CIM Magazine August 2014 by CIM-ICM Publications

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IN THIS ISSUE

CIM MAGAZINE A UGUST | AOÛT 2014

cover story

Names to know 2014

12 characters whose energy, imagination and impact are catalysts for change in a tumultuous year by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco, Christopher Pollon and Kelsey Rolfe

52 Better than bigger

NAMES to

know

Productivity does not always drive development. Energy storage mechanisms, improved remote monitoring capabilities and increased reliability are just a few of the ways equipment manufacturers are improving their hydraulic and electric rope shovels by Eavan Moore

project profile

Big league debut

Imperial Metals called in an experienced, resourceful team to bring its Red Chris project to production. When it starts up, the mine promises to give the company a big boost – and likely more in the future by Peter Braul

66 Conference program

20 Canada loses a pioneer CIM remembers Gerry Hatch – a titan of the mining industry by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

Preliminary conference program

August/Août 2014 | 5

contenu francophone

18 8 10

Editor’s letter

tools of the trade 11

President’s notes

The best in new technology compiled by Tom DiNardo and Herb Mathisen

news 12 16

Industry at a glance Quebec’s uranium industry is clouded in uncertainty as the provincial government effectively puts a halt to Strateco’s Matoush project by Herb Mathisen

Recently elected Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has vowed to make the Ring of Fire a priority but not everyone is content with her proposed development corporation

columns

by Andrew Reeves

The peril of ignoring public sector costs

by Mauro Chiesa

by Thomas Struttmann

upfront: surface mining 26

28 32

34 Les noms

à connaître

by Antoine Dion-Ortega

12 personnages dont l'énergie, l'imagination et l'impact ont été des catalyseurs du changement au cours d'une année tumultueuse

German researchers are working to make nodule mining on the seafloor of the Pacific a reality by Tom DiNardo

Montreal-based Corner Cast is lowering costs for Cliffs’ Bloom Lake expansion with its truck shop made of shipping containers and a fabric canopy

travel 64

par Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco, Christopher Pollon et Kelsey Rolfe

10 61

Mot du président

par Peter Braul

Antofagasta, Chile by Pierrick Blin and Antoine Dion-Ortega photos by Michel Huneault

cim community 68

CIM news from Canada and beyond

mining lore 78

Getting beyond duty to consult myths

6 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

page couverture

by Eavan Moore

Plan the work, plan for change

by Dwight Newman

Goldcorp’s Peñasquito operation is building parts for its Bucyrus shovels in-house and saving millions in the process

Quebec’s Forges du SaintMaurice iron ore deposit saw nearly 200 years of starts and stops from discovery to production by Jakub Stachurski

74 77

Technical abstracts Product file & Professional directory

L’entrée dans la cour des grands Imperial Metals a fait appel à une équipe ingénieuse et chevronnée pour amener son projet Red Chris au stade de la production. La mine promet de donner un élan considérable à l’entreprise au moment du lancement des activités et en fera probablement de même à d’autres occasions dans les années à venir. La communauté de l’ICM Résumé techniques

CIM Magazine est disponible entierement en français en ligne : magazine.CIM.org/fr-CA

Implicit Modelling available in Vulcan 9

Rapid & repeatable results Flexible tools allow geologists to rapidly generate models of complex geological domains. Then move seamlessly into resource estimation by automatically producing a block model and triangulations.

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Editor-in-chief Ryan Bergen, rbergen@cim.org Executive editor Angela Hamlyn, ahamlyn@cim.org Managing editor Andrea Nichiporuk, anichiporuk@cim.org

editor’s letter

Names to know and remember

t CIM Magazine, we do not spend much time on big personalities in the mining industry. Though there are plenty of these, too much attention dedicated to them seems a distraction. A silver-tongued talker who sees nothing but upside may be just the character a small project needs to distinguish itself from the competition. But when the time comes to extract the resource, charisma alone will not improve the mineral recovery rate. Our “Names to know” issue runs against that grain. It affords us the chance to explore the industry in a way that captures the ideas and the inspiration of people such as Don Lindsay, Rob McEwen and Glenn Nolan who have an influence in this field – or, in the case of the Indonesian president, influence on it. The emphasis on personalities extends beyond the feature. With his profile “Big league debut,” editor Peter Braul successfully outlines the character of Imperial Metals, a company rich with experience and a sense of shared purpose, and its Red Chris project through the people in his story. And, of course, we honour the professional accomplishments of Gerry Hatch, who passed away in June. In a nice bit of symmetry, this character-focused issue also marks a transition in the editorial department. We welcome Kelsey Rolfe as editorial intern. Finally, Tom DiNardo has taken on the editorial responsibilities carried by Herb Mathisen, who is returning to his hometown of Yellowknife. You can find evidence of the talent and energy of each of them throughout this issue. On behalf of everyone at CIM National, I can say without reservation that Herb will be missed.

Ryan Bergen, Editor-in-chief editor@cim.org @Ryan_CIM_Mag

Section editors Peter Braul, pbraul@cim.org Tom DiNardo, tdinardo@cim.org Herb Mathisen Copy editor/Communications coordinator Zoë Koulouris, zkoulouris@cim.org Web content editor Maria Olaguera, molaguera@cim.org Editorial intern Kelsey Rolfe, krolfe@cim.org Contributors Pierrick Blin, Mauro Chiesa, Antoine Dion-Ortega, Michel Huneault, Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco, Eavan Moore, Dwight Newman, Christopher Pollon, Andrew Reeves, Karen Rolland, Jakub Stachurski, Thomas Struttmann Editorial advisory board Alicia Ferdinand, Garth Kirkham, Vic Pakalnis, Steve Rusk, Nathan Stubina Translations Karen Rolland, SDL, Jody Salicco Published 9 times a year by: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum 1250 – 3500 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West Westmount, QC H3Z 3C1 Tel.: 514.939.2710; Fax: 514.939.2714 www.cim.org; Email: magazine@cim.org Advertising sales Dovetail Communications Inc. 30 East Beaver Creek Rd., Ste. 202 Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1J2 Tel.: 905.886.6640; Fax: 905.886.6615; www.dvtail.com Senior Account Executives 905.886.6641 Janet Jeffery, jjeffery@dvtail.com, ext. 329 Neal Young, nyoung@dvtail.com, ext. 325 Account Manager Fiona Persaud, fpersaud@dvtail.com, ext. 326 Subscriptions Included in CIM membership ($177.00); Non-members (Canada), $270.00/yr (PE, MB, SK, AB, NT, NU, YT add $11.00 GST, BC add $26.40 HST, ON, NB, NL add $28.60 HST, QC add $32.95 GST + PST, NS add $33.00 HST) Non-Members USA and International: US$290.00/year. Single copies, $25.00.

This issue’s cover Lynne Bouchard, field mine rescue team captain at St. Andrew Goldfields. Photograph by Katelyn Malo Layout and design by Clò Communications Inc. www.clocommunications.com Copyright©2014. All rights reserved. ISSN 1718-4177. Publications Mail No. 09786. Postage paid at CPA Saint-Laurent, QC. Dépôt légal: Bibliothèque nationale du Québec. The Institute, as a body, is not responsible for statements made or opinions advanced either in articles or in any discussion appearing in its publications.

Printed in Canada 8 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

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president’s notes | mot du président

The safety gap

Sean Waller CIM President Président de l’ICM

Canadian mining companies have projects around the world, and we are respected globally for our technology and expertise. The experience of working in other countries and cultures is a highlight of my career, and I would encourage anyone to work overseas if the opportunity arises. Be careful, though. The emphasis we in Canada put on personal safety is not nearly as strong in many developing countries. This is immediately evident on the road. I found that driving habits, especially in some of these areas were extremely risky. I can vividly recall one near miss leaving an airport in northern Peru. Our driver pulled out immediately into the path of an oncoming dump truck. I can still see the look of horror on the face of the dump truck driver, whose truck, fortunately, had good brakes (which is not always a certainty!). Another important factor is that many mining projects are very remote and should a car accident occur, emergency medical assistance may be many hours away. Furthermore, longer-term medical care and social support may not be readily available – if available at all. The enduring impact of serious injury can be devastating regardless of where it happens, but the impact is often magnified in developing countries due to the lack of postinjury support and/or alternative employment opportunities should the victim not be able to resume his or her previous role. And yet, despite this, in many of these places the tolerance for risk is enormous. This means attitudes towards workplace safety can be similarly lax – despite the intensive efforts by management to impart a culture of safety. Canadian mining companies work very hard to instill a safety culture wherever they operate and our industry’s record on safety is exceptional. In my view, it is the most important tool in the best practices tool kit that we can bring to our foreign assignments.

L’écart en matière de sécurité Les sociétés minières canadiennes ont des projets partout dans le monde et sont respectées à l’échelle mondiale pour leur technologie et leur expertise. Mon expérience de travail dans d’autres pays et cultures est un fait marquant de ma carrière, et j’encouragerais tout le monde à travailler à l’étranger s’il en avait l’occasion. Cependant, il faut être prudent. Dans de nombreux pays en développement la sécurité personnelle est loin d’être aussi importante qu’au Canada. Vous le constaterez immédiatement sur la route. Je trouvais que les habitudes de conduite automobile, particulièrement dans certains pays en développement, étaient extrêmement dangereuses. Je me souviens clairement le jour où nous avions évité un accident de justesse en quittant un aéroport au nord du Pérou. Notre conducteur a immédiatement pris la voie inverse sur laquelle roulait un vieux camion. Je me souviens encore des yeux horrifiés du conducteur de ce camion qui, heureusement, avait de bons freins (ce qui n’est pas toujours une certitude!). Un autre facteur important est l’exécution de nombreux projets miniers dans des régions très éloignées, qui ne nous permet pas de recevoir immédiatement de l’aide médicale d’urgence en cas d’accident. De plus, les soins médicaux de plus longue durée et le soutien social peuvent être difficiles à obtenir, s’ils existent. Les répercussions persistantes d’une blessure grave peuvent être désastreuses, quel que soit l’endroit où a lieu l’incident. Cependant, ils sont souvent plus considérables dans les pays en développement, en raison du manque de soutien après l’accident ou des possibilités d’emploi si la victime ne peut reprendre son ancien poste. Pourtant, malgré cela, la tolérance au risque est très élevée dans beaucoup de pays en développement. Ce qui signifie que nous négligeons tout aussi la sécurité en milieu de travail, malgré les efforts intensifs déployés par la direction pour transmettre une culture de la sécurité. Les sociétés minières canadiennes travaillent très fort pour inculquer une culture de la sécurité là où elles opèrent, et le dossier de sécurité de notre industrie est exceptionnel. À mon avis, c’est l’outil le plus important de la trousse des pratiques exemplaires que nous pouvons apporter lorsque nous travaillons à l’étranger.

10 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Courtesy of ABB

Courtesy of BBA Pumps

OF TOOLS THE TRADE

A new, versatile and low-bandwidth offering from ABB could make underground location monitoring a lot easier. The Swiss-based company’s Mine Location Intelligence system provides real-time position monitoring of personnel, equipment and vehicles underground. Patrik Westerlund, global product manager of mine automation, said the system is “technologically agnostic,” allowing it to use a variety of communication network sources underground. “This means that the system can use WiFi networks, leaky feeder with RFID technology, [GSM, 3G and 4G] mobile networks and so on,” he said. The web-based system is accessible by PC and smartphone, allowing users to monitor personnel and assets in 3D maps for safety and productivity purposes from control rooms or on-the-fly underground. Mine Location Intelligence can also be integrated into other production and fleet management systems, and other ABB systems that automate ventilation and traffic control underground. “This system is built to support different technologies for positioning, which enables the customers to evolve from their actual technology to new and future positioning and communications technology,” said Westerlund.

◢ Efficient breakdown GE has introduced a new membrane bioreactor (MBR) that works with its Membrane Accommodating Carrier (MACarrier) technology to more efficiently remove toxins like cyanide, phenols, recalcitrant organics and other contaminants in tough-to-treat refinery and chemical processing plant wastewater. “The MACarrier is a modification to the MBR process where we add activated carbon to the bioreactor to absorb and assist in the breakdown of toxic materials,” said Michael Hribljan, regional vice-president, Canada. Typically, the toxins are chemically composed of long chains of carbon compounds that are difficult to biodegrade with traditional filtration systems. The MACarrier also has the ability to biologically

◢ Custom pump set-ups Meeting local demand is crucial for mining pump distributors, but quickly addressing the diversity of customers’ site-specific dewatering needs can be a challenge. To allow for greater pump customization, BBA Pumps offers a new standardized pump package that includes the customers’ choice of any of its BA or BA-C pumps, along with a diesel engine and control panel assembled on a galvanised frame. This lets users choose the pump unit they need as part of BBA’s “bolt-on” philosophy, which allows distributors to attach the pump to any surface they want. “We send it to our customers and distributors all over the world and, for them, it is ready to run after they have built it on their own tank frames or in their own sound attenuated canopies,” said product and marketing manager Henno Schothorst. In conjunction with the launch of the pump package, BBA has added a new pump to its mining range – the BA-C250H45 – for more flow (maximum 1500 cubic metres/hour) and increased pressure (maximum 180 metres of water column).

Courtesy of GE

◢ Location, location, location

regenerate in the bioreactor, which cuts down on operational costs. Hribljan said mining companies can use the new MBR to clean groundwater or waters containing nitrates or inhibitory compounds from blasting activities.

Compiled by Tom DiNardo and Herb Mathisen August/Août 2014 | 11

Courtesy of Rio Tinto

news

Rio Tinto signed an agreement with the Guinean government in another step towards realizing the mammoth Simandou iron ore project.

Rio Tinto forges ahead with US$20B Guinea project Rio Tinto moved one step closer to realizing its massive Simandou iron ore project on May 26, signing an investment framework that gives Guinea a 7.5 per cent stake in mine owner Simfer S.A., a Rio Tinto subsidiary, with the option to increase its share to 35 per cent over a 20-year period. The agreement was ratified by the Guinean government in early June. The Simandou project – an iron ore project owned by Rio Tinto, the Government of Guinea, Chinalco, and the International Finance Corporation – is located in southeastern Guinea, 30 kilometres west of Beyla. The framework agreement ensures Guinean commercial and private users will have access to the two major infrastructure components of the project: a 650-kilometre transGuinean railway that will transport ore from the site to Guinea’s coast, and a deep-water port slated for the Forécariah prefecture. Those infrastructure projects will be owned for 30 years by a privately managed company called InfraCo, which helps develop infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. After that, ownership will be transferred to the Republic of Guinea. The investment framework is a major milestone for Rio Tinto, which in April launched a complaint in a New 12 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

York district court against Vale and BSG Resources for allegedly corrupt mining practices that led to the loss of Blocks 1 and 2 of Simandou. Rio Tinto’s next step is to begin work on a bankable feasibility study, which should be completed in a year. Simandou would be the largest combined iron ore and infrastructure project in Africa. Rio Tinto estimates the project could double Guinea’s GDP and create 45,000 jobs. – Kelsey Rolfe

Coal producers to take stock at Vancouver conference The Coal Association of Canada’s (CAC) annual three-day conference will kick off in early September with panels looking at how producers can weather the industry’s challenging markets. The coal industry is currently facing an imbalance in supply and demand, with an overabundance of coal coming primarily from Australia and Indonesia, and a lower need for coal in large markets like China driving prices down, according to Ann Marie Hann, CAC president. “The global price of coal is at a level that hasn’t been seen in years,” she said. CAC conference panels will examine measures companies could take to become more efficient in order to help them deal with the short-term imbalance and better prepare them to rebound when the markets change. “We wanted to have a discussion about the industry’s current perceptions about the realities that are facing them,” Hann said, “and more importantly, where do they see the markets moving, and what are they planning to do between now and then.” The CAC’s conference will be held from Sept. 10 to 12 in Vancouver. - K.R.

Roundup and VRIC buddy up The Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) and Cambridge House International will be aligning their annual conferences starting in 2016, they announced in earlyJune. AME BC’s Mineral Exploration Roundup and Cambridge House’s Vancouver Resource Investment Conference will be held back to back at the Vancouver Convention Centre in lateJanuary 2016. Gavin Dirom, president and CEO of AME BC, said the decision was made to accommodate delegates who travel to Vancouver from around the world for both conferences but have to wait up to a week in between events. “[The conferences] are quite linked in many ways,” he explained. “Having a week of disconnect just made no sense.” Dirom said he hopes aligning the conferences can help connect investors with the more scientific and technical sides of the industry, “especially given the venture capital crisis that we’ve all been facing for over two years now.” The organizations’ 2015 conferences will still be held a week apart, with Cambridge House’s Investment Conference running from January 18 to 19, and AME BC’s Roundup from January - K.R. 26 to 29.

GAC-MAC conference gives reason for excitement For Dave Lentz, the 2014 GACMAC conference, held in Fredericton, signalled what he believes will be the beginning of economic improvement in Canadian geosciences after a challenging year. At the 2013 Winnipeg conference “we were hitting the bottom of our economic cycle,” said Lentz, who chaired the 2014 conference. “Right now we’re just at the inflection, and we’re starting definitely on an upward path.” This year’s annual conference, hosted jointly by the Geological Associ-

industry at a glance ation of Canada (GAC) and Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC), ran from May 21 to 23 on the University of New Brunswick campus and welcomed more than 700 attendees as well as federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who made a guest appearance. Session topics ranged from professionalism and accreditation to micropaleontology and geo-ecology, with three special sessions dedicated to honouring prominent geologists and mineralogists: McGill University professor Andrew Hynes, and the late John Jambor and André Lalonde. Attendees also got the chance to participate in many multi-day trips to local mineral deposits before and after the conference, including the Bathurst Mining Camp and the Mount Pleasant area. The 2015 conference will be held at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal. – K.R.

Peter Watson named new NEB chief executive Peter Watson, the deputy minister for the Alberta premier’s executive council, was selected to become the new chairman and CEO of the National Energy Board (NEB), replacing the outgoing Gaeton Caron. Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford made the announcement on June 13, with Watson assuming the position on August 18. Lyne Mercier, an NEB board member, was also appointed vice-chair of the federal energy watchdog. “The comprehensive experience and knowledge of these individuals will be invaluable during this critical time for our federal energy regulator,” Rickford said in a release. Watson has served in the past as Alberta’s deputy minister of energy and deputy minister of the environment. In his current role as deputy minister of the premier’s executive council, he is in charge of the province’s public service. He will be leaving this position to take on the NEB role. Watson will see applications for some important projects pass his desk in the coming years including an application

from TransCanada for its $12-billion Energy East pipeline, which would move 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta to Quebec, and eventually further east to New Brunswick. Kinder Morgan will also seek to expand the capacity of its Trans Mountain pipeline through British Columbia. Watson’s term – K.R. at NEB will last for seven years.

Total setback Total E&P Canada has shelved its northern Alberta oil sands mining

project indefinitely, citing issues with escalating costs. The Canadian subsidiary of France-based Total SA announced in late-May that site work on the $11-billion Joslyn mine would be suspended, and the company would focus on engineering studies aimed at reducing the costs of the project. The move will cause up to 150 layoffs by the end of the year. Erin MacDonald, a Total spokesperson, said the company is attempting to redeploy the laid-off workers to some of its international projects or to oil

Northern Gateway: by the numbers Enbridge got the go-ahead from the federal government on June 18 to begin building its Northern Gateway pipeline, which would stretch from Bruderheim, Alberta, to Kitimat, B.C. Pipeline proponents argue the project is needed to move the expanded production expected in Alberta’s oil sands and help the bitumen crude reach tidewater to access Asian markets. But the project has drawn criticism from both federal opposition parties, and the threat of legal action from B.C.’s Coastal First Nations. “First Nations and our allies will protect our rights and the interests of future generations,” the group’s executive director, Art Sterritt, said in a release. “We will never allow oil tankers into our territorial waters.” - K.R.

209

Conditions on the Northern Gateway approval. Of those, 113 must be met before shovels are in the ground.

Jobs available during construction of the pipeline:

3,000 Long-term jobs created:

560

2015 2018 525 Enbridge’s projected

construction start date.

thousand

Enbridge’s projected

operations start date.

$400 million

Bitumen barrels per day that the project would send westbound.

Spent by Enbridge so far on the Northern Gateway, including the regulatory process, assessments, environment and geotechnical work, and the joint review panel.

1,177 $6.5 billion

Length in kilometres of the pipeline.

Overall cost of the project

twenty-six

zero

Prime ministerial candidates (other than Stephen Harper) that approve of the pipeline.

First Nations and Métis communities that Enbridge says accepted a 10 per cent equity stake in the project. Sources: JRP report, gatewayfacts.ca, Enbridge

August/Août 2014 | 13

Courtesy of Total E&P Canada

news reports of payments of $100,000 or more on a project-level basis made to all levels of government in Quebec, including aboriginal band councils. The standards would be harmonized with American and European requirements and come into effect on April 1, 2015. The provincial initiative follows recommendations released in Total E&P Canada, a subsidiary of France’s Total SA, announced the January 2014 by the suspension of its Joslyn oil sands mine, 65 kilometres north of Fort Resource Revenue WorkMcMurray. ing Group, which comprises PDAC, MAC and sands projects where Total is a cocivil society organizations. Prime Mininvestor. ister Stephen Harper gave his support The Joslyn project is targeted to to the group in June 2013 but, in the produce 160,000 barrels of bitumen end, it is up to each province to set up per day, according to the company’s its own disclosure rules. In Quebec, submissions with the Alberta Energy the mandate would fall under the Regulator, and production is slated to Autorité des marchés financiers, the begin in 2020. The site is about 65 province’s securities regulator. Ironikilometres north of Fort McMurray. cally, representatives from Quebec’s Total controls 38.25 per cent of the Natural Resources Ministry declined Joslyn project, with Suncor holding to provide comment on the new trans36.75 percent, California’s Occidental parency initiative, stating it was too Petroleum holding 15 per cent, and early in the process to discuss the Inpex Corp. the remaining 10 per – Antoine Dion-Ortega matter. cent. The decision to suspend the project was unanimous among the four partners, Total announced. The First Quantum buys company, however, declined to com- Lumina, Hudbay acquires ment on how much it has spent on the Augusta Joslyn project so far, and what would need to happen for the company to Already this year, we have seen a return to the mine. – K.R. bidding war for Osisko and its Canadian Malartic golden goose, and Glencore sell its Las Bambas copper mine in Quebec adopts federal Peru to a Chinese consortium. Now, transparency measures two more mining companies have The global trend towards trans- penned multi-million-dollar deals to parency in the extractive sector is expand their project portfolios. knocking at Quebec’s door. In its Vancouver’s First Quantum Minerals 2014–15 budget, the newly elected announced on June 17 that it had agreed Liberal government pledges to get in to purchase Lumina Copper Corp. for step with both the federal government $470 million to gain control of its Taca and mining industry groups to set up Taca copper project in Argentina. new mandatory reporting standards “The acquisition of Lumina is for payments. Among other things, another step in First Quantum’s longthe government would require extrac- stated objective of geographical divertive companies in the oil, gas and sification through the acquisition of mining sectors to publish annual world class, early-stage copper assets,” 14 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

said First Quantum CEO Philip Pascall in a release. “Once the acquisition of Lumina has been completed we will immediately review the Taca Taca project to determine the most efficient and economical timing for its development in the context of the projects that we are currently developing.” Then, in late-June, Toronto’s Hudbay Minerals announced it had reached a friendly agreement to purchase Augusta Resource for roughly $555 million, after Hudbay initially offered $443 million for it in February in a hostile takeover bid. Augusta is working on advancing its Rosemont copper project near Tucson, Arizona, slated to become the third largest copper mine in the United States, with the intent to begin produc– Herb Mathisen tion in early-2017.

Joy Global scoops up Sudbury’s MTI Mining equipment giant Joy Global completed its purchase of Mining Technologies International (MTI) for $51 million, the company announced in June. The acquisition of the Sudbury-based company marks Joy Global’s expansion into underground hard rock mining products. “MTI is a natural fit with the existing Joy Global product portfolio and strategy,” said Josh Wagner, the Illinois-based company’s director of product management. “It provides a great building block for the company in the underground hard rock market.” Joy Global acquired “substantially all” of MTI’s product lines, except for the company’s cylinder division and rail products, which will operate in North Bay under its former name, LHD Equipment Limited. Robert Lipic, the former CEO of MTI, said the company may no longer offer a complete line of rail equipment but have a “more focused” approach instead. MTI will remain in Sudbury, and, for the time being, will operate as a stand-alone unit under Joy Global’s recently established Hard Rock Mining division. Wagner says the majority of MTI employees have become part of

industry at a glance Joy Global and will “provide the foundation” for the new division. – K.R.

Ross Gallinger out as PDAC executive director The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is looking for another executive director, following Ross Gallinger’s decision to step down in June. Gallinger had held the position since August 2011. The decision to leave the association was a mutual one between Gallinger and the board of directors, according to PDAC spokesman Steve Virtue. Under Gallinger’s leadership, PDAC was involved in an initiative to disclose payments that oil and gas and mining companies make to domestic and international governments. Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), credited Gallinger, who he has known for more than a decade, as a “serious, ethical, responsible voice” for the exploration industry. “I thought Ross was outstanding, and I have to say that under his tenure the relationship between MAC and PDAC has never been stronger, so I’m sad to see him go,” Gratton said. “He’s leaving some really big shoes to fill.” PDAC’s board is creating a hiring committee to replace Gallinger in the near future. Until then, PDAC president Rodney Thomas will step in as interim executive director. – K.R.

Chris Hodgson, president of the Ontario Mining Association, said the Ring of Fire funds are a positive step forward. “We’ve had a good relationship with Premier Wynne,” he said. “The door’s always been open for our concerns, and we’re optimistic that will continue.” However, Hodgson said he hopes Wynne will consider reducing the province’s industrial hydro rates,

which are the highest in North America, to give the province’s mining industry more of an edge. “We’ve made some strides with Premier Wynne in the last year, and we’re hoping to continue that progress,” he said. “It may never be a level playing field [with energy rates,] but we need to be competitive.” (for more on the Ring of Fire, – K.R. see pg. 18)

Ontario miners cautiously optimistic with Liberal victory After a stunning Liberal victory in Ontario’s June election, which saw the party swept back into power with an unexpected majority mandate, Premier Kathleen Wynne re-opened the legislature on July 2 and tabled the left-leaning budget her party campaigned on. This included a $1 billion commitment towards infrastructure to the Ring of Fire that no longer requires matching funds from the federal government. August/Août 2014 | 15

news

Quebec’s uranium unease Strateco suspends project, public review puts local industry in doubt

Spending $1.5 million annually to do nothing does not make sense. That was the thinking behind Strateco’s June 12 announcement to shut down its Matoush uranium camp and focus attention on its Saskatchewan properties. CEO Guy Hébert said the decision was made to cut costs at the stalled Quebec project after years of wrangling with the provincial government. The company, which Hébert said has spent roughly $123 million to explore, develop and permit its Matoush project since 2006, had its exploration program approved by the federal government in February 2012, but found out in March 2013 that the province was putting a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining until a comprehensive public review was completed by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE). The review, which only started this spring, is slated to wrap up in May 2015, with its findings published no later than July 2015. “We don’t know what that means for us,” said Hébert, alluding to the fact that before the review even began, then Parti-Québécois environment minister Yves-Francois Blanchet announced the government would deny Strateco a final exploration permit, based on the project’s lack of sufficient social acceptability – namely, the Cree Nation of Mistissini’s opposition. Strateco has since taken the government to court over this refusal, calling the minister’s decision “illegal.” “First of all, social acceptance is not defined anywhere in any law,” said Hébert. “Secondly, what is ‘sufficient?’” Early on, the project had local approval and some in the community still support it, Hébert said, but when the Mistissini’s leadership changed, so did its stance on Matoush. According to Hébert, the company is ultimately hoping to have the minister’s decision 16 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Courtesy of Strateco Resources

By Herb Mathisen

Strateco shut down its Matoush camp in June. The company had built an airstrip, accommodations and other surface buildings for its 70-person facility. Stornoway Diamonds, currently building its Renard project, bought the buildings and equipment. Strateco will still maintain water infrastructure, “hoping that within a year or two we will be able to return,” CEO Guy Hébert said. But that will be up to the Quebec government, First Nations and, perhaps, the Quebec Superior Court.

overturned. Failing that, he said Strateco would be seeking compensation. Like the Matoush project, the future of Quebec’s entire uranium industry is far from certain. The PQ government had called for the uranium BAPE after mounting opposition from First Nations and civil groups. In August 2012, the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) declared a permanent moratorium on uranium exploration and mining on its land.

Educational or inflammatory? BAPE will carry out the public review in three phases. The first is a pre-consultation, where the panel meets with community members and organizations across the province to figure out what the issues are. Once that is complete, a question and answer session with experts will be held in communities in September, followed by a final presentation session next spring. The review’s mandate is to look at potential issues, “identifying through consultation the challenges of

uranium exploration and exploitation,” according to Louise Bourdages, BAPE spokesperson. Josée Méthot, president and CEO of the Association Minière du Québec, said her organization could support such a review if BAPE was investigating how Quebec should go about exploring and exploiting uranium, but not if it becomes a referendum on whether it should or not. But Jean-Marc Lulin, president and CEO of Azimut Exploration, is concerned that BAPE will be just that. “I’m not against the BAPE itself. Of course, it is critical for public acceptance. The problem with this specific BAPE is it will cover the overall uranium industry, not related to a specific project,” he said, adding most of the questions being addressed by such a general review can largely be found in public documents available. “I think for this reason it is more likely an ideological debate, than a rational debate regarding the industry,” he said. Lulin has been retained by BAPE as an industry expert for this review to

answer questions. He hoped it would educate Quebecers about the industry, pointing out how Saskatchewan residents are highly educated about uranium and, he said, supportive of it. “In Quebec, by contrast, the population is unaware of the uranium industry and they are against the uranium industry without knowing it,” he said. “It’s a problem.”

Cree Nation concerns Matthew Coon Come, grand chief of the Cree Nation, said the Cree Nation undertook its own review of uranium development prior to declaring its moratorium. “The Cree did not start off opposed to uranium mining,” he told CIM Magazine. “We are open to responsible mining in our territory. However, Strateco’s Matoush project forced us to confront the issue because Strateco, we believe, refused to give us the information regarding the risks associated with uranium development, so we sought the information elsewhere.” The review, which Coon Come said included input from industry experts, found that there were uncertainties with storage, containment and communication of risks associated with uranium waste. “We learned that there are serious risks that could have catastrophic effects if they materialize,” he said. “We Crees have lived on and relied on this land since time immemorial and I believe we have the responsibility to protect the land for generations that will come after us.” Coon Come welcomes the public review and its intent to get input from citizens, even if he said BAPE does not have jurisdiction over Cree territory. The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement provides for a unique environmental and social protection regime with special participation of the Cree. But the Cree Nation, he said, will argue against uranium development at the BAPE review. “We believe that if this environmental review process is conducted properly, the issues and risks are thoroughly discussed and considered, Quebecers as a whole will join with the Cree Nation and reject uranium development activities in the province of Quebec,” he said. Not all northern organizations are closing the door on uranium mining, though. Makivik Corporation, which protects the legal and financial interests of Quebec’s Inuit, will participate in BAPE consultations “before producing a final brief stating a position towards uranium,” according to mining coordinator Jean-Marc Séguin. Still, Strateco’s Hébert said the government’s actions have investors furious: “Until this thing is clean and clear, it will be very hard to restore the Plan Nord for smaller companies. “This project has very badly hurt the credibility of Quebec.” CIM

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August/Août 2014 | 17

news

One Ring of Fire approach to rule them all Ontario’s development corporation plan criticized in new reports

Almost everyone with a stake in the Ring of Fire wants to see development in the region move ahead. But when it comes to determining how to do that, the consensus evaporates. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has pledged to form a regional development corporation (Devco) to govern the Ring of Fire’s advancement within 60 days of taking office. But in recent weeks, alternative processes have been proposed that seek to put industry in the driver’s seat and help it take a more holistic approach towards environmental protection. Last November, Ontario Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle announced a solution to break the logjam that had seized the region, which his government boasts holds a known mineral potential of $60 billion. Prompted by infrastructure squabbles between rival miners, Gravelle became convinced of the need to create a process to hear from First Nations, industry and government on how to proceed. The Liberals proposed a not-forprofit Devco, which the government would lead, to set the pace and tone of development in the Ring of Fire and bring disparate voices to the negotiating table. The Ontario government would have control over the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of all infrastructure built. Consulting firm Deloitte was brought aboard last February to begin work on a technical infrastructure report and handle the legalese of forming a new governance structure. Deloitte will also be there to act as a neutral, third-party resource for all stakeholders in the Devco in case tempers flare or disagreements persist. Not everyone is pleased with the Liberals chosen governance model for the Ring of Fire, however. Former federal deputy transportation minister Nick Mulder penned a report for the 18 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2014

By Andrew Reeves

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Matawa member First Nations chiefs officially celebrate the Regional Framework Agreement in April in Thunder Bay.

Northern Policy Institute (NPI), released in mid-June, arguing that the Devco heavy a burden on taxpayers to accept risk and front the infrastructure costs. “Uncertain mineral markets, a growing provincial deficit… and unresolved aboriginal demands,” he said, are reason enough to bring greater private sector involvement into the Ring of Fire to share in decision-making, profit and risk. Mulder’s preferred solution is a port authority model that brings stakeholders together into an independent communal body that appoints its own leadership, rather than the Ontario government choosing the governing body’s captain. The authority would see the marketplace, not the government, make decisions about how the region would develop and it would be responsible for generating financing, according to his report. KWG Resources president Frank Smeenk is on board with Mulder’s plan. His company owns a 30 per cent stake in the Big Daddy chromite project. Shortly after the NPI paper was released, Smeenk applauded the port

authority suggestion as a step towards bringing the federal government and Ontario in sync in the region, claiming in a release that a port authority might be “the most elegant means for their collaboration.” Smeenk argued the NPI paper also supported draft legislation he released during Ontario’s recent election campaign, calling on all parties to support his Northland Development Corporation idea. This would merge authority over the region between industry, First Nations, northern mayors and the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, the local rail service provider that Smeenk supports because of his preference for rail infrastructure into the mining area, 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. Alan Coutts, head of junior miner Noront Resources that leads the pack with its Eagle’s Nest nickel and copper project as the most advanced in the Ring of Fire, said his ambitions for how to govern the region are “pretty wellaligned” with the port authority model spelled out in Mulder’s paper. Although Coutts has been active in the

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government’s Devco talks to date, he pointed out that it was critical to get proper representation from industry, First Nations and government because they all have a stake in how the area develops. Industry is largely concerned about getting projects approved and operational in a timely manner, he said, so setting a steady pace for development under the Devco is priority one if that model persists. Meanwhile, a joint report from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Ecojustice released in late-June claims the current planning framework for the Ring of Fire misses the forest for the trees. The report’s authors write that it is blind to cumulative ecological effects of mining development and fails to

investigate what impact road building in one part of the region could have on caribou migration hundreds of kilometres away, for example. Given the many environmental, economic and cultural impacts of mining, the authors call for a Regional Strategic Environmental Assessment (R-SEA) to take place before infrastructure decisions at the Devco are made. “Adopting an R-SEA planning process is a way of building consensus around where, when and in what form development is appropriate,” said co-author and conservation scientist Cheryl Chetkiewicz. Conducting an R-SEA is also compatible with a Devco making infrastructure decisions, said Ecojustice lawyer Anastasia

Lintner: it would better coordinate what is built. But undertaking an R-SEA would put the brakes on development, at least temporarily. Premier Wynne could be hesitant to slow the process to conduct a regional assessment after promising during the campaign to take swift action on forming the much-delayed Devco. Her government also made a $1 billion infrastructure commitment in the Ring of Fire in its defeated May budget, a promise Wynne resurrected during the campaign. In late-June, Gravelle reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the Devco model, though he welcomed alternative perspectives and suggestions. CIM

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August/Août 2014 | 19

news

Canada loses a pioneer Gerald Hatch built one of the world’s most successful mining and metallurgical engineering firms By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco Gerald Hatch, one of Canada’s most innovative metallurgical engineers and business leaders, died on June 9, 2014,

20 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

one month shy of his 92nd birthday. Although his death seems to have fallen under the radar of most mainstream

media, it marks a great loss to Canada and its mining industry. Hatch, according to all who knew him, was a giant in his professional career, while remaining a modest, gentle and remarkable human being. “Gerry had the depth of character to reach great heights in his personal and business life,” said Kurt Strobele, current chairman of the Hatch Group of Companies, the 59-year-old engineering consulting firm founded by Gerry Hatch that today has more than 11,000 employees in 65 offices on six continents. “He set the stage for a lot of engineering developments in Canada, particularly in relation to metallurgy,” said Gord Irons, director of the Steel Research Centre at McMaster University. Working with Falcondo in the Dominican Republic in the 1970s, Hatch designed an innovative commercial plant that revolutionized the productivity of ferronickel production. He co-patented two design features of the electric smelting furnaces that have since been incorporated into Hatch’s successful furnace technology business, along with numerous other innovations. Hatch also contributed to sustainability in the mining and metals industry through his leadership of the Sulphur Dioxide Abatement programs for Inco and Falconbridge in Sudbury, Ontario, and Noranda Mines in Noranda, Quebec. Hatch’s design enabled sulphur dioxide collection and conversion to saleable sulphuric acid. These projects significantly reduced acid rain caused by metals refining in Eastern Canada. Although Hatch retired as the company’s president in 1988 and its chairman in 1990, the structure he created for Hatch to this day continues to positively impact its employees while playing an integral role in its ongoing success. With the clarity of an engineer’s mind in combination with his passion

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for fairness and ethics, Gerry Hatch developed a 100 per cent employeeowned and managed business model. “He set it up so that when employees retired, they had to divest themselves of all their stock. When he retired, he did so as well,” said Irons. “The people who run the company are the people who are most involved with it so he really set up an extraordinary legacy for those wanting to participate in the enterprise. The company has been profitable almost all the time, but during recessions when there had to be layoffs, he tried to reduce the impact on employees. They would work a three- or fourday week, or take people back when things picked up, but he always tried to do the best for his people. He knew the

engineering side, the business side and the people side.” Strobele describes it this way: “Gerry built a company with strong foundations that were based on a culture of innovation, excellence and integrity that brought success to its employees and benefits to our clients and society at large.” Hatch, a CIM member, was a committed philanthropist, supporting research and innovation at such universities as McGill and McMaster. He also donated to the Princess Margaret Hospital and Trillium Hospital, among others. Hatch held a life-long commitment to mentorship and the development of the next generation of engineers at Hatch Ltd. and through membership in such advisory councils

as the Dean’s Advisory Councils for McGill University, McMaster University, Queen’s University and the University of Toronto. He established Gerry Hatch scholarships, awarded to 12 students annually in the regions where Hatch operates: Australasia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe. “We all know that Gerry had a very sharp and analytical mind and would challenge everybody to do their homework, know the facts and articulate them well,” said Strobele at Hatch’s funeral. “Gerry was also an attentive listener. He would not only respond to what he heard but he would respond to the concerns, fears or excitement that he sensed in the individual. He was a great mentor and role model.” CIM

Career highlights 1958

Hatch became president of W.S. Atkins & Associates Ltd. in Toronto. With just five employees, he developed projects with Stelco, QIT, Falconbridge and Noranda, and tunnelling work for the Toronto Transit Commission.

1964

He purchased the company, set up employee ownership and renamed it Hatch Ltd.

1988

Retired as company president.

1990

Retired as company chairman.

1997

Hatch worked with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and helped establish the G.G. Hatch Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University of Ottawa.

1997

Became a member of the Order of Canada.

1998

Inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.

2011

Inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.

August/Août 2014 | 21

FINANCE

The peril of ignoring public sector costs BY MAURO CHIESA

n a recent column, I called for mining companies to factor public sector costs into their financial projections for future projects in development. My rationale was that this would facilitate a more inclusive and expedient public sector role in the project’s funding and approvals. Yet the comments I received from this column suggested that financial resources are already limited, and that the public sector should be left to its own processes. The need to assess the public sector costs should not be underestimated, however, as it is essential for determining the viability of a project and a company’s strategic decision-making. Since capital is scarce and will remain so, mining companies will require careful queuing of their in-development projects to replace their depleting assets. This scarcity arises because many institutional investors are dismayed with an

returns of 10 per cent and four per cent to the public sectors, when the tax and royalty revenues are factored in. Such oversight hides several vital issues. For instance, development speed is not factored into the decision. Project A, with its 18 per cent IRR needs no co-financing and offers the opportunity to bypass the double queue. The government may even endorse this project because it brings jobs, satisfies the permits required and does not need any public funds while generating royalty and tax revenues. However, if the public sector has the capital to co-invest, Project B would be the win-win candidate, as the public sector would see a 10 per cent return. Such a win-win situation would also be wise given the public’s current perceptions that a mining operation only profits companies. Project C could actually invite detractors because the private sector would be seen to make handsome returns while the public sector would not. Regardless of the A company must fully cost all strategic options, return of public sector funds, the end result both is a double queue that would only as the new projects must not only be delivered for require more time – thus more inflation – on time, on budget and on spec, more public scrutiny and increased anxiety but may require greater co-investment from a from shareholders with high expectations, Project C’s announced IRR. public sector that is financially challenged. given By fully costing all options before making any strategic decisions, Company X also industry whose 40 largest players, according to Pricewater- places itself in a better position to negotiate “asset swaps” with houseCoopers’ Mine Report 2014, had to collectively write the public sector. For instance, Company X can see a lower down $97 billion of assets in 2012 and 2013. Meanwhile, gov- return in exchange for financing more assets (like a power ernments are running deficits and are no longer able to readily plant) and possibly encourage a faster approval process by assist future mining projects. If governments were able to co- reducing the funding load on the public sector and enhancing invest, they would now look for a higher return on the public its return. The company could also simply hold on to Project sector co-investment. This means a “double-queue” for the A rather than let it go prematurely. The bottom line is that a company must fully cost all stratecompany: one for the permits and one for the public coinvestment approvals. Recent examples include Ontario with gic options, as the new projects must not only be delivered on time, on budget and on spec, but may require greater cothe Ring of Fire and Mongolia with Oyu Tolgoi. A hypothetical example may help illustrate the value of fac- investment from a public sector that is financially challenged. toring in public sector costs: Company X has three candidate The “greenfield” or “frontier” nature of some new projects furprojects but can only afford one with its $1 billion of capital. ther underscores this need. Failure to fully cost all options may It finds that Project A offers an internal rate of return (IRR) of invite unexpected delays and additional political risk, creating 18 per cent, Project B offers 22 per cent and Project C offers potential gaps in production plans because of a double queue. 26 per cent. The board agrees to pursue C first, followed by B Today’s investor does not welcome these situations, as they increasingly look for dividends and a more timely performas a fallback option. Project A is sold to its competitors. Overlooked in this process is the public sector capital ance that “satisfies guidance.” CIM required. This can include technical training, environmental cost-sharing, infrastructure, energy subsidies, and social costs. If each project had been fully costed, Company X would have Mauro Chiesa has 33 years of experience in financing and advising extractive discovered that Project A requires no public sector capital, and and infrastructure projects, including with multinational banks in New York, the B and C each required $300 million and offer the respective World Bank Group in Washington, D.C., and EDC in Ottawa.

22 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

EYE ON BUSINESS

Plan the work, plan for change BY THOMAS STRUTTMANN

n effective operational plan ensures companies can set important goals and make short- and long-term planning decisions about how to efficiently extract their commodities, and process and sell them. Designing a sound operational plan is no small feat, though. Industry-wide, roughly 40 per cent of mining operations regularly miss their market guidance. The level of complexity involved in effectively managing one site is often compounded when companies must duplicate these processes across as many as 20 sites worldwide. Moreover, the technical nature of the mining business necessitates that engineers and planners produce the operating plan. When corporate managers receive it, they fail to understand the technical components, and as a result they produce financial metrics that do not fully align with reality on the ground. This situation means that when the economic environment shifts, corporate and operations managers are unable to effectively adjust the operating plan, deploy resources, or modify the operating strategy to mitigate risk. In an era of declining commodity prices, optimizing the operating plan is essential to all mining companies that want to meet their earnings guidance. Without this key component, it is extremely difficult for management to adequately quantify operational risk, let alone assess an existing plan’s quality or revise it when the markets fluctuate.

Rigorous analysis An operational plan requires expert analysis to ensure it presents an accurate picture of a company’s most significant variables: grade, geological model, commodity prices and production schedule. Such analysis ultimately determines the amount of investment necessary to achieve production goals, as well as the total ore that will be produced, while also outlining revenue and operating margins. A top-tier global gold miner reported on a recent project that more than one-third of the ounces produced in the company’s portfolio were unprofitable. In this case, both the corporate and operating teams were too focused on growth and revenue and subsequently failed to pay attention to margins, thereby wasting precious capital. Before a plan is implemented, there is usually a healthy debate about the revenues, margins, resource recovery and assumptions that go into it. There are various methods of review to validate the quality of a plan. While some companies use peer reviews, others request outside technical assistance. In general, it is good business practice to engage outside support. These reviewers have read thousands of operational plans and can provide insights and opportunities for improvement including geological estimates and production strategies.

Executing the plan Mining companies comprise a complex portfolio of variables that are constantly in flux. Their operational plans cover

wide-ranging business elements from corporate (e.g. sales contracts, financing, supply chain variation) to operations (e.g. productivity, recovery, reliability, variation in grade). Unfortunately, when an operational plan is rolled out, both corporate and operations generally assume that the plan is a fixed document. As a result, neither team implements strategies to avoid setbacks and optimize financial performance when changes occur. If one side does respond to changing conditions, due to a lack of transparency between operations and corporate, it does so in a vacuum, without regard for its impact elsewhere. For instance, operations might reach production targets but spend more than anticipated on labour and energy, thereby decreasing profit margins. Successful mining companies deploy systems that offer dynamic transparency to both the operational and financial sides, providing metrics that help managers control costs and accurately forecast production, revenue and margin. With these systems and protocols in place, operations management teams can understand future conditions and make adjustments to the operating plan accordingly. When managers understand what the future events might look like, they are able to mitigate risk and consistently meet guidance.

Managing live events Most companies take daily measurements of physical data and monthly measurements of financials. As a result, today’s operations teams are flooded with a continuous stream of data, including daily production results, new geological information, production system health, sales information and the supply chain. In short, there is a storm of data about the past but little information about what is on the horizon. The easiest thing to measure is what happened yesterday, but it is also the least valuable because little can be done about past performance. Companies that can model live events with key operations, finance and marketing leaders can effect changes to the operating model in order to get ahead of the curve to mitigate risk. Mining optimization software solutions such as AlightMining’s Enterprise are indispensible tools for achieving this goal. Managers can use this software to model entire mines, making changes to numerous variables (e.g. utilization, productivity, recovery, grade, supply chain, ore body) to see their impact on the income statement and balance sheet across the portfolio and inform any changes to their operational plan. The most successful mining companies understand that an operational plan is not a stagnant document. It is a constantly evolving roadmap that enables them to deftly navigate the business environment and keep their margins high. CIM Thomas Struttmann is CEO of Struttmann Consulting. He brings more than 30 years of industry experience leading projects, supporting M&A due diligence, and providing expertise on asset management and capital planning for top Fortune 500 companies. Tom@Struttmann.com, www.struttmann.com

August/Août 2014 | 23

ENGAGEMENT

Getting beyond duty to consult myths BY DWIGHT NEWMAN

he question of aboriginal consultation and accommodation has probably kept many people in the mining sector awake at night over the last decade, following a trilogy of Supreme Court of Canada decisions that enshrined the duty to consult in 2004 and 2005. Though the rulings have raised the general awareness about the duty to consult, widespread misunderstandings persist about what it actually means. Legally speaking, the duty to consult is a requirement on governments – federal or provincial, depending on the matter at hand – to consult affected aboriginal communities prior to making development decisions that could negatively impact their aboriginal rights or treaty rights and to appropriately consider these impacts. This applies even where there remains uncertainty on the scope of these rights. The duty to consult is a proactive duty on the part of relevant governments to make adjustments to decisions that may have a negative impact before any harm is done. The most pervasive myths about the duty to consult are either that the courts have created a legal veto held by aboriginal communities in relation to development on their lands and/or that the duty to consult is going to lead to the blocking of all resource development. On the contrary, the courts have been consistent in stating that the duty to consult does not create a legal veto. Misinformation has also circulated within aboriginal communities that there is a legal protection for “free, prior and informed consent” in all circumstances and that has created misunderstandings. The duty to consult does create an important set of protections for aboriginal communities. Where a resource development project might impact on aboriginal rights or treaty rights held by an aboriginal community, the government has to consult with that community in advance. The government must take all the information about the impacts on these rights from local groups, as distinct from general views from within the community, and possibly make appropriate adjustments to the project, which could include a refusal of permits in certain limited circumstances. A refusal of permission for Taseko’s New Prosperity mine in B.C. will capture the headlines, but it is an exception. In fact, in many cases, aboriginal communities are keen to participate in resource development and need simply to be brought into the process for matters to move ahead harmoniously. Although the duty to consult does not have all the implications some may think, it will undoubtedly mean changed business practices. For example, it would be a mistake for anyone in the mining sector to assume that because the duty to consult is ultimately a duty on governments, industry should therefore step out of the way.

24 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

The best results will often be achieved by implementing a business practice that develops relationships that rise above and beyond the strict requirements of the law. Some of the most recent fractious situations have been the result of companies relying on government to deal with every aspect of the duty to consult. The lawsuits that arose against the Ontario government by companies like Solid Gold and Northern Superior Resources in recent years speak to the fact that losses can occur when companies rely solely on government to deal with the duty to consult. If governments fail to do so, and delays result, there may be lost opportunities. Even if those lawsuits are resolved in some manner that responds to those losses, the business that mining sector people want to be in is not litigation but mining. To stay ahead of the regulatory curve, companies need to realize that the duty to consult is not static but will continue to develop. The December 2012 decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal in the Ross River Dena Council case – on which the Supreme Court of Canada decided in late-2013 not to hear an appeal – is an example of how the duty to consult may cause further changes. That decision has forced the Yukon government to amend its mining legislation to move away from the long-standing free entry system. Proposed amendments will put the government in a position to make a discretionary decision about permission for exploration activities that were previously automatically permitted. Although the move away from free entry is something that other jurisdictions like Ontario had already been doing, it speaks to an evolving environment in which the duty to consult may yet have bigger implications. While changes to free entry impact junior exploration companies, Canadian majors that have faced consultation issues on mining projects under the law of other jurisdictions like Guatemala and Chile have also discovered a changing regulatory environment. The Supreme Court of Canada’s latest recognition of aboriginal title in the Tsilhqot’in case also speaks to situations where consultation requirements will be elevated close to consent. The challenges of mining are no longer just the physical challenges of getting minerals out of the ground. They involve, rather, sophisticated business strategy questions associated with developing legal and social expectations. It is important to keep developments like the duty to consult in perspective, but also to work in sophisticated ways with good, responsive business practices so as to move forward effectively in exploration and development. CIM Dwight Newman is professor of law and Canada Research Chair in indigenous rights in constitutional and international law at the University of Saskatchewan. His latest books include Revisiting the Duty to Consult Aboriginal Peoples (Purich Publishing 2014) and Natural Resource Jurisdiction in Canada (LexisNexis 2013).

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Courtesy of Goldcorp

Homestyle recipe DIY bucket-building project saves millions for Peñasquito By Antoine Dion-Ortega

Moises Castillo inspects a dipper door manufactured at Goldcorp's Peñasquito mine in Mexico.

ince it entered commercial production in 2010, Goldcorp’s Peñasquito mine has been operating four Bucyrus 495 electric rope shovels – each a nearly 1,500-tonne mammoth able to lift 100 tonnes of rock in a single scoop. Few of the local employees from the arid state of Zacatecas in north-central Mexico, had ever seen such a large beast. Maintenance quickly became quite a challenge for the welding department, which was unfamiliar with most of the components. The contact point of the Bucyrus 495 became a major source of stress for welders at Peñasquito. Located on the bottom of the dipper, there is a huge, trapdoor-like panel that they found tended to crack prematurely. Its size makes it hard to handle: the dipper door alone is five metres high, 5.5 metres wide and weighs up to eight tonnes. “We did not know these components,” says Moises Castillo, the supervisor’s assistant at the welding shop. “Cracks soon started to appear that were worrying.” In the first year, rope shovels had to be shut down so that welders could seal the cracks on the spot. These interruptions were costly. “We had to stop operations for as long as 10 hours, a full shift sometimes, with many welders on site,” Castillo recalls.

One weak link Managers at the mine loathed these blips in their operations, and they soon ordered a brand new replacement door from Bucyrus’ manufacturing facility in Milwaukee. But it was a costly fix: the price for the door was US$600,000. It soon became obvious that one replacement door would not cut it. The welding department has 103 technicians, divided into three shifts. A single cracked door 26 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

would mobilize four of them for an unpredictable period of time, depending on the damage. “In the first few years, fixing a door could take us as long as 20 to 25 man-hours, which affected our availability for other maintenance work,” recalls Julio Jardon, maintenance manager at Peñasquito. As soon as one door was fixed, another one would fail, at a rate that was only increasing due to fatiguing parts, adding stress to the welding department. “It disrupted our working schedule,” says Castillo. “We would make working plans, but each time these repairs would just override them.”

A flash of inspiration Global circumstances began working against Goldcorp. The price of gold – which had reached its US$1,800 peak in 2011 – started to decline during the winter of 2013 and soon fell to less than US$1,300. Moreover, expenses at Peñasquito had boosted all-in sustaining costs to nearly US$915 per ounce. Buying new doors from Milwaukee soon became out of the question. “We had found an intermediary based in Wyoming that would sell us doors for US$450,000, but that was still too high,” says Jardon. “Moises would come to me and ask me to order new doors, since the ones that we had were all cracked up and wouldn’t last for long. And with the company’s focus on driving down costs, the expensive purchases were out of the question.” That is when Castillo had a stroke of brilliance. “Repairs were so intensive and were carried out on so many different door components that we realized we were almost making the doors anew,” he says. “At one point I thought, ‘Why not build them ourselves then?’”

upfront S U R FA C E M I N I N G

The suggestion was music to Jardon’s ears. Departments had just been asked to find new strategies to cut down their costs. “It was a coincidence,” says Castillo. “The context gave us the opportunity to put our idea to the test.” Castillo was aware that success would be critical, so he took his time. “We knew that we wouldn’t be allowed a second chance,” he says. “The manager would not let us carry out experiments over and over again on a 1,500-tonne shovel.” It took about a hundred days, or roughly 6,000 man-hours for the welding shop to design its first door. Not every part could be made on site; two key components had to be ordered from local providers. For one, the department did not have the equipment to roll a two-inch thick sheet of steel. Neither could they machine hinges and bolts of the large diameter required. However, all the other parts were made in house, assembly was done at the mine and by the end of last October the first door was installed. It is still part of the operation cycle. “It was a huge success here, because the door has been improved,” says Jardon. “It is lighter, we improved the design and we added reinforcements to the weaker parts so that it can last longer.” Also, the original doors had a thick liner that tended to clog in the loads. “We removed the liner so that the sheet is thinner,” he adds.

Castillo is positive about the chance that the initiative could be extended to other applications. “In our department, we are looking for savings on other components as well,” he says. “We are quite versatile in what we can cut and weld, not only in the shovel bucket but in structures such as hallways, handrails and platforms. For complex mechanical pieces, it is all about precision, and parts need to comply with very high standards. But when it comes to structures, there are many opportunities.” CIM

Riding a wave of confidence The welding department now has a little more room to maneuver. “When we see that a door is not worth being fixed anymore, we can just dump it without the stress of suddenly having to spend extra hours on it,” says Castillo. “We can plan our schedule better. You don’t see our welders having to climb up the shovel on site during maintenance time. We just agree on when the door will be replaced and put it in the schedule.” The gains are huge. According to Goldcorp’s estimates, the cost of building a door in-house is as low as US$95,000. Up to US$1.2 million will be saved in 2014 alone. The second door is about to be finished, says Castillo. A third one could be on order for 2015. August/Août 2014 | 27

Courtesy of BGR

The life aquatic Why Germany is eyeing up the Pacific seafloor By Tom DiNardo

A box corer is deployed to take a seafloor sample from the research vessel Kilo Moana.

ince the 1970s, mining companies have been interested in extracting minerals from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. While there is plenty of valuable metal to be found, economically mining in the ocean is an enormous task. Yet Germany, in an attempt to secure access to several key commodities, has made an enormous push in research into the location and the liberation of these minerals. Earlier this year, Dennis Kraemer and Charlotte Kleint, PhD candidates at Jacobs University in Germany, published a paper detailing a method for extracting metals with hightechnology applications such as lithium and molybdenum from ferromanganese nodules. The nodules – spherical collections of minerals that include iron, manganese, copper, nickel and cobalt, and range from two to 15 centimetres in diameter – exist in clusters scattered around the world’s oceans but are especially abundant and rich in valuable metals in a region of the northeast Pacific known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ). Located between Hawaii and Mexico, it is roughly five million square kilometres and boasts plentiful nodules at depths of around 5,000 metres. These are the nodules Kraemer is focused on. Using a method of selective leaching, Kraemer and his colleagues were able to extract up to 80 per cent of the lithium and up to 50 to 80 per cent of other elements including molybdenum, tungsten, niobium and tantalum from nodules procured in the CCZ. “This enables the possibility for selectively extracting some high-technology metals from ferromanganese nodules and crusts prior to conventional base metal refining,” he says. “That’s quite new.”

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Kraemer’s method also retains the main elements that make up a majority of the nodule; less than 10 per cent of manganese and iron components are dissolved, which means mining companies would still be able to recover them. “If you mine an ore, you usually have the option of extracting certain metals and dumping the rest,” says Kraemer. “However, if this rest contains a lot of precious metals, it makes sense to extract, refine and sell these as well, thus lowering the cost of the operation by added revenue due to the selling of byproducts in addition to the main products.”

Germany’s treasure chest If Kraemer’s method is ever to see commercial use, exploration and understanding of the CCZ nodules will need to be advanced: something his German compatriots are working towards. In June, Carsten Ruehlemann, project manager for manganese nodule exploration at Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), returned from a seven-week exploration voyage to the CCZ, his sixth since 2008. During the voyages, Ruehlemann and his colleagues have been trying to determine the size and abundance of nodules in two highly prospective zones within the German contract exploration areas that total about 3,500 square kilometres. To do so they have developed a three-pronged approach involving sound, images and sampling. A multibeam system sends sound waves directly below the research vessel and records the time it takes for the acoustic signal to travel from the transmitter to the seafloor and back to the receiver. Moreover, they record the volume of the sound – called the

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backscatter – when the signal returns. Coupled with nearbottom video mapping and in situ sampling, the backscatter method allows BGR to determine nodule abundance and size. In the June expedition, BGR explored a potential mining field with mainly small nodules (2-5 cm in diameter) that covers roughly 1,500 square kilometres and contains around 30 million tonnes of nodules in wet weight. Last year, BGR studied another nodule field of approximately the same size and resource in the eastern German contract area. According to Ruehlemann, these two areas alone contain about 20 million tonnes of manganese, 1.2 million tonnes of nickel and one million tonnes of copper, and could sustain 15 to 30 years of deep-sea mining.

Global impact BGR has so far explored a relatively small portion of the entire CCZ. The area is split up into 13 areas of exploration under the auspices of the International Seabed Authority (ISA); the licence areas are contracted from ISA by statesponsored as well as private companies. BGR is currently contracting two areas: one roughly 56,000 square kilometres and the other about 19,000 square kilometres. Other companies include Marawa Research and Exploration Ltd.

(Kiribati), China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (China), Deep Ocean Resources Development Company (Japan), the Government of Korea, Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (France) and Nauru Ocean Resources (Nauru). The millions of ferromanganese nodules scattered throughout this region are known to contain high levels of base metals: on average 25 per cent manganese and three per cent copper, nickel and cobalt. They are formed over millions of years by the accumulation of manganese and iron oxides in the surrounding water around a nucleus, precipitating out of relatively cold water onto hard rock substrates. Thomas Kuhn, a colleague of Ruehlemann’s at BGR, says quantities of manganese, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, yttrium and tellurium contained in nodules of the CCZ likely exceed current terrestrial reserves. However, he is quick to point out that the estimates of the quantity of elements are subject to a wider margin of error. “This is because the numbers for the CCZ nodules can only be classified as resources whereas the numbers for the terrestrial deposits are classified as reserves,” he says, explaining that terrestrial reserves can be mined under the current economic and technological conditions while the underwater nodules cannot.

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August/Août 2014 | 29

Still, according to Kuhn, the value of the metals stashed away in the nodules is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The total amount of nickel in the CCZ is worth an estimated US$35.7 billion, and copper an estimated US$15.6 billion. Kuhn says he believes mining ferromanganese nodules would have a major impact on global metal prices. If mining activities were to start at the same time in all 13 licence areas in the CCZ and each produced two million tonnes of dry ore annually, he says the amount of manganese accumulated would represent 81 per cent of the current global market and the cobalt produced would represent 45 per cent. Nickel, the most economically valuable metal present in the nodules, would account for 23 per cent of the global market.

The next step So far, the biggest economic potential comes from the high concentrations of manganese, nickel, cobalt and copper. While Kraemer’s research does give some hope that extracting other metals present in the nodules will be economically viable one day, Kuhn, who advised Kraemer and his colleagues on their work, says he believes the process is too expensive and unreliable for the time being: “At the moment, this method is only established in the lab and far from working at an industrial scale.”

BGR has been exploring its licence areas since 2006 and is planning to continue for the next seven years in greater detail. “We want to identify a field or explore a location or site within these larger areas where mining could actually start, and explore in such a detail that a mining company could start right then when we are finished,” says Ruehlemann. “That’s the next stage.” Aker Solutions, a Norwegian technology provider working mainly in the oil and gas industry, has been working closely with BGR to develop a “mining concept.” The idea is to have a robot vehicle, or “crawler,” to collect ferromanganese nodules found along the bottom of the ocean. The nodules would be transported through flooded flexible pipe to the main vessel to be stored. The nodules would then be moved onshore for processing. The German Ministry of Economics is currently in the process of tendering offers from mining companies interested in the area. Mining will not start any time soon, Ruehlemann says, adding, “I’m convinced that it will only come in the next 10 years or so.” Whoever gets access to the German contract area is going to have to invest heavily in the project; Ruehlemann estimates that it will require a US$1 billion initial investment and around US$200 million in operating costs per year. CIM

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30 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

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WHEREVER THERE’S MINING, WE’RE THERE.

Courtesy of Corner Cast

Building blocks Reusable hybrid structures help miners stay flexible By Eavan Moore

Corner Cast’s hybrid structure uses Corten steel shipping containers to support a steel frame covered with synthetic fabric and rests on a compacted gravel pad.

hen Cliffs Natural Resources announced it would estimates that a similarly sized conventional building would halve the expansion budget for its Bloom Lake iron start at roughly twice the price. ore mine in Quebec in 2014, staff at Corner Cast The total construction time on site was two months, a fracConstruction Inc. and its affiliate Britespan Que- tion of the time it would normally take. Once on site, the conbec started to worry. Cliffs put Phase 2 of its expansion on hold tainers were sealed or “zipped” together to make a series of indefinitely, and Corner Cast and Britespan were not sure if smaller rooms connected to open space. Steel supports went core expenses would also be cut in tough times. The Montreal- up, then the fabric covering, followed by insulation, lighting, based companies had an agreement with Cliffs to supply a heating, doors, steel cladding and other finishing touches. The temporary truck shop: an innovative fabric steel hybrid struc- installation process composed about 30 per cent of the buildture they were excited to deploy near Fermont. ing’s price tag; materials accounted for 65 per cent and truck The hybrid structure has two main advantages over conven- shipments from factories in Ontario and Quebec added up to tional buildings, according to Magnus Consiglio, partner at five per cent of the total cost. Corner Cast. First, it saved significant dollars by eliminating the need to pour concrete on site. “What’s really unique about this is that instead of having a concrete foundation, you use shipping containers as the foundation,” he explains. The Corten steel shipping containers rest on a compacted gravel pad and support a steel frame covered with synthetic fabric, all of it prefabricated and trucked to the client’s site. The shipping containers on both sides of the main structure are outfitted as locker rooms, lunch rooms, offices, washrooms and mechanical rooms. To accommodate Caterpillar 797 and Komatsu 730E trucks, Bloom Lake’s temporary truck shop required 40-by-40foot doors and an interior of 160 feet by 100 feet. The containers on each side added another 28 feet of width. It is the biggest hybrid structure Corner Cast – or The shipping containers on each side of the main structure are outfitted as locker rooms, lunch rooms, offices, washrooms any company – has built. Consiglio and mechanical rooms. Courtesy of Corner Cast

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upfront Courtesy of Corner Cast

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Corner Cast’s temporary truck shop at Bloom Lake required 40-by-40-foot doors and an interior of 160 by 100 feet.

A recyclable building A second important advantage is that the modular structure can be disassembled and moved elsewhere on site as needed. Cliffs is currently using the shop for light maintenance on heavy equipment and the building can also be used to assemble new trucks or other tasks that demand a large protected workspace. If no longer needed at its current location, it could be moved to a different spot to continue duty as a maintenance facility. “From what I see, almost everything would be reusable, if we moved it to another area,” says Amélie Dorion, project manager of the operation. “The fact that mining companies can actually reuse these things later down the line at another location on their facility is really the sales point there,” Consiglio agrees. “It is a very unique kind of a proposition for them to have almost a recyclable building that they can just keep moving from place to place.” Dorion points out the Britespan fabric covering is divided into sections; if wind damages one section, it can be replaced without touching the rest. The sturdiest components, shipping containers made of weathering steel, have already been repurposed and can be passed on to further sites or clients. For this reason, Corner Cast was awarded a sustainable development prize by Hydro Québec in June 2014. “With conventional construction you have a huge amount of waste left at the end,” says Consiglio. “You have to do a

demolition of the building, and obviously this is not a very sustainable way to do construction.”

Recession breeds innovation Three years ago, Corner Cast needed to carve its own niche in a difficult, recession-hit market. The company had been building shipping container rooms, thus supplying mining camps with offices and sleeping quarters. But as exploration budgets began to dry up, competition among building suppliers became fierce. Together with a partner in Alberta, Vertical Building Solutions, Corner Cast founders came up with the idea of using furnished shipping containers as the foundation for a fabric roof. “We really had to innovate to succeed in the marketplace,” comments Consiglio. The Cliffs Bloom lake truck shop is Corner Cast’s third hybrid structure. Although it has sold container units in every province in Canada, the company’s biggest projects to date have stayed in Quebec, where it is a licensed contractor. A team of five to nine people did the majority of the installation work. But the obvious attraction of shipping containers is that they travel anywhere. “We could be doing these truck assembly shops for the mining industry in South America very easily,” says Consiglio. “That’s why we strongly believe that this will become not just a product for Canada or Quebec, but something that can be exported all over the world.” CIM August/Août 2014 | 33

NAMES LES NOMS À to know CONNAÎTRE

Lynne Bouchard Don Lindsay George Gritziotis Ben Shelly Bob Rae Elizabeth Lewis-Gray Rob McEwen Sean Roosen Glenn Nolan Eira Thomas Aubrey Eveleigh JOKO widodo

At 25 years of age, Lynne Bouchard is the first woman to lead a team in the Provincial Ontario Mine Rescue competition as captain.

À l’âge de 25 ans, Lynne Bouchard est la première femme à diriger une équipe dans la compétition provinciale de sauvetage minier en Ontario. Née à Kirkland Lake, Lynne commence sa carrière dans le secteur minier au département d’ingénierie de la mine Garson de Vale, à Sudbury, alors qu’elle est encore étudiante. Après avoir obtenu son diplôme de technicienne en génie civil et minier au Collège Boréal, Lynne travaille pendant deux ans sur des projets de génie civil en Ontario jusqu’à ce qu’elle soit embauchée en 2011 par la société St Andrew Goldfields Ltd. en tant qu’arpenteuse dans les mines souterraines. Elle a depuis grimpé les échelons dans le département d’ingénierie de la société et est maintenant responsable de la planification et de l’abattage à l’explosif des longs trous ainsi que d’une partie de la planification de la mine. « Lorsque la fiche d’inscription pour intégrer l’équipe de sauvetage minier a commencé à circuler, j’ai immédiatement su que je voulais en faire partie, me démarquer et être une personne sur qui l’on peut compter en cas d’urgence », explique-t-elle. « On m’a expliqué qu’une équipe de chaque société prenait part à la compétition chaque année ; il faut beaucoup étudier, et faire preuve d’intelligence et d’une grande endurance physique. J’ai décidé de tenter ma chance. » Mme Bouchard a été très surprise lorsqu’elle a appris qu’elle était la première femme à participer à cette compétition dans le district de Kirkland Lake en 2012. Mais cela ne l’a pas découragé pour autant. Cette année, elle a endossé le rôle de capitaine de son équipe composée uniquement d’hommes, et l’a mené à la première place de la compétition contre trois autres équipes représentant les mines du district de Kirkland Lake. Ils se sont qualifiés pour la compétition provinciale qui a eu lieu en juin, où ils ont remporté le prix de la meilleure lutte contre l’incendie. « J’ai de nouveau entendu les gens s’exclamer et dire que j’ouvrais de toutes nouvelles perspectives en tant que femme capitaine. » Une fois de plus, cependant, elle n’en a pas fait état. « Je me contente de suivre ce que mon cœur me dicte. Quand des gens me disent “ Ne te sens-tu pas totalement dominée par la présence masculine, avec ton équipe entièrement composée d’hommes ? ” je ne me laisse pas déstabiliser. Nous sommes amis et travaillons ensemble. »

LYNNE BOUCHARD Born in Kirkland Lake, Bouchard began her mining career with the engineering department at Vale’s Garson mine in Sudbury while she was still a student. Following the completion of her education as a mining and civil engineering technician at College Boréal, Bouchard worked for two years on civil projects across Ontario until she was hired by St. Andrew Goldfields in 2011 as an underground surveyor. She has since progressed in the company’s engineering department, now responsible for long hole planning and blasting as well as some mine planning. “When I saw the signup sheet to join mine rescue, all I thought was that I wanted to be on that team, make a difference, and be a person who could be relied on if an emergency ever arose,” she says. “I was also told that a team of guys from each mining company compete every year; you have to study the books a lot, you have to be smart and be able to endure a lot of training. I thought, ‘I want in on this.’” Bouchard was surprised when she was informed that she would be the first woman to ever compete in the Kirkland Lake District competition in 2012. But, she says, she did not think much of it. This year, she assumed the role of captain of her otherwise all-male team and led them to a first place finish against three other mines in the Kirkland Lake district competition, thus qualifying for the provincial competition in June, where they won the award for best firefighting. “It started all over again with people saying I was breaking new ground as the first woman captain,” she says. But once more, she did not think much of it, saying: “I’m just doing what my little heart desires. When people come up to me and say, ‘Don’t you find it’s a very male-dominated world, in a team with all these men?’ It never really fazed me. I’m friends with these people and work with them.” n By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

n Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

August/Août 2014 | 35

Jon Benjamin Photography

Teck president and CEO Don Lindsay has held his position for more than nine years, a long tenure made more noticeable by the mass departure of mining industry chief executives in recent memory.

ICM : Avez-vous une vision à long terme à lAquelle vous Aspirez pour teck ? DL: Nous nous efforçons de construire un champion canadien sur la scène mondiale et nous souhaitons être une société diversifiée. La diversification fait depuis longtemps partie de notre stratégie ; elle ne s’inscrit pas tant dans une perspective de diversification des risques liés au portefeuille que dans celle de l’allocation des fonds propres. Nous aimerions pouvoir investir notre capital là où le rapport risque/récompense est le meilleur plutôt que dans une marchandise en particulier. Au final, j’aimerai développer une société pour laquelle les enfants de nos employé(e)s seraient fiers de travailler.

DON LINDSAY

The secret to Lindsay’s success is twofold: building a talented team around him and focusing on Teck’s long-term growth and sustainability. CIM: do you hAve A long-term vision for teck thAt you Are working towArds? DL: We’re building a Canadian champion on the world stage and we want to be a diversified company. Diversification has long been our strategy and it’s not really so much for portfolio risk diversification as it is from a capital allocation point of view. We’d like to be able to invest our capital where the best risk-reward ratio is, rather than in any one particular commodity. In the end, the kind of company that I’d like to build is the kind of company that the kids of our employees would be proud to work for. CIM: in the lAst two yeArs something like 20 mining ceos hAve stepped down or retired. whAt wAs it like seeing thAt exodus? DL: I know a lot of them very well and not just from my current career but from my previous career when they were clients of mine, so I’ve known a lot of them for a long time. Part of it is the natural evolution of the industry, but the industry did suffer from misallocation of capital that resulted in a lot of write-downs. Teck did not have any big write-downs, and, believe me, our auditors looked very hard and carefully because they saw the rest of the industry with write-downs and they assumed we would have it too. CIM: sustAinAbility hAs been A reAl pAssion for you; whAt do you see As the next step for teck in thAt sense? DL: Well, we set very distinct sustainability goals under six focus areas that represent our greatest sustainability opportunities and challenges: community, our people, water, biodiversity, energy and materials stewardship. We published these goals three years ago; the short-term goals were for 2015 and the long-term goals for 2030. While 2030 may seem like a long time from now, the long-term goals are 36 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Don Lindsay est le président et directeur général de Teck depuis plus de neuf ans, un long mandat d’autant plus remarquable si l’on considère le départ en masse de nombreux dirigeants de l’industrie minière ces derniers temps. Le succès de M. Lindsay s’explique de deux façons : la création d’une équipe talentueuse autour de lui, et l’intérêt qu’il porte à la croissance et la viabilité de Teck à long terme.

ICM : ces 20 dernières, une vingtAine de pdg de sociétés minières ont démissionné ou sont pArtis à lA retrAite. quel effet vous ont fAit ces dépArts en mAsse ? DL: J’ai rencontré bon nombre de ces personnes depuis que je suis PDG chez Teck, mais aussi au cours de ma carrière antérieure, où ils étaient mes clients. J’en connais donc beaucoup depuis longtemps. Cela fait partie de l’évolution naturelle dans ce secteur ; mais l’industrie a aussi beaucoup souffert d’une mauvaise allocation des fonds propres, qui a engendré de nombreuses dépréciations. Teck n’a pas connu de grandes dépréciations et croyez-moi, nos auditeurs n’ont rien laissé au hasard ! Étant donné que le reste du secteur affichait des dépréciations, ils ont supposé que Teck ne devait pas faire exception à la règle. ICM : lA viAbilité, c’est une vrAie pAssion pour vous ; quelle serA lA prochAine étApe pour teck en lA mAtière ? DL: Teck a établi des objectifs de viabilité très distincts dans six domaines d’intérêt qui représentent nos plus grands défis et opportunités en la matière : la communauté, nos employés, la biodiversité, l’énergie et la gestion responsable des matières. Nous avons publié ces objectifs il y a trois ans ; ceux à court terme étaient pour 2015, ceux à long terme pour 2030. L’année 2030 semble bien éloignée, mais il est important d’établir des objectifs à long terme car ils définissent notre vision en matière de viabilité. Les objectifs que nous nous étions fixés pour 2015 sont pratiquement atteints, aussi nous avons lancé une procédure

important because they set out the vision of where we are going in sustainability. As our 2015 goals are nearly complete, we have started a process to set the next set of goals from 2015 to 2020. We are bringing a team of our top people together from a variety of backgrounds, across the company, including some of our very talented, young people to discuss the next steps so that we ultimately achieve our vision for sustainability. CIM: whAt kind of leAder do you see yourself As? DL: I go back to why I was hired in the first place. I was hired to build a team. My job as CEO is to set a long-term strategy and then build the most capable, seasoned, collegial team that I possibly can, and so we’re always working on developing talent. It’s like parenting; when you see your kids grow up, there’s nothing more gratifying. I’m very proud of the team we’ve got here at Teck, and it’s exciting to me to see that talent continue to grow and evolve.

Courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Labour

n By Kelsey Rolfe

pour déterminer la prochaine série d’objectifs de 2015 à 2020. Nous constituons une équipe qui comprendra les plus grands talents de la société, tous issus de disciplines différentes, dont certains de nos jeunes recrues exceptionnelles, afin de discuter des prochaines étapes de manière à réaliser notre vision en matière de viabilité. ICM : quel genre de chef de file pensez-vous être ? DL: Retournons en arrière ; à l’époque, j’ai été embauché pour créer une équipe. Ma mission en tant que président et directeur général consiste à établir une stratégie à long terme, puis à créer l’équipe la plus apte, aguerrie et collégiale possible ; nous œuvrons continuellement au développement du talent. C’est un peu comme être parent ; il n’y a rien de plus gratifiant que de voir vos enfants grandir. Je suis très fier de l’équipe que nous formons à Teck, et me réjouis de voir que ce talent continue de se développer et d’évoluer. n Par Kelsey Rolfe

Since January, George Gritziotis has led Ontario’s most recent mining health and safety review.

He is the Ministry of Labour’s first chief prevention officer, and following three mining fatalities in the province this spring, pressure is mounting for him to find a way to reduce risk for Ontario’s mine workers. “We know health and safety is about continuous improvement,” he says. “The review is about stakeholders and miners finding even better ways and best practices to bring our miners home safe and sound.” With the official stakeholder consultation now complete, the review is expected to release a mid-year report this summer on six key areas: the capacity of the mining sector’s health and safety system, including enforcement, support and training technology and management of change internal responsibility system health and safety hazards in the mining sector training skills and labour issues emergency preparedness and mine rescue

George GritZiotis

n n n n n

n By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

Depuis le mois de janvier, George Gritziotis est chargé de mener le plus récent examen de la santé et la sécurité dans le secteur minier en Ontario. En sa qualité de directeur général de la prévention du ministère du travail, et après trois accidents miniers mortels qui se sont produits dans la province ce printemps, la pression est de plus en plus forte et il doit impérativement trouver un moyen de réduire les risques pour les mineurs de l’Ontario. « Seules des améliorations continues permettront de garantir la santé et la sécurité de tous », explique-t-il. « L’objectif de cet examen est d’aider les parties prenantes et les sociétés minières à trouver les meilleurs moyens et les pratiques exemplaires pour protéger leurs mineurs. » La consultation officielle des parties prenantes étant maintenant terminée, l’examen devrait aboutir à la publication d’un rapport semestriel cet été sur six points importants : La capacité du système de santé et de sécurité du secteur minier, dont la mise en application, le soutien et la formation La technologie et la gestion des changements Un système de responsabilité interne Les risques en termes de santé et de sécurité dans le secteur minier L’acquisition de compétences et les questions relatives au travail La préparation aux situations d’urgence et le sauvetage minier n

n n n

n Par Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

August/Août 2014 | 37

Jared King/NNWO

Just after Christmas last year, Navajo Nation president Ben Shelly put his signature to legislation Ben Shelly approving the Peu après Noël l’année dernière, le président de la nation purchase of a coal mine on navajo Ben Shelly a signé une loi approuvant l’achat d’une mine de charbon située sur les terres navajos auprès d’une filNavajo land from a subsidiary iale de BHP Billiton pour la somme de 85 millions $ US. achat nous a permis d’assurer un flux de rentrée conof BHP Billiton for US$85 million. stant« Cet pour la nation », expliquait M. Shelly, qui dirige le peu“We have secured a vital revenue stream for the Nation with this purchase,” says Shelly, who has led the Navajo Nation since January 2011. It was a deal Shelly says would secure the economic future of the Navajo. The thermal coal mine located on Navajo territory south of Farmington, New Mexico, sells 100 per cent of its roughly 5.4 million tonnes of annual coal production to a power plant also located on Navajo land. (The Navajo Nation holds the largest reservation in the United States, covering nearly 30,000 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.) Shelly’s administration views the purchase as a necessary action to protect the US$50 million to US$70 million the Navajo currently receive in royalties, taxes and leases from both the mine and power plant, which together employ about 800 Navajo. Prior to the purchase, changes were afoot that placed the future of the mine and power plant in question: retrofitting the plant to comply with new Environmental Protection Agency rules necessitated a lowering of capacity, reducing the average annual coal burn from 7.2 million to 5.4 million tonnes. “This decreased volume has made the mining operation unattractive to BHP Billiton...” reads the website of the Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC), a wholly owned Navajo Nation company created to purchase and operate the mine. Not only did the Navajo go ahead and buy it, but NTEC has signed a coal supply agreement with the power plant (owned by a consortium of public utilities) that will run from 2016 and 2031. However, not all Navajo have been supportive of the purchase. Five members of the 22-person Navajo Nation Council voted against the legislation. Diné CARE, a Navajo 38 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

ple navajo depuis janvier 2011. Selon lui, cette acquisition permettra d’assurer l’avenir économique des Navajos. La mine de charbon thermique, située sur le territoire navajo au sud de Farmington, au Nouveau Mexique, vend l’intégralité de sa production annuelle de charbon (environ 5,4 millions de tonnes) à une centrale électrique basée sur les territoires navajos (le peuple navajo occupe la plus grande réserve des États-Unis, laquelle couvre près de 50 000 kilomètres carrés entre l’Arizona, le Nouveau Mexique et l’Utah). L’administration de M. Shelly considère cet achat comme une action nécessaire pour protéger les redevances, taxes et baux (entre 50 et 70 millions $ US) que perçoivent actuellement les Navajos de la mine et de la centrale électrique, lesquelles emploient à elles deux près de 800 Navajos. Avant l’achat, certains changements envisagés compromettaient l’avenir de la mine et de la centrale en question : la modernisation de la centrale conformément aux nouvelles réglementations de l’agence de protection de l’environnement (EPA) impliquait de diminuer la capacité, entraînant une baisse de la quantité annuelle moyenne de houille brûlée de 7,2 millions à 5,4 millions de tonnes. « Cette baisse du volume a rendu l’exploitation minière inintéressante pour BHP Billiton... », peut-on lire sur le site Internet de la Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC), une société entièrement détenue par le peuple navajo créée pour l’achat et l’exploitation de la mine. Les Navajos ont non seulement acheté la mine, mais la NTEC a signé une entente avec la centrale électrique concernant l’approvisionnement en charbon (détenue par un consortium de services publics) qui s’étendra de 2016 à 2031. Cependant, tous les Navajos n’ont pas approuvé cet achat. Cinq des 22 membres constituant le conseil du peuple navajo ont voté contre cette mesure législative. Diné CARE, un groupe environnementaliste navajo, s’est plaint de cette vente qui allait trop loin en ce qu’elle acquittait BHP Billiton des responsabilités « passées, présentes et futures » associées

n By Christopher Pollon

The former Ontario premier and ex-Federal Liberal leader surprised many last year.

Bob Rae He quit politics to become chief negotiator for the Matawa First Nations, a group of nine communities located near Ontario’s Ring of Fire, about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. This spring the Matawa chiefs signed a framework agreement with Ontario that sets the early stage for resource development in a region predicted to contain $60 billion in chromite, nickel and copper. CIM: in 10 yeArs’ time, whAt do you think the ring of fire will look like? will there be mines in production? BR: I don’t think we know. First, we don’t know who the proponents are going to be and what their real intentions are, and that has been confusing for a lot of people. The level of economic activity depends on who the proponents

à la mine. Il a également émis des doutes quant à la rentabilité de l’exploitation de la mine de charbon par les Navajos étant donné l’incertitude qui plane autour de la future législation fédérale concernant la lutte contre le changement climatique. Steve Gundersen, président de la NTEC, déclare que la mine de charbon ne constitue qu’un seul des actifs dans ce qui sera bientôt un bouquet énergétique diversifié pour les Navajos. En effet, la politique énergétique du président M. Shelly prévoit une transition de l’extraction des combustibles fossiles par les Navajos au développement de l’énergie propre sur leurs territoires. Ainsi, la NTEC a pour mission de financer des projets prometteurs dédiés aux énergies solaire et éolienne sur le territoire navajo en réinvestissant 10 % du bénéfice net futur de la société dans des sources d’énergie renouvelables. M. Shelly pourra-t-il réaliser cette vision ? On le saura d’ici la fin du mois, lorsque les membres de la nation navajo iront déposer leurs votes à l’occasion de l’élection présidentielle. n Par Christopher Pollon

Ancien premier ministre de l’Ontario et dirigeant du Parti libéral du Canada, Bob Rae en a surpris plus d’un l’année dernière lorsqu’il a quitté le monde politique pour devenir médiateur auprès des Premières Nations Matawas, un groupe de neuf communautés vivant près de la région du Cercle de feu en Ontario, à environ 500 kilomètres au nord-est de la baie Thunder. Ce printemps, les chefs Matawas ont signé un accord-cadre avec l’Ontario établissant les premières étapes du développement des ressources dans une région qui contiendrait l’équivalent de 60 milliards $ en chromite, nickel et cuivre. David P. Ball

environmental group, has complained that the sale went too far in absolving BHP Billiton for “past, present and future” liabilities connected with the mine. It has also questioned whether the coal mine can be operated profitably by the Navajo given the uncertainty of future federal legislation to fight climate change. NTEC chairman Steve Gundersen says the coal mine is just one asset in what will soon be a diversified energy mix for the Navajo, part of president Shelly’s energy policy that envisions a transition from Navajo fossil fuel extraction to the development of clean energy on their land. To that end, the NTEC is mandated to fund promising solar and wind projects on Navajo territory by re-investing 10 per cent of its future net company income into renewable energy. Whether Shelly will have the chance to deliver on that vision will be determined at the end of this month, when Navajo Nation members cast their votes in the presidential election.

ICM : selon vous, à quoi ressemblerA le cercle de feu d’ici une dizAine d’Année ? y trouverA-t-on des mines en production ? BR : C’est difficile à dire. Tout d’abord, on ne sait pas qui seront les promoteurs et quelles seront leurs intentions réelles, ce qui sème la confusion chez beaucoup de personnes. Le niveau d’activité économique dépend des promoteurs, de leur sérieux et de leur volonté à s’engager avec les communautés. Nous aspirons à l’amélioration de la situation sociale et de la santé des membres de ces communautés, souhaitons leur donner la possibilité de réussir et assurer une véritable protection de l’environnement. August/Août 2014 | 39

are and how serious they are, and how willing they are to engage with the communities. We want to see better health and social conditions, better opportunities for people to prosper, as well as real protection for the environment. CIM: whAt exActly hAs been Achieved with the frAmework between the mAtAwA communities And ontArio? BR: The communities have agreed to work together and to put down on paper exactly what that involves, and the government has agreed to do the same. These things take time, but we’ve agreed to focus on the environmental assessment process, infrastructure, the well-being of communities and revenue sharing. CIM: whAt Are the next steps? BR: We’re now having to sit down with the communities and work out what kind of environmental [assessment] process would make sense for them, and we’re also wanting to talk to communities about what infrastructure improvements they want to see. Now that the Ontario majority government has been elected, we’ll begin to see more clearly exactly what the government has in mind too. In some sense the work will now become more complicated, with more detailed discussions about the environment and infrastructure. The chiefs have asked me to carry on as their advisor. CIM: one Aspect of the frAmework is creAting A new economic relAtionship between first nAtions, government And industry. whAt does economic development look like to the people you represent? BR: One of the clear mandates I’ve been given is to talk to the government about what road improvements and other improvements the First Nations want to see. An interesting development has been the interest in taking a stronger ownership position in the development of infrastructure like roads, power and energy generation. The First Nations are no longer prepared to simply be the passive recipients of whatever largesse either happens or doesn’t happen – people want to be owners. The second thing is to have a direct participation in terms of jobs, joint ventures and other possibilities that flow from the mining development itself. CIM: As recently As 2012, some mAtAwA communities were threAtening to evict industry. how hAs the relAtionship evolved since then? BR: What hasn’t changed is the continuing concern that the companies and government seem to regard development as something that they do, not something that First Nations directly participate in. And that’s something that needs to change. CIM: hAs the fAct thAt most mAtAwA communities hAve concluded treAties helped or hindered progress towArd development? BR: The good thing about the treaties is that they are government-to-government documents that establish a relationship over time, and establish the principle of shar40 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

ICM : quels résultAts concrets ont découlé de cet Accord-cAdre entre les communAutés mAtAwAs et l’ontArio ? BR : Les communautés ont accepté de collaborer et de consigner tout ce que cela implique, et le gouvernement en a fait de même. Ce genre de choses prend du temps, mais nous avons décidé de nous concentrer sur la procédure d’évaluation environnementale, l’infrastructure, le bien-être des communautés et le partage des revenus. ICM : quelles sont les prochAines étApes ? BR : Nous devons maintenant prendre le temps de déterminer, en concertation avec les communautés, quel genre de procédure [d’évaluation] environnementale est importante pour eux, et voulons également leur demander quelles améliorations elles souhaitent voir au niveau des infrastructures. Maintenant qu’un gouvernement majoritaire a été élu en Ontario, nous allons pouvoir déterminer ses motivations réelles. Dans un sens, notre travail va maintenant devenir plus complexe et impliquera des discussions plus approfondies concernant l’environnement et l’infrastructure. Les chefs m’ont demandé d’être leur conseiller. ICM : l’un des volets de l’Accord-cAdre consiste à étAblir une nouvelle relAtion économique entre les premières nAtions, le gouvernement et l’industrie. qu’évoque le développement économique Aux personnes que vous représentez ? BR : L’une des missions claires dont j’ai été chargé est de m’entretenir avec le gouvernement quant aux améliorations, notamment des routes, chères aux Premières Nations. Un fait intéressant concernait leur souhait de contribuer davantage au développement de l’infrastructure telle que les routes et la production d’électricité et d’énergie. Les Premières Nations ne sont plus disposées à être des bénéficiaires passifs de quelque largesse qui se produit ou ne se produit pas ; elles veulent avoir des droits. Elles souhaitent également avoir une participation directe dans les emplois, les entreprises communes et les autres possibilités qui émanent du développement minier. ICM : en 2012, certAines communAutés mAtAwAs AvAient menAcé d’expulser l’industrie. comment lA relAtion A-t-elle évolué depuis ? BR : Ce qui préoccupe encore les communautés, c’est le fait que les sociétés et le gouvernement semblent envisager le développement comme quelque chose qu’ils font, et non pas comme une chose à laquelle participent les Premières Nations. Ceci doit changer. ICM : le fAit que lA plupArt des communAutés mAtAwAs Aient conclu des trAités A-t-il Aidé ou entrAvé les progrès vers le développement ? BR : La bonne nouvelle est que ces traités sont des documents intergouvernementaux qui créent une relation au fil des ans et établissent le principe de partage des terres. L’inconvénient au niveau de la façon dont les gouvernements ont interprété ces traités est qu’ils ont considérablement

ing the land. The bad thing about how governments have interpreted the treaties is that they have severely curtailed or limited the rights of First Nations. In B.C., First Nations are very clear they have never given up their claim to the land, with considerable support in the law. In the [James Bay #9] treaty areas, it’s less clear and more problematic because provincial and federal governments have gotten into the habit of saying, “This is our land, Crown land, we’re moving forward, there’s no need to discuss.” These attitudes are changing but they are changing very slowly.

réduit ou limité les droits des Premières Nations. En Colombie-Britannique, les Premières Nations expliquent très clairement qu’elles n’ont jamais renoncé à leur revendication à l’égard du territoire, et elles bénéficient d’un soutien considérable de la loi. Dans les territoires couverts par le traité de la [baie James #9], la situation est plus confuse et problématique étant donné que les gouvernements provincial et fédéral ont pris la fâcheuse habitude de s’approprier ces terres, les terres de la Couronne, et d’évoluer sans même envisager d’en faire part aux premiers concernés. Ces attitudes changent, certes, mais très lentement.

CIM: how did you end up with the chief negotiAtor job? BR: I was approached by a group of lawyers who were working on behalf of the Matawa chiefs in late winter of last year. I agreed to provide them with some advice while still an MP, and as time went on, I decided to work full-time and no longer be an MP.

ICM : comment vous-êtes vous retrouvé Au poste de négociAteur en chef ? BR : Un groupe d’avocats travaillant au nom des chefs Matawas m’a contacté l’année dernière à la fin de l’hiver. J’ai accepté de leur donner des conseils alors que j’étais encore député, et au fil du temps, j’ai décidé de m’y consacrer à plein temps et de quitter mon poste de député.

A few years ago, Elizabeth Lewis-Gray was shocked to discover that critical research on energy efficiency in comminution was not reaching the people making the big decisions.

Il y a quelques années, Elizabeth Lewis-Gray a été stupéfiée d’apprendre que les recherches cruciales sur l’efficacité énergétique dans le domaine de la comminution n’arrivaient pas jusqu’aux personnes prenant des décisions critiques. « Une grande partie des connaissances n’étaient pas appliquées ni communiquées aux membres des conseils ou de la direction », explique la cofondatrice de Gekko Systems, une société spécialisée dans la technologie de traitement des minerais aurifères et argentifères basée en Australie. Ainsi, en 2011, Mme Lewis-Gray a créé la Coalition for EcoEfficient Comminution (CEEC, la coalition pour le broyage écoénergétique) dans l’objectif d’aborder le problème de front. Cette coalition sensibilise le public aux résultats de la recherche, aux autres stratégies possibles de comminution et aux exemples concrets dans un effort de réduire les coûts de traitement et d’augmenter la valeur pour les actionnaires. À ses débuts, la CEEC était majoritairement soutenue par des sociétés spécialisées dans la recherche et l’approvisionnement, mais aujourd’hui, l’organisation compte parmi ses commanditaires et ses membres du conseil un nombre croissant de sociétés minières participant activement. Parmi ces

n Par Christopher Pollon

Courtesy of Gekko Systems

n By Christopher Pollon

Elizabeth Lewis-Gray

“There was a lot of knowledge that was not being applied and not communicated to the board level and CEOs,” says the co-founder of Gekko Systems, a gold and silver mineral processing technology company based in Australia. So in 2011, Lewis-Gray established the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) with the goal of attacking the problem head on. The coalition raises awareness of research findings, alternative comminution strategies and installed outcomes in its attempt to lower processing costs and raise shareholder value.

August/Août 2014 | 41

In its early days, CEEC was largely supported by research and supply companies, but today the organization has a growing number of mining companies that are actively involved both as sponsors and board members. These futurist miners include Barrick Gold, which last year signed a two-year sponsorship contract. The organization now benefits from experienced board members such as Barrick’s Ivan Mullany and Mirabela Nickel’s new CEO, Maryse Belanger, who was previously with Goldcorp. “Increasingly, CEEC’s mission is being taken up by the industry itself, and that’s very exciting because they’re the ones who can make the change,” says Lewis-Gray, who recently stepped down from her role as chair of CEEC in order to facilitate increased industry involvement. However, Lewis-Gray remains a patron of CEEC and is in no way stepping back from her commitment to the organization and its mission. There are exciting times ahead, she says, as the industry moves towards even bolder steps and solutions. “The best way to reduce the energy consumption of crushing and grinding is not to crush and grind,” she adds. “So if we can eliminate that by better blasting, or preconcentration, for example, or use more efficient technology, these are the strategies mining companies need to pay more attention to.”

Courtesy of Case Foundation

n By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

sociétés minières futuristes figure Barrick Gold, qui a signé l’année dernière un contrat de commandite de deux années. Le conseil d’administration de l’organisation est désormais doté de membres chevronnés, dont Ivan Mullany de Barrick et Maryse Belanger, la nouvelle présidente et directrice générale de Mirabela Nickel, qui travaillait auparavant chez Goldcorp. « L’industrie s’inspire de plus en plus de la mission de la CEEC, ce qui est une très bonne chose étant donné que c’est d’elle qu’émaneront les changements », indique Mme LewisGray, qui a récemment quitté son poste de présidente de la CEEC afin de pouvoir s’impliquer davantage dans l’industrie. Cependant, Mme Lewis-Gray reste présidente d’honneur de la CEEC et ne renonce en aucun cas à son engagement envers l’organisation et sa mission. L’industrie s’apprête à prendre des mesures et des solutions plus audacieuses, et l’avenir s’annonce très intéressant. « Le meilleur moyen de réduire la consommation énergétique liée au concassage et au broyage consiste à ne plus concasser ni broyer », ajoute-t-elle. « Il faudrait parvenir à éliminer ces procédés en améliorant l’abattage à l’explosif ou la préconcentration par exemple, ou encore utiliser des technologies plus performantes ; ce sont sur ces stratégies que les sociétés minières doivent davantage se pencher. » n Par Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

Rob McEwen

ICM : dAns quelle mesure votre perspective à long terme vous A-t-elle Aidé ? RM : Elle a été très importante. Il faut avoir un objectif, une stratégie, et une bonne dose de passion et de chance ! Dans le cas de Goldcorp, notre objectif était de nous concentrer sur des activités qui établiraient le prix de nos actions. McEwen Mining est aussi le résultat d’une grande planification, et je suis bien évidemment curieux de voir si nous pourrons en faire une deuxième Goldcorp. Trouver l’équivalent du site de Red Lake est loin d’être simple, mais tout en y travaillant dur, nous développons aussi une société qui pourrait figurer sur l’indice boursier S&P 500 (SPX), ce qui nous assurerait une base d’actionnaires stables et sur le long terme, et un coût du capital réduit. À l’heure actuelle, un seul producteur d’or figure sur cet indice. Actuellement, plus de 1 600 milliards $ sont

He built Goldcorp Inc. from the ground up and into the world’s fastest-growing senior gold producer. Now Rob McEwen is heading up his namesake McEwen Mining Inc., hoping his Midas touch is in good working order. CIM: how key hAs long-term thinking been for you? RM: It’s very important. You need a goal, a strategy, lots of passion and luck! In Goldcorp’s case, our goal was to con42 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Rob McEwen a construit Goldcorp Inc. de A à Z et en a fait l’un des principaux producteurs d’or, affichant une croissance exceptionnelle. Il dirige maintenant une société qui porte son nom, McEwen Mining Inc., et espère que son don de tout transformer en or ne va pas l’abandonner.

centrate on activities that would build our share price. McEwen Mining is also the product of planning, and yes I’d like to see if we can do a Goldcorp again. Finding another Red Lake is not an easy task, but while we’re working on that goal we are also building a company that would qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 index, which would mean a stable long-time shareholder base and a lower cost of capital. Right now there is only one gold producer in that index. Currently there’s over $1.6 trillion invested by index funds in the S&P 500. McEwen Mining is one of only about five companies in the precious metal universe that has a shot of getting in. CIM: you own 25 per cent of mcewen mining’s outstAnding shAres but you do not pAy yourself A sAlAry for your role As ceo And chAirmAn. why? RM: After Goldcorp I wanted to try a different model of management and compensation where I was more closely aligned with my fellow shareholders by positioning myself more like a merchant banker than a hired gun, professional manager. Ten years ago, institutional investors rushed into the precious metals market and appeared to want bigger companies so they can put more money to work. Ambitious CEOs who were being showered with money said, “Well, let’s build bigger companies.” Unfortunately they got carried away with buying companies at big premiums. The result has been bigger companies and smaller share prices! I think getting into the S&P 500 is worth striving for, but at the same time I don’t want to build a company that’s bigger just for the sake of bigger. CIM: whAt is your vision of the ideAl compAny structure? RM: My ideal company becomes more efficient each year: more production, improved profit margins, pays a dividend and its share price increases significantly over the intermediate and long-term. Also, I’d like to have a company that issues financial statements that shareholders can read. Simple language, clear statements and minimal text is urgently needed. CIM: whAt role do strong relAtionships with All stAkeholders plAy in A compAny’s success? RM: When I created Goldcorp, our Red Lake mine already had a long history of troubled labour relationships. So, one of the first things I did as CEO was to visit the mine union’s head office to talk about a different relationship where we could both prosper. The importance of this step was the mutual respect and cooperation it fostered. We didn’t always see eye to eye but at least the door was open for a conversation. In my last four years running Goldcorp we would invite our largest suppliers and representatives of important sectors of the communities around our mines to attend our annual shareholders’ meetings and exhibit their services and needs to our shareholders in a trade fair-like environment.

investis par des fonds indiciels dans le S&P 500. McEwen Mining est l’une des cinq sociétés seulement du monde des métaux précieux à avoir une chance d’y figurer. ICM : vous détenez 25 % des Actions en circulAtion de mcewen mining mAis ne percevez pAs de sAlAire pour votre poste de président et directeur générAl de lA société. pourquoi ? RM : Après mon expérience avec Goldcorp, j’ai voulu tenter un autre modèle de gestion et de rémunération dans lequel je me rapprochais de mes collègues actionnaires en me positionnant davantage comme un spécialiste des services de banque d’investissement, et non comme un mercenaire professionnel. Il y a dix ans, les investisseurs institutionnels se sont précipités vers le marché des métaux précieux et voulaient des sociétés plus grandes pour pouvoir faire fructifier davantage d’argent. Les PDG ambitieux que l’on inondait d’argent abondaient dans leur sens et construisaient de plus grosses sociétés. Malheureusement, ils se sont laissés aller à l’achat de sociétés au prix fort. Ils avaient certes de plus grosses sociétés, mais ont vu le prix de leurs actions baisser ! Figurer sur l’indice S&P 500 vaut la peine de se battre, mais je ne souhaite pas pour autant construire une plus grosse société simplement pour le plaisir d’être plus grand. ICM : quelle est pour vous lA structure idéAle d’une société ? RM : Ma société idéale serait une société qui devient de plus en plus performante chaque année : une meilleure production, des marges de profit plus importantes, une société qui verse un dividende à ses actionnaires et dont le prix de l’action augmente considérablement sur les moyen et long termes. En outre, j’aimerai diriger une société dont les états financiers peuvent être consultés par tous les actionnaires. Il est grand temps d’utiliser un langage simple, des états clairs et peu de texte. ICM : quel rôle jouent les relAtions étroites Avec tous les ActionnAires dAns lA réussite d’une société ? RM : Lorsque j’ai créé Goldcorp, notre mine de Red Lake avait déjà une longue histoire de relations de travail difficiles. Ainsi, l’une des premières choses que j’ai faites en tant que président et directeur général a été de me rendre au siège du syndicat de la mine pour présenter l’idée d’une relation dans laquelle nous pourrions tous nous épanouir. L’importance de cette action s’est reflétée dans le respect mutuel et la coopération qu’elle a engendrés. On ne se rencontrait pas toujours en face en face, mais la porte était toujours ouverte pour discuter. Au cours de mes quatre dernières années à Goldcorp, nous invitions nos plus grands fournisseurs et les représentants de secteurs importants des communautés sur le site minier afin qu’ils participent aux réunions annuelles des actionnaires et leur présentent leurs services et besoins dans un environnement rappelant un salon commercial. Quelles qu’elles soient, les approches adoptées pour aider ces groupes à se développer semblaient être un excellent investissement dans notre avenir. August/Août 2014 | 43

Whatever we could do to help these groups grow seemed like an excellent investment in the future. CIM: you recently hosted A number of speAkers At your heAd office to explore opportunities for innovAtion in mining. the guest list included suppliers And AcAdemics, but Also employees from your competition. whAt Are you hoping to Achieve with these discussions? RM: The purpose was to gather individuals from all sectors of the industry who have an interest in changing and improving the way we do the business of mining. Hopefully, we will help speed up the adoption of new technologies in our company and the rest of our industry.

Jacques Nadeau

n By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

ICM : vous Avez récemment Accueilli plusieurs intervenAnts à votre siège Afin d’explorer les possibilités d’innovAtion dAns l’exploitAtion minière. pArmi vos invités figurAient des fournisseurs et des universitAires, mAis égAlement des employés de vos AdversAires. qu’espérez-vous Atteindre Au trAvers de ces discussions ? RM : Notre objectif était de réunir des individus de tous les secteurs de l’industrie partageant un intérêt commun pour le changement et l’amélioration de la façon dont nous menons nos activités minières. Avec un peu de chance, nous pourrons accélérer l’adoption des nouvelles technologies dans notre société et le reste de notre industrie.

n Par Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

Sean Roosen dispose aujourd’hui d’environ 155 millions $ en espèces pour tenter d’obtenir le même succès qu’il a connu au poste de président et directeur général d’Osisko. La nouvelle société qu’il dirige, New Osisko, dont la valeur implicite s’élève à 575 millions $ lorsque l’on tient compte de tous les actifs, est bien mieux placée que de nombreuses petites sociétés minières. En l’espace d’environ huit ans, M. Roosen a fait d’Osisko Mining Corporation, une petite société minière qui luttait pour survivre, un producteur d’or de taille intermédiaire dont les revenus en 2013 ont atteint la valeur record de près de 676 millions $. Son plus grand projet, la mine Canadian Malartic au Québec, est l’une des plus grosses mines aurifères du Canada. « [M. Roosen et son équipe] ont emménagé dans une ville, rencontré le gouvernement du Québec et commencé la production à la mine, à laquelle participent non pas une, mais trois sociétés minières ; cela prouve bien l’étendue de leurs aptitudes », déclarait John Ing, président et directeur général de Maison Placements à Bloomberg en avril. M. Roosen avait récemment aidé à organiser l’acquisition amicale d’Osisko par Yamana Gold et Mines Agnico Eagle. Les 3,9 milliards $ obtenus pour le rachat d’Osisko correspondaient à une suroffre de plus d’un milliard $ par rapport à l’offre publique d’achat hostile initialement proposée par Goldcorp, qui avait marqué le début des négociations pour la vente.

Sean Roosen

He now has about $155 million in cash to see if he can replicate the success he oversaw as president and CEO at Osisko. Roosen and his new company, known as New Osisko, are in a better position than many juniors, as the company has an implied value of $575 million when all assets are considered. Over the course of about eight years, Roosen transformed Osisko Mining Corporation from a struggling junior to an intermediate gold producer with record 2013 revenue of around $676 million. Its flagship Canadian Malartic mine in Quebec is today one of Canada’s biggest gold mines. “The fact that [Roosen and his team] were able to move to a town, deal with the Quebec government and put the mine into production and have now attracted not one but three miners for it is a testament to his abilities,” John Ing, CEO of Maison Placements, told Bloomberg in April. At that time, Roosen had recently helped orchestrate a friendly takeover of Osisko by Yamana Gold and Agnico-Eagle Mines. The $3.9-billion price Osisko fetched was over a billion dollars more than Goldcorp’s initial hostile bid that set the dealing in motion. n By Christopher Pollon

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n Par Christopher Pollon

Brent Linton

Glenn Nolan He is currently vice-president of aboriginal affairs for Noront Resources, a company well positioned to become the first producer in Ontario’s Ring of Fire. Nolan was a three-term chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation before becoming the first aboriginal president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in 2012. One constant throughout his 30-year mining career has been a determination to build bridges between Aboriginal People and the resource industry. CIM: hAve you experienced Any personAl bAcklAsh from other first nAtions leAders or communities for the role you hAve been plAying with industry? GN: Every time you are not wearing a jacket of conformity you are criticized because you are taking a different path, and I’ve received a small amount of criticism from Aboriginal People. However some of my biggest supporters are also within the aboriginal community. Phil Fontaine, Shawn Atleo, some of the regional chiefs, are big supporters. Overall I would say that Aboriginal People have been very supportive of the opportunity that I have had as the first aboriginal person at the helm of PDAC. CIM: do you think AboriginAl people need to distAnce themselves from rAdicAl environmentAlist movements? GN: I think that communities are looking for information to try to better understand what the issues are as it relates

Glenn Nolan est à ce jour vice-président des affaires autochtones chez Noront Resources, une société bien placée pour devenir le plus grand producteur de la région du Cercle de feu, en Ontario. M. Nolan a assumé trois mandats en tant que chef de la Première nation crie Missanabie avant de devenir le premier président autochtone de la Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC, l’association canadienne des prospecteurs et entrepreneurs) en 2012. Tout au long de sa carrière de 30 ans dans le secteur minier, il s’est consacré corps et âme au rapprochement des peuples autochtones et de l’industrie des ressources. ICM : les Autres chefs ou communAutés des premières nAtions ontils eu des réActions personnelles vives pAr rApport Au rôle que vous jouez dAns

l’industrie ? GN : Si vous n’êtes pas conforme à la norme, on vous critique car vous prenez une voie différente, et j’ai en effet fait l’objet de quelques critiques de la part des autochtones. Cependant, ce sont aussi les membres de la communauté autochtone qui m’accordent le plus grand soutien. Phil Fontaine, Shawn Atleo, certains des chefs régionaux, m’encouragent beaucoup. Globalement, les autochtones m’ont énormément soutenu dans cette occasion qui m’a été donnée d’être le premier autochtone à diriger la PDAC. ICM : pensez-vous que les peuples Autochtones doivent prendre une certAine distAnce pAr rApport Aux mouvements environnementAlistes rAdicAux ? GN : Les communautés sont à la recherche d’informations afin de mieux comprendre la source des problèmes, notamment pour tout ce qui a trait au développement des ressources naturelles. Beaucoup de groupes et d’organisations profiteront de la soif de connaissances d’une communauté et présenteront une vision partiale des choses en donnant l’impression de couvrir l’ensemble des informations. Les communautés ne doivent pas seulement se méfier des groupes environnementalistes exposant ouvertement leurs motivations, mais aussi des sociétés souhaitant devenir partenaires dans des projets et qui n’ont pas toujours les intentions les August/Août 2014 | 45

to resource development. There are many groups and organizations that will take advantage of a community’s thirst for knowledge and provide a one-sided view, while making it appear to cover the information spectrum. It isn’t just groups with agendas that communities need to be wary of, but also companies wanting to partner on projects, which do not always have the best intentions on actually sharing the benefits of the partnership. CIM: how do you see lAsting pArtnerships developing between first nAtions people And mining compAnies when it comes to developments on their trAditionAl territory? GN: I think the next step is communities actively using their own resources to go out and secure mineral claims, and then working either in partnerships or by themselves to advance those claims into properties they can either sell or work on in joint ventures. It won’t happen overnight. Companies, as well, have to realize that communities really do have tremendous knowledge and ability to work on the land, and understand the land like no one else from outside. So there’s a huge partnership opportunity there. Creating partnerships is not something that will end with a particular project. Communities having the chance to develop businesses with mines provide many years if not generations of opportunity for their members. We see that today with numerous companies operating on many different projects across Canada. CIM: whAt opportunities do you see existing in the ring of fire for first nAtions – And how do you communicAte the opportunities in A wAy thAt promotes trust And cooperAtion? GN: First of all it’s all about being respectful to the community, not thinking that “our project is going to solve all their problems.” A resource project is a piece of a puzzle that will add value to what the community wants to do, but it won’t be the only thing. As companies wanting to work there, we have to be willing to sit down and listen to the communities, work with them to develop strategies that will include them in every aspect of our project. That includes business development and offering opportunities for training and advancement within the project itself. CIM: whAt did you tAke AwAy from your experience As president of pdAc? GN: The biggest thing for me as president of the PDAC was the incredible amount of support for inclusion of Aboriginal People in this industry. Companies want to make a difference with the communities they work with. As well, the support I’ve received from industry executives, government officials, miners, people out exploring, and indigenous people right across the world has been overwhelming at times. I couldn’t have done it without that support. n By Christopher Pollon

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plus pures concernant le partage des bénéfices émanant du partenariat. ICM : pensez-vous que des pArtenAriAts durAbles soient envisAgeAbles entre les peuples des premières nAtions et les sociétés minières lorsqu’il est question de développements sur un territoire trAditionnel ? GN : La prochaine étape pour les communautés consistera à activement utiliser leurs propres ressources de manière à s’imposer et à s’approprier des concessions minières ; elles devront ensuite travailler en partenariats ou seules pour transformer ces concessions en propriétés qu’elles pourront soit vendre, soit exploiter en entreprises communes. Cela ne se fera pas du jour au lendemain. Les sociétés aussi doivent se rendre compte que les communautés possèdent des connaissances exceptionnelles et une capacité extraordinaire à travailler sur leurs terres, et qu’elles les comprennent mieux que quiconque étranger à ce territoire. Les possibilités de former des partenariats sont donc immenses. La création de partenariats ne se traduira pas par un projet particulier. Les communautés ayant la chance de créer des entreprises dans le secteur minier offrent des perspectives sur plusieurs années, voire générations, à leurs membres. On le voit aujourd’hui dans plusieurs sociétés dont les activités couvrent plusieurs projets dans tout le Canada. ICM : quelles sont, selon vous, les opportunités qui se présentent Aux premières nAtions dAns lA région du cercle de feu, et comment les leur trAnsmettez-vous de mAnière à promouvoir lA confiAnce et lA coopérAtion ? GN : Il convient tout d’abord de respecter la communauté et de ne pas penser que « notre projet va résoudre leurs problèmes ». Un projet dédié aux ressources est une pièce du puzzle qui viendra donner une valeur ajoutée à ce que la communauté souhaite faire, mais ne sera pas l’unique facteur. En tant que sociétés souhaitant travailler sur ces terres, nous devons montrer notre volonté d’écouter les communautés et de collaborer avec elles afin de mettre en œuvre des stratégies qui les incluront dans chaque aspect de notre projet, notamment le développement d’entreprise et les possibilités de formation et de promotion au sein du projet. ICM : qu’Avez-vous retiré de votre expérience en tAnt que président de lA pdAc ? GN : Mon poste de président de la PDAC m’a principalement fait comprendre l’ampleur du soutien dans ce secteur à l’égard de l’intégration des peuples autochtones. Les sociétés veulent faire changer les choses en faveur des communautés avec lesquelles elles travaillent. Le soutien que j’ai reçu des dirigeants de l’industrie, des représentants du gouvernement, des sociétés minières, des personnes impliquées dans l’exploration et des peuples autochtones de l’autre bout du monde a parfois été surprenant. Je n’aurai jamais pu y parvenir sans ce soutien. n Par Christopher Pollon

Courtesy of Kaminak Gold

Eira Thomas

Eira Thomas a toutes les raisons de se réjouir ces jours-ci ; en effet, sa société Kaminak Gold vient d’annoncer une évaluation économique préliminaire (EEP) prometteuse pour son projet Coffee Gold dans le Yukon. La présidente et directrice générale de 45 ans précise que sa société prévoit également d’investir dans d’autres projets d’exploration cette année. L’EEP, publiée début juin, indique une durée d’exploitation de 11 ans pour le projet Coffee sur la base d’un prix de l’or à 1 250 $ US de l’once, et d’un coût de production de 700 $ US par once. « Nous avons obtenu de bons résultats malgré la conjoncture actuelle dans le secteur aurifère », explique Mme Thomas, laissant entendre qu’une étude de faisabilité n’est pas loin et que l’on ne connaît pas tout du gisement. « Nous prévoyons d’autres découvertes proches de la principale ressource qui pourraient bien changer la donne au niveau économique sur le long terme. » La recherche de l’or dans les régions du Nord est tout à fait dans les cordes de Mme Thomas. Quand elle était plus jeune et vivait à Yellowknife où elle prospectait avec son père, M. Grenville, ingénieur minier et fondateur d’Aber Resources, elle a développé une passion pour l’exploration qu’elle n’a jamais perdue. « L’exploration est la pratique de la chasse au trésor par excellence », déclare-t-elle. « C’est une discipline qui vous ramène vraiment à ce sentiment de l’enfance qui, je pense, nous est tous si cher, celui de trouver quelque chose que personne n’a encore découvert. » Mais si nous sommes tous nés avec la même curiosité enfantine, il est évident que Mme Thomas a évolué dans le corps de cette adulte exceptionnelle qui peut exploiter sa passion. En 1994, au tout début de sa carrière, elle dirigeait l’équipe d’exploration sur le terrain qui a découvert un gisement de diamant estimé à plusieurs milliards de dollars, aujourd’hui la mine de diamant Diavik dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest. Ceci lui a valu le surnom de « Queen of Diamonds » (la reine des diamants), qu’elle déteste, marmonne-t-elle. « Je me souviens de mon père qui me disait à l’époque que beaucoup de géologues passaient leur vie entière dans l’explo-

This CEO has plenty of reasons to smile these days, with her company Kaminak Gold announcing a promising preliminary economic assessment for its Coffee Gold project in Yukon. The 45-year-old Thomas says there is money dedicated to other exploration projects this year as well. The PEA, released in early June, points to a mine life of 11 years for Coffee at a $1,250 gold price, with a production cost of US$700 per ounce. “We’ve come out with a strong result despite the challenge in the current gold space,” Thomas says, hinting a feasibility study is not far off and that not all is known about the deposit. “We’re thinking about additional discoveries close to the main resource that could actually be game-changers for the economics in the longer term.” For Thomas, the pursuit of northern gold is right up her alley. In her days as a young girl, living in Yellowknife and prospecting with her father, Grenville, a mining engineer and founder of Aber Resources, she developed a passion for exploration that has never gone away. “Exploration is the ultimate treasure-hunting exercise,” she says. “It really hearkens back to that youthful inclination I think we all have, which is to find something that no one else has found.” But if everyone is born with a similar childhood curiosity, it is clear Thomas has grown into the exceptional adult who can capitalize on it. In 1994, at the start of her career, she led the field exploration team that discovered a multibillion-dollar diamond deposit, now the Diavik diamond

August/Août 2014 | 47

mine in the Northwest Territories, and earned herself the nickname “Queen of Diamonds” – which, muttering, she says she hates. “I remember my father telling me at the time that many geologists can spend their entire career in exploration and never find an economic ore deposit,” she says, “so I was very fortunate to be a part of the discovery. And I knew that at the time, but I think in the subsequent years I realized more and more how rare that is.” Thomas and her father left Aber in 2006, three years after Diavik went into production, and in the following years she co-founded and helmed Stornoway Ventures (now Stornoway Diamond Corp.). In 2013 she made the switch to gold when she was appointed CEO at Kaminak. “Quite frankly the diamond business is small, and the opportunities are few, and I felt I had pretty good exposure to the diamond space already with the companies and investments that I was involved in,” Thomas says. “And really, it was about the people at Kaminak.” She has a close working relationship with John Robins, Kaminak’s chairman of the board, who was one of the original founders of Stornoway. Though she has spent most of her career working with young companies in their early stages and setting them “on a trajectory,” Thomas says she wants to see the Coffee project through to production. “I’m excited about the potential of actually building something, where you employ people and generate real wealth and make a bigger contribution to society,” she says. “I guess as I get older and more mature, that starts to become an important aspiration.” n By Kelsey Rolfe

n Par Kelsey Rolfe

Courtesy of Zenyatta Ventures

Zenyatta Ventures’ CEO is navigating a tough junior market.

ration, sans jamais découvrir de gisement de minerai présentant un intérêt économique », indique-t-elle. « Aussi, je considère que j’ai eu beaucoup de chance de contribuer à cette découverte. Je le réalisais déjà à l’époque, mais avec les années, j’ai compris à quel point cela était rare. » Mme Thomas et son père ont quitté Aber en 2006, trois ans après le lancement de la production à la mine Diavik, et au cours des années qui ont suivies, elle a cofondé et dirigé Stornoway Ventures (aujourd’hui Stornoway Diamond Corp.). En 2013, elle a abandonné les diamants pour l’or et a été nommée présidente et directrice générale de Kaminak. « Très franchement, le commerce du diamant est restreint, et les opportunités peu nombreuses, et je pense avoir été suffisamment exposée au monde des diamants lors de mes activités avec les sociétés et dans le cadre des investissements auxquels j’ai contribué », déclare Mme Thomas. « En outre, j’ai voulu me consacrer à l’aspect humain chez Kaminak. » Elle entretient une relation professionnelle étroite avec John Robins, le président du conseil d’administration de Kaminak, qui était l’un des premiers fondateurs de Stornoway. Bien qu’elle ait consacré la majeure partie de sa carrière aux premières étapes de jeunes sociétés pour les « mettre sur la voie », Mme Thomas déclare vouloir suivre le projet Coffee jusqu’à la phase de production. « Je me réjouis à l’idée de pouvoir construire quelque chose, employer des personnes et créer une véritable richesse, et de contribuer davantage à la société », ajoute-t-elle. « L’âge et l’expérience aidant, mes aspirations abondent davantage dans ce sens. »

A geologist by training, Aubrey Eveleigh heads up Zenyatta Ventures Ltd., which has been the top-performing mining company on the TSX Venture for two years running. The stock has jumped more than 800 per cent in the last two years. Why? The quick answer is Albany, a rare, vein-type hydrothermal graphite deposit northeast of Thunder Bay, where the company is based. According to Roth Capital Partners, which covers Zenyatta, the secrets to its success also include: Attracting key talent: The management team includes the likes of Bharat Chahar (vice-president of market develop-

La directrice générale de Zenyatta Ventures évolue dans un marché impitoyable pour les petites sociétés minières Aubrey Eveleigh, géologue de formation, dirige Zenyatta Ventures Ltd., la société minière qui enregistre pour la deuxième année consécutive la meilleure performance à la bourse de croissance TSX. Le prix de ses actions a augmenté de plus de 800 % au cours des deux dernières années. Comment expliquer ce succès ? La réponse est Albany, un gisement de veines hydrothermales rares de graphite au nord-est de la baie Thunder où est basée la société. D’après Roth Capital Partners, qui suit le cours des actions de Zenyatta, la société doit également sa réussite : Aux talents qu’elle attire : l’équipe de direction compte notamment parmi ses membres Bharat Chahar (vice-président du développement des marchés), qui affiche plus de 30 années d’expérience en matière de R&D sur le dioxyde de carbone et de technologies propres, et « est la personne idéale pour promouvoir les essais et le marketing relatifs au graphite présent dans le gisement d’Albany de Zenyatta ».

Aubrey Eveleigh

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ment) – with 30 years of carbon R&D and clean-tech experience, he is “ideal to advance the testing and marketing of the Zenyatta’s Albany deposit graphite.” Government support: Eveleigh’s company continues to receive support from the federal government in the form of grants from the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada for metallurgical testing at Lakehead University. Roth Capital Partners reports the NRC relationship is important because it “contains a technical advisory component, which may provide Zenyatta with access to key R&D personnel at research institutions.” Larger-than-expected resources: Zenyatta’s 2012 resource estimate for Albany, the first independent qualification, showed a larger-than-expected resource, providing impetus for institutional investors to get involved in the stock (they now comprise 15 per cent of all shareholders). Zenyatta has since followed up with an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate, and is currently preparing a preliminary economic assessment. The year ahead should be a telling one for Eveleigh and Zenyatta, as his team seeks to prove the economics of the project and the potential market for the product. Zenyatta has signed more than 20 confidentiality agreements with different parties seeking to test Albany’s graphite in their own labs, but no offtake agreement has been announced. n By Christopher Pollon

Au soutien du gouvernement : la société de Mme Eveleigh continue de recevoir le soutien du gouvernement fédéral sous la forme de subventions du Conseil national de recherches du Canada (CNRC) pour les essais métallurgiques menés à l’université de Lakehead. Roth Capital Partners déclare que la relation avec le CNRC est importante dans le sens où elle « revêt un aspect technique consultatif qui pourrait permettre à Zenyatta d’établir le contact avec des membres hautement qualifiés du personnel en R&D de certains instituts de recherche ». À des ressources plus importantes que prévues : l’estimation des ressources de Zenyatta menée en 2012 pour Albany (la première qualification indépendante) a révélé des ressources plus importantes que prévues, ce qui a motivé les investisseurs institutionnels à acquérir des actions (ils constituent aujourd’hui 15 % de tous les actionnaires). Zenyatta a depuis mené une évaluation des ressources conforme au règlement 43-101 et prépare actuellement une évaluation économique préliminaire. L’année à venir sera révélatrice pour Mme Eveleigh et Zenyatta ; en effet, son équipe cherche à prouver la valeur économique du projet et à établir le marché potentiel de leur produit. Zenyatta a signé plus de 20 ententes de confidentialité avec diverses parties souhaitant mener des essais sur le graphite d’Albany dans leurs propres laboratoires, mais aucun engagement concernant l’achat de la production n’a été annoncé. n Par Christopher Pollon

The export ban – which has drawn harsh criticism from mining companies in Indonesia and is the subject of a constitutional court challenge – was written into law in 2009

Şystein Solvang/NHD

Indonesia elected its JOKO WIDODO new president, Joko Widodo, in early July, and analysts from ANZ Research are saying it means the country’s hotly contested ban on the export of unprocessed minerals will likely stay in place. Widodo, formerly the governor of Jakarta, won the unofficial vote count over Suharto-era general Prabowo Subianto. L’Indonésie vient d’élire début juillet son nouveau président, Joko Widodo, et d’après les analystes d’ANZ Research, ceci signifie que l’embargo sur l’exportation de minerais non August/Août 2014 | 49

but only came into effect on January 12 of this year. Its intention is to increase domestic refining activity. Within a month of its implementation, the Indonesian National Mining Workers Solidarity lobby group had estimated that 570,000 people in the mining industry had lost their jobs, and that the numbers would continue to rise. But Patricia Mohr, a commodity markets specialist at Scotiabank, says the longer-term prospects for Indonesia are likely positive. “I think in the medium term they will probably benefit,” Mohr says, adding that investors, particularly from China, are “stepping up to invest in nickel processing plants in Indonesia.” She estimates that by 2016 there will be as many as 10 or 11 refining plants in the country. In the short term, the ban has given a boost to nickel producers, as the price for a pound of nickel has crept up steadily from just above US$6 in January to nearly US$9 in mid-July. Mohr does not anticipate other ore-exporting countries implementing similar bans. “Most countries are not willing to forgo current revenue for the possibility of additional processing,” she says. “But Indonesia appears quite prepared to do so. They obviously want the value added and want to get greater benefit from the resource itself.” Before the ban was implemented, Indonesia produced around 28 per cent of the world’s nickel. n By Kelsey Rolfe

COFFEE GOLD PROJECT Robust Economics at USD$1,250/Oz Gold Open-pit, Heap Leach Gold in Canada

TSX-V: KAM www.kaminak.com info@kaminak.com

1-888-331-2269

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traités, qui fait l’objet de vives contestations dans le pays, ne sera sans doute pas levé. M. Widodo, anciennement gouverneur de Jakarta, a remporté le dépouillement du scrutin non officiel face à son adversaire Prabowo Subianto, ancien général de l’ère Suharto.

« La plupart des pays ne souhaitent pas renoncer à leurs revenus actuels pour envisager ce que pourrait leur rapporter un traitement supplémentaire » - Patricia Mohr, spécialiste en marchés des marchandises, Scotiabank

L’embargo sur les exportations, qui a fait l’objet de fortes critiques de la part des sociétés minières basées en Indonésie et a soulevé une contestation du tribunal constitutionnel, avait été transposé en loi en 2009 dans l’intention d’augmenter les activités nationales d’affinage, mais n’est entré en vigueur que le 12 janvier cette année. Un mois seulement après sa mise en application, le groupe de pression Indonesian National Mining Workers Solidarity estimait à 570 000 le nombre de personnes du secteur minier à avoir perdu leur emploi, et ce chiffre ne cessait de croître. Patricia Mohr, spécialiste en marchés des marchandises chez Scotiabank, explique cependant que les perspectives à plus long terme pour l’Indonésie sont vraisemblablement positives. « L’Indonésie percevra les bénéfices de cette action sur le moyen terme », explique Mme Mohr, ajoutant que les investisseurs, particulièrement ceux de Chine, « redoublent d’intérêt pour les usines de traitement du nickel en Indonésie ». Elle estime que d’ici 2016, le pays comptera 10 ou 11 usines d’affinage. Sur le court terme, cet embargo a donné un nouvel élan aux producteurs de nickel ; en effet, le prix de la livre de nickel a augmenté de manière régulière, d’à peine plus de 6 $ US en janvier à près de 9 $ US mi-juillet. Mme Mohr ne pense pas que d’autres pays exportateurs de minerai mettront en œuvre des embargos de ce genre. « La plupart des pays ne souhaitent pas renoncer à leurs revenus actuels pour envisager ce que pourrait leur rapporter un traitement supplémentaire », explique-t-elle. « L’Indonésie, cependant, y semble prête. Elle souhaite visiblement en récolter la valeur ajoutée et tirer de plus grands bénéfices des ressources en tant que telles. » Avant que l’embargo ne soit décrété, l’Indonésie produisait environ 28 % du nickel au niveau mondial. n Par Kelsey Rolfe

Better than bigger technology

H E AV Y E Q U I P M E N T

By Eavan Moore

As mine output goals intensified and haul trucks increased in size, manufacturers typically built bigger excavators to match. A common rule of thumb recommends three to five passes per loading cycle for maximum productivity; that is what drove the development of the largest hydraulic and electric rope shovels currently available.

B Courtesy of Caterpillar

Caterpillar’s 7495 electric rope shovel sports a new energy storage mechanism to help limit power draw.

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Caterpillar

ut productivity per se is not necessarily the top focus for shovel users or producers. “The industry today has really shifted the focus of original equipment manufacturers toward cost per tonne rather than simply maximizing productivity,” says James Roush, electric rope shovel and dragline new product introduction and strategy manager at Caterpillar.

In late-2013, Caterpillar dropped its previously announced plans to build the highest-capacity hydraulic mining shovel yet. The 6120B H FS would have been able to move 363 tonnes of material – the capacity of a CAT 797F truck – in as few as three passes. But the mining downturn that immediately followed its announcement at MINExpo 2012 killed the program budget. Instead, CAT invested in its existing models. According to CAT spokespeople, the most exciting development is an energy storage mechanism that will lighten the load on 7495 and 7495 HF electric rope shovels. Energy created during swing deceleration and bucket-lowering is stored in ultra-capacitors, and then used to power high-demand activities. The electric shovels still require generators but only about four megawatts’ worth – as opposed to eight megawatts or more on the existing models. Caterpillar calls this approach the Power Demand Management system. “As the most efficient off-grid power solution available, CAT rope shovels with Power Demand Management technology offer new possibilities for opening greenfield sites and will help rope shovel operations anywhere become even more productive and cost effective,” says Ruth Haws, CAT’s electric rope shovel and dragline commercial manager. She adds that new projects with a focus on cost per tonne, availability and durability are being incorporated into future model releases and will also be available as retrofits to existing machines.

Hitachi

Brian Mace, product marketing manager at Hitachi, reports that keeping up to date with technology for better reliability has guided Hitachi’s excavator program. Six to seven years ago, when Hitachi introduced its current excavator models, it focused on improving remote monitoring capabilities. An allhydraulic system became electric-on-hydraulic, with a new set of operator controls. “We took out all of the older analog-type gauges and put everything onto a digital monitor for the operator,” says Mace. “So everything’s on one screen for ease of operation and looks at how the machine’s performing.” Mace sees this as a general transition toward greater autonomy. The current controls allow operators to do some troubleshooting directly from the cab, and as this technology becomes more prevalent, he suggests it will open pathways to remote operation. Hitachi already has an autonomous haulage program, with trucks undergoing trials at the Meandu coal mine in Australia. “I’d say after that, within five years or further out, we may see that adapted to the shovels,” predicts Mace. “I would say on the shovels, it’s probably more remote operation sooner than autonomous.” Mace suggests that safety concerns could also drive design changes in the future: “We’re seeing more and more emphasis around the operator regarding noise level exposure and vibration exposure. So those will definitely affect the design if there are major changes planned to what is currently available.” In the meantime, Hitachi’s next redesign will enhance onboard monitoring and diagnostics. But most importantly, it will bring the machines’ diesel engine emissions up to scratch for the American, Canadian, and European markets. The current line meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 2 standards; starting in 2015, any new models will need to reach near-zero Tier 4 levels. The release date has yet to be determined.

Komatsu

Alexander Hochgürtel, marketing assistant at Komatsu Mining Germany, agrees that remote monitoring will become increasingly relevant. He feels that

Komatsu has already established expertise in this type of technology: for the last decade or so, Komatsu has had a monitoring kit, KomtraxPlus, that gives customers access to machine data and key performance indicators, runs self-diagnosis, and can transfer data via satellite to the web. In Komatsu’s latest tweaks to its hydraulic excavators, basic maintenance has played a stronger role. “Komatsu has done massive investigations on its boom and stick hose routing,” says Hochgürtel. The older configuration bent hydraulic fluid hoses over the top of the boom and stick; the new design runs the hose routing along the side of the attachment in order to minimize bending, thereby reducing stress on the hose and giving it a longer life. Introduced to the smaller-scale PC3000 and PC4000 in early 2014, the new hose routing will eventually extend to Komatsu’s entire range of excavators. That includes the company’s largest hydraulic mining shovel, the PC8000, which has had a standard bucket capacity of 42 cubic metres at 1.8 tonnes per cubic metre material density since 2004. Komatsu is not looking at increasing its shovel size at the moment, but Hochgürtel says Komatsu will evaluate the possibility of increasing shovel capacity if the industry demands larger machines with regard to bucket size. To load its largest truck, the 960E, the PC8000 takes an acceptable five loading passes.

Liebherr

The similar-sized R 9800 manufactured by Liebherr, with a starting capacity of 42 cubic metres, has seen a recent upgrade. Liebherr developed an add-on to the R 9800 that improves its performance in backhoe configuration; the “high performance kit” includes a new bucket design with a capacity of 85 tonnes per pass, while reducing the overall weight of the attachment. “We particularly focus our development on the reduction of the total cost of ownership but also increased reliability,” says Swann Blaise, group leader of the marketing department at Liebherr Mining Equipment. On the five machines Liebherr has introduced in the past decade, this focus takes many forms: reliable electronics, easier Courtesy of Komatsu

Courtesy of Hitachi

Hitachi’s EX8000 hydraulic excavator

New hose routing configurations were introduced this year on the PC3000 and PC4000 (shown here) and will be extended to Komatsu’s full range of excavators.

August/Août 2014 | 53

Joy Global

troubleshooting, and the development of electric-drive hydraulic excavators, which combines the precise controls of an electric drive with the flexible digging power of hydraulic parts. The two largest machines, the R 9400 and the R 9800, both have electric versions available.

Although Liebherr took a cautious approach to growing capacity, Blaise believes mining shovels will continue to grow bigger in the coming years. And indeed, prior to the mining sector’s most recent downturn, certain users were expressing a strong interest in getting more capacity out of their excavators, according to Patrick Singleton, product manager for the 4800XPC, a new electric rope shovel design from Joy Global. High-production, low-cost mining operations running 360-tonne haul trucks, like the oil sands and coal operations in Canada and the hard-rock copper mines in South America, could see the economic benefits of getting down from four to three loading passes. At the same time, customers who already used Joy Global’s 4100XPC shovel had specific requests for any larger electric mining shovels: higher capacity with the same footprint. “They wanted us to stay within the same relative weight and ground-bearing pressure requirements,” explains Singleton. The design of the 4800XPC is based on the 4100XPC AC, which has sold about 50 units since its introduction in 2010, but its dipper is at once larger and lighter, with a capacity of around 65 to 70 cubic metres or 123 tonnes. In order to accomplish this, Joy Global improved load flow throughout the dipper structure and used castings in certain areas for improved weight efficiency. An integral tooth base lip design borrowed and improved from hydraulic excavators also helped lighten the dipper. 54 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Courtesy of Joy Global

Courtesy of Liebherr

One of Liebherr’s largest machines, the R9800, has a starting capacity of 42 cubic metres.

“There’s really a lot of subtlety and nuance within the design,” says Singleton. “The boom is 3.4 metres wide, which is considerably larger than our existing booms from a width perspective, and that width allows us to offset the damaging effects of corner tooth loading, because that dipper lip is getting wider. We’ve improved the overall strength of the dipper to allow for greater resistance to denting, and then we’re focusing a lot of effort into the changes in the latch system.” The 4800XPC also introduces the Adaptive Controls system, a set of control functions that optimizes the machine’s power usage during different phases of the dig cycle. Although the operator largely maintains control over the machine, a set of algorithms quietly adjusts motor operation when certain tasks are taking place in order to limit unproductive loads on the machine. For example, the “smart/dynamic crowd” function can prevent the boom from jacking or the machine from tipping backward during a crowd motion, and it improves the dipper’s ability to penetrate hard rock. As an operator assist feature, Adaptive Controls is a baby step towards autonomous operation of mining shovels. Both Adaptive Controls and more structural innovations from the 4800XPC could be applied across the entire shovel

3D model image of Joy Global’s P&H 4800XPC

product line, according to Singleton. The question Joy Global now seeks to answer is: How do we get these other efficiencies onto the existing machines that we manufacture today? Another unanswered question lies outside Joy Global’s power to answer: Who will be the first 4800XPC adopter? “We’re still looking for the home for that first 4800,” says Singleton. “It’s not a situation where any customers are averse to the product at all. On the contrary, there are some that are excited. But they’re fighting that uphill battle of capital expenditure in the current state of the mining industry.” CIM

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BIG LEAGUE DEBUT

The recent completion of the 287-kilovolt Northwest Transmission Line was critical for the feasibility of the Red Chris mine development, and will likely prove a catalyst for more projects in northwestern B.C.

Imperial Metals is already an established operator in British Columbia, with its Mount Polley and Huckleberry mines. The development of the Red Chris project in the province’s northwest, however, will springboard the company from a wellcapitalized mid-tier producer to a powerful mine developer. To get there, the company is relying on a experienced team with a thrifty streak to complete the $570 million-project and bring it into production later this year. BY | PETER BRAUL

im Fisch, the general manager of Red Chris, gives off a confident, calm aura for someone under the pressure of getting construction completed under time and budgetary constraints. Even with some nine different contracting companies working simultaneously to meet a swath of deadlines, he is able to make time to tour the operation. In addition to putting the finishing touches on the mill, a metallurgical lab and other key components, the copper/gold mine is waiting on power from BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line before production can begin. But, it became clear Fisch’s poise stems from a deeply held trust in the experience of the team which extends from head office down to the people working on site day to day. Take Jack Zuke, for example, who came out of retirement to refurbish the P&H 2800XPC shovel that Imperial bought from Northgate Minerals’ recently closed Kemess operation. “It’s what he’s done all his life: take shovels apart and put them back together,” says Fisch. “He could tell you where every shovel in North America is, when it was made, how it runs. Jack and his hand-picked team are putting that shovel together for a fraction of the cost of what other companies would charge. It’s an example of that experienced team that we have that knows where to take the shortcuts, and the tricks of the trade.” “This machine here, to buy it new would probably be about $26 million,” Zuke reckons of the rope shovel, which will deliver 59-tonne buckets of copper porphyry ore into Caterpillar 793F haul trucks once extraction is underway.

Courtesy of Imperial Metals

August/Août 2014 | 57

Peter Braul

Courtesy of Imperial Metals

project profile | R E D C H R I S

Courtesy of Imperial Metals

Peter Braul

“I’m anxious to see what kind of production we can get out – T. Fisch of this installation.”

58 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

RED CHRIS

“It’ll be like a new machine when we’re done with it, and probably cost about $8 million.” And Zuke, with over 60 years working on shovels, is far from the only veteran at the new mine. Every direction we turn, Fisch has an easy, familial relationship with the people that are driving the project forward.

Reliability minded

| project profile

copper-gold-silver concentrate will be loaded onto B-train trucks at the mine, and shipped some 325 km to the coastal town of Stewart, before heading across the Pacific. That drive – across a wilderness whose beauty needs to be seen to be believed – is the clearest explanation why Imperial has made the environment surrounding the mine a priority. To oversee the mine’s environmental monitoring plan, two years ago Imperial hired Jack Love. Red Chris is located on a treeless expanse known as the Todagin plateau that overlooks a deep valley and is surrounded by jagged peaks, including Todagin Mountain. It is

With first electrons set to flow to the site this August, Fisch hopes everything will be ready to power up by then, with the principal draw coming from the 30,000 tonne-per-day mill. There, again, Imperial has saved money by bringing in the SAG mill from PROJECT SPECS Kemess, and combining it with new ABB variable frequency drives and a CAPITAL COST $570 million (est.) RESOURCE*: new 24-foot ball mill from FLSmidth. OPERATION START DATE End of 2014 MEASURED AND INDICATED RESOURCE “I’m anxious to see what kind of proDAILY THROUGHPUT 30,000 tonnes 8.90 billion lbs copper duction we can get out of this installaRECOVERY RATE 12.9 million oz gold tion,” Fisch says, looking forward to Copper: 86.5% avg 44.6 million oz silver** the task of coaxing the best perform(copper concentrate grade 27%) INFERRED RESOURCE ance from this mix of old and new Gold: 46.9% 7.97 billion lbs copper components. “Over the years I’ve found CURRENT MINE LIFE 28 years 12.75 million oz gold that some used equipment tends to be 47 million oz silver** more reliable in the long run.” *at a 0.1% copper cut-off Prior to taking on the job at Red ** at 0.1% copper equivalent cut-off Chris, Fisch was the general manager for the company’s Mount Polley Mine. Over his career, he has amassed decades of experience man- traditional Tahltan territory, but besides First Nations, very aging mill operations in Canada and the United States. As he few people have a better grasp of the area than Love. “We are tours the facility, it is apparent he is constantly doing a visual wedged between two of the nicest parks in the province,” he inspection, taking stock of progress and squaring reality with says. “We have the Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Park 15 km the engineering drawings hanging on his office wall. northeast and the Todagin South Slope Park to the south. Of the new equipment, Fisch is most excited about the “We are in the headwaters of two systems, which makes ABB drives used on the SAG and ball mills. “The drives for water monitoring very challenging,” Love adds. “These little both mills are identical,” he explains. Both mills use two streams – they are pristine. They are ultra-low level clean. If 9,000-hp variable frequency drives, so the SAG mill will you could run a pipe of this water to California, you’d be a probably not draw the full nameplate horsepower. “It proba- billionaire. But because everything is so clean here you can bly will only draw about 14,500 horsepower at the top end. see every little blip.” Love says his objectives for the mine’s However, we were able to keep capital costs down by only effluent are aquatic life guidelines typically 10 times more purchasing one spare motor.” New meets old again as the ore stringent than for drinking water. makes its way towards flotation cells in the regrind circuit, Love explains that his job includes monitoring groundwawhere the design has a small ball mill from Imperial’s Mount ter to an extraordinary degree of accuracy. In addition to the Polley mine matched to a brand-new Metso vertical mill. The wells within the mine’s footprint, more than 20 groundwater entire plant has been developed with flexibility in mind, and monitoring wells have been drilled outside of it, which he depending on the ore’s hardness, it can be treated differently. says produce an enormous quantity of data. “If you’re familiar with models, the more data the more certainty and the more Geography comfort you have.” Like all of Imperial’s operations, the products of Red In addition to fish habitat monitoring, Love has also Chris’s mill are likely destined for Asian consumers. The installed motion sensing cameras in the surrounding region which register animal movement and will be able to monitor any reactions to blasting in the mine. Love compiles his reports every two weeks and updates Clockwise from top right: Red Chris general manager Tim Fisch; The processing circuit features new installations, including the flotation cells and a vertical mill, as the local Tahltan First Nation. The Tahltan, initially wary of well as refurbished equipment trucked in from other mine sites in the province; the project, have since come around to it and are actively The old exploration camp overlooks the pit and will be removed as the mine grows; involved in development. A sizeable proportion of the conImperial built nearly 100 kilometres of power line to connect to the Northwest Transmission Line. struction workforce comes from local communities. Because

August/Août 2014 | 59

Peter Braul

project profile | R E D C H R I S

Tim Fisch talks things over with Jack Zuke (right), who is applying decades of experience to the commissioning of the mine’s rope shovel.

the mine will inevitably have its impacts, everyone involved has had to reconcile the economic windfalls with the transformation of the landscape that is now underway. But due to large projects like Red Chris, the local Tahltan communities also have very low unemployment rates. Though the two parties have not finalized an impact benefit agreement for the life of the mine, negotiations are underway.

Trust The First Nations are now invested in Red Chris’s success, both economically and environmentally, and the partnerships that have been formed bode well for the long haul. And Imperial certainly has a bigger vision for the mine than what is currently being installed. “Probably this time next year, we’re starting to look at a feasibility study on an expansion,” says Fisch, who explains that when Imperial acquired Red Chris in its 2007 purchase of bcMetals Corp., the application for the environmental assessment certificate had already been made. “The size of the orebody suggests that a 30,000 tonne-a-day plant isn’t adequate. There’s an awful lot of work to do.” 60 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Indeed the copper Resource at Red Chris – 8.89 billion pounds of Measured and Indicated – is an order of magnitude larger than any of Imperial’s other projects. “We’ve never seen anything like this at Imperial before,” says Steve Robertson. He has been with the company for 21 years and was responsible for exploration of the Red Chris deposit. Now, as vice president of corporate affairs, Robertson says “this is the type of deposit that’s a company-maker. The current mine plan is only targeting a small part of that resource.” The major hurdle to expansion would be the additional waste rock, which would be too much for the current facility and require water management on a larger scale. All those interviewed seemed eager to begin the process of solving those problems, though, and confident an expansion will eventually happen. “[Red Chris] gives us a different perspective on everything,” Robertson says. “We don’t spend money that we don’t have and that isn’t likely to change. We just have much greater means to live within now.” Perhaps it is that comfort with the long-term viability of the project that keeps Imperial’s big investors happy. The most notable is N. Murray Edwards, who owns 36 per cent of Imperial’s common shares. Robertson explains that Edwards’ involvement has shaped the character of the company. Earlier this year, Edwards’ Edco Capital Corporation arranged a $75 million junior unsecured loan to fund cost overruns and backstop payments for the Red Chris build. Edco gets a $750,000 fee and warrants to buy 750,000 shares at $20 each out of that deal. Imperial shares currently trade at around $16. “He’s the reason why we are still around today,” Robertson says. “Having a strong, committed shareholder like Murray has prevented us from being a takeover target when we had great things happen, but he’s also been there during the bad times. It really has been an empire-building exercise.” Fisch and his team are focused on the day-to-day tasks of building a mine, but he often mentioned the commitment of management and investors, and it is clear that despite the isolation, he does not feel cut off from Vancouver. “I like to tell people we interview [for jobs] not to be surprised if the president calls you up for this, that and the other thing,” Fisch chuckles. “We have a total of about 35 people in the head office. We started very small, and while we’ve grown in projects we haven’t necessarily grown in corporate size. There’s a lot of trust and a lot of communication between that small group. It’s just how we interact. It’s not a strictly topdown kind of organization.” Fisch has had three separate stints with the company, his current one beginning in 2004. “It’s very much a family-oriented operation where many of us have been working together for a very long time,” Robertson adds. “We’re very intent on making a great mining company, and I don’t think there are a lot of people at Imperial that feel that flipping properties and selling out to a bigger venture for a lot of money would be a way to go. That’s not the vision that we hold.” CIM

Avec l’aimable autorisation d’Imperial Metals

L’équipement de la mine Red Chris, explique le directeur général du projet Tim Fisch, sera une association d’éléments nouveaux et remis à neuf.

L’entrée dans la cour des grands PAR | PETER BRAUL

vec ses mines Mount Polley et Huckleberry, Imperial Metals est un exploitant déjà bien établi en Colombie-Britannique. Toutefois, le développement du projet Red Chris dans le nord-ouest de la province représente un tremplin qui permettra à la société de passer du stade de producteur bien capitalisé de catégorie intermédiaire à un important développeur minier. Pour faire aboutir ce projet de 570 millions $ et lancer la production plus tard cette année, la société mise sur une équipe chevronnée qui sait gérer un budget restreint. Malgré la pression auquel il est soumis pour terminer la construction de la mine dans les temps et sans dépasser le budget, Tim Fisch, directeur général du projet Red Chris, semble être calme et confiant. Neuf sociétés contractantes travaillent simultanément pour respecter une multitude d’échéances, mais malgré tout, M. Fisch parvient à prendre le temps de faire la tournée de l’exploitation. Avant que la production ne puisse commencer, il reste à apposer les touches finales à l’usine de concentration, à un laboratoire de métallurgie et à d’autres équipements importants, ainsi qu’à finaliser le raccordement de la mine de cuivre et d’or à la ligne de transport d’énergie du Nord-ouest de BC Hydro. Il devient cependant évident que l’assurance dont fait preuve M. Fisch s’explique par la profonde confiance qu’il témoigne à l’égard de l’expérience de son équipe, des membres de la direction jusqu’aux personnes qui travaillent sur le site tous les jours. Prenons par exemple Jack Zuke, qui a momentanément interrompu sa retraite pour remettre à neuf la pelle P&H

2800XPC acquise par Imperial à la suite de la récente fermeture de la mine Kemess de Northgate Minerals. « C’est ce qu’il a fait toute sa vie : désassembler des pelles, puis les réassembler », indique M. Fisch. « Il pourrait vous dire avec exactitude l’emplacement de chaque pelle en Amérique du Nord, vous préciser le moment de sa fabrication et vous expliquer comment elle fonctionne. Jack et son équipe triée sur le volet montent cette pelle pour une fraction du coût qu’exigeraient d’autres sociétés. Cet exemple illustre bien l’expérience de notre équipe qui sait quand prendre des raccourcis et qui connaît les rouages du métier. » « Achetée neuve, cette machine coûterait sans doute près de 26 millions $ », estime M. Zuke en parlant de la pelle à câble dont le godet, d’une capacité de 59 tonnes, permettra de transférer du porphyre cuprifère dans des tombereaux Caterpillar 793F une fois l’extraction entamée. « Lorsque nous aurons terminé, elle sera comme neuve et ne nous aura probablement pas coûté plus de 8 millions $. » M. Zuke, qui travaille sur des pelles depuis plus de 60 ans, n’est pas le seul vétéran à la nouvelle mine. Où que l’on regarde, on constate que M. Fisch entretient des rapports simples et familiaux avec les gens qui font avancer le projet.

La fiabilité avant tout Les premiers électrons devraient arriver sur le site à compter du mois d’août prochain, mais M. Fisch espère que l’intégralité de l’exploitation sera alimentée d’ici là, y compris August/Août 2014 | 61

profil de projet | R E D C H R I S le concentrateur qui consommera le plus d’énergie pour le traitement de 30 000 tonnes de minerai par jour. Ici aussi, Imperial a récupéré le broyeur semi-autogène (broyeur SAG) de la mine Kemess et l’a associé à de nouveaux mécanismes d’entraînement à fréquence variable d’ABB et à un nouveau broyeur à boulets de 24 pieds de FLSmidth, ce qui lui a permis de réaliser des économies. « J’ai hâte de voir le niveau de production que nous réussirons à atteindre avec cet équipement », reconnaît M. Fisch, qui espère tirer de ce mélange d’éléments anciens et neufs le meilleur rendement possible. « Au fil des ans, j’ai découvert que certaines pièces d’équipement usagées ont tendance à être plus fiables à long terme que les pièces neuves. » Avant d’accepter son poste pour le projet Red Chris, M. Fisch était le directeur général de la mine Mount Polley d’Imperial. Sa carrière lui a permis d’acquérir des décennies d’expérience dans la gestion d’usines de concentration au Canada et aux États-Unis. Alors qu’il effectue la tournée de l’installation, on se rend rapidement compte qu’il ne cesse jamais de l’inspecter visuellement, évaluant les progrès et comparant la réalité aux dessins techniques affichés sur le mur de son bureau. Parmi les nouveaux éléments de l’équipement, ce sont les mécanismes d’entraînement d’ABB associés au broyeur semiautogène et au broyeur à boulets qui suscitent le plus d’enthousiasme chez M. Fisch. « Les mécanismes d’entraînement des deux broyeurs sont identiques », indique-t-il. Les broyeurs sont dotés de deux mécanismes d’entraînement à fréquence variable de 9 000 hp ; par conséquent, le broyeur semi-autogène ne fonctionnera pas à la puissance nominale en hp figurant sur sa plaque signalétique. « Il n’atteindra probablement que 14 500 hp au maximum. Toutefois, nous avons pu limiter les coûts en capital en n’acquérant qu’un seul moteur de rechange. » Le neuf et l’ancien se côtoient de nouveau pour l’acheminement du minerai vers des cellules de flottation dans le circuit de rebroyage. En effet, le système comprend un petit broyeur à boulets provenant de la mine Mount Polley d’Imperial associé à un nouveau broyeur vertical de Metso. L’usine entière a été développée avec une certaine souplesse pour permettre un traitement variable du minerai selon sa dureté.

Géographie Comme c’est le cas pour tous les projets d’Imperial, les produits de l’usine de concentration du projet Red Chris sont probablement destinés à des consommateurs asiatiques. Les concentrés de cuivre, d’or et d’argent seront transférés dans des bogies de trains doubles de type B sur le site de la mine et transportés sur une distance d’environ 325 km jusqu’à la ville côtière de Stewart avant de traverser le Pacifique. En voyant la route, qui traverse une nature sauvage dont il faut voir la beauté pour le croire, on comprend mieux la raison pour laquelle Imperial a fait de l’environnement entourant la mine une priorité. Il y a deux ans, la société a embauché Jack Love pour contrôler le plan de surveillance environnementale de la mine. 62 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

Le projet Red Chris est situé sur une étendue sans arbres, le plateau Todagin. Cette région surplombant une profonde vallée et entourée de montagnes accidentées, dont le mont Todagin, est le territoire traditionnel des Tahltan. Mais mis à part les Premières Nations, très peu de gens comprennent mieux la région que M. Love. « Nous sommes nichés entre deux des plus beaux parcs de la province », affirme-t-il. « Le parc provincial sauvage de Spatsizi Plateau est situé à 15 km au nord-est, et le Todagin South Slope Park au sud. » « Nous sommes situés dans les eaux d’amont de deux réseaux hydrographiques, ce qui rend très difficile la surveillance de la pollution de l’eau », ajoute M. Love. « Ces petits ruisseaux sont cristallins et contiennent des concentrations ultra-faibles d’impuretés. Si vous pouviez acheminer l’eau jusqu’en Californie avec une canalisation, vous seriez milliardaire. Mais l’eau est tellement claire que l’on peut discerner chaque impureté. » M. Love explique que ses objectifs pour l’effluent de la mine sont conformes aux lignes directrices relatives à la protection de la vie aquatique, qui sont généralement dix fois plus strictes que pour l’eau potable. M. Love précise que son rôle comprend la surveillance des eaux souterraines avec un niveau de précision extraordinaire. En plus des puits situés à l’intérieur du périmètre de la mine, plus de 20 puits de surveillance des eaux souterraines ont été forés à l’extérieur de cette zone, ce qui, comme l’explique M. Love, génère une énorme quantité de données. « Si vous connaissez les modèles, vous saurez que plus les données sont nombreuses, plus votre degré de certitude et de confort à l’égard des résultats sera élevé ». En plus de surveiller l’habitat des poissons, M. Love a installé dans la région environnante des caméras à détecteur de mouvement qui enregistrent les mouvements des animaux et qui permettront de surveiller toute réaction à l’abattage à l’explosif dans la mine. M. Love compile ses rapports toutes les deux semaines et tient informée la Première Nation des Tahltan qui habite la région. Les Tahltan, qui étaient initialement méfiants à l’égard du projet, ont fini par changer d’avis et participent activement à son développement. En effet, une grande partie de la main-d’œuvre qui participe à la construction est issue des collectivités locales. La mine aura inévitablement des répercussions, aussi toutes les personnes touchées par sa présence ont dû concilier l’influence positive sur l’économie avec la transformation du paysage qui est en cours. Mais c’est aussi grâce à de grands projets comme Red Chris que les collectivités des Tahltan de la région affichent un très faible taux de chômage. Bien que les deux parties n’aient pas encore finalisé une entente sur les impacts et les avantages pour la durée de vie de la mine, des négociations sont en cours.

Confiance Les Premières Nations participent maintenant au succès du projet Red Chris, tant sur le plan économique qu’environnemental, et les partenariats qui se sont formés sont de bon augure sur le long terme. En outre, la vision d’Imperial à l’é-

RED CHRIS

| profil de projet

CAHIER DES CHARGES COÛT EN CAPITAL 570 M$ (est.) DATE DE DÉMARRAGE DE L’EXPLOITATION fin 2014 CAPACITÉ QUOTIDIENNE 30 000 tonnes TAUX DE RÉCUPÉRATION Cuivre : 86,5 % en moyenne (teneur du concentré de cuivre de 27 %) Or : 46,9 % DURÉE DE VIE ACTUELLE DE LA MINE 28 ans

RESSOURCES* RESSOURCES MESURÉES ET INDIQUÉES 8,90 milliards de livres de cuivre 12,9 millions d’onces d’or 44,6 millions d’onces d’argent ** RESSOURCES PRÉSUMÉES 7,97 milliards de livres de cuivre 12,75 millions d’onces d’or 47 millions d’onces d’argent ** *sur la base d’une teneur limite de 0,1 % de cuivre ** sur la base d’une teneur limite de 0,1 % d’équivalent de cuivre

gard de la mine ne se limite pas aux installations actuellement en construction. « À cette période l’an prochain, nous commencerons probablement à envisager une étude de faisabilité en vue d’une expansion », affirme M. Fisch, qui précise que la demande de certificat d’évaluation environnementale avait déjà été déposée au moment où le projet Red Chris a été racheté par Imperial dans le cadre de l’acquisition de bcMetals Corp. en 2007. « D’après l’ampleur du corps minéralisé, une usine traitant 30 000 tonnes de minerai par jour n’est pas suffisante. Il y a énormément de travail à faire. » En effet, les ressources en cuivre à Red Chris (ressources mesurées et indiquées de 8,89 milliards de livres) sont supérieures à celles de tout autre projet d’Imperial. « Nous n’avons jamais rien vu de tel à Imperial », explique Steve Robertson, qui travaille pour la société depuis 21 ans et était chargé de l’exploration du gisement de Red Chris. Aujourd’hui, en sa qualité de vice-président chargé des affaires générales, M. Robertson indique « qu’il s’agit du type de gisement qui permet à une société de s’établir fermement. Le plan actuel pour la mine ne cible qu’une petite partie de ces ressources ». Le principal obstacle à l’expansion concernerait les roches stériles supplémentaires, qui dépasseraient la capacité des installations actuelles et exigeraient une gestion des eaux à plus grande échelle. Cependant, toutes les personnes interrogées semblaient impatientes de commencer à résoudre ces problèmes et persuadées qu’une expansion finirait par avoir lieu. « [Red Chris] nous donne une vision différente sur tout », affirme M. Robertson. « Nous ne dépensons pas des fonds que nous n’avons pas, et il est peu probable que la situation change. À l’heure actuelle, nous devons tout simplement vivre en fonction de nos moyens, mais à très grande échelle. » C’est sans doute la viabilité du projet à long terme qui rassure les gros investisseurs d’Imperial. Parmi eux se trouve N. Murray Edwards, le principal investisseur qui détient 36 % des actions ordinaires. M. Robertson précise que la participation de M. Edwards a façonné le caractère de la société. En début d’année, l’Edco Capital Corporation de M. Edwards a consenti à Imperial un

prêt non garanti de rang inférieur de 75 millions $ pour couvrir les dépassements de budget et les remboursements du crédit de sûreté associés à la construction des installations du projet Red Chris. Dans le cadre de cette entente, Edco a perçu des frais de 750 000 $ et s’est engagée à acheter 750 000 actions à 20 $ chacune. Les actions d’Imperial se cotaient à environ XX $ sur le marché à la mi-juillet. « C’est grâce à lui que nous sommes toujours ici », affirme M. Robertson. « Compter un important actionnaire aussi engagé que M. Edwards nous a permis d’éviter de devenir la cible d’une acquisition lorsque les affaires marchaient bien. Mais il était également présent lorsque les choses n’allaient pas si bien. C’était un peu comme si l’on construisait un véritable empire. » M. Fisch et son équipe se concentrent sur les travaux quotidiens liés à la construction de la mine, mais il a souvent parlé de l’engagement de la direction et des investisseurs. Il est clair que, malgré l’isolation, il ne se sent pas coupé de Vancouver. « Je préviens les candidats lors de l’entretien [pour un poste] de ne pas s’étonner s’ils reçoivent un appel du président pour une chose ou une autre », indique M. Fisch en riant. « Le siège social compte environ 35 personnes au total. Au début, la société était très petite. Contrairement à nos projets, qui se sont développés, la taille de la société n’a pas beaucoup évolué. Une excellente communication et une grande confiance se sont établies au sein de ce petit groupe. C’est la façon dont nous communiquons, tout simplement. Il ne s’agit pas d’une organisation dont la hiérarchie est strictement descendante. » M. Fisch a travaillé pour le compte de la société à trois reprises. Son mandat actuel a débuté en 2004. « Il s’agit d’une société très familiale où bon nombre d’entre nous travaillons ensemble depuis très longtemps », ajoute M. Robertson. « Nous avons la ferme intention de bâtir une grande société minière, et je ne pense pas que beaucoup de gens à Imperial soient d’avis que la bonne façon de procéder consiste à acheter des propriétés et à les revendre rapidement ou bien à vendre Imperial à une plus grande société pour faire un gros profit. Ce n’est pas la vision que nous privilégions. » ICM August/Août 2014 | 63

TRAVEL Antofagasta By Pierrick Blin and Antoine Dion-Ortega Photos by Michel Huneault

WHERE TO

o need to pack an umbrella for Antofagasta. Stretched along the shore between the Pacific Ocean and the Chilean Coast Range mountains, the 20-kilometre-long capital of the Antofagasta Region enjoys the dry climate of the Atacama Desert, the most arid in the world. With nearly 400,000 inhabitants, this city was founded by Bolivians but conquered by Chile more than a century ago. It is now the country’s top mining port and plays a key role for the dozens of mines in the area, which include BHP Billiton’s Escondida and KGHM’s Sierra Gorda. A busy railroad carrying copper cathodes to port and the global market traverses the city, and marks the boundary between the poor neighbourhoods reaching up the mountain slopes and the wealthy centre that extends down the oceanfront.

STAY

El Desierto (Ave. Angamos 1455) Because of its location in the city’s southwest, El Desierto is a perfect fit for those who want to limit their trips through the downtown core. It boasts two restaurants, a gym, a swimming pool, a large parking lot and is next to the city’s casino. The Museum of Mining History is right across the street. (queen or king from $150/night; $360/night for luxury rooms)

TIP

Book your room at least one week in advance whatever the season.

Terrado (Ave. Baquedano 15) Two blocks away from the central Plaza Colón in a modern building that is currently being expanded, the Terrado offers top-quality service and a gorgeous view over the Port of Antofagasta. What is more, it is right next to the central mall. Two presidential suites are available. (queen or king from $150/night; $200/night for luxury rooms with two queen beds) Radisson (Ave. República de Croacia 1151) Not far from El Desierto and faithful to the reputation of its brand, the Radisson offers a range of single and double rooms with great views of the ocean. There are five meeting rooms that can accommodate groups from 10 to 40 people. (queen or king from $140/night; two queen beds for $225/night) 64 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

WHERE TO

DINE

Chileans are used to eating late in the evening compared to North Americans. Even if they usually open at 7 or 8 p.m., restaurants will not start filling up before 9 p.m. Do not miss Chile’s national aperitif, the pisco sour, made with local grape brandy. For excellent coffee, go to the pedestrian Prat Street, between Condell and Plaza Colón. Café Del Centro is recommended.

scene and is well suited for business dinners, although the decor can look a bit cold. The menu features a very good selection of seafood. (appetizers $16; main courses $20)

TIP Men almost always foot the bill at restaurants and may be embarrassed if a woman tries to pay. Do not bother fighting this battle. Make arrangements in advance if it is important that you pay.

bistro-fusion cuisine and its lounge atmosphere. The restaurant also has a comfortable terrace. The food, ranging from appetizers to passion fruit desserts, is excellent. (appetizers $17; main courses $25)

Divinus Ave. Bernardo O’Higgins 1456, Parque Brasil Divinus is an ideal place for a business dinner, with its diverse

Amares Ave. Antonino Toro 995 A spotless and modern bistro bar, Amares is a major player in the Antofagasta food

El Chico Jaime Mercado Central, second floor local 115 For an authentic experience, why not pop by Chico Jaime in the market? For more than 40 years, this museum-like restaurant has offered a fairly simple cuisine based on fresh market products, including succulent ceviche. Service, exclusively in Spanish, is both efficient and friendly. (appetizers $16; main courses $20)

HOW TO

WHERE TO

EXPLORE

Museo del Desierto de Atacama (Entry $4, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m./2 to 7 p.m.) The museum covers the history of mining in the Antofagasta Region from preColumbian times to the modern era. It is located above the ruins of an impressive smelting plant that once treated silver ore coming from the Potosi Region in Bolivia. Museo Regional de Antofagasta (Entry $1.50, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m./weekends 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) Housed in the old customs house of Antofagasta built in 1867, the museum holds a col-

GETTING

FIT IN

lection of artefacts from the pre-Columbian era as well as historical and geological records of the region.

• Although educated Chileans usually have some English basics, the main language is Spanish. Having a background knowledge of Spanish is usually noticed and greatly appreciated.

Near the national capital If you have one or two days to spare as you pass through the national capital of Santiago, do not miss the opportunity to visit one of the many wineries in the region. It is also a great opportunity to visit Valparaiso, a chaotic but picturesque port city and a UNESCO world heritage site just a twohour drive from Santiago on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

• Chileans are known to be more formal and a little colder than other Latin Americans. The Chilean business dress code can often seem more formal than the one in Canada. Men should wear jackets regardless of the heat, though for women bare legs are acceptable with dresses. • Chileans are probably the most “North American” Latino people. Their distant politeness partly explains their reputation as a “serious” people in South America. However, physical contact such as touching arms, hugging and kissing on the cheek is more common than in Canada.

AROUND

Taxis in Chile are safe and inexpensive. Black cars with yellow roofs can be hailed in the street. Make sure your taxi has a meter, and it is best to have a general sense of the route to your destination. Taxis can also be called from your hotel.

HOW TO

TIP

If it is your first trip to Chile, you will be required to pay a reciprocity fee of US$132 at the airport.

HOW TO

PAY

Credit cards are generally accepted in tourist-friendly places. You should keep some cash on hand though, for common purchases and taxis. The national currency is the Chilean peso (CLP) – try not to be surprised by very high prices as one Canadian dollar is worth about 505 CLP. You can exchange your dollars in banks or in exchange houses called casas de cambio. Chile’s consumption tax, the IVA, is 19 per cent on all goods and services. Foreigners are exempt from it if they pay for their hotel room in U.S. dollars. Always check whether the tax is included in the price. In restaurants and bars, Chileans usually leave a 10 per cent tip. In hotels, a tip is not expected but is sometimes left out of goodwill. As for taxi drivers, they usually expect no gratuity but Chileans often round up the price. In small, family-run restaurants, tipping is not required but appreciated, considering that waiters typically receive low wages.

GET THERE

There are no direct flights to Antofagasta from any city in Canada, but Air Canada offers five direct 12-hour flights per week from Toronto to Santiago. From there you can make a connection to all of the major cities in Chile, including the two-hour flight to Antofagasta. Most major

U.S. carriers and the official Chilean carrier LAN offer flights from major Canadian cities through the United States and Santiago to Antofagasta, but those involve clearing U.S. customs. Expect to pay from $1,500 in economy class to $7,000 in first class.

August/Août 2014 | 65

Plénière d’ouverture | Plenary 11 septembre | 11 September | 15:00 — 17:00 Autour de la thématique générale « Le Carrefour des Géants », la session plénière d’ouverture permettra à cinq joueurs influents de l’industrie minière de débattre des enjeux majeurs auxquels les producteurs miniers canadiens seront confrontés afin d’affronter la compétition internationale.

Revolving around the general theme “The Hub of Giants,” the opening plenary session will allow five influential players in the mining industry to discuss key issues the Canadian mining producers will be facing from the international competition. Pierre Lapointe Directeur Général de l’excellence opérationnelle, ArcelorMittal Mines General Manager Operational Excellence, ArcelorMittal Mines

Terence F. Bowles Président et chef de la direction, Corporation de gestion de la voie maritime du Saint-Laurent President and CEO, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation

Nicole Piggott Directrice des Services de la main-d’œuvre, communications et relations externes, Compagnie minière IOC Services Manager Workforce Communications and External Relations, Iron Ore Company of Canada

Bish Chanda Vice-Président principal, Marketing et stratégie, New Millennium Iron Corp. Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Strategy, New Millennium Iron Corp.

Louis Cyrenne Vice-Président, opérations de Sept-Îles, Compagnie minière IOC Vice-President, Sept-Iles Operations, Iron Ore Company of Canada

STANDS à visiter gratuitement BOOTHS to visit for FREE

Inscrivez-vous : memo2014.cim.org

Courtesy of CIM

Modératrice | Moderator Jo-Anne Boucher Directrice générale, Sudbury, BESTECH General Manager, Sudbury, BESTECH

Aperçu de l’horaire | Schedule at a Glance Mercredi, 10 septembre | Wednesday, September 10

VISITES INDUSTRIELLES • Mine de fer du Lac Bloom ; • Usine de Métal 7 et installation de la Compagnie IOC ; et • ArcelorMittal

INDUSTRIAL TOURS • Bloom Lake Iron Mine • Metal 7 & Iron Ore Company (IOC) installations • ArcelorMittal

VISITES INDUSTRIELLE • Aluminerie Alouette et Quai multi-usagers du Port de Sept-Îles PROGRAMME SOCIAL • Visite du site traditionnel innu Telina • Croisière et visite de la ferme maricole Purmer

Plénière d’ouverture Cérémonie de bienvenue Réception dans le salon commercial Soirée réseautage scotch et saveurs

SOCIAL PROGRAM • Visit of the aboriginal camp Telina • Cruise & visit of the Purmer mussel & scallop farm

Opening plenary Welcome ceremony Reception in the trade show Scotch and Tapas networking evening

Vendredi, 12 septembre | Friday, September 12

08h30 à 17h00 08h30 à 15h30 10h00 à 17h00 19h00 à 22h00 08:30 to 17:00 08:30 to 15:30 10:00 to 17:00 19:00 to 22:00

Programme technique (2 salles / thèmes) Cégep de Sept Îles - Salon M4S Salon commercial (pauses-café, lunch et réception) Soirée banquet MEMO 2014 au Carrefour La Baie Technical program (two rooms/themes) Cégep de Sept-Îles – M4S Show Trade show (coffee breaks, lunch & reception) Evening banquet MEMO 2014 at Carrefour La Baie

Samedi, 13 septembre | Saturday, September 13

08h30 à 17h00 10h00 à 17h00 10h00 à 16h00 08:30 to 17:00 10:00 to 17:00 10:00 to 16:00

8:30 – 10:00

Projets – Repousser les limites Projects – Pushing Boundaries

Projets – 1ère partie Projects 1

10:30 – 12:00

Gestion de l’énergie – Relever le défi Energy Management – Taking the Challenge

Sécurité Safety

Ingénierie – Les meilleures pratiques Engineering – Best Practices

Nouvelles techniques aux vieux problèmes New Techniques for Old Problems

15:30 – 17:00

INDUSTRIAL TOUR • Aluminerie Alouette & Multi-User dock of the Sept-Iles harbour

15:00 to 17:00 17:15 17:30 to 19:30 20:00 to 22:00

VENDREDI 12 SEPTEMBRE | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

13:30 – 15:00

Jeudi, 11 septembre | Thursday, September 11

15h00 à 17h00 17h15 17h30 à 19h30 20h00 à 22h00

15:00 – 17:00 Séance plénière | Plenary Session

Programme Technique (2 salles / thèmes) Salon commercial (pauses-café, lunch et réception) Cégep de Sept Îles - Salon M4S Technical Program (two rooms/themes) Trade show (coffee breaks, lunch & afternoon reception) Cégep de Sept-Îles – M4S Show

Maintenance et fiabilité – Les meilleures pratiques Maintenance and Reliability – Best Practices

Projets innovateurs Innovative Projects

SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBRE | SAMEDI, SEPTEMBER 12 8:30 – 10:00 Sécurité et Environnement – Clefs de la réussite pour l’avenir Safety & Environment – Keys to Future Success

Programme technique | Technical program

JEUDI 11 SEPTEMBRE | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

Projets – 2ième partie Projects 2

10:30 – 12:00 Chaîne d’approvisionnement – La gestion des coûts augmente la rentabilité Supply Chain – Managing Costs Increases Profitability

Contrôle de roche au sol Ground Control

13:30 – 15:00

Les gens du secteur minier – D’aujourd’hui et demain Mining Sector People – Today and tomorrow

Planification et cédule des minières Mine Planning and Scheduling

15:30 – 17:00 “La Belle Province” – Secteur minier “La Belle Province”– Mining Sector Thèmes / Streams Ingénierie de maintenance et de la fiabilité Maintenance Engineering and Reliability Stream

Développement et construction des mines Mine Development and Construction Exploitation minière souterraine et à ciel ouvert Surface Mining and Underground Mining

CIM community

Pressure, deadlines and last-minute surprises are all part of a university student’s life and factor into a unique business case competition held in Saskatoon each year. Organizers of the National Mining Competition (NMC) are accepting registrations for this year’s event, scheduled from October 30 to November 2 and hosted by the Edwards School of Business and the University of Saskatchewan. Last year’s event featured 14 teams of four from across the country, with the lone non-Canadian team, Michigan Technological University, winning the competition, said Cooper Meadows, event co-chair external. Now in its third year, organizers are thinking globally to grow the contest. “We recently reached out to the U.K., France, Germany, and Chile,” said Meadows, adding that they have set a goal of 20 teams this year. The NMC includes one main business case problem and an additional surprise challenge. For the main challenge, teams are presented with data and a strategic question to answer for a fictional mining company and they are given 36 hours to provide a business case to a panel of industry experts. “This year, we’re really planning on making it a multidisciplinary case,” said Meadows, noting it would encourage participation from teams made up of engineering and geosciences students along with financing and accounting people on the business side. “The reason why we’re trying to do that is to put together a simulation of industry,” he said. During the 36-hour period, teams will be able to consult a panel of mining industry professionals to help them solve their case. Teams then submit their results and give an initial 20minute presentation, which includes a question and answer session with a judging panel made up of sponsors and mining experts. The top teams in each group go on to a final presentation, with the winners announced at an awards gala. The competition also includes a surprise challenge, which factors into the overall scoring. ”Last year, the surprise challenge was a crisis challenge,” said Meadows, explaining it centred on a simulated incident at a mine and how public relations employees would respond to it.

Courtesy of The National Mining Competition

National Mining Competition looking beyond borders

The National Mining Competition awards gala

Meadows said the event provides students with a valuable learning opportunity, as they have to put together a case under a tight deadline and undergo a boardroom-style Q&A from the panel. But there are other important benefits too, like networking with students and industry professionals. This paid off for one of last year’s winners, Matt Schwalen, who lined up an internship with Cameco following the event. “Overall the competition is meant to be educational, but given NMC’s structure, you are also able to network and it undoubtedly played a part in my ability to get a job at Cigar Lake,” said Schwalen, who is in the last year of his bachelor of sciences in the civil engineering program, with a mining engineering minor at Michigan Technological University. At last year’s contest, teams were given three fictional gold deposits and instructed to guide the panel to pursue the most economical, and Schwalen’s team was the only one to decide it was not worth considering any of the options for development. “In the final hours when we realized these deposits couldn’t be developed, the team was under a lot of pressure,” he said. “I know I could feel it.” The registration deadline is September 30. CIM

CIM Foundation: a change in name only The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Foundation will now officially be known as the CIM Foundation. The name change is for the sake of clarity, explained foundation manager Deborah Smith-Sauvé: “We were created by members of CIM. We are funded totally by CIM members, and whenever anybody said CMMF, nobody understood the relationship between the foundation and CIM, so we are charting a closer path.”

68 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 5

The not-for-profit charitable foundation was established in 1972 and provides scholarships for students pursuing careers in the mining and metallurgical sectors. It also raises funds for various CIM activities and programs like M4S that promote the benefits and opportunities provided by the industry. The foundation is legally separate and distinct from CIM and is run by its own board, Smith-Suavé said. “But we are aligned with CIM and we are here to continue to support CIM, especially with its new strategic plan,” she added.

CIM community Distinguished Lecturers Now in its 47th year, CIM’s Distinguished Lecturer program is poised to once again provide mining professionals and students at branch, society or university events with informative, engaging and entertaining presentations on relevant and vital subjects. This year’s program features talks on corporate social responsibility, government transparency, project execution, and environmentally conscious mining. CIM

Ben Chalmers, vice-president of sustainable development with MAC, and Ross Gallinger, former executive director of PDAC. Resource revenue transparency Though mining offers governments around the world the opportunity to generate revenue, it is difficult to know how society benefits from mining operations when there is no means of tracking how tax and royalty revenues are spent. A lack of transparency can lead to the mismanagement, loss or even theft of resource revenues that are critical for development. Chalmers and Gallinger will discuss how their organizations partnered with civil society groups on an initiative that will require Canadian companies to disclose payments derived from resource extraction to governments all over the world.

Joseph Ringwald, president and CEO of Selwyn Resources. The inevitability of CSR This presentation looks at the origins and the future of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and what aspects of CSR are now making news. This includes the resource revenue transparency initiative that the federal government is currently discussing. Ringwald will also discuss the potential impacts to companies if they decide to ignore CSR, and touch on the rewards for companies that choose to invest in it. Ken Thomas, project development and metallurgy president, Ken Thomas & Associates Inc. Project execution and cost escalation in the mining industry In the last 10 years, the mining industry has witnessed an escalation in capital costs, with project costs doubling or tripling in some cases during that time. Meanwhile, operating costs have also increased, affecting the project’s net present value and internal rate of return. Thomas will explain why capital costs have increased and discuss the various components that make up capital estimates. He will also look at why preliminary estimates have been so much lower than the ultimate construction costs and how miners can exercise better discipline during project execution to stay on budget. Janice Zinck, mine waste management and processing research program manager, Natural Resources Canada. Green mining: an oxymoron or an opportunity? In Canada, miners understand that in order to obtain – and retain – their social licence to operate, they must conduct operations responsibly. This includes being environmental stewards. Zinck will illustrate the development and application of technologies and processes that maximize environmental performance while also maintaining competitiveness throughout the entire mining cycle, from exploration to post-closure.

One to watch Faizul Mohee, left, is presented with the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) President’s Young Professional Award by Paul Acchione, the society’s CEO, on May 6. The award is presented annually to recognize an outstanding OSPE volunteer who promotes engineering at school and following graduation. Mohee, a CIM student member who has participated in many CIM Toronto Branch events, has a master’s in civil engineering from the University of

Toronto and is completing his PhD at the University of Waterloo. “It was a really good feeling,” said Mohee. “OSPE gives this award to one young engineer for all engineering disciplines all over Ontario, so I am feeling encouraged and motivated in my work. It’s a big morale boost.” Mohee has worked with Genivar and Hatch, and is interested in pursuing civil and structural engineering related to mining and nuclear infrastructure projects.

Courtesy of Marina Freire-Gormaly

To find out more about CIM’s distinguished lecturers and their presentations in their own words, visit cim.org. To book a distinguished lecturer, visit www.cim.org, call (514) 939-2710, or email dist_lecturer@cim.org.

August/Août 2014 | 69

53rd Annual Conference of Metallurgists

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM Vancouver, B.C., Canada | September 28-October 1, 2014 | Hyatt Regency Hotel

PROSPERITY THROUGH PROCESS ADVANCEMENTS From base and light metals to rare earths to nanomaterials, processes are critical for making metals and materials in an economical and safe way, and this is highlighted at the 53rd Annual Conference of Metallurgists. COM's main purpose is to provide a forum for learning. It also serves to recognize those who have spent their careers teaching others. Learning extends beyond the symposia with short courses, tours of metallurgical and

materials operations, a poster session and an expanded trade show. I encourage you to participate in what will be an excellent opportunity to learn and teach, meet old friends and make new ones, and honour and celebrate those in our industry. See you in Vancouver! Boyd Davis, COM 2014 Conference Chair

TECHNICAL PROGRAM This year’s technical program consists of more than 300 papers organized under the following themes: Arsenic Metallurgy & the Environment Process Control Applications Rare Earth Elements Process & Flowsheet Development Risk Management Bill Davenport Symposium Metals & Mineral Process in honour of Dr. Ram Rao

Light Metals Processing Nanoscale Materials Characterization Vanadium in honor of Prof. Gilles Allard Advanced Materials Manufacturing Multiscale Modelling and Simulations of Failure in Structural Materials Process Safety Management in Metallurgical Operations

Check out the complete technical program and speakers list online: web.cim.org/COM2014

SHORT COURSES

THE GREAT DEBATE

Though strongly encouraged, it is not necessary to be a conference delegate to register for short courses.

Debates & special talks PLENARY

The complete schedule, with presenter information, is available on our website.

Metallurgy in the 21st Century – The Balance Between Operational Excellence and Technological Step-Change

k Control of Mineral Processing Systems k Risk Management k Process Safety Management Awareness k Process Hazard Analysis k Energy Storage Course Overview k Process Safety and Managing Risk

The debate on how to best use precious financial resources to maximize return on investment has been brought to the Conference of Metallurgists. Moderated by conference chair Boyd Davis, the plenary will feature four highly experienced metallurgists discussing the relative balance between investment in technological step-change and operational improvement, and the circumstances that tilt the scales in one direction over the other. Speakers: Nils Voermann, Global Managing Director, Hatch Jean-François Turgeon, Executive Vice-President, Tronox Michael Agnew, Principal, Michael Agnew Inc. Phillip Mackey, President, P.J. Mackey Technology Inc.

REGISTER NOW AND SAVE! Be sure to reserve your tickets for activities as quantities are limited: web.cim.org/com2014. Take advantage of the reduced registration cost for CIM National members this year!

ROUND TABLE LUNCHEON Role of Extractive Metallurgy Societies COM 2014 brings together technical personnel and management teams from different players in the industry to discuss the modern-day role of extractive metallurgy societies and to explore how these societies could support the industry in its search for technical and other solutions to maintain a healthy, sustainable and profitable mining and metals business.

METALS TRADE SHOW Book your space today! Only a few spaces are left in the Metals 2014 Trade Show, strategically located in the foyer of the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel to ensure optimal visibility.

A lunch will follow the discussion where a summary aimed at discerning commonalities between the technical societies on how they see the future of extractive metallurgy will be presented. Tickets are required. Courtesy of IPI Photography

Contact Brigitte Farah at bfarah@cim.org for more info.

74% of delegates are from industry

web.cim.org/COM2014

INDUSTRIAL TOURS