Canada Mining – Page 303 – Republic of Mining

Federal government prepares $24-million oilsands advertising blitz – by Alex Boutilier (Ottawa Citizen – October 10, 2013)

October 11, 2013

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

OTTAWA – The federal Conservatives hope to counter “intense and sustained public relations campaigns” against Alberta’s oilsands with a $24-million international advertising blitz.

The two-year ad campaign will target political and business leaders, as well as media organizations and domestic political advocates in the United States, Europe and Asia. According to a request for proposals issued by Natural Resources Canada, the government believes domestic and international campaigns against the oilsands are partly to blame for proposed regulations that “unfairly target the oil sands” in the U.S. and Europe.

The document specifically references California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Section 526 of the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act, and Europe’s Fuel Quality Directive as proposals based on “preconceived notions about the oil sands that are not supported by science.”

“Canada has been, and continues to be, the target of intense and sustained public relations campaigns by domestic and international organizations, criticizing our domestic natural resource development policies and companies engaged in resource developments,” the NRCan document reads.

NEWS RELEASE: B.C. Securities Commission to look for answers to current junior mining downturn

October 11, 2013

VANCOUVER, Oct. 10, 2013 /CNW/ – The B.C. Securities Commission is consulting with industry experts in BC’s junior mining sector to better understand why it is facing such a serious downturn and what to do about it.

The BCSC’s annual Capital Ideas conference on October 17th will focus on B.C.’s venture market, in particular the junior mining sector. KPMG will release the results of research, commissioned by BCSC, which summarizes junior mining executives’ perspectives about what is happening in the market and why.

Paul Bourque, the BCSC’s Executive Director, will lead a discussion with five industry experts about the present funding challenges and what can be done about it.

B.C. is home to more than half of Canada’s mining exploration firms, and has the largest concentration of mining exploration firms in the world. As well, more than 2,400 firms are involved in supplying services to this industry, so it is without a doubt a very significant contributor to B.C.’s economy.

B.C.’s First Nations are suddenly the cool kids – by Gary Mason (Globe and Mail – October 11, 2013)

October 11, 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.

For decades, federal governments have done their best to avoid dealing with the many intractable issues facing British Columbia’s First Nations. Provincial governments have been only slightly more engaged in trying to right many of these decades-old wrongs.

The B.C. treaty process established in the early 1990s has been a failure. In the intervening time, only two First Nations groups have signed accords. The blame for failing to reach more deals has been laid at the feet of Ottawa, which has preferred to study the often thorny problems emerging from negotiations rather than actually deal with them.

Any time a federal or B.C. government has tried to unilaterally exert rights in matters affecting the province’s First Nations, they’ve been slapped down by the courts. Still, it hasn’t stopped Ottawa from pretending and acting as if the rulings didn’t give aboriginal groups any additional powers. At least until now.

Pretium shares plunge 30.5% as independent consultant resigns – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 10, 2013)

October 10, 2013

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

TORONTO – The shareholders of Pretium Resources Inc. were rattled on Wednesday after one of Canada’s most respected teams of geologists severed ties with the emerging mining company and its heavily-hyped gold project in British Columbia. Pretium announced that Strathcona Mineral Services Ltd. resigned from its role as “Qualified Person” on a sampling program for the Brucejack project. The move cast a cloud over the project, and Pretium shares plunged 30.5%.

Strathcona was brought in as an independent consultant to oversee and report on Pretium’s bulk sample project. The independent verification is required under Canadian mining disclosure rules, and Toronto-based Strathcona is known for its conservative and disciplined approach.

Strathcona did not respond to requests for comment. But Pretium chief executive Robert Quartermain downplayed the resignation and maintained the Brucejack project is on track. “We’re in a situation where we have a disagreement between two Qualified Persons with regards to reconciling the bulk sample with the resource estimate we have,” he said in an interview.

Spying allegations throw cold water on Canada’s trade and business plans in Brazil – by Stephanie Nolen (Globe and Mail – October 9, 2013)

October 9, 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.

Rio de Janeiro — All of Canada’s negotiations and new ventures with Brazil may be put on ice until there is a resolution to the question of what a Canadian spy agency was doing snooping on one of the South American country’s ministries, says a leading Brazilian expert on relations with North America.

“If they take the same position with Canada as they took with the United States [after similar revelations of spying last month] then everything will be stopped, all the major things,” said Rubens Barbosa, a former Brazilian ambassador to the United States. “The agreements, anything to do with government and the U.S., was put on hold and is still on hold and they may take the same view with Canada.”

n Sunday, the Brazilian news program Fantastico made public documents from the trove acquired by Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). They included a slide presentation that appears to show that Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) was surveying the telecommunications of the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy – a revelation that has sparked outrage here.

Canada’s Brazilian spy machine makes little sense, but somebody should explain it – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – October 8, 2013)

October 8, 2013

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

Is the department of defence using its bureaucrats to hunt down commercial information — at a time when the world is awash in terror and other genuine security threats? That seems highly unlikely

State Capitalism Update: News today from Malaysia and Brazil, where state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are making headlines and generating fresh evidence that Canada has its hands full with the emerging global business of government business.

First to Rio de Janeiro, where an eight-minute documentary report on Brazil’s Globo TV network painted a mighty bleak picture of dark Canadian government espionage, an image that is now the focus of high-level Brazilian corporate and political agitation. Canada’s ambassador to Brazil has been called to account. Big-name Brazilian corporations — state-owned Petrobras and Electrobas, Aneel, Epe — are said to be the targets.

The eight minutes begin slow, with long shots of a massive office complex of distinctly Brazilian design overlayed with creepy music of the kind that’s now mandatory whenever TV networks need to build a story of sinister doings.

Canada has ability to spy on Brazil, but lacks motive, security officials say – by Peter Koven and Stewart Bell (National Post – October 8, 2013)

October 8, 2013

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

Canadian security officials and mining companies were skeptical Monday over claims Canada had spied on Brazil’s mining and energy department, even as Brazil’s president accused Canada of apparent industrial espionage.

The Brazilian Foreign Minister summoned the Canadian ambassador to “transmit the indignation of the Brazilian government and demand explanations,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that followed the revelations that were aired Sunday night on Brazil’s Globo network. The report said the metadata of phone calls and emails from and to the ministry were targeted by Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) to map the ministry’s communications. It didn’t indicate if emails were read or phone calls listened to.

Ray Boisvert, who was director general of counter-terrorism at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said on Monday Canada would have little reason to spy on Brazil’s mining sector. “Like any crime drama, you look for capability and intent. Could CSEC do Brazil? Of course, it has significant capability to collect intelligence in the national interest. But on motive, you come up way short. If it was Iran, nobody would be surprised. But this is Brazil,” he said. “I’m really short on motive.”

Where have all the mining towns gone? – by Ashleigh Gaul (Up Here Magazine: Life in Canada’s Far North – September 2013)

October 8, 2013

http://uphere.ca/

They’re toxic and deserted wastelands – but to those who once lived there, the remains of mining communities are worth holding onto.

In July Susan Mather packed her family into a motor home. She drove north from Calgary, four kilometres past Yellowknife, to a skeletal timber headframe so rickety that cranes can’t set demolition workers on top to assess just how rickety it is. At its base, a yellow-and black-painted board reads, “Giant Mines Yellowknife, Ltd. Last injury: May 1999.”

That was six months before the last gold brick was poured in Yellowknife, and three years after Mather left her first home. These days, when she wants to visit, she books in advance. A mine manager escorts the family through a line of buildings in various states of disrepair.

They’re given hardhats, safety glasses, reflective vests and a rundown of safety precautions, then asked to log in. When Susan fills out a single line on behalf of the whole family, her son Karl jokes, “This isn’t a guest book, mom, it’s a log. This is a worksite.”

Estimated to cost between $500 million and $1 billion, Giant Mine and the townsite it built to house its workers might be the single largest industrial cleanup in Canadian history.

Brazil summons Canadian ambassador over spying allegations – by By Laura Payton (CBC News Politics – October 07, 2013)

October 8, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics

Canadian officials refuse to say whether they monitored Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry

Brazil’s foreign affairs minister summoned Canada’s ambassador to the country to explain spying allegations, a Canadian official confirmed to CBC News Monday.

The summons, a serious diplomatic measure, comes the day after a Brazilian television report said the Communications Security Establishment Canada used phone and email metadata to map the communications of Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.

Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado summoned Jamal Khokhar, Canada’s ambassador in Brasilia, on Monday.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff tweeted Monday that her country’s Foreign Affairs Department would demand an explanation from Canada regarding the allegations, Reuters reported.

Canadian officials have refused to respond to questions by reporters about the allegations by TV Globo that the Communications Security Establishment Canada used phone and email metadata to map the communications of Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.

Miners retreat from Toronto exchange, one-time portal to riches – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business

THE love affair between Australian miners and the Toronto Stock Exchange appears to be well and truly over, with the bleak conditions in the market driving companies to drop their dual listings and return to their home bourse

Several Australian miners have either left or are preparing to leave Toronto amid complaints about the low levels of investor interest in the resources sector, high levels of compliance, the steep cost of maintaining a listing and the failure of companies to attract the share price re-rating they had expected.

The TSX for years ranked as the largest single exchange for mining ventures and acted as a major gateway for Australian-based companies looking to tap into the North American capital pool. The market also attracted Australian companies that believed they would enjoy better valuations in the eyes of Canadian and American investors.

However, executives told The Australian that investors in North America were increasingly uninterested in resource stocks.

Canadian spies targeted Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry: report – by The Associated Press (Globe and Mail – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 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.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A Brazilian television report that aired Sunday night said Canadian spies targeted Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.

The report on Globo television was based on documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and was the latest showing that Latin America’s biggest country has been a target for U.S., British and now Canadian spy agencies.

The report said the metadata of phone calls and emails from and to the Brazilian ministry were targeted by the Communications Security Establishment Canada, or CSEC, to map the ministry’s communications, using a software program called Olympia. It didn’t indicate whether emails were read or phone calls were listened to.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper would neither confirm nor deny the allegations when asked to respond to the report late Sunday night. The “CSEC does not comment on its specific foreign intelligence activities or capabilities,” said Harper’s communications director Jason MacDonald.

Calgary-based mining company suing Costa Rica for more than $1 billion – by Jeremy Hunka (Global News – October 4, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://globalnews.ca/

LA TIGRA, Costa Rica – A billion-dollar showdown is looming in Central America this week as a Calgary-based mining company announced it will sue the country of Costa Rica, infuriating residents who say their sovereignty is being taken away.

Infinito Gold was hoping to operate an open-pit gold mine in the Crucitas region of Costa Rica’s north. On its website, the company says it “…completed all the environmental, social and technical studies and obtained all approvals required under Costa Rican law to develop and operate the Las Crucitas Project.”

But the project was held up in court, and after irregularities were found in the approval process the mine’s approval was declared illegal. In 2011, Costa Rica banned all open-pit metal mining.

“It took a lot of effort,” says Otto Mendez, who fought against the mining project. “It took a lot of people and a lot of money.” But now, Infinito Gold says it will take the country of Costa Rica to international arbitration.

Mexico’s mining tax causes concern – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner September 30, 2013)

October 2, 2013

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

A proposed 7.5% mining tax on companies in Mexico and as much as 8% on those extracting precious metals is creating uncertainty in the industry about investing in a country that until now has been thought of as one of the world’s most attractive mining jurisdictions.

The mining tax — which some are describing as a royalty, and has yet to be passed into law — would be on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and is part of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s goal to reform the tax base in the country.

The original proposal in April had been a royalty of 5%, and many executives complain that every time the subject of a royalty is raised, the figure bandied about keeps getting higher.

“They’ve been talking about this for two years and they’ve had something like three different rates,” says John Gravelle, head of the mining group at PricewaterhouseCoopers in a telephone interview from Brazil. “Every time they make an announcement it’s a different rate, and every time it’s higher.”

Barrick Gold founder Peter Munk’s final play – by by Jonathon Gatehouse (MacLean’s Magazine – October 1, 2013)

October 1, 2013

http://www2.macleans.ca/

He’s fending off a shareholder revolt and fighting for a legacy

Back in 1996, Peter Munk sat down with one of his biographers and laid out his 34 “golden rules” for success in business. Some of them offer practical advice: “Always leave something on the table in a public issue. If you push for the last penny, it may hurt you the next time around.” While others border on fortune-cookie wisdom: “Time is short.

If you want to achieve much, you’ve got to run.” Taken all together, the list seems less like a coherent corporate philosophy than an odd mélange of exhortations to take risks and calls for fiscal prudence. But there was also an element of prophecy—at least when it comes to the current fortunes of the celebrated 85-year-old entrepreneur. “If you want to dream big, expect big problems,” states rule 30. “Big dreams challenge the fates.”

From its humble beginnings as an oil and gas play in 1983, Munk’s Toronto-headquartered Barrick Gold Corporation has grown into the world’s largest gold producer, with 24 mines operating on four continents, five more in development and ore reserves estimated at more than 140 million ounces. Characterized by the relentless pace and sheer scale of its acquisitions, including a 2011 foray into copper with the $7.66-billion takeover of Equinox Minerals Ltd., the company had been a darling of investors for more than two decades. At its peak in 2011, Barrick was trading at $53 a share and had a market capitalization of $54 billion.

Ned Goodman aims to boost CNSX exchange as alternative to TSX – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 1, 2013)

October 1, 2013

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

Ned Goodman has felt for years that the Toronto Stock Exchange and its venture counterpart are failing entrepreneurs. Now the chief executive of Dundee Corp. is doing something about it.

Mr. Goodman, 75, has acquired a third of CNSX Markets Inc., which operates the Canadian National Stock Exchange (CNSX) and Pure Trading, and joined its board as deputy chairman. He is teaming up with Tom Caldwell, a veteran investor in stock exchanges, to promote the CNSX as a viable alternative to the TSX. The dollar value of the deal was not disclosed.

His view is that it has become too expensive, time-consuming and burdensome for start-up companies to raise small amounts of money on the TSX. They can face absurd legal bills to get a deal done, he said in an interview.

“Virtually ever issuer on the Venture exchange is not happy with it,” he said. “Once we get one or two companies [to switch to the CNSX], lots will follow.” The move comes as small-cap resource companies, a group that Mr. Goodman knows well, have fallen completely out of favour with investors. They are struggling to raise money or generate any trading in their stocks on the Venture exchange.