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The mental stress of mining studied in Sudbury – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – April 12, 2019)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

When you take that deep dive down into the ground, your mental health can take a hit. Vale, Steelworkers Local 6500 and the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health at Laurentian University have recently completed a large study looking at the impact of mining on mental health.

“Most of the measures were very similar to the (larger) population when it comes to depression, anxiety, fatigue and other things, but there were a couple of things that were a little bit higher than the general population,” Keith Hanson, occupational health and disability lead at Vale, said.

“Burn-out was a little bit higher and post-traumatic stress disorder was higher than the population.” The research was presented Thursday as part of Workplace Safety North’s mining health and safety conference, which took place in Sudbury.

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Why let mining companies rip up public land like it’s 1872? – by Tim Palmer and Char Miler (Los Angeles Times – April 12, 2019)

https://www.latimes.com/

Photographer and writer Tim Palmer is the author of 19 books about rivers, including “Field Guide to California Rivers.” Char Miller teaches environmental history at Pomona College and is author of “Not So Golden State: Sustainability vs. the California Dream.”

What if communications today were governed by a law passed before the telephone was invented? Or if transportation were guided by federal policy made before there were cars?

That’s exactly the type of anachronism in play regarding America’s key law governing the extraction of hard-rock minerals, such as gold, silver and copper, on public land. The Mining Act of 1872, which President Ulysses S. Grant signed, still sanctions destructive practices on what amounts to one-third of the country’s acreage and 46% of California’s.

It can create toxic plumes and moonscape rubble in national forests, national monuments and Bureau of Land Management holdings that many regard as their favorite places on Earth. That’s one reason why pressure is mounting to change this antiquated 19th century legislation.

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Mosaic suspends phosphate mines in Brazil after new rules for dams – by Marcelo Teixeira (Reuters U.S. – April 11, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

SAO PAULO, April 11 (Reuters) – The Mosaic Company, a Brazilian fertilizer maker, said on Thursday it will suspend production at its phosphate mines of Tapira and Catalão after failing to obtain a deadline extension in order to provide stability certification for three of its tailings dams.

Phosphate is a crucial fertilizer ingredient and Mosaic’s operation is the largest in Brazil, which is a global leader in agriculture, producing more than 220 million tonnes of grains and 570 million tonnes of cane per year, among other products such as coffee, tobacco, cotton and fruits.

Mining regulations in Brazil have been affected by a dam disaster in January, involving miner Vale SA,that killed hundreds, prompting new rules to try to avoid more accidents. Brazil has dozens of tailings dams, which hold back byproducts created during the extraction of mineral resources.

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Doug Ford slashes Indigenous Affairs budget and pursues Ring of Fire – by Declan Keogh (National Observer – April 11, 2019)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Premier Doug Ford is pushing ahead with plans to develop Ontario’s northern region in the province’s 2019 budget, promising to cut “red tape and restrictions that are blocking important economic developments” in the Ring of Fire, a remote region with mining potential and logistical struggles.

Efforts to exploit mineral resources in the Ring of Fire region have been fraught with controversy and opposition, as First Nation communities assert jurisdiction over traditional territory and raise concerns about the use of land and risk of water contamination.

The move to open up development of the remote area comes as the government also seeks to slash the budget for Indigenous Affairs — which promotes collaboration and coordination in policy and programs across ministries in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities — from $146 million last year to just $74.4 million.

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Caribou protection plan generates protests among northern residents – by Vaughn Palmer (The Province – April 2019)

https://theprovince.com/

Folks in the northeast have their doubts. “Caribou consultations: Are they already a foregone conclusion?” as the headline in the Dawson Creek Mirror put it last week.

VICTORIA — The NDP government’s rush-job consultations on a caribou protection plan have generated protests among northeast residents fearing for jobs and feeling left out of the process.

Provincial officials spent almost a year consulting on the plan with the federal government and local First Nations, all the while excluding other local governments and residents from knowing what was in the works.

Forests and Lands Minister Doug Donaldson finally took the wraps off the plan in late March, leaving by his own admission a mere five weeks to gather feedback via public consultations.

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Democrats: Why not just end mountaintop removal coal mining? – by Lesley Clark (McClatchydc.com – April 9, 2019)

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/

WASHINGTON: Coal production across Appalachia could be shuttered by a push to halt all new mountaintop removal mining operations until the health effects have been investigated, the Kentucky Coal Association warned lawmakers on Tuesday.

But the cautionary note did little to slow Democrats, who held the first federal hearing on whether the surface coal mining operation contributes to an elevated risk of birth defects, cancer and premature death among residents living near large-scale Appalachia surface coal mines.

“Should we just be banning all mountaintop removal mining?” Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-California, asked of the controversial practice that often involves blasting apart steep slopes to expose buried seams of coal.

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Province has mining industry’s back: Labour Minister opens Sudbury mining safety conference – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – April 10, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Provincial Labour Minister Laurie Scott said the announcement of new mining research installation in Sudbury shows that Ontario is open for business and open for jobs.

Scott was speaking in Sudbury, April 10, at the opening ceremony for the annual Mining Health and Safety Conference hosted by Ontario’s Workplace Safety North.

Scott told the conference that mining continues to be a mainstay of the Ontario economy and she congratulated the delegates for their work in keeping the industry operating safely. She said her ministry was proud to report there were no fatalities in Ontario mines in 2018.

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Vancouver-based Goldcorp swallowed up in deal to create world’s largest gold miner – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 11, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Assets across the Americas, Africa and Australia

In a sign of the changes sweeping Canada’s gold mining sector, control of one-time darling Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. transferred south of the border on Thursday.

Shareholders of Colorado-based Newmont Mining Inc. voted to approve a US$10 billion purchase of Goldcorp, creating the largest gold company in the world with a market capitalization of roughly US$29 billion.

Analysts have long predicted there would be consolidation in the gold industry and the merger was first announced in January, just weeks after Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. completed its US$6 billion acquisition of Randgold Resources Ltd.

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Mining project near Moosonee on hold until consultation done, company says (CBC News Sudbury – April 9, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/

Election for new chief and council set for July 2

A company that wants to mine niobium south of Moosonee says exploration is at a standstill until consultation happens with the chief and council of Moose Cree First Nation.

However, a new chief and council won’t be elected until July 2. An interim committee has been governing the community since nine councillors resigned, triggering dissolution of council last month.

NioBay president Claude Dufresne says the former chief is against the project, adding the community has filed a judicial review of the government’s decision to issue an exploration permit. “The judicial review doesn’t prevent us from accessing the land or doing the drilling program,” he said.

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Newmont Bondholder Revolt May Put Barrick on Hook for Debt – by Molly Smith and Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – April 10, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. could find itself partially liable for $600 million in additional debt if some Newmont Mining Corp. bondholders have their way.

The creditors are trying to block an amendment Newmont is seeking for a large tranche of notes associated with its operations in Nevada, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The change would prevent liability for those bonds from shifting to Barrick after the companies’ recently announced joint venture in the state is completed.

A majority of holders of Newmont’s $600 million of bonds due 2035 have organized and submitted their rejection to the proposed change, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.

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Turns out, there’s more to Alberta’s economic story than pipelines – by Kevin Carmichael (Financial Post – April 11, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Canada can survive Donald Trump, and Alberta can escape its resource curse

A shoeshine in Calgary cost $10 when Tom O’Gorman, a portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Investments, arrived from Wall Street in 2010; New York prices!

Not anymore. You can get your Oxfords polished and buffed for a mere $5, a deflationary spiral triggered by the similarly large collapse in the price of oil since the autumn of 2014.

Calgary’s office towers are either 30, 40, or 50 per cent empty, depending on who you talk to. The exact vacancy rate — 25 per cent downtown in the fourth quarter, according to Avison Young Real Estate Alberta Inc. — doesn’t really matter.

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Worried about nickel supply, China battery maker BYD welcomes JV discussions – by Tom Daly (Reuters Canada – April 11, 2019)

https://ca.reuters.com/

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Securing enough nickel is a major worry for electric vehicle firms, an executive from Chinese electric car and battery maker BYD Co Ltd said on Thursday, adding that the company would welcome joint ventures that help guarantee supply.

Nickel is one of several metals that are key components of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. A shift in battery chemistry toward higher nickel content, which would allow cars to go further on a single charge, is expected to boost demand further.

“The supply of nickel going forward is a big concern in everybody’s mind,” said Coco Liu, procurement director at BYD, at the Fastmarkets Battery Materials conference.

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Norilsk Nickel, Russian Platinum ready to invest $3.8 bln in Arctic Palladium project (Tass.com – April 10, 2019)

http://tass.com/

The project will create about 8,000 jobs in the north of the region

ST.PETERSBURG, April 10. /TASS/. Norilsk Nickel and Russian Platinum may invest more than 250 bln rubles ($3.8 bln) in the Arctic Palladium project, Vice-President of Norilsk Nickel Dmitry Pristanskov told TASS on the sidelines of the International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg.

According to him, the project involves the development of several platinum-group metal deposits on Taimyr Peninsula (north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory) and investments arte to be made before 2033.

In February 2018, Norilsk Nickel and businessman Musa Bazhaev’s Russian Platinum signed an agreement on strategic partnership, involving the creation of a joint venture for the further development of ore deposits of the Norilsk industrial region.

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EPA agreement will allow cobalt mining at lead remediation site near Fredericktown, Mo. – by Jim Salter Associated Press (St. Louis Post-Dispatch – April 3, 2019)

https://www.stltoday.com/

ST. LOUIS • An old Missouri lead mining site that has been a dormant nuisance for decades may soon get new life, thanks to its vast reserves of a metal vital for use in electric vehicle batteries.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced an agreement allowing a division of Missouri Cobalt LLC to implement a cleanup plan at the Madison County Mines site near Fredericktown. It will remain on the Superfund list, but the cleanup allows reuse for cobalt mining.

It isn’t clear how long the cleanup will take or when mining will resume. Missouri Cobalt CEO Michael Hollomon declined comment. Lead was mined at the site for decades until the early 1960s. The lead waste left behind resulted in the Superfund designation in 2003.

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North America’s first cobalt refinery inches closer to production — but obstacles remain – by James Snell (Financial Post – April 11, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

CEO Trent Mell remains optimistic about the refinery’s prospects

First Cobalt Corp., the $50-million company, is inching closer to becoming the first producer of battery-grade cobalt to feed the nascent North American electric vehicle market, but there are still plenty of roadblocks in its way.

The Toronto-based company achieved a breakthrough when it announced earlier this month that it successfully produced battery-grade cobalt sulfate using its refinery’s own processes, or flowsheet, — but the problem is, it was done in a lab using a small sample.

CEO Trent Mell, who is currently in Shanghai meeting with investors at the Fastmarkets MB Battery Materials Conference, remains optimistic about the refinery, which is in the midst of a $30-million refurbishment.

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