Government Policies
Canadian Policies with Situational Impact on Mining
MNTC 409 - Mineral Economics
Doug Macaulay
Learning Outcomes
This video will assist you in
achieving the following Learning
Outcome(s) for this week:
• Describe Canadian government
policies with extensive, and
situational, impact on
companies in the mining and
metals industry [CLO 2, 9]
This material is copyrighted and is for the sole use of students registered in MNTC 409. This material shall not be distributed or disseminated to anyone other than students registered in MNTC 409.
Failure to abide by these conditions is a breach of copyright, and may also constitute a breach of academic integrity under the Queen’s University Senate’s Academic Integrity Policy Statement.
Key topics
• Transportation
• Infrastructure
• Trade and investment
• Innovation
• Northern development
This material is copyrighted and is for the sole use of students registered in MNTC 409. This material shall not be distributed or disseminated to anyone other than students registered in MNTC 409.
Failure to abide by these conditions is a breach of copyright, and may also constitute a breach of academic integrity under the Queen’s University Senate’s Academic Integrity Policy Statement.
Key topics
• Transportation
• Infrastructure • inter-connected
• Trade and investment
• 50% of Canada’s mineral exports go
to the US market
• push for diversification of markets
and a growing share of other
markets positive, but
• utility of those efforts can be
reduced by challenges in moving
product to markets
Per: Brendan Marshall, Vice-President, Economic and Northern Affairs, Mining Association of Canada
Transportation
Federal legislation
• Bill C-49 – amended Canada Transportation Act
• Royal Assent 23May2018
• lessened anti-competitive aspects of rail freight market (grains)
• Mining industry is the largest rail shipper by freight revenue and volume (1)
• 50% vs 13% for grain
• potash, coal, iron ore
• Many mines are “captive shippers” (2)
• high rates, poor service
• investment by railways goes to lines where competition exists
(1) Per: Brendan Marshall, Vice-President, Economic and Northern Affairs, Mining Association of Canada
(2) From: “Ottawa just tied Canadian miners to the tracks of a railway duopoly” by Pierre Gratton,
President and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada. Op-ed in Financial Post, May 23, 2018
Transportation
Railways
• Two publicly traded freight railways
• Canadian National Railway (CN) – BC, AB, SK, MB, NWT, ON, QC, NS, NB
• Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) – BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC
• Privately owned railways
• QC, NL – Bloom Lake Railway, Quebec North Shore and Labrador
Railway, Chemin de fer Arnaud, Wabush Lake Railway, Cartier Railway
• QC – Chemin de fer de la Rivière-Romaine, Roberval and Saguenay
Railway
• ON – Vale Railway
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_railways
Infrastructure
Critical areas for mining industry
• Railways, ports, all-weather roads and highways
• Power generation
• advances in energy efficiency offset by older and deeper mines
requiring more energy per unit of ore
• northern mines lack electrical grid connections
Per: Mining Association of Canada website
Infrastructure
Federal initiatives
• Investing in Canada Plan
(Apr2018)
• $180 billion over 12
years in infrastructure
projects
• $95.6 billion of new
investment
• 14 federal
departments and
agencies
Figure from: “Investing in Canada: Canada’s Long-Term Infrastructure Plan”, Infrastructure Canada (2018) (7)
Accessed at: https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/alt-format/pdf/plan/icp-pic/IC-InvestingInCanadaPlan-ENG.pdf
Trade and investment
International initiatives
• Extractive Sector Trade Strategy (Feb2015)
• leverage trade and investment agreements
• advocate for improved governance and regulatory frameworks
• training for Canadian missions
Trade and investment
Bilateral and regional agreements
• 36 Foreign Investment Protection Agreements (FIPAs)
• 14 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with 51 countries
Map from: Government of Canada website at: https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/index.aspx?lang=eng
Trade and investment
Bilateral and regional agreements
• 36 Foreign Investment Protection Agreements (FIPAs)
• 14 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with 51 countries
Canada-European Union
Comprehensive Economic
and Trade Agreement (CETA)
Canada-United States- Comprehensive and Progressive
Mexico Agreement Agreement for Trans-Pacific
(CUSMA) Partnership (CPTPP)
Map from: Government of Canada website at: https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/index.aspx?lang=eng
Trade and investment
International initiatives
• Extractive Sector Trade Strategy (Feb2015)
• leverage trade and investment agreements
• advocate for improved governance and regulatory frameworks
• training for Canadian missions
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy (Feb 2014, enhanced Jan2018)
• promote and advance CSR guidance
• foster networks and partnerships
• facilitate dialogue towards dispute resolution
• Canadian Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise (Sheri Meyerhoffer)
Trade and investment
Other initiatives
• Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA) (June 2015)
• Payments to a government of $100,000 or more
• Taxes, royalties, dividends, fees, infrastructure improvements
• Trade and Transportation Corridors Initiative (TTCI) (Nov2016)
• $2 billion over 11 years for the National Trade Corridors Fund
• trade enabling infrastructure in territories
• projects – ports, rail yards, transportation facilities and access roads
• $800 million, 39 projects to date
Innovation
Natural Resources Canada led initiatives
• Green Mining Initiative (2009)
• endorsed at 2009 Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference
• current CanmetMINING areas of focus
• enhancing mine productivity
• energy efficiency
• National Collaboration Strategy
• 2017 Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference
• improve collaboration between stakeholders
• support mining innovation and adoption of green mining technologies
by Canadian mining industry
Following: “National Collaboration Strategy for the Mining Industry: Driving Innovation in the Canadian Mining
Industry”. Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference, St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, August 2017
Innovation
Collaborative initiatives
• Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) (1)
• consortium of industry, academic and government leaders
• “transform mining towards a zero-waste industry”
• mechanical breakage of rock; battery electric vehicles; energy loss in grinding
• Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) (2)
• funded by government and industry
• bench, pilot and full scale testing
• deep mining (heat, rock stress); mine productivity; environmental impact
(1) Following: CMIC website at: https://cmic-ccim.org/
(2) Following: CEMI website at: https://www.cemi.ca/
Innovation
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
• Innovation Superclusters Initiative (2017)
• $950 million in federal funding, to be matched by private sector
• applications submitted by industry-led consortia
• CLEER (Clean, Low-Energy, Effective, Engaged and Remediated)
initiative developed by mining industry
• water use, energy intensity, environmental footprint
• CEMI, CMIC, plus 4 others on behalf of a consortium of 162 members
• CLEER proposal short-listed but not among five selected
Per: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada website
Northern development
Federal
• Northern and remote locations
• Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan – infrastructure needs “more
pronounced” in northern, remote and isolated regions
• support mostly through other policies and themes, and for the most part
not aimed at specific projects
• Fortune Minerals - NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine in NWT
• funding through P3 Canada Fund (predecessor to CIB)
• 25% of the construction costs of a 50 km all-season road
Northern development
Quebec – Plan Nord
• area north of the 49th parallel, St.
Lawrence River and Gulf of St.
Lawrence
• sustainable development by 2035
• Investissement Québec funding for
mining projects, infrastructure
• Renard project (Stornoway
Diamond Corporation); Eleonore
project (Newmont Goldcorp)
Map from: Société du Plan Nord website at: http://plannord.gouv.qc.ca/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/Carte-1-ANG.pdf
Summary
• Aspects of transportation,
infrastructure and trade and
investment policies
• Innovation
• federal and collaborative
initiatives
• Northern development
This material is copyrighted and is for the sole use of students registered in MNTC 409. This material shall not be distributed or disseminated to anyone other than students registered in MNTC 409.
Failure to abide by these conditions is a breach of copyright, and may also constitute a breach of academic integrity under the Queen’s University Senate’s Academic Integrity Policy Statement.
