Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery – Page 9

Column: [Ring of Fire] Leading our own prosperity: What are we doing in our territory? by Marten Fall First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum (Thunder Bay – September 27, 2023)

September 28, 2023

For as long as I can remember, Marten Falls First Nation (MFFN) has had a strong desire to develop a road that would connect our remote northern community to the Ontario provincial highway network and advance our vision of building a sustainable and thriving community in the north. I remember having conversations about the road with former Chief Eli Moonias and community Elders. Looking back, we discussed the prospects of the road and what it would mean for our community, but the path forward was unclear. There were also concerns that the road would bring more challenges than opportunities to our community.

When the Ring of Fire mineral deposits were discovered, we thought that there was an opportunity here to achieve our vision. Former Chief Eli Moonias always maintained that these minerals are part of MFFN’s traditional territory, and therefore their development requires guidance and direction from MFFN. Nevertheless, he agreed to participate in the Regional Framework Agreement with the Government of Ontario, because he wanted to work with neighbouring First Nations on this opportunity to provide benefits to the region as a whole.

Ring of Fire developer Wyloo Metals rebrands to Wyloo – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 27, 2023)

September 28, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Australian company decides to place its global mineral assets under one banner

Australia’s Wyloo Metals has again rebranded its mineral assets in Ontario’s Ring of Fire. The Perth-headquartered mine developer has decided to place its Canadian and Western Australian mine and exploration properties under the single banner of Wyloo.

Privately owned Wyloo acquired the assets of Toronto’s Noront Resources in April 2022, which comprises the Eagle’s Nest nickel project and its chromite properties, 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

Indigenous leaders rebuff minister, again demand meeting with premier on mining agenda – Aidan Chamandy (The Trillium – September 26, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://www.thetrillium.ca/

The Land Defence Alliance shot down an offer to meet with Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford last week

Indigenous leaders from the Land Defence Alliance came to Queen’s Park on Tuesday to keep pressuring the premier to meet with them on the government’s mining policies — including the marquee Ring of Fire project — after rejecting a meeting with Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development Minister Greg Rickford.

The Alliance is made up of five First Nations communities — Neskantaga, Muskrat Dam First Nations, Wapekeka, Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows), and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake).

NEWS RELEASE: Ring of Fire Metals, Wyloo Metals, Mincor Resources combine to become major nickel player, “Wyloo” (Wyloo – September 27, 2023)

September 27, 2023

Homepage

Ring of Fire Metals, Wyloo Metals and Mincor Resources and will unify under the brand name Wyloo after becoming the largest pure-play nickel company outside of Russia. Wyloo Metals’ acquisition of Mincor Resources, completed last month, makes Wyloo a producer of high-grade nickel sulphide from its newly acquired Cassini and Northern Operations mines in Kambalda, Western Australia.

The new name also applies to Wyloo’s Canadian subsidiary, formerly Ring of Fire Metals, which owns the high-grade Eagle’s Nest project and the only material chromite resource in North America, in the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario, Canada.

Ring of Fire Metals CEO responds to environmental concerns – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Daily Press – September 27, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://www.timminspress.com/

Says mining on high ground means minimal impact on peatlands

Kristan Straub provided an update on the development of the Eagle’s Nest Project within the Ring of Fire at a State of Mining luncheon at the Dante Club on Tuesday. Eagle’s Nest is an undeveloped high-grade nickel sulphide project and chromite deposit 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, and is set to be the first critical minerals deposit to be mined in the Ring of Fire region.

The Ring of Fire comprises 5,000 square kilometres, and is rich in critical minerals such as: high-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements and chromite. Critical minerals are so called because they have specific applications in industry and technology and have few substitutes. They are subject to geopolitical and environmental risk because they are geographically concentrated. The world’s biggest supplier of Nickel is Indonesia.

Province urged to shift focus on future mining away from Ring of Fire – by Ron Grech (Timmins Press – September 25, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://www.timminspress.com/

Equally promising opportunities cited with existing mining projects near Timmins and Sudbury

The Ontario government is being called upon by an Indigenous-led conservation effort to support existing mining projects rather than opening new ground within the Ring of Fire.

“There are at least six different large nickel projects in the Timmins and Sudbury area,” said Anna Baggio, director of conservation planning with the Wildlands League, which has teamed up with Mushkegowuk Council in support of establishing a National Marine Conservation Area along the James and Hudson Bay coast.

From ‘Ring of Fire’ to Mincor: Twiggy’s nickel dream drives Wyloo boss – by Simon Johanson (Sydney Morning Herald – September 3, 2023)

September 5, 2023

https://www.smh.com.au/

Ask Wyloo Metals boss Luca Giacovazzi, 31, if he’s a bit young to be four years into running a pure-play nickel miner that wrestled control of Canada’s fabled “Ring of Fire” basin from resources giant BHP, and he quips: “Don’t hold it against me.”

As head of Wyloo, Giacovazzi has the ear of mining magnate Andrew Forrest. The $1.5 billion mining and exploration company he has been building with strategic and capital creating deals since 2019 sits alongside Squadron Energy as a prize asset in Forrest’s private investment vehicle Tattarang.

Almost there’: Ring of Fire talks expected between Ottawa, First Nations this fall – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – September 05, 2023)

September 5, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Representatives expected to meet this month to discuss conditions to guide regional assessment

Long-delayed plans to mine the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region in Ontario have taken a step forward as representatives from First Nations and the federal government are expected to meet this month to discuss conditions to guide a regional assessment.

The regional assessment will include large studies to determine the environmental impact of large-scale development in the region. Currently, about 18 First Nations from the area are creating a structure for the assessment, which will form the basis for discussions with the government.

Marten Falls chief wants housing and water issues fixed ahead of Ring of Fire mining – by Angela Gemmill (Northern Ontario Business – August 22, 2023)

August 22, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Bruce Achneepineskum and community won’t be satisfied with the ‘bare minimum’ in consenting to James Bay development

The chief of Marten Falls First Nation isn’t opposed to mine development, he’s just cautious about what should be included in any future agreement connected to the Ring of Fire.

Bruce Achneepineskum wants to ensure the provincial and federal governments uphold their side of the bargain and that his remote community in the James Bay region thrives because of its potential involvement. “We’re not against development, but there are issues that the government has to address.”

Wyloo will be mining more than nickel at Eagle’s Nest – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 17, 2023)

August 17, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Underground aggregate extraction for Ring of Fire road will deliver both practical and environmental solutions

The proposed Eagle’s Nest mine will “set a new benchmark for what mining could look like” in the Ring of Fire, said its Australian developer.

Luca Giacovazzi, CEO of Wyloo Metals and a director with Ring of Fire Metals (formerly Noront Resources), revealed some of their innovative engineering solutions last week at the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum, a leading industry bash held at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Indigenous resistance challenges Ontario’s ‘mining boom’ – by Owen Schalk (Canadian Dimension – August 3, 2023)

August 8, 2023

https://canadiandimension.com/

Ring of Fire has become one of the most active regions in the world for lithium exploration

As Canada’s governments hungrily scour domestic and foreign territory in search of critical minerals—an essential part of Ottawa’s new Cold War on China—Ontario Premier Doug Ford is attempting to spin demand into a provincial mining boom.

Ontario’s first-ever Critical Minerals Strategy (CMS), announced alongside a federal initiative of the same name, proclaims that the province is “incredibly fortunate” and “blessed with exquisite deposits of nickel, lithium, platinum, cobalt and dozens of other strategically important raw materials.”

GREEN: Trudeau EV mandates wildly out of sync with EV metals timelines – Kenneth Green (Toronto Sun – August 1, 2023)

August 2, 2023

https://torontosun.com/

Kenneth Green is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute

Recently on Twitter, Alberta MP Shannon Stubbs, Tory shadow minister for the environment, put forth a series of tweets on Ontario’s Ring of Fire region, heretofore a promised land of metals and minerals invoked as an enabling resource for the Trudeau government’s electric vehicle (EV) dreams.

Her Twitter thread has a lot of politicking we’ll ignore, but Stubbs raises one particularly salient point that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the mainstream media — the policy hypocrisy of Canada’s EV transition policies.

Exploring the rise of ‘economic reconciliation’ in Canada – by Brett Forester (CBC News Indigenous – July 2023)

July 27, 2023

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

Canadian institutions are adding a new buzzword to their Indigenous agenda. But what does it really mean?

As the luminaries of the Indigenous finance world met for a luncheon on “economic reconciliation” last month, they found themselves seated in a building honouring a man who helped ensure their peoples’ exclusion from the Canadian economy for more than a century.

Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, now lends his name to a former bank building across from Parliament Hill, an imposing granite and limestone structure with marble-panelled walls, ornate stone carvings and bronze banisters. For many gathered there, it represented precisely the sort of wealth they say Indigenous lands have yielded Canada, but which the country’s early leaders guaranteed Indigenous peoples wouldn’t see.

Leaders of northern First Nations rally at Queen’s Park against Ontario’s mining push – by Kris Ketonen (CBC News Thunder Bay – July 20, 2023)

July 21, 2023

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

First Nations Land Defence Alliance urges halt to mining exploration on traditional lands

People from five northern First Nations rallied outside Queen’s Park on Thursday to call for a halt to provincial mining explorations on traditional lands, saying the Ontario government has not fulfilled its obligation to consult.

Leaders of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Wapekeka, Neskantaga, Grassy Narrows and Muskrat Dam First Nations — members of the First Nations Land Defence Alliance — were among those who gathered outside the Ministry of Mines building in Toronto.

Ontario First Nations group protests against Doug Ford’s mining policies, alleging shoddy consultation – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 21, 2023)

July 21, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A group of five Ontario First Nations staged a rally in Toronto on Thursday, protesting Premier Doug Ford’s mining policies as detrimental to the land they depend upon for sustenance, and accusing him of failing to adequately consult with them on development.

Attended by several hundred people, the rally follows a much smaller protest at the Ontario Legislature in the spring, and comes before a much bigger march planned for September that is aimed at marshalling broad-based public support for First Nations opposed to the Ontario government’s pro-development stance.