Republic of Mining

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.”

KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. NEWS RELEASE: Report no. 8/2012: Approval of Quadra FNX Mining Ltd shareholders

February 20, 2012

2012-02-20

The Management Board of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. („KGHM”, „Company”) announces that the shareholders of Quadra FNX Mining Ltd („Quadra FNX”) at the General Meeting of the company convened on 20 February 2012, approved by the required majority of votes the transaction described in the binding conditional agreement entered into between KGHM and Quadra FNX on 6 December 2011.

As a result of this transaction, KGHM, through its special purpose wholly controlled subsidiary, founded under British Columbia law, will acquire from the existing shareholders, under a Plan of Arrangement recommended by the Board of Directors of Quadra FNX, the shares of Quadra FNX, representing 100% of the share capital of this company.

Closure of the transaction was made contingent on the fulfillment of conditions precedent, consisting of gaining shareholder approval as expressed by a majority 2/3 of the votes at the General Meeting of Quadra FNX, court approval for the transaction and regulatory approvals by appropriate monopoly-control bodies, and by the Canadian Minister of Industry.

Climate change boosts need for bigger presence in Arctic: Canadian navy head – by Bill Graveland (Toronto Star – February 20, 2012)

February 20, 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.

CALGARY—The head of the Royal Canadian Navy says Canada needs to bolster its military presence in the Arctic to prepare for a boom in human and economic activity resulting largely from climate change.

Global warming is thought to be occurring faster in the North than anywhere else. The gradual disappearance of sea ice is opening up commercial shipping as well as previously inaccessible areas rich with oil, natural gas and mineral resources.

“From a naval perspective, climate change probably means there will be more open water, so the Arctic Ocean will really emerge as the Arctic Ocean,” Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, said in a recent interview.

“It also means . . . that the circumpolar route will probably open to international shipping from Asia to Europe sometime in this century — probably a lot earlier than most people predicted a few years ago,” he said.

The Plundered Planet: How to Reconcile Prosperity with Nature – by Paul Collier (The Observer – May 16, 2010)

February 20, 2012February 20, 2012

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/

How can the west stop poor nations being exploited for their natural wealth?

Imagine a small nation, undeveloped yet fantastically rich in a natural resource that offers it a one-off chance of great wealth. An aggressive, sophisticated foreign power wants that commodity and is prepared to do anything it can – diplomatic or military – to get it. What hope does the nation have? You wonder if Paul Collier’s new book has been timed as a tie-in with the DVD of Avatar, the story of a gentle planet that suffers “resource curse”.

Extractables are a curse: no poor nation in modern times (except, perhaps, Malaysia and Botswana) has prospered as a result of them. Many, from Sierra Leone to the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been repeatedly ravished over decades because of the wealth under their soil. And the reversal of this rule provides Collier’s central question: how are we to redirect the whole sorry story of mankind’s inequitable and short-sighted plundering of the planet’s resources?

Policymakers in development love Collier, because he offers routes out of ideological thickets.