Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 463

Kathleen Wynne’s monstrous new utility to make Ontarians drive, live and work ‘green’ – by Kevin Libin (Financial Post – April 29, 2016)

April 29, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Things just got a whole lot brighter in Canada for the dismal electric-car business. Word has leaked that the country’s largest province is preparing to help buy a plug-in vehicle or hybrid for millions of families across the province — or will at least force those families to buy one.

The details of how Ontarians are getting all those green vehicles weren’t clear in the confidential draft version of the Wynne Liberals’ “Climate Change Action Plan” leaked to The Globe and Mail on Wednesday. But the goals are crystal clear: A promise to get 1.7 million low-emission cars on the roads in the next eight years, and pull seven million gas-powered cars off in the next 14.

That’s in addition to making sure 80 per cent of us ride transit or walk or bike to work, and ensuring the majority of the buildings in the province are “emissions-free” by 2050.

Goldcorp Reports First Profit in Three Quarters Amid Cost Cuts – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – April 28, 2016)

April 29, 2016April 28, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Goldcorp Inc. reported its first profit in three quarters, beating analysts’ estimates, as costs fell more than expected.

First-quarter net income was $80 million, compared with a net loss of $87 million a year earlier, Vancouver-based Goldcorp said Wednesday in a statement. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 10 cents a share, beating the 4-cent average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Like its peers, the world’s third-largest gold producer by market value has been working to strengthen its balance sheet. The company had average all-in sustaining costs of $836 an ounce of gold in the first quarter, compared with $894 for all of 2015 and the $861.50 average of four estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Iron ore price plummets amid Chinese speculative mania – by Frik Els (Mining.com – April 28, 2016)

April 28, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

On Wednesday the Northern China benchmark iron ore price fell 5.6% to $60.50 per dry metric tonne (62% Fe CFR Tianjin port). Iron ore is now down more than 12% from 16-month highs hit last week according to data supplied by The Steel Index, but the steelmaking raw material still boasts a 41% rise in 2016 and a 60%-plus recovery from nine-year lows reached mid-December.

Given that it forges half the world’s steel and consumes more than 70% of the 1.3 billion tonne seaborne trade, the iron ore market is reliant, more than any other commodity, on the Chinese economy. The surge in iron ore over the past four months has come mainly on the back rapidly rising steel prices in China and commodity investment fever that’s gripping the mainland.

Copper fell victim to Chinese speculators a year ago when a hedge fund called Shanghai Chaos conducted a bear raid on copper futures. Attention has now shifted to iron ore and other metals including aluminum.

Historical Overview of Mining in Papua New Guinea – by Trevor Neale (INFO MINE.COM)

April 27, 2016

http://www.infomine.com/

Papua New Guineans have been mining and manufacturing stone implements, harvesting oil seeps and using clay for pottery for about 40,000 years, however metals never became part of the indigenous culture. The first reported traces of gold were from pottery collected in Redscar Bay to the west of Port Moresby in 1852.

An expedition to find the source of this gold in 1855 failed when the ship carrying the prospectors was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef off the Queensland coast. The 1800s was a period of rapid colonial expansion by European powers and in the Pacific this mainly involved Britain, Germany and France with the Netherlands active in southern Asia.

In 1828, fearing British intentions, the western half of the island of New Guinea (west of 141˚ longitude) was claimed by the Governor of the Maluccas, Pieter Merkus, for the Netherlands (Dutch New Guinea). In 1875, the Netherlands Government defined its 1828 claim by fixing 140˚ 47’ east as its eastern boundary.

Iron ore price: Only question now is how rapid the fall – by Frik Els (Mining.com – April 26, 2016)

April 27, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

On Tuesday the Northern China benchmark iron ore price lost 1.4% to $64.10 per dry metric tonne (62% Fe CFR Tianjin port), down more than 6% from 16-month highs hit last week according to data supplied by The Steel Index.

The steelmaking raw material still boasts a near 50% rise year to date and an almost three-quarters surge from nine-year lows reached mid-December. Given that it forges half the world’s steel and consumes more than 70% of the 1.3 billion tonne seaborne trade, the iron ore market is reliant, more than any other commodity, on the Chinese economy.

The surge in iron ore over the past four months has come mainly on the back rapidly rising steel prices in China – up by a fifth just in April in never-seen-before volume – coupled with a reduction in output from domestic miners which have borne the brunt of the flood of new supply from Australia and Brazil.

How a Canadian tech magnate plans to save Britain’s steel industry – by Paul Waldie (Globe and Mail – April 27, 2016)

April 27, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Sir Terry Matthews made a fortune in the technology sector with a string of companies including Mitel Corp., Corel Corp. and Newbridge Networks, which he sold in 2000 for $7-billlion (U.S.) in stock. Now, Sir Terry is returning to his roots in Wales for what may be his greatest challenge yet: trying to revive Britain’s largest steel plant.

Sir Terry has created Excalibur Steel UK Ltd., and he’s rounding up investors to buy the troubled Tata steel mill in Port Talbot near Swansea. Tata put its British operations up for sale in March, saying the division, which includes three steel-making facilities, was inefficient. The Port Talbot plant is the largest, employing roughly 15,000 people directly and indirectly.

The challenge for any buyer is daunting. The integrated plant, which makes strip steel used in auto manufacturing, construction and appliances, is outdated and losing about $2-million a day. Energy costs are twice as high as elsewhere in Europe and steel prices have plummeted because of oversupply from China.

Big Bear, meet Attawapiskat – by Kevin Libin (Financial Post – April 27, 2016)

April 27, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Everyone has ideas about what to do with the miserable and desperate people in Attawapiskat, back in the news again this month due to a horrifying epidemic of kids choosing suicide. Jean Chrétien’s received some support for his blunt message that residents would be better off abandoning the reserve and settling somewhere less desolate.

“People have to move sometimes,” he said. “It’s desirable to stay if they want to stay but it’s not always possible” when there’s no sufficient economic base. The NDP’s Niki Ashton ripped that idea, calling it an “assimilationist view” rooted in the perennially colonialist thinking of non-aboriginals.

Other, less hopeless First Nations have opinions, too, about the Northern Ontario town. “We’re not bison. We shouldn’t be herded around on the whims of a racist nation,” said Stewart Phillip, a First Nations leader from B.C. where, let’s be frank, the circumstances of First Nations are not much like Northern Ontario.

‘Barrick is back,’ chairman declares, as restructuring moves pay off with strong results – by Peter Koven (National Post – April 27, 2016)

April 27, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO — Tuesday’s annual meeting had to feel like a pleasant change of pace for Barrick Gold Corp.’s directors and senior management: For the first time in years, there was no crisis to avert.

At last year’s meeting, shareholders were outraged over chairman John Thornton’s compensation. The year before that, there was frustration and confusion over the company’s failed attempt to merge with Newmont Mining Corp. And in 2013, there was yet another controversy over Thornton’s pay.

On Tuesday, Barrick executives could just focus on the company’s performance, which has been stellar over the past year. “Barrick is back,” Thornton told the audience in Toronto.

Teck Resources Posts Surprise Adjusted Profit as Costs Fall – by Danielle Bochove and Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – April 26, 2016)

April 26, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. reported first-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates as Canada’s largest diversified miner cut costs to offset the impact of lower commodity prices.

Profit attributable to shareholders was C$94 million ($74 million) compared with C$68 million a year earlier, the Vancouver-based company said Tuesday in a statement. Excluding one-time items, Teck posted earnings of 3 Canadian cents a share, beating the 3-cent loss estimated by 19 analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Steelmaking coal unit costs, including transportation charges, fell 9.4 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, to C$77 a metric ton, while copper cash-unit costs after by-product credits declined 16 percent to $1.29 per pound. “Our operations performed well by reducing our costs while maintaining production volumes,” Chief Executive Officer Don Lindsay said in the statement.

New St. Lawrence fluorspar mine means high hopes for local job seekers (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – April 25, 2016)

April 26, 2016

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

Much excitement following employment information session, says deputy mayor

The deputy mayor of St. Lawrence, on Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula, says there’s much optimism in his town now that preparation work for a new fluorspar mine is underway.

Jack Walsh told the St. John’s Morning Show that contractor Pennecon is now clearing land at the site where the open pit mine will be developed. “We’re very enthusiastic about our future here,” he said. “There’s a lot of interest from all over the peninsula.”

Once it’s up and running, the operation will mine for fluorspar — or fluorite, a mineral used for a wide range of industrial and commercial materials, including for camera and telescope lenses. Walsh said Canada Fluorspar Inc. has ordered equipment for the actual construction of the mill, and work on that site will start in June. Pennecon expects to be done clearing the land in the next 10 days.

Freeport mulls selling minority stake in copper mine portfolio – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – April 25, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Freeport McMoRan Inc. is considering selling a minority stake in its portfolio of copper mines, one of the options on the table as the company scrambles to slash its $20-billion (U.S.) debt load, sources familiar with the matter said.

Freeport had initially planned to take part of its energy business public to raise cash. But with oil prices in the dumps and scant investor interest, the company put those plans on the back burner, the sources said.

Now, Arizona-based Freeport is mulling selling a stake of up to 20 per cent in its suite of mining assets in the Americas and maybe Africa, the sources said. It is unknown how much Freeport is expecting to get or whether the company can find investors willing to buy a stake. One name that has been floated has been China’s Citic, a government-owned investment firm, sources said.

Southern Ontario sewage helps Sudbury nickel miner regreen its tailings (CBC News Sudbury – April 25, 2016)

April 25, 2016

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

Treated sewage is commonly used on farms in other parts of the province

As part of a green solution to mining pollution, truckloads of sewage are heading to nickel miner Vale’s tailings ponds in Sudbury, Ont. But unlike the stinky, untreated haul that once came from the city’s sewage treatment plants, this sewage comes from southern Ontario.

The black, manure-like biosolids are normally spread on farms in the south as fertilizer, but during the winter or other times it can’t be used for agriculture. Since 2014, the company has been mixing biolsolids with straw, hay and yard waste and using it to help re-green thousands of hectares of sandy, acidic mining waste.

“Tough place to be a tree,” says Vale’s superintendent of decommission and reclamation Glen Watson. “The biosolids ends up being an all-in-one solution for us, because the tailings themselves are very nutrient-poor and they’re metal rich. You can amend the surface of the tailings much like a farmer would.”

Doug Cuthand: Ontario tax grab behind Attawapiskat’s woes – by Doug Cuthand (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – April 23, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://thestarphoenix.com/

The past decade has seen a serious change in Indian Country, and it is rapidly coming to a head. Legal decisions have redrawn the Canadian Constitution and now it’s up to the federal government and the rest of Canadians to catch up. The Supreme Court decision last week to recognize federal jurisdiction over Métis and non-status people has rewritten the Constitution and the BNA Act, and reduced the Indian Act to the dumpster of history where it belongs.

According to lawyer Bill Gallagher, author of the book, Resource Rulers, the latest decision constitutes 228 cases that the First Nations and indigenous people have taken to court and won. In the process we have redrawn our relationship with Canada.

When we negotiated for inclusion of treaty and aboriginal rights in the Constitution we received recognition, but no meat was added to the bare bones. Three first ministers’ constitutional conferences were held to define section 35 of the Constitution Act, but absolutely no progress was made. However, we received the right to go to court.

Feds to consider public pension funds to help bankroll big infrastructure – by Andy Blatchford (Toronto Sun – April 24, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.torontosun.com/

THE CANADIAN PRESS – OTTAWA — The federal government has identified a potential source of cash to help pay for Canada’s mounting infrastructure costs — and it could involve leasing or selling stakes in major public assets such as highways, rail lines, and ports.

A line tucked into last month’s federal budget reveals the Liberals are considering making public assets available to non-government investors, like public pension funds. The sentence mentions “asset recycling,” a system designed to raise money to help governments bankroll improvements to existing public infrastructure and, possibly, to build new projects.

For massive, deep-pocketed investors like pension funds, asset recycling offers access to reliable investments with predictable returns through revenue streams that could include user fees such as tolls.

Nevsun Resources to buy Reservoir Minerals for $365 million (Reuters Canada – April 25, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://ca.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Canadian miner Nevsun Resources Ltd NSU.TO said it has agreed to buy Reservoir Minerals Inc RMC.V for about $365 million in cash and stock. Nevsun, which owns the Bisha copper-zinc mine in Eritrea, will pay two shares of Nevsun and $0.001 in cash for each Reservoir share, the company said on Sunday.

The deal values Reservoir shares at C$9.401 each, representing a 35 percent premium to its last close, based on Nevsun stock’s Friday closing price. Nevsun will also provide $135 million in financing to Reservoir, by buying about 12.2 million of Reservoir shares for $90.3 million and providing an unsecured cash loan of $44.7 million to Reservoir.

Vancouver-based Reservoir is a mining exploration and development company. Its flagship venture is the Timok copper and gold project in Serbia, which it owns in a joint venture with U.S.-based miner Freeport McMoRan Inc FCX.N.