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The Far North Act: A counterfactual – by Livio Di Matteo (Thunder Bay Chroncile-Journal – November 12, 2011)

Visit his Northern Economist Blog at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/.

One of the analytical tools used in economic history to assess the impact of an economic event is the counterfactual. How different might the world be if an event had not occurred, and instead, an alternate economic reality occurred? The comparison is between the world today and the world as it might be.

I ask this question in the context of the Far North Act because of its potential impact on the future economic development of Ontario’s North and particularly the economic opportunities for the First Nations in the Far North.

While put forward as a process for community-based land use planning and development, the Far North Act is also setting aside from development an interconnected area of conservation lands of at least 225,000 square kilometres — an area that is about 20 per cent of the landmass of Ontario. To put it into context, it is an area about twice the size of southern Ontario — which represents only about 10 per cent of Ontario’s land mass.

The Far North is vast and potentially rich in economic resources. Its exploitation could serve as a source of economic development for a region that has been chronically depressed over the last few decades. While one might argue that the North is so vast that 20 per cent of its land is not really a significant amount, the fact is we do not know if the most valuable or least valuable parts of the region in terms of resource potential will be sequestered.

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Quadra FNX plans Podolsky Mine closure – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star/Reuters – November 11, 2011)

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

Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. announced Thursday it will wind down its Podolsky Mine operations in Sudbury by the end of 2012 and pay more attention to its flagship operations, including its Morrison deposit near Levack.

The Vancouver-based miner also said it would close its Carlota mine in Arizona. President and CEO Paul Blythe said the company has decided to focus on its more promising projects.

“We believe that the best way to achieve this is by optimizing the opportunities at our two flagship operations, Robinson (in Arizona) and Morrison (in Sudbury), which together contribute over 85% of our operating income, while continuing to deliver on our significant growth pipeline,” Blythe said in a statement.

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[Sudbury] City still boasts ‘best ore body in the world’ [Ned Goodman] – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – November 11, 2011)

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

One thing in his notes was about a speech Republic of Mining publisher Stan
Sudol made in Sudbury this week as part of the 2011 Ontario Exploration &
Geoscience Symposium. “It is estimated that, over the next 25 years, we will
need to dig out of the ground as many minerals as consumed since the
beginning of man,” Sudol said.

Ned Goodman is seen by many as a rock star in the investing world. And on Thursday, he brought his nearly 50 years of investment know-how to Laurentian University.

He was at the university to speak as part of the Xstrata Nickel Memorial Lecture Series. Goodman is the president and CEO of Dundee Corporation, CEO of Ned Goodman Investment Counsel Inc. and chairman of Dundee Capital Markets Ltd. and Du ndeeWealth Inc. He is the chancellor of Brock University and an adjunct professor at Concordia University.

Goodman is also a geologist, and used to work at Noranda. “(I worked for Noranda) at a time when the world went into a distinct recessionary period for the resource industry. So I went back to school, and I got a Master of Business Administration. I became an investment counsellor and I concentrated on the resource side, because of my geological background.

“I’m one of the few people that has matched the two pieces together. I found that I was happier knowing where the money was coming from that was being spent to find mines and oil and gas reserves.”

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Quebec Le Plan Nord Compared to Ontario – by Livio Di Matteo (November 10, 2011)

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/

On my recent trip to Montreal, I picked up the November 2nd issue of La Presse and was amazed to find a twelve page insert dealing with stories and advertising on Quebec’s Plan Nord.  To put it in perspective, it would be like the Toronto Star deciding to devote a block of pages to the Northern Ontario Growth Plan.  Needless to say, the difference between the level of engagement in Quebec with its northern development compared with Ontario is astounding. 

When push comes to shove, Le Plan Nord is being sold as an investment frontier with implications for Quebec’s economic future.  The Northern Growth Plan in Ontario is really something that has only caught the attention of those of us in northern Ontario and even we don’t really know what it means because nothing has been fleshed out.

Le Plan Nord is looking at 33 billion dollars in investment in Quebec’s North – the area north of the 49th parallel – over the next 25 years to develop hydroelectric and mining resources. 

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[Mining] Sector could save province: analyst [Stan Sudol] – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – November 10, 2011)

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

Northern Ontario’s untapped natural resources could stop the province’s economic decline and turn Ontario again into a Canadian economic powerhouse, a prominent mining analyst and commentator says.

But Stan Sudol also warned Ontario’s prospectors meeting in Sudbury that initiatives such as the Far North Act threaten to choke off develop-m e nt to a huge swath of resource-rich Northern Ontario.

“If there was ever a piece of legislation that symbolized the cultural disconnect between Ontario’s North and south, the Far North Act would surely be it,” Sudol said. “Only the various environmental movements supported this act.”

Sudol made the comments during a keynote address at the Ontario Prospectors Association’s 2011 Ontario Exploration & Geoscience Symposium held here Tuesday and Wednesday.

He said the Far North Act would cut out half of Northern Ontario from resource development — an area that “is about twice as large as southern Ontario.”

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Lucky Sudbury, Far North Act and Mining Industry Terrible Image Speech – by Stan Sudol (November 8, 2011)

Stan Sudol gave the keynote address at the Ontario Prospectors Association’s 2011 Ontario Exploration & Geoscience Symposium – Sudbury, Ontario – November 8, 2011

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant and mining columnist. www.republicofmining.com stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

Check Against Delivery

Sudbury: The luckiest city in Canada

It’s always great to get back to my hometown.

Way back in 1977, I worked for Inco at their Clarabell Mill complex for a year before going to college. And in 1980, I was a summer student replacement worker at their Frood-Stobie mine.

So I will always be a “Sudbury boy” regardless of where I live.

Without a doubt, Sudbury is this country’s epicenter of mining.

In fact, the Sudbury Basin is the richest mineral district in North America and among the top three hardrock mining regions in the world.

Only South Africa’s Witwatersrand gold region, and their legendary Bushveld platinum complex, can match the concentration and expertise of underground mining here.

We are the luckiest city Canada.

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Film looks at mining dispute – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – November 8, 2011)

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

Robert Monderie and Richard Desjardins claim they are digging up the truth about the mining industry in their new documentary, Trou Story.

They’re also attracting the wrath of the mining industry and governments, who say Trou Story isn’t quite telling the truth.

“They say that what we are talking about is old stuff, that reality has changed a lot and that industry has been performing a lot better socially and environmentally, and the technology is less dangerous,” Desjardins, who directed the documentary with Monderie, said in a phone inter view Monday.

“We agree with that. But they assume that everything has changed, and we don’t think so. The … basic law is still the same. Regions don’t have more royalties. Mines are bigger, so that means that the waste is bigger, too. That waste will be there for centuries, and the cost to (clean that up) is not included in the price of the royalties.”

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Quebec needs to move beyond simply smelting aluminum – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – November 8, 2011)

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.

MONTREAL – For decades, Quebec’s foreign-owned aluminum sector has been a source of pride in a province that can use all the high-powered manufacturing might it can get.

Boosted by financial backing from the government and cheap hydroelectric rates, the sector has played a starring role in the province’s economic development.

But the three major players in North America’s most aluminum-intensive region – the third largest in the world after China and Russia – struggle to make Quebec a centre of aluminum-product innovation.

Despite years of effort by the industry to update, including Alcoa’s confirmation of plans on Monday for a $2.1-billion expansion and modernization program at three Quebec facilities, the province remains for the most part a simple exporter of primary aluminum to the four corners of the world.

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Controversial Prosperity mine proposal gets second chance – by Canadian Press (Globe and Mail – November 7, 2011)

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.

VANCOUVER— The Canadian Press – A controversial proposal for a massive copper and gold mine in British Columbia will get another chance to become reality after Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency agreed to a second review of the mine.

Taseko Mine’s original proposal failed the federal government’s first environment review, but the company has launched what it’s calling its New Prosperity proposal.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent instructed the agency to set up a process that will review the environmental concerns raised in the past assessment and consider the mining company’s changes.

With higher, longer-term prices for copper and gold, Taseko said it would spend an extra $300-million on the project to address the main concerns of the last environmental rejection, including the preservation of Fish Lake.

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The Ring of Fire is coming under fire in Ottawa today – by James Murray (Netnewsledger.com – November 7, 2011)

http://netnewsledger.com/

OTTAWA – The Ring of Fire is coming under fire today in Ottawa, as the federal and provincial governments are being told that greater environmental assessments must be done before the project can move forward. Ecojustice and CPAWS Wildlands League are calling on Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent and Ontario’s Minister of the Environment Jim Bradley to appoint an independent joint review panel to assess a proposed mega-mine for chromite in northern Ontario by the American-based Cliffs Resources Company.

As well, the Matawa Chiefs withdrew their support from Ring of Fire development on October 20, 2011 until the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency implements a negotiated Joint Review Panel Environmental Assessment instead of a Comprehensive Study EA Process. The Chiefs are launching a Judicial Review.

The move by the Matawa Chiefs has gained support as Regional and national leaders will stand in support of Matawa Chiefs:

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ECOJUSTICE/WILDLANDS LEAGUE NEWS RELEASE: Take time now to assess impacts of mega-mines in Northern Ontario, environmentalists tell federal and Ontario governments

Ecojustice is a national charitable organization dedicated to defending Canadians’ right to a healthy environment.

Wildlands League mission is to combine credible science, visionary solutions and bold communication to save, protect and enhance Ontario’s wilderness areas.

Nov 07, 2011

TORONTO – Today Ecojustice and CPAWS Wildlands League are calling on Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent and Ontario’s Minister of the Environment Jim Bradley to appoint an independent joint review panel to assess a proposed mega-mine for chromite in northern Ontario by the American-based Cliffs Resources Company.

The public interest groups are supporting the demand earlier this month by Matawa and Mushkegowuk First Nations that the federal Minister conduct a review panel.

The Cliffs project is the first proposed mine in this vast, intact area. The environmental groups are concerned that mining will cause massive permanent changes to sensitive ecosystems and local communities in Ontario’s Far North.

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For the Oppenheimers, diamonds are not forever – by Marius Bosch (Reuters.com – November 4, 2011)

http://www.reuters.com/

Substantial part of proceeds earmarked for Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 4 (Reuters) – For over 80 years, South Africa’s Oppenheimer family held sway over the global diamond trade, an era which came to an end of Friday with Anglo American’s buyout offer for De Beers.

The $5.1 billion the family will get for its 40 percent stake in the diamond giant could see a large chunk ploughed back into Africa for private equity investment or philantropic work in the world’s poorest continent.

The Oppenheimers have been involved at De Beers since 1927, when Ernst Oppenheimer, who founded Anglo American a decade earlier, took control of the group. The family’s fortune has been intertwined with South Africa’s history and economy ever since.

“At the end of the day this has been a very momentous decision for the family. We didn’t approach Anglo, Anglo approached us,” said James Teeger, managing director of family holding company E. Oppenheimer & Son.

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NEWS RELEASE: Diavik [diamond mine] begins wind farm construction

03 November 2011

After several years of studying renewable energy resources, Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., operator of the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories, is pleased to announce the start of construction of a wind farm at our mine site.

With investment from our joint venture partners, Rio Tinto and Harry Winston Diamond Corporation, approved earlier this year, and much planning completed, we have now advanced the Diavik wind farm to initial construction. Four 2.3 megawatt turbines will be constructed providing a capacity of 9.2 megawatts.

Diavik currently, relies on diesel fuel for all our energy needs. The wind farm will reduce our diesel use by approximately four million litres, about ten per cent of our total diesel consumption. Greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by approximately 12,000 tonnes, or six per cent of total emissions. By diversifying our energy mix at our mine we will offset some of the risks associated with reliance on diesel.

“The benefits of the initiative are numerous and will be realized for many years to come. 

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New Prosperity plan is environmentally sound – by Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO, Taseko Mines (Northern Miner – November 04, 2011)

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

I read the editorial submission of Chief Marilyn Baptiste, of the Xeni Gwet’in band of the Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG), on The Northern Miner’s website on Nov. 2.  It purported to list eight reasons why Taseko Mines’s resubmitted application to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) for the New Prosperity gold-copper project in B.C. will fail.

Ms. Baptiste’s latest comments are consistent with her wholesale rejection of any constructive dialogue around New Prosperity, which nevertheless holds tremendous value regionally, provincially and nationally.

The sentiments expressed in Ms. Baptiste’s editorial do not represent the views of the vast majority of people in Williams Lake and Cariboo communities.

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Eight reasons why Taseko’s New Prosperity will fail – by Chief Marilyn Baptiste (Northern Miner – November 2, 2011)

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

Marilyn Baptiste is the elected chief of the Xeni Gwet’in band of the Tsilhqot’in First Nation, whose territory largely lies to the west of the Fraser River and Williams Lake, B.C., where Taseko Mines’ New Prosperity copper-gold project is located. See www.xeni.ca for more.

Investors hoping to cash in on Taseko Mines’ second bid to develop the Prosperity copper-gold mine (“New Prosperity”) should think back a year. At that time, despite assurances from the company and its president that the original Prosperity mine proposal would be accepted, it was soundly rejected by the federal government and the company’s share price plunged.

With New Prosperity, once again there is a proposal before the federal government’s Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) and the company’s president is saying he is confident it will be approved. And once again the federal government will have no choice but to reject it.

Here are eight reasons why the New Prosperity bid will fail:

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