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Modi Getting His Thatcher Moment Confronting Coal Unions – by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Debjit Chakraborty (Bloomberg News – December 17, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Is India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi reading up on Margaret Thatcher?

The late former prime minister of the U.K. had one of her defining and controversial confrontations in a protracted fight with striking coal miners in the 1980s. Different time, another country, but Modi has angry unions threatening to stop work at the world’s biggest coal miner, Coal India Ltd. (COAL)

Coal-fired power plants generate 60 percent of India’s electricity, except for when shortages lead to repeated blackouts. Outages shaved $68 billion or almost 4 percent off annual gross domestic product in the year ended March 2013, says the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Last week, Modi made a move toward ending shortages, winning partial passage of a bill that will allow him to end a 40-year government coal monopoly. The plan is to bring in more efficient private companies. The coal unions say that will mean job losses, and that they will fight the legislation.

“Let them open up the sector, there will be strikes all across and large-scale violence,” S.Q. Zama, secretary general at the Indian National Mineworkers Federation, a unit of the opposition’s Congress party-backed Indian National Trade Union Congress, said in a Dec. 5 interview.

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Obama tightens environmental noose around resource-rich Alaska – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – December 17, 2014)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Will the president’s permanent ban on oil & gas development in Alaska’s Bristol Bay weaken Northern Dynasty’s chances for Pebble project approval?

RENO (MINEWEB) – Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier told Mineweb Tuesday that the decision by President Barack Obana to indefinitely withdraw more than 52,000 square miles of waters off Alaska’s coastline (including Bristol Bay) from oil and gas exploration or drilling “doesn’t apply to us at all”.

In a video release from the White House, Obama called Bristol Bay one of the country’s great natural resources, which is “something too precious for us to be putting out to the highest bidder”.

“It supports about $2 billion in the commercial fishing industry,” he said. “It supplies America with 40% of its wild-caught seafood.” Bristol Bay also hosts one of the world’s largest wild salmon runs and is home to threatened species and the endangered North Pacific Right Whale.

However, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and the incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said, “I think we all recognize that these are some of our state’s richest fishing waters. What I do not understand is why this decision could not be made within the context of the administration’s upcoming plan for offshore leasing—or least announced at the same time.”

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Ring of Fire Bogging Down? – by James Murray (Netnewsledger.com – December 17, 2014)

http://www.netnewsledger.com/

Ring of Fire Being Frozen in Ontario Ottawa Ice Storm?

THUNDER BAY – BUSINESS – The Ring of Fire is a major mining project that has the potential to make a massive impact across Northwestern Ontario. That potential has taken a number of hits over the past several years. Initially, Cliffs Natural Resourses, KWG Resources, and Noront Resources were the large players in the region. The Ring of Fire often is discussed for its huge chromite deposit potential. There are of course other minerals in the Ring of Fire, nickel being one of those minerals.

Last January, Cliffs Natural Resources pulled their camps out and left the Ring of Fire in a physical presence. More recently, Cliffs is stating that they don’t think it is possible for the project to actually happen in the next half century.

The Ring of Fire presents an opportunity for Canada, for Ontario, and for First Nations. Right now that project is in effect moving far slower than business would like it to move.

Relations Between Ontario and Ottawa Chilly at Best

Part of this appears to be an ongoing impasse between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. A few weeks ago, the Premier wrote the Prime Minister expressing that December 5th marked the one year anniversary of their last meeting. There appears to be a level of ice in the relationship between the PM and the Premier thick enough to safely drive a transport truck over.

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Poland’s KGHM has talks with Canadian rival over permit dispute – by Adrian Krajewski and Anna Koper (Reuters India – December 17, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

WARSAW – Dec 17 (Reuters) – Europe’s second largest copper producer KGHM has held talks with Canadian-owned rival Miedzi Copper about two disputed Polish concessions which are the subject of a legal battle, KGHM said on Wednesday.

Miedzi Copper filed a case in a Polish court against the government after two copper permits it had been awarded were withdrawn by the government following a challenge from KGHM, which itself wanted to develop the concessions.

“KGHM management met with Miedzi Copper management,” KGHM spokesman Dariusz Wyborski said. “We’re aiming at a solution that’s best for us, Miedzi Copper and the region.”

He said further geological studies on the concessions would be carried out “to accurately reflect on the possibilities sketched out at the meeting.” He did not elaborate. Miedzi Copper declined to comment.

KGHM, part state owned and the only miner producing copper in Poland, has previously said it challenged the award of the permits to Miedzi copper because it had spent time and money researching the permits, adjacent to areas it is already mining.

The government said the permits were withdrawn because of shortcomings in the way the bidding process was administered.

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Sudbury column: Big mining still tests city’s mettle – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – December 17, 2014)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Philosopher-poet George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Sudbury’s largest employer and its largest trade union haven’t forgotten the past, but they are determined to leave it behind.

Last week, the president of United Steelworkers Local 6500 and the Canada/UK vice-president of Vale Ltd. held a news conference. Rick Bertrand and Kelly Strong sat side by side in the Steelworkers’ Hall, in itself significant, and signalled their intention to settle a new contract in 2015.

The former Inco and the union for production and maintenance workers historically made a show of exchanging proposals three months before a contract expired. That was all the public knew until they reached a tentative deal or the union went on strike.

Sudbury held its collective breath in contract years, getting antsy the year before. When the local had 12,000 members, the city’s economy rose and fell with its labour status. Decades of hard bargaining earned Steelworkers solid wages and good benefits, the spinoffs of which kept many of us working.

Advances in mining technology have decimated the miner’s blue-collar workforce to 2,700 members, and the city isn’t as dependent now on the labour fortunes of Vale and its union.

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Why Talisman Energy Inc is the first — but not last — victim of the oil price slump – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – December 17, 2014)

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

Senior oil and gas producer Talisman Energy Inc. became the first Canadian oil patch company to surrender to the global oil price crash Tuesday, when it announced its sale to Spain’s Repsol SA for US$8.3 billion in cash after a long campaign to re-focus its global business.

There will be more.

With share prices at garage-sale levels, the whole Canadian energy sector is vulnerable to being picked on by anyone with a war chest, expectations of an oil price recovery or better ideas on how to create value.

“The likelihood for high-profile M&A transactions is almost a guarantee,” said Sonny Mottahed, CEO and managing partner of Black Spruce Merchant Capital in Calgary. “In the environment that we are in today, where you have equity prices reacting dramatically to the drop in the commodity … the intrinsic value of a lot of these companies is far greater than what the market is valuing them at.”

In anticipation of more consolidation, investors pushed up many battered Canadian energy names, with Encana Corp. bouncing 7.4% to close at $14.53, Crescent Point Energy Corp. gaining 10% to close at $24.13; Baytex Energy Corp. gaining 5.7% to $16.21, and Whitecap Resources Inc. gaining 5.4% to $10.99.

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B.C. approves $8.8-billion Site C hydroelectric dam – by Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey (Globe and Mail – December 17, 2014)

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.

VICTORIA and Vancouver — The B.C. government has approved the construction of the Site C dam on the Peace River at an estimated cost of almost $8.8-billion, making it the largest public infrastructure project in the province’s history.

But the government will delay the project until next summer and has adjusted the price to be $900-million higher than what BC Hydro had proposed. The project faces a series of lawsuits, and on Tuesday, environmentalists, First Nations and the NDP renewed their opposition to the dam.

Premier Christy Clark, at a news conference in Victoria, said the revised budget reflects “the true cost” of building the dam, but she believes it remains the cheapest option to meet British Columbia’s growing demand for electricity in the future.

“I believe the people of our province will continue to prosper,” she said. “We need to ensure there is power – clean, reliable, sustainable power.”

Site C will be built downstream of the W.A.C. Bennett and Peace Canyon dams in northeastern B.C., and will be the first major hydroelectric dam to be built in the province since completion of the Revelstoke dam in 1984.

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Greg Rickford responds to province’s latest Ring of Fire request – by Jody Porter (CBC News Thunder Bay – December 17, 2014)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay

Ontario wants $1B from Building Canada Fund for roads and power to remote mineral deposit

Ontario’s plan for the remote Ring of Fire mineral deposit has “serious structural problems” according to the federal Natural Resources Minister, and that’s why Greg Rickford says Canada is cautious about partnering with the province to build roads and power lines.

Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development and Mines wrote to Rickford last week, asking for a meeting to discuss the province’s proposal for $1 billion under the Building Canada Fund.

“We need you to be actively engaged in these discussions as we chart a path forward,” Michael Gravelle wrote in a letter dated Dec. 11. “Your government’s acknowledgement of a matching $1 billion commitment to support infrastructure development is key.”

Rickford said he is happy to meet with Gravelle but is not so happy with the way the province is approaching development of what both levels of government see as a key resource.

“We’re waiting for the province to maybe move beyond the letter-writing and get a submission to us, technically, about a priority and a priority project and we’ll move forward on that,” Rickford said.

He outlined what he describes as three key structural problems with Ontario’s approach that “only the province can resolve.”

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Resource revenue sharing ‘not going away’ – by Jason Warick (Regina Leader Post – December 15, 2014)

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

“This is something we need to get right,” Cam Broten says

The Saskatchewan government should join the growing number of other provinces and consider sharing natural resource revenue with First Nations, say experts.

“How do you reconcile if you don’t share the resources?” said Vancouver lawyer Tom Isaac, author of Aboriginal Law: Commentary, Cases and Materials. Isaac, a University of Saskatchewan law graduate who represents governments and resource companies, said any revenue sharing must be sustainable and measured, but the issue “is not going away.”

Resource revenue sharing hit the national stage last week when former Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde was elected to head the national Assembly of First Nations. In a fiery speech to AFN delegates in Winnipeg, Bellegarde vowed resource development would occur only after First Nations’ concerns were addressed.

“We weren’t meant to be poor in our own lands,” Bellegarde said. Saskatchewan’s Energy and Resources Minister, Bill Boyd, was not available for an interview this weekend. In a written statement, the government said its position has not changed.

“Our province’s resources belong to everyone in the province. Revenues from Saskatchewan’s resources belong to all Saskatchewan people, and everyone, including First Nations, benefit from that revenue,” read the statement.

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Researcher poses two scenarios for Nunavut gold mine closure – by David Murphy (Nunatsiaq-On-Line.ca – December 16, 2014)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

“People are actually left with mining skills, but not with other skills once the mine closes”

The 1,800-person community of Baker Lake has less than three years to go before the Meadowbank gold mine, about 100 kilometres from the town, closes down.

Until then, questions linger about how Nunavut’s only inland hamlet can support itself afterwards, problem free.

“People said overwhelmingly that — with the mine closing in 2017 — there is very little awareness and very little preparedness for that scenario,” said Annabell Rixen, a master’s student assessing the mine closure and community preparedness as part of a project called “Tuktu.”

Rixen’s presentation was part of the four-day Arctic Change conference, hosted by ArcticNet, which unfolded Dec. 8 to Dec. 12 at the Ottawa Conference Centre. Rixen boiled her research down to two visions: a worst and best-case scenario.

The best case: job training programs are implemented to stimulate new local businesses and money is injected into mental health, childcare and cultural programming. Also, dwindling caribou numbers return to full strength.

“As the elders emphasized: let our land recover. We need to give our land the proper time to rejuvenate,” Rixen told Nunatsiaq News.

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NEWS RELEASE: Major Tribal Organizations Push U.S. State Department to Act on Transboundary Mine Concerns

National Congress of American Indians, Alaska Federation of Natives, and Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood Grand Camp Say U.S Tribal Voices Missing From Boundary Waters Dispute

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA and JUNEAU, ALASKA — (Marketwired) — Dec/16/14 –– The largest tribal organizations in the Lower 48 and Alaska are backing efforts to protect key salmon rivers in Alaska/British Columbia (B.C.) threatened by large-scale mining developments in Canada.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), and the Alaska Native Brotherhood & Alaska Native Sisterhood have recently passed resolutions calling for the U.S. State Department to use its authority under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and engage with Canada to protect threatened transboundary rivers.

Six Canadian mines in the headwaters of the Taku, Stikine and Unuk Rivers are in various stages of permitting and development. One of the mines — Red Chris – has its permits and financing in place and is poised to open at any time over the objections of a group of Tahltan First Nation citizens. Each of the threatened transboundary rivers, which begin in B.C. and drain into Southeast Alaska, produce millions of wild salmon and support some of the most prime salmon habitat left in North America. Unless steps are taken to protect Alaska’s downstream waters, these transboundary salmon face potential contamination from acid mine drainage, heavy metals and other pollutants. These toxins could leach from the mines or be released in a catastrophic accident similar to what happened at Mount Polley mine in central B.C. on Aug. 4, 2014.

“The health of our rivers and streams is paramount for Alaska Natives and American Indians, especially those who rely on our traditional and customary ways of life.

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Meet niobium, mining market’s hot new supermetal – by Nelson Bennett (Business Vancouver – December 16, 2014)

http://www.biv.com/

Local miners aim to cash in on lucrative niobium market with mines in B.C., Nebraska

Copper, gold and metallurgical coal – these are the bread and butter of B.C.’s mining industry. Now, with its proposed niobium mine, Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO) wants to put some jam on the table.

Taseko recently entered the environmental review process for a proposed new $870 million niobium mine on Steve Creek, a tributary of the Ospika River, 140 kilometres north of Mackenzie, B.C.

Should Taseko’s Aley mine ever be built, it would be one of only four operating niobium mines in the world – unless competitors, such as Vancouver’s NioCorp Developments (TSX-V:NB), can beat Taseko to the punch.

“All of a sudden now, British Columbia has the potential to become one of the very few producers of niobium,” said Brian Battison, Taseko’s vice-president of corporate affairs.

Ferroniobium (FeNb) is something of a supermetal. Rare and valuable, it is light, but strong, highly resistant to heat and has anticorrosive properties. That makes it a valuable alloy in specialty metals, from the fans used in the turbines of jet engines to pipelines and the superconducting magnets used in the Large Hadron Collider.

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Shuswap First Nations push mining guidelines – by Nelson Bennett (Business Vancouver – December 16, 2014)

http://www.biv.com/

Rules carry little legal weight but would be foolish for companies to ignore, experts say

A new mining policy issued by four Shuswap bands could bring more certainty for companies wanting to develop new mines in the region.

Or it could add a layer of bureaucracy that sends investment out of B.C., similar to the 1990s, when NDP anti-mining policies scared mining and exploration companies away from B.C. It depends on how the B.C. government responds to it, says a lawyer specializing in aboriginal law.

On December 1, the Northern Secwepemc te Qelmucw (NStQ) published a new set of guidelines for mining and exploration within the claimed territories of four bands near Williams Lake: the Xat’sull, T’exelc, Tsq’escen’ and Stswecem’c/Xgat’tem.

The 55-page document has been in the works for a couple of years, but Jacinda Mack, mining co-ordinator for the NStQ, said the Mount Polley mine disaster has added urgency to publishing the new guidelines. Mount Polley is one of four operating mines in the NStQ’s claimed territory, which is still the subject of treaty negotiations.

“It really affirmed for us that we had to get this policy out there in public,” Mack said. “One of the biggest things on our plate is dealing with the cleanup. This policy really lays out the expectations for how we want best practices to be adhered to.”

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A new cold war: Denmark gets aggressive, stakes huge claim in Race for the Arctic – by Tristin Hopper (National Post – December 16, 2014)

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

For years, the Race for the Arctic had promised to be one of the most gentlemanly land grabs in history: Using only science and a whiff of diplomacy, the oil-rich Arctic Ocean could be peacefully divvied up between Russia, Canada, the United States and Europe.

That is, until the tiny nation of Denmark approached the United Nations on Monday with a staggering claim to nearly one third of the total prize — including the North Pole.

“It is ironic that the only country that right now could be said to be acting provocatively in the Arctic is Denmark,” said Michael Byers, the Vancouver-based author of Who Owns the Arctic? speaking to Danish media on Monday.

Canada has not yet wrapped up its final claim to areas of the Arctic Ocean now considered international waters, although Ottawa has vowed to shoot for 1.2 million square kilometres of ocean, including the North Pole. There is no definitive scientific evidence that Canada has any claim to the North Pole, but that did not stop Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander from issuing Santa Claus with Canadian citizenship last year.

On Monday, Rob Huebert at the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military and Strategic Studies called Denmark’s claim evidence that it was wrong to ever believe that the Arctic could be divvied up simply with geological data.

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Editorial How to cut militias off from gold and mineral mines in Congo (Los Angeles Times – December 15, 2014)

 http://www.latimes.com/

Few parts of the world have been more ravaged by war and violence over the last two decades than the Democratic Republic of Congo. That’s been made possible, in part, by the mines in the eastern part of the country that offer up tin, tungsten and tantalum — the 3Ts, as they’re known — and gold. Over the years, many of the mines have been commandeered or controlled by armed militias and the profits used to fund the continued violence.

But recently, human rights groups have successfully pressured makers of consumer electronics and electronic parts, which rely on the 3Ts, to track the source of their minerals and refuse to buy from suppliers who buy from mines that help fund armed rebels. A provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010, requires publicly traded companies to disclose if they have products containing minerals from Congo and what steps were taken to ascertain whether the ore came from tainted mines.

Together, these changes have dramatically shrunk the market for untraceable 3T conflict minerals, affecting prices and disrupting the supply chain. As a result, about 67% of tin, tantalum and tungsten mines in Congo are no longer in the control of armed militias, according to the Enough Project, a human rights group.

But demilitarizing the gold mines remains a challenge. Only a small fraction of the mined world’s gold comes from Congo — about 1%. But 98% of the artisanally mined gold in Congo is smuggled out of the country and much of that benefits armed groups, according to the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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