January 14, 2013 – Republic of Mining

Are SOEs really SOBs? – by Russel Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – January 2013)

January 14, 2013

Russel Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

Ten years from now when Asian governments have strengthened their grip on Canada’s petroleum and other natural resources and are pumping “our” oil through the Northern Gateway pipeline to their awaiting ships at either the Port of Kitimat, or Prince Rupert, or both, Prime Minister Harper will probably be back in Alberta somewhere thinking that perhaps his decision in 2012 wasn’t very good for Canada after all.

Like you, I have no crystal ball show¬ing what 10 years from now will look like exactly in terms of state-owned-entrepreneurs (SOEs) controlling our resources (or who knows what else by then?), but I have an uneasy feeling that it won’t be pretty because of the suspicions and the facts that we already have about how SOEs conduct business.

I’m not, for example, necessarily singling out Chinese or Malaysian governments in particular (or maybe I am), but from what I’ve read and heard about their tenacious ways of doing business and in particular, their seeming disregard for whatever gets in their way (especially people), I can’t imagine they’ll change their business plans when they set up shops here in Canada.

In fact, I think it will be business as usual, Asian style, and that should be everyone’s concern because, just by example, have you ever looked deep into the face of a Chinese coal miner? There’s not a whole lot of happiness in those eyes. They’re filled with pain and fear, and that’s what I’m afraid Canada is in for too as more and more state-owned-entrepreneurs move in and take control.

Idle No More: A chance to repair a sad legacy – by Jim Coyle (Toronto Star – January 13, 2013)

January 14, 2013

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.

The truth about stories, says the author and son of a Cherokee Thomas King, is “that that’s all we are.” It’s a notion at least as old as the Psalms. “We spend our years as a tale that is told.” And in our lifetimes, we’re shaped and guided by the stories we hear about who we are, where we come from, what we might be.

But stories can also be dangerous, King said in his Massey Lectures of 10 years ago. “So you have to be careful with the stories you tell. And you have to watch out for the stories you are told.”

As much as anything, Idle No More — born of a rally organized in Saskatoon in November by four aboriginal women — seems to be an attempt by Canada’s First Nations to insist that their story be reclaimed and heard, to galvanize their people and the wider public into addressing a long-standing national disgrace.

To get lost in the diet particulars of one hunger-striking chief in Ottawa, or the accounting idiosyncracies of one reserve’s band council, or a decision in Attawapiskat by a people grown wary of media to ban a TV crew, is to miss the larger and legitimate point of Idle No More and the opportunity it presents for essential change.

That drastic change is needed — at a time when the northwestern Ontario community of Pikangikum is called the suicide capital of Canada, and an inquest is soon to be held in Ontario into the deaths of seven native young people who died after leaving their remote home communities to pursue education in Thunder Bay — is beyond question.

Mining industry supports Ontario’s transportation infrastructure

January 14, 2013

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 foundation of the multi-faceted transportation infrastructure that we all share in Ontario is supported by the province’s mining industry. According to the economic impact study Mining: Dynamic and Dependable for Ontario’s Future, which was completed by two University of Toronto economists, “One sector of the economy that depends vitally on mineral production in the province is the transport sector.”

The province’s marine transport industry serves mining customers and relies on mineral products. According to the study, minerals account for 56% of the cargo shipped by volume from Ontario Great Lakes ports to other locations in the province, 14% of cargo shipped elsewhere in Canada and 54% of cargo shipped internationally through the St. Lawrence Seaway.

All in all, 44% of the total cargoes carried by the marine industry in Ontario are mineral products. On the national level, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) in its publication Facts & Figures indicates about 50% of all marine cargo traffic in the country involves minerals.

As heavy users of transportation infrastructure that benefits us all, mining companies often invest in the construction and maintenance of these facilities. For example, OMA member Sifto Canada joined forces with the Town of Goderich and the Goderich Port Management Corp in a public-private partnership to expand and enhance the local port. The three parties signed a memorandum of understanding for the $47 million project.

NEWS RELEASE: First Quantum Minerals Delivers Letter to Inmet Warning Against Improper Defensive Tactics

January 14, 2013

2013-01-12T16:24:32+00:00

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – Jan. 12, 2013) –First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (“First Quantum”) (TSX:FM) (LSE:FQM) today announced that it has delivered the following letter to David Beatty, Chairman of the Board of Inmet Mining Corporation, in response to reports received by First Quantum regarding a proposed sale of a further minority interest in the Cobre Panama project:

“Dear David,

First Quantum published details on 9 January 2012 of its previously announced proposal to create a new force in mining, with a globally significant position in copper, through a merger with Inmet. First Quantum is pleased that Inmet’s largest single shareholder, and one with representation on the Inmet Board, has already expressed public support for our proposal. We have also noted Inmet’s response to our offer for the Inmet shares (the “Offer”), including the establishment of a Special Committee to examine its merits.

First Quantum has been approached, directly and indirectly through its financial advisors, by a number of shareholders of Inmet who have expressed concern that Inmet is proposing to complete a sale of a further minority interest in the Cobre Panama project. These concerns are apparently based upon discussions with a senior executive officer of Inmet.

As you know, it is a condition of First Quantum’s Offer that Inmet and its subsidiaries not take any action which might have the effect of materially diminishing the economic value to First Quantum of the acquisition of Inmet shares or make it inadvisable for First Quantum to proceed with the Offer. We are therefore very concerned that the Special Committee could be contemplating steps which could deprive Inmet shareholders the opportunity to consider our Offer.