Engineering & Mining Journal

JUL 2013

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/142836

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 7 of 91

NEWS-LEADING DEVELOPMENTS also holds a 24% equity stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Kokkola cobalt refinery in Finland. Freeport Declares Force Majeure Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. reported on June 12 that PT Freeport Indonesia had notified its customers of a force majeure event under its concentrate sales agreements for production from its Grasberg operations in Papua, Indonesia. Grasberg production was shut down following a roof collapse at a PT-FI underground training classroom and tunnel on May 14 that killed 28 people (E&MJ;, June 2013, p. 9). That incident was some distance away from mine operations, and PT-FI was working toward returning to production at the Grasberg open pit on May 31 when a second incident at the underground DOZ mine resulted in another fatality. That death resulted from overflow of wet muck from an ore pass onto a truck, covering the truck and fatally injuring the driver, who died in a hospital the next day. All activity related to Grasberg mine production was then suspended pending conclusion of ongoing investigations by the Indonesian Department of Energy and Mineral Resources and by PT-FI into the causes of the accidents. PT-FI is owned 90.64% by FreeportMcMoRan and 9.36% by the government of Indonesia. At full production, the Grasberg mines produce about 220,000 mt/d of ore, 140,000 from an open pit and 80,000 mt/d from underground. Freeport-McMoRan's June 12 statement estimated the daily impact of the suspension of operations at about 3 million lb of copper and 3,000 oz of gold in concentrates. "For the period between May 15, 2013, and June 11, 2013, the estimated impact on PT-FI production approximated 80 million lb of copper and 80,000 oz of gold. PT-FI is actively working with government authorities on a phased restart of operations and will update its production outlook as additional information becomes available," the statement said. As of June 20, news reports indicated that the investigations of the accidents might be nearing conclusions and that activity to restart mine production might begin within a week or two. 6 E&MJ; • JULY 2013 Extractive Industries Reporting Transparency Draws More Attention In mid-June, the European Parliament voted in favor of new European Union transparency and accounting directives relating to payments by companies in the extractive industries to governments. At approximately the same time, separate announcements by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and by a working group that includes the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and the Prospectors & Developers Association (PDAC) addressed the issue of reporting standards for Canadian extractive companies, with a view to enhancing transparency on the payments they make to governments. The European Union directives create a binding legal requirement for EU-listed and large privately owned oil, gas, mining and logging companies to publish— country by country and project by project—all payments of more than €100,000 to governments wherever they operate. This brings the European Union in line with similar rules that take effect this year in the United States under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. In Canada, Prime Minister Harper announced that the government of Canada intends to establish a new, mandatory reporting regime with a view to "improving transparency, ensuring Canada's framework is consistent with existing international standards and aligned with other G-8 countries, ensuring a level playing field for companies operating domestically and abroad, enhancing investment certainty, helping reinforce the integrity of Canadian extractive companies, and helping to ensure that citizens in resource-rich countries around the world are better informed and benefit from the natural resources in their country." Cliffs Suspends Chromite Project in Northern Ontario Cliffs Natural Resources announced on June 12, that its affiliate, Cliffs Chromite Ontario Inc., is temporarily suspending environmental assessment activities for its Chromite project in the Ring of Fire region of northern Ontario, Canada. The company attributed the decision to delays related to the environmental assessment process, land surface rights, and negotiations with the province of Ontario, including: • Delayed approval of the Terms of Reference for the provincial Environmental Assessment (EA) process, • Uncertainty regarding the federal EA process due to a judicial challenge by a number of the impacted First Nations, • Unresolved land surface rights issues following a February 2013 Mining and Land Commissioner hearing, and • Unfinished agreements with the government of Ontario that are critical to the project's economic viability. "While most aspects of the Chromite project have advanced according to plan, temporarily suspending the environmental assessment work acknowledges that certain critical elements of the project's future are not solely within our control and require the active support and participation by other interested parties, such as government agencies and impacted First Nation communities," Cliffs Senior Vice President for Global Ferroalloys Bill Boor said. "We remain excited about this project and its potential for Cliffs and northern Ontario; however, given the current unresolved issues, we cannot and will not unilaterally move the process forward and must manage our resources appropriately. "In a practical sense, we've taken the EA and other project work as far as possible without resolution of these issues. Although we are temporarily suspending our EA activities, we will continue our work with the government of Ontario and First Nation communities and look forward to restarting the work on the EA when we are collectively ready to make this project a reality." The Ring of Fire is a cluster of mineral deposits about 1,500 km northwest of Toronto that has the potential to bring economic development to northern Ontario. There is no significant infrastructure in the region, and Cliffs plan for its Chromite project includes a $600million north-south access highway, which could also open the region to other, smaller mining companies that have projects in the region. Among these companies, Noront Resources said Cliffs' announcement would not change Noront's development planning for its Eagle's Nest and Blackbird deposits in the Ring of Fire region. This planning includes the possibility of opening an eastwest access corridor for Noront's projects in the event the north-south access route proposed by Cliffs does not materialize. www.e-mj.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Engineering & Mining Journal - JUL 2013