Twitter

Ontario Mining

What Saskatchewan is doing right to attract mining investment – by Ravina Bains and Taylor Jackson (National Post – March 18, 2015)

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

“Furthermore, Saskatchewan has taken ownership of the consultation process; the provincial government
makes it very clear that it, not project proponents, is “responsible and ultimately accountable for
managing and implementing the duty to consult.” Saskatchewan is also home to innovative mining
partnerships between First Nations and resources companies. For example, Muskowekwan First Nation
and Encanto are undertaking a joint venture to develop the first on-reserve potash mine in Canada
that will generate 2.8 million tons of potash annually and create approximately 1,000 jobs.”
(Ravina Bains and Taylor Jackson)

The mining industry contributes mightily to Canada’s economic prosperity, adding $54 billion to Canada’s GDP and employing roughly 383,000 Canadians at an average annual salary of more than $110,000 in 2013.

But Canada has a serious problem with land-use certainty that may threaten future investment in the sector. Across the country, uncertainty surrounding disputed land claims remains a significant barrier to investment in the development of natural resources, particularly investment in the mining sector.

For example, every year the Fraser Institute surveys miners around the world to determine what makes a jurisdiction attractive — or unattractive — to investment. According to the most recent survey, in eight out of 12 Canadian provinces and territories in 2014, uncertainty over disputed land claims was the top barrier to investment.

Read more

Now is the time for Ring of Fire development: KWG official – by Matt Vis (tbnewswatch.com – March 17, 2015)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/default.aspx

THUNDER BAY – A federal treasury board statement indicating that now may not be the time to move forward with Ring of Fire development has drawn sharp criticism from at least one major stakeholder.

Tony Clement was a guest speaker at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce luncheon Monday where he told the audience he does not anticipate the federal or provincial governments taking a larger role in the Ring of Fire until mineral prices rise.

Mo Lavigne, KWG Resources vice-president of exploration and development, was a panelist at a Ring of Fire discussion hosted by the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. He responded to Clement’s statement, telling reporters after the event that the idea of current commodity prices negatively affecting development is misguided.

“He’s really regurgitating a narrative that’s totally incorrect,” lavigne said. “For chromium and nickel this is exactly the right time to be developing the Ring of Fire. “I think it’s more misinformed commentary than anything else … People making uninformed comments is rampant these days. It’s so commonplace and unfortunately it’s not really helping us make good decisions.”

He added that the only markets suffering seriously is iron ore, which played a role in Cliffs Natural Resources backing out. But the markets remain stable for the chromite.

Read more

It’s taken a long time to get this far nowhere – by Mark Gentili (Sudbury Northern Life – March 16, 2015)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Ontario created the Ring of Fire Secretariat in 2011 to develop, according to an Ontario Business Report document, “the chromite and other deposits in the Ring of Fire as quickly as possible and with due regard to environmental impacts and the needs of the Aboriginal communities within the region.”

That sounds great. Except if you ask anyone with a stake in the Ring of Fire, they’ll tell you they can’t figure out what the Secretariat has done the past four years….Then, less than a year ago, Ontario unveiled the Ring of Fire Development Corporation, ostensibly to do the same thing as the Secretariat. How many cooks does one meal need?

[Dalton] McGuinty sees mining the way his environmentally conscious (but terribly misinformed) southern urban supporters see it — dirty….Which begs the question, why would the Ontario Chamber tap his son to write the report card? Even if their intentions were pure, the optics of it are awful. I mean, there’s any number of educated policy wonks with information-gathering skills and no ties to the Liberals who could’ve written it.

Instead, the chamber is playing politics by defending the Ontario Liberals and trying to shame the feds into action, when they should be coming down on the side of development — that’s why they’re there. (Mark Gentili)

Mark Gentili is the managing editor of Northern Life and NorthernLife.ca.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s “Where Are We Now?” report card on the Ring of Fire development in the Far North is a nice document. It’s full colour, has some good pictures and sports an attractive layout.

Read more

Timing not right for Ring of Fire project: Tony Clement – by Len Gillis (Kingston Whig-Standard – March 17, 2015)

http://www.thewhig.com/

TIMMINS, Ont. — The federal and provincial governments are not likely to make any significant moves on the Ring of Fire mining project until there is a vast improvement in mineral markets, says federal Treasury Board president Tony Clement.

The guest speaker at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce luncheon Monday, Clement responded to a question about the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Ring of Fire report card, which gave failing grades to both levels of governments for not being proactive enough to get mining projects up and running.

The report card blamed red tape in the mine permitting process, as well as a failure to provide infrastructure, such as better road or rail links. “There has been little progress developing this extraordinary economic opportunity,” it read.

The Ring of Fire project is a mining development about 600 kilometres northwest of Timmins, in the remote McFaulds Lake area. The prospect is identified mainly as a chromite project, valued in the tens of billions of dollars.

There are huge deposits of other metals there, too, but so far none of the three significant mining companies involved has moved forward with any sort of mining operation.

Read more

Primero targets 2018 start-up for Grey Fox Mine – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – March 14, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

BLACK RIVER-MATHESON – Primero Mining Corporation is aiming to have a new open pit mine in operation by 2018. Ernest Mast, the newly appointed president and chief operating officer, said they plan to begin construction on the Grey Fox open pit next year.

Primero currently operates the Black Fox Mine Black River-Matheson which has both an underground and open pit operation. “That open pit operation will cease later this year,” said Mast, who was appointed president last month. “We will see a decrease in employment from that but then when Grey Fox opens, it is just going to take up that personnel.”

Based solely on confirmed reserves, the Black Fox underground mine may have just another four years of operation. However, Mast said there is considerable evidence to suggest Black Fox will enjoy a considerably longer lifespan. The Grey Fox property is located about three kilometres south of Black Fox Mine.

Both mines are on the geological Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone which extends from Val d’Or to to the west of Timmins.

“Obviously numerous mines are on that trend,” said Mast. “One of the characteristics of the mines on this trend is that most go down to 1,200 to 1,400 metres, and right now we’re only at 520 metres and our drilling at around the 650 metre level has given us the best intercepts (drill results) in the history of the mine and those were recently announced.

Read more

[Northern Ontario – Iroquois Falls] Small Town Shut Down – The Agenda’s Steve Paikin interviews Michael Shea, Jamison Steeve, Madge Richardson and Stan Sudol (March 11, 2015)

http://theagenda.tvo.org/ Resolute Forest Products is shutting down the newsprint mill in Iroquois Falls, Ontario, a move that will result in the loss of 182 jobs , continuing to erode livelihoods in a town of just 4600. The forestry company essentially built Iroquois Falls a century ago and was its largest employer. Like many other single-resource …

Read more

Northern Development and Mines minister takes issue with NDP advisor’s Ring of Fire comments – by Leith Dunick (tbnewswatch.com – March 13, 2015)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/default.aspx

Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development and Mines on Friday slammed comments made Thursday by former NDP leader Howard Hampton on what he said was a lack of progress developing the Ring of Fire.

Michael Gravelle said he was startled and offended by how “flippant and dismissive” Hampton was in saying the province has done nothing in a decade to move the multi-billion-dollar project forward.

“I had to ask myself the question, ‘Has he actually looked at the regional framework agreement that we have signed and negotiated with the Mattawa First Nations?’”

Calling the framework historic and unprecedented, Gravelle on Friday said the process is anything but superficial and certainly more than just firing off occasional press releases, as Hampton, now a paid Ring of Fire advisor of the federal NDP, intonated a day earlier.

The minister said the Ring of Fire isn’t going to happen overnight and the right steps are being taken. The framework sets in place guidelines for regional infrastructure and takes into consideration enhanced environmental monitory, socio-economic issues and supports and resource revenue sharing.

Read more

Government failing to fuel Ring of Fire, says Ontario Chamber of Commerce – by Mark Sabourin (EcoLog.com – March 13, 2015)

http://www.ecolog.com/default.asp

The stink of the Cliffs mining debacle has soured the air around Ontario’s Ring of Fire and has slowed pace of development in the remote but mineral-rich area. Ontario should kick-start development afresh by fast-tracking the most promising proposal on the table and moving aggressively on an infrastructure plan. If it does, dollars will flow into the region from the federal government and the private sector.

So says the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) in its just-released report card on the Ring of Fire. In 2014, it outlined the potential the region holds and laid out a path to further development. This year’s 2015 report card evaluates the provincial government’s progress against that plan and gives it a failing grade.

Stan Sudol, communications consultant, mining columnist and owner/editor of RepublicOfMining.com, calls it “a stunning indictment of government incompetence, both provincial and federal.”

The OCC conservatively estimates that the first 10 years of development of the Ring of Fire will add up to $9.4 billion to the GDP, sustain up to 5,500 jobs annually, and generate $2 billion in government revenue.

The Ring of Fire is everything it’s cracked up to be, Sudol told EcoLog News, and likely more. Once more of the region becomes road-accessible — inevitable once development gets underway — geologists are confident that even more discoveries will follow. If northwestern Ontario is a mineral-rich iceberg, the Ring of Fire may be only its visible tip.

Read more

Kirkland Lake mounts a comeback on the Southern Abitibi (Northern Miner – March 12, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

VANCOUVER — The past two years have been a story of redemption for producer Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KGI; US-OTC: KGILF) at its Macassa and South Mine complex in the prolific the Southern Abitibi gold belt 46 km due southeast of Timmins, Ont. The company just wrapped up its third consecutive quarter of positive earnings and free cash flow, and looks poised to hit the upper end of its annual production guidance.

On March 11 Kirkland reported that it sold 39,700 oz. of gold last quarter at an average realized price of US$1,371 per oz., which resulted in cash flow from operations of $23.7 million. Over the past nine months the company has cranked out around 162,000 oz. of gold at all-in sustaining cash costs of US$1,289 per oz., which marks a material improvement over the 131,000 oz. it produced in 2014 at all-in costs of US$2,054 per oz.

The main driver for Kirkland has been higher grades encountered at the South Mine Complex (SMC), which has also resulted in improved throughput rates at the Macassa mill.

Average production rates last quarter were around 934 tonnes per day, which marks a 3% quarter-on-quarter increase. The good news for Kirkland is that it managed a further improvement in January, when throughput averaged 1,107 tonnes per day resulting in the delivery of around 34,500 tonnes of ore to the mill.

Read more

Lake Shore’s potential new ore – by Kip Keen (Mineweb.com – March 13, 2015)

http://www.mineweb.com/

We take a look at what’s driving reserve and resource growth at Lake Shore Gold.

Lake Shore Gold, an Ontario miner, issued a good gold reserve update on Thursday: by key analyst measures it beat expectations. The headline was 29% reserve growth, after depletion.

It was impressive, albeit growth on top of already short-lived reserves. Lake Shore has only about five years of minelife, though, it must be said, it has pushed that minelife out consistently with reserve additions over the years. The grade dropped, slightly, in its reserve update, but ounces grew: to 773,000 ounces gold @ 4.4 g/t Au from 598,000 @ 4.6 g/t Au.

For it, on a day that the spot price of gold was bouncing off $1,150/oz, Lake Shore did well in trading, gaining as much as 1.2% during the day.

But if the reserve growth surprised, a little, the real meat is yet to come. Much more interesting still, at this point, is what Lake Shore can bring in its relatively new 144 Gap discovery, 500 metres from its mining operations at Thunder Creek.

In drilling 144 Gap this and last year, Lake Shore caught some attention and for good reason: The hits have been high grade and broad. Late last year Lake Shore reported as much as 7.18 g/t Au over 24 metres among a number of other strong hits. More recently it has highlighted as much as 5.36 g/t Au over 47 metres. The intercepts have put the discovery at the forefront of Lake Shore’s drilling plans.

Read more

AUDIO: Chambers’ Ring of Fire report card ‘not applicable’ to the north (CBC News Sudbury – March 12, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news

A professor at Laurentian University calls a new report card on the Ring of Fire unfair. The report released this week by the Greater Sudbury and Ontario Chambers of Commerce gives the project a failing grade for development.

The report cites the absence of an agreement with First Nations, problems with permits and a lack of federal funding as the most significant barriers to development.

But David Pearson said the expectations for the project are too great and it’s unreasonable to think that all First Nation communities in the far north can speak to the project with one voice.

“I think the standards that you’ve used to put your F’s on and your C’s and your D’s and so forth are not standards that are applicable to the far north,” he said. Some industry experts have defended the findings, saying the point of the report is to draw a sense of urgency to the project.

A panel discussion on the subject was held in Sudbury Wednesday night at Dynamic Earth. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Josh Hjartarson said he wants to talk about the project, but government officials aren’t returning his phone calls.

He’s said he’s trying to pressure the government to take action. “What I’m trying to say is that we’re spending some political capital,” he continued.

Read more

Ring of Fire producing mostly press releases, says federal NDP advisor – by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – March 12, 2015)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/default.aspx

THUNDER BAY — Nothing has happened in the Ring of Fire in nearly a decade and nothing will until the federal and provincial governments manage and make decisions with First Nations. That’s according Howard Hampton, former Ontario NDP leader and current paid adviser on the Ring of Fire for the federal New Democratic Party.

Hampton, during an interview with tbnewswatch.com Thursday, said both levels of government have completely missed what First Nations have been saying all along, that all three need to co-manage the development and make decisions together.

“We’ve had about eight year about press releases about the Ring of Fire,” Hampton said in Thunder Bay Thursday after returning from a trip to several Matawa communities.

“But if you look at the situation not much has happened.” Announcements like the development corporation and Cliffs’ one-time plan to put a processor near Sudbury were done unilaterally, without any consultation with First Nations Hampton said.

The $1 billion for infrastructure was nothing more than a nice pre-election promise while a recent plan to get Matawa a feasibility study for an all-weather road is actually a re-announcement from 1999 when the federal government outlined a plan to build all-weather routes to several Northern communities. Both levels of government to this point have handled the Ring of Fire badly.

Read more

Poor grades for Ring of Fire don’t surprise key players – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – March 11, 2015)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Panelists say little progress made after years of work

Key industry players in the Ring of Fire mineral deposit said they were not surprised by an Ontario Chamber of Commerce report card that criticized the glacial pace of progress in the region.

During a panel discussion the chamber organized in Sudbury Wednesday, Paul Semple, the chief operating officer with Noront Resources, a junior miner that owns stakes in the Ring of Fire, said the failing “F” grade for the development of the Ring of Fire was warranted.

“We’ve done some good things, there has been a framework agreement with the province for $1 billion, but you don’t win a hockey game with a couple of good shifts,” Semple said. “We haven’t really done anything with that billion dollars, we haven’t done anything with the development corporation, and the framework hasn’t honestly given any benefits to the First Nations.”

George Darling, the mine technical services director with engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, who also sat on the panel, said he was disappointed by the speed at which the project has progressed.

Darling said a “huge smelter” his company is building in Madagascar – a project worth $2.5 billion – took only two years to get going. “What I’m very nervous about is the amount of time it takes in North America to develop project, compared to countries like Madagascar that are really developing right now,” he said.

Read more

Sudbury’s Environmental Revival – by Boghos Ghougassian (Arab Forum for Environment & Development – December 1, 2012)

http://www.afedonline.org/en/

The Greater Sudbury area in Ontario Province, Canada, 400 km north of Toronto city, was one of the earliest regions of the world to feel the harmful impact of unsustainable industrial development. It was also one of the first to recognize the mistakes and determined to correct them.

For nearly a century, mining and logging activities had converted the Greater Sudbury area into an inhospitable land. It had been dubbed as moonscape, its blackened scar visible from outer space. Even the Apollo 16 astronauts have done their exercises in here in 1971, before landing on the moon surface.
Greater Sudbury encompasses one of the largest known nickel ore bodies on Earth, with an area of more than 60 km2. This has earned Sudbury international recognition as “the Nickel Capital of the World”.

Sudbury was found in 1883 as a railway station town. So dominant were the trees, the Jesuits called their parish “Ste. Anne of the pines”. The trees also caught the attention of wood logging companies who clear cut the area leading to loss of biologic diversity, erosion of soils and other environmental impacts. Records indicate that Sudbury’s forests have been swarmed with some 11,000 loggers during the late 1880s.

With the discovery of nickel, early mining and smelting processes in 1886 to 1929 delivered another devastating blow to the environment. The metal rich rock was ignited in open “roast beds” cloaking the area in dense clouds of sulfur dioxide’s acidic smoke, which devastated the remaining green vegetation and acidified the freshwater of many lakes of the region, killing fishes and many other aquatic species.

Read more