David Hunt is the President of the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association. This speech was given at the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association at the Northwestern Ontario Mines and Minerals Symposium

The coming, modernized mining act, is set to dump a whole new pile of rules and regulations upon us, starting this coming summer.

The Act, originally designed to address a few very valid complaints from First Nations Communities and private land owners, has mushroomed into a mass of plans, permits, regulations, bureaucrats, trainers, go-betweens and compliance officers who will give you a ticket if you break the rules. 

Instead of tweaking a few regs that would have made things work better, the government has created a sledgehammer to swat a few mosquitoes.  And I fear, when they start to swing that hammer, that it will end up doing a whole lot of unintended damage.

It will take you much longer to gain approval to explore.  Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Instead, mining’s rapid closing-in on manufacturing reflects the continuing
flood of money into this sector, not a relative weakness in manufacturing….
Even in Ontario, the $3.4-billion of investment in mining is half of all the
investment by its manufacturing sector, which is mistakenly held to be the key
to its wealth. (Philip Cross – April 4, 2012)

Philip Cross is a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute and former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada
 
The recent release of the annual survey of business investment is, for me, among the most important data releases from Statistics Canada. If eyes are the window to the soul for humans, then investment is the window to understanding what firms are thinking, not just this year, but their plans for the future.

As interesting as the overall increase of about 8 per cent in business investment intentions for 2012 was its industrial composition. The surge of energy investment is well-known, led by the oil sands. What is less appreciated is the historic boom in mining investment, which has lifted capital spending in this sector to nearly $16-billion, not far from the $20-billion Canada invests in all of its manufacturing industries. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Mining 101

Aboriginal youth in northwestern Ontario are getting a head-start on training opportunities in the mining industry.
 
Oshki-Pimanche-O-Win Education and Training Institute is receiving more than $700,000 from Ottawa and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to inform and steer young people in the 16-to-29 age range toward careers in the minerals sector.
 
A project called Learning 2 Mine will provide training and work experiences in the industry for Aboriginal youth in Northern Ontario. The project will focus on increasing “mining literacy” and training them in essential skills.
 
Gordon Kakegamic, Oshki-Pimanche-O-Win’s e-learning coordinator, said the first part of this two-phase project is a sort of Mining 101 course, giving young people some fundamental knowledge of this industry sector. Read the rest of this entry »

www.mineweekly.com

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining industry doyen Brian Gilbertson, who has been involved in several landmark industry-making investments, foresees South Africa’s platinum endowment as providing the potential for yet another industry-making surge.
 
Besides the outlook of growing demand and struggling supply, there is a snowballing conviction that South Africa could and should become the first mover in creating a kind of ‘Platinum Valley’ that emulates the great Silicon Valley success of the US – and Gilbertson’s Newco is willing to stride towards that potential goal, with the full backing of the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), exciting new technology that is poised to assist in adding value and a local community leader who is champing at the bit to see that it happens in his area.
 
“Being a miner and a beneficiater will allow shareholders to participate in the entire value chain,” Newco’s Arne Frandsen tells Mining Weekly Online in a video interview (see attached).
 
The IDC, which currently has R100-billion-plus on its balance sheet, is part of a special task force that, together with the R23-billion Newco, is driving the beneficiation initiative. Read the rest of this entry »

Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal is a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.

Noront Resources, a junior mining company working toward the development of its Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-PGE deposit in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, is lending its support to a youth empowerment program for First Nation kids who could one day end up working for the company.

DAREarts, a charity that works with youth in challenging circumstances, began its relationship with Webequie four years ago when youth and elders from the First Nation community exposed to DAREarts programming at a Junior Ranger camp asked for help.

“There wasn’t any money in the budget for Webequie, but I couldn’t say no to them,” said DAREarts founder and president Marilyn Field. “I put in some of my own seed money for the first few years until we eventually found some funding.”

The organization uses the arts, including storytelling, photography, dance, drama and music, to help young people build confidence and leadership skills.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper and Wayne Snider is the city editor.

Don’t expect NDP MPPs to save Ontario Northland

Is it possible that one of the reasons the provincial government wants to scrap the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission is that it’s too helpful to Northeastern Ontario? The ONTC has a long history of being progressive in terms of economic development for the region.

In recent history, it was the ONTC that stepped up to the plate to help establish a phosphate mine near Kapuskasing by creating a new spur directly to the site.

And it was the ONTC that recently joined Timmins officials during discussions for a chromite processing facility from the Ring of Fire Project — the biggest mineral discovery in Ontario in the last 100 years. Ontario Northland isn’t just a key component to development in the North, it is part of the North. Read the rest of this entry »