Mining – India
1. JSW Steel seeks iron ore mine in Karnataka
2. National Aluminium plans nuclear power plant
3. Tata Steel awaits Orissa mine deal
4. Mine scam: Civil groups clamour for CBI probe
5. Campaign against mining
6. Indian iron ore export price saw a continuous increase
Mining – International
7. BHP mines acquisitions before economic revival
8. Murder crushes Philippine mining hopes
9. Brazil mining reform plan rouses investor anxiety
10. Four Mile uranium mine delayed
11. Newcrest Tungsten Mine May Be World’s Biggest, Australian Says
12. First Uranium resumes operations at S.Africa mine
13. Blackout traps miners at Australia zinc mine-media
14. Victims of Scotland's worst mining disaster remembered
Other News
15. Leak reveals India Maoist threat
16. Tea with BS: Jairam Ramesh
17. 13-yr-old Lucknow girl to spread green word at UN
18. Kudos, Jairam: Environment ministry to cede power
19. India ranked ninth in world tree planting
Mining – India
Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore September 20, 2009, 0:35 IST
Jindal South West Steel Limited (JSW Steel Ltd), the flagship company of the JSW Group, is seeking allotment of a captive iron ore mine in the iron ore-rich Bellary-Hospet region of north Karnataka. The company has applied to the state government and is waiting for the grant of the mining lease.
The company currently procures iron ore from the open market for its steel plant at Toranagal in Bellary as the state government is yet to fulfil its assurance of grant of a lease for a mine with reserves of 110 million tonnes in the Bellary region.
The company needs its own mine to expand the steel plant to 11 million tonnes per annum. This is scheduled to commence in 2010. Currently, it operates a steel mill with a capacity of 7.8 million tonnes.
The company required around 25 million tonnes iron ore to feed its plant once the expansion was completed, said Sajjan Jindal, vice-chairman and managing director, JSW Steel Ltd.
“We have been looking for mines since the start of our steel plant. But some people have gone to court against allotment of mining lease to us. We are waiting for the state government to sanction certain mining concessions. Once these come, we will take up the next phase of expansion,” Jindal told Business Standard.
Acquisition of a mine in Bellary is crucial for the company as it is in the process of expanding its steel-making capacity to 11 million tonnes per annum by 2010. The company has also received the state government’s approval to further expand the capacity to 16 million tonnes per annum at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore.
He said the proposed acquisition of the mine would meet around 50 per cent of the company’s raw material requirement. The the remaining would be procured from the open market, he added.
“There are not enough deposits at the mine we are looking to acquire. But, we are also developing new technologies to use low-grade iron ore.”
JSW Steel Ltd is the single-largest investor in the state. Its investments amount to Rs 21,700 crore.
For the year ended March 2009, the company reported a 73 per cent drop in its net profit to Rs 458.5 crore on a turnover of Rs 15,179 crore, a growth of 20 per cent over the previous year.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/jsw-steel-seeks-iron-ore-mine-in-karnataka/370636/
National Aluminium plans nuclear power plant
IANS 20 September 2009, 06:15pm IST
BHUBANESWAR: The state-owned National Aluminium Co (Nalco) is focusing on diversification, including setting up a nuclear power plant and moving
into other metals, to meet the economic meltdown.
As part of its plans, the company has begun talks with the Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) to set up a nuclear power plant of 1,000 MW capacity, said Nalco chairman and managing director C.R. Pradhan.
"We are in talks with NPCIL. We have plans to become an independent power producer," Pradhan said after the company's 28th annual general meeting here saturday.
Nalco also aspires to be a global player in metal business and is in the process of diversifying into other metals from its core business interest, aluminium.
"We are trying to spread the risk keeping in view the economic meltdown, instead of remaining dependent on one commodity. It is part of our diversification plan," said Nalco finance director B.L. Bagra.
Company officials said it has drawn up an ambitious plan to grow both organically and inorganically, and that the aluminium major is planning to acquire new mineral resources, especially coal, bauxite and copper.
According to them, Nalco has almost completed its second phase of capacity expansion on an investment of Rs.4,402 crore.
This will raise its bauxite mining capacity from 48 lakh tonnes to 63 lakh tonnes and that of alumina manufacturing capacity from 345,000 tonnes to 460,000 tonnes.
Along with diversification, the company is planning to leverage its strength in aluminium and alumina business to set up smelter plants in Indonesia and Iran.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/business/india-business/National-Aluminium-plans-nuclear-power-plant-/articleshow/5034446.cms
Tata Steel awaits Orissa mine deal
Shubhashish / DNA
Monday, September 21, 2009 0:53 IST
Mumbai: Tata Steel, India's largest steelmaker, is awaiting allocation of iron-ore mines from the Orissa government for its proposed six million tonnes per annum (mtpa) steel plant in the state. The company had fulfilled the minimum obligation of machinery purchase, but has still not been allocated the mines, its officials said.
According to the memorandum of association (MoU) between the steelmaker and the Orissa government in 2004, the state government was supposed to allot mines once the company placed orders for at least 25% of the machinery.
During the press conference to announce company's results in June, B Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel, had said that the company had ordered for 25% of the machinery and was awaiting allocation of mines.
A Tata Steel official, on condition of anonymity, said, "Mines haven't been allocated even after so many months of us fulfilling the minimum machinery order obligation. We are still awaiting any communication from the state government on this front." The official claimed that the non-allocation of mines was one of the causes for the project delay.
The first phase of 3 mtpa capacity was scheduled to be commissioned in 2008. However, till now, the land acquisition hasn't been completed and the steelmaker is aiming to start production from the first phase by March 2013. According to the company website, it is in the process of acquiring land. It needs 3,500 acres for the project, and the government has allocated 3,040 acres.
However, even after the government allocating the land, the company hasn't started work due to the local agitation. Hemant Nerurkar, executive director, Tata Steel, had last week said that the company expects to get the required land within the next 2-3 months and will start the work as soon as the allocation happens.
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_tata-steel-awaits-orissa-mine-deal_1291999
Mine scam: Civil groups clamour for CBI probe
Rajaram Satapathy, TNN 21 September 2009, 10:52pm IST
BHUBANESWAR: Orissa mining scam, billed as India's biggest looting of public property, on Monday brought civil society groups and people from
different walks of life to demand CBI probe on the ground that only the country's highest investigating agency can bring the real culprits to book.
They said a number of highly placed persons in the government and administration are suspected to be involved without whom a scam of such magnitude and spaced over years would not have been possible.
They described the vigilance probe ordered recently only after the scam came to the public domain as nothing but a facade and said it is silly to expect the state agency to nail people under whom it is functioning.
At a meeting organized to discuss the mining scam here jointly by Orissa Jana Samilani and Kranti Manch, speakers challenged the "integrity" of people in power and wondered how the government closed its eyes to the looting of ores that continued for years. The meeting, first of its kind without involving political parties, in a resolution said a "group of politicians, officials and business men close to them" had been benefited by the senseless looting of the mineral resources. "The scam has cost the state revenue worth thousands of crores. Those in power were voted by the general public with a lot of hope to see the state achieve social and economic development. But they have let down the people. The precious mineral resources of the state is not safe in the hands of the present government," the resolution said.
Another resolution passed at the meeting said the destruction of forest due to illegal mining has taken away the source of livelihood for lakhs of people, particularly tribals. "The forest, environment, water sources have been devastated leading to ecological imbalance in the mines areas. Since the government has been found incompetent to protect the natural resources a separate committee comprising people from the government and the civil society should be formed for the purpose," the resolution said.
It also demanded separate compensation for the families of people who have been killed by trucks carrying mineral resources. "Media reports indicate in Keonjhar district alone nearly 300 people are getting killed every year by ore-laden trucks. This has rendered the victims' families to live in penury and anxiety. The government must make a list of those killed and award compensation to them," it said. The meeting referred to the environment impact assessment (EIA) reports prepared by mining companies and raised doubts on their authenticity. "When mining has a strong bearing on the environment and lives of local people the government should prepare it instead of asking the private business houses to do it," the meeting said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/bhubaneswar/Mine-scam-Civil-groups-clamour-for-CBI-probe-/articleshow/5039754.cms
Campaign against mining
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Shillong, Sept. 21: The Khasi Students Union (KSU) today distributed pamphlets all over the Khasi and Jaintia hills to shore up public support in their fight against uranium mining.
The pamphlets published by both the KSU and Langrin Youth Welfare Association pointed out the ill-effects of uranium mining and the hasty approach on the part of government to lease land for the pre-project development programmes at the uranium mining site in West Khasi Hills.
According to the KSU, the distribution of pamphlets is one way of reaching out to the masses to create awareness on the danger of uranium mining and point out loopholes in the pre-project development programmes to be carried out by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL).
The pamphlets said the UCIL had been making efforts to mine the ores since 1990 and added that the initiative should be prevented by all sections of society.
According to the pamphlet, ever since the mining of uranium ore began in the Yucca area of America in 1947, 86,000 employees and residents of the area were affected with leukaemia, impotency, epilepsy and cancer.
The social organisations have also termed the leasing out of land measuring 422 acres for 30 years to the UCIL in West Khasi Hills as nothing but a sell-out of the precious land.
The pamphlets also said scientists all over the world testify to the ill-effects of uranium as it not only affects humans and living things but also brings about total destruction of the environment.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090922/jsp/northeast/story_11524589.jsp
Indian iron ore export price saw a continuous increase
Published: 21 Sep 2009 18:24:43 PST
Sep.21 MetalBiz--The spot iron ore supply was tight and the price tended to increase, the latest export price from India to China climbed to U.S.$87 per ton (CFR).
It is learned that last week the quality of 63.5% Indian powder ore settled U.S.$85-86 per ton (CFR), 61% of Indian powder ore was U.S.$85 per ton (CFR) and 58% of Indian powder ore was at U.S.$71 per ton. The transaction volume was not large, but the transaction of ore with low-quality increased.
In recent days, China's steel market presented the signal for stabilization. Some steel mills began to replenish inventories with low-price and the export of Indian ore is expected to increase further before National Day. In the past one week, the sea freight from India to China also inclined.
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/metalworking/100175328-1-indian-iron-ore-export-price.html
Mining – International
BHP mines acquisitions before economic revival
Posted on September 21, 2009 at 1:58 PM
BHP Billiton Ltd.'s (NYSE:BHP) chief commercial officer Alberto Calderon is the man charged with hunting acquisitions for the cash-rich mining giant. And his timetable for favorably priced deals is shrinking. In early August, I pointed to recovery signs regarding M&A in the mining sector as commodity prices showed signs of life.
China has played a big part in dealmaking. Trying to support its growth the country has been buying up resources during the recession. We recently reported that China National Petroleum Corp., parent of PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE:PTR), is receiving a low-interest $30 billion loan to finance overseas acquisitions.
Though a broader economic recovery is slow to come, BHP wants to buy companies before targets have more reason to fight for higher valuations.
Calderon (pictured) told The Wall Street Journal, "We have no pressure to do it. But I can tell you we have done a lot of work." The report said BHP, which has about $18 billion in cash, identified four or five opportunities, all large mining, oil or gas companies. BHP is looking to grow in iron ore, copper, coking coal, petroleum and potash.
The Journal offered that possible targets include U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., which has a market cap of $29 billion, and Canada's Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. The gold sector has been consolidating for the past couple decades, which some analysts see as a bad thing.
Potash is a key material used in fertilizer. Last year, BHP assumed control of Anglo Potash Ltd. for $282 million. Potash Corp. could be a target but it could also be an acquirer, with rumors surfacing that it could make a €50 ($73) a share bid for Germany's K+S, a big supplier.
Another target could be Athabasca Potash Inc., which is pursuing an ambitious multibillion dollar project -- known as the Burr Project -- to mine potash but needs an alliance partner to help foot the bill. - Baz Hiralal
http://www.thedeal.com/corporatedealmaker/2009/09/bhp_mines_acquisitions_before.php
Murder crushes Philippine mining hopes
BARRY FITZGERALD
September 22, 2009
ATTEMPTS by the Philippines to revive foreign investment in mining have fallen flat following the shooting death of a security contractor at the Didipio gold/copper project, owned by Melbourne-based OceanaGold.
OceanaGold, known for its gold production from mines in New Zealand, said the Filipino was shot while conducting a routine patrol on Sunday morning at the site, 270 kilometres north of Manila on Luzon island.
OceanaGold said it was helping police with their investigation, and facts of the case were still being gathered and confirmed.
The shooting came just days after a two-day mining conference in Manila at which the Government said that the country was out to ''strengthen its competitiveness in mining prospectivity''. While the prospectivity of the Philippines for large copper/gold and nickel deposits is understood, security issues and an anti-mining stance by non-government organisations have caused it to miss out on the foreign investment finding its way elsewhere into South-East Asia.
Last week's conference was nevertheless well attended by international mining groups. Among those sounding out investment opportunities following the rebound in copper and gold prices were AngloGold, Newmont, Anglo American, Vale, Gold Fields, Ivanhoe and Freeport. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were said to have had a low-profile presence at the conference.
OceanaGold is one of the biggest ASX-listed gold producers from its New Zealand mines. It produces about 300,000 ounces annually at cash costs of less than $US350 an ounce. But the Didipio project represents its high-growth option.
The development of the project was halted in December because of the credit crisis. OceanaGold has since been refining likely development costs for the project in light of cost reductions in key inputs brought on by the credit crisis. Bringing in a joint-venture partner to de-risk the project has also been under consideration.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/murder-crushes-philippine-mining-hopes-20090921-fynx.html
Brazil mining reform plan rouses investor anxiety
Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:43pm EDT
Brazil gov't mulls higher royalties, more control
* Miners fear costs may drive investors elsewhere
By Reese Ewing and Peter Murphy
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's plan to reform its mining code and potentially raise the royalties paid by mining companies must ensure the mineral-rich country can compete with up and coming resource providers increasingly vying for investment, miners said on Monday.
Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao says Brazil, the world's top iron ore exporter, needs a new approach to mining, making regulatory bodies more agile while better protecting the interests of the Latin America's largest economy.
"The regulatory framework being drafted is intended to replace an obsolete model," he said at the Exposibram mining conference taking place this week in the country's main mining state, Minas Gerais.
Highlighting areas for change, he said firms should no longer be able to speculate by sitting for years on mining concessions without developing them. He has previously said the country has "very low" royalties which should be raised.
But Brazil's mining industry, which exported almost $23 billion of minerals in 2008, disagrees. It says raising royalties could do Brazil more harm than good, making countries with lower taxes more appealing to investors.
Paulo Camillo Penna, chairman of the industry's umbrella group Ibram, said the government's reluctance to talk about its proposals or seek input from the private sector had created a climate of "worry and uncertainty" for mining firms.
"We have great difficulty discussing this with them," he told Reuters in a recent interview. He said that royalties appeared low in Brazil but overall taxation was among "the world's highest" when other levies were included.
Lobao said the reforms would aim to benefit both miners and the state. In a recent media interview, he said the government would not reform the sector to miners' detriment but try to make it "balanced".
"The current model has got weaknesses that need to be retified," he said on Monday in a speech. "It is fundamental to stimulate aggregation of value and not accept the increase in exports of raw commodities."
He said the government also wanted to modernize the regulatory body, the DNPM, empowering it to make decisions more quickly and with greater agility, implying shorter waits for decisions on and the granting of concessions to firms.
Richard Court, chairman of Australian engineering firm GRD Ltd and a former leader of the state of Western Australia, said other regions with mineral deposits were beginning to attract more investments.
"Africa is one of the new players ... The DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) is more and more attractive and Namibia has world class uranium operations. So, there's going to be a lot of new competition," he said.
China, which had propelled the metals boom with a seemingly-insatiable appetite for minerals, has become frustrated over having to capitulate to prices set by a limited number of producers and has invested in stimulating production of raw materials critical to its growth.
"(China) is going to do everything it can to make sure there is more competition going forward. That means you only survive if you're competitive," Court said. (Writing by Peter Murphy; editing by Carol Bishopric)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN2131223620090922
Four Mile uranium mine delayed
September 22, 2009 - 4:59PM
Australia's fifth uranium mine has been delayed because of a hitch in a native title agreement.
Alliance Resources has announced the schedule for commissioning the Four Mile mine in South Australia has been delayed until April next year or beyond.
Primary Industry Resources SA (PIRSA) has requested more information about a native title agreement covering the mine area, about 550km north of Adelaide.
The SA government said it was disappointing that Alliance Resources and joint venture partner Quasar "have been unable to meet their obligations in regards" to native title registration.
"Registration of a native title agreement is a statutory requirement before the minister may grant a mining lease on native title land," SA Mineral Resources Minister Paul Holloway said in a statement.
"Resolution of the outstanding requirement remains an issue between the parties to the joint venture."
The Four Mile mine, approved by the federal government in July this year, is projected to produce about 1400 tonnes of uranium oxide a year when operational, making it among the world's top 10 uranium mines.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/four-mile-uranium-mine-delayed-20090922-g08j.html
Newcrest Tungsten Mine May Be World’s Biggest, Australian Says
By Sarah McDonald
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Newcrest Mining Ltd. said its O’Callaghans deposit in Western Australia could become the world’s biggest tungsten mine by 2013, the Australian newspaper reported.
Newcrest could mine about 4800 tonnes of tungsten concentrate a year from the mine for at least eight years from 2013, the newspaper said, citing a Newcrest presentation from a recent tungsten industry conference.
That may give the company a 7 percent market share of the projected global output of tungsten in 2013, the Australian reported.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McDonald in Sydney atsmcdonald23@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 21, 2009 17:13 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aR3TVvBAJ3m4
First Uranium resumes operations at S.Africa mine
Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:34am EDT
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 22 (Reuters) - First Uranium Corp. (FIU.TO) (FUMJ.J) said on Tuesday it had resumed operations at its Ezulwini mine in South Africa after it had shut the facility the previous week following a fatality.
"Mining operations were stopped pending an investigation involving South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and organized labour. The investigation was completed yesterday afternoon and we resumed mining last night," the company said in a statement. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSWEA182020090922
Blackout traps miners at Australia zinc mine-media
Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:18am EDT
SYDNEY, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Two miners have been trapped in a cage underground since late Monday at a remote Australian zinc mine after a power blackout, a local media report said on Tuesday.
The two men were reported to be safe.
Executives of the mine's owner, Perilya Ltd (PEM.AX) and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), could not be immediately reached for comment.
A CFMEU spokesman at the mine site 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) east of Sydney, Greg Braes, said a dust storm hit the outback town of Broken Hill on Monday, cutting power at the Perilya mine, Australian Associated Press reported.
The company was setting up a rescue operation to get the miners out safely, according to the report.
The mine is forecast to yield 55,000 tonnes of zinc and 50,000 tonnes of lead this year. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSSYD47428720090922
USAA’s Johnson Sees Gold Mining Stocks Outshining the Metal
By Charles Stein
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Mark Johnson, whose precious-metals mutual fund topped all rivals over the past decade, is betting gold-company stocks will rise faster than bullion as miners’ profit margins widen.
“For every 1 percent move in gold, the stocks should gain 2 to 3 percent,” Johnson, 59, said in a telephone interview from San Antonio, where hisUSAA Precious Metals and Minerals Fund is based. As gold prices climb, production costs advance more slowly to yield bigger profits, he said.
The $1.2 billion fund has about 80 percent of its assets in mining stocks, which it picks based on balance sheets, ability to expand production, political risks and valuation. Johnson, who travels to mines to find details that can’t be found in financial reports, such as whether workers are idle, says gold will rise as the dollar falls and inflation accelerates.
Johnson’s fund, up 51 percent this year through Sept. 18, averaged 23 percent returns in the 10 years ended Aug. 31, first in its category and second among all U.S. mutual funds behind ING Russia, data from Chicago-based research firm Morningstar Inc. show.
Gold for delivery in December rose to an intraday high of $1,025.80 on Sept. 17, the most since March 2008, and investors are betting the price may rise further. Futures for delivery in December 2013 traded at $1,109.20 yesterday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Analysts are less bullish, forecasting a drop to $750 by 2013, according to the median of seven estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Drop Seen
“The economic fundamentals don’t support what we have been seeing,”Miguel Perez-Santalla, sales vice president at Heraeus Precious Metals Management in New York, said in a telephone interview. The dollar may “firm up” and gold may drop in the coming months because inflation fears are overblown, he said.
So far, Johnson’s strategy has paid off. The USAA fund’s total return over the past decade was more than four times that of the gold and silver index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index of 16 mining companies surged 34 percent this year, compared with a 14 percent increase for the metal.
“For investors who insist on having exposure to precious- metals stocks, this fund is a great option,” Jonathan Rahbar, a Morningstar fund analyst, wrote in a July note on the company’s Web site. He attributed the fund’s gain over the metal to savvy stock-picking.
USAA Precious Metals, which was started in 1984, raised its stake last year inCenterra Gold Inc., a Toronto company with a mining project in the Kyrgyz Republic, the Central Asian country Johnson called politically risky.
Politically Risky
Centerra soared 62 percent this year. The company, which represented 1.1 percent of the fund as of May 31, reached a settlement with the Kyrgyz government in April over legal disputes threatening the project.
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., the fund’s largest holding at 5.1 percent of the portfolio as of Sept. 10, will benefit from a “very steep growth profile,” Johnson said.
The company’s gold output may grow to 1.2 million ounces in 2010 from an estimated 550,000 to 575,000 this year, Sean Boyd, chief executive officer of Toronto-based Agnico-Eagle, said in an August interview.
USAA Precious Metals holds AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Africa’s largest gold producer, on the belief that Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutifani can “turn around a troubled operation,” Johnson said. AngloGold shares gained 52 percent in 2009. The company represents 5.1 percent of Johnson’s fund.
‘Opposite of Dollar’
Paulson & Co., the hedge-fund firm run by billionaire John Paulson, bought 40 million AngloGold shares in the second quarter, Bloomberg data show, making him the company’s largest shareholder.
Johnson declined to offer a specific forecast for gold, saying only the metal would climb as the dollar weakened. The Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s value, fell 5.6 percent this year.
“Gold is the opposite of the dollar,” Johnson said. “It is the ultimate hard currency.”
Platinum, the metal used in automobile emissions-control parts, climbed 40 percent this year and may outperform gold over the next few years because of a recovering global economy and the tightening of pollution standards by more countries, Johnson said. Platinum stocks make up about 8 percent of the USAA fund.
Johnson, who has worked on the fund since 1994, holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s in business administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dan Denbow, 42, became co-portfolio manager of the fund last year. USAA Investment Management oversees more than $70 billion.
To contact the reporter on this story: Charles Stein in Boston atcstein4@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 22, 2009 00:01 EDT
Victims of Scotland's worst mining disaster remembered
Sep 21 2009 By Lauren Crooks
THE victims of Scotland's worst mining disaster were remembered in an emotional ceremony yesterday.
Family and friends of the 47 men who died at the Auchengeich Colliery in Lanarkshire gathered on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.
They met at a memorial garden as a bronze statue was unveiled in tribute to the men.
Fire overcame the mine in September 1959 and after rescue attempts failed, the pit was flooded. The tragedy rocked the village and mining community.
Yesterday, First Minister Alex Salmond uncovered the statue of a miner with 47 stones below bearing the names of the dead . Jean Mitchell, 71, lost her father Michael Fleming and two uncles. She said: "I'll never forget that day. I still remember the smell of burning and that awful wait for news about my family.
"The statue is fantastic and a wonderful tribute to the men."
Ex-miner Joseph Kelly, 82, was off that day but lost his brother Peter, aged 40. He said: "This statue means the world to me and the rest of the community."
And Alice Halliday, 66, whose dad Jimmy Harvey was killed, added: "We have never forgotten that all these men did and must have gone through."
Salmond said: "Fifty years on, the memories of the fateful day which claimed the lives of so many husbands, fathers, brothers and sons endure. I am honoured to pay tribute to them."
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/09/21/victims-of-scotland-s-worst-mining-disaster-remembered-86908-21690358/
B.C.'s mining industry needs one-stop shop to get projects going
VANCOUVER SUNSEPTEMBER 22, 2009 1:08 AM
The mining industry in British Columbia is no stranger to cyclical downturns, political uncertainty and bureaucratic red tape; it faced them in abundance through the last half of 2008 and the first quarters of this year. However, the past few weeks have given it hope for better days ahead.
For a start, commodities are on a roll again. Gold is in record territory, having recently topped $1,000 US an ounce, while copper, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of B.C. metal production, has recovered from the 2008 year-end price of $1.40 a pound to $2.78 US -- still below bull-market levels, but heading in the right direction. Zinc and even lowly lead have also been trending up. In 2008, even though metal prices crashed in the fall, the mining industry still managed to generate $8.4 billion Cdn. in revenue. Firming metal prices augur well for the balance of this year and 2010.
The second piece of good news was the B.C. government's announcement that it would introduce a harmonized sales tax in July 2010. The HST could reduce the cost of building a mine by $10 million, and cut operating expenses by $1 million a year, Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of B.C., told The Vancouver Sun's editorial board recently.
He said it will make the B.C. industry more competitive, allow it to expand, help it maintain employment during downturns and make the province more attractive for new mining projects. In its promotional material, the Liberal government says the mining and oil and gas industry will save $80 million through the elimination of provincial sales tax on production inputs.
Yet another positive move was the province's green light for construction of a $404-million transmission line through northwestern B.C., an announcement prompted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's pledge last week that the federal government will cover $130 million of the cost. The electricity the line will provide could unlock $15 billion in private investment, said Gavin Dirom, chief executive of the Association of Mineral Exploration B.C. That would create thousands of jobs in the region.
But for all these encouraging developments, there remain major barriers standing in the way of progress. These include the uncertainty surrounding first nations land claims and the interminable environmental assessment process. In fact, there are duplicate environmental assessment processes -- federal and provincial -- and it can take years to obtain a permit to proceed with a project. Incredibly, it now typically takes a decade or more to bring a mine into production in B.C.
That's one reason no new major mines have opened in B.C. since 1996. Soon, the Kemess and Huckleberry mines will be spent and shut down. If no new mines open before then, production of copper, B.C.'s most important metal, will drop by 94 million pounds.
Mines bring prosperity, capital investment, and high-paying jobs. Mining provides about 28,000 direct and indirect jobs and the average annual wage in the B.C. industry is $112,000.
Two dozen mining projects are caught up in red tape and the province is missing out on what could be -- should be -- a mining bonanza.
This ludicrous situation must be resolved quickly and the solution may be right at hand. There seems no better model to fix what ails the mining business than B.C.'s Oil and Gas Commission. This is surely one of the best-run regulating agencies in Canada. It provides a one-stop shop for the oil, gas and pipeline industries to get their applications reviewed and approved effectively and efficiently. The OGC covers it all -- environmental, economic and social impacts as well as engagement of first nations and aboriginal peoples. Nasty surprises are rare because the commission becomes involved at the planning stages. Some routine applications are approved the same day they're filed, seldom does the entire review and approval process take more than a few months.
Once projects are up and running the OGC ensures compliance with the rules and has the power to suspend operations if there is a serious breach. It doesn't happen very often. Oh, did we mention that the OGC is self-financing and costs taxpayers nothing?
B.C.'s mining industry doesn't need government bailouts, handouts or special favours. It needs a single regulatory body like the OGC that can help bring mines into production and protect the public interest. Setting up a similar agency for mining will require federal buy-in and likely some new provincial legislation -- the OGC is governed by the Oil and Gas Commission Act.
Stupidity is strangling an industry that could be providing more jobs, creating more wealth and filling government coffers with more taxes and royalties that could help pay for health care and education.
The Liberal government has plenty of time to get this done before the next election. It should do so without delay.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/mining+industry+needs+stop+shop+projects+going/2018777/story.html
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Leak reveals India Maoist threat
By Sunil Raman
BBC News, Delhi
The rebels are fighting for communist rule in several Indian states
The Indian government has obtained a leaked report that reveals the strategy of the country's Maoist insurgents.
The report is formulated by the group's top policy-making body, the politburo.
It calls for attacks on Indian security forces and efforts to stop multi-national corporations from taking over mines in central and eastern India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the insurgency is the single biggest threat to India's security. Maoist violence affects a third of all districts.
Last week, Mr Singh said India was losing the battle against the rebels.
The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of the poor. They operate in a large swathe of territory across central and eastern India.
More than 6,000 people have been killed during their 20-year fight for a communist state.
'Bitter' fight
Calling upon Maoist cadres to mobilise and carry out "tactical" operations against India's security forces, the 20-page document says that Mr Singh's government is preparing to destroy their resistance.
Accusing the government of linking up with the "imperialist" United States, the Maoist report asks cadres to meticulously plan attacks against symbols of government and to "seize" political power.
Warning its cadres against becoming complacent, the politburo says that India is getting assistance from America and that it should learn from the failure of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in Sri Lanka.
It says the LTTE's failure to understand the changing tactics of the security forces eventually led to their defeat.
Maoists argue that big industrial houses, like India's Tata Group, are helped by the government in their attempts to wrest control of mines in eastern India.
The insurgents are calling upon the tribal population to participate in an armed struggle.
Maoist fighters are urged to tell local people that the Singh government wants to subdue them, destroy their culture and loot resources.
"This time the fight will be more long drawn and more bitter than the one against the British imperialist armies," the document says.
Bomb-making
Speaking at recent meetings on internal security India's Home Minister P Chidambaram said Maoists had improved their military and operational tactics.
Besides targeting the police, alleged police informers and so-called class enemies, the rebels are "laying greater emphasis on attacking economic and development infrastructure such as roads, bridges, railways, power and telecommunication networks," he said.
He also warned that the Maoists were making and deploying increasingly sophisticated bombs.
A senior official told the BBC that Mr Chidambaram has been trying to impress upon state governments that they should not take the threat posed by Maoists lightly.
He wants state governments to simplify procedures and increase the recruitment of security forces and use federal funds to buy weapons.
But, as a recent review by the home ministry showed, most states have been slow in understanding the seriousness of the situation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8266550.stm
Tea with BS: Jairam Ramesh
Saubhadro Chatterji / New Delhi September 22, 2009, 0:55 IST
While trying to revamp the environment ministry, he has ruffled more feathers with his non-stop flow of irreverent one-liners than Shashi Tharoor did with his 'holy cows' tweet.
When we meet him, Jairam Ramesh is reading the first of the 100 or so letters he gets every day. A Ms Melanie Syms from Wales has written to ‘Mr Paryavaran Bhawan, Environment and Forest Ministry’, a laboriously handwritten epistle on a piece of notepaper. This, and a sudden increase in the volume of email (they have gone up from 300 every day to around 400), is the result of a BBC documentary on India’s environment, he says. Ramesh replies to every letter and his signature colour (no pun intended) is pink, says Saubhadro Chatterji.
One of the most accessible and tech-friendly ministers on Team Manmohan (he’s a B Tech, MS and educated at IIT Bombay, Carnegie Mellon University and MIT), this Kannadiga
Rajya Sabha MP elected from Andhra Pradesh has acquired a reputation of having the ‘foot-in-the-mouth’ disease (he vies with colleague Shashi Tharoor for that honour). While the junior minister of trade (and later power) in UPA-I, on the eve of an important visit by the prime minister to Brazil, Ramesh put the foreign ministry in a spot of bother when he wondered about the utility of a trade pact with a country so far away with India. This time, it is his remarks on Bhopal. He held a handful of soil on the site of the Union Carbide plant and said: “Look, I’m holding this and I’m still alive”. “That backfired,” he concedes sheepishly, “you can’t imagine how many email I received after that, slamming me for the insensitivity of my remarks. I’ve learnt my lesson and will be more careful next time.”
He joined as the minister of state (independent charge) in the Environment and Forest Ministry with the mandate of making it accountable and transparent. Ramesh’s first step towards transparency has been removing the wooden doors and replacing them with glass. “This ministry was known as ATM. You pressed the right buttons and you got the clearance for your project. I want to make this an Accountable and Transparent Ministry.”
Ramesh doesn’t have a 100-day agenda. “But during the first 100 days, I tried to create systems that will live on even when I am not there: An institutional set up. This is a Herculean job. And in India, everyone thinks he is an environmentalist,” he says while managing calls on his two Nokia phones.
If an activity is under-funded, it’s under-managed. If an activity doesn’t get national funding, it won’t enter the national consciousness. If you can’t bring public funding to a critical level, you are not going to get managerial talent. This is what Ramesh decided to tell Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee when he met him before the general budget (Ramesh also loves to mimic Mukherjee and does it to perfection). He told the FM, “Dada, I need some money for Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and Botanical Survey of India (BSI).” “How much do you need?” Mukherjee asked “I need at least Rs 15-20 crore for each of these institutes,” Ramesh replied. “Joyraam, this is the problem. Where is the money?” Mukherjee asked.
Ramesh, who had worked with Mukherjee as his Officer on Special Duty in the Planning Commission earlier, played his trump card: “Dada, both these institutes have their headquarters in Kolkata”. All that the FM said, beaming, was: “Oh, very good, very good.”
“In this budget I got Rs 15 crore each for the ZSI and BSI. I got another Rs 15 crore for Geological Survey of India. Incidentally, its headquarters too, is in Kolkata,” Ramesh grins. The prime minister was instrumental in allocating Rs 8,400 crore for the Environment and Forest Ministry in this year’s budget, up from Rs 3,600 crore in the 2008-09 budget, he adds.
His tea — jasmine tea — lay cooling. He is too engrossed explaining the key debate in the environment ministry — growth versus environment protection. Balancing the two is Ramesh’s trickiest task. Both need delicate negotiation and are extremely important milestones for India’s rise as a global power.
“As the environment minister, my main job is to ensure that two pieces of central legislation, the Forest Conservation Act and the Environment Protection Act are implemented properly. I know many people don’t like these laws. They see them as impediments and try to bypass them. But I have to strike a balance, transparently. There are some projects where I’ve put my foot down. But last week I had to clear a road project in Arunachal Pradesh, for strategic reasons. I know it will destroy a large forest area in Arunachal Pradesh but I had to settle on some safeguards,” Ramesh says.
He meets green activists regularly and even takes tips from them on critical issues: “My doors are always open to people like Sunita Narain, Ashish Kothari and Medha Patkar. I want to engage them. Pink papers like Business Standard will only think about growth. But I need to take others into confidence”.
Unlike in the case of other UPA ministers who have a picture of the prime minister and/or Sonia Gandhi, the most prominent picture in Ramesh’s room — apart from Tanjore paintings of south Indian gods and a Buddhist thangka — is one of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru involved in an intense discussion. But for Ramesh, the idol is Indira Gandhi. “Just look at what she did. Had she not been the prime minister, India’s forests would not have survived, yaar!” The key strategist of the Congress party during elections lists Indira Gandhi’s achievements: She saved Silent Valley and protected the rain forests of Kerala, ensured legislation like the Water Pollution Act, the Air Pollution Act and the Forest Conservation Act. “Even Project Tiger was her brainchild. If we have tigers left today, it is because of her,” Ramesh says.
In his quest to make the ministry more effective and transparent, Ramesh has found some inherent structural problems. “There is a fundamental dichotomy. We have laws that are made by the Centre but the implementing agencies are the states and the local administration. This makes our job more difficult. Still I’ve managed to take some steps: I’ve de-notified mining in forest areas.” This has had several state governments rushing to Delhi to intercede because important interests are involved but Ramesh is not budging.
Jairam was Shashi Tharoor’s debating partner at St Stephens College and, along with Nandan Nilekani, debated on topic as outlandish as “Why there should be a Friday”. Now, as minister, there are things he finds even more absurd: “When I raise matters with my officers, they say half of them are sub-judice; and the other half, the officers want make sub- judice as soon as possible!”
Ramesh realises the importance of reliable back-room office staff: He has a team of three young men, fresh from college. They worked with him in the party’s ‘war room’ before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections to implement electoral strategies. And now they handle a part of his load.
The minister has set the next target: To revamp the ministry’s website. But this ‘techno-love’ often lands him in trouble as well, as happened when the prime minister was wondering how the details of a volatile cabinet discussion over austerity measures were leaked to the newspapers.
“M K Narayanan (National Security Advisor) went and told the PM that I had leaked the news. I asked Narayanan how he reached that conclusion. He said he saw me fiddling with my mobile in the cabinet meeting. I was actually switching off my mobile at that time,” Jairam laughs before turning to another letter.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/teabs-jairam-ramesh/370803/
13-yr-old Lucknow girl to spread green word at UN
Pravin Kumar, TNN 22 September 2009, 02:59am IST
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LUCKNOW: At around 10:30am on September 22, after Kenyan Nobel laureate Wangari Muta Mathaai finishes her speech at the Summit on Climate Change
at the United Nations, she will yield the lectern to a 13-year-old Lucknow girl.
Yugratna Srivastava, a class IX student of St Fidelis College, is a special invitee of UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon. When she addresses the General Assembly session on environment conservation, in the audience will be over 100 heads of state, including US President Barack Obama.
For Yugratna, the audience this time may be special, but she will do what she has been doing as a green activist -- spreading awareness about climate change and sustainable development. She is an active member of Tarumitra, an NGO active among school children. The NGO has over 16,000 schools across India as its members.
She was selected to address the UN session last year in Norway, where she had gone to attend the International Children Conference on environment. "Over 1,200 children from all over the world had come to attend the conference,'' recalls Fr Robert Athickal SJ of Tarumitra. "So electrifying was her speech there that she was instantly picked up to represent the children of the world at the Summit on Climate Change.''
"She is amazing and you just have to listen to her to feel the kind of impact she makes through her speeches,'' says Fr Athickal while talking to TOI from Patna, where the Tarumitra is based. Yugranta has gone to New York with her mother Roshani. She belongs to Muzaffarngaar in western UP and has joined St Fidelis College of the city recently.
"That she was special we all knew and see how soon she has proved us right,'' says a teacher of the college. The invite that she has received from Janos Pasztor, director, United Nations Secretary General's Climate Change Support Team, recognises her endeavour in generating awareness on environment conservation in no uncertain terms. "You have been selected to represent the voice of world's young people at the summit,''says the letter.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/13-yr-old-Lucknow-girl-to-spread-green-word-at-UN/articleshow/5039991.cms
Kudos, Jairam: Environment ministry to cede power
22 Sep 2009, 0136 hrs IST, ET Bureau
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There’s a welcome move by the ministry of environment and forests to modernise and revamp environmental clearances and regulatory compliance. A
draft note by the ministry calls for a statutory regulatory body, National Environment Protection Authority (NEPA), that would grant clearances and also enforce regulation, under appellate supervision by a National Green Tribunal.
Given the routine opacity and patronage that govern environmental clearances and monitoring of compliance, this is welcome. It’s unusual for a ministry to cede its own arbitrary, ad-hoc powers to an institutional set-up.
There exists no suitable body to effectively oversee implementation of the landmark Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The note is candid that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Boards, with their rather narrow remit, do not have the “capacity or the resources” to enforce the guidelines in the statutes.
The judiciary has, of late, played a major role in actual enforcement of environmental laws. But this is not a sustainable solution. The MoEF note rightly wants multi-disciplinary ‘best-in-class expertise’ for NEPA. What should be the institutional design of NEPA vis-a-vis existing bodies like the CPCB?
The note moots four options. In the first, the MoEF retains its regulatory role. In the second, NEPA completely subsumes the CPCB and manages all regulation and enforcement. In the third, NEPA, the authority for clearance and enforcement, coexists with the CPCB, which would develop standards, do technical studies, etc., and report to the MOEF. In the fourth option, the CPCB would also report to the NEPA.
Option three seems optimal. The ministry would continue to formulate policy, standards would set by CPCB and NEPA, along with state level authorities, would grant clearances, and enforce regulation. Another regulatory body may be necessary but not sufficient for transparency. The way ahead is to have objective, forward-looking criteria for clearances that are research-based and reasonably predictable.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Editorial/Kudos-Jairam-Environment-ministry-to-cede-power/articleshow/5040308.cms
India ranked ninth in world tree planting
________________________________________
STAFF WRITER 6:53 HRS IST
Betwa Sharma
New York, Sept 22 (PTI) India has been ranked ninth in the tree planting roll of honour in a campaign to plant a billion trees, which was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in November 2006.
The country has registered 96 million trees.
Under this plan, civil society and governments are asked to register the number of trees that have been planted in their respective countries. So far, 167 countries have participated in this programme.
The initial target set by the UNEP was to plant at least one billion trees worldwide each year. The billionth tree was an olive planted in Ethiopia in November 2007.
After the campaign hit the two billion mark in May 2008, the UNEP decided to set a new goal of seven billion trees, which is one for every person on the planet. The four billion mark was reached in May 2009.
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