June 24, 2011 – Republic of Mining

LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE: Senate approves new School of Mines and School of Architecture

June 24, 2011

Sudbury – June 24, 2011 -Tuesday’s Senate meeting at Laurentian University proved to be an eventful one, with both the creation of its new School of Mines, as well as the School of Architecture program being approved.

“Both of these decisions by faculty represent Laurentian’s continued focus on being responsive to the communities we serve,” said Dominic Giroux, president and vice-chancellor for Laurentian University. “The establishment of the School of Mines represents a very significant step, creating a space for faculty from various disciplines to exchange ideas, better align programs and focus on mining related research, and in doing so, continuing to establish Laurentian as the go-to university for mining”.

Michael Lesher, director of mining initiatives at Laurentian University said, “We are striving to become the world’s leading mining-education centre covering the complete spectrum of the mining cycle from exploration to environmental rehabilitation, including cultural and economic sustainability, management, Native studies, and occupational health and safety. When students worldwide think about mining, we want Laurentian to be top of mind.”

Ontario’s Mythical & Potentially Lucrative Ring of Fire -by Blogger Milkyminx (January 18, 2011)

June 24, 2011

Approximately 480 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario is the mythical Ring of Fire, which has, for years, been whispering hope to miners and investors, while steadily disquieting environmentalists.

The story of the Ring is punctuated with surprises.

It begins with junior exploration companies (including Spider Resources Inc., KWG Resources Inc., and Freewest Resources Inc.) digging for diamonds in the McFauld’s Lake area of northern Ontario. None could resist fortune’s lure in the mid 1990s when diamond company, De Beers Canada Inc., began re-examining the area’s diamond-producing kimberlite pipes.

Instead of diamonds, however, they found copper and zinc. But that was enough to spur other small players to begin digging nearby.

Then in 2007, Noront Resources Ltd. found high-grade nickel with copper and palladium, confirming the potency of the area. This excited mine operators, who coined and began publicizing the phrase, “Ring of Fire,” to describe the mineral-rich exploration zone.

When less asbestos is best – Globe and Mail Editorial (June 24, 2011)

June 25, 2011June 24, 2011

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

What does the federal government have against a five-page form? That’s what its opposition to “listing” chrysotile asbestos – a hazardous material – under the Rotterdam Convention amounts to. Canada was wrong to block an emerging consensus in favour of listing at a Convention meeting on Wednesday, especially given the small restrictions involved in the listing procedure.

Chrysotile, of which Canada is the world’s fifth-largest producer, is a material that can be used to make cement. Can be used – most developed economies have forsaken it for other materials, because chrysotile contains tiny fibres that, if exposed, can lead to respiratory ailments and even cancer. But it is a cheap enough alternative that growing Asian countries are a growing market for the product. An Asian medical journal recently reported that it expects a “surge of asbestos-related diseases in the immediate decades ahead” as a result.

Industry Minister Christian Paradis said in the Commons last week that “scientific publications show that chrysotile can be used safely under controlled conditions.” We’re not sure which publications he’s referring to, but presumably not the ones read by Health Canada’s director-general for the safe environments program, when he recommended listing of chrysotile under the Rotterdam Convention in 2006; nor statements by the World Health Organization or the Rotterdam Convention’s review committee.

Asbestos’s last, lonely champion – by Susan Riley (Ottawa Citizen – June 24, 2011)

June 25, 2011June 24, 2011

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/ Susan Riley writes on national politics. E-mail: sriley.work@gmail.com.

I still remember the shock and dismay I felt walking through the ByWard Market in 2005, when I noticed newspaper headlines announcing that Chuck Strahl had been diagnosed with a deadly form of asbestos-related cancer.

Not only was Strahl fit and strong (fortunately, he still is), he was a well-liked Reform, then Conservative, MP and, subsequently, a successful cabinet minister in a number of posts. He decided not to run in the last election – his son Mark took over his B.C. seat on May 2 – and has returned to Chilliwack, his cancer apparently in remission.

This memory makes Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s adamant support for Quebec’s asbestos industry in recent weeks seem even more confounding and cold. After all, within his own cabinet he had sobering evidence of the cost of unprotected exposure to asbestos.

NEWS RELEASE: Generous Barrick Gold Gift a Boon to Marathon and Northern Ontario

June 24, 2011

Lakehead University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) are pleased to accept substantial gifts from Barrick Gold Corporation – Hemlo Mine. The value of the Barrick Gold gift is $150,000, but with matching funds from the Ontario Trust for Student Support (OTSS), the total value of the gift is raised to $235,000. This donation makes a significant contribution to learning and healthcare in Northern Ontario.

The gift will be used to establish an endowed Barrick Gold Graduate Scholarship valued at $100,000, with $50,000 coming from Barrick Gold and $50,000 from matching funds through OTSS. This Scholarship will be awarded to a Lakehead graduate student with financial need who is focused on mining issues with preference given to persons of Aboriginal heritage.

As well, a total of $100,000 will go to support the work of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. This portion of the gift is made up of a number of components:

• Creation of a $10,000 Learner Suite in Marathon with exam rooms, office and study space, and a Learner/Resident suite;

[Thunder Bay] Ring of Fire session jam-packed – Chronicle-Journal (June 23, 2011)

June 24, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Those looking for a piece of the Ring of Fire mining project action crammed a Thunder Bay conference hall on Wednesday while a small group of employees who walked off the job at the mining camp protested outside the Valhalla Inn.

The Ring of Fire infrastructure conference has brought “a wide range of different parties together,’’ said Christine Kaszycki, the province’s Ring of Fire co-ordinator and assistant deputy Northern Development, Mines and Forestry minister.

“First Nations, municipalities, provincial and federal government agencies, and environmental groups as well, to really begin doing some collective thinking, particularly the infrastructure requirements in the far north,” are in the city for the conference, she said.

Kaszycki said the goal is to get a grip on the key considerations for the project, identify common ground and start thinking about short-, medium- and long-term goals.