$2B Sudbury smelter clean-up spells jobs, cleaner air – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – June 23, 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.

SUDBURY—Since the 1970s, the giant super stack that looms over the Sudbury skyline has spewed foul-smelling pollutants into the air. Now a $2 billion clean-up of the Vale Copper Cliff smelter is underway, a project being billed as one of the larger single environmental investments in Ontario’s history.

Against the backdrop of the official ground-breaking ceremony, Premier Dalton McGuinty addressed local dignitaries Friday and opened the provincial Liberal council weekend meeting — a chance for the party to regroup and recharge after coming perilously close to a summer election few wanted.

“I wish we had a few more Sudbury’s around the province,” McGuinty said, pointing to 8,300 new jobs that have been created in the area since the Liberals formed government in 2003.

The Clean AER Project, which stands for atmospheric emissions reduction, will see sulphur dioxide at the smelter reduced by 70 per cent from current levels, said Dave Stefanuto, the project director.

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How will the city [Sudbury] capitalize on investment and growth? – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – June 23, 2012)

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

Click Here For the Speech: City of Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk “State of the City Address”

Mayor Marianne Matichuk’s State of the City address this week was more of a review than a visionary speech. There’s nothing wrong with that, so long as it captures what’s important on her agenda. But the speech spent a lot of time explaining how mining is important to the city — in case you were wondering — and why Sudbury is important to the mining world.

All speeches make room for reflection, but they also need to generate excitement and show what will come of all that potential.

Some of that potential was there, in the speech, but the buzz just wasn’t galvanized for a city that is expected to move into an expansion phase that it hasn’t seen for years. The mayor’s speech was sprinkled with affirmation phrases: “Sudbury is the epicentre of Canada’s hard-rock mining sector”; “there is an incredible sense of energy and prosperity in the air”; “Sudbury is an island of prosperity”; “no one in this entire country can begrudge our community its moment in the sun.”

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McGuinty touts Clean AER project: $2-billion initiative promises to reduce smelter emissions by 70% – by Rita Poliakov (Sudbury Star – June 23, 2012)

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

The significance of Vale’s Clean AER project goes beyond the City of Greater Sudbury. “It’s good for the North, good for the province and good for the lungs of our children and grandchildren,” said Premier Dalton McGuinty, at the $2-billion project’s groundbreaking on Friday.

McGuinty was joined by several cabinet ministers and Vale executives at the ceremony, which marked the beginning of construction. The Clean AER (atmospheric emissions reduction) project, called the largest single environmental investment in Sudbury’s history, will reduce sulphur dioxide emissions at Vale’s Copper Cliff smelter by 70%.

The project’s goal is to bring emissions down to 45 kilotonnes per year, well below the province’s regulatory limit of 66 kilotonnes per year. During construction, which should last until 2015, the smelter complex will be retrofitted and new secondary baghouse and material handling facilities, which prevents dust from entering the community, will be constructed.

The most complicated area of the project will stem from the smelter itself, which will continue to operate during construction. “It’s very complicated,” said Dave Stefanuto, the project director. “We’ll be replacing four converters.”

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Timmins working to attract New Brunswick mine workers to the city – by TEDC News Release/The Timmins Times (June 22, 2012)

http://www.timminstimes.com/

Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) travels to Bathurst, NB where mine is closing next year

Timmins is heading to the east coast of Canada to see if it can find more skilled mine workers to come to the City With a Heart of Gold.

Cheryl St-Amour, from the Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC), has travelled to Bathurst New Brunswick with representatives of Xstrata Copper Kidd Operations to promote the City of Timmins, and specifically, www.jobsintimmins.com said a news release from TEDC. Cheryl St-Amour noted that the “jobsintimmins” website has now become a central source of information on available employment opportunities in the City of Timmins, said the release.

Bathurst is home to the Brunswick Mine, an Xstrata Zinc operation. In March 2012, the company announced that Brunswick Mine would close in 2013 after almost half a century of mining activity. More than 800 people will be seeking to use their skills at other projects. These employees consist of a variety of skilled and unskilled workers, equipment operators, professionals and other mining related positions, said TEDC.

Xstrata Zinc is working to assist employees and their families transition to new opportunities and have been holding both internal and external job fairs for employees.

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Job-hungry Alberta scours globe for workers – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – June 23, 2012)

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

CALGARY – For the past seven years, the mining community of Baia Mare in Romania’s northern interior has eagerly stepped up to alleviate Alberta’s labour shortages. For Joe Giusti, founder and CEO of one of Western Canada’s largest construction companies, it was a long way to travel to search for workers.
 
It was hard, too, once he found them. His firm, Giusti Group, had to teach recruits basic English so they would understand safety regulations. They had to meet rigid immigration requirements for temporary foreign workers. They had to be moved to an unfamiliar work environment, and sent back home just as they were getting used to their new jobs and way of life.

Yet Mr. Giusti was so encouraged by the enthusiasm shown by hundreds of young people who answered his calls for carpenters, cement finishers and general labourers, and by their performance in Alberta, he led recruitment missions there several times. Meanwhile, he was pleased to notice how the local community’s economy flourished from a steady influx of Alberta oil cash, as people dressed better, bought new furniture and renovated houses.
 
“When I went to Romania the first time, it brought me back to the 1960s in Italy,” said the builder, who since moving to Western Canada four decades ago from Treviso, near Venice, completed more than 50,000 multi-family units and took on some of the West’s biggest industrial projects, even as he fine-tuned a passion for oil painting using Titian’s colour techniques.

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[Ontario] Premier determined to mine Ring of Fire, despite opposition – by Rita Poliakov (Sudbury Star – June 23, 2012)

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

“We’ve been blessed with some rich mineral deposits (in Ontario). There will be
some stops and starts (in the development), as is human nature,” he said. “If
you bring some good will to the table, it’s amazing what you can get done.”
(Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty – June 22, 2012 – Sudbury)

Premier Dalton McGuinty is determined to work through any complications that threaten Ring of Fire development, he said while at a Vale event in Sudbury. “We need to find a way to work through any differences,” he said. “It’s not an option not to find a way.”

McGuinty’s comments come after six northwestern Ontario First Nations communities threatened to prepare eviction notices for mining companies working in the Ring of Fire, a mineral-rich area located about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay. These communities are demanding to be more involved in any decisions made in the area.

When asked if he is concerned about growing First Nations opposition to Ring of Fire development, McGuinty remained optimistic.

“We’ve been blessed with some rich mineral deposits (in Ontario). There will be some stops and starts (in the development), as is human nature,” he said. “If you bring some good will to the table, it’s amazing what you can get done.”

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First Nations plan to evict mining ‘intruders’ – CBC Radio Thunder Bay (June 22, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/
 
Northwestern Ontario communities aim to stop development in the Ring of Fire until First Nations’ concerns are met. Six northwestern Ontario First Nations are preparing eviction notices for mining companies working in the Ring of Fire.
 
Aroland, Constance Lake, Ginoogaming , Long Lake 58, Neskantaga and Nibinamik plan to give the companies 30 days to cease all activity.
 
Neskantaga chief Peter Moonias said unless there are government-to-government negotiations over First Nations’ participation in the mining projects, the communities will evict what he calls the intruders on their lands. The chiefs have been calling for those negotiations for more than two years.
 
“Cliffs, Noront and all the other mining companies active in the Ring of Fire will have 30 days from the time the eviction notice is served to pack up their bags and leave our lands,” Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation said. His comments were echoed by Chief Johnny Yellowhead of Nibinamik First Nation.

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