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Aus GLOBMAIL.COM vom 16.11.05
Juniors join Chinese gold rush
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But majors holding back over concerns of murky regulationBy
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GEOFFREY YORK
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 Page B6
BEIJING -- The halls of Beijing's convention centre are buzzing with the
adrenalin rush of a new mining boom. Dozens of Canadian juniors are
scrambling for a slice of China's vast mineral deposits, and they
gathered excitedly yesterday to tout their prospects at China's annual mining congress.
But while the conference boasted a dramatic rise in exhibitors and a
record number of participants, two of Canada's biggest mining
companies were sounding a starkly different note. They are warning of
risky pitfalls in the Chinese regulatory regime that could constrain the industry's future.
Falconbridge Ltd. and Teck Cominco Ltd. are cautioning that Beijing
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needs to clarify its uncertain licensing procedures if it wants the Chinese
mining industry to reach its full potential.
Both companies -- like many of the world's biggest miners -- have
remained largely on the sidelines of the Chinese exploration boom,
although they do have a presence in the country. Questions about land
title in the licensing process are a key reason for their hesitation.
"We would be loath to invest large amounts of money in development
without understanding the legal framework," Falconbridge's chief
operating officer, Peter Kukielski, told reporters yesterday.
Many of the major Western mining companies, including Falconbridge,
will be unwilling to take a gamble on China until the regulations are clarified, he said.
"I think it will be an inhibitor. There is some concern. We don't
understand clearly how one attains land ownership in China. While there
is some uncertainty about ownership, we are reluctant to invest a major amount of dollars."
In a speech to the mining conference on its opening day, he warned that
China's efforts to attract the most efficient Western investors "will be
slowed by the deeply complex issue of land ownership."
Doug Horswill, senior vice-president of environment and corporate
affairs at Teck Cominco, said Beijing will realize the need to "get the
rules right" when it sees the competition from other countries with better
regulations. "The real issue for China is the competition that it's engaged
in with Peru and Chile and Canada and Australia to secure those
exploration dollars," Mr. Horswill told the conference.
One of the key problems, he said, is the lack of assurance that an
exploration company will be allowed to secure a mining licence after it
discovers a mineral deposit. Under current Chinese rules, the company
that discovers a deposit is given "priority rights" to the mining licence, but
it doesn't have a guaranteed right. "The term 'priority rights' is suggestive
of a second decision, and that worries us, and it worries a lot of Western
companies," he told reporters later.
Mr. Horswill said he was planning to raise the land-title issue with a
senior Chinese government official at a private meeting yesterday. "I
think the Chinese officials know this issue very well and are examining
how to deal with it. We're optimistic that they will."
Teck does have exploration people on the ground in China looking for
opportunities, but it remains cautious, he said. "It will take some time for
our comfort levels to grow, and to find the partners that we want to work with."
China's minister of land and resources, Sun Wensheng, told the
conference that the government will ensure an "open and transparent"
regulatory system that will "protect the legal rights of foreign investors."
But he provided no specific details.
Junior mining companies, however, are increasingly enthusiastic about
China. In the gold and silver sector alone, at least 30 Canadian
companies are actively exploring here, and China has emerged as the
world's fourth-largest gold-producing country.
The exploration boom seems to be gathering strength. More than 2,000
delegates and 200 exhibitors are registered at the China mining
conference this week, a sharp rise from the 1,325 delegates and about 80 exhibitors at last year's congress.
The juniors are less bothered by the question marks about land security
in China. Several are already applying for mining licences and they
believe they can pave the way for the bigger companies by showing that
the process is less risky than some had feared.
"We feel confident that we'll get our mining permit," said Jay
Chmelauskas, president of Jinshan Gold Mines, a Vancouver-based
company is developing a gold mine in the Inner Mongolia region of China.
"A lot of senior companies are on the sidelines, just kicking tires and
watching the juniors. But once we show we have mining permits and go
into production, then China will be de-risked. We need a year to de-risk China."
Although Jinshan has been working for a year on the studies required for
its mining licence, it acknowledges that it might not get its mining permit
from Beijing until the first or second quarter of next year. "Beijing is a bit
of a black box," Mr. Chmelauskas said.
