Junior miner edges closer to court fight with province – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 5, 2015)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Barring a late settlement agreement, a Sudbury junior miner appears headed to court to lock horns with the provincial government this fall in a case that might have ramifications on the Ontario Mining Act.

An Oct. 5 trial date has been booked for an Ontario Superior Court judge in Toronto to hear arguments surrounding a compensation claim by Northern Superior Resources resulting from its abandonment of its gold properties after a series of disputes with Sachigo Lake First Nation.

The outcome of the case could be precedent-setting and could impact the government’s hands-off practice of leaving it up to the resource industry and First Nations to work out exploration and benefit agreements, and resolve any differences they might have.

Company president Tom Morris expressed confidence in a favourable outcome, but was still hoping to avoid court.

“We would like to settle before going to court. We feel it’s unnecessary to go to trial; however, we are more than prepared to see this through to the end and have board approval to do that.”

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Conflict minerals the real link between games and violence – by Brendan Sinclair (Games Industry Biz – June 3, 2015)

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/

Game industry’s track record of making sure its money doesn’t fund war crimes in DR Congo is improving, but still appalling

Massacres, child soldiers, mass rape, razed villages, summary executions… It’s all been happening the Democratic Republic of the Congo as armed groups have torn the country apart for years, in part funded by the sale of locally mined resources like tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold, sometimes abbreviated as 3TG or more commonly referred to as conflict minerals.

Yesterday, I covered Activision’s latest SEC filing on its sourcing of conflict minerals. The good news was that Activision has no reason to believe Skylanders or the other merchandise it sells are funding the violent conflict in DR Congo.

The bad news is that it couldn’t say the same thing last year. And as I discovered upon looking at filings from other big companies in the games industry, the worse news is that Activision’s position–based on surveys completed by its supply partners and unspecified “independent research”–is about as good as it gets.

Conflict minerals aren’t an issue for most games industry companies. Game discs don’t need conflict minerals, so the concern is generally limited to those making hardware or high-tech toys. For Activision, that means Skylanders and Blizzard merchandise.

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COLUMN-Indonesia, not Australia, doing heavy lifting on cutting coal output – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 5, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 5 (Reuters) – Indonesia appears to be doing more of the heavy lifting than Australia when it comes to cutting coal output and exports in the face of persistently weak prices.

Coal production in Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of the fuel used in power stations, dropped 21 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to 97 million tonnes.

This put the country on track for 2015 output of about 388 million tonnes, which is near the mid-point of the 350-400 million tonnes forecast by Pandu Sjahrir, the chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association.

The low end of Sjahrir’s forecast would mean a decline of 24 percent in coal output in 2015 from 2014, and would also be 75 million tonnes below the 425 million forecast by the government.

In contrast, Australia’s official forecaster expects thermal coal output to be largely steady in the 2014/15 fiscal year.

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First Nations series: Staking claims in the B.C. economy – by Gordon Hoekstra and Larry Pynn (Vancouver Sun – June 4, 2015)

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

Court victories have driven monumental shift in economic opportunities and goals

When the Tahltan agreed in a 2011 referendum to support the Northwest Transmission Line that now runs north from Terrace, they knew their lives would change forever.

The 344-kilometre power line would open up a vast, relatively untouched region of northwestern B.C. to hydroelectric projects and large-scale mines. A century before, in 1910, the Tahltan had declared they were the sovereign owners of a vast area three times the size of Vancouver Island.

And although they are vehement about protecting the region they call the “sacred headwaters” – at the confluence of the salmon-rich Skeena, Stikine and Nass rivers – they are now also keen to be active participants in the provincial economy.

“Government and industry understand that the First Nations people need to benefit when these things are built,” says Tahltan Central Council president Chad Day. “But with the Tahltan, it actually makes a lot of business sense to partner with us because we have the capacity, we have the work ethic, we have the experience.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Noront Resources Provides Corporate Update

TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – June 03, 2015) – Noront Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: NOT) (“Noront”) today provided a corporate update following its Annual General Meeting held in Toronto on May 26, 2015.

In May, Noront took receipt of the physical and intellectual property associated with its acquisition of properties previously owned by Cliffs Natural Resources in the Ring of Fire. While the company’s near-term focus remains on its Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-platinum-palladium deposit, Noront plans to evaluate development opportunities for other resources in its project pipeline in parallel with the advancement of Eagle’s Nest.

The Eagle’s Nest deposit is the most advanced project in the Ring of Fire with both a positive feasibility study and three years of environmental assessment work completed. The next steps are to convene a cooperative discussion with the First Nation communities most directly affected by development, with the goal of: negotiating a Benefit Agreement; completing the Environmental Assessment activities; and working together on community readiness initiatives.

Concurrent with the permitting of Eagle’s Nest, Noront will review the technical and social data related to its newly acquired chromite properties. By early 2016, the company expects to complete both a strategic plan for chromite development and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) over these deposits, including its previously held Blackbird deposit.

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Firm gung-ho on Ring of Fire – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – June 5, 2015)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Noront Resources says it expects to have a strategic plan and a preliminary economic assessment regarding its recently acquired chromite deposits in the Ring of Fire by early next year.

The Toronto-based mining company announced Wednesday it will borrow an additional US$2 million to advance exploration on its RoF properties, including its proposed Eagle’s Nest nickel mine.

The loan is with Denver-based Resources Capital Fund (RCF), the same investment firm that earlier loaned Noront $15 million for work in the RoF.

“Noront is pleased that its largest shareholder (RCF) is supportive of its ongoing work plans, said a Noront news release.

RCF holds a 21.5 per cent stake in Noront, which remains the main RoF player following the pullout of Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources.

In April, Noront purchased major RoF chromite deposits, including the flagship Black Thor property, that were previously held by Cliffs for US $27.5 million.

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UPDATE 2-Rescued Areva faces uncertain future as nuclear fuel group – by Geert De Clercq(Reuters U.K. – June 4, 2015)

http://uk.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – France’s Areva faces an uncertain future as a specialised nuclear fuel supplier, as a state rescue moves its core nuclear reactor activities to its utility customer EDF.

Shares in the state-owned firm briefly rose almost 6 percent on Thursday after the government said late on Wednesday it would recapitalise Areva and approved EDF’s plan to take over Areva’s reactor unit.

The government plan unwinds Areva’s much-vaunted model of an integrated nuclear group that mines and enriches uranium, produces nuclear fuel, builds reactors and recycles spent fuel.

Created fifteen years ago from the nuclear fuel group Cogema and reactor builder Framatome, Areva had ambitions to sell as many as 16 of its massive EPR reactors to energy-hungry developing countries.

But it has not sold a reactor since 2007 and the four it did sell have been plagued by delays and cost overruns. More than two decades after it was designed, not a single EPR is in operation today.

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Odisha’s story about pollution, mining and the environment – by Priya Ranjan Sahu (Hindustan Times – June 5, 2015)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Bhubaneshwar – Odisha’s resource-rich Sukinda valley acquired infamy as the fourth most polluted place in the world in 2007, ranked by the Blacksmith Institute of the US.

The finding was vigorously contested by the state pollution control board as vastly exaggerated, but it did manage to cause a constructive debate on environmental issues in the region.

The valley in Odisha’s Jajpur district has around 97% of the country’s reserves of chromite ore, a vital component in the production of stainless steel, leather and alloys.

The downside to the heavy tapping of mineral resources from a dozen open cast mines in the area over 70 years has been the utter degradation of Sukinda’s landscape. Water in the region has been severely contaminated, the soil polluted with toxic substances, the forests almost wiped out and farms laid waste.

Locals say half the mines now stand closed but the damage has already been done, thanks largely to the improper disposal of waste in river water by the miners.

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For risk-wary gold miners, small is beautiful – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – June 5, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO – Bigger isn’t better for the world’s gold miners, who are increasingly making “bite-sized” developments that carry less risk of budget disasters and fewer of the political and environmental disputes that have derailed mega-mines in recent years.

Newmont Mining (NEM.N) is a prime example of how companies are responding to bleak industry conditions by building mines on a smaller scale than in the past, with the price of gold down almost 40 percent from its peak in 2011 and banks avoiding the sector.

The cautious approach will likely persist even if conditions improve, with miners increasingly teaming up on big, complex projects to share costs, expertise and risk, senior mining executives and industry watchers said.

“If there’s going to be something go wrong, you’d rather it go wrong after you’ve spent $1 billion than $3 billion or $4 billion,” said Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) Chief Executive Chuck Jeannes. Goldcorp, the world’s most valuable gold miner by market capitalization, owns stakes in a number of joint-ventured assets such as the Alumbrera gold mine in Argentina and the Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic.

The price of gold has fallen as concerns about inflation receded and the U.S. dollar rose against most major currencies. Gold is often used as a hedge against inflation, as prices typically rise when the dollar weakens.

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The Sudbury Story: Re-greening Science of the Sudbury Region. Mining and the Environment 2015 Laurentian Conference Short Course

Mining and the Environment 2015 International Conference pre-conference Short Course June 20 and 21: 

This workshop will focus on the 40 year history and science of the Sudbury Restoration Story, from the early experimental trials through operations of the UN Award-Winning Municipal Re-greening Program to the successes and challenges of today.

The short course features documentary-style lectures, group discussion and multi-media exercises working with actual data from long-term surveys and assessments.

The workshop will include in-class sessions on Saturday June 20th, with group work and presentations on Sunday June 21st.

We will conclude with a guided tour of the Sudbury reclamation sites on Sunday afternoon. Check out the website and watch a short video about the course.

Register online at: http://www2.laurentian.ca/sudbury2015/ .

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Iron ore expansions drove down price: Glencore – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – June 5, 2015)

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

The most senior local executive at Swiss trading and mining giant Glencore has waded into the iron ore debate, saying rapid Australian expansions have driven down prices and cost the nation tax, royalties and superannuation dollars.

Speaking in Melbourne yesterday, Glencore coal mining chief Peter Freyberg said boomtime expansions that had seen Australian iron ore production surge and cost more than $US50 billion ($64bn) in development spending from Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals, had been a negative exercise.

“The numbers speak for themselves — if you go back a couple of years, there were 500 million tonnes of (annual) export at $US100 a tonne,” Mr Freyberg said.

“That’s versus 700 million tonnes of exports today at $US60, so there’s a whole lot of revenue that’s gone missing following a bunch of investment.

“At the end of the day, (with respect to) the returns to Australia, into superannuation funds, through royalties, through taxes, it’s been a negative exercise.”

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Truth, reconciliation and resources for First Nations – by Peter Forster (National Post – June 5, 2015)

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

Does this week’s voluminous executive summary of a report-in-progress from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) point to a “way forward” for indigenous people, or merely stoke grievance, that most potentially self-destructive of political weapons?

Nobody would deny the wrongs of residential schools, but according to Wab Kinew, associate vice-president of indigenous affairs at the University of Winnipeg, and an “honourary witness” to the TRC, failure to pursue the TRC’s elaborate laundry list of 94 recommendations would lead to “more uncertainty for the resource industry.” That sounds like a threat. But who is being threatened if not his own people, for many of whom resource development offers the best hope for regaining self reliance and respect?

The use of the term “cultural genocide” by the report’s authors and many sympathetic observers is inflammatory. Indeed, analogies to the Final Solution are likely to provoke distaste rather than sympathy among that vast majority of Canadians who had nothing to do with this aspect of Canadian history which, we might remember, was the retrospectively shameful norm, not the exception, in the colonial era.

What was involved in the residential schools was not genocide, it was well-intended “acculturation” to the very different kinds of knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in a fast-evolving modern society. Many aboriginal parents were eager for their children to have such education. Its residential form was dictated by small, often extremely remote, communities and nomadic lifestyles.

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NEWS RELEASE: Gloves are off for the global mining industry

  • Overall market values plummeted $156 billion due to commodity price declines
  • Free cash flow turned positive again to $24 billion; but net profit down 9%
  • Capital velocity declined for the first time since 2010 and continues to slow
  • Dividend yields at an all-time high of 5%
  • Government intervention and conflict abound with strategy debates as effect of lower prices felt by many

Click here for the report: http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/mining/publications/assets/pwc-e-and-m-mining-report.pdf

TORONTO, June 5, 2015 /CNW/ – 2014 was expected to be a tough fight for the global mining industry with commodity prices down and short-term volatility increasing. The initial scorecard for the largest 40 miners was mixed and now the gloves are off for the industry with widespread government intervention, internal industry conflicts and rising shareholder activism, according to PwC’s annual Mine report.

According to new analysis of the largest 40 miners from PwC, the industry trimmed spending and largely managed expectations through higher production and unexpected help from currency devaluations and lower input costs, despite continued headwinds from weak commodity prices.

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UBS suing Western Potash over Chinese investment (Regina Leader-Post – June 3, 2015)

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

Western Potash Corp. has confirmed that UBS Securities Canada Inc. has filed a lawsuit against the company before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Vancouver-based junior mining company said in a press release Wednesday.

UBS is “claiming fees, disbursements and damages in connection with a strategic investment in the company by China BlueChemical Ltd., and GUOXIN International Investment Corp. Ltd., through a wholly owned subsidiary, CBC (Canada) Holding Corp., which closed in June 2013,” the release said.

The company believes that the “UBS lawsuit is unfounded and entirely without merit, and intends to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit,’’ said Patricio Varas, president and CEO of Western Potash.

Two years ago, Western Potash Corp. announced the closing of a $32-million investment by China Blue Chemical Ltd., and Benewood Holdings Corp. through a joint venture company, CBC (Canada) Holding Corp. (CBCHC), for a 20 per cent ownership stake in Western, which is traded on the TSX under the symbol WPX.

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Worth its salt: Poland’s Wieliczka Mine is no substitute for Doritos, but it is pretty cool – by Ron Csillag (National Post – June 1, 2015)

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

There aren’t many tourist attractions where you are encouraged to lick the walls. But a salt mine isn’t your typical visitor stop.

If you’re like me and are nearly overcome by a salt craving each afternoon that can only be satisfied with a Costco-sized bag of Doritos, the offer to sample the structure is tempting — until you consider that the reason the dark grey rock salt walls have been polished to a high gloss is decades of touching and rubbing.

Breathing deeply, on the other hand, can only be beneficial. A couple of hours in the air here are supposed to equal a week at the seaside.

And next time you make a dreary crack after lunch about having “to get back to the salt mines,” keep in mind what actual miners accomplished at the Wieliczka Salt Mine, 20 minutes outside the Polish city of Krakow, a thoroughly charming place that went unscathed in the Second World War and today blends Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture with swank shops, an unmistakably Roman Catholic sensibility and some really great food.

The world’s only salt mine designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Wieliczka draws upward of one million tourists a year, and for good reason. Poland’s history is not exactly light fare, so this place is a welcome respite (despite being a place where, you know, workers toiled in dank, brutal conditions).

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