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U.S. House passes National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – September 19, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

H.R. 761 faces an uphill battle in a Democratically-controlled U.S. Senate even if the measure manages to survive in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

RENO (MINEWEB) – As the Republicans of the U.S. House of Representatives once again voted Wednesday to streamline mining permit approvals, the question remains as to whether the proposed National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act will again die in the Democratically-controlled U.S. Senate.

The House passed H.R. 761, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, in a 246-178 vote with only 15 Democrats voting in favor.

This time around even House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) issued a public statement applauding passage of the measure, introduced by Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, the former president of the Nevada Mining Association.

“The United States has abundant natural resources, including critical and strategic materials that are vital to our manufacturers, medical providers and military personnel; and that provides the basis for common household products.

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UPDATE 1-Koba Tin to seek arbitration if Indonesia scraps mining permit – by Niluksi Koswanage (Reuters India – September 19, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 (Reuters) – PT Koba Tin, a subsidiary of the world’s second-biggest tin producer, will seek international arbitration if Indonesia’s government refuses to extend its permit to operate a mine, the chief executive of the Malaysian parent company said.

It is the latest corporate wrangle to raise questions over Indonesia’s openness to foreign investment. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy had pushed for more control over its natural resources, ranging from coal to gold, in the past few years but is rethinking the policy after a recent slide in its currency.

The dispute has been brewing since last year when Indonesian government officials said Koba Tin’s permit would not be renewed and that state-run PT Timah should take over the concession in the Bangka-Belitung islands off the east coast of Sumatra island. PT Timah is a minority shareholder in Koba Tin.

The government has since softened its stance, launching a review of the concession, which is eight times the size of New York’s Manhattan island. It was due to announce a decision this week.

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Pressure on Barrick Board Centers on Long-Time Directors – by Liezel Hill & Katia Dmitrieva (Bloomberg News – September 18, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Investor pressure to change the board at Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the world’s biggest producer of the metal, is centering on long-serving directors, including former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Canada’s biggest pension funds want new independent board members and say the miner should consider replacing directors who have been there longer than 20 years and are close to Co-chairman and founder Peter Munk, according to two investors briefed on the matter who asked not to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public.

Barrick said yesterday it will add new independent directors and strengthen its executive pay policies after investors criticized governance at the company. The gold miner took $8.7 billion of writedowns in the second quarter and cut its dividend 75 percent after gold prices fell the most in three decades.

“The tenure on the board is far too long and there are far too many non-independent directors,” said Robert Gill, a Toronto-based fund manager at Aston Hill Financial Inc. (AHF), which manages C$7.8 billion ($7.6 billion), including Barrick shares. “It’s time to change the board and we need to bring in more independence into the board,” he said by phone Sept. 11.

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Nolan, U.S. House vote for quicker mining permits – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – September 19, 2013)

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan joined with other mining supporters Wednesday when the U.S. House passed legislation to streamline federal environmental permitting for mining projects.

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan joined with other mining supporters Wednesday when the U.S. House passed legislation to streamline environmental permitting for mining projects on federal lands.

The Bill, HF 761, called the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2013, passed the Republican-controlled House by a 246 to 178 vote.

The bill declares most new mining projects as strategic for the nation, speeds up the federal agency review process and restricts efforts to file lawsuits to stop such projects. The bill essentially sets a 30-month limit for environmental review and a 60-day limit for any challenges.

Nolan, D-Crosby, was one of only 15 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. He had said in recent weeks that he was undecided on the bill, and opponents of faster-paced mining projects in Minnesota bombarded Nolan with calls to vote no.

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Guest Post: Wisconsin Needs Iron Ore Mining to Grow the Economy and For a Better Tomorrow For All – by Brett Healy (Minerals Make Life.org – September 18, 2013)

http://mineralsmakelife.org/

Brett Healy is president of the MacIver Institute for Public Policy—Wisconsin’s free market voice.

Across a 22-mile-long stretch of Northern Wisconsin, lies more than 2 billion tons of iron ore— a key material in the production of American made steel. Wisconsin’s resources account for an estimated 15 percent of all recoverable iron ore in the United States, representing a deposit critical to U.S. economic competitiveness.

Much progress has been made in recent months to develop Wisconsin’s robust mineral wealth and provide the far-reaching economic benefits that come along with this development. After the passage of Wisconsin’s iron ore mining reform in March 2013, the industry worked swiftly to respond to the updated environmental regulation, which sets a 420-day limit for the state’s Department of Natural Resources to approve or deny a permit. Gogebic Taconite, the owner of the proposed mine in Ashland and Iron counties, spent the summer exploring the deposit and sharing with the public its plans for the project.

If progress continues, the proposed mine could provide more than 700 direct, well-paying jobs that will change the fortune of families in the area for generations to come. It will also indirectly support an additional 2,100 jobs— all in an economically depressed part of Wisconsin that needs help. The mine could also contribute more than $600 million to the state’s GDP, a boost that would positively affect all Wisconsinites.

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Inquiry into mining safety long overdue – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – September 19, 2013)

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

“Something’s wrong,” Sudbury Star mining reporter Carol Mulligan said upon returning from a Vale Canada press conference in January 2012 called to explain the deaths of two miners 3,000 feet underground the previous June. “We’re not getting the whole story.”

On June 8, 2011, Jason Chenier, 35, a father of two young children, and Jordan Fram, 26, were crushed under 350 tonnes of wet, broken ore, known as muck, that had become stuck in a tunnel known as an ore pass.

The nature of the press conference — reporters were allowed to look at information presented, but were not given copies — and the demeanour of the presenters, was odd. Reporters in Sudbury are accustomed to procedures in mining deaths. The report made 30 recommendations to improve safety and the company was acting on them, officials said.

Yet Mulligan’s instincts were right. On Monday, Vale Canada pleaded guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The company was fined $350,000 on each charge, plus a 25% surcharge. It was, Crown attorney Wes Wilson said, the largest ever fine levied under the act for health and safety issues. Six other charges were dropped, as were charges against a mine official.

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Push for mine safety inquiry continues – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – September 19, 2013)

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

Vale Canada Limited’s plea bargain with the Ministry of Labour Tuesday, regarding deaths of two Stobie Mine employees in 2011, has created a stronger case for a provincial inquiry on mine safety, said Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas.

“Now that we’re not going to have our day in court it creates one more argument for an inquiry,” said Gelinas. Vale pleaded guilty to three charges under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act Tuesday, and was charged $1.050 million as a deterrent. The company made a joint submission with the Crown that it be fined $350,000 per charge.

Gelinas said the families of Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, who were crushed by a 350-ton run of muck at the 3,000-foot level of the Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011, would never have the chance to hear the full story surrounding their deaths.

“A trial is an opportunity for many people to gain closure because you get to the bottom of the story,” Gelinas said. The provincial NDP and the United Steelworkers have long called for an inquiry into the province’s mining deaths.

Mike Bond, chair of health, safety and environment for the United Steelworkers Local 6500, said he was disappointed with Tuesday’s outcome.

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Japan’s JX to develop its mines, eyes stake buys in upstream copper push – by Yuka Obayashi (Reuters India – September 19, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

TOKYO, Sept 19 (Reuters) – JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corp will focus on development of its own copper mines in South America but may also look at buying stakes in other projects as Japan’s top smelter aims to cut its dependency on major miners for ore, a senior executive said.

Japanese copper smelters are stepping up acquisitions of upstream metal assets and development of copper mines to hedge against any increase in ore prices as their profit margins on smelting declines.

JX Nippon Mining is aiming to raise the volume of copper content coming from its own mine interests for refining to an annual 250,000 tonnes in 2015 and then to 350,000 tonnes by around 2020, its parent JX Holdings Inc had said in March. Around 100,000 tonnes of in-house copper content in concentrate was used to refine metal in 2012.

“We want to achieve our 350,000 tonnes goal first, then move further into upstream where we expect higher profit return,” Keiichi Goto, deputy chief executive officer of JX Nippon Mining, told Reuters in an interview earlier this week.

JX’s rival Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd also plans to boost annual volume of copper content procured from its own mining interests to 300,000 tonnes by the 2021 business year from 120,000 tonnes now.

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Conservatives endorse mining tax royalties for First Nations – by Bryan Phelan (Wawatay News – September 18, 2013)

http://www.wawataynews.ca/

Ontario Progressive Conservatives say a share of the mining tax royalties should go to First Nations and other communities that build and support new mines.

Tim Hudak, the PC leader, introduced a policy “white paper” outlining his party’s position on the North during a visit to Thunder Bay on Sept. 17.

“The Ring of Fire is the greatest mining discovery of a lifetime but the project has gone nowhere,” Hudak stated in the introduction to the policy paper, titled Paths to Prosperity: A Champion for Northern Jobs and Resources.

To ensure mining development moves ahead, “As a first step, we need to work with business and Aboriginal communities to expedite the construction of an all-season transportation link to the Ring of Fire deposits,” the paper suggests.

The policy release comes one week after the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner dismissed an application from Cliffs Natural Resources for an easement that would allow the company to build an all-weather road to the Ring of Fire over mining claims staked by another company.

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North America’s Forgotten Frontier: Canadian Arctic – by Diane Francis (The Huffington Post – September 18, 2013)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/business/

YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES — This charming lakeside town bustles as thousands of Japanese tourists come annually to view the spectacular Aurora Borealis lights and as workers in mining, construction and energy arrive to cash in on its boom.

I was invited to speak at the Prospects North 2013 conference sponsored by the NWT Chamber of Commerce and I also visited the Diavik Diamond mine, the biggest of three gigantic mines nearly 400 miles north of Yellowknife. These mines, and another to open soon, are why the Northwest Territories has become the third biggest diamond producer in the world.

The conference was organized by executive director Mike Bradshaw and well-attended by policy, political and business leaders. My message was simply that the territories needed a new metaphor. They are not isolated and helpless political jurisdictions. They must think of themselves as the world’s biggest mining and resource play.

The three — NWT, Yukon and Nunavut — are bigger than Australia and have only seven operating mines now. Another 20 mines are in advanced stages of pre-development approvals and hundreds more undiscovered ore bodies exist in the frozen north. Such mature projects and exploration must be their top priority — as the world’s biggest mining play — and will usher in an unprecedented amount of prosperity and the building of essential infrastructure.

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Vale’s Manitoba Operations has reached 95 per cent of cost savings goal, Lovro Paulic says – by John Barker (Thompson Citizen – September 18, 2013)

The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000. editor@thompsoncitizen.net

But smelter and refinery “base case” is still to close sometime in 2015

Vale, which is trying to find $100 million in cost savings at its Manitoba Operations in Thompson, has achieved 95 per cent of that goal over the last year – a cost savings of $95 million with $5 million still to go, vice-president Lovro Paulic told the Thompson Chamber of Commerce Sept. 11.

Paulic said $60 million was saved last year and $35 million has been saved so far this year. Ninety per cent of the money was saved between September 2012 and last April, while anther five per cent has been saved since then. That leaves another five per cent to go to reach the $100 million target.

The result of the collective cost-savings effort across the operation was a reprieve for Birchtree Mine from being mothballed again for a second time. Birchtree Mine, which was discovered for its nickel deposit in 1963 and opened in 1968, was previously on care and maintenance for nearly 12 years from 1977 to 1989, although regardless if it is mothballed or not, the current life of mine plan anticipates closure at some point in the next 10 years in any event.

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Lundin Sees Growth in Rio’s Michigan Cast-Off: Corporate Canada – by Gerrit De Vynck (Bloomberg News – September 18, 2013)

http://www.businessweek.com/

Lundin Mining Corp., the best performer among Canadian base-metal companies, is betting that a cast-off from the world’s second-biggest miner will help double output.

Lundin agreed to buy the Eagle nickel and copper mine from Rio Tinto Group for $315 million in June and plans to bring it into production by the end of next year, Chief Executive Officer Paul Conibear said. Eagle is the company’s first new mine after emerging from two aborted takeovers in 2011. Conibear said he wants to boost companywide annual output to about 500,000 metric tons within five years.

“We’re back to basics to re-grow our company,” he said Sept. 13 in a telephone interview. “We’re looking at trying to increase our cash flow through producing facilities.”

Lundin plans to expand while mining companies including Rio and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s largest, sell assets and reduce spending amid lower prices. Copper has slumped 11 percent this year, nickel dropped 19 percent and zinc is down 11 percent on the London Metal Exchange after growth slowed in China, the world’s largest consumer of metals.

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COLUMN-China’s pollution steps need bite, will cost money – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – September 18, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

Clyde Russell is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Sept 18 (Reuters) – China’s new plans to cut coal use and tackle pollution have a sense of deja vu about them, being the latest in a series of measures aimed at improving air quality in the world’s second-largest economy.

But the key question, as always with environmental moves in China, is will they be enforced this time or whether once again regulation will be soft and easily side-stepped by provincial and local governments, or polluting companies.

On the face of it, the measures announced last week on the government’s website seem sensible and achievable, with the key aim to reduce consumption of fossil fuels, which in China is mainly coal, to below 65 percent of total primary energy use by 2017.

This is a relatively modest decline from the 66.8 percent share fossil fuels held in 2012, but once again the devil will be in the detail.

The announced plans include cutting coal consumption, mainly by closing polluting steel mills, factories and smelters, with a target being Hebei province, the largest steel-producing region.

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New business venture aims to transform global ferrochrome business – by Brendan Ryan (Business Day – September 18, 2013)

http://www.bdlive.co.za/ (South Africa)

DUBAI-based Russian businessman Alibek Issaev has teamed up with South African businessman Abbas Moti to develop a low- and medium-carbon ferrochrome smelter near Rustenburg that they claim will transform the ferrochrome business.

Mr Issaev is taking a 50% stake in private South African company FerroChrome Furnaces (FCF), which is controlled by the Moti family for an undisclosed amount.

The plant is at the commissioning stage and the aim is to boost production of low- and medium-carbon ferrochrome to 420,000 tonnes a year over the next 24 months, targeting a business that is dominated by ferrochrome producers located in Kazakhstan and Russia, in particular Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

Also involved in the deal is former Sentula Coal chairman Sir Sam Jonah. According to FCF spokesman Ashruf Kaka, Sir Sam is the nonexecutive chairman of FCF but has no business stake in the transaction and is only involved because of his long-standing friendship with the Moti family.

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Juniors cull approaches as alternative gold narrative takes effect – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – September 17, 2013)

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Head of Kaiser Research Online, John Kaiser, delivered his keynote speech at the Toronto Resource Investment Conference on September 13, telling delegates the gold narrative is changing and that hundreds of juniors were about to be culled.

Kaiser started by considering the resource supercycle’s effect on the metals markets over the past ten years, noting the current retrenchment as China and other Asian economies witnessed a fall back in growth.

The economic performance of the US and Europe would become the driving force for the next few years, he said. “But we’re not going to see demand ratchet up because these economies aren’t going to grow at huge rates. There’s also lot of new supply for metal coming on stream over the next few years.”

Kaiser predicted it will take four or five years before demand starts outstripping supply at a noteworthy rate. “This means we’ll have to live with sideways metal prices that won’t go up in a big way except under extreme circumstances.”

Kaiser had analysed merger and acquisition (M&A) activity through the TSX-V over the previous decade. “There was $129-billion-worth of takeover bids that involved juniors,” he said.

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