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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Why a Potash-Agrium merger might end up growing on investors – Joe Chidley (Financial Post – September 1, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Nothing excites investors like fertilizer, apparently. On Tuesday, two Canadian heavyweights in the business — Calgary-based Agrium Inc. and Saskatoon-based Potash Corp. — confirmed they were in talks to get together, and investors jumped on the haywagon. Since news of this potential “merger of equals” broke, Potash shares have climbed by more than 12 per cent, Agrium’s by nearly eight.

No doubt, there is a lot that makes sense about this deal, should it happen. Potash Corp. is the world’s largest producer of, well, potash (nutrient-form potassium), and also has its hand in nitrogen and phosphorus — the other two elements in the fertilizer triumvirate. Agrium produces its own fair share of P-N-K, too, but also manages a mega-network of North American agricultural stores.

With a merger, both companies would enjoy less competition (and the global fertilizer industry is highly competitive); Potash would diversify its revenue stream; Agrium would get enhanced production capacity. Add in the usual merger-benefit expectations — synergies, efficiencies, cost reductions, etc. — and the markets have got very excited, indeed.

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The grandiose — but failed — 1960s plan by an Ontario war hero to settle a ‘second Canada’ below the Arctic – by Tristin Hopper (National Post – September 1, 2016)

http://news.nationalpost.com/

If things had gone Richard Rohmer’s way in the 1960s, the Canada of 2016 could have been home to as many as 70 million people. Canada would have had a GDP rivalling that of the United Kingdom and new highways, new railways and new metropolises, all built in the sparsely populated boreal forest region that Rohmer came to call “Mid-Canada.” He would even help to spawn an entirely new type of citizen: The hearty, winter-loving “Mid-Canadian.”

Rohmer — a lawyer and decorated RCAF Wing Commander — was leading a charge to build a “second Canada” on top of the old one. “It was a very simple concept; the country needed long range policies and plans for the future orderly development of this vast land that we have,” said Rohmer, 92, speaking by phone from his home in Collingwood, Ont. This wasn’t just some dashed-off 60s-era flight of fancy, either.

In its heyday, Rohmer’s Mid-Canada plan attracted the attention of a who’s who of powerful Canadians: Captains of industry, bank CEOs, labour leaders, scientists and Aboriginal leaders and the patronage of former Prime Minister Lester Pearson and the Governor General.

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[Timmins Legendary Hollinger Mine] Burrowing for a Billion – by James A. Cowan (MACLEAN’S – June 15, 1927)

http://www.macleans.ca/

Hollinger is more than a billion’dollar gold mine: it is an astonishing augury of what our Canadian brains and courage can accomplish

HOLLINGER, in Northern Ontario, is North America’s greatest gold mine. No one can dispute this, even for the sake of argument, since there can be no argument about it.

In the contest for the title of ‘the greatest gold mine the world has ever seen’, the race has now narrowed down to an all-British affair between Canada and South Africa, and Hollinger, leading the Canadian entries, is the favorite. Working at top speed, it produced during 1926, gold worth $13,342,491—more than a million a month.

Benny Hollinger, novice among prospectors, eighteen years ago, stumbled on the outcroppings of one of the greatest known reserves of gold ore, but for the first twelve years of its history, Fortune presided over the activities of Hollinger with a twisted smile.

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Potash developments spark Saskatchewan political fight – by Jennifer Quesnel (CBC News Saskatoon – August 31, 2016)

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

NDP Opposition critical of move to allow Chinese government-owned Yancoal to mine Sask. potash

As PotashCorp and Agrium enter negotiations on a possible merger, Saskatchewan political leaders can agree on one thing: they want to keep jobs in Saskatchewan, and keep potash royalties streaming into provincial coffers.

They differ on their approach to the potash industry’s future. A few hours after both fertilizer companies announced merger talks Tuesday, Premier Brad Wall told reporters at the provincial legislature he’d spoken with both companies’ CEOs, and sees positives in a potential deal.

“We would want to see Sask’s interests protected and furthered,” Wall said. “We would view this potentially, if it were to come to fruition, as an opportunity to perhaps pursue an even greater corporate presence in Saskatchewan on behalf of the new merged entity.”

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Rival bids would deepen intrigue in potash saga – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – August 31, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Fertilizer giants Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Agrium Inc. left the door ever so slightly open to a competing offer for their companies after they were forced Tuesday to reveal that they are working on a multibillion-dollar merger.

Rival resource companies are duty-bound to see whether they can squeeze through that crack, egged on by bankers anxious to play a role in the biggest commodity deal in years.

As the latest converts to the logic that bigger is better when it comes to commodities, Potash and Agrium are talking about a “merger of equals” that would create an entity worth more than $35-billion. That approach dictates that neither company’s shareholders receive a takeover premium, and there’s no cash – only an exchange of shares.

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NEB protesters substitute disorder for reasoned argument – Editorial (National Post – August 31, 2016)

http://news.nationalpost.com/

The National Energy Board’s Montreal hearings on TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline proposal got off to a revealingly awful start on Monday. A small knot of protesters rushed in, politicians walked out and the process disintegrated. The NEB has now suspended the hearings indefinitely.

Is it really necessary to note that storming the podium, wrestling with police and haranguing witnesses are not the means by which mature democracies make important decisions? “Progressives” maintain that this sort of “direct action,” or whatever term is used to excuse it, reflects an advanced social conscience. What it really does is substitute disorder for reasoned argument.

NEB hearings are straightforward affairs. Commissioners sit at a table listening to people’s views. Their job is to ascertain the facts in an impartial manner. It’s about as basic an example of the democratic process as you can get.

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Fertilizer giants Potash Corp., Agrium in merger talks – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – August 31, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Agrium Inc. said that they are in preliminary talks to merge, as the two Canadian companies grapple with weak fertilizer prices and a glut of potash in the market.

The companies said no agreement has been reached and there was no guarantee that the discussions would lead to a deal. Talk of a merger comes as the oversupply of potash has crimped corporate profits and given buyers such as China the upper hand.

Potash Corp. has seen prices for potash plunge to $154 (U.S.) a tonne in the second quarter from $273 last year. Its other two products, nitrogen and phosphate, have also lost value. This is the second time Potash Corp.’s relatively new CEO, Jochen Tilk, has tried to consolidate the fertilizer industry since taking over as chief executive in 2014.

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Ottawa’s gameplan on climate change in shambles as Energy East hearings spiral into soap opera – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – August 31, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

As the rule of law forbids these personal interests and considerations to wade into the application of the law, it would be inconsistent with the constitutional principle for a social licence to be determinative of a project’s approval.

The deplorable violent demonstrations during the National Energy Board’s hearings on the Energy East pipeline in Montreal, and Tuesday’s announcement the hearings have been suspended indefinitely, provide more proof Ottawa’s pursuit of social licence for major energy projects is pointless, even harmful.

Instead of producing more opportunity for public input and building credibility of regulatory reviews, the hearings have degenerated into a soap opera. The result? More delays.

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BNN Interviews Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO Wesdome Gold Mines (August 30, 2016)

http://www.bnn.ca/ New gold discovery raises shares of Wesdome Gold Shares of Wesdome Gold Mines bounced as the company announced that its Quebec gold mine revealed spectacular drilling results. Duncan Middlemiss, president and CEO of Wesdome Gold Mines joins BNN to talk about what he plans to do next.

Commodity pricing divergence calls for ‘discerning and tactical’ investors now that it’s tougher to pick winners – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – August 30, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

During the commodity bull market from 2002 to 2011, it was almost impossible not to make money in this space. The price of nearly every energy, metal and agricultural commodity dramatically rose, driven by China’s massive economic growth. Some performed better than others, of course, but the proverbial monkey with a dartboard could pick winners as well as many humans did.

It was just the opposite from 2012 to early 2016. There was nowhere to hide in this period as commodities got mashed. They didn’t all drop at once, but they ended up in the same gutter by early 2016.

Now a bifurcation is emerging: Some commodities have spiked this year, some have gone up a little bit, some are more or less flat, and a handful have actually weakened during what is supposed to be a market recovery. As a result, a very strong understanding of the supply-demand balance is needed if investors want to pick the winners and come out ahead.

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Agrium Inc, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc in advanced merger talks: sources – by Ed Hammond, Matthew Monks and Dinesh Nair (Bloomberg News/Financial Post – August 30, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s second-largest producer of its namesake fertilizer, and Agrium Inc. are planning to merge, people familiar with the matter said, as the companies battle falling prices and a decline in spending from farmers.

The combination could be announced as soon as next week, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. No final decisions have been made and the Canadian companies could decide against a deal, they said.

Potash has a market capitalization of about US$14.6 billion while Agrium is valued at about US$13.2 billion. Both companies surged 12 per cent in New York trading on Tuesday. Other fertilizer producers, including Intrepid Potash Inc. and CF Industries Holdings Inc., also jumped.

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Pipelines, red tape and climate change policies are killing Chinese investment in oilsands – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – August 30, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

During his visit to China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to offer to ease ownership restrictions in the oilsands by state-owned enterprises to rekindle Chinese investment in Canadian oil and gas.

The issue of oil-sands investment is one “that we’re certainly going to lean into,” Trudeau said Friday. He left Monday for a 10-day trip to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hangzhou, where he’ll attend the Group of 20 summit. His schedule includes a meeting with Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, the controlling shareholder of Calgary-based Husky Energy Inc., a significant oilsands player.

The Liberal government is focused on “ways we can enhance the Canadian economy,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who is on the trip as well, said on Aug. 21. “In that light, we seek to encourage investment in Canada and that’ll be something we’ll be bringing forward in meetings in China as we will in bilateral meetings with all the countries we meet.”

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Why is Canada denying its indigenous peoples clean water? – by Amanda Klasing (Globe and Mail – August 30, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Amanda Klasing, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, specializes in the right to clean water.

“She likes to take a bath, but [the water] irritates her skin,” Susan said of her active two-year-old daughter. When the little girl was 18 months old, Susan started to notice rashes all over her daughter’s legs. “I thought it was something from the grass,” she said. Instead, a doctor informed her that the baby’s rash was probably from her water. Susan can’t bathe her daughter at home now; she takes her to a daycare centre or relative’s house.

Susan lives in Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario, where I spoke to her and other families in February to learn about living under a “do not consume” water advisory.

The water in the well that supplies her home is contaminated with uranium; water trucked in from a local treatment plant to fill a cistern at her house has dangerous levels of a cancer-causing byproduct that comes from treating dirty source water.

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[Jules Timmins] The Shy Midas Behind Ungava – by McKenzie Porter (MACLEAN’S Magazine – February 1, 1952)

http://www.macleans.ca/

Jules Timmins was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he has since gold-plated it from the fabulous mining ventures he has led. Now he’s the dynamo that’s powering the vast Ungava iron development. Yet even in the town they named for his family, cops and bellboys don’t know his face

Jules Timmins was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he has since gold-plated it from the fabulous mining ventures he has led. Now he’s the dynamo that’s powering the vast Ungava iron development. Yet even in the town they named for his family, cops and bellboys don’t know his face

TOWARD the end of November last a chunky jut-jawed cigar-toting millionaire called Jules Timmins talked about gold in Noranda, northwestern Quebec, on Sunday; about iron in Montreal on Monday; about steel in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday; about copper in Toronto on Wednesday; about silver back in Montreal on Thursday; and about mining finance in New York on Friday.

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