Canadian/International Media Resource Articles – Page 25

Learn from Alberta’s mistake – by Madelaine Drohan (Canadian Business Magazine – March 18, 2013)

June 10, 2013

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Provinces should save resources.

As they put together their 2013 budgets, the Canadian and Alberta governments complained mightily that lower-than-expected commodity prices were forcing them to make tough choices between spending and deficit reduction. Yet they wouldn’t be in this fix if they weren’t counting on volatile resource revenues to fund their spending plans in the first place.

What both governments should do instead—what every province in Canada should consider—is follow the lead of our global peers and treat non-renewable resource revenue as capital to be saved and invested, rather than income to be spent. In other words: establish sovereign wealth funds.

There have been feeble attempts to do this in Alberta and Quebec. British Columbia looks set to join them if the Liberal government lasts and follows through on its budget promise to set up a Prosperity Fund for natural gas revenues. And the Northwest Territories has put a structure in place for its own Heritage Fund.

Yet every government in Canada that collects significant revenues from oil, gas or minerals—in other words, nearly all of them—should have such a fund. And those that exist should be implemented with a great deal more rigour. This was, in fact, one of the International Monetary Fund’s recommendations in its latest review of the Canadian economy.

Contractors rush to Roy Hill as projects dwindle – by Andrew Burrell (The Australian – June 10, 2013)

June 10, 2013

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

GINA Rinehart’s $9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore project has emerged as the potential saviour for scores of contractors and suppliers hit hard by the mining slowdown, with almost 2000 of them set to attend briefings this week to discuss opportunities from the huge development in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The turnout expected at meetings in Perth, Port Hedland and Newman starting today dwarfs the 800 who attended similar briefings just 10 months ago, before the deep anxiety over weaker commodity prices infected the sector.

The slump has forced mining companies to slash costs and defer or abandon some projects, leading to a string of profit downgrades by contractors including Transfield, WorleyParsons, Ausdrill, Calibre and Emeco.

Amid talk in WA that the state’s once-booming economy is headed for a recession, mining contractors desperate to fill their order books will clamour for work on Roy Hill, which is shaping up as one of the biggest mining projects in the west for several decades.

It is believed the main construction contractor, South Korean giant Samsung, will deliver contracts worth at least $4bn to local companies, providing a crucial injection into the economy.

Civil War Pretty Much Declared in Ely over [Minnesota Twin Metals] Sulfide Mining – by Bill Hanna Executive Editor (Mesabi Daily News – June 8, 2013)

June 19, 2013June 10, 2013

http://www.virginiamn.com/

ELY — A well-known self-described “612-er” pretty much issued a declaration of civil war in Ely over copper/nickel/precious metals mining on a cloudy and misty Saturday afternoon a week ago.

In combative remarks during an event to officially open the “Sustainable Ely” storefront in a house on the city’s main drag of Sheridan Street, former WCCO Twin Cities TV reporter/personality Don Shelby issued some marching orders directed against the proposed Twin Metals Minnesota nonferrous project near Ely and Babbitt.

Meanwhile, Twin Metals continues its work and involvement in the community, with one of its headquarters in Ely, while planning and setting the stage for a major project that will create more than 1,000 long-term jobs.

A group of more than 100 anti-sulfide mining supporters packed inside the house’s lower level were more than receptive to his comments, nodding in agreement and clapping in support. They embraced the hard-line message, many of them with stern facial expressions.

Shelby, who is also a board member of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, which is headquartered in St. Paul, told the faithful that they won’t have to just fight the mining companies over proposed nonferrous projects in the area.

American decline has been exaggerated – by David Olive (Toronto Star – June 8, 2013)

June 10, 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.

Pundits who say America is on the decline are wrong, says David Olive.

The timing could have been better for Madeleine Albright’s assertion that “We are the indispensable nation. We stand taller. We see further into the future.”

That description of America by the Clinton-era secretary of state was followed, in the 2000s, by an epic foreign-policy blunder in Iraq; riotous greed culminating in a Wall Street meltdown and resulting Great Recession; and tragic incompetence by which New York and Washington were naked to their 9/11 enemies, and Hurricane Katrina destroyed a large portion of a great city, New Orleans.

Add in America’s more recent flirtation with defaulting on its unprecedented, staggering debt, and the U.S. display of varied ineptitude for all the world to see was bound to raise doubts about the shelf life of Pax Americana.

And that’s the context in which the superb American author Cullen Murphy, in his 2007 bestseller Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America, wrote ominously that “Whenever I see the space shuttle…I think back to the Rome of Hadrian’s day, and the gargantuan statue of the Sun-God, as tall as the shuttle, being dragged into place by 24 elephants.”

Association notes Canadian mining challenges and possible solutions – by Gia Costella (MiningWeekly.com – June 7, 2013)

June 7, 2013

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

The Canadian mining industry can face challenges effectively if they are dealt with correctly, says Mining Association of Canada president and CEO Pierre Gratton.

Canada’s mineral production reached a record $50.3-billion in 2011, but declined to $46.9-billion in 2012, owing to falling commodity prices. However, Gratton notes that, historically, these are still high prices.

“The industry’s trade levels also increased significantly, with exports growing by 20% to $101.9-billion in 2011, or 23% of Canada’s overall total. Across Canada, there are new major investments totalling $140-billion over the next five to ten years.

“To keep Canada competitive, we need to maintain low inflation, reduce debts, reduce and eliminate government deficits, as well as preserve and improve competitive tax levels,” he explains. Gratton says the country needs to ensure that government does not erode its ability to attract investment by taking action on three broad public-policy fronts – “regulatory, people and infrastructure”.

With respect to regulatory reform announced by the federal government in 2012 aimed at streamlining the project review and permitting process, Gratton states the association is actively working with government to ensure that the promised reforms result in their intended outcomes, namely efficient and predictable reviews of major projects.

Tight oil helps Alberta solidify energy superpower status – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – June 7, 2013)

June 7, 2013

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

While the oil sands grab all the headlines, conventional oil from Alberta is also likely to emerge as a strong contributor, cementing the province’s position as an energy — albeit landlocked — superpower, leaving other provinces in the dust.

The concentration of output in Alberta means pipelines and railway issues will only magnify as nature appears to have played a cruel joke by bestowing geological riches on the province, but spiked it with geographic constraints.

The Canadian Association Petroleum Producers’ bullish, almost defiant, forecast, published this week, shows Alberta oil sands and tight oil production growing leaps and bounds, almost unconstrained by market access issues.

Oil sand’s production alone will double from current levels in a decade and reach 5.2 million barrels per day of production by 2030. Total Canadian crude production will hit 6.7 million barrels per day, expected to be the fourth largest in the world by that time.

That’s nearly 500,000 barrels per day more from CAPP’s previous estimate, and 800,000 bpd higher than the International Energy Agency forecast. “Of the 500,000 bpd of additional capacity, 300,000 bpd is from conventional tight oil production, and only 200,000 bpd from the oil sands,” said Greg Stringham, vice-president, markets and oil sands at CAPP.

[Eramet] Weda Bay Nickel May Miss Tax Holiday – by Tito Summa Siahaan (Jakarta Times – June 6, 2013)

June 6, 2013

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/

France-based mining firm Eramet has been urged to spin off the processing facility of its planned Indonesian nickel mine if it wishes to take advantage of a foreign investment tax holiday.

The company plans to invest up to $5 billion to build nickel processing facilities associated with its proposed mine at Weda Bay in North Maluku.

Because the company formed to pursue the Weda Bay mine plan pre-dates the government’s tax holiday initiative, the company may otherwise be ineligible for the incentive that it sought. A contract of work for the proposed mine was signed with the national government in 1998.

Thamrin Sihite, the director general for coal and mineral resources at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said that the regulation providing a tax holiday, issued by the Finance Ministry, may not cover investment plans such as the one by Eramet.

“The thing is, the tax holiday is only for companies [incorporated] after the regulation was issued [in 2010],” Thamrin Sihite said after a meeting with a French trade delegation lead by Trade Minister Nicole Bricq in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Copper Expansion: The Copperbelt: the pride of Zambia – by John Chadwick (Publisher International Mining – June 2013)

June 6, 2013

http://www.im-mining.com/

John Chadwick reports from Zambia’s buoyant copper mining centre, where he worked many years ago.

The first thing I noted when flying into Ndola at the eastern end of Zambia’s prolific Copperbelt was the town’s proud new football stadium. It appears as a symbol of the accomplishments of the Copperbelt this century and its re-establishment as one of the world’s top mining regions. Zambia is Africa’s largest copper producer and the fourth largest in the world – and growing fast. Copper production has rocketed from 257,000 t in 2000, to more than 700,000 t in 2011 and about 650,000 t in 2012. Zambia’s Chamber of Mines predicts output reaching 1.5 Mt by 2016 as a result of the many projects underway.

The road from Ndola to Kitwe (where I started my career in mining as a mining engineer) has been greatly improved and there are plans to improve it further all the way through Chingola and Chililabombwe to the Kasumbalesa border with the DRC as a two-lane highway. Kitwe is the heart of the Copperbelt and a vital centre for mining supplies and services with Zambia and into the DRC’s Katanga Province.

On that road to Kitwe from Ndola, one first passes north of CNMC Luanshya Copper Mines, 85% owned by China Nonferrous Metals Co Ltd (CNMC) and 15% by ZCCM-IH. Luanshya is one of the oldest mines in Southern Africa. It was shutdown in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis. CNMC reopened the mine in 2009 after extensive modernisation works.

South Africa can’t get away with just ‘digging dirt’ – Paul Jourdan – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – June 5, 2013)

June 6, 2013

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – While Australia could get away with mining minerals and exporting them without paying attention to local value addition, South Africa could not, independent South African mineral policy analyst Paul Jourdan told the International Mining and Metals third African Iron Ore conference here.

With its far larger population and far fewer square kilometres, South Africa had no option but to concern itself with mineral beneficiation, which he defined as the total domestic value addition embodied in the final exports, excluding all imported inputs.

“Australia can dig dirt for the next 200 to 300 years, and they’ll be fine,” he said.

But South Africa, at one-sixth of Australia’s size and with nearly three times its population, was compelled to introduce ore beneficiation strategies for mineral value chains and resource-based industrialisation.

“Just digging dirt is not an option for us,” the former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) deputy director-general, former Mintek head and coauthor of the African National Congress’s State Intervention in the Minerals Sector document said in response to Mining Weekly Online questions.

Commentary: Canada helps developing countries with responsible resource extraction – by Julian Fantino (Northern Miner – June 5, 2013)

June 6, 2013

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

Julian Fantino is Canada’s minister of international cooperation.

Today, Canada’s private-sector investments account for almost half of global mining activities in developing countries, and represent about 12% of Canada’s foreign direct investment. As an extractives industry success story, Canada is well- positioned to help developing countries overcome their challenges and implement their own respective vision in this rapidly expanding sector.

The extractive sector — mining, oil and gas — is a key contributor to Canada’s economic growth. It has created thousands of jobs at home and abroad. Revenues from the sector have allowed Canadians to invest in social services for our communities, build highways, railways, and electrical and communications networks across the country, as well as invest in clean-energy technologies.

In part, this success is because of Canada’s long history in effectively managing renewable and non-renewable natural resources. This experience has enabled Canada to develop world-class expertise in ensuring that mining generates the maximum benefits for broader social and economic development, while respecting the natural environment.

The extractive sector is an increasingly important driver of economic growth for many developing countries. For example, exports of oil and minerals from Africa, Asia, and Central and South America in 2011 were worth more than $1.4 trillion.

Strateco waits for court ruling on funding for [northern Quebec] Matoush project – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – June 5, 2013)

June 6, 2013

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

Strateco Resources Inc. will probably know by month’s end whether it must shut down its Matoush uranium mining project 275 kilometres North of Chibougamau because of a Quebec government moratorium that freezes underground exploration indefinitely.

The Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks has decided not to issue a certificate of authorization for the Matoush project until the province’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environment has submitted its report on the uranium mining industry’s activities in the province.

“That means there will be lengthy delays and even more uncertainties about the high-grade Matoush project after $123 million of investment and seven years of solid exploration and development,” CEO Guy Hebert said.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal regulator, earlier approved Strateco’s move to drill underground to 300 metres depth, he said (interview). “The Commission supervises every exploration and development step you take and it has ruled Matoush is safe with today’s technology,” he added.

Oil sands output predicted to surge – by Nathan VAnderklippe and Kelly Cryderman (Globe and Mail – June 6, 2013)

June 6, 2013

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.

CALGARY — In the eyes of the energy sector, Fort McMurray, Alta., has never looked so promising.

The oil sands are entering a period of remarkable growth, doubling output in a decade – tripling in 15 years – and blowing past expectations from only 12 months ago, according to a sunny new industry forecast.

Recent months have seen the oil patch hit by waves of bad omens: industry leaders, concerned about unsustainable costs, have abandoned giddy growth targets. Efforts to sell oil sands properties have been abandoned, unfulfilled, amid buyer skepticism. Canadian oil prices have spiralled, then recovered – although worries remain about the value of Alberta crude.

The possibility of an expanded Alberta carbon tax threatens new costs. TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL project remains mired in a lengthy U.S. review; if it isn’t built, analysts say, billions of dollars of spending will vanish or slow and, with that, as much as one-third of near-term growth expectations.

But optimism ranks among Calgary’s most abundant commodities, and on Wednesday the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) offered a far less dour view.

Northern Gateway regulatory submissions reveal polarizing views of Alberta and B.C. – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – June 6, 2013)

June 6, 2013

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

In its last shot at defending the Northern Gateway pipeline, Enbridge Inc. says it has produced evidence to boot during the nearly completed regulatory review that the proposed project would generate enormous economic benefits for the country.

It says it would be built and operated safely, that it has sought and incorporated input from communities and aboriginals over the last decade, that it would be well prepared to deal with any oil spills and improve existing emergency response on Canada’s Pacific Coast.

“The design and construction … do not create new or novel challenges,” the Calgary-based pipeline company maintains in its 388-page final written argument.

“They were successfully faced by pipeline projects decades ago. In fact, some of the challenges were successfully met as long ago as the late 1800s when the Canadian Pacific railway was constructed through the Coast Mountains of British Columbia.”

It’s one of 40-plus final submissions from parties with an interest in the project to the Joint Review Panel of the National Energy Board and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. The panel is kicking off its last round of input – final oral arguments — on June 17 in Terrace, B.C.

Top 40 miners anxious about future of junior greenfields exploration – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – June 6, 2013)

June 6, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

Although mining companies are doing their best to manage productivity and improve efficiencies to maximize returns, a confidence crisis still permeates among mining investors, says a new PwC study.

“Miners are faced with a confidence crisis and they’re focused on trying to restore confidence,” said Mining leader for Canada and the Americas, John Gravelle, in the latest PwC report, Mine: A confidence crisis.

The report observed that the market has lost confidence in mining’s ability to control costs, to exercise capital discipline, that new CEOs can deliver on their promises, and fear that commodity prices will collapse.

Investors also fear that the industry will pile back into too many new projects or expensive deals when commodities prices rebound.

Nonetheless, Gravelle suggests, “Across the board, there’s a renewed focus on [mining companies] maximizing returns from existing operations through managing productivity and improving efficiencies.”

“The importance of returning to a lower cost base rather than relying on higher commodity prices should be on every miner’s agenda,” Gravelle stressed.