Republic of Mining

Early Mining schools in Sudbury and Copper Cliff – Gary Peck

May 4, 2015June 30, 2008

During the 1890s, there was considerable interest in the establishing of mining schools in Ontario. One of the early promoters was James Commee, MPP for Algoma. Offering support was James Orr, editor of the Sudbury Journal, who argued for the locating of a mining school in Sudbury. The town did not quite receive the school desired, but in 1894 this area hosted two summer schools.

In the session of the legislature in 1894, $2,000 was appropriated for the purpose of organizing Summer Mining Schools in the northern districts of Ontario. Work for this undertaking was assumed by the School of Practical Science, University of Toronto, with the pilot summer schools in 1894 located in the communities of Copper Cliff, Sudbury and Rat Portage, with the later established after the Copper Cliff and Sudbury schools.

When advertised locally, the caption read, “Summer School for Prospectors, Miners and Others interested in mining.” On Friday evening, July , at 8 o’clock, there was a meeting at the public school in Sudbury.

Canada’s Federal Government Making a Mess of Aboriginal Land Claims and Mining Issues – Gregory Reynolds

December 9, 2010June 30, 2008

There is a belief among mining people that the land disputes making news almost daily are best left to the two parties directly concerned – provincial governments and Aboriginal groups.

The truth is that two of Canada’s primary industries are threatened by the failure to tackle land claims in a meaningful way.

Mining and forestry have remained on the sidelines while negotiations become pension funds for lawyers and job protection insurance for civil servants.

There is a third party that not only should be at every negotiating table but should be actively involved. That is Canada’s federal government.

More and more native bands are saying they do not want trees cut or mineral exploration on their traditional lands until outstanding claims are settled.

Making Sustainability part of Vale’s DNA by Renato Amorim – Vale Director of International Public Affairs

June 27, 2008

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) is a CEO-led industry group that addresses key priorities and emerging issues within the minerals sector. The following article came from the ICMM newsletter.

Brazil-based mining giant Vale is building sustainability into its long-term success. Vale Director of International Public Affairs Renato Amorim offers a snapshot of recent developments.

Over the past few years Vale has undergone a major process of expansion and diversification to become the second largest company in the mining and metals sector. Its approach to sustainability is evolving in parallel with this expansion, guided by the company’s mission to ‘transform mineral resources into sustainable development and prosperity’.

Vale’s 2006 acquisition of Inco for US$18.9 billion represented the largest ever made by a Brazilian company. Expansion has continued apace, and the company is now responsible for almost one-fifth of Brazil’s trade balance, as well as being world number two in the mining and metals sector. Such rapid growth has brought growing awareness of social and environmental issues.

International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) – An Introduction

May 15, 2010June 27, 2008

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) is a CEO-led industry group that addresses key priorities and emerging issues within the minerals sector. It seeks to play a leading role by promoting good practice and improved performance internationally and across different commodities. ICMM provides a platform for industry and other key stakeholders to share …

Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame Historical Profile – Andrew Fisher (1862-1928)

June 26, 2008

Andrew Fisher, past prime minster of Australia, symbolised the powerful political influence exercised by the mining fields and miners on that country’s growth as a democratic nation.

Andrew Fisher was three times prime minister of Australia. He led the nation at the time of Gallipoli landing. He had also been a minister in the first Queensland Labor Government (1899) and the first federal Labor government (1904). By occupation he was a coal miner, then a gold miner and finally a mine engine driver. He symbolised the powerful political influence exercised by the mining fields and miners on Australia’s growth as a democratic nation. Significantly his government began the transcontinental railway, so vital to Western Australian and its eastern goldfields.

Andrew Fisher was Prime Minister of Australia in a period when a wide variety of national institutions and policies were being shaped. He was personally respected on all sides of politics.

Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame Historical Profile – May Brown (1875-1939)

June 26, 2008

May Brown was a famous mining entrepreneur; the Northern Territory’s ‘wolfram queen’.

May Brown, mining entrepreneur, the Northern Territory’s “wolfram queen”, was born in Sydney on 24 May in 1875. She first visited the Northern Territory in 1890 when she joined her sister, Florence, who with her husband ran hotels in the ‘Top End’. May Brown continued to visit the Territory until 1901 when she settled in Sydney after marrying George Seale, a former amateur boxing champion. In 1902, they had a son, George, who later married Mary Fisher, a Territorian.

May’s first husband, George, died in 1906 and six months later she married James Burns, a Territory wolfram miner. The pair moved to Pine Creek a small township near Burns’ Wolfram Creek and Crest of the Wave mines. May started to work in the mines alongside her husband and their Chinese tributers.

Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame Historical Profile – Lang Hancock (1909-1992)

August 7, 2008June 26, 2008

Lang Hancock discovered and promoted the vast iron ore deposits in the Pilbara of Western Australia

On 16 November 1952 prospector and pastoralist Lang Hancock and his wife Hope were flying over the Hamersley Range in Australia’s rugged Northwest. Bad weather forced Hancock to fly low over the headwaters of the Turner River. From the cockpit Hancock noticed large bands of red rock on the hills below and wondered if they might be iron ore. Six months later he returned to the Turner River and confirmed his discovery; a discovery that provided the impetus for the establishment of the huge iron ore mines in Australia’s Northwest. Hancock’s aerial prospecting earned him the title “The Flying Prospector”.

Langley Frederick George Hancock was born June 10 1909. He was a descendent of the pioneering Hancock family who had arrived at Cossack on the Sea Ripple in 1864. His father, George Hancock, built the homestead at Mulga Downs station and it was here that Lang Hancock spent most of his childhood, eventually becoming the station manager.

More Women Needed in the Mining Sector

August 7, 2008June 25, 2008

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.

Four female employees from Hemlo Mines brought their unique perspective to a recent Ontario Mining Association conference session “How to make the mining workplace more feminine friendly.”

Aileen Pajunen, Employee Relations Superintendent; Geraldine Colbourne, a level-one production miner with 11 years experience working underground; Deborah Hanson, who has worked underground in the shaft and services area for 18 years; and, Allison Craig, a mining engineer currently working as an underground supervisor; all shared their work experiences, ambitions, frustrations, successes and long term goals with participants in the OMA “Demographics, Global Markets and Future Workforce” conference.

The panel session was preceded by OMA President Chris Hodgson and Ryan Montpellier, Executive Director of the Mining Industry Human Resource Council (MiHR). Hodgson reminded the group that, on the national level, mining is looking for an estimated 92,000 new employees over the next decade.

Honourable Kevin Kruger – British Columbia Minister of State for Mining – The Canadian Institute Keynote Address in Vancouver

June 24, 2008

MINE SAFETY

Thank you Tim, it’s a pleasure to be here.

Ladies and gentlemen . . .

I am happy to report that the mining industry is alive and well in British Columbia, and in for the long run.

I am very happy to report that the industry is pretty much thriving here in British Columbia. Recently during Mining Week, we celebrated 150 years of mining in B.C. since we showed up but First Nations have made it very clear to me that they were mining a number of quantities for thousands of years before European contact. So I try to make sure to mention that each time I am talking about our century-and-a-half of experience in the industry.

B.C. MINING SUCCES STORY

We call it the B.C. Mining Success Story, and it’s a story that I am certain that everyone here this morning is familiar with.
In conjunction with Mining Week . . . the Mining Association of British Columbia released the 40th annual PricewaterhouseCoopers report card on the state of the industry and it tabulated the results of forty mining companies that responded.

The report found that mining in B.C. is a $6.9 billion industry . . .

that 2007 was another excellent year for the B.C. mining industry . . .

gross revenues remain very strong, even though they were reduced somewhat by coal prices which bumped along around $80 dollars a tonne average. They have been better in 2006 and volumes were slightly down as well but present day companies are signing contracts for $300 dollars a tonne and it is looking like 2008 will be a banner year.

Honourable Kevin Krueger – British Columbia Minister of State for Mining – An Introduction

June 24, 2008

Kevin Krueger was appointed Minister of State for Mining on February 7, 2007. Kevin was re-elected as MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson in 2005 after being elected in 1996 and re-elected in 2001. He was named as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier responsible for Rural Development in the fall of 2006. Kevin is also a member …

Honourable John Rodriguez – Mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury – State of the City – 2008 Speech

December 8, 2010June 23, 2008

Madame Chairperson, fellow Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I want to thank you all for coming this afternoon and I want to thank the Chamber for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. I want to also express my appreciation to George Revie and his team at Persona Communications, who are here today to tape this event for broadcast this Thursday evening. As you know, Persona also broadcasts City Council meetings, and their efforts make it easier for citizens to understand our city and how it operates.

As I stand here today, I am mindful of the fact that I am blessed to be Mayor of this wonderful city, and doubly blessed to be Mayor at such an exciting time in the history of our community, our country, and our world.

Ten days ago, we celebrated a birthday to mark the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the community we now know as Greater Sudbury. It was a tremendous event!

I reflected that day upon how far we have come as a community and what a debt we owe to our forbearers. In our community’s history, thirty-three men – and one woman – have served as Mayor of Sudbury or Greater Sudbury, and many, many more have served as mayor or reeve of our constituent municipalities.

Our 125 year relationship with this land is but a blip in the history of our aboriginal cousins. It is important that we acknowledge the strong relationships we have with our aboriginal community and the strong ties we all share with the land we live on. Aboriginal peoples are the fastest growing segment of our community and it is fitting that one of the signature events in this anniversary year was the first ever Northern Aboriginal Festival. I congratulate the organizers and our partners at Laurentian University and Cambrian College.

City of Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez – An Introduction

December 8, 2010June 23, 2008

The trillion-dollar Sudbury Basin is the richest mining district in North America and among the top ten most strategically important in the world. Sudbury is located in the Canadian province of Ontario, whose annual 10.5 billion dollar mineral sector is the largest in the country. About half of Ontario’s mining activity takes place in the …

Great War Proved Need for Ontario Refinery – Gary Peck

May 4, 2015June 23, 2008

With the First World War, in Canada there was considerable agitation over what was coined the “Nickel Question.” One of the problems that arose pertained to the refining of nickel in Canada. For some, it may have been regretted that our nickel industry was controlled by foreigners. However, for a variety of reasons, it was argued that the refining at least should occur in Canada.

By the outbreak of The War, the necessity of nickel for modern warfare was established. Nickel was necessary for automobile parts, cartridge cases, bullet coverings, heavy ordnance, rifle barrels and armour-plate. Of course, its value was recognized by all of the then major powers. Canada had the new materials that in 1890, were mined by two foreign-owned companies. Yet, if the refining continued outside Canada, this country and the province of Ontario had no control over the ultimate destination of “the product”. For some, this was not satisfactory.

Evidence suggests that on numerous occasions federal and provincial governments had examined and indeed promoted the refining of nickel in Canada. In 1886, a committee of the House of Commons refused to report a bill authorizing the Canadian Copper Company (C.C. Co.) of Ohio to operate in Canada until its promoters indicated that they would build a refinery.

The Beauty of Mining Machines – Dr. David Robinson

April 5, 2015June 20, 2008

The Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal gave Republic of Mining.com permission to post Dr. David Robinson’s column. This Sudbury-based magazine showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.

Dr. David Robinson

Mining is a rough industry and nowhere is it as challenging as Northern Ontario’s deep, hardrock operations. The mines are hot, dirty and wet. The air has to be pumped in, as if miners were working on another planet. At the bottom of the deepest mines, the rock creeps like toffee under pressure. It can shatter like glass, killing and trapping miners.

In this harsh world, equipment must do miracles. Ventilation systems move minus -40° air to a depth of 2,493 m. Hoist cables lift 4,000 tons per day. There is no room for mistakes. Yet these may be the safest mines in the world.

No wonder Sudbury is the training ground for so many mining experts and the testing ground for some of the toughest machines. The knowledge accumulated by the people of the Sudbury Basin is a treasure. It will grow in value as the mining industry battles to keep up with demand over the next century.