Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 534

Mexican gold mines beset by robberies, kidnappings – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – April 9, 2015)

April 9, 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.

For the third time this year, gold miners in Mexico have come under attack, highlighting the perils of mining in the country.

McEwen Mining Inc. became the latest victim, when armed robbers looted about $8.4-million (U.S.) worth of gold this week from the Canadian miner’s refinery in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

The Toronto-based company said none of its employees were seriously injured, nor were its facilities damaged, when the approximately 900 kilograms of gold ore was stolen. The ore is expected to contain 7,000 ounces of gold, but it is unclear how the thieves will process the rocks.

The robbery comes about a month after four of Goldcorp Inc.’s Mexican employees went missing after leaving the company’s Los Filos mine. Three of the four have since been found dead, the Canadian company said. A Reuters report said the bodies were found in a mass grave and showed signs of torture. The fourth employee was released with minor injuries.

The kidnappings took place in Guerrero, a southern Mexican state where 43 students were seized en route to a protest last year and are presumed murdered.

Shell-BG Group merger a game changer for B.C.’s LNG industry – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – April 9, 2015)

April 9, 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.

VANCOUVER — A global powerhouse in liquefied natural gas has emerged in a blockbuster merger that is expected to reshape British Columbia’s LNG industry.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s £47.7-billion ($88-billion) deal to buy BG Group PLC creates a liquefied natural gas giant, and will allow the combined company to choose which energy projects to keep or jettison within B.C.’s fledgling LNG sector. The merger will bolster the Shell-led LNG Canada project in Kitimat while hampering BG’s chances near Prince Rupert, as pressure mounts for players to either drop out or consolidate to cut costs.

There are 19 LNG proposals in B.C., though only three or four projects at most have a realistic chance to survive amid fierce global competition and a looming glut of LNG supplies. “We’re going to see some consolidation amongst the LNG projects. There really isn’t room for all of them,” BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. energy analyst Randy Ollenberger said in an interview.

Premier Christy Clark describes the LNG industry as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the province’s finances and create tens of thousands of jobs.

Piping ever more petroleum: The world needs Canada’s oil and gas – by Russ Girling (National Post – April 9, 2015)

April 9, 2015

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

Canada and the rest of the world will transition to a less carbon-intensive energy future – it’s already happening – social and economic pressures will dictate that.

However, here in Canada and the United States, despite the rhetoric you may hear, we will continue to consume significant quantities of oil to fuel the 280 million vehicles that North Americans need to start every morning.

And as we transition off coal-fired electricity, it will be replaced largely by natural gas, and as a result, demand for natural gas will grow even higher.

And at the same time, global demand for oil and gas will continue to grow, driven by a massive population in developing economies striving to obtain a lifestyle for their families similar to what we enjoy here in Canada. For example, there are 1.3 billion people in China that want to have the same quality of life that you and I have.

The International Energy Agency – a group of 28 countries cooperating to provide the world’s most credible outlook for energy demand for the next 25 years — believes that the demand for energy is going to continue to grow at a rate of 1.1 per cent through 2040.

PC blunder over Highway 407 looms over Liberals on Hydro – by Martin Regg Cohn (Toronto Star – March 30, 2015)

April 9, 2015

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Unless we learn the lessons of the 407 fiasco, we are condemned to be fleeced again — this time on Hydro One.

If you build it, they will come. And pay the toll. When Highway 407 opened in 1997, drivers not only came, they kept coming back — transforming the toll road into a short-lived success story.

Two years later, the storyline changed: The PC government of the day took an abrupt detour by brokering a 99-year lease of the highway for a fraction of its true value. If you lease it — and undervalue it — they will profit. At our expense.

The 407 deal is now considered a financial blunder on a par with Newfoundland’s lease of Churchill Falls to Quebec, and China’s surrender of Hong Kong to Britain, for equally ill-fated 99-year leases.

As today’s Liberal government ponders selling off part of Hydro One’s transmission lines, after more than a century of public ownership, the 407 debacle looms over the debate. Unless we learn the lessons of that fiasco, we are condemned to be fleeced once again.

If the toll highway hadn’t been handed off for a pittance in 1999, it could have been paid off by now. Imagine driving free on the 407, instead of being hit up for steadily increasing tolls that have flowed to the consortium’s overseas owners for years.

Primero Mining CEO Sees Black Fox Fix Clearing Way for Expansion – by Christopher DonvilleLiezel Hill (Bloomberg News – April 2, 2015)

April 8, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Primero Mining Corp. says a fix of its troublesome Black Fox gold mine in Canada is within reach, restoring the miner’s credibility for investors while clearing the way for future expansion through acquisitions.

The Toronto-based company, which has fallen 45 percent in the past year, expects to show signs of improved performance at the northern Ontario mine this year, Chief Executive Officer Joe Conway said. In July, the company cut its gold-reserve estimate at Black Fox, which it acquired in a takeover last year to add to output from its flagship San Dimas gold and silver mine in Mexico.

“The reality is we’re very much focused on demonstrating to the investment community that we’ve turned Black Fox to account,” Conway, 57, said in a phone interview.

Analysts, at least, are giving the former CEO of Iamgold Corp. the benefit of the doubt. With 15 buy, one sell and two hold ratings on Primero, they project the share price will rise at least 50 percent in the next 12 months, based on target prices compiled by Bloomberg. They also estimate the company’s per-share cash flow will expand faster than most of its Canadian peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Black Fox really drives the bus” in terms of expectations for the share price, Joe Fazzini, a Toronto-based analyst at Dundee Capital Markets, said by phone.

Quebec announces $1.3-billion Plan Nord revival – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – April 8, 2015)

April 8, 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.

Montreal — Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard unveiled a scaled-down version of the Plan Nord to tap into the mineral bounty in the remote northern reaches of the province.

Despite a deep slump in global metal prices, the plan calls for the province to invest about $1.3-billion in infrastructure and other projects over the next 5 years in hopes of attracting $22-billion in private-sector investment.

By 2035, the Liberal government anticipates a total of $50-billion in private and public investments, of which at least $2.5-billion will be public money.

The previous Plan Nord, announced by then-premier Jean Charest in 2011, projected $80-billion in investments over a 25-year period.

That ambitious project was shelved by the Parti Québécois government in 2012, but revived by the Couillard government when it returned to power last year.

What the end of the commodity supercycle means for Canada – by Glen Hodgson (Globe and Mail – April 8, 2015)

April 8, 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.

Glen Hodgson is senior vice-president and chief economist of the Conference Board of Canada.

It appears more and more likely that the global commodity supercycle has come to an end. While the recent collapse in oil prices has attracted much of the focus, prices for many commodities across the board have softened. These commodities include energy, metals and agricultural products, all of which are important to Canada. No one has a crystal ball but if the commodity supercycle is indeed winding down, Canada will surely be affected.

As The Economist magazine has regularly reminded us, aggregate commodity prices fell in real terms (with the impact of inflation removed) for most of the 20th century. Prices then took off in 2002-03 with China’s growing integration into the global economy. Robust Chinese economic growth and infrastructure development essentially added a one-time boost to demand for resources of all types, and prices responded accordingly.

Between 2003 and 2008, many commodity prices effectively doubled or more in real terms. Turbulence and instability in commodity prices also grew during that period; financial markets increasingly saw commodities as an instrument for speculative investment, not just a product to be bought and sold to meet end demand.

Global supply glut threatens British Columbia’s LNG projects – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – April 8, 2015)

April 8, 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.

Most liquefied natural gas export projects are at risk of being cancelled in North America as a result of a looming global glut of LNG, putting a damper on British Columbia’s energy dreams.

Moody’s Investors Service Inc. issued a stark outlook for the fledgling North American LNG industry, arguing it doesn’t make economic sense to invest billions of dollars on each venture especially as Asian buyers slow down their LNG orders for new LNG supplies.

Moody’s said the “vast majority” of North American proposals face outright cancellation. “Many sponsors – including those in the U.S., Canada and Mozambique that have missed that window of opportunity as oil prices have declined – will face a harder time inking the final contracts, most likely resulting in a delay or a cancellation of their projects.”,” the credit rating agency said.

There are 19 B.C. LNG projects vying to export to Asia. They include 10 export licences that have been approved by the National Energy Board

In the global LNG industry, most contracts have maintained their historic link to crude oil prices, and that has meant declining revenue for LNG suppliers amid the slump in oil markets.

Cliffs to put mines, rails, ports up for sale in Quebec, N.L. (CBC News Business – April 7, 2015)

April 8, 2015

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

Mine company under bankruptcy court protection as it completes its exit from Eastern Canada

The Canadian Press – Idled Quebec iron ore mines, railways and port facilities, are about to be put up for sale as part of a court-supervised exit from eastern Canada by Cliffs Natural Resources.

The Cleveland-based mining company’s subsidiaries, which filed for creditor protection in January, are seeking a Quebec court’s permission to solicit interest next month in the Bloom Lake mine, the Wabush Mine, and related port and rail assets in Quebec and Labrador, according to a motion filed by monitor FTI Consulting Canada.

Bloom Lake General Partner Ltd. and affiliates such as Cliffs Quebec Iron Mining filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act amid falling iron ore prices.

Excluded from the sale process are Cliffs’ chromite assets in Ontario’s Ring of Fire that are in the process of being sold to Noront Resources for $20 million US.

Ontario gives northern industry permanent relief from energy costs (CBC News Thunder Bay – April 7, 2015)

April 7, 2015

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

The Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program will carry on indefinitely, province says

A program that reduces energy costs for northern industries — like mining and forestry — will carry on indefinitely, the Ontario government says.

Speaking at a news conference at Resolute Forest Products’ Thunder Bay pulp mill on Tuesday, Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle told reporters that Ontario would commit up to $120 million a year permanently to the Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program, which was to expire in March of 2016.

First introduced in 2010, the program is a benefit to companies such as Resolute, Goldcorp, AV Terrace Bay, and North American Palladium, Gravelle said.

“It positions them to certainly be able to maintain operations but also potentially expand and create more jobs,” he added. The program can help cut up to 25 per cent from energy costs incurred by qualifying businesses. “It reduces our costs significantly on our site,” said Goldcorp’s Musselwhite mine general manager Bill Gascon.

“Our second highest cost on our site in production is energy — behind labour — so it’s huge for us. We’re a very energy intensive industry.”

‘Walking dead’ on the TSX Venture Exchange: How are ‘zombie’ companies surviving? – by Peter Koven (National Post – April 7, 2015)

April 7, 2015

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

Management at the TSX Venture Exchange would probably appreciate it if Tony Simon just shut his mouth for a while.

As the co-founder of the Venture Capital Markets Association, Mr. Simon is an unlikely torchbearer for the theory that Canada’s market for junior resource stocks is broken and the Venture Exchange is part of the problem. But he has assumed that role with gusto in the past few weeks as his thoughts have reached an increasing number of ears. It is hard to imagine that anyone else is causing more headaches for the Venture Exchange these days.

Mr. Simon, for his part, thinks he is just stating the obvious. “This is not something that’s an unknown problem,” the Vancouver-based entrepreneur said. The Venture management team has fired back, completely denying his claims that they are not doing their jobs properly.

However one feels about the debate, all would agree that Mr. Simon’s research paints a frightening portrait of Canada’s junior exploration sector. It raises questions about how hundreds of tiny resource companies can continue to exist. Sources said that auditors are offering these companies cut-rate fees to maintain their viability.

[Vale] Thompson miners safe after underground fire – by Lara Schroeder and Peter Chura (Global News – April 6, 2015)

April 7, 2015

http://globalnews.ca/

WINNIPEG – All of the miners who were stuck underground after a fire broke out in a Thompson, Man., nickel mine have safely returned to the surface.

The eight miners who were still waiting to be rescued Monday afternoon were safely pulled out by 1:25 p.m., mine owner Vale Inco said.

The fire trapped 39 miners in the Vale Inco nickel mine in Thompson, Man., Sunday night.

The 39 mine employees moved to “refuge stations” after a remotely operated piece of equipment called LHD (load-haul-dump) caught fire at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the company’s T1 mine, Vale spokesman Ryan Land said in a news release Monday.

Shanda Skode of Penticton, B.C., said her husband was trapped overnight and she wasn’t happy with the way the company handled the situation.

‘They called me six hours after he was supposed to be back on the surface,” she said. Her husband, who she preferred not to name, was supposed to surface at 5 p.m. CT Sunday, and she worried when he didn’t text her as usual and she couldn’t contact him.

At midday: TSX drops as Teck, resource shares decline – by Solarina Ho (Reuters/Globe and Mail – March 31, 2015)

April 1, 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.

Canada’s main stock index dropped on Tuesday on a decline in miner Teck Resources Ltd and other resource stocks, but the fall was cushioned by modest gains in industrials and heavily weighted financials.

Vancouver-based Teck was the most influential decliner, retreating 8.6 per cent to $17.78. The stock had surged on Monday after Bloomberg News reported that Teck and Chile’s Antofagasta Plc were in early-stage merger discussions. The two companies subsequently denied the report.

The index’s materials sector, home to mining issues, was off 0.45 per cent, pressured in part by weak commodity prices. Gold was headed for its third quarter of price drops, while nickel prices extended recent hefty losses, hitting the lowest price in nearly six years on record supply and weak demand.

“The commodities sectors are still challenged. You still don’t have any robust rallies in any of the real commodities and those sectors have been beaten up for so long that people are weary,” said Paul Hand, managing director at RBC Capital Markets. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was off 24.71 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 14,883.68. Seven of the index’s 10 main groups fell.

Teck Resources Ltd, Antofagasta Plc deny merger talks – by Peter Koven (National Post – March 30, 2015)

March 31, 2015

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

Investors got excited at the prospect of a merger between Teck Resources Ltd. and Antofagasta PLC on Monday, but any deal would likely require major compromises by the families in control of each company.

Vancouver-based Teck is controlled by the Keevil family and Japanese firm Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. through multiple-voting shares. Antofagasta is under the thumb of Chile’s Luksic family, which owns 65% of the shares.

Both companies denied they are in merger talks, but Bloomberg reported that they held early-stage negotiations.

A merger would create a dominant copper producer with more than one million tonnes of output per year, vaulting it into the top five producers worldwide. It would also reduce Teck’s reliance on coking coal, where it is is facing very weak market conditions.

Their valuations are quite similar, as Teck is worth $11-billion while Antofagasta is worth slightly above $13-billion. Any deal is likely to be all-stock or very close to it, which puts the family share ownership in the spotlight. No deal will happen unless the families endorse it and loosen their respective grips on the companies.

Putting oil revenues into a savings fund isn’t always a great idea – by Stephen Gordon (National Post – March 31, 2015)

March 31, 2015

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

Pundits outside Alberta are almost unanimous in their support for a Norway-style sovereign wealth fund. If only the Alberta government had saved more of its resource revenues, the argument goes, then the Alberta government would have saved more of its resource revenues. Or something like that; details are never the strong suit of big-picture pundits. It’s usually enough to make the clearly unarguable point that it would nice to have an extra $1 trillion on hand, just like the Norwegians.

The Alberta government could have set aside some of its revenues into a wealth fund. But then again, so could have the federal government and any of the other provincial governments; Quebec already has put away $7 billion into its Generations Fund. The mechanics are pretty simple: set expenditures less than revenues and put the savings into a wealth fund. Any government can do it, so why don’t they? The answer is of course that saving is costly, and the benefits of being able to finance future spending don’t always exceed the costs of sacrificing current expenditure.

There are two things you can do when your income goes up: You can spend the increase, or you can save it (or some combination of the two). The theory of optimal savings says that the decision depends on whether or not the increase is temporary or permanent. A purely temporary jump in earnings — a good example is winning the lottery — should be saved, so that the benefits can be spread out across a long period of time.