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Canadian Media Resource Articles

How Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline lost its way – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – August 10, 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.

Not far from Kitimat, B.C., on the rugged western shore of Douglas Channel, a plot of land is set to serve as the terminus of Enbridge Inc.’s $6.5-billion Northern Gateway project.

It is from this spot, if the pipeline can be built, that Alberta crude will pour on to supertankers, opening Canada’s energy industry to Pacific markets and providing a key western outlet for surging output from the vast oil sands. It’s an unremarkable tree-covered shoreline, but for Gateway it’s critically important.

And in the fall of 2011, Enbridge nearly lost it, after the Haisla First Nation staged a bold attempt to seize control of the land in question – one of the most striking examples of the rancour that has swelled around the project. Now Northern Gateway is mired in deep uncertainty. Local qualms have blossomed into broad opposition, raising questions about its viability.

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Glencore, Vale should join forces, analyst says (CBC News Sudbury – August 9, 2013)

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

For an indepth radio report, click here: http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2400108515

Merging the two mining giants will help reduce redundancies, particulary in Sudbury operations

In a search for cost cutting measures, one mining analyst says a merger between Vale and Glencore should be an option that’s considered. Brazilian mining company Vale released its second quarter results Thursday, which showed an 84 per cent drop in profits.

Base metal prices are also down across the board. Terence Ortslan, managing director with TSO and Associates, an independent mining, metals and fertilizer research firm, said combining operations could help reduce redundancies.

“I think the question is, is it going to be out of necessity, or is it going to be creative in doing things? I think the assets have to be put in a pool to see who can do better and how it’s going to be streamlined in terms of a critical path.”

Glencore recently took over Xstrata — a firm that took over Sudbury’s Falconbridge Ltd. in 2006. Sudbury residents have, for decades, heard and talked about mergers between Falconbridge and Inco Ltd., the company now known as Vale.

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Mount Milligan mine on verge of production – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – August 8, 2013)

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

Copper-gold project north of Prince George will be first new mine in B.C. in more than a decade

Crews at Thompson Creek Metals’ Mount Milligan project have started crushing rocks and are mere days away from turning on the milling machinery that will grind down the ore and start extracting copper and gold from the first new mine to open in British Columbia in more than a decade.

That development will turn the $1.57-billion construction project into an operating mine with the goal of commencing commercial production of ore sometime in the fall, churning out an estimate 40,369 tonnes (89 million pounds) of copper concentrate and 262,000 ounces of gold per year.

However, the mine’s opening coincides with an uncertain time for the mining sector with falling metals prices and companies such as Teck Resources scaling back capital projects.

“It’s a bit of a mixed environment” for copper miners, according to Patricia Mohr, vice-president of industry and commodity research for Scotia Economics.

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Rio Tinto Alcan to close Shawinigan, Que., smelter – (Canadian Press/CBC News Montreal – August 7, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/montreal/

425 workers affected by shutdown

Rio Tinto Alcan says weak metal prices have forced the aluminum producer to close its 72-year-old smelter in Shawinigan, Que., about a year ahead of schedule in November, affecting most of its 425 workers.

“With the current difficult market conditions and when we look at the short-term forecasts, the situation became financially unsustainable for Shawinigan, and this despite all the efforts the employees made to help over the past years,” said Étienne Jacques, chief operating officer of Rio Tinto Alcan Primary Metal in an interview.

He said employees couldn’t have done anything to avert the decision because the market finally caught up with the plant’s old Soderberg technology.

“They have done almost everything that was imaginable to do, they have done it,” said Jacques. The announcement was made Wednesday, ahead of environmental regulations that would have forced the facility to close at the end of next year.

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Potash earthquake – (Northern Miner Editorial – Aug 12 – 18, 2013)

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

Like a sudden Saskatchewan thunderstorm, the potash market surprised everyone yet again with its capacity for drama and destruction, as everyone learned just how important the Russian-Belarusian potash cartel had been all this time in supporting the potash market to the benefit of Western producers and juniors alike.

As detailed in these pages, the major North American potash producers and their investors were side-swiped by news in late July that Russia’s Uralkali was leaving the BPC potash cartel it had created with Belarusalkali as a Slavic twin to the long-standing North American cartel Canpotex run by Potashcorp, Agrium and Mosaic.

Uralkali is already the world’s largest and lowest-cost potash producer, and is now vowing to ramp up production and accept lower prices in order to capture new Asian markets.  In retrospect, the fact that two Russian billionaires unloaded their substantial shareholdings in Uralkali in the weeks leading up to the announcement was a sign something was afoot. (Though, for some reason, we’re not expecting any insider trading investigations to get underway in Moscow any time soon.)

North American juniors in the potash space have always had a tough time, given that potash projects are so vast in cost and scope that developing them on their own is never a realistic option.

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Harper hails west-east pipeline as N.B. seeks to halt exodus of workers – by Jane Taber (Globe and Mail – August 9, 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.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave his strongest endorsement yet of the $12-billion west-to-east pipeline project, enthusiastically pitching it as a job creator for all Canadians and one that will expand the country’s energy markets.

“This is an extremely exciting project,” he said during a visit Thursday to the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, which is to be the end of the line for TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline.

Beaming in the background was New Brunswick Premier David Alward, who has been working doggedly for the past year to help land the pipeline, given the green light by TransCanada last week. Mr. Alward’s struggling province has the highest unemployment rate in Canada at more than 11 per cent. The Premier says the project will bring about 2,000 construction jobs and the potential for more from spinoffs of the pipeline. It also holds out the promise that the province’s sons and daughters who have gone west to find work – including Mr. Alward’s 23-year-old son Ben, a pipefitter – can come home.

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Canada’s ‘North Sea’ seeks investors to arrest production decline – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – August 9, 2013)

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

Newfoundland and Labrador may be Canada’s fastest growing province this year, but its stellar rise masks a dramatic decline in the oil sector. The province’s three major offshore fields: Hibernia (1.24 billion barrels of reserves), Terra Nova (419 million barrels), and White Rose (283 million ) are past their best and production from new fields is years away.

“We are past peak production from the three existing fields,” the province’s Minister of Natural Resources Tom Marshall told the Financial Post. “We need exploration and success from that in order to sustain and grow the economy further.”

Newfoundland is one of the last few great, untapped offshore developments in North America. Oil majors including ExxonMobil Inc. and Chevron Corp. have a presence in the area, but the region has been a backwater as the prolific Gulf of Mexico and North Sea continue to garner all the attention.

Alarmed by continued neglect from oil companies, the Newfoundland government is casting its net wider to attract bigger players. Last month Mr. Marshall was in China to meet CNOOC and Sinopec officials to drum up interest in the province’s offshore riches.

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Why the latest anti-Keystone pipeline ad is a low blow to Canada – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – August 9, 2013)

 

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

CALGARY – An anti-Keystone XL pipeline commercial funded by President Barack Obama supporter and hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer confirms what many Canadians have long suspected — American anti-oil activists have gone mad.

The commercial was intended to be aired Tuesday evening on WRC-TV, an affiliate of NBC in Washington, D.C., to coincide with the president’s appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The commercial is so offensive the station refused to air it. While intended as a parody, it insults TransCanada Corp. CEO Russ Girling, whose company is proposing Keystone XL; it’s a low blow to Canada; and it shows the anti-Keystone campaign is in desperate need of adult supervision.

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Feds supply $6M to get First Nations ready for Ring of Fire (CBC News Thunder Bay – August 8, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

260 people to be trained in trades like mining, welding and environmental monitoring

The federal government has announced almost $6 million in funding to train people from Matawa First Nations in the mining sector. The announcement was made at Confederation College in Thunder Bay Thursday morning.

“There’s no better time than the present, we want to get going on this, we know that this is a legacy project,” said Kenora MP Greg Rickford, who is also minister of state for FedNor, with responsibility for the Ring of Fire. “We want to make sure that all our ducks are in a row.”

The money will go to a group of stakeholders called the Ring of Fire Aboriginal Training Alliance, which includes Matawa First Nations, NorOnt Resources and Confederation College. Matawa CEO David Paul Achneepineskum said building partnerships like this will help First Nations succeed. But Aroland Chief Sonny Gagnon thinks the process should be more grass-roots.

“I’m happy on one hand that we’re moving along, but there’s got to be a better method of how to move along,” he said. “And that means going to the communities and asking what each community wants.”

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Vale aims to stay competitive despite loss in profits (CBC News Sudbury – August 8, 2013)

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

Totten Mine in Sudbury still on track to open and create 200 jobs

For a detailed interview with Vale spokesperson Angie Robson, click here: http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2400029133

Mining giant Vale is reporting its worst profit decline in a decade. In its second quarter report, the company said its profit was $2.78 billion less than in the same quarter last year — and that foreign currency fluctuations are to blame.

In Sudbury, Vale spokesperson Angie Robson said local operations need to continue to focus on reducing costs while minimizing the impact on staff. She noted the company is working to continue being competitive.

“One of the things that we have happening, as an example, is we’re opening Totten Mine by the end of the year,” Robson said. “It’s our first new mine in Sudbury for more than 40 years … we have to continue to look to the future and look for new sources of ore so that we continue to create jobs and so forth.”

She noted the new mine will create about 200 jobs.

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40 of Canada’s finest miners: Little change among top performers – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – August 8, 2013)

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Last year, 2012, almost all commodity prices softened, and that fact is reflected in the fortunes of Canada’s Top 40 mining companies. Gross revenues, the number on which we base our ranking, grew little if at all.

However, the most successful companies will weather the industry’s cyclical downturns. Note the 10 companies that lead our list. Nine of them remain among the top 10. The exception is Cameco that fell from 10th to 11th, trading places with Yamana Gold.

The other nine miners among this year’s top 10 were among the top 10 last year. With one exception they held the same positions as last year – Teck jumped up one to 3rd, pushing Suncor down to 4th.

The list is again headed by Agrium ($16.69 billion) that mines potash at Vanscoy, Sask., and phosphate at Kapuskasing, Ont. Mining is not the company’s only business; it is a retail supplier of agricultural products and services throughout the Americas and Australia. The world needs to eat, and its appetite for fertilizer appears to be strong.

Again in second place is Barrick Gold ($14.55 billion). Long the largest gold miner in the world in terms of market capitalization, Barrick has been under pressure from both the lackluster gold price and skyrocketing development costs.

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Potash Corp chief plays down price plunge – by Peter Koven (National Post – August 8, 2013)

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

As Bill Doyle sees it, last week’s shocking turn of events in the potash industry is nothing to worry about. “I would just urge people to take a deep breath, relax, and everything’s going to be just fine,” the chief executive of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said in a unique question-and-answer webcast on Wednesday.

Mr. Doyle is eager to put shareholders’ minds at ease following the stunning news that Russian producer OAO Uralkali has broken up a cartel-like trading company and plans to max out its potash production to seize market share. It made the move after its partner Belaruskali sold product outside their arrangement.

Investors assumed that the days in which potash producers withheld production to maintain high prices are now coming to an end. But Mr. Doyle disagrees completely.

He said that there have been numerous spats like this one in the past between the Russians and Belarusians, and all of them were eventually resolved.

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[Watts, Griffis and McOuat] WGM: Around the world in 50 years – by Virginia Heffernan (Northern Miner – March 5, 2012)

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

To survive half a century as an independent firm, Watts, Griffis and McOuat (WGM) has had to be the James Bond of the consulting world, willing to embrace extremes and extricate itself from some dicey situations: bush planes sinking under the ice, locals wielding AK-47s, and revolutions, to name just a few.

“We all had a sense of adventure, so we didn’t mind doing the foreign work,” says Jack McOuat, the only surviving member of the original trio.

McOuat reckons the firm has made its mark in at least 130 countries since its inception in 1962. That wealth of international experience should serve Toronto-headquartered WGM well as it struggles to break into the geological-consulting market in China, a country with the potential to develop a thriving junior mining sector, but a means of financing exploration that runs counter to the Canadian system.

“The regulations and guidelines governing mining and exploration in China are completely different from the ones in North America,” says Joe Hinzer, WGM’s president.

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Obituary: Watts, Griffis and McOuat (WGM’s) Jack McOuat (Northern Miner – August 6, 2013)

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

John (Jack) McOuat, an icon of the Toronto mining scene and the last surviving co-founder of the independent geological and mining consulting firm Watts, Griffis and McOuat (WGM), died on July 30 at age 80 at the Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. McOuat was born and educated in Toronto, graduating with a geological engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1956.

Oceanic Iron Ore hired McOuat out of school to work on a project in Quebec’s Ungava Bay, with his boss being, as fate would have it, geologist and iron ore expert Tom Griffis. Rio Tinto then bought Oceanic, and sent McOuat to scout out the nearby Raglan nickel property the company had optioned from entrepreneur Murray Watts.

In 1962, McOuat left the safe confines of Rio Tinto, introduced Watts and Griffis to one another, and teamed with Watts, Griffis and Ross Lawrence to form WGM, with some of the firm’s first foreign contracts being landed in Morocco and Libya, and later, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Yemen, Alaska, Ghana, Argentina, Ecuador, Indonesia. “That’s what set us apart,” McOuat told The Northern Miner last year.

“The international projects, the eclectic mix of clients, but also the ability to go out and find mines — most consultants don’t do that.

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