Twitter

Sudbury Basin

‘One death one too many’ – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2013)

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

The NDP will throw its support behind a push from community organizations for Ontario to have an inquiry on mining deaths in the province, said provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath during the Workers Day of Mourning in Subury.

“There hasn’t been a review or change to legislation in over 30 years,” said Horwath to a large crowd gathered at the Tom Davies Square council chambers to pay homage to people who have died on the job.

“That’s why we continue to see people’s lives be put at risk in mines, and that’s not acceptable.”

An organization called Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone’s Support (MINES) has lobbied the government to call an inquiry into Ontario mine safety after two miners were killed in Sudbury’s Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011. Since 2007, 11 workers have died on the job in Ontario mines.

“It’s frustrating and damning on all of us that we still have a situation in the province of Ontario where people are not sure they can go to work in the morning and are going to come home in the evening,” Horwath told media after her speech Sunday morning.

Sunday’s ceremony was the 29th International Workers Day of Mourning.

Read more

Homer Seguin honoured at Day of Mourning ceremonies – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – April 28, 2013)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

The late labour leader was on everyone’s mind at the annual day to honour people who have died from work

Homer Seguin and his legacy fighting for workplace health and safety was top of mind at ceremonies held Sunday to mark the Day of Mourning.

The event is held to honour those who have died while on the job, or from work-related illness. United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard told a crowd gathered at Tom Davies that Seguin was an inspirational man who proved that one person can make significant change.

“That scoundrel Homer planned everything,” Gerard joked. “He even decided to die on the weekend of the Day of Mourning.” But in life, Gerard said, Seguin made a huge difference, helping to educate people, as well as sparking legislative changes that have improved the safety of workers everywhere.

“Every one of us could make that kind of difference,” Gerard said, speaking to a packed council chambers. “The last time I talked to him, he said, ‘Leo, when I beat this, we still have more work to do.’ He was in his hospital bed. He didn’t have long to go, but he was still there, talking about the work he had to do.”

Read more

Sudbury loses labour legend – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 26, 2013)

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

A man who fought all his life to improve workplaces so employees wouldn’t get cancer and other illnesses from working in them, and who battled to get people compensation if they did get sick at work, died Friday morning.

Homer Seguin, a long-time health and safety activist and occupational disease specialist with United Steelworkers, died at age 79.

Long-time friend Leo Gerard, international president of United Steelworkers, said Seguin’s death was doubly ironic. He died of lung cancer and he died the weekend that his union is commemorating the Workers’ Day of Mourning.

Gerard said his friendship with Seguin spans his entire union career. “Homer’s a pioneer in so many ways,” said Gerard. “There’s just so many stories we could tell.”

From his years of working in Elliot Lake uranium mines, Seguin became such an expert in radiation, USW sent him to France for a global radiation conference where Seguin made a presentation. When he completed it, he received a huge ovation and the master of ceremonies thanked “Dr. Seguin for his terrific presentation.”

Read more

Nickel City digs in to recognize mining industry – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – April 24, 2013)

 http://www.northernlife.ca/

The city built on rock is gearing up to celebrate a week dedicated to Modern Mining and Technology Sudbury, which runs April 27-May 4.

A number of events are planned for the week, which kicks off Saturday with a Mining Industry Display and Career Fair from 9 a.m. To 5 p.m. at the New Sudbury Centre.

The event offers an opportunity for everyone to learn about mining and mining-related industries. In 2011, roughly 36 per cent of Sudburians were working in mining.

About 30 per cent of workers across northeastern Ontario worked in mining, and 19 per cent in northwestern Ontario. Employment in the southern part of the province, which is home to a number of non-metal mines, as well as mining head offices in Toronto, represented 15 per cent in 2011.

The mall display has evolved to include a career fair highlighted by mining exhibits, industry experts, mining supply and services providers and representations from government and educational institutions.

Read more

[Mine safety] Inquiry seekers gain ear -by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 22, 2013)

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

Two members of a group lobbying to make mining safer in Ontario will take their case to Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi and Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle in Toronto on Tuesday.

Wendy Fram, the mother of one of two miners killed at Vale’s Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011, is chair of a group called MINES (Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone’s Support).

Her son, Jordan, 26, was killed while working with Jason Chenier, 35, when they were crushed by a run of 350 tons of muck at the mine’s 3,000-foot level near the No. 7 ore pass.

Fram and Sudbury community activist Gerry Lougheed Jr., who has been helping with the MINES campaign, have secured a meeting with the ministers to press their demand for an inquiry.

Fram knows it’s a long shot, and has been thinking about what she’ll say to the ministers since she heard from Lougheed late Friday that the pair had secured a meeting with the politicians.

Coincidentally, a letter from Fram appeared Friday in The Sudbury Star, in which she said she was frustrated “with the silence on this topic from Queen’s Park,” especially with Workers’ Memorial Day scheduled for April 28.

Read more

Cliffs remains optimistic – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 19, 2013)

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

Developing its Black Thor deposit in the Ring of Fire continues to be “a viable business opportunity” for the Cleveland-based mining company, says its spokeswoman.

A Reuters story this week, suggesting Cliffs’ failing finances could jeopardize its $3.3-billion investment in the chromite deposit, is speculation, said Patricia Persico.

According to Reuters, Cliffs has been hurt by weak iron ore prices and higher than anticipated costs for a key project, Bloom Lake iron ore in Quebec. Part of that $3.3-billion investment is a $1.8-billion ferrochrome processing plant to be built near Capreol.

“Cliffs has not made any announcements contrary to what we’ve stated to date about our chromite project,” said Persico in an email this week. The feasibility study for the chromite project is expected to be completed on schedule, by the end of September, and “work on all fronts, including discussions with First Nations and the (Province) of Ontario, continue to be encouraging,” she said.

Cliffs is also working with the Government of Canada “on many levels” to move the chromite project forward, said Persico.

Read more

Nickel prices a huge challenge: Vale VP – Staff (Sudbury Northern Life – April 16, 2013)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Strong says $7 nickel today equals $2.50 a decade ago

Current nickel prices of a little more than $7 a pound are comparable to $2.50 a pound a decade ago, creating huge challenges for Sudbury’s largest nickel miner.

Kelly Strong, Vale’s vice-president of Ontario and UK operations, made the comparison Tuesday at a packed luncheon at the Howard Johnson in Sudbury, hosted by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

Strong said several factors have substantially increased mining costs, including oil prices that have increased by 350 per cent, and the Canadian dollar, which has increased in value by 60 per cent compared to the U.S. dollar.

“Today’s prices are actually as low as historical recessionary prices,” Strong said. “And those of us who lived through those price cycles know how challenging they were.”

He also paid tribute to three miners who were killed on the job at Vale – Jordan Fram, Jason Chenier and Stephen Perry. Strong said the company has gone through a dark period and has put a renewed emphasis on safety.

Read more

Vale’s commitment to Sudbury exemplified with $2.7 billion investment: Strong – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 17, 2013)

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

Anyone who doubts the commitment of Vale to Sudbury need look no further than a spread sheet, according to a Vale executive.

The Brazil-based miner invested $2.7 billion in Sudbury from 2007-12 – equivalent to the cost of building eight hospitals the size of Health Sciences North.

Another way of look at it is this: $2.7 billion is the approximate net worth of Oprah Winfrey, Kelly Strong told an audience Tuesday at a luncheon sponsored by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

Strong delivered the message 225 people wanted to hear – that Vale has a long and bright future in the Nickel City and intends to spend billions more here in the next few years.

Appointed vice-president of Ontario and U.K. operations by Vale in November, Strong gave his first major public speech at the luncheon. Sudbury can expect to hear more from the mining engineer turned executive, whose hometown is Espanola.

After an aggressive period of growth in which Vale aimed to become one of the biggest mining companies in the world, its corporate philosophy has changed.

Read more

Vale faces ‘new world’ – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 15, 2013)

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

Vale is no longer aiming to be the largest mining company in the world, says the man in charge of its Sudbury operations.

It’s looking instead to generate more value from the business it has, focusing on its core assets and ensuring they generate the capital necessary to rein-vest in operations.

Kelly Strong, a mining engineer who has worked at Vale operations in Ontario since 2001 except for a three-year stint in Indonesia, was named the company’s vice-president of Ontario and U.K. operations last November.

Strong hasn’t spoken much publicly since then, but spoke of some of his priorities in an editorial board meeting with The Sudbury Star last week. That meeting was conducted underground at the 7,400-foot refuge station at Creighton Mine, where a $247- million expansion program is underway.

The timing of Brazil-based Vale purchasing the former Inco in 2006 was good, said Strong, given Inco didn’t have the “kind of money” to invest in aging infrastructure. The operations were at the “critical stage where we had to start investing back in the business” or it would have had significant challenges.

Read more

Sudbury Mining a bright future – by Carol Muligan (Sudbury Star – April 13, 2013)

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

Editor’s Note: Sudbury Star managing editor Brian MacLeod, photographer John Lappa and reporter Carol Mulligan spent Thursday at Vale’s Creighton Mine, at the invitation of Kelly Strong, Vale’s vicepresident of Ontario and UK operations. Look for news coverage of our conversation with Strong next week in The Star.

Of the 330 people who work at Vale’s Creighton Mine, Pat Shell says he has the best job.

A production miner described by his supervisors as a proud hockey dad and “bolter extraordinaire,” Shell turns off the piece of machinery he’s operating at Creighton’s 7,910-foot level mid-morning Thursday. He’s been installing ground control supports to make the area safe for people to work.

Shell explains what he’s doing to three journalists touring the mine, led by Vale vicepresident of Ontario and UK Operations Kelly Strong and other Creighton managers.

The mine has come a long way from the open-pit operation it began as in 1901, evolving into one of the most storied, well researched, highly regarded and, no doubt, profitable nickel mines in Canada, if not the world.

Read more

Trip underground brings reporter closer to father – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 13, 2013)

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

What seemed like a good idea was questionable Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. mid-panic attack.

It started weeks back with a request to Vale’s Angie Robson for an interview with Kelly Strong after he was appointed vice-president of Vale’s Ontario and U.K. operations.

It ended Thursday with The Star’s managing editor Brian MacLeod, photographer John Lappa and I going 1.5 miles underground.

Strong suggested we do the interview underground and we settled on Creighton Mine after I mentioned my father had worked there decades ago.

I was looking forward to it until Robson sent me a fact sheet about Creighton two days before our visit and it registered that Creighton Mine is as deep as 4.5 CN Towers stacked up. Gulp.

My father, Ernie Mulligan, worked there for at least a dozen years before he died in 1963. As a girl, I pestered my dad to go to work with him. At age nine, I was wounded when my boy cousin could accompany his electrician father to work in a residence, when I couldn’t see where my dad worked.

Read more

First Nickel nears target – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 11, 2013)

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

The president and chief executive officer of First Nickel won’t come right out and say Lockerby Mine is in full production, but Thomas Boehlert strongly hints at it. The mine formerly owned by Falconbridge reached 60% production in 2012, costing about $37 million to operate with $36 million in revenues.

In public guidance released in the first week of April, the company said it expected to have reached full production in the first three months of 2013 — after that time period had already passed.

“We have no reason to change that expectation,” Boehlert said Wednesday in an interview with The Star. In public guidance issued at the start of this year and last week, the company said it expected to “be there,” in full production, mining 10 million pounds of nickel a year, by the end of March.

“We have no reason to change that expectation,” Boehlert repeated. “So, you can interpret that as you like.” The junior miner has been on a roller-coaster since it purchased Lockerby in 2004, operating it until the 2008 economic meltdown and the collapse of metals prices forced layoffs and essentially closed the operation.

This year will still be a challenging one, said Boehlert, but the junior miner’s future is looking bright.

Read more

Microbes could extract minerals – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 28, 2013)

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

A Laurentian University scientist is conducting independent research into “mining” decades-old tailing ponds in Copper Cliff that contain nickel and copper that, if reclaimed, would be worth billions of dollars.

Nadia Mykytczuk, an environmental microbiologist at Laurentian’s Vale Living with Lakes Centre, says Sudbury has tremendous potential to be leaders in bioleaching — a process using microbes to extract valuable minerals from ores in waste water.

In many parts of the world, bioleaching is the only source of mineral extraction from low-grade ore and waste, said Mykytczuk during a break at a forum Wednesday at the centre. Bioleaching would remove or extract from ores minerals that weren’t removed by the smelting process.

The microscopic organisms — bacteria, viruses and parasites — eat into waste water, feeding on chemical energy and breaking the water into its chemical components. Microbes don’t destroy those elements, but rather separate them from their mineral form, making them soluble.

Left alone, that water and the metals in it leach out as acid mine draining, entering waterways.

Read more

Fram brings [mine safety] message to Timmins – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – March 25, 2013)

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

TIMMINS — The shadow cast by the McIntyre No. 11 shaft headframe is a long one, encompassing the life, history and culture of this city.

Less than a kilometre away, a small, humble miner’s memorial may cast an even longer shadow over this Northern Ontario mining community. Etched in marble are the names of the miners who lost their lives in the cold and unforgiving darkness found in the stopes and drifts thousands of feet under-ground.

It was fitting then, that in the shadow of these monuments, a grieving Sudbury woman brought the issue of mine safety to Timmins, hoping to spur the kind of change that saves lives.

“My brother Jordan was 26 years old when he passed away at Stobie Mine (in Sudbury) on Oct. 8, 2011,” said Briana Fram. “He was a miner for a number of years and he was a huge part of our family. He was a great man and when he passed away, it broke all of our hearts and we knew there was something that had to be done.”

Jordan Fram and Jason Chenier, 35, died when they were buried by tonnes of muck — mine water and rock — at the Vale mine.

Read more

‘There will be more nickel needed’ – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 21, 2013)

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

There’s good news and bad news emerging from China when it comes to nickel production, says a mining analyst with a keen interest in Sudbury.

The bad news is Chinese nickel production is at a record high as the country imports cheap sources of laterite and converts it into low-percentage nickel, said Terry Ortslan. “Nickel pig iron (NPI) production we speak,” said the Montrealbased analyst. “And it’s not any mom and pop operation. It’s been very sophisticated, high-technology operations with big furnaces, and serious investments have gone into it.” The good news is the nickel being made in China is costing $6 or $7 a pound because of the cost of power to convert the ore and the cost of raw materials.

Because of the amount of stainless steel needed for expansion and development in China, nickel pig iron can only “contribute so much nickel to the whole equation. There will be more nickel needed in China and elsewhere,” and that could benefit Canadian producers such as Vale, said Ortslan. He has long been outspoken about the high cost of capital and operating costs at nickel operations in Sudbury, “but what we’re seeing now with the Chinese costs is they aren’t very low, as well,” he said.

That causes Ortslan to speculate on the need for “major expansion plans in the traditional areas” such as Sudbury where nickel is produced. Vale Ltd. has been focused on cutting costs at its operations around the world, including Canada, laying off 30 non-union employees this week in the latest round of belt-tightening.

Read more