Republic of Mining

BHP’s Colombian coal takes on Australian miners in Asia market switch – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – October 30, 2019)

October 30, 2019

https://www.afr.com/

The Colombian coal business owned by BHP, Glencore and Anglo American will switch focus from Europe to Asia, in a move that would put it head to head with Australian coal exporters.

Cerrejon president Guillermo Fonseca urged the Colombian government to consider cutting its tax take to make Cerrejon more competitive against Australian miners, who enjoy a shorter, and therefore, cheaper route to Asia.

”Europe (demand for coal) is declining and declining much faster than we expected, Asia is still growing and definitely that is where the market is going to be for the medium to long term,” he told The Australian Financial Review at Melbourne’s IMARC conference.

Cobalt market to avoid shortage despite Congo mine closure: Nornickel – by Anastasia Lyrchikova and Polina Devitt (Reuters U.S. – October 29, 2019)

October 29, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Cobalt supply will remain robust despite a price slide that has already led to the closure of a major mine, Russia’s Norilsk Nickel said, as most is produced as a byproduct of more buoyant metals like nickel and copper.

Prices of the battery metal surged in 2017 and 2018 on expectations for an electric vehicle revolution, but have fallen this year due to excessive supply and the impact of the U.S.-China trade war.

They are now down 60% from their spring 2018 peak. In August global mining and trade giant Glencore said it would shutter its Mutanda mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo from year-end for two years due to low cobalt prices.

Former Bre-X geologist John Felderhof, key player in gold mining scandal, dies – by Andrew Willis and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 29, 2019)

October 29, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Former Bre-X Minerals Ltd. geologist John Felderhof, a central figure in Canada’s largest stock market fraud, died on the weekend. Mr. Felderhof was vice-president of exploration at Bre-X when the tiny mining company reported finding a massive gold deposit in the jungles of Busang, Indonesia, in the 1990s, and went on a stock market tear.

Independent geologists exposed the claim as bogus, and Mr. Felderhof was charged with spreading false information and insider trading, but was acquitted in 2007. He died in the Philippines this past weekend at age 79 of natural causes, said his lawyer, Joe Groia.

“In many ways, John’s was a remarkable story,” Mr. Groia said. “He enjoyed enormous success before Bre-X. Most geologists think they are lucky to have one discovery. John found two major deposits.”

Copper prices seen stifled by growth fears next year: Reuters poll – by Eric Onstad and K. Sathya Narayanan (Reuters U.S. – October 28, 2019)

October 29, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON/ (Reuters) – Prices of copper and other industrial metals are expected to be capped next year as weak economic growth weighs on the market, a Reuters poll showed.

The London Metal Exchange index of six base metals has inched up only 1% so far this year, held back by worries about a possible global recession and a trade war between the United States and top metals consumer China.

But the average is deceptive, because sharp gains for nickel of over 50% cover the fact that half of the metals are in the red, with losses of up to 15%.

John Felderhof, geologist who played central role in Bre-X gold mining scandal, dead at 79 – by Barbara Shecter (Financial Post – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

Felderhof was the only person to face formal charges in the infamous fraud, but was acquitted of insider trading and other securities violations in 2007

John Felderhof, the Bre-X geologist who played a central role in one of the biggest stock market scandals in Canadian history, has died. He was 79 years old.

Felderhof was the only person to face formal charges in the infamous gold mining fraud, but was acquitted of insider trading and other securities violations in 2007. The verdicts came ten years after the revelation that supposedly rich samples from Bre-X’s Indonesian mine had been “salted” with gold from outside the mine, a discovery that sent the miner’s high-flying stock into free fall.

Bre-X had a market capitalization of $6 billion at its peak, and the scandal shook Canada’s capital markets along with the country’s reputation on the global stage, as the supposedly enormous gold find had drawn interest from industry giants including U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan.

Wyoming’s ailing uranium sector needs an emergency boost, industry says – by Camille Erickson (Casper Star Tribune – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://trib.com/

A 70-year low in domestic uranium production has Wyoming producers worried. Despite persistent calls from state lawmakers and industry groups to institute federal trade policies to boost domestic demand for the mineral, the industry continues to founder — shedding workers and cutting costs.

Last year, a pair of independent producers petitioned President Donald Trump to implement a pair of “common-sense” reforms to boost U.S. uranium production. Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy recommended requiring that 25 percent of uranium bought by government entities come from the U.S.

Quotas would restrict foreign sourcing of uranium vital to the country’s economy and national security, petitioners reasoned. It would also catapult domestic demand and buoy the ailing uranium sector.

Pakistan’s tycoons offer to take over former Barrick mine (Bloomberg/Mining Weekly – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.miningweekly.com/

KARACHI – Pakistan’s top business tycoons have offered to take over a disputed copper and gold deposit that was once explored by Barrick Gold and Antofagasta, according to people familiar with the matter.

Officials at the provincial Balochistan government are said to have met with a consortium of four business groups including tycoons Arif Habib and Muhammad Ali Tabba who are willing to invest about $1-billion of their own cash in the project, the people said, asking not to be named because the discussions are private.

The consortium is willing to go through a bidding process to take over the project, the people said. Pakistan’s provincial government spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Ecuador says ready to ship first big copper export within weeks (Reuters U.S. – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Ecuador plans to ship its first large copper cargo within weeks, a milestone in its ambitions to evolve from exploration hotspot to copper exporter.

The El Mirador copper mine, owned by a unit of the Chinese consortium CRCC-Tongguan, started operations in July but the the company imposed some restrictions in October as a precautionary measure to protect workers amid unrest over the government’s austerity plan.

The company has resumed normal operations and was readying its first shipment for Nov. 14, Vice Minister of Mines Fernando Benalcazar told Reuters on the sidelines of the Imarc mining conference in Melbourne.

Canadians voted for a bunch of hypocritical greenies and their naive, suicidal platforms – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

The election was disheartening: 65.6 per cent of the Canadian electorate voted for the Liberals, NDP, Greens the Bloc Québécois and their naive, suicidal platforms.

None proposed a viable job-creation or economic growth roadmap. They were all about taxing and spending. Ergo, nearly two-thirds of Canadians voted for free root canals or free daycare or free pharmaceuticals or free college.

And 7.7 per cent voted for the Bloc, or to get more free stuff for Quebec. This is a nation that thinks like a bunch of trust fund kids, who despoil the environment more than our parents or grandparents did, and believe the world owes them a living.

The end of the ‘rarest diamonds in the world’ is at hand and jewellers are already feeling nostalgic – by Claire Ballentine (Bloomberg/Financial Post – October 24, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

For 30 years, jeweller John Calleija has been purchasing rare gems from Rio Tinto Group’s Argyle mine in remote Western Australia, home to 90 per cent of the world’s prized pink diamonds.

On a recent rainy afternoon in New York’s Peninsula Hotel, the Australia-based Calleija studied some of the rarest pink and red stones through a magnifying glass as part of Rio Tinto’s annual pink diamonds tender, which held a total of 64 diamonds making up 56.28 carats. The intense quiet in the room was broken only by Calleija’s occasional murmurs of approval at the gems’ cut and clarity.

The stones themselves are always breathtaking, but this year’s tender also had a heightened sense of nostalgia. The Argyle mine is set to close at the end of next year, now that its supply of economically viable jewels has been exhausted.

A JEWISH LEGACY OF THE NORTHERN ONTARIO GOLD RUSH – by Barbara Silverstein (Canadian Jewish News – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.cjnews.com/

When gold was discovered near Timmins, Ont., in 1909, the area attracted fortune hunters from all over the world. Many Jewish merchants headed to northern Ontario to set up stores in small towns and settlements throughout the region.

Two of those people were Max Steinberg and Joe Mahn. Steinberg, a German immigrant, went to the northern bush camps in 1918 to sell watches and clothing. In 1919, he and Mahn – they had met in Montreal – opened Steinberg & Mahn, a menswear store in Timmins.

This month, Steinberg & Mahn, Timmins’ longest-operating family owned menswear clothier, is marking its 100th anniversary. The Steinberg family has run the store continuously since 1919 and the fourth generation is now at the helm.

British Columbia Indigenous rights bill should not be a problem for miners: industry group – by Staff (Mining.com – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.mining.com/

The Association for Mineral Exploration or AME, a Vancouver-based industry group, issued a communiqué stating that the sector expects “minimal immediate change” following the introduction of the new BC Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Last week, the government of British Columbia in the figure of Premier John Horgan tabled Bill 41 on First Nations rights in the legislature. If passed, BC will be the first province in the country to legally implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This means that Indigenous peoples will be included in all decision-making that impacts their rights and that all provincial laws would have to be aligned with the standards of the UN declaration.

Kentucky’s Leaders Are Siding With the Coal Industry, and Its Poorest Residents Are Paying a Price – by Rachel Leven and Zach Goldstein (Mother Jones – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.motherjones.com/

Todd Bentley stepped onto his porch and saw the storm swelling the creek near his home. If this kept up all night, he feared, the creek could overflow its banks and wash out his neighborhood’s road. He headed out into the rain with his teenage son to secure his mother’s trailer across the street.

In minutes—before they could finish—they were up to their waists in floodwater. They had to clamber into the hills to escape. There they crouched for hours in their family cemetery, lightning striking around them, the water below them carrying cars, ripping up pavement and lifting homes off foundations.

“He started crying on me, it was happening so fast, and I, literally, I shook him,” Bentley recalled. “I said, ‘Son, listen. We’re fighting for our lives now—you’ve got to keep it together.’” Nine years after they survived the flood, storms fill Bentley with dread. He watches the creek. He paces. What if it happens again?

Rio Tinto says miners need to leverage technology as scrutiny of the industry rises (Reuters U.S. – October 28, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Mining companies should make more use of technology to respond to increasing demands from investors and communities for responsible mining practices, Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques said on Monday.

Technologies such as autonomous rail-cars and increased automation can lower the impact of the industry on the environment as well as raise profit margins, he said, adding that blockchain can be deployed to track if the supply chain met ethical standards.

“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind we will face greater regulation and scrutiny,” Jacques said in a keynote speech marking the beginning of London Metal Exchange (LME) Week in London.

The Big Question in Metals Is What Happens Next to Nickel – by Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – October 27, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/

While the fog of the trade war clouds the outlook for most commodities, battle lines are being drawn in the nickel market. On either side, traders and investors are lining up to bet on two diametrically opposed paths for prices.

The catalyst: Indonesia’s surprise move in late August to bring forward a ban on exports of unrefined ore. That’s set up conditions for a supply shortage, which triggered a rush to pull inventory out of warehouses. Freely available stockpiles on the London Metal Exchange are now the lowest in more than 12 years.

On one side, some traders are betting this is the start of a long-term, structural deficit that will propel prices sharply higher. Others argue there’s plenty of nickel available in the wider physical market and the market is about to nosedive.