The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. hcarmichael@thesudburystar.com
For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery
“Mining is on the agendas … But, that’s because the southern
Ontario manufacturing economy is in serious trouble. While our
major customer (the United States) will probably be going through
a most troubling economic time the next decade or so, the only part
of the Ontario economy that is doing well is the mining sector.”
Sudol said not having a low-enough electricity rate could be the
deal breaker for Cliffs Natural Resources locating its proposed
chromite processing plant in Ontario. “Right now, power rates in
Manitoba and Quebec are 40- 60% lower than Ontario … There’s no
way they are going to locate that refinery in Ontario.” (Mining
strategist Stan Sudol – RepublicOfMining.com)
AT ISSUE: What is the vision for mining in Greater Sudbury and Northern Ontario?
Chris Hodgson has good reason to believe things are looking up — way up — for Ontario’s mining sector. That’s primarily because the Ontario Mining Association’s recent vision paper and its 10 recommendations about what the mining sector wants addressed by the province is getting serious attention in the Ontario election.
“It’s a big difference,” he said. “In the late 1990s, it was a sunset industry. Now, it may be the key to getting us out of the hole financially.”
A former minister of Northern Development and Mines in the Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government from 1995-99, Hodgson has been president of the OMA for seven years. The association has 70 members who operate 40 mines and employ 20,000 people.