January 13, 2012 – Republic of Mining

Friggin’ Freezin’ – by Bill Braden (Canadian Mining Journal – January, 2012)

January 13, 2012

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

Bill Braden is the Northern Correspondent for the Canadian Mining Journal

Renowned winter road readies for really big traffic

Just about every winter brings a new “first” of some kind to the NWT’s storied Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, the frozen lifeline to three major mines now harvesting approximately 18 per cent (by value) of the world’s gem-quality diamonds.

Now in its 32nd year, the world’s longest-ever ice road will see what could be its longest-ever shipments: the 35-m long blades for a quartet of giant wind turbines to be installed at the Diavik Mine, owned by Rio Tinto and Harry Winston Diamonds Inc.

“They’re not heavy, but they’re big and long and awkward and very sensitive,” said Ron Near, Director of Winter Road Operations, in a recent News/North article. “There’s huge logistics involved in ensuring they get to the mine in a safe way.”

Queenston rejuvenating gold-rich Kirkland Lake Mining Camp-Scotia Capital – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – January 05, 2012)

January 13, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com

Citing its assembled land package in the Kirkland Lake Gold Camp, as well as the company’s attraction as an acquisition target, Scotia Capital has initiated coverage on Queenston Mining.

RENO – Scotia Capital Wednesday initiated coverage of Queenston Mining (TSX: QMI) suggesting its Kirkland Lake gold project is an attractive acquisition target to both JV partner, Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KGI) and Kirkland’s majority shareholder Agnico-Eagle Mines.

“The company holds the largest assembled land package in the prolific Kirkland Lake Gold Camp in Ontario, which has produced over 40 Moz of gold, and two projects in Quebec, located adjacent to Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited’s…Lapa deposit,” said Scotia Capital analysts Ovais Habib and Mike Hocking.

Located in Ontario along the border with Quebec, the Kirkland Lake Gold Camp is believed to host nine greater than one-million-ounce gold deposits.

[Sudbury] City, mining companies to share costs – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – January 13, 2012)

January 13, 2012

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

The city of Grater Sudbury is poised to announce a landmark agreement to share the costs of rebuilding a local road with area mining companies.

The deal, which will be introduced to council at its Jan. 24 meeting, will split the cost of improvements to Regional Road 4 in Whitefish between Vale, Quadra FNX and the city. The city’s share of the $20-million project is expected to be about $5 million, Greg Clausen, the city’s general manager of infrastructure, said.

The road, more commonly known as Worthington Road, serves Vale’s Totten Mine and a handful or residential and camp properties. It will also serve Quadra’s Victoria Mine, for which constr uction is expected to begin this year. When completed by 2017, Victoria Mine will employ more than 200 full-time people throughout its 15-to 20-year lifespan.

Gateway gate may be closing – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 13, 2012)

January 13, 2012

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

It’s early days for the long federal regulatory review into the Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline, but already it’s hard to feel optimistic that the project will get off the ground as proposed.

At least three major stumbling blocks surfaced repeatedly in the review’s important first days that are likely to dog the $5.5-billion pipeline, which would carry product from the Alberta oil sands to this community on the northern West Coast, throughout the two-year review process: aboriginal opposition, little community buy-in and lack of trust that it can be built safely.

They are essential building blocks of any major development in Western and Northern Canada, from liquefied natural gas plants coming to this town, to oil sands projects in Alberta, to potash mines in Saskatchewan. Even the much-delayed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline had them largely nailed down before Imperial Oil Ltd. and its partners moved forward with an application for regulatory approval.

Fair play and pipeline politics – by Nathan Lemphers (National Post – January 13, 2011)

January 13, 2012

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

Nathan Lemphers is a senior policy analyst with the Pembina Institute, a national nonpartisan sustainable energy think-tank. This op-ed originally appeared on The Mark.

Apparently, Canada is open for business, but closed to criticism, no matter how constructive. This is the clearest conclusion that can be drawn from Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver’s open letter to Canadians (“Radicals threaten resource development,” National Post, Jan. 10), in which he attacks advocates of responsible oilsands development as “radicals,” and dismisses the concerns of thousands of Canadians who want to have a say in the decision of whether to build Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.

The $6.6-billion project would run two parallel pipelines carrying diluted bitumen and condensate along a 1,177kilometre route linking the oilsands in Alberta with the remote port of Kitimat on the northern B.C. coast. The pipelines would traverse hundreds of salmon-bearing rivers and streams, mountainous and landslide-prone terrain, the Great Bear Rainforest and the territory of more than 50 First Nations.

[Alberta Premier] Redford questions credibility of Northern Gateway hearings – by Dawn Walton (Globe and Mail – January 13, 2012)

January 13, 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.

CALGARY— Alberta Premier Alison Redford is questioning the credibility of federal hearings that have attracted more than 4,000 people requesting comment on Enbridge Inc.’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which has sparked a debate about balancing the economy against the environment and aboriginal rights.

The Alberta government will not be making a formal pitch during the National Energy Board’s regulatory review, which started this week in northern British Columbia, but the province has made no secret of its support for the pipeline that would help bring oil-sands crude to markets in Asia and the United States.

Ms. Redford told reporters on Thursday that she supports the independent regulatory process, as she did when a similar review took place in the United States regarding the divisive Keystone XL pipeline project, but she has concerns about the transparency.