Mining Railway, Road and Other Infrastructure – Page 16

Mild winter blocks access to ice roads in remote Ontario reserves – by Julien Gignac (Globe and Mail – February 6, 2016)

February 8, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Many remote First Nations communities in Northern Ontario are suffering the effects of one of the mildest winters on record: Roughly 60 per cent of ice roads connecting dozens of reserves to southern municipalities have yet to open. Most of those that have opened can only sustain light traffic – snowmobiles or small, half-ton trucks.

Frigid temperatures are welcomed in the region, as ice roads function as lifelines to otherwise landlocked First Nations, expediting the transportation of such supplies as diesel fuel, building materials and food. Sometimes community members themselves make the trip to Thunder Bay to stock up on essentials. Without winter roads, northern communities have been forced to ship supplies by air, a costly endeavour.

“Nothing’s moving,” said Darrell Morgan, president of Morgan Fuels, which is a top distributor of fuel in the Northern Ontario region. “The lack of ice is a tough go. We supply some communities with fuel through air freight, but it’s extremely expensive.”

KWG Resources turns to China for help in Ring of Fire (Northern Miner – January 21, 2016)

January 21, 2016

http://www.northernminer.com/

A railway design and engineering company owned by China Rail Construction, one of China’s three major state-owned rail groups, is teaming up with KWG Resources (CNSX: KWG) to study design and financing options for building a railroad to the junior’s chromite deposits in the remote Ring of Fire area of northern Ontario.

KWG’s agent in China, Golden Share Mining Corp. (TSXV: GSH), facilitated the memorandum of understanding between the two companies, and will assist representatives from FSDI travel to Ontario in early March for initial consultations with First Nations groups and other stakeholders.

“This is in part driven by China’s desire to expand their rail construction industry globally,” says Moe Lavigne, KWG’s vice president exploration and development.

NEWS RELEASE: NAEDB recommendations signal a critical moment for infrastructure investment in Canada’s North

January 21, 2016

http://www.naedb-cndea.com/

Ottawa, ON – January 20, 2016 – The National Aboriginal Economic Development Board (NAEDB), has released their Recommendations on Northern Infrastructure to Support Economic Development. The recommendations address the significant infrastructure deficit in Canada’s North which acts as the predominant barrier to economic and business development in the region and the improvement of the quality of life in northern Indigenous communities.

“Not only is more infrastructure funding needed. The North should have its own specific strategy based on the recommendations we have developed for the Government of Canada,” said Hilda Broomfield Letemplier, of NAEDB’s Northern sub-committee.

The Board has found that because of the unique challenges faced in Northern regions, large, nation-building infrastructure is required alongside increased investment in community level infrastructure to support Northern communities.

Hobbs is right: build a new road – Editorial (Thunder Bay Chronicle – Journal – January 18, 2016)

January 18, 2016

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs’ call last week for the creation of another paved highway straight through Northwestern Ontario resulted in some tittering among some of his regional counterparts, but we think Hobbs is on to something.

As anyone who has missed a medical appointment, or a flight, due to a prolonged Trans-Canada road closure knows too well, our neck of the woods is hardly teeming with highways.

While the province scrambled last week to deal with the closure of the Nipigon River bridge (now open to one lane), it noted that the structure is the “link” between this country’s west and east. The only one, in fact, when travelling by paved road.

Northern Communities feel climate change impact – by Geoff Shields (Wawatay News – January 10, 2016)

January 14, 2016

http://www.wawataynews.ca/

On December 14, 2015, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change was held in the Le Bourget suburb of Paris. Representatives of the Canadian Government were present at the talks, however the fact that there were no representatives of the First Nations peoples was of great concern to Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day.

Day expressed his concern in a letter sent on November 23rd 2015 to the Prime Minister and Provincial Ministers prior to the meeting.

One of the rapidly accelerating effects of global warming which is impacting on the Northern Communities is that on the road system in his letter Day stated that “ Our Peoples in the North are all too aware that warmer winters have already negatively impacted their livelihoods, many communities depend on winter roads for food and materials.

[Ontario Wynne Liberals] Why trust a government that can’t build a bridge? – by John Robson (National Post – January 13, 2016)

January 13, 2016

http://news.nationalpost.com/

Nipigon Bridge is falling down. So is government credibility.

A superficially impressive twinning of a single bridge built in 1937, the most expensive bridge ever built in Ontario and the only road link between Eastern and Western Canada except via the United States, it opened on Nov. 29, 2015, and buckled on Jan. 10.

It has now been partly reopened by an engineering kluge of uncertain reliability. But how long full repairs will take, or how extensive a renovation is required, is anybody’s guess.

Nobody is yet sure what happened, whether the problem was with the design, the construction, the site or a freak climatic act of God. But the location, just north of Thunder Bay, is not exactly known for its mellow winters.

Northern Ontario Multi-modal transportation study rolls toward finish – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 11, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The province is about a year away from rolling out a multi-modal transportation strategy for the North.

Since 2011, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has been studying how people and freight move across the region and have been regularly meeting with regional stakeholders to gather their feedback on how to plan and improve transportation infrastructure over the next 25 years.

Tija Dirks, the MTO’s director of transportation planning, estimates a final report will be presented to premier and cabinet by January, 2017. The strategy is tied to the government’s Growth Plan for Northern Ontario. Once revealed it will provide short, medium and long-term solutions to improve the region’s transportation systems for road, rail, marine, air and other modes.

Ontario’s Nipigon River bridge fails, severing Trans-Canada Highway – by Amy Husser (CBC News Thunder Bay – January 10, 2016)

January 11, 2016

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

‘This is the one place in Canada where there is only one road, one bridge across the country’

A newly constructed bridge in northern Ontario has heaved apart, indefinitely closing the Trans-Canada highway — the only road connecting Eastern and Western Canada.

The Nipigon River Bridge has been closed for “an indefinite time due to mechanical issues,” according to the Ontario Provincial Police. The bridge remains open to pedestrian traffic.

Steven Del Duca, minister of transportation for Ontario, said in a statement late Sunday the ministry “will do everything they can do to restore the bridge quickly, while also making sure that the safety of the travelling public remains of paramount importance.”

[Only Road Between East and West Canada Severed] New Bridge crippled (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – January 11, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/

The newly-constructed Nipigon River Bridge has come apart, sparking a state of emergency in the Municipality of Greenstone and blocking traffic along the Trans-Canada Highway.

Provincial police closed off the road along Highway 11/17 near the Northern Ontario township Sunday afternoon. With the bridge out, this leaves motorists with no options to directly drive across the country. They would need to take a long detour through the United States.

In a news release, the Ministry of Transportation said that safety is their top priority and conditions are being assessed. The official MTO Twitter handle — @511Ontario — stated “duration of (closure) unknown at this time, possibly will be days.”

Canada’s Ice Roads Are Melting — And That Is Terrible News for Aboriginal Communities – by Hilary Beaumont (Vice News – January 6, 2016)

January 8, 2016

https://news.vice.com/

Aboriginal chiefs in Canada are blaming climate change for water and food shortages on their reserves this winter.

Isolated reserves in northern Ontario rely on ice roads to transport supplies in the winter, but warmer weather means those roads haven’t frozen yet, so food and water are in short supply.

“Everything you can imagine,” Rosemary McKay, Chief of Bearskin Lake First Nation, told VICE News. “They’re running out of food and anything they need in their home. Sugar, tea, flour, you name it.”

Construction on Nunavut mine’s second road to start next month (Nunatsiaq News – January 6, 2016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. will move ahead with plans to construct a new all-weather road in Nunavut, this time from its Meadowbank Mine site to its nearby Amaruq exploration camp

The new, single-line road will help the mining company beef up exploration at its Amaruq site, which has the potential to extend Meadowbank’s lifespan well past its current end date of 2018.

Construction on the first phase of the new 64-kilometre road is expected to begin in February 2016: a 16.8 kilometre stretch of road that will run from the mine site to its Vault area.

The second phase, a 47.4 kilometre stretch, will be constructed next winter and be completed in early 2017, the company said.

In Canada’s far north, warm weather threatens vital ice road – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – December 24, 2015)

January 6, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Each winter, in the far reaches of Canada’s north, a highway of ice built atop frozen lakes and tundra acts as a supply lifeline to remote diamond mines, bustling with traffic for a couple of months before melting away in the spring.

This year, the world’s busiest ice road is running late. Unseasonably warm weather has set back ice formation on the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, named after the first and last of hundreds of lakes on the route.

The road is still expected to open on schedule in late January, but if current weather patterns continue that could mean more work for crews trying to build the ice or cut the road’s already short period of operation.

Climate change affecting vital winter roads for First Nations, leaders say – by Kristy Kirkup (London Free Press – January 3, 2016)

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016

http://www.lfpress.com/

OTTAWA — Wonky weather conditions are prompting aboriginal leaders to raise concerns about the impact of climate change on winter roads, which serve as lifelines for food, fuel and other necessities in several northern communities.

Isadore Day, the Ontario regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, said the reliability of the northern winter road network is in jeopardy in his province.

“The winter roads have essentially become a way of life for the communities and now they can’t rely on those winter roads,” Day said, noting the network is used to offset the cost to bring essential goods to fly-in reserves by air.

The problem exemplifies why there was outcry from First Nations during the recent COP21 climate change summit in Paris, Day said.

Ring of Fire junior miner heads to China for infrastructure money – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 31, 2015)

January 4, 2016

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

KWG Resources’ ultimate dream of building a Ring of Fire railroad may have to be realized through a Chinese bank.

A spokesman for the Toronto junior miner is hyping that a “turning point” has been reached that will jumpstart the stalled development process of the untapped mineral belt in Ontario’s Far North.

KWG announced Dec. 29 that a Chinese railroad engineering firm, China Railway First Survey & Design Institute Group, is conducting a feasibility study to determine if it makes economic sense to run rails north to reach the rich chromite and nickel deposits of the James Bay region.

“The odds are extremely high,” said Bruce Hodgman, KWG’s communications director, in categorizing the likelihood of his company securing offshoring financing with a “bankable feasibility study” of KWG’s railroad concept.

CP’s $28.4-billion bid a ‘substantial’ premium for Norfolk investors: CEO – by Eric Atkins (Globe and Mail – November 18, 2015)

November 18, 2015

The 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.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. has released the letter it sent to Norfolk Southern Corp.’s chief executive officer outlining the proposed $28.4-billion (U.S.) takeover of the Virginia-based railroad.

In the letter dated Nov. 9, CP says the cash-and-stock offer of $46.72 a share and 0.348 in stock is a “substantial” premium to form a combined company that will be able to achieve more than $1.8-billion in cost savings “over the next several years.”