Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 625

Mining companies must win hearts and minds or face further opposition – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – September 19, 2014)

September 19, 2014

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

“We know the Ring of Fire’s future will not be determined within the region
itself but in southern Ontario, where the majority of the political ridings
are,” she noted. “Or it will be decided [in Ottawa] to the extent that the
federal government is involved.”

“So we must win the hearts and minds of those people sitting at home because
that’s how your project is going to be approved,” she said, stressing that
meaningful CSR and engagement with locally affected communities was one of
the best methods of doing this. (Kate Lyons)

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Opposition to the extractive industries continues to grow in Canada, with increasing influence on decisions that surround project approval, delegates at the Canada-Southern Africa Chamber of Business risk mitigation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) seminar were told last week.

“The world of the stakeholder is large. From the comfort of a home heated by natural gas or cooled by electricity, and probably using a device laden with metals, a person can discover whether they are ‘against’ an industry,” Goodmans partner Kate Lyons said.

Opposition can develop among thousands of people living many kilometres away from a mining region, their opinions shaping and influencing project outcomes. Lyons highlighted northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire as an example.

Keystone XL battle in Year 6: How a pipeline grew into a political phenomenon with a life of its own – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – September 19, 2014)

September 19, 2014

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

Friday marks the sixth year to the day TransCanada Corp. filed an application with the U.S. State Department to build the 1,897-kilometre pipeline. Since then it has become not only the most polarizing energy project in North America, but also has taken on a life of its own almost separate from the Calgary-based company that proposed the project.

“Keystone XL is a political phenomenon that has gone to a place that no company would want – it is symbolic of a lot of different things,” said Sarah Ladislaw, director and senior fellow, energy and national security program at Washington, D.C.-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “It is used now as a short-hand … to signal ideological divisions.”

For the industry, the controversial project is seen as an efficient access point to its key market in the Gulf Coast; for environmentalists it is a portal to climate hell. For others it is neither an access issue or environmental cause célèbre.

For Dave Domina, a lawyer and Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate, it is about re-enforcing landowners’ rights. Mr. Domina has been making the case for landowners against the Nebraska governor’s approval of the pipeline’s route in front of the state’s Supreme Court in Lincoln, Neb.

“All of my work in this lawsuit has been focused on protecting these landowners,” Mr. Domino said in a phone interview from Lincoln. “That’s what this case is about – it is a siting and landowner’s rights issue. There is no environmental dimension to my work as a lawyer here.”

Time to stop ‘saving’ U.S. Steel Canada – by Peter Foster (National Post – September 19, 2014)

September 19, 2014

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

Five years ago, outside the gates of U.S. Steel Canada’s Nanticoke plant on Lake Erie, unionized workers sported a sign reading “Guantanamo North.” The sign might have been accurate if the company had been trying to lock workers in rather than out, but its main significance lay in indicating the poisonous relations between the United Steelworkers and U.S. Steel, which had taken over the plant as part of its acquisition of Stelco in 2007.

This week the union was again posturing angrily following the announcement that U.S. Steel Canada has filed for bankruptcy protection. Since the end of 2009, it has suffered an aggregate loss of US$2.4-billion. Its liabilities surpass its assets by around US$2 billion. The company also announced this week that expansion plans north of the border were being shelved. The news sent the shares of parent U.S. Steel to a three year high.

Analysts have suggested that the need for protection be laid at the door of poor management, and that may well be a factor. However, at least as important is the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Meanwhile there are other major culprits: principally the Ontario and federal governments, with President Obama’s Buy American policies another major negative factor.

Ontario’s attempt to make Stelco a more desirable purchase by providing a forgivable loan to U.S. Steel, provisional on refurbishing Stelco’s depleted pension fund, has turned out to be a millstone. The fund is at least $800-million underwater, with requirements for the company to kick in further hundreds of millions of dollars in coming years.

Japan’s predicament a boon for future of energy exporters – by Brian Milner (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2014)

September 19, 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.

This is another of an occasional series from The Globe and Mail’s Brian Milner, who visited Japan to assess the results of dramatic efforts to revitalize the world’s third-largest economy.

One commercial office building in Tokyo’s busy Uchisaiwaicho district is notable for its constant police presence. That’s because it’s the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), provider of power to nearly 30 million people and one of Japan’s more reviled companies.

TEPCO gained its spot in the Hall of Shame over its dreadful handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March, 2011, as well as subsequent revelations of poor maintenance and safety flaws and anger over the slow pace of compensation. Huge anti-nuclear demonstrations followed, and the public outcry has scarcely abated. As recently as its annual meeting in June, management had to fend off activist shareholders demanding a permanent end to nuclear power.

Now, a year since the complete shutdown of the rest of Japan’s 48 reactors for safety checks, those demands have taken on new urgency. The Nuclear Regulation Authority, the government’s watchdog, has given the green light for another utility, Kyushu Electric Power Co., to restart two reactors at its Sendai plant in southwestern Japan. Other utilities are seeking the go-ahead to turn another 18 reactors back on.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs to get at least part of the country’s substantial nuclear capacity back on line to cut a soaring energy import tab – including hefty government subsidies – that makes Japanese industry less competitive and presents one more obstacle to his recovery strategy.

Ontario’s ‘Ring Of Fire’ In Limbo: Cliffs Resources Says It Wants Out – by Sunny Freeman (Huffington Post – September 18, 2014)

September 18, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/staking-claim/

The largest player in the efforts to develop large-scale mining in Ontario’s Ring of Fire is signalling that it is looking to unload its $3.3-billion project in the region.

Cliffs Natural Resources said Thursday that it sent a letter to the Marten Falls First Nation to alert the band that it is exploring “strategic alternatives,” which could include a sale of its stalled Black Thor chromite project. The U.S. mining giant has been struggling with debt amid low commodity prices in recent years.

Marten Falls is one of nine First Nations that will be most affected by development in the 5,000 square kilometre crescent believed to contain $50 billion worth of mineral deposits. “We should expect there will be a change, with a sale of the project one of the potential outcomes,” Cliffs executive Bill Boor said in the letter, The Globe and Mail reported.

Cliffs spokeswoman Patricia Persico said the letter was sent only to the Marten Falls First Nation to update them on the company’s situation, as it directs resources to focus on its iron ore business.

“Marten Falls First Nation is an important stakeholder to Cliffs and this business update is part of our normal course of business with them,” she told Huffington Post Canada.

KWG Resources, which already has a chromite project in the area, said Thursday that it is in talks with Cliffs to acquire the stalled Black Thor project and is looking into how to finance a deal.

Goldcorp’s Jeannes Sees Limit to Output Growth – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – September 18, 2014)

September 18, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Goldcorp Inc. (G), the Canadian producer starting up three new mines to boost output 50 percent, says there’s such a thing as too much gold.

The largest producer by market value, which expects annual output to reach as much as 4 million ounces by 2016, would prefer to fine-tune its mining assets to increase profitability than just keep growing to a point where it’s difficult to replace reserves, Chief Executive Officer Chuck Jeannes said.

“That means constantly trying to add high-quality things and, as we do that, dispose of the non-core things,” Jeannes said in an interview this week at the annual Denver Gold Forum. “We don’t want to be 7 or 8 million ounces.”

While Goldcorp has pressed ahead with expansion in the past year, other large producers have suspended projects, sold mines and curbed output as the industry grapples with faltering metal prices. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the biggest by sales, has forecast 2014 output of 6 million to 6.5 million ounces this year, which would be the lowest in nine years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Barrick’s output peaked at 8.64 million ounces in 2006, the data show.

Jeannes’ view on future growth is “good to hear,” said Chris Mancini, an analyst for the Gabelli Gold Fund, which has about $260 million under management, including Goldcorp shares.

A case of buyer’s remorse? What went wrong at U.S. Steel Canada – by Kristine Owram (National Post – September 18, 2014)

September 18, 2014

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

The exuberance that greeted United States Steel Corp.’s purchase of Stelco Inc. in 2007 is a distant memory as the company begins restructuring its Canadian operations under bankruptcy protection.

When the deal was announced seven years ago — shortly after Stelco emerged from its first trip through bankruptcy protection — the tone was as positive as could be. “Our acquisition of Stelco is another example of how we are building value for our stakeholders,” then-U.S. Steel CEO John Surma said when the $1.9-billion deal was announced.

“The fit with U.S. Steel is excellent,” agreed then-Stelco CEO Rodney Mott. “This is an outstanding deal for Stelco’s owners, employees, customers, suppliers and communities.”

But it didn’t turn out that way. Late Tuesday, U.S. Steel Canada Inc. said it had received creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), citing an aggregate operating loss of US$2.4-billion since December 2009 and US$1-billion in pension liabilities.

“I am disappointed and sad to see the former Stelco go into CCAA again,” former Stelco CEO Courtney Pratt said in an email. U.S. Steel’s shares rose by more than 10% to a three-year high Wednesday following the announcement, which included a decision not to pursue US$800-million in expansion projects.

Cliffs Natural Resources looking to exit Ontario’s Ring of Fire – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – September 17,2014)

September 17, 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 major player in Ontario’s Ring of Fire is considering selling a key property in the mineral belt, adding more uncertainty to a stalled project that was supposed to help boost the province’s northern economy.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. this week signalled it could sell its huge chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire – a 5,000-square-kilometre crescent of chromite, nickel, copper, zinc and gold thought to be worth as much as $50-billion during the commodity boom.

Earlier this week, Cliffs sent the First Nations in the area a letter saying it was exploring alternatives. “We should expect there will be a change, with a sale of the project one of the potential outcomes,” Bill Boor, Cliffs’ executive vice-president of corporate development, said in a letter that was viewed by The Globe and Mail.

A Cliffs spokeswoman confirmed the letter had been sent.

Cliffs suspended the project late last year after numerous delays and difficult discussions with the province and the First Nations communities near the vast deposit about 500 km north of Thunder Bay.

The province has touted the Ring of Fire as the economic engine for Northern Ontario. But its future appears bleak.

OBITUARY: Yves Fortier: A herald of Canada’s golden age of geology – by Eric Harris (Globe and Mail – September 17, 2014)

September 17, 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.

When the astronauts walked on the moon in July, 1969, their main mission was to collect rocks and dust from the Sea of Tranquility. They were test pilots first and narrowly trained field geologists second.

When Yves Oscar Fortier explored Canada’s remote northern reaches in the 1940s and 1950s, he was also breaking new ground in a hostile environment. But he was a geologist through and through.

Dr. Fortier, who died peacefully in Ottawa on Aug. 19, two days after his 100th birthday, conducted milestone work in the Arctic for the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) that was, in many ways, like a months-long moon mission.

His most ambitious project, Operation Franklin, in 1955, mustered 28 scientists to systematically study and map the cold, barren sedimentary rock of a polar region larger than Britain.

This included the Queen Elizabeth Islands and many of the other islands in the triangle at the northern end of the country. (The name Operation Franklin was a nod to the ill-fated 1845 expedition led by Sir John Franklin to search for a Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. One of the long-lost ships from that expedition was recently discovered.)

[Canada] Mines ministers talk transparency in Ontario (Northern Miner – September 17, 2014)

September 17, 2014

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

Sudbury played host to this year’s Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference in late August. The annual gathering of federal and provincial mining and energy ministers is meant to foster discussion and collaboration to advance development across the country.

In a statement released after the meeting, the attendees affirmed their commitment to the following principles:

• The responsible development of Canada’s energy and mines sectors is critical to our economic competitiveness, job creation and long-term prosperity

• Provincial and territorial governments will work with the federal government in support of Canada’s commitment to establish new mandatory reporting standards for Canadian extractive companies, with a view to enhancing transparency of payments made to governments

• The continued advancement of energy infrastructure (e.g., oil, gas, electricity, etc.) projects is fundamental to gain access to new markets and generate economic growth and revenue for critical social programs

• Progress is being made by all levels of government in implementing regulatory reform in a way that ensures the environment is protected

New HudBay mines expected to create hundreds of jobs (Winnipeg Free Press – September 16, 2014)

September 17, 2014

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

The opening of two new mines by Hudbay Minerals in northern Manitoba is expected to create more than 370 permanent jobs, the province says. Tuesday marked the official opening of both the Lalor and Reed mines.

Hudbay’s Lalor mine, located 13 kilometres west of Snow Lake, contains gold, zinc, copper and silver. Mineral Resources Minister Dave Chomiak said it is quickly evolving into one of the most significant base-metal discoveries in a generation in Manitoba. Total mine construction budget is $441 million.

The Reed copper mine, located in Grass River Provincial Park, 45 kilometres west-southwest of Snow Lake, is a joint venture of Hudbay and VMS Ventures Inc. Copper reserves associated with the project have an estimated value of $800 million, Chomiak said.

In 2013, capital expenditures on mining and petroleum development in Manitoba totalled an estimated $1.4 billion and the industries accounted for approximately seven per cent of provincial GDP and 8.7 per cent of total exports.

Chomiak credited the effectiveness of Manitoba’s mineral regulatory process for getting the mines on stream quickly. The process from discovery to production took less than seven years.

U.S. Steel Canada files for creditor protection – by Greg Keenan (Globe and Mail – September 17, 2014)

September 17, 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.

Toronto — United States Steel Corp. could sell all or part of the assets of U.S. Steel Canada Inc., as it restructures its Canadian unit, which was granted protection from creditors Tuesday under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

U.S. Steel Canada, (USSC) consists of the operations of the former Stelco Inc., that U.S. Steel purchased in 2007. The filing culminates almost seven years of turmoil at what was once Canada’s largest steel maker and one of the country’s blue-chip manufacturers. Since the takeover of Stelco, U.S. Steel has locked out employees at operations in Hamilton, Ont., and Nanticoke, Ont., and engaged in a battle with the federal government companies–later settled–over whether the steel giant was breaking promises it made to Ottawa when it bought Stelco.

“The stay of proceedings and related relief sought in this application will provide USSC with the necessary ‘breathing room’ to allow it to carry out a restructuring, including continuing discussions with its key stakeholders,” U.S. Steel Canada said in a court filing, “and to explore restructuring solutions including, potentially, a consensual restructuring of certain material obligations, a sales process to solicit interest in purchasing all or part of USSC’s business, and/or other restructuring processes.”

The company filed for protection after racking up losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $1.5-billion between 2008 and 2013, it said in the filing. That period included the recession of 2008-2009, when steel demand shrank dramatically in North America as auto makers slashed production and construction slowed to a trickle.

Hard-luck aboriginal community to get unusual Royal visit — the first since its treaty was signed in 1929 – by Adrian Humphreys (National Post – September 17, 2014)

September 17, 2014

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

Hunters in 14 boats pushed off Tuesday from the isolated northern reserve of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, fanning out across Big Trout Lake and down its myriad tributaries, looking to bag moose, caribou, geese — anything delicious enough to serve to the Royal Family.

Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex, wife of Prince Edward, who is the youngest son of the Queen and Prince Philip, is making a highly unusual, two-day visit this week to the remote, fly-in only aboriginal community in northern Ontario. It’s a reserve struggling with poor housing, unemployment, drug addiction and inadequate education facilities.

Joining her will be a high-powered entourage of women: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne; Lieutenant Governor-designate Elizabeth Dowdeswell; Ruth Ann Onley, wife of David Onley, the lieutenant governor; Vicki Heyman, wife of the U.S. ambassador to Canada; and others.

“We are just trying to grasp it now. The last time anyone came here from the Crown was in 1929 when we signed our treaty,” said Chief Donny Morris of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, known as KI.

“To have someone from the Royal Family, representing that, reliving that, I think that’s what we’re excited about — somebody actually coming here 85 years after we signed the treaty with the Crown.” It will be an unusual few days for the VIPs.

Ontario mines still power Goldcorp (Northern Miner – September 15, 2014)

September 16, 2014

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

Goldcorp (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) has been so growth-oriented over the past decade, building new mines across the Americas and snapping up gold assets left and right, it’s easy to forget sometimes just how productive its Ontario gold mines are.

Goldcorp’s three wholly owned gold production centres in Ontario — Red Lake, Musselwhite and Porcupine — yielded an impressive 1.04 million oz. gold in 2013, or 39% of Goldcorp’s companywide production of 2.67 million oz. gold last year.

And the global reserves and resources at these three Ontario mines total 21.2 million oz. gold, or 19% of Goldcorp’s companywide total of 112.6 million oz. gold. The jewel in Goldcorp’s crown remains the Red Lake underground mine in the town of Red Lake in the province’s northwest. Goldcorp rightly calls it its “Canadian cornerstone and the world’s richest gold mine.”

Indeed, after all these years, it’s still Goldcorp’s top-producing mine, cranking out 493,000 oz. gold in 2013. In the first half of 2014, Red Lake produced 184,500 oz. gold, putting it on track to hit 440,000 to 480,000 oz. gold for the full year.

The mining method for the quartz-vein deposit is longhole, underhand and overhand cut-and-fill, and the milling rate at two nearby surface facilities totals 3,100 tonnes per day.

Ring of Fire development plans spurred by Ontario’s outrageous energy prices – by Peter Koven (National Post – September 16, 2014)

September 16, 2014

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

As Dominic Fragomeni recalls it, his firm’s big idea for the Ring of Fire just came from a willingness to try something new.

“Innovation comes from people sitting back and thinking about what’s possible given their experience and background,” the director of XPS Consulting & Testwork Services said in an interview.

“That’s basically how these ideas were hatched. Our guys have 30-plus years of experience in metallurgical engineering and have tested a lot of different concepts in their day.”

Northern Ontario’s remote “Ring of Fire,”a huge mineral belt named after the Johnny Cash song, is the most exciting new mining opportunity the province has seen in decades. Rough estimates suggest the region could hold $60-billion worth of minerals, with chromite being the most important.

But moving the project to development has been a very slow and arduous task, as stakeholders have struggled to find solutions around key challenges like infrastructure.

One of biggest obstacles is power supply. Processing chromium ore is extremely energy-intensive, requiring a whopping four megawatts per tonne of ore. To support the Ring of Fire, there were plans to build a 300-megawatt smelter near Sudbury. That is enough electricity to power a city of roughly 300,000 people.