Tweet of the Week

Watch out below, here comes Scomo and Malcolm's #Trickledown pic.twitter.com/tftguwCp54

— TwoEyeHead (@TwoEyeHead) September 13, 2017

Quotes of the Week

“A Trump adviser says that after a tumultuous seven months in office, it had finally dawned on the president: "People really f@&@ing hate me." For someone who has spent his life lapping up adulation, however fake, it was a harsh realization. This is a man with an especially acute need for affirmation.” [Co-founder of Axios & Politico Mike Allen writing on Axios, 9 September 2017]

“Step 1: talk about freedom. Step 2: talk about the children. Step 3: mention the 260 genders that will result from a Yes vote.” [Journalist Charlie Lewis writing in Crikey about the Turnbull Government’s voluntary same-sex marriage postal survey, 11 September 2017]

“It is almost impossible to dislodge the idea that an expensively-suited conservative man is a competent leader.” [Author and sessional academic at Western Sydney University School of Law Ingrid Matthews writing in Independent Australia, 14 September 2017]

“Malcolm Turnbull was angry. Then Scott Morrison was angry. Barnaby Joyce was next to be angry. Josh Frydenberg then became very angry. And in his final answer for the week Malcolm Turnbull spoke about love. Truly. And in keeping to the theme, as he spoke about love, he became very angry.”  [Labor MP for Watson Tony Burke blogging about the House of Representatives, 15 September 2017]

“I can’t help wondering whether a woman in power is automatically seen as illegitimate, so electorates, media and opponents are quick to accept rumour and innuendo as fact.” [Jane Caro writing in The Saturday Paper, 16 September 2017]

WA company with Chinese & UK backing announces a desire to mine near, extract water from and potentially pollute Clarence River catchment waters

Corazon Mining Limited exploration site

The Daily Examiner, 29 September 2017, p.1:

JUST 35km north-west of Grafton is a block of private land with the potential to change the face of Clarence Valley’s industry as we know it.

Mt Gilmore, which lies between Fine Flower and The Gorge, has been revealed to be home to several deposits of high-grade cobalt.

Now Western Australia-based company Corazon Mining is trying to work out just how big that deposit is, and whether it’s worth mining.

On June 16 2016, Corazon announced it had secured the right to earn up to 80% of the Mount Gilmore Cobalt-Copper-Gold Project from private company Providence Gold and Minerals Pty Ltd.

Their project tenure included one granted Exploration Licence covering an area of approximately 25km by 15km, and over the past couple of months they have been drilling to in an effort to find precious metals.

Corazon managing director Brett Smith said so far, things were looking good.

“We’ve been saying that this is one of the highest- grade cobalt deposits in Australia, we just don’t know how big it is,” he said. “There was a lot of gold and copper prospecting there back in the late 1800s, early 1900s, and so it’s amazing where it’s located how little modern exploration has gone on there.”

The reason they have their eye on cobalt, rather than gold or copper, is that the element’s value has risen exponentially in recent years due to its use in lithium-ion batteries.

Mr Smith said demand from the battery sector had tripled in the past five years and was projected to double again by 2020.

It is most commonly used in smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles.

“Cobalt is the most expensive raw material used for building lithium-ion batteries, paying about $61,000 per tonne,” Mr Smith said.

“A lot of people have been exploring for cobalt in NSW but are looking at oxide deposits. Ours is a bit different in that it’s a sulphide deposit, and they are fairly rare to be cobalt dominant.

“It’s all in vogue at the moment so we’re pretty hopeful this can be used to produce cobalt salts for batteries.”

Mr Smith said the company was currently on its second drill program, which they hoped could be used to accurately determine the lay of the land.’

Exactly what mining exploration licence is this newspaper article talking about?

Well according to NSW Planning & Environment on 1 September 2017 it is  EL8379 granted to Mt Gilmore Resources Pty Ltd on 23 June 2015.

So who is Corazon  Mining Limited?

The company’s 2016-17 Annual Report states:

Corazon Mining Limited (ASX: CZN) (“the Company” or “Corazon”) is an Australian based company exploring and developing the Lynn Lake Nickel-Copper-Sulphide project in Canada and Mt Gilmore Cobalt-Copper-Gold project in Australia.

It has three main exploration projects -  the Lynn Lake and  Victory projects both in Manitoba Canada and the Mt Gilmore Project in NSW Australia.

This is the corporations current Board of Directors:

Clive Jones, Non-Executive Chairman - 4,235,330 fully paid ordinary shares, 5,000,000 options exercisable at $0.035 expiring 31 March 2020, total annual remuneration $154,607

Brett Smith, Executive Managing Director - 7,107,131 fully paid ordinary shares, 10,000,000 options exercisable at $0.035 expiring 31 March 2020, total annual remuneration $417,250

Adrian Byass, Non-Executive Director - 9,357,370 fully paid ordinary shares, 7,000,000 options exercisable at $0.035 expiring 31 March 2020, total annual remuneration $144,600

Jonathan Downes, Non-Executive Director - 11,154,512 fully paid Ordinary Shares, 5,000,000 options exercisable at $0.035 expiring 31 March 2020, total annual remuneration $190,557

Mark Qiu, Non-Executive Director (appointed 18 August 2017) - 1,269,300 fully paid ordinary shares, total annual remuneration unknown

Robert Orr is company secretary and Chief Financial Officer, shareholding unknown, total annual remuneration $114,360.

The last annual report indicated that the company share structure comprised 1,039,283,317 fully paid ordinary shares held by 2,135 individual shareholders and, 60,000,000 unquoted options are held by 10 individual option holders.

The largest options holders are Brett Smith with 10 million held and Zenix Nominees Pty Ltd with 20 million held.

On 1 December 2016 the Company announced the issue of 3,410,840 shares to key management personnel in lieu of cash-based salary. This strategy was implemented in order to conserve cash reserves for operational expenditure.

Corazon Mining appears to be operating at a loss and apparently paid no tax in 2016-17.

Corazon Mining Limited’s Purchase Agreement for the Mt Gilmore Cobalt-Copper-Gold joint venture project:

Under the terms of the agreement with Providence and subject to Corazon completing due diligence to its sole satisfaction on or before 30 June 2016, Corazon has the exclusive right to earn up to an 80% interest in the Project as follows:

Corazon can earn an initial 51% interest by:

* Issuing Providence 25 million Corazon Mining Limited shares

* Paying cash reimbursements of costs totalling $100,000

* Spending $200,000 on exploration within the first 12 months from the date of satisfaction of all conditions precedent (“Commencement Date).

Corazon can earn a further 29% interest (totalling 80%) by:

* Completing $2M  in exploration within 3 years of the Commencement Date

* Paying $150,000 in cash or shares upon the earlier of the commencement of the third year and Corazon spending a minimum of $500,000 on exploration

* Paying $250,000 in cash or shares upon earning 80% equity in the Project.

Corazon has the opportunity to extend this earn-in period by one year by paying $50,000 in cash or shares.

According to Corazon Mining;

The Project is located only 35km from the major centre of Grafton in north-eastern New South Wales. Project tenure includes one granted Exploration Licence (EL8379 – one year old), covering an area of approximately 25km by 15km……

On 22 August 2017 the Company issued 139,856,665 fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of $0.014. The share issue was comprised of:

- an issue of 120,000,000 shares to Hanking Australia Investments Pty Ltd under a Subscription Agreement for a $1,680,000 investment in the Company;

- an issue of 7,356,665 to sophisticated investors to raise $102,993; and

- an issue of 12,500,000 shares to Providence Gold and Minerals Pty Ltd pursuant to the Company’s Earn-in Agreement with Providence in respect of the Mt Gilmore Project. Under this Agreement, Corazon has the exclusive right to earn up to an 80% interest in the Project. The shares have a total valuation of $175,000.

On the same date, the Company also issued 85,000,000 options to Hanking Australia Investments Pty Ltd following their investment in the Company. The options were issued with an exercise price of $0.03 and an expiry of 22 August 2019.

On 18 August 2017, Dr Mark Qiu of Hanking Australia Investments Pty Ltd was appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors.

China Hanking Holdings Limited, registered in the Cayman Islands and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is the parent company of Hanking Australia Investments Pty Ltd.

The second largest shareholder in Corazon Mining Limited is Crescent Nominees Limited, a private equity firm registered in Northern Ireland since 2014 and owned by venture capitalist Crescent Capital NI Limited.

As part of NSW Minerals Week Corazon Mining Limited had a booth at the 14th Sydney Resources Round-Up in May 2017 where interested geologists could view their sulphide core from the 2016 Cobalt Ridge drilling program. 

Area in which the proposed cobalt mine would be situated

Satellite image of Mount Gilmore (height 372m) situated just above the Clarence River system at The Gorge

It doesn’t take a genius to look at this image and see the potential for heavy rain episodes over Mt. Gilmore leading to surface water runoff into Clarence River tributaries.

So the first question is; what happens if Corozon Mining was granted a mining licence by the NSW Berejiklian Coalition Government and one or more of its heavy metal contaminated holding ponds were breached during such a rain period? The potential exists for any such breaches to result in long-term contamination of surrounding soils and water courses, as well as higher sediment levels in surface waters.

Heavy metal and metalloid concentrations within stream-estuary sediments already occur naturally in NSW north-eastern coastal rivers and current Clarence River levels are also the result of historic mining in the upper catchment below the Dorrigo Plateau region.

This leads to a second question. Can a river system, which supplies drinking water to est.126,008 residents (Census 2016) along with water to farmers, graziers and commercial fishers in the Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour City local government areas, safely tolerate higher heavy metal and metalloid concentrations in that water? Communities relying on the Clarence river system might not be happy with the thought of any increase in localised or overall toxicity.

Given that mining is a thirsty business and water used in its extractive processes has to come from nearby surface/groundwater sources, there is a third question which immediately springs to mind. In the face of increasing impacts from climate change can we afford to have the environmental water flow in the Clarence River system compromised further?

Then there is the question of required associated infrastructure, including transport of ore via trucks and rail – need I say more?

One has to wonder when Clarence Valley Council was going to mention this proposed mining activity to residents and ratepayers because it is highly likely that this mining company or someone acting on its behalf has approached either the Mayor or council administration.

UPDATE

NSW Planning & Environment mapping of EL8379

https://minview.geoscience.nsw.gov.au/#/?lat=152.64729140322308&lon=-29.387643207430074&z=11&bm=bm1&l=mt2%3Ay%3A100

"As our land subsides and cracks open and our permanent creek is sucked dry, I can feel our patience towards the miners doing the same"

The Land, 24 September 2017:

Environmental hypocrisy

FOR the past 20 years, my husband and I have experienced first-hand the mining industry’s attitude to impacted farmers and to rehabilitation. 

Now, their recent attacks on environmental charities makes my blood boil. As the unsuspecting neighbours of the Wambo underground coal mine near Singleton, our beef cattle business’ productivity has been cut almost in half.

As our land subsides and cracks open and our permanent creek is sucked dry, I can feel our patience towards the miners doing the same. 

Despite decades of word-fests, reports and promises, we have seen no real action at all from the mining company to rehabilitate our land, or our creek water.        

It turns out our experience is not isolated; only nine per cent of all mining land across Australia has been successfully rehabilitated. Across Australia there are massive voids filling with toxic water, poisoned or destroyed creeks and land subsiding. And the mining industry’s solution to their gaping mess: get environmental charities to clean it up!

Currently there are reforms being proposed to the Tax Deductibility Status of all sectors of charities by Federal Treasury.  

The miners see this as their chance to not only duck their own responsibilities, but to also pass the buck to environmental charities. The changes promoted by the mining sector, single out environmental charities only, for them to spend half their time on physical works to clean up the toxic messes created by the mining industry.

The hypocrisy is astounding. When I saw that one organisation close to my heart, the Lock The Gate Alliance, was under attack by these reforms, I was sickened. Without them, our fight to rehabilitate our farm would have been a lot harder.  

Their help with connecting us with politicians and government officials, getting our story into the media and sharing experiences of other mine-impacted people has been priceless. 

Most importantly they help to keep us sane, giving us hope that one day we will break the impasse of inaction by the miners.

We earn our money, we pay taxes and we can choose to support charities that we believe are helping to create a better world. 

They should be left alone to do their work without these extra burdens, designed to feather the nest of multinational mining companies.

Wambo mine, and hundreds like it across Australia, must factor the cost of properly rehabilitating land and water into their cost of doing business.  

Otherwise it is a sham business model that the community is subsidising.

The proposed changes could mean Lock the Gate would have less time to help advocate for the rights of farmers to produce clean food for Australia. 

Instead, they’d be forced out into our paddocks with shovels, filling in the sink holes made by the mines.

We need groups like Lock the Gate holding the mining companies to account. 

I appreciate the help in getting my voice heard as a food grower. We need this to be a public debate in our cities.

If these changes go through, our support of Lock the Gate would be wasted on endless clean up jobs, while the miners continue to make profits and mighty mess, skirting any legal responsibilities for rehabilitation. And I for one find that an abomination.

Miners, clean up your own mess and leave farmers and Lock the Gate alone.

Janet Fenwick,

Bulga.

Memo to Clarence Valley Council, NSW Police and Berejiklian Government: This is just not good enough

Sometime in the past a number of unrecorded burials occurred in the little coastal village of Iluka, NSW, est. population 1,728 people.

These historic burials were done with care and at least some were marked out by timber posts.

This is how much care Clarence Valley Council, NSW Police and the Berejiklian Coalition Government are displaying towards the newly discovered dead.

BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS OF FIRST UNKNOWN GRAVESITE IN ILUKA 

BEFORE: First unmarked gravesite where Ground Penetrating Radar confirmed one burial with a 9/10 chance it was human remains.

AFTER: First unmarked gravesite after desecration by police. Vegetation flattened and posts have disappeared leaving no trace of grave.

* Photographs taken by Iluka resident

Get ready for an Australian Space Agency says Prime Minister Turnbull & Minister for Education and Training Birmingham

Mock-up of UNSW ISAT (size is approx. that of a bread loaf) leaving the International Space Station, 2017

Medianet Release 25 Sep 2017 4:56 PM AEST - Get ready for an Australian astronaut Get ready for an Australian astronaut The announcement Australia will finally create its own space agency has opened the door for a long-held dream for many: a home-grown Australian astronaut. "Until now, anyone wanting to become an astronaut had the odds stacked against them," said Andrew Dempster, Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales. "They had to become citizens of a another country, like the US, and then work hard to get into a space agency like NASA. That won't be the case any more: in fact, the first home-grown astronaut may only be years away. And he or she has probably been dreaming about this for years." Two Australian-born astronauts have flown into space: Paul Scully-Power and Andy Thomas, but both had to become US citizens to do so. Scully-Power, from Sydney, was an oceanographer who flew as a payload specialist in 1984 while working for the US Naval Undersea Warfare Centre; Thomas, from Adelaide, is an aerospace engineer who served as a NASA astronaut on shuttle missions from 1996 to 2005. An Australian space agency would not only allow Australians to train and fly as astronauts, but more importantly, coordinate national efforts and act as the central contact point for nation-to-nation requests for collaboration in space missions and projects. At present, when such requests come, they are often passed on to Geoscience Australia, the CSIRO or the Bureau of Meteorology, which are world-class at users of space facilities but largely unqualified in building, launching and operating in space. "We're responsible for one-eighth of the world's surface in meteorology and air traffic control, and we've got the second lowest population density in the world, so space is probably more important for Australia than virtually any other country," said Dempster. "In the civilian sphere, Australia should be number one in space, but we're just nowhere near that. "The good news is that the nature of the space industry is changing. We're moving into an era where access to space is cheaper and easier than ever before. We don't need big, clunky space agencies and giant satellites – we can skip all that and move straight to this more dynamic, disruptive environment. And we're already doing that." In April, three Australian satellites – first in 15 years– blasted off from Cape Canaveral and were deployed in May from the International Space Station. Two were built at ACSER: UNSW-EC0 and INSPIRE-2 (the latter a joint project with the University of Sydney and the Australian National University), along with SuSAT, built by the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. Each of the 'cubesats' is the size of a loaf of bread, weighing less than 2 kg, and will carry out the most extensive measurements ever undertaken of the thermosphere, a region between 200 and 380 km above Earth, a poorly-studied zone that is vital for communications and weather formation. ACSER also built space GPS hardware and software for Project Biarri, cubesat mission by Australia's Defence Science and Technology Group that is part of a the Five Eyes defence agreement with Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The satellite was also launched this year. "We've got more hardware in space today than Australia's had in its history," added Dempster, who is also a member of the advisory council of the Space Industry Association of Australia. "This shows what we can do in Australia in the new world of 'Space 2.0', where the big expensive agency-driven satellites are being replaced by disruptive low-cost access to space.  Having a space agency isn't about spending loads of money on giant satellites. We can build constellations of small satellites for probably less than it costs to build one big satellite. So it's a completely different business environment and there is a lot of investment in the area. The cubesat side of the business is growing at 20% a year," he added. Australia's space industry is estimated to be worth US$3-4 billion and employs about 11,500 people. "But we need a space agency to grow this," said Dempster. "We've got only 2% of the global space market, but we should have 4% based on Australia's proportion of global GDP. So there's a real opportunity there, because we have the skills and there are Australian companies operating in this area, but no national coordination." LINKS TO VIDEO, IMAGES AND BACKGROUND PHOTOS: Stills of UNSW engineers in the control room; on roof with antennas and cubesat model; UNSW-EC0 and INSPIRE-2 cubesats; launch of cubesats from ISS; the Dutch radio telescope, etc. VIDEO EXPLAINER: Dr Elias Aboutanios and Prof Andrew Dempster explain the QB50 mission and what the satellites will seek to explore. BACKGROUNDER: The goals, flight, deployment and instruments of the three Australian satellites. Distributed by AAP Medianet    Contact Us © Australian Associated Press, 2017

Today I'm pleased to announce on behalf of the Turnbull Government that Australia will have a space agency #IAC2017  pic.twitter.com/2pd9HoVi8f

— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) September 25, 2017

Australia replies with unadulterated joy…….

Malcolm Turnbull kicks off the first Australian Space Agency contribution to International Space exploration #auspol #IAC2017 #qanda pic.twitter.com/PpwHAhERRx

— TwoEyeHead (@TwoEyeHead) September 25, 2017

I would be so excited about the Australian Space Agency if I had the faintest glimmer of confidence in our govt actually delivering it.

— Paul Kidd ️‍ (@paulkidd) September 25, 2017

If the Australian Space Agency is half as good as the Scottish Space Agency I'm all in  pic.twitter.com/n10rxFrCIj

— Dominic Dirupo  (@DominicDirupo) September 25, 2017

Australia's energy crisis just proves that our politicians have taken ineptitude to a new level. Now they want a space agency. Strewth!

— Steve (@vintagepostie) September 25, 2017

Australia commits to establish space agency with no budget, plan, name, deadline … https://t.co/HgVzpKzMTI

— RouleResponse (@RouleReport) September 25, 2017

Do not forget we use to have a space agency AUSPACE until John Howard got rid of it to save money, he was very short sighted #auspol

— Terry (@yabbietol) September 25, 2017

Australian space science: "We're getting a space agency, yay!"
Me: looks at the NBN, CSIRO, university funding, TAFE, #NotMyDebt …

— Richard Chirgwin (@R_Chirgwin) September 24, 2017

No money for people but we need a space agency. What decade is Turnbull in? Has an adviser told him to be JFK?

— Cui Bono (@lapuntadelfin) September 25, 2017

The only reason for the Space Agency is to set up an asylum seeker colony on Mars. https://t.co/d7OrzgRcdK

— lex rex (@R3x68) September 25, 2017

Has anyone made a joke about the new space agency and Turnbull firing Tony Abbott into space yet?

—  Tim Beshara (@Tim_Beshara) September 24, 2017

It's a pretty good metaphor for what our space agency looks like right now tbh: Colourful, exciting-sounding, but stuck at 3 o-clock.

— Ben Grubb (@bengrubb) September 25, 2017

I hear it is a very tall ladder #auspol https://t.co/vQMJLMelbl

— Comrade craigjack36 (@craigjack36) September 26, 2017

New Space Agency!!!

Malcom Turnbull turns himself into our own little Rocket Man.

— 🏳️‍🌈Nut the C*nt (@brettk351) September 25, 2017

Priorities for Australia's new space agency
1) develop a talking blackboard who is perennially impatient
2) have children send in squiggles

— the result respecter (@rpy) September 25, 2017

"It's a frightening world for Tony Abbott, and he wants you to be frightened, too"

Taking Tony's measure.......

Crikey, 21 September 2017:

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is committed to the destruction of the man who replaced him, and is willing to use any issue (and adopt any position, no matter how hypocritical) to do it. But it’s also worth reflecting on his psychology and that of men (they’re mostly men) like him, given they are likely to play a continuing role in parliament until the Liberal and National parties decide to enter the 21st century and start resembling contemporary Australia a little more closely.

The psychological basis for climate change denial has attracted increasing academic study in recent years, as researchers try to work out why one particular demographic — older white males — tends to dominate the ranks of climate denialists (compare, say, vaccination denialism, which has a younger and more female demographic). A 2015 study that has drawn considerable attention identified that “denial is driven partly by dominant personality and low empathy, and partly by motivation to justify and promote existing social and human-nature hierarchies.” That is, climate denialists were partly motivated by concern that climate action would undermine existing hierarchies, which, as white males, they tended to dominate. And because they see the world in terms of hierarchies, the only alternative they can conceive of is a hierarchy in which they are not dominant.

As it turns out, this kind of fear — that one is being threatened with losing one’s dominant status — is applicable across a range of issues. While he later said he chose his words poorly, Abbott saying that he felt “threatened” by homosexuality accurately conveyed a similar sentiment: he sees LGBTI people as threatening — not, of course, to his physical self, but to his social status. He put it even better when he explained his “threatened” comments by saying homosexuality “challenges orthodox notions of the right order of things”, revealing how LGBTI people conflicted with his hierarchical, “right order” view of the world.

This deep-seated, hierarchy-based fear can also be seen in Abbott’s monarchism; he described any push for a republic as “the latest instalment in the green-left’s war on our way of life”.…..

It’s a frightening world for Tony Abbott, and he wants you to be frightened, too.