2012 – Page 170 – Republic of Mining

After Attawapiskat, what? – by Jim Foulds (Toronto Star – December 29, 2011)

November 5, 2015January 3, 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.

Jim Foulds is a freelance writer in Thunder Bay. He was the MPP for Port Arthur from 1971 to 1987.

When Canadians first saw the news about Attawapiskat they knew that no matter who is at fault, nobody in Canada should be using a plastic bucket for a toilet and have to dump it outside on a regular basis. Nobody should be calling a shack with mould on the walls home. And nobody in Ontario should be paying $23.50 for six apples and four small bottles of juice.

With little evidence, Prime Minister Stephen Harper charged that the funds that the federal government had transferred to the reserve over several years had been mismanaged. With no consultation he put the band under third party management.

(Earlier this year several flooded towns along the Assiniboine River called for provincial and federal help. Think how the municipalities would have reacted if, immediately after asking for aid, they had been placed under third party management.)

The Harper message to Attawapiskat was clear. Blame the victims; discredit the messenger; and sow doubt in the minds of Canadians.

Will Quebec’s Plan Nord boost its cachet as a jurisdiction of choice? – by Alisha Hiyate (Mining Markets – December 2011)

January 3, 2012

http://www.miningmarkets.ca/

It’s probably safe to say that no one is happier about Plan Nord — Quebec’s 25-year plan to stimulate investment in the province’s vast northern reaches — than André Gaumond.

The founder, president and CEO of project generator Virginia Mines (VGQ-T) has been preaching the gospel of northern Quebec’s mineral potential for more than a decade, well before the provincial government unveiled its official Plan Nord policy this May.

“We’ve been selling or promoting the ‘Plan Nord’ for 15 years, travelling everywhere, talking with investors and the investment community and telling them that this. . . area has a huge potential,” Gaumond says. “We will find many mines, many deposits there: It is the future of the mining industry in Canada. This is what we’ve been telling people for years and years.”

Under Plan Nord, the Quebec government will spend $2.1 billion over the next five years to make Quebec north of the 49th parallel — an area that accounts for 72% of the province’s landmass — more accessible for exploration and development.

Mining Boom in Quebec: Alain-Jean Beauregard – by Brian Sylvester (The Gold Report – December 23, 2011)

January 3, 2012

http://www.theaureport.com/

While many jurisdictions are working hard to prevent mining or mineral exploration, the province of Quebec is encouraging it. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Alain-Jean Beauregard, founder of Geologica Inc., a geological consulting firm based in Val-d’Or, talks about the shining future of gold mining in Quebec.

The Gold Report: The province of Quebec where Geologica is based offers some of the best infrastructure and mineral exploration incentives of any state or province in North America. Why has Quebec embraced mining when so many other jurisdictions are working hard to prevent mining or mineral exploration at all?

Alain-Jean Beauregard: Like forestry, mining has traditionally been a region developer in the province of Quebec. Native land issues have already been settled for large parts of the province. Mining is an important job creator—one of the most important in the province. It’s good income for the province because of revenues from taxes. Quebec is happy to have mining companies in the province.

The top [investment] mining bloggers, newsletter writers and speakers: our list of who to follow for investment advice – by Michael Allan McCrae (Mining.com – January 2, 2012)

January 3, 2012

http://www.mining.com/ Mining is fueled by investors and the lure of the next lucky strike. Here are some of the investment writers we like to follow, subscriber-based newsletter writers, as well as bloggers, speakers and news publications. The list is a personal selection. Any such list is subjective depending upon the investment advice offered and the …

This teacher is on a mission to educate first nations – by Kate Hammer (Globe and Mail – January 3, 2012)

January 3, 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.

Every Wednesday, after her day job teaching inmates of a Northern Ontario prison, Michelle Durant-Dudley climbed into her silver Subaru and drove 70 kilometres along a winding highway that was more dense with moose traffic than cars.

Waiting for her on a tiny reserve halfway between Lake Huron and James Bay was a group of mothers, fathers, grandparents, pregnant teens and residential school survivors who shared a piece of unfinished business: their high-school diplomas.

Ms. Durant-Dudley started those Wednesday drives in 2009. Since then, thanks to her efforts and the opening of a nearby mine, residents of Wahgoshig First Nation have been breaking out of the cycle of poverty and poor education that blights many aboriginal communities.

Close to $3-billion began streaming into the area around Wahgoshig in 2010, with the construction of a gold mine and a cluster of dams along the lower Mattagami River opening up hundreds jobs, some of which paid $29 an hour. But for many locals, the requirement of a Grade 12 education put those jobs out of reach.

Rio Tinto, Caterpillar lock out more than 1,000 workers – by Christine Dobby (National Post – January 3, 2012)

January 3, 2012

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

The year began with lockouts for about 1,200 workers at two companies in Ontario and Quebec, as contract negotiations broke down in the waning days of 2011.

Caterpillar Inc. subsidiary Electro-Motive Canada locked out about 420 production workers at its London, Ont. facility on Sunday, the same day as Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. said it initiated a lockout of about 750 employees at its smelter in Alma, Que. Collective agreements in both cases expired on Dec. 31.

In the Electro-Motive case, the Canadian Auto Workers Local 27, the union representing the workers who make locomotives at the plant, had been negotiating a new contract with the company since November, hoping to replace a six- month extension with a new collective agreement.

Bill 14 will change [Quebec] mining sector for worse – by Jean-Francois Minardi, Troy Media (Montreal Gazette – September 20, 2011)

January 3, 2012

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

Giving power to municipalities will make it harder to invest in new jobs

Jean-François Minardi is associate director of the Global Natural Resource Policy Centre with the Fraser Institute.

Until recently, Quebec was seen by mining executives around the world as having the best policy environment for investment, mainly thanks to a predictable regulatory environment, the absence of territorial claims in northern Quebec, high quality geo-scientific data easily accessible to miners, good infrastructure, a skilled workforce, and an attractive mining-tax system.

But with the introduction May 12 of Bill 14, to amend Quebec’s Mining Act, the province is now poised to introduce a high level of uncertainty that may scare investors away and seriously damage the policy attractiveness of Quebec to mining investment.

Bill 14 gives additional power to municipalities to control mining activities on their territory, something municipalities clamoured for during the heated debates over regulating the shale gas industry.

Sherritt CEO [Ian Delaney] reflects on 40 years in the capitalism game – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – January 1, 2012)

January 2, 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.

“You do understand it’s a lottery,” says the fired executive. “You know the whole damn thing’s a lottery.” The fired executive is talking about life, that damn thing, that single ticket you’re given. Punched once, you’re done. Adios.

So the executive, who enjoyed the benefits that come along with a multimillion-dollar salary and a chief executive officer’s title, up and fired himself four weeks ago, an act that has put him in the mood to reflect on the past 40 years playing the capitalism game.

It’s a good year for reflection.

The year the eurozone went to hell in a handbasket. The year of the Occupy movement. The year of economic foreboding. There’s 1 per cent. There’s 99 per cent. There’s one-tenth of 1 per cent. Like this guy. So.

Ian Delaney often reaches for small words and sprinkles them over the boardroom table as if they were full sentences.