September 25, 2012 – Republic of Mining

Mining drives new MBA approach – by Denise Deveau (National Post – September 25, 2012)

September 25, 2012

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

When a sector has achieved global leadership status, the demand for skills can stretch beyond the output of mainstream education channels.

This is very much the case in the mining sector, where the appetite for knowledge about how the industry and system works is driving a new approach to MBA studies.

According to Jean Vavrek, executive director for CIM (Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) in Montreal, skill sets are changing more and more in the line of “softer issues” related to social acceptance and license.

“The industry is dealing with much more complex environmental issues, more regulations, deeper ore bodies, remote exploration … the dynamics and the management challenges are only getting bigger,” he says. “So is the potential for career development.”

Canada needs to accelerate the development of future leadership, Mr. Vavrek adds. “The potential on the management side is big, from project management and capital expenditures to exploration and development. What managers are facing today in this sector dwarfs most other industries.”

Miner claims see major spike in B.C.- by Ed Watson (CTV British Columbia – September 24, 2012)

September 25, 2012

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/

A record number of mineral claims have been filed in B.C. over the last three years and more than 11,000 were filed in the first seven months of 2012, signaling a prospecting boom in the province.

Around $463 million was spent on mineral exploration in B.C. last year and the same amount is expected to be spent this year.

But despite few claims actually becoming a mine, those who work as prospectors cling to the dream of striking it rich.
Geologist Leslie Hunt lives in a cabin on the shores of a small lake in northern B.C.

While moose splash around in the water outside of her cabin, computers are switched on inside as she looks for her fortune.
“This would run about a hundred ounces a ton, which is an awful lot of gold,” Hunt said referring to a rock with gold in it.
One mine nearby her spread produced more than 70,000 ounces of gold before it was shut down several years ago.

Now, driven by the high price of gold, Chinese investors are interested in starting it up again. Such claims are traded back and forth at “roundups” where junior miners try to sell to senior mining companies and people look for investors.

OPINION: Prosperity gold-copper mine will live up to its name – by Russell Hallbauer (Vancouver Sun – September 20, 2012)

September 25, 2012

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Russell Hallbauer is president and CEO of Taseko Mines Ltd.

New gold-copper project near Williams Lake promises to bring new jobs

Taseko operates the Gibraltar mine near Williams Lake, the second-largest copper concentrator in Canada and by Christmas of this year, the third largest in North America.

We’re proud of what we do — supplying copper to a global market for the past 40 years, employing thousands of people and contributing billions in revenues to local, provincial and national economies. We are able to do so safely and efficiently because of the highly capable engineering staff and the more than 500 skilled and committed employees working at Gibraltar.

By the end of this year, Taseko will have invested nearly $700 million in new state-of-the-art mining and milling equipment for Gibraltar in just six years, improving efficiencies and providing greater assurance that the mine can continue to produce uninterrupted for 27 more years.

This week, Taseko filed with the federal government an environmental-impact statement (EIS) detailing its proposal to build a new mine in British Columbia, also near Williams Lake.

Don’t scare off mining producers with confusion on future royalties and taxes, Major Drilling tells Quebec – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – September 24, 2012)

September 25, 2012

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

Francis McGuire, CEO of Moncton’s Major Drilling Group International Inc., has a message for Quebec Premier Pauline Marois and Mines Minister Martine Ouellet: Don’t repeat the confusion on future mining royalties and taxes that has plagued Australia, Argentina and Mongolia, or producers will cut or go.

“In Australia, a key market for our drilling services, we’ve seen new business drop by 50 per cent since the public debate between federal and state governments on royalty rates became critical, so just don’t follow them,” McGuire said after addressing a Montreal investment group.

“The pre-election talk about raising Quebec royalties on mineral production from 16 per cent to 30 per cent is best forgotten,” he said. “Mining always was a highly cyclical industry and many commodity prices have come under pressure just when costs are rising rapidly.”

Major Drilling, which last year bought Rouyn Noranda’s Bradley Group Ltd. for $95 million to boost business in the gold mining camps of Northern Quebec and Northern Ontario, is the world’s second-biggest drilling services firm with operations on six continents, a 5,400-strong payroll, 739 rigs and a 72-per-cent utilization rate for the most profitable specialized high-tech units.

China denies it is “gobbling up” India’s iron ore – by Shivom Seth (September 24, 2012)

September 25, 2012

www.mineweb.com

An exhaustive report into illegal mining in the Indian state of Goa has also accused China of using up all of India’s iron ore reserves.

MUMBAI (MINEWEB) – The China Iron and Steel Association has rejected assertions that it is to blame for “gobbling up India’s iron ore reserves” while, at the same time strategically choosing not to mine its own deposits of the metal.

The charges were laid at the feet of the Asian giant by a report into illegal iron ore mining in Goa by the Justice M.B. Shah Committee. The report, which pegged Goa’s mining scam at nearly $6.5 billion, also noted that “China had strategically stopped short of tapping its deposits of 200 billion tonnes”…and suggested that the “Central government should consider banning exports of Indian ore.”

It added, “Planning and conservation of iron ore for at least 50 years is required for Goa so that future generations may not be required to import entire steel from China and likewise countries.”

The report added that while India was exporting ore to China, China was exporting steel back to India and had stopped tapping its domestic deposits. “It would not be out of context to state here that China…prefers to import from countries like India and others.

At Trade Show, Makers of Mining Equipment Push Cost-Savings – by James R. Hagerty (Wall Street Journal – September 24, 2012)

September 25, 2012

http://online.wsj.com/home-page?mod=WSJ_topnav_’home_main

LAS VEGAS—Companies that sell equipment and services to mining companies have geared up for a boom—just in time to see miners cut capital spending due to weak commodity prices.

The MINExpo International trade show, which began here Monday and is sponsored by the National Mining Association, is billed as the largest collection of mining equipment ever gathered. The number of exhibitors total 1,890, up 45% from the previous show four years ago, and cover 860,000 square feet of exhibitions, up nearly 40% from the last show.

But in a sign of hard times hitting the industry, Caterpillar Inc. Monday lowered its forecast for profit growth over the next few years, citing weaker demand for construction and mining equipment.

Around the world, mining companies are cutting costs and delaying some projects. Still, executives at the Las Vegas trade show insisted the slowdown will be short-lived. “We still believe we are in the very early innings” of the economic development of China, India and other fast-growing markets, Mike Sutherlin, chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based equipment maker Joy Global Inc., JOY -1.08% said during a panel discussion.

Huge potential in China deal – by John Ivison (National Post – September 25, 2012)

September 25, 2012

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

Four in 10 Canadians see China as a threat, if opinion polls are to be believed. Seven in 10 oppose approval of the $15.1-billion bid by China’s CNOOC for Calgary oil company, Nexen.

For a prime minister in need of a bump in his approval ratings, it must be tempting to go for the political sugar by nixing the Nexen deal. This was clearly the fear of China’s ambassador in Ottawa, Zhang Junsai, who is urging that the deal be judged solely on business terms. “If we politicize this, we can’t do business,” he told the Globe and Mail.

But for the Harper government to bow to its baser political instincts would be to put short-term political self-interest ahead of the long-term prosperity of the country. There appear to be no reasons of any substance to blow up the transaction.

The Industry department is weighing whether the Nexen purchase is of “net benefit” to Canada. This is pretty simple arithmetic, given the 66% premium CNOOC is willing to pay Nexen’s shareholders. Much of that money will be re-invested in the Canadian economy – a net benefit by any measure.

More overseas suitors eye oil sands – by Jacquie NcNish and Carrie Tait (Globe and Mail – September 25, 2012)

September 25, 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.

TORONTO AND CALGARY — Private and state-owned foreign suitors are eyeing the oil-sands properties of ConocoPhillips Co., the latest sign that ownership in the costly northern Alberta industry is shifting to offshore buyers with deeper pockets and a greater tolerance for risk.

According to people familiar with the sale process, Houston-based Conoco began accepting bids in July for up to half of its vast oil sands holding, and has entered into what one person described as a “very vigorous bidding process” with an unidentified group of top bidders. According to a number of media reports, one of the suitors is a consortium of three state-owned oil and gas companies from India: ONGC Videsh Ltd., Indian Oil Corp. and Oil India Ltd. One report from Dow Jones pegged the value of Conoco’s oil sands assets at $5-billion.

Conoco is one of the largest property owners in Alberta’s oil sands and its planned retreat highlights the growing challenges publicly traded companies face in extracting crude from tarry bitumen deposits with multibillion dollar mining, drilling and refining projects that are plagued with production setbacks and cost overruns.

China closing in on huge oilpatch purchase -by Gillian Steward (Toronto Star – September 25, 2012)

September 25, 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.

Gillian Steward is a Calgary journalist and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald. Her column appears every other week. gsteward@telus.net

CALGARY—Will one of the tallest buildings in Calgary soon be emblazoned with the initials of a Chinese state-owned oil company?

That’s just one of the many questions that hangs over the proposed takeover of Nexen, a major oilsands player, by the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).

In July CNOOC offered Nexen shareholders a 61-per-cent premium on the share price and last week those shareholders decided it was a deal that they simply couldn’t refuse. It was an important step toward completion of the $15-billion deal, China’s largest overseas acquisition to date.

After the shareholder vote, Nexen’s interim president, Kevin Reinhart, assured the media that CNOOC would be keeping all of Nexen’s 3,000 employees. It has also promised to make Calgary headquarters for all its operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Africa next: With investment outpacing aid, is this a new golden age for the poorest continent? – by Geoffry York (Globe and Mail – September 22, 2012)

September 25, 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.

Sierra Leone — In the dusty streets of the tiny village of Romaro, a building boom is under way. Crumbling mud shacks are being replaced by new tin-roofed houses. Almost overnight, the village’s ancient way of life has vanished. Most of its farmland has been swallowed up by a Swiss multinational, Addax Bioenergy, which has leased more than 14,000 hectares of Sierra Leone for a $330-million sugar-cane plantation to produce ethanol for the European market.

Centuries of subsistence farming have been replaced by wage labour as the 200 villagers are propelled into the globalized economy. Most families in Romaro now have at least one person employed by the Swiss company, which pays leases and helps to plow the remaining farmland. The money has allowed the villagers to build 13 new houses.

“We get a wage every month,” says Mohamed Kamara, a security guard at the sugar-cane plantation. “Now, I have job security, and I can get credit from a bank. It’s far better than before.”

It’s the unexpected message of today’s Africa. Every week, another bank or investment fund is touting it as the next big thing, an emerging lion to follow the Asian tigers. Resource exports are soaring, and growth is climbing to unprecedented heights – second only to Asia, and fast catching up. And for the first time in generations, Africa is receiving more investment than foreign aid.

Northerners ponder separating from Ontario – CBC Radio Sudbury (September 24, 2012)

September 25, 2012September 25, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Province’s decision to sell the ONTC has leaders wondering if the region is getting its fair share. The Northlander Train is set to make its final journey between Toronto and Cochrane this week, leaving behind many people who are still furious about the province’s decision to sell the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

The move has disgruntled northerners who wonder — yet again — if the region is getting its fair share. It’s a sentiment that’s been expressed many times over the years by disgruntled taxpayers who think it might be in northern Ontario’s best interest to separate and become its own province.

The president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities said municipal politicians in the region feel they are being treated unfairly. “The action this government has taken, they had promised a fair, open and transparent process and we feel that it’s fallen substantially short of that to date,” Al Spacek said. “So … they are not happy with the provincial government over this decision.”

He noted municipal politicians in the north don’t feel they have solid representation at the provincial level and said the region needs a strong voice at Queens Park so good decisions are made for the north.

Northern train works, so why not keep it – by Dick Crawford (Peterborough Examiner – September 23, 2012)

September 25, 2012September 25, 2012

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

Dick Crawford is president of Crawford Building Consultants in Lakefield.

I recently had an opportunity to ride the Ontario Northland train from Toronto to Cochrane and back. I had an opportunity to observe firsthand the operation and service on this train, which operates six times per week. Here are some observations why this service is of such good quality and necessary for Ontarians.

I found the train to be clean and well maintained, with excellent staff service. The passenger train appears to be well patronized, not just by local users, but also by college and university students travelling to and from school, and a significant number of people travelling to tourist destinations to access canoeing and hiking. I noted the existence of a well-organized bus feeder service to nearby towns such as Hearst and Timmins. This train is a lifeline for northern residents to connect to the south, especially for much needed medical appointments.

I don’t understand why such a well-organized and patronized service should be removed. Consider that almost all the G8 and G20 countries are expanding railroad service. Why is Canada cutting back? The G8 and G20 countries consider train service to be a nation-builder and an efficient connector of people. It is well documented that there is nothing more efficient than a steel wheel on a steel rail.

MPP to McGuinty: Keep rail freight division – by Staff (North Bay Nugget – September 24, 2012)

September 25, 2012September 25, 2012

http://www.nugget.ca/

The provincial government should retain Ontario Northland’s rail freight division, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said in a letter hand-delivered to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office.

At the same time, Fedeli said, Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci should be replaced, while responsibility for the ONTC is shifted to the Ministry of Transportation.

Fedeli said the recommendations are a result of months of study which found the government will achieve no savings through its “ONTC fire sale.”

“Based on what I’ve found and what I’ve heard, it’s clear . . . that Ontario Northland’s rail freight service is strategic infrastructure that is critical to economic development and private sector job creation in Northern Ontario,” Fedeli said in a media release Monday.

“That’s why the stakeholders believe the rail freight division must remain publicly owned. It should be treated the same way as highways and other essential services.”