CHILE OFFERS NEW LITHIUM POLICY DETAILS / 2 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM
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Building More Mines Act will give more sway to experts over bureaucrats, says minister | Indigenous communities have raised concerns about speed of approvals ONTARIO
B2Gold’s Goose gold project in Nunavut. B2Gold
Mining deal-making declines, but Beaty and others see opportunities M&A
| Merger space set to heat up again later this year
BY COLIN MCCLELLAND
A
s the value of mining industry mergers and acquisitions falls from last year’s high,
some investors see divergent trends moderating conditions. They say share prices are reasonable or low for their assets while commodity prices have been
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high, the number of large deals has slowed while small deals remain constant, and miners are doing well but they need to replace their reserves. And some say the green metal push is good for deals even as it butts against economic nationalism, NIMBYism and higher taxes. “The market for M&A is sort of moderate. It’s not extreme, it’s moderate, it’s not weak,” Ross Beaty, Canadian Mining Hall of Fame member and chairman of Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX; NYSE-AM: EQX), said by phone on the road in British Columbia. “It’s both a good world for mining and it’s a very tough world for mining.” Global mining sector mergers and acquisitions fell to US$11.4 billion so far this year compared with US$27 billion in the same period in 2022, according to data compiled by CostMine Intelligence, part of The Northern Miner Group. Deals this year include B2Gold’s (TSX: BTO; NYSE: BTG) US$902 million buyout of Sabina Gold & Silver (TSX: SBB; US-OTC: SGSVF), and Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) US$428 million purchase of Copper Mountain Mining (TSX: CMMC). But more than half the 36 deals were valued at less than US$15 million. The value total could be knocked higher by Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) pursuit of Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK). John Ing, president and CEO of Toronto-based investment bank Maison Placements Canada, says the junior industry needs big discoveries for financiers to back projects. See M&A / 8
O
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
ntario’s new Building More Mines Act aims to drastically cut timelines of mine permits and plans to get operations opened faster, says Mines Minister George Pirie. Originally drafted as Bill 71, the new legislation amended the Mining Act and received royal assent on May 18. Regulations to support the act are under development. In an interview on June 14 at his office in Queen’s Park in Toronto, Pirie told The Northern Miner that in the committee meetings on environmental regulations before the act was passed, the ministry heard the environmental process described as a “merry-go-round” of consultations. “Things that used to take two months, now take routinely two to five years,” he said. “An endless process of questions and replies and more questions and more replies. So, we want to use the experts that are in the field rather than the bureaucrats… to simplify the process and get to the right endpoint quicker.” Speaking specifically about the role of experts with mine closures, Pirie said the final certification of those plans will still be done by himself and the ministry. But in the new act, experts, who are referred to as ‘qualified persons’ will provide most of the input on the closure plans, as well as certify most aspects of the plans. “That would shave [part of the environmental process] from two to five years versus two months. That’s a significant advantage… so that the business of permitting these mines is conducted at the speed of business,” he said. This change proved contentious during legislative assembly debates on Bill 71 in the spring. Ted Hsu, MPP for Kingston and the Islands and other MPPs drew attention to the vagueness of the term ‘qualified persons’ and its potential for conflict of interest, according to Hansard transcripts.
WILDFIRES DISRUPT CANADIAN MINES / 2
In April, Hsu noted that ministry officials would no longer be doing the assessment of mine plans. “The difference is that the people assessing mine closures now can move into the private sector and potentially work at the same firm and be paid out of the same revenue as those other kinds of qualified personnel who evaluate a mine’s potential to protect investors,” he said. Pirie responded that the ministry will still give input on the plans and has final say on closure processes. In April, Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner made a motion to amend the act by inserting the clause that qualified persons See MINES ACT / 8 PM40069240