400,000 gallons of crude oil spilled in North Dakota train crash

About 400,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from 18 rail cars after after a Dec. 30 derailment near Casselton, N.D., the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary investigation report Monday.

An ensuing explosion sent a massive mushroom cloud of fire above the prairie and forced the evacuation of 1,400 residents.

Damage was estimated at $6.1 million, the NTSB said.

The accident occurred when a BNSF Railway grain train derailed on the  westbound tracks, obstructing the eastbound tracks less than a minute before the 106-car oil train arrived.  

The NTSB's preliminary report shed little new light on what may have caused the grain train to derail. Twenty-one cars on the oil train derailed, including 20 carrying crude and one carrying sand ballast.

Both trains were under the 60 mph speed limit for freights. The oil train was traveling at 43 mph when the crew triggered emergency brakes, and had slowed to 42 mph when it crashed into a car obstructing its track.  The grain train was traveling about 28 mph when it derailed.

The cause of the grain train's derailment remains under investigation. The NTSB has shipped a broken axle and two wheels from that train to its laboratory in Washington for analysis.

In an earlier statement, investigators said they could not be sure whether the broken axle caused the crash or resulted from it. Investigators also said in the earlier statement that the derailment occurred on or near a switch to a side track,  although the switch appeared to be properly aligned.

In the days after the accident, the Pipeline and Hazard Material Safety Administration issued a safety alert that the Bakken crude being hauled by the BNSF train was more flammable than expected. The agency, which is part of the federal Transportation Department, said it was conducting further investigation into the crude's flammability.

Over the last six months, there have been five major rail accidents in North America, including one Wednesday in New Brunswick, Canada, in which crude hauled in tanker cars burned or exploded. 

Few asteroids are worth mining, suggests Harvard study

A new study might contain some bad news for companies hoping to mine asteroids for their valuable ores.

In the last couple of years, start-ups - including one backed by Sir Richard Branson - have announced plans to extract resources from space rocks.

But calculations by Dr Martin Elvis suggest our cosmic neighbourhood might not be such a treasure trove after all.

The Harvard astrophysicist argues just 10 near-Earth asteroids might be suitable for commercial-scale mining.

But Eric Anderson, co-founder of asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, told BBC News that the values quoted in the study were off - conservatively - by a factor of 100.

Dr Elvis, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, US, has developed an equation to estimate the number of asteroids in the Solar System that could be exploited in a cost-effective way.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

All-in-all, asteroid mining may be a plausible future space industry. But it would require significant capital investment”

Prof Alan FitzsimmonsQueen's University Belfast

His research paper is in press at the journal Planetary and Space Science, and has been posted on the pre-print server Arxiv.org.

In 2012, Planetary Resources, backed by billionaire investors including Hollywood director James Cameron as well as Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, unveiled their vision of using robotic spacecraft to squeeze the chemical components of fuel as well as minerals out of asteroid rocks.

Several months later, the company was joined by a competitor - Deep Space Industries - which plans to use low-cost spacecraft called Fireflies and Dragonflies to reconnoitre and return samples from near-Earth asteroids.

Advocates of asteroid mining say it could turn into a trillion-dollar business, but some experts have been sceptical of the idea.

Concentrating efforts

In the latest study, Dr Elvis worked out the factors that would make an asteroid commercially viable to mine and what fraction of known space rocks met these requirements. He emphasised there were large uncertainties in the values and called for more thorough surveys of what's out there.

He assumed that mining operations would want to focus on iron-nickel asteroids (known as M-type), considered the most promising targets for finding so-called platinum-group metals. These include platinum, along with iridium, palladium and others.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We've been studying this with some of the brightest people in the world for the last three years. We are intimately familiar with the risks and other factors”

Eric AndersonCo-chairman, Planetary Resources

These are rare in the Earth's crust because they dissolve in molten iron, instead being mainly concentrated in the planet's core. Platinum and palladium are the most economically important, having a wide range of uses in industry. But according to the analysis, just 1% of near-Earth asteroids are rich in these elements.

Suitable asteroids also need to be relatively easy to reach, further narrowing the pool by ruling out all but the nearest objects to Earth. The operative parameter here is delta-v - the change in velocity needed to send mining equipment to the target and return with a larger mass of ore.

The size of the target is also a factor; the paper suggests it wouldn't be worth mining asteroids smaller than about 100m because the total value of the ore they would produce wouldn't be enough to cover the costs of a space mission.

However, Dr Elvis points out that the ore values in his analysis range from a low of $800m to a high of $8.8bn.

"Such a large range of values could greatly change the profitability of a venture, making more accurate assays necessary," he explained.

Broader range

But Eric Anderson pointed to what he said were key errors in the study.

"Number one, the author points to an assumption of only wanting to go to M-type asteroids," he told BBC News.

"Assuming we were only going after platinum-group metals, the most platinum-rich asteroids are the C-class ones." Fragments of these asteroids are known as carbonaceous chondrites when they fall to Earth.

In addition, Planetary Resources' engineers were prepared to include objects that required a delta-v of 7km/s, a more ambitious limit than the 4.5km/s used in Dr Elvis' study.

"I think the study is probably off by a factor of 100, conservatively, and I think it's off by a factor of 1,000 optimistically," Mr Anderson added.

"We've been studying this with some of the brightest people in the world for the last three years. We are intimately familiar with the risks and other factors.

"We have only discovered 1% of the asteroids in the Solar System - and we are discovering them at a larger and larger rate. We discover two or three asteroids a day. If we get from 1% to 10%, then the 650,000 asteroids we have discovered jumps to 6.5 million."

The analysis also looked at the number of asteroids that could be profitably mined for water, which could be used in space for life support or separated into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel. The number of suitable water-bearing asteroids larger than 100m was around 18.

Dr Elvis told BBC News: "I want to stress that my paper does not mean that there is no commercial future for asteroid mining. It does mean that gold mines are rare, which shouldn't be too surprising. Not every mountain on Earth hides a fortune, and not every flying mountain in space will either."

Still unknown

Prof Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queen's University Belfast, UK, who was not involved with the study, said the calculations were "plausible", but that he would have placed even more emphasis on the uncertainties.

"The make-up of small near-Earth asteroids is still relatively unknown," he told BBC News.

"There are large uncertainties in the total number of platinum group-rich asteroids that come near the Earth. This is because it is still difficult to unambiguously determine the mineral makeup of small asteroids.

"We know they exist, as pieces are found as meteorites on Earth. The small asteroid that formed Meteor Crater in Arizona some 50,000 years ago was one such object."

Dr Elvis added: "Any individual number in my paper can be improved on (and I discuss this at length), but the bottom line is not likely to change.

"I talk about maybe reaching 100 platinum-rich asteroids if we relax the tough rocketry limitation I imposed (delta-v), but getting to 1,000 will be hard, until we can get to the Main Belt asteroids."

Prof Fitzsimmons said: "All-in-all, asteroid mining may be a plausible future space industry. But it would require significant capital investment to start such an industry. The practical problems of mining, refining and transport back to Earth are still unsolved right now."

Canadian resources, mining sector optimistic despite less business – Hays

 Skills shortages remain top of mind for Canadian resources and mining sector employers, after 75% of companies polled in a recent international recruitment agency Hays Canada survey described the shortage as “moderate” to “significant”.

Hays Canada’s ‘2014 Salary Guide’, which collected data from more than 150 industry-specific employers in November, had found that the Canadian resources and mining sector experienced a drastic reduction in business and hiring activity in 2013.

The survey found that there was a 30-point difference between expected and real decreases in business activity last year. Eleven per cent of the respondents expected a dip in activity, and yet 42% actually experienced one.

This translated into fewer people being hired for permanent positions. Ten per cent of businesses expected to decrease their permanent headcount in 2013, when in fact 45% did.

When asked about potential causes for skills shortages 24% cited a lack of training and professional development, while 39% thought too few people were entering the labour market.

SILVER LINING

However business optimism remained high, perhaps owing to a resurging forestry industry. Almost half (45%) of Canadian resources and mining employers expected business activity to increase in 2014, and a quarter (25%) expected permanent staff levels to increase, while half (51%) expected staff levels to stay the same.

“During the downturn we anticipate that larger owner operators will focus on efficiency projects and hire improvement and maintenance professionals to reduce the cost of production. It’s also possible that mining professionals with highly transferable skills will move over to the forestry industry because of rising global demand for timber; particularly process and mechanical engineers and maintenance staff,” Hays Canada president Rowan O’Grady said.

The survey found that 28% of employers believed that the economy would strengthen in the next 6 to 12 months, while 60% believed it would remain the same.

Twenty-five per cent of employers expected permanent staff to increase in the upcoming year, as opposed to 24% expecting it to decrease, and 51% expecting it to remain the same.

When it came to salaries, 44% of employers expected to increase salaries by 3% over the next 12 months, 32% expected to increase salaries by 3% to 6%, and 4% expected to increase salaries by 6% to 10%.

The top five benefits offered by Canadian employers included extended health benefits; individual performance-related bonuses; more than ten days vacation for new hires; pension/registered retirement savings plan contribution matching; and training and/or certification support.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

There were, however, several options at employers’ disposal, despite the frustration at the inability to find skilled professionals, particularly at the mid-management level, where there was additional pressure to fill vacancies.

Hays said it was possible to hire a slightly less experienced candidate with transferable skills who could be trained and mentored to develop into the ideal employee. However, employers would have to invest more in their human capital to achieve the desired results.

Succession planning should also play a role. Knowledge transfer would become a critical issue for many companies that would lose the baby boomer generation to retirement in the coming years. While 57% of companies had or were implementing a succession plan, that number was too low.

“Unsuccessfully transferring knowledge from one demographic to the next would only serve to exacerbate shortages in all industries,” Hays said.

Here are 3 Canadian projects with new gold, uranium targets about to be drilled

Always with a focus on new targets, today I hit on three projects: two gold and one uranium, all located in Canada. 

NELLIGAN PROJECT, QUEBEC

Vanstar Mining's president and CEO Guy Morisette filled me in last week about Vanstar's coming drill program at the Liam target on the Nelligan gold project in Quebec. Nelligan, and the Liam target have been lightly drilled with some strong intercepts late last year. Vanstar cut as much as 12 metres @ 4.69 g/t gold. 

Weather permitting, Morissette said drilling would start mid-January. The scale of the program might grow, depending on initial results, but would start off with about1,000 metres in six drillholes peppered along strike a 900-metre-long gravity anomaly at Liam. So far it's mostly undrilled apart from a handful of drillholes at its southeast extent, which produced the aforementioned intercept (image below). Morissette said several geologists, looking at results so far, have told him it looks like "strong system."

The Nelligan project is in the vicinity of TomaGold's Monster Lake project (which is 15 km to the northwest) where intercepts began picking up high grades last year. Iamgold subsequently optioned Monster Lake.

TSX-V: VSR
24.3 million shares outstanding
C$3.6 million marketcap
C$0.15 shareprice

About 1,000 shortlisted for one-way trip to Mars

A mission to build the first human settlement on Mars, which drew 200,000 applicants, said it has already shortlisted about a thousand candidates who will now be tested to come up with a final list of 24 people who will go live in the red planet by 2025.

Mars One, a Dutch non-profit agency said the finalists would undergo eight years of extensive training before launch. They must be happy with the idea of never returning to this planet — Mars One's mission is a one-way trip.

The 1,058 candidates who got through to the first round came from all over the world, said the organization. By far the largest number —297— is from the US, followed by 75 Canadians and 62 Indians.

Those who were not selected in this round, still have a chance to reapply at a later, but still undetermined date, said Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp.

“US astronaut Clayton Anderson was rejected by NASA for its astronaut training program 15 times, yet in 2007 he boarded the Space Shuttle Atlantis for a trip to the International Space Station. He proved anything can happen and the door is never completely closed,” he said in a statement.

The estimated cost of the mission is close to $6 billion, and Mars One plans to broadcast every aspect of the mission in a reality-style TV program.

“We anticipate our remaining candidates to become celebrities in their towns, cities, and in many cases, countries. It’s about to get very interesting,” he added.

In November last year, the US space agency (NASA) partnered with asteroid mining firm Planetary Resources to detect, track and characterize near-Earth objects (NEOs).

Areva's Niger uranium mines shut for maintenance as licence talks continue

PARIS/NIAMEY, Jan 3 (Reuters) - French state-controlled nuclear group Areva has closed its two uranium mines in Niger for a month of maintenance while it negotiates with the government over the renewal of its licences, a company spokesman said on Friday.

Niger, the world's fourth-largest uranium producer, is trying to extract increased royalties from the French group, with the mines operating in legal limbo after the expiry of their licences.

Confirming union information, the company spokesman said Areva's Somair and Cominak mines have been closed since mid-December and will remain closed until mid-January.

The mines' 10-year licences expired on Dec. 31, though Niger issued a decree on Dec. 27 that potentially provides a legal framework for them to continue operating for now.

"The directors of the mines have told us they have stopped operations because they operate in a legal vacuum," Salifou Chipkaou, deputy secretary general of the Synamin miners union, told Reuters.

Inoua Neino, secretary genral of Syntramin, another miners' union, told Reuters that the maintenance had merely been brought forward from April. "Contrary to what some are saying, this is not a move by Areva to put pressure on the government during the talks," he said.

An Areva spokesman said the mines routinely close for maintenance about twice a year for periods between 15 days to a month.

Sources told Reuters last month that the licence negotiations would be extended by up to three months after the two sides failed to clinch a deal ahead of the year-end deadline. The talks have been going on for nearly two years.

Niger accounts for more than a third of Areva's uranium production and President Mahamadou Issoufou's government wants to increase the royalties the company's mines pay from 5.5 percent of revenues to as high as 12 percent, officials say.

The former French colony remains one of the world's poorest nations despite its mineral wealth.

Areva, which is nearly 90 percent owned by the French government, says that an increase in the royalties rate would make its Niger operations unprofitable.

It owns about two thirds of the open-air Somair mine, which produced a little more than 3,000 tonnes of yellowcake last year, and around 34 percent of the smaller underground Cominak mine.

France obtains 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy but has never said to what extent it relies on Niger for uranium to fuel its 58 nuclear reactors.

Niger authorities and non-governmental organisations say that one in three light bulbs in France is powered by Niger uranium. A French parliamentary committee report in 2008 put the figure at nearly a fifth.

In 2012 Areva sourced nearly 37 percent of its 9,760 tonnes of uranium production from Niger and French state-controlled utility EDF has told Reuters that Areva supplies 40 percent of its annual uranium needs.

Tin Outlook: Analysts Expect Deficit, Higher Prices in 2014

With a fall of only 2.7 percent, tin was the best-performing base metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in 2013, according to Reuters. By comparison, nickel, the exchange’s worst-performing base metal, fell 20 percent.

Tin prices began dropping in February, but had recovered by September, when the metal reached a six-month high. Bloomberg reported that as of November, the metal’s average price for the year was about $22,203 per tonne.

As those familiar with the tin market no doubt know, tin’s autumn recovery was prompted by changes made to Indonesia’s export regulations. Specifically, the country, which is a major supplier of tin, tightened its control over exports of the metal, insisting that all trade take place on the Indonesian Commodity and Derivatives Exchange. The move was made in an effort to get better prices for the metal, as well as to stop unauthorized mining and trading.

Though many analysts were concerned about the effect this decision would have on the market, it seems their fears have been unfounded. Trading of tin on the exchange rose 85 percent between October and the end of November, and exports grew five times in the same amount of time, according to Indonesian government data.

2014 tin outlook

Industry group ITRI predicts that the global tin deficit will rise to 12,400 tonnes in 2014, nearly double the 7,400-tonne deficit seen in 2013. As a result, the metal’s price should rise as well — ITRI sees tin averaging $26,000 per tonne next year, up from $22,869 per tonne in late November, as per Reuters.

Explaining where the deficit looks likely to come from, Peter Kettle, ITRI’s manager of markets, told Reuters, “[i]f we look at the situation over the last year or so, the electronics industry has been pretty sluggish.” He also commented, “I think there’s evidence now that things are turning around. This is happening both across most of the major regional markets in the world and in terms of all the end-use markets.”

Furthermore, no new tin mines will come into production in 2014. That’s because most new tin projects are still in the early stages, meaning they are a decade or more away from production.

Together, Kettle sees those factors pushing the tin deficit on past 2014. “The combination of the slightly tighter control of Indonesia and improvement in consumption means that we moved back into deficit,” he said, “and in fact we will probably have five years in a row where demand exceeds supply.”

During that time, he sees tin prices perhaps rising as high as $30,000 to $40,000 per tonne. In that scenario, financing for tin projects will likely be easier to come by, meaning that the new projects discussed above will be more financially feasible.

All in all, tin seems to be shaping up to be a breath of fresh air in today’s battered markets.