June 19, 2015 – Republic of Mining

NEWS RELEASE: Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Approves Terms of Reference for Noront Resource’s Environmental Assessment Process

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015

(June 19, 2015) Toronto: Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray has approved with amendments to the Terms of Reference for Noront’s proposed Eagle’s Nest multi-metal mine in the Ring of Fire.

The Terms of Reference is the first step in the company’s environmental assessment process and there is much work to be done before a decision on the project is made. It’s a work plan that outlines the types of studies and consultation Noront must undertake to demonstrate whether the proposed project can be done in a way that is protective of the environment and human health.

Some of the amendments to Noront’s Terms of Reference include ensuring potentially impacted First Nation communities can fully participate in and contribute to the company’s environmental assessment process. The amendments include:
• identifying and assessing alternative road alignments within their preferred road corridor
• providing specific opportunities for potentially impacted First Nations to fully participate in the company’s environmental assessment
• assessing impacts of aggregate extraction, and
• considering the impacts of climate change on the project and the impacts of the project on climate change.

NAN committed to Ring of Fire, says Grand Chief Yesno – by Carl Clutchey (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – June 19, 2015)

June 19, 2015

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

That was then, this is now. Officials with Nishnawbe Ask Nation says mining and other developments in the Ontario’s far North won’t take place unless First Nations are the decision-makers at the forefront of that development.

“The days are long gone when industry or government can exploit our land and the resources it contains,” NAN Grand Chief Harvey Yesno declared in an address to the Ontario Mining Forum held in Thunder Bay on Wednesday.

As proof that NAN is determined to lead in the Ring of Fire development in the lower James Bay area, Yesno said the identification of key transportation corridors will be based on First Nation knowledge of local topography, sacred sites, cultural heritage and environment and resource development activities.

“This new approach will provide certainty for First Nations and the business community,” said Yesno. The lone main mining player in the Ring of Fire is Toronto-based Noront Resources. Noront is calling for an east-west transportation corridor that would link Pickle Lake to the main mining site, which is about 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

It’s time to look seriously at a new approach to infrastructure – by Jack Mintz and Claude Montemarquette (Globe and Mail – June 19, 2015)

June 19, 2015

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.

Jack Mintz is director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. Claude Montemarquette is chief executive officer of CIRANO.

Canada has a major opportunity to position itself for sustained growth in the decades ahead. This opportunity is the creation of a new Northern Corridor, a multimodal infrastructure project (road, rail, pipeline, electricity generation and transmission, air and seaport facilities). It would connect Canada from sea to sea to sea and allow tidewater access to international markets for our renewable and non-renewable commodities.

We have been there before. Just as the national railway, the Trans-Canada Highway, the pipeline network and the St. Lawrence Seaway opened up trade and commerce in the 19th and 20th centuries, a Northern Corridor in this century will not only help get product to diverse markets but also further exploration and development in Canada’s north and near north.

The time is right. Into the foreseeable future, we have prospects for economic growth that would benefit from a major investment in infrastructure – up to $100-billion over 10 years. We have a historically low cost of capital. We have minimal materials and labour cost pressures.

Infrastructure corridor to Canada’s north examined in new project – by Ian Marlow (Globe and Mail – June 19, 2015)

June 19, 2015

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.

With the aim of spurring northern economic development and ending regulatory gridlock on resource projects, an ambitious research project announced on Thursday will examine the feasibility of constructing a major new infrastructure corridor spanning Canada’s north.

The project is led by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and the Montreal-based Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations, and will look at the possibility of erecting a new network of roads, rail and pipelines, as well as investing in port infrastructure and airports.

The scholars and experts enlisted by the group will consult with the federal government and the provinces and write a number of research papers over several years, likely with a budget of around $1-million.

Jack Mintz of the School of Public Policy says Canada’s existing road and rail networks were constructed based on the premise of doing trade with the United States. But he adds that attempts to shift gears and build pipelines or infrastructure aimed at other markets have stuttered and encountered regulatory gridlock because there is no comprehensive national vision for how and where new infrastructure should be built.