July 28, 2012 – Republic of Mining

CSIS said to be probing financial links between First Nations, China – by Jen Gerson (National Post – July 25, 2012)

July 28, 2012

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

CALGARY — Canadian intelligence services appear to have probed financial links between First Nations groups and Chinese companies as scrutiny continues to mount on China’s interest in this country’s natural resources sector.

This week, Chinese oil company CNOOC Ltd. announced a $15-billion takeover bid for Calgary-based Nexen, a proposal that will have to pass scrutiny under the Canada Investment Act. The deal seems to be raising warning flags among politicians who fear the energy-hungry superpower’s influence in Canada’s oil patch. But scrutiny of China’s investment reach appears to stretch back several years.

Vancouver-based lawyer Merle Alexander said he was approached by Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents twice, in 2010 and in 2011, after presenting seminars on a memorandum of understanding signed between the Kaska Nation and Silvercorp., a B.C. company with Chinese links.

He said they identified themselves with CSIS badges and “appeared interested in determining whether there is direct involvement or influence between the Chinese government and First Nations governments,” he said.

China’s “Race for Resources”: Dambisa Moyo Sees Commodity Conflicts and Scarcity Ahead – by Aaron Task (Daily Ticker – July 23, 2012)

July 28, 2012

Much has been made about China’s huge investments in resource-rich Africa in recent years and Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged another $20 billion in loans during his visit last week.

But it’s not just Africa where China is looking to secure access to commodities, notes international economist Dambisa Moyo. “There’s not a single region left untouched,” she says in the accompanying video, noting China’s extensive trade with Brazil, its recent “laptops for pork” deal with Canada, pacts with Kazakhstan and Russia for uranium and oil, as well as land-development in Australia. And on Monday, Canada’s major oil producer Nexen announced it has agreed to be acquired by China’s CNOOC in a $15.1 billion deal, giving the Chinese oil company a strong position in the North American oil market.

“Simply put, the Chinese are on a global shopping spree,” Moyo writes. “And its voracious commodity appetite is unlikely to abate significantly even if China’s economic growth rates were to cool.”

Stop state-backed foreign buyouts in Canada’s resource sector – now – by Diane Francis (National Post – July 27, 2012)

July 28, 2012

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

The proposed takeover of Nexen Inc. by China National Offshore Oil Company, or any other like it, cannot be allowed. If the acquisition of Canada’s resource companies is not banned, then much of Calgary’s skyline will be snapped up by the world’s gigantic state-owned enterprises.

Resource companies are as important as banks or the stock exchange. The same ownership ring fence must be drawn around them, or a limit of 10% foreign ownership imposed. If that policy had not been adopted years ago by Ottawa, Toronto’s skyline would be very different.

The reality is that Canada is a small economy that must be protected, from potash to the TMX, from the foreign governments that have more money than Ottawa and bankroll enterprises and investment portfolios.

The new Game of Thrones is not about military conquest but about picking off trophy assets from countries, like Canada, that are Boy Scouts and naïve enough to let them do so. And growing and nurturing large successful entities is essential to any nation-state. Size matters.

Chinese all about the marketplace – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – July 27, 2012)

July 28, 2012

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

State oil companies operating abroad are becoming more and more akin to independent corporations driven by market forces

In Halifax Friday, B.C. premier Christy Clark walked out of the premiers’ conference over the Northern Gateway pipeline that supposedly will take Canadian oil to China. “It’s not a national energy strategy if I don’t sign on,” Ms. Clark said.

She continued: “Until we see some progress in discussions between British Columbia, Alberta and the federal government with respect to the Gateway pipeline through British Columbia, we will not be participating in the discussion of a national energy strategy.”

Sounds brave and nationally divisive, but in the end Ms. Clark may be left holding a dead cat. A year or two from now, the story is likely to be that nobody needs Northern Gateway, mainly because the Chinese companies that own some of Canada’s oil would rather sell oil to the United States than ship it through the Rockies to China.

That seems more than plausible. We appear to be entering a new era of high political melodrama over China and national energy strategies. Canada vs. China, China vs. the United States, the U.S. vs. China, and so on around the world.

Where are the gains for Canada in CNOOC-Nexen deal? – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – July 27, 2012)

July 28, 2012

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

Encouraged by federal and provincial government overtures, Canada’s vague ‘net benefit’ test for foreign transactions and Canadians’ general indifference to the deluge of foreign deals in the oil patch, China’s state-controlled CNOOC Ltd. bid US$15.1-billion this week for Nexen Inc. with confidence it will get Ottawa’s green light.

China’s boldest step yet into Canada is drawing plenty of support from those who see it as just another foreign purchase in a country that is open for business, needs new markets in Asia for its oil and gas, needs the capital to develop its resources, wants to be friends with China and is itself a big investor abroad.

What’s missing is the big picture, and for Canada it’s not an encouraging one. Stand back and you’ll see that CNOOC’s purchase of Nexen is not just another foreign takeover and must not be viewed in isolation.

There’s big politics at play, and Canada has to be careful not to overplay its hand. Canada has been courting increased trade with the Chinese as part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s agenda to make Canada an energy superpower, while reducing its dependence on the volatile United States.

Report will delve into extent of [mining sector] skilled worker shortage – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – July 27, 2012)

July 28, 2012

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

It’s gotten to the point where mining supply and service industry companies are complaining that large mining companies are actually “poaching” their workers because they’re able to offer better pay, Reggie Caverson, executive director of the workplace planning board, said.

Keeping this in mind, the Workplace Planning for Sudbury and Manitoulin is teaming up with the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) to produce a report detailing the statistics of just how many skilled workers will be needed in the mining industry in the future.

“With what’s happening now in the mining industry and the mining services, we’re seeing this huge boom that’s occurring,” Caverson said. “I think we’re all aware of this boom that’s happening right now. What hasn’t happened is a really solid look at what that means in terms of human resources — who we need and what we need, and how many of what we need.”