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Golden Hope For a Timmins, Ontario Wasteland – by Nick Stewart

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. This article was published in the January, 2011 issue.

Goldcorp Inc. is just months away from making a production decision to dig up the literal “heart of gold” a stone’s throw from downtown Timmins. 

The Vancouver-based producer is working fervently through the winter months to build a case for a series of open pit mines at the very centre of the historic mining community, potentially making Timmins a unique portrait of modern mining in Ontario.

The project will carve out a patch of land just south of Highway 101, the main drag along which most of the city’s major commercial activity is located. The 250-acre property is surrounded by a pharmacy, a fast food outlet, a hotel, the Shania Twain Centre, the Gold Mine Tour and residential suburbs on two sides. The downtown core is across the street to the west.

This large area is the site of the shuttered but still treacherous underground Hollinger Mine, closed in 1968. Its hundreds of miles of tunnels have plagued the community with sinkholes and subsidences, creating a restricted wasteland and resulting in millions in property damage.

By mining out the area, Goldcorp stands to not only tap into the abandoned riches beneath the soil, but also to later transform it into safe, usable land. Like the issues surrounding the property itself, the new mining project is rife with logistical challenges, not the least of which involves determining what was left in the ground following nearly a century of mining.

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KWG Resources News Release: RING OF FIRE CHIEFS INVITED TO JOIN CANADA CHROME BOARD

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

MONTREAL, Canada, Jan. 18, 2011 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) —
Symbol on TSX Venture Exchange: KWG
Shares issued and outstanding: 623,458,941

KWG Resources Inc. (KWG) has extended invitations to the Chiefs of five First Nations in the Ring of Fire area to join the Board of Directors of its subsidiary Canada Chrome Corporation (“CCC”).

“Late last year we advised Chiefs Elijah Moonias, Cornelius Wabasse, Sonny Gagnon, Roy Moonias and Lewis Nate that there appeared to be technical and economic merit to proceeding with a feasibility study of the railroad for which we have staked a right-of-way and sampled soil profiles,” said KWG President Frank Smeenk. “Should subsequent development ensue which physically affects their traditional lands, there must first be prior consultation and accommodation, as is well understood by all constituencies. The entire Matawa family of First Nations is enthusiastic to see these developments progress. To facilitate and expedite the process, we felt that the extensive consultation necessary could be most effectively undertaken by having the leading members of the five most directly impacted communities participate in the corporate planning from the outset. In this way those who are most affected by these hoped-for developments can become the proponents of them.”

Golder Associates were retained by CCC to conduct testing of the soil profiles from samples taken last winter at 1000-foot intervals along the length of the potential right-of-way.

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Northern Policy Advice for Ontario’s Next Premier: Hudak or McGuinty? – by Livio Di Matteo

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

A regional power authority could become a valuable tool for
northern development and provide the cheap electricity for
value-added processing and development necessary for mining
in the Ring of Fire. – Livio Di Matteo (January 17, 2011)

As Ontario heads towards its fall 2011 election, there will inevitably be discussion of what new policies can help drive Northern Ontario’s economy in the 21st century. Historically, economic development in Ontario’s North was a partnership between private sector resource exploitation and a public sector economic strategy to make the north an investment frontier for the south as well as a source of government revenue via the exploitation of natural resources.

Nineteenth century Ontario implemented a northern development scheme that could be termed a “Northern Ontario Policy” that operated parallel to the Federal government’s National Policy. Ontario’s Northern Policy provided a regional program of northern land grants to promote agricultural settlement and the building of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway and colonization roads to foster access.  As well, there was the passage of the “Manufacturing Condition” which required that timber cut on crown land be processed within the province so as to retain value added as well as provide government revenue.

At its peak, the province of Ontario obtained nearly one quarter of its revenue from northern resources and used it to fund expanding provincial services.  Indeed, in the early part of this century, Ontario’s northern forests and mines were akin to Alberta’s oil today. 

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Rio Tinto Invests $10 Million in Sudbury’s Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation – Mark Henderson

Mark Henderson is editor of Research Money.

“We are attempting to establish a centre of excellence that can compete in the R&D space and collaborate with centres in Brazil and Chile … Our mandate is to establish R&D and innovation excellence in Ontario and Canada by bringing industry money together with people doing research and who can commercialize the work.” – CEMI President and CEO Dr. Peter Kaiser

Boost to growing mining cluster
 
Sudbury’s quest to become a major centre of mining R&D received a significant boost with a decision by Rio Tinto to invest $10 million in a Centre for Underground Mine Construction (CUMC), the fifth and final centre in its global research network. The centre is part of Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future program as the British-Australian mining giant banks on innovation to transition from open pit to underground mining by developing deeper underground mines to meet soaring demand for minerals.

To be based at the Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), located at Sudbury’s Laurentian Univ, the Rio Tinto centre marks the first time a foreign-based multinational has committed to funding mining R&D through CEMI.

The decision may signal a reversal in Canada’s flagging reputation as an innovative mining nation — a status that has been threatened by a rash of foreign takeovers of some of Canada’s biggest mining enterprises. For instance, the former Falconbridge was acquired by Xstrata based in Zug Switzerland, while Inco was absorbed by Vale Ltd, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rio Tinto’s CUMC will be set up as a division of CEMI with a steering committee to direct R&D initiatives.

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Honesty and Trust Spell Success for New Inductees Into Sudbury SAMSSA Hall of Fame – by Adelle Larmour

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. This article was posted on the newspaper website on December 27, 2010.

The Sudbury Area Mining Suppliers and Services  Association (SAMSSA) represents the largest concentration of mining suppliers in North America. Northeastern Ontario is the hardrock mining heartland of the Americas and Sudbury is its epicentre.

Being honest, being yourself and treating everybody equal are qualities that Ivan Beljo and Bob Rappolt support and live by. These traits that have led both men down their respective roads of success were recognized by their peers as the 2010 Sudbury Area Mining Supply & Service Association (SAMSSA) Hall of Fame inductees.

Their sons proudly shared their fathers’ stories  with humour and affection at the association’s annual general meeting in December.

Ivo Beljo, son and business partner of Ivan, talked about the daily demands of running Rematech Industries, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of conveyor belting, rubber and urethane  moulded products and linings.

Like many other supply and service companies, Ivan and Ivo have felt the challenges of a cyclical mining industry, lengthy local strikes and global economic downturns. Ivan learned about hardship and hard work growing up on the family farm and vineyards in  Croatia after the Second World War.

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News Release – Sudbury SAMSSA Member – Fuller Industrial – Scores in Multi-Million Dollar Project in Mongolia

Sudbury-based Fuller Industrial is a world-class supplier of carbon steel pipe spool fabrication,  rubber lining and specialty coating of pipes, fittings, tanks, and assemblies. The company has been in operation since 2004 and employs 100 people at their Sudbury operations and 30 people in their Edmonton plant. www.fullerindustrial.com

The Sudbury Area Mining Suppliers and Services  Association (SAMSSA) represents the largest concentration of mining suppliers in North America. Northeastern Ontario is the hardrock mining heartland of the Americas and Sudbury is its epicentre.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sudbury, January 13, 2011 – Fuller Industrial has done it again. Hot off the heels of their massive project in Madagascar, they have been awarded another multi-million dollar project to supply carbon steel, rubber lined pipe and fittings, this time to Mongolia.

The Ivanhoe Mining / Rio Tinto Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia is set to be one of the largest copper and gold mines in the world. The mine is under construction as of 2010 and scheduled to begin production in 2013. It is also the largest financial undertaking in Mongolia’s history and is expected upon completion to account for more than 30% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Fuller, with plants in Sudbury, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta won the award over several international bidders including competitors in neighbouring China to supply nearly 6 km of rubber lined pipe and fittings for the massive concentrator being built in the Gobi desert. The rubber lined pipe increases the life of the system by providing abrasion resistance to the slurry being processed.

Fuller, who will produce and manage the project in their Sudbury plant, acknowledges that the award is a big win for Fuller, for Sudbury, Ontario, and for Canada. It bucks the ongoing trend of value added manufacturing happening in China.

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Minister [Gravelle] Tries to Calm Fears for Ring of Fire – by Chelsey Romain (Timmins Daily Press)

This article was originally published in the Timmins Daily Press on January 11, 2011. Timmins is the second largest mining community in Ontario with a population of about 45,000.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

“We consider it an absolute priority that the greatest value-added opportunities take place with the Ring of Fire development. That very much includes the processing facility be in the North.” (MNDMF Minister Michael Gravelle – Jan/11/2011)

“We are very, very concerned about plans for the Ring of Fire because, quite frankly, there doesn’t seem to be any plan. There doesn’t seem to be a plan that involves Northern communities or the First Nation people who live up in the region.” MP Charlie Angus (NDP — Timmins-James Bay – Jan/11/2011)

Vows ore won’t go to China

The Far North’s Ring of Fire project has been hailed as the next great thing in mining, bigger than the Porcupine Camp and Sudbury’s ore body combined.

But there is fear among those wanting to benefit from the project that Northern Ontario, more specifically the Northeast and Timmins, will be left out, while foreign countries reap the rewards.

A recent comment from Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees president William Brehl that ore mined from the Ring of Fire could be shipped to China for processing has political leaders saying discussion on the subject needs to take place now.

“We are very, very concerned about plans for the Ring of Fire because, quite frankly, there doesn’t seem to be any plan,” said MP Charlie Angus (NDP — Timmins-James Bay). “There doesn’t seem to be a plan that involves Northern communities or the First Nation people who live up in the region.”

Up for debate is whether or not the companies involved with the project will decide to have a processing plant in the North. Stating Ontario’s lack of competitiveness versus other provinces as well as other countries, there is concern that a processing plant could be built elsewhere, most specifically China.

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Sudbury’s Mining Reseach Hub Gets $10-Million Rio Tinto Investment – by Nick Stewart

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. This article was posted on the newspaper website on January 11, 2011.

“While this is a real game-changing technology that’s developing, we still need to
do drill and blast conventional advances, and that has to happen at a higher
speed too.” (Dr. Peter Kaiser, CEMI President and CEO)

Sudbury, Canada turning into Silicon Valley of hardrock mining reseach

A $10-million research effort funded by Rio Tinto and coordinated through the Sudbury-based Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation will first be tested at the mining giant’s Northparkes Mine in New South Wales, Australia.

A $10-million investment in one of Sudbury’s major mining research nodes by Rio Tinto in December may well benefit other mining operations in Sudbury and around the North, according to project leaders.

The U.K.-based company’s partnership with the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) will target the high-speed construction and development of underground mines and the development of ground support systems.

As the company seeks to rapidly move away from open pits to these new underground environments, Rio Tinto will focus on its own mechanized tunnelling and shaft sinking systems, whose issues are common across many Sudbury-area projects, said CEMI president and CEO Peter Kaiser.

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Battle of the Canadian Gold Rushes: Klondike Versus Northern Ontario – by Stan Sudol

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

The Yukon Klondike

I have a small complaint about Canadian mining history or more importantly, our media coverage of past gold rushes. The Yukon Klondike gold rush of 1896-1899 seems to take all the glory – thanks to writers like Jack London, Robert W. Service and Canadian literary icon, Pierre Berton – while northern Ontario’s four globally significant gold/silver discoveries in the first half of the last century do not get the historical respect they deserve.

The initial Klondike discovery, on August 16, 1896, at a fish camp near the junction of the Yukon and Klondike rivers, is credited to George Carmack and his Tagish Indian brothers-in-law, Skookum Jim Mason and Dawson (Tagish) Charlie. Robert Henderson, a Nova Scotia prospector is credited as a cofounder, since it was on his advice that the discovery was made, however he made no money from the find.

At the height of the rush, Dawson City, the main staging town at the mouth of the Klondike River had a booming population of about 30,000 and was known as the most cosmopolitan city west of Winnipeg and north of Vancouver.  Due to its isolation, all the claims had been staked by the time most people finally arrived. Some of the most memorable photographs from the period show a thin line of thousands of people climbing the legendary Chilkoot Pass – the shortest but most difficult route to the goldfields – bringing the required year’s supply of food and living material.

Fortunes were made and lost in Dawson City’s “rip-roaring” frontier atmosphere where prostitutes were tolerated and nearly everyone was on the lookout for charlatans and con men. Many became rich just supplying services to the stampeders.  In total, about 12.5 million ounces of gold was produced during this short-lived rush that lasted for less than a decade.

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Real Help for the North – by Peter Foster (National Post)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper. This column was originally published in the Financial Post on January 4, 2011.

Whoever wins the contest for control of BIM, the people of Baffin Island are
far more likely to thrive being “exploited” by filthy capitalists than being
“helped” by governments. National Post, Peter Foster (January 4, 2011)

The Baffinland Iron mine Would Bring Desperately Needed Jobs

From a financial point of view, the takeover contest for control of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., BIM, hardly registers. The latest round of bidding for the company puts a value on it of $570-million, a piddling amount when compared with, say, the $44-billion market capitalization of Potash Corp. In other respects, however, BIM may be more genuinely “strategic” than the Saskatchewan mining giant, a proposed takeover of which was deep sixed earlier this year because of the “S” word.

In fact, the rejection of BHP Billiton’s bid for Potash was all about electoral politics. However, the location of Bafflinland’s prime asset is genuinely strategic in terms of the Conservative government’s Arctic aspirations. Also, the project would bring desperately needed jobs and revenue to the region of Nunavut, where it costs Canadian taxpayers $1-billion a year to service some 33,000 people living in an area the size of Western Europe.

U.S.-controlled Nunavut Iron Ore Acquisition Inc. made a hostile bid for BIM in September. Since then, Luxembourg-based steelmaking giant ArcelorMittal has arrived on the scene as a white knight. Last week Arcelor upped its bid to $1.40 per share for all the Baffinland shares. Nunavut Iron Ore, which was set up solely to acquire Baffinland, immediately upped its own bid to $1.45, but for only 60% of the equity.

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Top 10 Business Issues With Legal Implications for 2011 – Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

The foregoing was provided by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, the largest Canadian full-service law firm focusing on business law, litigation and intellectual property solutions. BLG provides bilingual services in virtually every area of law, and represents a wide range of regional, national and multinational organizations. For further information, visit www.BLG.com.

As we look ahead into 2011, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s commitment and drive to understand our clients and to achieve the best possible results for our clients is top of mind. We are dedicated to anticipating issues and sharing effective, timely solutions in a constantly changing regulatory and business environment. And this is what we forecast.

1. The Big Bang – collision of public companies and social media – has happened. Now what?

This year, we can expect to witness the continued explosive proliferation of social media use in Canada, and certainly, the investor relations world is not isolated from it. That creates challenges for organizations that don’t want to run afoul of proper disclosure regulations.

Several months before Twitter was even created, Bill 198 was passed in Canada giving investors a statutory right to act against public companies, for material misrepresentations made in public disclosure and for failure to disclose material changes in a timely manner. In a post-Twitter world, in which many companies actually use the 140-character tweets as a formal communication channel, managing public disclosure is exponentially more complex. The nature of social media is mostly quick, interactive and short, and it sometimes provides material out of context, creating a potential for reflexive, off-the-cuff responses. That’s a perfect recipe for a disclosure disaster.

Given that the social media genie is not going back in the bottle, what public companies need to do to protect themselves and to ensure they are treating their shareholders fairly when it comes to disclosure is going to be key this year. BLG lawyers can describe the issues, and prescribe the necessary behaviour, online and off.

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Canadian Mining Town [Sudbury] Hits Bottom – by Michael T. Kaufman (New York Times – August/1984)

This article was originally published in the New York Times on August 13, 1984.

SUDBURY, Ontario, August 13, 1984 – the Manoir Bar sits on the floor of a valley that was gouged out by a meteor millennia ago. Until two months ago the men drinking in the Manoir worked for two large companies and earned some of the highest industrial salaries in Canada digging and processing the ore churned up by the meteor.

Now, over beers, they tried to explain to themselves and to a visitor how this recently prosperous city had become the place with the highest unemployment in Canada, in the northern hemisphere and, some said, in the industrialized world.

Last month the two giant nickel and copper companies around which ;this city of 135,000 grew, shut down operations and furloughed their workers because their stockpiled supplies far exceeded the demands of industrial users in the United States and Europe.

The 1,250-foot stack at Inco, which in flush times propelled acetic smoke all the way to Nova Scotia, now stands dormant like a stele from a lapsed civilization. The 13,000 miners and mill workers who in recent years have earned salaries averaging from 20,000 to 40,000 Canadian dollars a year, or about $16,000 to $32,000, are either using up the last of their vacation pay or are living on $200 a week in unemployment benefits, so called poky checks.

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PwC News Release: Back to the boom in mining sector but costs remain a key differentiator, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) firms provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to enhance value for their clients. Click here to view: Mine Back to the Boom…

London, 25 May 2010 — The beginning of 2009 saw commodity prices continuing to fall globally, tough price negotiations with customers and challenging market conditions. However, companies responded swiftly and decisively: funding was restructured, mines were closed and production cut as margins declined. However, in contrast, the year ended with the market capitalisation of the Top 40 returning to the heights of 2007 and a cautious optimism returning to the, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ seventh annual review of global trends in the mining industry – Mine, Back to the Boom.

Tim Goldsmith, global mining leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers comments:

“Although 2009 saw overall revenues decline, a drop in net profit and a decrease in cash flow in the industry, none of the Top 40 companies were subject to bankruptcy or voluntary administration provisions. This was largely due to their ability to remove their debt overhang, strengthening commodity markets over the year and the positive impact of government stimulus packages around the world.

“On the other hand, there were no significant transactions completed during the year – pointing to a potential missed opportunity for those that may have had the available financial resources. 

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PwC News Release: Mining companies make a significant economic contribution to the world economy, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers study

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) firms provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to enhance value for their clients. Click here to view: Total Tax Contribution

London, 3 JUN 2010 — The taxes and other contributions to government that mining companies pay are an important element in the creation of prosperity and stability of the countries in which they operate. However, the full extent of this contribution is not always recognised. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ second Total Tax Contribution (TTC) study of the global mining industry aims to bring greater transparency to the full economic contribution that these companies make by providing data on all taxes and other payments made to government.

The results show that mining companies make a large economic contribution to public finances in relation to the size of their operations. On average, the companies participating in the study paid an amount equivalent to 15.3% of their turnover to government, comprising 10.8% in amounts borne and 4.5% in amounts collected. These companies pay many other taxes and contributions in addition to corporate income tax which, on average, represents only 40% of all the taxes and contributions they bear. For every $1 of corporate income tax paid, these companies pay another $1.50 in other taxes and contributions borne, plus $0.52 in taxes collected.

Susan Symons, global Total Tax Contribution leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers comments:

“There is increasing pressure on both government and business to increase transparency in the extractive industries, with a call for companies to ‘publish what they pay’, and for governments to ‘publish what they receive’, and how they use these revenues.

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PwC News Release: Global Financial Crisis Accelerates Shift in Economic Power to Emerging Economies

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) firms provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to enhance value for their clients. Click here to view: The World in 2050 (January 2011 Report)

London, 7 Jan 2011 — The global financial crisis has accelerated the shift in economic power to emerging economies, says a report published by PwC today.

This is one of the conclusions from the latest in the series of PwC’s ‘The World in 2050’ reports. Measuring GDP at purchasing power parities (PPPs) – which corrects for the fact that price levels tend to be lower in emerging economies – the analysis shows that the E7 emerging economies (China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey) are likely to overtake the G7 economies (US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Canada) before 2020.

If instead we use GDP at market exchange rates (MERs), then the shift in the economic world order is slower but equally inexorable, with the E7 projected to overtake the G7 around 2032. China would also overtake the US in that same year to become the biggest economy in the world based on GDP at market exchange rates, although on a PPP basis this would be likely to occur before 2020. This is even allowing for some slowing of China’s growth rate over time due to its one child policy and the fact that, as it catches up with the US, it must rely more on innovation than imitation to sustain further growth.

The table below summarises some of the key estimated overtaking dates for the E7 economies relative to the G7. We can see that these always occur later when using market exchange rates than PPPs, but even on an MER basis there is an inexorable process of the new world order replacing the old over the next four decades. While precise overtaking dates are clearly subject to many uncertainties, and some emerging countries may fail to realise their full growth potential, the general pattern should be robust assuming no catastrophic political or environmental shocks that permanently throw the world off its current economic development path.

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