January 19, 2015 – Republic of Mining

Zambia presidential hopeful vows to revise ‘penal’ mining tax (Yahoo News – January 19, 2015)

January 19, 2015

http://news.yahoo.com/

Lusaka (AFP) – A leading contender in Zambia’s presidential elections, Hakainde Hichilema, on Sunday vowed to review a new ‘penal’ mining tax regime that has spooked investors in the copper-rich nation.

Zambia tripled mining royalties to 20 percent from six percent on January 1, putting the government at loggerheads with mining firms already buckling under a fall in global commodity prices.

Hichilema, a wealthy businessman and leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND), is seen as a frontrunner in elections on Tuesday, along with the ruling Patriotic Front candidate Edgar Lungu.

Hichilema says he will build an investor-friendly Zambia and review the “terrible, penal” tax if elected to succeed former president Michael Sata, who died in October. “Anything that damages industry, that damages growth, we will deal with that,” the British-educated economist told AFP in an interview.

“One aspect (that is) unacceptable is the introduction of the mineral royalty at 20 percent, which is basically a turnover tax, it does not recognise the cost of production,” he said.

Australian mining boom subsides with China’s economy – by Don Lee (Los Angeles Times/Duluth News Tribune – January 17, 2015)

January 19, 2015

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

KARRATHA, Australia — Joe Norton, a large man with a sunburned face, digs into a plate full of beef, potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts at Searipple, a mobile-home camp in Australia’s western frontier.

It isn’t the tastiest food in the world, the 54-year-old says, but it’s free, provided by his employer, iron mining giant Rio Tinto.

So is most everything else in his life: all of his meals, a manufactured house with microwave and flat-screen TV, a round-trip ticket every Friday to fly home, and not the least, his $180,000 salary.

Not bad for a man with an eighth-grade education doing semi-skilled work on railways transporting iron ore.

Yet the gig probably won’t last a lot longer, Norton reckons. Some of his fellow miners already have been sent packing as the company downsizes its contracted workforce. “They’re cleaning the fat,” he said.

With China’s slowing economic growth, one of the biggest mining booms in Australian history is over, leaving behind a trail of jobless workers and struggling local businesses in places such as Karratha, which thrived in recent years but now is at risk of becoming a ghost town.

Nordea to blacklist coal-mining companies – by Madison Marriage (Financial Times – January 18, 2015)

January 19, 2015

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Nordea Asset Management plans to blacklist up to 40 coal-mining companies from its investment universe. It joins a growing list of large investors that have decided to cut their exposure to fossil-fuel assets.

Nordea, the largest Nordic fund manager, with $228bn of assets, is in the process of identifying companies for exclusion that have a “large and sustained exposure to thermal coal mining”, according to Sasja Beslik, head of corporate governance at the group.

“[Thermal coal mining] is the most environmentally compromising fossil-fuel resource,” he said.
The asset manager’s exclusion list, which will be finalised by the end of March, is likely to affect a small proportion (€100m) of Nordea’s total assets.

The move is another setback for the coal-mining industry. A number of big institutions have opted to reduce their exposure to fossil-fuel companies in the past 12 months for ethical and financial reasons.

KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, decided in November to blacklist companies that derive more than 50 per cent of their revenues from coal-based activities.

History buffs dig into mining – by Ralph Nardone (Times Leader – January 17, 2015)

January 19, 2015

http://www.timesleader.com/ [Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]

Knox Mine program kicks off week devoted to industry

SCRANTON — A tribute to the victims of the Knox Mine Disaster near Pittston kicked off the 16th annual Mining History Week on Saturday at the Anthracite Heritage Museum. Events sponsored by local colleges and historical groups will take place this week in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Pittston, Port Griffith and Ashley.

The Knox disaster happened on Jan. 22, 1959, when the Susquehanna River broke through the roof of the River Slope Mine, allowing 10 million gallons of water and ice to rush into the mine. According to Explorepahistory.com, 74 miners were trapped by the rushing waters. Only 62 of them would escape, the bodies of the other 12 were never recovered.

On Saturday, experts on the disaster and folks who were there gathered to discuss its historical significance, to honor those who died and to pay tribute to the professional journalists who documented what happened.

“They were true educators,” said Kings’ College Professor Robert Wolensky, who has authored books on the disaster. “We know what happened that day thanks to their work.”

Goldcorp to Buy Ontario Mining Company Probe for $440 Million – by Judy McKinnon (Wall Street Journal – January 19, 2015)

January 19, 2015

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

Goldcorp Inc. said Monday it has agreed to buy junior mining company Probe Mines Ltd. in a friendly, all-stock deal valued at about 526 million Canadian dollars (US$440 million), expanding the Vancouver company’s presence in one of its core districts in Northern Ontario.

“This transaction is consistent with Goldcorp’s long-standing strategy of securing growth opportunities in and around our existing districts with a focus on low-cost, high-quality gold production,” Chuck Jeannes, Goldcorp’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Toronto-based Probe Mines’ key asset is the Borden Gold project, a deposit minable through conventional underground methods and located west of Goldcorp’s Porcupine mine in Timmins, Ontario.

In an interview last week, Goldcorp Chairman Ian Telfer said the company is constantly looking for mergers and acquisitions. Unlike many other industries, mining companies need to grow through acquisitions because their assets are constantly being depleted and gold mines in particular tend to have shorter lives than other types of mines.

Companies the size of Goldcorp can’t rely on exploration to replace all their assets; larger mining concerns have a patchy record with exploration.

NEWS RELEASE: Goldcorp expands Porcupine district with acquisition of Probe Mines Limited

January 19, 2015

VANCOUVER, Jan. 19, 2015 /CNW/ – GOLDCORP INC. (TSX: G, NYSE: GG) and Probe Mines Limited (“Probe”) (TSX-V: PRB) today announced an agreement whereby Goldcorp will acquire, through a friendly plan of arrangement (the “Arrangement”), all the outstanding shares of Probe. The total consideration for the purchase is approximately C$526 million.

Under the Arrangement, each common share of Probe not owned by Goldcorp will be exchanged for 0.1755 common shares of Goldcorp. Goldcorp currently owns 8.4 million shares of Probe representing 9.3% of the basic shares outstanding. Based on the closing price of Goldcorp’s common shares on the TSX on January 16, 2015, the transaction values each Probe share at C$5.00. The consideration received by Probe shareholders represents a 49% premium to the closing price of Probe on January 16, 2015. The number of Goldcorp shares to be issued will be approximately 17 million based on the issued and outstanding shares as of the announcement date, but will be subject to adjustment depending on the number of options and warrants exercised under the Arrangement. The transaction is expected to close in late March, 2015.

In addition to the Goldcorp shares, shareholders of Probe will receive an interest in a new exploration company (“New Probe”) containing Probe’s mineral properties in the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario, as well as C$15 million in cash and certain other assets currently owned by Probe. Goldcorp will own approximately 9.3% of New Probe following completion of the transaction and looks forward to supporting New Probe in the execution of its business plan.

Noront eager to mine Ring of Fire ore – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 19, 2015)

January 19, 2015

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

The head of Noront Resources is appealing to the provincial government to allow it to begin work developing its Eagle’s Nest nickel mine in the Ring of Fire while a plan to share resources with First Nations over the long term is developed.

Alan Coutts wants the province to give Noront the environmental approval it needs to start on its mine and all-weather road while an “over-arching” framework agreement is being negotiated with First Nations about resource sharing and related issues.

Noront isn’t asking for special treatment, said its president and chief executive officer during a visit to Sudbury.

It just wants the province to approve Noront’s terms of reference for the environmental assessment it submitted 2 1/2 years ago so it can keep and attract investors, reach impact benefit agreements with three First Nations near Eagle’s Nest and start mining ore.

Coutts was in Sudbury at the invitation of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce Ring of Fire Task Force to talk about the status of Noront’s project, why it is stalled and what he believes must be done to move it forward.

NEWS RELEASE: Ivanhoe Mines and Ivanplats challenge Globe & Mail story about Platreef mine development project in South Africa (January 12, 2015)

January 19, 2015

Attention:

– Paul Waldie, Editor, Report on Business, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada
– Geoffrey York, Africa correspondent, The Globe and Mail

The cover story published in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business on January 10 (Showdown in South Africa) is flawed by serious failures of what is purported to be standards-based journalism.

The story is blighted by false allegations and misrepresentations, and gratuitous exaggerations. One inevitable result is that parts of the story serve as a soapbox for a coterie of dedicated critics, some of whose self-serving motivations curiously are ignored. But, despite its 3,000-word length, the story fails to present the view of even one ordinary citizen from among the tens of thousands who comprise the overwhelming majority in the neighbouring communities who do support the development of the Platreef mining project by Ivanplats (Pty) Ltd., a subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. That would have required diligence and determination. It begs the pertinent question: Why?

The current economic potential of Ivanhoe’s Platreef world-scale mineral discoveries, and the innovative comprehensiveness of the project’s broad-based black economic empowerment structure, are without peer in South Africa. One essential feature is that the combined population of approximately 150,000 people in the communities surrounding the planned mine development now effectively share a 20% ownership of the Platreef Project through a collective trust.