Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 410

KGHM builds copper smelter in Poland (Resource World – February 9, 2017)

February 10, 2017

The investment by one of the world’s largest copper and silver producers, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. [KGH-WSE], in the Głogów Copper Smelter (HMG I), in western Poland, represents a milestone in the history of Polish metallurgy and puts KGHM at the forefront of copper producers.

KGHM said the state-of-the-art copper smelter is world’s largest flash furnace and electrical furnace. This unique technology is currently used only in three places in the world – one of them is Głogów. The opening ceremony at the smelter was held January 20, 2017.

This completed the implementation of the multi-annual Programme for Modernisation of Pyrometallurgy. Construction of a concentrate roasting installation, which will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2017, is an additional part of the Programme.

Watch for gold’s renaissance as anti-currency – by Scott Barlow (Globe and Mail – February 10, 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

For investors, it’s not easy to value gold in a modern context. The most famous economist of all time, John Maynard Keynes, described it as a “barbarous relic,” best left to history classes. But there remains a small but vocal minority who believe the largely useless shiny metal should be reinstituted as the basis of all monetary policy.

There is no confusion about the recent strength in precious-metals prices, as bullion prices have jumped 10 per cent since Dec. 21, 2016. There is also little confusion as to why the rally occurred – the gold price is moving in exactly the opposite direction as U.S. real bond yields.

In addition, a hedge fund manager owning one of the strongest long-term performance track records ever, Stanley Druckenmiller, has again taken a significant position in bullion.

Survey praises Canadian Arctic companies for respecting indigenous rights – by Bob Weber (Canadian Press/680 News – February 10, 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://www.680news.com/

An international survey on resource development in the Arctic has ranked Canadian companies among the highest in the world for their policies on respecting indigenous rights.

A report from a member of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs says that four of the top 10 companies operating north of the Arctic Circle are Canadian. They include miners such as Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.a) and energy majors such as Imperial Oil (TSX:IMO).

“Companies operating in Canada and the U.S. do score very well,” said Indra Overland, the political scientist who heads the energy department for the institute, one of Norway’s most prominent think tanks.

Canada’s green electricity bailouts make the Bombardier giveaway look like peanuts – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – February 10, 2017)

February 10, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

While the punditocracy whipped itself into a justifiable if ritual lather over another Ottawa bailout of Bombardier, the $372-million loan is small change compared with the multi-billion-dollar green electric power fiascos across the country.

A rough tally of the ballooning financial plight of the electricity sectors in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Newfoundland quickly runs to more than $50 billion in new debt and imbedded costs for investments that threaten to be money-losing drags on growth and consumers — and the federal government —for years to come.

The looming disasters have two things in common. They are the work of government-controlled and politically manipulated Crown corporations. They are also the product of a deliberate push to produce clean, green and renewable carbon-free electricity. No fossil fuels allowed. Money is no object.

Rio Tinto gives shelved diamond mine to central Indian state – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 7, 2017)

February 8, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) said Tuesday it’s handing its shelved and massive Bunder diamond deposit in India to the state government of Madhya Pradesh, where the mine is located.

The company, which spent almost $120 million on the asset discovered in 2004, had planned to invest an extra $500 million to develop it. But Rio decided last year to mothball it due to regulatory hurdles, local opposition and weak diamond prices.

The Madhya Pradesh government will take ownership of the assets, including all the land, plant, equipment, and diamond samples recovered during exploration, Rio said in the statement.

U.S. repeal of mining anti-corruption rules will mean Canadian companies will have much tougher reporting guidelines – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – February 6, 2017)

February 7, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

The repeal of a U.S. anti-corruption “resource extraction rule,” which passed Congress late last week, leaves Canadian companies with much tougher reporting rules than their American peers, putting the two countries on divergent paths.

If and when President Donald Trump signs off, U.S.-listed energy and mining companies will no longer be required to disclose taxes and payments made to governments, a move at odds with rules in 30 other countries.

The rule, which took a decade to craft, was finalized in the twilight of Obama’s presidency and slated to take effect next year. But, under the rarely-used Congressional Review Act, recently-enacted rules can be overturned in 60 working days if both houses and the president sign off on it. It has only been successfully used once before.

Battery expert Jeff Dahn wins major Canadian science prize – by Ivan Semeniuk (Globe and Mail – February 7, 2017)

February 7, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

When Jeff Dahn answers the phone at work, the first thing you notice is the sound of blowing air.

“Our air conditioners run in the winter,” said Dr. Dahn, a professor of physics at Dalhousie University and a leading expert in battery technology. Working in rooms packed from floor to ceiling with testing equipment, all of which generates enormous amounts of heat, he and his team have spent years advancing the subtle science of lithium-ion batteries – the slim little power packs that have become key enablers of the smartphone era.

In recognition of his long and impressive track record in the field, Dr. Dahn has been named this year’s winner of the Herzberg Gold Medal, Canada’s most prestigious science prize. But at 60, Dr. Dahn shows little sign of powering down.

Sherritt’s nickel-price boost capped by debt, ‘confusing’ U.S. signals on Cuba – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – February 7, 2017)

February 7, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

David Pathe knows what it’s like to be banned from the United States. The chief executive of Toronto-based Sherritt International Corp. received a letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security three years ago saying he was no longer welcome in the U.S. because of the miner’s business dealings in Cuba.

“There’s frankly a certain random element to it,” said Pathe, who has been with the company for 10 years and CEO for five.“I tell people that and they’re flabbergasted — a lot of Americans I tell this to can’t believe it.”

Sherritt is a joint owner, along with the Cuban government, of the Moa nickel and cobalt mining, processing and refining operations, and also produces about two-thirds of Cuban oil. The company has been operating under the status quo — including crippling U.S. economic embargo.

Northeast B.C. mining restarts stall because CN Rail hasn’t maintained tracks for shipping coal – by Andrew Kurjata (CBC News British Columbia – February 06, 2017)

February 6, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Tumbler Ridge mayor says community is being ‘held hostage’ by CN

Coal mines are restarting in Tumbler Ridge, but companies can’t ship to market because train lines maintained by CN Rail have fallen into disrepair. Mayor Don McPherson says it appears the railway stopped looking after the track sometime in 2015 after the community’s last coal mine shut down.

“I guess the board of directors for CN Rail decided that they didn’t need to maintain the rail line,” he said. “It came as a surprise to me.” The discovery comes as there is renewed interest in coal from the northeast B.C. community.

Last year, Conuma Coal purchased three of the mines and announced plans to rehire many of the 700 people who lost their jobs two years ago.The Brûlé mine, which ships coal by truck to a nearby rail facility, is already operational.

Lacking local support, De Beers shelves Ontario diamond mine expansion – by Susan Taylor (Globe and Mail/Reuter – February 6, 2017)

February 6, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

TORONTO — De Beers is shelving immediate plans to study an expansion project at a remote northern Ontario diamond mine after failing to get support from a neighboring aboriginal community, a “disappointing” setback for the world’s top diamond producer, the mine’s manager said.

The isolated Victor mine in the James Bay lowlands produces some 600 carats of diamonds annually and is scheduled to stop production in late 2018 and close in early 2019, De Beers Canada general manager James Kirby told Reuters late last week.

The nearby Tango deposit could have added five or six years, but assessment work will not proceed without formal support from the First Nation of Attawapiskat, 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of the mine, Kirby added.

Cameco’s brief respite from the uranium slump coming to an end – by Tim Shufelt (Globe and Mail – February 6, 2017)

February 6, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The financial aftershocks of the catastrophic 2011 Japanese earthquake continue to ripple through the uranium market, which, six years later, cannot seem to escape its perpetual slump. The latest reprieve from the brutal selloff is starting to look like yet another false start, merely interrupting an otherwise downward trajectory.

Canadian uranium-mining champion Cameco Corp. itself sought to rein in the market’s budding enthusiasm by calling the Street’s earnings estimates unrealistic in mid-January and warning of a 2016 loss. How big a loss will be revealed when the company reports its financials this Thursday.

“I think it’s a no-touch situation from an investment perspective for at least a year,” said John Stephenson, president of Stephenson & Co. Capital Management.

Nolan Watson, Alicia Woods win inaugural ‘Young Mining Professionals of the Year’ award – by Matthew Keevil and Salma Takikh (Northern Miner – February 6, 2017)

February 6, 2017

http://www.northernminer.com/

The Young Mining Professionals (YMP) — a non-profit group with chapters in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal — has awarded its inaugural, annual YMP Awards to Nolan Watson, president and CEO of Vancouver-based royalty firm Sandstorm Gold, and Alicia Woods, founder of Covergalls, which specializes in women’s work wear, and general manager of Marcotte Mining Machinery Services in Sudbury, Ontario.

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 2016 and be active in some aspect of mining in Canada or the United States. Voting on a selection of nominees was held in January by a committee of four YMP directors and two Northern Miner executives.

Anxiety builds in Alberta on fears oilsands carbon cap policy set to pick favourites – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – February 3, 2017)

February 3, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

As the Alberta government prepares to deliver the last big piece of its climate leadership plan, a cap on emissions in the oilsands industry, anxiety is building that it will pit company against company, project against project, and could even be based on political favour, according to industry observers.

With the remaining carbon budget expected to be used up in a decade, and more projects vying for a piece of it than will be available, there is concern that companies that supported Rachel Notley’s NDP plan will get preferential treatment, at the expense of those that didn’t.

“People are very concerned that (the changes are) not being designed for the industry as a whole, but the interests of a few,” said Glen Schmidt, president and CEO of oilsands startup Laricina Energy Ltd., said in an interview. “If you are in the cartel and part of the group that has a favoured hearing, you are pushing design elements that favour your interests.”

EDITORIAL: Liberal hot air on coal plants shutdown (Toronto Sun – January 21, 2017)

February 3, 2017

http://www.torontosun.com/

It’s obvious why Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government was anxious to discredit a report by the Fraser Institute last week that Ontario’s closure of its five coal-fired electricity plants did not significantly improve provincial air quality.

That decision cost Ontario taxpayers billions of dollars and helped to send electricity rates skyrocketing, because coal is a cheap form of energy.

The problem for the Liberals is that if the report by economists Ross McKitrick and Elmira Aliakbari is accurate, it discredits the Liberals’ claim their closure of the coal plants saved taxpayers $3 billion a year in health costs, $4.4 billion when environmental costs are added in.

The Liberals have always claimed closing Ontario’s coal plants has saved thousands of lives and prevented thousands of hospitalizations due to pollution.

Canadian Mint employee who hid stolen gold in rectum gets 30-month sentence (Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – February 2, 2017)

February 3, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA — A man who stole gold “pucks” from the Royal Canadian Mint by hiding them in his rectum to evade metal detectors has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Leston Lawrence, 35, was convicted of theft in November by Ontario Court judge Peter Doody, who noted in his ruling the case was based on circumstantial evidence. The judge said a penitentiary term was needed to deter others; Lawrence’s lawyer had argued for an 18-month sentence.

“While he was certainly in a position of trust which he breached, he was not a senior managerial official,” Doody ruled. “So, this is a blue-collar theft, not a white-collar theft.”