October 15, 2012 – Republic of Mining

‘You can print money as much as you like but you can’t print gold’ – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – October 15, 2012)

October 15, 2012

www.mineweb.com

A quote from a Swiss gold refiner/trader puts the case for gold as sound money very succinctly and coupled with the suggestion that it is a Giffen good, bodes well for further price rises.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – The title of this article is very much a truism which says much about the position gold has held as an international standard for many centuries and why, ultimately, it will hold its position as the monetary yardstick against which all global currencies in this fiat money world will ultimately be measured, and fail to pass muster. Indeed if some far cleverer analysts and economists than I are to be listened to, these currencies will collapse into a morass of hyperinflation unless the money printing can somehow be brought under control.

With QE to infinity policies currently in place in most of the world’s key financial blocs, the likelihood of such controls coming into place before at least one major currency does collapse is becoming more and more remote. And if one does collapse the dominoes could rapidly start to fall plunging the world into financial Armageddon where the middle classes in particular will have their wealth totally destroyed. One sincerely hopes that somehow this doomsday scenario can be avoided, but it’s as well to be prepared just in case.

I am indebted to an article on Swiss dominance in global gold refining on website www.swissinfo.ch for the quote used in the title – (from Frédéric Panizzutti, spokesman for MKS (Switzerland) SA, a Swiss company, which specialises in gold trading and which owns the Pamp gold refinery).

Mining has seen a lot of changes over 30 years – by Jodi Blasutti Miner (Sudbury Star – October 15, 2012)

October 15, 2012

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

The past 30 years have shown a dramatic increase in technology in mining. Prior to the 1980s, the majority of excavation work was done with hand held equipment using pressurized air and water.

The biggest advances in taking workers away from the face, the singular most hazardous place, was utilizing mechanized equipment and more recently remote mechanized equipment.

When electric hydraulics were introduced everything became bigger, stronger and faster. The consequences of this was more advanced rock mechanics and ground wee support required to safely allow the rapid advance of stopes and headings.

Even with ongoing changes to safety practice and procedures, the modern environment has created life threatening hazards not seeing in historical mining. In this new age of mining, the rapid advancement of equipment and procedures has superseded the advancement of safety.

The current high cost of wages and equipment puts pressure on engineering design to maximize capable tons produced and concurrently maximize profit.

Historic milestone for [Sudbury] union – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – October 15, 2012)

October 15, 2012

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

A milestone anniversary in Greater Sudbury’s labour history is being marked today: United Steelworkers Local 6500 turns 50 years old.

It’s also a day of infamy in the history of the Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union to whom the more than 13,000 Inco Limited production and maintenance workers belonged before the “raid” by the United States-based union occurred.

While the Steelworkers were successful in winning the right to represent the Inco workers in a vote in June, 1962 — the result was 7,182 votes to 6,951 in favour of being represented by the Steelworkers, the margin of victory was just 231 and only 15 votes over the required 50% — the ballot box victory was not made official for several months.

That was because Mine Mill protested that 71 of the ballots were not stamped with the official mark of board officials and that the 72-hour no propaganda rule had been deliberately violated by the Steelworkers. On Oct. 15, 1962, the board ruled the Steelworkers should be certified. At the time, Local 6500, as the new bargaining group became known, was the largest union local in Canada.