Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 390

Electric-car subsidies take greenwashing to a new level – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – June 19, 2017)

June 19, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Next month, Montreal will host a Formula E championship – an electric car race for which the city’s taxpayers will cough up $24-million in addition to guaranteeing a $10-million line of credit for the group organizing the event. All for the distinction of hosting a race no one’s heard of.

That’s even more than the $18.7-million that Ottawa, Quebec and Montreal pay Formula One owners each year to host the Canadian Grand Prix, the fossil-fuel-powered car race that draws thousands of tourists to the city each June. That makes the Formula E one pricey carbon offset.

It seems there is no length to which some politicians won’t go to in their drive to look greener than thou. His support for the carbon-spitting Grand Prix notwithstanding, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre fancies himself an environmental trailblazer, never missing a photo op that involves hugging an electric-vehicle (EV) charging station. He makes going green look so easy.

KIA signs gold mine benefit deal with Agnico Eagle (CBC News Canada North – June 16, 2017)

June 28, 2017June 16, 2017

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

The KIA and Agnico Eagle have signed an Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement regrading the Whale Tail gold deposit

Officials from the Kivalliq Inuit Association (KIA) and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. signed the Whale Tail Inuit impact benefit agreement (IIBA) in Baker Lake, Nunavut, on Thursday. In 2019, the mining company hopes to begin open pit operations at the Whale Tail gold deposit, approximately 50 kilometres north of the Meadowbank gold mine.

The Whale Tail agreement includes a $6.5 million payment to KIA — including $3 million given on June 15 to a community initiative fund. Other benefits include a 1.4 per cent cut of net gold production, $3.6 million in funding for annual training programs (with an additional $1 million in training investment if Inuit employment goals are not reached), and a preference point system to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. registered companies.

“KIA has strived to balance the need to protect the environment with the promotion of economic development,” stated David Ningeongan, KIA president, in a press release.

New mining rules in South Africa would require 30-per-cent black ownership – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – June 15, 2017)

June 16, 2017

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has announced a “revolutionary” new mining code to force companies to give a 30-per-cent ownership stake to black partners, triggering a plunge in mining stocks and a swift threat of legal action by the industry.

Canadian companies such as Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., which is developing one of the world’s biggest platinum mines in South Africa, would be among those potentially affected by the new ownership rules. The new code would increase the minimum black ownership from 26 per cent to 30 per cent for mine owners, while also requiring companies to be majority black-owned if they want a prospecting licence.

Mining companies would have to give 1 per cent of their annual revenue to their black shareholders before paying dividends to any other shareholders. The new code would take effect in 12 months.

Sabina finds deeper mineralization at Back River in Nunavut – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – June 14, 2017)

June 28, 2017June 15, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

Drilling during Sabina Gold and Silver’s (TSX: SBB) spring exploration program has extended mineralization 300 metres down plunge of the Back River project’s existing resources in southwestern Nunavut.

Drill hole 17GSE513 stepped out about 300 metres down plunge of the existing resource structure at the project’s Llama deposit and intersected 48 metres of altered and mineralized iron formation that included an intercept of 6.52 grams gold over 8.3 metres from a depth of 618.90 metres. Another hole, 17GSE512, cut 6.30 grams gold over 2.65 metres from a depth of 603.5 metres.

“Results bode well for future resource growth,” Andrew Kaip of BMO Capital Markets wrote in a research note. “We continue to believe that the Back River project represents an attractive feasibility study stage project, at an advanced stage of permitting, in a safe jurisdiction, and with a large reserve base containing above-average grade.”

Analysis: A diamond of an opportunity for northern Manitoba – by Joseph Quesnel (Winnipeg Free Press – June 15, 2017)

June 15, 2017

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Joseph Quesnel is a research associate with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

In early March, the Manitoba Geological Survey and its industry partner, Lynx Consortium, made an important diamond discovery southeast of Thompson. While there is no guarantee the find will lead to a significant mining project, the province should move quickly to enhance the potential by involving industry partners, First Nations and municipalities in the region.

If this development works out, Manitoba would join Ontario, Quebec and the Northwest Territories in profiting from diamond mining. Royalties, employment opportunities and tax revenue may lie ahead from, and in, places where they are sorely needed. Mining is a long-term venture relying on good economic policies, political stability and the prospect of decent returns on investment. The provincial government should be careful, but also reasonably venturesome.

To move forward, the province will have to involve northern First Nations. Indigenous communities would best become true partners in the venture to avoid problems that have plagued some other ventures and communities, such as Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario.

U.S. company signs collective agreement to restart Wabush Mines – by Andrew Topf (Mining.com – June 13, 2017)

June 14, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Miners at the closed-down Wabush Mines in Labrador could be back on the job thanks to the recent signing of a collective agreement with the union. Five hundred people were thrown out of work in 2014 when Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) shut the gates on the operation in Western Labrador.

Last week however the United Steelworkers Union had good news to share, telling its members it signed a five-year collective agreement with Tacora Resources, an American company without a functioning website, for the Scully Mine operation.

Part of Wabush Mines, Scully Mine began operating in 1965, with iron concentrate railed to a pelletizing facility in Pointe Noire, Quebec, for shipment to Europe and throughout North America. Before it closed in 2014, a victim of low iron ore prices, Wabush Mines was Canada’s third largest iron ore operation, with an annual capacity of 6 million tonnes. The site since then has been tied up in regulatory proceedings.

Accountability boosted by first-time publication of payments to govts by Canadian miners – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – June 13, 2017)

June 14, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The public disclosure of hundreds of reports detailing payments to governments by Canadian extractive companies heralds a new era of transparency for the mining sector, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working closely with the country’s Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA) say.

The reports, filed with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and posted on its website, have been made available owing to the implementation of the ESTMA, which requires all Canadian registered and listed extractive companies to disclose payments in excess of C$100 000 made to governments, creating greater transparency over the taxes, royalties and other forms of disbursement that companies pay.

The act was championed through an innovative collaboration with Canadian mining industry associations, NGOs and the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Canada welcomed the first reports being made public following the May 27 deadline for filing reports for the 2016 financial year.

COMMENT: Two committees, twice the bad news for Acacia – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – June 13, 2017)

June 14, 2017

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Followers of international mining news have read about the Tanzanian government’s beef with Acacia Mining which is headquartered in London, U.K.

Last month we learned that the report of a government committee says Acacia owes tens of billions in unpaid taxes. The committee estimated output from the Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi gold-copper mines is 10 times what the company reported and on which it paid royalties and taxes. The committee checked 277 containers of concentrate ready to ship from the mines, and it said there must be 250,000 oz. of gold in them. Acacia’s number is 26,000 oz.

All told, Tanzania says it has lost US$49 billion in royalties and taxes on gold-bearing concentrate exports from 1998 to 2017. The result is that Tanzania has blocked all exports of concentrate. Acacia has been exporting concentrate from Bulyanhulu since 2001 and from Buzwagi since 2010, and the company insists it has declared all the associated gold, copper and silver revenue.

Rio Tinto CEO sees Canada as less business-friendly than in past – by Allison Lampert and Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – June 13, 2017)

June 14, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

The chief executive of Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto , which owns iron ore, diamond and aluminum mines and processing facilities in Canada, said on Tuesday that it was becoming tougher to do business in the resource-rich country.

“You know mining well and you understand its value, but to be very frank it has been getting harder to do business here over the years – from employee relations to tax to managing land access,” Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques said in prepared remarks to be delivered at the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal. Jacques did not elaborate on his comments.

Calling it the “biggest mining and metals company in Canada,” Jacques said Rio Tinto had paid C$3.9 billion ($2.93 billion) in Canadian taxes since 2011 while investing more than C$8 billion.

Ring of Fire: burning down a rare economic opportunity – by Joseph Quesnel and Kenneth Green (Troy Media – June 12, 2017)

June 12, 2017

http://www.troymedia.com/

First Nations can’t veto development in northern Ontario. They must engage in good faith, just like business and governments, and not squander this opportunity

Joseph Quesnel is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. Kenneth Green is Senior Director, Natural Resource Studies at the Fraser Institute.

ANTIGONISH, N.S. /Troy Media/ – It’s often said that successful First Nations must operate at the speed of business, not the speed of government. That certainly applies to First Nations affected by the Ring of Fire mining proposal.

Long delays and lack of communication between governments and the nine First Nation communities involved have plagued efforts to establish mining of largely chromite deposits in the region 500 km north of Thunder Bay.

A central bone of contention is the construction of an all-season transportation corridor to get the mined ore to plants in northern Ontario where it can be refined. In late May, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne told a Chamber of Commerce meeting in northeastern Ontario that movement on an infrastructure plan should come in “weeks, not months.”

NDP-Green alliance seems not to care about any Canadians living east of the Rockies – by Kelly McParland (National Post – June 6, 2017)

June 12, 2017

http://news.nationalpost.com/

Hostage-takers rarely endear themselves to their targets. During its reign as a danger to Confederation, Quebec won many concessions by regularly brandishing the threat of separation, but succeeded also in isolating itself while earning the enmity and resentment of much of the country.

Fortunately, those ugly years are fading with the decline of the Parti Québécois and its aging adherents. In its place we have British Columbia’s new hardline Green-NDP alliance with its intense focus on its narrow agenda, and dismissive approach to the interests of its neighbours and fellow Canadians.

The recent B.C. election left the Greens and New Democrats able to cobble together a wobbly alliance with a single-seat advantage over the Liberal government. NDP leader John Horgan and Green leader Andrew Weaver — the latter boasting just three of the 87 seats in the legislature — quickly reached a deal predicated on a radical reworking of the economy, with particular emphasis on opposition to energy projects of national importance.

Top 40 miners returned to profit in 2016: PwC – by Andrew Topf (Mining.com – June 9, 2017)

June 12, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Is the bad and the ugly over and the good returning to the mining industry? PwC seems to think so, according to a new report from the consulting firm.

“The world’s Top 40 miners recovered from a race to the bottom, with bolstered balance sheets and a return to profitability in 2016, giving them much-needed space to pause and draw breath,” reads a press release on PwC’s annual review of global mining trends, this year titled “Mine 2017. Stop. Think. Act.”

The report was released on Wednesday by PwC Africa at the Junior Indaba conference in Johannesburg. It analyzed 40 of the largest listed mining companies by market capitalization, covering the financials between April 1 2015 and December 31 2016.

In-depth interview: Barrick’s Dushnisky and Goldcorp’s Garofalo on gold mining’s future (Northern Miner – June 11, 2017)

June 12, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

At the Canadian Mining Symposium hosted by The Northern Miner at Canada House in London in early May, session moderator Greg Huffman, managing director and global head of mining sales at Canaccord Genuity, sat down with Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: ABX) president Kelvin Dushnisky and Goldcorp (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) CEO David Garofalo for an in-depth conversation on the strategies they use to guide both companies, plus a wider look at what the future holds for gold mining globally. The following is an edited transcript of the exchange.

Question: Looking at some of Goldcorp’s latest acquisitions such Gold Eagle, Virginia, Probe and Kaminak, is there now a premium on assets in safer jurisdictions, given the current political turmoil worldwide?

DAVID GAROFALO: It’s always been fundamental to Goldcorp’s strategy to stay in low political-risk jurisdictions — generally, investment-grade countries with the notable exception of taking a bit more risk in investing in Argentina prior to the Macri regime. But that was a generational asset in Cerro Negro, and it’s been born out in the changing regime there and the Macri economic model.

A changing landscape: Diamonds in Canada Editorial – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – June 8, 2017)

June 28, 2017June 9, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

Outside of the two new mines opening up in Canada — Stornoway Diamond’s Renard and De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds’ Gahcho Kué — there hasn’t been a lot to celebrate in the diamond world of late.

In Canada, De Beers flooded its Snap Lake mine in the Northwest Territories in January. The underground mine, which has never been profitable, had been put up for sale after being put on care and maintenance last April, but failed to find a buyer. The mine was the diamond giant’s first mine outside of Africa when it opened in 2008.

In Ontario, De Beers has put an expansion of its Victor mine on hold after failing to get the support of the nearby Attawapiskat First Nation to conduct a bulk sample at the Tango kimberlite. Production from the mine is slated to end in 2018, but De Beers is studying ways to delay closing Victor by processing lower-grade stockpiles or mining deeper into the pit. It’s also considering a sale of the asset.

Coming B.C. NDP-Green agenda means province is next in line for an energy shock – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – June 9, 2017)

June 9, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

Here we go again. A new government is elected with unrealistic promises to restructure the energy system and new uncertainty is created for all those whose livelihood depended on the old one.

The next jurisdiction in line for an energy shock is British Columbia, where an NDP-Green coalition is poised to form government and planning energy reforms that make those of the Alberta NDP and the Federal Liberals look like a warm up.

The reforms are expected to scuttle all types of energy projects that aren’t in the right shade of green. The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (oil), the Site C dam (hydro), liquefied natural gas (natural gas), shale plays like the Montney (natural gas) are now at the mercy of the new rulers.