Republic of Mining

Scenes from a Carriage Dream (Ontario Northland Railroad] – by Dan Hokstad (North Bay Nugget – November 17, 2012)

November 19, 2012

http://www.nugget.ca/

Dan Hokstad is a teacher and author of The Sacred Ash. On the web: www.danhokstad.com

Railroads run through our city like arteries, and they have always been the lifelines of North Bay: the heart of a community built “north of the bay.” Knowing that people traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific or from the Great Lakes to James Bay, and that they passed through our neck of the woods, was like being joyously coupled with the rest of the world. As a child in bed, drifting off to sleep, the resonating train whistles that reached your window would stir enough images of adventures to fill a thousand dreams.

The sheer excitement and anticipation of standing at the C.P.R. Station downtown, waiting to welcome family home or board a train yourself, was blissful happiness. On more than one occasion, I journeyed east; truth be told, I often rode (somewhat surreptitiously) with the conductor in the baggage car. The exhilaration and danger of standing in a freight car, with the door wide open as the Ottawa valley rumbled by, was thrilling and unforgettable.

And, as I helped sort the luggage and packages, he told me tales. One was about the legendary strength of Bonfield native Ernie Foisy. Ernie could single-handedly lift a rail line; he would often tuck a ten-spot under it, and then advise the latest brakeman that it was his to keep – if he could get it. None ever could.

Boarding the train at the C.N. Station on Fraser Street was just as enthralling. For many, it was the anticipation of the Northlander and a spiritual trip north through the Canadian Shield. For me, it meant a direct link to Toronto.

The idea of regional government [Northern Ontario] – Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Editorial (November 19, 2012)

November 19, 2012

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

WHAT does a former Winnipeg mayor-turned Toronto MPP know about Northwestern Ontario? Quite a lot, it seems. Glen Murray, running to replace Premier Dalton McGuinty, is pitching an idea that officials in this region have been seeking in some form for decades — regional government.

Parsing Murray’s plan will take time but area leaders were quick to endorse its thrust: Give Northerners control over their own resources, energy, transportation, infrastructure, employment and training, and regional planning. Northerners could set their own resource tax rates and energy prices and they’d get a proportional share of provincial tax revenues.

This is where the proposal needs detail. A Northern government would be formed with a corresponding reduction of the power and budget held by Queen’s Park, Murray said. Just what power would remain in Toronto and how much real autonomy for setting policy would come here? Queen’s Park will not let go completely the hand that holds the lion’s share of Ontario resource wealth.

Murray’s idea is well worth detailed consideration. At the same time, northerners should not be too quick to simply abandon the south and its seat of government. This region has relied heavily on provincial funds and programs and must consider carefully what might be given up to finally achieve more control over our destiny.

Murray appears to have done some homework on this file. He reiterated the many attempts made “to try and make the North work . . . None of them have been sufficient.”

Liberal leadership candidate in favour of ‘autonomous North’ – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – November 19, 2012)

November 19, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – A candidate running for the Ontario Liberal leadership spoke in support of an autonomous North during a stop in Timmins Saturday.

“As an MPP for the past few years, I’ve seen at Queen’s Park exactly why things don’t work for Northern Ontario,” said Glen Murray (Liberal – Toronto Centre) who is among the candidates who have come forward to replace Dalton McGuinty. “Playing party to trying to create changes in the North, you can see the disconnect, you can see that there are a lot people who don’t get how different the challenges are.”

For Murray, the economic differences that separate north from south are just the starting point of the differences between the two regions of Ontario.

“The economy has two huge pillars that support it. One that has been quite weak – forestry – which resulted from the collapse of the housing market which shattered the demand for lumber,” he said. “The mining industry has been solidly booming across the board. Nowhere else in Ontario is the resource industry so fundamentally important.

You would never think of taking the security exchange commission away from Toronto because banking and financial services in Canada are at the very core of the Toronto economy and the only reason for its existence was that it quickly came together to raise the funds necessary to ensure the gold boom in the North.”

As Coal Boosts Mozambique, the Rural Poor Are Left Behind – by Lydia Polgreen (New York Times – November 10, 2012)

November 19, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/

CATEME, Mozambique — When Augusto Conselho Chachoka and his neighbors heard that the world’s biggest coal mine was to be built on their land, a tantalizing new future floated before them. Instead of scraping by as subsistence farmers, they would earn wages as miners, they thought. The mining company would build them sturdy new houses, it seemed. Finally, a slice of the wealth that has propelled Mozambique from its war-addled past to its newfound status as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies would be theirs.

Instead, they ended up being moved 25 miles away from the mine, living in crumbling, leaky houses, farming barren plots of land, far from any kind of jobs that the mine might create and farther than ever from Mozambique’s growth miracle.

“Development is coming, but the development is going to certain areas and certain people,” Mr. Chachoka said, taking a break from trying to coax enough food from his scraggly field to feed his six children.

Mozambique is one of the poorest nations in the world, broken by a brutal colonial legacy, a 16-year civil war and failed experiments with Marxist economic policy. But it is also one of the so-called African Lions: countries that are growing at well above 6 percent annually, even amid the global downturn.

Mozambique is poised for a long economic boom, driven by its vast deposits of coal and natural gas. Vale, the Brazilian mining company, is planning to invest $6 billion in its coal operation near here, and other coal giants like Rio Tinto will soon begin producing coal in the Tete region of northern Mozambique.

Feds won’t be pushed into fast decision on Nexen – by Andy Hoffman and Carrie Tait (Globe and Mail – November 17, 2012)

November 19, 2012

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, CALGARY — The federal government is not rushing to rule on whether state-owned foreign companies can buy Canadian resources without comprehensive examinations, even with a key deadline on the horizon.

Ed Fast, Minister for International Trade and for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, said he expects Ottawa to clarify the so-called net benefit test “very soon.” Foreign companies must prove their acquisitions will benefit Canada to obtain approval for proposed takeovers of domestic companies with assets of more than $312-million. Industry Minister Christian Paradis is currently reviewing two major deals involving state-controlled companies out of Asia.

“I would say this: With respect to the Chinese, Canadians expect us to exercise a high level of due diligence in our dealings with our trade partners, especially where state-owned enterprises are concerned. I would hope that the Chinese also understand how important this is to Canada that we get it right,” Mr. Fast said in an interview Thursday.

“I’m committed to getting it right and I know that the Industry Minister is committed to getting it right. … Our government is committed to getting it right. But we will not be pushed or hurried into making these kinds of decisions.”

Peak Oil? More like Peak Canada – by Doug Saunders (Globe and Mail – November 17, 2012)

November 19, 2012

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.

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA.- Good morning, students. The results from last week’s history test have been transconducted into your NeuroPads. Now, if you’ll all please disengage your BrainFeeds and start listening, I’ll be talking today about one of the most misunderstood episodes in Canadian history.

This occurred over the first decade and a half of the 21st century. It was Canada’s global moment of arrogant pride – the Great Hubris, as it’s remembered today – our country’s moment of squandered opportunity. In those heady years, Canadian leaders and citizens alike became convinced that their country was an energy superpower possessed of powers unique in the world.

Canada, for a while, went mad. We believed we were above the laws of economics and politics and energy – a country that had magically resisted the First New Depression of 2008, and had an export so desirable that we could ignore ecological warnings and well-established international partnerships and blacken the good name Canada had earned the previous century. Our leaders bossed around the world, believing everyone wanted their controversial oil and would ignore its many serious problems if they simply branded it “ethical.”

Last man to land on the moon has lunar mining dreams – by The Canadian Press (Vancouver Province – November 16, 2012)

November 17, 2012

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

LONDON, Ont. — You may have to excuse Harrison (Jack) Schmitt if the former American astronaut gets itchy feet for the moon these days. It was 40 years ago next month, on Dec. 6, 1972, that he and fellow astronaut Eugene Cernan became the last humans to set foot on the lunar surface.

If the former Apollo 17 astronaut had his way, the United States would head back to the moon first, before travelling to planets like Mars.

The 77-year-old geologist, who has his eye on lunar mining opportunities, says the commercial sector could be back on the moon within 15 to 20 years.

Schmitt even sees a role for Canada whose mining industry, he says, is very active and is an important player in the world economy. He also says humankind has the ability to put settlements on the moon within 40 years.

Talking about his own experience, Schmitt recalled moonwalking or skiing on moon dust in December 1972.

Moving South Africa’s mining sector into the 21st century – Mamphela Ramphele -by Geoff Candy (Mineweb.com – November 17, 2012)

November 17, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com/

A crisis should never be wasted

GEOFF CANDY: Hello and welcome to this mineweb.com newsmaker podcast my name is Geoff Candy and joining me on the line is Dr. Mamphela Ramphele. She’s an author, academic, activist and self-described change agent. She’s been at the height of many of the issues South Africa has faced during its transition from apartheid to democracy. She’s helped found the black consciousness movement in the country and has had transformation very much in the site since the 1970s. She’s the founder of Letsema circle and more recently the Citizens Movement.

She served as the vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town as well as the managing director of the World Bank. She’s also the chairwoman of Goldfields. Dr. Ramphele thank you for joining me. Now the last in the wave of strikes have affected the country’s mining sector since the tragic events at Marikan, ended yesterday but we’ve seen strikes flaring up in other sectors. One gets the sense that while the strikes have to an end for the moment this was only the opening salvo in a much bigger transformation. Would you agree with that?

DR. MAMPHELA RAMPHELE: I would absolutely agree that we are paying the price of having neglected to pay attention to the urgent need for restructuring or the transformation of our socio economic reality because we inherited in 1994 an economic system and a social system that persists to date.

Future uncertain for [Timmins Goldcorp] mine pit park – by Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – November 16, 2012)

November 17, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Now that Goldcorp is only awaiting the Ministry of Environment’s approval to start mining the Hollinger open pit near downtown Timmins, the long-term future of the site is still up in the air.

The general understanding had been that a publicly accessible park and lake would be left behind in 10 years when Goldcorp is scheduled to end its mining operations at the Hollinger.

But now that the project is starting to get into gear, some Timmins residents want concrete answers rather than vague promises.

It’s important to note that Goldcorp representatives have been insistent on the fact that the Site Plan Control Agreement between the company and the city is separate from the Subsequent Land Use Plan, which is still up for public input as the project moves forward.

The section on the company website relating to the Hollinger project explains that, “Detailed studies have determined that the removal of mine hazards through filling or mining of historic mine workings would allow for partial to full future use of the Hollinger property.”

Planning should determine Vale’s request – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – November 17, 2012)

November 17, 2012

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

It is the city’s planning committee, not the labour board, that is considering whether to allow Vale to temporarily house workers on its properties, so committee members should consider the request with sound planning principles in mind.

And while the request is obviously not good planning, temporary exemptions to planning regulations are not uncommon. If the city’s planners feel this can be done safely, and it’s a necessary requirement, councillors should consider placing restrictions on how the housing is used, such as a time limit that would require the company to reapply for an exemption.

In June, Vale began work on a historic $2-billion Clean ARE project to retrofit and upgrade its smelter. The largest environmental project of its kind in Sudbury’s history is expected to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions at the Copper Cliff smelter by 70%, bringing emissions down to 45 kilotonnes per year, well below the regulatory limit of 66 kilotonnes per year.

It’s a project that’s of enormous benefit to the city, not just for the obvious environmental advantages, but that amount of money spent on materials and labour is a major boost to the economy. Up to 70% of the money may be spent locally. But since the city has, for years, had a low vacancy rate, Vale says it needs to be ready to house an influx of workers that could hit 1,300 at peak construction in 2014/15.

PQ makes oily mess with its pipeline rhetoric – by Sophie Cousineau (Globe and Mail – November 17, 2012)

November 17, 2012

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.

Just when you think the Parti Québécois has finally put the lid on the outbursts and non-scripted remarks that characterized the party’s first days in power, here comes Daniel Breton.

On Wednesday, Mr. Breton, Quebec’s Environment Minister, said the province could block Enbridge Inc.’s project to transport oil from Alberta to Quebec on environmental grounds. Never would Mr. Breton accept the reversal of the flow of the pipeline between Sarnia and Montreal if it were imposed by Ottawa against Quebec’s will. “What I see is Alberta wanting to transport its oil on our territory without our consent. Are we masters of our own territory or not?” he said, even if is unclear whether the province has authority over the project, which the National Energy Board will review.

After a call from Pauline Marois’ office, Mr. Breton tamed his words. Even his colleague Martine Ouellet, the Natural Resources Minister who has made incendiary remarks of her own, tempered the discourse of this former activist, who is so green he glows in the dark. “There are economic advantages with respect to costs and it also represents an alternate source of supply,” she noted.

There are also political advantages in saving jobs.

In U.S. energy renaissance, flares of fear for Alberta’s oil patch – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – November 17, 2012)

November 17, 2012

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.

WILLISTON, N.D. — As the sun dips below a grain stubble horizon, the flares flicker into view, a dozen tongues of flame licking against a pink sky.

The flares are natural gas being burned off in the rush for a far more valuable resource – oil. Shining in the gathering dusk, they are industrial glimmers of a changed future for a nation whose long-faltering dreams of energy independence are being revived.

Oil is pouring out of North Dakota. In September, some 728,000 barrels a day flowed, up a startling 57 per cent from the year before. And it’s not just here: Similar fields in Texas and elsewhere are seeing similarly fast rises in oil output, prompting a near-euphoric re-examination of what’s ahead for a country that has long relied heavily on imported oil to fill its gas tanks and keep its economic engine running.

Now, as hundreds of drilling rigs employ technological advances to extract rich reserves of previously untapped energy, the oil renaissance is triggering some startling forecasts.

The International Energy Agency predicted this week that the U.S. is set to become the largest oil-producing nation on earth, more prolific even than Saudi Arabia. One day, the IEA said, the U.S. could drive away most foreign imports.

Alaska-bound rail project could solve Canada’s oil sands problems – by Diane Francis (National Post – November 17, 2012)

November 17, 2012

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

A group of Canadian businessmen has obtained the blessing of Alaskan tribes and Canadian First Nations to build a railroad through their lands that could carry up to five million barrels per day from the oil sands to the super tanker port in Valdez, Alaska.

This is truly a nation-building project that must be seriously evaluated by all governments and the oil industry. Preliminary feelers have been placed and it’s clear that the concept is the most viable and pragmatic solution for Canada’s logistical problems.

The proposed 2,400-kilometre railway would link Fort McMurray, Alta., with the Alaska oil pipeline system then on to the Valdez for export. The proposal, conceived a few years ago in studies commissioned by Alaska and Yukon, would liberate the stranded oil sands and bypass opposition to new pipelines in both countries.

Other solutions have been proposed, but this is the best for many reasons: The group promoting this realizes that any major infrastructure project is a non-starter without a social licence. So they began by seeking and obtaining local support.

“The greatest strength of our Alberta-Alaska railway concept is the support it has received from First Nations along the route and from the Assembly of First Nations across Canada,” said consortium CEO Matt Vickers.

Quebec shows tougher approach toward mining sector with access road deal – The Canadian Press/CTV News (November 15, 2012)

November 16, 2012

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

QUEBEC — Quebec’s new government is living up to its pledge to take a tougher stance with mining companies after offloading some responsibility for the construction of a controversial access road.

Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau announced Thursday that Quebec has renegotiated a deal that will see Stornoway Diamond Corp. (TSX:SWY) assume a bigger share of the costs to build a route to its proposed mine.

Marceau expects the agreement on the 240-kilometre highway extension to the Renard diamond mine site will save Quebec taxpayers at least $124 million. “We’re not going to build gold-plated roads with huge cost overruns,” Marceau told a new conference.

“The signal we’re sending to mining companies is that we’re ready to make deals with you, but the terms must be reasonable for Quebec taxpayers.”

PQ officials had expressed concern that costs for the Route 167 project had exploded beyond the estimated budget of $260 million in 2009. By August, the price tag had soared to $472 million.

The new deal will drop the maximum cost down to $304 million, the government insists. The PQ has criticized the previous Liberal government’s northern-development plan — known as the Plan Nord — for being too generous to the mining sector.

Insolvent US coal miner agrees to stop mountaintop-removal mining – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – November 15, 2012)

November 16, 2012

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Bankrupt US coal miner Patriot Coal on Thursday became the first miner to cease large-scale mountaintop-removal coal mining in central Appalachia in exchange for more time to comply with the Clean Water Act at several of its central Appalachian mines.

As the company is preparing for Chapter 11 litigation, it had reached an agreement with three environmental groups that had sued over water pollution from its West Virginia operations.

The agreement was presented for consideration to Judge Robert Chambers of the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, and had its roots in water pollution lawsuits filed by environmental protection groups the Sierra Club, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

Mountaintop-removal coal mining is an economical but devastating form of strip mining unique to West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Coal companies blast apart mountain ridge tops to expose multiple coal seams and then dump the waste in streams, creating so-called valley fills.

Patriot Coal said it had concluded that continuing and expanding its surface mining, particularly large-scale surface mining of the type common in central Appalachia, was not in its long-term interests.