June 25, 2012 – Republic of Mining

SA doesn’t just need dirt diggers – by Christy Filen (Mineweb.com – June 25, 2012)

June 25, 2012

www.mineweb.com

According to Dr. Paul Jourdan, South Africa would do better leaving its minerals in the ground if it can’t better link its mining sector to the broader economy

JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb) – Dr Paul Jourdan, who was part of the research team that compiled the ANC’s State Intervention in the Minerals Sector (SIMS) report, has said that South Africa needs more than just dirt diggers in its mining industry and that if the sector does not make the linkages as envisaged in the report then it would be better to leave the minerals in the ground.

“If you say I’m just a dirt digger and this is my core competence then fine, go to Australia. I’m not sure that we want companies that are just going to dig holes. I think that we want companies that are going to make those linkages and build our economy for the future, post mining” said Jourdan.

Speaking at the AngloGold Ashanti and Motjoli Resources Mining for Change breakfast in Johannesburg today, Jourdan described Australia as suffering from the Dutch disease where he said that the current minerals boom is causing de-industrialisation in other parts of their economy.

Exploring the global mineral exploration business

June 25, 2012

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member Boart Longyear provided a glimpse of the growing global mining exploration industry at an investor event held at its North American headquarters in Mississauga recently. An audience of about 50 people including bankers, investors, analysts and Boart Longyear customers were on hand for the presentations.

Setting the stage was Jason Goulden, Vice President Research for the Metals Economics Group (MEG), which is based in Halifax. His company plots trends in exploration spending, locations, commodities and other related data. More than 3,500 companies are interviewed annually for its major survey and it is estimated to take into account 90% to 95% of all mineral exploration spending.

MEG estimates global mineral exploration spending to reach $21 billion in 2012, a 17% increase from the $18 billion invested in mineral exploration in 2011. “This is a small change in what we have seen in the past few years, but it is still an increase,” said Mr. Goulden.

NEWS RELEASE: Vale Canada Limited and Sagamok Anishnawbek celebrate a solidified partnership for Totten Mine

June 25, 2012

(L to R) Kelly Strong, Vale’s Vice President of Mining & Milling (North Atlantic) and General Manager Ontario Operations, and Chief Paul Eshkakogan, Chief of Sagamok Anishnawbek, formally sign an Impacts and Benefits Agreement during Treaty Day celebrations at Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation on June 22, 2012.

For immediate release

June 25, 2012

Massey, Ontario – On Friday June 22, 2012 Paul Eshkakogan, Chief of Sagamok Anishnawbek and Kelly Strong, Vale’s Vice President of Mining and Milling for the North Atlantic Region, solidified their working relationship regarding Vale’s Totten Mine with the signing of an Impacts and Benefits Agreement during Treaty Day celebrations at Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation.

““The signing of this agreement represents the culmination of many years of fruitful discussion with Vale as well as commitment by our community to a prosperous future” said Chief Eshkakogan. “It provides a basis for Sagamok Anishnawbek to effectively participate in the Totten Mine Project, to share directly in the economic and other benefits associated with it, and to continue to fulfill environmental stewardship responsibilities within our traditional and treaty territory.”

The Impacts and Benefits Agreement formalizes the ways in which Vale and Sagamok will work together to advance their shared interest in building and sustaining a mutually beneficial working relationship throughout the life of the mine.

Ontarians question smelter site: poll – Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – June 25, 2012)

June 25, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

A majority of 1,000 Ontarians surveyed in a poll about mining development in the Ring of Fire belt said the ore should be processed in First Nation territory in the vicinity of the proposed mine site.

But while the poll results pleased area First Nation leaders, they seem moot because leading Ring of Fire proponent Cliffs Natural Resources said earlier this spring that chromite ore will be processed on the outskirts of Sudbury.

The OraclePoll Research telephone poll was commissioned by the Municipality of Greenstone and Aroland First Nation. Both communities want Cliffs to build the company’s 300-megawatt smelter on the outskirts of Aroland.

The poll results showed that 45 per cent of respondents believe that the ore should be smelted in the First Nation traditional territory from which it is mined. In a news release Friday, Aroland Chief Sonny Gagnon said the poll “validates what we have known for a long time.

[Sudbury] 6500 prez vows to continue mining inquiry fight – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – June 24, 2012)

June 25, 2012

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

No mining inquiry for now, premier says

Steelworkers Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand vows to continue to push for an inquiry into mining practices in Ontario in the wake of the premier’s assertion that the province is not currently contemplating such an inquiry. Thousands of postcards have been sent to Minister of Labour Linda Jeffrey, urging her to launch the inquiry.

Bertrand said he plans to continue with the postcard campaign, which was launched in April by the Steelworkers and Lougheed Funeral Homes managing director Gerry Lougheed Jr. “I’m going to continue to focus on getting the cards signed and sending them out, and pushing for this mining inquiry,” he said, speaking to Northern Life June 23. “We’re not going to stop here.”

Premier Dalton McGuinty made his statements on the subject in response to a reporter’s question after the June 22 groundbreaking ceremony for Vale’s Clean AER project. “We’re not contemplating at this time, any specific inquiry into one incident, or mining generally,” the premier said.

He did say that a coroner’s inquest will examine the miners’ deaths, and also pointed out that Ministry of Labour recently laid charges against Vale and one of its supervisors under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

A glimmer of hope [Ontario Northland] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – June 25, 2012)

June 25, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Premier Dalton McGuinty commended 200 protesters for staging a rally called Ontario Northland is Not For Sale on the campus of Laurentian University on Saturday where he was attending the Ontario Liberal Party Provincial Council.

McGuinty wouldn’t meet with protesters outside the Great Hall where he spoke to party faithful. But he did make a promise indoors to Liberals and to reporters that every town in Northern Ontario that now has ONTC bus service will continue to have it after the province sells off the Crown agency.

McGuinty credited people attending the rally for being respectful of the proceedings indoors, where he said his government can no longer afford to subsidize the rail and bus transportation service. McGuinty said the Liberals have spent more than three times as much on the agency as the last two governments did.

His government will work with communities to ensure “as smooth a transition as possible” of the operation from government to whoever purchases it.

McGuinty to defend his budget in the north – by Maria Babbage (National Post – June 23, 2012)

June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

“I wish we had a few more Sudburys around the province,” Mr. McGuinty said.
“Frankly, you’re doing so well and experiencing so much growth. So we’ll ask
ourselves what can we learn from the examples that are right in front of our
eyes here in Sudbury.”

SUDBURY – Premier Dalton McGuinty is in for a bumpy ride in northern Ontario this weekend in spite of his attempts to smooth over the budget crisis that pushed the province to the brink of an election, critics say.

Now that the budget has passed and an election is averted, Mr. McGuinty will have to appease northerners who are angry that he’s privatizing Ontario Northland rail service after promising not to do so, the New Democrats say.

He’ll also have to explain why his budget doesn’t do much to create jobs in the north, which has lost 9,000 jobs since the Oct. 6 election and where the unemployment rate is the highest in the province at 10.4%, said the Progressive Conservatives.

“The premier is here in northern Ontario where this budget did absolutely nothing for the 60 mills that are closed, the 10,000 resource-sector jobs that we lost, the skyrocketing hydro rates that caused Xstrata Copper to move from Timmins to Quebec and shed 670 jobs in a community of 45,000,” said Vic Fedeli, the party’s energy critic.

Canada’s pink gold rush [Saskatchewan Potash] – Marc Davis (National Post – June 25, 2012)

June 25, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

With the precious cargo slung over his shoulder, Vikram Singh strides through his field spreading the white granular stuff where it matters most. “I can’t afford to waste any … I had to buy it on the black market,” says the 38-year-old farmer from Dostpur Mangroli village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

For the past two decades, Mr. Singh has toiled his field for wheat and rice to feed his family of six, using the white stuff to stimulate the crops and his livelihood in India’s once-fertile Gangetic Plain.

“I have to use more and more because the land is not as good as it once was … This is not only expensive, it’s very hard to get,” says Mr. Singh, who paid twice the retail amount of 1,200 rupees (about $23) for a bootleg 50-kilogram bag of the white stuff – potash-based fertilizer.

Like Mr. Singh, farmers around the world are demanding better access and prices to the indispensable and irreplaceable pink salt known as potash, which optimizes the delivery of nutrients to plants.