November 9, 2012 – Republic of Mining

Don’t throw resources under the bus – by Mike Byfield (National Post – November 8, 2012)

November 10, 2012November 9, 2012

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

Mike Byfield is vice-president of Alberta development at the Frontier Centre.

That’s just what green lobbyists want to do

Energy represents Canada’s best economic and technology bet — by far. Once upon a time, Canadians prided themselves on extracting natural resources — farming, mining, logging, oil drilling and so on. Our workers were as skilled, courageous and productive as any in the world. Following the Second World War, however, Central Canada’s expanding manufacturers began to see themselves as this country’s class acts, while hewing wood and drawing water were sniffily dismissed.

Maybe it’s time to take another look. A really hard look. Ontario’s economic woes aren’t simply the result of cheaper labour in Mexico and Asia, though that factor is critical. Its high-tech champions are being overwhelmed by larger foreign rivals like Apple, Samsung and Cisco. Meanwhile, the resources sector has clocked some big wins. In particular, Alberta’s hard-charging oil producers and service companies have revolutionized the international energy outlook through technological innovation.

Nortel, a Toronto-based telecom giant that was once Canada’s biggest company by many measures, is evaporating into the final stage of bankruptcy. Research in Motion, the BlackBerry smartphone manufacturer, now finds itself reduced from international star to struggling desperately for simple survival. Even the Toronto Stock Exchange, pressed by technology changes in trading, has tried to hand over its future to London.

Like joining a neighbourhood, says Boor [Cliffs – Sudbury ferrochrome facility] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – November 9, 2012)

November 9, 2012

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

Bill Boor felt as if he were among friends Tuesday at a sold-out luncheon of 330 people organized by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. For Cliffs Natural Resources’ senior vice-president of global ferroalloys, it was like coming home in a sense.

That’s how Boor felt May 9 after delivering the news to investors in Toronto that Cliffs had selected the former Moose Mountain Mine site north of Capreol for its $1.8-billion ferrochrome processing plant.

“We made a lot more people unhappy that day than we made happy,” Boor told the lunch-time crowd. It was a long day, but Boor and other company officials opted to come to Sudbury for a late-afternoon reception with the city’s movers and shakers.

“It was the best thing we ever decided,” Boor told the chamber crowd. “It honestly felt like when you have a very long day at work and you go home.”

In Sudbury this week, Boor met with Mayor Matichuk, Nickel Belt New Democrat MPP France Gelinas and Nickel Belt New Democrat MP Claude Gravelle. All three attended the luncheon, sitting at the same table as Boor.

Natives have ‘hand out,’ says mine CEO – by Sebastien Perth (Sudbury Star – November 9,2012)

November 9, 2012

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

The president of a mining company in the middle of a dispute with an aboriginal group in Northern Ontario said he feels he is being “extorted” by the Wahgoshig First Nation.

Darryl Stretch said his company, Solid Gold Resources Corporation, has made a high grade gold discovery near Lake Abitibi in 2011, but can’t explore any further due to a court order.

The Wahgoshig First Nation filed an injunction against Solid Gold to stop its exploration on land they claim treaty rights over, at least until the two groups can come to an agreement.

Solid Gold won a court ruling allowing it to appeal the original injunction decision. That case will be heard in January.

The root of the dispute can perhaps be traced back to a 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decision that said the crown had a “duty to consult” with native groups when an activity had the potential to affect treaty rights. The federal government updated its guidelines for federal officials to “fulfill the duty to consult.”

OPA wants to clear the air [NAN and Solid Gold] – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – November 9, 2012)

November 9, 2012

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

The Ontario Prospectors Association says it wants to meet with high-ranking aboriginal leaders to clear the air after it was accused this week of supporting “radical and racist” tactics at a Sudbury exploration conference.

“We believe there has been a total misunderstanding about this, and we want to sit down and talk with NAN (Nishnawbe Aski Nation),” OPA executive-direct Garry Clark said Thursday from Sudbury.

Clark, who is based in Thunder Bay, emphasized that his organization is anything but racist, and said he was taken aback by the allegation.

“We’re an organization that promotes the province as a place for (mineral) exploration,” he said, noting the Sudbury conference included presentations by aboriginal representatives. About $1 billion worth of mining exploration occurred in Ontario last year, “mostly conflict-free,” among companies and First Nations, Clark added.

An uproar occurred Wednesday afternoon when NAN held a news conference at the conference to denounce what it sees “as a racist media campaign against the Wahgoshig First Nation.”

Slow burn [Ring of Fire] – by Eavan Moore (CIM Magazine – November 2012)

November 10, 2012November 9, 2012

http://www.cim.org/en.aspx

Tight markets, limited infrastructure and challenging relationships test the resolve of those exploring the Ring of Fire

From a geological perspective, the Ring of Fire region contains a little something for everyone. Since De Beers’ 2002 discovery of a copper and zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit at Eagle One, explorers have uncovered chromite, nickel, gold, vanadium, iron and platinum group elements in and around the iconic crescent-shaped cluster of claims. But the extensive cash and patience required to operate in Ontario’s far north have turned junior exploration into a waiting game, as a few high-profile projects promise to open up inaccessible land to further development.

The region’s two heavyweights, Cliffs Natural Resources and Noront Resources, are each advancing a major project to the development stage. That does not lend itself to funder-friendly hype for explorers. “Where we are now in the cycle, there’s not as much flaming news coming out,” says Garry Clark, executive director of the Ontario Prospectors Association. And in a generally dry investment climate, he adds, even strong drill results do not seem to move markets.

Operating costs

Exploring in the Ring of Fire – 300 kilometres from the nearest road or rail – takes serious money. Michael Murphy, spokesperson for exploration junior White Pine Resources, sketches out the figures: “Diamond drilling costs are approximately $750 per metre for a small drilling program.

The quest for fire [Ring of Fire] – by D’arcy Jenish (CIM Magazine – November 2012)

November 9, 2012

http://www.cim.org/en.aspx

The rewards will be great for those intent on developing Ontario’s new mining district, but they will not come without plenty of hard work and more than a little patience

When Noront Resources made the first major discovery in the nascent mining region, dozens of junior exploration companies rushed into the formidable terrain of swamps, bogs, muskeg and mosquito-infested boreal forest to stake claims. Located near the shores of McFauld’s Lake, some 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, the region has yielded three major finds: the Black Thor and Big Daddy chromite deposits, and the nearby Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-platinum-palladium resource.

Cliffs Natural Resources bought all of Black Thor and owns 70 per cent of Big Daddy. Together, those represent the first major chromite discoveries in North America, and current resource estimates indicate they may be large enough to support multi-generational mines. At the moment, Cliffs intends to develop Black Thor first, and is committed to investing $3.3 billion in that mine and a smelter located at Capreol, just outside Sudbury. Meanwhile, Noront is steadily developing its smaller Eagle’s Nest property close by. However, before either company ships a pound of metal to market, they have some difficult hurdles to clear.

Environmental assessments

Noront has been operating in the shadow of Cliffs, largely because its polymetallic deposits are not judged to be world-class scale, but Noront president and CEO Wes Hanson says the company aims to have an underground mine in production by late 2016 and hopes to be first to produce from the Ring of Fire.

First Nations level racist charges against mining association – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – November 8, 2012)

November 9, 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.

A contentious presentation at a mining symposium has raised the ire of a First Nation group and community. Darryl Stretch, president and CEO of Solid Gold Resources, presented at the Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium put on by the Ontario Prospectors Association (OPA) in Sudbury Nov. 6 and 7.

He has been fighting to resume exploration on his Lake Abitibi area property after an Ontario Superior Court upheld an injunction by nearby Wahgoshig First Nation to cease exploration early this year. The court also ruled that the company did not make an effort to consult with the community despite provincial requests to do so since 2009. Stretch is appealing the earlier court decision and the Divisional Court of Ontario will hear the appeal in January, 2013.

His presentation contained references to First Nations as “hostile third-party governments” and included a cartoon image of First Nation people. His main contention is that the duty to consult First Nations, in relation to exploration, lies with the Crown and not industry.

In response, Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Harvey Yesno, along with Wahgoshig First Nation Chief David Babin, is calling on the province to withdraw its support and public endorsement of “racist and radical” mining industry representatives, and named the OPA and another group called Mining United.

NEWS RELEASE: Batchewana First Nation wants apology from Ontario Prospector’s Association

November 9, 2012

November 08, 2012

Batchewana First Nation disappointed with Ontario Prospector’s Association

On November 1, 2012, Ontario introduced new rules and tools to the Mining Act to try and balance the interests of the mineral industry, Indigenous Peoples, and private land owners.

Changes in the act attempt to make Indigenous consultation a cornerstone of mineral exploration and mine closure activities.

The Batchewana First Nation is governed by their own law and policies, which include a consultation policy and detailed permitting process that has cultivated positive working relations with several proponents such as Superior Copper Corporation and BluEarth Renewables.

Batchewana First Nation’s Natural Resource department attended the Ontario Prospectors Association’s (OPA) Exploration and Geoscience Symposium on November 7, 2012 where these changes to the Mining Act came under fire.

Solid Gold Resources Corporation President and CEO, Darryl Stretch presented a slide show titled, Deathwatch of the Resource Industry, making claims that the Ontario Government has set mining back to the Stone Age.