[Canada resources] A SEISMIC SHIFT – by David Parkinson (Globe and Mail – July 2, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s entire history has been intertwined with its natural resources. But in our nation’s 150th year, our status as a resource economy may be at a crossroads as it grapples with a downturn in the energy sector. We’ve had cyclical ups and downs before, but might this time be different? And if so, are we ready for the challenges ahead?

Before there was a Canada, there were the resources.

The Europeans arrived in this harsh, untamed land more or less by mistake, looking for a shortcut to the Far East; but the abundance of natural wealth lured them back. The fish and furs and trees, the ores within the earth, the vast expanses of rich soil – the natural resources were the reason people came here, stayed, formed the communities and towns and cities that eventually banded into a country.

“The present Dominion emerged not in spite of geography but because of it,” wrote economic historian Harold Innis in 1930 in The Fur Trade in Canada, perhaps the most influential examination of Canada’s economic development ever written.

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Barrick Gold’s Thornton Named Silk Road Finance Corp. Chairman – by Cathy Kit Ching Chan (Boomberg News – July 2, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corporation chairman John Thornton has been named chairman of Asian investment firm Silk Road Finance Corp., as the company seeks to tap the veteran banker’s global experience and boost its reach across Asia and Europe.

Thornton, 62, was one of the founding partners advising the establishment of Silk Road and will oversee the company’s strategy, said chief executive officer Li Shan by phone. “He is one of the best bankers in the world,” Li said. “He helped build Goldman Sachs’ Asia and its European business and has a very good understanding of the belt and road environment.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the “One Belt, One Road” infrastructure program in 2013, aiming to deepen China’s economic ties across Asia. The program includes plans to build a “New Silk Road” network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports from Asia to Europe, and will include providing legal services, facilitating capital flows and promoting the Chinese yuan’s internationalization along the route.

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Editorial: Brexit vote stokes gold rally – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – June 28, 2016)

http://www.northernminer.com/

With all the political turmoil surrounding the United Kingdom’s surprise, non-binding vote in a June 23 referendum to leave the European Union, the world has certainly learned a few lessons.

Number one for gold miners and investors is that gold performed exactly as promised by gold bugs, serving as a valuable insurance policy against political and currency risk in any investment portfolio.

Polls in the months leading up to voting day all pointed to “Remain” winning, as did the early voting results, but as the night wore on, “Leave” swung to the winning side. Ultimately, 51.9% of U.K. voters supported an exit from the EU (17.4 million votes) while 48.1% (16.1 million votes) expressed their desire to remain, with a turnout of 72.2%, out of a total population of all ages of 65 million.

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Lucara shares drop after its giant diamond fails to sell at auction – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – June 30, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shares of Lucara Diamond Corp. of Vancouver nosedived on Wednesday after the giant gemstone it discovered last year failed to sell at a London auction.

The top bid of $61-million (U.S.) fell short of Lucara’s minimum selling price for its historic discovery. Slightly smaller than a tennis ball, the 1,109-carat stone is the largest diamond unearthed in more than a century.

Lucara’s shares plunged as much as 17 per cent in the hours after the auction and finished the day down 14.5 per cent. The stock had doubled in price over the past year as Lucara produced a stream of supersized diamonds from its Karowe mine in Botswana.

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Kinross eyes expansions at its new gold mines in Nevada – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 29, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Kinross (TSX:G) (NYSE:KGC), the world’s fifth largest gold producer, believes it can increase reserves at its Bald Mountain and Round Mountain mines, which it acquired from Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX) late last year.

The company, which is looking to strengthen its portfolio in North America, has increased its exploration budget for the year by 50% to $9 million as “promising results” at Bald Mountain have “reaffirmed Kinross’ confidence in the site’s significant upside potential,” it said in a market update ahead of an analyst tour this week.

Kinross, which operates two mines in Russia and also owns the problem-plagued Tasiast operation in Mauritania, also see great potential in its other Nevada-based mien — Round Mountain.

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BHP Billiton says Jansen project still alive despite comments from MLA – by D.C. Fraser and Alex MacPherson (Regina Leader-Post/Saskatoon StarPhoenix – June 28, 2016)

http://leaderpost.com/

A government backbench MLA hinted earlier this month that BHP Billiton Canada Inc. would abandon its multi-billion-dollar Jansen potash mine if it doesn’t get further approval to proceed with construction. However, the global mining giant and the government minister responsible for the file said that isn’t case.

Glen Hart, MLA for Last Mountain-Touchwood, told a group of citizens fighting a separate proposed potash mine that BHP employees in Saskatoon told the government that the massive Jansen mine was “at a stage now where if the board of directors doesn’t authorize any more expenditure on this project, they’re going to walk way.”

Hart’s comments were recorded, though it’s unclear if the MLA knew he was being taped. The MLA claims the quote was taken out of context and he was trying to describe his understanding of the process for how potash mine is built. According to a spokeswoman for the premier’s office, Hart in no way meant to sound as if the mine would not proceed.

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Main creditor for Banks Island Gold contemplates reopening Yellow Giant mine – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – June 28, 2016)

http://vancouversun.com/

The main creditor of bankrupt Banks Island Gold is contemplating reopening the remote Yellow Giant mine, which was shut down last year by the province over environmental and permit violations, according to the B.C. ministry of mines.

The ministry says it has had discussions with the leading creditor, MCC Non-Ferrous Trading, about what it would take for it to reopen the small mine on Banks Island, about 100 kilometres south of Prince Rupert, including applying for permit amendments.

That discussion is taking place after a B.C. Supreme Court-appointed receiver did not receive any successful bids for Banks Island Gold, Ministry of Energy and Mines spokesman David Haslam said in a written response to questions from The Vancouver Sun.

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U.S. Steel Canada sale behind-the-scenes maneuvers have workers worried – by Kelly Bennett (CBC News Hamilton – June 28, 2016)

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

Steelworkers call for government intervention in sale process

Unionized steelworkers are nervously eyeing the bidders that remain in a months-long process to buy U.S. Steel Canada and take over its Hamilton and Nanticoke operations.

One bidder has reportedly been knocked out of the running to buy U.S. Steel Canada, which has been operating under bankruptcy protection through the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act since 2014.

A spokesman for U.S. Steel Canada said the company “won’t discuss the identity or number of participants currently involved in the process” in order to abide by a non-disclosure agreement. But spokesman Trevor Harris said the process had winnowed out at least one party due to concerns about sufficient financial strength.

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More than 10% of Canadian mining and metals companies delisted in 2014/15 – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – June 28, 2016)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – More than 10% of the mining and metals companies listed on the TSX and TSX-V delisted during 2014 and 2015, according to a new study by professional services firm EY.

The report, titled ‘What is driving delisting in the mining and metals sector in Canada?’, found that 41% of companies delisted owing to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, 33% delisted voluntarily, 33% failed to meet continuous listing requirements, and 10% delisted owning to formal insolvency proceedings.

According to EY senior VP for British Columbia mining and metals, transaction advisory services leader and report author Michelle Grant, 149 mining and metals companies delisted from the TSX and TSX-V in 2014 and, in 2015, a further 172 companies delisted.

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This Canadian company found the largest diamond in 100 years – by Steven Threndyle (Canadian Business Magazine – June 28, 2016)

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Vancouver’s Lucara Diamond is auctioning off the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, and investors are betting on more exceptional finds

If you own stock in Lucara Diamond Corp. (TSX: LUC), chances are the date of June 29, 2016, looms large in your calendar. That’s the day when Lucara’s monster rough diamond—1,109 carats and “roughly the size of an avocado”—is going up for auction by Sotheby’s International Jewellery Division in London, England.

News of Lucara’s discovery of the Lesedi La Rona diamond (it was named in a national contest held in Botswana and translates into “our light” in the Tswana language) has helped invigorate a mining category that has languished in the wake of a global recession, not to mention a campaign by Blood Diamond star Leonardo DiCaprio to promote synthetic alternatives to alleviate working conditions of miners in Africa.

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Editorial: Uncertainty on the horizon in the Yukon (Northern Miner – June 23, 2016)

http://www.northernminer.com/

VANCOUVER — The winds of legislative change out of Ottawa are shifting regulatory expectations for natural resource development across Canada, and the Yukon government is feeling the impact.

The Trudeau Liberals have expressed a desire to rejuvenate Canadians’ “trust in the regulatory process,” which so far has equated to an overt dedication to stomping out any remnants of the Harper Conservatives’ various attempts to streamline reviews for everything from pipelines to mining projects.

Trudeau is apparently big on “consultations,” and the federal government recently unveiled plans to “modernize” the regulatory process, which has begun with a widespread review that could impact the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

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Tension over transparency: Impact and benefit agreements with indigenous groups may soon see light of day – by Joel Barde (CIM Magazine – June/July 2016)

http://www.cim.org/en/

An Inuit land-claim organization released a full version of its impact and benefits agreement (IBA) with Baffinland Iron Mines for the Mary River project on May 20.

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) – which had previously published a partial version upon signing the agreement in 2013 – said it wants to be transparent with its members, some 14,000 Inuit who live in the Baffin Region of Nunavut.

The full agreement provides a rare look at the financial underpinnings of a modern-day IBA between a miner and a Canadian indigenous group. Keeping IBAs private or partially redacted, however, may soon be a thing of the past.

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Goldcorp CEO says mining is about margins, not volume – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – June 28, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Gold has been on a tear in the wake of last week’s shocking Brexit vote, but investors who want the best returns may want to look to producers rather than the metal itself.

By and large, miners flopped at creating value for shareholders during the last run-up in gold prices that began a more than decade ago. Investors who simply bought gold during those years did much better than those who bet on miners’ shares: From 2004 through 2012, gold rose more than 300 per cent, compared to just 73 per cent for the S&P/TSX global gold index (in U.S. dollars).

But this time around the comparison is shaping up differently. As precious metal prices have surged this year, many gold miners’ stocks have produced gains that are much larger than the rise in the underlying metal.

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Brexit is Britain’s Rosa Parks Moment – by Peter Foster (Financial Post – June 28, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

One knowledgeable friend to whom I spoke about Brexit when I was in Britain recently said that he knew that the EU was doomed, but that he was going to vote to stay. Why? Because if Britain left, it would be blamed for the EU’s inevitable collapse.

That’s why it is important to refute the idea that Britain’s vote to leave the EU has endangered, or doomed, a fundamentally viable entity. The EU is a failed project because, to turn one of the favourite mantras of Eurocrats back on them, it is “unsustainable.”

The immediate problem for Britain is that the Scaremongers of Stay, who have spent recent months preaching disaster, now have to face the consequences of their alarmism, which unfolded in falling global stock markets, and a falling pound, on Friday.

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IOC in Labrador on backburner with Rio Tinto shakeup, but not dead: analyst (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – June 27, 2016)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

A shakeup with the leadership of the company that owns the iron ore mining operation in western Labrador could mean a slowdown, but one analyst says it’s unlikely the Iron Ore Company of Canada will shut down.

Rio Tinto last week appointed Jean-Sébastien Jacques to take over the company as chief executive. The mining giant has also reorganized its operations, with iron ore operations taking a back seat to copper.

With an oversupply of iron ore expected for the next 10 years, Rio Tinto’s focus will be on its other commodities and resources, like copper and iron ore, in Western Australia.

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