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Sudbury Basin

Column: Why tear down the Superstack? Turn it into a tourist attraction – by Judith Van Boxel (Sudbury Star – May 17, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

We are about to destroy the Superstack. What a wasted opportunity

Some years ago when I was a business owner, I was also a member of the Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. At the time, the chamber was interested in the potential of Sudbury as a tourism destination in Ontario and I was asked to come up with an idea that would explore that possibility.

Together with a few friends who were local lodge operators and with added help from the Sudbury amateur radio operators, local army cadets and others, we attracted several hot air balloon pilots to Sudbury. One weekend in the summer, we hosted the first and only Sudbury Hot Air Balloon Festival that took place from the Lily Creek playing fields .

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Column: Sudbury impact crater has created modern-day advantages – by Tim Philp (Sudbury Star – May 12, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Imagine, if you will, a calm, peaceful day in the middle of a shallow sea 1.8 billion years ago in the area of Sudbury Ontario. There was very little in the way of life on the planet, and what was there was mostly tiny life-forms somewhat akin to the bacteria of today. There would be little recognizable in the landscape due to the changes that the earth has undergone due to the shifting of the continents.

Suddenly, everything would have changed. Coming down from the sky, a large comet composed of water, dust, and rock strikes the planet with incredible force. This comet, between 10 and 16 kilometres across would have struck the planet at speeds of tens of kilometres per second, hardly even noticing the earth’s atmosphere as it plunged into the ground, deforming the earth’s crust up to 16 kilometres below the surface, creating a crater more than 250 kilometres across.

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Sudbury: Ancient Apocalypse to Modern Resource – by Ian Burron Ian (Geology For Investors – January 25, 2022)

Home

The Sudbury basin was formed by a 10-15 km wide asteroid or comet impacting a shallow sea in what is now central Ontario, Canada 1.85 billion years ago. The resulting ~200-250 km wide crater is the second largest known in the world, being much larger than the 150 km Chicxulub crater formed by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. If such as impact were to occur today it would certainly spell the end of life as we know it.

The basin is one of the oldest craters still in existence and has been deformed and eroded into its’ present oval shape and 60 km size. Although the basin itself is not easily recognizable as a crater, smaller scale features such as shatter cones are well known in the area, and a layer of rock fragments blasted out of the crater have been mapped as far away as Minnesota, some 800 km distant. A layer of ash and debris likely encircled the entire planet at the time.

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Nickel Rim South Mine wins national safety award – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – May 9, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Sudbury INO Nickel Rim South Mine named as winner of the National Metal Mine John T. Ryan Award for mine safety

Another major Sudbury mining operation has been recognized for a national mine safety achievement. Nickel Rim South Mine (Sudbury INO) has been named as winner of the John T. Ryan National Metal Mine safety award for 2022.

This follows the equally positive announcement that came out last week that Vale’s Coleman Mine won the regional Ryan Award. It was at the same time that Vale revealed the national John T. Ryan Trophy for 2022 in the Select Mines category for outstanding safety was awarded to the Voisey’s Bay Mine.

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Innovation cluster building roadmap for Northern expertise – by Lindsay Kelly (Sudbury.com – May 10, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Laurentian University-led initiative will harness knowledge of critical minerals, EV, clean-tech development

Advancing an idea from the research stage toward commercialization can be tricky business for mining entrepreneurs, but a new innovation cluster wants to make it easier for Northern Ontario companies to make that leap.

Announced in April, the cluster comprises Laurentian University in Sudbury, which will lead the initiative, Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Nipissing University in North Bay, and Trent University in Peterborough.

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The Drift: Nickel remains a key exploration driver in the Sudbury basin – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 11, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Two junior miners look to breathe new life into dormant metal properties

Nickel remains the driving force in Sudbury’s mineral exploration scene. A pair of local junior miners with big ambitions to put two former mine properties into production are posting some encouraging exploration results.

Magna Mining reported high-grade nickel and copper drill hits from a diamond drilling program carried out last fall at its Crean Hill property on the west end of the Sudbury basin. The last of the assay results were released last month.

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Sudbury researchers begin to tackle mining on the moon – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – April 4, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation gauging level of interest from miners and bankers in lunar investment

A mining area formed by an impact from space could now have an impact on how resources are extracted in space. Scientists seem a bit divided on whether it was a comet or meteorite that accounts for the Sudbury basin, but folks at the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation are pretty confident that local companies can contribute expertise and eventually investment capital to the harvesting of materials on the moon and other balls of extraterrestrial rock.

The centre, headquartered on Maley Drive, recently distributed a survey among the “mining investment ecosystem” — a field that ranges from prospectors and exploration outfits to banks and major miners — to gauge their level of interest in lunar investment.

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Supporting development a focus of Sudbury mayor – by Ian Campbell (CTV News Northern Ontario – April 2, 2023)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

City officials said there are nine working mines within the city limits right now and that
could easily jump to 15 in the coming years.

Greater Sudbury’s mayor wants supporting development to be a priority for the city as he looks to create a new committee of council. Mayor Paul Lefebvre recently announced that he’ll be creating a committee that looks at supporting the city’s policies and processes around both residential and non-residential development.

“It’s about trying to attract more businesses here and we need more residential development so how can we ensure that we have the best practices here in Greater Sudbury,” he said. “Looking around the province, best practices when it comes to municipal bylaws, investments and when it comes to permitting processes as soon as we can.”

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Reflections on the Inco Superstack – by Jonathan Migneault (CBC News Sudbury – March 14, 2023)

Stan Sudol PhotoStan Sudol Photo

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

Built in 1972 to clean up Sudbury’s environment and decommissioned in 2020, Canada’s onetime tallest freestanding structure is still standing

For Matteo Campagnaro, working on the Inco Superstack — Canada’s tallest structure for a brief time — was a pleasure. Campagnaro, who immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1965, said his time on the Superstack, from 1969 to 1972, made him fall in love with northern Ontario.

“The hunting, the lakes, the fish, the atmosphere, the outdoors, the friendly people — this is the best place in the world,” he said. Thanks to his job as a welder, he met his wife in Sudbury. They have two children and a grandson, and still live in Sudbury’s south end.

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Sudbury, A to Z – by Peter Carter (Pete’s Blog and Grille – March 6, 2023)

http://www.petesblogandgrille.com/

In June of this year, about 200 members of the Canadian Travel Media Association will be meeting in my hometown of Sudbury, Ont., for their annual conference. While I am neither a member of the travel media association nor did the organizers ask my help, I thought I would create this list of things those visitors to Sudbury should know about so they’ll return home knowing that–of all the places on the planet that they have ever visited–my hometown is one of the–if not the–most significant.

I’m serious. What makes a tourist destination worth remembering? Geography? Historic events? Architecture? Local wines? Famous people? Big battles? Stuff you can’t see anywhere else, like the famous terracotta armies buried in the tomb of the first emperor of China around 200 B.C?

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Sudbury’s regreening expertise taking root in Peru (Northern Ontario Business – March 17, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

City of Greater Sudbury signs letter of intent with Peruvian region to promote innovation and cooperation

Sudbury’s environmental remediation expertise is being exported to Peru. The City of Greater Sudbury and the regional government of Moquegua, two international mining centres, have signed a letter of intent of cooperation during the recent PDAC mining show in Toronto earlier this month.

According to a city news release, this alliance letter recently signed is a formal relationship builder between the Nickel City and this region of Peru with the intention that it will mutually “stimulate economic development, workforce development, battery and microchips development, research and remediation technology, and curricula transfer, helping people and businesses on both sides of the Americas thrive.”

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Sudbury nickel juniors build on region’s history as a metal powerhouse – by Kelsey Rolfe (Northern Miner – March 8, 2023)

Global mining news

Amid an increasing demand for nickel, driven largely by the growing need for electric vehicle batteries, a handful of exploration companies are making their mark in Sudbury’s historic and prolific nickel mining camp.

Magna Mining (TSXV: NICU), SPC Nickel Corp. (TSXV: SPC) and Archer Exploration (CSE: RCHR), which all have properties in the region of northern Ontario, have announced a series of promising drill results and asset acquisitions in recent months.

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Sudbury’s mine waste worth billions; new project to find ways of extracting valuable minerals – by Staff (Sudbury Star – March 8, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale, province to pay for new industrial research chair program in biomining and bioremediation to be based in Sudbury

Mine waste in the Sudbury area may be worth billions and it’s Nadia Mykytczuk’s job to find ways using bacteria to extract the valuable nickel, copper and other critical minerals out of them.

Her job got a lot easier Wednesday when Vale Energy Transition Metals and the provincial government announced money to support a new industrial research chair program in biomining and bioremediation that she will lead in Sudbury. Vale Energy committed $875,000 over five years to the Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation, and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO) at Laurentian University.

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Clean and green mining in Sudbury takes a step forward – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 7, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Vale and Queen’s Park offer up $1.6 million to tackle mining waste and advance bio-mining innovation

A new and environmentally benign form of Sudbury’s mining industry just took a great leap forward with a more than $1.6 million contribution from international nickel miner Vale and the Ontario government.

Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation, and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO) at Laurentian University and its research leader Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk are the recipients of this largess that will be earmarked for the organization’s bio-mining and remediation efforts in tackling mine waste.

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The Drift: Glencore hopes to attract ‘best and brightest’ to Sudbury mining electric vehicle lab – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – March 3, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Glencore Sudbury INO’s $350,000 donation to Cambrian College will be ‘transformative gift’ in advancing BEV innovation

Growing up, Matteo Neville was the kind of kid who spent his time taking apart motors and engines just so he could figure out how they worked.

He was fascinated by robotics and technology, electronics and programming, so when he decided to return to school as a mature student, he was immediately drawn to Cambrian College’s mechatronics program.

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