Republic of Mining

Xstrata Nickel Wins Provincial Mine Rescue Competition

August 7, 2008July 17, 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.

Xstrata Nickel´s Fraser/Thayer Lindsley mine rescue team captured the top prize in the 2008 competition, which was held in Sudbury. Let´s applaud all team members in earning the coveted gold helmets as overall competition winners. This team earned first place overall as well as in the team firefighting and team first aid categories. The competition was held in Onaping at the NORCAT Training Centre, which is the former Fecunis Mine.

“Congratulations to the members of the Fraser/Thayer Lindsley team. They were outstanding representatives of both Xstrata Nickel and the Sudbury District with their performance,” said Mike Romaniuk, Vice President of Sudbury Operations for Xstrata Nickel. “This is a clear demonstration of the quality of our mine rescue program and the commitment of all employees to ensuring the health and safety of our workers.”

The Forgotten Northern Ontario Workers During the Great Depression – Michael Barnes

April 5, 2015July 16, 2008

The economy isn’t exactly bouncing along these days but not much more than sixty years ago,it was down right flat. This was the time of the Great Depression, the lost years, when production in many industries in Canada and around the world came almost to a standstill.

There were few social umbrellas then. Help for the unemployed had to come from financial strapped communities and also the generosity of those who had a job.

By and large the unemployed wanted to work and would take anything they could get rather than go on relief. This spurred the Province of Ontario to use its strained resources to salvage something from the funds expended on public assistance.

Between 1929 and 1932, overall employment fell by 32% in the province.

Guide Book Issued for 1939 Royal Tour Includes Northern Ontario Sites – Gary Peck

May 4, 2015July 16, 2008

Today when many travel often, it is with an array of brochures outlining the points of interest one should note during the trip. Certainly, this is not a new phenomenon. In 1939, Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth traveled across Canada. For the use of the Royal visitors, their entourage and others, Canada’s two transcontinental railways compiled a guide book. Extracts from the account are of interest for a variety of reasons including the way in which sites along the route were described.

On May 23, it was anticipated the train would pass “through a land of great rock hills and tall pines, the railway wanders through deep cuts on its approach to Romford, seven miles east of Sudbury, on the main transcontinental line, and the train, on arrival at Sudbury, has traversed one of the finest sporting regions of Canada”. Suffice to say, the sporting regions described in glowing terms were, among others. Parry Sound, Point au Baril and French River.

Honourable Sandra Pupatello – Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade – OMA Conference Speech in Windsor, Ontario

July 27, 2008July 15, 2008

Good evening everyone. I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Windsor Salt Mine and your round at the Canadian Salt Golf Challenge. Mining and golf, now there’s a tourism package in the making!

The mining industry is very important to Ontario’s prosperity. Our province is a major global player in mining and has produced $300 billion in metals over the last century. In 2007 alone, the value of mineral production in Ontario exceeded $10-billion.

Exploration spending this year is expected to exceed $600-million. Over 1,000 companies employ more than 22,000 skilled people in this province. Hundreds of Ontario companies supply the industry with everything from contract mining services to custom equipment design.

The expertise supplied by people in the Ontario mining industry supports economic growth across the province, throughout Canada and around the world.

Honourable Sandra Pupatello – Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade – An Introduction

July 15, 2008

Sandra Pupatello was elected to the Ontario legislature in 1995, and re-elected in 1999, 2003 and 2007. Pupatello has served as Minister of Economic Development and Trade since 2006. She previously served as Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues. Under Pupatello’s leadership in education, school infrastructure …

Ontario Mine Reclamation Symposium: A Green Mining Success

August 7, 2008July 7, 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.

The success of the inaugural Ontario Mine Reclamation Symposium has cleared the path to make the workshop an annual event. Close to 60 people representing a number of companies and organizations participated in this event, which was held in Kirkland Lake June 24 and 25. This environmental event designed to share best practices and new technologies in mine reclamation was organized by the Ontario Mining Association in partnership with the Canadian Land Reclamation Association and Northgate Minerals.

One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation of the inaugural Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Award, which was won by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines for its work on the Kam Kotia property in Timmins. Though this honour was first presented at the OMA´s “Demographics, Global Markets and the Future Workforce” conference in Windsor, it was re-presented to Dick Cowan, who is retired from MNDM and who was heavily involved in mine rehabilitation in general and the Kam Kotia property in particular.

Housing Came with the Job in Northern Ontario Mining Communites – Michael Barnes

April 5, 2015July 4, 2008

In earlier years in the teaching game in Ontario, school boards were able to secure teachers because they were offered accommodation at either free or a cheap rate as part of the deal.

One young teacher had a house in an isolated community in 1956 for $30 a month. Now mind you it was not worth that much because it was cold, leaned in the wind and had no amenities, but at least the place to live was an incentive to take the job.

Big mining companies like Falconbridge and Inco in Sudbury offered their educators most pleasant living quarters. Many of these were for single men and women and were known as teacherages. Actually there were places for other employees as well but none had a job specific name like those for teachers.

The mines in the smaller camps provided homes for many workers.

Copper Cliff Courier at Century Dawn Described Community Enthusiastically – Gary Peck

May 4, 2015July 4, 2008

At the turn of the century, residents of Sudbury could turn to one newspaper for local news. The Sudbury Journal, under James A. Orr, had published continuously since 1891. Over the years competition had appeared in the form of The Star and the Sudbury News, yet neither was still operating by 1900. However, the monopoly was to be challenged in 1902 from afar – namely Copper Cliff.

On a Saturday in early March, 1902, the Copper Cliff Courier made its initial appearance. At the time it was described by the Journal as being “a seat five-column of quarto, well-printed”. It contained a “good list of advertisements” and proposed to be independent in politics. The Courier, published and edited by J.T. Pratt and sold for $1.00 a year, had its office on Main Street, Copper Cliff.

Few copies of the Courier appear to have been saved with a special 1903 issue being the one that appears most frequently. In that particular issue can be found community news with the new smelter of the Canadian Copper Company being a major feature.

Hockey and Mining Rivalry Between Cobalt and Haileybury – Michael Barns

July 16, 2017July 3, 2008

Every Canadian knows something of the NHL. The National Hockey League dominates Canadian sports culture. But few likely know of the National Hockey Association, the forerunner of the now famous league.

Teams in this genesis of the NHL included the Renfrew Millionaires, so called because after all their biggest sponsor, M.J.O’Brien, was a millionaire many times over, the Montreal Wanderers and a team that has made a comeback in recent years, the Ottawa Senators.

In the heyday of Cobalt when the town was rich and booming, all the mines had their own hockey teams. Both Haileybury and Cobalt had teams in the National Hockey Association and had no trouble finding corporate sponsors among the many big firms represented in both towns.

The silver town had a real Stanley Cup contender. This was the Cobalt Silver Kings. Although the players gave their all on the ice in association play, the fiercest battles were reserved for games with the Haileybury squad.

Sudbury Soils Study 2008 – Commentary by Rick Grylls – President of Mine Mill 598/CAW

May 15, 2010July 3, 2008

As a citizen of the area since 1952 and an employee of mining since 1969, I have experienced the changes of time here in Sudbury.

The changes have come only by the blood, sweat and tears of a community that endured the most destructive carnage of lost lives in the mines, mills, smelters and refinery, all the while living surrounded by an environment of a dead and bleak landscape from years of hideous industrial pollution.

I have been on the front lines of representation of the employees since 1973, as a Steward, Health and Safety member, Executive Board member and the last seven years as the senior officer, the President of Mine Mill 598/CAW.

The changes within the workplace and within the community have always been opposed by the companies as too expensive or not needed. The re-greening of Sudbury, the safety standards within the industry, and the betterment of our community has always had an allied relationship with workers collective strength of their union.

I have a front seat within our community and in using material from the Sudbury Soil Study and other sources, I have prepared this statement. It is not easy to put into a few words the context or my conclusion of the study, which can be found at www.sudburysoilstudy.com.

Read more

Planning For the End of the Mine, Right From the Beginning by Paul Hollesen – AngloGold Ashanti

May 15, 2010July 2, 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.

Planning for mine closure should be a core part of the business, involving local communities and other stakeholders. AngloGold Ashanti’s Paul Hollesen introduces a new ICMM guide on the topic and makes the case for a more integrated approach.

Paul Hollesen

ICMM’s soon-to-be published Planning for Integrated Mine Closure offers valuable guidance for a key challenge in the mining sector: closing a mine in a sustainable manner. After all, what happens at a site after it is closed is what ultimately defines its long-term environmental impact and a significant part of its contribution to an area’s social, economic and institutional development.

One catalyst for the new guide was the 2002 report of the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project. This noted that “the planning and development of any mining project needs to be aimed at creating durable benefits on a number of scales” and that the social and economic dimensions of closure planning frequently receive insufficient attention.

Further Improvement Required

In 2006 ICMM conducted a survey of the status of integrated mine closure planning within the industry. This study found numerous examples of leading practices but also a number of areas that required further improvement. It was clear that more consistent implementation of good practices is required throughout the mining sector and the guide is designed to support this goal.

Cobalt: A Mine was Something to Fall Back On for MJ – Michael Barnes

April 5, 2015July 1, 2008

Most people have never heard of M J O’Brien- not in the north anyway. He died in Renfrew in 1940 and was one of Canada’s richest men. But in 1903 he made a deal at the King Edward hotel in Toronto which made him more money and created much work in the silver town of Cobalt.

O’Brien was born in the Ottawa Valley in 1851. He started off as a water boy on big construction projects and ended up owning countless big companies. He made his money through careful research and driving hard bargains. His real money came from railways and lumbering.

In 1903 the heavy set, black bearded magnate from Renfrew heeded some advice from his friend, Robert Borden, then leader of the Opposition in Pariament. Borden put him onto a lawyer who who had some business ideas.

Labour Shortages in the Mineral Sector According to Demographer David Foot

August 7, 2008June 30, 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.

Renowned demographer David Foot, author of the best selling book Boom, Bust & Echo, provided miners with some guidance in building their workforces of the future. He made a lengthy interactive presentation on “Profiting from the Demographic Shift in the 21st Century” at the Ontario Mining Association conference “Demographics, Global Markets and the Future Workforce” held in Windsor last week. On the national level, mining is looking for an estimated 92,000 new employees over the next decade.

Mr. Foot, who is a professor of economics at the University of Toronto, is a demographer who has gained celebrity status. He has changed the way people think about population trends. His presentation helped the mineral audience better understand the impact change and population growth will have on their industry, their company and their organizations.

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.