Republic of Mining

Weekend rockfall the 11th at Donkin Mine since 2017 – by Sharon Montgomery (Halifax Chronicle Herald – February 4, 2020)

February 5, 2020

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/

DONKIN, N.S. — Kameron Collieries has experienced another rockfall at their Donkin Mine. “This is in a production area, about 70 feet from where they were last mining,” said Scott Nauss, the senior director of inspections and compliance with the Department of Labour.

Nauss said the rockfall occurred at an intersection sometime over the weekend. “There was no production, no mining going on,” he said. “The nightshift came in over the weekend and noticed it.”

The mine cordoned off the area and reported it to the department first thing Monday morning. Nauss said a stop-work order was issued for that section of the mine. He said they responded right away and conducted an inspection.

Hecla reports record level of silver reserves – by Neils Christensen Kitco.com – February 5, 2020)

February 5, 2020

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Helca Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) appears to bucking the trend of dwindling reserves, according to its exploration update.

The silver producer said Wednesday that its reserves of silver, lead and zinc reached the highest level in the company’s 129-year history during the fourth quarter.

Looking at silver, Hecla said that total company proven and probable reserves increased 11% last year. Meanwhile measured and indicated silver ounces rose 4% to a record 217 million ounces, an increase of 9 million ounces over 2018 with increases at Greens Creek, Lucky Friday and San Sebastian.

No viable substitute for critical chromium – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – January 30, 2020)

February 5, 2020

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

A vital ingredient in stainless steel and superalloys, chromium is considered by the United States Geological Survey as “one of the nation’s most important strategic and critical materials.”

“Because there is no viable substitute for chromium in the production of stainless steel and because the United States has small chromium resources, there has been concern about domestic supply during every national military emergency since World War I,” the USGS explains.

Rich chromite deposits on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula were able to ease some of these concerns by providing a domestic supply of chromite, the only mineral of chromium metal, to help fill America’s increased demand for chromium during both World Wars. Alaska is second only to Montana when it comes to the best states to explore for future domestic needs of this important strategic and critical mineral.

EDITORIAL: The Trans Mountain decision just delivered a gusher of legal clarity (Globe and Mail – February 5, 2020)

February 5, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In August, 2018, after the Federal Court of Appeal quashed Ottawa’s approval of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion, there was a national hue and cry over what seemed like constant setbacks for industrial projects. Some people were saying it had become impossible to get anything built in this country.

That view turns out to have been exaggerated. The 2018 ruling was not a sweeping condemnation of Trans Mountain. Instead, the court largely signed off on the federal government’s approval of the project, except for two specific failings: a failure to weigh the negative impact of oil tankers on marine life, and inadequate Indigenous consultations.

The court’s 2018 decision was, essentially, a paint-by-numbers guide to finishing those two steps, doing so in a reasonable time, and getting the project going.

Canada’s $97bn mining industry has room for improvement, MAC says – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – February 5, 2020)

February 5, 2020

http://www.miningweekly.com/

While the prospects for Canadian investment and the attractiveness for new mine investment are brighter, certain competitiveness metrics remain depressed, highlighting the need for improvements if the country’s mining industry is to reach its full potential.

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) warns in its ‘Facts and Figures 2019’ report, published on Tuesday, that there are signs that Canada’s leadership position is slipping, potentially jeopardising the country’s ability to seize new opportunities for growth.

For instance, 2019 saw only a modest increase in the value of mining projects planned and under construction from 2010 to 2019. It increased by $8-billion year-on-year, with the total ten-year projected value of $80-billion remaining 50% below the 2014 level of $160-billion.

Robinson-Huron Treaty First Nations demand Ottawa, Ontario stop land claim talks that impact their rights – by Jorge Barrera (CBC News Indigenous – February 4, 2020)

February 5, 2020

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/

Say they do not recognize Métis in their territory as having any land rights

First Nations that are part of the Robinson-Huron Treaty group demanded Tuesday that Canada and Ontario back off ongoing land claim talks with neighbouring Indigenous organizations that they say infringe on their treaty rights.

Batchewana First Nation Chief Dean Sayers said talks between the two levels of government and the Algonquins of Ontario along with the Métis Nation of Ontario threaten the treaty rights of Robinson-Huron Treaty First Nations.

“We assert our sovereignty and we cannot have Canada and Ontario negotiating with other groups that infringe on our rights in our territory,” said Sayers at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.

The scientists restoring a gold-mining disaster in the Peruvian Amazon – by Jeff Tollefson (Nature.com – February 4, 2020)

February 5, 2020

https://www.nature.com/

Months after the military expelled thousands of illegal miners from La Pampa, researchers gained access to a sandy wasteland.

“Holy shit!” Miles Silman gasped as his motorized rickshaw rattled out of the forest and onto a desolate beach. All traces of the trees, vines and swamps that once covered this patch of the Amazon had vanished. In their place were sun-baked dunes and polluted ponds created by illegal gold-mining. Silman, a conservation biologist at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was there to document the carnage.

La Pampa was once the largest and most dangerous gold-mining zone in the Peruvian Amazon, so riddled with gangsters that scientists dared not enter. For nearly a decade, they could only watch by satellite as gold hunters mowed down some of the most biodiverse rainforest on the planet. That ended in February 2019, when the government declared martial law and expelled an estimated 5,000 miners.

Now, La Pampa is deserted and under military guard. When Silman and his colleagues surveyed the area for the first time in late June, they found a barren, eerily quiet landscape polluted with mercury, a toxic by-product of mining. The data that the researchers collect on this inadvertent experiment could help to determine the extent to which restoration is possible — or document the evolution of an entirely new, and human-made, ecosystem.

AngloGold Ashanti to update on South African asset sale this month – by Tanisha Heiberg and Helen Reid (Reuters U.S. – February 4, 2020)

February 4, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

CAPE TOWN, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Bullion miner AngloGold Ashanti , which has embarked on an asset review as it focuses on higher returns, will update the market on the sale of its South African operations later this month, Chief Executive Kelvin Dushnisky told Reuters on Tuesday.

The miner said in May that it will review divestment options for South African assets and has sold its stake in their Sadiola project in Mali for $105 million as it looks to streamline its portfolio and focus on assets that deliver higher returns.

“I expect to be in a position to update with our results on February 21,” said Dushnisky in an interview on the sidelines of an industry conference, the Mining Indaba, in Cape Town.

In a major victory for Trans Mountain, Federal Court dismisses Indigenous appeal of project’s approval – by John Paul Tasker (CBC News Politics – February 3, 2020)

February 4, 2020

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Indigenous groups challenging the federal government’s approval of the Trans Mountain expansion project — clearing yet another major legal hurdle for the long-delayed $7.4 billion project, which will carry nearly a million barrels of Alberta oil per day to the B.C. coast.

In a unanimous 3-0 decision, the court ruled that Ottawa carried out “reasonable” and “meaningful” consultations with Indigenous peoples affected by the project’s construction before approving the pipeline for a second time.

“This was anything but rubber-stamping exercise. The end result was not a ratification of the earlier approval, but an approval with amended conditions flowing directly from renewed consultation,” the court said. “All very much consistent with the concepts of reconciliation and the honour of the Crown.”

Japan Races to Build New Coal-Burning Power Plants, Despite the Climate Risks – by Hiroki Tabuchi (New York Times – Feburary 3, 2020)

February 4, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/

Just beyond the windows of Satsuki Kanno’s apartment overlooking Tokyo Bay, a behemoth from a bygone era will soon rise: a coal-burning power plant, part of a buildup of coal power that is unheard-of for an advanced economy.

It is one unintended consequence of the Fukushima nuclear disaster almost a decade ago, which forced Japan to all but close its nuclear power program. Japan now plans to build as many as 22 new coal-burning power plants — one of the dirtiest sources of electricity — at 17 different sites in the next five years, just at a time when the world needs to slash carbon dioxide emissions to fight global warming.

“Why coal, why now?” said Ms. Kanno, a homemaker in Yokosuka, the site for two of the coal-burning units that will be built just several hundred feet from her home. “It’s the worst possible thing they could build.”

Barrick Gold chief hits out at fund managers over new-found ESG focus – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – February 4, 2020)

February 4, 2020

https://www.ft.com/

Mark Bristow says industry has ‘suddenly discovered’ benefits of ethical investing

Mark Bristow, the tough talking boss of Barrick Gold, has lashed out at the fund management industry and its new-found focus on social and ethical investing.

Speaking at a major mining event in Cape Town, Mr Bristow questioned why some of the most profit hungry asset managers in the world were now refusing to invest in businesses that do not have satisfactory environmental, social and governance criteria.

“Even late capitalism’s supposedly unvarnished practitioners have suddenly discovered the merits of a social conscience and are now saying they won’t invest in a business that doesn’t have a satisfactory ESG,” Mr Bristow told the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba in Cape Town.

The Race Is On for Iron Ore Riches Buried Under an African Jungle – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – February 4, 2020)

February 4, 2020

https://finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — For years, the massive iron deposits under Guinea’s mountainous jungle were practically forgotten by the mining industry. Caught up in wrangles between owners and authorities in the West African nation, it seemed the super-rich ore might never be dug up.

That all changed last year, as investors from billionaire promoter Robert Friedland to legendary dealmaker Mick Davis converged on the country in a modern day resource rush. For the first time in years, projects like Simandou—Guinea’s crown jewel deposit—might finally be developed.

That would have huge implications for both Guinea, which is facing political upheaval as President Alpha Conde pushes for a third term, and the global iron ore industry. The new tons threaten to arrive just as steel demand is cooling, and the high-quality iron ore buried in Guinea will pile pressure on existing miners.

The great Alona Bay uranium rush of 1948 (Soo Today – February 2, 2020)

February 4, 2020

https://www.sootoday.com/

This edition of Remember This also examines rumours of a radioactive deposit in downtown Sault Ste. Marie

From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:

When you consider the history of uranium mining in Northern Ontario, Elliot Lake likely comes to mind. However, there is a radioactive connection further north as well, dating back almost 175 years.

In 1847, a Mr. Stanard, likely an American schooner captain, reported that radioactive material could be found along the shores of Lake Superior, near the area now known as Alona Bay. This information, reported by geologist J.L. LeConte in the American Journal of Science, marked the first recorded instance of radioactive material being discovered in Canada.

LeConte described the radioactive material and identified it as being related to pitchblende, a radioactive ore from which uranium is extracted. He named it coracite, a reference to the raven-black colour of the mineral.

Thunder Bay: Warm weather creating ‘crisis’ for First Nations that rely on ice roads (CBC News Thunder Bay – February 4, 2020)

February 4, 2020

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug is flying in fuel and pondering how to ship materials for a new school

Warm weather is playing havoc with the winter road network that connects remote First Nations in northwestern Ontario to the provincial highway system, according to the Nishnawbe Aski Nation.

Only one community’s winter road was fully operational as of Jan. 31, according to NAN’s winter road report. Fifteen communities have roads that are open to light traffic and three to partial traffic. Six communities’ roads are still under construction, and six communities have roads that are closed due to weather.

“It is a developing crisis as many of our communities are running out of fuel and cannot haul anything in,” NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler wrote on Twitter. “We need immediate government intervention.”

Anglo’s Cutifani stresses the need for sustainable mining – by Simone Liedtke (MiningWeekly.com – February 3, 2020)

February 4, 2020

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Despite mining’s contribution to almost every aspect of modern life, the industry is still seen as an industry “that takes more than it gives”, Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani lamented in his keynote address at this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, which is taking place in Cape Town, this week.

He highlighted that the mining industry – which contributes to, besides others, food production, construction materials, transport, clean energy and communication solutions – drives 45% of the world’s economic activity, whether directly or indirectly, while disturbing only a small fraction of the earth’s surface.

However, with criticism still being directed at the industry, Cutifani on Monday told delegates at the Indaba that the mining industry needed to face the challenge of finding “new, safer, more sustainable and cost-effective ways” to supply the essential raw materials needed for a rapidly growing and urbanising global population.