Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Reaches Agreement With God’s Lake Resources

March 29, 2012

McGuinty Government Balances Industry and Aboriginal Interests

NEWS

March 29, 2012

Ontario has reached an agreement with Toronto-based junior mineral exploration company God’s Lake Resources (GLR) to surrender its mining lease and claims near the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation.

In keeping with the agreement, GLR has surrendered its mining lease and claims, north of Red Lake in Northwestern Ontario. The lands are now subject to the Province’s recent withdrawal from staking and mineral exploration in the area.

It was the ministry’s goal to see KI and GLR work together to build a positive relationship. This settlement responds to KI’s concerns, while allowing GLR to move forward with mineral exploration in other parts of the province in the future.

QUOTES

[Ontario] North takes share of hits from budget – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – March 29, 2012)

March 29, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper and Brian MacLeod is the managing editor. brian.macleod@sunmedia.ca

A few hours before Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan boasted in a release that his government’s budget had made a commitment to health care, six ambulances and 12 paramedics were kept waiting at Health Science North’s ER department in Greater Sudbury because there was no one to take control of their patients.

“We choose strong health care, with the lowest wait times in Canada . . . and better access to doctors and nurses,” Duncan said in his release.

Tell that to the doctors and nurses in Sudbury’s ER, where the head of the department recently warned that long wait times, often due to lack of available acute-care beds, are causing doctors to leave the city and nurses to transfer elsewhere and may be compromising patients’ health.

Tuesday’s budget didn’t make that situation any worse, but neither did it do much to help.

McGuinty needs a Leafs sweater [Northern Ontario alienation] – by Len Gillis (Timmins Times – March 29, 2012)

March 29, 2012

http://www.timminstimes.com/

Provincial Liberals need some intellectual Viagra

It is almost beyond comprehension how the Queen’s Park Liberals can consistently make decisions that are so clearly against the interests of Northern Ontario.

Over the years, Northerners have become accustomed to being ignored by southern politicians. As bad as that was, at least when the North was ignored, it meant we were being left alone.

It’s much worse now. Queen’s Park is imposing policies and changes on the North that defy reason. Things such as the changes to The Mining Act, The Far North Act and the Endangered Species Act fly in the face of reality. Some of it borders on junk science.

The decision announced last Friday that Queen’s Park is selling off Ontario Northland assets is another example of how that government is out of touch.

Ontario Northland enough to oppose budget: Critics – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – March 29, 2012)

March 29, 2012

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

“The proposed sale … of Ontario Northland is a ruthless blow to the North.
I think it’s something that needs far more discussion than has occurred …
It’s flagrant negligence on the part of the government to even talk about
eliminating Ontario Northland.” (David Leadbeater – Laurentian University
economics professor

The government’s decision to sell Ontario Northland is making waves across the province.

“This kind of measure of (selling Ontario Northland) as a short-term austerity event is the most short-sighted, backward and retrograde action I’ve seen about Northern Ontario in a long time,” said David Leadbeater, a Laurentian University economics professor.

“The proposed sale … of Ontario Northland is a ruthless blow to the North. I think it’s something that needs far more discussion than has occurred … It’s flagrant negligence on the part of the government to even talk about eliminating Ontario Northland.”

Last week, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci announced the province is divesting itself of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a Crown agency that offers rail and bus service in Northern Ontario. Additionally, the government is looking to privatize Ontera, a telecommunication company that is a subsidiary of the commission.

Junior miners seek their own voice – Jody Porter (CBC News – March 29, 2012)

March 29, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2012/03/29/tby-miners-united.html

Exploration companies form new group to share concerns about First Nations

A lawyer who represents junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations says some exploration companies feel they’re not being heard by their industry association.

Neal Smitheman said the Prospectors and Developers Association is trying, and sometimes failing, to represent both industry and First Nations.

Smitheman said that ignores the fact the two are often in conflict. Neal Smitheman, lawyer representing junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations.

“Some people think that PDAC, by trying to accommodate both First Nations and the industry, finds itself in an unresolvable conflict from time to time,” he said.

Bullion miners lament cost and tax pressures – by Euan Rocha (Calgary Herald – March 28, 2012)

March 28, 2012

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

Agnico, which taps miners in Quebec, is facing cost pressures on the labour front

Reuters – TORONTO – Rising labour costs, surging oil prices and higher tax rates are eating into profits of precious metals miners and raising the cut-off bar on new projects, making it much more difficult for them to replace reserves and boost production.

High precious metal prices are prompting governments to raise taxes and royalties on miners, industry executives say, while giving little thought to the level of risk and the amount of investment required to develop these mammoth projects.

“Countries want to impose super taxes – well, where are the super profits?” Gold Fields chief executive Nick Holland said at the Reuters Global Mining Summit this week.

“If we do want to sustain the gold industry where it is – never mind grow it – we are going to need to spend money. And to spend that money we are going to need to provide returns for shareholders,” Holland said, explaining the conundrum facing global mining companies.

Nothing for the North [Ontario] – by Mark Prior (Timmins Daily Press – March 27, 2012)

March 28, 2012

Northern leaders have little good to say about the provincial budget

Still stinging from the announcement that Ontario Northland will be axed, political leaders were hoping to hear some good news for the North in Tuesday’s provincial government. They didn’t get it. Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren wasn’t impressed with the latest budget.

“Personally, I’m very disappointed,” Laughren said. “There doesn’t appear to be anything in there to have an affect on the municipalities, but I look at it from a Northern Ontario perspective. “There is so much opportunity for growth and mining, yet the provincial government can’t get their act together to make that happen.”

Laughren expressed frustration. He doesn’t believe the government is taking advantage of opportunities available with resource-based industries. Plus, the North is still in shock with the recent decision to divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

Ring of Fire missing [Ontario budget] – by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – March 27, 2012)

March 28, 2012

www.tbnewswatch.com

Some local officials were surprised the Ring of Fire was largely absent from Tuesday’s provincial budget.

In his speech, which went beyond the 28 minute mark, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan didn’t mention the potential multi-billion dollar money maker once. Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Harold Wilson said he thought this was going to be the budget where the province outlined its plan, with dollar figures, on how to get the minerals shipped and power running in the Far North.

“That I thought would have been front and centre,” Wilson said. “We didn’t see any of that and that would have been great.” Mayor Keith Hobbs was disappointed about the province’s Ring of Fire plan, a document he has yet to see.

“In infrastructure we’re waiting for a little more than what I see so far in the budget. The government says they have a plan in place for the Ring of Fire. We didn’t see any plan … I would really like to see specifics of that plan.

Provincial Budget reveals a multi-faceted plan to improve Ontario’s finances

March 28, 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.

Everyone will be called upon in different and sometimes unequal ways to make a contribution to improve the province’s finances in the future, according to the Budget delivered by Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan yesterday. “Strong Action for Ontario” outlined a combination of spending cuts, administrative streamlining and new revenues to reduce the province’s projected 2011-2012 deficit of $15.3 billion and produce a balanced budget by 2017-2018.

“Right now, the single most important step the Ontario government can take to grow the economy is to balance the budget,” said Mr. Duncan. “We must change the political culture and the way all of us in this legislature and across the province approach and confront the challenges we all face. To ensure strong job growth into the future, Ontario must eliminate the deficit to strengthen the foundation of the economy.”

Mining is mentioned several times in the Budget. Mining companies pay all of the same taxes as corporations in other sectors of the economy. In addition, mining companies are the only enterprises, which pay the Ontario Mining Tax. The Budget has fully endorsed the recommendation of the Drummond Report to review this industry specific tax.

Labrador Trough a promising play in iron ore – by Martin Mittelstaedt (Globe and Mail – March 28, 2012)

March 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.

Canada is a two-bit player when it comes to iron ore production, but that could be in for a dramatic change because of two words: Labrador Trough.

The trough is a little known geographical feature straddling Quebec and Labrador that is causing quite a stir in mining circles. The more than 1,000-kilometre-long, sausage-shaped landform hosts numerous iron ore deposits of a size and grade that suggest they will eventually lead to new mines. Investors should be taking notice because the trough’s ferrous riches, only moderately exploited to date, appear to be on the cusp of rapid development.

“The Labrador Trough has the potential to be a major global area” for iron ore production, contends Jackie Przybylowski, an analyst at Desjardins Securities Inc. who has just issued a 64-page report devoted to the investment prospects of companies active in the region. The firm initiated coverage on five of the area’s pure play iron ore prospects.

New risk spurs oil sands pipeline push – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – March 27, 2012)

March 28, 2012

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

If it feels like new oil sands pipeline plans are being pitched with a sense of urgency, it’s because they are.

There are two primary reasons. With the northern portion of the proposed Keystone XL and Northern Gateway stuck in controversy due to environmental and First Nations opposition, and pipeline capacity out of Alberta expected to fill up in three years, oil companies are putting pressure on pipeline operators to come up with new options so production from places like the oil sands is not stranded or heavily discounted.

And, as tough as it is to get these projects off the ground, what’s also unfolding is a battle between pipeline companies as North American oil production rebounds.

The flurry of moves and counter-moves shows there’s a battle “between a couple of very large gladiators for market share in the oil transportation market in North America,” said Mike Tims, chairman of the Calgary-based investment dealer, Peters & Co., referring to Enbridge Inc. and TransCanada Corp.

Rush to build pipelines aimed at breaking crude logjam – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – March 28, 2012)

March 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.

CALGARY— For Alberta’s energy industry, Enbridge Inc.’s (ENB-T38.520.060.16%) plan to build a pair of major pipelines through the heart of North America promises to help break an export logjam that has severely discounted the value of crude surging from the oil sands.

At a cost of $3.8-billion, the Enbridge new pipes won’t be cheap. But for Canadian oil producers, that amount pales in comparison with what they are losing – by one estimate, $18-billion a year – as an export bottleneck weighs on prices for Canadian oil.

A shortage of capacity for moving oil out of the oil sands has stirred a broad rush to build new pipelines to all points of the continent – Kitimat, B.C., Quebec City, Houston.

The battle to build new pipes comes as energy companies seek to gain back some ground, after more than a year of “taking the short end of the stick … simply because we can’t move product,” said Lowell Jackson, chief executive officer of WestFire Energy Ltd. and chairman of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Junior mining firms in ‘revolt’ over native deals – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – March 28, 2012)

April 25, 2012March 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.

On the sidelines of the mining industry’s massive annual conference in Toronto in early March, a group of disgruntled junior exploration companies held a private meeting.

Calling themselves Miners United, the ad-hoc group of about 60 small-firm executives shared concerns about the concessions and cash they say native bands expect from companies looking for minerals on Crown lands that are considered traditional aboriginal territory, where bands retain hunting and fishing rights. Scores of disputes between native groups and mining companies now end up in court.

A landmark 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decision said the Crown has a “duty to consult” native bands about development on Crown land that is considered part of a band’s traditional territory. Courts have allowed governments to delegate part of this duty to resource companies, many of whom then negotiate agreements with native groups. But there is a growing backlash among junior miners about these agreements.

Ontario PCs slam Bisson for not defeating the Far North Act – By Ontario Progressive Conservative new release (Timmins Times – March 27, 2012)

March 27, 2012

http://www.timminstimes.com/

PC Norm Miller said Bisson’s vote could have made the difference

While Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson is angry at the decision to sell off Ontario Northland, the PC Party is just as angry with Bisson for not voting to shut down the controversial Far North Act.

The move to repeal the Far North Act was put forward last week by Progressive Conservative MPP Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka), who argued the act is damaging to the North and goes against what most Northerners want.

“This is just another example of bad public policy rammed through by Mr. McGuinty without consultation or accountability to First Nations, municipalities and businesses whose lives and livelihoods have been changed – for the worse.”

Miller’s bill went to the legislature on March 22nd but the Liberals were joined by New Democrats in defeating the second reading of the bill with a vote of 50 to 36.