Canada Mining – Page 331 – Republic of Mining

Conflicts surrounding Canadian mines ‘a serious problem’ – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 18, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

This series was made possible thanks to a Bourse Nord-Sud grant attributed by the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec and financed by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Last of a three-part series.

Canadians abroad have long benefited from what psychologists call “the halo effect”: Because of its reputation as a peace-loving, human-rights respecting, tree-hugging land, Canada can do no wrong.

But perceptions in Latin America are changing, say observers here and there, as conflicts pitting Canadian mines against local communities become entrenched and spread across continents, and the line between those companies and the Canadian government becomes increasingly blurred.

“Last week, there were demonstrations outside the Canadian Embassy in Mexico. But it’s not just Mexico, it’s throughout the region,” says Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, a history professor at McGill University and the coordinator of the McGill Research Group Investigating Canadian Mining in Latin America. “What embassy in Latin America has not been the locus of protests because of a Canadian mine?

Clean capitalism gets mixed results in the Andes – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 17, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

Barrick Gold has been funding projects near its controversial Pascua Lama mine, in the name of corporate social responsibility. But local citizens wonder what will happen to them when the gold runs out

ALTO DEL CARMEN, CHILE/SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA — Houses for the homeless, wireless Internet for remote villages, new computers for the local school, kite-sailing competitions, a centre for the disabled.

These are a few of the things Barrick Gold has helped finance during the last few years in communities living near its controversial Pascua-Lama mine, under construction in the Andes mountains on the Chile-Argentina border, as part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), or as it is called in Spanish, “mineria responsable.”

If these programs sound like they are beyond the normal purview of a Canadian gold mining giant, that’s because they are. Barrick often works with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are better acquainted with health and social problems in their own communities. The NGOs share their expertise; Barrick puts up the money. It’s hard to be against CSR, now part of the playbook of most Canadian mining companies wherever they have set up shop around the world.

Glaciers, protests and court cases slow Barrick in Pascua-Lama – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 17, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

At the beginning of November, Barrick Gold’s CEO, Jamie Sokalsky, announced yet another jump in the estimated capital costs of the Pascua-Lama mine, from less than $1 billion in 1997, to $3 billion in 2009, to $8 billion in July, to $8.5 billion last month – with “first gold” extracted from the Andean mine closer to the end of 2014 than to the beginning.

But, Sokalsky assured shareholders once again, Pascua-Lama is the company’s “top priority.”

There are, however, a number of obstacles remaining on the bumpy road to Pascua-Lama, to the delight of some and the dismay of others, from legal wrangling in Chile over the deeds to the vast, frigid territory, to a Supreme Court of Argentina decision over whether any mining can take place there at all, given the presence of glaciers so close to the mine pit.

Capital costs, which may yet rise again when the company releases its year-end results in February might be the least of Barrick’s worries.

The seduction of gold in Pascua-Lama – by Catherine Solyom (Montreal Gazette – December 15, 2012)

December 18, 2012

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

Who can resist it? Not Canadian giant Barrick, which is sinking $8.5 billion into a mine in the snow-capped Andes. Not Chile and Argentina, whose border is home to the massive project. Not a portion of the arid region’s residents who are benefiting from Barrick’s largesse. But with seduction comes risk, division and fear.

PASCUA-LAMA, ON THE BORDER OF CHILE AND ARGENTINA — Standing on a precipice 5,200 metres above sea level, the air is thin and the vistas are long.

Just breathing is difficult at this altitude, with a howling wind disturbing the utter majestic silence of the snow-capped Andes mountains, threatening to blow you over the edge. You’d think you were alone at the top of the world.

But what happens up here in Pascua-Lama, where Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold is developing the first open-pit gold mine to straddle two countries, will have a huge impact on the people living in the valleys below on both sides of the border – for better or for worse.

Battle for Inmet Mining turns hostile – by Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – December 17, 2012)

December 17, 2012

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.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has made a hostile, $5.1-billion takeover offer for Inmet Mining Corp., taking the bid directly to shareholders after two earlier offers were snubbed by the owner of one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper assets.

First Quantum, Canada’s largest pure-play copper producer, is offering $72 a share to Inmet, compared with an earlier approach of $70 a share, or $4.9-billion, which Inmet rejected on the grounds that it was “highly conditional” and not in shareholders’ interests. First Quantum’s initial offer, made in late November, was $62.50 a share.

The cash-and-stock offer comes a few days after Inmet raised its copper reserves estimate on its flagship copper project in Central America, Cobre Panama, by 27 per cent and extended the expected mine life by nine years.

Cobre Panama will be one of the few large-scale copper projects to be developed in coming years. It will produce some 300,000 tonnes of copper a year, worth about $1.1-billion (U.S) at current prices and putting it on a similar scale to giant mines in Chile and Peru. The project has had its challenges, among them sharply rising costs and concerns about how its owners will foot a development bill of $6.2-billion.

More than just costs are a concern at Barrick Gold’s $8.5B Pascua-Lama megamine – by Catherine Solyom (National Post – December 16, 2012)

December 16, 2012

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

Pascua-Lama, on the border of Chile and Argentina — Standing on a precipice 5,200 metres above sea level, the air is thin and the vistas are long.

Just breathing is difficult at this altitude, with a howling wind disturbing the utter, majestic silence of the snow-capped Andes mountains, threatening to blow you over the edge. You’d think you were alone at the top of the world.

After more than a decade of intense debate — often played out in front of the Canadian embassies in Santiago and Buenos Aires — the mine is set to open in 2014, and to produce 850,000 ounces of gold a year, as well as vast amounts of copper and silver.

Up to 10,000 people, many of them from the villages closest to the mine, will be employed during the construction phase and another 1,650 will operate the mine for at least the next 25 years.

Resource nationalism – A growing challenge for miners globally – by John Gravelle (Canadian Mining Journal – December 2012)

December 14, 2012

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

John Gravelle, PwC Mining Leader for the Americas

Mining companies looking to establish mine operations in developed and developing nations must consider the risks associated with the investment. A reoccurring challenge faced by miners is resource nationalism. Resource nationalism is when governments assert greater control, influence or demand a larger share of mining revenues from companies engaged in the extraction and processing of a country’s natural resources.

A common myth is the belief that resource nationalism is restricted to developing countries. This is not always the case. These trends are prevalent in developed nations, including Canada, but the ways to exercise resource nationalism may
differ. For example, while developing nations often apply export duties to mining companies in order to support local
related industries, developed countries tend to increase taxes charged to mining companies as a way to generate additional
government revenue.

An example of resource nationalism in a developed country is Australia’s Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT). The MRRT, which came into effect this year, imposes a substantial additional profit-based tax on upstream iron ore and coal operations that achieve a specified rate of return.

Nothing beats homemade ore – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – December 2012)

December 14, 2012

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

Working abroad may sound exciting and almost exotic, but as many of you know, it can be a total nightmare filled with hostility, sickness, and worst of all, false promises and cost overruns.

Nevertheless, Canadian companies continue to look offshore for their futures and fortunes but more often than not, they come home with their hopes shattered and few answers for their investors as to why things didn’t turn out as planned.

There’s no question that venturing offshore has a mystique about it that drives miners to new frontiers, but I just
wish many of those adventurers would give Canada a second look before investing their time and, moreover, their stakeholders’ money in foreign projects.

I know that some of the properties being explored or developed offshore hold outstanding prospects for Canadians in terms
of minerals, but on the downside, what about where they’re located and even worse, what about the odds of coming home with
a buck or two?

Even some major companies with seemingly unlimited financial and topnotch managerial resources are looking pretty sheepish lately as they admit to the fact that a million dollars worth of gold is going to cost a million-and-one dollars to produce.

A resourceful man [Bill Gallagher] – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post/Edmonton Post – December 14, 2012)

December 14, 2012

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

Bill Gallagher says locking up First Nations support goes a long way to tempering environmental movement opposition

Canada is orchestrating a big push to accelerate development of its natural resources, but behind the hype there is a shifting and tense legal landscape. First Nations are on a big winning streak in the courts that has empowered them to have a say on projects in big parts of the country.

The tension is pushing corporations to spend huge dollars to keep the peace and move projects along in areas First Nations claim as their traditional lands.

But the approach is piecemeal and there have been few consistently successful strategies. Tension, frustration and confrontation abound. Lawyers, consultants and vested interests fuel and feed off the tension, making it hard to come up with solutions.

Many projects worth billions of dollars have been delayed or sunk altogether. They include scores of mining, forestry and pipeline projects such as the now-shelved Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline in the Northwest Territories. The Northern Gateway pipeline could be next unless accommodation is found with opposed First Nations in the B.C. interior and on the coast.

Bill Gallagher, a former federal government regulator, oil and gas lawyer, treaty negotiator, and author of a new book, Resource Rulers, Fortune And Folly on Canada’s Road to Resources, argues there is a better way.

Here’s Why Chief Theresa Spence Is Starving Herself – by Carolyn Bennett (Huffington Post.com – December 13, 2012)

December 13, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/politics/

Carolyn Bennett is a federal Liberal Member of Parliament.

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) hosted a Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa last week to develop a plan to deal with the Conservative government’s increasingly confrontational approach toward First Nations. Speaking to the Assembly, National Chief Shawn Atleo referred to the deterioration in the relationship with Ottawa noting, “We’ve seen promises broken and others act in bad faith.”

He also called First Nations to action in “not rallies of a few, but a movement. A movement of peoples. A moment of nations coming together.” Frustration boiled over as the assembled Chiefs rallied on Parliament Hill and tried to gain entry to the House of Commons chamber in order to be heard by Harper and his colleagues.

A tweet from Tanya Kappo of Edmonton against Omnibus Bill C-45 with hashtag #idlenomore has snowballed and inspired thousands on Monday to protest in communities across Canada against the unilateral and paternalistic approach of the Harper government.

Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat started a hunger strike this week — “I am willing to die for my people because the pain is too much and it’s time for the government to realize what it’s doing to us.” With this government’s decision to treat Aboriginal Peoples in Canada as “adversaries,” Aboriginal peoples have indicated that this may well be only the beginning of their protests.

Uranium miners still struggling to emerge from shadow of Fukushima – by Peter Koven (National Post – December 13, 2012)

December 13, 2012

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

Following the Fukushima nuclear facility disaster in March 2011, uranium miners were quick to rationalize that the fundamentals of their business were unlikely to change and the world still needed more nuclear power.

They were wrong, to put it kindly.

More than 21 months after Fukushima, the uranium business is still stuck in a rut. Uranium’s spot price has plummeted to nearly US$40 a pound (compared to a high topping US$135 in 2007), and there has been minimal activity in the spot market. Utilities are well-supplied with uranium for the foreseeable future, and, thanks to Fukushima, the outlook for demand growth is not nearly as healthy as it was a couple of years ago.

“The recovery in Japan has been slower than we expected,” Tim Gitzel, chief executive of Cameco Corp., acknowledged in an interview.

Now the question on everyone’s mind is whether things will finally start to turn around in 2013? The market is still waiting for news on Japanese reactor restarts, while digesting Germany’s plans to get out of the nuclear business entirely.

Canadian underwater miner gets sinking feeling in Papua New Guinea – by James Regan (Reuters.com – December 12, 2012)

December 12, 2012

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY, Dec 12 (Reuters) – A dispute between Papua New Guinea and Canada’s Nautilus Minerals threatens to sink plans to mine gold and other metals for the first time from the ocean floor.

It could also work against efforts by the South Pacific country to restore faith in its vast resources potential and entice more foreign companies to follow the likes of Exxon Mobil , Newcrest Mining and Barrick Gold and invest billions of dollars in resource projects.

The groundbreaking undersea venture hopes to use robots operating a mile (1,600 metres) deep to mine the sea floor near hydrothermal vents that deposit copper, gold and other minerals.

Hungry for foreign investment, Papua New Guinea (PNG), a nation of 7 million spread over an equatorial archipelago the size of California, had agreed in 2011 to pay 30 percent of the costs to build the Solwara 1 project in the Bismark Sea, which Nautilus said amounts to $80 million so far.

But in June, the government’s investment arm, Petromin, said it was terminating the agreement. Without the funds, Nautilus says it cannot afford to proceed and the matter is now in arbitration in Australia under The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Chinese workers headed to Greenland – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – December 11, 2012)

May 4, 2015December 12, 2012

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

If something happens twice, does that the beginning of a trend? The “something” is governments allowing foreign workers to fill jobs at mining projects. With the blessing of Canada’s federal government, HD Mining is importing “temporary” Chinese workers for its Murray River coal project in British Columbia. Greenland has passed legislation that will allow the employment of Chinese workers in Greenland at the Isua iron ore project belonging to London Mining plc.

In Canada, the idea of Chinese workers arriving to fill jobs at a coal mine was first floated a few years ago. Then the plan fell below the radar until The Globe and Mail newspaper revived the story a week ago when it was learned that speaking Mandarin is a requirement for working at the Murray River project.

In Greenland, the new legislation paves the way for companies to employ foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay natives of Greenland. All political parties voted for the law, with the exception of the largest opposition party which abstained.

The situations in Canada and Greenland vary on one notable point: Canada has a skilled mining workforce, Greenland does not.

By virtue of our world class mineral industry, Canada has a knowledgeable, inventive and hardworking pool of labour from which to choose.

Flow-through donations may be safety net for junior explorers – by Lisa Davis (Canadian Mining Journal – December 11, 2012)

December 12, 2012

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication.

The author, Lisa Davis, LL.B, ICD.D, specializes in the areas of corporate and securities law with two of Canada’s leading national law firms, most recently with Heenan Blaikie LLP, and was general counsel for a national specialized investment fund business. She currently heads up the legal and operations team for Toronto-based PearTree Financial Services Ltd. Visit www.peartreefinserv.com for more information.

It’s no secret that tight equity markets are hurting junior mining and other resource exploration firms in Canada as they struggle to find the vein of capital to keep their operations running and their valuations from leeching away.

Yet, curiously, at a time when resource capital is harder than ever to access, a highly beneficial tool to expand the universe of capital sources — flow through donation financing (FTDF) — sits untouched by the vast majority of junior miners who are largely unaware of the existence of FTDF programs and how they work.

First, a few words to alleviate some of the mystery: Leveraging the tax benefits associated with exploration sector flow through share investing is a relatively new tax shelter gifting arrangement under which individuals wishing to give to a registered Canadian charity can do so at a significantly reduced after-tax cost relative to simply making a cash donation.

Mining costs may be abating but labour worries persist (National Post – December 12, 2012)

December 12, 2012

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

It might be minimal, but miners appear to finally be feeling some cost relief.

Despite operating in a relatively healthy commodity-price environment, the past couple of years have been mostly miserable for mining executives, as soaring costs have crimped their margins and frustrated investors. Major projects have been called off or deferred because of low projected returns, and CEOs who couldn’t turn things around got fired. By mid-2012, it was clear that investors had lost all patience with under-performing companies.

Even so, the miners are feeling a bit more optimistic as 2013 approaches. While there are few firm numbers to back it up, anecdotal evidence suggests that cost inflation in the mining sector is beginning to slow down and come under control.

As projects got delayed over the past year and companies slashed their capital spending budgets, the incredibly tight markets for inputs such as equipment and consumables began to ease, experts said. They should soften even more over the next two or three years as the pipeline of projects gets thinner due to the deferrals. Many of the largest projects in the world are on hold, including the absolute biggest: BHP Billiton Ltd.’s US$28-billion Olympic Dam expansion in Australia.