MINE SAFETY

Thank you Tim, it’s a pleasure to be here.

Ladies and gentlemen . . .

I am happy to report that the mining industry is alive and well in British Columbia, and in for the long run.

I am very happy to report that the industry is pretty much thriving here in British Columbia.  Recently during Mining Week, we celebrated 150 years of mining in B.C. since we showed up but First Nations have made it very clear to me that they were mining a number of quantities for thousands of years before European contact. So I try to make sure to mention that each time I am talking about our century-and-a-half of experience in the industry. 

B.C. MINING SUCCES STORY

We call it the B.C. Mining Success Story, and it’s a story that I am certain that everyone here this morning is familiar with.
In conjunction with Mining Week . . .  the Mining Association of British Columbia released the 40th annual PricewaterhouseCoopers report card on the state of the industry and it tabulated the results of forty mining companies that responded.

The report found that mining in B.C. is a $6.9 billion industry . . .

that 2007 was another excellent year for the B.C. mining industry . . .

gross revenues remain very strong, even though they were reduced somewhat by coal prices which bumped along around $80 dollars a tonne average. They have been better in 2006 and volumes were slightly down as well but present day companies are signing contracts for $300 dollars a tonne and it is looking like 2008 will be a banner year.

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Kevin Krueger was appointed Minister of State for Mining on February 7, 2007.

Kevin was re-elected as MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson in 2005 after being elected in 1996 and re-elected in 2001. He was named as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier responsible for Rural Development in the fall of 2006. Kevin is also a member of the Government Caucus Committee on Natural Resources and Economy, where he previously served as Chair.

While in Opposition, Kevin served as the Critic for Labour. Kevin served as the Caucus Whip as well as a member of the Select Standing Committee on Education. Kevin was named to the Legislative Standing Committees for Committee of Selection and the Special Committee for the Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform. He was also a member of the Legislative Assembly Management Committee. He previously was a member of the Small Scale Salvage Committee.

Before becoming an MLA, Kevin worked with the Insurance Corporation of BC for 20 years, and at the time of his departure was a road safety regional manager.

His community work includes the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, Kamloops Community Counterattack Committee, Rotary Club past-president, co-ordinator with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and secretary of the Protocol Committee for the 1993 Canada Summer Games. He arranged the twinning of the Rotary Clubs of Kamloops and Uji, Japan. He is a former board member, executive councillor and shop steward of the Office and Technical Employees Union, Local 378. He was a director of the Prince George and District Credit Union.

Kevin and his wife, Debbie, a school teacher, have six children, including a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, and a soon-to-be daughter-in-law. They are the proud grandparents of six grandchildren.

Madame Chairperson, fellow Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen.
 
I want to thank you all for coming this afternoon and I want to thank the Chamber for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today.  I want to also express my appreciation to George Revie and his team at Persona Communications, who are here today to tape this event for broadcast this Thursday evening.  As you know, Persona also broadcasts City Council meetings, and their efforts make it easier for citizens to understand our city and how it operates.
 
As I stand here today, I am mindful of the fact that I am blessed to be Mayor of this wonderful city, and doubly blessed to be Mayor at such an exciting time in the history of our community, our country, and our world.
  
Ten days ago, we celebrated a birthday to mark the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the community we now know as Greater Sudbury.  It was a tremendous event!

I reflected that day upon how far we have come as a community and what a debt we owe to our forbearers.  In our community’s history, thirty-three men – and one woman – have served as Mayor of Sudbury or Greater Sudbury, and many, many more have served as mayor or reeve of our constituent municipalities.  

Our 125 year relationship with this land is but a blip in the history of our aboriginal cousins.  It is important that we acknowledge the strong relationships we have with our aboriginal community and the strong ties we all share with the land we live on.  Aboriginal peoples are the fastest growing segment of our community and it is fitting that one of the signature events in this anniversary year was the first ever Northern Aboriginal Festival.  I congratulate the organizers and our partners at Laurentian University and Cambrian College.

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The trillion-dollar Sudbury Basin is the richest mining district in North America and among the top ten most strategically important in the world. Sudbury is located in the Canadian province of Ontario, whose annual 10.5 billion dollar mineral sector is the largest in the country. About half of Ontario’s mining activity takes place in the Sudbury Basin.

In 2008, Sudbury is celebrating its 125th anniversary. For over a hundred years, the courageous and innovative men and women of this community have successfully produced the nickel, copper, PGMs and other metals that the modern industrialized world needed. Most industry experts will feel there is at least another 100 years of production in this amazing mining camp.

Mayor John Rodriguez considers himself to be a man of the people. 

John was born in Guyana, South America, where he received his elementary and high school education.  John emigrated to Canada in 1956 and attended Teachers’ College in Toronto and began his teaching career in St. Catharines, Ontario.  He and his wife, Bertilla, moved to Coniston in 1962 where John was appointed Principal of St. Paul School.   John graduated from Laurentian University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Spanish Literature.  During this time, he was also active with the Provincial Catholic Teachers’ Union having served as its President in 1968, and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation.

John was elected to the House of Commons as NDP MP for Nickel Belt in October of  1972 and was re-elected in 1974, 1979, 1984 and 1988.  John was an active MP both in and out of the House of Commons where he served on many committees over his 18 year career.

John entered the realm of municipal politics when he was elected to the Coniston Town Council in 1971 before it became part of Nickel Centre.  John’s second foray into local politics came in November 2006 when he was elected Mayor of Greater Sudbury.  He came into office with the belief that our municipal staff are our city’s greatest asset.  Now, after spending time with hundreds of employees at their workplaces, his belief has become a conviction.   To acknowledge the importance of our staff’s contribution, Council has designated 2007 as the ‘Year of the Employee”.

As part of Mayor Rodriguez’s Inaugural Address, he committed to and has established four advisory panels in his first 100 days of office.  These panels include:  Municipal Mining Revenues, Performing Arts Centre, Health Cluster and Multi-Sport Recreational Complex.
       
John and his wife, Bertilla, have five sons and five grand children.  In his leisure time he enjoys reading, gardening and horses and is a patron of the local arts.

John feels privileged to represent the citizens of Greater Sudbury as their Mayor.  He is proud of this community and looks forward to an unprecedented period of growth and vitality.

With the First World War, in Canada there was considerable agitation over what was coined the “Nickel Question.” One of the problems that arose pertained to the refining of nickel in Canada. For some, it may have been regretted that our nickel industry was controlled by foreigners. However, for a variety of reasons, it was argued that the refining at least should occur in Canada.

By the outbreak of The War, the necessity of nickel for modern warfare was established. Nickel was necessary for automobile parts, cartridge cases, bullet coverings, heavy ordnance, rifle barrels and armour-plate. Of course, its value was recognized by all of the then major powers. Canada had the new materials that in 1890, were mined by two foreign-owned companies. Yet, if the refining continued outside Canada, this country and the province of Ontario had no control over the ultimate destination of “the product”.  For some, this was not satisfactory.

Evidence suggests that on numerous occasions federal and provincial governments had examined and indeed promoted the refining of nickel in Canada. In 1886, a committee of the House of Commons refused to report a bill authorizing the Canadian Copper Company (C.C. Co.) of Ohio to operate in Canada until its promoters indicated that they would build a refinery.

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The Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal gave Republic of Mining.com permission to post Dr. David Robinson’s column. This Sudbury-based magazine showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.

Dr. David Robinson

Mining is a rough industry and nowhere is it as challenging as Northern Ontario’s deep, hardrock operations. The mines are hot, dirty and wet. The air has to be pumped in, as if miners were working on another planet. At the bottom of the deepest mines, the rock creeps like toffee under pressure. It can shatter like glass, killing and trapping miners.

In this harsh world, equipment must do miracles. Ventilation systems move minus -40° air to a depth of 2,493 m. Hoist cables lift 4,000 tons per day. There is no room for mistakes. Yet these may be the safest mines in the world.

No wonder Sudbury is the training ground for so many mining experts and the testing ground for some of the toughest machines. The knowledge accumulated by the people of the Sudbury Basin is a treasure. It will grow in value as the mining industry battles to keep up with demand over the next century.

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We keeping losing our heritage in Northern Ontario. In November 1995 another part of it came tumbling down.

A striking introduction for eastbound visitors to the town of Kirkland Lake would no longer grace the gold camp skyline and another link with our mining past was gone.

One of the distinctive contributions mining offers to Canadian architecture are  headframes, which when covered in with wood or steel become the shaft house. A newcomer might think of them as the above ground part of an elevator shaft.

Many hard rock mines are deep and the cables for the cage or elevator run up to a drum at the top of the shaft house. Each of these structures are different due to location, depth of the shaft and other factors.

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Introduction

Programme director
Honourable Ministers
Distinguished guests
Senior Government Officials

Ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of the people of South Africa, I extend to you all a warm and hearty welcome as we convene for the 13th annual Mining Indaba Conference here in Cape Town. It is apt for me to congratulate the organisers of this conference, the IIC, for continuing to successfully facilitate this level of knowledge and information exchange among stakeholders in the mining industry. I am pleased to see my counterparts from other parts of the continent as well as local and international participants at this critical juncture in the mining industry.

The past few weeks have been characterised by global economic instability, which is being underpinned by news of the looming economic recession in the USA. The mining industry has not been immune to this development, although we view this development as a short-term correction and believe the fundamentals remain in place for a prolonged demand growth for the bulk of the mineral commodities.

The African Economic Reforms

Since the late 1970s, the African countries have been in search of a policy framework to guide a continent wide fundamental socio-economic transformation that would enable them to overcome the pervasive structural weaknesses. It was not until the last decade or so, that African countries undertook economic reforms to invigorate their respective economies through positive development philosophy. Read the rest of this entry »

Buyelwa Patience Sonjica was appointed to the high-profile position of South Africa’s Minister of Minerals and Energy on May 22, 2006, after serving as Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry from April 2004 to May 2006. Before that post, she served as Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology.

Ms. Sonjica’s interesting and extensive political career began in 1976 when, inspired by the Black Consciousness Movement, she became involved in student politics in the East London area of South Africa. She also joined the activities of the Mass Democratic Movement, including the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Education Union of South Africa (NEUSA). She then became an active member of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) from its inception.

Her academic qualifications include a Secondary Teachers Certificate and a Bachelor of Arts degree, both from Vista University, Port Elizabeth, and a Bachelor of Arts honours from Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. She is also currently attaining a Diploma in Economics at the University of London.

Between 1992 and 1994, Ms. Sonjica was elected to the Regional Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC), ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), and ANC Regional Working Committee. She headed the ANC’s Department of Arts in the old Eastern Cape region, involved in both the transformation of the arts and the development of the ANC policy under famed South African writer, poet and politician Wally Serote, then national co-ordinator.

In 1994, she was elected to Parliament serving on the first Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Arts and Culture. She also served on the portfolio committees on finance, trade and industry, as well as water affairs and forestry. In 1995, she became Chairperson of the Select Committee on Child Care Facilities.  From 1994 till 1999, she was an ANC Whip.

Ms. Sonjica was born on March 23, 1950.

Bio Supplied to Republic of Mining.com

The following excerpt by General Director, Chairman of the Management Board Denis S. Morozov is from the OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel 2007 Social Report which is available at: Norilsk Nickel 2007 Social Report

Dear readers,

OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel is pleased to present the social report for 2007 which represents another step forward by the company in disclosing information regarding various aspects of its operations and activities concerned with sustainable development. At the core of our development strategy and our everyday business is the belief that consistent observance of social responsibility principles is a prerequisite for sustained and effective development of business.

In 2007, the Company continued the successful implementation of the adopted development strategy, modernised the existing production facilities, provided for further development of the unique resource base and entry to the Russia’s new regions.

In 2007, the Company significantly expanded the geography of its operations. OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel successfully completed the transaction to acquire nickel business of OM Group Inc. and consolidated 100% shares of LionOre Mining International Ltd.1

The purchase of LionOre is the largest foreign acquisition in the history of Russian business. Today, MMC Norilsk Nickel is a leader of international metal markets with excellent outlook for further development.

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