Republic of Mining

11 bridges lead visitors on tour of Alberta’s coal mining past – by Dan Healing (Canadian Press/CBC News Calagary – September 30, 2019)

October 1, 2019

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/

Located 15 kilometres south of Drumheller, Wayne is a link to the not-so-distant past

There’s something about the last few kilometres through a deep-sided canyon to the western ghost town of Wayne, Alta., that Edmonton motorcyclist Ron Woodford just can’t get enough of.

The Harley-Davidson enthusiast got a taste for the road that follows the winding Rosebud River over 11 single-lane bridges in the 1990s when massive motorcycle rallies were held in Wayne — but he keeps coming back, more than a decade after those events ended.

“I’m kind of addicted. There’s something special when you ride into that chasm on a motorcycle,” he says, adding the lack of Wi-Fi and cellphone coverage adds to the quiet of the place.

Canada ready to provide vital minerals to U.S., Trudeau says – by Robert Fife and Marieke Walsh (Globe and Mail – September 29, 2019)

October 1, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says Canada is ready and willing to supply the United States with strategically important minerals used in consumer and industrial products as Washington steps up efforts to cut its dependence on China.

At a White House meeting in late June, Mr. Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to negotiate a joint strategy on mineral collaboration. The United States is also seeking alliances with Australia, Japan and the European Union, which also fear relying too much on China for these minerals.

“I brought up this at the top of my conversation in my last meeting with Donald Trump, where I highlighted that Canada has many of the rare-earth minerals that are so necessary for modern technologies,” Mr. Trudeau told a news conference on Monday in Toronto. The rare earths are 17 minerals used in high-tech and military products such as smartphones, electric cars and fifth-generation fighter jets.

Column: Falling output and stocks fail to halt aluminium price slide – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – October 1, 2019)

October 1, 2019

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Global aluminium production is contracting this year. Cumulative output in the first eight months of 2019 slid by 0.6% to 42.5 million tonnes with production down in both China, the world’s dominant producer, and the rest of the world, according to the International Aluminium Institute (IAI).

If the trend continues, this will be the first year since 2009 to see a simultaneous production decline in both halves of the aluminium universe.

Visible inventory, meanwhile, has fallen to multi-year lows. Total stocks registered with the London Metal Exchange (LME) last week slipped below 900,000 tonnes for the first time since 2008, while Shanghai Futures Exchange stocks are at two-year lows.

Gems, Warlords and Mercenaries: Russia’s Playbook in Central African Republic – by Dionne Searcey (New York Times – September 30, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/

After meddling in the 2016 American election, Russia is using similar tactics in the Central African Republic. But as it sows political chaos, this time it is also seeking diamonds.

BANGUI, Central African Republic — The dealer pulled back a shiny pink curtain and sprinkled the contents of two white envelopes across his desk: sparkling diamonds, more than 100 of them.

Some gems are sold legally, he explained. But many are trafficked by rebels who fight over the mines, adding fuel to a six-year uprising that has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people here in the Central African Republic. Now, hoping to wrest control over the diamond trade and piece the country back together, the government has turned to a new partner — Russia — in what some lawmakers fear is a dangerous bargain that trades one threat for another.

Russian mercenaries have fanned out across the nation to train local soldiers. A former Russian spy has been installed by the Central African president as his top security adviser. Russians shuttled warlords to peace talks with the government, helping lead to a deal with more than a dozen armed groups to stop fighting.

How Saudi attacks could be the spark global investors need to return to Canada’s oilpatch – by Geoffrey Morgan (Financial Post – September 25, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

Sure we have regulatory headaches, but they pale in comparison to the turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney could not have timed his trip to New York to glad-hand with major American bankers and investment managers any better.

Kenney spent three days in mid-September taxiing around Midtown Manhattan to pump up Alberta’s oil industry at 13 meetings with major funds such as private-equity giant Riverstone Holdings LLC and events organized by finance boutiques Peters & Co. Ltd. and AltaCorp Capital Inc.

The trip, which was booked well ahead of time, occurred while the world was in turmoil following high-precision missile attacks on Abqaiq, the world’s largest oil-processing facility and one that handles 60 per cent of Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s production (better known as Saudi Aramco).

Canada, U.S. drafting plans to curb China’s dominance in critical rare-earth minerals – by Robert Fife, Steven Chase and Daniel LeBlanc (Globe and Mail – September 30, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada and the United States are drawing up plans to reduce their reliance on China for rare-earth minerals that are critical to high-tech and military products, such as smartphones and fighter jets.

The “joint action plan” – now being drafted by senior Canadian and U.S. officials – will be presented to the political party that forms the next government after the Oct. 21 election, according to a federal briefing document obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The document says the action plan should include defence funding for critical-minerals projects and strategic investments in North American processing facilities, as well as greater research and development in extraction of these rare-earth materials.

RPT-COLUMN-Gold may keep Australia the “lucky country” if commodity exports stumble – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – September 30, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://uk.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Is Australia the ultimate commodity hedge? When looking at the country’s natural resources the focus tends to be as its status as the world’s biggest exporter of iron ore and liquefied natural gas (LNG), and its competition with Indonesia as the top shipper of coal.

But this ignores that Australia is also the world’s second-largest gold producer after China, giving its export earnings from resources a hedge should growth commodities start to suffer as a result of a slowing global economy.

In effect, Australia is the also world’s largest gold exporter, given China is still a significant net gold importer. The importance of gold to Australia was underlined in the latest Resources and Energy Quarterly, released on Monday by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

SpaceX Unveils Silvery Vision to Mars: ‘It’s Basically an I.C.B.M. That Lands’ – by Kenneth Chang (New York Times – September 29, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/

“Mr. Musk originally had planned to use high-tech carbon fiber,
but switched to denser stainless steel. It is cheaper, easier to
work with, becomes stronger in the ultracold temperatures of space
and has a higher melting temperature that can more easily withstand
the heat of re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.”

BOCA CHICA VILLAGE, Tex. — As you drive east along Texas State Highway 4, it looks like a giant, shiny and pointy grain silo is rising out of the scrubby flatland at the tip of southern Texas. But it is the first version of a spaceship design that Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and founder of the rocket company SpaceX, hopes will be humanity’s first ride to Mars.

Within a month or two, he says optimistically, this prototype of the Starship spacecraft — without anyone aboard — will blast off to an altitude of 12 miles, then return to the ground in one piece.

“It’s going to be pretty epic to see that thing take off and come back,” Mr. Musk said late on Saturday at a SpaceX facility outside Brownsville, Tex., where Starship is being built.

Osisko Gold CEO says recent deal will pay off despite criticisms – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 30, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. is grappling with sharp criticism and a big drop in its share price over its recent acquisition of a junior mining company, but chief executive officer Sean Roosen is adamant the deal will pay off for shareholders over the long term.

Shares in Oskiso fell by more than 20 per cent last week after the Montreal-based company announced it was buying the 67.4 per cent of development-stage company Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. it didn’t already own in an all-stock transaction worth $227-million.

Osisko’s business model historically has been heavily skewed toward owning royalties and streams on gold companies, with just a small portion of its capital tied up in equity stakes of juniors. Royalty and streaming companies provide financing to mining companies developing new projects in exchange for payments tied to production or a share of production.

How to build Ontario: First Nations need clean water – by Jon Thompson (TV Ontario – September 27, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://www.tvo.org/

Sixteen First Nations in the riding of Kenora have no access to clean water. What is the federal government doing about it?

THUNDER BAY — On September 12, a pump at the water facility on Neskantaga First Nation broke, plunging the community — which has been under a boil-water advisory since 1994, longer than any other community in the country — into crisis. The supply slowed to a trickle; in some homes, it stopped entirely. The unchlorinated water that did flow was, according to residents, unsafe even for bathing: residents reported headaches, stomach problems, and rashes after contact.

Two days later, the chief and council declared a state of emergency and organized an air evacuation of 219 residents to Thunder Bay, 450 kilometres to the west. “We had to [evacuate] because people were mostly scared.

They’re traumatized already from the water,“ said Neskantaga councillor Allan Moonias. “Mostly everyone in Neskantaga has an illness, and that’s coming from the water. That’s what people have to understand: it’s the water causing our illness.”

How to build Ontario: The north needs roads – by Sean Marshall (TV Ontario – September 25, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://www.tvo.org/

ANALYSIS: To boost the region’s economy, meet the challenges of climate change, and provide access to First Nations communities, experts say we need to invest in road infrastructure.

In January 2016, a bridge over the Nipigon River failed. Located roughly 100 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, it forms part of the Trans-Canada Highway — when it was closed after bolts snapped, causing decking to rise 60 centimetres, the highway’s east-west link was severed. “This is the one place in Canada where there is only one road, one bridge across the country,” said Nipigon mayor Richard Harvey.

The only alternative route was through the United States. Truck drivers were stranded in towns such as Greenstone, which issued a state of emergency until temporary repairs could be completed. (The cable-stayed bridge — Ontario’s first — is now complete and has separate spans for eastbound and westbound traffic.)

Across Canada, governments invest in road infrastructure to boost trade and tourism and to improve safety and travel times. In southern Ontario, major highway projects underway include the completion of Highway 407 through Durham Region, a new alignment of Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener, and the widening of Highway 400 between Vaughan and Barrie. But in northern Ontario, where the road network is sparse, highways are an essential lifeline.

Canada simply can’t have an adult conversation about oil and climate – by Kelly McParland (National Post – September 26, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://nationalpost.com/

The climate debate is failing in Canada because it isn’t realistic. We’re a big country shackled by small thinking. We lack leadership, judgment and nerve

Is anything more convoluted and contradictory than the politics of oil? Or more bizarre than our refusal to face it?

Consider this: Canada has the ability to get off imported oil. We produce about twice as much each day as we use. It would be difficult, but not impossible, to ensure that, as Green party leader Elizabeth May suggests: “As long as we are using fossil fuels we should be using our fossil fuels.”

Self-sufficiency would have real environmental and economic benefits. It would ensure security of supply, and bring all production under domestic regulation. We can’t control how Saudi Arabia, Nigeria or Venezuela handle their production, but an all-Canadian market would ensure every barrel had to meet domestic environmental standards.

China steel, iron ore rise on hopes of demand recovery – by Enrico Dela Cruz (Reuters India – September 30, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://in.reuters.com/

MANILA, Sept 30 (Reuters) – China’s steel and iron ore futures jumped in early trade on Monday, with construction material rebar up more than 4%, after the country’s central bank vowed to step up efforts to lift a slowing economy.

While spot markets have been generally quiet since last week ahead of a long holiday in China, sentiment got a further boost from a private business survey showing China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in 19 months in September.

The most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, with January 2020 expiry, rose as much as 4.3% to 3,580 yuan ($502.74) a tonne. Hot-rolled steel coil, used in cars and home appliances, jumped up to 2.2% to 3,527 yuan a tonne.

The Liberals’ 2050 net-zero carbon vow is pure delusion – by Rex Murphy (National Post – September 28, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://nationalpost.com/

When leaders and adults willingly give subservience to the frenzy of children, the points of the rational compass are scrambled

It’s good to see the Prime Minstrel, as some wit on Twitter termed him, back on familiar waters. In their desperate fervour to chase away the images of Justin Trudeau in blackface, this week the Liberal campaign brought him out in a more familiar guise, paddling about on some sweet lake, and returning to the one element of his ferociously “woke” brand, P.M. Climate Superman, not in tatters.

The image could not have been more bucolic — the lone Voyager for Global Warming. Add a hooting owl or two on the soundtrack and another loon skipping along on the water and we’d be back to those classic Hinterland’s Who’s Who vignettes of the ’60s and ’70s.

He may have sworn off costumes and cosmetics, but it was clear from this little parable on film that campaigning by photo-op is still very much in the Liberal arsenal. It was the Liberal campaign’s way of signalling that there was still some gas (so to speak) in Mr. Trudeau’s global warming credentials.

Gold puts a silver lining on trade war’s commodity clouds – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – September 30, 2019)

September 30, 2019

https://www.afr.com/

Resources minister Matt Canavan has urged financial institutions to invest in the Australian mining sector as trade tensions cloud the outlook for several of the nation’s most important commodities.

Although it still expects the value of Australian commodity exports to hit a record high of $282 billion in fiscal 2020, the Department of Industry has shaved its June export value forecast by 1.1 per cent following falling prices for iron ore, coal and liquefied natural gas over the past four months.

The department said a ”further modest slowdown” in the global economy was likely, as a range of geopolitical issues such as Brexit add to the trade tensions caused by US President Donald Trump’s trade war against China.