Freeport’s Indonesia copper mine must improve safety or face more protests – union – by Michael Taylor and Dennys Kapa (Reuters U.S. – October 8, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Workers at Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s giant Indonesian copper mine are seeking face-to-face talks with local management following a fatal accident, and may plan a further mine blockade or strike action, a union official said.

Hundreds of angry protestors blocked access for two days last week to the open-pit area of the Grasberg copper complex, where production has been halted following the death of four workers on Sept. 27. The open pit accounts for more than half of the mine’s output.

Fresh protests, blockades or strike action could be triggered if workers’ safety concerns and other demands were ignored, said Albar Sabang, a senior official at a Freeport union, potentially hindering copper exports.

“Production is important but safety is number one,” Sabang told Reuters, adding that protesting workers had demanded a meeting on Oct. 11-12 with Freeport Indonesia CEO Rozik Soetjipto. “If the demands are not met they will plan to do another protest,” he said.

The Indonesian government is investigating the accident, which involved a collision between a light vehicle carrying nine people and a haul truck, and has laid out a number of required work changes for open-pit mining to resume.

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Glencore-Rio Has Industry Evaluating Future: Real M&A – by Jesse Riseborough, David Stringer and James Paton (Bloomberg News – October 8, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The prospect of Glencore Plc (GLEN) buying Rio Tinto Group is sending reverberations through the mining industry that could prompt more deal talks.

Combining Glencore and Rio, which both confirmed they held informal discussions in July, would create a $162 billion behemoth. That such a merger would even be attempted speaks to the pressure the industry is under to cut costs and increase shareholder value amid declining prices for commodities.

A slump in iron ore gave Glencore a chance to go after a cheaper Rio and make it part of a diversified portfolio. With the deal now likely on hold for six months, Glencore could turn to other targets such as Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG) Or Rio could pursue a defensive deal with a company such as Anglo American Plc (AAL), according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

“This is a hell of a thing they’re proposing,” Paul Gait, an analyst at Bernstein, said in a phone interview. In the past, “we have had that kind of one action precipitate a whole cascade of events that puts a number of other guys in play.”

Glencore approached Rio in July about a merger, and Rio rejected the idea a month later. Rio Chairman Jan du Plessis says the $92 billion company is better off with its current strategy of cutting costs and returning cash to investors.

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Government’s suppression of Mount Polley report ‘verges on the absurd’: lawyer – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – October 7, 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.

VICTORIA — The B.C. government appears to have systemically breached its freedom of information law by withholding information related to the collapse of the tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine, environment lawyers say.

The province has refused to provide recent inspection reports related to the tailings pond, saying such information may undermine any one of three investigations to determine why the dam failed on Aug. 4, sending a torrent of toxic waste and debris into surrounding waterways.

But when provincial officials refused to hand over a 22-year-old report on the Mount Polley mine, the legal director for the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre decided the suppression of information had gone too far.

“The provincial government’s refusal to provide timely access is not only highly troubling, but verges on the absurd,” said Calvin Sandborn in a 60-page submission asking B.C.’s Information and Privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham for a review of the province’s conduct. The 1992 report was sitting on a shelf in the Williams Lake public library and a helpful librarian eventually sent him a copy.

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CUTIFANI URGES S.AFRICAN MINING INDUSTRY TO REBUILD SOCIAL RELATIONS – by Trust Matsilele (CNBC Africa.com – October 8, 2014)

http://www.cnbcafrica.com/

He said a five month strike experienced in the Rustenburg platinum mines was a reflection of the broken relationship with its employees.

While speaking at the Joburg Indaba in Johannesburg, Cutifani added that most parties outside South Africa were not vested towards the country’s forward looking success, which at the moment was at crossroads. “We have to make our own future as we cannot rely on anyone else,” warned Cutifani.

“We are ranked outside the top 50 mining countries besides having over a trillion US dollars’ worth of reserves, and the largest in the world.”

Cutifani said policy conversations will continue to stifle investment in Africa’s second largest economy. The Anglo American executive decried the past decade, as a ‘lost decade’. “Real values in terms of our companies have declined by 30 per cent,” said Cutifani.

Cutifani said the mining sector was the country’s important industry with about 1.3 million people directly employed in the sector. On transformation, Cutifani said changes to the mining charter target were inevitable. “There is no doubt with regards to the required transformation however uncertainty is in what is not being said.”

Earlier in the day the mineral resources minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said penalties for non-compliance could be as extreme as withdrawing an operating licence.

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NEWS RELEASE: Teck’s Cardinal River Operations Recognized with TSM Leadership Award

October 07, 2014

Award recognizes facility-level excellence in corporate responsibility

For its outstanding performance in the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative’s three focus areas—environmental stewardship, communities and people, and energy efficiency—Teck’s Cardinal River Operations in Alberta has been awarded with a special TSM Leadership Award.

The TSM Leadership Award is granted only when a facility meets or exceeds a level “A” ranking in their results across all of the six performance areas of the TSM initiative (known as “protocols”)—Aboriginal and community outreach, crisis management, safety and health, tailings management, biodiversity conservation management, and energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions management. A facility’s TSM results must be externally verified to be eligible for this recognition.

“We are pleased to recognize Cardinal River Operations with the TSM Leadership Award, which is an important and rare distinction that celebrates a facility for its achievements in the TSM initiative,” said Pierre Gratton, MAC’s President and CEO. “I congratulate Teck for its leadership in environmental management, for how it engages with its communities, and for being a model for other mine sites across Canada.”

Teck’s President and CEO, Don Lindsay, presented Cardinal River staff with the award at a recognition event on-site yesterday. Teck’s Cardinal River Operations was honoured with TSM Performance Awards for each of the six performance areas, as well as the TSM Leadership Award for its 2013 results.

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Vale and Glencore not innovative enough: Penguin CEO – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – October 08, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Local mining tech company representative critical of local miners

Sudbury’s largest mining companies, Vale and Glencore, lack innovation, says the chairman of a local mining robotics and technology company.

“I do absolutely no work in this city. I wouldn’t want to, and I don’t need to,” said Greg Baiden, chairman and CEO of Penguin Automated Systems, a Naughton-based mining supply and services company that specializes in advanced robotics, data communications technologies and positioning systems. “I don’t do it because I don’t find the people in the mining companies here very innovative.”

Penguin Automated Systems has instead relied on work with mining companies in South Africa and South America to solve specific and complex problems with advanced technologies.

The company also has contracts with the United States’ State Department, and with NASA, to explore ways to mine in space. Baiden made the comments at the launch of the 2014 Greater Sudbury Vital Signs report Tuesday.

The report is an annual checkup on how the city is performing in a number of areas, including the economy, the environment, education, health and wellness, and housing.

This year, the report had a special section on mining innovation, and Baiden, along with other industry experts, was invited to speak on the topic in a panel discussion.

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Union Miners Rally At EPA To Protest New Emissions Standards – by Kate Sheppard (Huffington Post – October 7, 2014)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/politics/

WASHINGTON — The United Mine Workers of America came to Washington on Tuesday with a message for the Obama administration: We will not be forgotten.

The union miners, who came by bus from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, held a rally outside the Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters in protest of new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that the agency proposed in June. The rules are part of the Obama administration’s plan to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the planet to heat up.

Members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers also attended the rally.

“We are fighting for our livelihood,” James Gibbs, an at-large vice president at UMWA, told the crowd. “We have to let the president know, we need to let both parties know that we will support candidates that support us.”

Organizers said about 700 people made it to Washington for the protest, and another 50 or so were on a bus that arrived late. They carried signs that read “EPA Rules Destroy Good Jobs” and “EPA Rules Put Seniors At Risk,” and some wore shirts that said “Stop The War On Coal.” UMWA leaders expressed frustration that the union had worked on behalf of progressive causes like improved labor laws and fair wages, and had committed money and manpower to elect Obama in 2008. (The group did not endorse either candidate in 2012.)

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Mining Is Bolivia’s Second Source of Income (Telesurtv.net – October 8, 2014)

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/index.html

President Evo Morales pushed forward legislation to give the mining sector the dignity it lacked since the Spanish Colonization.

Since the Spanish colonization of America, Bolivia has been a mining country. This sector represents the second source of income, behind hydrocarbons. From 2006 to 2012, the mining industry contributed to the Bolivian economy with an average of US$201 million in taxes, according to official reports. The amount represented an increase of over 1,156 percent in regards to the period 1999-2005.

Mining also contributed US$4.8 billion to the Gross Domestic Product by 2011. The export of mining products contributed to the Bolivian economy with over US$11.2 billion between 2006 and 2011.

The Mining activity has always been a crucial source of income in Bolivia, although it had been marginalized for over 190 years. It was not until Evo Morales came to power that the sector was taken into consideration, becoming highly regarded due to the recently approved Mining and Metallurgy Law.

The law, which was the result of an important citizen consensus, replaced the pre-existent privatized norm that was tailored to privilege international investment.

The new law also gives the government constitutional authority over the management, administration and control of mineral resources in favor of the Bolivian people’s interest.

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Ring of Fire junior: “When will this horse drink?” – by Jonathan Migneault (Northern Ontario Busisness – October 8, 2014)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. 

Critics of the province’s announcement in late August to establish an interim board for a Ring of Fire development corporation said it’s too little, too late.

Political adversaries of the Wynne government said the announcement will not result in any momentum at all in developing the $60-billion mining camp.

“We’re no further ahead today than we were four or five years ago,” said Sudbury MPP Joe Cimino of the NDP. “There’s been work in the last few years to communicate with the First Nations, but not from day one.”

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, the Progressive Conservatives’ finance critic, said the announcement marked “the sixth time in nine months the government has announced the Ring of Fire development corporation. Yet despite that considerable length of time, key industry, First Nations and Ontario Northland still haven’t been invited to the table.”

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said the government met its commitment to establish a development corporation for the dormant Far North mining camp 60 days after the premier’s July 3 throne speech.

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COLUMN-Glencore-Rio proposal not the right iron ore deal – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – October 7, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

Oct 7 (Reuters) – The hullabaloo surrounding Glencore Plc’s spurned approach to rival miner Rio Tinto shows why this is probably the wrong deal at the right time.

Glencore’s proposal to create a $160 billion behemoth is certainly audacious, and may even make sense for shareholders of both companies if priced attractively.

But even if it were successful, such a deal would do little resolve the key problems bedevilling the outlook for many commodity markets, and the companies that produce those resources.

The logic of Glencore taking control of Rio Tinto would be for the former to get access to the latter’s iron ore operations in Australia, which are the lowest cost among major producers.

Iron ore is the missing arrow in Glencore’s quiver, and the assumption behind a deal would be that the Swiss-based company would be able to use its trading nous to extract more value from the well-run Rio Tinto mines.

Assuming that all the anti-trust and other regulatory obstacles could be overcome, and that Rio Tinto shareholders could be won over, then the potential for the deal to be rewarding for Glencore is compelling.

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Vital Signs touts mining innovation in Sudbury – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – October 8, 2014)

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

Coinciding with the launch of a Vital Signs report that identified challenges for children and youth in Greater Sudbury, participants in a panel discussion suggested promoting the city as a centre for mining innovation as a means of employing and retaining young people.

Launched Tuesday, this year’s Vital Signs report found while overall local employment levels increased slightly between 2012 and 2013, the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 24 was 13.5% — up 21.6% from 2008.

The poverty rate for children 17 years and younger increased between 2011 and 2012, according to the report, from 15.4% to 16%.

The overall poverty rate was also up slightly in 2012.

To mark the launch of this year’s report, the Sudbury Community Foundation hosted a panel discussion at the Willet Green Miller Centre focusing on the potential impacts of making Sudbury a centre for “mining intelligence,” or a “mining cluster,” as it was often called on Tuesday.

The panel was moderated by Dick DeStefano, executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA), and composed of Brian Jones, vice-president of business innovation at the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI); Kirk Petroski, president of Symbioticware Inc.; Don Duval, CEO of the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT); and Greg Baiden, chair of Penguin Automated Systems Inc.

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How Alberta’s oil patch teamed up with the ‘little guys’ for an end run around Obama – by Rebecca Penty, Hugo Miller, Andrew Mayeda and Edward Greenspon (National Post – October 8, 2014)

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

Bloomberg News – So you’re the Canadian oil industry and you do what you think is a great thing by developing a mother lode of heavy crude beneath the forests and muskeg of northern Alberta. The plan is to send it clear to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast via a pipeline called Keystone XL. Just a few years back, America desperately wanted that oil.

Then one day the politics get sticky. In Nebraska, farmers don’t want the pipeline running through their fields or over their water source. U.S. environmentalists invoke global warming in protesting the project. President Barack Obama keeps siding with them, delaying and delaying approval. Keystone has become a tractor mired in an interminably muddy field.

In this period of national gloom comes an idea — a crazy-sounding notion, or maybe, actually, an epiphany. How about an all-Canadian route to liberate that oil sands crude from Alberta’s isolation and America’s fickleness? Canada’s own environmental and aboriginal politics are holding up a shorter and cheaper pipeline to the Pacific that would supply a shipping portal to oil-thirsty Asia. So, instead, go east — all the way to the Atlantic.

Thus was born Energy East, an improbable pipeline that its backers say has a high probability of being built. It will cost $12-billion and could be up and running by 2018. Its 4,600-kilometer path, taking advantage of a vast length of existing and underused natural gas pipeline, would wend through six provinces and four time zones. It would be Keystone on steroids, more than twice as long and carrying one-third more crude.

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Friedland’s SA platinum project faces local challenge – by Franz Wild and Tshepiso Mokhema (Bloomberg News – October 7, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Billionaire Robert Friedland’s South African platinum project may be held up by a split in the local community, with residents accusing his Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN) of subverting a process to give them a fair share in the mine.

People living in the Mokopane area in the northern Limpopo province, one of the country’s poorest regions, are lobbying the government to delay the mining license of Ivanhoe’s local unit, Ivanplats, three activists from the area said. They’re unhappy because the company sold the community a 20 percent stake in the $1.6 billion Platreef project to fulfill government demands for black shareholding without all of the residents being part of the negotiations over the terms of the deal, they said.

While the stake will be paid from future proceeds of the mine, residents don’t know what the interest rate on those repayments are and how long they will have to wait before seeing any dividends from the project, the opponents said.

“The million-dollar question for us is when will our debt be fully repaid,” Aubrey Langa, 56, an adviser to the Kopano Committee that represents five settlements in the community, said in an Oct. 1 interview in Johannesburg. “They won’t tell us. The community will be drowning in debt for a very long time. We won’t allow them to build a mine until this is cleared up.”

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