Republic of Mining

Sudbury’s Superstack could be coming down: Vale – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – November 4, 2014)

November 4, 2014

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

A Sudbury landmark, rated 10 out of 45 attractions to see in the Nickel City, could be coming down, depending upon the result of an analysis by Vale Ltd. The mining company may decommission the 1,250-foot Superstack that has become synonymous with Sudbury’s regreening efforts.

It cost about $25 million to build the giant smokestack in the early 1970s to move sulphur dioxide emissions miles out of the Sudbury Basin where it was killing vegetation and polluting the air.

Because today’s mining processes produce so much less SO2, the Superstack may be superfluous and a much shorter stack could likely do the job.

Kelly Strong, vice-president of Vale’s Ontario and United Kingdom operations, made the announcement about the Superstack study at a noon luncheon Monday of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

No business person asked questions of Strong, not even about the Superstack, when Strong finished his 25-minute presentation to 260 people. Strong told reporters after the luncheon that talk of disposing of the giant stack is bound to create a buzz in the community.

[Ontario mining and manufacturing] Rip-it-and-ship-it Versus Value-added – by James Cuddy (Northern Policy Institute Blog – October 2014)

November 4, 2014

http://northernpolicy.wordpress.com/

James Cuddy, Senior Policy Analyst with Northern Policy Institute

It’s a common concern that Northern Ontario is not developing industries that will add-value to raw mining and forestry materials before they are exported for use elsewhere. So, why can’t we build processing and manufacturing facilities and then sell the value-added products to the world?

Mike Moffatt puts it simply: “If there is a business case to do so, then absolutely [we can].” The notion that there is a ‘business case’ to develop processing and manufacturing facilities embodies the concept of comparative advantage.

Northern Ontario’s primary industries exist because the region has an abundance of minerals in the ground and trees on the land that can be extracted and exported. Northern Ontario is endowed with natural resources that not everyone else has; this is what gives the region its comparative advantage in these industries.

On the other hand, it is not necessarily clear that the region has a comparative advantage in value-added forest and mining products – i.e., processing and manufacturing of raw materials. Since a processing facility can be located almost anywhere, there are many additional factors – over and above having raw materials nearby – that affect where Northern Ontario’s comparative advantage (or disadvantage) lie for value-added industries.

NEWS RELEASE: Season seven SYTYKM offers more money, more prize categories and more support for schools

April 5, 2015November 4, 2014

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Season seven of the Ontario Mining Association’s high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining has officially been opened. Entries are now being accepted on line. This year’s competition offers more money, more prize categories and more support for schools.

The prize money available has been increased to $42,500. A new category – Best Cinematography – is also being offered. This new award will recognize the most effective use of the camera by a contestant. Think camera angles, cuts and lighting. In addition, this year to offer more support to educators, $500 will be provided to the schools of each winning entry.

“Video equipment and video production software comes with a cost,” said OMA President Chris Hodgson. “We wanted to find a way to offer more assistance to schools and their audio-visual, communications technology and visual arts classes. We hope this new $500 school prize bonus will encourage and support educators involved in SYTYKM.”

SYTYKM is supported by comprehensive web-based resources and a social media network that includes Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. Contest details, video upload instructions, production ideas and past winning entries are all available on the OMA website at http://www.oma.on.ca.

Vale could demolish Sudbury’s Superstack – by Jonathan Migneault (Northern Ontario Business – November 3, 2014)

November 4, 2014

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Some call it an eyesore, while many others see it as one of Sudbury’s most easily identifiable and iconic landmarks. By the end of the year Vale is expected to determine the future of the Superstack, and decide whether or not it should be demolished.

“The reality is that there’s very little SO2 (sulphur dioxide) coming up the stack and it doesn’t make a lot of sense for use to use the stack further,” said Kelly Strong, Vale’s vice-president of Ontario and UK operations.

Strong addressed the Sudbury Chamber of Commerce Monday, where he updated the city’s business community on Vale’s operations and plans for the future in Sudbury.

Strong’s update on the Superstack was the day’s big announcement. “It’s a huge change for our community,” he said. “There’s a correlation between Sudbury and the Superstack. It’s a huge landmark.”

When it was built in 1972, the 1,250-foot (350-metre) Inco Superstack was the world’s tallest chimney, and the tallest freestanding structure in Canada. Today, Toronto’s CN Tower is the only structure in Canada to surpass the Superstack in height, at 1,815 feet, or 553 metres.

Sudbury letter: Uncertainty dogs Ring development – by Peter Best (Sudbury Star – November 4, 2014)

November 4, 2014

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

Re: Carol Mulligan’s Ring of Fire column, Oct. 30.

Stan Sudol hopes that “political sanity” will prevail and then the Ring of Fire will be developed. There can be no political sanity without underlying legal sanity, and right now, in this area of Canadian life, we don’t have that. The Supreme Court of Canada, with its “consult and accommodate” rulings, has handed First Nations band elites a virtual veto on all new developments on Crown lands, and they are using it with devastatingly negative consequences for us all, especially the vast majority of powerless natives. This was the unacknowledged elephant in the room in Carol Mulligan’s otherwise excellent article.

When George Smitherman was the Matawa Tribal Council’s spokesman he declaimed on their behalf that “First Nations will have the ultimate say on how the Ring of Fire mineral developments will unfold.” In 2012, Neskatanga Chief Peter Moonias threatened “blockades and even acts of mischief” if his little band’s demands for a proper piece of the action weren’t met. The fiscal, legal and law and order uncertainty caused by this type of selfish and irresponsible thinking foretold ultimate doom for the project.

Combined with the above was and is the McGuinty/Wynne government’s enthusiastic embrace and support of these Crown sovereignty-destroying court rulings. Wynne cabinet minister David Zimmer recently inanely lauded the framework agreement with the Matawa Tribal Council as a “government-to-government” agreement. A government’s first duty is to protect its own sovereignty.

In the U.S., a Turning Point in the Flow of Oil – by Clifford Krauss (New York Times – October 7, 2014)

November 4, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

HOUSTON — The Singapore-flagged tanker BW Zambesi set sail with little fanfare from the port of Galveston, Tex., on July 30, loaded with crude oil destined for South Korea. But though it left inauspiciously, the ship’s launch was another critical turning point in what has been a half-decade of tectonic change for the American oil industry.

The 400,000 barrels the tanker carried represented the first unrestricted export of American oil to a country outside of North America in nearly four decades. The Obama administration insisted there was no change in energy trade policy, perhaps concerned about the reaction from environmentalists and liberal members of Congress with midterm elections coming.

But many energy experts viewed the launch as the curtain raiser for the United States’ inevitable emergence as a major world oil exporter, an improbable return to a status that helped make the country a great power in the first half of the 20th century.

“The export shipment symbolizes a new era in U.S. energy and U.S. energy relations with the rest of the world,” said Daniel Yergin, the energy historian. “Economically, it means that money that was flowing out of the United States into sovereign wealth funds and treasuries around the world will now stay in the U.S. and be invested in the U.S., creating jobs. It doesn’t change everything, but it certainly provides a new dimension to U.S. influence in the world.”

Tycoon [Mick Davis] has eye on Anglo assets – by Danny Fortson (The Australian – November 3, 2014)

November 3, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

MINING tycoon Mick Davis has entered the fray again, tabling a multi-billion dollar offer for a big chunk of Anglo American’s empire.

The bid, thought to have been made in recent weeks, is the latest attempt by the former boss of mining giant Xstrata to launch his new vehicle, X2 Resources.

Mr Davis, who sold Xstrata last year to Glencore for $US27 billion, has raised $US4.8bn ($5.5bn) from a handful of investors to set up a diversified mining giant.

The Anglo bid marks the second time he has tried to prise away assets from one of the world’s top miners to form the heart of his new venture. BHP Billiton rejected a similar bid and has instead decided to spin off aluminium, coal, nickel and manganese operations into a new $US12bn listed company.

The 56-year-old South African is not the only suitor knocking on Anglo’s door. It is understood that Warburg Pincus, the private equity giant who this year hired Peter Kukielski, Arcelor Mittal’s former mining chief, had also made an approach for some of the giant’s assets.

Mark Cutifani, who took over as Anglo’s chief executive 18 months ago with a mandate to slash costs, sell assets and knock the company into shape after years of underperformance, has already announced plans to sell a big part of its historic platinum mining operation in South Africa and launched an auction for copper mines in Chile.

Australia coal mining marks challenge for U.N. green push – by James Regan (Reuters U.S. – November 3, 2014)

November 3, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY, Nov 3 (Reuters) – U.N. calls to curb greenhouse gas emissions by ending most electricity generation using coal will face some tough challenges, with coal mining going through a growth spurt in countries such as Australia.

The U.N on Sunday released a report saying governments could keep climate change in check at manageable costs but would have to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2100 to limit risks of irreversible damage.

Although coal is blamed for contributing to climate change and causing large amounts of harmful pollution, it remains by far the most important fuel for power generation at a global share of around 40 percent.

Australian production of thermal coal is forecast to rise by 8 percent over the next two years to 270 million tonnes, according to government figures, confirming the nation as the world’s second’s biggest-exporter after Indonesia.

By fiscal 2018/19, production will reach 290 million tonnes, says the Australian Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics, the government’s forecaster.

Australian growth is expected to continue as companies including Rio Tinto , BHP Billiton and Glencore earmark capital to dig and acquire new mines.

Quebec premier promotes Plan Nord in China, Iceland – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq Online.ca – November 3, 2014)

November 3, 2014

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

“An exemplary sustainable development project”

From China to Iceland, Quebec’s premier Philippe Couillard promoted Plan Nord last week, touting the massive development scheme for northern Quebec to potential investors.

In Iceland, Couillard described Plan Nord as a sustainable project of unprecedented scope, a great project for the future, and one that is also “tailor-made” for investors.

After signing scores of economic and cultural deals in China from Oct. 26 to Oct. 31, Couillard wrapped up his round-the-world junket with a Nov. 1 pitch to an international audience of academics, government officials, indigenous representatives and business interests at the Arctic Circle forum in Reykjavik, a rival to the federal government’s Arctic Economic Council, which met in September behind closed doors in Iqaluit.

“Through the Plan Nord, we hope to develop northern Quebec’s vast potential in order to make of it an exemplary sustainable development project,” Couillard said. “It has been designed and will be carried out in a close, ongoing partnership with local communities to ensure that northern development concretely benefits the communities and protects the territory’s environment and distinctive biodiversity.”

Plan Nord will require a “massive investment” of money— but it’s a safe project for investors, Couillard said — because there’s a “clear, predictable framework” for Plan Nord which will be developed with local communities, he said.

Mining sector lacks support for innovation: Industry expert – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – November 03, 2014)

November 3, 2014

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Pierre Lassonde to address mining sector challenges at Laurentian Nov. 6

The mining industry lacks the government support needed to innovate, says Pierre Lassonde, chairman of Franco-Nevada Corporation.

Lassonde is scheduled to speak at Laurentian University’s Fraser Auditorium Thursday, Nov. 6, where he plans to address many of the issues Canada’s mining sector faces.

“The Ontario government blew $300 million on MaRS (Innovation) here in Toronto for high technology that has gone nowhere, producing nothing,” Lassonde said in a phone interview with NorthernLife.ca. “Why don’t you invest that money in exploration and find billion-dollar ore bodies that are going to produce a billion dollars worth of taxes?”

Lassonde said there have not been any major technological breakthroughs in the mining sector since the 1980s. While machinery has gotten bigger and more efficient, and exploration techniques have gotten more refined, nothing has changed dramatically, he said.

“We’re reaching the limit of many of the technologies we’ve been using for the past 50 years,” Lassonde said. The advent of reflection seismology in oil exploration increased the rate of new discoveries from one for every 10 drill holes, to seven for every 10 drill holes, Lassonde said, but there has been no such advancement in mining exploration.

[Vale in the Sudbury Basin] SPEECH TO THE GREATER SUDBURY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE – BY KELLY STRONG, VICE PRESIDENT, ONTARIO/UK OPERATIONS (November 3, 2014)

November 3, 2014

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

• Thank you Geoff for that kind introduction. It’s a pleasure to be here.

• It’s so nice to see so many friendly and familiar faces here in Copper Cliff this afternoon. I’m not sure if your motivation to come here was to hear me speak or for a great plate of Italian food, but regardless I appreciate you coming here today.

• To all of the sponsors of today’s luncheon, thank you for your support of this event…it’s very much appreciated and we are happy to count you as partners in our business.

• I want to especially recognize Debbi Nicholson, who’s been an exemplary leader of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce for almost 35 years. Debbi – you lead with dignity, a sharp business sense and a keen awareness of what’s in the best interests of our community. I congratulate you on all the things you’ve accomplished, and thank you for the invitation to give an update on our operations here today.

* * *

• As I think many of you know, I grew up in Espanola and started in this industry way back when as an underground miner. My roots in the mining industry, and in the Sudbury area, run very deep. This is the place I’ve chosen to work and raise my family, and the place I call home. Sudbury is, and I believe always will be, one of the greatest mining communities on the planet.

In Polley’s Wake, Downstream Alaska Fears BC’s Mining Boom – by Christopher Pollon (The Tyee.ca – November 1, 2014)

November 3, 2014

http://thetyee.ca/

Tag along with the fishermen whose livelihood depends on watersheds that cross borders

Roaring at seven knots up the U.S. side of the Stikine River, a grizzly bear of a man named Mark Galla steers our jet boat through a gauntlet of protruding logs, attempting to point out the exact point at which Alaska becomes British Columbia. Against the vastness of the surrounding wilderness, the border is invisible, almost arbitrary. Until recently, most Alaskans couldn’t see it either.

That all changed in August when YouTube video highlights of the Mount Polley mine disaster circulated through panhandle towns like Ketchikan, Petersburg and Wrangell. Media from across the state drew comparisons between Mount Polley and the tailings dams that could one day accompany the half-dozen open pit mines proposed in the wild river watersheds that Alaska and B.C. share — the Unuk, Taku and, more than anywhere else, the Stikine.

The first of these proposed mines will be Red Chris, a copper and gold mine built by Mount Polley-owner Imperial Metals in the B.C. headwaters of the Stikine, scheduled to open later this year. Another is the $5.3 billion Kerr-Suphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project, which could generate two billion tons of waste rock, requiring tailings storage in the Nass River drainage and waste rock dumps in the Unuk watershed.

The grand enabler of these projects is a taxpayer-subsidized power line completed this year, which will bring cheap, rock-grinding electricity to the B.C.-Alaska border region for the first time. With the price tag of about $750 million (BC Hydro’s original estimate was $404 million) comes the electricity required for at least five new northwest mines.

Canada: The Duty To Consult First Nations: A Never-Ending Story? by Benson Buffett PLC Inc. (November 3, 2014)

November 3, 2014

http://www.mondaq.com/

West Moberly First Nations v. British Columbia (Chief Inspector of Mines) 2014 BCSC 924; Grassy Narrows First Nation v. Ontario (Natural Resources), 2014 SCC 48

Natural resource projects involving land that is subject to a historical treaty necessitates a slightly different standard of accommodation and consultation. These lands have been, effectively, passed to the Crown in exchange for a host of promises. By no means is the duty to consult First Nations eradicated where a treaty exists. Rather, a different set of legal principles and considerations come into account. Modern-day treaties take the form of comprehensive land-claims agreements between First Nations and governments that set out the respective rights, duties, and obligations with respect to the territory in question. As such, any question of consultation and accommodation must be framed within these agreements.

The Decisions

Two recent court cases, West Moberly First Nations v. British Columbia (Chief Inspector of Mines) and Grassy Narrows First Nation v. Ontario (Natural Resources) illustrate the principles at play in consultation and accommodation on treaty lands. In both cases the lands were subject to a treaty, and authorization was given by the Crown to proceed with a natural resource project. The First Nations petitioned the courts to halt the development, citing a lack of consultation and accommodation on the project.

Disaster down deep — inside the 2010 Chilean mine collapse – by Héctor Tobar (National Post – November 3, 2014)

November 3, 2014

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

In the San José Mine, sea level is the chief point of reference. The five-by-five-metre tunnel of the Ramp begins at Level 720, which is 720 metres above sea level. The Ramp descends into the mountain as a series of switchbacks, and then farther down becomes a spiral. Assorted machines and the men who operate them drive down past Level 200, into the part of the mountain where there are still minerals to be brought to the surface.

On the morning of Aug. 5, 2010, the men of the A shift are working as far down as Level 40, some 2,230 vertical feet below the surface, loading freshly blasted ore into a dump truck. Another group of men are at Level 60, working to fortify a passageway near a spot where a man lost a limb in an accident one month earlier. A few have gathered for a moment of rest, or idleness, in or near El Refugio, the Refuge, an enclosed space about the size of a school classroom, carved out of the rock at Level 90, that serves as both emergency shelter and break room.

The mechanics led by Juan Carlos Aguilar find respite from the oppressive heat by setting up a workshop at Level 150, in a passageway not far from the vast interior chasm called El Rajo, which translates loosely as “the Pit.” The mechanics have decided to start their workweek by asking Mario Sepúlveda to give them a demonstration of how he operates his front loader. They watch as he uses the clutch to bring the vehicle to a stop, shifting from forward directly to reverse without going into neutral first. He’s mucking up the transmission by doing this, wearing out the differential. “No one ever showed me,” Sepúlveda explains when asked why he’s operating the machine that way. “I just learned from watching.”

John Ralston Saul calls for all Canadians to be idle no more – by Joe Friesen (Globe and Mail – November 1, 2014)

November 3, 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.

In the winter of 2012-13, John Ralston Saul watched as the Idle No More movement swept across the country, bringing thousands of aboriginal people into the streets to draw attention to a wide range of issues.

When the round dances stopped and the media moved on, he decided to write something – a pamphlet or manifesto that would help explain to a non-aboriginal audience what had just happened. According to Mr. Saul, when aboriginal leaders speak, many Canadians tend to misinterpret what they are saying.

The result is his new book The Comeback, the story of a movement that has been building from a low point a little more than a century ago to where it’s now poised, he says, to reclaim a central place in Canadian affairs.

The author begins by dismissing sympathy, the lens through with which many Canadians view aboriginal issues. That’s just soft racism, he argues. Sympathy is fine as a point of entry, but it obscures why things are the way they are.