Republic of Mining

To save the planet, we must ignore anti-nuclear ideologues – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – July 21, 2017)

July 21, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

There might be a way for the world to meet its carbon-reduction targets that does not involve building more nuclear power plants. The problem is, no one has come up with one. Until that happens, politicians need to get real about nuclear energy’s essential role in saving the planet. Unfortunately, most of them still have their heads stuck in their solar panels.

The latest greener-than-thou politician to make the perfect the enemy of the good is France’s awkwardly titled Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Nicolas Hulot. This month, Mr. Hulot announced the shutdown of as many as 17 of France’s 58 nuclear reactors over the next eight years as part of President Emmanuel Macron’s promise to cut his country’s reliance on nuclear-generated electricity to 50 per cent from 75 per cent by 2025.

Mr. Hulot says he has “absolute faith” in renewable power sources, mainly wind and solar energy, to fill the gap. But as Germany shows, closing emissions-free nuclear power plants, more often than not, leads to burning more fossil fuels to produce power. That’s because wind and solar remain intermittent power sources, while nuclear, coal and natural gas plants can run full-steam 24/7.

Money from Canadian mining firms vanishes in Congo, report finds – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – July 21, 2017)

July 21, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Johannesburg — In one of Africa’s poorest countries, more than $750-million (U.S.) in mining revenue disappeared before it could reach the national treasury, an investigation has found.

The money from mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was diverted over a three-year period, with much of it siphoned off by politically connected insiders at opaque tax agencies, according to a report by Global Witness, an independent research group.

The findings are significant for Canadian mining companies, which have been major investors in Congo and have given millions of dollars in payments to official agencies and state enterprises in the country.

Ontario Hydro sticker shock all thanks to Liberals’ mismanagement – by Lorrie Goldstein (Toronto Sun – July 20, 2017)

July 21, 2017

http://www.torontosun.com/

As a new shocking Fraser Institute report on electricity pricing in Ontario reveals, real people suffer when governments are incompetent. The governments in this case are the Liberal ones headed first by Dalton McGuinty and now Kathleen Wynne, who have turned Ontario’s energy sector into a financial train wreck from which there will be no easy or painless escape for generations to come.

The numbers in the Fraser study, titled “Evaluating Electricity Price Growth,” are damning. Torontonians today pay $720 more annually for electricity than the average Canadian. Ontario electricity prices skyrocketed 71% between 2008 and 2016.

That’s more than double the Canadian average of 34%, 2.5 times more than the rise in household incomes, four times the inflation rate, and 4.5 times the growth rate of the economy. In 2015-16 alone, Ontario electricity prices increased 15%, 2.5 times the national average of 6%.

Trump’s Coal Revival Vow Emboldens Miners to Shun Career Change – by Daniel Flatley (July 20, 2017)

July 21, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Retraining reticence for in-demand health care jobs is part economic and part cultural

West Virginia is so strongly associated with coal that the state flag features a miner with pickax over his shoulder. A nurse with a stethoscope might be more fitting.

Last year, WVU Medicine, a network of hospitals under the state’s flagship public university, dethroned Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as the top employer. What’s more, six out of the top 10 employers in the state were hospitals and health-care providers. Murray American Energy Inc., a large coal company operating in the region, dropped to 15th place from sixth.

That same story is told another way with labor-market data. Mining jobs in the state fell by 25 percent between 2012 and 2016. At the same time, West Virginia health-care jobs have been mushrooming, and account for one of every five private-sector positions in the state, according to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, a research group.

Traditional owners win native title fight with Fortescue – by Darren Gray (Sydney Morning Herald – July 20, 2017)

July 21, 2017

http://www.smh.com.au/

Native title holders in the Pilbara will seek compensation after winning their long-running battle with iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group. In a judgment on Thursday, the Federal Court awarded the Yindjibarndi people exclusive rights over a section of Pilbara land where Fortescue operates the Solomon mine.

Shortly after the judgment was handed down, senior Yindjibarndi lawman Michael Woodley vowed to launch a compensation claim against the iron ore miner.

“We believe strongly they are liable for what they’ve been doing for the last eight years on our country, mining without our … prior and informed consent,” Mr Woodley told the ABC. In his decision, Justice Steven Rares pointed to the presence of the Yindjibarndi in the area well before European settlement and the fact there were important cultural sites near the Fortescue mine.

Exclusive: Tanzania questions Acacia Mining staff in row with government (Reuters U.S. – July 21, 2017)

July 21, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Tanzania detained and questioned two senior local Acacia Mining staff at an airport this week in a dispute with the government, two sources said on Friday, and the company said it was having trouble renewing work permits for foreign staff.

Chief Executive Brad Gordon denied a Reuters report that foreign staff were asked to leave by the government due to a dispute over mining licenses and accusations of tax evasion.

He said its local employees had been interviewed by Tanzanian “government agencies” but did not confirm detentions. “We were having difficulty getting work permits renewed. But no foreign nationals have been asked to leave the country. So there may be some confusion in that. That’s a normal part of business,” Gordon told Reuters.

Sudbury mine needed culture change: supervisor – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – July 21, 2017)

July 21, 2017

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Shortly after Mark Aubrey arrived at First Nickel Inc.’s Lockerby Mine in 2012 to take on the job of operations manager, he had a big surprise waiting for him: a Ministry of Labour compliance order that highlighted numerous issues such as dust control and road building issues at the nickel and copper mine that needed addressing. That was when Aubrey said he realized a major culture shift was needed at the mine’s management level.

“We fixed the supervisor training,” Aubrey recalled. “That included spending time with our ground control people … every supervisor at one point or another, went through that process. I was happy with what we were able to put in place, the supervising guys, even health and safety guys, our safety people. We took the steps to put guidelines in place to keep us out of trouble with the Ministry of Labour.

“Again, it’s not doing it for the Ministry of Labour, but doing it for ourselves. There were individuals within the management group who didn’t share the same degree, the same importance, of how a worksite should be looked after. We took a leading role. We didn’t rely on someone else to hold our hand, so to speak.”

Thunder Bay, Fort William First Nation make the case for Ring of Fire smelter – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 20, 2017)

July 21, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Economic developers take Noront miners on brownfields tour

Thunder Bay and Fort William First Nation made a joint push this week to be the host site for a ferrochrome smelter serving the Ring of Fire.

Local economic development officials took representatives from Noront Resources, the biggest claimholder in the Far North mineral belt, on a tour of area industrial sites, hoping to sway the Toronto mine developer to pick northwestern Ontario for a $600-million to $800-million processing plant.

John Mason, the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission’s mining services project manager, said the tour was basically to give Noront president Alan Coutts and chief development officer Steve Flewelling a better on-the-ground appreciation of what land and infrastructure is available.

The tour took them to the Grand Trunk Railway lands on the Fort William reserve and a mixture of private and government-owned parcels of waterfront brownfields in the Mission and McKellar Islands area. “It was essentially a waterfront, or water-themed, tour,” said Mason.

Top 10 Canadian-based gold developers – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – July 20, 2017)

July 20, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

Gold exploration and development is enjoying a boom again, and Canadian juniors are leading project advancement at home and abroad.

The following are the top-10, Canadian-headquartered gold companies that are developing projects but not yet in commercial production, ranked according to market capitalization in mid-July. Gold royalty and streaming companies are not included in the list.

1. Novagold Resources – $1.9 billion market capitalization

Vancouver-based Novagold Resources (TSX: NG; NYSE-MKT: NG) is a familiar name in the gold sector, especially amongst retail investors. Novagold’s flagship project is its half interest in the large but remote Donlin Gold project in southwestern Alaska, which is a fifty-fifty joint venture with Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: ABX).

STATEMENT: Ivanhoe Mines says Bloomberg stories on Ivanhoe’s success in the Democratic Republic of Congo are flawed by a deceptive headline, errors and omissions of critical facts (July 19, 2017)

July 20, 2017

https://www.ivanhoemines.com/

VANCOUVER, CANADA – An initial story published by Bloomberg News on July 18, 2017, misleads readers with its headline, erroneous reporting and the omission of critical contextual facts that were known to the news organization.

A second story, also published on July 18, contains a false allegation by Bloomberg that Ivanhoe Mines had corrected as part of a detailed statement of facts delivered to Bloomberg seven weeks ago.

On May 26, 2017, Ivanhoe Mines provided a letter to Bloomberg reporter Thomas Wilson that set out critical information related to a planned story that subsequently was published by Bloomberg early on July 18. It became apparent after the story was published that much of Ivanhoe’s factual information had been excluded, which Bloomberg indicated was due to “the limitations of the length of the story.” Of course, this deliberate withholding of critical details was not revealed to Bloomberg’s readers.

Indonesia’s Neverending Freeport-McMoRan Saga – by Nithin Coca (The Diplomat – July 20, 2017)

July 20, 2017

http://thediplomat.com/

The 50-year relationship between Indonesia and its largest taxpayer comes under scrutiny.

The drama started nearly two years ago, when Setya Novanto, the speaker of the Indonesian Parliament, was forced to resign after being caught trying to extort U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan, which was looking to extend its contract in Indonesia.

Things heated up again earlier this year, when, alongside nationalist-tinged protests, it looked like Freeport was on its way out. Then, unexpectedly, a deal seemed to be reached. It was too good to be true, and again, today, the situation is unsure. After years of on-again, off-again negotiations between the Indonesian government and its largest taxpayer and longtime partner, things look stuck right where they started, with both sides intransigent and blaming the other.

The relationship between Freeport, Indonesia, and the restive West Papua region where most of Freeport’s mines are located gives a glimpse into the development policies of Southeast Asia’s biggest country, and the still-ongoing challenge of moving on from the brutal legacy of resource extraction and militarism of the Suharto era.

Iron King Vale Is Expected to Post Record Output in Volatile Market – by R.T. Watson (Bloomberg News – July 19, 2017)

July 20, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The reigning iron-ore king Vale SA is expected to set another quarterly production record, giving investors more to ponder in what has been a seesawing year for the main steel-making ingredient.

On Thursday, the Rio de Janeiro-based company probably will report second-quarter output of 91.4 million metric tons, including third-party purchases, up from 86.8 million a year earlier, according to the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Vale is coming off its biggest-ever production year, churning out 348.8 million tons in 2016. It’s projecting 360 million to 380 million tons this year for an even bigger share of the market. The record-setting pace has been fueled by the development of low-cost reserves in northern Brazil, including ramping up the industry’s biggest project, S11D.

Historic deal ensures First Nations participation in new potash mine – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – June 1, 2017)

July 20, 2017

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Three levels of government, a mining company and a First Nation have come together in a historic agreement to develop a new potash mine in Saskatchewan. The joint venture between Encanto Potash Corp. and the Muskowekwan First Nation is truly unique. Together they plan to develop a solution mine near the town of Lestock on property within the Muskowekwan reserve.

The Muskowekwan are joining the project as full participants, with all the economic and revenue opportunities that entails. And the community is enthusiastic about the prospects.

Over the long life of a Saskatchewan potash mine, this could be worth billions to the First Nation, as chief Reg Bellerose told CMJ. There are about 2,000 members of the Muskowekwan First Nation, but only about 700 or 800 live on the reserves because the economic opportunities lie elsewhere.

Peru miners start nationwide strike, government sees little impact – by Teresa Cespedes and Marco Aquino (Reuters U.S. – July 19, 2017)

July 20, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LIMA (Reuters) – Unionized workers at mines in Peru, the world’s second biggest copper producer, started a nationwide strike on Wednesday to protest the government’s proposed labor reforms, the head of a federation of mining unions said on Wednesday.

Workers at 56 mining unions in the Andean country, including the top copper mines, are striking, said Ricardo Juarez, head of the National Federation of Mining, Metallurgical and Steel Workers of Peru (FNTMMSP).

Juarez told Reuters the stoppage has likely curbed copper production at some of the country’s largest mines, including BHP Billiton Plc’s and Glencore Plc’s Antamina, Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s Cerro Verde and Southern Copper Corp’s Cuajone and Toquepala deposits.

Couillard wants Quebec and Newfoundland to cooperate on mining, roads – by Presse Canadienne (Montreal Gazette – July 19, 2017)

July 20, 2017

http://montrealgazette.com/

EDMONTON — The premiers of Quebec and Newfoundland say their governments will work to increase mining in the Labrador trough and expand Route 138 in the Côte-Nord region.

Discussions between both governments began Wednesday in Edmonton during a meeting of Canada’s premiers and could end in a formal agreement by year’s end, according to Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

The two provinces share a border, near Blanc Sablon, and their relationship hasn’t always been an easy one. For years the Newfoundland government has contested the Churchill Falls agreement, which largely benefits Hydro-Québec.