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Books, Art, Music and Photography About Mining and Northern Topics

Excerpt from “An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector: An in-depth study of gold and mining shares”– by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector, please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/66/investing/michael-coulson/an-insiders-guide-to-the-mining-sector/

Stock market cycles

We have talked earlier about mining shares in relation to stock market cycles for industrial equities. I now want to look at mining share cycles over the last thirty years or so to see where they sit in terms of overall market cycles, and whether there are any pointers we can find that could be applied in the future.

The situation that any investor wants to avoid is tying too much of his money up for long periods of time in a sector which is underperforming. Having said this, I am not backtracking on my view that every portfolio should have a core of gold shares because of their counter-cyclical role when industrial shares come under pressure. In that context the gold content acts as insurance against a general equity bear market, and the gold core, when the general industrial market is in a bull phase, will in any case represent only a small percentage of the portfolio’s value.

Australia, late 60s – the first modern mining boom

The first modern mining boom was that which ‘infected’ the Australian market in the second half of the 60s, and which eventually ran out of steam following the rise and fall of Poseidon. The bull market lasted from 1966 until 1970, and until the last year or so marched in step with strong industrial bull markets, particularly in the US, the UK and South Africa.

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Excerpt: From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury – by Oiva W. Saarinen

To order a copy of “From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City”, please click here: http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/saarinen-meteorite.shtml

From International Nickel Company to Inco, and Merger with Mond (1902–1928)

Between 1902 and 1928, International Nickel prospered from the pre-war European demands for nickel in armour plate, the military needs of the First World War, increased peacetime uses for nickel in the United States, and the impact of the roaring twenties. By 1903, nickel production from Sudbury exceeded that of its main rival, New Caledonia. This dominance became continuous after 1905. The control of Sudbury’s wealth was paralleled by the dominance of International Nickel within the nickel industry. Through the use of long-term contracts with its consumers, the company was able to thwart competitors from entering the market, especially in the United States.

Its ability to meet the growing global demand for nickel was facilitated by the opening of Creighton mine in 1901 and the growth of this operation by the First World War into the world’s largest operating mine.10 Its output far surpassed that of the company’s other major source, Crean Hill.

Also significant was the opening of a new smelter by the CCC in Copper Cliff in 1904 which heralded the appearance of the first of three great smokestacks which dominated the Sudbury skyline for years to come. These smokestacks served to disperse the sulphur fumes released during the smelting process into the atmosphere.

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Excerpt from “Lawyers, Families, and Businesses: The Shaping of a Bay Street Law Firm, Faskens 1863-1963″ – by C. Ian Kyer

To order a copy of Lawyers, Families, and Businesses, please click here: http://www.irwinlaw.com/store/product/712/lawyers-families-and-businesses 

Excerpt

For a time the Gooderhams considered buying one or more of the companies that had started to mine copper and nickel in the Sudbury basin but ultimately decided against it. Although Wallace Nesbitt personally invested in the Copper Company of Canada, which would eventually merge into Inco, the Gooderhams looked west. Tom had maintained his interest in the region and now focused it on several mines in the BC interior along the border with the United States. In the early 1890s gold, silver, and copper had been found in the Kootenays. Later lead mining would also develop. The Canadian Pacific Railway had linked British Columbia with central Canada and Tom became a frequent traveller on the CPR, visiting the small mining town of Rossland, near Red Mountain, and nearby Trail, along the Columbia River.

In January 1897 Tom Blackstock and George Gooderham’s eldest son, William George Gooderham, put together a syndicate that included Beatty and Senator George Albertus Cox. They paid $850,000 to buy the War Eagle gold mine and its associated mines, known as the Poorman, the Iron Mask, and the Virginia. Tom was given the task of overseeing these investments. He feared that War Eagle would be forced to pay exorbitant rates for shipping ore and for its refining, later explaining that “mining is in the nature of a manufacturing business which requires the utmost economy in every detail to enable it to be carried out successfully upon a large scale.”

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Excerpt from “Lawyers, Families, and Businesses: The Shaping of a Bay Street Law Firm, Faskens 1863-1963″ – by C. Ian Kyer

To order a copy of Lawyers, Families, and Businesses, please click here: http://www.irwinlaw.com/store/product/712/lawyers-families-and-businesses 

Silver Rush at Cobalt

AT the end of the nineteenth century the Ontario government had seen the possibility of encouraging settlement in the Clay Belt west of Lake Temiskaming. This desire to open the region to farming and the timber industry spurred the development of the mineral resources of northern Ontario.

The government began to build the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway. By 1903 it had reached the north end of Long Lake, where evidence of cobalt, nickel, and some silver was discovered.18 The initial discovery was made by J.J. McKinley and Ernest Darragh, contractors for the railway. On 30 August 1903 they registered their claim but waited three years to find investors.

Meanwhile, Fred LaRose, a blacksmith employed by brothers John and Duncan McMartin, other contractors to the railway, made an even bigger find. LaRose shared his discovery with his employers and together they filed a claim on 3 September. Then, on a trip to Montreal, LaRose showed some samples of his find to the Timmins brothers, who operated a store in Mattawa. The brothers and their lawyer, David Dunlap, decided to invest in the LaRose property, buying half of LaRose’s share for $3,500.

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Excerpt from “An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector: An in-depth study of gold and mining shares”– by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector, please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/66/investing/michael-coulson/an-insiders-guide-to-the-mining-sector/

Madness in Mining Markets

This section looks at a few examples of the sort of madness that can infect mining share markets. Such events are sometimes loosely described as scams, although often what happens is far more an issue of wild over enthusiasm on the part of investors. However, we start with a genuine scam, and a fairly recent one at that, with plenty of lessons to teach about market navigation – Bre-X and its gold project on Kalimantan.

Bre-X Minerals

The company was incorporated in Canada in 1988. The two key personalities in Bre-X were John Felderhof and David Walsh, the former a geologist and the latter a stockbroker. Both men had been short of money in their early professional years, and in its early days Bre-X seemed infected with the same problem. Interestingly Felderhof and Walsh’s first venture together was a trip to the island of Kalimantan in Indonesia some five years before Bre-X was founded.

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Excerpt from “An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector: An in-depth study of gold and mining shares”– by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector, please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/66/investing/michael-coulson/an-insiders-guide-to-the-mining-sector/

United Kingdom: Little mining activity left

One of the most interesting business developments in recent years has been the relocation to and re-incorporation in the UK of a number of major mining companies. This has meant that four of the largest mining companies in the world – Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Xstrata and BHP Billiton – have UK incorporation; all are part of the FTSE100 share index. It is important to appreciate, however, that any UK mining operations that these companies have are very small. Indeed, mining in the UK is itself confined to speciality minerals such as china clay, sand and gravel and a rapidly contracting (though once powerful) coal mining industry.

The financial attractions of London

Therefore, with little mining activity in the UK the reasons for the presence of these companies in London is primarily financial. The banking system is seen as sophisticated and experienced in financing mining developments. Operating as a UK company means that the cost of capital can be much lower than in countries like South Africa. The historic links between the City of London and the mining industry mean that there is understanding of the risks and rewards of financing mining companies.

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Excerpt from “Lawyers, Families, and Businesses: The Shaping of a Bay Street Law Firm, Faskens 1863-1963″ – by C. Ian Kyer

To order a copy of Lawyers, Families, and Businesses, please click here: http://www.irwinlaw.com/store/product/712/lawyers-families-and-businesses 

In Lawyers, Families, and Businesses: The Shaping of a Bay Street Law Firm, Faskens 1863–1963, noted lawyer and historian, Ian Kyer, provides a superbly researched and fascinating study of the origins and development of the law firm now known as Fasken Martineau Dumoulin. Beginning in colonial Toronto in 1863 where two young lawyers, William Henry Beatty and Edward Marion Chadwick, established their partnership in “one room, half furnished,”

Kyer follows the first 100 years of mergers, redirections, challenges, and advances that today have resulted in an international firm of over 700 lawyers practising on three continents. In the process of giving readers a view of the evolution of the practice of law in Canada as seen from the perspective of one particular firm, Kyer also provides in-depth and original accounts of the interrelationships among law firms, family connections, business development, and political influence in Canadian history.

This is an insightful, compelling, social history of one of Canada’s most important law firms.

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Rita MacNeil: Spirited woman touched many with her songs – Richard Ouzounian (Toronto Star – April 18, 2013)

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.

Sandra Faire, who produced MacNeil’s TV projects, remembers her as “probably the most sensitive person I have ever met in my entire life.”

The lady with the big heart and the big voice from Big Pond, N.S., will sing her songs no more. Rita MacNeil died Tuesday night following complications from abdominal surgery. She was 68.

She achieved fame in 1987 with her song, “Flying On Your Own,” but she was 43 years old before she finally earned the courage to let her talent fly freely, having spent the previous decades battling with demons of weight, pathological shyness and childhood sexual abuse. Yet she somehow managed to break through to the other side with songs of hope that filled the hearts of millions around the world.

The sweet-spirited woman with a fondness for oversized hats and equally generous emotion achieved an incredible level of popularity during a career that started late but still earned her all the awards available to her: Juno, Gemini, Country Music Association and many more.

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Excerpt from “The History of Mining: The events, technology and people involved in the industry that forged the modern world” – by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of The History of Mining, please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/products/books/23161/business/Michael-Coulson/The-History-of-Mining/

 

MINING FILMS

One of the earliest mining themed films was Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush made in 1925 and set in the time of the Alaskan gold rush where Chaplin revives his famous Little Tramp role as a gold prospector.

Gold has always had a key role to play in films with mining themes. The classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre directed by John Huston in 1948 and starring Humphrey Bogart and John’s father Walter Huston was one of the finest of the genre of prospectors searching for gold to secure them financially for life and falling out with disastrous consequences.

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Excerpt from “The History of Mining: The events, technology and people involved in the industry that forged the modern world” – by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of The History of Mining, please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/products/books/23161/business/Michael-Coulson/The-History-of-Mining/

THE RISE OF THE GULAGS AND NORILSK

The Soviet years of central control and direction saw a major push to develop the vast country into an economic powerhouse to match the West. These were the Stalin years and the expansion of the mining industry was often achieved by the use of labour transported to the Gulags of the eastern USSR. In these transportations dissident professional and manual workers alike were settled in camps, often for decades, until the death of Stalin in 1953 led to most of them being closed by 1960.

The Gulags had a number of key political functions, but economically they played an important role in the establishment of heavy industrial complexes for steel, manufacturing and mining, including mining of coal, iron ore and base metals. Gold production was also an important activity given that the rouble was unconvertible and the USSR was not a major manufacturing exporter like Germany or the UK, but was from time to time a heavy importer of food stuffs and advanced machinery, and therefore in need of convertible assets.


 

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Excerpt from “The History of Mining: The events, technology and people involved in the industry that forged the modern world” – by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of The History of Mining please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/products/books/23161/business/Michael-Coulson/The-History-of-Mining/

ELIEZER BATISTA (BRAZILIAN MINING – VALE AND GOVERNMENT LEADER)

Eliezer Batista was born Eliezer Batista da Silva in 1924 in Nova Era, a town in the mining state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. His parents, Jose and Maria, were emigrants from Portugal and his father, a saddle maker, built up a substantial business in Minas Gerais. In due course Jose went into agriculture and ranching in the region and was able to comfortably support his two sons and four daughters.

Batista was educated first in Nova Era and then went to secondary school in Ouro Preto and St Joao del Rei, respectively to the south and west of Belo Horizonte. He was a bright but difficult pupil and his academic excellence was treated suspiciously by his monastic teachers who were largely Dutch. His interest was engineering and it was to study this that he took himself off to the cosmopolitan Federal University of Parana in Curitiba in the south of Brazil, graduating in 1948. Batista was a rebel in those days and after university he travelled extensively, helped by a natural bent for languages.

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Excerpt from “The History of Mining: The events, technology and people involved in the industry that forged the modern world” – by Michael Coulson

To order a copy of The History of Mining please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/products/books/23161/business/Michael-Coulson/The-History-of-Mining/

WYOMING THE GIANT COAL PRODUCER

For most of its history the most important economic activity of the state of Wyoming has been farming and ranching, although coal was first discovered in the early 1800s and the first coal mined in 1859. Anthracite was the main coal product for many years. The coal seams of Wyoming, including those of the Powder River Basin, were formed from huge peat bogs that over millions of years have been compressed and altered to become coal. The first commercial mines in the state established in 1868 were at Carbon near Medicine Bow and nearby Rock Springs.

These were owned by Wyoming Coal and Mining which was taken over in 1874 by Union Pacific Railroad which already controlled the company as well as transporting the coal. By the turn of the century the mines had closed but not before severe labour disputes had led, as seems always the way in the coal mining industry, to tragedy. This came in the form of the 1885 massacre of low-wage Chinese miners by white miners at Rock Springs following a wages dispute with Union Pacific.

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Stompin’ Tom Connors, Canada’s troubadour, sang of everyday lives – by Sandra Martin (Globe and Mail – March 8, 2013)

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.

Back in the days when posses of cowboys galloped across the duotone television screen, you could always tell the good guys because they wore white hats. That’s only one of the anomalies about Canadian troubadour Stompin’ Tom Connors. He wore a black Stetson, not to side with the bad guys, but because he liked the colour. Besides, he didn’t want to give the impression, which a white hat might have conveyed, that he was sissified or pumped up about himself.

Still, there was plenty of dark in the cantankerous outsider who rambled the country, carrying his 3/4-inch plywood stomping plank, the way other musicians might pack a keyboard into their luggage. And when he performed, usually in a black shirt and jeans stretching up from his pointed black cowboy boots, with the hat planted firmly on his head and a guitar slung over his shoulder, he stomped his left foot to keep the beat and stared straight ahead as though hoping a ride would materialize from over the next hill on the highway.

Most entertainers long for international fame and try to write songs that are universal, but Mr. Connors celebrated the particular and shunned the monolithic American musical bandwagon. He’d been told that he was never going to get anywhere singing songs about backwater places, and he agreed that might be true. But as his bandmate Tim Hus, the cowboy singer, once heard him tell an audience, “When you put them all together, we call it Canada.” His manager Brian Edwards said, “he could relate to anybody whether you were a doctor, a lawyer, or a homeless person with two cents in your pocket.”

Tall and lanky with an aquiline nose and a square jaw, Mr. Connors loved the nooks and hamlets of this country, and the ordinary girls who “are out to bingo” while the boys “are gettin’ stinko” on a Sudbury Saturday Night.

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Excerpt from “Haywire My Life in the Mines” – by Doug Hall

This autobiographical book describes the Doug Hall’s family through war and depression, and goes on to relate his experiences underground in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s. It is written from the point of view of the average Joe who went underground when he was eighteen and didn’t know what he was getting into. The author considers himself lucky to have survived those years.

Click here to order an e-book of “Haywire My Life in the Mines”:http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/269905

This autobiographical book describes the Doug Hall’s family through war and depression, and goes on to relate his experiences underground in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s. It is written from the point of view of the average Joe who went underground when he was eighteen and didn’t know what he was getting into. The author considers himself lucky to have survived those years.

Click here to order an e-book of “Haywire My Life in the Mines”: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/269905

One time I worked overtime taking a scooptram underground. Now this was an ST12 scooptram and very much too large to be taken down in one piece; so they took it apart and took it down in three pieces which were the bucket, the front section and the motor section. Now in order to facilitate this they made a rack with wheels on it to go down the shaft and the section of the scooptram that was being transported was slung underneath this rack by what I recollect were two three-eighths inch cables.

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Tom started Stompin’ in Timmins – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – March 8, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Stompin Tom Connors’ Mining Songs: http://republicofmining.com/2013/01/21/stompin-tom-connors-wiki-profile-and-mining-songs/

TIMMINS – His patriotism, twangy music and storytelling lyrics made him a beloved Canadian icon. But for many Timmins residents, Stompin’ Tom Connors, who was born in New Brunswick, was as much a hometown hero as Shania Twain, Frank Mahovolich or Steve Sullivan.

Connors died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Halton Hills, Ont. He was 77. Connors, who would go on to great fame, got his first break in Timmins.

He signed a contract to perform for 13 months at the Maple Leaf Hotel and recorded his first songs here at CKGB Radio, which was located in the old Thomson building, which was then shared by The Daily Press. He would end up recording 16 tracks at CKGB during his time in Timmins.

One of the first two songs he recorded was Carolyne which opens with the words: “T-I-M-M-I-N-S That’s going to be my new address, ’Cause I just got a new job working in the mine, Hollinger Mine.” Many city residents know it simply as the “Timmins song.”

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