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Day: February 16, 2012

Vale approves $2B clean air project in Sudbury – by Peter Koven (National Post – February 16, 2012)

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

Mining giant Vale SA has greenlighted a massive $2-billion emissions reductions project in Sudbury, Ont., that ranks among the biggest environmental investments in Ontario’s history.

The so-called Clean AER project (for Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) will be unveiled Thursday after years of anticipation in the region. The goal is to reduce sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from Vale’s nickel smelter by 70%, bringing them well below government-regulated limits that come into effect in 2015.

“It was really felt that these are core assets to our company and to our future, and we have to maintain those assets,” project director Dave Stefanuto said in an interview. “So I don’t think it was too difficult a decision for our executives to make with respect to funding the project.”

The project will create plenty of economic activity in Sudbury, as it requires an estimated eight million man-hours of labour and as many as 1,300 workers onsite during the peak construction period.

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Mining and Resource Development in Northern Canada – by David Kilgour: City of Greater Sudbury Municipal Councillor

David Kilgour is a City of Greater Sudbury municipal councillor. He gave this presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources, which is considering the federal government’s role in the development of the Ring of Fire, on February 16, 2012.

Mister Chair and Honourable Members,

On behalf of Her Worship, Mayor Marianne Matichuk, members of city council and the citizens of the City of Greater Sudbury, I am pleased to be here this morning to discuss mining and resource development in Northern Canada; a subject that we in Sudbury know something about.

Greater Sudbury is an undisputed global centre of mining expertise. Over the past one hundred and thirty years, billions of dollars worth of Nickel, Copper, Platinum, Gold and many other metals have been mined, milled, smelted and refined in our city. Today, even with more than a century of mining activity, an estimated forty billion dollars of mineral reserves have been identified and constant exploration adds to this total every day.

We are the largest geographic municipality in Ontario; within our municipal
boundaries, approximately seven thousand workers are employed directly in mining production and mineral processing while about twice that number work in the mining supply and services industry. Nowhere else in the world will you find this level of mining activity within a fully urban city.

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Building a [mining] workforce [in Thunder Bay and the Northwest] – Special to The Chronicle-Journal (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – February 16, 2012)

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

With the anticipated boom in the mining sector, industry leaders and organizations are taking steps to ensure the workforce is ready.

On Wednesday the North Superior Workforce Planning Board and the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Committee hosted a forum that looked into some of the employment and training opportunities and challenges that exist in the mining sector in Northwestern Ontario.

More than 200 participants attended the forum. Among the participants were job seekers, mining companies, service providers, government representatives and educators, who discussed how the workforce can be prepared for expanding job opportunities in the mining sector.

Madge Richardson, executive director of North Superior Workforce Planning Board, said the forum was also an opportunity to release a report on the region’s mining industry employment forecasts for the next two, five and 10 years.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE APPROVES $2 BILLION [SUDBURY] ‘CLEAN AER’ PROJECT

For Immediate Release

SUDBURY, February 16, 2012 – Vale has approved a $2-billion investment in the “Clean AER Project”, one of the largest environmental investments in Ontario’s history. 

The Clean AER Project (AER stands for atmospheric emissions reduction) will see sulphur dioxide emissions at Vale’s smelter in Sudbury reduced by 70% from current levels. This reduction is in addition to the 90% reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions realized since 1970 and complements the ongoing success story that is the re-greening of the Sudbury region. 

“This project is an important undertaking and will utilize the latest technological innovations available to us to retrofit our smelter complex,” said John Pollesel, Chief Operating Officer, Vale Canada Limited and Director of Base Metals for Vale’s North Atlantic operations. “We are creating a new legacy through this project – cleaner air for Sudbury, Ontario and Canada. It’s a proud day and great news for all of us who work, live, and raise families in this wonderful community.”

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All eyes on tight oil’s future – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – February 16, 2012)

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

CALGARY – Tight oil, the new oil source unlocked by new drilling technologies, is bearing such good results it could quickly compete with Canada’s oil sands as a top secure supply of North American oil.

With companies like Devon Energy Corp., Talisman Energy Inc., Encana Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. pushing big spending toward tight oil, analysts are ratcheting up their production forecasts for the supplies, which are largely based in the United States.

“Tight oil is changing the landscape in North America,” Steve Fekete, managing consultant at Purvin & Gertz, said at an oil sands industry conference in Calgary this week.

The international energy consultancy predicts production of tight oil in the United States alone could reach between 1.4 million barrels a day and 2.4 million b/d by 2020 – from about 600,000 b/d today derived in large part from the Bakken field in North Dakota.

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AngloGold CEO says Warren Buffett just doesn’t understand gold and gold investors – by Alec Hogg (Mineweb.com – February 16, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

Mineweb’s Editor-in-chief, Alec Hogg, interviews AngloGold Ashanti’s Mark Cutifani and hears some forthright views on Warren Buffet’s most recent attack on gold.

JOHANNESBURG –  Anglogold Ashanti’s CEO Mark Cutifani is to local South African gold mining what top South AFfrican asset manager, John Biccard is to the local asset management sector, the man other money managers would most trust to handle their savings. In mining, Cutifani’s astute management has raised the bar for an industry where performance was once measured by volume of rock through the mill rather than gold delivered.

The Australian-born head of Africa’s biggest gold producer has been walking on water lately. He took history’s biggest ever bet on the gold price by closing out the industry’s largest hedge book – at a cost of billions. As the gold price kept steaming ahead, that decision continues to reward Anglogold Ashanti. In the three months to end December it added another $200m to the bottom line.

Cutifani was clearly on a high during our chat this week after the release of his group’s December quarter results. Who could blame him? Apart from that $200m, costs were reasonably controlled, the company got more South African Rands for its gold and the result was a fresh record for profit in any three months. Shareholders joined in the applause when hearing that the yearend dividend was being doubled.

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