May 17, 2012 – Republic of Mining

We take our responsibilities very seriously when it comes to consulting with our First Nations partners – Dalton McGuinty – by James Murray (NetNewsLedger – May 16, 2012)

May 17, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK – The battle over who is listening is being fought in Queen’s Park. During Question Period today, the NDP leader Andrea Horwath was up questioning the Premier on the differences between the Ontario government and the First Nations over the Ring of Fire.

Howath asked Premier Dalton McGuinty, “Last week, the government assured this Legislature and the public that First Nations partners were being properly consulted about development in the Ring of Fire. Today, we’re hearing a very different story from the Neskantaga First Nation, whose legal counsel asserts that the government breached its legal duty to consult. Why has this government shown no serious willingness—and those are the First Nations’ words—to address the concerns of Neskantaga and other Mattawa First Nations?”

The Premier responded, “I just want to say that we take our responsibilities very seriously when it comes to consulting with our First Nations partners. We understand there is legal obligation there, but we also feel a sense of responsibility, on behalf of all Ontarians, to make sure that we are working with our First Nations partners, especially when it comes to exciting new opportunities to be found in the Ring of Fire. I know that specific efforts were made to reach out to those communities in the past. We will continue to find ways to move forward.

Special tribute to prospecting legends – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – May 16, 2012)

May 17, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Porcupine Prospectors and Developers Association honour trio of mining heroes

For many, the idea of prospecting goes hand in hand with the gold rushes in the early 1900s. Colourless men in britches panning the rivers outside of Dawson City, wearing wide brimmed hats keeping the sun off of their sweat stained backs.

However, prospectors have transcended the years and can still be found roaming the bush, the mountainsides and the valleys of Canada staking claims, seeking gold and above all, the big pay out from the mining companies. While the technology has changed drastically, the principle of hard work hasn’t.

Which is why the Porcupine Prospectors and Developers Association honoured three men with lifetime achievement awards for being at the forefront of their peers — they are mine finders. Don McKinnon, John Larche and Shawn Ryan were awarded for their prowess as gold finders, and more than that, their ability to provide mining companies a reason to dig deep.

“Prospectors live a hand-to-mouth existence,” said Gregory Reynolds, former managing editor of the Timmins Daily Press. “Never having a steady pay cheque and never knowing where in Canada the next contract will take them.”

North [Ontario] gets chill from McGuinty – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – May 17, 2012)

May 17, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper and Brian MacLeod is the managing editor. brian.macleod@sunmedia.ca

Northern Ontario has never been homogeneous. Its vast geography and the rivalries among municipalities make it a hard political animal to tame.

And that makes life difficult for Premier Dalton McGuinty. Developments over the last couple of years show that. The closure of Xstrata’s Kidd Creek Metallurgical plant in Timmins in 2010 saw 600 jobs lost as the work moved to Quebec, in large part because of the high cost of power in Ontario.

In March, the government announced it will privatize the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission — which provides some rail, bus and communications services in the North — putting 1,000 jobs in question. And last week, Cliffs Natural Resources, the U.S. firm that’s first in developing the massive Ring of Fire chromite deposit in northwestern Ontario, announced it would build its ferrochrome smelter in Sudbury, bringing about 450 jobs.

Mouse against elephant [Ring of Fire conflict] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 17, 2012)

May 17, 2012

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

Chief Peter Moonias, of Neskantaga First Nation, has the backing of his members to do whatever it takes– legal action, blockading and even acts of “mischief” — to get Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci to negotiate with his community.

Moonias has hired a British Columbia lawyer, experienced in native land claims, to represent his 400-member community 35 ki lometres from where Cliffs Natural Resources intends to operate an open-pit chromite mine in the Ring of Fire.

Neskantaga members are furious because they say they weren’t consulted by the province before it gave Cliffs approval in principle to mine the deposit and locate a ferrochrome processing plant near Capreol.

Bartolucci said last week his government will enter into framework agreements with First Nations as it finalizes details of its agreement with Cleveland-based Cliffs. The chief says that’s like someone coming onto a Sudbury homeowner’s property, digging up the lawn and saying, “I’ll have a framework agreement after I finish digging.”

Let claims lapse, says group – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – May 17, 2012)

May 17, 2012

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

A decision by the provincial government will determine the fate of Wolf Lake Forest Reserve for the next two decades, a group dedicated to protecting the area says.

Members of the Wolf Lake Coalition gathered at Memorial Park in downtown Sudbury on Wednesday to make the case for why more of Wolf Lake should be turned into parkland, and to release a report detailing why the area needs to be protected.

“We’re at a key time in terms of being two weeks away from a decision that the Ontario government will make, which will either open the way for full protection as a park or block that for another 21 years,” said Beth Mairs, a member of the Wolf Lake group and the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury.

On May 31, a mining lease in the forest is set to expire. The group is urging the government to end the lease, rather than renew it for another 21 years. The Mike Harris government made a promise in 1999 that once a mining lease or claim lapses in the Wolf Lake area, the land in question becomes parkland and will be added to the Chiniguchi Waterway Provincial Park, in Greater Sudbury north of Lake Wahnapitae.