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Potash Corp chief plays down price plunge – by Peter Koven (National Post – August 8, 2013)

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

As Bill Doyle sees it, last week’s shocking turn of events in the potash industry is nothing to worry about. “I would just urge people to take a deep breath, relax, and everything’s going to be just fine,” the chief executive of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said in a unique question-and-answer webcast on Wednesday.

Mr. Doyle is eager to put shareholders’ minds at ease following the stunning news that Russian producer OAO Uralkali has broken up a cartel-like trading company and plans to max out its potash production to seize market share. It made the move after its partner Belaruskali sold product outside their arrangement.

Investors assumed that the days in which potash producers withheld production to maintain high prices are now coming to an end. But Mr. Doyle disagrees completely.

He said that there have been numerous spats like this one in the past between the Russians and Belarusians, and all of them were eventually resolved.

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UPDATE 2-Vale profit dives on FX charge; cost-cutting continues – by Jeb Blount (Reuters U.S. – August 7, 2013)

 http://www.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Brazilian miner Vale SA said on Wednesday its second-quarter profit plunged after the company recorded a surprise $2.78 billion in foreign exchange losses on currency derivatives and debt, one of its worst bottom-line results in a decade.

In the three months ending June 30, net income fell 84 percent to $424 million, compared with a profit of $2.6 billion in the year-ago quarter, Vale said in a statement. The result was below market expectations. The average estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Reuters was for profit to fall 7.63 percent to $2.46 billion.

Vale said the losses resulted from extraordinary, one-time, non-cash, financial charges that do not reflect its improved operational results. The Rio de Janeiro-based company is the world’s largest iron ore producer, No. 2 nickel miner, and a major producer of copper and fertilizers.

While a stronger dollar led to financial losses and lower profit, it also helped Chief Executive Murilo Ferreira to cut $736 million from the cost of salaries, research, equipment, construction and other goods and services.

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[Timmins] City to collect own data on open pit – by Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – August 8, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – It’s another sign that the Hollinger Mine will soon be coming back to life, courtesy of Goldcorp/Porcupine Gold Mines.

As Timmins residents well know, with renewed activity at the historic gold mine will come daily blasts and the bustle of trucking and transporting its precious resources.

A big part of the success of the Hollinger open-pit project will depend on the company keeping noise, vibrations, dust levels and emissions to a minimum so as not to disturb the properties and daily lives of neighbouring residents.

Timmins city council ensured measures will be taken to monitor such levels, entering into an eight-year agreement with Aercoustics. The contract will give the city its own set of information regarding the mine’s activities.

“They will provide us with our own monitoring equipment so we can compare that information to the information collected by Goldcorp,” explained city head of public works and engineering Luc Duval.

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Modest growth forecast for Sudbury – by Laura Shantora Nelles (Sudbury Star – August 8, 2013)

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

Greater Sudbury’s economy is set to grow this year by a modest 1.2%, and the city can expect slow but steady growth over the next five years, a Conference Board of Canada report said Wednesday.

In its five-year forecast, the Conference Board predicted Sudbury’s unemployment rate will dip to 5.7% in 2017. In June, the unemployment rate was 7.5%. Conference Board economist Jane McIntrye said increased production in mining and non-residential construction sectors will help boost growth in Greater Sudbury.

“The opening of the Clarabelle and Totten mines, as well as the water sports centre and the addition to Dynamic Earth, (along with) road construction and those type of projects, will contribute to growth on the non-residential side.”

The board said housing will begin to pick up next year. Sudbury’s residential housing starts were down 9.9% in 2012 from 2011, due to a steady decrease in population over the last five years.

McIntyre said the city’s population is expected to remain about the same, which should help get the housing market back on track next year.

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Calls for spring bear hunt resume – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – August 8, 2013)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

A Thunder Bay-based conservation group is calling for a return of the spring bear hunt after a city man was attacked by a black bear in Sandbar Provincial Park on the weekend.

The Northwestern Ontario Sportsmen’s Alliance says that hunting bears in the spring would help the animals develop a greater fear of humans, and not consider them as food.

Executive director John Kaplanis said Wednesday that “NOSA is extremely worried that while the Ministry of Natural Resources is well aware of the increase in aggressive bear activity and predatory type bear attacks on humans, little is being done to regulate this sort of bear behaviour.

“The concern is that black bears are learning to regard humans as prey, much the same as other vulnerable prey sources such as moose calves,” he said.

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Sudbury PC candidate backs mine safety call (Sudbury Star – August 8, 2013)

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

The Progressive Conservative candidate for Sudbury said Wednesday she supports a call for a public inquiry into mine safety in Ontario. In a release, Paula Peroni said she can relate to the issue in a very personal way. “My father worked for Inco (now Vale) and was very severely injured in 1978, which almost cost him his life,” Peroni said.

She criticized the governing Liberals, who have refused to call an inquiry, despite pressure from the Steelworkers union and a Sudbury-based lobby groups, MINES — Mining Inquiry Needs Ever yone’s Support.

The Steelworkers have been calling for an inquiry since the deaths of two Sudbury miners, Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, at Vale’s Stobie Mine, in 2011. They were killed when they were buried by tonnes of rock and water.

A Steelworkers investigation concluded the deaths could have been prevented. Local 6500 of the Steelworkers represent production workers at Vale’s Sudbury operations.

Vale is facing nine charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and one of its supervisors is facing six charges under the act after a Labour ministry investigation into the deaths.

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Africa’s potash pioneers hope to thrive even if price drops – by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Aaron Maasho (Reuters U.K. – August 7, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON/ADDIS ABABA, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Africa’s nascent potash industry, often enjoying low costs and shallow deposits while standing to benefit from fast growth in local demand, expects to withstand an expected drop in the crop nutrient’s prices better than emerging rivals.

The collapse last week of one of two global potash cartels is expected to take about 25 percent off prices, prompting questions over the future of projects such as BHP Billiton’s $14 billion Jansen and the K+S Legacy mine – both in Canada. Shares of small explorers and miners have been battered and financing, already tough, has become tougher.

But companies exploring Africa’s emerging potash regions – the Republic of Congo to the west and Ethopia and Eritrea to the east – say a price drop could benefit those with lower costs and high ore grades, if it means output cuts in established mining regions.

Lower prices could also increase demand for potash in emerging markets and notably in Africa, where food consumption patterns are changing as population growth and increased urbanisation alter diets and boost demand for grain.

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Ring of Fire minister in town Aug. 16 – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – August 07, 2013)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

The new man in charge of FedNor and the Ring of Fire portfolio is making his first trip as a cabinet minister to Sudbury next week. Kenora MP Greg Rickford was appointed to the posts when Prime Minister Stephen Harper shuffled his cabinet last month. He replaced longtime FedNor Minister Tony Clement.

Rickford will speak at the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce’s President’s Series Luncheon, which runs noon to 2 p.m. at Bryston’s on the Park in Copper Cliff. Jonathan Laderoute, the chamber’s policy and communications manger, said Rickford’s office hasn’t revealed many details of what the minister wants to talk about.

“But it goes without saying he’s going to talk about the Ring of Fire and how that impacts the province and the country as a whole,” Laderoute said. “But other than that, they’re playing their cards pretty close to their chest. We’ll have to wait and see.”

The Ring of Fire is a massive chromite discovery in northwestern Ontario, much of which is owned by Cliffs Natural Resources. The U.S.-based company announced last year that it would build a smelter near Capreol to process the ore, but problems coming to an agreement with the province over hydro rates and reaching deals with local First Nations led Cliffs to put those plans on hold.

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Mushkegowuk launches lawsuit on treaty promises – by Lenny Carpenter (Wawatay News – August 7, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

During a conference on Treaty 9 held in Kashechewan First Nation in 1987, respected Elder James Wesley of Attawapiskat recalled words of a man who was present when treaty commissioners met with First Nations in 1905.

“Henry Reuben says he was sitting there and saw them writing the important things,” Wesley is quoted as saying at the time. “There was someone there that did the writing. So this is what is lost. Maybe one day it will show up.”

Eight years later, the diaries of the three commissioners were discovered and, according to Mushkegowuk Council, verify what Elders have been saying all along: the commissioners made oral promises that are not reflected in the treaty. The diaries serve as the key piece of evidence in a lawsuit being launched by Mushkegowuk against the Ontario and Canadian government.

A statement of claim sent to the Ontario Superior Court on July 4 by Mushkegowuk Council asserts that the governments of Ontario and Canada have “no power or right under Treaty 9 to unilaterally restrict or extinguish” the harvesting rights of the Mushkegowuk people by authorizing resource companies to develop on their traditional territory.

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Web portal aims at educating First Nations youth in mining – by Lenny Carpenter (Wawatay News – August 6, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

An online web portal aimed at helping First Nations youth explore the world of mining was launched on July 25.
Learning2mine.ca is an interactive web portal developed by Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education & Training Institute that provides information on the mining industry and careers.

Rosie Mosquito, Oshki’s executive director, said the portal was developed with the upcoming mining opportunities within the Ring of Fire in mind as First Nations stand to benefit from such opportunities.

“With all the mining opportunities that will become available in the north, we want to see First Nations people employed as engineers, environmental technicians, project managers, geophysicists, and in administration,” Mosquito said. “This new portal encourages young people to prepare for a career in the mining industry and most importantly provides them guidance in how to get started.”

Learning2Mine.ca features a mining game called Waaniike, where the player explores the land and discovers resources and artifacts using mining gear and equipment. The game combines traditional knowledge and modern mining practices and aims to build “mining literacy” in the player.

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[Watts, Griffis and McOuat] WGM: Around the world in 50 years – by Virginia Heffernan (Northern Miner – March 5, 2012)

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

To survive half a century as an independent firm, Watts, Griffis and McOuat (WGM) has had to be the James Bond of the consulting world, willing to embrace extremes and extricate itself from some dicey situations: bush planes sinking under the ice, locals wielding AK-47s, and revolutions, to name just a few.

“We all had a sense of adventure, so we didn’t mind doing the foreign work,” says Jack McOuat, the only surviving member of the original trio.

McOuat reckons the firm has made its mark in at least 130 countries since its inception in 1962. That wealth of international experience should serve Toronto-headquartered WGM well as it struggles to break into the geological-consulting market in China, a country with the potential to develop a thriving junior mining sector, but a means of financing exploration that runs counter to the Canadian system.

“The regulations and guidelines governing mining and exploration in China are completely different from the ones in North America,” says Joe Hinzer, WGM’s president.

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Obituary: Watts, Griffis and McOuat (WGM’s) Jack McOuat (Northern Miner – August 6, 2013)

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

John (Jack) McOuat, an icon of the Toronto mining scene and the last surviving co-founder of the independent geological and mining consulting firm Watts, Griffis and McOuat (WGM), died on July 30 at age 80 at the Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. McOuat was born and educated in Toronto, graduating with a geological engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1956.

Oceanic Iron Ore hired McOuat out of school to work on a project in Quebec’s Ungava Bay, with his boss being, as fate would have it, geologist and iron ore expert Tom Griffis. Rio Tinto then bought Oceanic, and sent McOuat to scout out the nearby Raglan nickel property the company had optioned from entrepreneur Murray Watts.

In 1962, McOuat left the safe confines of Rio Tinto, introduced Watts and Griffis to one another, and teamed with Watts, Griffis and Ross Lawrence to form WGM, with some of the firm’s first foreign contracts being landed in Morocco and Libya, and later, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Yemen, Alaska, Ghana, Argentina, Ecuador, Indonesia. “That’s what set us apart,” McOuat told The Northern Miner last year.

“The international projects, the eclectic mix of clients, but also the ability to go out and find mines — most consultants don’t do that.

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Australia and Canada: Two resource-driven economies on divergent paths – by Richard Blackwell (Globe and Mail – August 7, 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.

Australia’s central bank has cut its key interest rate again, to a record low, underscoring concern that a global commodity slump and slower growth in China will weaken its resource-based economy.

The country is trying to kickstart consumer and business spending with the cuts because the mining sector has peaked and capital spending in that industry is falling, while economic growth posted by the country’s key trading partner, China, is slowing.

That’s a cautionary tale for Canada, which has a similar resource-based economy, dependant on exports. Weaker commodity prices help to explain, for example, a near-one-third drop this year in the share price of Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd., which ships about 15 to 20 per cent of its coking coal output to China.

Still, there are enough differences between the two countries, economists say, to insulate Canada from the economic turbulence facing our antipodal cousin.

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A nuclear reactor that burns its own waste? – by Shawn McCarthy Globe and Mail – August 7, 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.

Bill Gates has invested some of his considerable fortune in a nuclear reactor developer that is promising to deliver cheaper power while operating more safely and dramatically reducing radioactive waste.

The Microsoft founder is looking for an “energy miracle” – or several – that can power a 21st-century economy without emitting greenhouse gases that contribute to catastrophic climate change.

And nuclear energy is high on his list of solutions. Especially if the next generation of reactor technology can reduce electricity costs while addressing the risks from radioactivity that leave many people deeply concerned about any growing dependence on nuclear.

Mr. Gates is chairman of TerraPower LLC, a Seattle-area company that is developing a travelling-wave, liquid-sodium reactor (TWR) that, the company says, provides an answer to those problems by essentially burning its own waste.

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BHP CEO says taking long view on potash – by Sonali Paul (Reuters Canada – August 7, 2013)

http://ca.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – BHP Billiton’s new boss on Wednesday shrugged off Russian potash producer Uralkali’s exit from one of the world’s two big potash cartels, saying BHP (BHP.AX: Quote) (BLT.L: Quote) was taking a long-term view on its planned entry into the industry.

In the wake of Uralkali’s (URKA.MM: Quote) surprise move, there has been speculation it may make more sense for BHP to take over U.S. potash producer Mosaic Co (MOS.N: Quote) instead of building a $14 billion potash mine in Canada, up for a decision this year.

“We think very long term. This is something that’s happened short term,” BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie told reporters, when asked whether the company may delay development of Jansen with potash prices expected to slump.

“We’ve always said that potash is a business which will lose some of its cartel-like structure and become in time globally traded like everything else, so we, to some extent, predicted what’s happened,” he said. Mackenzie said he would have more to say about the outlook for potash and Jansen at the company’s results on August 20.

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