Twitter

Canadian Media Resource Articles

The merger of the century – by Diane Francis (National Post – September 30, 2013)

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

“The problem for Americans as well as Canadians is that foreign governments, and their vassal
corporate entities, have established themselves in Canada and are nibbling away at resource
assets … Their targets include resources, farmland, market access and iconic corporations,
assets that they do not allow Canadian or American individuals, corporations or governments
to acquire in their own countries.” (Diane Francis, National Post, September 30, 2013)

In her new book, National Post columnist Diane Francis makes the case for the U.S. and Canada forming a united North America

The 9/11 attacks and the financial crisis that started in 2008 damaged the economies of Canada and the United States, and accelerated the decline of most wealthy democracies. Throughout it all, emerging economies, led by China and India, did not skip a beat. Between 2000 and 2010, they grew by an average of 6% per year, while developed nations posted an average of only 3.6%, according to The Economist’s “Power shift” report.

By 2030, Brazil, Russia, India and China could overtake the U.S., Japan, Germany, Italy, Britain, France and Canada in economic size. And these seven nations, the original G7, cannot catch up because of debt, demographics, resistance to change and an inability to recognize and counteract the strategies of their rivals.

Read more

Saskatchewan’s history of potash, politics and profit (Regina Leaderpost – September 28, 2013)

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

1943: Geological surveys and exploratory drilling reveals that Saskatchewan has one of the largest potash deposits in the world.

1951: First commercial production potash mine is attempted by Western Potash Corporation Limited in the Unity district. Numerous delays and flooding make the project unsuccessful.

1958: Potash is first produced by Potash Company of America (PCA) near Saskatoon. The mine floods the next year and does not return to production until 1965.

1960: 1970: Potash production in Saskatchewan has been continuous since 1962: Ten mines are built in Saskatchewan for less than $300 million by six different companies. Referenced by: company name, location (year of initial production). Potash Company of America, Saskatoon (1958); International Minerals and Chemical Corporation (IMC), Yarbo K-1 (1962); Kalium Chemicals Limited, Belle Plaine (1964);

IMC, Gerald K-2 (1967); Allan Potash Mines, Allan (1968); Duval Corporation of Canada, Saskatoon (1968); Alwinsal Potash of Canada Limited, Guernsey (1968); Central Canada Potash, Colonsay (1969); Cominco Ltd., Vanscoy (1969); Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Limited, Rocanville (1970).

Read more

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/

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.

Read more

Ring Of Fire Project: For First Nations, Disruption Is Certain, Profits Less So – by Sunny Freeman (Huffington Post – September 30, 2013)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

WEBEQUIE FIRST NATION, ONT. — A bald eagle soars from the east between the evergreen branches of an uninhabited island in Ontario’s Far North and swoops in front of a fisherman’s small aluminum boat.

Another eagle flaps nearby as the boat speeds toward fertile fishing grounds. Sightings of the majestic bird on this fly-in First Nation reserve have become more frequent, just as at-risk woodland caribou have started trekking through Webequie’s land.

So have wolves. And last winter, a wolverine — another threatened species — was spotted on the ice road connecting the community on the skinny northern tip of Eastwood Island to the nearest town 250 kilometres southwest.

Some say the eagles, the wolves and the caribou signal that wildlife is fleeing the Ring of Fire, an area of mining development that has been dubbed “Canada’s next oilsands.” The boggy region in the James Bay lowlands is less than 90 kilometres southeast of this reserve, and in one of the world’s last undisturbed forests. It is farther north than most Canadians have ever travelled.

At the moment, the Ring of Fire is little more than a 20-kilometre strip of discoveries surrounded by prospectors’ stakes, drilling equipment and dirt roads in the midst of a marsh.

Read more

Commentary: Surveying the landscape of Ontario’s new mining regime – by Madeleine J.M. Donahue and Jean Piette (Northern Miner – September 27, 2013)

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

In Ontario, the new and amended regulations under the Mining Act described in our legal update in September 2012 have since come into force, and Ontario has developed four policies relating to Aboriginal consultation that further clarify the government’s expectations. Junior exploration companies have already experienced the effects and

challenges of this new regime more significantly than majors or companies with advanced exploration projects.

This is a transition period for Ontario’s regulatory regime — one that requires patience, goodwill, education and the ongoing co-operation of all parties if the reforms are to achieve the positive results the government is hoping for. These include greater clarity, less confrontation, enhanced respect for existing Aboriginal and treaty rights, protection of sites of Aboriginal cultural significance and improved prosperity for First Nations communities.

Let’s examine the most important aspects of the new regime:

Read more

Dirty politics unfairly singles out Canada’s oil sands – by Claudia Cattaneo (September 28, 2013)

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

Much like the Keystone XL debacle in Washington, the EU’s proposed Fuel Quality Directive illustrates the hypocrisy of climate change politics — tough to sell at home, the pain of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is pushed abroad to feign the appearance of progress.

How else to explain that of all the things the European Union and the United States could be doing to clean up their own carbon mess both seem so hung up on punishing Canada’s oil sands?

And so just like the U.S. is dragging its feet on approving the Keystone XL pipeline between Alberta and Texas to fan the illusion among the green classes that it’s doing something about the climate, the EU is attempting another vote later this year on a fuel quality directive (FDQ) that singles out the oil sands — and no other oil sources.

It’s dirty politics. The pending vote is such a worry to Alberta that two senior ministers are heading for another tour of European capitals, at a cost of $85,700 to taxpayers, to try yet again to expose the imbroglio. They are latest of many trips to European countries over the past few years by Alberta and federal government representatives.

Read more

Commentary: Resource nationalism and mining reforms: An increased potential for international disputes – by Harry Burnett, Caline Mouawad and Louis-Alexis Bret (Northern Miner – September 26, 2013)

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

Ernst & Young listed resource nationalism as the number one risk threatening the mining sector in 2013, a sharp increase over five years ago when resource nationalism appeared at the bottom of Ernst & Young’s top 10 list of business risks facing the mining and metals sector.

Amidst a struggling global economic context, increasing mineral and metal prices over that period have fueled host governments’ efforts to seek a greater take from the mining sector. These efforts have translated into a new wave of mining reforms imposing or increasing royalties and mining taxes, introducing local beneficiation requirements under penalty of increased export levies, or limiting foreign ownership of mining assets.

These contemplated or newly-enacted mining reforms have generated uncertainty and have caused mining projects around the world to be deferred or cancelled altogether. These reforms — with their dramatic impact on existing projects’ risk/reward equation — have caused, and are likely to continue to cause a significant number of international disputes between international mining companies and resource-rich host governments including Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela or Mongolia.

Read more

Commentary: Quebec’s evolving mining regime – by Madeleine J.M. Donahue and Jean Piette (Northern Miner – September 26, 2013)

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

Quebec has been making further strides in updating its mining regime to reflect the province’s needs, realities and political priorities.

The Quebec government recently took three major steps towards this goal by: tabling a proposal in May 2013 to change the mining royalty regime; introducing Bill 43 on May 29, 2013, to replace the current Mining Act, which dates back to 1987; and passing amendments on July 23, 2013, to the Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting mineral substances other than petroleum, natural gas and brine in order to set new rules concerning the financial guarantees required for the restoration of mining sites.

Mining royalties

In May, the government tabled its proposal to change the mining royalty regime to increase the return on mining royalties for Quebec. It decided to require all mining operators to pay a minimum mining royalty, called the minimum mining tax, and a progressive tax on mining profits. The minimum mining tax will be 1% of the total output at the shaft head below or equal to $80 million and 4% of each dollar in excess of the $80 million threshold. The minimum mining tax paid can be carried forward and applied against the tax on future mining profits.

Read more

Iran’s return to the oil market could send prices diving – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – September 27, 2013)

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

Iran’s return to the oil market could trigger a “positive supply shock,” sending oil prices plunging by as much as US$20 per barrel, although Saudi Arabia will probably move swiftly to ensure a softer, $10-drop in crude prices.

Increasingly crippling sanctions imposed by Western countries to punish Tehran for pursuing a nuclear program has limited Iran’s ability to export its primary production over the past few years.

But in recent weeks, both Tehran and Washington have replaced their sabre rattling with a softer tone, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution, especially as the Iranian government hopes to resolve the nuclear dispute within three to six months.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was to meet Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif on Thursday in what is billed as the first direct contact between the U.S. and Iran in six years. Foreign ministers from the U.K., China, France, Germany and Russia also were to join in the discussion.

Read more

Harper ‘won’t take no for an answer’ from U.S. on Keystone XL – by Joanna Slater (Globe and Mail – September 27, 2013)

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.

NEW YORK — Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that Canada would not take no for an answer from the United States on the Keystone XL pipeline and declared that political calculations were the only obstacle blocking the project.

In pointed remarks to an audience in New York, Mr. Harper asserted that the arguments in favour of the proposed pipeline were “overwhelming” and vowed to continue his campaign to win approval for the project until it succeeds.

“My view is that you don’t take no for an answer,” Mr. Harper said. “We haven’t had that [from the U.S.], but if we were to get that, that won’t be final. This won’t be final until it’s approved and we will keep pushing forward.”

Mr. Harper didn’t spell out what Canada would do if Keystone were rebuffed, but did point to demand for Canadian energy around the world and to proposals for eastern and western pipelines. “If I were an American the last thing I would want to see is Canada selling its oil anywhere else.”

Read more

Oil find boosts Nfld. offshore prospects – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – September 27, 2013)

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.

CALGARY — Newfoundland’s government is touting a major offshore discovery as the start of a new chapter in the province’s oil industry, and a reason for international energy companies to consider investments there.

Statoil ASA of Norway said Thursday its discovery in the Flemish Pass Basin, called Bay du Nord, could hold 300 million to 600 million barrels of light oil. The upper end of that range would be Newfoundland’s third-largest discovery. Statoil’s partner in the project is Calgary-based Husky Energy Inc.

Bay du Nord represents the partners’ third oil discovery in that area. The find is in deeper North Atlantic water and farther off the coast from the Jeanne d’Arc Basin, where the Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose fields produce, and the $14-billion Hebron field is under development.

“That’s good news for us and it certainly will encourage increased offshore exploratory activity. It’s one of the largest offshore oil fields to be discovered off Canada,” Tom Marshall, Newfoundland’s Natural Resources Minister, said in an interview.

Read more

Derailing passenger train to Ontario north costly blunder – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – September 27, 2013)

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/home.html

TORONTO — Think of it as Northern Ontario’s very own $1-billion gas plant boondoggle. Except it’s not about moving generating plants.

It’s about the way former premier Dalton McGuinty and his finance minister, Dwight Duncan, shut down Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), once a vital link for communities like North Bay, Cochrane and Timmins.

(While the end of the line was Marathon, a bus took passengers on to Timmins.) Abruptly last year, the government shut down the rail link from Toronto, leaving in place only the Polar Bear Express from Cochrane to Moosonee.

The last train rattled out of Union Station last September and since then Nipissing Tory MPP Vic Fedeli has been asking questions about the government’s figures.

Announcing the shutdown, Duncan claimed it would save $265 million. Documents made public along with the gas plant material put the lie to that, Fedeli says. “If they go ahead with the full sale, it will cost the treasury $790 million. That’s a $1-billion gap from saving $265 to costing $790 million,” he told me.

Read more

CRA says Saskatchewan uranium giant Cameco has avoided paying hundreds of millions in Canadian taxes by offshoring profits in Switzerland – by John Greenwood (National Post – September 26, 2013)

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

The Canada Revenue Agency says Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp. hasn’t been paying its taxes and it wants the money. Now Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall has joined the fray, calling for Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium producer, to pay up.

Speaking to reporters this week, Mr. Wall said part of the tax revenue that Ottawa collects ends up going back to the provinces, so when the CRA says it’s not getting what it believes it should, “that’s a concern to [Saskatchewan] as well, and it should be. It doesn’t matter who the company is, or the individual. We should pay taxes that are due.”

At issue is Cameco’s alleged practice of shifting profits to a Switzerland subsidiary where taxes are lower. And while the Cameco case has been going on for several years and though the CRA won the most recent round, the ruling is being appealed and observers say it is unclear who will come out on top.

Read more

Natural gas may be cheap and clean, but Quebec still holds a grudge – by Sophie Cousineau (Globe and Mail – September 25, 2013)

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.

Sophie Brochu was all smiles when she sat down to testify at Quebec’s roving commission on the province’s energy stakes, but in a flash, sparks started flying between the president and CEO of Gaz Métro and the commission’s co-chair Normand Mousseau.

She had been told by the commission’s staff she had 15 minutes to make her case. But he curtly retorted she had 10. Should she spill over and leave no time for questions, Mr. Mousseau implied, that would cast the province’s biggest gas distributor in a bad light. It was just a skirmish, really, and yet the incident was telling. In the land of hydroelectricity, natural gas is not cordially welcomed.

Through the public consultation now under way, the Quebec government is redrawing its energy policy with an eye to reducing its carbon footprint and to decreasing its reliance on imported oil. The Parti Québécois upped the ante on the Liberals with an ambitious promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020. To keep its word, the PQ government is championing projects that strike the imagination of voters. Electrifying the province’s transportation means is all the buzz. So is pumping oil out of Quebec soil even if both of those grand schemes will take at least a decade to materialize.

Read more

Iron ore giant Vale has a secret but it is not telling – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 25, 2013)

http://www.mining.com/

Brazilian miner Vale (NYSE: VALE), the world’s biggest iron ore firm, is considering more non-core asset sales by the end of the year, but it is also working on a deal that could shock the market, said Chief Executive Murilo Ferreira yesterday.

After a speech at the Brazilian Mining Congress, the executive told reporters Vale was evaluating whether to sell its 22% stake in aluminum producer Norsk Hydro ASA (STO:NHYO), as well as its 40% stake in Brazilian bauxite miner Mineracao Rio do Norte SA. The company is also evaluating what to do with its remaining oil and gas assets.

“We also have a surprise that I won’t mention so you remain curious,” Ferreira told reporters Tuesday, after a speech at the Brazilian Mining Congress, according to Bloomberg.

Iron ore prices to hold

The miner is quite bullish about global iron prices, as it sees demand from China, the world’s top iron ore consumer, likely to moderate next year. The executive director for ferrous and strategy, Jose Carlos Martins, said Wednesday the firm was expecting prices to be in range of $120-$130 a tonne in the fourth quarter.

Read more