Metalliferous sediments in the Atlantis II Deep—Assessing the geological and economic resource potential and legal constraints

Projected increases in demand and thus increasing metal prices have brought the exploration and exploitation of marine mineral resources back into focus. The Atlantis II Deep, located in the central Red Sea between Saudi Arabia and Sudan, is one of the largest marine sulfide deposits known, with high concentrations of metals such as zinc, copper, silver and gold. However, little is known about the economic potential of marine minerals as well as the legal constraints. Our geological assessment shows that the deep is similar in grades and scale to large land-based deposits. Its economic potential is far from negligible. The total present value of possible gross revenues for the four metals zinc, copper, silver and gold ranges from 3.03 to 5.29 billion US$, depending on the assumptions made concerning future price development, mass calculation and discount rate. From a legal perspective, a general duty to cooperate in the exploration and exploitation of non-living resources located in disputed maritime areas is identified in both customary international law and in UNCLOS. It is submitted that a joint development agreement is one means of ensuring compliance with this duty in general and in the case of the Atlantis II Deep in particular.     

Perspectives on community health issues and the mining boom-bust cycle

The health of mining communities is becoming a priority for the mining industry, governments, and researchers. This paper describes an exploratory qualitative study into community health issues and mining activities (associated with the mining boom-bust cycle) from the perspective of health and social service providers in the northern Canadian coal mining community of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. Health and social service providers report on increases in pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and mine related injuries during booming mine activities. During bust times, mental health issues such as depression and anxiety were reported. Overarching community health issues prominent during both boom and bust periods include burdens to health and social services, family stress, violence towards women, and addiction issues. This paper concludes by providing recommendations as to how the industry can enhance community health made by this important stakeholder group.     

Preventing land loss in coastal Louisiana: estimates of WTP and WTA

A dichotomous-choice contingent-valuation survey was conducted in the State of Louisiana (USA) to estimate compensating surplus (CS) and equivalent surplus (ES) welfare measures for the prevention of future coastal wetland losses in Louisiana. Valuations were elicited using both willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept compensation (WTA) payment vehicles. Mean CS (WTP) estimates based on a probit model using a Box-Cox specification on income was $825 per household annually, and mean ES (WTA) was estimated at $4444 per household annually. Regression results indicate that the major factors influencing support for land-loss prevention were income (positive, WTP model only), perceived hurricane protection benefits (positive), environmental and recreation protection (positive), distrust of government (negative), age (positive, WTA model only), and race (positive for whites).     

贫铀合金球对Q235钢靶侵彻性能研究

目的 研究贫铀合金球对Q235钢靶的侵彻行为,为贫铀合金材料侵彻行为的深入研究以及在战斗部中广泛应用提供支撑。方法 采用Johnson-Cook强度模型和失效模型建立贫铀合金球撞击Q235钢靶的模型,利用Abaqus/explicit模块模拟研究贫铀合金球初速与尺寸对剩余速度、扩孔面积、侵彻深度的影响,并对结果进行分析。结果 通过试验与模拟得到了贫铀合金球的穿靶极限速度,两者结果基本吻合,验证了模型参数的准确性。相同尺寸下,贫铀合金球的剩余速度随初速的增大呈线性增大趋势,穿靶后速度衰减率为14.6%~33.2%。初速为900~1 300 m/s、直径为5~9 mm时,扩孔面积比为1.08~1.286。贫铀合金球的侵彻深度(H)随直径(d)和初速(v)的增大逐渐增大,三者的关系为 。结论 贫铀合金球初速和尺寸是影响侵彻深度的关键因素,但对扩孔直径没有显著影响。     

不同海域40Cr低合金钢腐蚀行为研究

目的 研究40Cr在海水环境中的自然腐蚀行为.方法 采用形貌分析、腐蚀质量损失分析、XRD分析等方法对40Cr在青岛、舟山、三亚海水全浸区的腐蚀行为进行研究.结果 40Cr在不同海域中的腐蚀均较为严重,青岛及三亚海域的试样表面被大量海生物附着,舟山海域的试样表面则以泥沙沉积为主.去掉腐蚀产物后试样的腐蚀形貌以坑蚀为主.在试验周期内,随着时间的延长,试样的腐蚀速率逐渐减小,在不同周期内均以三亚海域的为最高.在相同条件下与普通碳钢(Q235)相比,40Cr的腐蚀速率偏高.随着时间的延长,青岛、舟山试样点蚀深度逐渐增加,而三亚试样点蚀深度则先增加后减小,同周期下青岛海域试样的点蚀深度最小.不同海域及周期下40Cr的腐蚀产物以稳态α-FeOOH及Fe2O3为主.结论 40Cr在三个海域的腐蚀形貌均以坑蚀为主,试验周期内试样在三个海域的腐蚀速率随时间延长逐渐减小,同周期下三亚海域试样的腐蚀最为严重;40Cr中C含量较高,在相同条件下其腐蚀速率要高于普通碳钢;40Cr的腐蚀产物以稳态成分为主,是由于Cr元素含量较普通碳钢增加,加速了钢的腐蚀产物到热力学稳定状态的转化.     

The forgotten resource curse: South Africa's poor experience with mineral extraction

Studies of the resource curse as it affects African states abound, yet few deal specifically with the experiences of South Africa. The inability of countries to convert natural resource wealth into income and improved development measures remains highly pertinent and is especially apparent in Africa's largest economy. This paper takes a unique approach to study the resource curse by comparing South Africa's political economy with the existing resource curse literature. Using data from international organisations, studies of poverty and qualitative evidence this paper examines South Africa's experience with mineral extraction. It is found that South Africa has experienced many of the symptoms outlined in the resource curse literature including relatively slow GDP growth, gross inequalities, entrenched poverty and the creation of a rentier state. Overall, it is concluded that South Africa has failed to benefit from natural resource wealth and can be classified as a resource cursed state. Not only has mineral wealth failed to benefit much of South Africa's population, sections of society have actually been harmed through the process of mineral extraction. This paper is the first to examine South Africa in light of the current resource curse literature and to conclude that the state far more closely resembles its sub-Saharan African neighbours than its upper-middle income peers.     

A heuristic approach to stochastic cutoff grade optimization for open pit mining complexes with multiple processing streams

Cutoff grade specifies the available supply of metallic ore from an open pit mine to the multiple processing streams of an open pit mining complex. An optimal cutoff grade strategy maximizes the net present value (NPV) of an open pit mining operation subject to the mining, processing, and marketing/refining capacity constraints. Even though, the quantities of material flowing from the mine to the market are influenced by the expected variation in the available metal content or inherent uncertainty in the supply of ore, the majority of cutoff grade optimization models not only disregard this aspect and may lead to unrealistic cash flows, but also they are limited in application to an open pit mining operation with single processing facility. The model proposed herein determines the optimal cutoff grade policy based on a stochastic framework that accounts for uncertainty in supply of ore to the multiple ore processing streams. An application on a large-scale open pit mining operation develops a unique cutoff grade policy along with a portfolio of mining, processing, and marketing/refining rates. Owing to the geological uncertainty, the approach addresses risk by showing a difference of 14% between the minimum and maximum production rates, cash flows and NPV.     

A cointegration and causality analysis of copper consumption and economic growth in rich countries

The paper examines the copper consumption-economic growth nexus for 16 rich economies from the period 1966 to 2010. Various generations of panel unit root and cointegration tests are applied. Both series are found to be integrated of order one. Evidence of cointegration is found especially when controlling for breaks and long-run cross-sectional dependence. Causality is investigated using a vector error-correction mechanism (VECM) framework. At individual level, unidirectional causality running from economic growth to copper consumption is unraveled for Finland, France and UK in the long-run. Unidirectional causality is also found running from copper consumption to economic growth for Spain. Long-run bi-directionality between economic growth and copper consumption is found for Belgium, Greece, Italy, Japan and South Korea. The neutrality hypothesis holds for Australia, Austria, Canada, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and USA in the long-run. Taken as a whole, panel causality test reveals a long-run unidirectional causality running from economic growth to copper consumption.     

Iron ore spot price volatility and change in forward pricing mechanism

To examine the impact of the change in forward pricing mechanism on the volatility of iron ore spot prices, we model the iron ore daily price of Platts IODEX from October 7, 2008 to September 21, 2012. The identified iron ore spot price tends to be less volatile after the introduction of quarterly pricing mechanism. Our main approaches are as follows: (i) to decompose the spot price of Platts IODEX into two subsamples and relate the result of the structural break to the date of the switch in the iron ore forward pricing mechanism; (ii) to apply the EGARCH (1, 1) model to simultaneously capture the long memory and the asymmetric effect on the volatility of the iron ore spot price; and (iii) to delineate the news impact curve to further interpret the asymmetric effect.     

An empirical approach to determine specific weights of driving factors for the price of commodities—A contribution to the measurement of the economic scarcity of minerals and metals

In recent years, commodity markets show a large amount of volatility and substantial price jumps, indicating an increasing economic scarcity in many cases. As this scarcity makes commodity procurement a critical issue for national economies, industry sectors and manufacturing companies, a number of criticality indices have been presented and utilized in science as well as in practice. These indices are mostly based on an aggregation of different key figures, both qualitative and quantitative. However, the weighting of the different factors is in most cases arbitrary or based on rough estimates.