Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications – Page 236

Study shows Ring could generate $25 billion benefit – by Caro Muligan (Sudbury Star – February 21, 2014)

February 21, 2014

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

A new study released by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Beneath the Surface: Uncovering the Economic Potential of Ontario’s Ring of Fire, shows the mining development could generate more than $25 billion across numerous sectors in Ontario by 2047.

That would include $2.7 billion in revenues for the financial services sector and $1.2 billion for the wholesale and retail trade sectors.

“Our study makes it clear that the short-and long-term economic impacts of the Ring of Fire extend far beyond mining,” says Allan O’Dette, President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “It’s time to broaden the Ring of Fire conversation to include all of Ontario, not just the Far North.”

“The Ring of Fire will generate an estimated $6.2 billion for Ontario’s mining sector in the first 10 years of its development, with much of this mining activity being concentrated in Northern Ontario,” says David Boyce, Chair of the Board, Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. “Development of the Ring of Fire is important to all Ontarians, regardless of geography. The positive impacts will be felt across the province in the form of increased GDP, job creation, and government revenue.”

Ontario chamber releasing Ring of Fire report – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 19, 2014)

February 19, 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.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce will be weighing in on the untapped mineral and economic opportunities in the Far North Ring of Fire when it releases a report tomorrow.

The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto will be the venue for the report’s official launch on Thursday followed by a Northern Ontario rollout of cities next week with panel discussions in Thunder Bay (Feb. 26), Sudbury (Feb. 27) and Timmins (March 7).

The Sudbury panel will be held at Dynamic Earth from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The comprehensive report will outline the economic benefits to Ontario estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars.

The report is also intended to showcase this massive mineral opportunity and its spinoffs to southern Ontarians who know little of its potential to generate wealth and jobs in the province, a fact illustrated in an Ontario chamber survey of its own member businesses.

Ontario Grass roots exploration takes a hit – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – February 2014)

February 19, 2014

Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This article is from the February 2014 issue.

Not for lack of quality projects

The good times couldn’t continue forever, and they haven’t. After three years in a row of feverish exploration activity in Ontario, 2013 turned in a dismal performance. Estimated exploration and deposit appraisal expenditures for Ontario fell approximately 30 per cent – from $961 million in 2012 to $688.5 million – but the reality is much worse, according to Garry Clark, executive director of the Ontario Prospectors Association.

The $688.5 million and the $961 million posted the year before include expenditures on mine development – not just exploration, he complained. Looking at exploration alone, “2013 was the worst year since I’ve been in the business,” said Clark. “I started as a consultant in 1987, and I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, but this is probably the lowest I’ve seen.”

Risk capital dried up, many junior mining companies went dormant, drill rigs sat idle and geologists and prospectors were lucky to find a day or two of work here and there. Clark and others could see it coming despite three straight years of numbers just shy of or exceeding $1 billion.

[Noront] Keeping their eye on the ball – by Rob Learn (North Bay Nipissing News – February 19, 2014)

February 19, 2014

http://www.northbaynipissing.com/northbaynipissing/

KOPER LAKE – Sticking to the basics, keep their eye on the ball and concentrate on making contact is the strategy Noront Resources is continuing as it continues to outpace all others in the most touted mining discovery in a generation – the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario.

CEO and president of Noront Alan Coutts brakes down the complexity of his specific proposal to create a viable mine in one of the remotest parts of the province. “You don’t need to go for the grand slam homerun right away. You just need to get a base hit,” said Coutts.

After years standing in the on deck circle Noront is preparing to take its best swing for that base hit this year applying for permit approvals for a permanent road to the mine site about 500 km north of Timmins. The road would run east-west from Pickle Lake above Thunder Bay running mostly along a route that serves four First Nations communities via winter road.

With a 282 km route to cover across James Bay Lowlands the company is saying it is the best way to push their proposed Eagle’s Nest deposit from very expensive find to an active mine.

SAMSSA celebrates ten years, 2003-2013 – by Dick DeStefano (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – February 2014)

September 7, 2018February 19, 2014

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA). destefan@isys.ca This column was originally published in the February 2014 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.

After 10 years of effort and service, the Sudbury Mining Supply & Service Association (SAMSSA) has become a significant presence in the Northern Ontario mining cluster.

SAMSSA’s annual meeting on December 4th was a testament to the association’s success, attracting 175 representatives from its 140-strong membership of corporate and associated companies and agencies.

There were two special honourees, the announcement of a new board of directors, and the attendance of Vale executives who announced the return of a local purchasing team to Sudbury, much to the pleasure of the audience.

SAMSSA has created a dynamic forum for it members to not only market and promote their expertise globally, but also to establish a community or network to further the members’ common goals.

[Northern Manitoba] Students drill down into minerals and mining – by Ian Graham (Thompson Citizen – February 19, 2014)

February 19, 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.

Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada brings its Mining Matters to Thompson and Nelson House

Students and teachers in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) and Thompson learned about minerals and mining from Feb. 10-14 as Mining Matters, in partnership with Vale’s Manitoba Operations, swept through Northern Manitoba to present its Mining Rocks Earth Science program, sponsored by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in Toronto.

“This is incredible,” said Barbara Green Parker, the aboriginal education and outreach programs manager for Mining Matters, a charitable organization in existence since April 30, 1997 that seeks to spread knowledge about Canada’s geology and the careers available in the country’s minerals industry. “This is the largest Mining Matters program that we have ever done. We are maximizing our exposure in Northern Manitoba. It’s a phenomenal amount. We’re very pleased to be in such high demand.”

Parker was in NCN at Nelson House on Feb. 10-11, presenting the Mining Rocks program to students from Grades 4 to 8 at Otetiskwin Kiskinwamahtowekamik Elementary School on Monday and to high school students at Nisichawayasihk Neyo Ohtinwak Collegiate on the morning of Feb. 11, with the afternoon dedicated to a teacher training workshop.

Investment in First Nations Youth the Right Thing – Minister Valcourt (Netnewsledger.com – February 18, 2014)

February 19, 2014

http://www.netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – Federal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Bernard Valcourt addressed the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon today in Thunder Bay. Here is what the Minister said:

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the warm introduction. It gives me great pleasure to speak with you today.

Bonjour Mesdames et Messieurs et je vous remercie d’être ici avec avec nous aujourd’hui pour discuter du Plan d’Action Économique 2014. As a Minister in Prime Minister Harper’s Government, it is my privilege to meet with you to discuss our Government’s Economic Action Plan 2014.

I am proud to confirm that our Government is on track to return to balanced budgets in 2015, with new measures that will create jobs and opportunities. We are on track to balance the budget while keeping taxes low and protecting the programs and services Canadians count on.

Since the inception of Canada’s Economic Action Plan in 2009, Canada has achieved the best job creation record and one of the best economic performances in the G-7 over the recovery. Economic Action Plan 2014 builds on this record of achievement with positive measures to grow the economy and help create jobs by;

Cliffs stands by Halverson – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – February 19, 2014)

February 19, 2014

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

Though some shareholders of Cliffs Natural Resources have been calling for his replacement, the Sudbury native who put the brakes on what had been expected to be the first operating mine in the Ring of Fire has been given a promotion.

Cleveland-based Cliffs last week elevated Gary Halverson so that he is the company’s CEO as well as president. Halverson, 55, was hired in November as Cliffs’ president and chief operating officer.

“We are confident that Gary is the right candidate to lead Cliffs, given his proven experience with international and long-term mining operations and understanding of the global commodities industry,” said a Cliffs news release.

A few days after Halverson was hired, Cliffs announced that it was stopping all pre-development work on a proposed ROF chromite mine about 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. Chromite is a key ingredient in stainless steel.

Earlier this month, as Cliffs endured mounting criticism from shareholders over its falling stock price, Halverson cut $90 million from the company’s exploration budget and announced the idling of its Wabush iron-mine in Newfoundland.

How A Chicago-Born, Backwards Hat-Wearing Former Steve Jobs Instructor Plans To Dominate South African Mining [Robert Freeland] – by Tommy Humphreys (Business Insider – February 18, 2014)

February 18, 2014

http://www.businessinsider.com/

The reality distortion field, made famous by Steve Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson, is a personal intensity and vision so powerful it bends people to your will, convincing them of a project’s higher purpose. Isaacson describes this capacity for influence as a notorious trait of Steve Jobs, who, as founder and CEO of Apple, managed to ship mountainous innovation that consistently redefined the relationship between art and technology.

An interesting footnote here is the fact that Robert Friedland, one of the world’s most successful global resource developers, taught Jobs about the reality distortion field when Jobs was a college student in 1972. And he’s used it to promote a ton of successful mining ventures over the past 35 years—he’s found and developed them on nearly every corner of the globe. And became a multi-billionaire in the process.

I was actually on a trip with Friedland last week, touring three of his latest mining projects in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I didn’t realize how privileged I was to be included in the crew, which consisted of members of Friedland’s family and a few investors, until on his Gulfstream jet on the way there, his 39-year-old geologist son Govind looked at me puzzled, then joked to his dad, “What is a blogger doing here?”

Liberal Ring of Fire Plans Under Fire – by James Murray (Netnewsledger.com – February 15, 2014)

February 18, 2014

http://www.netnewsledger.com/

Getting the Ring of Fire Right is Complicated

THUNDER BAY – The Ring of Fire mining opportunities are massive. However the efforts to “Get it right,” as Minister Michael Gravelle has repeatedly stated are causing those efforts to come under fire. The New Democrats are accusing the Wynne Government of only governing by ‘Press Release’.

“The announcement that outside consultants have been brought in to guide the Ring of Fire Development Corporation is a stark reminder of the Liberal government’s inability to spur development in the mining sector”, charges NDP Northern Development and Mines Critic Michael Mantha.

“The Liberal government continues to govern by press release; all talk no action,” continued Michael Mantha, the MPP for Algoma-Manitoulin. “This latest announcement by Mining Minister Michael Gravelle further proves that this government is determined to create jobs anywhere but in the actual mining sector. We now see consultant companies profit while the mining companies are left on the sidelines and First Nations suffer.”

Ring development a ‘plan to make a plan,’ says MPP – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 15, 2014)

February 18, 2014

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

Ontario has hired a consulting firm to establish a development corporation for the Ring of Fire chromite deposits in the James Bay Lowlands. Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle announced Friday the Liberals have hired a neutral third party, Deloitte LLP, to establish the development corporation he announced the creation of last November.

Deloitte will work with Ring of Fire partners — the federal and provincial governments, first nations and industry — to set clear paths and timelines for decision-making, create guiding principles for the corporation, and to seek consensus on the corporation`s next steps, said Gravelle.

Specifically, Deloitte will prepare a report assessing three proposals for a transportation system to move chromite, nickel and other ores out of the Ring of Fire, 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, to other parts of the province and beyond for processing.

Gravelle, who made the announcement about hiring Deloitte in his home riding of Thunder Bay, didn’t say when Deloitte would deliver that report, what it would cost to produce or whether it would be a public document when it is completed.

PoV: Why we need a statue of Stompin’ Tom [in Sudbury] – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – February 15, 2014)

February 15, 2014

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

When a group of Sudburians first announced they wanted to raise $50,000 to place a bronze statue of Stompin’ Tom Connors downtown, it seemed a bit out of place. Connors was not a Sudburian, yet he is inexorably part of our heritage for his iconic song, Sudbury Saturday Night. He is not necessarily associated with an individual place, rather he was relentlessly Canadian. Why a bronze statue in Sudbury?

Because he was able to write a simple, irresistibly catchy song that captured who we were at the time. In 1965, when he wrote the song, we were a city of hard partying labourors drinking away the sweat of the mines. It does not represent what Sudbury is today, but Connors was able to make a nation think about a city that many at the time knew only as a place “up North.”

Sudbury Saturday Night — best captured in his performance at the Horseshoe Tavern — might make us cringe a bit now. “The girls are out to bingo and the boys are gettin’ stinko and we’ll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday Night.”

Inco is now Brazil-based Vale, and bingo has faded. And drinking heavily is not so much to be memorialized these days. “We’ll drink the loot we borrowed and recuperate tomorrow, cause everything is wonderful and we had a good fight.”

Deloitte gets nod to help resolve Ring of Fire fracas – by James Munson (iPolitics.com – February 14, 2014)

February 14, 2014

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle is bringing in global consulting and accounting firm Deloitte LLP to resolve the province’s spat with Ottawa over how to develop the Ring of Fire.

The federal and provincial governments are at odds over who you should pay for a transportation corridor into the far-flung mining district in northern Ontario. While the Ring of Fire’s bounty in chromite and other metals could be worth $60 billion according to Queen’s Park, building either a railway or a highway into the area is estimated to cost between one and two billion dollars.

Ottawa was initially supportive of the Ring of Fire, appointing Treasury Board president Tony Clement to oversee the file. But the portfolio has since been bumped to a junior minister and Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a press conference in November that the mineral play was a provincial matter.

The chasm grew in part because Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced a development corporation without first alerting the federal government on November 8.

Wallbridge tries to understand its ‘enigmatic’ minerals – by Jonathan Migneault (Northern Ontario Business – February 13, 2014)

February 14, 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.

Around two billion years ago an asteroid or comet approximately 10 to 15 kilometres in diameter collided with what is now the Sudbury basin.

When it entered Earth’s orbit it was travelling at a speed of around 36,000 kilometres per hour. The power of the impact when it hit the planet’s surface was “off the scale,” according to Gordon Osinski, an associate professor of planetary geology at the University of Western Ontario. “It’s an incredible amount of energy deposited almost instantaneously,” he said.

Geological changes can take millions of years, but that impact altered Sudbury’s landscape in a flash. The heat from the impact was so intense it created a pool of molten rock three kilometres thick. Geologists have estimated the crater it created – which is no longer visible today – was around 200 kilometres in diameter.

The Chicxulub crater, underneath Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, is around 180 km in diameter. The asteroid impact that created it 65 million years ago is largely credited for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.

Cliffs cutting jobs, costs – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – February 14, 2014)

February 14, 2014

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

U.S.-based Cliffs Natural Resources, which once had ambitious plans to open a chromite smelter in Sudbury by 2015, has announced that it will lay off about 500 employees and dramatically reduce spending.

“Sharper capital allocation must drive our decisions,” CEO Gary Halverson said in a statement. “(The) announcement to reduce overall capital spending is an important first step.”

However, on Thursday, Cliffs, which is facing against an activist investor who wants to break up the mining company, reported higher fourth-quarter profits helped in part by higher iron ore prices and a drop in the cost of goods sold.

The iron ore and metallurgical coal producer said net income rose to US $31 million, or 20 cents a share, in the three months to end-December. A year ago, it reported a loss of $1.6 billion, or $11.36 a share, when it wrote down $1 billion related to its 2011 acquisition of Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd.

Revenue was marginally lower at $1.52 billion in the quarter from $1.54 billion as lower prices and sales for coal were partially offset by a 10 percent increase in global seaborne iron ore pricing.