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Day: October 23, 2012

B.C. government investigating claims about Chinese recruiters looking for miners – by Jeremy Nuttall (Vancouver Sun – October 23, 2012)

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

Canadian Press – VANCOUVER – The provincial government is investigating after the B.C. Federation of Labour complained an employment agency has been advertising for Canadian jobs, offering miners in China a chance to work here in exchange for exorbitant recruitment fees.

The investigation was launched because it is against the Employment Standards Act to charge a foreign worker a fee for information about employment or help them find a job in the province. Workers also cannot be forced to pay back any costs associated with recruitment to the company or agency.

“It is a serious allegation,” said Jobs Minister Pat Bell of a news release issued by Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour. “I hope he has substance to it. If he does, we will get to the bottom of it.”

But that’s not good enough for the B.C. Federation of Labour, which has been a vocal critic of the decision earlier this month to allow foreign, temporary workers into B.C. coal mines. “The only sensible thing to do is to suspend the permits and conduct a full investigation,” Sinclair said in the release.

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MUNICIPALITY OF GREENSTONE MEDIA ADVISORY: Northwest Kick Start plan featured at the Ontario Waterpower Conference in Niagara-on-the Lake

What: Northwest Kick Start plan featured at the Ontario Waterpower Association’s Power of Water Canada Conference in Niagara-on-the Lake, October 23, 2012.

Background: The Northwest Kick Start plan, unveiled by the Municipality of Greenstone on September 20, 2011, continues to influence the evolution of electricity-related planning in Northwest Ontario.

Today’s presentation at the Power of Water Canada Conference by Larry Doran, one of the plan’s authors, occurred at the same time as the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) outlined its current thinking on energy and transmission planning in the Region.

The Northwest Kick Start plan was conceived to show it was possible to provide a cost-effective power supply to a refinery for the Ring of Fire minerals in Greenstone. However, it evolved into a visionary power system enhancement plan, demonstrating region-wide benefits by facilitating a number of other longer term economic development and power system objectives, namely:

• Providing a grid connection to a number of First Nation communities currently supplied solely by diesel generation;

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PRESS RELEASE: NUCLEAR: DOCTORS SUPPORT THE MORATORIUM ON URANIUM EXPLORATION AND LAUNCH OF A GENERIC BAPE PROCESS FOR URANIUM MINES IN QUEBEC

PHYSICIANS FOR GLOBAL SURVIVAL (CANADA)

2012.10.23

Physicians for Global Survival (Canada) says it is in total agreement with Quebec Environment Minister Daniel Breton’s decision to impose a moratorium on uranium exploration and to launch a generic BAPE process regarding uranium mining in Quebec.

Some Canadian provinces and US States have already enacted a moratorium on uranium exploration and use: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Virginia. We firmly believe that Quebec must follow suit and that it should seriously study the risks associated with this industry.

There are many reasons why PGS opposes the development of uranium exploration and mining. The first one is that this industry spews enormous quantities of toxic and radioactive wastes into the environment (80-85 per cent of the initial ore mass). Some of these substances have half-lives of thousands of years. Others, such as radon gas, can travel far from the mine site and contaminate the environment. The risk of air, land, groundwater and surface water contamination is quite significant.

We wish to underline that the health risks associated with radioactive substances are already well known and that this knowledge is getting better and better. Uranium causes bone and kidney pathologies and is toxic to the neurological system, liver and embryo.

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Goodman donates mystery amount to Laurentian (Northern Miner – October 22-28, 2012)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Dundee Corp. (DC-T) CEO Ned Goodman and the Goodman Family Foundation have made a significant financial contribution to Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont.

The money will go towards a $20-million endowment fund in support of the university’s newly created Goodman School of Mines, which remains under development. The exact amount was not disclosed, but the university said that with this “historic gift” and other donations, the school has raised more than half of the $20 million needed.

“It will support the development of new mining-related courses and programs, improvements to the learning environment and opportunities inside and outside the classroom, student recruitment, career and placement services and guest speakers, and other specific uses of funds to be mutually agreed upon,” Laurentian president Dominic Giroux explains.

Goodman has worked for more than 40 years as a geologist, securities analyst, portfolio manager and senior executive. He was instrumental in turning the Dundee group of financial companies into a $50-billion mutual fund business.

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The tricky business of funding a university – by James Bradshaw (Globe and Mail – October 17, 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.

When billionaire entrepreneur Ned Goodman announced a major gift this week that will stamp his name on Laurentian University’s new School of Mines, he made it clear how he wanted it spent: directly on student experiences, and not on the school’s fixed costs.

Mr. Goodman’s gift (the amount was not disclosed) will go toward a $20-million endowment for the school, which will fund bursaries, scholarships, study abroad and career placement opportunities, and identify possible new degree options in areas of industry demand. The Dundee Corporation chief executive officer will have a seat on the school’s Global Advisory Council, which oversees how endowment funds are spent, but has no say over hiring or curriculum.

Laurentian, in Sudbury, has watched other Ontario universities face harsh criticism over donor agreements deemed by some to give private funders too much sway over academic matters. President Dominic Giroux hopes Mr. Goodman’s advisory role will keep him connected to the school while respecting academic boundaries.

“[The agreement]… is a useful construct which avoids getting into research integrity matters or academic freedom, but also allows industry to know tangibly the impact of their investment,” Mr. Giroux said.

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How to raise the quality of postsecondary education in Canada – Globe and Mail Editorial (October 6, 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.

Canada’s universities and colleges must find ways to enhance the perennial strengths of higher education, and also to learn how to convert their scientific research into useful, commercially viable products.

Higher education in this country has great strengths – and significant shortcomings. At 51 per cent, Canada has proportionately more 25 to 64-year-olds with a university or college education of all OECD countries.

And as a recent report of the Canadian Council of Academies shows, Canadian researchers – both scientific and humanistic – are among the most respected in the world. However, the number of Canadian patents is not correspondingly large. And the proportion of research done in our universities, rather than in the private sector, is unusually high.

Originally, the phrase “liberal arts” did not just mean the humanities; in fact, the quantitative sciences had a slim majority. There were seven in all; three (the “trivium”) were based in language: literature, logic and rhetoric; four (the “quadrivium”) were mathematical: astronomy, geometry, algebra and, perhaps surprisingly, music – but in recent years, digital media are conspicuous in both music and visual art.

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Xstrata seeks New Brunswick miners – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – October 2012)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Xstrata Copper and the Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) joined forces recently to recruit some potential employees. The Brunswick Mine in Bathurst, N.B., a division of Xstrata Zinc, is winding down operations since its mine life ends in 2013.

The Timmins operation, which includes the Kidd Mine and the metallurgical site, made a pitch to try and recruit some employees to Timmins.

“We gave a presentation on our operations and then the (TEDC) gave a presentation on the city itself,” said Brian Fleury, Xstrata senior human resources advisor in Timmins. “We had about 40 positions to fill at the time and we are always looking for those with mining experience. These would be very familiar with Xstrata’s way of doing things so they could fit in very well and hit the ground running.”

Cheryl St. Amour, director of business development and retention for the TEDC, offered the prospective employees an overview of what their life would be like in Timmins. “It wasn’t just the mine talking about their mine and their perspective of the community,” she said. “I talked about what the community offers.”

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Study finds [Sudbury’s Wallbridge Mining] Broken Hammer has potential to be viable – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – October 23, 2012)

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

Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. has released what it’s calling positive results on studies conducted on its Broken Hammer copper and platinum group metal project in Sudbury.

“We are very encouraged by the positive results of the pre-feasibility study,” Marz Kord, president and CEO of Wall-bridge Mining, said in a release.

“The pre-feasibility suggests that the Broken Hammer project has the potential to become economically viable and generate positive cash flow. What’s more encouraging is that the deposit remains open for expansion to the west and to depth.

“The footwall-style Broken Hammer project is in a large land package on the northern rim of the Sudbury basin within a 9 km strike length of very similar geology with extremely strong prospects.”

The Broken Hammer project, located north of Capreol, is planned to be an open pit operation used for the extraction of about 196,000 tonnes of copper, nickel and platinum group metals.

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NEWS RELEASE: New Deal to Revitalize Ontario Northland, Connect Ring of Fire Receives Unanimous Employee Support

Plan will create economic opportunities and thousands of new jobs in Ontario’s North

NORTH BAY, ONTARIO (October 22, 2012) – The General Chairperson’s Association (GCA), representing employees of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), today announced that their members have voiced unanimous support for the proposed New Deal to revitalize ONTC.

About 530 current employees along with a number of retirees attended weekend meetings in North Bay, Timmins, Cochrane and Englehart to learn more about the New Deal from GCA representatives, following its public announcement on Friday.

The GCA-led plan calls for transferring ownership of provincially-held ONTC’s railroad and other assets to a new ports authority to be operated under the Canada Marine Act. ONTC operations will be strengthened, and a new rail line to the Ring of Fire will be developed to ship chromite, nickel and other minerals and finished products to markets around the world.

“We are more energized than ever about the New Deal after receiving such enthusiastic support from our members,” said GCA representative Brian Stevens. “Their voices build on strong support from a growing list of key stakeholders, adding to our confidence in the plan’s success.”

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper promises to clarify rules after Petronas decision – by Andrew Livingston (Toronto Star – October 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.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he’ll use a pending decision on a major Chinese investment in Canada’s oil patch to clarify which foreign investments meet the test of being in the Canadian interest.

Renewed urgency over foreign investment came over the weekend when Ottawa rejected a $5.9-billion bid by Malaysian state oil company Petronas for Calgary-based Progress Energy Resources Corp. The ruling left the acquisition up in the air and sent shock waves through Canada’s energy sector.

“We will give greater clarity on our policy framework going forward when we take a couple of decisions that are before us,” Harper promised at a press conference Monday.

Fallout from the rejection of the bid for Progress hit the Toronto stock market early Monday amid speculation Canada is closed to foreign investment. With that speculation comes serious concerns over Beijing-based CNOOC Ltd.’s proposed $15.1-billion takeover of Nexen Inc., which is being reviewed by the Harper government.

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Backwards Progress and net benefit losses [Progress Energy/Petronas] – by Peter Foster (National Post – October 23, 2012)

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

Opposition attacked Monday over rejection of bid for Progress Energy

The brusque press release issued by Industry Minister Christian Paradis late Friday night — announcing that he had turned down Malaysian state company Petronas’ $5.2-billion bid for Progress Energy because it didn’t represent a “net benefit” to Canada — inevitably led to a weekend whirlwind of speculation. Did that three-minutes-to-pumpkin statement indicate that the government was trying to bury something? Was this a prelude to nixing the $15.1-billion CNOOC-Nexen deal?

It transpires that this may have been all about government-to-government head butting. Or perhaps a better analogy would be going at each other like bull elephant seals, because, as fans of nature programs know, this tends to result in lots of collateral damage.

Sources suggest that when Ottawa told Petronas it wanted a further 30-day delay to get its policy straight on exactly what “net benefit” means, Petronas insisted on a decision. So the government said no. That meant Ottawa got its 30 days, but at the price of a potentially investment-chilling stock market debacle.

The opposition parties had a field day on Monday in the House, castigating the Conservatives for their lack of transparency.

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How the Petronas-Progress deal all came falling down – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – October 23, 2012)

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

CALGARY – Michael Culbert, president and CEO of Progress Energy Resources Corp., was anxiously pacing in his Calgary office Friday evening, staying in touch with his counterparts half a world away in Kuala Lumpur, when he went wide-eyed reading the news he was expecting.

It was 11:57 p.m. Ottawa time, 9:57 p.m. in Calgary, or three minutes before the expiry of the federal government’s own deadline to hand down a ruling on whether Progress’s takeover by Malaysia’s Petronas met the confusing “net benefit” test and could be finalized. The brief news release said Industry Minister Christian Paradis had just blocked the deal. Mr. Culbert and his Malaysian buyers were in shock.

Talks between Petronas and the Canadian ministry had gone well, the deal had received little public attention, and the two companies were confident that the merger would prove to be of huge benefit to the country. It fit well into Canada’s strategy of launching exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia from the British Columbia coast.

“We [were] moving forward on a very positive step as far as all the activities go, and there really [weren’t] signals until the last hours that this wasn’t going to be approved,” Mr. Culbert said in an interview.

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Blocked Petronas deal adds to ‘Canadian discount’ worries – by Shawn McCarthy, Richard Blackwell, Carrie Tait (Globe and Mail – October 23, 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.

OTTAWA, TORONTO, CALGARY — The federal government’s surprise move to block the $6-billion takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp. is adding to growing concerns about a “Canadian discount” that weighs on share prices and frustrates companies’ ability to raise capital and do deals.

Investors reacted swiftly on Monday to the rejection of the bid for Progress by Malaysia’s Petronas . Progress shares dropped more than 9 per cent, while other energy shares sank sharply.

The government’s decision immediately reminded investors of previous high-profile deals in Canada that fell apart amid government or regulatory scrutiny, and has created uncertainty about the bid for Calgary’s Nexen Inc. by China’s CNOOC Ltd. The Conservative government created waves two years ago when it blocked BHP Billiton’s $38.6-billion (U.S.) attempt to acquire Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. And just last week, the federal telecommunications regulator rejected BCE Inc.’s bid to acquire Astral Media Inc. in a shocking decision.

“We’re very confused,” by the Progress Energy situation, said Laura Lau, senior vice-president and portfolio manager with Brompton Group fund managers in Toronto.

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