Stan Sudol Columns/Media References and Appearances

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury Star columnist calls for a Trudeau ‘Marshall Plan’ for Ontario’s Ring of Fire

Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” mineral belt, located in the province’s remote James Bay Lowlands, is thought to hold more than $60 billion of geological riches. When it was discovered in 2007, it was supposed to usher in a new era of prosperity for Northern Ontario, especially for the impoverished First Nations communities in the region.

Almost a decade later, the ore remains in the ground and doesn’t appear to be coming out anytime soon. Thanks to the Ontario government’s ineptitude, dysfunctional mining policy, lack of promised infrastructure spending and (to a much lesser extent) a broader commodity slump, American miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. left the province in frustration in 2013, permanently halting its proposed US$3.3-billion chromite project.

The ultimate indignity for Ontario came last year, when Cliffs sold its US$550-million investment in the Ring of Fire to junior miner Noront Resources Ltd. — the only significant player left in the area — for a bargain-basement price of US$27.5 million.

At the present time, Noront is focused primarily on its bankable Eagles Nest nickel/copper/PGM property, valued at about $10 billion, which can be developed only if a proposed east-west road is built into the mining camp and has put its world-class chromite deposits on the backburner for the foreseeable future.

Read more

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

Ontario auditor-general Bonnie Lysyk’s value-for-money annual report, as it pertains to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, outlines a pattern of inaction by the Liberal government to do anything to develop the Ring of Fire.

The province has shirked its responsibility to consult with first nations near the Ring of Fire, leaving that up to private companies, says Lysyk in the report.

It created a Ring of Fire secretariat in 2010 that has 19 employees and has spent $13.2 million in the last five years while missing deadlines established by the ministry and lacking performance measures to assess its effectiveness.

Not a penny of the $1 billion promised by the province to develop Ring of Fire infrastructure has been spent, said the auditor-general.

Read more

https://www.snl.com/

When Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. suspended development on its chromite project in Ontario’s remote Ring of Fire in November 2013, many saw it as an opportunity for the province to get serious about addressing critical infrastructure and Aboriginal issues.

The Ring of Fire region, located in northwestern Ontario near the Manitoba border, is believed to possess between C$30 billion and C$50 billion in mineral resources, with Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines estimating its value as high as C$60 billion. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce argued that development will generate as much as C$9.4 billion in GDP and create up to 5,500 jobs on an annual basis, all within the first 10 years of development.

This would be a substantial boon for the region, which is home to numerous First Nations communities but with very little business development or opportunity, due to its lack of transportation infrastructure connecting it to the rest of the province.

In May 2014, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne pledged C$1 billion for infrastructure spending to encourage mineral development in the region if she were re-elected. Wynne also pledged to create a development corporation to encourage and oversee development there.

Read more

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

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part story.

Roads, the best way to find new deposits

One of the first priorities is road transportation. Last March at the PDAC mining convention, the federal and provincial governments jointly announced roughly $800,000 in funding for four of the five isolated First Nations – Webequie, Nibinamik, Neskantaga and Eabametoong – to begin consultations on an east-west road that will connect their communities and the Ring of Fire camp to the provincial highway system. A small baby step of progress.

However, Marten Falls is currently not part of this initiative. While this community is the smallest populated of the Matawa Tribal Council, it probably has the most clout as its traditional territory encompasses the Ring of Fire. Although Webequie is considerably closer to the mining camp, it didn’t receive full-reserve status until 2001. Hence it is critical that Martin Falls be strongly encouraged to join the consortium discussing the road connection.

Manitoba is currently undertaking a visionary initiative to build all-season roads on the east side of Lake Winnipeg (which has similar Canadian Shield geography as in Northwestern Ontario) to connect isolated First Nations communities. The primary reason for the establishment of the East Side Transportation Initiative is to lower travel costs for essential supplies to 13 Aboriginal communities. In addition, winter roads are becoming less dependable due to climate change.

Read more

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

Editor’s Note: This is first installment of a two-part story. The second will appear in the Monday edition of The Star.

There has been much commentary about healing and rapprochement with Canada’s First Nations due to the recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on the horrific abuse Aboriginal children experienced at residential schools during the last century.

However, if Ontario, which has the largest population of First Nations people in the country, truly wants to make amends for the sins of the past, then we need to look at “economic and social reconciliation” as our primary vehicle for restitution.

Until every First Nation community in the province has the same level of infrastructure and social services as non-Aboriginal towns and cities, most of the remorseful speeches by guilty white politicians are nothing more than hot air.

Without a doubt, some of the most destitute and impoverished First Nations communities are located in Ontario’s mineral-rich but isolated northwest, near the Ring of Fire – the most significant Canadian mineral discovery in almost a century – and in the regions to the west.

Read more

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

Two first nation communities in the James Bay lowlands are protesting the proposed takeover of Ring of Fire assets by a Toronto-based company. In early March, Noront Resources Inc. announced it plans to buy the chromite assets owned by Cliffs Natural Resources, based out of Cleveland, for $20 million.

The chiefs of Marten Falls and Aroland First Nations, however, are now speaking out against this move, saying it will tread on their rights and prevent them from reaping the economic opportunities to which they are entitled.

“Our first nations have effectively been denied a real opportunity to benefit from key resources in our lands on our terms,” said Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation in a release issued Friday. “This unilateral move by Noront is unacceptable to our first nations.”

Bruce Achneepineskum, interim chief of Marten Falls First Nation, said the deal represents an “old way of thinking” when it comes to development in native lands.

“Progressive mining companies are inclusive, share resources equitably with indigenous peoples, and know that only real partnerships protect our rights, interests and environment,” he argued in the release.

Read more