June 15, 2012 – Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: SUDBURY MINING WEEK PHOTO CONTEST A BIG SUCCESS

April 5, 2015June 15, 2012

(From left to right: Pictured with their winning photos, photo contest winners and Vale employees, Dan MacMillan, Darren Hodder and Sarah Desjardins are awarded underground tours of a Vale mine in Sudbury by Danica Pagnutti, Corporate Affairs Specialist, Vale. The prizes were donated by the winners to Tannys Laughren, Executive Director of the Northern Cancer Foundation and Wayne Tonnelli, President of Miners for Cancer)

Prizes donated to Miners for Cancer

For Immediate Release

Sudbury, June 15, 2012 – The Sudbury Mining Week committee announced the winners of the first annual Sudbury Mining Week Photo Contest today. Sarah Desjardins entered the People and Mining category and won Best Overall Photo. Darren Hodder won the Mining Innovation category and Dan MacMillan won the Mining and the Environment category.

The Sudbury Mining Week Photo Contest was launched in 2012 by the Sudbury Mining Week Committee to encourage amateur photographers to share their mining experiences and showcase all that the industry has to offer.

“We are very pleased with the results of the photo contest,” said Nicole Tardif, Chair of the Sudbury Mining Week Committee. “Each of the winning photos showcases mining in Sudbury in its own unique way. We really appreciate these individuals taking the time to submit their photos and share their experience with us.”

The contestants loaded their photos to www.sudburyminingweek.ca/photocontest and the public was invited to vote on their favourite photo. The photos with the most votes in each category won. The photo with the most votes out of all the submissions won best overall. The contest website was linked to Facebook and Twitter, which helped to boost awareness about the contest and Sudbury Mining Week in social media.

Vale moves forward on Victor-Capre project in Sudbury – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – June 2012)

June 15, 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.

Two-for-one mining

Vale is proposing a new nickel-copper-PGM mine in Sudbury that has the potential for a 10-year life with an estimated production of 5,000 tonnes per day, and a projected workforce of 500.

The Victor-Capre project, located 25 km northeast of Sudbury near the community of Skead, is comprised of two properties, Victor and Capre, which the company is looking to combine into one operation. The project, which is situated 2.5 km from Xstrata’s Nickel Rim South Mine, is currently in the pre-feasibility stage to determine the viability of an advanced exploration program. If the study results are favourable, advanced exploration development could begin as early as mid-2013.

“We have been doing exploration out here for quite a while, but now with copper prices the way they are and the outlook for copper quite positive, it makes the project more attractive,” said Angie Robson, manager of corporate affairs for Vale’s Ontario operations. “Vale as a whole wants to increase its copper output and so this is an important project for that.”

Trouble for [Ontario] human-bear relations – by Michael Commito (Toronto Star – June 15, 2012)

June 15, 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.

Michael Commito is a PhD candidate in the history department at McMaster University. His dissertation focuses on the history of big-game management, notably bears, deer and wolves, in Ontario and New York state.

The number of negative interactions between humans and black bears in Ontario has risen sharply this season, raising concerns about the management and welfare of the species across the province. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) recently shifted its emphasis from an active bear management model to one focused on personal responsibility on the part of citizens.

These cuts most notably affect Bear Wise, the provincial body established in 2004 to oversee human-bear interaction in the province. These include a significant reduction in the number of bear technicians, cancelling the trapping and relocation of nuisance bears and on-site visits to landowners experiencing conflicts with bears. Recent incidents highlight the problem associated with trimming the province’s bear monitoring services while still trying to care for the animals’ welfare.

CMHC NEWS RELEASE: Sudbury Employment Growth to Fuel Housing Gains

June 15, 2012

June 14, 2012 08:15 ET

SUDBURY, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – June 14, 2012) – According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Spring Housing Market Outlook report for the Sudbury Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), both the resale market and new construction activity will be buoyed by vibrant employment growth in 2012 and again in 2013 in Greater Sudbury.

“Significant expenditures in mining infrastructure combined with a host of other construction projects will be key to increasing employment numbers that will support the housing industry on all fronts,” stated Warren Philp, CMHC Northern Ontario Market Analyst. After a solid year in 2011, MLS® sales are expected to increase nearly eight per cent reaching 2,700 units in 2012 and 2,800 units in 2013. Average MLS® prices should climb 5.5 per cent this year and a further 2.5 per cent next year,” said Philp.

Single-detached housing starts are forecast to grow three per cent to 330 units in 2012 and 370 units in 2013. Starts of semi-detached, row and apartment starts will subside only slightly to 240 units from the lofty 274 units last year.

[Northern Ontario] Mayors get some answers on ONTC – by Gord Young (North Bay Nugget – June 15, 2012)

June 15, 2012

http://www.nugget.ca/

Bartolucci alleviates concerns, but FONOM will be diligent on divestment

It looks like Rick Bartolucci and the Northern mayors group may have finally found some common ground. The mayors emerged from another meeting this week with the Northern development minister, reporting that some of their concerns regarding the sell off of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission have been alleviated.

Kapuskasing Mayor Alan Spacek, president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), said the group was relieved to hear that there isn’t a deadline for divestment and that the process will “take as long as it takes.”

And although there wasn’t a firm commitment from Bartolucci, Spacek said the mayors also received some level of assurance they will be a part of the process moving forward. “We need to be there at the table,” he said, stressing the importance that Northern stakeholders be involved in the decision-making.

Most productive CEO? Fired Barrick exec generated most profit for pay among peers – by Bloomberg (Toronto Star – June 15, 2012)

June 15, 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.

Aaron Regent, who was fired last week as chief executive officer of Barrick Gold Corp. after failing to boost the stock price, generated more profit for every dollar of pay last year than any of his peers in Canada and the U.S.

Barrick, the world’s largest gold miner, earned $514.98 for every dollar the Toronto-based company paid Regent for 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That was more than the CEOs of the six other largest North American gold companies. Goldcorp Inc., the second-largest producer by market value, reported $172.09 of net income for every dollar awarded CEO Chuck Jeannes. Yamana Gold Inc. CEO Peter Marrone brought in $47.88 in profit for every dollar of pay.

Executive compensation is coming under increasing scrutiny, with gold mining CEOs among the best-paid in Canada last year, even as their companies’ shares failed to match gains in gold prices.

“I would like to see the compensation more directly tied to the stock prices,” Pawel Rajszel, a Toronto-based analyst at Veritas Investment Research, said in an interview. “Then you’ll see these producers be more disciplined in terms of capital allocation.”

Pipelines behind C-38 battle – by Peter Foster (National Post – June 14, 2012)

June 15, 2012

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

Harper right to streamline pipeline regulations

Although this week’s amendment-packed “slumber party” to hold up passage of omnibus Bill C-38 focused on Stephen Harper’s alleged contempt for Parliament, perhaps the most contentious element of a contentious bill related to the streamlining of environmental regulation for new resource infrastructure, in particular pipelines.

This reflects the fact that the petroleum industry is more politicized now than at any time since the 1980 National Energy Program. Then, the issue was a fight between Pierre Trudeau’s Ottawa and Peter Lougheed’s Alberta over the spoils of higher oil and gas prices.

Now, it is a struggle between the Harper government’s aspirations to facilitate and enhance Canada’s status as a petroleum superpower, and an environmental movement that wants to kill the fossil-fuel industry. Meanwhile, old-style interprovincial jealousies have also been stoked by NDP leader Thomas Mulcair’s invoking “Dutch disease:” the suggestion that an oil-boosted Canadian dollar is costing manufacturing jobs.

Massive B.C. reservoir could double gas output – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – June 15, 2012)

June 15, 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.

A monster British Columbia well just south of the 60th parallel is pumping a tremendous volume of natural gas from a globally significant new play that stands to dramatically boost Canada’s gas resources.

Until Thursday, it was a secret, drilled in 2009 and kept under wraps while Houston-based Apache Corp. snapped up more potentially prolific land around it. Revealing results from the well, Apache called it “the most prolific shale gas resource test in the world.”

And the Liard Basin where the well is situated, about 150 kilometres northwest of Fort Nelson, B.C., stands to be the “best unconventional gas reservoir in North America,” the company said. Initial results show it contains enough gas to match Canada’s entire current output for nearly a decade.

That’s based in part on that single well from 2009, which produced 21 million cubic feet per day during its first month, after being “fracked” – a technique used to free shale gas – six times. In other shale gas reservoirs, companies use 18 fracks – and more – to cause even more gas to flow.

NEWS RELEASE: Webequie First Nation signs Cooperative Agreement with Ontario Government

June 15, 2012

For Immediate Release

Thursday June 14, 2012

Webequie First Nation is pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines and the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The MOC, a continuation an MOC signed in May 2004, enhances the working relationship between the Ontario government and Webequie First Nation. The MOC recognizes and protects the interests of Webequie and puts in place commitments to discuss and find mutually acceptable solutions to socio-economic issues in Webequie’s traditional territory.

Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse said, “The signing of this MOC represents a very positive step and demonstrates good faith towards our community and its aspirations to be a real partner in the developments of our traditional territory. We look forward to building the foundations for success with all levels of government.”

“This MOC strengthens our long standing relationship with Webequie First Nation,” said Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci.

NEWS RELEASE: Ontario and Webequie First Nation Sign Memorandum of Co-operation

June 15, 2012

June 14, 2012 4:15 PM

McGuinty Government Will Develop Ring of Fire in Strong Partnership with Far North First Nation

Ontario has signed an updated Memorandum of Co-operation with Webequie First Nation to work together to realize the many benefits from mineral development in the Ring of Fire.

The Memorandum of Co-operation, signed during a visit to Webequie by Minister Bartolucci, commits the province to work with Webequie to advance discussions with the federal government to ensure communities are prepared to fully participate in Ring of Fire developments. Ontario is also committed to providing Webequie with social, community and economic development supports and resource revenue sharing associated with Ring of Fire developments. Ontario and Webequie First Nation will also work together on regional environmental monitoring and regional infrastructure planning.

The Memorandum of Co-operation the need to develop a strong working relationship between the First Nations and the Ontario government on the potential impact of proposed development on their traditional territories. It also builds on a previous Memorandum of Co-operation signed in 2004 committing to help strengthen community foundations and bring prosperity to Ontario’s Far North.