Republic of Mining

Alberta, Ottawa, oil lobby formed secret committee – by Marin Lukas (Toronto Star – March 12, 2012)

March 12, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

The federal and Alberta governments struck up a secret, high-level committee in early 2010 to coordinate the promotion of the oilsands with Canada’s most powerful industry lobby group, a document obtained through an access to information request reveals.

The committee brought together the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) with deputy ministers from Natural Resources, Environment Canada, Alberta Energy and Alberta Environment to synchronize their lobbying offensive in the face of mounting protest and looming international regulations targeting the Alberta crude.

Environmental organizations criticized the existence of a committee they said they were hearing about for the first time.

“I’m old-fashioned enough to believe that there should be a separation between oil and state, but with these types of secret committees it’s hard to see any daylight between them,” said Keith Stewart, a climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace.

Barry Third Interview with Ontario Premier McGuinty about Ring of Fire – (Thunder Bay Television/Tbnewswatch.com/ – March 1, 2012)

March 11, 2012

Barry Third is the news anchor and news director at Thunder Bay television. Tbnewswatch.com is your interactive source for all Thunder Bay news, sports. The site covers the Thunder Bay area as well as Northwestern Ontario and the world. Here is Barry Third’s one-on-one interview with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty: http://www.tbnewswatch.com/Video/Default.aspx?art_id=23999

Labrador mining boom creates housing crisis – by Sue Bailey (Halifax Chronicle-Herald – March 4, 2012)

March 11, 2012

This article came from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald: http://thechronicleherald.ca/

The Canadian Press

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — If there’s a downside to Labrador’s mining boom, Carrie Cabot and her family are living it. “We’re very stuck,” she said from Wabush, N.L.

Cabot, her husband Damico and their two daughters, aged one and three, are being forced out of their apartment to make way for Labrador mine workers. As expanding iron ore companies pay big money to buy up houses and apartment buildings in small communities closest to the mines, the Cabots are among those struggling to find affordable homes.

Rents have soared in Labrador West since the latest mining boom started four years ago, fuelled by demand for iron ore overseas. Provincial legislation does not restrict yearly increases.

Competition for scarce housing is so intense, it’s not unusual for homeowners in Labrador City and Wabush to live in their summer cabins or basements while contractors pay $5,000 a month or more to rent their places.

Masterminds – Fool’s Gold [Bre-X Mining Fraud] (Mining Documentary – 2009)

April 5, 2015March 11, 2012

This information below is from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Bre-X was a group of companies in Canada. A major part of the group, Bre-X Minerals Ltd. based in Calgary, was involved in a major gold mining scandal when it was reported to be sitting on an enormous gold deposit at Busang, Indonesia (on Borneo). Bre-X bought the Busang site in March 1993 and in October 1995 announced significant amounts of gold had been discovered, sending its stock price soaring. Originally a penny stock, its stock price reached a peak at CAD $286.50 (split adjusted) in May 1996 on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), with a total capitalization of over CAD $6 billion.[when?] Bre-X Minerals collapsed in 1997 after the gold samples were found to be a fraud.

Mining: This time it’s different? [Philippine Mining] – by Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star – March 12, 2012)

March 11, 2012

This column came from the Philippine Star: www.philstar.com

DEMAND AND SUPPLY

The recent well attended public debate over the future of mining in the Philippines was, like the impeachment hearing, quite entertaining. One other similarity: despite the massive dose of information unleashed, it is almost certain no one was convinced to change his opinion on the issue.

That’s understandable not only because the debate had become emotional. More importantly, both sides have lost confidence on the capability of government to enforce the rules on mining and government is at the center of the debate.

The environmentalists are very skeptical about “responsible mining” because of past and present experiences. They remember Marcopper, exhibit A of government failure to regulate and private sector irresponsibility, and that’s enough to close their minds on “responsible mining”.

That’s also my main problem. As a business journalist, I want to believe that “responsible mining” is possible. But every time I think about it, Marcopper always haunts me to the point of doubting.

Global miners to stay in Indonesia despite change in game rules – by Euan Rocha and Sonali Paul (Vancouver Sun – March 9, 2012)

March 11, 2012

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

Reuters – TORONTO/MELBOURNE – Indonesia’s decision to shut the door on foreign control of its mines has gone down badly with global miners but none are yet threatening to quit the country: the truth is, they no longer have any easy investment destinations to turn to.

After a decade of rapidly growing resource nationalism, from stable emerging markets like Indonesia and South Africa to developed nations such as Australia and Canada, doors everywhere are harder, more expensive or just plain dangerous to open.

Indonesia’s sudden announcement this week of a new rule capping foreign mine ownership at 49 percent follows a series of international tax grabs and expropriations that have pinched returns in some of mining’s most profitable markets.

It has left mining companies few options other than to venture into ever more politically risky territory, including restive parts of Africa. Countries previously seen as too risky, such as Burkina Faso, Congo and Mauritania, are now firmly on their radar.

Indonesia stands its ground on foreign mine ownership – by Reza Thaher and Matthew Bigg (Mineweb.com – March 9, 2012)

March 11, 2012

www.mineweb.com

The government offered a clearer view on Friday, saying the new regulation requiring foreign ownership in mines to no more than 49% applies to existing as well as new contracts.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s government offered a clearer view on Friday of a new regulation that limits foreign ownership in mines to no more than 49 percent, saying the rule applies to existing as well as new contracts.

The comments by senior officials in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals could unnerve foreign companies owning mines in Indonesia, including Australian miners who have played down the impact of the rule signed last month by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Mining makes up 11.9 percent of the economy in Indonesia, the world’s top exporter of thermal coal and tin, and foreign investment in mining in the sector topped $2.2 billion in 2010. Under the rules, Southeast Asia’s top economy will require foreign companies to sell down stakes in mines and increase domestic ownership to at least 51 percent by the 10th year of a mine’s production.

The Nuclear Revival: Mark Lackey – by Brian Sylvester (The Energy Report – March 8, 2012)

March 11, 2012

This interview came from: http://www.theenergyreport.com/

Emerging from the shadow of Fukushima, the nuclear sector is on the cusp of a comeback, according to Mark Lackey, chief investment strategist with Toronto-based Pope & Company. Nuclear plants have been reopened, and as many as 200 new plants worldwide are scheduled to come online. At the same time, uranium supply shortages loom on the horizon, making for bullish fundamentals for uranium miners. Lackey’s faith in the coal sectors also burns brightly. He reveals his favorites in both sectors in this exclusive Energy Report interview.

Energy Report: The Fukushima disaster, protests in Australia over lifting a ban on uranium exploration, and a fire aboard a Russian nuclear submarine in December indicate negative sentiment toward nuclear power. Why would investors risk exposure to a commodity that is so price sensitive to events like these?

Mark Lackey: The fundamentals of the uranium sector still look good. Worldwide, 1.3 billion (B) people lack electricity. In China, load growth for electricity is 10% annually; in India, 8%. That growth is unlikely to diminish any time soon. Nuclear power has to be considered as an option to meet demand.

Fear of fracking: How public concerns put an energy renaissance at risk – by Carrie Tait and Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – March 10, 2012)

March 11, 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.

BOWDEN, ALTA., AND OTTAWA— Chad Winters keeps his hand on his radio, politely giving orders to co-workers toiling at an oil property in a stretch of Alberta farmland.

“One tonne of 40/70,” Mr. Winters requests over the radio. “Three thirty-three, then hold till I tell you otherwise.”

Mr. Winters speaks a language few understand. He runs the show in the field when Trican Well Service Ltd. (TCW-T17.350.150.87%)is called in to perform a controversial technique used to gather oil and natural gas from impermeable rocks.

On this day, Trican is working for NAL Energy Corp. (NAE-T7.810.182.36%)near Bowden, about 100 kilometres north of Calgary. Trican is there to pump water, chemical and natural additives, and nitrogen down a well at frighteningly high pressure, with hopes of forcing fissures in the rocks thousands of metres below the surface. Sand will follow, propping open the cracks, allowing trapped oil to escape. The process is called hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

World’s mining powers converge in Toronto – by Prithi Yelaja (CBC News – March 7, 2012)

March 10, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Convention generates $72M for Toronto’s economy

It’s billed as the premier mining conference in the world, attracting both those who enthusiastically want to expand mineral exploration and excavation, as well as those who want to stop it.

From its humble beginnings at the King Edward Hotel in 1932 when rough-and-ready prospectors would come in fresh from the field, laying their mineral finds on the table to seek deals with Bay Street investors, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual convention has evolved into a glitzy four-day affair at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The conference, which ends Wednesday, draws 30,000 investors, analysts, mining executives, geologists, prospectors and government officials from 120 countries. African and South American countries were represented in full force at the convention.

Instead of mineral samples — though some conference delegates still bring those — these days, glossy brochures and high-tech presentations are used to seal deals, not to mention the wooing of potential investors with free-flowing beer and fancy cocktail parties after hours.

It is time for Quebec to stop investing in asbestos – by Suzanne Dubois (Montreal Gazette – March 6, 2012)

March 10, 2012

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

Suzanne Dubois is executive director of the Quebec division of the Canadian Cancer Society.

There has been much discussion in the media lately regarding the status of asbestos in Quebec. The province is at a historic juncture: for the first time in 130 years, it no longer produces this mineral resource. This break in production is an opportunity to put an end to the use of a recognized carcinogen. There is no safe application of asbestos, which has already claimed too many lives, here and elsewhere.

All forms of asbestos cause cancer, including lung cancer, pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, laryngeal cancer and ovarian cancer. Yet the government of Quebec is set to assist in the reopening of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos with loan guarantees of $58 million, quashing public discussion of this critical issue in the process.

The Canadian Cancer Society is firmly opposed to all investment of public funds in asbestos mining. The society believes that greater effort must be made to manage asbestos wherever it is present (producing a registry of buildings that contain it, and removing it when possible).

Seems even Harper and Charest can’t save Canada’s deadly asbestos exports – by Gerald Caplan (Globe and Mail – March 9, 2012)

March 10, 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.

Despite Stephen Harper and Jean Charest, it appears increasingly likely Canada will export no more Quebec-mined asbestos to countries like India and Indonesia, where it could bring misery and death to those who come in contact with it. Almost all those affected would be very poor workers and their families. But to the bitter end, the two leaders have been determined to preserve Canada’s shameful record of knowingly exporting a carcinogen.

In the face of denunciations of asbestos exports by virtually all health authorities, the Prime Minister made it a point during last year’s election campaign to visit the riding held by Christian Paradis, home to one of Canada’s two last remaining asbestos mines. Both mines are now closed, but Mr. Paradis wants them re-opened. He has long been a proponent of asbestos exports, dismissing out of hand all the proven health risks as well as all the Canadians who have died hideous, prolonged deaths from exposure to the substance.

Mr. Harper has since promoted Mr. Paradis to be Industry Minister. And last June, a month after forming his majority government, he chose to celebrate St. Jean Baptiste Day in his young minister’s riding – and in the town of Thetford Mines itself, the actual home of the asbestos mine Mr. Paradis wants to see re-opened.

Quebec’s Plan Nord provides fodder for Northern leaders – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 9, 2012)

March 10, 2012

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Meat on the bone?

Talk is cheap to Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce President Harold Wilson when it comes to the Ontario government’s commitment to invest in the Far North.

Wilson was one of the organizers behind a January presentation in Thunder Bay that gathered some of the architects of Quebec’s Plan Nord who outlined the province’s blueprint for development in that region.

The invitation, extended to consultants from National Public Relations, was to discover what the plan was, where the parallels were with the Northern Ontario Growth Plan, and where the two plans diverge.

The presentation has gotten tongues wagging, especially in northwestern Ontario, when comparing and contrasting it with the growth plan. While Quebec is forging ahead with an $80-billion provincial investment, Wilson said Ontario is lagging behind.

Indonesia rattles foreign miners with ‘51% after 10 years’ ownership change – by Reza Thaher and Neil Chatterjee (Mineweb.com – March 7, 2012)

March 10, 2012

wwww.mineweb.com

The new regulation will force foreign companies to sell down stakes in mines by the 10th year of production, with domestic ownership to be at least 51%.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia will take more of the profits from its vast mineral resources by limiting foreign ownership of mines in a move likely to scare off new investment in the world’s top exporter of thermal coal and tin.

Under new rules announced on the mining ministry’s website, Southeast Asia’s largest economy will require foreign companies to sell down stakes in mines and increase domestic ownership to at least 51 percent by the 10th year of production.

The move is part of a global trend of increased resource nationalization that is pushing up the costs of mining for international companies and giving governments in emerging market countries more cash and clout.

Indonesia may have a fresh stamp of approval from ratings agencies as an investment grade nation, but the unexpected regulation underlines continuing policy uncertainties that have long been a major risk for investors hoping to tap some of the world’s richest deposits of coal, gold and copper.