Republic of Mining

A golden opportunity [Northern Ontario mining] – by Jasmine Budak (Maclean’s – November 1, 2010)

May 13, 2011

Maclean’s, the most influential current affairs magazine in Canada, covers national and international politics, business, social issues and culture on a weekly basis. This article was published November 1, 2010.

The sky-high price of gold has sparked a modern-day rush to Ontario’s mining towns

With the price of gold currently hovering around US$1,300 an ounce—up 45 per cent since early 2009—Ontario’s mining towns are exhibiting the classic symptoms of a boom: inflated house prices, overbooked hotels, frantic construction, labour shortages and a collective sense of optimism after decades in a slump. Across the province’s northern gold belt, defunct mines are being revived and exploration activity has taken an almost frenzied pace, the product of gold being an investment safe haven amid global economic uncertainty and a weak U.S. dollar.

“I’ve been here a long time,” says Brock Greenwell, statistical analyst for Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry. “And 2010 is looking like a record year for gold exploration. It’s unprecedented.”

There are 12 gold mines operating in Ontario, with four more slated to start production by 2012. And, with exploration expenditures for precious metals—mostly gold—expected to exceed $620 million this year in the province (compared with $389 million in 2009), it’s a safe bet that more mines will follow. “It’s an absolute boom,” says Bill Greenway, economic development officer for the municipality of Red Lake. “There are 40-plus exploration companies here at any given time.”

Law society paves way for Ontario’s first new law school in 43 years [in Thunder Bay] – Tracey Tyler (Toronto Star – May 11, 2011)

May 12, 2011

Tracey Tyler is the legal affairs reporter for the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published May 11, 2011.

In many ways, the future of the legal profession isn’t on Bay St., he [Beardy] contends, but closer to major mining exploration projects in the James Bay lowlands known as the “ring of fire.” Northern Ontario is rich in diamonds, gold, platinum and a recently discovered deposit of chromite, a mineral used in stainless steel production and expected to be in high demand in countries with rapidly developing economies, including China and India, Beardy said.

Grand Chief Stan Beardy of Nishnawbe Aski Nation likes to joke about seeing a sasquatch in the forest behind his home in Muskrat Dam in Northern Ontario.

But when he looks some 600 kilometres south and into the future, Beardy sees a law school, one that will boost the ranks of First Nations lawyers and support economic development in the north.

That vision is inching closer to reality now that the Law Society of Upper Canada has approved a proposal from Lakehead University to open a law school in Thunder Bay. The university says the school would give preference to northerners and First Nations applicants.

Ontario students adapt video game skills to mining technology

May 11, 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.

The lineup of students was always long at the Sandvik double boom jumbo mining drill simulator during Skills Canada Ontario’s 22nd annual technological skills competition. The event, which was held earlier this week at the RIM Park Complex in Waterloo, attracted more than 31,000 students, teachers and parents. The competitions themselves saw more than 1,800 high school and community college students vying for top prizes in 63 contest events ranging from heavy equipment maintenance to computer design to electrical diagnostics and culinary skills and hairstyling.

The Ontario Mining Association and its members participated in the competition through running career awareness workshops and supportive exhibits. Peter Larsen and Tom White from Sandvik manned the ever-popular drill simulator. This highly interactive and realistic training equipment was a welcome attraction for students who enjoyed testing their video game skills on the tasks of operating underground mining equipment.

Supporting Lesley Hymers of the OMA with the mining exhibits were Tonia Oldford and Godfrey Desmoulin from Barrick Hemlo Mines, Don Rivera and Andre Cousteils from Sifto Salt, Michael Bartch and Allison Bawden from Canadian Salt in Windsor and Louise Turcotte from the Federated School of Mines and Cambrian College.

PwC NEWS RELEASE: BC mining companies are riding the wave of strong demand and high commodities prices: PwC report

May 11, 2011

Revenues and earnings reached near record highs in 2010

VANCOUVER, May 10, 2011 — According to a new report from PwC, British Columbia’s mining companies have rebounded from the global economic slowdown, turning in near-record results for revenues, net income and cash flows during 2010. Overall the industry’s aggregate pre-tax net earnings were $3.7 billion in 2010, up by 65% from $2.3 billion in 2009.

“The 2010 financial performance of the BC mining sector was outstanding, driven by strong coal and metals prices and a lot of hard-working people in the industry,” said Michael Cinnamond, leader of PwC’s BC mining industry practice and co-author of the report. “The PwC report shows that just about every aspect of the BC mining sector has done better than expected. Many of the positive trends we saw last year have continued into the first quarter of 2011.”

Gross mining revenues increased 13% to $7.9 billion in 2010, approaching the historic high of $8.4 billion in 2008. The Canadian dollar strengthened in 2010, creating an estimated aggregate negative impact of $856 million on gross revenues, excluding the impact of any hedging.

The grand plan for Quebec’s North – by Barrie McKenna (Globe and Mail – May 11, 2011)

May 11, 2011

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

Reality Check: The $80-billion plan comes with few details; much of that money is already committed, or expected to come from the private sector

Think of Jean Charest’s $80-billion Plan Nord strategy as a bridge between resource development and the 33,000 aboriginal people of the North. The Quebec Premier is betting aboriginal groups will buy into development if they see tangible benefits. So he’s promising to pump taxes and new higher mining royalties into roads, airports, housing, health care and education, including $1.6-billion between 2011 and 2016 (average: $326-million a year).

But details on much of the $80-billion, 25-year plan is either murky or already committed. More than half the money comes from already planned or proposed Hydro-Québec projects ($47-billion). Private investment in mining and government-financed infrastructure make up the rest.

Transportation

Quebec has four northern ports, 26 airports, 1,200 kilometres of rail tracks and 51,000 kilometres of logging roads. The province is vowing to integrate the region’s ports, airports and roads into a more cohesive network. The first phase of that work includes $821-million worth of road expansions.

Canada’s Quebec launches big mining expansion plan – Mining Weekly.com/Reuters (May 10, 2011)

May 10, 2011

Mining Weekly is South Africa’s premier source of weekly news on mining developments in Africa’s most important industry. Mining Weekly provides in-depth coverage of mining projects and the personalities reshaping the mining industry. In order to advance Mining Weekly’s objective of positioning itself as a leading global provider of mining news, a full-time correspondent is based in Toronto, Canada and another in Perth, Australia.

TORONTO – The Canadian province of Quebec plans to develop its huge frozen northern reaches into a powerhouse of mining and renewable energy, targeting C$80 billion ($83 billion) of private and public investment.

Quebec’s 25-year “Plan Nord,” launched on Monday, envisages funding for infrastructure, mines and the development of renewable energy, taking advantage of an improving investment climate as the earth warms and polar ice melts.

Quebec says the region has abundant deposits of nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, zinc, iron ore, ilmenite, gold, lithium, vanadium and rare-earth metals. “Northern Quebec has incomparable mining potential,” Natural Resources Minister Serge Simard said in a release.

Quebec plans $80-billion investment in northern development – by Rheal Sequin (Globe and Mail – May 10, 2011)

May 10, 2011May 10, 2011

Premier Jean Charest has unveiled an ambitious multibillion-dollar plan to develop Quebec’s remote northern region, creating a legacy project that he hopes will generate a new source of revenue for the cash-strapped province.

The economic proposal, Plan Nord, involves a region north of the 49th parallel that is twice the size of France and covers more than 70 per cent of the province’s territory.

The proposal involves $80-billion in public and private investment over the next 25 years, Mr. Charest said. In return, he said, it will generate an estimated $14-billion in revenue over the same period and contribute $162-billion to the province’s gross domestic product.

“What we are unveiling here is Quebec’s future,” Mr. Charest said. “On the political level, this is one of the best moments in my life. This is one of the reasons I got involved in politics.”

QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Decision-making Hinges on the Protection of the Environment, Ecosystems and Biodiversity

May 10, 2011

Québec, May 9, 2011 – “The environmental component is at the forefront of concerns linked to the approach adopted under the Plan Nord. Accordingly, the protection of the environment, ecosystems and northern biodiversity will be central to all decision-making,” Québec Premier Jean Charest noted.

Under the Plan Nord, the government is committed to setting aside 50% of the northern territory for purposes other than industrial ones, environmental protection and safeguarding biodiversity. A vast network of protected areas that accounts for 12% of the area of the territory that the Plan Nord covers will be created by 2015.

“We have adopted an unprecedented approach to protect and develop Québec’s outstanding northern heritage. This vast natural territory has extensive, varied fauna and flora along with often untapped wealth. We are proud to guarantee the long-term survival of this heritage and ensure that it is offered to current and future generations,” added Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks Pierre Arcand.

QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Ensure Community well-being and Development

May 10, 2011

Québec, May 9, 2011 – “The enhancement of living conditions in Aboriginal and local communities is a key concern under the Plan Nord. For this reason, we have made provision for initiatives in the realms of education, manpower, housing, health and social services, and culture, to foster community well-being and development,” Premier Jean Charest said.

“The North has abundant, varied resources, but its principal asset is its population, noteworthy for its youth and desire to develop its environment. The populations in the territory that the Plan Nord covers are young and make up a substantial labour pool. Our government believes that it is necessary to rely on occupational training to guarantee their social and economic development,” added Minister responsible for Native Affairs Geoffrey Kelley.

The gouvernement du Québec’s 2011-2016 action plan to implement the Plan Nord makes provision for investments totalling $1.6 billion. Of this amount, $382 million will be earmarked for essentially social measures, especially in the realms of housing, health, education, culture and the reduction in the cost of living.

QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Establishment of the Société du Plan Nord and $2.1 billion in investments over five years

May 10, 2011

Québec, May 9, 2011 – “The Plan Nord is ambitious. Its implementation will necessitate essential investments to facilitate access to the territory and enhance the quality of life of its inhabitants. The new business model developed in respect of projects under the Plan Nord has unquestionably altered the manner in which Québec will fund infrastructure and public services. Starting today, construction and maintenance costs will be shared throughout the infrastructure’s useful life by businesses, the communities concerned, the gouvernement du Québec and other users,” Québec Premier Jean Charest noted.

Establishment of the Société du Plan Nord

The government is announcing that it will establish through legislation the Société du Plan Nord to carry out projects and coordinate all of the investments. The government corporation will oversee the public investments in the social and transportation infrastructure sectors.

Moreover, the corporation will establish direct ties with businesses and local and Aboriginal communities to support their projects. “Partnerships between the private and public sectors and the communities will seek to satisfy several uses. Accordingly, transportation, energy and telecommunications infrastructure can be built to afford access to a new mining camp and also provide access to trapping lands, outfitting operations and other tourist infrastructure. In this way, the development of the North will rely on integrated planning and become a model of sustainable development,” Minister Normandeau added.

QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord: The Project of a Generation – Harness Northern Québec’s Enormous Economic Potential

May 10, 2011

Québec, May 9, 2011 – “The Plan Nord, one of the biggest projects in Québec’s history, seeks to shape and develop a new economic space with enormous potential. Through its scope and the extent of its spinoff, the Plan Nord will benefit all regions of Québec and all sectors of our economy,” Québec Premier Jean Charest said.

“By advocating the adoption of concrete measures to responsibly develop the vast territory’s economic potential, the Plan Nord will facilitate the sustainable development of energy, forest, mining, wildlife, tourism and bio-food resources. It will foster business investment that ensures Quebecers’ prosperity,” Minister responsible for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region and the Nord-du-Québec region Pierre Corbeil added.

It should be noted that the Plan Nord will be implemented over 25 years and lead, during that time, to $80 billion in investments. It will create or consolidate, on average, 20 000 jobs a year in addition to engendering $14 billion in revenues for the government and Québec society.

QUEBEC GOVERNMENT NEWS RELEASE: The Plan Nord – “The Plan Nord is the project of a generation” – Jean Charest

May 10, 2011

Québec, May 9, 2011 – Québec Premier Jean Charest, Deputy Premier, Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife and Minister responsible for the Plan Nord Nathalie Normandeau, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Minister responsible for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region and the Nord-du-Québec region Pierre Corbeil, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks Pierre Arcand, Minister responsible for Native Affairs Geoffrey Kelley, and Minister for Natural Resources and Wildlife and Minister responsible for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region and the Côte-Nord region Serge Simard today launched the Plan Nord, one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in Québec and the project of a generation. The Plan Nord first offered a perspective of sustainable development in Québec and is now one of the biggest economic, social and environmental development projects in Québec’s history.

“The Plan Nord will be carried out over 25 years and engender investments of over $80 billion. It will create or consolidate 20 000 jobs a year, on average, and generate $14 billion in revenue for the government and Québec society. The economic spinoff and social development stemming from the Plan Nord will enhance the living conditions of northern populations. Through the needs for manpower, knowledge and expertise that it engenders, its benefits will be felt throughout Québec. The Plan Nord will be to the coming decades what the development of La Manicouagan and James Bay was to the 1960s and 1970s,” Premier Charest said.

A unique approach

The Plan Nord is one of the most ambitious projects that Québec has undertaken. The approach adopted is equally ambitious. Since January 2010, a number of Aboriginal and local communities have worked together. Over 60 meetings were held of sectorial and consensus-building working groups in which over 450 people participated. Through its representative, participatory approach, the Plan Nord will be a unique model of sustainable development that reconciles social and economic development and environmental protection.

Resource Rents, the Ring of Fire and the Future – by Livio Di Matteo

May 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/

May 9, 2011

American historian David Potter’s book People of Plenty argued that resource abundance shaped the American attitude towards possibility and opportunity. Abundant resources set the stage for wealth accumulation and created a society that believes that everyone can become rich through their own work and effort and that initiative and opportunity are the key to social mobility and success.

In Canada, we also have a tradition of resource abundance but it has generated not so much an ethos of aggressive individualism but one of more government involvement in the economy. Indeed, the resource rents from natural resources have played a role in government finance whether it was late nineteenth century Ontario’s forest sector (which generated at its peak 20-25 percent of provincial government revenues) or energy in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador today.

As Herb Emery and Ron Kneebone have recently written in Alberta’s Problems of Plenty (May 2011, Policy Options), in the Alberta context the main role of resource abundance and resource rents has been to augment both private and public consumption.

Plan Nord Versus Grow North: Quebec’s Northern Policy Trumps Ontario’s – by Livio Di Matteo

May 10, 2011May 9, 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/

May 9, 2011

Quebec has just announced its own northern growth plan and it appears to be more focused and concrete in resource allocation terms than the recently released Ontario Northern Growth Plan. Ontario’s Northern Growth Plan was “a call to action and a roadmap for change” organized to provide policy direction for growth around six principles: (1) a globally competitive economy, (2) education and skllls for a knowledge economy, (3) aboriginal partnership, (4) networks of social, transport and communications infrastructure, (5) sustainable environment and (6) innovative partnerships to maximize resource potential.

The plan had detailed checklist for short, medium and long-term actions that required implementation and of course more planning including regional plans within the region. Indeed, if one could summarize the Ontario plan, it is simply a plan to rule all plans and the planning is not over yet. The major resource announcements that accompanied it were five million dollars for a policy institute (on which little has been said since) and a few million dollars to begin integrated transport planning.