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Getting a stake in the mining patch – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – January 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.

VICTORIA — British Columbia had a banner year for mining investment in 2012. But the $463-million poured into the ground represents just a handful of successful projects. Most junior mining companies were running up against skeptical investors who have watched one too many projects fall apart because of the endless battle over ownership of the land and the resources below ground.

The mining industry does not need to follow the Idle No More movement to know it has a problem. For decades, conflict with first nations over mining resources has been blamed for curtailing the industry’s growth. When mining executives meet later this month for their annual conference in Vancouver, they’ll do so in an aboriginal-themed pavilion, part of a growing recognition that successful ventures will hinge on the co-operation of affected first nations.

A Dec. 27 court ruling offers a new reason to try to build a better relationship. The decision directs the Yukon government to consult with first nations before allowing prospectors to stake a mining claim. In B.C.,where most of the Crown land is still subject to aboriginal land claims, the ruling can’t be ignored.

The 16-page unanimous decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal – penned by three B.C. Appeal Court judges – gives the government there one year to introduce a consultation mechanism.

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NEWS RELEASE: Landmark Yukon Free-Entry Mining Court Ruling a Serious Wake-up Call for BC (January 14, 2013)

VANCOUVER, Jan. 14, 2013 /CNW/ – The BC government and mining industry have been given a blaring wake-up call in the form of a precedent-setting court ruling against the existing free-entry claims process, says the BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council.

The government and industry now has the choice of spending huge sums and possibly several years trying to fight this decision before the Supreme Court of Canada, where First Nations have a winning record, or sit down now with First Nations to finally come up with a better way of doing business, says the FNEMC.

The ruling has huge national ramifications and is most immediately and directly applicable to the BC system – on which the Yukon system is based. Delivered Dec. 27 by three justices from the BC Court of Appeal sitting in Whitehorse, the court decision granted an appeal by the Ross River Dena Council (RRDC) and found that allowing claims staking without first consulting First Nations is a break of the Crown’s duty to consult.

“This decision will eventually result in significant reforms to the mining industry across British Columbia,” said FNEMC Board Director Chief Roland Willson. “For the first time in a mining case the Courts have said the duty to consult and accommodate must take place prior to the granting of an exploration interest, including the commencement of activities.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Lithium is Driver of Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Growth – by Jean-Sébastien Lavallée (February 8, 2012)

Access to Supply in Regions minus Geopolitical Strife Crucial

Jean-Sébastien Lavallée, P.Geo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Critical Elements Corporation, www.cecorp.ca, represents the third generation of an established Canadian mining family. Mr. Lavallée joined Critical Elements Corporation in 2009. In 2010, Mr. Lavallée made the discovery of the Company’s 100% owned-Rose Tantalum-Lithium Project in James Bay, Quebec.

Lithium is a key component of lithium-ion battery packs that power electric vehicles (Evs) and hybrid vehicles. A recent report from Pike Research forecast global sales of EV charging equipment will grow from 200,000 units sold in 2012 to nearly 2.4 million in 2020, representing a compound annual growth rate of 37%. With lithium a key component to the electric vehicle market, it is crucial that North America has adequate supply to this critical element minus any geopolitical conflicts.

Credit Suisse has forecast a 10.3 percent annual growth in demand for lithium between 2009 and 2020. Global lithium demand has tripled over the past decade, and the global market price of lithium carbonate has tripled since 2001 to its current level of around $6,500 per ton. An industrial research report by David & Company forecasts that the global market for lithium-ion batteries will increase to $43 billion by 2020 compared to an $11 billion levels in 2010 with the primary catalyst the increased demand for electric cars.

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Attawapiskat and diamonds – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (February 8, 2013)

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

SORTING out the situation confronting Attawapiskat First Nation and the nearby Victor diamond mine is difficult at best. On the surface, all should be well. Mine owner DeBeers Canada spends a considerable amount of money in the community of 1,900 people — $40 million in business contracts in 2012 alone, it says.

It contributes more through an impact development agreement it signed when the mine opened — which earned it Mining Magazine’s Mine of the Year award in 2009 — though it agreed not to divulge details and the band office won’t. The company gives Attawapiskat about $2 million a year for use of its traditional land. It also hires locally and provides various training programs. Up to 100 of the mine’s 500 employees are from Attawapiskat.

While an audit of the federal government’s $95-million transfer to the band found paperwork discrepancies, together with the money the mine pays and spends, the people of the First Nation would hardly seem to be short of money. Yet a group of residents have been blockading the road to the mine over vague allegations that the money is not getting to the community.

DeBeers developed a comprehensive policy on aboriginal involvement in its operations. On its website the company “acknowledges the status of aboriginal people of Canada and their constitutionally entrenched rights” and “will work to strike a balance between these considerations and other economic, social and environmental responsibilities.”

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Debeers road blockade ends – by Lenny Carpenter (Wawatay News – February 7, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

The blockade of the road from Attawapiskat to the Debeers Canada diamond mine site is over. A small group of Attawapiskat community members blockaded the road on Feb. 4, calling on issues with the community’s agreement with the diamond company to be addressed. The blockade ended on the evening of Feb. 6.

Attawapiskat’s Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) coordinator Danny Metatawabin said the blockaders’ issues pertained to either problems with employment at the site or the use of their traditional territory.

The circumstances behind the end of the blockade is not known at this time. Earlier that afternoon, the First Nation leadership met with community members and Debeers officials in a public meeting. Metatawabin said the blockade began with four individuals before other community members joined in support.

He said the chief and council do not support the blockade, since the IBA the community signed with Debeers allowed the company to set up the Victor Mine, the winter road, and ensure that its trucks could move without interference on the road.

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Carlin Trend Co-Discoverer Livermore dead at 94 – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 8, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Prospector, geologist, rancher and public resource advocate John Sealy Livermore was the last surviving member of three men considered the fathers of the Carlin Trend and “invisible gold” deposits.

RENO (MINEWEB) – John Livermore–the legendary American geologist who believed new gold mines could be developed from “invisible gold”—died in his sleep in his own bed Thursday after a short bout with cancer.

Guided by the ideas of U.S. Geological Survey geologist Ralph J. Roberts, Livermore and fellow Newmont geologist Alan Coope in October 1961 staked the claims that would become of one of world’s richest gold regions—the Carlin Trend. Livermore and Coope’s discovery was believed to contain 4 million ounces of gold. The entire Carlin Trend has produced well over 50 million ounces of gold.

Livermore remained with Newmont until 1970 when he returned to Nevada to form Cordex exploration. By 1970, only one other gold mine had been discovered in Nevada, the Cortez operation. However, Livermore felt a return to basic prospecting might lead to other economic gold discoveries.

He hired mining engineer Whit “Dee” DeLaMare, whose work led to the discovery of the Pinson, Preble, Sterling and Dee gold mines, as well as the development of the Getchell Trend. The Pinson Mine discovery enabled Cordex to get its capital investment back in 13 months, Livermore recalled in an oral history.

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The U.S. National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum Profile: John S. Livermore – Co-Discoverer of the Nevada Carlin Trend)

 The U.S. National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum – located in the famous 1880’s silver mining boomtown of Leadville, Colorado – is a monument to the memory of the men and women who pioneered the discovery, development and processing of our nation’s natural resources. http://www.mininghalloffame.org/

John S. Livermore, an exploration geologist working for Newmont, provided the drive that led to the 1961 discovery of the Carlin Mine in northern Nevada. Carlin became the first large gold mine on what is now known as the Carlin Trend. John subsequently played an energizing role in exploration that has established northern Nevada as one of the world’s premier gold districts.

Carlin-type deposits are characterized by extremely fine-grained gold — gold that cannot be seen by the human eye nor concentrated by panning. Nevertheless, several small Carlin-type deposits were discovered in northern Nevada and worked as mines prior to the discovery of the Carlin orebody. John Livermore examined one such deposit at the Standard Mine near Lovelock, Nevada in the late 1940s and believed that other, possibly richer, fine-grained deposits remained to be found. Where to look was an open question.

Ralph Roberts, a field geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, provided the answer in a short paper, “Alignment of Mining Districts in North-Central Nevada,” which came to John Livermore’s attention in early 1961. Roberts pointed out that known deposits were associated with windows in the (coincidentally named) Roberts Mountain thrust fault — windows where older, over-riding rocks from the west had been eroded to expose younger rocks below.

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Silver Wheaton-Vale deal underscores opportunity amid mining firms’ suffering – by Peter Koven (February 7, 2013)

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

As mining companies suffer through rough market conditions, their royalty and streaming counterparts are taking advantage and striking the biggest deals in their history.

“We are busier than we’ve ever been,” said Randy Smallwood, chief executive of Silver Wheaton Corp. “And what’s more important is the quality of the assets that are being brought forward to us is better than I’ve seen in the past.”

This week, Vancouver-based Silver Wheaton announced a US$1.9-billion acquisition of gold streams from mining giant Vale SA of Brazil. It is by far the largest metal streaming deal ever done, surpassing the US$1-billion transaction between Franco-Nevada Corp. and Inmet Mining Corp. that was reached less than six months ago. The Vale deal also includes 10 million Silver Wheaton warrants.

Miners are turning to companies such as Silver Wheaton and Franco-Nevada for financing for a couple of reasons: issuing equity is extremely difficult and dilutive in this market, and capital cost pressures have made it more important than ever to share the financing risk on large projects. The fact that an enormous company such as Vale is giving up future cash flow to secure capital shows how challenging it is for the industry right now.

It wasn’t always this way for Mr. Smallwood. When he took over as CEO in April 2011, Silver Wheaton could not get a deal done with anyone. Precious metal prices were soaring at the time, and companies were demanding far too much money in exchange for their future gold and silver output.

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Attawapiskat diamond mine blockade continues, protesters eye De Beers airport – by Jorge Barrera (APTN National News – February 6, 2013)

http://www.aptn.ca/

An Attawapiskat blockade of a winter road leading to a diamond mine operated by De Beers could last until spring and expand to the company’s airport, says Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.

Spence said the handful of protestors who launched the blockade on Monday said they won’t end their protest until they get some concrete changes to the impact benefit agreement (IBA) between Attawapiskat and De Beers.

“The people who are blocking have a lot of concerns,” said Spence, who is currently on sick leave and recovering from her six week-long protest fast.

Spence attended a community meeting held Tuesday evening that ran until near midnight. About 60 people attended the meeting which included De Beers officials. Another meeting began Wednesday at about 5 p.m.

Spence said during Tuesday’s meeting one community member discussed giving De Beers 48 hours to vacate the mine before facing a blockade at its airport. The mining company flies out its diamonds via charters with schedules known only to a few key people.

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HudBay Sees Buyers’ Market for Mining Projects – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg.com – February 6, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

HudBay Minerals Inc., the third-best- performing Canadian mining stock this year, is willing to spend about C$400 million ($402 million) on deals to replenish its development pipeline.

The copper and zinc producer, which expects to more than quadruple copper output by 2015, will capitalize on a “buyers’ market” for mining assets as small companies struggle to raise funds and larger competitors consider sales, Chief Executive Officer David Garofalo said yesterday. HudBay would be comfortable spending about 20 percent of its C$1.99 billion market value, he said.

“We’re looking at a lot of things and I’m hoping that we can tuck something in this year,” Garofalo, 47, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in Toronto, where HudBay is based. “We’ve never been busier looking at opportunities.”

Exploration and development companies face funding shortfalls after mining-industry equity sales dropped for a third straight year as valuations declined and bank lending fell. At the same time, mining companies including BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, the two largest, have been looking to sell less-profitable assets.

The majors are very interested in simplifying their balance sheets, said John Hughes, an analyst at Desjardins Securities Inc. in Toronto.

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UPDATE 2-Chile’s Collahuasi says mineral resources up 19 pct in 2012 – by Fabian Cambero (Reuters.com – February 6, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – World No. 3 copper mine Collahuasi said on Wednesday its mineral resources grew by 19 percent to 9 billion tonnes last year compared with 2011 levels, due in part to new drilling campaigns and improvements in mining design.

Average ore grades are 0.81 percent copper, Collahuasi said, an enviable level as grades slip in many of leading copper
producer Chile’s ancient, tired deposits. Mining reserves increased 10 percent to 3.2 billion tonnes, the mine added.

“The notable increase in our base of mineral resources gives a clear indication of the significant future potential of an
expansion at Collahuasi,” new chief executive officer Jorge Gomez said in a statement.

Collahuasi is seeking to turn the corner after a tough 2012. The deposit produced around 284,000 tonnes of red metal last
year, tumbling roughly 37.3 percent from 2011 levels. It hopes to produce more than it did in 2012, Gomez told Reuters late last month.

Global miners Anglo American and Xstrata each own 44 percent of the mine. The remaining 12 percent is owned by a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsui & Co.  Collahuasi is mulling expansion plans that seek to double annual production. But Xstrata’s head of copper, Charlie Sartain, said last year no progress on ambitious expansion plans would be considered for the operation until the current turnaround was complete.

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As Canada phases out penny, U.S. sticks to its cents – by David Olive (Toronto Star – February 4, 2013)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Eliminating coin offers large potential savings.

At no time soon will the U.S. be following Canada’s example of scrapping the penny. That process started Monday, as the Royal Canadian Mint ceased distribution of the nuisance coin to banks and other financial institutions.
The benefits for Americans in following suit are self-evident.

In 2011, the U.S. Mint was spending 2.4 cents to make a penny, which slipped back to the recent norm of 2 cents last year. The loss to the U.S. Mint — to Americans, that is — comes to $58 million a year. For Canada, those figures were 1.6 cents and $11 million.

A century ago, the penny had close to 25 times the buying power it does today. A mere 19 per cent of Canadians still pay cash in retail and hospitality transactions, estimates show. And that 19 per cent, Star reporter Jessica McDiarmid noted Friday, imposes an estimated cost on business of about $150 million a year in handling pennies alone.

About two-thirds of store purchases are non-cash transactions — debit, credit and mobile payments. Then there’s online shopping, poised for exponential growth, where payments are exclusively non-cash. Taking note of Monday’s penny phase-out in the Great White North, Time magazine describes it as a “Canadian experiment.” Oy.

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Suncor’s $1.5-billion writedown puts oil sands project in jeopardy – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – February 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.

Suncor Energy Inc. has taken a writedown of nearly $1.5-billion on its Voyageur project, a massive oil sands plant that is now at serious risk of cancellation. And in an additional potential blow, Suncor faces a $1.2-billion tax bill, which it is disputing.

The $11.6-billion Voyageur upgrader is designed to process 200,000 barrels per day of heavy oil sands bitumen into a lighter oil. The project was 15 per cent built, and Suncor had already spent $3.5-billion, when Suncor halted work in 2009.

Though Voyageur has not yet been abandoned, the writedown was accompanied by pessimistic commentary in Suncor’s fourth-quarter results, which were released Tuesday evening.

“Suncor’s view is that the economic outlook for the Voyageur upgrader project is challenged,” the company said. It added: “The partners have been considering options for the project, including the implications of cancellation or indefinite deferral.”

A decision is expected by the end of March, Suncor said. The company will also, with its partner Total, make a decision on whether to build its Fort Hills oil sands mine in the second half of this year.

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Flaherty takes hard line on spending as Ottawa feels the oil-price pinch – by Bill Curry and Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – February 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.

OTTAWA — Ottawa’s finances are taking a hit from discounted prices for Canadian oil, and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says this will force him to hold a harder line on spending as he prepares the 2013 budget.

The Finance Minister said lower commodity prices and persistently low inflation are combining to have a negative effect on government revenues. Still, the minister insists he expects to balance the books before the 2015 election without dramatic spending cuts.

“We have to do more on the controlling our own spending side, but we don’t have to slash and burn,” Mr. Flaherty told reporters after a speech to an Ottawa business audience that outlined the focus of the 2013 budget, which is expected in the next several weeks.

Spending cuts are already scheduled to ramp up to $5.2-billion a year over the coming two years as part of a phased-in plan to scale back spending announced in the 2012 budget. The upcoming budget is not expected to include major additional spending cuts. Rather, Mr. Flaherty is signalling that Canadians shouldn’t expect much new spending.

Still, the government has faced continued challenges from Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who says Ottawa is not being transparent about its cuts. The PBO has said Ottawa appears to be cutting front-line services in spite of Mr. Flaherty’s assurances that cuts would affect only the “back office” of the federal bureaucracy.

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Blockade a ‘symptom’ of ongoing Attawapiskat issues: Wynne – by Antonella Artuso (Toronto Sun – February 6, 2013)

http://www.torontosun.com/home

BRADFORD – A blockade set up by Attawapiskat protesters on a winter road to the De Beers mine on the coast of James Bay is a symptom of unmet social needs in First Nations communities, Ontario premier-designate Kathleen Wynne says.

“The economic development that can come from either the mine on the James Bay coast or from the Ring of Fire has to be seen in the context of the relationship between government and the First Nations communities,” Wynne said Wednesday. “There’s a whole range of social issues that are not necessarily directly related to economic development but as a government, and I would suggest the federal government as well… needs to in, my opinion, tackle that whole range of issues if we want to be able to move ahead and have those economic opportunities be fulfilled.”

Wynne said she’s unaware of the actual trigger for the blockade but knows the Attawapiskat community is concerned about a number of issues including lack of housing and the availability of clean water.

“It’s never okay in my opinion to take violent or obstructive action,” Wynne said. “We have to find resolution to those issues at the same time as … allowing economic development to go ahead because in the end, if there is no economic development, then a lot of those issues are not going to be resolved.”

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