UPDATE 1-Union mulling action on job cuts at Freeport Chile copper mine (Reuters U.S. – August 31, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 31 (Reuters) – A Chilean union that represents copper mine workers rejected a move by Freeport-McMoRan Inc to drastically cut staff at its El Abra mine and said on Monday it was considering action.

Last week, Arizona-based Freeport, which owns a 51 percent stake in the mine in northern Chile, became one of the first big global miners to announce it was slashing production because of slumping copper prices.

That would include reducing mining rates at El Abra by about 50 percent to cut and defer costs, and extend the mine’s life, the company said.

Over the weekend Freeport began to send out letters announcing the dismissals and refusing to negotiate, said Juana Mejias, who heads the mine’s local union, adding that around 700 workers were being fired.

“The situation is complex and a true massacre that they have carried out by dismissing 50 percent of the workforce,” she said in a statement on Monday.

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Tesla Secures Lithium Hydroxide Supply for Its Battery Factory – by Mike Ramsey (Wall street Journal – August 28, 2015)

http://www.wsj.com/

Electric-vehical maker in long-term contract with Bacanora Minerals and Rare Earth Minerals

Tesla Motors Inc. has secured a North American supply of lithium hydroxide through a long-term contract with mining company Bacanora Minerals Ltd. and Rare Earth Minerals PLC, giving the electric car maker a key base material used to produce lithium-ion batteries used its electric vehicles.

Tesla is building a $5 billion battery factory in Nevada that aims to reduce battery costs by 30% or more, partly by bringing in in-house materials suppliers.

The agreement with the two companies gives Tesla access to below-market-rate lithium in exchange for minimum purchase amounts over a five-year period, according to a statement.

The first phase of the battery factory, under construction near Reno, is expected to be completed next year. When the battery factory is fully built out, it will be capable of making 35 gigawatt-hours of battery cells, which is more than all of the current lithium-ion battery plants in the world today combined.

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WA chills as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue cut $20b spending – by Julie-anne Sprague (Australian Financial Review – August 30, 2015)

http://www.afr.com/

A dramatic $20 billion cut in operational spending by the nation’s three biggest iron ore miners is chilling a West Australian economy already under stress from falling investment in resources-related construction.

Analysis by The Australian Financial Review reveals that since 2012, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group have cut the amount they spend on extracting resources by $US14.3 billion ($19.9 billion).

While this figure includes BHP and Rio’s global operations, the majority of the cuts have been generated from their West Australian iron ore operations.

This excludes massive cuts to capital expenditure. With laser like precision the miners are tightening the cost screws beyond cutting staff and salaries.

They’re cutting meals served on flights to remote mine sites, pulling biscuits from the tea rooms and reducing the number of uniforms issued to staff.

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Aimed at Curbing Job Losses at Mines – by Andre Janse Van Vuuren (Bloomberg News – August 31, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

South Africa’s government, mining companies and labor unions adopted a 10-point plan Monday in an attempt to curb job losses in an industry where more than 11,700 people are at risk of losing their employment.

The plan includes proposals to improve productivity, the re-skilling of workers and the transfer of employees between companies, Minister of Mineral Resources Ngoako Ramatlhodi told reporters in Pretoria. The government and mine operators will also seek buyers for distressed assets that could be run profitably under different management, Ramatlhodi said.

The proposals were adopted after mining operators including Lonmin Plc and Anglo American Plc announced plans to reduce their workforce as metal prices fell to their lowest levels since the fallout from the global financial crisis in 2009.

While the government has received notices of plans to cut as many as 11,798 jobs, unions say the figure could be as high as 19,000.

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Colorado mining disaster shows Maine was right to reject mining rules — again – by Nick Bennett (Bangor Daily News – August 30, 2015)

https://bangordailynews.com/

Nick Bennett is staff scientist and watersheds project director at the Natural Resource Council of Maine.

2015 has been a year of seconds with respect to mining. For the second time, the Department of Environmental Protection submitted the same weak mining rules it submitted to the Legislature in 2014. For the second time, the Legislature wisely rejected them.

Also for the second straight year, a mining disaster occurred soon after the end of the legislative session and proved that the Legislature was right to reject DEP’s rules. On Aug. 4, 2014, the tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia failed, releasing billions of gallons of mining waste into pristine lakes and streams.

The effects of the pollution from this modern mine, which its owner built in 1997, will linger for decades in some of the most important salmon habitat in Western Canada.

After the Mount Polley disaster, many Mainers breathed a sigh of relief that the Legislature had blocked weak rules that would have allowed Canada-based J.D. Irving to mine at Bald Mountain.

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It’s time for a Better Dialogue about Mineral Exploration and Development – by Gavin Dirom (Vancouver Province – August 31, 2015)

http://blogs.theprovince.com/

Gavin Dirom is president and chief executive officer of the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia.

Over the past few months, some observers in Alaska have expressed fears about mineral exploration and mining development in northwestern British Columbia. The concerns primarily relate to water quality in rivers originating in British Columbia and draining into southeastern Alaska. These rivers support important salmon runs and communities in both jurisdictions. As good neighbours and allies, Canadian mineral explorers and developers understand and respect these concerns. We also care about our shared water and salmon.

Northwestern British Columbia is a mountainous area with high mineral development potential. This rugged area, with its world-class deposits can help provide us with the critical metals and minerals that we all use in our everyday lives. By discovering and developing mineral resources, our industry makes a major contribution to modern society. Without it, we would have no bicycles, no boats, no electric cars, no iPhones, no lights and no hospitals. These are just a few of the things that require metals and minerals that we all take for granted.

Finding a balance between environmental, social and economic values is a challenge we all face. But that is nothing new. Responsible mineral explorers acknowledge that there will always be some impacts when developing a mine, and we agree that these need to be soundly assessed and properly mitigated.

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Trying to avoid the ‘extinction’ of Canada’s junior mining companies – by Simon Doyle (Globe and Mail – August 31, 2015)

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.

Simon Doyle covers lobbying and the intersection of business and politics in Ottawa. He writes for Politics Insider, which is available only to subscribers of Globe Unlimited.

The mining industry is lobbying for government help for junior mining companies and northern infrastructure as more juniors have delisted from the TSX and the commodities rout has deepened.

Minerals continued to fall early last week before a tumultuous few days on the markets. Fears about China’s economy and its metals consumption have refreshed arguments among members of Canada’s mining-industry associations for government measures to support the sector.

“The government appreciates the circumstances,” said Rod Thomas, head of mineral exploration industry group the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, whose group has been calling for an expanded junior mining tax credit, investment in northern infrastructure and relaxed rules for raising capital.

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Australian gold output on the rise – by Lawrie Williams (Mineweb.com – August 31, 2015)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Surbiton Associates in its latest survey of the Australian gold sector notes rising production during the June quarter.

LONDON – The world’s second largest gold mining nation, Australia, saw gold output rise in the June quarter according to a survey by Melbourne-based consultancy, Surbiton Associates.
Gold production for the period totalled some 72 tonnes (2.31 million ounces), an increase of almost three tonnes or four per cent over the March 2015 quarter. With most Australian miners having June year-ends, Surbiton puts the fiscal year total (to end-June) at 285 tonnes.

In Mineweb’s analysis of global gold output in calendar 2014, derived from figures from London-based consultancy Metals Focus, China was the world’s leading producer that year with annual output of 462 tonnes with Australia second, just ahead of Russia, with a little over 272 tonnes.

So the latest Surbiton figures suggest Australian gold output could well be heading strongly higher in calendar 2015. (See: Gold’s top 20 – mines, miners and countries). China is also believed to be producing more gold this year than last.

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Copper slump continues amid waning Chinese demand – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – August 31, 2015)

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.

Copper used to be considered one of the relatively bright spots in the recent downturn of commodity prices. But now it is becoming yet another victim of China’s slowing economy, and the future looks bleak.

“There was always this belief that the deceleration in the Chinese manufacturing sector was going to not just stabilize, but there was this hope that we would see a modest reacceleration,” said John Mothersole, a research director with consultancy IHS, who specializes in metal price analysis and forecasting. “Markets are coming to realize that those expectations were falsely held,” he said.

Copper, like other commodities, has been on a decline since 2011. This year, the red metal is down 20 per cent.

The metal, used in power generation, cars and construction, has dropped as low as $2.20 (U.S.) a pound – the break-even price for some producers.

The main problem is the surplus of copper in the market along with excess capacity in the Chinese copper industry.

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Suppliers Feel Pain as Coal Miners Struggle – by John W. Miller (Wall Street Journal – August 30, 2015)

http://www.wsj.com/

Thousands of firms scramble for new customers; ‘it’s been catastrophic’

BROOKVILLE, Pa.—Workers in a rural warehouse here are restoring four machines: a locomotive for coal miner Consol Energy Inc., and three 1947 San Francisco streetcars.

By this time next year, the coal-mining equipment could be gone, and the workers at Brookville Equipment Corp. left repairing just streetcars.

So it goes in coal country, which has been bruised by competition from natural gas, regulation of coal’s heavy carbon footprint, and economic forces like the strong dollar. As big coal miners struggle, their equipment suppliers—thousands of firms sprinkled throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky—are scrambling to find new customers anywhere they can, from gun shops to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

For most, nothing will replace the massive scale of the coal-mining sector, and as the generational coal crisis ripples throughout the hamlets and hollows of Appalachia, economists are debating the region’s most viable path for growth.

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Conservatives response to First Nations water problems ‘a crime’, Howard Hampton says – by Jody Porter (CBC News Thunder Bay – August 28, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

NDP, Liberals say Grassy Narrows state of emergency highlights Conservative neglect

The state of emergency over water quality concerns at Grassy Narrows First Nation is a “shameful” situation created by Conservative neglect, according to the NDP.

The First Nation, located about 100 kilometres north of Kenora, Ont., declared the emergency this week over potentially cancer-causing chemicals found in its local tap water.

The water treatment plant in Grassy Narrows First Nation is missing basic parts and has not functioned properly since it was built about a decade ago, according to Deputy Chief Randy Fobister.

“It’s a crime that the Department of Aboriginal Affairs Canada sent back almost a billion dollars of funding that could have been used to address these safe, clean drinking water problems,” said Howard Hampton, the NDP candidate in the Kenora riding. “But the Harper Conservatives decided it’s not a priority.”

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