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PDAC e-News and Activities, April 3, 2007, No. 42
Page Index
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report released
‘Super’ flow-through extended
in federal budget but geoscience excluded yet again
PDAC members offered
substantial discount for world encyclopaedia of ore deposits
Second
national health and safety survey underway
Mining mission to India
Call for volunteers for CSA
Mining Technical Advisory & Monitoring Committee
New leadership appointments at
Natural Resources Canada
East wins 18th Norman B. Keevil
memorial hockey game
Exploration 2007 to be held in Toronto,
September 9-12
Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) report released
The report of the advisory group for the National Roundtables on
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Canadian Extractive
Industry in Developing Countries was released on March 29. The report
comes after ten months of deliberations and a series of open and closed
roundtables held in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary in 2006.
The advisory group included representation from civil society, industry,
academia, labour, and socially responsible investors and by communities
affected by Canadian mining, oil and gas operations in the developing
world. The report urges the federal government, in cooperation with key
stakeholders, to adopt a CSR framework for Canadian extractive companies
operating abroad. The framework would include performance standards,
reporting guidelines, the establishment of an ombudsman’s office and a
compliance review committee. A major section of the report recommends
strengthening governance and capacity building in countries where
Canadian companies operate.
Click here for the full report and
here for a media
advisory which provides the report’s highlights. Members having
questions about the report are asked to contact PDAC executive director
Tony Andrews, aandrews@pdac.ca,
who was the industry focal point for the advisory group.
‘Super’ flow-through extended
in federal budget but geoscience excluded yet again
In his government’s budget of March 26, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty
announced the extension of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) or
the ‘super’ flow-through. The budget has since passed. The METC, which
was due to expire at the end of March 2007, is now extended to March 31
next year. Funds raised up until that time can be spent on eligible
exploration activity up until the end of 2009. Disappointingly and
despite intense lobbying from the PDAC, the Mining Association of Canada
and others, the federal government again did not fund the Cooperative
Geological Mapping Strategies. This has been on the books since 2000
when all of Canada’s mines ministers made a commitment to this
federal-provincial-territorial initiative and agreed that funding from
the federal government ($25 million/year over ten years) would
automatically kick in a further $25/year over ten years from the
provinces. Other budget items likely to have a direct or indirect effect
on Canada’s mineral exploration and development industry are listed
here.
PDAC members offered
substantial discount for world encyclopaedia of ore deposits
AMIRA International has been building the foundations for a community
world encyclopaedia of ore deposits through its project,
Data
Metallogenica (DM) over the past seven years. The nucleus of
this ambitious project is the world’s most comprehensive and
representative sample collection of ores, alteration, host rocks and
regolith from over 3,000 deposits in more than 70 countries. This core
of material is being increasingly supported by other deposit information
including maps, sections, and field photographs. New features are added
frequently. Recent additions include commodity galleries containing
global commodity reviews; the inclusion of full text digital university
Ph.D. theses; and new contributions on diamonds from BHP Billiton and
Mineral Services Canada on several Ekati pipes, including Panda, Misery
and Koala. The subscription rate for PDAC members for their personal use
is US$75/annum, a very substantial 50% discount on the regular
subscription rate. Click as appropriate:
brochure,
newsletter,
and
subscription form. Please note that all material can be downloaded
from the website, which has been designed for good access, even by local
dial-up. A very useful feature is the powerful and fast search and
select capability, allowing searching by deposit name, geological
province, country, state, commodity and deposit type.
Second
national health and safety survey underway
This year’s health and safety survey has been sent to Canadian companies
with exploration projects in Canada. The PDAC is again partnering with
the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia to conduct this
survey and to produce a report based on its findings. We urge companies
to participate in the survey, the objectives of which are: to track
health and safety trends nationwide; to promote health and safety
awareness; and to encourage companies to institute accident prevention
measures. There are a number of ways to complete the survey:
electronically by
clicking here; by downloading this
form,
completing it and mailing or faxing it in; or by using this
spreadsheet (or a similar internal form) and emailing it as an
attachment to Jonathan Buchanan,
jbuchanan@amebc.ca (please make sure you include your company name).
All responses are kept confidential. The aggregate data will be
published in a report later this year. Last year’s report is
here.
Mining mission to India
The Canada-India Business Council is organizing a mining business
mission to India in September (dates to be confirmed). The mission’s
objective is to take a small group of Canadian companies engaged in
mineral exploration, mining equipment, engineering services, and mine
development and introduce them to their Indian counterparts to
facilitate deal-making. Contact Hemant M. Shah,
hirshah@mts.net or
cubexindia@vsn1.net, telephone
204 291 4248, or Arun J. Basu,
abasu@miair.com, telephone 905 812 3120, ext. 104.
Call for volunteers for CSA
Mining Technical Advisory & Monitoring Committee
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is expanding its mining
technical advisory and monitoring committee from 10 to 15 members and is
inviting new applications for committee membership. The committee, which
advises the CSA on mining related regulatory issues and serves as a
forum for communication between the CSA and the mining industry, meets
about four times a year, mostly by teleconference. Members serve
two-year terms and are expected to have extensive technical expertise
and a strong interest in securities regulatory policy relating to the
mining industry. Deadline for application is April 12.
Click here for
more details.
New leadership appointments
at Natural Resources Canada
NRCan Deputy Minister Cassie Doyle has announced two new appointments
over the past few months. At the end of November 2006, Mark Corey
assumed the position of assistant deputy minister in the Earth Sciences
Sector, and this month Stephen Lucas becomes assistant deputy minister
in the Minerals and Metals Sector.
Click
here for the full announcement.
East wins 18th Norman B. Keevil
memorial hockey game
Long-time organizer of the convention hockey game, Jim Priest, reports
that this year’s match up between East and West was spirited, well
played, fast, and with some skilled plays. Jim called only three
penalities. The game was held on Sunday, March 4 at the Varsity Arena
and was sponsored by Fugro Airborne Services. The final score was 5 to 4
for the East. After the game, coaches, managers and players were treated
to refreshments at the Duke of York pub.
Exploration 2007 to be held in
Toronto, September 9-12
Exploration 2007 is the fifth in a series of decennial conferences on
exploration technology held in Toronto since Canada’s centennial year in
1967. This year’s conference, to be held from September 9 to 12 at the
Royal York, features oral presentations, workshops,
posters, and a 3D visualization theatre.
Full details
here. |
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