Republic of Mining

South Africa’s platinum mining firms, top union end ‘titanic battle’ as they seal wage deal – by Helen Reid (Reuters U.S. – November 15, 2019)

November 21, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s biggest platinum mining union sealed three-year wage hike agreements with Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum, and Sibanye-Stillwater on Friday, ending months of negotiation over pay.

The deal comes as a relief to the sector, where officials were fearful of a repeat of a five-month platinum strike in 2014-2015 which crippled production and hurt the economy.

The mood was celebratory as the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) signed deals which union president Joseph Mathunjwa said increased workers’ monthly wages by at least 1,000 rand ($67.19).

Mining turned Indonesian seas red. The drive for greener cars could herald a new toxic tide. – by Ian Morse (Washington Post – November 20, 2019)

November 21, 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

POMALAA, Indonesia — Where forested hills dip into the sea, Sahman Ukas scoops up rusty-red topsoil. His hands hold nickel that is more concentrated than many of the world’s richest deposits.

It’s no wonder, then, that on Sahman’s island of Sulawesi, companies have opened several mines in the past 15 years to feed the global market for stainless steel — made ductile and tough with nickel.

Now, a growing appetite for electric vehicles is creating new demand for nickel, whose chemical derivatives are increasingly used in cathodes of lithium-ion batteries. But the push for clean energy is coming at an environmental cost to forests and fisheries in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.

Editorial: Violence in Mexico spirals out of control – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – November 19, 2019)

November 21, 2019

https://www.northernminer.com/

The slaughter in Mexico in November of nine members of a local Mormon family horrified the world. Three women and six children were gunned down in broad daylight while driving in three SUVs on a rural road in Sonora near the state’s border with Chihuahua, 160 km from the U.S. border. Seven children escaped.

Whether the massacre was an intentional attack or a case of mistaken identity is uncertain. But what is clear is that Mexico is experiencing record levels of violence as cartels and other organized crime groups carry out attacks on rivals, security forces and civilians with near-full impunity.

“The hard truth is that Mexico is dangerously close to being a failed state,” U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, stated after the murders.

Save Canadian Mining initiative launched – by Staff (Mining.com – November 19, 2019)

November 20, 2019

https://www.mining.com/

The CEO of Chilean Metals (TSX.V:CMX), Terry Lynch, launched this week Save Canadian Mining – an advocacy group with the goal to give voice to the specific interests of Canada’s junior mining sector.

In a press release, Lynch said that Save Canadian Mining will work to raise awareness of the importance of the junior mining segment for the country’s economy. It will also advocate for positive change on their behalf with government and regulatory agencies.

“The current rules in our equity markets have created an environment for predatory short-selling practices to thrive, particularly on our vulnerable junior markets,” the executive said in the media brief.

Nunavut gold miner scales back production forecast (Nunatsiaq News – November 20, 2019)

November 20, 2019

https://nunatsiaq.com/

TMAC Resources Inc. won’t meet its production target for 2019, following disappointing third-quarter results from its Doris gold mine in Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region.

“I am very disappointed to not be able to meet initial annual production guidance, but not so much so that we are going to deviate from the prominence of safety in the mine,” said Jason Neal, the company’s president and CEO, in a recent news release on Oct. 31, announcing the company’s third-quarter financial results.

The company now expects to produce between 140,000 and 150,000 ounces of gold this year, down from the previous target of 160,000 to 170,000 ounces. This reduced output will mean TMAC will be making less money, since its overhead for operating the mine remains the same.

CN strike leaves farmers, miners scrambling as Canada’s biggest rail network shuts down – by Eric Atkins (Globe and Mail – November 19, 2019)

November 20, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A strike by 3,200 Canadian National Railway Co. train conductors and yard workers has closed Canada’s largest rail freight network, triggering fears about the impact on farmers, mining companies and other pillars of the economy.

The CN employees, represented by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, walked off the job at just past midnight on Tuesday after several months of mediated talks. Negotiations to replace an agreement that expired in July were scheduled to continue on Tuesday at a downtown Montreal hotel, said Christopher Monette, a spokesman for the Teamsters.

CN had already been winding down operations to avoid leaving loaded trains in storage or on tracks. The railway stopped picking up some hazardous goods and interchange cars from other railways in recent days. CN said in an internal memo that qualified managers will operate some trains, focusing on container shipments.

Destigmatizing mental health in the mining industry – by Colleen Romaniuk (Northern Ontario Business – November 20, 2019)

November 20, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The Mining Association of Canada estimates that the mining industry directly and indirectly employs 632,000 people throughout the country. When you look at the numbers, that means that about 126,000 workers will experience a mental health challenge every year.

Keith Hanson, area manager and director of workplace health at Lifemark Health Group, further estimates that about 10 per cent of those employees will be off work at some point. “When somebody goes on a disability claim for poor mental health, it’s usually twice as expensive as any other physical claim and also twice as long,” said Hanson.

His findings are backed by James Kruck and Jenna Kressler, researchers with Occupational Safety Group, who found that mental ill-health can cost companies between $300,000 to $40,000 annually.

Report: Madagascar’s mica mines rely on child labor – by Editor (Africa Times – November 20, 2019)

November 20, 2019

https://africatimes.com/

There are at least 11,000 children working in Madagascar’s southern mica mining region, where poverty means that sometimes entire families are exposed to dangerous health and safety conditions.

That’s according to a new report from human rights advocates at Terre des Hommes, which found that between 56 and 62 percent of children between ages 5 and 17 are working in the island nation’s three main regions for producing mica.

The mineral is used in a range of common products, including cosmetics and paints, but researchers focused on the supply chain to China because 87 percent of the mica in Madagascar is shipped by boat to Chinese ports. Ultimately it ends up being used in Japanese electronics manufacturing, Dutch and Italian telecom firms, and Swiss-held firms in similar industries.

Exclusive: [Semafo Inc.] Mine workers demanded more protection before deadly Burkina Faso attack – by Edward McAllister (Reuters U.S. – November 19, 2019)

November 19, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

DAKAR (Reuters) – Five months before an ambush killed 39 colleagues, local workers at a Canadian-owned gold mine in Burkina Faso pleaded with managers to fly them to the site rather than go by a road that was prone to attacks, two people present at the meeting said.

The employees wanted the same protections as expatriate staff who had been flying to the mine in helicopters since three workers were killed in two earlier attacks in August 2018.

Shortly after those deaths, the mine’s owner, Quebec-based Semafo Inc. (SMF.TO), said it had added a military escort to bus convoys taken by Burkinabe workers to the site each week. But local employees of Semafo and its Accra-based contractor African Mining Services (AMS) did not think it was enough in an area notorious for bandits and jihadists.

JOURNEY DOWN THE RAILWAY THAT COULDN’T BE BUILT – by Peter Gzowski (MACLEAN’S Magazine – Novmeber 16, 1963)

November 19, 2019

https://archive.macleans.ca/

A portrait, then and now, of the extraordinary feat that is the Quebec North Shore and Labrador line

THE SUN was inching into the bleak northern sky when Maclean’s photo editor Don Newlands and I checked out of the Sir Wilfred Grenfell Hotel in Wabush, Labrador, to begin the journey to Seven Islands, Que. We had flown into Wabush directly from Toronto and spent a few days there looking into life on the last frontier, à la 1963, and although we had both enjoyed our visit with the men and women who are opening up the wilderness, I for one was anxious to get going.

Our program was to drive our rented car to Labrador City, three miles away over a dirt road, and then take the passenger-express train from there to Seven Islands. Most of this journey would be over the QNS & L — the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway — and seeing the railway, I knew, would be an exciting experience for me.

I had spent the summer of 1952 as a beardless (though not for lack of trying) chain man on a survey party helping to build the QNS & L. And, although I hadn’t been back in eleven years, I had retained a sort of proprietary interest in the railway.

The QNS & L was one of the great construction projects of our time, a job that many expert engineers were certain could never be finished, and many of us who worked on it — there were as many as seven thousand men employed at one time — looked on the achievement much the way war veterans look on battles their regiments have won.

Intervenors weigh in on when to reconvene Baffinland hearing – by Elaine Anselmi (Nunatsiaq News – November 19, 2019)

November 19, 2019

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Regulatory talks about Baffinland’s proposed expansion of its Mary River mine should proceed “as soon as possible,” or face delays of up to one year, depending on which affected party you’re speaking to.

Intervenors recently submitted their comments on the matter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board, which must decide how to proceed after its hearing ground to a halt on Nov. 6, after Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. said that concerns raised by Inuit hadn’t been adequately addressed.

While agreeing there were unresolved concerns to be addressed, the Government of Nunavut said the hearing should be rescheduled for the first available date, “unless another party can substantiate why it should be delayed longer.”

OPINION: Iron ore mining not for the faint of heart—it’s a tough business – by Gary Vivian (Nunatsiaq News – November 19, 2019)

November 19, 2019

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Gary Vivian is the President, N.W.T. and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.

It’s important that people understand that governments around the
world—both public and Indigenous—invite mining companies to come
and invest in order to do what those governments themselves cannot
do: that is to convert rock into training, into jobs, into business opportunities
and to generate revenues that can help benefit governments’ constituencies
and beneficiaries.

For example, in Alaska, government funding provided the port and
road for the Red Dog mine, which is owned by the Inupiat and
operated by Teck. The company pays off that road and port over
time with annual payments.

The N.W.T. and Nunavut Chamber of Mines was created over 50 years ago, and our vision is to work for “a strong minerals industry that benefits the peoples of the North.” From that perspective, we would like to offer the following thoughts and observations on the Mary River mining project.

The Mary River project is a game-changing opportunity for Nunavut and Nunavummiut. It provides an opportunity for longer term training, employment and sustained revenues for Inuit, Inuit associations and governments.

Barrick seeks to eclipse $1.5 billion asset sales target, eyes more copper (Reuters U.S. – November 18, 2019)

November 19, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) is keen to top its $1.5 billion target for asset sales after shedding its half of the Super Pit gold mine in Western Australia, Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said on Monday.

Australia’s Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (SAR.AX) agreed on Monday to buy Barrick’s 50% stake of the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Joint Venture, which operates one of Australia’s largest gold mines, for $750 million.. Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NEM.N) holds the other 50% share.

The deal is a first step in Barrick’s plan to jettison at least $1.5 billion in less-profitable assets by the end of 2020 in the wake of its acquisition of Rangold Resources a year ago. “The number is $1.5 billion to beat,” Bristow said in an interview. “We’re already half way.”

Miners Are Facing Challenges Globally – by Frank Holmes (Forbes Magazine – November 18, 2019)

November 19, 2019

https://www.forbes.com/

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Lima, Peru, attending the Mining & Investment Latin America Summit. I heard from a number of industry leaders that mining in South America has become more challenging in recent years. One of the biggest reasons why is that the burden for taking care of local communities has, in many cases, fallen on the miners’ shoulders.

Venezuela’s corrupt socialist president Nicolas Maduro continues to destabilize and finance radicalism throughout the continent using revenue from narcotics, and mining companies often end up having to pay the price.

Chilean lawmakers, for instance, are considering a new tax on mining and mineral extraction to address the country’s social unrest I described earlier.