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Neighbours feel pit decision less than golden – (Timmins Daily Press – November 13, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The location of the Hollinger pit continues to polarize opinions regarding Goldcorp’s mining project on the site.

With no assurance in place to protect potential property devaluation or damage over the next decade of mining on the site, nearby residents and business owners are still fuming over city council’s decision to green-light the project on Monday.

“I think there were methods that could have been put in place to allow everyone to benefit,” said Lorne Feldman, owner of Feldman Timber and the industrial development it’s located in, off Algonquin Blvd. E. Businesses in the development include Shoppers Drug Mart, A&W and the Timmins Family Health Team clinics.

“That could have provided the protections necessary to adjacent land owners, and also allow this very worthwhile project to move forward.”

Rick Dubeau of the Hollinger Project Community Advisory Committee (HPCAC) and Bill Hughes, owner of Senator Place apartments, have been raising concerns for the past few weeks in city council, most recently in presentations prior to Monday’s decision.

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[Timmins] Council approves [Goldcorp] pit plan – by Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – November 12, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – City council unanimously approved the site plan agreement for the Hollinger Project on Monday, giving Goldcorp formal permission to proceed with the open pit mining operation that was first proposed back in 2007.

The decision did come after Bill Hughes, owner of the Senator Place apartments, and Rick Dubeau of the Hollinger Project Community Advisory Committee (HPCAC) expressed concerns they said are still being raised by the public.

Hughes, representing reportedly close to 250 people living at the Senator apartments and other locations within 300 metres of the pit, said that there are still many questions left unanswered about the project, despite the many reports and committees that have raised concerns.

“The plan of action should be to step back, consider what (HPCAC) has said, what I have said, what engineers have said, what environment lawyers have said,” expressed Hughes, when asked what he thought the proper course should be.

He asked, “Are we there or are we not there?”, expressing confusion as to whether any action was being taken despite the city’s comments that the public was being fully engaged in the process.

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Thousands sign parks petition – by Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – October 26, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The surprise decision by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to shut down camping at a number of provincial parks in northeastern Ontario has not gone unnoticed.

In fact, it’s government officials who are now being surprised by the massive swell of support offered by groups such as Friends of Ivanhoe, urging the province to re-consider the ban.

On Friday, members of Friends of Ivanhoe met with the media at MPP Gilles Bisson’s (NDP – Timmins-James Bay) office on Wilson St. with more than 6,300 signatures in hand. The petitions were circulated and posted in various locations, from Timmins to Hearst, since the government’s decision was announced in September by Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle.

“I spoke to Mr. Gravelle on Monday,” said Bisson. “One of the things he talked about was that he couldn’t believe how many people have been really worked up over this, so I think he’s been taken a bit aback. I think it puts us in the position to hopefully change his mind.”

Bisson said that, while he was surprised by the sheer number of signatures, the swift reaction of Northerners didn’t come as a shock.

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Ontera sell-off worries Northern [Ontario] leaders – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – October 23, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

IROQUOIS FALLS – Even though Northlander passenger service has already been derailed, leaders from across Northeastern Ontario are still fighting for the ONTC.

Since the provincial government announced plans to divest itself of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, members of the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) have been lobbying to save the services provided by the ONTC.

With passenger rail service now gone for the Hwy. 11 corridor, NEOMA is turning the bulk of its attention to preserving freight rail and infrastructure to the information highway.

Members of NEOMA, at its quarterly meeting in Iroquois Falls on Friday, discussed the future of ONTC. Northern leaders expressed frustration of the fact that the provincial government has not been sharing a lot of information about the divestiture.

“We’ve met with the government several times about the freight rail,” said Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren, chairman of NEOMA. “We haven’t been getting a lot of traction.

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Xstrata seeks New Brunswick miners – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – October 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.

Xstrata Copper and the Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) joined forces recently to recruit some potential employees. The Brunswick Mine in Bathurst, N.B., a division of Xstrata Zinc, is winding down operations since its mine life ends in 2013.

The Timmins operation, which includes the Kidd Mine and the metallurgical site, made a pitch to try and recruit some employees to Timmins.

“We gave a presentation on our operations and then the (TEDC) gave a presentation on the city itself,” said Brian Fleury, Xstrata senior human resources advisor in Timmins. “We had about 40 positions to fill at the time and we are always looking for those with mining experience. These would be very familiar with Xstrata’s way of doing things so they could fit in very well and hit the ground running.”

Cheryl St. Amour, director of business development and retention for the TEDC, offered the prospective employees an overview of what their life would be like in Timmins. “It wasn’t just the mine talking about their mine and their perspective of the community,” she said. “I talked about what the community offers.”

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NDP leader Horwath speaks out at [Timmins] convention – by Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – October 21, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Andrea Horwath had one very clear message in an energy-charged speech delivered at the party’s Northern Council meeting: “Respect the North.”

Horwath was in Timmins on the weekend to speak to party MP’s, MPP’s and members, nearly 100 of whom were at the Timmins Inn and Suites Saturday afternoon to listen to the address. In her speech, Horwath emphatically criticized the current government’s ability and desire to represent the province’s people equally.

She said the problem is especially clear in the North, where residents “are feeling extremely frustrated with the policies that are coming out of southern Ontario and Queen’s Park, because they don’t reflect reality here.”

She said the only way a government can properly reflect the reality of a place is to give the people there enough respect to listen to what they have to say and hear their voices.

“We know damn well that that is not happening at Queen’s Park right now, and has not been happening for an awful long time,” exclaimed Horwath, to huge rounds of partisan cheers and applause.

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Public urged to keep on pressuring government on camping issue – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – October 19, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

IROQUOIS FALLS – The Minister of Natural Resources is listening to what Northerners have to say about losing camping privileges at area provincial parks. But citizens need to keep pressuring the government to save these campsites.

This was the message conveyed at Friday’s meeting of the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) in Iroquois Falls.

On Thursday, Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle met with Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren, chairman of NEOMA, and Kapuskasing Mayor Al Spacek, president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities. This came on the heels of a meeting between Gravelle and MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay) on Monday.

Local provincial parks impacted by the cost-cutting decision include Ivanhoe Lake in Foleyet, Greenwater in Cochrane, Rene Brunelle in Kapuskasing, Fushimi Lake in Hearst, The Shoals in Chapleau and Tidewater in Moosonee. Other parks on the list are Caliper Lake in Nestor Falls, Mississagi in Elliot Lake, Obatang between Wawa and White River, and Springwater in Midhurst.

“What we included in our presentation was a little bit of dialogue on the discrepancies in the numbers by the province as to the cost of these parks and the revenue, based on the 2011 parks report created by the government … so that they need to re-check these numbers,” Laughren said at the meeting.

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Northerners weigh in on McGuinty resignation – by Benjamin Aubé (Sudbury Star – October 18, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Reaction is pouring in from political and water-cooler circles across Ontario in the days following Premier Dalton McGuinty’s resignation.

The decision did not fall on deaf ears in the North of the province, where some of the McGuinty government’s actions have come under much fire as of late.

McGuinty will remain at his post until a new party leader is selected, which could take months. As a result, McGuinty announced the prorogation of the legislature, essentially stalling regular proceedings at Queen’s Park until further notice.

For the Liberals, who fell just short of gaining a majority government last month after losing the Kitchener–Waterloo riding byelection to the NDP, the move is being celebrated for the prospect of rejuvenating the party’s vision.

Timmins-James Bay Provincial Liberal Association president Gaetan Groleau has been with the organization since 1999, and has watched McGuinty and his vision at work from the very beginning.

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B.C.’s low-wage migrant coal mining jobs send us back to the future – by Thomas Walkom (Toronto Star – October 13, 2012)

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.

Early on in the 20th century, the silver and gold mines of Northern Ontario imported thousands of foreign workers. The mine owners said they were filling a labour shortage. But their real reason was to keep wages down.

So when native-born, anglophone miners went on strike in Cobalt or the Porcupine region, the owners shipped in French-Canadians. And when they went on strike, Finns were brought in and, after them, Ukrainians and Poles and Italians and Englishmen from Cornwall.

In every case, the point of the exercise was to bring in workers who were less likely to make common cause with those already there and who, therefore, would be willing to work for less.

It was an ugly time in our history and it gave rise to very ugly labour disputes. So it is depressing in the extreme to see employers, aided and abetted by the federal government, engage in the same discredited tactics.

The latest and most bizarre example comes from British Columbia where, as the Vancouver Sun has reported, four brand new coal mines in the province’s northeast are bringing in just under 2,000 temporary Chinese migrants to do most of the work.

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Timmins citizens grill Goldcorp over plans for Hollinger open pit mine – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – October 12, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Uncertainty and mistrust were two of the overriding issues that seemed to dominate a public meeting held Thursday night in Timmins to discuss the plan by Goldcorp to turn the old Hollinger Mine property into a massive open pit operation.

The meeting was almost confrontational with at least one citizen pledging to become an outspoken “pain in the ass” to protest Goldcorp’s mining plan.

The meeting was hosted by the Hollinger Project Community Advisory Committee (HPCAC) as an 11th hour attempt to gather more public input on the project that Goldcorp is hoping to have up and running before Christmas.

Although the meeting at the McIntyre Ballroom lasted nearly three hours, there were less than 100 residents at the meeting. Those that did attend managed to pepper the Goldcorp and City of Timmins employees with a barrage of questions. One Goldcorp employee agreed the meeting was intense, but suggested it was “only a vocal minority.”

The uncertainty at the meeting appeared to come from the fact that many residents asked pointed questions about how the project might affect them, but Goldcorp staffers were unable to provide specific or absolute answers because there are many issues and studies not yet completed.

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Fond farewell to an icon, friend [Hemlo co-founder John Larche] – by Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – October 12, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – In the days after his death, he is being described by many as a hero and a legend, as a man of generosity and humility. But up until his final days, John Larche only ever saw himself as a simple prospector.

On Friday, Larche was laid to rest at the Timmins Memorial cemetery after a funeral mass at Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix. “My father’s biggest dream in life was not mining related,” said Larche’s son Paul. “His biggest dream was to raise his family with values that would carry them well through life so that they could realize happiness and the full potential of their aspirations, whatever they may be.

“Values you know my father for; honesty, integrity, humility, and a moral compass that pointed as true North as his prospectors compass.” Larche died peacefully on Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 8 at the age of 84. Pre-deceased by his first wife, Violet, Larche is survived by his wife Dolores, his five children, Paul, David, Nicole, John and Lise, as well as his 16 grandchildren.

He was known largely for founding the famous Hemlo Gold Mine in the early 1980s near Marathon, Ont. with fellow prospector and business-partner Don McKinnon, who died just two months ago.

In 1983, Larche was named co-recipient of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s Prospector of the Year Award. From 1984-1988, he presided over the Prospectors Association of Canada and became the country’s top spokesperson in exploration.

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Northern lifestyle threatened by tiny budget cut – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – October 12, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – There has been some suggestions Queen’s Park is purposely punishing Northeastern Ontario with its proposed overnight camping ban in six of the region’s provincial parks.

While there is much circumstantial evidence to draw such a conclusion, I believe this is giving southern politicians too much credit. After all, how much do they really know about Northern Ontario, particularly the lifestyles of Northerners?

Sure, our region’s provincial parks are all in ridings currently run by New Democrat MPPs, while the Liberals rule Ontario.

Yes, Rene Brunelle Provincial Park is in the backyard of Kapuskasing Mayor Alan Spacek, who ran under the Progressive Conservative banner in Timmins-James Bay during the last Ontario election.

Then there is the fact that Spacek, Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren (close to Ivanhoe Lake) and Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis (Greenwater) have all been very outspoken against Liberal legislation impacting their residents — the Endangered Species Act, the Far North Act and dumping the Northlander passenger train service, to name a few.

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Goldcorp fined $350,000 [for fatal mining accident] – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – October 12, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Goldcorp Canada has been fined $350,000 in connection with a fatal accident that occurred underground at the Hoyle Pond gold mine in March 2011.

The company pleaded guilty in a Timmins court Thursday to a Ministry of Labour charge of failing to provide sufficient information, instruction and supervision to protect the safety of its workers.

The charge stems from an incident in which David Yuskow Sr., a 57-year-old electrician who worked at the mine, was crushed by a scoop tram at the 1,390-foot level.

Wes Wilson, special prosecutor for the Ministry of Labour, said the mine had a procedure for alerting scoop tram operators about “pedestrians” working nearby but, at the time, it was not enforced in the area where the accident occurred.

“The procedure required the placement of signs and amber lights to alert equipment operators to the presence and proximity of workers,” Wilson explained. “Signs and lights were readily available to the workers at the time of the incident.”

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Mining legend built legacy by giving back [John Larche dies] – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – October 8, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Timmins lost one of the golden pillars of its community this Thanksgiving Day. John Larche died of natural causes, surrounded by his family at Timmins and District Hospital on Monday morning. He was 84.

It was the final page in a life highlighted by a long list of accomplishments which changed the face of the prospecting and mining industry the world round; it was the final page in a life that saw both hardship and success, one that was built on giving back, a life that cemented him in the memory of the City with the Heart of Gold

Larche was one of the true legends of the Porcupine Camp, as one of Canada’s most successful prospectors and in term of generosity in the community. He became involved in exploration in 1955, as an independent prospector and contractor.

He remained active in the industry until shortly before his death. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was elected president of the Porcupine branch of the Prospectors and Developers Association for 17 consecutive terms.

“He was a long-time friend,” said Dean Rogers, the association’s current president. “John was one of the stalwarts of the Porcupine Camp’s second generation, a true legend”

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Northerners must unite to overturn camping ban – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – October 6, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Unless you’ve been out in the bush for the past week, you are probably aware of the provincial government’s cost-saving plan to eliminate overnight camping at a series of provincial parks in Northeastern Ontario.

Regional provincial parks impacted by the decision include Ivanhoe Lake in Foleyet, Greenwater in Cochrane, Rene Brunelle in Kapuskasing, Fushimi Lake in Hearst, The Shoals in Chapleau and Tidewater in Moosonee.

On Wednesday night, the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is having a special public forum to discuss the issue. The camping ban has struck a raw nerve with many Northerners, particularly those who enjoy seasonal camping at these facilities.

Leaders with FONOM, such as Kapuskasing Mayor Al Spacek (the organization’s president) and Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren (the vice-president), recognize the important role these campgrounds play, not only in facilitating the Northern lifestyle but in support of the region’s economy.

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