Chromium/Platinum Group Metals – Page 4

Ferrochrome business remains solid, world still requires large amount of it – Glasenberg – by Martin Creamer (Mining Weekly – August 11, 2020)

August 12, 2020

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The ferrochrome business remains solid and there is still a large amount of ferrochrome required in the world.

Unfortunately, most of the production occurs in ferrochrome plants in China, while South Africa continues exporting chrome ore and moving a large amount of it to China owing to South Africa not being competitive in respect of electricity prices.

Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg pointed this out in response to a question put to him by Mining Weekly during a media conference following last week’s presentation of half-year results in which the marketing division of the London- and Johannesburg-listed company outperformed with adjusted earnings before interest and tax of $2-billion, allowing the company to raise full-year guidance to the top end of its long-term range of $2.2-billion to $3.2-billion.

We were first to smelt chromium. And then the fire happened (Soo Today – July 7, 2020)

July 13, 2020

https://www.sootoday.com/

From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:

Sault Ste. Marie’s Chromium Mining and Smelting Corporation plant was located on Queen Street West between Huron and Hudson, in the area of what is now the city’s transit facility.

The plant first began smelting chromium in in the 1930s, when it was the first instance of chromium smelting in the British Empire. From there, the plant quickly expanded to meet demand.

And then, in 1947, a fire roared through part of Sault Ste. Marie, originating from the plant.

IN-DEPTH: The battle for the ‘breathing lands’: Ontario’s Ring of Fire and the fate of its carbon-rich peatlands – by James Wilt (The Narwhal – July 11, 2020)

July 13, 2020

The Narwhal

Northern Ontario’s muskeg serves as home to dozens of First Nations, stores immense amounts of carbon and sits on top of vast mineral deposits. Whose vision for the bogs and fens will win out?

Compared to the Amazon or Great Bear Rainforest, the sprawling peatlands of Ontario’s Far North might seem a bit, well, boring. “People don’t wake up and go ‘oh yeah, woohoo, decomposing organic material is the best!’ says Anna Baggio, the director of conservation planning for Wildlands League, in an interview with The Narwhal. “It’s not sexy. But it’s hugely valuable and we can’t even begin to get our heads around it.”

It’s true: Ontario’s peatlands — or muskeg, as the wetland ecosystem is often called — offer a mind-boggling range of ecological benefits.

Like tropical and temperate rainforests, the peatlands sequester a huge amount of carbon, storing an estimated 35 billion tonnes of carbon in Ontario’s Far North alone (that’s equivalent to annual emissions from seven billion cars). The peatlands also serve as critical habitat for wildlife including caribou, wolverines and many migratory birds.

HOW MUCH BALONEY IS IN THE RING OF FIRE SANDWICH? – by Frank Smeenk (June 18, 2020)

June 18, 2020

In a recent Sudbury Star article titled Stalled Ring of Fire worth
more than $117 billion, Carleton University Geology Professor
Dr. James Mungall asked “How much is the Ring of Fire really worth?”

Frank Smeenk is the President and Chief Executive Officer of KWG Resources Inc.

Stainless steel is approximately 18% chrome and 8% nickel with iron constituting most of the remaining 74%. A decade ago, the private Chinese enterprise Tsingshan Group, started to establish facilities in Indonesia to produce large quantities of nickel pig iron to make stainless steel there by adding ferrochrome melt made with coal-generated electricity.

In the first half of 2017 Indonesia produced no stainless steel. Now, Tsingshan produces up to 3 million tons per year there. This will increase to 4 million tons next year. That is about 8% of global production, from zero less than 30 months ago!

With that, Chinese companies currently generate more than 50% of global stainless-steel production. They intend to increase that as the world’s consumption of non-corroding steels continues to grow. This is a big boys’ game that Canada has just been suited-up for!

When chrome-containing chromite was discovered in an area of northern Ontario known as the Ring of Fire, China’s state-owned steelmaker, Baosteel, made a strategic investment in Noront Resources. It’s a Canadian exploration company with significant mining claims in the Ring of Fire.

UPDATE 2-South Africa lockdown squeezes global chrome supply – by Tanisha Heiberg and Helen Reid (Reuters U.S. – March 31, 2020)

April 1, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, March 31 (Reuters) – Samancor Chrome, one of the world’s biggest ferrochrome producers, has declared force majeure because of South Africa’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown, removing further supply from global chrome markets.

South Africa ordered all underground mines and furnaces be put on care and maintenance status from midnight on March 26 as part of its measures to contain the spread of the virus.

The country is the world’s biggest producer of chrome ore, an essential ingredient in stainless steel, and last year supplied 12.5 million tonnes to China – 83% of China’s total chrome imports.

Rickford won’t stand for delays on delivering Ring of Fire infrastructure – by Ian Ross (March 6, 2020)

March 6, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Queen’s Park pledges to work with Ottawa on advancing Far North development

Greg Rickford rejects any suggestion that the Ring of Fire might turn into Ontario’s version of Teck Frontier. “We build corridors, not mines,” answered Ontario’s Energy, Northern Development and Mines Minister, in an interview after his March 5 speech at a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce lunchtime crowd. The minister was in town to outline his government’s accomplishments at the 18-month mark.

Rickford, who also serves as minister of Indigenous affairs, said the province’s focus is on building “legacy infrastructure” that improves the health, social well-being and the economies of First Nation communities, and creating the conditions for business and industry to thrive.

Teck Resources’ decision to withdraw from its Frontier oilsands mine proposal in February, after weeks of blockades in Alberta and prior to a federal decision on the $20-billion project, was attributed to the jurisdictional uncertainty in balancing resource development with climate change and Indigenous rights.

Liberals ‘paved the path’ for Premier Ford’s Ring of Fire deal: Wynne – by Colin D”mello (CTV News – March 4, 2020)

March 6, 2020

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/

QUEEN’S PARK — Former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says the previous Liberal government “paved the path” for Premier Doug Ford’s newly announced road to the Ring of Fire region, and suggests the Progressive Conservatives should “recognize” the work of their predecessors.

In an interview with CTV News Toronto Wynne said the former Liberal government spent two years negotiating a framework agreement with three First Nations to build an all-season access road that would help unlock development in the resource-rich area, and suggested that the Ford government piggybacked off the relationship.

“I don’t begrudge the government coming to the next stage of an agreement,” Wynne said. “The fact is that the only reason he was able to get that agreement is because for two years we worked with all nine First Nations, we had difficult conversations, we wrangled things out and we came to a framework agreement.”

Fort Albany ‘alarmed’ by Ring of Fire roads deal – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily News – March 3, 2020)

March 4, 2020

https://www.timminspress.com/

Chief says agreement made ‘behind the scenes’ without his community’s consent

The chief of Fort Albany First Nation says he was “alarmed” by an announcement made Monday by the Ontario provincial government.

Premier Doug Ford along with Indigenous Relations Minister Greg Rickford announced a partnership with Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation to develop a Northern Road Link that would create the first continuous all-season road from the provincial highway network to the Ring of Fire.

Fort Albany Chief Leo Metatawabin said under this agreement, the road would be constructed through his First Nation’s traditional territory without his community’s consent.

Doug Ford cites unproven projections in touting Ring of Fire – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – March 4, 2020)

March 4, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says mining in the remote Ring of Fire region would add $9.4-billion to the province’s gross domestic product – just a day after saying his government had no reliable estimate of the mineral riches in the northern area.

Speaking in the legislature on Tuesday, Mr. Ford said development in the Ring of Fire would also create 5,500 jobs a year, $6.2-billion “for the mining industry” and $2-billion in government revenue.

His numbers appeared to be drawn from a 2014 Ontario Chamber of Commerce study that looked at the Ring of Fire’s potential economic impacts over 10 years and assumed that four massive projects to mine chromite – which is used to make stainless steel – would be built and operated at a profit.

Ontario government supports north-south Ring of Fire link – by Gary Rinne (tbnewswatch.com – March 2, 2020)

March 4, 2020

https://www.tbnewswatch.com/

First Nations, however, are divided over the proposed “Northern Road Link.”

TORONTO — The provincial government is throwing its support behind a north-south link to the Ring of Fire mineral zone in northwestern Ontario. But its plan is already under sharp criticism from one First Nation, which insists there can be no construction without its permission.

Premier Doug Ford and Northern Development and Mines Ministers Greg Rickford on Monday announced a partnership to develop the road project with Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations.

They held a signing ceremony at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention with Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum and Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse.

Doug Ford still chasing Ring of Fire mining dream – by Alastair Sharp (National Observer – March 4, 2020)

March 4, 2020

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are doggedly pursuing the dream of developing the Ring of Fire mining region in northern Ontario, despite a shaky economic foundation and likely tricky talks ahead with nearby First Nations.

Ford and his energy minister, Greg Rickford, were joined by the elected chiefs of two of those communities at the annual PDAC mining conference in Toronto this week. They were there to tout an agreement that will see those communities — the Webequie and Marten Falls First Nations — lead the environmental assessment for the middle part of a planned north-south road to connect the largely inaccessible region to highways further south.

“It’s historic news that is a real game changer,” said Ford, calling the agreement “a crucial step forward in unlocking the multi, and I say, multi-billion dollar opportunity that is northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire.”

Column: Historic Ontario road agreement puts First Nations in driver’s seat – by Brian Lilley (Sudbury Star – March 3, 2020)

March 3, 2020

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

It’s been labelled a historic agreement, an actual memorandum of understanding, a commitment of funds and the launch of an indigenous-led environmental assessment to build a road into one of the most remote parts of Ontario. Premier Doug Ford signed the agreement alongside Chief Bruce Achneepineskum and Chief Cornelius Wabasse in Toronto on Monday.

The agreement will see the Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations lead an environmental assessment of the proposed building of a year-round, paved road linking the two communities to points further south.

It’s a brave move these days when people in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver — far from the development — can hold protests to shut down major infrastructure while claiming they are standing in solidarity with First Nations.

Province, First Nations sign critical road agreement – by Staff (Sudbury Star – March 3, 2020)

March 3, 2020

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

It will help open up the Ring of Fire to development

The province says it is moving forward on the Ring of Fire. The government of Ontario, Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation took a major step forward Monday in unlocking jobs and opportunity in the Ring of Fire region by entering into what they called a historic agreement to advance the planning and development of a proposed road to the site.

The 5,000-square-kilometre Ring of Fire is a major mineral deposit in Northern Ontario approximately 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay. Currently, there are no roads to the area, rendering access to the site and transportation of goods difficult. Estimates “suggest multi-generational potential for chromite production, as well as the production of nickel, copper and platinum,” the government said Monday.

Chief Bruce Achneepineskum of Marten Falls First Nation and Chief Cornelius Wabasse of Webequie First Nation joined Premier Doug Ford and Greg Rickford, minister of energy, northern development and mines and the minister of Indigenous affairs, at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention for a signing ceremony.

Ontario, First Nations agree to study road to Ring of Fire – by Jeff Gray and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – March 2, 2020)

March 2, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ontario Premier Doug Ford sat alongside two First Nations chiefs at a Toronto mining conference on Monday, pledging support for an environmental study of a road that would connect to their remote Northern communities and the region known as the Ring of Fire.

Mr. Ford has repeatedly promised to open up the purported mineral riches of the Ring of Fire, 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, by hopping on a bulldozer himself. But Monday’s announcement included no cash for the road, last estimated to cost $1.6-billion – only a pledge to study it.

Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford also acknowledged that any move to break ground on the construction of the road’s southernmost leg is still as much as two years away. Environmental assessments for the entire route, he said, would take five years to complete.

The road to the Ring of Fire needs to go east-west, say northwest communities – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 2, 2020)

March 2, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Road coalition wants Queen’s Park to consider “all access routes” into Far North mineral camp

A forgotten path into the Ring of Fire still remains on the radar for a group of northwestern Ontario community leaders and businesses. The East-West Ring of Fire Coalition went to Queen’s Park during mining week in Toronto to lobby government for support of a permanent road into the Ring of Fire.

The group claims an east-west route will deliver greater spinoffs and social benefits to area communities, compared to the north-south road being championed by the provincial government and the mining industry.

It’s the second consecutive year the group has journeyed to Toronto during the Prospectors and Developers mining conference to make their case for government to consider a less-environmentally invasive alternate route into the James Bay mineral belt.