Plans for logging, mining near British Columbia parks spark concern

Cliffs Natural Resources vaulted to a record third quarter from a springboard of high iron ore prices combined with higher sales from its Bloom Lake operation, the company announced today. Cliffs posted a 59% increase in revenues from the same period last year, bringing in $2.1 billion. The company more than doubled (+110%) its net income in Q3 to $820 million, despite taking a $17.5 million net loss from the idling of its renewaFUEL biomass production facility in Michigan. Despite the sunny financial picture, Cliffs indicated that clouds are looming on the horizon in the markets for its principal commodities, iron ore and coal. Image of Cliffs Northshore Mine, Copyright © 2011 Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

Teck Resources (TSE:TCK.B) posted strong third-quarter earnings and rewarded shareholders with a 33% dividend increase. However, the Vancouver-based diversified mining company also lowered its 2011 guidance for copper and coking coal, its principle export commodities. Coal sales volume was lowered to 22.2 to 23 million tonnes (from 23.5 to 24.5 million) due to weakening steel markets. Teck blamed problems at its Quebrada Blanca operation in Chile for lower than expected copper volumes; 2011 copper sales guidance was lowered to 320,000 tonnes from 330,000 to 340,000t. The company had a record quarter, increasing its third-quarter revenues to $3.4 billion from the same period in 2010 — a 40% increase. Adjusted earnings were $742 million compared to $452 million in Q3 of last year.

After a more than 3% jump in the first half hour following stellar financial results, investors quickly tempered their optimism about the world's largest potash miner and by midday Potash Corp was back in the red. You don't have to look too hard to find reasons for the scepticism.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 26, 2011) - Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) announced today that it will pay an eligible dividend of $0.40 per share on its outstanding Class A common shares and Class B subordinate voting shares on January 3, 2012, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 15, 2011. This represents a 33 percent increase from the previous dividend.

The US state department's anonymous leak to the media on Tuesday lowering expectations about a decision on Keystone this year should not come as a surprise to anyone following Barack Obama's poll numbers or the increasing bitterness on the left about his perceived closeness to industry.

Potash royalties took centre stage yesterday night in a lively debate between Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Dwain Lingenfelter, the leader of the province's NDP. Saskatchewan is in the midst of an election campaign with voters going to the polls on November 7. Lingenfelter went on the offensive, attacking the potash industry for what he says are unfair royalties. The NDP would tax an extra five cents of every dollar of potash sales, and use up to $700 million in extra potash revenues to fund their platform. "That's our strategy. To move (the royalty) from a nickel on the dollar, do the review and get at least 10 cents on the dollar. I don't think that's asking too much," " said Lingenfelter.

On top of a 3.3% decline in US crude oil prices on Wednesday comes news from Reuters that a US State Department official said the year-end target to approve the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline could well be missed. It would be the second time a decision has been pushed out. A surge in inventories at the Cushing hub in the Midwest, the pricing point for US crude was behind the fall and a further delay to Keystone, designed to carry Canadian crude to Texas refineries and relieve the Cushing glut, will hit oil sands producers particularly hard. Canada's heavy oil already sells at almost a $30 discount to the international price.

Canada's number one coal producer and world-leading nickel miner, Sherritt jumped 10.2% on Wednesday after reporting a doubling of quarterly net earnings and good progress at its massive Ambatovy project in Madagascar. Sherritt will start production at Ambatovy in the first quarter of next year. The company has already spent more than 90% of the planned $5.5 billion to build what will be the world's biggest nickel mine with the capacity to produce 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 of cobalt a year. Sherritt and its Asian partners have made the largest investment in the island's history and will make nickel the country's number one export for the next 27 years.

Toronto, ON – October 26, 2011: Aecon Group Inc. (TSX:ARE) announced today that its Mining Division has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $80 million for work at a new potash mine, located approximately 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Under the unit price contract, Aecon Mining will conduct site preparation and early works, including site grading, construction of temporary roads, preparation of sediment ponds, and layouts for the camp. Work at the site has begun and is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2012. “This contract represents an important step forward for Aecon Mining, expanding its client base and its reach in Western Canada’s resource sector,” said Teri McKibbon, Aecon’s Chief Operating Officer. “The potash industry in Saskatchewan is undergoing significant growth, and Aecon is strategically positioned to play a role in many aspects of that growth.”