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Mining Railway, Road and Other Infrastructure

A 7,000-kilometre northern corridor in search of shared vision – by Claude Montmarquette and Andrei Sulzenko (Globe and Mail – May 27, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s history is full of examples of large-scale transportation infrastructure projects that have motivated growth and helped define a shared vision for the country. The Canadian Pacific Railway, the Trans-Canada Highway and the St. Lawrence Seaway are prime examples.

But the Canada of 2016 does not have such grand plans for infrastructure that may be vital to supporting economic and social development in this country. Aside from some private-sector proposals (mainly pipelines), there are precious few examples of transportation infrastructure developments outside our major urban centres.

The best way to address this lack of vision may well be through a bold approach being examined by researchers at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary and CIRANO, a Quebec-based economic research organization. We have just released a study on the potential for a major transportation right-of-way through Canada’s North and near North, connecting resource-rich areas with tidewater access on all three coasts.

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Proposed 7,000-kilometre resource corridor would improve life in Canada’s North, researchers say – by Eric Atkins (Globe and Mail – May 27, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

An ambitious proposal to build a 7,000-kilometre trade and infrastructure corridor in Canada’s North has taken a key step forward.

The Northern Corridor would link Canada’s people, goods and natural resources with overseas and southern markets, and boost sovereignty and development in vast swaths of the country that are economically isolated, concludes the first feasibility study of the concept. The idea was launched a year ago by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and Montreal’s Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations.

Pipelines, railways, roads, electricity and transmission lines would share the right of way that extends from the Pacific to Atlantic oceans, the Beaufort Sea to the north, as well as Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence Seaway, connecting to existing rails, roads, pipes and ports in the southern part of Canada.

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Railway eager to have ties in Ring of Fire – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – May 26, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – If and when the Ring Of Fire mining development takes off, Ontario Northland is ready to get the wheels rolling and show them how to run a railway. That was the message from Ontario Northland president and CEO Corina Moore, who spoke in Timmins at the FONOM conference earlier this month.

Moore was in Timmins to give municipal leaders an update on the provincially-owned transportation company, which provides rail freight service, limited rail passenger service and bus passenger service across Northeastern Ontario.

The Ring Of Fire is a mining prospect located near Webequie and McFaulds Lake about 600 kilometres northwest of Timmins. The venture is identified mainly as a chromite project, valued in the tens of billions of dollars. There are huge deposits of other metals there too, but so far none of the significant mining companies involved has moved forward with any sort of a mining operation because market prices are too low.

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Moody’s downgrades rail sector outlook as coal shipments drop – by Eric Atkins (Globe and Mail – May 17, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A plunge in the amount of freight moving on North American railways has spurred Moody’s Investors Service to downgrade the outlook for the sector to negative.

An “unprecedented” 37-per-cent year-over-year drop in coal shipments in April will help drive down overall freight volumes down by about 4 per cent this year and send revenues down by as much as 2 per cent for the major carriers, said Rene Lipsch, a Moody’s analyst.

“North American railroads face deeper and longer-lasting declines in freight volumes than we had previously anticipated,” Mr. Lipsch said in a note to clients on Monday. Coal carloads, which account for almost 30 per cent of the rail traffic in North America, have fallen by 33 per cent this year, according to the Association of American Railroads.

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Ontario North promised more infrastructure funding – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – May 13, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne told municipal leaders in Timmins on Thursday that her Liberal government plans to continue spending money on infrastructure for things like roads, waterlines and sewers.

While it was welcome information for the mayors and councillors attending the annual FONOM (Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities) conference it sounded a lot like an election speech which is not completely unexpected, given that Ontario voters will go to the polls on June 14, 2018.

Wynne alluded to that when she mentioned that her government is effectively at the halfway point and she listed the many and varied achievements of the Queen’s Park Liberals under her direction. “So we’re nearly halfway through our mandate to build Ontario up so really this morning I want to show you what it is exactly that we are building in Ontario,” the premier told the delegates in the morning session.

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Chinese more likely to build rail link to Ring of Fire – by John R. Hunt (North Bay Nugget – May 4, 2016)

http://www.nugget.ca/

A recent report may be good news for the development of the Ring of Fire. It also is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in Ontario and Canada. The report stated that representatives of a Chinese railway had visited the Ring of Fire with a view to connecting it to the nearest rail head.

They were invited or welcomed by KWG Resources, a mining company which is developing a property in the Ring of Fire. KWG has long argued that a rail link is much more essential than highway access.

The Ring of Fire may be the richest mineral deposit since the discovery of nickel at Sudbury and the founding of silver in Cobalt. It has the potential to create thousands of jobs with many opportunities for First Nations in the area.

Presumably the Chinese are capable of doing a good job, but so are companies from many other nations.

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EDITORIAL: Roads to First Nations working in other areas (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 30, 2016)

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

Current economic, social, education and health stats paint a bleak picture of Canada’s First Nation communities. This is particularly true of the so called fly-in First Nations located in Northern Ontario beyond surface road or rail access.

These communities have existed for centuries and once were self sufficient thanks to trapping and fishing. Today most fly-in First Nations are dependent on financial assistance provided by senior government.

Picture a situation where you live in a remote reserve linked only to the outside world by expensive air service of dubious merit; that you are governed by a distant oblivious ruler (Ottawa and Queen’s Park), and that you exist on government hand-outs which, if you decide to quit the reserve, you will lose.

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Help for isolated Ontario First Nation comes from Manitoba – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 26, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A plan is finally in motion to build a long-overdue 25-kilometre access road to an isolated and neglected northwestern Ontario First Nation community straddling the Ontario-Manitoba border.

Prior to the Manitoba government recessing for a provincial election in April, the East Side Road Authority was given political approval to expand beyond its borders and take on the so-called Freedom Road project for Shoal Lake 40.

The island community has received national attention for its forced isolation and enduring a boil water advisory for close to 20 years. The previous Harper government refused to allocate funding to the project, but the Trudeau government has pledged their commitment to finally connect the community to the outside world.

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Feds to consider public pension funds to help bankroll big infrastructure – by Andy Blatchford (Toronto Sun – April 24, 2016)

http://www.torontosun.com/

THE CANADIAN PRESS – OTTAWA — The federal government has identified a potential source of cash to help pay for Canada’s mounting infrastructure costs — and it could involve leasing or selling stakes in major public assets such as highways, rail lines, and ports.

A line tucked into last month’s federal budget reveals the Liberals are considering making public assets available to non-government investors, like public pension funds. The sentence mentions “asset recycling,” a system designed to raise money to help governments bankroll improvements to existing public infrastructure and, possibly, to build new projects.

For massive, deep-pocketed investors like pension funds, asset recycling offers access to reliable investments with predictable returns through revenue streams that could include user fees such as tolls.

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KWG CEO: Unlock Ring of Fire Riches With Chinese-Built Rail – Bloomberg TV’s Pamela Ritchie Interviews Frank Smeenk (April 22, 2016)

  http://bloombergtv.ca/ Frank Smeenk, President & CEO of KWG Resources joins Bloomberg TV Canada’s Pamela Ritchie to discuss his proposal to build a railroad to Ring of Fire that could be financed by Chinese banks.

Chinese engineers visit Ontario’s Ring of Fire to survey possible $2B railway route (Canadian Press/Toronto Star – April 19, 2016)

http://www.thestar.com/

Engineers from China recently visited the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario to assess the potential of building a $2-billion railway line, a proponent behind developing minerals in the area said Tuesday.

Frank Smeenk, CEO of Toronto-based mineral exploration company KWG Resources, said the rail line is crucial for the extraction of nickel, chromite, copper and platinum from the massive deposits.

He said a team of engineers from a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Construction Corp. surveyed a proposed 328-kilometre route last week as part of detailed engineering work before they advance toward a final investment decision.

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China Rail engineers, KWG resources crew surveys for Ring of Fire railroad (CBC News Thunder Bay – April 13, 2016)

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

Railway could be built in about 3.5 years, at a cost of up to $2 billion, KWG Resources official says

A group of engineers from China have spent their day surveying a potential rail line to access the Ring of Fire.

Seven engineers from China Rail, along with officials from KWG Resources went by helicopter from Thunder Bay today. KWG vice-president Moe Lavigne said the engineers will check over the area that was first surveyed in 2010.

“This is the best time to do it, because what they’re really interested in is seeing the ice conditions,” he said.

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Railways feel the brunt of commodities slump – by Eric Atkins (Globe and Mail – April 11, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s two major railways are seeing the plunge in prices and demand for industrial commodities firsthand. The number of carloads hauled by Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Canadian National Railway Co. has fallen more than 9 per cent this year, excluding container traffic.

The decline is led by a 29-per-cent drop in carloads of metallic ores and metals, and a 15-per-cent slump in coal, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which includes U.S. operations of CN and CP. Carloads of oil and other petroleum products are down by 12 per cent.

Despite the declines in traffic, both carriers are expected to post higher profits this month, thanks to tight controls over costs, staffing levels and pricing power.

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Trudeau still has eyes on the Ring of Fire – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 8, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted that federal support in some form could be announced soon related to the stalled Ring of Fire mineral project.

Trudeau dropped that tidbit of information during a March 7 visit to Sudbury to announce long-awaited federal funds for Maley Drive, a critical arterial road infrastructure project that’s been 30 years in the making.

When asked by a reporter if an access road could be built into the remote mineral belt by this summer, Trudeau responded: “We know that the Ring of Fire means good jobs, means continuing development of the North in ways that hopefully will build the kind of sustained partnerships with Indigenous communities that have been too long absent from the economic growth landscape.”

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Trudeau announces $26.7M for Sudbury [mining] road project – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – April 8, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Maley melee is finally over and the road will be built. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped by the Nickel City on Thursday to deliver a message and several million dollars for the Maley Drive extension project.

With a current price tag of $80.1 million for phase one, a three-way cost-sharing agreement will see the municipal, provincial and federal governments each contributing $26.7 million. The money comes from the Building Canada Fund and is part of about $120 billion the Liberals pledged to spend on infrastructure over 10 years in the budget they presented in March.

“This funding will help to create good jobs, better our communities and grow the middle class,” Trudeau said to a clapping crowd. “This $26.7 million investment will fund the creation of a new, much needed east-west arterial link through the city. This important initiative will reduce traffic congestion, improve commuter safety and get people home on time – and take ore trucks off Lasalle. My government is proud to invest in Sudbury and the people who call it home.”

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