Australia and Canada: Two resource-driven economies on divergent paths – by Richard Blackwell (Globe and Mail – August 7, 2013)

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.

Australia’s central bank has cut its key interest rate again, to a record low, underscoring concern that a global commodity slump and slower growth in China will weaken its resource-based economy.

The country is trying to kickstart consumer and business spending with the cuts because the mining sector has peaked and capital spending in that industry is falling, while economic growth posted by the country’s key trading partner, China, is slowing.

That’s a cautionary tale for Canada, which has a similar resource-based economy, dependant on exports. Weaker commodity prices help to explain, for example, a near-one-third drop this year in the share price of Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd., which ships about 15 to 20 per cent of its coking coal output to China.

Still, there are enough differences between the two countries, economists say, to insulate Canada from the economic turbulence facing our antipodal cousin.

Read more

A nuclear reactor that burns its own waste? – by Shawn McCarthy Globe and Mail – August 7, 2013)

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.

Bill Gates has invested some of his considerable fortune in a nuclear reactor developer that is promising to deliver cheaper power while operating more safely and dramatically reducing radioactive waste.

The Microsoft founder is looking for an “energy miracle” – or several – that can power a 21st-century economy without emitting greenhouse gases that contribute to catastrophic climate change.

And nuclear energy is high on his list of solutions. Especially if the next generation of reactor technology can reduce electricity costs while addressing the risks from radioactivity that leave many people deeply concerned about any growing dependence on nuclear.

Mr. Gates is chairman of TerraPower LLC, a Seattle-area company that is developing a travelling-wave, liquid-sodium reactor (TWR) that, the company says, provides an answer to those problems by essentially burning its own waste.

Read more

BHP CEO says taking long view on potash – by Sonali Paul (Reuters Canada – August 7, 2013)

http://ca.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – BHP Billiton’s new boss on Wednesday shrugged off Russian potash producer Uralkali’s exit from one of the world’s two big potash cartels, saying BHP (BHP.AX: Quote) (BLT.L: Quote) was taking a long-term view on its planned entry into the industry.

In the wake of Uralkali’s (URKA.MM: Quote) surprise move, there has been speculation it may make more sense for BHP to take over U.S. potash producer Mosaic Co (MOS.N: Quote) instead of building a $14 billion potash mine in Canada, up for a decision this year.

“We think very long term. This is something that’s happened short term,” BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie told reporters, when asked whether the company may delay development of Jansen with potash prices expected to slump.

“We’ve always said that potash is a business which will lose some of its cartel-like structure and become in time globally traded like everything else, so we, to some extent, predicted what’s happened,” he said. Mackenzie said he would have more to say about the outlook for potash and Jansen at the company’s results on August 20.

Read more

ANALYSIS-Commodity funds on track for big launch year in uncertain market – by Barani Krishnan (Reuters India – August 6, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW YORK, Aug 6 (Reuters) – An ex-Glencore (GLEN.L) oil trader and a veteran grains merchant with futures broker R.J. O’Brien are among those behind the largest number of commodity fund launches in 3 years despite investor worries the multi-year rally in those markets is over.

A dozen hedge funds trading raw materials derivatives on discretion were launched in the first six months of this year, the same as in the whole of 2012, data from London-based research house Preqin showed. In 2011, only seven of such funds took off, the smallest number in 5 years.

The new funds are led by managers who are convinced they can be outliers in one of the toughest commodity markets in years. The funds typically begin trading with a few million dollars of the managers’ own money and cash from family and friends, before seeking outside capital.

The launches coincide with talk the commodities “supercycle” of the past decade has been thwarted by the slowing of China’s phenomenal growth.

Read more

Canadians still waiting on oilsands emissions targets – by Les Whittington (Toronto Star – August 7, 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.

No date set for Harper government’s long-promised curbs on oilsands

TTAWA—Canada’s ability to control pollution from the oilsands will sway U.S. President Barack Obama’s high-stakes decision on building the Keystone XL pipeline. But Ottawa’s new regulations — due July 1—have been delayed again and federal officials won’t say when they’re expected. Late this year, Obama will give a yes-or-no ruling on the proposed $7.6-billion project to carry oilsands derived crude from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The decision has huge political implications for Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The planned Keystone XL pipeline is the most prominent of a number of current proposals to give Canada’s oil and gas industry better access to export markets, which is crucial to the Harper government’s energy policies and the development of the oilsands in Alberta.

But Keystone has run into fierce opposition from environmentalists who say it will open the way for a vast expansion in oilsands production, which the greens say will increase the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.

Read more

Energy East pipeline the oil sands’ last exit? – by Peter Foster (National Post – August 7, 2013)

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

With Energy South and Energy West mired in delay, or even dead, Energy East has appeared as something of a last resort

While not wishing to rain on anybody’s “nation building” parade, last week’s announcement by TransCanada Corp. of its $12-billion Energy East project is hardly cause for wild celebration. While the proposal — to pipe 1.1 million barrels per day of Alberta oil to Eastern refineries and to the East Coast for export — may represent a marvel of technology, in a rational world it would be a non-starter (as opposed to a “no-brainer”).

What Energy East really reflects is the extraordinary success of radical environmentalists in blocking more economic export routes. It also appears to embed dodgy Suzukinomics, such as the notion that domestic upgrading is always a “good thing.” Apparently support from the NDP and labour unions is conditional on this autarchic canard.

It is astonishing that so many Canadians remain enamoured of Barack Obama, although he is perhaps more inimical to Canadian interests than any president in history. He holds the ultimate veto on TransCanada’s Keystone XL project, to take more than 800,000 barrels of diluted bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to the refineries of the Gulf Coast.

Read more

Three bidders out as Rio faces lackluster Canadian sale: sources – by Anjuli Davies and Clara Ferreira-Marques (Reuters U.S. – August 6, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – (Reuters) – Three big-name bidders for Rio Tinto’s (RIO.L) majority stake in Canada’s largest iron ore producer are now out of the running, sources familiar with the talks said on Tuesday, after offers came in well below the mining group’s targets.

The sources said private equity firm Apollo, which had been working with Canadian pension fund CPPIB, rival Blackstone (BX.N) and commodity trader and miner Glencore (GLEN.L) were no longer in the race after a second round of bids last month. The low offers, at a time when dozens of mining assets are for sale and demand for steelmaking commodities is uncertain, raise questions over the future of a sale that could still take months to tie up – should Rio decide to push ahead.

Rio has a handful of assets on the block as it battles to cut a $19 billion debt burden and meet cost cutting targets. Like other miners seeking to divest unwanted activities, however, it has found buyers unwilling to pay up and in June was forced to scrap the sale of its $1.3 billion diamond business, 15 months after it was first announced.

Rio appointed banks to sell its 59 percent stake in Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) earlier this year after deciding to focus its iron ore efforts on assets in Australia’s Pilbara region, where the world’s second-largest iron ore producer has lower costs and higher grades.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: NORTHERN AND CONFEDERATION COLLEGES PARTNER TO DELIVER HAILEYBURY SCHOOL OF MINES MINING ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN PROGRAM IN NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday, August 6, 2013

TIMMINS, ON: Northern College and Confederation College in Thunder Bay are collaborating to broaden educational opportunities and facilitate workforce development in northwestern Ontario. A newly established agreement between the two colleges allows Confederation to share delivery of the highly reputable Northern College Haileybury School of Mines (HSM) programming at its Thunder Bay campus enabling graduates of Confederation’s Mining Techniques certificate program to enter the third semester of the HSM Mining Engineering Technician diploma program at Confederation College.

The arrangement between Northern and Confederation stemmed from a pan-northern memorandum of understanding signed earlier this year involving six colleges in northern Ontario. The colleges collaborate in developing recruitment strategies to attract learners to career-specific programs with identified skill shortages to ensure graduates find meaningful work and employers in the north have access to a highly-qualified, competitive workforce.

“As exploration activities surge in northwestern Ontario, mining is quickly becoming a dominant economic driver. In order to meet the future workforce requirements of the rapidly growing mining sector, Northern and Confederation explored the possibility of making the HSM Mining Engineering Technician diploma program available in the region,” said Fred Gibbons, President of Northern College.

Read more

Xstrata-Glencore merger prompts name change (CBC News Sudbury – August 6, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Sudbury’s Xstrata Nickel to become Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations

One of Sudbury’s major mining companies is going through another rebranding exercise. Xstrata Nickel operations in Sudbury — formerly known as Falconbridge Ltd. before it was bought by Xstrata in 2006— will now go by the name Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, or Sudbury I-N-O.

The name change comes as a result of Xstrata’s merger with another Swiss mining company — Glencore. The vice president of Sudbury I-N-O said the takeover means more independence for local operations.

“The interesting thing about Glencore is that it really relies on its local management to develop the business opportunities, [and that’s reflected] in the naming nomenclature,” Marc Boissonneault said. The company’s short-term plans include revitalizing its Fraser Operations near Onaping and to work on a joint project with Vale.

Future rebranding will continue to take place for the next few months, Boissonneault added. “You’ll see our signs change in coming weeks, those are the more visible ones. Other things will just take weeks and, in some cases, maybe a couple of months.”

Read more

Chinese copper demand could catch short-sellers by surprise – by Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – August 5, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Gloom over weaker economic growth in China has led some investors to miss signs of robust underlying copper demand, which may wrong-foot those betting on a further slide in prices.

Benchmark prices in copper, viewed by many investors as a proxy for global economic health, hit the lowest levels in nearly three years at $6,602 a tonne in late June.

The price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) slid 21 percent from a peak this year in February, mainly due to worries about China, which accounts for 40 percent of copper demand. It has since rebounded modestly to trade just under $7,000 a tonne.

Despite China’s weak factory data and a credit crunch, spending on the power grid and other areas has meant copper consumption is fairly buoyant in the world’s biggest metals consuming nation.

China’s apparent copper demand, after adjusting for changes in stocks, surged over 20 percent in the second quarter, Barclays analyst Gayle Berry said.

Read more

Partners look to powerful future – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – August 6, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

COCHRANE – Tuesday marked a turning point for the Taykwa Tagamou Nation (TTN). The Cochrane-based First Nation signed an agreement with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) with full blessing from Liberal Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli.

Through its corporation Coral Rapids Power, TTN entered into a partnership with OPG to develop a generating station capable of producing about 25 megawatts of hydroelectric power on New Post Creek as it enters the Abitibi River.

“Here as we announce this facility at New Post Creek and as we make our way to the Lower Mattagami Project, we are reminded of the very important role that Ontario’s First Nations and Metis community play in Ontario’s energy system,” said Chiarelli. “In transmission, in generation and in hydroelectric, and so it is truly exciting to be here today and celebrate this exciting new partnership between Ontario Power Generation and Coral Rapids Power.”

Chiarelli said this is the first of many steps towards creating a network of clean energy creation which will benefit Ontarians for decades to come.

Read more

Ontario Minister gets a charge from hydro project – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – August 6, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli visited the Northeast on Tuesday. He was fully charged over plans for hydro generating improvements. The Ottawa West – Nepean MPP was named to the cabinet in February when newly elected Premier Kathleen Wynne dismantled the array longstanding McGuinty Ministers.

Chiarelli visited both Cochrane and the Lower Mattagami Project in an effort to shed light on the good clean energy projects being developed throughout the Northeast.

“What we are seeing here is capacity building for Northern Ontario,” said Chiarelli, while overlooking the expansion of the Smoky Falls Generating station, roughly 80 kilometres north of Smooth Rock Falls.

“This is 450 megawatts of hydroelectricity generation, 1,500 jobs at maximum, a significant number of which will be made available to First Nations members who have been trained and apprenticing on this particular site.” The energy being generated from the site will be distributed throughout the province. “This energy will be traveling all of the way down south,” said Chiarelli.

Read more