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Sudbury Basin

Times tough for miners all over – by Reuters/Star Staff (Sudbury Star – September 22, 2015)

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

Europe’s No. 2 copper producer Poland’s KGHM said on Monday it would put its McCreedy West copper mine in Sudbury on care and maintenance, the latest victim of sinking prices as worries about demand from China fuel the biggest market rout in years.

Copper prices plunged to six-year lows below $5,000 a tonne last month. They have since recovered to just under $5,300 a tonne, but that’s still about 18 per cent below the 2015 peak.

Also feeding the downward spiral were expectations of a small surplus this year and a larger one in 2016.

Major miners have up until recently mostly refrained from cutting production, but prices have now fallen to levels where some operations are no longer economically viable.

Mining giants Glencore and Freeport have waved the white flag and announced plans to suspend some of their copper production.

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KGHM to shut down McCreedy mine: Union – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – September 21, 2015)

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

In the face of weak commodity prices, KGHM International will shut down the McCreedy West Mine next month, the union representing representing workers there told the Sudbury Star on Sunday.

Myles Sullivan, area co-ordinator for the United Steelworkers, said the company has informed members the mine will be placed under care and maintenance effective Oct. 1, affecting about 25 employees.

“In total, there’s about 40 of our members that are being laid off locally,” Sullivan said.

“It’s really hard. Things are tough in mining right now, with the price of nickel and copper and everything being low. We kind of hoped the (lower) dollar would help offset some of that and I’m sure it’s helping, but it’s still not enough.”

Based on seniority and qualifications, Sullivan said, some workers from McCreedy may have the opportunity to work at the nearby Morrison deposit. Attempts to contact a KGHM representative for comment on the weekend were not immediately successful.

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Sudbury’s Wallbridge Mining signs $11-million deal – by Staff (Sudbury Star – September 17, 2015)

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

Lonmin Canada Inc. and Lonmin Plc will spend $11 million over four years in a joint venture agreement with Sudbury-based Wallbridge Mining Company Limited.

In exchange, Lonmin can earn up to a 50 per cent interest in Wallbridge’s four Parkin Properties located North of Sudbury. The deal was announced Wednesday.

“Our business plan … focuses on acquiring value-accretive near-term production opportunities, as well as advancing our exploration properties, including our Parkin Properties, through joint venture partnerships,” Marz Kord, president and CEO of Wallbridge, said in a release.

“I am pleased that we have not only advanced our discussions regarding some external assets, but have now amended the (North Range Joint Venture agreement) with Lonmin to include our Parkin Properties. This plan provides the company with sustainable cash flow, while maintaining active exploration for large-scale discovery upside in the Sudbury camp.

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Recession has little impact on Sudbury [mining]: Chamber – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – September 02, 2015)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Mining supply and services remain steady, but not great

While Canada officially entered a recession Tuesday, it has mostly been business as usual for the last two quarters in Sudbury, says the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

“I think Sudbury, as a whole, is doing reasonably well,” said Karen Hourtovenko, chair of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

Statistics Canada announced Tuesday Canada’s gross domestic product decreased by 0.5 per cent between April and June, which marked the second GDP decline in as many quarters. The technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.

The recession has been driven by a slump in the oil and gas sector, but other sectors of the economy have seen more positive growth. The resale housing market, for example, increased nearly 10 per cent in the same quarter.

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Low nickel price ‘not sustainable’ – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – September 4, 2015)

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

Bring on the monsoon.

It may seem like a strange wish to make from a part of the world that is more likely to get a freak autumn snowfall than a drenching from rain-laden ocean winds, but it could help a domestic mining industry that has been rocked of late by low nickel prices.

“Right now we’re about two-thirds of the way through the peak shipping season for laterite nickel ore from the Phillipines, which is the primary exporter to China,” said Mark Selby, a former Inco executive now heading up Royal Nickel, a Toronto-based junior mining company.

Laterite ore — which Selby describes as “basically soggy dirt sitting at the surface” — is cheaper to mine than the sulphide ore in Sudbury, but complicated to process.

China, which converts it to so-called pig iron once coke is added to it in a furnace, does a brisk trade with laterite providers from the Phillipines and (before an export ban was imposed) Indonesia.

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KGHM, Metis Nation strike Victoria Mine agreement – by Staff (Sudbury Star – September 4, 2015)

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

The Metis Nation of Ontario and KGHM International Ltd. announced Thursday a deal covering development of the Victoria Mine project in Sudbury.

The memorandum of understanding will guide their working relationship as the mine is being prepared for a 2017 opening.

“This agreement is very important to the Metis people because it guarantees that Metis rights will be protected and the Metis way of life in the Sudbury area is being respected,” Metis Nation of Ontario chair France Picotte said in a release.

“We are pleased to continue working with KGHM. Agreements like this one are another benefit that we see coming from the MNO-Ontario Framework Agreement, which was first signed in 2008 and renewed this past year.”

In 2012, KGHM announced plans to spend $750-million to redevelop Victoria Mine near Worthington. One of Sudbury’s oldest and most prolific mines, Victoria would employ more than 200 full-time workers by the time it goes back into full production in 2017. It would produce copper and nickel.

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Sudbury group to build the ‘mine of the future’ – by Staff (Sudbury Star – August 28, 2015)

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

NORCAT has announced new strategic partnerships with four local companies to help expedite the agency’s vision of building the “mine of the future” in Northern Ontario.

Equipment World, Fuller Industrial, Spectrum Group and K4 Integration will provide the NORCAT Underground Centre with state-of-the-art technology to not only advance the facility, but also to demonstrate leading innovation available to the global mining industry.

“The NORCAT Underground Centre is a unique facility,” Don Duval, the CEO of NORCAT, said in a release. “We’re the only non-profit organization in the world that has an operating mine that provides both start-up tech ventures and multi-national companies the resources, expertise and equipment to enable them to design, test and ultimately showcase new and innovative products in an operating mine environment.”

Fuller Industrial, which delivers and maintains process piping systems and corrosion, and abrasion resistance, will provide the Underground Centre with best-in-class engineered piping for high compression air and water.

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[Sudbury, Canada] From barren rock to lush forests – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – September 2015)

This article was originally published in the September 2015 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.

Restoring the Sudbury Basin to its original state

Delegates to the 6th Mining and Environment International Conference in Sudbury June 20 to 25 received an update on the Sudbury Regreening Program and were able to see for themselves the steady progress the city has made in reversing the devastating effects of early mining activity in the region.

For the first few decades of the program, regreening activity focused on the liming of barren lands, seeding them with a grass and legume mixture and planting a limited variety of trees.

However, a major rethink and broadening of the program was triggered by the release of the Sudbury Soil Study’s ecological risk assessment in 2009, noted Stephen Monet, manager of environmental planning initiatives for the City of Greater Sudbury.

“The ecological risk assessment basically told us that we still had a lot of work to do and that there were still a lot of biologically impoverished areas. That led Vale, Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations and the City to move forward with a Biodiversity Action Plan.”

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Milkweed takes root on Vale slag pile – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 21, 2015)

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.

The mountainous slag piles at nickel miner Vale in Sudbury are becoming a favourite landing spot for one of nature’s most threatened species.

A milkweed patch has also been established at the base of the waste industrial material on the periphery of the company’s Copper Cliff smelter complex in an effort to attract and boost the declining monarch butterfly population.

Long considered a nuisance plant, milkweed has been disappearing fast in recent decades due to the use of chemical herbicides and deforestation. The plant is crucial to the survival of the monarch butterfly on its journey between Mexico and Canada. It’s the only suitable plant for monarch to lay their eggs and is also a main food source of monarch caterpillars.

Lisa Lanteigne, Vale’s manager of environment, soil and water, first noticed the hardy perennial growing naturally at her Manitoulin Island cottage.

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FNI locks gates at Lockerby mine site – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – August 20, 2015)

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

The lay-off notices have been issued and nearly three dozen miners are out of work.

Anne-Marie MacInnis, president of Mine Mill Local 598-Unifor, said Thursday she received an email at about 5 a.m. informing her that First Nickel Inc. (FNI) was shuttering operations at its Lockerby mine site, located off Highway 17 near Fairbank Lake.

Effective immediately, 35 of the union’s members have been laid off. “People are feeling surprised,” she told The Star on Thursday. “They showed up today and the gates were locked.”

MacInnis is currently liaising with the union’s legal department to settle severance for affected employees. “I will be talking to the legal department to see if we have any kind of legal action we can take on behalf of our members,” she said.

MacInnis said her members could be eligible for a federally-funded severance program, but only to a maximum of $3,800. It would also mean they would relinquish any recall rights.

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Time to ’embrace’ Sudbury’s mining heritage – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – August 20, 2015)

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

Up, up and away we rose, into the clouds and swirling winds over Copper Cliff. It was my first-ever helicopter ride and an exhilarating way to spend 15 minutes on a Wednesday afternoon.

My hawk’s eye view of the Vale smelter complex was unparalleled and unforgettable. The tailings ponds were all shades of Pantone pretty and deep in the belly of the vast property, there was a gigantic hole in the ground. It looked like it may have been an old quarry or open-pit mine, long disused and perhaps one of the first spots in town to be mined.

The ride, courtesy of the Canadian Shield Consultants Agency, was part of the annual North American Mining Expo (NAME). The trade show extravaganza included more than 300 vendors and exhibitors from around the world — many with massive multi-wheeled, motorized rigs in tow — spread over the Copper Cliff curling club, McClelland Arena and Veterans Road.

Jay Cornelsen, national publicity director with Canadian Trade-Ex, suggested the Nickel City offers unparalleled strengths in terms of mining expertise and innovation.

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Copper Cliff takes leak in stride – by Ryan Byrne (Sudbury Star – August 14, 2015)

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

Thursday’s leak of nitrogen dioxide at Vale’s acid plant has at least one Copper Cliff resident thinking.

Carrie Calvano said the situation was scary. “I didn’t hear (the horn) initially and then when I went to let my dog out, I heard the sirens and the trucks and everything coming in – I even had my radio on,” Calvano said.

“I closed everything and got my husband out of bed and said, ‘OK, let’s see what happens.'” Calvano said she received a call from her work telling her not to come in until the situation was resolved.

“It was scary – we had to let our dog out and she really had to go, but we had to wait and she doesn’t understand. We had phone calls from all the relatives making sure we were OK.”

Calvano said she has been living in Copper Cliff for 14 years worry free, but has been re-evaluating her lack of concern after yesterday’s events.

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Gas leak didn’t endanger public: Vale – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – August 14, 2015)

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

It was a tense Thursday morning for those who live and work in Copper Cliff and the surrounding area, but no injuries have been reported after two gases combined to form a toxic mist at the Vale acid plant.

While a joint investigation into the cause of the gas leak is still ongoing, company officials said there was a larger-than-expected reaction between water used to wash out a cooling tower and the acid remaining inside. That created a yellow plume of NOx, a combination of nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide, in the air above the site.

Exposure to nitrogen dioxide can cause irritation of the nose, throat, eyes, skin and respiratory system. Large doses are potentially fatal. The gas is also a major pollutant that plays a role in causing smog.

Air horns began sounding at the smelter around 6 a.m. and a Level 3 emergency, denoting a release of hazardous material, was called. Police and emergency services personnel responded and roads around the area were closed to traffic, while residents were cautioned through local media to remain indoors.

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More trouble for snakebit Sudbury mine – by Jonathan Migneault (Northern Ontario Business – August 4, 2015)

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.

A weekend underground explosion at First Nickel’s Lockerby Mine in Sudbury on Aug. 2 resulted in minor injuries and smoke inhalation for one worker, confirmed the company’s president and CEO.

“There was an explosion this morning (Aug. 2) that resulted in a worker requiring a medical aid – nothing serious,” said First Nickel president and CEO Thomas Boehlert in an email to Northern Ontario Business. “As we do not run a shift on Sunday, we will be assessing the situation underground tomorrow.”

In a later release, the company reported that three other workers were checked for smoke inhalation and released without medical treatment.

The company said it is investigating the cause of the incident and planned to resume operations the following day. It’s unknown if the Ministry of Labour is investigating.

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Sudbury study to examine mental health of miners – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – July 24, 2015)

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

A research project on the mental health of workers in the mining industry is exactly the type of study Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn would like to see more of in Ontario.

The three-year, $400,000 study, funded by Vale Ltd., is a partnership among the mining company, United Steelworkers and Laurentian University’s Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH).

The goal of the study, called Mining Mental Health, is to collect information to develop strategies to promote strong mental health among workers in Vale’s Ontario operations.

Flynn paid his first visit to a mine earlier this year when he went underground at Vale’s Coleman Mine.

Travelling 5,000 feet below surface “was quite the experience for a city kid,” Flynn told about 100 people in the lobby of Laurentian’s Ben Avery building Thursday.

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