Republic of Mining

Asian group bids $1-billion for Grande Cache Coal – by Brenda Bouw (Globe and Mail – November 1, 2011)

November 4, 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.

A team of Asian buyers is paying $1-billion for Calgary’s Grande Cache Coal Corp, betting on steady long-term demand for coal used in steel making despite a recent pullback in production amid growing global economic gloom.

China’s Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Ltd. and Japan’s Marubeni Corp. said Monday they will pay $10 a share in cash for the metallurgical coal producer, a 70-per-cent premium to the miner’s Friday closing price of $5.87 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The bid comes just weeks after Grande Cache shares hit a 52-week low of $3.22, around the same time coal prices plummeted nearly 30 per cent to $240 (U.S.) per tonne on uncertainty over slower growth in China, the world’s largest steel maker.

Grande Cache’s stock has been trading below its industry rivals in part because of its higher-cost operations in west-central Alberta. Still, analysts say the bid values the company more in line with its peers.

An international view of crisis management of the Chile mine disaster – by Heather Yaxley (PR Conversations – October 14, 2010)

November 3, 2011

http://www.prconversations.com/

On the face of it, the handling of international media relations following the Chilean mining disaster has been a triumph. It appeared to strike the perfect balance between control and lightness of touch.

The open communications approach that was evident from initial reports of the collapse of the mine reflected the leadership style of the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera. Recently elected, engaging and able to undertake interviews in English, he was the perfect figurehead for global communications, particularly as hundreds of media descended on the country; outnumbering family members and rescuers in the aptly named Camp Hope.

Piñera not only had an international upbringing, education and career – but he is a former media owner. His experience with Chilevisión is evident in his mastery of the broadcast medium. The billionaire businessman’s well funded, successful presidential campaign involved considerable marketing and public relations competency.

[Kirkland Lake] Canada’s Mile of Gold regains its luster – by Euan Rocha (Reuters Canada – November 3, 2011)

November 3, 2011

http://ca.reuters.com/

KIRKLAND LAKE, Ontario (Reuters) – With a gleam in his eyes, Sidney Hamden recalls the glory days of Kirkland Lake, the little Canadian mining town in northern Ontario that was long ago dubbed “The Mile of Gold”.

Hamden, a spry 82-year-old, remembers his first big break in 1947 at the Lake Shore mine, then one of the deepest gold mines in the world, producing 8.5 million ounces between 1918 and 1965.

“We had seven mines. I personally don’t know of any other place that had seven major mines within a radius of two miles,” said Hamden. “If I’m not mistaken, in 1948 there were approximately 50 different places to buy groceries around town. We had 17 different hotels in the Kirkland Lake area alone.” But Kirkland Lake’s fortunes waned through the 1950s and 1960s, as costs rose and the price of gold stagnated.

A tale of two BC mining fiascos – by Rafe Mair (Rossland Telegraph – November 01, 2011)

November 3, 2011

http://rosslandtelegraph.com/

Rafe Mair was a B.C. MLA 1975 to 1981, Minister of Environment from late 1978 through 1979. Since 1981 he has been a radio talk show host, and is recognized as one of B.C.’s pre-eminent journalists.

There are two mining stories out of last week in Lotusland. For openers, let’s deal with “Prosperity” lake which, before the corporate flacks got involved, was called Fish Lake.

The short story is that this is a mine prospect held by Taseko Mines. While the Provincial government approved it, it was turned down by the feds who then gave the company time to put in a new proposal, which they did. With the speed of light the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency received the new application last February and hasn’t yet decided anything.

This delay brought a fire and brimstone editorial from the Fraser Institute’s house paper, the Vancouver Sun, which threw unsourced “facts” at us, including a promise of 71,000 jobs with 5,400 new residents for the nearby town of Williams Lake.

Family story provides literary gold [Kirkland Lake history] -by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – November 3, 2011)

November 3, 2011

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

A man takes his wife on a cruise around the world. A month later, she discovers his mistress on board and gets revenge on her husband the best way she can think of — by beating him and giving him a black eye.

The man in question was Ernie Martin, a prospector who came to Canada from England hoping to strike it rich. Ernie, who was worth $13 million in 1936, is rarely mentioned in history books and his story has never been told. Until now.

Brian Martin, a London Free Press journalist and author, penned Ernie’s Gold: A Prospect Tale, a book about the o r’s prospector’s life and how he made his money. He was in Sudbury on Wednesday for two public events at the Mackenzie Street branch of the Greater Sudbury Public Library.

“Ernie’s Gold is a story about Ernie Martin, who is my great uncle, my grandfather’s brother.

Mapping out a united vision for [Ontario] Northerners – by North Bay Mayor Al McDonald (September 28, 2011)

November 2, 2011

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald made this speech to Greater Sudbury City Council, Sept. 28, about mapping out a united vision for Northerners:

Bon soir. Good evening.

Your Worship and Members of Council:

On behalf of the citizens of North Bay, it is my pleasure to bring greetings and, in the spirit of friendship, thank you for this opportunity to address you this evening. I would also like to thank you for hosting the Northern Ontario Business Awards last night. Your city was a welcoming host and your community was showcased in a positive light.

On a personal note, I would like to thank all of you for your time, energy, and commitment for your dedication to public service. It is never easy and it is always tougher on our families as we have to give up a lot of family time with the demands of the job. So, I would like to thank your family members as well. It is interesting that we as elected officials get more credit than we deserve at times but get much more blame as well. I have the greatest respect for those individuals successful or not, for putting their names on a ballot. Thank you for serving.

Here in Northern Ontario, we enjoy a quality of life unparalleled to other places in the world. We have parks, green spaces, wildlife, colleges and universities, festivals, arts, culture, theatre, safe communities, and focus on families.

[Northern Ontario history] Building Highway 11 – by Gregory Reynolds (Highgrader Magazine – Late Fall, 2011 issue)

November 2, 2011

This column was originally published in the Late Summer, 2011 issue of Highgrader Magazine which is committed to serve the interests of northerners by bringing the issues, concerns and culture of the north to the world through the writings and art of award-winning journalists as well as talented freelance artists, writers and photographers.

When northerners are not talking about the weather, they complain about the sorry state of many of the highways in Northern Ontario. They look with envy at the first-class highways and byways in the south and talk bitterly about Highway 17 being a death trap and think Highway 144 between Sudbury and Timmins should have a sign saying: “Drive at your own risk and only in daylight. Large trucks, moose and bears have the right of way.”

Still, the North does have a few highways that are no longer part way between cow paths and obstacle courses and residents do manage to get about.

It was not always so and the story of the Yonge Street extension that became today’s Highway 11 could be the history of any major traffic route in the North. While the money for highways came from the south, northerners built their own roads, prisoners, farmers and bush workers between seasons, the poor and those on the welfare rolls.

Mining watchdog agency called ‘bogus PR job’ – CBC Special Report by Wendy Mesley

November 2, 2011

This is a “must watch” special news cast. It makes the image of the mining sector look bad affecting both juniors and majors inside and outside Canada. – Stan Sudol

For an eleven minute special news report by CBC report Wendy Mesley, go to the CBC website: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/10/31/mining-watchdog-agency.html

A mining watchdog agency that was supposed to hold Canadian companies accountable for their actions overseas has done little to protect communities abroad, critics say.

In October 2009, the federal government appointed a corporate social responsibility counsellor to probe complaints about Canadian companies committing abuses in developing countries.

The Toronto-based office, however, has only received two complaints in the past two years — one of which was recently dropped because the mining corporation chose not to undergo the voluntary investigation.

[Quebec] Filmmaker targets mining industry – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – November 2, 2011)

April 5, 2015November 2, 2011

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

MONTREAL — When documentary filmmakers target the corporate world, the results can be nasty but fleeting.

Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me forced McDonald’s Corp. to respond to the portrayal of its food as a silent killer. But it did little harm to the fast-food giant’s popularity and share price, which has more than tripled since the day the film was released in 2004.

In Roger & Me, Michael Moore decried General Motors Corp.’s closure of several auto plants in his native Flint, Mich. The movie awakened for many Americans the debate over globalization and protecting local employment.

As for the bespectacled Quebec singer and poet Richard Desjardins, he’s become a bit of a folk hero for shaking up corporate Quebec.

His 1999 shock documentary L’Erreur Boréale (English title: Forest Alert) fuelled a public outcry against deforestation. He forced Toronto-based Norbord Industries Inc. to suspend logging in the woodland west of his hometown of Rouyn-Noranda. No matter that his film was widely denounced by the forestry industry as manipulative and inaccurate. L’Actualité magazine named him Man of the Year that year.

The Business Case For [Aboriginal]Respect: [Australia’s] Pluton Resources – by David Hicks (The Global Commodities Report – October, 2011)

November 2, 2011

Published by New Vanguard Media, The Global Commodities Report is a digital magazine about the benefits of resource business.

With an innovative zero-impact exploration program and a partnership with the indigenous Mayala People, Australia’s Pluton Resources landed both a prestigious Golden Gecko environmental award and an iron ore mining agreement where others had failed: on an uninhabited, culturally significant, island off the northwest Australian coast.

Picture a miner out in a boat fishing off the northwest coast of Australia in the Kimberley region, scanning the iron-red shoreline of uninhabited Irvine Island, knowing that historic mistrust of the mining industry keeps its resources out of reach, and wondering to himself, “How can we make this work?”

Pluton Resources Limited Managing Director, Tony Schoer, had already worked on two nearby mining projects. “I knew this area well because I had worked on Koolan Island in the 1980’s and I was the joint venture representative for Cockatoo Island, so I knew of Irvine Island. We used to go fishing close by and you can see iron concentrations in the cliffs.”

2020 Vision for the [Timmins] Kidd Mine – by David Hicks (The Global Commodities Report – October, 2011)

November 2, 2011

Published by New Vanguard Media, The Global Commodities Report is a digital magazine about the benefits of resource business.

For a mining town like Timmins Ontario, Xstrata Copper Canada’s announcement that it is extending the mine life of the world-class Kidd Mine is welcome news.

For the second time in the past three years, Xstrata Copper Canada has announced that it is extending the projected mine life of the Kidd Mine. This time to 2020. The previous such announcement in 2008 bumped the closure back to 2017.

Quoted in Timmins’ The Daily Press, the mine’s General Manager, Tom Semadeni said, “We’re seeking to lengthen the life of the mine and the concentrator to 2020. Last year, our (expected) life was 2017, we now think 2018, and we’re working towards 2020.”

The Kidd Creek Mine, as it was first known, was discovered in 1964 and opened in 1966. It was one of the largest and richest volcanic massive sulfide discoveries in the world, bearing copper, zinc, indium, cadmium, silver and sulfuric acid. The mine produces 3.4 million tonnes of ore per year, and rendered 52,000 tonnes of copper and 45,000 tonnes of zinc in 2010.

Crisis on the [James Bay] coast – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – November 1, 2011)

November 2, 2011

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

State of emergency declared

With a housing shortage forcing residents to live in tents and cold November winds beginning to blow off James Bay, communities on the coast have collectively declared a state of emergency.

“There is definitely something terribly wrong” when billions of dollars in revenue is being generated from mining while “the citizens of this rich land continue to face daily hardships with decent housing, education, health care and a high rate of suicide,” said Mushkegowuk Deputy Grand Chief Leo Friday.

“This is not right and something has to be done.” There are families, he added, living in “tent-frame structures, wooden storage sheds, hazardous and condemned homes.” Friday said he is aware of five families in Attawapiskat that have been living in a tent for more than a year now while three families in Kashechewan and another two in Fort Albany have been living in sheds.

Republic Of Mining named to ‘Top 10 Mining Blogs’ list by Australian guide – by John Barker (Thompson Citizen – November 1, 2011)

November 2, 2011

The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000. editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Mining IQ, a Sydney, Australia-based mining guide and international learning and communications portal, which is a division of International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC), has named Republic Of Mining (http://republicofmining.com) to its list of “Top 10 Mining Blogs,” one of only two Canadian sites to be included.

In 1973, the publishers of Industry Week magazine co-founded a company called Penton Learning Systems, which managed a consortium of more than 100 colleges and universities and assisted in the design and development of over 30,000 short courses and seminars in the fields of quality management, project management, finance and accounting, marketing management, strategic planning and implementation. IQPC was founded in 1989 and is still owned by Penton Learning Systems of Little Falls, New Jersey.

Republic of Mining is published by Stan Sudol, a Toronto-based journalist, communications consultant, mining strategist and speechwriter. Sudol picks up Thompson Citizen and Nickel Belt News mining stories, editorials and photos, with our permission, from time to time, usually about Vale’s Manitoba Operations.

The Far North Act, Economic Development and the Aboriginal Future – by Livio Di Matteo (November 1, 2011)

November 1, 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/

The aboriginal population of Northern Ontario is growing at a much faster rate than the non-aboriginal population and faces a number of economic and social challenges. Along with education and the acquisition of human capital, another source of future economic welfare improvement must be the employment opportunities associated with resource development in Ontario’s north.

The Ring of Fire will likely be one such opportunity. However, the prospect of other future resource discoveries and associated economic development is now much diminished as a result of the Far North Act passed by the McGuinty Liberal government a year ago. This is unfortunate given the forecast increases in future demand for resources from the developing world – in particular, the Asia-Pacific region.

As a result of the Far North Act, some 225,000 square kilometers of Ontario’s far north will be off limits to resource development – an area that is roughly twenty percent of the province’s land mass. While this action has ostensibly been done with the aim of protecting a large chunk of Ontario’s environmental heritage, it has not been welcomed by northern Ontario’s First Nations.