January 8, 2014 – Republic of Mining

Rio Tinto’s Michigan Nickel Mine Introduces Citizen Water Quality Testing Program – by Codi Kozacek (Circle of Blue – January 8, 2014)

January 9, 2014January 8, 2014

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/

Circle of Blue, founded in 2002 and based in Traverse City, Michigan, is a non-profit affiliate of the Pacific Institute, and the premier news organization in the world covering freshwater issues

Scheduled to begin production of nickel and copper next year, the Eagle Mine is the first new hard rock mine to open in northern Michigan’s Copper Country in decades. It’s so new that Chevy pickups need Kevlar tires to prevent blowouts on the sharp edges of stones not yet worn by mine traffic.

Puncture-proof tires, though, are hardly the only distinctions that separate the Eagle Mine from others in Michigan or across the United States. Two years ago, Rio Tinto, the mine’s developer, made an unusual proposition to the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Trust, a local environmental organization.

Upended by a decade of civic protest over opening the Eagle Mine in the ecologically sensitive Yellow Dog Plains, the London-based mining company, which operates all over the world, wanted to try something very different in Michigan’s wild and water-rich Upper Peninsula. It offered to fund the Watershed Partnership to monitor environmental parameters, like water and air quality.

Yesterday’s Top Story – U.S. mining death toll surges with metal/nonmetals losses–MSHA – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Machinery and powered haulage equipment were the most common causes of accidents for both coal and metal/nonmetal operations in 2013, MSHA reported.

RENO (MINEWEB.COM) – Preliminary data released by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration said 42 miners died in work related accidents at U.S. mines last year, up from 36 mining fatalities in 2012.

While mining deaths were at a record low rate for the first nine months of last year, six coal miners and nine metal/nonmetal miners died in mining accidents during the fourth-quarter 2013, a significant increase from the same period of 2012 when four coal miners and two metal/nonmetal miners died.

In 2013 there were 20 coal mining and 22 metal/nonmetal mining fatalities, compared with 20 coal mining deaths and 16 metal/nonmetal mining deals in 2012. Four mining deaths in 2013 involved contractors (two each in coal and metal/nonmetal), the lowest number of contractors deaths since MSHA began maintaining contractor data in 1983.

For metal/nonmetal mining, 17 deaths occurred at surface operations, while five deaths occurred underground in 2013. Fourteen coal mining deaths occurred underground and six were reported at surface operations during the same time period, said MSHA.

First Nations resist fuel and mining developments to protect us all – by Andrea Palframan (First Perspective – January 8, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.firstperspective.ca/

Andrea Palframan is a journalist who lives on SaltSpring Island, BC.

Last June, I spent three days in a Vancouver courtroom watching the Hupacasath First Nation argue their case against the federal government. The Hupacasath came robed, just like the judges and the lawyers. They weren’t wigged-out like the Department of Justice benchmen. They wore cedar woven headbands and hummingbird embroidered regalia (and underneath, comfortable blue jeans).

The Hupacasath were challenging Canada over the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (CC-FIPPA) on the basis that the treaty, with its implications on their sovereignty, should have triggered the duty to consult them under Section 35 of the constitution. Under CC-FIPPA, Canada would be locked into a 31-year deal that would allow Chinese corporations unprecedented access to Canadian resources. The agreement allows Chinese companies to sue Canada for passing laws — environmental, labour, health or safety — which impede their profit-making ability.

As in Chapter 11 of NAFTA, such lawsuits would be settled by international tribunals of unelected, usually corporate, lawyers. The Hupacasath are not only safeguarding their own future, they’re standing up to the naked emperors in Ottawa who feel free to toss the keys to Canada over to trans-national corporate interests.

Zinc or Swim: Do Base Metals Have a Future? – by Peter Byrne (The Mining Report – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.streetwisereports.com/

Joseph Gallucci of Dundee Capital Markets sees a rosy future for zinc investors. As the large zinc mines shut down, the juniors are stepping forward to meet growing demand for the industrial staple. In this interview with The Mining Report, Gallucci delivers smart tips for base metals investors on where to find opportunity when zinc prices start to climb.

The Mining Report: How are the fundamental challenges facing the global base metals markets likely to play out in 2014?

Joseph Gallucci: There are several long-term issues that impacted copper and the other base metal spaces in 2013, and those long-term issues will persist for the foreseeable future. Allow me to explain the basics via a few examples:

Indonesia recently stopped the export of intermediary products, such as pig iron nickel. The country’s leadership is increasingly practicing resource nationalism by restricting mining firms to in-house processing and to shipping only finished products. It is also unsettling that Intrepid Mines Ltd. (IAU:TSX; IAU:ASX) lost control of its project this year to an Indonesian partner!

In terms of supply chain disruptions in 2013, Grasberg and Bingham Canyon were two of the biggest issues, but we are still well below the annual average of a 5% supply disruption.

Gold Mining Deals Seen Rebounding on Price Discount – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Investment bankers see gold-mining deals rebounding this year from a near-decade low as producers target assets at fire-sale prices after the metal plunged.

Gold-mining companies are close to their cheapest relative to book value in at least two decades, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile producers will be enticed to replace some of the output lost when they sold or curtailed less-profitable mines, said Barclays Plc’s Paul Knight.

“Majors who have done portfolio optimization will look at some of the juniors and say, ‘Here’s a chance for us to acquire a potentially better asset than we’ve sold and to mitigate the loss of production,’” Knight, a Barclays vice chairman and co-head of global metals and mining, said Jan. 6 by telephone. There were $10.1 billion of deals involving gold producers last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s 4.4 percent less than in 2012 and the smallest since 2004.

While gold deals declined, there were signs of a resurgence of activity in December as the value of transactions reached the highest monthly level since February.

UPDATE 3-Indonesia’s mining ministry looks to ease mineral export ban – by Wilda Asmarini and Fergus Jensen (Reuters U.S. – January 8, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

Jan 8 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s mining ministry sought to ease a controversial mineral export ban before its Sunday deadline, but still looked set to prohibit more than $2 billion worth of annual nickel ore and bauxite shipments.

Indonesian government officials are scrambling to pass regulations to ease a ban on unprocessed mineral ore exports from Jan. 12.

The ban aims to boost Indonesia’s long-term return from its mineral wealth, but officials fear a short-term cut in foreign revenue could widen the current account deficit, which has undermined investor confidence and battered the rupiah.

“The (mining) ministry proposed that miners will be given flexibility to export concentrate or processed minerals until 2017,” Sukhyar, director general of coal and minerals at the ministry, told reporters.

“After 2017, they will only be allowed to export metal or refined mineral,” he said. The mineral ban is one of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s biggest economic policy moves in his nearly 10 years in office.

China approves massive new coal capacity despite pollution fears – by David Stanway (Reuters U.S. – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING, Jan 8 (Reuters) – China approved the construction of more than 100 million tonnes of new coal production capacity in 2013 – six times more than a year earlier and equal to 10 percent of U.S. annual usage – flying in the face of plans to tackle choking air pollution.

The scale of the increase, which only includes major mines, reflects Beijing’s aim to put 860 million tonnes of new coal production capacity into operation over the five years to 2015, more than the entire annual output of India.

While efforts to curb pollution mean coal’s share of the country’s energy mix is set to dip, the total amount of the cheap and plentiful fuel burned will still rise.

According to data compiled by Reuters, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top planning authority, approved the construction of 15 new large-scale coal mines with 101.3 million tonnes of annual capacity in 2013.

“Given that China’s total energy consumption is still growing along with the economy, then coal production will continue to grow,” said Helen Lau, senior commodities analyst with UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong.

VIDEO: 74-year-old labor film about lead, zinc mining joins National Film Registry – by Wally Kennedy and Andy Ostmeyer (Joplin Globe – January 7, 2014)

April 5, 2015January 8, 2014

http://www.joplinglobe.com/ [Missouri, U.S.A.]

CARTHAGE, Mo. — A 74-year-old labor film that kicked open a hornet’s nest in the Tri-State Mining District when it was released in 1940 is among 25 films chosen recently for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

“Men and Dust” was produced and directed by Lee Dick, a pioneer in documentary filmmaking, and was written and shot by her husband, Sheldon Dick. The couple examined conditions in the lead and zinc mines, and silicosis among miners and their family members. Much of the film was shot at Picher, Okla.

The Library of Congress adds 25 films to the National Film Registry every year. They are chosen for their “great cultural, historic or aesthetic significance.” Films added in 2013, along with “Men and Dust,” include “Judgment at Nuremberg,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “Pulp Fiction” and “The Quiet Man.”

Push to lift ban on U.S. crude exports could benefit Canada – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – January 8, 2014)

January 8, 2014

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.

OTTAWA — There’s growing pressure in the United States for President Barack Obama to end the country’s ban on crude oil exports, as unconventional production booms and reliance on imports shrinks.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski – the leading Republican on the Senate’s energy committee – added her voice Tuesday to calls from the oil industry and its supporters to open the American industry to full free trade, with proponents arguing that growing exports would boost job growth and improve the country’s balance of trade.

“The rules of engagement on energy trade were written long ago for a now bygone world in which scarcity, not abundance, was the prevailing mindset,” Ms. Murkowski, who hails from Alaska, said in a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington Tuesday. She said U.S. crude exports would put downward pressure on international prices, which tend to drive prices at the gas pump.

Ending the ban would be a boon to Canadian producers because it would alleviate a growing glut of light oil in the U.S. mid-continent that has driven down benchmark North American prices in relation to international prices.

SA platinum market to remain uncertain during 2014 – by Leandi Kolver (MiningWeekly.com – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The South African platinum market is expected to remain unpredictable during 2014, but might not be as volatile as it was in 2013, Deloitte associate director Dr Jacek Guzek said on Tuesday.

He stated that the major issues, which kept the industry in crisis over the past two years, such as the unchanged platinum group metals (PGMs) basket price and the ever-increasing wage bill, still persisted.

“South African production in 2014 is either going to stagnate or decrease further. The platinum industry is in crisis for a second year going and there is no end in sight,” Guzek told Mining Weekly Online.

He explained that the industry crisis impacted negatively on production as it led to the systemic holding back of expansion capital by junior and major PGM producers, while, simultaneously, existing mines were becoming older, deeper and more difficult to mine.

Guzek added that the country would also still be faced with labour issues during the course of the year.

Better linking Canada’s grid – by Nicholas Fedorkiw (Prince George Citizen – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/section/princegeorge

One theme I have written about before is the need for more interprovincial trade in electricity. The benefits of free trade in general are embraced by most these days. However, for a variety of reasons, electricity is the one sector of the economy that has least benefited from free trade, even within Canada.

Hopefully that’s about to change. There is a movement afoot in central Canada to use Manitoba’s clean hydro power to supply industrial mining and oil and gas development in northern Ontario, Saskatchewan, and even Alberta. There are some definite lessons for B.C. here, as well as the whole country.

Like B.C., Manitoba is powered by large scale hydroelectric power. Also, like B.C., they are surrounded by areas that need a lot of electricity to fuel their economy. Ontario’s “Ring of Fire”; an area of proposed mining development is probably most significant. Not only do mines consume a lot of electricity, but the mines of northern Ontario are actually closer to the power generation centres of Manitoba than of Ontario’s which are focused in southern Ontario.

Looking west, the oil and gas growth in Alberta and Saskatchewan is another target market for Manitoba’s power. In this case, its the carbon free nature of Manitoba’s power that has value in the otherwise carbon intensive economies of these western provinces.

Ontario Ring Of Fire: Social Service Costs Could Balloon, Health Canada Says – by Steve Rennie (Canadian Press/Huffington Post – January 3, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/staking-claim

OTTAWA – The federal government may struggle to keep up with a growing need for mental-health and other social services in First Nations communities located within a massive mineral find in northern Ontario, according to a newly released document.

Senior officials at Health Canada were cautioned last May that their existing social programs to help aboriginal communities in the Ring of Fire may not be sufficient to meet increased demand.

“Though supports are available, it is not clear whether current programming will be sufficient to meet emerging needs,” says a memo to the deputy and associate deputy ministers.

The Neskantaga First Nation declared a state of emergency last April over a spate of suicides — and the officials were warned Ottawa could face heightened pressure to provide similar support services to other communities as the area undergoes further development.

“Other communities located adjacent to the Ring of Fire development may have similar complex needs, and the increased activity in this region may place additional pressure upon the federal government for further action,” the document says.

The Future of Coal: Appalachia’s Downturn Sends Miners West – by Kris Maher (Wall Street Journal – January 6, 2014)

January 8, 2014

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

Mr. Madon Leaves Eastern Kentucky; ‘It’s Getting Worse Every Day’

A downturn in coal mining threatens to end a century-old way of life in central Appalachia. Out-of-work miners are leaving Kentucky or heading to the state’s western coal region, which is part of a separate basin that stretches into Illinois and Indiana.

The thicker seams of high-sulfur coal there now can be mined less expensively after lying untouched for decades, and mines are hiring. Parts of eastern Kentucky have been in decline for years. Harlan County has about 28,000 residents today, down from 45,000 in the 1980s.

Patriot Coal Corp., of St. Louis, has held three job fairs in eastern Kentucky in the past several months in Pikeville, Hazard and Harlan, to find skilled miners. The company last month exited bankruptcy protection, which it entered in 2012, and its Highland mine in Henderson, Ky., about 120 miles west of Louisville has been hiring.

“It’d be real hard to get on anywhere now unless you go out west to work,” says Brandon Madon. The 30-year-old last month moved from Harlan to Henderson, Ky., near Indiana, for a job with Patriot.

Glencore, Vale slow to offer Sudbury mining plan details (CBC News Sudbury – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

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

Rumours continue to swirl about what the future looks like for Vale and Glencore in Sudbury. The two mining giants still aren’t talking publicly about plans to combine some operations.

Comments just before Christmas from Vale’s CEO indicated the two rivals are now in serious discussions about how to work more closely in Sudbury.

But one industry expert says details will be slow in coming. “I think we are going to see very little information come out that is public that we can actually evaluate,” said Bruce Jago, head of the Goodman School of Mines at Laurentian University.

“They are going to keep this really close to their chest.” Jago said he doesn’t think any new found co-operation between Vale and Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations will result in any major job losses.

How Peru Could Survive The End Of The Commodities Supercycle – by David Gacs (Business Insider – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.businessinsider.com/

With a mere 30 million people living within its borders, Peru is only slightly larger than the state of Texas. But as the world’s third-largest producer of both copper and zinc and its sixth-largest source of gold, the country enjoyed an outsized benefit from a cresting wave in global commodities markets over the last decade. Between 2002 and 2012, as the price of most commodities soared, Peru’s average annual GDP growth rate was 6.4 percent. As recently as 2010, the Latin American country’s GDP expanded by 8.8 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

But the commodities “supercycle” ended in 2013 and seems set to retreat further in the rear-view mirror. The average price of gold in 2012 was $1,699 an ounce, but Credit Suisse commodities analysts say the 2013 year-end average was some 16 percent lower at $1,421 per ounce. Copper prices have fallen sharply too, from $7,971 a ton on average in 2012 to $7,349 this year – a 7.8 percent drop. It’s been quite the precipitous decline: Copper was selling for more than $9,000 a ton in 2010. Mining investment in another major commodities exporter, Australia, has already peaked, prompting a great deal of discussion about how to rebalance the economy.

But though Peru, too, needs to think about diversifying its economy, the situation is different – not least because there is still plenty of mining investment in the pipeline. Credit Suisse analysts and other observers believe resource-rich Peru’s strong domestic economy and healthy public finances should ensure a relatively soft landing.