Republic of Mining

Autonomous and Remote Operation Technologies in the [Australian] Mining Industry: Benefits and Costs – by Brian S. Fisher and Sabine Schnittger (BAEconomics – February 2012)

February 5, 2012

BAEconomics has extensive experience across the energy, minerals, infrastructure, agriculture and natural resources sectors.BAEconomics’ background is broad-based having extensive experience in consulting to mining and energy companies, industry associations, agribusinesses, food retailers, utilities and electricity generators, the manufacturing sector, the World Bank, United Nations bodies and Australian Federal and State government agencies. They have served on government committees and boards in Australia and internationally. http://www.baeconomics.com.au/

For the full report, click here: http://www.baeconomics.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Mining-innovation-5Feb12.pdf

Executive summary of Autonomous and Remote Operation Technologies in the [Australian] Mining Industry

Over the past decade, Australia has benefited greatly from its natural resource endowments. The sustained mining boom has contributed significantly to economic growth, investment, employment, as well as taxation and royalty payments to governments, and continues to do so. While some parts of the manufacturing sector have suffered from the appreciation of the Australian dollar, Australia’s services sector has played a key role in supporting the growth of the mining sector and has profited accordingly.

On recent Reserve Bank of Australia estimates, around half of the cost of new mining investment was spent locally on labour and other inputs. In addition, Australian residents received more than half of the earnings from the mining sector. Moreover, while mining operations are concentrated in the resource-rich states, the distribution of mining receipts has been dispersed across the country and has played a key role in keeping unemployment rates low in all states since the onset of the resources boom.

Direct support to those industries with a future [Australian mining] – by Henry Ergas (The Australian – February 06, 2012)

February 5, 2012

This opinion piece came from: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

A MAJOR report released today by Rio Tinto shows just how foolish ACTU president Ged Kearney is to dismiss mining as merely “digging things out of the ground”.

And just how wrong-headed the Gillard government is to focus on locking resources into the industries of the past rather than freeing them for those of the future.

The report, by my former colleagues Brian Fisher, long-time head of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and Sabine Schnittger examines the technological revolution in mining.

The report’s findings (available at www.baeconomics.com.au) are striking: automation is comprehensively transforming mining. Within a decade, that transformation will lead to a “mine of the future” in which myriad robotic devices, controlled from vast distances, undertake functions ranging from tunnelling to blasting, sorting and transporting ores.

How Glencore and Xstrata nailed the $76bn deal – by Danny Fortson (The Australian – February 6, 2012)

February 5, 2012February 5, 2012

This article is from: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

TUCKED in a corner of the Google bar at Davos, Ivan Glasenberg was in cracking form. Dark and intense, with his hair slicked back, the chief executive of Glencore sipped on a Diet Coke while chatting about mining and waving to acquaintances.

The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting is Glasenberg’s natural habitat. It is stuffed with billionaires — he himself is worth about pound stg. 5 billion ($7.3bn) — and world leaders, whom he courts, and who court him, thanks to his command of the most powerful commodities trader.

There was another, secret, reason for his good humour. Glasenberg was about to clinch a deal he had pursued for five years — a merger between Glencore and Xstrata, the FTSE 100 mining company that he helped create.

The $US82 billion ($76bn) merger, likely to be confirmed on Tuesday in London, is a personal coup for Glasenberg and Mick Davis, his counterpart at Xstrata. It also has profound ramifications for the world economy.

The marriage will unite Glencore’s army of razor-sharp traders — the Goldman Sachs of zinc, copper, iron ore, coal and oil — with Xstrata’s globe-spanning portfolio of mines, stretching from the Australian outback to South Africa and the Peruvian Andes.

Blood Diamond (Mining Movie – 2006)

February 5, 2012

This information is from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Blood Diamond is a 2006 political thriller film co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world.

Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1992-2002, the film shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces.[1] It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels’ amputation of people’s hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections.

The film’s ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, is in reference to an actual meeting that took place in Kimberley, South Africa in 2000 and led to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which seeks to certify the origin of diamonds in order to curb the trade in conflict diamonds. The film received mixed, but generally favourable reviews.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Mining Movie – 1948)

February 5, 2012

This information is from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1948 American film written and directed by John Huston, a feature film adaptation of B. Traven’s 1927 novel of the same name, in which two impecunious Americans Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) during the 1920s in Mexico join with an old-timer, Howard (Walter Huston, the director’s father), to prospect for gold. The old-timer accurately predicts trouble, but is willing to go anyway.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was one of the first Hollywood films to be filmed almost entirely on location outside the United States (in the state of Durango and street scenes in Tampico, Mexico), although the night scenes were filmed back in the studio. The film is quite faithful to the novel. In 1990, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

[Mining prostitution] ‘Coal girls’ hit paydirt at Queensland’s booming mining towns – by Kathleen Donaghey, Daryl Passmore and Jackie Sinnerton (Brisbane Courier Mail – November 6, 2011)

February 5, 2012

This article is from: http://www.couriermail.com.au/ [Brisbane, Australia]

THEY are the coal girls happy hookers striking it rich in booming mining towns across the state.

Fly-in, fly-out “working girls” travelling from as far away as New Zealand to the resource-rich regions of Queensland and Western Australia are making as much money in one or two days as mine labourers earn in a week.

But the booming unregulated sex industry is ringing alarm bells, with fears for the women’s safety and concerns over rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases.

The rich pickings up to $2000 a day are attracting scores of women to communities bursting with cashed-up men deprived of female company for weeks.

The women stay for a few days, or weeks, in hotels, motels or caravan parks before flying home or moving on to the next mining town in a circuit.

Researchers studying the impacts of the growth in fly-in, fly-out or drive-in, drive-out practices have even photographed a stretch limosine used by a prostitute as a mobile workplace in pub carparks.

Pit Pony author Joyce Barkhouse dies – (CBC News – February 3, 2012)

August 7, 2012February 5, 2012

This article is from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Joyce Barkhouse, the Nova Scotia-based children’s author who wrote Pit Pony, has died. She was 98. Nate Crawford, executive director of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, said Barkhouse died on Thursday in Bridgewater, N.S., following a heart attack.

Pit Pony, the story of a boy and his horse working in the coal mines of Cape Breton, was her most popular book, drawing letters from people living in mining communities and from horse lovers across Canada. It was published in 1990.

The book was a notable one named by the Canadian Library Association, received the first Ann Connor Brimer Award in 1991 for “outstanding contribution to children’s literature in Atlantic Canada” and had international distribution.

The James Bay Winter Road links Attawapiskat and Moosonee in Northern Ontario – by Jim Coyle (Toronto Star – February 5, 2012)

February 6, 2012February 5, 2012

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.

ON THE JAMES BAY WINTER ROAD—David Kataquapit and his cousin Eric Kataquapit are manhandling a large, gas-powered augur across the frozen Kapiskau River south of Attawapiskat.

They’re swaddled head to toe to dough-boy plumpness, wearing construction helmets and reflector vests, heavy gloves and ice cleats on their big boots, their breath puffs of white against the crystalline blue sky.

It was -35C when their shift started at 7 a.m. The temperature rose to about -20C by noon. It will be down in the -30s again by quitting time at 7 p.m.

“We’re used to it,” David laughs. “Sometimes it gets cold. It’s not that cold now. No wind.” He nods to the east toward James Bay and says Eric was “born on this river.” Born in the bush, in fact, a few kilometres up the southern bank. The traditional way of life is as recent to the Kataquapits, as it is for many James Bay Cree, as their childhood.

Our national shame [Aboriginal living conditions] – by Mia Rabson and Mary Agnes Welch (Winnipeg Free Press – February 4, 2012)

February 4, 2012

This article came from: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Natural resources may transform northern Manitoba reserves from poverty-stricken to prosperous. Human resources may transform First Nations from have-nots to self-sufficient

No boat trip in Manitoba is prettier than the one between Garden Hill and St. Theresa Point, dodging dozens of tiny, pincushion islands made of bedrock and pine trees.

The Island Lake region should be a quintessentially Canadian jackpot of mining, logging, hydro development and high-end tourism catering to eco-adventurers and rich American sport fishermen. Instead, it’s a national shame.

There appears to be only one thing that will make reserves in northern Manitoba viable communities able to rise above the poverty that’s shackled generations: natural resources.

At the recent Crown-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa, chiefs had education, health care and housing on the brain. But the one resounding theme was a desire to get Ottawa and the provinces to the table so First Nations can finally start reaping the benefits of the natural resources they believe are bountiful on their traditional lands.

McGill asbestos study flawed, epidemiologist says – by Gil Shochat and Joseph Loiero (CBC News – February 2, 2012)

February 4, 2012

This article is from: www.cbc.ca

Government plans to approve asbestos sales to developing world

A major 40-year study on asbestos safety completed by a group of scientists at McGill University is flawed, lacks transparency and contains manipulated data says Dr. David Egilman, a professor at Brown University, health activist and longtime industry critic.

The study, which followed the health of 11,000 miners and mill workers in Quebec between 1966 and the late 1990s, is used by the Chrysotile Institute — a lobby arm funded by, overseen and closely associated with both Liberal and Conservative governments — to promote the use of asbestos overseas.

According to Egilman, as the dangers of asbestos became better known in the 1960s, the industry decided to do its own research and hired Dr. John Corbett McDonald at McGill University’s School of Occupational Health. Industry documents obtained by CBC News showed it wanted to conduct research similar to that in the tobacco industry, which stated that “Industry is always well advised to look after its own problems.”

Rob McEwen: Mining magnate with a vision – by Gordon Pitts (Globe and Mail – February 4, 2012)

February 4, 2012

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.

Rob McEwen, the near-billionaire nationalist, philanthropist, libertarian, gold-loving, regulation-hating metals magnate, is as steamed as the plate of tagliatelle pasta sitting in front of him.

“It’s the parentalness of government that pisses me off. Get out! We have to take risks on our own,” he says.

The 61-year-old is reacting to the roadblocks encountered in his new mining venture, the latest chapter in a colourful and wildly successful career highlighted by converting a struggling gold mine in Northern Ontario into a global colossus called Goldcorp. The mining tycoon is merging two junior companies to form what he hopes will be his next – perhaps last – big winner. But the regulatory and governance process has taken three months longer than expected, costing $6-million in legal and advisory fees.

“This is an unnecessary tax on shareholders,” he fumes, his usually soft voice rising above the lunchtime clatter at Canoe, a darling of Bay Street expense accounts sitting 54 floors above downtown Toronto. “Wouldn’t we be better served to, say, cut a cheque to our shareholders as a dividend?”

China faces hurdles in [Canadian] oil patch – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – February 4, 2012)

February 4, 2012

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

Thanks to acquisitions in the last few months, the three top state-controlled Chinese oil companies have become full participants in the Canadian oil and gas scene and are in control of projects in a Western industrialized economy for the first time.

But being in control doesn’t guarantee success. Now that they are in charge of their Canadian operations, Chinese players are facing the same hurdles as other foreign acquirers to make them work – plus a few more due to cultural differences.

“They are still on a learning curve. The jury is out on how they are going to manage those companies,” said Gordon Houlden, a former senior Canadian diplomat in China who is the director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta.

NEWS RELEASE: Mining Contributed $36 Billion to Gdp, 300,000 Jobs, New Report Finds $139 billion in new projects planned in the next decade

February 4, 2012

OTTAWA, Feb. 2, 2012 /CNW/ – Mining in Canada is back and growing according to the latest report by Mining Association of Canada (MAC). MAC’s annual Facts & Figures 2011 finds that mining in Canada has not only recovered from the 2008 economic crisis, but is now entering a period of significant and sustained growth.

Canada’s mining sector contributed $36 billion to the national GDP in 2010, and employed 308,000 workers in mineral extraction, smelting, fabrication and manufacturing. An additional 3,215 companies supplied engineering, geotechnical, environmental, financial and other services to mining operations.

In 2010, the value of Canadian mineral production rose by 31% and mineral exploration increased by 35%. The industry exported $84.5 billion worth of metals, non-metals and coal in 2010, which accounts for 21.2% of Canada’s total exports.

Few changes expected if Xstrata Glencore merger deal goes ahead, union says – by Craig Wong (Winnipeg Free Pres – February 2, 2012)

February 3, 2012

This article came from: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

The Canadian Press

Merger talks that could result the creation of a new European giant in the global mining industry, are being watched carefully in Canada.

A union leader representing 850 mine and smelter workers in Sudbury, Ont., said Thursday he’s doesn’t expect much change if their employer — Xstrata PLC — merges with commodities trader Glencore International PLC.

“The rock ain’t moving,” Richard Paquin, president of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 598, said Thursday.

“For us it is not a new venture,” he said. “It is a matter of co-operating with the new employer if it every happens and trying to get the best we can for our workers.”

He said the Sudbury operation has already been through the uncertainty of Xstrata’s takeover of Canadian nickel and copper producer Falconbridge in 2006 after a takeover battle that lasted nearly two years.