IGO suspends annual dividends from Tianqi JV amid market downturn
The JV experienced a build in lithium hydroxide inventory at Kwinana over recent months.
In unveiling Canada’s British Columbia’s job-creation strategy last year, Premier Christy Clark said the government planned to capitalize on high demand for minerals, especially in Asia, by opening up eight new mines in the next four years and expanding nine more by 2015.
What Clark didn’t specify was who would be employed on those mines, said labour lawyer Sarbjit (Bobby) Deepak in a letter to the Vancouver Sun last February.
The answer to his question became clearer last week, as reports unveiled that an initial group of 200 Chinese citizens will begin to arrive in coming weeks to work at new mines in the western Canadian province.
The full time workers – whose number could grow to as many as 2,000 eventually – follow $1.4 billion in Chinese funding for two of four coal projects in the northeast of the province announced last year.
The Asian coal mining companies that are staring business in B.C. have been accused of favouring Chinese applicants to fill available positions. Questioned by a local journalist who writes for The Province, the firms claimed it was a mistake that some of their local want ads demanded Mandarin language skills for jobs at their mines.
“The companies say they tried — and failed — to find Canadians to work at the mines, so the federal government is allowing them to bring in the ‘temporary’ Chinese miners as a result,” writes Michael Smyth.
But he says most of the ads clearly stated the companies were looking for workers who speak Mandarin, a requisite that would clearly leave the majority of Canadian applicants out.
“This single reference to Mandarin was an isolated and unanticipated case,” Jody Shimkus, a spokesperson for HD Mining International, told me in a statement.
“This ad was never meant to suggest there was a language requirement for Mandarin.”
But the “isolated” error was repeated in at least four ads.
However, an investigation by local news outlet The Tyee.ca shows that Chinese miners being recruited are paying over Cdn$12,500 for the right to work in Canada, and their actual wages are less than those advertised.
A recruiting ad translated by The Tyee promise Chinese miners the “possibility of immigrating to Canada” and the ability to “sponsor your family to Canada, too.”
None of the new mines announced by BC’s Premier have opened yet, but fears over who will be extracting the province’s coal keep growing.
Speaking at an economic summit on Tuesday, Clark said she’s set lofty goals for B.C.’s economy, which include turning the province into Canada’s No. 1 economy.
She added her government’s year-old jobs plan, which focuses on increasing trade with China and Asia and promoting mining and exploring innovations in technology and agri-foods, has already resulted in growth.
More details at The Province and TheTyee.ca.
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15 Comments
Wayne Waters
Do you really think, Mr Harper really cares about the ORDINARY CANADIAN, his head is in the U.S.A.. I believe this time around the Ordinary Canadians are going to say we have enough of this clown and through him and his cronies OUT..
just wanting to quit
We as canadains are destroying our own work relations in some ways , and this not enough people in canada to work is ““?????. there are still alot of people looking for work and are not even looked at ,why? there is also the confined sysdrom among us living in camp to long it is a prison in alot of ways , in which we allow ourselves to be subjected to. and I can go on and on for the years I have been doing this, in most camps there is more rights and freedom in a jail, which makes for other reasons why people are not appling for or filling those jobs ,people have more value to there family lves then that. Realy lets read between the lines.
arty
If we need workers from outside Canada why not American or Mexican. they want the Chineese whom are ignorant to our labor laws . they will treat them poorly and pay them pitance. this is a travisty. run the company out of the country along with a fiew more. that is the only way to get their attention.
Sabre
The Chinese are not there to develop the host country.
-They don’t bank the money in local banks,
-they don’t buy PPE for the workers,
-poor safety conditions are prevalent in Chinese mines,
-the Chinese are known to be poor in following local labour laws,
-they build temporary structures,
-they don’t bring their families and as a result they bed the local women and make babies which they don’t take care of,
-wages they pay to their workers are sorrowful,
– they do not provide proper documentation (e.g. work permits) for their fellow Chinese
– and as a result they bribe local Gvt officials
The Chinese are a pain in the ……
sailormac
Hello! the whole point of opening these mines is to employ our own people!
alby
When your country sends raw material to an other country to turn into products, that you then import does not make economic sense.If you let multinational companies have “tax free”, your national resources and energy as long as they manufacture in your country. Then put a small “Tax on the finished products” they export to the world. 100 percent more value added to your natural resource. Your economy and all your people would have great wealth and prosperity. Manufacturing drives education, research @ development,medicine and advanced technologies. Mining is great but does not employ as many people as manufacturing,Look at the countries that manufacture they have rising standards in living,high education standards and very low crime and unemployment, The funny thing is they don’t have much if any high quality natural resources.Sorry but I think your selling yourself and future Canadians very short indeed.
Silvio Gimo
This sort of thing is also happening in my country – Mozambique. Many mining companies from Australia, England, South Africa and India bring their fellow citizens to work here, allegedly becaase Mozambicans are “not qualified”. Shame on them ’cause most of the so called “specialists” are in fact graduates or trainees with no experience at all.
This is the chinese revenge in Canada and it hurts a lot to canadians when a 3rd world country is doing that in a 1st world country!
alby
China is the only true super power in our world.They think long term they have three times Americas dept in gold in there reserve bank and growing ,they also have the best universities in the world.The worlds future is China there civilisation is more than 20000 years old we are just seeing there golden age.
James CC
I agree with Silvio. The Chinese government state sponsored companies have traditionally done this sort of thing in Africa. Yep – some African countries have excluded themselves from dealing with the Chinese due to the poor record of the Chinese government importing Chinese labor into foreign countries and not leaving much benefit for the host country. Canada is accepting these deals from the Chinese without looking at the true consequences – an exported labor force from China that neutralizes benefits of the mining process to Canadian workers. Third world countries in Africa are rejecting on a regular basis…why are well accepting this sort of deal as a nation?
toots1948
Seems to me that an AD in CANADA asking for Miners that speak MANDARIN, puts a CLOG in the HIRING of Canadians/Americans! Another Manipulation!
[email protected]
It is fair to have an employment strategy that somehow reflects the percentage of chinese people in Canada that are allowed to work in any industry, give or take a few, however to hire mandarin speaking people only is a disgrace to your government, to the hiring company and to the Canadian people in general. Don’t go down that track as it makes me think of the Nazi strategy of “blue eyes and blond hair people” only. Give “foreigners” a fair go, but give Canadians a fair go as well. We in Australia battle the same problem which is that foreign companies bring in their own people. It stinks, it is unfair to Australians, it is a disgrace and really…it is against the principles of any good HR policy. If we allow that sort of nonsense to invade our way of running (foreign) companies on our soil than we really have lost the plot. Hey you Canadians, fight for your rights. Let your government know that certain policies are simply unacceptable. Cheers. Frank the Tank, an Aussie miner from Europe.
John Goulet
I was at the mine in question in Tumbler Ridge. After a frustrating interview with a small group of Chinese and a translator I could see it was not going to work and I was getting frustrated, i could never work there. This is MY country and I felt discriminated against and I must say I was pissed off when I left, who the he’ll do they think thet are. Christy Clark better give her head a shake. Also the wages are low for that kind of work. Of course they will offer low wages and use the excuse they can’t find workers to fill positions. There is a mines act in BC and I hope the mine inspectors keep a very close eye on this. I would NOT work with miners that don’t speak or understand our language. It is a big safety issue for underground workers. Having a translator doesn’t cut it and teaching 100 words in English is not good enough. And we all know that the money they will be making will be sent back home to support the families. They are suppose to be “temporary” workers, let’s wait and see.
There are unemployed miners from coal mines in the US, England, Australia, and many other countries that do have experience and that speak English.
I am I concerned miner and I hope more of us stand up to this invasion.
concerned
Typical canadian politicians sell out your own citizens to fill your own pockets wake up canada or before long we will be a 3rd world country . Bc should demand an election and get rid of her . I have no problem with immigration but the government needs to hold these companies accountable how soon everyone in this country forgets CNRL and the chinese company that killed workers at that site on canadian soil .
concerned
Oh and last time i checked canada had 2 official languages and mandarin wasn’t one of them .
alby
IT seems canadian and Australian politicians are morons.Why they don’t encourage multi national company s to set up manufactory in our energy and mineral super rich countries amazes me.Instead they create millions of jobs overseas also research in advanced technologies,medicine,education ect. And we just import there goods DUMB and we can only go backwards in the future with there current polices.