Capstone quick to grab copper mine in U.S.

folios and strengthen their balance sheets. It is a direct response to weaker commodity prices and slowing economic growth.

Capstone is in an ideal position to be one of the buyers of those assets, as it has roughly $500-million of cash and no debt. The company has no major capital expenditures planned until 2015, and adding a producing asset fills a void until then.

Capstone believes Pinto Valley is an ideal fit. It is a man- ingful impact on our cash flow, it puts our strong balance sheet to work for our shareholders, and it strengthens and expands the foundation from which we can continue to expand and grow,” Mr. Pylot said on a conference call.

While the mine is running well, there is still a lot of work for Capstone to do. The existing mine life is only five years; however, there are 3.4 million tonnes of contained copper resources that have not been converted into reserves. Capstone is confident it can convert those resources into reserves and extend the mine life by several years. There is also a third phase being studied that could extend the life much further. “That’s all upside,” Mr. Pylot said. “We didn’t apply any value to that third case.”

Pinto Valley is a past-producing mine that dates back to the 1970s. It was shut down when copper prices plummeted in the 1990s, but was brought back into production by BHP in 2007. The restart was poorly designed and the mine was shut again when prices fell in 2008. BHP then implemented a proper restart plan, investing US$194million and bringing the mine back online late last year.

The acquisition got a positive reception from analysts, who noted the price seems reasonable and that it is a sensible way for Capstone to put its balance sheet to work. The company does not plan to issue any new equity in conjunction with the deal, as it will be financed through existing cash and a pair of credit facilities.

of the country’s largest cable and satellite TV providers urged the federal telecommunications regulator on Monday to reject a number of channels that are vying for guaranteed spots on the dial.

and regional telecom are among those who oppose what is known as mandatory carriage, which would force them to include the channels on their basic cable and satellite packages. The providers say costs would increase if the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission forces them to add channels to their basic cable and satellite packages. CRTC chairman JeanPierre Blais has said the bar for being granted mandatory carriage is set “very high.” The providers argued none of the applicants meets the CRTC’s threshold to qualify for mandatory carriage. “What these applicants are asking the commission to do is to revive a regulatory framework for the carriage of specialty services that was abandoned years ago,” said Rogers executive Phil Lind. The CRTC is holding eight days of hearings in Gatineau, Que., to examine 22 applications for mandatory carriage. Among them, s Sun News is arguing for a guaranteed spot because it produces 96 hours a week of uniquely Canadian, conservative-minded content. miner

said it would cut jobs and defer capital expenditure to reduce costs at its three mines in Mexico, anticipating lower metal prices this year. Vancouver-based Endeavour will defer 20% of its capital investments planned for 2013. It had planned to spend $85.8-million on capital projects this year. “It pays to be prudent at times like this,” En- deavour chief executive Bradford Cooke said. Endeavour did not say how many workers it would lay off.