Northern Ontario Party is born – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget/Sudbury Star – August 5, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

An online petition has evolved into a political calling for Callander’s Trevor Holliday. The Ontario Northland motor coach driver dipped his toes into provincial politics in January when he launched a petition calling for Northern Ontario independence.

And now, eight months later, Holliday is leading the newly minted Northern Ontario Party, which plans to field a slate of candidates in the next election. “Politics was not even on my mind. It was foreign to me,” says Holliday, who previously had little interest in government. But he’s been propelled by the response to his petition, which has garnered more than 4,000 supporters and a fair bit of media attention.

He started the petition, calling for the North to become its own province, after hearing first-hand accounts as a motor coach driver from passengers about their health care and transportation woes.

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Separatist Northern Ontario Party officially a registered party – by Jon Thompson, (tbnewswatch.com – August 3, 2016)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

http://northernontarioparty.simdif.com/index.html

THUNDER BAY – THUNDER BAY – When Ontario Northland motorcoach driver Trevor Holliday started a petition in March calling for Northern Ontario’s independence, he never envisaged becoming the leader of a political party with the aim of making it a reality. That’s exactly what happened within only a season.

“I go from saying I’ll never get involved in politics and now look at me,” Holliday said. “I’m jumping in with both feet.” Elections Ontario listed the Northern Ontario Party among the list of registered parties on July 28, breathing new life into a four-decades-old separatist movement with Holliday as its party leader.

The NOP inherits the mantle of the Northern Ontario Heritage Party, the separatist party which gained prominence in the 1970s and was disbanded in 1985, only to be re-launched in 2010.

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First Nations trainer setting up future drillers for success – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 29, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The Frontenac open pit may have limited gold potential, but it’s perfect ground for the type of real-world training that Randy Becker wants to provide for First Nations.

The CEO of Nimkie Mining Services is negotiating with the Town of Temagami to reopen the aggregate pit this fall, south of the Highway 11 community, and establish it as a training ground to turn out surface drillers.

The property, located on the Lake Temagami Access Road, is largely depleted of aggregate but Becker said there’s enough rock left over to drill, blast and crush for the next five years to deliver gravel to the municipality, the Temagami First Nation, and for local cottagers to use.

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Sunny economic outlook for Timmins – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – July 30, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Economic news for Timmins has been quite positive over the past few weeks, with a new manufacturing facility being built, the Dome Mine cancelling its plans to close, and the possibility of a Chinese basalt company considering opening a rock-insulation plant in the city.

The news has been so good, in fact, that national economists are beginning to notice. The Conference Board of Canada, an economic think tank, released a report on Thursday outlining the economic outlook for seven mid-sized cities in Canada: Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Rimouski, Lethbridge, Brandon, Red Deer, and Medicine Hat.

The report suggests the outlook for Timmins is very favourable. According to the think tank’s projections, the Timmins overall gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 1.9%. On top of that, job growth is expected to increase by 7.3% — almost completely offsetting a 7.4% drop in 2015.

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Timmins economy remains strong – by Thomas Perry (Timmins Daily Press – July 30, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Local residents can take some comfort in the Conference Board of Canada’s Mid-Sized Cities Outlook for 2016. That document, released this week, suggests Timmins’ economy will remain healthy this year, expanding by 1.9%, thanks to continued goods sector strength.

Timmins is one of two Ontario cities examined in the annual document that also looks at key indicators for Sault Ste. Marie, Brandon, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Prince George.

In an interview with our Alan S. Hale, Conference Board of Canada associate director Alan Arcand added job growth in Timmins is expected to increase by 7.3% — almost completely offsetting a 7.4% decline experienced in 2015.

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Ring of Fire developer hires rail experts for corridor study – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 27, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

KWG Resources has signed on CANARAIL Consultants to conduct a rail feasibility study for the Ring of Fire and for its development partners, China Railway First Survey & Design Institute.

Quebec-based CANARAIL provides consulting and engineering services for mining and freight railways, and has worked on projects on every major continent. According to KWG, it worked on a feasibility study for a mining railway in northern Quebec under Plan Nord, and has refurbished rail cars in the Rocky Mountaineer fleet.

“CANARAIL benefits from the unique expertise that it has gained in providing similar services to other mining interests either here in Canada or abroad”, said KWG President Frank Smeenk in a July 27 news release.

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Development without Indigenous input illegal, says Rae – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – July 21, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The need to consult Indigenous people before development takes place is not a conceit of a particular political party or the whim of the current government, said former parliamentarian Bob Rae. It’s the law, he said, and municipalities would be wise to heed that notion so progress can move forward.

“The idea that you can develop the next big development in Northern Canada or Northern Ontario without the full participation of the First Nations is not only a fanciful idea, it’s also an illegal idea,” Rae said. “There’s no getting around it. I think it’s really important for all of us to take a deep breath and understand that is the case.”

Speaking to municipal representatives during the May Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) conference in Timmins, Rae drew on his experience in politics and law, and especially his current role as Ring of Fire advisor to the Matawa Chiefs Council, to speak about emerging relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

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Dome Mine lives on … for now – by Thomas Perry (Timmins Daily Press – July 23, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – What does Canada’s longest-producing gold mine have in common with an American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer?

In addition to being the author of numerous literary gems, Mark Twain is famous for the quote: “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” It would seem that might also be true of the Dome Mine.

Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines, current owner of the last of the Porcupine Camp’s Big 3, announced in January it would be shutting down the Dome Mine at the end of July.

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Town marks 100 years since ‘Great Fire’ – by Sarah Moore (Timmins Daily Press – July 23, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – It’s been almost 100 years to the day since the Great Fire of 1916 swept through Northeastern Ontario, destroying towns, killing hundreds and leaving many more injured and displaced from their homes.

The deadly forest fire passed through the region on July 29, 1916, burning 2,000 square-kilometres from Cochrane to New Liskeard. A small group of citizens came together on Friday morning, at Ambridge Drive in downtown Iroquois Falls, to mark the occasion.

At the gathering, they unveiled a new plaque commemorating the fire and shared the little known history of the impact this devastating blaze had on the town all those years ago. Bill Allan, a retired educator in Iroquois Falls, took it upon himself to gather as much history as he could about the day when several small fires in the region combined in a deadly inferno.

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First Nations contractor digs into gold project – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 21, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A First Nation-owned construction company is cutting its teeth on a new gold mine project under development in northwestern Ontario.

Onikaajigan Construction Limited Partnership is running a 600-man camp for the construction workforce that’s building New Gold’s Rainy River open-pit gold mine, 65 kilometres northwest of Fort Frances.

It’s a temporary work camp at this point, said Onikaajigan’s general partner, Dean Bethune, with the eventual aim of transitioning it into a slightly smaller version since New Gold hopes to source most of its permanent mining workforce of 600 locally instead of flying them in.

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Coal Mine Disaster: An International Perspective – by John Kinnear (Crowsnest Pass – July 20, 2016)

http://passherald.ca/

A special committee in Sparwood is now hard at work planning the commemoration of the last major mine disaster to occur in the Crowsnest Pass/Elk Valley area. Like Hillcrest, this will be a major effort next spring to permanently acknowledge the loss of those fifteen men at Balmer North on April 3, 1967 and also every coal miner ever lost in the Michel/Natal area.

As far as disasters go the 1914 Hillcrest Disaster stands as the date in Canadian history when the worst loss of life in a coal mine occurred. But Canada is not alone in this regard; when it comes to tragic mining losses our numbers pale in comparison when one looks worldwide. This comparison was a painful one to research but will help the reader put our losses into an international perspective.

On April 26, 1942 the world’s worst underground mine disaster happened in Japanese-occupied Manchuria when 1,549 Chinese miners died at the Benxihu Colliery.

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Timmins Dome Mine to continue to the end of 2016 and beyond – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – July 21, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

The surprise announcement on Wednesday by Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM) that operations will continue at the Dome Mine has been welcomed on many levels in Timmins.

It means the longest-running gold mine in Canada will continue to be just that as the Dome will soon be moving into its 107th year of operation. The news from PGM Timmins mines general manager Brendan Zuidema was passed to employees Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

It was a welcome change from the announcement Zuidema had to make back on Jan. 15 when the company had decided the Dome Mine underground operations would be shutting down for good. Back then, it was estimated the closing date would be the end of July 2016.

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Glencore impeded probe, ministry alleges – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – July 21, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Representatives for Glencore Canada Corporation are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 27 on two charges in connection with the investigation into the death of a Sudbury miner.

Richard Pigeau, 54, who had more than 20 years’ experience working underground, was killed Oct. 20, 2015, by a piece of equipment in the nickel mine operated by Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, a Glencore company.

The Sudbury Star has learned that two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act were laid against Sudbury INO’s parent company June 22 in relation to a warrant issued against the company April 18. The charges were laid by the Ministry of Labour following an investigation.

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On the hunt for minerals: Amateur prospecting in Nunavut – by Lisa Gregoire (Nunatsiaq News – July 19, 2016)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

“I think it’s possible to do both: we can keep our animals and we can do some mining out there”

John Tugak is a well-known local musician in Arviat, so he’s busy during the summer wedding season. But he asks friends and family to please not get married on the weekend. Tugak, a 40-year-old father of five, spends most of his free time on the land hunting not just for animals, but for minerals too.

“As a prospector, learning as I go along, it’s kinda confusing but it’s worth venturing into because you have families to support and hopefully you create jobs for your community and other communities,” said Tugak.

“I just hope to do something I like to do: reading, learning, going out on the land.” Tugak is one of more than 1,000 Nunavummiut who have taken prospecting courses since the Government of Nunavut first started offering them in 2001.

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Glencore reveals tax payout – by Staff (Sudbury Star – July 16, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Glencore paid the government of Canada $5.65 million US in taxes last year for its Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations. The figure is contained in a report released by the miner called Glencore: Payments to Government 2015.

Glencore is one of the world’s largest global diversified natural resource companies, and a major producer and trader of more than 90 commodities, it says on its website. In Sudbury, Glencore operates two underground nickel-copper mines: Nickel Rim South, which the company says is Sudbury’s largest mining operation, and Fraser Mine.

Its Strathcona concentrator receives ore from those two mines and from third-party custom feed ores, and produces two concentrate streams, a nickel-copper concentrate that goes to the Sudbury smelter and a copper concentrate that goes to Glencore Copper for smelting and refining.

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