The spring of 2014 was a sombre time for Sudbury’s mining community, marked by three tragic deaths. In April, Vale millwright Paul Rochette was killed by severe head trauma from a malfunction with an ore crusher.
The next month, two drilling contractors, Marc Methe, 34, and Norm Bissaillon, 49, were killed by a fall of material in First Nickel’s Lockerby Mine. Both men worked for Taurus Drilling Services.
The deaths highlighted the importance of province’s ongoing review of mining health and safety, which reached a high point in September with the release of progress report that made several recommendations.
Those included guidelines for bright and reflective clothing for workers underground, and health and safety training that focuses on six of the most common hazards miners face.
The Mining, Health, Safety and Prevention Review committee is expected to release its final report in the New Year. The ongoing standstill in the Ring of Fire was also a dominant mining story in 2014.
While the province has promised to set aside $1 billion to build transportation infrastructure in the remote – but mineral-rich – region of Northern Ontario, little else has happened to move ahead with development.
The federal government did not commit to meeting the province halfway, with its own $1-billion commitment to the Ring of Fire.
Before the year even started, Cleveland, Ohio-based Cliffs Natural Resources, the largest mining company with properties in the Ring of Fire, announced it would be suspending all work in the region.
In late August 2014, the province unveiled its Ring of Fire development corporation, which was largely met with shrugs from critics.
The province set up an interim board made up of four senior bureaucrats, based in Thunder Bay. The plan was to bring the public and private sectors together to create partnerships and facilitate investment decisions in strategic transportation infrastructure for the Ring of Fire.
But critics have said the announcement did not result in any forward momentum at all regarding the Ring of Fire’s chromite and base metal deposits expected to be worth $60 billion.
“Today marks the sixth time in nine months the government has announced the Ring of Fire development corporation,” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said in a statement. “Yet despite that considerable length of time, key industry, First Nations and Ontario Northland still haven’t been invited to the table.”
On a lighter note, Vale announced in November it could eventually take down the Superstack due to ongoing improvements in sulphur dioxide emissions.
The company said it could eventually replace the Sudbury landmark with a smaller stack.
The story was a popular point of discussion in Sudbury, with some people disappointed at the thought Sudbury could lose its most visible landmark, while others welcomed the disappearance of what many have deemed a local “eyesore.”
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