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A call to all Canadian Mining Associations – by Russell Noble

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. This column is from the February/March 2011 issue. rnoble@canadianminingjournal.com

Most industry associations aren’t worth a damn and that unfortunately holds true for many of those involved with mining here in Canada. They’re good at collecting dues and putting on Annual Meetings for their fraternity but aside from those events, little is done throughout the year for the good of their members at large and, more importantly, the industry they serve and represent.

To support my opinion, when was the last time you heard of any association affiliated with mining make headlines beyond their own Newsletter telling about all the good they are doing on behalf of the mining industry as a whole?

Sure we hear about meetings with various government officials or other regional dignitaries where “position papers” are given on the price of electricity or the importance of water, air and the rest of the environment, but what about concerns on a broader, national scale involving mining people and the growing scarcity of them?

What are the “mining associations” doing to address this problem?

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An Overview of Nickel in 2011 – Excerpt From Global Mining Finance 2011

Global Mining Finance was created four years ago as an annual book to provide international mining executives and their peers in the financial community with an overview of the industry from a World-wide perspective. For the main website: http://www.globalminingfinance.com/past-editions.html

The following research on nickel was provided by Paradigm Capital, a research-driven investment dealer, providing Research, Trade Execution and Investment Banking services.

Commodity Focus – Nickel

Two-thirds of all nickel produced goes into stainless steel, but is also important in the world of hi-tech where the soft magnetic properties of nickel and its alloys are employed. In this article, Paradigm Capital takes a look at the market for nickel.

Demand: Driven by The Stainless Steel Recovery

Nickel has a high rate of recyclability, This distinction is often made between the use of newly produced metal and recycled scrap. By far the most important first use of nickel is the production of stainless steel which accounts for over 60% of total demand with other first-use sectors being alloys, casting, electroplating, chemicals and batteries. The stainless steel sector is growing at a CAGR of about 5-6% per annum.

The nickel market rebounded strongly in 2010 compared to a very weak 2009, as a result of improved stainless steel demand conditions in combination with an amplified restocking period. In addition, the austenitic ratio (i.e. nickel bearing stainless steel) which has traditionally run at around the 75% level, has slipped lower. This was due to nickel’s meteoric price rise in 2007 to $25/lb. which proved to be the catalyst that triggered substitution, particularly into lower nickel bearing intra stainless steel grades. This proved to be one of the double whammies.

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NEWS RELEASE: NORTHERN NEW DEMOCRATS ENDORSE MINING STRATEGY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2011

NDP only party with a mining strategy, and a mining critic – MP Gravelle

SUDBURY, ON – New Democrats unanimously endorsed a New Democrat Mining Strategy at this weekend’s Northern Council in Sudbury.

“I am so pleased that provincial and federal New Democrats from Northern Ontario endorsed this plan which protects Canada’s strategic interest by ensuring Canadian workers and their communities will be the primary beneficiaries of our natural resources,” said NDP Leader Jack Layton. “Recent years have seen foreign control over Canada’s mining sector rise from 12% when the Harpers Conservatives took power to over 40% today. And Northern Ontario has paid its own price for this increase in foreign control.”

“Over 300,000 Canadians, particularly those living and working in rural, Northern and remote communities, are directly employed in the mining sector,” said Claude Gravelle, (Nickel Belt), the NDP’s Mining Critic and the strategy’s author. “The mining, metals and mineral exploration sector, is worth $66 billion and directly contributes almost 4% of Canada’s total GDP, even before consideration of economic spin-offs. So, it is critical that we have a strategic plan in place to defend our interests.”

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PwC NEWS RELEASE: China’s role in global mining M&A overstated – Canadian buyers top world

China ramps up deal activity, but Canada outpaced the nation in 2010 36% to 6%: PwC report

Click here for: You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Global Mining Deals 2010

TORONTO, Mar. 3, 2011— Dispelling the myth that China is amassing de facto control of the world’s mining resources via mergers and acquisitions (M&A), data for the decade ended December 010 shows China remains a small player in global mining M&A. In 2010, only 6% of global mining
deals involved Chinese acquirers, compared to acquirers from Canada (36%), the United States (16%) nd Australia (16%), according to PwC’s new Mining Deals report released today.

Canada has always been a top destination for mining deals, but this year, Canada also topped buy-side ctivity – both within Canada and abroad.

“The reality is China has been a very active investor in global mining projects in recent years, but its urrent market share pales in comparison to Canada and other developed countries,” says John yholt, National Leader of Transaction Services, PwC. “Chinese-led M&A this decade has been
impressive, but consider that Rio Tinto and Xstrata alone have completed more acquisitions during he first ten years of this millennium than all Chinese buyers collectively.”

The PwC report tracked 713 deals in 2010 that involved a Canadian buyer compared to 161 involving a Chinese buyer. Year-end results bring the decade ended 2010 tally to 400 Chinese deals worth close to US$48 billion, which is considerable given Chinese buyers were negligible players in mining M&A only ten years ago.

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[Toronto PDAC] Mining convention: Let the hard rockin’ begin – by Lisa Wright

Lisa Wright is a business reporter with the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published March 6, 2011.

Lisa Wright (Toronto Star Business Reporter)

With demand for metals red hot again, it feels like the Klondike for miners. An army of 25,000 from 125 countries is expected to show at the industry’s biggest annual blast, opening today in Toronto

Amid boom times in the metals business, the centre of corporate Canada will be transformed into a mining mecca this week as thousands prospectors converge at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to dig for deals and take advantage of skyrocketing prices.

Investors are also welcome to attend the annual industry blast known as the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention. The hard-rock bonanza draws all walks of the mineral exploration business from the guys who stake claims in the bush to brokers and bankers, students, salesmen, geoscientists and mining company executives from more than 100 countries.

The PDAC’s new president, Scott Jobin-Bevans, says a lot has changed since the first time he attended with his dad — both geologists from Flin Flon, Man. — about 20 years ago when the event was at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

“I would say the big difference is the sheer size of it. It’s a monster now,” he says.

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NEWS RELEASE : Survey shows global mining industry optimistic towards new investment while Australia recovers in global rankings

The Fraser Institute is a conservative think tank based in Canada that espouses free market principles. Its stated mandate is to advocate for freedom and competitive markets. – (Wiki). Click here for: The Fraser Institute’s Survey of Mining Companies.

March 3, 2011

TORONTO, CANADA–The worldwide economic turnaround has created optimism in the mining sector, with the global mining industry primed for new exploration and investment in 2011, according to the Survey of Mining Companies 2010/2011, released today by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank.

More than three quarters of survey respondents said they expected to increase their exploration budgets in 2011, as detailed in the annual global survey of the world’s best places for mineral exploration and development.

The survey also shows that Australia has regained the confidence of the mining industry after taking a hard hit in the special Survey of Mining Companies: 2010 Mid-Year Update, following the Australian government’s plan to impose a heavy Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT) on the mining industry.

“The Australian government has since announced it would back away from the proposed tax, earning a positive reaction and improved rankings from the global mining industry,” said Fred McMahon, coordinator of the survey and the Institute’s vice-president of international policy research.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canada becomes the destination of choice for mining transactions: Ernst & Young

Please click here to view the executive summary of the report: Ungeared for Growth

Deal activity to ramp up in 2011, while companies roll the dice on frontier markets

(Vancouver – 23 February, 2010) Canada’s mining and metals sector is set to heat up in 2011 with increased deal activity, more diverse buyer competition and a continued appetite for projects in frontier markets, according to Ernst & Young.

“Canadian M&A activity has made an incredible rebound with companies reaping the rewards of reinvigorated balance sheets and flushed with cash from high commodity prices – particularly gold and copper,” said Tom Whelan, Leader of Ernst & Young’s national Mining practice. “In 2010, a third of all global gold deals took place in Canada, with over half of all deals conducted by Canadian companies. The largest of these was Kinross Gold’s acquisition of Red Back Mining, valued at US$7.4 billion.”

Ernst & Young’s annual mining and metals transactions report, Ungeared for growth, finds that Canada emerged from 2010 as the preferred destination for transaction activity in the sector globally, ahead of the US, Australia and Brazil. Canada was also the most active acquirer last year, ahead of both Australia and China, and up from fourth place in 2009.

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Viola [MacMillan] and the Toronto Stock Exchange – by Cameron Darby (Saturday Night Magazine- May 1967)

I suppose there are lots of peoples who would have relished the scene one morning last month, when Viola MacMillan went through the same routine that every junkie, impaired driver or pederast goes through when he’s booked into Toronto’s smelly old Don Jail. Viola is a mining promoter, one of the greatest, a wiry little 62-year-old who’s made millions on the market – and there she was in a blue prison smock, getting searched by a big matron and fingerprinted by a very solicitous cop.

Viola had just been convicted of a practice that is almost as common, but just as illegal in Canada, as contraception: wash trading. If you own lots of stock in a company, you can simply buy and sell large blocs back and forth to yourself through nominee accounts that you’ve established with your obliging broker. All these non-transactions register on tape, the stock goes up and the suckers start buying. Then, when you’ve run your stack up to a suitably larcenous level, you sell. End of market.

This, it’s alleged, was what Viola did with a stock called Consolidated Golden Arrow during the Texas Gulf Sulphur madness in 1964. In two hours one morning, she ran the stock from 25 to 65 cents, then pulled out and took her profit. But for Viola and her promoter husband George, Golden Arrow was only a sort of appetizer.

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Natural resources still hold potential – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (December 20, 2010)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was published on February 6, 2011.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

EVEN as Thunder Bay and other Northwestern Ontario communities press ahead with knowledge-based industry initiatives there remain opportunities in traditional natural resources industries, but not all of them. Embracing high-tech knowledge business is essential to securing the future of northern communities.

Thunder Bay in particular is growing spectacularly in its health care research sector. Just as in other regional communities, with a number of its forest industries idled, new pursuits are essential to maintaining and growing the local economy.

A new study by the Conference Board of Canada confirms that the natural resources sector — and the industries that support it — provide the strongest potential for Northern Canada’s future economic development.

This report, Mapping the Economic Potential of Canada’s North, is one of a series of studies for the Centre for the North.

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Vale’s Manitoba Operations corporate affairs co-ordinator Penny Byer backs MP Niki Ashton [Vale Job Cutbacks] (November 20, 2010)

This article was originally published in the Thompson Citizen which was established in June 1960. The Citizen covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000.

“Today, Vale ripped the heart out of Thompson.” Ashton said: “Good job standing up for us Niki…” Byer writes on Facebook

November 20, 2010

By John Barker
editor@thompsoncitizen.net

In a public posting on Facebook Nov. 19 to NDP Churchill riding MP Niki Ashton’s “wall,” Penny Byer, co-ordinator of corporate affairs for Vale’s Manitoba Operations, writes, ” Good job standing up for us Niki…”

Byer is also a rookie Thompson city councillor, garnering 1,913 votes for second place in the Oct. 27 municipal election, finishing only behind veteran Coun. Stella Locker.

Byer is a former CBC Radio journalist, who spent time in Churchill, and a long-time veteran of the corporate affairs, or public and government affairs department, as it has been also called in recent years, at Vale’s Manitoba Operations here in Thompson.

She was in charge of the four-page employee newsletter EXTRA, which Vale killed off with its Dec. 19, 2008 issue, and its successor the four-page NickeLinks, which began publishing in April 2009.

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Thompson Citizen Editorial: Thompson residents resilient [Vale Job Cutbacks] (November 24, 2010)

This article was originally published in the Thompson Citizen which was established in June 1960. The Citizen covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000.

Thompson Citizen Editorial – November 24, 2010

In terms of dark days for Thompson, Wednesday, Nov. 17 ranks right up there near the top. Brazilian mining giant Vale announced plans to phase out its smelting and refinery fully integrated surface operations at Manitoba Operations by 2015, eliminating 500 jobs or 40 per cent of its local workforce, and focus on “developing new sources of ore as it transitions its operations to mining and milling….”

The estimated payroll hit to Thompson for job losses of that magnitude is at least $50 million annually, money which will no longer be circulating in the local economy as some of the city’s highest paid jobs vanish.

Tito Martins, chief executive officer of Vale Canada and executive director of base metals for the international parent company, said two key issues underpin the operating changes. “Mineral reserves in Thompson have not been sufficient to operate the smelter and refinery at full capacity for some time. To account for this shortfall, Vale has been importing as much as 45 per cent of the nickel processed in Thompson from sources outside Manitoba. This external feed is no longer available after 2013.

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NEWS RELEASE: Ontario’s Ring of Fire – hope or hype? MiningWatch releases report on Ring of Fire economics

MiningWatch Canada is a pan-Canadian initiative supported by environmental, social justice, Aboriginal and labour organisations from across the country. It addresses the urgent need for a co-ordinated public interest response to the threats to public health, water and air quality, fish and wildlife habitat and community interests posed by irresponsible mineral policies and practices in Canada and around the world. http://www.miningwatch.ca/

In reality, MiningWatch Canada is a well-known anti-mining, non-governmental organization (NGO). Although MiningWatch is disliked by many in the mining sector, some of the environmental and social issues that they bring up, are legitimate concerns that are generally addressed by the industry. – Stan Sudol

For the MiningWatch Canada report written by Joan Kuyek, please click here: Economic Analysis of the Ring of Fire Chromite Mining Play

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Ontario’s Ring of Fire – hope or hype? MiningWatch releases report on Ring of Fire economics

Feb 04 2011

Since a major staking rush in 2007, mineral deposits in northern Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” have received considerable attention from the mining industry, the Ontario government, First Nations and non-governmental organisations. The mineral finds in the area are raising hopes about economic boom-times, while First Nations struggle to deal with the onslaught of mining claims and exploration activities on their traditional territories, and conservation groups raise concerns about protecting critical wildlife habitats and water systems.

A new report, commissioned by MiningWatch Canada and written by Joan Kuyek, cuts through the hype and raises important questions about the viability and potential benefits of developing the area’s chromite deposits.

The report points out the uncertainty around demand for stainless steel (the primary use of chromite), and the challenge that Ring of Fire proponents will have in competing with existing operations currently operating below capacity. The remote location, lack of infrastructure, power demands, and water management challenges will add costs and technical challenges to any new mine in the region.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canada maintains number-two spot for exploration in 2010

Metals Economics Group’s 21st Corporate Exploration Strategies study

U.S. dollar currency is used throughout this press release

Worldwide nonferrous exploration budgets by region, 2010
(more than 2,200 companies’ budgets, totaling US$11.5 billion)

(Note: The annual budget totals for Canada, Australia, and the United States
are typically much larger than those of most other countries; as a result,
MEG treats these countries as individual regions in its CES studies.)

Vancouver, British Columbia, January 24, 2011 – Canada maintained the regional number-two spot for planned exploration spending in 2010, attracting 19% of worldwide nonferrous exploration allocations. According to Metals Economics Group’s Corporate Exploration Strategies (CES), Canada has held second place for nine years since overtaking Australia in 2002. (Metals Economics Group’s study covers expenditures for precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium, and some industrial minerals; it specifically excludes iron ore, aluminum, coal, and oil and gas.)

Four provinces—Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia—accounted for more than three-quarters of the $2.2 billion in planned Canadian nonferrous exploration spending in 2010. Of the 710 companies that planned to explore in Canada in 2010, 90% were based in Canada, together contributing 79% of the planned Canadian nonferrous exploration total. Worldwide, Canadian-based companies accounted for more than half of the 2,200+ active explorers covered by the 2010 edition of CES, and together accounted for 41% of the 2010 global exploration budget total.

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Vale: Chomiak says province will ‘bend over backwards’ [Vale Job Cutbacks in Thompson, Manitoba]

This article was originally published in the Thompson Citizen which was established in June 1960. The Citizen covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000.

January 26, 2011 -by Ryan Flanagan
editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Provincial Innovation, Energy and Mines Minister Dave Chomiak was in Thompson last week, where he updated the Thompson Chamber of Commerce on efforts to reverse Vale’s decision to close its smelter and refinery in Thompson by the end of 2015.

“We will not consider the closing of the refinery and the smelter as an only solution,” he told the crowd of approximately 75 community leaders, businesspeople, and politicians. “We will not accept that. We’ll only consider options if Thompson and Manitoba, and the people that work here, have a value-added option.”

“Before the end of the month, we’re going to be providing options,” said Chomiak. “We want Vale to look at those options seriously. We think that their decision – even though they say that they canvassed a number of options – was made by only one party, in a complex business and social development that requires the input of many people, not the least of which are the people of Manitoba who own the mineral rights.”

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American filmmaker Michael Moore’s website: ‘Your search did not match any documents’ [Vale Job Cutbacks in Thompson, Manitoba]

This article was originally published in the Thompson Citizen which was established in June 1960. The Citizen covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000.

February 4, 2011 – by John Barker
editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Video or blog entries related to Vale, Thompson and USW

It’s all the buzz. Churchill riding NDP MP Niki Ashton said Feb. 1 that “award-winning documentarian Michael Moore agreed to a request” by her to “help share her message about the devastating decision by Vale to close the Vale smelter and refinery in Thompson.”

Said Ashton: “Moore’s team expressed great interest in Vale’s decision and the devastating impact it would have on Ashton’s home community of Thompson. Moore’s team plans to post Ashton’s YouTube video on his website as well as post a series of blog entries by Ashton and the people who are losing their jobs … Moore and his team pointed to the parallels between the Thompson story and the story of Flint, Michigan as told in Moore’s film Roger and Me.”

Ashton went on to say Tuesday, “The story of Thompson parallels what the people of Flint, Michigan faced. Our community is the latest victim. Our goal was to get our message spread globally. We are fighting back. We are happy to have Michael Moore help us get our message to the world.”

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