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AngloGold CEO says Warren Buffett just doesn’t understand gold and gold investors – by Alec Hogg (Mineweb.com – February 16, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

Mineweb’s Editor-in-chief, Alec Hogg, interviews AngloGold Ashanti’s Mark Cutifani and hears some forthright views on Warren Buffet’s most recent attack on gold.

JOHANNESBURG –  Anglogold Ashanti’s CEO Mark Cutifani is to local South African gold mining what top South AFfrican asset manager, John Biccard is to the local asset management sector, the man other money managers would most trust to handle their savings. In mining, Cutifani’s astute management has raised the bar for an industry where performance was once measured by volume of rock through the mill rather than gold delivered.

The Australian-born head of Africa’s biggest gold producer has been walking on water lately. He took history’s biggest ever bet on the gold price by closing out the industry’s largest hedge book – at a cost of billions. As the gold price kept steaming ahead, that decision continues to reward Anglogold Ashanti. In the three months to end December it added another $200m to the bottom line.

Cutifani was clearly on a high during our chat this week after the release of his group’s December quarter results. Who could blame him? Apart from that $200m, costs were reasonably controlled, the company got more South African Rands for its gold and the result was a fresh record for profit in any three months. Shareholders joined in the applause when hearing that the yearend dividend was being doubled.

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Growth won’t save Ontario this time. Only reform will – by Don Drummond (Globe and Mail – February 15, 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.

Don Drummond, former chief economist at TD Bank, is chair of the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services.

Ontario faces two huge challenges – economic and fiscal.

The province has already slid below the average of the rest of Canada in terms of output and income per capita. Beyond the next few years of recovery, Ontario can look forward to only modest annual growth of around 2 per cent, well below historical norms.

This reality frames the fiscal problem. The province can’t simply adjust its fiscal parameters for a few years to eliminate a deficit caused by the recession and associated stimulus. Even with the restraint measures already taken, the provincial deficit would continue to rise in an environment of modest economic growth. The fiscal response must not only be strong and sustained, it must reform the way the government delivers virtually every service.

Last March’s provincial budget established the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services to advise the government on how to return to a balanced budget no later than 2017-18 and how to get more value for taxpayers’ money.

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Drummond report shows sun has set on Ontario empire … but, will it notice? – by John Ivison (National Post – February 15, 2012)

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

We couldn’t read the Premier’s lips because he was conspicuous by his absence. But Dalton McGuinty has been explicit in recent speeches — the $16-billion deficit that is on course to balloon to $30-billion within seven years, will not be balanced by raising taxes.

That means the Premier will have to implement all 320 recommendations made by economist Don Drummond and his Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, released Wednesday. Except, the Ontario Liberals have already made clear they will ignore Mr. Drummond’s suggestion on Mr. McGuinty’s pet full-day kindergarten project — namely that it is a $1.5-billion luxury the province cannot afford.

The former TD Bank chief economist pulled no punches in his press conference: “This is pretty much unprecedented in post-war Canadian history. It is very daunting. Lots of governments have had it tough for two to three years. But then there was a reprieve. There is no reprieve here,” he said, pointing to low growth rates as far as the eye can see.

The report said the slow decline of Ontario’s manufacturing sector is partly to blame for the malaise that will see the deficit double and net debt rise to 50% of GDP by 2017/18. But it did not gloss over the culpability of a Liberal government that has failed to keep spending in line with revenue growth.

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Diavik releases 2011 annual socio-economic report

This news item originally came from the January 2012, Northern Mining News, published by the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.

Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., operator of the Diavik Diamond Mine, has released its 2011 socioeconomic monitoring agreement report, which provides a detailed summary of northern training, employment, and business benefits.

Highlights include:

• Training: As part of the mine’s continuing commitment to support northerners in developing trade skills, Diavik and minesite contractors supported 34 apprentices in 2011. All are northern and 19 are Aboriginal. Additionally, four northerners successfully completed their apprenticeships bringing the total number of Diavik apprentices to have achieved journeyperson certification to 31.

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Stakeholders brace for sweeping changes on environmental protection laws – by Mike De Souza (Ottawa Citizen – February 15, 2012)

www.ottawacitizen.com

OTTAWA — Industry and conservation groups are bracing for the federal government to introduce sweeping changes this month to reduce Canada’s environmental protection laws in order to speed up reviews on proposed projects.

All stakeholders agree that certain changes would be welcome to improve the process, but some have also warned the government that it could cause more harm than good if it proposes a plan that ignores long-term benefits or consequences of projects.

“It’s all very well to say we need more mines, but how do we actually know that they are actually going to be sustainable or going to be of net benefit to Canada?” asked Stephen Hazell, an Ottawa-based environmental lawyer.

While he said some mines have clear benefits, he noted that a recent arsenic spill at an old gold mine near Yellowknife raises serious concerns, especially because of melting permafrost.

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Molycorp’s $1 billion rare-earth gamble – by Richard Martin (Fortune Magazine – November 18, 2011)

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/

How an American company is trying to break China’s monopoly on high-tech minerals.

FORTUNE — Few weekenders making the four-hour run from L.A. to Vegas notice the big mill works overlooking Interstate 15 at Mountain Pass Summit in California, near the Nevada line. Even fewer realize that the pale-pink buildings, gone patchy with age, are the focus of an extraordinary business drama that involves national security, China’s monopolizing the strategic market in rare-earth metals, and one company’s attempt to restore American preeminence in a crucial mining sector it once dominated.

Those sprawling buildings are owned by a Denver mining company called Molycorp (MCP), which is now spending nearly $1 billion to restart rare-earth-mineral production at Mountain Pass Summit and in the process revive a moribund U.S. industry. It won’t be easy. A decade ago the U.S. was the world’s biggest supplier of lanthanides, scandium, and other rare earths, and the Mountain Pass mine was the world’s largest producer of the minerals.

Rare-earth elements enable the creation of super-magnets, which operate at high temperatures and are also used for a range of high-tech applications, from missile-guidance systems to compact fluorescent light bulbs to wind power turbines to motors in electric vehicles.

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A hedge fund bets big on a Canadian mega quarry – by By Scott Cendrowski (Fortune Magazine – February 15, 2012)

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/

Superstar investor Seth Klarman’s controversial plan to develop a quarry in Ontario could pay off bigtime.

FORTUNE — Drive an hour northwest from Toronto along Highway 10 and you come across some of the best farmland in Canada. Folks here call it the Garden of Eden. Atop a 15,000-acre plateau sits a layer of dark dirt so perfectly balanced with clay and nutrients that it breaks apart in your hand like potting soil. “The stuff is like butter,” says a local potato farmer, David Vander Zaag, who sells his spuds to Frito-Lay. Even better: Below the rich topsoil lies a limestone deposit some 200 feet thick, creating an ideal natural drainage system. It once rained nine inches in a day, says Vander Zaag, and he didn’t lose a single potato from his crop.

It’s that limestone, though, that has brought the farming town of Melancthon, Ontario, pop. 2,900, the fight of its life. Last spring a Canadian firm called the Highland Cos. submitted an application to turn 2,300 acres of area farmland into one of the top-producing rock quarries in Canada. One of the principal owners of Highland is the Baupost Group, a $24 billion hedge fund based in Boston and run by a secretive investor named Seth Klarman.

Highland’s quarry proposal has ignited a firestorm of controversy in Melancthon. Residents have myriad concerns — from increased truck traffic to the impact on the water supply to the unsightliness of an enormous pit mine in the distance.

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New B.C. port facilities key for exports, Potash Corp. CEO says – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – February 15, 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.

OTTAWA— Potash Corp. chief executive Bill Doyle expects to see steadily rising worldwide demand for the fertilizer and the need for new export capacity from Western Canada, despite the recent price weakness that has led global producers to cut back on supply.

Western Canadian potash exports should double in the coming decade and, as a result, the industry will need new port facilities in British Columbia, Mr. Doyle said in an interview Tuesday.

In partnership with CN Rail, Canpotex, the marketing arm of Saskatchewan potash producers, has proposed a new export terminal in Prince Rupert, B.C. Mr. Doyle said he expects an investment decision to be made on the $800-million project this year.

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TransCanada pushes back on Keystone XL – by Claudia Cattaneo (February 14, 2012)

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

Getting swept up in U.S. Presidential politics can’t be high on the list of any Canadian corporation, but TransCanada Corp. isn’t backing down from its plans to build the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

The Calgary-based company said Tuesday it’s gearing up to file for a new permit “in the near future,” is anticipating obtaining Presidential approval in the first quarter of 2013, expects it will take two years to build it and plans to start shipping 830,000 barrels of oil from the oil sands in Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2015.

“We are into it to the tune of $2.4-billion, we have secured about 95% of the right of way, the pipe is all sitting on the ground and the pumps are all ready to be hooked up. For all intents and purposes we are ready to go,” president and CEO Russ Girling said in a conference call to discuss the company’s results for the fourth quarter.

What it won’t do is get involved in the U.S. election, which Mr. Girling feels is not his company’s business.

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BNN Reporter Andrew Bell Interviews KWG Resources Inc. CEO Frank C. Smeenk – (February 14, 2012)

Toronto-based Business News Network (BNN) is a Canadian cable television specialty channel owned by CTVglobalmedia. BNN airs business and financial programming and analysis. BNN reporter Andrew Bell hosts the Commodities program. From aluminum to zinc and everything in between, every Tuesday through Thursday, BNN highlights the hot world of commodities and the companies that produce …

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Mining companies, First Nations clashing over Ring of Fire, MPs told – by James Munson (iPolitics – February 15, 2012)

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

The conflict between mining companies hungry to exploit the vast riches of northern Ontario and the poverty-stricken First Nations that live there came to Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

The federal regulatory system is failing in the region’s mineral formation known as the Ring of Fire, First Nations representatives and mining executives told MPs at the House of Commons natural resources committee. One aboriginal group has even put one mega-project on hold through court action.

The legal obligations of miners to nearby First Nations are so difficult to discern, it’s denting Canada’s reputation as a politically stable place to do business, said one mining executive.

“The bar has been shifting to a point where I’m wondering what our legal rights are as an exploration company,” said Ronald Coombes, president of White Tiger Mining Corp., a junior exploration firm with assets in the region.

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JOINT NEWS RELEASE: Bold Ventures Inc. Announces Closing of Business Combination with Rencore Resources Ltd.

Toronto, Ontario (February 14, 2012) – Bold Ventures Inc. (TSX.V: BOL) (“Bold”) and Rencore Resources Ltd. (CNSX: RNC) (“Rencore”) are pleased to announce that the business combination of Bold and Rencore (the “Merger”) announced on November 9, 2011 has closed. Pursuant to the Merger, each outstanding common share of Rencore will be exchanged for one common share of Bold and each existing Rencore Convertible Security will be converted to a New Bold Convertible Security. Further details regarding the Merger can be found on Bold’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

At the shareholders meetings for Bold and Rencore held on February 13, 2012, shareholders of each Company unanimously approved the Merger. Rencore is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bold and the common shares of Rencore can trade immediately on the TSX Venture Exchange as Bold shares under the symbol “BOL”.

At the Bold Annual General and Special Meeting held on February 13, 2012, shareholders also approved the appointment of McGovern, Hurley, Cunningham, LLP as auditors of Bold; approved the 2011 Stock Option Plan, a 10% rolling plan; and elected the following directors: Richard Nemis, John Harvey, David Graham, Jim Glover, Gary F. Zak, Jerry Bulman and Ian Brodie-Brown.

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Obama budget again seeks hardrock mining royalty, new abandoned mine fees – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – February 14, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

The President’s proposed fiscal 2013 federal budget calls for a 5% gross mining royalty on federal lands, and a hardrock abandoned mined land fee on all private and public lands.

RENO – In his proposed $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2013 released Monday, President Barak Obama has once again called for creation of a hard abandoned mined land fund, as well as a hardrock mining royalty of not less than five percent of gross proceeds.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who hails from the mining state of Colorado, estimated creation of the Hardrock Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund–applicable to private and federal, state, and tribal lands–would generate $500 million in savings over the next 10 years.

The Bureau of Land Management would distribute the funds through a competitive grant program to reclaim the highest priority hardrock abandoned sites on federal, state, tribal and private lands.

Salazar also intends to reform Coal Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation by terminating the unrestricted payments to states and tribes that have been certified for completing their coal reclamation work. Currently the money has been dispersed to states based on how much coal they produce.

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BESTECH among nation’s best – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 14, 2012)

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

Marc Boudreau’s parents, Roger and Solange Boudreau, were skeptical when he and lifelong friend Denis Pitre left secure jobs at Falconbridge Ltd. about 17 years ago to start their own company.

Monday, the co-owners of BESTECH announced that the company they started in 1995 was named by Queen’s University’s School of Business as one of Canada’s 50 Best Small and Medium Employers.

The company was ranked No. 41 on the list, which appears in the March issue of Profit magazine, now on newsstands.

Boudreau told a small crowd of employees, dignitaries and his proud parents that his company has become a success because it has lived up to its mission statement.

“We’re here, we’re part of the community, the community is important and that is the focus” of BESTECH, Boudreau said after a short ceremony.

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Quebec harvests $6-billion in [mining] investment – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – February 14, 2012)

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

MONTREAL – Quebec Premier Jean Charest says his government’s massive effort to develop the resources of its northern territory has generated $6-billion worth of investment to date as companies accelerate growth plans faster than the province predicted.

Global mining giant Xstrata PLC is spending US$530-million to develop projects at its Raglan nickel mine in Nunavik, one of a number of corporate investments confirmed since Mr. Charest’s Liberal government formally announced its North Plan in May 2011.

China’s Jilin Jien Nickel said it will double investment in its project to extract nickel in Nunavik in northern Quebec to $800-million. And Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. is committing some $1.4-billion of capital to develop the Éléonore underground gold mine near Ell Lake, though much of that was announced before the North Plan’s launch. Backed by the Cree nations of Wemindji and Eastmain, whose members will work in the facility, the mine is expected to yield 600,000 ounces of gold annually over its 15-year life.

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