Mine clean-up rules too lax, critic says – by Elizabeth McMillan (CBC News North – September 29, 2012)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Taxpayers still may end up with massive bills like Giant Mine in future, says MiningWatch

When Royal Oak Mines went bankrupt more than a decade ago, it left behind a toxic legacy that Canadian taxpayers are still paying to clean up.

The federal government had to take responsibility for two of the company’s gold mines in the Northwest Territories — Giant Mine in Yellowknife and Colomac, located about 220 km northwest of the capital. Giant is one of the most contaminated sites in Canadian history and it will be one of the most expensive to clean up.

The company’s costly wake leaves some wondering whether enough has changed to prevent taxpayers from getting similar bills in the future. MiningWatch Canada said recent examples such as Jericho diamond mine in Nunavut show money set aside by mines for clean up isn’t always adequate.

“One thing that has happened time and time again is that there are surprises and cost overruns at the time of closure,” said Ramsey Hart, MiningWatch’s Canadian program co-ordinator. “Certainly we’d like to see some contingency funds set aside for unanticipated events.”

Read more

[Sudbury’s] Laurentian masters, PhD programs popular among U.S. students – by Sebastien Perth (Sudbury Star – September 29, 2012)

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

There’s never been much debate over Sudbury’s status as a leader in mining technology in Canada and it seems that reputation is well established around the world, as well.

The three-day long MINExpo conference in Las Vegas wrapped up Wednesday with some 50,000 people checking out mining equipment manufacturers, job opportunities and higher education.

The Greater Sudbury Development Corporation organized a delegation from Sudbury that included city staff and Mayor Marianne Matichuk and representatives from 10 local companies that work in the mining sector. Ramesh Subramanian, the director of the Bharti School of Engineering at Laurentian University, said he was blown away by the sheer scale of the conference.

“This was my first time there and it was simply amazing. The size of the whole thing. It was insane. I’m at an Ontario Universities Fair now and this is a pillow fight compared to what they have there. Almost 50,000 people there, it was amazing,” Subramanian said.

Laurentian was one of those 10 local companies or groups to join the city delegation. Subramanian was one of the few academic types to attend. He went to recruit students to complete their masters and doctorates in Laurentian’s mining programs.

Read more

North [Ontario] kicked in the groin again – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – September 28, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Talk about timing. Just one day before the McGuinty Liberal government was set to pull the plug on the Northlander train, it delivered another kick in the groin to this region.

On Thursday, the government announced it is cancelling overnight stays at 10 provincial parks beginning next year.

Six of those 10 parks – Ivanhoe Lake in Foleyet, Greenwater in Cochrane, Rene Brunelle in Kapuskasing, Fushimi Lake kin Hearst, The Shoals in Chapleau and Tidewater in Moosonee – happen to be in or around Cochrane District.

The government, in its desire to “modernize its business”, suggested these parks are being converted to day-use-only because they have low visitation rates.  Are we talking about the same parks here?

Surely, anyone who has sought to go camping at Ivanhoe Lake or Rene Brunelle would not describe them as underutilized. If anything, they are among the most popular provincial parks in this region. With the choice of provincial park camp sites in this area virtually narrowed down, good luck getting a camping spot at Kettle Lakes next summer.

Read more

Boozy temperance tales [Timmins history] – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – September 28, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.

TIMMINS – Hope you enjoy the quick snapshot of life in Timmins in 1917. To begin with, change seems to have been the order of the day as the Tisdale Council was swept out of office and replaced with an entirely new slate.

Sylvester Kennedy won what was described as a “landslide” – a 37 vote majority, over the incumbent E. Dickson. The campaign was described as “vigourous.” Cards, flyers and “counter-irritants” were freely used by all those running. The public benefited from hearing the politicians’ views at no less than three public debates held in Moneta, Schumacher and South Porcupine.

To everyone’s relief however, after the ballots had been counted and the results were known, both the new mayor and the retiring one celebrated together and pledged to continue to work for the betterment of the community.

That’s what I call a breath of fresh air! As for local politics in Timmins, no election was held as three men running for council positions and one running for mayor pulled out before election day. Apparently, it had been discussed amongst all the candidates that this was the best course of action for the community.

Read more

Ontario’s Northlander train makes its final run – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – September 29, 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 Ontario Northland is going mighty fast for a funeral barge, 65 mph past ribbons of sumacs that are coming on vermillion, that eye-blasting, keening, it’s-almost-Thanksgiving Ontario scenery.

Conductor Brian Irwin isn’t studying the sumacs. No.

The railroad lifer is in thought, formulating a message that will sum up his views of the decision by the McGuinty government to divest itself of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, including the shutting down of the Northlander, erasing, oh, 110 years of history as of Friday. Poof. So there’s Irwin, swaying to the thrumble of the train, and here’s his thought: “We’re kinda partial to a fence at the French River there.”

You see where he’s going. Us versus them. When you’re taking one of your last runs, might as well unload on the sorry South-North relationship in this province. The betrayal. Words do not suffice.

“It is personal — this whole thing is personal,” he says. “We’ve never had a friend at the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. Why there is such a hate on for the ONR is beyond me. Why the hell are we under Northern Development and Mines anyway? We’re a transportation company!”

Read more

A good look at new mining – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (September 28, 2012)

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

THE Ring of Fire is on many minds these days. As miners prepare to dig into the James Bay lowlands, Northern Ontario communities jockey to provide services and employees. But the North’s new mining boom extends well beyond the Ring. A new analysis, commissioned by Ambassadors Northwest, showcases stunning opportunities that will transform the region. Billions of dollars are at stake. Communities will share handsomely if governments do what they must do to make it happen.

Conducted by university and college professors, the study looks at nine mining projects underway in the Northwest. It does not include existing mines. The Ring of Fire’s two biggies — Cliff’s Natural Resources’ Black Thor and Noront Resources’ Eagles Nest — are familiar. But seven other projects are similarly mature or near development with the potential to become producing mines in five years.

They are: Bending Lake Iron Property surrounded by Atikokan, Ignace and Dryden; Goldcorp’s Bruce Channel and Cochenour projects and Rubicon Minerals’ Phoenix Gold project in the famed Red Lake gold field; Osisko Mining’s Hammond Reef project near Atikokan; Rainy River Resources’ gold project; Stillwater Mining’s copper and paladium operation near Marathon; and Treasury Metals’ Goliath gold project in the Wabigoon and Dryden area.

The dollar value, employment and tax revenue potential of these projects is “substantial,” the study says. That’s an understatement. The total value of unmined metals and minerals is estimated to be $135 billion based on June commodity prices.

Read more

End of the line for Northlander – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – September 28, 2012)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The morning mist was still burning off when The Northlander pulled away from the Cochrane Train Station early Friday morning, departing as it has for the past 36 years, bound for Toronto’s Union Station. This trip however, had a very different significance.

It was the last trek south that The Northlander would make. The last day that it would serve as the main passenger artery from the Northeast to the south. The last day that it would provide its legendary comfort, ease of use and reliability.

Friday was the latest nail in the coffin of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission and its rail passengers service in the North.

“This is a very sad day,” said Black River-Matheson Mayor Mike Milinkovich. The Matheson station was a key link for Timmins residents. It’s where the shuttle bus would take passengers bound for the Northlander.

“This train has been in operation under one name or another for 105 years, now that legacy is at risk,” he said. Despite the fact that as far as the McGuinty government is concerned, this is the trains last trip down the rails, northern Mayors like Milinkovich aren’t throwing in the towel just yet.

Read more

Gencore Deal Hinges on Pay – by DAna Gimilluca (Wall Street Journal – September 27, 2012)

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

Could a proposed outlay of just $200 million really threaten a $70 billion deal? In the case of the proposed merger of natural-resource giants Glencore International GLEN.LN -0.03% PLC and Xstrata XTA.LN -0.22% PLC, the surprising answer appears to be yes.

The deal, which has faced numerous twists and turns since it was announced in February, is approaching another moment of truth. Xstrata’s board has until early Monday to decide whether to endorse a recently amended merger proposal from Glencore.

The decision is far from a simple one. While Xstrata’s board supports the tie-up in principle, it is caught between the disparate demands of its own shareholders on one side and Glencore’s negotiators on the other. If it can’t find common ground with both, it may be forced to withhold its support, which would likely doom the deal.

With its own shareholders, the thorniest issue involves roughly $200 million of planned payments to some 70 Xstrata managers over two years that are designed to ensure they don’t jump ship after the deal closes. That is a risk given that their current boss, Xstrata CEO Mick Davis, will be leaving if the merger goes through. Xstrata insists the payments are necessary to ensure the combined company runs smoothly, given that the Anglo-Swiss firm’s mining assets will account for about 80% of the enlarged organization’s profit. The payments are a bargain given what is at stake, they argue. A number of the company’s shareholders agree.

Read more

Boom in the making [Northwestern Ontario mining] – Kris Ketonen (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – September 28, 2012)

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

The full study can be found at:  http://www.thunderbayventures.com/upload/documents/mining-in-northwestern-ontario.pdf

Northwestern Ontario stands to reap huge financial rewards when the region’s developing mining sector matures, but a great deal of time and money must be invested to ensure the region is ready, a new study states.

Mining in Northwestern Ontario: Opportunities and Challenges examined several in-development mining projects, and found that when up and running, thy have the potential to create more than 13,000 jobs in the region alone, and the yet-to-be mined minerals and metals found here have a value of around $136 billion.

In addition, more than $16 billion in tax revenue is expected to be collected by the provincial, federal and relevant municipal governments during the average 17.5-year lifetime of the mines.

“There are a few objectives we had for this report,” Bahram Dadgostar, dean of Lakehead University’s faculty of business and one of the study’s authors, said Thursday after the release of the report.

“One is to make sure that communities are aware of the wealth that we have underground here, and the opportunities that we can have when we explore that. “And second is (to) make government aware of the wealth here and the profit that they can get out of it if they . . . effectively contribute to the process.”

Read more

Will Ontario get it right in northern Ring of Fire? – by Janet Sumner and Anna Baggio (Toronto Star – September 28, 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.

Janet Sumner is executive director and Anna Baggio is director, conservation planning, for CPAWS Wildlands League.

As with most mining finds, the rich mineral deposits and metals discovered within Ontario’s far northern “Ring of Fire” have generated a lot of hype and optimism. It’s been called one of the “most promising mineral development opportunities in Ontario in almost a century”. In a recent letter to the federal government, Premier Dalton McGuinty was quoted as writing that this area has the potential to “rival Alberta’s oilsands”.

Well it might. We just don’t know because so far we have very few facts to go on. Much work remains to be done. While Ontario might dream of the dollars developing the Ring of Fire will bring, what about the costs we will all bear?

Scientists have long warned that poorly-placed infrastructure in the Far North will cause irreversible harm to aquatic systems and wildlife. In the meantime, the first major Ring of Fire mining proposal is barrelling ahead.

A U.S. owned company called Cliffs Natural Resources has received the go-ahead from Ontario to route a new 350 km all-weather road along a north-south alignment so that it can extract and process chromite ore and transport the concentrate to a smelter in Capreol, Ontario or to Asia.

Read more

Open B.C.’s offshore – by Joel Wood (National Post – September 28, 2012)

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

Joel Wood is a senior research economist with the Fraser Institute in Vancouver and author of the forthcoming study “Lifting the Moratorium: The Costs and Benefits of Offshore Drilling in British Columbia.”

Feds should horse-trade for Northern Gateway

Following the U.S. government’s delay in approving the much-hyped Keystone XL pipeline, many pundits turned their attention to the possibility of a new pipeline from the oil sands to B.C.’s West Coast that would allow Canada to ship larger amounts of oil to world markets, which currently offer a premium price relative to the U.S. Midwest.

Securing higher prices for oil sands oil would bring tremendous economic benefits to Canada. However, as is often the case in a federalist country, domestic provincial considerations have complicated the viability of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would bring oil from northern Alberta to Kitimat on the B.C. coast.

One major barrier to the development of the Northern Gateway pipeline, as well as a second pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver, is the parochial interests of B.C.’s premier, Christy Clark, who has demanded a “fair share” of the benefits from the pipeline. Constitutionally, the premier has little to no ability to block the pipeline. However, politically she has a big microphone and is using it, particularly as she is facing re-election next year with dim prospects and an electorate and opposition party generally opposed to the pipelines.

Read more

Prentice issues energy warning [failed Aboriginal consultations] – Shawn McCarthy and Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – September 28, 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.

OTTAWA and CALGARY — A prominent former minister in Stephen Harper’s cabinet has slammed Ottawa for failing to meet its constitutional obligations to consult first nations on West Coast pipelines, saying the government needs to move quickly to rescue projects that are essential to the country’s future prosperity.

In a speech delivered Thursday at the University of Calgary, CIBC vice-chairman Jim Prentice – who held several senior posts in the Conservative government, and is an expert on aboriginal law – delivered a scathing critique of complacency and short-sightedness in both the government and oil industry for failing to prepare more aggressively for the “seismic shift” under way in the global energy sector.

“The Crown obligation to engage first nations in a meaningful way has yet to be taken up,” he said in that speech.

A failure to consult with aboriginal bands is not merely a political misstep: It could have dire legal repercussions for the proponents of pipelines through British Columbia. The Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government has a duty to consult with aboriginal communities over developments that would impact their traditional land, and to accommodate their concerns. Failure to do so has triggered successful legal actions by aboriginal bands.

Read more

S.African mine labour strife halts slide in chrome – by Harpreet Bhal and Silvia Antonioli (Reuters.com – September 26, 2012)

http://af.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The impact of South African mine labour unrest has spread beyond precious metals to UG2 chrome ore, a by product of platinum and key ingredient in stainless steel, with output cuts putting a floor under prices after four months of decline.

In recent months, violent labour unrest over pay has disrupted production at some of the largest South African platinum mines, including those owned by Anglo American Platinum, Lonmin and Aquarius Platinum.

South Africa accounts for more than 80 percent of global platinum supply, but it also produces over half of the world’s chrome. Both markets are in global surplus, but uncertainty created by production cuts has induced fresh buying.

Although disputes at some south African shafts have been resolved, strikes are in full force at others and continuing to spread, raising worries that prolonged disruptions might hit production further.

So far strikes have cut output of UG2 chrome ore by about 150,000-250,000 tonnes, market players said, a significant enough amount to have an effect on prices, even in an over supplied market.

Read more

Road versus rail in the Ring of Fire – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – September 27, 2012)

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

With the Ontario government now acknowledging that the north-south access road into the Ring of Fire is solely going to be for industrial users – “for developers to go in and get ore and minerals back out”, as a government spokesperson said – it is time to look at whether a road is actually in the best interests of the north.

The debate over which way a Ring of Fire road should go, either north-south or east-west, framed much of the transportation conversation around the development over the past few years. Certain First Nations chiefs expressed their skepticism that any road would ever be accessible for local people anyways, but their voices were generally ignored amid all the optimism around connecting communities to the highway system.

Then, earlier this year, the east-west road corridor that was proposed to connect Webequie, Wunnumin, Nibinamik and Neskantaga to Pickle Lake via a highway was blown out of the water. Ontario came out in support of Cliffs’ north-south road proposal, seemingly without any debate over the merits of choosing north-south rather than east-west, but in reality with a decision based solely on cost. The east-west road’s main proponent, Noront Resources, changed its tune and decided that the north-south road is fine for its purposes too. Lost in the hubbub were the voices of the chiefs who had called for the east-west road to connect their communities. Ontario had showed clearly that it was much more interested in doing what was best for its big American mining ally than it was in helping First Nations meet their needs.

Read more

Duty to consult questioned in Wahgoshig mining case – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – September 26, 2012)

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

As a legal decision, the Sept. 4 finding that Solid Gold Resources will be allowed to appeal its case against Wahgoshig First Nation over mineral exploration on Wahgoshig’s traditional land was hardly remarkable. It was simply a matter of a company asking for and receiving approval to take its appeal to a higher, precedent-setting court.

The finding of the judge, however, has the potential to have far-reaching consequences on whether mining companies have the duty to consult First Nations before conducting exploration on traditional lands.

Justice H.P. Wilton-Siegel’s ruling to give Solid Gold Resources leave to appeal took aim at the duty to consult – specifically, whether Ontario can pass its duty to consult with First Nations to a mining company.

“I see no basis in the facts of this case for an imposition of a duty to consult on Solid Gold,” Wilton-Siegel wrote. “If the Crown wishes to delegate operational aspects of its duty (to consult First Nations) it … must establish a legislative or regulatory scheme (to do so). The mining act does not presently contain such a scheme.”

The case stems from Wahgoshig’s efforts to block Solid Gold from exploring on its traditional lands in an area thought to contain sacred burial sites.

Read more