Quebec Mining – Page 49 – Republic of Mining

Quebec opposition parties take aim at foreign mining firms – by David Ljunggren (Reuters.com – August 19, 2012)

August 20, 2012

http://in.reuters.com/

Quebec opposition says foreign miners not paying enough

* Government has big plans to develop resource-rich North

Aug 19 (Reuters) – Quebec’s two main opposition parties, seeking to replace the struggling Liberal government in a Sept 4 election, said on Sunday that foreign mining firms should pay more for the right to operate in the resource-rich Canadian province.

Polls show the separatist Parti Quebecois is well ahead of Premier Jean Charest’s Liberals, who are almost neck-and-neck with the right-leaning Coalition for the Future of Quebec (CAQ).

The government last year launched a C$80 billion ($81 billion) plan to develop Quebec’s frozen northern regions, which it says has big deposits of nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, zinc, iron ore, gold, lithium, vanadium and rare-earth metals.

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois, appearing in a televised debate with Charest and CAQ leader Francois Legault, said if she won the election she would raise royalty rates to stop natural resources being sold off at a discount. “We will really create wealth and share it for all the population, not only for a few mining firms,” she said.

I would ban export of asbestos: Legault – by Kevin Dougherty (Montreal Gazette – August 14, 2012)

August 14, 2012

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

SHERBROOKE – If he was premier, François Legault would ban the export of asbestos while maintaining a $58-million loan that was intended to reopen what would be Quebec’s last asbestos mine.

“Quebec is not a banana republic,” Legault told Sherbrooke reporters Monday, suggesting that while the government would honour its loan, Balcorp Ltd. would have to abandon its goal of reviving the mine. But the company could use the public money for some other purpose.

Balcorp was granted the loan, after it failed to find any private-sector backers, a month before the Sept. 4 election was called. “No bank in Quebec would associate its name with the Jeffery Mine,” Legault noted. The Coalition Avenir Québec leader said banning asbestos, a proven cause of cancers, including mesothelioma, is a matter of principle.

“We can’t let people die to save a job,” he said. “There are limits.”

NEWS RELEASE: JAMES BAY CREE NATION ENACTS PERMANENT URANIUM MORATORIUM IN JAMES BAY TERRITORY

August 13, 2012

Crees “determined to protect our way of life against the unique and grave threat posed by uranium mining and waste, today and for thousands of years to come”.

Posted: 2012-08-09

Waskaganish, Eeyou Istchee, (August 9, 2012) —The James Bay Cree Nation has declared a Permanent Moratorium on uranium exploration, uranium mining and uranium waste emplacement in Eeyou Istchee, the James Bay Cree territory. The permanent moratorium was enacted unanimously by the Annual Cree Nation General Assembly in Waskaganish.

“The risks inherent in uranium exploration, mining, milling, refining and transport, and in radioactive and toxic uranium mining waste, are incompatible with our stewardship responsibilities in Eeyou Istchee,” the Resolution declares.

“The Cree Nation is determined to protect our economies and way of life against the unique and grave threat posed by uranium mining and uranium waste, today and for thousands of years to come,” said Grand Chief Dr. Matthew Coon Come. “We are not opposed to sustainable and equitable mining and other industrial and resource development activities in Eeyou Istchee – but the toxic and radiation risks created by uranium mining and uranium waste are unique in scale and duration.”

Asbestos’s future in Quebec election crosshairs – CBC News Montreal (August 12, 2012)

August 13, 2012

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

Quebec’s party leaders tossed around the delicate subject of the province’s still operating asbestos industry on Saturday as they outlined platforms on health and the environment. François Legault, the Coalition Avenir Québec leader, said he would ban exports of asbestos from Quebec, one of a series of environmental initiatives the party laid out.

“Exporting a toxic product is morally and scientifically indefensible,” Legault said. “Quebec has to come to terms with an industry that’s stuck in the past.”

Legault said a CAQ government would honour the province’s $58-million loan to the Jeffrey asbestos mine in the Eastern Townships, which is set to reopen after it shut down last year in financial distress. But he would work with the company — the last remaining producer of asbestos in Canada — to switch to other lines of business.

As recently as 2010, Canada was producing 150,000 tonnes of asbestos annually, all of it in Quebec, and exporting 90 per cent — worth about $90 million — to developing countries. More than 50 countries ban the mining and use of asbestos, but Canada, traditionally a major exporter, has successfully lobbied in the past to keep it off a UN list of hazardous substances.

Quebec opposition leaders take aim at Liberals over asbestos mine – QMI Agency (Toronto Sun – August 11, 2012)

August 13, 2012

http://www.torontosun.com/home

MONTREAL – Weeks after the Liberals re-launched Quebec’s asbestos industry with a $58-million loan to the Jeffrey Mine, the Coalition Avenir Quebec vowed to put an end to the “morally and scientifically indefensible” product.

Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois also criticized the Liberal Party on Saturday for its decision to loan investors tens of millions to re-open the mine in Asbestos, Que., about 160 km east of Montreal. “We were very shocked by Mr. Charest’s decision to announce an investment without holding a debate,” she told reporters on the campaign trail Saturday.

She said the PQ would hold a “societal debate” in Quebec’s legislature on the fate of the province’s asbestos industry. CAQ Leader Francois Legault said that no debate was necessary. Legault told reporters on Saturday that if elected, the CAQ wouldn’t cancel the $58-million loan, but would phase out the exportation of asbestos altogether.

“(Asbestos) does not conform to the values of Quebecers,” Legault said. “We have to turn the page.” The Liberal Party announced at the end of June that it was going to help finance the re-opening of the Jeffrey Mine.

Labrador Trough positioned to feed Canada’s iron-ore exports – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – August 10, 2012)

August 13, 2012

www.mineweekly.com

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – While the world worries about the eurozone debt crisis, China’s economic model and US stagnation, mining operators and developers in the Labrador Trough, an iron-ore belt that extends through Canada’s northern Quebec and Labrador, are confident of weathering the storm and continuing to expand.

“Production could grow by a yearly compounded growth rate of 35% over the next five years,” the mines branch of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department for Natural Resources said in its most recent edition of ‘Minfo’.

The bullish outlook is predicated on China’s desire to extend seaborne trade in iron-ore away from Rio Tinto, Vale and BHP Billiton. More significantly, the nature of the ore itself makes it an attractive drawcard to steelmakers, owing to its holding less contaminants when compared with material from Australia or Brazil.

“Labrador Trough ore remains attractive because it is one of the cleanest in the world; it holds less contaminants such as alumina and phosphates,” Alderon Iron Ore’s VP for business development, Simon Marcotte, explained.

Charest touts Plan Nord on campaign trail – by Daneil LeBlanc – (Globe and Mail – August 10, 2012)

August 13, 2012

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.

VAL D’OR, QUEBEC – It’s the topic on which he is most proactive, promising it will play a key role in fulfilling the main plank in his platform: creating 250,000 jobs by 2017 if he forms the next government.

The Plan Nord is more than the Quebec Liberal Leader’s priority for a fourth mandate. The ambitious, 25-year, $80-billion economic program to develop natural resources in the province’s north is designed to be his main legacy. Launched during his third term in office, the Plan Nord is supposed to be to Mr. Charest what the massive James Bay hydro-electric project was to his predecessor, Robert Bourassa, in the 1970s.

Not surprisingly, most of Mr. Charest’s daily announcements are somehow linked to the Plan Nord and job creation, such as a promise to introduce Plan Nord RRSPs and to offer more long-distance training in fields such as mining and forestry. Most of his industrial visits – he does one a day – are linked to his dream of northern riches.

Still, there is no guarantee Mr. Charest will still be in power after the Sept. 4 election. Every day of the campaign, he has to bat away questions about other issues, from student protests to allegations of widespread corruption to the threat of a third referendum on sovereignty.

Quebec will become ‘have’ province under northern-development plan: Liberals – by Andy Blatchford (Canadian Press/Winnipeg Free Press – August 12, 2012)

August 12, 2012

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

MONTREAL – Jean Charest’s Liberals predict Quebec will make the historic transformation into a “have” province over the next quarter-century thanks to an ambitious northern-development plan.

Quebec’s natural resources minister says the project — known as “Plan Nord” — will enable the province to wean itself off decades of federal equalization transfers, tackle its heavy debt, and bankroll its costly social programs.

Clement Gignac’s prediction would see the province pump cash into the federation for the first time since the modern equalization program was established in the 1950s. Amid campaign clashes over tuition fees, corruption allegations and Quebec independence, Plan Nord is a sleeper issue heading into the Sept. 4 election.

Gignac says the initiative, which includes mining, energy and tourism projects, has the potential to become a game-changer for Quebec, much like the Hibernia oil project was for reversing the once-grim economic fortunes in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“It will increase our financial autonomy… and it will be a win-win for everybody,” Gignac told The Canadian Press in an interview.

PQ gov’t would ‘redo’ Quebec’s northern development plan [Plan Nord] – by Canadian Press/CTV News (August 12, 2012)

August 12, 2012

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

MONTREAL — The Parti Quebecois says it will give Jean Charest’s signature northern-development plan a makeover if it wins the Sept. 4 election, altering a project the Liberal premier hails as Quebec’s ticket to prosperity.

The party’s mining critic said a PQ government would “redo” the multibillion-dollar Plan Nord. It argues the initiative offers up Quebec’s natural resources for next to nothing.

Martine Ouellet said the PQ is pledging to raise royalties; ensure more Quebec resources are processed in the province; and spend less public money to help private companies — unless Quebecers get something in return.

“The Parti Quebecois is okay with developing northern mines, but certainly not in the same way as the plan I call ‘The Plan Marketing du Nord,’ ” Ouellet said in an interview. “We can’t continue like this, we’re letting our minerals go for free.”

Ouellet also said the PQ would launch environmental reviews before each project and boost returns for Quebecers by processing more of the resources in the province.

CN, miners to study new line for Que.-Labrador iron belt – by The Canadian Press (Globe and Mail – August 11, 2012)

August 11, 2012

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.

Canadian National Railway Co. is taking a step toward building a potentially lucrative new transportation link for iron ore producers at the Quebec-Labrador border by proceeding with a feasibility study.

The country’s largest railway said Friday that it is working with several mining companies and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec on a study into the rail line and terminal handling facility, which analysts estimated could cost $5-billion.

The mining participants are Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Ltd., Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., a big multinational iron ore producer, as well as Canadian public mining companies New Millennium Iron and Alderon Iron Ore Corp.

CN said it will co-ordinate an application to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, clearing the way for discussions with affected parties including First Nations.

Liberals promise tax break for Plan Nord investors by Roberto Rocha (Montreal Gazette – August 10, 2012)

August 10, 2012

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

QUEBEC CITY – Quebecers will have the chance to invest in the Plan Nord under a Liberal government, and receive a tax break if they do. Premier Jean Charest promised a new savings fund to which Quebecers can contribute a maximum of $5,000 a year and receive a tax credit of 10 per cent, to a limit of $500.

The fund, offered by workers’ venture capital firms like the Quebec Federation of Labour Solidarity Fund and Capital regional et coopérative Desjardins, would invest in companies involved in Plan Nord, the Liberal project to exploit resources in Quebec’s North.

These would include mining, energy and forestry firms, and companies that provide services and supplies for them. This investment would be eligible for a retirement savings plan (RRSP) or a tax-free savings account (TFSA).

This plan is part of Charest’s economic development platform, which has been the main focus of his campaign. He said $30 billion in projects have been announced in Plan Nord. The Liberals are aiming for $80 billion in total investments over 25 years, with $5.5 billion predicted to return to the provincial purse.

Natural resource battle only beginning – by Jason Fekete (Saskatoon Star Phoenix – August 4, 2012)

August 7, 2012

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

British Columbia’s brawl with Alberta over the Northern Gateway pipeline and refusal to sign a national energy strategy may be harbingers of battles to come over natural resource developments that are driving the Canadian economy but drawing unprecedented criticism for their environmental impacts.

The petroleum, forestry, mining and electricity sectors are expected to generate hundreds of billions of dollars of investment and hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs across Canada over the next few decades.

The northern Alberta oilsands, British Columbia’s lucrative shale gas plays, petroleum and potash in Saskatchewan, the Ring of Fire mineral deposit in Northern Ontario, Quebec’s massive Plan Nord resource project and offshore petroleum riches in the Arctic and Atlantic Canada — all are part of the country’s eye popping resource bounty.

The Harper government has already identified natural resource development as a priority, and recently announced sweeping changes to expedite approvals and allow it to make final decisions on pipeline projects deemed in the national interest.

New [Quebec/Cree] accord hailed as model for first nations negotiations – Montreal Gazette Editorial (Vancouver Sun – August 2, 2012)

August 7, 2012

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

Guest editorial from the Montreal Gazette

Matthew Coon Come has proven himself to be no pushover when it comes to defending the interests of his people.

Grand chief of Quebec’s Grand Council of the Crees and a former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, he has been an outspoken activist in the assertion of aboriginal rights, gaining an international reputation for his efforts in the process.

Therefore it was saying something when Coon Come effusively hailed as a landmark achievement the agreement signed last week between the Quebec government and the Cree Grand Council on resource development, land management and regional governance in the James Bay territory.

The deal covers an area of 330,000 square kilometres, roughly the size of Italy. As a result of it, the municipality of James Bay will cease to exist and be replaced by a regional authority jointly governed by aboriginal and non-aboriginal residents of the territory.

Plan Nord investments carry big risk – by Kevin Dougherty (Montreal Gazette – April 25, 2012)

August 7, 2012

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

The provincial government will spend a billion dollars over the next five years, but the viability of the project remains a question

After two decades of keeping a low profile in the province’s mining sector, the Quebec government is coming back strong, giving itself a lead role in Premier Jean Charest’s Plan Nord to develop the mineral and other resources of northern Quebec.

Ressources Québec, a new state investment arm, is being entrusted with $1 billion in the next five years to invest in Plan Nord mining ventures and future oil and gas plays through a fund called Capital Mines Hydrocarbures. It will be headed by Jacques Daoust, who remains president and CEO of the expanded Investissement Québec.

With growing interest in Quebec’s deposits of iron ore, nickel, rare earths, gold and even diamonds, the province has increased its mining royalties.

And to aid mining and mineral processing, Quebec will pay $30 million toward a study on extending Gaz Métro’s natural gas distribution network to Sept Îles, a major Plan Nord hub. Quebec is also supporting a proposed new $5 billion rail link from Sept Îles north to the new mining zone, to be built by CN and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Sleeping giant awakened in Sept Îles – by Leo Ryan (Montreal Gazette – April 25, 2012)

August 7, 2012

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

Dramatic increase in domestic and foreign investment in iron-ore projects fuelling port’s renaissance

A Klondike-type fever is gripping this port city facing a spectacular, semi-circular bay located more than 900 kilometres east of Montreal on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River. The great catalyst, however, is not gold but a dramatic increase in domestic and foreign investments in iron ore projects, notably with a view to supplying the vital commodity for steel mills in China.

In short, in this relatively remote area of Quebec, a sleeping giant has awakened – signalling the ascension in the near future of Sept Îles as Canada’s second-biggest port after Vancouver in terms of volume. It is already the leading mineral port in North America.

Money is pouring from steel producers into the substantial, still-unexploited iron ore deposits in what geologists identified long ago as the Labrador Trough centred on Schefferville, nearly 800 kms north and connected to Sept Îles by a single rail line.

It all symbolizes a virtual economic renaissance following a long period of decline ushered in by mine closures in Schefferville in the 1980s and a collapse in demand from world markets.