Newfoundland and Labrador Delegation Concludes Successful
Mission to China

Trade and foreign investment opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador were highlighted over the past week as a delegation from Newfoundland and Labrador, led by the Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, conducted a mission to China. The mission provided a valuable opportunity to showcase the province’s tremendous investment opportunities to potential Chinese investors, particularly those in the natural resource sectors.

“Newfoundland and Labrador boasts world-class mineral deposits and mining opportunities, particularly in the Labrador trough, and we are major players in the oil and gas sector,” said Premier Dunderdale. “It is important that we entice world-leading industry players to our market to provide capital needed for sustained exploration and development activity as well as greater access to world markets for our resources.”

While in China, the Premier and members of the Newfoundland and Labrador delegation met with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). As one of the highest profile ministries in the Chinese Government, the NDRC sets policy for nearly all key industrial sectors in China and is responsible for approving Chinese foreign investments. The NDRC has a strong interest in mining and energy developments and this meeting allowed the delegation to highlight mining and oil and gas development opportunities in the province to senior officials within the NDRC.

The delegation also met with Hebei Iron and Steel which is the largest steel producer in China and third largest in the world, and which has interests in Labrador’s mining sector. The Premier also hosted a meeting to outline mining investment opportunities to other leading Chinese companies. Meetings with the NDRC and Chinese mining companies allowed the provincial delegation to promote Newfoundland and Labrador as a mining friendly, politically stable jurisdiction with world-class opportunities in all stages of development from early stage exploration to operational mines.

“This mission was very productive and provided an incredible opportunity to meet with many key Chinese industry stakeholders and government officials,” said the Honourable Tom Marshall, Minister of Natural Resources. “Investment opportunities abound in Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly in the mining and oil and gas sectors and we had the opportunity to promote our provinces vast natural resources to some of the largest companies in China and the world.”

Meetings were also held with the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company and the Sinopec Group to highlight Newfoundland and Labrador’s tremendous offshore potential. The province’s offshore area comprises more than one million square kilometres of sedimentary basin – an area almost twice as large as the Gulf of Mexico – of which less than 10 per cent is currently under licence. Ongoing seismic exploration by Nalcor has discovered three new large basins as well as extensions to an existing basin in the province’s offshore. These basins have a reasonably high probability of containing hydrocarbons and the province is looking for companies to invest in further exploration in these areas.

“The strategic investments we are making in our geoscience program in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador is laying the foundation, by lowering barriers, for major international petroleum companies to invest their capital for further exploration in the province,” said Ed Martin, Nalcor Energy’s President and CEO. “Large petroleum companies are encouraged by the propsectivity of our new data, namely the three new basins in offshore Labrador, and as a result we are attracting the attention of players that have never before explored in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.”

The mission also resulted in the signing of a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on trade between Newfoundland and Labrador and the Zhejiang Province of China as well as six MOUs related to post-secondary education. The sealing industry and opportunities related to ocean technology were also discussed.

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2013 06 28                            4:00 p.m.