Twitter

Potash/Phosphate

Quebec To Decide On Canada’s Largest Open-Pit Mine Within Town Limits – by Catherine Lévesque (Huffington Post – February 19, 2015)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/business/

SEPT-ÎLES, Que. – The Quebec government is expected to make a decision any day now on the development of Canada’s largest open-pit mine near an inhabited area.

Environment Minister David Heurtel is trying to balance a difficult economic situation in Quebec’s North Shore with serious environmental concerns. If it is approved, the Arnaud mining project will extract apatite, phosphate minerals used for fertilizers, roughly six kilometers as the crow flies from downtown Sept-Îles.

The Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), an independent agency that reports to the Ministry, said in a report last year that the project was “unacceptable” in its present form. The risk of water contamination and landslides are simply too high, said BAPE, an advisory body that has no decision-making power.

Sept-Îles is located in Quebec’s northeastern territories, approximately 600 kilometers from Quebec City. Its economy is heavily dependent on mining by large, multinational companies, but it has taken a severe blow with recent layoffs at Cliffs Natural Resources.

According to its supporters, the Arnaud mine would create jobs and diversify the local economy. But opponents say having an open-pit mine within city limits is too risky. Sept-Îles currently has just one source of drinking water and no alternatives in case of contamination.

Read more

Potash Price War Looms With Belarus Seeking Share: Commodities – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – February 19, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — The potash industry, which provides the potassium used to grow bigger fruits and vegetables worldwide, is facing a global price war as Belarus seeks to strengthen its share of the $20 billion market. The Eastern European country, which supplied 20 percent of global exports last year, is running mines at almost full capacity to gain a foothold in the U.S. and in China, at a time when the Asian nation is in talks with other providers of the plant nutrient, analysts and competitors say.

The moves come a year-and-a-half after the once-staid market was thrown into chaos when Russia’s PAO Uralkali unexpectedly terminated its relationship with Belarus’s state-owned producer Belaruskali. That venture used to control 40 percent of exports, helping to maintain stable prices.

“The real price war has already started,” said Oleg Petropavlovskiy, an analyst at BCS Financial Group in Moscow. “Belarus is offering lower prices in some regions, while running close to full capacity. It’s the key threat now for the global potash market and will not abate any time soon.”

Potash, used by farmers as an important fertilizer for their plants, is mined deep underground, in areas where water from ancient seas dried up and disappeared, leaving behind potassium salts. Total demand for the nutrient reached a record high of about 62 million tons last year as farmers in Brazil, China and North America increased consumption.

Read more

Uralkali Sees Potash Deal With India Possible Ahead of China – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – February 11, 2015)

 http://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — PAO Uralkali, the largest potash supplier by volume last year, sees a possible supply deal with India taking place ahead of China for the first time since 2008, signaling a price increase.

China, with larger stockpiles, won’t rush to lock in a new deal, said Oleg Petrov, chief of sales.

“China may have around 4.5 million tons of stockpiles now,” he said in Moscow. “We saw higher levels in the past but still this is far from the 2.5 million-ton level which is seen as more comfortable for the new contract. On top of this we saw Belarus shipping four cargoes in January to China. Some of those volumes went to the market, some stay in the port, but still this is delaying the opportunity for the new deal.”

Normally China, the biggest consumer of the soil nutrient, strikes a deal first, and that contract provides the benchmark price for the year, with India paying a premium. Only once, in 2008, a contract with India came first, and China paid the premium.

China’s potash demand was 14 million metric tons last year, when the market hit a record 62 million tons, Uralkali’s press service said today, updating last-month estimates. The country last signed contracts at $305 per ton in January 2014 covering the first half of the year, later prolonging them to year-end.

Read more

WOMEN IN MINING NEWS RELEASE: Betty-Ann Heggie Wins the 2015 WIM Canada Trailblazer Award

http://www.wimcanada.org/welcome.html

TORONTO – January 29, 2015 – Women in Mining Canada (“WIMC”) and its “Trailblazer Award Selection Committee” (“TSC”), are very pleased to announce Betty-Ann Heggie as the winner of the 2015 Women in Mining Canada Trailblazer Award.

The Women in Mining Canada Trailblazer Award is the first national award in Canada to recognize the achievements of women who have made a significant contribution to Canadian mining and/or the inclusion of women in the industry. The natural resource sector has the poorest representation of women in management, with women representing just 11% of board appointments, making this year’s recipient a true “Trailblazer”.

Betty-Ann Heggie – Author, Mentor and Speaker

Betty-Ann Heggie, member of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame, journeyed up the Corporate Ladder from Beer Rep to Senior VP with the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., one of the world’s largest fertilizer company.

Betty-Ann has the distinction of also being named Canada’s Top Investor Relations Officer by both her clients and her peers. In addition to being awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the recipient of the Alumni Mentorship Award from the University of Saskatchewan, Betty-Ann won the “Women Helping Women” award at the 2009 Stevie Awards, and was honored with the YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award. Betty-Ann has also served on multiple boards, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Corporate Directors of Saskatchewan, which she founded.

Read more

Mosaic lifts profits hopes, citing strong phosphate, potash demand (Agrimoney.com – January 20, 2015)

http://www.agrimoney.com/

Shares in potash groups rose after Mosaic, one of North America’s biggest producers of the fertilizer, unveiled a, rare, upgrade to its profits hopes, saying the buyers had returned “in force”.

The US-based fertilizer giant said it had raised its guidance for earnings in the October-to-December quarter to $0.83-0.88 a share excluding one-off factors.

Besides representing a more-than-doubling in the underlying $0.36-a-share result from the same period of 2014, the upgraded guidance is above the $0.58 a share that Wall Street had been expecting.

Potash shares traded firmer on Tuesday, with shares in Germany’s K+S up 2.3% at E25.40 in afternoon deals in Frankfurt, outperforming a 0.2% rise in the Dax index, while in Toronto shares in PotashCorp gained 3.9% to Can$43.33 in early deals. Stock in Mosaic itself opened up 2.8% at $47.27 in New York.

‘Customers came in force’

Mosaic said its upgrade reflected demand for potash and phosphates which had “exceeded our expectations” during the latest quarter, boosted by sales to fertilizer retailers, which had run down their stocks.

Read more

Sask. potash royalty structure ‘alarmingly inefficient:’ report (Canadian Press/CTV News – January 7, 2015)

http://regina.ctvnews.ca/

A new report says Saskatchewan’s potash royalty structure needs to be overhauled because it is too complex and “alarmingly inefficient.”

Jack Mintz, a professor at the University of Calgary, says the royalty program is the most complicated in the world. “Hardly anyone understands the Saskatchewan system,” said Mintz, who is the director of the university’s School of Public Policy.

His report released Wednesday says that while Saskatchewan produces almost one-third of the world’s potash, its tax on the resource isn’t competitive on an international level. “What you really want is something that’s stable,” said Mintz, who added that there are wide fluctuations in the current approach.

The royalties collected by governments from resource companies help fill provincial coffers. Saskatchewan’s system includes a production-based levy, revenue-based levies, profit-based taxes and other taxes on capital investment.

“Saskatchewan is competitive as long as there is a lot of investment that is undertaken by firms,” Mintz said. “But it’s not very competitive — in fact it actually has the highest effective tax rate on investments compared to any other country that we look at — when companies aren’t investing as much as the 2002 period.”

Read more

Uralkali Gains Most in 5 Years on Output Goal, Share-Deal Delay – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – December 18, 2014)

http://www.businessweek.com/

OAO Uralkali jumped the most more than five years in Moscow as the largest potash company raised its output goal even after one mine was halted by flooding and it delayed a share deal that would have left it less room to pay dividends.

“With increased capacity utilization at other mines, we intend to produce 12 million tons of potash this year to meet strong demand from our customers,” Chief Executive Officer Dmitry Osipov said in a statement. In August, Uralkali estimated annual output of the fertilizer of 11.5 million metric tons.

The potash producer advanced 14 percent, the biggest gain since May 2009, to 141.50 rubles by the close in Moscow trading, paring its loss for the year to 18 percent.

Uralkali is monitoring the Solikamsk-2 mine in Russia’s Perm region after water poured into the site last month. A sinkhole that has widened to 54 meters (177 feet) by 83 meters opened near the mine, swallowing up summer homes. Uralkali sees a high risk the mine will be completely flooded, forcing it to abandon a site contributing almost 18 percent of its capacity.

“We expect the accident to have an insignificant impact on our 2014 full-year output target,” Osipov said today.

Read more

A billion tonnes of premium potash! – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – December 5, 2014)

http://www.mineweb.com/

A vast potash deposit in Eritrea offers suitability for producing a premium potash fertilizer, which commands high prices.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – At an investment conference like this week’s Mines & Money in London one can be besieged by junior miners/explorers all with good stories to tell. The fallout in the junior sector has already tended to do the sorting of the wheat from the chaff. But even so some will have seemingly better stories to tell than others – the problem for the dispassionate observer tends to be to rate those which might appear to stand out.

As is the nature of things these days there does tend to be a concentration on gold explorers/developers as gold has an aura which transcends reality. As my former colleague Chris Hinde at SNL is always keen to point out, in terms of global value of production coal, iron ore and copper all rank far higher than gold.

But what of other metals and minerals? There are those who favour nickel, zinc, uranium etc. as the next big thing in terms of price potential, but the history of mining suggests that perhaps the real profits in the industry are made in bulk materials where high volumes trump high values – so what of potash?

Go back a couple of years and it was potash which was rated to be the next big thing.

Read more

Flooded Mine Bolsters BHP’s Plan for Potash, CEO Says – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 24, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The flooding of a mine owned by the world’s biggest potash producer is confirmation for BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP)’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie of the wisdom of his company’s planned move into the industry.

“These sorts of factors, combined with continued economic growth and demand for potash all conspire, if you like, to bring toward us the time when a new mine is required,” Mackenzie said in an interview in Sydney. “We have the lowest cost mine that would be useful to bring into the market at that stage.”

According to Mackenzie, no major new mines have begun production since the 1970s and the halt of operations at Uralkali’s Solikamsk-2 mine, which accounts for 3 percent of world supply, is a sign of the vulnerability of supply — just as the need to feed a booming global population spurs demand.

BHP is looking to build its Jansen project in Canada’s Saskatchewan province sometime in the next decade, though Mackenzie is cautious about giving an exact timeline. Spending of $3.8 billion has been approved so far on Jansen, including mine and service shafts, and Citigroup Inc. (C) forecasts the whole project may cost $16 billion.

“We do know we have to wait for the market to come towards us, but once those shafts are complete, we are only three to four years — at most — from first potash,” Mackenzie said yesterday in the interview.

Read more

What Uralkali’s mine shutdown may mean for the potash market – by Jonathan Ratner (National Post – November 20, 2014)

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

A major supply outage at one of Uralkali’s potash mines in Russia raises the prospect of a much tighter global market for the commodity and could serve as a much-needed catalyst for Canadian fertilizer stocks.

The shutdown of the Solikamsk-2 potash mine after Uralkali detected an increased flow of brine, which can weaken a mine’s structure, bodes particularly well for producers such as Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. to increase their sales since the Russian mine has annual capacity of approximately 2.3 million tonnes.

Raymond James analyst Steve Hansen said early indications are that the shutdown will be an extended one or possibly worse, and it comes during a period of international contract negotiations, which could influence both Chinese and Indian contract pricing to the upside.

He raised his 2015 international pricing benchmarks by US$10 per tonne to reflect the additional bargaining leverage that potash marketer Canpotex, whose members include Agrium Inc., Mosaic Co. and Potash Corp., should get from this development.

“With both Uralkali and Belaruskali running close to flat out of late, we believe that much of the volume shortfall stemming from this supply outage will accrue disproportionately to the western-based producers (i.e., Canpotex) who possess ample slack capacity,” he told clients.

Read more

K+S Raises Profit, Sales Goals as Potash Prices Improve – by Sheenagh Matthews (Bloomberg News – November 13, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

K+S AG (SDF), Europe’s largest potash supplier, unexpectedly raised its full-year profit forecast by 12 percent as prices for the crop nutrient recovered more quickly than previously thought. The shares rose the most in almost a year in Frankfurt trading.

Earnings before interest, tax and some hedging transactions, called EBIT I, may be as much as 640 million euros ($797 million), the Kassel, Germany-based company said today in a statement. Previously K+S predicted as much as 570 million euros and a Bloomberg survey shows analysts had estimated 567 million euros.

Chief Executive Officer Norbert Steiner started a 500 million-euro cost-cutting program to help counter a drop in potash prices, triggered by Russian rival OAO Uralkali bringing extra capacity into the market last year. A “slight upwards trend” in prices is now evident, the company said today.

“All in all 2014 is looking good so far,” Chief Financial Officer Burkhard Lohr said in a video posted on the company’s website. “The long-term perspective of our business is very optimistic. Our positive business trends are holding strong.”

The shares jumped as much as 6.1 percent, the biggest intraday gain since November last year, to 23.65 euros. The stock was trading 5 percent higher at 23.43 euros as of 9:06 a.m. local time. K+S has gained 3.7 percent this year for a market value of 4.5 billion euros.

Read more

Investment giant Capital Group boosts Potash Corp. stake above 10% – by Peter Koven (National Post – November 12, 2014)

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

The global investment giant Capital Group Cos. appears to be a fan of Jochen Tilk.

The Los Angeles-based firm disclosed in a filing this week that it has boosted its stake in Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. to 83.1 million shares, or just above 10% of the total. It owns nearly double the shares of any other single investor.

In late 2013 and early 2014, Capital Group’s stake in Saskatoon-based Potash Corp. was around 40 million shares. It has skyrocketed since then, a period that roughly coincides with Mr. Tilk joining the company. He was named chief executive in April and took over for the retiring Bill Doyle in July.

Capital Group has a history with Mr. Tilk, dating to his days as CEO of Inmet Mining Corp. Capital Group was Inmet’s third-biggest shareholder when it was acquired early last year by First Quantum Minerals Ltd. for $4.8-billion. That takeover made Mr. Tilk a free agent until Potash Corp. came calling.

Mr. Tilk spent more than two decades at Inmet in various roles and played a key role in the company’s success. He is known for his strong operational skills, though he is far less of a promoter than Mr. Doyle.

Read more

Canada’s Potash to spend over $53 million in US Clean Air Act case – by Jonathan Stempel and Rod Nickel (Reuters U.S. – November 6, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc agreed to spend more than $52 million on plant improvements and pay a $1.3 million civil penalty to resolve U.S. charges that it violated the Clean Air Act over the emission of harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, U.S. authorities said.

Thursday’s accord with the world’s largest fertilizer producer includes a consent decree, and is the largest in the U.S. Department of Justice’s effort to address Clean Air Act violations by sulfuric acid producers.

It resolves claims by the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that three Potash units built or modified several sulfuric acid plants in ways that allowed the emission of excess sulfur dioxide into nearby communities.

Potash spokesman Tom Pasztor said that while the company disagrees with the EPA’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act, “we opted, rather than litigate, to work with them and other regulators to resolve this dispute.”

Sulfur dioxide has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including premature death, and contributes to acid rain, haze and smog.

Read more

Saskatchewan mining has quiet future – by Paul Sinkewicz (Regina Leader-Post – October 25, 2014)

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

Gouging potash from deep beneath Saskatchewan’s surface has been the work of nasty, snarling, belching beasts of machines for more than 60 years.

The application of brute force courtesy of workhorse diesel engines did the job just fine, but with each burly r.p.m. came the inevitable byproducts of internal combustion – fumes and diesel particles and the need to bring more sweet, clean air down the shaft and deep into the subterranean tendrils of the mines.

That will all change if Patric Byrns has his way. The president and CEO of PapaBravo Innovations has been rapidly creating a new way of doing business in the province’s potash mines with a line of electric trucks. They are clean, quiet and powerful, and they are attracting attention.

“You can only exhaust so much diesel particulate into a confined space without expanding the ventilation system,” said Byrns. “So, in that environment, if you can replace diesel engines with electrics, it expands their production capabilities for what they have for ventilation, and ventilation costs a lot of money.”

Byrns said converting to electric vehicles provides operators with almost a blank cheque for how many vehicles they can put underground.

Read more

Resources, Empire & Labour: Crisis, Lessons & Alternatives – Edited by David Leadbeater

To order a copy of Resources, Empire & Labour: Crisis, Lessons & Alternatives, click here: http://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/resources-empire-and-labour

The interconnections of natural resources, empire and labour run through the most central and conflict-ridden crises of our times: war, environmental degradation, impoverishment and plutocracy. Crucial to understand and to change the conditions that give rise to these crises is the critical study of resource development and, more broadly, the resources question, which is the subject of this volume. Intended for researchers, students and activists, the chapters in Resources, Empire and Labour illuminate key aspects of the resources question from a variety of angles through concrete analyses and histories focused on the extractive industries of mining, oil and gas.

Saskatchewan: Social Democracy in a Resource Hinterland – by John W. Warnock

Saskatchewan has always been seen as a hinterland area and economy within the Canadian territorial state. Geographically, it is part of the interior plains of the North American continent. Prior to the European colonial invasion it was the home to Indigenous Peoples who had adapted to the local ecology and survived mainly as hunter-gatherer communities. The colonial settlement of the region expanded in the late nineteenth century under the National Policy of John A. Macdonald’s Conservative government. Across the prairie grain belt, land taken from the Indigenous Peoples was declared state land and then distributed to white settlers through the Homestead Acts.

The National Policy was a capital accumulation project: the creation of a national market, the population of the west by white settlers from Europe and the United States, the development of the wheat economy for export and the protection of industrial capitalism in central Canada.Behind a tariff wall, an economic surplus could be extracted from independent commodity producers via banking and finance and the monopoly power of the farm supply industry and the downstream processing and distribution industries. As I have argued and referenced elsewhere (Warnock 2004), this system of political economy became a major Canadian example ofmetropolitan domination of hinterland areas.

Read more