Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 486

[Northern Saskatchewan] Gunnar mine tailings cleanup project underway – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – January 8, 2016)

January 11, 2016

After getting the go-ahead from Canada’s nuclear watchdog, the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) has begun the process of cleaning up 4.4 million tonnes of radioactive tailings at a derelict uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan.

In November, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) approved part of SRC’s quarter-billion-dollar plan to “remediate” the Gunnar uranium mine, which was abandoned in 1964 with virtually no cleanup work.

Now, SRC is seeking a consultant to develop a detailed project plan for covering the tailings deposits with a at least 0.6 metres of earth or aggregate.

King Coal comes to Cape Breton: U.S. billionaire looks to resurrect the fabled Donkin mine project – by Joe O’Connor (National Post – January 11, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://news.nationalpost.com/

Elin Nordegren, famously known as Tiger Woods’ ex-wife, had the New York gossip-mongers in a tizzy in early December.

Nordegren appeared at the launch of Marchesa shoes in a Marchesa dress with a plunging neckline and with Chris Cline, her billionaire ex-boyfriend — and her first boyfriend post-life-with-Tiger — on her arm.

Cline is often referred to as King Coal, a self-made man, straight out of West Virginia — where his grandpappy dug for the stuff with a pickaxe — an American success story. The 57-year-old owns a yacht with a submarine, and made a fortune by betting on American coal mining when no one else was willing to make that bet.

Canada forgot to plan for its future by leaning on oil and the loonie – by Saeid Fard (Globe and Mail – January 9, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Saeid Fard is a blogger and digital designer in Vancouver.

When the United States and much of world entered into a recession following the global financial collapse of 2008, Canadians escaped relatively unscathed, thanks in part to a well-regulated banking system that had greater reserve requirements and was less entangled in the global financial web than its U.S. and European counterparts.

But an unfortunate consequence of our insulation from global ills was that we did not subject ourselves to the kind of economic self-examination forced on other countries. Instead, consumer debt continued to rise, real estate prices continued to escalate and our economy grew worryingly reliant on just two industries: petroleum and housing.

Off the backs of those industries, Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 19 per cent between 2010 and 2014. But most of that growth was driven by factors outside Canada’s control. China’s economy was booming and, with it, its insatiable need for resources.

Saudi Arabia’s Aramco may be world’s most valuable company — but it comes with a lot of baggage – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – January 9, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://news.nationalpost.com/

ANALYSIS – It may be the worst time for an oil and gas company to seek a public listing, but the world’s largest oil producer is contemplating just such a move.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, confirmed Friday it’s studying “various options” to list “an appropriate percentage” of the company’s share on the market or list a bundle of its downstream subsidiaries.

The news, initially revealed by the powerful deputy crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al-Saud, comes at a curious time, as crude oil prices have fallen 45 per cent over the past 12 months and some analysts are not ruling out a drop to the mid-US$20s per barrel as early as February.

Despite the poor fundamentals, long-term oil bulls may not be able to ignore the prospect of a stake in a behemoth responsible for a daily output of 10 million barrels — or one out of every eight barrels produced in the world.

How this northeastern Quebec city is getting burned by the collapse in iron ore prices – by Damon van der Linde (National Post – January 9, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://news.nationalpost.com/

SEPT-ÎLES, QUE. — At the corrugated-iron-walled congress centre in this northeastern Quebec city on a snowy late-November day, organizers of a chamber of commerce luncheon are turning away late arrivals.

They’ve run out of extra seating for members of the business community who have crowded into a dining hall decked out in Christmas cheer. But they’re not here for merriment. They’ve come to a presentation by Luc Dion, president of Sept-Îles’ economic development committee, about the region’s economy.

The gift many were hoping for ahead of the festive season was some relief from the economic crisis that has been grinding deeper into the region for the last several years, since iron ore prices fell from a high of nearly US$190 a tonne in early 2011 to a low of US$37 mid-December.

KWG looks towards the East to finance its proposed Ring of Fire railway – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – January 9, 2016)

January 11, 2016

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – KWG Resources is looking to the Far East to secure funding for its proposed 340 km rail corridor, which the project developer believes holds the key to unlocking the vast mineral wealth of the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario.

“The reason KWG is looking to China to fund its proposed railway line is to increase the odds of securing an offtake partner, which is the critical prerequisite to making the emerging Ring of Fire (RoF) mining camp economically viable. The Chinese are the ultimate offtaker, since they use most of the steelmaking raw material,” said KWG president and CEO Frank Smeenk in an interview with Mining Weekly Online.

He explained that ferrochrome did not have a terminal market place like precious metals did, but instead relied exclusively on contract trading – the same as with iron-ore and coal.

Ontario’s Nipigon River bridge fails, severing Trans-Canada Highway – by Amy Husser (CBC News Thunder Bay – January 10, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

‘This is the one place in Canada where there is only one road, one bridge across the country’

A newly constructed bridge in northern Ontario has heaved apart, indefinitely closing the Trans-Canada highway — the only road connecting Eastern and Western Canada.

The Nipigon River Bridge has been closed for “an indefinite time due to mechanical issues,” according to the Ontario Provincial Police. The bridge remains open to pedestrian traffic.

Steven Del Duca, minister of transportation for Ontario, said in a statement late Sunday the ministry “will do everything they can do to restore the bridge quickly, while also making sure that the safety of the travelling public remains of paramount importance.”

Gold stocks get unexpected boost from mining sector’s bad news – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – January 8, 2016)

January 8, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The flood of bad news that is sinking the rest of the mining sector is providing an unexpected lift for Canadian gold producers.

Barrick Gold Corp. shares have jumped 20 per cent in the first few days of 2016. Goldcorp Inc. stock has climbed 12 per cent while shares of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. have surged 16 per cent.

Gold is traditionally billed as a haven for nervous investors and gold-mining stocks have shot up in tandem with worry about China’s sputtering economy, Middle Eastern tensions and North Korea’s nuclear bomb test.

In addition, some observers believe gold will move into a supply deficit beginning this year.

Are isolated reserves too small to succeed? – by Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail – January 8, 2016)

January 8, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shoal Lake 40 First Nation got good news before Christmas: the promise of a $30-million road connecting the reserve hard by the Ontario-Manitoba boundary to the Trans-Canada Highway about 15 kilometres away.

The promise corrects an old injustice. Almost a century ago, when the growing city of Winnipeg needed drinking water, Shoal Lake was identified as the source. A canal was built, creating an island on which Shoal Lake 40 was located.

Thereby isolated, band members needed a boat to reach the mainland or an ice road in the winter. The reserve also lacked a water-treatment plant. Bottled water had to be shipped by barge or across the road. Shoal Lake 40 has been under a drinking-water advisory for 17 years.

TransCanada’s Keystone legal action may lead to airing of state of climate science – by Peter Foster (National Post – January 8, 2016)

January 8, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

No cross-border pipeline has ever been turned down in the cause of saving the world

One of the main purposes of free trade deals is to protect legitimate corporate activity from political expediency. On that basis, TransCanada’s proposed US$15 billion NAFTA claim against President Barack Obama’s rejection of its Keystone XL pipeline would appear as big a “no brainer” as the pipeline’s approval was once claimed to be by Stephen Harper.

Keystone XL was thrown under the bus of Obama’s egotistical climate “legacy,” as the man who single-handedly rolled back the oceans and healed the earth. The rejection was also his sacrificial offering to the monstrously hypocritical climate conference in Paris.

Then again, NAFTA arbitrators have also ruled in a number of cases that governments obviously retain the power to legislate for the “public good,” which is nowhere both more ideological and nebulous than when it comes to the climate issue.

It’s elemental – by Ivan Semeniuk (Globe and Mail – January 7, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The announcement that a quartet of new elements has been added to the venerable periodic table has stirred interest in the highly competitive quest to extend it. Ivan Semeniuk delves into chemistry’s iconic road map

What’s an element?

For the ancient Greeks, there were four of them – earth, air, fire and water. That idea turned out to be far too simple to explain the diversity of matter we encounter in everyday life. But the basic premise that matter is composed of a finite list of key ingredients is sound.

Today, we know that much of the matter that we’re made of is in the form of different types of atoms. The periodic table is a list of those atoms, one for each square, in order of increasing mass.

With the gold industry in a state of flux, the next big price move is up – Rob McEwen – by Henry Lazenby (Mining Weekly.com – January 6, 2016)

January 7, 2016

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

ToRONTO (miningweekly.com) – While gold output is in decline as a result of falling grades, mine closures and new construction projects being deferred, and the situation compounded by gutted exploration budgets and capital markets being effectively closed for the gold industry, the next big price move could only be up, the chief owner, chairperson and CEO of McEwen Mining, Rob McEwen, tells Mining Weekly Online.

“Gold is cheap and gold shares are very cheap. I think we are at the bottom for gold. More consolidation and rationalisation is to come and today’s biggest producers will be surpassed by new leaders emerging from the mid-tier.

“These new leaders will have stronger balance sheets, good growth stories and management – more focused on building their share owners’ wealth first, rather than their personal wealth – will emerge and take the lead,” the founder and former chief executive of the world’s largest gold miner by market capitalisation, Goldcorp, stated in an emailed interview.

[Geography of Genius] Searching the world for our inner genius – by Martin Regg Cohn (Toronto Star – January 7, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.thestar.com/

A new book explains how places of genius are products of geography and history, demography and community.

If Kathleen Wynne wants to make Ontario smarter, The Geography of Genius should be on her post-holiday reading list.

Fresh from her trips to China and Silicon Valley late last year, and poised to visit India later this month, the premier is on a journey of economic discovery. With our industrial base in historic decline and rival economies on the ascendant, she joins other peripatetic politicians in trying to incubate an innovation future at home.

Wynne is not alone in her ambitions. Every elected official on the planet dreams of relocating and replicating foreign success stories, especially the genius of Silicon Valley.

TransCanada Corp launches US$15-billion lawsuit against U.S. government for rejecting Keystone XL – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 7, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY – TransCanada Corp. said Wednesday it intends to file a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) seeking US$15-billion in damages from the United States government over President Barack Obama’s denial of the Keystone XL pipeline.

In addition, the Calgary-based company filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Houston claiming Obama’s decision to deny construction of Keystone XL exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution.

In a 27-page notice of intent to pursue the NAFTA challenge, the Calgary-based pipeline company said Obama’s denial was politically driven, directly contrary to the conclusions of own administration’s studies, and in violation of U.S. obligations under the agreement.

Why the right is returning to Latin America – by Shlomo Ben-Ami (Globe and Mail – January 6, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BOGOTA — The crushing defeat of the long-ruling Chavista government in Venezuela’s recent parliamentary elections, together with the end of 12 years of Peronist rule in Argentina, mark the end of a cycle of left-wing hegemony in much of Latin America.

But this is not a political watershed marking the renewal of ideological confrontation. Rather, it is a measured transition toward political pragmatism. And it is very good news.

Perhaps the best evidence that this is not an ideologically driven sea change is to be found in what triggered it: an economic downturn.