2012 – Page 146 – Republic of Mining

A European reprieve for Canada’s oil sands – by Lorne Gunter (National Post – February 23, 2012)

February 24, 2012

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

This has been a good week for Alberta’s oil sands — if you measure success in tiny increments. The European Union couldn’t agree to label oil from the ‘sands as dirty, and one of the world’s leading climate scientists released a study showing that large-scale mining of Alberta’s vast bitumen deposits will have very little effect on climate.

The news from Europe is welcome if not quite a full-fledged victory. On Thursday, bureaucrats and experts from the EU’s 27 member countries failed to pass an amendment to the union’s Fuel Quality Directive that would have labelled oil sands oil as 22% more harmful to the climate than convention crude. The vote was 89 in favour of the amendment, 128 opposed with 128 abstaining. Since there was no majority for or against the motion, it neither passed nor failed.

But Thursday’s vote was never going to be the final word. It was, in essence, a survey of environment department bureaucrats and government scientists meant only to inform Europe’s energy and environment ministers. The ministers will hold their own vote — likely late this year — from which will emerge their recommendation to the European Parliament, whose members will cast the ultimate vote on whether or not oil sands oil should be considered “dirty” oil.

Oil sands dodge bullet in Brussels – by Peter Foster (National Post – February 23, 2012)

February 24, 2012

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

EU fails to back ‘directive’ that penalizes the oil sands — but the threat isn’t gone

It wasn’t just the oil sands that dodged a bullet on Thursday, when Eurocrats failed to support a “Fuel Quality Directive” that would have penalized European companies using such oil. Although the move would have no direct impact, since Canada exports little or no oil sands oil directly to Europe, it would have darkened the cloud over Canadian/European free trade aspirations and created a dangerous precedent.

It would have further handed control of trade, and thus the Canadian economy, to a bureaucratic juggernaut effectively controlled by environmental radicals through political puppets. It would also have raised the possibility that restrictions might extend to U.S. exports to Europe of refined products containing oil from the oil sands.

Canada’s Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver, described the vote as a “resounding win,” but noted that Canada would continue to defend its interests against “unjustified and discriminatory measures.” Which is a pretty good definition of climate policies in general.

In mining, most of Canada more corrupt than Botswana, Chile: study – by Nicolas Johnson (Globe and Mail – February 23, 2012)

February 24, 2012

The 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.

The Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta – which represent almost three-fourths of Canada’s land area – were judged to have greater corruption than the African and South American countries, the survey by the Fraser Institute showed. Saskatchewan was seen as Canada’s least corrupt region.

“It’s something that plagues mining companies around the world,” Fred McMahon, co-ordinator of the survey with Miguel Cervantes, said in a telephone interview from Toronto on Thursday. “It’s particularly problematic for Western mining companies, which have internal codes of conduct that prevent payoffs.”

The annual survey by the Vancouver-based institute was sent to about 5,000 mining companies around the world, and the results were based on 802 responses. The survey took place between October and December last year.

Oil sands spared ‘dirty’ label in EU vote – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – February 24, 2012)

February 24, 2012

The 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’s lobbying campaign pays off; blocked regulation preserves access to global markets

OTTAWA — GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER – The Harper government picked up key support from France and the Netherlands in blocking a proposed European Union fuels directive that would target the oil sands as a particularly emissions-intensive source of crude.

A vote in Brussels on Thursday gave the Canadian government a win in its battle to preserve global markets for oil sands producers against an environmental lobbying effort, which wants refiners worldwide to pay financial penalties for using the carbon-intensive Alberta crude as well as other sources of “dirty” fuel.

Ottawa has been lobbying the Europeans for two years for fundamental changes to an EU proposal to label oil sands as being more carbon-intensive than other crude sources – a tag that would effectively ban oil sands crude, and threaten to snowball to other regions. Britain had clearly indicated it was in Canada’s camp, but on Thursday, France and the Netherlands helped derail the proposed regulation by abstaining on the vote, which needed a majority of total votes to pass.

First Nations becoming major economic players – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – February 24, 2012)

November 5, 2015February 24, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

GDP from Aboriginal communities larger than some provinces

These are “exciting times” for business opportunities in First Nation communities, a gathering of chiefs, business leaders and economic development officials in Timmins were told Thursday.

Clint Davis, president and chief executive of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, cited several factors that have aligned enabling First Nation communities to become major economic players, if they play their cards right.

It seemed fitting that Davis would be speaking about growing economic development opportunities for First Nations as the keynote speaker at an event hosted by the CreeWest Limited Partnership. CreeWest is a Moose Factory-based charter airline service that arose from the economic opportunities created by the start-up of De Beers Canada’s Victor Mine in Attawapiskat six years ago.

It is widely known First Nation communities are the fastest growing demographic in the country.

[Sudbury’s Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation] CEMI gets a new president – Star Staff (Sudbury Star – February 23, 2012)

February 23, 2012

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

Sudbury’s Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation has a new leader.

Douglas Morrison, a mining industry veteran, has been appointed as president and CEO of the mine research centre based at Laurentian University. He assumes his new duties March 1.

In a release, Morrison said he wants “to engage with the best scientists and engineers the academic community has to offer and engage our industrial experience to convert this knowledge into practical solutions that can be implemented as routine into mining operations.

“We also want to collaborate with as many mining research organizations as we can so we do not duplicate what has already been done, but also bring fresh minds to bear on problems that the industry has struggled with for many years, combining long years of experience with the youth and enthusiasm of today’s students for the benefit of the industry as a whole.

Northern leaders frustrated by Queen’s Park ignoring Northern concerns – by Len Gillis (Timmins Times – February 22, 2012)

February 23, 2012

http://www.timminstimes.com/ lgillis@timminstimes.com

Some suggest inviting Premier McGuinty to a Northern Ontario summit

Northeastern Ontario’s municipal leaders, our elected voices across the North, are worried that their voices are falling on deaf ears at the higher levels of government.

The problem is so bad that Northern leaders are discussing whether to pool their money to hire professional lobbyists to speak out on behalf of the North at Queen’s Park.

The issue was debated at length this past week when the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) held its Winter-Spring meeting at the McIntyre auditorium.

The key concern is whether government is listening to Northern municipalities on such issues as severely limited logging in the Abitibi River Forest and the perceived need to protect caribou habitat. In both cases, the municipalities are worried that southern Ontario policies are being imposed on Northern Ontario without regard to the economic realities of the north.

Ring of Fire Road – by Jodi Lundmark (tbnewswatch.com – February 22, 2012)

February 23, 2012

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The Ring of Fire will be top of mind for local delegates heading to the Ontario Good Roads Association Conference in Toronto next week.

“The projects that are up there are going to make this province rich,” said Mayor Keith Hobbs.

The economic impact on Sudbury for value-added services in the mining sector is $5 billion. In Thunder Bay, it’s around $450 million, which the mayor says is a good start, but is just that – a start.

“There’s more businesses coming in all the time; more junior exploration companies are setting up shop in Thunder Bay. We have to make sure it happens on a large scale,” he said.

Hobbs will be joined at the conference by Councillors Joe Virdiramo, Iain Angus, Brian McKinnon, Aldo Ruberto and Ken Boshcoff as well as city manager Tim Commisso and Fort William First Nation’s economic development officer Ed Collins.

Record Nickel Supply Expanding Glut Thwarts Bull Market Rally: Commodities – by Jae Hur and Ichiro Suzuki Bloomberg.com – February 22, 2012)

February 23, 2012

www.bloomberg.com

Mining companies and refineries are producing more nickel than at any time in history, expanding a glut that threatens to reverse this year’s rally.

Production will exceed demand by 45,000 metric tons, a 73 percent jump from 2011, Barclays Capital estimates. That’s equal to 46 percent of stockpiles tracked by the London Metal Exchange. Refined output will rise 12 percent, the most in at least eight years, according to Morgan Stanley. Prices, which rose 7.8 percent to $20,170 a ton this year, may fall as much as 13 percent to $17,630 a ton by Dec. 31, the median of 11 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows.

Metals have returned to a bull market from a 22 percent slump last year on an improving outlook for global growth with manufacturing in the U.S. capping the biggest two-month increase in more than two years in January and unexpectedly gaining in China. With new supply expected from Australia to Madagascar to Brazil, consumption still won’t expand fast enough to absorb the extra metal. Most markets for stainless steel, accounting for 76 percent of nickel demand, remain “depressed,” Deutsche Bank AG said in a report Feb. 15.

NEWS RELEASE: MiningWatch Canada Welcomes Drummond Commission’s Recommendation to Examine Mining Taxes

February 23, 2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

(Ottawa) For over a decade, MiningWatch Canada has been saying that Ontarians should be getting a better share of the resource wealth that is extracted in the province. The coalition of social justice, environmental and Indigenous groups welcomed the recommendation to eliminate a key tax break for mining companies and to review the mining tax system in the recently released report from the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, chaired by Donald Drummond.

The report recommends that the province “eliminate the Ontario resource tax credit and review the mining tax system to ensure that the province is supporting the exploration and production of minerals in Ontario while receiving a fair return on its natural resources.”

“Given the province’s economic situation and the current growth in the mining sector, this is an important recommendation that the government should definitely implement in this year’s budget,” urged Ramsey Hart, Canada Program Coordinator at MiningWatch Canada.

The EU’s dubious attack on the oil sands – by Jason Langrish (National Post – February 23, 2012)

February 23, 2012

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

Jason Langrish is the executive director of the Canada Europe Roundtable for Business.

Its Fuel Quality Directive is impossible to implement

Today, the European Parliament votes on the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), a piece of legislation that will in effect classify oil derived from the Alberta oil sands as “dirty,” possessing a higher carbon content than oil derived from other sources.

Canadian climate scientist Andrew Weaver recently published a paper that concluded that the reputation of the oil sands as polluting is overstated. So who are we to believe?

It really doesn’t matter. The reason why the FQD is a bad idea has to do with the questionable aims of the proposed legislation and the near impossibility of implementing it in a meaningful way.

If the EU wants to cut carbon dioxide emissions from upstream production, the FQD is not the right instrument. If oil sands products do not enter the EU they will find other markets, ensuring that there is no reduction in carbon dioxide emissions globally — any carbon dioxide cut the EU would claim from implementation would be false, as the FQD would simply shift the carbon dioxide elsewhere in the global system.

Canada needs an EU win on oil sands – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – February 22, 2012)

February 23, 2012

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

After the mess in the U.S. over Keystone XL, Canada could really use a win on Thursday — or at least the benefit of the doubt — when the European Union votes on whether to label oil from the Alberta oil sands as “highly polluting.”

A vote in favour of the Fuel Quality Directive would signal that attitudes against the oil sands are hardening, even as far away as Europe. It would also stand out as another home run for the environmental movement and its strategy of picking on the Canadian sector to fight its climate-change and off-oil agenda.

A vote against the directive would set a favourable policy precedent for Canada as it courts new markets for oil sands crude. It would also show its intense lobbying and education efforts in Europe over the past few months are working.

The directive, driven by EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard, sets a mandatory target for fuel suppliers to reduce the carbon footprint of fuels by 6% over the next decade. The oil sands would be ascribed a higher value greenhouse value (107) than average crude oil (87.5), if byproducts are ever sold there.

Shale oil boom drives down prices versus rest of world – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – February 20, 2012)

February 23, 2012

The 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.

North America’s crude market is increasingly diverging from the international scene, as rising U.S. production and weak demand pose long-term challenges for Canadian-based oil companies.

The U.S. is forecast to lead the non-OPEC world in crude production this year, with Canada not far behind. But that surge in supply is splashing against constraints in pipeline and refining capacity, and against a “peak demand” scenario in which U.S. consumption is not expected to return to the 1985 high water mark any time soon.

That stands in sharp contrast to the international crude market. Globally, high-growth emerging markets like China are driving demand higher, while new production capacity is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few Persian Gulf states. Geopolitical risks – like the standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions – add strain to a fundamentally tight market.

The result is a sharp disconnect between international oil prices and what U.S. and Canadian producers can get for their crude, a divergence that will widen if refiners and pipeline companies fail to keep up with rising production.

Ring of Fire lights up Northern Ontario’s mining industry – Ontario Business Report

February 23, 2012

This is an Ontario Government Publication. (2012) http://ontariobusinessreport.com/en/

They went looking for diamonds in the rough, but found something perhaps even more valuable.

In 2002 DeBeers, the world’s leading diamond miner and trader, ventured into Ontario’s far north muskeg near Hudson’s Bay seeking the precious stones. What it discovered instead was copper and zinc.

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But that was enough to spark a flurry of other exploration efforts. One potentially commercial find led to another, and by 2008 prospectors struck gold, so to speak. What they uncovered, for the first time in commercial quantities anywhere in North America, was an extremely rare mineral called chromite. The discoveries are so vast that the Ontario mining industry and others speak of a multi-billion dollar deposit that may take generations to fully exploit.
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Indeed, the province considers the chromite and related discoveries in a 5,000-sq-km region now known as the Ring of Fire as “historic.” Says former Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Minister Michael Gravelle: “It’s home to one of the most promising mineral development opportunities in Ontario in more than a century.”