The Vancouver Business Thread

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Wake me up when BC talks about asteroid mining. That's where the real money is.

Do they have to crash to Earth first?

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Not my numbers - Statistics Canada. There are a couple of hundred more people involved in mining, gas & oil who live in the city, but have 'no fixed workplace', so don't show up in the number I quoted. I guess that's the geologists etc. Here's the profile of residents (not jobs) that confirms the 4,000 people in Metro Vancouver in the mining, oil and gas sectors of industry. If you want the location of the jobs it's a bit more complex to find on the Stats Can website, but available.

My very limited understanding of the junior mining companies is that many of them are 'on paper' (with an office address) but not necessarily actually employing anyone until and unless they develop their claim.

That is likely only counting people that work directly on a quarry, refinery, distribution centre or tank farm then. If you included contractors, and services that would be many times more.

Just a quick google search shows that the Parkland Refinery in Burnaby employs 1000.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Wouldn't refinery jobs fall under industrial, not resource extraction?

Originally Posted by officedweller

Do they have to crash to Earth first?

More like we go up there and get them!

It'd be sometime in the very far future - we're definitely getting the HSR first - but with the constant talking about Moon/Mars missions, tourism and industrialization, Vancouver or BC may eventually need a spaceport in order to stay relevant.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

That is likely only counting people that work directly on a quarry, refinery, distribution centre or tank farm then. If you included contractors, and services that would be many times more.

Just a quick google search shows that the Parkland Refinery in Burnaby employs 1000.

I think that the people you listed would be involved in manufacturing, in terms of the NAICS code they'd fall under. Certainly that's what the Parkland refinery workers would be called. The 4,000 jobs in Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction in Metro Vancouver are people working for the extraction part of the business, and as far as I know all the oil and gas companies have their offices in Alberta now, so they're almost all likely to working in mining or quarrying. If you look at the cross tab of occupations, they're almost all managerial, business or technical, as you'd expect in a city with almost no operating quarries, and no mines. So there are more people working in the wholesale, manufacturing and retail aspects of the oil companies, but not on the extraction aspects of the business. Most of our workers are in offices of mining companies, and compared with all the other businesses they're small potatoes. Obviously there will be some lawyers and accountants working for professional service companies that work for the mining companies, so there's a multiplier, but the big gold companies aren't in Vancouver any more.

Placer Dome were based here, but were acquired by Barrick and are now in Toronto. Goldcorp was bought by a US Company, so they're not here now. The companies that are left are mostly smaller exploration companies, (with exceptions like Teck Resources) rather than major producers.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Changing City

I think that the people you listed would be involved in manufacturing, in terms of the NAICS code they'd fall under. Certainly that's what the Parkland refinery workers would be called. The 4,000 jobs in Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction in Metro Vancouver are people working for the extraction part of the business, and as far as I know all the oil and gas companies have their offices in Alberta now, so they're almost all likely to working in mining or quarrying. If you look at the cross tab of occupations, they're almost all managerial, business or technical, as you'd expect in a city with almost no operating quarries, and no mines. So there are more people working in the wholesale, manufacturing and retail aspects of the oil companies, but not on the extraction aspects of the business. Most of our workers are in offices of mining companies, and compared with all the other businesses they're small potatoes. Obviously there will be some lawyers and accountants working for professional service companies that work for the mining companies, so there's a multiplier, but the big gold companies aren't in Vancouver any more.

Placer Dome were based here, but were acquired by Barrick and are now in Toronto. Goldcorp was bought by a US Company, so they're not here now. The companies that are left are all smaller exploration companies, rather than major producers.

And all their engineers, people, assay labs, subcontractors, financiers, suppliers, etc. all just evaporated? Most of workforce here is on the technical, management or support side of the industry. In the last 15 years, UBC went from training about 20 mining engineers per year to about 80. Geology and Geotechnical programs at UBC grew as well.

I'm not going to argue with you in circles, but according to your numbers my current and previous employers would represent about 2/3 of the Vancouver's mining industry. That's just wildly out of proportion.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

And all their engineers, people, assay labs, subcontractors, financiers, suppliers, etc. all just evaporated? Most of workforce here is on the technical, management or support side of the industry. In the last 15 years, UBC went from training about 20 mining engineers per year to about 80. Geology and Geotechnical programs at UBC grew as well.

I'm not going to argue with you in circles, but according to your numbers my current and previous employers would represent about 2/3 of the Vancouver's mining industry. That's just wildly out of proportion.

I'm happy to drop this too - I have no idea how different elements of the mining companies employment get counted in the census. As Teck are still based here, I thought the numbers were low too, but I generally trust government statistics on something as basic as employment sector job counts. This report is the most recent I can find. I think it uses Census data, but it says that there were 2,005 Mining, oil & gas jobs in the city in 2016, and mining jobs fell by 13% between 2006 and 2016. That would be about half the Metro jobs. (I mentioned, I think, that the smaller number I quoted earlier is for residents - so presumably about half the people who work in mining in Vancouver live outside the city and commute).

The table on Page 8 says mining and oil represents 0.4% of jobs in the city. I guess you worked for the biggest! I assume a lot of the engineers from UBC go off to work where the mines are, even if they're working for a local mining company, so they wouldn't be counted. And despite the ever deeper holes under some of our new buildings, I don't think technically those count as mining jobs.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The table on Page 8 says mining and oil represents 0.4% of jobs in the city. I guess you worked for the biggest! I assume a lot of the engineers from UBC go off to work where the mines are, even if they're working for a local mining company, so they wouldn't be counted. And despite the ever deeper holes under some of our new buildings, I don't think technically those count as mining jobs.

Some of the shoring works overlap with mining contractors, but generally that's about as close as the overlap gets.

I do mostly underground construction projects, so I kind of straddle categories. Tunnels for infrastructure mostly.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

It'd be sometime in the very far future - we're definitely getting the HSR first - but with the constant talking about Moon/Mars missions, tourism and industrialization, Vancouver or BC may eventually need a spaceport in order to stay relevant.

Spaceports are best placed near the equator to take advantage of the Earth's spin. This is why Canada should be looking at bringing in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a potential province.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

That is likely only counting people that work directly on a quarry, refinery, distribution centre or tank farm then. If you included contractors, and services that would be many times more.

Just a quick google search shows that the Parkland Refinery in Burnaby employs 1000.

That seems highly unlikely. They had ~300 direct refinery and back office people in Metro Vancouver (February 2019) The union represented ~150 refinery workers when they bought it from Chevron.

Unrelated but the refinery was just restarted in April after maintenance. That required 550 contractors on each maintenance shift.

https://www.ogj.com/refining-processing/...-wrapping-up-burnaby-refinery-turnaround

They just moved most of their staff into Brentwood's SOLO recently.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Spaceports are best placed near the equator to take advantage of the Earth's spin. This is why Canada should be looking at bringing in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a potential province.

If the Russians can make Baikonur work, I don't see why Vancouver or Victoria is far-fetched.

[whatnext]

Princess, Holland America and Carnival have all cancelled their 2020 Alaska cruise season, but there is some hope other lines might operate a reduced season:

COVID-19: Still hope for Vancouver’s cruise ship season but some lines have cancelled for 2020
Susan Lazaruk
May 10, 2020

Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said it is still aiming for a July 1 opening for cruise ships but the season also depends on the state of the U.S.-Canada border, flight and hotel availability and whether or not cruise lines will offer trips this year

Vancouver’s port authority says it’s on track to open to cruise ships on July 1, almost halfway through the normal seven-month season, but that depends on reopening the Canada-U.S. border and whether cruise lines will be offering trips.

COVID-19 delayed the planned April 2 opening of one of B.C.’s biggest tourist draws, flushing out to sea a potential $1.5 billion in economy activity to the province during April, May and June....

https://theprovince.com/news/local-news/...wcm/65ec9bad-4c1b-410c-8660-82d58e52ddc5

[WarrenC12]

^^^ Not a chance. It's over for 2020.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Spaceports are best placed near the equator to take advantage of the Earth's spin. This is why Canada should be looking at bringing in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a potential province.

The equatorial energy doesn't matter that much for some orbits. Polar orbits for instance.

Generally Vancouver Island wouldn't be a good launch location though. You want to have open ocean / empty land to either the North/South for polar orbits, or to the East of equatorial orbits.

That's why most spaceports are on the East Coast.

[misher]

Unfortunate.

North Vancouver's Cineplex Odeon Park & Tilford has permanently closed

North Vancouver’s last movie theatre has quietly shuttered its doors.

Cineplex has confirmed with Daily Hive that Cineplex Odeon Park & Tilford Cinemas has permanently closed.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-vancouver-cineplex-park-and-tilford-permanently-closed

[officedweller]

It says Cineplex will repurpose the site.
Rec Room?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by officedweller

It says Cineplex will repurpose the site.
Rec Room?

Or Playdium

[zahav]

It was inevitable, Cineplex is really getting away from these types of smaller older theatres, and focusing on their big draws. Realistically the new Park Royal one is really big and top of the line, more in keeping with their plan. Park & Tilford is more like when Richmond Centre closed, it was expected.

[MIPS]

Was talking to a neighboring mechanic down on Victoria Drive today and mentioned that Stan's Transmissions on Kingsway was it getting ready for the wrecking ball and he pointed out I didn't recognize his sign. He and Stan were kicked out of the plot last year.

Vancouver’s independent garages disappearing amid skyrocketing industrial land prices

Auto Repairs R “Wee” owner Wee Wong has banked on the auto game his entire adult life. It’s afforded him home ownership in Vancouver and helped him raise two sons, who in theory, will take over the shop once Wong calls it a day.

But what kind of business climate will await them?

“In 10 or 20 years, don’t be surprised if I might be the only shop in town other than the big dealerships, Canadian Tire and the big corporations,” Wong said. “I’m telling people that right now.”

Wong has been on Kingsway between Knight and Fraser streets since 1998. He splits the lot with Stan’s Transmission, which has been in operation since the late 1960s. Both business are being forced to move in the coming months due to redevelopment.

The two garages take up about 8,000 square feet of space, and according to Stan's owner Jim Lasher, the land has changed hands three times in seven years for $3.5 million, $7 million and $9 million.

Wong’s rent has more than doubled in 20 years, to the point that he’s paying close to $8,000 for 2,500 square feet.

-https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/vancouver-news/vancouver-independent-garages-disappearing-1943223

He brings up a good point, while in one of the two bays his new and very small place. All the shops I knew even 10 years ago are now either closing or have been turned into condos. I have to rebuild a cylinder head in a few months and I have to book the time for him to work on that in the next month because I can't find any of the other small machine shops to do it for me. A Jeep dealership is not going to give me a good run for my buck working on a 38 year old car.

[Migrant_Coconut]

On a lighter note:

Respawn marks its ten-year anniversary with a new Vancouver studio

When Apex Legends launched in February of last year, Respawn Entertainment had laid the groundwork for its momentum through deals with content creators and its plan for a sudden, surprise release.

But speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Respawn COO Dusty Welch says the game's sudden popularity took the studio by surprise, reaching over one million players in its first eight hours, ten million in three days, 25 million in a week, and 50 million in its first month.

Since then, Apex Legends has remained steadily popular despite competing against multiple other free-to-play battle royale titles. In fact, it's popular enough that Respawn is opening a new studio in Vancouver just to focus on its continued development.

This will be Respawn's second location alongside its existing studio in California...

Good news for anybody who wants a career at EA that's not FIFA-related.

[officedweller]

COVID measures at TD Tower.

Pics by me today:

One set of doors is an entrance, the other an exit.
Line-ups for each bank of elevators around the perimeter of the lobby (then out the door?)





4 people per elevator.