Republic of Mining

What does an RMB trading hub mean for Canada? – by Dana Flavelle (Toronto Star – November 11, 2014)

November 14, 2014

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.

Canada has been designated a trading hub for China’s currency. What does it mean in terms of jobs, the economy and international trade?

Canada has been designated a trading hub for China’s currency, a move aimed at boosting international business between the two countries while also nudging China’s once cloistered “redback” toward global status.

Among other things, it means for the first time, Canadians can open bank accounts in Canada that contain China’s yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB).

Canadian institutional investors, such as pension funds, will also be able to buy up to 50 billion yuan worth of Chinese bonds and stocks directly. That’s roughly $9.2 billion.

The deal will “continue to boost the Toronto region’s status as a global financial centre,” Janet Ecker, president and chief executive officer of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, said in a statement.

Webequie chief calls for true partnerships at mining summit – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

http://www.wawataynews.ca/

Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse called for “true partnerships” at the 4th Annual Mining Ready Summit, held Oct. 28-29 in Thunder Bay.

“That’s the way going forward for us to have a step in the processes and also be part of the processes that are potentially going to happen in our area,” Wabasse said. “We have to have these agreements and they have to be real and they have to be honoured.”

Wabasse said his community does not want to sign agreements where “nothing is happening on our side.”

“We know that we have to work our part as well too to make that agreement become reality,” Wabasse said. “We need to understand as First Nations about that agreement, what we need to do to make that happen as well too.”

Wabasse said his community is not opposed to development. “We want to be able to benefit from our lands and resources,” Wabasse said. “We want to be able to benefit from any development that is happening in our area. We know that things are changing — we are not going to be trapping and fishing all our lives — we have to look at other ways of benefitting from our lands and resources.”

But the community still does practice its traditional ways of life on the land, including harvesting traditional foods such as moose, caribou, rabbits and partridge.

“We had a good fall harvest this season,” Wabasse said. “The community engaged in a fall hunting festival, so it was good to see our people still very into the traditional ways of life and also eating traditional foods.”

Lack of domestic minerals/metals supplies worry U.S. manufacturers – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

A growing global population relying on greater combinations of minerals have increased U.S. manufacturers’ minerals/metals demands.

RENO (MINEWEB) – A survey of 400 senior executives in the U.S, manufacturing sector or industries heavily impacted by manufacturing determined that more than 90% of them are concerned about the U.S. minerals and metals supply.

“The issue of minerals and metals supply is a growing concern among U.S. businesses, as U.S. manufacturers currently rely on foreign countries for more than half of the minerals and metals they use,” said the Edelman-Berland survey, Mining: The Foundation of U.S. Manufacturing.

Those executives are also concerned about supply disruptions outside of their control, “citing geopolitics and increasing global demand as the most pressure factors,” said the survey.

“Most executives surveyed also believe minerals and metals demand will only increase in the next five to 10 years,” according to the survey. Meanwhile, mineral and metal scarcity is also expected to increase during the same period and negatively impact business.

Of those surveyed, 40% said most of the minerals they use in their supply chains come from within the U.S., while 21% get 50% of the minerals domestically. Only 14% of those surveyed said all of the minerals they use come from the United States.

Russia and SA aim to boost PGMs – by ANDRE JANSE VAN VUUREN AND YULIYA FEDORINOVA (Bloomberg/Business Day Live – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

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

RUSSIA and SA will next year invite platinum group metal producers and users for talks as the countries seek ways to support falling prices.

The two nations, holding about 80% of the world’s reserves of the metals, met last Thursday in Pretoria “to collaborate on technology development and jointly exploring new applications for the metal” to grow demand, Phuti Mabelebele, a spokeswoman for SA’s mines ministry, said on Wednesday in an e-mailed response to questions.

The parties agreed to arrange a conference in the second half of next year to which they would invite mining companies, traders and consumers to “jointly consider appropriate options to achieve stability and sustainable growth”.

Platinum prices have tumbled more than 20% since Russia and SA said in March last year that they were looking for ways to buoy the market. Palladium gained about 8% in that period. SA mines about 70% of the world’s platinum and Russia 40% of its palladium.

The countries would meet for separate talks about the issue in the first quarter of next year in Russia, Ms Mabelebele said.

Success secrets of Francis H. Clergue [the visionary founder of Algoma Steel] – by David Helwig (Soo Today.com – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

https://www.sootoday.com/

If you look carefully at the structural steel in the oldest of those magnificent Romanesque buildings at the Mill Square redevelopment, you’ll see Andrew Carnegie’s maker’s mark.

Francis Hector Clergue used the American robber baron’s Carnegie Steel in the initial buildings of his new pulp mill. Clergue, as every Saultite knows, was the lawyer from Bangor, Maine who came here in 1894 on behalf of a group of Philadelphia capitalists looking for investment opportunities.

He founded St. Marys Paper, what is now Essar Steel Algoma, and Algoma Central Railway, all in just eight years from 1895 to 1902. Other buildings at the St. Marys Paper/ Mill Square site were built with Clergue’s Algoma Steel after the first local ingot was cast in 1902.

Glen Martin sees a ton of significance and symbolism in Clergue’s switch to homegrown Algoma Steel. Martin is the hirsute Los Angeles-based Saultite who was the initial driving force behind the Sault Ste. Marie Solar Park before the project was acquired by Starwood Energy in 2010.

He’s also the founder and chief executive officer of Energizing Company, a California startup that’s planning to deploy its flagship utility-distributed microgrid project here in Sault Ste. Marie. In recent months, Martin has been thinking a lot about the history of his hometown.

NEWS RELEASE: More Holistic Views Key to Better Resource Management

November 13, 2014

Oliver Cann, Director, Public engagement, Tel.: +41 79 799 3405; Email: Oliver.Cann@weforum.org

http://www.weforum.org/

Divided views about the future of natural resources are preventing better resource management
Understanding the drivers of future resource availability can create common ground among decision-makers
Above-ground risks present more of a threat to natural resources than physical depletion

Download the full report here: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_FutureAvailabilityNaturalResources_Report_2014.pdf

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 10 November 2014 – The gravest threat to the future availability of natural resources comes not from their physical depletion but from above-ground risks and a lack of understanding of the drivers of resource scarcity. This is according to a new report, The Future Availability of Natural Resources: A New Paradigm for Global Resource Availability, released today by the Forum.

“A central reason for the world’s failure to effectively manage its water, food, energy and mineral resources is the existence of deep divides among stakeholders in this field, who tend to use similar data but distinct mental models to come to vastly different conclusions about tomorrow’s resource picture,” said Kristel Van der Elst, Senior Director and Head of Strategic Foresight at the Forum. Rather than sharing a common view on what causes resource scarcity, their mental models broadly fall into four polarized groups.

Commentary: What miners need to know about Canada’s new payment reporting law – by Graham Erion and John Munnis (Northern Miner – November 11, 2012)

November 13, 2014

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

On Oct. 23, 2014, the Government of Canada introduced its long-awaited legislation to mandate disclosure of public payments made by mining and oil & gas companies for the commercial development of oil, gas and minerals. The Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act follows over a year of industry consultations and an industry and civil society-led roundtable, both of which Davis LLP has covered extensively. With the introduction of the Act, key details for the payment reporting scheme have been clarified, which are reviewed below.

The basic payment reporting obligation

The Act applies to any entity engaged in, or controlling other entities engaged in, the commercial development of oil, gas or minerals anywhere in the world so long as the entity: has publicly listed in Canada; has a place of business in Canada, does business in Canada or has assets in Canada, and that, based on its consolidated financial statements, meets at least two of the following conditions for at least one of its two most recent financial years; has $20 million in assets; has $40 million in revenue; and/or has 250 employees.

Entities covered under the Act must provide the Canadian government with an annual report detailing the payments it has made directly or indirectly to a public body — whether monetary or in-kind — to develop oil, gas or minerals if the total amount of such payments during the previous financial year is at least $100,000 (or such other amount if prescribed by regulation).

Groups ask why no charges have been laid a year after Alberta coal mine spill – by (The Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – November 12, 2014)

November 13, 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.

EDMONTON — Conservation groups want to know why no federal or provincial charges have been laid over a massive spill from a coal tailings pond in west-central Alberta.

An estimated 670 million litres of waste water spilled into tributaries that feed into the Athabasca River after an earth berm broke at the Obed Mountain mine on Oct. 31, 2013.

The mine was owned at the time by Sherritt International, which has since sold it to Westmoreland Coal Company. Groups including the Alberta Wilderness Association say Sherritt should be charged under the federal Fisheries Act.

They also say they want both governments to make public what was in the tailings, how the spill has affected the rivers and how it may affect the health of people who live downstream. Federal officials and staff at the Alberta Energy Regulator were not immediately available for comment.

“The lack of enforcement and charges for a spill of this magnitude calls into question the approval of any mining development in Alberta,” Brittany Verbeek, a spokeswoman for the wilderness association, said Wednesday.

NEWS RELEASE: Barrick Appoints Executive Project Director for Pascua-Lama

November 13, 2014

TORONTO, November 13, 2014 — Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) (Barrick or the “company”) today announced the appointment of Sergio Fuentes as Executive Project Director for Pascua-Lama. Mr. Fuentes was most recently Vice President, Projects for Codelco and has nearly 30 years of mining industry experience, with a proven track record of engineering, optimizing and constructing complex mining projects, including high-altitude operations in the Andes.

As Executive Project Director, Mr. Fuentes will focus on optimizing detailed engineering, improving the project’s economics and developing a robust execution plan for remaining construction activities at Pascua-Lama. He will work with the project leadership team to advance Pascua-Lama in an environmentally responsible manner, in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. In the short term, he will lead the completion of final engineering for the water management system in Chile and will work to reduce ongoing care and maintenance expenditures at the project.

Mr. Fuentes will work closely with Eduardo Flores, Executive Director, Chile and Guillermo Calo, Executive Director, Argentina to ensure alignment of all project activities in both Chile and Argentina and will support the development of enduring partnerships with governments, communities and other stakeholders in both countries.

A decision to restart the Pascua-Lama project will depend on resolution of permitting and legal matters in Chile and improved project economics. The company will only proceed with construction if the project meets minimum return-on-investment thresholds.

Non-aboriginal Canadians need to wake up to the rising power of Aboriginal Peoples – by Anna Marie Tremonti (CBC The Current – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/

Aboriginal youth and a whole new generation of First Nations thinkers and leaders are speaking up but arguably non-aboriginal Canadians haven’t been listening. In a week when the news is dominated by the trauma of the brutal attack of another young aboriginal woman, we bring you a conversation about empowerment and greater expectations … in what John Ralston Saul calls “The Comeback”

“We are bringing this message for our future generations for our grandparents that went to residential schools for the children that were raped in residential schools. We bring this message forward for them.”

“Stay strong, we are all in this together. We will not fall. We will not end this. We are in this for the long hall with Chief Theresa Spence with all of our Chiefs. With all of those involved in the idle no more movement. We are in unity with the creator, with ceremony.”

Andrea Landry from Pays Plat First Nation in Ontario at Idle No More protest in Ottawa, January of 2013

Court fight complicates Centerra Gold’s Kyrgyzstan connection – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 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.

The fate of one of the largest gold mines in the world, nestled in the remote mountains of Kyrgyzstan, could rest on the outcome of an obscure Canadian court battle.

Toronto-based Centerra Gold Inc. owns the Kumtor mine, but has faced political pressure and protests over its environmental impact and over whether Kyrgyzstan is getting its fair share of the profits.

Centerra is essentially a legal bystander, however, as a court case in Toronto proceeds over whether another company can seize millions of dollars worth of Centerra shares that are held by a Kyrgyzstani state-owned enterprise. If the shares are seized, Centerra says, a restructuring plan aimed at giving the Kyrgyzstani government a bigger stake in the mine would become impossible.

The Canadian court battle involves another Toronto-based natural resources company, Stans Energy Corp., which alleges that it was unfairly blocked from developing an open-pit rare earth metals mine in Kyrgyzstan.

Stans challenged this decision in international arbitration proceedings in Moscow, alleging that Kyrgyzstan violated the Moscow Convention, a 1997 treaty among post-Soviet countries on foreign investment.

VOX: Detour Gold: ‘The ultimate risk-reward name’ in gold miners – by David Milstead (Globe and Mail – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 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.

Unsatisfied with a mere bet on bullion? Desirous of a big, fat, chunky wager on gold prices?

May I suggest Detour Gold Corp., a mining stock whose zigs and zags make the volatility in the gold price look picayune by comparison. Detour is a single-asset company, with a young mine near Detour Lake in Northern Ontario. In the past 52 weeks, it’s traded as low as $2.88, upon the surprise resignation of its chief executive officer, and as high as $15.62 in June, when gold prices were above $1,300 (U.S.) an ounce. Detour stock was $6.60 (Canadian) at the beginning of November. It closed at $8.67 on Wednesday.

Despite that rapid rise this month, analysts believe it has plenty of room to run. The average 12-month target price is $13.56, an upside of 56 per cent (one of the higher possible returns among large and mid-size miners, according to Bloomberg data). And some of the bulls are well above that average: Analyst Richard Gray of Cormark just lowered his target price from $23.50 to $18.75. He calls Detour “the ultimate risk-reward name in the gold sector, and right now the upside (reward) far outweighs the current downside (risk).”

Well, let’s dwell on those risks before we give the impression that Detour investors are just one pitch away from a home run. In Saturday’s Globe Investor, we detailed the major issue in the mining industry: Companies that took on significant debt to fund expansions or acquisitions are in a perilous place when gold falls. Analysts are now using prices of $1,100 (U.S.)-an-ounce and below in their models.

K+S Raises Profit, Sales Goals as Potash Prices Improve – by Sheenagh Matthews (Bloomberg News – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

K+S AG (SDF), Europe’s largest potash supplier, unexpectedly raised its full-year profit forecast by 12 percent as prices for the crop nutrient recovered more quickly than previously thought. The shares rose the most in almost a year in Frankfurt trading.

Earnings before interest, tax and some hedging transactions, called EBIT I, may be as much as 640 million euros ($797 million), the Kassel, Germany-based company said today in a statement. Previously K+S predicted as much as 570 million euros and a Bloomberg survey shows analysts had estimated 567 million euros.

Chief Executive Officer Norbert Steiner started a 500 million-euro cost-cutting program to help counter a drop in potash prices, triggered by Russian rival OAO Uralkali bringing extra capacity into the market last year. A “slight upwards trend” in prices is now evident, the company said today.

“All in all 2014 is looking good so far,” Chief Financial Officer Burkhard Lohr said in a video posted on the company’s website. “The long-term perspective of our business is very optimistic. Our positive business trends are holding strong.”

The shares jumped as much as 6.1 percent, the biggest intraday gain since November last year, to 23.65 euros. The stock was trading 5 percent higher at 23.43 euros as of 9:06 a.m. local time. K+S has gained 3.7 percent this year for a market value of 4.5 billion euros.

Australia looks to ‘dining boom’ and trade deal with China – by Jane Wardell (Reuters India – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – Nov 13 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to the remote island state of Tasmania underscores Australia’s push to ramp up agricultural exports, with the two countries on the verge of signing a free trade agreement.

Australia is attempting to transition from a reliance on exports of minerals such as coal and iron ore to expanding its food and agricultural exports to a growing Asian middle class, moving from a “mining boom” to a “dining boom”.

A free trade agreement with China would be a huge boost for that aim and Tasmania, the only Australian state with a ban on genetically modified food crops and animal feed, is at the heart of the country’s high-end production.

China is already Australia’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade of about $150 billion in 2013. But China has been concerned about opening its markets to Australian food and unhappy with strict Australian limits on investment by China’s state-owned enterprises.

In Australia, meanwhile, ownership of farmland by foreign investors is a sensitive issue, but Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made reaching an agreement with China a priority.

Expectations are high that a deal will be announced after Xi’s visit for the Group of 20 summit in Brisbane.

PoV: Sudburians victim of political shell game – by Don MacDonald (Sudbury Star – November 12, 2014)

November 13, 2014

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

When it comes to developing the Ring of Fire, or building the Maley Drive extension, Sudburians are getting to watch the old political shell game. It’s not a game they want to play or one in which they can get any satisfaction.

During spring’s Ontario election campaign, Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne promised $1 billion to help develop the infrastructure the Ring of Fire needs, such as roads and power. She promised to strike a board to oversee the development of the Ring of Fire within 60 days of getting elected.

Wynne also promised $26.7 million as the province’s share of extending Maley Drive. The city has already committed $26.7 million; all that’s needed is for the federal government to come up with its $26.7 million.

Maley Drive is important to the city because the extension would reduce traffic on Lasalle and The Kingsway, and divert heavy ore and other trucks.

The Ring of Fire is important to Sudbury — but also Northern Ontario and, in fact, all of Canada — because it may be home to $60 billion in mineral wealth. It could create thousands of new jobs and lots of new tax revenue. Sudbury, being the centre of mining in Ontario, can only stand to benefit by opening up the Ring of Fire, a large swath of land in northwestern Ontario containing chromite, nickel, copper and platinum.