Locate smelter in Greenstone … or else, Aroland chief says – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – May 8, 2012)

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

First Nation poised to fight Ring of Fire development

The Chief of Aroland First Nation in northwestern Ontario is adamant that the only way he’ll support the Ring of Fire development is if Cliffs Natural Resources agrees to build the ferrochrome smelter in Greenstone, Ont., near his community.

“That’s our bottom line,” said Sonny Gagnon, chief of the 325 residents of Aroland, on May 7. “That smelter is pretty much the key to the concept we have of how this thing should be developed.”

Gagnon said the project is a huge opportunity for First Nations in the area, one that could have a lasting impact for the next 100 years. There is no way he and his community could support the Ring of Fire if smelter jobs are located in Sudbury, which, for weeks, has been rumoured as the site for the smelter.

For example, Gagnon said some local communities have to rely on diesel power for electricity. If the smelter is built in the area, it would have to be attached to the provincial power grid, potentially offering those communities access to the same power grid most Ontarians take for granted.

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Let Them Eat – The Case for Phosphate Mining – by Brian Ostroff (ResourceInvestor.com – May 8, 2012)

www.resourceinvestor.com

I will be attending the Hard Asset Conference in New York a little later this month where I am sure the topic of gold will be hotly debated.  For one, I believe that gold is relatively cheap and will make its way considerably higher.  As for gold equities, they are trading at valuations only seen once in the last thirty plus years and despite all those who argue that gold ETFs have killed gold stock investment, I would not be too quick to count these stocks out.
 
With that said, I would like to talk about a more important commodity for mankind.  Yes, gold is important for those who are concerned about purchasing power, currency devaluation and a general hedge against economic and political uncertainty but when push comes to shove, could anyone really argue that anything is more important than food?
 
All food is grown (crops, fruits, vegetables, etc.) or comes from animals that themselves survive on things that are grown and, in order to grow things, we need fertilizer.  Fertilizer in comprised of nitrogen, potash and phosphate and whether you realize it or not, North America has a problem when it comes to phosphate because North America is not self-reliant. 

Canada has only one operating phosphate mine (Agrium’s Kapuskasing Mine) which is scheduled to close within a year and Florida’s operations have had issues mostly brought on by environmental concerns.  The result is that North America’s deficit will continue to grow adding to our reliance on foreign countries to offset this shortage.

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Kinross Gold’s Mauritanian desert storm -by Nicolas Johnson (Globe and Mail – May 8, 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.

The Tasiast gold mine in the Mauritanian desert was the biggest acquisition in Kinross Gold Corp.’s 19-year existence and one of the biggest takeovers in the history of the gold industry.

It was to have been the centrepiece of the Kinross portfolio, transforming the Toronto-based company into one of the fastest-growing gold miners in the world.

Instead, the $7.1-billion acquisition of Red Back Mining Inc. has bludgeoned Kinross’s stock and balance sheet. The company took a $2.49-billion writedown in February, angering investors and leaving the company’s chief executive officer battling to retain his credibility. Shares of the miner have lost about half their value since the August, 2010, deal.

On Wednesday morning, at Kinross’s annual meeting in Toronto, president and CEO Tye Burt will get another chance to convince shareholders that the biggest bet of his career will pay off. The miner reports earnings a day earlier, on Tuesday.

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Greenstone miffed at Cliffs’ smelter snub – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 8, 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.

Greenstone Mayor Ron Beaulieu wants answers from Cliffs Natural Resources on why his municipality was overlooked in the project planning for its Ring of Fire chromite project.
 
Beaulieu said Cliffs left many unanswered questions on the table following a presentation by CEO Joseph Carrabarra at an Aboriginal Business Council luncheon May 1 in Thunder Bay. Carrabba came and went from the city without taking questions from the audience or media.
 
“We left disappointed by the sheer lack of information,” wrote Beaulieu in a May 4 letter to Carrabarra, especially on how power will generated and delivered to the mine site in the James Bay lowlands.
 
“We want to know the hard facts,” Beaulieu said in an interview with Northern Ontario Business. “We’re not getting any answers. It’s so vague.”

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Proposed mining act changes flawed, critics say – by CBC Thunder Bay (May 7, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

The deadline to comment on proposed changes to the province’s mining act has passed. But some people say the changes will not address outstanding issues, including obtaining permits and First Nations consultation.
 
Isadore Day, the Lake Huron Regional Grand Chief, said there needs to be a balance that includes dialogue with First Nations people while improving the province’s economy.

“I think the government has to take a step back and ask itself the question, ‘does it make sense now to use this as an example to ensure that First Nations are participating in the resource based economy’ to answer the outstanding issue of resource revenue sharing,” he said. Day said improvements also need to be made regarding early consultation between mining companies and First Nations.
 
The proposed mining regulations also have potential to negatively impact business for junior mining companies, said Dave Hunt, a geologist who heads up the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association.

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Enbridge braces for more pipeline backlash as annual meeting nears – by Jameson Berkow (National Post – May 7, 2012)

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

CALGARY — As if Enbridge Inc. could not hear the cries of protests over the Northern Gateway pipeline at its annual meeting in Calgary last year, what will hit the company in Toronto on Wednesday is expected to be even louder.
 
Public hearings into the $5.5-billion project to bring crude oil from Bruderheim, Alta. 1,172-kilometre west to the Pacific coast town of Kitimat, B.C. — and from there to energy-hungry markets in Asia — have since begun, serving as a focal point for criticism. Canada’s largest crude transporter has also opted to hold this year’s AGM in the country’s financial capital, where many groups opposing the pipeline command a strong presence and where the risk of a public relations backlash affecting the company’s share price is heightened.

As members of the Calgary-based Enbridge executive team make the trip to Toronto this week, a train carrying some of Northern Gateway’s most vocal critics is close behind. Hundreds of protestors are expected to rally outside the AGM, with a “Freedom Train” set to arrive Wednesday carrying dozens of members of the Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of British Columbia First Nations opposed to the project.

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Be transparent: [Ring of Fire] First Nation – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 8, 2012)

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

Aroland First Nation in northwestern Ontario wants the government of Ontario to open up about “confidential meetings” its says it has been holding with Cliffs Natural Resources about development of the Ring of Fire chromite deposits.

The 325-member First Nation, about 20 kilometres west of Nakina in Greenstone, has filed a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to disclose information about the meetings.

At the same time, the mayor of Greenstone, Renald Beaulieu, is calling upon Cliffs’ chairman, president and chief executive officer, Joseph Carrabba, to answer several questions left unresolved last week after Carrabba spoke to the Aboriginal Business Council in Thunder Bay.

Beaulieu said he attended that meeting expecting to learn “something about the company’s approach to matters that remain unaddressed” — specifically the location of a smelter that Cliffs will build to process chromite ore from the Ring of Fire.

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