Forty of our Finest
Reports have been read. Numbers crunched. Comparisons made. Now our annual look at Canada’s Top 40 mining companies is ready.
The name of the top revenue generator is no surprise: Agrium ($15.3 billion). Second place this year goes to Barrick Gold ($14.2 billion). These companies have been trading the top two spots for the past few years. Last year their positions were reversed, having revenues of $10.6 billion and $10.9 billion, respectively.
Even though it has stalled on either side of the $1,600-mark, the strong price of gold lifted two other gold producers to the top of the list. Goldcorp was No.6 with $5.3 billion, and Kinross Gold was No.7 with revenues of $3.9 billion. The three gold producers near the top are also copper producers. They stand to benefit should the price of either metal strengthen. Likewise, the No.9 miner First Quantum Minerals ($2.6 billion). Although primarily a copper producer, First Quantum also has a significant by-product income from gold.
Two Canadian bitumen producers are to be found near the top. Suncor Energy’s oil sands business brought in revenues of $12.2 billion last year, landing the company in the No.3 slot. Canadian Oil Sands Trust had revenues of $3.9 billion, primarily from the Syncrude project. That put COST in the No.8 position. Suncor and COST have held those relative positions since 2007.
The No.4 revenue generating miner in 2011 was Teck Resources with its $11.5 billion. The integrated miner has coal and base metal mines throughout the Americas. It also benefits significantly from a number of by-products including indium that is used in flat display screens that are becoming ubiquitous in our homes and public places.
Following Teck, at No.5 is Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest potash producer with revenue of $8.6 billion. The excellent result for PotashCorp is due in part to the need to fertilize the world’s food crops but also to the company’s extensive global marketing efforts.
Rounding out the top 10 is uranium producer Cameco. The company generated $2.4 billion in revenues, despite fears for reduced uranium demand by the power industry. Fears were raised following the earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011 and severely damaged one of that country’s large nuclear power stations. Supporters of the industry point out that unlike coal-fired generating stations, nuclear power plants produce no greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming.
Elsewhere in our Top 40, readers will recognize a number of familiar miners. There are gold producers, No.13 Agnico-Eagle Mines ($1.8 billion), No.17 Centerra ($1.1 billion) and No. 18 Eldorado Gold ($1.1 billion), No.26 High River Gold ($574 million), and more. New to the list this year is Osisko Mining at No.36 with $263 million thanks to its recently opened Canadian Malartic gold mine in Quebec. Another new name is No.30 AuRico Gold with $398 million). The AuRico name is new but it includes the assets of two companies it took over in 2011 – Northgate Minerals and Gammon Gold.
Mergers and acquisitions have removed other familiar names from the Top 40. Barrick swallowed Equinox, thereby giving Barrick significant copper assets. Breakwater Resources was taken over by Nystar of Switzerland, and Grande Cache Coal by Winsway of Hong Kong.
KGHM International snapped up Quadra FNX, itself a combination of two Top 40 companies in 2009. KGHM is owned by a Polish company, but it is included in this year’s list at No.16 with revenues of $1.2 billion by virtue of the fact that it meets two of the three criteria to be considered a Canadian miner. It is domiciled in this country and has producing mines in Canada.
Look for other Top 40 companies that are base metal producers. Sherritt International ($2.0 billion) comes in at No.12, Inmet Mining ($979 million) is No.19, HudBay Minerals ($891 million) is No.20, Lundin Mining ($775 million) is No. 22, Thompson Creek Metals ($662 million), is No.24, and Capstone Mining ($349 million) is No. 32. Capstone is a relative newcomer to the Canadian mining scene having opened the Minto copper mine in the Yukon in 2007. The project has done nothing but expand ever since.
The Top 40 includes several of Canada’s diamond producers, although the financial information from them is less complete than from publically traded companies. BHP Billiton, operator of the Ekati mine in the Northwest Territories, holds down the No.15 spot with revenues of $1.5 billion. Harry Winston, 40% owner of the Diavik mine comes in at No.25 with $617 million. The remaining 60% of the Diavik mine belongs to Rio Tinto plc, that has its head office in London, UK. No.27 De Beers Canada ($566 million) is the operator of the Victor diamond mine in Ontario and the Snap Lake mine in the Northwest Territories as well as the advanced Gaucho Kué project 90 km away from Snap Lake.
Coal producers, however, are absent from the Top 40. Coal income contributes to the revenues of Teck and Sherritt, but how much is not clear. Smaller coal producers are just that – small, too small to make the Top 40.
No matter how great the revenues of Canada’s Top 40 mining companies – from No.1 Agrium at $15.4 billion to No.40 Taseko Mines at $252 million – those revenues are still far behind the world’s Big 5 miners. BHP Billiton hauled in $67.9 billion, Rio Tinto garnered $60.5 million, and Vale reaped $60.4 billion. Rounding out the short list are Xstrata at $33.9 billion and Anglo American at $30.6 billion. How much is that? (Hint: over $250 billion.)
Determining who is ‘biggest” can be done several ways. Some in the press go by market capitalization, others by net income. We at CMJ continue to rank our Top 40 by the previous year’s gross revenues. It is a handy yardstick, especially as we have used it for many years, making comparisons to older lists easy.
Other ways of measuring “big” might be by net earnings or assets. We have provided that information in short tables for some of the Top 40 companies. It is interesting to note how many of the top 10 revenue generating companies also rank near the top of the earnings and assets lists.
A look at how revenues, earnings and assets changed year-over-year is also worth considering. These lists, too, have their share of top 10 placeholders, but they also highlight some of the smaller Top 40 that are growing their businesses.
Another way to benchmark success is to compare the size of a company’s assets to the amount of revenue they generate. That information is new this year, expressed as a percentage, revenue over assets. Agrium’s number, 117.7%, stands out. If everyone could make more money than the value of what they own, more shareholders would be rich. Perhaps it is so large as to be meaningless, but those are the numbers we had to work with.
There were other companies that managed to generate revenues that represent a large percentage of their assets: Nevsun Resources (70.8%), BHP Billiton Canada (69.6%), Centerra Gold (65.8%) and Aurizon Mines (62.2%). Even No.40 Taseko Mines had revenues equal to 25.3% of its assets. AuRico and Osisko tied for last place with 12.7%.
Whether such statistics are an adequate measure of value, we are not certain. But we wanted to toss them out and perhaps generate some comments. Ambitious readers are welcome to measure earnings against revenues and earnings against assets using the Top 40 table. Perhaps one of those would be our readers’ preferred measure of value. Let us know.
Meanwhile, congratulations to all the companies that made our Top 40 list!
Who is eligible for the Top 40?
Determining a list of Canada’s Top 40 mining companies takes time and research. We examine financial statements, annual reports and other public information for almost 100 separate companies.
We keep in mind that eligible companies must meet two of the following three criteria:
- <
li>Companies that are traded on a Canadian stock exchange.
- Companies that are domiciled in Canada.
- Companies that own or have a significant equity interest in a producing mine in Canada. Companies with a project in the advanced development stage may also be considered.
For example, a company with its head office in Toronto and its stock trading on the TSX or TSX-V would meets the above criteria even if all it producing mines are offshore. Companies with foreign head offices and that do not trade on a Canadian exchange, will not make the Top 40 list even it they have substantial mining assets in this country.
Numbers that were reported in U.S. dollars have been converted to millions of Canadian dollars at a rate of US$1.00 equals C$1.02, the average exchange rate calculated by the Bank of Canada for the 2011 calendar year.
We make every effort to include all eligible companies. If you believe your enterprise should be listed among the Top 40, please write to the author at MScales@CanadianMiningJournal.com.
Canada’s Top 40 by Gross Revenue (millions of Canadian dollars ) |
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Rank | Compnay | 2011 Year End |
Type | 2011 Revenue | 2011 Net Earnings (loss) | 2011 Assets | 2010 Revenue | 2010 Net Earnings (loss) | 2010 Assets |
1 | Agrium | Dec 31 | KCl | 15,300 | 1,360 | 12,995 | 10,625 | 705 | 12,750 |
2 | Barrick Gold | Dec 31 | Au-Cu | 14,155 | 4,435 | 48,346 | 10,880 | 3,543 | 34,256 |
3 | Suncor Energy | Dec 31 | Bitumen | 12,233 | 5,100 | 44,217 | 5,309 | 3,709 | 39,382 |
4 | Teck Resources | Dec 31 | Zn | 11,524 | 2,768 | 34,219 | 9,223 | 1,936 | 29,055 |
5 | Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan | Dec 31 | KCl | 8,619 | 3,047 | 15,376 | 6,467 | 1,755 | 12,701 |
6 | Goldcorp | Dec 31 | Au | 5,303 | 1,860 | 29,051 | 3,697 | 2,021 | 27,335 |
7 | Kinross Gold | Dec 31 | Au-Cu | 3,900 | -1,991 | 16,327 | 2,977 | 1,192 | 17,599 |
8 | Canadian Oil Sands Trust | Dec 31 | Bitumen | 3,875 | 1,144 | 8,620 | 3,154 | 1,189 | 7,132 |
9 | First Quantum Minerals | Dec 31 | Cu-Au | 2,556 | 648 | 5,240 | 2,367 | 371 | 4,903 |
10 | Cameco | Dec 31 | U | 2,384 | 439 | 7,801 | 2,124 | 507 | 7,203 |
11 | Yamana Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 2,149 | 542 | 10,652 | 1,670 | 461 | 10,205 |
12 | Sherritt International | Dec 31 | Ni-Cu | 1,978 | 197 | 6,498 | 1,671 | 145 | 6,068 |
13 | Agnico-Eagle Mines | Dec 31 | Au | 1,802 | -563 | 4,979 | 1,407 | 328 | 5,440 |
14 | IamGold | Dec 31 | Au | 1,619 | 834 | 4,302 | 1,085 | 277 | 2,918 |
15 | BHPBilliton Canada (Ekati) | Jun 30 | Dia | 1,500 | 581 | 2,145 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
16 | KGHM Internatiopnal | Dec 31 | Cu-Ni-PGM | 1,166 | 264 | 3,507 | 947 | 79 | 2,729 |
17 | Centerra Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 1,099 | 367 | 1,670 | 841 | 318 | 1,385 |
18 | Eldorado Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 1,087 | 343 | 3,960 | 782 | 235 | 3,644 |
19 | Inmet Mining | Dec 31 | Cu-Zn | 979 | 348 | 3,810 | 779 | 390 | 3,030 |
20 | HudBay Minerals | Dec 31 | Cu-Zn | 891 | -164 | 2,449 | 781 | 21 | 2,084 |
21 | Pan American Silver |
Dec 31 | Ag | 846 | 350 | 1,931 | 640 | 16 | 1,720 |
22 | Lundin Mining | Dec 31 | Cu-Zn-Pb-Ni | 775 | 182 | 3,821 | 840 | 303 | 3,784 |
23 | New Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 688 | 177 | 3,176 | 624 | 47 | 2,402 |
24 | Thompson Creek Metals | Dec 31 | Mo | 662 | 121 | 2,961 | 588 | 161 | 2,293 |
25 | Harry Winston | Dec 31 | Dia | 617 | 27 | 1,600 | 408 | -76 | 1,479 |
26 | High River Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 574 | 191 | 1,008 | 441 | 124 | 812 |
27 | De Beers Canada | Dec 31 | Diamond | 566 | 461 | ||||
28 | Nevsun Resources | Dec 31 | Au-BMet | 542 | 246 | 766 | n/a | -18 | 352 |
29 | Uranium One | Dec 31 | U | 524 | 87 | 3,267 | 323 | -152 | 2,914 |
30 | AuRico Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 398 | 175 | 3,139 | 235 | -134 | 900 |
31 | Semafo | Dec 31 | Au | 392 | 122 | 716 | 319 | 102 | 585 |
32 | Capstone Mining | Dec 31 | Cu-Au | 349 | 59 | 1,404 | 298 | 74 | 620 |
33 | Dundee Precious Metals | Dec 31 | Au | 338 | 72 | 928 | 202 | 20 | 817 |
34 | China Gold | Dec 31 | Au-BMet | 308 | 81 | 1,727 | 132 | 27 | 1,638 |
35 | Mirabela Nickel | Dec 31 | Ni | 301 | -50 | 1,005 | 209 | -47 | 1,108 |
36 | Osisko Mining | Dec 31 | Au | 263 | 18 | 2,069 | nil | -18 | 1,959 |
37 | Aurizon Mines | Dec 31 | Au | 260 | 44 | 418 | 179 | 17 | 337 |
38 | Mercator Minerals | Dec 31 | Cu-Mo | 260 | 91 | 606 | 181 | -137 | 418 |
39 | Imperial Metals | Dec 31 | Cu-Au | 253 | 49 | 486 | 246 | 38 | 442 |
40 | Taseko Mines | Dec 31 | Mo | 252 | 27 | 995 | 278 | 149 | 722 |
The Runners-up (C$ millions) |
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Rank | Compnay | 2011 Year End |
Type | 2011 Revenue | 2011 Net Earnings (loss) | 2011 Assets | 2010 Revenue | 2010 Net Earnings (loss) | 2010 Assets |
41 | First Majestic Silver | Dec 31 | Ag | 243 | 103 | 438 | 117 | 35 | 255 |
42 | Iberian Minerals | Dec 31 | Cu | 242 | 172 | 694 | 225 | -109 | 745 |
43 | Alamos Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 225 | 59 | 592 | 187 | 62 | 500 |
44 | Teranga Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 185 | -16 | 517 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
45 | Ivanhoe Mines | Dec 31 | Cu | 177 | -564 | 6,069 | 79 | -210 | 3,184 |
46 | South Gobi Resoruces | Dec 31 | Coal | 177 | 57 | 910 | 79 | -115 | 950 |
47 | Great Basin Gold | Dec 31 | Au | 170 | -18 | 850 | 100 | 27 | 755 |
48 | North American Palladium | Dec 31 | Pd-Au | 170 | -65 | 416 | 107 | -29 | 348 |
49 | Pacific Coal Resources | Dec 31 | Coal | 166 | -53 | 375 | 76 | 2 | 256 |
50 | Amerigo Resoruces | Dec 31 | Cu-Mo | 164 | 9 | 203 | 152 | 5 | 235 |
Top Revenue Gainers (C$ millions) |
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Rank | Compnay | Type | 2011 Revenue | 2010 Revenue | Revenue Change 2011/2010 | ||||
34 | China Gold | Au-BMet | 308 | 132 | +133.3% | ||||
3 | Suncor Energy | Bitumen | 12,233 | 5,309 | +130.4% | ||||
30 | AuRico Gold | Au | 398 | 235 | +69.4% | ||||
32 | Dundee Precious Metals | Au | 338 | 202 | +67.3% | ||||
25 | Harry Winston | Dia | 617 | 408 | +51.2% | ||||
14 | IamGold | Au | 1,619 | 1,085 | +49.2% | ||||
37 | Aurizon Mines | Au | 260 | 179 | +45.3% | ||||
1 | Agrium | KCl | 15,300 | 10,625 | +44.0% | ||||
35 | Mirabela Nickel | Ni-Cu | 301 | 209 | +44.0% | ||||
38 | Mercator Minerals | Cu-Mo | 260 | 181 | +43.6% | ||||
6 | Goldcorp | Au | 5,303 | 3,697 | +43.4% | ||||
18 | Eldorado Gold | Au | 1,087 | 782 | +39.0% | ||||
5 | Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan | KCl | 8,619 | 6,467 | +33.3% | ||||
21 | Pan American Silver | Ag | 846 | 640 | +32.2% | ||||
7 | Kinross Gold | Au-Cu | 3,900 | 2,977 | +31.0% | ||||
Top Earners (C$ millions) |
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Rank | Compnay | Type | 2011 Net Earnings (loss) | 2010 Net Earnings (loss) | |||||
3 | Suncor Energy | Bitumen | 5,100 | 3,709 | |||||
2 | Barrick Gold | Au-Cu | 4,435 | 3,543 | |||||
5 | Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan | KCl | 3,047 | 1,755 | |||||
4 | Teck Resources | Zn | 2,768 | 1,936 | |||||
6 | Goldcorp | Au | 1,860 | 2,021 | |||||
1 | Agrium | KCl | 1,360 | 705 | |||||
8 | Canadian Oil Sands Trust | Bitumen | 1,144 | 1,189 | |||||
14 | IamGold | Au | 834 | 277 | |||||
9 | First Quantum Minerals | Cu-Au | 648 | 371 | |||||
15 | BHPBilliton Canada (Ekati) | Dia | 581 | n/a | |||||
11 | Yamana Gold | Au | 542 | 461 | |||||
10 | Cameco | U | 439 | 507 | |||||
17 | Centerra Gold | Au | 367 | 318 | |||||
21 | Pan American Silver | Ag | 350 | 16 | |||||
19 | Inmet Mining | Cu-Zn | 348 | 390 | |||||
Top Earnings Gainers (C$ millions) |
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Rank | Compnay | Type | 2011 Net Earnings (loss) | 2010 Net Earnings (loss) | Earnings Change 2011/2010 | ||||
21 | Pan American Silver | Ag | 350 | 16 | +2,087.5% | ||||
23 | New Gold | Au | 177 | 47 | +276.6% | ||||
33 | Dundee Precious Metals | Au | 72 | 20 | +260.0% | ||||
16 | KGHM Internatiopnal | Cu-Ni-PGM | 264 | 79 | +234.2% | ||||
14 | IamGold | Au | 834 | 277 | +201.0% | ||||
34 | China Gold | Au-BMet | 81 | 27 | +200.% | ||||
1 | Agrium | KCl | 1,360 | 705 | +92.2% | ||||
6 | Goldcorp | Au | 1,860 | 2,021 | +92.0% | ||||
9 | First Quantum Minerals | Cu-Au | 648 | 371 | +74.7% | ||||
5 | Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan | KCl | 3,047 | 1,755 | 73.6% | ||||
37 | Aurizon Mines | Au | 44 | 17 | +58.5% | ||||
26 | High River Gold | Au | 191 | 124 | +54.0% | ||||
4 | Teck Resources | Zn | 2,768 | 1,936 | +50.0% | ||||
18 | Eldorado Gold | Au | 343 | 235 | +40.6% | ||||
3 | Suncor Energy | Bitumen | 5,100 | 3,709 | +37.5% | ||||
Top Asset Holders (C$ millions) |
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Rank | Compnay | Type | 2011 Assets | 2010 Assets | |||||
2 | Barrick Gold | Au-Cu | 48,346 | 34,256 | |||||
3 | Suncor Energy | Bitumen | 44,217 | 39,382 | |||||
4 | Teck Resources | Zn | 34,219 | 29,055 | |||||
6 | Goldcorp | Au | 29,051 | 27,335 | |||||
7 | Kinross Gold | Au-Cu | 16,327 | 17,599 | |||||
5 | Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan | KCl | 15,376 | 12,701 | |||||
1 | Agrium | KCl | 12,995 | 12,750 | |||||
11 | Yamana Gold | Au | 10,652 | 10,205 | |||||
8 | Canadian Oil Sands Trust | Bitumen | 8,620 | 7,132 | |||||
10 | Cameco | U | 7,801 | 7,203 | |||||
12 | Sherritt International | Ni-Cu | 6,498 | 6,068 | |||||
9 | First Quantum Minerals | Cu-Au | 5,240 | 4,903 | |||||
13 | Agnico-Eagle Mines | Au | 4,979 | 5,440 | |||||
14 | IamGold | Au | 4,302 | 2,918 | |||||
18 | Eldorado Gold | Au | 3,960 | 3,644 | |||||
Revenue as a Per Cent of Assets (C$millions) |
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Rank | Compnay | Type | 2011 Revenue | 2011 Assets | Revenue to Assets | ||||
1 | Agrium | KCl | 15,300 | 12,995 | 117.7% | ||||
28 | Nevsun Resources | Au-BMet | 542 | 766 | 70.8% | ||||
15 | BHPBilliton Canada (Ekati) | Dia | 1,500 | 2,145 | 69.9% | ||||
17 | Centerra Gold | Au | 1,099 | 1,670 | 65.8% | ||||
37 | Aurizon Mines | Au | 260 | 418 | 62.2% | ||||
26 | High River Gold | Au | 574 | 1,008 | 56.9% | ||||
5 | Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan | KCl | 8,619 | 15,376 | 56.1% | ||||
31 | Semafo | Au | 392 | 716 | 54.7% | ||||
39 | Imperial Metals | Cu-Au | 253 | 486 | 52.1% | ||||
9 | First Quantum Minerals | Cu-Au | 2,556 | 5,240 | 48.8% | ||||
21 | Pan American Silver | Ag | 846 | 1,931 | 43.8% | ||||
38 | Mercator Minerals | Cu-Mo | 260 | 606 | 42.9% | ||||
25 | Harry Winston | Dia | 617 | 1,600 | 38.6% | ||||
14 | IamGold | Au | 1,619 | 4,302 | 37.6% | ||||
20 | HudBay Minerals | Cu-Zn | 891 | 2,449 | 36.4% |
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