May 6, 2012 – Republic of Mining

New-World Networking Collaboration will Advance Mining Industry:Anglo Gold – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – May 2012)

May 6, 2012

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

By 8:30 a.m. on the day of his presentation to members of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA), Michael MacFarlane had already been up for four hours and worked for three. As the senior vice-president of technology and innovation for AngloGold Ashanti, MacFarlane lives in Sudbury and works in South Africa, and believes the mining industry has arrived at the era of the global virtual employee.

“That’s how the work gets done,” he said. “That’s the future.” To keep up with the rising demand for minerals, companies need to focus on global networking to find the expertise and innovation needed to sustain the industry, MacFarlane said. For the last 100 years, the industry has operated using the same methods, a combination of human labour matched with heavy machinery and automation, he noted. But a higher mining intensity is needed in order to keep up with future needs, and that requires mining companies to change the way they do things.

“We cannot continue to mine the deposits we have at the rate we’re mining them,” MacFarlane said. “You have to take the intensity and triple it if we have any hope of meeting the signal of what the market’s looking for. The current mining methods we have, I just don’t believe they’re going to work in the underground context and deliver the response that the market’s asking for.”

Ontario Government and Cliffs have been holding confidential meetings without First Nations – Aroland Chief – by NNL-News (NetNewsLedger.com – May 4, 2012)

May 6, 2012

www.NetNewsLedger.com

AROLAND FIRST NATION – Aroland First Nation has filed a request for disclosure to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) on information relating to Cliffs Chromite mining project in the area known as the Ring of Fire under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

Aroland is one of the First Nations that will be directly impacted from the Cliffs initiative which includes the construction of an open pit mine, ore processing facility, ferrochrome production facility and an integrated transport system that will include a 340 kilometer North-South all-season road corridor from the mine site to just west of the community of Aroland. A number of major environmental impacts have already been identified and has raised concerns with First Nations closeby.

The First Nation states, in a media release, “The decision to file a freedom of information request was made when it came to light that the Ontario Government and Cliffs have been holding confidential meetings, concealing information and are preparing to make an announcement”.

“We need to find out what has been going on behind closed doors. Our community is going to be impacted by the Cliffs project along with many others, but we were not part of these meetings, nor were local municipalities.

Global miners will fight advance of resource nationalism – Glencore CEO – by Emma Farge (Mineweb.com – May 05, 2012)

May 6, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg told a conference in Switzerland that mining companies will fight resource nationalism by pulling out of countries where they feel demands are too onerous.

ST GALLEN, Switzerland (Reuters) – Mining companies will fight growing resource nationalism and could pull out of countries where governments are demanding too large a share of the pie, commodities giant Glencore warned on Friday, a day after Argentina nationalised the country’s biggest oil firm.

“The mining industry is forming tight groups among each other on how we are going to fight it…,” Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said.

Glasenberg, speaking at a conference in the Swiss town of St Gallen, warned there would be consequences to producer countries seeking an ever larger share of mining profits, a trend which has risen alongside commodity prices as the main mining constituencies raise taxes and royalties.

Regulators forcing miners to watch what they say – by Peter Koven (National Post – May 5, 2012)

May 6, 2012

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

Securities regulators are back on the warpath when it comes to junior miners. In the past several months regulators have been busy sending a harsh message to companies that there will be consequences if they don’t follow precise disclosure rules related to their projects. Miners have lost out on financings and had trading of their stocks halted after getting in the crosshairs of securities commissions, a development that only adds more risk to an already risky business.

“It has certainly been a wake-up call to capital market participants that they need to be mindful of their technical disclosure, or their deals can get hung up,” said Jeremy Fraiberg, co-chair of the mining group at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

For investors, the crackdown is a reminder that caution is always warranted when looking at how companies interpret drilling results, economic assessments and other data. While Canada has come a long way from the Bre-X era, disclosure deficiencies still pop up.

Provincial regulators have recently gone after a long list of juniors for alleged lapses. Some of the most talked-about names include Extorre Gold Mines Ltd., Rio Novo Gold Inc., Karnalyte Resources Inc., Orbite Aluminae Inc., and Clifton Star Resources Inc. None of them have categorically denied making mistakes.

News Release: Cliffs Refuses to Provide First Point with Key Data on Decar Project

May 6, 2012

May 5, 2012, 9:35 a.m. EDT

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, May 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — First Point Minerals Corp. /quotes/zigman/157178 CA:FPX 0.00% (“First Point” or the “Company”) announces that it has served notice of arbitration on Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Canada Inc. and Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Inc. (collectively “Cliffs”) over Cliffs’ refusal to provide First Point with information prepared by their consultants with respect to the Decar Nickel-Iron Alloy Project in British Columbia.

Cliffs has refused to provide First Point with certain key reports prepared by consultants and contractors with respect to the Decar Project. The reporting obligations under the Option Agreement currently in effect require that Cliffs provide First Point, on a timely basis, with: “…copies of all reports…and consultants’ and contractors’ reports.”

First Point regrets having no alternative to taking this step against a major company such as Cliffs, but repeated requests by First Point for delivery of the information have been either refused or ignored, and Cliffs’ refusal thus far to provide these reports is damaging the interests of First Point and its shareholders. Management of First Point cannot speculate on the possible nature of the content of the reports that would cause Cliffs to refuse to share the information with First Point as required in the Option Agreement.

Moon mining: Canada’s possible new role in space – by Canadian Press (CTV.ca – February 26, 2012)

May 6, 2012

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

MONTREAL — Canada could play a key role in a new international space race, with the next sprint to the moon gearing up as an extra-terrestrial gold rush.

Industry insiders will be watching closely this week as the heads of the world’s five biggest space agencies get together in Quebec City, where the partners on the International Space Station will discuss more than just the future of the orbiting lab.

They will also address an idea gaining currency in business and scientific circles: that within human reach lies an unfathomable wealth of resources, some of them common on Earth and others so exotic that they could change the way we live.

Canada could figure prominently in any discussion about lunar exploration, with nearly one-quarter of the world’s top mining companies headquartered here and this country also known for robotics like the famous Canadarm.

Several countries, including China, have expressed a desire to start mining the moon’s resources. The mining industry is now waiting for the Canadian Space Agency to make its intentions known, while the agency awaits direction from the federal government.