Republic of Mining

Map Staking Versus Ground Staking: An Enormous Threat to Ontario’s Mineral Prospectors – by Gregory Reynolds

December 9, 2010August 6, 2010

This column was originally published in the Autumn, 2009 issue of Highgrader Magazine which is committed to serve the interests of northerners by bringing the issues, concerns and culture of the north to the world through the writings and art of award-winning journalists as well as talented freelance artists, writers and photographers.

Gregory Reynolds is a Timmins, Canada-based columnist who writes extensively about mining and northern Ontario issues. He can be contacted at poker@ntl.sympatico.ca

The Vanishing Canadian may sound like the title for a suspense novel but it is really a realistic description of the fate of the prospector. It has been a career in twilight for many decades but a proposed change to the Ontario Mining Act will turn into a final nail in its coffin.

Canadian’s mining and mineral industries owe their existence to the men – and a few women – who abandoned the comforts of civilization for the hardships of life in the bush.

Home was a tent or a crude cabin with the isolation of living alone usually tempered only by the comfort of a dog.

Bears, mosquitoes, black flies and no see’ems were part of the wildlife that made the hunt for precious and base metals dangerous, not forgetting the distance from medical attention and even further travel to reach a hospital.

When the provincial legislature makes map staking legal in Ontario, there will no longer be a need for prospectors. Individuals and companies will be able to stake claims by looking at a map and informing – and paying – the government electronically.

“The elimination of ground staking is singly the biggest threat to the individual prospector and will result in
an extensive cull and possible extinction of the independent prospector throughout Ontario.”

The present system is called “ground staking” because a person holding an Ontario prospector’s licence is required to physically walk the boundary of a mining claim, marking trees and erecting four corner posts to which his claim tag and other information must be affixed.

After a claim has been staked and then explored, sometimes something of value is discovered. That sets off what is known as a “staking rush.”

OMA to Help Educate Teachers About Mining at Mattawa Seminar

August 5, 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 Ontario Mining Association is participating in a Teacher’s Mining Tour at the Canadian Ecology Centre near Mattawa. Thirty teachers will participate in the sold-out course, which is being run from August 9 to 13. The goal is to help educators learn more about the realities of modern, high tech, environmentally responsible mining in Ontario.

The Teacher’s Mining Tour is a professional development program for Ontario teachers and teachers in training. Teachers taking the course will be able to earn a component of their Environmental Science Additional Qualification through Nipissing University and the Ontario College of Teachers.

Lesley Hymers, OMA Environment and Education Specialist, will be representing the Association at the event. The themes for the conference include modern mining, environmental stewardship and sustainability, occupational health and safety and career opportunities within the industry.

The Liberal HST Tax Will Be Good For Northern Ontario Business – by David Robinson

April 5, 2015August 5, 2010

Dr. David Robinson drobinson@laurentian.ca is an economist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada. His column was originally published in July issue of Northern Ontario Business. 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.

I genuinely like politicians. The ones I know are all smart people with good people skills. Some of them even buy me lunch.

It bothers me when a politician I like pushes a policy that I know is dumb. I absolutely cringe when the provincial conservative leader Tim Hudak and provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath talk about the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).

As an economist, I know that the HST is a good idea. The Provincial Sales Tax (PST) is out of date, costly to operate, badly designed and it penalizes jobs in Ontario. The PST has all the virtues of a car engine with a ruptured head-gasket, a broken valve and cracked exhaust manifold. It might still run, but it is noisy, stinky and inefficient.

Let me be clear about this: the vast majority of economists support combining the federal and provincial sales taxes. We are so sure that a bunch of Canada’s most respected economists produced an open letter saying they “strongly support implementation of the HST,” because “it will promote investment, jobs, and higher wages.” One leading tax analyst showed harmonization in B.C. will create 113,000 new jobs by the end of the decade; Ontario is three times as big and has relatively more manufacturing.

The Future of Mining in Ontario: Is it golden? – by Chris Hodgson

August 5, 2010

Chris Hodgson is President of the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province. This column was provided by the OMA.

The Ontario Mining Association held a conference in June “The future of mining in Ontario: Is it golden?” in North Bay, which celebrated the Association’s 90th anniversary. There was the appropriate cake on hand and other touches to mark the occasion along with a commemorative plaque, which was presented by Mines Minister Michael Gravelle on behalf of Premier Dalton McGuinty.

This plaque reads “Since its founding in 1920, the OMA has excelled in representing the interests of companies engaged in the exploration, production and processing of our province’s mineral resources. As the voice for the mining industry in Ontario, the OMA plays a crucial role in securing the sector’s prosperity and competitiveness, while ensuring that Ontario’s mining potential is developed in a sustainable way.”

Perhaps after 90 years, it is time to reflect on how the industry has changed over those decades. After all, the OMA has been open for business longer than all national mining organizations except the Canadian Institute of Mining. In order to put things in a historical perspective, since 1920, Canada has had 15 different people serve as Prime Ministers while Ontario has had 17 different premiers and 32 different mines ministers.

When the OMA first hung out its shingle, Sir Robert Borden was Canada’s leader in Ottawa and Ernest Drury of the United Farmers of Ontario was running things at Queen’s Park. The list of people who have served as Chairmen of the OMA -and there have been 77 of them -reads like a Who’s Who of Canadian corporate history.

Nunavut’s Inuit and Agnico-Eagle Partner and Embrace Mining to Secure Their Futures – by Marilyn Scales

August 7, 2010August 5, 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 and visited Baker Lake, Nunavut to file this article.

A true partnership has been forged by Agnico-Eagle Mines and the Inuit of Baker Lake, Nunavut, one that treats the land with respect and provides a modern future for young members of the community. The elders have embraced Agnico’s vision of gold mining. They know mining will provide education, training and well-paying jobs for many years. And most importantly, they trust Agnico to be a responsible steward of their land.

The Meadowbank project offered many firsts for all involved. It is the first project Agnico has pursued in the Arctic. It is the first gold mine in Nunavut (and currently the only mine). It is the first to be developed on Inuit land. It is the first mine to be covered by a water compensation agreement, signed in April 2008 with the Kivalliq Inuit Association.

The Inuit elders have embraced Agnico’s vision of gold mining.
They know mining will provide education, training and well-paying jobs for many years.

Agnico gained control of the Meadowbank deposit when it purchased Cumberland Resources in 2007. Cumberland had great success exploring the deposit in the previous decade. A pre-feasibility report was completed in 2000 and updated five years later. The takeover of Cumberland cost $710 million, but it increased Agnico’s gold reserves by 23%.

The acquisition brought with it 10 Crown mining leases and three Nunavut Tunngavik exploration licences in the Kivalliq District, 70 km west of Baker Lake. Three deposits -Portage, Goose Island and Vault -dot the property along a 25-km-long trend. The gold deposits are of Archean age and hosted within volcanic and sedimentary rocks.

Vale Voisey’s Bay Workers Still On Strike – by Darren Cove, President, USW, Local 9508

June 10, 2015August 4, 2010

Originally published August 2, 2010

Last week, Newfoundland and Labrador – and scores of our working families – were saddled with a dubious Canadian distinction, the result of a foreign corporation’s aggressive and unprecedented anti-labour agenda.

The mining strike at Voisey’s Bay, provoked last summer by Brazil-based corporate giant Vale, entered its second year on Sunday, Aug. 1. The strike has become the longest-ever labour dispute in the century-long history of former Inco Ltd. mining operations in Canada.

Perhaps most disturbing is the fact this dispute is being prolonged by Vale’s second-class treatment of Newfoundland and Labrador workers compared to Vale employees elsewhere in Canada.

Our union, United Steelworkers Local 9508, has offered to settle the Voisey’s Bay strike by accepting the same deal Vale reached last month with its employees in Ontario. But Vale is attempting to dictate that workers in our province — including many aboriginal employees — accept a lesser contract, with inferior bonuses and benefits, compared to the Ontario settlement.

Sudbury DeLong Brothers – OMA Video Contest Winners – Listened To Their Mother

August 5, 2010August 4, 2010

View DeLong Brothers’ video

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. To view all the winners of the So You Think You Know Mining competition, please go to OMA 2010 Video Winners.

A parent’s journalistic interview for a magazine article about the inaugural Ontario Mining Association’s So You Think You Know Mining (SYTYKM) high school video competition in 2009 provided a spark for a Sudbury student who won the Best Overall Video prize in 2010. Adelle Larmour, a reporter with Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, produced an article on the genesis of the SYTYKM contest in the June 2009 edition of SMSJ.

“Inspired by famous Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan’s observation that the medium is the message, the OMA launched a video contest late last year to educate an unlikely audience about the mining industry,” said Ms. DeLong in the article, “Video contest introduces students to mining.” “The SYTYKM video contest was a way to reach high school students who are interested in video making, music, or script writing, but who may know very little about where the components of their computer come from or about the different mined resources that make up the materials for many of the fundamental tools used in daily living.”

She shared her enthusiasm for her article with her youngest son, David DeLong, a grade nine student at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School. David clearly took his Mother’s suggestion to enter SYTYKM and her encouragement to heart. He recruited the assistance of his elder brother Alan DeLong, a grade 12 student at St. Benedict, and work on the production Lego Mining began.

So You Think You Know Mining 2010 Winners Showcase Ontario High School Students’ Amazing Talent — Again

April 5, 2015August 3, 2010

View Katrina Malinski’s video

The winning videos in the Ontario Mining Association’s high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining (SYTYM) provide clear evidence that an abundance of creativity and artistic talent is possessed by teenagers. Go to the OMA website www.oma.on.ca and click on the SYTYKM panel, watch the 2010 award winning videos, which are now available for viewing and we are sure you will agree.

Along with all the winning entries, you can experience the flavour of the SYTYKM awards gala in a production by Amanda Ceniti, a runner up in the competition, from Georgetown District High School. The SYTYKM trophies were presented at an OMA conference held in North Bay. Ms. Ceniti’s production captures the bright lights, the inspiration of the winners, the upbeat music and buzz of the ceremony.

Congratulations to the SYTYKM 2010 winners. While individual names are attached to each award, most were team efforts involving one or more classmates and in some cases relatives. The Best Overall Video was captured by David DeLong from St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School in Sudbury, for his production Lego Mining.

June 2, 2005 Speech to the Empire Club by Peter Munk, Chairman, Barrick Gold Corporation – My Views On Globalization

August 3, 2010

The Empire Club of Canada, established in 1903, in Toronto is recognized as one of Canada’s oldest and largest speakers’ forums with a membership comprised of some of Canada’s most influential leaders from the professions, business, labour, education and government. Over its history it has been addressed by more than 3500 prominent Canadian and international leaders – men and women who have distinguished themselves in many fields of endeavour.

The Empire Club’s luncheon meetings attract audiences of 200 to 1,000 and usually take place on Thursdays at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel from September through June. Consult their events page for a detailed listing of this year’s events and links to their reservation forms. The addresses are broadcast on Rogers Television and many attract newspaper reports and editorial comment.

Peter Munk – June 2, 2005

Thank you Bart. For a moment I thought you were the speaker. It was quite an introduction. I was about to step up here and thank you.

I think it is appropriate for me to warn you that I’m a lengthy speaker. I have difficulty containing my comments. As a matter of fact, I just told Michael that before the wedding of my last daughter she asked me to keep my comments down to six or eight minutes. Being very nice she said: “Daddy, after all it is not your affair. It is not about you.” I said: “Gee, I thought it was because I am paying the bill.”

But that did not convince her so I said: “Darling, you know I have really got a problem with keeping my speeches short. I will not be hurt. I have three daughters. You are the last one to get married. I really will not be hurt if this time you skip me. You have a brother. You have got friends.”

“No, no, no Daddy, you must speak.” So I got onto the podium and I really tried to contain myself and I do want to tell you that 48 minutes later I was given a standing applause. So remember just because it’s long it is not lousy.

But on this occasion I was fortunate enough to be asked by both Michael from the Canadian Club and Bart from the Empire Club. I asked them how long they would like me to speak and they said 20 minutes. I thought 20 minutes each; that’s 40 minutes. I think I’ll be alright. I think Michael then said: “Well that’s alright with us too, but if you don’t mind all of us will be leaving at 2 o’clock. So I said: “I don’t mind either.” There will be no hard feelings if anyone of you decides to leave.

To get on to a more serious vein, I don’t quite know exactly how the title of this presentation was verbalized. I did want to speak about globalization. I think it is the topic of the day. I did want to make sure that my presentation to you is globalization from a highly personalized view. Globalization is a theory that is now throughout the world. It is possibly one of the most debated, most discussed and most thought–about subjects currently in existence.

Mining Projects and Aboriginal Communities – Respect and Consultation Must be Part of the Environmental Process – by David Hill

August 3, 2010

This commentary is from the digital version of the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

David Hill is director and senior advisor of GMG Consulting Services. Reach him at david@gmgconsulting.ca. He has over 18 years of experience as a manager, senior policy advisor, project manager, program developer, communications coordinator and issues management advisor to the provincial government, Aboriginal communities and organizations, and private sector clients across British Columbia. He is a highly skilled and experienced facilitator, trainer, supervisor, planner, public speaker and writer and has professional training in project management and public speaking.

In addition to his direct experience with Aboriginal communities, Hill has also worked as a senior advisor and manager for Aboriginal relations for the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, during which time he facilitated engagement between Aboriginal communities and the mining and petroleum development industries, and negotiated consultation, accommodation and benefit sharing agreements between Aboriginal communities and the provincial government.

Commentary

Recently I heard Mike Kaplan, president and CEO of Aspen Skiing Co. in Colorado, say “Progressive companies aren’t thinking in terms of ‘or’, but of ‘and’: short-term financial performance and long-term growth, being environmentally and socially sound, and fiscally successful.”

Kaplan’s idea reminded me of the current controversy surrounding the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA)’s deliberation over the fate of the Prosperity mine, a multi-billion dollar project proposed by Taseko Mines. The most controversial aspect of the project is the destruction of Teztan Biny, more commonly known as Fish Lake, which includes a significant rainbow trout habitat, and which is considered sacred by the Tsilquot’in people. The BC environmental assessment (EA) office approved Taseko’s application, and the BC government hopes the CEAA will rubber stamp the project as well.

Perhaps not surprising, the Tsilquot’in Nation are among the loudest opponents of the project as it’s being proposed. The Tsilquot’in have expressed significant concerns over the long-term effects of the project on the environment, and the resulting infringement on their inherent rights, and feel they have been shut out of the review process so far.

February 29, 1912 Speech to the Empire Club by Professor Arthur P. Coleman, University of Toronto – Ontario Mines and Miners

July 28, 2010

Ontario Mines and Miners (February 29, 1912)

Mr. President and Gentlemen,

Probably some of you are not quite familiar with the fact that Ontario has been a mining country for a very long time. Nearly 100 years ago, in 1815, a little iron mine was worked on the north shore of Lake Erie, of all places in the world, and a certain amount of iron was smelted, about a ton a day. It was poured right into moulds to make potash kettles and stoves, for which there was good sale. This was quite a prosperous mining industry for a time, but there were ups and downs, and in two or three years the industry disappeared, and now one cannot even find the ruins of the old smelter.

Then came copper mining, about half way through the century, begun by two English companies on the north shore of Lake Huron at Bruce Mines. They have been revived once in awhile in later times, but have not amounted to much since those early days when they were prosperous.

Then came the turn for gold. The present generation thinks there never was any gold mining before Porcupine was discovered; but gold was found in earlier years over many parts of northern Ontario, and you can scarcely go fifty miles through the whole width of the province without seeing abandoned gold mines. Gold was first struck in 1856 in the township of Madoc and one or two adjoining townships.

Diamonds and Gold – A Common Past, Present and Future – by By Paul Stothart

November 5, 2015July 27, 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. www.mining.ca

With due respect to cobalt and coal, it is fair to state that diamonds and gold are the world’s two most prestigious minerals. They are the minerals that hold the deepest emotional meaning among consumers, with traditional and cultural ties to commitment, union, luck, love and marriage. They are also the minerals that are most indicative of personal wealth, affluence, sophistication and social status. These two minerals and the corresponding industries have long shared a number of similarities in terms of the surrounding market-drivers, price mark-ups and social pressures.

For example, the fundamental driver of the global market in both gold and diamonds is jewelry. According to the World Gold Council, fully 68% of the world’s demand for gold over the past five years was for use in jewelry. While the delineation is less exact in diamonds, it is estimated that gem-quality diamonds used in jewelry account for over 80% of the value of the world diamond market.

A second point, and the converse from the above, is to note that the industrial application market for diamonds and gold is relatively modest in size. Only 14% of world gold demand stems from industrial uses (while the remaining 18% is for investment purposes). While there are important industrial uses in dental, electronics, medical and environmental fields, and growing potential in nanotechnology, these industrial uses for gold face the challenge of being commercially feasible at raw material price points that are currently well north of $1000 per ounce.

Vale Still Bitter Over Year-Long Sudbury Mining Strike – by John Fera

June 10, 2015July 26, 2010

John Fera is the president of United Steelworkers Local 6500. He is retiring on August 1, 2010.

While United Steelworkers in Sudbury and Port Colborne are returning to work, it will take considerable time for many in our communities to overcome the pain and hardship of the year-long strike against Vale.

Indeed, over the last couple of weeks there has been consensus from all corners that it is essential for Vale to build respectful and productive relationships with its Canadian workers and their communities.

In this light, it is profoundly disappointing to see Vale’s top executives going out of their way to make public statements that show no interest in fostering trust, goodwill and respect with workers.

Vale’s CEO Roger Agnelli claims the strike was so prolonged because “the United Steelworkers has a long record of conflicts and strikes.” Well, I’m sorry Mr. Agnelli but the USW has been representing the miners in these communities for generations and in Vale’s first negotiations it has managed to extend their strike to more that 100 days longer than the longest ever strike at Inco.

Contracts for good wages, pensions and benefits typically have resulted from hard-nosed negotiations, short strikes and goodwill, until this unprecedented aggressive Vale approach.

A History of the Canadian Shield – Canada’s Mineral Treasure Trove – David Kilgour (Part 2 of 2)

March 10, 2016July 23, 2010

The Honourable David Kilgour P.C., is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Edmonton Southeast. http://www.david-kilgour.com/mp/house.htm

North of the Fiftieth Parallel

In addition to its northeast and northwest, Ontario also has another north, the one beyond the fiftieth parallel where boreal forests become tundra. Sioux Lookout, Moosonee and Red Lake/Balmertown are its major cities; places like Pickle Lake and Ear Falls are its “towns.” Most of its approximately 30,000 residents live in isolated communities, accessible mostly by bush planes.

Culturally, the various Ontario Norths differ both from each other and from the southern part of the province. Many non-British newcomers reached parts of northern Ontario and Prairie Canada in roughly equal numbers and at about the same time. Today, despite the passage of three generations, multiculturalism has triumphed in numerous northern communities.

Francophones are found everywhere in northern Ontario, although most numerous in the northeast, and today command reasonable access to francophone education, radio and health services in a number of census districts. A second major group is the aboriginal peoples who predominate “north of fifty” either as status Indians, with treaty rights, as non-status Indians, or as Métis. Ojibway is spoken in the south; Ojibway and Cree in the centre; Cree only in the north. Band councils and Band chiefs are the municipal governments of these peoples. It troubles small native communities who live from fishing and hunting that their band chairmen are not yet recognized by Queen’s Park and Ottawa as they are by other Indians.

The living conditions of Ontario aboriginals tend to vary with the situation of the neighbouring white centres. The Fort William band members near Thunder Bay live quite well; conditions for people living near less prosperous centres are often outrageous. Native communities in some remote reserves compare unfavourably with settlements in developing world nations. Virtually nowhere today do hunting, fishing, trapping, and wild rice harvesting provide decent livings. High school and junior education is generally inadequate for young persons choosing either to remain in the north or to seek future-oriented jobs in the south.

A History of the Canadian Shield – Canada’s Mineral Treasure Trove – David Kilgour (Part 1 of 2)

October 17, 2014July 23, 2010

The Honourable David Kilgour P.C., is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Edmonton Southeast. http://www.david-kilgour.com/mp/house.htm

The Canadian Shield is, to most Canadians and foreigners alike, the quintessential Canada. I share this view having lived in the Gatineau Park spur of it for more than a decade and having often vacationed at Lake of the Woods for many more years. In countless ways, the Shield is idyllic. I think, for example, of the hundreds of motor boats which gather each July 1st in Kenora Bay at the north end of Lake of the Woods to watch Canada Day fireworks. Mingled with townspeople at these annual events under the stars are summer residents from all over the country. Many would move to the area to live year round if they could somehow earn a living; some do.

Approximately two million Québeckers and Ontarians combined live on the Canadian Shield. Since its borders are physical rather than political, residents on both sides of the provincial boundary lack effective structures through which they can pursue common regional concerns. The north of both provinces contains relatively thinly-populated frontier hinterlands; for many years, each of them has had only a limited influence on its respective provincial parliament and upon Ottawa policy makers.

The Shield in fact occupies more than forty per cent of our national territory across five provinces, but contains only eight per cent of our national population. In recent years, vigorous natural resource competition from developing countries, a declining resource-orientation of the world economy, and the weakened political position of the American economy have reduced mineral exploration and development across the region. Decades ago, it also contributed to the development of our national self-identity through the art of the Group of Seven and considerable writing about Northern self-reliance.

John Diefenbaker’s view that our national future lay in harnessing the distant North was popular in its day.