October 7, 2013 – Republic of Mining

Developing the Ring of Fire Could Transform the Region – by Michael Gravelle (Huffington Post – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Michael Gravelle is the Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines

Approximately 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, in the James Bay Lowlands, sits an estimated $30-50 billion worth of untapped mineral resources. When developed, this exciting discovery will potentially transform the region, create thousands of jobs and enhance the future economic prosperity for Ontario.

Realizing the full potential of the Ring of Fire is an extremely complex undertaking, one that our government takes very seriously. We have to make sure that we get it right. This means making important investments in people, infrastructure and building the right business climate for successful development.

Our government has taken important steps to lay the ground work for the Ring of Fire development and we continue to work with aboriginal communities, municipalities and our industry partners to see smart, sustainable and collaborative development move forward in the region.

We are leveraging this groundwork and continuing to drive growth in “gateway” Ring of Fire communities, like Greenstone for example; supporting initiatives like the Grow Greenstone Expo, where businesses and individuals recently gathered to discover opportunities, build business relationships, and develop the skills needed for careers in the mining industry.

Gold price is ‘bound to go through the roof’ – by Brendan Ryan (Business Day – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.bdlive.co.za/ [South Africa]

GOLD bulls have had it rough this year but many would have found solace in the Precious Metals Round Table web-based conference call and presentation held recently by Sprott Asset Management.

About 6,300 participants logged on to listen to speakers like investment “guru” Marc Faber — publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report — and Toronto-based Sprott chief investment strategist John Embry, a regular keynote speaker at gold conferences.

The bottom line? Hang on to your physical gold and gold shares because the point is fast approaching when the gold price is going to explode.

That prediction is, of course, completely at odds with what has actually happened in the gold market this year, where the price has plunged from about $1,700oz to $1,200oz, before recovering marginally to just above $1,300oz.

Predictions from institutions such as Natixis are far more restrained. The recently published Natixis Metals Review predicts gold dropping back to lows around $1,170oz over the coming six months to a year and averaging $1,200oz for next year.

[Saskatchewan’s Premier] Wall can use history lesson – Saskatoon StarPhoenix (October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

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

Today marks the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation.

Except for a symposium taking place at the soon-to-berenamed Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, this landmark anniversary has received very little attention from a federal government that spent millions celebrating the War of 1812.

While that war provided Canada with a sense of identity, no other single event did more for the creation of both Canada and the United States and delineated their respective histories than did King George III’s proclamation on how Britain would deal with the indigenous people of its new empire.

As former Supreme Court justice Emmett Hall observed in a ruling, the proclamation’s force as a statute stands with that of the Magna Carta as being foundational to British law throughout the empire.

To be sure, as Ken Coates of the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan wrote recently, Canada’s commitment to the treaties it signed has often faltered in implementation, but governments and courts lately have moved grudgingly toward ensuring the nation’s formal obligations are met.

No plans to step down for Norilsk’s billionaire CEO – by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Douglas Busvine (Reuters U.S. – October 6, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – (Reuters) – When he took the helm of Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM) last December as part of a deal that ended a long-running shareholder battle, Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin hinted he saw himself in the job for roughly two years.

Almost a year on, Potanin is clearly relishing his role at the center of a major turnaround and indicates he has no plans to stand down as chief executive of the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium. “I don’t like deadlines,” the 52-year-old Potanin told Reuters over tea in an upmarket London hotel late on Friday after a long day spent wooing investors.

His departure could be years away as he develops the Norilsk management into a world-class team, he said. “For a rich and reasonably successful guy, it is impossible not to enjoy your job, otherwise why would you spend so much time and effort doing it? I am a great fan of Norilsk and I like this kind of challenge.”

Potanin, whose more than $14 billion fortune began in banking, has long been a major shareholder in Norilsk, securing stock at a bargain-basement price in the loans-for-shares privatizations that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and spawned a new oligarch elite.

Ring Of Fire Negotiations: Bob Rae Must Turn Legacy Of Failure Into Hope For Future – by Sunny Freeman (The Huffington Post – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

MATAWA FIRST NATIONS MANAGEMENT INC. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING — Delegates at this corporate meeting pull up in pick-up trucks, not limos. Leaders sit at the table with elders and youth rather than aides or shareholders. No one dresses in suits or ties; they wear running shoes and ball caps.

The annual gathering of the Matawa First Nations Tribal Council doesn’t follow the conventions of the usual corporate annual general meeting, nor the formalities of government sessions.

During a sacred opening ceremony, elders load long pipes with tobacco and puff out billows of smoke as three men and a boy pound a powwow drum. Songs from time immemorial reverberate through the open doors of a rundown community centre where kids play ball hockey in the gym. At the top of the agenda: How to assert a unified stance on mining development that encroaches on traditional territories in this part of northern Ontario, home to a bed of lucrative mineral deposits that has been dubbed the Ring of Fire.

Near the back of the auditorium sits former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, whom Matawa has hired to head negotiations with the province over the mining projects. The snowy-haired 65-year-old is the only leader checking his BlackBerry and stands out in his crisp dress shirt when he takes a seat next to an elder wearing a “Native Pride” hat.

Potash sector struggles with excess capacity – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

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

Ten years ago, when Bill Doyle embarked on one of the biggest production expansion programs in the history of the potash business, there was an obvious rationale: the global population is rising, and the world has limited arable land to grow crops. More potash will be needed.

A decade later, that thesis remains as true as ever. But the logic of the expansion is not so obvious. The shareholders of Mr. Doyle’s company, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., cannot help but think about two key numbers: nine and 17.

Nine million tonnes is Potash Corp.’s anticipated production level in 2013. Thanks to those expansion projects, its capacity will be 17.1 million tonnes by 2015. Even this year, Potash Corp.’s production will not come close to its capacity of 12.8 million tonnes. So what will it do with 17?

It is fair to say that this is not the scenario Mr. Doyle envisioned when he greenlighted the $8.3-billion expansion a decade ago. If even some of that money was returned to shareholders instead, they would have been ecstatic. It has led some onlookers to suggest that Potash Corp. and other producers, which are also ramping up production, have expanded too far and too fast, costing themselves pricing power.

Miners retreat from Toronto exchange, one-time portal to riches – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business

THE love affair between Australian miners and the Toronto Stock Exchange appears to be well and truly over, with the bleak conditions in the market driving companies to drop their dual listings and return to their home bourse

Several Australian miners have either left or are preparing to leave Toronto amid complaints about the low levels of investor interest in the resources sector, high levels of compliance, the steep cost of maintaining a listing and the failure of companies to attract the share price re-rating they had expected.

The TSX for years ranked as the largest single exchange for mining ventures and acted as a major gateway for Australian-based companies looking to tap into the North American capital pool. The market also attracted Australian companies that believed they would enjoy better valuations in the eyes of Canadian and American investors.

However, executives told The Australian that investors in North America were increasingly uninterested in resource stocks.

Canadian spies targeted Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry: report – by The Associated Press (Globe and Mail – October 7, 2013)

October 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.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A Brazilian television report that aired Sunday night said Canadian spies targeted Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.

The report on Globo television was based on documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and was the latest showing that Latin America’s biggest country has been a target for U.S., British and now Canadian spy agencies.

The report said the metadata of phone calls and emails from and to the Brazilian ministry were targeted by the Communications Security Establishment Canada, or CSEC, to map the ministry’s communications, using a software program called Olympia. It didn’t indicate whether emails were read or phone calls were listened to.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper would neither confirm nor deny the allegations when asked to respond to the report late Sunday night. The “CSEC does not comment on its specific foreign intelligence activities or capabilities,” said Harper’s communications director Jason MacDonald.

Why the rebirth of manufacturing is bypassing Canada – by Barrie McKenna (Globe and Mail – October 7, 2013)

October 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.

OTTAWA — The footwear industry has always been hypersensitive to labour costs. In the hunt for savings, manufacturers are forever scouring the planet for the next best place to produce shoes and boots.

That’s why it’s notable that Merchant House International Ltd., which makes boots for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp., announced last month that it will open its first U.S. plant in Tennessee early next year. Until now, the Hong Kong-based company has made its footwear exclusively at factories in China.

The so-called reshoring phenomenon is now spreading to industries that experts long ago gave up for dead in North America, including clothing, textiles and footwear.

But it isn’t just clothing and textiles. More than half of U.S. executives at manufacturers with sales of at least $1-billion (U.S.) say they are planning to repatriate some production to the United States from China, according to an August survey by Boston Consulting Group. Respondents cited factors such as proximity to customers, product quality and lower transportation costs, competitive wage rates and skilled labour.

Malaysia’s state-owned energy giant to spend $36B building gas plant, pipeline in Canada – by Matthew Fisher (National Post – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

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

Stephen Harper arrived for a summit of Asian leaders Sunday with economic momentum, following an announcement that Malaysia’s state-owned energy giant, Petronas, plans what its prime minister termed a “gargantuan” investment of $36 billion in Canada.

Petronas plans to build both a liquefied natural gas plant and fund the building by a Canadian company of a pipeline from the plant, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Sunday. This investment will be in addition to the nearly $6 billion Cdn that Petronas paid last year to purchase Calgary-based Progress Energy Inc.

“I am told this is the largest direct investment in Canada by any country,” Najib said at a brief news conference in the opulent prime minister’s office in Putrajaya, near Kuala Lumpur, before he and Harper left Malaysia separately to attend the annual APEC summit of Pacific Rim leaders.

“This is a very significant landmark decision by Petronas,” Najib said. “It is done in the wake of the friendly relations we have and the positive response we received from the Canadian government in respect to Petronas’ involvement in Canada … We have a very high level of confidence that this investment will be supported by the Canadian government today and in the future.

Markets hunger for Canadian bitumen, not refined oil – by Brian Lee Crowley (Globe and Mail – October 4, 2013)

October 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.

What is it about Canada’s natural resources that make normally sensible people take leave of their business and economic senses and clamour for policies that sound good, but a moment’s analysis reveals as a fraud and a chimera?

Natural-resource nationalism, the idea that “our” natural resources should go through every stage of processing within Canada, is one such policy. People as diverse as author Jeff Rubin, West Coast newspaper publisher David Black, trade union leaders, consumer advocates and many others believe Canada is somehow “losing out” when it exports bitumen from the oil sands, for example, rather than refined products like gasoline and jet fuel. Many of them look at the discount on Western Canadian oil and, misunderstanding its significance, agitate for that oil to be shipped east where it will prove a boon for consumers.

Both ideas are quite wrong.

Take the oil sands, for example. The oil sands do not produce oil, but a tarry sandy substance called bitumen, which contains oil. To refine the bitumen, you need to upgrade it to a refinable state (so-called synthetic crude); that takes either an upgrader or a coker.

Iron Range mine could pollute water for up to 500 years – by Josephine Marcotty (Minneapolis Star Tribune – October 5, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.startribune.com/

A proposed copper-nickel mine in northeast Minnesota would generate water pollution for up to 500 years and require billions of dollars in long-term cleanup costs, state regulators have concluded as they near a key stage in the project’s review.

The mine would require what critics say is essentially perpetual water treatment — a first in Minnesota’s long history of mining — to remove pollutants and heavy metals that would otherwise flow into nearby streams and rivers and eventually Lake Superior, according to a draft environmental impact statement.

The analysis, which regulators expect to release for public review in November, was prepared as part of the state’s review of a mining complex proposed by PolyMet Mining Corp., at a site near Hoyt Lakes.

The prospect of centuries of water treatment illustrates the scope of the environmental challenges facing what would be Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine — and why it has generated intense environmental scrutiny and divided communities on the Iron Range. PolyMet is the first of many companies lining up to tap into one of the world’s largest copper-nickel deposits. The deposits offer the promise of a new era of mining for Minnesota, but one that comes with significant ecological risks for the wildest and most treasured corner of the state.

Proponents, critics draw opposite lessons from recent copper mines – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – October 5, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Supporters of Minnesota copper mining often cite the Flambeau Mine near Ladysmith in north-central Wisconsin as an example of a mine that can run well, be played out and ultimately be “reclaimed” while not causing significant environmental problems.

While environmental groups cite ongoing issues with runoff at the Flambeau site, including high levels of copper in a small stream in excess of water quality standards, an August U.S. Court of Appeals decision ruled the company is not in violation of its permit. That decision is being interpreted by mining supporters in Minnesota as an example of a copper mine operating and closing without environmental doom predicted by critics.

The small Wisconsin deposit, discovered in 1969, was mined along the Flambeau River between 1993 and 1997, producing 181,000 tons of copper, 334,000 ounces of gold and 3.3 million ounces of silver.

“Yes, copper, nickel and other much needed metal production can and has been done safely and successfully, without polluting local waters,” the industry group Mining Minnesota notes in a recent publication. The Flambeau mine is “a great example of this success … and has since been closed and reclaimed in full compliance with Wisconsin laws.”

NEWS RELEASE: ONE HUNDRED AGGREGATE DELEGATES TOUR RAIL-VEYOR® MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM

October 7, 2013

The Ontario Stone Sand & Gravel Association Members Learn the Benefits of Rail-Veyor® for the Aggregate Industry.

Sudbury, ON, Canada – Oct 7, 2013 One hundred members of the Ontario Stone Sand & Gravel Association toured the Rail-Veyor® facility in Sudbury just recently. Rail-Veyor Technologies Global Inc. manufactures and installs RailVeyor®, a bulk material handling system for surface and underground applications for the mining and aggregate industries.

The Ontario Stone Sand & Gravel Association educates its members on the proven technologies that will help their companies maximize productivity, profitability and safety. “We’re pleased to have included the Rail-Veyor® bulk material handling system on our OSSGA Operations Tour. The technology and engineering behind the system is impressive. Based on the number of questions and time spent seeing it in action, it’s clear that our aggregate members had a lot of interest in the system and the productivity it offers to operations,” comments Dan Muys, Director of Communications and Marketing, Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association.

Calgary-based mining company suing Costa Rica for more than $1 billion – by Jeremy Hunka (Global News – October 4, 2013)

October 7, 2013

http://globalnews.ca/

LA TIGRA, Costa Rica – A billion-dollar showdown is looming in Central America this week as a Calgary-based mining company announced it will sue the country of Costa Rica, infuriating residents who say their sovereignty is being taken away.

Infinito Gold was hoping to operate an open-pit gold mine in the Crucitas region of Costa Rica’s north. On its website, the company says it “…completed all the environmental, social and technical studies and obtained all approvals required under Costa Rican law to develop and operate the Las Crucitas Project.”

But the project was held up in court, and after irregularities were found in the approval process the mine’s approval was declared illegal. In 2011, Costa Rica banned all open-pit metal mining.

“It took a lot of effort,” says Otto Mendez, who fought against the mining project. “It took a lot of people and a lot of money.” But now, Infinito Gold says it will take the country of Costa Rica to international arbitration.