2012 – Page 19 – Republic of Mining

Rights group investigates Canadian-owned mine in Mexico – by CBC News (November 25, 2012)

November 25, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/

Anti-mine activist’s death tied to local divisions over project

A gold and silver mine in Mexico that’s owned by the Vancouver-based company Fortuna Silver — and the death of a prominent activist opposed to the operation — were the focus of a three-day interational observation mission this past week.

Observers travelled to San José del Progreso in Oaxaca province, where the company began production in September 2011, to investigate the violence that many say appears related to opposition to the mine and its impact on the local water supply.

The mission, led by the Council of Canadians and Blue Planet Project, met with community members for and against the controversial Fortuna Silver mine, as well as representatives from the Canadian company’s local subsidiary, Minera Cuzcatlán.

Two anti-mine activists from the town were killed by gunfire earlier this year year and three others injured. Those killed included the outspoken leader the opposition campaign, Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez.

Residents say the mine has polarized the community. There are reports Vásquez had received death threats in the weeks before he was gunned down in his car last March.

Dehua shuts separate [B.C. coal] project over temporary worker concerns – by James Keller (Vancouver Sun – November 24, 2012)

November 25, 2012

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

THE CANADIAN PRESS – VANCOUVER – The legal and political troubles that have overshadowed a plan to bring 201 Chinese workers to a proposed coal mine in northern British Columbia have prompted one of the companies involved to shut down a separate coal project nearby.

Canadian Dehua International Mines Group Inc. announced Saturday it has decided to wind down work at its Wapiti River coal project, located southeast of Tumbler Ridge.

Dehua owns a minority stake in HD Mining, which has generated headlines in recent months over its plan to bring Chinese miners to another proposed mine at Murray River, also near Tumbler Ridge. Two unions have asked Federal Court to throw out HD Mining’s temporary foreign worker permits, and the case has prompted the federal government to announce a review of the entire temporary foreign worker program, including HD Mining’s permits.

Dehua issued a statement early Saturday morning announcing it had filed a notice to shut down its Wapiti River project. The shut-down order is effective Sunday at midnight, the statement said.

“The decision has been forced upon Dehua following a deluge of calls from investors in Dehua’s mining operations in Canada,” said the statement, distributed by company lawyer Darryl Larson.

With China and India Ravenous for Energy, Coal’s Future Seems Assured – by Peter Galuszka (New York Times – November 12, 2012)

November 25, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/

RICHMOND, Va. — Last summer, nearly half of India’s sweltering population suddenly found the electricity shut off. Air-conditioners whirred to a stop. Refrigerators ceased cooling. The culprits were outmoded power generation stations and a creaky electricity transmission grid.

But another problem stood out. India relies on coal for 55 percent of its electric power and struggles to keep enough on hand.

Coal remains a critical component of the world’s energy supply despite its bad image. In China, demand for coal in 2010 resulted in a traffic jam 75 miles long caused by more than 10,000 trucks carrying supplies from Inner Mongolia. India is increasing coal imports.

So is Europe, as it takes advantage of lower coal prices in the United States. Higher-priced natural gas on the Continent is creating demand for more coal imports from the United States, where coal is taking a drubbing from less expensive natural gas.

Coal may seem an odd contender in a world where promising renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydroelectric power are attracting attention. Anathema to environmentalists because it creates so much pollution, coal still has the undeniable advantages of being widely available and easy to ship and burn.

[Oil] Lessons from Oslo – by Heather Mallik (Toronto Star – November 24, 2012)

November 25, 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.

OSLO—Britain is cool, Denmark is heavenly and Norway is next. Two down and one to go in my three-nation quest to find out why Stephen Harper in 1997 sneered in a speech to Americans that “Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.”

I can hold a grudge for 15 years, easy, but that isn’t the point. I assumed the innocent Harper simply hadn’t visited these northern nations or he’d have seen how badly we needed to nudge closer to their style, their way of thinking.

Britain and Scandinavia are full of good ideas for a Canada at the crossroads, with a Conservative government trying to take us back to the 1950s while provinces like Alberta and Quebec stare at the future with a wild surmise. We should study the northern nations. We are one of them.

On the other hand, Norway fills me with apprehension. Norwegians are famously rational and courteous, almost as good-looking as the Danes and rich as Croesus.

Teen poet Adrian Mole once saluted the nation in a 1984 novel by Sue Townsend:

Time to monitor Guatemala’s mining sector? – Al Jazeera English (November 24, 2012)

November 25, 2012

http://www.aljazeera.com/

Canadian company Goldcorp is accused of violating human rights and damaging the local environment around Marlin mine. A Canadian mining company stands accused of violating human rights and damaging the environment in Guatemala.

As the price of gold has rocketed amidst global economic uncertainty, Goldcorp argues it is sharing its record revenues with an impoverished community by providing jobs and economic development.

The company owns the Marlin mine in Guatemala, which was opened in 2005 despite the objections of indigenous communities.

Guatemala has ratified an international convention requiring local consent for such projects; but this did not stop it from proceeding. Nor did it stop the World Bank from giving GoldCorp a $45m loan for the mine in contravention of its own guidelines on local consulatation.

Rural folks triumph over mega-quarry – by Jim Merriam (London Free Press – November 23, 2012)

November 24, 2012

http://www.lfpress.com/

Rural Ontario can be forgiven for its celebratory mood this week. After all, The Man blinked and the grassroots movement finally won one.

The issue was the mega-quarry in Melancthon Township near Shelburne. The Highland Companies announced Thursday the application to extract aggregate from the quarry is being withdrawn and Highland president John Lowndes has stepped down.

A company spokesperson said the application “does not have sufficient support from the community and government to justify proceeding.” A classic understatement if ever there was one, with anti-quarry signs appearing as far away as Toronto lawns.

The proposed quarry was “mega” in every sense of the word. It would have covered 2,313 acres, or 93.7 hectares, of what is arguably some of the best farmland in the province. The area’s Honeywood silt loam is as good as it gets for any number of crops, especially potatoes.

In fact, Highland Companies has become a major potato producer since it started acquiring land for the quarry in 2006.

The numbers from In The Hills magazine tell the “mega” story. The five-kilometre wide quarry contained an estimated one billion tonnes of rock reserve, enough to build a two-lane highway 55,555 kilometres long (the circumference of the Earth is 40,075 km).

Wahgoshig First Nation open for business – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – November 23, 2012)

November 24, 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.

Wahgoshig First Nation is open to doing business with resource companies, but one mining executive is off the list. The community, located about 45 kilometres east of Matheson, is not interested in meeting with Darryl Stretch, president and CEO of Solid Gold.

The company began drilling on Wahgoshig’s territory, about a kilometre from the community, in 2011. Chief Dave Babin said the company never informed the First Nation about its plans. “We have values out in the territory and we want to make sure the industry realizes that,” Babin said.

In doing business with other resource companies, the First Nation has negotiated three impact benefit agreements so far, with others to be finalized in the near future, and has 17 memorandums of understanding. Solid Gold failed to consult with the community, even after it was advised by the Crown to do so.

Wahgoshig took the company to court in early January, 2012, and a temporary injunction was granted by an Ontario Superior Court judge to cease exploration. The injunction was for 120 days.

Solid Gold was granted a leave to appeal and the Divisional Court of Ontario will hear the case in January, 2013.

B.C. court says unions can see work permits for Chinese miners – by Petti Fong (Toronto Star – November 23, 2012)

November 23, 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.

VANCOUVER—The federal government was ordered Thursday to turn over to two B.C. trade unions the permits it granted up to 300 Chinese miners to see whether those jobs could have been done by Canadian workers.

In a decision late Thursday in federal court, Judge Douglas Campbell awarded the two unions access to the Labour Market Opinions, the federal government term for the temporary work permits that allows foreign workers to come to Canada. Federal lawyers had argued against releasing the LMOs because of concerns that allowing the permits to be made public could open the floodgates to wide access. They said the permits could provide information that could violate privacy and raise competition issues for the companies that wanted to bring in workers.

HD Mining International Ltd., Canadian Dehua International Mines Group and Huiyong Holdings B.C. sided with the federal government in arguing the trade unions should not have access to those permits.

The permits will allow 200 to 300 miners from China to come to northern B.C. to work at the Murray River Coal Mine near Tumbler Ridge. Already about a dozen miners from China have arrived to do preliminary surveillance work and another 60 were scheduled to be in Canada by mid-December.

How the war against the mega quarry was won – by Jason Van Bruggen (National Post – November 23, 2012)

November 23, 2012

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

In early 2011, while visiting our relatives’ farm near Melancthon in Dufferin County, Ont., my wife and I learned about the now infamous “mega quarry” proposal tabled by The Highland Companies, which were looking to turn the area’s rolling hills into one of the largest open-pit excavation sites in North America. This project involved drilling a pit deeper than Niagara Falls beneath the area’s fertile farmland, and permanently disrupting the source water for five pristine rivers.

My wife Blaine and I decided that this could not happen on our watch, and we took on a role as volunteer strategists for opponents of the mega quarry. Conversations with neighbours, the farmers of Mulmur and Melancthon who had not sold their land to the Highland Companies, revealed a tale of David versus Goliath. Potato farmer Dale Rutledge showed us woodlots that the quarry proponents had carved up to circumvent laws preventing complete woodlot removal. Fifth generation farmers, Ralph and Mary Lynn Armstrong, had been approached and encouraged to “retire to Florida” by people wishing to buy their farm under the guise of creating a giant potato farm.

Not being traditional “activists,” we formed a rabble-rousing group of communicators, all volunteers, and called ourselves the Comm Comm (Communications Committee). From early 2011 onward, we met several times a month to plot what were essentially marketing strategies to create a movement to appeal to everyone who valued food and water.

Trudeau’s glossy sheen doesn’t change Liberal realities – by Kelly McParland (National Post – November 22, 2012)

November 23, 2012

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

I’m still having difficulty getting swept up in the excitement over the growing threat Justin Trudeau allegedly represents to the Conservative bastion of Stephen Harper.

The latest evidence is, allegedly, the brilliant tactical move Team Trudeau executed in suggesting China should be allowed to invest in Canada just like everyone else. This proves he’s not a lightweight, won’t be ruled by past orthodoxies, is capable of rational thought and isn’t about to get caught up with Thomas Mulcair in a tug-of-war for dominion over wishy-washy feel-good leftwing bromides. So we’re told. I just can’t swallow it, for some reason.

Maybe it’s because of people like David McGuinty, the Liberal MP from Ottawa (and brother of the outgoing Ontario Premier) who was viewed by some as a potential leadership candidate all on his own. Upset at the attitude of Tory MPs on the Commons natural resources committee, he let loose with a few typically Liberal insults about Conservatives, Alberta and Big Oil all being in cahoots.

“They are national legislators with a national responsibility, but they come across as very, very small-p provincial individuals who are jealously guarding one industrial sector, picking the fossil fuel business and the oil sands business specifically, as one that they’re going to fight to the death for,” he informed reporters on Tuesday.

China’s place in the oilpatch is too complicated for simple answers – by Deborah Coyne (National Post – November 23, 2012)

November 23, 2012

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

Deborah Coyne is a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

It may be tempting to look for simple answers to the $15.1 billion Chinese takeover of Canadian oil sands company, Nexen. It would be simple to just say we’re open for business and that it’s a good deal, as my fellow candidate Justin Trudeau has done. But this issue is too complicated for simple answers, and leadership in crucial areas of public policy is never quite so black and white.

While this deal may seem of little significance on the surface — it will result in only a three per cent overall stake in the oil sands and provide a relatively small cash injection into an industry that will require literally hundreds of billions of dollars to develop over the next few decades – it will set the template for foreign acquisitions in the Canadian resource sector for decades to come. We’ve got to do the heavy lifting and get this right.

There has been a glaring lack of leadership this issue. We must establish, both for Canadians and our trade and investment partners, a clear long-term strategy for protecting and promoting the Canadian national interest in the development of our valuable and abundant natural resources.

First, we must clearly define the national interest. Our natural resources are a source of valuable leverage with our trade and investment partners.

Alberta’s national energy strategy looks good in hindsight – by Carol Goar (Toronto Star – November 23, 2012)

November 23, 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.

Canada’s premiers gave Alison Redford the cold shoulder when she proposed a national energy strategy 10 months ago. They saw no value in an alliance in which Alberta was the big player and they were all bit players. Some wanted nothing to do with the West’s “dirty oil.”

No one was more dismissive than Dalton McGuinty. “If I had my preference as to whether we have a rapidly growing oil and gas sector in the West or a lower dollar benefitting Ontario, I’ll tell you where I’d stand — with the lower dollar,” the premier said curtly.

A few months later, McGuinty’s innate courtesy prevailed. He hosted a two-hour working dinner for Redford at Toronto’s Windsor Arms Hotel and emerged to say the two were back on a friendly footing. “We have found a lot of common ground,” he said. “Among other things we are determined to ensure that Ontarians understand that they have a vested interest in the continuing growth and prosperity of Alberta.”

But it was too late to save Redford’s vision of a cross-Canada energy framework in which each region capitalized on its strengths — oil and gas, hydro, renewable power, refining capacity, manufacturing of high-tech equipment — and steered business to its neighbours. Too many obstacles had loomed, too much ill will had accumulated.

Justin Trudeau kicks it up a notch as Liberal race heats up – Toronto Star Editorial (November 22, 2012)

November 23, 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.

A lot of Canadians may cringe at the prospect of a Chinese state-owned company buying into Alberta’s oilsands, but Justin Trudeau is okay with it. And to his credit he isn’t afraid to say so. Suddenly, the federal Liberal leadership race is getting interesting.

Bucking popular opinion, even within his own party, Trudeau regards the $15-billion, heavily-conditioned bid by China National Offshore Oil Corp. to buy the Calgary oil firm Nexen as “good for Canada,” insofar as middle-class prosperity rides on expanding our business dealings with the fast-growing Asian market. Risky though it is, this readiness to Kick it up a notch, as celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse might put it, looks good on Trudeau and the party.

As the odds-on favourite to win the leadership vote on April 14 Trudeau could have played it safe and kept mum. But that would have ceded the debate on a hot Canadian energy issue to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats, in effect reinforcing the Liberals’ marginalization in a polarized environment. Trudeau’s bolt from the blue reflects a — correct — perception that the Liberals need to get back into the game and recapture their relevancy by taking bolder stands that will raise their profile after last year’s election debacle.

Study eats into oil-sands opponents’ corrosion claims – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – November 23, 2012)

November 23, 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.

CALGARY — t has taken on the air of fact among those seeking to halt pipelines designed to carry crude from the oil sands. The diluted bitumen those pipelines would carry, critics say, is more corrosive than “normal” crude. In other words, the chemical nature of oil sands crude places the steel it travels through at risk.

But a new study conducted by federal scientists finds exactly the opposite: Diluted bitumen is not more corrosive. In fact, when comparing four types of dilbit, as it’s called, with seven other kinds of oil, the dilbit is among the least corrosive.

The study is a major strike against a key argument made by opponents of pipelines such as TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL and Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway.

Just last week, Quebec Environment Minister Daniel Breton argued that Alberta crude was found to be more corrosive on older pipelines and could result in spills, as he warned Quebec could oppose a plan to pipe western oil through the province to eastern markets. The challenge to those claims comes from work conducted by a Natural Resources Canada lab in Hamilton.