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Year: 2012

Aboriginals readied for workforce – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – August 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.

As the fastest growing segment of Canada’s population, Aboriginals represent a great resource for filling any shortages in the workforce now and in the future.
 
“I sit in meetings and sometimes hear talk about how we need to access immigrants and I cringe,” said Nancy Beaulieu, Wabun Tribal Council’s employment and training co-ordinator. “We have such a great resource available here when it comes to the Aboriginal population, especially with the mining industry.”
 
With several memorandums of understanding and impact benefit agreements being signed between First Nations and mining companies, more opportunities are now available.

Some barriers do exist but they are being addressed. Employment and training programs offered by Wabun Tribal Council and others such as Mushkegowuk Council, which both have offices in Timmins, are trying to meet the employment needs of their people and of the employers.

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Unrest spreads in violence-hit South Africa mining belt – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters.com – August 22, 2012)

http://www.reuters.com/

RUSTENBURG, South Africa – (Reuters) – Labor unrest in South Africa’s platinum belt spread on Wednesday, raising concerns that anger over low wages and poor living conditions could generate fresh violence after 34 striking miners were shot dead by police last week.

The strike that started last week at Lonmin’s Marikana mine has driven up platinum prices and stoked worries about investing in Africa’s biggest economy, where chronic unemployment and income disparities threaten social stability.

At Marikana, a somber-looking President Jacob Zuma stood under a parasol held by an aide to address around 2,000 subdued miners. In the Xhosa and Zulu languages, he said there was no need for workers to die in a Labor dispute. “This is painful to all of us. It is not acceptable for people to die where talks can be held. But I do feel your pain and have come personally to express that,” he said.

The world’s top platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, said on Wednesday it had received a demand for a pay increase from its South African workers, while Royal Bafokeng Platinum said a Labor action by about 500 miners interrupted work at a shaft at its Rasimone mine.

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Manitoba HudBay’s] Lalor mine stealing thunder of other site – by Martin Cash (Winnipeg Free Press – August 23, 2012)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

There’s no doubt the big story in mining in Manitoba these days is HudBay’s Lalor project near Snow Lake. Weighing in at about $700 million, the zinc/copper/gold mine is shaking up the economic landscape in the region.

But just down the road and almost below the radar, HudBay is also in the process of building another new mine in northern Manitoba at Reed Lake in the Grass River Provincial Park, about 110 kilometres east of Flin Flon at Reed Lake, about 100 metres off Highway 39.

It’s the first time in the modern history of mining in Manitoba dating back to the 1930s when two new mines are under construction at the same time in Manitoba. And were it not for the scale and size of Lalor, the Reed Lake copper mine — which is going to cost about $70 million — would be much bigger news.

A joint venture with the exploration company VMS Ventures (HudBay owns 70 per cent and VMS has 30 per cent), the mine came to fruition at almost lightning speed compared to the typical timelines for such an enterprise.

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NEWS RELEASE: Debut Concludes Agreement With Aroland First Nation and Appoints Martin Doyle to the Board of Directors

TORONTO, ONTARIO – (Aug. 23, 2012) – Debut Diamonds Inc. (the “Company” or “Debut”), (CNSX: DDI), is very pleased to announce that it has concluded an Exploration Agreement with the Aroland First Nation (“Aroland”) in connection with the Company’s Nakina diamond exploration project located north of Nakina, Ontario.

The agreement includes benefits for the community of Aroland provided by way of Debut financial contributions in support of certain social and cultural programs, and also includes employment and service related business opportunities. In return, Aroland has approved and will continue to support the Company’s exploration activities for the duration of the project. The agreement provides for the proper handling and protection of any sacred or other culturally significant sites, and contains comprehensive plans for the prevention, mitigation and remediation of any environmental impacts which may result from the Company’s exploration activities in the field.

Chris Meraw, President of Debut Diamonds states, “Our agreement with Aroland emphasizes the need for mutual respect and a positive relationship between the parties during all phases of the project and while this approach not only brings economic opportunities to the community, it also provides an element of certainty for the company’s exploration work in the area.”

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[Quebec] Mining regime requires major balancing act – by Peter Hadekel (Montreal Gazette – August 22, 2012)

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

MONTREAL – The mining industry finds itself at the centre of an election campaign debate over the royalty regime now in place in Quebec. It’s a debate that’s increasingly polarized.
 
On one side are those who see the industry as a future generator of jobs and economic growth, a vital part of the Liberal government’s Plan Nord strategy. On the other are those who view it as a dark force that exploits the environment and doesn’t pay its fair share to the public treasury.
 
The mining business is volatile at the best of times. The price of metals can fluctuate wildly with the economic cycle, leading companies to defer or cancel even the most promising projects.
 
A report this week from consulting firm Ernst & Young noted that in the first half of the year the number of investment transactions announced in Canada fell by 26 per cent, representing a 41 per cent drop in investment value.

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W(h)ither mining’s big five diversifieds? – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – August 23, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

After a hugely successful decade, bar some occasional ill-timed acquisitions, the major diversified miners are beginning to see earnings dive as China draws in its industrial horns.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – The big five western diversified mining companies – BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Vale, Anglo American and Xstrata, may have been the place to make blue chip resource stock investments really pay off over the past 10 years or so of the global mining and minerals supercycle, but could their stellar performance be coming to an end?

Certainly the latest financial figures coming out suggest that things may be turning down for all of them – some had been falling back earlier – but there looks to be the definite possibility that matters might well get worse before they get better – particularly with China, on which the top three are heavily dependent, perhaps beginning to rethink its industrial structure.

The success of the diversified miners has not been due to gold, despite the latter’s sterling performance over the past 12 years – indeed none are heavily invested in primary precious metals mining – nor even in copper or other base metals in which all do have major interests, but primarily in the bulk-mined iron ore and coal which have been the principal contributors to their profit growth over the years – but with iron ore and coal prices slipping back quite sharply in the light of the Chinese downturn the fall-off in revenues is already beginning to have a serious impact and causing the miners to take a more cautious view on near term capital spending on new mines and expansion projects.

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As profit falls, BHP pulls back on new mines – by Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – August 23, 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.

BHP Billiton Ltd. has put major project decisions on hold as the world’s biggest miner adapts to slumping demand for commodities and reins in soaring production costs.

Reporting the first annual fall in profit in three years on Wednesday, BHP said it delayed the $20-billion (U.S.) open-pit expansion of Olympic Dam, a huge copper and uranium project in southern Australia.

The Anglo-Australian mining giant also said no other major project approvals are expected in the current fiscal year, including for Jansen, the $12-billion Saskatchewan potash project slated to become the world’s largest producer of the crop nutrient.

Mining companies are showing the bruises of slowing global commodities demand as key consumer China buys less coal, copper, iron ore and other commodities amid softening economic growth. Profits are also being squeezed as costs to build and operate mines rise at their fastest rate in a decade, especially for labour and energy.

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CNOOC’s bid for Nexen is a key move on China’s global chess board – by Charles Burton (Toronto Star – August 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.

Charles Burton is an associate professor of political science at Brock University in St. Catharines, and is a former counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing.

The state-owned China Offshore Oil Corporation’s (CNOOC) $15.1-billion bid for the Calgary-based global energy company Nexen has many supporters in Canada. They see it as a forward-looking initiative that allows Canada to diversify its oil and gas sales to non-U.S. markets, and will lead to large amounts of Chinese capital funding the high costs of further developing Alberta’s oilsands.

But neither really holds true.

Nexen oil will only start flowing to China when and if there is a Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast. The CNOOC bid has not got much to do with that. As for further exploitation of the oilsands, the bottom line is that the market price of oil must remain sufficiently high to justify the relatively high cost of extracting oilsands oil; otherwise it will stay in the ground. Again, this has nothing much to do with this Chinese takeover bid.

So why is CNOOC willing to pay so much for a company whose profitability has not been all that strong in recent years? CNOOC’s offer represents a premium of 61 per cent above the closing price of Nexen’s common shares on the New York Stock Exchange on July 20.

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Media mogul David Black’s Kitimat refinery proposal stirring B.C. energy debate – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – August 23, 2012)

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

Media magnate David Black’s daring proposal to build a massive refinery in Kitimat on the northern British Columbia coast may be getting the cold shoulder outside the province — but inside it’s stirring some interesting debate about how to capture economic opportunities from a large and growing oil-and-gas sector that is largely run from Alberta.
 
Those giving it guarded backing include Kitimat City Council. Mayor Joanne Monahan said Wednesday she could support the refinery plan because it would bring jobs to the north coast while avoiding the shipment of thick, tarry bitumen by tanker through B.C.’s treacherous coastal waters. Ms. Monahan has remained silent on the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. that would end in Kitimat.
 
In corporate Vancouver, the plan is attracting lots of commentary and is seen as worthy of a close look, said Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president and chief policy officer at the Business Council of Business Columbia.
 
“I think it’s a healthy development even if it doesn’t come to fruition,” he said. “It’s interesting and it adds a dimension to the whole discussion around economic development in the energy sector.”

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Harper’s Arctic trips are now diplomatic ventures – by Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail – August 23, 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.

Stephen Harper’s trips to the Arctic no longer raise warnings that the Russians are coming. The sabre-rattling rhetoric the Conservatives initially applied to Canada’s Far North has largely been jettisoned for a more commercial focus on exploiting natural resources. But the world is still interested in the Arctic. The Chinese are coming. And others, too.

Mr. Harper’s Arctic trip this week started just days after the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong arrived in Iceland, the first Arctic crossing by a Chinese vessel. China has asked for official observer status in the Arctic Council – the eight-nation international body that Canada will chair starting next year – and so have Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

There are some misgivings, and hype, about what these outsiders want. For Canada, assessing their interests matters to our foreign policy and whether we preach quiet co-operation, launch legal battles or reach for our guns.

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David Black may have to refine his plans – by Gary Mason (Globe and Mail – August 23, 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.

Newspaper baron David Black didn’t make his millions being a pessimist. When people told him his business was dying, he went into the market even deeper. Most of his gambles paid off.

This is why Mr. Black does not sound defeated in the face of the rush of cynicism and doubt that has greeted his out-of-the-blue plan to build a $13-billion oil refinery on the West Coast of B.C. He concedes that he’d also be skeptical of a newspaper executive’s bid to plunge into the oil game with virtually no financial backing.

I sympathize with Mr. Black. British Columbia is a difficult place to try and be a visionary, especially if it involves actually having to build something. People don’t want trees cut down, gas extracted from the ground, dams or pipelines constructed. And yet these same anti-development advocates have no problem hopping into their gas guzzlers to drive home after their protests are over.

For that reason alone I’d love to see Mr. Black’s idea succeed. Unfortunately, his dream is likely to be crushed under the twin weights of politics and economics.

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NAN council seeks new approach [resource development] – by Doug Diaczuk (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – August 23, 2012)

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

The newly-elected grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation will continue to work at creating more engagement with government when it comes to resource development. During a press conference on Wednesday, Harvey Yesno said that chiefs in the NAN territory want a different approach to communicating with the government.

“Today things have changed,” Yesno said told the media. “The issue on the table is resource development that is happening in the communities but there is no meaningful engagement that is happening. We would like to see the governments walk and talk, and we want to participate in that.”

Yesno also spoke about creating a balance for all First Nations when it comes to revenue sharing. On issues relating to land, Yesno emphasized that there needs to be consent and First Nations shouldn’t have to protest to protect their lands.

“We aren’t going to protest and just let things happen,” he said. “We have to protect it. Protest sometimes raises a voice, but most times things just go on. I think that’s the difference.”

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SA Chamber of Mines admits mistakes were made in lead up to Marikana massacre – by Christy Filen (Mineweb.com – August 23, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

Chamber Vice President, Mark Cutifani said Wednesday, talks should have taken place earlier between the various role players in the platinum sector and AMCU.

JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb) – After expressing condolences and calling for all parties to be part of a solution to the devastating killings that took place at Lonmin’s Marikana mine last week, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa Vice President and CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, Mark Cutifani, has admitted that talks should have taken place earlier between role players in the platinum sector.
 
“Now in hindsight we probably all should have been talking even before the Impala issue and I think that we all agree that we’ve missed something in that process and we are trying to make that good” said Cutifani.
 
This comes on the back of the Chamber’s first meeting with rival union AMCU (The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union) on Thursday afternoon. The response by Cutifani was in answer to a question as to why a meeting with AMCU had not taken place after three people were killed at Impala Platinum’s Rustenburg operations in February.

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Biodiversity initiative: Copper mine helps restore sturgeon population in Timmins river

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 Mining Association member Xstrata Copper Canada, Kidd Operations (Xstrata) through its financial and in-kind support of the Mattagami Sturgeon Restoration Project is giving new life to a fish species designated as of “special concern” by the province.  Indications are that Xstrata, in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario Power Generation, Timmins Fur Council and Club Navigateur, is experiencing success in re-establishing the lake sturgeon population in a section of the Mattagami River watershed.

Lake sturgeons are descendants of a prehistoric fish going back to the Mesozoic Era (dinosaur age).  The fish appear to be much the same today as 100-million year old fossils, which have been found.   The Mattagami River flows north through Timmins into the James Bay drainage basin, which is part of the lake sturgeon habitat.

This fish, due to habitat loss and over fishing, had disappeared from a section of the Mattagami River between two hydro dams.  To help re-establish the species, 50 adult sturgeons were transferred back into this habitat in 2002.  Thirteen out of this original group of fish were marked with radio transmitters to monitor movement and potential spawning areas.

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Harper pitches resource future with Yukon revenue deal – by Meagan Fitzpatrick (CBC News – August 21, 2012)

www.cbc.ca

Yukon is going to be able to cash in more on resource development in its own backyard thanks to an updating of revenue sharing agreements today that was overseen by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his northern tour.
 
Harper visited a copper and gold mine in Minto, about 240 kilometres north of Whitehorse, along with John Duncan, minister of aboriginal affairs and northern development.
 
Duncan signed an agreement with Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski that amends two existing resource revenue sharing agreements – the Canada-Yukon Oil and Gas Accord and the Yukon Northern Affairs Program Devolution Transfer Agreement.
 
The agreements cover revenues from oil, gas, forestry, land, water and minerals. The federal government says the reformed agreements will ensure a greater portion of the revenues generated from the mining and resource economy in Yukon will stay in Yukon.

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