2012 – Page 5 – Republic of Mining

Ex-Solid Gold CEO demands apology for being called ‘racist’ – by Jonathan Migneault (Timmins Daily Press – December 18, 2012)

December 19, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The former president of a gold prospecting company has accused two local First Nations chiefs of making “slanderous and defamatory remarks” against him.

Darryl Stretch, the former president of Solid Gold Resources Corporation, has demanded Dave Babin, chief of the Wahgoshig First Nation, and Harvey Yesno, grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation issue a public apology for comments they made at a press conference in Sudbury in early November.

The Aboriginal leaders referred to Stretch as a “racist” and urged the provincial government to withdraw its support from “radical industry representatives” such as those headed by Solid Gold.

“In the event that you do not respond to this notice, I will take whatever action is available to me,” Stretch said in his letter to Babin and Yesno. Earlier this month, Solid Gold’s board of directors removed as the company’s president and chief executive.

Babin has said he has no plans to respond to Stretch’s request for a public apology. Solid Gold Resources has been engaged in an ongoing conflict with Wahgoshig since the First Nation succeeded in having an injunction imposed against the exploration company, preventing further drilling near the Aboriginal community until a resolution between the parties is reached.

NEWS RELEASE: Rubicon remains committed to further discussions with Wabauskang First Nation

December 18, 2012

TSX:RMX | NYSE.MKT:RBY

TORONTO, Dec. 17, 2012 /CNW/ – Rubicon Minerals Corporation (TSX: RMX | NYSE-MKT: RBY) (“Rubicon”) has learned via press reports that, on December 17, 2012, Wabauskang First Nation (“WFN”) instructed its lawyers to file a lawsuit related to Rubicon’s Phoenix Gold Project in Red Lake, Ontario. At this time, since it has received no notice from WFN, the details of its lawsuit are unknown to Rubicon.

By way of background, Rubicon has been engaged in discussions and consultation with WFN since January of 2009. As part its Closure Plan obligations, Rubicon confirmed its intention to continue to consult with WFN with respect to the Phoenix Gold Project.

Rubicon has, in good faith, met with the community representatives of WFN and other Aboriginal Communities to ensure their interests have been heard and incorporated into the planning process. Some of the efforts made by Rubicon with respect to WFN are as follows:

as noted above, discussed and consulted WFN directly since January 2009;
provided funding to WFN pursuant to its Consultation & Accommodation Protocol for environmental reviews, legal assistance, financial analyses, a traditional use study, travel, per diems and honorariums;
Read more

Inmet investors bet on a higher bid – by Pav Jordan – (Globe and Mail – December 18, 2012)

December 18, 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.

Inmet Mining Corp. shares rose more than 4 per cent Monday as investors in the Toronto miner bet that an ardent suitor has not played its last card with its $5.1-billion hostile takeover bid.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. offered Inmet shareholders $72 a share over the weekend, sweetening for the second time its offer for the owner of a large copper asset in Panama. A first, informal approach on Oct. 28 valued the company at $62.50 a share and a Nov. 28 offer was for $70 a share, or $4.9-billion.

“We’re happy but, you know, not a lot has really changed,” said Terry Thib, a portfolio manager with Norrep Funds in Toronto that holds Inmet shares. “You could say it’s below where it should go out, given they are not working with a full set of data.”

Investors point out that the way the stock-and-cash offer is structured, it is worth about the same today as it was a few weeks ago because First Quantum shares have lost some of their value in the interim, including a 4-per-cent drop on Monday.

More support to revitalise ONTC – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com -December 18, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

TORONTO (miningeekly.com) – The New Deal for Northern Ontario, an initiative to revitalise the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), build a rail link to the Ring of Fire and create thousands of new jobs, on Monday said it is gaining traction as more role-players voice support for the initiative.

Liberal leadership candidate Harinder Takhar recently issued a policy statement calling for “Divestiture of the ONTC to an independent, self-sustaining organisation, and the development of a new rail line for the ‘Ring of Fire’ operations.”

Takhar’s statement is closely aligned with the New Deal plan to transfer ownership of provincially-held ONTC’s railroad and other assets to a new ports authority to be operated under the Canada Marine Act. ONTC operations will be strengthened, and a new rail line to the Ring of Fire mineral deposits will be developed to ship chromite, nickel and other minerals and finished products to markets around the world.

MPP Glen Murray, another Liberal leadership candidate, has called on the government to “pause” its plan to divest the ONTC, while Gerard Kennedy is seeking a “review” of the sell-off decision and further examination of ONTC’s potential role in developing the Ring of Fire mineral deposits. Candidate Charles Sousa, meanwhile, supports “a sustainable, reliable ONTC that connects the North and supports jobs.”

Stream of molten gold signals return of large-scale underground mining to Calif.’s Mother Lode – by Don Thomspson (Associated Press/Victoria Times Colonist – December 17, 2012)

December 18, 2012

http://www.timescolonist.com/

SUTTER CREEK, Calif. – The gold miners who made California famous were the rugged loners trying to shake nuggets loose from streams or hillsides. The ones who made the state rich were those who worked for big mining companies that blasted gold from an underground world of dust and darkness.

The last of the state’s great mines closed because mining gold proved unprofitable after World War II. But with the price of the metal near historic highs, hovering around $1,700 an ounce (28 grams), the California Mother Lode’s first large-scale hard rock gold mining operation in a half-century is coming back to life.

Miners are digging again where their forebears once unearthed riches from eight historic mines that honeycomb Sutter Gold Mining Co.’s holdings about 50 miles (80 kilometres) southeast of Sacramento. Last week, mill superintendent Paul Skinner poured the first thin stream of glowing molten gold into a mould.

“Nothing quite like it,” murmured Skinner, who has been mining for 65 years. It was just four ounces (112 grams), culled from more than eight tons of ore, but it signalled the end of $20 million worth of construction and the pending start of production. The company announced the ceremonial first pour before financial markets opened Monday, marking the mine’s official reincarnation.

Conflicts surrounding Canadian mines ‘a serious problem’ – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 18, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

This series was made possible thanks to a Bourse Nord-Sud grant attributed by the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec and financed by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Last of a three-part series.

Canadians abroad have long benefited from what psychologists call “the halo effect”: Because of its reputation as a peace-loving, human-rights respecting, tree-hugging land, Canada can do no wrong.

But perceptions in Latin America are changing, say observers here and there, as conflicts pitting Canadian mines against local communities become entrenched and spread across continents, and the line between those companies and the Canadian government becomes increasingly blurred.

“Last week, there were demonstrations outside the Canadian Embassy in Mexico. But it’s not just Mexico, it’s throughout the region,” says Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, a history professor at McGill University and the coordinator of the McGill Research Group Investigating Canadian Mining in Latin America. “What embassy in Latin America has not been the locus of protests because of a Canadian mine?

Clean capitalism gets mixed results in the Andes – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 17, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

Barrick Gold has been funding projects near its controversial Pascua Lama mine, in the name of corporate social responsibility. But local citizens wonder what will happen to them when the gold runs out

ALTO DEL CARMEN, CHILE/SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA — Houses for the homeless, wireless Internet for remote villages, new computers for the local school, kite-sailing competitions, a centre for the disabled.

These are a few of the things Barrick Gold has helped finance during the last few years in communities living near its controversial Pascua-Lama mine, under construction in the Andes mountains on the Chile-Argentina border, as part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), or as it is called in Spanish, “mineria responsable.”

If these programs sound like they are beyond the normal purview of a Canadian gold mining giant, that’s because they are. Barrick often works with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are better acquainted with health and social problems in their own communities. The NGOs share their expertise; Barrick puts up the money. It’s hard to be against CSR, now part of the playbook of most Canadian mining companies wherever they have set up shop around the world.

Glaciers, protests and court cases slow Barrick in Pascua-Lama – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 17, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

At the beginning of November, Barrick Gold’s CEO, Jamie Sokalsky, announced yet another jump in the estimated capital costs of the Pascua-Lama mine, from less than $1 billion in 1997, to $3 billion in 2009, to $8 billion in July, to $8.5 billion last month – with “first gold” extracted from the Andean mine closer to the end of 2014 than to the beginning.

But, Sokalsky assured shareholders once again, Pascua-Lama is the company’s “top priority.”

There are, however, a number of obstacles remaining on the bumpy road to Pascua-Lama, to the delight of some and the dismay of others, from legal wrangling in Chile over the deeds to the vast, frigid territory, to a Supreme Court of Argentina decision over whether any mining can take place there at all, given the presence of glaciers so close to the mine pit.

Capital costs, which may yet rise again when the company releases its year-end results in February might be the least of Barrick’s worries.

The seduction of gold in Pascua-Lama – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 15, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

Who can resist it? Not Canadian giant Barrick, which is sinking $8.5 billion into a mine in the snow-capped Andes. Not Chile and Argentina, whose border is home to the massive project. Not a portion of the arid region’s residents who are benefiting from Barrick’s largesse. But with seduction comes risk, division and fear.

PASCUA-LAMA, ON THE BORDER OF CHILE AND ARGENTINA — Standing on a precipice 5,200 metres above sea level, the air is thin and the vistas are long.

Just breathing is difficult at this altitude, with a howling wind disturbing the utter majestic silence of the snow-capped Andes mountains, threatening to blow you over the edge. You’d think you were alone at the top of the world.

But what happens up here in Pascua-Lama, where Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold is developing the first open-pit gold mine to straddle two countries, will have a huge impact on the people living in the valleys below on both sides of the border – for better or for worse.

“Pascua-Lama is a third country in the Andes cordillera” – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 15, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

This series was made possible thanks to a Bourse Nord-Sud grant attributed by the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec and financed by the Canadian International Development Agency

Barrick Gold’s Pascua-Lama mine project will have its own hospital, complete with operating room and X-ray facilities, an indoor sports centre, and housing for up to 10,000 people. It has its own customs and immigration office at one of the highest border crossings in the world, at an elevation of 3,700 metres.

And exclusive charter flights leave La Serena, Chile, and the country’s capital, Santiago, carrying engineers, mine workers and the occasional journalist, just barely clearing the tops of the jagged Andes mountains before landing on the Pascua-Lama airstrip.

It even has its own soccer team – probably a successful one, given the altitude at which the players train.

It is governed by a special tax treaty, which establishes how it will pay taxes and royalties to Chile and Argentina, and by the rules set down in the Bi-National Integrated Mining Treaty signed between the two countries in 1997.

Among other things, the mining treaty gives a company exclusive rights to use the water and other natural resources found within the territory, and suspends both countries’ constitutional prohibitions on economic activity or foreign property ownership near the border.

Crude discount seen continuing for Canadian producers – by Carrie Tait (Globe and Mail – December 18, 2012)

December 18, 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 — The massive price discount energy companies producing oil in Canada receive for their crude will linger throughout 2013 even if the industry is able to build and expand pipeline networks in the United States, experts say, noting that the domestic economy’s potential is being held back.

A barrel of Western Canadian Select is worth $47.20 (U.S.) a barrel right now – a whopping $40 discount to the North American benchmark, known as West Texas intermediate (WTI). Further, the global benchmark, known as Brent crude, sits at $109.62 a barrel, giving it a gaping $62.42 advantage over much of the oil coming out of Western Canada.

Low prices for Canadian crude are caused by a traffic jam of oil in the U.S. Midwest. But even if relief valves are opened thanks to the Seaway pipeline expansion and construction of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, the glut will merely shift from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, CIBC World Markets predicts.

Industry optimists long hoped that new pipelines would ease the gap between Canada’s heavy crude and WTI, making expansion in the oil sands more financially sound. Projects such as Seaway and the southern chunk of Keystone XL may get heavy oil to refining markets, but the recent light oil boom, centred in North Dakota, means excess oil will remain in North America.

Liberal leadership rivals clash on autonomy for northern Ontario – by Maria Babbage (iPolitics.ca – December 10, 2012)

December 18, 2012

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Ontario’s Liberal leadership contenders clashed Sunday over the question of whether northern Ontario should be given more independence to resolve its own economic and social issues.

Facing off in Thunder Bay for the second official debate, the seven rivals tried to fight the perception that the governing Liberals are too Toronto-centric and neglecting a region that will likely become one of the toughest battlegrounds in the next provincial election.

It may be a difficult sell, given the slow progress in building infrastructure to develop the Ring of Fire chromite deposit and the cash-strapped government’s decision to privatize the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission and freeze a key energy project.

Other problems plaguing the Liberals were on display outside the lecture hall at Lakehead University, where dozens of labour and anti-wind turbine protesters picketed the debate. Most were from the union representing public high-school teachers, who wanted to show their displeasure with a controversial new law that gives the government the power to stop strikes, freeze wages and cut benefits.

Inside, the candidates answered pre-selected questions centering on education, aboriginal and northern issues. But the discussion kept circling back to whether northern Ontario should have the power to make its own decisions on creating jobs, tackling aboriginal issues and maintaining public services.

Ontario Mining Association says Key ministry gives mining its due

December 17, 2012

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (MEDI) is now featuring mining on one of its marketing websites. Ontario’s mining sector and its contributions to the provincial economy are front and centre on MEDI’s website www.investinontario.com.

The industry is singled out in three sections: Mining in Ontario: Opportunities for growth; Mining in Ontario: What are the key activities? And; “Mining in Ontario: Who are the players?” The website touches on Ontario’s rich mineral endowment, its favourable access to capital, the strong mine supply and services sector, its fair mining laws and taxation and its skilled and educated workforce.

The site shows Ontario as home to 45% of Canada’s mine supply and services companies and that for attractiveness of mining policy, the province is ranked 13th out of 93 international jurisdictions, according to a Fraser Institute survey. The support of Ontario’s universities and colleges for mining is also demonstrated.

“It is most welcome to see an important ministry like MEDI feature the province’s mining industry on its website and showcase the attributes of our industry to the world,” said Ontario Mining Association President Chris Hodgson. “People in the sector know they are working in a world leading Canadian industry and it is good news to see MEDI help to share mining’s good news story.”

NEWS RELEASE: Support Builds for New Deal to Revitalize Ontario Northland, Connect Ring of Fire

December 17, 2012

• More stakeholders demand government pause its ONTC sell-off plan

• New website launches today to support the New Deal

NORTH BAY, ONTARIO (Dec. 17, 2012) – The New Deal for Northern Ontario www.newdealnorth.ca), an initiative to revitalize the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), build a rail link to the Ring of Fire and create thousands of new jobs, has expanded its base of support among key stakeholders.

Liberal leadership candidate Harinder Takhar recently issued a policy statement calling for “Divestiture of the ONTC to an independent, self-sustaining organization, and the development of a new rail line for the ‘Ring of Fire’ operations.”

Potanin comes out as CEO in Norilsk Nickel boardroom war deal – by Polina Devitt (Mineweb.com – December 17, 2012)

December 17, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com/

As the Norilsk Nickel boardroom war comes to a Kremlin/Abramovich–enforced understanding, long-time co-owner, Vladimir Potanin has emerged as the incoming CEO.

MOSCOW (REUTERS) – Norilsk Nickel named longtime co-owner Vladimir Potanin as its chief executive on Monday under a deal to end a boardroom war at the world’s top nickel and palladium producer.

Kremlin-backed oligarch Roman Abramovich will take control of a 20 percent voting stake to act as a buffer between Potanin and rival Oleg Deripaska, who owns a share in Norilsk through UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium producer.

Speaking after his unanimous election by the Norilsk board, Potanin said he planned to stay in the job for between 18 months and two years. The peace deal will last for 10 years, with the core shareholders agreeing to keep their stakes for five.

Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea soccer club, could also act as a conduit for the Kremlin at the cash-rich company that mines the vast mineral deposits of Russia’s far north.

Having brought an end to the four-year feud between Potanin and Deripaska, he could potentially end up sidelining them as President Vladimir Putin seeks to restore order at the $30 billion miner that was privatised in the mid-1990s.