Search Results for: Canada

BY MARK GODFREY

AN UNCERTAIN price outlook paired with lack of government policy are the two main factors holding back development of biofuels in aviation, according to key industry players at June’s International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual meeting in Beijing.…

BY BILL CORCORAN, IN CAPE TOWN

SOUTH Africa has deposits of rare earth elements (REEs) to rival that of Australia, and the country is poised to take advantage of this increasingly strategic resource, according to Mintek, the government’s mineral technology organisation.…

BY KITTY SO

THE ANTI-COUNTERFEITING Trade Agreement (ACTA), a multilateral treaty designed to strengthen anti-copying laws worldwide, has been rejected by the European Parliament, which means it will not apply in the European Union (EU).

MEPs accepted concerns that the treaty was too vague, and hence open to misinterpretation, opening the door for court rulings that might overly restrict freedom of speech and commercial innovation.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

THE LAST decade has seen significant developments, initiatives and legislation towards integrating biofuels and other environmentally-friendly fuel alternatives into transport and the aviation sector. But while renewable fuels are projected to have a significant stake in fuelling aircrafts going into the future, traditional kerosene jet fuel still maintains a tight grip on the industry.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

OPERATIONS at Canada’s largest open-pit asbestos mine will be re-starting shortly, with exports of chrysotile set to begin within a year, following the signing of a financing agreement between the Québec government and a consortium of shareholders.

Mine Jeffrey’s Canadian dollar CAD83 million (USD 81.45 million) financing agreement to restart operations – which includes a CAD25 million investment from shareholders of the mine, and a CAD58 million loan bearing 10% interest – will help the Asbestos, Québec, mine complete the construction of its underground infrastructure, rendering the mine productive for the next 20 years, at least.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

The Canadian government’s long-awaited copyright reforms have finally been passed by the country’s House of Commons, and there are concerns that the legislation could deter publishers from providing books to Canada’s universities and colleges.

The new law adds ‘education’ – the term is otherwise undefined – as a purpose under ‘fair dealing’, which, according to Carolyn Wood, executive director of the Canadian Association of Publishers, means "copying need not be compensated if the purpose of the copying is education."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND LEAH GERMAIN

AN AMBITIOUS plan is being unrolled across the Arctic – using native Inuit languages and their dialects to build a new cultural nation. Its goal is building linguistic links between the 150,000 Inuit of Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Siberia so that they can read the same newspapers, websites and books and understand films, television and radio, all in their own indigenous language.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN, IN EDMONTON

WHEN Percy Henry was a young boy, there was no TV or radio for his childhood entertainment. Instead, the resident of Dawson City, Yukon, remembers working at the community’s sawmill, where he was rewarded for his hard work with stories told by elders.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

European Union (EU) environment ministers meeting yesterday (June 11) in Luxembourg agreed they wanted the UN’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) to finance a future binding global mercury control treaty to be established by the end of 2013.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Commission and Greenland have signed a letter of intent that could increase the role of European Union (EU) industrial mineral companies in the development of Greenlandic mineral resources, including rare earths.

EU industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani and development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs have struck a deal with Greenland Prime Minister Kuupik Kleis over future EU involvement in exploration and exploitation.…