June 27, 2012 – Republic of Mining

Vale delivers a breath of fresh air on the environmental front

June 27, 2012

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member Vale has officially launched its new $2 billion emissions control project in Sudbury. The nickel producer had company officials, employees, civic leaders, local residents, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci, Environment Minister Jim Bradley and Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk on hand amongst others for the sod turning ceremony held last week.

The Clean AER (Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) Project promises to cut sulphur dioxide emissions from Vale’s smelter by 70% and trim dust and metals emissions by 35% to 40%. This is one of the largest environmental projects ever undertaken in this province. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2015 and will cut Vale’s emissions well below government regulated levels.

“This is a historic day for Vale and demonstrates the importance that Greater Sudbury plays in our global operations,” said John Pollesel, Chief Operating Officer for Vale Canada and Director of Vale’s North Atlantic Base Metals Operations. “Starting today, we are building a lasting legacy for our employees, the community and future generations who will live and work in Greater Sudbury and that is truly a reason to celebrate.”

Glencore battles to save Xstrata bid – by Kate Holton and Sinead Cruise (Mineweb.com – June 27, 2012)

June 27, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Qatar’s intervention pushed the deal to the brink as it prompted some shareholders to revisit their own particular concerns, such as soaring executive pay and fears that the combined entity would take on riskier business.

LONDON (Reuters) – Commodities trader Glencore battled to save its coveted $26 billion bid for miner Xstrata on Wednesday after key shareholder Qatar stunned the pair with a late demand for better terms.

The Qatari intervention pushed the deal to the brink as it prompted a string of shareholders to revisit their own particular concerns, such as soaring executive pay and fears that the combined entity would take on riskier business.

Qatar, which had remained silent for months as it built the second-largest stake in Xstrata, said in a statement late on Tuesday that it supported the principle of the deal but wanted 3.25 new Glencore shares for every Xstrata share, up from the 2.8 on offer.

The 11th-hour call will make it almost impossible for the deal to go through on current terms, several sources close to the deal said, leaving just two days for Glencore to sweeten the offer or delay shareholder meetings scheduled for mid-July.

Vale fined $150,000 for 2010 acid spill – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – June 26, 2012)

June 27, 2012

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

Vale has been slapped with a $150,000 fine after an incident where oleum, or fuming sulphuric acid, was spilled at the Copper Cliff Smelter nearly two years ago. The spill occurred when employees were pumping oleum into rail cars on July 1, 2010 — towards the end of the nearly year-long labour dispute between Vale and Steelworkers Local 6500 members.

A press release issued by the company at the time stated that a “noticable plume of oleum was released into the environment and escaped off property before dissipating over the Kelly Lake area.”

Kate Jordan, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment, said Vale was fined by the ministry March 13 because it didn’t report the spill in a timely manner.

“Under the environmental protection act we had a requirement that any company or individual who has a spill that has the potential to cause an adverse effect has to report that forthwith,” she said.

Asbestos isn’t the lightning rod the Tories seem to think it is – by Chris Selley (National Post – June 27, 2012)

June 27, 2012

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

Documents obtained by Postmedia News through the Access to Information Act suggest the federal government knows full well that chrysotile asbestos belongs on a list of substances that face import and export restrictions — but nevertheless opposes adding it to the list.

“At previous meetings and again [in June 2011], Canada acknowledged all criteria for the addition of chrysotile asbestos to the [Rotterdam] Convention have been met but opposed its addition,” reads the briefing note provided to Environment Minister Peter Kent.

As scoops go, it won’t change the world. But it is a technical acknowledgment of a universally understood truth. No one disputes that the chrysotile mined in and exported from Quebec can be harmful if improperly handled. And no one, at least privately, would dispute that it is often not properly handled by workers in the developing countries to which Canada exports it. On asbestos, it’s quite obvious that Canada’s position isn’t mainstream. At a UN summit in Switzerland last year, it was shared only by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam.

The Conservatives seem to have inherited and embraced the conventional wisdom that the asbestos industry must be supported in principle, else Quebecers will wreak a horrible electoral revenge.

Mega history lessons for the oil sands – by Peter Foster (National Post – June 26, 2012)

June 27, 2012

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

The global economy may throw a few curve balls, just as it did in the 1980s

I suggested recently in this space that the Canadian petroleum industry is more politicized than at any time since the 1980 National Energy Program, although the politics are different. Then it was the fight between Pierre Trudeau’s Ottawa and Peter Lougheed’s Alberta over sharply higher prices. Now, it is the Harper government’s energy-superpower visions versus a transnational environmental movement that wants to block pipelines and kill the “dirty” oil sands.

In one respect, however, there is a considerable similarity between the Harper Conservatives and their dirigiste counterparts of 30 years ago: Both projected a boom in oil sands production. How great a danger is there that Mr. Harper’s aspirations may be undone — as were 1980s projections — by a market downturn?

Oil from the oil sands, whether mined or produced underground by heat injection, is, due to its elaborate production process, expensive oil. With current world prices flagging, Canadian oil subject to further discounts due to pipeline constraints, and considerable global economic uncertainty, might Mr. Harper’s strategy come undone?

Transportation for the North – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (June 26, 2012)

June 27, 2012

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

A WAR of words among MPPs about the government’s planned sale of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission is missing something. The Liberal government sprang the sale on the public in its last budget, claiming it will save money. ONTC serves a series of communities in Northeastern Ontario with train and bus service, much of which the government says the private sector can provide.

The NDP has been critical of the proposal. Timiskaming—Cochrane MPP John Vanthof said in March there had been a “massive public outcry from affected communities” and he called on Premier Dalton McGuinty to halt plans to privatize the passenger and freight service that “employs nearly 1,000 people across the North.”

Vanthof reminded McGuinty he had earlier promised not to privatize the ONTC, adding that, “All across the North municipal councils are up in arms . . . .”

Vanthof acquired documents showing the Liberals were considering the idea as early as March 2009 after which time Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci was on hand in Sudbury to cut the ribbon on a new Ontario Northland bus terminal.

Amid disaster in Elliot Lake, an inexcusable lack of action – by Rosie Dimanno (Toronto Star- June 27, 2012)

June 27, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

People buried alive — apparently, hopefully, still alive — you’d think heaven and earth would be moved to save them.

But moving a heap of wreckage from a collapsed building was inexplicably, outrageously, deemed too risky for rescue workers in Elliot Lake, who were ordered to abandon the mission a mere 48 hours after the Algo Centre Mall caved in.

Only the intervention of Premier Dalton McGuinty rebooted rescue efforts following howls of indignation from local citizens whose loved ones are still trapped under the rubble. “Nobody left behind!” shouted one furious resident when word filtered through that crews were standing down. In a mining town like Elliot Lake, this gospel is well understood: Searches are never suspended, whether proof of life exists or not.

Yet by late Tuesday afternoon, those workers had not yet been cleared by officials to resume the job. In a crisis where minutes literally matter, this is simply insupportable. It is the antithesis of rapid response.

Tim Hudak: Ontario should develop Ring of Fire like oilsands – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – June 27, 2012)

June 27, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

The mineral rich Ring of Fire is Ontario’s “oilsands” and the province should take a page out of Alberta’s playbook by developing it quickly, says Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

The Tory leader visited the remote Ring of Fire area, located nearly 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, on Monday with other Tory MPPs to survey the swampy earth said to hold more than a $30 billion haul of chromite — the key material used to make stainless steel.

“In many ways, the Ring of Fire is Ontario’s oilsands — an enormous wealth beneath the earth that can break open a new frontier for job creation and investment in our province. Sometimes we look (with) wonder and awe at what Alberta can do; we can do that in Ontario and we can do that with the Ring of Fire,” said Hudak.

However, the Toronto Star reported on Tuesday Environment Canada has raised a number of red flags concerning the development of the area, which calls for an open pit mine and a transportation corridor to be built through one of the last intact boreal forests.