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Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications

What’s missing in election commitments to stoke Ontario’s Ring of Fire? – by Ramsey Hart (MiningWatch Canada – June 5, 2014)

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

Like moths to a flame, Ontario’s political leaders have been circling the potential mining developments known as the Ring of Fire during the 2014 election campaign. Advancing development in the area received ink in the Liberal, NDP, and PC platforms and was a focal point of the northern leaders debate.

The Liberal platform continues their budget promise of $1-billion for infrastructure but removes the condition of federal support. Under the Liberals’ watch a “Framework Agreement” has been signed between Ontario and the Matawa First Nations beginning a process for dialogue on environmental monitoring, infrastructure, economic development and revenue sharing.

The NDP platform also commits to investing in the region. Though no amount was specified in the platform, at yesterday’s leaders debate Andrea Horwath committed to $1-billion and “more if necessary.” The NDP platform also references working with First Nations regarding training and revenue sharing.

The PC platform makes no commitment to investing but promises to eliminate the Far North Act, which they see as an impediment to the area being developed. There are no other specific commitments from the PCs and no reference to working with First Nations.

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Glencore to spend up to $400M on emissions upgrades – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – June 5, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Company hosted public forum Monday to share plans

Glencore expects to spend up to $400 million to make modifications to its Falconbridge smelter so it can meet new provincial standards for its nickel emissions.

The company hosted a public forum Tuesday to bring the community up to speed on its plans to meet the new, and more stringent, air quality standards.

The province’s new air quality standards, under Ontario Regulation 419/05, will take effect on July 1, 2016.

The new standard will switch from a daily averaging period — where contaminants cannot exceed 2 ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air) — to a yearly averaging period with a contamination limit of 0.04 ug/m3. One microgram represents one millionth of a gram.

Cathy Grant, an air standards and risk management specialist with the Ministry of the Environment, said she and her colleagues determined the new standard would be more representative of industrial emissions with a yearly average. Companies are still limited to a daily upper-risk threshold of 2 ug/m3.

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Plan wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime: KWG – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – June 04, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Ontario Northland key to opening Ring of Fire

A plan by KWG Resources to extend rail infrastructure to the Ring of Fire would not cost taxpayers a cent, said the company’s vice-president of exploration and development, Moe Lavigne.

“That’s very doable,” Lavigne said. “There are a lot of people who love to invest in infrastructure. There’s no reason to reach into the taxpayers’ pockets for that.”

The company has taken to social media to reach out to the electorate with its proposed plan to hand Ontario Northland the reins for development in the Ring of Fire chromite deposit.

“Ontario Northland was created to develop northeastern Ontario, which it did,” Lavigne said. “This is really an extension of the reason why it was put into existence in the first place.”

Under KWG’s proposed plan Ontario Northland would become the development corporation for the Ring of Fire and issue bonds to raise capital for a railroad to the remote region of northwestern Ontario.

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Fedeli and PC’s promise to re-ignite Ring of Fire – by Chris Dawson (Bay Today.ca – June 04, 2014)

http://www.baytoday.ca/

Nipissing Candidate Vic Fedeli told a news conference Wednesday that the Ontario PC’s are the only party with a clear plan to ignite the promise of the Ring of Fire.

The Ontario PC Finance Critic calls the Ring of Fire, which he has visited four times, a “once in a lifetime” mining opportunity. Fedeli believes the Ring of Fire can do for Ontario what the Oil Industry is currently doing for Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“As a first step we will work with business and aboriginal communities to expedite the construction of an all-season transportation link into the Ring of Fire deposits,” said Fedeli in a press release on Thursday.

Fedeli calls the handling of the project “poliitcal game playing” by the Liberal Government, that has cost mining technology companies based in North Bay dozens of jobs.

“We have 12 mining companies who are struggling right now, some have closed like Sandvik – have closed and moved to New Brunswick, because the work they were doing in the ring of fire has collapsed, the 200 million dollars a year that one company was spending is now down to zero and that means these companies have far less business, Sandvik moved and all of the others have had severe layoffs,” said Fedeli about the local impact.

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Mine rescue captain breaking barriers – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – June 4, 2014)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – It wasn’t until the wives of a competing mine rescue team gathered around Lynne Bouchard to shake her hand that the significance of her achievement really sunk in.

Bouchard, who works for St. Andrew Goldfields in Black River-Matheson, is the first female captain to lead a mine rescue team to the provincials. The provincial competition, which kicks off Thursday, is being held this year at the Dome Mine in Timmins.

“It really sunk in when all the wives of the Kidd Creek team lined up to shake my hand and tell me how it was great and an inspiration to see a female step up to the plate like that,” the 26-year-old recalled from the district championships held in Timmins last month. “It was a very heart-felt moment.”

Bouchard will be leading St. Andrew Goldfields mine rescue team against Kidd Operations (Glencore) and the five other district teams competing in the provincials. St. Andrew is representing the Kirkland Lake district while the Kidd team is representing Timmins.

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Mining firm KWG uses social media to put pressure on politicians – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – June 3, 2014)

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

KWG Resources Inc. launched a social media campaign Monday it wants northerners and other Ontarians to use to pressure provincial election candidates to seriously consider the company’s proposed Ring of Fire bill.

The company, which has a 30% interest in the Big Daddy chromite deposit and the right to earn 80% of the Black Horse chromite deposit, is trying to end the political deadlock in the Ring of Fire, says its president and chief executive officer.

Frank Smeenk says the Ring of Fire will benefit every citizen and community of Ontario — and all Canadians — for generations. So KWG is taking a leadership role “that helps end the political gridlock by proposing real and achievable solutions.

“I encourage all Ring of Fire supporters to participate in this process by having your voices heard and helping spread the message to every corner of this country. Together, we will get the Ring of Fire going,” said Smeenk in a statement.

But Smeenk says his company needs “your” vote to make that. KWG has devised a plan, backed by its own proposed bill, that would turn the Ontario Northland Transportation Corporation into the Northern Transportation Corporation. The company placed a full-page ad promoting that in Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, last month.

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[Timmins] Lake Shore Gold predicting a good year – by Len Gillis (Timmins Times – May 31, 2014)

http://www.timminstimes.com/

A dramatic forty-dollar drop in the price of gold during Mine Expo week in Timmins no doubt sent a shudder through those in the local gold mining community in the past few days.

But gold mining executives, much like prospectors, remain an optimistic group. That was evident this week when Lake Shore Gold’s Mark Utting spoke at the opening of the Mine Expo.

Utting, the Vice President of Investor Relations for LSG, said 2014 is going to be a good year for his company here in Timmins. In a nutshell, company performance is improving, costs are down and Lake Shore is confident they will be finding more ore zones.

“Things are going extremely well for us,” said Utting. He said the multi-year construction phase for LSG is completed and the company is in full production mode.

“And that allowed us to significantly increase our production. Last year we did 135-thousand ounces. This year we will get a full year of full production so we will be close to 160 to 180 thousand ounces,” Utting said. He added that the company’s production cost for an ounce of gold is down and “well below a thousand dollars.”

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Why is Ring of Fire not burning issue? – by Tom Mills (Sault Star May 31, 2014)

http://www.saultstar.com/

Ontario political parties should be playing a little Johnny Cash on their campaign bus sound systems. Ring of Fire, to be precise. Because this provincial election seems to be about jobs.

And Northern Ontario’s extremely rich mineral deposits in the Ring of Fire could be a very good place to create them. Direct employment estimates for developing those reserves are in the 4,400 to 6,000 range, with presumably much more construction and spinoff employment.

Politicians have been comparing the Ring of Fire to Alberta’s oil sands in terms of economic importance. Yet talk on the campaign trail about the Ring has been sporadic and muted.

So maybe a subliminal message from the Man in Black is needed convince the three major parties to give the Ring of Fire the prominence it deserves in their platforms.

That’s especially true since jobs is trumping government skulduggery as the focus of this campaign. New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath’s attempt to make scandal her campaign centrepiece seems to have been a strategic blunder.

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Accent: Cobalt boom top event in Northern mining [Part 2 of 2] – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – May 31, 2014)

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

Note: This is the second of a two-part feature on Ontario’s mining history. The first half of a top-10 list of significant events was printed in Friday edition of the Star; the countdown continues below.

For Part-one, click here: http://republicofmining.com/2014/05/30/accent-celebrating-northern-ontarios-mining-history-by-stan-sudol-sudbury-star-may-30-2014/

5) Peter Munk: Canada’s King of Gold

Amazingly, Peter Munk knew little about mining as he previously developed resorts in the South Pacific and owned a high-fidelity stereo system company that went bankrupt. In 1983, with a small oil exploration company that was losing money, he decided to buy a half interest in the Renabie gold mine near Wawa and a piece of an Alaskan placer miner which together produced 3,000 ounces that year.

In 1984, he bought Camflo Mines with operations in northwestern Quebec, but more importantly, acquired an experienced mine management team that would help Barrick takeover mines in Ontario, the United States and around the world. A significant success was the Nevada Goldstrike mine in 1988 when company President Robert Smith saw its huge potential.

Munk’s greatest success was the acquisition of Placer Dome in 2006 during the foreign takeovers of some of Canada’s legendary miners that included Inco, Falconbridge and Alcan.

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Accent: Celebrating Northern Ontario’s mining history [Part 1 of 2] – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – May 30, 2014)

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

Note: this is the first of two parts.

For part-two, click here: http://republicofmining.com/2014/05/31/accent-cobalt-boom-top-event-in-northern-mining-by-stan-sudol-sudbury-star-may-31-2014/

For crying out loud, I continue to be astonished with our collective Canadian obsession over the Klondike Gold Rush while Northern Ontario’s rich and vibrant mining history is completely ignored by the Toronto media establishment, especially the CBC.

Discovery Channel’s recent six-hour mini-series on the Klondike – vaguely based on Charlotte Gray’s book, Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike – once again highlighted this glaring snub.

While, the Klondike did have the benefit of terrific public relations due to famous writers like Jack London, Robert W. Service and Pierre Berton, I still don’t understand how this brief mining boom continues to dominate the “historical oxygen” in our national psyche.

At its peak, the Klondike only lasted a few years – 1896-1899 – and produced about 12.5 million ounces of gold. And unlike the California gold rush that created one of the largest and richest states in the union, the entire Yukon Territory’s population today is about 36,000. Contrast that with booming Timmins with 45,000 hardy souls who have dug out of the ground about 68 million ounces and counting of the precious metal, since the Porcupine Gold rush of 1909.

It’s enough to make to make Benny Hollinger, Jack Wilson and Sandy MacIntyre – the founders of this extraordinary deposit – spin in their collective graves.

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Noront’s Environmental Report details innovative underground milling & backfilling plans, wetland road design – by Bryan Phelan (Onotassiniik – Summer 2014)

 http://www.onotassiniik.com/

Noront Resources intends to open the first mine in the Ring of Fire. And in building that mine, it plans to use technological innovation that could guide the development of other mines in the James Bay Lowlands and elsewhere.

When Cliffs Natural Resources late last year suspended activities associated with its proposed Black Thor chromite mine, Noront suddenly found itself the mining company “leading the charge” in the Ring of Fire, as MP Greg Rickford put it shortly before his appointment in March as Canada’s new minister of natural resources.

Alan Coutts, Noront president and CEO, this spring expressed hope construction of his company’s Eagle’s Nest mine for nickel, copper, platinum and palladium could start during next winter road season, and be operating by the end of 2017.

Noront reached an important milestone in that direction, he said, with the completion in December of a draft environmental report. The report is necessary to meet requirements for a provincial environmental assessment (EA) of the Eagle’s Nest project and for a related federal environmental impact statement (EIS). A draft version has been circulated for review and comment by the public and government agencies.

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Vale sounds new cautionary note on possibility smelter and refinery will remain open beyond 2015 – by John Barker (Thompson Citizen – May 29, 2014)

The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000.  editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Pending federal sulphur dioxide (SO2) emission standards issues remain, as do questions over availability of nickel sulphide concentrate feed

“On the business side of things, the often talked about last year $100-million challenge, was, we have to say, a roaring success,” Mark Scott, general manager of mining and milling for Vale’s Manitoba Operations, told about 30 members and guests at the Thompson Chamber of Commerce’s weekly luncheon May 28, as he delivered a presentation entitled, “Standing on our own Two Feet.”

At the same time, however, Scott sounded a new cautionary note on the possibility of the smelter and refinery remaining open beyond next year, saying the “base case remains” that they both “will close at some point in 2015.”

Pending federal sulphur dioxide (SO2) emission standards issues remain, as do questions over availability of nickel sulphide concentrate feed, he said. The announcement that the smelter and refinery would close was originally made on Nov. 17, 2010, with Vale saying at the time it was “phasing out of smelting and refining by 2015” in Thompson.

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Fight to oust Cliffs board just got real ugly – by Frik Els (Mining.com – May 29, 2014)

http://www.mining.com/

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF), the US’ biggest iron ore producer, announced this week that it is reducing capital spending by an additional $100 million on top of the $460 million in cuts already announced.

This led to speculation that Cleveland-based firm could breach certain debt covenants should the weakness in the price of the steelmaking raw material persist.

Cliffs stock was up on Thursday, but investors in the company are nursing a 37% slide in the market value of the company and an exit from the S&P500 index as it tries to cope with a downturn in the market by idling mines in Canada and the US and laying off workers.

Activist investment firm Casablanca Capital launched a bid in January to oust the current Cliffs board and on Wednesday issued another statement calling for drastic changes at the company.

Casablanca, a top shareholder with more than 5% of equity in the miner, called the value destruction at the company “alarming” adding that despite the losses “a majority of the current Cliffs directors, including its chairman, James Kirsch, remain in their seats.”

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COMMENT: Riots at Goro cause $30M in damage – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – May 28, 2014)

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

It appears that Vale SA has run into a spot of trouble at the Goro laterite nickel mine in New Caledonia. Turns out it was a rather large spot that will take $30 million to repair.

Following a 10,000-litre acid spill that ran into a nearby creek and killed thousands of fish earlier this month, Vale was ordered to suspend operations. This is reportedly the fifth such spill in as many years. The first spill occurred during plant commissioning in 2009. It was a reported 40,000 litres, 2,500 of which found its way into the local river.

The recent riots were sparked when local youths protested the reopening of the plant, even with the promise of more stringent safety precautions. There are many who would like to see the project permanently shuttered. Over 48 hours, activists torched vehicles, equipment and buildings at the mine site. They blockaded the roads near the mine, reportedly using mining equipment including excavators to keep the police at bay.

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Wynne ties her government’s success to developing Ring of Fire -by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – May 27, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Premier makes first visit to Sudbury since June 12 election call

In Sudbury on Tuesday, Premier Kathleen Wynne tied the success of her government to the successful development of the Ring of Fire.

Speaking at Northern Centre for Advanced Technology, Wynne was flanked by Sudbury candidate Andrew Olivier, Nickel Belt candidate James Tregonning, Timiskaming-Cochrane candidate Sébastien Goyer, as well as outgoing MPP Rick Bartolucci.

After touring the centre, Wynne fielded questions from a throng of local and provincial media. She compared the Ring of Fire to the Alberta Oilsands, a development which has received significant support from the federal government. Ontario is hoping for similar help, Wynne said, which would repair the province’s relationship with the feds.

“That would be absolutely grounds for a positive relationship with the federal government,” she said. “We’ve put a billion dollars on the table (and) we would love to have a federal partner.” But the province is committed to spending $1 billion for the Ring of Fire infrastructure, regardless of what Ottawa does, she added.

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