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Quebec Mining

Birth of a gold major [Osisko Mining] – Peter Koven (National Post – May 30, 2011)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper. Peter Koven is the Post’s mining reporter. This article was originally published in the Financial Post on May 30, 2011. pkoven@nationalpost.com

By 2006, Osisko Mining Corp. knew it had a major gold discovery near the town of Malartic in northwest Quebec. But it also had a serious problem.

“Everything was fine and dandy with the drilling, except that when you were standing by the drill, you could throw a rock at the closest house,” chief executive Sean Roosen recalls.

Five years later, Osisko is hosting an opening ceremony for the Canadian Malartic gold mine on Monday. It will be the biggest gold mine in Canada once it reaches full production, with an estimated 625,000 ounces of gold output a year for the first five years. And as the project starts generating major cash flow, Osisko will enter the big leagues of Canada’s mining sector.

But getting here hasn’t been easy. Mr. Roosen remembers almost losing the company following the financial crisis in 2008. And there was that little matter of the town being in the way of the mine.

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Quebec to Spend Billions to Develop Resources in Northern Regions- by Ian Austen (New York Times – May 10, 2011)

 www.nytimes.com

OTTAWA — Quebec province, anticipating renewed interest in its natural resources, rolled out on Monday an ambitious 25-year plan to develop its vast but largely untouched northern and Arctic regions.

The region is well endowed with mineral resources, woodlands and potential hydroelectric developments, but it lacks the roads, railways, ports, communications links and other infrastructure necessary for their exploitation.

The plan initially commits the province to spending 2.1 billion Canadian dollars ($2.2 billion). It also calls for a variety of measures, including the establishment of an investment fund, which Quebec hopes will initially lead to the development of at least 11 mines and ultimately produce overall investment of 80 billion Canadian dollars.

While the proposed project, known as Plan Nord, includes banning any industrial activity in a large portion of the mainly pristine region, the program has the potential to put the province at odds with environmentalists. Similarly, while consultations are already under way between the province and the area’s large native Canadian population, the development of their traditional lands may pose potential political difficulties.

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[Quebec] Mining’s future looks bright – by Robert Gibbons (Montreal Gazette – April 27, 2011)

www.montrealgazette.com

Quebec is embarking on expansion driven by growth in Asia-Pacific region and Latin America

Quebec’s mining industry may well be on the cusp of historic long-term expansion, despite fears that surging commodity markets may stumble with a slowdown in China’s growth, the Japanese nuclear crisis, North African and Mid-East turmoil and Europe’s debt.

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney thinks the global commodity boom will continue for many years, though with plenty of volatility on the way, based on economic expansion in the Asia-Pacific region and in Latin America.

And Rio Tinto Group CEO Tom Albanese, leader of one of the world’s top three mining firms and frequent visitor to China, outlines the main driving force for higher base metals and iron ore prices:

About 2.5 billion Asians are yearning after more cars, refrigerators, roads, bridges and infrastructure, communications, aircraft and homes, absorbing lots more steel, copper, zinc and many other metals. India and other populous Asian countries are urbanizing on the Chinese model and adding to the pressure.

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[Canada] Mining: Miracle on the St. Lawrence – by Brian Dunn (Canadian Business Magazine – May 9, 2011)

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-publishing business magazine in Canada.

Sept-Îles is booming, and the numbers are there to prove it. The mining community of 30,000 on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, some 960 kilometres from Montreal, added 5,200 new jobs last year, for an impressive 10.7% increase in employment, the best in Quebec. Based on its population, the 5,200 new jobs is equivalent to Montreal adding 105,000 new jobs, where only 30,000 were created last year.

A lot of the credit for this growth goes to Serge Lévesque, Sept-Îles mayor since November 2009. He knows the region lives or dies on the fortunes of the mining industry, having worked for both the Iron Ore Co. of Canada and Aluminerie Alouette Inc., a global aluminum industry leader.

In early April, Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal and its South African partner, Iron Mineral Beneficiation Services Pty. Ltd. (IMBS) announced they were conducting a feasibility study for the construction of a $1-billion iron-ore processing plant in Sept-Îles that could create up to 500 new jobs in the area.

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The grand plan for Quebec’s North – by Barrie McKenna (Globe and Mail – May 11, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

Reality Check: The $80-billion plan comes with few details; much of that money is already committed, or expected to come from the private sector

Think of Jean Charest’s $80-billion Plan Nord strategy as a bridge between resource development and the 33,000 aboriginal people of the North. The Quebec Premier is betting aboriginal groups will buy into development if they see tangible benefits. So he’s promising to pump taxes and new higher mining royalties into roads, airports, housing, health care and education, including $1.6-billion between 2011 and 2016 (average: $326-million a year).

But details on much of the $80-billion, 25-year plan is either murky or already committed. More than half the money comes from already planned or proposed Hydro-Québec projects ($47-billion). Private investment in mining and government-financed infrastructure make up the rest.

Transportation

Quebec has four northern ports, 26 airports, 1,200 kilometres of rail tracks and 51,000 kilometres of logging roads. The province is vowing to integrate the region’s ports, airports and roads into a more cohesive network. The first phase of that work includes $821-million worth of road expansions.

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Canada’s Quebec launches big mining expansion plan – Mining Weekly.com/Reuters (May 10, 2011)

Mining Weekly is South Africa’s premier source of weekly news on mining developments in Africa’s most important industry. Mining Weekly provides in-depth coverage of mining projects and the personalities reshaping the mining industry. In order to advance Mining Weekly’s objective of positioning itself as a leading global provider of mining news, a full-time correspondent is based in Toronto, Canada and another in Perth, Australia. 

TORONTO – The Canadian province of Quebec plans to develop its huge frozen northern reaches into a powerhouse of mining and renewable energy, targeting C$80 billion ($83 billion) of private and public investment.

Quebec’s 25-year “Plan Nord,” launched on Monday, envisages funding for infrastructure, mines and the development of renewable energy, taking advantage of an improving investment climate as the earth warms and polar ice melts.

Quebec says the region has abundant deposits of nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, zinc, iron ore, ilmenite, gold, lithium, vanadium and rare-earth metals. “Northern Quebec has incomparable mining potential,” Natural Resources Minister Serge Simard said in a release.

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Quebec plans $80-billion investment in northern development – by Rheal Sequin (Globe and Mail – May 10, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

Premier Jean Charest has unveiled an ambitious multibillion-dollar plan to develop Quebec’s remote northern region, creating a legacy project that he hopes will generate a new source of revenue for the cash-strapped province.

The economic proposal, Plan Nord, involves a region north of the 49th parallel that is twice the size of France and covers more than 70 per cent of the province’s territory.

The proposal involves $80-billion in public and private investment over the next 25 years, Mr. Charest said. In return, he said, it will generate an estimated $14-billion in revenue over the same period and contribute $162-billion to the province’s gross domestic product.

“What we are unveiling here is Quebec’s future,” Mr. Charest said. “On the political level, this is one of the best moments in my life. This is one of the reasons I got involved in politics.”

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QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Decision-making Hinges on the Protection of the Environment, Ecosystems and Biodiversity

Québec, May 9, 2011 –  “The environmental component is at the forefront of concerns linked to the approach adopted under the Plan Nord. Accordingly, the protection of the environment, ecosystems and northern biodiversity will be central to all decision-making,” Québec Premier Jean Charest noted.

Under the Plan Nord, the government is committed to setting aside 50% of the northern territory for purposes other than industrial ones, environmental protection and safeguarding biodiversity. A vast network of protected areas that accounts for 12% of the area of the territory that the Plan Nord covers will be created by 2015.

“We have adopted an unprecedented approach to protect and develop Québec’s outstanding northern heritage. This vast natural territory has extensive, varied fauna and flora along with often untapped wealth. We are proud to guarantee the long-term survival of this heritage and ensure that it is offered to current and future generations,” added Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks Pierre Arcand.

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QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Ensure Community well-being and Development

Québec, May 9, 2011 –  “The enhancement of living conditions in Aboriginal and local communities is a key concern under the Plan Nord. For this reason, we have made provision for initiatives in the realms of education, manpower, housing, health and social services, and culture, to foster community well-being and development,” Premier Jean Charest said.

“The North has abundant, varied resources, but its principal asset is its population, noteworthy for its youth and desire to develop its environment. The populations in the territory that the Plan Nord covers are young and make up a substantial labour pool. Our government believes that it is necessary to rely on occupational training to guarantee their social and economic development,” added Minister responsible for Native Affairs Geoffrey Kelley.

The gouvernement du Québec’s 2011-2016 action plan to implement the Plan Nord makes provision for investments totalling $1.6 billion. Of this amount, $382 million will be earmarked for essentially social measures, especially in the realms of housing, health, education, culture and the reduction in the cost of living.

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QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Establishment of the Société du Plan Nord and $2.1 billion in investments over five years

Québec, May 9, 2011 –  “The Plan Nord is ambitious. Its implementation will necessitate essential investments to facilitate access to the territory and enhance the quality of life of its inhabitants.  The new business model developed in respect of projects under the Plan Nord has unquestionably altered the manner in which Québec will fund infrastructure and public services. Starting today, construction and maintenance costs will be shared throughout the infrastructure’s useful life by businesses, the communities concerned, the gouvernement du Québec and other users,” Québec Premier Jean Charest noted.

Establishment of the Société du Plan Nord

The government is announcing that it will establish through legislation the Société du Plan Nord to carry out projects and coordinate all of the investments. The government corporation will oversee the public investments in the social and transportation infrastructure sectors.

Moreover, the corporation will establish direct ties with businesses and local and Aboriginal communities to support their projects. “Partnerships between the private and public sectors and the communities will seek to satisfy several uses. Accordingly, transportation, energy and telecommunications infrastructure can be built to afford access to a new mining camp and also provide access to trapping lands, outfitting operations and other tourist infrastructure. In this way, the development of the North will rely on integrated planning and become a model of sustainable development,” Minister Normandeau added.

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QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Harness Northern Québec’s Enormous Economic Potential

Québec, May 9, 2011 –  “The Plan Nord, one of the biggest projects in Québec’s history, seeks to shape and develop a new economic space with enormous potential. Through its scope and the extent of its spinoff, the Plan Nord will benefit all regions of Québec and all sectors of our economy,” Québec Premier Jean Charest said.

“By advocating the adoption of concrete measures to responsibly develop the vast territory’s economic potential, the Plan Nord will facilitate the sustainable development of energy, forest, mining, wildlife, tourism and bio-food resources. It will foster business investment that ensures Quebecers’ prosperity,” Minister responsible for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region and the Nord-du-Québec region Pierre Corbeil added.

It should be noted that the Plan Nord will be implemented over 25 years and lead, during that time, to $80 billion in investments. It will create or consolidate, on average, 20 000 jobs a year in addition to engendering $14 billion in revenues for the government and Québec society.

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QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord – “The Plan Nord is the project of a generation” – Jean Charest

Québec, May 9, 2011 –  Québec Premier Jean Charest, Deputy Premier, Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife and Minister responsible for the Plan Nord Nathalie Normandeau, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Minister responsible for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region and the Nord-du-Québec region Pierre Corbeil, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks Pierre Arcand, Minister responsible for Native Affairs Geoffrey Kelley, and Minister for Natural Resources and Wildlife and Minister responsible for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region and the Côte-Nord region Serge Simard today launched the Plan Nord, one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in Québec and the project of a generation. The Plan Nord first offered a perspective of sustainable development in Québec and is now one of the biggest economic, social and environmental development projects in Québec’s history.

“The Plan Nord will be carried out over 25 years and engender investments of over $80 billion. It will create or consolidate 20 000 jobs a year, on average, and generate $14 billion in revenue for the government and Québec society. The economic spinoff and social development stemming from the Plan Nord will enhance the living conditions of northern populations. Through the needs for manpower, knowledge and expertise that it engenders, its benefits will be felt throughout Québec. The Plan Nord will be to the coming decades what the development of La Manicouagan and James Bay was to the 1960s and 1970s,” Premier Charest said.

A unique approach

The Plan Nord is one of the most ambitious projects that Québec has undertaken. The approach adopted is equally ambitious. Since January 2010, a number of Aboriginal and local communities have worked together. Over 60 meetings were held of sectorial and consensus-building working groups in which over 450 people participated. Through its representative, participatory approach, the Plan Nord will be a unique model of sustainable development that reconciles social and economic development and environmental protection.

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Governments should fund railroad to Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining camp – by Stan Sudol

Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway at the turn of the last century

This column was published in the March 17, 2011 issue of Northern Life.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant who writes extensively on mining issues. stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

“In the next 25 years, demand for metals could meet or exceed what we have used
since the beginning of the industrial revolution. By way of illustration, China needs to
build three cities larger than Sydney or Toronto every year until 2030 to accommodate
rural to urban growth.” (John McGagh, Rio Tinto – Head of Innovation)

Commodity Super Cycle is Back

The commodity super cycle is back, and with a vengeance. China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and many other developing economies are continuing their rapid pace of industrialization and urbanization. In 2010, China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy and surpassed the United States to become the biggest producer of cars.

During a recent speech in Calgary, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada remarked, “Commodity markets are in the midst of a supercycle. …Rapid urbanization underpins this growth. Since 1990, the number of people living in cities in China and India has risen by nearly 500 million, the equivalent of housing the entire population of Canada 15 times over. …Even though history teaches that all booms are finite, this one could go on for some time.”

At the annual economics conference in Davos, Switzerland, held last January – where the most respected world leaders in politics, economics and academia gather – the consensus was one of enormous global prosperity predicting that, “For only the third time since the Industrial Revolution, the world may be entering a long-term growth cycle that will lift all economies simultaneously…”

John McGagh, head of innovation, at Rio Tinto – the world’s third largest mining company – has said, “In the next 25 years, demand for metals could meet or exceed what we have used since the beginning of the industrial revolution. By way of illustration, China needs to build three cities larger than Sydney or Toronto every year until 2030 to accommodate rural to urban growth. This equates to the largest migration of population from rural to urban living in the history of mankind.”

The isolated Ring of Fire mining camp, located in the James Bay lowlands of Ontario’s far north, is one of the most exciting and possibly the richest new Canadian mineral discovery made in over a generation. It has been compared to both the Sudbury Basin and the Abitibi Greenstone belt, which includes Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Noranda and Val d’Or.

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Commentary on Mining Watch: Ring of Fire Report – by Stan Sudol

  

Map Courtsey KWG

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant who writes extensively about the mining industry. stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

“In the next 25 years, demand for metals could meet or exceed what we have used
since the beginning of the industrial revolution. By way of illustration, China needs to
build three cities larger than Sydney or Toronto every year until 2030 to accommodate
rural to urban growth. This equates to the largest migration of population from rural to
urban living in the history of mankind.” (John McGagh, Rio Tinto – Head of Innovation)

Mining Watch Reputation 

Mining Watch was established in 1999 in response to the actions of Canadian exploration companies operating in Latin America and other jurisdictions in the developing world.

As stated on their website, “MiningWatch Canada … addresses the urgent need for a co-ordinated public interest response to the threats to public health, water and air quality, fish and wildlife habitat and community interests posed by irresponsible mineral policies and practices in Canada and around the world.”

In contrast to many in the mining sector I find a few of Mining Watch’s criticism’s legitimate and they have worked cooperatively with the industry in Ontario. In 2008, Mining Watch in conjunction with the Ontario Mining Association supported the amendment of the Ontario Mining Act that enabled companies to voluntarly rehabilitation mine sites even thought they had no legal requirments to do so. 

Recently, Mining Watch has issued a report titled, “Economic analysis of the Ring of Fire chromite mining play”. It was written by former Sudbury resident and well-known social activist Joan Kuyek. While the report covers a wide range of topics, I would like to focus on some important issues that have been downplayed or omitted, primarily the current state of mining, geo-politics and a history of enormous wealth creation from the mineral sector due to government infrastructure support. 

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NEWS RELEASE: Canada maintains number-two spot for exploration in 2010

Metals Economics Group’s 21st Corporate Exploration Strategies study

U.S. dollar currency is used throughout this press release

Worldwide nonferrous exploration budgets by region, 2010
(more than 2,200 companies’ budgets, totaling US$11.5 billion)

(Note: The annual budget totals for Canada, Australia, and the United States
are typically much larger than those of most other countries; as a result,
MEG treats these countries as individual regions in its CES studies.)

Vancouver, British Columbia, January 24, 2011 – Canada maintained the regional number-two spot for planned exploration spending in 2010, attracting 19% of worldwide nonferrous exploration allocations. According to Metals Economics Group’s Corporate Exploration Strategies (CES), Canada has held second place for nine years since overtaking Australia in 2002. (Metals Economics Group’s study covers expenditures for precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium, and some industrial minerals; it specifically excludes iron ore, aluminum, coal, and oil and gas.)

Four provinces—Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia—accounted for more than three-quarters of the $2.2 billion in planned Canadian nonferrous exploration spending in 2010. Of the 710 companies that planned to explore in Canada in 2010, 90% were based in Canada, together contributing 79% of the planned Canadian nonferrous exploration total. Worldwide, Canadian-based companies accounted for more than half of the 2,200+ active explorers covered by the 2010 edition of CES, and together accounted for 41% of the 2010 global exploration budget total.

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