Republic of Mining

It looks like ‘screw the west’ is back in full swing – by Lorne Gunter (Toronto Sun – October 16, 2019)

October 17, 2019

It’s 1980 all over again. In the federal election that year (the election that returned Pierre Trudeau to power after Joe Clark’s brief national recess), the unofficial motto of the Liberal war room was “Screw the west, we’ll take the rest!”

Given the anti-Alberta, anti-oil rhetoric of the past week from Pierre’s son, Justin, it’s easy to imagine the current Liberals have decided to write off Alberta and most of the rest of the west (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the interior of B.C.) in favour of pandering to voters in Quebec, the Greater Toronto Area and Vancouver in hopes of clinging on to at least a minority.

Back in 1980, the Liberals adopted policies that deliberately targeted the western provinces and their emerging economic power because they knew such policies would be popular in the more heavily populated provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Chile’s Codelco ditches ‘green copper’ push, eyes wider mine clean-up in two years – by Fabian Cambero (Reuters U.S. – October 17, 2019)

October 17, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – In 2017, the world’s largest copper producer – Chile’s Codelco – announced a plan to sell “green copper” at a premium price to customers using more sustainable practices like renewable energy and recycled water to cut its carbon footprint.

The project has run aground however, Codelco insiders and an executive said, as the miner realised it would struggle to guarantee its copper’s sustainability once it left the mine to be melted down and taken to market. Without that, traders said, higher prices were unjustifiable.

Now, the world’s largest miner of the prized red metal told Reuters it would drop the “green copper” plan piloted in one of its smaller mines in favour of a broader initiative to make its product more sustainable.

The world beats a path to Sudbury: International delegations dig the Nickel City for its mining expertise and regreening story – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – October 16, 2019)

October 16, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The City of Greater Sudbury has rolled out the red carpet no less than 10 times this year for international trade delegations coming to see the city’s expertise in mining and hear the story of the environmental remediation of its once-devastated landscape.

The payoff has been low-key but still very significant, according to organizers who have worked to entice these groups by teaming up with government, the mining and supply companies, and post-secondary educators.

“The key word is ‘partnerships’ because these are happening from many different partners from all levels of government,” said Scott Rennie, a business development officer with the city, who is also the project manager for Northern Ontario Exports.

Column: Coal India’s woes should boost imports, but steel softness drags – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – October 16, 2019)

October 16, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia (Reuters) – India’s coal imports are on track to decline for a third straight month in October, a drop that seems out of kilter with the ongoing struggles of state miner Coal India to boost domestic output.

India’s seaborne imports of both thermal and coking coal are on track to be around 13.3 million tonnes this month, according to vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Refinitiv.

This figure is likely to increase somewhat in coming days as more cargoes are confirmed from Indonesia to India, however, any departures now from South Africa and Australia, won’t arrive before month end.

Alberta’s $1-billion Indigenous Opportunities Fund may widen gap between rich and poor First Nations groups – by Geoffrey Morgan (October 15, 2019)

October 16, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY – The inspiration for Alberta’s new $1 billion fund for Indigenous business investments came from the successes of real-world First Nations business ventures, but some of those Indigenous groups are warning the provincial government to look closely at the details in their plan to ensure widespread participation in the initiative.

The intent of the recently announced Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corp., a $1-billion fund from the province for Indigenous business investments, is “so good” but the law creating the fund needs to be more focused and some details clarified, said Paul Poscente, CEO and chair of Backwoods Energy Services, an oilfield services company owned by the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation west of Edmonton.

“One of the biggest constraints in Indigenous business is access to capital and I think the intent of the fund is to address this but I think they need to be very careful that they’re not going to actually create a wider gap,” said Poscente said, adding that there are a handful of wealthy First Nations communities in the province that will have the business acumen to access the funds.

A Fortune Lies in Canada’s Oil Sands. Many Voters Want to Leave It There – by Kevin Orland and Natalie Obiko Pearson (Bloomberg News – October 16, 2019)

October 16, 2019

“These lands contain the world’s third-largest crude reserves, but
the sticky bitumen extracted needs to be transported to market,
and that means building hugely contentious pipelines. At present,
there just aren’t enough of them for an energy sector that accounts
for a tenth of Canada’s economy and a fifth of its exports.”

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — At the Fish Place diner in Fort McMurray, booths are filled with oil workers in baseball caps and the parking lot is lined with pickup trucks sporting six-foot (1.8 meter) neon safety flags, a hallmark of the mining industry.

Fort McMurray is the regional hub for the oil sands that produce two-thirds of Canada’s crude, a status that puts the city carved out of Alberta’s wilderness at the heart of the Oct. 21 federal election.

Robbie Picard, who heads an oil-sands advocacy group, calls it “the most important election we’ve ever had.” Over a breakfast of eggs and cheese in the diner, Picard said that a second term for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would cause “anxiety, depression and despair” in the city. “I’m terrified for our future,” he said.

An historic gold mine in a tiny Ontario town could be the epicentre of Canada’s next great gold rush – by Joe O’Connor (Financial Post – October 16, 2019)

October 16, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

In 1866, a cave dripping with gold was found in Eldorado, fuelling a boom that became a bust. Now some believe there are more riches to be found

ELDORADO, Ont. — Kim Woodside was ready for a change, a mid-life pivot, and a 100-acre rural property in Eastern Ontario seemed like a good place to start. It had two grey barns she hoped to paint poinsettia red, a woodworking shop full of tools, a woodlot thick with mature cedar trees, a rocky hill out back and a bungalow in need of renovation. It would be a fix, in her calculations, that would take the custom furniture maker about six months to complete.

“All the tools were there, there were no neighbours and the price was right,” she said. The property in Eldorado was perfect, but then Woodside, a history buff, asked the old codger she was buying it from about the blue historical plaque on the highway nearby. He answered with a question: Was she a “gold digger?”

Woodside didn’t appreciate the comment, but it wasn’t entirely uncalled for, not after he explained that the place she hoped would change her life had changed other lives when the Richardson gold mine, Ontario’s first, was discovered beneath it in 1866.

Russia’s Rosatom may buy controlling stake in Chile lithium project – by Polina Devitt and Dave Sherwood (Reuters U.S. – October 15, 2019)

October 16, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

MOSCOW/SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Uranium One Group, a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom, may buy a controlling stake in a lithium project in Chile’s Atacama salt flat from Wealth Minerals Ltd (WML.V), the Canada-listed company said on Tuesday.

Under a deal struck with Wealth, the Russian nuclear firm has the option to purchase up to a 51% stake in Wealth’s Atacama project in northern Chile, the statement said.

Chile’s Atacama salt flat, home to leading lithium producers SQM (SQMa.SN) and Albemarle (ALB.N), accounts for around one-third the world’s supply of lithium, a key ingredient in the batteries that power electric vehicles, tablets and cell phones.

Sprott CEO hunting for bargains among beaten-up gold companies – by Vinicy Chan and Justina Vasquez (Bloomberg News – October 16, 2019)

October 16, 2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Canada’s US$8-billion precious metals-focused fund manager is bargain-hunting for stakes of mining firms that have seen valuations tumble.

“Look for the companies that are beaten up,” Sprott Inc. Chief Executive Officer Peter Grosskopf said, sharing his company’s investment strategy. If the bigger producers of the metal don’t end up buying their smaller rivals, “the juniors will consolidate among themselves to create bigger companies,” he said.

Gold miners may become attractive targets as the supply pipeline of their bigger rivals start running dry. Reserves still buried in mines owned by the largest producers have fallen by more than half from a 2011 peak, according to data from Bloomberg Intelligence.

U.S. edges China out of race to fund Bougainville independence vote – by Jonathan Barrett (Reuters U.S. – October 16, 2019)

October 16, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY (Reuters) – The United States and its Pacific allies have plugged a funding gap that endangered next month’s independence referendum in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) region of Bougainville, a strategic move that also sidelined China, two sources told Reuters.

Western nations are looking to rein in China’s influence in the increasingly contested Pacific, where it has recently drawn away two of Taiwan’s allies, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, triggering a strong rebuke from the United States.

The vote in PNG’s autonomous region of Bougainville, formerly the site of a bloody civil conflict, will run from Nov. 23 to Dec. 7, and could trigger separation negotiations to create a new nation in the strategic waters of the Pacific.

Greening up mine tailings with municipal waste: Terrapure Environmental brings award-winning solution to Sudbury – by Colleen Romaniuk (Northern Ontario Business – October 15, 2019)

October 15, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Terrapure Environmental and Vale Canada have now won so many awards for their innovative mine tailings rehabilitation project that their team members have almost lost count.

The Burlington-based advanced waste management and field services company broke ground when they approached Vale’s Sudbury Operations in 2012 with an idea to solve a municipal and mining problem.

They wanted to apply treated biosolids to Vale’s Central Tailings Area in Copper Cliff for reclamation and revegetation. The result of the discussion was a wildly successful collaboration. Last May, both companies jointly won an Environmental Leader Award for Project of the Year. By June, they took home a Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Award, among others.

Mine tales: Bisbee’s famed Lavender Pit wasn’t its only open-pit mine – by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star – October 14, 2019)

October 15, 2019

https://tucson.com/

Bisbee, in the Mule Mountains of southeastern Arizona, has an extensive mining history dating from the 1870s. It is said the value of copper produced from the Copper Queen in 1925 alone was valued 10 times more than the cost of the Gadsden Purchase, which was $10 million in 1854.

The first open pit mine at Bisbee was the Sacramento pit comprising 35 acres. It began as a shaft in 1911 and six years later developed as an open pit.

Extensive geological research had determined copper ore deposits throughout the Bisbee district resulting from a large mass of intrusive granite porphyry pushed up into the surrounding schist and limestone. The copper was deposited in limestone traps forming ore bodies. Over time, progressive layers of barren limestone were formed on top, with the entire mass tilting southeastward.

Zimbabwe Unveils Plan for $12 Billion in Mineral Revenue by 2023 – by Godfrey Marawanyika (Bloomberg News – October 14, 2019)

October 15, 2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Zimbabwe is targeting a fourfold increase in revenue from minerals by 2023 but an ambitious plan unveiled by Mines Minister Winston Chitando on Monday gave little detail on how the government would achieve this.

The policy document, known as the Strategic Road to the Achievement of US$12 Billion By 2023, sees gold exports at $4 billion and platinum at $3 billion as the government focuses on “value addition, enhanced investment within the sector, increased productivity and employment creation and increased exports and foreign-currency generation.”

However, the document makes no mention of an eagerly awaited overhaul of the country’s mining legislation that would be crucial in attracting foreign investment to the industry.

Column: Smelter outages prolong zinc’s supply-chain bottleneck – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – October 15, 2019)

October 15, 2019

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – “The most critical issue facing the zinc market is the performance of zinc smelters and Chinese zinc smelters in particular.” A potential smelter bottleneck topped research house Wood Mackenzie’s January zinc list of “Things to look for in 2019”.

And so it has proved. The world’s zinc mines lifted production by 1.9% in the first half of this year, according to the latest statistical bulletin from the International Lead and Zinc Study Group.

However, world refined metal production fell by 0.4% over the same period. The surprise is that it’s not Chinese smelters that have been having problems, but rather those in the rest of the world.

Nobel prize honours breakthroughs on lithium-ion batteries – by David Keyton, Jamey Keaten and Christina Larson (The Associated Press/CTV News – October 9, 2019)

October 15, 2019

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

STOCKHOLM — If you’re reading this on a cellphone or laptop computer, you might thank the three winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on lithium-ion batteries.

The batteries power cellphones, laptops, electric cars and countless other devices of modern life, and could become the foundation for a greener future. Batteries that economically store energy from renewable sources like the wind and sun open up new possibilities to curb global warming.

“This is a highly charged story of tremendous potential,” quipped Olof Ramstrom of the Nobel committee for chemistry. The prize announced Wednesday went to John B. Goodenough, 97, an engineering professor at the University of Texas; M. Stanley Whittingham, 77, a chemistry professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton; and Akira Yoshino, 71, of chemical company Asahi Kasei Corp. and Meijo University in Japan.