Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications – Page 183

Industry welcomes extended industrial electricity rate – by Jonathan Migneault (Northern Ontario Business – April 29, 2015)

April 30, 2015

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

The Ontario government has announced it plans on making the Northern Industrial Electricity Rate (NIER) Program permanent.

Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault made the announcement in Sudbury while Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle held a press conference on the issue in Thunder Bay on April 17.

“Many of the major industries have been talking to me about the importance of this program,” Thibeault said.

Ontario is committing to an ongoing program, beyond March 2016, with continued investment of up to $120 million per year. The government will also undertake a review on the efficiency and effectiveness of the program and options for a sustainable approach.

The Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program was introduced as a three-year program in 2010, and was extended in 2012, for qualifying Northern industrial customers. It aims to offset higher energy costs in the North due to climate and distance to markets.

The search for gold: Lake Shore sees sparkle in the Gap – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – April 29, 2015)

April 30, 2015

http://www.northernlife.ca/

CEO Tony Makuch kicks off Modern Mining and Technology Week in Sudbury

Timmins-based Lake Shore Gold has come a long way since a rough patch in 2012 and 2013 when a lot of investors thought the gold producer could go bankrupt.

The company’s first quarter of 2015 was its best ever, with a record production of 53,000 ounces of gold, which represented a 19-per-cent increase over the same period in 2014.

Tony Makuch, the president and CEO of Lake Shore Gold, kicked off Modern Mining and Technology Week in Sudbury on April 24 with a keynote about the company’s trials, tribulations and more recent successes.

“No one thought there was any value in these deposits,” Makuch said, referring to the company’s two Timmins mines, Bell Creek and Timmins West.

“You have to believe in the mining industry, and that gold will be discovered,” he added. “I didn’t know what we would find there in Timmins.”

First Nations businesses growing with Saskatchewan resource boom (Business Vancouver – by Joe Ralko (April 28, 2015)

April 30, 2015

http://www.biv.com/

Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs embark on joint venture that provides services to the energy industry and trains workers for oilpatch jobs

A three-year agreement involving the Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC) and Site Energy Services Ltd. (SES) is the latest example of how the boom in Saskatchewan’s resource sector is helping the growth of First Nations businesses.

First Alliance Energy Services is the name of the new entity expected to generate revenue in the millions of dollars from work in the oilpatch, say BATC and SES officials.

“We felt it was a really good fit for us,” said Ed Standinghorn, director of industry relations with BATC. “In addition to providing a range of services in the oilfield, we also have a training module getting our clients work ready. For example, we help them get their driver’s licences, complete their GED and so on.”

He said the new joint venture is a natural progression of the projects BATC has under its belt. “Work we do is nationally recognized,” Standinghorn said.

Charges laid in deaths of two Sudbury drillers – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2015)

April 30, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Two companies are facing 13 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in the deaths of two Sudbury drillers in almost a year ago, the Ministry of Labour announced Tuesday.

Norm Bisaillon, 49, and Marc Methe, 34, died May 6, 2014, at First Nickel Inc.’s Lockerby Mine.

Eight charges were laid against First Nickel, including:

– prevention of water accumulation or flow of water that might endanger a worker;

– ensuring an effective ground support system is installed;

– requirement that a report be made in writing of all dangerous conditions;

– the examination of and remediation of misfiring explosives;

Flin Flon region remains key for growing Hudbay – by Jonathon Naylor (Flin Flon Reminder – April 28, 2015)

April 29, 2015

http://www.thereminder.ca/

As Hudbay commences a new chapter as a truly international company, David Garofalo is taken aback by the whispers of concern.

From Flin Flon and Snow Lake come worries that with his full-throttle expansion into Peru, and eventually the southern US, Garofalo is forsaking Hudbay’s traditional heartland in northern Manitoba.

“I’m surprised to hear it because when I was hired the first thing I did was put two mines into construction in Manitoba before we put any money into work anywhere else,” says Garofalo with a gentle laugh.

Those two mines, of course, are the massive Lalor mine near Snow Lake and its much smaller cousin, Reed mine, situated between Snow Lake and Flin Flon.

Between them the mines cost about $500 million and helped solidify Hudbay’s longer-term presence in northern Manitoba.

Hudbay is now working to expand known reserves at Lalor, its preeminent Manitoba asset, but the real wild card is Flin Flon’s 777 mine.

Who will tackle First Nations waterworks? (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 27, 2015)

April 29, 2015

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Trust Ontario’s Liberals to take a swipe at the feds in a provincial budget, but we got the point.

Last week’s big document by Finance Minister Charles Sousa notes that 30 Ontario First Nations remain under boil-water advisories, something that is primarily a federal responsibility.

In most communities in the province, clean drinking water is a given and a basic right, but at too many First Nations — both remote and road-accessible — it remains elusive.

In Sousa’s budget, the province acknowledges a long-term plan is needed to rectify this deplorable situation, but is light on details.

Every so often, First Nations will try to highlight faulty drinking water plants, or the fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent each year on endless bottled-water relief programs.

Then, as part of an enervating back-and-forth routine, the federal government will say that money is indeed allocated every year for infrastructure, including waterworks.

Superintendent warned about water levels – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2015)

April 29, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A former superintendent at Stobie Mine who toured the underground facility the day two men were killed at its 3,000-foot level said he left the mine about noon with concerns about excess water and plugged drain holes.

Larry Lauzon was brought in June 8, 2011, to offer advice to superintendent Keith Birney about safety practices. Stobie routinely experiences constant problems due to water being funnelled from surface.

Stobie supervisor Jason Chenier, 35, and miner Jordan Fram, 26, were killed by a run of tons of muck on the 3,000-level. The incident is believed to have occurred about 9:45 p.m.

Lauzon testified Tuesday at the seventh day of the coroner’s inquest into their deaths that he noticed on his tour varying depths of water accumulation at several levels of Stobie’s B division, where the men were overcome by muck. He talked with Birnie, cautioning him to take water issues seriously, and spoke with workers they encountered on their tour about safe mining practices.

As he was leaving the mine, Lauzon said he looked for the mine manager to see if he was aware of water conditions in the mine.

Day of Mourning: Labour vows to ‘fight for the living’ – by Connor Pringle (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2015)

April 29, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Workers who were killed, injured or suffered illnesses from workplace conditions were mourned Tuesday during the 31st Annual Day of Mourning hosted by The Sudbury and District Labour Council and United Steel Workers Local 6500.

The Annual Day of Mourning recognizes workers killed, injured and who suffered illnesses while on the job.

“It’s a day to make a commitment to protect the living and to prevent future injuries and fatalities,” said Alain Arseneault, co-chair of maintenance/electrical for the Health, Safety and Environment Committee.

The day started 31 years ago, according to Arseneault, with April 28 chosen as that is the date the Ontario government proclaimed the first comprehensive Workers Compensation Act in Canada.

The Sudbury region was the first region to declare April 28 as the official Day of Mourning in Canada and across the world. The Steelworkers local says 44 deaths have occurred on company property since the first Day of Mourning.

Noront pays more for Cliffs claims – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 29, 2015)

April 29, 2015

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Noront Resources has formally acquired three key chromite deposits in the Ring of Fire, but for a much higher price than what the company had offered earlier this year.

The Toronto-based company said Tuesday it increased its offer to US$27.5 million from $20 million after the previous owner of the properties, Cliffs Natural Resources, “received an unsolicited, competing bid.”
“To ensure maximum value was received for its chromite assets, Cliffs then requested that both parties submit revised final binding offers, at which point Noront increased its offer to $27.5 million,” Noront said in a statement Tuesday.

“We feel $27.5 million is an attractive price for the acquisition of these strategic assets,” said Noront president Alan Coutts. Noront now holds 360 mining claims and roughly 65 per cent (80,000 hectares) of the Ring of Fire mining belt located about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

“The project has value,” observed Thunder Bay-based Ontario Prospectors Association executive director Garry Clark. “It just depends on how long you can sit on it.”

Cleveland-based Cliffs, which noted the increased amount for the chromite properties in a separate news release Tuesday, said the planned sale “is another step in divesting interests in non-core assets.”

Local 6500, Vale reach deal – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 28, 2015)

April 28, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

United Steelworkers Locals 6500 in Sudbury and Local 6200 in Port Colborne and employer Vale Ltd. have reached a tentative deal on a five-year contract for production and maintenance workers.

Members of the union’s bargaining committee are unanimously recommending the deal be accepted at membership meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

News of the deal comes more than a month ahead of the expiry date of the current five-year contract, May 31, 2015. The parties began bargaining in late December, saying they were looking to get a new collective bargaining agreement without a labour interruption.

The last contract was hammered out after a bitter year-long strike that ran from July 2009-July 2010. USW Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand and Kelly Strong, Vale vice-president of Canada and UK operations, said in December that the company and the union had done a great deal of work to mend relationships after the longest strike in union’s history.

Occupational health: Workplace safety research centre opens – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – April 28, 2015)

April 28, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

In the heart of a building that is the epicentre of sports on the Laurentian University campus, cutting-edge research into workplace health and safety underway in the city for seven years finally has a place to call home.

The new Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health laboratory and research facility, which was made available by the university and consists of 1,695 square feet of laboratory space and 629 square feet of office and meeting space, officially opened in the Ben Avery building Monday.

“We are risk takers … and we are not going to stop until we get it right,” Tammy Eger, the centre’s research chairwoman and an associate professor in the Laurentian School of Human Kinetics, told more than 50 people on hand for the opening. “This centre is about community. It’s about the passion we have for health and safety…We’re going to develop the solutions, expand the knowledge and sustainability. We’re going to make a difference, not only in Northern Ontario, but nationally and internationally. This is your centre.”

The centre was established in 2008 by Laurentian to provide a formalized structure for industry, safe workplace associations, labour groups, government organizations, and researchers to share workplace injury and disease problems and solutions.

Industrial deaths: Testimony painful at Chenier, Fram inquest – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 28, 2015)

April 28, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Day 6 of the inquest into the June 8, 2011 deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram at Vale’s Stobie Mine moved into painful and sensitive territory Monday.

After a morning and an hour in the afternoon of technical testimony by Ministry of Labour inspectors, assistant crown attorney Rebecca Bald told the inquest jury the causes of death for the two men.

Thirty-five-year-old Chenier died of smothering, compressional asphyxia and blunt-force injuries, according to forensic pathologist Dr. Martin Queen, said Bald. The cause of death for Fram, 26, was smothering and compressional axphixia, said the lawyer, one of two assistant crown attorneys acting as counsel to presiding coroner Dr. David Eden.

Members of the Fram and Chenier families have attended every day of the inquest, sitting in the front rows of courtroom A at the Sudbury courthouse.

The inquest has heard the men were overcome by an explosive and violent run of hundreds of ton of muck – broken ore, sand, slimes and water – that was hung up in No. 7 ore pass, then burst through a control gate where they were working.

Province murky on its budget commitment to Ring of Fire – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – April 27, 2015)

April 27, 2015

http://www.northernlife.ca/

2015 budget hints at 2018 start for infrastructure investments

While the province reaffirmed its $1-billion commitment to transportation infrastructure for the Ring of Fire, the timeline for any government spending remains murky.

Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas expressed her disappointment after the Liberals announced the budget April 23 that the Ring of Fire funding had been taken out of the budget and pushed back to 2018, when Ontarians are due to return to the polls.

“Whenever a government makes a promise that depends on winning the next election, there’s reason to start to doubt their commitment,” Gélinas told NorthernLife.ca. “It’s a huge step backwards for the Ring of Fire.”

Gélinas got the 2018 date from a graphic on page 54 of the budget, which depicted some provincial government funding commitments with red arrows pointing to the right. Below the arrows was a timeline of dates, starting at 2014-15, and ending at 2023-24.

Vale loses fight to skip daily cage inspections – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – April 24, 2015)

April 27, 2015

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Company argued checking safety backups daily was a waste of time

Vale Canada Ltd. has lost an appeal of a Ministry of Labour order to do daily checks of a safety mechanism on mining shaft elevators that prevent them from free-falling in case of a malfunction.

In an Ontario Labour Board decision released April 10, Vice-Chair Matthew R. Wilson sided with United Steelworkers Local 6500, ruling that inspections of the safety catches – known as “dogs” – must be done daily.

The process is known as “chairing the cage,” and it’s a procedure that mimics what happens when the elevator (cage) that carries miners underground fails and the claw-like dogs on top begin spinning, biting into the wooden timbers in the shaft and stopping the free-fall.

The danger is that the dogs can become eroded or be compromised by falling debris, meaning they wouldn’t spin and attach themselves to the wooden timbers. In their arguments, Vale said their cages have a protective “boot” on top of the cage that prevents debris from falling into the dogs. Therefore, the company argued, the weekly inspections they conduct were sufficient.

Federal help in Ring of Fire linked to community benefits (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 25, 2015)

April 27, 2015

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

The federal government needs to see the potential for community benefits before investing in the Ring of Fire development.

That’s the message Aime Dimatteo, director general for FedNor, gave during his presentation at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association conference, which was held this week in Thunder Bay.
Dimatteo argued the project is moving forward and pointed to the joint funded study with the province that’s looking at an east-west road corridor.

He said he was referring to the direction the federal government has taken in terms of building the infrastructure for the Ring of Fire. But the government wants to make it clear that those investments have to have community benefits, he said.

“If it is just about putting a road from a highway into a mining site that’s not going to have any community benefit, the federal government’s programs won’t come to bear,” he said. “In the case of the east-west road study that was announced jointly by the federal and provincial governments, it will connect four remote communities.