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Year: 2012

Northlander train closure could lead to rising shipping costs – by Lenny Carpenter (Wawatay News – September 19, 2012)

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

The closure of the Northlander train and divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) could lead to higher transportation costs for the north, said the mayor of Moosonee.

Mayor Victor Mitchell said he is concerned that the sale of the ONTC and its subsidiaries could have long-term economic effects for the northern communities.

Earlier this year, the provincial government announced that the Northlander train, which runs from Toronto to Cochrane, will cease to operate due to escalating operation costs. The Northlander will have its final ride on Sept. 28. Mitchell is concerned that the costs of shipping goods and supplies to the north will rise after the Northlander makes its final run.

“In terms of freight and fuel, it comes by the regulation style oil tankers,” Mitchell said. “And it comes directly from whichever fuel depot it comes from and ships north. If the freight is stopping before Cochrane, how is that fuel going to be hauled?”

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What’s the plan for PQ’s Plan Nord? – by Sophie Cousineau (Globe and Mail – September 19, 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.

MONTREAL — Watching Jean Charest resign after 28 years in politics, Quebeckers were struck when his voice choked with emotion. As premier, no one could recall him being so overwhelmed while speaking of his family.

Yet that was not the most poignant moment of his farewell. It was when he pleaded – almost desperately – with premier-designate Pauline Marois to press on with his ambitious plan to harness the province’s resources north of the 49th parallel. “The next government must absolutely pursue the Plan Nord’s development for the future generation of Quebeckers,” he said.

It is remarkable that Mr. Charest, who often appeared aloof as premier, became so passionate about the “construction site of a generation.” What started as a search for a project to win a majority government in the 2008 elections became what he now views as his political legacy. This 25-year plan to access the abundant resources of Quebec’s far north was unveiled in May of 2011. But its figures are still dizzying: $80-billion in investments that will create 20,000 jobs a year and bring in $14-billion in the government’s coffers.

Or so the original plan goes. It now lies in the hands of a skeptical Parti Québécois government, which will unveil its cabinet Wednesday. Everybody expects economist Nicolas Marceau will become the next finance minister.

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Rail money offered to Quebec miners – by Ashley Fitzpatrick (St. John’s Telegraph – September 19, 2012)

http://www.thetelegram.com/

Adriana Resources not the only iron ore company backed by Wuhan Iron and Steel

Eager to get their hands on Canadian iron ore, Chinese backers of the Lac Otelnuk project in Northern Quebec — what Adriana Resources highlights as the country’s largest iron ore deposit — are willing to cover the construction of a new rail line to move the resource to processing and shipping facilities south, in Sept-îles.

President and CEO of Adriana Resources, Allen Palmiere, included the news when he spoke about Lac Otelnuk at an investors’ forum at the Sheraton Hotel in St. John’s Tuesday. He said regardless of the solution, transportation infrastructure is needed  to move iron ore from the project across the 850-kilometre span to the coast.

The company is developing plans for a mine at the Lac Otelnuk find, expected to be capable of producing 50 million metric tonnes of iron a year. It hinges on having government approvals, aboriginal agreements, power and — something Palmiere focused on — rail access. “We have some challenges,” Palmiere said. “Mining’s the least of our issues.”

Despite having talked to CN about a rail project, Adriana Resources has not signed a deal with the Canadian railway company.
“We haven’t been in dialogue with CN for many months,” Palmiere said. “The discussions are certainly not closed by any means, but we seem to have hit a bit of a stumbling block.”

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Canada’s last mining frontier about to be opened – by Bill Mann, (MarketWatch.com – September 19, 2012)

http://www.marketwatch.com/

Baffin Island iron mine poses daunting logistical challenges

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (MarketWatch) — It’s been called “Ice Train Station Zebra” by some Canadian quipsters. No one has ever built a railway on huge Baffin Island, part of which is north of the bottom half of Greenland. That is, until now. A huge iron mine that will use the railroad was formally greenlit by the government last week after months of hearings, four years of planning, and big proxy fights.

You can almost hear the strains of “I’ve been working on the railroad…and freezing my butt off.” Some of the native people who live up in the Canadian territory of Nunavut and attended the government hearings hunt caribou for a living and said they didn’t know what a railroad might look like.

When the arctic railroad (possible name: Burlington Far Northern?) is completed, it will truly be an iron horse — hauling some of the purest iron ore in the world from the Mary River open-pit mine to a port that also needs to be built, at Steensby Inlet. About 25 million tons a year of ore, to be exact. Waiting for that ore will be ice-breaking freighters — also not yet built — which couldn’t have reached the area until climate change made it accessible.

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Lonmin deal stirs more South Africa mine strife – by Sherilee Lakmidas (Globe and Mail – September 19, 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.

MARIKANA, South Africa — Reuters – South African police fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse protesters near a mine run by top platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the first sign of unrest spreading after strikers at smaller rival Lonmin won big pay rises.

Within hours of Lonmin agreeing to a pay increase of 11 to 22 per cent, workers at neighbouring mines were calling for similar hikes, suggesting more trouble in store after six weeks of industrial action that has claimed 45 lives and threatened Africa’s biggest economy.

“We want management to meet us as well now,” an organizer for the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) at Impala Platinum, the number two producer, told Reuters.

“We want 9,000 rand ($1,098 U.S.) a month as a basic wage instead of the roughly 5,000 rand we are getting.” He declined to be named for fear of recriminations from the company. Lonmin shares soared more than 9 per cent to levels not seen since police shot dead 34 miners on August 16 outside its Marikana mine, 100 km northwest of Johannesburg.

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KI pulls out of Far North planning process – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – September 19, 2012)

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) has pulled out of the Ontario land use planning process under the Far North Act. “At the end of the day, when everything is completed and done it is the minister who has the last say,” said KI Chief Donny Morris. “We want control and to have the minister have the last say, that is not what we want. So that is why we pulled out.”

Morris sent the Aug. 31 letter to Dianne Corbett, director of Far North Branch, Ministry of Natural Resources, announcing the decision. Posted on the kitchenuhmaykoosib.com website, the letter stated that KI entered the land use planning process in a good faith attempt to work with Ontario to reduce land use conflicts in the KI homeland.

“When we do the land use planning, it is for our own community membership to determine the future of our resources, our lands and water, not the minister,” Morris said. Morris said it has become clear to the community over time that land use planning under the Far North Act would change the jurisdiction and authority of KI on its homeland.

“It is our view that the Far North Act acts to deny or limit the Aboriginal rights, Aboriginal title or treaty rights of KI and limits or defines the consultation and accommodation obligations between KI and Ontario,” Morris said in the letter. “In short, we cannot work within the limitations of the current legislation.”

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Gold junior miner takes on [Ontario] government – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – September 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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Darryl Stretch has his Howard Beale moments. Like the ranting fictional TV anchorman, emotion can get the better of the president of Solid Gold Resources when he discusses the exploration standstill at his Lake Abitibi gold play in northeastern Ontario.

The 25-year industry veteran admits to not being very polished, media-wise, in explaining his gloves-off approach in fighting to resume drilling at his Legacy Gold Project, a 200-square-kilometre property near the Quebec border that the junior miner has held since 2007.

“Everything we do in life is a double-edged sword,” said Stretch, whose torrent of colourful press releases attacking the province, the courts and First Nations as being “bullies,” “tyrants,” and speaking with “forked tongues” is the kind of vitriol that would make his company radioactive to investors.

“Even though I have a pretty pathetic-looking stock price (at $0.035 on the TSX Venture Exchange in mid-August), most of my shareholders are pretty comfortable with what I’m doing. We’ve been left with no alternative.”

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Let’s get ready [Thunder Bay mining boom] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – September 19, 2012)

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

As mining potential in the region continues to grow, Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs says the Northwest has to be ready when things take off. “We want to be ready when the mining boom hits,” Hobbs told those taking part in Tuesday evening’s information session about the Mining Readiness Strategy at the Italian Cultural Centre.

“We need to be ready as a city and the Northwest has to be ready for what is coming at us,” he said before the meeting. “There are about 10 mines in the queue in the next three to five years with the potential for $130 billion in revenues.”

With 13 mineral exploration programs and more than $80 billion in spending expected to take place between 2013 and 2017, Thunder Bay is partnering with Fort William First Nation and the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission to develop a mining readiness strategy that will create a plan for the region on mining development and economic growth.

SNC-Lavalin is developing the strategy, which will focus on transportation, infrastructure, energy, business development, workforce and training development, housing, as well as financing and capital investment needs.

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Goldcorp says industry primed for mergers – by Liezel Hill (Toronto Star – September 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.

Bloomberg News – Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second- largest producer of the metal, said mining acquisition targets are looking more attractive as tougher financing conditions have depressed share prices.

“The development-company valuations have come down to where, at least on paper, it looks like there’s some opportunities,” Chief Executive Officer Chuck Jeannes said in a recent interview. “There’s a lot of looking going on.”

Meanwhile Tuesday, Goldcorp said it has signed a deal to sell part of its stake in Primero Mining Corp. in a secondary offering worth $44.2 million. The big gold miner said a syndicate of underwriters have agreed to buy 8.4 million shares of Primero at a price of $5.25 per share.

Exploration and development companies, or so-called juniors, underperformed the large gold miners last year after they struggled to raise funds and investors shunned risky assets. The juniors are on average lagging the seniors again this year, even after rising 25 percent since hitting a two-year low on June 28. The 74 companies in a Bloomberg Industries index of gold explorers now trade at an average 1.54 times book value, versus a three-year average of 2.58.

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NEWS RELEASE: Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) Announces Construction of a New Mineral Processing Pilot Plant

​The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) today announced construction of a new mineral processing pilot plant. The new pilot plant, coupled with SRC’s existing mineral processing expertise, laboratory and testing facilities, will allow mining companies in Western Canada and beyond to access a full range of applied research, development, process design, scale-up, and pilot-scale demonstration, plus new and improved processes for recovering valuable metals and minerals.

Member of the Legislative Assembly for Saskatoon Fairview Jennifer Campeau on behalf of Economy Minister and Minister responsible for SRC Bill Boyd was in attendance today to announce construction.

Located in Saskatoon, the pilot plant will enable SRC to provide services and expertise previously unavailable in Saskatchewan, and will allow mining companies to increase productivity and competitiveness in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The new pilot plant will support the development and demonstration of new and improved methods for processing minerals such as potash, gold, base metals, coal, oil sand, oil shale and especially rare earth minerals. It will enable the pilot-scale demonstration of new technologies that will be able to increase mining yields and decrease costs.

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It’s business as usual, asbestos company says – by Monique Beaudin (Montreal Gazette – September 18, 2012)

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

Reopening set despite Ottawa, PQ actions

MONTREAL – The company planning to reopen Quebec’s only asbestos mine says Ottawa’s decision to stop opposing the addition of asbestos to an international hazardous-substances list will not stop the mine’s relaunch next spring.
 
And despite a promise by the Parti Québécois to cancel a $58-million loan to reopen the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, a company spokesperson said work to prepare the mine to reopen is continuing.
 
“The status remains unchanged as far as the mine is concerned,” said Guy Versailles, a spokesman for Balcorp Ltd., part of a consortium of investors in the mine. The mine received the loan in June, and at least $7 million has been disbursed, Versailles said.

Adding asbestos to the hazardous-substances list under the United Nations Rotterdam Convention would require exporting countries to inform importing countries about the hazards of using it, and to include safe-handling and proper precautionary measures.

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Baffin Island mega-mine gets green light from Nunavut agency – by Randy Boswell (Montreal Gazette – September 17, 2012)

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

A Nunavut review agency’s approval on Friday of a massive, $4-billion iron mine on Baffin Island not only green-lights one of the biggest industrial projects ever in the Canadian Arctic, it also offers some belated vindication for Sir Martin Frobisher, the 16th-century English explorer who dreamed that Baffin’s rocks might someday yield unimaginable riches.
 
Though Frobisher’s own quest for gold in the future Nunavut was proven futile by the end of the 1570s, his perilous voyages to what was then the outer limit of the known world set the stage for British — and ultimately Canadian — sovereignty over the vast Arctic archipelago, including Baffin Island and the colossal Mary River ore deposit now set to be mined by Toronto-based Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.
 
The planned mine and town site, located near the island’s northern tip, would see almost 20 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore excavated annually from a huge open-pit operation, transported 150 kilometres south along the world’s northernmost railroad to a new deep-water Arctic port, then shipped to European smelters on a fleet of mammoth, custom-made ice-breaking barges.

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Nickel price drop only temporary, TD economist says – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – September 17, 2012)

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

No need for ‘panic’: mining supply association director

The head of commodity strategy for TD Securities said nickel prices may reach as high as $9 a pound by the second quarter of next year. Speaking at a Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) meeting Sept. 17, Bart Melek said nickel prices have sunk in recent months because China just isn’t buying as much of the metal as it once did.

That’s because the country has accumulated a significant stockpile of metals. But as they start to run out, nickel prices will pick up again, he said. TD is predicting that nickel prices will be at $8.23 in the last quarter of 2012, $8.50 in the first quarter of 2013 and $9.00 in the second quarter of 2013.

Currently, nickel prices are sitting at around $8.25 a pound. They reached as low as $7 a pound in August. “I have about $9 in the second quarter of 2013,” Melek said.

“Before that, inventories will have pretty much whittled down. We will already see an impact of production cuts around the world in nickel facilities, bringing that market into a bit of a deficit.

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NEWS RELEASE: Australia’s mining sector in the balance

Baker & McKenzie launches global report examining the challenges and  opportunities facing the world’s key mining destinations

Australia, 17 September 2012 – Baker & McKenzie, the world’s largest law firm, has launched a report highlighting significant concerns about the future of Australia’s mining sector.

The Firm surveyed more than 300 senior industry leaders across six key mining jurisdictions – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia and South Africa – and the research suggests that investors in Australia are more pessimistic about the future of mining investment in this country than those investing in the other jurisdictions surveyed.

Of the executives commenting on Australia, 75% said that investing in the mining sector has become more complicated and costly due to factors such as increasing regulatory and environmental obligations, complex and uncertain project development requirements and the rising costs of mine development and operation.

The level of Commonwealth and State Government involvement in the Australian mining industry is also causing concern to investors, with 61% of respondents believing that the Government is too involved in the industry and 72% believing that sovereign risk is on the increase. 

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Harvard Losing Out to South Dakota in Graduate Pay: Commodities – by Joe Richter (Bloomberg.com – September 18, 2012)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Harvard University’s graduates are earning less than those from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology after a decade-long commodity bull market created shortages of workers as well as minerals.

Those leaving the college of 2,300 students this year got paid a median salary of $56,700, according to PayScale Inc., which tracks employee compensation data from surveys. At Harvard, where tuition fees are almost four times higher, they got $54,100. Those scheduled to leave the campus in Rapid City, South Dakota, in May are already getting offers, at a time when about one in 10 recent U.S. college graduates is out of work.

“It doesn’t seem to be too hard to get a job in mining,” said Jaymie Trask, a 22-year-old chemical-engineering major who was offered a post paying more than $60,000 a year at Freeport- McMoRan (FCX) Copper & Gold Inc. “If you work hard in school for four or five years, you’re pretty much set.”

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