Republic of Mining

New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea: Large-scale Mines and Local-level Politics – by Catherine Putz (The Diplomat – November 29, 2017)

November 29, 2017

New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea are not always mentioned together. Despite geographic proximity, colonial history has cast them into two different scholarly camps.

Split between Anglophone and Francophone researchers, the similarities between the two — namely their mutual economic dependence on mineral resource exports and the impact of large-scale mining on indigenous communities and local politics — have not been fully explored. A new volume from ANU Press, Large-scale Mines and Local-level Politics: Between New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea, seeks to bridge this gap.

The volume’s editors, Colin Filer and Pierre-Yves Le Meur, spoke to The Diplomat about the impacts of large-scale mining on local-level politics in New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.

New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea are geographically close, what other similarities are there between the two states?

Mick Davis out of the running for Rio Tinto chairman role – by Tony Wilson (Australian Financial Review/Bloomberg – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

http://www.afr.com/

Mick Davis isn’t being considered for the chairman job at Rio Tinto Group after shareholders revolted against his candidacy.

While Mr Davis was previously a leading candidate, he’s not in the running any longer, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Michael Oke, a spokesman for Davis, declined to comment.

The company’s decision was likely influenced by a letter last week sent from shareholders with about 20 per cent of Rio’s UK shares saying the person in the running for chairman was “unacceptable.” While the letter doesn’t name Mr Davis, he was cited by news agencies including Bloomberg as the frontrunner.

Climate change moving faster than Ontario government: Winter road plan needs timeline and goals, says logistics prof – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The rate of climate change in the Far North may render the winter road network unsafe and uneconomic within a decade, according to a logistics expert.

Barry Prentice, a University of Manitoba professor of Supply Chain Management, responded to recommendations in a draft report of the provincial government’s Northern Ontario Multimodal Transportation Strategy (NOMTS) on the topic of the winter road network.

The draft strategy recommends that winter roads be designed and constructed in such a way as to mitigate the impact of climate change or consider other transportation alternatives. It also suggests expanding all-season roads in cooperation with government and First Nation communities.

BHP Billiton puts Olympic Dam plan on backburner – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

https://www.ft.com/

BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, has placed on the backburner plans to increase output from its giant Olympic Dam copper mine in Australia to 450,000 tonnes a year, opting for a less ambitious expansion project.

Ahead of a trip to the mine, the Anglo-Australian group told investors that its preferred development option was a $2.1bn plan that will see output rise from an estimated 150,000 tonnes this year to 330,000 tonnes by 2023.

BHP has talked for years about the potential of Olympic, the world’s third-largest copper deposit, which also boasts significant reserves of uranium and gold. As recently as 2015, the company was talking about the potential to increase production to 450,000 tonnes a year by 2025 by introducing a new heap leaching, or extraction, technology.

‘500 years’ of resource, BHP makes the case for Olympic Dam expansion – by Darren Gray (Sydney Morning Herald – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

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

BHP is eyeing a possible $US2.1 billion ($2.8 billion) expansion of its Olympic Dam underground mine in South Australia, where it says the copper resource is so large it would take 500 years to deplete at the current rate of mining.

Top BHP executives briefed investors and analysts on the global miner’s Olympic Dam operations and hopes for expansion on Tuesday in Adelaide, and confirmed that the so-called Brownfield Expansion (BFX) option at Olympic Dam was likely to be considered by BHP’s board in 2020.

But BHP executives stressed that any expansion at Olympic Dam would be “subject to strict capital allocation framework tests”. Investors and analysts are touring the site this week.

U.S. environmentalists file lawsuit to overturn approval of Canadian copper mine – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – November 27, 2017)

November 28, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition and the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter have filed a lawsuit in federal court in the hope that it rescinds the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX, NYSE:HBM) Rosemont Project in southern Arizona.

The $1.5-billion Rosemont Project is an open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, about 50 km southeast of Tucson. It is expected to be the third-largest copper mine in the United States, accounting for approximately 10% of the country’s total copper production, and it received a Final Record of Decision from the Forest Service back in June, 2017.

But before Hudbay reaches such big production goals, it has to deal with environmentalists’ concerns and legal actions. In the case of the recent lawsuit, the four organizations involved allege that the mine would violate nearly a dozen state and federal laws, threaten water resources and destroy Coronado National Forest land.

RPT-COLUMN-For China, it’s currently iron ore quality not quantity – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Nov 28 (Australia) – It would seem to defy logic that iron ore prices have continued to rise in recent weeks even as China steps up the idling of steel production as part of efforts to limit air pollution over winter.

While there is a historic correlation between iron ore and steel prices in China, the world’s largest importer of the former and producer of the latter, it would have been reasonable to expect them to have diverged in recent weeks, and in the coming months.

Steel prices should outperform iron ore, given it’s steel output that is being restricted, leading to a tightening of the supply side of the market. However, iron ore suffers from no such supply-side scarcity, rather just the opposite, with abundant cargoes available from major exporters Australia, Brazil and South Africa.

RNC to double nickel output at WA mine, resumes talks for Quebec project – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed RNC Minerals has said it plans to double nickel production from its Beta Hunt mine, with production of four-million pounds of contained nickel forecast for 2018.

RNC Minerals is ramping up gold production at the Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia’s Kambalda mining district, with gold production expected to reach an annualised rate of 70 000 oz/y by the end of 2017.

President and CEO Mark Selby said on Monday that the mine provided good optionality from both gold and nickel production. “With the much larger scale in gold production, versus a standalone nickel mine, nickel production can be added at much lower cost compared to many other nickel producers in Western Australia,” he said.

For mining companies, hiring Indigenous workers ‘about nation-building’ panel hears – by Lori Fox (Yukon News – November 27, 2017)

November 28, 2017

‘Profit is not a dirty word’

Mining companies in the Yukon can attract and maintain a First Nations labour force by employing “intelligent job design” to accommodate traditional values, says one expert.

Hector Campbell, chair of the board of directors for the Nacho Nyak Dun Development Corporation, was part of a panel on Indigenous business at the 2017 Geoscience Forum and Trade Show Nov.21.

In response to a question about “capacity problems” facing mining companies, Campbell said that the typical structure of a fly-in camp can be a deterrent for First Nations workers. Fly-in camp culture creates “tremendous family stress” and “makes it really difficult for employees at that camp to live their traditional lifestyle,” he said.

‘New era’: Canadian mining industry closely watching three civil cases alleging human rights abuses – by Douglas Quan (National Post – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

http://nationalpost.com/

A trio of civil cases winding through the courts signal a breakthrough in efforts to hold Canadian-based mining companies accountable on home turf when they’re accused of violations abroad, human rights and legal observers say.

Historically, Canadian judges have been inclined to send such cases back to the jurisdictions where the alleged abuses occurred. But the three pending cases — two in British Columbia and one in Ontario — show that the legal landscape is shifting.

“Courts are now willing to hear these cases,” says Penelope Simons, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. “They’re not trying to punt them back to other places. That’s an important thing.”

Canada’s Dalradian plans to dig deep for Northern Irish gold (Reuters U.S. – November 27, 2017)

November 28, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Canadian miner Dalradian Resources (DNA.TO) has filed a planning application and secured a new tranche of funds to build Northern Ireland’s first major underground gold mine, with the potential to create hundreds of jobs.

Mining has largely died out in Britain, but the sector sees the potential for a revival as the government pushes an industrial strategy to reboot an economy overshadowed by the decision to leave the European Union. It is also seeking to create jobs beyond the most affluent London area.

Dalradian, which is listed in Toronto and on London’s AIM, acquired mineral rights in 2009 to more than 80,000 hectares of land in Northern Ireland, including the Curraghinalt gold deposit.

Mining mire spreads in Indonesia – by John McBeth (Asia Times – November 28, 2017)

November 28, 2017

http://www.atimes.com/

While US mining giant Freeport McMoran’s contract dispute has hogged headlines, smaller foreign miners are next in the government’s nationalistic sights

American mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold may dominate headlines for its endless negotiations with the Indonesian government over the fate of its rich Grasberg mine, but spare a thought for the small foreign mining firms who are getting trampled in the process.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has recently sent an ultimatum to eight Contract of Work (CoW) holders that it will be “unable to provide any services to company activities” if the hold-outs fail to sign a 37-page amended contract by the end of the year.

Riding a wave of resource nationalism that began at the start of the commodity boom in the mid-2000s, the ministry has already rejected one firm’s request for an extended feasibility study and turned down another’s 2018 work program, both of which are needed to raise additional finance.

Papua New Guinea: Mothers Unite Against Re-Opening Bougainville Panguna Mine – (Telesur.com – November 27, 2017)

November 28, 2017

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/

The women noted that “foreign concepts” and exploiters supplanted traditional ways of life, resulting in the environmental catastrophe of the island.

Mothers Against Re-Opening the Panguna mine have released a statement championing traditional land rights of the Indigenous Black people of the South Pacific island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, expressing their emphatic opposition to re-opening the Panguna Mine located in the Guava Mountains.

Describing access to land as their “traditional birthright,” the women explained that their matrilineal lineage is a social reality which places them as custodians of the land, thus the need for them to make their voices heard in the vanguard, rejecting all attempts to re-open the mine.

The statement read, in part, that it was “women who led the protests against” Bougainville Copper Limiter, BCL, and Rio-Tinto, a British-owned mining giant, that operated the Panguna mine.

Gold CEO Lashes Out Against His Industry – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – November 25, 2017)

November 27, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

A gold industry obsessed with containing costs and minimizing risks will find itself at the edge of a cliff by 2020 as supply tightens, according to one of the most profitable producers.

Despite prices recovering from 2015 lows, the industry has been slow to reinvest in exploration or sustaining capital, Randgold Resources Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said. Half of the gold coming out of the ground isn’t profitable to mine based on the true extraction costs, he said.

“The one thing this industry does very well is mine gold at a loss,” Bristow told analysts at a breakfast meeting in Toronto on Friday. The weakening outlook is being masked by a focus on all-in-sustaining costs rather than cash costs, he said.

Mining expert urges caution in Pilbara gold rush – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – November 27, 2017)

November 27, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – As more junior explorers head to the Pilbara in search for gold mineralisation similar to that found in South Africa’s Witwatersrand, Melbourne-based mining consultant Surbiton Associates has urged caution, reminding investors about the costs and risks involved in exploration.

“It is good to see such interest in gold exploration locally, but real caution is needed,” director Dr Sandra Close said on Sunday. “It is very early days and despite the publicity, there is a great difference between an exploration play and a successful mining venture. Exploration is a risky and expensive business.”

More than 25 publically-listed companies are currently exploring for gold in the Pilbara, all searching for gold that occurs in conglomerates. The theory is that rocks of a similar type and age occur in the Witwatersrand basin, which according to South Africa’ Chamber of Mines has produced more than two-billion ounces of gold.