August 6, 2014 – Republic of Mining

What you need to know about tailings ponds – by Adrian Lee (MACLEAN’S Magazine – August 6, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.macleans.ca/

Understanding the tailings ponds breach at Mount Polley near Likely, B.C., which has emptied mine waste into waterways

On Monday, an Imperial Metals tailings pond in B.C. breached its embankment, spilling contaminated water and waste material into the surrounding waterways and spurring a state of emergency in the area. It’s raised the ire of First Nations groups, who say the company ignored a report that the growth of the pond was unsustainable.

It’s angered environmental groups, furious at the suggestion that water with arsenic and mercury was released into the lakes. But what exactly are tailings ponds? Does the industry have an alternative? We talked to Scott Dunbar, the head of the University of British Columbia’s school of mining engineering, to explain the issues at play and the institutional attitudes that need to change so this doesn’t happen again.

Q: So what is a tailings pond, and how does it work?

When you take the rock out of the ground, you grind it up to particles about the size of sand and silt, then you run it through what they call a concentration plant and it separates the minerals of interest from the waste. The waste becomes tailings, and it gets mixed up with water, and it’s pumped out into this pond. The purpose of this pond, with an embankment around it, is to retain the tailings and allow them to drain as much as possible. It’s basically sand-sized particles, but there’s an awful lot of it that’s produced relative to the minerals that generate all that cash. This waste that has to be dealt with. It’s mostly silicates. If the filtering is done well, which it usually is, there would be very few metallics.

Miners talk up big asset sales – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – August 7, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business

IT’S long been said that the juiciest stories out of Diggers & Dealers come not from the procession of speakers at the conference podium, but instead from the Hannan Street bars packed full of delegates each night (and often well into the next morning).

This year was no different. If the chatter doing the rounds in the bars of the Palace and Exchange hotels is anything to go by, we should be standing by for a flow of deals in the months ahead.

While Kalgoorlie’s infamous skimpies went about their business behind the bar — this year’s collection of scantily clad barmaids were apparently flown in from the Gold Coast specially for the event — much of the talk focused on the big asset sales said to be in the works.

The sales process around BHP Billiton’s Nickel West smelter, just down the road from the action in Kalgoorlie, was a subject of significant gossip.

Despite reports Glencore had walked away from the process, there was talk the Swiss giant was in fact still in the fray albeit frustrated by BHP’s approach to the sale. Private equity group Apollo Global Management is understood to have its offer for the assets knocked back, while China’s Jinchuan is still very much in the running.

Tailings ponds for mining and oilsands waste: FAQs (CBC News – August 05, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology

What’s in them, what makes them risky and how they’re regulated

The breach of a tailings pond at the Mount Polley copper and gold mine in B.C. has released 10 billion litres of mining wastewater into local waterways in early August. Local residents have been banned from using the water from the Quesnel and Cariboo river systems.

Here are the answers to some questions you might have about tailings ponds.

What are tailings?

Tailings are the byproducts left over from mining and extracting resources, such as extracting bitumen from the oilsands or minerals such as copper or gold from ores. Tailings include:

Finely ground rock particles – ranging from sand-sized to silt-sized.
Chemicals used to extract the valuable mineral or oil.
Water.

Shanduka Urges S. African Platinum Against Mechanizing – by Antony Sguazzin and Gordon Bell (Bloomberg News – August 6, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Companies that buy operations put up for sale by Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS) after a pay strike by South African mineworkers will need to coexist with labor unions rather than mechanize the operations, said the chief executive officer of Shanduka Group, which owns stakes in platinum mines.

Anglo American Platinum, the Johannesburg-based unit of Anglo known as Amplats, said last month that it will sacrifice its status as the world’s biggest producer of the precious metal by seeking buyers for four mines and possibly stakes in two joint ventures after first-half profit fell 88 percent because of a five-month strike. The company employed almost 50,000 people at the end of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

South African mines are labor-intensive, a legacy of the apartheid system that ended in 1994. The whites-only government based its economy on using cheap black labor to mine the world’s biggest gold and platinum deposits. To end the strike, Amplats, Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. and Lonmin Plc were forced to agree to above-inflation pay increases that they said they couldn’t afford. Impala has said it may mechanize a future development to reduce its labor costs.

“Going the mechanized route is an aggressive approach,” Phuti Mahanyele, the CEO of Shanduka, said in an interview at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in Washington yesterday. “We have to find ways to work with labor.”

British firm reviews Sudbury mining project – by Staff (Sudbury Northern Life – August 06, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Study could lead to new spending on River Valley project

North West Capital Corp. has hired a British company to review its platinum group metals project east of Sudbury. In a release, Pacific North West said it the study could lead to new spending on the River Valley platinum group metals project.

British Columbia-based Pacific North West said it has hired SFA Oxford Limited to provide an independent strategic assessment of its River Valley platinum group metal project, near Sudbury.

SFA Oxford is a group of independent consulting analysts in mining, metals and commodities, with specialization in platinum group metals, including palladium – the main metal at River Valley.

Pacific North West said in a release its decision to hire SFA Oxford at this time “builds on the strong global fundamentals currently driving up the commodity price of palladium. Continuing production challenges in South Africa and rising tensions with Russia, the world’s two largest PGM (platinum group metal) producers, combined with soaring demand from the global automotive industry for auto catalysts (of which palladium is a key component) have all renewed interest in PGM projects in safe, secure mining jurisdictions like Canada.”

River Valley is located within 100 kilometres of Sudbury and is readily accessible via paved and gravel roads with settlements, power and rail all nearby.

AUDIO: Ring of Fire ‘soap opera’ continues with recent court ruling (CBC News – August 05, 2014)

August 6, 2014

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

A mining industry observer says a recent court ruling will do nothing to spur development in the Ring of Fire. A divisional court ruled last week that Cliffs Natural Resources may apply to the province to build a road over KWG Resources’ land. KWG had been withholding its consent.

Cliffs has said it wants to build a road to transport ore from the Ring of Fire in the Northwest. In an interview last week, Cliffs vice-president Bill Boor said the decision was reason for optimism for Sudburians.

The company has floated the idea of a chromite smelter in Capreol. But the head of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association said Cliffs still has to satisfy the minister, negotiate with Aboriginal groups and complete environmental assessments.

“If it’s a good step, I’m not sure for whom,” Dick Destefano said. “But it seems to open up another avenue for discussion — which means another delay and another discussion, and another study.”

He noted there are so many variables that the opportunities around the project could easily vanish. “This is like the Wizard of Oz for me,” Dick Destefano said.

UPDATE 2-Glencore courts Guinea’s iron ore treasures- document – by Silvia Antonioli and Alexandra Reza (Reuters India – July 6, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Miner and commodity trader Glencore has expressed interest in iron deposits in Guinea, a presentation obtained by Reuters shows, although the company said it had not pitched for a stake in Simandou, the country’s largest deposit.

Glencore is the latest mining major looking to invest in iron ore assets in Guinea. Most interest is focused on Simandou, one of the world’s biggest deposits.

Any potential investors in Simandou are treading carefully, however. Israeli-owned BSG Resources, which was stripped of its license to develop part of Simandou following a Guinean corruption investigation, is seeking arbitration and has threatened to sue companies that invest in its former license area.

Three sources close to the government said London-listed Glencore had indicated its interest in investing in Simandou, in a meeting with government officials in Conakry in June.

A copy of a power point presentation, which the sources said a Glencore representative delivered at the meeting, includes a reference to Glencore having the financial and technical ability to develop big projects in the region and “the willingness to proceed very quickly together with the government to the exploitation phase of iron ore projects”.

Mount Polley Mine tailings water ‘very close’ to drinking quality, company says – by Rhiannon Coppin and Bal Brach (CBC British Columbia – August 5, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia

Imperial Metals president Brian Kynoch says he would drink water from tailings pond that leaked into rivers

Imperial Metals president Brian Kynoch says the company accepts full responsibility for the breach that caused a massive failure at the Mount Polley Mine in central B.C. on Monday and sent billions of litres of wastewater into river systems.

“I apologize for what happened,” Kynoch said at a news conference plagued with technical problems in Likely, B.C., on Tuesday afternoon. “If you asked me two weeks ago if this could have happened, I would have said it couldn’t.”

Wastewater and tailings sediment from Imperial Metals’s Mount Polley copper and gold mine near Likely has contaminated several lakes, creeks and rivers in the Cariboo region, causing officials to evacuate local campgrounds and enact a number of water-use and drinking water bans.

Cliffs wins key court battle – by Staff (Sudbury Star – August 6, 2014)

August 6, 2014

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

The company that once planned to build a $1.8-billion chromite plant in Capreol has won a key court battle. Last week, an Ontario Divisional Court set aside a decision reached by the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner in September 2013. In that decision, the lands commissioner denied Cliffs Natural Resources an easement for a road to reach its Black Thor chromite deposit in the so-called Ring of Fire area of northwestern Ontario.

Cleveland-based Cliffs wanted the easement, even though the land is owned by rival KWG Resources. Cliffs, which has halted all exploration on its chromite project, launched the appeal in October. The case was heard in Toronto in June.

The court’s decision means that Natural Resources Minister Bill Mauro will now decide if Cliffs gets the OK for a road into the Ring of Fire.

“Whether or not it is in the public interest to grant an easement for a road is a matter for the minister of natural resources to determine, after an environmental assessment and consultation with First Nations and other affected interests,” the court ruled. “It is for the minister to determine whether the easement should be granted in the public interest and on what terms.”

Cliffs wants to stake a 330-kilometre long corridor using mining claims from Nakina north to the exploration camps in the James Bay lowlands.

Boardroom coup likely to see Cliffs on the selling block – by Peter Kerr (Sydney Morning Herald – August 5, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.smh.com.au/

The miner at the centre of a $US2.65 billion ($2.84 billion) boardroom coup has conceded it will probably fall under the control of an activist hedge fund intent on breaking up its structure and selling its assets.

In a transition that is expected to put the fifth biggest iron ore export business in Australia on the selling block, Cliffs Natural Resources said overnight that hedge fund Casablanca Capital was expected to control six seats on the company’s 11-member board.

”The election of individual director candidates is not yet complete,” Cliffs said in a filing to market regulators in the US. ”However, based on the preliminary voting results, all six of the Casablanca Nominees and five of the Board Nominees have been elected for a term that will expire on the date of the 2015 annual meeting of shareholders.”

The comments support claims by Casablanca immediately after last week’s annual meeting of Cliffs’ shareholders, when the hedge fund claimed to have won control of the miner after a long campaign seeking higher dividends and asset sales.

Cliffs owns coal and iron ore assets across several locations in the US, Canada and Australia, including an iron ore export business in Western Australia.

That business, known as the Koolyanobbing operations, is profitable and exports about 11 million tonnes of iron ore a year through the port of Esperance.

15,000 Oregonians sign petition opposing nickel project – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – August 6, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

More than 15,000 Oregonians have signed a petition advocating the withdrawal of lands, located in SW Oregon watersheds, from mining and exploration.

RENO (MINEWEB) – More than 15,000 petition signatures, in favor of a mineral withdrawal for public lands in southwest Oregon watersheds, were delivered Tuesday to the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to be presented to the U.S. Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture.

The named “critical” watersheds include the North Fork Smith River, Baldface Creek, Rough & Ready Creek, and Hunter Creek.

“These signatures build upon the request of a broad coalition of local and national conservation groups to withdraw these public lands from mining in response to proposals for nickel strip mining in the area,” said a news release published Tuesday by Washington, D.C.-based environmental NGO, Earthworks.

The petition not only calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Rough & Ready and Baldface Creek watersheds from mining under the Mining Law of 1872; it also urges the enactment of legislation “to protect them from destructive nickel strip mining and permanently preserve their unique natural values”.

Minerals withdrawals from the 1872 Mining Law of up to 20 years can be issued by the Secretary of Interior under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA).

Mt Polley Tailings Failure: Lies versus the Truth – by Jack Caldwell (I Think Mining.com – August 6, 2014)

August 12, 2014August 6, 2014

http://ithinkmining.com/

Jack Caldwell, P.E. has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, an M.Sc. (Eng.) in Geotechnical Engineering and a post-graduate law degree. He has over 35 years engineering experience on mining, civil, geotechnical and site remediation projects. He has worked on numerous projects throughout southern Africa, Europe, Canada and the United States.

Today we have read all we can find on the failure of the Mt Polley tailings facility. It is all distressing. And mostly misleading. Here are a few clear thoughts on the topic.

The videos show that the tailings and water are still pouring out of the failed facility. Problem number one is how do you stop this flow. I do not know how I would stop the flow and nobody seems concerned to stop the flow. But more tailings and contaminated water are escaping as we write. If it rains, even more will be washed out. Demand number one is an answer as to how continued tailings flow will be stopped.

I can accept that the water and all it nasty constituents will be diluted by the rivers and lakes into which the water is flowing. But what of the solids? They are in the river, on the banks, and now in the lake. Will it ever be possible to clean this up, or will these tailings have to be allowed to wash by rain into the lake to join the bottom sediments? Maybe we need to build an emergency dam up-river of the lake to catch the solids.

Imperial Metals is saying the area affected is small by comparison with the area of the tailings facility. This is true, but irrelevant. Until they stop outflow, the threat of all the tailings to the environment remains.

Mt Polley Mine Tailings Failure – by Jack Caldwell (I Think Mining.com – August 5, 2014)

August 6, 2014

http://ithinkmining.com/

It is always a very sad day when a major tailings facility failure occurs. As one commenter noted to me: “Whatever the facts, the failure casts a poor light on the industry, and makes all of our jobs more difficult in the future.”

Today we write about the failure of the Mt Polley tailings facility right here in British Columbia. I write only on the basis of the information readily available on the web. I have no other source of knowledge of this facility.

My first impression is that this is in a direct line of failures from Bafokeng, through Merriespruit, to now. Nothing has changed, this failure looks just like the failed Bafokeng dam looked when I went out to see it the week after it failed way back in the earlier 1970s.

We still cannot agree if the cause of the Bafokeng failure was overtopping of the crest of the perimeter embankment by too much water in the dam, piping of water through a sandy layer in the embankment, or slope instability via sliding of soft foundation clays.

Spilled waste water at Mount Polley mine had failed guidelines for human, aquatic health – by Gordon Hoekstra and Tara Carman (Vancouver Sun – August 5, 2014)

August 6, 2014

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

Possible contamination after tailings pond for Imperial Metals’ mine breached, sending millions of cubic meters of waste into waterways southeast of Quesnel

The millions of cubic metres of water that poured out of Mount Polley mine when the dam collapsed had failed provincial water quality guidelines for human and aquatic health in the past, according to the B.C. environment ministry.

Data sent to the ministry by Mount Polley as recently as Monday showed that selenium concentration exceeded drinking water guidelines by a factor of 2.8 times.

There have also been drinking water exceedances of sulphate over the last few years, according to information supplied to The Vancouver Sun by environment ministry spokesman Dave Crebo.

Aquatic water guidelines have also been exceeded in the past for nitrate, cadmium, copper and iron.

The release of 10 million cubic metres of water — enough to fill BC Place more than four times — is also potentially contaminated with toxic metals such as arsenic and mercury, a concern for hundreds of area residents’ water supply and important salmon habitat.