Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 655

Opinion: Change is challenge for mining – by Phil Hopwood (Vancouver Sun – May 12, 2014)

May 13, 2014

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

Phil Hopwood is the Canadian mining sector leader at Deloitte.

Canada’s mining companies must embrace innovation and improve productivity to ensure their future success

As we enter BC Mining Week, it is an appropriate time to take an honest look at the state of the industry in the province. Mining is one of British Columbia’s vital resource industries. It contributed $9.2 billion to the provincial economy in 2012 and it is very much an industry in flux.

Historically, mining companies have waited out the storm as markets have swung, but this time it is different. We are seeing it is imperative for these companies to adjust their way of doing business if they want to survive and thrive. Mining firms continue to be confronted with the compounding challenges of cost inflation, falling commodity prices, supply-demand imbalances and decreased productivity levels.

As skilled workers retire from the workforce, and we continue to see the number of graduates in degrees such as mining engineering decline, mining companies, especially in B.C., need to embrace innovation and revise their core systems and processes while applying new approaches to financial, safety and talent management programs as well as external relations with communities, governments, shareholders and regulators.

Can fracking bring freedom to Ukraine? – by Ezra Levant (Toronto Sun – May 12, 2014)

May 13, 2014

http://www.torontosun.com/home

Vladimir Putin’s greatest weapon isn’t his special forces invading Ukraine in slow motion. It’s the fact that Russia sells Europe 30% of its natural gas. Gazprom, the $95 billion natural gas colossus, is controlled by the Kremlin.

What’s Europe going to do to punish Putin – cut off their own heat and power? In fact, the risk is that Putin will cut off the west. He’s done it before. Twice Putin cut off gas to Ukraine, both times in the dead of winter.

Gazprom doesn’t even pretend to be an independent company. It’s an arm of Russian foreign policy, designated a “strategic company,” akin to a jet fighter manufacturer. Every foreign contract must be approved by the Kremlin; prices are set by the Kremlin. It’s about as “independent” as those masked gunmen running around Crimea.

Putin uses natural gas to get what he wants. Six months ago, when Ukraine was considering an economic treaty with the European Union – pulling it away from Russia’s orbit – Putin bribed Ukraine with $20 billion worth of freebies, including a 30% cut in gas prices if it rejected the west.

But after Ukrainians deposed Viktor Yanukovych, Putin’s ally in Kiev, Gazprom jacked gas prices right back up, from $7.65 to $11.33 per thousand cubic feet. Just for comparison, the average price of natural gas in North America is about $4.50.

Lots of fat to cut in Ontario’s civil service – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – May 12, 2014)

May 13, 2014

http://www.torontosun.com/home

Tim Hudak promises to cut broader civil service jobs by 100,000 positions. Is that all? It’s interesting to note that these are positions — not jobs. There may not actually be people in those positions. This, he says, will simply take the size of the civil service back to 2009 levels.

You only have to look at the size of the Sunshine list — the annual salary disclosure document that lists all public sector workers making more than $100,000 — to see some fat-trimming is long overdue.

Hudak says the public sector has grown by 300,000 over the past decade — just as the manufacturing sector has shrunk by that amount. Where to start? The bloated energy sector is a good place. Remember the old Ontario Hydro? In 1995, it operated power plants, transmission lines — and operated the system.

That was broken down into Hydro One, which operates the wires and Ontario Power Generation — the entity charged with looking after generating plants. The Independent Electricity System Operator runs the system.

Goro suspension pushes nickel price to two-year high (Northern Miner – May 9, 2014)

May 12, 2014

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

VANCOUVER – With nickel prices already up almost 40% in 2014, a suspension at Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Goro mine in New Caledonia has pushed the price of the steelmaking component to a two-year high.

The Goro mine has limited impact on global nickel supplies whether it is running or not, so a stable metal market would react little to the suspension. However, the nickel market is far from stable and so the Goro news acted as fuel on the fire that has been heating up nickel for months.

Indonesia started that fire in January when it banned exports of nickel ore. For years China and Japan have imported raw nickel laterite ore from Indonesia and turned it into nickel pig iron (NPI), a cheaper alternative for steelmakers to pure nickel. The trade amounts to 450,000 tonnes a year, or almost a quarter of the 2-million-tonne global annual nickel market.

The export ban is intended to spur local processing and thereby capture more of the metal’s value domestically, but it will be years until Indonesia develops significant NPI production capacity.

Block B.C. coast pipelines to improve relations with Canada’s aboriginals, UN urges Harper – by Peter O’Neil (Vancouver Sun – May 12, 2014)

May 12, 2014

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

Report by James Anaya, the UN’s special rapporteur, says there’s a ‘crisis’ in Canada

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper could narrow the gulf of mistrust with aboriginal peoples by blocking major resource projects including two proposed pipeline megaprojects to the B.C. coast — unless First Nations consent to construction, the United Nations said Monday.

A report by James Anaya, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said there is a “crisis” in Canada and that the level of mistrust has perhaps worsened in the past decade.

Anaya put the two oilsands pipeline megaprojects Enbridge’s to Kitimat and Kinder Morgan Canada’s to Burnaby at the top of a long list of economic proposals that have drawn bitter complaints from aboriginal leaders Anaya met during a fact-finding mission last year.

Anaya, an American indigenous rights scholar and nominee for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, said the government doesn’t have a coherent plan to meet its Supreme Court of Canada-mandated obligations to consult and accommodate First Nations before major projects proceed.

Manitoba tries to blast zebra mussels in unique experiment – by Chinta Puxley (Globe and Mail – May 12, 2014)

May 12, 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.

WINNIPEG — The Canadian Press – They are small clam-like creatures that seem to spread in the blink of an eye and squeeze the life out of the rivers and lakes they inhabit. This summer, those who grapple with zebra mussels will be watching Manitoba, where officials are trying to stop an invasion with a unique experiment.

Once the winter ice recedes on Lake Winnipeg, a silk curtain will be lowered to the lake floor to seal off four infested harbours. Liquid potash will then be pumped into the water until it reaches a lethal concentration for the mussels and clogs their gills.

The technique has been tried in a closed quarry, but this is believed to be the first time liquid potash has been used in open water. Scientists who study the mussels say Manitoba presents a “golden opportunity” to find a way to prevent their proliferation in waterways around the world.

The postash plan will cost $500,000, but many say it could save millions down the road if it works. “There is only one guarantee and that is, if nothing is done, then the situation will certainly get worse,” said Manitoba Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh. “The impact of zebra mussels in areas where they have infested waterways is quite profound.”

What Sudbury can teach China about air pollution – by Kate Allen (Toronto Star – May 10, 2014)

May 12, 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.

Air pollution was once so bad in Sudbury it literally blackened the earth. Now countries such as China can turn to cleaned-up Canadian city for hope. In so many stock images of Beijing, someone is wearing a face mask. Air pollution has become a feature of the urban Chinese landscape.

There was another city where debilitating air pollution once seemed permanent. In this other city in the 1960s, housewives reportedly planted their tomatoes in wagons: when a plume of bad air descended, the tomatoes could be wheeled out of the toxic cloud.

As for sulphur, “you could taste it when you were outdoors,” says Bill Keller. Keller is the director of the Climate Change and Multiple Stressor Aquatic Research program at Laurentian University, and a resident of Sudbury for the past 40 years.

In Sudbury, he remembers, air pollution was so bad it literally blackened the earth: acid rain, along with mining operations, stripped the land of vegetation, leaving 100,000 hectares of barren or semi-barren moonscape.

The slaves of Eritrea – by Matthew McClearn (Canadian Business Magazine – May 9, 2014)

May 12, 2014

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Canadian mining company Nevsun has been accused of using forced labour to build a mine in Eritrea. How could something like that happen in the modern business world?

The news was grim, but not surprising. Yannick Lamonde, an official within Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), received word in January last year of an impending report by a prominent non-governmental organization. Its contents were explosive: Human Rights Watch claimed a Canadian-owned mine in Eritrea had been built partly by de facto slaves.

Department officials were already well-acquainted with the mine’s majority owner, Vancouver-based Nevsun Resources, and certainly its mine, Bisha, located in the dusty interior of the North African nation. They had even heard similar rumours at least a year earlier. But with those unproven allegations now receiving widespread publicity, remaining silent was no longer an option.

The first order of business was to prepare for the inevitable questions from reporters. According to documents obtained by Canadian Business under the federal Access to Information Act, the DFAIT’s media relations team was given a series of stock responses to deliver.

Corporate Canada “leads the world in responsible mining practices,” the officers told reporters from the CBC, La Presse and elsewhere when they called.

Tim Hudak sets election agenda with explosive pledges – by Martin Regg Cohn (Toronto Star – May 10, 2014)

May 12, 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.

Give the Tory leader credit for laying his job on the line by promising to lay off 100,000 public servants.

Hello Tim Hudak! If Ontarians hadn’t noticed you yet, they’ll know you soon enough. Give the Tory leader credit for laying his job on the line: not many politicians go into an election campaign telling voters they’d ditch 100,000 jobs from the provincial government, schools and municipalities.

That’s a lot of public servants — and plenty of public services. Depending on the June 12 election results, all those people will lose their positions, or Hudak will. Beyond the explosive job cuts, he’d also cut corporate taxes by a stunning 30 per cent. The Tory leader announced Saturday he’d make Ontario the lowest-tax jurisdiction for business in North America.

Why keep cutting government and taxes?

Corporate rates in Ontario are already far lower than in neighbouring U.S. states that compete for the same investments. You may remember Republican Mitt Romney pointing enviously to Ontario’s low taxes in the last U.S. presidential election.

Environmental study on uranium mining announced – by Michelle Lalonde (Montreal Gazette – May 8, 2014)

May 12, 2014

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

A coalition of doctors, environmental groups and First Nations leaders gathered in Montreal Thursday to publicly urge Quebec’s new premier to maintain the moratorium on uranium mining until the risks and impacts of these mines on surrounding communities have been thoroughly studied.

The province’s environmental watchdog, the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), announced Tuesday it will begin a year-long study of the uranium mining issue starting later this month.

That process, lead by former environmental journalist Louis-Gilles Francoeur, will be carried out in three phases: pre-consultation hearings to determine public concerns from May 20 to June 23, an information phase this fall where the committee will consult experts, and an official public hearing phase next fall and winter where interested parties can present written briefs or speak directly to the commissioners.

Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that is present in many areas of Quebec, including northern Quebec, Temiscaming, the Laurentians, Gatineau, Shawinigan, Sept-Îles and the North Shore.

Vale N.L. not ordered to hold back waste – by Ashley Fitzpatrick (St. John’s Telegram – May 8, 2014)

May 9, 2014

http://www.thetelegram.com/

Former Environment Canada officer details slow response to failed tests

Environment Canada officer Ron Hunter was kept informed as, repeatedly, samples of treated liquid waste from Vale Newfoundland and Labrador’s mine site at Voisey’s Bay failed a key environmental safety test in October 2011.

According to the now-retired officer’s testimony, during a day of trial at provincial court in St. John’s Wednesday, it took the better part of the month and a third failed test before he felt the need to give formal direction to the company about the discharge of the waste into nearby Anaktalak Bay, on the Labrador coast.

Release of treated mine waste into the waters is permitted, but only with regular testing showing it remains within specific parameters, for the protection of the environment.

During Hunter’s testimony, a reference was made to a “final discharge point monthly summary,” stating a total volume of waste released into the bay during the month in question was 492,337 cubic metres — enough to fill 197 Olympic-size swimming pools.

The Telegram has yet to see that document.

Magna says no new plants for Canada, cites Ontario energy costs – by Dana Flavelle (Toronto Star – May 9, 2014)

May 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.

Ontario energy, pension costs a concern, the company says.

Magna International Inc. says it has no plans to open any new plants in Canada despite a lower dollar, chief executive officer Don Walker says. The nearly 10 per cent decline in the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. greenback has helped make the Aurora-based global auto parts supplier more cost competitive, Walker told the company’s annual general meeting Thursday.

But the company said it’s concerned about Ontario’s industrial electricity rates and proposed pension plan, along with the future of its auto assembly plants.

“I’m worried about electricity prices in Ontario, where all of our plants are located,” Walker told a press conference after the meeting at The Westin Prince Hotel in Toronto. Magna operates 46 auto plants in Canada, all in Ontario where the major auto makers’ assembly plants are located.

Walker said he hoped whoever wins the Ontario election on June 12 takes action to reduce energy costs for the corporate sector.

Kathleen Wynne gets good value in her fight with Stephen Harper: Editorial (Toronto Star – May 9, 2014)

May 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.

“… the $11 billion that Ontario sends to Ottawa each year and doesn’t
get back in federal transfer payments, and his government’s lack of investment
in northern Ontario’s massive resource opportunity, the Ring of Fire….
To be fair, Wynne’s promise to invest $1 billion in the Ring of Fire
relies on matching funds from the feds, so it’s essentially meaningless.”

Liberal Kathleen Wynne says she’s the only Ontario leader who will fight the stingy federal government on behalf of Ontario. Who is Kathleen Wynne campaigning against, anyway?

The premier and Liberal leader has spent the past few days attacking Prime Minister Stephen Harper with such glee that you’d think he was her chief competitor in the provincial election.

The best part, for Wynne, is Harper’s response. Instead of ignoring her, as the nation’s leader should do with a pesky provincial politician, Harper and his staff keep firing back, which only fuels awareness of the big Liberal ideas that the federal Conservatives oppose.

Nickel soars to two-year high on Goro mine halt, shortages – by Eric Onstad and Harpreet Bhal (Globe and Mail – May 9, 2014)

May 9, 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.

LONDON — Reuters – Nickel raced to its strongest level in more than two years on Thursday as industrial consumers scrambled to secure supplies and speculators extended their buying spree after Vale halted its Goro nickel operations in New Caledonia.

Though the Goro shutdown was not expected to have a major impact on physical nickel supplies, it served to fire up bullish sentiment and chart-based purchases.

The nickel market, which has soared nearly 40 per cent this year, was already nervous about shortfalls from top producer Indonesia and worried about potential Russian supply problems.

“Today we’ve seen some panicked consumer hedging and the hedge funds have already been in there for a while,” said analyst David Wilson at Citi in London.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) surged 6.1 per cent to a high of $19,786 a tonne, the strongest since March 2, 2012. It later retreated to $19,451 a tonne at 1421 GMT, up 4 per cent from Wednesday’s close, with trading volumes of over 10,700 lots compared with Wednesday’s full-day volume of 5,121.

100 years of Alberta oil: How an industry was born – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – May 9, 2014)

May 9, 2014

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

When Canadians from Eastern Canada move to Western Canada these days to seek better prospects they are merely following in the footsteps of William Stewart Herron, who packed up his bags in Ontario’s Haliburton county and ended up in Okotoks south of Calgary.

Except that Herron’s migration spawned an industry that transformed Alberta’s fortunes. Herron has been credited for discovering and laying the ground for the development of Alberta’s first well that gushed oil nearly a 100 years ago on May 14, 1914. Herron didn’t accomplish his feat alone, of course. There were other major actors including a future prime minister, a senator and one Archibald Dingman.

Born in Peterborough, Ont., Herron began modestly as a cook’s helper, but soon honed his entrepreneurial skills building a logging and road-building business in Northern Ontario. As work waned in the region, he caught the oil bug after visiting an oilfield in Pennsylvania while on holiday, and in the hope of deploying his equipment in the south.

“While Herron did not find work south of the border, the trip did establish what would become a consuming interest in petroleum geology,” wrote R.C. Macleod in his 1984 book ‘William Stewart Herron, Father of the Petroleum Industry in Alberta.’