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[Boreal Forest Agreement] First Nations caught in ‘the big (land) squeeze’- Peggy Smith (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal-April 9, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This letter to the editor was originally published on April 9, 2011. 

Conservation has become a new form of development and
colonization that further restricts and ignores First
Nation rights to land and a way of life.
(Peggy Smith-Thunder Bay)

I have to disagree with Stephen Kakfwi (Boreal Forest Agreement: It’s Time to Forgive and Move Forward). First Nations in the boreal region of Northern Ontario are not in control of their lands.

The Province of Ontario has long ignored the treaties that First Nations signed over 100 years ago. Those treaties (Robinson-Huron, Robinson-Superior, Treaty 3, Treaty 5 and Treaty 9) were, in First Nations’ view, about sharing lands and resources.

While colonizers got rich on extracting resources from First Nation lands, First Nations were excluded from those benefits and spiralled into poverty and alienation from their lands — up until recently First Nations were not even allowed to cut firewood on Crown land without a permit. Even on federally-owned reserves, historically First Nations had to ask the Minister of Indian Affairs for permission to cut green wood.

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Rare Earths: Critical and Strategic – or the Flavour of the Month? – by Paul Stothart

Paul Stothart is vice-president, economic affairs of the Mining Association of Canada. He is responsible for advancing the industry’s interests regarding federal tax, trade, investment, transport and energy issues. This article was published in February, 2011.

In political Ottawa, where parliamentarians can be exposed to dozens of different issues in an average week, it is not unusual for policy issues or media stories to acquire profile based on a superficial level of understanding. This has happened in recent months in the mining sphere, for example, where many MPs supported flawed private member’s legislation regarding international activities of mining companies so as to not be perceived as “opposing social progress”. On a broader scale, much of the art of political communications seeks to capitalize on superficiality and is oriented around developing a simple effective message and repeating it time and again. (Mining companies have communications lessons to learn on this front, though that is a subject for another day). 

The same practice of applying simplistic analysis to interesting and complex policy issues may be occurring in the area of rare earths elements (REE), where the subject has acquired a high level of sex appeal among politicians in Europe, in the United States and in Canada in recent months. There are several developments that have contributed to this new heightened profile, although three are particularly relevant:

• First, commentators have become increasingly aware of the fact that China controls a high portion of the supply of the world’s processed rare earth minerals.  While figures may vary among light and heavy REEs, the most commonly cited figure is that China produces 97% of the world’s rare earths. 

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Ontario Northern Growth Plan better than it looks – by David Robinson

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. This column was published in the April 2011 issue.

Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University. drobinson@laurentian.ca 

There is little enthusiasm for the so-called Northern Growth Plan. Public comments are lukewarm. Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk, for example, offered the opinion that it might be good that there isn’t a lot detail, that it leaves room for improvements.

In private, responses range from boredom to outright contempt. In fact, the plan is not really all that bad, though it isn’t actually a plan, of course; rather, it is really a list of guiding principles for the hundreds of sub-departments of the ministries that run Northern Ontario.

They are finally trying to get their act together. Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli is promising to support a lot of obvious good things and to encourage everyone else to develop real plans based on the principles in “The Plan.”

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Cutting through the fog [Aboriginal, Industry and Environment Relations]- (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal editorial – April 10, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on April 10, 2011. 

AS the chasm of trust between Aboriginals and the rest of Canada widens, every effort to shrink it deserves encouragement. Two such initiatives have surfaced, and while one remains in play, the other has been batted away.

For decades, relations between conservation groups and the forest industry have been poisoned. Greenpeace banners hung from pulp mill smokestacks vividly portrayed an absence of will and trust.

So when 21 forest companies and nine environmental organizations quietly came up with the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement last year there was cause for celebration. The pact would regulate forest management practices across 72 million hectares of boreal forest and protect 29 million hectares from development.

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Animosity builds over Ontario forestry legislation – by Ian Ross

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca and this article was posted April 2011.

Hearings on Bill 151 will be held in Toronto, April 11 and 13. These are the final hearings before the legislation goes to third reading. Community and industry rancor continues to build against the McGuinty government over the refusal to stage a final round of consultation meetings in Northern Ontario before a new forestry bill is passed into law.

Hearings on Bill 151 – Ontario’s Forest Tenure Modernization Act — will be held in Toronto, April 11 and 13. These are the final hearings before the legislation goes to third reading.

During a March 30 government standing committee, Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown kicked a hornet’s nest when he shot down a recommendation to stage hearings in Pembroke, Timmins, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie in favour of two days of hearings in Toronto.

The government said delegations from the North can appear in person or make their comments through video conferencing.

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Resource Nationalism: The new global economic rent – by John Lee and Johan Erasmus

John Lee is Executive Director, Tax, Ernst & Young LLP and Johan Erasmus is Senior Manager, Tax, Ernst & Young LLP. This column was orginally published in December 2010.

The global financial crisis led to massive budget deficits as many governments injected cash to their economies by way of massive stimulus packages. At the same time, minimized tax collection during and after economic crisis reduced government revenues dramatically.

The relatively swift rebound of the mining and metals industry attracted the attention of deficit-strapped governments and resulted in the industry becoming an early target to replenish national treasuries.

Our company’s report Business Risks Facing Mining and Metals identifies resource nationalism as the fourth-greatest strategic business risk the sector is facing (up from ninth place in 2009). The report identifies how mineral-rich countries are renewing efforts to ensure that they are extracting sufficient economic rent, including royalties, taxes and duties, for the right of a mining company to exploit their resources.

In some instances, governments are even looking to replace and repair other areas of lost revenue with further imposts on the sector, obtaining a larger share of higher mineral prices.

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Multi-billion dollar investments in our country [Canada] – by Tom Albanese, CEO Rio Tinto (Montreal-April 7, 2011)

Last year, we formed a key strategic partnership with world leading researchers to    create the Rio Tinto Centre for Underground Mine Construction in Sudbury, Ontario. This $10 million initiative will focus on innovative, rapid mine construction, and ground control for mining at depth. The centre has become a key part in our set of five long-term Rio Tinto research centres around the world. (Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese – April 7, 2011)

Location: Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, Montreal (April 7, 2011)

Introduction

Bonjour. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you, Michel, for your kind introduction.

What I would like to do today is share with you my view of Rio Tinto’s world. It is a world of strong markets – today with China, tomorrow with India and other parts of the world – and constrained mineral supply. I also want to talk about what it all means for Canada.

Before proceeding though, I must confess that as today’s luncheon drew near, it occurred to me there might be some connection between my scheduled appearances at your functions, and the onset of global turmoil.

I last had the privilege of addressing this audience in late October 2008 when, as I’m sure you recall, we were in the midst of the global financial crisis. To make matters even more challenging, Rio Tinto was also the target of a hostile takeover bid. Notwithstanding my optimism about longer-term trends, the past three years have confirmed we continue to live in an uncertain and volatile world.

Rio Tinto has been through some challenging times. So has the team that I lead. But the challenges met have made for a stronger company, a stronger team, and stronger individuals.

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The Competitiveness of Mineral Processing in Canada – by Paul Stothart

Paul Stothart is vice-president, economic affairs of the Mining Association of Canada. He is responsible for advancing the industry’s interests regarding federal tax, trade, investment, transport and energy issues. This article was published in August, 2010.

Throughout our history, there has been a call for greater value-added in Canadian resource production. The image of Canada as a hewer of wood and drawer of water has long irritated many Canadians – including politicians and industrial strategists who have felt that Canada should be more sophisticated and more active in manufacturing value-added products.

Rather than exporting lumber, we should export furniture or even prefab houses. In the mining sphere, rather than sending raw concentrate or bitumen abroad, we should be producing refined petroleum products, chemicals, finished jewelry, specialized metal alloys and the like. Or to move another few steps along the continuum, we should have inherent raw material advantages in producing computers, iPods, medical equipment and machinery. 

There has historically been some appeal to this argument, including at the political level. Why send something abroad in an unfinished form when additional jobs and wealth could be associated with adding production value at home? This has manifested itself on some occasions in past decades, when inland mineral processing facilities in Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick were established largely for political reasons. Several of these facilities are today under competitive pressure – more so because of poor location rather than a failed economic model.

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OMA member profile: Kirkland Lake Gold-new mines for old sites

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.

 

Ontario Mining Association member Kirkland Lake Gold is expanding its precious metals production not just at a former mine site but on the foundations of its name sake gold mining community.  Kirkland Lake Gold, which has more than 600 employees, is involved in a $56 million-plus capital expenditure program to increase its gold production from 50,000 ounces per year to 200,000 ounces per year by 2012.

Kirkland Lake Gold from its South Mine Complex is building on the legacy of the ground mined by five of the seven former gold operations that made Kirkland Lake famous and produced more than 24 million ounces of gold.  This is the first time properties in the Kirkland Lake area have been consolidated with a single owner.

The new gold miner controls the five westernmost mine sites in the Kirkland Lake mile of gold.  From west to east, the mines are Macassa, Kirkland Minerals, Tech-Hughes, Lake Shore and Wright-Hargreaves.  The distance from Macassa to Wright-Hargreaves is about seven kilometres.  The Sylvanite Mine, which operated from 1927 to 1961 and the Toburn Mine, which operated from 1913 to 1953, lay to the east of Kirkland Lake Gold’s consolidated property.  

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A national voice for the [Canadian] mining industry [educational initiatives]– by Ryan Montpellier, Gordon Peeling, Tony Andrews

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. This joint column is from the April, 2011 issue. rnoble@canadianminingjournal.com

  • Ryan Montpellier is the Executive Director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR)
  • Gordon Peeling is the President and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC)                                
  • Tony Andrews is the Executive Director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)

In the February issue of the Canadian Mining Journal (CMJ), editor Russell Noble sent out “A call to all Mining Associations”, expressing the need for a national voice in addressing the looming skills shortage faced by the industry. A key question asked was “what are the associations affiliated with mining in Canada doing to help these vacancies?” We were surprised that the editor was not aware of the comprehensive, integrated approach that has been ongoing for some years now, in which industry, government and key stakeholders are very much involved on many levels. Thus the question he posed is relatively easy to answer – unlike the complex issue of the mining skills shortage.

The Mining Industry Human Resource Council’s (MiHR) latest research indicates that the Canadian mining industry will need to hire 100,000 new workers by 2020 to meet the needs from growth in employment and replacement requirements. Rapid and effective solutions are essential. Deloitte wrote an article on this very subject on page 10 of the February issue of the CMJ, with some very valid recommendations which echo aspects of MiHR’s industry-led strategy.

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Corporate Social Responsibility and Bill C-300 – A Post-Mortem – by Paul Stothart

Paul Stothart is vice-president, economic affairs of the Mining Association of Canada. He is responsible for advancing the industry’s interests regarding federal tax, trade, investment, transport and energy issues. This article was published in January, 2011.

Bill C-300, the proposed Corporate Accountability of Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries Act, was defeated in a House of Commons vote on October 27th 2010 by 140 votes to 134.  While this ends the life of Bill C-300, which was originally tabled by Liberal MP John McKay in February 2009, almost two years earlier, this will not spell the end of private members bills (PMBs) on the general issue of corporate accountability.  There are several factors that support a likelihood of future bills on related themes over the coming years. 

First, the notion of advancing social and environmental responsibility in Canada and abroad carries the same controversy as supporting apple pie.  Politicians, companies, the general public, and NGOs are on the same page in this respect and there is no apparent political downside for private members to propose or support legislation toward this end. This was a core reality with respect to Bill C-300, as numerous parliamentarians stated to MAC that they were not willing to be seen as “voting against social progress”, especially on legislation that in their view would not make it through the Senate side of the legislative process in any event.  They could therefore please their political constituents, while remaining confident that the flawed legislation would not actually become law. 

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OMA’s So You Think You Know Mining (SYTYKM) high school video contest entries double in 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 Ontario Mining Association’s high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining has attracted more than 80 high-quality entries for the 2011 edition of the contest.  The deadline was March 31 and the bulk of the two to three minute films were received within the 24-hour window before midnight that day. 

This is more than double the number of entries received in each of the first two years of the competition 2009 and 2010.  The geographic range of the source of these videos showing the benefits of mining through the eyes and talents of high school students greatly expanded.  Teenagers in Mississauga, Markham, Sudbury, London, Timmins, Toronto, Collingwood, Woodstock, Pickering, Terrace Bay, Thunder Bay, Georgetown, Stratford, Clinton, Kingston, Ottawa and other centres have electronically submitted their mining stories.  Ontario’s mining industry is a presence in all areas of the province and all regions of the province are represented by SYTYKM productions.

While the quantity of entries has increased, from a cursory viewing of a portion of the entries, the quality of these productions has also been greatly enhanced.  The judges this year are going to have a difficult time indentifying the winners in each category – Best Overall, Best Directing, Best Writing of an Original Screenplay, Best Music, Best Comedy, Best Animation, Best video in a language other than English and the People’s Choice Award.  The competition is fierce and a lot of talent and creativity is on display in these productions.

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Mining: From “Old Economy” in the 1990s to “Sexy and Strategic” in the 2010s – by Paul Stothart

Paul Stothart is vice president, economic affairs of the Mining Association of Canada. He is responsible for advancing the industry’s interests regarding federal tax, trade, investment, transport and energy issues. This article was published in April, 2011.

It is unlikely that any sector in Canada has undergone a transition in recent decades comparable to that seen within the mining industry. 

The mining sector in the 1980s and 1990s was an afterthought. Mineral prices worldwide were in the dumps. Exploration and prospecting, in effect a form of R&D aimed at finding tomorrow’s stream of commodities, was neglected and the amounts invested were piddling. Attention to attracting new talent to the industry was minimal. 

University mining programs closed. The sector was shunned by Canadian politicians and policymakers as old-school, dark and dirty, and non-technological. Economists and financiers held similar views. Even the leading companies such as Inco and Noranda were viewed as complacent and staid despite being world-leaders in many respects. 

The contrast with Canada’s shining beacons of the day was stark.

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EDITORIAL: Holding [Northern Ontario forestry] tenure hearings only in Toronto ludicrous, disrespectful – by Ron Grech (The Daily Press-April 5, 2011)

Ron Grech is a reporter for The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at  
rgrech@thedailypress.ca

It is yet another show of disrespect and a slap in the face to Northern
residents. Is it any wonder that Northerners’ disdain for Queen’s Park
and the current provincial government is at a near-boiling point?
(Ron Grech-Daily Press, April 5, 2011)

After gaining the Ontario forest industries’ support on the prickly subject of tenure reform, the provincial government lost it again because of contentious wording in the draft legislation that passed second reading just over a month ago.

As it is currently worded, Bill 151 would empower the government to revoke a wood allocation if “the party holding the agreement, licence or commitment is not optimally using the forest resources.”

The industry is concerned that allocating forestry licences based on subjective interpretations of optimal or preferred use opens the door to political pressure.

Nonetheless, Ontario Liberal government seems intent on not only shooting itself in the foot, but severing it off altogether.

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Memo to Drummond and McGuinty: Consolidate Ontario Mining Programs at Laurentian University– by Stan Sudol

Laurentian University

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant who writes extensively on mining issues. stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

The Sudbury Basin itself, is the third most strategic and richest hardrock
mining centre in the world. The four combined mining clusters found in
Sudbury – mineral operations, education, research and supply and
services – are globally unique. (Stan Sudol-April 6, 2011)

Ontario’s mining industry is facing a perfect storm of skills shortages – mining engineers and geologists – at a time of severe provincial budget constraints. These fiscal problems will only diminish the mineral sector’s post-secondary education programs at a time when global economies are experiencing the most extraordinary demands for metal products in the history of mankind – a commodity super cycle.

According to the Mining Industry Human Resource Council’s (MiHR) 2010 Canadian Mining Industry Employment and Hiring Forecast report, under the baseline scenario the Canadian mining industry will need to hire 100,000 new workers by the end of 2020. This is the number of workers required to fill newly created positions and also to meet replacement demand as workers retire or leave the mining industry.

That forecast represents MiHR’s baseline scenario, if commodity prices perform better than expected (the expansionary scenario), the cumulative hiring requirements could reach nearly 135,000 workers by 2020.

Last month in a speech in Calgary, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada remarked, “Commodity markets are in the midst of a supercycle. …Rapid urbanization underpins this growth. Since 1990, the number of people living in cities in China and India has risen by nearly 500 million, the equivalent of housing the entire population of Canada 15 times over. …Even though history teaches that all booms are finite, this one could go on for some time.”

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