Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 373

Robert Friedland-backed cobalt company considering Canadian listing: sources – by Niall McGee and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – October 14, 2017)

October 16, 2017

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/

An Australian cobalt company backed by mining financier Robert Friedland is considering a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, sources familiar with the matter said, as demand for the battery-making metal soars amid supply shortages.

The company, called Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd., is already public in Australia and has seen its stock hit a record high thanks in part to a spike in cobalt prices this year.

Clean TeQ is talking to investment banks Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. about a number of options, including raising additional funds through a Canadian offering, or a straight listing on the TSX, without raising new money right away, sources said.

A window into Canadian history through the lens of commodity booms – by Colby Cosh (National Post – October 12, 2017)

October 16, 2017

http://nationalpost.com/

To the layman it’s not the most inspiring title: “A Long-run Version of the Bank of Canada Commodity Price Index, 1870 to 2015.” But the name of this Statistics Canada research paper, published Wednesday, will warm the hearts of Canadian economists like a beloved old melody.

In Canada, we are a little used to being beggared by StatCan, which, it must be said, is obviously a treasure. We do not have access to the cornucopia of very long economic time series that Americans enjoy, and our national statistics agency is fussy about occasionally re-engineering the data series it creates, which then have to be knit together by anyone wanting a historical perspective.

Being a relatively small country also makes regional and local breakdowns of aggregate data more difficult. Cells in a table that contain counts of people or things can end up too small to be of much use, and may even have to be suppressed to protect personal anonymity.

Cape Breton museum commemorates mining strikes (CTV Atlantic – October 14, 2017)

October 16, 2017

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/

The Cape Breton Miners Museum is commemorating the violent mining strikes that attracted national attention in the 1920s’ by sharing the story years later, in Glace Bay. Back then, miners took to the streets for better collective bargaining rights, forcing federal and provincial governments to develop better labour policies that are in place today.

“The strikes of 1922 to 1925, the coal miners stood together and stood the gaff, that means they did not bend under the hardships the BESCO pushed on them and they stood together,” says executive director, Mary Pat Mombourquette.

She says the 1920’s weren’t an easy time to be a coal miner in Cape Breton as the British Empire Steel Corporation controlled the miners’ wage, fuel, food, clothing and housing.

Klondike Silver – The Silvery Slocan May Rise Again (Geology For Investors – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

https://www.geologyforinvestors.com/

There is a thing about old mining camps. A certain resonance in the atmosphere. It comes from the hundreds or thousands that once toiled, in dark, dirty and dangerous conditions searching for fortune and fame.

Perhaps it’s the psychic energy of a million broken dreams or the electric shock when just 10 feet more breaks into a whole new vein or the whack of a hammer reveals a boulder of pure silver. Sandon, in the heart of what was known as the “Silvery Slocan” is one such place. Boulders of solid galena (lead sulfide) fell from the mountains, spawning the wildest city in BC, Canada and the beating heart of British Columbia’s last great mining rush.

So confident in their future that they boxed up the creek and put their main street on it, 100 years later it’s piles of rotting timber beside a very free running Carpenter creek. It’s easy to imagine that the mines are as dead as those long ago ghosts.

B2Gold up on higher-than-expected production – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 12, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Shares in B2Gold Corp (TSX:BTO; NYSE: BTG) were up on Friday after the mid-tier miner reported better-than expected gold production for the third quarter of the year.

The Canadian company logged an output of 135,628 ounces of gold, which included 6,340 ounces of pre-commercial production from its newly built Fekola mine in Mali.

Consolidated output exceeded the original budget by 2% (or 2,254 ounces) and reforecast production by 15% (or 17,372 ounces), which the company attributed to “very strong” operational performances of both its Masbate mine in the Philippines and the Otjikoto operation in Namibia as well as the successful early start-up of the Fekola mine in September.

Canada’s Catalonia? Careful Ottawa, western alienation is beginning to rear its head again – by Jack Mintz (Financial Post – October 13, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

There is a growing sense in western Canada that the federal government’s professed support for resource provinces is hollow

It was not at all helpful that the less-than-affable Montreal mayor, Denis Coderre, declared it a “victory for Canada” when TransCanada withdrew its licence application for Energy East, a pipeline project that actually would have provided market-diversification benefits to the national economy.

It would be no different than if the mayor of, say, Winnipeg — home to a Boeing plant — declared it a Canadian victory after the U.S. Commerce Department slapped on two import duties on Quebec’s heavily subsidized Bombardier planes.

At a regulatory crossroads: It’s time to fix federally induced problems, says the Mining Association of Canada – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips = October 4, 2017)

October 13, 2017

http://resourceclips.com/

The fundamentals behind the last supercycle remain in place, insists Pierre Gratton. Yet the Mining Association of Canada president/CEO warns that the country has lost ground as a global industry leader.

While the current upswing continues, the transition to a cleaner, lower-carbon future will call for even more mineable commodities. Whether Canada participates to its fullest potential, however, depends largely on policies directed by Ottawa.

Addressing a 230-strong Greater Vancouver Board of Trade audience on September 27, Gratton noted that by 2015 Canada lost its first-place spot for exploration investment. The usurper was Australia, which proved itself “much more strategic and successful over the past decade.”

A time for change: New leadership and new technology inspired a digital revolution at Lac des Iles – by Eavan Moore (CIM Magazine – October 02, 2017)

October 12, 2017

http://magazine.cim.org/en/

In the last two years, North American Palladium’s (NAP) Lac des Iles mine, located 106 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario, has made a complete technological turnaround – beginning with its first fibre-optic installation in 2015 up to the launch of real-time mine management in 2017.

Advanced as part of a broader improvement program, the rapid succession of new technologies found acceptance because it came with careful attention to the needs of the mine’s workforce. Management at Lac des Iles hopes that investing in these technologies will improve its production efficiency and set an example among Canadian mines.

“Our mine site’s really been on a constant change since 2013, when we went from a ramp access mine to a shaft access mine,” said general manager Bryan Wilson.

Future of mining in Canada on CLEER path if ‘supercluster’ approved – by Angela Gemmill (CBC News Sudbury – October 12, 2017)

October 12, 2017

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

Project from CEMI, CMIC one of 9 vying for millions from Innovation, Science and Economic Development

A proposal with roots in Sudbury could see hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money to help improve the mining industry. Earlier this year, the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) in Sudbury and the Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) formed a partnership.

They teamed up to submit a clean resources proposal to the Federal Innovation Supercluster Initiative. A ‘supercluster’ is a consortium of stakeholders, including companies, post secondary institutions and not-for-profit organizations.

The federal government has $950-million to distribute towards the creation of five superclusters. Minister of innovation, sciences and economic development, Navdeep Bains will announced the five successful applicants next March.

Ontario pledges $1M to help ailing miners exposed to toxic dust – by Sara Mojtehedzadeh (Toronto Star – October 11, 2017)

October 11, 2017

https://www.thestar.com/

The Ontario government will commit $1 million in funding to assist Ontario miners who believe years of exposure to toxic aluminum dust left them with debilitating neurological diseases, the Star has learned

The Ministry of Labour is expected to announce Wednesday that it will finance the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) to assess miners exposed to the substance known as McIntyre Powder establish whether their health conditions are linked to its use, and make compensation claims for work-related illnesses where possible.

But miners who already made claims under previous guidelines will not be eligible to have their cases reopened. As previously reported by the Star, thousands of miners across northern Ontario’s gold and uranium mines were routinely forced to inhale the powder, which was sold as a miracle antidote to lung disease.

In Bre-X Country, Junior Miners Can Crash or Post 1,000% Gains – by Kristine Owram and Natalie Obiko Pearson (Bloomberg News – October 11, 2017)

October 11, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

It had the trappings of a Hollywood hit: greed, gold, love, treachery. No wonder the titanic hoax that was Bre-X Minerals Ltd. of Canada got a little star treatment this year, with the inspired-by-actual-events movie “Gold,” starring Matthew McConaughey (reviews were mixed).

Bre-X, which collapsed 20 years ago, may be the craziest story that ever came out of the wild west of the junior mining world — but it’s hardly the only one.

Unproven penny-stock companies, in Canada or anywhere else, are never for the faint of heart. But add to that the strike-it-rich ethos of energy and mining, major drivers of the Canadian economy, and the results can be explosive.

Hunters still oppose winter sealift and railway for Mary River mine near Pond Inlet, Nunavut – by Sara Frizzell (CBC News North – October 11, 2017)

October 11, 2017

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

For several years, Baffinland Iron Mines has been trying to get permission for a railway and an extended shipping season for its Mary River mine — it’s still trying and hunters in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, are still opposed.

The mining company’s most recent proposal to the Nunavut Planning Commission was closed for public comments at the beginning of October and respondents are still wary of both elements of the revised plan.

In this iteration, Baffinland is looking for approval to build an 110-kilometre railway along the existing roadway, which connects the mine site to the Milne Inlet port site. It was also looking to extend the shipping season through to February by icebreaking.

The top business risks for Quebec mining companies – by Zahid Fazal (Canadian Mining Journal – October 1, 2017)

October 11, 2017

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

A rebound in commodity prices and a lower Canadian dollar have injected fresh momentum into the mining industry in Quebec.

In some ways, this is a continuation of the strengthening we’ve seen across the industry since the financial crisis. Things have improved significantly since 2008, with producers across the province shoring up their balance sheets and holding much healthier cash balances. And on the cost side, miners are continuing to drive down expenses through a focus on productivity and the subsequent automation and digitization of their operations.

Even with these positive indicators, insufficient financing and volatility in the mining industry continue to persist, and a number of other significant business risks pose challenges for Quebec producers. Based on EY’s 2017 ranking of the business risks facing mining and metals, the following three risks stand out as particularly relevant for producers and explorers based in the province.

[Catholic Groups Divest] You don’t need hydrocarbons for performance: behind the divestment push – by Barry Critchly (Financial Post – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

It’s been described as one of the biggest decisions in the short history of fossil free divestment. We are referring to this week’s decision by forty Roman Catholic groups around the world — from organizations in Africa, Australia, Europe, South America and the U.S. as well a number of international bodies — to shun investing in fossil fuels.

While the exact amount of assets that will be affected was not disclosed, the decision, taken by the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) was made to demonstrate that the 40 groups were ruling out future investments while urging others to follow suit.

The decision, the GCCM said, was “based on shared value of environmental protection and financial wisdom of preparing for a carbon-neutral economy.” Wayne Wachell, chief executive at Vancouver-based Genus Capital Management, one of the country’s first fossil free investment management firms, more than welcomed the news.

Gold, zinc explorers spearhead reversal of five-year global exploration downturn – by Samantha Herbst (MiningWeekly.com – October 10, 2017)

October 10, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Boosted by increased exploration efforts in the gold and zinc sectors, the global nonferrous exploration budget is up in 2017 – for the first time since 2012 – by more than 14%, year-on-year, to $7.95-billion, according to new analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The twenty-eighth edition of the firm’s ‘Corporate Exploration Strategies’ (CES) report reveals that global gold budgets are up 22% year-on-year, while zinc-focused producers and junior explorers have boosted the zinc budget by 29% year-on-year to $489-million, based on improved zinc prices since early 2016.

“We know that the juniors have endured the worst of the downturn since 2012, accounting for most of the 40% drop in the number of active explorers over the past five years.