’s Partnership Forum, and Ethel Cote, Director Social Enterprise Development at the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal. Also, Ms Belanger, who administers Kidd Operations’ Community Partnership Program, will be sharing her perspective on support and sustainability.

The Pretium gold resource controversy in context and a letter from the frontline – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – October 25, 2013)

October 25, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

The disagreement between two respected engineering companies over the Pretium resource in BC, Canada has generated much controversy but should not detract from a still exciting project.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – The Canadian resource sector has been abuzz with people taking sides on the Pretium controversy over the Brucejack resource estimation and whether Strathcona, or Snowden, both highly respected engineering companies, are correct in their different handling of samples and results.

Personally, as a mining engineer by background, I suspect with a deposit of this type with a very large number of ultra-high grade gold intersections in its Valley of the Kings section, within a much lower grade more disseminated orebody, that neither will accurately represent ultimate mining grade terms and, if, and when, a mine is developed at Brucejack, selective mining methods could enable the orebody to be mined to a far higher grade than the bulk sampling would suggest, should economics suggest that is the most profitable long term route for shareholders.

Do I have an interest in Pretium? From a technical point of view perhaps yes – it looks to be one of the most exciting recent gold discoveries in Canada.

Canadian miner rises above obstacles in Philippines – by Matthew Fisher (National Post – October 25, 2013)

October 25, 2013

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

Given environmental concerns and sensitivities about foreign ownership, mining these days can be an immensely complicated business anywhere. This has proven to be especially true for a Canadian company operating in the southern Philippines.

TVI Resource Development (Philippines) Inc. —a Filipino-Canadian venture affiliated with Calgary-based TVI Pacific Inc. — has weathered the fallout from a series of sinister emails that were sent to senior politicians, military officers and journalists.

The correspondence purported to show company officials were conspiring to assassinate a local leader and launch violent attacks on small-scale miners whose claim that they had pre-existing rights in the area where TVIRD is developing a gold and silver mine had been rejected by the government agency responsible for mining.

“To cut to the end of the story first, they established with 100% certainty that the charges were totally fabricated,” said John Ridsel, a Canadian who was TVIRD’s chief operating officer in the Philippines until mid-2011 and remains a consultant.

To prove the emails were fraudulent, TVIRD hired two cyber forensic firms. A separate inquiry was undertaken by the Philippine National Bureau of Investigations.

NEWS RELEASE: KWG Resources Inc.: Patent Sought for New Gas Chromite Reduction Method

October 25, 2013

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Oct. 25, 2013) – KWG Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KWG) (“KWG”) has filed a patent application in advance of discussions to commercialize a new method of refining into ferro chrome the chromite ore of its Black Horse deposit by means of natural gas. A partial disclosure of the process, summarized from such application, follows:

Background

The production of stainless and low alloy steels containing chromium has rapidly expanded, particularly in Asia. The source of the chromium in the stainless steel is partly from the recycling of scrap but this is limited by the availability of such materials, particularly in developing countries. Chromium in stainless steels is not open to substitution by other metals. It is essential for the corrosion and heat resistance of the material. The shortfall in the chromium additions required during the steelmaking process is met by the addition of alloys of chromium and iron, collectively known as “ferro chrome”.

These alloys are produced by the smelting of chromite ores, using solid carbonaceous reductants in a Submerged Electric Arc Furnace (SAF). This process is extremely energy and carbon intensive. Existing plants using “best world practices” consume between 3 and 4 megawatt hours (MWH) of electricity and 200 to 300 kilograms of carbon per tonne of ferro chrome alloy produced. Comprehensive gas cleaning systems are required to meet clean air standards. Large quantities of slag are produced and placed in long term storage in above ground dumps.