Republic of Mining

Canada Sees Mining Resurgence: Scott Jobin-Bevans – by Sally Lowder and Brian Sylvester (The Gold Report – March 16, 2012)

March 18, 2012

http://www.theaureport.com/

Amid the bustle of the 80th Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto, The Gold Report sat down with PDAC President Scott Jobin-Bevans for his take on the challenges the mining industry faces. In this exclusive interview, he covers a wide range of topics, from skilled labor shortages to the trials of mining in remote northern Canada.

The Gold Report: What are the key challenges the mining industry faces in 2012–2013?

Scott Jobin-Bevans: PDAC, under the leadership of newly appointed Executive Director Ross Gallinger, will be conducting a strategic review involving the board of directors, staff and gathering membership input. There are a number of issues facing the association and the industry, and I am sure that human resources challenges will surface as a key issue.

TGR: When you say human resources, what are you talking about specifically?

The Metallurgical Achilles’ Heel of the United States – by Richard (Rick) Mills (Ahead of the Herd.com – March 2012)

March 18, 2012

http://aheadoftheherd.com/

“The United States has consistently maintained that a strong domestic minerals and metals industry is an essential contributor to the nation’s economic and security interests…The United States has a fundamental interest in maintaining a competitive minerals and metals sector that will continue to contribute significantly to the nation’s economic strength and military security. The industry represents an $87 billion enterprise that employs over 500,000 U.S. workers and provides the material foundation for U.S. manufacturing.” The 1980 National Academy of Sciences executive summary of “Competitiveness of the U.S. Minerals and Metals Industry”

A concise summary of U.S. mineral vulnerabilities was presented to the Industrial Readiness Panel of the House Armed Services Committee as early as 1980 by General Alton D. Slay, Commander Air Force Systems Command. He pointed out that technological advances have increased the demand for exotic minerals at the same time that legislative and regulatory restrictions have been imposed on the U.S. mining industry.

The 1981 report “A Congressional Handbook on U.S. Minerals Dependency/Vulnerability” singled out eight materials “for which the industrial health and defense of the United States is most vulnerable to potential supply disruptions” – chromium, cobalt, manganese, the platinum group of metals, titanium, bauxite/aluminum, columbium, and tantalum – the first five have been called “the metallurgical Achilles’ heel of our civilization.”

South Africa’s stricken ferrochrome industry eyes Canada’s Canpotex as potential turnaround model – by Martin Creamer (MineWeekly.com – March 16, 2012)

March 16, 2012

Mining Weekly is South Africa’s premier source of weekly news on mining developments in Africa’s most important industry. Mining Weekly provides in-depth coverage of mining projects and the personalities reshaping the mining industry.

South Africa’s once mighty chrome-to-ferrochrome industry, now threatened by an unexpected local oversupply of raw ore, is looking to get itself back on its feet by emulating what the Canadians did 40 years ago for their then teetering but now thriving Saskatchewan potash industry.

South Africa’s ferrochrome business is losing market share to China hand over fist and has been forced to temporarily shut furnaces left, right and centre.

Once the proud holder of a 50% share of the global ferrochrome market, the local industry now finds that China is stealing the show – ironically, with the help of South African ore.

China hosts no chromite deposits of its own, but imports the ore it needs from a string of countries.

South African ferrochrome in meltdown, urgent intervention needed – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – March 16, 2012)

March 16, 2012

South Africa has a long-standing chrome value chain that sustains 200 000 jobs and R42-billion a year in gross domestic product (GDP), but the industry speaks with one voice when it says that it is in meltdown mode.

If things go on like this, it could shed 60 000 to 80 000 of those jobs and lose its once dominant market position to China, despite China having no chrome of its own.

The contribution of the ferrochrome industry to South Africa’s GDP could plunge to R23-billion, and chrome ore prices could collapse.

On the environmental protection front, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from production would rise by at least 15% a ton as a result of the displacement of capacity from the world’s most efficient South African smelters to the world’s least efficient energy-sapping and CO2-spewing Chinese smelters.

Pass the Books. Hold the Oil. [The Oil Curse] – by Thomas L. Friedman (New York Times – March 10, 2012)

March 16, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/

EVERY so often someone asks me: “What’s your favorite country, other than your own?” I’ve always had the same answer: Taiwan. “Taiwan? Why Taiwan?” people ask.

Very simple: Because Taiwan is a barren rock in a typhoon-laden sea with no natural resources to live off of — it even has to import sand and gravel from China for construction — yet it has the fourth-largest financial reserves in the world. Because rather than digging in the ground and mining whatever comes up, Taiwan has mined its 23 million people, their talent, energy and intelligence — men and women. I always tell my friends in Taiwan: “You’re the luckiest people in the world. How did you get so lucky? You have no oil, no iron ore, no forests, no diamonds, no gold, just a few small deposits of coal and natural gas — and because of that you developed the habits and culture of honing your people’s skills, which turns out to be the most valuable and only truly renewable resource in the world today. How did you get so lucky?”

That, at least, was my gut instinct. But now we have proof.

Unfounded fears of a Canadian Exxon Valdez on the West Coast – by Lorne Gunter (Natioanl Post – March 15, 2012)

March 16, 2012

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

I’ll admit to sharing some British Columbians’ concerns about shipping oil from Alberta’s oilsands to Asia using tankers leaving from a port on that province’s north-central coast. The Pacific coast is a special place, with salmon, eagles and grizzlies. Befouling it with crude oil from a tanker spill would be a horrible ecological tragedy.

Still, it should be possible to build a port at Kitimat and run tankers in and out of the Douglas Channel without incident. The key is not merely devising the right rules for tanker operation, but also maintaining vigilant enforcement for as long as ships filled with oil navigate through the sensitive waterway.

The problem with the 1989 Exxon Valdez grounding was not that Alaska had too few safety regulations at the time, but rather that the company had become lax in following them and government enforcers had stopped monitoring company compliance.

A cautionary pipeline tale for B.C. from N.W.T. – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – March 15, 2012)

March 16, 2012

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

While Canadians seem more concerned than ever about the costs and risks of pipelines, the Far North is feeling the pain of not having one.

With the Mackenzie Gas Project on ice because of low natural-gas prices, the Northwest Territories is searching for other ways to fuel its economy, while dealing with the human toll resulting from lack of opportunity.

As N.W.T. leaders met in Calgary this week to take stock of Arctic oil and gas activity, or more precisely the lack of it, they had this advice for Northern B.C. communities trying to kill the proposed Northern Gateway project: Be careful what you wish for.

For decades, the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline from Inuvik to Alberta faced many of the hurdles that are troubling the Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline today: unsettled aboriginal land claims, worries that development would alter traditional ways of life, warnings about the environmental impacts, concerns that the pipeline’s fuel would be used to support the growth of Alberta’s oil sands.

An all-party voice for North – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (March 9, 2012)

March 16, 2012

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

NORTHERN MPPs from all parties in the Ontario legislature have consistently expressed frustration with the Toronto-centric nature of Queen’s Park. Decisions affecting the North at times fail to take account of northern realities, with the result that Northerners often feel alienated.

Conservatives and Liberals in power cannot change their opposition past even as they defend the nature of their northern policies. Thunder Bay-Superior North Liberal MPP Michael Gravelle is in just such a pickle this week.

In opposition against the Mike Harris Tories, Gravelle was seen as a champion of northern causes. He racked up impressive electoral majorities at home because people in his riding viewed him as an effective voice for northern consideration in a legislature dominated by southern members and issues.

Thunder Bay poised for jobs [Ring of Fire capital and mining boomtown]- Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (March 11, 2012)

March 16, 2012

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

STATISTICS Canada confirmed a bleak reality Friday — unemployment remains a critical drag on Canada’s economy and its people. Thunder Bay showed a spark of life and its mayor figures unemployment will soon be a thing of the past.

Economists had predicted 15,000 jobs would be created nationally in February. Instead, 2,800 positions were lost. The unemployment rate actually dropped to 7.4 per cent, but that’s because there were 37,900 fewer Canadians looking for work last month, many who’ve given up hope of finding a job for the time being.

Canadians aged 15-24 took a big hit for the fifth straight month. This may be partly due to the fact many employees at or near 65 are opting to stay at work in order to recover their recessionary investment losses or simply to afford to continue living in their homes.

The federal government is considering raising the age of eligibility for Old Age Security from 65 to 67 which will further swell retirement reluctance — and keep more jobs from opening up for youth.

China consolidates position as World No. 1 gold miner – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – March 14, 2012)

March 15, 2012

www.mineweb.com

China’s annual gold production continues to grow comfortably maintaining its position as the world’s biggest gold miner assuming official statistics tell the full picture – which they may not!

LONDON – The most recent figures from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology note that China, already the world’s No. 1 gold miner since 2007, continued its dominance in world gold production with output rising last year by 5.89% to 360.95 tonnes. The most recent statistics also show that the country’s gold mining sector continued to expand in January with a rise of about 3.69% from the same month a year ago, suggesting that we may well see further annual gold mine output growth in 2012.

China’s ever-increasing gold output though is still nowhere near the country’s huge appetite for consuming gold which rose to perhaps some 800 tonnes in 2011, although such figures tend to be speculative in nature as the officially reported statistics may not show the true picture. There does seem to have been a fall-off in demand however at the end of last year and in the first two months of 2012 with official figures for imports through Hong Kong – the main import route – seeming to show a significant decline over the same period a year ago.

The not so Dirty Dozen [Alberta Oilsands] – by Peter Foster (National Post – March 15, 2012)

March 15, 2012

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

COSIA is the latest oil sands initiative to enter a now-crowded field

Last week, 12 leading oil sands producers came out of the gate at a big ceremony in Calgary, apologizin’ hard. The Dirty Dozen (as they want, under no circumstances, to be known) were announcing the formation of yet another environmental initiative, the Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, COSIA. Steve Williams, president and CEO-designate of oil sands pioneer Suncor, expressed a “genuine desire to do better.” Than what? Sure, the oil sands are big, but where are objective measures of their impact? Indeed, are objective measures even possible? Everybody knows that a flock of ducks died four years ago at Syncrude due to failure of a warning system, but more birds are mangled by wind farms every few minutes.

Nobody denies that the oil sands have potential problems with pollution and tailings ponds, but the new organization, which is headed by Dan Wicklum, a well-regarded former CFL linebacker, aquatic ecologist, and Environment Canada bureaucrat, will also look at greenhouse gas emissions. According to Mr. Wicklum, “COSIA is a science organization, run by scientists for scientists.” So will COSIA address the science of climate change? Not on your life.

Mr. Wicklum was also quoted as saying “We don’t see COSIA playing a role in a flashy media campaign, we want to stick to our knitting, which is accelerate the pace of improvement around environmental performance.”

Mining to continue boosting growth in Canada’s North – report – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – March 15, 2012)

March 15, 2012

www.mineweb.com

The latest Conference Board of Canada territorial economic forecast says mining has helped economic growth in the territories far surpass that of the rest of Canada.

RENO (MINEWEB) – A Conference Board of Canada report says the global mining boom will help economic growth in Canada’s three northern territories far surpass that of the rest of Canada in the next two years.

“While the global economy is facing challenges that dampen the outlook for many Canadian industries and provinces, demand for metals and non-metals is expected to hold up,” said Marie-Christine Bernard, associate director, forecasting and analysis, for the Conference Board.

“The immediate concern for mining industry development in Canada’s North is not so much finding a market, but rather finding the skilled workers to lead these projects forward,” she stressed.

Current developments in the resource sector will have long-term impacts on the northern economies, suggests the Conference Board report, “Territorial Outlook: Winter 2012.”

IDNR-TV delivers natural resource industries programming to Canadian viewers – by Lisa Fattori (Ontario Mineral Exploration Review – Spring 2012)

April 5, 2015March 15, 2012

The above video is a beautiful mining story , about people , friendship, prosperity, and environmental respect that was produced by IDNR-TV:www.idnrtv.com

Published by DEL Communications Inc. www.delcommunications.com

A Toronto-based cable television company offers a welcome reprieve from the banality of reality TV and other ho-hum mainstream programming. Established in 2003, In Depth Natural Resources Television (IDNR-TV) hit the airwaves in 2006 to provide viewers with comprehensive coverage of the country’s natural resource industries and the impact of these industries on Canadian society and the economy. The network takes a balanced, unbiased view as it profiles key players, examines issues and presents the reality of natural resources industries and the role that they play in the everyday lives of Canadians.

IDNR-TV is the brainchild of Ivor Barr, the station’s producer, who has 35 years experience in the film industry and who saw an opportunity to shine a limelight on the importance of natural resource development. “We are all professional filmmakers and I had made some films about mining,” Barr says. “I realized that this is an industry that has no voice – yet it’s such an important part of the Canadian economy. As far as I know, this is the only specialty channel about natural resources in the world.”

Canada’s North set to cash in on mining boom – by Chantal Mack (National Post – March 15, 2012)

March 15, 2012

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

Canada’s North is poised to lead the country in economic growth over the next two years as a boom in mining projects takes hold, a new report predicts.

The economies of the three territories are expected to grow by more than 7% in both 2012 and 2013, says the Conference Board of Canada’s Territorial Outlook-Winter 2012, released Wednesday. That easily surpasses the Canadian average of 2.1% this year.

The demand for metals and non-metals is expected to remain high, regardless of the challenges the global economy is facing, according to MarieChristine Bernard, associate director of forecasting and analysis for the Conference Board.

“The territories are wellpositioned to satisfy this demand,” which is expected to keep prices elevated over the next few years, she said.

[Sudbury Vale] Smelter reno awarded – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – March 15, 2012)

March 15, 2012

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

An American company has won a $55-million contract to design and supply a new sulfuric acid plant for Vale Ltd.’s smelter in Sudbury — part of a massive, multibillion-dollar retrofit of the facility.

“We are very pleased that Vale has selected our technology for this important project, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Vale,” Andy Kremer, vice-president of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., said in a release.

The new acid plant is part of Vale’s Clean Atmospheric Emissions Reduction (AER) Project. The overall project is designed to cut sulfur dioxide emissions at the Sudbury site by more than 70% from current levels, and and cut dust and metal emissions by up to 40%. Vale considers the $2-bllion Clean AER Project to be the most significant environmental investment ever contemplated in the Sudbury Basin.