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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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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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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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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[Aroland First Nation] First Nation chief frustrated by Cliffs encounter – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 4, 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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

A northwestern Ontario First Nation leader said his concerns about mining development in the Ring of Fire are falling on deaf ears with Cliffs Natural Resources.
 
Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation said his hour-long meeting this week with CEO Joseph Carrabba produced little in the way of results from the Ohio mining giant.
 
“He viewed what we gave him as threats and said he might not come back. Well, have a good life.” Gagnon met with Carrabba just prior to his May 1 speech in Thunder Bay at the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.
 
Carrabba told a lunchtime crowd that the company’s decision on the location of a much-coveted ferrochrome smelter was only days away.
 
The company’s technical work at its Black Thor chromite deposit in the James Bay lowlands is expected to advance into the feasibility evaluation stage in the next couple of months.

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Cliffs Natural Resources misleading investors, chief says – CBC News (May 3, 2012)

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

The Chief of Aroland First Nation says Cliffs Natural Resources is misleading its investors about the discussions surrounding its chromite property in the Ring of Fire, located in the James Bay lowlands.
 
Sonny Gagnon said Cliffs is telling people it is having good discussions with First Nations — and that the environmental assessment (EA) process is moving along.
 
“Very good discussions with the external stakeholders, and with the First Nations and with the governments and the environmental impact study is moving along,” Cliffs CEO Joseph Carrabba said on a first quarter earnings conference call, April 26. Gagnon says that’s inaccurate.
 
“I told [the CEO] ‘where did you get your information from? The EA process, we’re not happy with it’,” Gagnon said after he and other chiefs met with Carrabba earlier this week. “‘You’re not discussing nothing with the First Nations, so what are you talking about?’”

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[Cliff’s] Smelter decision expected – by Star staff (Sudbury Star – May 3, 2012)

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

A decision on where to locate a $1.8-billion Ring of Fire chromite smelter will be made in days, the CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources said this week. Joe Carrabba said Tuesday in Thunder Bay the decision is imminent, CBC Radio reports.

Cliffs, a Cleveland-based mining company, has used a former mine site in Capreol to build a test case for the facility, which would process chromite from northwestern Ontario.

In an email Wednesday, Patricia Persico, the senior manager of media relations for Cliffs, confirmed the company will make the announcement sooner rather than later. However, she said, a date and time has not yet been set.

A number of groups and communities in Northern Ontario have lobbied hard for the smelter, which would create 400 to 500 jobs. Native leaders in northwestern Ontario also say the plant should be built on their land, closer to the mine.

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Answers coming [about Cliff’s ferrochrome processor] – by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – May 2, 2012)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

For a short news report about teh Carrabba speech click here: http://www.tbnewswatch.com/video/24466/CCAB-Cliffs

The head of Cliffs Natural Resources says an announcement on where his company will put a ferrochrome processor is days away.

But Joseph Carrabba couldn’t say where when asked about the decision and announcement Tuesday afternoon at a Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business luncheon in Thunder Bay.

Recently a group of regional mayors and First Nations leaders signed a document calling for the processor to be built in Greenstone rather than Cliff’s base case of Sudbury. Carrabba said he understands it’s an emotional issue and that every region wants to fight hard for economic development.

“Obviously we’re not going to be able to please everyone,” he said. “If we can’t work it out, we can’t work it out.” Carrabba did say that consultations between Cliffs and First Nation communities needs to continue.

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Ontario’s economy is struggling and politicians dance – by James Murray (Netnewsledger.com – April 30, 2012)

http://netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – EDITORIAL – Ontario’s economy is struggling, and the real impacts of those struggles are not yet being felt. Our Ontario has seen years of government living beyond its means, along with years of outright denial that this is a problem. It is, and it is one that is going to take a generation to get over at the least. Ontario is likely to lag behind more prosperous provinces, and likely will continue to do so for some time.

Ontario’s deficit is the real elephant in the room. Should interest rates climb from their current levels, our government will have to spend massive amounts of money just to pay for what we already, as a province, have spent. Standard and Poor’s has fired a salvo across our province’s economic bow saying how potentially vulnerable Ontario really is.
 
Solving the problems is going to take some real effort and some really hard work. It won’t be easy. Right now, sadly, at the provincial level, there really isn’t anyone stepping up with real plans to make a real difference.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has a ham-fisted death grip on maintaining the status quo. Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak is opposing rather than leading.

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Give Sudbury [Ring of Fire] smelter, redefine Crown land – by Reino L. Viitala (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – April 30, 2012)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This commentary came from the Chronicle-Journal’s Letters to the Editor section.

Mining guidelines for Northwestern Ontario should include important conditions for development of environmentally sensitive areas — not simply the ambitions of companies, politicians and native leaders.

 For example, why do we want a smelter and slag dump in the Ring of Fire project area? Worst possible choice. It would pollute the entire Northwestern region. Our rainfall is associated with the Hudson Bay moisture system, therefore any air-borne pollutants will affect our rainfall and further acidify it. We are the cleanest climactic region in Ontario and a jewel for the entire world to enjoy. Why risk this with a smelter and a slag dump?

 Secondly, open-pit mining will drain wetlands in that area. Only underground mining should be permitted. Otherwise, the sensitive hydrological balance between the Hudson Bay Lowlands and the Lake Nipigon Basin will be affected. The Ring of Fire mining companies are on the right track to ship the ores to Falconbridge for smelting.

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[Kenora] Bear Pit’ session addresses Ring of Fire, Tourist Information Centres, education and infrastructure – by Reg Clayton (Lake of the Woods Enterprise – April 28, 2012)

 http://www.lotwenterprise.com/

Provincial cabinet ministers field hard ball questions pitched by NOMA delegates

Delegates grilled three Ontario cabinet ministers and a parliamentary assistant on progress with the Ring of Fire, the closure of regional Tourist Information Centres, education and training initiaitvies and infrastructure funding at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) annual meeting in Kenora, Friday, April 27.

NOMA president Ron Nelson served as moderator for the minister’s forum comprised of Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Kathleen Wynne, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Glen Murray and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Northern Development and Mines Bill Mauro.

The ministers responded to ‘Bear Pit’ questions posed by municipal delegates regarding the apparent lack of progress on the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario with assurances that discussions are ongoing on a multi-ministerial level in consultation with mining companies and area First Nations. However, details of these discussions remain confidential, according to the ministers.

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