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NEWS RELEASE: The Fraser Institute: Quebec’s Mining Reputation Rebounds in International Mining Survey

www.fraserinstitute.org

Click here for full report: http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/survey-of-mining-companies-2014.pdf

CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – Feb. 24, 2015) – Quebec is re-establishing itself as one of Canada’s – and one of the world’s – most attractive jurisdictions for mining investment, according to an annual global survey of mining executives released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian policy think-tank.

The Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2014, rates 122 jurisdictions around the world based on their geologic attractiveness and the extent to which government policies encourage exploration and investment. In this year’s survey, Quebec jumps up six spots and now ranks as the number three jurisdiction for mining investment in Canada and sixth worldwide.

“Quebec was atop the national and international rankings from 2007 to 2010 but tumbled down the list in recent years as a result of increased red tape, royalty hikes and uncertainty around new regulations,” said Kenneth Green, Fraser Institute senior director of energy and natural resources.

“The confidence mining executives now have in Quebec is due in part to the province’s proactive approach to mining policy and its Plan Nord strategy to encourage investment and mineral exploration in northern Quebec.”

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Deep sea mining hopes hit by New Zealand decision – by Jamie Smyth (Financial Times – February 22, 2015)

http://www.ft.com/intl/companies/mining

Sydney – A decision to block a deep sea mining venture off the New Zealand coast has cast a shadow over an emerging global industry that proponents say could revolutionise how minerals are extracted.

The sea floor is rich in copper, nickel, manganese, cobalt, zinc and a host of other minerals used in technology products. Improvements in undersea extraction technology have now put these within reach of miners.

New Zealand has lead the way in developing sea floor mining. But progress has now stalled following this month’s rejection by environmental regulators of a proposed project by Chatham Rock Phosphate off the coast of Canterbury, the second mine application refused within a year.

The decisions were welcomed by green groups, who fret that mining would damage vulnerable undersea ecosystems, which are relatively underexplored. But their delight is not shared by companies eyeing deep sea prospects.

“To say we are bitterly disappointed is an understatement,” said Chris Castle, Chatham Rock Phosphate’s managing director. “This will make it even harder, if not impossible for companies to attract capital for new projects in New Zealand.”

For almost 20 years deep sea mining has been flagged as a commercial opportunity. David Cameron, UK prime minister, claims it could be worth £40bn to the UK over a 30-year period.

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B.C. mines minister aims for right audience with next trip to Alaska – by Tamsyn Burgmann (Canadian Press/Vancouver Sun – February 22, 2015)

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

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s mines minister is making plans to visit Alaska’s indigenous fishing community after admitting his first trip to the state following the Mount Polley disaster addressed “probably the wrong audience.”

Bill Bennett spoke at a major mining industry conference last fall, but met with none of the tribal groups in the southeast region presumed most threatened by upstream mining across the border in B.C.

In retrospect, Bennett said people living off the sea in the transboundary region have every right to be concerned about mines in his province, but that he wants to stem the rising anxiety by sharing more information.

“They do not have the kind of information and understanding of how we do things here in British Columbia that they need to have, and that’s probably our fault,” he told The Canadian Press. “I think that we can relieve some of these fears.”

Bennett has asked a binational economic think-tank to consider organizing a symposium to bring both sides together in one of the southeastern Alaska towns at the heart of its multibillion-dollar fishing industry.

Bennett said he hopes the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region will convene a forum in a few months to share best practices and raise awareness about B.C.’s “rigorous” permitting process.

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Nearly 500 miners rescued from South African gold mine (Deutsche Welle – February 23, 2015)

http://www.dw.de/

All 486 miners trapped after a fire broke out in a South African gold mine over the weekend have been rescued. Some of the miners were trapped at a depth of nearly 3.5 kilometers.

The miners, who had been trapped by the fire, were rescued Sunday, according to officials from the Harmony Gold Mining Company.

“We are extremely grateful that all of our colleagues have been brought to surface, without injury,” said Harmony Gold spokeswoman Charmane Russell. “Fortunately in this instance, things went according to plan.”
The men were at work in the mine near Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg, when a fire broke out at around 7:40 a.m. local time (0540 UTC). The miners were told to move to refuge bays within the mine.

“Our employees have been trained for this,” Russell said. Rescue teams were called in to contain the fire and then moved from level to level to locate the trapped miners.

South African President Jacob Zuma told his fellow citizens to keep the trapped miners in their thoughts during the rescue operation. “I urge all South Africans to keep the miners in their thoughts and prayers during this difficult period,” Zuma said.

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COLUMN-Iron ore can’t go back to the future to annual pricing – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – February 23, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Iron ore should go back to the future and reinstate annual contract pricing, according a former executive of top miner Rio Tinto. He’s wrong.

Mal Randall, who spent more than 25 years at Rio Tinto and also helped set up an Australian iron ore miner, said the move to iron ore spot pricing from 2010 onwards was a disaster, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday.

Up to a few years ago, iron ore had been priced through annual talks between steelmakers and their largely Australian suppliers. This changed, largely at the behest of former BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers, who wanted to take advantage of a shortage of supply to generate higher returns for his iron ore mines.

“It was orchestrated and brought in by a guy that has no responsibility now, Kloppers who used to run BHP,” the newspaper quoted Randall as saying. “It’s great to make these changes and then he’s gone.”

Randall, who now chairs mineral sands company MZI Resources, is correct insofar as the spot market pricing is no longer working in the favour of the big miners.

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Growing demand for cheap minerals, energy opening up high-yielding investment opportunities – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – February 23, 2015)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

NTO (miningweekly.com) – In a world where the economic outlook is uncertain and opinions diverge at best, the overarching trend of divergent lifestyles around the world is providing fuel for a new generation of critical-thinking miners have undergone a paradigm shift in approaching the business in a much cleverer, even holistic, way.

It is currently hard to pinpoint whether economies are at inflationary or deflationary inflection points, stabilising or destabilising, and a host of investors have all but written off the mining and exploration and production industries for not providing financial returns in a low-price environment.

While North Americans experience some of the highest-quality lifestyles in the world, this was not the case in places such as China, Indonesia and elsewhere in the developing world, New York-based House Mountain Partners founder and co-author of The Disruptive Discoveries Journal, Chris Berry recently told resource investors in Vancouver. But, they were gaining, and they were gaining fast.

According to him, the burgeoning global middle class and the inevitable economic growth it brought could not be supported without reliable access to cheap commodities and cheap energy, which was opening up a brave new world for shareholders trying to find high-yield investment opportunities, when bond yields globally were at historic lows or, in many cases, negative.

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Barrick rides the DeLorean – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – February 23, 2015)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Barrick’s quest for greater relevancy.

Under the heading “Taking Barrick ‘Back to the Future’” Barrick Gold touted a plan to transform itself into a leaner, meaner cash machine with management and operational changes along with debt reductions in its forth quarter overview. Most who were around in the 1980s will get the movie reference at play. Back to the Future was a trilogy of movies that features Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, who rides a time machine built into a DeLorean DMC-12 car, famously featuring gull-wing doors, to make his and his family’s present better than the past.

The nut of the first and subsequent movies is that things have not turned out as they should have, or as McFly would have them turn out. The first movie is about McFly and Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, going back to the 1950s by accident, and then their subsequent attempts to get back to the future (i.e. the 1980s) harnessing the power of lightning to run the DeLorean which, depleted of fuel, needs lots of energy to time travel. In the process, McFly rights – or rewrites – history for his family.

He helps his Dad, in a moment of confrontation, upstage Biff and save Lorraine from the then teenage bully’s advances. Soon thereafter McFly returns to the future – or the present 1980s. And what he finds is nicer than what he previously knew. His dad is no longer a loser and his mum is happy. Biff is a deadbeat.

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PRECIOUS-Gold turns down as Greek accord is drafted, 4th weekly drop – by Marcy Nicholson and Clara Denina (Reuters U.K. – February 20, 2015)

http://uk.reuters.com/

NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Gold turned lower in choppy dealings on Friday, flirting with a seven-week low after the euro zone discussed extending the Greek bailout by just four months, while prices headed for their fourth straight weekly drop.

A draft text on extending Greece’s bailout from its international creditors proposes prolonging the program by four months rather than a previously suggested six, officials from Greece and other euro zone states said on Friday.

Spot gold turned down 0.7 percent at $1,198.55 an ounce by 2:49 p.m. EST (1949 GMT). The metal has lost 2.5 percent so far this week, dipping to its lowest in six weeks at $1,197.56 on Wednesday, when hopes for a successful resolution to Greece’s debt talks boosted investor appetite for risk.

U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled down $2.70 an ounce at $1,204.90 on the day. “Overall, gold is lower as the market grows increasingly optimistic about a positive resolution, hence less need for a safe haven investment,” said Tai Wong, director of base and precious metals trading for BMO Capital Markets in New York.

The euro traded near session highs against the U.S. dollar after the Greek bailout was drafted.

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Resolution of Native Land Claim Settlements Critical to Future of Canadian Economy – by David Duval (The Duval Report – February 17, 2015)

http://duvalreport.com/

In economic terms at least, Canadians have often been described somewhat simplistically as “hewers of wood and drawers of water” – that is to say our economy is essentially resource-based.

While the contribution of natural resources (primarily energy, metals and minerals) to Canada’s Gross National Product remains at record highs, never before has this sector’s contribution to our economic success been so important – and more threatened.

The elephant in the room is the ongoing legal challenges pursued by Aboriginal peoples who are seeking to resolve past injustices and assert their constitutionally guaranteed legal rights over resource development on their traditional lands.

Canadians are generally naive about the impact of commodity prices and resource development on the nation’s economy. The same applies to the consequences of not resolving longstanding native land claim issues which, incidentally, are supported by British colonial policy. In fact, that colonial policy recognized Aboriginal tribes as sovereign nations whose title to the land was recognized by English law and international law.

According to Bill Gallagher LLB, an authority on the rise of native empowerment in the Canadian resources sector, First Nations have achieved an enviable record of success pursuing land claims issues in the courts. More than 203 rulings countrywide have gone in their favour so far. In British Columbia, where unsettled claims have fueled resistance to projects such as Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway pipeline, (which has over 200 preconditions for development) and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, their record is 11 out of 13.

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What Citi misses about mining revolutions – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – February 20, 2015)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Advances in mineral exploration are needed to support discoveries.

Citi Research takes a stab at so-called disruptive technologies concerning metals and mining in a recent research report. It’s a nice overview on a number of fronts especially as far as solar and silver, lab-grown diamonds and metal-use in cars go. In short: silver’s there to stay, lab-grown diamonds could disrupt the industry in the years to come (but consumers will decide), and PGMs look solid.

But the report misses, or doesn’t treat, a few areas that deserve some attention. In particular, there was scarce mention of exploration technology, seabed mining and mineral processing.

I won’t go into all these areas here. As it stands, I have some questions out to mineral processing specialists for their thoughts on what technologies or processes stand to have revolutionary (or at least pretty meaningful) impacts on the mining sector. That is, like the impact of heap leaching, what technologies might unlock hitherto uneconomic deposits or cheapen the conventional flow sheet? Seabed mining, I’ve recently touched on, so I won’t go back there right now.

Which leaves us exploration technology to consider.

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[Ontario] Prospectors’ future in jeopardy (Northern News – February 17, 2015)

http://www.northernnews.ca/

KIRKLAND LAKE – The frustrations and problems prospectors are facing as they try to stay in business was front and centre at the Northern Prospectors’ Association’s Annual General Meeting. NPA President Gino Chitaroni didn’t sugar coat the very real challenges prospectors are dealing with. During his opening address Chitaroni stated, “I wish these were good times but sadly they are not for us in the industry. We are now at a crossroads where our whole industry and way of life is completely threatened.”

He sees prospectors facing three major issues. The first is the lack of financing, the second is over regulation and bad government regulatory guidelines and the third is the empowerment of First Nations at the expense of the mining and exploration industry.

In terms of being able to raise money for projects, Chitaroni said that is currently a world wide problem. He got much more specific when talking about over regulation, noting that the government’s decision to implement exploration plans and permits, map staking, the Far North Act and the overzealous renewal of the Mining Act, are hindering the exploration and mining industry. These changes, he said, “when this compounded by eco-centric government policies from other ministries spells disaster.”

When speaking about the provincial government’s dealings with First Nations, the NPA president issued a warning, saying, “First Nation empowerment at the expense of the mining and exploration industry which if unabated maybe the contagion that will spill off to other business sectors, private land holders, farmers and even municipalities.

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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.

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Barrick goes back to mining roots with focus on gold – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – February 20, 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.

Barrick Gold Corp. founder Peter Munk had a vision for his company. Barrick’s new chairman John Thornton has another one.

Less than a year on the job as chairman, Mr. Thornton appears to have killed Mr. Munk’s dream of turning Barrick into a giant diversified mining company, and plans to forge a deep business relationship with China are no longer on the table.

Instead, Mr. Thornton wants the world’s biggest gold producer to return to its roots when it was a nimble operator with an entrepreneurial spirit, a streamlined corporate structure and a pristine balance sheet that earned a top credit rating.

Barrick, like the rest of the gold industry, was forced to clamp down on expenses when bullion began plummeting in 2011. Under Mr. Munk and previous management, Barrick had started becoming leaner by selling and suspending expensive operations and shrinking production.

But Mr. Thornton suggested Barrick had lost its way over the past decade and is pushing the company back to its “original DNA.” Gone are the layers of managers between Barrick’s executives and the 19 mines that it operates. Barrick’s Toronto headquarters is now a skeleton crew of 150, compared with 500 in its heyday.

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Comment: Mines minister must not ignore his own experts – by Calvin Sandborn , Mark Haddock and Jamie Arbeau (Victoria Times Colonist – February 20, 2015)  

http://www.timescolonist.com/

“The panel firmly rejects the notion that business as usual can continue.” — Mount Polley Expert Review Panel

In all the fuss about the execution of search warrants in the Mount Polley Mine disaster case, we shouldn’t lose sight of the main issue — how do we prevent the next disaster?

Indeed, Mines Minister Bill Bennett commissioned the Mount Polley expert panel “to ensure this never happens again.” So why is the minister dodging commitment to the panel’s most important recommendation? Why has he failed to endorse that vital recommendation — and shuffled it off to bureaucrats for extended “review”?

Here’s the issue: The panel noted that more tailings lakes and ponds will inevitably fail — and recommended that the province move to eliminate such water impoundments across the province, in both new and closed mines. Criticizing construction of tailings ponds as “century-old technology,” they called for dry disposal of tailings.

The panel pointed out a central problem: For tailings lakes to work, everything has to go right, all the time and forever. But human error inevitably intervenes. For example, the panel exposed the incompetent ad hoc management of the Mount Polley tailings lake.

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Cliffs to return to core business – by John Pepin (Mining Journal – February 19, 2015)

http://www.miningjournal.net/

MARQUETTE – The top executive for Cliffs Natural Resources said Wednesday the mining company continues to pursue a “rock solid” revitalization strategy of shutting down and selling off its diverse assets elsewhere, reducing debt, and focusing on iron ore production in the Upper Great Lakes region.

“We are back to basics,” said Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs’ chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We are back to our business, to our real business, the business that made Cliffs a big company, the business that made Cliffs a powerhouse in the United States and abroad and that is producing iron ore in Michigan and Minnesota and that’s it. That’s our business.”

From coal to chromite, from Australia to Canada and the southeastern United States, under previous board management, Cliffs diversified and expanded.

“Everything else was done through a strategy that was not the best one for the company – that was not the best one for the community that the company serves,” he said. “Lots of money was spent and wasted in bad investments we’re correcting all that.”

Goncalves said Cliffs’ now realizes those “mistakes of the past.”

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