April 21, 2015 – Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) Pleased with Federal Budget 2015

April 21, 2015

http://www.amebc.ca/

Mineral Explorers Welcome Tax Credit Extension and Recognition of Consultation as Exploration Expense

Vancouver – April 21, 2015 – Today, the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) welcomed the federal government’s budget as announced by Minister of Finance Joe Oliver.

“We are very pleased to see the federal government’s commitments to extend the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit through March 2016 and to expand the eligibility of Canadian exploration expenses,” says David McLelland, Chair of AME BC. “Having effective incentive programs that attract and retain responsible mineral exploration programs to Canada are critical to the competitiveness of the industry. This is especially true in British Columbia given the current global economic conditions.

These incentives will be of great strategic and economic value when commodity prices inevitably rise and more world-class deposits are discovered in British Columbia for the benefit of all Canadians.” On March 1, Minister Oliver announced the extension of the federal Mineral Exploration Tax Credit and extension of the eligibility of Canadian exploration expenses (CEE) to include environmental studies and community consultation expenses incurred after February 2015.

Is Hillary Clinton Taking ‘Blood Phosphate’ Money From Morocco? – by Julian Pecquet (U.S. News and World Report – April 13, 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://www.usnews.com/

Julian Pecquet is the Congressional Correspondent for Al-Monitor.

Critics of a $1 million Clinton Foundation gift see a ploy to build support for illegal exploitation of the “last colony in Africa.”

WASHINGTON — Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton is endorsing the illegal exploitation of disputed lands and risks undermining four decades of UN diplomacy by taking money from Morocco, critics say.

Clinton, who’s expected to announce her candidacy for the Democratic nomination April 12, has come under fire for accepting foreign contributions to the Clinton Foundation, most recently a $1 million donation from OCP, a fertilizer giant owned by the Moroccan government. Left unsaid in the initial reports: OCP — the Office Chérifien des Phosphates — is a major player in the exploitation of mineral resources from the Western Sahara, a disputed territory known as the “last colony in Africa” that Morocco took over after colonial power Spain abandoned it in the 1970s.

“You’ve heard of blood diamonds, but in many ways you could say that OCP is shipping blood phosphate,” Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., told Al-Monitor. “Western Sahara was taken over by Morocco to exploit its resources and this is one of the principal companies involved in that effort.”

Nickel: The Outperformer And Top Pick For 2015 – by Stephan Bogner (Seeking Alpha – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://seekingalpha.com/

Summary

Nickel was the best performing metal in 2014.
Nickel is the top commodity pick of several investment banks, including Morgan Stanley.
The Voisey’s Bay area may host the next big nickel discovery since it is abnormally under-explored.
From today’s perspective, Voisey’s Bay wasn’t really a great nickel discovery, but still one of the world’s biggest.

• 22 years ago, Robert Friedland’s Diamond Fields Resources Inc. stumbled onto nickel while looking for diamonds in Canada’s remote north.

• Only three years later, in 1996, Friedland sold his lucky strike, the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Deposit, for $4.3 billion USD to Inco.

• Prior to being purchased by CVRD (now Vale (NYSE:VALE)) in 2006, Inco was the world’s second largest producer of nickel.

• In 2005, the Voisey’s Bay open-pit and concentrator started production. Vale is currently completing an engineering study for an underground mine to be constructed between 2016-2019, extending mine life to 2035.

The rapid rise in mining wages represents a turning point – by Sikonathi Mantshantsha (The Rand Daily Mail – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://www.rdm.co.za/

Has the mining industry finally come to the party by paying sufficient wages to its employees? It looks like it. Last week Gold Fields agreed to raise the average wage of its employees by 10%/year for the next three years, a rate that is almost four hundred basis points higher than last year’s 6.1% consumer price inflation rate.

The wage agreement that the gold company reached with organised labour in SA is a significant development on the path to normalising labour relations in SA.

It is also a clear indicator that important lessons were learnt from the Marikana tragedy almost three years ago, and the enormous value destruction on the platinum belt during the five-month strike last year.

The most important part of the deal is that it was reached without any loss in productivity for the company or income for the workers through strike action.

In some ways the Gold Fields settlement for its 3 500 South Deep — its only asset in SA — employees validates the sacrifices made by workers on the platinum belt in 2014.

Strike like it’s 2011? Low copper prices loom large over wage talks – by Josephine Mason (Reuters U.S. – April 20, 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO – (Reuters) – When Antofagasta Chief Executive Diego Hernandez took the stage at the world’s biggest copper conference last week, he talked about the growing risks mining companies face from rising worker salaries in South America due to staff shortages and strong unions.

What he didn’t mention at the CRU copper conference in Santiago was the far graver immediate labor threat that many of his rivals face: the biggest round of contract negotiations since 2011, and likely the most contentious in years as falling copper prices and deep cost cutting programs strain relations between workers and operators.

The copper market seems to be perilously indifferent to the threat posed by this year’s contract talks at mines including one of the world’s largest, Grasberg in Indonesia, and Antamina, Peru’s biggest, risking a bullish shock if workers move to strike, analysts said.

“I think people are assuming with the change in the market, it’s going to automatically mean unions will be more flexible. But it could be a very tough situation,” Juan Carlos Guajardo, executive director of Santiago-based mining consulting firm Plusmining, said. Last year, Antofagasta agreed to four-year contracts, including pay increases and cash bonuses, at its mines across Chile.

Asteroid Mining Could Be The Next Frontier For Resource Mining – by Anne Lu (International Business Times – April 21 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://au.ibtimes.com/

Minerals are one of the Earth’s finite resources, so there is bound to come a time when miners would start to look elsewhere for mineral sources, including outer space. Mining company Planetary Resources has recently made headlines when it launched the first of two technology demonstration aircrafts that aim to prospect for valuable resources on asteroids.

The launch of the Arkyd 3 Reflight, or A3R, is just one of the steps that Planetary Resources is undertaking in order to achieve its ultimate goal of having asteroid prospecting missions in the future. Once the two aircrafts are launched, it has the possibility of jumpstarting a trillion-dollar market for oxygen, hydrogen and metal mining from asteroids.

There are basically three main types of asteroids that can be used for mining. The first one is C-type asteroids, which are the most common type but also the furthest from the sun. They contain around 22 percent water, which can be used as fuel for manned missions. S-type asteroids are closest to the sun, and these are made up of stony material, nickel, iron and precious metals like platinum, gold and rhodium.

Finally, M-type asteroids are the least common among the three and are found in the middle region of the asteroid belt.

King Solomon’s Mines (Mining Themed American Movie – 1985)

April 26, 2015April 21, 2015

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

King Solomon’s Mines is a 1985 action adventure film, the third of five film adaptations of the 1885 novel by the same name by Henry Rider Haggard. It stars Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, Herbert Lom and John Rhys-Davies. It was adapted by Gene Quintano and James R. Silke and directed by J. Lee Thompson. This version of the story was a light, comedic take, deliberately referring to, and parodying Indiana Jones (in which franchise actor Rhys-Davies appeared in two installments). It was filmed outside Harare in Zimbabwe.[citation needed]

It was followed by a sequel (filmed back-to-back) Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987).

China expands potash holdings (The Australian – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

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

Dow Jones – China’s sovereign-wealth fund took command of a 12.5 per cent stake in embattled Russian potash producer Uralkali Tuesday by exercising an option on a convertible bond it bought late last year.

The step represents a big move by China–the world’s largest consumer of the fertiliser additive–to secure steady supply in a market where governments have zealously protected against foreign ownership in the past. The deal comes amid a bruising trade battle between Uralkali and Belarus over the collapse of a sales partnership that rocked global potash markets and landed the Russian company’s chief executive in a Belarusian prison.

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has said the trade fight could only be defused if new owners for the Russian potash miner were found. The bond was issued by a special purpose vehicle owned by Uralkali’s primary shareholder Suleiman Kerimov and his two partners. By converting it to shares, the China Investment Corp.–through its Chengdong Investment Corp. subsidiary–transfers ownership of a sizeable stake of the company out of the Russian partners’ hands.

In addition, Mr. Kerimov is in talks to sell the 21.75 per cent stake he owns through his foundation, and his partners are eager to sell their smaller stakes as well, people close to them say. Together the three men control just over a third of the company. People familiar with the situation say potential buyers include several Russian tycoons, but that there is also interest from investment groups in other Asian countries.

Recent Trends in Cuba’s Mining and Petroleum Industries (United States Geological Survey – April 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://www.usgs.gov/

On December 17, 2014, President Obama announced that the United States would begin discussions to restore diplomatic relations with the Government of Cuba and embark on a longer term process of normalization of relations between the two countries.

The U.S. Government had officially severed diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 in response to political
changes after the Cuban Revolution. In 1962, President Kennedy declared an embargo on all trade between the United States and Cuba, which was implemented through regulations published in 1963.

On January 15, 2015, the U.S. Departments of Commerce and the Treasury published regulatory amendments to the Cuba sanctions (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2015) in accordance with President Obama’s December 2014 policy announcement (The White House, 2014). These measures made changes in the implementation of the embargo but did not lift the embargo.

Most transactions involving Cuba, including private and public investment in mineral production, continue to be prohibited. This Fact Sheet provides information regarding the current supply of and demand for mineral commodities produced in Cuba (fig.1).

Flickers of life in West Australian mining towns even as iron ore’s profits dim – by Calla Wahlquist (The Guardian – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/international

Some towns have gone, but others have diversified from iron ore to cattle farming and new businesses

Three hours from the centre of Western Australia’s iron ore industry, a scrubby patch of ground stands as a reminder of what happens to mining towns when the money moves on.

The patchy outline of a football oval is all that’s left of the town of Shay Gap, which once had a population of 650. Lang Coppin, an East Pilbara shire councillor whose family runs Yarrie Station, where the town was built, can spot it when he flies over the area in his helicopter – but that’s only because he knows where to look.

“You will drive past there now and if you didn’t know where the town was you wouldn’t believe it,” Coppin said. “You wouldn’t know you went past a town that once had schools, football ovals, shops.”

Founded by Mount Goldsworthy Mining Associates in the early 70s as a worker hub for nearby iron ore operations, Shay Gap closed two months after the mine ceased operation in February 1994.

Mine Tales: Copper Creek history includes recent discovery – by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star – April 19, 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://tucson.com/

Sometimes referred to as the Bunker Hill district, the Copper Creek district is located on the steep banks of the western slopes of the Galiuro Mountains in southeastern Arizona 75 miles northeast by road from Tucson.

Mining in the area dates back to 1863 with the Blue Bird mine with ore transported to Yuma and sent over to Swansea, Wales, for reduction.

Two decades later, prospectors William N. Miller, Theodore H. Peters and Ely H. McDaniels sought to further develop the outcropping of breccia pipe deposits officially organizing the Copper Creek Mining District in April 1880.

Prior to the 1900s, the focus was on lead-silver ore freighted from Mammoth to Willcox. Ore shipments were later shipped 35 miles northwest of Copper Creek to Winkelman for enhanced transport by the Phoenix & Eastern Railroad.

By the turn of the century, copper mining became prevalent in the area and involved three mining companies, including the Calumet & Arizona, Copper Creek and Minnesota-Arizona Mining Co. Copper concentrates were shipped to the Douglas and El Paso smelters.

Safety record at mines makes trust scarce – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

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

A mining health and safety conference last week seemed far removed from the June 8, 2011 deaths of two men at Vale’s Frood-Stobie Complex in Sudbury.

In a conference room at a Sudbury hotel, Labour Minister Kevin Flynn presented the final report of the mining health, safety and prevention review with 18 recommendations to improve mine safety. One was that mining companies be required to have detailed water management programs.

The review was prompted by the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram, who were overcome by a run of 350 tonnes of muck at the 900-metre level of the century-old mine. A mandatory inquest into their deaths began Monday.

A run of muck is an uncontrolled — and in this case violent — release of water, blasted rock, ore and sand. It engulfed Chenier, 35, and Fram, 26, as they were trying to determine what had caused the material to clog an ore pass above where they were working. According to three investigations and the counsel to the inquest coroner, the incident never should have occurred.

Chair of U.S. senate energy committee says Washington needs adapt to new era of low oil prices – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

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

HOUSTON, TX – Canadians are not the only ones frustrated with U.S. President Barack Obama’s energy policy. c

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said Washington needs to adapt to the new era of low oil prices by speeding up regulatory approvals and lifting a ban on oil exports that is imposing virtual “sanctions” on already ailing domestic producers.

Murkowski, chair of the U.S. senate’s energy committee, said many U.S. federal policies are “alarmingly deficient and outdated…[and] in need of modernization and reform.”

The last time the U.S. Congress passed a major energy bill was in 2007, before Obama took office and new extraction technologies boosted domestic oil and gas production, introducing an era of U.S. energy abundance, she told a meeting of global oil leaders gathered here this week for the IHS CERAWeek conference. More than 2,800 delegates from around the world are meeting in Houston to discuss strategies to manage through oil’s current down cycle.

Obama has said he supports an “all-of-the-above energy policy,” but has chastised fossil fuel sources like Canada’s oilsands while boosting green energy as part of his focus on climate change.

Teck Resources Ltd slashes dividend as commodity prices plummet – by Peter Koven (National Post – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

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

Teck Resources Ltd. has finally slashed its dividend, a move many analysts thought was inevitable as the company grapples with weak coal prices and high spending at its Fort Hills oil sands project.

The Vancouver-based miner announced on Tuesday that it cut its semi-annual dividend by two-thirds. The payout is now 15 cents a share, down from 45 cents.

The move will help keep Teck’s balance sheet in solid condition as it continues its $2.9 billion investment in Fort Hills. It has only spent about $900 million so far, meaning there is $2 billion to go. First production is expected in late 2017.

Teck also reported weaker-than-expected first quarter results on Tuesday. Adjusted profit dropped 39 per cent year-over-year to $64 million, or 11 cents a share, which was below the consensus analyst estimate of 15 cents.

Positively, the company’s liquidity remains strong. Teck currently holds $1.4 billion of cash, and it has an additional US$3 billion available in a revolving credit facility.

Woman defeats mine, saves wilderness, wins $175,000 – by Morgan Erickson-Davis (Mongabay.com – April 20, 2015)

April 21, 2015

http://www.mongabay.com/

When a huge open-pit mine threatened a pristine lake and surrounding forest in British Columbia, Canada, Marilyn Baptiste jumped into action, spearheading efforts to collect environmental impact data and even physically turning away construction crews. Because of her efforts, the Canadian government rejected the mine, leaving wild a part of the Canadian Rockies upon which First Nations communities have depended for generations. Today, Baptiste was honored for her work when she was presented the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize at a ceremony in San Francisco.

Nemiah Valley lies near the middle of southern British Colombia, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Vancouver. Nestled in the shadows of the Chilcotin mountain range, Nemiah’s forests, lakes, rivers, and wetlands are home to First Nations communities, as well as species like sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). The region also serves as the headwaters for the Fraser River, a major Canadian waterway. But for the past few years part of Nemiah Valley has been under threat as a mining company set its sights on an underlying copper-gold deposit, the largest in the country.

Vancouver-based Taseko Mines Limited (TML)’s project, dubbed “Prosperity Mine,” was to be one of British Columbia’s largest-ever mines. To target the deposit, a low-grade mixture of copper and iron ore measuring 1,500-by-800 meters and extending to a depth of 880 meters, TML planned a huge open-pit mine that would require the draining of nearby Fish Lake.