Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Aroland First Nation raises questions about ethics of Ontario Mining Minister – after months of ignoring First Nations, Ontario attempts last-minute “Buy off” of Ring of Fire First Nations

May 9, 2012

For Immediate Release

Thunder Bay (May 9, 2012) – Today, the Chief of the Aroland First Nation raised serious questions about the ethics of Ontario Mining Minister Rick Bartolucci and MPP for Sudbury. The Minister, in a last ditch effort of questionable morality, arranged a secret meeting late yesterday (May 8th) between the Aroland Chief, the Marten Falls Chief and Ontario officials. The goal of the meeting was to head off growing First Nation opposition to the Cliffs chromite mine and refinery.

“After ignoring First Nations for months, Ontario thought they could divide and conquer us by holding an 11th hour meeting and making a few promises without our fellow Matawa Chiefs present,” said Chief Sonny Gagnon. “Ontario needs to deal with First Nations first rather than simply taking orders from Cliffs. We want the refinery in Aroland territory and we want the highest standard of environmental review for the project.”

“We asked the Minister to pause the Cliffs announcement on the refinery, but Bartolucci said he had no control over Cliffs, “said Gagnon. “Who is really running this Province? Our elected officials or an American mining company?”

NEWS RELEASE: Webequie First Nation`s Response to Ring of Fire Announcements

May 9, 2012

May 9, 2012

Responding to Ring of Fire announcements made by Cliffs Natural Resources and Ontario today, Webequie First Nation has issued the following statement:

“Webequie First Nation acknowledges Ontario’s commitment to support the directly impacted First Nations and to engage the Federal Government in the trilateral process. It is important for all levels of Government, including local impacted First Nations Governments, to work together towards a cooperative framework.

While acknowledging this new regional commitment, Webequie First Nation will continue to dialogue and pursue future assurances from both levels of Government and industry partners for the continued examination of the feasibility of an optional utility corridor. This optional utility corridor will ensure that the community infrastructure needs of Webequie First Nation and other regionally impacted First Nations are responsibly incorporated into northern development plans.

The members of Webequie First Nation reaffirm the need of all stakeholders to uphold and respect the environmental integrity of our traditional homelands as a priority consideration of any major infrastructure development in the region.

Ontario facing First Nations-Ring of Fire showdown – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 9, 2012)

May 9, 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.

The Ontario government could be playing with fire against First Nations leading to a potential confrontation over one of the province’s richest mineral finds in a decade.

The eve of Cliffs Natural Resources announcement of the location of a likely ferrochrome smelter in Ontario, Aboriginal leaders said Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci was attempting to make a last-minute deal with First Nations to head off growing opposition to the multi-billion-dollar chromite mine and refinery project.

In a May 8 release, Aroland First Nation Chief Sonny Gagnon said Bartolucci arranged a “secret meeting” to get his community and Marten Falls First Nation onside the Far North development which is advancing toward the feasibility stage of evaluation.

Gagnon said he won’t cut any side deal with the government without the other Matawa tribal council chiefs on board.

NEWS RELEASE: Aroland First Nation claims the Province is failing in duty to consult on Cliffs Chromite Project

May 9, 2012

Written by Press Release on 08 May 2012

http://www.karinahunter.com/

First Nation seeks Freedom of Information for Confidential Agreements between Mining Firm and Province

AROLAND FIRST NATION, ON – Aroland First Nation has filed a request for disclosure to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) on information relating to Cliffs Chromite mining project in the area, known as the Ring of Fire under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

Aroland is one of the First Nations that will be directly impacted from the Cliffs initiative which includes the construction of an open pit mine, ore processing facility, ferrochrome production facility and an integrated transport system that will include a 340 kilometer North-South all-season road corridor from the mine site to just west of the community of Aroland. A number of major environmental impacts have already been identified and has raised concerns with First Nations closeby.

NEWS RELEASE: Thousands of Jobs Coming To Northern Ontario – McGuinty Government Supports Responsible Ring Of Fire Mining Development

May 9, 2012

May 9, 2012 9:00 AM

Cliffs Natural Resources has announced a $3.3-billion investment to build a chromite mine, transportation corridor and processing facility in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire that would lead to a new generation of prosperity in the north, with thousands of jobs and new infrastructure.

The Ring of Fire represents one of the most significant mineral regions in the province, and includes the largest deposit of chromite ever discovered in North America. The chromite found in this area, 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, is a key ingredient used to create stainless steel.

Cliffs Natural Resources has announced it intends to build a $1.8-billion chromite processing facility in Capreol, near Sudbury. This would employ 450 people during construction, and as many as 450 people when the facility is in operation. Mine and mill development, as well as the construction and operation of transportation infrastructure, could create an additional 750 jobs, plus hundreds of indirect employment opportunities for Northern Ontarians and First Nations’ communities.

NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs’ Canadian Based Chromite Project Advances to Feasibility Study Phase

May 9, 2012

May 9, 2012 8:46 AM

CLEVELAND, May 9, 2012 /CNW/ – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) announced today that the Company’s Board of Directors approved advancing its proposed chromite project, located in the Ring of Fire area of Northern Ontario, Canada, from pre-feasibility to the feasibility study phase. The Company’s feasibility study will build further on the technical and economic evaluations and a clearly defined project description will enable environmental assessment to move forward.

Cliffs stated that its discussions with the Government of Ontario have resulted in an agreement in principle for key elements of its chromite project, including development of provincial infrastructure. The Company is satisfied and confident in naming Ontario as the future location for its intended ferrochrome processing facility. Both parties will continue to work toward a definitive agreement.

Cliffs also said that, after a lengthy and careful evaluation process, which included several alternative locations, it selected Sudbury, Ontario as its future ferrochrome processing facility site. This facility will be designed to process the chromite ore mined and concentrated in the region. Sudbury was selected due to various economic and technical factors that would best support the viability and success of the overall project, including transportation logistics, labor, long mining tradition, community support and access to electrical power.

Cliffs picks Sudbury [for ferrochrome smelter] – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – May 9, 2012)

May 9, 2012

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

Greater Sudbury has been formally selected as the site of Cliffs Natural Resources’ prized $1.8-billion ferrochrome smelter, The Sudbury Star has learned.

Announcements that Cliffs has upgraded its massive Ring of Fire project to the feasibility study stage, reached a number of key agreements with the Ontario government and chose Sudbury as the smelter site will be made simultaneously in Sudbury, Thunder Bay and at the company’s head office in Cleveland this morning.

Sources say agreements with the province about infrastructure in northwestern Ontario were key to advancing the $2.75-billion mining, transportation and smelting project to this stage.

Cliffs’ 2012 capital plan called for $150 million to develop the Black Thor mine site and $800 million to construct a near-mine concentrating plant. Cliffs’ Black Thor chromite deposits are 350 kilometres north of the town of Nakina.

The company estimates an integrated transportation system, including an all-weather road from Nakina to the minesite, would require a $600-million investment, which was not included in Cliffs’ initial project costs.

Let claims in Wolf Lake lapse, group asks – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – May 9, 2012)

May 9, 2012

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

An environmental group wants to know why the government is giving contradictory information about protecting the Wolf Lake Forest Reserve.

In a release issued last week by Viki Mather, a member of the Wolf Lake Coalition who lives in the area, she questions why mining claims where no exploration work has ever been done continue to be renewed. In order for a mining claim to be renewed, a certain amount of exploration work has to take place each year.

“(Natural Resources) Minister (Michael) Gravelle assured the public that … once the current claims lapsed, the area would become part of the Chiniguchi Waterway Park,” Mather wrote in the release.

The Chiniguchi Waterway Park is north of Lake Wahnapitae. Environmental groups have been maintaining pressure to protect the Wolf Lake area because it is home to the world’s largest remaining stand of old-growth red pine forest. In March, the province cancelled a plan to give 340 hectares of the area a general-use designation.

Locate smelter in Greenstone … or else, Aroland chief says – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – May 8, 2012)

May 8, 2012

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

First Nation poised to fight Ring of Fire development

The Chief of Aroland First Nation in northwestern Ontario is adamant that the only way he’ll support the Ring of Fire development is if Cliffs Natural Resources agrees to build the ferrochrome smelter in Greenstone, Ont., near his community.

“That’s our bottom line,” said Sonny Gagnon, chief of the 325 residents of Aroland, on May 7. “That smelter is pretty much the key to the concept we have of how this thing should be developed.”

Gagnon said the project is a huge opportunity for First Nations in the area, one that could have a lasting impact for the next 100 years. There is no way he and his community could support the Ring of Fire if smelter jobs are located in Sudbury, which, for weeks, has been rumoured as the site for the smelter.

For example, Gagnon said some local communities have to rely on diesel power for electricity. If the smelter is built in the area, it would have to be attached to the provincial power grid, potentially offering those communities access to the same power grid most Ontarians take for granted.

Let Them Eat – The Case for Phosphate Mining – by Brian Ostroff (ResourceInvestor.com – May 8, 2012)

May 8, 2012

www.resourceinvestor.com

I will be attending the Hard Asset Conference in New York a little later this month where I am sure the topic of gold will be hotly debated. For one, I believe that gold is relatively cheap and will make its way considerably higher. As for gold equities, they are trading at valuations only seen once in the last thirty plus years and despite all those who argue that gold ETFs have killed gold stock investment, I would not be too quick to count these stocks out.

With that said, I would like to talk about a more important commodity for mankind. Yes, gold is important for those who are concerned about purchasing power, currency devaluation and a general hedge against economic and political uncertainty but when push comes to shove, could anyone really argue that anything is more important than food?

All food is grown (crops, fruits, vegetables, etc.) or comes from animals that themselves survive on things that are grown and, in order to grow things, we need fertilizer. Fertilizer in comprised of nitrogen, potash and phosphate and whether you realize it or not, North America has a problem when it comes to phosphate because North America is not self-reliant.

Canada has only one operating phosphate mine (Agrium’s Kapuskasing Mine) which is scheduled to close within a year and Florida’s operations have had issues mostly brought on by environmental concerns. The result is that North America’s deficit will continue to grow adding to our reliance on foreign countries to offset this shortage.

Kinross Gold’s Mauritanian desert storm -by Nicolas Johnson (Globe and Mail – May 8, 2012)

May 8, 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.

The Tasiast gold mine in the Mauritanian desert was the biggest acquisition in Kinross Gold Corp.’s 19-year existence and one of the biggest takeovers in the history of the gold industry.

It was to have been the centrepiece of the Kinross portfolio, transforming the Toronto-based company into one of the fastest-growing gold miners in the world.

Instead, the $7.1-billion acquisition of Red Back Mining Inc. has bludgeoned Kinross’s stock and balance sheet. The company took a $2.49-billion writedown in February, angering investors and leaving the company’s chief executive officer battling to retain his credibility. Shares of the miner have lost about half their value since the August, 2010, deal.

On Wednesday morning, at Kinross’s annual meeting in Toronto, president and CEO Tye Burt will get another chance to convince shareholders that the biggest bet of his career will pay off. The miner reports earnings a day earlier, on Tuesday.

Greenstone miffed at Cliffs’ smelter snub – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 8, 2012)

May 8, 2012

Greenstone Mayor Ron Beaulieu wants answers from Cliffs Natural Resources on why his municipality was overlooked in the project planning for its Ring of Fire chromite project.

Beaulieu said Cliffs left many unanswered questions on the table following a presentation by CEO Joseph Carrabarra at an Aboriginal Business Council luncheon May 1 in Thunder Bay. Carrabba came and went from the city without taking questions from the audience or media.

“We left disappointed by the sheer lack of information,” wrote Beaulieu in a May 4 letter to Carrabarra, especially on how power will generated and delivered to the mine site in the James Bay lowlands.

“We want to know the hard facts,” Beaulieu said in an interview with Northern Ontario Business. “We’re not getting any answers. It’s so vague.”

Proposed mining act changes flawed, critics say – by CBC Thunder Bay (May 7, 2012)

May 8, 2012

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

The deadline to comment on proposed changes to the province’s mining act has passed. But some people say the changes will not address outstanding issues, including obtaining permits and First Nations consultation.

Isadore Day, the Lake Huron Regional Grand Chief, said there needs to be a balance that includes dialogue with First Nations people while improving the province’s economy.

“I think the government has to take a step back and ask itself the question, ‘does it make sense now to use this as an example to ensure that First Nations are participating in the resource based economy’ to answer the outstanding issue of resource revenue sharing,” he said. Day said improvements also need to be made regarding early consultation between mining companies and First Nations.

The proposed mining regulations also have potential to negatively impact business for junior mining companies, said Dave Hunt, a geologist who heads up the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association.

Enbridge braces for more pipeline backlash as annual meeting nears – by Jameson Berkow (National Post – May 7, 2012)

May 8, 2012

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

CALGARY — As if Enbridge Inc. could not hear the cries of protests over the Northern Gateway pipeline at its annual meeting in Calgary last year, what will hit the company in Toronto on Wednesday is expected to be even louder.

Public hearings into the $5.5-billion project to bring crude oil from Bruderheim, Alta. 1,172-kilometre west to the Pacific coast town of Kitimat, B.C. — and from there to energy-hungry markets in Asia — have since begun, serving as a focal point for criticism. Canada’s largest crude transporter has also opted to hold this year’s AGM in the country’s financial capital, where many groups opposing the pipeline command a strong presence and where the risk of a public relations backlash affecting the company’s share price is heightened.

As members of the Calgary-based Enbridge executive team make the trip to Toronto this week, a train carrying some of Northern Gateway’s most vocal critics is close behind. Hundreds of protestors are expected to rally outside the AGM, with a “Freedom Train” set to arrive Wednesday carrying dozens of members of the Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of British Columbia First Nations opposed to the project.

Be transparent: [Ring of Fire] First Nation – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 8, 2012)

May 8, 2012

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

Aroland First Nation in northwestern Ontario wants the government of Ontario to open up about “confidential meetings” its says it has been holding with Cliffs Natural Resources about development of the Ring of Fire chromite deposits.

The 325-member First Nation, about 20 kilometres west of Nakina in Greenstone, has filed a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to disclose information about the meetings.

At the same time, the mayor of Greenstone, Renald Beaulieu, is calling upon Cliffs’ chairman, president and chief executive officer, Joseph Carrabba, to answer several questions left unresolved last week after Carrabba spoke to the Aboriginal Business Council in Thunder Bay.

Beaulieu said he attended that meeting expecting to learn “something about the company’s approach to matters that remain unaddressed” — specifically the location of a smelter that Cliffs will build to process chromite ore from the Ring of Fire.