The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication providing information on Canadian mining and exploration trends, technologies, operations, and industry events.

Working With Aboriginal Partners in the Race for Canada’s Iron Ore

Canada’s newest iron ore producer, Labrador Iron Mines Limited (LIM), is writing history with pro¬duction start-up from its James Mine, locat¬ed in the prolific Labrador Trough. Following the successful commissioning of the mine and adjacent processing plant in mid-2011, iron ore sales to IOC, with ship¬ments to China, began last fall and the company plans to reach commercial pro¬duction this year, with plans to grow annual production to 5 million tonnes by 2015.

To appreciate how historical an achievement it is, LIM’s reactivation of iron ore mining in the district comes after a hiatus of 30 years following the closure of the Iron Ore Company of Canada’s Schefferville iron ore operations in 1982. What’s more, probably for the first time in Canadian northern development, historic impact benefits agreements were forged with no less than six Aboriginal or First Nations communities.

The closest community to LIM’s oper¬ations is the town of Schefferville, located across the border in Quebec. Established in the 1950s by IOC for the very opera¬tions that LIM is developing today, this boom town was then home to more than 5,000 people, in stark contrast to what it became after IOC’s closure. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member Vale is sponsoring a series of five concerts during the summer at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre in Sudbury. Admission is free to all segments of the Vale Concert Series, which will showcase a variety of top-notch Canadian musical talent, and donations to the Sudbury Food Bank will be appreciated.
 
“This is the first event of its kind for Vale and we are thrilled to be bringing such wonderful Canadian talent to Sudbury for our community to enjoy, while supporting such a worthy cause,” said Kelly Strong, Vice President Mining and Milling (North Atlantic) and General Manager of Vale’s Ontario Operations. “We sincerely hope that members of the community come out to enjoy this concert series and this incredible talent.”
 
All shows begin at 7 p.m. The Vale Concert Series kicks off May 9 with Dave Gunning. He is a singer-song writer who has two Canada Folk Music Awards and six East Coast Music Awards to his credit. On June 20, the Juno nominated group Hemingway Corner take to the stage. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Older CMJ readers will remember how the mining companies built remote projects in the middle of the last century. First they found and explored a deposit far from civilization. Next they made a development decision that included building a local town for the workforce. They moved their employees and their families into the town. When the ore ran out, the company moved on leaving the town with little or no economic basis for survival.
 
Thankfully, we now have better development model, one that does not abandon towns when mining ceases. Modern miners have invented what the Australians call FIFO, meaning fly-in/fly-out operations. We in Canada were pioneers in this practice. Workers are flown to the mine site for periods ranging from days to weeks. They are put up in modern accommodations, well fed, and given plenty of recreational opportunities. Then they fly out, returning to families and homes in usually in the south. Their families enjoy the amenities of city living including educational and employment opportunities. Such opportunities were lacking in small northern mining towns.
 
The FIFO model works well in developed countries, but it is not appropriate in undeveloped regions. Indigenous peoples in Africa and South America, for instance, do not want to leave their homes for extended periods or they wish to continue their traditional way of living. Canadian miners have again become leaders in the art of giving such people an economic or educational hand up without destroying their culture. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member De Beers Canada has helped enhance the infrastructure of the First Nation community of Attawapiskat over the winter.  De Beers Canada’s support of 370 kilometres of winter roads facilitated the arrival of needed new housing in the community and more than 1,100 tonnes of rock, which was donated, to provide the foundation for the construction of a new elementary school.

The 1,100-plus tonnes of rock were from the Victor pit.  It was crushed at the mine site over a 24-hour per day, four day period and shipped 90 kilometres east to Attawapiskat.  It was vital to get this building foundation material to the community before the winter road closed for the season.

De Beers Canada contributes substantial funding to the First Nation owned and operated 280 kilometre section of the winter road from Moosonee north to Attawapiskat.  The company contributes 100% of the funding to build and operate the 90 kilometre section of the road from Attawapiskat west to the Victor Mine site.  Read the rest of this entry »

Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal is a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.

Noront Resources, a junior mining company working toward the development of its Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-PGE deposit in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, is lending its support to a youth empowerment program for First Nation kids who could one day end up working for the company.

DAREarts, a charity that works with youth in challenging circumstances, began its relationship with Webequie four years ago when youth and elders from the First Nation community exposed to DAREarts programming at a Junior Ranger camp asked for help.

“There wasn’t any money in the budget for Webequie, but I couldn’t say no to them,” said DAREarts founder and president Marilyn Field. “I put in some of my own seed money for the first few years until we eventually found some funding.”

The organization uses the arts, including storytelling, photography, dance, drama and music, to help young people build confidence and leadership skills.  Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Click Here For: Towards a More Innovative Future: Insights From Canada’s Natural Resources Sector

OTTAWA - Hewers of wood, drawers of water. It’s the classic dig about Canadians — that far too much of what we do is focused on low-value extraction and export of natural resources.
 
To an extent, it’s true. Resources account for 11 per cent of the country’s GDP, half of exports, 37 per cent of foreign investment and a quarter of capital investment. Nearly 800,000 Canadians work directly in the sector.  

But a new report by the Ottawa-based Public Policy Forum tries to debunk the myth that relying on resources for our wealth is “like feasting on empty calories.”
 
Instead, the report makes the case that there’s more potential for innovation in the natural resources sector than in any other industry, and ultimately, a lot more on the line for society. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Anmar Mechanical and Electrical Contractors Inc. is one of dozens of local companies that will benefit from Vale Ltd.’s $2-billion Clean AER Project. The Lively-based company has won the contract to fabricate four converters that are a big part of the environmental upgrade of the Copper Cliff Smelter Complex.

Anmar president Gianni Grossi won’t reveal the exact amount of the contract, but says it is in the neighbourhood of $15 million — and could employ as many as 700 of his employees at the peak of construction.

Each of the converters is 44 feet long and 13 feet in diameter, and is made of two-inch boiler-plate steel that will stand up to high temperatures in the smelting process. Anmar has also bid on contracts for other parts of the Clean AER (Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) Project. His company is also involved in other work during shutdown and other times at Vale facilities. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Dave Stefanuto tells the story of taking his two young sons to Science North, where they love the space exhibits on the top floor.  One time, he pointed the boys to a photograph of Apollo astronauts walking on the rocky landscape that was Sudbury in the 1970s.

“How come they’re wearing shorts on the moon?” one of his sons asked him, to which Stefanuto replied: “That’s not the moon, that’s Sudbury.” It’s a sobering reminder that Sudbury wasn’t always as green as it is today.

Sudbury was the butt of jokes four decades ago and for years after those astronauts visited a city whose landscape was a dead-ringer for the moon. Anyone who has visited the Nickel City in the last 25 years has had no reason to laugh at us. In three years’ time, they will have even less.

Stefanuto, 39, has come back to Sudbury after seven or eight years spent working for Vale in Newfoundland and Labrador. He came back home to head up Vale’s $2-billion Clean AER (Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) Project. Read the rest of this entry »

March 27, 2012

Stornoway Diamond Corporation (TSX-SWY) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an Impacts and Benefits Agreement for the Renard Diamond Project with the Cree Nation of Mistissini (“CNM”) and the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) / Cree Regional Authority (“GCC(EI)/CRA”).

The new agreement, designated the “Mecheshoo Agreement”, was signed by representatives of Stornoway and the Cree parties at a ceremony held in Mistissini, Quebec earlier today in the presence of community members, members of the local “Tallymen” family, regional dignitaries and media. 

The Mecheshoo Agreement is a binding agreement that will govern the long-term working relationship between Stornoway and the Cree parties during all phases of the Renard Diamond Project. It provides for training, employment and business opportunities for the Crees during project construction, operation and closure, and sets out the principles of social, cultural and environmental respect under which the project will be managed. The Mecheshoo Agreement includes a mechanism by which the Cree parties will benefit financially from the success of the project on a long term basis, consistent with the Mining Industry’s best practices for engagement with First Nations communities. Read the rest of this entry »

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

MONTREAL – At a time tension between First Nation communities and the resource sector remains high in many parts of the country, one junior company is bending traditional corporate practice in an attempt to win a “social licence” for Quebec’s first diamond mine.
 
Stornoway Diamond Corp. on Tuesday signed a binding agreement with the Cree Nation of Mistissini and the Grand Council of the Crees for its Renard diamond project in the Otish mountains of northern Quebec. The deal governs the long-term working relationship between the miner and the Cree parties throughout the project’s development, up to and past its projected startup in 2015.
 
The agreement is unusual for the level of detail it discloses — a summary says the company will reserve a quarter of the Renard goods and services contract bidding invitations for Cree businesses, set up a mechanism allowing the Cree to benefit financially from the success of the mine over its estimated 20-year lifespan, and consult the aboriginal tallymen in the territory on no-fly zones into the mine site during spring goose and fall moose hunt seasons. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member company Noront Resources is believed to be the first junior mining company to make a major investor presentation using an iBook.  At the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto, Noront President and Chief Executive Officer Wes Hanson spoke about his company’s profile and prospects, while embracing interactive, high-tech communications tools. 

The audio-visual and computer experts on site at the PDAC were able to get the presentation on the big screen for all to see — after overcoming their puzzled looks.  “I really don’t like static presentations.  At events like the PDAC, the iBook can be used interactively on a timely basis as an investor tool and a community relations tool,” said Mr. Hanson.  “We hope to have the Noront story on iTunes in the near future and then everyone in the world would have the capability to download the Noront iBook.”

“I have all kinds of embedded audio files in the iBook and it is a totally interactive system to talk about Noront, our Eagle’s Nest project and the communities where we are working,” added Mr. Hanson.  “Technology is wonderful and we have to take advantage of it as a communications tool.  It is our responsibility to do so.” Read the rest of this entry »

Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal is a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.

A junior mining company with a development project in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire has found a novel way of mixing philanthropy and self-interest.

KWG Resources, which owns 30 per cent of the Big Daddy chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire, is working with the United Way of Thunder Bay and the Wasaya Group Inc., a First Nation-owned airline serving the region, to fund a residence for First Nation students attending the city’s Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.

First Nation youth from remote fly-in communities in Ontario’s Far North currently have to board with families in Thunder Bay. Dropout rates for First Nation students are high and several suicides have been attributed to the challenge of adjusting to life far from home. Living in an environment with a culturally compatible support network, it’s hoped, would go a long way toward easing the transition. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.kitco.com/

Debbie Carlson is Global news editor for Kitco News

Toronto (Kitco News)–Mining companies can’t assume local communities will automatically give them a “social license” to operate mines, so it’s important firms engage with people upfront, whether it is with indigenous leaders in Africa, Canada or South America.

 Mining executives said having a clear, corporate social responsibility plan should be considered part of the company’s core focus as how firms work with people can affect profitability.

 ”I think the future for our industry is quite strong; metals prices are quite high and as an industry you’re going to increasing be developing resources in less developed countries. From a CSR perspective, in our industry … it’s no longer sufficient to just (work with) the government. You have to have the support of local communities and if you don’t, governments are not going to override them. If one doesn’t have a … focused CSR plan you put at risk your operations and you may sterilize the project,” said Aaron Regent, chief executive officer of Barrick. Read the rest of this entry »

www.forbes.com

“CSR represents mining companies of the future. The mining industry, more than any other, is aware of the problems more than other industries and understands the impacts of the past.” –Wes Hanson, President and CEO of Noront Resources Ltd.

From March 4th – March 7th the world’s largest annual gathering of people, companies and organizations connected with mineral exploration will take place in Toronto at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s Annual International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange. CSR will be front and center at PDAC’s third Annual CSR Event Series.

This week, I reviewed the CSR Event Series program and had the opportunity to connect with some of the people who will be  participating in the series.  Although PDAC hasn’t defined a CSR theme, my conversations revealed a common thread: how companies in the mineral exploration and development industry can help solve social problems in a way that is also good for business.

How can mining companies improve education, health care and access to social service to create a better quality of life for people impacted by mining operations? How will doing this help support business objectives, including securing financing and regulatory approvals, increasing access to qualified employees, and reducing the risk of work stoppages and other disruptions? Read the rest of this entry »

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

Office spends $1.1M without mediating a case

A federal agency created by the Conservative government to mediate complaints about Canadian mining operations abroad has spent more than $1.1 million in the past two years, but has yet to mediate anything.

At the same time, the agency — the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor — has racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel, entertainment, training, meetings, reports and other expenses, documents obtained by CBC News show. Renovations to a federal government office to accommodate the agency’s three employees alone cost Canadian taxpayers $189,000.

Its senior official, Marketa Evans, has been flying around the world to conferences, roundtables, workshops and other meetings — in all, 47 trips to Africa, South America, Washington and cities across Canada. She earns up to $170,000 a year.

What the agency hasn’t done is mediate a single complaint against a Canadian mining company, the third federal agency CBC News has uncovered that is spending a lot to achieve little. Read the rest of this entry »