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.

The Schulich School of Business at York University is capitalizing on the looming leader shortage in the mining sector by offering a first-of-its-kind MBA specialization in global mining management starting next fall.

The two-year program, expected to be announced Monday, aims to appeal to future executives, investment bankers, analysts and other professionals eyeing a top-level career in the risk-driven resources sector.

“It’s great succession planning for the industry,” said Richard Ross, an executive in residence at Schulich and former chief executive at Inmet Mining Corp. The Toronto-based MBA program is expected to crank out future mining executives at a time when many of the current, often colourful, company founders are poised for retirement. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Vale officials are expected to continue assessing the damage to Creighton Mine this week after a 3.2-magnitude seismic event that occurred about noon Friday. No employees were injured and were all immediately accounted for in refuge stations shortly after the event, said Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson.

Before releasing personnel from those refuge stations, affected areas were cleared for seismicity, according to Vale’s emergency protocol, Robson said Saturday. Employees who were working at the 7,200-level or lower did not return to surface until about 11:30 p.m. Friday.

Activity is being restricted below the 7,200-foot level and activity at the mine’s 6,800- foot level and above is continuing as usual, said Robson. Creighton has been mined for 100 years or more, said retired health and safety activist Homer Seguin. Read the rest of this entry »

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-publishing business magazine in Canada.

To view the report, please visit http://www.deloitte.com/ca/mining-trends

The Canadian Press - The global mining industry is facing a severe labour squeeze, which means companies must be creative in finding enough talent to run their operations, says a report released Sunday by a major professional services firm.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. said there simply are not enough workers to power the huge growth expected in the mining sector — capital expenditures this year are estimated to be US$113 billion, 50 per cent higher than 2010 — and firms must look at unconventional ways to fill the gap, like doing more work remotely.

“Given the acute shortage of key talent, delivering on all these projects may be near impossible,” said the report, called Tracking the Trends 2012. Glenn Ives, Deloitte Canada’s Americas mining leader, said demographics are at the heart of the problem.

“There is a 20-year gap in the mining industry. If you think about it, mining was not that great an industry to join in the 80s and the 90s, and so there weren’t a lot of new graduates joining the mining industry in that time frame,” he said in an interview. Read the rest of this entry »

Deloitte unveils top 10 trends for 2012

To view the report, please visit http://www.deloitte.com/ca/mining-trends

Toronto, November 28, 2011 — Escalating social, economic, and political factors are forcing mining companies in Canada and around the world to incorporate more complex scenarios into their strategic planning, according to a new report from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL). Released today, the report – Tracking the trends 2012 – provides an analysis of the top 10 trends expected to impact the mining sector at an accelerated rate in the year ahead.

“Gone are the days when conversations about commodity prices were confined to industry analysts,” said Glenn Ives, Americas Mining Leader, Deloitte Canada . “As nations around the world industrialize and strive to improve their standards of living, mining has come to take a more central role on the world stage. And for mining companies, this greater visibility comes with greater responsibility.”

“The mining sector is facing a perfect storm of converging global forces,” said Jürgen Beier, Deputy Mining Leader, Deloitte Canada. “Confronted with unrelenting cost inflation, unprecedented commodity price volatility, ever-tightening regulation and mounting labour shortages, mining executives must be willing to seek unconventional solutions.” Read the rest of this entry »

London Free Press http://www.lfpress.com/

“What has changed, too, is the Canadian industry’s assumption
that environmental activism is just a nuisance with no major
political clout. … The issues that have ostensibly delayed
the pipeline are not the heart of the matter. Stopping $120
billion worth of oil-sands development over the next 25 years
is the object of the war.” (Frank Dobbs-London Free Press)

This month’s postponement of a decision on Trans Canada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline by U.S. President Barack Obama cynically removes a controversy from the 2012 presidential election agenda.

For Canada, including Ontario, it’s a game-changer that anti-oil sands activists are celebrating, but which has gob-smacked industry proponents.

What changed is the assurance of ready access to the U.S. crude-oil market. What has changed, too, is the Canadian industry’s assumption that environmental activism is just a nuisance with no major political clout. Read the rest of this entry »

Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/

Part 2 of 2

Critics — and even a key state agency — say the state isn’t getting enough in exchange for the wealth of minerals about to be extracted from the Upper Peninsula.

The state has no severance tax on minerals, as it does on oil, gas and iron mines. The tax is a way to repay Michigan citizens for the value of underground resources removed forever from the state. The state also doesn’t auction mineral leases, as it does for oil and gas.

And finally, the state is getting only paltry sums from its future mines in fees and bonds for permits, potential cleanup costs and oversight.

Financial loopholes in mining are costing the state, some say

When Kennecott Eagle Minerals applied for a permit for its new mine near Big Bay, it paid what state law requires for its application fee: $5,000. Read the rest of this entry »