October 18, 2012 – Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: [NED] GOODMAN FAMILY INVESTS IN $20M ENDOWMENT FUND FOR LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF MINES

May 7, 2013October 18, 2012

(L to R) Michael Atkins, Laurentian Board Vice-Chair; Anita Goodman; Ned Goodman, CEO of Dundee Corporation; Terry MacGibbon, Chair of Laurentian Next 50 Campaign; Laura Katz, 2nd Year Masters of Science Student, Earth Sciences Department; Dominic Giroux, President of Laurentian University

Please note, although Laurentian President Dominic Giroux starts the video speaking French the remainder is in English.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUDBURY, ON (OCTOBER 15, 2012) – Ned Goodman, CEO of Dundee Corporation, and The Goodman Family Foundation – JODAMADA, announced today a historic gift to Laurentian University’s new School of Mines. In recognition of the Goodman family’s generosity, Laurentian University President Dominic Giroux announced that the university will name the school in the Goodman family’s honour.

Ned Goodman’s business and investment experience spans more than 40 years as a geologist, securities analyst, portfolio manager and senior executive, and he has an established reputation as one of Canada’s most successful investment counselors. He was the driving force of the Dundee group of financial companies, which grew under his family’s leadership from a $300-million base to a $50-billion mutual fund entity. Mr. Goodman’s work in the mining sector helped bring investment and jobs to many remote northern Canadian communities. By providing financing to many junior companies and helping to build successful, growing companies, he helped thousands of other Canadians prosper. He described his family’s gift as a vote of confidence in the future of mining.

Oil sands dialogues of the deaf – by Peter Foster (National Post – October 16, 2012)

October 18, 2012

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

Does Rick George aim to keep his enemies close, or to be eaten last?

Rick George, the former head of Suncor, is one of the most talented and successful businessmen in Canadian history. On the basis of a single brilliant insight, he transformed the economics of the Alberta oil sands, setting Canada on the path to energy superpower status. He repatriated and reprivatized Suncor. He absorbed Petro-Canada in the biggest merger in the country’s history.

And yet Mr. George was also slow to see, and perhaps naive in dealing with, the environmental whirlwind that would be unleashed by his success, as appears evident in his newly published autobiography, Sun Rise: Suncor, the Oil Sands and the Future of Energy, written with John Lawrence Reynolds.

Mr. George’s tale of business success is often inspiring, if somewhat guarded, but that part of the book contrasts markedly with the account of his well-intended but often muddled and contradictory approach to dealing with the environmental movement’s massive international campaign of misinformation about the oil sands.

Quebec Premier floats idea of tax credits to attract Plan Nord mining investment – by Sophie Cousineau (Globe and Mail – October 18, 2012)

October 18, 2012

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.

Paris — During Quebec’s electoral campaign, Pauline Marois criticized the Plan Nord, intimately associated with her Liberal predecessor Jean Charest, for its generosity towards private companies. But now that the Parti Québécois Premier is courting French investors in Paris, helping out mining companies no longer looks like such a bad idea.

The PQ government is thinking of introducing new tax credits to attract mining projects to the Plan Nord territory, which encompasses all of Quebec north of the 49th parallel. “This is an avenue we could choose,” Ms. Marois said during the news conference that ended her three-day mission in France.

But there is a catch. To be eligible for these tax credits, companies would have to transform the metals and minerals extracted locally. “It is an exchange of friendly services,” said Ms. Marois, who wishes to put the PQ’s imprint on the Liberal program.

“But we are pressing on with the North’s development,” she said. The new tax credits would be similar to the ones that Quebec used to create a multimedia and video game hub in Montreal, Ms. Marois explained. They translated into a fixed amount of money per employee hired on an annual basis.

Gold Fields set to fire 11,000 strikers in South Africa – Reuters (Globe and Mail – October 18, 2012)

October 18, 2012

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.

JOHANNESBURG — Reuters – Striking miners at one of Gold Fields Ltd.’s South African operations returned to work on Thursday, but the bullion producer still looked set to fire more than 11,000 others taking part in the worst wildcat walkout since the end of apartheid.

More than 80,000 miners have downed tools in the country since August in often violent strikes that are hitting growth and investor confidence in Africa’s biggest economy, and raising questions about President Jacob Zuma’s leadership.

Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest bullion producer and second-biggest in Africa, said all of the 9,000 workers at its Beatrix mine were now back at work after responding to a dismissal ultimatum.

Eleven thousand strikers at its KDC West operations in Carletonville, 40 km west of Johannesburg, have until 1200 GMT to return to work or face immediate dismissal. Gold Fields has said it may issue a similar ultimatum to those striking at KDC East.

More and more mines in South Africa have resorted to mass dismissals to tackle the strikes gripping the sector. Around 15,000 workers have been sacked in the last two weeks, although experts say it is more a hard-ball negotiating tactic than outright dismissal.

[Ned Goodman] Donor hopes to create world’s best mining school – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – October 16, 2012)

May 7, 2013October 18, 2012

http://www.northernlife.ca/

LU names mining school for Ned Goodman

Ned Goodman said his goal is nothing less than to make the Goodman School of Mines the best mining school in the world.

Laurentian officially named its new mining school after the CEO of Dundee Corporation Oct. 15 after the Goodman Family Foundation made a large contribution to an endowment fund set up for the mining school.

The contribution was made with the condition that any financial commitment, present or future, remains confidential.

However, Laurentian University president Dominic Giroux said the Goodmans’ contribution, along with others, brings the university more than halfway to the endowment fund’s financial goal of $20 million.

Goodman is a geologist, securities analyst, portfolio manager and senior executive, and has invested in many mining operations.

He was the driving force of the Dundee group of financial companies, which grew under his family’s leadership from a $300 million base to a $50 billion mutual fund entity.

Vale reports production declines across wide band of commodities – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – October 18, 2012)

October 22, 2012October 18, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page102055?

Bloomberg Industries says Vale’s share of the global seaborne iron-ore market has declined from 28% in the first half of 2011 to 26% for the same period of this year.

RENO (MINEWEB) – Vale has reported production declines in iron ore, pellets, manganese, copper, potash and phosphate rock for the first nine months of this year.

While the Brazilian mega-miner’s coal output increased a record 144.4% during the period, pellet output was up 3.8% and nickel production stayed flat.

For the first nine months of this year, Vale reported iron ore production of 234.5 million metric tons, a 2.2% drop over the 240 million metric tons of production reported during the first nine months of 2011.

“At Carajas we have not been able to match last year’s performance,” said Vale. “Issues with environmental permitting led to the continuation of mining in some older pits, which has entailed lower productivity, lower Fe content and higher costs.”
“Current performance is definitely not consistent with the high quality of our assets and corrective measures are underway,” the company said in its 3Q12 production report.

Northerners weigh in on McGuinty resignation – by Benjamin Aubé (Sudbury Star – October 18, 2012)

October 18, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Reaction is pouring in from political and water-cooler circles across Ontario in the days following Premier Dalton McGuinty’s resignation.

The decision did not fall on deaf ears in the North of the province, where some of the McGuinty government’s actions have come under much fire as of late.

McGuinty will remain at his post until a new party leader is selected, which could take months. As a result, McGuinty announced the prorogation of the legislature, essentially stalling regular proceedings at Queen’s Park until further notice.

For the Liberals, who fell just short of gaining a majority government last month after losing the Kitchener–Waterloo riding byelection to the NDP, the move is being celebrated for the prospect of rejuvenating the party’s vision.

Timmins-James Bay Provincial Liberal Association president Gaetan Groleau has been with the organization since 1999, and has watched McGuinty and his vision at work from the very beginning.

Sudbury must become ‘self-sustaining’ – Vale by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – October 18, 2012)

October 18, 2012

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

Vale’s Sudbury operations must become “self-sustaining,” according to a letter sent to the company’s global operations Wednesday by Peter Poppinga, CEO of Vale Canada Ltd.

What that will mean to the company’s Sudbury operations and its 4,000-plus employees will become clear by the end of the week.

“In every area that we operate, there will be conversations with employees about specific actions that can be taken at those sites,” said Cory McPhee, Vale’s vice-president of corporate affairs. “Sudbury is no different.”

McPhee said Vale needs to make changes to improve efficiencies and control costs, while facing a difficult base metals market hampered by weak prices and demand.

He said representatives from the company will be speaking with employees across its global operations, including in Sudbury, before the end of the week to go over exactly what they mean by becoming more “self-sustaining.”