Why the metal industry is getting harder – by By David Garofalo (Canadian Business Magazine – September 20, 2012)

 http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

David Garofalo is the President and CEO of HudBay Minerals Inc.

The recent conflicts at mines in developing nations—the violence erupting in South Africa, Guatemala, Panama and elsewhere this summer—are unsettling and deplorable. Yet they illustrate the new context for mining companies around the world, which often goes unexplored in mainstream coverage.

The new reality of the global mining industry is that most of the large, high-grade mine operations located in favourable jurisdictions are getting long in the tooth. As production at these mines inevitably declines with time, mining companies are forced to look farther afield for new supply. Since all of the near surface high-grade deposits have been discovered, companies are now looking at more geologically challenging deposits, usually with lower-grade ore. Often, this means considering development opportunities in areas that are not only more complex geologically, but also carry more social and political risks.

Among other things, this explains the chronic deficit in copper supply the world has experienced over the past four years. Average copper production grades have fallen dramatically over the past decade. Simply to maintain output, companies have to process much higher tonnages in order to sustain consistent production. Increased demand from developing economies has created a supply crisis—the term is not too strong.

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NEWS RELEASE: GE Launches Global Mining Business Unit

• Geoff Knox named CEO of GE Mining
• Showcases technologies designed to address environmental challenges, bringing efficient, high productivity and low emission equipment to the industry
• Follows recent and planned acquisitions of Fairchild International and Industrea Limited

LAS VEGAS, NV (Sept. 24, 2012) – GE Transportation (NYSE: GE) today unveiled its newest business unit, GE Mining, that will be headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. The announcement was made at MINExpo 2012 by Geoff Knox, CEO of GE Mining.

The Company recently acquired Fairchild International, which manufactures underground mining equipment, and is finalizing the acquisition of Australian-based Industrea Limited (ASX: IDL, OTCQX: IULTY), a provider of safety and productivity-enhancing mining equipment and services. GE will reach a global customer base with enhanced products based on its clean propulsion systems, energy storage offering and world-class system integration capabilities.

As the global mining industry expands to deeper, more remote and extreme locations, its challenges grow more complex. GE’s portfolio of products and services are uniquely positioned to maximize resources, drive efficiencies and help make the world work better, allowing mines to:

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Africa next: The quest for Africa’s riches – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – September 24, 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.

LUBUMBASHI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO – Driving north in Africa’s copper belt, Mark Crandon marvels at the new factories and offices along the highway. “It’s crazy,” he says. “None of this was here three weeks ago.”

upermarkets and shopping malls are opening too. They’re fresh fuel for his theory that anyone can make money in this corner of Africa. “You could almost blindly open any business here and it would be a success,” he says . There’s just no competition.”

It’s an unlikely place for a foreign investor to be raving about. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the world’s most corrupt, impoverished and war-torn countries. Millions have died in the military and political chaos of recent years. Yet even here, the lure of the Africa boom is proving irresistible.

In the copper-belt city of Lubumbashi, the nouveaux riches of the mining industry can be spotted at upscale businesses such as La Plage – a glitzy suburban mall with a gelato shop, high-priced supermarket and cafés, not to mention a swimming pool and an artificial sand beach with parasols and volleyball nets.

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Mining’s golden rule: transparency – by Joseph Ingram and Karin Lissakers (Globe and Mail – September 24, 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.

The labour strife in South Africa’s mines and the adoption of new disclosure rules for U.S. mining companies by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have cast renewed light on a global industry that affects the Canadian economy.

Every year, Canadian mining operations generate billions of dollars of revenue overseas. In fact, Canadian companies are some of the most globally active. More than 1,000 Canadian exploration companies work in more than 100 countries, from Mongolia to Peru to Tanzania. Canada’s mining investments in Africa alone have grown from $2.8-billion in 2001 to $30-billion in 2012.

The taxes and royalties that Canadian companies pay to countries that play host to them have the potential to transform economies. As we’ve seen in resource-rich countries such as Botswana, Chile and Malaysia, natural resource revenues paid to governments can be invested in roads, health care and education as well as business development and social services, leading to massive reductions in poverty. What’s more, Canadian operations can spur local economic development by creating jobs and financing community projects.

Yet, too often, these revenues are either not collected or not transformed into tangible benefits, leaving countries with more violent conflict and weaker growth than expected. In many instances, environmental destruction and loss of livelihoods, coupled with inadequate compensation, have left regions worse off than before.

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Asbestos products still being imported to Ontario – by Marco Chown Oved (Toronto Star – September 24, 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.

Despite recent announcements in Ottawa and Quebec that suggest asbestos will soon be a thing of the past, products made of the cancer-causing mineral are still being imported and used in Ontario today.

While the carcinogenic insulation is now being removed from buildings across the province, two new products that contain asbestos — brake pads and cement pipes — are being brought in.

Statistics Canada reports that $2.6 million worth of asbestos-containing brake pads were imported into Canada last year. Of that, more than half arrived in Ontario.

While Ottawa announced last week it would reverse its long-standing position and declare asbestos a dangerous material, and the new government in Quebec cancelled a loan that would have revived the defunct asbestos mining industry, the problem in Canada is far from over.

“Because we don’t mine, because we don’t use it in manufacturing, we are under the false impression that it’s gone,” said Liberal MPP Liz Sandals (Guelph), who introduced a private member’s bill earlier this year to ban brake pads containing asbestos in Ontario.

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What the rise of Asia means for Canadians – by John Ibbitson (Globe and Mail – September 24, 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.

OTTAWA — When Canadian, Asian and American leaders and thinkers meet in Ottawa this week to discuss this country’s place in the new Pacific century, many in the room will not like what they hear. Global leadership is pivoting from the West to the East faster than anyone could have imagined. Canada’s future – and your job – hinge on pivoting with it.

“Canada has been obsessed with the United States and Europe for the past 200 years. Now, frankly it has got to shift its focus to Asia,” Kishore Mahbubani said. The Singaporean academic, who is recognized globally for his writings on the Asian renaissance, is speaking at the conference, organized by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.

Such a shift “requires a major psychological reorientation on the part of Canadian minds,” Mr. Mahbubani observed. “But if they don’t wake up, they’ll be left behind.”

The conference takes place in the wake of a proposal, reported in Saturday’s Globe and Mail, from Chinese ambassador Zhang Junsai that Beijing and Ottawa begin work on a free-trade agreement.

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Cage Call: Artist explores lost [mining] histories – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – September 22, 2012)

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

When photographer Louie Palu set out to learn more about mining, his plan was to spend one month at a mine in Kirkland Lake. That was in 1991. Instead, 12 years, two provinces and thousands of photos later, the project came to an end.

“My dad told me about Kirkland Lake,” Palu said, speaking on the phone. “He was working up there. He’s not a miner. He was just working with some mining people.

“I’ve always been interested in these underrepresented histories and stories, especially sociopolitical ones. Suddenly from Kirkland Lake I got to Timmins, then Sudbury, Val d’Or and (Rouyn)-Noranda. There were all these sort of lost histories, these really important lost histories. I just felt like this story needed to be told.”

Since then, he’s been telling the story through two books and his photos, which have been put on display at art galleries and shows all over the world, including Sweden, France and the United States.

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Sudden decision to drop rail service in [Ontario] North no surprise – by Wayne Snider (Sudbury Star – September 22, 2012)

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

It should come as no great surprise that municipal leaders across Northeastern Ontario are hopping mad with the provincial government over the sell-off of the ONTC.

The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, which is publicly funded by the province, has been a key catalyst to industrial growth throughout the region. While disappointed with the decision to divest the ONTC, the real anger stems from how the issue has been handled by the government.

Leaders from Northeastern Ontario were promised by the ruling Liberals they would be consulted along the way, as things progressed. But late last month, Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci suddenly announced Ontario Northland rail service would be shut down in September.

That prompted an angry response from the Federation of Northeastern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), which represents 110 cities and towns across the region.

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The belated demise of Canada’s asbestos industry – by Kathleen Ruff (Toronto Star – September 23, 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.

Kathleen Ruff is senior human rights adviser to the Rideau Institute and author of Exporting Harm: How Canada Markets Asbestos to the Developing World.

In the space of three weeks, the political support the Quebec asbestos industry has enjoyed for decades from the Quebec and Canadian governments came crashing down.

It could hardly have been more politically dramatic or more financially devastating for the tottering, bankrupt Quebec asbestos industry. After 130 years in operation, the last two asbestos mines in Quebec — the Jeffrey mine in the town of Asbestos and the mine run by LAB Chrysotile at Thetford Mines — shut down more than a year ago in the face of catastrophic financial and environmental problems.

Both mines, however, clutched to hopes of resurrection, nurtured by a $58-million loan given to the Jeffrey mine by former premier Jean Charest just before he called the recent Quebec election, as well as by the undying political support that Prime Minister Stephen Harper swore to give to the asbestos industry during the 2011 federal election campaign.

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A reality check for the promise of the oil sands – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – September 22, 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.

AT THE JOSLYN NORTH MINE PROJECT — To build an oil sands mine, you start by tearing away the forest. You rip down trees, peel back the top layers of earth, and then cleave ground into carefully engineered trenches to divert rainfall and snow melt.

It’s a complex effort, compounded by the enormous scale and cost. Here at the Joslyn project 90 minutes northwest of Fort McMurray, French giant Total SA is clearing the way for a new $8-billion mine that is a major backbone of the next chapter in the oil sands.

It is a future that is already being stamped onto the landscape with heavy machinery by dozens of companies across hundreds of kilometres of boreal forest. It promises a coming decade that will see the oil sands double in output, elevating Canada to greater prominence on the global energy stage.

But the oil sands’ next chapter is suddenly in the midst of a major rewrite. Joslyn itself has become a symbol of both the eager ambition the world’s oil companies have brought to northeastern Alberta, and the question marks surrounding how those ambitions will be realized.

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As asbestos industry collapses, a town’s fibre is torn – by Ingrid Peritz (Globe and Mail – September 22, 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.

ASBESTOS, QUE. — The sign by the side of the highway is hard to miss: ASBESTOS. No, it’s not a health warning to motorists about hazardous material ahead.

It’s the name of a proud community in southern Quebec, waging a fight to survive in an increasingly lonely stand against the world.

Asbestos has become a mineral with a dubious reputation and a doubtful future, and its namesake town faces a similar fate. Medical experts link asbestos to cancer. Countries worldwide ban it and Canadians rip it out of their walls. And now, in the space of less than four weeks, formerly staunch political allies in Ottawa and Quebec City have abruptly jettisoned their support for the asbestos industry.

Yet here in the town that asbestos created, where a onetime miracle fibre made fortunes, built schools and enriched hard-working families, embattled residents defend asbestos the way a parent defends a misbehaving child. It’s theirs, they know it well, and there’s no way it can be as bad as everyone says.

“Go ahead, you can touch it,” Pierrette Théroux says as she shows off a chunk of asbestos displayed proudly on her desk.

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