Rio +20 - Member States

 

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, is an intergovernmental process driven by Member states of the United Nations with full involvement of the UN system and Major groups. Several preparatory Member States led meetings are taking place in the run-up to the Conference, in order to discuss the objective and themes of the Conference.  Click here for a list of the member states...

ICMM hosts CEO Panel at PDAC International Convention

 

On Tuesday 6 March, ICMM hosted its first CEO session at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) International Convention.

The panel, titled Linking Strategy to Sustainability, provided a forum for industry leaders to share knowledge on sustainable development and mining activities.

Five leading CEOs – Aaron Regent (Barrick), Donald Lindsay (Teck), Andrew Michelmore (MMG), Donald Bubar (Avalon) and Steven Letwin (IAMGOLD) – addressed an audience of over 300 delegates in a session moderated by ICMM President Anthony Hodge. Ross Gallinger, PDAC Executive Director, provided opening remarks at the session.

Read more here... 

Newmont reconsiders cost of delayed Peru mine

Newmont Mining Corp. is reevaluating the cost of its delayed Conga gold and copper project in Peru, the company's senior vice president in South America said on Wednesday.

The project, launched with an announced investment of $4.8-billion last year, has been stalled since November due to opposition from the northern Cajamarca region, costing the company millions.

"Obviously the paralyzation is having an impact... in the first few days we said it was around $2 million per day but we have reduced activity to control costs," said Carlos Santa Cruz, Newmont's top executive in Peru and regional vice president. Newmont Mining Corp. is reevaluating the cost of its delayed Conga gold and copper project in Peru, the company's senior vice president in South America said on Wednesday. Read more here

 

Search for coal leads to Canada's high Arctic

 

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore mining on Baffin Island? Child's play. A newly floated company, Canada Coal, is hoping to build a coal mine on Ellesmere Island, the northernmost tip of which is just 800 km from the North Pole.

“I firmly believe we have what could be a world-class deposit up there,” commented CEOBraam Jonker, who was Western Coal CFO until Walter Energy bought the company for $3.3-billion in April 2011. Read more here...

Miners Seeking Deposits in High-Risk Regions, Consultant Says

 

Mining companies, including Rio Tinto Group (RIO) and Vale SA, are increasingly looking for ore bodies in regions with high political and security risk as they struggle to meet commodities demand, a risk consultant said.

“The mining industry is actually an industry in crisis,” Michael Humphreys, managing director at strategic consultancy Control Risks in Sydney, said in an interview. “There’s this concern about getting their hands on leases - if you’re an exploration geologist, all the good sites have been pegged.” Read more here...

Implats’ Zimbabwe compensation unlikely at market rate – Liberum

 

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s platinum major Implats, which has reached an enforced in-principle agreement on indigenising 51% of its Zimplats assets, is unlikely to be compensated by the Zimbabwean government at the market rate, mining analyst Liberum Capital Mining said on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe’s indigenisation regulations, which were gazetted in early 2010, require foreign mining companies to have a 51% Zimbabwean shareholding. Read more here...

Miners should focus on community empowerment as nationalism tide rises

Gold Fields chairperson Dr Mamphela Ramphele 

The mining industry should do more to implement sustainable practices and empower local communities, as resource nationalism is evolving into a “tidal wave that threatened” mining, says Gold Fields chairperson Dr Mamphela Ramphele.

“Every week, there are new proposals on mining taxes, environmental obliga- tions, indigenisation measures or other regulations being imposed on the industry somewhere on the globe. Governments, local communities and trade unions are making demands that are seemingly never ending,” she said at the Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town. Read more here...