I THINK MINING

Sunday and time to contemplate on religion.  Not necessarily the church type, rather the secular. 

    Last night I watched a new DVD of Verdi’s obscure opera Jerusalem.  Verdi reworked his better known The Lombards of the First Crusades for the Paris stage.  He took a stark and visceral Italian opera in three acts and turned it into a typical French farce of four acts including a ballet that comes out of nowhere and holds up the action.  I can see why Jerusalem is obscure. 

   Both operas deal with that great passion that gripped the minds of medieval Europe, namely the Crusades.  All the nations of Europe turned out over a period of nearly 200 years to save the world: take the holy city from the Saracens and return the city to Christendom.  Repeated waves of soldiers, pilgrims, and fanatics marched through Europe and descended on Israel and anywhere else that took their fancy.   The first Crusade took the holy city.  But it was soon lost to the Saracens.  More waves of conviction and violence followed.  Many lives were lost and the world changed forever.  We live still today with the echos of the convictions of the years 1,000 to 1,200 and the ideal that the world could be saved by military action, or at least a passionate belief followed by action. 

   I wonder as the conference on global warming begins in Copenhagen if we are not now at the start of another 200 year crusade to save the world?   How many “armies” of passionate pilgrims and fighters are yet to mobilize to save the world from a threat that is real, but maybe not real, depending on science, your perspective, and personal religion?   In pure intellect there are different outcomes, each as different as Verdi’s operatic treatment of the topic.  In the one, the wars go on, and nothing changes, neither emissions nor the climate.  In the next alternative, the wars succeed, emissions slow as does climate change.  Then there is the stark alternative: regardless of whether the wars are won or lost, the climate changes and so does the world. 

None of us will be here 200 years hence to contemplate the actual outcome.  Nor will our grandchildren.  Yet the human instinct to strive to change the world in ways we perceive to be best for survival of unimaginable offspring is too strong to ignore, and so here I write and countless others deliberate. 

  Let us postulate that global warming is not happening, or that those in Copenhagen succeed and global warming is halted.  From the perspective of the mining industry, this means nothing.  The pressures and obligations to mine responsibly remain.   The demand for mined goods will continue unabated.   Exploration must continue, and new mines, will still have to be opened, operated, and closed.  The particulars of mining operations will change: lesser emissions from the plant; windmills and solar panels on the tailings impoundment; and all those obvious things that save money and keep things clean regardless of your attitude.

   Let us postulate on the other hand that global warming is uncontrolled or uncontrollable.  From the perspective of the mining industry, this is inconvenient, but still the same pressures and obligations exist: mine responsibly; produce the mined products society will demand to respond to a changing climate; install bigger culverts to pass the floods; and deal with the migration of peoples from place to place as they grow less or more desirable.  Mining in Iceland and Greenland become standard while desalinated water is all that keeps the mines of northern Chile viable. Maybe relocate the office from Vancouver as property prices soar due to an improving climate–the past week has been sunny and bright beyond belief, and the summer was the best in forty years. 

Individual mining companies may elect to join the crusade on global warming.  There no harm in doing so, and maybe much benefit.  Rio Tinto has already done so; although I doubt their support for action on global warming affects their share price.  Most other mining companies have too many other issues to deal with and must leave the crusade to individuals with conviction. 

Thus we will watch the goings-on in Copenhagen the next two weeks to see if anything pops out that is relevant to running a mining company, investing in gold or uranium, closing coal mines, or issuing social policy statements.  Stay tuned.  On Monday we turn conviction into action.