Republic of Mining

Cameco, Areva, sign deal with Saskatchewan First Nation for uranium mine – by John Cotter (Canadian Press/Global News – May 31, 2013)

May 31, 2013

PATUANAK, Sask. – Uranium giants Cameco and Areva have reached a $600-million deal with a Saskatchewan First Nation that supports their mining operations and drops a lawsuit over land near the proposed Millennium project.

The collaborative agreement is with the English River First Nation, a band of more than 1,000 people who live on seven small reserves in the province’s northwest. Another 400 people live off-reserve.

“This introduces a level of stability and predictability around employment, business training and community investment and environmental stewardship,” Cameco vice-president Gary Merasty said Thursday.

“This is a little more certainty around project development. If there is a lawsuit hanging over, you know that introduces a level of risk to the project.” A formal signing ceremony is to be held Friday in the community of Patuanak, about 600 kilometres north of Saskatoon.

Most of the money is to flow to the First Nation over 10 years through contracts with band-owned businesses and wages to band members, who are expected to work at the mines and on community development projects.

Mining bill calls for local processing and more transparency – by Kevin Dougherty (Montreal Gazette – May 30, 2013)

May 31, 2013

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

Companies would have to pay full cost of restoring sites

The Parti Québécois government has presented its long-awaited Mining Act in the Quebec National Assembly. Bill 43 would require mining companies to put up 100 per cent of the cost of restoring mining sites to their natural state once the work is complete and calls for more processing of minerals in the province as a condition for granting a mining lease.

All mining projects would have to pass an environmental assessment, and the bill calls for dialogue between mining companies and nearby communities. In the name of transparency, mining companies would have to make public the tonnage of minerals extracted and the amount of royalties paid to the province.

Companies would have to make public their claims within 60 days and reveal operating plans 90 days before work starts.

Martine Ouellet, the PQ minister of natural resources, said it took almost nine months to frame Bill 43 because she consulted the mining industry and municipal governments about exclusion zones, where mining would not be allowed.

More ‘tough love’ in store at BHP – by Brian Robins (Sydney Morning Herald – May 30, 2013)

May 31, 2013

http://www.smh.com.au/

BHP Billiton has flagged its coal division is in for more ”tough love” as it puts underperforming mines on the block and winds back capital spending against the backdrop of a tough global market which is not expected to turn up any time soon.

BHP has forced suppliers to renegotiate contracts following a collapse in earnings of the division, which is barely breaking even following a sustained profit slide over the past few years.

Believed to be on the block is the Gregory coking coal mine in Queensland, which was partly shut down last year due to low coal prices. It has also shut the Norwich Park mine nearby as it moves to ”simplify” its portfolio.

BHP is also negotiating with the Navajo Nation over the sale of its mine in New Mexico, US, which, according to reports, could raise an estimated $US85 million.

”We will selectively pursue asset divestment opportunities with a firm focus on value,” BHP told analysts on Wednesday. ”Assets must earn their right to remain in the portfolio.”

President Zuma draws the line on wildcat strikes – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – May 30, 2013)

May 31, 2013

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

PRETORIA (miningweekly.com) – President Jacob Zuma on Thursday drew the line on wildcat strikes, implicitly declaring unequivocal zero tolerance on future industrial action that is outside of the law.

Announcing a new programme of action for the troubled South African mining sector, President Zuma said that Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and three Cabinet Ministers had been tasked with restoring stability and certainty to the mining sector, which he described as an essential “cornerstone of the South African economy”.

He was emphatic that all future strikes needed to be undertaken within what he described as South Africa’s “excellent” legal framework and the Constitution (see also attached video).

“You cannot allow the unions to engage in wildcat strikes,” he said in response to global news agency Reuters’ question on dealing with what was described as “the turf war” between the emerging Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the long-standing National Union of Mineworkers.

Leeway had recently been given to AMCU on the grounds of its inexperience.

Quebec mining companies lash out at proposed legislation involving ore processing – by RHÉAL SÉGUIN (Globe and Mail – May 30, 2013)

May 31, 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.

QUEBEC — Quebec mining companies are reeling over proposed legislation that would require them to produce studies on the feasibility of processing ore in the province before proceeding with a new project.

The requirement is part of the new Mining Act tabled on Wednesday, in which the Parti Québécois minority government is seeking to maximize the economic spin-offs from major new mining projects.

“Processing [ore] could create three to four times more jobs than simple extraction,” Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellet said. “We are aware that you can’t process 100 per cent of the ore mined in Quebec. But between what is being processed now and 100 per cent, there is a great deal of room for improvement.”

The Quebec Mining Association said it is not against promoting secondary industries around mining projects. But it lashed out at a plan it said would create an additional financial burden in a province that, according to the lobby group, has the highest production and transportation costs in the country.

“We aren’t against processing the ore here, but companies need incentives. What we are seeing here are more coercive measures,” said the association’s president and director-general, Josée Méthot.

MiningWatch Canada News Release: Imperial Metals Operating Without Consent: First Nations Oppose Mining on Indigenous Lands

May 31, 2013

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

(Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories) – Today, members of the Neskonlith Secwepemc Nation and Ancestral Pride Ahousaht Sovereign Territory will join other First Nations and allies in voicing opposition to Imperial Metals (TSX: III) operations across British Columbia.

According to Janice Billy of the Secwepemc Nation, “We will be making our voice’s heard at the companies annual general meeting in Vancouver. In our territory as elsewhere, the company has not followed Canadian or international standards and legal obligations to obtain the free prior informed consent of the Indigenous peoples affected by its projects.”

The Ruddock Creek project is located near Tum Tum lake in the headwaters of the Upper Adams River. The project is in the advanced stage of exploration but has not obtained the consent of Neskonlith for current or any future activities. The Secwepec territory includes the Adamas River Watershed – home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run and the location of Imperial’s Ruddock Creek lead and zinc project. The area is of great importance to the Neskonlith who continue to use and occupy the area for hunting, gathering, education and ceremonies. In addition to being the headwaters of the Adams River, the area is also home to threatened mountain caribou and grizzly bear populations.

“As part of the Secwepemc Nation, the Neskonlith retain Aboriginal title and rights to their territory and have never surrendered the land to British Columbia,” further states Billy.

NEWS RELEASE: Taxes on mining in Canada are distortionary and are costing provincial coffers; especially Ontario’s – Report by Jack Mintz and Duanjie Chen

May 31, 2013

Click here for the report: http://policyschool.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/research/chen-mintz-mining.pdf

CALGARY, May 30, 2013 /CNW/ – The province of Ontario ended its fiscal year with a $12 billion deficit. Ontario may be in worse fiscal shape than well-known basket cases like the state of California. One would think that a province so financially debilitated would want to avoid giving complex and unnecessary tax breaks to resource companies. Yet, a review of the mining-tax regimes across the country by Duanjie Chen and Jack Mintz of The School of Public Policy finds that Ontario’s system is redundant, expensive and wasteful.

Ontario is not the only province that needs to improve its mining-tax regime. In every province except New Brunswick, mining firms enjoy a lower marginal rate for taxes and royalties than for non-resource companies. The result has been a distortion of investment toward mining projects that might otherwise be economically inefficient. Even in major oil-producing provinces, such as Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, mining investment benefits from larger tax incentives than oil and gas investment.

The reasons for favouring the mining of metal over the mining of oil are unclear and economically unjustifiable. According to co-author Jack Mintz, “Provincial mining-tax systems are distortionary and complex, resulting in sub-par profitability due to excessive investment in certain tax-favoured assets. Both the federal and provincial corporate income tax regimes need to be overhauled.”

Provincial bickering has no place in pipeline proposals – by Kelly McParland (National Post – May 31, 2013)

May 31, 2013

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

The premiers of Canada’s three westernmost provinces are getting together to talk pipelines.

As the National Post’s Claudia Cattaneo reported on Thursday, B.C. Premier Christy Clark, Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall expect to meet “shortly” as part of their New West Partnership to discuss several pipeline projects, including how to make them “more economically relevant” to British Columbia.

It might seem natural that the leaders of three provinces sharing a strong economic interest in the growth of the energy industry would meet to share ideas and strategies. But not in this case, for the typical Canadian reason that provincial rivalries and political gamesmanship have heretofore been allowed to intrude on the greater interests of all involved.

Alberta and Saskatchewan both have a need for new markets for their oil production, and for the means to transport it economically and efficiently. In addition to the Keystone XL pipeline now awaiting approval from Washington, two other proposals — the Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain projects — are on the table. The Northern Gateway would ship 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the B.C. coast, for shipment to Asia. Trans Mountain would twin an existing pipeline from Alberta to the lower mainland.

Work together, Canada, to clean up energy MESS – by Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail – May 31, 2013)

May 31, 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.

Canada’s energy policy is a MESS, and rare is the government that has sorted it out. MESS is an acronym coined by Prof. Monica Gattinger, a political scientist interested in energy policy at the University of Ottawa. Each letter of MESS stands for an important element of any energy strategy: markets, environment, security and social acceptability (or licence).

Governments invariably stress one or perhaps two parts of MESS, and pay less attention to the others. Increasingly, it’s clear that all of most of the four parts of MESS have to be pursued simultaneously. If not, either nothing happens, or happens only with great difficulty, as Canadians are seeing with energy projects at home.

The oil industry and its political boosters, such as those in Edmonton and Ottawa, start from M, market. No market, no production, no transportation, no jobs, no revenues. Market forces are their favourite paradigm.

For decades, it was assumed M would be always easy to locate. Oil and gas pumped in Canada would be snapped up by the United States. More recently, Asia was added as a sure-fire market. Within North America, the same was true for hydro. Build capacity and the Americans will buy. The market would prevail.

Controversy over Chinese miners in B.C. prompts flood of angry letters – by James Keller (Canadian Press/CTV News – May 31, 2013)

May 31, 2013

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

VANCOUVER — One resident of an unnamed British Columbia community claimed to personally know 40 unemployed miners who would be more than happy to work at a proposed coal mine in the province’s northeast that was instead slated to employ temporary Chinese workers.

Another lamented the mine’s hiring plan as just the latest example of Canadian resources leaving this country.
And yet another bluntly asked: “Are you trying to lose the next election?”

As a public debate swirled about Chinese-owned HD Mining’s plan to use temporary foreign workers at its proposed underground coal mine — prompting multiple government investigations and a lawsuit by a pair of unions — the province was flooded with angry letters from the public.

Four months of those letters, obtained through freedom of information laws, reveal deep anger about the province’s public support for the project and little sympathy for politicians and company officials who insisted there was not a single Canadian qualified to work at the mine. The dozens of emails and typewritten letters sent to the government on the subject between October and January stretch on for more than 70 pages.

Copper-nickel mining divides Ely [Minnesota] residents – by Dan Kraker (Minnesota Public Radio – May 31, 2013)

June 19, 2013May 31, 2013

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/

ELY, Minn. — The polarizing divide over the future of mining around Ely will be on display this weekend, when an anti-mining group opens shop on Sheridan Street, the canoeing mecca’s main drag.

Workers in the new center, dubbed “Sustainable Ely,” will encourage tourists to take action urging President Barack Obama to protect the region’s environment from copper-nickel mining. They also want people to urge Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration to expand a mining protection zone around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Down the street from tourist shops like Mostly Moose and Loony’s Northwoods Emporium, the new center houses a shiny Wenonah canoe dotted with several signatures scrawled in black marker. Anti-mining activists aim to gather thousands more.

“We hope to portage this down the mall in Washington, D.C., and present it to President Obama, and ask him to protect the Boundary Waters watershed from sulfide ore mining,” said Becky Rom, a retired attorney who is among nearly 100 contributors to the center.

Although the center’s organizers see mining as a major environmental threat, many in town believe it copper-nickel mining can be done safely and jumpstart the region’s economy.

Kyrgyzstan protesters storm Canadian mining office – The Associated Press/CBC News World (May 31, 2013)

May 31, 2013

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

Centerra Gold’s electricity cut off after rioters enter transformer unit

Kyrgyzstan has imposed a state of emergency on a northern district after clashes between riot police and protesters over Centerra Gold’s Kumtor mine.

Hundreds of protesters in Barskoon stormed the office of a gold mine run by the Canadian-based company, demanding its nationalization and more social benefits.

Protests at the Kumtor mine operated by Centerra Gold have been going on for several days. Police arrested 80 people Thursday night after several hundred, some on horseback, entered a power transformer unit and cut off electricity to the mine for several hours. That effectlvely prevented the mine from shutting down.

Centerra says the protests are illegal and that it is working with the government and local authorities to resolve the situation. President Almazbek Atambayev imposed the state of emergency and a curfew on Dzhety Ohuz district of the Issyk Kul region until June 10, his office said.

NEWS RELEASE: New Gold Agrees to Acquire Rainy River Resources Growing Gold Reserves by Over 40 Percent per Share

May 31, 2013

May 31, 2013

(All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated)

TORONTO, May 31, 2013 /CNW/ – New Gold Inc. (“New Gold”) (TSX and NYSE MKT:NGD) and Rainy River Resources Ltd. (“Rainy River”) (TSX: RR) today jointly announce that they have entered into a definitive acquisition agreement (the “Agreement”), whereby New Gold will offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Rainy River through a friendly take-over bid. Under the terms of the Agreement, New Gold will offer, at the election of each holder of Rainy River common shares, 0.5 of a common share of New Gold or $3.83 in cash, in each case subject to pro ration (the “Offer”). The Offer represents a premium of 42% over the closing price of the Rainy River shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 30, 2013, the last day of trading prior to announcement of the Offer, and a 67% premium to Rainy River’s 20-day volume weighted average trading price. The maximum number of New Gold shares to be issued will be approximately 25.8 million and the maximum cash consideration will be approximately $198 million. The Offer values the fully-diluted in-the-money share capital of Rainy River, net of Rainy River’s current cash balance, at approximately $310 million.

Transaction Highlights – New Gold

• Accretive on all key per share metrics – gold reserves, net asset value, future production and cash flow
• Adds 4.0 million ounce gold reserve in Ontario, further growing New Gold’s Canadian presence

Kyrgyzstan imposes state of emergency to protect Centerra mine – by Olga Dzyubenko (Reuters U.S. – May 31, 2013)

May 31, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

BISHKEK – (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan’s government imposed a state of emergency on a northern district on Friday to protect Centerra Gold’s Kumtor mine from protesters.

Police on Friday cleared away demonstators who had been blocking the road to Kumtor for days and arrested 92 people, Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev told a news conference.

A few hours later police used tear gas and stun grenades in clashes with villagers who tried to seize a substation and cut power supplies to the mine, a police spokesman said. Several protesters were hurt.

Hundreds of villagers had blocked the road to Kumtor, in Dzhety Oguz district, on Tuesday afternoon and threatened to move on the mine if the government did not tear up its agreement with the company.

President Almazbek Atambayev imposed the state of emergency and a curfew on Dzhety Ohuz district of the Issyk Kul region until June 10, his office said. “Those who broke the law must be brought to justice in line with the full severity of the law,” it quoted Atambayev as saying during a meeting with security officials.

Chilean President gives Barrick Gold its Pascua-Lama fix-it orders – by Brent Jang and Josh Wingrove (Globe and Mail – May 31, 2013)

May 31, 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.

VANCOUVER, OTTAWA – Chile’s President says Barrick Gold Corp. must follow 23 steps to comply with orders from his country’s environmental regulator, a message that underscores the tough road ahead for the company to get its crucial Pascua-Lama gold project back on track. Sebastian Pinera, in Ottawa to discuss Canada-Chile economic relations, admonished Barrick for its handling of the $8.5-billion (U.S.) mine development so far.

“The company didn’t comply with all the conditions that were established in that environmental impact assessment,” Mr. Pinera said during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “We have identified 23 areas where they will have to improve their behaviour with respect to the environment in Chile.”

Last Friday, Chile’s environmental regulator halted development of the gold and silver mine, citing “very serious violations” by Barrick. Mr. Pinera said Chile wants Barrick to eventually proceed with its Pascua-Lama mine – as long as it obeys environmental rules.

But lengthy delays are likely for the project, due to the time likely required for Toronto-based Barrick to carry out environmental fixes, including canals to divert run-off water away from the Chilean mine.