November 25, 2014 – Republic of Mining

Lundin finally brings mining back to U.P. Michigan – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is home to Lundin Mining’s Eagle mine, the state’s first new mine in decades.

RENO (MINEWEB) – After nearly more than a decade of exploration, permitting and construction, the first U.S. nickel mine has achieved commercial production in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a landmark event since most mines in the region were shuttered in the 1960s.

The operation is expected to yield 300 million pounds of nickel and 250 million pounds of copper over an eight-year mine life. The mine began operations on September 23, ahead of schedule and on budget

Roughly 2,000 tons of ore per day can be processed by conventional crushing, grinding and flotation to produce separate nickel and copper concentrates. Shipments of concentrates began earlier this month.

The historic Humboldt Mill, which was built by Cleveland Cliffs for the milling of iron ore in the 1950s and was used to process gold from 1985 to the 1990s by Callahan Mining Company, is being upgraded. Construction and upgrades to the mill began in 2012 and were projected to cost more than US$275 million.

The underground mine is expected to produce about 23,000 tons (20,865 metric tons) of nickel and 20,000 tons (18,143 metric tons) of copper annually.

Down Under firms dig for B.C. coal opportunities – by Nelson Bennett (Business Vancouver – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 2014

http://www.biv.com/

Australian juniors developing new met coal mines in the province despite global glut

Despite a global glut of metallurgical or “met” coal that has shuttered mines in B.C., Australian junior mining and exploration companies have been moving into the province with plans for new mines – underscoring the view of industry analysts that the long-term demand for steelmaking coal is strong, particularly for B.C.’s high-grade coal.

Jameson Resources Ltd. (ASX:JAL) is among the handful of Australian junior miners that have recently been buying up claims in B.C.’s coal-rich Peace River and Crowsnest regions.

The company recently applied through the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office for a new open-pit mine 13 kilometres northeast of Sparwood, not far from Teck Resources Ltd.’s (TSX:TCK.B) Fording River and Coal Mountain met coal mines.

With a capital expenditure that Cannacord Genuity estimates at US$123 million to US$339 million, Jameson Resources’ Crown Mountain coal mine would produce an estimated 3.7 million tonnes per year over 16 years.

Although Jameson is headquartered in Perth, its chairman is David Fawcett, a B.C. mining engineer with an extensive history in B.C.

FEATURE-Peru crackdown on illegal gold leads to new smuggling routes – by Mitra Taj (Reuters India – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

Nov 25 (Reuters) – A crackdown on illegal gold mining in Peru has spawned new smuggling routes through its porous border with Bolivia with some gangs using human mules, armored cars and light aircraft to evade capture.

The gold is ghosted across jungles, rainforest and Lake Titicaca on the mountainous border, and is then sold to dealers who process the precious metal for export out of Bolivia’s capital La Paz, Peruvian officials say.

Bolivia, a relatively small gold producer which has commissioned no new large mines in 2014, officially exported 24 tonnes of gold between January and August, data from Bolivia’s statistics agency shows.

That is six times the amount of gold Bolivia’s miners produced in the first seven months of 2014 and more than three times the total amount it exported in all of 2013, illustrating how Peruvian gold is being diverted. Nearly all of Bolivia’s exported gold was shipped to the United States, government data shows.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala launched a clampdown late last year to tackle a decade-long boom in wildcat gold mining that has destroyed swathes of Peru’s Amazon forest and laced its rivers with mercury.

Agreement benefits Goldcorp, First Nations – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 2014

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Porcupine Gold Mines has signed an historic resource development agreement with four local First Nation communities.

“What it does is pave the way for the future of the operations so it allows for business opportunities, it allows for employment and training, it allows for some help with education and what it allows is for consultation,” explained Marc Lauzier, mine general manager at Goldcorp’s Porcupine Gold Mines. “It sets a good system for us to consult with the communities, listen to the communities, and to make sure we consider all of their concerns in our future plans and our future operations.

“In the absence of this agreement,” he added, “it would definitely make it difficult to apply for permits to bring on new projects or modify closure plans.”

The four Aboriginal communities that co-signed the agreement are Mattagami First Nation, Wahgoshig First Nation, Matachewan First Nation and Flying Post First Nation.

The formal signing, held at Cedar Meadows Resort in Timmins on Monday, followed traditional Aboriginal ceremonies, smudging and drumming.

Leadership race: Ring of Fire ignites PC debate – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 2014

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

It was the last question at the first Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership debate, submitted online by a man from Huntsville. But it fired up candidates and an audience of about 150 people, most party faithful, at College Boreal on Monday night.

Whitby-Oshawa MPP Christine Elliott, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod and Barrie MP Patrick Brown were asked what their plans were to spur development of the Ring of Fire.

“We’ve heard a lot of talk and promises from the Liberals,” wrote the Huntsville resident, “but no real plan to move forward.” All four candidates couldn’t have agreed more with that statement.

Fedeli summed up the frustration of northerners with the lack of development of the chromite deposits 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay at the first of six debates before a new party leader is named May 9.

A former two-term mayor of North Bay, Fedeli said he remembered the Liberals’ Northern Development and Mines minister visiting his town to talk about this “great, vast find.”

Canada’s unheard aboriginal narrative – by Lawrence Martin (Globe and Mail – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 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.

Canada’s rank racism toward aboriginal peoples was institutionalized within the fundamentals of European philosophy and culture, says maverick thinker John Ralston Saul. Europeans insisted their principles were universal. “Of course they were universal. After all, they said they were.”

With their technological and cultural sophistication came a conviction of racial superiority. They were so superior, the writer adds, that they proceeded to massacre one another, as the aboriginals quizzically looked on, in one world war and then a second. A hundred million died in less than half a century.

More wars followed, along with more racist attitudes toward the destined losers. In more recent times, a more sympathetic attitude has been adopted toward indigenous peoples, but it still smacks of soft racism, according to Mr. Saul.

What’s missing, he robustly contends in his new book, The Comeback, is the realization that aboriginal peoples have been making a remarkable recovery and are now on the verge of taking a prominent place in this country.

BHP rethinks Olympic Dam – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 2014

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

BHP Billiton has outlined new plans to turn the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia into the world’s second-biggest copper mine and potentially the world’s biggest uranium mine, in a big-ticket expansion that could see extra production at the start of next decade.

The plans, which BHP hopes to start exploring in earnest this year, are a big pullback from a $US30 billion open pit expansion of the giant copper-uranium-gold deposit shelved in 2012.

But they are the strongest indication since then that BHP is still serious about a big expansion of the massive Olympic Dam deposit that has been talked about since BHP acquired the mine in its 2005 takeover of WMC Resources. If the expansion goes ahead, it represents an extra $US3bn ($3.5bn) of potential annual revenue for BHP at current copper prices.

In presentations to analysts and media in Sydney yesterday, BHP chief financial officer Peter Bevean revealed the mining giant was targeting an underground mine expansion that would start producing in 2021-22 and ramp up to copper production of more than 450,000 tonnes a year by 2024.

This is more than double the 184,000 tonnes of copper Olympic Dam produced in 2013-14, but is well down on the 750,000 tonnes a year previously flagged under boomtime plans for the world’s biggest open-pit mine.

Flooded Mine Bolsters BHP’s Plan for Potash, CEO Says – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 24, 2014)

November 25, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The flooding of a mine owned by the world’s biggest potash producer is confirmation for BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP)’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie of the wisdom of his company’s planned move into the industry.

“These sorts of factors, combined with continued economic growth and demand for potash all conspire, if you like, to bring toward us the time when a new mine is required,” Mackenzie said in an interview in Sydney. “We have the lowest cost mine that would be useful to bring into the market at that stage.”

According to Mackenzie, no major new mines have begun production since the 1970s and the halt of operations at Uralkali’s Solikamsk-2 mine, which accounts for 3 percent of world supply, is a sign of the vulnerability of supply — just as the need to feed a booming global population spurs demand.

BHP is looking to build its Jansen project in Canada’s Saskatchewan province sometime in the next decade, though Mackenzie is cautious about giving an exact timeline. Spending of $3.8 billion has been approved so far on Jansen, including mine and service shafts, and Citigroup Inc. (C) forecasts the whole project may cost $16 billion.

“We do know we have to wait for the market to come towards us, but once those shafts are complete, we are only three to four years — at most — from first potash,” Mackenzie said yesterday in the interview.

Renewables are not enough – by Margaret Wente (Globe and Mail – November 25, 2014)

November 25, 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.

All over Ontario, giant wind turbines are sprouting up across the rural landscape and ruining people’s lives. Ordinary people are trying to fight them off in court, but they don’t have a chance. The multinational wind industry has a lot more money than they do. The law is on Big Wind’s side. So is Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government, which has pledged to triple the number of wind and solar generators and stick taxpayers with the bill.

But the fundamental problem with Big Wind is much bigger than its cost and unreliability. The problem is that today’s renewable energy technologies won’t save us from the effects of climate change – and we’re wasting our time by trying.

That’s the conclusion Google has reached. Google has invested many years and significant resources in tackling the world’s climate and energy problems. Its biggest initiative was called RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal), a massive effort to find renewable energy sources that could compete in cost with coal.

Last week, Ross Koningstein and David Fork, two of the engineers at the heart of the RE<C project, published an article describing what they learned, and why Google threw in the towel. “We had shared the attitude of many stalwart environmentalists,” they wrote.

How to Avoid a $1-Billion Boondoggle – by Bill Gallagher (Onotassiniik Magazine – Winter 2014)

November 25, 2014

http://issuu.com/wawatay/docs/ono_winter_2014_layout/

‘Boondoggle’: any unnecessary and wasteful project
‘Billion’: a thousand million (Webster’s Dictionary)

A billion dollars is an attention-getting number. That’s no doubt why the Wynne Liberals touted that number as a campaign pledge in the run-up to their recent election win. This $1-billion dollar carrot arose after the party politically ‘rediscovered’ the Ring of Fire as a slumbering engine of economic growth for the province.

Buried in the election budget was the glossed-over detail that the Queen’s Park $1-billion was contingent on Ottawa making a matching billion. The feds quickly set this sleight-of-hand straight; whereupon the Wynne Liberals confirmed on the hustings that they were good for their $1-billion dollar pledge no matter what.

On the industry side of the ledger, as Cliffs Natural Resources slowly realized that it was taking a fiscal cold shower on its rushed expansion into Canada; it took its own billion dollar write down on its Bloom Lake iron project in Quebec. (‘Write-down’ is an accounting term used to describe a reduction of the book value of an asset due to economic or fundamental changes in an asset.) Cliffs will likely take another major write down on account of its botched Ring of Fire investment.

Three of Canada’s premiers have a golden opportunity to serve the national interest – by Kelly McParland (National Post – November 24, 2014)

November 25, 2014

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

The leaders of three of Canada’s biggest provinces have a golden opportunity to contribute to the growth and prosperity of the country, throwing their weight behind a project of national interest while helping create jobs and support their own economies. To do so, however, may require two of them to demonstrate leadership in the face of short-term populist agendas with strong — if ill-informed — emotional pull.

Last week premiers Kathleen Wynne of Ontario and Philippe Couillard of Quebec agreed to follow a coordinated strategy in dealing with the Energy East project, the $12-billion pipeline that would move Alberta crude to the East Coast. Responding to popular concern about the impact of the pipeline on a range of interests, they issued a list of conditions to be met, including consultations with First Nations; due consideration of greenhouse gas emissions, adoption of the highest standards of safety and protection of the natural gas supply for consumers.

None of the conditions is unreasonable – what company is going to object to a demand for high safety standards? What’s worrying is the sense that Canada’s two biggest provinces may be positioning themselves for a repetition of the aggressive opposition adopted by British Columbia’s government in regard to several pipeline projects that would cross B.C. to Pacific ports.

Seeking to bolster her party’s low standing in polls before the most recent election, B.C. Premier Christy Clark took a combative approach to the $6.5 billion Northern Gateway project running from Alberta to Kitimat.

While Australian Miners Declare End of Massive Expansion of Iron Ore, Gina Rinehart Bucks Trend & Starts Export From New Mine – by Vittorio Hernandez (International Business Times – November 24, 2014)

November 25, 2014

http://au.ibtimes.com/

Gina Rinehart is the richest person in Australia and would likely remain that way for a long time. One reason behind her wealth, aside from inheriting Hancock Prospecting established by her father, Lang Hancock, is her bucking business trends.

Like her dad who dared invest in mining in areas that were considered outback, Rinehart will begin to export in September 2015 from her $8.6 billion iron ore mine despite prices of the commodity hitting a five-year low and bleak forecast for the next few months due to global oversupply and weak Chinese demand.

Rinehart told media that over 2 million metric tons of iron ore are stockpiled at Roy Hill where project construction is 67 percent complete. She said that since Roy Hill is a fast-schedule, major and really complicated projects, its being ahead of schedule is fantastic.

Glencore-Rio Merger Will Happen, Hannam Tells Hedge Funds – by Matthew Campbell, Dinesh Nair and Jesse Riseborough (Bloomberg News – November 24, 2014)

November 25, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Hedge funds including GLG Partners, DE Shaw & Co, and Pentwater Capital Management were told this month by a prominent London mining banker to prepare for an all-but-inevitable takeover of Rio Tinto Group by Glencore Plc (GLEN), according to people familiar with the meeting.

Former JPMorgan Chase & Co. dealmaker Ian Hannam, who now runs a boutique advisory firm, convened representatives of more than 20 investors at Corrigan’s Mayfair restaurant in the British capital in mid-November to share his views on the potential deal, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. The meeting was intended in part to help position Hannam’s firm, Hannam & Partners, to win a role in the transaction, the people said.

“If not today, this deal will happen sometime in the near future,” Hannam said in his presentation, according to a copy seen by Bloomberg. “Glencore is M&A savvy and times deals well. The combination will create a super-major with a diversified portfolio of world-class mining assets.”

Neil Passmore, chief executive officer of Hannam & Partners, said the firm is not working for Glencore or Rio Tinto (RIO), nor is it in discussions to do so. Spokesmen for Rio Tinto and Glencore declined to comment, as did representatives for Pentwater and DE Shaw. GLG couldn’t be immediately reached.