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Sudbury Basin

Glenecore-Xstrata a possible Vale suitor? – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – August 18, 2012)

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

Should Vale put its base metals division up for sale, there would likely be only one buyer with deep enough pockets – the soon-to-be-merged Xstrata and Glencore.
 
“If that merger goes through, the merged Xstrata/Glencore International plc would be a real huge entity,” mining analyst Stan Sudol said. “Certainly, they could afford to buy the base metal assets of Vale.
 
“It’s a merger the Sudbury Basin would welcome. There are enormous amounts of synergy that couldn’t be realized because of it being two entities. Ninety-five per cent of the area’s nickel operations would be unified.”
 
Six years ago, the former Inco and the former Falconbridge held merger discussions. If that had happened, most of Sudbury’s mining, milling and smelting operations would have been owned by one company.

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Will Vale sell [base metals divison]? – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – August 18, 2012)

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

Six years after buying Inco Ltd. for $19.4 billion, speculation is growing that Brazil-based Vale may be considering unloading its base metals division, which includes nickel operations in Greater Sudbury.

Such a dramatic development can’t be ruled out, said Stan Sudol, a mining analyst who also operates the mining news website Republic of Mining.

Vale’s base metals division could be worth about US$30 billion, almost a third of Vale’s estimated $95-billion total market capitalization, said Sudol. Yet the base metals division may only contribute as little as 5% to the company’s profits.

That’s a scenario Vale executives in Brazil may not be inter-e sted in continuing much longer, especially if world nickel prices and demand continue to slump, he said.

“(Vale) might be saying, ‘This is a complicated business. We are dealing with underground mines. But our specialty is open pit.’ Then, there’s the fact that while Sudbury mining technology is among the best in the world, there’s a whole different culture (with Vale), as much of their business is open-pit mining versus underground mining.”

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Vale gets new blood [in Sudbury] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 17, 2012)

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

The shortage of skilled tradespeople is paying off for two-dozen apprentices at Cambrian College. The apprentice millwrights and heavy-duty equipment technicians are starting work this month at Vale Ltd.’s Sudbury operations.
 
It is not unusual for Vale to hire 20-40 apprentices in a year, said Garwin Pitman, superintendent of learning and development maintenance at Vale.
 
But it is out of the ordinary to hire that many at one time, he said. Pitman was inter viewing potential apprentices Thursday just after the announcement was made in the morning at Cambrian College.
 
Mining and other industries are experiencing a shortage of skilled tradespeople, partly because there are so many new projects in development. Vale is looking to hire another three dozen tradespeople, some of them apprentices, this fall, said Pitman.

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Trial gets started over [Vale Sudbury] miner deaths – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 15, 2012)

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

The first court appearance Tuesday of Crown counsel for the Ministry of Labour and an agent for lawyers representing Vale Ltd. and one of its supervisors officially launched what is expected to be a protracted, complicated trial on charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
 
Vale is facing nine charges under the act and supervisor Keith Birnie is facing six charges after an almost yearlong investigation by the Labour ministry into the June 8, 2011, deaths of two men at Stobie Mine.
 
It only took minutes for a justice of the peace in the Ontario Court of Justice to adjourn the matter until Sept. 12, when a judge will begin hearing the case in the criminal division of provincial court. Vale and the supervisor are charged with failing to take reasonable precautions to prevent the movement of material through an ore pass at Stobie Mine where Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, were killed.
 
The men died after being overcome by a run of 350 tons of muck from the No. 7 ore pass of the century-old mine while they were working at the 3,000-foot level. Birnie is facing charges similar to the ones laid against his employer.

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Power needs dictate plant location [Ring of Fire ferrochrome smelter] – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – August 13, 2012)

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

 Despite an impassioned resolution put forth by the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, which supported the construction and operation of a ferrochrome smelter at Exton, the government of Ontario announced May 9 that Capreol would be home to the new facility.
 
It was a matter of logistics, say Bill Boor, senior vice-president of global ferroalloys at Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources, and David Cartella, general manager of environmental affairs and environmental counsel at Cliffs.
 
“We went through a pretty extensive analysis of all the sites where the furnace could be located,” they explain. “There were only a handful of sites that could handle this, and Sudbury was one of them … The power solution is why Sudbury was the winner.”
 
Electric arc furnaces, which are used to melt chromite ore, reach temperatures of 2,800 C. The amount of electricity needed to run the furnaces at the Capreol smelter could power a city of 300,000, Ramsey Hart, Canada program co-ordinator at Mining Watch Canada, says. “The operation of the mine and the transportation of the minerals also have significant carbon footprints,” he says.

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[Ontario’s Ring of Fire] North’s Holy Grail: tapping a $1 trillion resource – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – August 11, 2012)

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

On a humid summery day — the kind of day that makes you feel like you must be living inside a sauna — you open the door to your refrigerator and reach for something to cool you from the inside out. If you count yourself among a growing number of stylish, quality-craving homeowners, yours is a stainless steel fridge. House-hunters and remodellers alike covet stainless steel appliances for their durability, timelessness and aesthetic quality. Industry experts estimate 40% of new appliance sales include “a stainless steel-type finish,” according to Dr. Steel on www.stainless-online.com.
 
Stainless steel appliances have been on the market for the ACCENT past two decades and show no signs of waning popularity. Fingerprints aside, designers recommend them as a solid investment with high resale value. The Atlantic ran a piece in February questioning the popularity of stainless steel. While the author, Megan McArdle, has some reservations, its appeal to domestic types is undeniable.
 
“As a status symbol, (such appliances) signify that: a) you (are) a serious cook, and b) you didn’t just go to Circuit City to get your appliances,” she writes. “In other words, stainless steel has become a status god. That’s why all those young couples on house-hunting shows adamantly shake their heads when they walk into an otherwise charming fixer-upper and say ‘No way. I want stainless.’ “

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[Sudbury] City faces legal action as [industrial land upgrade] deal dies – by Rita Poliakov (Sudbury Star – August 11, 2012)

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

An $8.8-million deal to upgrade water and sewer services to industrial land in New Sudbury – which had the potential create hundreds of new jobs – is dead and may spark legal action against the City of Greater Sudbury.
 
“We’ve already spoken to a lawyer,” said Robert Brouillette, who owns City Welding on Elisabella Street and speaks for other businesses in the Lasalle Elisabella Industrial Area. Brouillette said his company will be taking the lead in the legal action, with the help of other property owners in the area.
 
“Basically, we’ll be hiring a firm to gather some information and likely to meet with the city to indicate to them we’re serious about getting (infrastructure issues) fixed at their cost. “Everyone is so upset and pissed off it’s unreal,” he said, adding the decision “means we’re not going to grow the city.”

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Study aims to help mining sector with hiring woes – by CBC News Sudbury (August 7, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/
 
Sudbury and Manitoulin Workforce Planning looking to paint realistic picture of employment scene
 
Sudbury’s mining sector will soon be getting a sense of how many skilled workers are needed in the community, thanks to an upcoming study. The problem of attracting skilled workers to northern Ontario is one of the things the Sudbury and Manitoulin Workforce Planning Board is hoping to address with its new study.
 
“It’s very important for us to take a look at this now because a number of the industries are very concerned that we don’t have enough skilled trades and skilled professionals in the field,” said Reggie Caverson, the board’s executive director.
 
“This particular study will be taking a look at … in terms of numbers, what kinds of professions and trades [are needed] up here, over the next two, five and 10 years.”
 
The board will develop the study in collaboration with the Mining Industry Human Resources Council and will look at three different scenarios — whether the industry expands, shrinks or stays the same. It will focus on 66 different occupations.

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Wallbridge eyes mine near Capreol – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – August 1, 2012)

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

A Sudbury-based mining company says it will decide later this year whether it can bring a new mine north of Capreol into production. Wallbridge Mining Company Limited issued the statement in a mid-year exploration update released Tuesday.
 
The company said its Broken Hammer exploration project continues to produce promising results for copper and platinum group element minerals.
 
“Our 2012 exploration activities to date have continued at a high level, in contrast to the lower level of activities by many other junior mining companies,” Marz Kord, Wallbridge president and CEO, said in a release. “This is mainly due to the strong support we have received from our joint venture partners.”
 
“In addition to our exploration activities, our new resource update at Broken Hammer project is encouraging. The prefeasibility and permitting are on track and pending the results, would enable us to make a production decision this year.”

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Arsenic in [Sudbury’s] Long Lake – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – July 31, 2012)

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

With its sandy shoreline and peaceful location, Long Lake, approximately 20 minutes south of Lively, attracts people to swim, relax and fish. Area residents get their drinking water from it.
 
But members of the Long Lake Stewardship say arsenic is being leached into the lake, and that the ministries of Environment and Northern Development and Mines are blatantly ignoring the problem.
 
“There’s a gold mine on the westerly end of Long Lake, the Long Lake Gold Mine, and it has a large tailings area that leaches through a creek into Long Lake,” said Stephen Butcher, chair of the stewardship committee. “I read some reports on that mine a few years back, and it said the tailings were heavily loaded with arsenic. Logic put together that it would be creeping in by Long Lake.”
 
In 2010, Butcher contacted Max Kasper, a project co-ordinator with the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). “Looking at the data we have collected … despite water chemistry results that are above Provincial Water Quality Objectives for some parameters, the drainage from the former gold mine is having little impact on Long Lake,” Kasper told him in an email dated May 26, 2010.

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Big Nickel started as Szilva’s dream – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – July 23, 2012)

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

Ted Szilva has something to say to people with big dreams: don’t give up. And as the creator of the iconic Big Nickel, Szilva knows what he’s talking about.
 
“What I want to do is throw out a challenge to each and every one of you, especially the children: if you have a dream … all you have to do is go after that dream. It doesn’t matter what anybody says — ‘oh, that’s a stupid idea, crazy idea, nobody will go see a big nickel, an underground mine’ — that’s what they told me.”
 
Szilva proved the naysayers wrong, and was happy for it, as he stood outside Dynamic Earth on Sunday for the 48th birthday of the Sudbury tourist attraction. He came up with the idea for the Big Nickel in 1963, as part of a newspaper contest for how best to celebrate Canada’s centennial. While his idea did not win, the idea stuck with him, becoming a reality in 1964.
 
“It’s a great project, and we’ve had people from all over the world come and go underground, learn about mining, learn about the minerals of the Earth found around here.”

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“Cliffians” [Copper Cliff] reconvene – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – July 21, 2012)

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

It started as a house party last year and has morphed into a reunion more than 250 people are registered to attend.

“Back to the Cliff” will bring together people who have lived in the community all their lives, former Copper “Cliffians” who have moved away and people who just wish they were from the town that grew along with the International Nickel Company. Deborah Gray was shouting out instructions to volunteers Friday about lunchtime as they were putting finishing touches on the three-day homecoming.

Gray moved to Copper Cliff when she was seven years old and has never left the community, which is now part of the City of Greater Sudbury. Municipal amalgamation can’t erase the feeling, though, that if you’re from Copper Cliff, you’re “almost like family,” said Gray. She was looking forward to renewing acquaintances with old friends and spending time with friends she just hasn’t met yet.

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Chief waits for MPPs’ replies [about Sudbury chromite smelter] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – July 6, 2012)

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

The chief of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek (Whitefish Lake) First Nation is waiting for replies from several Ontario cabinet ministers before weighing in on Cliffs Natural Resources’ plan to build a $1.8-billion ferrochrome smelter near Capreol.
 
Chief Steve Miller said he has asked Premier Dalton McGuinty and at least three of his ministers for meetings to discuss the possible impact of the smelter on his First Nation, located about 20 km west of downtown Sudbury. Miller has concerns about the environmental impact on the Vermillion River Watershed, which he said “flows right in front of our First Nation.”
 
He has written Sudbury MPP and Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci, Environment Minister Jim Bradley and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kathleen Wynne for meetings to get more information on the smelter.
 
What he reads about processing chromite ore is troublesome, said Miller. That cabinet ministers not getting back to him has only increased his anxiety.
 
“There’s so much on the Internet about chromite and nobody knows exactly the effect of it,” he said.

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Polish PM tours [Sudbury] Morrison deposit during brief visit – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – June 29, 2012)

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.

Whirlwind tour

A May sojourn to Sudbury by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was kept so quiet, few knew he had visited the city until he was already gone. The PM made a brief stop in Sudbury to visit the Morrison deposit at Levack Mine, one of three properties owned by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., the Polish, state-run company that bought out Quadra FNX in early 2012.
 
Quadra now operates as KGHMInternational Ltd., a subsidiary of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., which focuses on growth in copper and other metals. KGHM also owns Sudbury’s McCreedy West and Podolsky mines, as well as the Victoria exploration project.
 
KGHM accesses the Morrison through the shaft and underground infrastructure at Xstrata Nickel’s Craig Mine, an arrangement agreed upon by the two companies last fall.

Under terms of the arrangement, Quadra will have access to the Craig Mine and infrastructure for the life of the Levack Mine/Morrison deposit, and will operate the Craig shaft and underground infrastructure but will not undertake mining from Xstrata Nickel’s Craig property.

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[Wolf Lake] Is this a park or a mine site? – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 30, 2012)

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

WOLF LAKE — It’s my second day on Wolf Lake, a beryl-blue beauty socketed in quartzite hills north of Markstay, when I trip across the core samples.
 
Perhaps a dozen in all, these palm-length cylinders of rock — some a marbled pink, most the same greyish-white hue you see on the surface — form a weird pile at my feet, like the petrified scat of dinosaurs.
 
Paul Tukker, a former reporter with Sudbury CBC and my supposed companion on this trip, is currently AWOL. We’ve paddled over from our campsite on the eastern shore to explore this southwest bay, but he’s slipped away on me again.
 
To cool off, would be my educated guess. It’s another scorcher, and Tukker has already swum about six times since we set out yesterday from a public launch on Matagamasi Lake, crossing a couple of smaller lakes and two short but taxing portages en route. One time he disappeared mid-portage, when there wasn’t even any water in sight, and reappeared soaking wet. He’s a walking divining rod, this guy.

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