Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 445

InvestorIntel Report: China’s new metals splurge?; Lithium forecast; Gold stock profits – by Robin Bromby (InvestorIntel.com – August 8, 2016)

August 8, 2016

If the Fitch rating agency is right, China will need to consume mountains of metals — copper, zinc, iron, as well as all the technology metals — for the next 14 years. Fitch is predicting that China will need to build new housing stock of 800 million square metres every year through to 2030.

As the Nikkei news service adds, that is roughly equivalent to the housing space of Singapore 15 times over for more than the next decade. (Apologies for the italics, but the sheer enormity of this forecast demands them.)

Where is the zircon going to come from for the tiles and wash basins? What about all that copper wiring? How much stainless steel, and therefore nickel, will all this require? Those buildings will all need steel containing manganese and niobium as well as iron ore (not to mention graphene). The digital electronics will need everything from tantalum to rare earths, from tin to lithium and graphite.

Indigenous-led solution to First Nations’ power woes in the works – by Jesse Winter (Toronto Star – August 8, 2016)

August 8, 2016

https://www.thestar.com/

Relief is on the horizon with recent announcement that the Ontario government has designated Wataynikaneyap Power the transmission company to build an ambitious 1,800-kilometre power line linking 17 remote First Nations communities to the provincial power grid.

Last December, the electricity grid in Margaret Kenequanash’s home community of North Caribou Lake was so fragile she says even hanging Christmas lights risked sparking a dangerous power outage. “We couldn’t even celebrate Christmas,” she said.

“It becomes an emergency situation when there’s a power outage in the community. Milk, food starts to go bad in fridges. We have elderly people that require day-to-day support and care. We need to make sure they’re looked after,” Kenequanash said.

Diamond mining entrepreneur Robert Gannicott dies at 69 – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – August 5, 2016)

August 5, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Robert Gannicott is remembered as one of the pioneers and champions of Canada’s diamond industry, which he helped shape for more than two decades. The 69-year-old mining entrepreneur passed away on Wednesday after a battle with leukemia. He was diagnosed in 2014.

Gannicott will always be linked to one company: Dominion Diamond Corp. He got involved with the firm in 1992, shortly before it discovered the Diavik mine in the Northwest Territories, and was a driving force at Dominion right up to this year.

He led the company through tremendous growth and change during his time as chief executive. His key deals were the purchase (and later the sale) of the Harry Winston diamond retail business, and the acquisition of the Ekati mine near Diavik. Today, Dominion is a $1 billion company and is planning a big expansion at Ekati that Gannicott championed.

Mount Polley mine disaster hits 2-year mark, fallout still causes divisions – by Dirk Meissner (CBC News British Columbia – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

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

‘We don’t want the mine to go away. We just want things done right,’ local official says

The Canadian Press – Lisa Kraus says it’s been a difficult two years in the tiny central British Columbia community of Likely, where the collapse of a massive tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine opened wounds that have yet to heal.

Twenty-four million cubic metres of mine waste and water gushed into nearby lakes and rivers on Aug. 4, 2014. An independent, government-ordered panel of experts concluded the cause was an inadequately designed dam at the Imperial Metals open pit copper and gold mine that didn’t account for drainage and erosion failures beneath the pond.

One of the panel’s geotechnical engineers described the location and design of the pond as loading a gun and pulling the trigger. “We were woken up in the middle of the night,” said Kraus, who lives on riverfront property just downstream from the mine site.

Indigenous reconciliation proposals need to be enormous – by Jesse Staniforth (Toronto Star – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

https://www.thestar.com/

Indigenous people need to be offered land it will cost a fortune, which is what they lost over the years

Last week, Anishinaabe comedian Ryan McMahon released an episode of his podcast, Red Man Laughing — a hybrid of comedy and serious discussion of indigenous issues. This season, the podcast follows the theme “Reconciliation,” and to advertise the new episode “Land,” McMahon posted a two-sentence proposition to social media: “The colonial project in Canada was/is about LAND. Reconciliation is impossible without returning land.”

The bluntness of this statement and the inescapability of its conclusion were a stark contrast to the news of the day about indigenous issues. Within the last month, Trudeau’s Liberal government has stepped back from its oft-stated commitment to harmonize Canadian law with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), a project for which it voted as a bloc last year, and for which Trudeau reiterated his support on the campaign trail last fall.

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould called the UNDRIP a “simplistic (approach)” and “unworkable,” though she insists the Liberals still intend to “adopt” the declaration.

Fears of oil spill fuel Quebec opposition to Energy East pipeline – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – August 4, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

TransCanada Corp.’s Energy East project is encountering a major logjam at the Ottawa River, with Quebec officials refusing to issue permits to the company that would allow it to determine how to cross the waterway – citing Husky Energy Inc.’s spill in a Saskatchewan river last month as a troubling warning sign.

In filings with the National Energy Board, TransCanada said its usual method for river crossing was “not feasible” at its preferred Ottawa River crossing site, near the junction with the St. Lawrence River. It had promised to provide an alternative scenario this summer, but that work is delayed because county officials from Vaudreuil-Soulanges are denying the company the permits for geological testing of the riverbed.

TransCanada has not adequately communicated its plans, Raymond Malo, assistant director-general for Vaudreuil-Soulanges, said in an interview, and local government officials remain worried about the potential for a disastrous spill into the river, which would contaminate drinking water for millions of residents in the Montreal region.

Nuke the oilsands: Alberta’s narrowly cancelled plan to drill for oil with atomic weapons – by Tristin Hopper (National Post – August 3, 2016)

August 4, 2016

http://news.nationalpost.com/

It’s often forgotten what a technological feat it was to pump oil out of the Fort McMurray area. While it’s long been known that the Athabasca region is swimming with petroleum, geologists spent decades banging their head against the problem of how to turn oily sand into something that could be refined into gasoline.

Which makes it all the more fortunate that — just before science figured it out — Alberta kiboshed a plan that would have simply thrown nuclear bombs at the problem. “Nuclear miracles will make us rich,” declared famed physicist Edward Teller in a 1959 syndicated editorial.

As the first seeds of the anti-nuclear movement began to show themselves, Teller was trying to assure a worried public that they should welcome atomic bombs as bringers of “as rich a harvest as man’s ingenuity ever has produced.”

Silver Wheaton’s US$800 million deal shows streaming firms still have buying opportunities – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – August 3, 2016)

August 3, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Silver Wheaton Corp.’s US$800-million gold acquisition from Vale SA shows that metal streaming firms still have good buying opportunities despite improving market conditions.

The Vale deal is only the second major streaming transaction of the year and the first since February, when Franco-Nevada Corp. bought a US$550-million stream from Glencore PLC. By comparison, there were 11 streaming deals in 2015 worth about US$4.2 billion, according to Financial Post data.

In a streaming transaction, a royalty firm such as Silver Wheaton makes an upfront cash payment to a mining company. In exchange, it can acquire a fixed amount of precious metals from the miner at extremely low prices, which it sells for a profit.

Inside the aging lock that is one breakdown away from crippling North America’s economy – by Peter Kuitenbrouwer (Financial Post – July 30, 2016)

August 3, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

SAULT STE. MARIE, MICH. — The dispatch tower above the Soo Locks on a fine July day offers a spectacular view, but there is little time to admire it. There are five telephones and five radios, and at 9 a.m. a radio squawks. “Go ahead, captain,” says Chris Albrough, lockmaster with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“Can I have the upper and lower water levels?” asks someone who turns out to be captain of the M/V Burns Harbor, owned by the American Steamship Co.

“Upper is plus 24 inches, lower is plus 31 inches,” Albrough replies, reading from one of five screens. Translation: the water in Lake Superior today is 24 inches above its mean level, whereas the St. Mary’s River is 31 inches above. He watches as the mammoth bulk carrier ship slips from the Poe Lock into Lake Superior.

Canada invests $133 million in Tata Steel Quebec-Labrador iron ore project – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 30, 2016)

August 3, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

The Canadian province of Quebec will spend $133 million (Cdn$175 million) in an iron ore project majority owned by Tata Steel Minerals Canada (TSMC), a subsidiary of Indian giant Tata Steel.

The investment will advance development of the Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) property, which straddles the border between Quebec and Labrador, with mineral deposits on both provinces. The deal could see more than $400 million invested in the French-speaking province in the next two years, as iron ore deposits are tapped on that side of the border.

The financing includes equity stake of Cdn$125 million through Capital Mining Hydrocarbons Fund and a loan of Cdn$50 million from Investissement Quebec, acting as an agent of the government, TSMC said in a statement.

Vale Sells $800 Million of Future Gold Output to Ease Debt Load – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – August 2, 2016)

August 2, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA sold more of its future gold output to Silver Wheaton Corp. as the Brazilian miner strives to lighten a $27 billion-plus net debt load, the industry’s biggest after Glencore Plc’s.

The Rio de Janeiro-based company will sell the rights to 25 percent of the Salobo mine’s gold production to Vancouver-based Silver Wheaton, expanding a 2013 streaming deal for 50 percent of output, the companies said in separate statements Tuesday. Vale will get $800 million upfront.

Chief Executive Murilo Ferreira flagged the new arrangement with Silver Wheaton on Thursday when he said the company had one transaction to announce this week and another two by year-end.

Canadian gold miners aim to reduce debt by keeping lid on costs – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – July 28, 2016)

August 2, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Euphoria? What euphoria? The soaring price of gold has failed to ignite expansion frenzy at Canada’s largest gold miners. Instead, the latest round of earnings reports show an industry intent on reducing debt and rebuilding confidence.

Goldcorp Inc., which came up far short of analysts’ expectations , told a conference call on Thursday that it was installing a rigorous new accounting system, cutting staff at head and regional offices by a third and selling mines as it seeks to reassure investors that it is on the right track.

Barrick Gold Corp. announced plans to sell its half stake in the Kalgoorlie mine in western Australia as it continues to make progress toward meeting its target of reducing debt by at least $2-billion (U.S.) this year.

Potash Corp cuts profit forecast and slashes dividend, but says market has hit bottom – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – July 29, 2016)

August 2, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

The management team at Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. is developing a lengthy track record of being too optimistic about its industry’s prospects.

The Saskatoon-based company slashed its earnings guidance for the fifth time in six quarters on Thursday as its realized potash prices plunged to stunning lows. Potash Corp. also cut its quarterly dividend 60 per cent to US10 cents a share, the second time this year it has reduced the payout.

Yet despite the grim news, the fertilizer giant believes the potash market really has reached its “low point” this time, and better days are ahead.

Losses persist at Kinross – by Frik Els (Mining.com – July 28, 2016)

August 2, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

Shares of Toronto’s Kinross Gold Corporation (TSE:K) pulled back slightly in after hours trade on Wednesday after its second quarter results showed earnings coming in below estimates.

By the close of regular trading in New York Kinross was up 3.5% on a stronger gold price affording the company a market value of $6.4 billion. The stock is up 175% year to date.

But the counter ticked lower after hours after the company reporting an adjusted net loss of $0.01 per share or $9.8 million against forecasts of a modest profit.