January 4, 2012 – Republic of Mining

ONTARIO NDP NEWS RELEASE: First Nations injunction win shows why Province must consult: Vanthof

January 4, 2012

[John Vanthof is the MPP for Timiskaming – Cochrane]

January 4, 2011

TEMISKAMING SHORES — Today, after Wahgoshig First Nation won an injunction to prevent a junior mining company, Solid Gold Resources, from continuing exploration on Wahgoshig territory without proper consultation, Timiskaming – Cochrane MPP John Vanthof strongly criticized the McGuinty government’s failure to fulfill its obligations to consult with First Nations.

“By ignoring First Nations at the outset of the exploration process, the government is in fact slowing down mine development and hindering economic opportunities throughout the province,” added Vanthof. “It benefits all Northerners to ensure resource development is done in a way that maximises economic benefits and sustainability for local communities. That means better consultation and accommodation from the outset, not lengthy legal battles.”

“Lack of action from the government forced Wahgoshig First Nation to appeal to the courts to settle a dispute which could have been avoided altogether through proper consultation,” said Vanthof.

MINING WATCH NEWS RELEASE: Diamonds and Development: Attawapiskat and the Victor Diamond Mine

November 5, 2015January 4, 2012

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

Thursday, December 15, 2011

In the last two weeks there has been an intense media storm around the current housing crisis in Attawapiskat, a remote Cree community on the coast of James Bay. The crisis is occurring in the context of many long-standing issues that are certainly not unique to Attawapiskat. Hopefully, the current attention will provide some immediate relief for the situation in Attawapiskat but also help drive an eventual resolution to the root issues that are causing the current crisis.

One element of the story that’s getting some attention and is of particular interest to MiningWatch is the fact that the community is ‘host’ to DeBeers’ Victor diamond mine, located 90 km west of the community, upstream on the Attawapiskat River, within the traditional territory of the Omushkego Cree. The juxtaposition is stark: a diamond mine producing millions of dollars of a sparkling luxury item, next to the poverty and infrastructure deficits in Attawapiskat. It has led people to ask us: if there are millions of dollars of diamonds being taken from their traditional territory, why aren’t the conditions in the community improving?

NEWS RELEASE: [SUDBURY-BASED] BESTECH REACHES 100 EMPLOYEES

September 7, 2018January 4, 2012

January 3, 2012

BESTECH recently welcomed its 100th employee to the team, which is a significant milestone for the Northern Ontario engineering firm. Demonstrating that BESTECH does not plan to slow down any time soon, company representatives anticipate an additional 30% growth in employees for 2012.

Their hundredth employee is a true testament to BESTECH’s impressive growth since its inception in 1995. From its early days as a startup, BESTECH Co-CEOs Marc Boudreau and Denis Pitre operated the business out of a modest single office space on Lorne Street, which has magnified to 14,000 square feet, and the firm now comprises a total of four locations in three cities: Sudbury, Timmins and Toronto. These developments occurred as a result of continued expansion servicing various sectors.

BESTECH’s achievement of the 100-employee milestone would not have been realized without its supportive clients who fuel its growth, excellent employees who make BESTECH a great place to work, and visionary and supportive management that keeps the entire organization on track and leads the firm in the right direction.

A cautious optimism for coal – by David Ebner and Brenda Bouw (Globe and Mail – January 4, 2012)

January 4, 2012

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.

RIDLEY ISLAND, B.C. AND VANCOUVER – The sky is a hard grey and the small mountains of coal piled a dozen metres high are thick black. From this outpost in northwestern British Columbia, about 700 kilometres from Vancouver, coal trundles on conveyors from train cars to the piles, and then onward to docked ships destined for steel mills in China, Japan, and South Korea.

New equipment – huge rings of steel – lays nearby. The gear will increase the capacity of Ridley Terminals Inc. to unload coal from trains, one step in a four-year, multimillion-dollar effort to double exports to 24-million tonnes a year, and handle new and increased production from coal mines in British Columbia, Alberta and the United States.

It is the second time Canada has bet big on higher coal exports to steel makers in Asia. Last time, the bet on Japan failed badly when the forecasted prolonged boom didn’t last. Today, the same belief, and certainty, has been attached to China, the world’s largest steel-producing nation.

Of Beijing, bitumen and Ottawa’s foreign-takeover review – (Globe and Mail Editorial – January 4, 2012)

January 4, 2012

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 acquisition by the state-controlled PetroChina Co. Ltd.’s of 100 per cent of the MacKay River oil-sands project is a vivid reminder that the federal government’s review of Investment Canada’s foreign-takeover criteria has not yet been issued – more than a year after the messy episode in which BHP Billiton was not allowed to proceed with its bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.

In fact, Tony Clement, who was then the minister of industry, approved this same PetroChina acquisition two years ago – because the transaction already included an option to turn a 60-per-cent interest into sole ownership, and it was Athabasca Oil Sands Corp., not PetroChina, that exercised its option – to sell, that is.

The government has sent mixed signals over the years. In 2007, it introduced new rules for state-controlled foreign companies so that they would do business on commercial principles, rather than as agents of their home country’s policies. And in the 2008 election, the Conservatives said they would not permit export of bitumen from the oil sands for processing elsewhere – which might be justifiable on commercial grounds. On the other hand, the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, which the government favours, would facilitate the export of that same bitumen to China.

Chinese take helm of MacKay River oil sands project – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 4, 2012)

January 4, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

The friendly “divorce” announced Tuesday between PetroChina and Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. puts a Chinese company in charge of a Canadian oil sands project for the first time. Is it ready?

Yes, says Zhiming Li, president and CEO of Dover Operating Corp., the company that will operate the asset on behalf of a PetroChina subsidiary, Cretaceous Oilsands Holdings Ltd.

In an interview, Mr. Li said Dover’s strategy is to establish itself as a Canadian company staffed predominantly by Canadians. “Some 90% of the employees are Canadian experts,” he said. “These people are well experienced with lots of knowledge in developing SAGD projects. We will use local talent to do the project execution. We expect no problem.”

With a staff of 90, Dover plans to add 50 to 60 people this year as it moves ahead with its first project in Alberta, MacKay River. Its strategy is to ramp up to 150,000 barrels a day in four phases. The first phase, 35,000 barrels a day, is scheduled for startup in late 2014.