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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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Regulating Aboriginal and Industry Relationships in Canada – 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.

At this year’s Learning Together conference in Vancouver, one of the presenters spoke of the increasing need for junior exploration and mining companies to build and strengthen solid relationships with regional Aboriginal communities. He referenced a recent taking place in the Ring of Fire. Due to poorly managed relationship building, exploration was halted during a recent blockade by the First Nation communities of Webequie and Marten Falls, and the flow of funding to these projects was stifled.

He went on to say that Bay Street is finally starting to realize the importance for companies to nurture strong Aboriginal alliances and partnerships. Another of our presenters, Learning Together Director Jack Blacksmith, focused on community engagement and social corporate responsibility. In short, these topics have never been more relevant.

The inflamatory and strained relationship between industry and Aboriginal communities might prompt government intervention. Governments will attempt to implement what they would see as a measured approach for relationship building, but the impacts of this could be detrimental for both Aboriginal communities and industry. Bill C-300, for example, currently making the rounds in parliament, has a lot of merit on the surface. However, when you stop and think about the thousands of other cases in which the relationships between communities and industry have been phenomenal, this new regulation might create unnecessary complications. Otherwise amicable relationships could be strained by giving more power to the naysayer.

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Sudbury FNX and Vancouver Quadra Merger to Open Global Projects to Northern Firms – by Nick Stewart

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

Copper production the focus of new company

Northern Ontario mining suppliers may be able to tap into global mining projects, including a $2-billion mine construction project in Chile, as a result of the recently announced merger between Sudbury miner FNX Mining Company Inc. and Vancouver-based Quadra Mining Inc.

“As part of the integration of the two companies, we’ll look at our purchasing systems and resource material and use our larger orders and larger demands in order to both save money and rationalize how we deal,” says Dave Constable, vice-president of investor relations with FNX.

“So I definitely think there will be opportunities for Sudbury suppliers, because they are global and already do supply to Chile. The new company will rationalize the purchasing systems and make opportunities available to suppliers for both companies to be competitive and bid on those things.”

Announced in late March, the merger of equals will create intermediate copper producer Quadra FNX, amalgamating FNX’s projects in the Sudbury Basin with Quadra’s projects in Nevada, Arizona and twin mining projects in Chile.

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A Brief History of Unions in Sudbury – C. Anderson (August 1970)

Please note that this is a very short version of the union history in Sudbury. The subject of the Steelworker union raids on Mine Mill has only been briefly touched upon in this account and issues like the RCMP surveillance of union leadership were not know in 1970. Furthermore the Catholic Church consistently worked against the Mine Mill union due to communist influence – a significant issue in one of the largest Catholic cities outside of Quebec – and played a major role in the ultimate victory of the Steelworkers. – Stan Sudol

The Western Federation of Miners (WFM), Local 182 was formed at Garson Mine, operated by the Mond Nickel Company on March 9, 1913, but it was dissolved within one year. WFM, Local 183 was organized in Sudbury on April 18, 1913 and it managed to remain in existence until 1916.

WFM changed title to International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. In 1919, Local 116 was formed at Coniston but it disappeared by 1920. Mine Workers Union of Canada attempted to organize Sudbury miners in 1933, but had dissolved by 1934. The name of E. Makela as secretary of the Sudbury local shows the support given to the left-wing movements by a section of the Finnish community in Sudbury.

In 1936, George W. “Scotty” Anderson, an organizer for Mine, Mill, came to Sudbury. In March, Local 239 was chartered and by May had 150 members. Mine Mill was now publishing “Union News”, a monthly information bulletin for the Northern Ontario locals.

Local 278 was chartered for the Falconbridge workers in July, 1937, but by the next6 year it had been dissolved. Local 239 dissolved in 1939, unable to maintain a paid-up membership of ten.

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Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Should Matter to Mining Industry – by Juan Carlos Reyes

Juan Carlos Reyes - Lead Consultant Efficiency.caJuan 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 February 16, 2010.
 
Canada needs to do more to protect the traditional lands that hold important cultural value for Aboriginal people. The potentially negative natural, social and economic impacts of any proposed project on areas surrounding traditional lands are usually only analyzed at the Environmental Assessment (EA) stage. Moreover, in most cases, EAs never go far enough in addressing permanent impacts on Aboriginal societies and traditional knowledge. Consequently, development is often permitted in areas far too sensitive to handle it, creating a negative view of specific projects and the industry as a whole.

What role should the government play in protecting traditional land? It should assume responsibility for identifying potential risks and maintaining traditional lands in their pristine state. Protecting these sites, even from regional Aboriginal power struggles and internal political discord, is critical, especially because the short-term financial benefits of mining are occasionally seen as a license to abandon long-term planning.
 
The struggle for long-term views in environmental planning is not uniquely Canadian. An issue faced by indigenous populations around the world, it was a key theme highlighted by the distinguished Canadian anthropologist Wade Davis in his CBC Massey Lecture entitled, “The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World.” His insightful and inspiring views are paraphrased below.
 

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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 3 – A Change of Heart

The months that followed John’s first day of work formed a period in his life he could not have anticipated, yet it was one he chose consciously, despite the odds stacked against him. 

A good-natured, easy-going guy who always wore a smile on his face, John worked alone with his thoughts and the cacophony of machinery around him. The work was the same and the environment remained a nickel oxide dust-ridden death trap, particularly for those who chose not to wear their masks.

Sleepless nights began to take their toll as he continued to shovel the nickel oxide onto the conveyor along with some of the other fellows with whom he started. He would yawn and then automatically check his mask to make sure it was snug. As one of the few who wore breathing protection, he struggled to understand why more didn’t worry about the dose of nickel oxide ingested daily into their lungs.

None of it made sense, because it all seemed so obvious. Clearly something wasn’t adding up. Even the foremen who’d been there for many years were blinded to the inevitable. And then there were the guys who smoked on their breaks. Nothing like adding fuel to the hot burning flames.

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Killing the Goose that Lays the Mineral Sector’s Golden Eggs – The Industry’s Bad Reputation – by Jean-Francois Minardi

Jean-Francois Minardi is a senior policy analyst with the Fraser Institute, www.FraserInsitute.org.

The mining industry is under attack everywhere in Canada, even in the country’s friendliest location, Quebec.

Gone are the days when activists offered constructive criticism that allowed the industry to improve its corporate social responsibility profile and improve environmental standards in mining projects. Today anti-mining activists advocate one thing: an outright destruction of the mining industry.

Nowhere is this attitude more prevalent than in a recent report from the Institute for Research and Socio-Economic Information (IRIS), an organization whose self-described purpose is “to provide an opposite point of view to the neoliberal view,” that suggested nothing less than an end to mining in Quebec. Their simplistic argument can be summed up as, “the economic, social and environmental costs of the mining industry seem to outweigh the benefits, and the economic prospects of the sector in the coming years are not promising.”

Yet, according to the mining associations of Quebec – the Association minière du Québec and the Association de l’exploration minière du Québec – the IRIS study is riddled with factual errors that undermine its conclusions.

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