2012 – Page 65 – Republic of Mining

Politically-divided commission narrowly approves new SEC ‘Conflict Minerals’ rule – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – August 23, 2012)

August 28, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Beginning in 2014, public companies listed on U.S. exchanges will have to disclose their reliance on minerals from the DRC and surrounding nations.

RENO (MINEWEB) – While not the only unhappy ones, it could be argued that the unhappiest stakeholders in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s adoption of a controversial provision governing conflict minerals may have been the Republican members of commission.

On a 3 to 2 vote, the commission voted for Section 1502, the “conflict minerals provision”, requiring companies listed on U.S. stock markets to examine their supply chains to determine and disclose if their productions contain minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo or its neighboring nations.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro and fellow Democrats Luis A. Aguilar and Elisse Walter voted in favor of the new regulation, while Republican commissioners Daniel Gallagher and Troy Paredes opposed the rule.

Dependency and federal aid in Canada’s Arctic – by Heather Exner-Pirot (Alaska Dispatch – August 23, 2012)

August 28, 2012

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/

Nunavut is a wealthy region. With a GDP/capita of $53,506, if it were a country it would easily rank amongst the top ten richest – ahead even of Canada, which using the same formula has a GDP/capita of $47,605.

But of course, Nunavummiut themselves are not wealthy. They are more likely to live in poverty than any other Canadians, and have the lowest human development ranking in the country. This is because most of Nunavut’s income does not come from employment, profitable businesses or even resource development. It comes from the federal government.

Indeed, 92 percent of the Government of Nunavut’s revenue comes from federal transfers, compared to 9.1 percent for Newfoundland at the provincial low end, to 39.9 percent for PEI at the high end. Yukon and NWT stand at 71.7 percent and 76 percent respectively. This amounts to, as they say in the development biz, a “high level of aid dependency.”

Money transferred from Ottawa to Iqaluit is not, technically speaking, aid – citizens in Nunavut pay taxes and transfer royalties to the Crown, after all – but comparisons between Nunavut’s and Africa’s situations are unsettlingly easy to make.

Behind a mining monopoly [Canada mining reputation] – by Aljazeera (The Stream – August 27, 2012)

August 28, 2012

Beneath Canada’s mines in Latin America lies an unregulated industry.

Canada is seen as a friendly nation but many indigenous communities say they have a dirty secret. Canada’s mining industry, the largest in the world, controls a majority of Latin American mining. Activists say they pollute and violate human rights without accountability from the Canadian government. Mining companies argue they build schools, health centres, roads and provide jobs.

In this episode of The Stream, we speak to Meera Karunananthan (@meerakar) from the Council of Canadians and John McKay (@johnmckaylib), Canadian Member of Parliament. Members of The Stream community also join via Google+.

Home to 70 per cent of the world’s mining companies, Canada’s mineral extraction economy is more robust and expansive than any other nation’s. Although its operations span from Ontario’s Ring of Fire to the Congo, Canadian mining companies are the most active in Latin America. The diagram below compares the exploration budgets of large Canadian mining companies with those of other countries.

Confederation College of Thunder Bay prepares for mining construction boom in Ontario Ring of Fire – by Don Procter (Daily Commercial News and Construction Record – August 28, 2012)

August 28, 2012

http://www.dcnonl.com/

As mining exploration ramps up in the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario, the construction industry in the region awaits busy times.

Along with the expected building construction boom, there will be bridges, roads and power infrastructure to build plus “a whole range of unprecedented development,” says Don Bernosky, vice-president, Regional Workforce Development (RWD), at Confederation College in Thunder Bay. “It could be as big as the Sudbury mining basin or the whole Timmins area.”

Meeting the demand for a skilled workforce will be challenging. For training institutes like Confederation College, it is good news that mining companies are still a few years away from construction.

That gives the college “limited time” to develop appropriate training programs for building, says Bernosky. With nine campuses in northwestern Ontario, Confederation is the only community college in the region. It offers apprenticeship training in carpentry, electrical, motive power trades, and construction trades.

In conjunction with the multi-billion dollar Ring of Fire developments, there are 12 potential mining projects around Thunder Bay, he says.

New NAN grand chief [Harvey Yesno] pledges protection of lands – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – August 28, 2012)

August 28, 2012

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

Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s new grand chief wasted little time in wading into the controversy over resource development on First Nations lands.

During a media meet and greet in Thunder Bay on Aug. 22, Harvey Yesno used his opening speech to declare that First Nations in NAN territory are willing to protect their lands by “whatever means possible.”

“One thing for sure, on the lands, its going to be all about protection,” Yesno said. “We’re not going to protest over our own lands. Nobody protests over their own property. But people will protect their property. And we’ll protect it by whatever means possible.”

Yesno’s comments come as conflict over the Ring of Fire mining development continues to brew. Neskantaga First Nation chief Peter Moonias has said he is willing to die stopping a bridge from being built over the Attawapiskat River. Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit has also made threats of direct action in the Ring of Fire.

Harper’s chief of staff faces scrutiny over Barrick Gold links – by Joan Bryden (Globe and Mail – August 28, 2012)

August 28, 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 — The Canadian Press – Pointed questions are beginning to swirl around Nigel Wright, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, and whether he used his position to further the financial interests of friends at Barrick Gold Corp.

Ethics commissioner Mary Dawson is following up with Mr. Wright after the disclosure that he was lobbied twice by Barrick, the world’s largest gold producer, in May.

Mr. Wright has known Barrick founder and board chairman Peter Munk for years and is particularly close to his son, Anthony, who sits on Barrick’s board of directors.

Indeed, in a 2011 magazine article, Peter Munk disclosed that Mr. Wright is godfather to Anthony Munk’s son. Mr. Wright worked with Anthony at Onex Corp., the private equity investment giant from which Mr. Wright has taken a leave of absence to work for Harper.

Cameco acquires BHP Australian uranium deposit for $430-million – by Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – August 28, 2012)

August 28, 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.

Cameco Corp. is growing its uranium holdings even as other players back away from an industry stuck in a low-price trough for over a year. Saskatoon-based Cameco, already the world’s largest publicly traded uranium producer, announced plans to buy the Yeelirrie uranium project in Western Australia for $430-million (U.S.), adding one of the country’s top undeveloped uranium deposits to its portfolio.

It was the second acquisition by Cameco since May, when it reached a deal to buy nuclear fuel broker Nukem Energy for about $300-million, including debt.

“We believe Cameco could be using the current period of disillusionment with uranium and the nuclear industry to build an inventory of larger projects that could find their way into the company’s development pipeline over the next decade,” Greg Barnes, an analyst with TD Securities Inc. in Toronto, said in a research report on Monday.

Global uranium demand is expected to grow over the next decade with ballooning needs around the world for clean energy to generate electricity, particularly in China and other fast-growing economies.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is coming up short on oilsands public relations war – by Gillian Steward (Toronto Star – August 27, 2012)

August 28, 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.

Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and journalist, and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald. Her column appears every other week. gsteward@telus.net.

Is the Harper government growing increasingly nervous about opposition to its push for massive oil sands development and the North Gateway Pipeline?

It would seem so listening to five Calgarians and a wannabe Calgarian from Quebec who were vying for the Conservative nomination for a by-election in the riding of Calgary Centre, home to dozens of oil company towers and one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.

They just didn’t sound that confident about the Prime Minister’s tactics for winning the hearts and minds of Canadians outside Alberta. “Alberta needs some friends….We need to get out the message about our industry to Ontario, to the rest of Canada,” former journalist Joan Crockatt told a public forum last week.

Outcome of $15.1-billion Nexen-CNOOC merger is murky – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – August 25, 2012)

August 28, 2012

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

The thick smoke signals sent by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in recent days on the proposed $15.1-billion takeover of Nexen Inc. by CNOOC Ltd. are a warning to the market that a wide range of outcomes is possible.

As the Prime Minister correctly noted, Canada’s response to China’s largest overseas takeover offer would have have big implications for the economy. It will also mark a point-of-no-return for the Canadian oil and gas industry.

For their part, shareholders, who get to vote on the bid Sept. 20 at a special meeting in Calgary, will likely take the money and run. CNOOC is offering $27.50 a share in cash, or a 61% premium relative to the stock’s value before the bid was launched. Not bad for a company that’s been underperforming for years.

Nexen’s leadership is also on board. In a shareholders’ circular on the deal made public Friday, Nexen’s board recommends shareholder approval because it expects the deal to benefit the company, its employees and other stakeholders based on CNOOC’s plan to establish Calgary as one of its international headquarters, keep its management and employees; implement and enhance Nexen’s spending plans, list CNOOC’s shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, build on existing community and charitable programs.

[Northern Ontario] Mine support a true investment – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (August 24, 2012)

August 27, 2012

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

The government sure loves to throw the word “invest” around. When was the last time you heard the provincial government was paying for necessary road improvements (or, for that matter, simple road repairs)? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? That’s because the government doesn’t pay for those things — it invests in the province’s infrastructure.

A business grant? Nah. Investing in the economy, or entrepreneurs, or somesuch. Providing long-term care beds is an investment in the province’s health-care system.

Well, the government has on its hands another excuse to use the word investment, and a much more legitimate one than usual.
Northwestern Ontario has been, for some time, calling on the government to get on board with the looming mining boom.

They’re looking for — ahem — investments in the province’s infrastructure, the ones that will be needed when the various in-the-works mines are up-and-running.

[Saskatchewan] Potash news not all negative – by Murray Mandryk (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – August 24, 2012)

August 27, 2012

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

Contrary to Premier Brad Wall’s spin, BHP Billiton’s decision to delay making a final go-ahead decision on the massive Jansen potash mine should not be somehow misconstrued as good news.

When the globe’s biggest mining company is suddenly struggling and putting on hold its decision to build a $13 billion mine in your jurisdiction, it’s anything but good news. If anything, the Billiton announcement adds credence to the notion that Saskatchewan’s eight-year boom might be done.

That said, Wall did provide a few compelling points as to why this isn’t necessarily the worst news. The premier’s Grant Devinesque optimism came in reaction to news emerging from Billiton’s six-month financial report, which showed a 58 per cent drop (or about $5.5 billion decline) in profits, largely due to weak prices for the copper, iron ore, coal, nickel, aluminum and natural gas it produces. As a result, the mining giant announced it was cancelling expansions to Australian iron ore and copper operations, pegged at a combined $50 billion, and would delay final approval of Jansen until next year, at the earliest.

Furtive JTF-2 emerges from shadows as Harper touts Arctic military might [to protect northern resources] – by Jordan Press (Ottawa Citizen – August 25, 2012)

August 27, 2012

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

First public display of special forces unit

Harper told a group of military men and women that having forces in the North was
crucial to protecting the oil, natural gas and mining deposits that his government
sees as key to the country’s economic future.

“Through history and geography, it has become Canada’s destiny to protect a large
portion of our planet’s North. Canada has been a consistent champion of the Arctic
as a zone of responsible development, environmental protection and international
peace,” Harper told troops during a speech aboard HMCS St. John’s.

The Canadian Forces brought out of the shadows its elite special forces unit Friday, put-ting Joint Task Force 2 on display for Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a day when the prime minister said the military could – and would – be ready to defend the North’s abundant natural resources.

The unprecedented view of and access to the highly secretive JTF-2, whose members’ names and faces are not publicly known, was the first time the elite unit put on a public demonstration of its capabilities, boarding a moving vessel by sea and air in Hudson Bay in a prepared scenario where a suspected terrorist was aboard an ecotourism vessel headed for Canada.

Canadians gripped by Northern Gateway pipeline debate, experts and polls say – by Peter O’Neil (Vancouver Sun – August 26, 2012)

August 27, 2012

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

Politically charged issue could have ramifications for Stephen Harper in the next election

Canadian history is packed with riveting battles over natural resource developments from the oilsands and dams to mining, salmon fishing and old-growth forest clearcutting.

But observers struggle to pinpoint an example in living memory of a project that has gripped the public for such a sustained period as Calgarybased Enbridge Inc.’s proposed Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline to the West Coast.

“I have never in my experience observed such a reaction to any big project, probably since back when they were drowning villages” to construct the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s, said former B.C. senator and ex-federal energy minister Pat Carney. During the Brian Mulroney era, Carney dismantled the deeply controversial and divisive national energy program. “It’s like it touched an inner nerve.”

Interest is fuelled in large part by the wide range of crucial issues: the pace of oilsands development, climate change, wealth-sharing, supertanker safety, first nations rights, fisheries protection and economic growth in an uncertain global climate.

Golden tour of Goldcorp – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – August 24, 2012)

August 27, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – When most people think of industrial tours, they are often reminded of the story of Willy Wonka and the fabled golden ticket.

Standing outside of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce, with a ticket for the Goldcorp industrial tour, I laughed to myself about how true this golden ticket scenario was in my particular case. The humour carried me all the way to my seat and the less than comfortable school bus that would be our chauffeur for the afternoon.

“We will be touring the Dome open pit,” Nicole Charbonneau said as she addressed the bus load of people. “Then we will move out into the McIntyre, Conarium and Gillies reclamation sites, along with an overview of the Hollinger Pit preparations.”

Charbonneau, a environmental biologist for Goldcorp would be the guide for this three-hour golden tour. Her role in the management and continued development of the reclamation sites behind the McIntyre’s No. 11 headframe made her the perfect voice to speak on behalf of Goldcorp.

KI paddlers embark on trip to Fort Severn – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – August 24, 2012)

August 27, 2012

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

Promoting the traditional use of northern waterways and the need for protection of its watershed, a group of paddlers from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation has embarked on a canoe trip to Fort Severn.

Fourteen paddlers in seven canoes left KI on August 24. They expect to arrive in Fort Severn after nine or ten days on the rivers. Richard Anderson, KI’s watershed community worker, said the trip is about more than just following a trading route that his ancestors travelled every year.

“The trip is for awareness that we are protecting our watersheds for future generations,” Anderson said. “The Elders have taught us that our water is very important for us up here, and we should keep it that way.” Anderson has done the journey from KI to Fort Severn 11 times, and he still marvels at the efforts of his ancestors who used to do the trip there and back laden with supplies.

He said there are quite a few portages along the way, some retaining signs of their use through the ages. There are also a number of significant historic sites along the rivers, including grave sites that the community group will honour during the trip, Anderson said.