Twitter
Boston-Bay-Mines-Announcement

Day: January 6, 2015

Sustainable mining: an inherent contradiction in terms? – by Ucilia Wang (The Guardian – January 5, 2015)

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

http://www.kinglobal.org/catalyst.php

Mined materials support roughly 45% of the world’s economic activities – yet large-scale mining leaves social and environmental scars. Can the latest working group change that?

Mining conjures up an ugly environmental image. Companies dig deep into the earth and use large amounts of energy and water to extract, process and transport minerals, leaving behind a devastating impact.

That image has come to define the mining industry, and it’s increasingly hurting its ability to make money. Now a new group is working to remake that reputation by changing some of the industry’s practices.

A white paper [Reinventing Mining: Creating Sustainable Value] issued by the Kellogg Innovation Network at Northwestern University last month outlines key issues and ways to tackle them. The white paper is meant to serve as a framework to inspire more mining companies to develop sustainable projects that could also boost their profits.

In particular, it focuses on building good relationships with local communities most heavily impacted by mining operations. But it also pinpoints some of the significant troubles the mining industry faces as it seek to expand into more remote areas of the map.

Read more

Polish farmers threaten uprising over opencast coalmine – by Arthur Neslen (The Guardian – December 31, 2014)

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Heinz unites with farmers in rebellion against plan to build a vast lignite mine and power plant on farming land in western Poland

Krobia, Miejska and Poniec, Poland – Farmers in western Poland are warning of civil unrest if a vast coalmine and power plant are given the go-ahead, with thousands of people at risk of being forcibly relocated.

At risk are the food exports for which the Krobia and Miejska Górka region is known – including tomatoes, and sugar beet destined for Heinz Ketchup on UK supermarket shelves – and a windfarm which campaigners say would have to be demolished to make way for the brown lignite mine.

Experts say that 22 villages could be destroyed by the opencast mine proposed by Polish energy company PAK. The mine would cover 11,900 hectares of land (29,400 acres) and include a 1,000MW coal plant, leaving up to 5,800 people subject to compulsory purchase orders of their land.

Many farmers in the area have ties to the land stretching back several generations, and say they will not leave without a fight. Sitting in his farm with friends and family, Janusz Mackowiak, a moustachioed former MP for Poland’s Agricultural party, told the Guardian that thousands of local people had already protested against the mining project, and more would join in if plans are escalated next year.

Read more

Coal India Workers Strike to Fight Modi’s Privatization Plans – by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Abhishek Shanker (Bloomberg News – January 6, 2015)

 http://www.bloomberg.com/

A strike by coal miners in India has shut down some mines and disrupted supply at others as unions vowed the biggest walkout in decades to halt plans by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to privatize the industry.

“The strike is on,” said R. Mohan Das, a personnel director at state-run Coal India Ltd. (COAL), the world’s biggest miner of the fuel. It’s too early to assess supply losses, he said, adding that all workers have walked out at some mines, while others are partially closed.

Unions called a five-day strike starting today after rejecting an offer to meet management this morning. Hundreds of union members protested outside Coal India’s Kolkata office denouncing the privatization plans.

“If this strike intensifies there will be a severe coal shortage,” said Alex Mathews, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd. “With many power utilities being hand to mouth as far as coal supplies are concerned, the problem may be severe.”

Of the 100 power plants that run on local coal, 42 had supplies for less than seven days as of Jan. 1, according to the power ministry’s Central Electricity Authority. Twenty of these plants had less than four days of stock.

Read more

Energy Fuels strikes $179M deal to buy Uranerz amid rough uranium market – by Peter Koven (National Post – January 6, 2015)

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

TORONTO – Two Toronto-listed uranium miners are merging as they try to build a stronger company that can thrive amid low uranium prices.

Energy Fuels Inc. announced Monday that it is buying Uranerz Energy Corp. for roughly $179-million in stock. The move brings together two U.S.-focused companies that are struggling to make money and attract investor interest in the stagnant uranium market.

The offer is a 37% premium to Uranerz’s closing price last Friday, and some investors thought that was too rich. Energy Fuels shares plunged almost 15% on Monday after the deal was announced.

“The premium didn’t make a lot of sense to us,” said Aaron Salz, a research associate at Dundee Capital Markets. Dundee concluded that the deal is dilutive to Energy Fuels’ net asset value by 35%, and thinks a competing bid is unlikely.

But from a strategic standpoint, experts said the deal is logical. It gives Energy Fuels more scale, lower operating costs and a uranium mine in Wyoming called Nichols Ranch where production can be expanded.

Read more

Baffinland deflects Nunavut regulator’s recommendations (Nunatsiaq News – January 6, 2015)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

“Changes in the health of caribou because of project activities are unlikely”

Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. has responded to recommendations from the Nunavut Impact Review Board, but the company doesn’t plan to follow many of them at its Mary River mine site.

The NIRB’s 2013-14 monitoring report -— designed to keep Mary River in compliance with its project certificate — did not raise any issues of significant concern, but made some recommendations following a September 2014 site visit.

Most had to do with different wildlife monitoring and waste management programs at the Baffin site, like the NIRB’s recommendation to analyse dust-fall or ash in caribou pellets.

Baffinland said it would continue to gather caribou fecal pellet samples for different kinds of monitoring, but that the program would be limited because there are so few caribou in the project area.

“Samples will be analyzed for ash content when a sufficient sample of fresh pellets are collected,” read Baffinland’s Dec. 12 response to the NIRB.

Read more

Conservatives de-fang Canada’s CSR policy – by Peter Foster (National Post – January 6, 2015)

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

Almost half a century ago, Milton Friedman noted that “Corporate Social Responsibility,” CSR, was a subversive concept designed to facilitate open-ended political interference in business.

The Harper government’s recent announcement of an “enhanced” CSR strategy for mining — “Doing Business the Canadian Way: A Strategy to Advance CSR in Canada’s Extractive Sector Abroad” — would appear to confirm the great economist’s misgivings. In fact, the Harper strategy is designed to reduce irresponsible interference, not facilitate it.

The core belief of CSR advocates is that companies are greedy exploiters who don’t “do good” without arm twisting. That applies particularly to investment in poor countries. Business is indeed critical to solving problems of poverty and disease, but primarily by creating employment, sourcing locally, building communities and producing commodities and products that make peoples’ lives better.

What makes poor countries poor is incompetent governments and erratic policies, particularly when it comes to foreign investors. The Harper government has addressed that issue directly via the 24 Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (FIPPAs) it has signed since 2006. The CSR weapon is another, if related, problem.

Read more

Breakingviews: Water woes could open taps on corporate risk – by Antony Currie (Reuters U.S. – January 5, 2015)

 http://www.reuters.com/

NEW YORK – (Reuters Breakingviews) – Water is set to become a more serious risk for companies and investors. It’s already recognized. World Economic Forum attendees named H2O a top-three risk two years running. And two-thirds of the world’s largest companies worry about how constraints may affect their business, according to environmental research firm CDP. Few, though, are well prepared for problems. That is set to change.

A few high-profile droughts have helped shake off some complacency. Taps in Brazil’s Sao Paulo may run dry as early as March. California’s supply is low after three years of scarce precipitation. The likes of Illinois and Indiana are starting to use their relative abundance of water to lure companies to their states.

Some firms have taken action. SABMiller has a goal of reducing water used in its breweries by a quarter by 2015. Coca-Cola used 2.08 liters of water for every liter of its own drinks in 2013, down 23 percent since 2004, and wants to be water neutral by 2020. Lockheed Martin, Kimberly-Clarke, AstraZeneca, AT&T and others have implemented water-saving strategies.

That’s not always enough. Often, a company’s idea of water risk is very narrow, CDP points out in a 2014 survey of big companies. Only two-fifths include other local users in their assessments.

Read more

Iron Ore Kicks Off 2015 With Rally on China Stimulus Speculation – by Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – January 2, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Iron ore plummeted last year as surging global supplies topped demand. It opened 2015 by posting the biggest weekly gain in 18 months amid speculation that China will take more steps to spur growth in the world’s largest user.

Ore with 62 percent content delivered to Qingdao, China, was unchanged today at $71.26 a dry metric ton, following gains in the previous five trading sessions, according to data from Metal Bulletin Ltd. That took this week’s advance to 5.8 percent, the most since the period to July 5, 2013.

The steel-making ingredient tumbled 47 percent in 2014 as BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto Group expanded low-cost supplies, pushing the market into a surplus just as growth in China slowed. Data from Asia’s largest economy released on Jan. 1 showed that the government’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (CPMINDX) retreated in December to the lowest level in 18 months, adding pressure on policy makers to do more to bolster growth this year. The country buys two-thirds of global seaborne iron ore supply.

“There’s potential for the Chinese economy to be stimulated sometime soon” given the weaker PMI data, James Wilson, a Perth-based analyst at Morgans Financial Ltd., said by phone. “That may lead to more demand for steel products and iron ore. The December-January period is when the Chinese restock traditionally, so there’s some demand from there.”

Read more

The coming showdown between Canadian and Saudi oil producers on the U.S. Gulf Coast – by Geoffrey Morgan (National Post – January 6, 2015)

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

CALGARY – A fight between Canadian and Saudi Arabian oil producers is expected to play out on the U.S. Gulf Coast during the course of this year, as the two countries battle for market share in the world’s largest refining district. The fight could help keep oil prices depressed for another six months.

Citigroup analyst Edward Morse released a report Monday that points to an oversupply of oil on the Gulf Coast thanks in part to an influx of heavy crude from Canada, even without TransCanada Corp.’s long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline. At the same time, the report says Saudi Arabia is attempting to regain its market share in the area.

The 2014 showdown between light oil producers — U.S. shale oil companies and OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia — for share of the North American refining market will change, according to Citigroup. “Now the confrontation should shift to sourer and heavier crudes,” the report said.

Oilsands crude is considered heavy, because it has the consistency of molasses, and sour, because of its sulphur content.

Scotiabank vice-president and commodity market specialist Patricia Mohr agreed there is potential for Canadian oilsands shipments to push Saudi Arabian and North African oil out of refineries on the Texas and Louisiana coastline.

Read more

Groundbreaking biofuel project brings new life to Cornish mine – by Jamie Doward (The Guardian – December 28, 2014)

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Scientists hope clean-up operation at tin mine will lead to global environmental benefits

A pioneering research project to clean up a flooded Cornish tin mine is using algae to harvest the precious heavy metals in its toxic water, while simultaneously producing biofuel. If the project, which is at a very early stage, is proven to work, it could have huge environmental benefits around the world.

The GW4 Alliance, which brings together the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter, in collaboration with Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), the Coal Authority and waste management group Veolia, is taking untreated mine water samples from the Wheal Jane tin mine in Cornwall and growing algae in them in a laboratory.

The alliance is exploring whether the algae is effective in removing harmful materials, such as arsenic and cadmium, from the mine water. Researchers hope to convert the algae into a solid from which heavy metals can be extracted and recycled for use in the electronics industry. The remaining solid waste will then be used to make biofuels.

“It’s a win-win solution to a significant environmental problem,” said Dr Chris Chuck from the University of Bath’s Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies. “We’re putting contaminated water in and taking out valuable metals, clean water and producing fuel.”

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Concludes the Sale of Logan County Coal and Provides Update on Bloom Lake

CLEVELAND, Jan. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale of its Logan County Coal assets in West Virginia to Coronado Coal II LLC, an affiliate of Coronado Coal LLC, for $174 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities. The expected tax benefit associated with the transaction will be between 20% to 25% of the previously disclosed pre-tax loss of approximately $400 million, which represents an additional benefit of $80 million to $100 million in future cash tax savings. Cliffs will record the results of this sale in its fourth quarter earnings.

Separately, Cliffs confirms that active production at Bloom Lake has completely ceased and the exit from Eastern Canada continued to be executed on schedule as previously announced. The mine has transitioned to care and maintenance status and, consequently, at this time only a small number of employees involved in such activities are still in the payroll. The last shipment of iron ore out of the Port of Sept-Iles will be completed in early January 2015.

Lourenco Goncalves , Cliffs’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, “The execution of the strategic initiatives outlined during our Q3 Conference Call in October 2014 continued to progress as planned during the last two months. The sale of Logan County Coal, which included a meaningful tax benefit to the Company, clearly demonstrates our ability to execute complex transactions despite an adverse M&A environment for commodity related transactions. Additionally, as we approach the final steps of our exit from Eastern Canada, we have brought to an end the flawed expansion that has cost Cliffs and its shareholders billions of dollars.”

Read more

Iron-Ore Producer’s CEO Bets on the Midwest – by John W. Miller (Wall Street Journal – December 22, 2014)

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

Amid Falling Global Iron-Ore Prices, He Backs Captive Market

HIBBING, Minn.— Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is banking on the Midwest, a forgotten niche in the global commodities market.

For more than a century, huge iron-ore reserves in this remote region have provided the raw material to make steel in blast furnaces that have populated the industrial heartland between Pittsburgh and Chicago.

Last year, Minnesota and Michigan produced 99% of all U.S. iron ore, shipping out $5 billion of steel’s main ingredient. Three-quarters of that ore went to American mills, which continue to make millions of tons of steel a year for car makers and gas drillers.

Cliffs, the biggest U.S. iron-ore producer, is more than 150 years old and still based in Cleveland. Its five iron-ore mines are the company’s top-performing unit, earning $461.7 million in gross profit in the first nine months of the year even as Cliffs booked an overall loss of $6 billion.

“This is what will save Cliffs,” says Chief Executive Lourenco Goncalves during a tour of the mineral-rich, windswept gray landscape, which once inspired native-son Bob Dylan to write “North Country Blues.”

Mr. Goncalves better be right. Cliffs’ share price has declined more than 70% in the past year. A boardroom coup, led by activist shareholder Casablanca Capital LP, resulted in Mr. Goncalves being named CEO in August to turn things around.

Read more

Fool’s Gold: The limits of tying aid to mining companies – by Marco Chown Oved (Toronto Star – December 15, 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.

Barrick Gold’s massive mine in Peru has sped up community development, including schools and a hospital. So why are so many locals still jobless and poor?

QUIRUVILCA, PERU—Towering atop a pedestal in the main square, a golden statue of a miner with his headlamp and jackhammer gleams in the morning sun, a monument to the mineral wealth on which this town was built.

The Quiruvilca mine opened almost 100 years ago, and its blackened wooden structures still loom on the mountainside above the rooftops. But a century of mining copper, silver, zinc and gold brought little development to this remote settlement, nestled in a steep valley more than 4,000 metres up in the Peruvian Andes. The roads weren’t paved; many people didn’t have electricity.

Nine years ago, another mine opened, operated by Toronto-based Barrick Gold, the world’s biggest gold mining company. It has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and royalties and the new-found wealth is visible everywhere. The local government has brought power to virtually everyone in town and is now hooking up remote villages. Through an infrastructure-for-taxes program, Barrick has constructed roads, a police college, a hospital and a school. A new highway has cut travel time to the coast from eight hours to 3.5.

Read more

Mining: Tragedy, safety and Ring of Fire mark 2014 – by Staff (Sudbury Northern Life – December 31, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

The spring of 2014 was a sombre time for Sudbury’s mining community, marked by three tragic deaths. In April, Vale millwright Paul Rochette was killed by severe head trauma from a malfunction with an ore crusher.

The next month, two drilling contractors, Marc Methe, 34, and Norm Bissaillon, 49, were killed by a fall of material in First Nickel’s Lockerby Mine. Both men worked for Taurus Drilling Services.

The deaths highlighted the importance of province’s ongoing review of mining health and safety, which reached a high point in September with the release of progress report that made several recommendations.

Those included guidelines for bright and reflective clothing for workers underground, and health and safety training that focuses on six of the most common hazards miners face.

The Mining, Health, Safety and Prevention Review committee is expected to release its final report in the New Year. The ongoing standstill in the Ring of Fire was also a dominant mining story in 2014.

Read more