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USGS NEWS RELEASE: U.S. Mineral Values Up in 2011

Released: 1/30/2012

The value of mineral production in the United States increased by 12 percent in 2011 from that of 2010, suggesting that the nonfuel minerals industries, particularly metals, continued to recover from the economic recession that began in December 2007 and lasted well into 2009.

The value of raw, nonfuel minerals mined in the United States was $74 billion in 2011, up from $66 billion in 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s annual release of mineral production statistics and summary of events and trends affecting domestic and global nonfuel minerals.

“Information in the Mineral Commodity Summaries helps business leaders, policy makers, managers, and anyone else understand the critically important flow of minerals through the supply chain and how they are contributing to, and reflecting the health of, our nation’s economy,” said USGS director Marcia McNutt. “For example, in 2011 domestic recycled metallic and mineral materials alone contributed $32 billion to our economy.”

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Goldcorp plans draining, mine site reclamation – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – January 31, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper

Timmins council was provided with an outline Monday night of two projects being undertaken over the next couple of months by Goldcorp. The two projects reflect opposite ends of the spectrum for mining operations.

One relates to the planned re-opening of the Hollinger mine site, while the other concerns the reclamation of the old Halnor site.

In preparation for the Hollinger open pit mine, Goldcorp is draining groundwater and letting it flow into Pearl Lake. The lake is already used as a basin for groundwater that is pumped out from the old McIntyre mine workings.

Luc Duval, the city’s director of public works and engineering, said the Hollinger project requires the pumping of more water. It will flow into a creek the crosses under McIntyre Rd. and empties into Pearl Lake.

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Party leaders still must earn our trust – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – january 31, 2012)

Wayne Snider is the city editor for The Daily Press , the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca

North’s 11 seats suddenly seem more relevant

The North may not have been a key political battleground during the last few Ontario elections, but it is starting to get more interesting.

Checking out the political landscape after last fall’s campaign, the Liberals came within one seat of getting a majority by relying heavily on the vote in the Greater Toronto Area. The Conservatives did well in rural Southern Ontario, while the NDP largely painted the North orange.

For the first time in recent memory, all three parties came out with a dedicated Northern Ontario policy during the campaign. Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, four months into being the leader of the opposition in a minority government, is still selling ideas from his Changebook North.

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Shale gas the place to be – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 31, 2012)

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

The Obama administration’s endorsement last week of shale gas as a major pillar of its made-in-America energy vision ensures a long-term future for the resource.

The big question is: How does the North American sector survive today’s depressed market environment so it can deliver the 600,000 jobs and the economic stimulus expected from shale gas development?

For companies like Calgary-based Encana Corp., one of the top shale gas producers in the U.S., it comes down to short-term pain for long-term gain. “You will see less and less drilling for a period of time,” Eric Marsh, executive vice-president, natural gas economy and senior vice president, USA division, said in an interview.

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Vale miner killed at [Sudbury] Coleman Mine – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – January 30, 2012)

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

Vale has confirmed that an employee was killed by falling rock at Coleman Mine on Sunday.

“Vale regretfully announces that an employee was fatally injured this afternoon while working underground in the main ore body at the 4,215-foot level of the company’s Coleman Mine in Levack due to what appears to be some displacement of material from a development heading,” the company said in a release.

“The employee was found and brought to surface, where he was subsequently pronounced dead by medical authorities.”  Vale said the immediate family has been notified, but the name of the employee is being withheld pending completion of the notification process.

The employee was 47 and had worked at the company for 16 years.

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LU’s engineering department receives $10-million boost – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Northern Ontario Business – Janurary 30, 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.

‘A big league contribution’

When Stan Bharti was offered a job at Falconbridge in 1981, he had no idea where Sudbury was.The Indian immigrant had been living in Vancouver with his family, where he was working as an engineer.

Falconbridge, now owned by Xstrata, had offered him a $21,000-a-year salary, a $3,000-a-year raise from his salary in Vancouver. His co-workers regaled him with stories of “moon country,” as Sudbury was known at the time.

“My wife and I and our two kids jumped in the car and drove to Sudbury for four days,” said Bharti, who went on to live in the city for more than 15 years. When their furniture arrived at their new home, the driver wanted a $2,000 certified cheque. “The problem was, I didn’t have $2,000,” he said.

“I called the human resources department at Falconbridge, and they said they needed to see the receipt first. Finally, I called my new boss. He said, ‘I’ll lend you the money.’ That’s our beginning in Sudbury.”

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A Vast Canadian Wilderness Poised for a Uranium Boom – by Ed Struzik (Yale Environment 360.com – January 30, 20120

This article is from Yale Environment 360.com: http://e360.yale.edu/

Canadian author and photographer Ed Struzik has been writing on the Arctic for three decades.

Canada’s Nunavut Territory is the largest undisturbed wilderness in the Northern Hemisphere. It also contains large deposits of uranium, generating intense interest from mining companies and raising concerns that a mining boom could harm the caribou at the center of Inuit life.

Until her semi-nomadic family moved into the tiny Inuit community of Baker Lake in the 1950s, Joan Scottie never knew there was a wider world beyond her own on the tundra of the Nunavut Territory in the Canadian Arctic. She didn’t see the inside of a school until she was a teenager and didn’t venture south until she was an adult.

But that all changed in 1978, when a Soviet satellite carrying 100 pounds of enriched uranium for an onboard nuclear reactor crashed into the middle of the wilderness she knew so well, resulting in a military search that recovered some of the radioactive debris. Everything that Scottie learned about uranium after that convinced her she wanted nothing to do with a mineral that had the potential to cause such serious health problems or be used for military purposes.

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An argument for regional energy pricing in Ontario – by David Zylberberg (Troy Media – September 16, 2011)

This column is from the Troy Media website: http://www.troymedia.com/

David Zylberberg is a PhD Candidate in Environmental History at York University

TORONTO, ON, Sept. 16, 2011/Troy Media/ – Industry needs energy, historically cheap energy.

In fact, during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, manufacturing became concentrated around the coalfields of northern England and southern Belgium, where energy cost between a fifth and a 10th what it did in southern England or the Netherlands.

Currently, industry in Quebec and Manitoba benefit from some of the lowest energy prices in the world, thanks to the large hydroelectric dams in the northern parts of both provinces. Each province’s manufacturers pay under 3¢/kWh plus distribution costs, while in Ontario they pay a spot market rate that is frequently double that.

An economic advantage

Like the English and Belgian textile and metal manufacturers of the 19th century, industry in Quebec and Manitoba derive a major advantage over competitors in other regions. While northern Ontario also generates substantial hydroelectric power, it is not sufficient to meet all the needs of Ontario’s larger population, so more expensive sources are needed to supplement carbon-free hydroelectricity.

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4 Vale mine deaths in 7 months anger union leader – CBC News (CBC.ca – January 30, 2012)

This article came from the CBC News website: http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Sudbury-area fatality the 4th this year at Vale mines

The president of the Steelworkers union local in Sudbury is calling Sunday’s mining fatality “unacceptable.” A 47-year-old man was killed Sunday afternoon while working at Vale’s Coleman Mine in Levack, Ont., northwest of Sudbury.

“It’s a really difficult … I’m very angry,” Rick Bertand said. “And the reason for that is … four fatalities in seven months is unacceptable — three in Sudbury, one in Thompson [Man.].” Ministry of Labour investigators are on the scene.

“All we know at this time is a worker was loading the face of the rock with explosives, from a man-basket, when the incident occurred,” said ministry spokesman Matt Blajer.

The ministry has issued two requirements to Vale: that it not disturb the area and any equipment until it’s released by one of the ministry inspectors and to release a number of documents related to training and equipment. Bertand said a plan needs to be forged when it comes to health and safety at Vale mines.

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CIDA funds seen to be subsidizing mining firms – by Daniel LeBlanc (Globe and Mail – January 30, 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 Harper government weathered a storm when it cut funding to long-standing foreign-aid groups, but is now facing more controversy over its decision to launch development projects in partnership with mining firms.

The Canadian International Development Agency has established three foreign-aid pilot projects in Africa and South America with large mining corporations, as part of a plan to ensure that foreign aid also fuels economic growth and international trade at home.

Critics argue that Canada is needlessly subsidizing the foreign operations of profitable corporations, but the government is encouraging non-governmental organizations to come up with more projects with the private sector.

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Gold miner supports OMA’s high school video competition with a fresh initiative

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.

Ontario Mining Association member St Andrew Goldfields (SAS) has taken a fresh approach to help promote the So You Think You Know Mining high school video competition.  The gold producer has spread the word through internal communications and on-line social media offering high school aged children of its employees an opportunity to win extra cash prizes by entering a video on the benefits of mining.

Any video produced by children of SAS employees will be entered into a random draw for a $500 prize.  Students are requested to show proof of entry in the SYTYKM competition and submit a copy of their video to the company by March 31, 2012.  The deadline for the fourth annual SYTYKM competition itself is March 15, 2012.

In the true spirit of SYTYKM, SAS is employing video and a social media platform that is popular with young people to support the OMA’s high school video competition.  You can see a promotional video on YouTube featuring Geoff Ramey, Human Resources Director at SAS.  You can also check out the OMA’s YouTube channel, which is used to support SYTYKM and to share messages in these videos with a wider audience.

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Attawapiskat: Lots of love, and rocks, for a young generation [PDAC Mining Matters] – by Jim Coyle (Toronto Star – January 30, 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.

ATTAWAPISKAT, ONT. — At Micheline Okimaw’s White Wolf Inn, the most popular of the two motels in this remote James Bay reserve, visitors to town tend to cross paths. And in recent days, in Okimaw’s cozy confines, folks arrived trying to help the community with both its future and its past.

From the organization Mining Matters, a travelling “school of rock” in the person of Toronto teachers Barbara Green Parker, Janice Williams and Jenni Piette, came a high-energy presentation on earth sciences and how that field could lead to jobs for young people in projects like a nearby diamond mine.

From Angela Lafontaine, a member of the Moose Cree First Nation, survivor of her own difficult past, came help addressing long-standing wounds that have gone unhealed down generations and helped sabotage aboriginal aspirations.

For the Cree of Attawapiskat, each of those aims — hopeful futures, reconciled pain — is as necessary as the other.

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Alberta Cree official admits dilemma over Gateway as Edmonton hearings begin – by Trish Audette (National Post – January 30, 2012)

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

Edmonton — The lead community-industry liaison for the Enoch Cree First Nation finds herself in a “bind” when it comes to the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

“We were known as the caretakers of the land . . . if you’re going to take something from the land, give something back,” Leigh Ann Ward said Tuesday at hearings of National the Energy Board-Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency panel in Edmonton. “There is a need for (the pipeline), but what are the environmental impacts?”

At the same time, Ward is interested in the economic benefits of the proposed pipeline, which would carry Alberta bitumen to port in Kitimat, B.C., where it would be loaded aboard Asia-bound tankers.

“We want it to go ahead because this will ensure employment for our band members,” she said, noting as many as 24 members are already trained to work on pipeline construction. “The benefits are really, really high.”

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Scrutinizing Canada’s pipeline to Beijing – by Terry Glavin (National Post – January 30, 2012)

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

Canada is at the brink of a radical shift in energy and foreign policy. But there has been no debate of any consequence about it — not in the House of Commons, not in the Senate, not in the proceedings of a Royal Commission. Certainly not in the news media.

Here’s what you’ve been missing.

Ostensibly, it’s about the Enbridge project, a plan to pump condensate eastward from the coast to Alberta so that Alberta bitumen can be made fluid enough to be pumped back to the coast at Kitimat — then put into oil tankers to be sent down Douglas Channel and out into the roaring North Pacific, eventually landing in California and Asia.

As recently as last fall, John Bruk, the founding president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and as fervent a booster of trade with China as you’ll meet, was cheering Stephen Harper and wishing him all the best with his trade engagements in the Forbidden City.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE MINE EMPLOYEE FATALLY INJURED

SUDBURY, January 29, 2012 – Vale regretfully announces that an employee was fatally injured this afternoon while working underground in the main ore body at the 4215-foot level of the company’s Coleman Mine in Levack due to what appears to be some displacement of material from a development heading.  The employee was found and brought to surface, where he was subsequently pronounced dead by medical authorities.

The immediate family has been notified, however, the name of the employee is being withheld pending completion of the notification process.

The employee was 47 years old and had 16 years experience working with the Company.

“We are saddened and devastated by the loss of this employee,” said Kelly Strong, Vice President Mining & Milling (North Atlantic Operations) and General Manager, Ontario Operations.

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