2012 – Page 12 – Republic of Mining

Why Latin America is a magnet for Canadian businesses – Tavia Grant (Globe and Mail Editorial – December 5, 2012)

December 6, 2012

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

If there is one word that signifies the march of millions of Brazilians out of poverty and into the middle class, it is this: perfume.

Brazil is now the world’s largest fragrance market, and third in the $300-billion-plus global beauty market. Its consumer class, the biggest in the continent, also has a voracious appetite for cellphones, flat-screen TVs and tablet computers.

It’s not just Brazil. A sea change is rippling through Latin America, a region once better known for hyper-inflation, political instability and high poverty rates. In the past decade, 50 million people have joined the middle class, a World Bank study showed last month. The massive shift means the middle class and the poor now account for about the same share of region’s population, at about 30 per cent.

With rising fortunes come shifts in consumption patterns, from needs to wants, from low-priced goods to middle and high-end products such as fridges and cars. It explains why companies are so keen on the region, where Dorel Industries is selling more car seats, Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics more soap, Research In Motion more BlackBerrys and Bank of Nova Scotia more mortgages. It’s also where Canada’s biggest public pension manager is pouring investments – into Brazilian shopping malls and Chilean toll roads – a long-term bet this trend will only gather steam.

TOP 10 MINERS: A tough year, for CEOs and for stock prices – by Barry Sergeant (Mineweb.com – December 6, 2012)

December 6, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com/

The CEO’s of major top miners have faced relentless pressure this year, both from poor metal price performance and, increasingly demanding shareholders.

JOHANNESBURG (MINEWEB) – For listed mining companies everywhere, this year has been all about stock prices facing headwinds, along with relentless pressure on CEOs.

The benchmark stock, BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest diversified resources group, saw its stock price in US dollar terms peak out in the latter stages of 2010. Given the wobbles in the global economy, the fall from there has been relatively modest, from around US$26.00 a share to recent trades around US$19.00. Vale, the world’s No 2 miner by market value, has seen its stock price fall by just over 50%, to current levels around US$17.00 a share.

Over the past 12 months, Vale and Anglo American have underperformed, probably on the back of a heavier exposure to developing markets, where regulatory uncertainty has been on the rise, over the past two years, in particular. This week in Johannesburg, outgoing Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll decried a number of factors that had contributed to uncertainty in this country, and appealed, in effect, for improved leadership at all levels.

Breaking new ground [Ontario Mining] – by George Ross, (Canadian Government Executive – Vol. #18 Issue #9 – November 2012)

December 6, 2012

http://www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca/

George Ross is deputy minister, Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, and the president of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

Ontario and jurisdictions across Canada are entering a new golden era of mining. Massive mineral deposit discoveries are spurring enormous economic opportunity. But, to fully benefit from the prospect at hand, governments need to adapt to 21st century needs, and Ontario has led the way.

There is no doubt that the minerals industry in Ontario is booming. We are anticipating eight new mines to open over the next decade with three opening this year.

Yet, while success has been traditionally measured by jobs created and economic prosperity gained, it’s vital that the social well-being of Aboriginal communities and other area residents – and the need to curtail any potential environmental concerns – are put front and centre in the planning process. This is not only for just reasons, but also to ensure mine development can be fostered swiftly and assuredly. In addition, it’s critical that the province – through its legal duty to consult – ensure that Aboriginal and treaty rights are respected throughout the mining process.

The fate of our resources is in the hands of our most disadvantaged citizens – by John Ivison (National Post – December 6, 2012)

December 6, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

It was the most exciting thing to happen in the foyer of the House of Commons, since the late Reg Alcock nearly provoked fisticuffs when he called Peter MacKay “a scumbag.”

A group of native chiefs protesting new government legislation jostled with security guards outside the chamber of the House Tuesday, as they tried to push their way inside. It was over in an instant, without so much as a torn hangnail.

But it served notice that not only are First Nation leaders frustrated, they know they are riding a wave of native empowerment that has come nowhere close to cresting.

The Assembly of First Nations met Tuesday in Gatineau to catalogue the usual litany of how they’ve never had it so bad. Yet on the ground, natives are the resource rulers – wielding a veto over which projects will succeed or fail.

Bill Gallagher, a lawyer and author who has written a book called Resource Rulers: Fortune and Folly on Canada’s Road to Resources, says natives have an almost unbroken series of 171 court case victories, when it comes to resource cases. “It is a very one sided legal contest,” he told the CBC.

First Nations will rise to challenge – by Xavier Kataquapit (December 5, 2012)

December 6, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Things are not looking good for remote First Nation communities in northern Canada. In particular there are serious problems developing for communities up the James Bay coast and much of this has to do with global warming and changes in weather patterns.

My people, the Cree of James Bay, could always count more or less on food, products and fuel being shipped up by barge in the summer and by the ice road in the winter. Although air transport has been available for many years, it is reserved mainly for passenger travel as the cost is very high to move goods by aircraft.

Very rapidly, over the past few years, it is becoming obvious that the great changes in weather are affecting the movement of goods to remote First Nations like Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Kashechewan.

Weather is playing havoc with the winter ice road. When I was a boy a few decades ago the winter road was built from Moosonee to the James Bay coastal remote First Nations in late December and it lasted until April on average.

With the great changes in weather, the ice road construction has to wait until late January and it melts much earlier in March.

Labour is key to being an energy superpower – by Eugene Lang and Christopher Smillie (Globe and Mail – December 6, 2012)

December 6, 2012

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Eugene Lang is co-founder, Canada 2020: Canada’s Progressive Centre, a non-partisan, public policy think tank based in Ottawa. Christopher Smillie is senior adviser for the building and construction trades department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), Canadian office.

For six years now Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been referring to Canada as “an emerging energy superpower.” It is a very ambitious goal that comes with significant geopolitical clout, the likes of which this country has not enjoyed in decades, if ever. And it will not be achieved without considerable public policy action, especially from the federal government.

While the idea of a “national energy strategy” has been rejected by the Harper government, this government has, nonetheless, taken two steps over the past year to facilitate achieving its energy superpower objective.

The first step has been to open the door to more foreign investment into the oil and gas sector so that this capital-intensive resource can be developed. This was symbolized by agreeing to a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement with oil-thirsty China.

NEWS RELEASE: Positive [Nunavut] Mary River Iron decision welcome news

December 6, 2012

(Yellowknife, NT – December 3, 2012) The Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, The Honourable John Duncan, today approved and announced that the proposed Mary River iron mining project was not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects and referred the project to the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) to complete the process for project certification. The announcement was in response to NIRB’s letter to Minister Duncan on September 14, 2012, which recommended approval of the project, subject to 184 conditions.

“We are tremendously pleased to see the Mary River iron mine advance to the regulatory phase,” said Cathie Bolstad, President of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines. “This decision to approve the project helps bolster mining investor confidence in Nunavut.”

“We now look forward to timely progress of the Mary River Project through the licensing phase,” says Bolstad, “particularly given the coordinated process framework that was agreed to by NIRB and the Nunavut Water Board in late 2008. The Nunavut Land Claim Agreement has mandated that these institutions of public government find areas of common ground and creative ways for Nunavut to streamline its review and regulatory processes. We are hopeful this approach can be used for future mining projects throughout the North.”

Advancing the project would benefit Nunavut’s economy, the Inuit Land Owner in the mine area – the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and its residents – as well as the Inuit land claim organization, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

Joint-venture poised to tackle infrastructure, labour shortages – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 4, 2012)

December 5, 2012

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Don Wing looks upon Wasaya Dowland Contracting as having a transformational effect in giving Aboriginal people the skills and confidence to tackle a looming labour shortage in the North.

With more than a dozen potential new mines poised to start development within five years, the vice-president of Dowland’s Ontario division calls the new joint venture between the Wasaya Group of companies and Dowland a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the way things are done.”

“We’re going to take that venture, we’re going to make it successful, and we’re going to change people’s lives.” Dowland Contracting appeared on the Thunder Bay scene last year when the Wasaya Group introduced the Northwest Territories-based contractor as a strategic development partner.

With 51 per cent of the limited partnership owned by Wasaya, the aim is to position itself to meet the infrastructure challenges in remote First Nation communities as resource development takes hold.

The venture is viewed as a stepping stone to train Aboriginal people in the skills required to build mines, power lines, arenas, hospitals, hotels and schools.

OMA member Vale helps rocks get centre stage at a national museum

December 5, 2012

(L-R) Vale Canada representatives Cory McPhee, VP, Corporate Affairs; Audrey Leduc, Corporate Affairs Officer; and John Mullally, Director, Corporate Affairs in front of display with rock sample from Sudbury’s Vale mine. (Photo by: Jamie Kronick, Canadian Museum of Nature)

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

After residing for almost two billion years in the Sudbury Basin, a 227-plus kilogram piece of nickel ore now has a new home as a centrepiece in the Vale Earth Gallery at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. The new gallery was officially unveiled recently. It has 8,000 square feet of floor space and it provides a journey through billions of years of geological time and shows how geology and mineralogy connect to everyday life in the 21st century.

In 2009, Vale pledged $1 million to sponsor this gallery. A smaller phase of the Vale Earth Gallery opened in 2010. The new, larger and permanent gallery is the result of two years of planning and three months of extensive renovations. The gallery is also home to a satellite exhibit from the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.

The giant piece of nickel ore is not alone in the new gallery. Fourteen oversized mineral samples share space with about 1,000 mineral, rock and gem specimens. The gallery also contains numerous interactive educational exhibits.

SAMSSA ‘a cheerleader’ for [Sudbury Laurentian] mining school – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – December 5, 2012)

September 7, 2018December 5, 2012

http://www.northernlife.ca/

LU prez promises to meet industry’s needs

Three years ago, Laurentian University president Dominic Giroux and Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) executive director Dick DeStefano sat down for what was to be a fateful drink together.

“(DeStefano) challenged me,” Giroux said, speaking before about 150 SAMSSA members gathered for the organization’s annual general meeting Dec. 4.

“He said, ‘Dominic, you have great programs, but Laurentian University needs to step up its game. You need to create a school of mines. You need to be more active in the cluster, and allow the cluster to be more vibrant.’

“My answer to Dick was ‘For crying out loud, I have a record deficit. Give me a year or two to settle the place, secure a school of architecture, and then we’ll get talking.’” Since that time, DeStefano has been “very supportive,” he said, but also kept his “feet close to the fire, on occasion.”

Laurentian announced the creation of its school of mines in June. Then in October, it revealed Dundee Corporation CEO Ned Goodman was lending has name to the school of mines and donating a significant amount of money, although the exact amount has been kept confidential.

[Sudbury] LU poised to supply industry – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – December 5, 2012)

September 7, 2018December 5, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines will be well-positioned to capitalize on the fact 40% of Canadian mining employees are due to retire in the next few years. The industry will be looking to recruit 60,000 to 100,000 people, many with university degrees, to fill the gap left by retiring Baby Boomers.

Laurentian president Dominic Giroux said the Goodman School of Mines won’t be a mining research institute because those already exist in Sudbury and they’re doing excellent work.

The school will instead educate students in engineering and earth sciences, and provide executive and management training for graduates and people now in the mining workforce.

Giroux spoke to about 140 people in mining and miningrelated businesses and institutions Tuesday morning at the annual general meeting of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Ser vices Association (SAMSSA).

The university president said the idea for the school originated from a conversation with SAMSSA executive director Dick DeStefano, and its focus came from businesses such as those attending the meeting at College Boreal.

[Ontario] Energy policy unintelligible – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (November 30, 2012)

December 5, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

IT is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to understand Ontario’s energy policy. No more so than in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario where the policy is marked by fits and starts instead of a stable program for reliable electricity that grows with demonstrated need.

Ontario is short of revenue and it is at times short of electricity. More electricity can and will lead to more revenue, both in terms of general economic development and through taxation. The recent Ambassadors study by Lakehead University demonstrated clearly that if just the nine most promising mining projects in this region proceed, $135 billion will be spent and $17 billion will be paid in taxes, a third of it to Ontario.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the new Northwestern mining boom can be the economic driver for all of Ontario. But it must have the electrical power on hand to run things.

As this newspaper reported Wednesday, as part of its responsible clean-air goal to phase out coal-burning power plants, Ontario drew up plans to convert the Thunder Bay Generating Station to natural gas.

Independent policy analysis for Northern Ontario – by David Robinson (Canadian Government Executive – Vol. #18 Issue #9 – November 26, 2012)

December 5, 2012

http://www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca/

Dr. David Robinson, is director of the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University.

We are entering what Neil Bradford calls the third wave of Canadian regional development policy, which recognizes the importance of regions in national-provincial economic growth.

The word “northern” in Ontario means something quite different from northern in the rest of Canada. Northern Ontario is southern Canada. Almost all the population of Northern Ontario lives south of Vancouver, and more than 99 percent live south of Edmonton. It is a region larger than Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, and larger than the four Atlantic provinces. It would have been a province, in fact, if forward thinking Torontonians had not engaged in a bit of successful colonial expansion.

Northern Ontario provides a striking example of how regional differences complicate provincial policymaking. The south of the province is part of one of the world’s most powerful economies: 56 percent of Canada’s population lives and works in a tiny strip 1,100 kilometers long, just 100 km wide bordering the largest market in the world. The rich, industrial Windsor-Quebec corridor, can go toe-to-toe with the famous “Asian Tigers.” Modesty aside, it is the historic heart of Canada and still the economic engine of the country.

The south is dealing with massive urban growth and immigration. The north is an economically depressed region despite the current mining boom, and Ontario forecasts zero population growth over the next 25 years.