Canadian/International Media Resource Articles – Page 192

Liberals set to go mining for votes in Ontario’s north – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun)

March 7, 2011

Christina Blizzard is the Queen’s Park columnist for the Toronto Sun, the city’s daily tabloid newspaper.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

The big question to ask Northern Development Minister Mike Gravelle when he unveils his long-awaited Northern Development Growth Plan Friday is this: Is this really about jobs, development and good health and education services for the North?

Or is this a last-ditch pitch by the Liberals to shore up their fortunes in a part of the province that has felt shunned and ignored for the past seven years?

The Conference Board of Canada released damning figures Thursday that reveal northern Ontario had the second slowest growth in the country — after northern Quebec.

Hard hit by the downturn in forestry and associated manufacturing, from 1999-2008, northern Ontario clocked only a 3% growth rate. Quebec’s was lowest overall at 2.2% — but neighbouring northern Manitoba’s growth rate was 12.2% and southern Ontario came in at 8.5%.

[Toronto PDAC] Mining convention: Let the hard rockin’ begin – by Lisa Wright

March 6, 2011

Lisa Wright is a business reporter with the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published March 6, 2011.

Lisa Wright (Toronto Star Business Reporter)

With demand for metals red hot again, it feels like the Klondike for miners. An army of 25,000 from 125 countries is expected to show at the industry’s biggest annual blast, opening today in Toronto

Amid boom times in the metals business, the centre of corporate Canada will be transformed into a mining mecca this week as thousands prospectors converge at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to dig for deals and take advantage of skyrocketing prices.

Investors are also welcome to attend the annual industry blast known as the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention. The hard-rock bonanza draws all walks of the mineral exploration business from the guys who stake claims in the bush to brokers and bankers, students, salesmen, geoscientists and mining company executives from more than 100 countries.

The PDAC’s new president, Scott Jobin-Bevans, says a lot has changed since the first time he attended with his dad — both geologists from Flin Flon, Man. — about 20 years ago when the event was at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

“I would say the big difference is the sheer size of it. It’s a monster now,” he says.

Cliffs would save millions locating [Ring of Fire] chromite plant in Manitoba or Quebec: Hampton – Sudbury Star Staff

February 28, 2011February 28, 2011

The Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. This column was published on February 23, 2011.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Cliffs Resources would save tens of millions in energy costs each year by opening its proposed chromite smelter in either Manitoba or Quebec, a Northern Ontario NDP MPP told the Ontario legislature Tuesday.

Howard Hampton, NDP MPP Kenora-Rainy River and former NDP leader, said that according to the Manitoba Hydro website, a company like Cliffs Resources would pay a monthly hydro bill of about $5.3 million a month (or $63 million a year) if it located the smelter in Ontario.

The same refinery located in Manitoba would pay a hydro bill of $ $2.1 million a month (or $26 million a year). The Quebec figures are $2.8 million a month, or $33.5 million a year, Hampton said.

“The real travesty in all of this is the fact that in Northern Ontario, we generate some of the cleanest and greenest electricity (mostly from falling water) at some of the lowest costs on the planet, yet we are not allowed to use that electricity at an affordable price to create jobs in Northern Ontario because of the McGuinty Liberals ‘made in Toronto for Toronto’ electricity policy,” Hampton said in a release.

[Ring of Fire Refinery] “We generate some of the cleanest and greenest electricity…” Howard Hampton NDP MPP

February 23, 2011

Founded in 2006 by James Murray, NetNewsledger.com offers news, information, opinions and positive ideas for Thunder Bay, Ontario, and for Northwestern Ontario. This column was originally posted on January 28, 201. newsroom@netnewsledger.com

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

“Four and a half years ago, what was then Inco closed their copper refinery in Sudbury.
Today, they still take the ore out of the ground in Sudbury, but they ship it to Quebec
to smelt it there at half the cost. That’s exactly what is happening with Cliffs Natural
Resources. If they move to Manitoba or Quebec, they’ll pay half the cost of refining
the metal. There’s a real problem, a real issue, with hydro rates in Ontario.” (Howard
Hampton NDP MPP for Kenora-Rainy River)

Queen’s Park – NDP MP Howard Hampton was up in Queen’s Park on Tuesday. During a Member’s Statement, Hampton gave some examples of just how, in his words, “out of touch” the McGuinty Liberals are on hydro-electricity rates compared to Manitoba and Quebec. Hampton cited the decision by Xstrata Mining to close its copper smelter in Timmins last year and the decision by Inco (now Vale) to close its copper smelter in Sudbury four years ago.

“Both of these companies continue to mine the copper ore in Ontario, but both of them now ship the ore to smelters and refineries in Quebec to have the ore processed there because they save millions of dollars each year in hydro-electricity costs due to Quebec’s much lower industrial hydro rates,” Hampton said.

Hampton noted that Xstrata was paying hydro bills of $70 Million/year at its Timmins smelter, and now is paying less than half that amount in Quebec ($33.5), but the shutdown of the smelter in Timmins meant the loss of over 2000 direct and indirect jobs in the community.

The mining giant’s golden boy [Barrick’s Aaron Regent] – by Lisa Wright

February 23, 2011

Chalk it up to the luck of the Irish but Aaron Regent has already marked a number of golden milestones this year, both personal and professional.

For starters, he just passed the two-year mark as chief executive of the world’s largest bullion producer, Barrick Gold Corp., amid a red-hot gold market.

He also turned 45 last month. And recently it was revealed the Dublin-born, Calgary-bred executive is the top-paid CEO in Canada, raking in $24.2 million in 2009.

True to form, Regent remains low-key about it all. “It’s been a busy two years for us,” he says, with an accent that hints of both old country and new.

Mining is back on several fronts [Ring of Fire] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (February 14, 2010)

March 15, 2011February 21, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on February 14, 2010.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

BUSINESS CYCLES tend to raise and lower the economies of the communities in and around which they operate. Stable business benefits everyone, but even that comes with surprises.

Forestry is an example of an industry with an impressive track record that came up short when the recession deflated demand for its products. A U.S. recovery will eventually raise demand for lumber, pulp and paper, but never again to the same degree. The Internet has seen to that. Still, forestry is evolving with new products, including biomass to fuel the green energy revolution. Value-added opportunities continue to abound, if only they will be developed by entrepreneurs, encouraged by government.

Government is notoriously slow to react to the prospect – even the signs of change and there is a series of recurring jokes about how many studies there are at one time that seek to broaden the economy of Northern Ontario.

While that process drags on, there are new glimmers of hope for the North even as forestry flounders. Mining has always been the other big northern lynch pin and its own down time is apparently on the verge of a very big upswing. Two of them, actually.

Future may be here in a week [Ring of Fire] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (February 11, 2010)

March 15, 2011February 21, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on February 11, 2010.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

IT WOULD be difficult to overstate the importance of the so-called Ring of Fire, a huge, horseshoe-shaped geological structure in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario. In just 30 months it has gone from a single drill hole to the probable jewel in the crown of a regional economic recovery.

The nearest communities to the ring of high-grade nickel-copper-platinum-palladium, chromite, vanadium and gold are the First Nations of Marten Falls and Webequie which are naturally angling to share the wealth. Much has been done to achieve that objective but lately, it appears the First Nations are not happy. An early partnership between Marten Falls and Noront Resources, the area’s key exploration company, for example, came apart this winter when the band council authorized members to block Noront planes from landing near their camps.

Everyone in Northern Ontario – most particularly First Nations anywhere near mineral deposits – must fervently hope that Marten Falls and Webequie don’t send companies packing from the Ring of Fire like another band further north did earlier. It cost Ontario taxpayers $5 million in company compensation, but the loss in this instance would be almost incalculable given the ring’s potential.

From coal to gas [Ring of Fire and Other Mining Implications] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (November 24, 2010)

March 15, 2011February 21, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on November 24, 2010.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

AS ONTARIO continues its onerous but ultimately necessary march toward cleaner air it is stepping into increasingly difficult territory. Its so-called green energy proposals are proving costlier all the time, and while no one should expect to reduce greenhouse gases and begin to reverse climate change without complications, Ontario seems to be making things more difficult for itself than it needs to.

This realization can be seen in every retreat from and change in its green energy policy, most recently to offer rebates on soaring electricity bills and alter an ill-thought-out time-of-use pricing plan.

Consumers are enraged at the proliferation of charges over and above basic electricity while lucrative contracts signed with alternative energy suppliers seem unnecessarily rich, given the fact that demand for electricity is going nowhere but up.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resourses (MNR) – it’s time to talk – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial – (August 6, 2009)

March 15, 2011February 21, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on August 6, 2009.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

IT’S time that Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield sat down with Nishnawbe Aski Nation leaders and come to some sort of an agreement on the Far North Act. NAN’s Grand Chief Stan Beardy has blasted the provincial government over a perceived lack of consultation regarding Bill 191, which will set aside 225,000 square kilometres as a protected area within NAN First Nation homelands.

“Without (NAN’s) consultation, accommodation or consent,” Beardy stated, the legislation will effectively lock down the land to prevent First Nations – among the poorest people in Canada – from achieving economic independence by preventing the development needed to build healthy communities and help strengthen the Ontario economy.

While the government has launched committee meetings on the legislation, NAN says there are no hearings set for communities in the far North portion of the province, the ones most affected by the legislation.

The closest the Standing Committee on General Government gets to the far North is at the Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay hearings.

Power costs must be addressed for Northern Ontario industries – by Brian MacLeod

February 18, 2011

Brian MacLeod is the managing editor for the Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. This column was published on February 10, 2011. bmacleod@thesudburystar.com

Duguid’s response to what could be an enormous long-term economic
boost for Northern Ontario is lukewarm by comparison.
(Brian MacLeod – Feb/18/2011)

The Ontario government had better not fiddle when it comes to dealing with Cliffs Natural Resources’ attempts to develop the Ring of Fire chromite deposit in Northern Ontario.

An opportunity lost now would resonate for decades.

The 5,100-square-kilometre tract of land, centred about 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, is thought to contain one of the world’s largest deposits of chromite — a key ingredient in the production of stainless steel.

The economic potential is staggering, but there are major roadblocks that could diminish those benefits. As many as 500 people could be employed at the mine, up to 300 people in transportation and up to 500 jobs could be created at a chromite processing plant.

For the North from the North [Leo Bernier – Emperor of the North] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (June 29, 2010)

March 15, 2011February 17, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was published on June 29, 2010.

LEO Bernier was a big man from a little town who emerged as the first home-grown northern politician to genuinely matter in Ontario government. A senior cabinet minister in the sturdy Tory government of Bill Davis, Bernier saw to it that Northern Ontario finally got noticed in provincial affairs. It is his lasting legacy and one that successive governments have maintained, if not always honoured in full.

First elected in 1966 to represent Kenora under John Robarts, he worked to equalize northern services and opportunities with southern standards, but never thought that he had to move south to accomplish it. Born in Sioux Lookout and raised largely in Ear Falls, he settled into Hudson, a town of 600 where the family business became its mainstay. It was there that he continued to live until his death Monday at 81.

Fittingly, Bernier entered politics after a succession of frustrating trips to Queen’s Park lobbying on behalf of his home town. “I always came back from Toronto downhearted,” he told The Chronicle-Journal for a look back at his career in 1999. “I saw the lack of concern and the lack of sympathy for the North.”

Natural resources still hold potential – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (December 20, 2010)

March 15, 2011February 17, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was published on February 6, 2011.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

EVEN as Thunder Bay and other Northwestern Ontario communities press ahead with knowledge-based industry initiatives there remain opportunities in traditional natural resources industries, but not all of them. Embracing high-tech knowledge business is essential to securing the future of northern communities.

Thunder Bay in particular is growing spectacularly in its health care research sector. Just as in other regional communities, with a number of its forest industries idled, new pursuits are essential to maintaining and growing the local economy.

A new study by the Conference Board of Canada confirms that the natural resources sector — and the industries that support it — provide the strongest potential for Northern Canada’s future economic development.

This report, Mapping the Economic Potential of Canada’s North, is one of a series of studies for the Centre for the North.

Time for North [Ontario] to take control – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (February 6, 2011)

March 15, 2011February 17, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was published on February 6, 2011.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Provincial energy policy has punished the North with electricity prices that haven’t been able to match competing jurisdictions nearby. And yet, the North produces all of the electricity that it needs at a real price that is far lower than that which is being charged its industrial, business and residential users. (Thunder Bay Chronicle Editorial – Feb/06/2011)

THE TIME has never been better for Northern Ontario to take control of its own destiny. Discontent with provincial policy has rarely been stronger in the North which has been given a strong new hand to play in the form of major mining opportunities.

This region has shipped its resource riches and the bulk of their profits to southern Ontario and beyond for many decades, even as they provided the province with a major part of its revenue. One provincial government after another promised to facilitate value-added manufacturing of forest products but the logs and lumber, as well as much raw mine product, left here. Paper mills that did thrive are now mostly closed due in large part to provincial energy policy that helped to render them uncompetitive.

A slow provincial reallocation of forest resources is beginning to show some results, but the woods industry will never be what it was. The Northern Growth Plan remains to be written but from what is known about it so far, we should not expect a breakthrough in innovative thinking at Queen’s Park.

Get the price of power down [Ring of Fire smelter] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (February 8, 2011)

March 15, 2011February 17, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was published on February 8, 2011.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

THE MESSAGE could not be clearer, the opportunity greater nor the time shorter for the Thunder Bay area. Cliffs Natural Resources, the major player in the giant Ring of Fire chromite deposit far north of here, has all but told the provincial government that it will build an electric arc furnace to process an estimated 70 million tonnes of ore in Northern Ontario if it can afford the electricity.

“At current provincial power rates, there isn’t a location in Ontario that is economically viable for Cliffs to build the ferrochrome production facility,” the company’s ferroalloys president Bill Boor said last week.

The ferrochrome furnaces would need 300 megawatts of power and “only a few” places in Northern Ontario meet these requirements, however, Sudbury is representative of a “technically feasible site,” he added. That is, it has the power supply, mining history and allied business.

“Representative of a feasible site” is pretty open-ended, and encouraging for alternate sites.

Chromium: Are Chinese Off-Takes About to Take Off? – by Jack Lifton (May 11, 2006)

February 16, 2011

This article was posted on www.ResourceInvestor.com, a free service for the global community of individual and institutional investors, financial and mining professionals, and other stakeholders who can use the website for important research on natural resources investment strategy, on May 11, 2006.

Jack Lifton is the Co-founder and Director of Technology Metals Research since June 2010. Mr. Lifton is also an Independent consultant, focusing on the sourcing of nonferrous strategic metals. His work includes exploration and mining, and the recovery of metal values by the recycling of not only metals and their alloys but also of metal-based chemicals used as raw materials for component manufacturing. Jack Lifton’s Blog: http://www.techmetalsresearch.com/

Chromium is necessary for the production of stainless steels, heat resisting steels and
superalloys in that order, descending, of use in the world. Chromium has no substitute
in stainless steel or in superalloys. Jack Lifton, May 2006)

DETROIT (ResourceInvestor.com) — The Peoples Republic of China does not have the same economic system as the United States, although you would never know that by reading the American mainstream press.

The Chinese government, officially in the socialist phase of the path to true communism, practices what has become known as command and control economics. The current Chinese version of that system allows for (free) market economics to be practiced, to a degree, in the civilian products (consumer products we call it here in America) sector.

The command and control sector of the Chinese government has always been in charge of domestic natural resources production and of the sourcing of strategic raw materials by importation. The control mechanism is simplicity itself. You cannot export a natural resource from China nor import one without a national-government-issued license to do so. A further license is needed to receive foreign currency, and you must account for every bit of it, or to “buy” foreign currency from the (State controlled, even if not in some cases any longer directly owned) commercial bank to pay for your imported goods.

There is one more seemingly innocuous requirement: The transaction involving natural resources or strategic materials must be in the best interests of the Chinese people.