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Day: December 5, 2013

Ring of Fire mining project remains stalled – by Claude Gravelle (Netnewsledger.com – December 4, 2013)

 http://www.netnewsledger.com/

Claude Gravelle is the federal MP for Nickel Belt

Breaking the Politics on the Ring of Fire Mining Project

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario Politics – The mega Ring of Fire mining project remains stalled as the governments for Ontario and Canada play the blame game rather than put our northern communities and the country’s economy first.

To help break the stalemate, I have filed a motion with the federal all-party Natural Resources Committee to call the Government of Ontario as a witness. With Prime Minister Harper mulling over a meeting request from Premier Kathleen Wynne, here is an opportunity for Ontario to identify publicly what they need from the federal government, who is responsible for what, really how to move the project forward together.

I figured my motion might give Ontario a useful audience that includes representatives from the three main federal parties. As I said on the CBC Radio Ontario Today program last week, if this doesn’t work it may mean marriage counselling for the prime minister and premier. This stall is infuriating to northerners.

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China nickel importers strike term deals with eye on Indonesia ore ban – by Polly Yam (Reuters U.S. – December 5, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

HONG KONG, Dec 5 (Reuters) – China’s refined nickel importers are negotiating 2014 term deals with suppliers that give them the flexibility of adjusting shipment volumes depending on how Indonesia’s proposed ban on ore exports turns out.

The Southeast Asian nation has said it will ban unprocessed ore exports from January 2014, but is rethinking it in order to keep export revenues flowing in. On Thursday lawmakers rejected a government bid to water down the planned ban.

A ban on ore exports from next month will boost China’s demand for refined metal by hurting output of cheaper substitute nickel-pig-iron. Higher imports of spot refined nickel by the world’s biggest user of the metal could support global prices that have fallen nearly 20 percent this year.

Some 60 percent of nickel consumption in China is covered by nickel-pig-iron, a low-grade ferro-nickel used for stainless steel production. So widespread is its use now that China has become the world’s biggest and dominant producer of nickel-pig-iron.

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Coal rush ravages Indonesian Borneo (Malaysian Insider – December 5, 2013)

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/

Barges loaded with mountains of coal glide down the polluted Mahakam River on Indonesian Borneo every few minutes. Viewed from above, they form a dotted black line as far as the eye can see, destined for power stations in China and India.

A coal rush that has drawn international miners to East Kalimantan province has ravaged the capital, Samarinda, which risks being swallowed up by mining if the exploitation of its deposits expands any further.

Mines occupy more than 70% of Samarinda, government data show, forcing entire villages and schools to move away from toxic mudslides and contaminated water sources. The destruction of forest around the city to make way for mines has also removed a natural buffer against floods, leading to frequent waist-high deluges during the six-month rainy season.

And despite the 200 million tonnes of coal dug and shipped out of East Kalimantan each year, its capital is crippled by frequent hours-long blackouts as the city’s ageing power plant suffers constant problems.

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Failure to add value to resource wealth chains Canada to its colonial past – Harry Nelson and Ngaito Hotte (Globe and Mail – December 5, 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.

Canada, a country founded on its natural resources, possesses more natural wealth, per capita, than any other any other nation in the world. Our natural resources sustained our First Nations and catalyzed settlement, from east to west.

While Canada has changed considerably since its early days, natural resources still drive our economy. Yet, some suggest that by providing raw resources to the global economy, Canadians are pursuing lower-value, less-innovative and less-sophisticated activities, and that we should be shifting toward a more modern, knowledge-based economy. Are our resource industries mere relics, distracting us from more profitable, even civilized, pursuits?

With several controversial resource projects on the table across the country, Canadians and their governments are confronted with choices about the kind of future they want, and the role resources will play. But the options – to remain rooted in the past or embrace a greener economy by eschewing the use of our resources – are not as black and white as they first appear. To understand questions about our future, we must look to our past.

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Listen up: A First Nations message for the oil patch – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – December 5, 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.

CALGARY — At a business conference in the Alberta Rockies last week, some of Canada’s heaviest hitters in energy offered their renditions of essentially the same tune.

Market access was the topic, and the consensus among the premiers of Alberta and New Brunswick as well as bosses at the largest pipeline and oil companies was that we as a nation should have it.

That means oil flowing to where it will fetch its highest price, whether that means the coasts of the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico or Pacific. The result: jobs and a stronger economy across the country.

A key reason for snags, they agreed, is opponents have swayed some of the public against their well-backed-up assertions that the oil sands are being developed responsibly, and the industry is bringing all available technology to bear in cutting carbon emissions and transporting the stuff safely.

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FEATURE-From kangaroos to SQUID, new technologies transform hunt for minerals – by Clara Ferreira-Marques (Reuters U.S. – December 5, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – From intelligent drills to analysing gum tree leaves, an unprecedented push to develop new methods and technologies promises to transform the way miners explore for deposits, allowing them to dig deeper, faster and more cheaply.

The results could ultimately unlock so-called ‘covered’ deposits: riches hidden under hundreds of metres of soil, rock or sea water, sometimes in or near previously explored areas. That could reverse the steady shift away from mining regions such as Australia and Canada to untested, frontier areas, in the search for the next blockbuster find.

Many flagship mines are ageing, producing less and less metal for every tonne of ore pulled out of the ground. This has driven up costs and prompted companies to explore in new parts of Africa or Asia, despite the additional political risks.

“Deposits are becoming increasingly hard to find, and both the technology that we have available to us and the approaches, are less useful when exploring deeper deposits,” said Dean Collett, a geoscience consultant working with Australia’s UNCOVER initiative, which promotes exploration of covered areas.

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Barrick Chair John Thornton plots overhaul for post-Munk Era – by Peter Koven (National Post – December 5, 2013)

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

John Thornton has laid out his vision for Barrick Gold Corp.: a more diversified mining company that can tackle big projects by accessing capital and partners in Asia. With his leadership, he thinks Barrick is in position to become a world-leading company, not just in gold but in “a range of minerals.”

“That’s where I’d like to see Barrick go,” he told reporters. His comments indicate that the world’s biggest gold producer could undergo a significant facelift in the years to come. Mr. Thornton even suggested that hedging, an extremely unpopular strategy among gold investors and one that previously backfired on Barrick, is something the company should be “carefully following at all times.”

Mr. Thornton was officially declared the Barrick’s next chairman on Wednesday after Peter Munk, 86, retires at next year’s annual meeting.

In a joint meeting with reporters, Mr. Munk talked about how he feels the world’s centre of gravity has shifted from West to East, and that Barrick needs a leader who can access capital and key business leaders in that country.

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Rinehart mining fight: Roy Hill livestock farmers stand up against mining project – by Claire Moodie (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – December 5, 2013)

http://www.abc.net.au/

In the heart of iron ore country in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, brothers Murray and Ray Kennedy are standing their ground against the mining industry.

The veteran pastoralists have run Roy Hill cattle station for over forty years but they have become an endangered species.

Many Pilbara stations have been bought up by mining companies but the Kennedys, now in their twilight years, have refused to move on. “I don’t see why we should,” Murray Kennedy said. “Not at 25 percent of the value of the property, no way, that’s just robbery.”

The brothers are well-known in the Pilbara for their tough negotiating skills and the colourful characters are rarely seen without their pet dingo, Baby. “She’s the boss,” Ray Kennedy said with a laugh.

“She rounds up Murray and I and we’ve got to do as we’re told. Simple, she’s a bloody female.” Baby even has her own security pass to the nearby Fortescue Metals Group’s (FMG) Christmas Creek mine and has a meeting room at the mine-site named after her.

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The inside story of the frackers who blasted a hole in the U.S. energy crisis – by Richard Warnica (Canadian Business – December 4, 2013)

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Those crazy frackers

Last month, outside the village of Rexton, N.B., dozens of protesters clashed with police. They were there to demonstrate against hydraulic fracturing, a method of drilling for oil and gas better known as fracking. The protesters, many from the nearby Elsipogtog First Nation, had been blocking access to a seismic testing site operated by SWN Resources, the local division of a large Texas-based natural gas company. In one day alone, 40 protesters were arrested at the site, and six police cars were torched amid charges from both sides of escalating violence and brutality.

The battle in Rexton, though unusually nasty, was hardly unique. In the past five years, fracking—which involves breaking up subterranean rock formations using a slurry of water and chemicals—has become a magnet for activist ire. In the U.S., frackers have been blamed for polluting water tables, destroying ranches and even causing earthquakes. In Canada, anti-fracking protesters have pushed for fracking bans across the country.

But while the environmental side of the fracking story has been well told, the business side has not. And no matter what you think of fracking, it is a remarkable business tale.

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Munk, Mulroney leave, new faces slated for Barrick board – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – December 5, 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.

Outgoing board co-chairman Peter Munk welcomes former Goldman Sachs executive John Thornton as new board chairman.

A major shakeup on Barrick Gold Corp.’s board of directors Wednesday included the replacement of chairman and legendary founder Peter Munk and the departure of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as a longtime director.

The world’s largest gold miner also announced Jim Gowans, the former chief executive of De Beers Canada, is the new chief operating officer and the nominations of veteran Canadian money manager Ned Goodman and three others to the board in moves it hopes will revive the company’s tarnished image and weak share price.

“This has been a stormy year for Barrick,” said Munk, who welcomed co-chairman John Thornton to his new job as sole chairman.

He said he was going to leave in 2012 and sail around the world with his wife, but too many things “hit the fan” at the beleaguered miner — namely cost overruns building its prized Pascua Lama project, soaring debt and the falling gold price, which have helped carve the company’s share price by more than half.

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Wieliczka Salt Mine Is an Incredible Polish Underground Amusement Park – by Nina Strochlic (The Daily Beast – November 14, 2013)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/

Ever windsurfed across a saltwater lake or visited a 400-year-old chapel—underground? Try it out in Poland, at an unbelievable mine-turned-subterranean playground outside Krakow.

More than 1,000 feet underground in Poland, seemingly impossible things are happening. Hot-air balloons have been launched. A bungee jumper has taken the plunge. A windsurfer has been propelled across still saltwater. A brass band has bellowed on its instruments.

Stretching nine levels beneath the earth, Poland’s Wieliczka Salt Mine is roomy enough to fit the Eiffel Tower and then some. For centuries, miners have been carving out spectacular chapels and sculptures of the country’s most beloved figures underground, not far from the medieval city of Krakow.

And in the past half century, as salt mining slowed and then halted, and tourists began arriving, the cavernous chambers have been transformed into an incredible underground amusement park of grand halls, health spas, museum-worthy art, and record-setting spectacles.

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First Nations can mine $650 billion – by Don Marks (Winnipeg Free Press – December 5, 2013)

 http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Don Marks is the Editor of Grassroots News

If you have been wondering what all the fuss about resource extraction and development on First Nations land means, you need look no further than a recent report by the Fraser Institute. It reveals the enormous potential in wealth and jobs that can be created by developing these resources. According to the report, 600 projects worth $650 billion depend on co-operation between First Nations and mining companies within the next 10 years.

With much of this development to take place in rural and northern Canada, where most First Nations are located, you might say a huge chunk of this country’s future is at stake, especially when you recognize the population of First Nations and Métis is growing by almost 50 per cent while the rest of the Canadian population is increasing by only eight per cent.

If a fair share of the jobs and profits from that $650 billion in estimated value doesn’t go to First Nations, which are plagued by poverty and unemployment, this country is going to face an economic mess like never seen before.

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Exclusive interview: Peter Munk on ‘hubris,’ ‘stupidity’ and the future of Barrick Gold – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – December 5, 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.

It was spring 2011, and a frenzy had gripped the mining industry.

As China consumed ever-growing amounts of copper, gold, nickel and other metals, prices were breaking records and mining companies were launching multibillion-dollar deals. The mantra in the resource sector was “growth, growth, growth.”

Barrick Gold Corp. was readying its arsenal. With gold prices flying high, the company earned a record $3.3-billion (U.S.) in 2010. The gold producer had the strongest credit rating among its peers, and everywhere Barrick chairman Peter Munk turned, brokers were offering to lend the company billions of dollars at low financing rates.

At the time, the large Lumwana copper property in Zambia owned by Toronto-listed Equinox Minerals Ltd. was a coveted prize for industry’s big base metals players. As a gold company, Barrick was not seen as a likely bidder.

But when China’s Minmetals Resources Ltd. offered $6.3-billion (Canadian) to acquire Equinox, the situation proved too tempting for Mr. Munk.

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The keys to exploration success and mining the market – Friedland – by Alex Williams (Mineweb.com – December 5, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

In a wide ranging conversation with Rick Rule, Robert Friedland discussed among other things, the mining cycle, the need not to punish creatives and institutional stupidity.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – Ivanhoe Mines founder, Robert Friedland urged investors to take a longer term view of the mining industry, on Wednesday, reminding them that the current bear market will turn, at the final event of this year’s Mines & Money Conference in London.

In a conversation with investor Rick Rule, chairman of asset manager Sprott US Holdings, Friedland called the bottom for mining stocks. “This is very much what a bottom feels like,” he said. “Most of the CEOs of the major mining companies have had their heads cut off and used as bowling balls by their chairmen, so the major companies are risk-averse and the junior companies are living in an anaerobic environment where capital is really difficult to achieve.”

“This is going to result in a spectacular bull market,” Friedland said. “It could take a year or two before there’s a sudden and violent turn for the better, but the school of fish will turn.”

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PRESS RELEASE: The Fraser Institute: Mining Investors Wary of Quebec’s Changing Regulations and Restrictions

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/

For the full report, click here: http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/quebec-mining-policy-performance.pdf.pdf

CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – Dec. 5, 2013) – Uncertainty about protected areas and environmental restrictions, combined with increased regulation and tax changes, has damaged Quebec’s image in the eyes of mining investors, concludes a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

The study, Quebec’s Mining Policy Performance: Greater Uncertainty and Lost Advantage, highlights four key barriers to investment in Quebec and the potential impacts to the province.

“When a jurisdiction loses mining investment, it loses jobs for skilled workers, wealth that goes along with those jobs, and the subsequent government revenue. If Quebec wants to prevent further decline and recapture its status as a top global mining jurisdiction, its government needs to reconsider its mining policies,” said Dr. Kenneth P. Green, project director and senior director of natural resource studies at the Fraser Institute.

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