Sudbury Basin – Page 40 – Republic of Mining

A new industry that uses bacteria to remediate old mines? – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury.com – May 9, 2016)

May 9, 2016

https://www.sudbury.com/

Province grants Laurentian $630,000 to create an Industrial Research Chair position in bio-mining, bio-remediation and science communication

A new Laurentian University Industrial Research Chair position in bio-mining, bio-remediation and science communication has the potential to kickstart a new industry in Sudbury that could create hundreds, or even thousands of jobs, says the director of the Vale Living with Lakes Centre.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say there will be an entire industry built around this,” saidLaurentian professor John Gunn, who is also the Canada Research Chair for stressed aquatic systems. “The demands are so big.”

Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault announced Monday the province is investing more than $630,000 through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to create the five-year research chair position at the university.

USW stalwart in Sudbury retires after 50 years – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 9, 2016)

May 9, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

In more than 50 years with United Steelworkers Local 6500, Angela Paquin worked for 11 of the 12 presidents of the city’s most powerful trade union, privy to the most confidential inner workings of the organization. But no matter who her boss was, it was always the members to whom Paquin felt the most loyalty.

Paquin went to work in the general administration office of United Steelworkers Local 6500 in 1965, just three years after the union was formed. Local 6500 had almost 20,000 members then. She was 18 and had just graduated from College Notre Dame.

Paquin had cut her teeth on mining and unionism. Her father, Roger Paquin, worked at Inco’s Coniston and Copper Cliff smelters, and was a founding member of USW Local 6500.

[CEMI Doug Morrison Interview] Sudbury mining companies remain cautious as industry slowly rebounds (CBC Sudbury News – May 2, 2016)

May 3, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

A veteran mining engineer says commodity prices have turned the corner, but spending and jobs may not follow right away. Sudbury’s George Darling, who says he has worked in the business for 40 years says February marked the lowest point for nickel and copper prices.

They’ve been slowly rising since, based on consumption in the United States and China. But mining companies continue to be cautious. On Friday, KGHM announced it’s reducing the pace of development at its Victoria project in Sudbury.

Darling said companies will continue to be conservative until they’re sure the downturn is over. “Once you’re at the bottom, it’s very hard to predict how fast things are going to come up again,” he told CBC News. “Then capital spending stays slow until we see a sustainable high level of prices.”

CROSH in Sudbury receives $1.2M for research – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 30, 2016)

May 2, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Research being conducted at Laurentian University will make it safer for workers to go underground, work in construction, operate heavy machinery and make office environments less stressful.

The Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health, or CROSH, has received $1.2 million in new funding to help make that happen. CROSH received more than $1 million to purchase and equip a mobile laboratory and conduct research, and almost $2,000 to construct a workplace simulator.

An announcement about the funding was made Friday at the Ben Avery Building at Laurentian. The mobile laboratory or M-CROSH will equip researchers to travel the North and enable research in areas such as musculoskeletal disorders, mobile equipment ergonomics, vibration, air quality, fatigue management and mental health.

Sudbury forum: Leap Manifesto the future – by Steve May (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2016)

May 2, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Rarely I have a read an editorial as disconnected from reality as the Point of View piece, “Leap Manifesto a threat to Sudbury, NDP,” published April 13, 2016. The Leap Manifesto poses no risk to the mining industry, which helped build our local economy, and which will help transform Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire into a 21st century mineral extractive enterprise.

Leap offers a way forward for the Ring of Fire, where development has come to a grinding halt under Liberal and Conservative governments at the provincial and federal levels.

The Star’s editor contends that Leap’s goal is to shut down mining. Nothing could be further from the truth. The editor quotes directly from the Manifesto to bolster his case, but the quotes are selective. Missing is the piece of the Manifesto that refers to how mining and resource extraction must take place in a low-carbon future: by first obtaining a social license from people who make their homes in the areas impacted by the enterprise.

Delay, delay for KGHM’s Sudbury Victoria mine project – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 29, 2016)

April 29, 2016

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury’s next great base metals mine is “advancing,” but at a “reduced pace.” That’s the word coming from Polish mining giant KGHM International on its Victoria Mine project, lauded by many in the Sudbury camp as the next great nickel and base metals mine.

After some layoffs in March, the company issued an April 29 news release with a reassuring tone amid ongoing rumours in the community that the company might be mothballing the project.

“Although the anticipated date of commencement of construction of Victoria has been delayed, this does not impact other necessary and essential activities at Victoria,” said the release. “Development activities will continue to progress to ensure that the project is ready to commence construction when the market conditions for base metals improve.”

Sudbury forum: Lewis clan should be quiet – by Keith Lovely (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2016)

April 29, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Keith Lovely of Coniston is a former executive with Local 6500 of the United Steelworkers in Sudbury.

I have been a member of the NDP since 1973. Since that time, I have worked in many elections and still give money to the party today. I am not a hit-and-miss member unlike some so-called spokespeople for the NDP who are continually in the news from Toronto criticizing the NDP even though they are not even members.

It has been my experience there have been times when (former Ontario NDP leader) Stephen Lewis from Toronto likes to tell us lowly people from the outlining areas what is good for us. I can recall in 1978, when USWA Local 6500 was on strike against Inco. The leadership in District 6 located in Toronto was against this strike. Inco had a large stockpile (of nickel); the membership in Sudbury was well aware of this, but voted to strike anyway.

Lo and behold, just a few weeks after the strike started, Stephen Lewis from his perch in Toronto wrote a scathing article in the Toronto Star calling members of the bargaining committee “Archie Bunkers” of the left and he criticized us for going on strike.

[Mining Fatalities] ‘Never give up fight,’ Sudburians told – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star -April 29, 2016)

April 29, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Workers should fight to have inquests into mining deaths conducted sooner than four, five, six or even seven years after employees are killed on the job, to spare their families years of extra suffering, says a labour leader.

Families must relive, often in excruciating detail, accounts of how their loved ones died when coroner’s inquests are held. Delaying the inquiries only adds to the agony of families struggling to get on with their lives, according to Rick Bertrand.

The president of United Steelworkers Local 6500 said his union participated in two inquests in the last year, one in May 2015 into the June 2011 deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram at Vale’s Stobie Mine. The other was the inquest held in February into the January 2012 death of Stephen Perry at Vale’s Coleman Mine.

Southern Ontario sewage helps Sudbury nickel miner regreen its tailings (CBC News Sudbury – April 25, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Treated sewage is commonly used on farms in other parts of the province

As part of a green solution to mining pollution, truckloads of sewage are heading to nickel miner Vale’s tailings ponds in Sudbury, Ont. But unlike the stinky, untreated haul that once came from the city’s sewage treatment plants, this sewage comes from southern Ontario.

The black, manure-like biosolids are normally spread on farms in the south as fertilizer, but during the winter or other times it can’t be used for agriculture. Since 2014, the company has been mixing biolsolids with straw, hay and yard waste and using it to help re-green thousands of hectares of sandy, acidic mining waste.

“Tough place to be a tree,” says Vale’s superintendent of decommission and reclamation Glen Watson. “The biosolids ends up being an all-in-one solution for us, because the tailings themselves are very nutrient-poor and they’re metal rich. You can amend the surface of the tailings much like a farmer would.”

Trudeau announces $26.7M for Sudbury [mining] road project – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – April 8, 2016)

April 8, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Maley melee is finally over and the road will be built. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped by the Nickel City on Thursday to deliver a message and several million dollars for the Maley Drive extension project.

With a current price tag of $80.1 million for phase one, a three-way cost-sharing agreement will see the municipal, provincial and federal governments each contributing $26.7 million. The money comes from the Building Canada Fund and is part of about $120 billion the Liberals pledged to spend on infrastructure over 10 years in the budget they presented in March.

“This funding will help to create good jobs, better our communities and grow the middle class,” Trudeau said to a clapping crowd. “This $26.7 million investment will fund the creation of a new, much needed east-west arterial link through the city. This important initiative will reduce traffic congestion, improve commuter safety and get people home on time – and take ore trucks off Lasalle. My government is proud to invest in Sudbury and the people who call it home.”

Sudbury/Capreol firm lands space mining contract – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – April 7, 2016)

April 7, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

When mining begins on the moon or even Mars, a piece of technology developed in Sudbury may be one of the key tools – or multi-tools, rather.

Deltion Innovations Limited, a mining and automation robotics company based in Capreol, announced Wednesday it had been awarded a $700,000 contract as part of the Canadian Space Agency’s Space Technology Development Program, to develop PROMPT (Percussive and Rotary Multi-Purpose Tool), for potential use on exploration and prospecting missions on the moon or Mars.

Described as a “space-age Swiss Army knife,” PROMPT would combined elements of previous CSA-supported projects such as a mini-corer drill, power socket wrench tool and a lunar-sampling drill, all combined in a small, lightweight, but highly durable unit, installed on the end of a robotic manipulator arm.

Remain relentless: Sudbury safety conference – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 7, 2016)

April 7, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

A good deal of work has been done in the last year to act upon 18 recommendations in the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review, but people in the sector must be relentless about continuing that momentum, says a mining engineer.

“We can’t take our foot off the gas pedal,” the provincial co-ordinator of mining for the Ministry of Labour told more than 250 people Wednesday at a mining safety conference in Sudbury.

Several of those recommendations related to high hazards and risk assessments in underground mines, Barclay said at the Workplace Safety North Mining Health and Safety Conference at the Holiday Inn.

[Sudbury-based Deltion Innovations] Canadians to develop space mining tool – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 6, 2016)

April 6, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

The device would prospect for water, ice and resources on the moon and beyond. A Canadian company has inked a $700,000 contract with the country’s Space Agency (CSA) contract to develop a multi-purpose device designed for space mining.

Northern Ontario-based Deltion Innovations Ltd will work on the combination drill and rotary multi-use tool, or what the firm describes as a “space-age Swiss Army knife”.

The project, part of the CSA’s space technology development program, has been given the acronym “PROMPT” (Percussive and Rotary Multi-Purpose Tool), Canadian Press reports.

Sudbury finding ‘positive’ — Wallbridge Mining – by Staff (Sudbury Star – April 5, 2016)

April 5, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Wallbridge Mining Company Limited on Monday announced good results from a 12,000-metre drilling program on its flagship Parkin exploration project in Sudbury. One drill hole in particular uncovered nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, and gold at shallow depths.

“Wallbridge’s partner funded drilling in Sudbury continues to yield positive results,” Marz Kord, president and CEO of Wallbridge, said in a release, “In addition, following our recent success mining the Broken Hammer deposit, we are aggressively driving forward to identify our next mining opportunities.

“We see potential with continued drilling at Parkin for a near-term bulk sample pit and we continue to evaluate additional advanced stage projects in Ontario and Quebec with the objective of becoming an established and profitable producer,” Kord said.