Republic of Mining

OMA President Gives Mining a Voice at Ontario Economic Summit

December 12, 2010November 4, 2010

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.

The participation of Ontario Mining Association President Chris Hodgson in the 7th annual Ontario Economic Summit provided the mineral sector with a voice on the high-level program. Mr. Hodgson was a panelist on a session dealing with Ontario’s regulatory regime titled “Smarter Approaches to Regulation.” The summit was held November 1 to 3, 2010 in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The moderator of the regulations panel was James Milway, Executive Director of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity. Other participants with Mr. Hodgson included Jennifer Ahluwalia from Dillon Consulting, Rudy van Zijp who is General Secretary of Actal (advisory board on administrative burden in the Netherlands) and Ontario Environment Minister John Wilkinson.

Mr. Zijp provided an interesting perspective on efforts in Europe to eliminate inefficient regulatory burdens. Mr. Hodgson used some current examples in Ontario with safety being a success story of continuous improvement.

Northern Ontario Needs Regional Control and Decision Making to Economically Prosper – by David Robinson

April 5, 2015November 3, 2010

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. Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University. drobinson@laurentian.ca His column was published in the October, 2010 issue.

We all wonder why some resource-rich regions like Alberta and Saskatchewan do so much better than other resource-rich regions like Northern Ontario. And why do some boreal regions, like Sweden, Norway and Finland become rich, creative powerhouses while young people flee others – like Northern Ontario? – David Robinson

Are you old enough to remember Van Morrison’s “Days Like This”? The song has a wonderful line about days when “all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit.” It was one of those days when I stumbled on a study from Harvard that answered some questions about Northern Ontario for me.

We all wonder why some resource-rich regions like Alberta and Saskatchewan do so much better than other resource-rich regions like Northern Ontario. And why some communities without resources – think of Singapore and Denmark, and Holland – do well and others basically go nowhere. And why do some boreal regions, like Sweden, Norway and Finland become rich, creative powerhouses while young people flee others – like Northern Ontario?

Now I know some people think Northern Ontario is doing pretty well – and we darned well should be. We are in the early stages of the biggest worldwide resource boom ever. Treading water in this economy is probably easier than sinking.

Canada’s Remaining Resource Companies Must Stay Canadian – by Michael Atkins

December 8, 2010November 3, 2010

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. Michael Atkins is President of Laurentian Media Group matkins@laurentianmedia.com His column was published in the October, 2010 issue.

“Australia’s position in global resources is not guaranteed. If we fail to remain competitive, Australia will incur a substantial opportunity cost and, in the worst-case scenario, our resources will fall into overseas hands and we will become a branch office — just like Canada…. We have been losing competitiveness, but we are well-placed to increase market share and we have the resources to do it, so Australia in the new world order needs to work out whether we become a competitor or a spectator.” Don Argus, Former Chairman of Australia’s BHP Billiton

If you run a business publication in Northern Ontario, you are never far from the politics of resources. We are always either discovering something new (say, the Ring of Fire) or coming up against something closing (say, the copper and zinc plants in Timmins), either suffering the effect of low prices or getting almost no benefit from higher ones. Lately, of considerable interest is not just what is happening but who owns what is happening.

We are living in an era of worldwide consolidation of the resource sector and this is having a tremendous impact on our prospects and profile. A couple of the consolidators are Canadian companies (say, Barrick Gold) but by and large Canada is disappearing as a serious player. We are pansies. We don’t have the guts and we don’t have the governance and we don’t have the wherewithal to find the capital. We are drifting into irrelevance.

We need look no further than the former chairman of Australia’s BHP Billiton, Don Argus, who said the following a few years ago as he was politicking to buy Rio Tinto, another mammoth mining company that incidentally had bought out another great Canadian company, Alcan:

The Renaissance of Mining in British Columbia – by Pierre Gratton

November 3, 2010November 3, 2010

This speech was given by Pierre Gratton, President & CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC), at the Vancouver Board of Trade Lunch on May 12, 2010.

“The Northwest Territories, where there are three major diamond mines, in the last 12 years have generated $600 million in Aboriginal business revenues, increased Aboriginal secondary school enrollment from 36 to 56 percent and reduced Aboriginal recipients on social assistance by 50 percent.” – Pierre Gratton, MABC President and CEO

“Whereas many industry sectors do not see aboriginal people as a workforce, consumers or partners, the mining sector has been on the leading edge of aboriginal inclusion efforts in employment, partnerships and business development for thirty five years.” Kelly Lendsay, President and CEO of the Aboriginal Human Resources Council

The Renaissance of Mining in British Columbia

Good afternoon.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the Coast Salish First Nations whose traditional territory we are on today, and to thank the Vancouver Board of Trade for providing the Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC) with this opportunity to discuss the state of our province’s mining industry.

I wish to also thank my colleagues on the executive committee, board of directors and staff at MABC, who work tirelessly on behalf of the mining industry, along with friends and colleagues at AME BC and the Mining Suppliers Association of BC. Special thanks go to members of the Mining Week Committee for their hard work planning and organizing this week’s events.

Mining Week, a tradition for the past 103 years, celebrates the role this industry plays in making British Columbia a great place to live, work and play. This year we’ve partnered with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum and its annual conference to reach out to a broader industry and public audience. We’ve also expanded our activities, with events taking place in many communities across the province.

The Ring of Fire: Will Fingers Be Burnt? – by Michael Schwartz

January 1, 2011November 2, 2010

This article originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the Ontario Prospector which is published by the Ontario Prospectors Association.

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

“There is no doubt that the Ring of Fire brings both enormous promise as well as enormous challenges for all. The enormity of the discoveries within the Ring of Fire could bring multi-generational community benefits if the regulatory roadmap is clear, if enabling mechanisms for community participation and partnership are created by government, and if industry brings their best practices forward.” – Mike Fox, Co-Chair of the PDAC Aboriginal Affairs Committee and President of Boreal Prospectors Association

On April 8, 2010, about 150 hungry people gathered at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay to share a meal and explore opportunities at The Far North Feast. The venue was Thunder Bay, chosen because of its proximity to the Ring of Fire, a massive mineral deposit offering both benefits and challenges to exploration and mining companies, government at all levels, environmental agencies and, most crucially in the long-term, First Nations citizens in the vicinity.

Chairman of this year’s feast was Mike Fox, coincidentally both president of the Boreal Prospectors Association and co-chair of the Aboriginal Affairs Committee for the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). He explains the purpose of the feast: “The overall intention is to highlight opportunities for progress and collaboration… Our aim is to show that the players are collaborating with the community, the province and its ministry, creating an enabling environment for others in the future.”

Recognising just how diverse and complex the situation is, the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry has established a new position of Excutive Lead, Ring of Fire Secretariat to develop the strategic vision and framework to facilitate the successful development of the Ring of Fire initiative and partner with other ministries to develop creative solutions that meet the interests of northern Ontarians, Aboriginal communities and the mining industry, while achieving government business objectives.

Read more

Greenhouse Gas Emissions – No Progress in Policy, Some Progress on the Ground – by Paul Stothart

December 8, 2010November 2, 2010

Paul Stothart is vice president, economic affairs of the Mining Association of Canada. He is responsible for advancing the industry’s interests regarding federal tax, trade, investment, transport and energy issues.

Throughout the history of the global environmental movement, no issue has seen anything approaching the elaborate policy structure and negotiation frameworks that surround the climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation area.

International climate change policy has been focused around the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for over 20 years. The IFCC is a United Nations entity created in 1988 that writes extensive reports, drawing upon input from 2500 scientific experts, 800 contributing authors, 450 lead authors, and 620 expert reviewers. IPCC reports typically stretch into the thousands of pages.

The UNFCCC has coordinated 15 Conference of the Parties (CoP) sessions over the past fifteen years. These sessions have in the past featured hundreds of environmental groups, business delegations, and government departments. Thousands of bureaucrats congregate at CoP sessions, often held in exotic locations that entail enormous travel distances and related airline GHG emissions. Between CoP sessions, numerous working groups interact and themselves congregate in sub-committee meetings at locations around the world. There are some 192 countries engaged in the UNFCCC process and these individual countries in turn support their policy discussions and documents with equally substantial resources and bureaucracies. Some countries, such as Australia and the UK, have created entire government departments around climate change policy.

In Canada, at least eight “climate change strategies” have been unveiled since the mid-1990s – five by Liberal governments and three by Conservatives – each plan outlining targets, actions, and commitments supported by the loftiest of communications rhetoric and printed on the glossiest of paper. Through the years, the federal government has outlined plans and processes for clean development mechanisms, offset systems, early action credits, technology funds, reduction targets, emission trading systems, cap and trade systems and carbon taxes. One particularly memorable offset document contained a 34 page glossary. The combined worth of these documents, plus a toonie, would today buy a Starbucks coffee.

Ring of Fire Railroad Study Staying on Track – by Ian Ross

January 1, 2011November 2, 2010

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

Despite the frenzy of exploration drilling and company acquistions in the Ring of Fire, engineering work continues for a proposed chromite ore haul railroad into the James Bay lowlands.

Krech Ojard & Associates is preparing a rail feasibility study for the construction of a 350-kilometre-long railroad from McFaulds Lake, south to Exton in northwestern Ontario.

The preferred route would largely follow glacial eskers that start south of the Albany River. These gravel rises make for ideal track bed in an otherwise swampy landscape.

Nels Ojard, special projects manager at Krech Ojard, said the majority of work this past summer was focused on the geotechnical program.

Soil samples that were collected along the length of the route last winter and spring were being processed and evaluated to test their ability to support heavy bridge loads and frost susceptability.

Peat Fuel Power in the Ring of Fire? – by Ian Ross

June 28, 2011November 2, 2010

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

Peat fuel producer Peat Resources Limited eyeballs powering Far North mines.

A Toronto-based peat fuel pellet producer thinks he can provide a green source of power to mining companies currently operating off the grid in the Ring of Fire.

Peter Telford, president and CEO of Peat Resources, was making the rounds at last spring’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual convention, talking to companies like KWG KWG Resources and Cliffs Natural Resources of his ability to supply them with fuel for their future mine operations.

“If the Ring of Fire project proceeds and Cliffs wants to start processing chromite into ferrochrome for use in stainless steel, there will be a real power demand that (Ontario Power Generation stations in) Thunder Bay and Atikokan can’t supply.”

Peat Resources has an indicated and measured resource at its Upsala property in northwestern Ontario of 22.5 million tonnes of fuel-grade peat. The company has a small pilot plant there, where it has been optimizing its wet harvesting method and pelletizing technology.

Peat is a biomass that has been used for power generation in Europe. But it has been an uphill climb for the Toronto company to convince the Ontario government that the swampy material can be used as an environmentally friendly alternative fuel to burning coal.

Premier Brad Wall’s Potash Saskatchewan Address – October 21, 2010

November 2, 2010

Potash Saskatchewan address

Premier Brad Wall gave this speech to the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan on Oct. 21, 2010

(Check against delivery)

The world has, I think in many ways, tuned in a little bit more to what has been happening in Saskatchewan over the last number of years and certainly over the last number of weeks.

If you were watching the Google trends back in August, when the BHP Billiton hostile takeover story broke, you would have seen a real spike in terms of the number of stories with the word Saskatchewan. In fact, we broke our own record in terms of the number of media stories around the world involving the word Saskatchewan, at the time of this announcement of this hostile takeover. It wiped out previous record, happily, because the previous record was the 13th man story from the Grey Cup. So there have been some unintended benefits to all of this.

I remember a night in August when I got a call from someone who told me that the next day the news would break, that the PostashCorp of Saskatchewan would become the target of a hostile takeover bid by BHP Billiton. It was one of those rare nights where Tami and I had actually organized a date night. We were going to be going to the movie, and the movie we went to that night was Inception. I don’t know if you have seen it, it’s the new DiCaprio movie and it’s pretty complex. It’s one of those movies you’ve got to pay attention to, there’s about seven different dream plots with one dream plot and I don’t remember anything of the movie, I can tell you that. I was thinking mostly about potash and what the implications for what I had just been told might be. Tami and I are going to have to rent that when it’s out on DVD.

Immediately upon learning the news, the Government of Saskatchewan struck an internal task force made up of representatives, senior officials in Finance, Energy and Resources, in Justice and in Enterprise Saskatchewan. We retained the services of the Conference Board of Canada to help us provide some qualitative analysis as to the impact of this takeover on the provincial economy and on the revenues for the province of Saskatchewan.

Stephen B. Roman (1921 – 1988) – 1989 Candian Mining Hall of Fame Inductee

January 2, 2011October 31, 2010

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/

It was not for nothing that The Northern Miner, the weekly journal of Canada’s mining industry, in 1977 chose Stephen B. Roman as its first Mining Man of the Year.

He received the title, the newspaper said at the time, “because Stephen Roman has graphically shown that Canadian money and expertise can compete very successfully with anyone in the world.”
At that time, he had engineered, through his already big and fast-growing company, Denison Mines, the largest-ever uranium sales by a uranium producer.

A Slovakian immigrant who began his working life in Canada as a tomato picker. Roman subsequently took control of a penny mining stock in 1953, and from this built Denison into one of the country’s largest mining and resource empires, rising from the foundation of the company’s sprawling uranium mines at Elliot Lake, Ontario.

That globe-spanning empire now includes, in addition to its uranium interests, coal mining in British Columbia, potash mining in New Brunswick, and oil and gas production in Greece, Egypt, Spain, Italy and Western Canada.

Stephen Roman Digging Up His Own Success – by Toronto Star Business Reporter Lisa Wright

October 31, 2010

Lisa Wright is a business reporter with the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published October 31, 2010.

His father [Stephen Roman] was a well-known [Denison Mines’ uranium operations at Elliot Lake] mining icon, but Stephen Roman is digging up his own success

Stephen Roman has endured various viruses and parasites and all manner of poisonous spiders and snakes – even a few on Bay St.—while prospecting for oil and metals around the world over the last 30 years.

The 57-year-old mining entrepreneur nearly died from cerebral malaria three years ago, when he lapsed into a coma after being bitten by mosquitoes at night in the Sahara Desert in uranium-rich Niger.

And his original exploration firm Exall Resources Ltd. suffered through an industry downturn so deep during the dot-com craze 10 years ago that he was forced to sell off his furniture and artwork to keep it afloat as metals prices tanked.

“That’s the hazard of the business,” the affable financier says in an interview. “People may think it’s all glamorous but there are a lot of risks. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it all adds to the fun.”

On top of all that, Stephen G. Roman – son of the late mining magnate Stephen B. Roman – has carried on the family name, and despite all the weight that carries has managed to stake out his own Roman empire.
Just a week before the market plummeted in 2008, the junior Roman sold Gold Eagle Mines and its coveted asset in Red Lake for $1.5 billion to giant Goldcorp Inc. – one of the highest prices ever paid to a non-operating junior whose discovery was not yet a proven resource.

And with some promising drilling up in northern Ontario, he and his Harte Gold investors bet they may be sitting on the next big gold find in the storied Hemlo gold camp, which was the centre of a Klondike-style gold rush in the early 1980s and is now run by Barrick Gold Corp. about 350 km east of Thunder Bay.

“Ontario’s Mining Act” and the Importance of Exploration to the Future Prosperity of the Province – by R. S. Middleton (October/2008)

January 1, 2011October 28, 2010

This letter was sent to the Minister of Northern Development and Mines in October/2008. The letter provides interesting background information on Ontario’s mineral exploration sector. R. S. Middleton is a well-known and respected geophysicist who has been involved with many mining projects around the world and in Canada over the past 40 years.

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

LACK OF ADEQUATE OR APPROPRIATE CONSULTAION

Meetings on changes to the Mining Act in Ontario were held on August 11, 13, 18, and September 8th, 2008 in Timmins, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Kingston and Toronto. The timing was particularly unfortunate since exploration people are always away in the field during the summer months so they were unable to take part or comment on the proposed changes to the Act. This suggests either that the government has a poor understanding of the industry or that it has deliberately set in train a process to carry out its plans without proper consultation with the industry. Changing an Act of Parliament with only a three week review period is completely unacceptable in any parliamentary democracy.

Those of us away on field work have been unaware of any of the discussions and proposals that have taken place and consider that they have not been properly consulted.

Moreover holding hearings in a small number of towns over such a short time frame, will not elicit the input that is required from the industry. Why was Ottawa not included in the hearings? There are more exploration mining companies based in Ottawa than in Thunder Bay.

A Brief Summary of the Mining Sector’s Contributions to Ontario – by R. S. Middleton, P.Eng.

October 28, 2010October 28, 2010

R. S. Middleton is a well-known and respected geophysicist who has been involved with many mining projects around the world and in Canada over the past 40 years.

The wealth extracted from the north has benefited southern Ontario and particularly Toronto since the 1800’s. The discovery of silver at Cobalt in 1903 was a major historical event. The enormous wealth produced at Cobalt was a major boost to the early Toronto Stock Exchange. The prospectors spread northward and found the Hollinger Gold Mine in 1909 and hence the town (now the City of Timmins).

The Town of Timmins needed a Newspaper and Radio station. This was Roy Thomson’s first business and the beginning of the Thomson newspaper chain and empire. Where is the monument to this success and financial wealth? In Toronto on King Street – Roy Thomson Hall! Where is the original head office where Roy’s son David worked as a cub reporter? It was in downtown Timmins on the corner of Cedar and Second Street, which is now an empty space since the building was torn down.

The dividends paid by the Hollinger Mine financed the Noranda Smelter for Noranda Mines (based in Toronto.) Hollinger money started the Iron Ore Company of Canada in Quebec and Labrador, the source for iron ore to make steel in Hamilton, Ontario and the USA. Who was the lawyer and president for IOCC, Brian Mulroney!

Next to the Hollinger Mine was the McIntyre Mine which produced the funds to start Falconbridge Nickel in 1934 whose office was in Toronto. The Dome mine, six miles to the east, started Dome Petroleum and the Canadian Oil Industry. Argus Corporation (from Toronto) took over the Hollinger Gold Mine and remaining treasury and Conrad Black (from Toronto) used these funds to buy up many newspapers. Hollinger Inc. held the Financial Post (now National Post), Daily Telegraph (London, England) Jerusalem Post, Vancouver Sun, Chicago Papers etc. and the rest of this story is still being played out.

Ring of Fire: Ontario Embarking on a Major Economic Development Project – by Geophysicist R.S. Middleton, P.Eng.

January 1, 2011October 27, 2010

This article originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the Ontario Prospector which is published by the Ontario Prospectors Association.

R. S. Middleton is a well-known and respected geophysicist who has been involved with many mining projects around the world and in Canada over the past 40 years.

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

A New Chromite Industry for North America

Ontario has been blessed in that a number of world class mineral discoveries have been made over the past 125 years which has brought wealth and prosperity to its citizens and Canada. These discoveries have sustained thousands of support industries that have manufactured and supplied the implements to extract the metals, industrial minerals and gemstones that form the Mining Industry of Ontario. Revenues from these mining operations make up approximately 30% of government tax revenue and were the foundation and beginning of the financial industry based in Toronto.

The discovery of the Sudbury nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE (Platinum Group Element) deposits at the end of the 19th century are the largest contributor of revenue with a gross metal value of over $190 billion. The multitude of silver mines found in 1903 in Cobalt, Ontario generated millions of ounces of silver with by-product cobalt, arsenic, nickel and bismuth and became the strength of the Toronto Stock Exchange in the early 1900’s. By 1909 prospectors operating from the Cobalt Camp found the famous Porcupine Gold Camp (Timmins) which has now produced over 70 million ounces of gold from 100 years of production.

Prospectors from both Timmins and Cobalt then found the Kirkland Lake – Larder Lake gold mines and the Noranda Camp in Quebec. Also from Timmins the Kidd Creek copper-zinc-silver mine (1963) with a gross metal value reaching $75 billion, the Kamiskotia (1915), Detour gold (1974) and Hemlo (1979) camps were found. Geraldton-Beardmore and the Red Lake gold camps were developed in the 1920’s-1930’s in part with the financial base built by Timmins.