May 18, 2012 – Republic of Mining

Selective outrage [in Ring of Fire First Nations] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (May 17, 2012)

May 18, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

THE CHIEF of a First Nation near the Ring of Fire mineral deposit has said he’ll die before he allows a mining company to cross a river near his community to access its property. Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias said Cliffs Natural Resources’ chromite development at the headwaters of the Attawapiskat River could destroy his community.

Moonias wrote to Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci to express disappointment with Ontario’s decision to support Cliffs’ multi-billion dollar plan including a north-south all-season road linking the mine with a rail line near Aroland First Nation and the nearby town of Nakina.

“These decisions will have significant adverse effects on our lands, environment and way of life,” Moonias wrote. “Your government has made these decisions without adequate consultation with Neskantaga, in breach of your legal duties . . . .”

Moonias threatened to “use every lawful means at our disposal” to oppose the Cliffs project — the largest single component of the biggest economic development opportunity to hit Northern Ontario in a lifetime.

Wanted: New deal – by PJ WILSON, QMI AGENCY (Sudbury Star – May 18, 2012)

May 18, 2012

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

NORTH BAY — Northern Ontarians will be able to let the provincial government know where they stand on the ONTC divestment.

A partnership between the Northern Communities Working Group and the Northern Regional Publishing Group of Sun Media is giving residents of the North their chance to get a new deal for Ontario Northland.

The 11 Sun Media newspapers in Northeastern Ontario — The Nugget, Sudbury Star, Sault Star, Timmins Daily Press, Cochrane Times Post, Elliot Lake Standard, Kapuskasing Northern Times, Espanola Mid-North Monitor and Kirkland Lake Northern News — will run ads and window inserts calling for a New Deal for Ontario Northland.

“We are looking to show the government that there is support for a new deal for Ontario Northland and that Northerners expect the premier … to come to the North and meet with Northern mayors,” said North Bay Mayor Al McDonald.

He said mayors across the North have been trying to meet with Premier Dalton McGuinty since the March 23 announcement the province would divest Ontario Northland, but “the premier refuses to meet with the mayors.”

Plans to dig in space are not that far out – by Brenda Dalglish (Globe and Mail – May 17, 2012)

May 18, 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.

Although miners were the villains in James Cameron’s blockbuster movie Avatar, about a 22nd-century mining colony exploiting a local tribe on a lush moon called Pandora, the Canadian-born director’s latest business project involves real-life asteroid mining.

Mr. Cameron has joined a group of technology tycoons, including Google chief executive officer Larry Page and executive chairman Eric Schmidt, in a company called Planetary Resources Inc., of Seattle, which announced a plan last month to work toward mining valuable minerals from asteroids for profit.

While it sounds more like a science fiction story than a business plan, the possibility of mining in space is rapidly emerging, and several Canadian companies and agencies are quietly working on projects that will be needed when the search for off-Earth resources begins.

“It’s a new paradigm. Canada is a mining country with a lot of mining expertise,” said Jean-Claude Piedboeuf, director of space exploration development with the Canadian Space Agency in Ottawa. “So what we’re looking at is how we can apply this expertise in space.”

BRICS: A hyped concept that needs to be retired – by David Olive (Toronto Star – May 15, 2012)

May 18, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

As artificial constructs go, the phantom colossus of emerging economic superpowers known as BRICS has had an overhyped 11-year run and needs to be retired.

The acronym was coined by a global economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the New York investment bank, in 2001. At that time, Brazil, Russia, India and China – the first countries to which Wall Street applied this new marketing term (South Africa, the “S” in BRICS, was added last year) – were, or at least appeared to be, characterized by rapid GDP growth that outpaced the developed world, and the adoption of Western-friendly free-trade practices, deregulation policies, and streamlined bureaucracies.

If not one of the bigger hoaxes of the new century, the BRICS certainly aren’t the threat to the old world order they’ve long been touted as.

The torrid GDP growth rate that prevailed in the BRICS countries through the 2000s has markedly slowed in each of them. And the Western-friendly reforms have stalled or were stillborn.

Reviving Arctic oil rush, Ottawa to auction rights in massive area – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – May 17, 2012)

May 18, 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.

CALGARY— Ottawa has placed 905,000 hectares of the northern offshore up for bids, clearing the way for energy companies to snap up exploration rights for an area half the size of Lake Ontario. The scale of the offer indicates eagerness in the oil patch to drill for new finds in Canada’s northern waters less than two years after such plans were put on hold following the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a major Arctic drilling safety review.

The Arctic exploration auction resumes as the Harper government is promoting greater development of the country’s resources. It has taken steps to speed regulatory approvals for major energy projects such as the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, promising to limit the ability of environmental groups and other opponents to block or delay new developments.

The prospect of further northern drilling fits squarely with that mandate, said Jason MacDonald, spokesman for John Duncan, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, which oversees the northern land auction.

“The bid call reflects the potential that we see for resource development,” he said.

Two Sudbury OMA contributors – Charlie Graham and Bob Onucki – gain CIM recognition

May 18, 2012

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Two significant and long-serving contributors to Ontario Mining Association activities and initiatives have recently been presented with major awards by the Canadian Institute of Mining. Bob Onucki, Senior Global Account Director Mining for Sandvik, won the CIM Distinguished Service Medal and Charlie Graham, Managing Director of the Canadian Mining Industry Research Organization (CAMIRO), was the first winner of the Underground Mining Society Award.

Presentations of these mining industry awards were made recently at the Canadian Institute of Mining’s 114th annual conference, which was held in Edmonton. Both Mr. Onucki and Mr. Graham are based in Sudbury. They were part of a contingent of 10 people from the Sudbury area who received recognition at this awards ceremony. The CIM Distinguished Service Medal was inaugurated in 1956. It is presented for distinguished and meritorious service to the CIM and the mineral industry, of a nature not necessarily technical or scientific.

“This award culminates 40 years of my being in the mining business and more than 25 of those years as a CIM member,” said Mr. Onucki, who has always been a champion of promoting students interested in the industry. “This award reminds me of the great people and interesting moments in the business and it is absolutely fantastic to be recognized by my peers.”

Image makeover needed to draw fresh talent to mining – by Brenda Dalglish (Globe and Mail – May 18, 2012)

May 18, 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.

It is almost unheard of for CEOs to grant media interviews about human resource matters because in most companies hiring does not require the scarce resource of CEO attention.

But Steve Letwin, chief executive officer of Iamgold Corp., Canada’s sixth-largest gold producer last year with mines in Suriname, Burkina Faso, Mali and Quebec, not only agreed to be interviewed about the serious global labour shortage confronting the resource sector now, but he also spoke frankly about the striking adjustments his company is making to address the shortage of skilled workers.

“We have this massive gap between the mining people who are ready for retirement and young people who are willing to go to locations that are not downtown Toronto,” Mr. Letwin said. “We’ve raised our children – and I have three of them – to want the good life. That’s fine, but the good life is not defined as somewhere in West Africa or deep in the jungles of South America or northern Quebec. So to get people educated, trained and motivated to go to these spots is not exactly easy.”

The Mining Industry Human Resources Council was set up in 1996 to help mining workers transition out of the industry bec

Junior resource investment in a financial meltdown – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – May 18, 2012)

May 18, 2012

www.mineweb.com

Rick Rule’s presentation at the New York Hard Assets Conference earlier this week sees some light for the informed junior resource investor despite current patterns which have mostly been Bad or Ugly!

NEW YORK (MINEWEB) – In a highly entertaining keynote address to the New York Hard Assets Investment Conference, Rick Rule of Global Resource Investments, now part of the Sprott Group, who professes to be a contrarian investor presented his views on resource investment in a financial meltdown – a very relevant speech in the current environment when so many resource stocks have been decimated.

He divided much of his talk into three categories – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

So as not to depress people too much at the start of his talk he examined The Good first and said there is much that is Good for the investor. Primarily he reckons the natural resource bull market remains intact despite the recent poor performance of the markets. There are very good fundamental reasons for this driven by a dramatic increase in living standards for the poor in the emerging market economies. As people become more free they become more rich – and the things they buy are made of ‘stuff’, while in the West we are mostly buying what could be termed luxuries rather than ‘stuff’.

Timmins honours King of the Klondike, Sean Ryan, at gala dinner – by Len Gillis (Timmins Times – May 17, 2012)

May 18, 2012

http://www.timminstimes.com/

Ryan, John Larche and Don McKinnon honoured as part of 100th anniversary celebration

Some of the most famous prospectors in Timmins, indeed in all of Canada, were honoured this week at the Gala Mining Dinner hosted by the Porcupine Miners Memorial Committee to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Timmins.

Fittingly the event was held at the McIntyre ballroom Tuesday night, named for the the mine discovered by another of the city’s legendary mine finders. But the evening was dedicated to some of the more modern prospectors who have made their mark in other parts of Ontario and other parts of Canada, but have always remained true to their Timmins roots.

The tributes were presented in recognition of the city’s 100th anniversary and also because later this year, the city will unveil three larger-than-life bronze statues to commemorate the mining discoveries by Jack Wilson, Benny Hollinger and Sandy McIntyre, the prospectors who found the Big Three gold mining properties in Timmins, The Dome Mine, The Hollinger Mine and The McIntyre Mine.

It made the evening the right setting to honour three modern-day Timmins prospectors whose names have become synonymous with success in finding gold; John Larche, Don McKinnon and Sean Ryan.

Private sector will provide ONTC services – by Rick Bartolucci – Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines (May 18, 2012)

May 18, 2012

Our government’s decision to divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission was a difficult one that was made after careful deliberation. No other government has done more than ours to try to make the ONTC viable.

We have invested more than $430 million to date — almost three times the funding provided by the last two governments combined. And while our support has increased, revenues generated by ONTC continue to decline and ridership is stagnant at best.

At a time when governments all over the world — including Ontario — are financially stretched to the limit, we must focus our limited resources on priorities such as education and health care.

And for Northern Ontario, we need to protect the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, which is a known job creator for every community along the Highway 11 corridor and, in fact, all of Northern Ontario.

I know the divestment decision has caused some uncertainty for passengers and ONTC employees in the 13 communities with ONTC operations. Given the longstanding presence of the ONTC along the Highway 11 corridor, I understand the emotional reaction this has provoked and the concern of workers with regard to next steps.