Republic of Mining

ONTC fight is on – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – April 3, 2012)

April 3, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Unionized workers organize campaign to save Ontario Northland

“Ontario Northland is the glue that holds the North together!” This is the message and platform on which critics of the privatization of the ONTC are launching their campaign upon to save what has been called the 100-year-old staple of Ontario’s North.

The McGuinty government announced their intent to dismantle and privatize most of the crown corporation’s holdings last week during the provincial budget. The news was met with an immediate outcry of anger and confusion.

Brian Kelly and his fellow members of the Ontario Northland General Chairperson’s Association (ONGCA) mustered their strength and are ready to fight the Liberal government for every railroad tie and every metre of track.

“The government likes to comment a lot on how much money they spend, but they don’t like talking about how much money gets put back into the economy,” Kelly said.

Students in Ontario’s nickel capital submit record number of Ontario Mining Association SYTYKM entries

April 5, 2015April 2, 2012

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

So You Think You Know Mining (SKTYKM)

Efforts by the Sudbury Mining Committee and Cambrian College have helped to boost the number of Sudbury area entries in the Ontario Mining Association’s high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining this year. The OMA appreciates the support and cooperation from these groups during the fourth rendition of SYTYKM.

Students from four Sudbury area high schools — St. Benedicts, Bishop Alexander Carter, Confederation and Lively — submitted 15 SYTYKM entries. Though there have been entries – and winners — from Sudbury in previous years, this number is at least three times the normal level of Sudbury area entries. This year, more than 135 videos were received from students across the province, which is approximately 70% more than the 80-plus Ontario entries last year.

Sudbury Mining Week plans on showcasing the top SYTYKM entries from the region during events planned for April 27 to May 5, 2012. This group aims to promote mining and its importance to the economy and culture of Northern Ontario. The Sudbury Mining Week Committee also wants young people to learn more about the broad range of career opportunities the industry offers and the high-tech realities of modern mining. Sudbury Mining Week details can be found at www.sudburyminingweek.com.

Still waiting for Nunavut’s mining boom – by Julie Gordon (Mineweb.com – April 2, 2012)

May 16, 2012April 2, 2012

www.mineweb.com

While mineral opportunity abounds, a lack of infrastructure, crippling cold and the challenge of attracting and retaining an adventurous workforce have dimmed the prospects of a mining boom in Canada’s Arctic territory.

TORONTO (Reuters) – The prospects of a mining boom in Canada’s Arctic territory of Nunavut – once as bright as the Northern Lights – are fading fast as costs in the inhospitable region spiral higher, forcing writedowns on two major gold projects there.

The sparsely populated territory has gained a reputation as one of the most promising regions in Canada for exploration, with prospectors promoting discoveries ranging from gold to uranium. But getting the ore out of the ground is a different story entirely.

While climate change has made it easier to find mineral deposits in Nunavut, the task of mining is complicated by a lack of roads and other infrastructure, the still-crippling cold and the challenge of attracting and retaining an adventurous workforce.

Agnico-Eagle Mines, which owns the only working mine in Nunavut, recently booked a partial writedown on changes to the mine plan at Meadowbank, while cash costs at the gold mine have risen to more than $1,000 per ounce.

Ontario Government Misses Opportunity to Increase Revenues from Mining – Ramsay Hart (MiningWatch.ca – March 30, 2012)

April 2, 2012

http://www.miningwatch.ca/home

With an overwhelming emphasis on reducing expenditures, this week’s Ontario Budget misses an important opportunity to increase provincial revenues from the mining sector. When compared with other Canadian jurisdictions Ontario has the lowest corporate tax rate for mining and recoups the lowest share of the value of mineral production. The Drummond Report recommended removing the “Resource Credit” that lowers the corporate tax rates and reviewing the Ontario Mining Tax. Today’s budget does neither giving up hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue.

The Ontario Mining Tax is a royalty payable to Ontario on the profits of mining that is meant to compensate the province for the extraction and sale of publicly owned non-renewable resources. The tax rate is 10% of profits but “remote” mines only pay half that and also qualify for a 10 year tax holiday. The total revenue generated from the mining tax in 2010 was $82-million (Entrans 2011), on mineral production worth $5.58-billion (NRCan 2011) or 1.5% of the total value of production. The province also has a diamond royalty but the one operating diamond mine, Victor’s DeBeers Diamond mine has not yet had to pay it. Nor has DeBeers ever paid corporate taxes in Ontario. (See DeBeers’ Reports to Society)

If Ontario were to reform it’s Mining Tax to recoup on average a modest 5% of the gross value of mineral production there would be an increase in $200 / million a year based on 2010 production.

Budget provides leverage opportunity to save ONTC – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – April 1, 2012)

April 2, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

If selling off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission will hinder economic opportunities for this region as badly as we’re being told by local politicians, then our provincial representatives in the North need to do what they can to stop it.

That includes bringing down the Liberal government. Interestingly, that opportunity appeared just one day after Ontario Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci announced the province would be divesting itself of the ONTC.

It was that following day, Dalton McGuintry’s Liberal minority government presented its spring budget. Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives have already indicated they are going to vote against it. If Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats follow suit, the Liberal government falls and the ONTC gains a reprieve.

Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson told The Daily Press Friday his party’s preference would be to avoid forcing a provincial election just six months after the last one was held.

[Ontario First Nations] Bands stymie Ring of Fire plans – Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Editorial – April 1, 2012

April 1, 2012

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

IN their budgets this week Ontario and Ottawa placed much stock in the Ring of Fire mineral deposit here in Northern Ontario. The province is anxious for a big boost to an economy wasted by recession. The feds want business to drive the economy. Both singled out the Ring of Fire.

But all is not well in the northern mining patch. First nations are demanding consultation. A legal “duty to consult” has failed in most cases to facilitate successful conclusions to aboriginal claims. Government can’t seem to break the logjam and while some companies have successfully negotiated agreements with neighbouring first nations, others are stymied — and annoyed.

At the mining industry’s recent national conference in Toronto, a splinter group of some 60 junior companies called Miners United met. They are concerned about native demands for concessions and cash. Bands are charging for exploratory drilling and the price often tops $100,000. Junior firms say they cannot afford it.

Railway provided vital link for the North – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – March 30, 2012)

March 31, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.

HISTORY: More than one major mining discovery made while railroads were being build through Northern Ontario

In the past few years, we have been witness to some amazing changes in the field of mass transportation. The high-speed rail systems found in France can move people along the Paris-Lyon line at cruising speeds of 320 km/h hour. In Japan and Germany, the high-speed rail systems reach speeds of 300 km/h on regular routes.

The Airbus A380 (seating capacity 840) has forced airports around the world to renovate so that they can land the monstrosities (the aircraft amazingly measures seven stories high).

Cruise ships, on the other hand might as well be huge floating semi-independent countries. They are run just like small cities and have the same problems those cities face (3,400 people all sharing the same space).

Outlook 2012: Exciting times for mining – CEMI: 10 questions for Douglas Morrison, president of the Centre for Excellence in Mining

March 31, 2012

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

Q: What exactly is CEMI?

A: The Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation is a not for profit organization of about 10 people that was established to help bring innovation in the areas of exploration, deep mining, integrated mine engineering, environment and sustainability to the mining industry of Northern Ontario by directing industry funding to universities and colleges, existing research groups, and the supply and services sector.

It is widely recognized that the era of cost-cutting to survive low commodity prices is gone and the present challenge is to meet the continuing demand of the global economy for metals given the demographics of the industry.
Companies such as Xstrata Nickel, Vale, and Rio Tinto fully recognize that this can be accomplished only by implementing new ideas that will redefine how the mining industry of the future will operate.

Q: What is its mandate?

A: Well, it is the centre for excellence because the mandate is to deliver solutions that can be implemented in the fields of mining operations, exploration, and sustainability. Most metal mines in Canada are underground mines that are getting deeper and hotter, and this presents huge challenges.

Outlook 2012: Morrison to lead CEMI into a new era [mining research] – by Heather Campbell (Sudbury Star March 30, 2012)

March 31, 2012

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

The Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation has made a few changes to prepare for its continued growth. Peter Kaiser, founding president during the startup phase of CEMI, has passed the leadership baton to Douglas Morrison, chair of Holistic Mining Practices, who joined CEMI in 2011 as vice-president.

Kaiser will not be going very far as he will continue to lead the Rio Tinto Centre for Underground Mine Construction, a division of CEMI. During the five years of his leadership the organization more than doubled the initial investment by the Ontario government and founding partners Vale, Xstrata Nickel and Laurentian University.

CEMI directs and coordinates step-change innovation in the areas of exploration, deep mining, integrated mine engineering, environment and sustainability for the metal mining industry. This year, CEMI’s cumulative program funding exceeded the $40-million threshold.

Canada’s wood firms cluster for survival – and growth – by Tavia Grant (Globe and Mail – March 31, 2012)

March 31, 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.

WALKERTON, ONT.— Three hours northwest of Toronto, a group of Ontario manufacturers is throwing the traditional rules of business out the window.

Business owners visit each other’s factories. They share secrets. They plan long-term hiring strategies, collaborate on research and development, and ponder productivity enhancements. They help solve each other’s problems on a shared website.

In years past – tumultuous years, given the surge of competition from China and the soaring Canadian currency – these small and medium-sized makers of furniture, flooring, doors and cabinets viewed each other as direct competitors. Now, 30 business owners gather every few months in small boardrooms to share ideas.

The companies formed a cluster, a concept first coined by Harvard University’s Michael Porter two decades ago that has since been adopted in countries from Germany to China. While some clusters have emerged in Canada – tech in Waterloo, aerospace in Montreal – manufacturing clusters remain relatively rare in this country.

[General Electric’s] Jeffrey Immelt has a cure for Canada’s ‘resource curse’ – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – March 31, 2012)

March 31, 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 — In his global travels as chairman and CEO of manufacturing giant General Electric Co. (GE-N20.070.120.60%), Jeffrey Immelt has heard all about the “resource curse.”

He’s heard it in Brazil, in Australia, in Russia – wherever a country’s natural resources boom is casting a shadow over domestic manufacturers. And meeting with business leaders in Toronto this week, he heard it again.

Mr. Immelt has closely followed the debate that has erupted in this country about the uneven benefits of the natural resources boom. Many worry that relentless demand for Canadian energy, metals and other resources is undermining the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector by driving up the Canadian dollar and making goods here more expensive in global trade. The higher currency only adds to long-running pressures that threaten manufacturing jobs in North America in a world of global markets and abundant, cheap labour.

A world awash in oil – by Lawrence Solomon (National Post – March 31, 2012)

March 31, 2012

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

Middle East will go back to being an obscure backwater

Today, the Middle East is in the news daily — we hear of strife in Syria, in Iran, in Israel and Palestine. Ten or 20 years from now, conflicts in the Middle East will count for less in the world’s scheme of things, just as the daily conflicts that now occur in Africa get short shrift, despite Africa’s far greater loss of life. Twenty years from now, the Middle East could be about as important as it was at the turn of the previous century — before its oil was discovered — which was not very important at all.

The Middle East will attract scant attention in future, not because the region will have run out of oil — it will have found much more — but because the rest of the world will also be awash in oil. As supplies increase, oil depreciates in price, as does the political value of its purveyors.

To see the future of oil, consider the present of natural gas. Until recently, many thought the West was running out of gas — most of the easily accessible natural gas finds were being depleted, making the West reliant on ever more distant, ever more difficult reserves to exploit. The U.S., the world’s biggest natural gas importer, began to build ports to receive liquefied natural gas from distant continents in the expectation that it couldn’t import enough from Canada and Mexico.

Why shortening review process is a good thing – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – March 31, 2012)

March 31, 2012

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

Ottawa’s decision to bring in a “one project, one review” regulatory process for major energy projects doesn’t sit well with environmental groups or First Nations, but it’s the right way to go. In fact, if there is a concern, it’s that it took too long to reform an unwieldy system that is benefiting no one – except those feeding off its paralysis.

Anyone who has sat through public hearings into high-profile projects knows issues, concerns and suggestions become repetitive within days. And yet a regulatory review of the Mackenzie gas pipeline took six years, while the panel now reviewing the Northern Gateway pipeline is patiently hearing from an unprecedented 4,000-plus people.

In its budget Thursday, the federal government said it plans to introduce legislation to impose a maximum 24-month limit for reviews, cap hearings by the National Energy Board at 18 months and standard environmental assessments at no more than 12 months.

China must improve its construction record – by Diane Francis (National Post – March 31, 2012)

March 31, 2012

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

Chinese companies should be banned from construction work in Canada because of their questionable track record here and around the world. It was shocking that Enbridge Inc.’s Pat Daniel said his company was willing to allow a Chinese company to buy a stake in and to bid for the construction of the proposed Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline.

Not only should Chinese companies be banned from construction or bidding but Investment Canada should ban them from buying resource companies or related assets.

China’s strategy is to buy resources around the world, then low-ball to get construction contracts by using Chinese laborers and materials. This is not only damaging to the domestic economy, and unnecessary, but in some cases laws and obligations have been flouted. Just for the record, my husband heads Canada’s largest infrastructure and construction public company in Canada.