Mining Railway, Road and Other Infrastructure – Page 13

Noront Resources waits for road to the Ring of Fire – by Jeff Walters (CBC News Thunder Bay – October 17, 2016)

October 17, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Minerals in the ground, expensive transportation holding up development

It is one of the most remote mining camps in Ontario, and it was heralded as the next economic engine for the province, and possibly Canada. The Ring of Fire, about 575 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, holds massive amounts of chromite, nickle and copper, among other metals.

The area at one point had 35 exploration companies searching for minerals and a dozen mining camps housing workers. Now, just the Noront Resources Esker camp remains. A skeleton crew keeps the camp running, as well as doing geophysical work, looking for more mineral deposits.

“We’re committed to it. We’re continuing to consolidate in the Ring of Fire, where as other companies haven’t had the ability to stick around,” said Ryan Weston, Noront’s Vice-President of Exploration.

[Ring of Fire road] Assessment work ‘must start’ soon – by Carl Clutche (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – October 8, 2016)

October 11, 2016

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

An environmental review into a long-awaited access road into the Ring of Fire mineral belt needs to start early next year if the province is serious about meeting its own timelines for getting the road constructed, says one of the region’s mining proponents.

Noront Resources, which is proposing to build the first nickel mine in the RoF about 550 kilometre northeast of Thunder Bay, said that it wants to start building its proposed $700 million mine in 2018.

That’s the same year the province has said it will start building an access road into the RoF by “upgrading existing roads and infrastructure in the region that would connect with future Ring of Fire infrastructure.” For that to happen, says Noront Resources CEO Alan Coutts, the company “believes that environmental assessment work must start in early 2017.”

NEWS RELEASE: Marten Falls First Nation and Aroland First Nation Re-affirm Jurisdiction for Ring of Fire Transportation Planning

October 5, 2016

MARTEN FALLS FIRST NATION, ON, Oct. 5, 2016 /CNW/ – Marten Falls First Nation (MFFN) and Aroland First Nation (AFN) re-affirm their jurisdictional authority over their respective territories in Northern Ontario, in light of recent Ring of Fire transportation plan announcements by the Government of Ontario, Noront Resources and KWG Resources. In the recent Ontario Speech from the Throne, Ontario said it “will continue to work with First Nations and other partners to move forward with greater access to the Ring of Fire and remote First Nation communities.”

“Greater access to the Ring of Fire requires greater access and use of the lands and waters over which our First Nations have jurisdiction,” said Chief Bruce Achneepineskum of Marten Falls First Nation. “Our First Nations are determined that transportation planning for ‘greater access to the Ring of Fire’ must be fully inclusive of the First Nations whose rights and interests will be impacted‎ by transportation decisions. Our decisions will be based on seven-generation and sound environmental stewardship principles. Marten Falls First Nation and Aroland First Nation laws must be respected by all parties.”

“Our First Nations also expect mining companies to respect and abide by Ontario laws and decisions, especially the Terms of References for the Noront Resources Environmental Assessment,” said Chief Dorothy Towedo of Aroland First Nation.

Mining Commissioner issues final order on Cliffs’ bid over KWG rail claims – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – September 28, 2016)

September 29, 2016

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The Mining and Lands Commission of Ontario has made a final order, paving the way for an application to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, which was made by Cliffs Natural Resources in early 2012, for the grant of an easement over the claims of KWG subsidiary Canada Chrome Corporation (CCC), to proceed.

The court ordered the “pending proceedings” notation be removed from the abstracts of the mining claims of CCC, that the time during which they were the subject of pending proceedings be excluded and that a new anniversary date for the filing of prescribed assessment work be established.

The final order also provided that no costs shall be paid by any party to the application. The final order follows the Supreme Court of Canada’s (SCC’s) dismissal of CCC’s application for leave to appeal the decision of Ontario’s Court of Appeal.

Vale says rail delay limits new iron mine output to 75 million tons (Reuters U.S. – September 19, 2016)

September 20, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Brazil’s Vale SA said on Monday output from its new S11D iron ore mine in the Amazon region will be limited to 83 percent of full capacity as efforts to preserve cash and limit transport disruptions crimp a needed railway expansion.

The $14.3 billion project, Vale’s biggest-ever investment, was widely expected to produce up to 90 million metric tonnes a year of iron ore – the key ingredient in steel making – after a two-year ramp-up scheduled to begin by year-end.

But S11D will only deliver up to 75 million metric tonnes to international sea-borne clients after a four-year ramp-up, Vale said, responding to an article last week in Britain’s Financial Times business newspaper.

[Churchill, Manitoba] Port in a Storm – by Brian Hutchinson (National Post – September 15, 2016)

September 15, 2016

http://news.nationalpost.com/

People in Churchill believed only weather could defeat them. They were wrong.

CHURCHILL, Man. — Bobby deMeulles sits at his usual perch, next to a window at the Reef coffee shop, keeping an eye on Churchill’s main drag, and beyond that, the town’s old train station and the tracks.

This time of year, railway cars filled with prairie wheat should be rolling past the station for the port of Churchill, 500 metres down the line on Hudson Bay. There are no grain cars today.

There haven’t been any all summer, because Canada’s only deep-water Arctic port — the only port of consequence along 162,000 kilometres of northern coastline — has suspended all grain shipments, a decision made by its Denver-based owner, OmniTRAX Inc. DeMeulles figured something was up, long before the company announced last month it was halting port operations, save for the movement of local freight to small communities further along the Hudson Bay coastline, mostly in Nunavut.

N.W.T. cabinet committee hears airship pitch from Lockheed Martin – by Jimmy Thomson (CBC News North – September 02, 2016)

September 6, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

New helium-filled aircraft can land in rough remote terrain

Airships were on the agenda at a Northwest Territories cabinet committee meeting in Hay River on Thursday. The helium-filled aircraft are being floated as a solution to logistical problems in the North, where a huge landmass makes for expensive limitations to development.

It’s not the first time the idea of using airships in the North has been explored. In 2013, a House of Commons committee suggested examining airships as a way to reach remote communities. But this time, there is an actual prototype built, with production expected to begin in 2018.

With new designs focused on remote operations, proponents are saying the North could be a perfect testing ground for their lofty ambitions. Straightline Aviation has a contract for the first 12 of Hybrid Air’s — a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin — $40 million airships. Straightline’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark Dorey, says Canada would be an ideal place to try them out.

Navigating the Ring of Fire road Map: We will lead the regional planning – by Chief Elizabeth Atlookan (NetNewsLedger.com – August 31, 2016)

September 1, 2016

http://www.netnewsledger.com/

Elizabeth Atlookan is Chief of Eabametoong First Nation.

Eabametoong First Nation – VIEWPOINT – Can we offer some clarity? It seems as though each Northern Ontario news service has obtained and shared slightly differing views on, or excerpts from, our recent All Season Community Road Study. This set of news stories emerged last week while KWG was also promoting their work towards a rail corridor study (no bikinis this time).

The reality is that our Community Road Study has always been for the purpose of gathering existing engineering and land use data for enabling informed dialogue among the 4 First Nation communities regarding options and priorities for road connection. It was explicitly intended to consider options for connecting communities together, and to Provincial highways; not industrial use of future corridors.

Most reports emphasize the length of time it has taken for ‘anything to happen’ in the Ring of Fire. Let’s be clear, the only mining project in the ROF currently under Ontario’s regulatory processes is the Noront Eagle’s Nest mine and associated infrastructure. Their Environmental Assessment filings were made in 2012, and the Terms of Reference for the EA were amended and approved by the MOECC in June 2015.

Ring plan close: Noront head – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 29, 2016)

August 29, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Ontario government has most of the data it needs to inform a decision on the infrastructure it would be prepared to build and finance in the Ring of Fire, says the head of Noront Resources Inc.

The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines has the results of several studies — those commissioned by Deloitte and Hatch Mott MacDonald Inc., environmental and engineering studies done by Noront and a $785,000 joint federal-provincial community transportation corridor study conducted. It was conducted by Webequie, Eabametoong, Neskantaga and Nibinamik First Nations.

Alan Coutts, president and chief executive officer of Noront, said it’s up to the province to take those studies, look at what it would take to meet community and industry needs, and fine-tune them into a plan.

[Labrador Iron Trough] The Legacy Of The Rail Lives On, But Could It Be Built Today? – by Donna Yoshimatsu (Canadian Mining Journal – June/July 2009)

August 29, 2016

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

History is witness that the people who built the foundation for Canada’s iron ore industry back in 1950 faced near insurmountable odds that would have stymied even the most ambitious industrialist today.

Among the likes of Timmins, Hollinger, Humphrey, movers and shakers of mining empires, sprung generations of entrepreneurs in search of a piece of history, drawn to the biggest railroad building project the continent had seen in half a century — the Quebec North Shore & Labrador Railway (QNS&L).

As one Ring of Fire road study disappoints proponents, another surfaces – by Greg Klein (Resouce Clips – August 26, 2016)

August 29, 2016

http://resourceclips.com/

A 2013 expression of Ring of Fire optimism now sounds dispiriting: “With the support of the critical parties, planning and permitting for the main all-weather access road could be completed in 2014, and actual construction operations could commence in 2015.” That was the conclusion of a study commissioned by KWG Resources CSE:KWG three years ago but not published until August 26.

The company posted the 18-page “preliminary scoping exercise” on its website four days after CBC reported that a federally and provincially funded study on the same subject had been completed but not released. Although anticipated to herald a breakthrough, that study simply called for more study, the network stated. Moreover the report didn’t even consider a route to the proposed mining region, focusing only on connecting four native bands with a highway.

Release of the $785,000 report would be up to the four communities that led it, Ontario mines minister Michael Gravelle told the CBC.

Road to Ring of Fire could cost up to $550-million – by Bill Curry (Globe and Mail – August 27, 2016)

August 29, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA — A road connecting remote First Nations in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire region to the south would cost $264-million to $559-million, according to a government-funded study that reviewed a range of options.

The All-Season Community Road Study has not yet been made public, but The Globe and Mail has obtained a copy of the 147-page document, which is described as final and is dated June 30, 2016.

The $785,000 study was paid for by the federal and provincial governments. Ottawa and Ontario are considering options to address the needs of remote First Nations while also responding to the potential for major mining development in Ontario’s far north if the region is made accessible through a new road or rail line.

What’s one more Ring of Fire road study? – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 26, 2016)

August 26, 2016

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

As the Ontario government sifts through three separate Ring of Fire road proposals, mine and railroad developer KWG Resources has now posted a preliminary plan of its own.

The Toronto exploration firm has decided to make public a once-confidential east-west access road study, outlining a permanent road to the Ring of Fire that would link four remote First Nation communities along the way.

The 2013 report was prepared by Green Forest Management of Thunder Bay. Their proposed 305-kilometre gravel road begins northeast of Pickle Lake and tracks eastward toward the mineral deposits of the Ring. The projected costs range between $83.6 million to $99.9 million. Annual maintenance costs are pegged between $4.2 million and $6.1 million.

NEWS RELEASE: KWG Tables Study of East-West Road to Ring of Fire Networking Eabametoong, Neskantaga, Webequie and Marten Falls With Nibinamik, Kingfisher, and Wunnumin Lake Connections Also Feasible

August 27, 2016August 26, 2016

Click here for report: http://bit.ly/2bWqi2M

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Aug. 26, 2016) – KWG Resources Inc. (CSE:KWG)(FRANKFURT:KW6) (“KWG”) has posted on its website an all-weather road study that was previously prepared for it by Green Forest Management Inc. The report estimated that an all-weather gravel road starting in the west at the Northern Ontario Resource Trail Road northeast of Pickle Lake, projecting eastward to the Ring of Fire area over a distance of approximately 305 kilometres, would cost between $83.6 million to $99.9 million.

Trunk roads from it to connect the First Nations communities of Eabametoong, Neskantaga, Webequie and Marten Falls would cost between $36.1 million and $73.1 million depending on the route alignments selected. The study notes that additional trunk roads to connect Nibinamik, Kingfisher, and Wunnumin Lake are also feasible but required further research for construction budgeting purposes.

“We had this report prepared in 2013 to scope out the most rational options available to supply our railroad construction and address local aspirations,” said KWG President Frank Smeenk. “While we shared it extensively on a confidential basis, it’s very practical approach has not yet found traction, so we thought it timely to make the study public now as we prepare to discuss railroad construction financing options.

Plans for roads to Ring of Fire development in limbo with inconclusive study – by Bill Curry (Globe and Mail – August 25, 2016)

August 25, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA — Plans to provide road access to remote Northern Ontario First Nations and spur development of the Ring of Fire mineral deposits are in limbo after a government-funded consultation failed to produce a clear consensus on how to proceed.

A community study that cost $785,000 in combined provincial and federal funds has concluded that Ottawa and Ontario have not provided enough information for First Nations to make a clear decision on how to proceed.

“A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision for a community road or road corridor option cannot be made at this time,” states a section of the report that summarizes the conclusions and recommendations. The Globe and Mail obtained a copy of the three-page conclusions section but has not seen the full report. The four communities involved – Webequie First Nation, Eabametoong First Nation, Neskantaga First Nation and Nibinamik First Nation – have not made the report public. It is not clear whether the section obtained by The Globe is a draft or final version.