CHROME’S COLOURFUL HISTORY – From The International Chromium Development Association (ICDA)

The International Chromium Development Association (ICDA) http://www.icdacr.com/

The Discovery of Chrome

In 1762, J. G. Legmann described an orange-yellow mineral discovered in Siberia’s Ural Mountains, which he called crocoite because it resembled the colour of egg yoke (krokos in Greek). Thirty-five years later, French chemist Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin identified a new metallic element in this mineral. He called it “chromium”, after the Greek khrōma, meaning colour, because of its colourful compounds. Indeed, the yellow deposit obtained by crushing the mineral was already being used as a paint pigment. After further research, Vauquelin found that trace elements of chrome give rubies their characteristic red colour and emeralds, serpentine and chrome mica their distinctive green.

Read more

China’s mining occupation of the Philippines – by Rodel Rodis (Global Nation – December 12, 2012)

http://www.inquirer.net/

While China’s brazen occupation of the Philippines’ Scarborough Shoal, located just 125 nautical miles from Masinloc, Zambales, has captured all the national and international attention, little has been mentioned about China’s occupation of the Philippine mining industry, an entirely different issue from the Filipino Chinese (“Chinoys”) domination of the Philippine economy.

For example, one of China’s vast army of mining companies operating almost under the radar in the Philippines is located near the Scarborough Shoal in the coastal town of Masinloc where China’s Wei-Wei Group has set up a US$100 million nickel processing plant. In nearby Botolan, Zambales, China’s Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group Company Limited operates a US$150 million nickel exploration and cobalt processing project.

As the Asia Sentinel reported on November 12, 2012 (“China’s Filipino Gold Rush”), “With an estimated US$1 trillion in untapped mineral resources in the Philippines, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Chinese mining companies, many of them operating illegally, have been exporting gold, nickel and other precious minerals out through the island country’s porous coastal ports, where there are no customs officials and plenty of bribable officials to turn their eyes the other way.”

With its occupation of the Scarborough Shoal (what China calls “Huanyin Island”), smuggling precious metals from the Philippines to a China base will be even more convenient especially after it is transformed into a four story fortress, as China did with the Philippines’ Mischief Reef, located just 75 miles from Palawan, which China occupied in 1996.

Read more

Oligarchs, not investors, to get Abramovich Norilsk windfall – by Polina Devitt (Reuters U.K. – December 11, 2012)

http://uk.reuters.com/

MOSCOW – (Reuters) – Roman Abramovich, the Kremlin’s enforcer on a peace deal at Norilsk Nickel, will pay cash straight to the Arctic giant’s two main oligarch owners for a stake in the company, depriving other investors of the windfall from an end a billionaires’ feud.

Norilsk Nickel, which mines the vast mineral deposits of Russia’s far north, was one of the biggest prizes handed to insiders in the post-Soviet carve-up of Russian industry that created a clique of politically powerful tycoons.

For years the world’s largest nickel and palladium producer has suffered from a feud between its two main owners, billionaires Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska.

Fellow billionaire Abramovich, owner of London’s Chelsea football club, settled the row last week by sweeping in to buy a stake under a deal that appeared to have the blessing of President Vladimir Putin.

A revision, announced on Tuesday by Norilsk and Deripaska’s Hong Kong-listed aluminum producer RUSAL (0486.HK), would see Abramovich buy a slightly smaller stake, but pay for it directly to the two billionaires’ firms, rather than Norilsk.

Read more

Will the real Norilsk owner please stand up? – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – December 7, 2012)

http://www.reuters.com/

Dec 7 (Reuters) – The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has just issued a report on doing business in Russia.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained: Changing international perceptions of Russian business” is based on a survey of 195 senior executives from outside Russia, with particular focus on those who have been or are considering joint venturing with Russian corporates.

“Non-Russian executives have decidedly mixed views of their Russian partners,” the report notes, explaining: “Access to energy and financial resources, and technical know-how, are the big pluses (…) poor language skills, inefficient management and corporate governance are the big minuses.”

Third on the EIU’s recommended list of nine ways for Russian companies to break free of outsiders’ “stereotypes” is to “avoid ‘insider’ practices and back-room deals”. Oh, and one other thing. The study was commissioned by Russian aluminium giant UC RUSAL and is available for download from the company’s website (www.rusal.com).

Read more

Resource nationalism – A growing challenge for miners globally – by John Gravelle (Canadian Mining Journal – December 2012)

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

John Gravelle, PwC Mining Leader for the Americas

Mining companies looking to establish mine operations in developed and developing nations must consider the risks associated with the investment. A reoccurring challenge faced by miners is resource nationalism. Resource nationalism is when governments assert greater control, influence or demand a larger share of mining revenues from companies engaged in the extraction and processing of a country’s natural resources.

A common myth is the belief that resource nationalism is restricted to developing countries. This is not always the case. These trends are prevalent in developed nations, including Canada, but the ways to exercise resource nationalism may
differ. For example, while developing nations often apply export duties to mining companies in order to support local
related industries, developed countries tend to increase taxes charged to mining companies as a way to generate additional
government revenue.

An example of resource nationalism in a developed country is Australia’s Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT). The MRRT, which came into effect this year, imposes a substantial additional profit-based tax on upstream iron ore and coal operations that achieve a specified rate of return.

Read more

OMA report gains broader exposure at economic conference

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

The recently released Ontario Mining Association economic contribution study “Mining: Dynamic and Dependable for Ontario’s Future” was highlighted at an academic forecasting conference yesterday. The study was a component of the program at the University of Toronto’s Policy and Economic Analysis Program’s (PEAP) bi-annual conference.

The main part of the PEAP conferences involves model construction and explanation for predicting future growth and growth rates in the Canadian economy and where that growth will be derived. Members of PEAP are predominantly economists involved in forecasting, planning and marketing for both private sector and public sector organizations.

In attendance yesterday were representatives from the financial services sector and other industries, the ministry of finance, economists from other industry associations and academia. PEAP works closely with government finance officials, banks and Statistics Canada in developing its projections. Domestic factors as well as global economic trends, which affect the Canadian economy, are examined by this group of specialists. Of particular interest were current social and economic trends in China, Europe and the United States.

Read more

Outgoing Norilsk Nickel CEO to get $100m severance deal – by Reuters (Mineweb.com – December 14, 2012)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Sources close to the company say Vladimir Strzhalkovsky will receive a one-off payment of $50 million and two further payments of $25 million each after six months and one year.

MOSCOW (REUTERS) – The departing chief executive of Norilsk Nickel, the Russian mining giant undergoing an ownership shakeup, will receive a $100 million severance deal, two sources close to the company’s shareholders said on Friday.

Vladimir Strzhalkovsky is leaving the world’s largest miner of nickel and palladium to make way for shareholder Vladimir Potanin, who this week struck a deal through which Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich will become a shareholder.

The sources confirmed a report in the Vedomosti daily that said Strzhalkovsky – who as CEO launched a series of share buybacks and sided with Potanin in a bitter shareholder dispute – would receive a one-off payment of $50 million from Norilsk.

He will receive two further payments of $25 million each after six months and one year.

In this week’s revised deal, Abramovich will buy a stake of 5.86 percent in Norilsk from Potanin and RUSAL, the aluminium company in which Oleg Deripaska is the main shareholder, for $1.5 billion.

Read more

Nothing beats homemade ore – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – December 2012)

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

Working abroad may sound exciting and almost exotic, but as many of you know, it can be a total nightmare filled with hostility, sickness, and worst of all, false promises and cost overruns.

Nevertheless, Canadian companies continue to look offshore for their futures and fortunes but more often than not, they come home with their hopes shattered and few answers for their investors as to why things didn’t turn out as planned.

There’s no question that venturing offshore has a mystique about it that drives miners to new frontiers, but I just
wish many of those adventurers would give Canada a second look before investing their time and, moreover, their stakeholders’ money in foreign projects.

I know that some of the properties being explored or developed offshore hold outstanding prospects for Canadians in terms
of minerals, but on the downside, what about where they’re located and even worse, what about the odds of coming home with
a buck or two?

Even some major companies with seemingly unlimited financial and topnotch managerial resources are looking pretty sheepish lately as they admit to the fact that a million dollars worth of gold is going to cost a million-and-one dollars to produce.

Read more

Harper is right on SOE takeovers – by Jack M. Mintz (National Post – December 14, 2012)

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

Jack M. Mintz is the Palmer Chair in Public Policy, University of Calgary.

Most criticisms of Ottawa’s SOE position are mystifying

This past week I attended the Globes business conference in Israel, only to miss the great brouhaha over the Harper government’s decision to approve the takeovers of Nexen by China’s CNOOC Ltd. and of Progress Energy by Malaysia’s Petronas. Prime Minister Stephen Harper also announced at the same time tougher guidelines for state-owned-enterprise (SOE) takeovers of Canadian companies on a going-forward basis.

Reading the National Post on my iPad, however, you would think that the Harper decision was a great travesty. The editorial page criticized the decision as undermining free markets, a rather surprising view since SOEs are far from being “free” of foreign-government intervention.

Another criticism was that the two takeover approvals were inconsistent with the new policy restrictions on state-owned enterprises. This is a fair point, but we have to remember that Canada is not a banana republic. When the rules of the game are changed, usually transactions that have been put in place, even if not yet consummated, are typically grandfathered. We do this all the time in tax policy, sometimes involving billions of dollars in transactions that get grandfathered or provided transitional relief. Although the “net benefit” test under the old regime is far from clear, the two takeovers would have likely passed anyway.

Read more

Stephen Harper made the right decision on Nexen takeover – by Carol Goar (Toronto Star – December 14, 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.

It is easy to forget what a fine mind Stephen Harper has because he so frequently harnesses it to divisive partisan schemes. But every so often, the prime minister turns his intelligence to a difficult public issue and comes up with a smart solution.

His decision on the $15.1-billion bid by China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd. (CNOOC) to take over Calgary-based Nexen Inc. falls into that category. He said yes to the controversial acquisition, but no to future takeovers of Canadian energy firms by state-owned foreign companies.

His answer was pragmatic, balanced and shrewd enough to make a gambler smile. He gave the Chinese government what it wanted — but not what it really sought: a precedent it could use to buy up companies in the oilpatch, guaranteeing China a growing share of Canada’s energy wealth.

He gave the energy sector what it wanted — but not what it was really hoping for: an unrestricted infusion of Chinese-controlled capital into the oilsands. He gave Canadians what they wanted — a way to control who benefits from the oilsands — but not as quickly as most would have liked.

Read more

PetroChina, Encana strike natural gas pact – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – December 14, 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 — Encana Corp. reached a $2.2-billion joint venture with PetroChina to develop the hot new Duvernay property in Alberta, in a deal that will fly just below the radar of Investment Canada’s new guidelines on state-owned enterprises.

The pact comes less than a week after the federal government unveiled investment rules that raise new hurdles for foreign state-owned companies to take over Canadian oil and gas producers and encourage exactly the type of deal that Encana and PetroChina concluded Thursday.

The deal shows foreign players remain anxious to invest in the Canadian energy industry even with the new guidelines. Chinese officials have said the government’s rules could put a chill on their investment plans in Canada, but PetroChina was clearly eager to proceed with Encana. Sources say the deal was essentially done weeks ago, but the firms held back their announcement until after Ottawa released its CNOOC decision and the new rules of engagement for state-owned enterprises.

Encana CEO Randy Eresman said the partners received assurances from Ottawa that the transaction would not be reviewed under the Investment Canada Act prior to closing the deal on Thursday because there is no transfer of control.

Read more

Embattled oil producers quietly eye rail option – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – December 14, 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.

CALGARY — On a clear day, the waters that roll into Prince Rupert’s industrial port offer a clear view to open seas that stretch to the other side of the world. Only steps from those waters lie train tracks that connect this distant northern port with the heart of North America, including the oil sands.

Those tracks offer exporters a more direct connection to Asia than any other place in North America outside Alaska. It’s an advantage of proximity that has already brought coal, grain and containers to these shores. Now, some believe Canada’s energy industry should do the same, arguing that rail may have a clearer route to Pacific oil exports than Northern Gateway, the $6-billion Enbridge Inc. project that has been embroiled in controversy.

After all, trains elsewhere in North America are now moving hundreds of thousands of barrels a day, including to refineries on the West Coast. There is little reason crude from those same trains could not be loaded onto ships. Canadian rail lines have examined the idea; in the U.S., at least two Pacific terminals are developing plans to export oil brought west by rail.

“Pipelines can’t touch the capacity of the railway,” said Alf Nunweiler, a former B.C. northern affairs minister who spent 42 years working for CN. The CN rail line into Prince Rupert is 75 per cent empty, according to the local port authority. And it’s already built, unlike a pipeline that would have to travel through northern British Columbia’s challenging terrain.

Read more

A resourceful man [Bill Gallagher] – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post/Edmonton Post – December 14, 2012)

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

Bill Gallagher says locking up First Nations support goes a long way to tempering environmental movement opposition

Canada is orchestrating a big push to accelerate development of its natural resources, but behind the hype there is a shifting and tense legal landscape. First Nations are on a big winning streak in the courts that has empowered them to have a say on projects in big parts of the country.

The tension is pushing corporations to spend huge dollars to keep the peace and move projects along in areas First Nations claim as their traditional lands.

But the approach is piecemeal and there have been few consistently successful strategies. Tension, frustration and confrontation abound. Lawyers, consultants and vested interests fuel and feed off the tension, making it hard to come up with solutions.

Many projects worth billions of dollars have been delayed or sunk altogether. They include scores of mining, forestry and pipeline projects such as the now-shelved Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline in the Northwest Territories. The Northern Gateway pipeline could be next unless accommodation is found with opposed First Nations in the B.C. interior and on the coast.

Bill Gallagher, a former federal government regulator, oil and gas lawyer, treaty negotiator, and author of a new book, Resource Rulers, Fortune And Folly on Canada’s Road to Resources, argues there is a better way.

Read more

Promoting regional autonomy as a campaign issue raises expectations – by Lloyd H. Mack (Kenora Daily Miner & News – December 13, 2012)

http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/

During my tenure in Kenora I have often thought there was a closer affinity between this region of the country and Manitoba than Southern Ontario. So it only makes sense a former ‘Toban, Glen Murray, would call for the creation of a regional government for Northern Ontario.

Murray, who served as mayor of Winnipeg from 1998 to 2004, now lives in Toronto and is MPP for Toronto Centre. He’s presently on the campaign trail as a candidate in the 2013 Ontario Liberal Party leadership race. At an all-candidates debate in Thunder Bay on Sunday, Murray displayed an understanding of northern and rural issues by voicing the idea of a regional government that would administrate transportation, energy and regionally relevant legislation such as the Northern Growth Act and the Far North Act.

Four of Murray’s rivals embraced the idea of giving northerners a louder voice in decisions that directly affect them, but make no mistake none of the leadership candidates are using the ‘S’ word. In fact, Kathleen Wynne cautioned this kind of policy idea can’t be viewed as the Liberal Party supporting the idea of Northern Ontario separating from the rest of the province.

But Murray drew a parallel between how a regional government could address the unique needs of the North and the way the 2007 City of Toronto Act allowed the province’s population centre to levy taxes for administrating some of its provincial affairs.

Read more

NOMA calls on Ontario political leaders to outline relationship they envision with the North – by Jon Thompson (Kenora Daily Miner & News – December 12, 2012)

http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/

Murray has released a platform that would grant Northern Ontario its own government within the province. Elected alongside municipal councils, it would have taxation powers, administrate legislation with Northern relevance and have a degree of autonomy over energy and transportation portfolios.

NOMA is calling on other Liberal candidates as well as Ontario’s PCs and NDP to let their views be known on what kind of relationship they envision between Queen’s Park and Northwestern Ontario.

“We’re looking not just at the Liberal Party because of their leadership race. That’s what spurred it but we’re looking for all parties to buy in to this concept of the decision-making process in the Northwest, by the Northwest for the Northwest,” Canfield said, speaking on NOMA’s behalf. “An MPP out of Toronto, who is a little bit more familiar with our region than most of them are, has brought this up in the leadership race, it was a perfect opportunity. We’ve been saying this for years.”

Canfield insisted the Northwest needs an independent deal from the Northeast, as Calgary is closer to Kenora than is Sudbury, yet he sees three legislative buildings and three planning acts when he looks the same distance to the west.

Read more