Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery – Page 146

Rails to the Ring of Fire Mining Camp – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – September, 2011)

September 26, 2011September 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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Cliffs endorses Ring of Fire railroad plan

Building a Ring of Fire railroad to move millions of bulk tonnes of chromite is a certainty, said a senior official with Cliffs Natural Resources.

Bill Boor, Cliffs’ senior vice-president of global ferroalloys, who is overseeing the Ohio miner’s project development in the James Bay lowlands, said rail is an inevitability as more mines come on stream in the remote district.

In last winter’s base case for its high grade Black Thor chromite deposit, Cliffs proposed a permanent year-round haul road between the mine site and railway connections near Nakina in northwestern Ontario.

But Boor clarified that one mine alone doesn’t support the mega-investment of a railroad. However, establishing a transportation corridor will improve the economics of other nearby deposits. Once that “scale” is built up, Boor said, “the right answer is to put a railroad in place.

Far North Act – David Pearson (Northern Ontario Business – September, 2011)

September 26, 2011August 31, 2011

David Pearson is a professor of earth sciences and science communication at Laurentian University. He can be reached at dpearson@laurentian.ca

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Hold it Mr. Hudak, hold it, let’s talk about this: “A Tim Hudak government will repeal Bill 191, the Far North Act, which effectively turns the North into a museum by banning development and killing potential jobs.” And while we’re on the subject we should add a comment that appeared in the last edition of this paper: the “First Nations hate Bill 191.”

Central to the Far North Act (Bill 191) are 31 isolated First Nation communities scattered across almost exactly half of Ontario’s land area reaching up to the coast of Hudson Bay. With a total population of just 24,000, of whom half are 16 or under, many families rely on fish, geese, and caribou they catch and hunt for themselves in their communities’
traditional territory. Without those communities there would not be a Far North Act.

The Act sets up a framework for communities to work with the Ontario government in developing land-use plans for their traditional territories based on the values, culture, and aspirations of the members of each community. The Act was also designed to enable communities to benefit from resource development through arrangements and on terms that are acceptable to the community and not simply driven by first-come, first-served external pressures.

Decision time for Cliffs [Ring of Fire Ontario refinery location? – Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – September, 2011)

September 26, 2011August 31, 2011

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Cliffs V-P looks for cheap power, government direction in Ring of Fire

Cliffs Natural Resources isn’t sold yet on Sudbury. Bill Boor, Cliffs’ senior vice-president for global ferroalloys, said while the Nickel City remains a “technically viable site” because of logistics and available power, the project economics may spell otherwise.

When the Ohio miner released its project description of its Black Thor chromite deposit in the James Bay region last February, Sudbury was identified as the front-runner to host the ferrochrome production facilities.

“When we put Sudbury forward, we were pretty specific about the language,” said Boor. “That remains our base case, but at the same time we identified that technically viable is different from economically viable, and a lot has to be worked through.”

Boor said the location of the production facilities is one of the many trade-offs to be considered in how the direction of the entire massive mining, processing and transportation infrastructure will unfold.

NEWS RELEASE: Northern Ontario First Nations Sign East-West Corridor Collaborative Agreement in Ring of Fire.

September 26, 2011August 31, 2011

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Wednesday August 31, 2011

Thunder Bay, Ontario: – Four First Nations in Northern Ontario today signed a landmark collaboration agreement to pursue the ownership, development and operation of a preferred East-West corridor in the Ring of Fire.

The East-West Corridor Collaborative Agreement was signed between the communities of Webequie, Neskantaga, Eabametoong and Nibinamik. Since March 2010, the First Nations have been working towards a community-driven strategy to develop a preferred corridor through their traditional territories. The goal is to establish a First Nation joint venture that will operate an infrastructure, transportation and service corridor for northern First Nations and other activities in the Ring of Fire.

The First Nation Chiefs were supported by their Councils during today‟s signing ceremony in Thunder Bay. “I see this collaborative agreement as “history in the making‟ among the four First Nations who are now taking control of our traditional homelands and are becoming a force to be reckoned with,” says Chief Cornelius Wabasse of Webequie First Nation.

NEWS RELEASE: Webequie First Nation introduces its Ring of Fire Senior Director

August 29, 2011

August 29 2011, Thunder Bay, ON. – Today, Webequie First Nation introduced Michael Fox, President of Fox High Impact Consulting, as Webequie’s Ring of Fire Senior Director. Fox will be working to ensure a community-driven approach and community-based opportunities related to the development of the Ring of Fire are recognized and realized by companies and governments.

Michael Fox has a wealth of experience in community initiatives, enterprise development, and government relations. He is well known locally, regionally, and nationally as a board member of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and of the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business (CCAB). He obtained a post-secondary education in business administration and an honours degree in political science, primarily focused on natural resource development in Ontario and Aboriginal law.

“The Webequie First Nation Council welcomes Michael in his new and important role,” says Chief Cornelius Wabasse. “His strategic thinking, business acumen, and community focus will definitely be an asset for Webequie as it continues to develop its role in the Ring of Fire.

Sudbury ready to cash in [on mining investments] – by Carol Mulligan

September 13, 2018August 26, 2011

The Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. cmulligan@thesudburystar.com

“If we do the right things, mining can literally help
dig Ontario out of its debt.” (Chris Hodgson, President
and CEO Ontario Mining Association)

Sudbury is well-positioned to benefit from that mining
boom because it has the largest integrated mining complex
in the world and one of the largest nickel-copper
sulphide bodies. (Pierre Gratton, President and CEO,
Mining Association of Canada)

Sudbury stands to benefit from investments in mining operations to the tune of about $5.2 billion in the next five years. That’s a healthy percentage of the $136.4 billion in capital expected to be invested in mining projects throughout Canada from 2012 to 2017.

All of those billions will go into mining projects already in existence, says the president and chief executive officer of the Mining Association of Canada.

That doesn’t include private and public money that may be invested in projects to develop, mine, smelt and transport chromite from the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario.

Pierre Gratton was one of two guests who spoke to the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce on Thursday about how the city can benefit from the current up cycle in the metals industry.

China will continue to be a mineral price driver as its econo my continues to grow at double-digit rates. That demand is long-term, with expectations its growth will still be in the 6% to 9% range from 2020-2025.

Round two for Ring of Fire’s Richard Nemis – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – September, 2011)

August 19, 2011

This article was originally published in the September, 2011 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal and written by editor Norm Tollinsky.

“If the financiers in downtown Toronto see any kind of risk,
they move on to the next thing. They’re looking at it
[Ring of Fire] and saying ‘We love the Hudson Bay Lowlands
and we think there’s going to be all kinds of things found
in the future, but we don’t know when that’s going to happen,
so our money is going to go to shorter term opportunities.’”
When there is some clarity on the issue of infrastructure,
“everything up there will boom.” (Richard Nemis – 2010 PDAC
Prospector of the Year Co-Winner)

Award winning mining promoter offers new take on the Ring of Fire

Richard Nemis, the Sudbury-born lawyer turned mining promoter, is back in the ring. Down for the count after relinquishing his post as president of Noront Resources in 2008, Nemis is once again poring over maps, knocking on doors and mobilizing drill rigs to the furthest reaches of Ontario’s Far North.

Nemis has reassembled the team credited with the discovery of Noront’s Eagle’s Nest nickel-PGE deposit in the Ring of Fire, launched two new companies, Rencore Resources Ltd. and Bold Ventures Inc., and raised $10 million from Dundee Corporation to test promising geophysical anomalies west of the currently accepted boundaries of the Ring of Fire.

“Our theory is that the Ring of Fire is a lot bigger and goes a lot further,” possibly extending as far as Thomson, Manitoba, said Nemis. The western extension of the Ring of Fire is interrupted by the Winisk River Provincial Park, a no-go area for mineral exploration, but airborne geophysics commissioned by Rencore has identified 16 potential drill targets in the so-called REN-6 and REN-8 claim groups west of the park.

[McGuinty] Biding his time [about Ring of Fire] – by Carol Mulligan

August 15, 2011

The Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. cmulligan@thesudburystar.com

The Ontario Liberals will wait to see how much money the private sector is willing to invest in infrastructure to develop the Ring of Fire chromite deposits before it puts government money into the area, says the premier.

The province will definitely have to help build infrastructure, such as roads, to bring the project online, but it wants to maximize its opportunities before it does, says Dalton McGuinty.

Any public investment would have to be shown to benefit Ontarians — and especially Northern Ontarians — and that includes businesses and First Nations.

“We’ve got an opportunity to do this in a way that’s never been done before, so we’re excited about that,” McGuinty told reporters at Laurentian University’s J.N. Desmarais Library on Saturday. “But, yes, at some point in time, it will call for an investment in infrastructure.”

He visited Laurentian to address the annual Summer Fling policy conference of Ontario Young Liberals, where he announced an initiative to help new graduates who work in the not-for-profit sector.

The coming Ontario dark age – by David Robinson (Northern Ontario Business – August 2011)

April 5, 2015August 10, 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. Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University. drobinson@laurentian.ca

The Dark Age begins in less than 10 years. Sometime before 2021, southern Ontario will begin rolling brownouts and plant closures. It will happen in the summer because Torontonians really need their air conditioners. It will happen because no one wants to pay full cost for power. And it will kill jobs.

By 2021, Ontario’s demand for electricity will have outrun supply. Shortages that began before 2002 were hidden when the recession cut manufacturing jobs. As the economy recovers, and the population of southern Ontario grows, a gap will open up between demand and supply. Energy conservation and repairing old nuclear plants will help, but won’t fill that gap.

Why should Northerners care? Because northern rivers will be poured into the gap. Because the price of electricity will be so high that jobs will be lost in Northern Ontario. Because even though demand for northern wood, metal water and power is rising, Northern Ontario will continue to stagnate.

Most of the hydroelectric capacity in Northern Ontario has been already been developed.

If it is mined in Ontario, process it here, Horwath says – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – August 9, 2011)

August 9, 2011

Tanya Talaga is a Queen’s Park reporter with the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion.

In a campaign swing through northern Ontario, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath vowed to stop resources mined in the province from being exported if they can be processed here. “Companies are pulling them out of the ground and shipping them elsewhere for processing and it doesn’t have to be that way,” Horwath said Monday from Dubreuilville, Ont.

“We need to be conscious about what is happening with our natural resources. It helps us put some control over how much of our resources get processed and it creates good jobs for Ontario families.”

Horwath said the time to secure mining and resource jobs is now as Ontario begins to develop the Ring of Fire, a $30 billion chromite deposit nearly 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. In December 2010, Swiss mining giant Xstrata announced it was shutting down its Timmins Kidd Met Site smelter and transferring the operation to Quebec. The move eliminated 700 jobs, she added.

Sudbury still vying for [Ring of Fire chromite] smelter – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – July 30, 2011)

July 30, 2011

The Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. hcarmichael@thesudburystar.com

Cliffs Natural Resources of Cleveland has yet to decide where it will build a smelter to process chromite concentrate from its Ring of Fire properties in northwestern Ontario.

A promotional video on the Cliffs’ website about the company’s three chromite deposits in the zone (Black Thor, Black Label and Big Daddy), entitled Value Beneath the Surface, highlights Greater Sudbury as one of the four communities where an enclosed chromite electric arc furnace facility could be built.

In the video, Cliffs says it is looking to start production with the Black Thor deposit in 2015 through an open pit operation and produce one million tonnes of chromite concentrate and 600,000 tonnes of ferrochrome annually. The three chromite deposits are described as “extensive, thick and high quality” with a potential production period of 80 years.

Cliffs Natural Resources endorses Ring of Fire railroad plan – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 2011)

July 27, 2011July 27, 2011

Rails to Ontario’s Ring of Fire

With a $2 billion pricetag for a proposed Ring of Fire railroad, KWG Resources is searching for innovative ways to finance it. Building a Ring of Fire railroad to move millions of bulk tonnes of chromite is a certainty, said a senior official with Cliffs Natural Resources.

However, establishing a transportation corridor will improve the economics of other nearby deposits. Once that “scale” is built up, Boor said, “the right answer is to put a railroad in place.

Ring of Fire in Ontario of interest to miners but builders advised to look closer to current mines – by Saul Chernos (May 13, 2011)

July 22, 2011

Daily Commercial News and Construction Record website

Hot mineral exploration areas like the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario suggest significant construction down the road. But builders looking for more immediate work should focus on sites elsewhere in the province that are closer to actual mine activity, industry reps say.

Located in the James Bay Lowlands, hundreds of miles north of existing transportation and hydroelectric infrastructure, the Ring of Fire has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Mining prospectors and early-stage developers are hoping to tap what’s widely believed to be mammoth deposits of chromium, nickel, copper, platinum and palladium.

True, infrastructure such as an often-discussed $600-million railway line will be needed. However, actual development is years away at best. Although the Ontario government has announced its intention to open the area to growth, local Aboriginal populations are demanding treaty rights and environmental groups are worried new transportation corridors and mines will harm the fragile boreal forest.

“The Ring of Fire is a hot topic,” says Peter McBride, a spokesperson with the Ontario Mining Association. “It’s an area of incredible potential. Mines could be operating there for generations, but we’re not quite there yet. There’s lots more going on before it will come on stream.”

Timmins still in the race for Ring of Fire facility – (Timmins Daily Press – July 21, 2011)

July 21, 2011

The Daily Press is the newspaper of record for the city of Timmins

By The Daily Press

Timmins is still in the running to be the homebase for processing ore from Ontario’s biggest mineral discovery in the past century. Representatives of Cliffs Natural Resources recently visited the city. Cliffs is looking for a community to host its ferrochrome production facility — a key component in developing the Ring of Fire.

Massive deposits of chromite, copper, nickel, platinum, diamonds, palladium, gold and silver have been discovered in the Ring of Fire, west of James Bay. Officials with the Timmins Economic Development Corporation and the city recently met with representatives from Cliffs.

“We have been working with Cliffs Natural Resources for quite some time now,” said Dave McGirr, chairman of the TEDC. “We prepared a detailed background document describing why Timmins would be the logical choice for Cliffs’ ferrochrome facility.

Northern Ontario Policy Advice for Tim Hudak – by Livio Di Matteo (July 14, 2011)

July 19, 2011July 18, 2011

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak is in Thunder Bay today and along with an appearance at The Hoito will also be addressing a luncheon being sponsored by the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce. According to the most recent poll by Ipsos-Reid, Mr. Hudak’s Conservatives hold an 11 point lead over the Liberals overall but have even stronger support outside of the GTA. Even Northern Ontario apparently has Mr. Hudak in the lead. However, it is only July and the election is not until October and given the voting tradition in the North, red and orange rather than blue are the usual autumn colours. Perhaps, Mr. Hudak will prove them wrong. Nevertheless, internal party polling must have revealed this trend earlier, which is why this week also saw more aggressive Liberal ads attacking Tim Hudak.

Mr. Hudak, should he become premier, will certainly have his hands full given Ontario’s productivity challenge, Ontario’s infrastructure challenge and Ontario’s fiscal challenge. Moreover, there is also Ontario’s northern economic development challenge. What policy suggestions would Northern Economist like to leave with Mr. Hudak?