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Mining’s last frontier? — Nunavut’s cold, remote and potentially very, very rich – by Greg Klein (National Post – March 8, 2012)

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

Canadian explorers and miners operate in over 100 countries, but one of their last frontiers might be within our borders. Nunavut certainly holds potential but, at least for the present, it takes the financial resources of an Agnico Eagle (TSX:AEM) to bring subterranean resources to surface.
 
Even then the territory can prove a costly disappointment, as the company’s Meadowbank Gold Mine write-down shows. Last month came news of an even bigger disappointment, Newmont’s (TSX:NMC) $1.61-billion write-down of its Hope Bay Gold Project. Curiously, the failure was offset to some extent by an announcement made just yesterday. A privately held upstart, HTX Minerals, has formed a strategic alliance with an Inuit organization to explore the region encompassing Hope Bay.
 
Newmont’s February 23 write-down dramatically portrays the risks of working in the Arctic. Located in western Nunavut, 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, Hope Bay suffers long winters of 24/7 darkness and minus-30 temperatures, environmentally sensitive tundra and, of course, isolation. As for infrastructure, you bring it or build it. Newmont refers to Hope Bay as “one of the few remaining undeveloped Greenstone districts in the world.” Despite the $1.61-billion investment, that description will hold for some time.

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Canadian firms guide Afghan efforts to unlock mining ‘treasure trove’ -by Nicolas Johnson (Globe and Mail – March 7, 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 — As Afghanistan seeks to attract investors and rebuild its economy after decades of war, its government is looking to Canada to help bring its mining sector to life.
 
The Eurasian country is counting on its vast deposits of iron ore, copper, gold, lithium and other minerals to lure capital and technology from around the world and form the cornerstone of its economic expansion. The government forecasts mining will represent 25 per cent of gross domestic product by 2016 and 45 per cent to 50 per cent by 2024.

Afghanistan’s mineral reserves could eventually be worth as much as $1-trillion, according to estimates by the Pentagon and U.S. geologists, though the amount remains far from proven.
 
A crucial test for Afghanistan is Friday’s deadline for companies to express their interest in bidding for licences to explore and develop four key gold and copper mining properties.

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Indonesia limits foreign ownership of mines – by Reza Thaher and Neil Chatterjee (Globe and Mail – March 7, 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.

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 per cent 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.

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Graphite open-pit mine to reopen near Huntsville – by Richard J. Brennan (Toronto Star – March 8, 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.

China’s decision to cut its graphite exports has breathed new life into a mine northeast of Huntsville, near the border of Algonquin Park, that was closed almost 18 years ago.

It is an economically depressed area where the up to 80 jobs created at the small open-pit mine operation will be a welcome addition.

“If everything comes together we will be open in September of this year,” Tom Myatt, president and chief financial officer of Ontario Graphite Ltd., told the Star, adding there are only two other graphite mines in North America, one in Quebec and the other in B.C.

“We saw that the increase in the pricing and the increase in the demand for the product justified us going back in there and reopening it,” he said. The one irritant for Ontario Graphite Inc. has been lack of broadband service in the area, making Internet communications difficult.

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Bartolucci’s is to keep mine production in Ontario – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – March 7, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. mike.whitehouse@sunmedia.ca

The expectations First Nations groups have about the fabulous wealth the Ring of Fire represents are welcome, Ontario’s minister of Northern Development and Mines says. But the government’s focus, first and foremost, is keeping ferrochrome production in Ontario, Rick Bartolucci said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Chief Eli Moonias, of Marten Falls First Nation, and Chief Sonny Gagnon, of Aroland First Nation, outlined to the Ontario government their position on mining development in their territory. High among their expectations is that Ring of Fire minerals extracted within First Nation territories are processed and refined in those territories.

The Ring of Fire mineral deposit is located within First Nations homelands in Northern Ontario. There are more than 35,000 staked mining claims in the area, the majority in the Ring of Fire area, which holds chromite and precious minerals.

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Vale announces operations transition plan [for Thompson, Manitoba] – by Matt Durnan (Thompson Citizen – March 7, 2012)

The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000. editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Vale Manitoba Operations general manager Lovro Paulic spoke at the Thompson Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 29 to announce the company’s plans for 2012 and moving forward towards 2015.

The mining company will shut down it’s smelter and refinery operations in 2015 and, as a result are working on a transition plan to minimize layoffs as well as operate with fewer assets.

“Our goal this year is to produce 108 million pounds of nickel,” said Paulic, one of three general managers here. “We’ve already begun the process of converting to a single furnace operation. The plan was to produce 108 million pounds (of nickel) using two furnaces and five converters, but we’re going to attempt to do it using one furnace and two converters.”

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Export tax will destroy chrome ore mining [in South Africa] – Metmar – by Martin Creamer (Mining Weekly.com – March 7, 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.

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The proposed $100/t tax on the export of raw chrome ore would destroy the South African chrome ore mining business and allow competitors from other producing countries to benefit, JSE-listed Metmar CEO David Ellwood said on Wednesday.

Ellwood was responding to Merafe CEO Stuart Elliot’s revelation of the proposed imposition of a $100/t export tax as a means of giving the industry “some breathing space” in the short term.

Elliot complained that South Africa’s ferrochrome production was being displaced by Chinese ferrochrome production. “It’s unbeneficiated ore that is leaving the country and growing the Chinese ferrochrome industry at South Africa’s expense,” Elliot said.

Ellwood claimed that the proposed tax represented a 100% tax on the chrome ore production cost and a 300% tax to upper group two (UG2) operations, many of which were community based.

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KI ‘wins’ in mining’s loss – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (March 7, 2012)

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

THERE is frustration bordering on resentment in today’s letter from geologist John Scott concerning the Ontario government’s withdrawal of 23,000 square kilometres of northern land from mining. Curiously, there is not a concurrent level of joy in the response of Donny Morris, chief of the area’s Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, who has been leading prolonged opposition to mining exploration anywhere near KI except on its terms, which remain elusive. Instead, Morris claims he was caught off-guard by Sunday’s announcement by Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci, though his office says it tried several times to make contact. Morris challenged the minister to visit the reserve to discuss the boundaries of the land.

 By Morris’ own count, his band and the province have been discussing the future of this land mass since 2001. There is a time for talking and a time for doing and it appears that Bartolucci has called Morris’ bluff. Unable to settle with KI on how to proceed, and facing mounting pressure from the mining industry for certainty on where it can look for minerals, Bartolucci withdrew this giant chunk of land “to give clarity to the province’s mining exploration industry and avoid future disagreements over the land in question.”

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[Ontario] Gov’t fails mining – by John Scott (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – March 7, 2012)

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

John Scott is from the Thunder Bay Geological Services

Re Government Move Surprises KI; Huge Chunk of Land Near Reserve Off-limits to Mining — CJ, March 6:
 
Once again the Government of Ontario has failed the people of Ontario and has failed the only industry in the province that is still (?) viable enough the drag the province out of its economic tailspin. The problems with KI are not so great that Premier Dalton McGuinty has to use a club of this proportion to appease the handful, and it is a handful, of KI squeaky wheels.

While generally the area still has to be explored, we know enough of the area to indicate that the mineral potential is conducive to exploration. This is based on the magnetic characteristics of the rocks as well as the geology of the area. The potential for deposits of gold, base metals, copper, nickel and the platinum group metals to be found within the area withdrawn from staking is very high. The development of these Ontario resources would have benefited the entire province; now these potential resources have been removed from the economy of the province to the detriment of all.
 
What would the people living in the Toronto-centered area say if the government did not allow any exploration or development of any kind in an area equivalent to the KI withdrawal centered over Toronto?

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NEWS RELEASE: Over 30,000 Attend Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, March 7, 2012-Over 30,000 people attended this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) Convention, breaking last year’s attendance record of 27,714.

“The convention has really hit its stride in terms of its place in the global mineral industry-this year’s attendance attests to that,” says PDAC President Scott Jobin-Bevans. “The tremendous networking and educational opportunities the convention offers really sets the standard for the industry. No other annual convention for mineral exploration and mining
draws a crowd of this size.”

The convention, now in its 80th year, attracts investors, analysts, mining executives, geologists, prospectors and international government delegations from all over the globe. The Trade Show and Investors Exchange combined feature over 1,000 exhibitors.

“PDAC brings together explorers, developers and producers for what is arguably the global mining industry’s most important event of the year,” says Rob Krcmarov, Barrick Gold’s Senior Vice President of Global Exploration.

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A cautionary tale for the mining industry [Solid Gold Resources/Wahgoshig F.N. conflict] – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – March 7, 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.

David Babin, chief of the tiny Wahgoshig First Nation in Northern Ontario, was driving home from nearby Kirkland Lake during the spring thaw last year when he noticed the heavy equipment of a drilling crew, looking for gold in his people’s traditional lands.

It was the first Chief Babin had heard of the drilling. And it was the beginning of conflict that would end up in court, with an Ontario judge handing down a rare injunction earlier this year that suspended drilling on behalf of Solid Gold Resources Corp., a Thornhill, Ont.-based junior miner, and ordered consultations with the Wahgoshig.

“They didn’t understand first nation’s concerns,” Chief Babin said of the company in an interview. “Meanwhile, these guys kept on drilling, saying, ‘We’ve got the right to drill, and you can’t stop me.’ ”

Lawyers who work on these cases, representing both native bands and mining companies, say Solid Gold’s story is a cautionary tale for companies that fail to properly consult native communities that could be affected by their activities on Crown land.

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Wanted: 100,000 [Canada] mining workers in next decade – by Derek Sankey (National Post – March 7, 2012)

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

Canada’s mining sector is entering a period of “significant and sustained growth,” according to a recent report from the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), which will translate into the need to hire more than 100,000 additional workers in the next decade.
 
“Mining in Canada is playing a leading role in Canada’s economic recovery,” says Pierre Gratton, president and chief executive of MAC. “We are generating significant results, we are creating valuable new jobs and we are optimistic about the opportunities in the future.”

The association estimates that Canada’s mining industry plans to invest a further $139-billion in new projects nationwide in the next 10 years. “Working responsibly and co-operatively, we believe mining will be a good news story for Canada for years to come,” Mr. Gratton says.
 
Demand for commodities in countries such as China and India are driving part of the overall appetite for investment in Canada’s mining industry.

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Meet the former Bay Streeter leading Tory charge against oil-sands opponents [Joe Oliver] – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – March 7, 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.

Joe Oliver has assumed the mantle as the Defender of the Oil Sands, a role he is clearly relishing. The fourth natural resources minister to serve under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mr. Oliver has more than any of his predecessors taken up the cudgels for Alberta oil producers who face a concerted, international campaign to shut down their aggressive expansion plans.

After just a few months in office, the 72-year-old rookie minister was thrust into a raging debate over the future of the oil sands, a major source of growth for employment, exports and greenhouse-gas emissions. He chose to stake his ground with an open letter – a full-throated denunciation of “environmental and other radical groups” that “use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interests.”

In launching its all-out attack, the government had a twofold goal: to undermine oil sands critics who succeeded in delaying the Keystone XL project in the United States, and prepare the ground for controversial reforms to the regulatory system that will speed up environmental reviews of major resource projects.

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Law firms rack up billions in deals [mine financings] – by Drew Hasselback (National Post – March 7, 2012)

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

When it comes to mining deals, McMillan LLP appears to have gotten the full benefit out of its recent merger with Lang Michener LLP, while Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP seems to be living up to its reputation as one of the leading mining firms in the country.

Financing numbers tabulated by our Financial Post Datagroup show that during calendar 2011, McMillan advised issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange who raised $751.5-million through five equity financings. That puts McMillan at the top of our TSX mining financing league table when ranked by deal value.

Lang Michener, which officially joined McMillan on Jan. 1, 2011, brought with it a big book of mining clients, particularly in the firm’s Vancouver office.

Cassels Brock was second in terms of deal value, advising companies listed on the TSX that raised $581-million in equity financings. But Cassels Brock captured the top spot when ranked by number of deals, advising issuers listed on the TSX in 11 deals.

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Ontario staggers under burden of fiscal federalism – by Matthew Mendelsohn (Toronto Star – March 7, 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.

Matthew Mendelsohn is director of the Mowat Centre at the School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto.

The Drummond report’s chapter on “Intergovernmental Relations” has received little attention so far. That needs to change. The chapter provides a devastating, evidence-based case that lays a lot of the blame for Ontario’s fiscal woes on the steps of the federal government.

When Premier Dalton McGuinty complained on Monday about federal decisions that are having a disproportionate effect on Ontario, he actually had the evidence on his side.

Chapter 20 of Don Drummond’s report begins by noting that in 2009-10, Ontario, with 39 per cent of the Canadian population, contributed 39 per cent to federal revenues, but benefited from only 34 per cent of federal spending — a gap worth about $12.3 billion or 2.1 per cent of Ontario’s GDP. The report concludes that this — among other factors — demonstrates the “perverse structure of Canadian fiscal federalism.”

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