January 7, 2014 – Republic of Mining

The Future of Coal: Despite Gas Boom, Coal Isn’t Dead – by John W. Miller and Rebecca Smith (Wall Street Journal – January 7, 2014)

January 7, 2014

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

Production Is Booming in Western U.S. to Feed Power Plants at Home and Abroad

Last year was a tough one for the coal industry. James River Coal Co. JRCC +0.71% laid off a quarter of its workers.

Consol Energy Inc., CNX -2.03% which has mined coal since the Civil War, sold five Appalachian mines, representing nearly half its coal output. And more than a half-dozen U.S. coal-mining companies went under, beset by new environmental rules and competition from low-cost natural gas.

But coal isn’t going away. Coal remains the biggest source of fuel for generating electricity in the U.S. and coal exports are growing fast. Even as coal production plunges in the green hills of Appalachia, it is booming in the open-pit mines of Wyoming and under the plains of Illinois and Indiana.

Overall, U.S. coal production is projected to remain relatively constant over the next three decades, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Analysis – Social media empowers anti-mining activists – by Allison Martell and Ioana Patran (Reuters U.K. – January 7, 2014)

January 7, 2014January 7, 2014

http://uk.reuters.com/

TORONTO/BUCHAREST – (Reuters) – Facebook and other social networks are making it easier for anti-mining activists to derail projects, helping them get their message out and organize more quickly against an industry that is already struggling with high costs and volatile prices.

From Romania to Peru to Canada, protest movements have disrupted projects in recent years, in part because activists have harnessed the power of social media and mobile technology, parties on both sides of the disputes say.

Civil unrest can spell disaster for mining projects at any stage, even after billions have been invested. That is not new. What has changed is activists’ ability to mobilize, a trend that echoes political upheavals that social media have helped fuel across the Middle East and North Africa.

The saga of Rosia Montana, the Romanian region where Canada’s Gabriel Resources Ltd wants to build Europe’s biggest open-pit gold mine, offers a clear illustration of how social media has shifted the balance of power. Gabriel’s push to get the project approved suffered a series of setbacks in the autumn after activists used Facebook to organize demonstrations across the country.

UPDATE 2-Indonesia mineral export ban uncertainty starts to bite – by Fergus Jensen and Wilda Asmarini (Reuters U.S. – January 7, 2014)

January 7, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

Jan 7 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s planned mineral export ban – a policy designed to force miners to process their ores domestically – is sending shudders through the economy, with a Singapore-owned nickel miner suspending operations ahead of the Jan. 12 ban.

Indonesia is the world’s top exporter of nickel ore, thermal coal and refined tin, but also has significant exports of iron ore and bauxite, both of which are likely to be stopped after Sunday.

An increase in shipments of processed minerals would bolster the country’s foreign revenue and help narrow a current account deficit, which has undermined investor confidence and battered the rupiah.

However, the move has drawn protests from small mining companies, which say they can’t afford to build smelters, as well as from international majors, including U.S. giants Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Newmont Mining Corp .

The plan has also raised fears that export earnings could be slashed in the short term as miners scramble to meet the new regulation. Mining contributes about 12 percent of gross domestic product to Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Kirkland Lake shares fall as miner launches sale process amid challenging gold market – by Peter Koven (National Post – January 7, 2014)

January 7, 2014

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

TORONTO – With low gold prices and a tight balance sheet putting strain on the company, Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. has put out the “For Sale” sign and said it will consider takeover bids and other transactions as part of a strategic review.

But there is no guarantee that the Toronto-based miner will find a friendly offer in such a challenging gold market. And that means the company needs to turn around its operations and generate positive cash flow.

“There’s definitely challenges here, and if they were easy [to fix], somebody would have solved them long ago,” chief executive George Ogilvie said Monday in an interview.

Like other small gold producers operating in Ontario, Kirkland Lake is facing cash flow problems at gold prices below US$1,250 an ounce. While the company’s reported cash costs are roughly US$1,100 an ounce, it has also poured large amounts of sustaining capital back into its Macassa mine, meaning it is bleeding cash. It is also burdened with $120-million of debt.

[Ontario] Nuclear waste decisions loom – by John Spears (Toronto Star – January 7, 2014)

January 7, 2014

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Questions about two proposed nuclear waste sites continue to provoke controversy.

More than half a century after miners started gouging uranium out of the Canadian Shield at Elliot Lake, William Elliott wants it back. He’s leading the campaign by the town and surrounding communities to become the place where the used fuel from Canada’s nuclear reactors is stored forever.

But the long-running saga of finding a spot for Canada’s nuclear waste still has years more to run as those who want the waste — and those who don’t — struggle over what to do with it.

And the question gets even more vexed as a decision nears on a second radioactive waste site for less potent — but still hazardous — nuclear waste that Ontario Power Generation wants to develop at its Bruce nuclear site near Kincardine, Ont.

Decisions about nuclear waste, which have simmered for decades, are starting to heat up, as two processes move forward.

[Arizona Copper Mining] America’s Future Depends on Decisions We Make Today – by David F. Briggs (Tucons Citizen – January 05, 2014)

January 7, 2014

http://tucsoncitizen.com/

David F. Briggs is a resident of Pima county and a geologist, who has intermittently worked as a consultant on the Rosemont Copper project since 2006.

Opponents claim the Rosemont copper project should not be allowed to be developed because most of the copper concentrates produced by this project will be exported for treatment by foreign smelters and refineries. The false premise of their argument is; “if the copper produced from Rosemont is not consumed here, this project will not benefit Americans.”

How many of you know that most of the copper-bearing materials collected at domestic recycling centers are also shipped to foreign facilities for treatment because the United States no longer has the capacity to treat these materials here? During 2011, recyclable materials containing 1,367,000 short tons of copper were exported to foreign countries for treatment. Most of this recyclable material (75.8%) was exported to China.

Should we also stop recycling copper because most of it is also shipped abroad for treatment? Isn’t recycling copper good for the environment?

[Montana and North Dakota] As Oil Floods Plains Towns, Crime Pours In – by Jack Healy (New York Times – November 30, 2013)

January 7, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

SIDNEY, Mont. — One cold morning last year, a math teacher jogging through her hometown in eastern Montana was abducted, strangled and buried in a shallow grave. Charged in her death were two drifters from Colorado, drawn to the region by the allure of easy money in the oil fields.

One hundred fifty miles away, in a bustling oil town in North Dakota, a 30-year-old man disappeared one afternoon from the street where he had been putting in water and sewer pipes, leaving behind a lunchbox with his paycheck inside and a family grasping for answers. After months of searching, his mother said she now believes her son is gone, buried somewhere on the high plain.

Stories like these, once rare, have become as common as drilling rigs in rural towns at the heart of one of the nation’s richest oil booms. Crime has soared as thousands of workers and rivers of cash have flowed into towns, straining police departments and shattering residents’ sense of safety.

“It just feels like the modern-day Wild West,” said Sgt. Kylan Klauzer, an investigator in Dickinson, in western North Dakota. The Dickinson police handled 41 violent crimes last year, up from seven only five years ago.

NEWS RELEASE: OMA’s SYTYKM video competition adapted in South Australia

April 5, 2015January 7, 2014

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.

If indeed “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” then the Ontario Mining Association has a big fan in an antipodean counterpart. The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy (SACOME) has recently launched “Dirt TV – what mining means to me.” This student video competition for seven to 12 year olds is modeled along the lines of the OMA’s So You Think You Know Mining high school video competition.

Jason Kuchel, Chief Executive of SACOMBE says he was so impressed by the SYTYKM competition when he was in Toronto at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in 2012, that he was motivated to use the initiative as a model for a similar competition in South Australia.

“South Australia also has a strong mining and oil and gas industry,” said Mr. Kuchel. “The competition works on so many levels, including building community awareness of the benefits of the sector, increasing understanding of career opportunities among high school children and addressing the science and arts curriculums with a practical, real-world example that is also a lot of fun.”

Intel says its processors are now free of minerals from mines held by armed groups in Congo – by Peter Svensson (The Republic – January 07, 2014)

January 7, 2014

http://www.therepublic.com/ [Columbus, Indiana]

LAS VEGAS — Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of computer processors, says its processors are now free of minerals from mines held by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It’s the first major U.S. technology company to make such a claim about its products. It’s the fruit of four years of work by the company to determine the sources of four crucial metals widely used in electronics manufacturing: tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold.

Eastern Congo is rich in minerals, and economic activity other than mining has been disrupted by nearly two decades of fighting between the government, rogue soldiers and different ethnic groups. There’s been widespread concern that foreign purchases of minerals from mines held by armed groups are fueling the conflict, though many experts say the minerals are not the root cause of the fighting.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich made the announcement Monday in a keynote speech ahead of the opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Amnesty International News Release: USA: Reject legal threat to lifesaving Conflict Minerals Rule

January 7, 2014

http://www.amnesty.org/en

January 6, 2014 – US corporate interests must not be allowed to invalidate the Conflict Minerals Rule, which requires companies to investigate and disclose whether their products contain certain minerals that help fund armed groups in mineral-rich countries in Africa, said Amnesty International today.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear a challenge by three industry groups against the rule on Tuesday. Amnesty International joined the lawsuit to support the rule.

“This legal challenge to the Conflict Minerals Rule is nothing but a crass effort by industry groups to put profits ahead of principles,” said Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.

“The rule was required by Congress to save lives and stop human rights abuses by curbing the flow of funding to armed groups operating with impunity in the areas these minerals are mined – in Democratic Republic of the Congo and other central African countries.” The Conflict Minerals Rule was required by the US Congress in 2010 as part of a raft of measures to reform business practices after the 2008 economic downturn.

Canada looking to break into ‘critical’ rare earth elements mining – by Jason Fekete (Calgary Herald –January 6, 2014)

January 7, 2014

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

OTTAWA — Canada is quietly staking its claim to being a global leader in a growing multibillion-dollar industry largely unknown to most Canadians but deemed by the government as “critical” to the country’s economy.

Canadian extractive companies, in collaboration with the federal government and other groups, have launched more than 200 exploration projects targeting what are called rare earth elements (REE).

These potentially lucrative rare earths — which include the 15 lanthanide metals on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium — are increasingly sought after by several major industries for manufacturing their products.

The rare earth elements are split into “light” or “heavy” depending on their atomic number. Rare earths, especially the “heavy” ones, are considered to be critical for manufacturing new technology, clean energy, aerospace, automotive, defence and many other industrial products because of their luminous, magnetic, catalytic and other characteristics.