The ups and downs of mining.

I gather all those highly skilled people will get a job in no time so we need not worry. ;-)

Its the NDP’s fault I tell ya. Can you just imagine the caterwauling if this happened after the NDP get in. Hey maybe the mine sees the writing on the wall and it is the NDP’s fault already.

I support no political party except the party of commondog.

Maybe China could use those unemployed miners. We need a Chinese embassy in PG instead of a PAC.

Perhaps these miners could be trained for the Chinese mine in Tumbler Ridge. I would prefer training out of work Canadians, than importing Chinese workers. Thank God, the Lieberals are on their way out.

But herbster, the liberals are just trying to help their corporate pals with their bottom lines. Whats wrong with that?

And cue the whining.

Cant blame the NDP or Libs for this one, as with all mines piss poor management the real factor here.

steph99, you can’t blame the NDB or Libs for this one, but you are so quick to blame piss poor management as the real factor here.

Yet the story reads that the facility is being closed down because the price for met coal dictated that the company curtail production at the mine. When the company sees signs of better market conditions, they would expect the mine to re- open.

How do you determine that this is piss poor management. If you were the manager or part of the management team, would you keep operating and how would you manage to do that and remain profitable. Would you cut everybody’s wages? Would you cut other expenses? What exactly would you do?

gotta agree with Hartguy, if it costs you $2 a ton and your market is paying you a $1.50 a ton it’s a no brainer, that is to everyone except the average socialist who thinks it’s a great idea to raise your costs to $3 a ton and keep on mining.

Cue the people whining? Nah. How about making personal observations based on their own personal agendas? You have an agenda? I do.

Yep comments quiet on this shut down. If this happened after the NDP gets in we would be on the fourth page of comments by now.

Remember it stated: “The company is also shutting down the North River underground mine in Alabama, the Aberpergwn mine in South Wales and the Gauley Eagle mine in West Virginia.”

So, are all metallurgical coal mines shutting down? Of course not.

So which ones are shutting down? The ones operating on the edge, and/or the ones which are not being managed well, have poor marketing strategies, etc?

http://www.usw9346.ca/2013/03/19/coking-coal-price-under-pressure-mining-com

Looks like China overproduced steel and has it sitting in stockpiles because demand has dropped.

So, the mines which will shut down are the well managed ones?? … LOL …. tell me another one.

Why no comments since the libs in? I mean, they get blamed for everything else, why not the requirement to shut down mines. I mean, even with the HST they are being shut down …. oh… wait … there is no HST, so they are having to pay PST which they cannot claim …. that’s it ….. wonder if they changed the taxation regs in the USA and South Wales as well? ;-)

That’s the mining economy. This is the up down economy our party politics likes to chase… rather than doing the hard work of building a sustainable economy.

Whens the last time a new manufacturing plant was opened in BC under the BC liberals? None as far as I can see.

What kind of ‘manufacturing’ Eagle? Peace Valley OSB opened its doors in 2006….well within the Liberal tenure….

I do agree though… We need to stop shipping out all our raw resources and buying them back in the form of goods when we could manufacture them right here….

What you dont seem to understand is that if a manufacturing plant were to open in BC, ie plastic widgets, we all would rush to Walmart and buy the version made in China because its half the price.

People here demand high wages therefor manufacturing jobs are a pipe dream. We are not cost effective.

So what you’re saying AAV is that since all our past manufacturing jobs have been shipped offshore, (all for greater corporate profits) prices have dropped to make things more affordable for consumers?

Here in North America a widget would cost $1 to make and the consumer would pay $10 for it.
Now the widget is made overseas and cost 10 cents to make. However, now there is a greater shipping cost that needs to be factored in.

The widget now costs the consumer $2.

Who is the winner here?

Should read….The widget now costs the consumer $20.

Baseball caps sold in Texas are manufactured in China for about $6.00 which includes shipping. They sell for $40.00.

The same hat manufactured in the USA would cost $20.00 which would include shipping.

Sooooo, Profit on China hat $34.00. Profit on USA manufactured hat would be $20.00.

This info comes from a TV interview with a US (Texas) importer of hats, when asked why he would not have the hats manufactured in the USA.

This from the web:

Apple has contracted to make its iPad 2s in China, where the typical worker makes a hardy $185 a week. What if, in a fever of uneconomic patriotism, Apple chose to make its iPads in the U.S.? Assuming typical U.S. manufacturers worked at the same speed as the Chinese, and assuming Apple raised the price to maintain its profit margin, the iPad 2 would cost more than $1,100.

The issue is that companies run as hard and as fast as they can in order to get the ore to market while the dollars are good. By doing that, they flood the market collectively which changes the supply/demand dynamic. They should connect like the oil producers do. Shorten up production at one mine for a week or 2, panic the companies buying it and keep the prices up. Like OPEC only for coal producers.