Republic of Mining

The need for aggregate puts the GTA between a rock and a hard place – by Renata D’Aliesio (Globe and Mail – December 10, 2011)

December 10, 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.

Deep beneath vast fields that grow a dozen varieties of potatoes lies a valuable gray rock tinged with light browns and blues. The rock is hard, durable and dense, part of the 400-million-year-old Amabel Formation that once belonged to a warm, shallow sea.

To Toronto’s high-rise condominium developers and road-construction engineers, this high-quality limestone, known as Amabel dolostone, is an invaluable ingredient in the making of superior concrete and asphalt. Builders turn to it when they need to make the sturdiest of structures. The CN Tower, Highway 401 and Pearson International Airport all contain bits of Amabel dolostone.

Yet this precious rock, a building block of the ever-growing Toronto region, is at the heart of a quarry battle of the likes never seen before in Ontario. Quarries are almost always controversial. No one wants to live near an industrial pit with loud blasting, thick dust and a steady stream of big trucks. But the fight over the proposed Melancthon Quarry, about 120 kilometres north of Toronto, is different.

Why the heavens of Peru are a hell of a place to seek a fortune – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – December 10, 2011)

December 10, 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.

LA RINCONADA, PERU—Stepping from a brothel into morning in Rinconada, a suppurating wound of excrement and garbage and fuel exhaust.

Rough night. No heat. No running water. Ergo: no toilet. The wooden floors and cracker-thin walls of the bordello had served as efficient sound vectors for the heavy boots of the importuning miners, orchestral hosts to their loud and meaty door-banging fists. The only detail missing was the jangle of brass spurs.

The floors of the “hotel” rooms — bordellos offer the only lodging in town — had been doused in germ-killing gasoline, the fumes infusing the atmosphere with acrid, lung-invading top-notes. Thus the head: woozy, thick-feeling. Can barely breathe, not that breathing in this fetid atmosphere holds much appeal.

A metre in the distance, a stream of effluent bisects the packed mud path that serves as a primary artery through town. There are no paved roads. Panfuls of slop are heaved into the street.

Harper’s aboriginal firsts – by Kathryn Blaze Carlson (National Post – December 10, 2011)

December 10, 2011

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

“To have successful resource development in this country,
you have to have strong and mutually beneficial relationships
with First Nations,” Mr. Powers said. “I think he wants a
New Dawn with as many aboriginal communities as he can.”

The New Dawn Agreements were signed by Ottawa, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Innu or Labrador, and not only clarified land claims but also gave the Innu Nation a 5% royalty stake in the Lower Churchill energy project.

Wayne Helgason saw tears in the eyes of Liberal prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin when they spoke of his peoples’ plight. It was clear as day, he said, that improving the lives of aboriginals was more than political – for them, it was personal.

“When Chrétien and Martin spoke about these issues and confronted the deep challenges of First Nations people, you could tell it really meant something to them,” the vicepresident of the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg said. “They developed a sense of trust because it was obvious they appreciated the severity of the circumstance.”

[Hard Rock Medical] Another T.V. production shot here – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – December 10, 2011)

December 10, 2011

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

Think of it as St. Elsewhere meets Northern Exposure. That’s one way to describe a new English-language television series — Hard Rock Medical — that will start shooting in March and focus on the trials and tribulations of eight young medical students at a fictional Northern Ontario medical school in Greater Sudbury.

“When I was working on Meteo+ here, I would turn on the radio in the morning and the big issues were always mining and health care,” Derek Diorio, creator, writer, director and producer of the new series, said.

“I thought, ‘there’s a really good story here with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. It’s a different kind of place and environment … (And) there is a reason people live up here and stay up here. We will push the envelope, but it’s really about showing what goes on here in a meaningful way.”

Details about the show were unveiled during a press conference Friday at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s Greater Sudbury campus at Laurentian University.

Environmental assessment process continues for mining project – by Northwest Bureau (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – December 10, 2011)

November 3, 2015December 10, 2011

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

Noront Resources Ltd. is working on the environmental assessment process for its base-metal mining project in the Ring of Fire mining district.

The company released its draft terms of reference for the Eagle’s Nest Mine project last week and is seeking public input on its plans.

The draft terms of reference have been prepared by Noront in compliance with Ontario Ministry of the Environment requirements. The document is available for review by the public, and copies can be downloaded at www.norontresources.com, or www.eaglesnestmine.com.

The federal government’s environmental assessment process for the project is also moving along, and the draft environmental impact statement guidelines for the Eagle’s Nest Mine Project have also been released for public review.

Marketing the Aboriginal housing crisis – by Simon Houpt (Globe and Mail – December 10, 2011)

November 5, 2015December 10, 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.

The tragic tale of Attawapiskat grabbed the spotlight on the national stage only two weeks ago, but it was in rehearsal for six years.

In 2005, New Democrat MP Charlie Angus was trying to bring attention to the misery in Kashechewan, a Cree community on the shores of James Bay struggling with water-borne illnesses, when he came to a realization: People wouldn’t care unless they saw the evidence. So he orchestrated a press conference at Queen’s Park and released horrific photographs taken by doctors in the community.

“It was when we came to Toronto with the pictures of the children that suddenly it hit home,” Mr. Angus explained on Friday. “Pictures always make the difference.”

When Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency in late October, Mr. Angus knew he could go much further by leveraging a pair of tools that weren’t around in 2005: Facebook and YouTube.

In Attawapiskat, deep-rooted problems won’t disappear in an instant – by Genesee Keevil (Globe and Mail – December 10, 2011)

November 5, 2015December 10, 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.

There is no word for diamond in Cree. “They hear about the diamonds,” said Maryanne Wheesk, a middle-aged grandmother in the remote James Bay community of Attawapiskat, “and they think we’re rich.”

I sat down with Ms. Wheesk two years ago, long before Attawapiskat had declared a state of emergency, and long before a housing crisis transformed the mispronounced dot on a map to a mainstay of the national conversation.

The plight of the inhabitants here is a familiar one among isolated aboriginal communities. They lack access to clean drinking water. They lack adequate shelter. And the persistent questions about economic viability are lost in a haze of mutual recrimination with Ottawa: Complaints about mistreatment by the federal government are met with accusations of fiscal mismanagement and poor governance.

But there is one thing unique to Attawapiskat, something that had – for a time, at least – given residents reason to believe their story would be a different one.

Red centre of attention [Australian mining movie] – by Michael Bodey (The Australian – July 30, 2011)

December 9, 2011December 9, 2011

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

THE common expression of civic pride captured in bronze, stone or metal and given pride of place in a town’s centre is the likeness of an explorer, a leader or an athlete of distinction.

In Dampier, on Australia’s northwest shoulder, locals erected a statue in honour of a folk hero who helped galvanise the town as the area emerged as a mining hub in the 1970s. It just happened that leader was a dog: a wandering and faithful kelpie dubbed Red Dog.

Tales of Red Dog’s travels as far south as Perth and far north as Broome, his loyal companionship of many locals and his fearsome farts were such legend the dog became a defining figure for the burgeoning mining region, a figure representing the toughness and gypsy nature of the area’s growing band of employees.

So much so, Australian authors Nancy Gillespie and Beverly Duckett wrote books about the Pilbara wanderer before the English author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres, wrote his own semi-fictionalised and ultimately bestselling book about the kelpie’s adventures.

HOLLYWOOD’S PORTRAYAL OF GEOLOGISTS – Earth Scientists on Celluloid (Geotime, May 1990)

December 10, 2011December 9, 2011

In addition to providing entertainment to millions around the world, movies help develop the general public’s perception of the world. Knowledge of how the earth sciences, and earth scientists, are portrayed in films can help the geoscientific community in presenting important messages to the public on such topics as global change, volvanic- and earthquake-hazard mitigation, land use, and the environment.

How effective are movies in forming public opinion? Probably much more than we realize. Current movie releases are often accompanied by major marketing efforts that can set trends and fads. The plethora of Batman paraphernalia and public awareness that accompanied the release of that film in 1989 is an example of how effective such marketing can be.

Similarly, films that have social messages, for example, “Rainman’s” treatment of autism and the current film “Stanley and Iris,” which deals with the issue of adult illiteracy, commonly help raise the general public’s awareness of a variety of subjects. However, such effects are difficult to quantify, particularly among professionals who commonly do not want to admit that they actually spend time on such diversionary pursuits as watching the “boob tube” or watching anything other than “critically acclaimed” art films.

The renaissance of the Canadian iron ore industry – by Michael R. Skutezky BA LLB, (Canadian Mining Journal – December, 2011)

December 9, 2011

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

Michael R. Skutezky BA LLB, Professional Corporation, practicing in association with Ormston List Frawley LLP Toronto.

‘It’s all about China, demand, scale, logistics, off-take and capital’

The global iron ore phenomenon in the context of the commodity super-cycle currently being experienced is a result of the continuous growth of a very large emerging market – China.

China’s iron ore resources are poor (both in terms of grade and size) and its production cost is high in a global environment where the industry concentration in the upstream iron ore sector is very high (the Big Three oligopoly has about 60-70% of the market) while the downstream steel sector is very low (the top three producers constitute slightly above 10% market share).

Over the last decade, China contributed more than 90% to the growth of the global steel industry, representing 500Mtpa on the 566Mpta total increase of global crude steel production on an annual basis during this period.

Let arbitration decide their fate, union argues – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – December 9, 2011)

December 9, 2011

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

The lawyer for United Steelworkers has a remedy for how the Ontario Labour Relations Board can resolve the case of eight workers fired by Vale Ltd. during the union’s yearlong strike against the mining giant.

Brian Shell asked the panel to direct that the dismissals be dealt with by just-cause arbitration; that those arbitrations be scheduled and heard within three to four months; and that the eight firings be heard in six separate arbitrations so they don’t drag on for a decade.

Vale Ltd. offered a more simple fix during final arguments presented to the OLRB on Thursday in Sudbury. Don’t direct the firings to arbitration. Let them stand.

Shell spoke with reporters after six hours of closing arguments, saying Vale was essentially telling the labour board Vale “should be allowed to do what we want and exercise our superior strength, power and money freely without regulation by the labour relations board.”

Fate of fired 9 [Vale union members] rests with panel – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – December 9, 2011)

December 9, 2011

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

If Vale Ltd. is so confident it had good reason to dismiss eight Steelworkers during the union’s year-long strike, it shouldn’t be reluctant to let a provincial arbitrator determine if they were fired with just cause, says the union’s lawyer.

But Vale argues its confidence that the firings were justified demonstrates the care that company officials took to make those decisions. Those statements were presented during final arguments at an Ontario Labour Relations Board hearing into the union’s call for arbitration for its eight fired members.

More than a dozen days of testimony were held in Toronto into a bad-faith bargaining complaint filed by United Steelworkers at the six-month mark in their July 2009-July 2010 strike against the Brazil-based mining company.

Total’s Joslyn mine approval triggers Tory calls for speedier review process – by Shawn McCarthy and Carrie Tait (Globe and Mail – December 9, 2011)

December 9, 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.

OTTAWA AND CALGARY— The Harper government has approved Canada’s fifth oil sands mine after the project spent six years under regulatory scrutiny, prompting a senior cabinet minister and energy executives to argue lengthy reviews are unacceptable.

France’s Total SA and its partners are now free to build their proposed Joslyn North strip mine after Joe Oliver, the federal Natural Resources Minister, gave Ottawa’s blessing Thursday, while pushing for regulatory reforms.

Mr. Oliver said the approval process for projects like the Joslyn North effort should take no more than two years. His comments, made in Ottawa, come as global leaders struggle to hammer out a new climate change treaty in South Africa. Mr. Oliver’s push to speed up the approval process will further fuel criticism of Canada’s oil sands industry, which is expected to double production by 2020 to three million barrels of crude per day.