Twitter

Canadian/International Media Resource Articles

Keystone XL and the numerical mysticism of climate change – by Peter Foster (National Post – May 15, 2013)

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

Despite growing public support for the project on both sides of the border, and a continued full court press from both Ottawa and Edmonton (Prime Minister Harper will be in New York this week, backed by a multi-million dollar U.S. advertising campaign), the administration of President Obama has leaked that it might take a little longer than anticipated – perhaps until 2014 — to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.

According to an anonymous “official” quoted by Reuters, this delay is due to the administration’s desire to take the utmost pains in weighing all the evidence about Keystone’s impact. King Solomon would surely approve, if the reality weren’t that this decision has virtually zero to do with evidence or facts. Meanwhile facts always need perspective.

This week, an allegedly frightening climate milestone was passed. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million. The breathless reporting of this figure reflects numerical mysticism, not science.

The 400 ppm figure is ritually compared with 290 ppm before the Industrial Revolution to indicate a significant increase. Now we know that, other things being equal, a doubling in atmospheric CO2 will cause a slight warming, but other things are never equal in the chaotic system of climate.

Read more

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne apologies – 11 times in one interview – for $585-million gas plant cancellations (Canadian Press – May 15, 2013)

The above program came from TV Ontario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin

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

TORONTO — Premier Kathleen Wynne offered an apology Tuesday for the cancellation of two gas plants that will cost taxpayers at least $585 million.

Wynne had previously rebuffed calls for an apology, saying only that she regretted the cost of cancelling the plants, which was more than double what the governing Liberals had claimed. But she finally apologized on TV Ontario’s The Agenda, saying she was “very sorry” for the mistakes the government made.

In fact, the premier said she was sorry 11 times during her interview with host Steve Paikin. “The people of Ontario need to hear that I’m sorry because I am, I am sorry,” she said.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t have a better process up front. I’m sorry that we didn’t site those gas plants better and that’s why a new protocol needs to be in place.”

Read more

Lonmin South Africa workers strike, raising fears of unrest – by Joshua Nhlapo (Reuters U.S. – May 14, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – South African workers at the world’s No. 3 platinum producer Lonmin (LONJ.J) (LMI.L) launched a wildcat strike on Tuesday, halting all mine operations and sparking fears of a return to the violence that rocked the industry last year.

As dusk fell, a strike leader told thousands of workers gathered at a stadium near Lonmin’s Marikana mine to return home and continue the strike on Wednesday. Workers told a Reuters reporter no one would show up for the night shift.

Activists also said they would go to shafts the next day to threaten those who showed up for work, using the Zulu word for “rat” to describe them. This follows a pattern of intimidation that has accompanied illegal strikes in South Africa.

The platinum belt towns of Rustenburg and Marikana, which saw violent strikes at Lonmin and other producers last year, are a flashpoint of labor strife, with tensions running high over looming job cuts and wage talks.

Aggravating the situation is a turf war between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) – an ally of the ruling ANC that has lost many of its members to the more militant AMCU.

An NUM spokesman said Tuesday’s strike appeared to stem from anger over the killing of an AMCU member. A police statement said a 46-year-old man “alleged to be the regional organizer of AMCU” had been shot dead in a Rustenburg tavern on Saturday.

Read more

A partial list of successful First Nation economic activity – by Roslyn Kunin (Troy Media – May 14, 2013)

http://www.troymedia.com/

First Nations want what any society wants

VANCOUVER, BC, May. 14, 2013/ Troy Media/ – If it bleeds, it leads. This old media maxim, that it is always the bad news that makes the headlines, is certainly re-enforced with respect to First Nations and the economy in British Columbia.

First Nation Threatens to Shut Down Mine headlines a story about the Wet’suwet’en First Nation (FN) and the Huckleberry copper/molybdenum mine in northern B.C. Any environmental concerns expressed by FN with respect to any project is framed to give the impression that all FN’s are vehemently opposed to any and all economic development.

Douglas Bland, in a report put out by the MacDonald-Laurier Institute, a think tank, goes even further than seeing FN’s as a hindrance to economic activity. Bland, a retired professor from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario talks about “catastrophic confrontation” and violence between the “settler” community and Aboriginals. He quotes the usual numbers about low education and high unemployment among First Nations and sees the Idle No More events of last year as the thin edge of the wedge to a horrific future for Canada.

Fortunately, Bland’s is not the only outlook on prospects for Canada’s First Nations and the rest of the country offered by the MacDonald-Laurier think tank. They also released a study by Ken Coates and Brian Lee Crowley (READ: Growing Aboriginal power a good news story) which reached very different conclusions.

Read more

An ill wind blows for Quebec taxpayers – by Sophie Cousineau (Globe and Mail – May 15, 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.

MONTREAL – Pity Pauline Marois. Her government has been making good on its promise to balance the books. Yet the business community, still unsettled by higher personal income taxes, a new mining regime and proposed changes to the language law, won’t give the Quebec Premier any credit for it, as she recently lamented in front of the Conseil du Patronat du Québec lobby group.

All the while, the left-wing Québec Solidaire party has been ferociously criticizing Ms. Marois and her government’s austerity measures. Listening to its articulate leaders, you could believe that Ms. Marois is a reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher. Attacked left and right, Ms. Marois’ popularity has been sinking to depths rarely seen for an eight-month-old government. Two polls recently conducted by Crop and Léger Marketing indicate that under Philippe Couillard’s new leadership, the Quebec Liberal Party is now well ahead of the Parti Québécois – despite the Liberals’ power-worn brand.

This explains why the PQ has shifted gears into good news mode, in the hopes of seducing its disillusioned supporters. In the past month, ministers have unveiled plans for a new hospital in the Charlevoix region and a number of hospital renovations and extensions across Quebec at an election-campaign pace.

Good news is no news, as some journalists say cynically. But with the new 800 megawatts of wind mill projects that Ms. Marois unveiled Friday in the Gaspé region, good news is bad news.

Read more

[Ontario] Gas plant fiasco is just the beginning – by Mark Winfield (Ottawa Citizen – May 14, 2013)

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

Mark Winfield is an associate professor of environmental studies at York University, and co-chair of the University’s Sustainable Energy Initiative.

Ontario’s Liberal government stands to waste a lot more money if it doesn’t change its approach to energy policy, writes Mark Winfield.

The unfolding saga of the Liberal government’s decision to cancel, at an apparent cost approaching $600 million, two natural gas-fired power plants in Mississauga and Oakville is opening a series of questions about the province’s approach to planning and managing its electricity system.

The government of McGuinty’s successor, Kathleen Wynne says that it wants to make sure something like the gas-plant fiasco doesn’t happen again. At the same time it seems lost in terms of what to actually do, beyond requiring the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to engage in more effective public consultation before siting decisions about power generation facilities are made.

The gas plant situation reflects much deeper problems than arguably poor facility siting decisions. Rather, the situation represents the culmination of an increasingly explicit politicization of decision-making about the province’s electricity system over the past decade.

Read more

Anglo American Platinum Announces Revised Proposals to Create a Sustainable, Competitive and Profitable Platinum Business – (All Africa.com – May 14, 2013)

http://allafrica.com/

Johannesburg — In January 2013, Anglo American Platinum Limited (“Anglo American Platinum” or “the Company”) announced its proposals to create a sustainable, competitive and profitable platinum business for the long term benefit of all its stakeholders.

Following the announcement of its proposals, Anglo American Platinum and its recognised unions agreed to suspend the section 189 consultations to allow for engagement to take place with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and the unions.

At the request of the DMR, such engagement became a bilateral engagement between Anglo American Platinum and the DMR. The bilateral engagements with the DMR have now been completed. Anglo American Platinum has formulated revised proposals which remain focused on improving the profitability and sustainability of its business, while taking cognisance of the local and national socio economic challenges.

The Company’s review of the business was in response to its revised expectations for platinum demand growth and a number of structural challenges that have eroded profitability in recent years, including capital intensity, mine depths, lower ore grades, higher than inflation unit cost increases, jewellery demand elasticity and increasing secondary supply of platinum.

Anglo American Platinum’s revised proposals continue to address the objective of aligning the business with its expectations of long term demand and are an extension of the steps taken to reposition the business in recent years.

Read more

Christy Clark leads B.C. Liberals to surprise majority (CBC News – May 14, 2013)

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

But Liberal leader loses her own riding of Vancouver-Point Grey to NDP candidate

Christy Clark will head a majority B.C. Liberal government after leading her party to a stunning come-from-behind victory in British Columbia’s 40th provincial election.

But Clark lost a tough fight to hold on to her seat in Vancouver-Point Grey, to high-profile NDP candidate David Eby by 785 votes. Despite the riding defeat Clark can still be premier, but it is expected she would seek a seat in a byelection in a safer Liberal riding.

The last time a B.C. party leader became premier but failed to win their seat was in 1924, when both Premier John Oliver and the Leader of the Opposition William John Bowser were defeated in the general election.

The Liberals won 44.4 per cent of the popular vote and 50 Liberals were elected in the province’s 85 ridings, giving Clark one of the most remarkable political comebacks in the province’s history.

Read more

How Quebec Cree avoided the fate of Attawapiskat – by Terry Milewski (CBC News – May 14, 2013)

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

On the eastern shore of James Bay, a very different story

Freezing, mouldy homes. Sewage contamination. Sick kids. Unemployment. A blockade on the road to the mine. A hunger strike by the chief.

That, it seems, is the news from the Cree of James Bay — at least, as it’s defined by the desperate community of Attawapiskat, in northern Ontario. Before that, there was the news from nearby Kashechewan. Flooding. Despair. Suicide.

And both James Bay towns endured fresh emergencies this spring as the annual meltwaters exposed, again, their rickety infrastructure.

But bad news makes headlines and good news usually does not. So we’ve heard all about the mess on the Ontario shore of James Bay — and next to nothing about the success on the eastern shore, in Quebec.

Read more

B.C. mining matters to everyone – by Karina Brino (Vancouver Sun – May 14, 2013)

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

Karina Briño is the president and CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia.

Province is Canada’s largest producer of copper, largest exporter of coal, only producer of molybdenum

From the family fair in Princeton, to the Hudson Bay Lodge luncheon in Smithers, and the fundraising event for BC Children’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver, it was another successful BC Mining Week across the province.

As the president and CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia, I had the privilege of attending a number of BC Mining Week events (April 28 to May 4) in towns and cities across the province, celebrating with communities the spirit and achievements of the province’s mining industry.

B.C.’s mining sector has much to be proud of. People who work in and with the industry do so with the satisfaction that they are making a difference in people’s lives, both in the province and around the world. As Canada’s largest producer of copper, its largest exporter of coal and its only producer of molybdenum, B.C.’s mining industry helps to provide the global community with a number of well-used and necessary products — from cars and cellphones to power lines and medical equipment.

Mining also creates wealth and opportunity at home here in B.C., through investment and job creation. In 2012, the industry generated $9.2 billion in revenues and directly employed more than 10,400 people.

Read more

Platinum market records 375 000 oz deficit in 2012 – by Idéle Esterhuizen (MiningWeekly.com – May 13, 2013)

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The global platinum market experienced a deficit of 375 000 oz in 2012, owing to a steep decline in output from South Africa, platinum group metals authority Johnson Matthey’s ‘Platinum 2013’ report has revealed.

Published on Monday, the report found that primary platinum supply fell by 13% to 5.64-million ounces, its lowest level in twelve years. Total platinum demand for the year was down by 0.6% to 8.05-million ounces, while recycled platinum came to 2.03-million ounces, marginally less than in 2011.

Platinum recycling from end-of-life autocatalysts fell in Europe and North America, while the price of platinum averaged $1 552/oz in 2012, $169 lower than in 2011, prompting collectors to hoard stock, while awaiting better price opportunities.

However, the decline in recovery from this source was partly offset by greater recycling of platinum jewellery scrap in China. Platinum shipments by South African producers slumped by 16% to 4.1-million ounces during the year under review, with at least 750 000 oz of production lost to strikes, safety stoppages and the closure of some marginal mining operations.

Meanwhile, gross demand for platinum in autocatalysts rose by 1.7% to 3.24-million ounces.

Read more

Kearney mine gets the go-ahead to reopen – by Jeff Green (Toronto Star – May 14, 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.

80 jobs will be brought to the “biggest little town” on the western edge of Algonquin Park. Electric car and fears of capped exports by Chinese mines have brought new life into the “biggest little town” of Kearney, Ontario.

On Monday, Ontario Graphite Inc. announced it has final approval to re-commission the Kearney graphite mine, on the western edge of Algonquin Park, which could be up and running by November.

“Everyone’s excited about the growth of the battery industry and specifically, electric vehicles,” said Simon Moores, graphite industry expert and manager at Industrial Minerals Data. “That’s what’s driving the renewed interest in the last two years.”

Roughly 80 jobs — 60 to 65 of which the company says will be sourced locally — will process one million tonnes of ore into 20,000 tonnes of high-grade, large flake graphite. It would make it the largest graphite mine in North America, producing more graphite than the only other Canadian mines, in B.C. and Quebec, combined.

Interest in the mine wasn’t renewed until prices jumped in 2010. Privately-owned Ontario Graphite Inc. applied to re-commission the mine that December, and got the final approval from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment last week.

Read more

Signs emerge that the commodity super-cycle isn’t over – by Martin Mittelstaedt (Globe and Mail – May 14, 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.

Is it too early to pronounce the so-called commodity super-cycle over?

Just maybe. Two Canadian commodity indexes came out Monday, and they both suggest that raw materials are going through a modest stumble, not the huge blow up being forecast by the commodity doom and gloom crowd.

The indexes are from Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia, whose top commodity analyst gave a relatively sanguine observation on the overall trend, despite April’s swoon for precious metals.

“Financial market concern over the outlook for commodity markets was overblown,” said Patricia Mohr, Scotiabank’s vice-president of economics.

A big worry for commodity bears is that China’s red-hot growth rate is slowing, but Ms. Mohr noted that while the Asian powerhouse’s first-quarter gross domestic product has slowed slightly, “actual demand for raw materials was robust in China. The double-digit growth of China’s passenger car market, up 20 per in [the first quarter], reinforces its importance as a driver of growth in worldwide auto demand and related commodities such as copper.”

Read more

The EU green hell – by Benny Peiser (National Post – May 14, 2013)

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

“Instead of the blooming green economy promised by political leaders and activists, Europe
is facing a competitiveness crisis and an economic nightmare with almost 27 million people
out of work and many countries facing bankruptcy.”

“Instead of investing in the energy-expensive EU, they [Europe’s manufacturers] are pouring
hundreds of millions of dollars into the U.S. where energy prices have fallen to a third of
those in the EU…” (Benny Peiser)

Benny Peiser is the director of the London-based Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Limits to growth ideology a self-fulfilling prophecy

The European Union’s utopian scheme of transforming itself into a green energy powerhouse is faltering as its fantasy plan is colliding with reality. As the EU’s economic and financial crisis deepens and unemployment continues to rise, what used to be an almost all-embracing green consensus is beginning to disintegrate.

The spectre of green stagnation, the loss of competitiveness and economic decline has replaced 20 years of collective wishful thinking. The green folly was founded on two apocalyptic fears: firstly, that global warming was an urgent threat that needed to be prevented at all cost, and secondly, that the world was running out of fossil fuels, which meant that oil and gas would inexorably become ever more expensive. Both conjectures, however, turned out to be bogus.

Read more

A fair [resource] deal for Africans – by Peter Eigen (National Post – May 13, 2013)

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

Peter Eigen is founder and chair of the Advisory Council, Transparency International, founding chairman of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and a member of the Africa Progress Panel.

Across Africa, an extraordinary natural resources boom is underway. Energy and mineral extraction is driving economic growth on the continent. New exploration, new discoveries and no let-up in global demand mean Africa has a unique opportunity to deliver prosperity and opportunity for its citizens.

As you would expect from a country at the centre of the world’s mining industry, Canada is playing a major role. Eight of the countries where Canadian mining assets exceed $1-billion are in Africa. But this also places a special responsibility on Canada to ensure Africa benefits as well.

For while Africa’s economic growth at an average 5% per year for the past decade has been impressive, this success has not been translated into improvements in the lives of its citizens. African countries are not getting a fair share of the revenues from the mining activities within their borders. Weak African governance can mean the money which is paid is not used effectively to improve public services or create employment.

Read more