Minister arrives with cheque book open – by Kris Ketonen (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – February 20, 2013)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

The Thunder Bay airport is expanding its industrial park with the help of a grant from the federal government. The $1.5 million given to the airport on Tuesday was one of several business grants announced by FedNor Minister Tony Clement in Thunder Bay on Tuesday.

In all, Clement announced that more than $4 million would go to various Thunder Bay companies and agencies. “This is a big announcement for Thunder Bay,” Clement said in an interview.

“It shows, here in Thunder Bay, the depth of entrepreneurial innovation that’s going on. “This shows that these economic building blocks are working in Thunder Bay,” he said at the airport.

The money granted to the airport will allow the creation of several new industrial lots along Derek Burney Drive, along with the extension of the road, said airport CEO Scott McFadden.

“We actually broke ground already in anticipation of getting an early start for the next construction season this summer,” McFadden said. “It’s all very timely. We have a need for more airside accessible lots, and this should create at least three.”

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Tony Clement takes on responsibility for controversial Ring of Fire – by Peter Koven (National Post – February 20, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

TORONTO — The federal government is winning accolades for finally naming a point man on the Ring of Fire, a massive mining development in Northern Ontario with many complex issues to unravel.

Tony Clement, president of the Treasury Board and head of a federal development organization for Northern Ontario, announced Tuesday that he will take the lead role on the file. He said he was asked to do so by the prime minister.

“There is a lot at stake and we cannot afford to allow this development to stall and become mired in paralysis and uncertainty,” he said in a speech in Thunder Bay.

The Ring of Fire, located in the James Bay Lowlands, is thought to contain $30-billion to $50-billion worth of minerals and is poised to be North America’s first significant source of chromite. A large mining company, Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., is prepared to spend more than US$3-billion to build a mine and key infrastructure in the region.

The discovery of the Ring of Fire created a brief euphoria in 2007 and 2008 as the potential economic benefits of the region sunk in. But development has been extremely slow since then. Cliffs, along with the federal and provincial governments, have struggled to manage very challenging issues around First Nations involvement, environmental management and infrastructure.

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Feds coy on plan for Ring – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 20, 2013)

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

It would be putting “the cart before the horse” to draw con-c lusions about how much money the federal government would spend to develop infrastructure for the Ring of Fire, or its dialogue with aboriginal people about the development, says Tony Clement.

The first order of business for the Treasury Board president, appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week to spearhead federal involvement in the massive project, is to listen, Clement told The Sudbury Star on Tuesday.

Clement, who is also the minister responsible for FedNor, spoke at lunch to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, telling the business crowd the Ring of Fire “is no ordinary mine development.”

The chromite deposits, located in the James Bay Lowlands, have the potential to create 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, and be a source of revenue for Northern Ontario and beyond for decades, said Clement.

Cliffs Natural Resources, one of the companies seeking to open a mine in the Ring of Fire, wants to build a chromite smelter in Capreol, creating up to 500 jobs in the Sudbury area. Next to the Alberta tar sands, the Ring of Fire chromite deposits represent the largest natural resource project in Canada. 

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[FedNor Minister] Clement takes charge in Ring of Fire – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – February 19, 2013)

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.

Tony Clement came to Thunder Bay with a take-charge attitude on the Ring of Fire. “It’s time to push the refresh button on this opportunity,” said the FedNor and federal Treasury Board president during a speech to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, Feb. 19.

Calling the Far North exploration camp “a generational opportunity,” Clement said he’s been instructed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to “coordinate and lead our government’s engagement on this file.”

Clement said the potential to mine in this remote region could go on for “several decades” and the ripple effect from the mineral wealth will be felt beyond Ontario. “There is a lot at stake and we cannot afford to allow this development to stall and become mired in paralysis and uncertainty.”

Progress on exploration has been hampered by disagreements with area First Nation on consultation issues and over the environmental assessment process on potentially large-scale mine and infrastructure developments in the James Bay lowlands.

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All animals deserve a chance, but miners deserve a better one – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – February, March 2013)

Russell Noble is the editor of the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

“Migrating” and “Mating” are getting to be two of the more overused excuses for slowing the mining process and I’m getting a little tired of hearing how the caribou won’t be able to find their way home because there’s now an open pit mine on the trail, or how whales and other sea creatures won’t be able to concentrate on making babies because huge ore carriers are making too much noise overhead.

It seems to me that ‘excuses’ are getting in the way of mining more than the creatures themselves and from my experiences with wildlife, animals tend to adapt to their surroundings by going around or avoiding obstacles in their path.

I don’t think the caribou or the whales are so stupid as to stop in their tracks, so to speak, and simply die, or not reproduce, because there’s a mine or a ship in their way. In fact, I think if the caribou or whale ‘whisperers’ actually knew what these creatures were thinking, they’d probably hear “It’s no big deal, I’ll just walk or swim around.”

Regardless, more and more mining projects seem to be getting trapped by permit stipulations thanks to environmentalists, or even worse, naturalists crusaders who seem to know what’s best for wildlife. Granted, the creatures are being displaced somewhat by some mining operations but on the whole, they’re not being slaughtered like the buffalo were when the railways went through in the 1800s.

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OMA directors gain a fresh view of Ontario’s changing political landscape

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

As we wait to see what the first Throne Speech from Ontario’s new Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, which is being delivered today, and a pending budget really mean, Ontario Mining Association members were advised, at a recent board meeting, the political landscape has changed irrevocably. “Throw away the old playbook because right now conventional wisdom is worth nothing,” Darrell Bricker, Chief Executive Officer of Ipsos Global Public Affairs told the OMA.

His presentation “The Ontario Political Landscape” showed how the steady growth of Western Canada as an economic force and large scale immigration has changed the political environment. He noted that 90% of Canadians are now governed at the provincial level by women. There are female premiers in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta (Canada’s four most populous provinces) and Newfoundland.

Mr. Bricker, who has a long career in public opinion research including time in the Prime Minister’s Office, said the 30 new seats that will be in House of Commons for the next federal election demonstrate the change. Fifteen of the new seats are in Ontario, six in B.C. and six in Alberta and almost all of these seats are in the suburbs of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

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Speaking Notes for The Honourable Tony Clement Minister for FedNor – SPEECH TO THE THUNDER BAY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (February 19, 2013)

References to the Ring of Fire

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Thank you Ed (Schmidtke) for that kind introduction. And thank you to our hosts for this afternoon business luncheon, the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.

It’s great to be back in Thunder Bay. These are truly exciting times for the city and the region.

There is a buzz in the air and a sense of dynamism that, as Minister for FedNor and someone who has been criss-crossing Northern Ontario since 2006, gives me great satisfaction.

I just came from an announcement at the Thunder Bay Airport which exemplifies this energy and optimism. As many of you know the Thunder Bay Airport Authority has gone above and beyond the call of your run-of-the-mill airport manager.

It has aggressively expanded beyond its local market and its original mandate: it manages and offers consulting services to other airports, it sells – I should say exports – aviation software services across North America and the Caribbean, and it’s the exclusive distributor for a Swiss manufacturer of airport service maintenance equipment.

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Light on facts, heavy on patriotism, focus groups help hone NRCan advertising – by Bruce Cheadle (Maclean’s Magazine – February 18, 2013)

http://www2.macleans.ca/

OTTAWA – Focus-group testing on what the Harper government calls its Responsible Resource Development campaign found the advertising to be light on facts but uplifting and patriotic, according to a government-commissioned study.

The fruits of that taxpayer-funded labour will again be on display this spring as a second wave of ads — designed to persuade Canadians of “the importance and impact of Canada’s energy sector” — hits the air.

Natural Resources Canada has budgeted $9 million in the current 2012-13 fiscal year for ads that show a cross-section of resource industries in a job-friendly and environmentally sensitive light. It’s a carefully calibrated exercise.

Conservatives have been courting controversy for more than a year with a high-octane battle over pipeline development and changes to environmental laws designed to speed up major resource projects, including oil sands extraction.

Last summer, NRCan hired Leger Marketing to fine-tune the government’s proposed advertising campaign. The project included a national telephone poll of 2,000 respondents and two separate rounds of focus groups.

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Canadian miners wading into Africa – by Jessica McDiarmid (Toronto Star – February 19, 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.

Africa is home to the latest mineral rush, with potential for great riches–and catastrophe.

When rebels in Mali launched a surprise push south toward the capital, Bamako, last month, the Canadian mining industry took notice.It’s got nearly $500 million in assets there.

As international forces landed in the West African nation to fend off the Islamist advance, Vancouver-based Nevsun Resources was hit with allegations that forced labour built its Bisha mine in Eritrea, a pariah state on the other side of the continent.

Just last week, Canadian gold giant Barrick Gold attributed $3.8 billion (U.S.) of its massive writedown to its struggling Zambian copper operation, in part due to the southern African country’s government doubling royalties. Kinross Gold took a $3.2 billion (U.S.) writedown, mostly due to its Tasiast mine in Mauritania.

The Canadian government has made no secret of its support for miners investing in the continent — 54 countries, each vastly different from the next — in what some have called the latest ‘scramble for Africa.’ But recent events — conflict, human rights complaints, regulatory changes — highlight that while the continent holds staggering mineral wealth, it can come at a price.

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Getting hosed by the Canadian discount – by Jim Stanford (Globe and Mail – February 19, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

There are many reasons to doubt a national economic strategy premised centrally on digging out non-renewable resources, then selling them off to foreigners as quickly as possible. But one of the most irrational aspects of the recent energy boom has been its perverse impact on export revenues.

In essence, the faster we extract bitumen and export it, the cheaper it gets. Our regulatory system gives each individual company free rein to export as much as possible, as fast as possible. But the resulting export surge drives down the overall price. Perversely, that undermines each producer’s revenue and fails to serve the public interest in maximizing the value of non-renewable resources.

Canada both exports oil (from the West) and imports it (to the East). However, because of the depressing effect of unrestrained exports on prices, an incredible gap has emerged between what we pay for imports and what we fetch for exports. Last December, that so-called “Canadian discount” surged to more than $60 a barrel. In essence, we had to export two barrels from the West to pay for each barrel imported to the East. The gap has since narrowed, but it still costs Canadians billions of dollars a year – hurting both oil companies and consumers. Almost half of Canada’s petroleum export revenue now goes to pay for petroleum imports.

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Emotions driving Quebec fracking moratorium, Bouchard says – by Bertrand Marotte (Globe and Mail – February 19, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

MONTREAL — Quebec is sending a discouraging message to potential investors by dithering over development of its potentially huge oil and gas reserves, says former premier Lucien Bouchard.

Those who oppose hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas have essentially won the battle because the government has indefinitely suspended all such activities, said Mr. Bouchard, who recently stepped down as chairman of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association after his client – Talisman Energy Inc. – withdrew from the group.

His comments add fuel to the heated battle over Quebec’s energy future. While the industry pushes for the province to move quickly to set clear rules on oil and gas exploration, the government says a cautious approach is needed to deal with the environmental issues that surround hydraulic fracturing.

Fracking, as it is commonly called, uses large quantities of water and chemicals to fracture rock to release trapped gas. Opponents say fracking compromises groundwater, a claim the industry disputes. Similar arguments are being heard in many jurisdictions, but in Quebec the topic has become particularly touchy.

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Clement walking on eggshells as he takes on Ring of Fire responsibilities – by Heather Scoffield (Canadian Press/Brandon Sun – February 19, 2013)

http://www.brandonsun.com/

OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Tony Clement will publicly take on federal responsibility for the massive Ring of Fire mineral discovery today in northern Ontario today.

He’ll be walking on eggshells as he makes his first speech on the chromite and nickel interest in Thunder Bay this afternoon.

That’s because the Ring of Fire file is not only complex, it is also controversial among environmentalists, First Nations and many of the communities who would be affected by the large-scale building of infrastructure and decades of mining.

It’s also a huge test case of the federal government’s “responsible resource development” approach that has influenced major changes in legislation but has also had a rough ride of late. Attempts to build pipelines to the West and to the south have met with a public outcry, and Ottawa’s record on climate change record has been challenged, not just by the federal environment auditor but also by the new Obama administration.

So Clement’s first priority is to avoid upsetting anyone and build a consensus around the best way to develop the region’s newly discovered riches. “The whole purpose of the engagement … is first and foremost to listen to other people,” Clement said in a phone interview the day before his speech.

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Finland Transforms Chrome Deposits Into World’s Largest Single Site Stainless Steel Production Facility at Tornio: A History – by Jorma Kovalainen

http://www.outokumpu.com/en/Pages/default.aspx

Tornio Works History

This review was written by Mr. Jorma Kovalainen, General Manager – Special Projects. It describes the history of Outokumpu Tornio Works and our growth to the largest single site stainless steel producer in the world.

The Chrome deposit in Keminmaa was discovered in 1959 by accident, when there was a water canal under construction. Outokumpu got the ownership of the Keminmaa claim in 1960 and started to investigate the ore deposit and to develop a refining process for the metal.

The same year, Outokumpu engaged the first engineer (Siltari) to develop the idea of starting a stainless steel production sometime in the future, while Outokumpu already had some nickel production.

After extensive research and development work, Outokumpu decided in 1964 to invest in ferrochrome, and the production started in Tornio in 1968. A lot of research and development of enriching and metallurgy was needed because the chrome ore was in oxide form that was not refined anywhere else in the world. Similar development was earlier done with copper and nickel productions: in all three cases, Outokumpu has taken in use its own, patented production technology.

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Attawapiskat blockaders served injunction: Report (Toronto Sun Video Report – February 17, 2013)

http://www.torontosun.com/home

A sheriff presented a group of people blocking the road to a diamond mine in Attawapiskat with a court injunction Sunday, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network reported.

The station said the sheriff appears to have flown to the airport at the De Beers Victor mine and then drove 90 km to the blockade site. The ice road from the mine does not cross through reserve land, though the area is Attawapiskat’s claimed traditional territory.

Accompanied by two OPP officers, the sheriff read the injunction to a handful of blockaders before posting it, APTN said on its site.

Last Friday, De Beers diamond mine officials asked a Timmins judge for the injunction to end the illegal blockades that have prevented supplies from entering the company’s mine off and on for nearly two weeks.

Residents say the blockades are about the mine’s environmental impact on their community and about proper compensation.

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Investigation continues into attack on Eldorado Gold mine in Greece – by The Canadian Press (Globe and Mail – February 18, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

A Greek prosecutor ordered the release Monday of a 54-year-old man hours after he was arrested in connection with an attack on a Canadian-owned gold mining operation in which about 40 masked intruders torched machinery and vehicles.

Police had arrested the man for “moral instigation” of the attack due to his contributions to an anti-mining blog. The prosecutor later ordered him released without officially charging him, while also ordering the investigation to continue.

Opposition to the Skouries mining project in northern Greece’s Halkidiki peninsula runs deep and the area has seen numerous protests in recent months, some of which have turned violent.

The mining company, Hellas Gold, which is 95 per cent owned by Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold Inc., is planning a gold mine and processing plant in the area.

Residents are divided between those who fear environmental destruction and those who support the mine for its job prospects at a time of severe financial crisis and spiralling unemployment.

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