Republic of Mining

MEDIA RELEASE: FIRST NATION CHIEFS OPPOSE NORONT’S PURCHASE OF CLIFFS’ ASSETS IN THE RING OF FIRE

April 11, 2015April 10, 2015

Aroland First Nation

Marten Falls First Nation

Marten Falls First Nation, Ontario – April 10, 2015. The Chiefs of Marten Falls First Nation and Aroland First Nation re-affirmed today their opposition to Noront Resources’ proposed purchase of Cliffs Natural Resources’ chromite assets.

Interim Chief Bruce Achneepineskum of Marten Falls First Nation and Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation met for two days this week with their advisors at a Bay Street law office in Toronto to review the status of the proposed Noront purchase of Cliffs chromite assets in the Ring of Fire. The Cliffs assets are in Marten Falls’ traditional territory. The proposed North-South corridor, which is essential to haul ore
out of the Ring of Fire, is in the traditional territory of both First Nations.

“With Noront’s announcement that it is trying to acquire the Cliffs assets, our First Nations have effectively been denied a real opportunity to benefit from key resources in our lands on our terms,” said Chief Gagnon. “This unilateral move by Noront is unacceptable to our First Nations.”

“We oppose this old way of thinking about mining and trampling on First Nation rights,” said Interim Chief Achneepineskum. “The world has changed.

Aboriginal Leader Says Consult or Risk Canada Resource Gains – by Greg Quinn (Bloomberg News – April 10, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Canada’s top aboriginal leader warned that the country’s push for resource projects will be bogged down in legal and political strife unless governments consult more on revenue sharing and environmental protection.

“People won’t invest in Canada if there is instability, if there is no partnership with indigenous peoples,” Perry Bellegarde, leader of the Assembly of First Nations, said Wednesday in an interview at Bloomberg’s Ottawa office. He said disputes over resource rights with aboriginals will affect most of the estimated C$675 billion ($536 billion) of projects over the next decade.

Aboriginal power is growing, as was shown in recent court victories involving land-claim issues and the Idle No More street protests that began about two years ago, said Bellegarde, who in December was elected to head the group representing about 900,000 people in 634 communities. Leaders of Canada’s First Nations will choose from a range of political and legal “alternatives” if the government continues to fail to “consult and accommodate” aboriginals, he said.

“So how do you stop that? Check your political strategy, check your legal strategy, and people will probably get on the land to protect the land,” he said. The pressure will also include more political lobbying in the run-up to the federal election expected in October, Bellegarde said.

The Last Coal Miners of Spain – by Nathaniel Rich (New York Times – April 10, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

oal is on the way out in Europe, and it is dying a slow and ugly death. Its decline has been hastened by competition from the renewable-energy industry, cheaper imported coal from Russia and the United States and new air-quality regulations passed by the European Union. The death throes have been especially violent in Spain, where the national coal-mining industry was created by royal order in 1621 to exploit the coal basin at Villanueva del Rio y Minas in Seville.

In 1990, 167 coal mines employed about 40,000 workers. Today there are roughly 40 active mines, employing fewer than 4,000 miners. The struggling industry has long been supported by state subsidies, but under a recent E.U. agreement, all subsidies must expire by 2018.

When the government issued heavy reductions to the subsidies in 2012, miners responded by holding strikes and sit-ins and by blockading roads, highways and railroad lines. Thousands of them marched to Madrid, some walking 250 miles. When they arrived on the night of July 11, 2012, they were joined by more than 10,000 additional protesters, many of whom saw the miners’ fate as a symbol of economic parsimony taken too far.

They fired at the police with slingshots, catapults and rocket launchers. Clashes with the police followed, and the press carried images of women and children with bloodied heads. Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, declined to hold talks with the miners. The following day, he announced new austerity measures.

[South Africa] Mine strikes, outages will add to misery – by Ntsakisi Maswanganyi (Business Day Live – April 10, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

MINING production rose sharply while manufacturing fell in February compared with a year ago, according to Statistics SA data released on Thursday.

The trend has been attributed to low base effects. The two sectors make up a large share of gross domestic product and the latest data suggest economic growth got off to a slow start this year.

The Manufacturing Circle, which represents the majority of producers in SA, said the figures were concerning. Electricity outages and looming strikes in the public sector and gold mines would add more misery in coming months, Manufacturing Circle executive director Coenraad Bezuidenhout said.

A public servants’ strike would hit manufacturers through lower demand for products, Mr Bezuidenhout said. “And a strike at gold mining would be even more concerning because they supply to manufacturers,” he said.

Wage negotiations between unions representing about 1.3-million public servants and the government are subject to conciliation, while pay talks in the gold and coal sectors are expected to start next month.

Unearthing Nunavut’s mineral potential still a challenge, say industry leaders (Nunatsiaq News – April 9, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Nunavut’s mining future looms large on the horizon — but just how large?

If you ask Sean Boyd, the president and chief executive officer of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., he’ll tell you Nunavut has lots of potential.

But to tap into this potential and be a good mine-builder, you need know-how, persistence and a long-term vision. “We’re very encouraged where we are right now,” Boyd told Nunatsiaq News. “We believe that we have the foundation, whether it’s a mineral deposit, physical infrastructure or people and skills to build a long-term business in Nunavut.”

But how to “unearth the potential” remains the question still facing many participants at the 18th annual Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit April 13 to April 16.

Boyd said last year marked a “turning point” on mineral potential for Agnico Eagle, which owns Nunavut’s sole operating mine, the Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake.

That turning point came with the discovery of the Amaruq deposit, 50 kilometres north of Baker Lake, where in one season of drilling, Agnico Eagle’s exploration team found 1.5 million ounces of gold resources, with double the grade of Meadowbank’s deposits.

Nunavut regulatory org says no to Baffinland – by Lisa Gregoire (Nunatsiaq News – April 9, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Expanded shipping, and ice-breaking, contravenes land use plan: NPC

The Nunavut Planning Commission has chosen to protect Arctic ice — and all it delivers and represents to the people and animals of Nunavut — over industrial development.

In a bold move announced April 8 that will impact how Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. operates its Mary River iron mine in north Baffin, NPC directors have decided unanimously that the mining company’s amended project proposal does not conform to the North Baffin Regional Land Use Plan (NBRLUP).

This is the first time the NPC has ever issued a non-conformity decision. “Ice is an essential part of life in the North. For people, for polar bears, for seals and other animals in the North, ice is a bridge — both metaphorically to the past and present Inuit values and activities, also actually as a fact,” their decision states.

“Ice physically links Inuit to their culture and values.” While commissioners also recognize the need to balance “other modern economic values and development,” it nonetheless decided that Baffinland’s new plan, to break ice and ship ore from Milne Inlet nearly year-round, is incompatible with land use regulations.

Ex-Xstrata CEO Davis Said to Close In on Canada-Based Miners – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Firat Kayakiran (Bloomberg News – April 10, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Mick Davis is considering buying a Toronto-listed mining company as the former Xstrata Plc chief executive officer eyes fresh targets for his $5.6 billion war chest, according to two people familiar with his plans.

A deal in Canada could be a prelude to the bigger acquisition he’s been seeking for some time, the people said, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Davis’s X2 Resources is weighing an eventual bid for South32 Ltd., the miner being spun off next month by BHP Billiton Ltd. that’s been the subject of takeover speculation, they said.

In the meantime, X2 is looking at Canadian companies with copper, coal or nickel mines and is pursuing assets with a value of $500 million to $2.5 billion, said the people. Davis may conclude a deal within six months, the people said.

Hudbay Minerals Inc., Capstone Mining Corp. and Imperial Metals Corp. are among companies that X2 is studying as takeover candidates, according to the people. All three stocks advance in Toronto trading, Hudbay climbing 0.7 percent, Capstone 4.7 percent and Imperial Metals 0.9 percent.

X2, based in London, declined to comment. The switch to smaller mining companies and assets signals a change of tack from X2. The fund has been hunting for assets from the world’s largest miners such as BHP, Anglo American Plc and Vale SA, but has been unable to reach a deal, 18 months after the fund was started.

Indian PM Modi eyes uranium supply deal with Canada – by Steven Chase and Kim MacKrael (Globe and Mail – April 10, 2015)

April 10, 2015

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.

OTTAWA — Canada’s biggest uranium producer is in advanced talks with India on a deal to supply the country of 1.2 billion with fuel for nuclear power plants as Ottawa prepares to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, sources say.

Mr. Modi has made it clear that obtaining a commercial supply of uranium from Canada’s Cameco Corp. is a major goal for him as he gets ready to visit Canada on April 14-16.

“We look forward to resuming our civil nuclear energy cooperation with Canada, especially for sourcing uranium fuel for our nuclear power plants,” the Indian leader posted on his Facebook page late last week.

Nuclear power is at the heart of a rapprochement between India and Canada in recent years. Canada banned exports of uranium and nuclear hardware to India in the 1970s after New Delhi used Canadian technology to develop a nuclear bomb.

The two countries turned the page with a deal that took effect in 2013. The highly symbolic Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement demonstrates that Canada no longer considers India a pariah for what it did in the 1970s.

Barrick shareholders urged to vote ‘no’ on John Thornton’s ‘excessive’ pay – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – April 10, 2015)

April 10, 2015

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.

An influential proxy adviser urged shareholders to oppose Barrick Gold Corp.’s compensation plans, saying it has concerns about chairman John Thornton’s “exorbitant” pay package.

Barrick increased Mr. Thornton’s compensation 36 per cent to $12.9-million (U.S.) for last year, citing his plans to improve the miner’s performance by slashing debt and focusing on its gold assets in the Americas.

“It comes as a considerable surprise that the company has once again decided to reward Mr. Thornton with such a generous pay package,” Glass Lewis & Co. said in a note released ahead of the miner’s annual meeting April 28. “We … consider the ongoing compensation arrangement with its chairman to be excessive and extremely risky, particularly given the company’s track record of exorbitant pay packages for Mr. Thornton,” Glass Lewis said.

A key Barrick shareholder agreed Mr. Thornton’s compensation was inappropriate. “I don’t know why he couldn’t freeze his salary,” said Seymour Schulich, a prominent Canadian businessman who owns 15-million shares of Barrick.

Does the sale of Hydro One assets add up? – by Martin Regg Cohn (Toronto Star – March 30, 2015)

April 10, 2015

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

If cabinet opts to sell off part of the Hydro One transmission network, it will be a live wire.

With cabinet set to huddle soon over privatization, here’s a cheat sheet for ministers listening on the inside. And the rest of us watching from the outside.

All the buzz about booze has drowned out the static over privatizing our publicly owned electricity system. If cabinet opts to sell off part of the Hydro One transmission network, it will be a live wire.

A cabinet decision on expanded beer sales will be easier to swallow: The government is merely liberalizing — not privatizing — the Beer Store, because that quasi-monopoly is already privately owned. That’s why the debate over booze will be largely sociological, not ideological.

But when it comes to electricity, ideology is always an undercurrent. Remember the old Ontario Hydro? In 1906, the Progressive Conservatives had the vision to set up Ontario Hydro as a publicly owned enterprise. A century later, a more myopic PC party dismembered and disowned it, with no discernible benefits.

Labrador West dealt another blow as IOC announces 150 layoffs (CBC News Newfoundland – April 09, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador

Labrador West has been dealt another significant economic blow, with 150 layoff notices going out Thursday to unionized workers with the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

The workers are members of Local 5795 of the United Steelworkers, which represents some 1,400 people at the operation, said president Ron Thomas.

The layoffs come amid a significant drop in commodity prices, and many were expecting cost-cutting measures from the mining giant. IOC is majority owned by Rio Tinto, and employs roughly 2,500 people in Labrador West and Sept-Îles, Que. Labrador City Mayor Karen Oldford said it was a “sad day” for the community, but the number was roughly what the town expected if there were going to be layoffs.

“All we can do is try to work with the families that are going to be affected and hope that the commodity prices will turn around quickly, just as quickly as they went down, in order to try to get people back to work,” she said.

Earlier efforts by the company to cut costs at Labrador City failed, with the union overwhelmingly rejecting a proposed wage freeze in February. There was also very little participation in early retirement incentives.

Editorial: Quebec pushes forward with revived Plan Nord – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – April 8, 2015)

April 10, 2015

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. Editor John Cumming MSc (Geol) is one of the country’s most well respected mining journalists. jcumming@northernminer.com

More meat has been added to the bones of Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard’s revival of former Premier Jean Charest’s shelved Plan Nord to develop large infrastructure in Quebec’s resource-rich Far North.

The Couillard government tabled its budget on March 26 for the fiscal year starting April 1, 2015, and it contains specific funds earmarked for Plan Nord as well as overall budgetary encouragement of mining and mineral exploration in Quebec.

Premier Couillard assumed office in April 2014, and made his mark in mining circles by reversing the decision of the previous Parti Québécois administration — which came to power in September 2012 — to scuttle Charest’s Plan Nord from 2011, which envisaged $80 billion in government and industry investments in northern Quebec resource development by 2036.

Right away the new Couillard government announced it would invest directly in the equity of mining and oil and gas companies; extend and repair roads in the North; and revive a feasibility study to extend a Labrador Trough rail line to complement the two railways that connect the deep-sea port at Sept-Îles to the iron ore mines to the north.

Rob McEwen on the aftermath of a Mexican gold heist – Interview by Andrew Bell (Business Network News -April 9, 2015)

April 10, 2015

http://www.bnn.ca/ Kidnapping, robbery and even murder are becoming the cost of doing business in Mexico for Canadian-run precious metals mines. Gold producer McEwen Mining (MUX.TO 0.00%) is the latest victim, with armed thieves making off with gold concentrate worth $8.5-million US. For a look at the heist and investigation, and how the company will improve …

New Plan Nord calls for smaller investment as metal, mineral prices tumble – by Peter Hadekel (Montreal Gazette – April 9, 2015)

April 9, 2015

http://montrealgazette.com/

From the start, the Quebec government’s Plan Nord strategy to develop the resource-rich northern regions of the province has been more about marketing than anything else.

First conceived by then-premier Jean Charest in 2011, it called for $80 billion in public and private investment over 25 years. But critics pointed out that many of the projects would have gone ahead anyway and that the whole operation was a convenient way for Charest to grab some headlines.

Four years later, the current version of the Liberal government has dusted off the Plan Nord and relaunched it. True to form, the announcement Wednesday was a slick marketing presentation with a lot more style than substance.

While details were scarce, the new plan revealed the government is much less optimistic about the amount of investment expected. Instead of $80 billion, we’re talking $50 billion by 2035, said Premier Philippe Couillard.

Some $20 billion will come from Hydro-Québec in the form of new projects and $2 billion will be spent on public infrastructure like roads and airports.

Iron ore in fresh crisis as forward prices crumble – by Henning Gloystein and Manolo Serapio Jr. (Reuters India – April 10, 2015)

April 9, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE – (Reuters) – Iron ore is veering to a new crisis as prices for future delivery of the commodity slide 30 percent in the space of a month, and its outlook is now more bearish than oil and more dire than ever for miners struggling to just stay in business.

Prices of the steel-making ingredient for immediate delivery have slumped 60 percent over the past year as demand particularly from China slowed rapidly.

Despite the crumbling cash market, miners had been able to hedge future production at prices well above spot levels. Indeed, a month ago, miners could still sell 2017 output at close to $70 a tonne even as April 2015 prices fell below $60 for the first time in more than five years.

Forward iron ore prices have since tumbled below $47 for deliveries all the way until the end of 2017, depriving nearly all miners of any chance of establishing hedges at or above breakeven levels during that period.

A combination of factors brought about the recent capitulation in forward prices, most notably news that China plans to subsidise its iron ore sector to protect its flagging steel industry. Subsidies would help keep mines open and keep supplies flowing.