tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6727975.post6916618016643116149..comments2024-03-25T16:30:58.213+13:00Comments on GREENIE WATCH: JRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00829082699850674281noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6727975.post-69456948698414308982011-09-19T00:06:04.330+12:002011-09-19T00:06:04.330+12:00Your views about China sound rather racist
Why sh...Your views about China sound rather racist<br /><br />Why should China not employ Americans to mine the copper it wants?JRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00829082699850674281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6727975.post-52698400681934034972011-09-18T22:07:37.761+12:002011-09-18T22:07:37.761+12:00I posted about the Pebble project in July and repe...I posted about the Pebble project in July and repeat that post below:<br /><br />Not opposed to mining generally or to mining in Alaska, but it’s important to remember that the ultimate destination of the extracted Bristol Bay [Pebble Project] copper will be China, not the USA.<br /><br />The bizarre logic of this article is that green tech requires a lot of copper, which we in the USA don’t currently have, and as a result all future green tech manufacturing will be done in Asia (aka China). Hence this mine should proceed so that the USA can manufacture the future green tech.<br /><br />But that’s wrong on at least two counts: (1) the USA has a declining manufacturing capability and thus WILL NOT be consuming the extracted copper, and (2) China currently (in 2011) consumes 55 percent of global copper production, with its own domestic production in sharp decline, requiring evermore imports (e.g., from the above Bristol Bay mine).<br /><br />It doesn’t take much thinking to realize that this mine will simply be another raw materials resource for China, just as Peru, Chile, and Zambia currently are. In this case it will be done through The Pebble Partnership (aka Bristol Bay) which is jointly owned by Anglo American plc (Brit), Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (Canada), and Rio Tinto plc (Brit). Northern Dynasty currently owns 40 percent of the project and Rio Tinto 10 percent, Anglo American the other 50 percent. However, Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen in April stated that its entire interest could be sold to Rio Tinto or to “an Asian metals trading-slash-smelting company, like a Mitsubishi, Mitsui or Sumitomo, or even one of the Chinese groups.”<br /><br />http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=49362683<br /><br />In either case (be it Rio Tinto or “one of the Chinese groups”), the Pebble (Bristol Bay) copper is going to China, not to the USA.<br /><br />Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese stated in Shanghai last year:<br /><br />“China is important to Rio Tinto in many ways, which is why we see the relationship as one between partners rather then simply supplier and customer. Yes, China is our biggest customer, but it is also … home of our largest shareholder, as well as the domicile of our major joint venture partners and 170 Rio Tinto employees.”<br /><br />http://www.riotinto.com/media/18435_presentations_19534.asp<br /><br />Nevermind the potential environmental impacts. Bristol Bay (Pebble) is at essence a scheme to supply China with raw copper, to the benefit of a couple Brit mining conglomerates and probably “even one of the Chinese groups” as CEO Ron Theissen mentioned above. There is very little benefit to the United States.Garrynoreply@blogger.com