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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Yamana Gold cleans up balance sheet with $1-billion sale of Brazilian mine to Lundin Mining – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 16, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

The company plans to apply the entire proceeds from the Chapada mine sale to reduce its $1.6 billion debt pile

When the management teams at Yamana Gold Inc. and Lundin Mining Corp. look at copper and gold, both see a rising price environment ahead.

Despite the shared positive outlook, it was copper-focused Lundin Mining Corp. that announced on Monday it would plunk down $1 billion in cash to purchase the Chapada copper-gold mine in Brazil from gold-focused Yamana, which needs cash to reduce its debt load.

In some ways the deal mirrors analysts’ optimistic predictions about copper compared to a more hazy outlook on gold equities, even in the face of a potential U.S. recession, and the possibility of a global economic slowdown amid persistent trade disputes.

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Ontario changes regulations on who pays to upgrade power lines (CBC News Thunder Bay – April 15, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Changes approved by the Ontario Energy Board could make upgrades to power lines across the province cheaper for industries setting up shop in far-flung parts of the province.

The OEB recently overhauled the rules on who pays for the upgrades to power lines. Previously, if industry required a line to be upgraded, it would bear the full cost of the upgrade. Now, a company only has to pay a portion of the upgrade.

Iain Angus, the co-chair of the energy task force with Common Voice Northwest, said one example is an upgrade needed on the power line to Greenstone.

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Lundin Mining to buy Brazilian mine from Yamana in $1-billion deal – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Lundin Mining Corp. is buying a copper gold mine from Yamana Gold Inc. worth US$1-billion, the latest big deal during a hectic period for mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector.

Toronto-based Lundin is buying the Chapada mine in Brazil that produced just under 59,000 tonnes of copper last year and 121,000 ounces of gold.

Cash-rich Lundin has been vocal about wanting to do a deal and came close last year. The sale of Chapada will also help struggling Yamana improve its balance sheet and pay down some of its debt.

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Canada’s ‘economic civil war’ centre stage as Albertans take anger against the east to polls – by Kevin Orland (Financial Post/Bloomberg – April 15, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Western alienation is a real issue in Alberta’s election tomorrow and could determine the future of our energy industry

For a guy who says one of his fondest memories as a Canadian was watching the Quebec separatist movement fail at the ballot box in 1995, Brett Wilson sure talks a lot about his own province seceding.

The entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist has been bringing up the idea of the western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan dropping out of the country with increasing frequency. He sees separation as a potential remedy for moves by the federal government and other provinces — carbon taxes, the cancellation of a pipeline to the Pacific, the obstruction of a pipeline to the Atlantic — that he says amount to “economic civil war.”

“I remember celebrating when the Bloc Quebecois failed because I love my Canada,” he said in an interview, referring to the federal party that advocated Quebec’s secession. “That’s why I describe myself as a frustrated nationalist, not in any way a separatist.”

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Rachel Notley, the Rockefellers and Alberta’s landlocked oil – by Vivian Krause (National Post – April 13, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Rockefeller-supported groups are helping defeat the UCP, the only party in the Alberta election committed to breaking the U.S. monopoly on Alberta’s overseas oil exports

Alberta is in the final days before an election and the backbone industry of its economy is practically broken because all pipeline projects out of the province have been stalled or ended. This didn’t happen for no reason. This was planned and is precisely what a Rockefeller Brothers Fund campaign was funded to bring about.

The Tar Sands Campaign has been running for more than a decade with financial help from the US$870-million Rockefeller family philanthropic foundation. The goal of the campaign, as CBC reported in January, is to sabotage all pipeline projects that would export crude oil from Western Canada to lucrative overseas markets.

Northern Gateway, Energy East, Keystone XL, Trans Mountain and Line 3 have all been targeted. Most of the talk about this campaign has focused on how this activism chokes the oil industry, but tax documents indicate it also takes aim at natural gas.

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OPINION: Governments’ diesel drive backfired. Will their battery push blow up too? – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 13, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The late Sergio Marchionne, who was CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, hated electric cars – to the point that he urged customers to not buy the electric version of the little Fiat 500. That’s because the company lost US$14,000 on the sale of each one.

Let Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, blow his brains out on electric cars; FCA would resist them, though ever-tighter emission regulations in some regions, such as California, meant the company was forced to launch a few battery models.

Mr. Marchionne’s point was that it was impossible to tell whether electric motors, which use expensive batteries and are hobbled by short driving ranges, or some other technology – maybe fuel cells – would emerge as the winning propulsion system. He was right about that. Today, the market share of electric cars, while rising from insignificant levels, is about 2 per cent. It remains a niche technology largely reserved for the rich.

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Newmont shareholders back Goldcorp takeover; deal expected to close later this quarter – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 12, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Newmont Mining Corp. shareholders have voted resoundingly in favour of the company’s US$10-billion acquisition of Vancouver’s Goldcorp Inc., removing the last major obstacle to one of the biggest deals ever in the gold sector.

Shareholders on Thursday voted more than 98 per cent in favour of the transaction. A week ago, Goldcorp shareholders also voted in favour of the deal.

The transaction, expected to close later this quarter, means Colorado-based Newmont will bypass Toronto’s Barrick Gold Corp. and take the triple crown as biggest gold company in the world by market value, production and reserves.

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Doug Ford slashes Indigenous Affairs budget and pursues Ring of Fire – by Declan Keogh (National Observer – April 11, 2019)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Premier Doug Ford is pushing ahead with plans to develop Ontario’s northern region in the province’s 2019 budget, promising to cut “red tape and restrictions that are blocking important economic developments” in the Ring of Fire, a remote region with mining potential and logistical struggles.

Efforts to exploit mineral resources in the Ring of Fire region have been fraught with controversy and opposition, as First Nation communities assert jurisdiction over traditional territory and raise concerns about the use of land and risk of water contamination.

The move to open up development of the remote area comes as the government also seeks to slash the budget for Indigenous Affairs — which promotes collaboration and coordination in policy and programs across ministries in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities — from $146 million last year to just $74.4 million.

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Caribou protection plan generates protests among northern residents – by Vaughn Palmer (The Province – April 2019)

https://theprovince.com/

Folks in the northeast have their doubts. “Caribou consultations: Are they already a foregone conclusion?” as the headline in the Dawson Creek Mirror put it last week.

VICTORIA — The NDP government’s rush-job consultations on a caribou protection plan have generated protests among northeast residents fearing for jobs and feeling left out of the process.

Provincial officials spent almost a year consulting on the plan with the federal government and local First Nations, all the while excluding other local governments and residents from knowing what was in the works.

Forests and Lands Minister Doug Donaldson finally took the wraps off the plan in late March, leaving by his own admission a mere five weeks to gather feedback via public consultations.

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Vancouver-based Goldcorp swallowed up in deal to create world’s largest gold miner – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 11, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Assets across the Americas, Africa and Australia

In a sign of the changes sweeping Canada’s gold mining sector, control of one-time darling Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. transferred south of the border on Thursday.

Shareholders of Colorado-based Newmont Mining Inc. voted to approve a US$10 billion purchase of Goldcorp, creating the largest gold company in the world with a market capitalization of roughly US$29 billion.

Analysts have long predicted there would be consolidation in the gold industry and the merger was first announced in January, just weeks after Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. completed its US$6 billion acquisition of Randgold Resources Ltd.

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Mining project near Moosonee on hold until consultation done, company says (CBC News Sudbury – April 9, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/

Election for new chief and council set for July 2

A company that wants to mine niobium south of Moosonee says exploration is at a standstill until consultation happens with the chief and council of Moose Cree First Nation.

However, a new chief and council won’t be elected until July 2. An interim committee has been governing the community since nine councillors resigned, triggering dissolution of council last month.

NioBay president Claude Dufresne says the former chief is against the project, adding the community has filed a judicial review of the government’s decision to issue an exploration permit. “The judicial review doesn’t prevent us from accessing the land or doing the drilling program,” he said.

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Newmont Bondholder Revolt May Put Barrick on Hook for Debt – by Molly Smith and Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – April 10, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. could find itself partially liable for $600 million in additional debt if some Newmont Mining Corp. bondholders have their way.

The creditors are trying to block an amendment Newmont is seeking for a large tranche of notes associated with its operations in Nevada, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The change would prevent liability for those bonds from shifting to Barrick after the companies’ recently announced joint venture in the state is completed.

A majority of holders of Newmont’s $600 million of bonds due 2035 have organized and submitted their rejection to the proposed change, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.

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Turns out, there’s more to Alberta’s economic story than pipelines – by Kevin Carmichael (Financial Post – April 11, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Canada can survive Donald Trump, and Alberta can escape its resource curse

A shoeshine in Calgary cost $10 when Tom O’Gorman, a portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Investments, arrived from Wall Street in 2010; New York prices!

Not anymore. You can get your Oxfords polished and buffed for a mere $5, a deflationary spiral triggered by the similarly large collapse in the price of oil since the autumn of 2014.

Calgary’s office towers are either 30, 40, or 50 per cent empty, depending on who you talk to. The exact vacancy rate — 25 per cent downtown in the fourth quarter, according to Avison Young Real Estate Alberta Inc. — doesn’t really matter.

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Worried about nickel supply, China battery maker BYD welcomes JV discussions – by Tom Daly (Reuters Canada – April 11, 2019)

https://ca.reuters.com/

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Securing enough nickel is a major worry for electric vehicle firms, an executive from Chinese electric car and battery maker BYD Co Ltd said on Thursday, adding that the company would welcome joint ventures that help guarantee supply.

Nickel is one of several metals that are key components of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. A shift in battery chemistry toward higher nickel content, which would allow cars to go further on a single charge, is expected to boost demand further.

“The supply of nickel going forward is a big concern in everybody’s mind,” said Coco Liu, procurement director at BYD, at the Fastmarkets Battery Materials conference.

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North America’s first cobalt refinery inches closer to production — but obstacles remain – by James Snell (Financial Post – April 11, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

CEO Trent Mell remains optimistic about the refinery’s prospects

First Cobalt Corp., the $50-million company, is inching closer to becoming the first producer of battery-grade cobalt to feed the nascent North American electric vehicle market, but there are still plenty of roadblocks in its way.

The Toronto-based company achieved a breakthrough when it announced earlier this month that it successfully produced battery-grade cobalt sulfate using its refinery’s own processes, or flowsheet, — but the problem is, it was done in a lab using a small sample.

CEO Trent Mell, who is currently in Shanghai meeting with investors at the Fastmarkets MB Battery Materials Conference, remains optimistic about the refinery, which is in the midst of a $30-million refurbishment.

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