Republic of Mining

Capital spending and the proposed mining-related investment that lies ahead – by Paul Stothart (CIM Magazine – December, 2011)

January 16, 2012

Founded in 1898, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) is a technical society of professionals in the Canadian minerals, metals, materials and energy industries.

Paul Stothart is vice-president, economic affairs, at the Mining Association of Canada. He is responsible for advancing the industry’s interests regarding federal tax, trade, investment, transport and energy issues.

The single most important contribution that companies can make to Canada is in the form of capital expenditure. In the mining sphere, capital spending pays for new mine construction and increases to existing mine capacity. It generates process and technology improvements and the modernization and expansion of mills, smelters and refineries.

It leads to the implementation of new product lines and improved energy efficiency and environmental performance. When companies commit to a particular capital spending program, the direct result is new jobs, contracts and production, as well as more modern and productive facilities.

Capital spending plans are driven by an array of variables, including: projected future global market demand and mineral price trends; degree of confidence in existing plant capacity; level of comfort with host government rules and regulations; and the state of a company’s existing financing capabilities.

A Mining Law Whose Time Has Passed – by Robert M. Hughes and Carol Woody (New York Times – January 11, 2012)

January 16, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/

Op-Ed Contributors Robert M. Hughes and Carol Ann Woody are fisheries scientists based in Corvallis, Ore., and Anchorage, respectively.

IN 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a mining law to spur the development of the West by giving hard-rock mining precedence over other uses of federal land. But the law has long since outlived its purpose, and its environmental consequences have been severe.

Mining claims for copper, gold, uranium and other minerals cover millions of those acres, and the law, now 140 years old, makes it nearly impossible to block extraction, no matter how serious the potential consequences. Soaring metal prices are now driving new mine proposals across the West.

Oregon’s Chetco River is one example. The river’s gin-clear waters teem with wild trout and salmon, including giant Chinook salmon tipping scales at more than 60 pounds. In 1988, Congress designated the Chetco a national wild and scenic river “to be protected for the benefit of present and future generations.”

But the river is now threatened by proposals to mine gold along almost half of its approximately 55-mile length. Suction dredges would vacuum up the river bottom searching for gold, muddying water and disrupting clean gravel that salmon need to spawn.

In New Control Over Diamonds, Smugglers Pay in Mozambique – by John Eligon (New York Times – January 6, 2012)

January 16, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/

ESPUNGABERA, Mozambique — The last time Mike Phiri was on his hands and knees, clawing through the rough rock of the diamond fields just across the border in Zimbabwe, he dared a soldier to shoot him.

Mr. Phiri and his fellow diamond smugglers had gotten into an argument with the soldier because, for the second consecutive night, he had directed them to a patch of the rich fields where there were no diamonds to be mined. And so they refused to pay him a bribe for allowing them onto the fields, in an area known as Marange. The soldier threatened force.

“If you want to shoot, shoot,” Mr. Phiri recalled barking at the soldier. “But I’m not paying.”

Mr. Phiri and his comrades walked away unharmed, but in more than three months he has not dared return to the fields, an acknowledgment of the increasing dangers for the black-market miners who once dominated an area that may be one of the world’s most lucrative diamond troves.

[Plan Nord] Quebec plan may be blueprint for Northwest – Special to The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal (January 16, 2012)

January 16, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Northwestern Ontario is hoping to gain some perspective and insight from Quebec when it comes to economic development in Northern regions.

Members of National Public Relations are to be in Thunder Bay on Wednesday to provide information on Plan Nord, one of the largest economic, environmental and social projects in Canada.

Plan Nord, designed for Northern Quebec, will be carried out for the next 25 years. It is estimated that it will generate more than $80 billion in investments and create more than 20,000 jobs a year.

Members of the Northwestern Ontario Joint Task Force are eager to learn more about Plan Nord, and see how it might impact Northwestern Ontario and if similar strategies can be applied in the region.

“Given the $80-billion program, is it going to be more attractive for investment than Northwestern Ontario,” task force chairman Iain Angus, said Sunday.

Why is Ontario’s Government Panicking About the Deficit? – by Livio Di Matteo (January 8, 2012)

January 16, 2012

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

The Ontario government’s final approach to deficit reduction has begun with selected leaks of economist Don Drummond’s “first draft” of his review via media interviews designed to dramatically present deficit reduction. A column by Martin Regg Cohn of the Toronto Star titled “Brace for a firestorm across Ontario” outlines cuts as high as 30 percent for some Ontario ministries with health and education being spared “somewhat”.

Yet, the same column has Don Drummond using the language of the Wall Street protestors by talking about how just one percent of the population accounts for half of hospital spending and one third of total health expenditures. Martin Regg Cohn’s most recent column on Don Drummond’s prescriptions titled “The grim reaper punctures Ontario’s fiscal fantasies” points out how unrealistic balancing the budget by 2017-18 was and shares the blame on fiscal forecasting by mentioning that the opposition parties embraced the same timetable during the election.

What is going on here? All of this advance work by the Ontario government reduces what should be a serious policy problem requiring a firm and measured approach to some kind of fiscal porn reality show.

MINERS AT WORK, A HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA’S GOLD RUSHES – by B. Griffin (Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, B.C.)

January 14, 2012

ABSTRACT

The search for gold is the single most dramatic event of British Columbia’s early history. Although European settlement originally was founded on furs, it was the gold rushes of 1858 through the 1860s that changed the direction of development in this province for considerable time. These gold rushes not only brought a sharp increase in population and wealth but also initiated development of an early infrastructure of roads and services and directly influenced the shape of British Columbia’s politics.

It has been estimated that between 1860 and 1880 about $35 000 000 worth of gold was extracted from the 130 square kilometres (50 square miles) surrounding Barkerville. Although the later gold rushes were smaller, they also played an important role in our history.

The rush to British Columbia was only one of a series of sudden shifts in population and wealth that resulted from the search for placer gold. California and Australia both attracted hordes of miners in search of riches. This paper places the British Columbia gold rush in a world context; it drew less world attention and was smaller than either the Californian or Australian rushes.

NEWS RELEASE: AME BC Salutes Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Inductees

January 14, 2012

AME BC represents 4,000 thousand individual and 360 corporate members and is the predominant voice of mineral exploration and mine development in British Columbia.

Vancouver, B.C. — January 13, 2012 — The Association for Mineral Exploration BC (AME BC) salutes Robert Hunter (1927-2007) and Robert Dickinson, who were jointly inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame on January 12 in recognition of their outstanding lifetime achievements to the Canadian minerals industry.

Hunter and Dickinson are founders of Hunter Dickinson Inc. Today, because of the vision and leadership of Mr. Hunter and Mr. Dickinson, HDI is a diversified, global mining group with more than 25 years of mineral development success. From its head office in Vancouver, B.C., HDI applies its unique strengths and capabilities to acquire, develop, operate and monetize mineral properties that provide consistently superior returns to shareholders.

HDI is characterized by the drive and commitment of its founders, senior management and multi-disciplinary team. It is known for its technical excellence, experience and reliability. And it is passionate about bringing responsible mineral development to life in creative ways for the benefit of shareholders, partners and communities.

Think tank bullish on Sudbury in 2012 – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 14, 2012)

January 15, 2012January 14, 2012

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

There is yet another indication Sudbury’s economy will grow in the coming year. The Conference Board of Canada is predicting the Nickel City’s gross domestic product will increase 2% in 2012 because of what it calls “moderate growth” in the mining and construction sectors.

That forecast is included in the board’s Metropolitan Outlook- Winter 2012, which was released this week. The report offers an annual analysis of 27 Canadian census metropolitan areas.

Jean-Charles Cachon, an economist and professor of strategy in Laurentian University’s Faculty of Management, said GDP growth of 2% is significant, given the ups and downs Sudbury has experienced over the years. Add 2% to the value of “everything that’s being produced, everything that’s being done” in Sudbury, said Cachon.

Towns vie to be the final resting spot for Canada’s nuclear garbage – by Anna Mehler Paperny (Globe and Mail – January 14, 2014)

January 14, 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.

As roadside attractions go, “Home of Canada’s Nuclear Waste Burial Ground” isn’t one you’d normally put on a souvenir keychain.

But strange as the title sounds, nine Canadian communities are in the running to claim it – along with the opportunity to host the country’s spent uranium in underground bunkers for the rest of time.

The towns, scattered across Saskatchewan and Ontario, are responding to a call for volunteers from an organization the federal government has charged with finding a permanent resting place for Canada’s radioactive detritus. They’re a combination of native reserves, old mining and lumber towns and cottage enclaves. Many have spent the past decade watching their populations shrink and economies crater, and are desperate for an economic boost – even if it comes with an eternity’s worth of radioactive waste.

Keystone, Northern Gateway pipelines raise questions that need answers before approval – by David Olive (January 14, 2012)

January 14, 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.

In hearings that began this week on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to carry tar-sands oil from Athabasca to the B.C. coast, we have a rare opportunity to insist on the world’s most carefully planned energy megaprojects ever.

In an ideal world, we would embrace conservation and greatly accelerated development of alternative sources of energy to make unnecessary the construction of Gateway and the even longer Keystone XL pipeline to take Athabasca crude the entire length of the U.S. to refineries on the Texas coast.

But that won’t happen, not for decades if ever. Canadians and Americans will ultimately consent to these two projects with their combined 4,000 km of three-foot-diameter pipe at a total estimated cost of $13.6 billion. Energy security will trump the many risks.

What the Gateway commission could learn from an oil sands pioneer [Joseph Burr Tyrrell] – by Ian Brown (Globe and Mail – January 14, 2012)

January 14, 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.

I spent a morning this week reading about the Northern Gateway pipeline, which, if it is approved by the National Energy Board, will carry oil-sands bitumen from Alberta to Kitimat on the coast of British Columbia and thence via supertanker to the ever-open crankcase of China.

Afterward, I stopped by the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto, as I do from time to time, though I admit a rare-book library may seem like an old-fashioned place to hang out, obsessed as the world is these days with technology and response rates and “going forward,” as managers like to say.

The funny thing was this: When I told Anne Dondertman, the acting director of the Fisher library, that I had been reading about the new proposed pipeline, she immediately started talking about a set of maps that were made 130 years ago by Joseph Burr Tyrrell, a Canadian geologist/paleontologist/explorer/historian/apple farmer/mining executive who was one of the first scientists to describe what we now call the Alberta tar sands.

Thou must not question Big Environment – by Rex Murphy (National Post – January 14, 2012)

January 14, 2012

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

Rex Murphy offers commentary weekly on CBC TV’s The National and is host of CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup.

The environmental movement has enjoyed smooth, mostly untroubled progress since its beginnings in the 1960s, when its activists romped around the northern sea floes off the coast of Labrador. The enviros migrated with almost the same punctuality as the seals:

Every spring, you could treat yourself to the sight of them bobbing up and down on the ice-pans, high-bosomed starlets stroking the pelts of large-eyed newsmen and seals alike, whole platoons of photographers aiming for the perfect cute shot, and a kite tail of various enthusiasts and camp followers to give a sense of noise and drama. Labrador is more or less quiet these days: Those Who Care have decamped to the oil sands and other pastures.

Robert Redford, when he can tear himself away from the general dorkiness of the Sundance Festival, is big on saving the planet these days. James Cameron can generally be found rustling the vines somewhere in the Amazon rain forest. Leonardo DiCaprio is always good for a Vanity Fair cover as long as its backlit and there’s a polar bear somewhere.

[Timmins] Mine shops aid war effort – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – January 14, 2012)

January 14, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper

Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.

Second World War impacted everyday life in the Porcupine Camp during 1942

A few local news briefs from 1942, courtesy of the Porcupine Advance newspaper. Jan. 25 was the date that was finally set for the official opening of the brand new United Church in Timmins. Located at the corner of Mountjoy Street and First Avenue, only the basement had been built at the time. Construction of the rest of the church was to move ahead in the spring with the help of both regular and volunteer workers.

Rev. J.C. Cochrane, D.D., superintendent of northern missions was secured as the guest speaker. A newly formed choir under the auspices of Mr. Wallace Young was prepared to sing special anthems and other musical numbers during the dedication service.

At that time, the charter roll of membership was to be presented as the basis of the organization, and the keys were to be turned over to the new church minister.

Friggin’ Freezin’ – by Bill Braden (Canadian Mining Journal – January, 2012)

January 13, 2012

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

Bill Braden is the Northern Correspondent for the Canadian Mining Journal

Renowned winter road readies for really big traffic

Just about every winter brings a new “first” of some kind to the NWT’s storied Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, the frozen lifeline to three major mines now harvesting approximately 18 per cent (by value) of the world’s gem-quality diamonds.

Now in its 32nd year, the world’s longest-ever ice road will see what could be its longest-ever shipments: the 35-m long blades for a quartet of giant wind turbines to be installed at the Diavik Mine, owned by Rio Tinto and Harry Winston Diamonds Inc.

“They’re not heavy, but they’re big and long and awkward and very sensitive,” said Ron Near, Director of Winter Road Operations, in a recent News/North article. “There’s huge logistics involved in ensuring they get to the mine in a safe way.”

Queenston rejuvenating gold-rich Kirkland Lake Mining Camp-Scotia Capital – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – January 05, 2012)

January 13, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com

Citing its assembled land package in the Kirkland Lake Gold Camp, as well as the company’s attraction as an acquisition target, Scotia Capital has initiated coverage on Queenston Mining.

RENO – Scotia Capital Wednesday initiated coverage of Queenston Mining (TSX: QMI) suggesting its Kirkland Lake gold project is an attractive acquisition target to both JV partner, Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KGI) and Kirkland’s majority shareholder Agnico-Eagle Mines.

“The company holds the largest assembled land package in the prolific Kirkland Lake Gold Camp in Ontario, which has produced over 40 Moz of gold, and two projects in Quebec, located adjacent to Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited’s…Lapa deposit,” said Scotia Capital analysts Ovais Habib and Mike Hocking.

Located in Ontario along the border with Quebec, the Kirkland Lake Gold Camp is believed to host nine greater than one-million-ounce gold deposits.