The fundamentals underpinning the positive secular trend for our sector remain intact.
Urbanisation and industrialisation of one third of the world’s population in populous
developing countries such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia, continues apace despite
the financial crisis and the slow but ongoing recovery underway in the OECD.- Xstrata
CEO, Mick Davis, May 11, 2010

An accompanying slide deck is available here: http://www.xstrata.com/content/assets/pdf/x_speech_201005111_boaml.pdf

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

At the outset I would like to record my thanks to our hosts Bank of America Merrill Lynch
for their invitation and for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts on the state
of the mining industry and Xstrata today.

It seems that each time I stand here before you the industry is buffeted by a set of
forces which, apart from keeping boredom at bay, are increasing the level of complexity
for investors and management alike. Interestingly, the majority of these forces have
their source in some kind of government or political initiative. But such is the law of
unintended consequences that these government interventions often result in a poor
outcome for all.

Let us not forget, for example, that while bankers are quite rightly criticised for their
role in the global financial crisis, some of the roots of the crisis lay in a politically
inspired intervention designed to broaden home ownership and sub-prime mortgage
provision was encouraged and for some mandated. I have no doubt the US
politicians had not the faintest inkling that their well-intended intervention in the supply
of credit to the housing market would be a key factor in the deepest global recession
since the Great Depression, the after-effects of which we will experience for many years
to come. Read the rest of this entry »

Xstrata Nickel CEO Ian Pearce

The following excerpt by Xstrata Nickel Chief Executive Officer Ian Pearce is from the 2010 Xstrata Nickel sustainability report. The full report is available at: Our Approach to Sustainability-Xstrata Nickel

DEAR STAKEHOLDERS,

At Xstrata Nickel, we recognize sustainability as fundamental to our long-term success and connected to everything we do. We believe that we must take a principled approach to doing business and continually balance economic, social and environmental considerations in order to create value today and for generations to come. To this end, we have clearly defined Xstrata Nickel’s Vision and Values, as well as a set of Behaviours and Leadership Traits, to guide our actions in all circumstances and through all business cycles.

These guiding principles shaped our responses during the global economic crisis of the past couple of years, as customer demand collapsed. We made some bold decisions in placing sites on care and maintenance and deferring certain growth projects in order to ensure that Xstrata Nickel remained financially robust while preparing for the future. As a result, the organization now operates from a much lower cost base. We are also developing and optimizing a leading growth portfolio through projects such as Nickel Rim South and Koniambo, and have attractive future growth options at Kabanga, Fraser Morgan, Sinclair and other projects.

As we restructured our business, our first priority was to ensure that displaced employees were treated fairly and respectfully. In places such as the Dominican Republic, we stepped up our tree-planting program and were able to offer many employees jobs planting trees instead of mining. In Sudbury, we offered early retirement incentive programs to lessen the impact of moving high cost, end-of-life mines to care and maintenance.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Montpellier is the Executive Director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR)

On September the 17th, the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, announced funding of $1 million to the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) in support of mining-related labour market information (LMI), under the Council’s Mining Workforce Information Network (MIWIN) project. The funding will be used to build a counter cyclical strategy for industry, enhance supply side information and establish a mining LMI centre of excellence, all requested by industry. 

Launched in 2007, MIWIN now provides accurate and timely labour-market information to the mining industry and its stakeholders. This entails forecasting future hiring requirements in the sector, by occupation and region, based on a number of factors including productivity, turnover, retirement rates and fluctuations in commodity prices — the largest driver of employment in the sector. 

The Canadian mining industry faces several labour market challenges and tens of thousands of skilled positions must be filled in the next decade to keep the industry robust. Despite impressive increases in the participation of various demographic groups (e.g., Aboriginal peoples, women and new Canadians), employers are still faced with an aging workforce and a looming labour shortage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Russian Hydrology Student Yulia Orlova at De Beers Canada's Victor Diamond Mine

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.

Russian graduate student Yulia Orlova hopes to take lessons she is learning about muskeg at De Beers Canada’s Victor Mine home to better understand the dynamics of  Siberian peatlands.  She came to Canada last year and started her Masters in Geography at the University of Toronto.  Ms. Orlova is researching the impact of mine dewatering and mercury in peatlands under the direction of U of T professor Brian Branfireun.  This is one of the major research projects De Beers Canada’s Victor Mine is helping to sponsor.   

The 26 year old native of St. Petersburg graduated from St. Petersburg State University with a degree in hydrology.  She worked for three years both for the Russian government and a non-governmental environmental agency before continuing her studies in Canada. 

“There is expertise in Canada on peatlands and funding support and there were more opportunities to do research in my area.” – Russian Hydrology Student Yulia Orlova

“I wanted to come to Canada to study here,” said Ms. Orlova.  “There is expertise in Canada on peatlands and funding support and there were more opportunities to do research in my area.”  To complete her thesis on the hydrology of the James Bay lowlands, she collects and tests water samples from streams around the mine site and carries out analysis of the results and examines water chemistry.

Along with the academic component of her studies, Ms. Orlova, like all students and professors on the Victor site, is regularly engaged in safety training and orientation sessions.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a Graphic Picture of Ontario’s Elliot Lake

A billion-dollar order for uranium
A $300-million spending spree to fill it
A lawless horde of transients
A Communist struggle to control mine workers
A serious outbreak of disease

Just off the Trans-Canada Highway skirting Lake Huron’s north shore, a buried vein of ore snakes north through the Algoma Basin in the shape of an upside-down S. It curves for ninety miles beneath the pineclad granite knolls, a mother lode that is spawning eleven giant uranium mines in the greatest eruption of growth since gold gave birth to Dawson City.

The hub of these mines is a chaotic city-to-be called Elliot Lake. Twenty-two months ago it was just a stand of timber dividing two lakes, so wild that a bulldozer leveling brush ran over a large black bear. Today it’s a prime example of a boom town, familiar symbol of dynamic growth – and trouble.

For a couple of months this spring Elliot Lake made headlines that had nothing to do with uranium. An outbreak of jaundice packed ninety victims into nearby Blind River’s 59-bed hospital. About three hundred cases were reported before the disease began to wane early last month. Provincial health officials insisted that the outbreak did not rate as an epidemic while union officials were demanding the mines shut down until the sewage system was improved.

Infectious disease is an age-old bugbear of the boom town, which has its other ageless features. It is the nation in miniature with its time span speeded up as in a silent movie. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sudbury-based Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) conducts research and development for the mining sector. CEMI strives to establish excellence in strategic areas of research such as deep mining, mineral exploration, integrated mine engineering, environmental and sustainability as highlighted in the 2009 Annual Report (www.miningexcellence.ca). CEMI is becoming an international centre for world-class, industry-focused research and innovation, advancing state-of-the-art concepts, processes and methodologies in support of the regional, national and international exploration and mining industries, and providers of mining services and supplies.

Sudbury, ON – On September 8, 2010, the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), held its third Annual General Meeting (AGM) which highlighted the significant progress made by the organization in advancing mineral exploration and mining-related research during the past year. CEMI proudly announced that mining veteran, Doug Morrison will be joining the CEMI team as the Deputy Director. Mr. Morrison will begin his duties on November 1st, 2010.

As Deputy Director, one of Mr. Morrison’s objectives will be to build stronger relationships and effective collaboration among Ontario’s mining Research & Development (R&D) agencies, and from there, with national and international organizations. Over the years, he has worked with Canadian industry, academic and government research institutions, including CAMIRO, MIRARCO, and CEMI, to deliver innovation to the mining industry, and it is anticipated this will enable CEMI to expand the range of technical issues supported through R&D.

Mr. Morrison has 15 years experience in underground mine operations, and 15 years working as a consultant, including four years as global mining leader for Golder Associates, bringing international experience and a broad understanding of all of the issues confronting the industry globally.

Read the rest of this entry »

David Hill is director and senior advisor of GMG Consulting Services. Reach him at david@gmgconsulting.ca. He has over 18 years of experience as a manager, senior policy advisor, project manager, program developer, communications coordinator and issues management advisor to the provincial government, Aboriginal communities and organizations, and private sector clients across British Columbia. He is a highly skilled and experienced facilitator, trainer, supervisor, planner, public speaker and writer and has professional training in project management and public speaking.

In addition to his direct experience with Aboriginal communities, Hill has also worked as a senior advisor and manager for Aboriginal relations for the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, during which time he facilitated engagement between Aboriginal communities and the mining and petroleum development industries, and negotiated consultation, accommodation and benefit sharing agreements between Aboriginal communities and the provincial government.

Commentary

British Columbia’s first agreements to share mining revenue with three First Nations are being hailed as “game changers” and “the new standard for participation.”

These are indeed important agreements to be celebrated, and the leaders of the Stk’emlupsemc and Tk’emlups First Nations and the McLeod Lake Indian Band who negotiated the Economic Development Agreements should be commended for their efforts and the benefits they are bringing to their communities.  First Nations communities and their members deserve to benefit from an industry that generates more than $300 million a year in tax revenues and royalties in British Columbia.

However, the agreements touted by the Government as “historic”, should not necessarily represent the new standard.

In fact, there is a serious flaw in the system. Read the rest of this entry »

Wendy Stueck is a reporter for the Globe and Mail, 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.

Aboriginals and pro-development groups are on a collision course as they await decision on $800-million B.C. mining project

On the surface, Fish Lake looks serene – a sun-dappled body of water where fish jump in the shadows of snow-capped mountains.

But this lake, about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake in British Columbia’s rugged Chilcotin Territory, is the heart of a battle that has put the federal and provincial governments on a collision course, pitted predominantly aboriginal concerns about the environment against the prospect of jobs and investment in a hard-pressed region, and raised fears of violent confrontations if a proposed mine goes ahead.

The federal government  is to make a final decision on the proposed Prosperity copper-gold mine, which the B.C. government has already approved, as early as this month. Read the rest of this entry »

Linda Diebel is a National Writer 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 on Saturday, September 11, 2010.

A coalition of environmental groups is fighting to set a national precedent by stopping Brazilian mining giant Vale from dumping 400,000 tonnes a year of toxic tailings into a Newfoundland lake known for its prize-winning trout.

“Sandy Pond is a wonderful, beautiful lake and all aquatic life is going to be annihilated,” said Meera Karunananthan, national water campaigner for the Council of Canadians and a member of the newly-created Sandy Pond Alliance. “The authorities are allowing the company to use our pristine water as one big garbage dump.”

Vale plans to use the lake for waste from a nickel processing plant, set to open in 2013. It’s located near Long Harbour on the Avalon Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland, about an hour’s drive from St. John’s.

The environmental alliance recently filed a legal challenge in federal court to what they see as a loophole in the Fisheries Act. It allows Canadian lakes to be reclassified as “tailings impoundment areas.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Carrie Tait is a reporter for the  National Post, Canada’s second largest national paper. This article was originally published on August 21, 2010.

Alberta’s oil sands are twice the size of England. Alberta’s oil sands tailings ponds are, collectively, the size of Washington State. Alberta’s oil sands help subsidize continued wars of aggression against other oil-producing nations such as Iraq, Venezuela and Iran.

These three statements all make Janet Annesley’s Top 10 list, a David Letterman-inspired collection of the most egregious falsehoods against the oil sands. As the vice-president of communications for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), she is on the front lines of a he said/she said public relations war.

The oil-sands industry, she concedes, has been getting creamed.

“We were caught flat-footed,” she said. “The oil-and-gas industry was not being effective in engaging Canadians because it didn’t have the ability to connect with them emotionally.”

Indeed, organizations have been taking pot shots — as well as making reasonable and fair critiques — at the oil-sands industry for years. They reached out to citizens on an emotional level. But the industry’s wonky technical rebuttals went ignored.

Now, after two years of revamping its PR strategy, CAPP hopes it can trump, even pre-empt, its critics’ charges.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jon Baird, Past President of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), gave this speech to the Economic Club of Canada on June 23, 2009

Check against delivery

Thank you for your generous introduction, Bill. In a 2007 speech here at the Economic Club, National Chief Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of First Nations didn’t pull any punches.

He opened his talk by describing the poverty, suffering and frustration that too many of his people live with.
He called for businesses to join the AFN’s Corporate Challenge and work together with First Nations to help address long standing problems and alleviate poverty. The National Chief described the resource industry as a natural partner for First Nations and called on both groups to work together for their mutual benefit.

So it’s fitting that the PDAC is here today to publicly introduce our new corporate social responsibility initiative, e3 Plus: A Framework for Responsible Exploration.

Aboriginal people and Europeans have been working together on the hunt for minerals in Canada since Jacques Cartier arrived here 500 years ago looking for, he said, “gold, rubies and other gems.”

The PDAC marks the industry’s long connection with Aboriginal people with the Skookum Jim Award, which is presented at our convention in Toronto every March. It recognizes Aboriginal achievement in the industry. Skookum Jim was a Tagish man who led the group that discovered gold in the Klondike in 1896 and touched off the Yukon gold rush.

Those of you outside the mining community may not be aware of how closely geoscientists in this country work with First Nations people. Read the rest of this entry »

Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This article is from the September, 2010 issue.

A recently published study on the Northern Ontario mining supply and service sector confirms that it is a key engine of growth and a strategic asset with unrealized potential for the regional economy.

The Northern Ontario Mining Supply and Services Study, commissioned by the Ontario North Economic Development Corporation (ONE-DC) and carried out by Ottawa-based Doyletech Corp., estimated the total value of the sector’s output at $5.6 billion annually.

“The study firmly establishes the credibility and value of the mining supply and service industry in Northern Ontario by a third party,” said Dick DeStefano, executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA). “Prior to the study, we had been using numbers we extrapolated from various sources, so this finally puts us where we thought we were and confirms that we’re one of the largest wealth creators in Northern Ontario.”

Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry and by FedNor, the federal government’s economic development agency for Northern Ontario, the study identified approximately 500 companies and organizations with 23,000 employees that derive more than 50 per cent of their revenue from the sale of mining supplies and services. Counting companies that derive less than 50 per cent of their revenues from mining supplies and services boosts the value of the sector to close to $7 billion, said DeStefano. Read the rest of this entry »

This interesting list of major American mining disasters came from environmental scientist Ron Delfs’ blog on Environmental Science Degrees http://www.environmentalsciencedegrees.net/blog/

The recent attempts to rescue 33 trapped miners from the San Jose Mine in Copiapo, Chile have once again brought mining safety concerns to the forefront of our consciousness. Earlier this year, the United States experienced its worst mining disaster in 40 years when 29 miners were killed in Montcoal, West Virginia during the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion. Regardless of whether the site is located in a first world or developing country, mining has always been an extremely dangerous job in which the risk of death is ever-present. Since the beginning of the 20th century, thousands of Americans have been killed in mining accidents. Here are 10 major mining disasters that occurred in the states. The high death tolls are indicative of an era of carelessness and primitive technology.

1. Scofield – 1900
Utah’s first great mining disaster, the Scofield Mine disaster, became America’s worst at the time. At least 200 miners were killed as an accumulation of coal dust caused a massive explosion that was said to have thrown a miner standing near the opening of the mine 820 feet. The state cleared the mine operators of blame and the Pleasant Valley Coal Company continued operating for 23 more years.

2. Monongah – 1907
The Monongah explosion of West Virginia is the worst mining disaster in American history, resulting in the deaths of 362 miners. The sole survivor was Peter Urban, who suffered the death of his twin brother and died in a cave-in 19 years later. The disaster is said to have been caused by the ignition of methane, which led to the ignition of coal dust. It’s unknown how the methane was ignited, but it has been theorized that a dynamite blast or open lamp may have been to blame.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA). His column was originally published in Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. destefan@isys.ca

The recent Doyletech study of the mining supply & service sector provided significant data indicating that this sector has close to 500 companies in Northern Ontario that sell more than 50 per cent of their products and services to mining companies. This is a large industrial sector within this important geographical region. Results demonstrate that this sector created more than 23,000 jobs and generated more than $5.6 billion in gross sales in 2008.

The six months of face-to-face interviews of over 150 companies established this industry sector as a vital contributor to wealth and employment in the four major cities of Northern Ontario.

Read the rest of this entry »