July 4, 2012 – Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Tim Hudak: Time to Break a New Frontier with the Ring of Fire

July 4, 2012

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario can change course from its slide to rust-belt status, but only with the courage to seize opportunities that lie dormant all around us, PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

Hudak, a former Minister of Northern Development and Mines, made the comments after returning from the Ring of Fire – a vast, untapped deposit of chromite, nickel, copper, zinc and iron ore in the James Bay Lowlands. Chromite is now especially valuable because it is essential for making stainless steel, in huge demand worldwide because of rapid growth in developing countries. Ontario stands to gain 50,000 direct and indirect jobs, and potential economic activity of hundreds of billions of dollars, by moving the project forward, Hudak added.

“In 2001, Ontario was the world’s Number One in mining,” Hudak said. “By last year we had slipped to twenty-third, thanks to years of high taxes and electricity costs and over-regulation – and a government that seems to think mining is a dirty ‘sunset industry’. That’s wrong. This is a once-in-a-century opportunity for Ontario – but only if the Premier takes the lead in selling it.”

NEWS RELEASE: New President CEO for MIRARCO [Laurentian University mining research]

July 4, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sudbury, ON, July 3, 2012 – The Board of Directors of MIRARCO Mining Innovation is pleased to announce the appointment of Vic Pakalnis, P.Eng. as President and Chief Executive Officer of the corporation effective July 1st, 2012.

Marc Boudreau, President and CEO of BESTECH and Chairman of the Board of Directors for MIRARCO welcomes Vic to MIRARCO. “Vic’s experience and relationships in both the industrial and public sectors will help to shape strong and vibrant strategic objectives for the long term success of MIRARCO. The Board of Directors looks forward to working with Vic and believe that he will bring; renewed energy, innovative ideas, growth, and diversification to the organization.”

Vic Pakalnis earned a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Mining Engineering and a Master of Engineering Degree from McGill University in 1972 and 1976 respectively. In 1994, he obtained a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University.

Vic brings expertise from a career with various mining companies including Inco Ltd, Iron Ore Company of Canada and Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. In the later company, he served as their Senior Ground Control Engineer.

Polish PM tours [Sudbury] Morrison deposit during brief visit – by Northern Ontario Business staff (Northern Ontario Business – June 29, 2012)

July 4, 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.

Whirlwind tour

A May sojourn to Sudbury by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was kept so quiet, few knew he had visited the city until he was already gone. The PM made a brief stop in Sudbury to visit the Morrison deposit at Levack Mine, one of three properties owned by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., the Polish, state-run company that bought out Quadra FNX in early 2012.

Quadra now operates as KGHMInternational Ltd., a subsidiary of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., which focuses on growth in copper and other metals. KGHM also owns Sudbury’s McCreedy West and Podolsky mines, as well as the Victoria exploration project.

KGHM accesses the Morrison through the shaft and underground infrastructure at Xstrata Nickel’s Craig Mine, an arrangement agreed upon by the two companies last fall.

Under terms of the arrangement, Quadra will have access to the Craig Mine and infrastructure for the life of the Levack Mine/Morrison deposit, and will operate the Craig shaft and underground infrastructure but will not undertake mining from Xstrata Nickel’s Craig property.

Open minds, open mines [Ring of Fire] – by Russell Noble (Canadian Mining Journal – June/July 2012)

July 4, 2012

Russell Noble is the editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

“Behind-closed-doors” meetings are usually far less important than those on the private side of the door think they are; but when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently slammed the door on the pestering media to talk about Ontario’s Ring of Fire and its vast chromium deposits, something worthwhile was actually up for discussion.

In fact, I applaud the two leaders for meeting (almost) secretly to talk about one of the hottest issues in Canada’s mining history. Ontario’s chromium is of world-scale proportions and, if and when developed, would put Ontario (and Canada) in the same league as Alberta and its oil sands when it comes to a national resource.

Both Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty know this, and now it’s just a matter of developing a plan to develop this resource without upsetting those who think that mining is bad.

It’s not an easy task, and that’s why I think the recent “closed-door” meeting was tactically correct, because it gave both men a chance to roll up their sleeves and throw the whole matter on the table with¬out fear of their every word being quoted.

Tensions rising over Ring of Fire – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – July 4, 2012)

July 4, 2012

http://www.wawataynews.ca/

Matawa First Nations’ efforts to slow down development of the Ring of Fire and advance First Nation input over mining has received support from First Nations across northern Ontario. Both the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and Mushkegowuk Council last week released statements of support for Matawa’s stance.

Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit said offers of “small” Impact Benefit Agreements made by industry to affected First Nations are not enough, and that First Nation voices need to be heard when it comes to how and when mining happens in northern Ontario.

“We too are very frustrated with how the project is being aggressively advanced with little or no regard for First Nations rights and jurisdictions,” Louttit said. The Grand Chief said that Mushkegowuk First Nations are prepared to engage in direct action against Ring of Fire companies in support of the Matawa First Nations.

“We are ready to stand with our brothers and sisters to be heard,” Louttit said. “We have tried, but no one has listened. It is unfortunate indeed that we have to resort to this type of action.”

NEWS RELEASE: KWG Provides Big Daddy Resource Update

July 4, 2012

MONTREAL, QUEBEC–(July 4, 2012) – KWG Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KWG) has taken delivery of a 43-101 compliant resource estimate from Sibley Basin Group. The resource estimate is an update based on a 42-hole core-drilling program totaling 13,459 metres completed in March, 2012, and managed by the project operator, Cliffs Chromite Far North Inc. The objective of the program was to upgrade resources to the indicated and measured categories, suitable for use in mine design.

At a 15% cutoff, the measured resource is 29.5 MT, grading 29% Cr2O3, the indicated resource is 7.9 MT grading 26.7% Cr 2O3, and the inferred resource is 4.8 MT grading 25.0% Cr2 O3. The previous resource estimate prepared by Micon International (KWG PR, May 3rd, 2010) also modeled the deposit at a 15% cutoff and produced an indicated resource of 26.4 MT grading 39.37% Cr2 O3. The Micon indicated resource corresponds to the Sibley combined measured and indicated of 37.4 MT grading 28.5% Cr2O 3. The lower grade and higher volume of the new model contemplates the use of a less selective approach to mining and incorporates lower grade material, resulting in a lower average grade. Moe Lavigne, VP Exploration and Development stated, “Decisions on selectivity of mining will be subject to change during ramp-up to production and during production as the market conditions dictate.”

The most significant difference between the two resource estimates is in the inferred category. The Micon model extrapolated the depth continuity to 250 to 300 m beyond the drilling intercepts while the new model extrapolates the resource to only 50 m beyond drilling. For the purpose of mine planning, this conservative approach is more prudent.

The case for opening up Canadian businesses to foreign ownership – by Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew (Toronto Star – July 4, 2012)

July 4, 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.

Foreign ownership can help Canadian businesses get an injection of new capital and gain access to international supply chains or new technology, says Laura Dawson, a researcher, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, and a consultant on cross-border trade, market access, and regulatory issues.

“Foreign investors can help Canadian businesses do things they couldn’t do on their own,” she said. “You can develop an industry domestically but in order to take it to the next step, you often have to have an infusion of foreign capital or know-how.”

Canadian high-tech firm Newbridge Networks, for instance, was acquired by telecommunications giant Alcatel for more than $7 billion in 2000. At the time, Newbridge was floundering with poor earnings and a sinking stock price.

Today, Alcatel-Lucent is headquartered in France and ranks among the world’s telecom powerhouses. It is also considered one of the most innovative companies in the world.

The case against opening up Canadian businesses to foreign ownership – by Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew (Toronto Star – July 4, 2012)

July 4, 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.

Erin Weir, economist for the United Steelworkers, doesn’t dispute the potential upside of new investment, but he says it’s important to consider the potential pitfalls of foreign takeovers – particularly the loss of Canadian head offices and the jobs that go with them.

For unions, a foreign owner can lead to a loss of bargaining power. The United Steel Workers had substantial bargaining power with Inco but that changed when Vale bought the company in 2007.

“Then the unions representing Canadian miners had a lot less negotiating power because Vale operates mines producing the same commodities around the world,” Weir said. Not only are they more difficult to bargain with, but foreign managers are less tolerant of Canadian norms, Weir said.

“We have found that foreign employers have been especially aggressive in trying to take away defined benefit pensions. That probably reflects the fact that in many countries, an employer would not be expected to provide a pension,” he said. “Managers of multi-national corporations are often not very accepting of the need to provide defined benefit pensions in Canada.”

Alberta’s big small-pipe problem – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail -July 4, 2012)

July 4, 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 — They are the little brothers and sisters of the pipeline world. Some are barely large enough to jam a hand into, but they do the dirtiest work in the energy business, ferrying great volumes of raw oil and gas from wells to processing plants.

And though they are small, they often carry large risk, an issue of mounting concern in Alberta, a province that has seen a series of spills train a global spotlight on pipeline safety.

These smaller pipes can often be overlooked, next to the big ones that garner attention when they rupture into the Kalamazoo River – an accident that cost Enbridge Inc. a historic $3.7-million (U.S.) fine this week, on top of $725-million in cleanup costs – or at an Alberta pumping station where the company recently had another large spill.

But in Alberta, the pipe is almost all small. Some 327,000 kilometres of pipe that is eight inches and smaller in diameter spread across the province like a network of veins. It is roughly 90 per cent of all pipe in the province, a vast web of steel that is uniquely vulnerable to problems, and uniquely difficult to both oversee and maintain.

U.S. mining giant [Cliffs] backs ‘robust’ environmental tests – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – July 4, 2012)

July 4, 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.

The U.S. firm sinking more than $3 billion into “responsibly mining” an ecologically sensitive part of Ontario’s north says it is in its best interests to go through rigorous environmental tests.

Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources holds key mining rights to a resource-rich area inside the Ring of Fire, located about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay in the James Bay Lowlands.

The ring is estimated to contain nearly $30 billion worth of chromium, which is used to make stainless steel — enough to be mined for nearly 100 years. At least 1,200 jobs are expected to be created by Cliffs investment.

Already, environmentalists, First Nations and Environment Canada are raising potential red flags but Cliff’s said they are doing everything they can to safeguard the land, water and animals as they proceed.

Quebec shouldn’t depend on asbestos exports for jobs – Toronto Star Editorial (July 4, 2012)

July 4, 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.

Could Quebec Premier Jean Charest have come up with a more obtuse way to mark the Canada Day long weekend? As people from coast to coast were breaking out Maple Leaf flags and fireworks to celebrate the nation’s many proud achievements, his government seized the occasion to throw a $58 million lifeline to the struggling asbestos industry, one of our most notorious exports.

“They’re pumping public money into a moribund industry that’s banned in 50 countries, all for the sake of miserable salaries in a mine that will involve significant risks,” says Dr. Yv Bonnier Viger, who heads a Quebec association of public health specialists. Sadly, that just about sums it up.

At a time when we’re stripping asbestos from the Parliament buildings, the prime minister’s residence and other public buildings as a health hazard, Quebec’s loan will help keep the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Que., productive for 20 more years selling chrysotile asbestos to India, Indonesia, Vietnam and other developing countries.