Republic of Mining

As Alberta struggles to get oil to new markets, B.C. builds LNG momentum quickly – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – October 8, 2013)

October 8, 2013

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

While historic energy powerhouse Alberta is struggling to get its resources to new markets, British Columbia is wasting no time getting its liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry off the ground.

Rich Coleman, head of a new super ministry to promote natural gas development in the province, said Monday the government of Liberal Christy Clark is on the verge of finalizing fiscal terms for LNG operators, will follow up with legislation early in the New Year to ensure long-term fiscal stability and anticipates the first major investment decisions to build LNG projects on the northern Coast in the third to fourth quarter of 2014.

“We are competing with other jurisdictions for customers and investment,” the minister said in explaining to reporters the urgency to launch the sector.

He was on his way to South Korea, China and Malaysia to promote the new industry, having just arrived back from meetings in Washington, D.C., with Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., which are “very interested” in LNG in B.C.

Teck waiting for next coal wave to revive Quintette – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – October 8, 2013)

October 8, 2013

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.

VANCOUVER — Teck Resources Ltd. is sitting on a mountain of untapped coal at its Quintette property in northeastern British Columbia, hoping for market conditions to improve and give the project a new beginning.

Quintette supplied metallurgical (or coking) coal to Japanese steel mills from 1982 until it closed in 2000. Today the coal market is all about China, but prices have plummeted in the wake of the country’s slowing growth and ample industry supply.

In June of this year, the B.C. government issued a mining permit to clear the way for Teck to operate an open-pit mine at Quintette, which is forecast to produce three million tonnes a year of metallurgical coal, a key ingredient in the production of steel. But with coal prices down more than 50 per cent over the past couple of years, Teck announced in July that it decided to delay capital spending of $300-million in 2013 and $350-million in the first half of 2014 that had been earmarked for Quintette.

Having watched the corporation nearly collapse during the 2008-09 recession, Teck executives are being cautious in their approach to Quintette.

Ring of Fire Needs Sustainable Development With Real Ottawa and Ontario Leadership – by Claude Gravelle (Huffington Post – October 7, 2013)

October 8, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Claude Gravelle is the Federal NDP MP for the riding of Nickel Belt.

The stalled Ring of Fire mining project finds itself at a critical crossroads with governments in Ottawa and Ontario needing to work together now more than ever. That will mean leadership that actually engages all parties and contributes to sustainable development.

Otherwise, this “project of the century for Northern Ontario” — with values from $50 billion to $120 billion being cited following discovery of world-class chromite deposits for stainless steel markets — may have to wait for another generation.

And with the ore under their feet, and time on their side, many First Nations communities are making it clear they can wait.

For some, 2013 had started off promising. In February, Ottawa had appointed Tony Clement to quarterback the Ring of Fire federal team to help break the inertia. A multi-department secretariat was announced. A modest but significant $4.5 million Aboriginal skills training project was made, picking up a New Democrat recommendation from the 2012 Natural Resources Committee study on northern resources development.

Canada has ability to spy on Brazil, but lacks motive, security officials say – by Peter Koven and Stewart Bell (National Post – October 8, 2013)

October 8, 2013

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

Canadian security officials and mining companies were skeptical Monday over claims Canada had spied on Brazil’s mining and energy department, even as Brazil’s president accused Canada of apparent industrial espionage.

The Brazilian Foreign Minister summoned the Canadian ambassador to “transmit the indignation of the Brazilian government and demand explanations,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that followed the revelations that were aired Sunday night on Brazil’s Globo network. The report said the metadata of phone calls and emails from and to the ministry were targeted by Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) to map the ministry’s communications. It didn’t indicate if emails were read or phone calls listened to.

Ray Boisvert, who was director general of counter-terrorism at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said on Monday Canada would have little reason to spy on Brazil’s mining sector. “Like any crime drama, you look for capability and intent. Could CSEC do Brazil? Of course, it has significant capability to collect intelligence in the national interest. But on motive, you come up way short. If it was Iran, nobody would be surprised. But this is Brazil,” he said. “I’m really short on motive.”

K+S potash mine project progressing on time and on budget – by Bruce Johnstone (Regina Leader Post – October 7, 2013)

October 8, 2013

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

Project near Bethune set to begin production in 2017

It looks more like a big oil discovery than a multi-billion-dollar mining project, but Saskatchewan’s first new potash mine in 40 years is taking shape and set to begin production in 2017, according to the head of K+S’s $4-billion Legacy mine project.

“We’re right on track, in terms of not only schedule, but budget,” said Sam Farris, vice-president and general manager of operations for K+S’s Legacy mine project.

The reason the Legacy project looks like a hot oil play is the presence of not one, but two, big drilling rigs on the gently rolling prairie just north of Buffalo Pound Lake. “They’re not much different than a conventional oil rig,” said Farris. In fact, the drilling rigs being used by K+S are oil drilling rigs operated by Akita Drilling Ltd. Instead of oil, however, K+S plans to produce a briny mixture composed of potash, salt and water from three different potash formations about 1,500 metres below the surface. That salty solution will be crystallized to form the “mother liquor” that will later be processed into three different potash products.

Where have all the mining towns gone? – by Ashleigh Gaul (Up Here Magazine: Life in Canada’s Far North – September 2013)

October 8, 2013

http://uphere.ca/

They’re toxic and deserted wastelands – but to those who once lived there, the remains of mining communities are worth holding onto.

In July Susan Mather packed her family into a motor home. She drove north from Calgary, four kilometres past Yellowknife, to a skeletal timber headframe so rickety that cranes can’t set demolition workers on top to assess just how rickety it is. At its base, a yellow-and black-painted board reads, “Giant Mines Yellowknife, Ltd. Last injury: May 1999.”

That was six months before the last gold brick was poured in Yellowknife, and three years after Mather left her first home. These days, when she wants to visit, she books in advance. A mine manager escorts the family through a line of buildings in various states of disrepair.

They’re given hardhats, safety glasses, reflective vests and a rundown of safety precautions, then asked to log in. When Susan fills out a single line on behalf of the whole family, her son Karl jokes, “This isn’t a guest book, mom, it’s a log. This is a worksite.”

Estimated to cost between $500 million and $1 billion, Giant Mine and the townsite it built to house its workers might be the single largest industrial cleanup in Canadian history.

New road connects Renard diamond mine with other “Plan Nord” jobs – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – October 2013)

October 8, 2013

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

Stornoway Diamond Corporation of Longueuil, QC is proud that its Renard Diamond Mine has been officially deemed “Quebec’s First Diamond Mine,” but the company is equally proud of one more of its achievements; its Renard Mine Road, a 97-km-long portion of a 240-km route that now links the mine with the public highway, Provincial Route 167, and the popular mining communities of Temiscamie and Chibougamau.

The new road is a two-lane, 8.5-m wide gravel passage completed two months ahead of schedule and on budget. It’s an all-season road that will now enable the company to continue developing its Renard Mine year round without delays in the delivery of machinery, supplies, or people.

In fact, the new road brings a feeling of “community” with other Quebec mining companies in central Quebec because it now “connects” the mine and its workers with a permanent road to and from the site.

Since 1996 when the property was discovered, Stornoway’s geologists and field crews have relied either on a seasonal road or air support.

Nunavik’s Makivik Corp. wants impact and benefits agreements to remain private – by Sarah Rogers (Nunatsiaq On-line.ca – October 7, 2013)

October 8, 2013

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Reforms to Quebec’s mining act don’t reflect existing agreements: Nunavik groups

Nunavik groups say proposed changes to Quebec’s mining act don’t go far enough to address the region’s distinct needs and existing agreements. Bill 43, a bill to reform Quebec’s mining act, was presented last spring, although public hearings on the bill wrapped up in Quebec City Oct. 1.

The draft bill imposes tougher environmental protections while increasing legal requirements for mining companies looking to explore in Quebec — changes that are welcomed in Nunavik.

But Makivik Corp. said the bill should not require that impact and benefits agreements between Nunavik and mining companies be made public. In other words, these should remain secret.

Article 163 of Bill 43 calls for information obtained from holders of mining rights to be made public as the provincial government sees fit. That information includes the quantity and value of ore extracted, as well as the royalties paid out during the previous year.

Brazil summons Canadian ambassador over spying allegations – by By Laura Payton (CBC News Politics – October 07, 2013)

October 8, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics

Canadian officials refuse to say whether they monitored Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry

Brazil’s foreign affairs minister summoned Canada’s ambassador to the country to explain spying allegations, a Canadian official confirmed to CBC News Monday.

The summons, a serious diplomatic measure, comes the day after a Brazilian television report said the Communications Security Establishment Canada used phone and email metadata to map the communications of Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.

Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado summoned Jamal Khokhar, Canada’s ambassador in Brasilia, on Monday.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff tweeted Monday that her country’s Foreign Affairs Department would demand an explanation from Canada regarding the allegations, Reuters reported.

Canadian officials have refused to respond to questions by reporters about the allegations by TV Globo that the Communications Security Establishment Canada used phone and email metadata to map the communications of Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.

Developing the Ring of Fire Could Transform the Region – by Michael Gravelle (Huffington Post – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Michael Gravelle is the Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines

Approximately 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, in the James Bay Lowlands, sits an estimated $30-50 billion worth of untapped mineral resources. When developed, this exciting discovery will potentially transform the region, create thousands of jobs and enhance the future economic prosperity for Ontario.

Realizing the full potential of the Ring of Fire is an extremely complex undertaking, one that our government takes very seriously. We have to make sure that we get it right. This means making important investments in people, infrastructure and building the right business climate for successful development.

Our government has taken important steps to lay the ground work for the Ring of Fire development and we continue to work with aboriginal communities, municipalities and our industry partners to see smart, sustainable and collaborative development move forward in the region.

We are leveraging this groundwork and continuing to drive growth in “gateway” Ring of Fire communities, like Greenstone for example; supporting initiatives like the Grow Greenstone Expo, where businesses and individuals recently gathered to discover opportunities, build business relationships, and develop the skills needed for careers in the mining industry.

Gold price is ‘bound to go through the roof’ – by Brendan Ryan (Business Day – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.bdlive.co.za/ [South Africa]

GOLD bulls have had it rough this year but many would have found solace in the Precious Metals Round Table web-based conference call and presentation held recently by Sprott Asset Management.

About 6,300 participants logged on to listen to speakers like investment “guru” Marc Faber — publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report — and Toronto-based Sprott chief investment strategist John Embry, a regular keynote speaker at gold conferences.

The bottom line? Hang on to your physical gold and gold shares because the point is fast approaching when the gold price is going to explode.

That prediction is, of course, completely at odds with what has actually happened in the gold market this year, where the price has plunged from about $1,700oz to $1,200oz, before recovering marginally to just above $1,300oz.

Predictions from institutions such as Natixis are far more restrained. The recently published Natixis Metals Review predicts gold dropping back to lows around $1,170oz over the coming six months to a year and averaging $1,200oz for next year.

[Saskatchewan’s Premier] Wall can use history lesson – Saskatoon StarPhoenix (October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

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

Today marks the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation.

Except for a symposium taking place at the soon-to-berenamed Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, this landmark anniversary has received very little attention from a federal government that spent millions celebrating the War of 1812.

While that war provided Canada with a sense of identity, no other single event did more for the creation of both Canada and the United States and delineated their respective histories than did King George III’s proclamation on how Britain would deal with the indigenous people of its new empire.

As former Supreme Court justice Emmett Hall observed in a ruling, the proclamation’s force as a statute stands with that of the Magna Carta as being foundational to British law throughout the empire.

To be sure, as Ken Coates of the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan wrote recently, Canada’s commitment to the treaties it signed has often faltered in implementation, but governments and courts lately have moved grudgingly toward ensuring the nation’s formal obligations are met.

No plans to step down for Norilsk’s billionaire CEO – by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Douglas Busvine (Reuters U.S. – October 6, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – (Reuters) – When he took the helm of Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM) last December as part of a deal that ended a long-running shareholder battle, Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin hinted he saw himself in the job for roughly two years.

Almost a year on, Potanin is clearly relishing his role at the center of a major turnaround and indicates he has no plans to stand down as chief executive of the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium. “I don’t like deadlines,” the 52-year-old Potanin told Reuters over tea in an upmarket London hotel late on Friday after a long day spent wooing investors.

His departure could be years away as he develops the Norilsk management into a world-class team, he said. “For a rich and reasonably successful guy, it is impossible not to enjoy your job, otherwise why would you spend so much time and effort doing it? I am a great fan of Norilsk and I like this kind of challenge.”

Potanin, whose more than $14 billion fortune began in banking, has long been a major shareholder in Norilsk, securing stock at a bargain-basement price in the loans-for-shares privatizations that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and spawned a new oligarch elite.

Ring Of Fire Negotiations: Bob Rae Must Turn Legacy Of Failure Into Hope For Future – by Sunny Freeman (The Huffington Post – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

MATAWA FIRST NATIONS MANAGEMENT INC. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING — Delegates at this corporate meeting pull up in pick-up trucks, not limos. Leaders sit at the table with elders and youth rather than aides or shareholders. No one dresses in suits or ties; they wear running shoes and ball caps.

The annual gathering of the Matawa First Nations Tribal Council doesn’t follow the conventions of the usual corporate annual general meeting, nor the formalities of government sessions.

During a sacred opening ceremony, elders load long pipes with tobacco and puff out billows of smoke as three men and a boy pound a powwow drum. Songs from time immemorial reverberate through the open doors of a rundown community centre where kids play ball hockey in the gym. At the top of the agenda: How to assert a unified stance on mining development that encroaches on traditional territories in this part of northern Ontario, home to a bed of lucrative mineral deposits that has been dubbed the Ring of Fire.

Near the back of the auditorium sits former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, whom Matawa has hired to head negotiations with the province over the mining projects. The snowy-haired 65-year-old is the only leader checking his BlackBerry and stands out in his crisp dress shirt when he takes a seat next to an elder wearing a “Native Pride” hat.

Potash sector struggles with excess capacity – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

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

Ten years ago, when Bill Doyle embarked on one of the biggest production expansion programs in the history of the potash business, there was an obvious rationale: the global population is rising, and the world has limited arable land to grow crops. More potash will be needed.

A decade later, that thesis remains as true as ever. But the logic of the expansion is not so obvious. The shareholders of Mr. Doyle’s company, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., cannot help but think about two key numbers: nine and 17.

Nine million tonnes is Potash Corp.’s anticipated production level in 2013. Thanks to those expansion projects, its capacity will be 17.1 million tonnes by 2015. Even this year, Potash Corp.’s production will not come close to its capacity of 12.8 million tonnes. So what will it do with 17?

It is fair to say that this is not the scenario Mr. Doyle envisioned when he greenlighted the $8.3-billion expansion a decade ago. If even some of that money was returned to shareholders instead, they would have been ecstatic. It has led some onlookers to suggest that Potash Corp. and other producers, which are also ramping up production, have expanded too far and too fast, costing themselves pricing power.