Ontario Mining – Page 336 – Republic of Mining

Noront Resources May Go Underground in the Ring of Fire – by Ian Ross

January 8, 2011January 7, 2011

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. This article was published in the January, 2011 issue.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

“Mining companies from Canada think nothing of establishing social programs for poor communities in Brazil or South Africa. They hesitate in Canada. As a Canadian, I’ve got a problem with that. I think it’s an obligation for us as Canadians to help the First Nations get out of this welfare state and start (helping them) develop and become self-sufficient in developing community jobs.” – Noront CEO Wes Hanson

Noront Resources has subterreanean plan for Ring of Fire

A leading junior nickel and chromite miner in the Ring of Fire wants to establish a light environmental footprint in the James Bay region.

Wes Hanson, Noront Resources’ president and chief executive officer, laid out his company’s impressive conceptual plans before a receptive audience of businesspeople and mining suppliers in Sudbury in late November.

While their McFauld’s Lake rivals, Cliffs Natural Resources and KWG-Canada Chrome, are mapping out ambitious plans for an open pit chromite mine and railroad in the Far North, Noront Resources’ development concept is positively subterreanean.

The Toronto miner has preliminary plans for a massive underground complex beneath the swamps of the James Bay Lowlands. With no operating mines to produce a steady flow of cash, Noront is focused on minimizing costs and is determined not to damage one of the world’s largest wetlands.

Noront is eyeballing a mine, mill and tailings storage facility that are completely underground. There will be no headframe on surface. “The goal is to build a mine you can walk over and not even know it’s there,” said Hanson.

Rare Earths Provide Ontario With a Rare Economic Opportunity

January 7, 2011

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.

The burgeoning global markets and growing high-tech applications for rare earth elements provides Ontario with an opportunity to expand its mining – and manufacturing — sectors. The 17 rare earth elements with strange sounding names are essential to the production of items such as permanent magnets, rechargeable batteries, electric and hydrogen vehicles, lasers and the miniaturization of electronic devices among others.

As markets and applications expand, supply is strained. Worldwide demand for these elements is expected to outstrip supply by 40,000 tonnes annually unless new sources are developed. The Ontario Mineral Deposit Inventory documents more than 200 known rare element and rare earth element mineral occurrences across the province.

The Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry says rare element and rare earth element minerals are among the non-traditional metals being targeted for exploration in Ontario. Areas with rare earth development potential in the province would include Bancroft, Elliot Lake, Hearst, Kenora, Marathon and Moosonee.

Northern Ontario Mine Construction Underway for Detour Gold – by Adelle Larmour

January 7, 2011

The start of Detour Gold’s mine project will produce a wealth of economic spinoffs across the North

Cochrane is one of the northeastern Ontario communities reaping spinoff benefits as the project site preparations begin for one of Canada’s largest undeveloped gold reserves.

Detour Gold Corporation, a Toronto-based junior, received provincial approval for its closure plan and environmental assessment in early November. It has prompted the procurement process for mining equipment and services that will help build and operate the open-pit mine for a targeted production date of early 2013.

Located at Detour Lake, about 180 kilometres northeast of Cochrane, the project is situated on the site of Placer Dome’s former Detour Lake Mine, an historic producer of 1.8 million ounces of gold. Detour Gold has aggressively performed more than 450,000 metres of drilling and has completed a feasibility study since acquiring the property three years ago.

Xstrata Helps Raise Operatic Voices in Mining Communities

January 7, 2011

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.

Ontario Mining Association member Xstrata Nickel is a “Major Sponsor” of the Canadian Opera Company helping to bring productions to communities far from singing distance of traditional major performing centres. The Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour takes student-friendly operatic performances to classrooms in Ontario – and beyond.

Throughout Xstrata’s sponsorship of the COC, it has assisted in bringing operatic education, art and culture to cities such as Sudbury and Timmins in Northern Ontario and other communities in which it has mining operations. This year, the Xstrata Ensemble Studio School Tour ventured further afield and brought its production of Cinderella to communities near Xstrata Nickel’s Raglan Mine in Nunavik, Quebec.

The Raglan Mine is located in the Arctic region of Quebec north of the 60th parallel of latitude. The mine site is situated more than 1,800 kilometres north of the home of the COC at University Avenue and Queen Street West in Toronto. Undaunted by geography and climate, five singers, one music director, one stage manager, two COC staff and a photographer headed to Nunavik.

OMA Contributes to Skills Canada Ontario Career Blog

January 6, 2011

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.

The Ontario Mining Association is participating in Skills Canada Ontario’s blog www.skillswork.blogspot.com/ to promote awareness in skilled trades and technology career paths in the mineral industry. The OMA is contributing to this communications forum to help students better understand the employment prospects offered by the mining industry.

“The OMA has been an active partner with Skills Canada Ontario for more than five years. In 2010, the OMA celebrated its 90th anniversary and it is one of the longest serving trade organizations in the country,” said the OMA. “We represent companies engaged in responsible exploration, extraction and processing of Ontario’s mineral resources.”

“Like other sectors, mining foresees a future demand for technologically smart and skilled people. The flip side of this need for industry is boundless opportunity for young people embarking on training for future employment. In some ways being a partner with an educational organization like Skills Canada Ontario is like being a member of a health club – the more you use it, the more you get out of it.”

Vale Inco saved Sudbury from becoming Valley of Death: Clement – by Carol Mulligan (July 18, 2009)

June 10, 2015January 6, 2011

Carol Mulligan is a reporter for the Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

“There was going to be no buyer, there were going to be no jobs, there weren’t going to be any capital investments, there was going to be no employer. That was the Valley of Death that Sudbury faced.” Tony Clement (July 18, 2009)

Sudbury is better off now than it was two and a half years ago when Vale Inco Ltd. bought the former Inco Ltd., says Canada’s Industry minister.

If the Brazilian-owned Companhia Vale do Rio Doce hadn’t bought it, Inco would “not exist, it would have been closed down, it would have been liquidated if there wasn’t a buyer,” said Tony Clement in a telephone interview late Friday afternoon.

“There was going to be no buyer, there were going to be no jobs, there weren’t going to be any capital investments, there was going to be no employer,” said Clement. “That was the Valley of Death that Sudbury faced.”

Clement was responding to charges by United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard that the federal government should have forced Vale Inco to live up to commitments made when it purchased Inco.

Clement’s Takeover Hangover [Vale, Inco, Sudbury]-by Andy Hoffman and Jacquie McNish (July 22, 2009)

June 10, 2015January 6, 2011

The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media. Originally published July 22, 2009

“There was going to be no buyer, [for Inco] there were going to be no jobs, [Sudbury] there weren’t going to be any capital investments, there was going to be no employer.” — Industry Minister Tony Clement

“He’s either sadly misinformed or he’s ignoring the facts because back in 2006 we were a very successful company. There were lots of companies trying to buy us, not just [Vale].”— Scott Hand, Inco’s former CEO

The wave of foreign takeovers that cut a swath through Canada’s resource sector in 2006 and 2007 has become a critical problem for Industry Minister Tony Clement as the new owners break their acquisition promises not to slash jobs and production.

Mr. Clement is under fire for ill-informed comments regarding the sale of nickel producer Inco to a Brazilian mining giant, and for taking an inconsistent approach to enforcing the commitments the foreign companies made in order to win Ottawa’s consent for the controversial deals.

Last week, the government took the extraordinary step of going to court to demand United States Steel Corp. meet job and production pledges that were part of its acquisition of Stelco Inc. in 2007. The move, a first in Canada, has shocked industry and legal observers who say that Industry Canada has been much more flexible with other foreign buyers.

But Mr. Clement then portrayed Inco’s acquirer, Brazil’s Vale SA, as a local saviour – even though Vale, too, is cutting jobs earlier than promised, closing operations and grappling with a strike. Mr. Clement said Sudbury, the site of Inco’s flagship nickel operations, would have become a “Valley of Death” if the Brazilians hadn’t bought the company for $19-billion.

Exclusionary Planning in Ontario [Aboriginal Conflict and Ring of Fire Mineral Development] – Canada’s North: What’s the Plan?

February 17, 2011January 5, 2011

This posting is an excerpt from “Canada’s North: What’s the Plan?” , a Conference Board of Canada publication written by three nationally renowned Canadian scholars: Thomas Berger , Steven A. Kennett and Hayden King.

“Canada’s North: What’s the Plan?” Highlights:

Most of Canada’s natural resources—forests, metals and minerals, hydroelectric sites, oil and natural gas, and untapped resources that can be further developed—are in the North, and a warming climate is making them more accessible. Businesses, Aboriginal communities, and federal, provincial, and territorial governments will all want their share of the benefits of Northern economic development.

Canada’s North: What’s the Plan? draws on the different viewpoints of three nationally renowned scholars to explore the effectiveness of land use planning in Canada’s North from three very distinct perspectives. Their essays are required reading for those seeking to understand this important issue and draw their own conclusions.

Ontario represents the worst type of planning with Indigenous peoples—a seemingly complete disregard for the perspectives and opinions of the people who will be most directly affected by the land use plans. – The Conference Board of Canada Publication – “Canada’s North: What’s the Plan?” (November, 2010)

Exclusionary Planning in Ontario

While Nunavut and Yukon have pursued land use plans through the relatively recent NLCA and UFA, treaties in Northern Ontario are over 100 years old and make no mention of planning commissions. There are also no stipulations for the co-management of surrendered lands in the North, and there is no consensus on roles and responsibilities. In fact, there is little consensus about who actually has authority in Ontario’s North. The Cree and Ojibwe feel that they agreed to share their territories in treaties 3, 5, and 9. Ontario feels that there was explicit surrender and, thus, the Crown has jurisdiction.

This is the unsteady footing from which planning proceeds in the province. Not evolving from the claims-based co-management common in the territories, Ontario’s experience might be described more as crisis-based, as it is a response to numerous high-profile confrontations. However, despite the differences between Nunavut’s and Ontario’s land use planning regimes, there are similarities—primarily, the exclusion of Indigenous peoples from the planning process. In Ontario’s case, the problem does not lie in the execution of plans, but in the drafting.

Ontario has an inauspicious history with First Nations communities in the province. That history has even occasionally resulted in violent conflict with the Haudenosaunee and Algonquin peoples, often over lands and resources. Of course, the province has witnessed the police shooting death of Dudley George at Ipperwash and the ongoing standoff in Caledonia, but most pertinent have been a number of recent conflicts in the North.

2011 Ring of Fire Update Speech – by Ontario MNDMF Michael Gravelle

January 5, 2011January 5, 2011

This Speech was give by Michael Gravelle Minister Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry at the Thunder Bay Rotary Club (Port Arthur Division) on January 4, 2011.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Check Against Delivery

Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. It’s a privilege to join you once again. And, I am especially honoured to help launch Port Arthur Rotary’s New Year. On that note, let me offer to each and every one of you my most heartfelt wishes for good health and good fortune in 2011.

Today, I will update you on two of Ontario’s major initiatives:

(1) modernizing the Mining Act; and

(2) the Ring of Fire development in the Far North of Ontario.

Let me start with a brief progress report on MAM — Mining Act Modernization. As you know, the minerals sector is one of Ontario’s major economic drivers.

When we set out to modernize Ontario’s Mining Act, we wanted to strengthen our minerals sector through clear rules and regulations, as well as with streamlined administrative processes. Amending the Act will result in a more balanced approach to mineral exploration and development, and will help keep our mining industry competitive and responsive.

Mapping the Economic Potential of Canada’s North – Chapter 3: Metal and Non-Metallic Mineral Mining

January 12, 2011January 3, 2011

The Conference Board of Canada is the foremost independent, not-for-profit applied research organization in Canada. It is not a government department or agency and conducts, publishes, and disseminates objective and non-partisan research on economic trends, as well as organizational performance and public policy issues. Click here for Mapping the Economic Potential of Canada’s North.

Please note that charts and maps are omitted from this posting.

The metal and non-metallic mineral mining industry has a long history of providing wealth and employment to Canadians. From the Klondike gold rush in the late 1800s, to the large-scale development and production of potash in Saskatchewan, to diamonds in the Northwest Territories, the industry has maintained its lustre on the global stage.

The industry has endured many boom-bust cycles in its history. In the 1960s, metal and non-metallic mineral mining directly accounted for over 2 per cent of the Canadian economy; by 2009, the industry’s share had shrunk to 0.5 per cent. But the situation is expected to turn around in the coming years as mining continues to be developed— particularly in Canada’s North.

The metal and non-metallic mineral mining industry
has a long history of providing wealth and employment
to Canadians.

Even in 2009—the worst year for mining in recent history—the industry contributed $6.5 billion to the
Canadian economy (in real terms) and continued to export a diverse variety of resources. There are many
spin-off benefits not included in the $6.5 billion: construction, transportation, utilities, warehousing, and
communications are some of the other industries that benefit directly from the development and production
of a single mine.

News Release: Conference Board of Canada – Mining And Related Support Industries Offer The Greatest Economic Potential For Northern Canada

January 12, 2011January 3, 2011

Ottawa, December 17 —The natural resources sector – and the industries that support it – provide the strongest potential for Northern Canada’s future economic development, The Conference Board of Canada concludes in a study for its Centre for the North, released today.

This report, Mapping the Economic Potential of Canada’s North, is one of a series of foundational studies for the Centre for the North. It is intended to provide a launch pad for further inquiry into the future economic development potential of the North.

“The economic potential of Northern Canada is highly dependent on its mining and oil and gas resources,” said Len Coad, Director, Environment, Energy and Technology Policy, The Conference Board of Canada. “These primary industries also drive growth in other sectors of Northern economies, including communication, electricity and transportation infrastructure, and commercial services. They can contribute to the prosperity of northern communities by providing jobs and supporting local businesses.”

The Conference Board uses the Northern Development Ministers Forum’s definition of the North as the basis for this research. Based on this definition, the North comprises the three territories and the northern parts of seven provinces – 80 per cent of Canada’s land mass in all, but it makes up less than seven per cent of the population. This study identified a collection of seven key industries—oil and gas, mining, forestry, fishing, utilities, construction, and tourism.

Thirty-Eight Years of Progress [Timmins History]– by Norman E. Green

January 2, 2011January 2, 2011

A Brief History of the Porcupine District

Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines Limited: Public Relations Section – Timmins (This document was published between 1947 and 1949.

More than two hundred years before gold was discovered in the Porcupine, a narrow winding trail made its way from Porcupine Lake to the Mattagami River. Indians and Trappers, carrying canoes and heavy packsacks on their backs, crossed this trail many times, intent only on reaching their destination at either end and continuing their journey.

Little did they realize that beneath their feet, in places close enough to be marked by their boots, lay unmeasured wealth, gold which has since played a prominent pat in all phases of the history of our country.

Following the discovery of silver at Cobalt, and the development of that area, interest in the possibility of similar deposits in the Porcupine district was aroused. In 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1905, and 1906, parties of government surveyors working in the district were impressed by the nature of the country and the possibilities it offered. In 1908, Dr. W. A. Parks, of Toronto University, examined the district and in his report stated: “I regard the region south of Porcupine Lake as giving promise to the prospector.”

The 2010 Tom Peters Memorial Reclamation Award

January 2, 2011

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.

This posting came from the Ontario Mining Association’s 90th Anniversary Publication (October/2010): http://www.oma.on.ca/en/resources/OMAat90three.pdf

The 2010 Tom Peters Memorial Reclamation Award was given to the Penokean Hills Field Naturalists (PHFN), the City of Elliot Lake and Rio Algom Limited for the work they did in converting the Milliken tailings management area (TMA) into a 182-ha wetland that includes marsh, bog and shoreline, as well as mature mixed forest.

The Milliken mine and mill operated from 1958 to 1964, producing 5.7 million tonnes of tailings to the Stanleigh TMA. During this period an estimated 76,500 tonnes of tailings were released to Sheriff Creek in an area later rehabilitated to form the Milliken TMA, This 17-ha area was remediated in the late 1970s. Drainage channels were installed on part of the tailings. The flat area that remained was covered by three feet of sandy gravel to form a ball field while the rest of the tailings area was flooded to form a wetland. The field was transformed in 1978 into an equestrian practice and competition field. In 1997, a berm was constructed at the outlet of the wetland to ensure the tailings remained saturated. In 2000, the berm and spillway were upgraded to safely cope with a probable maximum precipitation event.

In 1990, Erwin Meisner of the Penokean Hills Field Naturalists, asked Rio Algom whether it would consider transforming Sheriff Creek Park into the Sheriff Creek Bird Sanctuary. (The naturalists recognized the diversity of bird habitats that had evolved in the area.) With the support of Rio Algom, the PHFN secured support from the city and established a bird sanctuary at the park. In 1996, PHFN and Rio Algom entered into a “Stewardship Agreement” that identi¬fied operational objectives and prescribed activities for the sanctuary.

Ontario’s First Nations Have Become Key Stakeholders in the Mining Sector

January 2, 2011

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.

This posting came from the Ontario Mining Association’s 90th Anniversary Publication (October/2010): http://www.oma.on.ca/en/resources/OMAat90three.pdf

The Aboriginal Relations Committee was formed in 2006 to improve communications between the mining industry and First Nations, and to assist the government to develop consultation models to match evolving court decisions.

Jeremy Wyeth, De Beers’ representative at the Ontario Mining Association, was the first to suggest that the association set up the committee and served as its first chair. He later went on to be the OMA Executive Director for 2007 and 2008. The current chair is Jonathan Fowler, a geologist who has worked at De Beers for 42 years, 28 of which have been spent in Canada.

As an exploration geologist, Fowler was usually one of the first people De Beers sent in to investigate remote areas. In the field, he would talk to hunters and trappers and tell them about the work De Beers was planning. This practice evolved into communicating with local communities then with community leaders. Due to the remoteness of the exploration projects, the locals Fowler dealt with were usually First Nations.