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Ontario Mining

Outlook 2012: We’re a mining hotspot [Sudbury] – by Heather Campbell (Sudbury Star – March 29, 2012)

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

According to SAMSSA source, Stan Sudol, the demand for resources in developing
nations, like China, will continue to place upward pressure on commodity prices,
and Canada is the top country in the world for mining project development. It is
estimated that over the next 25 years, we will need to dig out of the ground as
many minerals as has consumed since the beginning of time.
(Stan Sudol, Mining Analysist)

The booming mining sector has the suppliers and service companies scrambling to keep up with the demand and opportunities.

Dick Destefano, Executive Director, Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA), said the group has switched gears from connecting his members with work to helping them meet the overwhelming demand.

The organization represents the interests of 115 members providing the largest concentration of expertise in mining supply/products and services from within the most recognized centre of excellence worldwide. For the past nine years SAMSSA has been monitoring the mining sector and Destefano predicts that we are not even close to finishing the super cycle.

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Outlook 2012: Merger [Xstrata/Glencore] creates world’s largest resource company – by Jenn Lamothe (Sudbury Star – March 30, 2012)

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

“But, let’s remember, Sudbury still has enormous geological potential, is
polymetallic — copper, platinum group metals, cobalt and others — in addition
to nickel, has established mining infrastructure, skilled workforce and is
one of the top, politically risk-free and mine-friendly jurisdictions in a
resource-starved world.” (Stan Sudol – Mining Analyst/Columnist/Blogger)

Though the talks of a merger between two enormous mining giants has been going on for many years in secret, it wasn’t until Feb. 7 that mining company Xstrata and commodities dealer Glencore agreed to a $90B US merger that will create the world’s fourth largest natural resources company.

The combined company will control a chain of businesses from mining to refining, storage and shipping of basic commodities like coal, copper and corn.

Under the terms of the deal, Xstrata shareholders would receive 2.8 Glencore shares for each of their shares. That represents a premium of 15.2% based on recent closing prices. Glencore already had a 34% stake in Xstrata.

The merger is projected to yield cost savings of $500 million in the first full year, primarily in marketing. It will also give the combined company greater leverage to borrow money for its operations — a key advantage in the high-volume, low-margin commodities business.

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Ontario junior gets C$3.5m settlement to cede controversial claims – by Matthew Hill (MiningWeekly.com – March 30, 2012)

www.miningweekly.com
 
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Against a backdrop of simmering tensions between aboriginal communities and exploration companies in Ontario, the government announced on Thursday it reached a C$3.5-million settlement with God’s Lake Resources, whereby the company agreed to cede its claims over a contentious area.
 
The move evokes memories of the 2008 stand-off between the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation north of Red Lake, government and a junior called Platinex, which saw the company receiving a similar $5-million payment.
 
“The government, it seems, has capitulated and has expropriated these claims and compensated God’s Lake for that,” Fasken Martineau DuMoulin lawyer Neal Smitheman said in an interview.
 
God’s Lake had bumped heads with the KI over its right to explore its exploration claim, located some 130 km north of the community.

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God’s Lake vs KI conflict ends in $3.5 million payout – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – March 29, 2012)

 This article came from Wawatay News: http://www.wawataynews.ca/

The Ontario government has paid $3.5 million to buy out God’s Lake Resource’s controversial claims in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) territory.
 
The government announced its deal with the junior gold mining company on Mar. 29. Under terms of the settlement God’s Lake agreed to surrender its mining leases and claims.

The land in question was added to the more than 23,000 square kilometers that Ontario previously removed from development in the region. KI Chief Donny Morris said the announcement was good news for his First Nation.
 
“Now my question to the government is when do we sit down and discuss the real, tangible things,” Morris said. “Everybody thinks we’re anti-development, but we’re not. But we are signatory to the Treaty, and we want to have say over development.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Reaches Agreement With God’s Lake Resources

 McGuinty Government Balances Industry and Aboriginal Interests

NEWS

March 29, 2012

Ontario has reached an agreement with Toronto-based junior mineral exploration company God’s Lake Resources (GLR) to surrender its mining lease and claims near the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation.

In keeping with the agreement, GLR has surrendered its mining lease and claims, north of Red Lake in Northwestern Ontario. The lands are now subject to the Province’s recent withdrawal from staking and mineral exploration in the area.

It was the ministry’s goal to see KI and GLR work together to build a positive relationship. This settlement responds to KI’s concerns, while allowing GLR to move forward with mineral exploration in other parts of the province in the future.

QUOTES

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Junior miners seek their own voice – Jody Porter (CBC News – March 29, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2012/03/29/tby-miners-united.html
 
Exploration companies form new group to share concerns about First Nations

A lawyer who represents junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations says some exploration companies feel they’re not being heard by their industry association.
 
Neal Smitheman said the Prospectors and Developers Association is trying, and sometimes failing, to represent both industry and First Nations.
 
Smitheman said that ignores the fact the two are often in conflict. Neal Smitheman, lawyer representing junior mining companies in disputes with First Nations.

“Some people think that PDAC, by trying to accommodate both First Nations and the industry, finds itself in an unresolvable conflict from time to time,” he said.

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Ring of Fire missing [Ontario budget] – by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – March 27, 2012)

www.tbnewswatch.com

Some local officials were surprised the Ring of Fire was largely absent from Tuesday’s provincial budget.

In his speech, which went beyond the 28 minute mark, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan didn’t mention the potential multi-billion dollar money maker once. Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Harold Wilson said he thought this was going to be the budget where the province outlined its plan, with dollar figures, on how to get the minerals shipped and power running in the Far North.

“That I thought would have been front and centre,” Wilson said. “We didn’t see any of that and that would have been great.” Mayor Keith Hobbs was disappointed about the province’s Ring of Fire plan, a document he has yet to see.

“In infrastructure we’re waiting for a little more than what I see so far in the budget. The government says they have a plan in place for the Ring of Fire. We didn’t see any plan … I would really like to see specifics of that plan.

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Provincial Budget reveals a multi-faceted plan to improve Ontario’s finances

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Everyone will be called upon in different and sometimes unequal ways to make a contribution to improve the province’s finances in the future, according to the Budget delivered by Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan yesterday.  “Strong Action for Ontario” outlined a combination of spending cuts, administrative streamlining and new revenues to reduce the province’s projected 2011-2012 deficit of $15.3 billion and produce a balanced budget by 2017-2018.

“Right now, the single most important step the Ontario government can take to grow the economy is to balance the budget,” said Mr. Duncan.  “We must change the political culture and the way all of us in this legislature and across the province approach and confront the challenges we all face.  To ensure strong job growth into the future, Ontario must eliminate the deficit to strengthen the foundation of the economy.”

Mining is mentioned several times in the Budget.  Mining companies pay all of the same taxes as corporations in other sectors of the economy.  In addition, mining companies are the only enterprises, which pay the Ontario Mining Tax.  The Budget has fully endorsed the recommendation of the Drummond Report to review this industry specific tax.

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Junior mining firms in ‘revolt’ over native deals – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – March 28, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

On the sidelines of the mining industry’s massive annual conference in Toronto in early March, a group of disgruntled junior exploration companies held a private meeting.

Calling themselves Miners United, the ad-hoc group of about 60 small-firm executives shared concerns about the concessions and cash they say native bands expect from companies looking for minerals on Crown lands that are considered traditional aboriginal territory, where bands retain hunting and fishing rights. Scores of disputes between native groups and mining companies now end up in court.

A landmark 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decision said the Crown has a “duty to consult” native bands about development on Crown land that is considered part of a band’s traditional territory. Courts have allowed governments to delegate part of this duty to resource companies, many of whom then negotiate agreements with native groups. But there is a growing backlash among junior miners about these agreements.

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Ontario PCs slam Bisson for not defeating the Far North Act – By Ontario Progressive Conservative new release (Timmins Times – March 27, 2012)

 http://www.timminstimes.com/

PC Norm Miller said Bisson’s vote could have made the difference

While Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson is angry at the decision to sell off Ontario Northland, the PC Party is just as angry with Bisson for not voting to shut down the controversial Far North Act.

The move to repeal the Far North Act was put forward last week by Progressive Conservative MPP Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka), who argued the act is damaging to the North and goes against what most Northerners want.

“This is just another example of bad public policy rammed through by Mr. McGuinty without consultation or accountability to First Nations, municipalities and businesses whose lives and livelihoods have been changed – for the worse.”

Miller’s bill went to the legislature on March 22nd but the Liberals were joined by New Democrats in defeating the second reading of the bill with a vote of 50 to 36.

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Getting ready for the [Northwestern Ontario mining] boom – by Katherine Bruce (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – March 26, 2012)

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

Note: This is the third of a multi-part series looking at the mining sector of Northwestern Ontario and the Ring of Fire.
Katherine Bruce likes to blow things up.

A professor of engineering technology at Cambrian College, she described her passion for her previous work in the mining sector, especially in the underground pits, to a large group of rapt attendees at the Mining Your Future conference on Feb. 25.

Bruce is one of the post-secondary institution partners working to develop strategies and solutions for the skill and labour shortage facing the mining industry. Confederation College president Jim Madder is also working to prepare students with diverse backgrounds and interests, for both the direct and indirect jobs available in the mining sector.

“Northwestern Ontario has to change its mindset and realize that there are jobs available,” Madder said.

Confederation is committed to preparing students for those jobs and currently offers flexible upgrading programs and outreach, as well as directly applied programs such as the diamond drillers course and an eight-month mining techniques program.

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RING OF FIRE: Federal Natural Resources minister wants approvals streamlined – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – March 24, 2012)

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

Changes to speed up the approvals process for major natural resource projects will be introduced in the coming months, the minister of Natural Resources says.

 “I can’t speak to the specific date, but the whole point (is) we want the regulatory process to move more quickly, and so we really have to get on with it ourselves. So we’re talking months, not years,” Joe Oliver said Friday.

 However, he was vague about what exactly those changes will be.  “I can’t talk about the detail as specifics, but we’re going to make sure that there’s an adequate and respectful constitutionally driven consultation process. In other words, we want to have an open dialogue with aboriginal communities.

 “We’re not going to be doing anything that is going to undermine the ability of the regulator to do a thorough environmental review. We don’t want projects to go ahead that aren’t safe for Canadians and safe for the environment.”

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Liberals, Bartolucci have betrayed the North – by John R. Hunt (Sudbury Star – March 24, 2012)

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

John R. Hunt is a columnist for the North Bay Nugget whose appears on occasion in The Sudbury Star.

Promises are made to be broken and northeastern Ontario has been betrayed.

Ontario’s debt-ridden and too often incompetent government intends to throw the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission into the political dumpster and sell its assets.

No one knows future of more than 950 jobs. The implications for North Bay and every town and village as far north as Moosonee are serious. But the real meaning may be tragic for all Ontario.

It is a victory for southern suburban thinking. There is no vision, no hope and no ambition to create a truly great Ontario.

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[NDP Sarah Campbell] MPP calls for talks on changing Far North Act – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – March 24, 2012)

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

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell is calling for more consultation on changes to the Far North Act, with a goal of replacing it with new legislation that is more acceptable to Northern Ontario residents.

“The Liberal government didn’t listen to northerners and First Nations in Northern Ontario when they introduced the Far North Act,” Campbell said, in introducing a motion, calling for consultations, to the provincial legislature this week.

“Getting this right will help create economic opportunities and job creation in Northern Ontario and make sure the benefits are shared with the people who live here,” she said.

Campbell’s motion also proposes additional funding for First Nations’ land use planning, a joint co-ordinating body between First Nations and government, a resource revenue-sharing model, and the end to the provision that allows the government to overrule land use plans completed by First Nations.

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NEWS RELEASE: Vic Fedeli, Ontario MPP, Nipissing – FAR NORTH REPEAL ACT DEFEATED

March 22, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK – Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli is extremely disappointed at defeat of Bill 44, the Far North Repeal Act, in the Ontario Legislature today.

The Private Members’ Bill put forward by PC Northern Development and Mines Critic Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka) would have removed the severe restrictions previously placed on development and exploration by the McGuinty government. However, Liberal and NDP members joined to defeat the Bill by a vote of 50-36 on Second Reading.

“I’m most upset that the NDP members across the North, many of whom have previously spoken out against the Far North Act in the past, decided to toe the party line instead of standing up for their constituents and voted against this,” Fedeli said.

“You really have to wonder how much influence these Northern members actually have in driving their party’s agenda.”

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