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Ontario Mining

Doug Ford wants to ‘protect Ontario’ by digging up the Ring of Fire – by Jon Thompson (Ricochet Media – February 2025)

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But consultation isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s international law. And local First Nations want an equitable role in the process

In response to a serious question about municipal revenues during the Northern Leaders Debate last Friday, Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford touted the value of, “unleashing northern Ontario’s economic potential, and I’ll tell you where the potential is: their potential in the north is called the Ring of Fire.”

Ford had planned a northern victory lap to meet with industrial unions in Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay this week, following leaders debates on Friday and Monday. That trip was cancelled after a plane crashed in Toronto, but it was designed to cement Ford’s vision that developing the so-called “Ring of Fire” is somehow a patriotic duty of blue-collar workers.

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Buried treasure: Ontario’s new regulation aims to facilitate the recovery of minerals from mine waste, but many hurdles remain, experts say – by Kelsey Rolfe (CIM Magazine – February 20, 2025)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Ontario is becoming the first jurisdiction in Canada to have a dedicated regulatory pathway for projects aimed at recovering residual metals and minerals from mine waste. Experts said the move is a promising step, but technical and economic hurdles still stand in the way of wide-scale waste re-mining efforts.

The province announced a regulatory change to the Mining Act in late November 2024 to create a permit process specifically for recovering metals and minerals from tailings and mine waste at open, closed or abandoned mine sites in the province.

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New book chronicles woman at centre of notorious Timmins mining scandal – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Daily Press – February 18, 2025)

https://www.timminspress.com/

‘I see her as the flawed hero,’ author Tim Falconer says of Viola MacMillan

A new book about a Timmins mining stock scandal launched Tuesday, Feb. 18. “Windfall, Viola MacMillan and her notorious mining scandal,” by Tim Falconer (ECW Press, 2025), tells the story of the trailblazing woman prospector and mine developer who, in July 1964, stayed quiet for three weeks while shares in her company, Windfall Oil and Mines, took off amid rumours about what the company had found on its claims near Timmins.

The claims were tantalizingly close to what would become the Kidd Creek Mine, one of the world’s largest base metal mines. When she admitted she had nothing, the stock crashed and many small investors lost money. “She out-and-out-lied to us,” investor Murray Pezim said.

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‘Serious lack of details’ in [Canada Nickel] nickel mine proposal concerns group – by Andrew Autio (Timmins Daily Press – February 17, 2025)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Carbon capture process ‘encourages dangerous emissions,’ says Ontario Rivers Alliance

The Ontario Rivers Alliance has submitted its concerns regarding Canada Nickel Company’s Crawford Project to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC).

The proposed Crawford Project, located 43 kilometres north of Timmins, would see an open-pit nickel cobalt mine, as well as an on-site processing mill. The mine would be capable of producing up to 275,000 tonnes of ore per day, and the project is expected to last approximately 43 years.

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STLLR Gold wants to shake its money maker at a Timmins tailings site – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 13, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto company sifting through Hollinger mine waste looking for leftover gold

A Matheson-area gold mine developer wants to sift through the tailings of the historic Hollinger Mine in Timmins to look for leftover gold.

STLLR Gold is heralding its Hollinger tailings project as a “gamechanging” and “strategic” opportunity that the Toronto company believes can yield significant amounts of untouched gold that can be reprocessed very cheaply and deliver some cash.

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Trump promises 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports — including from Canada – by Benjamin Lopez Steven (CBC News Politics – February 09, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

Ontario, Quebec premiers criticize U.S. president for creating economic uncertainty

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will announce on Monday that the United States will impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from Canada and Mexico — a move that prompted sharp criticism from some provincial premiers.

“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 per cent tariff,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he responded, “aluminum, too” will be subject to the trade penalties.

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Power shortage poses problem for the mining sector says lobby group – by Clint Fleury (TBnews Watch – February 8, 2025)

https://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The Northwest Energy Task Force says the Ontario government needs to start planning for additional power generation to meet the mining boom in the Northwest.

THUNDER BAY — Northwestern Ontario would need 250 megawatts of additional energy to meet the demand for the 41 potential mines that are expected to start by 2033, according to the Northwest Energy Task Force. Iain Angus, co-chair of the lobby group, said Northwestern Ontario could risk losing investments from some of those mining companies if we are “not prepared to provide the power.”

Ontario needs to start building additional transmission lines now, said Angus. The Northwest Energy Task Force is calling on all provincial candidates in the northwest to seriously consider adding the region’s energy needs to their platforms.

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‘We’re still open for business’: Kidd mine manager talks closure plans – by Amanda Rabski-McColl (Timmins Today – February 7, 2025)

https://www.timminstoday.com/

Environmental remediation jobs will be plentiful after base metal mine closes in late 2026

TIMMINS – Glencore is open for business even as the Kidd Mine site closes. That was the message at the Timmins Chamber’s State of Mining lunch, where Kidd Operations general manager Dawid Myburgh laid out the site’s successes in the last 58 years and the early stages of its closure plans.

The Kidd Mine is slated to close at the end of 2026. Myburgh laid out the opportunities and work left to do as the closure takes place. “We haven’t in our studies found an economically viable way to go on,” he said. “It’s not a farm. Every time we take something out, it doesn’t grow out, so it’s a normal part of mining and it’s something that, as a team we’re looking at being proud of how we do it.”

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More power needed for growing northwestern Ontario mining sector: task force (CBC News Thunder Bay – February 07, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

About 250 megawatts of additional power generation required

More power is needed in northwestern Ontario if the region is to meet the demands brought on by what a task force calls “unprecedented growth” in its mining sector.

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association’s (NOMA) Northwest Energy Task Force said there are currently 41 major exploration projects in the region, with 37 of those aiming to be operational by 2033.

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Australian lithium player selects new site for proposed Thunder Bay refinery – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 5, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Green Technology Metals tests lithium sample in South Korea to develop a product for the electric vehicle market

An aspiring Australian lithium producer in northwestern Ontario is eyeing a new site in Thunder Bay to place a refinery. Green Technology Metals is scoping out a brownfield on the city’s waterfront to evaluate its suitability to host a lithium chemical conversion plant.

The Perth-headquartered has shifted focus away from the former Cascades Paper plant property in the city’s north end to the Midcontinent Terminal property on Maureen Street in the centre of the city, near a grouping of grain elevators.

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‘Gold-endowed region’ hinges on workforce – by Sandi Krasowski (The Chronicle-Journal – February 1, 2025)

https://www.chroniclejournal.com/

Operators of two Northwestern mines weighed in on the economic value of mining gold and gave a comprehensive view of the industry with a focus on job creation during the Prosperity Northwest Conference this week.

Andrew Cormier, chief operating officer for Orla Mining, said gold is increasingly seen as a critical asset, fuelling investment, innovation and job creation in the region. “Being in the gold industry, we’re generally bullish on the price of gold,” he said at the conference in Thunder Bay.

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New documentary tells the story of ‘lost legend’ Jack Munroe (CBC News Sudbury – May 26, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Munroe founded a small town in northern Ontario

He made millions in mining at the turn of the 20th century, lasted four rounds in the ring with the heavyweight champion of the world, and wrote a bestseller about his experiences during the First World War.

Now the many accomplishments of Jack Munroe are being recognized in a documentary called Lost Legend: The Story Of Jack Munroe. Terry Fiset helped get the documentary off the ground, so more Canadians would learn about a man he considers a hero.

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Milestone agreement to strengthen Ring of Fire infrastructure – by Ashley Fish-Robertson (CIM Magazine – January 31, 2025)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

The partnership between Ontario and Aroland First Nation marks the first time agreements are in place to build roads along the whole route to the Ring of Fire region

A historic agreement was signed on Jan. 28 in Toronto by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Aroland First Nation Chief Sonny Gagnon and Greg Rickford, Ontario’s minister of northern development and minister of Indigenous affairs and First Nations economic reconciliation.

The agreement will see the provincial government commit over $90 million to upgrading vital infrastructure in northern Ontario, which will both enable the mining of critical minerals in the Ring of Fire region—with improved roads facilitating the transport of materials to processing plants—and connect multiple First Nations communities to major highways.

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Ontario OKs $90M to upgrade Ring of Fire region – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – Janaury 29, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Queen’s Park and Aroland First Nation have signed a multi-million-dollar agreement to plan a transmission line in the mineral-rich Ring of Fire area in the province’s north. The deal also includes support for upgrades to Anaconda and Painter Lake Roads, which are important connections on the road, which is under study, to the Ring of Fire, the government said Tuesday.

The Ring of Fire, known for vast potential but only a few projects, lies about 540 km northeast of Thunder Bay. The hydro line is planned near Aroland First Nation, located at what is known as the “gateway” to the Ring of Fire, 60 km north of Geraldton on Highway 584/643.

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‘These divide-and-conquer tactics are destroying us’: Matawa First Nations reflect on Doug Ford’s Ring of Fire legacy – by Jon Thompson (Ricochet Media – January 29, 2025)

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The same day Premier Doug Ford called an early election, his government announced it had reached a $20-million deal with Aroland First Nation that will, “build roads along the entire route to the Ring of Fire.”

The Shared Prosperity Agreement includes $20 million for infrastructure and new energy transmission projects in Aroland. Ontario promises to upgrade existing roads to the community, located 60 kilometres north of Geraldton, and build a road from Aroland northward to Marten Falls First Nation. Ontario also made a vague commitment to support Aroland in vying for a smelter, and it intends to meet further over potential resource-benefit sharing.

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