May 5, 2011 – Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Canadian Mining Technology May Extend Future Space Missions [Sudbury NORCAT]

May 5, 2011

About NORCAT

The Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. (NORCAT) is a not-for-profit, non-share incorporated company based in Sudbury, Ontario Canada. NORCAT has been developing space mining equipment since 1999, with the primary focus on a drilling unit for subsurface exploration. http://www.norcat.org.

SUDBURY, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – May 4, 2011) – The Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. (NORCAT), under Canadian Space Agency contract, is developing innovative drilling technology which will shape the future of Canada’s contribution to future space missions. This project supports Canada’s role in the Global Exploration Strategy as a key component of the utilization of planetary resources for mission support.

The requirement for mining activity on the moon or near earth objects in support of robotic and human activity is paramount. In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is the process of using existing resources to produce valuable elements in space, such as oxygen and water. NORCAT’s expertise in microgravity mining leads the way in pioneering future space exploration missions.

McGuinty headed out his ‘Open’ door – by John R. Hunt (North Bay Nugget – 2010)

May 5, 2011May 5, 2011

The North Bay Nugget, established in 1907, is the daily newspaper for the northeastern Ontario community of North Bay. This column was originally published in 2010.

On the Rocks Column

Michael Gravelle’s recent trip to Timmins has convinced me that Ontario is on the verge of another political convulsion. It also reinforced my long-held conviction there is a grand plan in Toronto to close down as much of the North as possible and turn it into a park.

Gravelle is minister of Northern Development and Mines. Folk in Timmins may be forgiven if they think he is in charge of destruction and evacuation. I heard nothing in the throne speech Monday afternoon to change my mind. The Grits have high hopes for a mining development in the Northwest. The Northeast can be safely forgotten.

The McGuinty mob’s Open Ontario policy or gimmick only reflected its intellectual bankruptcy. Or perhaps it was designed by Ontario’s intellectual and cultural elite who refuse to recognize that 90% of Ontario is in what is called the North. They rarely visit it, never understand it, and view it and its residents with amused contempt.

Mining matters to North Bay, but perhaps not to McGuinty – by John R. Hunt (North Bay Nugget – 2010)

May 5, 2011May 5, 2011

The North Bay Nugget, established in 1907, is the daily newspaper for the northeastern Ontario community of North Bay. This column was originally published in 2010.

On the Rocks Column

Timmins is facing an economic disaster. Sudbury is still in a strike-bound mess. There is a tiny spark of good mining news not too far from North Bay but I am saving it until the end. The Timmins mess and Sudbury strike must be costing money in North Bay.

About 30 years ago I had an argument with some North Bay business types who challenged my contention that mining was important to the North Bay economy. I checked around and discovered about 800 people in the city were employed selling goods and services to the mining industry. A couple of years ago I read that it was then about 1,800.

Mining matters to North Bay. This explains why I blew my top last Thursday when I read and heard reports from Queen’s Park. A bunch of hopeful — and probably desperate — Timmins folk had gone to the big city to meet with Ontario’s beloved leader and assorted officials. McGuinty was their last hope. The Xstrata metallurgical plant is slated to close on or about May 1 and 670 jobs will go down the tube.

Is there a maggot in the new [Ontario] Mining Act meat? – by John R. Hunt (North Bay Nugget – May, 2010)

May 5, 2011May 5, 2011

The North Bay Nugget, established in 1907, is the daily newspaper for the northeastern Ontario community of North Bay. This column was originally published in May, 2010.

On the Rocks Column

Is there a maggot in the meat pie, a worm in the woodwork or a rat in the basement? I have that strange feeling that afflicts newspaper people when they suspect they are being conned. Smart housewives get it when an energy retailer says he will save them money.

I cheerfully admit I hope I am wrong. I am only concerned because I fear a small group I have long admired is to be flushed down the political tube.

Prospectors are my special minority and chances are that most people have never met one. By strange circumstance I have spent much time with all kinds of prospectors. I have no illusions. As a group they have the same percentage of crooks and charlatans as any other trade or profession. But they have had an incredible influence upon Canada’s development and growth.

You may have heard Michael Gravelle, the minister of Northern Development and Mines, talking about changes to the Mining Act. Everyone is supposedly delighted.

Northern [Ontario] growth plan amazingly ignorant – by John R. Hunt (North Bay Nugget – April 2011)

May 5, 2011May 5, 2011

The North Bay Nugget, established in 1907, is the daily newspaper for the northeastern Ontario community of North Bay.

On the Rocks Column

“The real challenge is to create viable economies that can survive after the natural resources are exhausted. There is something in the Northern psyche that seems to detest this basic idea. Rip out the silver and gold. Dig up the iron, copper and nickel. Pump out the last drop of oil. When it is all gone complain there is nothing to do. This seems to be the Canadian way.” (John R. Hunt – North Bay Nugget)

Take one ton of good intentions and mix an equal quantity of platitudes. Recruit a team of writers and tell them to please everyone and offend no one. You may then get the Northern Ontario Growth Plan that was recently dumped on the long suffering public.

In what can only be described as gigantic conceit, incredible optimism or amazing ignorance, the plan is supposed to lay out future developments in the North for the next 25 years.

The plan’s media release notes that Northern Ontario represents 90% of the province’s land mass. Another way of putting it might be that after all these years of Northern development, more than 90% of the population has very little desire or inducement to live in the North.