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The Northern Miner’s 2000 “Mining Man of the Year” Keith Minty – by Vivian Danielson

Since 1915, the Northern Miner weekly newspaper has chronicled Canada’s globally significant mining sector.

Price spike and exploration success aid turnaround at Lac des Iles

Few mines have endured a rockier road to production than Lac des Iles, Canada’s only primary platinum group metals (PGMs) mine. It is no understatement to say that many viewed its construction as the epitome of industry folly. It is no secret that many thought the maverick mine would never meet expectations. And given the track record since operations began, in the fall of 1994, it is no surprise that, until recently, skeptics mostly had it right.

Lac des Iles had more problems and produced more red ink than most mines, but it also had unrealized potential, and believers who saw the opportunity to prove the skeptics wrong. One of them was Keith Minty, president of North American Palladium (PDL-T), who launched a major exploration effort aimed at expanding the operation, situated near Thunder Bay, Ont. Corporate house-cleaning also took place under his guidance, which better-positioned the company to take advantage of the recent spike in PGM prices. Another major priority was a technical review aimed at improving mining and processing operations.

Lac des Iles is now firmly out of red and into the black, but that is only one of several reasons why The Northern Miner has chosen Keith Minty as its “Mining Man of the Year” for 2000. If mines are made rather than found, he deserves credit for helping Lac des Iles take its rightful place in Canadian mining history.

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The Northern Miner’s 2001 “Mining Man of the Year” Grenville Thomas – by James Whyte

Since 1915, the Northern Miner weekly newspaper has chronicled Canada’s globally significant mining sector.

Perseverance may not always find its reward, but for a mining man and explorationist that knows the North, the development of the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories is a rich reward for persevering for 30-odd years in the Arctic.

Grenville Thomas, our Mining Man of the Year, was the original driving force behind the Diavik project, now under development by Diavik Diamond Mines, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto (RTP-N), and Aber Diamond (ABZ-T), the company Thomas founded. As an explorationist, entrepreneur, and a well-liked and well-respected mining man, Thomas is seeing a long career culminate in one of the biggest successes in recent Canadian mining history.

Welsh-born Thomas came to Canada in 1964 as a young mining engineer and worked for Falconbridge, first at its Sudbury operations and later at the Giant gold mine in Yellowknife. Setting up shop as a consultant, he became a specialist in mineral projects in the Northwest Territories and ultimately assembled a stable of his own properties.

Thomas incorporated Highwood Mines (later Highwood Resources) in 1975, and by 1979 it was a publicly traded junior, with three of Thomas’s Territories prospects — the Thor Lake rare-metals deposit, the Thye Lake copper-nickel deposit, and the Victory Lake massive sulphide property — as its principal assets.

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The Northern Miner’s 2002 “Mining Man of the Year” Goldcorp’s Robert McEwen – by James Whyte

Since 1915, the Northern Miner weekly newspaper has chronicled Canada’s globally significant mining sector.

The Northern Miner’s Man of the Year in 2002, Rob McEwen of Goldcorp (G-T), has probably squeezed more shareholder value out of a small number of assets than anyone else in the gold business.

McEwen, as chairman and chief executive officer of the mid-tier gold producer, has built one of the strongest contenders in that field with an aggressive attitude coupled with an uncommon gift for timing. As a company, Goldcorp has used the resurgence of the gold market as a springboard to top-level status among comparable-sized North American gold producers.

McEwen’s association with the mining industry, and more particularly its financial-markets side, runs deep. His father, Donald, was a financial analyst and investment manager who started his own firm, McEwen Securities, in 1967, after a long association with Equitable Securities and before that, Crown Life. One of the firm’s first in-house offerings was Goldfund, an investment fund that held gold, gold equities, and gold-backed securities. The fund did much to make gold investment available to the individual investor.

The younger McEwen took over leadership of the companies his father had founded, with the keystone company, CSA Management, as the principal holder of control blocks in other companies, including the nascent Goldcorp Investments. Interestingly, today’s firm non-hedger put Goldcorp into the gold-lending business in 1987, at the peak of the flow-through era when gold mines were going into production at a fast pace.

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Aboriginal Community Development with the Resource Sector Annual Conference – Opening Comments – By Hans Matthews, President of the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association

The Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association (CAMA) is an Aboriginal, non-profit organization which seeks to increase the understanding of the minerals industry, Aboriginal mining and Aboriginal communities’ paramount interests in lands and resources.

Developing Minds, Managing Resources – November 2, 2008 (Saskatoon, Canada)

There are now more than 120 agreements in Canada between Aboriginal groups and mining companies. We are at a stage where it has almost become the norm for companies to negotiate agreements to gain access to the community, community lands and to initiate programs and services around environmental management, human resource (HR) development, business development, social planning and so on.

In addition, communities are receiving a share of revenues from mining projects and play a role in certain decision making with the company (generally in HR, environment, infrastructure planning, mine closure, and so on). Many communities, in the past, have not been exposed to such an extent to the mining industry as they are now, given the prominence of the industry (‘super cycle’), consultation requirements (government requirements), land settlement agreements (comprehensive land claim agreements) and impact/benefit type agreements.

As the momentum was created over the past five years in response to record commodity prices, more lands being acquired by resource companies and more Aboriginal communities engaging in benefits agreements with companies, we also saw a significant flaw in the process.

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The Canadian Government’s Flawed Climate Change and Clean Air Plan Avoids Economic Reality – 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.

The climate change issue has always been unique among environmental challenges in that, more than any other issue, it is a direct byproduct of our modern lives.

Other high profile environmental issues generally have a limited set of contributors and an obvious choice of fixes. Depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, for example, implicated emitters of chlorofluorocarbons and was addressed through technological improvements to air conditioners and refrigerators.

Acid rain was caused by pollution from a relative handful of coal-fired power plants and smelters and was addressed through introduction of technologies to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions. Local water pollution problems, such as in the Great Lakes or nearby rivers, also offer relatively easy solutions—invest in better wastewater treatment, some new storm sewers, and a few marine regulations, and the problem is on the way to resolution.

Unfortunately, climate change does not hold the promise of such an easy fix. Indeed, in one critically important respect, it resides at the opposite end of the spectrum from previous environmental challenges. Simply put, climate change is caused not by a few “bad actors” but by the everyday actions of average people.

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The Northern Miner’s 2005 “Mining Person of the Year” – Virginia Gold Mines’ Andre Gaumond

Since 1915, the Northern Miner weekly newspaper has chronicled Canada’s globally significant mining sector.

Intense. Passionate. Tenacious. Shrewd. Visionary. These are the words that come to mind when describing The Northern Miner’s Mining Person of the Year: Andre Gaumond, president and CEO of junior explorer Virginia Gold Mines.

Gaumond is a graduate geological engineer from Laval University in Quebec City and holds a master’s degree in economic geology from Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique.

Early in his mining career, from 1987 to 1990, Gaumond worked as a mining analyst for several financial institutions, including Pemberton Securities and Midland Walwyn.

He then joined Corpomin Management as a technical and financial consultant, where he held management positions in various mineral exploration companies.

In 1993, Gaumond reorganized Virginia Gold Mines, assumed the title of president, and moved its head office to Quebec City — not a mining centre, but a picturesque city, ideal for his young family.

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The Northern Miner’s 2006 “Mining Person of the Year” – Ivanhoe Mines’ Robert Friedland

Since 1915, the Northern Miner weekly newspaper has chronicled Canada’s globally significant mining sector.

The world’s top athletes, scholars, artists and gurus all talk one way or another about the importance of finding and then living in that narrow zone that exists at the very limits of your intellect and abilities. But “working your edge” is a trickier thing in practice: staying too close to the familiar may lead you to stagnation and complacency, while transgressing too far across your normal boundaries can leave you broken and disconnected.

The business world, too, has its share of people who’ve lived and prospered “at the edge,” and we can think of no better example in our own industry than The Northern Miner’s “Mining Person of the Year” for 2006: Ivanhoe Mines executive chairman and founder Robert M. Friedland.

While there were other worthy candidates in this very busy year for the minerals industry, Friedland’s luring of British major Rio Tinto in October into a partnership to develop Ivanhoe’s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia’s South Gobi region struck us as a defining moment in one of the world’s biggest mineral-development success stories of the past decade.

(We’ve been covering Oyu Tolgoi’s astonishingly rapid advancement under Friedland’s direction since we first visited it in 2001, and its latest parameters can be seen on page 2 of this issue. Look next week in these pages for another in-depth, on-site report.)

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The Northern Miner’s 2007 “Mining Persons of the Year” – Agnico-Eagle’s Sean Boyd and Eberhard Scherkus

Since 1915, the Northern Miner weekly newspaper has chronicled Canada’s globally significant mining sector.

No company better embodies the spirit of Canada’s plucky gold mining sector today than Toronto-based Agnico-Eagle Mines, with its technical competence, unshakeable faith in gold, independent streak, and proven ability to execute truly visionary growth.

While Agnico-Eagle’s astonishing success over the past decade is the result of a team effort, the pair who have been leading the company in the boardroom and at the mine site during this exceptional period are the co-winners of our Mining Person of the Year award for 2007: Agnico-Eagle’s vice-chairman and CEO Sean Boyd, and president and chief operating officer Eberhard (Ebe) Scherkus.

Unlike the peripatetic career paths of many in the business, both Boyd and Scherkus have spent most of their working lives at Agnico-Eagle, and have maintained an admirable humility about their lofty positions and seven-figure take-home pay packages, perhaps having been tempered by living through several gold price cycles and seeing fate dish out equal amounts of heartache and glory.

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The Northern Miner’s 2008 “Mining Persons of the Year” – Aurelian Resourses’ Patrick Anderson, Keith Barron, Sephen Leary – by John Cumming

 John Cumming MSc (Geology) is the editor of the Northern Miner, Canada’s global mining newspaper.  jcumming@northernminer.com

Our “Mining Person of the Year” award for 2008 goes to the trio of Patrick Anderson, Keith Barron and Stephen Leary for their leading roles in the discovery, swift development and sale of Aurelian Resources’ spectacular, 13.7-million-oz. Fruta del Norte gold deposit, part of the Condor project in remote, southeastern Ecuador.

All three men are exploration geologists who brought varied backgrounds and plenty of passion to the task at hand at Fruta del Norte (FDN).

Anderson graduated from the University of Toronto’s geology program and, since then, has racked up over 14 years of experience as a geologist, entrepreneur and business executive. He’s worked for a variety of mining and exploration companies and consulting firms on gold, base metals and diamond projects in South America, North America and Europe.

Anderson was co-founder, president, CEO and a director of Toronto-based Aurelian Resources, prior to its takeover by Kinross Gold — a $1.2-billion offer launched in July and completed in September. Anderson now sits on the boards of Noront Resources, Colossus Minerals and U3O8 Corp.

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Mining Association of Canada – Pre-Budget Submission – President and CEO Gordon R. Peeling

December 18, 2008
The Honourable James Flaherty
Minister of Finance
Finance Canada
L’Esplanade Laurier
140 O’Connor Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G5

Dear Minister Flaherty:

I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with the views of the Canadian mining industry in light of the significant turbulence that has affected our sector and the broader global economy in recent months. This follows from our earlier letter, sent to you on August 15th.

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) is the national organization of the Canadian mining industry, comprising companies engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-fabrication. As detailed in our earlier letter, the industry contributed $42 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2007, employed 363,000 workers in the four phases and paid approximately $10 billion in taxes and royalties. While important in remote and northern communities, the industry also generates prosperity in our cities – for example, Toronto features a hub of expertise in mining finance, Vancouver in exploration, Montreal in aluminium and iron ore, Edmonton in oil sands and Saskatoon in uranium and potash. Over 3000 suppliers draw benefit from the industry, including engineering and environmental firms, railroads, ports, and equipment companies.

The mining industry has been severely impacted by the major dislocations seen in the global economy since September. The global nickel price has fallen from over $16 per pound in 2007 to less than $5 at present. Uranium has fallen from $99 to $55, aluminum from $1.20 to $0.80, and copper from $3.20 to $1.70 per pound. US market demand has plummeted and Chinese market demand shows negative signals. Canadian operating mines have been closed, planned mine expansions have been deferred or cancelled, and investment in processing facilities has been postponed. Many important companies have seen stock price declines exceeding 50% and in some cases over 90% – all firms are engaged in serious cost-control measures.

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The Mining Association of Canada

www.mining.ca The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) is a national organization of the Canadian mining industry.  The organization comprises companies engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-fabrication.  Member companies account for the vast majority of Canada’s output of metals and major industrial minerals.   Based in Ottawa, the Mining Association of Canada was …

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Canada Makes a Significant Investment in Geoscience – 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.

During the past five years of strong growth in mineral prices, the mineral exploration community in Canada has been facing an increasingly difficult challenge — namely, how to find resources in promising northern regions where underlying mineral data is either weak or non-existent.

The federal government has been under-investing in its geological mapping responsibilities for some 20 years, with annual spending declining from $98 million in 1988 to $50 million in 2007. This decline has been equally dramatic at the provincial and territorial government levels. One interesting consequence of this neglect is that some 73 per cent of Nunavut, for example, is unmapped or poorly mapped and, at present investment levels, the first full mapping of the territory would not be finished for 80 years.

Given such a weak foundation of data, private companies are less able to undertake effective exploration programs. While exploring for minerals is, to some extent, akin to “searching for a needle in a haystack,” it is the public policy investment in basic geological survey work that allows those accessing the data to at least find where the haystacks are. In view of the high level of interest in diamonds, uranium, base metals and other northern resources, one must question the public good served by this pattern.

Questions of national sovereignty in the North are also raised by this under-investment.

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Good News Gold, Bad News Base Metals – by Marilyn Scales

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Let’s start with the really good news. Agnico-Eagle Mines of Toronto has declared its 27th consecutive annual cash dividend. The payment of US$0.18 per common share will be made on March 27, 2009, to shareholders of record as of March 13, 2009. 

Hearing from an optimistic miner in these times is very good news, indeed.

“Agnico-Eagle enters 2009 with a strengthened balance sheet and the expectation that over the next 15 months we will complete the construction of three more gold mines. We also anticipate further increases in gold reserves and resources in 2009 as we continue with an extensive exploration program on our large gold deposits”, said Sean Boyd, vice-chairman and CEO. “We also look forward to providing the results of our ongoing studies on four internal production growth opportunities that give the potential to enhance our superior growth beyond 2010,” he added.

Agnico is in the enviable position of doubling its gold output next year and doubling it again to 1.2 million oz in 2010. Cash costs are expected to be less than US$300/oz in 2010, and only US$320/oz from 2010 to 2018. 

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Caterpillar Funds Sustainable Mining Movie at Science North -by Nick Stewart

This article was first published in Northern Ontario Business, a newspaper that has been providing northerners with relevant and insightful editorial content, business news and information for over 25 years.

Students around the world may soon be viewing and discussing Ground Rules, an educational film detailing the positive side of mining, crafted by Science North and commissioned by equipment giant Caterpillar.

Dan Hellige, manager of safety and sustainable development with Caterpillar’s global mining group, says the movie was necessary so as to highlight the more positive elements of the sector. “I have a niece, who in the Fifth Grade, read
Al Gore’s book, An Inconvenient Truth, in the classroom so they’re really only getting the one side of the story a lot of the time about what’s going on with industry and business,” says Hellige.

“We felt like it was a good time to tell the other side of the story, especially for the mining industry’s efforts and what they put in.”

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Euphoria and the Mining Law of Gravity – by Norm Tollinsky

Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This column was originally published in December, 2008 edition.

ntollinsky@sudburyminingsolutions.com

Euphoria pretty well summarizes the state of the mining industry in 2008 and the mood in the Ontario mining cluster of Sudbury, Timmins and North Bay. Our cover story this issue provides an overview of the capital investments, the spending on exploration and the impact of all this activity on the region’s mining suppliers. It’s a head-spinning story, but anyone who has ever been on a roller coaster ride or has been in the mining industry for more than five years knows that life and commodity prices don’t always follow an upward trajectory.

The last time the world’s mining community gathered at MINExpo in 2004, nickel was selling for a little more than $5 a pound. It peaked at more than $20 in early 2007 and remained above $12 until May, when it started to slide. At press time, it was holding steady at a still respectable $8.

Storm clouds caused by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, rising oil prices and the woes in the auto industry notwithstanding, commodity prices are holding their own and the mining industry continues to invest.

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