Republic of Mining

Fort McMurray: The heart of the oil patch seeks its soul – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – October 25, 2011)

October 25, 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.

CALGARY— When Jennifer Keesmaat began thinking about how to transform the boomtown heart of the oil sands into a thriving centre, she grew slightly despondent.

“When we started in Fort McMurray, the very first thing we said is, ‘This is the twilight zone. No rules that apply anywhere else apply here,’ ” said Ms. Keesmaat, an urban planner with Toronto-based Dialog, which has been hired to help fix the city. But she returned from an initial visit to the area this spring questioning how to do it.

“I came back and held my head in my hands and thought, ‘Oh my, finally I’ve met my match. This nut is too big to crack.’ ”

But as Fort McMurray faces a future of explosive growth, it is nonetheless trying to do exactly that. It has employed a network of consultants, and petitioned its own people, in an attempt to figure out how to remake a modern-day hinterland gold rush town into an entertaining, vibrant city.

Keystone pipeline could face new hurdle in Nebraska – Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – October 25, 2011)

October 25, 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.

Nebraska’s governor has ordered a special session of the state legislature to examine potential new oil pipeline rules, a reversal of course that opens the possibility of substantial delays to the controversial Keystone XL project.

Republican Governor Dave Heineman made a surprise announcement on Monday, calling the Nov. 1 sitting, which he said in a statement will “determine if siting legislation can be crafted and passed for pipeline routing in Nebraska.”

Such a rule would give the state the power to approve or deny the pipeline’s intended path. Draft siting legislation has been underway for many months, but needed a special legislative session to be enacted before construction begins on the pipeline.

There are questions about whether such a rule can withstand legal scrutiny. If passed, it will present the most formidable obstacle to the Keystone XL project to date. It could take several years for Keystone backer TransCanada Corp. (TRP-T43.65-0.30-0.68%) to gain approval for an amendment of the current route.

A New Addiction the US Can’t Afford: [Vanadium] Foreign Batteries – by By Ron MacDonald

October 24, 2011

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Ron MacDonald is Vice Chairman & Director, Senior Council Global Markets of American Vanadium Corp.

The US government’s commitment to supporting both the renewable energy and electric vehicle industries underlines the need for the rapid development of the automotive and mass storage batteries, and has thrown the spotlight on domestic vanadium supplies.

In the not-too-distant future, will America find itself exchanging an addiction to foreign oil with an addiction to foreign batteries? Or will it create a successful battery market policy through its current efforts to bolster manufacturing while securing strategic materials? Either way, it seems certain that playing a critical role will be a little known element: vanadium.

It’s easy to connect the four dots involved: (1) US government policy is focused on reducing reliance on foreign oil and lowering CO2 emissions; (2) As a result, renewable energy investments and electric vehicles production will capture an increasingly large part of the American economy; (3) Since renewables such as wind and solar require mass storage batteries to effectively integrate with the grid, and since electric vehicles require higher performance batteries to compete with gas-burning cars; then (4) new battery solutions are vital to the US hitting its policy targets.

Matawa [Ring of Fire] demand ‘unfortunate’ – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – October 24, 2011)

October 24, 2011

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

Cliffs Natural Resources says it’s committed to “working hand-in-hand” with nine remote First Nations that could benefit from the company’s proposed chromite mine in the Ring of Fire.

But the company said it’s disappointed over last week’s all-or-nothing demand by Matawa First Nations for a higher level environmental review into the mine proposal. “It’s unfortunate that the focus is over the panel (review) versus comprehensive approaches,” Cliffs said in a statement.

“The comprehensive review process provides a clear and thorough path, as well as the flexibility to address the specific concerns of impacted communities,” the statement said.

Matawa is demanding a government-appointed joint review panel — similar to the one underway for a copper and palladium mine near Marathon — because “it allows for more public participation (including) oral hearings to be held in each community.”

Let’s hear from the 2011 OMA So You Think You Know Mining winners

October 24, 2011

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

As the Ontario Mining Association prepares to officially launch the fourth edition of its high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining, we thought it might be a good idea to hear from some of the 2011 winners. The SYTYKM winners are an accomplished group of students who have benefitted from participation in this OMA film making initiative.

The winner in the Best Overall category in 2011, which carried a $5,000 prize, was Amanda Ceniti from Georgetown District High School for “Mining: A Musical.” In an e-mail sent to us at the OMA, she said “I am truly honoured to be a SYTYKM winner. It is a really great idea for a competition and being a part of it was a lot of fun.”

“I am using my award money for university tuition. I am specializing in neuroscience at the University of Toronto and taking a minor in music history and culture,” she said. “I am very excited to start this new chapter in my life.”

Forestry move under MNR welcomed – by Ryan Lux (Timmins Daily Press – October 24, 2011)

October 24, 2011

The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper.

Renewed sense of optimism expressed

While NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson was underwhelmed by Dalton McGuinty’s “stay the course cabinet,” he joined Ontario’s forest industry representatives in expressing tentative optimism for the forestry sector based on the minor cabinet shuffle.

In general, Bisson described McGuinty’s new cabinet as a “missed opportunity” to demonstrate a change in direction. However, he said the Premier’s choice of Thunder Bay’s Michael Gravelle as Minister of Natural Resources should give Northerners a glimmer of hope.

Fuelling Bisson’s hope for a rationalized approach to forestry at Queen’s Park is McGuinty’s decision to return the forestry portfolio under the responsibility of the ministry of natural resources.

Falling copper points to global pain – by Carolynne Wheeler (Globe and Mail – October 24, 2011)

October 24, 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.

BEIJING — The answer to where the global economy is headed may well be found in the piles of trash towering above the brick and tin shacks belonging to Beijing’s army of garbage recyclers.

On the northeastern edge of sprawling Beijing, the hardscrabble neighbourhood of Dongxiaokou is some 20 kilometres from the glittering skyscrapers that provide this community’s livelihood. Here, virtually every scrap left over from a modern life – used computers and mobile phones, household appliances, furniture, clothing, even paper and plastic bottles – is collected, sorted, broken down and sold for cash.

Traditionally, copper (HG-FT3.330.113.46%) has been among the most valuable materials for collection. But this week, after a month of sinking prices, no one is in a good mood.

Africa provides a rich seam for resources sector – by Kevin Rudd ( The Australian – October 24, 2011)

October 23, 2011

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

Kevin Rudd is Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs

AFRICA is starting to surprise us. We have known for some time that the continent is changing. After the “lost decade” of the 1980s, many African governments have been democratising and liberalising their economies.

But when we find that, today, six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are from Africa, it’s worth taking a much closer look.

When we do, we see not only Africa’s growth, but the remarkable transformation of Australian business in Africa, particularly in the mining sector. Rewind 20 years, and the involvement of Australian resource companies in Africa was almost non-existent.

Now, about 40 per cent of all Australian overseas mining projects are in Africa. At least 230 Australian companies are active in the resource sector on the African continent. Between them, they are pursuing 650 individual projects in 42 countries. Their total investment is estimated at a whopping $24 billion.

B.C. shells out $30 million in settlement of [uranium] mining company case – by The Canadian Press (Canadian Business Magazine – October 21, 2011)

October 23, 2011

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

VANCOUVER – At a time when British Columbia’s premier has staked her jobs agenda on a burgeoning mining industry, the province has agreed to hand over $30 million to one company in a settlement over what the company’s president called “dirty dealings.”

Boss Power Corp. and lawyers for the provincial government were scheduled to square off in court this month over the company’s claim that the province had effectively expropriated its uranium deposit 50 kilometres northeast of Penticton without compensation.

Instead, lawyers for the government agreed to the pay out, saying in a news release earlier this week that B.C. had reached a legal agreement for Boss Power to surrender all claims to its uranium and mining rights.

Canada hypocritical on a dangerous mineral [asbestos] – by Keeble McFarlane (Jamiaca Observer – October 22, 2011)

October 23, 2011

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/

We all no doubt remember the rushing cloud of whitish dust which ballooned out over southern Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001, as the iconic towers of the World Trade Centre fell in on themselves after the planes commandeered by terrorists crashed into them.

In addition to the almost 3000 people who died in the towers themselves, dozens of rescue workers and others caught in the cloud have since died from exposure to the dust. Many others developed serious lung problems which have severely affected their health and which will invariably shorten their lives.

That cloud was a toxic mixture of all the materials contained in those towering structures – gypsum wallboard, floor and ceiling tiles, disintegrated concrete, shredded paper, furniture, carpets and draperies, office chemicals, metal residue, even food blown to bits in the devastation and, saddest of all, people and their clothing. Perhaps most crucial was the 400 tonnes of asbestos, used as a fire-retardant.

Saskatoon is home to Canada’s fastest growing economy – by Jeannie Armstrong (The [Saskatoon] StarPhoenix – October 22, 2011)

October 23, 2011

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

The country’s top economists are in agreement. Saskatoon will continue to lead economic growth in Canada through 2013.

[SASKATOON] FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY

The Conference Board of Canada, known for its conservative economic forecasts, says that Saskatoon’s economy will expand by 4.1 per cent this year, and will remain at the top of the economic growth leader board through 2013.The gap between Saskatoon and second place Calgary is quite significant, with Calgary’s economy expected to grow by 3.4 per cent.

What factors are contributing to Saskatoon’s sustained economic growth?

According to the Conference Board of Canada announcement, “Saskatoon is benefiting from strong resource development, while healthy population growth is bolstering the housing market.”

Chiefs aim to stop [Ring of Fire] review – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – October 21, 2011)

October 23, 2011

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. hcarmichael@thesudburystar.com

First Nations leaders will take ‘ alternative measures’ — perhaps including an injunction — to stop an environmental review of Cliffs Natural Resources’ Black Thor chromite deposit in northwestern Ontario.

The Matawa Chiefs also called on Premier Dalton McGuinty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday to stop the review in favour of a joint environment assessment to be done in conjunction with natives.

“We will be forced to resort to alternative measures if Canada and Ontario continue to ignore the First Nations that are being impacted by the Ring of Fire developments,” Chief Roger Wesley of Constance Lake First Nation said in a release Friday. The Matawa Chiefs — who represent 8,000 people in nine Ojibway and Cree communities — held a news conference Friday in Thunder Bay to discuss their concerns.

Plan to stanch flow of ‘conflict minerals’ from Congo causes turmoil – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – October 22, 2011)

October 22, 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.

JOHANNESBURG – The campaign began as an idealistic effort to halt a horrific epidemic of rape and murder in the heart of Africa. It burgeoned into a powerful consumer movement, culminating in a planned U.S. regulation that is terrifying some of the world’s biggest corporations.

And now, with companies such as Apple Inc. and Motorola desperately seeking an ethical stamp of approval for their latest tablets and smart phones, activists like Joanne Lebert of Ottawa are finding themselves in an unexpected position of influence. Their new certification scheme could help solve a political dilemma that is inflicting turmoil on thousands of African miners and Western corporations.

At the centre of this global battle are the “conflict minerals” – tin, gold, tantalum and tungsten – that have fuelled vicious wars and ruthless militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of Africa’s biggest and poorest countries. Their proceeds are financing the warlords and armies that are responsible for millions of deaths and sexual assaults over the past decade in one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.

Pipeline becoming flashpoint in U.S. politics – by Bruce Campion-Smith (Toronto Star – October 22, 2011)

October 22, 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.

OTTAWA—The camera pans across bucolic images of the U.S. Great Plains — a rancher astride a horse as cattle graze in the background, grasslands, wheat fields, scenic landscapes.

“The bread basket of America. But today these lands are threatened by big oil and its plan to run a pipeline straight through this American heartland,” says the narrator. But not just any narrator.

The voice belongs to actor and director Robert Redford, who used a three-minute video this week to implore U.S. President Barack Obama to deny approval for the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline, proposed by Canadian energy giant TransCanada Corp., would run 3,134 kilometres, from Alberta across six states, carrying half a million barrels of oilsands crude a day to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas.

[Ontario] Cabinet roles change in North – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (October 21, 2011)

October 22, 2011

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

THE NEW Ontario cabinet isn’t new at all; there isn’t a fresh face in it. But two changes are sparking much speculation here in the North.

Michael Gravelle is no longer Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry. He was moved to Natural Resources to which Forestry has been added. This leaves his successor, Sudbury’s Rick Bartolucci, one less thing to look after in Gravelle’s place. It also suggests Premier Dalton McGuinty believes that mining needs undivided attention as exploration increases across the Far North. Bartolucci is also cabinet chair, adding to his stature.

The forest industry is in trouble and, hopefully, adding Forestry back to Natural Resources means the McGuinty government will develop a comprehensive approach to the boreal forest that enhances new commercial opportunities along with recreation and wildlife.