Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 605

Canada’s race problem? It’s even worse than America’s. – by Scott Gilmore (MACLEAN’S Magazine – January 22, 2015)

January 23, 2015

http://www.macleans.ca/

For a country so self-satisfied with its image of progressive tolerance, how is this not a national crisis?

The racial mess in the United States looks pretty grim and is painful to watch. We can be forgiven for being quietly thankful for Canada’s more inclusive society, which has avoided dramas like that in Ferguson, Mo. We are not the only ones to think this. In the recently released Social Progress Index, Canada is ranked second amongst all nations for its tolerance and inclusion.

Unfortunately, the truth is we have a far worse race problem than the United States. We just can’t see it very easily.

Terry Glavin, recently writing in the Ottawa Citizen, mocked the idea that the United States could learn from Canada’s example when it comes to racial harmony. To illustrate his point, he compared the conditions of the African-American community to Canada’s First Nations. If you judge a society by how it treats its most disadvantaged, Glavin found us wanting. Consider the accompanying table. By almost every measurable indicator, the Aboriginal population in Canada is treated worse and lives with more hardship than the African-American population. All these facts tell us one thing: Canada has a race problem, too.

How are we not choking on these numbers? For a country so self-satisfied with its image of progressive tolerance, how is this not a national crisis? Why are governments not falling on this issue?

Gold shines bright as hottest investment this year – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – January 23, 2015)

January 23, 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.

Metals gold and copper proving to be very reliable barometers of economic stability

Forget oil. If you want to know how the world economy is faring, just look at two metals: gold and copper. They are usually discovered and mined in the same places, but the yellow and rusty red metals are going in opposite directions price-wise despite an overall slump in commodities — especially this year.

The price of copper — critical in manufacturing and construction — has fallen 10 per cent in 2015 as global growth stalls, while ‘safe haven’ gold has enjoyed a double-digit bounce this month as market and geopolitical volatility continues.

“Just when everyone gave up on gold, turns out the obituaries were premature,” says gold bug John Ing, president of Maison Placements Canada.

In fact gold has amazingly emerged as the top performer of 2015, not just among metals but also compared to stock markets and currencies, he notes. That is largely due to bullion’s traditional role as a fear magnet which investors tend to latch onto when everything else is rocky – and it is lately, from the tanking oil price to topsy-turvy stock markets.

Teck Resources under pressure as commodity rout takes toll – by Jacquie McNish and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – January 23, 2015)

January 23, 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.

Don Lindsay didn’t have much time to eat when he sat down for dinner last month with investors in a wood-panelled private dining room at Hy’s, the popular Bay Street steakhouse.

Oil prices were falling faster than the temperature on the December night and fund managers at the table wanted Mr. Lindsay, chief executive officer of Teck Resources Ltd., to explain why the company wasn’t changing course to adjust.

The Vancouver-based mining giant was already reeling from a jarring price collapse in the company’s core metallurgical coal and copper commodity markets. Why, some investors wanted to know, was Teck persisting with its $2.9-billion minority investment in the sprawling Fort Hills oil sands project after spot oil prices had fallen precipitously by more than 60 per cent.

“Can you afford this project at these prices?” one investor asked, according to people familiar with the session. Mr. Lindsay’s response was difficult for some investors to swallow.

“I love low oil prices,” Teck’s CEO enthused. Cheaper, he explained, meant lower construction costs for an oil mining complex that is still nearly two years away from production.

Aboriginal revenue sharing is an idea whose time has come – by Gary Mason (Globe and Mail – January 23, 2015)

January 23, 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.

Current unpredictability in world oil markets aside, Canada’s economic prosperity lies in the development of its natural resources. What’s equally evident is that aboriginal communities are going to demand, and receive, a greater share of that wealth.

It wasn’t long ago that the notion of apportioning a percentage of resource revenue to First Nations was considered lunacy. But a series of court decisions over the past couple of decades has imposed a change of thinking on the country’s political class. Consequently, governments have slowly begun coming around to the idea there might be more to be gained by making aboriginal groups legitimate economic partners in resource development than by continuing to shut them out of the action.

But the approaches taken by provincial entities and territorial governments have been ad hoc, creating a patchwork of revenue-sharing arrangements. Some governments, such as British Columbia, have aggressively pursued these agreements, while Saskatchewan and Alberta remain holdouts.

In a well-reasoned paper being released Friday by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, author Ken Coates argues that it’s time for the country to more fully embrace resource revenue pacts as a means of improving the lives of First Nations people and creating a more stable resource development environment.

Taken alone, N.W.T. mining exploration figures fail to impress – by Guy Quenneville (CBC News North – January 22, 2015)

January 22, 2015

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

Companies spent more last year in Yukon and Nunavut trying to find new deposits

Combined spending on mineral exploration and deposit appraisal may have increased by 32 per cent in the Northwest Territories last year, according to estimates released by Natural Resources Canada.

But when considered alone, spending on mineral exploration — which is the type of work that leads to the discovery of new deposits — trailed the amounts seen in Yukon and Nunavut. Last year, companies spent $31.5 million trying to find new deposits in N.W.T. That’s 22 per cent more than what companies spent in 2013.

But it’s also much lower than what companies spent in the territory in the years leading to the global recession, and it also trails 2014 mineral exploration spending of $59.4 million and $86.9 million in the Yukon and Nunavut, respectively.

Worse, according to the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, is that the muted exploration scene lessens the chances of new mines opening in N.W.T.

“When you go to a bingo game, you don’t play one card to win. You play 15, 16 different cards, just to increase the odds,” says Tom Hoefer, the chamber’s executive director.

Commentary: The Peel watershed decision’s broader implications – by Keith Bergner, John Olynyk and Toby Kruger (Northern Miner – January 21, 2015)

January 22, 2015

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

This past December, the Yukon Supreme Court handed down an important aboriginal law ruling that has implications for future mining operations in the Yukon. In The First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun v. Yukon (Government of), 2014 YKSC 69, Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale held that the Yukon government’s modifications to the Peel land use plan did not respect the land use planning process set out in the final agreements (modern treaties) with the Na-Cho Nyak Dun, Tr’ondek Hwech’in and Vuntut Gwichin First Nations, and struck down the land use plan as a result.

The case marks the first time that a court has been asked to consider the meaning of land use planning provisions contained in the Umbrella Final Agreement between Canada, Yukon and Yukon First Nations, which forms part of 11 final agreements across Yukon. Among other things, the final agreements provide First Nations with the right to participate in land and resource management decision-making for Crown lands, including land use planning processes, in exchange for the release of claims to aboriginal rights or title to those lands.

While the decision deals specifically with the Peel watershed in northeast Yukon, the case will have direct implications for land use planning throughout the Yukon, and could have indirect impacts on consultative requirements under modern treaties for other governmental land and resource use decision making.

Can Harper’s Canada defy oil dependence’s ugly history? – by Brian Milner (Globe and Mail – January 22, 2015)

January 22, 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.

History shows that political leaders who rely heavily on oil earnings to paper over economic cracks, balance budgets and spread largesse among the voting public can end up paying a heavy price for putting too many eggs in the energy basket.

We are about to find out if that holds true in Canada, where the Bank of Canada responded to the steep drop in oil prices with a surprise rate cut Wednesday.

Every major oil exporter is scrambling to deal with sudden economic reversals, tax shortfalls and greater demands on the public purse as capital investment is slashed, massive projects are shelved and layoffs mount in the wake of plunging oil prices.

It was a Saudi-orchestrated price collapse in 1986 – when oil bottomed at $10 (U.S.) a barrel after dropping by two-thirds in just four months – that set the stage for a stunning falloff in Russian production in the late 1980s and the breakup of the Soviet empire.

Another price crash in 1998 played a key part in the collapse of the ruble and a humiliating bond default that cleared the way for Vladimir Putin’s swift rise to the top of the Russian heap.

Billions in oilpatch investment up in smoke as crude plunge reverberates across Canada – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 22, 2015)

January 22, 2015

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

There’s nothing like losing something to understand the value of what you had. With billions in investment going up in smoke, the Bank of Canada cutting its key interest rate and growth forecast, governments struggling with big budget gaps, the oil price collapse is highlighting the big shoes filled by the oil and gas sector in Canada’s economy.

As Tim McMillan, the president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, put it Wednesday: The industry has been growing so much, is active in so many parts of the country, works with so many suppliers, low oil prices “are having more of a national effect now than at any time in its history.”

In an interim report on investment plans, CAPP provided a glimpse Wednesday of how much the sector — the country’s biggest spender — plans to tighten its belt this year to cope with a 50% decline in oil prices since June, the result of excess world supplies and OPEC’s refusal to cut its own: Capital investment in Western Canada, including the oil sands, will decline 33%, to $46 billion, from $69 billion in 2014.

In the Alberta-based oil sands alone, capital investment will shrink to $25 billion, from $33 billion in 2014. Capital spending in the conventional oil and gas portion of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin — which straddles Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia — will decrease to $21 billion, from $36 billion in 2014. Drilling is expected to decline by 30%, to 7,350 wells.

Canadian gold miners raising nearly $800 million as financing window opens – by Peter Koven (National Post – January 22, 2015)

January 22, 2015

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

The financing window is open for Canadian gold miners, and they are rushing through it at a frantic pace before it shuts.

Six companies have announced bought deal offerings since Tuesday evening: Romarco Minerals Inc., Detour Gold Corp., Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd., Primero Mining Corp., Asanko Gold Inc., and Richmont Mines Corp. Between them, they are raising a whopping $789.8 milllion. Last week, Yamana Gold Inc. unveiled a $260.2-million equity deal of its own, and Lydian International Ltd. tapped the market for $16.5 million.

The flood of financings coincides with a significant jump in the gold price that has reignited investor enthusiasm for the sector. Bullion is up almost 10% this month and topped US$1,300 an ounce on Wednesday for the first time since August.

Gold has been out of favour with investors for most of the past two years, so the opportunities for most miners to raise capital have been few and far between. Not surprisingly, they are keen to push these deals through quickly while sentiment remains positive and gold equities are performing very well.

“We see it over and over again. These windows open so quickly and might be so short,” said Jay Kellerman, managing partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP. “Who would have imagined this [financing wave] a week ago?”

Canadian ore carrier makes historic journey to China via Northwest Passage – by Richard Desgagnes and Andrew Godfrey (Canadian Mining Journal – January 2015)

January 21, 2015

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Richard Desgagnes is a Senior Partner and Andrew Godfrey is an Associate with Norton Rose Fulbright.

Shipping history was recently made in Canada when Fednav’s MV Nunavik sailed from Deception Bay, Quebec to Bayuquan, China via Canada’s Northwest Passage.

The ship carried 24,000 tons of nickel concentrate and became the first commercial vessel to transit the Northwest Passage westward, unescorted, with an Arctic cargo and with Canadian expertise. In doing so the transit time was reduced by about 18 days (or about 5,800 miles) than had it been routed through the Panama Canal.

This and other developments are opening new frontiers of coastal mining transportation in Canada. Wherever a mining project is located, however, there are some key issues that have to be addressed when looking at maritime transportation.

FLAG CONSIDERATION: If the transportation needs are purely domestic (from one point in Canada to another), due to coasting trade restrictions, the vessel must be Canadian flagged and manned by Canadian seafarers. As such, manning costs are much higher compared to some other foreign flag operations. For carriage to a destination outside of Canada however, there is no restriction on the nationality of the vessel or the crew used on-board. All vessels are regulated by the standards of the IMO (International Maritime Organization).

Resource takeovers no cause for national angst – by Howard Green (Globe and Mail – January 21, 2015)

January 21, 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.

What a difference a few years makes. Recall the bygone days when there was a fuss about foreigners wanting to buy our miners and oil companies. Sure, Spain’s Repsol played vulture when it scooped up Talisman last month, but it was welcomed rather than turned into a federal case.

The national harrumphing that went on back in 2006 and 2007 when Inco, Falconbridge and Alcan were sold to outsiders is amazing in retrospect. But who would want to be stuck with a fistful of those shares in their portfolios right now, given where commodities are?

Back then, not only commentators, but also Bay Streeters and big shot executives were critical of the CEOs of those companies, railing about how they were selling out Canada’s birthright to rapacious buyers from abroad. Or worse, that they were not willing to step up and pay up to be acquirers rather than sellers.

If only the country had such problems today. The truth is, Inco’s CEO at the time, Scott Hand, and Dick Evans, the CEO of Alcan, got absolutely brilliant prices for their shareholders when they sold their respective companies. Wouldn’t it be something to hear complaints today about selling resource companies at the top of the market?

Oil slide to shave billions off federal and provincial government revenue – by Bill Curry and Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – January 21, 2015)

January 21, 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.

Ottawa and the provinces will lose a combined $14-billion in government revenue this year as a result of falling oil prices, according to new analysis that comes as the federal Conservatives shift their economic message ahead of Parliament’s return next week.

The federal government alone is set to lose $4.3-billion this year, the Conference Board of Canada said in a report Tuesday. The board is among the organizations that provide forecasts to the finance department and its findings add to the growing private sector opinion that Ottawa’s return to budget surplus is in jeopardy.

The International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for global economic growth, helping trigger a 4.7 per cent drop Tuesday in the price of North American crude, which closed at $46.49 (U.S.) a barrel Tuesday. The IMF also cut its forecast for Canada. The Bank of Canada is expected to comment in detail Wednesday on the impact of low oil prices in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report. Analysts suggest the Canadian dollar could sink below 82 cents U.S. depending on what the bank has to say.

The rapidly changing economic picture is also leading to some mixed messages from the Conservative government.

Investors to blame for supporting dithering juniors – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – January 20, 2015)

January 20, 2015

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

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – In the aftermath of several key mining-related indexes having dropped significantly since 2011, the mining industry as a whole, and particularly the junior explorers and project generators, have had to “reset” and undergo a paradigm shift from being project promoters to true value creators.

This was the message institutional investor adviser Jayant Bhandari relayed to affiliated investors attending the Cambridge House International Vancouver Resource Investment Conference 2015.

He pointed to several indexes, such as gold, gold exchange traded funds, the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF and the TSX, having each shown significant declines since 2011. The fountainhead of the problem, Bhandari argued, was uneducated investors, who were supporting dithering companies that were not creating value.

He had found that investors were often influenced by passions and half-truths such as the myth of price leverage in a rising cost environment and fads, such as the axiom of “grade is king”, or the promise of a new geographic “flavour of the month”, such as Colombia or the Yukon, all while failing to look at the specific company’s financial and legal documents.

Bhandari explained, for instance, that the ‘grade is king’ fad was not always true.

Zinc and nickel price upside ‘imminent’: Clarus – by Peter Koven (National Post – January 20, 2015)

January 20, 2015

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

There has been a lot of bullish talk in the metals community about zinc and nickel over the past couple of years, as many insiders believe those commodities are poised for a rally. You can include Clarus Securities analyst Mike Bandrowski in that group.

He published a detailed note on Tuesday that suggests zinc and nickel have “imminent” upside and will perform very strongly over the next two years as inventories disappear.

In the case of zinc, Mr. Bandrowski noted the market is already in deficit, and that deficit should get bigger following the closures of the Lisheen and Century mines this year. He said exchange inventories have fallen by more than half over the last two years and should be at “critical” levels later in 2015.

“We believe the lack of funding in zinc mine development and exploration has now caught up with the marketplace and zinc prices will respond in 2015,” he said in a note. “Despite the broad commodity sell-off, zinc has held up quite well, likely an indication of the favourable supply/demand fundamentals.”

Nickel has received more attention than zinc due to an Indonesian export ban on raw ore that was imposed a year ago, which removed about 25% to 30% of global nickel supply.

Mining firm takes on B.C. environmental group in defamation court battle – by Tamsyn Burgmann (Canadian Press/CTV News – January 19, 2015)

January 20, 2015

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

VANCOUVER — Criticism of a proposed mine by an environmental group and allegations of defamation by the project’s owner have landed both parties in British Columbia Supreme Court.

Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO) launched the lawsuit after the Wilderness Committee made claims during a 2012 public comment period that the New Prosperity mine could destroy Fish Lake. The proposed gold and copper mine, 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, was undergoing a federal environmental assessment when the statements were made.

Taseko lawyer Roger McConachie told court on Monday the company’s civil complaint is based on five articles published by the non-profit organization, which were emailed to supporters and posted online starting in January 2012.

“You will hear submissions related to corporate entitlement to have its reputation protected by a defamation lawsuit,” said McConachie, noting he expects to spend weeks presenting evidence.

The material involves libellous descriptions of the proposed project, a letter-writing tool that encouraged re-publication of the organization’s claims and statements the company was pursuing a lawsuit with the purpose of silencing public debate, McConachie argued.