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Mining companies balk at Mexico’s proposed royalty plan – by Gabriel Stargardter (Reuters U.S. – September 10, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

MEXICO CITY – (Reuters) – Mining companies have threatened to cut investment in Mexico after the government proposed a 7.5 percent mining royalty, arguing that lower metal prices, rising running costs and higher taxes reduce the country’s investment allure.

The royalty proposal was part of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s plan to bolster Mexico’s feeble tax haul, a reform which focuses on reaping more income tax from higher earners, closing corporate loopholes and widening the tax base.

In April, Mexico’s lower house of Congress approved a new percent royalty to redistribute miners’ profits to the states and municipalities where they mine. The bill was originally due for a Senate vote in coming months.

However, lawmakers later decided to fold it into Pena Nieto’s fiscal reform, which has upped the stakes, proposing a royalty of 7.5 percent of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). It would rise to as much as 8 percent for gold, silver and platinum miners.

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The so-called “Great Strike” really was a lockout, part 2 – by T.W. Paterson (The Citizen – September 11, 2013)

http://www.canada.com/news/index.html [Cowichan Valley Citizen]

Premier Richard McBride, who doubled as Minister of Mines, thought it “intolerable” that the strikers should make demands upon the mine owners. Coal mining is a dangerous business at best. But Vancouver Island mines were said to be among the most dangerous in the world for cave-ins, explosions, floods and fires.

The human cost, over 90 years of operation, was appalling: 640 miners killed in Nanaimo-area mines, almost 300 more in the Cumberland colliery. Those who died of their injuries later, sometimes much later, went unrecorded.

The B.C. government had recognized these hazards, particularly that of gas explosion, when it passed the Coal Mines Act of 1911 which stated that, upon the presence of gas or other life threatening hazards being reported to management, the mine, or the section of the mine in question, was to be closed until the problem was rectified.

When Oscar Mottishaw and Isaac Portrey, members of a gas committee, reported five gas emissions in Extension No. 2 Mine on June 15, 1912, it cost Mottishaw, who was known to be an organizer for the newly arrived United Mine Workers of America, his job and he sought employment with a contractor in another Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Ltd. mine in Cumberland.

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The so-called ‘Great Strike’ really was a lockout, part 1 – by T.W. Paterson (The Citizen – September 6, 2013)

http://www.canada.com/news/index.html [Cowichan Valley Citizen]

It devastated families, divided communities, set trade unionism on the Island back by more than a decade and left memories – for many, bitter, bitter memories – that survived for several generations.

August 2013. As you stand in brilliant late summer sunshine at Ladysmith’s First and French Streets, you’re surrounded by busy traffic, neat and well-maintained businesses, the historic Eagles’ Hall and some roadside artifacts dating from this 49th parallel city’s heyday as a shipping port for coal from the Extension mines.

It taxes your imagination to picture this intersection as it would have appeared in August 1913.

That’s when Ladysmith was a city besieged, having been placed under the equivalent of martial law by order of the provincial government. That’s when the Eagles Hall was headquarters to hundreds of armed soldiers, uniformed policemen and civvies-clad special constables who patrolled these very streets amid sand-bagged machine gun emplacements while on the lookout for, and often provoking, confrontations with hundreds of angry, striking coal miners.

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NEWS RELEASE: Environmental groups sue Ontario government over decision to gut species at risk legislation

http://www.ecojustice.ca/

New regulation permits industry to ignore Act’s main purposes

TORONTO Sep 10, 2013

Environmental groups are suing the Ontario government for its decision to exempt major threats to species at risk from the province’s Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Ecojustice lawyers, acting on behalf of Ontario Nature and Wildlands League, have filed a lawsuit in Divisional Court alleging that the Ontario government acted unlawfully by making a regulation that undermines the ESA.

Ontario Regulation 176/13, which came into force under the ESA on July 1, 2013, is a tremendous blow to species protection. The new regulatory changes harm species by allowing major industries — including forestry, energy transmission, housing, oil and gas pipelines, mineral exploration and mine development, transit, wastewater management companies — to avoid strict standards intended to protect at-risk species and their habitats.

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Neil Young Talks Oilsands, Compares Fort McMurray To Hiroshima – by Jason MacNeil (The Huffington Post Canada – September 10, 2013)

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

His guitarist in Crazy Horse might be dealing with a fractured hand, but Neil Young threw some verbal punches this week when he compared the oilsands in Fort McMurray, Alta. to Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic bomb drop in August 1945.

The Globe and Mail today reported Young was in Washington, D.C. yesterday when he told those attending an event for the National Farmers Union about oilsands development and its environmental impact.

“The fact is, Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima,” he said, as shown in a YouTube clip. “Fort McMurray is a wasteland. The Indians up there and the native peoples are dying. The fuels all over — the fumes everywhere — you can smell it when you get to town. The closest place to Fort McMurray that is doing the tarsands work is 25 to 30 miles out of town and you can taste it when you get to Fort McMurray. People are sick. People are dying of cancer because of this. All the First Nations people up there are threatened by this.”

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CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES INC. NEWS RELEASE: Marten Falls First Nation Withdraws from Matawa Judicial Review of Cliffs Chromite Environmental Assessment

Thunder Bay, ON – September 10, 2013 – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) is pleased with the decision made by Marten Falls First Nation to withdraw from the Matawa Tribal Council led Judicial Review (JR) of the Cliffs Chromite Project Federal Comprehensive Study Environmental Assessment (EA) process.

As of August 27, 2013, Marten Falls First Nation officially withdrew from the Judicial Review. “We are pleased that Marten Falls First Nation has taken the lead in their effort to work with Cliffs to develop a collaborative working relationship,” stated Bill Boor, Cliffs Natural Resources Senior Vice President Strategy and Business Development.

Following the withdrawal of Marten Falls from the JR, and Webequie’s earlier withdrawal in May of 2012, the remaining seven Matawa communities, Cliffs, and the Federal government agreed to request dismissal of the JR. On September 5th, the Court ordered a dismissal of the JR.

“Cliffs is committed to engaging in active and productive discussions with potentially affected First Nation communities. We’re determined to be a good partner, and will continue to work with First Nations who may be impacted by the Project to understand their concerns and priorities, and to respond to them,” added Boor.

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Guest post: can China help Kazakhstan to diversify? – by Usen Suleimen and Xiaojiang Yu (Financial Times/Beyond -BRICS – September 9, 2013)

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

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

Dr Usen Suleimen is ambassador at large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan. Dr Xiaojiang Yu is associate professor in the department of geography at the Hong Kong Baptist University.

The visit of Xi Jinping, China’s president, to Kazakhstan last weekend and the signing of $30bn of new agreements is another symbol of the growing closeness between two of the world’s largest countries. It is a relationship built on mutual challenges, geographic proximity and energy, as China increasingly looks to central Asia to power its growing economy.

But these links have also raised alarm bells in the west. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the region’s main producers of oil and gas, have been warned against letting China dominate their economies. China has found itself accused of a modern colonialism as part of a new ‘Great Game’ and of plundering the natural resources of poorer, weaker countries.

From Kazakhstan’s perspective, such fears are badly misplaced. Our two countries have had warm relations for more than 20 years, fostered by close links at senior government level. We cooperate on a range of foreign policy issues, including through the Shanghai Co-operation Organization and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.

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Canada should refine own resources – by John R. Hunt (North Bay Nugget – September 10, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

A battle between environmentalists and the mining industry is shaping up at Temiscaming, Que. A junior mining company, Matamec Explorations, intends to develop a rare earth deposit at Kipawa where the nearby lake supplies drinking water for many people in the area.

Some are concerned that the project will destroy an ancient forest containing some 200-year-old oak trees. Most forests will regenerate themselves but the mining company plans to extract 4,200 tons a day in an open pit operation that will leave a large and inhospitable hole.

In today’s society everyone is worried about pollution but it is fair to point out that the mining industry has come a long way since mine wastes or tailings were dumped into Cobalt Lake in 1904. The Copperfield’s mine was operated on an island in Lake Temagami and the Sherman mine at Temagami created millions of tons of waste without causing pollution.

Matamec Explorations is a so-called junior mining company which usually means it is not part of any large corporation. The juniors are often run by aggressive risk-takers and historically have found far more mineral deposits than have the big corporations.

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Fedeli eyes ONTC as finance critic (North Bay Nugget – September 10, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

Secret documents that were blacked out and deemed classified information might see the light of day to learn more about the sale of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

“Those are the kinds of documents I fully expect to see as finance critic,” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli. Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak tagged Fedeli as the new finance critic Tuesday in a move that is speculated to anticipate a fall election.

Fedeli remains as energy critic leading a committee looking into cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga ahead of the 2011 provincial election that cost the province $585 million.

Documents Fedeli accessed as energy critic indicate selling the ONTC is expected to cost $790 million mainly due to severance, pensions and other liabilities. The Liberals said selling the ONTC would save the province $265 million.

“I’m looking to find out how long this has been going on, how long ago did this fire sale first get hatched. Those are the issues that I find critical,” Fedeli said.

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Billionaire Battles Native Americans Over Iron Ore Mine – by Christopher Helman (Forbes Magazine – September 9, 2013)

http://www.forbes.com/

Chris Cline became a billionaire through his investments in Illinois coal mines. His privately held Foresight Energy is rolling in profits while other coal companies are failing.

Now Cline hopes to repeat his fortune mining a different mineral, a form of iron ore called taconite, from a giant open pit mine in Wisconsin.

Coal has many detractors, so Cline is accustomed to being in the cross hairs of environmentalist groups. But because Cline’s coal mines are underground operations their impact on the immediate environment is obscured.

That wouldn’t be the case with his proposed taconite mine. Proposed by Gogebic Taconite, which Cline bought a few years ago, the mine would be built in the far northern reaches of Wisconsin near the town of Mellen, in an area crossed by rivers and streams that flow north into Lake Superior.

Wisconing Gov. Scott Walker is in favor of the mine, which is expected to generate 8 million tons a year of taconite and support 700 direct jobs. Naturally, the Sierra Club and Native American tribes are against it.

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Energizer expects better economics from feasibility at Madagascar project – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – September 9, 2013)

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Madagascar-focused Energizer Resources on Monday said a series of milestones at its flagship Molo graphite project, and recently updated mineral resources had led it to expect improved economics from a feasibility study currently under way.

The company’s shares jumped more than 16% in early trade on the TSX on Monday to C$0.185 a share, before falling back to C$0.165 apiece around noon.

The company in February published the results of a preliminary economic study (PEA) for the project, which had found it to hold an after-tax net present value (NPV), using a 10% discount rate, of $341.8-million, and an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 41%.

The project was expected to cost $162.04-million to construct and would produce about 84 000 t/y of 98% to 98.6% pure flake graphite, which could sell at an average market price of about $1 564/t. The project was expected to have a three-year payback period.

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Vladimir Potanin plans Norilsk Nickel overhaul – by Courtney Weaver and Charles Clover (Financial Times – September 9, 2013)

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

Moscow – After years of vicious shareholder infighting, lawsuits and mudslinging, Norilsk Nickel’s oligarch shareholders are scrambling to overhaul its investment strategy and management structure following the steep fall in metals prices.

In an interview, Vladimir Potanin, Norilsk Nickel’s single biggest shareholder with 30 per cent and chief executive, said the company had hired western consultants including McKinsey and BCG to advise the nickel, platinum and palladium producer, which has a market capitalisation of $20.6bn.

According to Mr Potanin, Norilsk has never managed to shake off its Soviet legacy and develop into a 21st century multinational, despite being the world’s largest nickel producer with $12bn in annual revenues and close to $5bn in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

“To put it simply, the company should become more modern. It’s still working like a Soviet ministry,” Mr Potanin says. “There is a lot of red tape and other things that need to be done away with, given today’s difficult financial markets.”

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Concern growing over Sept-Îles oil spill – by Lynn Moore (Montreal Gazette – September 9, 2013)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

MONTREAL — An oil spill that happened more than a week ago in Sept-Îles might be far more serious than first reported.

Quebec Environment Minister Yves-François Blanchet visited the area Sunday while cleanup crews tried to contain a large slick before tides and winds take the oil out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

While Blanchet urged a more “aggressive approach” to preventing oil spills during his visit, local environmental groups worried about damage to aquatic life in Sept-Îles Bay and beyond.

Overnight on Aug. 31, bunker oil was spilled near a shipping operation of an iron ore pellet plant operated by Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. at Pointe Noire. While the “source of the incident” is under control, investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing, the company said Sunday.

Some media reports have pointed to a botched reservoir transfer as being at the heart of the problem. Environment Quebec has said that about 450,000 litres of bunker oil were spilled.

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China slowdown spells end of big payday for iron ore traders – by Manolo Serapio Jr and Silvia Antonioli (Reuters India – September 10, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE/LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) – With China’s insatiable appetite for iron ore cooling alongside a slowing economy, once in-demand traders of the steelmaking raw material face a new reality: fewer financial perks and tougher resume requirements.

Anyone without a network of connections in top market China need not apply. And the days of guaranteed bonuses to attract the best talent are largely over. Just two years ago, iron ore traders were the envy of even investment bankers, a famously well-paid breed of financial players.

“Two years ago, banks were all over the market. If you could spell iron ore, they wanted you in their team,” said Paul French, the London-based global head of commodities at recruiting firm Global Sage. Now, with iron ore prices retreating from a record near $200 a tonne in 2011 to $134.80, recruiters say the phones are not ringing like they used to.

“I haven’t had a requirement for an iron ore trader for some time. Eighteen months ago we were regularly asked about it and I don’t think we’ve been asked about it in the last 12 months,” said Charles Crichton, Asia general manager at UK-based Commodity Appointments.

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Gabriel shares plummet as massive project in Romania now on the rocks – Peter Koven (National Post – September 10, 2013)

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

The long-suffering shareholders of Gabriel Resources Ltd. two weeks ago received a brief glimmer of hope — a hope that now appears to be extinguished.

Shares of the Canadian miner plunged an astounding 53.7% to close at 68¢ on Monday after Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta reversed course and said the company’s giant Rosia Montana project should not go ahead. At one point, the stock was down as much as 72%.

While Mr. Ponta’s comments do not mark the end of Gabriel’s quest to build Rosia Montana, which could become Europe’s biggest gold mine if it is ever approved, the response from investors on Monday shows many of them have had enough of this saga.

Gabriel has been trying to win approval for the project since the late 1990s, but has faced vicious opposition from anti-mining activists along the way. The company battled back — it even helped fund a documentary called Mine Your Own Business, which portrayed the activists in a very negative light and suggested the mine is needed to create economic activity in an impoverished part of Romania.

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