Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 618

COMMENT: Taking a sharp knife to gold miners – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining – November 11, 2014)

November 12, 2014

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Cut, cut, cut. As market factors cut the price of gold, so miners are struggling to cut the cost of producing it, shaving away with staff cuts, asset sales, operating costs, and closure.

The gold price has fallen to four-year lows. Now it is struggling to boost itself up from US$1,142/oz on Nov. 5 to about US$1,165/oz at noon on Nov. 11. Is this the start of an upward trend or is it merely a small blip on a continued downward spiral? No one knows.

Despite strong demand from Asia, the gold price just seems to go nowhere. The strengthening American dollar is also exerting downward pressure on the price of gold. The result is that few optimists are singing gold’s praises these days.

Gold miners were an enthusiastic group as the gold price ran up to US$1,924/oz. Margins were understandably high and producers focussed on getting as many ounces out the door as possible to take advantage of the price. But the next year, 2012 saw a softening and the seeds of the current problems were sown. The price continued to slide, and a year later the industry took write downs in the neighbourhood of US$26 billion.

The low price is particularly alarming as small producers on the high end of the cost curve report all-in sustaining costs at US$1,200 and more. Many mid-tier producers are bumping up against the US$1,100 ceiling.

Underground entrepreneurs: Red Lake miners now members of small business cells operating with more autonomy – by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco (CIM Magazine – November 2014)

November 12, 2014

https://www.cim.org/en.aspx

Last fall Goldcorp’s Red Lake mine was organized conventionally, with teams reporting to supervisors who in turn reported to a general foreman. With a wicket system in place, employees arriving for their shift lined up to receive their assignment from their supervisor for the day, taking them to different parts of the mine. It was a hierarchical approach that managers had determined was less than ideal.

To build the foundation for a more employee-driven organization, Red Lake management chose to reorganize operations into 14 different cells – or business units – each comprising between 10 and 15 members. Each cell is assigned dedicated resources that include equipment, labour and support of organizational structures. And each one handles its own accounting and metrics.

“Essentially, we set up each cell to act as an independent small business,” says Bob MacDonald, operations manager at Red Lake. “Collectively, we get to learn from the best practices of each unit, and independently, each unit is best equipped to deal with its own unique operating conditions. It’s a win-win.”

The planning process for the new organizational structure took three months, carried out by a team made up of a general foreman and a technical services representative as well as Trevor Krawchyk, Goldcorp’s operations excellence manager. They also worked closely with daily supervisor and technical teams to revise and fine-tune every aspect of the plan.

Micro-mining builds sustainability into extraction processes – by E. Hinton and K. Palmer (CIM Magazine – August 2007)

November 12, 2014

https://www.cim.org/en.aspx

While this article is somewhat dated, the subject is strategically relevant for First Nations communities. – Stan Sudol, Editor/Owner RepublicOfMining.com

In many parts of the world, communities are taking a “just say no” approach to the usual boom-and-bust style of mining. Rather than accepting a large influx of outside people, who may bring with them economic disruption and social problems, they are looking for a more sustainable future.

Resistance to traditional mining is made more acute as governments increasingly feel obligated to listen to their peoples’ wishes and heed them. Some of this is due to the growing power of non-governmental organizations, which can quickly mount Internet-savvy publicity campaigns that reach into mining companies’ boardrooms, to object to developments that local people are resisting. Some of it is also due to the growing influence of the Equator Principles, under which lending institutions refuse to provide financing for projects that do not pass accepted sustainability thresholds.

Do the words “mining” and “sustainable” fit together?

They can, through what we can call “micro-mining.” This involves a search for small, concentrated deposits that can be extracted at relatively low cost. This keeps the financial commitment relatively small. Aside from some startup capital, financing stays organic, through earned revenues. This means living within the means of the deposit. The workforce is largely local, backed by sufficient outside expertise.

Canadian platinum firms unbowed by South African labour unrest – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – November 11, 2014)

November 11, 2014

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 — Even as one Canadian mining company is abandoning South Africa’s troubled platinum sector, two other Canadian miners are plunging ahead with ambitious plans here.

Vancouver-based Eastern Platinum Ltd. announced the sale of its South African assets to a little-known Chinese company for $225-million (U.S.) in cash, provoking surprise and skepticism from some analysts.

Last year, the company suspended its Crocodile River platinum project in South Africa because of what it called a “perfect storm” of labour unrest, rising costs and stagnant markets.

Eastplats announced on Friday that it is selling Crocodile River and all of its other South African assets to Hebei Zhongbo Platinum, a company that seems almost unknown. The Chinese company “has never been mentioned in the press or online (as far as we can tell) prior to this announcement,” said an analyst’s report from Raymond James Ltd. on Monday.

Chinese companies have been dramatically raising their stakes in South Africa’s platinum sector with several acquisitions as other companies give up.

Trace Matrix Bribery Index: Canada 2nd-Least Corrupt Country In The World – by Daniel Tencer (Huffington Post – November 11, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/business/

http://www.traceinternational.org/trace-matrix/

Canada is the second-least corruption-prone country in the world, with only Ireland having a lower risk of bribery, according to a new index measuring business corruption.

The study comes as business groups across the country pressure the federal government into rescinding strict new rules that would ban companies convicted of bribery and other corrupt acts from winning government contracts.

The first edition of the TRACE Matrix, developed by the anti-bribery non-profit TRACE International and the RAND Corporation, names Nigeria as the country with the highest risk of bribery. It scored 97 out of 100; Canada scored 22, with Ireland coming in at 20 (the higher the score, the higher the risk of bribery).

The index looks at four broad areas: businesses’ interactions with government; anti-bribery laws and enforcement; government transparency; and and capacity for civil oversight, including media. But Canada being named one of the least corrupt countries is not the same thing as Canadian business being declared to be corruption-free.

Many Canadian companies that operate abroad have been accused of bribery and other forms of corruption. Since 1999, these companies have been subject to the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, which makes it a crime in Canada for a business to bribe officials in other countries, provided some part of the corruption involves Canada.

In China, Candu Energy sees promising future – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – November 10, 2014)

November 11, 2014

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 — Jean Chrétien was in a good mood when he came to Shanghai in late 1996 to sell two Candu reactors. He kidded around with Li Peng, the then-Chinese premier, going so far as to try to place a red pompon on the head of the famously dour leader.

Mr. Chrétien promised a future filled with more multibillion-dollar sales of Canadian nuclear technology to China. “I hope we will have many more Candus built in this great country of yours,” he said then.

For the nearly two decades that followed, that optimism bore no fruit.

Now, however, Candu Energy – divorced from the federal government and in the hands of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. – says it is working toward a deal that could see it partner with a Chinese nuclear giant to build new reactors, both in China and abroad.

By June, 2015, Candu hopes to finalize a joint-venture deal with China National Nuclear Corp., the massive state-owned atomic power and weapons company, “to develop global opportunities” for its advanced fuel reactor. The two sides signed an initial broad-strokes memorandum of understanding during the visit of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Beijing this weekend.

As price of gold drops, miners race to cut costs – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – November 10, 2014)

November 10, 2014

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.

Gold’s rapid drop threatens to weed out the weaker players, pressuring high-cost producers and setting the stage for mines to be shuttered.

“If the price stays below $1,200 for any appreciable length of time, then you will see mine closures or at least mines shrunk down considerably,” Goldcorp Inc.’s chief executive Chuck Jeannes said in an interview.

The precious metal lost about $100 (U.S.) an ounce over the past two weeks due to monetary-policy decisions in the United States and Japan that sent the U.S. dollar soaring. Gold sank as low as $1,137.40 an ounce before recovering to $1,178.50 on Friday. Miners that spend more than $1,100 to produce an ounce of gold are feeling the pinch.

Iamgold Corp. is racing to slash expenses. The Toronto-based company, with mines in Canada, South America and West Africa, spent nearly $1,200 to produce an ounce of gold in the first quarter. That was whittled down to $1,136 in the following quarter.

“If the gold price drops below $1,100 per ounce, the company will have difficulty generating free cash flow,” said Chris Mancini, an analyst with the Gabelli Gold Fund.

Norway proves oil-rich nations can be both green and prosperous – by Barrie McKenna (Globe and Mail – November 10, 2014)

November 10, 2014

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 — Conventional wisdom suggests a big fossil fuel-producer like Canada can’t be both green and prosperous. It’s one or the other. Norway’s experience suggests this is a false choice.

Through a combination of steep carbon taxes, careful management of its oil wealth and strategic investments in innovation, oil-rich Norway has found a comfortable balance between the environment and growth.

It’s a lesson Canadians should take to heart in the wake of a stark new warning from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the planet is headed for destructive and irreversible climate change without dramatic carbon emission cuts.

Forget Dutch disease. Canadians should embrace the Norwegian antidote. Compared to Canada, Norway’s economy is more competitive, scores better on a range of innovation performance measures and consistently produces higher per capita gross domestic product, and incomes.

And it’s greener, too.

B.C. aboriginal training program ends amid funding dispute – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – November 9, 2014)

November 10, 2014

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 federally funded program that helped more than 1,000 First Nations people land jobs in British Columbia’s mining sector has abruptly closed its doors, saying it was not able to operate without secure financing from Ottawa.

The federal government, however, says the $10-million program – known as the Aboriginal Mentoring and Training Association, or AMTA – filed “questionable expense claims” and was unable to account for some of the money it received before it ceased operations.

The group insists it can account for all the funds it has received and spent. The unhappy ending mars what had been a success story for industry, First Nations communities and people such as Meagan Sam.

Ms. Sam, currently working as a contract truck driver at the Gibraltar mine, about 65 kilometres north of Williams Lake, said AMTA counsellors helped her get through training programs, including a stint in the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook.

“They really opened doors for me,” Ms. Sam said Friday in an interview. “I maybe could have done it [the training] on my own, but it would have been a lot harder.”

Development in northern Quebec questioned – by Staff (Canadian Press/Metro News – November 6, 2014)

November 7, 2014

http://metronews.ca/

MONTREAL – A former director general of Parks Canada has written a letter to Premier Philippe Couillard expressing concern that his government is backtracking on a major commitment in the development of northern Quebec.

The government had previously stated that 50 per cent of the land covered by what is called the Plan nord— or northern plan — would be protected from industrial activity. Nikita Lopoukhine, president emeritus of the World Commission on Protected Areas, has asked Couillard to clarify recents reports that government policy had changed.

He said he had learned from a provincial organization attending a panel last week that the new policy was to “implement conservation measures on 50 per cent of the Plan nord territory, including 20 per cent that would be protected areas.”

Lopoukhine said in his letter, dated Nov. 3, that he wants to make sure the government is not pulling back on its previous commitment of 50 per cent.

“I believe this substitution could be interpreted to mean that mining, forestry and energy projects could be included in the 50 per cent and (I think) that is not compatible with the vision expressed in the Plan nord,” he wrote in his letter.

Quebec First Nations petition province to include rare earths under uranium ban – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – November 6, 2014)

November 7, 2014

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A group of Quebec- and Labrador-based First Nations would like to see the Quebec government include rare earth elements in the same moratorium currently in force for uranium.

The Quebec government had decreed a moratorium on issuing exploration, development or mining permits for uranium projects in the province on March 28, 2013, until an independent study of the impacts of uranium was completed.

The Assembly of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (AFNQL), which currently represented 43 tribal chiefs, said, during an assembly last month, the First Nations resolved to support the Eagle Village and Wolf Lake Algonquin First Nations in opposing Canadian firm Matamec Explorations’ proposed Kipawa rare earths project on First Nation reserve lands.

The AFNQL noted that it would communicate its position to the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), which was holding public hearings this month on the uranium industry in Quebec.

The local opposition to uranium exploration and mining had all but snuffed out the provincial industry, exemplified by uranium project developer Strateco Resources in June, when it mothballed its flagship Matoush project, in the Otish Mountains, after spending more than $123-million.

Collapse in global mining forces major cuts at SNC-Lavalin – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – November 7, 2014)

November 7, 2014

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 — The global rout in commodities and sputtering economic growth in many parts of the world is taking a toll on SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., forcing a major cut in its employee head count as the multinational company tries to carve out more sustainable operations for the years ahead.

Canada’s largest engineering and construction firm said Thursday it would slash 4,000 jobs as it deals with a collapse in global mining activity and stunted economic growth, particularly in emerging markets such as China. Montreal-based SNC also revised its 2014 profit outlook sharply downward as it reported third-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.

The stock tumbled 8 per cent in trading to $42.34, its biggest one-day loss since Feb. 28, 2012. That’s when the company disclosed an independent investigation into undocumented payments that subsequently ballooned into a wider corruption scandal.

“Investors probably weren’t expecting such a significant reduction in head count,” said Denis Durand, a partner at Montreal-based Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd., SNC’s largest shareholder. “The size of this surprised.”

The moves are part of a five-year effort by SNC chief executive Robert Card to revamp the company as he tries to turn it into one of the world’s largest engineering players and close the door on corporate conduct trouble that has forced out several senior executives.

Mr. Obama, pull down that anti-Keystone XL wall – by Peter Foster (National Post – November 6, 2014)

November 7, 2014

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

This Sunday, November 9, marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that great symbol of the brutal repression and utter failure of Soviet Communism.

Communism survives only in North Korea and Cuba, although Cuba is reportedly looking to “putinismo” as a possible way out. Russian president Vladimir Putin has in fact provided useful historical service in reminding us of what was on the other side of the wall. His conspicuous pining for the Soviet good old days has prevented Communism from being shoved down the memory hole as a “noble experiment” that inexplicably went astray.

He has also, ironically, exposed the folly of Europe’s commitment to end the age of fossil fuels in order to save the world from capitalism.

Last weekend, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, the politically-corrupted body that is meant to assess climate science, released the final “synthesis” of its Fifth Assessment Report. The mainstream media duly trumpeted the IPCC’s “dire” warnings, but fewer and fewer individuals are listening.

That is not just because people have more immediate worries than how to achieve an emission-free world in 2100. It’s because those regimes most committed to combating climate catastrophe have wreaked the greatest policy fiascos, and nowhere moreso than in Europe.

Conductor missing as freight train derails in Quebec – by Eric Atkins (Globe and Mail – November 6, 2014)

November 6, 2014

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.

A freight train conductor is missing after the derailment of a Quebec North Shore and Labrador train near Sept-Îles, Que.

A spokeswoman for Iron Ore Co. of Canada, which owns the short-line railway, says the locomotive was found submerged in the Moisie River on Thursday morning and that a landslide is the likely cause.

Claudine Gagnon of Iron Ore Co. said the train was travelling north carrying empty rail cars to the mine, and it is not known how many locomotives were involved.

“Our first priority is to locate our employee,” Ms. Gagnon said, adding the company is not identifying the person at this time. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says it has deployed a team of investigators to the site of the derailment.

QNS&L railway runs 418 kilometres between Iron Ore Co.’s mine in Labrador City and the St. Lawrence Seaway port of Sept-Îles. The Iron Ore Co., which is majority owned by global mining company Rio Tinto PLC, produces ore pellets for making metals.

Plunging Gold Price Has Mining Companies Selling at Loss – by Liezel Hill and Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – November 5, 2014)

November 6, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The latest decline in the price of gold is saddling higher-cost producers with losses on every ounce mined, and pushing others to the brink of also slipping into the red.

Gold fell to a four-year intraday low of $1,137.10 an ounce today, below production costs for seven of 19 mining companies tracked by Bloomberg Intelligence, including Harmony Gold Mining Co., South Africa’s third-largest producer, and Primero Mining Corp. (P) Two more producers are within $50 of the figure.

“What’s developing is almost a two-tier type of market,” John Ing, chief executive officer at brokerage Maison Placements Canada Inc., said by phone. One tier has companies with good assets and lower costs, while the other comprises producers “who are saddled with high-cost operations” and stretched balance sheets.

“Investors are looking through the so-called carnage and are holding onto the top tier and are dumping the second tier,” he said.

The seeds of the industry’s predicament were sown during gold’s 12-year bull-run, when it rose to a record $1,923.70 an ounce in New York in 2011. Mining costs were allowed to spiral “out of control” and mines were built assuming high prices, said Mike Schroder at Old Mutual Investment Group in Cape Town.