Africa’s ‘Pilbara’ needs champion – Investec – by Marin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – March 27, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Cameroon-Congo-Gabon region, often likened to Australia’s iron-ore-rich Pilbara, needs a champion in the mould of Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest to assemble companies, governments, financiers and end-users in a region that could give the iron-ore top-three a run for their money.

Investec Securities analysts Hunter Hillcoat and Marc Elliott speculate whether the possible increased involvement of Glencore could be the start, given the significant expanse of iron-ore mineralisation, including the potential for meaningful direct shipping ore (DSO) volumes.

It offers one of the few opportunities globally for a substantial iron-ore production base outside of that controlled by the top three – Vale, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto – yet it remains a long way from production.

Last year, Equatorial Resources CEO John Welborn urged junior iron-ore producers in Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo (ROC) to work together to ensure that export markets could access the region’s minerals, with the Metal Bulletin’s ‘Steel First’ reporting his view that iron-ore exploration companies Sundance Resources, Core Mining and the government of Gabon needed to consolidate to maximise the potential of the rich craton.

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Voisey’s Bay underground mining deal reached – CBC News North (March 28, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/north/

Vale, Dunderdale reveal details on extending life of massive Labrador nickel find

In return, the government will allow Vale to export more Voisey’s Bay ore for the next three years without it being processed inside the province.

The government will get financial compensation of $100 million for the exemption involving nickel extracted from the mine on Labrador’s northern coast.

The agreement significantly extends the commercial life of the Voisey’s Bay mine, which is considered one of the world’s largest nickel finds. Former owner Inco shipped its first concentrate from the Voisey’s Bay mine in 2005. Two freelance prospectors working for Vancouver-based Diamond Fields Resources discovered the massive deposit of nickel, cobalt and copper in 1993.

Until now, production has focused solely on the surface of the mine. Vale had estimated that it can run the surface phase of the mine for about 14 years. The agreement on opening the underground mine effectively extends the life of Voisey’s Bay by another 15 years.

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Microbes could extract minerals – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 28, 2013)

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

A Laurentian University scientist is conducting independent research into “mining” decades-old tailing ponds in Copper Cliff that contain nickel and copper that, if reclaimed, would be worth billions of dollars.

Nadia Mykytczuk, an environmental microbiologist at Laurentian’s Vale Living with Lakes Centre, says Sudbury has tremendous potential to be leaders in bioleaching — a process using microbes to extract valuable minerals from ores in waste water.

In many parts of the world, bioleaching is the only source of mineral extraction from low-grade ore and waste, said Mykytczuk during a break at a forum Wednesday at the centre. Bioleaching would remove or extract from ores minerals that weren’t removed by the smelting process.

The microscopic organisms — bacteria, viruses and parasites — eat into waste water, feeding on chemical energy and breaking the water into its chemical components. Microbes don’t destroy those elements, but rather separate them from their mineral form, making them soluble.

Left alone, that water and the metals in it leach out as acid mine draining, entering waterways.

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Matawa wins early ruling in Ring of Fire legal fight – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – March 27, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

A federal judge has ruled that three experts who Cliffs Resources tried to block from testifying can indeed give their opinions on Matawa First Nations’ Ring of Fire judicial review.

Cliffs and Canada had tried to block the experts – including Justina Ray of Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada and Professor Robert Gibson of the University of Waterloo’s Environmental Studies department – from testifying in the case.

The judge not only threw out the claims made by Cliffs and Canada, but also criticized the two parties for causing “unnecessary delays” in the case and set a strict timeline for the remainder of the hearing that should bring the case before the courts sometime this summer. The Matawa chiefs filed a legal challenge to the environmental assessment of the proposed Cliffs’ chromite project in November 2011.

The chiefs have repeatedly called for a Joint Review Panel of the Ring of Fire project, rather than the ongoing comprehensive study EA process. A Joint Review Panel would be a more in-depth review of the project, and include hearings in communities to get the perspectives of Elders and other community members.

Canada and Cliffs have so far ignored the Matawa chiefs’ calls for the stricter EA process, and pushed on with the comprehensive study despite the ongoing legal challenge.

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Yellowknife’s Giant Mine cleanup costs to double – CBC News North (March 27, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/north/

New documents show arsenic-contaminated site will take close to $1B to remediate

n the Northwest Territories, new documents show the cleanup costs for Yellowknife’s arsenic-contaminated Giant Mine site will be close to a billion dollars.

That’s double what officials with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development have said it would cost to remediate the former gold mine. The cleanup plan is currently in the final stages of an environmental review.

Kevin O’Reilly is with Alternatives North and was one of the people who pushed for an environmental assessment of the cleanup plan. He obtained the new information through an access to information request.

The documents show the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development revised its cost estimate in March of 2012 — six months before public hearings on the cleanup. But during the public hearings, federal officials never said they expected the cleanup to cost that much. Officials repeatedly said it would cost half that amount.

The document attributes the jump in price to a combination of inflation, additional maintenance, as well as fast-tracking some of the work to stabilize the site. O’Reilly questions why they’re not being more transparent.

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Suncor says leak had ‘negligible impact’ on Athabasca River – by Kelly Cryderman (Globe and Mail – March 28, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

CALGARY — A leak at a Suncor Energy Inc. oil sands site poured an estimated 350,000 litres of industrial waste water into the Athabasca River over a 10-hour period, causing “a short term, negligible impact on the river” earlier this week, the company said late Wednesday.

Canada’s largest oil company provided few details about what chemicals and substances actually flowed into the river north of Fort McMurray, saying in a statement that “our tests confirm the process affected water was a combination of water with suspended solids (clays and fine particulates) and inorganic and organic compounds. It does not contain bitumen.”

Suncor spokeswoman Sneh Seetal said she was unable provide further details about the makeup of the industrial waste water. “It did not contain bitumen but I don’t have a further breakdown,” Ms. Seetal said.

Earlier this week, Suncor and Alberta’s Department of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development disclosed that the company had discovered a rupture on Monday from a pipe carrying industrial waste water used in oil sands extraction and upgrading. The leak at the company’s base plant spilled into a pond adjacent to the Athabasca River, and then into the river itself.

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Falkland islanders join 1% on oil windfall – by Brian Swint (Bloomberg News/National Post – March 28, 2013)

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

The Falklands’ first commercial oil discovery will make the islands in the South Atlantic rich, bringing the British territory of 2,563 people US$10.5-billion in tax revenue over 25 years.

As the bounty transforms the fishing and tourism-dependent economy, tensions may worsen with Argentina, which claims sovereignty over the islands and their mineral wealth. The Latin American country last year threatened to sue any company involved in Falklands drilling and its foreign minister said yesterday the islanders have no right to self-determination.

The local government is already starting a wealth fund to manage the cash. On the agenda: paving the main highway from the airport to the capital of Stanley, improving the port to take larger ships and reimbursing the 60 million pounds ($90 million) the U.K. spends annually on soldiers, jets and ships to defend the islands, which Argentina attacked in 1982.

“In times of recession, it’s difficult for people in the U.K. to justify spending money on a small population on the other end of the world,” said Andrea Clausen, 41, who owns a transport business and is a member of the Falkland Islands Chamber of Commerce. “But as long as Argentina claims the Falklands in its constitution, the threat won’t go away.”

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Asian push for lower prices may hurt Canadian LNG projects – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – March 28, 2013)

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

Canadian projects will be under more pressure than most to link to Henry Hub, given the current linkage with the U.S. market

Alarmed by the 13.4% jump in its natural gas import bill last year, Japan is planning a new energy strategy that could change how natural gas is traded around the world and put pressure on some of the proposed Canadian liquefied natural gas projects.

The world’s largest LNG importer, which paid a US$68-billion LNG import bill last year, is offering US$11-billion in loan guarantees to Japanese companies to source liquefied natural gas from the United States.

Tokyo is also eyeing a seat at the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating table, as U.S. law only allows LNG exports to nations with which it has a trade agreement. Meanwhile, President Abe Shinzo has been pushing President Barack Obama to allow U.S. companies to export gas to his country.

The Japanese Development Bank estimates cheaper imports from the U.S. could shave as much as 20% of the Asian giant’s LNG import costs by 2020. Japan’s focus on U.S. shale sends a signal to LNG exporters that Asian countries are no longer willing to pay a premium on natural gas prices.

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Russia, South Africa Seek to Create OPEC-Style Platinum Bloc – by Ilya Arkhipov & Franz Wild (Bloomberg.com – March 27, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Russia and South Africa, countries that hold about 80 percent of platinum group metal reserves, plan to set up an OPEC-type trading bloc to coordinate exports.

“It can be called an OPEC,” Russian Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy said late yesterday in an interview in Durban. “Our goal is to coordinate our actions accordingly to expand the markets. The price depends on the structure of the market, and we will form the structure of the market.”

South Africa mines about 70 percent of the world’s platinum and Russia 40 percent of its palladium, a metal from the same group used to cut car pollution, Johnson Matthey Plc (JMAT) said in a 2012 report. Other nations would be able to join the group. The U.S., Zimbabwe and Canada are among producers of the metals. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is an oil cartel.

Platinum and palladium prices rose following yesterday’s comments by Donskoy. South Africa and Russia signed only a “framework” accord, he said, with details yet to be decided.

“We are now forming working groups to work out joint actions on this market,” Donskoy said. “There will be a meeting in the summer to discuss mechanisms in detail.”

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Congo Reassures Copper Miners Rattled by Attack in Katanga – by Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg.com – March 27, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Democratic Republic of Congo’s mines minister reassured investors after separatists attacked the capital of mineral-rich Katanga province, raising concern among analysts that the region faces increased conflict.

At least 35 people died when 250 Kata Katanga militants battled soldiers and police in Lubumbashi on March 23 before surrendering to the United Nations. The government introduced a curfew and some businesses and schools closed early on March 25 in the city, home to the offices of some of the biggest mining companies operating in Congo.

“I’m personally reassuring miners that these events are temporary and will be completely put to a halt,” Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu said by mobile-phone message on March 25. “A psychosis will reign for several days, but that will pass as well.”

After years of conflict and instability, Congo’s mining industry has flourished since 2009, with copper production doubling to about 600,000 metric tons last year, most of it coming from Katanga in the southeast. The Central African country was the eighth-largest producer of the metal in 2012, accounting for 3.4 percent of world output, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It also produces half of the world’s cobalt, used in rechargeable batteries.

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MAC, AMQ decry proposed Quebec mining taxes – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – March 26, 2013)

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Quebec’s reputation as one of the best places to explore for and mine minerals has taken a beating recently. From 2007 to 2010 the Fraser Instituteranked it as the best jurisdiction, but it slipped to fourth in 2011 to fifth in 2012.

There remain many resources yet to be discovered in the province, but the political climate is one reason Quebec is losing favour. First there was the re-election of a Parti Quebecois government in September 2012. That led to uncertainty that Plan Nord would be carried out as originally outlined.

Now comes word that the province is proposing a new tax regime. Two new levies are expected – a 5% tax on the gross value of annual production and a 30% royalty on “super-profits”. Quebec already jacked up its business tax rate in 2010 when it raised taxes on profits to 16% from 12%. High taxes are a major disincentive for any kind of business.

Both the Mining Association of Canada (Mining.ca) and the Association du miniere du Quebec (AMQ-inc.com) have been vocal in their opposition to new taxes in Quebec. As MAC rightly points out, global competition for mining investment is fierce. Investors will look elsewhere – to Europe, Latin America and Africa – where the prospect of making a reasonable profit exists. Without continued investment, Canada stands to lose significant royalties to government, well paying jobs in mining, and the many spinoff business opportunities a mine brings to a community.

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Who’s next? Munk focuses on Barrick’s big question – by Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – March 27, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Peter Munk, the iconic chairman of Barrick Gold Corp., is looking for a successor to the one person who has been a constant during the company’s tumultuous 30-year history: himself.

In a message to shareholders in the company’s annual report for 2012, Mr. Munk said he has been working with directors to find someone with the drive, ambition, global experience and contacts to lead the board, and strongly hinted that his co-chairman, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive John L. Thornton, might be that man.

“A vital prerequisite for the future is a new generation of qualified and developed leadership,” Mr. Munk said in the letter. He did not provide a timeline for succession but lauded the achievements of Mr. Thornton. His appointment as co-chairman last year was part of a larger corporate shakeup that also saw the instalment of a new CEO, Jamie Sokalsky.

“It is indeed our great fortune that John has reached a point in his spectacular career at the same time when our need for someone of his exceptional qualifications, credentials and experience also reached a decision point,” Mr. Munk said.

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Mongolia investment slump pushes govt to move on new rules – by Sonali Paul (Reuters India – March 27, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE, March 27 (Reuters) – Mongolia is starting to take steps aimed at arresting a slide in investment in its crucial mining sector, looking to curb uncertainty over regulations that has been blamed for stalling copper and coal projects. Even so, miners remain cautious.

Regulatory concerns peaked last month when Rio Tinto threatened to delay the start-up of the $6.2 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine, until it resolves a dispute with the government over their investment agreement.

The mine is due to start selling copper in June and could make up a third of Mongolia’s economy by 2020, producing 425,000 tonnes of copper and 460,000 ounces of gold a year.

“At the higher echelons…there’s at least the recognition that something’s wrong and needs to be fixed,” said Elisabeth Ellis, Ulan Bator-based partner at law firm Minter Ellison, which advises mining and mining services firms.

Foreign direct investment dropped 17 percent to $3.9 billion in 2012, according to the Bank of Mongolia’s balance of payments, coinciding with a string of moves by the government that deterred investments in copper and coal.

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Cuba hopes to keep nickel output above 60,000 tonnes – by Marc Frank (Reuters U.S. – March 26, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/news/us

HAVANA, March 26 (Reuters) – The Cuban nickel industry plans to produce around 62,000 tonnes of unrefined nickel plus cobalt in 2013, according to local and foreign company reports, following the closing of one of three processing plants last year.

The provincial radio station of Eastern Holguin, Radio Angulo, reported on Monday evening that the Cubaniquel-owned Ernesto Che Guevara plant in Moa, after experiencing production problems over the last few years, was now running up to speed.

The station quoted the plant’s manager, Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, as stating, “the plant is in condition to meet this year’s plan of 23,700 tonnes.”

Canadian mining company Sherritt International, a joint venture partner with Cubaniquel in the only other open plant, the Pedro Soto Alba, also in Moa, recently reported 2012 output as 38,054 tonnes and said it expected a similar performance in 2013.

State monopoly Cubaniquel and Sherritt are also partners in a Canadian refinery where output from the Pedro Soto Alba plant is shipped, and after refining is marketed by yet another venture between them.

China and Europe also purchase Cuban nickel products, the country’s most important exports and one of its top foreign exchange earners after technical services and tourism.

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Stakeholder talks open on ONTC – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – March 26, 2013)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Minister of Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle delivers the government’s message on the ONTC to the media, March 25 in North Bay, while members of his special advisory committee look on.
A year and two days later after the provincial government’s controversial decision to sell off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), regional stakeholders were finally given a chance to provide input.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle met with a new ONTC advisory committee of political, industry and First Nations representatives in North Bay, March 25.

“All the members have provided ideas to help the government’s decision on the ONTC divestment and are helping us move to a more sustainable telecommunications and transportation system for the North,” he said. “This is clearly a very important issue here for us, and I deeply value the opinions, viewpoints and the experience of all the committee members.”

On March 23, 2012, Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci, who was then minister of Northern Development and Mines, announced the surprise divestment of the North Bay-headquartered Crown agency from his home riding in Sudbury. It caused an uproar from unionized workers and community leaders across northeastern Ontario.

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