2012 – Page 63 – Republic of Mining

Opinion: Emerging markets offer risk, but also reward for investors – by Michael Schaab (Vancouver Sun – August 30, 2012)

August 31, 2012

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

Michael Schaab, CA CFA, is a vice-president and portfolio manager at Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. in Vancouver. The article is not intended to provide advice, recommendations or offers to buy or sell any product or service.

With fewer analysts and investors in the mix, the chance of finding undervalued investments is greater

Emerging markets are often touted in investment circles and the business media. Yet many investors are unsure of how to invest in emerging markets, or even whether they should. These markets are alluring but can be mysterious, misunderstood or simply difficult to access.

With a prudent strategy, however, emerging markets can strengthen an investor’s portfolio. Before adding exposure, investors should understand the tenets of emerging-market investing, its risks and rewards and a proper approach to investing in them.

So, what is an emerging market? It’s a country or region that is less developed financially and economically than “developed” markets. Meanwhile, its economy is growing rapidly.

[Quebec] Aboriginal groups poised to resume blockade – by Christopher Curtis (Montreal Gazette – August 30, 2012)

August 31, 2012

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

Negotiations over land dispute in heart of the boreal forest are stalling

It’s zero hour for leaders in the Atikamekw First Nation. Last month, chiefs in three impoverished Atikamekw communities gave the provincial government an ultimatum: resolve a 33-year-old land dispute by Aug. 30 or face blockades on logging roads across the Haute Mauricie region.

With negotiations stalling and the deadline expired, groups in Opitciwan, Manawan and Wemotaci must decide whether to resume disruptions on roads used by forestry giant Kruger Products.

About 30 people in the Aboriginal reserves set up checkpoints to prevent Kruger’s trucks from carrying lumber through their territory in June and early July. They also blocked all CN Rail line traffic passing through Atikamekw land.

Grand chiefs in the Aboriginal towns said they wanted a bigger stake in the management of natural resources on their reserves as well as a “James Bay Cree” style agreement with the provincial government.

Murder charges stun and enrage South African miners – by Lydia Polgreen (The New York Times News Service/Globe and Mail – August 31, 2012)

August 31, 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.

Two weeks after the police opened fire on a crowd of 3,000 workers engaged in a wildcat strike at a platinum mine near Johannesburg, killing 34 people in the bloodiest labour unrest since the end of apartheid, prosecutors are bringing murder charges against a surprising set of suspects: the miners themselves.

Using an obscure legal doctrine frequently relied upon by the apartheid government in its dying days, prosecutors did not accuse the police officers who shot and killed the strikers as they surged forward, machetes in hand. Instead, officials said Thursday that they were pursuing murder charges against the 270 miners who were arrested after the dust settled and the shooting stopped.

It was the latest astonishing turn in a saga that has gripped South Africa, unleashing a torrent of rage over deepening inequality, poverty and unemployment.

Gloves off in CNOOC-Nexen ‘net benefit’ debate – by Gordon Isfeld (National Post – August 31, 2012)

August 31, 2012

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

OTTAWA – It all comes down to process and benefits. And that’s where the debate over Canada’s foreign investment policy gets messy — and sometimes nasty.

The start of Ottawa’s review of a bid by China’s state-owned energy company for Nexen Inc. has sparked another round of political acrimony over who should ultimately control Canada’s resources and who stands to gain or lose.

China National Offshore Oil Co.’s proposed $15.1-billion takeover of the Calgary-based oil-and-gas producer has, like others before it, renewed calls for a more open process in reviewing such deals and determining their “net benefit” — a term that has been around as along as the 1985 Investment Canada Act itself, but one rarely explained or understood.

Industry Minister Christian Paradis, who on Wednesday confirmed that CNOOC had formally applied for approval of the Nexen takeover, now has 45 days to review the bid under the act, with an option to extend the process by another 30 days, before ruling on the net benefit of the deal to Canada.

Kuwait closes in on Athabasca deal – by Shawn McCarthy, Jacquie McNish, Carrie Tait (Globe and Mail – August 31, 2012)

August 31, 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, Toronto, Calgary – Kuwait’s state-owned petroleum company has signed a preliminary deal to invest as much as $4-billion in a joint venture with Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. to develop some of its oil sands properties in northern Alberta.

Kuwait’s Ambassador to Canada, Ali al-Sammak, confirmed in an interview that senior Kuwait Petroleum Corp. officials signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month. A final agreement is expected in October.

“It’s a plus-or-minus $4-billion deal and in October they’ll be coming back to follow up what has been signed,” Mr. al-Sammak said i n a telephone interview. “So we’re doing very good – this proves that we’re good close friends.”

He said Kuwait Petroleum is seeking to diversify its operations beyond the Middle East and to improve its access to oil sand extraction technology, which could be used in its own heavy oil fields.

We Love the [Ontario Northlander] Train, But Really … by Steve Paikin (The Inside Agenda Blog – August 29, 2012)

August 31, 2012

http://theagenda.tvo.org/blog

Ron Brown’s op-ed piece in the August 29 Toronto Star about how much the Northlander would be missed gave me pause. Ron describes in eloquent detail that seeing Northern Ontario through the windows of The Northlander is one of life’s wondrous experiences.

But do you know what we’re paying for that experience? Apparently too much for the McGuinty government’s liking, particularly as it tries to bite into a $15 billion deficit.

It’s true that all forms of transportation are subsidized. Taxpayers foot the bill for the roads our buses travel on. And the rails our subways and streetcars and GO Trains ride on. Come to think of it, taxpayers pay for those subway and surface trains, and streetcars too. And once upon a time, they paid to build all of the country’s airports.

But the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), while an enriching experience, is being subsidized to the tune of $400 per rider. The GO Train gets less than a $2 subsidy per rider.

Qatar’s Rejection Leaves Glasenberg to Decide on Xstrata – by Jesse Riseborough, Firat Kayakiran and Matthew Campbell (Blomberg Markets Magazine – Aug 31, 2012)

August 31, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore International Plc (GLEN)’s billionaire chief executive officer, has a week to decide on his biggest bet yet — whether to raise his $31 billion offer for Xstrata Plc (XTA) or see his five-year effort to create the fourth-biggest mining company disintegrate.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, which has 12 percent of Xstrata, ruled out accepting Glasenberg’s current bid yesterday. That means Glencore’s takeover probably will fail unless Glasenberg raises the offer in time for a shareholder vote scheduled for Sept. 7.

Glasenberg, a former accountant and coal trader who owns 16 percent of Baar, Switzerland-based Glencore, has worked there since 1984 and became CEO in 2002. He will make the final decision and will rely less on advisers as the deal nears conclusion, a person familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak about it.

“He’s a preeminent trader, and don’t traders always leave it until the last minute?” Peter Davey, head of metals and mining research at Standard Bank (SBK) Group Ltd. in London, said by phone. “He’s never going to disclose his hand upfront. That’s how he makes money. It leaves the door open for him to try a better offer.”

Anglo CEO [Cynthia Carroll] Doubles Down on New Mines Amid Falling Demand – by Jeremy Kahn (Bloomberg Markets Magazine – September 2012)

August 31, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Driving northeast from Santiago, the road corkscrews toward the shark’s-grin skyline of the Andes Mountains. In winter, Santiago’s smart set plies this route, heading for virgin-powder days and pisco-sour nights at La Parva ski resort. Most have no inkling that in a high mountain valley just over the ridgeline, excavators the size of houses have sculpted the mountainside into a steeply terraced pit 1,800 feet deep, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its September issue.

This is Los Bronces, one of the world’s richest copper mines. Anglo American Plc (AAL), the London-based company that owns Los Bronces, spent $2.8 billion from 2007 to 2011 to double the size of the mine. And Los Bronces is just one of four megaprojects that Anglo Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Carroll has initiated or pushed through construction since she took over in 2007 — each representing a wager in excess of $1 billion on the continued rise of China, India and other emerging markets.

Los Bronces is also at the center of a legal battle between Anglo and Codelco, the Chilean state-owned mining company. The dispute — over whether Anglo can block Codelco from exercising an option to buy half of Anglo’s Chilean subsidiary — has spooked Anglo investors and weighed on the company’s share price, which dropped more than 15 percent from the time the controversy erupted in October to August 8.

Harper sees job creation as key to solving Far North’s problems – by Barbara Yaffe (Vancouver Sun – August 28, 2012)

August 30, 2012

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

To combat harshness of life north of 60, Ottawa promotes natural resources development – and work it creates – as cure for what ails region

Stephen Harper shifted tone last week on his seventh annual foray to the Far North, talking less about national sovereignty and more about job creation. With most Canadians aware the north is not under any great foreign threat, the PM used the trip to focus more on northerners, promoting his ubiquitous jobs and growth strategy.

The region, which accounts for 40 per cent of Canada’s land mass, is becoming ever more high profile, with gradual melting opening up more economic opportunities. Resource exploitation, tour-ism and shipping are set to expand, and are bound to shine a bigger spotlight on those living in the region.

Northern residents are spread out across a vast terrain, with a population no bigger than that of Kelowna, at 117,000. More than half are aboriginal.

Canada’s asbestos industry could end under PQ – by The Canadian Press (Vancouver Sun – August 30, 2012)

August 30, 2012

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

MONTREAL – The party considered the front-runner in the Quebec election is poised to shut down what’s left of Canada’s asbestos industry, following its lengthy and controversial decline.

The Parti Quebecois says it would start by cancelling a $58 million loan, promised by the current Liberal government, to help reopen what would be the country’s last asbestos mine.

It would then hold consultations with several hundred workers around Asbestos, Que., about diversifying the regional economy and finding replacements for an industry that, according to PQ Leader Pauline Marois, is a relic from another era.

Documented links between asbestos and cancer have prompted much of the developed world to stop using it in construction materials. Now Marois says all signs point to a ban. “All the trends are headed there. We know the health studies illustrate that,” Marois said Wednesday, referring to the links with cancer.

Asbestos industry will be shut down if Parti Québécois wins election – by Kevin Dougherty (Montreal Gazette – August 29, 2012)

August 30, 2012

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

ROUYN-NORANDA, Q.C. – Pauline Marois announced Wednesday that if she becomes Quebec premier after the provincial election next Tuesday, Quebec will get out of the asbestos mining and exporting business.

Marois indicated her mind is made up but said she would first hold hearings before a Quebec national assembly committee to hear what those affected have to say. “I think it is important to hear the workers and their families,” she told reporters. She also wants to hear from entrepreneurs in the Asbestos region who can expect government aid for diversification projects to replace the last jobs.

She said she has “very great confidence” in local entrepreneurs, who could draw on a $58-million loan of government money the Charest government committed for the reopening of the underground Jeffrey Mine in the town of Asbestos.

She plans to cancel that loan. Late on a Friday afternoon, just before the July 1 weekend, in the town of Asbestos, Yvon Vallières, intergovernmental affairs minister and the outgoing Liberal MNA for Richmond riding, announced the government was lending $58 million to reopen the Jeffry Mine.

Greenpeace steps up activist campaign against Arctic oil drilling – by Associated Press (Toronto star – August 30, 2012)

August 30, 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.

STOCKHOLM—Global warming has resulted in a rush to exploit Arctic resources — and Greenpeace is determined to thwart that stampede. Employing the same daredevil tactics it has used against nuclear testing and commercial whaling, the environmental group is now set on preventing oil companies from profiting from global warming by drilling for oil near the Arctic’s shrinking ice cap.

The campaign took off in May 2010, when oil was still gushing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, Greenpeace was startled by reports that a small Scottish energy firm was proceeding with plans to drill for oil and gas in iceberg-laden waters off western Greenland.

“It felt slightly surreal,” recalled Ben Ayliffe, now the head of Greenpeace’s campaign against oil drilling the Arctic. “After what happened in the Gulf of Mexico, how can anyone respond to that by going to drill in similar depths in a place called Iceberg Alley?”

Greenpeace quickly arranged to get a ship to Greenland, where four activists attached themselves to a drilling rig for two days until a storm forced them to abandon the protest.

Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper Delivers Remarks in Churchill, Manitoba (August24, 2012)

August 30, 2012

“Because our North, and all the wealth it contains, will be a critical part of
Canada’s future. And in an uncertain world where demand for resources is growing,
where any number of civilian needs can suddenly come upon us, and where conflicts
and potential conflicts remain ever present, you, our men and women in uniform,
are here to literally stand on guard for the true North, strong and free.

And I believe our country’s greatest dreams are to be found in our highest
latitudes. For us, the North is more than just a great land. The North is
Canada’s call to greatness.” (Prime Minister Stephen Harper)

Churchill, Manitoba – August 24, 2012

Thank you very much. Thank you, first of all, Peter, for that kind introduction, and also for the fine job you’re doing as Minister of National Defence, leading the department and the members of the Canadian Forces.

Greetings as well to all of my colleagues who have been with me all of this week, to Minister Leona Aglukkaq, to Minister John Duncan, and to Member of Parliament Ryan Leef.

General Natynczyk, always good to see you, and let me use this opportunity in front of so many of your people here to thank you and to congratulate you on over four years of fine service as Chief of Defence Staff of Canada.

Private property bill has First Nations fearing loss of reserve lands – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – August 29, 2012)

August 30, 2012

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

First Nations in northern Ontario fear the loss of their already limited reserve lands should new federal legislation allowing private property on reserves pass, says a Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) deputy grand chief.

Les Louttit, who held the housing and infrastructure portfolio during the last executive council before being reelected, said there is a big risk that First Nations right across Canada would end up losing land should there be private property on reserve.

“There are pros and cons to the proposed legislation, but I think we know from experiences elsewhere that there is the risk of expropriation of those private lands into non-Aboriginal ownership,” Louttit said. “It would continue to erode the size of the community proper, the reserve lands,” he said. “There is that danger.”

On the positive side, Louttit said that private property would allow community members to use their land as collateral for getting a mortgage, which could help alleviate the huge backlog of homes needed in NAN communities.

Hurricane makes tracks for minister [Bartolucci] – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – August 30, 2012)

August 30, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Health Minister Deb Matthews isn’t the only Ontario Liberal cabinet minster under siege. Flying under that radar is a storm of pressure on Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci.

The Liberals’ decision in March to sell off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission has put him in the eye of Hurricane North. The ONTC supplies bus and rail service to northeastern Ontario, and it runs a communications company that provides phone and Internet service.

The century-old agency was founded to facilitate the boom in mining and forestry, but times have changed, and Bartolucci says the $100-million annual subsidy, which means each passenger ride on the Northlander train is subsidized by $400, is no longer feasible when the government faces a $15-billion deficit.

Bus service will be contracted out so transportation to Toronto remains available, which is important for those who need access to health-care facilities in southern Ontario.