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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Land deal with Ontario’s Ojibway still in contention after 164 years – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – September 9, 2014)

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.

Robinson Huron Treaty was signed in 1850, covering land from Parry Sound to Sault Ste. Marie and north to Lake Superior

First Nations signatories of one of Canada’s founding treaties are set to start a landmark court action Tuesday against the federal and provincial governments on what they say is a failure to live up to terms of a deal made more than 150 years ago.

Nearly two dozen First Nations fall under the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850, a vast territory encompassing 92,463 square kilometres in the middle of Ontario stretching from Sudbury to the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron and points north.

In exchange for use of those lands by the crown, indigenous people were told they would be paid $2 a year with regular increases as profits from the land grew, said Mike Restoule, chairperson of the Robinson Huron Treaty Trust Fund.

But there has been only one annuity increase of $2 in 1874 and nothing since, even though the area contains vast mining, forestry and land resources that corporations and the government have profited from for decades, said Restoule.

Currently, the 24,000 to 30,000 descendants of the Ojibway Indians covered under the treaty receive $4 a year each.

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Rise in intense rainstorms challenges B.C.tailing dams – by Stephen Hume (Vancouver Sun – September 7, 2014)

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

Provincial failure to properly regulate the design and operations of dams means more failures coming

The failure rate for mine tailings dams like the one at Mount Polley has been consistent worldwide at about one every eight months since 2001.

Lest anyone think that “worldwide” refers mostly to a problem in the developing world where impoverished governments can be co-opted to accept lower safety standards because they are desperate for tax revenue, a United Nations study found that 39 per cent of these failures were in North America.

The reasons for tailings dam failures vary from shoddy construction and use of inappropriate materials to seismic or other unavoidable environmental events. However, according to a 2010 survey of all the known tailings dam failures in the past century, most fail for two reasons.

The first is unusually heavy rains that overwhelm dams’ designed capacities. They account for 40 per cent of failures. The second is poor management and flawed regulatory oversight, responsible for 30 per cent of failures.

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‘Best restaurant north of 60’: How mining companies use gourmet food, suite-style rooms to attract new recruits – by Katrina Clarke (National Post – September 8, 2014)

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

Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, lemon pepper-dusted sea bass and beef tenderloin marinated in garlic, ginger and scallions are just a few of the delicacies Executive Chef Allan Bedard serves up nightly.

But the customers delighting in his meals aren’t foodies in downtown Toronto. They are hungry miners, up to 500 of them, eager to devour a meal after working a 12-hour shift underground.

“We have people who come to site, they don’t know what a mango is… They try to eat them like apples,” says Mr. Bedard, boasting that he rapidly expands both the palates and the waistlines of miners.

Gone are the days of cheap hot dogs, wilted vegetables and Spam. As mining companies compete to recruit and retain top workers, miners at fly-in fly-out mine sites in northern Canada are increasingly getting treated to gourmet-style food. Food costs at some mine sites can reach upwards of $20 million annually.

“We have the best restaurant north of 60,” says Dale Coffin, director of corporate communications with Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. The “restaurant” is located at Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank mine in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, 170 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle.

The mine is a fly-in fly-out operation, with 50% of workers coming from Quebec and 30%from Nunavut. Most workers work a two-on, two-off shift, spending two weeks on site and then getting a two week break.

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10 First Nations with more than 10 years of bad water – by Jody Porter (CBC News Thunder Bay – September 08, 2014)

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

No safe drinking water in Neskantaga First Nation for nearly 20 years

Nearly half of the 133 First Nations in Ontario currently have boil water advisories, and it has been more than ten years since ten First Nations in northwestern Ontario had clean drinking water.

Neskantaga First Nation, in the James Bay lowlands, has the longest-standing boil water advisory. The community of about 300 people has been without potable water since 1995. “Twenty years of boil water advisory, yes, it makes me angry,” said Neskantaga First Nation Chief Peter Moonias.

“It makes me feel very angry for my people. They don’t have to live that way when there is a human rights law that is legislated in Canada,” he said. “Why should we live like this? We’re part of the human race also.”

Here’s the list of ten First Nations with boil water advisories issued more than ten years ago:

1995: Neskantaga First Nation
2000: Shoal Lake # 40 First Nation
2001: Eabametoong First Nation Issued
2001: North Spirit Lake First Nation Issued
2002: Northwest Angle #37
2002: Sandy Lake First Nation

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Goldcorp Inc CEO says gold price plunge to $900 would be an opportunity, not a disaster – by John Shmuel (National Post – September 6, 2014)

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

TORONTO — The chief executive of Goldcorp Inc. is not fretting over lower gold prices this year and says he would view any price declines as an opportunity to buy assets.

In an interview with the Financial Post on Friday, Charles Jeannes, president and CEO of Goldcorp, spoke about the company’s growth prospects in the next year.

Gold prices have steadily pulled back since 2011, when they reached a record intra-day price of US$1,909 an ounce. Prices for the precious metal closed Friday at US$1,268.81 an ounce.

“We’re a low cost producer and we’ve done most of the investing we need to to secure our future,” Mr. Jeannes said. “Building these new mines over the last four years, even if we see gold go down to US$900 — which I don’t think we will — we’d look for opportunities. Things come for sale at that price.”

In January, Goldcorp launched a $2.6-billion hostile bid to buy gold miner Osisko Mining Corp. Goldcorp raised that bid to $3.6-billion a few months later, but ultimately let the offer expire following the launch of a rival bid from Yamana Gold Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

Mr. Jeannes said on Friday that despite the failed bid, he is not rushing to look for another large acquisition in its place.

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Ontario’s Ring Of Fire Gets A Development Corporation As First Nation Objects – by Sunny Freeman (Huffington Post – September 5, 2014)

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

The First Nation band closest to the Ring of Fire says the Ontario government is failing to live up to promises it made to the community and has neglected to include First Nations in initial plans.

Webequie, a tiny isolated community, is taking issue with Ontario’s decision to create an economic development corporation and nominate board members — all four from government– without consulting other partners.

The Ring of Fire, a giant mineral deposit 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, became a hot topic during the Ontario election campaign this spring with opposition parties pointing fingers at the leading Liberal party for dragging its heels. Within weeks of their re-election the Liberals announced they would create an economic development corporation within 60 days.

Scrambling to fulfil that promise, the Grits announced the corporation’s creation Aug. 28. They also announced the first four board members would be government-appointed representatives, with those from First Nations and the mining industry to join later.

“The Province’s decision to unilaterally move ahead with the economic development corporation for the Ring of Fire is disappointing,” Chief Cornelius Wabasse said in a press release.

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Canadian miners scrap over gold discovery after mega deal – by Allison Martell (Reuters U.S. – September 5, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO – (Reuters) – On one side, the founder of top miner Goldcorp Inc, his young apprentice, an aggressive securities lawyer, and a tiny company based in a Quebec mining town. On the other, the chief executives of two leading Canadian gold miners, fresh off one of the biggest deals of their careers.

Some of Canada’s best-known mining executives are sparring over the early-stage but promising Odyssey gold discovery in Quebec, near Canadian Malartic, the country’s biggest gold mine.

The legal fight has its roots in the C$3.9 billion ($3.6 billion) takeover of Osisko Mining Corp, the mine’s builder, this year. Yamana Gold Inc and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd teamed up to beat a hostile bid by Goldcorp, taking control of Canadian Malartic.

At the heart of the dispute is who, if anyone, will profit from Odyssey, one of Osisko’s assets. If early drilling results at the exploration site pan out, it could be a choice addition to the Canadian Malartic mine, extending its life.

Abitibi Royalties Inc, listed on Venture, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s market for small, growth companies says it was Osisko’s minority partner, and the deal has triggered its right to take control of part of Odyssey. Yamana and Agnico dispute that claim.

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Exploration and Co-Operation: When Mining Companies and First Nations Work Together – by Thomas F. Morris (Huffington Post – September 29, 2013)

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

Thomas F. Morris is a geoscientist and CEO of Northern Superior Resources, a junior exploration company focused on potential gold deposits in Ontario and Quebec. http://www.nsuperior.com/Default.aspx

Since joining Northern Superior Resources in 2002 (formerly Superior Diamonds) as President and CEO, I have applied my strong belief that First Nations must be meaningfully consulted and actively engaged in exploration programs. These exploration programs, after all, take place in the back yards and across the traditional territories of Aboriginal communities where Northern Superior explores.

To respect the traditional land uses of these communities is absolutely essential. We actively strive to prevent disturbances to areas that are sacred to the community or where important community events occur. At the same time, it is also very important for First Nation communities to understand what exploration is all about and the limitations of a junior mining company.

Insufficient consultation can seriously impact an Aboriginal community’s rights, way of life, and culture in a negative and hurtful way. This is a reality the industry is at long last coming to understand. But where work is still required is in ensuring that Aboriginal communities understand the tremendous impact they can have on a junior exploration company.

If the community does not respect nor appreciate the positive intentions of the company as well as their financial reality, expectations become unmanageable and opportunities for progress disappear. Working together in a spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefit is not only the most practical approach to ensuring sustainable resource development, it is now the only way to conduct business successfully in Canada.

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Potash miners face over-supply threat of their own making – by Rod Nickel (Reuters U.S. – September 4, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

WINNIPEG Manitoba – (Reuters) – A pickup in fertilizer demand has brightened the outlook for North American potash companies who suffered through plunging prices and profits after a European trading consortium collapsed in 2013.

But any celebration among investors may be premature.

A surplus of potash mining capacity is set to grow even larger in coming years, weighing down the global industry while favoring low-cost eastern European producers over North American miners, who are sticking to a marketing strategy that risks falling behind the times.

And the times are changing. Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), the counterpart to North America’s potash trading consortium Canpotex Ltd, collapsed a year ago, with one partner looking to increase volumes rather than limit output and hope for higher prices.

The first new mines in Western Canada in four decades are also under construction and would be fierce rivals to Canpotex partners Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, Mosaic Co and Agrium Inc.

This year, global capacity will hit 82 million tonnes, but demand will fall well short, even at a record-high level of 57 million tonnes, according to London-based commodity research firm CRU. That gap is set to widen slightly by 2020, when capacity looks to reach 99 million tonnes, far more than is needed to meet demand of only 73 million.

CRU’s demand forecast is based on an assumption that demand will grow faster than it has in the last seven years. If it does not, the supply-demand gulf will grow even wider.

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Tough conditions for cleanup 50 years later of former Saskatchewan uranium mill – by Rob Drinkwater (Lethbridge Herald – August 31, 2014)

http://lethbridgeherald.com/

Edmonton – CANADIAN PRESS – More than 50 years after a Saskatchewan uranium mill that is a key part of Canada’s nuclear history closed, heavy machinery is once again rumbling across the remote northern corner of the province.

But this time workers at the former Lorado mill are cleaning up a massive pile of radioactive, acidic tailings that has poisoned a lake and threatened the health of wildlife and hunters for decades.

“I think we’re a lot more environmentally aware than we were 40 or 50 years ago,” said Ian Wilson with the Saskatchewan Research Council, which is the Crown-owned company that’s carrying out the cleanup.

The Lorado mill is near Uranium City, less than 50 kilometres from the Northwest Territories boundary. It’s where uranium mining once supported a community of up to 5,000 people.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says the town was one of several in Canada to rise following the Second World War and during a boom in uranium demand that was driven by military needs.

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‘It’s a bit disconcerting’: Mount Polley mine tailings spill nearly 70% bigger than first estimated – by Gordon Hoekstra (National Post – September 4, 2014)

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

Imperial Metals’ estimate of the size of the spill from its Mount Polley mine tailings dam collapse is nearly 70 per cent greater than the initial estimate.

The B.C. government has estimated that 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic meters of finely ground rock containing potentially-toxic metals was released by the collapse of the dam on Aug. 4.

But Imperial Metals has estimated the size of the spill at 10.6 million cubic metres of water, 7.3 million cubic metres of tailings and 6.5 million cubic metres of “interstitial” water. That’s enough water and material to fill nearly 9,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Interstitial water is the water suspended in the spaces between the finely ground rock of the tailings.

“It’s a bit disconcerting — its speaks to the crudeness of the initial estimate,” said Mining Watch Canada program director Ramsey Hart of the increased spill estimate.

Imperial Metals did not respond to a request Wednesday for comment. Hart said there will need to be a better accounting of the spill’s size, including the volume of tailings deposited in the lake and in the Hazeltine Creek watershed.

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Arctic route for Alberta oil could trump stalled B.C. pipeline projects – by Justin Ling (National Post – September 5, 2014)

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

Alberta’s plan to get its landlocked oil to overseas markets by way of Arctic shores might just become a reality — and sooner than the stalled Northern Gateway or Keystone XL projects.

The plan, until recently dismissed as dubious by some skeptics, may have finally found the right combination of winning conditions: a hunger for resource development in Yellowknife, a desperate need to find new markets for oil-sands bitumen, an aggressive push from the federal government to reduce environmental oversight in the territory, and the changing northern climate.

One of the biggest barriers for the so-called Arctic Gateway plan has long been the sheer logistical nightmare of moving the oil to a port along the Beaufort Sea.

But a technical report commissioned by the Alberta government last year, which has just been released, suggests a few novel ideas on how to transport the bitumen. The report’s authors — of Arctic petroleum consultants Canatec Associates International Ltd. — propose three potential options, all of which the report deems technically feasible. A pilot project using small test shipments could be started as early as next year, it said.

At its most ambitious, a northern pipeline project could make 35 million barrels of diluted bitumen a year available for trans-ocean export. Northern Gateway, by comparison, proposes to ship 190 million barrels a year.

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With Nova Scotia fracking ban, is Canada’s energy superpower fantasy doomed? – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – September 5, 2014)

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

So much for the Council of the Federation’s commitment to what was wishfully described by B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s as an opportunity to turn Canada into an energy superpower. “Canada,” trumpeted the premiers last week, “is a global leader in providing a secure, sustainable and reliable supply of energy” and therefore in need of a Canadian Energy Strategy.

Well, scratch Nova Scotia off the superpower leadership list. Energy Minister Andrew Younger announced Wednesday that the province plans to “prohibit” the use of fracking to stimulate onshore shale projects. “Our petroleum resources belong to Nova Scotians,” said Mr. Younger, thereby burying the province’s $40-billion onshore shale oil and gas potential under a tombstone that says: “RIP: Nova Scotia’s unrealized wealth.”

In sharp contrast, Alberta has just released a blockbuster report that outlines potential Arctic shipping alternatives to getting its oil to markets in Europe, Asia and the Americas with less pipeline fuss and at lower cost. The report, An Arctic Energy Gateway for Alberta, proposes networks of pipelines, rail routes and icebreaker-driven expansion of Arctic shipping lanes to move oil via Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories, Churchill in Manitoba, and other Arctic and sub-Arctic ports.

The Arctic Gateway report, prepared for the Alberta government by ice-transport consultants at Canatec Associates International, brims with can-do optimism. Vast opportunities could open up if oil were to be moved north out of the province through year-round shipping through the Arctic.

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Start small with Ring of Fire infrastructure: Noront CEO (Northern Miner – September 3, 2014)

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

There’s no question massive infrastructure will need to be built in order to mine the large chromite deposits in the Ring of Fire, says Noront Resources (TSXV: NOT) president and CEO Alan Coutts.

However, Coutts sees the big infrastructure needs — such as Mushkegowuk Tribal Council’s recent announcement regarding a First Nations-led plan to develop rail, power and a sea port in James Bay — as a project for the long term.

“The needs that Mushkegowuk are talking about are the long-term infrastructure needs if there is to be large-scale chromite mining in the Ring of Fire,” Coutts said. “In my opinion, that’s at least a decade off — there’s nobody advancing a large-scale chromite project now and certainly the ability to permit such a project with big waste rock piles, big tailings storage areas, and large water treatment needs because of the water coming into pits — it’s a long way off.”

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) suspended work on its Black Thor open-pit chromite project in the Ring of Fire late last year, leaving junior Noront as the nearest-term potential producer in the remote region of Ontario.

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Resetting the energy debate won’t be easy, despite premiers’ pact – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – September 3, 2014)

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

With Canada’s premiers agreeing to an energy strategy that is similar to what Ottawa has been pushing for years, the political classes seem to be in agreement that energy and its alter ego, climate change, should be at the top of the national agenda.

It’s a big achievement for a policy area that has been a minefield for Canada in the past. Will we finally make it happen? It won’t be easy given the reality on the ground, which is rife with conflict over energy-expansion plans.

From the City of Burnaby, B.C., fighting Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain expansion plans, to aboriginals mobilizing against all manner of energy infrastructure, to communities refusing to accept fracking to unlock natural gas, to anti-oil activists agitating to keep the oil sands in the ground, to disagreement over what needs to be done about climate change — a cacophony of special interests has been pushing priorities they believe are more important than the greater good.

They have chosen the streets, the courts, the regulatory system to press their case, and been pretty successful at it. Important projects have been delayed. Investors are getting nervous.

But last week’s provincial agreement has the potential to reset the debate by reminding us what Canada stands for — a moderate approach that strikes a balance between promoting energy development and improving environmental protection.

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