VALE STATEMENT REGARDING RELEASE OF USW LOCAL 6500 INVESTIGATION INTO 2011 FATALITIES AT STOBIE MINE

For Immediate Release

SUDBURY, February 29, 2012 – Vale today released the following statement from Kelly Strong, Vice President, Mining & Milling (North Atlantic Operations) and General Manager, Ontario Operations, regarding the United Steelworkers Local 6500 investigation report into the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram in June 2011:

“We received the union’s investigation report this morning and are in the process of reviewing it very carefully.

The USW document contains serious allegations, and calls for the government to consider laying criminal charges against the Company and individuals. As a result of this, we are not able to discuss the specific allegations contained in the report.

While a detailed review is ongoing, our preliminary reading of the report indicates that there is no new factual information that our investigation team had not considered. There is, however, a distinct difference with how the USW has chosen to interpret and draw conclusions from those facts. 

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Got a dog in that fight [Ring of Fire Economic Potential] – by David Robinson (Northern Ontario Business – February 27, 2012)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.  

Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University. drobinson@laurentian.ca 

There is a battle going on for a big chunk of Northern Ontario. On one side is the global economy, desperate for minerals, desperate to minimize costs and leave behind as little as possible. On the other side are a handful of Northern communities hoping to leapfrog from being a 19th-century fur colony to being a highly educated, highly productive, self-governing 21st century society.

It is a David and Goliath struggle over how the value of Northern resources will be shared. And we have a dog in the fight, as they say in the southern U.S. We really need the Indians to win this one.

There are two selfish reasons to support the people of the Far North as they struggle to get some control of development in the region. The first is elementary economics. The more value stays in the Far North, the more will stay in the rest of the North.

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Riches for all from Ring of Fire, says Thunder Bay mayor – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – February 27, 2012)

This article came from Wawatay News: http://www.wawataynews.ca/

“There are enough riches in the Ring of Fire basin for
everyone here, including First Nations,” said Thunder
Bay mayor Keith Hobbs. “The riches in the Ring of Fire
are enough to make Ontario a have-province.”

Representatives from the City of Thunder Bay and Fort William First Nation have joined together to call for government investment in infrastructure around the Ring of Fire.

The city and the First Nation say they are working towards making Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario a mining hub, like the Sudbury region.

“There are enough riches in the Ring of Fire basin for everyone here, including First Nations,” said Thunder Bay mayor Keith Hobbs. “The riches in the Ring of Fire are enough to make Ontario a have-province.”

Hobbs said the city is still pushing to host Cliffs Resources processing facility, despite acknowledging that Thunder Bay is not the favourite to get the plant or the estimated 300-500 jobs it would bring.

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Lobbying pays off, mayor says – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – February 29, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Minister to alter Abitibi River Forest restrictions

A three-day lobby effort is proving worthwhile for Timmins and Northeastern Ontario.

Mayor Tom Laughren wrapped up his trip to the Ontario Good Roads Association convention in Toronto on Tuesday. He had an opportunity to meet with two more cabinet ministers and their representatives prior to returning North.

“Timmins issues have been very well received,” Laughren reported in a phone interview from the OGRA meetings.

Earlier in the week, Laughren had a session with Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Kathleen Wynne. He followed that up on Tuesday by meeting with MPP Mario Sergio (Liberal — York West), the parliamentary assistant to Wynne.

One Timmins-specific topic the mayor brought to the attention of the ministry was the city’s housing shortage.

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Dalton McGuinty blames the dog for eating his province – by Kelly McParland (National Post – February 28, 2012)

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

It’s human nature to want to avoid admitting mistakes, and the bigger the mistake, presumably, the bigger the temptation to escape the blame.

Far easier to blame someone or something else, preferably some force beyond one’s control. I couldn’t do my homework because the dog ate my notes; sorry I missed the deadline but there’s a traffic jam on the highway; I remembered your birthday but the package didn’t arrive in time; I wouldn’t have ruined the economy but the dollar is too high.

That last humdinger was offered Monday by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in a bid to slough off responsibility for the economic mess now confronting the province he has led for the past eight years. Politely invited by Alberta’s Premier Alison Redford to lend support to her province’s effort to defend its oil industry — which has been a key reason Canada has avoided recession  — Mr. McGuinty responded with a churlish refusal. Instead he sought to explain away Ontario’s slow slide into debt and deficit as the result of a stronger currency.

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For Alberta, Dalton McGuinty becomes a fresh bogeyman – by Lorne Gunter (National Post – February 29, 2012)

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

There’s an old, never-fail strategy in Alberta politics: When your government is in trouble on the eve of an election, pick a fight with Ottawa. Almost nothing rallies Alberta voters around their provincial government like a dust-up with the feds. The only thing better is when Ottawa starts the skirmish.

Alberta may as well not even have held its 1982 campaign. Coming the year after the Trudeau government imposed the National Energy Program on the province, the provincial Conservatives could have run tree stumps as their candidates in most constituencies and won. There were 79 seats in the Alberta legislature that year. The Tories won 75. They earned over 62% of the popular vote.

New Alberta Premier Alison Redford is at the head of a government in trouble (although, according to recent polls, not as much trouble as when she took it over last fall from the bumbling and unpopular Ed Stelmach). And a provincial election is expected this spring. But until Monday, it looked as though Ms. Redford wouldn’t have a central Canadian bogeyman to run against.

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Vale displayed “reckless disregard” for safety, [Sudbury] union report says; criminal investigation sought – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 29, 2012)

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

Jason Chenier spent his last days in early June as a supervisor at Vale’s Stobie Mine alerting management about the safety hazards related to excess water and other factors underground.

Chenier, 35, erected double guardrails at two levels of the mine to act as “shutdown signals” that the areas were unsafe.

The guardrails were removed under management’s direction and re-installed as many as three times in the next two days.

He e-mailed management with concerns about excess water in areas where employees were working.

On June 7, 2011, he e-mailed Vale management advising it “should not be dumping ore or blasting this ore until the water situation is under control.”

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Isolationism looks ugly on McGuinty – by Christina Blizzard (London Free Press – February 29, 2012)

http://www.lfpress.com/

Why did mining giant Xstrata move its smelter from Timmins
to Quebec? Because the price of electricity in that province
is a fraction of what we pay here….Bay St. was built on
resources like oil, mining and forestry….His latte-loving
lackeys are wrecking rural Ontario with their ruinous green
energy policies… (Christina Blizzard – Toronto Sun)

QMI Agency

Contrary to what Premier Dalton McGuinty said this week, this province has plenty of fossil fuel.

If a giant meteor crashed into his cabinet room today, crushing the dinosaurs there, a million years from now you could sink a well to their fossilized remains and pump out enough Ontario crude to finally pay for all those high-priced programs McGuinty has foisted on us.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak accused McGuinty of “playing a game of envy” and “pulling other provinces down” Tuesday, slamming McGuinty’s refusal to back Alberta Premier Alison Redford in her request that this province get more vocal in its support of oilsands development.

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Proposed MPP committee could help with northern alienation – (CBC Sudbury News – February 28, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Stan Sudol, a long-time mining issues writer, said
a special legislative body isn’t the answer and
suggested there’s already enough representation
both federally and provincially.

“We shouldn’t need to do this,” Sudol said. “We have
two prominent northerners — Rick Bartolucci from
Northern Development and Mines and Claude Gravelle
from Natural Resources — who are the chief voices
of northern Ontario at the cabinet table.”

Timiskaming-Cochrane New Democrat MPP John Vanthof hopes minority government will help give life to motion

The issue of northern alienation is being raised once again in Queen’s Park.

Timiskaming-Cochrane New Democrat MPP John Vanthof is calling on MPPs to support a bill that would create a new legislative committee comprised of just northern MPPs.

Timiskaming-Cochrane New Democrat MPP John VanthofVanthof said, although this isn’t the first time MPPs have expressed concern about northern alienation, he said this time is different. He said he is counting on the reality of a minority government to make things better for the north.

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Don Coxe on why Buffett has gold all wrong – by Martin Mittelstaedt (Globe and Mail – February 28, 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.

Commodities are once again on a tear.

Gold has been surging, and is closing in on $1,800 (U.S.) an ounce. Crude oil  is trading comfortably above $100 a barrel, and even better for commodity bulls, there is pain at the pumps for drivers, with gasoline prices in many parts of Canada around $1.30 a litre. Copper, the metal with a degree in economics, is within striking distance of $4 a pound. Corn, soybeans, wheat – practically everything in commodity land is enjoying buoyant prices.

Can these good times continue?

For answers, we turned to one of Canada’s best known commodity gurus, Donald Coxe, strategy adviser to Bank of Montreal. He is the guiding light behind two commodity-focused closed end funds that trade on the Toronto market, one specializing in agriculture, the other in a wider range of materials that also include precious metals, base metals and energy.

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Premiers both have a lot to learn – by Jesse Kline (National Post – February 28, 2012)

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

Hot on the heels of Alberta Finance Minister Ron Liepert’s North American tour, Premier Alison Redford is hitting the road – visiting key American cities, including Chicago, New York and Washington – to sell her vision of a more co-operative energy strategy. But along the way, the rookie Premier seems to be getting a hard lesson in the harsh reality of politics.

Ms. Redford is facing a tough challenge: The capacity of existing pipelines will soon be maxed out and Alberta needs to get the approval of other jurisdictions (either B.C. or the United States) to build new ones. Oil sands opponents have a keen understanding of this dilemma. Their strategy has been to block Alberta’s access to foreign markets, in the hopes of preventing further expansion of the oil sands. In order to counter its opponents and enable the land-locked province to export its bitumen, Ms. Redford has been trying to get other politicians to help her sell the oil sands – specifically, the Premier of Canada’s largest province, Dalton McGunity.

“We in Alberta have a resource that matters to the rest of the country,” said Ms. Redford. “It’s not enough for Alberta to be talking about the importance of Keystone in the United States. We need the Premier of Ontario talking about that.”

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MPP calls for new Northern committee – by The Daily Press (Timmins Daily Press – February 28, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

MPP John Vanthof (NDP — Timiskaming-Cochrane) tabled a motion in the Ontario Legislature on Monday calling for the creation of a new legislative committee that would be made up of Northern MPPs.

“For too long, the Ontario Legislature hasn’t responded to the issues and challenges facing the North,” said Vanthof. “This new standing committee would ensure that Northern Ontario MPPs have a say on decisions affecting the North.”

Under Vanthof’s proposal, MPPs from every Northern riding would be a member of this new committee and would have the power to examine legislation that directly impacts Northern Ontario, investigate issues of importance to northern Ontario, solicit input from citizens, and make recommendations to the legislature and government.

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Speaking up for the North – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – February 28, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Mayor Tom Laughren meeting with provincial cabinet ministers in Toronto

Mayor Tom Laughren is wearing many hats this week as he meets with some of the most influential politicians in Ontario.

In addition to representing the City of Timmins, Laughren is also getting in face time for the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), the North Eastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) and the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) this week. The mayor is meeting with numerous provincial cabinet ministers and MPPs at the Ontario Good Roads Association convention in Toronto.

Laughren attended meetings Sunday and Monday, and has more lined up before heading home Tuesday. “It’s been very positive so far,” Laughren said in a phone interview Monday. “There has been a real willingness from ministers to listen.

“They’ve been very supportive and understanding of some of the situations we face.” So far Laughren has met with Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Kathleen Wynne, Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci, and Natural Resources Minister Michael Gravelle.

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Manitoba starts $3-billion permanent road network (Canadian Consulting Engineer – February 27, 2012)

http://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/

First Nations communities along the east side of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba are being connected by permanent roads to the provincial road system for the first time.

The Government of Manitoba’s East Side Road Authority has started construction of roads and bridges along the all-season network, which altogether is estimated to cost approximately $3 billion and once completed will cover 1,028 kilometres. The overall project will take up to 30 years to complete.

SNC-Lavalin established the routes in a two-year long study, known as the Large Area Transportation Network Study, which was officially released in June 2011. Now, AECOM is the prime consulting engineering firm implementing the project, and Dillon Consulting is the contract administrator. Both companies are working on the road and bridge works.

Last week, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger visited Manto Sipi Cree Nation near Gods River to see first-hand how work is progressing. A series of new permanent and some temporary bridges is under way and Chief Michael Yellowback said the communities are already benefiting, since warming temperatures had put the current winter roads in jeopardy.

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McGuinty’s ungracious response to Premier of Alberta’s appeal for support on Keystone XL pipeline – Globe and Mail Editorial (February 28, 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.

Dalton McGuinty, the Premier of Ontario, should not have responded ungraciously to an appeal by Premier Alison Redford of Alberta for solidarity from Ontario and Quebec, in the course of her speech on Friday to the Small Explorers and Producers Association on Friday. In particular, she wants the Premiers of the two Central Canadian provinces to help articulate the importance of the Keystone XL pipeline to the country as a whole.

“If I had my preferences,” said Mr. McGuinty – using the subjunctive mood to express what grammarians call a contrary-to-fact hypothesis – “as to whether we had a rapidly growing oil and gas sector in the West or a lower dollar, I’ll tell you where I stand: with the lower dollar.”

But Mr. McGuinty cannot enforce his preferences. Such exercises of the imagination are futile. There is of course a correlation between the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar and foreign demand for Canadian commodities, and a higher dollar means that Canadian goods – both manufactured products and natural resources – are more expensive.

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