Sudbury Basin – Page 58 – Republic of Mining

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

April 15, 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.

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

April 15, 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Sudbury lags behind peers in growth – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – March 14, 2013)

March 15, 2013

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

Sudbury was one of only two Canadian cities, along with Windsor, that saw a small population decline from 2005 to 2012, according to a report by the Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for Municipal Studies.

According to the report, Sudbury’s economy expanded by just 0.6% in 2012. But Mario Lefebvre, director of the Centre for Municipal Studies, said he expects Sudbury’s economy to bounce back in 2013.

“We are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel,” Lefebvre said. “That being said, I wouldn’t want to leave you with the message that the bottom line has changed and you don’t have to address any issues when it comes to future population and productivity growth.”

The study said real gross domestic product is expected to grow by 1.7% in 2013 and 2% in 2014. The construction of Vale’s $360-million Totten nickel mine — the first new mine in Sudbury in 40 years — is expected to play a significant role in that growth.

Lefebvre said Sudbury needs to take lessons from Western cities like Regina and Winnipeg, and reach out to immigrants to increase growth. David Robinson, director of Laurentian University’s Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development, said the biggest factor holding back economic growth in Sudbury is weak local leadership.

Province to help clean up arsenic in Long Lake – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – February 27, 2013)

March 11, 2013

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

Two years after tests by the Long Lake Stewardship Committee showed high levels of arsenic were entering the lake, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines announced it is starting a three-year cleanup project.

“The stewardship began a program more than two years ago to have the arsenic problem addressed when Stewardship testing showed high arsenic levels was entering the lake from Luke Creek at the most westerly end of the lake,” the committee said in a release.

“Luke Creek leads directly from the old tailings of the Long Lake Gold Mine. The Ministry of Environment, at the request of the Stewardship, conducted independent tests in the fall of 2012 and confirmed that the arsenic levels in the last bay of the lake were a danger to humans.”

Last July, The Star first reported on the issue of arsenic showing up in the lake. At the time, Kate Jordan, a spokesperson with the Ministry of the Environment, stressed that the ministry had no concerns about the safety of Long Lake’s water.

According the release, a study conducted sometime this year by a contractor will determine the extent of the problem, and a plan of action to clean up the arsenic will be developed. The ministry will present the options to the committee and area residents to determine which plan best suits address the concerns.

Stompin’ Tom remembered for Northern roots – by Sebastien Perth (Sudbury Star – March 8, 2013)

March 8, 2013

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

Stompin Tom Connors’ Mining Songs: http://republicofmining.com/2013/01/21/stompin-tom-connors-wiki-profile-and-mining-songs/

The ties Stompin’ Tom Connors formed with Northern Ontario are legendary.

Connors, who was surrounded by his family when he died Wednesday night at age 77, often credited the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins for launching his professional career and the song he penned at the Townehouse Tavern — Sudbury Saturday Night — in 1965 became one of his biggest hits.

Charlie Angus — musician and Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay — says Connors showed Canadians who they were through his writing.

“I think what Tom did that was so important is that he put our experience and our places on the cultural map of Canada. I was talking to a woman who said when she was 11, she memorized Sudbury Saturday Night. She had never been there, but her dad worked at Stelco so she thought Stelco was like Inco and it was.

“My grandfather had been at the McIntyre mine (in Timmins) where the fire had been and Tom wrote the song and it gave chills to hear it. We thought we had that special relationship,” Angus said. Townehouse manager Paul Loewenberg said Connors captured the city very well when he wrote Sudbury Saturday Night in 1965.

Group takes [mining deaths] probe pitch north – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 4, 2013)

March 4, 2013

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

The Sudbury committee struck to lobby the province to conduct an inquiry into mining practices in Ontario will take its campaign on the road next month.

MINES (Mining Inquiry Needs Support) has been invited by United Steelworkers speak to its members in Timmins on March 24. Local 7850 members work for Goldcorp Porcupine and Hollinger mines.

Everyone’ Local 7850 The MINES committee formed after a United Steelworkers investigation into the June 8, 2011, deaths of two men at Vale’s Stobie Mine called for an inquiry to review an industry that hasn’t been under the microscope in 30 years.

Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, were killed while working at the 3,000-foot level of the century-old mine when they were overcome by a run of 350 tons of muck. The USW investigation found that excess water was a problem in the mine and that safety warnings by Chenier a day or two before the accident were not addressed.

Briana Fram, Jordan’s sister, is secretary of the committee chaired by her mother Wendy. MINES launched a postcard campaign last year to convince then Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey to order a mining inquiry.

Dark Matter: Could physics’ next biggest mystery be solved in Sudbury? – by Kate Allen (Toronto Star – March 1, 2013)

March 1, 2013

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Science experiments like PICASSO and DEAP-3600 are trying to resolve one of the universe’s biggest scientific mysteries

The hottest thing in science today is cold. It’s also invisible, though it still manages to be heavy.

Dark matter — the mysterious stuff that physicists believe makes up a quarter of the universe but which no one has been able to directly detect — is having what the style world would call “a moment.” At this year’s American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting, the Fashion Week of science, dark matter talks were the Marc Jacobs fall collection: devotees crammed themselves into darkened rooms to get a glimpse of the Next Big Thing.

“I’ve been saying for a couple years now that the 2010s will be the dark matter decade,” says Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. With the discovery last summer of what is almost certainly the Higgs Boson, dark matter is the next big mystery in physics — and experiments designed to detect it are just beginning to show fruit.

Some of the most exciting are sitting in a mine shaft two kilometres below Sudbury, Ont.

By 2014, the SNOLAB underground laboratory will have five different experiments searching for what physicists believe dark matter is made of: WIMPs, or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles.

Province to help clean up arsenic in [Sudbury’s] Long Lake – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – February 27, 2013)

February 27, 2013

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

Accent: City builds rep as mining [research] hub – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – February 23, 2013)

May 7, 2013February 25, 2013

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

A giant 3D television displayed two separate animations of coloured rectangle s that appeared at seemingly random areas on the screen. The coloured rectangles — and they covered the entire spectrum of a rainbow — represented different mine areas, and appeared on screen in the order they should be developed.

The animation was a visual representation of mine scheduling and showcased the differences between a schedule that was put together manually, and another that was created by an algorithm developed at Laurentian University.

Scheduling ore extraction at a mine may seem like a mundane task at first, but tweaking the extraction order for peak mine performance can increase the net value of a mining operation by up to 20%.

Researchers at Laurentian’s Mining Innovation Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO) developed a software solution called the schedule optimization tool, or SOT for short.

The technology helps mining companies save time and money before they start digging for minerals, and has been used by a number of companies, including Vale and Xstrata.

Lorrie Fava, MIRARCO’s program manager of ventilation and production optimization, said the program cuts down greatly on the amount of time companies need to dedicate to scheduling a new mine site.

[Sudbury]Mining to recover in 2013, board predicts – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 21, 2013)

February 21, 2013

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

New developments in the mining industry in 2013 will contribute to a predicted 1.7% growth in real gross domestic product in Sudbury, up from 0.6% in 2012, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

Sudbury was second from the bottom in economic performance of 28 census metropolitan areas last year, but the board is forecasting it will move up to 22 in 2013. GDP is a measure of the overall economic activity — the value of goods and services produced — within an economy.

Sudbury’s economy was held back last year by significant declines in several sectors, said Jane McIntyre, an economist with the Conference Board of Canada. McIntyre collects data for several cities, Sudbury among them.

In 2011, there was strong growth in the primary and utilities sector, mostly mining, as Vale recovered from the effects of a year-long strike by United Steelworkers.

Weaker metal prices last year, as well as the temporary shutdowns early in the year at Vale mines and the closing of the Frood portion of Frood-Stobie Mine at the end of the year, took a “chunk” out of that sector in 2013.