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Quebec Mining

Quest to move ahead with Quebec rare-earth project after positive results – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – October 23, 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.

MONTREAL — A Canadian mining company vying to become one of the world’s major producers of heavy rare-earth minerals says it’s moving ahead with development of its Northern Quebec deposit after positive results from a prefeasibility study.

Quest Rare Minerals ltd. estimates total construction capital costs for development of its Strange Lake deposit at $2.57-billion, based on a minimum mine life of 30 years. It will be one of the world’s largest and highest-grade heavy rare-earth mining projects and a planned processing facility in Southern Quebec will be North America’s largest such operation, the company said on Wednesday.

Quest is in competition with other companies to be the first to get production up and running in order to take advantage of supply constraints resulting from Chinese restrictions on export of the minerals. The country is the world’s top producer of rare-earth minerals and wants to guarantee supplies amid huge internal market demand.

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Ontario jobs driven to Quebec – by John R. Hunt (North Bay Nugget – October 12, 2013)

http://www.nugget.ca/

This has been a very badly kept secret. Ontario has been losing thousands of man-hours of work and natural resources worth thousands and probably millions of dollars. Highway 11 is being pounded daily by a flotilla of trucks and in both Latchford and Temagami there have been concerns about pedestrian and traffic safety.

It is known that the trucks are carrying mine concentrates from Sudbury to be refined in Noranda, Que.

There appears to have been a total news blackout. One might have expected the unions to be howling and protesting. But little or nothing has hit the headlines. Perhaps everyone is scared of the big mining companies.

All this may change Thursday evening when the Latchford town council will consider resolutions directed to Ontario government departments. They will point out that Hwy. 11 is the town’s Main Street. The heavy traffic is wearing down the recently renovated pavement and that the trucks often appear to be traveling in convoys of eight to nine vehicles which makes life very difficult for pedestrians and automobile drivers.

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NEWS RELEASE: RETRANSMISSION: Champion is Pleased With Quebec Government’s Announcement of A Pre-Feasibility Study for A Third Railway Under Their Economic Policy

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Oct. 8, 2013) – CHAMPION IRON MINES LIMITED (TSX:CHM)(OTCQX:CPMNF)(FRANKFURT:P02) (“Champion” or the “Company”) is pleased to comment on today’s announcement by the Quebec Government Economic Policy regarding the initiation of a pre-feasibility study for a third railway to transport iron ore from the Labrador Trough.

The announcement by the Quebec Government is as follows:

“As part of a vision for responsible development of northern infrastructures that are essential to ensuring the economic and social development of the northern territory.

The government is completing them, while ensuring the risk is shared among all the partners in question. The government will include the First Nations and Inuit in discussions concerning the North for all.

As part of Québec’s Economic Policy – Putting Jobs First, the government has announced investments including the following, a Pre-Feasibility study regarding the construction of a new railway link.

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Quebec looks to recharge economy with hydro lure – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – October 8, 2013)

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

MONTREAL – In a bid to rescue an economy in danger of slipping into recession, the Parti Québécois government has launched a multibillion dollar job creation effort anchored by a program that will offer Quebec’s surplus hydroelectric power at below-market rates to corporate investors.

With her minority government one-year old, Premier Pauline Marois has presided over a province that has generated barely 0.1% employment growth during that time. Meanwhile, the wider economy is at a near standstill, according to Desjardins Group, pulled down by a sputtering manufacturing sector and weak international trade.

“The recovery is slow to materialize,” Ms. Marois told an audience in the foyer of pension giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec’s headquarters Monday. “It’s important to act with every means at our disposal.”

Ms. Marois is now betting that she can stoke job growth and private sector investment by using Quebec’s vast hydroelectric resources as a lure. While the PQ has used the tool before — for example, to snare a $1.2-billion investment by Swedish communications technology firm Ericsson AB this year — the party is now enshrining it formally in policy and commanding a specific block of electricity totalling 50 TeraWatt-hours for that purpose.

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New road connects Renard diamond mine with other “Plan Nord” jobs – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – October 2013)

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

Stornoway Diamond Corporation of Longueuil, QC is proud that its Renard Diamond Mine has been officially deemed “Quebec’s First Diamond Mine,” but the company is equally proud of one more of its achievements; its Renard Mine Road, a 97-km-long portion of a 240-km route that now links the mine with the public highway, Provincial Route 167, and the popular mining communities of Temiscamie and Chibougamau.

The new road is a two-lane, 8.5-m wide gravel passage completed two months ahead of schedule and on budget. It’s an all-season road that will now enable the company to continue developing its Renard Mine year round without delays in the delivery of machinery, supplies, or people.

In fact, the new road brings a feeling of “community” with other Quebec mining companies in central Quebec because it now “connects” the mine and its workers with a permanent road to and from the site.

Since 1996 when the property was discovered, Stornoway’s geologists and field crews have relied either on a seasonal road or air support.

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Nunavik’s Makivik Corp. wants impact and benefits agreements to remain private – by Sarah Rogers (Nunatsiaq On-line.ca – October 7, 2013)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Reforms to Quebec’s mining act don’t reflect existing agreements: Nunavik groups

Nunavik groups say proposed changes to Quebec’s mining act don’t go far enough to address the region’s distinct needs and existing agreements. Bill 43, a bill to reform Quebec’s mining act, was presented last spring, although public hearings on the bill wrapped up in Quebec City Oct. 1.

The draft bill imposes tougher environmental protections while increasing legal requirements for mining companies looking to explore in Quebec — changes that are welcomed in Nunavik.

But Makivik Corp. said the bill should not require that impact and benefits agreements between Nunavik and mining companies be made public. In other words, these should remain secret.

Article 163 of Bill 43 calls for information obtained from holders of mining rights to be made public as the provincial government sees fit.  That information includes the quantity and value of ore extracted, as well as the royalties paid out during the previous year.

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Two of Canada’s more isolated mines continue to impress: Raglan and Eleonore – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – October 2013)

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

Nunavik and Quebec’s Raglan Mine and Éléonore, operated by Glencore and Goldcorp respectively, are two of the larger and more successful mining operations in the country, but their locations are about as unfamiliar to most people as the northern landscapes where they are located.

In other words, most people don’t have a clue where they are on the map, let alone what the surroundings are like that far north. Both mines are indeed, remote and somewhat isolated, but when it comes to mineral deposits, Raglan Mine and Éléonore are at the forefront and envy of the mining community across the country.

In fact, the world is also keeping watch as Glencore and Goldcorp continue to move towards making their Canadian operations two of the more productive mines on the globe.

Starting at the farthest point north at the Raglan Mine, which is located in Nunavik approximately 1800 km northwest of Montreal or, about the same as Cuba is to the south, is near Deception Bay on the Hudson Straight and is linked by all-weather roads to an airstrip at Donaldson.

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Royal Nickel has high hopes for Dumont mine – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – October 1, 2013)

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

MONTREAL — Resource companies keep an eagle eye on the economic cycle and Royal Nickel Corp. believes its $1.2 billion U.S. Dumont nickel mine in northwestern Quebec will start up in 2016 as metal prices swing higher.

Base metals, including nickel — the key ingredient in stainless steel — mirror the economic cycle, with their price charts giving early warning of bad news to come.

This year they’ve been in the dumps, with nickel among the most volatile. Analysts blame overcapacity stemming from slower Chinese growth, the European debt crisis and North America’s tepid recovery from the 2008-09 recession.

But Royal, led by a team of former Inco (now owned by Brazil’s Vale SA) executives, has begun negotiating partnerships, offtake agreements and debt and equity financing for its Dumont open-pit nickel mine and mill near Amos, in the Abitibi region. It could rival Vale’s big Voisey’s Bay (60,000 tonnes a year) mine in Labrador when it hits full stride in 2020.

“We’ve been planning this for more than three years and we see a low-cost operation providing more than 500 permanent jobs, a mine life of at least 33 years and able to survive any future global economic cycles,” Tyler Mitchelson, Royal’s CEO, said in an interview.

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MiningWatch Canada News Release: Quebec’s Proposed Mining Act Must Catch Up to National and International Standards for Aboriginal Consultation, Accommodation, and Consent

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 1, 2013. Today, First Nations from across Quebec are staking out positions on the Parti Quebecois’ proposed reforms to the Quebec Mining Act. Bill 43 is the third attempt to revise the act in recent years. Like its predecessors, Bill 43 includes important improvements for environmental management and municipal authority, but lacks any serious attempt to reconcile the rights given to mineral claim holders with the constitutional rights of Aboriginal peoples. First Nation leaders are in Quebec City making submissions to the legislative committee tasked with finalizing the bill before it goes back to the National Assembly. They are arguing for substantive changes to the status quo.

“Quebec’s current Mining Act is an anachronism that is out of step with modern values and doesn’t meet standards for the protection of Aboriginal rights and title,” says MiningWatch Canada spokesperson Ramsey Hart.

The standards Quebec needs to meet include a growing body of Canadian case law, including the recent Ross River Dena decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal as well as international standards such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The standard is very clearly for early and meaningful consultation and accommodation in order to obtain the consent of Aboriginal peoples. This consent should be acquired before a third party can establish an interest on the traditional territory and again before activities on the ground begin.

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Exploration and Co-Operation: When Mining Companies and First Nations Work Together – by Thomas F. Morris (Huffington Post – September 29, 2013)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Since joining Northern Superior Resources in 2002 (formerly Superior Diamonds) as President and CEO, I have applied my strong belief that First Nations must be meaningfully consulted and actively engaged in exploration programs. These exploration programs, after all, take place in the back yards and across the traditional territories of Aboriginal communities where Northern Superior explores.

To respect the traditional land uses of these communities is absolutely essential. We actively strive to prevent disturbances to areas that are sacred to the community or where important community events occur. At the same time, it is also very important for First Nation communities to understand what exploration is all about and the limitations of a junior mining company.

Insufficient consultation can seriously impact an Aboriginal community’s rights, way of life, and culture in a negative and hurtful way. This is a reality the industry is at long last coming to understand. But where work is still required is in ensuring that Aboriginal communities understand the tremendous impact they can have on a junior exploration company.

If the community does not respect nor appreciate the positive intentions of the company as well as their financial reality, expectations become unmanageable and opportunities for progress disappear.

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Inuit employment in Nunavik mines still weak – by Sarah Rogers (Nunatsiaq-on-line.ca – September 27, 2013)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Only 175 Inuit work at the Raglan nickel mine

Nunavik Inuit still make up only 13 per cent of the work force at the region’s only fully operational mine. At the Raglan nickel mine complex, in operation since 1998, only 175 of 1,292 workers are Inuit — well under the 20 per cent initially targeted for the region.

And those numbers haven’t changed much since 2012. “The data for Xstrata mine site is very similar to last year,” said Margaret Gauvin, director of the Kativik Regional Government’s sustainable employment department, during a regional meeting earlier this morning.

“Contract companies have a harder time getting Inuit workers, and that brings the percentage down.” A number of companies like Katinniq Transport, Iglu Construction and Nunavik Construction are contracted to work at the Xstrata site. But increasing Inuit employment in the mining sector remains a priority for the KRG, which wants to encourage students to stay in school or return to school in areas related to mining, Gauvin said.

More than $10 million over the next two years is targeted at mine training in Nunavik — to respond to a growing number of mining projects in development and to address fears among Nunavimmiut that they are being left out of the process.

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Commentary: Quebec’s evolving mining regime – by Madeleine J.M. Donahue and Jean Piette (Northern Miner – September 26, 2013)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. 

Quebec has been making further strides in updating its mining regime to reflect the province’s needs, realities and political priorities.

The Quebec government recently took three major steps towards this goal by: tabling a proposal in May 2013 to change the mining royalty regime; introducing Bill 43 on May 29, 2013, to replace the current Mining Act, which dates back to 1987; and passing amendments on July 23, 2013, to the Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting mineral substances other than petroleum, natural gas and brine in order to set new rules concerning the financial guarantees required for the restoration of mining sites.

Mining royalties

In May, the government tabled its proposal to change the mining royalty regime to increase the return on mining royalties for Quebec. It decided to require all mining operators to pay a minimum mining royalty, called the minimum mining tax, and a progressive tax on mining profits. The minimum mining tax will be 1% of the total output at the shaft head below or equal to $80 million and 4% of each dollar in excess of the $80 million threshold. The minimum mining tax paid can be carried forward and applied against the tax on future mining profits.

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Natural gas may be cheap and clean, but Quebec still holds a grudge – by Sophie Cousineau (Globe and Mail – September 25, 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.

Sophie Brochu was all smiles when she sat down to testify at Quebec’s roving commission on the province’s energy stakes, but in a flash, sparks started flying between the president and CEO of Gaz Métro and the commission’s co-chair Normand Mousseau.

She had been told by the commission’s staff she had 15 minutes to make her case. But he curtly retorted she had 10. Should she spill over and leave no time for questions, Mr. Mousseau implied, that would cast the province’s biggest gas distributor in a bad light. It was just a skirmish, really, and yet the incident was telling. In the land of hydroelectricity, natural gas is not cordially welcomed.

Through the public consultation now under way, the Quebec government is redrawing its energy policy with an eye to reducing its carbon footprint and to decreasing its reliance on imported oil. The Parti Québécois upped the ante on the Liberals with an ambitious promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020. To keep its word, the PQ government is championing projects that strike the imagination of voters. Electrifying the province’s transportation means is all the buzz. So is pumping oil out of Quebec soil even if both of those grand schemes will take at least a decade to materialize.

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Northern Promise: Mining projects spark much-needed Sept-Îles port expansion – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – September 17, 2013)

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

Northern Promise is a six-part series that explores the pace and progress of development in Canada’s remote communities. In this fifth instalment, Nicolas Van Praet explores mining projects in northern Quebec

SEPT-ÎLES, Que. – The sun is setting on a cool September evening in this northern Quebec port town and three cargo ships sit anchored in the half-moon bay.

From this distance several kilometres away, the ocean-going freighters look like giant match sticks waiting to be struck. Above them, storm clouds hang like a menacing hook and behind, you can sketch the outline of North America’s biggest primary aluminum smelter — Alouette, its hill-perched electrolytic pots powered by transmission wires stretching from Hydro Quebec’s massive Churchill Falls hydroelectric facility.

Sept-Îles, named for the seven-island archipelago that fronts the bay, is a 10-km wide natural harbour in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence some 650-km downriver from Quebec City. The waters here are deep, plunging down as much as 80 metres, and they’re free of ice for year-round passage — a huge advantage for commodity producers getting their goods to market.

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Concern growing over Sept-Îles oil spill – by Lynn Moore (Montreal Gazette – September 9, 2013)

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

MONTREAL — An oil spill that happened more than a week ago in Sept-Îles might be far more serious than first reported.

Quebec Environment Minister Yves-François Blanchet visited the area Sunday while cleanup crews tried to contain a large slick before tides and winds take the oil out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

While Blanchet urged a more “aggressive approach” to preventing oil spills during his visit, local environmental groups worried about damage to aquatic life in Sept-Îles Bay and beyond.

Overnight on Aug. 31, bunker oil was spilled near a shipping operation of an iron ore pellet plant operated by Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. at Pointe Noire. While the “source of the incident” is under control, investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing, the company said Sunday.

Some media reports have pointed to a botched reservoir transfer as being at the heart of the problem. Environment Quebec has said that about 450,000 litres of bunker oil were spilled.

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