July 12, 2012 – Republic of Mining

Red Lake amps up electricity fight – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 2012)

July 12, 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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Out of power?

There’s a “looming electrical power crisis” in Red Lake, one of the world’s gold mining capitals, and its economic development officer is looking to garner regional support to push for transmission line upgrades.

Bill Greenway wants to kick off a lobbying campaign directed at the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to build a beefed-up transmission line to service a slate of new mine developments.

Since 1930, the Red Lake district has been a consistent producer of high- grade gold. But while much of the province’s power planning attention is directed at the Ring of Fire in the Far North, Greenway feels his town’s concerns have been placed on the backburner.

“I’d like to think we have a Ring of Gold,” said Greenway. He maintains the current 115 kV (kilovolt) high voltage serving Red Lake is inadequate to meet the municipality’s and industry’s future growth needs.

Northern Ontario residents feel they’ve been forgotten in plan to sell off train service – by Jim Coyle (Toronto Star – July 12, 2012)

July 12, 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.

John Vanthof was on the road home Tuesday from Iroquois Falls to Englehart. And if people in southern Ontario can’t quite place those communities — or Latchford, Haileybury, Earlton — well, the rookie New Democratic MPP for Timiskaming—Cochrane would hardly be surprised.

To live in northern Ontario, especially in the wake of the province’s decision to sell off the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, is sometimes to feel you live not just in Ontario’s second solitude, but on another planet.

Vanthof was about 600 kilometres north of Toronto, fresh from a public meeting the night before in Timmins, where he and other local political leaders called for a grassroots uprising against a Liberal plan he fears would devastate the far-flung communities of Ontario’s northeast. “They really don’t have a clue, whoever made this decision,” he said over his car’s speaker phone.

This “is way more than the train. This is the whole system. This is our Internet system. . . It’s our freight system. There’s a rail-care refurbishment division in North Bay.”

Enbridge pledges to apply Michigan spill lessons to Northern Gateway pipeline – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – July 12, 2012)

July 12, 2012

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

With NDP leader Thomas Mulcair seizing on the oil spill in Michigan to demand that the Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline be spiked, Enbridge Inc.’s incoming CEO promised to do a lot better in the future and to deliver a world class project for British Columbia. It’s the right type of message from Al Monaco, who replaces the retiring Pat Daniel this year and will have to stickhandle the project.

It’s one that has turned into a political flashpoint that seems to be propelling the opposition, anti-pipeline NDP into power in B.C. and has handed Mr. Mulcair another divisive platform to fend off the energy superpower ambitions of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

But the message needs to come with results for the Calgary-based company. Public trust in its pipelines has been depleted by its handling of the proposed $5.5-billion project across northern B.C. as well as its response to a major spill from its Line 6B in Michigan two years ago.

NEWS RELEASE: Earth’s Oldest Meteor Impact Site Discovered at North American Nickel’s Maniitsoq Ni-Cu-PGE Project, Southwest Greenland

July 12, 2012

July 10, 2012 12:31 ET

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – July 10, 2012) – North American Nickel Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NAN)(OTCBB:WSCRF) (CUSIP: 65704T 108). North American Nickel (“NAN”) is pleased to note that on June 28, 2012 the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (“GEUS”) announced that the Maniitsoq Structure represents “The remains of a gigantic, three-billion-year-old meteorite impact…” This announcement by GEUS coincided with the same day publication of a paper on this subject in the prestigious journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters (Elsevier) authored by Adam A. Garde, Iain McDonald, Brendan Dyck and Nynke Keulen.

In the paper, the authors postulate that crustally contaminated intrusions of the Greenland Norite Belt (GNB) are products of the impact. The GNB has been the focus of the NAN’s work at Maniitsoq since it initiated the project last year. NAN is interested in the GNB because it is aerially extensive (the main belt is over 70 km long and up to 15 km wide), is comprised of noritic intrusions that show evidence of crustal contamination (believed to be important in the formation of nickel-copper sulphide ores), hosts numerous historical high-grade nickel occurrences (e.g. 9.85 m averaging 2.67% Ni and 0.60% Cu at the Imiak Hill showing) and is remarkably under-explored.

The Garde et al paper is exciting news because it suggests that the GNB is the result of an enormous and unique geological event. The impact hypothesis also has implications for exploration.

NEWS RELEASE: ABORIGINAL WORKERS OFFER PART OF THE SOLUTION TO CANADA’S LOOMING LABOUR SHORTAGES

July 12, 2012

Ottawa, July 11, 2012 – Aboriginal workers can help address the labour and skills shortages that many Canadian businesses face, especially those located in the Northern regions where resource development is creating a growing demand for workers. Yet low levels of formal education and a lack of work experience hinder the success of Aboriginal peoples in Canadian workplaces, according to a new Conference Board of Canada report.

“Soon, Canada will not have enough workers with the right skills to meet its labour needs. The Aboriginal population, including Inuit, Métis, and First Nations, is the fastest-growing cohort in Canada, but it is underrepresented in the labour force compared to the non-Aboriginal population,” said Alison Howard, Principal Research Associate at the Conference Board, and co-author of Understanding the Value, Challenges, and Opportunities of Engaging Métis, Inuit, and First Nations Workers.

Integrating more of the Aboriginal population into Canadian workforces will require improving educational outcomes—especially high school completion rates—and providing better opportunities to gain work experience.

In Latin America, nationalism stumps Canadian mining companies – by Pav Jordan (Globe and Mail – July 12, 2012)

July 12, 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.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has revoked the mining rights of Vancouver-based South American Silver Corp., the latest blow to foreign miners operating in Latin America amid a growing wave of resource nationalism.

The decision to expropriate the Canadian company’s Malku Khota silver mine was the second for Bolivia in a month, highlighting the increasing risks to developing mining and energy assets in the mineral-rich region.

From expropriations in Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina to violent opposition in traditionally mining-friendly jurisdictions such as Peru and Chile, the rising political tensions pose a risk to a decade-long bonanza mining companies have enjoyed.

“Resource nationalism is not just about expropriation,” said Alan Hutchison, an expert in mining and energy securities and corporate law at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP who specializes in Latin American matters. “It is the role and the stake that the government is going to take in any resource project and I think you are seeing that on the rise with the continued high commodity prices.”

Union continues its push for mining inquiry – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – July 12, 2012)

July 12, 2012

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

United Steelworkers Local 6500 is stepping up its call for the Government of Ontario to commission an inquiry into mining practices by printing 3,000 more postcards demanding the inquiry and seeking an appointment to meet with Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey over the summer.

The campaign was prompted by United Steelworkers’ investigation into and report on the June 8, 2011, deaths of Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, at Vale Ltd.’s Stobie Mine.

USW investigators concluded that warnings from Chenier about safety hazards in the mine, including con-c erns about excess water, wen t unheeded by Vale and ultimately resulted in the men’s deaths.

The Labour ministry has laid charges against the Brazil-based mining giant and one of its supervisors under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. A first court appearance on those provincial offences is scheduled for August.