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Mining the Gobi: The Battle for Mongolia’s Resources – by Bernhard Zand (Spiegel Online International – August 7, 2013)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/

Mongolia is over four times the size of Germany, with nearly 3 million inhabitants and a GDP of $10 billion (€7.5 billion) in 2012.

British-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto employs 71,000 people in more than 40 countries and is worth about $60 billion.
These two unequal partners — a poor, potentially rich nation and the second largest mining corporation in the world — have joined together to mine one of the globe’s largest deposits of copper and gold. But will they be capable of distributing this wealth fairly?

The mine in question lies an hour’s flight south of the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, near the border with China. There is enough copper in the ground here to build the Statue of Liberty more than 800,000 times over. Once the planned mine goes into full operation, it could increase the country’s GDP by a third. It could, at least in theory, bring prosperity to this country where many people still live in simple yurts and huts.

But in practice, the transaction between this global corporation and this country that is poor but rich in raw materials looks quite different. In fact, the project serves as a prime example of what is happening in a growing number of newly industrialized and developing countries.

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How Colombian FARC Terrorists Mining Tungsten Are Linked to Your BMW Sedan – by Michael Smith (Bloomberg Market Magazine – August 8, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

It’s a sweltering day in March, and Javier Garcia slogs through the dense undergrowth in a remote stretch of the Amazon jungle in southeastern Colombia.

He and a friend have hiked all day toward their goal, a mining site 100 kilometers from the nearest town. As the men hack through the thorny brush with machetes, following a narrow, muddy path, Garcia stops in his tracks.

Centimeters away, a venomous snake called four-noses coils up, poised to attack. Garcia says he will be dead within an hour if the pit viper strikes. His friend grabs a long stick and carefully flips the snake into the jungle. They move on, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its September issue.

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Rio Tinto Alcan to close Shawinigan, Que., smelter – (Canadian Press/CBC News Montreal – August 7, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/montreal/

425 workers affected by shutdown

Rio Tinto Alcan says weak metal prices have forced the aluminum producer to close its 72-year-old smelter in Shawinigan, Que., about a year ahead of schedule in November, affecting most of its 425 workers.

“With the current difficult market conditions and when we look at the short-term forecasts, the situation became financially unsustainable for Shawinigan, and this despite all the efforts the employees made to help over the past years,” said Étienne Jacques, chief operating officer of Rio Tinto Alcan Primary Metal in an interview.

He said employees couldn’t have done anything to avert the decision because the market finally caught up with the plant’s old Soderberg technology.

“They have done almost everything that was imaginable to do, they have done it,” said Jacques. The announcement was made Wednesday, ahead of environmental regulations that would have forced the facility to close at the end of next year.

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Matawa First Nations to start training for Ring of Fire development – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – August 9, 2013)

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Ring of Fire Aboriginal Training Alliance (RoFATA) would receive more than $5.9-million from the Canadian Governments’ ‘Skills and Partnership Fund’ to provide training for employment in the mining sector for the people of Matawa First Nations, in preparation for development of the Ring of Fire mineral complex in Ontario’s Far North.

The Ring of Fire is a 5 000 km2 mineral-rich area in the James Bay Lowlands, situated within the traditional lands of two of the Matawa First Nations.

Nine specialised training and six pre-trade courses would be made available to Matawa First Nations members, with many courses to be presented in their First Nation communities and others locally in Thunder Bay. About 260 trainees would be trained on courses lasting between 5 weeks and 20 weeks, and 196 trainees would enter into employment through RoFATA.

The Matawa First Nations, Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS), Noront Resources and Confederation College of Applied Arts and Technology this week signed a memorandum of understanding, creating RoFATA partnership.

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Australian Broadcasting Corporation Interview with BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie (Australia Broadcasting Corporation – August 8, 2013)

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

Click here for extended interview: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3820498.htm

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: You may recall last night that during a discussion with the Prime Minister, we ran a brief excerpt of an interview with the head of the world’s biggest mining company BHP chief executive Andrew MacKenzie. We had to hold over the full interview because of the need to make time for Kevin Rudd.

So as promised last night, here’s more of what Mr MacKenzie had to say when he joined the program.

Mr McKenzie, I’d like to start by getting your views on some broad economic questions. Do you think that Australia is transitioning out of the resources boom?

ANDREW MACKENZIE, CHIEF EXEC., BHP BILLITON: Not at all. I think maybe some of the best days are ahead of it. I believe, obviously as you’re hinting, that the resources industry has been pivotal to Australia, but as we go forward, demand continues to increase and everything is for Australia to play for.

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Tanzania: Fipa – the Myth of Reciprocity – by Paula Butler and Evans Rubara (All Africa.com – August 8, 2013)

http://allafrica.com/

The new investment code between Tanzania and Canada raises questions as to whose interests the Tanzanian state really serves, why, and to whom the Tanzanian state is accountable. Such a far-reaching investment regime has been adopted with minimal public awareness and debate among Tanzanian citizens. Hypocritical! This may be the most accurate word to characterize the recent Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) between the United Republic of Tanzania and Canada.

Since the infamous demise of the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) in 1999, Canada has been quietly using bilateral trade agreements to introduce the very investment terms that were then opposed by a groundswell of Global South countries and informed citizens. The most recent of these is an investment agreement with Tanzania.

WHAT TRANSPARENCY?

While Canadian government officials pose as champions of transparency in the realm of global governance, and have touted their support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Tanzania, this Agreement has had minimal public visibility.

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Potash earthquake – (Northern Miner Editorial – Aug 12 – 18, 2013)

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

Like a sudden Saskatchewan thunderstorm, the potash market surprised everyone yet again with its capacity for drama and destruction, as everyone learned just how important the Russian-Belarusian potash cartel had been all this time in supporting the potash market to the benefit of Western producers and juniors alike.

As detailed in these pages, the major North American potash producers and their investors were side-swiped by news in late July that Russia’s Uralkali was leaving the BPC potash cartel it had created with Belarusalkali as a Slavic twin to the long-standing North American cartel Canpotex run by Potashcorp, Agrium and Mosaic.

Uralkali is already the world’s largest and lowest-cost potash producer, and is now vowing to ramp up production and accept lower prices in order to capture new Asian markets.  In retrospect, the fact that two Russian billionaires unloaded their substantial shareholdings in Uralkali in the weeks leading up to the announcement was a sign something was afoot. (Though, for some reason, we’re not expecting any insider trading investigations to get underway in Moscow any time soon.)

North American juniors in the potash space have always had a tough time, given that potash projects are so vast in cost and scope that developing them on their own is never a realistic option.

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South African gold output continues its decline – where will it end? – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – August 9, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Statistics South Africa has just released its latest figures on the country’s metals and mineral output and they don’t make for happy reading with gold and platinum still on the decline.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – For South Africa, the latest figures from the country’s government statistical department, make fairly dismal reading, particularly with respect to its once word-dominant gold mining sector. The June figures, released yesterday, showed .that gold production continues to fall year on year – it was down 14% on that for June 2012 – and is now only the country’s fourth most important mined metal by value, having been overtaken by iron ore. Coal remains the most important metal or mineral by sales value, with platinum second, but the latter too is showing a year on year production decline.

According to the report the country’s overall mining production decreased by 6.2% year-on-year in June 2013. The largest negative growth rates were recorded by ‘other’ metallic minerals (-38.0%), diamonds (-22.9%), PGMs (-18.9%) and gold (-14.1%). The main contributors though to the overall 6.2% decrease were platinum group metals (contributing -4.6 percentage points) and gold (contributing -2.3 percentage points). Iron ore (contributing +2.0 percentage points) was the most significant positive contributor.

In value terms, the latest figures released are from May when overall mineral sales decreased by 8.5% year-on-year. The largest negative growth rates were recorded for gold (-42.6%), nickel (-20.0%) and ‘other’ metallic minerals (-15.5%). The major contributor to the 8.5% overall decrease was gold (contributing -10.0 percentage points).

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NEWS RELEASE: Supporting Aboriginal skills development and training in Northern Ontario

Honourable Greg Rickford – Minister of State: Science and Technology, Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (Fednor) and Minister Responsible for Ring of Fire

August 8, 2013 11:00 AM – General – Federal Government News

THUNDER BAY, ON, Aug. 8, 2013 /CNW/ – Aboriginal people in Northern Ontario will be better equipped to find fulfilling, long-term employment, as a result of training provided through a project funded by the Government of Canada. The announcement was made today by the Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of State (Science and Technology, and Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario) and Member of Parliament for Kenora, on behalf of the Honourable Candice Bergen, Minister of State (Social Development).

“Our government’s top priorities are creating jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity, across the country and right here in Northern Ontario,” said Minister of State Rickford. “It’s important that all Canadians have the skills and training they need to succeed. By working with organizations such as Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services, we are ensuring that the members of local Aboriginal communities can take full advantage of the opportunities being generated by the rapidly growing mining industry, in particular in the Ring of Fire.”

Noront Resources Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer Paul Parisotto

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Matawa First Nations have chance to cash in on Ring of Fire jobs – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – August 9, 2013)

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

The federal government is providing almost $6 million for training Aboriginal people near the Ring of Fire mining camp.
The Skills and Partnership funding will help 260 residents from nine Matawa First Nations get the skills and experience they need to find good quality, high-paying jobs through a mining industry training project run by Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS) in partnership with Noront Resources Ltd. and Confederation College.

Training will be provided for jobs such as heavy equipment operator, underground diamond driller helper, security guard, camp cook and environmental monitor.

The funding announcement was made Thursday at Confederation College by FedNor Minister Greg Rickford. “Our government’s top priorities are creating jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity, across the country and right here in Northern Ontario,” said Rickford (C-Kenora).

“By working with organizations such as Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services, we are ensuring that the members of local Aboriginal communities can take full advantage of the opportunities being generated by the rapidly growing mining industry, in particular in the Ring of Fire,” he said.

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Vale mulls hedge tactic – by Reuters and Star Staff (Sudbury Star – August 9, 2013)

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

As they continue to work on making their nickel operations more efficient, Vale officials say they may adopt hedge-accounting rules to smooth out the impact of currency fluctuations like those that slammed the company’s second-quarter earnings. Chief Executive Murilo Ferreira made the comments Thursday as the company discussed its second quarter results with analysts and reporters.

Under hedge accounting, companies set aside some dollar-denominated export proceeds to compensate for the impact of exchange-rate moves on the local-currency value of debt, spreading currency gains and losses over several years. The practice is allowed under the International Financial Reporting Standards of the IFRS Foundation, the accounting rule-book used by Vale.

As Brazil’s real currency has weakened, companies have seen the local currency value of dollar debts soar and the cost of servicing the debt rise. Staterun oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s largest company by revenue, last month said it had begun to use hedge accounting in May.

“We had a strong financial performance in a challenging environment,” Ferreira said in a conference call with analysts and journalists. “The financial impact of forex does not reflect our true operations.”

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Harper hails west-east pipeline as N.B. seeks to halt exodus of workers – by Jane Taber (Globe and Mail – August 9, 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.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave his strongest endorsement yet of the $12-billion west-to-east pipeline project, enthusiastically pitching it as a job creator for all Canadians and one that will expand the country’s energy markets.

“This is an extremely exciting project,” he said during a visit Thursday to the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, which is to be the end of the line for TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline.

Beaming in the background was New Brunswick Premier David Alward, who has been working doggedly for the past year to help land the pipeline, given the green light by TransCanada last week. Mr. Alward’s struggling province has the highest unemployment rate in Canada at more than 11 per cent. The Premier says the project will bring about 2,000 construction jobs and the potential for more from spinoffs of the pipeline. It also holds out the promise that the province’s sons and daughters who have gone west to find work – including Mr. Alward’s 23-year-old son Ben, a pipefitter – can come home.

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COLUMN-Petroleum nationalism fades as super-cycle cools – by John Kemp (Reuters U.S. – August 9, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 9 (Reuters) – The balance of power between host countries and petroleum companies has shifted decisively as a result of the shale revolution and the push into deepwater oil and gas fields off the coast of Latin America and Africa.

The first decade of the 21st century was dominated by talk about increasing “resource nationalism” as governments demanded a greater share of the revenues from natural resources located on their territory.

But in the past three years, resource nationalism has disappeared from the agenda. Rather than trying to impose tougher terms on oil and gas companies, most countries are now competing to attract investment by offering reductions in royalties and lower tax rates.

Countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Argentina, Ukraine and Poland want to attract explorers and developers to exploit shale deposits. And countries along the east and west coasts of Africa, as well as Latin America, are all vying to attract spending on offshore oil and gas discoveries.

Faced with so many competing opportunities, oil and gas companies are pushing for a better bargain.

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Canada’s ‘North Sea’ seeks investors to arrest production decline – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – August 9, 2013)

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

Newfoundland and Labrador may be Canada’s fastest growing province this year, but its stellar rise masks a dramatic decline in the oil sector. The province’s three major offshore fields: Hibernia (1.24 billion barrels of reserves), Terra Nova (419 million barrels), and White Rose (283 million ) are past their best and production from new fields is years away.

“We are past peak production from the three existing fields,” the province’s Minister of Natural Resources Tom Marshall told the Financial Post. “We need exploration and success from that in order to sustain and grow the economy further.”

Newfoundland is one of the last few great, untapped offshore developments in North America. Oil majors including ExxonMobil Inc. and Chevron Corp. have a presence in the area, but the region has been a backwater as the prolific Gulf of Mexico and North Sea continue to garner all the attention.

Alarmed by continued neglect from oil companies, the Newfoundland government is casting its net wider to attract bigger players. Last month Mr. Marshall was in China to meet CNOOC and Sinopec officials to drum up interest in the province’s offshore riches.

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