Republic of Mining

Seven ‘intruders’ killed at African Barrick mine – Peter Koven (National Post – May 18, 2011)

May 18, 2011

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper. Peter Koven is the Post’s mining reporter. This article was originally published in the Financial Post on May 18, 2011. pkoven@nationalpost.com

When Barrick Gold Corp. spun its African properties into a new company last year, investors knew they were being sold high-risk assets that had their share of problems.

But they didn’t imagine this.

On Tuesday, African Barrick Gold PLC reported details of a horrifying incident at its North Mara mine in Tanzania. According to the company, about 800 “criminal intruders” armed with machetes, rocks and hammers broke into the mine site and tried to steal gold ore. The Tanzanian police were called in and were forced to open fire after being attacked by the intruders. Seven people were killed and another 12 injured.

“The police are making an investigation, so more details will come from them in the days and weeks to come,” a spokesman for London-based African Barrick said.

CBC Radio: Ring of Fire update interview with Ontario MNDMF Minister Michael Gravelle – (May 17, 2011)

May 17, 2011

An interesting interview between Sudbury CBC Radio Morning North host, Markus Schwabe, and the Honorable Michael Gravelle, Ontario Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry. Click here: http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=1933462740

Commodities bloodbath ‘nothing to fear,’ mining tycoons say – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – May 17, 2011)

May 17, 2011

Lisa Wright is a business reporter with 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 17, 2011.

The recent slide in metals prices — make that a slaughter in silver — has been pretty hard to stomach for the stampede of investors who have taken a shine to the gritty mining industry lately. But Peter Munk, Ian Telfer and Bob Gallagher aren’t reaching for the Rolaids.

Nor are they the least bit bearish after two rocky weeks that saw silver plummet by 35 per cent, gold dip under the $1,500 U.S. per ounce watermark and a sharp pull back in construction-friendly base metals from aluminum to zinc.

Many investors are squeamish after the gut-wrenching correction which dragged once-soaring silver squarely into bear market territory. (A 20 per cent decline from a market high is the unofficial definition of a bear market.)

In fact ‘poor man’s gold’, as it’s known, suffered its biggest four-day decline in 28 years earlier this month after hitting a peak of $48.70 U.S. in April. Silver slid another $1.85 again Monday, closing at $34.35 in London.

POV: Political parties start to woo Northern [Ontario] voters for fall provincial election – by Wayne Snider (The Daily Press – May 16, 2011)

May 17, 2011

Wayne Snider is the city editor for The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.

Then there is a true wildcard in place for the fall election: The Northern Ontario
Heritage Party. Their message is that Northern Ontario needs to take over control
of the economic future of the region because Queen’s Park — when coloured by
any of the tradition mainstream political stripes — simply wants to take wealth
from the North to feed the heavily populated south. (Wayne Snider, May 16, 2011)

Off and running

Last week’s Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities conference was held to deal with municipal issues impacting the North. It turned into a launching pad for provincial election campaign debates. Anyone who wasn’t expecting the conference to be so politically charged, hasn’t been paying attention.

FONOM has been gaining a louder voice in the past few years. That’s because Northern municipalities have had a lot of concerns to voice. It seems Northern leaders have had an endless stream of provincial policies and legislation to contend with, many of which have been contentious.

The Far North Act, the Endangered Species Act (caribou protection), forestry tenure and now the Northern Growth Plan have caused municipalities to wave red flags, as our leaders fear more harm than good is being done to the Northern economy.

It is through groups like FONOM, the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association and the Northern Mayors’ Task Force that the voice of the North has been raised to the level where it is at least being heard.

But there is a huge difference between hearing and listening.

Mining companies raise stakes in Whitehorse – by Paul Watson (Toronto Star – May 15, 2011)

May 16, 2011

Paul Watson is a columnist 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 15, 2011.

WHITEHORSE—Park officers are normally on the lookout for rowdy campers, untended picnic baskets, guests that won’t go away and the odd ornery bear that lumbers into Wolf Creek Campground on this city’s edge.

Now they have to add voracious mining companies to the list of threats to fend off from the popular retreat in an old growth spruce forest overlooking the Yukon River.

Arcturus Ventures Inc., a Vancouver-based, penny-stock mineral exploration company, has staked its claim on the park, in a zone the city of Whitehorse has designated environmentally sensitive.

It’s a landmark where, every summer, some 60 campgrounds fill up with tourists who travel the Alaska Highway to the park to enjoy its hiking trails and spectacular wilderness vistas on the capital’s southern outskirts.

A life of hope and hopelessness [for Aboriginal communities] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Editorial – May 13, 2011)

May 16, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on May 13, 2011.

BLARING headlines suggested then confirmed what many people in this city and this region had feared — that 15-year-old Jordan Wabasse had indeed died under the water of the Kam River.

Body Recovered, read the bold headline Wednesday, accompanied by a grim photo of the scene at shore. Body ID’d, read Thursday’s headline, an abbreviation for an abbreviated life.
News is harsh as often as it is good, and it is our responsibility to convey all of it to our readers. But in pressing to present details, we can be seen to override the sanctity that a moment like this deserves. Not intentionally, but by striving to write all of the chapters of an important story.

The tale of the disappearance of this aboriginal boy has been covered here extensively because it needed telling in all its tragic detail. Jordan came to Thunder Bay from remote Webequie, one in a parade of aboriginal youth seeking education, opportunity and adventure in the big city far away. Webequie is one of scores of dots on the northern map connected to the rest of Canada by planes, winter roads and TV and computer screens that beckon curious minds.

POV: Northern Ontario speaks up clearly with one united voice – by Wayne Snider (Daily Press – May 13, 2011)

May 16, 2011

Wayne Snider is the city editor for The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.

During the past 20 years, the North has seen its influence on Queen’s Park diminish.
It’s now at the point where municipalities feel powerless and ignored. … Like residents,
Northern leaders have had enough of being treated like insignificant pests. … The upper
tiers try to milk as much wealth from the region as possible, while giving back as little as
possible. It has become a savage, sadistic economic ballet. (Wayne Snider – May, 2011)

The annual conference for the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities wraps up at the McIntyre Community Centre Friday. With cabinet ministers and various other politicos in town, usually the North anxiously awaits the message delivered by the big, bad province.

This year, however, the tables are turned. With an important provincial election looming, political parties should listen to what Northern leaders have to say.

During the past 20 years, the North has seen its influence on Queen’s Park diminish. It’s now at the point where municipalities feel powerless and ignored. Hence the start of the “speaking with one voice” campaign, where Northern leaders approach the government with a united front on key issues.

Once again, dreams of gold spark a rush to the Yukon – by Paul Watson (Toronto Star – May 14, 2011)

May 16, 2011

DAWSON CITY, YUKON—Not since the days when prospectors led pack trains upriver, hunting for the motherlode with picks and pans, has there been such a rush to stake claims in the Klondike.

In the new Gold Rush, stakers are more likely to leap into the bush from a hovering helicopter than ride the long, treacherous slog on horseback.

And most are working for a few large corporations racing to stake out vast tracts of the Yukon more than a century after armies of prospectors headed north in the late 19th century Klondike Gold Rush, along with prostitutes and other service providers.

In some provinces, you need a license to trudge around scouring for minerals. In a few, chasing your El Dorado is a simple as going online, clicking a mouse and putting down virtual stakes with some keystrokes.

Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Hon. Rick Bartolucci’s Keynote Speech to Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities Conference – (Timmins, Ontario – May 12, 2011)

May 15, 2011

Check Against Delivery

Thank you, Al for that introduction.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is pleased to partner with FONOM for this conference and to continue to support the important work FONOM does. I want to thank the City of Timmins for hosting this conference. Timmins, Sudbury and the rest of Northern Ontario have a lot in common.

We are determined and resilient. We know what it’s like to live in a resource-based economy and the ups and downs that brings. When it comes to Northern challenges, nobody knows more than our government exactly what that means.

Luckily, we have a strong seven-member Northern caucus and our government has done what previous governments have not: ensure there are three cabinet ministers from Northern Ontario – with two being from North-eastern Ontario.

Northern Ontario has a very strong voice around the cabinet table, and this voice influences everything our government does. We are passionate advocates for you, and I’m proud of that advocacy.

A railway to Arctic riches: economic boom, environmental threat? – by Paul Waldie (Globe and Mail – May 14, 2011)

May 15, 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.

A handful of people shuffle into the community hall in Kimmirut, Nunavut, a tiny outpost on the southern coast of Baffin Island. It’s early December, and the small group shakes off the cold winter air and settles into folding chairs to hear a presentation about something completely foreign to Baffin Island – a railway.

“I have never seen a railway before,” a woman named Joannie tells the gathering, according to minutes of the meeting. “Could you give a better idea of what the train will look like?”

Nobody else has seen a railway on Baffin Island either. No one has built one this far north, anywhere. But now – thanks to an insatiable global demand for minerals, and climate change that has opened up northern shipping routes – a rail line across part of Baffin Island is about to become a reality.

It’s also a sign of things to come. Places like Baffin Island have always held a treasure trove of minerals, but low commodity prices, coupled with the high cost of operating in the Arctic, left many deposits undeveloped. With prices for nearly every mineral now soaring, however, mining’s last frontier has become financially viable. And with temperatures climbing because of global warming, mining in the Arctic has become logistically possible as well, because sea lanes stay open longer due to thinner ice and railways can operate year round.

Ontario MNDMF Minister Hon. Michael Gravelle’s Keynote Speech to Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities Conference – (Timmins, Ontario – May 13, 2011)

May 15, 2011May 13, 2011

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Thank you for your kind introduction; it is certainly a pleasure to be here! I would like to begin by thanking the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) for inviting me here today.

I commend the FONOM organizing committee for putting together a full and interesting slate of seminars on a wide range of topics for delegates.

FONOM provides us all – municipal leaders and representatives, provincial politicians and civil servants – with an invaluable opportunity to meet and share in a constructive dialogue about promoting northern community economic development.

Your conference theme – “Golden Past, A Brighter Future” – is a very appropriate point of departure for my remarks today. I think it aptly defines our government’s hope and expectations in the comprehensive approach we are taking in advancing prosperity in Northern Ontario.

Shooting Gold Diggers at [Barrick Gold] African Mine Seen Amid Record Prices – by Cam Simpson (Bloomberg Markets Magazine – April 2011)

May 13, 2011

Bloomberg Markets magazine brings the inside view of professional investing with unparalleled access to the most influential people in global business and finance.

Security guards and federal police have allegedly shot and killed people scavenging the waste rock at Barrick Gold’s North Mara mine in Tanzania

(Bloomberg) — Barrick Gold Corp.’s North Mara mine near the Tanzanian border with Kenya disgorges millions of pounds of waste rock each week, piled high around communities where almost half the people live on less than 33 cents a day.

Children in school uniforms scurry across the rubble to reach their classes. Women with water pails atop their heads skirt past the heaps. The piles grow as the longest bull market for gold in at least 90 years pushes Barrick, the world’s largest miner of the precious metal, to increase production.

Villagers, too, are hunting the ore on the North Mara land that their ancestors worked for decades, sometimes paying with their lives.

Security guards and federal police allegedly have shot and killed people scavenging the gold-laced rocks to sell for small amounts of cash, according to interviews with 28 people, including victims’ relatives, witnesses, local officials and human-rights workers.

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.”