Republic of Mining

Copper mine belt to ring Grampians – by Nick Toscano (The Age – September 22, 2013)

September 23, 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/ (Austrialia)

Mining companies have been permitted to drill at the doorstep of the Grampians National Park, and the area could become ”a new copper belt” in Australia, according to one mining executive.

Since December, the Department of State Development, Business and Innovation has pushed through three exploration licences that allow companies to drill on either side of the Grampians, after geological surveys showed the area was ”highly prospective” for copper.

An application was lodged on May 7 by the Queensland miner Diatreme Resources for a government licence to begin exploratory drilling near the Grampians’ southern border. Last month it was approved after what the company said was the ”quickest turnaround” it had ever experienced.

”The speed at which they’ve granted this tenement, which took about four months, is the fastest we’ve ever had,” chief executive Tony Fawdon said. ”They can often take several years.” Mr Fawdon said the recent departmental surveys had identified substantial copper deposits, which are believed to stretch from the Grampians to the state’s north-west.

Tentative deal in dispute over N.Y. [Copper] heiress’ will – by Jennifer Peltz (Associated Press -September 21, 2013)

September 23, 2013

http://www.boston.com/?mastheadLogo

NEW YORK (AP) — A tentative deal has been reached in a New York court fight over the will of a reclusive Montana copper mining heiress that would give more than $30 million of her $300 million estate to her distant relatives, a person familiar with the case said Saturday.

The breakthrough in the fight over Huguette Clark’s estate comes after jury selection started in a trial pitting nearly two dozen of her half-siblings’ descendants against a goddaughter, a hospital where she spent the last 20 years of her life, a nurse, doctors, a lawyer and others.

An April 2005 will cut out her distant relatives. Another will, six weeks earlier, left them most of her money. The tentative settlement will give the relatives about $34.5 million after taxes under the deal, while her nurse would have to turn over $5 million and a doll collection valued at about $1.6 million, the person told The Associated Press. Her lawyer would get nothing.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the settlement because it hasn’t yet been made public. News of the tentative settlement was first reported by The New York Times and WNBC.

Family has mixed feelings about Vale plea deal – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – September 21, 2013)

September 23, 2013

http://www.northernlife.ca/

The sister of one of two Vale miners killed on the job in 2011 said in some ways, she’s glad lawyers representing the company and the Crown were able to come to a plea deal agreement for charges laid in the wake of the tragedy.

At least it saved her family the pain and stress of going through the full trial, Briana Fram said. Vale pleaded guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined $1,050,000 on Sept. 17 in the deaths of Briana’s brother, Jordan Fram, as well as his co-worker, Jason Chenier.

The company originally faced nine charges, while supervisor Keith Birnie faced six. The remaining charges against Vale were dropped as part of the plea deal. The charges against Birnie were dropped after the Crown received information as part of trial submissions, and felt there was no reasonable chance of conviction.

While in some ways she’s glad not to have to go through a full trial, which was due to start in late October, Briana said she would have liked to see Vale held to account on all the charges. “We are happy they pled guilty, but it’s hard, because those charges were just so easily dropped,” she said. “That’s the way the judicial system is.”

A Bitter ‘Fertilizer War’ Gripping Belarus and Russia Is Helping U.S. Farmers – by Andrew E. Kramer (New York Times – September 16, 2013)

September 23, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/

MOSCOW — American farmers are getting an unexpected windfall from a contentious fight between Russia and Belarus, a former Soviet splinter state.

The subject of the fight is potash, a fertilizer. The score so far: One imprisoned Russian business executive, the disintegration of a once-effective cartel that kept world potash prices high and political tension between the two countries.

What is being called the “fertilizer war” is the latest of numerous trade and economic spats between Russia and Belarus, whose leaders, though presiding over similar autocratic political systems, do not get along personally, Russian political analysts say. Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, president of Belarus, and Vladimir V. Putin, president of Russia, by most accounts detest each another. Their feelings have spilled over into the fertilizer business.

The potash problem reached a peak on July 30, when Uralkali, the Russian potash company, announced it was withdrawing from an international cartel called the Belarusian Potash Company, or B.P.C., which was created to keep prices high.

Conflict Minerals: The Price of Precious – by Jeffrey Gettleman (National Geographic – October 2013)

September 23, 2013

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/

The minerals in our electronic devices have bankrolled unspeakable violence in the Congo.

The first child soldier pops out of the bush clutching an AK-47 assault rifle in one hand and a handful of fresh marijuana buds in the other. The kid, probably 14 or 15, has this big, goofy, mischievous grin on his face, like he’s just stolen something—which he probably has—and he’s wearing a ladies’ wig with fake braids dangling down to his shoulders.

Within seconds his posse materializes from the thick, green leaves all around us, about ten other heavily armed youngsters dressed in ratty camouflage and filthy T-shirts, dropping down from the sides of the jungle and blocking the red dirt road in front of us. Our little Toyota truck is suddenly swarmed and immobilized by a four-and-a-half-foot-tall army.

This is on the road to Bavi, a rebel-controlled gold mine on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s wild eastern edge. Congo is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country and one of its richest on paper, with an embarrassment of diamonds, gold, cobalt, copper, tin, tantalum, you name it—trillions’ worth of natural resources. But because of never ending war, it is one of the poorest and most traumatized nations in the world.

Cliffs won’t abandon chromite project: Kilgour – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – September 21, 2013)

September 23, 2013

http://www.northernlife.ca/

There’s so much money to be made from the Ring of Fire and so many dollars have been invested already that it’s unlikely Cliffs Natural Resources will abandon its plan to mine and process chromite in Northern Ontario, said Dave Kilgour.

The Ward 7 city councillor represents Capreol, which was chosen by the Ohio miner last year as the place it wants to build a $1.8-billion facility to process ore from its Ring of Fire mine.

The Cliffs project has been plagued with setbacks in recent months. The company temporarily suspended the environmental assessment process in June due to delays with the process at the provincial and federal levels. It’s also facing challenges related to land surface rights and negotiations with the province.

Then, earlier this month, the Mining and Lands Commissioner denied Cliffs the right to a road easement across the mining claims of KWG Resources, which it had been seeking to build an ore haul road out of its deposits in the James Bay region.

Ruling threatens Ring of Fire: Cliffs – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 21, 2013)

September 23, 2013

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

A recent decision by the Mining and Lands Claim Commissioner not to grant Cliffs Natural Resources an easement over claims staked by rival KWG threatens the development of the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario, says a Cliffs official.

Cliffs’ proposed 340-kilometre, north-south, all-weather road, which crosses unpatented mining claims of KWG Resources and other resource companies, is “essential” to the development of the Cliffs’ Chromite Project.

Cliffs plans to build a chromite smelter in Capreol that would create 400-500 permanent jobs. Without access to surface lands to develop “much-needed infrastructure, there is no project,” said Bill Boor, Cliffs’ senior vice-president of global ferroalloys.

While the company is open to discussions about how to work around the problem, “without a pathway developing quickly to overcome this major setback, it is going to be difficult to justify continuing with the project at this time,” said Boor in a news release Friday.

Boor did not say if Cliffs is going to appeal the decision released by the mining commissioner last week, but he said the decision is “not an appropriate use of mining claims under Ontario’s Mining Act.”

Province not giving up on Ring of Fire – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 21, 2013)

September 23, 2013

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

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said although Cliffs Natural Resources made its position clear Friday about its Ring of Fire project, he is encouraged the company “continues to be open to finding possible solutions and is looking at a number of options.

“From our perspective, we remain very committed to this project,” he said. ” The province recognizes the great opportunity we have with the Ring of Fire development and we are … very committed to seeing sound strategic development in the Ring of Fire.”

Gravelle said the province is making progress in moving development of the Ring of Fire forward. He cited negotiations led by former justice Frank Iocabucci and former Liberal leader Bob Rae as encouraging.

So was the announcement from Rae last week that the Matawa Council, comprised of nine First Nations near the Ring of Fire whom he represents, was withdrawing its application for a judicial review of the project.

That’s a positive step and there are others, including community readiness initiatives and other investments to ensure Northern communities benefit from developing the Ring of Fire.

Canadian exchanges push to relax private placement rules – by Allison Martell (Reuters U.S. – September 20, 2013)

September 20, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO – (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock exchanges are pushing for regulatory changes that could make it easier for retail investors to participate in small financings long deemed too risky for the general public, a move that could help shore up the country’s hard-hit junior mining sector.

John McCoach, president of market operator TMX Group Ltd’s small-cap TSX Venture Exchange, said his organization has asked Canada’s securities regulators to consider allowing a public company’s existing shareholders to participate in private placements.

Private placements are share issues that are offered to select buyers such as institutional investors and wealthy individuals who qualify as “accredited investors,” and not to the general public.

The TSX Venture Exchange, the main trading venue for hundreds of small Canadian-listed mining and energy companies, wants to expand the qualifying group.

Under its proposal, investors who have held stock in the issuer or 60 days or more would qualify to be included in private placements, but their investments would be capped at C$10,000 ($9,800) per company per year.

EPA sets first-ever curbs on power plant pollution – by Valerie Volcovici (Reuters U.S. – September 20, 2013)

September 20, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON – (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Friday announced first-ever regulations setting strict limits on the amount of carbon pollution that can be generated by any new U.S. power plant, which quickly sparked a backlash from supporters of the coal industry and are certain to face legal challenges.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s long-awaited guidelines would make it near impossible to build coal plants without using technology to capture carbon emissions that foes say is unproven and uneconomic. The rules, a revision of a previous attempt by the EPA to create emissions standards for fossil fuel plants, are the first step in President Barack Obama’s climate change package, announced in June.

The revised rule contained a few surprises after the agency held extensive discussions with industry and environmental groups, raising concerns by industry that the EPA’s new restrictions on existing power plants, due to be unveiled next year, will be tough.

But the regulations announced on Friday cover only new plants. Under the proposal, new large natural gas-fired turbines would need to meet a limit of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, while new small natural gas-fired turbines would need to meet a limit of 1,100 pounds of CO2 per MWh.

NEWS RELEASE: Ian Telfer settles with the Ontario Securities Commission

September 20, 2013

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission today approved a settlement agreement reached between Staff and Ian Telfer, who admitted his conduct fell below the standard expected from someone in his position, particularly given his extensive experience at senior levels in the capital markets industry, and was therefore contrary to the public interest.

Telfer admitted to advising Eda Marie Agueci, who worked for a registrant and was therefore subject to strict rules for monitoring of her communications and personal trading, to use BlackBerry PIN messages instead of email “with very close friends” saying, “Messages don’t go to the [company] server. They go straight to blkberry”. Agueci subsequently used BlackBerry PIN to communicate with others in relation to trading securities.

Telfer acknowledged that it was not proper to advise someone working for a registrant to use BlackBerry PIN where those messages would not be monitored by their employer.

Telfer also admitted to having advised Agueci not to purchase shares of a private share transaction in her name, which resulted in a transaction where the beneficial owner of the shares was not disclosed. The shares were purchased for $5,000 and subsequently sold for approximately $500,000.

Telfer acknowledged that he ought to have known there was a real risk Agueci might have a beneficial interest in those shares that was not monitored by her employer as required, and that, if Agueci’s interest in or trading authority over the shares had been disclosed, her employer’s compliance department would have been able to monitor that trading.

Ontario Northland should be Ring of Fire railroad – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 20, 2013)

September 20, 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.

Ring of Fire junior miner, KWG Resources, is refloating the concept of using the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) to haul ore out of the Ring of Fire in the James Bay region.

In a Sept. 16 news release, the Toronto-based company said it supports the “New Deal” business plan being proposed by the unions at the Crown-operated transportation agency.

According to KWG, a new agency should be established, governed by the First Nations and other regional stakeholders with federal oversight.

This agency would finance the railroad’s construction and continuing operations of the ONR by providing rail service “at cost” to the mining companies operating in the remote Far North camp. KWG is the holder of the only staked corridor out of the region. The company said it will make its right-of-way available for ONR use.

NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Responds to the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner Decision

September 20, 2013

CLEVELAND – September 20, 2013 – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) stated that the decision by the Mining and Lands Commissioner related to its Chromite Project in Ontario, Canada, is disappointing and one that threatens the development of the Ring of Fire mining district. The Company’s proposed north-south all-weather road, which crosses unpatented mining claims of KWG Resources and other resource companies, is essential to the development of the Ring of Fire and a necessary component of Cliffs’ Chromite Project. Cliffs disagrees with the decision and contends that this is not an appropriate use of mining claims under Ontario’s Mining Act. Further, the Company sees no conflict between the legitimate uses of a mining claimholder and the proposed road, which has great benefits for Northern Ontario.

“Without access to the surface lands to develop the needed infrastructure, there is no project. Our proposed development has the scale needed to develop the road access and is therefore a catalyst for other smaller mining opportunities in the Ring of Fire. Cliffs is very disappointed in this decision, but beyond our project, it is clearly an issue for anyone interested in seeing these opportunities in the Ring of Fire becoming realities,” commented Bill Boor, SVP Global Ferroalloys with Cliffs. “While we are open to possible solutions, without a pathway developing quickly to overcome this major setback, it is going to be difficult for us to justify continuing with
the project at this point in time.”

South Africa’s raw chrome exports soar as ferrochrome edge is lost – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – September 20, 2013)

September 20, 2013

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s long-standing position as the top global ferrochrome producer is being lost and the export of raw, unbeneficiated chromite ore is on the rise from this country.

Heinz Pariser Alloy Metals and Steel Market Research director Dr Gerhard Pariser, who addressed the MetalBulletin Event’s chromite conference in Johannesburg this week, says that South Africa’s export of ore is rising sharply and its export of ferrochrome is declining.

This is completely counter to South African government policy, which promotes the beneficiation that ferrochrome embodies. “To put it in a very simple way, Africa is supplying and China’s buying,” says Pariser.

The local production of ferrochrome creates five times more value in the South African economy that chrome ore extraction and three times more jobs. For every ton of ferrochrome exported, R9 000 is put into South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) compared with only R1 600 for every ton of ore exported.

UPDATED: Vale fine to go to city [Sudbury] – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – September 20, 2013)

September 20, 2013

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

The more than $1 million Vale Canada was fined for the deaths of two Stobie Mine employees will go to the City of Greater Sudbury, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour confirmed Thursday.

Matt Blajer said on top of the $1.050 million fine, Vale has to pony up an additional 25% — or $250,000 — which will be put into a provincial fund for victims of crime. The fine will go into the city’s general revenue stream, city spokesperson Shannon Dowling said.

On Tuesday, Vale pleaded guilty to three charges under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act for the deaths of Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26. On June 8, 2011, the men were crushed by a 350-ton run of muck at the 3,000-foot level of the mine.

The company was originally facing nine charges, while supervisor Keith Birnie faced six. Joe Cimino, a city councillor who’s also vying for the provincial NDP nomination, called the plea bargain upsetting.

“What’s happened is, now there’s more questions in the community than there are answers,” he said. “This shut a door to a public trial. We need a full inquiry now, not in 10 years. “This is so unfair to the families.”