Clock ticking on Liberals to meet [Ring of Fire] promise – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 27, 2014)

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

Federal Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford is among those waiting to see how the province’s Ring of Fire development corporation will unfold in the next week — if the Ontario Liberals are to keep one of their election promises.

Rickford said Tuesday he and his government, as well as mining sector representatives and first nations, would like to know more about the development corporation Gravelle announced 10 months ago — then reannounced in the spring.

Gravelle announced last November the “devco” would be established to design, engineer, construct and maintain infrastructure to bring mines into operation in the Ring of Fire, 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

Gravelle and Rickford spoke at a news conference Tuesday at College Boreal, wrapping up the two-day Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference. Both stayed on message about the Ring of Fire, repeating what they had told provincial and territorial ministers and reporters earlier.

Gravelle said repeatedly that Ontario, which has pledged $1 billion to build infrastructure in the Ring, is looking for the federal government to become a full partner in developing the area.

Rickford said his government has money available through the Build Canada Fund for specific projects if and when the province makes decisions on key issues such as revenue sharing with first nations and the direction of a transportation corridor.

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U.S. needs more domestic mining – by Courtney Young (Montana Standard – August 27, 2014)

http://mtstandard.com/

Courtney Young is the department head and Lewis S. Prater professor of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering at Montana Tech.

To get an idea of how dependent America is on imported minerals and metals for modern technology, I pointed out nearly a year ago how important rare-earth elements were to our country and noted that we were 100 percent dependent on imports with China controlling 96 percent of the world market. Now, let’s consider nickel and copper.

Only one U.S. mine produces nickel, a metal that is needed, for example, in the manufacture of stainless steel and batteries. One should not take for granted that the stainless steel is used for pipelines, surgical instruments, and food containers, and batteries are used to power many of our common items. We depend on imports from Russia and, as for good news, friendly countries like Canada and Australia.

To address this domestic supply issue, two companies (Polymet Mining and Twin Metals) are seeking to permit mines in northeast Minnesota where one of the world’s largest deposits exists. Their ores also contain platinum and palladium, two metals that are used to keep our air and land clean. If all goes according to plan, not only will our domestic supply of nickel increase, but so will these “green” precious metals. Their permit applications are moving through the regulatory process, and it’s expected one will begin operating next year. When that happens, U.S. manufacturers will become less vulnerable to supply disruptions and sudden jumps costs.

That will be a relief, because the United States is heavily dependent on foreign sources for many minerals used in defense production and consumer goods like computers, cell phones, and flat-screen TVs.

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NEWS RELEASE: Mining industry commends Mines Ministers for supporting transparency of mining payments

SUDBURY, August 26, 2014 /CNW/ – The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) applaud the joint announcement made today by Canada’s Mines Ministers lending their support to enhance the transparency of mining sector payments to governments. The statement was issued on the last day of the 2014 Energy and Mines Ministers Conference, held in Sudbury, Ontario.

“We welcome the broad support that federal and provincial Mines Ministers have given to improving the transparency of mining revenues paid to governments at home and abroad, and we look forward to working with all levels of government on this important initiative,” said Pierre Gratton, President and CEO, MAC. “We are also encouraged to learn that some provinces are considering implementing transparency through their securities regulators, which would bring Canada in line with how similar standards in the United States and European Union are structured.”

MAC and the PDAC have been actively promoting the need for Canada to adopt such a standard since late 2012 when the two associations joined two NGOs—Publish What You Pay-Canada and the Natural Resources Governance Institute (formerly the Revenue Watch Institute)—in what’s known as the Resource Revenue Transparency Working Group (RRTWG).

“The Canadian mineral industry generates significant economic opportunities for communities at home and abroad, ranging from jobs and training to royalty and tax revenues,” noted Rod Thomas, PDAC President.

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Ontario talks hydro trade with Quebec and Manitoba – by John Spears (Toronto Star – August 27, 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.

Ontario’s energy minister Bob Chiarelli has talked to Quebec and Manitoba about increased hydro power imports

Ontario’s energy minister says he has held direct talks with his counterparts from Quebec and Manitoba about importing more electricity into Ontario.

But Bob Chiarelli cautioned that making deals is “not a slam dunk in any way.” Chiarelli made the comments at the annual meeting of federal and provincial energy and mines ministers, which wrapped up Tuesday in Sudbury.

He said the one-on-one meetings with Quebec and Manitoba officials during the federal-provincial conference were useful.

“We discussed specifically and in detail the opportunities and the challenges that exist for us to have more energy contracts to supply Ontario,” he said at a news conference following the meeting.

Ontario is mulling huge new investments in nuclear power, and has established programs for renewable power developments. But Premier Kathleen Wynne has spoken publicly about buying more electricity from Quebec as well.

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Gogebic’s formal request for iron ore mine to be delayed – by Lee Bergquist (Milwaukee – Wisconsin Journal Sentinel – August 26, 2014)

http://www.jsonline.com/

Company won’t finish all environmental fieldwork this year

Gogebic Taconite’s plans to submit an application to develop a $1.5 billion iron ore mine will be pushed back from the spring of 2015 until at least the fall of next year, the company says.

The company won’t finish all fieldwork this year and will be forced to conduct additional environmental work next year, according to Bob Seitz, a spokesman for the company.

The delay comes after the company and supporters said state regulators needed to be more time-conscious of big capital-intensive projects, and they pushed lawmakers to make changes in state law to speed up the review for the massive mine.

“We were kind of hellbent for leather to get past the research phase this year, but we realize that we are not going to be able get that done,” Seitz said.

Southern Wisconsin may still be in the grips of summer, but leaves are beginning to change in the far north. That’s prompting Gogebic to wrap up some fieldwork already.

On a hillside along Highway 77, the company wants to transform forestland into a mine and processing plant that would produce taconite to make steel. Preliminary core samples show significant deposits of iron ore.

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Mount Polley fallout puts damper on Canadian mining – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – August 27, 2014)

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

Signs continue to mount that the modest rebound that Canada’s mining sector had been experiencing has been knocked off the rails by the blowout of the tailings dam at Imperial Metals’s Mount Polley Mine and the Supreme Court of Canada’s Tsilhqot’in decision on land title.

Shares of Canadian mining companies had been doing well in the weeks before the court decision on July 29, and then the mine disaster on Aug. 4, as investors anticipated better demand for metals for a booming global auto sector. But declines have been steady in recent days.

“People are being discouraged about investing in mining in general,” said Raymond Goldie, a senior mining analyst with the brokerage firm Salman Partners, referring to the recent developments.

He added that Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett’s establishing an independent review panel to investigate the Mount Polley dam failure, and then ordering the operators of all 98 tailings ponds licensed under his ministry to conduct independent safety inspections, is the latest fallout from Mount Polley that is clouding investor sentiments.

“That is going to dissuade companies from investing in British Columbia,” Goldie said. “(And) along with the Tsilhqot’in decision of last month, it increases the uncertainty about investing in (the province).”

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Deadly clashes continue at African Barrick gold mine – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – August 27, 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.

JOHANNESBURG — Police have killed more villagers in clashes at a controversial Tanzanian gold mine owned by a Barrick Gold Corp. subsidiary, despite the company’s pledges to reduce the violence, researchers say.

The researchers, including a law firm and two civil society groups, say they’ve received reports that as many as 10 people have been killed this year as a result of “excessive force” by police and security guards at the North Mara mine, owned by African Barrick Gold, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Barrick.

A spokesman for African Barrick confirmed to The Globe and Mail that “fatalities” have occurred in clashes at the mine site this year, but declined to estimate how many. It is up to the Tanzanian police to release the information, he said.

Tanzanian police have repeatedly refused to give any details on fatalities at the site. Dozens of villagers have been killed by police at the mine in the past several years, according to frequent reports from civil society groups. The company occasionally confirms some of the deaths, including a clash in which police killed five people in 2011.

The deadly clashes occur when villagers walk into the mine site in search of waste rock, from which small bits of gold can be extracted. Hundreds or even thousands of “intruders,” as they are known locally, can be involved.

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Birch Lake mining venture showcases its El Dorado — and stock price tumbles – by Ron Meador (Minnesota Post – August 26, 2014)

http://www.minnpost.com/

Last week we all got our first look at official projections of how the Twin Metals Minnesota copper/nickel mine at the edge of the Boundary Waters might proceed, and the numbers were frankly impressive:

  • $2.8 billion in capital investments to get TMM’s mines and processing facilities started, and another $2.6 billion in capital outlays over the first 10 years of operation.
  • A payback period on those expenditures of not quite six and a half years, thanks to a combination of favorably low production costs and a revenue stream estimated to flow at more than $12 billion in that first decade.
  • Metals production, over the 30 years that this phase might run, of 5.8 billion pounds of copper, 1.2 billion pounds of nickel, 1.5 million ounces of platinum, 4 million ounces of palladium, 1 million ounces of gold, and 25.2 million ounces of silver.

All in all, “one of the most compelling greenfield copper-nickel development projects in the world,” poised to be “one of the world’s great 21st century mines” — fortuitously situated to take advantage of low production costs, a ready work force with mining experience to fill an anticipated 850 jobs, and access to Great Lakes shipping. All in “a state that supports the mining industry.”

Those are the words of Kelly Osborne, CEO of Duluth Metals, the Canadian company that owns a majority of Twin Metals Minnesota, and you might think they would be music to investors’ ears.

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