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Analysis – On ‘massacre’ anniversary, South Africa mines still volatile – by Peroshni Govender (Reuters U.K. – August 15, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

MARIKANA, South Africa – (Reuters) – A year after South Africa’s bloodiest post-apartheid labour incident awoke the world to the potential for unrest in the country’s mines, the industry still suffers from worker poverty, pay disputes, shrinking profits and a violent union feud.

At Lonmin’s Marikana mine where 34 striking platinum workers were shot dead by police on August 16, 2012 in killings that shocked South Africa and the world, memorial services are planned for Friday by politicians, unions and civic leaders.

President Jacob Zuma, still facing criticism for his African National Congress (ANC) government’s handling of what has come to be known as the “Marikana massacre”, has led a solemn chorus of assurances that such bloodshed must never happen again.

“We must all resolve to do everything possible to prevent a repeat of similar incidents,” Zuma said in a statement listing government steps to keep the peace and improve conditions in the country’s mines, where recurring illegal strikes have badly dented Africa’s biggest economy over the last year.

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PRESS RELEASE: Detour Gold Achieves Commercial Production at Detour Lake

Aug. 14, 2013, 3:52 p.m. EDT

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Aug 14, 2013 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — Detour Gold Corporation CA:DGC +0.96% (“Detour Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to report that its Detour Lake mine reached commercial production on August 12, having operated for a period of 60 consecutive days (commencing June 13, 2013) at an average of 41,428 tonnes per day (tpd).

The Company’s definition of commercial production states that commercial production will be declared on the first day of the calendar month following the mill having operated for a period of 60 consecutive days at an average of 75% or more of the designed production capacity, equivalent to 41,250 tpd. Consequently, the Company will commence reporting operating costs as of September 1, 2013.

During the 60 day period, the processing plant processed a total of 2,486,000 tonnes of ore, including 17 days where daily milling rates exceeded 50,000 tpd. For the first 11 days of August, availability improved to 80%. During the last four days of that period, the processing plant operated at an average of 52,900 tpd with an overall availability of 95%, which is closely approaching the nameplate capacity of 55,000 tpd. The ramp-up is also steadily progressing at the mine with mining rates averaging 180,000 tpd (total material mined = overburden, ore and waste) for the first 11 days of August.

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Wall says he’s ‘pleased’ with Potash on promises – by Joe Couture (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – August 16, 2013)

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

Premier Brad Wall says he’s pleased with PotashCorp’s progress in keeping promises it made to the province at the time of the attempted takeover by BHP Billiton in 2010.

“We get a report from (PotashCorp), and I’ve had a chance to talk to (CEO) Bill Doyle directly about it. We had a conversation about the status of the pledge and I think Saskatchewan people should be pleased. We’re certainly pleased,” Wall said.

“They’re heading toward the exact number they promised for head office jobs. They’ve had so many move up from Illinois.

“They’ve actually exceeded their targets for overall numbers of employees. They’re moving in the right direction in terms of aboriginal employment,” he added. “And from a corporate citizen standpoint, here’s a company that has exceeded their pledge, frankly, I think, and expectations.”

As examples of that, Wall pointed to PotashCorp’s contributions to the STARS air ambulance program and to the new Global Food Security Institute.

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Why cartels collapse – by Jack M. Mintz (National Post – August 16, 2013)

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

The potash cartel collapsed, at least for now, and the oil cartel could be next

Cartels are tough to maintain as we have recently seen with the demise of the Russian-Belarusian duopoly that accounts for over 35% of world potash production. The North American Canpotex cartel accounting for another a third of global output faces a sharp reduction in profits.

The stock and bond markets have responded in kind. Potash Corporation, the leading global producer, has seen its credit rating downgraded by Standard and Poor’s from stable to negative following a steep drop in its stock price from $38 to $30.

Yet, not all cartels fall apart. OPEC has been in operation since 1960, first successfully manipulating global oil prices by reducing supply after the Yom Kippur war in 1973. Today, it is the swing producer, producing 32.4 million barrels per day (roughly 45% of world crude production in 2012). OPEC itself is dominated by Saudi Arabia, which accounts for almost one-third of OPEC production.

If a potash cartel can fall apart, could it happen to OPEC?

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Iron ore boom vs. Rudd’s doom – by Barry Fitzgerald and Paul Garvey (The Australian – August 16, 2013)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business

ON the hustings and in his campaign ads, Kevin Rudd has been calling the mining boom over.

“The truth is in 2013 the China resources boom is over,” the Prime Minister said on July 11. At the leaders debate on Sunday: “The truth is, with the ending of the decade-long mining boom, we face new economic challenges.” At almost any media opportunity, the mantra is repeated. But he must have forgotten to tell the Chinese — the world’s biggest buyer of mineral commodities.

Ever since returning as PM on June 26, the price of iron ore — Australia’s biggest export by a big margin — has not looked back as Chinese steelmakers frantically restock on the expectation that while there is a slowdown in the country’s infrastructure and urbanisation boom, an economic growth rate of more than 7 per cent on an already greatly enlarged economy means it still needs to suck in vast amounts of the steelmaking raw material.

Iron ore has surged by 26 per cent, or $US29.80 a tonne, to $US142.80 a tonne since Mr Rudd returned to the Lodge and began mapping a re-election strategy that in part at least, links the claimed end to the mining boom to Australia’s ballooning budget deficits.

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ForestEthics fights for one-way democracy – by Peter Foster (National Post – August 16, 2013)

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

The question is whether eco storm troopers will abide by the decision if they lose

Eco radicals have a highly flexible approach to public participation, but little or no flexibility on its allowable conclusions. When it comes to forcing a green agenda on people – say, via removing the right to object to local wind farms in Ontario — they are all in favour. When it comes to new pipelines, however, they believe in the widest possible consultation, but with only one acceptable decision: Ban them.

This week the government’s regulatory streamlining legislation for new energy projects, contained within 2012’s Omnibus Bill C-38, was the subject of a lawsuit by an arm of San Francisco-based environmental group ForestEthics, which has for years been front and centre in anti-oil sands and anti-forestry activism.

A subsidiary, ForestEthics Advocacy, FA, and an individual named Donna Sinclair, both represented by celebrity Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby, FA’s chairman, sought to overturn the government’s provisions on the basis that they restrict freedom of speech, not to mention threatening the survival of life on earth.

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Oil’s new Arctic passage to Europe – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – August 16, 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.

Calgary –  As some of the biggest players in Canada’s oil industry fight for proposals to move the product west, south and east, a new plan is emerging to move crude north.

Omnitrax Inc., a private U.S. company that owns Churchill, Man.’s port, may provide a new channel for moving crude to markets on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Denver-based company, which also owns Manitoba’s northern railway, is nearing a test run to ship oil through its system as part of an ambitious plan that could see Western Canadian crude moving for the first time to Europe’s largest port via tanker across Hudson Bay.

If the plan is realized, it would run counter to long-established crude oil flows, in which east coast Canadian refineries have imported their feedstock from North Sea and Middle East suppliers.

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A year after Marikana: The pendulum is swinging, but in which direction? – by Geoff Candy (Mineweb.com – August 16, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Many things have changed in the 12 months since the massacre by police of striking workers in South Africa’s platinum belt, but is it enough?

GRONINGEN (MINEWEB) – Shorthand for the worst possible outcome, the name Marikana has been mentioned many times in the last 12 months.

It has been used as both a rallying cry and a cautionary tale. But, asked what has changed over the course of the last 12 months either in terms of improving the lot of those who work in the mines or to ensure that such a tragedy can never recur, the answer is almost always: “not enough”.

For the most part, that is where the similarities end. Yes, some progress has been made. The wave of wildcat strike action that plagued the country in the last quarter of 2012 that spilled over into other sectors from the mines has been calmed but, on the mines, continued tension among the unions have led to further shootings.

Government has stepped up to the plate, committing to deliverables by signing the peace and stability framework. But a year later the Farlam Commission is yet to present its findings and the violence on the mines still remains too high.

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Time to build a road to prosperity in the Far North – by Mark Quinn (Troy Media – August 13, 2013)

http://www.troymedia.com/

An all-weather road would increase economic development and provide a better quality of life

OTTAWA, ON, Aug 13, 2013/ Troy Media/ – Over the last decade Canadians have become increasingly aware of a number of First Nation communities that have been in serious crisis.

The plight of communities like Attawapiskat, Pikangikum, and Kashechewan are well known in the national media but what is less well known is that they are all in the same region, Northern Ontario.

These communities are three of the approximately 30 First Nation communities in Ontario’s Far North. Most of these communities have much in common and are facing remarkably similar challenges. The Far North – comprising some 42 per cent of Ontario’s landmass (approximately 420,000 square kilometers)  – has more in common with the arctic than with the rest of the province. Consider the following:

• it has virtually no community infrastructure;
• there is little access to the hydro grid in the region;

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NEWS RELEASE: Northern Gold Announces Exploration Agreement With Wahgoshig First Nation for Its Golden Bear Project

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Aug. 15, 2013) – NORTHERN GOLD MINING INC. (TSX VENTURE:NGM) (“Northern Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exploration agreement (the “Agreement”) with the Wahgoshig First Nation community (“Wahgoshig”) near Garrison Township, Ontario. The Agreement establishes a commitment by the Company to develop an ongoing relationship with Wahgoshig in the area of the Company’s Golden Bear Project, and provides Wahgoshig with an opportunity to participate in the benefits of Northern Gold projects through training, ongoing communication and business development. Northern Gold has also agreed to negotiate an Impact Benefit Agreement with Wahgoshig should construction or mining operations commence on any of the Company’s properties located on Wahgoshig traditional territory.

Martin Shefsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northern Gold, stated, “The Agreement is an important step as we strengthen our mutually respectful and beneficial relationship with Wahgoshig. We will continue working closely with Wahgoshig and look forward to receiving their input as we explore the opportunities within the Golden Bear Project and move forward in a socially responsible manner for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Chief David Babin of Wahgoshig stated, “We are pleased to enter into the Agreement and appreciate that Northern Gold has consistently recognized and acknowledged our constitutional rights.

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De Beers eyes expansion to mine project near Attawapiskat (CBC News Sudbury – August 15, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Attawapiskat band members interested in negotiating a new Impact Benefit Agreement for the Victor Mine Extension Project.

De Beers Canada is looking into the possibility of extending its current Victor Mine project on northern Ontario’s James Bay Coast, on traditional land, 90 kilometres west of Attawapiskat First Nation.

The company officially opened its existing Victor Mine site in mid-2008, after discovering the region’s lucrative kimberlite field more than two decades earlier. It was the province’s first diamond mine.

With an estimated five years remaining on that open pit diamond mine, the company has proposed the Victor Mine Extension Project.

The project is in an advanced exploration stage at the moment, meaning a final decision on whether to pursue the extension is still at least 18 months away, said Tom Ormsby, the director of external and corporate affairs at De Beers Canada.

An environmental assessment is currently underway, and core samples will be done to gauge the value of minerals in the ground.

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IBK Capital CEO [Michael White] calls the market bottom – by Alisha Hiyate (Mining Markets – August 14, 2013)

http://www.miningmarkets.ca/

Mining Markets recently spoke with Michael White, president and CEO of Toronto-based IBK Capital, for his views on the junior mining market. As the head of IBK, a private investment bank that largely deals with junior miners, White has had a front-row seat to the suffering of these companies over the past two years. While some companies won’t survive the current market malaise, White believes the market is at, or near, a bottom — and predicts a migration of talent from the majors to juniors that will build the next generation of majors.

Mining Markets: IBK does a lot of work with resource juniors, so you’ve got a front-row seat to the difficult markets they’ve been facing. Could you describe the current financing environment for the juniors?

Michael White: In the industry we talk about windows being open and windows being closed, and arguably, the window is closed. There are a few financings getting done, it’s not impossible to get financings completed. Sometimes these companies have to be a bit creative in order to fund their exploration or development, but generally speaking, the mining market today is much poorer than it was a couple years ago.

We really have seen a decrease in value in the equities for the exploration companies and the producing companies in metals and mining over the last two years.

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Foreign aid as a tool for Canadian development – by Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail – August 15, 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.

OTTAWA — The Conservative revolution in Canada’s foreign aid is finally here.

It’s not just that the Harper government has folded the former aid agency, CIDA, into the Foreign Affairs department, ending the flimsy pretense of separation between politics and aid policy. It’s that the money spent by Canada on aid now reflects the Tories’ view of the world, or at least the aid world.

For years the Tories have talked about changing Canadian aid, and NGOs and aid advocates have expressed fears about what they planned. But some of the Tories’ ideas about aid were ad-hoc notions, and it’s taken time for little shifts to really change the aid portfolio – a big, lumbering thing made up of thousands of multiyear projects. Now it has.

There’s a stronger belief in development banks, aid projects built around Canadian commercial interests in mining, and a profound faith in the power of the private sector.

The projects funded this year, especially, show an unmistakable Tory stamp.

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Penny stock fraud: Alleged mastermind Sandy Winick once lived the high life in Toronto – by Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew (Toronto Star – August 15, 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.

Winick’s past includes bankruptcy filings, scrutiny by stock market regulators, and co-founding The Fight Network.

More details are coming to light about one-time Toronto resident Sandy Winick, the alleged mastermind of a worldwide pennystock fraud believed to be on the run in Thailand.

Winick’s track record in business includes bankruptcy filings, a dizzying number of subsidiaries and companies that traded over-the-counter, and co-founding testosterone-laden cable channel Fight Network, which features boxing and mixed martial arts.

Winick, who U.S. authorities alleged this week ran the $140 million fraud ring, also has a taste for the highlife, as can be seen in a Star article profiling his home in 2005.

Winick, an aquarium enthusiast, and his wife Jodi spoke about elaborate plans for one salt water and one fresh water tank in their north Toronto home.

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NEWS RELEASE: Ontario to host global mine rescue event

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

The sixth annual International Mine Rescue Body (IMRB) conference will be held at two locations in Ontario this Fall. The symposium portion of the event will be held in Niagara Falls from October 5 to 10, 2013 and the field trip component will be held in Sudbury from October 10 to 13.

More than 160 delegates from 12 nations are expected to attend this international conference. It is being hosted by the Canadian Association of Chief Inspectors of Mines, Canadian mine rescue organizations – including Ontario’s — and the Canadian mining industry in general. Several Ontario Mining Association members are participating in and supporting the conference and field trip.

General topics to be discussed in Niagara Falls include emergency preparedness and response planning, crisis management, effective mine rescue training, emerging rescue technologies and mine rescue research. The chairman of the conference – David Stewart from New Zealand – will present the case for developing an international mine rescue code of practice to set minimum standards and facilitate assistance between and among countries in the case of emergencies.

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