Mineria y Petroleo no se beneficiarian de la apertura con EEUU - BBC

BBC Mundo

Desde que se anunció el acercamiento entre Cuba y Estados Unidos a finales del año pasado, muchos han dejado volar su imaginación acerca de lo que ocurrirá cuando la isla restablezca vínculos comerciales plenos con su vecino al norte.

Algunos anticipan tiendas de Apple en La Habana y autos Ford nuevos en las calles del país para reemplazar a los vetustos ejemplares de los años 50 que aún ruedan, por efectos del embargo.

Pero también otra idea ronda en la cabeza de algunos observadores de la economía cubana: la posibilidad de un aumento en su actividad minera y petrolera cuando finalmente las empresas estadounidenses puedan entrar al terreno que les ha sido vedado desde que inició la Revolución.

Hoy las normas del embargo de EE.UU. a Cuba hacen que sea ilegal para empresas estadounidenses invertir en proyectos mineros o petroleros en la isla.

Esto podría cambiar en los próximos años, si, como muchos esperan, el embargo se va desmontando gradualmente.

Cuba es hoy uno de los diez principales productores mundiales de níquel y cobalto y el gobierno busca nuevos recursos en los sectores minero y petrolero, para aumentar la capacidad exportadora del país.

Los comentarios sobre el potencial de Cuba en estas actividades se acrecentaron cuando a comienzos de mes se hizo público un informe del Servicio Geológico del gobierno de Estados Unidos (USGS, por sus siglas en inglés), con una descripción de las condiciones y recursos mineros y petroleros de Cuba.

Pero, como ocurre con tantas otras iniciativas mencionadas desde que Washington y La Habana anunciaron la descongelación de sus relaciones, hay poco en concreto y muchas dificultades por superar antes de que Cuba se convierta en una potencia minero-energética como resultado de nueva inversión estadounidense.

Tras US$8.000 millones

Como lo señala el informe del USGS, en noviembre pasado el Ministerio de Comercio Exterior e Inversión Extranjera del gobierno cubano anunció que estaba buscando US$8.000 millones en inversión extranjera para 246 proyectos de desarrollo.

"El sector de petróleo ofreció el mayor número de potenciales oportunidades de inversión, seguido por la manufactura y la minería", indica el documento de USGS.

El gobierno cubano ha estado cerrado a la inversión estadounidense por décadas.

Y en diciembre se conoció la decisión de Barack Obama y Raúl Castro de buscar enmendar relaciones económicas después de más de cinco décadas de embargo.

Algunos indicaron la posibilidad, o al menos la esperanza, de que las nuevas relaciones políticas llevaran a más inversión al área de minería y petróleo en Cuba.

Entre ellos estaba David Pathe, presidente de la empresa minera canadiense Sherritt, el mayor inversionista extranjero en Cuba.

No estoy tan seguro de qué tan buenas sean las oportunidades mineras en territorio cubano

Arch Ritter, Universidad de Carleton en Canadá

Pathe, cuya empresa opera desde hace décadas un complejo de níquel en Cuba, decía en una entrevista a la agencia Bloomberg en enero de este año que "podría haber más interés de compañías internacionales".

Pero el mismo señalaba que esto tomaría tiempo.

Una posición que comparte Arch Ritter, profesor de economía en la universidad de Carleton en Canadá y experto en la economía cubana.

"No estoy tan seguro de qué tan buenas sean las oportunidades mineras en territorio cubano", señala a BBC Mundo.

Recuerda que en 1994, cuando Cuba expandió su apertura a la inversión canadiense, muchas empresas de ese país emprendieron exploraciones mineras significativas sin que se hubiesen encontrado volúmenes significativos.

"Dudo que haya nuevos hallazgos en cobre o en oro", apunta.

Los canadienses mandan

Ritter tampoco espera mucho de las exploraciones petroleras submarinas, en las que Cuba había empezado a poner más esperanza en años recientes debido a las actividades de búsqueda de crudo de la firma española Repsol en las aguas del estrecho de la Florida.

Lea: Repsol se va de Cuba tras fracasar búsqueda de petróleo

"Muchos de estos proyectos eran comercialmente inviables incluso cuando el petróleo estaba caro", agrega.

Por lo que en esta época de precios deprimidos duda que ocurran grandes cambios en el sector petrolero en el corto plazo.

Lea: El proyecto petrolero de Cuba que le quita el sueño a EE.UU.

Tampoco ve que la industria estadounidense pudiese traer grandes novedades tecnológicas a la minería en Cuba.

"Las empresas canadienses, que dominan la exploración minera, ya están allá", advierte Ritter.

El sector de petróleo ofreció el mayor número de potenciales oportunidades de inversión, seguido por la manufactura y la minería

Documento del gobierno estadounidense describiendo las opciones de inversión ofrecidas por el gobierno cubano.

Algo que podría cambiar, sin embargo, es la situación misma de las mineras canadienses en Cuba, que actualmente sufren las consecuencias de la Ley Helms-Burton, que regula el embargo estadounidense a la isla.

Como consecuencia de sus inversiones en Cuba, la firma canadiense Sherritt enfrenta algunas restricciones a su capacidad de hacer negocios con empresas estadounidenses.

Incluso su presidente, David Pathe, enfrenta una prohibición para ingresar a Estados Unidos, según señala la agencia Bloomberg.

De modo que, en ese sentido, las mineras canadienses podrían ser grandes beneficiadas del restablecimiento de las relaciones entre La Habana y Washington si eventualmente el Congreso estadounidense levanta las restricciones que pesan por el embargo.

Restricciones

El gobierno cubano advierte que seguirá la supervisión estatal a los inversionistas.

En cualquier caso, el anuncio del gobierno cubano de noviembre pasado aclara que, incluso si el interés de las empresas mineras extranjeras se materializa, ocurrirá en los términos que quiere el gobierno cubano, con sustancial control estatal.

"El gobierno cubano específicamente manifestó que Cuba seguirá siendo una economía impulsada por el estado dominada por grandes ¨holdings" gubernamentales y que la mayoría de las iniciativas extranjeras retendrán una propiedad mayoritaria cubana", advierte el informe de las autoridades estadounidenses.

Muchas cosas pueden estar a punto de cambiar drásticamente con el acercamiento entre Estados Unidos y Cuba.

Pero la industria minera y petrolera de la isla no parece ser una de ellas en el corto plazo.

Actualiza Servicio Geológico de EEUU proyecciones petroleras de Cuba

martinoticias
Rolando Cartaya

Mapa de las reservas petroleras de Cuba confeccionado por el Servicio Geológico de EEUU.

Las necesidades de petróleo de Cuba dependen de Venezuela en un 60% y, hasta ahora, no hay yacimientos comercialmente explotables en las reservas profundas cubanas en el Golfo de México, reporta el Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos (USGS) en un informe actualizado dado a conocer a fines de marzo bajo el título Tendencias recientes en las industrias de minería y petróleo de Cuba.

Aunque Cuba había anunciado en 2011 planes para aliviar su dependencia de Venezuela desarrollando sus recursos de hidrocarburos en aguas de su Zona Económica Exclusiva (ZEE), el reporte señala que "hasta 2015, la perforación en aguas profundas por empresas extranjeras como Repsol de España y Zarubezhneft de Rusia no ha dado lugar a ningún descubrimiento de cantidades comercialmente explotables de petróleo o de gas".

La hoja de datos incluye una recopilación de la información disponible sobre las industrias mineras de Cuba realizada por el Centro Nacional de Información sobre Minerales de Estados Unidos, en respuesta a los recientes acontecimientos diplomáticos entre Cuba y Estados Unidos.

Contiene un nuevo mapa y una tabla que identifica minas, centros de procesamiento de minerales e instalaciones petroleras, así como información sobre su ubicación, estado de funcionamiento y estatus de la propiedad.

También aborda el estado actual de proyectos conocidos en el sector minero, la evolución histórica de éste y las tendencias de la economía cubana, con énfasis en las industrias de minería, así como la oferta y demanda de los recursos minerales de Cuba.

Demasiada dependencia

El documento apunta que en 2013 Cuba se contaba entre los diez primeros productores mundiales de cobalto y níquel, las principales exportaciones de bienes del país.

Acerca de la producción de petróleo crudo y el gas natural derivado, que se extraen principalmente de yacimientos terrestres o situados en aguas poco profundas al este de La Habana, el USGS la estima en unos 50.000 barriles diarios de crudo y un equivalente de cerca de 20.000 de gas natural. Esto satisface alrededor de un 40% de la demanda del país, mientras que Venezuela ha venido cubriendo el 60% restante.

En 2013, el valor de las actividades extractivas representó el 0.6% del Producto Interno Bruto del país, comparado con el 1.4% en 2000.

El informe del USGS no ofrece nuevos estimados, sino que se ajusta a los que la institución publicó en 2004, sobre los "recursos de hidrocarburos no descubiertos y técnicamente recuperables" en la llamada Cuenca Cuba: 4.6 millones de barriles de petróleo crudo; 0.9 millones de barriles de líquidos de gas natural y 9.8 billones de pies cúbicos de gas natural. Estas proyecciones incluyen áreas offshore en aguas bajas y en la ZEE del país caribeño en el Golfo de México.

Oportunidades y cortapisas

La hoja de datos ofrece también información sobre la inversión extranjera directa en Cuba y recuerda que en noviembre de 2014, el Ministerio de Comercio Exterior e Inversión Extranjera de la isla anunció 246 proyectos de desarrollo para los que estaba buscando unos $8.000 millones de inversores foráneos.

El USGS aclara, no obstante, que el Gobierno cubano ha advertido que la de Cuba seguirá siendo una economía estatalizada y dominada por grandes holdings del Gobierno y que en la mayoría de sus asociaciones con firmas extranjeras se reservará el control mayoritario.

Apunta que en el sector energético, el país está ofreciendo empresas mixtas de extracción de petróleo en bloques terrestres y marítimos. El documento precisa que del portafolio de 246 proyectos, 86 pertenecen al sector del petróleo mientras que La Habana espera incrementar de 4% a 24% para 2030 la energía procedente de recursos no renovables como biomasa, la fotovoltaica y la hidroeléctrica.

En el caso de los parques eólicos, Cuba permitirá un 100% de propiedad extranjera. Pero el reporte del Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos aclara que, independientemente de si las empresas energéticas son parcial o totalmente de propiedad extranjera, se les exigirá vender la electricidad generada a los sistemas de distribución estatales, a precios predeterminados.

Already Being Built Spacecraft To Capture Asteroids and Missions To Moon and Mars

Mary Greeley

Mexican Drug Cartels Now Make Money Exporting Ore

By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY
Mexican drug cartels looking to diversify their businesses long ago moved into oil theft, pirated goods, extortion and kidnapping, consuming an ever larger swath of the country's economy. This month, federal officials confirmed the cartels have even entered the country's lucrative mining industry, exporting iron ore to Chinese mills.

Such large-scale illegal mining operations were long thought to be wild rumor, but federal officials confirmed they had known about the cartels' involvement in mining since 2010, and that the Nov. 4 military takeover of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico's second-largest port, was aimed at cutting off the cartels' export trade.

That news served as a wake-up call to Mexicans that drug traffickers have penetrated the country's economy at unheard-of levels, becoming true Mafia-style organizations, ready to defend their mines at gun point.

Three Michoacan state detectives were wounded in an ambush earlier this week when they were traveling to investigate a mine taken over by criminals. When reinforcements arrived, those officers were also ambushed, part of a string of attacks on police in Michoacan on Wednesday and Thursday that left two officers dead and about a dozen wounded.

The Knights Templar cartel and its predecessor, the La Familia drug gang, have been stealing or extorting shipments of iron ore, or illegally extracting the mineral themselves and selling it through Pacific coast ports, said Michoacan residents, mining companies and current and former federal officials. The cartel had already imposed demands for "protection payments" on many in the state, including shopkeepers, ranchers and farmers.

But so deeply entrenched was the cartel connection to mines, mills, ports, export firms and land holders that it took authorities three years to confront the phenomenon head-on. Federal officials said they are looking to crack down on other ports where drug gangs are operating.

"This is the terrible thing about this process of (the cartel's) taking control of and reconfiguring the state," said Guillermo Valdes Castellanos, the former head of the country's top domestic intelligence agency. "They managed to impose a Mafia-style control of organized crime, and the different social groups like port authorities, transnational companies and local landowners, had to get in line."

Valdez Castellanos said that even back in 2010, the La Familia cartel would take ore from areas that were under concession to private mining companies, sometimes with the aid or complicity of local farmers and land owners, then sell the ore to processors, distributors and even, apparently, foreign firms.

Mexico's Economy Department said the problem was so severe that it prompted the government to quietly toughen rules on exporters in 2011 and 2012 and make them prove they received their ore from established, recognized sources.

Many exporters couldn't. In 2012, the department denied export applications from 13 companies, because they didn't meet the new rules. And the problem wasn't just limited to Michoacan, or the Knights Templar cartel.

"Since 2010, evidence surfaced of irregular mining of iron in the states of Jalisco, Michoacan and Colima," the department said in a statement to The Associated Press.

"That illegal activity was encouraged by the great demand for iron by countries such as China, to develop their industries," according to the department. "Many trading companies began to build up big stockpiles of legally and illegally obtained iron (ore), that was later shipped out for export."

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Huge 5.5kg gold nugget found in Australia

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Cuba cierra una de sus plantas procesadoras de níquel

Reuters.- Uno de los mayores productores mundiales de níquel, cerró una de sus tres plantas procesadoras de ese metal, dijo un dirigente del Partido Comunista al anunciar la desactivación de la antigua fábrica.

El níquel, utilizado mayormente en la industria siderúrgica, es la exportación más importante y una de las mayores fuentes de divisas de Cuba después de los servicios profesionales y el turismo.

"Ya esta planta (la René Ramos Latourt, de Nicaro) cumplió su objetivo productivo y ahora se va a dedicar a los servicios", dijo Jorge Cuevas Ramos, primer secretario del Partido Comunista de Holguín, en una entrevista con un canal de televisión local el jueves en la noche.

Un reporte de la radio local a principios de semana había anticipado el cierre de la planta.

"Luego de la paralización de la Empresa René Ramos Latourt, de Nicaro, la Empresa Pinares de Mayarí, sólo mantendrá el transportador de minerales con el mantenimiento requerido para que esté listo por si es necesario trasladarlo para Moa o para alguna empresa extranjera que quiera invertir en la zona", dijo el reporte.

La industria cubana del níquel no ha revelado sus planes futuros y no se conocieron más detalles de la desactivación de la planta que ha funcionado durante unos 70 años.

Cuba produjo 69.700 toneladas de níquel sin refinar más cobalto en el 2010, según las más recientes cifras publicadas.

"Esto es algo que ha estado en la mente de la gente durante mucho tiempo, ya que la planta cuenta con tecnología muy antigua y una eficiencia muy baja", dijo un empleado de oficina de la planta que pidió no ser identificado.

"No sabíamos exactamente cuándo iba a cerrar, pero al final tendría que ocurrir porque no es económicamente sostenible", agregó.

La planta Ramos Latourt había producido sólo unos pocos miles de toneladas de níquel sin refinar más cobalto en los últimos años, mientras el gobierno luchó para mantenerla abierta y planeaba qué hacer con unos 15.000 residentes de Nicaro cuya vida se movía en torno a la instalación.

Cuba tendrá ahora dos plantas de procesamiento de níquel que operan en Holguín, una de ellas en un emprendimiento mixto con la empresa canadiense Sherritt International y otra planta propiedad de la estatal Cubaníquel.

La producción local este año sería de unas 65.000 toneladas de níquel sin refinar más cobalto, según una estimación de Reuters.

Una empresa conjunta con Venezuela para la construcción de una planta de ferroníquel en Moa, Holguín, tiene programada su apertura para el 2013, y según fuentes locales del Partido Comunista puede absorber parte de los empleados de la planta de Ramos Latourt que ahora cierra.

Cuba ha valorado el proyecto de ferroníquel en 700 millones de dólares y el plan anual ascendería a 68.000 toneladas de ferroníquel o unas 21.000 toneladas de níquel.

Cuba es uno de los productores más grandes del mundo de níquel y suministra el 10 por ciento de cobalto del mundo, según el Ministerio de la Industria Básica.

El níquel es esencial en la producción de acero inoxidable y otras aleaciones resistentes a la corrosión. El cobalto es vital  en la producción de superaleaciones utilizadas para los productos tales como motores de aviones.

El ferroníquel es una combinación de hierro y níquel utilizado principalmente en la fabricación de acero.

El níquel cubano es considerado clase II con un 90 por ciento promedio de contenido de níquel.

Cuba Evaluates Mining Potential For National Development Strategy

alternativelatininvestor.com

HAVANA, Dec 3 (BERNAMA-NNN-XINHUA) -- A study to assess Cuba's mining resource potential for a national development strategy was presented at a national workshop that ended here on Saturday, Cuban National Information Agency reported Sunday.  

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China joins nations seeking treasure in warming Arctic

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La pequeña minería del oro en Cuba: historia, metalogenia y perspectiva

R Díaz Martínez - Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 2012/

Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana

Resumen

La historia de la minería del oro en Cuba ha sido descrita en numerosos trabajos publicados, sin embargo no ha sido sistematizada acorde a las diferentes etapas del desarrollo socio–económico de la isla. Asimismo, se han elaborado clasificaciones y modelos conceptuales en el campo de la metalogenia del oro en Cuba, muchas de las cuales son profusas y no reflejan claramente los atributos esenciales que caracterizan las mineralizaciones de oro en la isla. Lo antes expuesto permitió desarrollar una investigación de carácter histórico–descriptivo sobre la base de una exhaustiva revisión, análisis e interpretación de la información disponible. La minería de oro en la isla se puede enmarcar en tres periodos históricos: colonial, neocolonial y revolucionario.

En la evolución geológica de Cuba se reconocen 4 episodios metalogenéticos principales de oro: (i) Aptiense–Campaniense, con la formación de mineralizaciones porfídicas de Au–Cu, de skarn de Au y epitermales de Au y Ag de baja y alta sulfuración; (ii) Campaniense tardío–Daniense temprano, donde se formaron mineralizaciones de oro de tipo orogénico y en listvenitas; (iii) Daniense–Eoceno medio, muy prolífero en mineralizaciones de oro en listvenitas (Cuba central) y asociadas al arco de islas volcánicas del Paleógeno (sur de Cuba oriental); y (iv) Oligoceno–reciente, donde se han originado las mineralizaciones en sobreros de hierro a partir de la oxidación de yacimientos de menas sulfurosos y placeres. La futura minería del oro en Cuba es muy atractiva, pero a pequeña y mediana escala.

Mas >>

Sherritt as Cuba's CP/ Peter Foster

Financial Post/ Peter Foster

Yadira Garcia former Minister, Ian W. Delaney and Raul Castro

When the recent proxy fight broke out over CP — whose repercussions continued this week with the resignation from the CP board of Rick George — my colleague Terence Corcoran cited another all-too-rare example of a catalyst investor taking on the Canadian corporate establishment. It was Ian “the Smiling Barracuda” Delaney’s successful 1990 fight for control of Sherritt, an historic but failing fertilizer and nickel-refining company based in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.

In fact, the CP link doesn’t end there. Mr. Delaney subsequently guided Sherritt into Cuba, where he declared that he would make the company the island’s answer to … CP! Unfortunately, he spoke truer than he knew. Although Cuba now accounts for only a fifth of its assets, Sherritt has been a less than stellar performer over the past two decades. Meanwhile Mr. Delaney’s adventures as Fidel Castro’s “favourite capitalist” remain one of the more controversial aspects of the company’s recent history.

After Mr. Delaney expanded his Cuban ambitions to embrace a joint venture at Moa Bay, a cucaracha appeared in the ointment in the form of Helms-Burton, U.S. legislation that allowed its citizens, including naturalized Cuban-Americans, to sue anybody “trafficking” in assets expropriated by the 1959 Castro revolution. That included Moa Bay. The right to sue has been suspended by presidential decree ever since, but Mr. Delaney — who remains Sherritt chairman — is still not permitted to enter the U.S.

Helms-Burton came on top of the 1960 U.S. embargo, which has increasingly been seen as a tactical error by the U.S., since it provided Cuban apologists with a ready-made excuse for the island’s disastrous centrally planned economy.

During the Trudeau era, Canada had an ardent love affair with the Castro regime. The dictatorship has since become less fashionable in left-liberal circles, although radical environmentalists such as David Suzuki continue to celebrate the island’s small carbon jackboot print.

One suspects that Stephen Harper never had pictures of Che Guevara on his dorm wall. Earlier this year he attracted criticism from a chatter of caudillos at the Summit of the Americas when he joined President Obama in vetoing an invitation to Cuba to join the next summit. Mr. Harper is likely a good deal more genuinely ideologically opposed to the Castro regime than Mr. Obama, whose main consideration is the powerful Cuban exile constituency in Florida. Indeed, when Mr. Obama came to power he promised to ease relations with Cuba. Nevertheless, the embargo has stayed, and Mr. Harper has made clear that Canada still does not support it.

Canada’s official position on Cuban relations pointedly stresses “greater opportunities for the development of non-state economic activity and private initiatives,” although it also peddles the party line about Cuba’s emphasis on health and education, as if these might reasonably be bought at the price of freedom.

That the U.S. administration is going softer on Cuba was indicated by its recent welcome of the daughter of President Raul Castro, Mariela. Ms. Castro, a professional “sexologist,” was in the U.S. to address the issue of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. This indicates that the Castro regime may be moving away from certain forms of persecution, although, as Cuban exile Carlos Alberto Montaner noted in a syndicated column, Ms. Castro’s support for freedom seems to be confined to areas “south of the navel.” Ms. Castro — while suggesting that all rumours that dissidents were jailed in Cuba were mere propaganda — also endorsed another term for Mr. Obama, which might well lose all those Floridian votes gained by his hard line at the Summit of the Americas.

Returning to Sherritt, even if the company doesn’t regard Helms-Burton as much of a threat any more, the legislation, and the embargo, have limited the company’s access to U.S. financing, suppliers and customers. Apart from the political risks, there is also Cuba’s ongoing status as a financial basket case. Whatever viability Cuba has had in recent years has been largely due to the support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who claims Fidel as an inspiration for his own economic tinkering, lengthy speeches and crushing of the opposition.

Venezuela truly suffers from the “oil curse,” that is, its petroleum riches enable Mr. Chavez to ignore/buy off/jail the electorate. He is good news for the Cuban dictatorship, however, since he ships both cut-rate oil and cheap loans to the island. One additional uncertainty for Sherritt therefore attaches to the possible end of Mr. Chavez, who is suffering from cancer.

When Mr. Delaney resigned as CEO of Sherritt earlier this year — having been forced to return to that position in 2009 after a long absence — he was unrepentant about his bet on Cuba, and was still claiming that he took the moral “high ground” in his investment. He still seems to think Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is a bigger political threat than the Castro brothers. However, Sherritt’s investments in Cuba have helped keep an odious regime in power, and have turned out to be of uncertain benefit to the company. When Raul Castro took over from Fidel four years ago, he promised more consumer goods, including electronics. One form of electronics that is conspicuously rare on the island is the technological platform for social media. The Castros are very keen to avoid a Cuban spring.

Sherritt’s underperformance would normally attract the kind of value-seeking attention that brought Mr. Delaney to the company 22 years ago, and Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman more recently to CP. However, the ongoing complexities of Cuban relations with the U.S. mean that no catalyst investor in Sherritt is likely to appear from south of the border. Unless, that is, he already has a buyer lined up for those Cuban operations.

Mining for Gold in Haiti: Haiti Helped or Exploited by U.S., Canadian Mining Companies?

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Gold! Haiti eyes potential $20 billion boom

Dieu Nalio Chery  /  AP

Children watch workers drill for gold, copper and silver in Trou Du Nord, Haiti, on April 10.

By MARTHA MENDOZA

TROU DU NORD, Haiti — Its capital is blighted with earthquake rubble. Its countryside is shorn of trees, chopped down for fuel. And yet, Haiti's land may hold the key to relieving centuries of poverty, disaster and disease: There is gold hidden in its hills — and silver and copper, too.

A flurry of exploratory drilling in the past year has found precious metals worth potentially $20 billion deep below the tropical ridges in the country's northeastern mountains. Now, a mining company is drilling around the clock to determine how to get those metals out.

In neighboring Dominican Republic, workers are poised to start mining the other side of this seam later this year in one of the world's largest gold deposits: 23 million ounces worth about $40 billion.

The Haitian government's annual budget is $1 billion, more than half provided by foreign assistance. The largest single source of foreign investment, $2 billion, came from Haitians working abroad last year. A windfall of locally produced wealth could pay for roads, schools, clean water and sewage systems for the nation's 10 million people, most of whom live on as little as $1.25 a day.

"If the mining companies are honest and if Haiti has a good government, then here is a way for this country to move forward," said Bureau of Mines Director Dieuseul Anglade. More >>

Company Plans to Mine Asteroids

Asteroid Itokawa as seen by the Japanese sample return probe Hayabusa in 2005-JAXA

Discovery News/  By Irene Klotz

A new company is developing low-cost, deep-space robotic probes to survey and mine near-Earth asteroids, officials will announce Tuesday.

While the ultimate pay dirt is expected to be platinum and rare metals -- currently selling for about $1,500 an ounce -- Planetary Resources also expects to extract water and other raw materials from some of the thousands of asteroids that pass relatively close to Earth.

Water, for example, could be processed into fuel by breaking apart the oxygen and hydrogen molecules. It then could be sold commercially from fuel depots in orbit to NASA and other entities conducting robotic and human space missions.  

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Children in Afghanistan work to extract country’s vast mineral wealth

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Mining the moon: Canada's possible new role in space

disclose.tv

By: Peter Rakobowchuk, The Canadian Press

Canada could play a key role in a new international space race, with the next sprint to the moon gearing up as an extra-terrestrial gold rush.

Industry insiders will be watching closely this week as the heads of the world's five biggest space agencies get together in Quebec City, where the partners on the International Space Station will discuss more than just the future of the orbiting lab.

They will also address an idea gaining currency in business and scientific circles: that within human reach lies an unfathomable wealth of resources, some of them common on Earth and others so exotic that they could change the way we live.

Canada could figure prominently in any discussion about lunar exploration, with nearly one-quarter of the world's top mining companies headquartered here and this country also known for robotics like the famous Canadarm.

Several countries, including China, have expressed a desire to start mining the moon's resources. The mining industry is now waiting for the Canadian Space Agency to make its intentions known, while the agency awaits direction from the federal government.

"When members of the international space community decide to go to the Moon or Mars, the CSA and Canada will be ready to contribute," the agency told The Canadian Press in an email last week.

The CSA has already begun developing a number of prototype lunar rovers, in co-operation with NASA and several Canadian firms.

The testing of these prototypes on Earth, with special drills for excavating, has already begun and more tests are planned this summer in Hawaii. The next phase would involve building space-bound rovers -- but the CSA can't move forward without federal approval.

"They're not headed for the moon, yet, although we have hopes for sure," Iain Christie, the president of Neptec Design Group, maker of one of the excavation rovers, said in an interview.

"We're making, I think, a contribution to what Canada's future space program might look like."

Ottawa-based Neptec made the laser-camera system that was used to inspect for damage on the exterior of the recently retired U.S. space shuttles.

For Christie, Canada's post-shuttle vocation is a no-brainer.

Of the top 40 global mining companies, with combined assets approaching $1 trillion, nine are Canadian, according to a 2011 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers. More >>

Sherrit-Cuba 2011: Higher production & capital spending

Moa-Nicaro Mining Zone environmental degradation

From Sherritt International

Mixed sulphides production for fourth-quarter 2011 was 3% (246 tonnes, Ni+Co contained, 100% basis) lower than fourth-quarter 2010, primarily due to lower ore feed quality and maintenance on the Slurry Preparation Plant. Full-year 2011 production of 38,641 tonnes was a 2% increase over 2010 and a production record at the Moa facility. Finished nickel production was 3% (276 tonnes, 100% basis) higher, and finished cobalt production was 5% (54 tonnes, 100% basis) higher than fourth-quarter 2010. Full-year 2011 nickel production of 34,572 tonnes (100% basis) and cobalt production of 3,853 tonnes (100% basis), were 2% (600 tonnes, 100% basis) and 4% (147 tonnes, 100% basis) higher than the prior year, respectively, and established annual production records at the refinery.

David V. Pathe-President and CEO

Fourth-quarter 2011 nickel and cobalt sales volumes were 4% (750 tonnes, 100% basis) and 3% (62 tonnes, 100% basis) higher than fourth-quarter 2010, consistent with the finished metal production trends. Full-year 2011 sales volumes also reflected the improvement in production, with nickel sales volumes 2% (1,670 tonnes, 100% basis) higher than the prior year, and annual cobalt sales volumes 4% (326 tonnes, 100% basis) higher in 2011.

The average nickel reference price in fourth-quarter 2011 was 22% (US$2.40/lb) lower than fourth-quarter 2010, reflecting the impact of global economic concerns on market sentiment and the slowing growth of the Chinese economy. The average cobalt reference price was 19% (US$3.23/lb) lower than fourth-quarter 2010. The full-year 2011 average nickel reference price of US$10.36/lb was 5% (US$0.47/lb) higher than 2010, primarily due to stronger global nickel demand, particularly in the first half of 2011, and the average 2011 cobalt reference price of US$16.44/lb was 12% (US$2.30/lb) lower than the prior year due to the rate of supply increasing faster than demand growth.
The net direct cash cost of nickel for fourth-quarter 2011 was 30% (US$1.03/lb) higher than fourth-quarter 2010 due to higher mining, processing and refining costs resulting from higher input commodity prices. The decline in the cobalt by-product credit for the quarter was more than offset by a higher fertilizer by-product credit. The 2011 full-year net direct cash cost of US$4.35/lb was 30% (US$1.00/lb) higher than in 2010, as the impact of higher mining, processing and refining costs and lower cobalt by-product credits were only partially offset by lower third-party feed costs and higher fertilizer by-product credits.
Spending on capital in fourth-quarter 2011 for the Moa Joint Venture was 31% ($5.1 million, 50% basis) higher than the prior-year period, primarily due to expenditures that had been deferred earlier in the year. Full-year 2011 spending on capital was 6% ($2.5 million, 50% basis) higher than 2010, and was directed towards sustaining activities. More >>

Canada's Ugly Secret: Asbestos

CBS News/

A major 40-year study on asbestos safety completed by a group of scientists at McGill University is flawed, lacks transparency and contains manipulated data says Dr. David Egilman, a professor at Brown University, health activist and longtime industry critic.

The study, which followed the health of 11,000 miners and mill workers in Quebec between 1966 and the late 1990s, is used by the Chrysotile Institute — a lobby arm funded by, overseen and closely associated with both Liberal and Conservative governments — to promote the use of asbestos overseas.

Chrysotile Institute

The Quebec Asbestos Mining Association, which later changed its name to The Asbestos Institute and then to the Chrysotile Institute, received approximately $20M in direct funding from the Canadian government since the 1980s.

According to Egilman, as the dangers of asbestos became better known in the 1960s, the industry decided to do its own research and hired Dr. John Corbett McDonald at McGill University's School of Occupational Health. Industry documents obtained by CBC News showed it wanted to conduct research similar to that in the tobacco industry, which stated that "Industry is always well advised to look after its own problems."

 

Dr. David Egliman visits Thetford Mines, Que., on Oct. 22, 2011. (Alex Shprintsen/CBC)

“Doubt is their product. They just need to have a little doubt in the dialogue. OK? And doubt allows you to go in and say, OK, maybe they’re right, maybe we’re right, but nobody’s sure,” says Egilman, who has been investigating the dangers of asbestos for over two decades.

Starting in the mid-1960s, McDonald headed the McGill study. The CBC has documents that show payments from the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association to McDonald and other researchers at the McGill School of Occupational Health totalling almost a million dollars from 1966 to 1972.

Tremolite versus asbestos

Tremolite, an even more dangerous contaminant than chrysotile, is sometimes found alongside white asbestos or chrysotile.

The McGill researchers would suggest in a 1997 study that cases of mesothelioma — cancer of the lining of the lung — occurred in "most, if not all," miners who had a greater exposure to tremolite and that the mines close to the centre of the town of Thetford, Que., were the ones most contaminated with tremolite.

 

Dr. John Corbett MacDonald was a scientist at McGill University who offered to conduct research for the asbestos industry. (McGill University Archives)

McDonald suggested that chrysotile was "essentially innocuous" at certain levels and advocated for its export to the Third World.

Egilman, who has been a longtime critic of the study, argues that chrysotile causes mesothelioma and has called for the release of the McGill study data.

“The whole argument is based on contaminated and uncontaminated mines. And nobody knows which is which? That’s crazy,” says Egilman.

Asbestos shipped across Canada

Asbestos was shipped all over Canada where it was used in many different industries. Forty per cent of Canada’s petrochemical industry is in Sarnia, Ont., and the pipes in the plants were wrapped in asbestos insulation. The overall cancer rate in the Sarnia area from 2003 to 2007 was about 10 per cent higher than the provincial average, the lung cancer rate 21 per cent higher and the mesothelioma rate six times higher. In Canada, there were 404 deaths in 2008 from mesothelioma.

Egilman is not the only expert asking to see the McGill University study data.

John Dement, an asbestos specialist at Duke University and Dr. Richard Lemen, a former assistant surgeon general in the U.S., both told CBC News that they would also like to see the information.

Lemen said the researchers are "either hiding something or … afraid the results will be interpreted differently." 

A recent analysis sponsored by the Dutch government tried to assess the risk from asbestos for lung cancer. It looked only at “higher quality studies” and excluded the Quebec mine study “because a variety of limitations, notably insufficient job history information.” 

More >>

Has Cuba become a Toxic waste dump for Lexington Institute benefactor, Sherritt International?/ Humberto Fontova

From   Babalú Blog

By Humberto Fontova, on July 25, 2011, at 1:39 am

Sherrit CEO Ian Delaney chumming it up with business chum

From Lincoln Diaz Balart:

"The Canadian Mining company Sherrit International has long been extracting Nickel from Cuba's Holguin province and transporting it to Canada for processing. I have information that the chemical by-products--the toxic waste--is then returned to Cuba and dumped on her land and waters in exchange for dollars. The Canadians thus save huge sums of money in circumventing Canada's environmental laws for the processing of toxic waste. I'm unaware of any other government (except Cuba's) that engages in such environmental prostitution. The damage done to Cuba, her people, and her future generations is incalcuable. I'm sure that the Canadians complicit in this crime as partners with the Cuban dictatorship will have to answer--not only morally--but also legally, when Cuba re-establishes the rule of law."

Entire disclosure (in Spanish) here by Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Needless to add, some outfits gleefully and repeatedly issued Cuban visas view the matter differently:

"Some experts (emphasis by intransigent poster) say Fidel Castro's environmental policies may be among his greatest achievements."
"I think the Cuban government can take a substantial amount of credit for landscape, flora, and fauna preservation," said Jennifer Gebelein, a professor at (you are not going to believe where she professes!) Florida International University in Miami who studies environmental issues in Cuba. "
Above expertise from National Geographic.

And regarding this post's title mentioning The Lexington Institute.

(Sherritt) has given money to a former CIA and State Department employee, Phil Peters, to advance its interests. The money to Peters goes through contributions to the Lexington Institute, where Peters is a Vice-President. Because the Lexington Institute is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, there is no public record of Sherritt’s funding. This has allowed Peters to advise and direct the Working Group in ways beneficial to Sherritt while presenting himself to the Group as an objective think-tank scholar with a specialization in Cuba."

Beware China’s Control Of Rare Earth Minerals – OpEd

By John Lee

There was a time several years ago when the Australian business community viewed China in the same way we now see Japan: all opportunity and no real threat. China’s penchant for building things saved our commodity-driven economy from a severe downturn during the global financial crisis. But as its rare-earth policies over [...] Eurasia Review - A Journal of Analysis and News

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#Canadian Assets Sold To #China Weapons Firm

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DVB By Francis Wade

Assets belonging to Canadian mining giant Ivanhoe Mines may have been transferred to a Chinese weapons manufacturer following its takeover last year of a copper mine in northern Burma, campaigners say.

If validated, the move could be in violation of both US and Canadian sanctions on Burma, said Tin Maung Htoo, executive director of Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB). The group has closely monitored the takeover of the Monywa copper mine last year by Norinco, one of China’s biggest arms companies that is known to have supplied heavy weaponry to the Burmese army.

Monywa is Burma’s biggest mine, located in the country’s northern Sagaing division. Until February 2007, it had been run by the Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Limited (MICCL), of which Ivanhoe Mines held a 50 percent stake that it claimed was transferred to a body known as The Monywa Trust, a blind trust, after the pull out.

Ivanhoe said in reply to a query from CFOB that it had “disposed” of its 50 percent stake, and that The Monywa Trust was still looking for buyers. It stated that it no longer has any involvement in the project.