Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 676

Expert Mining Panel Discusses Possibility Of Reaching ‘Peak Discovery’ – by Alex Létourneau (Kitco News – March 10, 2014)

March 10, 2014

http://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – During the 82nd Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto last week, Exploration Insights founder Brent Cook rounded up some mining heavyweights to look into the possibility of having reached peak discovery in the mining industry.

Kitco News’ informal panel included Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, chairman of Bear Creek, Alex Davidson, director with Yamana Gold, Miles Thompson, CEO of Lara Exploration.

While the guests covered a range of topics linked to where the mining industry is at, and where it could be heading, the idea that the mining industry will be a low-grade driven sector moving forward triggered a discussion.

“There’s always a change going on in the mining industry,” Davidson said. “We get smarter about where we explore, we can look from further away, we can look in different countries, our risk tolerance is a gazillion times more than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

“So I think we are going to find more deposits, they may be deeper which would require higher grade, or we’ll refine the mining methods to get cheaper mining methods, but I think there’s as much potential, in certain areas, as there ever has been.”

Allana Potash opening Ethiopian mine in the hottest place on earth – by Stephanie Findlay (Canadian Business Magazine – March 6, 2014)

March 10, 2014

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Keeping costs low is key amid potash price slump

Lately, things haven’t been looking good for potash producers. Last summer, Uralkali, one of the biggest producers of the potassium fertilizer, killed its partnership with competitor Belaruskali in favour of boosting output, fuelling oversupply fears among investors and driving down prices. The situation has hardly improved since then. On Jan. 30, fourth-quarter profits at Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, another large producer, dropped 46%, a result, said the company, of the “challenging pricing environment.”

Allana Potash Corp., the Canadian developer of a $718-million potash mine in Ethiopia, believes it can buck the trend. While other mines are shelving development projects because of the lower prices, Allana is going “full speed ahead” with its Ethiopian project, says Richard Kelertas, vice-president of corporate development at Allana.

The company’s secret? Kelertas says that the mine, set to begin producing in late 2015, will have easy access to the booming Chinese and Indian markets, and much lower production costs, making it profitable despite the price slump.

Allana’s mine is located in the remote Danakhil depression, a scorching-hot salt plain where temperatures often soar above 45°C, and where potash is close to the surface. Allana will do solution mining—cheaper than the open-pit or shaft mining done by its competitors.

JSE still a world-class market, investment paradigm shift needed – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 7, 2014)

March 10, 2014

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/north-america

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is still by any measure a world-class stock exchange, and should be the mining mecca of the mining industry, Sasfin Capital head of corporate finance Noah Greenhill said this week.

Speaking to Mining Weekly Online in his capacity as official JSE representative during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s recent convention, Greenhill pointed to several of the exchange’s strengths, such as well established regulations, excellent clearing and settlement systems, and plenty of available capital in South Africa – once a mining investment powerhouse.

The latest World Economic Forum ‘Global Competiveness Report’ ranked South Africa first out of 148 countries for regulation of securities exchanges for the fourth consecutive year. This, together with several other elements of the report, pointed to the country’s exchange as a sound environment in which to invest.

“It’s a no-brainer. It is not that there is no capital for investment, there is rather a lack of the propensity to take investment risk,” he said.

Global bourses challenge TSX’s junior mining supremacy – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – March 10, 2014)

March 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.

South Africa, Australia and London are trying to convince more mining companies to list on their exchanges, an effort that poses a threat to Canada’s dominance with junior miners.

Hundreds of explorers and small miners have flocked to the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture because they are friendly to the industry and an easy place to raise capital. But the landscape is shifting as Canada’s competitors make a bigger effort to attract mining companies.

“For a long time there was a perception that if you listed in North America, you would attract a higher multiple. But that’s not the case anymore,” said Eddie Grieve, senior manager of the Australian Securities Exchange’s listings business development.

Mr. Grieve describes the rivalry between the Canadian and Australian exchanges as friendly, as the two countries have similar resource-based economies and histories of mining.

The Australian exchange started targeting Africa about five years ago and it has paid off.

Canadian miner’s quest for gold meets politics in the Amazon jungle – by Stephanie Nolen (Globe and Mail – March 8, 2014)

March 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.

RESECA, BRAZIL — Brazil, Mark Eaton likes to say, will be the place where he builds something – where he has an impact, where he leaves a legacy. Standing on the grassy riverbank in the Amazon basin where he hopes to build Brazil’s largest gold mine, he foresees a brilliant future.

The Brazilian present, however, is somewhat less appealing.

Mr. Eaton is red-faced and sweating in the damp midday heat. He struggles to make himself heard over the pounding music at his staff Christmas party, then frowns dubiously at the heavily salted grilled meat heaped on a plate in front of him. He cannot follow the Portuguese conversation bubbling around him. When a huge rain-forest wasp stings his hand, his jovial façade crumbles for a moment. He emits half an expletive before managing to restore the tight smile to his face.

A few days before the Christmas party, Mr. Eaton’s company, Belo Sun Mining Corp., obtained an environmental licence to work here, two hours by boat down the Xingu River from the city of Altamira. Obtaining that licence, after a bureaucratic process that dragged on over three years, gave Mr. Eaton and his colleagues something to celebrate.

PDAC 2014: Neighbours demand share of mining cash – by Ashley Renders (National Post – March 6, 2014)

March 7, 2014

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

People living in communities near valuable mineral deposits often complain that they don’t receive enough of the economic benefits associated with them. But as the call for greater transparency in the mining sector gains momentum worldwide, they are increasingly holding their own governments responsible, rather than just the mining companies.

They say if miners want to operate in more stable investment environments, they need to encourage host governments to play by the rules and engage with local community members.

The Canadian mining industry seems to agree. Earlier this year, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) teamed up with transparency organizations to ask the provincial securities commissions to make it mandatory for companies listed on Canadian stock exchanges to disclose how much they pay governments.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver told the PDAC convention on Monday that the federal government wants to work with the provincial and territorial securities commissions to implement mandatory reporting standards on a project-by-project basis. If the securities commissions don’t implement these standards, the federal government will put its own legislation in place by April 1, 2015.

First Nation businesses tap into potash opportunities – by Kim Smith (Global Regina – March 5, 2014)

March 7, 2014

http://globalnews.ca/regina/

REGINA – The plan was to create opportunities for First Nations in employment, business and community development – but according to BHP Billiton Potash, its success is less about recruitment and more about building relationships.

Last year, the company signed an agreement with three Saskatchewan First Nations – Kawacatoose, Day Star and Muskowekwan – to create employment opportunities.

“You have to be part of the community needs and work with them in addressing those needs,” said BHP Billiton Potash’s Alex Archila following a luncheon organized by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

“If you look at a business opportunity to just make money, we don’t believe that will be sustainable.”

B.C. Government Support for New Prosperity Mine Sends Confusing Message To First Nations – by Adam Olsen (Huffington Post – March 7, 2014)

March 7, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Adam Olsen is the interim leader of the BC Green Party.

The Canadian government has rejected the New Prosperity Gold & Copper Mine southwest of Williams Lake, B.C. for the second time. Federal Conservative Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced that she, like her predecessor Jim Prentice, had turned down the mine proposal concluding the “project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects that cannot be mitigated.”

No doubt the announcement caused a collective sigh of relief from the Tsilhqot’in and Secwepemc Nations who have spent more than two decades opposing the project. The Federal Review Panel’s final report to the government last October found New Prosperity would “adversely affect” the local First Nations way of life and that the impact would be “significant” and “could not be mitigated.”

Despite the fact that the Tsilhqot’in and Secwepemc are opposed to the New Prosperity mine, the B.C. Liberal government continues to support the project. This is both profoundly troubling and inconsistent with their commitments to First Nations.

In the last few weeks alone there has been no shortage of B.C. Liberal rhetoric about the importance of building relationships and partnerships with First Nations that are founded on respect:

Line 9 pipeline approval comes with conditions for Enbridge, harsh words to activists – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – March 6, 2014)

March 7, 2014

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

The National Energy Board handed a conditional approval to a proposal to reverse the flow and expand Enbridge’s controversial Line 9 so it can move western oil to refineries in Ontario and Quebec, and doled out harsh words to activists who disrupted its hearings.

In a 141-page ruling released Thursday, the board said the decision “enables Enbridge to react to market forces and provide benefits to Canadians, while at the same time implementing the project in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner.”

The federal regulator said the 30 conditions imposed on Enbridge would enhance the pipeline’s integrity and environmental protection, improve emergency response and require continued consultation. The regulator turned down a request by Enbridge to exempt it from a final check to ensure all conditions are met.

The approval is final. It involves a 639-kilometre stretch between North Westover, Ont., and Montreal, Que., as well as an increase of the pipeline’s capacity to 300,000 from 240,000 barrels per day. Enbridge also won permission to move heavy oil. The NEB had already approved the reversal of the western portion of Line 9, a 194-kilometre segment linking Sarnia to North Westover.

PDAC delegates optimistic despite mining downturn (CBC News Sudbury – March 06, 2014)

March 7, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Junior mining companies are feeling the brunt of a tough stretch on the metal and mineral markets — and of stalled development in the Ring of Fire.

That’s according to Garry Clark, the executive director of the Ontario Prospectors Association. Clark just attended the annual Prospectors and Developers Association Convention this week in Toronto.

He said investors are shying away from putting money into junior companies. “They’re struggling greatly. I think part of that is trying to raise money,” he said.

“It’s hard to find the money we need to do the exploration or even just to keep the junior companies alive. You see that in the fact that there’s lots of mergers and acquisitions and … partnering of junior companies.”

Clark said this is the worst down-turn in the industry he’s ever seen, however this year’s PDAC event was more uplifting than the one before. The industry lull means surviving junior companies will face less competition for investment dollars.

Crossroad Policy: The Canadian mining industry in 2014 – video – by James Munson (iPolitics – March 1, 2014)

March 7, 2014

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

The mining world finds itself at the intersection of multiple often contentious strands of federal government policy. It’s where the economic development, aboriginal communities, environmental protection and foreign assistance cross paths in sometimes conflicting ways.

This crossroads landscape comes into especially sharp focus at the annual Mecca of Canada’s extractive sector — the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s conference in Toronto, where stories from the front lines of one of the most fascinating industries can be heard.

To kick off our week-long coverage PDAC 2014, iPolitics.ca set out to explore some of the key issues facing miners today by bringing them to three experts in the sector.

From left to right as you see them in the thumbnails below, Guy Freedman is the founding partner and president of the First Peoples Group and a former employee with a mining company himself. He provides advice to companies and governments alike on how to work with aboriginal communities.

How the NDP is trying to be pro-mining – by Kim Mackrael (Globe and Mail – March 5, 2014)

March 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.

The federal NDP is positioning itself as a pro-mining party that would revive stalled negotiations on Ontario’s Ring of Fire development while keeping federal regulations “lean.”

Speaking with The Globe and Mail during a global mining conference in Toronto this week, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said his party would seek buy-in from First Nations communities to speed up new developments. The annual convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada has become a global attraction, drawing nearly 30,000 delegates and dozens of MPs.

Mr. Mulcair pointed to the fact that the NDP has a critic for mining issues – MP Claude Gravelle, from the Nickel Belt riding in Northern Ontario – as evidence his party takes the topic seriously. “We’re very interested and we want you to succeed,” Mr. Mulcair said he told industry representatives.

The NDP stepped up its presence at this year’s PDAC convention, with 16 MPs attending the event – four times the number present last year and a sign the NDP wants to show the mining industry it takes its concerns seriously.

Quebec’s ‘Ring of Fire’ key to Liberal jobs pledge – by Allan Woods (Toronto Star – March 6, 2014)

March 6, 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.

Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard says Parti Québécois talk of sovereignty referendum will scare away business investment.

MONTREAL—Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard is promising to create a quarter-million new jobs, in large part by resurrecting an old party pledge to unlock the province’s tough-to-reach northern regions and tap the mining riches below the ground.

First floated in 2008, it took three years before Couillard’s Liberal predecessor laid out the plan on the eve of a 2012 election in which his party was defeated. In scope and ambition, the so-called Plan Nord resembles Ontario’s strategy to unlock the mineral-rich Ring of Fire north of Thunder Bay. In essence, the government would build the infrastructure and the private sector would build the mines and pay royalties.

When it was first detailed, ex-Liberal premier Jean Charest said the 25-year investment in Quebec’s North would create 20,000 jobs annually, which would go a long way to meeting Couillard’s election pledge of 50,000 new jobs a year over the next five years.

Canada, the global ‘mining capital’, reaffirms support for industry – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 5, 2014)

March 6, 2014

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Canadian Ministry of Natural Resources has used the world’s largest gathering of miners, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC’s) International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange to once more throw its full weight behind the mining industry.

Speaking at the convention’s opening ceremony earlier this week, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver called Canada the mining capital of the world, and highlighted the federal government’s actions taken to strengthen and grow the mining industry.

He said that government’s Responsible Resource Development plan ensured world-class environmental protection while providing certainty for investors; a $100-million commitment over the next seven years for the geomapping for energy and minerals initiative would help exploration companies find deposits and create jobs; the extension of the mineral exploration tax credit in Economic Action Plan 2014 had helped junior exploration companies raise $5-billion in capital; and that government was pursuing an aggressive international free trade agenda, by concluding a comprehensive free trade deal with the European Union – the largest economy in the world.

Oliver also discussed the government’s efforts to implement transparency and accountability through mandatory reporting standards for Canadian extractive companies.

Promoter Banks on Lucky Table 25 as 25,000 Trawl for Mine Deals – by Christopher Donville (Bloomberg News – March 06, 2014)

March 6, 2014

http://www.businessweek.com/

David Grondin had taken up position at his lucky table 25 in the InterContinental’s Azure restaurant, pitching his latest dream at the world’s biggest gathering of miners.

“We may be small, but we think big,” Grondin, 36, said during a break in the proceedings in Toronto. “All the world comes to PDAC and now they are coming to meet with me.”

Thousands of other entrepreneurs like Grondin, chief executive officer of TomaGold Corp. (LOT), were touting their projects with similar enthusiasm at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention.

This is how promoters of mine-exploration companies try to get projects off the ground: one plausible, or sometimes implausible, sales job at a time.

That task has only gotten tougher since gold fell last year by the most in more than three decades, reducing the chances that so-called juniors would get funding from, or be bought by, larger miners.