The race to mine mining waste

Could metal-eating bacteria that break down mining waste be key to sustainable battery minerals?

BY JOHN LORINC

JANUARY 9, 2023

Photo by Photomaru

For generations, the topography of Sudbury, Ontario, has been brutally defined by towering slag heaps and vast orange-hued tailings ponds – the physical legacy of almost 140 years of nickel mining and smelting by resource giants like Inco and Falconbridge. By 1910, in fact, Sudbury’s mines were supplying 80% of the world’s nickel. But by the late 20th century, the industrial fallout – corrosive air pollution, acid rain and a legacy of seemingly intractable contamination – revealed the extraordinary environmental cost of those resource riches.

Fast forward to April 2022, when BacTech, a publicly traded Toronto remediation firm, launched plans to use naturally occurring bacteria and a “bioleaching” process to break down some of that mining waste and recover what it claims are billions of dollars in nickel, cobalt, green iron and sulphur that have long been buried in those tailings. Nickel and cobalt are now highly sought-after minerals in the accelerating race to build electric vehicle batteries, and this venture seems to offer a double climate bonus: remediation of a highly degraded landscape, as well as raw materials for transportation technology that weans society of its addiction to fossil fuels.

“The timing is right to mature these technologies off the bench,” says Laurentian University microbiologist Nadia Mykytczuk, interim president and CEO of MIRARCO (Laurentian’s Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation) and an advisor to BacTech. “The rapid electrification and move to battery electric vehicles is going to drive a lot of innovations, and bioleaching is one of those that will move forward quite quickly now.” A feasibility study has been completed, and a pilot facility, the Centre for Mine Waste Biotechnology, is being built on the Laurentian campus.

Mykytczuk points out that the notion of using microbes to essentially poop out recoverable minerals from tailings waste isn’t new, and has been applied for decades in settings like Chile’s copper mines. Over time, however, the processes have become more sophisticated; the demand for better forms of remediation, more intense. Acid drainage, a corrosive by-product that’s released from tailings ponds, continues to contaminate downstream watersheds. Tailings dam disasters in the past decade or so in countries such as Hungary, South Africa and Brazil have not only shone a harsh light on the grave human and ecological risks associated with accumulated mining waste, but also sparked activist investor groups, like the Church of England, to push for safer practices.

At the same time, the global growth of renewable energy and the push to electrify has revealed the extent to which fossil fuel extraction will be replaced in the coming decades by the dramatic growth in the mining of ores like nickel, copper or rare earth elements used in wind turbines and other clean technologies. Global demand for copper is projected to double by 2035, even as existing copper mines become less and less productive. Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency estimated that the global mining sector needs to build 60 nickel mines, 50 lithium mines and 17 cobalt mines by 2030 to meet global emissions goals.

But if all that new mining activity generates even more emissions, contaminates watersheds and produces mountains of toxic waste, we’ll have merely replaced one form of resource-driven environmental destruction with another. Case in point: the mining of lithium, a critical ingredient in EV batteries, consumes huge quantities of water, pollutes groundwater and poses a danger to flamingo habitats.

Conventional mining is not only energy intensive and ecologically scarring; it is also extraordinarily inefficient. By weight and volume, valuable ores like nickel, gold or cobalt account for a tiny fraction – sometimes even less than 1% – of all the material removed from a mine. (A sustainable-mining scholar in Chile has trenchantly described these epic inefficiencies as akin to using five kilograms of beef from a 500-kilo cow and discarding the rest.) What’s more, the structure and financing of the industry is such that individual mining companies traditionally produce only one or two substances; everything else is seen as waste.

From an emissions perspective, one of the core arguments in favour of biomining and remining (another approach to recovering marketable minerals from tailings) is that huge amounts of energy have already been consumed to extract, crush, separate and process all the material that comes out of a mine. “The total energy required for bioleaching is significantly lower by several orders of magnitude than if you were to build a high-energy smelter,” says Mykytczuk.

To date, biomining remains a tiny fragment of the industry, but the potential has garnered attention from researchers, cleantech start-ups and established mining giants. For example, Teck Resources and Rio Tinto, both global firms, have teamed up with researchers at the University of British Columbia and other organizations to launch a project called M-MAP, or the Mining Microbiome Analytics Platform. The organization is building a genome library of microbes found in tailings ponds around the world, which will allow labs to sequence genetic material to engineer bacteria that is essentially tailor-made to digest minerals in particular tailings ponds.

As a Teck spokesperson explains, “M-MAP is the first integrated online platform which aims to extract the DNA from more than 15,000 mining site samples over the next two years to identify microbes that can be used to replace chemical and other legacy extraction methods for minerals and metals, and to perform safer, more effective remediation of legacy and operational mine sites.”
Bryne Gramlich, vice-president of business development at Allonnia, a Boston bio-engineering firm that is part of the M-MAP consortia, adds that while the project is in its infancy, the mining sector is “aggressively looking at how to accelerate the use of biology” in its reclamation efforts.

The rapid electrification and move to battery electric vehicles is going to drive a lot of innovations, and bioleaching is one of those that will move forward quite quickly now.

-Nadia Mykytczuk, interim president and CEO of MIRARCO

The critical question, of course, is whether the introduction of specially engineered microbes in tailings ponds, such as those enabled by M-MAP’s genome library, could further exacerbate environmental damage downstream of such facilities. “In order to get any type of technology like this approved and indeed used,” says Anita Parbhakar-Fox, an associate professor at Australia’s University of Queensland who runs a mine-waste-transformation research group, “a rigorous environmental impact assessment, including demonstration testing, risk evaluation and impact modelling, would be undertaken to ensure a decision on whether to use the technology was made based on a full evaluation of the socio-environmental risks.”

But Radhakrishnan Mahadevan, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Toronto and a Canada Research Chair specializing in bio-engineering applications, says there are existing techniques for ensuring that such microbes don’t have what he describes as “exogenous impacts,” such as increasing the risk of antibiotic resistance. “You can engineer the environment in such a way that the microbes do what you want them to do.”

The potential for using new technologies to upcycle mining waste has attracted other remining start-ups. Phoenix Tailings, a four-year-old Boston firm with venture capital backing, has developed a set of chemical processes to extract value from tailings, including rare earth elements, cobalt and nickel. According to co-founder Anthony Balladon, the firm’s business strategy with mine waste sites is to recover two types of materials: large volumes of inert bulk substances that can be used like aggregates in concrete production, and smaller volumes of valuable ores. To make the math work, he says, “we need both components.”

He points out that some waste sites are quite old and date to a time when there was little market for the metals that are now driving the electrification economy. “You often find that you have a tailings pile or tailings pond somewhere in Canada, Australia or the U.S. that has a higher grade of cobalt or copper or rare earths than what is currently considered the kind of grade for operating a new mine,” he says. “You have to find the right sites.”

Phoenix, Balladon notes, has tapped into an eager source of capital looking for sustainable solutions to mining waste and a way of averting tailings dam disasters. But global investor appetite for EV-related metals is voracious and also a major driver of these technologies. “It’s a very exciting time,” he says, noting that governments in Canada, the U.S. and Australia are all looking to invest in these approaches.

You often find that you have a tailings pile or tailings pond somewhere in Canada, Australia or the U.S. that has a higher grade of cobalt or copper or rare earths than what is currently considered the kind of grade for operating a new mine.

-Anthony Balladon, co-founder, Phoenix Tailings

Parbhakar-Fox agrees. “In Australia in the past three to five years, we have seen a great deal of state and federal government investment into the development of mineral processing methodologies, particularly to recover critical metals in order to grow this sector in Australia,” she says. “The University of Queensland is involved in a project to bioleach and recover [rare earth elements] from Mary Kathleen mine tailings, potentially containing AU$4 billion worth, as well as cobalt from the Old Tailings Dam and Savage River mine tailings [in western Tasmania].” BacTech sees even larger economic windfall from recovering copper and cobalt from the tailings in Sudbury – it estimates that there’s $27 billion in nickel alone sitting in those ponds.

Researchers say these processes also promise a climate benefit beyond energy savings. “The bioleaching process itself is carbon capturing,” says Mykytczuk. “We are capturing atmospheric CO2, and the bacteria fix that to their biomass [so] you can actually have an offset from your carbon cost in the bioleaching process. It’s a benefit on the carbon side of things.”

There is, of course, plenty of reason to be skeptical, not just about the science, which is nascent and not yet deployed at commercial scale, but also about the promise of alchemizing all that slag into valuable ore and billions of dollars in profits.

Yet advocates point out that emerging research and the climate imperative should be encouraging us to think differently about the largely unseen by-products of an extractive industry that hasn’t changed its ways in generations.

“Mining tailings and other mine wastes are multifaceted when it comes to the potential positive outcomes,” says Parbhakar-Fox. “Provided the mine waste has been well characterized and the right technologies are used to extract and recover the most value, there are positive outcomes for companies, the environment, the future, and for our governments to grow circular economy businesses. These are exciting times if we dare to dream and think outside the box.”

Corporate Knights publishes the world's largest circulation magazine on clean capitalism.

WORKERS CAPITAL
Feds must force pensions to fund Canadian mining, Lassonde, Giustra say

 
Colin McClelland | February 25, 2024 | 

Highland Valley Copper Operations in British Columbia sports the flag.

 (Image courtesy of Teck Resources.)

Ottawa has to pressure pension funds to invest billions in Canadian mining, a radical change from their almost non-existent stakes, if the industry is ever going to produce enough metals to fight climate change, veteran entrepreneurs Pierre Lassonde and Frank Giustra say.


Canada’s eight largest pension funds hold some C$2.1 trillion in assets but only a quarter was even invested in the country last year, according to research by Montreal-based fund manager Letko Brosseau. The so-called Maple Eight devoted just 3% to domestic equities, the lowest of a group of six countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, data show.

“They’ve taken the vast majority of this money – 75% of it – and invested it outside Canada to create jobs outside of Canada to the detriment of Canadians,” Lassonde, a founder of Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV; NYSE: FNV) and a former president of Newmont (NYSE: NEM; TSX: NGT), said in a phone interview this month. “Essentially, the mining industry has been ignored.”

Pension funds are not investing in large Canadian mining companies, which may in turn invest in juniors, in part because few domestic options remain. Switzerland-based Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) acquisition of most of Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) coking coal assets in November for about C$9 billion is the latest large deal scooping up Canadian assets.

Xstrata, now part of Glencore, bought nickel giant Falconbridge for C$39 billion in 2006, the same year Brazil’s Vale (NYSE: VALE) purchased the country’s other main nickel producer, Inco, for C$19 billion. Australia’s Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) followed a year later in acquiring aluminum producer Alcan for C$38 billion. Lassonde and Giustra say pension fund investing might have helped them stay.

“We’re talking about very large companies, mining giants that we lost to foreigners,” said Giustra, who founded Lions Gate Entertainment (Fahrenheit 9/11, The Hunger Games) and helped start Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM, NYSE: WPM; LSE: WPM) and Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV; LSE: EDV).

“These aren’t risky companies. This was the backbone of our mining industry in this country.”

Rules eroded

Indeed, Canadian pensions were required to invest 90% of their assets domestically in 1990, but federal governments gradually reduced the limit before removing it entirely in 2005. Total domestic exposure as a percentage of assets ranges from 55% held by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan to 13% run by Public Sector Pension Investments (PSP). The average of other pension funds around the world is 52%, according to Letko Brosseau.

Pensions are the largest repository of wealth in many countries and globally hold nearly $50 trillion. Reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will require annual clean energy investment worldwide to more than triple by 2030 to around $4 trillion, according to the International Energy Agency. Just mining enough battery metals over the next three years will cost as much as $450 billion, the agency said. In 2022, Ottawa budgeted nearly C$4 billion in spending on critical minerals by 2030 but it’s not clear how pension funds are being engaged to support projects.

“The government of Canada continues to engage with critical minerals stakeholders, including pension plans and other institutional, arms-length investors,” Michael MacDonald, a spokesman for the federal Natural Resources Ministry, said in an emailed reply to questions.

It was MacDonald’s only reference to pension funds in what was otherwise a page-long list of government programs stemming from its critical minerals strategy. He suggested the Canada Development Investment Corp. (CDEV), a federal Crown corporation that advises the government on financial matters, might explain how mining companies could seek funding from the C$15 billion Canada Growth Fund. CDEV didn’t reply in time for this story.
Pensions mum

Pension funds themselves were even more reticent to discuss the issue. Only the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which Lassonde praised for its resource funding, replied to emails seeking comment. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP), the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), and the PSP didn’t reply or declined to speak.

“CDPQ is active in the mining sector in Quebec and Canada and has an investment team dedicated to the sector,” Kate Monfette, the pension’s media director, said by email. “Among other things, with a fund like Sodémex which supports exploration projects, we remain on the lookout for developments and opportunities in the mining and materials ecosystem. Our priority is to focus on the most promising companies in order to help them develop while generating a return for our depositors.”

British Columbia Investment Management (BCI) said it invests 29.4% in Canada and referred other inquiries to its annual report. OMERS said it wouldn’t comment on the topic.

Canada should consider Australia’s example, Lassonde and Giustra said. Its pensions, which are called superannuation funds, hold A$3.5 trillion (C$3.1 trillion), the third-largest amount behind the US and the UK. Domestic equities make up 21.9% of their assets. The large stakes prevent foreign takeovers, the entrepreneurs argued.

“That’s what keeps their domestic mining industry alive,” Giustra said. “We’re a comparable country in terms of how prolific our mining opportunities are, same as Australia, and we don’t have that same opportunity.”

Letko Brosseau says Canada’s top eight pension funds have invested more in China than in Canadian companies: C$88 billion versus C$81 billion. CPP has 2% in domestic shares, BCI has 0.5% and OTPP has 0.1%, the firm says.

Economics urged

Giustra said mining CEOs must lobby pension funds with moral suasion for why they should invest in Canada and make an economic argument. With China’s current woes from property market turmoil and a long-term population decline in motion, its boom years are over and it’s time for Canadian pension funds to repatriate funds to the world’s second-largest country by landmass that has top-tier mining regulations.

Lassonde went further and said federal and provincial governments must legislate pension funds to increase their investments in Canadian resource companies. He’s backed Letko Brosseau’s presentations to finance ministers in BC and Ontario as well as to officials in Ottawa.

“We’re trying to get to the decision makers and trying to make them understand what Canada is losing by doing nothing,” he said. “They created these funds, it’s in their power to legislate how these funds are managed.”

Giustra, who heads private equity firm Fiore Group invested in Aris Gold (TSX: ARIS) with mines in Colombia, and Ontario-focused explorer West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG), said Canadian asset managers slashed their non-pension dedicated mining funds to C$2.8 billion in 2022 from C$16 billion in 2010.

“There’s just no source of capital, the industry starves,” he said. “You don’t have the seniors funding them, the pension funds aren’t there and we’ve lost the traditional mining funds here as well.”

Lassonde, who led a group of investors assembling an offer in May for Teck’s coking coal assets that was later beat by Glencore, said he approached BCI and Ontario pensions for input but got no response.

“If you want steel and you want the lowest carbon-emitting steel in the world, it’s that coal, OK, and there was nobody to talk to,” he said. “In Australia, we could have done this deal in about five days.”

Miners in Ontario Are Mobilizing Against Another Corporate Rip-Off

BYMITCHELL THOMPSON

JACOBIN

Mining multinational Vale is trying to strip its workers in Sudbury of vital benefits using the pandemic as cover. They’ve responded with strike action, building on a long tradition of militant trade unionism in the region.
In Sudbury, Ontario, workers employed by the multinational mining corporation Vale are on strike to fight for better benefits. (Randy Risling / Toronto Star via Getty Images)

In Sudbury, Ontario, twenty-five hundred workers employed by the multinational mining corporation Vale are on strike. The industrial action comes after employees twice rejected a company offer that would significantly reduce the health benefits of younger workers. Vale, which took over the Ontario nickel mine from Inco in 2006, has treated the pandemic as an opportunity to launch an attack on an already insecure workforce.

Vale’s most recent offer — rejected by 87 percent of voting United Steel Worker (USW) members — would eliminate retiree health and insurance benefits for all employees hired after June 1. For future retirees, this would spell the end of over-the-counter drug coverage, funds for semiprivate hospital rooms, life insurance, nonoccupational accident insurance and “dismemberment insurance.” Management have offered to replace the previous benefit system by giving new hires a $1,000 postretirement “health care savings account.”

Across the country, companies have forced employees to accept increased hours, worse benefits, and lower pay in order to return to work. Vale’s attack on employee benefits follows a wave of lockouts by Canadian employers seeking to use the pandemic to launch an assault on workers. Molson Coors, Reliance Home Comfort, Ocean Concrete in Victoria, Delta Hotels, Fenner Dunlop, Welcome Place, and Exceldor have all used the pandemic as an opportunity to weaken the power of labor.

Vale’s attempt to defeat Sudbury’s miners, based in one of Canada’s strongest union locals, is a clear attack on organized labor. But those miners have fought and won when pitted against the bosses in the past, and they can do so again.
“Rewriting the Industry Standards”

According to Vale’s own data, since its most recent collective agreement in 2016, its rate of workplace injury has more than doubled. Despite this, the company is demanding cuts to health benefits. This is part of Vale’s ongoing attempt to lower, as much as possible, any and all worker-related costs.

After a wave of layoffs last fall, Vale won similar concessions from its workforce in Thompson, Manitoba. Vale then retroactively defended the results of these renegotiations, imposed on its workers, as examples of good practice. “They say it’s in line with industry standards,” says Anderson, a Vale Sudbury worker currently on strike: “In fact, they are rewriting the industry standards to offer less.”

Anderson points out that Inco — Vale’s predecessor — paid five times the minimum wage in the 1990s. Today, the company’s pay is only two and a half times what is legally required of them. At Vale, decreasing pay has gone hand in hand with increasingly dangerous conditions.You work for thirty years. You destroy your body, then they take your health benefits.

In recent years, Anderson has seen coworkers suffer life-threatening injuries or have to work despite being seriously ill. Equipment used to torque bolts damaged one worker’s back. Another coworker, based at the nearby smelter, logged long overtime hours, but “looked sickly” during a past strike — “he died right after retirement.”

A third colleague of Anderson’s still had to work at the mine despite requiring a colostomy bag. The fact that management forces workers to endure these conditions, he notes, “speaks volumes about the need for a solid benefit plan later in life.”

As Ethan, another Vale mine worker in Thompson, Manitoba observed: “You work for thirty years. You destroy your body, then they take your health benefits.” In the first quarter of 2021, Vale delivered $3.9 billion to its shareholders.
The Last Crisis

When the 2008 economic crash ravaged Ontario’s manufacturing sector, Vale demanded deeply regressive “concessions” from its employees. Workers, the company claimed, needed to come to terms with “new international realities.”

The Globe and Mail reported that Vale, the new owners of Inco, spent significant resources meeting with government officials “to win support for cutting costs and jobs.” Federal minister of industry Tony Clement championed Vale’s cause, claiming that without the company Sudbury, would become a “valley of death.” The Ontario Liberal government meanwhile refused to support legislation to curb strike breaking. Instead, the provincial Liberals opted to call for “consensus” between the company and the union.

In a surprisingly candid interview with the Globe, one former executive admitted that consensus wasn’t actually part of Vale’s agenda:


They just want to break the union. They want to completely hit the reset button on the entire labor situation and the agreements that have been put in place in the past.

To aid this, Vale launched a sweeping wave of reactionary reforms. The company imposed layoffs, demanded wage freezes, and made changes to grievance procedures to facilitate future layoffs and cut bonus pay. In addition, Vale demanded pension reform, proposing a shift from the more secure Defined Benefit (DB) pension plan to a Defined Contribution (DC) scheme.

The union rejected this offer. Vale then hired the strikebreaking private security firm AFI International to force workers to accept the agreement. AFI, now AFIMAC, is proud of its close ties to the police and military personnel, many of whom have gone on to be directly employed by the international security company. Over the course of the strike, AFIMAC broke picket lines and a community blockade and worked to help Vale secure injunctions against its workers.

With the help of its strikebreakers and around twelve hundred scabs who crossed the picket, Vale was able to remain operational throughout the strike. The company also fired nine workers and sued them for thousands in damages. Despite nearly a year of opposition from the union, the company had the resources to wait them out.Vale hired a strikebreaking private security firm AFI International to force workers to accept the agreement.

The company’s war of attrition led to a 20 percent contraction in Vale’s unionized workforce. After this wave of creative destruction, the corporation was able to reshape labor relations as it saw fit. Vale seized new transfer and grievance rights, increased its use of nonunion contract labor, and reduced the pensions of new hires.

Despite cutting the wages, pensions, and health care benefits of its workers, the company has paid a total of $13.55 billion in dividends since 2015. As of late last year, Vale was sitting on a cash stockpile of $12.9 billion.

The Vale strike came in the context of a series of layoffs and plant closures in Ontario. Workers took part in a wave of militant strikes and occupations to protect their jobs and improve their standards of living. These included the March 2007 walkout at Collins & Aikman; the occupations of Hamilton Specialty Bar and the Mississauga’s masonite manufacturing plant in May 2017; and the 2009 blockade of Windsor’s Aradco-Aramco plant.

The Canadian Auto Workers Union, which organized thirty-two occupations between 1980 and 2009, led several of these efforts. However, many of these occupations were isolated actions. But management at other firms, such as General Motors in Oshawa, joined Vale’s lead and implemented the same regressive workplace reforms.

Companies like Vale take advantage of so-called “pattern bargaining” by which employers standardize the terms in collective agreements across large workplaces. Struggles over working conditions at a large workplace like Vale’s Sudbury mine are therefore strategically important because the conditions imposed on workers there will go on to shape industry standards.
A History of Struggle

To go on the attack, labor needs to emulate the strategic planning of the business class. This is, of course, easier said than done. The Left should, however, find inspiration in the long history of militant action by Sudbury’s nickel miners.

During their 1958 strike, the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (who merged with the USW in the 1960s) faced Vale’s predecessor, Inco. The mining conglomerate had built up a year-long nickel stockpile to weather the storm in case of union opposition to wage and hour cuts.

When miners did go on strike, they understood that their employer’s preparation meant that they had to act militantly. Mine workers launched a two-month strike in which workers and supporters surrounded Inco’s Toronto headquarters and marched around Queen’s Park. Union supporters also picketed foreign nickel shipments at the Montreal port. In the end, they won a sizable wage increase during a recession.

In 1978–79, Inco attempted to use an economic crisis to weaken the union, foreshadowing current events. At the time, Canadian Business speculated that the strong wage settlements Sudbury’s mineworkers had won were a key target for employers and the federal Liberals. Large companies, and their political allies in the Liberal party, worked in tandem to impose wage “restraint” on Canada’s labor movement by breaking strikes, jailing union leaders, and rolling back wage gains.

Inco’s attempted to resolve the crisis by proposing a new contract for workers that took into consideration the economic constrains imposed on the firm. The offer, as Mason Godden writes, “infringed on several areas of the existing grievance procedures and workers’ seniority rights.” It was soundly rejected, and Inco’s workers went on strike in September 1978.The USW and the adjacent Wives Supporting the Strike mobilized community members and surrounding unions to fund collections, toy drives, and community clothing provision to help wait the company out.

The USW and the adjacent Wives Supporting the Strike mobilized community members and surrounding unions to fund collections, toy drives, and community clothing provision to help wait the company out. Fishers in British Columbia donated fish, and the St Catharines and District Labour Council sent thousands of toys for striking workers’ children.

Workers at Falconbridge and Laurentian Universities also doubled their union dues to support the strike. Unions and social movements organized solidarity rallies across Ontario. Support came in from unions in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere.

The USW explicitly linked the struggle of its members to those against similar cuts that governments and employers were trying to impose across Canada. In November 1978 alone, the union was able to send around a hundred of its members to support striking postal workers.

The growing strength and militancy of the union movement became a concern for the federal government as well as employers. A report commissioned by Emergency Preparedness Canada warned:

The power of the union grew during the strike. The effects appear to have spread far beyond Sudbury.

By the spring of 1979, the company’s reserves were running dry.

The company’s net growth had fallen from $34.9 million in the pre-strike first quarter of 1978 to just $500,000 in Q1 of 1979. Inco’s attempt to defeat the strike by amassing enough reserves to wait out the union failed because of the continued increase in militancy on the part of organized labor. In the end, the USW won a wage increase and full pensions for workers after thirty years of service, regardless of age.

The history of USW teaches us that workers can win against companies wishing to use economic crises to justify layoffs and benefit cuts. The Left must work to unite the struggles with all employers using the pandemic as a justification for increasing the rate of exploitation. Bosses and not workers should bear the cost of any economic crisis.

Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of the sources.

AUSSIE MINERS FIGHT TO OWN RING OF FIRE
What's to become of Noront's ferrochrome plant? 

Wait for the bidding war to settle, says CEO

Chromite production plans, smelter plan in limbo until new ownership takes control of Noront's Ring of Fire metal assets

IMPERIALISM THE HIGHEST STATE OF CAPITALI$M

By: Ian Ross

Site rendering of Noront Resources' proposed ferrochrome processing 

plant in Sault Ste. Marie


Ask Alan Coutts what's to become of a proposed ferrochrome processing plant for Sault Ste. Marie and the president of Noront Resources gives a straightaway answer.

"That will ultimately be a question that will be answered by the new owners."

Noront selected Sault Ste. Marie in 2019 is its preferred location for a high-tech smelting operation, settling on a brownfield site at Algoma Steel.

But in the last few months, the Toronto mine developer and holder of the most prime mineral property in the James Bay's Ring of Fire mineral belt has become a takeover target by BHP and Wyloo Metals, the former being arguably the world's biggest mining company.

The two Australian rivals are in the early stages of a bidding war for control of Noront and its Eagle's Nest nickel-copper deposit, 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. It has an 11-year mine life with the real likelihood to extend it to 20 years.

Both companies are looking to preemptively stake their global turf and gain exposure to nickel, which is used in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for the coming electric vehicle revolution.

Noront's 156,000-hectare land package hosts eight deposits and hundreds of documented occurrences of nickel, copper zinc, platinum, palladium, gold, titanium, vanadium, diamonds and cobalt. Many of these metals are key ingredients needed for the electric vehicle supply chain, battery storage technology, renewable energy, digital technologies, and various applications in health care, aerospace and defence.

But it was the purity and thickness of high-grade chromite, the dark grey metal discovered practically outcropping at surface in 2007, that first drew widespread attention to the region.

Noront's mining batting order has always been to lead off with Eagle's Nest, starting production in mid-2026, before digging into Blackbird, the first of four chromite deposits, and commission that project by 2028. The Sault plant would be built by then and ready to take the chromite feed.

Those timelines remain in limbo with a bidding war underway for Noront.

Noront's logistics plan involves trucking nickel concentrate down a planned 300-kilometre-long road to Nakina in northwestern Ontario and sent by rail to Sudbury for processing.

The chromite would follow the same path to a ferrochrome plant in the Sault.

About 1,000 to 1,500 construction and supply-related jobs would be created in the city, with 500 permanent plant jobs to follow for a facility that would expand as more chromite deposits come into production based on market demand.

The semi-finished ferrochrome material would be barged down the Great Lakes and Mississippi River to stainless steel manufacturers in the U.S.

Coutts mentioned their concept has been well-received by potential American customers. Most of the chrome material used by the U.S. stainless steel industry is imported from South Africa and Kazakhstan.

"We think it's a very good path forward," said Coutts.

"Ultimately, if someone buys the company they can review that and make their own decisions."

Wyloo chief executive Luca Giacovazzi told Northern Ontario Business in early June that chromite was viewed by the company as more of a "longer term opportunity."

"The focus is on nickel."

Though respectful of the work Noront had put in, Giacovazzi couldn't commit to a Sault-based processing plant. Wyloo would need to do its own technical studies to determine the best site, he said.

Wyloo is a subsidiary company of Tattarang, one of Australia's largest private investment groups. Tattarang is headed by billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who turned Fortescue Metals into the world's fourth largest iron ore producers in Australia's Pilbara region.

BHP Group is the world's largest iron ore miner with operations in Chile, Peru and western Australia. In 2021, the Melbourne-headquartered cleared US$11.3 billion in profit. The company recently established a copper and nickel exploration office in Toronto to be close to Ontario's battery metals scene.

For whichever mining company acquires Noront, don't expect the chromite to be placed on the backburner.

"Wyloo and BHP are excellent world-class companies on bulk materials like iron ore," said Coutts. "Chromite's like that.



"These guys have a ton of experience developing assets like the chrome and the associated infrastructure, and I don't think they'd have any trouble getting their heads around the opportunity.

"It might not be what attracts them in the first place, but I certainly think they'd pay a lot of attention to the (chromite) assets if they became the owners."

In elected to pursue a ferrochrome plant, Noront really stepped beyond the traditional resource development role of a junior mining company by wanting to make the rare leap to becoming a major mining player.

Coutts, a former Falconbridge executive and trained geologist, spoke confidently in past interviews that it was Noront's ambition to become a mine builder. The Ring of Fire, he said, would be their version of the mineral-rich Sudbury basin, with more than 100 years of ore production.

Noront brought Coutts aboard in 2013. He had been involved in exploration, development and operation of mines in Canada and Australia.

His chief development officer, Steve Flewelling, was hired in 2015. He had worked for Falconbridge's successor company, Xstrata Nickel/Glencore, on mining and smelting projects around the world.

Coutts said the processing space is an area they are very comfortable operating in.

"We like the fact that it was a Canadian company developing the assets," said Coutts, who was at the helm when Cliffs Natural Resources exited the Ring of Fire in 2015.

It provided an opportunity for Noront to acquire their claims and consolidate more ground after other exploration companies followed suit, allowing them to become the leading mine developer in the region, albeit with limited financial resources.

Though labelled a junior miner, Coutts said their approach was that it made the most sense, economically, not only to build the mines and produce the ore, but in the case of chromite, it was within their scope to produce an intermediate product to get a value-added lift.

"Certainly, Steve had a ton of experience with the smelting process both in Sudbury and, internationally in New Caledonia."

Coutts said they felt quite comfortable working with Hatch Engineering on the furnace design and the commissioning of a ferrochrome plant down the road.

Whether Coutts and Flewelling stick around under new ownership to see the fruits of their labour come into production remains to be seen.

In a recent interview, Wyloo's Giacovazzi was non-committal in retaining Noront's current senior management, if their bid was accepted by Noront shareholders, saying only the Ring of Fire operating team would be a mixture of new and old faces.

"That's how things work," replied Coutts. "Perhaps there's still a role for us going forward.

"But we would still recommend that path and the approach that we've taken."

It is almost one hundred years since the publication of V. I. Lenin’s Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism and Nikolai Bukharin’s Imperialism and World Economy,2 written in the midst of the carnage of World War I. Imperialism was written in the first half of 1916 and published in mid-1917; Imperialism and World Economy was not published until several months later, but it was substantially written in 1915 and very likely influenced Lenin’s own thinking, since he read the book in manuscript and wrote an introduction for it in December 1915 supporting its main analysis.

Lenin and Bukharin on imperialism | International ...

isreview.org/issue/100/lenin-and-bukharin-imperialism/index.html

Raglan Mine makes new offer to striking employees

United Steelworkers withdrew from negotiations last week; strike started around the end of May

Raglan Mine has made a new offer to its unionized employees. (File photo)

By  Jeff Pelletier

BUSINESS  JUL 11, 2022 –

Raglan Mine has presented a new offer to its unionized employees, days after the United Steelworkers withdrew from negotiations.

The new offer was put forward July 10, according to a news release from Glencore Group, Raglan Mine’s parent company.

The release does not say what is in the offer, but says it “allows Raglan Mine employees to obtain the best working conditions in the industry.”

“We sincerely hope that this offer can put an end to the labour dispute as quickly as possible,” said Pierre Barrette, vice-president of Raglan Mine, in the release.

Cimon Guy, a union representative, said the union is looking at the offer.

“Our negotiations committee will meet tomorrow to go over it in detail and decide our course of action following that,” Guy said in an email.

Raglan Mine produces mostly nickel, as well as small amounts of copper and cobalt. Its 630 unionized workers have been on strike since the end of May after the company and the union failed to reach a new collective agreement.

A mediator was appointed by the Quebec government to meet with both sides and broker a deal, but those meetings have not been successful.

Guy has said the union’s main demands involve better working and living conditions on site. Raglan has responded by saying it maintains some of the industry’s highest safety standards and salaries, while promoting a positive work culture at the mine.

Production at Raglan Mine, which is Nunavik’s largest employer, was halted after the strike was called, and all union employees were flown back to their home communities. Some production has since resumed.

 Strike by 630 workers at Glencore's Raglan Mine in northern Quebec enters second month

Frédéric Charlebois

28 June 2022

WSWS.ORG

Around 630 workers—members of the United Steelworkers (USW)—at the Raglan Mine in northern Quebec, Canada, have been engaged in an indefinite strike since May 27, after voting by a massive 97.5 percent to walk off the job. Faced with rampant inflation and the company’s indifference to the plight of its workers, the strikers are determined to fight against subcontracting and attacks on their working and living conditions.

Raglan miners on strike (Photo: IndustriALL union)

Glencore Group, Raglan’s owner, responded to the strike by announcing the suspension of its mining operations and the return of workers to their respective home regions. On Friday, June 17, it resumed some operations using subcontractors. “We are very concerned, to say the least, about the type of work being done at the mine and by whom,” said a miner who is a member of the union negotiating team. One day earlier, around 80 strikers picketed the Rouyn-Noranda airport in southwestern Quebec, where miners fly in and out of the Raglan facility.

The Raglan Mine is located in the remote northern region of Nunavik, on the Ungava Peninsula, 1800 km north of Montreal. Located between the villages of Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq, the mine relies on local Inuit communities to make up 20 percent of its workforce. As with many natural resource operations in the region, the Raglan Mine plays a key role in the local economy, with a significant portion of local residents involved in one way or another in the mine’s operations.

In spite of its name, the Raglan Mine is in fact a mining complex composed of four underground mines. While the mine primarily processes nickel, workers also extract other lucrative precious metals. In 2020, miners extracted nearly 40,000 tons of nickel, 9,000 tons of copper and more than 800 tons of cobalt. This large-scale output continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as the government gave the mining industry the green light to continue operations and expose miners to the lethal coronavirus.

According to an estimate published by the USW, based on the company’s production data, miners extracted natural resources worth US$586 million in 2020. Considering that the price of nickel has more than doubled since 2020, and that the price of other metals has also risen significantly, revenues in 2022 could exceed $1 billion.

Despite the huge profits made at the operation, Glencore is denying its workers any genuine improvement in their conditions. Instead, the international conglomerate is intensifying its attacks on their jobs and working conditions.

A blatant example of management’s ruthless attacks on workers was the dismissal in March 2021 of unionized security workers at the Raglan Mine, after they rejected an offer from the company to renew their collective agreement. In a ruling issued on June 15, the Quebec Administrative Labour Tribunal condemned this action, which it determined was motivated by a desire to send “a clear message from the company to the other units (of unionized workers) that will soon be negotiating.”

As is the case for the vast majority of workers in the mining industry, Raglan’s workers live and work under harsh conditions. In addition to the “fly-in fly-out” procedure and the distance from their families, the workers labour 11 hours a day for 21 days in a row, followed by 14 days off.

Under these conditions and with inflation eating away at what little financial leeway families have left, the workers are determined to fight for their interests. They are demanding better wages, decent working conditions and an improved vacation plan. They also oppose Glencore’s increased use of subcontracting.

In addition to lower wages and fewer benefits, the use of subcontractors has increased so much in recent years that nearly half of the mine’s 1,200 employees work for a third party. This practice allows the multinational to save large sums of money, while all workers at the mine complex pay for this through stepped-up internal competition.

The company unquestionably has the financial means to meet the workers’ modest demands. Following its merger with Xstrata in 2013, the Glencore Group is one of the largest natural resource companies in the world.

Active in 35 countries, the company operates around 150 mining, metals and oil production facilities. Glencore is the largest nickel producer in Quebec and the fourth largest in the world. The company is headed by Ivan Glasenberg, Australia’s ninth richest man, who has a personal fortune of $12.2 billion.

While they face a multinational corporation determined to cut production costs to increase profits, the 630 striking workers also confront the union bureaucracy of the USW, which is affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL). The USW is working tirelessly to keep the strikers isolated, as shown by its announcement of just four one-time picket lines over two weeks, with Rouyn-Noranda being the last on the list.

The only small gesture of solidarity has come from USW Local 6586 at the ArcelorMittal plant in Contrecoeur northeast of Montreal, which is providing limited financial assistance of $1,100 per week. Yet the USW boasts that it is the largest private sector union in Quebec, with 60,000 members across a range of economic sectors. Beyond Quebec’s provincial borders, the union has over a million active and retired members across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. However, the USW has refused to mobilize the full strength of its membership in support of the Raglan workers, leaving them to fight the global mining giant alone.

The Raglan strikers should draw the lessons from the USW’s betrayal of a massive strike vote by workers at Arconic’s aluminum facilities in Iowa, Tennessee, and Indiana earlier this month. Despite the overwhelming support for a strike among the workers, the USW blocked strike action before announcing a last-minute agreement with the company. The USW then rammed through the concessions-filled deal, which included real-terms pay cuts and the abolition of a performance bonus scheme, amid widespread speculation by workers that the voting process was rigged. “It felt like the union leadership was working for the company,” an Arconic worker told the WSWS.

While the USW felt compelled to call a strike at Raglan, it is feverishly working with the company behind the scenes to impose a similar sellout. USW and Glencore representatives have met on several occasions with a mediator appointed by the Quebec Labour Ministry led by the hard-right Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government. CAQ Premier Francois Legault, a multi-millionaire and former Air Transat CEO, has denounced wage levels in the province’s manufacturing sector as “too high.”

The pro-capitalist union apparatus enjoys a cozy relationship with corporate executives and the state apparatus, which finds expression in the corrupt practices of union bureaucrats. A series of recent court decisions revealed that at least four USW local officials in Canada were involved in embezzlement schemes. According to Nouvelles TVA, the union representatives used their positions to charge the union for personal expenses, issue duplicate bills and even write blank checks to each other. Unable to pay back the money, one of the former bureaucrats had his house seized last week. 

The Raglan workers are not alone in their struggle. Over the past year, a wave of strikes has erupted among mine workers around the world—from the nickel mines of Sudbury in northern Ontario and the coalfields of Alabama to the Atacama Desert of Chile and the jungles of Colombia—demanding substantial wage increases and the restoration of hard-won gains.  

The upsurge of struggles among miners internationally underscores that the conditions exist for Raglan workers to win their strike. To do so, they must break with the nationalist, pro-capitalist USW and create their own rank-and-file committee. The committee should fight for the expansion of the strike by making a powerful appeal to miners across Canada and internationally to wage a common fight against the multi-billion-dollar mining conglomerates. The striking miners should also link up their strike with working people battling the rising cost of living across Canada and around the world for a joint counteroffensive to defend jobs, wages and working conditions.

Glencore Violated Labour Law in Dismissing Workers at Its Raglan Mine, Quebec Tribunal Rules

Author of the article:

Business Wire

Publishing date:

Jun 19, 2022  •  June 19, 2022  •  

Article content

MONTREAL — Resource giant Glencore violated labour laws when it dismissed unionized security officers at its Raglan Mine in March 2021, the Quebec government’s Administrative Labour Tribunal (Tribunal administratif du Travail) has ruled.

The tribunal’s ruling, released June 15, stems from a complaint filed by the United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos, the union representing the security officers. The union argued before the tribunal that Glencore violated labour laws when it dismissed the workers after they rejected the company’s contract offer during negotiations for a collective agreement.

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The ruling concludes that Glencore “obstructed the activities of the union and its members” and “failed in its obligation to bargain diligently and in good faith.”

While the ruling by administrative judge Johanne Despatis does not include an order that Glencore reinstate the dismissed employees, it opens the door to remedies for all those who were affected by the company’s unfair labour practices.

The ruling includes several harsh and scathing criticisms of Glencore’s behaviour. It portrays an employer with constant anti-union preoccupations, “thinly veiled hostility,” “driven by anti-union motives designed to crush the union’s goals” and by a desire to send “a clear message from the company to the other units (of unionized workers) that will soon be in negotiations.”

Those other workers include 630 unionized employees at Raglan Mine, members of Steelworkers Local 9449, who have been on strike since May 27. The strikers are seeking better working conditions and greater respect from Glencore, including a reduction of the company’s extensive use of subcontractors.

“It is appalling that Glencore was preparing for the current negotiations by resorting to unfair and bad faith labour practices, undermining our activities and throwing the families of these security officers out on the street,” said Harold Arseneault, a Steelworkers’ union representative.

“Glencore’s methods are overwhelmingly in bad faith and our members are determined to get the respect they’re seeking,” Arseneault said.

“The recognition of these illegal practices in the tribunal’s decision is extremely important to us,” said Nicolas Marchand, president of the Steelworkers’ bargaining unit that represents the dismissed security officers.

“This ruling exposes what we have experienced over the last eight years, which is not widely known. It demonstrates the legitimacy of our legal case and gives a voice and hope to union members in small bargaining units. It also gives us strength to move forward with the next steps,” Marchand said.

Steelworkers’ union leaders, legal advisors and local union representatives will be meeting over the next few days to assess the options that are open to the union as a result of the labour tribunal’s ruling and to decide on future actions.

The United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos, affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour, is the largest private-sector union in Quebec, representing more than 60,000 workers in all economic sectors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220619005028/en/

Raglan Mine to gradually resume

 mining operations

LAVAL, QC, June 16, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Raglan Mine, a Glencore company, has announced the gradual resumption of certain operations at its mine beginning June 17, in the context of the strike called by the United Steelworkers Union, Local 9449 on May 27.

Operations will be carried out by professional staff and contractors who were already performing similar work prior to the dispute, in accordance with the provisions of the Quebec Labour Code.

Authorized personnel will gradually return to the site to perform tasks related to infrastructure maintenance (roads, water management systems, heating, etc.) as well as increasing the ore reserve at the surface. The concentrator is not currently in operation and the level of mining activity at the site will remain significantly below normal. Ensuring Raglan Mine's health and safety standards are met will remain the priority during this resumption of activities.

"In addition to facilitating the rapid resumption of full operations once a new agreement is signed, this return will also enable us to uphold our agreement with our Inuit partners," said Pierre Barrette, Vice President of Raglan Mine.

Raglan Mine upholds its commitment to Nunavik communities

Signed in 1995, the Raglan Agreement provides for the employment of workers from Nunavik communities and ensures that Inuit directly benefit from the socio-economic advantages of mining operations. The precedence of the Raglan Agreement over any other arrangement is recognized in the collective agreement between the company and the union.

Many of the subcontracting companies that work at Raglan Mine are owned by the Inuit communities of the region. They contribute to the economic and social development of the Far North. Within the context of severe labour shortages, ensuring the retention of employees working for local contractors is a priority for the company.

PIECE WORK

Resuming certain operations at Raglan Mine also makes it possible to preserve a portion of the royalties paid by contractors to the Inuit communities.

1. work paid for according to the amount produced:

   "workers did piecework at home" · "he was paid on a piecework basis"

Impasse in negotiations

Raglan Mine has once again reiterated to the mediator appointed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity its willingness to return to the negotiating table, without a favourable response from the union.

"We are disappointed that we have come to an impasse in negotiations. We hope to resume discussions quickly in order to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," added Mr. Barrette.

Until a new collective agreement is ratified, Glencore's Integrated Nickel Operations will utilize alternative concentrate supplies to maintain its nickel processing operations at the Sudbury smelter at full capacity.

Raglan Mine presented a first global offer to its employees affiliated with the United Steelworkers Union, Local 9449 in early May. If ratified, it would place Raglan Mine workers among the highest paid in the industry.

www.glencore.ca/raglan
www.glencore.com

Notes for Editors

Raglan Mine

Raglan Mine is part of the Glencore Group, one of the world's largest diversified natural resource companies. Its operations are located on the northern edge of Quebec. Its property stretches 70 kilometres from east to west, with a series of high-grade ore deposits scattered along its length, primarily nickel and copper.

With the establishment of the Raglan Agreement in 1995, a historic agreement with the Inuit communities of Nunavik, Raglan Mine is a pioneer in the industry. Raglan Mine employs more than 1,200 people, 20% of whom are from local Inuit communities. Raglan Mine is also an active participant in the economy of Nunavik and Quebec, contributing $690 million to Quebec's GDP, including $147 million from its suppliers. On average, more than 2,700 jobs are supported annually. Located far from any city, its network of suppliers extends to the four corners of Quebec, with 70% of its goods and services suppliers situated in the province.

Raglan Mine aspires to be a model company in the mining industry by promoting the development of its human resources, demonstrating fairness towards its multicultural workforce, and acting with respect for the communities and the environment. Raglan Mine is committed to a safe, productive, healthy, and stable work environment for years to come.

Glencore

Glencore is one of the world's largest global diversified natural resource companies and a major producer and marketer of more than 60 responsibly-sourced commodities that advance everyday life. The Group's operations comprise around 150 mining and metallurgical sites and oil production assets.

With a strong footprint in over 35 countries in both established and emerging regions for natural resources, Glencore's industrial activities are supported by its global network of more than 30 marketing offices.

Glencore's customers are industrial consumers, such as those in the automotive, steel, power generation, battery manufacturing and oil sectors. We also provide financing, logistics and other services to producers and consumers of commodities. Glencore's companies employ around 145,000 people, including contractors.

Glencore is proud to be a member of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and the International Council on Mining and Metals. We are an active participant in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Our ambition is to be a net zero total emissions company by 2050.

In the News June 9

Nunavik, Northern Quebec

Raglan Mine Workers Strike for Rights and Dignity

– Interview, Éric Savard, President, United Steelworkers Local 9449 –

On May 26, the 630 production workers at the Raglan Mine in Nunavik went on an indefinite general strike against the deterioration of their working conditions and for respect from their employer, which they say is totally lacking. Nunavik is the area of Quebec north of the 55th parallel. The Raglan mine is owned by global mining/metallurgical giant Glencore. Workers’ Forum recently spoke with Éric Savard, President of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9449, which represents these workers and the mine’s entire 850 or so unionized workers.

Workers’ Forum: Can you first inform us about Raglan Mine’s operations?

Éric Savard: Raglan Mine began its operations in 1997, 25 years ago. It has had many owners, including Falconbridge, Xstrata and now Glencore. We mainly produce nickel, which represents about 70 per cent of the ore mined, and we also have copper, cobalt, palladium and other ores. There’s gold as well. The mine’s unionized workforce includes 630 production workers, currently on strike, plus workers with subcontractor Kiewit, the Katinniq Transport workers who move the ore to the ships at the port in Deception Bay, technicians, office staff, and security guards. The production workers work on a commuting fly-in, fly-out basis, often working for 21 consecutive days. They come from all over Quebec as well as from New Brunswick. When Glencore closed the Brunswick smelter in Belledune in northern New Brunswick at the end of 2019 some workers from the smelter came to work with us.

WF: In the Steelworkers’ press release, there’s an emphasis on the demand for respect that drove the workers to strike. Can you tell us more about that?

ES: Since Glencore took over Xstrata we have experienced many rollbacks. This includes an increase in our working hours, an increase in production with the same number of workers, cuts in work breaks. Some of these rollbacks affected conditions that have existed for 20 years. As well, health and safety meetings previously scheduled at the beginning of various work group shifts now take place on workers’ time, not company time. We have experienced a great loss in working conditions.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the security guards were fired about 15 months ago after rejecting the company’s offer. We are in court over this and are still awaiting a ruling. With Glencore, we are constantly filing grievances. Glencore disputes everything, and we have to fight in court over everything, – for our weeks of vacation, to be paid for the day we fly to the mine, etc. There’s a lot of accumulated frustration on these issues.

Glencore has also neglected health and safety conditions. For example, due to a big increase in production we realized that the access ramps had become unsafe. The workers pulled together and rebolted all the ramps. Instead of thanking them, Glencore claimed that production was behind schedule and began harassing the workers to work overtime and threatened to downgrade their work scale levels.

In addition, the company began dictating that for the lunch hour, workers’ transportation time would now be on their time, not company time. Transportation time had been paid by the company for 25 years and it worked well so there was no reason to change it. It can take a worker 15 to 20 minutes to get from the work site to the lunchroom. Now the time it takes to travel to the lunch room is counted as part of the lunch break so workers don’t get a full hour for rest and a meal when they really need it, given all the hours of work they’re required to put in. When you work 21 days in a row, the last thing you want to do is have a fight for your lunch hour. The workers were exasperated with all this.

WF: In your press release you say that subcontracting is a major problem at the mine. Can you explain?

ES: As we say in our release, we have a situation where there are often many more subcontract workers on the mine site than unionized workers. That doesn’t make sense. The people who are hired through subcontracting earn less and their conditions are worse. This means fewer economic benefits for the regions of Quebec where these workers are from.

In addition, this prevents young people from advancing to higher levels with better wages and conditions. Glencore hires a lot of subcontract workers in the middle levels which means that young people can no longer move up the ladder and get training to advance. We’re at a point where we have 30 to 40 per cent subcontract workers now.

Meanwhile, the overall conditions of subcontract workers are inferior to those of unionized workers. Accommodations are not as good, the quality of food is lower. Increasing the number of subcontract workers is not good for workers overall. How is it possible that a big multinational like Glencore is expanding the use of cheap labour and imposing bad working conditions within its facilities?

We are trying to improve everyone’s conditions, increase our hourly rates, improve the pension fund, increase the workers’ standard of living.

WF: Would you like to add something in conclusion?

ES: We have been observing for years that Glencore is regressing in terms of workers’ welfare and protection. We want to see the improvements we are seeking written clearly into the collective agreement. Maybe this is how we’ll stop the grievances and the unnecessary conflicts and improve everyone’s lot.

Workers’ Forum, posted June 9, 2022 

Workers walk out at Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine

30TH MAY 2022

BY: MARIAAN WEBB - CREAMER MEDIA DEPUTY EDITOR ONLINE

The Raglan mine, in Quebec

Diversified miner Glencore has suspended production at its Raglan nickel and copper mine, in Quebec, after 630 unionised workers went on strike late on Friday night.

The parties met on Friday in the presence of a mediator, without breaking an impasse in wage negotiations.

Glencore had tabled an offer to United Steelworkers Union (USW) Local 9449, representing production and maintenance workers, that placed its employees among the best paid in the mining industry.

"We believe the global offer presented to the union was fair and mutually beneficial for all parties. The union's actions are particularly disappointing considering the recent arrival of an independent mediator and the openness the company demonstrated to improve the initial offer," said Raglan VP Pierre Barrette.

However, USW Local 9449 president Eric Savard said union members often work 11-hour shifts, for 21 consecutive days, at the isolated, fly-in/fly-out nickel mining operations in Nunavik. The increased use of subcontractors, who work under inferior conditions at Raglan mine, is another key issue in the labour dispute.

“It has reached the point where there are often many more contractors at the mine site than unionised workers. It doesn't make sense. This means fewer economic benefits for the regions of Quebec, while this multinational corporation extracts huge profits by exploiting our natural resources,” said Savard.

In addition to the use of subcontractors, other stumbling blocks in negotiations include vacations, working conditions and wages. Above all, however, workers said that they demanded more respect from Glencore.

“Glencore has been continually pushing the limits. It even balks at providing a proper lunch hour to workers who are working 11 hours a day, 21 days in a row. It’s reached the point where those who refuse to work overtime are given the cold shoulder by the bosses. Living conditions at the mining camp have deteriorated over the years. The employer systematically quibbles over the living and working conditions of employees who are away from their families for long periods of time. It is time for this company to show greater respect for the workers who are generating its profits of tens of millions of dollars each year,” Savard added.

Glencore stated that the company was ready to return to the negotiating table to continue negotiations as soon as possible in order to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.