Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications – Page 247

Ontario juniors push innovation to advance projects – by Wendy Parker (In Support Of Mining.com – November 12, 2013)

November 13, 2013

http://insupportofmining.wordpress.com/

Ontario’s mineral developers may be struggling to generate interest in the financial markets — but they’re certainly having no trouble generating interesting research in the lab.

Northern Graphite, developer of the Bissett Creek graphite project east of North Bay, announced this week that it has partnered with Tennessee-based Coulometrics LLC to “manage development of the company’s proprietary technologies for manufacturing spherical graphite and improving the performance of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.”

Pointing to the industry’s current dependence on supplies from China, Northern CEO Greg Bowes said his company’s objectives are “to provide Li-ion battery manufacturers with a stable, secure source of high quality, advanced graphite materials produced in an environmentally acceptable manner, and to capture additional margin from value added, upgraded products.”

Also on Monday, Thunder Bay’s Zenyatta Ventures, which is working to advance its unusual Albany deposit northwest of Hearst, said it has signed an agreement with the National Research Council that will provide technical advice and financial assistance of up to $350,000 for its metallurgical testing.

Union wants ONTC to play role [in Ring of Fire] – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget – November 11, 2013)

November 12, 2013

http://www.nugget.ca/

The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission should play an integral role in providing access to the Ring of Fire, says the group representing its unionized workers.

“We are the transportation corporation for Northern Ontario. I don’t see why the government wouldn’t want the ONTC to be involved,” said Brian Kelly, spokesman for the ONTC’s General Chairperson’s Association.

His comments come on the heels of an announcement by the province Friday of plans to create a development corporation for the chromite deposit that will bring together private and public parties to address infrastructure needs.

The province also called on the federal government Friday to help cover the costs of the infrastructure needed to access the remote area in the James Bay Lowlands.

“Ontario is prepared to make a substantial contribution to the infrastructure needed to access the resources,” Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said in a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

50 years ago: Discovery of Kidd Mine – by Len Gillis (Sudbury Star – November 10, 2013)

November 12, 2013

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

It was the most important thing to happen in Timmins since the discovery of gold. And it happened 50 years ago, on Nov. 7, 1963.

It was Thursday November 7th, 1963. Texas Gulf exploration geologist Ken Darke directed a diamond drill crew where to set up for drilling on the mineral anomaly known as Kidd 55. The very first drill hole was K-55-1. The drilling crew was set up in the northeast section of Kidd Township, roughly 24 kilometres from Timmins Town Hall.

Aside from a handful of drillers and geologists, no one would witness the incredible event that would happen the next few days in that drill shack, as core samples from hole no. K-55-1 were being pulled out of the ground and placed in core boxes.

As the story goes, one of the samples displayed a length of solid copper nearly a foot long. Ken Darke knew immediately he was standing on a major discovery. It would become the world-class Kidd Creek orebody; so huge and so rich it was a geological freak of nature. It was a good Friday in Timmins, although no one in Timmins knew it yet.

It would be another six months before Texas Gulf formally announced the discovery on April 16, 1964, causing whoops of joy, kicking off a major staking rush as well as a rush on buying shares in any company anywhere near the Kidd Township discovery.

Mongolia gears up for the fight of its mining life – by Frik Els (Mining.com – November 11, 2013)

November 12, 2013

http://www.mining.com/

On November 3 Mongolia’s new, friendlier foreign investment law came into force. Probably not a day too soon. The Asian nation of three million citizens, dependent on the mining sector to fuel growth, is desperate to turn around the slump in its economy and the steep fall-off in foreign investment.

Foreign direct investment in the country dropped 49% to September 2013 compared to last year which already marked a 17% year-on-year decline, the value of the currency, the tugrik, is down 20% this year, inflation has returned to double digits and the Mongolian central bank’s off-balance sheet spending is burning through foreign reserves as foreign debts balloon to 55% of GDP.

The path to prosperity for Mongolia, ranked 155th in the world according to GDP per capita, has always been a rocky one. The country has been bailed out by the IMF no fewer than five times and it suffers a domestic bank failure on average every 18 months.

While the changes to the 2012 Strategic Entities Foreign Investment Law (SEFIL) including greater certainty surrounding mining taxes and royalties and the scrapping of the distinction between private foreign and domestic investors are being universally welcomed as a positive step, a number of issues remain unresolved.

Mining firms growing frustrated with delays in Ring of Fire – by Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – November 11, 2013)

November 12, 2013

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP – Timmins-James Bay) says mining companies are getting impatient with the province when it comes to getting approvals to proceed with mineral developments in the Ring of Fire.

Ontario Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle (Liberal – Thunder Bay-Superior North), announced on Friday the creation of a development corporation formed of all three provincial parties, the federal government, and other stakeholders, to better identify the various things needed to develop the region.

Notably, Gravelle stated there’s a need “to lay the necessary groundwork” in the sectors of training, capacity and infrastructure building, and strengthening bonds with the chiefs of the Matawa Tribal Council, led by Bob Rae and Justice Frank Iacobucci.

Gravelle’s statement read that “recent developments, and divergent private sector interests, have impacted our ability to move forward on vital infrastructure required to develop the region located within the James Bay lowlands.

Province looks to end Ring of Fire stalemate – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – November 11, 2013)

November 12, 2013

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

The province is looking to end the stalemate over how to build a transportation corridor to the Ring of Fire chromite deposits by establishing a development corporation. Details are vague about the corporation announced Friday by Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle.

But the province is taking the lead — something critics argue it should have done years ago — to bring together mining, community, first nations and other partners, including the federal government, Gravelle said Saturday.

The corporation’s first job is to make a “clear decision” on the transportation corridor and use that as a vehicle to finance the project, said Gravelle. The corporation would manage the design, engineering, construction and maintenance of the infrastructure needed to bring mines in the Ring of Fire into operation.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has written Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking the federal government to make a substantial investment in $2 billion or more needed to build a transportation system and mine infrastructure.

Wabun shares formula for mining participation, wealth – by Bryan Phelan (Wawatay News – November 8, 2013)

November 12, 2013

http://www.wawataynews.ca/

People in First Nations around Timmins are happier, healthier and wealthier because of recent agreements with mining companies, says the head of Wabun Tribal Council.

Wabun is a council of six First Nations, all within about 200 kilometres of Timmins: Beaverhouse, Brunswick House, Chapleau Ojibwe, Flying Post, Matechewan, and Mattagami.

Collectively, these First Nations have signed three impact and benefit agreements (IBAs) with mining companies in the past six years, Shawn Batise, Wabun’s executive director, said at a Mining Ready Summit hosted in Timmins Oct. 16-17 by the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund (NADF). Three more IBAs involving Wabun First Nations are currently being negotiated. The agreements cover gold mining properties, plus one nickel property.

Wabun communities have also negotiated 30 mining exploration agreements over the same period, and Batise thinks that number could reach 50 within a year.

Provincial body pushes Ring of Fire – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – November 9, 2013)

November 9, 2013

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

The provincial government announced Friday the formation of a corporation to push forward the development of the Ring of Fire, which will be launched immediately.

It will bring together First Nations communities, mining companies and government representatives, and will “develop, construct, finance, operate and maintain infrastructure supporting access to strategic resources in the Ring of Fire,” according to a Ministry of Northern Development and Mines statement.

Michael Gravelle, minister of Northern Development and Mines, and MPP for Thunder Bay and Superior North, argued the development of sustainable infrastructure is essential to the success of the project.

“People need to get in to work and products need to get out to the global market,” he indicated in a media release. Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk welcomed Friday’s announcement.

“I am pleased Minister Gravelle took my lead and stepped up by getting everyone to the table to resolve the outstanding issues,” she said in a media release. “It is imperative that we work together on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create jobs and growth.”

Sudbury High school program dispels mining myths – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – November 8, 2013)

November 8, 2013

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Specialist High Skills Major in mining offered at three local schools

Most people have a skewed idea of what the mining industry involves, but one goal of the Specialist High Skills Major in mining is to dispel those myths, said Leo Leclair, the Rainbow District School Board’s lead for the program.

“It’s technology now,” Leclair said about the current reality for the mining sector. “It’s not pick and shovel, it’s not dark and dirty.”

Three Rainbow District high schools – Lockerby Composite School, Lively District Secondary School and Espanola High School – offer the Specialist High Skills Major program for mining.

The Ontario Ministry of Education started the Specialist High Skill Major program in 2006. At that time, 600 students across the province took courses in the program.

Today, more than 42,000 Grade 11 and 12 students in Ontario are enrolled in Specialist High Skill Majors that cover areas ranging from mining, to business, to mining, sports, manufacturing and hospitality.

Human development first: Rae – by Bryan Phelan (Wawatay News – November 8, 2013)

November 8, 2013

http://www.wawataynews.ca/

Ontario needs a plan for its Far North beyond just the Ring of Fire and the Matawa First Nations nearby, says Bob Rae.

Rae, the former NDP premier and Liberal MP, currently works as an advisor to the Matawa tribal council in negotiations with the provincial government regarding mining development in the Ring of Fire, about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. Rae talked about those negotiations Oct. 16 as the keynote dinner speaker at the Mining Ready Summit in Timmins, hosted by the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund. But he also shared a broader perspective on development in the North and “the underlying issues that we have to deal with.”

Partway into his speech, Rae looked behind at a backdrop bearing the name of the event: Mining Ready Summit. “We’ve got to ask ourselves the question, ‘Are communities really ready?’ ” he said. “Or when we look at ourselves honestly, don’t we have to recognize that we have significant challenges.”

Rae listed some of those challenges in the region’s remote First Nations: “significant problems with respect to health care;” “significant issues with making sure people are ready to get trained to take advantage of the opportunites;” isolation and the resulting high cost of living; poor quality of housing and other factors that have created “public health issues that you see on every reserve that we shouldn’t be seeing in our communities in Canada.”

Ontario creating Ring of Fire corporation – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 8, 2013)

November 8, 2013

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 government is establishing a development corporation to build infrastructure and settle all the squabbling in the Ring of Fire.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle announced Friday in Thunder Bay that the province is “taking action” to move forward on infrastructure development for the mining companies and First Nation communities in the James Bay lowlands.

But Ottawa needs to come to the table, he said. “My intention is, and always has been, to drive this project forward,” said Gravelle. “We are going to invest in this vital piece of infrastructure. But we really need the federal government to join us.”

Mineral exploration of the vast chromite and nickel deposits in the Ring has stalled largely because of a lack of government direction on how to develop road or rail access to this future mining camp, 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

Ring of Fire: Voisey’s Bay replay – by Bill Gallagher (Onotassiniik Magazine – Winter 2013/2014)

November 8, 2013

http://onotassiniik.com

Bill Gallagher served as a strategist to Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company on forging key Native impact and benefits agreement alliances. He is the author of Resource Rulers: Fortune and Folly on Canada’s Road to Resources, available on Amazon.com (see his blog: http://billgallagher.ca/resource-rulers-book/)

Ring of Fire followers should plan on becoming Voisey’s Bay followers, given the close parallels and missed outcomes after five years of project wheel-spinning.

I helped develop a recovery strategy for the Labrador nickel project and it would appear that likewise, that’s what’s needed today for the Ring of Fire chromite project. All the same factors are in play and, to cut to the chase, if you can get Native communities onside then all the other project blockages will soon start to dissipate.

For Inco, original owner of the Voisey’s Bay mine, the triggering event was the following headline: “Voisey’s Bay gets aboriginal support: sources” (Canadian Press Nov. 30 2001). Here’s what project followers need to know in order to make up for lost time on the Ring of Fire’s road to resources.

Better Than Ping Pong: Panda Diplomacy Builds [Resource] Relationships – by Cassie Ryan (Epoch Times Oct. 31 – Nov. 6, 2013)

November 8, 2013

http://www.theepochtimes.com/

Cute bears involved in uranium sales and free-trade agreements

A new study from Oxford University holds that the 50 something giant pandas on loan around the world are aimed at building ‘guanxi’ or deep, long-lasting relationships in exchange for “trades and foreign-investment deals.”

Australia, France, and most recently Canada received panda loans when uranium deals were struck with the Chinese regime. Panda transactions also took place with Asian nations like Malaysia and Thailand as part of free-trade agreements.

Published in the journal Environmental Practice, the study points to an emergent third phase in the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy of gifting and loaning pandas, whereby countries with important resources and technology can lease the black and white bears for a hefty fee. This new pattern appears to be related to the 2008 earthquake that struck Sichuan Province and damaged the Wolong Breeding Center, meaning that the 60 pandas there needed rehousing.

In phase one, during Mao Zedong’s era in the 1960s and 1970s, pandas were gifted to build strategic friendships. During Deng Xiaoping’s regime, starting in 1978, phase two involved loaning the bears in a capitalist lease model based on financial transactions.

Powering the Far North – by Bryan Phelan (Onotassiniik Magazine – Winter 2013/2014)

November 8, 2013

http://onotassiniik.com

Hydro transmission plans for remote First Nations and mines

An Ontario Power Authority (OPA) plan, to be finalized by the end of this year, shows there is a “strong economic case” for connecting 21 remote First Nations in northwestern Ontario to the province’s hydro grid.

The First Nations, including the five Matawa tribal council communities closest to the Ring of Fire mining development, currently rely on diesel generators for their electricity – generally described as an expensive, unreliable, dirty, and growth restricting source.

While co-ordinated efforts between remote communities and mining companies could reduce power costs for both groups, OPA draft plans show it makes economic sense to build hydro transmission lines to the First Nations even without connection to future mines in the Ring of Fire. OPA, which plans Ontario’s electricity system for the long term, figures hydro grid connection to the 21 remote communities would eliminate about half a billion dollars in diesel generation costs over 40 years, while providing a cleaner and more reliable electrical supply.

New [Laurentian] school of mines to take a broad approach – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – November 7, 2013)

November 8, 2013

http://www.northernlife.ca/

The Goodman School of Mines will explore all aspects of the mining industry

Nicole Tardif, the program co-ordinator for Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines, updated mining industry professionals in Sudbury on the school’s progress at the 2013 Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium. Jonathan Migneault Northern Life.
Laurentian University’s new Goodman School of Mines has taken a multi-disciplinary approach to teach every aspect of the mining cycle.

Nicole Tardif, the Goodman School of Mines’ program co-ordinator, said staff have worked to offer students a wide variety of programs ranging from geology, to engineering and workplace safety.

Tardif addressed a crowd of mining professionals Wednesday at the 2013 Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium in Sudbury with updates on the school’s progress since it was founded in 2012.

The school’s goal, Tardif said, has been to regroup Laurentian’s various mining-related courses to create relevant programs for mining students.