[Canada Mines Minister] Oliver pushes for Ring of Fire development – Matthew Hill (Miningweekly.com – January 31, 2012)

Mining Weekly is South Africa’s premier source of weekly news on mining developments in Africa’s most important industry. Mining Weekly provides in-depth coverage of mining projects and the personalities reshaping the mining industry.

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Natural Resources Canada minister Joe Oliver on Tuesday continued his crusade to cut down on environmental approval timelines for major projects, to encourage the potential C$92-billion in mining investment the government sees over the next ten years.

Oliver made specific mention of the chromite and nickel projects underway in Ontario’s Ring of Fire district, saying he hoped Cliffs Natural Resources’ Black Thor deposit and Noront Resources’ Eagle’s Nest project make their way through the regulatory processes without hitches.

Cleveland-based Cliffs said earlier this month that it could cost nearly $1-billion to build a mine and a concentrator at Black Thor, where it is carrying out a prefeasibility study, to produce one-million tons of export chromite ore concentrate and 600 000 t of ferrochrome.

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Honourable Joe Oliver: Minister of Natural Resources Canada – Speech at the Canada Mining Innovation Council Signature Event 2012 (January 31, 2012 – Toronto, Canada)

The Canada Mining Innovation Council Signature Event 2012″ brings together industry, academic and government decision-makers to discuss the need for innovation in mining in Canada. 

“…so I’d like to take a moment to talk about the Ring of Fire, a
relatively new mining region in the James Bay lowlands….For Ontario, this area is of strategic importance since it could open up the entire region to greater prosperity.  It has significant potential to create wealth, and provide taxes and royalties for government.”  (Joe Oliver, Minister Natural Resources Canada)

The Hon. Joe Oliver: 

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.  Thank you also for all your good work and your leadership of this important council. 

Et sincère remerciement au Conseil canadien d’innovation minière pour l’occasion de prendre part à la discussion de ce matin. 

Thank you very much to the Canadian Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) for the opportunity to be part of the discussion this morning.  It’s an honour to be here on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  As Canada’s Minister responsible for mining, I take pride in being part of this network of industry, government and academic leaders who are working together to strengthen Canada’s role as a global leader in mining innovation. 

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NGOs are part of the mining conversation – by Chris Eaton, Rosemary McCarney and Dave Toycen (Globe and Mail – January 31, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Chris Eaton is executive director of World University Service of Canada. Rosemary McCarney is president and CEO of Plan Canada. Dave Toycen is president and CEO of World Vision Canada.

Canadian companies are major drivers of economic growth in the global South. With 75 per cent of the world’s mining companies headquartered here, Canadians have a heightened responsibility to ensure these companies are helping and not hindering community development when they operate in poorer countries.

The reality is that mining companies are expanding their operations into complex environments where development agencies like ours – Plan Canada, World University Service of Canada and World Vision – have worked for decades.

These companies are already significant development actors in their own right, but complex development problems cannot be solved through routine approaches. Innovations and new partnerships between non-governmental organizations and the private sector offer unique avenues to help ensure that major Canadian economic investments translate into a development pattern that benefits all.

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Closed [Vale shuts down Sudbury’s underground operations after latest fatality]- by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 31, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Vale Ltd. has temporarily suspended operations at its five Sudbury mines as the company steps back, pauses and focuses on a plan to make its operations safer after an experienced miner was killed Sunday at Coleman Mine.

Kelly Strong, vice-president of mining and milling for Vale, said 1,550 miners are off the job, with pay, while Vale managers meet with the joint health and safety committee to devise an action plan before the mines are reopened.

Until that plan is drafted, Strong couldn’t predict when the mines would reopen. It’s the first time in the 11 years he has been with Vale that it has suspended operations at all mines after a fatality at one of them, he said.

Vale employs 400 production and maintenance workers at its Coleman and Stobie mines, 350 at Creighton Mine, and 200 at each of Garson and Copper Cliff mines.

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Steelworker president angry over [Sudbury Vale mining] deaths – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 31, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The president of the union representing the miner killed Sunday at Coleman Mine was as angry Monday as he was sad that a member of United Steelworkers Local 6500 had been killed on the job.

While his union was expressing its heartfelt condolences to the miner’s family, Rick Bertrand was feeling mixed emotions, as were many of his members. “A big part of it is anger, (I’m) very angry,” Bertrand said Monday at the new Steelworkers’ Hall at 66 Brady St.

“Four fatalities in seven months is unacceptable … this has got to stop,” said Bertrand. Two Local 6500 members, Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, were killed June 8 of last year at Stobie Mine.

Another Steelworker, a member of USW Local 6166 in Thompson, Man., died in October, 12 days after he fell down a mine shaft while operating a scoop tram. Greg Leason, 51, had 23 years with Inco and Vale.

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Investigators combing mine [Sudbury Vale mining death] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 31, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The Ministry of Labour has issued two requirements of Vale Ltd. after the death of a 16-year employee early Sunday afternoon at the 4,215-foot level at Coleman Mine in Levack.

The first requirement is “don’t disturb the scene,” said ministry spokesman Matt Blajer. The ministry has also asked for a number of documents, such as training records and equipment information. Two ministry inspectors responded Sunday after the fatality was reported. Monday, they called in a ministry ground control engineer to help.

Blajer said the ministry was told the miner was “loading the face of the rock with explosives from a man basket when the incident occurred.” Blajer identified the area as the 4215 Level West T1 Cut 5.

The ministry is also asking Vale for its plans for the development of the heading at 36 West T1 Cut 5, he said.

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USGS NEWS RELEASE: U.S. Mineral Values Up in 2011

Released: 1/30/2012

The value of mineral production in the United States increased by 12 percent in 2011 from that of 2010, suggesting that the nonfuel minerals industries, particularly metals, continued to recover from the economic recession that began in December 2007 and lasted well into 2009.

The value of raw, nonfuel minerals mined in the United States was $74 billion in 2011, up from $66 billion in 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s annual release of mineral production statistics and summary of events and trends affecting domestic and global nonfuel minerals.

“Information in the Mineral Commodity Summaries helps business leaders, policy makers, managers, and anyone else understand the critically important flow of minerals through the supply chain and how they are contributing to, and reflecting the health of, our nation’s economy,” said USGS director Marcia McNutt. “For example, in 2011 domestic recycled metallic and mineral materials alone contributed $32 billion to our economy.”

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Goldcorp plans draining, mine site reclamation – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – January 31, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper

Timmins council was provided with an outline Monday night of two projects being undertaken over the next couple of months by Goldcorp. The two projects reflect opposite ends of the spectrum for mining operations.

One relates to the planned re-opening of the Hollinger mine site, while the other concerns the reclamation of the old Halnor site.

In preparation for the Hollinger open pit mine, Goldcorp is draining groundwater and letting it flow into Pearl Lake. The lake is already used as a basin for groundwater that is pumped out from the old McIntyre mine workings.

Luc Duval, the city’s director of public works and engineering, said the Hollinger project requires the pumping of more water. It will flow into a creek the crosses under McIntyre Rd. and empties into Pearl Lake.

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Party leaders still must earn our trust – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – january 31, 2012)

Wayne Snider is the city editor for The Daily Press , the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca

North’s 11 seats suddenly seem more relevant

The North may not have been a key political battleground during the last few Ontario elections, but it is starting to get more interesting.

Checking out the political landscape after last fall’s campaign, the Liberals came within one seat of getting a majority by relying heavily on the vote in the Greater Toronto Area. The Conservatives did well in rural Southern Ontario, while the NDP largely painted the North orange.

For the first time in recent memory, all three parties came out with a dedicated Northern Ontario policy during the campaign. Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, four months into being the leader of the opposition in a minority government, is still selling ideas from his Changebook North.

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Shale gas the place to be – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 31, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

The Obama administration’s endorsement last week of shale gas as a major pillar of its made-in-America energy vision ensures a long-term future for the resource.

The big question is: How does the North American sector survive today’s depressed market environment so it can deliver the 600,000 jobs and the economic stimulus expected from shale gas development?

For companies like Calgary-based Encana Corp., one of the top shale gas producers in the U.S., it comes down to short-term pain for long-term gain. “You will see less and less drilling for a period of time,” Eric Marsh, executive vice-president, natural gas economy and senior vice president, USA division, said in an interview.

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Vale miner killed at [Sudbury] Coleman Mine – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – January 30, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Vale has confirmed that an employee was killed by falling rock at Coleman Mine on Sunday.

“Vale regretfully announces that an employee was fatally injured this afternoon while working underground in the main ore body at the 4,215-foot level of the company’s Coleman Mine in Levack due to what appears to be some displacement of material from a development heading,” the company said in a release.

“The employee was found and brought to surface, where he was subsequently pronounced dead by medical authorities.”  Vale said the immediate family has been notified, but the name of the employee is being withheld pending completion of the notification process.

The employee was 47 and had worked at the company for 16 years.

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