Republic of Mining

Mount Polley mine disaster hits 2-year mark, fallout still causes divisions – by Dirk Meissner (CBC News British Columbia – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

‘We don’t want the mine to go away. We just want things done right,’ local official says

The Canadian Press – Lisa Kraus says it’s been a difficult two years in the tiny central British Columbia community of Likely, where the collapse of a massive tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine opened wounds that have yet to heal.

Twenty-four million cubic metres of mine waste and water gushed into nearby lakes and rivers on Aug. 4, 2014. An independent, government-ordered panel of experts concluded the cause was an inadequately designed dam at the Imperial Metals open pit copper and gold mine that didn’t account for drainage and erosion failures beneath the pond.

One of the panel’s geotechnical engineers described the location and design of the pond as loading a gun and pulling the trigger. “We were woken up in the middle of the night,” said Kraus, who lives on riverfront property just downstream from the mine site.

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

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.

Why Australia will be at centre of lithium boom (Australian Financial Review – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://www.afr.com/

Australia is on track to host the world’s two biggest lithium mines as soaring sales of electric vehicles and mobile phones in China drives demand for the rare metal.

Surging production of electric vehicles and the lithium batteries that power them is expected to underpin demand for lithium, the key Diggers and Dealers mining industry conference has heard.

Pilbara Minerals, which is developing the Pilgangoora Project in the iron-ore rich Pilbara region of Western Australia, has recently signed an offtake agreement with Chinese firm General Lithium and plans to start mining next year.

Indigenous reconciliation proposals need to be enormous – by Jesse Staniforth (Toronto Star – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

https://www.thestar.com/

Indigenous people need to be offered land it will cost a fortune, which is what they lost over the years

Last week, Anishinaabe comedian Ryan McMahon released an episode of his podcast, Red Man Laughing — a hybrid of comedy and serious discussion of indigenous issues. This season, the podcast follows the theme “Reconciliation,” and to advertise the new episode “Land,” McMahon posted a two-sentence proposition to social media: “The colonial project in Canada was/is about LAND. Reconciliation is impossible without returning land.”

The bluntness of this statement and the inescapability of its conclusion were a stark contrast to the news of the day about indigenous issues. Within the last month, Trudeau’s Liberal government has stepped back from its oft-stated commitment to harmonize Canadian law with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), a project for which it voted as a bloc last year, and for which Trudeau reiterated his support on the campaign trail last fall.

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould called the UNDRIP a “simplistic (approach)” and “unworkable,” though she insists the Liberals still intend to “adopt” the declaration.

Lonmin Fund’s Missing Millions Prompts Community Pay Reform – by Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/

South Africa plans to reform how local communities manage and spend mining royalties after a corruption probe found that a $44 million fund bankrolled by Lonmin Plc had been exhausted.

Almost all the money received by the Bapo Ba Mogale community during the past 20 years has been spent, with the biggest amount used to build a palace for a tribal leader, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on July 5. The palace cost at least 80 million rand ($5.8 million) despite an initial budget of 20 million rand.

“We need to develop a policy mechanism that can prevent it from reccurring anywhere else whilst also dealing with the remedies of what has happened with the Bapo,” Obed Bapela, a deputy minister at the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, said in an interview.

NEWS RELEASE: Chromium: Primary producers face growth headwinds as scrap ratio set to climb (Roskill.com – July 8, 2016)

August 4, 2016

www.roskill.com

Roskill has released its new chromium market report with forecasts out to 2026. It is essential reading for anyone needing a comprehensive overview of chromite, ferrochrome, chromium metal and chromium chemicals markets.

World chromite consumption totalled 29Mt in 2015 with 92% consumed in metallurgical applications. Non-metallurgical applications for chromite can be separated into chemical applications (6% of consumption in 2015), foundry applications (2%) and refractories (1%).

Stainless steel is by far the biggest end-use market for chromite and, therefore, trends in chromite consumption closely that of stainless steel production. Ferrochrome is used in the production of stainless steel. Asia dominates demand for all ferrochrome grades and its share of consumption increased substantially over the decade to 2016, while Europe, in particular, saw its market share reduce.

UPDATE 1-Philippines suspends seventh nickel miner in environmental crackdown – by Manolo Serapio Jr and Enrico Dela Cruz (Reuters U.S. – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA, Aug 4 – The Philippine government has suspended the operations of a seventh nickel miner, Claver Mineral Development Corp, a minister said on Thursday, deepening an environmental crackdown that has caused jitters in global nickel markets.

The Philippines is the biggest supplier of nickel ore to top market China and the suspension of some mines and the risk of more closures sent global nickel prices to an 11-month high of $10,900 a tonne on July 21.

“Today we are suspending Claver Mineral. We will audit all the mine sites of Mindanao,” Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez said, referring to the nickel-rich southern Philippine island. Claver runs a mine in the Surigao del Norte province in Mindanao.

Fears of oil spill fuel Quebec opposition to Energy East pipeline – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

TransCanada Corp.’s Energy East project is encountering a major logjam at the Ottawa River, with Quebec officials refusing to issue permits to the company that would allow it to determine how to cross the waterway – citing Husky Energy Inc.’s spill in a Saskatchewan river last month as a troubling warning sign.

In filings with the National Energy Board, TransCanada said its usual method for river crossing was “not feasible” at its preferred Ottawa River crossing site, near the junction with the St. Lawrence River. It had promised to provide an alternative scenario this summer, but that work is delayed because county officials from Vaudreuil-Soulanges are denying the company the permits for geological testing of the riverbed.

TransCanada has not adequately communicated its plans, Raymond Malo, assistant director-general for Vaudreuil-Soulanges, said in an interview, and local government officials remain worried about the potential for a disastrous spill into the river, which would contaminate drinking water for millions of residents in the Montreal region.

NEWS RELEASE: Horizonte completes acquisition of Glencore project to create one of largest nickel saprolite projects globally

August 4, 2016

LONDON, Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – Horizonte Minerals Plc, (AIM: HZM, TSX: HZM) (‘Horizonte’ or ‘the Company’) the nickel development company focused in Brazil, is pleased to announce the transfer to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company of the remaining two licences that make up the Glencore Araguaia nickel project (‘GAP’) in north central Brazil. This completes the licence transfer under the agreement (‘Asset Purchase Agreement’) to acquire GAP from Xstrata Brasil Exploraçâo Mineral Ltda (‘Xstrata’), a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore, as announced by the Company on 28 September 2015.

Highlights

The closing of the transaction completes the consolidation of GAP and Horizonte’s Araguaia Project creating one of the largest nickel saprolite projects globally
The transfer includes the advanced Serra do Tapa nickel deposit
Combined projects currently the focus for a new Pre-Feasibility Study due for completion in Q3 2016

COLUMN-Small Australian miners are the canaries of commodity prices – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://uk.reuters.com/

Aug 4 Are the strong gains this year in small Australian resource companies a harbinger of sustainable rallies for both bigger miners and commodity prices in general? Past evidence suggests yes.

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Small Resources Index has jumped 66 percent so far this year, comfortably ahead of both large mining stocks like Rio Tinto, which has gained 10.5 percent, and a broad commodity price indicator, such as the Bloomberg Commodity Index, up 8.6 percent.

What this tells you is that small-capitalisation resource stocks have been the outperformer, but if you believe history is a guide then it is worth noting that the minnows have in the past rallied and peaked prior to major companies and overall commodity prices.

Duterte on mining firms: I am fighting a monster – by Christina M. Mendez (Philippine Star – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://www.philstar.com/

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED 7:26 p.m.) — President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at the oligarchs who exploit the country’s natural resources particularly, those in the mining and fisheries industry.

“I am fighting a monster. Believe me, I will destroy their clutches on our nation,” he said at an environment summit at Ateneo de Davao University. Duterte vowed anew to go after mining firms which continue to practice environmentally destructive open-pit methods and corporations which are granted mining permits through money, influence and sheer greed.

The president scored the reckless grant of permits solely on the basis that a mining firm can afford it.

Nuke the oilsands: Alberta’s narrowly cancelled plan to drill for oil with atomic weapons – by Tristin Hopper (National Post – August 3, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://news.nationalpost.com/

It’s often forgotten what a technological feat it was to pump oil out of the Fort McMurray area. While it’s long been known that the Athabasca region is swimming with petroleum, geologists spent decades banging their head against the problem of how to turn oily sand into something that could be refined into gasoline.

Which makes it all the more fortunate that — just before science figured it out — Alberta kiboshed a plan that would have simply thrown nuclear bombs at the problem. “Nuclear miracles will make us rich,” declared famed physicist Edward Teller in a 1959 syndicated editorial.

As the first seeds of the anti-nuclear movement began to show themselves, Teller was trying to assure a worried public that they should welcome atomic bombs as bringers of “as rich a harvest as man’s ingenuity ever has produced.”

A start-up’s race to harvest the moon’s treasures – by Lori Ioannou (CNBC.com – August 3, 2016)

August 3, 2016

http://www.cnbc.com/

In a race against global superpowers, Moon Express — a private venture founded by billionaire entrepreneur Naveen Jain, space technology guru Dr. Barney Pell and space futurist Dr. Bob Richards — has cleared a path for private U.S . companies looking to explore and commercialize space.

Today the company is the first private enterprise in history to receive U.S. government approval to travel beyond Earth’s orbit and undertake a deep space mission. The goal: to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon’s surface in 2017 and analyze and explore its valuable resources that can be used on Earth.

The moon is a treasure chest that has vast amounts of iron ore, water, rare Earth minerals and precious metals, as well as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and helium-3, a gas that can be used in future fusion reactors to provide nuclear power without radioactive waste. Experts concur that the value of these resources are in the trillions of dollars.

Separatist Northern Ontario Party officially a registered party – by Jon Thompson, (tbnewswatch.com – August 3, 2016)

August 3, 2016

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

http://northernontarioparty.simdif.com/index.html

THUNDER BAY – THUNDER BAY – When Ontario Northland motorcoach driver Trevor Holliday started a petition in March calling for Northern Ontario’s independence, he never envisaged becoming the leader of a political party with the aim of making it a reality. That’s exactly what happened within only a season.

“I go from saying I’ll never get involved in politics and now look at me,” Holliday said. “I’m jumping in with both feet.” Elections Ontario listed the Northern Ontario Party among the list of registered parties on July 28, breathing new life into a four-decades-old separatist movement with Holliday as its party leader.

The NOP inherits the mantle of the Northern Ontario Heritage Party, the separatist party which gained prominence in the 1970s and was disbanded in 1985, only to be re-launched in 2010.

Little appetite for Barrick Gold’s Super Pit stake – by Bridget Carter and Gretchen Friemann (The Australian – August 4, 2016)

August 3, 2016

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

It’s the billion-dollar goldmine that no one seems to want.

The announcement last week from Canada’s Barrick Gold that it intended to sell its 50 per cent stake in Kalgoorlie’s giant Super Pit, arguably Australia’s most famous goldmine, has created plenty of buzz in and around this week’s big Diggers & Dealers mining forum.

Unfortunately for Barrick and its hopes of securing anywhere near the $900 million price tag mooted for its stake, that buzz had been overwhelmingly negative.

While almost every gold play at the conference has been talking up their appetite for deals, those same gold plays have all but unanimously ruled out any interest in the Super Pit stake.