industryterm:mining

For sale : Heavily subsidized, unprofitable state-owned Ukrainian coal mines
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/ukrainian-mines-on-sale-350079.html

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on May 29 ordered the State Property Fund to prepare an auction of 38 state-owned coal mines as part of a cost-saving measure in line with International Monetary Fund requirements. Most of these mines are loss-making and, moreover, enjoy direct subsidies from the central government to stay afloat.

Last year, the mines were propped up with nearly $1.8 billion of financial aid to ensure salaries get paid. Former President Viktor Yanukovych, a native of the coal-mining Donbas region, paid special attention to the needs of miners, many of whom were his electorate.

However, the current government’s austerity measure plans to cut subsidies to the coal mines by $230 million, coupled with privatization plans are part of this policy, said First Deputy Energy Minister Yuriy Zyukov on May 29.

En résumé, le seul intérêt, c’est que c’est pas cher (on s’attend à un prix moyen de l’ordre de 1 hryvnia , environ 10 centimes d’euro, par mine).

Le reste de l’article énumère pourquoi, c’est vraiment le moment d’acheter :
• le gouvernement va diminuer ses subventions
• il a été extrait au total (et officiellement) 86 millions de tonnes de charbon, dont 61 pour la consommation intérieure, 6 pour l’exportation et le reste, 19 millions de tonnes tout de même, venu s’entasser dans les parcs à charbon…
• ce surplus est de piètre qualité,
• le gouvernement vient d’annuler les projets d’investissement dans la gazéification du charbon
• cerise sur le gâteau, les mines sont toutes situées dans le Donbass…

Don’t believe the #MEDIA hype about striking mine workers in #South_Africa
▻http://africasacountry.com/dont-believe-the-media-hype-about-striking-mine-workers-in-south-af

The #platinum strike led by new trade union Association of #mining and Construction Workers Union (AMCU), is now over four months long, making it the longest strike in the history of South Africa. The majority of the country’s English language newspapers depict the strike as a result of the greedy and unethical leadership of #AMCU […]

#POLITICS #strikes

More than 400 dams planned for the Amazon and headwaters | David Hill | Environment | theguardian.com
▻http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/may/06/more-400-dams-amazon-headwaters

Raffa

More than 400 dams planned for the Amazon and headwaters | David Hill | Environment | theguardian.com - ►http://www.theguardian.com/environ...

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"Rainforest under threat from a “hydrological experiment of continental proportions” as well as oil, gas and mining, says report" - Raffa

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/6/1399394426086/f119c5d2-dd64-4652-90e4-be01c503b339-460x276.jpeg

NunatsiaqOnline 2014-03-27: NEWS: Nunavut mine brings prosperity, misfortune to Inuit women: report

▻http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_mine_brings_prosperity_affliction_to_inuit_women_report

A new report prepared by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada and researchers at the University of British Columbia paints a troubling portrait of the effects of mining on Inuit women in Baker Lake, a community of 1,700 located 110 kilometres from Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine.

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/pub/photos/qamanituaq_workshop570.jpg

The women told Pauktuutit that, due to the mine, they face discrimination, substance abuse, violence and a break-down in family relationships.

#canada #nations_premières #inuits #droits_des_femmes #industrie_minières

Privatisation panel highlights transparency of mission | The Jordan Times
▻http://jordantimes.com/privatisation-panel-highlights-transparency-of-mission

The report reviewed the privatisation of 19 companies which used to be owned by the government in the fields of mining, telecommunications, aviation, water and electricity.

He pointed out that there were some legal violations in some of the transactions, particularly in the phosphate company deal as officials at that time followed direct negotiations with one investor without inviting tenders from various investors.

However, Razzaz said that the privatisation programme had also boosted the performance of the companies and created more jobs for Jordanians.

He said that the report criticised the transfer of the government’s shares in certain sectors, especially in mining and cement, adding that keeping strategic stocks in these firms would have prevented monopoly.

#privatisation
#Jordanie

The Programming Historian 2
▻http://programminghistorian.org/tools

An introduction to ready-built tools used in digital history.

#tutoriel #QGIS, #mallet (#text-mining, #topic_modeling), #openrefine… pour les historiens via @francoisbriatte

Comment Netflix procède à une rétro-ingénierie d’Hollywood - The Atlantic
►http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/how-netflix-reverse-engineered-hollywood/282679

Pour comprendre comment ses 40 millions de clients regardent des films, Netflix a créé quelques 80 000 catégories pour décrire les genres de films qu’il propose. Netflix paye des gens pour cataloguer les films, évaluant jusqu’au statut moral des personnages. Combinés aux profils des clients, ces taxonomie devient l’avantage concurrentiel permettant de fidéliser les abonnés. C’est cette base de donnée sans précédent qui leur a permis de faire les choix président au succès de leur série House of Cards. Tags : internetactu internetactu2net fing #économie (...)

#moteurderecommandation

An anti-#bitcoin rant. No new content but the style is funny and entertaining.

▻http://brokenlibrarian.org/bitcoin

Amazon forest loss threatens five states | Climate News Network

▻http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/12/amazon-forest-loss-threatens-five-states

By Paul Brown

Water, food supplies and energy production are all in jeopardy as the Amazon forest is felled for profit, campaigners say – and the damage is spreading beyond Amazonia itself.

LONDON, 29 December – The continued destruction of the Amazon to exploit its resources for mining, agriculture and hydro-power is threatening the future of the South American continent, according to a report by campaigning groups using the latest scientific data.

#forêts #amazonie #déforestation

#Bitcoin has a dark side: its carbon footprint
▻http://pando.com/2013/12/16/bitcoin-has-a-dark-side-its-carbon-footprint

Bitcoins aren’t mined from the earth’s crust like most physical commodities – although at least that leaves tangible evidence of its environmental impact. Rather, they are “mined” by computers solving a set of complicated computational problems. These problems are designed to get more difficult over time, until the year 2140 when the 21 millionth (and final) bitcoin is mined. Early in bitcoin’s existence, it was feasible to run a successful mining operation with a standard PC. Now the task requires custom mining rigs that can run orders of magnitude more processes per second.

#pollution

▻http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/12/17/for-first-time-anti-terrorism-law-used-to-have-americans-prot

For First Time, Anti-Terrorism Law Used to Have Americans Protesting #Keystone XL Pipeline Arrested
By: Kevin Gosztola Tuesday December 17, 2013 10:22 am
▻http://www.democraticunderground.com/101680858

A demonstration against Devon Energy and the company’s role in fracking and tar sands mining, including the Keystone XL pipeline, ended with four individuals being placed under arrest last week. Two of them were arrested by police on the basis that they had violated an Oklahoma anti-terrorism law prohibiting “terrorism hoaxes.”

It is strongly suspected that this happened as a result of advice that TransCanada has been giving local law enforcement in states, where protests against the Keystone XL pipeline have been taking place. They have been meeting with law enforcement and suggesting how terrorism laws could be applied to stop citizens from protesting the corporation’s activities.

I spoke with the two individuals arrested on terrorism charges, their lawyer and a spokesperson for Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance (GPTSR), which for months has been conducting nonviolent direct actions against construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in Oklahoma.

On December 13, several people entered Devon Tower in downtown Oklahoma City to protest Devon, an energy company involved in natural gas and oil production that involves fracking. They are also invested and involved in tar sands mining in Canada. Devon Energy CEO John Richels sits on TransCanada’s Board of Directors.

<snip>

#terrorisme

Twenty-first-century land grabs : Accumulation by agricultural dispossession
▻http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/22761-twenty-first-century-land-grabs-accumulation-by-agricultural-dis

Land grabs—whether initiated by multinational corporations and private investment firms emanating from the capitalist core, sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, or state entities such as China and India—are now in the news constantly.1 For example, in July 2013 the Colombian ambassador to the United States resigned over his participation in a legally questionable effort to help the U.S. corporation Cargill use shell companies to amass 130,000 acres of land. This land was supposed to be used for agricultural production, but there is also land being grabbed for other purposes—such as mining or to construct roads, buildings, and dams. In human terms, land grabs mean real people and families are dispossessed. When people lose access to their land, they also lose their means to obtain food, their communities, and their cultures.

#terres

Session extraordinaire du parlement mongol, à l’OdJ les démêlés avec Oyu Tolgoï et une modification de la loi sur les investissements étrangers…

Mongolian economy suffers as another row erupts over flagship mining project
▻http://www.mad-mongolia.com/news/mongolia-news/mongolian-economy-suffers-as-another-row-erupts-over-flagship-mining-p

Despite the reassuring public face, the government is in overdrive, calling in members of its parliament early from recess for what they’re calling an “extraordinary” session of parliament scheduled for September 16-19. 

Up for discussion at the session are five different pieces of legislation, including an investment law that would replace the original law from 1993 and scrap the 2012 SEFIL that has done so much to scare off investment. MIBG argues the new legislation would “create a significantly positive legal environment for existing and prospective foreign investors”.

#Reportage #photo de #Larry_C._Price sur l’extraction de l’#or et le #travail_des_enfants
The Cost of Gold in #Burkina_Faso: Holes | Pulitzer Center
▻http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/burkina-faso-mining-gold-child-labor-holes

http://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/slideshow/public/04-01-13/UntoldStories_Holes_Price_BurkinaFaso02.jpg http://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/slideshow/public/04-01-13/UntoldStories_Holes_Price_BurkinaFaso07.jpg http://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/slideshow/public/04-01-13/UntoldStories_Holes_Price_BurkinaFaso08.jpg

The Cost of Gold: Child Labor in Burkina Faso
▻http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/burkina-faso-gold-mines-child-labor-exploitation-poverty-migration-f

Although large foreign countries had mined Burkina Faso gold for almost half a century, it wasn’t until the famines of the 1980s forced families off their farms that artisanal or small-scale mining took root. Since then, thousands have migrated to the gold fields, abandoning their agrarian roots to toil in the small-scale mining operations that dot the countryside.

To maximize profits, entire families work. And this means putting children to work as child laborers.

Rebecca Solnit · Diary : Google Invades · LRB 7 February 2013
▻http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n03/rebecca-solnit/diary

San Francisco’s tech boom has often been compared to the Gold Rush, but without much discussion about what the Gold Rush meant beyond the cute images of bearded men in plaid shirts with pickaxes looking a lot like gay men in the Castro in the 1970s. When gold was discovered in 1848, employees left their posts, sailors abandoned their ships, and San Francisco – then a tiny port town called Yerba Buena – was deserted. In the Mother Lode, some got rich; many died of contagious diseases, the lousy diet, rough life and violence; some went broke and crawled back to the US, as the settled eastern half of the country was called when the gold country was an outpost of newcomers mostly arriving by ship and the American West still largely belonged to the indigenous people.

Supplying the miners and giving them places to spend their money became as lucrative as mining and much more secure. Quite a lot of the early fortunes were made by shopkeepers: Levi Strauss got his start that way, and so did Leland #Stanford, who founded the university that founded #Silicon_Valley. The Mexicans who had led a fairly gracious life on vast ranches before the Gold Rush were largely dispossessed and the Native Californians were massacred, driven out of their homes; they watched their lands be destroyed by mining, starved or died of disease: the Native population declined by about four-fifths during this jolly spree.

#San_Francisco exploded in the rush, growing by leaps and bounds, a freewheeling town made up almost exclusively of people from elsewhere, mostly male, often young. In 1850, California had a population of 120,000 according to one survey, 110,000 of them male. By 1852 women made up ten per cent of the population, by 1870 more than a quarter. During this era prostitution thrived, from the elegant courtesans who played a role in the city’s political and cultural life to the Chinese children who were worked to death in cribs, as the cubicles in which they laboured were called. Prices for everything skyrocketed: eggs were a dollar apiece in 1849, and a war broke out later over control of the stony Farallones islands rookery thirty miles west of San Francisco, where seabirds’ eggs were gathered to augment what the chickens could produce. A good pair of boots was a hundred dollars. Land downtown was so valuable that people bought water lots – plots of land in the bay – and filled them in.

#histoire #tech_companies #gentrification

Voir aussi : ►http://mondediplo.com/openpage/welcome-to-the-don-t-be-evil-empire

Migration is expulsion by another name in world of foreign land deals | Saskia Sassen | Global development | guardian.co.uk
▻http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/may/29/migration-expulsion-foreign-land-deals

Overseas land acquisitions are rising, with people pushed off their land and into poverty; let’s not pretend that’s migration

In effect, expulsions are being rebranded as migrations, a phenomenon that will not cease anytime soon, given the ongoing search for land for crops, mining and water by governments and firms from a growing number of countries.

The generic term “migration” tends to obscure the fact that our firms and government agencies, and those of our allies, may have contributed to expulsions.

ChikuwaQ: Top story: U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in b… ▻http://t.co/4m7JXzrO1c, see more ►http://t.co/HINDqgB6RY
▻http://twitter.com/ChikuwaQ/statuses/342877440797990912

ChikuwaQ: Top story: U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in b… ▻http://t.co/4m7JXzrO1c, see more ►http://t.co/HINDqgB6RY

Kyrgyzstan imposes state of emergency against mine protest - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/01/kyrg-j01.html

Kyrgyzstan imposes state of emergency against mine protest
By Andrea Peters
1 June 2013

The government of Kyrgyzstan imposed a state of emergency in the northern district of Dzhety Ozul on Friday, in response to ongoing protests against a Canadian-owned mining operation.

Protesters are demanding that Centerra Gold, which operates the Kumtor mine in the Issyk Kul region of the Central Asian country, turn over a greater share of its profits to meet the needs of the local population. They demand that the company, whose first quarter profits soared to $51.4 million from $9.6 million a year earlier, fund roads, schools, water pipelines, and hospital equipment, and provide area residents with jobs and long-term loans. There were also demands that the mine be nationalized.

#kirghizstan #asie_centrale

Virtual Bitcoin Mining Is a Real-World Environmental Disaster
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-12/virtual-bitcoin-mining-is-a-real-world-environmental-disaster.html

How can a virtual currency demand real power and real fuel, and have real-world environmental costs? Welcome to the world of “Bitcoin mining.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/image/irZ4cI82NnqU.jpg

Source: Bloomberg

#Alternative_Energy #Climate_Change #Currencies #Currency_Markets #Environment #Gold #Gold_Trading

International Uranium Film Festival Rio de Janeiro
▻http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/index.php/en
Tiens, je ne connaissais pas ce #festival de #cinéma sur le #nucléaire
Paris l’invitera-il ? :)

The International Uranium Film Festival is dedicated to films about the whole nuclear fuel chain and radioactivity: Uranium mining, nuclear power plants, atomic bombs, nuclear waste, radioactive risks, nuclear medicine, Hiroshima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima. From Einstein to Fukushima.

Knowing about the risks of nuclear power is important for decision making today and in future. And films are the best way to bring information to the people. There are many important documentaries and movies about nuclear issues that never reached the mass media. Our Uranium Film Festival gives these films and filmmakers an international audience and media attention. Independent information is the base for independent decisions. Some Governments like in Italy or Germany decided to phase-out nuclear power. Some Governments like in Brazil or India are investing in new nuclear power plants. Independent information is the base for independent decisions. The festival stimulates the discussion about the nuclear question and stimulates the production of new documentaries, movies and animated films about any nuclear or radioactive issue. In addition the Uranium Film Festival creates a neutral space to throw light on all nuclear issues Societies and peoples have the right of choice if they want to follow the nuclear road or not.

The other question is the protection of humanity and environment against radioactive dangers today and in future. Nuclear waste from atomic or nuclear power plants is dangerous for more than 100 000 years. And countries like Germany, USA, Russia or France have already produced thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste. The important question is information, as the impressive film “Into Eternity” about the Finish Onkalo project demonstrates. Will mankind in 100 000 years understand our languages of today, our signs? Will the future generations understand the dangers of radioactive waste? For that it is important to maintain the knowledge, the wisdom about the risks of nuclear waste, nuclear energy and radioactivity in our global societies alive. It is important, that the dangers of radioactivity will never be forgotten. And the best mediums to transport information are films, movies, and documentaries. The Film Festival is an effective tool to bring the information to the global public.

The festival stimulates the discussion about the nuclear question and stimulates the production of new documentaries, movies and animated films about any nuclear or radioactive issue. The best and most important productions receive our award “Yellow Oscar”. In addition Uranium Film Festival gives the “nuclear” Filmmakers an international audience and helps them to make the greatest impact.

Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm
▻http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/10/software-tracks-social-media-defence

A multinational security firm has secretly developed software capable of tracking people’s movements and predicting future behaviour by mining data from social networking websites.

A video obtained by the Guardian reveals how an “extreme-scale analytics” system created by Raytheon, the world’s fifth largest defence contractor, can gather vast amounts of information about people from websites including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

En plus, ils ont le sens de l’humour, le bouzin s’appelle RIOT !
#surveillance #raytheon

Asteroid mining: Second company announces plans. Time to stake a claim? (+video) - CSMonitor.com
▻http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0122/Asteroid-mining-Second-company-announces-plans.-Time-to-stake-a-claim-vid

Less than a year after a company called Planetary Resources announced plans to survey, then mine, asteroids, a second company has set out its plans to turn orbiting piles of cosmic rubble into rocket fuel, solar panels, and trusses for spacecraft hundreds to thousands of miles above Earth.

(...)
As a start, representatives of Deep Space Industries (DSI) on Tuesday outlined the company’s plans to launch small prospector missions to asteroids beginning in 2015. A year later, the firm plans to launch its first sample-return mission, which aims to bring back samples of an asteroid not by the cupful, but in 60- to 150-pound quantities.

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/0122-asteroid-mining.jpg/14828083-1-eng-US/0122-asteroid-mining.jpg_full_600.jpg

#espace

Le Canada et l’Industrie minière

Repéré sur la liste « Critical geography »

Canada just inaugurated an Extractive Industries Institute. this initiative is kind of surprising, given that

(a) it focuses exclusively on mining - maybe no wonder considering all the junior companies that are inscribed on Canadian Stock Exchanges

(b) it leaves out the most important country, the DRCongo, where Canadian companies own a great proportion of mines.

►http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/acdi-cida/ACDI-CIDA.nsf/eng/NAT-112381631-HKW

dominionpaper.ca/articles/1195

Timothy Raeymaekers, Lecturer
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland

It is hideous, but unsurprising. Canada has veered sharply to the right, and the government is reorienting its foreign aid policies to support the development of extractive industries.

Also the government now has one of the most retrograde policies regarding anti-retroviral drugs and transferring technology to the Third World.

There are not expletives vile enough to describe such a contemptible
approach to policy.

►http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1295539--canadian-development-aid-takes-on-corporate-colouring

►http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1296216--harper-government-fails-africa-on-aids-drugs

Tyler McCreary, York University
Toronto, Canada

Researchers: PATRIOT Act Can ’Obtain’ Data In Europe
►http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/12/05/0632258/researchers-patriot-act-can-obtain-data-in-europe

U.S. law enforcement and intelligence services can use the PATRIOT Act/FISA to ’obtain’ EU-stored data for snooping, mining and analysis, despite strong EU data and privacy laws, according to a recent research paper. One of the paper’s authors, Axel Arnbak, said, ’Most cloud providers, and certainly the market leaders, fall within the U.S. jurisdiction either because they are U.S. companies or conduct systematic business in the U.S.

#privacy

Algeria puts off decision on Desertec solar project until preconditions are met - sourceOil & Gas - Zawya
►http://www.zawya.com/story/Algeria_puts_off_decision_on_Desertec_solar_project_until_preconditions_are_met__source-ZAWYA20121022035839/?lok=035800121021&weeklynewsletter&zawyaemailmarketing

Algeria has decided to postpone its decision on participating in the Sonelgaz Desertec Renewable Energy Program until 2013, and is waiting for Germany’s Desertec to approve its preconditions, a government official told Zawya.

The Algerian government would delay its final resolution on the project till the mid of 2013, as it is still unclear whether Algeria will take part in the project, the official at the Algerian ministry of energy and mining said.

“The government is reconsidering the economic gains it may acquire from participation and is testing the acquiescence of the foreign partner to its terms, which require manufacturing the project appliances and needs in Algeria, as well as involving the Algerian experts in the project,” the official told Zawya on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to media. Algeria’s participation may not exceed 50%, he added.

The EUR 400 billion Desertec project intends to convert solar energy from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and export it to Europe. It is expected to supply as much as 15% of Europe’s power needs by 2050.

Christoph Partsch, the general manager of the German-Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was earlier quoted as saying that the forthcoming round of talks between the German company and the Algerian government will be launched in Oran in October and some serious steps will be disclosed by the first quarter of 2013.

Algeria is facing a 1,300 MW shortfall in power supply, pointed out Abdul Rahman Mabtoul, a former senior executive at Sonatrach. The Algerian government generates 9,700 MW, while the demand is as high as 11,000 MW, he said.

“The government needs to invest USD 20 billion over the next five years to resolve the power supply crisis,” Mabtoul told Zawya.

#Desertec
#Algérie
#solaire
#énergie
#électricité