Republic of Mining

Hudbay’s Rosemont mine pushes ahead despite concerns on water impacts – by Ian Bickis (Canadian Press/Bloomberg News – March 21, 2019)

March 22, 2019

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

TORONTO — A controversial mine being developed by a Canadian company in Arizona shows the lengths to which the industry will go to feed the world’s unrelenting demand for copper.

Hudbay Minerals Inc. and a previous owner have been pushing to get approval for the Rosemont mine for more than a decade amid local opposition and skepticism from regulators about water issues in the semi-arid region.

To secure approval for the nearly US$2-billion mine the company has proposed numerous measures to reduce impacts on the environment, including what it says is an “unprecedented” use of dry-stack tailings.

Paulson says will not support Newmont takeover bid for Goldcorp (Reuters U.S. – March 21, 2019)

March 22, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Paulson & Co Inc will not support Newmont Mining Corp’s planned $10 billion takeover of rival Goldcorp Inc as the premium offered is unjustified, the investor said in a letter on Thursday.

The transaction is dilutive to Newmont shareholders and only Goldcorp shareholders would benefit from the deal’s synergies, Founder John Paulson and Partner Marcelo Kim said in the letter to Newmont Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg.

Newmont made a friendly offer in January for Goldcorp in what would be the gold sector’s biggest-ever takeover transaction, a bid to create the world’s largest gold producer.

Howard Balsley, uranium pioneer, preserved the past – by Heila Ershadi (Moab Sun News – March 21, 2019)

March 22, 2019

http://www.moabsunnews.com/

Howard Balsley is known in history books as a Moab uranium pioneer. In the book “The Moab Story: From Cowpokes to Bike Spokes,” author Tom McCourt writes that Balsley is “considered by many to be the father of the uranium industry in the United States.”

McCourt’s account says that Balsley came to Moab in 1908 and primarily made his living as a forest ranger, but also prospected and assisted others in their mining endeavors, even before the WWII uranium boom.

Balsley contracted with a number of small-scale miners across the Colorado Plateau to regularly make 50-ton shipments of uranium and vanadium ores to the Vitro Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the early 1930s, the company used the ores to make pigments for glass and pottery manufacturers. During WWII, Balsley used a similar business model to supply the government with vanadium needed for the war effort.

THE DRIFT: A vested interest in natural resources: Entrepreneurially minded Pic Mobert First Nation takes its place in industrial services – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 22, 2019)

March 22, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

For generations, Pic Mobert First Nation’s economic situation was no different than many Indigenous communities across Canada: on the outside looking in at natural resource development.

The northwestern Ontario Ojibwe community of 300 was surrounded by an abundance of valuable minerals and forestry on their traditional territories, but as with most Indigenous communities, they were shut out of employment and ownership opportunities.

White Lake Limited Partnership CEO Norm Jaehrling recalls making that observation 25 years ago when he was working with the community on provincial negotiations over the locations of some hydroelectric dams on their lands.

Guinea risks ‘conflict and confusion’ with mining eviction policy – by Nellie Peyton (Reuters U.K. – March 21, 2019)

March 22, 2019

https://uk.reuters.com/

DAKAR, March 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Civil society groups rejected Guinea’s first policy seeking to protect people displaced by mines and dams on Thursday, saying it would worsen poverty and conflict in the mineral-rich nation.

Seven human rights and development organisations asked the government not to adopt the proposed national standards for relocating and compensating displaced communities, and to spend the next six months consulting with local people instead.

“If the document is adopted like this, it means the problem will never be resolved,” said Mamady Koivogui, executive director of the Association for Mines Without Poverty, one of the groups which hosted a Conakry news conference on Thursday.

Canada, B.C., should honour commitments to Tŝilhqot’in and stop mine – by Russell Myers Ross (Vancouver Sun – March 21, 2019)

March 22, 2019

https://vancouversun.com/

More than 10 years ago, Taseko Mines proposed an open-pit mining project in an area of immeasurable cultural and spiritual importance for our Tŝilhqot’in people. This area, about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, is known to our people as Teẑtan Biny (Fish Lake), Yanah Biny (Little Fish Lake) and the surrounding area (Nabas).

This area is home for many Tŝilhqot’in who were born and raised on these lands, a resting place for our ancestors, an active cultural school for teaching our youth, and an important place of ceremony and spiritual power.

We hold proven aboriginal rights to hunt and trap over these lands, and this area also sits near the headwaters of the Dasiqox (Taseko) River, a nursery for salmon that make the annual journey along the Fraser River.

COLUMN-Tug-of-war: China’s steel sector grapples short-term bulls, longer-term bears – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

PERTH, March 21 (Reuters) – China’s steel sector, and the imported iron ore upon which it relies, are currently locked in a struggle between largely bearish longer-term structural factors and short-term cyclical influences, some of which are bullish.

It’s not unusual for an industry to grapple with competing narratives, but for China, which produces half the world’s steel and consumes two-thirds of seaborne iron ore, how the issues are resolved will have a flow-on effect through other parts of the economy, such as manufacturing, mining and construction.

The other impact of the tug-of-war of factors is likely to be volatility in prices as market participants try to reconcile the short-term drivers with the longer-term trends.

THE DRIFT: Seizing on opportunity: John Mason is the City of Thunder Bay’s mining point man – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

John Mason always felt Thunder Bay missed the boat in capitalizing on the economic spinoffs from the Hemlo gold discovery in the mid-1980s. As a government geologist working the north shore of Lake Superior, he witnessed that all the exploration know-how, drilling and assay work originated in Timmins, and mine-building muscle came from Sudbury.

Thunder Bay isn’t situated in the so-called “shadow of the headframe.” The nearest mine, North American Palladium’s Lac des Iles Mine, is located 85 kilometres away. Historically, the city’s economy was heavily reliant on jobs in the forestry mills and the bustle of activity surrounding its Lake Superior grain port.

The mining and exploration sector wasn’t familiar, understood, nor appreciated by locals. The handful of junior mining companies, geologists and prospectors were tucked away in an industrial park in the city’s core on streets named Alloy, Tungsten and Cobalt.

Resource nationalism risk to investment on the rise, led by Africa: study – by Robert Perkins and Diana Kinch (S&P Global Platts – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://www.spglobal.com/

London — Indirect forms of resource nationalism, particularly in Africa, are on the rise, threatening the investment climate in some of the world’s biggest oil and mineral producing nations, according to global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

A total of 30 countries have witnessed a significant increase in resource nationalism risks over the last year, including 21 major producers of oil, gas and minerals, Verisk Maplecroft’s latest Resource Nationalism Index shows. The country now most at risk is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been downgraded by five places in the rankings from a year ago to the highest globally alongside Venezuela.

Regionally, Africa is also home to 10 countries experiencing a growth in resource risks, including Tanzania (third highest risk), Zambia (17th) Gabon (23rd) and Equatorial Guinea (40th), according to the study.

New £165m coal mine in Cumbria ‘unanimously approved’ by councillors despite escalating climate change crisis – by Tom Embury-Dennis (Independent – March 19, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://www.independent.co.uk/

A new £165m coal mine has been unanimously approved by councillors in Cumbria, sparking protests by environmental campaigners. Cumbria County Council said it was putting jobs above climate change concerns after its development committee approved the plan on Tuesday afternoon.

West Cumbria Mining, which filed the application, wants to extract coking coal along the coastline between Whitehaven and St Bees in Copeland and process the fossil fuel at a plant nearby.

Last week, Copeland’s Conservative MP Trudy Harrison “wholeheartedly” endorsed the proposed undersea mine, touting new jobs and the “huge” investment it would bring to the area. International trade secretary Liam Fox has also given his backing to the project.

Network closing gap between First Nation businesses and mining – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – March 20, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

More mining companies are seeking to do business with First Nation businesses to take care of supplying services. Waubetek Business Development Corporation in the Whitefish River First Nation is making it easier for those companies to find each other with the announcement of the Association of Indigenous Mining Suppliers, at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) on March 5.

Waubetek general manager Dawn Madahbee Leach and mining project manager Stacey Vincent Cress said the association has been in the works for months to meet the growing demand for more partnerships.

It is a nationwide initiative with dozens of companies already listed in the association and it is seeking out more. Cress said this announcement was just to let people know the association has been created. It is an initiative of the chiefs within Waubetek.

Electric carmakers must make ‘ethical battery’: Amnesty – by Lewis Sanders IV(Deutsche Welle – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://www.dw.com/en/

Customers face a false choice between people or the planet when buying electric cars, according to a rights watchdog. Amnesty International has called for the industry to make “radical changes” in five years.

The electric vehicle industry needs to “make the world’s first completely ethical battery with five years,” human rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Thursday. The London-based organization accused electric automakers of failing to curb human rights abuses, including child labor, linked to the mining of key minerals needed for batteries.

“Finding effective solutions to the climate crisis is an absolute imperative, and electric cars have an important role to play in this,” Amnesty International chief Kumi Naidoo said. “But without radical changes, the batteries which power green vehicles will continue to be tainted by human rights abuses.”

How Venezuela’s Stolen Gold Ended Up in Turkey, Uganda and Beyond – by Lorena Meléndez and Lisseth Boon (Insight Crime – March 21, 2019)

March 21, 2019

Insight Crime

What do such distant countries as Venezuela, the Bahamas, Ireland, Morocco, Dubai and Turkey have in common? They were all part of the trade routes for illicit Venezuelan gold in 2018.

The Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) sold 73.2 tons of gold in 2018 to two companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one in Turkey. The sales took place without the National Assembly’s approval, as mandated by Article 187 of the National Constitution.

The claim, presented in February 2019 by deputy Carlos Paparoni, president of the National Assembly Finance Commission, recalled there could be no contracts of national public interest with foreign states or companies without the approval of the parliament.

Op-Ed: What can we expect from the future of Angola’s mining sector? – by Zandre Campos (CNBC Africa – March 20, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://www.cnbcafrica.com/

Zandre Campos is the Chairman and CEO of ABO Capital.

Angola is currently the world’s fifth-largest producer of diamonds with 60 percent of the country’s diamond resources not yet utilized. Representing nine percent of the diamond value throughout the world, the country is mining high quality diamonds. Meanwhile, diamond mines around world are getting too old to explore.

Angola is primed to elevate its status as a diamond producer in Africa with the guidance of Angolan president João Lourenço who believes the country should flourish with the untouched natural resources in its mines. The vision by President Lourenço for mining production in the country will increase revenue and attract more investment opportunities in the nation.

The country’s plan to double diamond mining initiatives raises its expectations for growth worldwide in the industry as it affiliates with global trading center, Antwerp World Diamond Centre. The nation identified the importance of diversifying its exports to no longer be heavily reliant on oil, its leading export.

Chicago Zoos Want You to Recycle Old Cellphones to Save Gorillas – by Alex Ruppenthal (WTTW.com – March 20, 2019)

March 21, 2019

https://news.wttw.com/

Recycling your used cellphone could help save an endangered gorilla species. How, exactly? Cellphones, tablets, battery chargers and other small electronics are manufactured using a mineral compound called coltan, which is hand-mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Central African country also happens to be a prime habitat for Eastern gorillas, and deforestation associated with coltan mining continues to displace large numbers of the animals.

Starting in February and continuing through the end of April, Lincoln Park Zoo is encouraging Chicago-area residents to drop off their old cellphones and other small electronic devices in the collection box at the zoo’s Searle Visitor Center.