Energy: Power companies need strategy to control rates: KPMG
Canadian power companies will need to spend $300 billion on capital improvements over the next two decades but have no clear strategy for keeping power rates from skyrocketing, a new KPMG study concludes.
Between the Regulator and a Hard Place said Canadian power regulators are starting to push back against power companies jacking up rates.
“We found utility providers are not taking on the level of systematic and strategic cost-cutting regulators want to see,” said Muriel McGrath, KPMG Canada’s partner and national leader for power and utilities.
Forestry: West Fraser Timber earnings up 76% year-over-year
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (TSX:WFT) announced its third-quarter results Monday, revealing a 76% increase in earnings year-to-date compared with the same period last year.
The company is reporting earnings of $65 million for the first three quarters of 2012, compared with $37 million in 2011. Year to date, the company reports sales of $2.2 billion, compared with $2.1 billion in the first three quarters of 2011.
Sales in the third quarter were $772 million, a near-10% increase compared with sales of $705 million in 2011’s third quarter.
Mining: Canadian Tirex Resources starts producing in Albania
Vancouver-based Canadian Tirex Resources (TSX-V:TXX) has received the go-ahead from Albania’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy to transition six areas from exploration licences to 25-year mining permits, the company announced this morning.
Mining operations in these six areas, said the company, is expected to create significant employment, infrastructure growth and economic development in northern Albania.
Tirex has invested $25 million exploring for copper, gold, silver and zinc in the southeastern European country.
Energy: Eight organizations get clean energy awards
The City of Surrey, Nechako Lumber and Kanaka Bar Indian Band were among the eight recipients of Clean Energy BC awards last night.
Clean Energy BC also handed out two lifetime achievement awards to:
•Jimmy Ko, project manager, BC Hydro’s transmission generator interconnection group, for “professionalism, expertise and insights” for the electrical industry; and
•Craig Aspinall of Aspinall & Associates Ltd. for “outstanding service to the industry.”
Mike Wise, president of GeoWise Engineering Ltd., received a merit award for his clean-energy work.
Mining: Eldorado Gold revenue falls 26% year-over-year
Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold Corp. (TSX:ELD) has announced its third-quarter results, showing a 26% decrease in net income compared with the third quarter of 2011.
Net income was US$75.8 million, compared with $102.5 million for Q3 2011. The company said the fall was largely due to lower sales volume, but was also affected by a slide in gold prices. Gold sold for US$1,670 per ounce during the quarter, compared with US$1,700 in Q3 2011.
Earnings per share were 42% lower in the quarter when compared with the same period last year, falling from $0.19 to $0.11.
