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Volume
3, Issue 4| May2008 | E-News
Archives
What's
in the the news?
Sichuan aluminium smelters face output
curbs on quake
(Source - Mining Journal)
Sichuan Aostar Aluminum Co and Sichuan Guangyuan Aluminum
Co, with a combined smelting capacity of 370,000 metric tons,
face production curbs after the country`s worst earthquake
since 1976 hit the province.
Sichuan
Aostar, the largest producer of the metal in the province,
has only enough material stockpiles to feed its plant for
10 days, Tang Yan, an operational manager, said. A shortage
of hydropower may worsen later, Mr Tang said.
The
May 12 earthquake has killed at least 20,000 people, destroyed
buildings and damaged power infrastructure. China is the world`s
largest producer and consumer of aluminium, and snowstorm-induced
disruptions at some of its smelters this year had bolstered
global prices.
"We`ve
definitely suffered some losses in production but at this
moment we haven`t yet assessed how much," Liu Weidong,
a manager at Sichuan Guangyuan Aluminum, said. The smelter
can produce about 120,000t of the lightweight metal a year.
Aluminium
futures for July delivery, the most actively-traded contract,
rose 440 yuan, or 2.3%, to close at 19,315 yuan ($2764) a
ton, the highest since April 11, on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Bosai
Minerals Group Co yesterday said it stopped output at its
120,000t Aba aluminum smelter in Sichuan because of the 7.9-magnitude
earthquake.
Aostar,
the biggest aluminum producer in Sichuan has two plants, each
with a capacity of 125,000t. It relies on hydropower to run
its operations and buys alumina material from Aluminum Corp
of China Ltd to process into the light metal.
Transport
on the main Baocheng railroad was disrupted, cutting a third
of Aostar`s monthly alumina supply of 22,000t for one of its
two plants, said Mr Tang, who runs one of the smelters.
Shipments
of commodities on the Baocheng line is being disrupted as
priority is being given to aid, Wang Yongping, a Ministry
of Railways spokesman, said.
"We
are concerned about hydropower supply, even though operations
were temporarily unaffected by the earthquake," Mr Tang
said. A shortage of hydropower may get more severe in the
following months, he said.
Reservoirs,
hydropower stations and lakes in the earthquake zone were
damaged, Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said. Power
accounts for about a third of the cost of producing aluminium.
Two
dams upstream from a hydropower station operated by China
Huaneng Group Corp. may collapse "at any time" endangering
the lives of about 110 people trapped at the plant, Zhang
Ping, chairman of the company`s Sichuan hydropower unit, said
on state-owned broadcaster China Central Television yesterday.
Resources
tax reform plan to expand scope of tax collection
(Source - www.chinamining.org - 2008-05-06 08:59)
To reform resources tax system will be
one of the key tasks in China's tax system reform, and authoritative
sources disclosed that resources tax reform plan is likely
to be published in the latter half of this year and will expand
the scope of tax collection.
The sources disclosed
that China is considering putting some natural resources that
are originally out of the scope of resources tax collection
into the scope, say mining of underground water, in an effort
to promote comprehensive utilization of resources.
Meanwhile, the
reform plans to change the way of collection of resources
tax from specific volume to ad valorem, that is to collect
the tax at fixed percentage method. But there will be no specific
tax rate standards for lean ores and rich ores.
China is collecting
resources tax according to specific volume at present, that
is, according to the mining volume.
Reform of resources
tax will lead to increase of tax burden of resources tax.
It is estimated that the resources tax on mineral resources
will be increased from about 10 yuan/ton at present to 20-30
yuan/ton. Meanwhile, under the influence of price transmission,
the cost pressure on processing enterprises will increase,
and will show up in the following year.
China now imposes
resources tax on crude oil, natural gas, coal, other non-metallic
mineral ores, ferrous metal ores, nonferrous metal ores, and
salt.
The
CIMG Secretariat emails daily a list of news headlines to
its members. To make sure you get your copy send an email
to Ivy at info@cimg.org.cn.
Please
remember to read the CIMG Update - Projects
and Member Updates section to make sure you are
abreast of the CIMG's upcoming projects, events and member
news.
News
from the last CIMG monthly meeting
This meeting focussed
on surveying and mapping in China. We were fortunate to have
Mr. Yan Guangsheng a Director from China Geological Survey
(CGS) present. He presented on the key directions of the CGS
work in China and provided a summary of the geological survey
work and annual work focus for 2008. Opening his presentation
Mr Yan outlined some of the work that the CGS is undertaking
to assist government efforts with the Sichuan Earthquake.
This work comprised of collecting data and sending research
teams to the effected quake areas.
The China Geological Survey (CGS) has about a 90-year history.
In 1913, the Geological Survey under the Ministry of Agriculture
and Commerce was set up. Chinese geologists carried out the
preliminary studies of petrology, stratigraphy, paleontology,
tectonics and mineralogy in China and found some mineral deposits
such as the Anshan Iron Ore Deposit, Jiapigou Gold Deposit,
Fushuen Coal Deposit and Yumen Oil Field. During that time,
some geologists from the United States, Japan and German also
did the geological investigations in China.
As an important reform of the national geological work in
China, the China Geological Survey (CGS) was formally set
up on July 16, 1999. Its main functions are to undertake,
organize, and carry out basic and public geological investigations
and strategic mineral exploration. In November 2001, the China
Geological Survey was reorganized as the Chinese Academy of
Geological Sciences, China Institute of Geo-Environmental
Monitoring, National Geological Museum of China, National
Geological Library were merged into the China Geological Survey.
Now 27 institutions are under the China Geological Survey
after its reorganization. It performs geological investigation,
geoscientific research and public service.
At present, the China Geological Survey has about 10,000 staff
members in total, and annual budget of RMB1.5 billion (about
US$18 million) allocated by the central government for geological
work. In the budget, RMB 1 billion (about US$12 million) is
allocated for a special national program of "new round
investigations of land, mineral and marine resources".
The geoscientists from the national geological investigation
group, universities and research institutions are participating
in this program.
Progress
of Geological Work in China
In the past 50 years, Chinese geoscientists carried out regional
geological mapping, mineral exploration, geophysical and geochemical
exploration, hydrogeological, engineering geological and environmental
geological investigations, marine geological survey and geoscientific
research, which covered the inland and part of the offshore.They
have made great achievements in these fields through their
hard work.
Until 1999, China has completed the regional geological mapping
of 9,473,800 km_ on a scale of 1:1,000,000, about 98.7% of
the accessible mapping areas. Regional mapping of 6,910,000
km_ on a scale of 1:200,000 was completed except for most
of Tibet, the south part of Xinjiang, west part of Qinghai
and northeast part of Inner Mongolia, which was 72% of the
access areas. About 1,590,000 km_ on a scale of 1:50,000 was
mapped or 16.6% of the access areas and 225,000 km_ is on
a scale of 1:250,000.
Through the large scale of geological investigations, mineral
prospecting and exploration, 171 kinds of minerals have been
discovered so far in China. There are 155 minerals having
proven reserves that are classified as follows: 8 energy minerals,
54 solid minerals, 90 nonmetallic minerals and 3 water and
gas. It is about 12% of the total amount of the world's proven
reserves. The tungsten, tin, molybdenum, antimony, rare earth
minerals, fluorite, barite are the dominant minerals in China.
For regional geophysical and geochemical exploration, gravity
surveys of 7 million km_ on a scale of 1:1,000,000 inland
and 3 million km_ on a scale of 1:200,000 have been completed.
The only area not surveyed is in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau;
1.5 million km_ could be accessed for a gravity survey. A
great breakthrough of geochemical exploration and analysis
method had been made in the 1980's, and then large-scale regional
geochemical exploration was carried out in China. This exploration
on 4.6 million km_ on a scale of 1:200,000 and 1.8 million
km_ on a scale of 1:500,000 have been completed, and a series
of important achievements in mineral prospecting have been
made. It is very important to the fields of agriculture and
environmental protection. The airborne geophysical exploration
covered 9.3 million km_ onland and 2.3 million km_ offshore.
A total of 214,719 km lines covering 1.2 million km_ were
completed from 1998 to 2000.
The first round investigations of the regional hydrogeology
and groundwater resources, which cover 5,723,000 km_ on a
scale of 1:200,000, 1,852,700 km_ on a scale of 500,000, and
2,001,900 km_ on a scale of 1:1,000,000, have been completed
in China. About 1.4 million km_ of hydrogeological exploration
for farmland irrigation on a scale of 1:100,000 have been
planned in the northern 17 provinces. The dynamic monitoring
system of the nation's groundwater has been set up. About
2,748 geothermal fields have been discovered, and 6.77 million
km_ of geothermal exploration was carried out. In addition,
the mineral water investigation and assessment of mineral
water sites have been done. More than 20,000 groundwater monitoring
stations have been set up, 1,000 of them are operated by the
central, provincial and local governments. Twenty-eight balance
test sites of groundwater have been set up too.
In the economic development zones, the investigation of engineering
geology on a scale of 1:200,000 or 1:500,000 has been conducted,
and the long-range plan of engineering geology has been finished.
The investigations of engineering geology and environmental
geology on scales of 1:500,000 and 1:200,000 have been carried
out in more than 100 cities along the Yangtze r, Yellow, Pear
Rivers and coast areas. In addition, more than 200 typical
dangerous geohazards, which include the Lian-Zi-ya dangerous
rock, Huang-la-shi landslide and Ji-pa-zi landslide have been
investigated and secured. The environmental geological investigation
and assessment of 18 important land-use and development areas
were completed.
The 1,800,000 km_ of offshore oil and gas investigations on
different scales have been fulfilled, including the offshore
oil and gas assessment. Eleven investigations on the equator,
mid-and east-basins of the Pacific Ocean covering 2 million
km_ have been carried out by geophysical vessels. As a result
of the investigations, two mineral areas over 300,000 km_
with 2 billion tons of manganese and cobalt nodules, which
are economic, have been delineated in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean. The investigations of the marine geological environment
and geohazards along coast areas covering 600 km_ on a scale
of 1:100,000 have been completed.
At the same time, the China Geological Survey pays great attention
to the geoscientific research and has carried out the research
in fields of the national division of mineral resources; the
major minerogenetic province and mineral prospecting of China;
mineral resources investigation and assessment in the west
part of China; groundwater resources; environmental geology;
exploration technology and GIS. The great results have been
obtained in continental dynamics, karst environment, global
change, ultrametamorphic belt, regional geochemistry, airborne
magnetic, the early vital evolution.
After
the presentation Auslan provided a brief update on upcoming
activities.
Please
click this link CIMG Update - Projects
and Member Updates to veiw the CIMG's projects, events
and member news.
CIMG
Member Update - Projects and Member Updates
CIMG Projects
- Seeking
your input and involvement
Update
- CIMG Earthquake Technical Assistance 2008 with MOLAR
The CIMG in conjunction with MOLAR,
is working on a plan to mitigate potential hazards created
by the recent earthquakes in Sichuan Province. The
role of MOLAR is to provide adequate data for other agencies
to assess future hazards stemming from the quake. An example
of this are weakened dams, areas under the stress of landslides,
etc. This is of particular concern given that the rainy season
is soon to approach the earthquake area. The CIMG can assist
in helping MOLAR's capacity through additional information
collection and analysis as well as equipment supply, etc.
As well part of the CIMG's contribution will go towards helping
rebuilding the local community with the Sichuan BGMR.
This project seeks to:
- Assist
those in need in quake affected areas in Sichuan Province
- Assess
quake affected infrastructure and areas to mitigate further
risks arising from forces of nature
- Use
strengths of CIMG members to provide technical assistance
- Use
readily available resources to assist in relief efforts
in a timely and efficient manner
- Work
with MOLAR and other government departments to link with
international resources for assistance
What
we are seeking from CIMG Members: The
CIMG acknowledges that many member companies of the CIMG have
made significant contributions to the relief agencies. Looking
forward there is still much potential for disaster in the
quake related regions as much of the infrastructure and geography
has been weakened or destroyed. After consulting with MOLAR
they have noted that there chief concern is data collection
that would help them to manage further risks and hazards.
MOLAR
have asked the assistance from the CIMG Secretariat and its
members to procure a small UAV that can operate in all weather
for data collection. The main task of the UAV will be to take
high resolution pictures of hazardous areas to allow further
assessment of damaged areas in the earthquake zone.
The
CIMG Secretariat has been able to source a Chinese made UAV
which it will be possible to rent and we seek support in the
form of donations to cover the cost of renting the UAV. As
mentioned above part of the monies raised will go towards
local community building efforts via the Sichuan BGMR.
DONATION
OPTIONS: The
total donation that the CIMG is seeking to raise is 300K RMB.
The amount of the donations is open. By providing donations
we will helping MOLAR identify and mitigate further risks
caused by the earthquake. The CIMG Secretariat will also be
making a donation towards this initiative.
Timing:
We truly hope that you will be interested in providing
a donation. We are hoping to find all the donations by early
June. As you can imagine time is of an essence.
Thank
you note: In advance we thank you for your support for
this important project.
For
further information on how to donate please contact:
Auslan Ishmael or Mary Yu
CIMG
T: +86 10 8522 6205
F: +86 10 8522 6247
Email: mary@cimg.org.cn
CIMG
Taxation Discussion
Group 2008
Since 2003
the CIMG has worked on creating a greater understanding of
Chinese Taxation as applied to the exploration and mining
industry. The CIMG undertook a number of workshops in 2003
and 2005 with the State Administration of Taxation and MOLAR.
Members
indicated in the membership survey their wishes for the CIMG
to take on taxation as a key project for the CIMG's work in
2008. The CIMG has taken this on board and is in the process
of planning how and what to lobby the State Administration
of Taxation on. It is hoped that this process will lead to
a taxation white paper, meetings with the State Administration
of Taxation, etc. The outcome of this work will be to enhance
the understanding of taxation and its implementation for the
mining industry.
The
taxation discussion group of the CIMG was formed in March
2008. They are currently working with the CIMG Secretariat
on producing a taxation white paper and intend to meet with
the State Administration of Taxation in the coming months.
For
more information or to take part in this discussion group,
please call Auslan at the CIMG Secretariat or by email at
auslan@cimg.org.cn
CIMG
White Paper 2008
and MOLAR Roundtable in July
The
Last year's White Paper has been well recieved by MOLAR and
other government
Last year's White Paper has been well recieved by MOLAR and
other government departments. A recent meeting with MOLAR
indicated that the CIMG's White Paper 2007 provided a useful
information that they would like to further analyse. As such,
the CIMG Secretariat has begun planning with MOLAR a roundtable
discussion to be held in late April/Early May.
Given
the momentum from last year's white paper and this upcoming
roundtable with MOLAR the CIMG will be starting the process
of formulating the White Paper 2008 earlier this year. Doing
so wil enable the members to add more input and build upon
the foundations of last year's white paper.
Apart from the meeting with MOLAR the CIMG Secretariat
would like to inform members of first meeting of the White
Paper Discussion Group. This group will be responsible for
assisting the Secretariat in drafting the CIMG White Paper
2008 and will meet on 9 April at 4.30pm at the offices of
Allens Arthur Robinson. For more information or to take
part in this discussion group, please call Auslan at the CIMG
Secretariat or by email at auslan@cimg.org.cn
Extractives
Industry Working Group on CSR
It is with great excitement the CIMG Secretariat advise members
of this initiative. Late last year in the membership survey
it was discussed that Sustainable Mining/CSR form a pinnacle
part of the CIMG's work program. After the CIMG Secretariat's
discussion with the Business of Social Responsibility (BSR)
on the importance of CSR in China it was thought that it would
be beneficial for these two groups to work together.
As
such this "Extractives Industry Working Group on CSR
" is a joint initiative between BSR and the CIMG and
held its first meeting in late March. It is hoped that this
group will work in unison to:
- Enhance
the understanding of sustainable extractives industry in
China and explore how our concepts of sustainability and
CSR are
changing and are specific in nature to China.
- Create
a platform to increase information sharing between foreign
and
domestic extractive companies on the benefits, challenges
and
opportunities of adopting sustainable extracting and CSR
practices.
- Work
on
White Paper research project to better understand the root
causes of these challenging situations and what companies
can do to
navigate them better. The findings of the roundtable discussion
will
become part of research aimed to lobby China policymakers.
For
more information or to take part in this discussion group,
please call Auslan at the CIMG Secretariat or by email at
auslan@cimg.org.cn
UBC:
The NBK Institute of Mining Engineering at UBC - Internship
opportunities
"UBC:
The NBK Institute of Mining Engineering" at UBC in Vancouver
is pleased to announce a new internship opportunity for international
applicants to its innovative Master of Engineering Program.
Four qualified international applicants will be offered an
eight-month internship with Wardrop Engineering of Canada.
Successful applicants will begin the Mining Engineering MEng
program in August, undertake nine months of intensive study,
and then work at one of four Wardrop Engineering offices across
Canada. Interns will work as part of a team developing mining
projects. Internship salaries will range from $3000 to $5000/month
and interns will be considered for fulltime employment in
Wardrop's Beijing office, or in Canada. Applicants must have
an applicable undergraduate engineering degree, good marks
and strong English abilities. For more information, please
contact AJ Gunson at ajgunson@interchange.ubc.ca,
or visit our website at http://www.mining.ubc.ca/MEng.html.
CIMG
and Chinese Media - CIMG Member Submissions Wanted
The CIMG is
now contributing to a number of publications. 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 auslan@cimg.org.cn.
CIMG
Member Update - Member News, Events and more
Welcome New Members
The CIMG would like to make a warm
welcome to:
Bucyrus
International, Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacture
of high productivity mining equipment for surface and underground
mining. BUCYRUS surface equipment is used for mining coal,
copper, iron ore, oil sands and other minerals, and underground
equipment is used primarily for mining coal. In addition to
machine manufacturing, Bucyrus manufactures high-quality OEM
parts and provides world-class support services for its equipment.
Bucyrus International, Inc. is headquartered in South Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, USA.
Contact: Andrew Richmond
Address:Suite 1112, Tower B, Fulllink Plaza,
Telephone: 86 10 6588 2988
Email:andrew.richmond@cn.bucyrus.com
Website:http://www.bucyrus.com
The
Exploration Exchange Macau June 2008
XX Macao - the exploration exchange
focuses on finding matches between mining opportunities and
sources of financing in the region. The event features a conference,
an exhibition, networking and private meetings. It is designed
to be the communication centerpiece for mining and investment
companies in Asia. For more information please visit the Exploration
Exchange Website.
CIMG
News Links
Members are being emailed news
links each day from the CIMG Secretariat. In an effort to
keep members informed of the latest developments in the mining
sector in China you will recieve on a regular basis an excel
file with links of mining news in China. Please note this
is a CIMG member only service and will provide only links
to the news with a short headline translation. There will
be no commentary or analysis of the news. If you have news
that you would like to add please email, Ivy Ma, who will
be looking after this at info@cimg.org.cn.
Regulatory Update
Please find below the lastest
updates for 2007/8.
CIMG
Sustaining Sponsors
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