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Cost of water [in Marten Falls FN] – byJeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – June 8, 2012)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The federal government has spent millions of dollars shipping bottled water to a remote First Nation community with an ineffective water treatment plant.

Marten Falls First Nation has had a boil water advisory since 2007. Bottled water is the community’s only access to clean drinking water, and as a result the First Nation has had to rely on that bottled water being shipped from Thunder Bay about twice a week.

These shipments have been coming in for nearly five years and the shipping costs are estimated to be more than $300,000 annually. The situation is also costing Marten Falls, which has to send discarded water bottles to the community’s landfill. Most of what remains has been burned up along with other thrown away items such as stoves and fridges.

Deon Peters is the head operator at the treatment plant and said the community has outgrown the facility since it was built in 1997. For the past 10 years, officials at the plant have noticed a decline in water quality. “It’s not running as well as it should,” Peters said.

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First Nation wants to slow the pace of mining activities – CBC Radio News Thunder Bay (June 11, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Webequie residents say process needs to slow down so they can participate in Ring of Fire

A mining development in northern Ontario, dubbed the Ring of Fire, is expected to be one of the first tests of the federal government’s streamlined environmental assessment.
 
An American company, Cliffs Natural Resources, plans to open a chromite mine in the James Bay lowlands by 2015. Chromite is the main ingredient in stainless steel, and Ontario is said to a quarter of the world’s supply.

Both the provincial and federal governments are keen to see the development go ahead quickly, but the people who live on the Webequie First Nation — a community closest to the proposed mine — want a slower approach. ‘What is going to happen?’

Elder Emily Jacob said she worries that deals are being made with mining companies behind closed doors. “We need to know what is being said to them — you know, the people who are making the decisions — about what is going to happen in this Ring of Fire,” Jacob said. “We need to know that.”

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‘Misunderstanding’ [between Webequie and Noront]- by Jeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – June 11, 2012)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The chief of Webequie First Nation says the situation with junior mining company Noront Resources Ltd was all a misunderstanding.

Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse voiced his disappointment when Noront announced they would be delaying their feasibility study following Cliffs Natural Resources decision to move its ferrochrome plant to the Sudbury area.

Noront had been working on a feasibility study for its deposit containing copper and nickel. The company was proposing an east-to-west, all-season road that would run from Pickle Lake to the Ring of Fire area. But the company believes the province might be making an eventual commitment to the north-south road proposed by Cliffs.
That decision is a major factor in the delay.

While the series of events may have led to some friction between the First Nation community and Noront, Wabasse said they will remain open to development and continue to work with the company.

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Northern communities consider hosting facility – by Heidi Ulrichsen – (Sudbury Northern Life – June 9, 2012)

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

If the entire current stock of used nuclear fuel in Canada were stacked like cordwood, it could fit into the space the size of six hockey arenas, from the ice surface to the top of the boards.
 
Of course, used nuclear fuel isn’t stored in hockey arenas. But what exactly happens to it? The uranium dioxide pellets are contained in half-metre-long cylindrical bundles made of a strong, corrosion-resistant metal called Zircaloy.

So far, in the 40 years nuclear power has been used in this country, we’ve produced two million of these bundles. After coming out of a nuclear power plant reactor, this material is “cooled” in pools of water known as used fuel bays on site at nuclear facilities for at least 10 years, until it becomes less radioactive.

Then it’s moved from the used fuel bays into robust concrete and steel containers, and stored in large warehouses on the station site. Although these containers are designed to last at least 50 years, they’re not a permanent solution.

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MEDIA RELEASE: Global Presence for Fuller Industrial – Bagdad and Mongolia on the Map

JUNE 11TH 2012
 
 
Fuller Industrial, in Sudbury Ontario, is shipping trucks full of rubber lined pipe fitting to Bagdad. Bagdad Arizona that is.

The rubber lined pipe and fittings manufactured at Fuller’s  is part of an upgrade to the 75,000 metric ton per day concentrator at the Freeport McMoRan (FXC) company owned town.

Rubber lining protects and extends the life of the pipe from the abrasive slurry transported throughout the concentrator.
Bagdad is an open-pit copper and molybdenum mining about 100 miles northwest of Phoenix Arizona.

The project is one of several projects being delivered by Fuller and is part of a string of current and upcoming jobs in the United States, Canada, and the world.

With all the bad news about the demise of the small innovative Canadian companies, Fuller Industrial, in Sudbury Ontario continues to buck the trend.

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PRESS RELEASE: Minister Oliver Highlights Importance of the Mining Sector to Economic Growth

 June 11, 2012
 
SUDBURY, ONTARIO, Jun 11, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — The Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, today delivered the keynote address at the MassMin 2012 Conference and Trade Show. The Minister highlighted the importance of the mining industry to Canada’s economic growth and long-term prosperity and acknowledged Sudbury as a centre of job creation and innovation in the Canadian mining sector.

“Our Government recognizes the importance of mining to the Canadian economy and resource-based communities,” said Minister Oliver. “That is why we are committed to innovation, investments in public geoscience and renewing Canada’s regulatory system with our plan for Responsible Resource Development.”

Responsible Resource Development is founded on four main pillars: to make project reviews more predictable and timely; to reduce duplication of project reviews; to strengthen environmental protection; and to enhance Aboriginal consultations.

“The responsible resource development of natural resources is key to maintaining and building the economic strength of great nations,” said Minister Oliver.

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High-paying mine jobs Down Under bring city woes to sleepy towns – by Jane Regan (Mineweb.com – June 11, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

The property crunch engulfing the little town of Moranbah and other communities around the coal-rich Bowen Basin is one of a growing number of downsides associated with the Australian mining boom.

MORANBAH, Australia (Reuters) – Despite a six-figure salary, Russel Wise is worried he will soon be homeless after receiving an eviction order from the one-room trailer he has rented since taking a job in an Australian coal mine in 2009.
 
“There aren’t too many options around,” says Wise, who like thousands of other Australians, was lured to the little town of Moranbah in the coal-rich northeast by high-paying jobs and in the process triggered a housing crisis of big-city proportions.
 
“The owner wants to build more modern, multi-dwelling units to house more people the mining companies can bring in and out on rotation, so I’ve got to go. Simple as that,” says Wise.
 
The property crunch engulfing Moranbah and other communities peppering the Bowen Basin, a 60,000-sq-km (23,200-sq-mile) moonscape of open pit mines supplying most of the world’s coal for steel making, is one of a swelling number of downsides associated with the Australian mining boom.

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Give us facts on Alberta oil spill, locals demand – by Shelley Youngblut (Globe and Mail – June 11, 2012)

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.

CALGARY- Four days after a pipeline operated by Plains Midstream Canada spilled an estimated hundreds of thousands of litres of oil into the Red Deer River in central Alberta, local landowners are waiting for answers.

“People are tired of hearing platitudes,” said Bruce Beattie, the reeve of Mountain View County, one of the affected communities. “Tell us the facts. Don’t try to make a political event out of it.”

Any oil spill in Alberta is a sensitive issue because of the controversy surrounding the debate over the Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines, but Mr. Beattie pointed out there are safety concerns that have to be addressed. “They are going to have to be much more forthcoming about the processes that led up to this spill.” ‘

Alberta Premier Alison Redford held a press conference Friday at the Dickson Dam on the Gleniffer Reservoir, which has been the focus of Plains Midstream’s clean-up efforts. Gleniffer Lake provides the water supply for the City of Red Deer and it is a popular recreation area for fishing and boating.

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First Hand Look [First Nations and Ring of Fire] – by Jeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – June 9, 2012)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Having lost the ferrochrome smelter, Eli Moonias says he wants to visit other chromite mines around the world before he gives the go ahead to the Ring of Fire.

The chief of Marten Falls First Nation fought hard to try to bring the Cliffs Natural Resources ferrochrome smelter to Northern Ontario. He said having the smelter in Greenstone would mean an electrical grid could have been established for the region giving not only his community but also everyone in the region a reason to switch from expensive diesel fuel.

Ultimately, Cliffs chose to have the smelter build in a town near Sudbury. With it being years before Marten Falls could see any benefits from the Ring of Fire development, Moonias said he wants a firsthand look at chromite mining projects that are happening around the world to see the benefits of the mine.

“I told the government that I wanted to see the land in Finland or South Africa or in Turkey or Kazakhstan,” Moonias said. “That’s where the existing chromite mines are. I want to see them firsthand. I want to see people, meet them, ask what their experiences are before I say go right ahead here in our area.”

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Tony Clement Speech Angers First Nation’s Leaders – “His comments are inexcusable…” Chief Moonias Martin Falls – by Netnewsledger.com – June 2012)

http://netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – Chief Roger Wesley of Constance Lake First Nation took aim at the Federal Government today saying Minister Clement’s comments in Thunder Bay this week signal a new and unfortunate turn in the Government’s relationship with First Nation Peoples.

“I am worried, but also saddened,” said Wesley, referring to the FedNor Minister’s comment during a visit to Thunder Bay, that a Joint Review Panel Environmental Assessment (EA), like the one that First Nations and Municipalities in the region have been calling for in the Ring of Fire, would only bring up “irrelevant issues.”

“A Joint Review Panel EA would give time for appropriate consultation and a serious look at the impacts on the land, but also on our people. Impacts to our culture, our communities, our land and way of life are not irrelevant!” said Chief Wesley. Minister Clement was in Thunder Bay on June 4th and gave a speech at Coastal Steel.

Referring to the comment by Clement that First Nations have no “veto” Chief Wesley said, “The Government’s duty is not only to consult First Nations, but also to accommodate First Nations. The Minister should read the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982 (sec.35).

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Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario holds the potential for billions in mineral wealth – by Tony Clement (June 8, 2012)

This speech by Tony Clement was originally posted on: http://netnewsledger.com/

Tony Clement is the President of the Treasury Board of Canada and Minister for FedNor. He has also been the Member of Parliament for Parry Sound-Muskoka since 2006.

Tony Clement Thunder Bay Speech

It’s a pleasure to be back here in Thunder Bay with you today. I want to thank Coastal Steel officials for their warm welcome and the other stakeholders here today who support the objectives of our Government’s Plan for Responsible Resource Development.

I’d like to take this opportunity to detail our Government’s many efforts to ensure Canada’s prosperity into the future. Last week, Thomas Mulcair went west and embarked on his big adventure, trying to back pedal from his short-sighted and flat out wrong statements about Canada’s resource industries.

He said Canada’s strong resource sector is a disease that hurts the country – and he said this of course before ever seeing an oilsands operation first hand. Folks I have seen the oilsands up close, and forestry camps, pulp mills, and mines and let me tell you Thomas Mulcair and I disagree completely – I know the importance and value of Canada’s growing resource sector.

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Between rock face and hard place [Ring of Fire and First Nations] -by Maureen Nadin (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – June 11, 2012)

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

This is the fourth of a multi-part series looking at the mining sector of Northwestern Ontario and the Ring of Fire.
 
Republic of Mining blogger Stan Sudol keeps his finger on the pulse of the mining and prospecting communities. The journalist and mining strategist has gone on record to express his view that the potential offered by the Ring of Fire development is “a wonderful opportunity to alleviate poverty in First Nations communities.”

Although some would argue that it is impossible to fully alleviate poverty anywhere, Sudol’s sentiment is a noble, albeit lofty expression of the economic hope that the Ring of Fire has created for communities in the mineral-rich region.

Aboriginal people have traditionally worked and had a strong connection to the land, but the modern mining industry is multifaceted and highly technological. There is a diversity of skill sets required that vary with each phase of the operation and all stakeholders must work together to open the path to the rock face for aspiring workers.

And that requires not only strategic partnerships, but a holistic “big picture” approach as to how to prepare Aboriginal people to fill those jobs.

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New Inuit leader seeks to guard development of resources – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – June 9, 2012)

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.

OTTAWA – The new leader of the organization that is the voice of Canada’s 53,000 Inuit grew up in Resolute Bay at a time when the tiny Inuit hamlet had the busiest airport north of the Arctic Circle.

Planes supporting the burgeoning oil and gas industries were constantly landing and taking off again for Edmonton, Winnipeg and Montreal. But the people of Resolute Bay, who had been transplanted to the barren stretch of gravel as part of a plan by Canada to assert its sovereignty in the High Arctic, did not share in the wealth from the resources that were being extracted, Terry Audla says.

His desire to ensure that future development in the North does not only include the Inuit but is driven by them is what propelled Mr. Audla to seek the presidency of the Inuit Tapirit Kanatami (ITK), the group that represents Inuit living in 53 communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Northern Quebec and Northern Labrador.

Mr. Audla, 42, won the job this week at the ITK’s annual general meeting in Kuujjuaq, Que. He had the support of 12 out of 13 voting board members and replaces Mary Simon, who had held the post for six years.

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NEWS RELEASE: Liberty Mines Receives Government Approval of the Hart Mine Closure Plan

Liberty on track to start production at Hart in Q1 2014

TSX:  LBE 

TORONTO, June 7, 2012 /CNW/ – Liberty Mines Inc. (“Liberty” or the “Company”) announced today that an important planning phase necessary for launching production at its Hart Mine has been approved and filed by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines.   The plan, which is a necessary requirement for mines operating in Ontario, provides details and financial assurance on the rehabilitation measures that Liberty will take during operations and after the life of the Hart Mine has been exhausted.
 
“With approval of the Hart Mine Closure Plan in place, we are one important step closer to launching production at our Hart Mine, which we expect in early 2014,” said Chris Stewart, President and CEO of Liberty Mines.  “Over the coming months, we will continue on our deep drilling program at Hart and advance towards completion of a feasibility study by year end.”
 
The Hart Mine, which is located approximately 30 kilometres from Timmins, Ontario, is a nickel deposit currently consisting of 1.55 million tons of indicated resource with a grade of 1.40% nickel.  Liberty expects production at Hart to start in Q1/2014 with an initial production of 250 tons per day, eventually ramping up to 750 tons per day.

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Shell is changing the energy game — and in a big way – by Diane Francis (National Post – June 8, 2012)

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

This week, Royal Dutch Shell PLC began rolling out a strategy that will dramatically change the energy world. With revenues larger than the economies of Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia combined, Shell is betting big on natural gas to replace oil as the world’s foremost transportation fuel.
 
This is the game-changer. It was only a handful of years ago when small independent oil companies proved that a technology called fracking worked and was able to blow up deep shale rocks to release natural gas. They sold out to majors who, in turn, sold reserves to super-majors like Shell that have fuel refining and retailing expertise and operations.
 
There have been pilot projects involving the use of natural gas, liquefied or compressed, as fuel in trucks, but this week Shell made a big move. The giant announced a partnership with an American gas station operator to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) for heavy-duty trucks at 100 fuelling stations across the U.S. by 2013.
 
The company will build LNG plants to service this chain and others that will follow. In Canada, Shell has made a similar deal with a truck-fuelling chain along 1,600 kilometers of highway between Fort McMurray and Vancouver. Shell has called this its “Green Corridor project”.

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