2012 – Page 164 – Republic of Mining

Commodity prices to drop in 2012: BoC – by John Shmuel (National Post – January 19, 2012)

January 19, 2012

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

Canada’s economy will fend off declining commodity prices and a year-long eurozone recession in 2012, but it won’t emerge unscathed, says the latest policy report from the Bank of Canada.

The central bank now forecasts a deep and prolonged recession for the eurozone compared with its outlook in October, when bank governor Mark Carney and his team said any recession in Europe would be brief. Saying that conditions have “deteriorated,” the bank is also forecasting that a year-long recession in Europe will hit non-energy commodity prices – and by extension, Canada’s resource-dependent economy.

” The crisis in Europe is expected to have an indirect impact on the Canadian economy through its implications for financial conditions, confidence and global commodity prices,” the bank said in its Monetary Policy Report.

[Quebec’s Plan Nord] Growth tips shared – Special to The Chronicle-Journal (Thunder Bay Chroncicle-Journal – January 19, 2012)

January 19, 2012

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

Those who helped develop Plan Nord say the next 25 years are going to be exciting for Northern Quebec. Northwestern Ontario would like to share in some of that excitement.

Members of National Public Relations, who helped develop Plan Nord, gave a presentation in Thunder Bay on Wednesday.

The presentation was hosted by the Northwestern Ontario joint task force on regional economic development pilot project, the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce and the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association.

Plan Nord is an economic development project aimed at Northern Quebec, which over the next 25 years is estimated to generate more $80 billion in investments and create more than 20,000 jobs a year.

Obama rejects Keystone pipeline, open to alternative route – by Sheldon Alberts – (National Post – January 19, 2012)

January 19, 2012

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

The Obama administration on Wednesday denied a presidential permit for construction of the $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline, ruling that a proper environmental review could not be conducted before a 60-day deadline set by the U.S. Congress to rule on the controversial oilsands project.

But Calgary-based TransCanada Corp., the company behind the 2,700-kilometre pipeline, has been given the option of making a new application — and company officials confirmed they will propose an alternative route for Keystone XL that avoids environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. State Department said its decision was “predicated on the fact that the Department does not have sufficient time to obtain the information necessary to assess whether the project, in its current state, is in the national interest.”

Things getting sticky in oil sands – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 19, 2012)

January 19, 2012

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

With U.S. President Barack Obama’s extreme decision Wednesday to deny a permit to the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, Canada’s oil-sands industry, one of the few engines of investment and job creation in North America, stands on the brink of a slowdown.

Export pipeline capacity is expected to run out by around 2016, throwing today’s growth strategies into serious doubt.

Keystone XL, and its all-Canadian alternative, Northern Gateway, were supposed to be the main solutions to transporting growing oil sands production to new markets.

Both are stuck. To be sure, Keystone XL proponent TransCanada Corp. has been invited to apply for a new permit with a revised route that avoids environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska. But the reality is that there will be no pipeline decision — and it could still be a ‘no’ — until at least after the November presidential election, and possibly longer.

Ottawa looks to Asia after U.S. rejects Keystone pipeline project – by Bruce Campion-Smith (Toronto Star – January 19, 2012)

January 19, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

OTTAWA—The federal government says it will renew efforts to ship Canadian oil to Asian markets after the White House rejected plans for a $7 billion pipeline to move Alberta crude into the U.S.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Barack Obama in a phone call Wednesday he was “profoundly disappointed” with the U.S. decision on the Keystone XL project and pointedly said that Canada would seek other markets for its energy exports.

Soon after the two leaders spoke, Obama made public his decision to deny the application by Canadian energy giant TransCanada Corp. to build the pipeline, citing a “rushed and arbitrary deadline” imposed by Congress to review the project.

“This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people,” Obama said in a statement.

AT THE CUTTING EDGE: ‘REPUBLIC OF MINING’ BLOGS ABOUT THE NORTH – by Graham Murray (Inside Queen’s Park – January 4, 2012)

January 18, 2012

Inside Queen’s Park is an insider newsletter which offers widely respected analysis of, and insight into, the inner workings of Ontario government and politics. It is published by G.P. Murray Research Limited which provides Ontario Government relations and information services.

As a devout generalist, ready to splash around in puddles that are a mile wide provided they are not more than an inch deep, IQP defers to and relies upon the many specialists who drill deeply in one field or even more. One such is Stan Sudol, a talented writer and energetic researcher whose long experience of all things mineral is evident to those who keep up with his RepublicOfMining.Com web-site and blog postings.

A self-professed Sudbury Inco-brat – he worked for the company’s Clarabell Mill in 1976-77 and underground at the Frood-Stobie mine in 1980 – he now calls Toronto home but still keeps a close eye on northern Ontario and mining issues. He also worked at various Queen’s Park ministries in the late nineties and early part of this decade as a communications consultant.

The blog is a combination of Sudol’s columns, industry news releases, speeches, opinion pieces and an aggregator of mainstream media mining news.

NEWS RELEASE: Vale Contributes to Research Project with Aim to Help Northern Manitoba Youth Education

January 18, 2012

posted January 16, 2012

BRANDON, MB — Today in Thompson, the President and Vice-Chancellor of Brandon University, Dr. Deborah C. Poff met Lovro Paulic, the General Manager of Vale’s Manitoba Operations to accept the company’s donation of $400,000 in support of the Vital Outcomes Indicators for Community Engagement for Children and Youth (VOICE) project.

Brandon University is supported in this project through a $1 million-dollar peer-reviewed research grant from the Government of Canada, through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Community-University Research Alliances Program (SSHRC CURA). The University College of the North will share in the award and actively participate in the research activities. The project will also include individuals from Frontier School Divisions, Kelsey School Division and the School District of Mystery Lake.

“This generous donation from Vale will help bring researchers and community-partners closer and make a positive impact in the lives of First Nations and Métis children and youth living in Northern Manitoba,” said Dr. Poff. “We are very grateful for Vale’s interest and financial commitment to this important collaborative venture in research and capacity-building.”

The War Against Us [Coeur d’Alene silver region] – by David Bond (Silverminers.com – January 16, 2012)

May 4, 2015January 18, 2012

http://silverminers.com/

This commentary is by Silverminer.com editor David Bond

Wallace, Idaho – Just when was it that the United Snakes of America declared war on the Coeur d’Alene Mining District, and why?

We were ruminating, fulminating on these weighty questions last week. Pretty clearly, the opening salvo was fired in the final decade of the 19th Century, when Federal troops were dispatched under a declaration of martial law to lock up 600 miners here who were striking for decent wages.

Then of course during World War II there was the undeclared conscription of lead and zinc miners here who were prevented from taking better paying jobs in the shipyards of Puget Sound to keep wresting rocks from our earth that could be smelted into bullets and cartridges to kill Germans and Japanese.

Are the Conservatives making Northern Gateway pipeline hearings irrelevant? – by Tim Harper (Toronto Star – January 18, 2012)

May 4, 2015January 18, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

OTTAWA—Provincial premier or pipeline protester, you had a common plight Tuesday. You both found yourself in British Columbia, pushing back against that immovable object, Stephen Harper.

At their waterfront hotel in Victoria, most premiers took turns over two days spitting disdain at Harper’s 10-year, no-strings-attached health-care funding plan presented to their finance ministers — without debate — last month.

Harper was unmoved.

In an interview with CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge, he told the provinces to get on with health-care innovation (they did) and stop obsessing about money.

Confessions of a radical environmentalist – by Alan Broadbent (Toronto Star – January 18, 2012)

January 18, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Alan Broadbent is past chair of the board and current board member of Tides Canada. He is chairman and CEO of Avana Capital Corp. and founder and chair of Maytree.

Hello. My name is Alan, and I’m a radical environmental extremist.

I don’t know how I ended up being part of a group with a radical environmental agenda. It all happened so gradually.

I do remember being invited to join the board of the Tides Canada Foundation when it was founded over a decade ago. It seemed innocent enough, a registered Canadian charity that offered Canadians a chance to donate to protecting the environment and creating socially just communities. In fact, it seemed so Canadian. Silly me, but hey, this was over a decade ago.

In fact, I used to tell people that Tides Canada was just like a community foundation, say the Vancouver Foundation or the Winnipeg Foundation, except that instead of a geographical community it was a community of interest. A community of people interested in the environment and social justice.

Oil sands money trail – by Vivian Krause (National Post – January 18, 2012)

January 18, 2012

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

Billionaire U.S foundations fund Canada’s green groups

Last week, on the eve of the environmental review for the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project that would carry Alberta oil to Kitimat for export to Asia, Canada’s Minister for Natural Resources, Joe Oliver, expressed concern that foreign-funded environmentalists would jeopardize the review and block the pipeline. Oliver didn’t mention my name, but the research that raised concerns about the foreign funding of environmentalism in Canada is apparently mine.

For five years, on my own nickel, I have been following the money and the science behind environmental campaigns and I’ve been doing what the Canada Revenue Agency hasn’t been doing: I’ve gathered information about the origin and the stated purpose of grants from U.S. foundations to green groups in Canada. My research is based on U.S. tax returns because the U.S. Internal Revenue Service requires greater disclosure from non-profits than does the CRA.

By my analysis and calculations, since 2000, U.S. foundations have granted at least US$300-million to various environmental organizations and campaigns in Canada, especially in B.C.

NEWS REALEASE: Lonmin Plc Makes Private Placement in Wallbridge Mining

January 18, 2012

Toronto, Ontario – January 17, 2012 – Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX:WM) today announced that it had entered into an agreement (which is subject to approval of the TSX) with the world’s third largest platinum producer Lonmin Plc (“Lonmin”) whereby Lonmin will purchase 13,157,895 units (“Units”) of Wallbridge at a price of C$0.19 (Canadian) per Unit which was calculated based on the 90 day volume-weighted average price to December 13, 2011, being the date the parties agreed upon the pricing for the transaction.

“This recent investment shows Lonmin’s continued confidence and support for our exploration work in Sudbury. The Sudbury Basin is the most attractive target area in the world for the discovery of high grade copper, nickel and platinum deposits” stated Alar Soever, CEO of Wallbridge.

“The long term relationship with Lonmin since January 2002 demonstrates that Lonmin continues to be not only a great Joint Venture partner, but also a supportive shareholder of Wallbridge in our exploration work in Sudbury” said Marz Kord, President of Wallbridge.

Cape Breton’s undersea coal field a vein to energy wealth – by Neil Reynolds (Globe and Mail – January 18, 2012)

January 18, 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— French explorer Nicholas Deny discovered abundant coal (“a mountain of very good coal four leagues up the river”) on Cape Breton Island in 1672. Within a few years, miners were prying coal from rock outcroppings along the coast with crowbars. Although Cape Breton’s fabled coal mines closed a decade ago, ostensibly forever, the chances are good that the island will soon be back in the coal business – mining a huge and distinctly Canadian energy source: the undersea Sydney coal field.

Cape Breton University (CBU) president H. John Harker, an energy authority, describes this energy resource as “a vast deposit [150 billion tonnes] of quality coal under the waters of the North Atlantic extending from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and Labrador.” Swing westward into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and undersea coal deposits more than double, to 350 billion tonnes.

Cape Breton’s undersea coal field is so big that Mr. Harker thinks Canada, Britain and the United States should develop it strategically, recalling the Second World War alliance (Roosevelt, Churchill and Mackenzie King) that won the Battle of the Atlantic.

Kinross pays the price for mine delays in West Africa – by Sean Silcoff (Globe and Mail – January 18, 2012)

January 18, 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— Kinross Gold Corp.’s drubbing by investors over delays at its trophy gold mine in West Africa is a fresh reminder of the gulf between the fortunes of those who dig for gold, and the metal itself.

While gold continues to trade at historically high levels – closing up $24.80 at $1,655.60 an ounce Tuesday – gold miners are contending with market antipathy due to rising costs and a string of unpopular and costly acquisitions. In such an environment, tolerance for bad news is low.

Kinross discovered that the hard way Tuesday, after saying it would take six to nine months more than expected to study and plan its Tasiast mine in Mauritania, delaying development and possibly negatively affecting production.

Minister points finger at McGuinty [Ontario power rates to high] – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – January 17, 2012)

January 18, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper

Tony Clement says high energy costs in Ontario forces industry to take processing elsewhere

As the federal minister for Northern Economic Development, Tony Clement says he would like to see processing of minerals from the Ring of Fire done in Northern Ontario.

However, Clement says it is up to the provincial government to make that happen. Officials with Cliffs Natural Resources, a Cleveland-based company looking to develop a chromite mine within the James Bay lowlands, have publicly expressed interest in doing some of the processing in Asia.

“We’d like to see more of the processing here but one of the major impediments are energy costs,” Clement said during a stopover in Timmins on Monday. “That’s Mr. (Dalton) McGuinty’s bailiwick. He’s got to do his job as premier of this province to get energy costs more in line.”