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Guatemala declares emergency in four towns to quell mining protests – by Sofia Menchu and Mike McDonald (Reuters U.S. – May 2, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Guatemala declared an emergency in four southeastern towns on Thursday, suspending citizens’ constitutional rights in an area where deadly protests over a proposed silver mine have erupted in recent weeks.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez announced the move in an effort to quell protests targeting the mine belonging to Canadian miner Tahoe Resources Inc. Two people have been killed in the demonstrations.

The company’s security guards shot and wounded six demonstrators on Saturday, said Mauricio Lopez, Guatemala’s security minister.

The next day, protesters, who say the Escobal silver mine near the town of San Rafael Las Flores will contaminate local water supplies, kidnapped 23 police officers, Lopez said. One police officer and a demonstrator were killed in a shootout on Monday when police went to free the hostages, said Lopez.

“I am not going to allow this to continue,” Perez told reporters. “We have conducted a six-month investigation in this area with the attorney general’s office for various criminal activities.” Police and military raided the four towns on Thursday, arresting 15 people suspected of kidnapping, weapons theft and destruction of private property.

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Little for [Ontario] north, MPPs – by PJ Wilson (North Bay Nugget – May 3, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

Northern Ontario got short shrift in Thursday’s provincial budget, according to opposition MPPs in the region.

“Northern Ontario was only mentioned twice, and that was in passing,” Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said after the minority Liberal government unveiled its $127.6-billion spending plan for the next fiscal year.

Fedeli said even the much-heralded Ring of Fire mining project in Northwestern Ontario, prominently mentioned in the last provincial budget, has totally fallen out of sight. “That means, to us, that it is no longer a priority for the government.”

Fedeli said also absent from the budget was any mention of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, which the province announced it was divesting in March, 2012. “That really surprised me because it leaves a $500-million hole in the budget,” Fedeli said.

Among provisions in the budget are a $260-million boost for home care health services, a $295-million plan to fight youth unemployment, a 15% auto insurance rate cut and assistance for people on welfare and disability.

The budget projects an $11.7-billion deficit.

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Australia billionaire spends big on nickel even as glut worries persist – by James Regan (Reuters U.S. – May 3, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

Billionaire Clive Palmer earmarks $1 bln to upgrade nickel refinery

SYDNEY, May 3 (Reuters) – Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer is joining Vale, Xstrata and other sector heavyweights pouring money into nickel despite a dire near-term outlook for demand, as they plough on with projects bought on the cheap or as part of corporate takeovers.

Hopeful that appetite will pick up as the global economy improves, they are reluctant to shed assets after investing billions. But that risks deepening a supply glut in the short term and piling more pressure on nickel prices, which have fallen around 13 percent so far this year and were the worst performer on the London Metal Exchange in 2012.

Palmer, a self-described eccentric who is building a replica of the Titanic, plans to spend a hefty $1 billion this year upgrading an ageing nickel refinery in Australia, battling to reduce production costs through steps such as revamping equipment and waste disposal operations.

“The $1 billion … will help make the refinery more efficient in a time of low nickel prices,” said Andrew Crook, a business adviser to Palmer. He declined to give details on operating costs as the Yabulu plant is privately owned. Xstrata Plc, Vale SA, First Quantum Minerals Ltd, China Metallurgical Corp, Sherritt International and Sumitomo Corp are among companies spending heavily to build new nickel mines and processing plants.

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Minister says Ring of Fire will be next oilsands – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – May 2, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

The Ring of Fire mining development could be Canada’s next oil sands, says federal minister of FedNor Tony Clement.

Clement, who was appointed earlier this year as the federal government’s point man on the Ring of Fire, told the Huffington Post that the mining development will change northern Ontario for the better.

“It has the potential to transform what was hitherto a very poor, underdeveloped area of Ontario and give people who live there, particularly First Nations people, a chance for a decent life,” Clement said.

Clement, also Treasury Board president, said the Ring of Fire could eventually be worth $120 billion, including the smelter and additional economic activity tied to mining.

“You’re looking at $120 billion, right in line with the oil sands or some of these other major developments,” Clement said. Clement is not the first Conservative politician to compare the Ring of Fire to Alberta’s oil sands. Provincial Conservative leader Tim Hudak made similar claims in 2012 after visiting the mining area.

“In many ways, the Ring of Fire is Ontario’s oil sands – an enormous wealth beneath the earth that can break open a new frontier for job creation and investment in our province,” Hudak said in June 2012.

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In Indian mining town, the barons are back – by Rama Lakshmi (Washington Post – May 2, 2013)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Bellary, India — Until recently, this iron-ore mining district in southern India was a byword for cronyism and plunder. Now it represents redemption, though not everyone is cheering.

It was steel that made Bellary a boomtown; steel sought by China in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games. As demand soared, prices leapt 15-fold. Indians who cut corners and mined illegally while the government looked away got rich, including a modern-day robber baron named Gali Janardhana Reddy, whose 60-room mansion stood out among his spoils.

A government crackdown in 2011 shuttered the mines in the name of lawbreaking and corruption, and led to a prison sentence for Reddy, accused of treating Bellary like his private fiefdom.

But now other barons are back and unapologetically so. Their rebound reflects complicated attitudes about ambition, corruption and the law in an India where uneven enforcement of rules has fueled the rise of a new wealthy class in fields such as mining and real estate.

In a district election campaign underway here in the southern state of Karnataka, the candidates include a millionaire named Anil Lad, whose mining licenses were recently canceled for irregularities, as well as dozens of candidates fielded by a new political party launched by Somashekar Reddy, the mansion builder’s older brother.

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Uranium – poised for another boom? – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – May 1, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Uranium investment has proved to be a risky business, but the nuclear metal could again be poised for a substantial price rise as a projected supply deficit kicks in over the remainder of the decade.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – Only a short time ago it seems (five or six years actually) the uranium price was riding high, uranium explorers were springing up everywhere and uranium producer and explorer shares were among the strongest in the mining sector. The spot price soared to close on $140/lb in 2007, but then collapsed to the $40 or so level by early 2009 before making something of a recovery up to around $70/lb by early 2011, and seemed to be progressing upwards again with all kinds of predictions of huge growth in nuclear power leading to shortages ahead. Investors were beginning to climb in again – and then came Fukushima!

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami of March 11th 2011 resulted in a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials. Wikipedia describes it as the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 and only the second disaster (along with Chernobyl) to measure Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

Indeed, much of the area around the plant remains uninhabitable due to high radioactivity levels, even now. However there have so far been no reported deaths due to radiation as a result, although long-term effects may change this. By way of comparison, it is thought that only 68 deaths have occurred to date as a direct result of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, but again some longer term factors could raise this figure. In both cases population relocation will have been devastating for those who called the area around the respective plants home.

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Growth in mining exports predicted for Canada in 2013 – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – May 1, 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.

As the world economy recovers from the recent downturn, Canada is well positioned for growth, thanks to its abundance of resources and services that are in demand around the world.

That’s the word from Peter G. Hall, chief economist with Export Development Canada (EDC), who spoke to an April 30 lunchtime crowd during a visit to Sudbury, an event sponsored by Northern Ontario Business.

Canadian exports are expected to rise by eight per cent in 2013 and five per cent in 2014. The largest segment to see growth is metals and ores, followed by forestry products, due to a rise in U.S. housing starts.

With 600 projects worth $650 billion requiring 800,000 net new workers expected to come online in the next 10 years—figures supplied by the Ministry of Natural Resources—Ontario will experience a “phenomenal amount of growth,” Hall said.

He called the province’s metals and mining sector Canada’s “new export star,” suggesting Sudbury in particular can cash in on the largesse.

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Mining Woes Snag Financial Firms – by Alistair MacDonald (Wall Street Journal – May 1, 2013)

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

TORONTO—Far from any mine shaft, the legions of bankers, consultants and lawyers who benefited from a decadelong commodities boom are now preparing to retrench as the market weakens.

Global mining capitals such as Toronto, Johannesburg and London all flourished amid lofty prices in recent years for everything from gold and copper to potash. Mining companies have tended to flock to a handful of cities to list their shares, set up headquarters and raise cash.

But over the past year, the sector has been hit by a triple whammy of falling prices, still-rising costs and waning investor interest. Most mined commodities have fallen sharply since their 2011 highs. Gold is 23% off its highs, and copper closed at an 18-month low Wednesday. Gold has fallen 14% since the start of this year to $1,446 a troy ounce.

As a result, some of the world’s biggest miners are slashing outlays, shedding assets they bought at the top of the market just a few years ago, and shaking up management teams that spearheaded several years’ of frenetic deal making and fundraising.

That is having a spillover effect on the industries servicing miners. Bankers and brokers involved in the sector are starting to see revenue dry up, and some are already shedding staff.

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Potash, uranium to remain leaders of pack, forum hears – by Scott Larson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – May 1, 2013)

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

The mining industry in Saskatchewan, led by potash and uranium, will continue to be a strong sector, says Gary Delaney, chief geologist with the province.

“We are very optimistic about potash and uranium,” said Delaney while speaking to an audience at the third annual Saskatchewan Mining Forum.

“Our mineral sector is well positioned for growth. The roots are strong and we are seeing vigorous exploration. There is more opportunities, there is more potential, and we hope going forward that will be realized and our sector will continue to grow.”

There are 10 producing potash mines in the province and at least nine potential greenfield projects have been identified. Pam Schwann, executive director with the Saskatchewan Mining Association, agreed those two sectors will lead the way. “I don’t see any big changes there.”

She said world population growth, increased industrialization, energy and food needs mean potash and uranium will continue to be high in demand.

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Cameco’s $800-million tax battle – by David Milstead (Globe and Mail – May 2, 2013)

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.

Did you know one of the largest sellers of uranium in Switzerland is Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp.? The Canada Revenue Agency has been aware for some time. And now Cameco shareholders are getting more details about the potential problems it may cause the company – as in more than $800-million in back taxes.

It wasn’t supposed to work out this way, of course. In 1999, Cameco set up a subsidiary, Cameco Europe Ltd., in low-tax Zug, Switzerland. Cameco then signed a 17-year deal to take the uranium it produces in Canada, sell it to Cameco Europe, and have Cameco Europe make the final sale to the end customers all across the world.

Why inject a middleman into the transaction? Well, Cameco is selling the uranium to Cameco Europe at the low prices reflective of 1999, when the deal was signed. Cameco is recording little to any profit in Canada; instead, all the profits appear in Zug, where the tax rate is lower.

This has been a boon to Cameco’s bottom line. The uranium producer estimates it has avoided declaring $4.9-billion in Canadian income, saving it $1.4-billion in taxes, over the last 10 years.

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Clusters, right to work and Ontario’s ‘prosperity gap’ – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – May 2, 2013)

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.

Last year was the 10th in a row that Ontario’s economy grew more slowly than the national average.

The cumulative effect of this underperformance is a doubling in provincial debt and an intractable deficit that the government will promise unconvincingly to subdue in Thursday’s budget. Long the province that punched above its weight, Ontario is fast becoming a bigger Quebec, faced with managing its relative decline.

You wouldn’t know it by Toronto’s skyline, where new hotel towers bearing the Trump, Shangri-La and Ritz banners signal the city’s membership in an elite network of global cities where big deals and decisions get made. As such, Ontario is also a lot like California, where pockets of extreme wealth and economic dynamism co-exist among low-income immigrant communities and rusted-out manufacturing towns that have made both places studies in contrast.

Maintaining public services (improving them might be asking for too much at this point) will challenge Ontario’s leaders as never before. If the province is serious about taming the deficit, every program, including health care and education, must be subject to spending constraints and/or tax increases for which Ontarians remain unprepared. But with long-term prospects for economic growth of less than 2 per cent a year, what choices does any government have?

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Ontario Liberals employ kindergarten logic on gas plant fiasco – by Chris Selley (National Post – May 2, 2013)

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

The Ontario Liberals are currently under fire for grossly underestimating, willfully or in blissful ignorance, the cost of relocating two gas-fired power plants — one in the lead-up to the last provincial election campaign and the other in the thick of it. It was $190-million for the plant in Mississauga and $40-million for the one in Oakville, the Liberals said once; as of this week a combined figure in the neighbourhood of $600-million is in play.

Goodness knows they deserve the beating they’re getting over this. The only caveat I would add is that spending $230-million in public funds to shore up a party’s chances in a few ridings is no more defensible than spending $600-million. It’s like the old joke about prostitutes: We’ve established what the Liberals are. Now we’re just haggling over the price.

That said, the ultimate cost of this fiasco is relevant — at least I dearly hope it is — because people seem to draw a distinction between corruption that takes place behind closed doors, or is clearly illegal, and corruption that takes place out in the open where everyone can see it. (I almost find the latter more appalling; it’s like Dalton McGuinty smiling at you and patting your head — “good citizen; such a pretty Ontarian” — as he steals your wallet and tosses it to his campaign team. But clearly mine is a minority view.)

But there must be some level of expenditure so obscene, so grotesque, at which even quiescent Ontarians would rise up in fury at the Liberals’ actions, even if they see them as merely an extreme form of politics-as-usual. If it wasn’t $40-million or $190-million or $300-million, is it perhaps half a billion? The full billion? Two? Surely we must be approaching that level of waste, if we’re not there yet.

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NEWS RELEASE: Aboriginal Canada and the Future of the Natural Resource Economy

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/

First papers in new series highlight the alternative futures facing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians in defining new relationships around natural resource development

New Beginnings – by Ken Coates and Brian Lee Crowley: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/2013.01.05-MLI-New_Beginnings_Coates_vWEB.pdf

Canada and The First Nations: Cooperation or Conflict – by Douglas L. Band: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/2013.01.05-MLI-Canada_FirstNations_BLAND_vWEB-V2.pdf

OTTAWA, 1 May, 2013 – Canada’s leading independent, non-partisan think tank, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) announces today the launch of a signature project aimed at showing how natural resource wealth may be used to reset the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.

Canada finds itself today in the midst of one of the most important resource development booms in national history. The scale and intensity of resource development in Canada has buoyed the national economy in the midst of global difficulties; equally important, the vast treasure trove of Canadian resources provides solid assurance that the Canadian economy will remain robust well into the future.

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Grim report warns Canada vulnerable to an aboriginal insurrection – by John Ivison (National Post – May 2, 2013)

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

Mankind is at a crossroads, Woody Allen once quipped: “One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

Canada’s relations with its aboriginal people are also at a crossroads but, fortunately, one of the potential paths forward promises a more auspicious outcome than Mr. Allen’s doomsday scenario.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank laid out the options in two important essays released Wednesday. One paper, by Ken Coates and Brian Lee Crowley, outlines an optimistic vision where aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians find ways to collaborate on natural resource development, to the benefit of all.

A more pessimistic report, by Douglas Bland, suggests that Canada has all the necessary “feasibility” conditions for a violent native uprising — social fault lines; a large “warrior cohort”; an economy vulnerable to sabotage; a reluctance on the part of governments and security forces to confront aboriginal protests; and a sparsely populated country reliant on poorly defended key infrastructure like rail and electricity lines.

Mr. Coates and Mr. Lee Crowley suggested that aboriginal people are in a “sweet spot” when it comes to natural resource development — the result of treaty agreements, court settlements and Supreme Court decisions.

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First Nation threatens to shut down B.C. copper mine – by Peter O’Neil (Vancouver Sun – May 1, 2013)

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

Possible blockade of mine road across reserve could be start of ‘catastrophic’ uprising across Canada, think-tank warns

OTTAWA — A threat by a B.C. First Nation to shut down a B.C. mine is a small sign of a potentially “catastrophic” uprising in Canada if Aboriginal Peoples don’t become full participants in natural resource extraction, a prominent think-tank warned Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation threatened to shut down the $455-million expansion of the Huckleberry Mines Ltd. copper/molybdenum operation, 123 kilometres southwest of Houston, in northern B.C.

Wet’suwet’en Chief Karen Ogen said Wednesday the mine’s access road and power transmission line crosses her band’s reserve near Owen Lake. She said the Wet’suwet’en would likely start by charging a toll on mine workers and contractors using the road. But if the band’s demand for jobs for its members are not met, she threatened more drastic action.

“If we have to the hydro lines will come down,” she vowed. The warning of possible violence across Canada comes from Douglas Bland, a professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston. Bland, in one of two reports on resource development and First Nations published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, argued Canadians should take heed of the Idle No More movement that held protests across Canada against federal inaction on key issues.

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