Miners faced environmental and political challenges around the world in 2013 – by Craig Wong (Canadian Press – December 17, 2013)

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

OTTAWA – After years of riding surging metal prices and spending freely on takeover deals and massive new projects, Canadian miners were forced to tighten their belts in 2013 as the cycle turned against them.

The industry took billions in write downs as companies re-evaluated projects that they believed were worth far more just a couple of years ago and slashed spending as falling commodity prices squeezed margins.

But it wasn’t just financial problems for the miners, as political and environmental issues made headlines around the world for several Canadian mining companies.

The largest company to face problems was Barrick Gold, which suspended nearly all of the work at its massive Pascua-Lama project high in the Andes mountain range.

The halt followed massive cost overruns and protests from an indigenous community living below the project who tried to have Barrick’s licence revoked and force a new environmental impact study.

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Zimbabwe: Mugabe Uses Zanu-PF Conference to Rage and Threaten [miners] – by Alex Bell (All Africa.com – December 16, 2013)

http://allafrica.com/

ZANU PF’s ageing leader used the party’s conference this weekend to rage against the West, his old partners in government, the country’s economic position, the mining sector and more.

The 89 year old also moved to threaten some players in the country’s platinum and gold sectors, repeating calls to ban raw mineral exports. “We should not continue to send our minerals out in their raw form,” Mugabe told delegates at the party’s annual conference in Chinoyi.

He singled out Zimplats, a subsidiary of platinum-mining multinational Implats, for “externalising” raw platinum ore. “Zimplats has been exporting platinum but we have very little by way of earnings. We don’t know where the money is going. We must have our money back.”

Mugabe also said the government was considering slashing the number of diamond miners operating in the country. “We should be looking at the possibility of rationalising the mining of diamonds,” he said. “We have six companies mining diamonds, but of these six only three are really worth talking about. We would also want greater transparency.”

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Chilean communities struggle after halts at Pascua Lama, other mines – by Marta Lillo (Globe and Mail – December 17, 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.

Real estate broker Patricia Cortés began a small corporate events business in the northern Chilean town of Vallenar four years ago, with her eye on a gold mine.

Her hopes for success were pinned on the vast Pascua Lama gold-copper project that had begun taking shape 150 kilometres away in a glacier-covered area of the Andes on the border with Argentina.

Vallenar is the closest commercial centre to Pascua Lama, and the town was set to reap rich benefits from the $8.5-billion (U.S.) project. Once it gets going, Pascua Lama, with 18 million ounces of proved and probable gold reserves, is expected to produce up to 850,000 ounces in its first five years.

But prospects for the Cortés’s business look much bleaker now that Barrick Gold Corp. has shelved construction of the mine, citing lower metal prices and a series of regulatory and legal roadblocks imposed by the Chilean government.

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Ottawa must reject Prosperity Mine proposal – by Joe Alphonse (Victoria Times Colonist – December 17, 2013)

http://www.timescolonist.com/

Chief Joe Alphonse is tribal chairman of the Tsilhqot’in Nation.

In 2010, Bill Bennett was B.C.’s mines minister and was ignoring all information regarding Taseko Mines Ltd.’s Prosperity Mine proposal for Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) — except for the claims made by the company itself.

The area that TML wanted to turn into one of the world’s biggest open-pit, low-grade gold and copper mines was featured in B.C.’s own tourism pamphlets, yet Bennett dismissed it as a “muddy little pothole of a lake.”

He and the company kept insisting the mine would be approved by Ottawa, and TML’s investors sent the company’s share price soaring to over $7 based on these assurances.

Even the pro-mining federal government of the day found the federal panel report so “scathing” in terms of environmental impacts and infringements on aboriginal rights that it had no choice but to reject it.

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Global coal demand slows, peak demand not yet in sight – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – December 16, 2013)

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Tougher Chinese policies aimed at reducing the country’s dependency on coal would help restrain global coal demand growth over the next five years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) found in its yearly ‘Medium-Term Coal Market Report’ released in Paris on Monday.

Despite the slightly slower pace of growth, coal would meet more of the increase in global primary energy than oil or gas – continuing a trend that has been in place for more than a decade.

“Like it or not, coal is here to stay for a long time to come. Coal is abundant and geopolitically secure, and coal-fired plants are easily integrated into existing power systems. With advantages like these, it is easy to see why coal demand continues to grow.

“But it is equally important to emphasise that coal in its current form is simply unsustainable,” IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven said at the launch of the report.

The IEA found that coal was the fastest growing fossil fuel in absolute and relative terms in 2012.

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BC announces coal rights deferral deal in Sacred Headwaters area – by Dirk Meissner (Vancouver Sun – December 16, 2013)

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

VICTORIA – A remote area of northwest British Columbia considered sacred by aboriginals and resource rich by mining companies has received a reprieve from potential coal-mining activities with a government order that puts new coal tenures on hold for one year.

The Tahltan Nation call the area Klappan, and it has been the site of protests by aboriginal elders who say mining will threaten the spiritual, cultural and wilderness values of the region, which includes the confluence of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers.

Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett said Monday the Klappan Coal Licence Deferral Area Order is a temporary measure that will allow the government, the Tahltan and the mining industry time to negotiate a management agreement for the area.

The deferral order impacts 62 coal licence applications, but existing area coal tenures and authorizations, including the Fortune Minerals’ Arctos project, are not impacted, he said.

Fortune Minerals, of London, Ont., announced last fall that it was pausing exploratory work for an open-pit coal mine in the Klappan, following an earlier decision by Shell Canada to give up its rights to explore and drill for coal-bed methane gas.

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Taconite future looking bright in 2014, 2015 – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – December 17, 2013)

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Minnesota’s taconite iron ore producers will make less product in 2013 than they did in 2012, but the downturn looks to be brief.

It appears 2013 will end up with about 38.9 million tons produced and shipped from the Iron Range, according to state estimates. That’s down about 2 percent from 39.7 million tons produced in 2012, said Bob Wagstrom, who tracks taconite production for the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

Most of the difference was spurred by a million-ton drop in production at Cliffs Natural Resources’ Northshore Mining, which idled two production lines for most of 2013 after losing a customer. Some of that loss was buffered by an increase at U.S. Steel’s Minntac plant in Mountain Iron, Wagstrom said, and by continued increasing production by Magnetation, which has several small plants that recover useable ore from old mine waste sites.

“With the exception of Northshore, everybody was right at last year or even a little up for this year,” Wagstrom said. Northshore officials already have announced that they will restart their idled lines in 2014, boosting production. And Wagstrom said that with continued incremental increases by Magnetation and Mesabi Nugget — the state’s first iron nugget plant near Hoyt Lakes — taxable production could total about 40 million tons in 2014, a level not seen since 2000.

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Op-Ed: Profitable PotashCorp underpays province – by Scott Doherty (Regina Leader-Post – December 17, 2013)

http://www.leaderpost.com/index.html

Scott Doherty is western director of the union Unifor, which represents some workers at PotashCorp.

For communities relying on the resource sector, there can be few mornings more devastating than the one earlier this month when workers at the Lanigan potash mine arrived at work, only to be told they were now unemployed and to go right back home. They had been laid off.

What a hard drive home that was for many back on the highway, heading out across central Saskatchewan, back to one of the many rural communities that rely on potash for their livelihood. They had plenty of time to let the news sink in … only to have to repeat it to their families when they got home.

For some 212 workers at the PotashCorp mine in Lanigan, that was how the morning of Dec. 3 played out when the company announced it would lay off 440 workers across the province and more elsewhere.

Workers at the mine were expecting something to come as potash prices dropped. Years of strong prices had come to an end with the Russians pulling out of an international potash marketing group.

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Sudbury firm eyes role in lunar mining mission – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – December 17, 2013)

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

INNOVATION: Deltion partners with NASA contractor

A city once described as a moonscape now boasts expertise to mine the real lunar surface. Sudbury’s Deltion Innovations Ltd., formerly affiliated with the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology, has been developing space mining systems for over a dozen years and is now a step closer to putting its high-tech drilling and excavating equipment into orbit.

Last week, the company announced a new partnership with Neptec Design Group Ltd. of Kanata to collaborate on projects involving space flight systems.

The two companies have worked together in the past, but now have what Deltion CEO Dale Boucher describes as a “strategic alliance.”

The Kanata enterprise has been a prime contractor for Canadian Space Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration projects, providing flight machine vision systems and supporting shuttle missions. “They built a laser system to inspect the shuttle before coming down,” notes Boucher.

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Minnesota’s grandfather of copper mining Lehmann dies at 84 – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – December 17, 2013)

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Ernie Lehmann, sometimes called the grandfather of copper mining in Minnesota and a tireless promoter of the region’s vast mineral wealth, has died. Jim Kiehne, a business associate, said Lehmann died peacefully in his home Friday from congestive heart failure. He was 84.

Lehmann has been prospecting for, researching and promoting Northeastern Minnesota’s mineral wealth for more than a half-century, especially focusing on the Duluth Complex and its deposits of copper, nickel, gold, platinum and other valuable metals.

“For those of you in the industry who knew his incredible drive and passion for his work, you will not be surprised to know that he was following the recent developments in northern MN and active in helping with business decisions up until the last few days of his life,” said Kate Lehmann, Ernie’s daughter and business partner, in a statement. “This is a great loss to the industry as well as our family. We will send you information about a memorial service after plans are finalized. We expect to wait until after the holidays.”

Lehmann was born in Germany, but came to the U.S. with his parents at the outset of World War II. He earned a geology degree from Williams College and has worked out of an office in Minneapolis since 1958.

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Only legislation will stop minerals being traded at the expense of human rights – by Zobel Behalal (The Guardian – December 16, 2013)

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Conflict minerals found in cars, electronics and other products will only be eradicated with new laws and business buy-in

One of the key drivers underpinning some of the world’s worst ongoing violent conflicts over the past few years is the extraction and trade of natural resources.

Recently in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Séléka rebels, who have carried out acts of violence against their people, have taken advantage of the diamonds trade to consolidate their power. This has led to the exclusion of the CAR from the Kimberley process aimed at tackling conflict diamonds.

Meanwhile in the Democratic Republic of Congo the extraction of cassiterite, gold, tungsten and coltan has financed warring factions for the past two decades, in a conflict that has already resulted in millions of victims.

But Africa does not have a monopoly on this kind of problem. In Burma the mining industry was militarised for several decades, with the national army controlling mining sites, business operations and exportation. While in Colombia tantalum, wolframite and gold mines as well as their respective business concerns are controlled and taxed by armed groups.

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Mexico emerging as new rival to Canada’s oil sands – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – December 17, 2013)

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

The Canadian oil sands sector is set to revive its rivalry with resurgent Mexican heavy crude production in the next few years as the southern country pushes through reforms and starts attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment in its energy sector.

“There is a potential for headwinds for Canadian heavy oil in the Gulf Coast, if Mexico gets its groove back, and is able to stabilize and then increase exports of Mayan crude,” said Judith Dwarkin, director, energy research at ITG Investments.

Mexico’s state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) already exports its benchmark heavy oil crude to Gulf Coast refineries but its influence has waned as domestic production declined over the past few years. During this time, Canadian heavy oil has increased its market share on the Gulf Coast.

President Enrique Pena Nieto, who swept to power last December partly on a pledge to dismantle PEMEX’s 75-year monopoly, has cut through decades of resistance towards foreign participation in the country’s energy sector.

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Canada: Bill 70, An Act To Amend The Mining Act: Québec Amends Its Mining Act – by Pascal De Guise and Misha Benjamin (Mondaq.com – December 16, 2013)

http://www.mondaq.com/

Bill 70, An Act to amend the Mining Act (Québec), passed on December 10, 2013. Most of its provisions came into effect immediately upon Royal Assent. While it was rushed through the legislative process, it is not a major overhaul of the current mining regime. Under Québec’s previous Mining Act, a mining company could make a claim, and convert it into a mining lease upon proof of exploitable reserves. This Bill generally adds certain requirements to the application for conversion, most of which codify existing industry best practices. The main changes are:

Before being granted a mining lease, mining companies must perform and submit feasibility studies, including a scoping and marketing study regarding the processing of ore in Québec. The Ministry of Natural Resources may, on reasonable grounds, require agreements to maximize economic spinoffs in Québec. In addition, no mining leases will generally be granted before the receipt of a certificate of authorization from Environnement Québec and the approval of a restoration and rehabilitation plan.

A committee charged with maximizing community involvement and economic spinoffs must be put in place by the lessee within 30 days of obtaining the mining lease. This committee must have at least one representative of a Native community consulted by the government as part of the project and be composed of a majority of persons independent from the lessee.

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Fine for Vale mine worker deaths goes to Sudbury budget – by CBC News Sudbury (December 16, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

A $1 million fine that Vale paid in the deaths of two miners is being absorbed into Sudbury’s city budget. All provincial offences fines go to city coffers, to help offset the city’s costs of running the provincial court.

Some called on Sudbury city council to give that money to the families of the miners or to create some kind of memorial to them. But city councillor Terry Kett recently said it’s better to honour workers who die on the job at the annual memorial day, which he attends in Sudbury every year.

“That’s more important I think than any naming of a park, etc. I think it’s important that we remember that and we keep that in our hearts and minds,” he said. Kett said $1 million from Vale will help the city balance its books, especially since the provincial offences collected last year were down $350,000.

The city receives the fines — including fines from parking tickets and illegal hunting charges — to help offset the cost of running the provincial offences court. Vale paid its fine after being convicted of health and safety violations leading to the fatal accident at Stobie Mine two years ago.

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New Gold signals delay at B.C. mine as low prices bite – by Peter Koven (National Post – December 14, 2013)

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

Thanks to plunging gold prices, a British Columbia project that looked like a priority for New Gold Inc. a year ago is not such a priority anymore.

The Vancouver-based miner announced late Thursday it will put its Blackwater project on the backburner and focus on building the smaller Rainy River project first. The announcement came as the company released results from a feasibility study on Blackwater.

The results were roughly in line with an economic assessment released last year. But the gold market is much weaker today than it was then, meaning the expected returns on the project are lower as well.

At a gold price of US$1,300 an ounce (above the current level of US$1,235), Blackwater has a net present value (NPV) of US$991-million, and a decent internal rate of return of 11.3%, according to the study. But if gold falls to US$1,150, the NPV sinks to just US$403-million. That is not attractive for a mine expected to cost US$1.9-billion.

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