Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 499

Barrick posts loss, but makes headway on debt – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – October 29, 2015)

October 29, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

TORONTO — Barrick Gold Corp. swung to a loss in the third quarter, but reported strong progress in reducing its mountain of debt and paring production costs as it grapples with a challenging market for precious metals.

The world’s largest gold producer said it lost $264-million (U.S.) or 23 cents a share in the quarter, largely as a result of writing down the carrying value of Zaldivar, its South American copper mine, by $452-million. Revenue was $2.32-billion.

The paper loss was outweighed by an impressive performance in reducing both costs and debt. Earnings excluding one-time items were 11 cents a share, beating the seven cents a share that analysts had expected.

“Overall, it was a very good quarter,” said Sid Subramani, an analyst at Veritas, an independent investment researcher in Toronto.

Goldcorp Inc reports Q3 loss, but maintains guidance – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 29, 2015)

October 29, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Goldcorp Inc. reported a loss in the third quarter as it dealt with weak gold prices and struggled to ramp up production at the new Eleonore mine in Quebec.

However, the Vancouver-based miner maintained its production and cost guidance and said it generated a healthy US$168 million of free cash flow despite low gold prices.

Goldcorp said it had an adjusted loss of US$37 million in the quarter, or four cents a share. After stripping out one-time items (including stock-based compensation charges), Goldcorp had a profit of three cents a share, which was still below the average analyst estimate of four cents. It earned nine cents a share (on an adjusted basis) in the same quarter a year ago.

Production from Eleonore reached 86,700 ounces in the quarter. That was double the result in the second quarter, but was still lower than expected as Goldcorp continues to have some challenges with gold recoveries. On the other hand, the company delivered solid results from its Penasquito, Cerro Negro and Musselwhite operations.

Hydro One sale could cost Ontario $500-million a year in lost revenues: budget watchdog – by Ashley Csanady (National Post – October 29, 2015)

October 29, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

The Ontario Liberals’ plans to sell Hydro One could cost the treasury $500-million annually and will eventually increase the province’s net debt, the financial accountability officer has found.

Stephen LeClair’s inaugural report slams the Liberal government’s plans to sell 60 per cent of the utility — which transmits most electricity in the province — as a short-sighted cash grab that will cost more than it makes in the long run.

The report notes that, in the short term, the sell-off will make it easier for Ontario to balance its budget by its planned deadline of 2017/18, but the lost revenues will hurt the bottom line over the longer term and make it harder to balance future budgets. The plan is to sell a 15 per cent stake in the Crown corporation each year until 2019, when the province’s stake will be reduced to 40 per cent.

“Once the full 60 per cent has been sold, the province would experience an ongoing negative impact on budget balance from foregone net income and payments-in-lieu of taxes from Hydro One,” the report notes, putting that number at $100 million annually.

Iron ore price crashes through $50 – by Frik Els (Mining.com – October 28, 2015)

October 29, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

The price of iron ore dropped for the 12th session in a row on Wednesday falling through the psychologically important $50 a tonne level as bearish fundamentals overwhelm the sector.

On Wednesday the benchmark 62% Fe import price including freight and insurance at the Chinese port of Tianjin declined 2.6% to $49.50 a tonne, the lowest since mid-July and down 11% in just two weeks according to data provided by The SteelIndex. In July, the steelmaking raw material on a spot price basis, fell to a record low of $44.10.

China forges 46% of the world’s steel and consumes for more than 70% of the world’s seaborne iron ore trade, but years of overproduction and unprofitability at the country’s giant state-owned mills are now bringing 30 years of growing output to screeching halt.

China’s largest steel producers had combined losses of CNY28 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) in the first nine months of 2015, according to the China Iron and Steel Association as mills struggle to remain profitable amid a saturated domestic market.

U.S. challenges China’s sovereignty claim to artificial islands – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – October 28, 2015)

October 28, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

BEIJING — The U.S. is pledging to sail more warships past the shores of artificial islands in the South China Sea as the world’s most powerful military seeks to strip away the expansionist claims of China and other nations in waters crucial to the global movement of goods.

Early Tuesday morning, the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen deliberately came within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of the places in the Spratly Islands that China has transformed into a sizable air and sea outpost from a reef that once vanished at high tide.

In so doing, the ship breached the exclusion zone that would apply to territorial waters and underscored the U.S. position that China cannot claim that exclusion around its manufactured lands. The move escalates the conflict over who controls a sea the size of India that constitutes the maritime heart of East Asia. It provoked an angry response from China, which dispatched a missile destroyer and a patrol boat to shadow and attempt to warn off the Lassen.

In Beijing, China summoned U.S. Ambassador Max Baucus over the patrol, which vice-foreign minister Zhang Yesui called “extremely irresponsible,” while other officials warned of a Chinese retaliation.

Alberta NDP’s budget will force the oilpatch to fend for itself – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – October 28, 2015)

October 28, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci tabled a “shock absorber” tax, spend and borrow budget Tuesday for Canada’s top oil and gas producing province to ease the impact of low commodity prices on provincial finances.

But if you are in the energy sector, and taking the brunt of that price shock and slashing spending and laying off people, the best you can hope for from the left-leaning NDP government is that you still have a viable business if and when oil prices recover.

In its first budget since unseating Alberta’s Conservative dynasty last May, the NDP government had harsh words for the previous regime for “squandering resource revenue” instead of saving it and for failing to “diversify” Alberta’s economy.

Ceci said his government is prioritizing stable funding for health care, education and social services as the province battles a mild recession, plans to return to a balanced budget by 2019/2020, and will help with job creation and economic diversification in areas like petrochemicals, agriculture, tourism, technology, creative industries and manufacturing.

Declining copper prices a large factor in Zambia’s economic tumble – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – October 27, 2015)

October 27, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — Just three years ago, Zambia was the darling of international investors. Its debut euro bond was oversubscribed by a spectacular 15 times, attracting orders of nearly $12-billion (U.S.), even though it was offering lower interest rates than some developed-world bonds.

The copper-rich African country, newly anointed at the time as a “middle income nation” by the World Bank, had become a favourite of Canadian mining companies, including Barrick Gold Corp. and First Quantum Minerals Ltd., both of which were among Zambia’s biggest private employers.

Swiss-based mining giant Glencore PLC was another major player in Zambia as the country became the second-biggest copper producer in Africa. Copper accounted for 70 per cent of Zambia’s export earnings and there seemed no end to the boom.

Investors zero in on costs again as gold miners set to report Q3 results – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 27, 2015)

October 27, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

As the senior gold miners begin to report third-quarter results this week, they find themselves stuck in a frustrating uphill battle.

Gold prices have moved steadily lower in the past three years, forcing miners to make deep cuts to operating costs and capital spending. Those moves were necessary to preserve liquidity, especially given that some companies (notably Barrick Gold Corp.) have too much debt. The cuts should pay off when the market turns.

Unfortunately, that day hasn’t arrived, and, notwithstanding a gold price rally in October, it has become increasingly tough for companies to generate free cash flow and investor interest. The senior producers have done a good job of meeting or beating their production and cost guidance over the past couple of years, but it hasn’t done much of note for their stock prices.

In a low price environment, it is no surprise that investors are zeroed in on cost reductions. Costs have been the main focus of every recent earnings season, and this one should be no different.

Canada’s brand new climate Boy Scout joins countdown to Paris – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – October 27, 2015)

October 27, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

As the Paris climate summit approaches activists are gearing up for the final push through November and into December, although the movement suffered a bit of a downer over the weekend. Hurricane Patricia, building as a major hurricane of unprecedented proportions, fizzled as a climate mega-disaster into a mere tropical storm, leaving behind no opportunities for media and negotiators to use it as a pre-Paris PR bonanza.

As news of Patricia reached Europe at a climate change negotiating session in Bonn on Friday, the head of the Mexico delegation, Roberto Dondisch, said Patricia was evidence the frog was already in the boiling water. A reporter for Climate House quoted Dondish saying “I don’t think I need to say more about the urgency to get this deal done.”

When the total death toll is near zero, the climate angle is also near zero. But the climate machine kept rolling. Reports from the negotiation front are garbled and inconsistent, but a major session held in Bonn ended last Friday without any clear proposals for the final Paris sessions.

Canada’s once-booming Arctic diamond sector loses luster – by Susan Taylor (Reuters Canada – October 27, 2015)

November 3, 2015October 27, 2015

http://ca.reuters.com/

YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories (Reuters) – A decline in diamond prices because of lower growth in Chinese jewelry demand is dulling the appeal of Canada’s Arctic diamond industry, with the resulting drop in exploration hurting the region’s long-term prospects.

Exploration spending in Canada’s diamond-rich Northwest Territories (NWT), the world’s third-biggest producer, is forecast to drop 54 percent this year, according to a Canadian government estimate earlier this year. That is bad news for an industry where even profitable deposits can take 10 to 20 years to develop into a mine.

“It’s worrisome,” said Tom Hoefer, executive director of NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, which is based in Yellowknife, the territories’ economic hub and capital. “Exploration is the lifeblood of mining.”

Once the engine for booming diamond demand, the growth in China’s appetite for polished gems has slowed alongside its economy.

Anglo American-owned De Beers, the world’s top producer by value, expects 3-5 percent sales growth in China this year for its polished diamonds.

Centamin brings industrial-scale gold production back to Egypt – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – October 26, 2015)

October 26, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The Egyptian Museum in the northern Italian city of Turin is considered one of the finest museums of its kind outside of Egypt. Among its marvels is the Turin Papyrus Map, one of the earliest known maps.

It is a must-see for anyone interested in the history of gold. According to scholars, it was made about 1150 BC and was prepared for a quarrying expedition for King Ramses IV in the eastern desert. The map, which is almost three metres long, shows a gold mine, a gold mining settlement and gold-bearing quartz veins.

The Egyptian pharaohs adored gold. It was believed to be the flesh of the sun god Ra and was evidently produced at near-industrial scale. Three millenniums later, industrial-scale gold production is back in Egypt’s eastern desert, thanks to a gold company called Centamin PLC, with listings in both Toronto and London.

Bad water: Innovative solution for remote northern Ontario First Nations – by Tiar Wilson (CBC News Aboriginal – October 26, 2015)

October 26, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/

‘We can make a huge difference’ if we invest in training people, says Safe Water Project’s Barry Strachan

Three northern Ontario First Nations have managed to stop boil water advisories in their communities since May because of access to a new real-time water quality monitoring system. Deer Lake, Fort Severn, and Poplar Hill First Nations have all spent close to 1,000 days on a boil water advisory in the past decade.

“Historically, what’s happened, is there’s a time delay. When you take a [water] sample, analyse it and get the results to those that can do things about it, it can often mean people are at high risks for a [longer] period of time,” said Barry Strachan, the lead on the Safe Water Project.

Strachan says that outdated process often lead to boil water advisories and do not consume orders. The Safe Water project provides the technology and support to respond immediately to potential problems.

“We get alerts of adverse water quality events immediately as they happen and it allows us to [advise] or actually attend the situation and fix it in short order,” said Strachan.

Ivan Glasenberg faces major test amid Glencore’s shaky future – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – October 24, 2015)

October 26, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

LONDON — The partners at mining and commodities trading giant Glencore PLC earned a fortune buying into the “stronger for longer” China story. That bet has been looking shaky for a couple of years and downright precarious since January, when copper – Glencore’s most important commodity – went into the tank and stayed there.

In early January, copper futures plunged almost $1,000 (U.S.) a tonne, to $5,400, taking them to their lowest level in more than five years. Glencore’s shares tripped into the sinkhole with them. Since then, copper prices have lost another 5 per cent or so, a bewildering scenario for Glencore’s normally unflappable traders and executives.

“It’s just not making sense,” Glencore chief executive officer Ivan Glasenberg told analysts on the company’s earnings call on Aug. 19. “We’ve never seen copper inventories down at these levels and prices, because, [at] these levels, you normally have a much higher copper price.”

Vale SA investigated for allegedly leaking toxic run-off in Sudbury (Canadian Press/MACLEAN’s Magazine – October 23, 2015 )

October 23, 2015

http://www.macleans.ca/

Allegations of run-off leaks going back to at least 1963 come following seizure of documents, computers from Vale’s Sudbury offices in early October

Environment Canada is investigating Vale SA’s Sudbury, Ont., smelting operations for allegedly leaking toxic run-off into local waterways since at least 1963.

The allegations are contained in a warrant the government agency used to seize documents, computers and related materials from Vale’s Sudbury offices on Oct. 8 as part of its investigation into potential violations of the Fisheries Act.

In the warrant, Environment Canada accuses the company of allowing “acutely lethal” seepage from the smelter waste piles into water frequented by fish, and of knowing about the leakage for years. The warrant contains allegations not proven in court.

The accusations indicate the seepage started well before Vale took control of the smelter when it acquired Inco Ltd. in 2006 for US$17.6 billion.

Teck Resources Ltd posts massive $2.1 billion loss as it writes down resource assets – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 23, 2015)

October 23, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Underneath the noise, Teck Resources Ltd. continues to perform pretty well.

The Vancouver-based miner has been under immense scrutiny from investors in recent weeks, as three rating agencies have cut its credit rating to junk status. It is grappling with poor commodity prices and huge spending requirements in the oilsands. And on Thursday, it reported a massive third-quarter loss of $2.1 billion due to non-cash impairment charges.

Despite those overhanging issues, investors are giving the company credit for continuing to deliver solid operating results. The stock rose 43 cents or five per cent to $8.79 on Thursday as Teck reported an adjusted profit of $29 million, or five cents a share, which was well above expectations.

“The commodities cycle continues to provide a very challenging environment, but we are responding,” chief executive Don Lindsay said on a conference call.