Twitter

A cautious optimism for coal – by David Ebner and Brenda Bouw (Globe and Mail – January 4, 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.

RIDLEY ISLAND, B.C. AND VANCOUVER – The sky is a hard grey and the small mountains of coal piled a dozen metres high are thick black. From this outpost in northwestern British Columbia, about 700 kilometres from Vancouver, coal trundles on conveyors from train cars to the piles, and then onward to docked ships destined for steel mills in China, Japan, and South Korea.

New equipment – huge rings of steel – lays nearby. The gear will increase the capacity of Ridley Terminals Inc. to unload coal from trains, one step in a four-year, multimillion-dollar effort to double exports to 24-million tonnes a year, and handle new and increased production from coal mines in British Columbia, Alberta and the United States.

It is the second time Canada has bet big on higher coal exports to steel makers in Asia. Last time, the bet on Japan failed badly when the forecasted prolonged boom didn’t last. Today, the same belief, and certainty, has been attached to China, the world’s largest steel-producing nation.

Read more

Of Beijing, bitumen and Ottawa’s foreign-takeover review – (Globe and Mail Editorial – January 4, 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 acquisition by the state-controlled PetroChina Co. Ltd.’s of 100 per cent of the MacKay River oil-sands project is a vivid reminder that the federal government’s review of Investment Canada’s foreign-takeover criteria has not yet been issued – more than a year after the messy episode in which BHP Billiton was not allowed to proceed with its bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.

In fact, Tony Clement, who was then the minister of industry, approved this same PetroChina acquisition two years ago – because the transaction already included an option to turn a 60-per-cent interest into sole ownership, and it was Athabasca Oil Sands Corp., not PetroChina, that exercised its option – to sell, that is.

The government has sent mixed signals over the years. In 2007, it introduced new rules for state-controlled foreign companies so that they would do business on commercial principles, rather than as agents of their home country’s policies. And in the 2008 election, the Conservatives said they would not permit export of bitumen from the oil sands for processing elsewhere – which might be justifiable on commercial grounds. On the other hand, the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, which the government favours, would facilitate the export of that same bitumen to China.

Read more

Chinese take helm of MacKay River oil sands project – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 4, 2012)

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

The friendly “divorce” announced Tuesday between PetroChina and Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. puts a Chinese company in charge of a Canadian oil sands project for the first time. Is it ready?

Yes, says Zhiming Li, president and CEO of Dover Operating Corp., the company that will operate the asset on behalf of a PetroChina subsidiary, Cretaceous Oilsands Holdings Ltd.

In an interview, Mr. Li said Dover’s strategy is to establish itself as a Canadian company staffed predominantly by Canadians. “Some 90% of the employees are Canadian experts,” he said. “These people are well experienced with lots of knowledge in developing SAGD projects. We will use local talent to do the project execution. We expect no problem.”

With a staff of 90, Dover plans to add 50 to 60 people this year as it moves ahead with its first project in Alberta, MacKay River. Its strategy is to ramp up to 150,000 barrels a day in four phases. The first phase, 35,000 barrels a day, is scheduled for startup in late 2014.

Read more

Nickel on a rollercoaster – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 3, 2012)

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

The European economic malaise and competition from upstart nickel pig iron producers will likely combine to keep the price of nickel fluctuating in 2012, says a metals analyst.

Price volatility is bound to continue next year, says Montreal-based Terry Ortslan of TSO & Associates. From a high of $16.91 a pound in 2007 on the London Metals Exchange to a low of $6.65 a pound in 2009, nickel averaged about $12.25 a pound in 2011, said Ortslan.

“Recently, the prices are struggling at $8 a pound,” Orstlan said last week, after returning from a business trip to China, where nickel continues to be in high demand.

Ortslan says $7 a pound would be a “low target” for 2012, although he would not rule out that possibility because of Europe’s economic woes and China’s ongoing production from non-traditional sources.

Read more

Vale hatches a plan [worker shortages] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 3, 2012)

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

Vale Ltd. is devising strategies to deal with one of its greatest challenges — the looming shortage of skilled tradespeople, and production and maintenance workers for its Canadian operations.

The Brazil-based miner has launched a country-wide advertising campaign to convince Canadians they can live the good life in Sudbury, rather than having to fly in and out of mining or oil sands operations.

Vale expects to hire at least 300 full-time people in 2012, mostly engineers and skilled tradespeople. But it will be looking for miners as well. A recent call for 60 production and maintenance workers netted 800 resumes, said Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson.

Read more

Reality jostles with hope in advance of natives’ meeting with Harper – by Bruce Campion-Smith (Toronto Star – January 02, 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.

OTTAWA—A northern Ontario aboriginal community in crisis, a high-level summit to tackle chronic problems facing Canada’s First Nations people — and hopes that those problems may finally be solved.

That could be the storyline going into the Jan. 24 meeting between the federal government and Canada’s First Nations leaders.

But that was the backdrop in late 2005, when then-prime minister Paul Martin, premiers and the leaders of five native groups huddled to hammer out the Kelowna Accord, an agreement to invest $5 billion in priorities facing aboriginal communities.

Within a year, that deal was dead, killed by the newly elected Conservative government.

Read more

After Attawapiskat, what? – by Jim Foulds (Toronto Star – December 29, 2011)

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.

Jim Foulds is a freelance writer in Thunder Bay. He was the MPP for Port Arthur from 1971 to 1987.

When Canadians first saw the news about Attawapiskat they knew that no matter who is at fault, nobody in Canada should be using a plastic bucket for a toilet and have to dump it outside on a regular basis. Nobody should be calling a shack with mould on the walls home. And nobody in Ontario should be paying $23.50 for six apples and four small bottles of juice.

With little evidence, Prime Minister Stephen Harper charged that the funds that the federal government had transferred to the reserve over several years had been mismanaged. With no consultation he put the band under third party management.

(Earlier this year several flooded towns along the Assiniboine River called for provincial and federal help. Think how the municipalities would have reacted if, immediately after asking for aid, they had been placed under third party management.)

The Harper message to Attawapiskat was clear. Blame the victims; discredit the messenger; and sow doubt in the minds of Canadians.

Read more

Will Quebec’s Plan Nord boost its cachet as a jurisdiction of choice? – by Alisha Hiyate (Mining Markets – December 2011)

http://www.miningmarkets.ca/

It’s probably safe to say that no one is happier about Plan Nord — Quebec’s 25-year plan to stimulate investment in the province’s vast northern reaches — than André Gaumond.

The founder, president and CEO of project generator Virginia Mines (VGQ-T) has been preaching the gospel of northern Quebec’s mineral potential for more than a decade, well before the provincial government unveiled its official Plan Nord policy this May.

“We’ve been selling or promoting the ‘Plan Nord’ for 15 years, travelling everywhere, talking with investors and the investment community and telling them that this. . . area has a huge potential,” Gaumond says. “We will find many mines, many deposits there: It is the future of the mining industry in Canada. This is what we’ve been telling people for years and years.”

Under Plan Nord, the Quebec government will spend $2.1 billion over the next five years to make Quebec north of the 49th parallel — an area that accounts for 72% of the province’s landmass — more accessible for exploration and development.

Read more

Mining Boom in Quebec: Alain-Jean Beauregard – by Brian Sylvester (The Gold Report – December 23, 2011)

http://www.theaureport.com/

While many jurisdictions are working hard to prevent mining or mineral exploration, the province of Quebec is encouraging it. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Alain-Jean Beauregard, founder of Geologica Inc., a geological consulting firm based in Val-d’Or, talks about the shining future of gold mining in Quebec.

The Gold Report: The province of Quebec where Geologica is based offers some of the best infrastructure and mineral exploration incentives of any state or province in North America. Why has Quebec embraced mining when so many other jurisdictions are working hard to prevent mining or mineral exploration at all?

Alain-Jean Beauregard: Like forestry, mining has traditionally been a region developer in the province of Quebec. Native land issues have already been settled for large parts of the province. Mining is an important job creator—one of the most important in the province. It’s good income for the province because of revenues from taxes. Quebec is happy to have mining companies in the province.

Read more

The top [investment] mining bloggers, newsletter writers and speakers: our list of who to follow for investment advice – by Michael Allan McCrae (Mining.com – January 2, 2012)

http://www.mining.com/ Mining is fueled by investors and the lure of the next lucky strike. Here are some of the investment writers we like to follow, subscriber-based newsletter writers, as well as bloggers, speakers and news publications. The list is a personal selection. Any such list is subjective depending upon the investment advice offered and the …

Read more

This teacher is on a mission to educate first nations – by Kate Hammer (Globe and Mail – January 3, 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.

Every Wednesday, after her day job teaching inmates of a Northern Ontario prison, Michelle Durant-Dudley climbed into her silver Subaru and drove 70 kilometres along a winding highway that was more dense with moose traffic than cars.

Waiting for her on a tiny reserve halfway between Lake Huron and James Bay was a group of mothers, fathers, grandparents, pregnant teens and residential school survivors who shared a piece of unfinished business: their high-school diplomas.

Ms. Durant-Dudley started those Wednesday drives in 2009. Since then, thanks to her efforts and the opening of a nearby mine, residents of Wahgoshig First Nation have been breaking out of the cycle of poverty and poor education that blights many aboriginal communities.

Close to $3-billion began streaming into the area around Wahgoshig in 2010, with the construction of a gold mine and a cluster of dams along the lower Mattagami River opening up hundreds jobs, some of which paid $29 an hour. But for many locals, the requirement of a Grade 12 education put those jobs out of reach.

Read more

Rio Tinto, Caterpillar lock out more than 1,000 workers – by Christine Dobby (National Post – January 3, 2012)

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

The year began with lockouts for about 1,200 workers at two companies in Ontario and Quebec, as contract negotiations broke down in the waning days of 2011.

Caterpillar Inc. subsidiary Electro-Motive Canada locked out about 420 production workers at its London, Ont. facility on Sunday, the same day as Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. said it initiated a lockout of about 750 employees at its smelter in Alma, Que. Collective agreements in both cases expired on Dec. 31.

In the Electro-Motive case, the Canadian Auto Workers Local 27, the union representing the workers who make locomotives at the plant, had been negotiating a new contract with the company since November, hoping to replace a six- month extension with a new collective agreement.

Read more

Bill 14 will change [Quebec] mining sector for worse – by Jean-Francois Minardi, Troy Media (Montreal Gazette – September 20, 2011)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

Giving power to municipalities will make it harder to invest in new jobs

Jean-François Minardi is associate director of the Global Natural Resource Policy Centre with the Fraser Institute.

Until recently, Quebec was seen by mining executives around the world as having the best policy environment for investment, mainly thanks to a predictable regulatory environment, the absence of territorial claims in northern Quebec, high quality geo-scientific data easily accessible to miners, good infrastructure, a skilled workforce, and an attractive mining-tax system.

But with the introduction May 12 of Bill 14, to amend Quebec’s Mining Act, the province is now poised to introduce a high level of uncertainty that may scare investors away and seriously damage the policy attractiveness of Quebec to mining investment.

Bill 14 gives additional power to municipalities to control mining activities on their territory, something municipalities clamoured for during the heated debates over regulating the shale gas industry.

Read more

Sherritt CEO [Ian Delaney] reflects on 40 years in the capitalism game – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – January 1, 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 do understand it’s a lottery,” says the fired executive. “You know the whole damn thing’s a lottery.” The fired executive is talking about life, that damn thing, that single ticket you’re given. Punched once, you’re done. Adios.

So the executive, who enjoyed the benefits that come along with a multimillion-dollar salary and a chief executive officer’s title, up and fired himself four weeks ago, an act that has put him in the mood to reflect on the past 40 years playing the capitalism game.

It’s a good year for reflection.

The year the eurozone went to hell in a handbasket. The year of the Occupy movement. The year of economic foreboding. There’s 1 per cent. There’s 99 per cent. There’s one-tenth of 1 per cent. Like this guy. So.

Ian Delaney often reaches for small words and sprinkles them over the boardroom table as if they were full sentences.

Read more

Year in Review: [B.C.] Resource sector booms, but concerns linger – by Derrick Penner (Vancouver Sun – December 31, 2011)

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

Call 2011 a tale of two economies, which proved a boon to British Columbia on one hand, but still prompted wary concern on the other. Asia, particularly China, fairly rocketed forward in the post-recession recovery, carrying B.C.’s resource industries with it. Coal miners cashed in on record high prices, lumber producers continued to make record sales to China and resource developers rushed to push projects along, from new mines to pipelines and natural gas liquefaction plants.

B.C.’s real estate markets carried on from 2010’s strong rebound thanks in large part to an influx of investment from Asian investors and immigrants that helped push home prices in select markets up to levels that confounded observers and skewed average prices nationally. Yet provincial unemployment, while trending down, remained uncomfortably high and concerns remained about exposure to the markets that struggled.

The United States remained in the doldrums, Europe struggled through a sovereign debt crisis and the resulting fears of both regions sliding back into recession side-swiped expectations for stronger global growth.

Read more