The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs was founded in November, 1969, by a majority of Indian chiefs in BC, partly in response to the federal government’s 1969 White Paper, which was a blueprint for assimilating Canada’s First Peoples, and partly as an inevitable outcome of a growing conviction of many of our people that our survival in the face of such policies depended upon our ability to work together. The goal of the UBCIC is to support the work of our people, whether at the community, nation or international level, in our common fight for the recognition of our aboriginal rights and respect for our cultures and societies.

October 19, 2011

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Government of Canada

Premier Christy Clark
Province of British Columbia

Dear Prime Minister Harper and Premier Clark:

Re: UBCIC Support for Tsilhqot’in Nation and Call for Rejection of the “New Prosperity” Mine

We are writing with respect to Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) Resolution 2011-35, “UBCIC Support for Tsilhqot’in Nation and Call for Rejection of the “New Prosperity” Mine” which was presented, affirmed and passed by consensus at the UBCIC’s 43rd Annual General Assembly on September 15, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA (October 14, 2011) – Dual-career development paths are being adopted by mining companies to retain knowledge workers as the global competition for talent becomes more fierce, according to a new study, released by the Mining Industry Human Resources Council, in partnership with the Canada Mining Innovation Council.

The two organizations have joined forces to publish Making the Grade: Human Resources Challenges and Opportunities for Knowledge Workers in Canadian Mining. Knowledge workers are a key segment of the mining sector’s workforce and play an essential role in research and innovation. A significant proportion of this group is now nearing retirement age which could lead to a devastating loss of both specialist knowledge and leadership in the sector.

Knowledge workers are typically defined as people who are highly educated, technologically savvy, and engaged in work that leads to the creation of knowledge and innovation. They apply theory and factual knowledge quickly and creatively to solve complex problems with shifting parameters. “Despite their importance, the industry lacks key information about this segment of the workforce throughout all phases of the mining cycle” says Dr Martha Roberts, Director of Research at the Mining Industry Human Resources Council. Read the rest of this entry »

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Toronto— Reuters – Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.  is suspending operations at its Goldex mine at Val d’Or, Que., indefinitely because of water inflow and ground instability, the Canadian gold miner said Wednesday, sending its shares sharply lower.

Toronto-based Agnico will write off its investment in Goldex, resulting in a pretax third-quarter charge of about $260-million (U.S.). On an after-tax basis, the charge will be about $170-million, or $1 a share, the company said.

The writeoff prompted analysts at Credit Suisse and Macquarie to downgrade the stock, while analysts at a number of other brokerage firms lowered their price targets on Agnico-Eagle shares. Dahlman Rose analyst Adam Graf, in a note to clients, said Goldex accounts for roughly 13 per cent of Agnico’s net asset value and about 14 per cent of next year’s gold production.

“This would appear to be a major blow to Agnico-Eagle,” Mr. Graf said. “While Goldex is only a minority of annual production and value, it is nonetheless quite significant.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite. Brenda Bouw is the Globe and Mail mining reporter.

A battle is shaping up between global mining giant Rio Tinto PLC and Canada’s Cameco Corp. over a promising uranium explorer in Saskatchewan, with Cameco under pressure to win as it seeks to double production of its single resource.

London-based Rio has struck a friendly deal to buy Hathor Exploration Ltd. for $578-million or $4.15 a share, topping Cameco’s hostile offer of $3.75 a share made in late August.

The companies are vying for control of Hathor’s assets in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan, where about 20 per cent of the world’s uranium is produced. Both bids come as the price of uranium, used to fuel nuclear power plants, struggles to recover from a slump since the nuclear crisis in Japan last March caused many countries to re-examine their nuclear power programs.

With the long-range belief that nuclear energy will expand in key growth countries such as China and India, Rio is looking to expand its existing uranium operations in Australia and Africa. Its offer for Hathor is the first Rio has made for a Canadian company since its ill-timed purchase of Montreal-based aluminum producer Alcan in 2007, on the eve of the global recession. Read the rest of this entry »

19 October 2011

• Rio Tinto to make an all-cash offer for all the common shares of Hathor for C$4.15 per common share, representing a premium of more than 55 per cent to Hathor’s unaffected closing price on 25 August 2011.

• Hathor’s board unanimously recommends shareholders accept the Rio Tinto offer.

• Hathor directors and senior management have entered into lock-up agreements with Rio Tinto and have agreed to tender all of their common shares to the Rio Tinto offer.

• The acquisition of Hathor bolsters Rio Tinto’s global uranium strategy and complements its current exploration programmes in Saskatchewan and its uranium operations elsewhere in the world. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.  Terence Corcoran is the editor and columnist for the Financial Post section of the National Post.

First Nations appear to threaten B.C. mining over Taseko’s Prosperity mine

The benefits of mining to Canada are well known. A news story in the Financial Post Tuesday suggests the industry’s contribution to the national economy may be too well known, even taken for granted, to the point where nobody much cares if $11-billion worth of GDP growth is blown away in a protracted battle with First Nations groups and environmentalists over Taseko Mines’ gold and copper project in British Columbia.

At the centre of the project, near Williams Lake, some 400 kilometres north of Vancouver, sits Fish Lake, a small 118-hectare body of water. Call it the $300-million lake. That’s the amount of money Taseko Mines has anted up to preserve Fish Lake in response to a Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) claim that the destruction of the lake was grounds for killing the Prosperity mine. At $300-million, or $3-million per hectare, Fish Lake is likely more valuable than Lake Tahoe.

In a 250-page panel review last July, the CEAA could find few problems with Taseko’s open-pit mine project, a $1-billion investment that would create thousands of jobs over a 24-year operating period. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.  pkoven@nationalpost.com 

TORONTO  - The economic benefits appear to be massive. Now the main question is whether the federal government will approve it this time.

Nearly a year after Ottawa rejected Taseko Mines Ltd.’s Prosperity project in central British Columbia, the company is highlighting a third-party economic study that shows the proposed mine would increase real gross domestic product in Canada by $11-billion over the next two decades, while creating an estimated 71,000 jobs.

The study, prepared by the Centre for Spatial Economics, also suggests government revenue would rise by $9.8-billion over the life of the mine, and the B.C. population would grow by an estimated 5,400.

“It just shows you the kind of economic impact one mine can have. It’s unreal,” Taseko chief executive Russell Hallbauer said. Prosperity, 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, is already one of the most controversial mining projects in Canadian history, well before any shovel has been put into the ground. Read the rest of this entry »

October 18, 2011, Vancouver, BC- A new comprehensive economic study of Taseko Mines’ (TSX: TKO; NYSE Amex: TGB) (“Taseko”) proposed $1.5 billion New Prosperity Gold Copper Project located in British Columbia reveals that the project would provide a significant economic stimulus to the economy, and create thousands of new jobs for Canada over its 20 year mine life.

Using a macroeconomic model of the British Columbian economy, The Centre for Spatial Economics (C4SE), who has previously developed Canadian Department of Finance fiscal forecasts, reviewed the New Prosperity Project, starting with the 2013 construction phase and ending with the anticipated 2036 closure of the mine. The conclusions of the report suggest long term contributions to national, provincial and regional economies, including a significant increase in federal and provincial revenues and sustained job growth.

On June 6th, 2011, Taseko Mines responded to an invitation by the Federal government of Canada to submit a revised proposal for the development of its Prosperity Gold and Copper deposit in BC. New Prosperity, the company’s revised plan, includes an additional $300 million in capital investment to limit the mines environmental impact, notably the preservation of Fish Lake. Read the rest of this entry »

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

Premier Christy Clark’s pledge recently to accelerate approvals for mining projects is a rare ray of light in the gloom of economic stagnation.

With weak GDP growth, fiscal deficits, slumping stock markets, high household debt and a slight improvement in personal disposable income for much of the past decade, the prospect of eight new mines opening and another nine expanding by 2015 should prove a game-changer for British Columbia.

These projects are expected to create 1,800 new, well-paid jobs in communities where good jobs are hard to find. The average annual wage in mining last year was $108,100, income that will support families and local businesses and provide tax revenue for government to spend on what people say matters to them, namely health care and education. Besides jobs on and under the ground, mining supports auxiliary jobs in Vancouver and other urban centres where the financing, accounting, regulatory and legal work are done. Read the rest of this entry »

This Speech was given to the Vancouver Board of Trade on September 22, 2011

Check against delivery

Thanks, Dave, for the introduction.

I’d like to acknowledge my caucus members in attendance, as they stand up – please give them a warm round of applause. Iain Black is here today as well.

And most importantly I want to acknowledge all the job creators in the room and that’s you.

You know, my grandfather was a member of the trade delegation that went to Japan with this Board of Trade in 1954. I found this wallet of his from the trip when I was cleaning out some boxes in my garage a couple months ago. He worked for a B.C. small business, Nelson Brothers Fisheries. He was the production manager and he went on this trade mission that flew through Anchorage, Alaska and then on to Japan.

The whole point was to reach out to open new markets and create new jobs in British Columbia. I am really proud he did that, and that the Board of Trade had the foresight to lead that mission in the 1950s. Fifty-seven years later, I am standing here before the same organization to talk about the same thing – new markets, new opportunities and good jobs for families. Read the rest of this entry »

22 September 2011 – Vancouver – The Mining Association of BC commends the provincial government’s Canada Starts Here: The BC Jobs Plan released today. 

Of particular importance to the BC mining sector, the BC jobs Plan proposes a commitment of almost $24 million to natural resource ministries with a goal of reducing the time it takes to get decisions on approvals and permits. The Premier emphasized that this plan could be implemented without compromising BC’s strict environmental standards.

The plan also promises that, in collaboration with the private sector, BC will see eight new mines in operation; nine upgrades and expansions to currently operating mines; and, mining permit backlog (Notices of Work) will be reduced by 80 percent within twelve months noting that once the backlog is dealt with, there will be a new sixty day turnaround to process Notices of Work for mines.

 “The mining industry is very encouraged to see government investing in its internal resources which allow private sector economic activity to occur,” said John McManus, Chair of the Mining Association of BC.  Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver, BC – September 22, 2011 – Today the Association for Mineral Exploration BC (AME BC) applauded the release of Canada Starts Here:  The BC Jobs Plan. In particular, AME BC thanked the provincial government for its commitment of $24 million toward reducing the time it takes to get decisions on approvals and permits for natural resource sectors. This will be done without compromising British Columbia’s world class safety and environmental standards or the requirement to consult with First Nations. The government has stated that once the permit and approval backlog is reduced, the target for turnaround on new “notices of work” for mines will be 60 days.

“Based on high commodity prices, our natural mineral potential, and proximity to Asian markets, BC is experiencing a modern-day gold rush built on safe, responsible and successful exploration,” said Gavin C. Dirom, President and CEO of AME BC. “There are more than 350 mineral exploration projects and 20 major mine projects active in BC. In 2010, we saw a doubling in exploration expenditures, up from $154 million in 2009 to $322 million as well as seeing almost $1.5 billion spent in construction and development of new mines or expansions.  These new mines potentially represent the creation of 10,000 new jobs over the next ten years.”  Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.northernlife.ca/

A Canadian mining blog with a Sudbury connection has chosen as one of the world’s top 10 industry-related blogs.

Mining IQ put RepublicOfMining.com in eighth place on its top ten list of the world’s top mining industry blogs. RepublicOfMining.com is owned and operated by Stan Sudol, a man who now calls Toronto home, but who is a native of Sudbury.

Australia-based Mining IQ, a mining guide and international learning and communications portal, put RepublicOfMining.com on its list of Top 10 Mining Blogs, one of only two Canadian sites to be included.

The publication highlighted the blog’s strong mission statement and the variety of categories readers can choose from, creditting Sudol for his “enlightened approach”. Read the rest of this entry »

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

PREMIER Dalton McGuinty will announce the makeup of his new cabinet today. The election took its toll on both former ministers and Liberal strength and this will likely be reflected in a leaner front bench.
Some ministers would appear to remain locks on their portfolios and Michael Gravelle at Northern Development is surely among them. If not, then who?

Seeking a third term with sinking pre-election popularity back in the summer, a number of ministers declined to run again. Most notable among those was Sandra Pupatello, the former economic development and trade minister, who said she needed new challenges after 16 years at Queen’s Park. One of McGuinty’s most impressive ministers, it would not be surprising to see her seek the party leadership when the premier steps down as expected before the next election.

McGuinty also lost other high-profile politicians prior to the vote, including ministers Monique Smith, Gerry Phillips, David Ramsay and Steve Peters, who was speaker. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.  mwhitehouse@thesudburystar.com

One of Sudbury’s oldest, most storied and most prolific mines is about to be reborn. Victoria Mine near Worthington is likely the largest new mineral deposit found in Sudbury in a generation and will be hard to beat, say Quadra FNX officials.

Appearing before city council Wednesday, Pat Lewis, Quadra’s manager of business relations, said the $750-million, seven-year new mine development represents a significant expansion of Su dbury’s mining infrastructure.

Though Quadra is Sudbury’s third largest miner, it is increasingly becoming a major international player, Lewis said.

In addition to the three projects it already has in Sudbury -Levack Morrison, McCreedy West and Podolsky, all leased from Vale — Quadra is developing the $2.5-billion Sierra Gorda project in Chile. Read the rest of this entry »