Drummond declares force majeure in Colombia as Glencore denies it access to coal port

Cecilia Jamasmie | January 13, 2014

Images like this one are a thing of the past in Colombia.

US-based Drummond has declared force majeure on coal shipments from Colombia after failing to finish building a $350 million direct loading facility at its Cienaga port, on the Caribbean Sea, in time to meet new environmental standards.

Instead of using the old-fashioned two-step system, which implies loading barges at the docks to take them to the ships, coal miners are now expected to load their output directly.

But Drummond said the two-month labour strike that affected its operations last year, also delayed construction of its new port. Colombia’s second-biggest mining company now expects to have ready a conveyor system that loads ships directly by March.

Last week, Colombian authorities said Drummond could, in the meantime, export some of its coal through Puerto Nuevo port, operated by Glencore Xstrata's (LON:GLEN) subsidiary Prodeco.

However an industry source told Reuters that Puerto Nuevo was operating at full capacity and had no room to carry coal from its rival miner.

“Whilst Drummond clearly overestimated its position as a big contributor for the Colombian arks, the decision to put a stop to the operations is an economical hara-kiri and demands a careful analysis,” says OPHIR Mining, Resources & Investment in its Monday report.

The experts add that Drummond negligence could have been managed through sanctions that didn’t imply harming the economic chain, as it is interrupting all of Drummond’s shipments, which are equivalent to a third of the total coal production in Colombia.

Over 4,000 jobs could face temporary suspension, and the government has warned Drummond that will not allow lay-offs as the company has had seven years to complete the upgrading.

Some of the world's top mining companies have operations in Colombia, including Anglo American (LON: AAL) and BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP), which jointly own Cerrejon, the country's largest coal producer.

Movie about 33 Chilean miners rescued alive goes ahead amid bitter dispute over rights | MINING.com

Movie about 33 Chilean miners rescued alive goes ahead amid bitter dispute over rights | MINING.com:

Movie about 33 Chilean miners rescued alive goes ahead amid bitter dispute over rights

Cecilia Jamasmie | January 14, 2014

Over a billion people watched this moment, live.

When 33 Chilean miners were rescued from a collapsed mine in 2010, more than a billion people tuned in to watch the live broadcast on television. The story, which inspired a multimillion dollar Hollywood film starring Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche and Martin Sheen among others, is now in the midst of recruiting stunt doubles amid a bitter dispute between the survivors and Academy Award-nominated producer Mike Medavoy.

Local newspaper La Tercera (in Spanish) reports several of the men, including Luis Urzúa, the group foreman at the time of the accident, claim they were tricked out of royalties by lawyers and abandoned by the Chilean justice system.

So far, compensation for the former employees has included a $10,000 gift each from Chilean billionaire Leonardo Farkas, and about $450 for 14 of the miners, in the form of a lifetime monthly pension.

Last year, project owners Alejandro Bohn and Marcelo Kemmeny were billed with 25% of the expenses for the rescue operation, which cost the government about $22 million.

The movie, currently being shot in Bogatá, Colombia, is about to begin the Chilean leg of the filming. La Tercera reports that, over the weekend, over 2,300 people showed up hoping to be chosen to be one of the 1,000 stunts needed.

Mining Waste - Environment - European Commission

Mining Waste - Environment - European Commission:

Mining Waste

Community legislation

Summary of EU legislation on mining waste

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/waste_management/l28134_en.htm

Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the management of waste from the extractive industries

Implementing measures

In accordance with Article 22(1) of the Directive, the Commission has adopted by Comitology the following implementing measures:

Commission Decision 2009/337/EC on the Criteria for the classification of waste facilities in accordance with Annex III, adopted on 20/04/09, published on 22/04/09 (L 102, page 7)
Commission Decision 2009/335/EC on the Technical guidelines for the establishment of the financial guarantee, adopted on 20/04/09, published on 21/04/09 (L 101, page 25)
Commission Decision 2009/360/EC completing the technical requirements for waste characterisation, adopted on 30/04/09, published on 1/05/09 (L 110, page 48)
Commission Decision 2009/359/EC on the Definition of inert waste in implementation of Article 22 (1)(f), adopted on 30/04/09, published on 1/05/09 (L110, page 46)
Commission Decision 2009/358/EC on the Harmonisation, the regular transmission of the information and the questionnaire referred to in Articles 22(1) (a) and 18, adopted on 29/04/09, published on 1/05/09 (L 110, page 39)

In accordance with Article 22 (2) (a, b and e), the Commission has given a mandate to CEN in order to develop the required standardised sampling and analysing methods. CEN has also been mandated for the interpretation of the definition of inert waste, pursuant to article 22 (2) c). The final report was published end of 2012. For more details on the standards, please click here.

The Commission has also formally adopted the reference document on the best available techniques on the management of waste from extractive industries

Preparatory work

Commission Proposal

Studies

Study on Establishment of guidelines for the inspection of mining waste facilities, inventory and rehabilitation of abandoned facilities and review of the BREF document - DHI (April 2012)
Final report

Annex 1: Workshops in Brussels and Lisbon

Annex 2: Guidelines for the inspection of mining waste facilities

Annex 3: Supporting document on closure methodologies for closed and abandoned mining waste facilities

Annex 3 – Appendix II Prioritization of abandoned non-coal mine impacts on the environment

Annex 3 – Appendix III The legacy of abandoned mines

Annex 4 Comments on draft guidelines for the inspection of mining waste facilities

Annex 5 - Comments on draft supporting document on closure

Study on the impact of gold extraction in the EU- Bio Intelligence Service (April 2010)
Final Report (pdf ~1,330K)

The Commission has launched a study in January 2011 a study aiming at establishing guidance on inspection activities, exchange of information of rehabilitation of the closed and abandoned facilities and assessing the utility of updating the best available technique reference document (see terms of references of the study). A consortium led by DHI Denmark (lead person: M Ole Hjelmar, oh@dhigroup.com) and including Cantab Consulting Ltd, University of Tartu, Mecsek-Öko, VTT and Miskolc University was designed after a call for tender. Two seminars will be organised in the framework of the implementation of the study, one on inspection and another on the rehabilitation of the abandoned and closed facilities. The final report is expected by early 2012.

Management of mining, quarrying and ore-processing waste in the European Union
Final Report (pdf ~1,160K)
Annexes (pdf ~840K)

A study on the costs of improving the management of mining waste
Executive summary (pdf ~ 40K)
Final report (pdf ~ 460 K)

Study on the "Classification of mining waste facilities" (pdf ~5,550K)

Study on Financial Guarantees and Inspections - Montec April 2008
Final Report (pdf ~750K)
Annexes (zip ~1,010K)

Other relevant EU legislation

Seveso II Directive Directive 2003/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2003 amending Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances
Directive 2006/12/EC (pdf ~ 387 KB) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on waste (Waste Framework Directive)
Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste

Can Australia’s resources industry cope with the shortage of local engineering talent?

Can Australia’s resources industry cope with the shortage of local engineering talent?:

Can Australia’s resources industry cope with the shortage of local engineering talent?

Posted: 13/01/2014 9:00:00 AM by Mining Oil and Gas Jobs
Filed under: Oil-and-gas, Training-and-Development, Mining

The Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency (AWPA) has released a report that suggests that by 2018, there will be a serious shortage of a skilled workforce in the resources sector.

According to the AWPA report, there will be a 7% increase in mining employment by 2018. The oil and gas sector will also see a major boom in employment as it is expected to rise by almost 50% in the next four years. From around 39,000 workers currently employed in the oil and gas industry, this number is likely to rise to 61,212 in 2018.

The major concern that has been brought to light by the report submitted by AWPA is that in the coming years, there will be lack of domestic engineering expertise in Australia. Along with shortage of local engineering talent, there is also a probability of facing scarcity of chemical, gas, petroleum drillers and power generation plant operators.

Greater measures have to be put into place to address this skills gap in the Australian resources industry. Both the industry and government are working together to address the lack of domestic expertise in this sector. AWPA has advocated apprenticeship schemes for oil and gas jobs while the key players in the mining industry are offering post-graduate training courses in automated technology.

Keith Spence, an AWPA board member said: “The oil and gas industries needed to pursue a “more co-ordinated approach,” and “work together rather than independently.”

Spence believes that the educators, government and the industry together have to develop strategies to source local talent to address shortage of skills in the oil, gas and mining industry. - See more at: http://www.miningoilgasjobs.com.au/our-blog/january-2014-(1)/can-australias-resources-industry-cope-with-the-sh.aspx#sthash.KySstMAk.dpuf

SOMP - Society of Mining Professors: Mining Papers

SOMP - Society of Mining Professors: Mining Papers: Papers Add papers Citations Discuss papers Full text papers Helmut Micho Ingo Valgma Ingo Valgma AEdu Ingo Valgma RID Jüri R...

Estonia is cleansing oil shale

IEA - January:- Estonia is cleansing oil shale:

Estonia is cleansing oil shale

Country’s environmentally savvy oil shale technologies may trigger a fresh look at the vast global reserves of this otherwise polluting fossil fuel.

2 January 2014

This article appears in the latest issue of IEA Energy: The Journal of the International Energy Agency; click here to send a request a free subscription.

Significant reserves and nearly a century of experience in tapping this resource make Estonia’s oil shale industry the most developed in the world. Oil shale, however, tops the list of the most polluting fossil fuels. One benefit the country could reap from membership in the IEA is collaboration in pursuing wider use of oil shale in a cleaner, more sustainable manner.

Not to be confused with shale oil, oil shale is a sedimentary rock containing up to 50% organic matter rich in hydrogen, known as kerogen. The extracted rock can be used directly as a power plant resource or it can be processed to produce shale oil, which in turn can be refined into gasoline, diesel or jet fuels.

Estonia’s oil shale is energy-rich, but its direct combustion, or transformation into shale oil and then other fuels, emits more CO2 than any other primary fuel.

Reducing mining without reducing energy

Despite the high emissions, 70% of Estonia’s total primary energy supply (TPES) in 2012 came from oil shale. Just over 85% of mined oil shale was used to produce electricity – the country’s top priority for energy security – and heat generation; the rest was turned into shale oil, retort gas and other valuable chemicals.

The new IEA publication Energy Policies of IEA Countries – Estonia 2013 describes how the country is trying to slow its mining of oil shale amid environmental concerns. In 2012, Estonia mined 15.86 million tonnes of its more than 4 billion tonnes of estimated reserves, which represent just over 1.1% of global and 17% of European reserves. But the National Development Plan for Oil Shale Use for 2008-15 calls for reducing annual extraction while preserving the country’s strong energy security. Estonia is also working to halve energy sector-related CO2 emissions in 2020 from the 15.7 million tonnes emitted in 2007.

How Estonia will do more with less

Estonia is relying on technological improvements to maximise oil shale yield to generate more electricity, heat and shale oil so as to maintain necessary levels of electricity and heat for the economy, which remains one of the OECD’s strongest performers.

In 2011, public research, development and demonstration (RD&D) expenditures exceeded EUR 9.4 million, with the oil shale sector accounting for one-third. That spending demonstrates how RD&D is an economic priority, with the national research and development and innovation system enjoying one of the highest growth rates in gross RD&D domestic expenditure among OECD member countries in recent years.

The aim is to improve technologies for greater efficiency throughout the oil shale cycle, from mining to consumption. The research concentrates on two aspects: maximising the production of liquid fuel and reducing the carbon intensity of oil shale-based power and heat generation.

The recently launched ENEFIT280 technology of the state-owned company Eesti Energia highlights Estonia’s achievements in reducing emissions and increasing efficiency for the oil shale industry. ENEFIT280-equipped plants utilise 100% of mined oil shale, producing shale oil, electricity and retort gas with higher efficiency and improved environmental performance than other models. This essentially water-free, carbon capture-ready technology also generates electricity from excess heat and retort gas, further offsetting CO2 emissions. Another competitive advantage of ENEFIT280 is the absence of waste, with the only by-products being non-hazardous residue ash. The ash can replace clinker in cement production and is registered by the European Union as a raw material for different applications in the construction and materials industries.

Estonia produced the first barrel of ENEFIT280 shale oil in December 2012.

Renewable energy is another solution. Renewables, particularly biomass for heat, provided 14.6% of Estonia’s TPES in 2012, a share which would rank tenth among IEA members.

The European Union Renewable Energy Directive calls for sourcing one-quarter of Estonia’s gross final energy consumption from renewable sources. To increase and improve the sector, Estonia is not only spending heavily on RD&D for biomass-based energy, wind and solar power, but it is also pursuing cutting-edge solutions such as fuel cells and electrolysers as well as computer-based energy management technologies for buildings, power storage and grid development.

Estonia exports its home-grown technologies

Relatively little is known about many of the world’s deposits of oil shale.

The United States tops the list of the richest reserves, accounting for more than 60% globally, with the most concentrated deposits located in the Green River Formation that lies in western Colorado, eastern Utah and southern Wyoming.

Besides Estonia, countries with large oil shale reserves include Australia, Brazil, China and Russia. There are also significant reserves in Jordan, Morocco, Sweden, Syria and Turkey.

Countries with the know-how have used oil shale for different applications for decades, but Estonia’s latest technological breakthrough could catalyse a new approach to exploring the vast global reserves of this fossil fuel frequently perceived as a significant pollutant.

Estonia is keen to explore opportunities for the wider application of its latest technologies. Eesti Energia started its international oil shale activities in 2006, and has oil shale operations in Jordan and the United States.

Eesti Energia’s subsidiary Enefit is developing two parallel oil shale projects in Jordan, where it acquired the exclusive right to develop, design, finance, construct and operate a 500 megawatt oil shale-fuelled power station.

In the US state of Utah, Eesti Energia purchased Oil Shale Exploration Company in 2011. Properties owned or controlled by Enefit contain an estimated 2.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil that can be unlocked safely with conventional mining, mineral processing and refining methods.

How the IEA helps oil shale RD&D

Based on an agreement Estonia reached with the IEA on the sidelines of the 2011 IEA Ministerial meeting, the Agency took part in the International Oil Shale Symposium hosted by Estonia in June 2013. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the IEA organised a joint plenary session on energy technologies, with the IEA presenting some of the latest advances in energy technology and policy for better use of oil shale.

Estonia is also expected to join a number of IEA-supported research networks related to the oil shale industry, including the Gas and Oil Technologies Implementing Agreement and the Implementing Agreement on Fluidized Bed Conversion, to further aid and benefit from international technological advances.

The symposium’s findings built in part on national basic research on oil shale conducted by the Tallinn University of Technology. But RD&D is led by the top oil shale users, including Eesti Energia, which expects its RD&D will result in two more ENEFIT280 plants by 2016 as well as shale oil-upgrading facilities for refining. Export of the technology may be aided by ENEFIT280’s modular design, which allots each processing unit a specific purpose, optimising maintenance, processes and adaptability to different oil shale deposits’ characteristics.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) produces IEA Energy, but analysis and views contained in the journal are those of individual IEA analysts and not necessarily those of the IEA Secretariat or IEA member countries, and are not to be construed as advice on any specific issue or situation. Click here to send a request a free subscription to IEA Energy.

RECENT NEWS

Browse IEA news by topic: Energy Policy Oil Estonia

Geology and mining

MINE Magazine Archive

MINE Magazine