Dear CIMG Members,

In this edition we have included some interesting news, events, information and articles.

Please be reminded that the Secretariat of the CIMG is now located within the AustCham Beijing Office. We welcome all members to come and visit. As well, the office has three workstations for non resident Beijing CIMG companies that may need a space to work from time to time. If you do need a workstation please book the required times with the Secretariat by sending an email to Auslan or Mary.

News from the last CIMG meeting

The last CIMG meeting with 40 attendees was held at the Swissotel on 29 June 2006.
Auslan opened the meeting and welcomed all the attendees. He passed on Nigel Clark’s apology and said that the past month had been a busy one with a CIMG delegation in He Chi Province and as well as the CIMG presenting at the Metals North East Asia Conference in Shanghai.

Mark Eadie from ERM then presented where he outlined the EIA process. In particular he spoke on the Environmental and Social Permitting Processes for the Mining Industry in China, and also commented on the new International Finance Corporation Policy and Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability. These new standards, which came into operation on 1st April this year, are being replicated to form the new Equator Principles. The Equator Principles are used by many of the world's leading banks to assess corporate environmental and social performance when arranging project finance. Mark Eadie is the Director of ERM's Social Consulting Practice in China, based in Beijing. He has been based in China for 4 years. He was with Shell for 18 years and was the Head of External Affairs for the US$8.5 bn West-East Gas Pipeline Project before joining ERM. For a copy of Mark’s presentation he can be contacted on the following numbers: Mobile:+86 139 1137 5062 , Tel: +86 (0)10 5108 8166 x802 or by email at Mark.Eadie@erm.com.

The second presentation was from the Yunnan Institute of Development. Presenting was Elisabeth a program director from the Institute. The Institute runs a number of development programs in We believe than everybody shouYuxi County in Yunnan. In particular they run a “ train the trainer “ development instructor program that trains volunteers to assist on development projects. As well they run a number of projects in Yunnan and Elisabeth spoke at length on the benefits of the program in regards to community development. From a CSR perspective, mining companies who are working in Yunnan may like to consider some of these projects as a way of engaging local communities. For more information please contact the Yunnan Institute of Development at info@volunteerchina.org.

The last presentation was from the organizers of the China (Western) Nonferrous Metals Mining Forum 2006 that will be held in August 22-25 at Hohhot. A short presentation was given outlining the previous years attendees as well as the program for this upcoming event. CIMG members who are interested in attending can attend at the Chinese Early Bird domestic price of 1900RMB. For more information on this conference please contact Mary at the Secretariat.

Auslan then read a report on the Metal Mining North East Asia 2006 conference. He noted that Nigel gave the International Keynote Speech and chaired Panel 2 (including the roundtable discussion) on day One and also chaired Panel One and Two on Day Two and therefore very good overall exposure for the CIMG. Nigel also managed to have a private discussion with Mr Jia Qihai (Director General of Mining Management, MOLAR and Wei Tiejun (deputy Director General of Mining Legal Centre, MOLAR) and on raised the issue of the China Gold Association announcement neither of Mr Jia or Wei had seen or heard of this and asked for a copy. A copy has been sent to Mr Wei. Overall conference themes noted by Nigel: Prospects for the NE Metal Market; assessing the investment environment; how to feed the vast demand for commodities; efficient solutions to challenges in exploration and exploitation; financing and risk management; mineral products trading; exploring new opportunities and emerging options, and value chain management. Some overall comments and sound bites noted by Nigel: Energy supply is a restriction to growth; many references to the circular economy and sustainability; balancing growth and development with conservatism and better use of resources; more recycling and efficiency in production; emphasis on win-win for all players both national and international; foreign dominance noted with some concern in the aluminium and iron sectors; encouragement to companies developing the West and Northwest; exploration needs national planning.

Auslan then asked for issues and comment from floor. The first topic to be discussed was the recent CIMG meeting with MLR in regards to the China Mining 2006 Conference. Many at the meeting noted that based on last year the conference had become rather narrow and did focus on all the metals. As well, last year there was very little attendance from domestic players, which was very important to finding potential properties. These comments were taken on board by the organizers of the conference who where in attendance at the meeting.

The second topic that was raised was on the China Gold Association (CGA) announcement in regard to FDI and majority shareholding. It was noted by many that this was more likely a rumour and that the comments made by the CGA representative were personal in nature. Jan from China Mining mentioned as well that with his discussions with the CGA the CGA representative had no authority to make such a comment. As well, as noted above MLR had no news of such comment. In conclusion to this point it was agreed by those at the meeting that the comment is more than likely a rumour and should be disregarded.

Auslan made note of the new members of the CIMG:

The new members included – SMEC, CRU, Tianshan Goldfields, Beijing Axis

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Member Update

ICMM and CIMG announce new alliance:
The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and the China International Mining Group (CIMG) have announced an alliance to promote awareness of sustainability in China’s domestic mining industry.

ICMM, which was founded in 2001, has taken a leadership role in promoting good practice in sustainable development performance in the global metals and mining industry. This has included the development of a Sustainable Development Framework that ICMM’s 14 corporate members have signed up to.

ICMM, along with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), is currently taking part in a dialogue with the Chinese government on health and safety issues. The initiative aims to assist the Chinese government to implement a safety culture in the Chinese mining industry by sharing technical expertize and examples of good practice.

The alliance with CIMG will help to build on the positive steps taken by ICMM, ICEM, ILO and the Chinese government.

ICMM Secretary General Paul Mitchell said “We are committed to working in partnership with national organizations to raise the profile of our work, and look forward to working more closely with CIMG in future.�

Auslan Ishmael, General Secretary of the China International Mining Group said “ICMM and CIMG support the benefits of promoting sustainable business outcomes in mining. In the coming months, ICMM and CIMG plan to work jointly on enhancing awareness of good practice mining tools developed by ICMM.�

The announcement was also supported by a luncheon with the Andrew Parsons, a Director, with the ICMM on the 5 July where 60 CIMG members attended along with the officials from CMA and MLR.

Media Engagement
The CIMG is now contributing regularly to the MINING JOURNAL CHINA and WORLD NON FERROUS METALS. The Secretariat is seeking content related to Environment, Community, Safety and Technology. Articles should be case studies, in Chinese and 2 pages long. This is a unique chance to share information and promote the international mining community in China. If you are interested in submitting an article, please send your article as a word document to admin@austcham.org by the first week of the month to be published the following month.
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Feature Article

LONDON, 6 July 2006 — The Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs) today announced the launch of the revised Equator Principles. The revision underscores how far the financial sector has progressed in embedding in the project finance arena a common set of best practices to manage social and environmental risks related to project financing.

Today's revised principles reflect the experience of the 40 financial institutions around the world that currently apply the Principles. The principles also reflect the recent revisions to the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Performance Standards, upon which the Equator Principles are in part based. In developing these changes, the EPFIs actively involved clients, civil society groups and official development agencies, all of whom provided constructive and valuable feedback that the EPFIs reviewed and considered in the revision process.

Full text of press release (pdf - 275k)

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Regulatory Update

Provisional Regulation on Disciplining Dereliction of Duty in Environmental Protection Activity -SEPA -issued date: 20030228

Notice of Further Regulating Exploration Licenses and Mining Licenses Granting/Transfer Process Management

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Classifieds

There are no classifieds as this time

NOTE: If you are interested in placing a classified-hiring, buy or sell (looking for staff, equipment, etc) please contact the Seccretariat. This service is FREE for CIMG members

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