Cliffs Natural Resources – Page 10

Mining suspension dubbed ‘Major setback’ – by Rob Learn (North Bay Nipissing News – November 27, 2013)

November 28, 2013

http://www.northbaynipissing.com/northbaynipissing/

NIPISSING – If Cliffs Resources and the provincial government are playing poker over the Ring of Fire development, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli says the mining giant has decided to fold.

“It’s a major blow and a major setback for Ontario,” said the Progressive Conservative member. “…(Cliffs) have closed their Thunder Bay and Toronto offices. This is not a ploy… They have no confidence in this provincial government. They have waited for five years and there is nothing.”

Fedeli’s comments come on the heels of the announcement last week from Cliffs Resources that it was halting all work towards their Ring of Fire plans to develop a chromite mine in what has been called the biggest mining discovery in Canada in a century.

The consequences for Nipissing region could be devastating. “The North Bay area is involved in the exploration, the delineation of the ore body, the design of the mines and supplying the mines should they go forward. This is devastating,” said Fedeli.

Stop pointing fingers over Cliffs: Matichuk – by Darren MacDonald (Sudbury Northern Life – November 27, 2013)

November 28, 2013

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Urges major players to co-operate to get Ring of Fire back on track

Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk says she’s hoping for some announcements soon from the provincial government that will help get the stalled Ring of Fire project back on track.

Matichuk said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne called her Tuesday afternoon to tell her the province is doing everything it can to deal with the problems delaying the $60-billion project.

“I’ve been assured that they are working on that right now, and we’ll be hearing announcements from the government soon,” Matichuk said at Tuesday’s city council meeting. “I’ve also been assured by Premier Wynne that she will keep our city informed about the progress.

“I told her everybody needs to basically stop pointing fingers, shake hands and start making deals because we need to get this done.”

Need to see details of Ring deal – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – November 27, 2013)

November 27, 2013

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

It’s been a week since Cliffs Natural Resources dropped the bombshell that was not a bombshell — that it was indefinitely suspending work on its Ring of Fire chromite project. You didn’t need a crystal ball to see that one coming although some politicians claimed to have been blind-sided by it.

Bill Boor, who was Cliffs’ vice-president of global ferroalloys but now has a new title, senior vice-president of strategy and business development, had been telegraphing that message for months.

A year ago, Boor cautioned 330 people at a Greater Chamber of Commerce luncheon that several planets would have to align for Cliffs to begin production at its McFaulds Lake mine by 2016.

In March, he told The Sudbury Star that while he understood that the change of leadership after Premier Dalton McGuinty resigned could slow the progress of talks, Cliffs needed to sign a “definitive document” before it could develop its Black Thor deposit.

Get the Ring back on track – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal (November 26, 2013)

November 26, 2013

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

THE ongoing interest of a number of mining concerns in the vast Ring of Fire region is not what holds public attention today. Neither is it the creation of a development corporation to manage the project or negotiations between the province and First Nations. Rather, it is the sense of lost opportunities that comes with the indefinite departure of the mineral belt’s biggest player. There is a growing suspicion that something is wrong and that the province is not saying so.

Viewed in isolation, the government’s announcement of a development corporation to bring the multi-mineral development on line is a good thing. It suggests the province takes seriously the potential for immense economic development in the North and the province as a whole. The timing is another question. Toronto Star Queen’s Park columnist Martin Regg Cohn, syndicated in this newspaper, writes today that it “now looks like an act of desperation in anticipation of the Cliffs pullout.”

The question is what did the government know about Cliffs’ intentions and when. The company has been sending signals of frustration with the long process of securing permission to operate. Its warnings were seen by some as undue impatience until it abandoned $500 million of preparatory spending and closed its Thunder Bay and Toronto offices and its site camp. Renewed interest by the company with an upswing in the commodities market would greatly relieve many people.

Tired of Cliffs seeking more public money – by Cody Walter (Sudbury Star Letter – November 25, 2013)

November 26, 2013

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

For the last two years plus, we’ve been listening to carefully designed propaganda from Cliff’s Natural Resources, attempting to manipulate public opinion and convince taxpayers that we should give them our money. Now Cliff’s has shelved the project indefinitely, and they would have you believe it’s everyone else’s fault. It’s time for a reality check.

Cliff’s cites “difficulty negotiating with First Nations” as a reason for closing up shop. Yes it’s true, that after 500 years of genocidal torment under (continuing) European occupation, Canada’s Indigenous peoples have won the right to be consulted about developments which will affect them. This is a great thing (if more than a little late), and if Cliff’s finds this “difficult,” then I say: “tough luck.”

Cliff’s wants a break on hydro prices? That’s actually unsurprising, because so does everyone else. But if we agree to sell hydro to them below market price, guess who picks up the tab for the difference? That’s right, it’s you and me.

Likewise with the road they wish to build. They want “help” from the government (read: money from working people) to reduce start-up costs and allow them a more profitable business. Is it such a radical notion these days that businesses should cover their own costs?

Ontario urged to get act together to save Ring of Fire development – by Maria Babbage (The Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – November 22, 2013)

November 25, 2013

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.

TORONTO — The Canadian Press – The finger-pointing has begun as governments and critics look to assign blame over a big mining company’s pullout from the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, a massive mineral-rich area believed to have the economic potential of Alberta’s oilsands.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is suspending its operations indefinitely, saying it couldn’t keep spending money while the question of whether it would be able to build an all-weather road to the remote site remained in doubt. It’s a major setback for cash-strapped Ontario, which may not see the economic windfall the governing Liberals had promised anytime soon.

Greg Rickford, the federal Conservatives’ lead minister for the Ring of Fire, said he was surprised with the Cliffs decision, because the company was “very satisfied” with the federal government’s involvement in the project. But in some ways, it wasn’t that surprising, said the minister of state for FedNor, the economic development organization for northern Ontario.

Ring [of Fire] road or railroad – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (November 24, 2013)

November 25, 2013

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

WHILE no one should minimize implications of the indefinite departure of Cliffs Natural Resources from the Ring of Fire mining belt, other players remain in place and with them, other possibilities.

Cliffs is the biggest and its plan to mine chromite would lead the list of depositors in the Ontario treasury. But its former partner and chief rival for chromite remains willing to propose an alternative to the transportation corridor that it and Cliffs both claim as essential to their plans — and those of every other mining interest in the vast region of mineral deposits.

So far, most attention has focused on Cliffs’ proposal for an all-weather road from its central property to a railhead near Nakina. From there, ore would be shipped on existing railways for processing.

KWG Resources makes the case for a railroad over the same ground. And the route is important since it is about the only high ground in a sea of muskeg.

KWG has staked claims along the route and Cliffs asked a provincial authority for permission to build its road over them.

‘Bad news for all of Ontario’ – Bisson on Cliffs – Benjamin Aubé (Timmins Daily Press – November 25, 2013)

November 25, 2013

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – It was MPP Gilles Bisson’s (NDP – Timmins-James Bay) turn to direct scathing remarks towards the province surrounding its handling of the Ring of Fire.

Last week, Cliffs Natural Resources indefinitely suspended its proposed chromite mine in the James Bay lowlands, citing a lack of progress on the file on the provincial government’s behalf.

“It’s not a surprise,” Bisson said on Sunday. “We’ve been meeting with Cliffs and other players in the Ring of Fire. They are all complaining about how the provincial government has not been front and centre about how to deal with the key issues that will allow this project to go forward, so it’s not without surprise.”

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and Minister of Natural Resources Michael Gravelle each stated development was ongoing in the region and that they were confident Cliffs would come back to the table in the future, citing the importance of getting the project done correctly.

The Ring of Fire’s Future Is Now a Burning Question – by Sunny Freeman (Huffington Post – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Mining giant Cliffs Natural Resources’ decision to halt work on the largest project in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire region has aroused a sudden interest in the lumbering development.

The opposition at Queen’s Park pounced to lay blame on the province for the squandered opportunity.

Financial analysts scurried to advise clients on what it means for their shares. And usually blasé news outlets called on pundits to discuss whether the loss of the U.S. mining giant was a death knell for the much-hyped but little-understood development.

The biggest player in the Ring of Fire, a 5,000 square kilometre tract of land in Ontario’s Far North that is said to hold a potential $50 billion in mineral deposits, announced late Wednesday it is halting work on its $3.3 billion chromite project indefinitely, blaming, for the most part, an “uncertain timeline.”

If Cliffs’ decision to stop development is the death of that high stakes mining discovery, it was anything but a sudden one.

COMMENT: Cliffs abandons Ring of Fire – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – November 21, 2013)

May 4, 2015November 22, 2013

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Cliffs Natural Resources, the American miner that was so hot to gain control of chromite deposits in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, is packing up and going home.

The news release is an understatement: “The technical project work including feasibility study, development and exploration activities are being halted and there is no restart date planned.”

In practical terms, Cliffs is closing its Toronto and Thunder Bay, ON, offices as well as the exploration camp. That leaves employees without an employer, although the company did offer to help find jobs elsewhere in the company for some of those affected.

Cliffs has had an uncomfortable relationship with local First Nations, provincial authorities and other explorers working in the Ring of Fire. Readers may wonder if the company had any understanding of how to deal co-operatively with First Nations or if it thought it could overlook their participation.

Cliffs Mine Shutdown Threatens Ring of Fire Development – by Gerrit De Vynck (Bloomberg News – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) is postponing a $3.3 billion project in Ontario, threatening development of the mineral-rich Ring of Fire area once described as Canada’s most-promising mining region.

Cliffs’ plan to mine chromite, an ingredient for making stainless steel, was among the most advanced in the Ring of Fire, the horseshoe-shaped deposit about 1,000 kilometers (622 miles) northwest of Toronto and named by a mining executive after the Johnny Cash song. Other companies working in the area include Noront Resources Ltd. (NOT) and KWG Resources Inc. (KWG), both headquartered in Toronto.

At stake is development of Northern Ontario, an area about twice the size of California, and projects to mine chromite, copper and nickel. In 2010, former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called the Ring of Fire “the most promising mining opportunity in Canada in a century,” and Michael Gravelle, the province’s mining minister, values the Ring of Fire’s mineral potential at C$60 billion ($57 billion).

Cliffs’ decision is going to have “a huge impact on the development of the Ring of Fire,” Michael Mantha, an opposition New Democratic Party member from northern Ontario, said in a telephone interview.

Development delayed in the Ring of Fire (Globe and Mail Editorial – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

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.

A decision by Cliffs Natural Resources Ltd. to suspend development of its proposed $3.3-billion chromium mine in Northern Ontario sends a worrying signal about the fate of a giant mineral deposit whose economic potential has it being touted as Canada’s next oil sands.

The Ring of Fire region near James Bay is estimated to hold up to $50-billion worth of chromite, nickel, copper and other minerals, but so far only two companies have launched mine projects in the remote area, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest highway. This week, Cleveland-based Cliffs announced it will be suspending work and closing its offices in Thunder Bay and Toronto.

Cliffs says it has spent $500-million since 2010 – including the acquisition of the mineral rights – but has yet to secure road access to the site, complete environmental assessments or see negotiations resolved between the province and First Nations over how the land will be used and how income will be shared. “We’re really at a point where you can take it so far and spend your shareholders’ dollars,” a company spokeswoman told The Globe and Mail.

Cliffs Natural Resources makes right move with Ring of Fire pullout – RBC – by Jonathan Ratner (National Post – November 21, 2013)

November 22, 2013

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

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. may be down after announcing it is indefinitely suspending the Chromite Project in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire, but at least one analyst sees the news as a positive.

H. Fraser Phillips at RBC Capital Markets told clients that the international mining company’s decision to pull out of the Ring of Fire by the end of 2013 removes an uncertainty lurking over its shares.

“It has been our view that the project would take years to developed if it could ultimately be developed at all,” Mr. Phillips said. He noted Cliffs can now focus on allocating its capital and resources to its core iron ore assets such as the Bloom Lake mine in Quebec.

Based on estimates from the company’s July 2012 investor day, the Chromite Project required ferrochrome prices of US$1.40 per pound to produce an internal rate of return between 14% and 17%.

Liberals don’t get mining and northern Ontario – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/home.html

TORONTO — So it seems the Ring of Fire (ROF) has fizzled — leaving only a burning sensation where it hurts.
The massive, ore-rich area in a remote part of northwestern Ontario is touted as the biggest economic boon to this province in 100 years.

It’s rich in palladium, platinum, nickel, diamonds and gold. Most importantly, it has the largest chromite deposit in North America — valued at an estimated $60 billion in economic development. After one of the major companies involved in its development pulled out Wednesday, the project now appears dead in the water.

Who’s to blame? Well, mostly a government that’s Toronto-centric, doesn’t get mining and doesn’t understand Northern Ontario.

Several years ago, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, responding to a question about mining giant Xstrats moving its giant Timmins smelter to Quebec, opined, “We cannot continue to make a living by pulling stuff out of the ground.”

U.S. mining giant pulls out of Ring of Fire – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

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.

Cliffs Natural Resources suspends investment in mining project.

A U.S. mining firm is pulling out of its $3.3 billion investment in Ontario’s northern Ring of Fire, saying they are unable to work with Queen’s Park on developing what is believed to be one of the world’s largest chromite discoveries.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced late Wednesday that it is suspending its investment in the Ring — located more than 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay — because of a multitude of problems, including unresolved land claims, environmental assessment issues and a lack of government support for infrastructure and power needs.

“We need external factors involved before we can move forward,” said Pat Persico, Cliffs director of global communications, from the company’s Cleveland, Ohio, headquarters.

It is estimated that there is nearly $30 billion worth of chromite, a resource used to make stainless steel, deep under the mossy earth in the Ring.