Republic of Mining

Situation un-bear-able – Timmins Daily Press (May 28, 2012)

May 29, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Councillor calls for return of spring bear hunt

Northerners are voicing their unbearable stress towards the provincial government’s latest approach to problem bruins. The MNR has dropped responsibilities for nuisance bears on private property. The buck has been passed to Ontario Provincial Police and local police services.

Coun. John Curley is outraged with the recent letter from Natural Resources Deputy Minister David O’Toole. The letter was revealed to Timmins council at Monday night’s regular meeting.

It stated the recent changes came about as part of the Transformation Plan announced in the 2012 Ontario Budget. The plan was a review of how government programs delivered services to Ontarians, which includes eight-year existing Bear Wise program/

In his letter, O’Toole admitted the relocation of black bears was not as effective compared to other MNR bear handling strategies.

Mining Maven [Catherine McLeod-Seltzer] Says Share Slump to Spur Merger Boom – by Liezel Hill – (Bloomberg.com – May 28, 2012)

May 28, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Mineral prospectors and promoters are “some of the most optimistic
people on the planet,” McLeod-Seltzer says. “We’re like cockroaches
— we’ve survived a lot of nuclear winters.”

Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, one of Canada’s top mining dealmakers, is forecasting an increase in mergers and acquisitions because of a shortage of financing.

Mining stocks are trading close to a three-year low as commodity prices decline on concern that growth is slowing in China, the largest metals consumer. McLeod-Seltzer says that as investors shun equity offerings and banks shy away from making loans, more mine developers will be bought by larger competitors looking to add output and reserves.

“I see these downturns as opportunities,” she said in an interview in Toronto. “The company that’s going to create value for shareholders today is the one that’s not timid.”

McLeod-Seltzer, 52, who sits on the boards of five miners including Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp. (K), says that during her 28-year career she has raised more than $600 million for new companies searching for mineral riches.

Ottawa under the gun to end CP strike – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – May 28, 2012)

May 28, 2012

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.

As the economic impact of the strike against Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. mounts, industries across the country are urging the federal government to intervene when Parliament resumes Monday.

More than $50-million of grain is stuck in elevators and thousands of new cars and trucks are effectively stranded, awaiting CP to get the trains rolling. Manufacturers and miners are sounding the alarm about disruptions to the supply chain while the propane industry is worried about bottlenecks.

Supply chain pressures for both imports and exports are becoming severe, Port Metro Vancouver said Sunday. The port is part of a growing chorus of industry groups and companies urging Ottawa to introduce back-to-work legislation as the CP strike by 4,800 members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference enters its sixth day on Monday.

“For CP, this walkout has resulted in tens of thousands of carloads of freight not moving every day on our Canadian network,” said CP spokesman Ed Greenberg, adding the railway has laid off 2,000 other CP workers because of the walkout by the Teamsters.

Last tango in Argentina? – by Peter Foster (National Post – May 25, 2012)

May 28, 2012

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

Its spending and expropriation spree hardly provides a model for Greece

That Argentina is being hauled before the World Trade Organization by the European Union for its beggar-thy-neighbour trade and investment policies at the same time as it is being hailed as a model for Greek salvation confirms that we live in interesting times. That Argentina’s policies — in particular the recent expropriation of YPF, the local subsidiary of Spanish oil giant Repsol — are ostensibly being guided by an academic with Elvis sideburns who combines Che Guevara with John Maynard Keynes suggests a stranger-than-fiction narrative somewhere between Gabriel García Márquez and Ayn Rand.

This bizarre situation is of more than passing interest to Canadian mining companies in Argentina. Might they be next? Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s firm stand at the recent Summit of the Americas against Argentinean sabre-rattling over the Falklands certainly did not endear him to Argentina’s dragon lady, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Greece’s prospective exit from the euro is claimed to be parallel to Argentina’s decision 10 years ago to ditch a link with the U.S. dollar. Argentina, it is claimed, hasn’t done too badly since, which offers some hope for the Grexit. However, while abandoning the euro may allow it to devalue, Greece does not have the abundant natural resources of Argentina. Also, unlike Argentina, it does not have a currency. Finally, Argentina is not a model for any government whose interests go beyond power-hungry populism.

Glencore to lay out final Xstrata merger plans – by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Victoria Howley (Mineweb.com – May 28, 2012)

May 28, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Glencore moves into the final stage of its long-awaited $30 billion takeover of Xstrata, as shareholders are sent detailed documents on the deal, kicking off a charm offensive ahead of July votes.

LONDON (Reuters) – Glencore will this week move into the final stage of its long-awaited $30 billion takeover of miner Xstrata, as shareholders are sent detailed documents on the deal, kicking off a last charm offensive ahead of July votes.

But Xstrata investors hoping for an improvement to the all-share offer are likely to be disappointed, at least for now.

That is because of technical changes set to support Glencore shares over the coming weeks, share sales by prominent naysayers and stake-building by Qatar, whose sovereign wealth fund now has more than 9 percent of Xstrata and is expected to back the deal.

Glencore, which already owns almost 34 percent of the miner, is offering 2.8 new shares for every Xstrata share held to conclude its long-standing plan to create an integrated mining and trading powerhouse. Those terms will likely be confirmed in the documents, due out by Thursday, though Glencore can still increase the bid up until a few days before shareholders vote.

Rain brings relief [Timmins fire]- by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – May 28, 2012)

May 28, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Size of blaze smaller than originally projected

Sunday brought a welcome sigh of relief for Timmins residents as rain and cooler tempertures helped to reduce the size of the Timmins 9 forest fire. The blaze, just 30 kilometres outside the city centre, is 70 kilometres long and has consumed thousands of hectares of forest west of Timmins.

Despite the positive outlook today, Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren offered some grounding words at Sunday’s press conference.

“Yes, the fire has shrunk in size, from a community perspective this is a relief,” he said. “But we need to remember the size of this fire, remember that it will take more than a days water bombing and a days rainfall to control it.”

With the addition of 20 new four-man crews from British Columbia working the southern flank of the fire, just north of Gogama, the Ontario fire rangers have been able to concentrate their efforts on the northeastern flank on the Kenogamissi and Cache areas, saving every residence and cottage in the area, only losing a couple of sheds and a vehicle.

Quebec turns to Alberta for guidance in developing a massive tract of resource-rich land in its north – by Marzena Czarnecka (Alberta Venture Magazine – May 22, 2012)

May 27, 2012

http://albertaventure.com/

Erik Richer La Flèche … believes successful implementation of Plan Nord has
the potential to transform Quebec into a “mini-Australia, that is, a preferred,
stable supplier to some of the largest economies in the world.”

What can Quebec learn from Alberta’s experience, and what might it mean for this province’s future?

May 2012 marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of Quebec’s Plan Nord by Premier Jean Charest. It’s a 25-year, $80-billion economic, social and environmental development strategy for Quebec’s massive northern territory.

Sound familiar? The parallels between Plan Nord and Alberta’s oil sands occurred to Robert Yalden during the Montrealer’s last visit to Alberta. “I was struck by how much history there was to the endeavour,” says Yalden, a partner with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. “By how much investment, how much public planning for the development of infrastructure necessary for the private sector, how much forethought and long-term thinking was required to understand, back in the 1960s and 1970s, that the oil sands could become an extremely important part of the Alberta economy.” Looking at his province’s Plan Nord, he sees the need for the same type of long-term planning and vision.

And, perhaps, the need to learn from Alberta’s missteps along the way, because there have been a few.

Beyond the Ring [Northwestern Ontario mining] – by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – May 26, 2012)

May 26, 2012

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

There are 25 million ounces of gold under the region’s feet ready to be taken out in the next five years.

Even without major discoveries in the Ring of Fire, the region will have a mining boom industry experts say. There are 11 mining projects outside of the highly publicized Ring of Fire that are expected to be operational by 2017 with an expected total life of more than 100 years.

Rubicon Minerals, which is mining for gold under Red Lake, is expected to start late next year and hit 2.8 million ounces of gold in its high-grade deposit over a dozen years. A lower grade deposit, which in industry terms is about a gram of gold for every tonne of rock mined, like Rainy River Resources’ 5.72 million ounces will run for 13 years.

Those two projects alone represent almost a billion dollars in capital costs with more than 700 construction jobs and nearly 900 operations jobs.

As of May 15, the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission estimates the mining projects ready to go will create at least 4,000 new jobs.

NORDIK INSTITUTE NEWS RELEASE: Concerned citizens in the Sault join North Eastern Municipalities ONTC divesture fight

May 26, 2012

Screening of acclaimed film ‘Derailed – The National Dream’

May 25, 2012

COCHRANE – Northern municipalities affected by the Province’s divesture of the ONTC are continuing to escalate the issue.

They do not accept the Province’s unilateral and autocratic approach to the ONTC which represents an integral part of the region’s economy and opportunity to grow into the next age of multi-modal transportation.

The approach is arrogant and places far too much risk on the region as it has no clear plan or desired outcome. At the same time, the issue is rapidly expanding its reach to now include concerned residents as far as Sault Ste. Marie.

On May 30 2012, northern municipalities along with Cochrane mayor and council, and Sault Ste Marie are the Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains (CAPT) will host the screening of Derailed: The National Dream, produced by documentary film maker Dan Nystedt.

The film first screened on Sunday, March 4,2012 at the Grand Theatre, in Sault Ste. Marie as part of the Shadows of the Mind Film Festival.

McGuinty calls on Ottawa to help him open up the North – by Karen Howlett and Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – May 26, 2012)

May 26, 2012

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.

TORONTO AND OTTAWA— Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is pledging to work closely with the federal government on its controversial overhaul of environmental assessments as he calls on Ottawa to play an active role in exploiting the untapped potential of the Ring of Fire.

Mr. McGuinty is counting on mining exploration in the northern wilderness to lead to a new generation of prosperity for Ontario. Emerging economies in India and China have an “insatiable hunger” for the province’s resource riches, he said on Friday in urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help him open up the North.

“Failure is not an option,” Mr. McGuinty told reporters. “Success is mandatory.”

The mining exploration area in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario is one of the most significant mineral regions in the province, and includes the largest deposit of chromite ever discovered in North America.

Future of TransCanada’s Mainline could spur Canada’s next great energy debate – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post- May 25, 2012)

May 26, 2012

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

As if the great debates over proposed pipelines to export oil to the United States and Asia weren’t convulsing Canada enough, a new one is about to divide the country. It involves the future of TransCanada Corp.’s historic Mainline.

For more than half a century, the Mainline has been a reliable workhorse that over winter peaks moved as much as seven billion cubic feet a day (bcf/d) of natural gas from Western Canada — roughly half of its total production today — to warm up homes and energize factories in Eastern Canada.

But its use has fallen off sharply during the rest of the year because of the emergence of alternative supplies nearby, pushing pipeline tolls and tempers at both ends of the system through the roof. Indeed, tolls are so high they exceed the price of the natural gas it transports.

While recent oil sands pipeline debates have pitted the oil producing community against the environmental movement, the restructuring of the Mainline is rubbing many old wounds between the energy-producing West and the consuming East.

Dearth of mining deals rattles Bay Street – by Tim Kiladze and Jacqueline Nelson (Globe and Mail – May 26, 2012)

May 26, 2012

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.

Behind closed doors, it is a scenario that bankers on Bay Street have feared for months, even years.

With the euro zone on the rocks and the U.S. economy struggling to regain top speed, the world’s two largest economic blocs are sputtering. What if China stumbled, too? Canada’s resource sector, with its reliance on rising world demand for oil, coal and metals, would look awfully precarious. That, in turn, would cause major fallout in the Canadian financial industry, which has itself become ever-more dependent on the activity that mining and energy firms generate.

This scene is now unfolding like a slow-motion train wreck. Mining, a business that has fed the Street with deal after deal for nearly a decade, suddenly accounts for barely a blip of total deal volumes. Few investors will go near junior oil and gas companies. The TSX Venture Exchange, the home of hundreds of burgeoning small-capitalization resource names, is down almost 50 per cent since peaking near the height of the commodity supercycle last March. Even big, global companies such as Teck Resources Inc. have been battered.

The downturn has been devastating for Canada’s resource-focused independent investment banks, a group of dealers that includes GMP Capital and Canaccord Financial Inc.

The Chinese resource supercycle slows down – by Carolynne Wheeler and Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – May 26, 2012)

May 26, 2012

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.

In the far corner of the Haidian district near Beijing’s North Fifth Ring Road highway, a young steel salesman, Sun Minglong, sits in the near-deserted storefront office for the Beijing Jicheng Heng Da Gang Tie Ji Tuan steel company.

The company’s warehouse, once brimming with steel building components, is now only one-third full, Mr. Sun laments. Beijing’s construction boom, in full force up until just a few months ago, has geared down sharply. Mr. Sun says sales are so slow these days, he no longer orders new stock unless a buyer requests it.

“The profits in steel are getting really bad now, because Beijing’s housing market is slowing down. Nobody is building any houses because they don’t make money anymore,” Mr. Sun said. “Compared to last year there has been a real decline. Personally, I think it’s going to get worse and worse.”

The ripple effects from China’s slowing economic growth are being felt from Beijing to British Columbia.

Timmins fire grows close to 32K hectares – by Sudbury Northern Life Staff (Sudbury Nothern Life – May 25, 2012)

May 25, 2012

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

OPSEU says lack of updated information puts residents more at risk

Timmins fire 9 has grown to about 31,660 hectares in size, according to the City of Timmins. The fire exhibited extreme behaviour due to high winds throughout the day May 24, which blew significant smoke into the community. Steady winds continued overnight.

Extreme fire conditions are expected May 25, and winds are expected to be strong from the south southwest (20 – 35 km). Timmins declared a state of emergency and a full water ban. The declaration initiates the assistance of Emergency Management Ontario to assist with any evacuations caused by smoke or fire.

The fire remains about one km south of Highway 101 and two km west of Highway 144. It is approximately 30-35 km away from the City of Timmins. At this time, the fire has not crossed either highway; however, the possibility remains, according to the city’s website.

Smoke and ash will continue to affect the City of Timmins and surrounding area. Value protection efforts continue with resources on a prioritized basis. To date, more than 500 sprinklers have been installed, and a smoke alert is in affect for the city.