Republic of Mining

Editorial: Cameco suspends 40% of production in face of oversupply – by John Cunning (Northern Miner – November 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Every mining subsector has its unofficial leader. It’s that company — usually with the largest market capitalization — that has arguably the best combination of top mineral deposits, superb operations, savvy management, high-quality workers, technical excellence, welcoming jurisdictions, a stable balance sheet and steady cash flow.

And that is what’s particularly distressing about the revelation in mid-November that uranium’s undisputed leader Cameco is suspending operations in northern Saskatchewan at its world-class McArthur River uranium mine and Key Lake mill that processes McArthur River ore. Key Lake is the world’s largest high-grade uranium mill.

Cameco owns 70% of McArthur River and 83% of Key Lake, and is operator at both, with France’s Areva owning the rest. Together, the operations produced 11.1 million lb. uranium oxide in the first nine months of 2017.

Chile’s Escondida workers on strike to protest layoffs – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 23, 2017)

November 23, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Unionized workers at Chile’s Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest, began Thursday a 24-hour strike to protest recent layoffs affecting about 3% of the operation’s workforce.

Majority owner and operator BHP (ASX, NYSE:BHP) (LON:BLT), had said Wednesday the downsizing was part of ongoing adjustments to the mine’s workflow.

But Escondida’s 2,500-member main union said in a statement (in Spanish) it was an act of “retaliation” for the 43-day strike that took place early this year, which translated into roughly $1 billion in lost revenue for BHP.

NEWS RELEASE: TOREX CLARIFIES MEDIA MISINFORMATION

November 23, 2017

TORONTO, Ontario, November 21, 2017 – Torex Gold Resources Inc. (the “Company” or “Torex”) (TSX:TXG) issued a statement today in response to misinformation that is being circulated by labour groups and the media.

The Company was made aware of an incident that happened this past weekend in the town of Atzcala, about twenty five minutes (15Km) from its El Limon Guajes Mine (the “ELG Mine”). During this incident, two men were killed in the course of a dispute. Torex confirms that the two men were not employees of the Company.

With regards to operations at the Company’s ELG Mine, there is no strike. There is an illegal blockade. Operations have been shut down at the ELG Mine site since November 3rd as a result of the illegal blockade, which arose because of a dispute between the union that legally represents the Company’s workers (the “CTM Union”) and the union that wants to represent the workers (the “Miners Union”).

This $16B Alberta-B.C. oil pipeline has First Nations backing — but it may still never get built – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – November 23, 2017)

November 23, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

As proposed Canadian crude oil export pipelines struggle to get built, one project is gaining momentum — the First Nations-led, $16 billion Eagle Spirit Energy Holding Ltd. pipeline and energy corridor between Alberta and the northern British Columbia coast.

The project is twice the size of the Northern Gateway project rejected by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and has secured support from First Nations from Bruderheim, Alta., through Northern B.C., to Grassy Point, B.C.

Major Canadian oil producers including Suncor Energy Inc., Cenovus Energy Inc. and Meg Energy Corp. also want it to go ahead, while investment broker AltaCorp Capital Inc. has been lined up to organize financing. The pipeline’s right of way would be on an energy corridor that would be pre-approved by First Nations to also house gas pipelines, hydro lines and fiber optic cable. The Aquilini Group of Vancouver is also a backer.

Batteries improve air quality in underground mines (Nickel Institute – May 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017

https://www.nickelinstitute.org/

Ventilation currently represents around 50% of underground metal mines’ overall energy costs. Producers are looking to go deeper and still remain economic, while also eliminating fine diesel particulate matter from the underground work environment.

Couple these aims with the need to achieve clean-energy targets and it’s clear that there are a myriad of drivers for the introduction of battery-powered vehicles that are engineered for life underground.

“Interest is coming from two sources,” says Jani Vilenius, director of research and technology development, PA Rock Drills and Technologies, at Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, one of the first OEMs to introduce a battery-propelled drill rig. “Battery technology is being applied more widely in other industries and, for that reason, its applicability in mining is also being questioned, creating a technology push.

In shadow of OPEC’s noisy oil cuts, Asia’s miners quietly tightened coal supplies – by Henning Gloystein (Reuter U.S. – November 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Australian and Indonesian miners have quietly done in the last two years what OPEC has been shouting about: tighten coal markets and prop up prices.

The informal coal output reductions, unlike the official cuts in place since January led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), are culminating right as Asia enters the Northern Hemisphere winter when heating demand peaks in January. Additionally, there are warnings a La Nina pattern that typically brings colder-than-normal weather to the Northern Hemisphere might occur.

In 2015, at the peak of the coal glut, Glencore, the world’s biggest thermal coal exporting firm, said it would start cutting exports by scaling back some open pit mining and deferring investments in Australia in order to tackle oversupply. Indonesian mines were quick to follow.

How an Ontario court case could change Canadian mining overseas (CBC – The Current – November 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/

Eleven women from a remote Guatemalan community are seeking damages from a Canadian mining company over allegations they were raped by employees of one of its former subsidiaries.

The women, who have travelled to Toronto as part of an Ontario civil court case launched in 2011, claim they were victims of gang rape in 2007 during forced evictions by security staff of a mining business called Compania Guatemalteca de Niquel, or CGN.

“They feel like they can’t get justice in Guatemala,” CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp told The Current’s Anna Maria Tremonti. “They feel like this could be their only hope.” Hudbay Minerals purchased CGN’s Fenix nickel project in a corporate takeover of Skye Resources in 2008, but sold it in 2011.

Independent minded: B2Gold is off to a fast start at its Fekola mine in Mali – by Cecilia Keating (CIM Magazine – November 09, 2017)

November 23, 2017

http://magazine.cim.org/en/

In early October 2017, Vancouver miner B2Gold celebrated the first gold pour at its flagship Fekola mine, and by the end of the month had already produced nearly 34,000 ounces. While initially not expected to begin producing until December, Fekola has been constructed in just over two years and is expected to reach commercial production at the end of November – four months ahead of schedule.

The first doré bars at Fekola round off a decade of rapid growth for B2Gold, a mid-tier miner that has a strong background of constructing the mines it operates. In ten years it has evolved from a junior exploration company with zero output to the owner of five mines with an estimated production of up to 975,000 ounces in 2018.

Clive Johnson, B2Gold’s president and CEO, said the acquisition of the Fekola project is in line with B2Gold’s history of “accretive acquisitions of developed projects that are ready to build,” supported by the company’s historic “willingness to be contrarian.”

Russian Metals Billionaires Hope for Peace as ‘Shoot Out’ Looms – by Jack Farchy and Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – November 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

A shoot out is looming in Russian metals. That isn’t a reference to the industry’s blood-soaked history, but to a clause in a hard-won peace deal between two billionaire shareholders of MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, Russia’s largest miner.

The 2012 agreement between Oleg Deripaska’s United Co. Rusal and Vladimir Potanin’s Interros Holding Co. provides a mechanism by which one man can buy out the other’s stake in Nornickel. That mechanism is called a “shoot out,” and becomes possible after a five-year lock-up period expires on Dec. 10, according to a Rusal letter to shareholders published in 2014.

Potanin, one of Russia’s richest men with an $18 billion fortune, told Bloomberg he has no immediate plans to initiate the so-called shoot out — a forced auction where the loser must sell his stake to the winner.

[Mining Movies] Here Is Where All The Men Went On Godless – by Ariana Romero (Refinery29.com – November 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017

http://www.refinery29.com/

It feels like Westerns have have been around since the dawn of the film camera. That’s why it feels nearly impossible to shake-up the genre, which I grew up watching thanks to my father, who is absolutely obsessed with throwback-ish style. And, yet, Netflix’s new series Godless manages to do just that by giving us a story where the women outnumber the men in a landslide in the central town of La Belle.

While this fact is admirable, even the most feminist viewers are likely to wonder, “…Where did all the men go?” Did Wonder Woman’s Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) show up in 1800s New Mexico to craft each of the ladies of Godless’ dusty burg from the ample amount of sand lying around? Unfortunately, no. Instead, the answer is much more tragic, creepy, and mine-related.

In premiere episode “An Incident In Creede,” we slowly come to realize the town of La Belle isn’t simply filled with women, it’s filled with widows. We meet three of them throughout the opening: the reclusive Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery), the newly more masculine Mary Agnes (Merritt Wever), and perpetually worried single mom Sadie Rose (Kayli Carter).

UPDATE 1-South African gold miners’ silicosis lawsuit nearing settlement-lawyers – by Wendell Roelf (Reuters U.S. – November 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

CAPE TOWN, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Lawyers acting for thousands of gold miners who contracted lung diseases at work in South African mines said on Wednesday an out-of-court settlement with their employers could be reached by December.

A High Court ruling last year set the stage for protracted proceedings on cases dating back decades in the largest class action suit yet in Africa’s most industrialised country.

Many of the nearly half a million miners who contracted silicosis and tuberculosis, are from nearby countries who supplied labour to South African mines.

[The Hilarious Adventures Continue] Excerpt from ‘Miner Altercations’ – by Jon Ardeman

November 22, 2017

To order a copy of “Miner Altercations” which would make an excellent Christmas gift for any Geologist/ Mining/Explorationist: http://amzn.to/2Ap0Zo3

Since graduating Jon Ardeman’s geological career has been in many guises; in exploration, mining, consultancy, conservation and research. He has worked as a National Park guide, a nature warden looking after tadpoles and orchids, as a researcher digging up cow shed floors looking for Ordovician brachiopods and preparing dinosaur bones for a museum display. Enthused by these experiences, Jon sought further adventures, and headed to Africa where he worked as a geologist on various mines for more than a decade.

He returned to university and after a few years of academic research and consultancy, Jon went back to mining and precious metal exploration. His travels have taken him from the Arctic to the Equator, from North America and Siberia, to Europe, Australia, Asia and back to Africa.

During this time, Jon wrote several “mystery and imagination” short stories for magazines and competitions, but his inspiration for a first novel ‘Miner Indiscretions’ came from get-togethers with fellow prospectors and miners; with the story embellished by imagination, cold beer, a hint of the supernatural and – of course – dreams of African gold! The author is married with several children and now resides in Hertfordshire, England.

Overview

The second in the MINER series of the picaresque adventures of Timothy, a young mining geologist working on the remote Yellow Snake Gold Mine in Southern Africa. After staving off the closure of the ageing Mine with the discovery of a rich new gold deposit, Timothy and the Mine’s eccentric employees look forward to returning to their devious old ways.

Copper Mountain bids $70M for Altona Mining – Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – November 21, 2017)

November 22, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Copper Mountain Mining (TSX: CMMC) announced that it has tabled a $70-million, all-share bid for Australia-based Altona Mining (ASX:AOH) and its district-scale Cloncurry copper-gold property, located 95 km northeast of Mount Isa in Queensland.

According to Altona’s updated feasibility study, Cloncurry is a 19,200-tonnes-per-day open pit mine comprised of four copper-gold deposits that would produce 86 million lbs. copper and 17,200 oz. gold annually over a 14-year mine life at cash costs of $1.92 per lb.

In an official statement, Copper Mountain said that if the acquisition comes to fruition, it would be targeting production by 2020 and would likely fund the $217 million capital expenditure requirements of the mine via debt facilities and treasury.

Vancouver mining company faces trial over slavery claims – by Ian Mulgrew (Vancouver Sun – November 21, 2017)

November 22, 2017

http://vancouversun.com/

Canadian companies have been put on notice by the B.C. Court of Appeal that they can be held accountable in the nation’s courts for human rights abuses committed in foreign countries.

In a ruling with wide implications, the three-justice division dismissed a B.C. firm’s attempts to block a suit by African workers who say they were forced to toil as slaves at a gold mine 60 per cent owned by Nevsun Resources Ltd. and 40 per cent by Eritrean state companies.

“It’s a very important win because it means the case can proceed and Nevsun will have to answer the case on the merits, meaning they are going to have to respond to the allegations they were complicit in the use of forced labour in the building of that mine,” explained Joe Fiorante, a lawyer who represented the refugees.

Opinion: Ensuring remote First Nations are fully ready for mining jobs – by Daniel Bland (Montreal Gazette – November 21, 2017)

November 22, 2017

http://montrealgazette.com/

Daniel Bland works with Cree Human Resources Development on the design and delivery of workforce development training programs. He is based in Mistissini.

Resource extraction companies across Canada continue to ride out a worldwide slump in commodity prices that market analysts suggest may continue into 2018 before showing signs of any extended recovery.

While that is certainly bad news for mining companies, it could be a blessing in disguise for many remote First Nations hoping to benefit from their proximity to potential mining operations.

In recent years, Canadian policy institutes and think tanks have paid considerable attention to determining the labour market demands of major mining projects, many of them planned on or near aboriginal land.