2012 – Page 29 – Republic of Mining

Chiefs want Ontario to cut support for ‘racist, radical’ industry groups – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – November 7, 2012)

November 8, 2012

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

A junior mining company that called First Nations “hostile third-party governments” has raised the ire of indigenous leaders across Ontario.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) and Wahgoshig First Nation called on the Ontario government to withdraw its support of “racist and radical” industry representatives during a press conference in Sudbury Nov. 7.

The chiefs targeted Mining United, a group of junior exploration companies, and the Ontario Prospectors Association (OPA).

“Representatives of this radical association of junior mining groups has waged a racist media campaign against the Wahgoshig First Nation, who are taking a legal and principled position to defend their Treaty and Aboriginal rights, as well as ensuring that Ontario meets its obligations on ‘the duty to consult’ in good faith,” said NAN Grand Chief Harvey Yesno in a press release. “The Province of Ontario and the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines continue to send a misguided message to First Nations by supporting this group.”

NEWS RELEASE: NAN GRAND CHIEF CALLS ON PROVINCE TO WITHDRAW ITS SUPPORT OF RADICAL MINING INDUSTRY GROUPS

November 8, 2012

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUDBURY, ON: Wahgoshig First Nation Chief David Babin with support from Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Harvey Yesno is calling on Ontario to withdraw its support and public endorsement of racist and radical industry representatives, particularly members of the Mining United group and the Ontario Prospectors Association.

“Representatives of this radical association of junior mining groups has waged a racist media campaign against the Wahgoshig First Nation, who are taking a legal and principled position to defend their Treaty and aboriginal rights, as well as ensuring that Ontario meets its obligations on ‘the duty to consult’ in good faith,” said Grand Chief Yesno. “The Province of Ontario and the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines continue to send a misguided message to First Nations by supporting this group.”

Mr. Darryl Stretch who represents Mining United, and Solid Gold Resources Corporation is presenting at the 2012 Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium (OEGS) to be held in Sudbury, ON November 6 and 7 2012.

The Ontario Exploration & Geoscience Symposium is coordinated by the Ontario Prospectors Association with workshops, a variety of technical presentations and exhibits.

What’s holding Ontario back? – by Gordon Nixon and Kevin Lynch (Globe and Mail – November 7, 2012)

November 7, 2012

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Ontario – Northern Ontario, in particular – is rich in natural resources.
Northern development is one of Ontario’s great economic opportunities. With
industrial production surging in developing economies, demand for these
resources is high, and we need to capitalize on opportunities across the
value chain. (Gordon Nixon and Kevin Lynch)

Gordon Nixon, CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada, is chair of Ontario’s Jobs and Prosperity Council. Kevin Lynch, vice-chair of BMO Financial Group, is vice-chair of the council.

The world has changed, and Ontario must adapt or fall behind. Emerging economies are driving a new era of intense global competition. The Internet and information revolution have made the world smaller, entrenching globalization and accelerating the pace of change. Developed economies are mired in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis and global recession since the 1930s, and many of the advantages that underpinned their prosperity have vanished.

Developed economies across the world must reinvent themselves to compete and win in the new global marketplace. Ontario is no exception – the status quo is not an option.

Ontario’s New Mining Act: The Good, the Bad and the Very, Very Ugly – by Stan Sudol (November 6, 2012)

November 7, 2012

This speech was given at the Ontario Prospectors Association: 2012 Ontario Exploration & Geoscience Symposium in Sudbury Ontario, November 6, 2012.

Check Against Delivery

Intro

Good evening everyone. It’s always great to get back to my hometown. I was born and raised in Sudbury and even worked at Inco’s Clarabell Mill for one year before going off to college.

And I also spent one summer underground at the Frood-Stobie mine way back in 1980, digging ditches, helping the miners, and digging more ditches. Regardless of all that ditch digging, the Inco jobs ensured a lifelong interest with this fascinating industry.

I was on a recent site visit at Superior Copper’s Bachawana Bay properties – 70 kilometers north of Sault Ste. Marie – when I heard the terrific news that McGuinty had resigned. I almost wanted to kiss the chalcocite outcrop that CEO Judy Baker was showing both me and a reporter from the Northern Miner.

I think northern Ontario history will not be kind to McGuinty. His many green legacies – including the detested Far North Act – and his economic mismanagement have left this province a much poorer place. McGuinty’s resignation is a small glimmer of hope for the junior exploration sector which has seen a really tough year.

Union wary of Vale move – by Sebastien Perth (Sudbury Star – November 7, 2012)

November 7, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Union leaders say they are suspicious of a move by Vale to house temporary workers dur ing construction of the company’s $2-billion pollution reduction project in Sudbury.

“I think its 90-10,90% towards the labour issue, 10% towards housing contract workers,” said Dennis Theriault, vice-president of Steelworkers Local 6500. “I think our community of 160,000 can handle an influx of 1,3001,800 workers, particularly when a great deal of those workers are supposed to be from our local community.”

Vale has applied to the city’s planning committee to amend a zoning bylaw to allow the company to house temporary workers working on its massive Clean AER project. Theriault, however, said the application is a charade to hide Vale’s real plans of housing replacement workers during a future labour dispute.

“I’m very disappointed and very concerned about this. The timing of the application reeks of an opportunity to house workers around the date of our contract ending. That would definitely have a huge impact on our bargaining position,” Theriault said.

The collective bargaining agreement between the USW and Vale expires May 31, 2015.

Prospectors leery about Mining Act changes – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 6, 2012)

November 7, 2012

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

The head of the Ontario Prospectors Association harbours some trepidation on whether new regulations to the province’s Mining Act will reduce misunderstandings and conflict between the exploration industry and First Nations.

“We have some reservations on some of the things they are enacting,” said Garry Clark, the association’s executive director in Thunder Bay. The new rules are basically geared to improve the consultation process between government, industry and First Nations.

Included in the revised act are new requirements for notifying landowners and Aboriginal communities about proposed activities through a system of plans and permits during various phases of early exploration. Prospectors have been grumbling the new regulations in the revised act create more paperwork and slow down projects.

“We’re not 100 per cent sure that plans and permits are going to work, but on a personal level I think it’s one of the ways to go,” said Clark. “But we need First Nation communities’ buy-in and we’re not sure it’s there.”

Clark said each First Nation community is very individual and independent, making it difficult to have a one-window solution.

Cliffs to push mine, smelter project forward – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – November 7, 2012)

November 7, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Bill Boor, senior vice-president of global ferroalloys for Cliffs Natural Resources, had already been asked several times about the company’s projected start date for its Black Thor deposit in the Ring of Fire by the time he addressed a lunch crowd Tuesday.

Boor told 330 people attending an event organized by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce that he hoped to clear up any confusion about his company’s schedule to begin production at its McFaulds Lake mine site in northwestern Ontario.

“How do you clear it up?” Boor asked rhetorically during his 40-minute speech. “My simple answer is, ‘It depends.’ ” Many things will have to come together to meet Cliffs’ target of beginning production by the end of 2016, he said.

The company is in the middle of completing a feasibility study that will refine what came out of a pre-feasibility study. That will result in “a very specific project with tighter understanding of the impacts of what needs to be managed here,” said Boor.

Using targets the company believes are realistic, it is looking to complete the feasibility study by mid-2013 and to have permits in place in the second half of 2014.  The environmental assessment for the project will be “running parallel and that’s an uncertain timeline,” said Boors.

Hiring of Chinese miners in B.C. sends unions to court – Petti Fong (Toronto Star – November 6, 2012)

November 6, 2012

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

VANCOUVER—The hiring of about 200 Chinese miners to work in northern British Columbia has raised concerns with Ottawa as unions went to court Monday seeking to overturn the decision to allow the foreign workers into Canada.

The workers, some of whom are already at the mine near Tumbler Ridge, B.C., were allowed in after getting approval from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

The miners will be employed at HD Mining International Ltd’s Murray River coal mine extracting bulk samples.

“Canadians must always have the first crack at job opportunities,” said Alyson Queen, spokeswoman for Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley. “As we have indicated previously, we are concerned with the process that led to this decision.”

Queen said in a statement to the Toronto Star that the ministry is looking into the case to ensure that appropriate rules were followed but cannot comment further on matters because the issue is now in the courts.

Mine plans will rely on markets: Cliffs – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – November 6, 2012)

November 6, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

The prospect of a large-scale chromite mine in the Ring of Fire — as well as new power and road infrastructure expected to go along with it — still seems do-able even as the main proponent ponders a less-than-rosy market outlook, possible time-line adjustments and a partner, leaders of an affected community say.

But the fact that Cliffs Natural Resources may yet again postpone its proposed production date is discomfiting. “It’s definitely a concern when they push (the date) back a second time,” Greenstone Mayor Ron Beaulieu said Monday.

“I mean, we met with Cliffs from day one, and they told us they had a production date set (2015) which seemed written in stone.”

Beaulieu added: “I still think it’s a viable project that will eventually come to fruition.” Cliffs spokeswoman Pat Persico said Monday that “officially we are working towards the end of 2016,” but the production date could be pushed “beyond 2017.”

Persico said the Cleveland-based iron ore giant remains committed to having a feasibility study and environmental assessment review for its Ring of Fire project completed by next year.

New chairman envisions a modernized Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)

November 6, 2012

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Elizabeth Witmer, Chairman of Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), shared her vision for a modernized delivery of services and management of the province’s workers compensation system. She was a keynote speaker at the OMA’s Meet the Miners Day on October 30 at Queen’s Park.

“It is my opinion that mining is a key ingredient to Ontario’s economic growth and its future,” said Ms Witmer. “I commend you for your strong record in health and safety and I congratulate you for your accomplishments to reduce workplace injuries and the cost of workplace injuries.”

“The WSIB is almost 100 years old (it started in 1915) and it has been largely successful in serving the workers and employers of Ontario,” she said. “However, we need a bold new model for the workplace of today. The WSIB is being transformed to make it more financially sustainable.”

Recently, Ms Witmer announced a 2.5% increase in employers’ WSIB premiums for 2013. The WSIB is struggling to bring down its unfunded liability, which stands at about $14.2 billion. “The WSIB has a role to play in contributing to economic development and productivity but the WSIB’s unfunded liability is a drag on growth in the Ontario economy.”

Cliffs could further delay Ring of Fire chromite mine – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – November 5, 2012)

November 6, 2012

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

Cliffs Natural Resources is considering delaying the expected start date of construction on its Ring of Fire chromite mine until 2017 or beyond.

Joseph Carrabba, Cliffs CEO and President, told international investors on Oct. 25 that in light of current global iron ore prices the company is reviewing the timeline for its proposed northern Ontario mine.

“This includes delaying the major capital spending outlays and could push the production target date beyond 2017,” Carrabba said. “We still expect to complete the feasibility stage of development and environmental assessment by next year. However, we have decided to shelve our early works plans until feasibility is complete.”

Carrabba said that Cliffs plans to decrease spending on exploration of its chromite site in 2013 as well as cancelling plans for capital spending at the site for the upcoming year. “Exploration will go down in 2013, just like everything. The first thing that always goes is exploration and R&D from any mining company that goes with it,” Carrabba said.

Carrabba also told investors that the company is exploring the option “to take on a partner for the project.”

Banks struggle to adapt or survive in commodities – by Dmitry Zhdannikov (Reuters U.S. – November 5, 2012)

November 6, 2012

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – (Reuters) – Stick, twist or fold? Like card players, the top five banks in global commodities trade have reached the point where they must decide to hold strategy, adapt, or give up and get out.

The boom in resource markets that started 10 years ago attracted many big banks to trade oil, metals and agriculture, but the 2008 financial crisis forced a painful retreat and tighter regulation now means some banks may throw in the towel.

Decisions rest on whether the banks believe their business models can be changed to keep them sufficiently profitable under the rising oversight of regulators, after four years when their revenue from commodities was halved.

“The total wallet back at the peak was about $14 billion for the banking sector in commodities trading. I’d imagine this year it’ll be about $7 billion. There were 10-14 banks when it was at $14 billion, now there are really five relevant ones,” said David Silbert, who leads commodities trading at Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche, together with Barclays and J.P. Morgan, broke into the commodities arena in the last decade with acquisitions or aggressive growth to challenge established veterans Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

NEWS RELEASE: Ministry Issues 41 Orders at Site of Vale Mine Fatalities

November 6, 2012

Ongoing Safety Issues Reinforce Need for Mining Inquiry

SUDBURY, ON, Nov. 5, 2012 /CNW/ – A community-based committee created after two workers were killed at Vale’s Stobie Mine is shocked that a Labour Ministry inspection of the same mine has resulted in 41 health and safety orders against the company.

“It is deeply troubling for us that orders have been issued to Vale related to concerns with standing water – the very hazard that contributed to the deaths of Jason Chenier and my brother, Jordan Fram,” said Briana Fram of the MINES (Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone’s Support) committee.

“How can it be that, only 17 months after Jason and Jordan were killed, Vale is being ordered by the Ministry of Labour to rectify problems with standing water in this same mine?” Fram asked.

The community-based MINES committee was formed last month to ask the provincial government to call an inquiry into Ontario mines. Such an inquiry has not been held in three decades.

The Ministry of Labour inspection of Stobie Mine occurred October 17, 2012. At least 10 of the orders issued to Vale, under terms of the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act, are directly linked to water issues.

Vale safety violations upset family of killed miner – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – November 6, 2012)

November 6, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The sister of a miner killed June 8, 2011, at Vale’s Stobie Mine and the president of the union representing that worker say they were shocked the Ministry of Labour issued 41 health and safety orders against the company after an inspection at the mine last month.

Briana Fram asked how it could be that Vale is facing 41 infractions at the mine where, 17 months ago her brother, Jordan Fram, 26, was killed on the job.Fram and Jason Chenier, 35, died when they were overcome by 350 tons of muck while working at the 3,000-foot level at Stobie Mine.

Vale is facing nine charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and one of its super visors is facing six charges under the act after a Labour ministry investigation into the men’s deaths. Those charges are proceeding through court.

Briana Fram sits on an advocacy committee called MINES (Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone’s Support), struck to lobby for a provincewide inquiry into mining safety and practices to avoid tragedies such as the deaths of the two men.

MINES issued a statement Monday saying its members were troubled about the orders against Vale at Stobie, especially ones related to standing water. Excess water was identified as a large part of the reason the two men were killed.

Great expectations fill Greenland as China eyes riches – by Alistair Scrutton (Reuters Canada – November 5, 2012)

November 6, 2012

http://ca.reuters.com/

NUUK (Reuters) – By a remote fjord where icebergs float in silence and hunters stalk reindeer, plans are being drawn up for a huge iron ore mine that would lift Greenland’s population by four percent at a stroke – by hiring Chinese workers.

The $2.3-billion project by the small, British company London Mining Plc would also bring diesel power plants, a road and a port near Greenland’s capital Nuuk. It would supply China with much needed iron for the steel its economy.

With global warming thawing its Arctic sea lanes, and global industry eyeing minerals under this barren island a quarter the size of the United States, the 57,000 Greenlanders are wrestling with opportunities that offer rich rewards but risk harming a pristine environment and a traditional society that is trying to make its own way in the world after centuries of European rule.

Great expectations could lead to greater disappointments, for locals and investors. Yet a scramble for Greenland already may be under way, in which some see China trying to exploit the icebound territory as a staging ground in a global battle for Arctic resources and strategic control of new shipping routes.

Whether in iron, zinc or rare earth minerals vital for 21st-century technology like smartphones, China, the emerging economic superpower is eyeing investments in the Danish-ruled country whose own, increasingly autonomous, national government is looking further afield for investors.