Republic of Mining

Thirty years of climate hysterics being proven wrong over and over again – by Conrad Black (National Post – June 30, 2018)

July 3, 2018

Every sane person is opposed to the pollution of the environment but there is no justification for the self-punitive nonsense of the Paris climate accord

It is 30 years this past week that Dr. James Hansen, then well into the first of more than three decades as head of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)-Goddard Institute for Space Studies, testified to a U.S. Senate committee that the then-current heat wave in Washington was caused by the relationship between “the greenhouse effect and observed warming.”

This was the starting gun of a mighty debate about the existence, cause and consequences of global warming.

Hansen was embraced by the environmental movement, from authentic scientists like David Suzuki to well-meaning faddists like the Prince of Wales, to cynical interlopers from the defeated international left grasping at anything to debunk and confound capitalism, like Naomi Klein, to complete charlatans like former U.S. vice-president Al Gore.

COLUMN-Funds exit copper as global storm clouds gather – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – July 3, 2018)

July 3, 2018

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) – If you’re one of those people who believe that “Doctor” Copper is a lightning rod for the state of the global economy, then you should be worried. London Metal Exchange (LME) copper for three-month delivery has this week touched $6,519 per tonne, its lowest level since December 2017.

There’s been a partial bounce from Monday’s low point to a current $6,565 but copper has now fallen 10 percent in less than a month and the band of support around December’s low of $6,507.50 is widely expected to come under renewed scrutiny sooner rather than later.

Funds have been slashing their exposure to copper. Net length on the CME’s copper contract has collapsed over the space of the last month from 77,740 contracts to just 22,061. It’s not just copper.

Investment in Queensland mines ‘hot to trot’ (The Courier-Mail – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.couriermail.com.au/

Queensland is in the world’s top five regions for the production of key commodities like zinc, bauxite and silver and is one of the largest seaborne exporters of coal in the world. Yet, challenges remain going forward. QBM and BDO co-hosted an exclusive lunch and invited some of the state’s top players to discuss current trends.

Queensland’s Resources Investment Commissioner Todd Harrington spends his days chasing dollars. He says the current state of play has improved on a few years ago. “We deal a lot with the Japanese, about their own strategy for what they are trying to do here,” he says.

“I know a lot of them are hot to trot, a lot of them are engaging. The Aurizon issue is front-of-mind but overall sentiment is they are optimistic it will be resolved.

U.S. coal industry needs ‘fundamental shift’ to fight black lung: report – by Valerie Volcovici (Reuters U.S. – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Coal companies need to make a “fundamental shift” in how they control exposure to coal dust in underground mines to address the recent surge in black lung disease rates, according to a federal report released Thursday.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report found that even though coal operators largely comply with recently tightened rules requiring monitoring for coal dust, those measures may not be sufficient.

“There is an urgent need for monitoring and sampling strategies that enable continued, actual progress to be made toward the elimination of diseases associated with coal mine dust exposure,” said Thure Cerling, a biology professor at the University of Utah who helped write the report.

Glacier-Protection Bill Dropped in Chile and Miners Applaud – by Laura Millan Lombrana (Bloomberg News – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Chile’s mining industry is cheering a decision to drop a glacier-protection bill, saying the proposed rules were conceived to thwart mineral extraction. One academic says the move imperils glacial networks.

Environmental Minister Marcela Cubillos requested the withdrawal of the bill from the lower house last week, nullifying former President Michelle Bachelet’s push for special protections that included banning certain activities on and around glaciers.

The slow moving masses of ice high in the Andes Mountains will now come under more general protections for environmentally sensitive areas, newspaper La Tercera cited Cubillos as saying.

Alaska mineral exploration tops $100M – by Curt Freeman (North of 60 Mining News – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

The summer field season is in full bloom across Alaska with programs stretching from the Brooks Range to southeastern Alaska, and from the Yukon border to southwestern Alaska. Exploration targets range from grassroots to mine-site, focused on commodities including gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, cobalt and graphite.

For Alaska’s exploration industry, planned, announced and estimated expenditures are well over the $100 million mark for 2018. This expenditure level is well above last year’s levels and almost double the $58 million spent at the bottom of the market in 2015.

Canadian and Australian companies continue to be the source for the bulk of funds spent in Alaska in 2018, together comprising well over 80 percent of the exploration expenditures earmarked for Alaska.

Australia’s Atlas Iron backs billionaire’s buyout offer – by Byron Kaye and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian iron ore miner Atlas Iron (AGO.AX) on Friday endorsed a A$390 million ($287 million) buyout from billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, taking the mining heiress closer to securing two key shipping berths in the west of the country.

A subsidiary of Rinehart’s company launched an unconditional cash bid for the miner last week, trouncing a A$280.2 million scrip offer made in April by Mineral Resources (MIN.AX) and prompting that company to cancel its bid.

A successful bid could open the door for Rinehart to develop two more berths at Port Hedland that are alongside her existing operations, as Hancock Prospecting moves into the next stage of expansion at its Roy Hill iron ore mine.

Kalgoorlie pub advertises for male skimpy barmaids to shake up mining town’s image – by Jarrod Lucas (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

http://www.abc.net.au/

A pub in outback Western Australia is advertising for male skimpy barmaids to shake up Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s reputation as a male-dominated mining town.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 600 kilometres east of Perth, is famous for gold mining — as well as its around-the-clock drinking culture, skimpy barmaids and strip of historic brothels along Hay Street. While it has become more family-friendly in recent years, the Hannans Hotel thinks there might be a new market for male skimpies.

By donning the uniform of a G-string and an optional bow tie, a male skimpy could potentially earn the same as their female counterparts who regularly take home up to $2,000 a week working behind the bar. The concept of the male skimpy was briefly trialled more than a decade ago in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and is now being revived by Hannans Hotel.

New report predicts major worker shortage in mining over next decade – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 29, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Forecast expects 2,819 workers will be needed through the Cochrane District

A new report is predicting a shortage of 2,819 workers in the mining industry in the Cochrane District over the next 10 years and suggests a number of recommendations to combat the trend.

The report, released on June 6 by the Far North East Training Board (FNETB), found that there will be a 14 per cent expansion in the workforce and a workforce retirement forecast of 30 per cent, for a combined 44 per cent deficit in the workforce between 2017 and 2027.

All nine of the active mines in the region participated in the study, as did 150 service and supply companies. People working in the industry have been aware of the growing shortage for years, noted Julie Joncas, the FNETB’s executive director.

Copper mining worries many. Many also use copper. – by Jim Bowyer (Minneapolis Star Tribune – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

http://www.startribune.com/

Jim Bowyer is an environmental consultant, an emeritus professor in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and the author of “The Irresponsible Pursuit of Paradise.”

In all of the discussion about copper mining in Minnesota, there is a remarkable lack of references to copper consumption within our state. At the same time that wind and solar energy expansion and electric vehicles are being enthusiastically promoted, the critical role of copper (and nickel) to these developments is never mentioned.

A typical wind turbine contains 4 to 8 tons of copper. Solar collectors contain even more copper per unit of energy generated. Even more significant is the copper used in the production of hybrid and electric vehicles. A fully electric automobile contains three to four times as much copper as a standard vehicle — a hybrid about twice as much. As the market for fossil-fuel-free vehicles expands, so does our need for copper.

In late 2017, the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton, estimated that conversion of just 8 percent of the global auto fleet to electric vehicles would increase global copper use by more than 40 percent. The World Energy Council estimated an even greater impact on copper demand.

Make Ontario hydro great again by reviving the Common Sense Revolution – by Lawrence Solomon (Financial Post – June 29, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://business.financialpost.com/

Ontario was once known as the engine of Canada’s economy. Today that engine is sputtering after a decade and a half of anemic growth. The province faces a deteriorating credit rating and its runaway $325-billion debt, the highest of any subnational jurisdiction in the Western world, will balloon to $400 billion in six years.

Ontario’s power plants were once called the province’s crown jewels, lauded as the single biggest symbols of the province’s success.

Today, the power sector is the single biggest reason for the province’s fall, the victim of a politically correct Green Energy Act that scrapped high-performing plants in favour of renewable-energy losers that forced Ontarians to pay some of the continent’s highest electricity rates, leading to an exodus of some 300,000 manufacturing jobs and to suffering in much of the provincial economy outside the Greater Toronto Area.

Mining suppliers say tariffs not dampening Canada-U.S. trade – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Business as usual, but cross-border trade difficulties offer opportunities for Canadian companies to diversify international dealings

Trade tensions between Canada and the United States are not stopping Canadian mining companies from looking south for business opportunities, but they are also looking at markets abroad.

The third annual Northern Ontario Exports Forum in Sudbury on June 27 saw around 200 delegates gather to discuss markets abroad, including Africa, Latin America, Mexico and Europe.

Even though heavy tariffs are being imposed on Canada by the U.S., particularly on steel and aluminium imports, many delegates and speakers said they were concerned, but business is going ahead.

U.S. billionaire who bet on housing crash clashes with Ontario gold producer Detour – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – June 29, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://business.financialpost.com/

A fight for control of Toronto-based Detour Gold Corp. is heating up, as one of the company’s largest shareholders on Wednesday threatened to replace the board of directors on the same day management released a new plan for its flagship mine.

The battle pits one of the world’s best-known hedge funds, Paulson & Co. — led by billionaire John Paulson, who was portrayed in The Big Short as making a prescient bet against the U.S. housing market a decade ago — against the board of Detour, which operates one of the world’s largest gold mines in northeastern Ontario.

The Paulson & Co. statement called Detour’s board “entrenched” for ignoring purchase offers amid a slumping stock price. Detour’s stock on Thursday afternoon was trading at $11.88, about 33 per cent off its 52-week high.

Rio Tinto ready to splash out on copper – by Barbara Lewis and Clara Denina (Reuters U.S. – June 29, 2018)

June 29, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Rio Tinto wants copper, and it’s ready to pay top-dollar. The global miner would be willing to fork out a large premium over market value to secure a prime asset as it tries to reduce its reliance on iron ore, company and banking sources told Reuters.

If it can’t land a big copper project, it is weighing the cumulative power of a series of more modest acquisitions to increase its exposure to a metal expected to be in high demand from the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries, the sources said.

The approach under CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques marks a shift for Rio Tinto, known for its cautious strategy since it was badly burned in the commodity price crash earlier this decade after a series of damaging acquisitions.

RPT-COLUMN-China’s iron ore imports stay robust even as steel risks mount – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 28, 2018)

June 28, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 28 (Reuters) – China’s imports of iron ore appear headed for their strongest month this year in June, but the risks of a slowdown in the second half of 2018 are mounting.

Seaborne imports in June of the steel-making ingredient were 88.9 million tonnes by the 27th of the month, according to vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Thomson Reuters Supply Chain and Commodity Forecasts.

With three days of unloading left, it’s likely that June imports will exceed the 91.1 million tonnes captured by the shipping data in May, and possibly exceed the official customs number of 94.1 million reported for last month.