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Ring of Fire road rejection a setback for Cliffs Natural Resources – by Peter Koven (National Post – September 12, 2013)

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

TORONTO – The proposed development of Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” is facing greater uncertainty, as the province’s Mining and Lands Commissioner has made a key ruling against the company expected to build the region’s first mine and much of its infrastructure.

“This puts the project in jeopardy,” said Patricia Persico, director of communications for Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

Cliffs wants to build a road to the Ring of Fire, located in the James Bay Lowlands, that could be used to transport ore. This is controversial, because the proposed road would cross over mining claims owned by KWG Resources Inc., a tiny junior miner that staked the ground for a potential railroad.

Commissioner Linda Kamerman rejected Cliffs’ request for an “easement” that would allow the company to build a road crossing over KWG’s claims. In a lengthy decision, she said the request breaches KWG’s rights under Ontario’s Mining Act and that Cliffs did not demonstrate the road is in the public interest.

Cliffs claims the road would provide a useful link to First Nations communities, an idea that is also supported by Queen’s Park. But the commissioner wrote that there was no evidence of a “public component” to Cliffs’ application.

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Cliffs denied road access to Ring of Fire – Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 11, 2013)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Cliffs Natural Resources has been dealt a blow in gaining transportation access to its Ring of Fire chromite projects.

Ontario’s Mining and Lands Commissioner ruled against the Ohio miner, which had been seeking a road easement to cross the mining claims of its bitter rival, KWG Resources, in order to build an ore haul road out of its deposits in the James Bay region.

In a ruling released Sept. 10, the tribunal ruled that granting an easement to Cliffs would interfere with KWG-Canada Chrome’s ability to work its claims since “numerous heavy trucks (passing) every day” would cover up future drilling and sampling sites.

In an act of foresight back in 2009, KWG began staking a long ribbon of mining claims for a future railroad from its isolated Big Daddy chromite deposit heading south for 328 kilometres to a point on the Canadian National Railway’s (CN) main cross-Canada line, just west of the village of Nakina in northwestern Ontario.

A good portion of that route was atop a sandy ridge or glacial esker, easily the best spot in the muskeg country of the James Bay lowlands. KWG formed a subsidiary, Canada Chrome, to oversee this railroad venture.

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Cliffs Natural loses on Ring of Fire highway route; may appeal – by Allison Martell (Reuters Canada – September 11, 2013)

http://ca.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc has lost a key land dispute at a Canadian tribunal that could cause more problems for its already troubled Black Thor chromite project in northern Ontario’s mineral-rich Ring of Fire.

Cliffs cannot build a proposed highway to the wilderness region without the consent of tiny rival KWG Resources Inc, which has staked claims along the route and wants to build a railway instead, the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner said in a decision dated September 10 and posted online by KWG.

Cliffs spokeswoman Patricia Persico said the iron ore miner is considering its options, including appealing the decision. It was not immediately clear what body would hear an appeal. “It does put the project in jeopardy,” said Persico, who noted that the highway is a “necessary” part of Black Thor.

Cleveland-based Cliffs suspended its work on the $3.3 billion Black Thor project in June, citing stalled talks with the provincial government and other political and regulatory problems. It has struggled to win over aboriginal communities in the region.

The Ring of Fire is a cluster of mineral deposits that political leaders in Canada have said could support a century of mining. But the remote region, about 1,500 km (1,000 miles) northwest of Toronto, has no rail lines, highways or reliable power.

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NEWS RELEASE: Matawa First Nations End Litigation to Focus on Negotiated Solution in Ring of Fire

Thunder Bay, September 10, 2013 – The Matawa First Nations Chiefs have decided to end the Judicial Review litigation that challenged the type of environmental assessment process (EA) being used for the Cliffs Chromite Project. The case was scheduled to be heard by the Federal Court in mid-September. This summerthe Government of Ontario began talks with the Matawa First Nations on the Ring of Fire.

“We never wanted a judge to decide our future if we could avoid it,” noted Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation, “Like we always said, we want to determine our own solutions, by negotiation.”

“When we started the court case there was no negotiation table so we were pushed into a corner.There’s a forum for discussions with Ontario now and it’s going to look at the environmental assessment question as well as other issues,” said ChiefGagnon.

Talks with Ontario recently got underway with Bob Rae as the First Nations’ regional negotiator, and Frank Iacobucci as the Province’s negotiator. It is anticipated that project proponents and the Federal Government will also be involved. The environmental assessment process is one of the issues up for discussion. Other issues include regional infrastructure, environmental monitoring, revenue sharing, and community development.

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CORRECTED-Asia stainless steel mills to benefit from Chinese nickel-pig-iron from Indonesia – by Polly Yam (Reuters U.S. – September 11, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

HONG KONG, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Chinese firms operating nickel mines in Indonesia are likely to step up plans to build nickel-pig-iron plants in the Southeast Asian country in order to continue shipping ores back home, which would help support higher production in China next year.

The move could mean Chinese firms’ supply of nickel-pig-iron, a low-grade ferro-nickel used in stainless steel production, would rise in Asia in 2 to 3 years time, helping regional mills such as POSCO and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to cut costs, industry sources said.

China is the dominant producer of nickel-pig-iron in the world and the output accounts for about a quarter of the global nickel production. But the production relies on imports of raw material nickel laterite ores, with Indonesia and the Philippines providing most ores.

Indonesia had planned to ban the export of ores from 2014 to push miners to build smelters at home to benefit the local economy. But in a policy reversal, it may now relax the ban in order to help support the rupiah currency and miners with smelters under construction will be allowed to continue to export ores.

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Insight – Changing China set to shake world economy, again – by Kevin Yao and Alan Wheatley (Reuters India – September 11, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

BEIJING/LONDON – (Reuters) – Long after concerns about tightening U.S. monetary policy have faded, a more profound issue will still dog global policymakers: how to handle the second stage of China’s economic revolution.

The first phase, industrialisation, shook the world. Commodity-producing countries boomed as they fed China’s endless appetite for natural resources. Six of the 10 fastest-growing economies last decade were in Africa.

China’s flood of keenly priced manufactured goods hollowed out jobs in advanced and emerging nations alike but also helped cap inflation and made an array of consumer goods affordable for tens of millions of people for the first time.

The second stage of China’s development promises to be no less momentous. Consumption will take over the growth baton from investment. Services will grow as a share of the economy, while industry shrinks. Commodity-intensive mass manufacturing based on cheap labour will give way to greener, cleaner ways of making things.

More of the value added by a better-educated, more productive workforce harnessing new technologies will stay in China instead of going to multinational companies.

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Low prices take toll on Cuban nickel revenues – by Marc Frank (Reuters U.S. – September 10, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

HAVANA, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Cuban nickel industry revenues were well below expectations in the first six months of the year, mainly because of low international prices, official radio reported this week.

The provincial radio station of Eastern Holguin province, Radio Angulo, reporting on a visit to Moa municipality by provincial Communist Party leader Luis Torres Iribar, said the municipality’s exports were short 26 percent, or $90 million, for the period.

Cuba’s only two nickel plants, the Cubaniquel-owned Ernesto Che Guevara plant and the Pedro Soto Alba, a joint venture between Canadian mining company Sherritt International and Cubaniquel, are both located in Moa.

The report said that the Ernesto Che Guevara plant’s earnings were 15 percent below expectations, and the Pedro Soto Alba plant was down 25 percent, “mainly due to the low price of the mineral on the world market.” Cuba plans to produce around 62,000 tonnes of unrefined nickel plus cobalt in 2013, according to local and foreign company reports.

Sherritt International has said it expects the Pedro Soto Alba plant to produce 38,000 tonnes, similar to 2012. An Ernesto Che Guevara manager said earlier this year the plant would produce 23,700 tonnes.

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TransCanada touts national benefits of Energy East plan – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – September 11, 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.

OTTAWA — TransCanada Corp. is promoting its Energy East pipeline project to Canadians with a promise that it will create thousands of jobs across the country and pour billions of dollars into government coffers.

On Tuesday, the company released a Deloitte & Touche LLP study on the economic impact of the $12-billion pipeline, which would bring about 1.1 million barrels a day of Western Canadian crude to refineries and export terminals in Quebec and New Brunswick. As part of its effort to woo those in the pipeline’s path, the TransCanada board met Tuesday in Fredericton – the day after an evening session with New Brunswick Premier David Alward.

TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said the economic benefits will accrue right across the country, though the maximum job impact will occur during the three-year construction phase from 2016 to 2018, when it hits 7,729 full-time-equivalent positions each year.

“The project will help support thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in government tax revenues over the short- and long-term life of the project,” Mr. Girling said on a conference call.

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Keystone pipeline in the sand – by Peter Foster (National Post – September 11, 2013)

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

Keystone has become the most contentious issue in Canada-U.S. trade relations since the Trudeau government’s National Energy Program in 1980

There have been reports this past week of a mysterious “letter” from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to President Obama offering cooperation on climate policy. This in pursuit of the president’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which sits in limbo five years after its sponsor, TransCanada Corp., first applied to build it.

The notion that Mr. Harper might seek to promote Canadian interests via diplomatic channels is hardly surprising, but the media has been trying to build the missive’s significance. For example, was Energy Minister Joe Oliver, who visited Washington on Monday, “in the loop?” Mr. Oliver was non-committal about the letter during and after his visit to meet with his counterpart, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, but that is hardly surprising.

Keystone has become the most contentious issue in U.S.-Canada trade relations since the 1980 National Energy Program. Then, Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals fell prey to destructive economic nationalism.

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Canadian producers can meet U.S. oil demand even without Keystone, executive says – by Yadullah Hussain (National Post – September 11, 2013)

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

TORONTO – Calling Canadian heavy oil logistical challenges “overblown,” a senior oil sands industry executive says other pipelines and rail projects are available to meet rising demand from Alberta producers who until recently have been counting largely on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline to move their product to the United States.

“Misconceptions are common,” Doug Proll, executive vice-president with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said Tuesday. “There is ability to meet the supply even without Keystone XL. For the next little while, market access should not be constrained as result of other options.”

Enbridge Inc.’s debottlenecking of the Mainline pipeline will facilitate 400,000 barrels per day to the United States, while TransCanada Corp.’s west-to-east pipeline and the southern leg of the Keystone XL, along with a number of other proposals, expansions and added rail capacity mean Canadian producers have a number of outlets to get to market.

CNRL is planning to spend $2-billon to $2.5-billion annually over the next three years to take production from its Horizon Oil Sands development to 250,000 bpd from its current level of about 100,000 bpd.

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NEWS RELEASE: No Easement for Cliffs on Canada Chrome Claims

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Sept. 11, 2013) – The Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner today ordered that the application of 2274659 Ontario Inc., a subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., be dismissed.

The applicant had sought an Order to dispense with the consent of Canada Chrome Corporation, a subsidiary of KWG Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KWG), to an easement over mining claims that it had staked from Exton to the Ring of Fire. The easement was sought to build a road for the development of the Black Thor deposit, while Canada Chrome Corporation seeks to facilitate the possible construction of a railroad to develop its interests in the Ring of Fire, including the Big Daddy and Black Horse deposits. The full text of both the Order and Reasons of the Commissioner are available at http://www.kwgresources.com/investors/mining_lands/.

About KWG: KWG has a 30% interest in the Big Daddy chromite deposit and the right to earn 80% of the Black Horse chromite deposit. KWG also owns 100% of Canada Chrome Corporation which has staked claims and conducted a $15 million surveying and soil testing program for the engineering and construction of a railroad to the Ring of Fire from Exton, Ontario.

Shares issued and outstanding: 697,577,273

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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Mining companies balk at Mexico’s proposed royalty plan – by Gabriel Stargardter (Reuters U.S. – September 10, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

MEXICO CITY – (Reuters) – Mining companies have threatened to cut investment in Mexico after the government proposed a 7.5 percent mining royalty, arguing that lower metal prices, rising running costs and higher taxes reduce the country’s investment allure.

The royalty proposal was part of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s plan to bolster Mexico’s feeble tax haul, a reform which focuses on reaping more income tax from higher earners, closing corporate loopholes and widening the tax base.

In April, Mexico’s lower house of Congress approved a new percent royalty to redistribute miners’ profits to the states and municipalities where they mine. The bill was originally due for a Senate vote in coming months.

However, lawmakers later decided to fold it into Pena Nieto’s fiscal reform, which has upped the stakes, proposing a royalty of 7.5 percent of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). It would rise to as much as 8 percent for gold, silver and platinum miners.

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The so-called “Great Strike” really was a lockout, part 2 – by T.W. Paterson (The Citizen – September 11, 2013)

http://www.canada.com/news/index.html [Cowichan Valley Citizen]

Premier Richard McBride, who doubled as Minister of Mines, thought it “intolerable” that the strikers should make demands upon the mine owners. Coal mining is a dangerous business at best. But Vancouver Island mines were said to be among the most dangerous in the world for cave-ins, explosions, floods and fires.

The human cost, over 90 years of operation, was appalling: 640 miners killed in Nanaimo-area mines, almost 300 more in the Cumberland colliery. Those who died of their injuries later, sometimes much later, went unrecorded.

The B.C. government had recognized these hazards, particularly that of gas explosion, when it passed the Coal Mines Act of 1911 which stated that, upon the presence of gas or other life threatening hazards being reported to management, the mine, or the section of the mine in question, was to be closed until the problem was rectified.

When Oscar Mottishaw and Isaac Portrey, members of a gas committee, reported five gas emissions in Extension No. 2 Mine on June 15, 1912, it cost Mottishaw, who was known to be an organizer for the newly arrived United Mine Workers of America, his job and he sought employment with a contractor in another Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Ltd. mine in Cumberland.

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The so-called ‘Great Strike’ really was a lockout, part 1 – by T.W. Paterson (The Citizen – September 6, 2013)

http://www.canada.com/news/index.html [Cowichan Valley Citizen]

It devastated families, divided communities, set trade unionism on the Island back by more than a decade and left memories – for many, bitter, bitter memories – that survived for several generations.

August 2013. As you stand in brilliant late summer sunshine at Ladysmith’s First and French Streets, you’re surrounded by busy traffic, neat and well-maintained businesses, the historic Eagles’ Hall and some roadside artifacts dating from this 49th parallel city’s heyday as a shipping port for coal from the Extension mines.

It taxes your imagination to picture this intersection as it would have appeared in August 1913.

That’s when Ladysmith was a city besieged, having been placed under the equivalent of martial law by order of the provincial government. That’s when the Eagles Hall was headquarters to hundreds of armed soldiers, uniformed policemen and civvies-clad special constables who patrolled these very streets amid sand-bagged machine gun emplacements while on the lookout for, and often provoking, confrontations with hundreds of angry, striking coal miners.

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NEWS RELEASE: Environmental groups sue Ontario government over decision to gut species at risk legislation

http://www.ecojustice.ca/

New regulation permits industry to ignore Act’s main purposes

TORONTO Sep 10, 2013

Environmental groups are suing the Ontario government for its decision to exempt major threats to species at risk from the province’s Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Ecojustice lawyers, acting on behalf of Ontario Nature and Wildlands League, have filed a lawsuit in Divisional Court alleging that the Ontario government acted unlawfully by making a regulation that undermines the ESA.

Ontario Regulation 176/13, which came into force under the ESA on July 1, 2013, is a tremendous blow to species protection. The new regulatory changes harm species by allowing major industries — including forestry, energy transmission, housing, oil and gas pipelines, mineral exploration and mine development, transit, wastewater management companies — to avoid strict standards intended to protect at-risk species and their habitats.

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