Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 355

The ugly pipeline war is no accident. It was the plan – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – February 9, 2018)

February 9, 2018

http://business.financialpost.com/

Wake up, Canada. The Trans Mountain constitutional meltdown is the product of an aggressive radical campaign by green extremists to rip up the economy

“The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that fossil
fuels will hold at 80 per cent of U.S. energy consumption through
to 2050. While the U.S.-based green militants and their Canadian
cohorts have successfully promoted the shutdown of Canada’s pipeline
development, American oil production hit record levels in January.”

The Canadian pipeline crisis is developing along the usual constitutional divide and within the tired context of party politics punditry. Will Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government use its federal powers to overrule the unconstitutional moves by B.C.’s NDP government? Will B.C.’s attempt to block the $7.4-billion expansion of the Trans Mountain oilsands pipeline to the West Coast lead to a trade war with Alberta’s NDP?

And what will the Liberals’ new plans, announced Thursday, to gut the National Energy Board’s power and responsibilities, and new environmental rules released this week to protect the lives of fish against human encroachment by pipeline do to the state of the federation?

Wake up, Canada. This is not another political game show about the powers and rights of different levels of government. Nor is it about ritual inter-party rivalries among Liberals, New Democrats and Conservatives. The Trans Mountain constitutional meltdown is the product of an aggressive radical campaign by green extremists to rip up the Canadian economy.

Energy reforms push Trudeau government’s green agenda at expense of oilpatch – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – February 9, 2018)

February 9, 2018

http://business.financialpost.com/

Reforms to restore public trust will be pointless if capital moves to fund energy projects elsewhere, leaving nothing to fight over in a weaker economy

While claiming to look for balance between the economy and the environment, the federal Liberal government pushed its climate change agenda forward in major environmental and regulatory reforms of big energy projects announced Thursday.

And in case there was any doubt, the proposed changes reinforce that the Liberal energy priority is about transitioning to a clean energy economy, not supporting investment in oil and gas — a big political and economic gamble while the United States is moving in the opposite direction.

One good thing for Canada’s energy sector: Projects that aren’t dead on arrival because they don’t fit into Canada’s climate change commitments can look forward to — maybe — shorter reviews.

Liberals unveil overhaul of environmental legislation – by Gloria Galloway and Shawn McCathy (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The federal government is proposing to overhaul the way environmental assessments are conducted in Canada, aiming to reduce red tape, provide greater transparency and allow greater input from the public and Indigenous populations.

At the same time, Ottawa says it will replace the National Energy Board with a Calgary-based oversight body designed to respond to emerging energy developments that will make faster decisions guided by science and Indigenous knowledge. Liberal cabinet ministers held news conferences in cities across the country on Thursday to roll out the long-promised environmental legislation.

“The legislation we are introducing today aims to restore public trust in how the federal government makes decisions about major projects like mines, pipelines, and hydro dams,” Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told a news conference in Ottawa. “These better rules are designed to protect our environment while improving investor confidence, strengthening our economy and creating good middle-class jobs.”

Noted banker Egizio Bianchini exits BMO, shaking up mining shop – by Niall McGee and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Egizio Bianchini, one of Canada’s best known mining bankers, is leaving BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. after nearly three decades of deal-making.

His departure is another blow to BMO, which is known internationally for its expertise in mining investment banking. The bank-owned dealer will now have seen three rainmakers exit in less than two years. A number of sources told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Bianchini is leaving to work for mining billionaire Robert Friedland.

In an interview with The Globe, John Armstrong, deputy head of investment banking at BMO, said Mr. Bianchini is retiring from the industry, and pursuing a “new opportunity outside of investment banking.” Mr. Bianchini, who did not respond to a request for comment, is expected to leave in March.

Potash demand ‘robust’, but Nutrien CEO doesn’t rule out closing higher cost mines – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – February 7, 2018)

February 8, 2018

http://business.financialpost.com/

Nutrien Ltd., the newly formed company from the merger of The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Agrium Inc., is well on course to achieve savings of half a billion dollar in synergies annually, according to its chief executive officer Chuck Magro.

“When we look at it, the $500 million in annual synergies — we’re very confident about that number,” Magro told investors on Nutrien’s first conference call about the company’s 2018 guidance. Already, the company has saved $40 million, Magro said, predicting that more savings will be achieved through the combination of the transportation, operations, finance and procurement functions.

For instance, he pointed to the elimination of 200 railcars as one example of a cost-saving synergy that resulted from the combination. But integrating the two companies could send ripples throughout Canada, with impacts far beyond Nutrien’s bottom line.

‘I am not giving up on this’: Kinder Morgan president vows to fight for Trans Mountain – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

http://business.financialpost.com/

If the point of the British Columbia government’s continuing tantrums against bitumen pipelines is to get proponent Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. to quit in frustration, it’s not working.

President Ian Anderson, who has led the proposal to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline through years of erratic B.C. politics, said the project is staying the course — even if it’s moving forward at a slower pace than he or his investors would like.

“I am not giving up on this,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “We fought too long and too hard.” The battle to expand the capacity of Kinder Morgan’s Alberta-to-West Coast pipeline has escalated into an ugly trade war between neighbouring provinces.

Ivanhoe pleads for calm on Congo tax hike – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian mining billionaire Robert Friedland has pleaded with investors not to “freak out” over a Congolese plan to hike mining taxes, despite the heavy damage that the plan has already inflicted on the stock prices of miners in the country.

Mr. Friedland, founder and executive chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, says the international miners have been “gored” but they are like “a herd of antelopes with our horns pointing out” as they co-operate on a united campaign against the sharp tax increases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ivanhoe’s stock price has fallen by 24 per cent since the new mining code was enacted last week. Ivanhoe is developing the huge Kamoa-Kakula copper project in Congo, which Mr. Friedland predicts could eventually become the biggest producing copper mine in the world.

Canada ‘needs to act and act very soon’ on polluting mine, say Alaska politicians – by Dave Croft (CBC News North – February 6, 2018)

February 8, 2018

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

Alaska politicians on trip to Ottawa ask for progress on Tulsequah Chief mine cleanup

Senior Alaskan politicians say U.S. federal and state agencies are ramping up their efforts to force B.C. to clean up the abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine, about 80 kilometres south of Atlin.

Dan Sullivan, one of Alaska’s two U.S. senators, and the state’s Lt.-Gov. Byron Mallot were in Ottawa Monday for a series of meetings with Canadian officials, including federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. Mallot said there will be more meetings on transboundary issues in April.

“Hopefully this will continue to create the kind of focus on the Tulsequah Chief mine that we raised in the last two years,” said Mallot. “Recognizing that the mine had been spewing water — waste water — for almost half a century, and we’ve got this focused at a level now that has never been focused on before,” he said.

Mexican activists ask Ottawa to investigate alleged support of mining firm – by Bill Curry (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A delegation of activists from Mexico – including the son of a community leader who was murdered after raising concerns with the Canadian embassy – are calling for an investigation into the actions of diplomats who allegedly supported a Canadian mining company accused of human-rights abuses.

The Public Sector Integrity Commission says it is considering the formal request for an investigation filed by the activists this week. The activists also met privately on Tuesday with senior Canadian government officials.

The call for an investigation comes on the heels of a major announcement by International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne that Canada will create a new watchdog position with a mandate to investigate human-rights complaints against Canadian companies operating in other countries.

Rio Tinto Confident U.S. Will Treat Canada Differently on Trade – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – February 7, 2018)

February 8, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The head of Rio Tinto Group’s aluminum division is confident the Trump administration will recognize that Canada must be viewed differently when considering import tariffs on the metal and in Nafta talks.

“There’s a clear recognition of the strategic importance of the Canadian industry to the American manufacturing base,” Alf Barrios, chief executive of Rio Tinto’s aluminum division, said Wednesday in a phone interview. That view was expressed to him in conversations within the last few weeks, he said. “It is different than the other importing countries.”

In January, U.S. President Donald Trump received the findings of the eight-month “Section 232” investigation into whether aluminum imports pose a threat to national security.

Private capital favours investing in copper over gold for first time – by Frik Els (Mining.com – February 5, 2018)

February 6, 2018

http://www.mining.com/

Gold projects are no longer the favourite destination of private capital raised for investment in the mining sector as optimism about electric vehicle demand steer funds into battery metals.

Private-equity deals in the mining industry bounced back in 2017 according to a new report by UK law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner with investment in the sector jumping by more than 30% to $2.3 billion.

Copper overtook gold as the most attractive commodity in 2017, with $1.6 billion in deals representing just shy of 70% of all money flowing into the sector.

Voisey’s Bay poised to capitalize on demand for cobalt, but Vale silent – by Terry Roberts (CBC News NL – February 06, 2018)

February 6, 2018

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Sources say ballistic surge in cobalt prices makes underground mine project more likely

A ballistic surge in the price of cobalt could mean positive things for Labrador’s Voisey’s Bay mine, but if executives at Vale are excited, they certainly aren’t saying.

Reuters is reporting that the Brazilian mining giant, which owns the Voisey’s Bay mine and processing facility at Long Harbour, Placentia Bay, is looking to cash in on cobalt.

The international news agency is reporting that Vale is looking to sell unmined cobalt, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to investors and that could be a positive sign as the company decides whether to proceed with an underground mine at Voisey’s Bay.

Ottawa to overhaul process for energy project reviews – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – February 5, 2018)

February 6, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Liberal government will introduce sweeping legislation this week to overhaul the environmental assessment system for major resource projects as it faces fierce opposition in British Columbia to a pipeline approved under the current rules.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the existing system, in which the National Energy Board reviews pipeline proposals, has failed to provide credible outcomes that are broadly trusted by the people who would be affected.

The government indicated on Friday that it will give notice of legislation on Monday, meaning the bill will be tabled later in the week.

Stephen de Jong, Catherine Raw win ‘Young Mining Professionals of the Year’ award – by Staff (Northern Miner – February 5, 2018)

February 5, 2018

Northern Miner

The Young Mining Professionals (YMP) — a non-profit group with chapters in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and London, U.K. — has awarded its Mining Professional of the Year Awards for 2017 to Stephen de Jong, chairman of Vancouver-based gold-silver junior Integra Resources (TSXV: ITR), and Catherine Raw, executive vice-president and chief financial officer of Barrick Gold. (TSX: ABX; NYSE: ABX).

The YMP Awards, presented in association with The Northern Miner, are intended by the YMP to “recognize two young mining professionals, a male and a female, who over the past year, and during the course of their careers, have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and innovative thinking to provide value for their companies and shareholders, as well as for themselves.”

Nominees are required to be under 40 years of age in 2017 and be active in some aspect of mining in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom. Voting on a selection of nominees was held in January by a committee representing the four YMP branches and The Northern Miner.

The real cost of tax avoidance – Editorial (Toronto Star – February 5, 2018)

February 5, 2018

https://www.thestar.com/

Corporations that avoid tax, like the mining company Turquoise Hill Resources, are depriving governments of billions of dollars a year in tax revenue — money that could be going to pay for everything from health care to national defence.

Whatever the Vancouver-based mining company Turquoise Hill Resources is paying its tax lawyers, it isn’t enough.

Over the past seven years the company has used a complicated network of subsidiaries, foreign tax havens, and a variety of financial manoeuvres to avoid paying more than half a billion dollars in Canadian tax. It’s also avoided paying another $232 million (U.S.) to the government of Mongolia, where it operates one of the world’s biggest copper mines.