Ontario facing First Nations-Ring of Fire showdown – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 9, 2012)

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 could be playing with fire against First Nations leading to a potential confrontation over one of the province’s richest mineral finds in a decade.
 
The eve of Cliffs Natural Resources announcement of the location of a likely ferrochrome smelter in Ontario, Aboriginal leaders said Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci was attempting to make a last-minute deal with First Nations to head off growing opposition to the multi-billion-dollar chromite mine and refinery project.
 
In a May 8 release, Aroland First Nation Chief Sonny Gagnon said Bartolucci arranged a “secret meeting” to get his community and Marten Falls First Nation onside the Far North development which is advancing toward the feasibility stage of evaluation.
 
Gagnon said he won’t cut any side deal with the government without the other Matawa tribal council chiefs on board.

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NEWS RELEASE: Aroland First Nation claims the Province is failing in duty to consult on Cliffs Chromite Project

Written by Press Release on 08 May 2012
 
http://www.karinahunter.com/

First Nation seeks Freedom of Information for Confidential Agreements between Mining Firm and Province

AROLAND FIRST NATION, ON –  Aroland First Nation has filed a request for disclosure to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) on information relating to Cliffs Chromite mining project in the area, known as the Ring of Fire under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).
 
Aroland is one of the First Nations that will be directly impacted from the Cliffs initiative which includes the construction of an open pit mine, ore processing facility, ferrochrome production facility and an integrated transport system that will include a 340 kilometer North-South all-season road corridor from the mine site to just west of the community of Aroland. A number of major environmental impacts have already been identified and has raised concerns with First Nations closeby.

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NEWS RELEASE: Thousands of Jobs Coming To Northern Ontario – McGuinty Government Supports Responsible Ring Of Fire Mining Development

May 9, 2012 9:00 AM

Cliffs Natural Resources has announced a $3.3-billion investment to build a chromite mine, transportation corridor and processing facility in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire that would lead to a new generation of prosperity in the north, with thousands of jobs and new infrastructure.

 The Ring of Fire represents one of the most significant mineral regions in the province, and includes the largest deposit of chromite ever discovered in North America. The chromite found in this area, 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, is a key ingredient used to create stainless steel.

Cliffs Natural Resources has announced it intends to build a $1.8-billion chromite processing facility in Capreol, near Sudbury. This would employ 450 people during construction, and as many as 450 people when the facility is in operation. Mine and mill development, as well as the construction and operation of transportation infrastructure, could create an additional 750 jobs, plus hundreds of indirect employment opportunities for Northern Ontarians and First Nations’ communities.

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NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs’ Canadian Based Chromite Project Advances to Feasibility Study Phase

May 9, 2012 8:46 AM

CLEVELAND, May 9, 2012 /CNW/ – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) announced today that the Company’s Board of Directors approved advancing its proposed chromite project, located in the Ring of Fire area of Northern Ontario, Canada, from pre-feasibility to the feasibility study phase. The Company’s feasibility study will build further on the technical and economic evaluations and a clearly defined project description will enable environmental assessment to move forward.

Cliffs stated that its discussions with the Government of Ontario have resulted in an agreement in principle for key elements of its chromite project, including development of provincial infrastructure. The Company is satisfied and confident in naming Ontario as the future location for its intended ferrochrome processing facility. Both parties will continue to work toward a definitive agreement.

Cliffs also said that, after a lengthy and careful evaluation process, which included several alternative locations, it selected Sudbury, Ontario as its future ferrochrome processing facility site. This facility will be designed to process the chromite ore mined and concentrated in the region. Sudbury was selected due to various economic and technical factors that would best support the viability and success of the overall project, including transportation logistics, labor, long mining tradition, community support and access to electrical power.

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Cliffs picks Sudbury [for ferrochrome smelter] – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – May 9, 2012)

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

Greater Sudbury has been formally selected as the site of Cliffs Natural Resources’ prized $1.8-billion ferrochrome smelter, The Sudbury Star has learned.

Announcements that Cliffs has upgraded its massive Ring of Fire project to the feasibility study stage, reached a number of key agreements with the Ontario government and chose Sudbury as the smelter site will be made simultaneously in Sudbury, Thunder Bay and at the company’s head office in Cleveland this morning.

Sources say agreements with the province about infrastructure in northwestern Ontario were key to advancing the $2.75-billion mining, transportation and smelting project to this stage.

Cliffs’ 2012 capital plan called for $150 million to develop the Black Thor mine site and $800 million to construct a near-mine concentrating plant. Cliffs’ Black Thor chromite deposits are 350 kilometres north of the town of Nakina.

The company estimates an integrated transportation system, including an all-weather road from Nakina to the minesite, would require a $600-million investment, which was not included in Cliffs’ initial project costs.

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Let claims in Wolf Lake lapse, group asks – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – May 9, 2012)

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

An environmental group wants to know why the government is giving contradictory information about protecting the Wolf Lake Forest Reserve.

In a release issued last week by Viki Mather, a member of the Wolf Lake Coalition who lives in the area, she questions why mining claims where no exploration work has ever been done continue to be renewed. In order for a mining claim to be renewed, a certain amount of exploration work has to take place each year.

“(Natural Resources) Minister (Michael) Gravelle assured the public that … once the current claims lapsed, the area would become part of the Chiniguchi Waterway Park,” Mather wrote in the release.

The Chiniguchi Waterway Park is north of Lake Wahnapitae. Environmental groups have been maintaining pressure to protect the Wolf Lake area because it is home to the world’s largest remaining stand of old-growth red pine forest. In March, the province cancelled a plan to give 340 hectares of the area a general-use designation.

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Locate smelter in Greenstone … or else, Aroland chief says – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – May 8, 2012)

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

First Nation poised to fight Ring of Fire development

The Chief of Aroland First Nation in northwestern Ontario is adamant that the only way he’ll support the Ring of Fire development is if Cliffs Natural Resources agrees to build the ferrochrome smelter in Greenstone, Ont., near his community.

“That’s our bottom line,” said Sonny Gagnon, chief of the 325 residents of Aroland, on May 7. “That smelter is pretty much the key to the concept we have of how this thing should be developed.”

Gagnon said the project is a huge opportunity for First Nations in the area, one that could have a lasting impact for the next 100 years. There is no way he and his community could support the Ring of Fire if smelter jobs are located in Sudbury, which, for weeks, has been rumoured as the site for the smelter.

For example, Gagnon said some local communities have to rely on diesel power for electricity. If the smelter is built in the area, it would have to be attached to the provincial power grid, potentially offering those communities access to the same power grid most Ontarians take for granted.

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Greenstone miffed at Cliffs’ smelter snub – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 8, 2012)

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.

Greenstone Mayor Ron Beaulieu wants answers from Cliffs Natural Resources on why his municipality was overlooked in the project planning for its Ring of Fire chromite project.
 
Beaulieu said Cliffs left many unanswered questions on the table following a presentation by CEO Joseph Carrabarra at an Aboriginal Business Council luncheon May 1 in Thunder Bay. Carrabba came and went from the city without taking questions from the audience or media.
 
“We left disappointed by the sheer lack of information,” wrote Beaulieu in a May 4 letter to Carrabarra, especially on how power will generated and delivered to the mine site in the James Bay lowlands.
 
“We want to know the hard facts,” Beaulieu said in an interview with Northern Ontario Business. “We’re not getting any answers. It’s so vague.”

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Proposed mining act changes flawed, critics say – by CBC Thunder Bay (May 7, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

The deadline to comment on proposed changes to the province’s mining act has passed. But some people say the changes will not address outstanding issues, including obtaining permits and First Nations consultation.
 
Isadore Day, the Lake Huron Regional Grand Chief, said there needs to be a balance that includes dialogue with First Nations people while improving the province’s economy.

“I think the government has to take a step back and ask itself the question, ‘does it make sense now to use this as an example to ensure that First Nations are participating in the resource based economy’ to answer the outstanding issue of resource revenue sharing,” he said. Day said improvements also need to be made regarding early consultation between mining companies and First Nations.
 
The proposed mining regulations also have potential to negatively impact business for junior mining companies, said Dave Hunt, a geologist who heads up the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association.

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Be transparent: [Ring of Fire] First Nation – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 8, 2012)

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

Aroland First Nation in northwestern Ontario wants the government of Ontario to open up about “confidential meetings” its says it has been holding with Cliffs Natural Resources about development of the Ring of Fire chromite deposits.

The 325-member First Nation, about 20 kilometres west of Nakina in Greenstone, has filed a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to disclose information about the meetings.

At the same time, the mayor of Greenstone, Renald Beaulieu, is calling upon Cliffs’ chairman, president and chief executive officer, Joseph Carrabba, to answer several questions left unresolved last week after Carrabba spoke to the Aboriginal Business Council in Thunder Bay.

Beaulieu said he attended that meeting expecting to learn “something about the company’s approach to matters that remain unaddressed” — specifically the location of a smelter that Cliffs will build to process chromite ore from the Ring of Fire.

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Success is measured by the quality of succession [Sudbury’s Norcat]- by Michael Atkins (Northern Ontario Business – May 2012)

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.

Occasionally, we do the right thing in Northern Ontario. We focus on the right stuff, stay with it, attract broad-based support, stop competing with one another long enough to get something done and we move the hash marks forward.
 
Usually this success comes from one person or a group of like-minded people who form a working trust and are determined, fearless, single-minded, often rude, sometimes arrogant and always in a hurry.
 
You see this in business, politics, sports and economic development. What you don’t see often is succession from one hard-driving generation to another. One of the reasons is that, just like entrepreneurs who start their own businesses, larger than life groups or individuals in the civil society suck up the oxygen in the room and there isn’t much room for successors to grow and spread their wings. Most great politicians who change a city, a province or the country don’t think they will ever lose an election. Most entrepreneurs don’t think they will ever die. Great leaders are often too busy, too focused, and too passionate about today to give much thought to tomorrow when they have moved on. It is just unimaginable to them.

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Mining industry an ‘economic pillar’ in Ontario – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – May 5, 2012)

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

The province’s mining industry was praised as one of Ontario’s “economic pillars” by the acting assistant deputy minister for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines during the annual Sudbury Mining Week luncheon May 4.

“I think the industry will play a significant role as the government works to address the province’s fiscal and economic challenges,” Cindy Blanchard-Smith said.

The mining industry employs about 27,000 people in the province directly, and another 50,000 indirectly, Blanchard-Smith said. In Sudbury, Canada’s “de facto centre of mining excellence,” the value of mineral production was $4.4 billion in 2011.

Mining has taken place here for well over a century, and “many experts feel we’ll still be mining in Sudbury for another century,” she said. Blanchard-Smith also praised the mining supply and services sector, which employs more than 25,000 people in northern Ontario alone.

There are more than 500 of these types of businesses in the north, producing supplies and services worth more than $5.6 billion annually. “Sudbury has an established reputation for innovation and excellence in all areas of mining exploration, mine development and rehabilitation,” Blanchard-Smith said.

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New-World Networking Collaboration will Advance Mining Industry:Anglo Gold – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – May 2012)

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.

By 8:30 a.m. on the day of his presentation to members of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA), Michael MacFarlane had already been up for four hours and worked for three. As the senior vice-president of technology and innovation for AngloGold Ashanti, MacFarlane lives in Sudbury and works in South Africa, and believes the mining industry has arrived at the era of the global virtual employee.

“That’s how the work gets done,” he said. “That’s the future.”   To keep up with the rising demand for minerals, companies need to focus on global networking to find the expertise and innovation needed to sustain the industry, MacFarlane said. For the last 100 years, the industry has operated using the same methods, a combination of human labour matched with heavy machinery and automation, he noted. But a higher mining intensity is needed in order to keep up with future needs, and that requires mining companies to change the way they do things.

 “We cannot continue to mine the deposits we have at the rate we’re mining them,” MacFarlane said. “You have to take the intensity and triple it if we have any hope of meeting the signal of what the market’s looking for. The current mining methods we have, I just don’t believe they’re going to work in the underground context and deliver the response that the market’s asking for.”

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Ontario Government and Cliffs have been holding confidential meetings without First Nations – Aroland Chief – by NNL-News (NetNewsLedger.com – May 4, 2012)

www.NetNewsLedger.com

AROLAND FIRST NATION – Aroland First Nation has filed a request for disclosure to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) on information relating to Cliffs Chromite mining project in the area known as the Ring of Fire under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

Aroland is one of the First Nations that will be directly impacted from the Cliffs initiative which includes the construction of an open pit mine, ore processing facility, ferrochrome production facility and an integrated transport system that will include a 340 kilometer North-South all-season road corridor from the mine site to just west of the community of Aroland. A number of major environmental impacts have already been identified and has raised concerns with First Nations closeby.

The First Nation states, in a media release, “The decision to file a freedom of information request was made when it came to light that the Ontario Government and Cliffs have been holding confidential meetings, concealing information and are preparing to make an announcement”.

“We need to find out what has been going on behind closed doors. Our community is going to be impacted by the Cliffs project along with many others, but we were not part of these meetings, nor were local municipalities.

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[Ring of Fire] Open Letter to Cliffs Natural Resouces CEO from Mayor of Greenstone – by Renald Beaulieu (May 4, 2012)

May 4, 2012

OPEN LETTER

Mr. Joseph Carrabba Chairman, President and CEO Cliffs Natural Resources

Dear Mr. Carrabba

I am writing to you today to ask some questions that are unresolved following your presentation to the Aboriginal Business Council’s luncheon event in Thunder Bay, Ontario earlier this week.

As the Mayor of Greenstone, I and several members of my Council attended the event with the expectation that we would  earn something about the company’s approach to matters that remain unaddressed. We left disappointed by the sheer lack of information.

Accordingly, since the matters are of such great urgency I am writing today to request your answers to the following questions.

1. You mentioned that Cliffs doesn’t come in and roll over local interests. With that in mind, could you please tell me if you are aware that area First Nations have  unanimously endorsed the principle that the ore body should be refined in the same territory from which it is extracted?

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