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The HR Challenge for Mining Sector in Aboriginal Territories – by Juan Carlos Reyes

Juan Carlos Reyes is the organizer of the annual Learning Together conference and an aboriginal consultant with Efficiency.ca. He is passionate about human rights and works tirelessly to help improve the lives of Canadian aboriginal people. This column was originally published in 2009.

Given that Aboriginal communities have the fastest growing youth demographic in Canada and that most new exploration and mining developments are near Aboriginal communities, it makes sense for the shortage of workers in the mining industry to be offset by the recruitment of these youth. But the reality seems to be quite different. Far too few Aboriginal youth are entering the mining industry. Unless we do something about it, this trend will continue and they will continue to be under-represented in the industry.
 
Most of us are familiar with the concept of a ghost town — a community that has been virtually abandoned by human inhabitants — usually because of the failure of economic activities that supported the town. Due to the cyclical nature of the minerals industry and the fact that mining exploits non-renewable resources, mines are notorious for leaving ghost towns in their wake. Why is this relevant to this article? It is because most First Nations communities would be ghost towns without government assistance provided to support the membership.
 
Most remote First Nations have an extraordinarily high unemployment rate — some even as high as 90 per cent. Although there are many candidates for potential work, there is no industry to provide the much-needed employment. Community members are trapped in these virtual ghost towns with no potential or hope for change. But even if an “employment fairy” was to appear in such a community and magically create opportunity for everyone, this would not solve the problem. There are generations of potential employees who have not acquired the basic skills that are expected of today’s workers. For most Aboriginal people, the integration curve into the mainstream employment world is therefore very steep.

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Ring of Fire Mine, Railway Will Bring Economic Development to Northern Ontario and Aboriginal Communities – by Ian Ross

This article was orginally published in Northern Ontario Business on December 23, 2009. 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.

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

Bob Middleton likens the discovery of chromite in the James Bay Lowlands to the 1903 Cobalt silver discovery that opened up Northern Ontario and created the great mining camps of Timmins and Kirkland Lake.

The potential impact of a massive open-pit mine, ore processing facilities and a railway into McFauld’s Lake, as proposed by Cliffs Natural Recources, will be a life-style changer for many living in remote First Nation communities, said the exploration industry veteran.

“It’s going to change the economy of this whole region,” said Middleton, director of Aboriginal and regulatory affairs with Canada Chrome Corp.
Cliffs’ $240 million stock offer to Freewest Resources, which together with KWG and Spider Resources, found some of the richest chromite deposits in the world, will be voted on by Freewest shareholders in January. The Freewest board is recommending approval of the Cliffs offer.

Middleton outlined his company’s role in a high-grade chromite resource in the area now called the Ring of Fire during a presentation at the Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium, Dec. 16, 2009 in Sudbury.

Canada Chrome is a subsidiary of KWG Resources Inc., one of the companies involved in the $1.5 billion development, which includes an $800-million mine scheduled to go into production by 2015.

Cleveland, Ohio-based Cliffs, a global iron ore pellet and coal producer and an established industrial railway builder, is expanding into the stainless steel market with the development of North America’s first chromite mine.

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Rails to Riches in the Ring of Fire – by Edgar J. Lavoie

This article was orginally published in Northern Ontario Business on April 19, 2010. Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investers with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

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

A man from North Carolina is standing on the north bank of the frozen Ogoki River in Northern Ontario. His job is to find bedrock that could support a bridge foundation for a Class 3 heavy-haul railway. The railway, currently under feasibility review, would transport 4 million tonnes of chromite every year from the Ring of Fire to the CN mainline near Nakina.

On Feb. 19, Colin Langford, geologist, is overdressed for the weather -2C. The sun is shining, the sky is clear. As the crew extracts two-inch rock core from the drill hole, Langford identifies the rock. “Granite,” he says. Good solid stuff.

Matthew Krzewinski, field program manager for Golder Associates, has dropped from the sky to check on the work. A helicopter is the transport of choice in this country. The company is performing geotechnical drilling on the proposed route.

Only a third of the 340-kilometre route runs through the rock, sand, and gravel of the Canadian Shield. The James Bay Lowlands, in which the Big Daddy chromite discovery is located, is wet – a wilderness of lakes and bogs. KWG Resources Inc. (TSX-V: KWG), in joint venture with Spider Resources Inc. (TSX-V: SPQ), created a subsidiary to do feasibility studies for a railway. In turn, Canada Chrome Corp. engaged Krech Ojard & Associates, PA, of Duluth, who hired Golder Associates, also of Duluth, with support from offices throughout Canada and the USA.

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Ring of Fire: A Chance to Remake, or Ruin, the North – by Tanya Talaga [Toronto Star-March 27, 2010]

Tanya Talaga is the Queen’s Park (Ontario Provincial Government) reporter for 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 on Saturday, March 27, 2010 on the front page of the Insight section.

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

A massive ore deposit has prospectors drooling, native groups worried about a raw deal and greens warning of an ecological disaster. With $30 billion at stake, the government is struggling to strike the right balance

MARTEN FALLS FIRST NATION, ONT.–Children sprint into the school gym to feast on the grapes, apples and oranges laid out on long tables – the first fresh fruit they’ve seen in months.

The fruit, all 90 kilos of it, is a gift to the 300 people living in this impoverished, fly-in-only reserve from Northern Development Minister Michael Gravelle.

He’s flown to Marten Falls, where the water is not clean enough to drink, on a diplomatic mission to soothe tensions among the Indians, government and mining companies over the proposed development of the Ring of Fire.

The Ring is a massive, 5,120-square-kilometre area of pristine wilderness that happens to be on Marten Falls’ traditional land and is said to hold one of the richest ore deposits in the world.

The buzz around the potential jackpot has prospectors jockeying for position as everyone lines up to stake their claim in this modern-day gold rush.

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Realizing the Full Potential of the Sudbury and Area Mining Supply Cluster – by Norm Tolinsky

Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This column is from the May, 2010 issue.

The preliminary results from a study of the Sudbury and area mining supply cluster and its value to the economy of Ontario confirm the claims that Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal has been making since our inaugural issue in March 2004. We knew that the mining supply cluster in the Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay triangle was substantial in size and impact, but we would never have guessed that its value to the economy was a whopping $5.6 billion per year or that it accounted for some 23,000 jobs.

Sudbury, Timmins and North Bay may be big players in the mining industry, but they represent a very small percentage of Ontario’s population and can be easily overlooked on public policy agendas, both at the provincial and federal levels.

Hundreds of relatively small mining supply businesses failed to register in the public consciousness outside the region, but thrived in the shadows. Until the establishment of the Sudbury and Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) and the founding of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, the cluster was an uncoordinated and unheralded collection of independent businesses focused on doing their own thing. Coming together under the umbrella of an association and served by a journal dedicated to promoting their capabilities and innovations to an international audience, hundreds of disparate businesses are now part of something much bigger.

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[Sudbury/Vale strike]Nickelled and Damned -by John Gray (Globe and Mail- March 26, 2010)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

This article was the cover story of the March 26, 2010 edition of the Globe and Mail’s monthly Report on Business magazine.

Down the road from the Copper Cliff smelter, where the Inco Superstack reaches 380 metres into a clear winter sky, striking Steelworkers stamp their heavy boots and feed a smoking fire pit with scrap wood. Massive ore trucks, engines growling, wait for permission to drive through the picket line. It is a familiar ritual; after 10 or 15 minutes, the picket captain signals the drivers to proceed and go about their business at the smelter—their business being strikebreaking.

When Local 6500 of the United Steelworkers walked off the job at the Vale Inco nickel mines, it was mid-July. The progression from agreeable summer weather to minus 20 C has been brutal. The best to be said about minus 20 is that it’s better than minus 30, just like strike pay of $200 a week is better than no pay at all. It’s hardly surprising that there’s little of the bravado that usually sustains picket lines.

The downbeat atmosphere may also reflect a sense among the strikers that the world has changed and that their strike has not been noticed by Canadians. There have been many strikes in Inco’s history—but every other one was decided in Canada. Now Inco is a subsidiary of a company based far away.

If the long stalemate in Sudbury had a sound, it might be that of the other shoe falling. When the takeover binge of the mid-2000s saw many of Canada’s pre-eminent companies disappear into foreign hands, the debate over the “hollowing out” of the domestic economy was muted. After all, Vale, like other acquisitors, made undertakings to preserve jobs and, in fact, to carry on much like before.

Now, it appears, things look very different to Vale.

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Inside Sudbury’s Bitter Vale Strike – by Linda Diebel (Toronto Star-June 6, 2010)

Linda Diebel is a National Affairs Writer for 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. Linda Diebel is originally from Sudbury. This article was published on Sunday, June 6, 2010.

COPPER CLIFF, ONT.—My grandmother, Lillian Rose, was the sweetest person I’ve ever known. She gave up more than youth and beauty to leave England and come with her husband to the nickel mines of Canada’s Precambrian Shield. The Sudbury region, some 400 kilometres north of Toronto, is an unforgiving place for a fragile English rose.

During the last 40 years of her life, she had a disease that turned her once-pale skin red and left it blistered and scabbed. The constant flaking embarrassed her and, on bad days, the pain sent her to bed. My earliest memory — and I was no more than 18 months — was of being on her bed on Jones Lane in Copper Cliff, understanding even then I had to be gentle.

Doctors couldn’t help because they believed her allergic to the air she breathed, a soup of industrial pollutants. Sometimes the sulphur was so thick it seared the throat.

Move away, they said, and your skin will clear up. But they didn’t talk about that publicly. My grandfather Reg was an electrician at the Copper Cliff smelter and his job, and the livelihoods of the physicians themselves, depended on what was then King Inco, the world’s biggest producer of nickel.

Lately, Lillian Rose has been on my mind. Last Sunday, I was preparing to fly north to write about the 11-month-long strike against Inco, now called Vale, by 3,000 members of the United Steelworkers Local 6500. The pending trip evoked memories, and I found myself staring at a faded photo of my grandmother and me.

Still, I had no intention of writing about her.

My story would be about the culture of a company town from the perspective of generations of men who went down the mines, or worked in the smelter or refinery, at what used to be Inco. That seemed the best place to start, given that Inco’s owner since 2006 — Companhia Vale do Rio Doce — insists the working culture of its new operations must change.

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Northern Ontario’s Dynamic Mining Supply Sector Accounts for $5.6 billion in Sales – by Dick DeSteffano

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA). His column was originally published in Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. destefan@isys.ca

A comprehensive survey of Northern Ontario mining supply and service companies supports earlier estimates that this sector is a significant wealth creator in Northern Ontario.

SAMSSA joined forces with a number of supporting partners to examine the importance of the mining supply and service sector and especially its claim that this mining support cluster is one of the most concentrated in the world. The partners included the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA), the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry (MNDMF), Ontario North Economic Development Corp. (ONE DC) and FedNor (Industry Canada).

The overall objective was to assess growth opportunities and outline a plan to realize them through concerted stakeholder action, both public and private.

Primary information for this analysis was complied by Doyletech Corporation over a five month period through interviews with 150 companies and three focus groups.

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Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire, Ring of Fire – by David Robinson

Dr. David Robinson is an economist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada. His column was originally published in May 2010 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.  drobinson@laurentian.ca

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

One way to get attention in the mining world is to mention the Ring of Fire. Apparently, it doesn’t matter whether your column is really about the Ring of Fire. Just mention this new wonder of the world and you get noticed.

I am far too proud to use such a sleazy technique, but the Ring of Fire (three mentions so far) is an enormous opportunity for the mining supply and services sector.  In fact, the Ring of Fire offers a chance to move Northern Ontario’s mining supply and services sector to a new level.

Cliffs Natural Resources intends to process as much as 800,000 tons of chromite annually, which would place the company in fifth place among producing countries – between Russia and Brazil. Production at that rate could continue for a hundred years. At 2007 prices, the annual value would exceed $250 million. Current prices are lower but expected to rise as demand for stainless steel surges.

For the province, developing the Ring of Fire will produce a huge building boom. It will provide jobs for miners and for the 1,200 people in three small First Nation communities: Webequie, Neskantaga and Marten Falls.  Since these are fly-in communities, the new mines will have to pay for all-weather roads and a rail line.

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Thoughts on BP’s Oily Environmental Problem – by Marilyn Scales

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

I’ve been in the United States these last three weeks, and have been bombarded with news of British Petroleum’s uncontrolled oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. For readers who don’t already know, BP’s drill rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and sank six weeks ago. All of the company’s efforts so far have failed to stem the spread of crude oil from 1,500 metres under the sea onto the coast of Louisiana. Large parts of the fishery on which so many coastal residents depend are closed. A recent report said cleanup workers are falling ill, and workers at rigs near the site of the doomed BP rig, are being sent home because of the noxious smell.

The wall-to-wall news coverage of BP’s woes on American TV has made the tailings ponds of Alberta’s oil sands producers fade into the background. The anti-tar-sands activists have been quieter than usual, perhaps stunned into silence by the spill in the Gulf. The spill is estimated to have released at least 475,000 barrels and perhaps over 1 million barrels of crude oil.

Worse, hurricane season is underway, and expectations are that it could be a very active season. No one knows how far the crude oil could be spread by high-velocity winds.

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A Large Need for Education on Mining and Exploration in Aboriginal Communities After KI Conflict – by Juan Carlos Reyes

Juan Carlos Reyes is the organizer of the annual Learning Together conference and an aboriginal consultant with Efficiency.ca. He is passionate about human rights and works tirelessly to help improve the lives of Canadian aboriginal people. This column was originally published December 08, 2009.

KI Mining Conflict Sends a Chill Throughout Many Aboriginal Communities

Last month, the Waubetek Business Development Corporation hosted its 4th Annual Economic Development Officers’ Conference in Sault Ste. Marie. I was honoured to be selected as a speaker at this conference, which is attended by almost all of the First Nations’ representatives in economic development from across the province.

Waubetek spends a great deal of time studying needs and opportunities within First Nations in Ontario. The information gathered is used to develop workshops that assist communities in identifying ways of bringing about their economic development.

In my opinion, exploration and mining should have received greater coverage at the conference. Only one brief workshop on impact benefit agreements was held, in which there seemed to be a surprising lack of interest among many of the participants. My belief is that they were interested in more basic information on exploration and mining. Although I broached the topic with conference organizers, they did not see the need for further coverage, as the program already addressed numerous other areas. This is unfortunate as the conference is a perfect venue to encourage dialogue between the mining industry and First Nations groups.

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PDAC 2007 – Greenpeace Founder Supports Mining; Harper Government Does Not – by Stan Sudol

This article was originally published in the March 14, 2007 edition of Northern Life – Sudbury’s Community Newspaper. It is being posted for archival purposes.

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

Patrick Moore, founding member and former president of Greenpeace, supports the mining sector. This is the same Patrick Moore, who, with his band of Rainbow Warriors forced the American and French governments to stop nuclear testing, shamed the Russians and Japanese to halt factory whaling and were a nightmare for Newfoundland sealers.

He lightheartedly quipped that all his life, he had been against many issues so he finally decided to be in favour of something. He stated the obvious fact that the world’s real needs for food, energy and building materials cannot be met without a growing mining sector. Moore gave an engaging luncheon speech at the Prospectors and Developers of Canada (PDAC) convention, last Wednesday that highlighted the many benefits the mining sector brings to impoverished lesser-developed countries around the world and the hypocrisy of many in the NGO environmental movements.

He mentioned that many of the environmental extremists who focus on greenhouse gasses and global warming are adamantly again nuclear energy and hydro-electric dams – the two sources of clean energy that can significantly help in solving these problems. During the past decade the mining industry has embraced many sound practices in water shed management, land restoration and pollution reduction that have significantly reduced their impact on the environment. In addition, sustainable mining initiatives in the social arena – the most challenging part of this new strategy – helps build up local capacity, through education, health care and economic diversification initiatives.

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PDAC 2007 – Prospectors and Developers Convention Place to be This Week – by Stan Sudol

This article was originally published in the March 7, 2007 edition of Northern Life – Sudbury’s Community Newspaper. It is being posted for archival purposes.

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

South African premier plans to head to Sudbury while in Canada

Seventy-five years old and still going strong as ever. The annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, which got under way Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, is expecting to see almost 18,000 participants. Like the price of many of the metals its members are searching for, this is a new record high.

The organization was first founded in 1932, early in the Great Depression in order to fight some new provincial government regulation that was detrimental for struggling prospectors. Copper was then selling at four cents a pound (US), nickel was about 35 cents per pound, and gold could be bought for $20.67 per ounce. How things change and how they stay the same.

The March convention is the world’s premiere event for mineral exploration and development professionals. These include representatives of major and small to medium-sized junior exploration and mining companies, technical experts, government officials, prospectors, and mine financiers and investors, just to name a few of the participants.

This is the largest and sometimes one of the most “hard-drinking” and notorious conventions in Toronto. Twenty years ago, when it was still held at the Royal York Hotel, a mining promoter was murdered by an angry creditor. The longest reigning PDAC president, Viola MacMillan, was charged with insider trading during the infamous Windfall Scandal of 1964.

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PDAC 2006 – The Academy Awards of the Global Mining Sector – by Stan Sudol

This article was originally published in the March 12, 2006 edition of Northern Life – Sudbury’s Community Newspaper. It is being posted for archival purposes.

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

The Prospectors and Developers Association promotes the exploration and development sectors of the Canadian mineral industry

The 74th annual PDAC (Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada) convention that ran from last Sunday to Wednesday was a smashing success, the biggest ever. It is the mining world’s version of the “Academy Awards” but spread over four days and with just as much networking, deal making and partying. PDAC is the largest gathering of mineral explorationists, developers, investors, bankers, financiers, analysts and government representatives in the world.

Established in 1932, the PDAC is a national not-for-profit organization that supports and promotes the exploration and development sectors of the Canadian mineral industry. There are about 1200 mining companies in Canada and almost 700 that are actively exploring worldwide on 3,500 projects. Canada is a global powerhouse in the mining sector and our expertise in many facets of the industry is well respected and in demand internationally.

Toronto’s stock exchange helps raise almost half of global venture capital for exploration and mining projects while about 65% of the world’s mining companies are listed here.

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Excerpt from Until the End – by Adelle Larmour (The Story of John Gagnon-Health and Safety Union Activist)

Adelle Larmour is a journalist at Northern Ontario Business and Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal. Contact her at  untiltheend.larmour@gmail.com  to order a copy of Until the End.

Chapter 4 – Mine Mill Union

Processes for extracting ore from the ground and, in turn, specific metals from the ore were still developing and very much at the experimental stage. The industrial revolution was gaining momentum, but the technology employed was crude at best. Harsh, dangerous working conditions were the norm, creating a breed of hard-bitten, tough labourers who produced the wealth for mining companies.

These very conditions, coupled with long strenuous work days, termination notices at the drop of a hat, job and race discrimination, and screaming tyrant bosses, created a stress-induced, unsafe environment leading to numerous fatalities. Consequently, attempts to organize workers into unions as a means of collective protection were initiated.

On May 5, 1893, the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was born and brought into being in Butte, Montana, according to The International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, CIO-CCL (Congress of Industrial Organizations-Canadian Congress of Labour). WFM organizers were sent to British Columbia in 1906. In that same year, organizers came to Northern Ontario, where Local 146, Cobalt Miners Union, was chartered a member of the Western Federation of Miners. Within ten years the union had spread to many of the northern gold mines.1

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