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Fears grow about Reko Diq Gold mines…Baloch senator says deal offered to China; government denies – by Shaheen Sehbai ([Pakistan] The News International – August 28, 2013)

http://www.thenews.com.pk/

WASHINGTON: While major world mining and investment companies are preparing to invest big time, big money in Balochistan, specially in the mining sector, suspicions and doubts that the biggest gold mine of Reko Diq may be quietly handed over to China as part of the growing economic ties are also coming to the fore.

Official and business circles have been wondering for some time what will happen to the multi-hundred billion dollar Reko Diq gold and copper mines after the world’s largest mining company, Barrick Gold of Canada, was thrown out of Pakistan by the Supreme Court of Pakistan during the PPP regime.

But after the recent visit of high level government delegation to China and a flurry of quick MoUs and super-paced exchange of visits, an important leader from Balochistan, former Senator Sana Baloch has alleged publicly that the government has promised these mines to China in a year or so.

While the Government leaders strongly denied any deal or any promise made during the Beijing visit, an official Pakistan Government statement assuring that the Reko Diq mines will be given to the highest bidder in an international tender is still awaited.

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NWT seeks $600 million for roads, bridges (CBC News North – August 28, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/north/

Minister says oil, gas, and mining industry would benefit

The Northwest Territories wants to welcome heavy industry such as mining and oil and gas extraction. But Industry Minister Dave Ramsay says it won’t happen without a hefty investment from Canadian taxpayers.

Ramsay says the NWT’s requests for federal infrastructure spending add up to $600 million. The territory wants the money to improve roads, airports, bridges and other infrastructure over the next decade.

This week in Yellowknife, ministers in charge of mining in all three Northern territories met with industry representatives. Delegates called for improved roads and air transport.

Ramsay says the territory of about 40,000 people cannot invest in such huge projects alone. He says better infrastructure would benefit local residents and set the stage for industry.

“We want companies to come back and invest in exploration and development of our resources. We need that infrastructure in place to allow that to happen,” he said.

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Russia orders oil cut to Belarus after potash clash – by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Vladimir Soldatkin (Reuters U.S. – August 28, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

MOSCOW – (Reuters) – Russia ordered its oil firms on Wednesday to cut supplies to neighboring Belarus by around a quarter, in a major escalation of a trade and diplomatic dispute following the arrest in Minsk of the boss of Russian potash firm.

Trade disputes between Russia and Belarus have affected oil deliveries in the past, causing knock-on disruptions to pipeline flows via Belarus to European countries such as Poland and Germany.

Memories of those cuts, which led to oil price spikes, resurfaced this week after a major diplomatic row erupted between Moscow and Minsk.

Belarus this week detained chief executive of Russia’s Uralkali (URKA.MM), the world’s top potash producer, accusing him of inflicted severe economic damage following the collapse of a Russia-Belarus sales cartel.

Russia demanded the release of Vladislav Baumgertner. Uralkali controls 20 percent of the world market and is partially owned by Suleiman Kerimov, a billionaire with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration.

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH NEWS RELEASE: Tanzania: Hazardous Life of Child Gold Miners AUGUST 28, 2013


http://www.hrw.org/home

Government, World Bank, Donors Should Address Child Labor in Mines

Click here for full report: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/tanzania0813_ForUpload_0.pdf

(Dar Es Salaam) – Children as young as eight years old are working in Tanzanian small-scale gold mines, with grave risks to their health and even their lives, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Tanzanian government should curb child labor in small-scale mining, including at informal, unlicensed mines, and the World Bank and donor countries should support these efforts.

The 96-page report, “Toxic Toil: Child Labor and Mercury Exposure in Tanzania’s Small-Scale Gold Mines,”describes how thousandsof children work in licensed and unlicensed small-scale gold mines in Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer. They dig and drill in deep, unstable pits, work underground for shifts of up to 24 hours, and transport and crush heavy bags of gold ore. Children risk injury from pit collapses and accidents with tools, as well as long-term health damage from exposure to mercury, breathing dust, and carrying heavy loads. A 17-year-old boy who survived a pit accident told Human Rights Watch, “I thought I was dead, I was so frightened.”

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Israel looks to glitter in world diamond trade – by Ari Rabinovitch (Reuters India – August 29, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

RAMAT GAN, Israel – (Reuters) – The Israel Diamond Exchange flexed its muscles this week, hosting a four-day show it hopes will strengthen its position as a major hub, and market leaders voiced optimism the struggling industry would have a strong end to the year.

Hundreds of companies crowded the world’s biggest diamond trading floor on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, where buyers, under heavy security and armed with eye loupes, ambled through rows of tables that displayed $2 billion of precious stones.

It was the largest event the exchange had held. Official figures were not made public, but Yair Sahar, president of the exchange, said sales were in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and he expected the show to provide a $2 billion boost by the end of the year.

“The eyes of the world are watching us. The mining companies, the jewelry manufacturers, they are wishing – ‘please be successful’,” Sahar said. Israel is already a key trading center and diamonds account for about 20 percent of all industrial exports. Manufacturing has dwindled, but trading has thrived, reaching an annual turnover of $25 billion.

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Anti-mining protests biggest hurdle for Peru’s mining growth – S&P – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – August 29, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Peru’s mining sector may be booming, but the country need political stability to support long-term mining growth, Standard & Poor’s advises.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Of all the challenges facing Peru’s mining sector, Standard & Poor’s considers anti-mining protests the main constraint on its expansion “because if protests become more widespread, other mining projects could be delayed or scrapped entirely.”

Nevertheless, S&P Credit Analysts Diego Campo, Francisco Serra and Richard A. Francis feel “Peru’s mining sector is poised for significant growth, thanks to its large and high-quality metals reserves, reasonable tax regime, regulations that promote private investment, attractive power costs, and a long track record of mining activity. Plus, the country has fostered the development of ancillary-services suppliers and qualified manpower.”

“We expect investment in the energy and mining sectors will continue at a steady, rapid pace through the 2016 national elections, supporting future economic growth,” the analysts forecast in note published Wednesday. “Moreover, fiscal revenues from the mining sector, along with implementation of the new fiscal rule, should help Peru’s fiscal accounts and continue to reduce the government’s debt burden.”

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Crossworks inks deal with Chinese firm – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – August 29, 2013)

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

Craftspeople at Sudbury’s Crossworks Manufacturing Ltd. plant will soon be cutting and polishing diamonds for the world’s largest jewelry company, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd.

Crossworks president Uri Ariel has just signed a long-term supply and licensing agreement with the Chinese firm to provide Crossworks’ patented hearts and arrows ideal cut square diamond to the company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Chow Tai Fook will have exclusive distribution rights to sell the uniquely cut diamonds through its extensive retail network in Greater China.
Crossworks Manufacturing Ltd., a member of the HRA Group of Companies, is a Canadian company with five polishing facilities in Canada, Vietnam and Namibia. One of the Canadian plants is located in downtown Sudbury, where about 35 cutters process 10% of the diamonds mined by De Beers in the James Bay Lowlands.

Crossworks designed the square cut hearts and arrows diamond to enhance the brilliance, fire and scintillation in a square cut diamond, company spokesman Dylan Dix said in a release.

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Vale workers rescued from rooftop: Final update – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 29, 2013)

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

Two employees working on a roof had to be rescued and were taken to hospital for examination, but there were no injuries after a $2-million fire broke out at Vale’s Clarabelle Mill on Wednesday at 9:15 a.m.

Thirty firefighters from five downtown stations responded in 10 vehicles and, in about 90 minutes, contained a fire that was belching black smoke into the area, said a fire official.

Leo Frappier, senior public safety officer with Greater Sudbury Fire Services, said at 11 a.m. the fire had been downgraded from a Level 2 to a Level 1, and was contained to the building. A Level 2 fire is one in which there could have been “contaminants in the air, but there’s none,” said Frappier.

Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said no one was injured and there was no threat to public safety. By mid-afternoon, Robson said the fire seemed to have been confined to one of three crushing lines at the mill, so the impact on production was expected to be minimal.

The cause of the fire was unknown, she said, and there was no estimate of damage.

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How to price a barrel of water in the oil sands – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – August 29, 2013)

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

We all know the value of a barrel of oil, but how do you put a price on a barrel of water? It’s a growing and challenging debate in the oil sands, where oil, which sells at a readily available market price, and water, which is priceless but restricted, are so intertwined one cannot be produced without somehow shortchanging the other.

Indeed, oil sands projects are also giant water handling factories, with oil sands mines using on average of about 3.1 barrels of fresh water for every barrel of oil they produce, and in-situ operations using about 0.4 barrels of fresh water for every oil barrel they produce.

Much like the larger debate over the oil sands’ greenhouse emissions, views on the right oil and water mix are polarized: for some, any water used to produce oil comes at an unacceptable cost to an ecosystem that needs it; for others, water use is minor relative to its abundance and justified by the value it creates through oil.

Environmental organizations like the Pembina Institute, for one, are indignant over withdrawals of any amounts of water from rivers like the Athabasca that run through Alberta’s oil sands region, claim development contaminates water bodies nearby and that monitoring is inadequate.

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Industrial policy good place to start generating Ontario’s economic growth -by Martin Regg Cohn (Toronto Star – August 29, 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.

The recovery from the 2008 economic slump has been feeble. Against that backdrop, all three parties are flailing. Time to get serious about jobs.

The party that best persuades voters it is serious about Ontario’s economic future will be best positioned to win the next campaign.

The recovery from the 2008 economic slump has been feeble. The political leadership has been equally weak. All these years later, all three parties are flailing.

The Tories have produced a dozen discussion papers that retreat into union-bashing and privatization to drive economic renewal. The New Democrats are obsessed with hiking corporate taxes as a panacea for prosperity.

And after a decade in power, the governing Liberals are adrift. Seven months after taking over, Premier Kathleen Wynne has yet to make her economic mark or even hint at a new vision for growth.

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The Ring of Fire: Ontario’s Mega Mining Project to be the “Next Fort McMurray” – by Derek Leahy ( DeSmog Canada – August 28, 2013)

http://www.desmog.ca/

Ontario’s largest mining find in decades – a 5000 square km region known as the Ring of Fire – won’t be developed by Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources without facing significant obstacles.

“We question whether the Ring of Fire can be mined without being a massive financial burden on Ontario taxpayers, or without trashing the province’s most pristine watershed,” says Ramsey Hart, Canada program coordinator for MiningWatch Canada, an Ottawa-based organization.

“It is also unclear if this development will proceed in the best interests of the First Nations living in the Ring of Fire,” Hart told DeSmog Canada.

A briefing note to the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs from earlier this year warns that the Anishinaabe/Omushkego* (First Nations of the Ring of Fire) “are some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in all of Canada” and this could prevent the Anishinaabe/Omushkego from benefitting from the Ring of Fire mega mining project.

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Prospecting under cover: Frontiers of exploration research – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – August 28, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

In Part II of Mineweb’s series on exploration trends, Kip Keen turns to the Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre in Australia and talks paradigm shifts.

HALIFAX, NS (MINEWEB) – So the success rate falls. Now exploration money buys fewer discoveries. This was one of the key insights Richard Schodde, of Minex Consulting, discussed in Part I of this interview series on exploration trends. The rate of discovery used to correlate well with increases in spending, in part because the deposits were easier to find. More boots on the ground. More rocks chipped. More ore deposits discovered.

But now the boots are more expensive to pay for and many of the surface rocks, especially in developed countries, have already been kicked forcing exploration to go deeper and become more extensive. Meantime, labour costs, until recently that is, were sky-rocketing amid intense competition to secure services.

To some degree, as the market cools, a process unfolding for a couple years now, the cost of exploration gets cheaper as, for example, geologists lower their rate of pay and drilling contractors cut down margins to get contracts. But it can only go so far. That much is clear now as discoveries, especially in developed countries, come at depth and require increasing geological expertise to find and more drilling.

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Commentary: Guatemalans’ lawsuit against Hudbay in Canada – by Christina Hall and Kevin MacNeill(Northern Miner – August 27, 2013)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. 

On July 22, 2013, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in Choc v. Hudbay Minerals Inc. that three separate lawsuits brought by indigenous Guatemalans against Canadian mining company Hudbay Minerals and other defendants, can go forward in Canada.

The plaintiffs’ lawsuits allege that between 2007 and 2009, security personnel working for Hudbay’s subsidiaries — who were allegedly under the control and supervision of Hudbay, the parent company — committed various human rights abuses. These include the alleged gang rape of 11 Guatemalan women, the beating and shooting death of a respected Guatemalan indigenous leader who had been an outspoken critic of mining practices, and the shooting of another Guatemalan man in an unprovoked attack which left the man paralyzed.

All of these abuses are alleged to have been committed by security personnel at Hudbay’s Fenix mining project, a proposed open-pit nickel mining operation located on Lake Izabal in northeastern Guatemala. According to the pleadings in the lawsuit, Hudbay and the other the defendants asserted that they had a valid legal right to this land, while indigenous communities claimed that the Mayan Q’eqchi’ were the rightful owners of the lands, which they considered to be their ancestral homeland.

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NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Reports on Sustainability Progress

August 27, 2013

For the entire sustainability report, click here: http://www.cliffsnaturalresources.com/EN/Sustainability/Sustainability2012/Documents/Cliffs%202012%20Sustainability%20Report%20-%20Full%20Version.pdf

CLEVELAND, Aug. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) announced today the release of its 2012 sustainability report, entitled “Embracing our Past, Securing our Future.” The sustainability report is a comprehensive look at Cliffs’ global operations and outlines the Company’s progress in key areas of its sustainability strategy.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101104/CLIFFSLOGO )

“This year has been marked by continual change and volatility in the commodities market, which has presented our Company with a number of opportunities and challenges. However, our expectations of personal accountability and business ethics are unwavering,” said David Cartella, vice-president — global environmental affairs, sustainability and counsel. “Going forward, we will continue to build upon a strong foundation of sustainability with the development of a three-year, enterprise-wide strategy. Aligned with business priorities and integrated with operational and functional groups, this strategy aims to maximize our shared value by reinforcing our social license to operate.”

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UPDATE 1-Indonesia may loosen export ban on metal ores – by Rieka Rahadiana and Fergus Jensen (Reuters India – August 28, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

Aug 28 (Reuters) – Indonesia will push for a relaxation of its controversial 2014 ban on metal ore exports amid a scramble to support the rupiah and restore confidence in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Indonesia is the world’s top exporter of nickel ore, coal and refined tin and its mining industry contributes around 12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

However, the ban on unprocessed mineral exports from January 2014 has hit the industry and uncertainties over the country’s mining rules have dented its credibility with foreign investors.

If approved, the reversal of mining policy will upset metal industries banking on a tightening of ore shipments that have increased significantly in the lead up to the ban. However, some in parliament doubted the government would manage to overturn the rule.

Under the proposed revision, mining companies with smelters under construction would be allowed to continue to export unprocessed minerals, but would be charged a progressive duty on the shipments depending on how close to completion their projects are, Industry Minister Muhammad Sulaeman Hidayat told reporters.

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