Veteran investment strategist Joe McAlinden reverses view, predicts recovery for gold, oil and housing

A draft law approved by the Indian cabinet today directs miners to share their profits with people displaced by mining. The Wall Street Journal reports that the law, which has been pending for over two years, would have mining companies pay a royalty to create a fund to help for those displaced by mining and related industries. Coal producers would pay a 26% tax on profits. A regulator has also been set up to monitor illegal mining and prosecute violators, in a direct response to recent scandals in the states of Karnataka and Goa respecting the illegal export of iron ore.

Business Insider reports that the heart of the American coal industry, Central Appalachia, could soon be a shadow of its former self. According to the US Department of Energy, the amount of Appalachian coal will be less than half that mined in 2008 within the next three years, says Business Insider, because most of the easy-to-reach resources have been exhausted.

A recent journal article says that coal-fired power is harming the US economy more than it is helping it. The article in the American Economic Review, titled “Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy,” essentially states that coal plants are responsible for a quarter of gross external damages (GED) to the US economy, measured in terms of sickness and death caused by major pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Russian mining group Severstal plans to boost production of coking coal and expects iron ore mines in Liberia and Brazil to come online by 2017, the company said Thursday in a presentation to investors in London. CEO Vadim Larin predicted the price of both materials used in steelmaking will remain high and forecasts limited supply growth as current market turmoil delays new projects, Platts reported:

Enterprise Products Partners and Enbridge on Thursday announced a proposed new 800 kilometre (500 mile) pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma – the pricing point for US crude – to the Gulf of Mexico. The Wrangler Pipeline would have the capacity to carry up to 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Although the glut at Cushing has eased this year it is the main factor behind US crude trading near a record discount of $25/barrel to the international Brent benchmark. Canadian heavy oil from the oil sands – all of which goes to the US – sells for $10+ less than US crude, meaning oil sands developers have to deal with an effective oil price of $60-$70 a barrel. Unlike the controversial Keystone XL, Wrangler does not cross international boundaries and won't have to be approved by US president Barack Obama.

With the price of coal off about $5 a metric tonne, coal-mining companies are looking more tempting to acquirers. The Australian reports that Yancoal Australia, fresh from purchasing Wesfarmers' Premier Coal Mine in Western Australia for $297 million last week and Syntech Resources last month for $202.5 million, could buy more coal mines.

David Frum, in a debate with Lawrence Martin at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa this September, looked at Pierre Trudeau's legacy. Frum said Trudeau's turn at prime minister was a disaster for Canada. One of his many transgressions was the National Energy Policy.

The effects of climate change will cost Canada about $5 billion per year by 2020 and increase to somewhere between $21 and $43 billion per year in 2035, according to the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. The NRT released its study this week, Paying the Price: the Economic Impacts of Climate Change for Canada. The study finds that costs will be borne by the timber industry and the coastal regions. Medial costs will also be higher since there will be adverse effects on people's health.

TransCanada’s bid to build the Keystone XL pipeline is facing growing high-profile opposition, drawing fire from the Dalai Lama (pictured), Archbishop Desmond Tutu and seven other Nobel Peace Prize laureates on Wednesday who are following in the footsteps of a raft of Hollywood celebrities and green activists. The laureates, only one of whom is North American, insist the project will "endanger the entire planet" and urged US President Barack Obama not to approve construction of the $7 billion, 3,190km Keystone XL pipeline that could carry up to 700,000 barrels per day of Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the US Gulf Coast and ensure a better price for Canadian crude, which trades at a discount of more than $20/barrel to international prices.