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Donkin Mine update. From Thursday's CBPost.

Last updated at 11:22 PM on 28/02/07

Erdene Gold officials tour Donkin mine

By Wes Stewart

Cape Breton Post

DONKIN — The Nova Scotia partner in the study to determine the feasibility of the Donkin mine development is pleased with progress to date.

“We are at the 1,500-metre level and things are going well,” said Peter Akerley, president and CEO of Erdene Gold Inc., Xstrata’s Dartmouth-based partner.

Xstrata continues to pump water from the Donkin tunnels to get to the coal face. They expect to be at the coal face in the second quarter, at which time the feasibility study will begin, Akerley said.

The $300-million mine is headed by Donkin Alliance, a consortium headed by Xstrata Coal with 75 per cent of the shares. Nova Scotia’s Erdene Gold Inc. owns the remaining 25 per cent.

Mine production is expected by 2009-10 and officials hope to mine four to five million tonnes of coal a year.

Erdene Gold has gold and copper mineral interests in Mongolia and kaolin clay and aggregate mines in Georgia.

Akerley said Tuesday a lot of people are not aware Xstrata has a Nova Scotia partner.

Last July, the company raised $6 million toward the project, a sizable chunk in Nova Scotia.

Their investment offer was oversubscribed by $21 million and “we made a point of making sure Nova Scotians were given priority on that development,” he said.

For local investors, there is the advantage of a tax incentive through shares, a 100 per cent tax write-off, Akerley said.

The companies are spending $15 million over two years in feasibility studies on developing the mine which will be made by the middle of 2008.

Akerley said he created Erdene to pursue mining interests in Mongolia. Just over a year ago the company acquired another Nova Scotia company, Kaoclay Resources, and with it an interest in Donkin Resources. Xstrata also acquired a 10 per cent interest in Erdene’s mining developments in Mongolia.

“Erdene is more involved in coal in Mongolia because we manage that side of it for Xstrata,” Akerley said.

“It brought us production in the United States; we have kaolin clay which is used as a paper coating, and a crushed stone quarry.”

Thought this was interesting. Also from CBPost, Wednesday's.

Second to one: Homefocus

Strait of Canso Superport quietly maintains its position as the second-busiest port in Canada

Section: Front

By Nancy King,
The Strait of Canso Superport is quietly maintaining its position as the second-busiest port in Canada in terms of the amount of cargo it handles annually.

"It's a secret that's been a little too well-kept over the years," CEO Tim Gilfoy said.

Last year, the port handled 32.8 million tonnes of cargo, second only to the Port of Vancouver at 79.3 million tonnes. It was up slightly from 32.5 million in 2005, which was up substantially from 24.8 million tonnes a year before, due to increased traffic at Statia Terminals, the opening of Nova Scotia Power's coal-handling terminal and an expansion at Martin Marietta.

"It's certainly encouraging that that's not a blip, that it's maintained that increased tonnage," Gilfoy said. "We're hoping to continue to grow."

The largest single cargo handler is Statia Terminals' Point Tupper transshipment facility, which has grown over the last few years. It is followed by Martin Marietta, which ships aggregate from its Auld's Cove quarry.

The increase also came while Stora Enso's Point Tupper mill was idled for most of the year due to a labour dispute.

While the mill doesn't ship any of its finished product by water, it does receive some of its papermaking materials by ship.

There is room to grow at the Superport, Gilfoy said. There has been some discussion that Trident Holdings may construct a container terminal at the provincially owned 14,500-acre Melford industrial land reserve, which lies on the western side of the Strait of Canso.

"There's thousands of acres of land adjacent to the port that's ready and looking for industrial tenants," Gilfoy said. "I think (a container terminal) is a very significant project, not only from a tonnage perspective, but also from a manpower perspective."

The Strait of Canso Superport Corp. is a non-profit body responsible for operating marine facilities at the Mulgrave Marine Terminal and Port Hawkesbury wharf, which it acquired from Transport Canada in 2000 through the federal divestiture program. Since that time, the Port Hawkesbury wharf has been rebuilt and there has been a major refurbishing of about 900 feet of the wharf face in Mulgrave.

I'll update the Membertou story when it comes online.