Republic of Mining

The oilsands are a symptom of the bigger problem of our dependence on fossil fuels – by Andrew Weaver (Toronto Star – February 22, 2012)

February 22, 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.

Andrew Weaver is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria. He was a lead author in the UN second, third, fourth and ongoing fifth scientific assessments of climate change.

Back in September the Keystone XL pipeline controversy was at its peak. Proponents of the pipeline were entrenched in their views that the suggested route was the only viable one. Opponents brought forward myriad concerns. Nebraskan ranchers pointed out the absurdity of building a new pipeline over the Ogallala Aquifer — the water source of much of the U.S. agricultural belt.

The National Congress of American Indians and Canadian First Nations brought forward compelling arguments that the pipeline jeopardized the potential health of their communities and resources. Others argued that it might be “game over” as far as global warming was concerned.

It was in the midst of this controversy that Neil Swart, a Ph.D. student in my lab, and I became engaged in a discussion as to the global warming potential of the oil in the Alberta tarsands. Our hunch was that it was big. We had heard the rhetoric and we wanted to undertake a quantitative assessment as to its veracity.

Oil sands proponents get a PR boost – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – February 22, 2012)

February 22, 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— “Dirty” is a tough label to bear. It’s simple, descriptive and evocative. It sticks.

At least it has for Canada’s oil sands sector, which has been tarred with the “dirty” brush for the products it wrests from beneath the forest of northeastern Alberta.

The industry has struggled mightily to burnish its image with TV commercials and glossy magazine ads. So it was with open arms that it greeted a new scientific report showing that burning billions of barrels of oil sands crude actually has a modest climate impact.

The report, co-authored by respected climate scientist Andrew Weaver and published in the journal Nature, shows that, when it comes to global warming, the oil sands are far from the world’s chief villain – and is being seized upon by Canada’s top industrial political leaders as proof that the oil sands aren’t as dirty as some have made them out to be.

Another pipeline debate kicks off as Kinder Morgan lines up shippers – by Carrie Tait and Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – February 22, 2012)

February 22, 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— Oil producers have thrown their support behind the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to the West Coast, but the latest project aimed at providing much-needed shipping capacity for the oil sands industry now faces regulatory hurdles and growing resistance to pipelines.

Kinder Morgan Inc. $3.8-billion plan to double the amount of oil it can move from Alberta to the Pacific has garnered “strong” support from shippers and the company will now carry on with engineering and planning, it said Tuesday.

The momentum means the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will attract greater scrutiny – something it has largely avoided as local communities and environmental groups turned Enbridge Inc.’s (ENB-T38.870.350.91%) proposed Northern Gateway pipeline into an international debate. The federal government supports greater access to the West Coast, but arm’s-length regulators must deliver their verdicts before the projects can proceed.

Federal agencies raise flags over Ring of Fire – CBC News/ThunderBay – (February 21, 2012)

February 22, 2012

This article came from CBC News Thunder Bay: http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Environment Canada and Canadian Wildlife Service urge caution in assessing chromite project

CBC News has learned two federal agencies want a more thorough review of the environmental impacts of chromium mining in the Ring of Fire.

Documents obtained by CBC News under access to information show the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) was seeking advice earlier this year from other government departments.

It wanted to know how much scrutiny it should give the proposed Cliffs chromite project, 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

In a June 2011 letter, the Canadian Wildlife Service said the agency should “err on the side of caution due to the many uncertainties” associated with the project “and the potential for impacts to migratory birds, species at risk and wetlands.”

Madeline Head, who is with the environmental stewardship branch of the Canadian Wildlife Service, recommended the CEAA put the Cliffs project to “a higher level of assessment and scrutiny ensuring rigorous assessment of the project effects …”

Exploiting Canada’s resources can be a fool’s game – by Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail – February 22, 2012)

February 22, 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.

Everywhere in Canada, the news is about natural resources: forestry and mines in British Columbia; oil and coal in Alberta; potash in Saskatchewan; hydro in Manitoba; the “ring of fire” minerals in Ontario; hydro and Old Harry oil and shale gas in Quebec; offshore oil and hydro in Newfoundland.

Canadians are so damn lucky. We just dig and pump and cut and ship, and we never seem to run out. We just hope commodities prices remain high.

All those resources can be a fool’s game. Pumping and digging and cutting can keep the country comfortable, but they do little to address the country’s biggest challenge – a sagging competitive position. All those natural resources soak up capital; they usually don’t require much innovation or processing.

The Harper government, possessed of a majority government, seems to have its mind around elements of the long-term challenge.

Southerners need to learn of folly of caribou plan – Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – February 22, 2012)

February 22, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper. Wayne Snider is the paper’s city editor.

Time is at hand for NEOMA to step up lobbying efforts

It’s great to see that our leaders in Northern Ontario are switching into overdrive when it comes to lobbying. Members of the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) have a special subcomittee set up to look at ways to get the North’s voice heard in the corridors of power at Queen’s Park.

The most pressing issue right now is the caribou protection plan, pushed through by the government under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

If the plan goes through as currently structured, 65% of the Abitibi River forest will be off limits to industry within the next 20 years.

That means wood allocation for forest companies would drop significantly, leading to the closure of many regional operations.

NEOMA — which is comprised of mayors and council members from municipalities across the Northeast — realizes this would be a catastrophic blow to the region’s economy, creating massive job losses and jeopardizing not only the standard of living but the Northern lifestyle.

Thunder Bay responds to Drummond Report -by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – February 16, 2012)

February 21, 2012

www.tbnewswatch.com

While there are some concerns, the city says it is already following many of the recommendations made in the Drummond Report. Cost containment and finding efficiencies are part of programs the city has been implementing over the last few years mayor Keith Hobbs said.

“It lines up great with what the city is already doing,” Hobbs said at a media conference Thursday afternoon.

What was missing from the massive report, which has recommendations for almost every provincial department, is the massive revenue potential from the Ring of Fire, Hobbs said. While mining potential is mentioned, it wasn’t enough.

“I do think in the Drummond report they really down played it quite a bit. They really need to step up.” City manager Tim Commisso said given that the ring of fire could be one of the province’s largest economic generators, Ontario needs to be a leader when it comes to infrastructure for the project.

Polish miner wins B.C.’s Quadra FNX – by Maciej Martewicz and Pawel Kozlowski (National Post – February 21, 2012)

February 21, 2012

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

Bloomberg News

WARSAW – Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. shareholders have approved a $2.87-billion takeover by KGHM Polska Miedz SA, in Poland’s biggest bid abroad, designed to deepen the Polish copper producer’s global reach.

Quadra shareholders cast 78.58% of shares in favour of the deal, the Canadian company said Monday at an extraordinary meeting in Vancouver.

The takeover by the Lubin, Poland-based company, with Europe’s largest mine output, is “attractive,” Quadra chief executive Paul Blythe told Polish daily Rzeczpospolita on Feb. 16. Institutional Shareholder Services, which advises pension and mutual funds on proposals in shareholder meetings, backed the bid, Quadra said on Feb. 6.

“This is the first spectacular takeover deal by a Polish company and it’s being noticed,” said Leszek Iwaszko, a Warsaw-based analyst at Société Générale SA. “KGHM still has a long way to go to join the world’s premier league, but this purchase will help it become a global player.”

Ontario has to learn to live with high dollar – by David Crane (Toronto Star – February 21, 2012)

February 21, 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.

David Crane is a commentator on economic affairs. crane@interlog.com.

Blame it on Alberta’s oilsands. Last month, Ontario’s premier pickle company, Bick’s Pickles, closed its production facilities in southern Ontario and moved its operations to the U.S. The high value of the Canadian dollar was an important factor in a corporate decision that cost 150 regular jobs here. Bick’s is not alone feeling the impact of what some are calling the “Alberta dollar.”

Over the past five to six years, many manufacturing companies have closed shop in Ontario as the province lost competitiveness due to a dollar trading at approximate parity with the U.S. — companies like Collins & Aikman in Guelph (500 jobs), Interforest in Durham (120 jobs), Crane Valves in Brantford (88 jobs), Sonoco Products in Cambridge (100 jobs), Siemens in Hamilton (550 jobs), FRAM in Stratford (300 jobs) and many more across the province. As companies consolidate operations in North America, Ontario has a tough time making the case to keep operations here.

Nuclear waste storage depot attracts southern Ontario towns – by John Spears (Toronto Star – February 22, 2012)

February 21, 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.

You can call it a repository for used nuclear fuel in an adaptive phased management program. You can call it a nuclear waste site.

Either way, a surprising cluster of municipalities in south-western Ontario’s rural heartland are saying they might want to be the place where Canada’s spent nuclear fuel is stored for thousands of years.

No final decisions on a waste site have been made – or will be for several years, under the multi-step process put in place by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.

And the western Ontario municipalities who are showing interest will be judged against sites proposed by other communities scattered across Canada. But it’s a surprising show of interest for a region of the country best known for green fields, blue water and Alice Munro.

Canada’s oil sands: Not so dirty after all – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – February 21, 2012)

February 21, 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— Canada’s government, which has threatened a trade war over a proposed European rule to penalize oil-sands crude in a bid to clean up transportation fuels, has a powerful new argument in its favour, as new research shows other energy sources are far more dangerous to the climate.

On Thursday, a committee of the European Union will vote on a proposed fuel-quality directive intended to reduce the carbon footprint of gasoline and diesel on that continent. The directive directly penalizes oil-sands crude for its high-emissions content, using language that oil-sands supporters and others have called “flawed,” “discriminatory” and worse.

If passed, such a directive could set a precedent for other international fuel rules that challenge oil-sands products, a prospect that has deeply alarmed Canada’s political and corporate leadership. Officials have waged a years-long lobbying campaign to have it changed, enlisting the help of European nations with oil-sands interests such as Britain and the Netherlands.

First nations don’t have a pipeline veto, but they do have options – by Tom Flanagan (Globe and Mail – February 21, 2012)

February 21, 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.

Tom Flanagan is a professor of political science at the University of Calgary. He has managed campaigns for the Conservative Party of Canada and the Wildrose Party of Alberta. He is co-author of Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights.

The Conservative government has shown that it favours Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to carry bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to the B.C. deepwater port of Kitimat. Despite this open support, there’s a risk that the Northern Gateway proposal could go the way of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline – ultimately approved in principle but held up so long it never gets built, because the market has found alternative options.

About 50 first nations lie in Northern Gateway’s path. Consultation with these first nations will be critical, so let’s look at the legal framework.

In the 1997 Delgamuukw case, the Supreme Court of Canada held that aboriginal title still exists across British Columbia where treaties have never been signed.

Mined out: Australia’s skills shortage – by Chris Lo (Mining Technology.com – February 6, 2012)

February 20, 2012

http://www.mining-technology.com/

A skills shortfall is putting the Australian mining industry’s ability to meet its production commitments in doubt. Chris Lo looks at the roots of Australia’s labour crisis and asks how the country can create a new generation of mining professionals.

Being located close to Asia’s emerging economic powerhouses has been a blessing for Australia’s mining industry. As increasingly confident economies like China and India look abroad for raw materials to feed an unprecedented number of construction and infrastructure projects, Australia’s immense mineral resources are exceedingly well placed to meet the demand.

The Australian mining sector’s strategic position is reflected in the number of projects and the amount of investment springing up in the country.

The Australian reported in early 2010 that while no mining project valued at more than A$10 billion came online in the first decade of the 21st century, six of these mega-projects are in development today, with a total value of more than A$150 billion.

Mining in Poland: History and Current Production (Poland’s Natural Resources)

February 20, 2012

This information came from the Official Promotional Website of the Republic of Poland. http://en.poland.gov.pl/

Nature has bestowed Poland generously with both non-renewable and renewable resources. The latter, such as wind and solar energy, are used more and more frequently, their growing popularity supported by great advances in technology.

Poland is a country rich in minerals. It is among the world’s biggest producers of hard and brown coal, copper, zinc, lead, sulphur, rock salt and construction minerals.

As early as in antiquity, the country was famous for its amber, transported along the Amber Route from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic coast. The largest amounts of amber, often called Baltic gold, were found at the mouth of the Vistula and on the Sambia Peninsula (now in Russia’s Kaliningrad Region). It was a much valued material at that time and played a major role in barter trade with the Meditterranean. Amber was traded most intensively in the second century AD.

Quadra FNX shareholders approve KGHM’s C$3 billion bid – by Nicole Mordant and Supantha Mukherjee (Reuters.com – February 20, 2012)

February 20, 2012

This article is from the Reuters.com website: www.reuters.com

Mon Feb 20, 2012

Vancouver (Reuters) – Shareholders of Canadian miner Quadra FNX (QUX.TO: Quote) approved a C$3 billion takeover offer from KGHM KGHM.WA on Monday, the tie-up is set to geographically diversify the Polish miner’s asset base and boost its copper output.

The friendly deal announced in December gives KGHM control of Quadra’s Sierra Gorda copper project in Chile, one of the world’s largest copper projects, along with other assets spread across Canada, Chile and the United States.

Preliminary results from a shareholder vote in Vancouver indicate that 78.6 percent of the votes cast were in favor of the deal. For KGHM’s bid to succeed, it required two-thirds support of the votes cast by Quadra shareholders.

Earlier this month, proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended that Quadra shareholders vote in favor of Polish miner’s bid. ISS advised its clients to support the bid for Vancouver-based Quadra, on the basis that “there have been no alternate offers and there are no governance concerns.”