Canadian Mining Sector Partnerships with Aboriginals Create Enormous Benefits – 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.

A new wave of co-operation between Aboriginal peoples and the mineral industry can be felt across Canada. It is evidenced by the growing number of impact and benefit agreements that are created every month. Gone are most of the adversarial relationships between mining and Aboriginals in favour of participation and sharing.

Time was, 35 years ago when I first took an interest in the Canadian mining scene, that the words “land claim” could strike fear into the heart of any mine builder. As long as a specific claim was not settled, the land under discussion was essentially off-limits for exploration and development.

Today’s impact and benefits agreements provide cultural, educational, training and employment opportunities for the descendents of Canada’s original inhabitants. Explorers and developers spend millions to provide these opportunities. The native population has taken up the challenge by becoming trusted employees and owners of their own businesses that serve the mineral industry.

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Meet the Miners at the Ontario Legislature Celebrates Industry Contributions

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 contributions of Ontario’s mining sector to society and the economy were celebrated yesterday at Queen’s Park by politicians of all stripes and industry officials at the Ontario Mining Association’s Meet the Miners event.  The industry can’t take the legislature to the mines but it can take the mines to the legislature at least one day a year.   Meet the Miners is an OMA initiative at Queen’s Park involving member companies and their employees, which helps shine the spotlight on the industry in government circles. 

At an evening reception, OMA Chairman and President of mining contractor JS Redpath George Flumerfelt welcomed guests and encouraged them to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the OMA, which has been representing mineral producers in the province since 1920.  He noted that the importance of mining to the future prosperity of the province was highlighted in the Throne Speech to open this session of the Legislature on March 8, 2010. 

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The other side of the podium – by Michael Atkins

Michael Atkins is president of Northern Life

I remember chairing a meeting of an economic self-help group in Sudbury 30 years ago called Sudbury 2001. We were at the Cambrian College boardroom and a group of union members and politicians burst into the room to bust up the meeting. We were in about month eight of the last debilitating, vengeful, violent, desperate conflict between Inco and its union, and Sudbury was not only suffering through the strike, they were suffering through the knowledge of massive layoffs on the way. In those days there were 20,000 or so Steelworkers, not 3,000.

The interlopers were livid that David Patterson, president of the Steelworkers Local 6500, would sit at the same table as an Inco executive during the strike. You see, Sudbury 2001 was a community group. We all swore to leave our politics at the door, no matter how dismaying the conflict. David stood up; pushing and shoving, screaming and yelling ensued. When David came back in, and the uninvited guests retreated, the meeting reconvened.

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We Call on Vale to Respect Its Employees and Our Community – United Steelworkers (March 19, 2010)

Posted in: News, Release
This a reply letter by the United Steelworkers in reply to Vale’s letter published in the March 17th Sudbury Star.
www.fairdealnow.ca

In the latest “open letter” published by Vale Inco, this foreign corporation again demonstrates its contempt for our community and for Canada’s democratic traditions and labour relations culture. But most of all, Vale demonstrates a shocking disrespect for its employees.

Indeed, the most disturbing aspect of Vale’s latest public attacks may well be its blatant disregard for the independence, intellect, and judgment of thousands of its workers.

As you know, striking Vale employees in Sudbury and Port Colborne recently voted 90 per cent against the company’s last contract offer. After eight months on the picket lines, the vote was even more emphatic than an earlier contract rejection at the strike’s onset in July 2009.

To a reasonable, objective observer, such an unequivocal result would suggest serious shortcomings with Vale’s contract offer. It would suggest that a company that purports to care for its employees would want to address these issues in the democratic Canadian way – at the bargaining table with the employees’ legally-sanctioned and democratically-elected representatives.

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Our Commitment to Canada is Clear – Tito Martins, President and CEO, Vale Inco Limited (March 18, 2010)

www.valeinconegotiations.com

Labour disputes, like the ones affecting two-thirds of our Canadian operations, generate a lot of questions from a lot of different perspectives. We have a question of our own – does anyone really believe that Canada and Canadians are so intolerant that race and heritage are suitable excuses for ridicule and recrimination?

This is the Canada the USW leadership would have you believe we live in, as it sets about looking for anyone and anything to blame for strikes that have kept our employees off the job for more than eight months in Ontario and more than seven months in Newfoundland and Labrador.

It’s a regrettable tactic. It’s also a deflection that conveniently allows them to ignore the real issues at dispute.

We have shared our objectives with the USW leadership from the very beginning – to build a long-term, sustainable future for our Canadian operations. It seems straightforward – even worthy of support. In the rush to further their own objectives, however, the USW describes it as “an assault on Canada” – questioning our commitment, our values and our “Third World” ethnicity every step of the way.

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A Special Day for Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association in 2009 – by Dick DeStefano

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association (SAMSSA)
www.samssa.ca  destefan@isys.ca

December 10, 2009 was a special day for me.   Working with a small and determined group of invisible mining supply companies in the early stages of 2003 has now evolved into a viable, dynamic community of entrepreneurs making a difference in Northern Ontario and throughout the world.

Twenty centimetres of driving snow and frigid conditions did not prevent more than 90 SAMSSA members and guests from attending the SAMSSA annual meeting in Sudbury.

We all applauded our two SAMSSA Hall of Fame inductees, Peter Matusch and Ron Miller, both of whom were introduced by their sons.  We congratulated our slate of new board members and thanked those who retired.

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Mining Suppliers: The Invisible Aliens in the Movie Avatar and in Canadian Society – by David Robinson

David Robinson is an Economist at Sudbury’s Laurentian University drobinson@laurentian.ca

Outer space has more than its share of miners and no mining suppliers. I wonder how they do it.

You may not have noticed, but the highest grossing movie in history was a mining movie. Technical support for the industry was provided by the military. The mining industry lost. The supply industry didn’t even show. The movie was Avatar.

Sci-fi fans know that one of the main activities in outer space is mining. There are stories about asteroid mining, lunar mining, mining on Mars and on planets half a galaxy away. Mining provides a reason to be in space. Mining supplies everything you need to live in space.

Mining supplies water, precious metals, helium 3 for energy and exotic jewels to drive the most unlikely plots. Mining technology is used to blow up asteroids headed for Earth. There are claim jumpers in space and whole underdeveloped worlds run by cruel mining companies. Mining in space is something the sci-fi writers take seriously.

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First Nations and Mining Companies are Working Together in Northern Ontario – Xavier Kataquapit

Xavier Kataquapit grew up in Attawapiskat First Nation on the James Bay Coast. Readers are invited to visit his website: www.underthenorthernsky.com.

As a First Nation person from the James Bay Coast, I was raised to respect the land and all the creatures that live on Mother Earth.

There are a lot of reasons that my people, the Cree of the James Bay Coast, believe in this philosophy but it mainly has to do with survival.

We knew and we still know that if we over hunt, over fish or abuse the land, it comes back to haunt us. When you live off the land very directly, it is natural and easy to feel the connection to everything. Our Elders tell us we must be conscious of how we affect the land.

There are many legends having to do with bad things happening to those who are not considerate of the land. For the past few years, I have witnessed a lot of resource development on Native lands in the Timmins area and up the James Bay Coast.

In the past hundred years, First Nation people have really been left out of the loop when it came to resource development.

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The 2008/2009 Mining Bust – Is There Light at the End of This tunnel? – by Paul Stothart

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 This column was originally published November, 2009. This column was originally published in May, 2009.

Amidst the doom and gloom of present economic times, it can be difficult to find signs of optimism that could generate light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. While economic predictions can be easily contradicted, it seems evident that there are some positives emerging from the present recession and that, more importantly, mineral prices are destined to rebound in the not-too-distant future.

Sanity is returning to input costs and waiting lists

The business environment that existed until mid-2008 was one of frenzy, cost explosion and waiting lists. Companies seeking to buy mining equipment were assigned lengthy delivery times. Basics such as large tires for mining trucks carried a one-year or longer delivery lead time. As noted in 2005 by the president of a Virginia machinery company, “there are eight people trying to get the same tire.”

Capital projects that began with cost budgets in the hundreds of millions ended with budgets in the billions. Companies reported that capital investment cost projections were doubling or more during the 2005 to 2007 timeframe. The need for $16 per hour fast food workers in oil sands country was going unmet. Marine shipping costs and timelines were expanding rapidly.

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The Mining Economic Downturn — Two Unknowns – by Paul Stohart

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 This column was originally published November, 2009. This column was originally published in February, 2009

To mining company managers, an economic downturn is old hat. Typically, a few years of economic growth lead to a year or two of stagnation and low mineral demand and prices. Mining projects are put on hold until the price and availability of labour and materials return to a sound
footing. Other variables, such as wars, strikes and technological shifts can exacerbate or mitigate this cyclical movement of mineral prices.

The current economic turmoil, however, is not a traditional business cycle. Yes, the real economy is slowing in a traditional manner. Manufacturing is in recession and high overheated costs have dampened investment in natural resource development. Falling mineral and stock
prices have made the raising of new equity capital and exploration financing unfeasible.

In Canada and overseas, mine development has been postponed or cancelled and companies have entered a “batten down the hatches” mode. Credit Suisse estimates that $50 billion in capital spending in mining — two-thirds of announced global commitments — would be delayed in 2009. Beyond this cyclical slowness, though, two new variables make the present downturn tougher to gauge and recovery time frames more difficult to predict.

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Barrick Target of Yellow Journalism – 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.

Toronto’s Barrick Gold, being the world’s biggest gold miner, is also on the receiving end of the world’s worst media abuses. “Yellow journalism” has not gone out of style, and today the Internet provides the means of spreading disinformation worldwide at speeds unheard of a century ago.

Case in point. Headline: “Deadly toxin invades Barrick’s Dominican gold mine, Thousands hospitalized.”

Those are eye-catching words, but no more accurate than the picture of artisanal miners identified as the “Barrick Gold mine in Coui, Dominican Republic” used to illustrate the article.

The article posted at www.BusinessInsider.com went on to say that over 1,000 people were felled by an unknown chemical so toxic that health care workers who attended them had to wear masks. It also reported a boiler explosion at the site that may have been the root of the problem.

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Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery (6 of 6) – Excerpt from Fortunes Found Canadian Mining Success – by Michael Barnes

Michael Barnes is the author of more than fifty books about characters, communities, mining, and police work. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and makes his home in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada. While living in Northern Ontario most of his life, he has come to know and admire those who make their living in the mining industry.

To order a copy of “Fortunes Found – Canadian Mining Success” go to: General Store Publishing House

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Ontario ’s Ring of Fire Discovery

Sheldon Inwentash is a major investor in the Ring of Fire area. He adds a cautionary note: “Until you have a number of these deposits that can carry the burden of infrastructure, it’s way too early to talk about mining.” No one argues the truth of this observation, but about twenty companies are staking big money that the size of the deposits will prove much larger in time with more drilling. Two companies that were in the play from the very beginning and pooled their efforts for a while are Spider Resources and KWG Resources; Freewest Resources has also been involved in a joint venture.

Spider president Neil Novak has been working in the James Bay Lowlands for a long time and stated once that, “Somebody told me my name is attached to about fifteen different kimberlites and a whole bunch of massive sulphide deposits.”

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Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery (5 of 6) – Excerpt from Fortunes Found Canadian Mining Success – by Michael Barnes

Michael Barnes is the author of more than fifty books about characters, communities, mining, and police work. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and makes his home in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada. While living in Northern Ontario most of his life, he has come to know and admire those who make their living in the mining industry.

To order a copy of “Fortunes Found – Canadian Mining Success” go to: General Store Publishing House

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Ontario ‘s Ring of Fire Discovery

Robert studies a week’s menus. Suppers have a minimum of two proteins, two starches, two vegetables, and one dessert, as well as the baked dessert tray. Other lunch and dinner options have three salads and vegetable, cheese, and pickle trays. Some menu items this week include rosemary chicken schnitzel, halibut fillet, roast beef, and barbequed T-bone steaks. A highlight dessert is apple, raspberry, and pear cobbler. Well-fed workers do a good job, and there are no complaints about meals here.

Before dinner, Diane Pohl puts on a fire drill conducted by the Matrix Aviation crew. Fire is a danger in such isolated locations. A small fire is set in a clearing in a forty-five-gallon oil drum. There is a 1,000-foot fire hose ready laid and the pump is on a small pond. Within a couple of minutes it is jetting water, and other workers come running in with portable hand pumps. One is David Carrier, who comes from Marten Falls First Nation. He is a burly man able to do a lot of physical jobs around the camp and is pleased to be able to save money in the camp environment.

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Colonialism or Capitalism for Northern Ontario – Gregory Reynolds

This column was originally published in the Winter, 2010 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.

Colonialism: control by a nation over a dependent territory.
Capitalism; control by a company over a dependent nation.

That is not the text book definition of capitalism but to many Canadians today that is the reality of the present economic system. The basic difference between the two definitions is that force of arms created colonialism but governments today actually welcome companies with their bags of money and empty promises.

Talk to residents of a British Columbia lumber mill town that has watched the company that owns it shut it down while there were still trees to be cut and homes to be built.

Talk to the residents of Alberta as they watch the owners of the oil sands developments create the biggest environment disaster in North America.

Talk to a wheat farmer in Saskatchewan who often must sell it at a lower price than it could get on the world market because a government created board dictates prices. Talk to a hog producer who is cut off from the United States market because American producers want higher prices by limiting access.

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Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery (4 of 6) – Excerpt from Fortunes Found Canadian Mining Success – by Michael Barnes

Michael Barnes is the author of more than fifty books about characters, communities, mining, and police work. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and makes his home in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada. While living in Northern Ontario most of his life, he has come to know and admire those who make their living in the mining industry.

To order a copy of “Fortunes Found – Canadian Mining Success” go to: General Store Publishing House

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Ontario’s Ring of Fire Discovery

Bruce gives us a tour and points to other residents. There are twenty drillers, some from Cyr Drilling from Western Canada, but the majority from Orbit Garant, a company from that seemingly inexhaustible supplier of the trade, Val–d’Or, Quebec. There are also three men who operate Devico directional drilling equipment, and their skills can send diamond drill rods slanting off in any desired direction. Caterer 1984 provides food services, and Matrix Aviation Solutions Inc. works to deliver services maintaining camp operation. One 1984 employee is Diane Pohl, who with her occupational first-aid certificate also is Health and Safety Officer, and in her spare time oversees housekeeping services. Her cautionary safety signs are found everywhere, as well as the Noront policy warning that states the camp is alcohol-free and illicit drug-free and advises all on the site that those who ignore this dictum face instant termination.

The camp consists of a combination of thirty-eight tents and green painted plywood cabins. One row of tents is called Sleep Alley, and signs warn passersby that drillers who work in twelve-hour shifts are sleeping. The tents are sixteen by ten feet and, like all the buildings, are well insulated.

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