WORKERS CAPITAL
Feds must force pensions to fund Canadian mining, Lassonde, Giustra say

 
Colin McClelland | February 25, 2024 | 

Highland Valley Copper Operations in British Columbia sports the flag.

 (Image courtesy of Teck Resources.)

Ottawa has to pressure pension funds to invest billions in Canadian mining, a radical change from their almost non-existent stakes, if the industry is ever going to produce enough metals to fight climate change, veteran entrepreneurs Pierre Lassonde and Frank Giustra say.


Canada’s eight largest pension funds hold some C$2.1 trillion in assets but only a quarter was even invested in the country last year, according to research by Montreal-based fund manager Letko Brosseau. The so-called Maple Eight devoted just 3% to domestic equities, the lowest of a group of six countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, data show.

“They’ve taken the vast majority of this money – 75% of it – and invested it outside Canada to create jobs outside of Canada to the detriment of Canadians,” Lassonde, a founder of Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV; NYSE: FNV) and a former president of Newmont (NYSE: NEM; TSX: NGT), said in a phone interview this month. “Essentially, the mining industry has been ignored.”

Pension funds are not investing in large Canadian mining companies, which may in turn invest in juniors, in part because few domestic options remain. Switzerland-based Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) acquisition of most of Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) coking coal assets in November for about C$9 billion is the latest large deal scooping up Canadian assets.

Xstrata, now part of Glencore, bought nickel giant Falconbridge for C$39 billion in 2006, the same year Brazil’s Vale (NYSE: VALE) purchased the country’s other main nickel producer, Inco, for C$19 billion. Australia’s Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) followed a year later in acquiring aluminum producer Alcan for C$38 billion. Lassonde and Giustra say pension fund investing might have helped them stay.

“We’re talking about very large companies, mining giants that we lost to foreigners,” said Giustra, who founded Lions Gate Entertainment (Fahrenheit 9/11, The Hunger Games) and helped start Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM, NYSE: WPM; LSE: WPM) and Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV; LSE: EDV).

“These aren’t risky companies. This was the backbone of our mining industry in this country.”

Rules eroded

Indeed, Canadian pensions were required to invest 90% of their assets domestically in 1990, but federal governments gradually reduced the limit before removing it entirely in 2005. Total domestic exposure as a percentage of assets ranges from 55% held by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan to 13% run by Public Sector Pension Investments (PSP). The average of other pension funds around the world is 52%, according to Letko Brosseau.

Pensions are the largest repository of wealth in many countries and globally hold nearly $50 trillion. Reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will require annual clean energy investment worldwide to more than triple by 2030 to around $4 trillion, according to the International Energy Agency. Just mining enough battery metals over the next three years will cost as much as $450 billion, the agency said. In 2022, Ottawa budgeted nearly C$4 billion in spending on critical minerals by 2030 but it’s not clear how pension funds are being engaged to support projects.

“The government of Canada continues to engage with critical minerals stakeholders, including pension plans and other institutional, arms-length investors,” Michael MacDonald, a spokesman for the federal Natural Resources Ministry, said in an emailed reply to questions.

It was MacDonald’s only reference to pension funds in what was otherwise a page-long list of government programs stemming from its critical minerals strategy. He suggested the Canada Development Investment Corp. (CDEV), a federal Crown corporation that advises the government on financial matters, might explain how mining companies could seek funding from the C$15 billion Canada Growth Fund. CDEV didn’t reply in time for this story.
Pensions mum

Pension funds themselves were even more reticent to discuss the issue. Only the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which Lassonde praised for its resource funding, replied to emails seeking comment. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP), the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), and the PSP didn’t reply or declined to speak.

“CDPQ is active in the mining sector in Quebec and Canada and has an investment team dedicated to the sector,” Kate Monfette, the pension’s media director, said by email. “Among other things, with a fund like Sodémex which supports exploration projects, we remain on the lookout for developments and opportunities in the mining and materials ecosystem. Our priority is to focus on the most promising companies in order to help them develop while generating a return for our depositors.”

British Columbia Investment Management (BCI) said it invests 29.4% in Canada and referred other inquiries to its annual report. OMERS said it wouldn’t comment on the topic.

Canada should consider Australia’s example, Lassonde and Giustra said. Its pensions, which are called superannuation funds, hold A$3.5 trillion (C$3.1 trillion), the third-largest amount behind the US and the UK. Domestic equities make up 21.9% of their assets. The large stakes prevent foreign takeovers, the entrepreneurs argued.

“That’s what keeps their domestic mining industry alive,” Giustra said. “We’re a comparable country in terms of how prolific our mining opportunities are, same as Australia, and we don’t have that same opportunity.”

Letko Brosseau says Canada’s top eight pension funds have invested more in China than in Canadian companies: C$88 billion versus C$81 billion. CPP has 2% in domestic shares, BCI has 0.5% and OTPP has 0.1%, the firm says.

Economics urged

Giustra said mining CEOs must lobby pension funds with moral suasion for why they should invest in Canada and make an economic argument. With China’s current woes from property market turmoil and a long-term population decline in motion, its boom years are over and it’s time for Canadian pension funds to repatriate funds to the world’s second-largest country by landmass that has top-tier mining regulations.

Lassonde went further and said federal and provincial governments must legislate pension funds to increase their investments in Canadian resource companies. He’s backed Letko Brosseau’s presentations to finance ministers in BC and Ontario as well as to officials in Ottawa.

“We’re trying to get to the decision makers and trying to make them understand what Canada is losing by doing nothing,” he said. “They created these funds, it’s in their power to legislate how these funds are managed.”

Giustra, who heads private equity firm Fiore Group invested in Aris Gold (TSX: ARIS) with mines in Colombia, and Ontario-focused explorer West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG), said Canadian asset managers slashed their non-pension dedicated mining funds to C$2.8 billion in 2022 from C$16 billion in 2010.

“There’s just no source of capital, the industry starves,” he said. “You don’t have the seniors funding them, the pension funds aren’t there and we’ve lost the traditional mining funds here as well.”

Lassonde, who led a group of investors assembling an offer in May for Teck’s coking coal assets that was later beat by Glencore, said he approached BCI and Ontario pensions for input but got no response.

“If you want steel and you want the lowest carbon-emitting steel in the world, it’s that coal, OK, and there was nobody to talk to,” he said. “In Australia, we could have done this deal in about five days.”

 

Tycoon Jindal's JSW Steel seeks significant stake in Teck's coal unit

Menaka Doshi and Swansy Afonso, Bloomberg News

JSW Steel Ltd. is looking to snap up a major stake in Teck Resources Ltd.'s metallurgical coal unit as it seeks to secure supplies for its expansion plans, according to Chairman Sajjan Jindal.

India's biggest steel producer intends to bid for 20 per cent to 40 per cent of Elk Valley Resources Ltd., a unit of the Canadian company, Jindal said. Japanese and South Korean mills also plan to buy a stake in the asset, and a combined offer could value the unit at US$8 billion, he said. 

A transaction is likely to happen within a month, the Indian tycoon said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Teck produces very high quality metallurgical coal, which India needs for steel-making, as the locally mined material is mostly of a lower grade, Jindal said. “We believe that this could be a very strategic fit for us, therefore we are taking a significant stake.”

Securing coal supplies is key for JSW's plan to almost double its annual steelmaking capacity to 50 million tons in India by the end of the decade. The company is looking for coal assets globally, including in Australia and Canada.

Bloomberg News reported last week that JSW was seeking partners for an offer to acquire a 75 per cent interest in Elk Valley. A JSW-led consortium could yet face competition for the asset from Glencore Plc, which in June proposed buying the business for about US$8 billion as an alternative to a full takeover of Teck.

Teck planning full exit from coal business, in

event of partial sale will spin off remainder

Niall McGee - The Global and Mail | August 18, 2023 | 

Teck’s Fording River metallurgical coal operation in B.C. Credit: Teck Resources

Teck Resources (TSX: TECK-B) intends to completely exit its coal business, but in the event of only a partial sale, would spin off the remainder to ensure a clean break, a source familiar with the situation said.


The Vancouver-based mining company has been entertaining a variety of bids for its metallurgical coal business since late April after an earlier restructuring plan failed.


Teck chief executive officer Jonathan Price said in a conference call last month that there has been “a lot of interest” in the coal business since it was put out for tender.

Glencore PLC GLNCY of Switzerland is the only known bidder for 100 per cent of the coal segment, with an offer worth up to $8.2 billion.

While that would appear to give Glencore a competitive advantage, the source said that Teck could also go the route of selling only a portion of the business to another party, and spinning off the remainder to its shareholders, if it deems that to be a better deal for stakeholders.

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.

Teck declined comment for this story.

Several contenders other than Glencore have emerged in recent months, submitting bids for only a portion of the coal business. Those include a consortium led by Canadian mining veteran Pierre Lassonde, as well as a bid from Japan’s Nippon Steel. Bloomberg News also reported on Thursday that Indian conglomerate JSW Steel is mulling a bid for up to 75 per cent of the coal business.

JSW did not respond to a request for comment.

A deal with Glencore could make life easier for Teck because a sale of the entire coal business would not require a shareholder vote, the source said, while a partial sale in combination with a spinoff may require one, depending on the exact structure of the transaction.

Teck earlier in the year intended to put its original restructuring plan to spin off the full coal business to a shareholder vote. However, after failing to receive sufficient support, the company pulled the proposal, illustrating the uncertainty created by the necessity to hold such votes.

Glencore last week reaffirmed its interest in Teck, saying it has set aside about US$2-billion in cash to be put toward a potential transaction.

While Glencore is focused on acquiring Teck’s coal business, it is still open to buying all of Teck, which would include its significant portfolio of copper and zinc mines.

Several federal ministers have expressed reservations about Glencore buying Teck, including Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. In a letter to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade earlier this year, all three wrote that “We need companies like Teck here in Canada – companies with a strong commitment to Canada.”

Teck’s history goes back to 1913, when Hughes Gold Mines Ltd. started up a gold mine in Teck Township on the shores of Kirkland Lake, Ont. Three generations of the Keevil family built what is now Canada’s biggest diversified mining company.

Family patriarch Norman B. Keevil told The Globe in April that he had no interest in allowing the whole of Teck to be sold to Glencore, no matter what the price. Teck’s board also twice rejected proposals by Glencore to buy all of Teck.

Glencore’s history in Canada dates back to 2013 when it bought fellow Swiss miner Xstrata PLC, which had earlier acquired Canadian nickel miner Falconbridge Ltd. Glencore employs around 9,000 people in this country.

Glencore also owns a 49.9-per-cent stake in Canadian grain handler Viterra Ltd. However, Glencore agreed in June to sell its stake in the company to American agribusiness company Bunge Ltd. The deal isn’t expected to close until the middle of next year.

Several years ago, Teck kicked off a strategic review after concluding that even though its coal business generates billions in cash flow every year, it is weighing down the valuation of the larger company. There has been less investment demand over time for coal companies owing to the detrimental impact that burning the fossil fuel has on the environment.

Glencore was among the earliest parties interested in buying Teck’s coal business. One of the world’s biggest thermal-coal companies, it operates around 25 mines in Australia, Colombia and South Africa.

CBLT acquires historic Falcon gold mine

CBLT Inc. (TSXV: CBLT) purchased the former Falcon gold mine adjacent to its Copper Prince property along the Garson fault in Ontario

By Marilyn Scales 

 June 5, 2023



Site of the Falcon gold mine between patented and unpatented Copper Prince claims. CBLT image

CBLT Inc. (TSXV: CBLT) purchased the former Falcon gold mine adjacent to its Copper Prince property along the Garson fault in Ontario’s Sudbury Basin. The Falcon property is sandwiched between CBLT’s three patented and its other unpatented Copper Prince claims.

The Falcon property has been explored intermittently since 1900. A 2005 report filed by Millstream Mines said over 850 metres of diamond drilling had been conducted there over time. CBTL said some of the historical data appears to be reliable, but there are gaps as some exploration was unrecorded. The company has been unable to find any production data associated with the property.

The Bailey report, compiled by Gordon Baily for Falconbridge and published in 1996, is perhaps the most reliable information. The report highlighted two pyrite-rich surface samples (50.47 and 53.21 g/t gold) and three pyrite-rich dump samples (33.60, 3833, and 40.46 g/t gold). The work and the report are not compliant with Ni 43-101.

Subject to the qualifications set out above, Bailey included a resource estimate at Falcon. In 1988, Falconbridge completed a 24-hole, 4,560-metre drill program which increased the mineral inventory of the Falcon deposit to 53,975 tonnes grading 7.75 g/t gold in a pyritiferous zone traced to a vertical depth of 180 metres with an average dimension of 3.35 by 30.5 metres.

CBLT intends to carry out a program of data aggregation, mapping, and sampling at Falcon this summer.

Although under construction at press time, the CBLT website is at www.CBLTinc.com.

Teck mining magnate stands between Glencore and mega-deal
Bloomberg News | April 8, 2023 |

(Reference image by Teck Resources).

The fate of the biggest mining deal in more than a decade lies in the hands of a Canadian magnate who built a fortune on copper and coal.


Norman Keevil Jr., 85, is the controlling shareholder of Teck Resources Ltd., a mining company he built with his father nearly six decades ago. Today, the Vancouver-based firm produces copper and zinc from a handful of mines scattered across the Americas, and steelmaking coal from lucrative operations in Canada.

Those assets make Teck appealing to global miners hunting for more of the industrial metals that underpin the global transition to cleaner energy, prompting Swiss commodities giant Glencore Plc to make an unsolicited $23 billion bid on March 26.

Glencore’s interest doesn’t guarantee a deal gets done. The Keevil family’s control of Teck through voting shares has long insulated the company from takeovers. While Canadian metals producers like Falconbridge Ltd., Inco Ltd. and Alcan Inc. fell to foreign firms in the early 2000s, the family’s iron grip kept Teck independent. Even now, Keevil shows little interest in selling the company he spent decades building.

“He’s like the last of a generation of mine builders in Canada,” said Pierre Gratton, president of the Mining Association of Canada. “You think of all those people that built Canada’s biggest mining companies, and Norm is the last one standing.”

Keevil was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1938 and spent the better part of his childhood in northern Ontario’s wilderness. His father, a Harvard University graduate turned prospector, abandoned academia in the 1950s to develop a small copper deposit near a remote settlement named Teck Township, about 600 kilometers (375 miles) north of Toronto.

‘Rest on your ores’

The mine became a family business, and Keevil joined his father’s company after completing a doctorate in geology from the University of California, Berkeley in the early 1960s. In a 2017 memoir, Never Rest on Your Ores: Building a Mining Company, One Stone at a Time, Keevil recalled attending monthly board meetings in a log cabin on an island across from the mine.

“Norm and his dad really started the company from grassroots, with nothing,” said Edward Thompson, 87, who befriended Keevil in college and became one of Teck’s first executives.

Keevil shared his father’s penchant for high-stakes business gambles, and when Keevil took over as chief executive officer in 1982 he enacted a flurry of acquisitions that netted the company some of its most lucrative base metal operations. At the apex of the 1980s oil shock, he borrowed heavily to finance oil and coal projects in Canada’s western provinces. Later, he sought backing from Japanese and Chinese investors to pitch in on expensive mining ventures further north.

Keevil didn’t possess the typical bravado of mining executives of the time, Thompson said, calling him “aggressive in business, but quite soft-spoken — almost shy.”

“When we’re together, I sometimes have trouble hearing him because he’ll talk so quietly,” he said.

Still, Keevil rarely minced words when it came to business. During the battle to acquire Inco in 2006 — which drew bids from foreign firms as well as Teck — Keevil said its CEO “sold Canada out for his own purposes.”

Today, Keevil lives in British Columbia and has largely retreated from public life. He holds a spot in the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and has departments named after him at the University of Toronto and University of British Columbia. Keevil didn’t respond to Bloomberg requests for comment.

After Glencore’s proposal, Keevil — who holds an honorary position as chairman emeritus at Teck — issued a brief statement on April 3: “I unequivocally support the board’s decision to reject Glencore’s unsolicited offer to acquire Teck. Now is not the time to explore a transaction of this nature.”

Teck has been protected from such takeovers thanks to the Keevil family’s unusual choice in 1969 to separate shares of the company into two classes, with one set carrying more power than the other. Through a holding company called Temagami Mining Co., the family has the majority of class A shares, each entitled to 100 votes, while the public has class B shares, which carry one vote.

“Without the protection of our dual-share structure, Teck would have been swallowed up,” Keevil wrote in his memoir. “We could have been the target of an opportunistic takeover and a longtime Canadian mining champion lost to foreign hands.”

Corporate filings released on April 3 showed that Teck board members began talks with Keevil a year ago to consider collapsing the share structure, citing growing investor unrest. Keevil and the board spent about four months negotiating before arriving at an agreement in January.

That deal, which requires approval from shareholders in an April 26 vote, would give the Keevils six more years of control of a company they’ve so carefully guarded.

“It’s like giving your baby away,” Thompson said. “It’s tough to see something you spent a lifetime creating disappear.”

(Reporting by Jacob Lorinc).

Canadian entrepreneur Lassonde plans to buy blocking stake in Teck’s Elk Valley – Globe and Mail

Reuters | April 8, 2023 |

Pierre Lassonde. (Image by Gilbertus, Wikimedia Commons.)

Canadian entrepreneur Pierre Lassonde is planning to buy a blocking stake in Elk Valley Resources, the steel-making coal unit to be spun off by Teck Resources, the Globe and Mail reported.


In an interview with the Canadian newspaper published on Friday, Lassonde expressed his interest in the soon-to-be divested unit of Teck, saying he wanted the company’s assets to “remain Canadian.”

Lassonde’s comments came after Teck Resources rejected an unsolicited takeover offer of $22.5 billion from Glencore Plc earlier this week, citing reluctance to expose its shareholders to thermal coal, oil, LNG and related sectors through the merger.

Lassonde would “love” to own up to 20% of Elk Valley, the report said, adding that he is planning to put together a group of investors who would buy up to C$300 million of the company’s shares, giving them a 10%-20% stake.

Teck Resources could not be reached immediately for comment. There was no contact information for Lassonde immediately available.

Under terms of a deal offered previously by minority shareholder Nippon Steel, the Elk Valley unit will have an enterprise value of C$11.5 billion. Teck Resources in February said it will receive an 87.5% interest in gross revenue royalty from the steel-making coal business through the transition period.

(Reporting by Rahat Sandhu in Bengaluru and editing by Leslie Adler).

 

The race to mine mining waste

Could metal-eating bacteria that break down mining waste be key to sustainable battery minerals?

BY JOHN LORINC

JANUARY 9, 2023

Photo by Photomaru

For generations, the topography of Sudbury, Ontario, has been brutally defined by towering slag heaps and vast orange-hued tailings ponds – the physical legacy of almost 140 years of nickel mining and smelting by resource giants like Inco and Falconbridge. By 1910, in fact, Sudbury’s mines were supplying 80% of the world’s nickel. But by the late 20th century, the industrial fallout – corrosive air pollution, acid rain and a legacy of seemingly intractable contamination – revealed the extraordinary environmental cost of those resource riches.

Fast forward to April 2022, when BacTech, a publicly traded Toronto remediation firm, launched plans to use naturally occurring bacteria and a “bioleaching” process to break down some of that mining waste and recover what it claims are billions of dollars in nickel, cobalt, green iron and sulphur that have long been buried in those tailings. Nickel and cobalt are now highly sought-after minerals in the accelerating race to build electric vehicle batteries, and this venture seems to offer a double climate bonus: remediation of a highly degraded landscape, as well as raw materials for transportation technology that weans society of its addiction to fossil fuels.

“The timing is right to mature these technologies off the bench,” says Laurentian University microbiologist Nadia Mykytczuk, interim president and CEO of MIRARCO (Laurentian’s Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation) and an advisor to BacTech. “The rapid electrification and move to battery electric vehicles is going to drive a lot of innovations, and bioleaching is one of those that will move forward quite quickly now.” A feasibility study has been completed, and a pilot facility, the Centre for Mine Waste Biotechnology, is being built on the Laurentian campus.

Mykytczuk points out that the notion of using microbes to essentially poop out recoverable minerals from tailings waste isn’t new, and has been applied for decades in settings like Chile’s copper mines. Over time, however, the processes have become more sophisticated; the demand for better forms of remediation, more intense. Acid drainage, a corrosive by-product that’s released from tailings ponds, continues to contaminate downstream watersheds. Tailings dam disasters in the past decade or so in countries such as Hungary, South Africa and Brazil have not only shone a harsh light on the grave human and ecological risks associated with accumulated mining waste, but also sparked activist investor groups, like the Church of England, to push for safer practices.

At the same time, the global growth of renewable energy and the push to electrify has revealed the extent to which fossil fuel extraction will be replaced in the coming decades by the dramatic growth in the mining of ores like nickel, copper or rare earth elements used in wind turbines and other clean technologies. Global demand for copper is projected to double by 2035, even as existing copper mines become less and less productive. Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency estimated that the global mining sector needs to build 60 nickel mines, 50 lithium mines and 17 cobalt mines by 2030 to meet global emissions goals.

But if all that new mining activity generates even more emissions, contaminates watersheds and produces mountains of toxic waste, we’ll have merely replaced one form of resource-driven environmental destruction with another. Case in point: the mining of lithium, a critical ingredient in EV batteries, consumes huge quantities of water, pollutes groundwater and poses a danger to flamingo habitats.

Conventional mining is not only energy intensive and ecologically scarring; it is also extraordinarily inefficient. By weight and volume, valuable ores like nickel, gold or cobalt account for a tiny fraction – sometimes even less than 1% – of all the material removed from a mine. (A sustainable-mining scholar in Chile has trenchantly described these epic inefficiencies as akin to using five kilograms of beef from a 500-kilo cow and discarding the rest.) What’s more, the structure and financing of the industry is such that individual mining companies traditionally produce only one or two substances; everything else is seen as waste.

From an emissions perspective, one of the core arguments in favour of biomining and remining (another approach to recovering marketable minerals from tailings) is that huge amounts of energy have already been consumed to extract, crush, separate and process all the material that comes out of a mine. “The total energy required for bioleaching is significantly lower by several orders of magnitude than if you were to build a high-energy smelter,” says Mykytczuk.

To date, biomining remains a tiny fragment of the industry, but the potential has garnered attention from researchers, cleantech start-ups and established mining giants. For example, Teck Resources and Rio Tinto, both global firms, have teamed up with researchers at the University of British Columbia and other organizations to launch a project called M-MAP, or the Mining Microbiome Analytics Platform. The organization is building a genome library of microbes found in tailings ponds around the world, which will allow labs to sequence genetic material to engineer bacteria that is essentially tailor-made to digest minerals in particular tailings ponds.

As a Teck spokesperson explains, “M-MAP is the first integrated online platform which aims to extract the DNA from more than 15,000 mining site samples over the next two years to identify microbes that can be used to replace chemical and other legacy extraction methods for minerals and metals, and to perform safer, more effective remediation of legacy and operational mine sites.”
Bryne Gramlich, vice-president of business development at Allonnia, a Boston bio-engineering firm that is part of the M-MAP consortia, adds that while the project is in its infancy, the mining sector is “aggressively looking at how to accelerate the use of biology” in its reclamation efforts.

The rapid electrification and move to battery electric vehicles is going to drive a lot of innovations, and bioleaching is one of those that will move forward quite quickly now.

-Nadia Mykytczuk, interim president and CEO of MIRARCO

The critical question, of course, is whether the introduction of specially engineered microbes in tailings ponds, such as those enabled by M-MAP’s genome library, could further exacerbate environmental damage downstream of such facilities. “In order to get any type of technology like this approved and indeed used,” says Anita Parbhakar-Fox, an associate professor at Australia’s University of Queensland who runs a mine-waste-transformation research group, “a rigorous environmental impact assessment, including demonstration testing, risk evaluation and impact modelling, would be undertaken to ensure a decision on whether to use the technology was made based on a full evaluation of the socio-environmental risks.”

But Radhakrishnan Mahadevan, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Toronto and a Canada Research Chair specializing in bio-engineering applications, says there are existing techniques for ensuring that such microbes don’t have what he describes as “exogenous impacts,” such as increasing the risk of antibiotic resistance. “You can engineer the environment in such a way that the microbes do what you want them to do.”

The potential for using new technologies to upcycle mining waste has attracted other remining start-ups. Phoenix Tailings, a four-year-old Boston firm with venture capital backing, has developed a set of chemical processes to extract value from tailings, including rare earth elements, cobalt and nickel. According to co-founder Anthony Balladon, the firm’s business strategy with mine waste sites is to recover two types of materials: large volumes of inert bulk substances that can be used like aggregates in concrete production, and smaller volumes of valuable ores. To make the math work, he says, “we need both components.”

He points out that some waste sites are quite old and date to a time when there was little market for the metals that are now driving the electrification economy. “You often find that you have a tailings pile or tailings pond somewhere in Canada, Australia or the U.S. that has a higher grade of cobalt or copper or rare earths than what is currently considered the kind of grade for operating a new mine,” he says. “You have to find the right sites.”

Phoenix, Balladon notes, has tapped into an eager source of capital looking for sustainable solutions to mining waste and a way of averting tailings dam disasters. But global investor appetite for EV-related metals is voracious and also a major driver of these technologies. “It’s a very exciting time,” he says, noting that governments in Canada, the U.S. and Australia are all looking to invest in these approaches.

You often find that you have a tailings pile or tailings pond somewhere in Canada, Australia or the U.S. that has a higher grade of cobalt or copper or rare earths than what is currently considered the kind of grade for operating a new mine.

-Anthony Balladon, co-founder, Phoenix Tailings

Parbhakar-Fox agrees. “In Australia in the past three to five years, we have seen a great deal of state and federal government investment into the development of mineral processing methodologies, particularly to recover critical metals in order to grow this sector in Australia,” she says. “The University of Queensland is involved in a project to bioleach and recover [rare earth elements] from Mary Kathleen mine tailings, potentially containing AU$4 billion worth, as well as cobalt from the Old Tailings Dam and Savage River mine tailings [in western Tasmania].” BacTech sees even larger economic windfall from recovering copper and cobalt from the tailings in Sudbury – it estimates that there’s $27 billion in nickel alone sitting in those ponds.

Researchers say these processes also promise a climate benefit beyond energy savings. “The bioleaching process itself is carbon capturing,” says Mykytczuk. “We are capturing atmospheric CO2, and the bacteria fix that to their biomass [so] you can actually have an offset from your carbon cost in the bioleaching process. It’s a benefit on the carbon side of things.”

There is, of course, plenty of reason to be skeptical, not just about the science, which is nascent and not yet deployed at commercial scale, but also about the promise of alchemizing all that slag into valuable ore and billions of dollars in profits.

Yet advocates point out that emerging research and the climate imperative should be encouraging us to think differently about the largely unseen by-products of an extractive industry that hasn’t changed its ways in generations.

“Mining tailings and other mine wastes are multifaceted when it comes to the potential positive outcomes,” says Parbhakar-Fox. “Provided the mine waste has been well characterized and the right technologies are used to extract and recover the most value, there are positive outcomes for companies, the environment, the future, and for our governments to grow circular economy businesses. These are exciting times if we dare to dream and think outside the box.”

Corporate Knights publishes the world's largest circulation magazine on clean capitalism.

BC

Eagles being unnecessarily injured on Haida Gwaii


Thu, August 4, 2022 

Volunteers on Haida Gwaii have rescued 13 injured eagles since December 28, 2021 and most of the incidents are preventable, Leila Riddall, a volunteer said on July 19.

When Port Clements councillor Kazamir Falconbridge set out to run an errand on June 27, he wasn’t prepared for an eagle rescue.

Driving along Highway 16, just north of Port Clements, he approached a car and two women on the side of the road and could see a juvenile eagle in distress in the ditch so he pulled over.

No one had a box or a blanket in their car, but Falconbridge knew he had to act fast. Once the bird made it into the forest he knew it would be very difficult to get it out because its wings would get caught in the trees.

Falconbridge guessed that this particular bird had a wing span of six feet.

Two more cars pulled over. Luckily, a member of the Search and Rescue team was in one and he started looking for a blanket and tote to put the eagle in.

In the other car were a couple from Masset. The man offered Falconbridge his new jacket as a make-do blanket.

Falconbridge swiftly grabbed the bird’s feet with the man’s jacket and hooked his right thumb under the eagle’s left shoulder. The man from Masset helped him support the injured wing close to the eagle’s body.

“So now I had the eagle in my bare hands and walked out of the ditch with it,” Falconbridge said.

He lowered it into the blanket-lined tote prepared by the search and rescue member.

“Got to go really slow with birds. Really slow and gentle and talk to them and look into their eyes, they’re really intelligent creatures,” Falconbridge said.

“Because I have chickens and ducks and geese, and turkeys now too, so I know about looking after birds and the eagle got into the blanket and I wrapped up the eagle. I’ve also had two children and I know how to swaddle a baby so that they can’t get out of the cloth. So I did exactly that, I swaddled that eagle up in that blanket really nice and tight and only its head was sticking out.”

There isn’t a place on the island that can care for hurt eagles so Riddall coordinates to fly them to the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL) in Delta B.C.

Riddall also does a lot of rescues herself in the northern communities, while another volunteer covers the southern region of Haida Gwaii.

“I wish we had a place up here where we could deal (with injured eagles) because just the cost and the stress on the animal, keeping it for two days because there’s no plane and then it’s been suffering for those two extra days,” Riddall said.

Thirteen eagles have been rescued on the archipelago since December 28, 2021, and that doesn’t include those that didn’t survive.

After doing this for almost a decade, Riddall said these numbers are not unusual, and it’s really unfortunate because many of the injuries are preventable.

The most common reason eagles are sent to OWL is lead poisoning, she said. Lead the size of a piece of sand can make an eagle sick, and when hunters leave animal carcass remains in the forest or along the road, they are often contaminated by lead bullets.

Riddall said there is a solution: stop using lead ammunition.

Electrocution and vehicle strikes are the second most common cause of eagle injuries, she said. The large birds are not very agile and have a difficult time gaining altitude quickly. When a car approaches after they’ve been feasting on a dead animal near the road, they try to fly away but often get hit by the vehicle or caught in a hydro line and electrocuted.

Riddall encourages people to drag road kill further into the forest but knows that not everyone is capable of doing this. Someone without the physical strength to pick up a dead animal doesn’t have anyone to call for help.

There are also specialized non-electrocution power lines that would benefit Haida Gwaii, Riddall said. While it’s more expensive, in areas where there is a high population of birds being electrocuted it would be worth the extra cost.

The eagle Falconbridge rescued did not survive. Riddall estimated that less than one in ten injured eagles from Haida Gwaii are rehabilitated and released after being sent to OWL.

“We need to take bigger steps in preventative measures, because all of this is preventable,” Riddall stressed.

She would like to see more garbage bins put out for hunters and fisherman to put animal remains in, as well as informational signs explaining why it is so important to properly dispose of leftover carcasses.

Kaitlyn Bailey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Rupert Northern View

Raglan Mine makes new offer to striking employees

United Steelworkers withdrew from negotiations last week; strike started around the end of May

Raglan Mine has made a new offer to its unionized employees. (File photo)

By  Jeff Pelletier

BUSINESS  JUL 11, 2022 –

Raglan Mine has presented a new offer to its unionized employees, days after the United Steelworkers withdrew from negotiations.

The new offer was put forward July 10, according to a news release from Glencore Group, Raglan Mine’s parent company.

The release does not say what is in the offer, but says it “allows Raglan Mine employees to obtain the best working conditions in the industry.”

“We sincerely hope that this offer can put an end to the labour dispute as quickly as possible,” said Pierre Barrette, vice-president of Raglan Mine, in the release.

Cimon Guy, a union representative, said the union is looking at the offer.

“Our negotiations committee will meet tomorrow to go over it in detail and decide our course of action following that,” Guy said in an email.

Raglan Mine produces mostly nickel, as well as small amounts of copper and cobalt. Its 630 unionized workers have been on strike since the end of May after the company and the union failed to reach a new collective agreement.

A mediator was appointed by the Quebec government to meet with both sides and broker a deal, but those meetings have not been successful.

Guy has said the union’s main demands involve better working and living conditions on site. Raglan has responded by saying it maintains some of the industry’s highest safety standards and salaries, while promoting a positive work culture at the mine.

Production at Raglan Mine, which is Nunavik’s largest employer, was halted after the strike was called, and all union employees were flown back to their home communities. Some production has since resumed.

 Strike by 630 workers at Glencore's Raglan Mine in northern Quebec enters second month

Frédéric Charlebois

28 June 2022

WSWS.ORG

Around 630 workers—members of the United Steelworkers (USW)—at the Raglan Mine in northern Quebec, Canada, have been engaged in an indefinite strike since May 27, after voting by a massive 97.5 percent to walk off the job. Faced with rampant inflation and the company’s indifference to the plight of its workers, the strikers are determined to fight against subcontracting and attacks on their working and living conditions.

Raglan miners on strike (Photo: IndustriALL union)

Glencore Group, Raglan’s owner, responded to the strike by announcing the suspension of its mining operations and the return of workers to their respective home regions. On Friday, June 17, it resumed some operations using subcontractors. “We are very concerned, to say the least, about the type of work being done at the mine and by whom,” said a miner who is a member of the union negotiating team. One day earlier, around 80 strikers picketed the Rouyn-Noranda airport in southwestern Quebec, where miners fly in and out of the Raglan facility.

The Raglan Mine is located in the remote northern region of Nunavik, on the Ungava Peninsula, 1800 km north of Montreal. Located between the villages of Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq, the mine relies on local Inuit communities to make up 20 percent of its workforce. As with many natural resource operations in the region, the Raglan Mine plays a key role in the local economy, with a significant portion of local residents involved in one way or another in the mine’s operations.

In spite of its name, the Raglan Mine is in fact a mining complex composed of four underground mines. While the mine primarily processes nickel, workers also extract other lucrative precious metals. In 2020, miners extracted nearly 40,000 tons of nickel, 9,000 tons of copper and more than 800 tons of cobalt. This large-scale output continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as the government gave the mining industry the green light to continue operations and expose miners to the lethal coronavirus.

According to an estimate published by the USW, based on the company’s production data, miners extracted natural resources worth US$586 million in 2020. Considering that the price of nickel has more than doubled since 2020, and that the price of other metals has also risen significantly, revenues in 2022 could exceed $1 billion.

Despite the huge profits made at the operation, Glencore is denying its workers any genuine improvement in their conditions. Instead, the international conglomerate is intensifying its attacks on their jobs and working conditions.

A blatant example of management’s ruthless attacks on workers was the dismissal in March 2021 of unionized security workers at the Raglan Mine, after they rejected an offer from the company to renew their collective agreement. In a ruling issued on June 15, the Quebec Administrative Labour Tribunal condemned this action, which it determined was motivated by a desire to send “a clear message from the company to the other units (of unionized workers) that will soon be negotiating.”

As is the case for the vast majority of workers in the mining industry, Raglan’s workers live and work under harsh conditions. In addition to the “fly-in fly-out” procedure and the distance from their families, the workers labour 11 hours a day for 21 days in a row, followed by 14 days off.

Under these conditions and with inflation eating away at what little financial leeway families have left, the workers are determined to fight for their interests. They are demanding better wages, decent working conditions and an improved vacation plan. They also oppose Glencore’s increased use of subcontracting.

In addition to lower wages and fewer benefits, the use of subcontractors has increased so much in recent years that nearly half of the mine’s 1,200 employees work for a third party. This practice allows the multinational to save large sums of money, while all workers at the mine complex pay for this through stepped-up internal competition.

The company unquestionably has the financial means to meet the workers’ modest demands. Following its merger with Xstrata in 2013, the Glencore Group is one of the largest natural resource companies in the world.

Active in 35 countries, the company operates around 150 mining, metals and oil production facilities. Glencore is the largest nickel producer in Quebec and the fourth largest in the world. The company is headed by Ivan Glasenberg, Australia’s ninth richest man, who has a personal fortune of $12.2 billion.

While they face a multinational corporation determined to cut production costs to increase profits, the 630 striking workers also confront the union bureaucracy of the USW, which is affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL). The USW is working tirelessly to keep the strikers isolated, as shown by its announcement of just four one-time picket lines over two weeks, with Rouyn-Noranda being the last on the list.

The only small gesture of solidarity has come from USW Local 6586 at the ArcelorMittal plant in Contrecoeur northeast of Montreal, which is providing limited financial assistance of $1,100 per week. Yet the USW boasts that it is the largest private sector union in Quebec, with 60,000 members across a range of economic sectors. Beyond Quebec’s provincial borders, the union has over a million active and retired members across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. However, the USW has refused to mobilize the full strength of its membership in support of the Raglan workers, leaving them to fight the global mining giant alone.

The Raglan strikers should draw the lessons from the USW’s betrayal of a massive strike vote by workers at Arconic’s aluminum facilities in Iowa, Tennessee, and Indiana earlier this month. Despite the overwhelming support for a strike among the workers, the USW blocked strike action before announcing a last-minute agreement with the company. The USW then rammed through the concessions-filled deal, which included real-terms pay cuts and the abolition of a performance bonus scheme, amid widespread speculation by workers that the voting process was rigged. “It felt like the union leadership was working for the company,” an Arconic worker told the WSWS.

While the USW felt compelled to call a strike at Raglan, it is feverishly working with the company behind the scenes to impose a similar sellout. USW and Glencore representatives have met on several occasions with a mediator appointed by the Quebec Labour Ministry led by the hard-right Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government. CAQ Premier Francois Legault, a multi-millionaire and former Air Transat CEO, has denounced wage levels in the province’s manufacturing sector as “too high.”

The pro-capitalist union apparatus enjoys a cozy relationship with corporate executives and the state apparatus, which finds expression in the corrupt practices of union bureaucrats. A series of recent court decisions revealed that at least four USW local officials in Canada were involved in embezzlement schemes. According to Nouvelles TVA, the union representatives used their positions to charge the union for personal expenses, issue duplicate bills and even write blank checks to each other. Unable to pay back the money, one of the former bureaucrats had his house seized last week. 

The Raglan workers are not alone in their struggle. Over the past year, a wave of strikes has erupted among mine workers around the world—from the nickel mines of Sudbury in northern Ontario and the coalfields of Alabama to the Atacama Desert of Chile and the jungles of Colombia—demanding substantial wage increases and the restoration of hard-won gains.  

The upsurge of struggles among miners internationally underscores that the conditions exist for Raglan workers to win their strike. To do so, they must break with the nationalist, pro-capitalist USW and create their own rank-and-file committee. The committee should fight for the expansion of the strike by making a powerful appeal to miners across Canada and internationally to wage a common fight against the multi-billion-dollar mining conglomerates. The striking miners should also link up their strike with working people battling the rising cost of living across Canada and around the world for a joint counteroffensive to defend jobs, wages and working conditions.

Glencore Violated Labour Law in Dismissing Workers at Its Raglan Mine, Quebec Tribunal Rules

Author of the article:

Business Wire

Publishing date:

Jun 19, 2022  •  June 19, 2022  •  

Article content

MONTREAL — Resource giant Glencore violated labour laws when it dismissed unionized security officers at its Raglan Mine in March 2021, the Quebec government’s Administrative Labour Tribunal (Tribunal administratif du Travail) has ruled.

The tribunal’s ruling, released June 15, stems from a complaint filed by the United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos, the union representing the security officers. The union argued before the tribunal that Glencore violated labour laws when it dismissed the workers after they rejected the company’s contract offer during negotiations for a collective agreement.

Advertisement 2

Article content

The ruling concludes that Glencore “obstructed the activities of the union and its members” and “failed in its obligation to bargain diligently and in good faith.”

While the ruling by administrative judge Johanne Despatis does not include an order that Glencore reinstate the dismissed employees, it opens the door to remedies for all those who were affected by the company’s unfair labour practices.

The ruling includes several harsh and scathing criticisms of Glencore’s behaviour. It portrays an employer with constant anti-union preoccupations, “thinly veiled hostility,” “driven by anti-union motives designed to crush the union’s goals” and by a desire to send “a clear message from the company to the other units (of unionized workers) that will soon be in negotiations.”

Those other workers include 630 unionized employees at Raglan Mine, members of Steelworkers Local 9449, who have been on strike since May 27. The strikers are seeking better working conditions and greater respect from Glencore, including a reduction of the company’s extensive use of subcontractors.

“It is appalling that Glencore was preparing for the current negotiations by resorting to unfair and bad faith labour practices, undermining our activities and throwing the families of these security officers out on the street,” said Harold Arseneault, a Steelworkers’ union representative.

“Glencore’s methods are overwhelmingly in bad faith and our members are determined to get the respect they’re seeking,” Arseneault said.

“The recognition of these illegal practices in the tribunal’s decision is extremely important to us,” said Nicolas Marchand, president of the Steelworkers’ bargaining unit that represents the dismissed security officers.

“This ruling exposes what we have experienced over the last eight years, which is not widely known. It demonstrates the legitimacy of our legal case and gives a voice and hope to union members in small bargaining units. It also gives us strength to move forward with the next steps,” Marchand said.

Steelworkers’ union leaders, legal advisors and local union representatives will be meeting over the next few days to assess the options that are open to the union as a result of the labour tribunal’s ruling and to decide on future actions.

The United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos, affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour, is the largest private-sector union in Quebec, representing more than 60,000 workers in all economic sectors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220619005028/en/

Raglan Mine to gradually resume

 mining operations

LAVAL, QC, June 16, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Raglan Mine, a Glencore company, has announced the gradual resumption of certain operations at its mine beginning June 17, in the context of the strike called by the United Steelworkers Union, Local 9449 on May 27.

Operations will be carried out by professional staff and contractors who were already performing similar work prior to the dispute, in accordance with the provisions of the Quebec Labour Code.

Authorized personnel will gradually return to the site to perform tasks related to infrastructure maintenance (roads, water management systems, heating, etc.) as well as increasing the ore reserve at the surface. The concentrator is not currently in operation and the level of mining activity at the site will remain significantly below normal. Ensuring Raglan Mine's health and safety standards are met will remain the priority during this resumption of activities.

"In addition to facilitating the rapid resumption of full operations once a new agreement is signed, this return will also enable us to uphold our agreement with our Inuit partners," said Pierre Barrette, Vice President of Raglan Mine.

Raglan Mine upholds its commitment to Nunavik communities

Signed in 1995, the Raglan Agreement provides for the employment of workers from Nunavik communities and ensures that Inuit directly benefit from the socio-economic advantages of mining operations. The precedence of the Raglan Agreement over any other arrangement is recognized in the collective agreement between the company and the union.

Many of the subcontracting companies that work at Raglan Mine are owned by the Inuit communities of the region. They contribute to the economic and social development of the Far North. Within the context of severe labour shortages, ensuring the retention of employees working for local contractors is a priority for the company.

PIECE WORK

Resuming certain operations at Raglan Mine also makes it possible to preserve a portion of the royalties paid by contractors to the Inuit communities.

1. work paid for according to the amount produced:

   "workers did piecework at home" · "he was paid on a piecework basis"

Impasse in negotiations

Raglan Mine has once again reiterated to the mediator appointed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity its willingness to return to the negotiating table, without a favourable response from the union.

"We are disappointed that we have come to an impasse in negotiations. We hope to resume discussions quickly in order to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," added Mr. Barrette.

Until a new collective agreement is ratified, Glencore's Integrated Nickel Operations will utilize alternative concentrate supplies to maintain its nickel processing operations at the Sudbury smelter at full capacity.

Raglan Mine presented a first global offer to its employees affiliated with the United Steelworkers Union, Local 9449 in early May. If ratified, it would place Raglan Mine workers among the highest paid in the industry.

www.glencore.ca/raglan
www.glencore.com

Notes for Editors

Raglan Mine

Raglan Mine is part of the Glencore Group, one of the world's largest diversified natural resource companies. Its operations are located on the northern edge of Quebec. Its property stretches 70 kilometres from east to west, with a series of high-grade ore deposits scattered along its length, primarily nickel and copper.

With the establishment of the Raglan Agreement in 1995, a historic agreement with the Inuit communities of Nunavik, Raglan Mine is a pioneer in the industry. Raglan Mine employs more than 1,200 people, 20% of whom are from local Inuit communities. Raglan Mine is also an active participant in the economy of Nunavik and Quebec, contributing $690 million to Quebec's GDP, including $147 million from its suppliers. On average, more than 2,700 jobs are supported annually. Located far from any city, its network of suppliers extends to the four corners of Quebec, with 70% of its goods and services suppliers situated in the province.

Raglan Mine aspires to be a model company in the mining industry by promoting the development of its human resources, demonstrating fairness towards its multicultural workforce, and acting with respect for the communities and the environment. Raglan Mine is committed to a safe, productive, healthy, and stable work environment for years to come.

Glencore

Glencore is one of the world's largest global diversified natural resource companies and a major producer and marketer of more than 60 responsibly-sourced commodities that advance everyday life. The Group's operations comprise around 150 mining and metallurgical sites and oil production assets.

With a strong footprint in over 35 countries in both established and emerging regions for natural resources, Glencore's industrial activities are supported by its global network of more than 30 marketing offices.

Glencore's customers are industrial consumers, such as those in the automotive, steel, power generation, battery manufacturing and oil sectors. We also provide financing, logistics and other services to producers and consumers of commodities. Glencore's companies employ around 145,000 people, including contractors.

Glencore is proud to be a member of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and the International Council on Mining and Metals. We are an active participant in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Our ambition is to be a net zero total emissions company by 2050.

In the News June 9

Nunavik, Northern Quebec

Raglan Mine Workers Strike for Rights and Dignity

– Interview, Éric Savard, President, United Steelworkers Local 9449 –

On May 26, the 630 production workers at the Raglan Mine in Nunavik went on an indefinite general strike against the deterioration of their working conditions and for respect from their employer, which they say is totally lacking. Nunavik is the area of Quebec north of the 55th parallel. The Raglan mine is owned by global mining/metallurgical giant Glencore. Workers’ Forum recently spoke with Éric Savard, President of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9449, which represents these workers and the mine’s entire 850 or so unionized workers.

Workers’ Forum: Can you first inform us about Raglan Mine’s operations?

Éric Savard: Raglan Mine began its operations in 1997, 25 years ago. It has had many owners, including Falconbridge, Xstrata and now Glencore. We mainly produce nickel, which represents about 70 per cent of the ore mined, and we also have copper, cobalt, palladium and other ores. There’s gold as well. The mine’s unionized workforce includes 630 production workers, currently on strike, plus workers with subcontractor Kiewit, the Katinniq Transport workers who move the ore to the ships at the port in Deception Bay, technicians, office staff, and security guards. The production workers work on a commuting fly-in, fly-out basis, often working for 21 consecutive days. They come from all over Quebec as well as from New Brunswick. When Glencore closed the Brunswick smelter in Belledune in northern New Brunswick at the end of 2019 some workers from the smelter came to work with us.

WF: In the Steelworkers’ press release, there’s an emphasis on the demand for respect that drove the workers to strike. Can you tell us more about that?

ES: Since Glencore took over Xstrata we have experienced many rollbacks. This includes an increase in our working hours, an increase in production with the same number of workers, cuts in work breaks. Some of these rollbacks affected conditions that have existed for 20 years. As well, health and safety meetings previously scheduled at the beginning of various work group shifts now take place on workers’ time, not company time. We have experienced a great loss in working conditions.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the security guards were fired about 15 months ago after rejecting the company’s offer. We are in court over this and are still awaiting a ruling. With Glencore, we are constantly filing grievances. Glencore disputes everything, and we have to fight in court over everything, – for our weeks of vacation, to be paid for the day we fly to the mine, etc. There’s a lot of accumulated frustration on these issues.

Glencore has also neglected health and safety conditions. For example, due to a big increase in production we realized that the access ramps had become unsafe. The workers pulled together and rebolted all the ramps. Instead of thanking them, Glencore claimed that production was behind schedule and began harassing the workers to work overtime and threatened to downgrade their work scale levels.

In addition, the company began dictating that for the lunch hour, workers’ transportation time would now be on their time, not company time. Transportation time had been paid by the company for 25 years and it worked well so there was no reason to change it. It can take a worker 15 to 20 minutes to get from the work site to the lunchroom. Now the time it takes to travel to the lunch room is counted as part of the lunch break so workers don’t get a full hour for rest and a meal when they really need it, given all the hours of work they’re required to put in. When you work 21 days in a row, the last thing you want to do is have a fight for your lunch hour. The workers were exasperated with all this.

WF: In your press release you say that subcontracting is a major problem at the mine. Can you explain?

ES: As we say in our release, we have a situation where there are often many more subcontract workers on the mine site than unionized workers. That doesn’t make sense. The people who are hired through subcontracting earn less and their conditions are worse. This means fewer economic benefits for the regions of Quebec where these workers are from.

In addition, this prevents young people from advancing to higher levels with better wages and conditions. Glencore hires a lot of subcontract workers in the middle levels which means that young people can no longer move up the ladder and get training to advance. We’re at a point where we have 30 to 40 per cent subcontract workers now.

Meanwhile, the overall conditions of subcontract workers are inferior to those of unionized workers. Accommodations are not as good, the quality of food is lower. Increasing the number of subcontract workers is not good for workers overall. How is it possible that a big multinational like Glencore is expanding the use of cheap labour and imposing bad working conditions within its facilities?

We are trying to improve everyone’s conditions, increase our hourly rates, improve the pension fund, increase the workers’ standard of living.

WF: Would you like to add something in conclusion?

ES: We have been observing for years that Glencore is regressing in terms of workers’ welfare and protection. We want to see the improvements we are seeking written clearly into the collective agreement. Maybe this is how we’ll stop the grievances and the unnecessary conflicts and improve everyone’s lot.

Workers’ Forum, posted June 9, 2022 

Workers walk out at Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine

30TH MAY 2022

BY: MARIAAN WEBB - CREAMER MEDIA DEPUTY EDITOR ONLINE

The Raglan mine, in Quebec

Diversified miner Glencore has suspended production at its Raglan nickel and copper mine, in Quebec, after 630 unionised workers went on strike late on Friday night.

The parties met on Friday in the presence of a mediator, without breaking an impasse in wage negotiations.

Glencore had tabled an offer to United Steelworkers Union (USW) Local 9449, representing production and maintenance workers, that placed its employees among the best paid in the mining industry.

"We believe the global offer presented to the union was fair and mutually beneficial for all parties. The union's actions are particularly disappointing considering the recent arrival of an independent mediator and the openness the company demonstrated to improve the initial offer," said Raglan VP Pierre Barrette.

However, USW Local 9449 president Eric Savard said union members often work 11-hour shifts, for 21 consecutive days, at the isolated, fly-in/fly-out nickel mining operations in Nunavik. The increased use of subcontractors, who work under inferior conditions at Raglan mine, is another key issue in the labour dispute.

“It has reached the point where there are often many more contractors at the mine site than unionised workers. It doesn't make sense. This means fewer economic benefits for the regions of Quebec, while this multinational corporation extracts huge profits by exploiting our natural resources,” said Savard.

In addition to the use of subcontractors, other stumbling blocks in negotiations include vacations, working conditions and wages. Above all, however, workers said that they demanded more respect from Glencore.

“Glencore has been continually pushing the limits. It even balks at providing a proper lunch hour to workers who are working 11 hours a day, 21 days in a row. It’s reached the point where those who refuse to work overtime are given the cold shoulder by the bosses. Living conditions at the mining camp have deteriorated over the years. The employer systematically quibbles over the living and working conditions of employees who are away from their families for long periods of time. It is time for this company to show greater respect for the workers who are generating its profits of tens of millions of dollars each year,” Savard added.

Glencore stated that the company was ready to return to the negotiating table to continue negotiations as soon as possible in order to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.