Ontario Mining – Page 186 – Republic of Mining

Light at the end of the tunnel – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – February 24, 2015)

February 26, 2015

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Ontario exploration spending continues slide, but several projects advance to mine development

Exploration and deposit appraisal expenditures in Ontario were down significantly in 2014 – no surprise to junior mining companies, geologists, drilling companies and manufacturers of drilling consumables. But the news wasn’t all bad as the New Year dawned.

Revised estimates published by Natural Resources Canada in September pegged exploration and deposit appraisal expenditures for Ontario at $509.5 million, less than half the amount spent in 2011 and down again from last year’s total of $562 million.

Ontario still leads all other provinces and territories with 24 per cent of spending in Canada, but that’s down from Ontario’s 30.8 per cent share registered in 2010.

Gold continued to be the predominant target, accounting for $416.3 million of total spending for the year. Grass roots exploration took most of the hit, though several of the most promising projects crossed the threshold from exploration to mine development. By late January, gold had rebounded from its October low of $1,140 and was sitting at just under $1300.

“We had a very good run from the early 2000s,” said Rod Thomas, president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. “China was growing at double digit rates and there was a huge demand for commodities starting around 2003 all the way to the financial crisis in 2008… but we bounced back and the industry did really well until around April 2012.”

Moosonee railway extension gaining momentum – by Len Gillis (Timmins Times – February 25, 2015)

February 26, 2015

http://www.timminstimes.com/

Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Lawrence Martin will be joining the chiefs of the Matawa Tribal Council at the annual prospectors’ convention in Toronto next week to outline his plans for a new railway line running from Moosonee to the Ring Of Fire mining project.

Martin said he met with Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias earlier this week to outline the idea, but Martin said Moonias could not make any sort of a commitment on behalf of the Matawa First Nations, which is claiming territorial jurisdiction over the mining area. Martin said however there is growing support for Mushkegowuk.

Regardless, grand chief Martin said the idea is gaining momentum and more people are willing to listen to the idea. He said he expects mining executives at the Prospectors and Developers Convention next week will be interested in hearing the proposal, given the overall interest in the mining project.

The Ring of Fire is the name give to a huge deposit of chromite located in the McFauld’s Lake and Webequie area, about 600 kilometres north west of Timmins. Chromite is an important mineral element in manufacturing stainless steel. The Ring of Fire area could become the largest chromite mining site in North America, a venture measured in the tens of billions of dollars.

In January, Martin revealed the idea of creating a rail link across Mushkegowuk territory into the Ring Of Fire area with a two-pronged objective; one to bring in a rail link and secondly to bring in a high-voltage energy transmission line.

[Mike Tremblay] Self-confessed bush rat strikes gold – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – February 13, 2014)

February 26, 2015

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Mike Tremblay grew up in Chapleau, nine kilometres from the Borden Lake discovery, and couldn’t wait to get out. “I was getting to the point where I was going to be in trouble with the law if I didn’t figure out what I was going to do with myself, so I went to the guidance councellor and they figured I was the kind of guy who should be working outdoors.”

Forestry was out of the question, so Tremblay enrolled in a geology program at Sault College. In 1984, he was back in Chapleau and found work with Noranda on an outcrop sampling program. “They were redoing the highway at the time and blasted through an outcrop,” he recalled. “One of the guys I worked with mapped it and in his report called it vent proximal geology.

That was really interesting to me. Noranda’s idea was that it was good geology for a base metal deposit, but there was a little sniff of gold and I decided to follow it up.” A self-confessed “bush rat,” Tremblay received a series of grants through the Ontario Prospectors Assistance Program over the years.

“The OPAP grants of $10,000 allowed me to pay myself $100 a day, spend time near my home town and still do what I wanted to do on my own terms,” he said.

He first staked property in the Borden Lake area in 1987 and continued to work it for a total of 17 years between other jobs. He held the property from 1987 to 2000 and restaked it in 2006.

Fraser Institute, junior miners slam Ontario Mining Act – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – February 24, 2015)

February 24, 2015

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

The uncertainty created by the Ontario government in its mishandling of First Nations consultation were cited by the Fraser Institute in its choice to drop the province down in its annual rankings of global mining-friendly jurisdictions.

Ontario placed 23rd, falling nine spots from last year’s survey. Much of the blame is being placed on the regulatory and policy confusion created within the resource industry stemming from the province’s amendments to the Mining Act and in dealing with First Nations issues.

“In Ontario, the new Mining Act amendments regarding First Nations consultation have resulted in complete incomprehensibility of rights on all sides,” said Kenneth Green, the institute’s senior director of energy and natural resources, in a Feb. 24 news release.

The Calgary-based think tank annually ranks 122 jurisdictions around the world based on geological attractiveness, government policy and investment.

The report included a survey and comments from mining companies on operating in Ontario. One respondent aid the act has resulted in “near-veto powers against exploration” by First Nations concerning their traditional lands, while other called it an “impractical regulation” that’s caused a “misinterpretation of rights on all sides.”

NEWS RELEASE: The Fraser Institute: Saskatchewan Ranks First in Canada and Second Worldwide in Annual Global Mining Survey; Ontario and B.C. Slipping

February 24, 2015

www.fraserinstitute.org

Click here for full report: http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/survey-of-mining-companies-2014.pdf

CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – Feb. 24, 2015) – Saskatchewan is the most attractive jurisdiction for mining investment in Canada, according to an annual global survey of mining executives released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian policy think-tank.

The Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2014, rates 122 jurisdictions around the world based on their geologic attractiveness and the extent to which government policies encourage exploration and investment. Saskatchewan ranks as the top jurisdiction in Canada and finishes second worldwide behind Finland.

“In addition to being blessed with an abundance of mineral potential, Saskatchewan gets credit for having a government with a transparent and productive approach to mining policy,” said Kenneth Green, Fraser Institute senior director of energy and natural resources and director of the Survey of Mining Companies.

“The province offers a competitive taxation regime, good scientific support, efficient permitting procedures and clarity around land claims. That’s what miners look for.”

[Ontario] Prospectors’ future in jeopardy (Northern News – February 17, 2015)

February 20, 2015

http://www.northernnews.ca/

KIRKLAND LAKE – The frustrations and problems prospectors are facing as they try to stay in business was front and centre at the Northern Prospectors’ Association’s Annual General Meeting. NPA President Gino Chitaroni didn’t sugar coat the very real challenges prospectors are dealing with. During his opening address Chitaroni stated, “I wish these were good times but sadly they are not for us in the industry. We are now at a crossroads where our whole industry and way of life is completely threatened.”

He sees prospectors facing three major issues. The first is the lack of financing, the second is over regulation and bad government regulatory guidelines and the third is the empowerment of First Nations at the expense of the mining and exploration industry.

In terms of being able to raise money for projects, Chitaroni said that is currently a world wide problem. He got much more specific when talking about over regulation, noting that the government’s decision to implement exploration plans and permits, map staking, the Far North Act and the overzealous renewal of the Mining Act, are hindering the exploration and mining industry. These changes, he said, “when this compounded by eco-centric government policies from other ministries spells disaster.”

When speaking about the provincial government’s dealings with First Nations, the NPA president issued a warning, saying, “First Nation empowerment at the expense of the mining and exploration industry which if unabated maybe the contagion that will spill off to other business sectors, private land holders, farmers and even municipalities.

Lockerby Mine fire under investigation – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 19, 2015)

February 19, 2015

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

A fire underground Monday at First Nickel Inc.’s Lockerby Mine, in which no one was injured, illustrates the effectiveness of procedures and protocols in place in Ontario to react to emergencies underground, says the company’s vice-president.

Officials at First Nickel and with the Ministry of Labour are investigating the cause of a fire detected Monday about 11 a.m. on a conveyor belt in a small space of the mine in which no one was working at the time.

Vern Baker, FNI vice-president of Sudbury operations, said the fire drove more than 30 employees who were working underground to refuge stations, where they remained for 61/2 hours.

Flames were evident when mine rescue teams showed up and they put the fire out with water, said Baker. “The problem almost always in a mine is not the flame,” said Baker. “The problem is the smoke. That’s where the real danger for most of us is.”

While company officials don’t know what caused one of several conveyor belts at the nickel mine to catch fire, they have ruled it was not caused by electricity or “by a person,” said Baker.

First Nickel committed to Lockerby Mine -by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 12, 2015)

February 12, 2015

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

First Nickel wouldn’t be planning to invest as much as $900,000 in exploration drilling in 2015 if it didn’t believe Lockerby Mine had a future longer beyond a year or two.

The company made tough decisions in December, bringing in a new vice-president of Sudbury operations, developing a plan to cut expenses and employees, and resuming mining its ramp development between the 6,800-foot level, says FNI’s Thomas Boehlert. FNI issued layoff notices to about 25% of its own employees and cut 75% of the contractors it was employing so it could save 130 other jobs at the mine formerly owned by Falconbridge Ltd.

The economics of the market, the low price of nickel and the cost of running the mine forced the company to stop ramp development in 2014. But it decided to resume mining below that level, mining the ore it believes will last until 2016, as it invests in diamond drilling to define and “prove up” other ore bodies at the mine, says Boehlert, the president and chief executive officer of First Nickel.

If cuts to expenses, including some at FNI’s Toronto office, hadn’t been made, the company would have quickly mined out the remaining reserves at and above the 6,800-foot level and had to close the mine, said Boehlert in a recent interview.

Sudbury needs premier needs to act boldly [turn Laurentian in global Harvard of hardrock mining] – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – February 9, 2015)

May 4, 2015February 9, 2015

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

Note: this is the second of two parts.

Sudbury: Paris of the Mining World

While I can’t remember who coined the phrase, “Sudbury, the Paris of the Mining World” – I wish I had been that clever – there is an amazing amount of truth to the statement. Obviously, in no uncertain terms, does any part of Sudbury remind anyone – even in a drugged or drunken state – of Paris.

However, my lake-filled, mid-sized hometown does have a wide variety of retail, tourist, educational and other amenities that most tiny isolated mining towns do not and it is located only 400 km north of Canada’s largest city, Toronto.

A few years ago, a colleague who moved from Red Lake to Sudbury almost considered herself in “mining heaven” with the abundance of amenities not found in that tiny gold mining centre.

In addition to the Ontario government’s new differentiation and international student outreach policies, there are many other reasons why all post-secondary mining programs should be relocated to Sudbury’s Laurentian University.

Accent: Laurentian as ‘Harvard of Hardrock Mining’ – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – February 7, 2015)

May 4, 2015February 9, 2015

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

Note: This is the first of two parts.

Laurentian University economics professor David Robinson, who ran for the Green Party in Sudbury’s provincial byelection on Thursday, has done a terrific job in highlighting mining issues and his plans to ensure that Sudbury continues to become Ontario’s centre of mining excellence.

It’s a refreshing policy approach that often gets overlooked by other politicians, but in fairness to Glenn Thibeault and even Premier Kathleen Wynne, both have also mentioned — but not with the same passion as Robinson — and promoted Sudbury’s mining sector.

However, as with many issues related to Premier Wynne and the mining sector — including the Ring of Fire — there seems to be more “political talk” and very “little solid walk.” Actually, dodging and spinning would be a better description of her government’s mining policy in general.

If Premier Wynne is truly serious about promoting and establishing Sudbury as a centre of mining excellence, then she must merge and relocate all of Ontario’s university mining programs to Laurentian and significantly expand and establish a “Global Harvard of Hardrock Mining” with a mandate to educate the next generation of miners in Canada and from around the world.

With this consolidation, not only would the premier solidify Sudbury’s premier role in underground mining, supply and services, mining education and research in Canada, she would also dovetail with current policy proposals from her own Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities that are trying to cut duplication in the university sector and increase the number of international students attending the province’s universities.

REVIEW: MURDOCH MYSTERIES MINES SILVER AND GROUP OF SEVEN – by Greg David (TV-EH.com – January 20, 2015)

February 7, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/murdochmysteries/

http://www.tv-eh.com/

Not sure if my spring/2014 essay [ http://bit.ly/1upri55 ]on Northern Ontario mining history had any influence on CBC to incorporate the Cobalt Silver Rush into a recent episode of the highly acclaimed “Murdoch Mysteries”, but you have to give the giant broadcaster credit for helping educate all Canadians about a little known part of our history! (Stan Sudol – Owner/Editor RepublicOfMining.com)

TV, eh? covers news, reviews and interviews about Canadian television shows, with the odd foray into the odd industry that produces them.

For over 15 years, Greg David has been a television critic for TV Guide Canada, the country’s most trusted source for TV news. He is a member of the Television Critics Association. greg@tv-eh.com

Gold positioned for comeback: Goldcorp founder, CEO – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – February 2, 2015)

February 3, 2015

http://montrealgazette.com/

Both the founder and the present CEO of Goldcorp Inc., now commissioning the big Éléonore mine in Northern Quebec, predict investors will soon start returning to the unloved gold mining sector.

“In the past two years, as bullion dropped from a record of almost US$2,000 an ounce, gold miners have dumped old management, slashed exploration spending, lowered operating costs and shifted to high-grade ore to focus fully on restoring cash flow,” said Rob McEwen, chairman of McEwen Mining Inc.

“You’ve got a serious gap developing between declining global output and steadily mounting demand from Asia where millions of new middle-class consumers are emerging,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “That gap could last several years.”

McEwen created Goldcorp via a string of mergers in the 1990s and left in 2005 after a disagreement over strategy. Goldcorp is now the world’s largest gold producer by market value.

He then formed McEwen Mining which plans to dig 96,500 ounces of gold and 3.12 million ounces of silver from mines in Mexico and Argentina in 2015 and aims at intermediate status with annual output of one million ounces of gold.

Local history: Ontario’s first gold mine near Madoc – by Susanna McLeod (Kingston Whig-Standard – February 3, 2015)

February 3, 2015

http://www.thewhig.com/

Hiking through scraggly scrub brush, clambering up jagged, rocky hills, and across grassy fields in the mid-1860s, the prospectors scrutinized each area carefully for signs of a soft reddish-orange mineral.

A copper mine would set a lot of people on the road to good fortune; in demand for coins, housewares, bathtubs, shipbuilding, the metal was indispensable in Canada. After months of exploring in the Madoc, Ont., region, about 115 km northwest of Kingston, the miners were at last tracing a potential mineral seam. The prize they found on John Richardson’s farmland wasn’t copper, it was gold.

Digging a shaft 15 feet down, “the seam was six inches wide at the top and was decomposed for six feet,” said prospector Marcus Herbert Powell in the First Report of the Bureau of Mines, 1891. “Then it was solid rock to 15 feet, where it suddenly opened into a cave 12 feet long, six feet wide and six feet high, so that I could stand upright in it.” It was a discovery that he literally fell into in the summer of 1866.

“The hanging wall was quartzite and the foot wall was granite, while the roof was composed of spar, talc and rocks of various kinds, and the floor of iron, talc, quartzite, black mica and other minerals,” Powell described. The gold was interspersed throughout the rocks “in the form of leaves and nuggets, and in the roof it ran through a foot thickness like knife blades.”

Rickford, Gravelle meet on Ring of Fire – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 28, 2015)

January 28, 2015

Progress in the Ring of Fire – or the lack of it – was on the agenda of federal Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford and provincial Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle during a meeting in Ottawa, Jan. 27.

In their first “constructive” meeting of 2015, a joint news release stated the ministers discussed funding arrangements to extend transportation infrastructure into the isolated Far North region to support mining and improve access to remote First Nation communities.

The two sides have been at an impasse on how to work together in the James Bay lowlands where exploration has ground to a halt and the biggest explorer, Cliffs Natural Resources, has abandoned work and seems likely to leave Ontario.

The Wynne government has accused the Harper government of dragging its feet in matching Ontario’s $1 billion infrastructure commitment for development of the mining camp, while Ottawa has chastised Queen’s Park for its lack of a detailed plan from its much-maligned Ring of Fire development corporation.

The news release said discussion focused on the Ottawa’s $53 billion Building Canada Fund, set aside for provincial and municipal infrastructure, including “legacy resource development projects like the Ring of Fire.”

RoF access route land squabble headed to Court of Appeal – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – January 28, 2015)

January 28, 2015

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Prospective Ring of Fire (RoF) miners KWG Resources and Cliffs Natural Resources have been given the green light to take their quarrel over the right of way over an isthmus, narrow strip of land, connecting the remote Northern Ontario mining camp with the outside world to the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

KWG reported on Tuesday that its subsidiary Canada Chrome Corporation (CCC) had received an order of the Court of Appeal granting leave to appeal the decision of the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released July 30 last year, which ruled that CCC’s consent should be waived in an application for an easement to build a road over its mining claims.

KWG, through CCC, controls the key transportation route on land, which it acquired through claim staking in 2009. KWG had proposed a rail route connecting to the Canadian National transcontinental rail line at the Exton rail siding to transport ore to consumers, competing with its US-based joint venture partner Cliffs, which had proposed an all-weather road south connecting to the same rail line west of Exton.

Cliffs’ plan was to transport chromite concentrate by rail to Capreol, in the Sudbury area, where it planned to build a ferrochrome production facility.

KWG explained that CCC was now expected to file its notice of appeal by January 30, after which it would have a further 30-day opportunity to perfect its appeal.