Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The richest, riskiest tin mine on Earth (The Economist – August 27, 2016)

http://www.economist.com/

DEEP in the jungle of North Kivu, a lawless province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a new road is being cut through the canopy. As birds chirp, hand saws cut noisily through trees. Men with shovels dig out roots and flatten the ochre-red earth.

A sturdy new log bridge crosses a stream. On it stands Boris Kamstra, a South African in a plaid shirt and bucket hat. “This is great road-building material,” he booms, gesturing at the stones.

Mr Kamstra is the boss of Alphamin Resources, a Canadian-funded company that is trying to build perhaps the most improbable mine in Africa. The site, on a hill called Bisie, is about 60km (37 miles) from the nearest settlement of any size, a town called Walikale.

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World wants platinum, says Northam’s Dunne of R7bn plan – by David McKay (MiningMx – August 24, 2016)

http://www.miningmx.com/

DOUBLING production at a cost of R7bn in the platinum sector may seem a demonstration of extreme optimism, but Northam Platinum CEO, Paul Dunne, believes there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about the future.

In an interview with Mining in July, he told how the country’s platinum sector nearly hit the wall at the end of 2015. Prices for the basket of platinum group metals – platinum, palladium, rhodium and nickel – fell so low that only mine gate fixed costs were covered. In layman’s terms, miners were faced with the decision of whether to stay open, or close.

“We very, very nearly got there towards the end of last calendar year, but we’ve just managed to avoid it by some balance sheet management,” he said. Prices have also helped with a 15% recovery in the rand basket at the time of writing. “We were on the verge of severe structural change,” he added.

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Crops or carats? The unattended tensions between miners and farmers in Africa. – by Stephen Yeboah (Mail & Guardian Africa – August 24, 2016)

http://mgafrica.com/

The interaction between artisanal (small-scale) mining and agriculture in Africa still needs to be carefully considered by policy-makers to ensure that people’s livelihoods and countries’ export revenues aren’t threatened. It’s also important that the relationship between the two sectors is optimised to mutual benefit.

Mining occurs in the same geographic areas as agriculture. It competes for similar inputs, like land, water and labour. This means there is a significant risk that agriculture will be adversely affected by mining. Both are vital to the survival of most African economies. They both contribute to export revenues and employ a large number of people.

But research conducted in Ghana, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest gold producer and the world’s second largest cocoa producer, reveals some troubling imbalances between the two sectors.

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DR Congo’s second city poisoned by years of mining (AFP/Daily Mail – August 22, 2016)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

“In this stream, the fish vanished long ago, killed by acids and waste from the mines,” says Lubumbashi resident Heritier Maloba, staring into the murky waters of his childhood fishing hole.

Pollution caused by copper and cobalt mining has not only poisoned the Katapula, a tributary of the mighty Congo River and one of the main waterways in this second city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but has also induced widespread illness.

“High concentrations of toxic metals … cause respiratory disorders and birth defects,” particularly in people living near the mines, said toxicologist Celestin Banza of the University of Lubumbashi.

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One of the World’s Biggest Gold Deposits Is Finally Making Money – by Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – August 18, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold Fields Ltd.’s troubled South Deep mine in South Africa generated positive cash flow for the first time since the company bought the operation for about $3 billion in 2006. The stock rose for the first time in five days.

Boosted by a higher gold price and efficiency gains, South Deep made 63 million rand ($5 million) of cash in the second quarter, compared to a loss of 330 million rand a year ago, the Johannesburg-based producer said in a presentation on its website.

The mine is a kingpin asset for Gold Fields, comprising about 75 percent of reserves, according to the company’s website, even after a decade of delays, accidents and losing money.

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US probe links Cape tycoon to mining rights bribery in Africa – by Stefaans Brümmer and Craig McKune (AmaBhungane Centre For Investigative Journalism – August 18, 2016)

http://amabhungane.co.za/

US authorities have implicated Cape Town multimillionaire Walter Hennig, an associate of politician-businessman Tokyo Sexwale, in bribing officials of three African countries for mining rights – including, apparently, the president of Guinea.

Hennig’s Palladino Holdings entered a joint venture named Africa Management with US hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and Sexwale’s Mvelaphanda Holdings in 2008 to invest in natural resources.

Och-Ziff announced in 2014 that US authorities were investigating it for bribery in Africa. Earlier this month it said it had put aside $414-million (about R5.6-billion) for a potential settlement.

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The South African mining town where 1 in 4 women say they have been raped – by Yanan Wang (Hamilton Spectator – August 17, 2016)

http://www.thespec.com/

For years, South African women and men have come to Rustenburg Local Municipality in droves, attracted by its location at the heart of the world’s largest platinum group metals repository. Opportunities in mining have caused the population to balloon, making the town northwest of Johannesburg the fastest-growing municipality in the country.

But while employment has been abundant, it is largely men who have benefited.

Nearly 90 percent of Rustenburg’s mineworkers are men, while women, who have likewise flocked to the town from rural South Africa and nearby countries, struggle to find jobs. A Doctors Without Borders report released Tuesday suggests that this imbalance has carried insidious consequences: “Many females in Rustenburg may be financially dependent on men … [making] women less likely to report violence by a partner they depend on.”

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Exploration is at the base of transforming Ivanhoe – by Sungula Nkabinde (Mineweb.com – August 17, 2016)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Milestone copper discovery in DRC augmented with the Platreef project.

The Canadian mining company has made the transmission from a junior exploration company to a mining juggernaut, having made game-changing discoveries over the last decade. Last week the company announced the results of drilling efforts at its Kamoa Copper project, near the mining centre of Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In 2013, the Kamoa project was heralded as the world’s largest, undeveloped, high-grade copper discovery, with Ivanhoe’s exploration team earning the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award in 2015.

The award annually recognises an individual or a team of geologists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery or series of discoveries anywhere in the world.

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‘Remembering the Marikana massacre is critical’NORTH WEST – by Jonisayi Maromo (Independent Online – August 15, 2016)

http://www.iol.co.za/

Marikana – Loud music echoed from a giant stage erected at the Marikana koppie in the Nkaneng informal settlement near Rustenburg on Monday, as preparations for the fourth commemorations of the Marikana tragedy were being finalised.

A few metres away, community members sang along to the loud music as they went on their daily chores in the shacks making up the Nkaneng informal settlement. Maritha Mabasa said in August 2012, she had recently moved to Marikana, from the Free State, when the wage dispute degenerated into chaos.

“What happened there remains vivid in my mind. Who would forget the murder of more than 30 people in one day? And my heart is sore,” said the mother of three, pointing at the koppie.

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Millions ‘stolen’ in illegal chrome rush – by Lutho Mtongana, Lucky Biyase and Sabelo Skiti (Sunday Times – June 26, 2016)

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

South Africa – An elaborate illegal chrome-mining operation in rural Limpopo has shipped out chrome worth millions of rand, with the blessing of local headmen – and the government is powerless to stop the plunder.

Mining experts estimate the illegal miners may already have extracted 360,000 tons of chrome, with an estimated value of R500-million. The Sunday Times could not establish this week how many illegal operators are mining, or how much chrome is being taken.

But throughout the day, luxury cars with Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng registration plates pulled in and out of the mines. Some trucks had plates from Mozambique. A copy of a cash flow statement belonging to one of the operators showed his company had made R1.5-million in two weeks, having moved 7,000 metric tons of chrome.

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WHY BUYERS SHUNNED THE WORLD’S LARGEST DIAMOND – by Matthew Hart (Vanity Fair – August 5, 2016)

http://www.vanityfair.com/

At 1,109 carats, big as a tennis ball, the world’s largest uncut diamond was expected to shatter records at a June Sotheby’s auction. How did the dazzling stone go unsold? An exclusive reveals what went wrong. The assassination of William Lamb began at 6:45 P.M. on a soft June night. Spectators packed the killing ground, a sales room on the second floor of Sotheby’s, in London.

The victim wore the raiment of his caste, a crisp tuxedo. A few yards in front of where he sat, blazing in its spotlight on a plinth beside the auctioneer, was a 1,109-carat top-color white diamond called Lesedi La Rona, the vessel of Lamb’s hopes for a bold new way to sell rough diamonds. His wife had bought him new shoes for the occasion, the toe caps spattered with faux gems. He wore socks patterned with jaunty slashes of color.

The Lesedi diamond opened at $50 million and struggled from the start. Fifty-one million dollars, someone offered, and too long after that, $52 million. This was not the scenario that Lamb had imagined in his dreams. In that version, a forest of bidding paddles would have shot up in the room as eager buyers drove the price north of $100 million.

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DIAMONDS NOT FOREVER: Economists call for Botswana ‘transformation’ – by Mpho Tebele (Southern African News – August 12, 2016)

GABORONE – Economists have urged Botswana to undergo what they termed a second economic transformation. In a report compiled by Econsult Botswana, economists Dr Keith Jefferies and Sethunya Sejoe warned that diamond mining is unlikely to drive economic growth in future, as opposed to providing a foundation for current economic activity and income levels.

“Second, as mines get deeper and more difficult to exploit, costs of production go up and hence profits – and the sector’s contribution to GDP and government revenues – will gradually decline,” the duo said.

Thirdly, they said, the population is growing, so constant diamond production actually entails declining production (and income) per capita. They said there are also various economic and social stresses apparent that require something other than “business as usual”.

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Global mining report highlights lack of government and investor recognition for Australian miners – by Babs McHugh (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – August 10, 2016)

http://www.abc.net.au/

A new report has argued Australian companies are international leaders but lack the recognition they deserve from investors, commentators and the Federal Government.

Sharing the Benefits: enhancing Australia’s global leadership in the mining value chain was a joint effort between the University of Queensland, the University of Western Australia and the Sustainable Minerals Institute.

Co-author Professor Ian Satchwell described Australian resources companies as a “formidable global enterprise” with diverse expertise. “A survey by Austrade in the five years leading up to 2013 shows those companies made three and a half times the value of discoveries outside of Australia than inside Australia,” he said.

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DRC mining sector still attractive investment destination, despite risks – by Ilan Solomons (MiningWeekly.com – August 5, 2016)

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

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) mining sector will receive increasing amounts of foreign investment in the coming years, particularly from China, as a result of its low production costs and high-quality minerals, says research firm BMI, a unit of Fitch Group.

Nevertheless, the research company notes, political and operational risks will remain key concerns for investors, as with other countries in the African subcontinent.

BMI states that the DRC will remain a “destination of choice” for Chinese mining investors in the coming years, owing to the country’s rich endowment of copper and gold. The firm further notes that Chinese investment in copper mining will be supported by the DRC’s low production costs and the largest undeveloped high-grade (2% to 3%, compared with the global average of 0.8%) copper deposits in the world.

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Consolidation—the fastest way to get South Africa’s idled ferrochrome capacity back into action – by Mark Beveridge (CRU Group.com – August 4, 2016)

http://www.crugroup.com/

The recovery of the South African chrome industry over the last four months has been dramatic. Back in March, chrome ore prices were at a six-year low in nominal ZA rand terms; by July, they had rebounded to their highest levels since the global financial crisis in 2008.

The proximate cause of this turnaround is obvious: Chinese demand largely defines the chrome market, and since early Q2 it has been especially strong. A combination of stimulus-linked demand for ferrochrome in China and a relative absence of chrome inventory led to a scrabble for South African ore. Prices rose and have remained stable for about the last two months.

The recovery in chrome prices also coincides with what CRU believes to be significant moves to consolidate the South African industry. These should pave the way for the creation of a stronger South African chrome sector; one that can regulate supply (both of alloy and ore )better than has been possible in recent years, while also ensuring South Africa’s overall charge chrome output increases in future.

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