Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications – Page 234

Hotelier looks to drum up interest in mining history – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 5, 2014)

March 28, 2014

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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

A Haileybury hotelier and tourism promoter wants to revive the area’s rich mining history and introduce it to a wider audience.

Nicole Guertin, co-owner of Presidential Suites, is hosting a media familiarization tour in early May designed to spark interest in the famed Cobalt mining camp and its impact in today’s Canadian mining industry.

While the Yukon has its lore of the Klondike, Guertin said the story of Cobalt and its place in Canadian history needs to be told. “Being in the middle of this Abitibi-Timmins-Sudbury triangle, we haven’t really sold the area that much for mining.”

Since permanently settling in the Temiskaming area three years ago, Guertin and her partner, Jocelyn Blais, have purchased, renovated and rent out five historical homes in Haileybury.

Their most recent acquisition is a home they’ve dubbed Prospectors’ House, refurbished to highlight the history of the 1903 Silver Rush in Cobalt. Interior decorator Renelle Laliberte of Toronto decorated the four-storey home with a rustic theme in keeping with local mining history, and it features several original works by local artists.

Mine promises hope for Thompson – by Jonathon Naylor (Brandon Sun – March 27, 2014)

March 28, 2014

http://www.brandonsun.com/

THOMPSON — As one door closes, will another open? That’s the fundamental question facing this hearty northern mining city.

Nickel giant Vale’s announcement that it will shut down its smelter and refinery at the end of 2014 (later revised to the end of 2015) raised grim speculation about Thompson’s future. But overlooked is the fact that while those surface operations are nearly tapped out, Vale is concentrating on its subterranean prospects.

“Our recent exploration activities have focused on increasing the confidence of near-infrastructure reserves and resources with the goal of maintaining current production levels from our existing mines,” says Ryan Land, the personable manager of corporate affairs for Vale’s Thompson operations. “This strategy will continue in the near term, and will be re-evaluated on an ongoing basis in response to nickel market conditions.”

Not only does Vale still run three Thompson-area mines — T-1, T-3 and Birchtree — there remains the irresistible promise of a fourth, known as 1-D, a $1- billion-plus mega-development.

Ottawa must step up to the ‘Ring’ – Gravelle – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 28, 2014)

March 28, 2014

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

The Government of Ontario won’t put a number on the “significant investment” it is committed to making to develop infrastructure in the Ring of Fire. But whatever that figure is, it wants the federal government to match it.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle told reporters in Sudbury on Thursday it’s important to have discussions about developing the vast chromite deposits “without setting the bar, without putting a figure in place.”

That’s because the costs of developing transportation, power and other infrastructure will vary according to whether access to remote first nations communities is factored in or not.

But Gravelle insisted the Liberal government of Premier Kathleen Wynne is committed to investing heavily and is looking for that same level of commitment from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. When the time is appropriate, his government will reveal what kind of money it is prepared to invest in developing the remote area 540 kilomteres northeast of Thunder Bay.

Gravelle: Province ready to make ‘significant’ Ring of Fire investment – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – March 27, 2014)

March 28, 2014

http://www.northernlife.ca/

For a video presentation of Michael Gravelle’s speech, click here: http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2014/03/27-gravelle-Sudbury.aspx

Talks ongoing for feds to match provincial investment

The province is prepared to make a “very significant” infrastructure investment in the Ring of Fire, said Michael Gravelle, Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development and Mines,told reporters Sudbury today.

“Our commitment to a major investment is locked in. It’s real,” Gravelle said after speaking at a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday. “We have not spoken about that figure specifically and I’m not in a position to do that right now.”

Gravelle made the comments a day after the province signed what he called an “historic landmark” framework agreement with the nine communities of the Matawa First Nations on how to move forward with mineral and community development in the Ring of Fire, a massive mineral deposit in a remote section of northwestern Ontario.

The framework agreement, Gravelle said, will set out the principles and guidelines for more formal discussions on issues such as resource revenue sharing, enhanced environmental assessments and socio-economic support for First Nations.

Province, Matawa chiefs sign Ring of Fire agreement – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 27, 2014)

March 27, 2014

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

Calling it a landmark agreement, Bob Rae said Matawa First Nations chiefs have inked a deal with the province that ensures their communities benefit from development of the Ring of Fire.

In a telephone interview, Rae, the negotiator for the nine Matawa leaders, said the agreement is a game-changer for aboriginal people.

Almost a year after he first met with the chiefs in Thunder Bay, Rae announced the Matawa and the Government of Ontario on Wednesday signed a regional framework agreement that gives natives in the area a stake in how the Ring of Fire will be developed.

The Ring of Fire, located in northwestern Ontario, contains billions in mineral deposits. Advocates believe the Ring could create thousands of jobs in Ontario. Sudbury, as a mining supply and centre, would also benefit from developing the area, they say.

One company, Cliffs Natural Resources, had planned to ship chromite from the Ring to a new smelter in Capreol. The company has put those plans on hold because of a lack of agreement on a number of issues, including with first nations and on infrastructure.

First Nations, Ontario reach Ring of Fire framework deal – Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 26, 2014)

March 27, 2014

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 and the nine communities of the Matawa First Nations have negotiated a “milestone” framework agreement on how to move forward with mineral and community development in the Ring of Fire.

Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse is pleased that an agreement with a process has now been formalized that puts First Nations on an even footing with the Ontario government.

“The framework is all about developing that process on how things are going to roll out and how we want to play a role, how much role we’re going to have, but we want to sit parallel with the government in moving forward.” His remote fly-in community of 600 is situated is 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay and just to the west of the Ring of Fire chromite and nickel deposits.

Wabasse has been part of the high-profile negotiations that began last July involving former Ontario premier Bob Rae, the chief negotiator for Matawa, and ex-Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, Ontario’s lead negotiator.

Elliot Lake wildcat strike led to key law – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 26, 2014)

March 26, 2014

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

United Steelworkers will mark a milestone in occupational health and safety next month with a forum to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a wildcat strike in Elliot Lake that led to safer workplaces throughout Ontario.

The forum will mark the start of the three-week strike by about 1,000 Steelworkers in 1974 at Elliot Lake’s Denison uranium mine that resulted in the Government of Ontario appointing a royal commission headed by James Ham.

The Ham Commission on Mine Safety resulted in the creation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in 1979, the provincial law governing health and safety in the workplace, and the internal responsibility system.

The IRS is based on the principle that everyone in the workplace, workers and employers, are responsible for safety and for the safety of those around them John Perquin, a USW staff representative who works in the union’s head office in Pittsburgh, arrived in Elliot Lake about seven years after the strike that was a watershed moment in workers’ safety.

Headline: Development corp. benefits unclear to Matawa – by Bryan Phelan (Onotassiniik – Spring 2014)

March 25, 2014

http://onotassiniik.com/

Suspension of Cliffs’ chromite project a relief to First Nations, Ferris says

More than two months after the Ontario government announced it, Matawa First Nations had yet to endorse a proposed development corporation for building infrastructure to the Ring of Fire mineral development. Ontario declared in early November it would lead the creation of such a business structure.

“Recent developments, and divergent private sector interests, have impacted our ability to move forward on vital infrastructure required to develop the region,” said Michael Gravelle, minister of northern development and mines.

“Currently there are a variety of proposals for infrastructure development. They propose different corridors and different modes of transportation but in the end, they all lead to the same place. In recent weeks, it has become increasingly clear to me that we need to determine exactly what those infrastructure needs are, and we need to do it now.”

As a result, Gravelle said, “The creation of a development corporation will bring First Nations, mining companies, and provincial and federal partners together to settle divergent interests and get back to making this development happen.

Time for regional environmental assessment for Ring of Fire – by Anna Baggio (Onotassiniik – Spring 2014)

March 25, 2014

http://onotassiniik.com/

Anna Baggio is the Director Conservation Planning, CPAWS Wildlands League.

Oh the gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair that has occurred in various media outlets and around the province since news broke that Cliffs would suspend indefinitely its chromite project in northern Ontario. It wasn’t a surprise to those of us who follow global market prices, corporate boardrooms and here at home the environmental assessment processes. The project had been sputtering for quite some time.

With news of the indefinite suspension by Cliffs, there has been a lot of finger pointing and apportioning of blame. But I think this is a distraction from bigger, more important issues such as how Ontario should develop its non-renewable resources in the Ring of Fire. “The Ring” is more than Cliffs, after all.

How should we address neighbouring First Nations’ decades-long infrastructure needs? How do we make sure the Ekwan, Attawapiskat and Albany rivers will be clean and healthy forever? How do we all make best use of limited public resources? How do we ensure there is transparency and integrity around decision-making and that First Nations are respected?

‘Emotional’ testimony expected at Sudbury hearing – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 25, 2014)

March 25, 2014March 25, 2014

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

Anyone with an opinion or idea about how to make mining safer and healthier is invited to attend public consultations in Sudbury next week that are part of the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review.

People who want to present must register by Wednesday for the April 2 and 3 sessions, but written submissions will be accepted after that. The review, which is being conducted by the Ontario Ministry of Labour, is being overseen by an advisory group headed by the province’s chief prevention officer, George Gritziotis.

So far that group has met twice in Sudbury, mostly to figure out the logistics of how its members will oversee a comprehensive review of mining practices in Ontario in less than a year. It will meet four more times in Sudbury.

John Perquin, who works for United Steelworkers’ international office in Pittsburgh, is vice-chair of labour for the advisory group. Businessman Fergus Kerr is vice-chair for employers.

Perquin said the advisory group isn’t sure what to expect at the public consultations because the first one won’t be held until March 31 in Timmins. But it is at those sessions committee members expect to get some of the best ideas to improve mine safety.

In the aftermath [Elliot Lake Mall Collapse] – Mine Rescue – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 24, 2014)

March 24, 2014

Ontario Mine Rescue stood anxiously on the sidelines during the fatal Elliot Lake mall collapse, but it may prove to be a watershed event in the history and evolution of the 86-year-old volunteer organization.

In the investigative aftermath, a new relationship has sprung up between the Sudbury-based Mine Rescue and Toronto’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) Task Force that was deployed to the Algo Centre Mall when the rooftop parking lot collapsed in 2012, killing two.

“I think it’s going to transform and reshape things,” said Alex Gryska, director for Mine Rescue. No formal mutual aid agreement has ever existed between them, but that could all change in the coming months.

The two organizations have met regularly since the conclusion of the Elliot Lake Inquiry’s testimony phase to talk about joint training exercises sometime this year. “We need to know the nature of how we (each) operate,” said Gryska.

Private Equity Groups Exercising Patience With Mining Industry – EY Mining Leader – by Alex Létourneau (Kitco News – March 21, 2014)

March 24, 2014

http://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – While there’s been quite a bit of talk regarding private capital finding its way into the mining sector, there hasn’t been the kind of movement expected yet.

Media reports over the last few months peg a total of $8 billion to $10 billion in private capital available and ready to be pumped into the industry, but these private equity groups are exercising patience before jumping in to any deals, according to Bruce Sprague, Ernst & Young’s Canadian mining and metals leader.

“We’re seeing more and more of these private capital groups, astute mining entrepreneurs and leaders that are amassing really substantial pools of capital that are out there and looking for deals,” Sprague told Kitco News over a telephone interview. “I’d stress the word, and its patient capital.

“They’re not really in a hurry to do a deal. They’re going to be methodical, they know the sector quite well — tried and true industry veterans with the benefit of good teams that can really do their requisite financial and technical due diligence,” he said. “If they find the right opportunity, they certainly have more than adequate access to capital.”

Out of sight, out of mind [Nuclear Waste] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (March 23, 2014)

March 24, 2014

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

IT has been 35 years since the governments of Canada and Ontario established the Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program to develop a concept to safely and permanently dispose of the radioactive byproducts of nuclear energy. We are told it will be 2035 before a repository can be operating. So there is no hurry.

It took authorities just a year, though, to propose deep geological disposal in Northern Ontario’s granite as opposed to finding a way to keep the stuff near to where it is produced in southern Ontario.

There is a great deal to be said for geological disposal. Earthquakes are rare here and not violent. What ground movement there is would not be enough to dislodge lead-lined canisters filled with nuclear waste stored 500 metres down in rock caves backfilled with concrete. Groundwater movement is minimal. Still, nuclear waste remains radioactive for a long time.

So there is a risk, however small, no matter where this material is stored. Would the risk be greater in a vault of some description near the reactors in southern Ontario? Would terrorists be more likely to try to steal it there than here or enroute?

Bob Rae discusses Ring of Fire mining project at Western Law – by Sean Meyer (London Community News – March 21, 2014)

March 21, 2014

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/london-on/

The Ring of Fire is the name given to a massive Northern Ontario chromite-mining project that geologists have called the biggest resource find since the end of the 19th century.

The project would impact numerous First Nations communities and so potential developers are required to negotiate agreement with them prior to development. Bob Rae — the former premier of Ontario and former leader of the federal Liberal party — serves as chief negotiator for the Matawa First Nations Tribal Council, which represents nine First Nations located around the Ring of Fire, roughly 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

Rae brought his perspective on the project, the impact it will have on First Nations people in the area, and the legal challenges it faces, when he spoke before a group of more than 70 Faculty of Law students at Western University on Thursday (March 20).

“I have actually been doing a lot of speaking to students in just about every university I can, every law school, every mining faculty. I do a lot of talking to people to kind of really explain what is going on, get people engaged, give them a chance to listen and learn,” Rae said. “This generation of lawyers is going to be doing this front and centre so it is important to get them involved.”

Stakeholders rally to save passenger rail – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – March 21, 2014)

March 21, 2014

Stakeholders have one month to delay CN Railway’s decision to stop running passenger service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst. In January, the company announced that, because $2.2 million in federal funding for passenger service had been cut, the service provided by Algoma Central Railway would halt on March 31. CN has since extended that deadline to April 29.

A new working committee, spearheaded by Sault Ste. Marie and comprised of communities, First Nations, tourist operators, and cottage owners, is seeking a one-year extension to give stakeholders a chance to come up with alternatives to sustain the rail line over the long term. The group has hired a part-time coordinator, Dave Murphy, who has worked for the Sault’s Economic Development Corporation and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

“Our first objective is to secure the one-year extension of the funding for the continuation of the passenger service, which is scheduled now to cease April 29 in the absence of any extension,” said Joe Fratesi, Sault Ste. Marie’s CAO and chair of the Algoma Passenger Rail Stakeholder Committee.