Women locked to excavators, hanging from trees in Maules Creek mine protest

Protests at Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek mine project are ramping up with tree-clearing and construction work halted at the hands of activists.

Yesterday two women chained themselves to excavators near the site in the Leard State Forest, while a young man was suspended on a platform attached by a cable to two trees that had planned to be felled.

The action is the last in a spate of protests aiming to stop the controversial mine from going ahead, with more than eight people arrested since January 13.

Front Line Action on Coal have set up a camp in the area for more than 500 days in protest of Whitehaven Coal's Maules Creek mine project.

Yesterday the Narrabri Shire Council voted in favour of closing down the camp, citing safety concerns.

The decision means fines can be issued to the environmentalists if they fail to comply with the move-on order, which is expected to be issued in the coming days.

However activists say the order will do little to deter them from directly opposing the mine.

“I think that’s where the council is underestimating us,” environmentalist Phil Spark said.

“If they think that by moving us from there it will make us go away, then they are wrong."

“Our movement’s growing all the time and I think that determination to see it through is increasing.”

Activists say if the mine goes ahead it will destroy the Leard State Forest, affect water and force farmers off their land.

“We’ll be continuing to take action and remain in the forest until we can protect it,” a spokesperson for Front Line Action on Coal said.

Having lost a court case which would have prevented the $767 million project from going ahead, the group says it will continue its fight against the project.

“We have exhausted every legal and political avenue to make our voices heard. Whitehaven’s mine will destroy our community and our livelihood. We’ve seen this happen in mining areas all over the country – eventually the farmers will be forced to move out. My family has lived here for generations: we are prepared to fight for this place,” a local farmer said.

Traditional Owners are also opposed to the project and say Whitehaven have not properly assessed the "culturally significant forest, artefacts and cultural values".

Whitehaven have previously called protests “a nuisance” and vowed to go ahead with the development of the project.

“Our primary concern is that any protest activity is carried out lawfully and does not endanger the safety of mine employees or emergency service personnel,” the company said.

GOLD: Gowest moves Bradshaw deposit forward with milling deal

 Gowest Gold of Toronto is moving its Bradshaw gold deposit, part of its Frankfield property 32 km northeast of Timmins, forward with the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the treatment of its concentrate with United Commodities AG (UC), a Swiss company that owns the Yukon refinery in North Cobalt, ON.

The agreement calls for UC to test concentrate samples from Bradshaw, and if the deal moves forward, UC will build a new gold refinery at North Cobalt. Gowest would be invited to become co-owner of the refinery. Two years ago Gowest purchased the pressure autoclave and associated equipment that had been used at the Con mine near Yellowknife, NWT. The equipment will form part of Gowest's commitment to becoming a partner in the refinery.

Gowest also has a non-binding letter of intent with Glencore Xstrata to mill the Bradshaw ore on a custom basis at its Kidd facility, also in Timmins.

The decision to use third party processing rather than build its own plant is saving Gowest a considerable amount in preproduction costs. The project with an annual output of 94,000 oz is expected to cost approximately $60 million, a savings of at least $100 million over the cost of building a new mill and refinery.

Gowest has developed a timeline indicating that gold production from the Bradshaw deposit could begin in Q3 2015. The deposit includes 6.0 million indicated tonnes grading 4.9 g/t Au and containing 945,500 oz of gold. The inferred resource is 3.7 million tonnes grading 4.2 g/t Au and containing 536,800 oz of gold. An underground mine producing roughly 1,500 tonnes of ore daily is likely.

Macquarie deal to buy Goldman uranium desk not done

Australia's Macquarie Bank said on Friday that it had not concluded a deal to buy the uranium trading desk of Goldman Sachs after two trade sources said that the transaction had been agreed.

"Macquarie denies the deal has been done," a spokesperson for the Australian investment bank in London said.

Goldman put its uranium desk up for sale late last year. The U.S. bank acquired the desk in 2009 as part of a deal to buy the London-based trading operation of Constellation Energy.

Macquarie, which is expanding its commodity trading operations, has emerged as the main candidate to buy the uranium desk.

"I understand that Goldman have sold their uranium business to Macquarie," a senior trading source said, asking not to be identified. A second trading source said the same.

The Australian investment bank is also still in the running to buy JPMorgan's physical commodity trading operations competing with two other firms, trading house Mercuria and private equity firm Blackstone, according to industry sources.

Acquiring JPMorgan's physical commodity business would propel Macquarie into the top ranks of natural resources traders among banks.

Wall Street's role in physical commodity trading has come under intense pressure in the last six months, as politicians in the United States question whether banks back-stopped by the government are taking undue risks by dealing in tankers of oil and other materials.

Morgan Stanley, another Wall Street heavyweight, in December announced a deal with Russian oil major Rosneft, which is taking on the majority of the bank's physical oil trading business.

Uranium aside, Goldman has stood out amongst the top-tier U.S. banks in commodities by saying it plans to continue to operate in physical commodity markets as this is necessary to support its clients in operations such as hedging.

Goldman held around $200 million worth of low-grade uranium stocks late last year as part of its trading operation, according to industry sources.

Goldman also has a marketing arrangement with AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa's largest uranium producer, to sell the uranium it produces as a by-product of its gold mining activities.

Union successful in fight to ban urine drug tests

Testing the urine of workers in order to detect drug and alcohol use has been banned by the Fair Work Commission which found employees at Endeavour Energy are to be tested using saliva swabs instead.

Last week the Fair Work Commission refused Endeavour Energy's bid to urine test its 2635 employees.

The commission labelled the use of urine tests “unjust and unreasonable” in a case which could have wider implications for a range of industries, including mining.

Endeavour Energy launched the latest legal action in October last year, with the matter heard in the Fair Work Commission in December. The company was attempting to vary the original decision, which required the use of oral testing, with urine based testing.

The Electrical Trades Union said the decision confirmed two previous court rulings that found the use of urine test was unfair because it could detect drug use from days earlier, rather than more recent use that could lead to impairment at work.

ETU NSW deputy secretary Neville Betts said the decision highlighted that the role of drug and alcohol testing in the workplace should be about identifying potential impairment, rather than disciplining staff for private actions taken in their own time.

“While oral testing accurately identifies recent drug use, where an individual may be impaired in their abilities, urine tests unfairly monitor workers’ private lives by potentially showing a positive result even where a substance may have been used many days prior, in a private capacity,” Betts said.

“This is the third time the courts have ruled in favour of the ETU on this issue, despite Endeavour Energy spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to force urine testing on their staff.

“This most recent decision absolutely cements this legal precent that has wide-ranging ramifications not only for the electricity sector, but for every industry that carries out drug and alcohol testing, in particular mining, aviation, transport and emergency services.

“In recent years drug testing of employees has become increasingly common, both in the public sector and private enterprise, which is why making sure the practice is done as fairly as possible is so important.

Endeavour Energy's chief executive Vince Graham said the ruling contradicted a 2011 decision by which found in favour of a coalmining employer's right to conduct urine testing, Newcastle Herald reported.

In that case, the commission found urine testing was more accurate.

"Mine workers and electricity workers both work in potentially dangerous conditions and yet different drug testing methods have been ordered by the [Fair Work Commission]," Graham said.

Minister 'failed to act' on Maules Creek mine stop-work order

Gomeroi traditional owners say they are devastated after bulldozers began working on disputed land attached to the controversial Maules Creek mine site in northwest NSW.

They have accused the Abbott government of failing to act on an application for an immediate stop-work order on the land, which they lodged in November to try to protect burial grounds and culturally significant sites.

Traditional owner Stephen Talbott says bulldozers started working on the land, which is leased by Whitehaven Coal, last weekend.

He says an application was lodged under sections 9 and 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 in November to try to prevent that happening until the land had been properly assessed.

Documents show the application was lodged with Environment Minister Greg Hunt on November 12.

But weeks later Mr Hunt's office informed the Gomeroi people that the application had been sent to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion.

Then in mid December, Gomeroi representatives were told the application had been sent back to Mr Hunt's office and that he would be the one making the decision about the stop-work order.

They say they have not heard back from Mr Hunt, and Mr Hunt has still not made a decision on the stop-work order.

Mr Talbott says it is deeply upsetting that bulldozers have moved onto the land.

"All we ask as Aboriginal people is that they do the right thing and respect our culture and heritage," Mr Talbott said.

"Allow us to get in there and salvage what we can, do our cultural values, and capture that before they blow the guts out of it."

A spokesman for Mr Hunt said the federal government wanted to ensure that the indigenous heritage of the area remained protected.

"The minister is looking at the claims made by the Gomeroi traditional owners very carefully," the spokesman said.

"We want to ensure that Whitehaven works respectfully and constructively with the local community and traditional owners to avoid unnecessary disputes."

A spokesman for Mr Scullion said he would not comment on the issue.

The acting opposition spokeswoman for indigenous affairs, Claire Moore, said she was very concerned about the way the application for a stop-order had been handed back and forth between departments for months.

"This project was approved with the proviso that there would be processes in place between the mining company and the local community about issues such as this," Ms Moore said.

"That application was lodged in November, but there still has not been a stop-work order issued."

It comes just days after protesters blockaded the Boggabri site in their fight against the development of the Maules Creek mine.

More than 30 activists, including local indigenous people, locked themselves to heavy vehicles which are being used to build a rail line and roads for the mine.

Miners show allure as US continues to lift

Australian shares followed the lead of overseas markets and recorded a second day of gains, underpinned by data suggesting the US economy is accelerating.

The market has clawed back heavy losses from earlier in the week, fuelled by poor employment figures from the US.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index surged 63.7 points, or 1.2 per cent, to finish Thursday's session at 5309.1. The All Ordinaries rose 63.9 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 5319.4.

Overnight on Wednesday, US shares were buoyed by a rise in producer prices, as well as strong earnings from Bank of America, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average pushed 0.7 per cent higher, with the Nasdaq adding 0.8 per cent and the S&P 500 rising 0.5 per cent.

''Out of the US [earlier in the week] there was a lot of hand-wringing going on about how equity markets had a trying couple of days.

albeit at a time when liquidity is not the best,'' BlackRock Australian head of fixed income Stephen Miller said.

''My reading of the US data is that growth in the US is going to accelerate this year, tapering will occur. Equity markets aren't cheap, but in an environment when the globe is going to have synchronised growth for the first time since 2010, the prospects for getting the earnings going and supporting current equity valuations are reasonably good.''

Helped by a falling dollar, which slipped to its lowest since August 2010 at US88.13¢, miners led the market higher.

''With the Australian dollar dropping a cent, what that leads to is all the miners make significantly more money. So the miners have continued to outperform and the banks become less attractive to overseas investors,'' Market Matters principal Shawn Hickman said.

Iluka Resources added 7.6 per cent to $8.89 despite the mineral sands miner reporting that revenue for the year to December fell 28.6 per cent to $763 million.

Rio Tinto gained 2.1 per cent to $65.58 after it reported it had beat guidance on its two most important commodities, iron ore and copper.

After saying on Wednesday it would repay $US1.6 billion ($1.79 billion) in debt, shares in Fortescue Metals continued their strong run, jumping 3.8 per cent to $5.53, despite news that four incidents involving safety were being investigated by the West Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum.

''Overall, I am positive about the market but I think the banks are not the place to get the best returns this year,'' Mr Hickman said.

Woodside Petroleum advised it would write down as much as $US400 million on oil and gasfields in Western Australia. But some of that would be offset by up to $US250 million in benefits from the petroleum resource rent tax, which helped lift shares 2.7 per cent to $38.63 on expectations of a dividend rise.

Qantas added 1.4 per cent to $1.11 despite two of its biggest rivals forming a new alliance. Singapore Airlines announced a tie-up with Air New Zealand that is expected to put further pressure on Qantas' unprofitable international arm.

Minerals Council calls for changes to mining community funding

The New South Wales Minerals Council is calling on the State Government to reconsider the eligibility criteria for what constitutes a mining affected area under its Resources for Regions funding program.

Currently the RfR program filters investment into the State’s mining regions based on royalties raised in the local government area or mining truck movements.

The Minerals Council is proposing mining employment be added as an assessment indicator, saying it will ensure more mining affected communities receive funding to support infrastructure projects.

“NSWMC suggests that once an LGA has reached a threshold number of employees, or percentage of regional employment generated directly and indirectly by mining, it should be considered to be mining affected,” Minerals Council chief executive Stephen Galilee stated.

Since being introduced in 2012 mining communities like Muswellbrook and Singleton in the state’s Hunter Valley have received $26.5 million in funding for hospital upgrades, road improvements and streetscape renewals.

But other areas affected by mining miss out on funding as they do not meet the current eligibility criteria, the Minerals Council explains.

“Examples of ineligible LGAs include communities such as Cessnock, Parkes, Maitland, Broken Hill, Gunnedah and Lake Macquarie - all communities with a significant mining workforce,” it said.

“In Maitland and Cessnock, for example, more than one in every three employees is supported by mining, but these areas are not able to apply for additional infrastructure funding through the program.”