Republic of Mining

Brief History of Northern Ontario

March 10, 2016July 23, 2010

This brief history was originally posted on the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry www.mndm.gov.on.ca

The largest single population increase in the history of Northern Ontario
occurred in the 1950s during a period of unprecedented economic prosperity.
The boom, mostly in the mining sector, pushed the population from 536,000
in 1951 to 722,000 in 1961.

Northern Ontario a Vast and Magnificent Land

Northern Ontario is a unique land sculpted by geology, tempered by climate. Imagine more than a million square kilometre expanse of Precambrian forests and lakes punctuated occasionally by towns and cities — a contrast to the flat, populous, lowland area that is southern Ontario.

Northerners believe that living on this ruggedly beautiful land and battling climatic extremes has imbued them with a distinctiveness.

The mists of time in Northern Ontario lift 9,000 years ago with the arrival of the ancestors of First Nations people. From them descended the woodland, hunter-gatherer societies of the Algonkian culture.

The first European forays into the area came in the early 17th century by explorers from competing colonial empires, England’s Henry Hudson and France’s Samuel de Champlain. Initially, they were looking for a shorter trade route to Asia. They found something else, a land blessed with fur, which was in great demand in Europe.

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Honourable John Rodriguez – Mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury – State of the City – 2010

September 5, 2016July 22, 2010

Imagine a City

[Check Against Delivery]

June 17, 2009

Madam President, Mister Chair, Colleagues and Friends

I am pleased and honoured to be here this afternoon to present the 2010 Mayor’s State of the City address. I want to express my appreciation to the Chamber and its members for providing this forum and I want to thank the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation both for sponsoring this event again this year and for their ongoing contribution to this city. Since its opening in 1999, the Slots at Sudbury Downs have transferred more than $21 million to their host municipality.

This is my fourth State of the City address and it is an important annual opportunity to take stock of where we have been and where we hope to go as a municipality and as a community. The past twelve months have been challenging in many ways but have once again demonstrated our community’s resiliency and our unrelenting collective commitment to build for the future.

As I prepared these remarks, I was reminded of a phrase from Michael Ondaatje’s iconic novel about the history of Toronto, In the Skin of a Lion.

‘Before the real city could be seen,” Ondaatje wrote, ‘it had to be imagined.”

As you came in today, you will have noticed the displays of architectural concepts around the room. This is where imagination comes to life and a city is born. Of course imagination and city-building are pursuits not limited to those in the architecture profession, and this community has been truly blessed by those who imagined the city such that we can see it today.

Honourable John Rodriguez – Mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury – State of the City – 2009

September 5, 2016July 22, 2010

Building a Greater Community

[Check Against Delivery]

June 23, 2009

Mister Chair-elect, Madame President, Chamber Members and Fellow Citizens,

C’est pour moi un honneur et un privilège d’être ici cet après-midi pour prononcer le discours du maire sur l’état de la Ville de 2009. Je tiens à exprimer ma reconnaissance à la Chambre – à son président élu Steve Irwin et à sa présidente Debbi Nicholson.

I want to also thank our sponsors at OLG – Todd Hilton, Manager of the Slots at Sudbury Downs and Kelly McDougald, CEO of Ontario Lottery and Gaming – for helping to provide this opportunity. It is a challenge to condense the happenings of this dynamic city into a six hour speech, but I will do my best.

Let me begin by acknowledging the presence of our local MPP and Minister of Community Safety, Rick Bartolucci and his wife Maureen. Also with us this afternoon is former Mayor David Courtemanche, as well another former Mayor and a personal friend, Jim Gordon and his wife Donna. I am also pleased to welcome back my friend from the City of North Bay, Mayor Vic Fedeli and wife Patty.

Several of my fellow councilors are here today. Although the Mayor is often seen as the face of Council, I am just one voice amongst 13 and the success we have had has been a result of the willingness of all individual members to work as a team.

Also integral to our city’s accomplishments is our municipal staff, led by our new Chief Administrative Officer, Doug Nadorozny. These people provide dedicated, professional service to Council and to the citizens of Greater Sudbury and I am pleased to publicly thank them for their efforts.

Canada and Sudbury are Very Important to Vale – by Vale CEO Roger Agnelli

June 10, 2015July 21, 2010

The end of the strike that lasted nearly a year at Vale’s operations in Ontario, Canada, is very significant for our company, as we have overcome yet another challenge. Besides making our Canadian employees’ pension and variable pay regime more similar to the successful system already in place in other countries, the deal removes restrictions and interference in managing the company, thereby aligning our operational efficiency in Canada with our practices elsewhere.

“We are talking about returning management power to supervisors, for example, enabling them to do their work at the operational level in a more appropriate manner in order to achieve their objectives and ensure the safety of their team members, assuming responsibility for management and pursuing innovation,” said Vale’s CEO, Roger Agnelli, in an exclusive interview with Vale News (July 16, 2010). Read the full interview below.

“Canada is important for Vale and Vale is important for Canada. Our partnership is for the long term.” – Roger Agnelli

1) What are the main changes resulting from the approved collective agreement in Ontario?

The most important points that we agreed to are a defined contribution pension plan for new employees, variable pay based on performance and the removal of restrictions and interference in managing the company. In these three areas, we have simply aligned Sudbury and Port Colborne with the successful system that exists in other countries where we operate.

This issue about interference in management is very important, not only for me, as CEO, or for the executive director. We are talking about returning management power to supervisors, for example, enabling them to do their work at the operational level in a more appropriate manner in order to achieve their objectives and ensure the safety and efficiency of their team members. And we are also talking about further developing a meritocratic system. With this new variable pay plan, employees will be rewarded for the results they produce rather than just changes in the nickel price.

Ensuring Sudbury Mining History Doesn’t Repeat Itself – by Claude Gravelle

June 10, 2015July 20, 2010

Claude Gravelle is the Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt and the NDP’s Mining Critic. This column was published in the July 20, 2010 edition of Northern Life

Earlier this month, we all breathed a sigh of relief as USW members ratified a new five-year agreement with Vale.

These workers deserve to be commended for their efforts. Their families, friends and neighbours also deserve to be commended for supporting them throughout this very difficult time. Having visited the Steel Hall regularly, I can attest to the generosity of community members and business owners who made significant contributions to the workers’ food bank for almost a year.

However, many workers lost their vehicles, homes and savings. Some families even fell apart. We cannot understate the impact this strike has had on so many people. We all know small and independent businesses throughout Greater Sudbury that also paid a price for this strike.

As an Inco employee, I lived through the previous record-holding strike of 1978-1979. It’s hard not to feel that history repeats itself sometimes. But this shouldn’t stop us from trying to move forward in way that prevents such devastating events from happening again.

And while much has been said and written about this strike, more analysis and reflection is both welcome and necessary. We need to look at the conditions that led to the strike, and the conditions that contributed to its longevity.

The Vale Inco Stike of 2009-2010 Leaves a Bitter Legacy in Sudbury (16 Tons and What Do You Get?)- by Michael Atkins

June 10, 2015July 20, 2010

Michael Atkins is the president of Laurentian Media Group matkins@laurentianmedia.com This column was published in the July 20, 2010 edition of Northern Life

The column was originally titled “16 Tons and What Do You Get” but was changed for web searches.

“Sixteen Tons” is a song about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year. A 1955 version recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford reached number one in the Billboard charts, while another version by Frankie Laine was released only in the United Kingdom, where it gave Ford’s version some stiff competition. Travis claimed authorship of the song, but a competing claim was made by George S. Davis. (wiki)

Long strikes get forgotten everywhere except where they happen. Sometimes they get forgotten before they are over. The United Steelworker/Vale Inco fight to the finish this year had many twists and turns, some of them quite surprising. It will not soon be forgotten.

It became clear by mid-winter it was hopeless to try to introduce common sense. It was a strike over principal and neither party was prepared to give up their principal until they had won or had no choice.

It was an epic battle. To think that, after a year off work, and with tens of millions of dollars lost by the company, and the union suffering indignity after indignity (particularly the settlement of a sister union whose workers, in part, were doing the work of strikers), it took an eleventh-hour nudge (or was it an ultimatum) by the provincial Minister of Labour to get an agreement from both parties to refer their last issue (nine fired workers) to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for a decision.

Ontario Place Overhaul Golden Opportunity for Mining Sector’s Image – Stan Sudol

March 11, 2011July 16, 2010

Metal Men Comic Cover

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

Ontario Place, the provincial government’s Toronto lakeshore tourist attraction has put out a formal request for innovative ideas from the private sector to help overhaul the 39-year old park. http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/rfi/index.html

“There is significant social, cultural, and economic value in revitalizing Ontario Place,” states a provincial government news release. “It also presents opportunities to explore projects related to education, culture and the arts, recreational activities and Green Energy initiatives to showcase all that Ontario has to offer.”

Ontario Place opened in May 1971 and featured a five pod pavilion complex, an open air forum, pedal boats, a marina, restaurants and the world’s first permanent IMAX theatre, the Cinesphere. During the 1970s, Ontario Place routinely drew roughly 2.5 million visitors a year. In 2009, only about one million visited the facility.

Iron Man Comic Cover

In 1980 the provincial government constructed an ambitious display to specifically feature northern Ontario. The display was known as Ontario North Now and consisted of seven concrete silos linked by walkways on the western short of the park. I remember visiting that popular pavilion and realizing that it was a great opportunity to educate urbanites about the North’s wildlife, resource industries and their enormous contributions to the provincial economy and in our daily lives. Unfortunately, Ontario North Now was closed down many years ago.

Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese London Speech – Mining Issues, A Global View

July 9, 2010

This speech was given at the Melbourne Mining Club in London, United Kingdom on July 08, 2010. For more information on Rio Tinto, please go to www.riotinto.com

Introduction

Thank you for your kind introduction. It is a privilege to be addressing the Melbourne Mining Club here at Lord’s.

As an American, running a company with a strong presence in the two great cricketing nations of England and Australia, I hope you will forgive me for not daring to give you any personal insights into the complex game of cricket.

With a lexicon including terms such as ‘silly mid off’; ‘googly; ‘fine leg’; and ‘ball tampering’ – I think I’d better stick to the language of mining.

What I want to talk about this evening is a different kind of international contest, the face-off between challenge and opportunity in the global mining industry.

I will start in the present and touch on some of the topical issues of the day including the Mineral Resource Rent Tax. Then I’ll move beyond Rio Tinto’s solid Anglo Australian roots and look outwards to the wider world and the global economy; and then cover what a rapidly changing socio-economic landscape means for our industry.

National Post’s Diane Francis Highlights the Global Succes of Canada’s Mining Sector

July 8, 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.

Business commentator and author Diane Francis presented her views on mining as Canada’s hidden success story in her keynote address at a recent Ontario Mining Association conference. The National Post editor at large helped to kick off the OMA “The future of mining in Ontario: Is it golden?” conference June 14 in North Bay.

“Mining built Canada and mining still runs Canada,” said the Ms Francis, who has been a media fellow at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and at the Kennedy School of Government in the United States. “It should not be politically incorrect in Canada to support mining. We have nothing to be ashamed of. The only industry that is truly wealth creating is mining and in this country one in 10 First Nations people are employed in mining.”

“Mining is what Canada is all about and we in this country are riding a commodities rocket ship,” she said. “Four hundred million people are going to be born in the next decade providing a demographics of demand.”

Tentative Deal May End Year-Long Vale Strike With Sudbury Nickel Miners – by Marilyn Scales

June 10, 2015July 8, 2010

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.

Vale and the 3,000-plus striking members of Steelworkers Local 6500 have finally hammered out a deal that may end a 51-week-long strike in Sudbury, ON. Union members are voting today and tomorrow (July 7-8) on a new five-year contract, and observers are optimistic.

The strike fuelled strong rhetoric from both sides. There were charges of not negotiating in good faith. There were arguments over picket line protocol. There were allegations of strikers being injured on the picket line. There were calls for government ministers to intercede. Vale replaced strikers with other workers on its payroll so that partial production could resume. There were suspicions that the company was out to bust the union. Negotiations broke off for lengthy periods. Both parties took their complaints to the courts. It took a mediator to reach the new deal.

The cost to the community was great. With over 3,000 workers on the picket line, Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez was quoted as saying the city missed the spending power represented by a $4 million payroll for each week the strike continued.

Families broke up, homes were forfeit and a spike in suicides was reported.

Mining Supply Sector Huge in Sudbury and Northern Ontario – by Marilyn Scales

February 18, 2011July 1, 2010

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.

We in the mineral industry often speak of “direct jobs” generated at mines and mills and “indirect employment”, those jobs as suppliers, manufacturers and consultants that spring up to serve the needs of the industry. We know that for every person directly employed by the mining industry there are several others indirectly employed.

Those numbers and others aspects of mining’s importance have been pinned down in a new survey prepared for the Sudbury Area Mining Service and Supply Association (SAMSSA). The Northern Ontario Mining Supply and Services Study looks at about 500 separate firms and organizations in what might arguably be called the “heart” of the mining sector.

The study found approximately 23,000 people are employed in the supply sector. That is a more generous number than the Ontario Mining Association came up with. But the OMA estimate of 480 direct mine jobs and 2,280 supply and services jobs in the province sounds too low by a factor of 10. The difference is probably due to differing definitions of what is a “mine” job or an “indirect” job. Either way, keep the multiplier effect in mind.

The SAMSSA study put a value of $5.6 billion on the supply and services sector in Northern Ontario.

Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) Working to Increase Aboriginal Participation in Mining Sector – by Lindsay Forcellini

June 30, 2010

Lindsay Forcellini is the Marketing & Communications Coordinator for the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR)

Bridging the gap: Mining Essentials Program poised to increase capacity for Aboriginal employment in mining

The Assembly of First Nations and the Mining Industry Human Resources (MiHR) Council are developing Mining Essentials: A Work Readiness Training Program for Aboriginal Peoples to create more employment opportunities for Aboriginal peoples and to provide a practical solution to recruitment challenges currently facing mining employers.

Aboriginal peoples have a strong history and future role in Canada’s mining industry and many Aboriginal communities are located within close proximity of Canada’s mines and exploration sites. Mining Essentials will ensure Aboriginal peoples have the essential skills and work-readiness training needed to enter the mining industry, increasing their capacity for employment in one of Canada’s highest paying industrial sectors.

The Mining Essentials Program was conceptualized after MiHR’s 2009 needs-assessment revealed national interest in an essential skills program for the industry. This pre-employment mining training program is a potential entry point to MiHR’s Canadian Mining Credentials Program, with curriculum based on industry standards. The benefits of the program include consistency in learning outcomes, increased worker mobility and bridging the gap between career seeker skill levels and employer demand level for skills.

The Arrogance of Inco – by Val Ross (Originally Published in May 1979 – Part 4 of 4)

June 10, 2015June 30, 2010

“The Arrogance of Inco” was originally published as the cover story in the May, 1979 issue of Canadian Business. Reporter Val Ross, who died in 2008, spent two and a half months researching and writing this lengthy expose of the then Inco Limited. It has become a “classic must read” for anyone wishing to understand the often bitter history between Sudbury and the company that defined the Canadian mining industry.

4-Troubles in the Province of Ontario

Nineteen hundred and fifteen was a rather wet year in the Sudbury district. The sulphur dioxide fumes from the open-air roasting heaps hung in sickening mists and low clouds over the region. In increasing numbers the local farmers brought damage suits against the nickel producers, Mond and International Nickel. In desperation the nickel companies turned to the Ontario Ministry of Lands, Forests and Mines for protection. They begged the government to remember nickel’s contribution to the defence of the Empire (this was the year before the Deutschland’s two trips to pick up nickel supplies for Germany).

Charging opportunism, they protested, “Lands are being taken up and a pretence of farming made…in the hope and the expectation that the same may be damaged or appear to be damaged so that a claim against the company may be made.”

The Ontario government agreed with the nickel men’s interpretation of events and dealt with the “smoke farmers,” as Inco dubbed the victims, accordingly. Whole townships near Copper Cliff and Sudbury were withdrawn from sale to settlers. When the remaining lots changed hands, “smoke easement clauses” were written in which denied the buyers the right to sue mining companies. These clauses, reviewed in 1942 during another spate of farmers’ and residents’ complaints, have been retained. To this day, no owner of Sudbury real estate has the right to sue mining companies for property damage.

There were, and remain, variants on the sulphur dioxide pollution problems in the Sudbury area.

The Arrogance of Inco – by Val Ross (Originally Published in May 1979 – Part 3 of 4)

June 10, 2015June 30, 2010

3-Foreign Wars, Foreign Conquests

World War One boosted International Nickel up fortune’s wheel. The demands of World War Two and the Cold War arms race would put the company over the top – and heading down.

In the second half of the century Inco reaped the consequences of what it had sowed in the first the demand it had created for nickel ultimately exceeded its capacity to produce it – and left a vacuum for new producers to fill. Its booming good health attracted envy from customers, who might, had Inco been less arrogant, have felt more loyalty to the company when the chips were down; and it also attracted the critical attention of governments, consumer groups and environmentalists.

No one foresaw this, of course. The company’s chairman and president during World War Two, Robert Crooks Stanley, the man who’d spent four decades of his life convincing the world of nickel’s place in civilian life, made the necessary adjustments to war in a spirit of confident responsibility. “The first obligation of every corporation,” he noted serenely, “is to give the utmost support to his [sic] government in the prosecution of the war.” He plowed $38.5 million of the company’s money into boosting production by 20% and expanding the Huntington rolling mill facilities. Just as in World War One, the company nearly doubled its nickel output. But to do so it sacrificed costs, efficiency and profits, which dropped from $37 million in 1939 to $25 million in 1945.

Meanwhile, Stanley’s friend and fellow board member, John Foster Dulles, was creating a niche for himself in the postwar world. Dulles chaired the corporate heavyweight Committee for a Just and Durable Peace sponsored by the National Council of Churches of Christ in America; advised the American delegation at the United Nations conference, and made more and more friends with the Republican party establishment. It must have seemed to the board of directors that the company’s postwar position would surely be enhanced by friends with such political power.

They were wrong.