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Saskatchewan Mining

MARS making claims staking easier, cheaper – by Bruce Johnstone (Regina Leader-Post – November 20, 2013)

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

Old method was costing too much

For mining companies in Saskatchewan, going to MARS can save them thousands of dollars and weeks, if not months, of waiting for their mineral claims to be processed.

The Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan, or MARS for short, has handled mineral claims covering three million hectares since its inception nearly a year ago. That’s a 40-per cent increase over the old paper-based mineral claims staking system, which dates back to the late 19th century.

“The MARS system has made the issuing and managing of our mineral claims and leases much more timely and efficient, making our mineral sector even more competitive and attractive to investors,” Energy and Resources Minister Tim McMillan said in a news release Tuesday.

Since MARS was implemented Dec. 1, 2012, the staking rate in the province has multiplied by a factor of five.

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Aboriginal group’s planned potash mine looks to markets to India – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – November 16, 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.

A First Nations group in Saskatchewan is in talks to sell potash to the Indian government, a move that would help vault the aboriginal group into the fertilizer industry and transform its economy.

The Muskowekwan First Nation sits on 25,000 hectares of land in the southeastern part of Saskatchewan where big North American fertilizer producers Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Mosaic Co. are already operating mines.

Owning the land could make it easier for the First Nation group to build the mine and give the aboriginal group an advantage over other entrepreneurs hoping to get into the fertilizer business as demand increases from growing economies in Asia.

“It’s not easy to find a project with one land owner,” said Reginald Bellerose, the chief for the Muskowekwan First Nation. But the group has some big hurdles to clear before the mine would become a reality. One is finding financing for the $3-billion project.

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Saskatchewan: the place to be [Mining and Oil] (Regina Leader-Post – November 13, 2013)

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

When it was announced in late September that Saskatchewan’s population had surpassed 1.1 million for the first time ever, Premier Brad Wall was quick to offer comment, and understandably so. According to the figures from Statistics Canada, the province had added 100,000 people since 2007. At the time of the announcement, it had grown by 6,895 in the preceding quarter-the largest increase in any quarter since Statistics Canada began keeping quarterly estimates.

“Saskatchewan is the place to be in Canada right now,” Wall said. “We have the strongest job growth and lowest unemployment in Canada, and we have a great quality of life in this province. “It’s a great place to find a job or start a business. It’s a great place to live and raise a family. It’s no wonder our population is growing.”

Such a statement is not hyperbolic. There are approximately 100,000 new Saskatchewan residents who apparently agree with Wall’s assessment of where their fortunes are potentially brightest. It’s one of the fastest and most sustained periods of population growth the province has experienced in living memory, and the latest signs of a sea change for a province that once saw its residents, its investment dollars and its economic fortunes trickle across its borders to other jurisdictions.

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Saskatchewan Premier presses Ottawa for Asian free-trade deals – by Iain Marlow (Globe and Mail – October 29, 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.

TORONTO — In late September, a Shanghai-bound cargo ship left the port of Seattle bearing containers stuffed with drums of uranium concentrate dug from a Saskatchewan mine, the first ever shipment of Canadian-sourced uranium concentrate to China.

For Cameco Corp., the Saskatoon-based mining giant behind the shipment, the demand from China, the world’s fastest-growing nuclear energy market, has translated into two agreements struck in 2010. Those deals, combined with subsequent accords, are worth about $3-billion.

Increasing shipments to Asia, such as Cameco’s, helped push the prairie province’s exports to $32.6-billion earlier this year, surpassing British Columbia for the first time, according to Statistics Canada. That made Saskatchewan Canada’s fourth-largest provincial exporter.

Premier Brad Wall, who was in Toronto on Monday to speak to a business lunch at the Shangri-La hotel, used Cameco as an example and said much of the province’s success is a result of seeking out emerging markets and cultivating ties with countries such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

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Cartel collapse hits Potash Corp., prompting mining giant to cut outlook – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – October 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.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. has cut its profit outlook for this year due to weak demand after the breakup of a Russian-Belarussian potash cartel sent prices of fertilizer tumbling.

The Saskatoon-based company, the world’s biggest potash producer, said on Thursday it would now earn between $2 to $2.20 a share this year, down from its previous forecast of between $2.45 and $2.70 per share.

The weaker forecast from Potash Corp. reflects difficulty the industry faces following the Belarus Potash Co. breakup in July. Russia’s OAO Uralkali withdrew from a partnership it had with rival Belarus’s Belaruskali, dismantling one of the two marketing alliances established to sell potash to the world.

The Belarus joint venture and its North American counterpart, Canpotex Ltd., controlled 70 per cent of the potash market before the breakup and therefore could influence the price and global supply of fertilizer. Potash does not trade on any public markets, leaving price formation almost entirely up to producers of the product and their customers.

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NEWS RELEASE: Steelworkers Question Uranium Changes in Canada-EU Deal

TORONTO, Oct. 22, 2013 /CNW/ – The Conservative government must come clean on reports that the European Union trade deal will remove foreign-ownership limits from Canada’s uranium industry, says the United Steelworkers (USW), Canada’s largest union of uranium miners.

“We ask the federal government to clarify how this trade deal will affect foreign ownership of Canadian uranium mines,” said Ken Neumann, USW’s National Director for Canada.

“The lack of transparency about this important issue begs the question of what other controversial policy changes are hidden in this agreement. Canadians need to see the full text before our governments sign onto it,” Neumann said.

Last Thursday the federal government released a 44-page summary of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that features the word “transparent” 15 times, but does not mention the word “uranium.”

However, the Saskatchewan government issued a press release Friday that stated: “The new agreement will also ease Canadian restrictions on EU investment, including in the uranium mining sector.”

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‘New day’ for Canada’s uranium market as free trade deal pushes industry past Cold War era – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 22, 2013)

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

More than 20 years after the Cold War ended, Saskatchewan’s uranium sector is finally moving past it.

Following years of lobbying from Premier Brad Wall, the federal government has agreed to strike down foreign ownership restrictions on uranium mining in its proposed free trade deal with Europe. It opens the door for eager foreign companies like Areva SA and Rio Tinto Ltd. to make much larger investments in Saskatchewan’s uranium-rich Athabasca Basin.

“From the moment we were elected [in 2007], we’ve been working with the federal government on this,” Mr. Wall said in an interview. “In terms of uranium mining, it’s certainly a new day.”

The investment restrictions have been in place since 1970, when Ottawa introduced the non-residential ownership policy (or NROP). The law prevents foreign companies from owning more than 49% of a uranium mine in Canada, unless they cannot find a Canadian partner. It is a direct result of Cold War-era concerns about nuclear proliferation, and has looked increasingly dated in the years since then. Saskatchewan is the only province with producing uranium mines, so it is the only one affected by the law.

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K+S potash mine project progressing on time and on budget – by Bruce Johnstone (Regina Leader Post – October 7, 2013)

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

Project near Bethune set to begin production in 2017

It looks more like a big oil discovery than a multi-billion-dollar mining project, but Saskatchewan’s first new potash mine in 40 years is taking shape and set to begin production in 2017, according to the head of K+S’s $4-billion Legacy mine project.

“We’re right on track, in terms of not only schedule, but budget,” said Sam Farris, vice-president and general manager of operations for K+S’s Legacy mine project.

The reason the Legacy project looks like a hot oil play is the presence of not one, but two, big drilling rigs on the gently rolling prairie just north of Buffalo Pound Lake. “They’re not much different than a conventional oil rig,” said Farris. In fact, the drilling rigs being used by K+S are oil drilling rigs operated by Akita Drilling Ltd. Instead of oil, however, K+S plans to produce a briny mixture composed of potash, salt and water from three different potash formations about 1,500 metres below the surface. That salty solution will be crystallized to form the “mother liquor” that will later be processed into three different potash products.

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Potash sector struggles with excess capacity – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 7, 2013)

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

Ten years ago, when Bill Doyle embarked on one of the biggest production expansion programs in the history of the potash business, there was an obvious rationale: the global population is rising, and the world has limited arable land to grow crops. More potash will be needed.

A decade later, that thesis remains as true as ever. But the logic of the expansion is not so obvious. The shareholders of Mr. Doyle’s company, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., cannot help but think about two key numbers: nine and 17.

Nine million tonnes is Potash Corp.’s anticipated production level in 2013. Thanks to those expansion projects, its capacity will be 17.1 million tonnes by 2015. Even this year, Potash Corp.’s production will not come close to its capacity of 12.8 million tonnes. So what will it do with 17?

It is fair to say that this is not the scenario Mr. Doyle envisioned when he greenlighted the $8.3-billion expansion a decade ago. If even some of that money was returned to shareholders instead, they would have been ecstatic. It has led some onlookers to suggest that Potash Corp. and other producers, which are also ramping up production, have expanded too far and too fast, costing themselves pricing power.

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Farm and Food: Potash market isn’t for sissies – by Alan Guebert (Journal Star.com – October 5, 2013)

http://journalstar.com/ [Lincoln, Nebraska]

There are two reasons to keep up to speed on the fast pace of events in what would seem to be the very dull world of potash.

The first is that the key players in this once tightly controlled market continue to lose their grip on it. According to analysts, prices for this key fertilizer will continue to drop — to nearly $300 per ton, some say — through the end of 2013.

If they’re right, that’s more than $100 a ton less than a year ago and a gargantuan $600 to $700 per ton below the record price of five years ago.

In short, go long potash; it’s the best time in years to buy it and apply it. The second reason to pay attention to the potash market is that, in truth, you can’t take your eyes off of what quickly is turning into a Russian version of an American soap opera.

Nine weeks ago the Russian-Belarusian potash cartel, a rocky twosome composed of Russia’s Uralkali and Belarus’ Belaruskali, parted company when the Russians simply called their marriage off.

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Cameco, Sierra Club face off over uranium licences – by Canadian Press/CBC News Saskatchewan (October 04, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/sask/

An environmental group is raising pollution concerns about Cameco’s uranium mining in northern Saskatchewan to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. But Cameco says the Sierra Club’s allegations that it massively exceeded regulatory limits are false.

The commission heard from both sides during public hearings that ran Tuesday to Thursday on Cameco’s application to renew its mine and mill licences for its Key Lake, McArthur River and Rabbit Lake facilities.

“The most disturbing thing we discovered in the process of preparing the submission were huge, very huge numbers, in terms of pollution that’s coming from the plant and getting into the environment,” John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said Monday.

“Every kind of pollutant that comes out of them, their numbers are way over the limits and no one’s been enforcing it.” The Sierra Club says that as of 2010, water releases from the Deilmann tailings facility in cadmium exceed the Saskatchewan standard by 5,782 per cent. It says the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment allows Cameco to release water from tailings ponds directly into the environment at Horsefly Lake.

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Cameco seeks longer mine licences – by Jeremy Warren and Scott Larson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – October 2, 2013)

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

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission added a third day to its agenda before it even started public hearings on Cameco’s licence renewals applications for three uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan.

The increased interest in the hearings, which started Tuesday night in La Ronge, meant the commission needed an extra day to accommodate the wide range of arguments it will hear about Cameco’s mining and milling operations at the Key Lake, McArthur River and Rabbit Lake facilities.

The company’s biggest request is for a longer licence period – an increase to 10 years from the current five years – for all three sites. It deserves the increase due to its excellent safety and environmental record, Cameco communications director Gord Struthers said.

“Given the excellent performance of our operations, this is completely appropriate,” he said. “(The commission) is on a trend of granting longer licences.” Struthers said the company would not face less regulatory oversight with an 10-year licence period, but he declined to say how the company might benefit from a longer licence period.

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Potash an essential and versatile commodity – by Andrew Livingston (Regina Leader-Post – September 28, 2013)

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

Potash mines are a common sight in Saskatchewan, and most residents are well aware that the industry commands billions of dollars on the global market and is an important component of the province’s economy. Less obvious, however, are its origins and its uses, which range from the biological to the chemical.

The term “potash” refers to not one, but several potassium compounds and potassium-bearing materials that contain water-soluble potassium. It is so named for the pre-industrial practice of using large, iron pots to collect potassium evaporated from wood ash. Eventually, the term would be applied to both naturally-occurring potassium salts and the substances produced through the industrial extraction and refinement of those salts.

Potassium is a metal, and an extremely active one at that. When ignited, it burns with a purple hue and, when introduced in its pure form into the atmosphere, it reacts violently with any oxygen and water that it encounters. Its interaction with water is particularly dramatic, creating corrosive potassium hydroxide and leaving free hydrogen atoms to react with other molecules.

Stable potassium salts were infused into the soil of this province beginning roughly 544 million years ago, between the Cambrian and Mississippian periods.

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Potash prices fluctuate with supply and demand – by Robyn Tocker (Regina Leader-Post – September 28, 2013)

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

Potash is one of Saskatchewan’s -and the world’s – most important minerals and, because of this, people watch carefully when the price fluctuates. Doug Elliott, the publisher of Sask Trends Monitor explained that, as with all commodities, the price of potash is a function of supply and demand. If there is an excess of demand or a shortage of supply, the prices go up.

The reverse is true as well – if demand falls off or the supply increases, prices will fall. Unlike most other minerals, potash is sold through several groups (known as marketing agencies or cartels) that try to manage supply and demand thereby controlling the price. “These [cartels] that try to manage the price have only some success,” said Elliott.

The long-term outlook for potash is positive. “The population of the world is growing and potash is important as a fertilizer to help grow more food for the expanding population. This will increase demand and help keep the prices high,” Elliott said. In terms of the short term, Elliott expects to see the price for potash to turn downward possibly to as low as $300 per tonne by the spring. He explained this could happen because of the recent collapse of one of the marketing agencies in Russia and Belarus.

When asked about BHP Billiton and its expansion plans for Jansen Potash Project, Elliott said it demonstrates that the company has a long-term view of potash’s future.

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Potash in our province – by Lori Wiens (Regina Leader-Post – September 28, 2013)

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

Potash mines 14 billion $investment in Saskatchewan

Potash has brought billions of dollars of investment to the province and is a fundamental part of the Saskatchewan economy, according to the minister responsible for energy and resources, Tourism Saskatchewan, and trade. “The current expansions at the existing potash mines have created almost $14 billion of investment in our province,” said Tim McMillan, whose portfolio falls under the ministry of the economy. “Many of those are completed, some are underway and some are still in the planning stages.”

He said the provincial government is also excited to see new mines being built for the first time in four decades. “For a lot of years, the policy choices were not conducive to development,” explained McMillan. “In fact, the CEO of K + S Potash has said they were upset for years about the way they were treated in Saskatchewan, but today they recognize our province is the best place in the world to do business. They are now investing $4 billion to develop the first new mine in Saskatchewan since the early 1970s.”

The intense focus on potash has been a welcome development for Saskatchewan, according to McMillan. “Ten years ago, potash was a sleepy commodity,” he said. “Now it is in the news on a regular basis.”

He attributes global interest to the demand for food as the world’s population continues to rise. “Countries like China and India, which have ever-increasing standards of living, want access to higher quality food,” he said.

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