Republic of Mining

BHP’s London AGM rejects call to quit ‘pro-coal’ associations – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – October 17, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – BHP (BHP.AX) (BHPB.L) shareholders are poised to reject a motion urging the world’s biggest listed miner to suspend membership of some industry bodies judged to be at odds with goals to tackle climate change, initial voting in London suggested on Thursday.

Ethical investors have called for the suspension, arguing BHP’s membership of some industry organizations funds pro-coal lobbying.

One of BHP’s biggest shareholders, Aberdeen Standard Investments, part of Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA.L), last week spoke out in favor of the resolution, saying lobby groups can be a major obstacle to positive change.

Trudeau has failed. Voters should toss him out – by Conrad Black (National Post – October 18, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://nationalpost.com/

If Stephen Harper had retired five years ago, as many advised, he would be regarded as one of the country’s outstanding prime ministers and would have been spared the ultimate defeat that has needlessly ended the careers of many other leaders, including such distinguished statesmen as Laurier, St. Laurent, Adenauer, de Gaulle, Thatcher and Helmut Kohl.

But he went for a fourth straight election without some of his best ministers, including the late Jim Flaherty, John Baird and Peter MacKay, was more dictatorial than ever, conducted a completely incompetent campaign based on women’s headgear in public places and a conjured threat of mass migration from the Middle East, and was sent to the showers.

As I wrote here in the past two weeks, for four years we have had image government from his successor; pandering to voting sub-groups in a politically atomized country.

What’s this election about? The future of Alberta – by Rex Murphy (National Post – October 18, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://nationalpost.com/

If we get a mixed result on Monday, and the price of a coalition is anti-oil commitments, the threat of separatism will gain new life

I think we’re all glad that the suspense over the coveted electoral benediction of Barack Obama is over. It’s been a question that has had many Canadians on “pins and needles” (whatever that strange idiom really means) for weeks. Would it be for Singh, or May, or Bernier, or Scheer? Who could tell?

Or, and this was an outsider’s bet, would it be for the fellow who came to earth on third base, blinded by his self-confessed “white-privileged” existence, with a taste for blackface when he was a mere urchin of 29? Certainly the consensus was that the most highly regarded, even reverenced, progressive in the whole world, would fret a little at tossing the manna of his approval on so déclassé a performer.

But hey, this is politics, and what’s a little boot polish between friends, as long as they are united under the glorious banner of global warming.

Industrial-scale bloodshed: from diamonds to oil – by Igor Kuchma (Asia Times – October 18, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://www.asiatimes.com/

For a very long time the diamond business was considered one of the bloodiest industries in the world. It caused various civil wars in Africa, murdered thousands if not millions of people, and left the Central African Republic in ruins.

In order to stop the massacre or at least try to reduce it, the United Nations started the Kimberley Process (KP) that imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as “conflict-free” and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate trade.

According to its official website, the KP has 54 participants, representing 81 countries, with the European Union and its member states counting as a single participant.

The U.S. Coal Industry Is Expecting Another Wave of Widespread Job Losses – by Will Wade (Bloomberg/Fortune Magazine – October 17, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://fortune.com/

The clearest sign yet that America’s Coal County is headed for widespread job cuts: The amount of coal being produced per U.S. miner is at the lowest level in eight years.

Productivity has slid 11% this year alone. The last time it was this low was in 2011, when coal companies ended up cutting almost half their workers in a downturn that lasted more than four years.

It underscores the intense pressure facing U.S. coal producers. For years, they relied on exports and metallurgical coal used for steel making to offset shriveling demand from U.S. utilities.

Nunavut’s newest MLA talks about mining and infrastructure – by Elaine Anselmi (Nunatsiaq News – October 17, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://nunatsiaq.com/

As Nunavut’s legislature starts its fall sitting, David Qamaniq delivers his first members statement

The opening of the Nunavut legislative assembly’s fall sitting saw the newly minted Tununiq MLA, David Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq, give his first member’s statement.

“I would not be here today without the hard work and success of many people,” he opened, thanking his family and friends, as well as the opponent he faced in last month’s byelection, Charlie Inuarak.

“I fully recognize that I have joined this house at the midway point in its term. It feels like joining the National Hockey League midway through the season,” Qamaniq said, prompting laughs all around.

BHP to decide fate of Jansen potash mine in early 2021 – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 17, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, NYSE: BHP), the world’s largest miner, will decide whether to go ahead with its long-delayed $17 billion Jansen potash project in Canada by February 2021, when it reaches 10 years since completing the feasibility study for the operation.

The company has been mulling a final decision on the asset for at least six years, during which it has spent almost $3 billion laying the ground for crop nutrient-producing project.

Two shafts have already been sunk, but BHP will have to invest another $5.3–$5.7 billion to finish phase one construction of the mine, which the company said would take fewer than 5 years to complete. BHP has in the past said it would consider selling a stake in the project to share capital and risk.

Ecuador’s indigenous re-assert influence but face obstacles to power – by Alexandra Valencia and Gabriel Stargardter (Reuters Canada – October 17, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://ca.reuters.com/

CAYAMBE, Ecuador (Reuters) – Ecuador’s indigenous leaders, emboldened by their success in derailing IMF-backed fuel-subsidy cuts, have set their sights on high office, but experts say they face formidable obstacles – a small population, infighting and struggles with campaign finance.

On Monday, after days of violent indigenous-led protests, President Lenin Moreno abandoned a measure to end decades-old fuel subsidies aimed at getting the country’s finances in check.

Moreno’s backtracking was a major victory for Ecuador’s indigenous peoples, who have led uprisings that helped topple at least three governments but have struggled to make a mark in day-to-day politics.

Investment firm backed by China’s Jiangxi Copper takes 10.8-per-cent stake in Canada’s First Quantum – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 18, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

An investment firm backed by Chinese state-owned Jiangxi Copper Company Ltd. has amassed a 10.8-per-cent stake in First Quantum Minerals Ltd., sending shares of Canada’s biggest copper miner sharply higher.

In September, The Globe and Mail reported that Vancouver-based First Quantum had hired bankers to fend off a potential takeover bid from Jiangxi Copper after the price of its stock had fallen over the past few months.

First Quantum later said it hadn’t discussed selling the company outright, but acknowledged it had held talks about selling a stake in its Zambian assets. On Thursday, the company said in a statement that in recent months it has been “in discussions with Jiangxi Copper regarding a possible investment in the Zambian assets of the company,” but there was “no certainty that any transaction will proceed.”

Barrick misses quarterly gold output estimates on Tanzania curbs (Reuters Canada – October 17, 2019)

October 18, 2019

https://ca.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), (GOLD.N) fell short of analysts’ estimates for third-quarter gold production on Thursday, as lower output at its North Mara mine in Tanzania offset gains from its Randgold buy and the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture.

Operations at the Canadian company’s North Mara mine were hit by tax and environmental disputes, and restrictions were lifted in September after Barrick addressed concerns about seepage at the project’s tailings storage facility.

North Mara was operated by Acacia Mining and Barrick took full control of the miner after a British court approved its $1.2 billion takeover.

Ring of Fire developer faces tide of opposition to Sault ferrochrome plant – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 17, 2019)

October 17, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Noront CEO seeks to clear the air on smelter technology, environmental safeguards

Erin Brockovich might be the most watched movie in Sault Ste. Marie these days. When Noront Resources president Alan Coutts grabs the mic at the Delta Hotel on Oct.23 for the first of, likely, many community presentations, he’ll have to reassure residents that the Sault won’t become Hinkley, Calif., and remind them that his company’s proposed ferrochrome smelter isn’t getting built anytime soon.

“We have no interest or intention of doing anything that could potentially harm the people of Sault Ste. Marie or our (future) employees,” Coutts told Northern Ontario Business.

Five months after the Steel City was selected as the home of Noront’s proposed $1-billion processing plant, opposition began to swell after a group of physicians released a letter to local politicians suggesting there could be an exodus of medical professionals from the community if the furnace were to become reality.

COLUMN-The battery metal no one wants to talk about – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – October 17, 2019)

October 17, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – It accounts for around 75% of all rechargeable energy storage around the world. It is in just about every car and truck, regardless of whether the vehicle has an internal-combustion engine, uses hybrid technology or is pure electric.

Its proven reliability makes it the metal of choice for energy back-up services in hospitals, telephone exchanges, emergency services and public buildings. It is one of the most recycled materials in the modern world, more so than glass or paper, with the United States and Europe boasting near 100% recycling rates.

Yet it is largely absent from any discussion of battery materials in the coming electric vehicle and energy storage revolutions. Welcome to lead. The lead-acid battery was invented in 1859 by a French physicist, Gaston Plante. While plenty of other scientists were experimenting with electrical storage in the middle of the 19th century, Plante’s breakthrough was to create a battery that could be recharged.

Joan Kuyek: Our job is to take our governments back from the mining interests – by Joan Baxter (Halifax Examiner – October 16, 2019)

October 17, 2019

https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/

Joan Kuyek, one of this country’s most distinguished community organizers and analysts of the mining industry, will be in Nova Scotia this weekend to promote her new book, Unearthing justice: how to protect your community from the mining industry. In 1999, Kuyek co-founded MiningWatch Canada, and was its national coordinator until 2009.

She has taught at Algoma University in Sault St. Marie and Queen’s University law school in Kingston, and has worked extensively with many First Nations and other communities to help them understand the mining industry and how best they can protect themselves and the environment from harm it causes. She is also the author of the 2011 book, Community organizing – a holistic approach.

While in Nova Scotia, Kuyek will be launching her new book at a panel discussion on gold mining on Saturday, October 19 in Halifax, and then again in Tatamagouche on Sunday, October 20.

‘You don’t control your destiny’: Why Canada’s rare earth deposits are staying in the ground – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – October 17, 2019)

October 17, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

China controls three-quarters of the global market and nobody, especially investors, wants to mess with that

Somewhere on the outskirts of Montreal, Kiril Mugerman, chief executive of Geomega Resources Inc., aims to build a recycling plant that can produce rare earth oxides — the obscure set of elements that recently emerged as a flash point in the U.S.-China trade war.

Turning to recycling marks an about-face from the original game plan for his company, which spent millions of dollars trying to prove it could mine rare earths from a patch of land in northern Quebec.

Its story encapsulates the scaling back that has occurred throughout the Canadian rare earths’ sector over the last decade, shrinking down from more than a hundred explorers to just a handful of companies, mostly studying opportunities downstream from mining, in areas such as refining or recycling.

AS LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS NEAR MAINSTREAM ACCEPTANCE, THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY IS CHANGING – by Dhani Mau (Fashionista.com – October 17, 2019)

October 17, 2019

https://fashionista.com/

The lab-grown and mining industries may even be pushing one another to become more transparent and ethical.

Long before streetwear brands like Supreme popularized a business model built on limited-edition drops, the diamond industry used scarcity to drive up the desirability and perceived value of diamonds. There have always been a finite number of these sparkling chunks of carbon in the earth, making them feel all the more special.

However, in the past few years, technology has evolved to the point that those same sparkling hunks of carbon can be grown in labs, where scientists have managed to recreate the environment in which diamonds were formed in the earth.

And the increasing availability of lab-grown diamonds is fueling widespread change across the industry, with a big influx of jewelry brands using them (and often branding them as a more ethical and sustainable alternative) and at-times-aggressive opposition from proponents of mined jewels. Those on both sides of the lab grown vs. mined debate are often impassioned in their points of view.