2012 – Page 13 – Republic of Mining

Three oligarchs better than two? Abramovich gets stake Norilsk Nickel – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – December 5, 2012)

December 5, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com/

In an attempt to mediate between the warring Russian oligarchs who have the major stakes in Norilsk Nickel, the Kremlin has apparently enforced a deal giving a third tycoon, Roman Abramovich an effective mediating stake.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – As watchers of the world’s largest nickel and palladium miner will know Russian headquartered Norilsk Nickel has been beset by boardroom strife between the two Russian mining oligarchs who each own around 25% of the company – Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska. Deripaska’s United Company Rusal bought into Norilsk back in 2008 and he and Potanin have been at loggerheads virtually ever since over a number of issues.

Now a third oligarch, Roman Abramovich – perhaps as well known for his control of the UK’s Chelsea football club – is to acquire a 7.3% stake in Norilsk through his holding company, Millhouse, plus a disproportionate board presence – three of the 13 directors – through an escrow deal whereby all three of the major holders put similar 7.3% stakes into an escrow account which Millhouse will control. This will give Abramovich an effective controlling decision-making stake which, it is hoped will act as a mediation between the other two warring oligarchs and bring stability to the major miner

The deal appears to be politically inspired with the Kremlin losing patience on the inter-oligarch rivalries which have beset what is one of Russia’s largest companies and a significant contributor to the economy both in terms of tax take and of raw materials production – Norilsk also being one of the world’s top 10 copper miners.

Norman Keevil: Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Pacific Lifetime Achievement Award (National Post – December 2012)

December 5, 2012

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

Overseeing a $25-billion company doesn’t exactly sound like a very entrepreneurial job, but then Teck Resources wasn’t always so big. It traces its roots back to 1912 and a gold discovery at Kirkland Lake, Ont., but it remained a comparatively small company until the early 1970s when it started on a growth streak. Norman Keevil, who joined Teck in 1962, became CEO and president in 1981 and then chairman in 2000, was at the helm for many of the developments that have made Teck the resources giant it is today. “We did it one small step at a time,” he says.

BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY Your philosophy when you started may be different than later on. But I would say now, and maybe it always was, it’s to try to be the best at what you do. For us, that’s been working toward building the best Canadian-based mining or resources company we can. We’ve been all over the place. In the ’60s, we actually had more oil than gold, but then we got out of oil in the ’70s because we realized we didn’t know much about it and then we got back in later on in the oil sands and out of gold. We’ve been willing to be diversified, which is one of our pluses.

In our business, the three keys are people, oil reserves and financial strength, in no particular order. At any given time, there are only so many opportunities out there in the world and if you’re restricted to one commodity, whether it’s gold, coal or copper, if in your mind you’re restricted to one, then by definition there are fewer opportunities. One of our business philosophies is to be opportunistic in the sense that we’re looking for the maximum number of opportunities and size them up to each other, which means being prepared to look at different commodities at different times. We end up being diversified not because we set out to be that way, but because we set out to be opportunistic.

Thunderous applause as Anglo CEO commits to SA mining solution – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – December 4, 2012)

December 5, 2012

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa had succeeded in extricating itself from its grave political problems in the past and the country would succeed again in finding solutions in the wake of the horrific Marikana tragedy, Cynthia Carroll said on Tuesday.

At the same time, the Anglo American CEO, who is stepping down after six years, warned that South Africa had to restore stable labour relations and foster a business environment attractive to international investors.

Carroll drew thunderous applause from a packed Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) audience when she concluded her 30-minute address by saying that “the naysayers and the doomsdayers constantly forecast disaster, but in response, I say loud and clear, South Africa has done it before and it will do it again”, by arriving at a post-Marikana solution to which her company was also totally committed.

She said that the Constitutional foundation that had been laid when South Africa transitioned from the “dark night of apartheid to the new dawn of democracy” would help the country disentangle itself from its post-Marikana crisis.

She observed that the curse of unemployment had resulted in mineworkers often having a large number of economic dependents, against the background of the migrant labour system loosening the bonds of family life and dislocating communities.

To Save Congo, Let It Fall Apart – by J. Peter Pham (New York Times – November 30, 2012)

December 5, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/

J. Peter Pham is director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council.

THE Democratic Republic of Congo, which erupted in violence again earlier this month, ought to be one of the richest countries in the world. Its immense mineral reserves are currently valued by some estimates at more than $24 trillion and include 30 percent of the world’s diamond reserves; vast amounts of cobalt, copper and gold; and 70 percent of the world’s coltan, which is used in electronic devices. Yet the most recent edition of the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index ranked Congo last among the 187 countries and territories included in the survey.

Instead of prosperity, Congo’s mineral wealth has brought only an endless procession of unscrupulous rulers eager to exploit its riches, from King Leopold II of Belgium to Mobutu Sese Seko, who was allowed by the logic of the cold war to rule the same area as a private fief. And last year, the current president, Joseph Kabila, who inherited the job from his assassinated father more than a decade ago, awarded himself another five-year term in elections that were criticized by everyone from the European Union to the country’s Roman Catholic bishops.

If some enterprises, public or private, can be said to be “too big to fail,” Congo is the reverse: it is too big to succeed. It is an artificial entity whose constituent parts share the misfortune of having been seized by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley in the name of a rapacious 19th-century Belgian monarch. From the moment Congo was given independence in 1960, it was being torn apart by centrifugal forces, beginning with separatism in the mineral-rich southern province of Katanga.

Solid Gold looks for new CEO – by Northern Ontario Business staff (December 4, 2012)

December 4, 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.

Controversial junior mining boss Darryl Stretch has been replaced as CEO of Solid Gold Resources by its board of directors.

In a Dec. 3 press release, the company said Alan Myers, a director and chief financial officer, will serve as as interim CEO of Solid Gold “while the board works towards finding a permanent solution.”

The company has been embroiled in a legal fight led by Stretch to resume exploration drilling on a Lake Abitibi gold property in northeastern Ontario.

Earlier this year, an Ontario Superior Court upheld an injunction by the nearby Wahgoshig First Nation to cease exploration, ruling that the company did not make an effort to consult with the community despite government requests to do so. Stretch was appealing the court decision and the Divisional Court of Ontario was to hear the appeal in January.

Solid Gold and the Ontario Prospectors Association took considerable heat from First Nation groups after a contentious presentation by Stretch in Sudbury last month in which he classified First Nations as “hostile third-party governments.” He attacked the Ontario government for failing in its duty to consult with First Nations instead of passing the responsibility over to industry.

NEWS RELEASE: Baffinland Mary River Project Clears Key Hurdle

December 4, 2012

http://www.baffinland.com/

OTTAWA, ONTARIO (December 3rd, 2012) – The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, MP for Nunavut, Minister of Health, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council, today commented on the federal approval of the Baffinland Mary River Project, based on the recommendation of the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

“Canada’s North is home to world-class natural resources representing a tremendous economic opportunity,” said Minister Aglukkaq. “The Mary River iron ore project has undergone a thorough review to ensure that it will be developed in a sustainable manner, allowing generations of Canadians to benefit from the jobs and economic growth it will generate.”

“Our Government recognizes the significant economic opportunities that mining development brings to Nunavut,” she added. “CanNor’s Northern Projects Management Office has played a fundamental role in bringing timeliness and effectiveness to the regulatory process for the Mary River iron ore project, which has huge potential to create thousands of jobs and bring long-term growth to Nunavut.”

The Mary River project is owned and operated by Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation which is jointly owned by ArcelorMittal and Iron Ore Holdings L.P. The project is situated on north Baffin Island, 160 kilometres south of Pond Inlet, Nunavut.

Incoming Newmont CEO is an honest-to-goodness miner – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – December 4, 2012)

December 4, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com/

A major North American mining company announced Monday it will actually appoint a mining engineer as CEO, shattering years of CFO, lawyers, and investment banker promotions to the top spot.

RENO (MINEWEB) – With the announced promotion of Newmont President COO Gary Goldberg to President and CEO, Newmont returns to a mine operator in the top job for the first time since South African Gordon Parker was named CEO in 1986.

Could the promotion of Goldberg, who joined Newmont in December last year from Rio Tinto, to the CEO’s post be a sign that Wall Street and mining’s love affair with non-technical mining types, such as CFOs, attorneys and investment bankers as mining company CEOs, be drawing to a close?

This reporter was born in Nevada during the era of one of Newmont’s finest CEOs, metallurgist Plato Malozemoff, who occupied the top spot for an unprecedented three decades. Some of the biggest names in mining would become part of Newmont’s portfolio during his tenure as Newmont expanded around the world.

Malozemoff and Newmont geologists John Livermore and J. Alan Coope would usher in the era of the submicroscopic, disseminated gold with the Carlin Trend discovery that would revolutionize gold mining.

Ottawa approves Nunavut iron ore project – by Shawn McCarthy and Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – December 4, 2012)

December 4, 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.

OTTAWA, TORONTO — The federal government has approved construction of the massive Mary River iron ore project in Nunavut, a move that could jump-start development of the Canadian Arctic.

Once built, Mary River could triple the territory’s annual economic growth rate and provide nearly $5-billion in taxes and royalties to the territory over its 21-year life.

“This is a game-changer for Nunavut and I think it’s very exciting to be a witness and part of the process,” Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, John Duncan, said in an interview Monday.

“We are going to end up with northern infrastructure, including a deep-water port, a road and a railway north of 60, which is pretty exciting,” he said. Construction on the project could begin as early as next July, and the mine could be in production as soon as 2017.

Mary River is owned and operated by Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Iron Ore Holdings LP that acquired the project together at a time when iron ore prices were at near-record highs.

NEW RELEASE: Solid Gold Announces Management Change

December 4, 2012

Marketwire – Canada TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Dec. 3, 2012) – Solid Gold Resources Corp. (“Solid Gold”) (TSX VENTURE:SLD) announced today that Darryl Stretch, a director of Solid Gold, has been replaced as Chief Executive Officer by the board of directors of Solid Gold. On an interim basis, Alan Myers, a director and the Chief Financial …

Fantino defends CIDA’s corporate shift – by Kim Mackrael (Globe and Mail – December 4, 2012)

December 4, 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.

OTTAWA — Canada’s foreign aid agency should play an active role in promoting the country’s economic interests abroad rather than limiting its scope to poverty reduction alone, International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino says.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail on Monday, Mr. Fantino defended his plans for the Canadian International Development Agency to increase its engagement with the private sector, part of a deep philosophical shift for an agency that has long preferred to work with multilateral institutions and charities rather than corporations. And he said that CIDA, as one of Canada’s foreign policy instruments, should not shy away from championing Canada’s interests abroad.

“We are a part of Canadian foreign policy,” he said of the development agency. “We have a duty and a responsibility to ensure that Canadian interests are promoted.”

Mr. Fantino, who was Ontario’s police commissioner before beginning a career in politics, said he is puzzled by the backlash his recent comments at the Economic Club of Canada received from some aid groups, who say they worry that adding foreign policy considerations to the mix could detract from CIDA’s core mandate of reducing poverty.

UPDATE 5-Vale to scale back investment as global economy bites – by Jeb Blount (Reuters U.S. – December 3, 2012)

December 4, 2012

http://www.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 3, 2012 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale SA , the world’s second-largest mining company, cut estimated 2013 capital spending by 24 percent after a global slowdown and a drop in iron ore prices led the company to rethink expansion.

The retrenchment comes after sluggish growth in the United States, China and Europe diminished demand for metals and weighed on the price of iron ore, Vale’s main product.

Iron ore , a key ingredient in steel, fell to a three-year low in September, and is currently hovering around $115 a tonne. Vale forecasts a $110-$140 a tonne range in the coming year.

Vale will invest $16.3 billion in 2013, down from the $21.4 billion budgeted this year for new projects, research and development and to maintain existing mines and plants, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.

“The outlook for slower expansion of global demand for minerals and metals in the medium term requires rigid discipline in the allocation of capital and greater focus in maximizing efficiency and reducing costs,” the company said in the statement.

Carney on commodities: ‘wrong conclusions … could do a lot of damage’ – by James Munson (iPolitics.ca – Septmeber 19, 2012)

December 4, 2012

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

iPolitics’ James Munson interviewed Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to get his thoughts on Canada’s role in the global commodities supercycle this past Friday. Here in Part 1, he explains his view that the resource boom is “unambiguously good” for Canada. Tomorrow, in Part 2, Carney explains the supercycle as part of a larger global economic restructuring. And on Friday, he’ll describe the policy and investments options Canada has at its disposal to best take advantage of high commodity prices.

Mark Carney doesn’t think Canada has any control over the resource boom.

The 47-year-old governor of the Bank of Canada, sitting beneath the portraits of his predecessors in the bank’s stately Graham Towers boardroom, says that as China and other emerging economies have fuelled a sustained rush for resources, sometimes called a commodities supercycle, they have redrawn the fortunes of developed countries like Canada.

The supercycle has spurred a massive expansion of the country’s biggest commodity export in the Albertan oilsands, triggered the deregulation of federal environmental assessments, made mining projects in the country’s northern regions viable and – at least according to the official opposition – contributed to the decline of the manufacturing sector.

As politicians have wrestled with this historic new force in the Canadian economy, misunderstandings about its root causes have developed and, left unchallenged, these could prompt bad policy choices.

‘Nature of global growth is shifting,’ and not just for commodities: Carney – by James Munson (Part 2 of 3)(iPolitics.ca – Septmeber 20, 2012)

December 4, 2012

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

iPolitics James Munson interviewed Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to get his thoughts on Canada’s role in the global commodities supercycle this past Friday. In Part 1, he explained his view that the resource boom is “unambiguously good” for Canada. Today, in Part 2, Carney explains the supercycle as part of a larger global economic restructuring. And on Friday, he’ll describe the policy and investments options Canada has at its disposal to best take advantage of high commodity prices.

Mark Carney keeps changing the subject.

The governor of the Bank of Canada has agreed to an interview to discuss the resource boom – and whether it’s good for Canada – but the conversation keeps turning to the global economic situation.

“The nature of growth globally is shifting,” Carney said. “In our opinion, we need a sustained strategy to really build our penetration of emerging markets and that is well beyond commodities – that is not a commodities statement.”

That’s the trouble with the resource boom, or the commodities supercycle as it’s sometimes called. It can’t be switched off and on to benefit other businesses that may be having a hard time adjusting to the resource sector’s newfound success.

‘Now’s the time to build,’ Carney says; Surprise upsides to an expensive dollar – by James Munson (iPolitics.ca – Septmeber 21, 2012)

December 4, 2012

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

iPolitics James Munson interviewed Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to get his thoughts on Canada’s role in the global commodities supercycle this past Friday. In Part 1, he explained his view that the resource boom is “unambiguously good” for Canada. In Part 2, Carney explained the supercycle as part of a larger global economic restructuring. Today, in Part 3, he describes the policy and investments options Canada has at its disposal to best take advantage of high commodity prices.

High commodity prices may hurt manufacturers, but they could provide ways to revive the sector and even reasons to go green, said Mark Carney.

The resource boom, sometimes called a commodities supercycle, stems from the rise of emerging economies as the main drivers of global growth and is “unambiguously good” for the country, said the governor of the Bank of Canada in an interview with iPolitics last week.

But while the benefits for the country’s miners and petroleum producers are obvious, Carney’s feel-good conclusion takes into account other opportunities for Canada stemming from the economic momentum of places like China.

“Just because it’s good doesn’t mean it could not be a whole lot better,” said Carney in the interview. “And that gets into questions of how do we maximize the returns, how do we deal with this world that has really been transformed?”