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Canadian Media Resource Articles

More Coal Cuts Needed as Demand for Steel Slows: Commodities – by Liezel Hill and Tim Loh (Bloomberg News – March 12, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — In the last year, mining companies eliminated about 15 million tons of production capacity for the coal used to make steel, while outlining plans to double those cuts in the near future. It won’t be near enough.

That’s the determination of Chief Executive Officer Don Lindsay at Teck Resources Ltd., the world’s second-biggest exporter of metallurgical coal. For supply to match flagging demand, the industry must cut a total of as much as 45 million tons, he says, raising the ante as prices sit at a six-year low.

While U.S. and Australian miners are now losing money on as much as 50 million tons of annual capacity, they’re dragging their feet on reductions at high-cost mines. The result: a “miserable” market for at least six months, and perhaps as long as a year, according to Lindsay.

“There’s a lot of production that’s underwater, but it takes a long time for them actually to shut,” Lindsay said in an interview. “They always last longer than you think.”

There are two main types of coal. Lower-quality coal is burned to generate electricity, and coal with fewer impurities is used to make steel. Metallurgical coal makes up about 15 percent of production, and sells for about twice the price of thermal coal.

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Kirkland Lake mounts a comeback on the Southern Abitibi (Northern Miner – March 12, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

VANCOUVER — The past two years have been a story of redemption for producer Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KGI; US-OTC: KGILF) at its Macassa and South Mine complex in the prolific the Southern Abitibi gold belt 46 km due southeast of Timmins, Ont. The company just wrapped up its third consecutive quarter of positive earnings and free cash flow, and looks poised to hit the upper end of its annual production guidance.

On March 11 Kirkland reported that it sold 39,700 oz. of gold last quarter at an average realized price of US$1,371 per oz., which resulted in cash flow from operations of $23.7 million. Over the past nine months the company has cranked out around 162,000 oz. of gold at all-in sustaining cash costs of US$1,289 per oz., which marks a material improvement over the 131,000 oz. it produced in 2014 at all-in costs of US$2,054 per oz.

The main driver for Kirkland has been higher grades encountered at the South Mine Complex (SMC), which has also resulted in improved throughput rates at the Macassa mill.

Average production rates last quarter were around 934 tonnes per day, which marks a 3% quarter-on-quarter increase. The good news for Kirkland is that it managed a further improvement in January, when throughput averaged 1,107 tonnes per day resulting in the delivery of around 34,500 tonnes of ore to the mill.

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65 Alberta Dams To Be Inspected For Integrity – by John Cotter (Canadian Press/Huffington Post – March 12, 2015)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/alberta/

EDMONTON – The Alberta Energy Regulator says it will inspect the structural integrity and review the safety records of 65 dams used by the oilsands and coal industries in the province.

The announcement follows criticism by the auditor general that the provincial government is failing to properly regulate Alberta’s network of dams and tailings ponds.

The 65 dams are used to contain industrial waste and the regulator says 32 are classified as posing either “extreme” or “very high” environmental consequences if they were to fail.

CEO Jim Ellis said the regulator will apply the same safety standards to these dams that are used on oil and natural gas pipelines in order to ensure the safe, environmentally responsible development of energy resources.

“The auditor general has recognized the AER’s pipeline regulation performance, and Albertans can be confident that we will apply that same rigour to all AER-regulated dams,” he said. The regulator took responsibility for regulating energy industry dams from Alberta’s Environment Department last year.

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AUDIO: Chambers’ Ring of Fire report card ‘not applicable’ to the north (CBC News Sudbury – March 12, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news

A professor at Laurentian University calls a new report card on the Ring of Fire unfair. The report released this week by the Greater Sudbury and Ontario Chambers of Commerce gives the project a failing grade for development.

The report cites the absence of an agreement with First Nations, problems with permits and a lack of federal funding as the most significant barriers to development.

But David Pearson said the expectations for the project are too great and it’s unreasonable to think that all First Nation communities in the far north can speak to the project with one voice.

“I think the standards that you’ve used to put your F’s on and your C’s and your D’s and so forth are not standards that are applicable to the far north,” he said. Some industry experts have defended the findings, saying the point of the report is to draw a sense of urgency to the project.

A panel discussion on the subject was held in Sudbury Wednesday night at Dynamic Earth. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Josh Hjartarson said he wants to talk about the project, but government officials aren’t returning his phone calls.

He’s said he’s trying to pressure the government to take action. “What I’m trying to say is that we’re spending some political capital,” he continued.

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Northwestern Ontario’s Resourceful Economy [Ring of Fire Episode] (The Agenda with Steve Paikin – March 10, 2015)

http://theagenda.tvo.org/ Northwestern Ontario’s resource economy seemed poised for a game-changing resurgence with the “Ring of Fire” multi-billion dollar mining find. But after a few key delays and departures, the rapid expansion in other mining deposits, including gold, may hold the most immediate promise. The Agenda with Steve Paikin stops into Thunder Bay to survey the …

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Watertight is the word as crews work to restore salt mine’s old shaft liners – by D’Arcy Jenish (Canadian Mining Journal – February/March 2015)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Cementation Canada Ltd. of North Bay, Ont. bills itself as “one of the premier shaft sinking companies in the world,” and it has the track record to back up that claim.

With some 20 projects on the go in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere around the world, Cementation is also on record for having sunk the deepest shaft in Canada at the Kidd Creek Mine in Timmins, the deepest single lift shaft in the U.S. at the Resolution Copper Project in Superior, Arizona, and the deepest single lift shaft in the world at the South Deep Gold Mine in South Africa.

But by the end of March, Cementation crews will start a completely different sort of project at the Sifto Canada salt mine in Goderich, Ont., on the shore of Lake Huron. They will begin refurbishing the liners inside two of the mine’s three shafts, which will take almost four years, and rank among the most challenging work the company has taken on in recent years.

“Technically, this is a very different project,” says President and Chief Executive Officer Roy Slack. “It’s not like designing a shaft or shaft liner from scratch. We have to adapt to what’s there.”

In both cases, what’s there is a concrete liner that has deteriorated and sprung leaks. In some places water is seeping in. Elsewhere, it is surging through the concrete as though driven from a garden hose.

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Western Canada’s mining sector faces bleak employment outlook: report – by David Kennedy (Globe and Mail – March 10, 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.

From copper miners to the oil patch, plunging commodity prices are taking a toll on employment in Western Canada – a trend employers see persisting for at least another three months.

While most Canadian companies expect relatively steady hiring in the next quarter, miners in Western Canada are more likely to cut staff, the latest Manpower Inc. employment survey shows.

Across all sectors, 18 per cent of employers say they are looking to hire in the upcoming quarter, while only 5 per cent anticipate downsizing. Taking into account the seasonal adjustment, the net Canadian employment outlook is at 10 per cent, unchanged from last quarter and one percentage point higher than a year ago.

The net employment outlook is the percentage of employers expecting to bring on more staff, minus the percentage of employers expecting to cut back. “I can’t say that it’s strong from a year-over-year [comparison], when you’ve got a one-point percentage increase,” Michelle Dunnill, branch manager of Manpower’s Toronto office, said,“but given our challenges that are transpiring right now, [we’re] cautiously optimistic.”

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Future Fumes?: Will Sudbury super stack be needed by Vale after retrofit project? (Canadian Mining Journal – February/March 2015)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

At more than 388m high and just over 36m wide at base, Vale’s “Super Stack” in Sudbury is unquestionably the city’s most outstanding feature.

In fact, it’s also one of Northern Ontario’s more outstanding features because it’s literally the tallest structure in the north and can be seen for miles from every direction as it towers over the city.

Even Sudbury’s world-renown “Big Nickel” pales by comparison when it comes to size and impressive landmarks. Built from almost 16,500m3 of concrete and strengthened with nearly 956 tonnes of 38mm and 13mm re-bar, the stack is a solid monument that has withstood the harshest of conditions that Mother Nature could throw at it.

Extreme cold and blowing snow, fierce winds and driving rain, heat and lightning, and even ground-shaking tremours, have barely made a mark on the stack. And, the fact that it’s also lined from top to bottom with 6.4mm nickel stainless steel and that its walls are 1.1m thick at the base and 267mm at the top, have all added to make the stack almost indestructible.

It was clearly built to last and since it started rising on the horizon in 1970, and subsequently going into service on August 21, 1972, the stack has performed as planned by safely carrying sulphur dioxide from INCO’s (now Vale’s) Copper Cliff smelter high into the atmosphere and away from the city.

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Commentary: Aboriginal Peoples score 200 legal wins in Canada’s resources sector – by Bill Gallagher (Northern Miner – March 4, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Pipelines, energy exports, fracking, clear-cuts, tailings ponds and access to resources are daily in the news as the industry faces pushback on traditional lands from natives who feel that their way of life is threatened. But what’s different now is that the tone of the dialogue is changing — and not necessarily for the better.

For example, here is a quote from Northern News of Gino Chitaroni, president of the Northern Prospectors Association, recently speaking in Kirkland Lake, Ont.: “We are now at a crossroads, where our whole industry and way of life is completely threatened … the empowerment of First Nations at the expense of the mining and exploration industry … this is a massive sleeper problem that nobody wants to talk about in the press, because those who do may be targeted for reprisals and branded bigots and racists.”

We’ve seen a lot of court-bashing in the Canadian media from think tanks, former politicos and a former media tycoon. But the fact is that the native legal winning streak has rolled out in a highly consistent fashion. Indeed, it’s the courts themselves that have promoted the need for constructive dialogue for over 15 years now, based on the poignant closing in Delgamuukw, wherein the Supreme Court admonished one and all by writing: “Let us face it: we are all here to stay.”

Unfortunately, resource-centric governments have continued to do their talking in the court, with devastating results. Because today, after amassing 200 legal wins (I’ve been keeping track), Aboriginal Peoples are well on their way to redrawing the map of Canada not only at the resource sector’s expense, but also at the expense of the national economy.

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New Ring of Fire report card gives Ottawa failing grade, urges immediate action – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – March 10, 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.

Exclusive: Ontario is still years away from building mines rich in chromite and other metals due to government stalling and red tape, yet there is a strong business case for moving ahead, says Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

Ontario’s Ring of Fire mineral belt is years away from being built despite an expected turnaround in metal prices and First Nations’ dire need for development of the far north, says the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

“Despite its significant potential, we are no closer today than we were a year ago to realizing the benefits of the Ring of Fire,” says the new one-year report card obtained by The Star.

“After a year of delays, public and expert perception on the viability of the Ring of Fire as a sound economic investment has soured,” it says.

The site, 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont., is estimated to have $60 billion of mineral value including base metals, platinum and palladium, along with North America’s largest deposit of chromite, which is used to make stainless steel.

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Rick Rule: Gold price ‘could easily see $1,000’ – by Frik Els (Mining.com – March 6, 2015)

http://www.mining.com/

Gold on Friday plunged more than $30 an ounce after a better-than-expected US jobs report saw the dollar soar to multi-year highs.

In heavy trade of more than 20m ounces in New York, gold for delivery in April fell $32.33 an ounce or 2.7% from Thursday’s close hitting a low of $1,163.87 an ounce during one of the worst trading days in a year.

Gold is now at the lowest price since mid-November and more than $140 below its 2015 high struck January 22. Gold’s gains earlier this year were ascribed to safe haven buying amid currency turmoil, a slowing global economy, geopolitical concerns, the fallout of the collapse in oil prices and a debt crisis in the eurozone.

But with the first hike in more than six years likely at the Fed’s June meeting raising the opportunity costs of holding gold, traders refocused their attention on fundamental factors.

Gold reacts counter to confidence and it would appear that there is a lot of confidence in the market. Higher rates also boost the value of the dollar which on Friday hit fresh 12-year highs against the currencies of major US trading partners. The greenback has strengthened by more than 20% over the last year.

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Lukas Lundin: Guts, glory and betting against the grain – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – March 6, 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.

Lukas Lundin has no tricks for how to play the market, but somehow he has timed his deals impeccably.

The mining tycoon managed to sell a big gold mine for billions at the top of cycle. Then after bullion slumped 30 per cent he bought another gold project for a fraction of the original cost.

“It was some luck and some skill,” the executive said in an interview at this week’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference. Mr. Lundin said he learned his deal-making skills from his father, Adolf Lundin, who founded the $11.8-billion Vancouver- based Lundin Group, a conglomerate of mining and energy companies.

“He had a big appetite for risk,” said Mr. Lundin. One of the family’s 11 companies is called NGEx Resources Inc. It stands for “No Guts, No Glory Exploration,” a play on patriarch Lundin’s “no guts, no glory” motto.

“He was a big speculator, took big risks, sometimes maybe not calculated. Hopefully I take more risks that are calculated,” said Mr. Lundin.

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Breaking mining’s ‘rock ceiling’ for women – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – March 6, 2015)

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Goldcorp among companies taking steps to make industry more welcoming

By the numbers, the mining industry still looks very much like a boys club. Just 17 per cent of the sector’s workforce in Canada is female, according to Mining Association of Canada statistics.

Industry leaders know they need to raise that number over the long term if the sector expects to maintain a sustainable pool of applicants to fill jobs in its rapidly aging workforce.

The industry has also launched programs to recruit more minority groups and First Nations, which has proved a particularly successful strategy in northern B.C. Vancouver-headquartered Goldcorp Inc. has adopted its own edge in recruiting by expanding Creating Choices, its internal training and mentorship program for women.

The program is “becoming one of the tools” attracting potential recruits, said Anna Tudela, Goldcorp’s vice-president of regulatory affairs and corporate secretary and the program’s creator.

“In the mining industry, we’re lacking the (future) workforce,” Tudela said. “We will have to attract more women,” as well as workers from diverse backgrounds.

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Rocky road ahead for sputtering China – by Brian Milner (Globe and Mail – March 6, 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.

China has cut its growth target for this year by half a percentage point to about 7 per cent, a level that would mark its slowest expansion in a quarter of a century.

It also ought to dispel any notion that its leadership can engineer a fairly smooth economic transition toward the greater manufacture and domestic consumption of higher-value goods without serious growth hiccups and heavy state intervention.

The less optimistic outlook makes sense for a government that typically does whatever is necessary to meet – and preferably exceed – its publicly avowed goals for the economy.

The technocrats have known for some time that the sputtering economy has no chance of exceeding 7 per cent growth this year, and that it may take considerable data massaging (a government specialty) just to reach the lower bar. Major headwinds include continued weak demand in key export markets, serious manufacturing overcapacity and a bubble-ridden property market teetering on the brink.

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