Republic of Mining

[Cobra Drilling] Tragedy toughened up Thunder Bay drilling boss – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December, 2011)

December 2, 2011

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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Driller’s helper

Barb Courte knows all about the rigours of the diamond drilling business from both ends of the stick. “I was the wife of a driller and I know what the guys go through,” said the president of Thunder Bay’s Cobra Drilling and Northstar Drilling.

In the hallways and boardroom of her new Russell Street headquarters, photos of her brawny and rugged-face employees adorn the walls. “It’s the employees that are important, they are my company,” said Courte, of the pack mentality she has cultivated among her employees in her 15 years in business.

Northstar is a family-owned outfit, while Cobra is a venture she shares with an undisclosed Sudbury partner. The two entities split six drill rigs, a combination of modern hydraulic and older “gear jammers,” and 50 employees.

Ring of Fire – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December, 2011)

December 2, 2011

“How many more trillion-dollar Sudbury Basins are up
there waiting to be discovered?” Sudol said Queen’s
Park must partner with Ottawa to build a Far North
railroad, road network and transmission lines. “This
financial investment would generate tens of thousands
of jobs in both the North and the struggling south as
well as contribute badly needed tax revenue.” (Mining
Analyst Stan Sudol – RepublicOfMining.com)

All eyes on Cliffs Natural Resources to advance Far North deposit

It’s a real cliffhanger. Anyone with a stake in the Far North’s Ring of Fire is waiting on Cliffs Natural Resources to formally give the greenlight to develop its Black Thor chromite deposit in the James Bay lowlands.

Aside from petitioning for more competitive power rates in Ontario, the Cleveland, Ohio-headquartered international miner has been careful not to expand upon this pan-Northern mine, mill, transportation and refining project beyond its base case released last spring.

Until Cliffs decides to move the project into a full-blown feasibility study, the drama and suspense will continue. While the multi-billion dollar, multi-generational project will be regional in scope, it hasn’t stopped the communities from doing some smokestack chasing to land the ferrochrome production.

Analysts leery of Cliffs’ threat – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – December 2, 2011)

December 2, 2011December 2, 2011

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

“Ontario needs to help build the necessary key transportation
routes to develop the North’s enormous and strategic mineral
potential. …These include a railway to the Ring of Fire mining
camp and all-weather highways to replace winter ice roads to
isolated aboriginal communities. The first priorities should
be regions with high mineral potential. The resulting economic
spinoffs throughout the entire province and increased tax
revenues will more than justify these public investments.”
(Mining Analyst Stan Sudol – RepublicOfMining.com)

The threat of taking its concentrate to Asia for processing will be legally difficult for Cliffs Natural Resources and may, in the end, prove only to be a negotiating ploy, mining analysts say.

Cliffs Natural Resources has announced plans to ship chromite concentrate from the Ring of Fire area in Northern Ontario to international markets, primarily China, to capitalize on the growing smelting capacity and booming demand for strategic metals in Asia.

Although still planning to build a smelter somewhere in Ontario — possibly in Sudbury — company officials have said demand from Chinese smelters will drive volumes for the concentrate, making its export economically viable.

World’s Largest Miners [Rio Tinto, BHP-Biliton and Vale] like Potash – by Richard (Rick) Mills (Aheadoftheherd.com – November, 2011)

December 1, 2011

Richard Mills is host of www.aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector.

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information

Miners are looking to enter the potash business, or expand existing operations, as they look for increased demand from developing nations such as China, India and Brazil.

BHP Billiton – In the spring of 1869 a German Chemist named Charles Rasp immigrated to Australia for his health. Unable to find work in his chosen trade Charles learned to ride a horse and began wrangling sheep. One day, while out riding his horse at Broken Hill, he discovered mineralized rock. He took out a mining lease, punched holes in the ground and eventually found rich veins of silver. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company – BHP – was incorporated in 1885 while mining silver and lead at Broken Hill in western New South Wales.

Billiton was a mining company that got its start in September 1860 when the articles of association were approved by a meeting of shareholders in the Groot Keizerhof Hotel in The Hague, Netherlands. Shortly afterwards the company acquired the mineral rights to the tin-rich islands of Banka and Billiton off the eastern coast of Sumatra.

OMA launches the fourth season of its province-wide high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining

April 5, 2015December 1, 2011

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.

Go to the Ontario Mining Association website www.oma.on.ca and check out today’s launch of the popular high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining for the fourth year. The 2012 competition is serving up opportunities to win $33,500 in prize money, an $8,000 increase of what was on the table last year.

The deadline for submitting two to three minute videos on the benefits of mining is midnight March 15, 2012. To be eligible for the Early Bird prize of $500, entries must be received by March 1, 2012.

Other key dates in 2012 are April 1 to 15 for the determination of nominees for the People’s Choice and OMA Academy Award, April 20 to June 3 which is the voting period for the People’s Choice Award and May 22 when winners will be determined and notified. The awards ceremony is scheduled for June 5 in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Mines Act changes signal B.C. ready to dig in against environmentalists – by Dirk Meissner (Winnipeg Free Press – November 20, 2011)

December 1, 2011

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Hitch said Canada’s mining industry is regarded as the
most efficient and environmentally safe in the world,
but the B.C. government needs to do a better job
telling people how mining works and how it contributes
to the province. (Winnipeg Free Press)

The Canadian Press – VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark is about to find out her plans to chip away at the mountain of bureaucracy facing mining developments in British Columbia won’t be an easy climb if environmental groups have any say in the matter.

Opening eight new mines is a key plank of Clark’s jobs strategy, the most important policy initiative she’s launched since becoming premier early this year, and last week, the Liberals introduced minor changes to the Mines Act.

The move has triggered an avalanche of protest from the Sierra Club of B.C. which accused the government of looking to clear the way for mining companies to bulldoze the province. Sierra Club president George Heyman said Clark’s Liberals are heading in the opposite direction of public opinion if they loosen regulations to open more mines.

Ring of Fire exemption vital for jobs – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – December 1, 2011)

December 1, 2011December 1, 2011

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

Ontario has an unenviable record of shipping natural resources out of the country, where they’re used for finished products. The issue has again appeared on the Ontario legislature’s radar screen and it could be trouble for the Liberals, since job creation is at the centre of that screen at the moment.

Ohio-based Cliffs Natural Resources plans to develop the massive Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario.

Loaded with chromite–which is used to make stainless steel–nickel, copper and gold, the 5,120-square-kilometre deposit sits in an isolated landscape about a two-hour flight northeast of Thunder Bay. Cliffs wants to begin production at its Black Thor mine by 2015–if it gets past legal objections to the environmental assessment process from area First Nations.

Cliffs plans to build a processing facility to produce concentrate near the mine, as well as a ferrochrome smelter–possibly in Sudbury –if it can get a favourable deal on electricity rates, which are much lower in Manitoba and Quebec.

[Cliffs Natural Resources] U.S. mining giant looks to Asia to process Ring of Fire chromite – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – December 1, 2011)

December 1, 2011

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

A U.S. international mining firm may seek permission from the Ontario government to process some of the precious ore it hauls out of the Ring of Fire to Asia.

Cliffs Natural Resources, an Ohio-based mining giant, is preparing to extract what is estimated to be one of the world’s largest chromite discoveries in an ecologically sensitive part of northern Ontario, about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. The deposit is estimated to be worth $30 billion. International mining companies have staked 9,000 claims covering 480,000 hectares.

Most of the chromite will be processed and refined at plants in northern Ontario, but the company says some of the concentrate could be shipped offshore to Asia. Cliffs is proposing a ferrochrome production facility with an annual capacity of approximately 600,000 tonnes, said Pat Persico, Cliffs senior manager of global communications.

MININGWATCH CANADA NEWS RELEASE: Wahgoshig First Nation To Seek Inunction Against Solid Gold Resources Corp.

November 30, 2011

Posted on Mining Watch website on behalf of Wahgoshig First Nation

November 23, 2011 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wahgoshig First Nation is going to court on December 1, 2011 to seek an urgent injunction to immediately stop drilling operations in a sacred area of Wahgoshig’s traditional territory. The area is immediately adjacent to the Wahgoshig reserve and is known to contain burial grounds as well as other archaeological sites. It is also an area frequented by Wahgoshig community members for hunting, trapping, fishing, medicine gathering, and ceremonial activities.

Solid Gold Resources Corp. is a mining exploration company based near Toronto, Ontario. Wahgoshig community members discovered Solid Gold operating in its territory in the spring of this year. Since that time Wahgoshig has continuously voiced its concerns to Solid Gold about the potential impacts to its traditional territory and rights. Wahgoshig has repeatedly requested that Solid Gold stop drilling and meet to discuss how to ensure the protection of these lands and its culture. These requests have been largely ignored.

BHP to review Canadian diamond business – by Brenda Bouw (Globe and Mail – November 30, 2011)

November 30, 2011

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.

VANCOUVER— The mine that helped put Canada on the global diamond map could soon be for sale, put in play by the industry’s shifting economics and an inexorable drop in production.

The Ekati mine in the Northwest Territories, which is nearing the end of its life in 2019, is under review by mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd., which said Tuesday that it could quit the diamond mining business in Canada. BHP owns 80 per cent of Ekati, the country’s first diamond mine, and 51 per cent of the Chidliak project on Baffin Island.

It’s studying whether diamonds, which represent less than 2 per cent of its annual profit, should still be part of a business dominated by much larger industrial commodities such as iron ore, coal and base metals, and its foray into potash. Its strategy is to invest in bigger, long-term assets as it ramps up production to meet growing demand for metals, largely from China.

‘Just watch us,’ Native group warns Enbridge – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – November 30, 2011)

November 30, 2011

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

If there were any doubts Enbridge Inc. faces an epic battle over its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline between Alberta and the British Columbia coast, a cross-border coalition representing environmentalists and First Nations put that to rest Tuesday as it launched the opening salvo against the $5.5-billion project.

Along with releasing a report on the dangers of oil sands transport, the coalition provided a taste of its strategy: it’ll fight the project before regulators, in the court of public opinion, by legal means if necessary and by using civil disobedience.

“As a famous prime minister once said, just watch us,” Gerald Amos, a member of the Haisla First Nation near the pipeline’s Kitimat end point and director of the Headwaters Initiative, warned in a conference call with reporters to kick off the campaign.

“Everyone involved, including myself, have made commitments to one another, that we will do whatever it takes, legally and otherwise, to stop this project.”

NEWS RELEASE: Lack of government funding may force successful First Nations mining employment program to shut down

November 30, 2011

Vancouver, B.C. – (November 29, 2012) – Concern is rising in the British Columbia mining community that a successful program to train First Nations people for well paying mining jobs will be forced to shut down without the continuance of Federal funding. If there is no commitment for funding by either the Federal or BC governments by December 1st, the BC Aboriginal Mine Training Association (BC AMTA) will begin the formal shutdown process.

BC AMTA has candidates representing more than 120 Indian bands and currently has 60 employers in its network. To date, 222 Aboriginal people are working at well-paying mining jobs after going through the BC AMTA program. There are approximately 80 Aboriginal people including members of the Kamloops and Skeetschestn First Nations communities employed at the New Afton underground gold and copper mine under development 10 kilometers southwest of Kamloops. The mining operation is scheduled to begin production in July, 2012.

Two years ago, New Afton joined forces with the Association of Mineral Exploration BC and the Mining Association of BC and other companies to launch BC AMTA.

First Nation group prepares for Far North development – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December, 2011)

November 30, 2011

Wasaya joint ventures with contractor, trucker

The Wasaya Group is bulking up to be a ready service supplier to the Ring of Fire. This fall, the Thunder Bay-based Native venture corporation announced joint ventures with a major Northern contractor and a Sioux Lookout trucking company. Wasaya has struck business partnerships with Dowland Contracting of Inuvik, N.W.T. and Morgan Transfer of Sioux Lookout.

Dowland business development director Martin Landry said the company has delivered more than $1 billion in mine and power line developments as well as hospital and school projects in Canada and Alaska since its inception 30 years ago.

The new venture, Wasaya Dowland Contracting, will provide construction expertise to Wasaya with future training and apprenticeship programs stemming from the relationship.

The Horrible Reputation of Canada’s Mining Sector – by Stan Sudol

June 8, 2015November 29, 2011

Stan Sudol is a Toronto, Canada-based communications consultant, mining columnist and blogger. stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

Biggest commodity super-cycle in the history of mankind

The future of mining has never been brighter, yet its image among the general population seems to have plunged lower than the famous Kidd Creek mine in Timmins, Ontario – the world’s deepest base metal operation. The largest rural to urban migration in the history of mankind is taking place in China. It has been often said, that China needs to build two cities the size of Toronto, Canada and Sydney, Australia to accommodate that growth, every year! Analysts estimate that China’s middle class is expanding so rapidly that it will soon overtake the current U.S. population of 312 million.

In October, 2011, the world’s population had passed the seven billion mark. India, Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and many other developing countries are following China and urbanizing and industrializing their economies. Mining experts feel that over the next 25 years, we will need to dig out of the ground as many minerals as consumed since the beginning of mankind.

One of the biggest concerns is a shortage of skilled workers. In the next decade half the mining workforce in Canada is eligible to retire and there are significant difficulties attracting and engaging the digital generation.
According to the Ottawa-based Mining Industry Human Resource Council’s 2011 hiring report, the industry will need to hire betwee 75,280 to 141,540 new workers in Canada depending on the state of the global economy by 2021. Similar labour shortage issues exisit in other western mining jurisdicitions like Australia and the United States.

Why we need more women in mining jobs

November 29, 2011

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.

Mining industry studies have helped Skills Canada Ontario and Women in Nuclear (WIN) produce a book designed to get more women involved into less traditional working roles. “Women Working in the Skilled Trades and Technologies: Myths & Realities” debunks six false stereotypes about women in the trades.

Getting more females into skilled trades and technology careers is seen as being crucial to support Canada’s economy and infrastructure. “The crisis associated with critical shortages of skilled workers makes it imperative that government, educators and industry work together as partners and utilize a cohesive approach in solving the problem of skilled worker shortages and do everything possible to attract women to the skilled trades and technologies,” said Gail Smyth, Executive Director of Skills Canada Ontario.

Women comprise 47.4% of the total Canadian workforce. Mining knows females will need to have a larger role in the industry. Currently, females make up 14.4% to the total mining workforce and there is a major role for women to play in the mineral sector as it works to solve its own skilled trades shortage.