Republic of Mining

It’s time for Canada to play trade hardball – Diane Francis (National Post – February 11, 2012)

February 11, 2012

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

The Prime Minister’s visit to China netted more than a couple of pandas for a decade. It got Washington’s attention. The optics, notably concerning the oil sands, were the main aim of the high-level visit. And it worked.

The threat that Canada would divert energy to China instead of to the United States led Mitt Romney to hoist approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to the top of his political agenda.

There is little doubt that a new version of the Keystone, with a different route or by train, will be approved even if U.S. President Barack Obama wins a second term. The Keystone project was ill-conceived from beginning. The route was foolish. Moreover, oil sands production should be upgraded in Canada or shipped by looping existing pipelines from north to south.

The timing made it impossible for any sitting president to approve, especially when to do so would alienate a large chunk of the base of his support. Any mega-project should be broken down into bitesized pieces, avoid election cycles and operate under all radars.

How First Quantum recouped its seized mine – by Matthew McClearn (Canadian Business Magazine – January 19, 2012)

February 10, 2012

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-publishing business magazine in Canada.

In 2007 the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced it would autocratically tear up and renegotiate contracts with foreign mining companies. The price Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals paid for resisting: the forcible seizure and resale of its properties in the country, including two operating mines and another on which construction was nearly complete.

The DRC investigated First Quantum for what it called “suspected widescale misconduct.” Its courts, which are not independent, slapped a stinging US$12-billion judgment on the company. The government transferred the properties for nominal sums to close associates of DRC president Joseph Kabila, who promptly flipped them for significant profits; Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC), a large London-based company dominated by Kazakh owners, paid just US$175 million for the Kolwezi project, which cost First Quantum nearly $800 million to purchase and construct.

First Quantum immediately sought redress, but its hand seemed weak. ENRC CEO Felix Vuilis had maintained his company owed nothing to the former owners. “Any dispute that First Quantum has is with the relevant DRC authorities,” he declared shortly after the purchase.

The Canaccord-China deal: When $1-B is a drop in the bucket – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – February 9, 2012)

May 4, 2015February 10, 2012

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s current trip to China is touted as an opportunity to create partnerships between the two countries. One positive outcome has just been revealed: Canaccord Financial of Toronto and a Chinese bank plan to establish a Canada-China Natural Resource Fund and give it an initial endowment of US$1 billion.

The fund intends to:

•Invest in both public and private natural resource and energy companies or projects in Canada;

•Promote interaction and sustainable development among Chinese, Canadian and other nature resources companies, and’

•Create opportunities for substantial returns on investment (be profitable) through the strategic and market-oriented allocation of the fund’s capital.

Making sense of royalty structures and rates (Part I) – by Jonathan C. Lotz (Northern Miner – December 5-11, 2011)

February 10, 2012

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Royalties in the mining industry look pretty straightforward, but dig a little deeper and the complexities are soon apparent. Let’s start with what exactly a royalty is, the different ways it can be structured and used, and its history in Canadian mining.

By definition, a royalty is the right to receive a percent of the revenue generated from the sale of mineral products mined from a property. The legal nature of this right depends on whether the royalty is a mere contractual right or a direct interest in the property.

If a royalty is determined to be a mere contractual right, the holder may lose the right on the sale of the property. However, if the right is an interest in land, the holder may be liable as an owner under environmental legislation.

Royalties are most commonly used in acquiring mineral properties. They benefit the purchaser because they calculate the full purchase price. If and when royalties start payment, the purchase price is amortized over an extended period of time.

Africa: The Back Story to Cida-Mining Partnerships – by Catherine Coumans (All Africa.com/Mining Watch.com – February 9, 2012)

February 10, 2012

www.allafrica.com

Catherine Coumans is the research co-ordinator and Asia Pacific program co-ordinator for MiningWatch Canada. She is the author of Whose Development? Mining, Local Resistance, and Development Agendas.

Analysis

Mining companies’ branding of themselves as bringers of development needs to be critically examined against the burgeoning ‘resource curse’ literature that links mining to deepening national impoverishment in mining-dependent developing countries

The Canadian International Development Agency’s funding of Corporate Social Responsibility projects mostly near mine sites is intended to help Canadian mining companies compete for access to lucrative ore bodies in developing countries in the face of increasing local opposition to mining.

As I write this, thousands of Cajamarcans in Peru are protesting Newmont Mining Corp.’s proposed Conga mine that will destroy four lakes they depend on for their water supplies and livelihoods.

Gold cost profiles and nationalisation – Cutifani [AngloGold Ashanti CEO] – by Geoff Candy (Mineweb.com – February 10, 2012)

February 10, 2012

This interview came from: www.mineweb.com

In a wide ranging discussion, AngloGold Ashanti’s CEO Mark Cutifani talks about nationalisation, cash cost and the outlook for the gold price.

CAPE TOWN – GEOFF CANDY: Hello and welcome to this Mineweb.com Newsmaker podcast, my name is Geoff Candy and joining me from the Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, is Mark Cutifani, he’s the CEO at AngloGold Ashanti. Mark, I suppose the first question I wanted to ask you was if we look at where AngloGold is, one of the big unknowns at a macroeconomic level is what’s going to happen with oil and what I wanted to get a sense of from you is how much of an impact does oil play on your business and is this a concern?

MARK CUTIFANI: Ja, I think it is, it’s a concern for everyone. The good thing from an AngloGold Ashanti point of view is given the high proportion of underground operations that we have, oil tends to be less of an issue for us than, let’s say, compared to the North Americans, who have large open carts with lots of waste stripping and low grades but it’s still a 10% to 13% cost factor for us, so it’s material. But it’s not as material as, let’s say, for the North Americans but it’s one we watch carefully and if we saw a 20% rise, then from us that would have a 2% to 3% impact on our unit cost, so it’s one we watch fairly carefully.

Australia experiences huge wave of [mining] expansion – by Matthew Fisher (National Post – February 10, 2012)

February 10, 2012

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

“Unhindered by the foreign funded environmental coalition
that is attempting to destroy a large part of Canada’s
economic future by preventing pipelines linked to Alberta’s
oil sands, the terminals at Darwin will collect gas
harvested from the Timor Sea and shipped via a 890-
kilometre underwater pipeline.”(Matthew Fisher-Nationa Post)

DARWIN, AUSTRALIA – Exports of iron ore, gold, bauxite and liquefied natural gas to Asia are fuelling a phenomenal wave of economic expansion for Australia.

Keeping accurate tabs on the number of mega-projects is as difficult as it is to figure out the exact size of its economy because it is expanding so quickly.

The iron ore industry is expected to increase exports five-fold by the end of the decade. Figures for the growth in gas exports are projected to be much bigger. The high price of gold has also been a boon.

While most of the West frets about tomorrow, at least $300 billion will be spent soon on mills, drilling rigs, pipelines, heavy machinery, port dredging, marine supply bases and railways for projects that have been approved for Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The marine collection terminal that is the final link in one of the larger developments which got the green light last month – the $37-billion Ichthys natural gas field – will be built near Darwin Harbour.

[Vale Sudbury’s] Copper Cliff Mine first to resume production – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 10, 2012)

February 10, 2012

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

Vale Ltd. is ramping up to resume production at Copper Cliff Mine this weekend, almost three weeks after production was halted at all five Sudbury mines after a Jan. 29 fatal accident at Coleman Mine in Levack.

The mines were closed for a safety pause after experienced development miner Stephen Perry, 47, was killed while operating machinery at the 4,215-foot level of the main ore body at Coleman.

The company and its employees, both union and non-union, have been working together since Perry’s death to ensure the mines are safe for about 1,550 production and maintenance workers when they return.

Vale’s Angie Robson said she expects most of the company’s mines will be back in production by the end of next week. “At Creighton Mine, we are working on some maintenance of our shaft, and expect to start production there by the last week of February,” said Robson.

Alberta’s flushing its resource miracle down the drain – by Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail – February 10, 2012)

February 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.

The census confirmed what everyone knew: The population is growing faster in Western Canada than elsewhere. The issue for the fastest-growing provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, is what to do with the challenges of growth. Their populations are expanding, pure and simple, because of natural resources, notably oil (mostly from the tar sands), natural gas and potash.

There are long-term development issues swirling around the nature of their economies. Are they going to be classic rentier economies, extracting resources and shipping them? Or are they going to try to process more of the resources at home? Thus far, the answer has been the former.

With more people come demands for a necessary expansion of public services: schools, serviced land, police, roads and, of course, health. Outside Alberta, for example, people hear about right-wing politics, the populist Wildrose Alliance (quietly supported by many federal Conservative MPs), the perpetually governing Conservatives, low taxes, small government.

Canada loses in oil discount – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – February 10, 2012)

February 10, 2012

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

The widening discounts dragging down the price of Canadian oil are providing a glimpse at what the future looks like if new pipelines like Keystone XL aren’t built.

The discounts were adding up this week to about $30 to $40 for a Canadian oil sands barrel relative to the price it would have fetched in world markets.

It’s the outcome of rising production from Canada’s oil sands and the Bakken tight oil field in North Dakota and too little pipeline space to move it to refiners, causing oil to be backed up in the U.S. Midwest.

The surprise is that existing pipelines are filling up well before the 2015/1016 time frame, when they were widely expected expected to hit their capacity.

“We are at the wrong end of multiple discounts,” said Mike Tims, chairman of Peters & Co., the Calgary-based energy investment dealer.

Goldcorp chair Ian Telfer’s name in an OSC insider trading probe is a high-profile symbol – by David Olive (Toronto Star – February 9, 2012)

February 9, 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.

Chances are you have not heard of Eda Marie Agueci. Until she was suspended by her employer a few days ago, Agueci was a drone in a second-tier Toronto investment firm. She is alleged by the Ontario Securities Commission with being at or near the centre of a ring of friends and relatives engaged in improper insider trading practices at least from 2007.

By contrast, you might well know of Ian W. Telfer, 65, chairman of Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc., one of the world’s largest gold-mining enterprises.

Telfer is a highly regarded figure, and rightly so. He built Goldcorp into an enterprise with $3.8 billion in 2010 and profits of $1.6 billion, with resource-development projects on four continents. Goldcorp has created a multitude of jobs worldwide, and kept Vancouver on the map as a centre of mining expertise when much of that activity has migrated to Calgary and Toronto.

Along with his 40 or so years of mining expertise, Telfer is a philanthropist whose largesse includes the Telfer School of Management at his alma mater back East, the University of Ottawa.

Historic Canada-China trade agreements benefit both mining sectors – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 9, 2012)

February 9, 2012February 9, 2012

www.mineweb.com

After 20 years of negotiations, Canada and China are closer to ratification of a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement that may benefit mining and mining services in both nations.

RENO – The Canada Mining Innovation Council applauded Wednesday’s announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Canada and China completed negotiations on a historic Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA).

Negotiations for this agreement took 18 years and major players in mining, manufacturing, and the financial sectors were consulted to get to this stage. Harper and Chinese Premier Wen Jaibao Wednesday signed a declaration of intent which must be legally reviewed and ratified by both governments.

If ratified, Canadian mining companies would enjoy more protection and promotion of their Chinese investments through legally-binding rights and obligation. Wen also called for studies into the feasibility of a free-trade agreement between China and Canada.

Jiang Shan, minister counselor from China’s Ministry of Commerce, told China Daily, “Chinese enterprises could make forays into or add investment in the categories of coal, iron ore and potash manure.”

Gold miners need gold above $1,650 to keep nose above water – by Geoff Candy (Mineweb.com – February 8, 2012)

February 9, 2012

www.mineweb.com

According to a number of gold company CEO’s it costs about $1,200 to pull an ounce of gold out of the ground.

CAPE TOWN – For the gold industry to keep its nose above water and maintain the current production base, gold prices need to stay above $1,650 an ounce.

Speaking to Mineweb from the sidelines of the 2012 African Mining Indaba conference, AngloGold Ashanti CEO, Mark Cutifani, said, at a price of $1,650 per ounce, gold miners are “only just returning the weighted average cost of capital for the industry”.

This is the number that gold miners need to work from on a real basis he says, but added, “The average cost to produce an ounce of gold, all up, everything loaded in, is about $1,200 to $1,250.

Harmony Gold CEO, Graham Briggs, agrees with Cutifani saying, from Harmony’s perspective, the all-in cost to pull an ounce of gold out of the ground is around $1,250. This figure includes everything from the cost of the Harmony head office to maintenance and its exploration programme which is why it is higher than the $958/oz cash operating cost figure reported by the miner at its half year results on Monday.

Sudbury slowly growing – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – February 9, 2012)

February 9, 2012

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

Greater Sudbury’s population has increased over the past five years by about the paid attendance of the average Sudbury Wolves home game, figures show.

Population changes in communities across Canada from 2006 to 2011 were disclosed Wednesday by Statistics Canada, the first of a series of reports in coming months based on results of last year’s country-wide census.

It’s the third census in a row Greater Sudbury’s population has increased — a success for a community that has endured serious population declines in the recent past, a city official says.

Figures pegged Sudbury’s census metropolitan area population at 160,770 in 2011. That’s up from 158,258 recorded during the 2006 census, which was up from 155,225 in 2001.

[Sudbury Vale workers] Back to work – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – Febraury 9, 2012)

February 9, 2012

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

Vale’s five Sudbury mines should be back in production by the end of next week, says a company spokeswoman.

Production at the mines was halted Jan. 30 after an experienced development miner, Stephen Perry, was killed on the job at Coleman Mine on Jan. 29.

Since then, Vale has been working with employees to ensure all five mines in Sudbury — Coleman, Creighton, Stobie, Garson and Copper Cliff — are safe places for production and maintenance employees to return to work.

“Production will start resuming at our mines as safety issues are addressed and completed,” Vale’s Angie Robson said Wednesday. “We expect that by the end of next week, most of our mines will be back into production.”