June 23, 2015 – Republic of Mining

Dust from abandoned Cliffs’ mine casts pall over eastern Canadian town – by Mike De Souza (Reuters U.S. – June 19, 2015)

June 23, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

OTTAWA – Heavy dust clouds blowing from Cliffs Natural Resources’ abandoned Wabush iron ore mine into a small township in the eastern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador is putting a focus on the liability of miners that seek creditor protection and walk away from assets.

Iron ore and coal miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc announced in February 2014 it was shutting down its Wabush mine. This year it sought creditor protection for its Canadian assets.

The fate of the deserted mine is in limbo until it is either acquired by a rival or Cliffs is able to restructure and exit creditor protection.

Local residents say the abandoned site has many open pits, with drilling equipment, trucks and other equipment stranded on the site.

“Now that the company has gone into closure, it is very hard to maintain a relationship with them. From a corporate level, we have not heard anything from them in almost a year, if not longer,” said Colin Vardy, mayor of the town of Wabush.

Spectre of illegal mining looms over India – by Ajoy K Das (MiningWeekly.com – June 22, 2015)

June 23, 2015

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

Kolkata (miningweekly.com) – Is illegal mining rearing its head in India again?

The concern has moved centre stage following the murder of a journalist in the central province of Madhya Pradesh for opposing the mining mafia and moving the courts against illegal mining.

Even though three people, all involved in illegal manganese mining and part of the mining mafia in the region, have been arrested on charges of murder, sections within the federal and provincial governments have expressed concern about whether the murder was an isolated incident or whether it signalled the re-emergence of the mining mafia despite changes in legislation and stringent punitive action.

Data collated from Indian Bureau of Mines showed that provincial governments had filed 727 cases during the past year following the inspection of 2 427 operational mines. The courts upheld charges in the cases of 25 mines.

Of the mines inspected, as many as 1 347 were operating in violation of the newly promulgated Mines Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDRA) 2015 and 357 mines had their mining licences cancelled over the past year.

The Potential Impact Of Easing Indonesian Nickel Export Restrictions On Vale – by Trefis Team (forbes Magazine – June 23, 2015)

June 23, 2015

http://www.forbes.com/

Vale is a diversified mining company and the world’s largest iron ore producer. Though iron ore sales account for a majority of the company’s revenues, Vale also has interests in the mining of base metals, particularly copper and nickel. Vale is among the world’s largest producers of nickel, and prices of the metal can have a significant impact upon the company’s stock price.

Nickel is mainly used in the production of stainless steel. With demand for stainless steel mainly correlated with industrial activity, prices of the metal have suffered due to weakness in Chinese economic growth.

However, there is a chance of a sharper fall in nickel prices, if the Indonesian government revokes a ban on unprocessed nickel exports instituted in 2014. The Indonesian government had banned unprocessed mineral exports in January, in order to boost domestic mineral processing capacity. Though the country relaxed restrictions on exports of copper, the ban on unprocessed nickel and aluminum exports still remains.

With the Indonesian government considering a relaxation of export restrictions on bauxite, which is the precursor for aluminum production, there is a chance that the Indonesian government may also consider relaxing restrictions on unprocessed nickel exports.

Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd wins historic approval to operate Canadian uranium mine – by Peter Koven (National Post – June 23, 2015)

June 23, 2015

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

Paladin Energy Ltd. has achieved a first for an Australian company: It has won the right to operate a uranium mine in Canada.

The approval from Ottawa, announced Monday by the company, is a signal that Canada welcomes more foreign investment in its uranium industry. And that has positive implications for a struggling sector that could really use some outside capital.

“This is an historic decision that could have implications for all uranium companies and projects in Canada,” Raymond James analyst David Sadowski said in a note.

Paladin said the federal government approved its request to be the majority owner and operator of the Michelin uranium mine in Labrador. The company hopes to begin production when the sputtering uranium market rebounds.

This approval was unique because Canada has a Non-Resident Ownership Policy (NROP) governing its uranium sector.

COLUMN-Technology may lower commodity prices, widen nation gaps – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – June 23, 2015)

June 23, 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 23 (Reuters) – The image of miners as mainly burly blokes in hard hats and high-vis vests is likely to change in the next decade to one of computer geeks controlling automated machines while sitting thousands of kilometres away from the pit.

That’s certainly the scenario outlined in a major report called “Australia’s future workforce?”, released last week by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), a think-tank encompassing businesses, community groups and academic institutions.

More than five million jobs, or about 40 percent of Australia’s current workforce, have a “moderate to high” likelihood of disappearing in the next 10 to 15 years, CEDA said in the report.

What is relevant for commodities in this scenario is that mining and agriculture are among the sectors likely to be affected the most because of technological advancements.

The report notes that technological changes, while disruptive, often lead to higher incomes and increased employment opportunities as more wealth is created and productivity boosted.

Approval sign of progress: Noront – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – June 23, 2015)

June 23, 2015

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

The approval with amendments of the terms of reference for Noront Resources’ Eagle’s Nest Mine is a sign of real progress in developing the Ring of Fire asset, says company president and chief executive officer Alan Coutts.

Noront now has “the clarity and the endorsement” it was seeking from the Government of Ontario to move ahead with work on the project, Coutts said Monday.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray announced Friday his ministry was giving a qualified approval to Noront’s terms of reference, the first step in the environmental assessment for the nickel, copper and platinum group element mine.

Noront submitted the terms of reference to the ministry in 2012, revised them at the ministry’s request and resubmitted them in December 2013, and has been waiting for approval to move ahead since.

The new round of amendments wasn’t completely unexpected, especially the technical ones, said Coutts, who couldn’t say how long it would take Noront to do the work on those amendments.

Mining to face worker shortage: Report – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – June 23, 2015)

June 23, 2015

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

Few children say they want to be miners when they grow up, which is one of the reasons the mining industry will experience a serious shortage of workers in the next decade.

Weak commodity prices have resulted in a lull in mining, but the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiRH) is projecting the industry will be short more than 106,000 workers in 10 years unless the situation is turned around.

MiHR published its 2015 mining labour market report recently, an in-depth forecast for the next two, five and 10 years about the existing workforce, demographics and diversity, and other challenges.

The report is meant for companies, unions, post-secondary school institutions, government and other stakeholders, said MiHR executive director Ryan Montpellier.

Among the key findings in the report are:

VIA proposes replacing Budd Cars – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 23, 2015)

June 23, 2015

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

A new plan for the Sudbury-White River VIA train puts the remote rail service in jeopardy, an industry analyst is warning.

Greg Gormick, a policy consultant, says VIA Rail president Yves Desjardins-Siciliano recently told a group of southwestern Ontario mayors that the self-powered Budd Cars that ply the Sudbury-White River line will be repurposed on routes in their area and replaced in the North by a locomotive-hauled passenger coach and freight car.

“I was shocked,” says Gormick, who sat in on the meeting. “I can’t conceive of this, knowing the costs behind it.” He says Desjardins-Siciliano described the plan twice last week, once to a private audience in St. Mary’s and then at a public meeting Sarnia.

“He’s promoting this fantasy shuttle service that would go back and forth between London and Sarnia and London and Windsor, using the Budd Cars,” Gormick says.

VIA rail is an arm’s-length Crown corporation, but Gormick says there is a political angle to the VIA president floating the idea at this time. “We’re talking about someone who works for the Conservatives and he’s out doing some pre-campaigning for them,” said Gormick. “This plan for southwestern Ontario conveniently wouldn’t kick in until after the election.”