Republic of Mining

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.

This mess of an election has definitely changed the climate in the West – by Rex Murphy (National Post – October 26, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://nationalpost.com/

Justin Trudeau has stated his priority going forward will be climate change. He sees it as “unifying.” Many are claiming the election was “a climate-change election.” I beg to differ on both counts.

Legitimizing the mess we just endured under the explanatory banner that it was a vote about climate change is claptrap, and a pretty low grade of claptrap at that.

Not even the watery pilgrimage of the sainted Greta Thunberg to our shores, and the emptying of half the schoolrooms of the nation for what was called a climate emergency march, had any perceptible effect on Monday’s vote.

Chile protesters block access to lithium operations: local leader – by Dave Sherwood (Reuters U.S. – October 25, 2019)

October 28, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Protesters from indigenous communities around Chile’s Atacama salt flats, among the world’s richest reserves of lithium, have blocked access to lithium operations amid nationwide rallies over inequality, a local leader said on Friday.

The South American nation possesses the world’s largest reserves of the lightweight metal crucial to manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles, laptops and cellphones.

The desert salt basin is home to the world’s top two lithium producers: Chile’s SQM SQMa.SN and U.S.-based Albemarle (ALB.N). Sergio Cubillos, president of the Atacama Indigenous Council, told Reuters a road blockade had shut down SQM’s operations since Wednesday morning.

The road to nowhere: Claims Ontario’s Ring of Fire is worth $60-billion are nonsense – by Niall McGee and Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – October 26, 2019)

October 26, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has talking points he’s fond of repeating – over and over again – and one of his favourites is a pledge to build a billion-dollar road to a boggy, remote region of Northern Ontario known as the Ring of Fire.

When asked about the promise by a reporter at a plowing match in September, Mr. Ford repeated almost verbatim an infamous tweet from last year’s provincial election campaign: “If I have to hop on a bulldozer myself, we’re going to start building roads to the Ring of Fire.”

“You’re going to see me on that bulldozer,” Mr. Ford declared, with a confident chuckle. The declaration by the Ontario premier is just one example of the big talk over the past decade by politicians of all stripes about the Ring of Fire.

Diamonds hold promise for a better future for Africa – WDC president – by Tasneem Bulbulia (MiningWeekly.com – October 25, 2019)

October 25, 2019

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Diamond-producing countries on the African continent received about $8.1-billion in 2018, or 9.5% of the $85.9-billion worth of revenues generated from the sale of diamond jewellery, and some still may consider that an insufficient share, World Diamond Council (WDC) president Stephane Fischler told delegates attending the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, earlier this week.

He stressed that the economic potential of the diamond resource, whose value increased by about a factor of five as it travelled from the mine to the countertop of the retail jeweller, was indisputable.

“Diamond deposits hold the promise of a better future for all African producing countries, and more specifically for the communities living in the areas where they are located.

A Message From Canada [Energy Industry]

October 25, 2019

https://www.canadaaction.ca/ Canada Action is an entirely volunteer-led grassroots movement encouraging Canadians to take action and work together in support of our vital natural resources sector. We believe it’s critical to educate Canadians about the social and economic benefits provided by the resource sector and industry’s commitment to world-class environmental stewardship.

Chinese-owned nickel plant in PNG shut down after toxic slurry spill – by Bethanie Harriman (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 24, 2019)

October 25, 2019

https://www.abc.net.au/

Papua New Guinean authorities have shut down a Chinese-owned nickel processing plant for breaching safety and mining laws, after the operator spilled tens of thousands of litres of toxic slurry into a bay in August.

PNG’s Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) chose to take punitive action against the Ramu Nico plant, which is majority owned by the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), after it failed to fix problems the authority identified while investigating the spill.

These included incompetency among operators at the plant in PNG’s Madang province, problems with the spillage containment system, and inadequate equipment maintenance.

Call for immigration boom so Canada reaches 100 million people a blueprint for more state intervention – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – October 25, 2019)

October 25, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

A report from an organization co-founded by Dominic Barton brings a certain Xi Jinping tone to prescriptions for a bigger, bolder Canada

In October 2016, about a year after Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were elected with a majority, the government’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth’s first report set out a bold agenda: Canada should aim to become a nation of 100 million by the end of the century.

The council, headed by one of Trudeau’s economic gurus, Dominic Barton, proposed increasing annual immigration to 450,000 a year by 2021, launching the country toward escalating prosperity created by “skilled and talented people” eager to build a nation of “inclusive economic growth.”

Through the fevered immigration environment of the last three years, the objective has mostly faded from the policy agenda. In the wake of another election, Barton and other advocates of an immigration boom are back with another report on the same ambitious theme.

What Trudeau’s re-election means for mining in Canada – by JP Casey and Umar Ali (Mining Technology – October 24, 2019)

October 25, 2019

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Canadian voters have returned liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau to office for a second term, albeit with a significantly reduced share of the vote. Mining Technology reviews the impacts of his first term on Canadian mining, and, with a minority government looming, considers how the sector could be affected over the next four years.

With more than 60 minerals and metals currently being pulled from Canadian soil, the mining industry is a major contributor to the national economy. Mining is responsible for 620,000 jobs and 19% of domestic imports, alongside making a US$97bn contribution to the country’s GDP.

However, the rapid expansion of mining operations have introduced a number of problems . The sector’s greenhouse gas emissions have more than tripled from 22.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e) in 1990 to 74.5mtCO2e in 2016, and some of the most harmful environmental impacts remain unknown, with a 2016 government report finding that 35% of mining facilities profiled by the state provided “incomplete effluent monitoring information”, raising the possibility that over a third of the country’s mines are leaking harmful tailings into local environments.

Metals sector in costly battle to turn green – by Eric Onstad and Zandi Shabalala (Reuters U.S. – October 25, 2019)

October 25, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Metals producers, from miners to smelters, are grappling with increasingly tough and costly environmental demands imposed by banks seeking cleaner investments.

While the transition may prove overwhelming for smaller producers, larger companies are playing a long game, casting ahead to a period where greener technology helps slash their costs.

Sustainability has been a long-standing issue in metals, covering a wide range of issues including corruption, board structure, jobs, communities around mines and mine waste.

Teck Resources to lay off staff, cut spending as global uncertainty weighs on commodity prices – by Staff (Financial Post – October 24, 2019)

October 25, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. said it would eliminate jobs, start a cost-cutting program and defer some planned capital projects amid global economic uncertainty that’s weighing on commodity prices.

The Vancouver-based company is aiming to reduce around $500 million from its spending plan through the end of 2020, according to its third-quarter results statement.

“Over the past few years, we have focused our attention on maximizing production to capture margin during periods of higher commodity prices,” said Don Lindsay, president and CEO of the company. “However, current global economic uncertainties are having a significant negative effect on the prices for our products, particularly steelmaking coal.”