Ontario Mining – Page 192 – Republic of Mining

Bees help restore Sudbury mining site – by Lisa Wright (Toronto Star – October 14, 2014)

October 14, 2014

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.

“Unsightly” mess left behind by a century of mining.

Retired foreman Wayne Tonelli worked in Sudbury’s nickel mines since he was a teenager, but his new gig is pretty sweet.
That’s because his old boss Vale (formerly Inco) is mining for more than metals these days. The company is in the ‘liquid gold’ business, enlisting thousands of honey bees to help restore a Sudbury landscape blighted by more than a century of nickel and copper mining and smelting.

“I like being outside after 40 years underground,” says Tonelli, now a bee-keeper for the international resources giant as part of a company program to re-green the area that decades back looked like a moonscape.

He carefully tends to seven hives containing 350,000 bees that are used to pollinate the blooming wildflowers the company has planted across 120 acres of unsightly black slag piles formed by waste from the Copper Cliff smelter complex, upon which the massive Superstack chimney sits.

“Bio-diversity is the buzz word in the resource industry these days,” explains Glen Watson, superintendent, reclamation and decommissioning for Vale’s Ontario operations.

Curlook helped modernize Inco in Sudbury – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – October 10, 2014)

October 10, 2014

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

A mining innovator and community leader who helped Sudburians breathe easier died earlier this month in Toronto.

The Coniston-born Walter Curlook, who rose to positions of prominence with Inco and oversaw the sulphur reduction program of the 1980s and early 1990s, was 85. His funeral was held Monday.

Through his long and impressive career with the nickel giant (now part of Vale), Curlook spurred advancements in metallurgical processing and environmental protection, securing a dozen patents relating to ore refining and smelting.

“I was proud of him because he was a bit of a genius and did so many nice things,” said his sister Eugenia (“Jenny”) Maizuk. “For one thing, he cleared the air around here.”

Jenny and Walter, along with two other siblings, were raised by Ukrainian immigrant parents in Coniston. Their father worked in the mines and, while still in his teens, Walter also secured part-time and seasonal work with Inco. The air hung thickly with sulphur in those days.

“I remember when we had to rush and cover the gardens with sheets to prevent them from getting burnt by the gas,” recalled Jenny. “Walter used to argue with my dad at dinnertime, saying ‘what’s wrong with Inco?'”

North Bay mine builder lands salt mine rehab work – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 8, 2014)

October 9, 2014

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. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Cementation Canada will be on familiar turf later this year as the North Bay mine builder has landed a major contract to rehabilitate the shafts at a Goderich salt mine.

Kansas-based Compass Minerals, the owners of the Sifto salt mine, selected Cementation as part of a “multi-million-dollar” upgrade to reline the walls of two 55-year-old shafts at the mine, located on the shores of Lake Huron.

Details of the contract were to be ironed out in September, but project engineering work has already started. Cementation has some lineage to Goderich dating back decades when a predecessor company sunk the original No. 1 shaft in 1959, followed by a second one in 1968.

The job involves both underground and surface work that will see as many as 100 Cementation workers and sub-contractors on the site at peak periods of the three-year project.

Cementation president Roy Slack explained the company’s history dates back to the early 1900s and its Belgian founder, Albert Francois, who patented the grouting process for the mining industry.

Make no little plans, my son [Economic planning northern Ontario] – by David Robinson (Northern Ontario Business – October 2014)

October 9, 2014

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.

Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development at Laurentian University.drobinson@laurentian.ca

As an economist, I often get calls from the media about national and provincial issues. As an economist who studies economic development in Northern Ontario, I don’t get many calls. Most of those are asking for a speaker and almost none want my advice on economic development. I have only had a few calls from First Nation communities. I’d like to think I know something about development, so why am I left sitting in a corner sad and lonely?

It could be because everyone knows that academics, including me, are pretty useless. I’d hate to think so, but it could be. It could be the economic development people in Northern Ontario are so good they don’t need academic advice. It could be that the province is doing such a good job that that no one needs independent research and advice from the ivory tower.

My guess is that that because Northern universities have never focused on economic development issues for the North, media people and economic development officers simply don’t think about heading to the campus for help. The exception is the Community Economic and Social Development program at Algoma University. More recently, Laurentian University has established a new School of Northern Development that will do research and provide courses on Northern Ontario development. Things are getting better, however slowly.

KWG, Noront react to Cliffs shakeup – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 3, 2014)

October 3, 2014

Frank Smeenk was direct in his appraisal of Cliffs Natural Resources ending up on the wrong end of an acrimonious proxy fight with a New York hedge fund. “I thought they deserved everything that befell them,” said the president-CEO of KWG Resources. “They haven’t been easy to get along with at all.”

There’s no love lost between the Toronto junior and the Ohio miner, but a change in leadership and corporate philosophy in Cleveland may signal the thawing of a frosty relationship.

The head of KWG wasn’t at Cliffs’ July 29 shareholders meeting to gloat over the demise of the old guard at the 167-year-old mining giant, but it was a get-acquainted opportunity to meet the new blood as Casablanca Capital seized control of the board of directors.

Casablanca has vowed to make good on its promise to carve off Cliffs’ costly international projects, including its mothballed Ring of Fire chromite properties, like the Black Thor deposit, from its core U.S. mines.

“I’m trying to persuade them that KWG can be the (development) vehicle,” said Smeenk, “that it might be opportune for (us) to be their partner of choice.

The North is the Future of Ontario – Dave Canfield (Netnewsledger.com – September 26, 2014)

October 3, 2014

http://www.netnewsledger.com/

Northern Ontario is Ontario’s Future

THUNDER BAY – “We are the future of Ontario,” stated Northern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) President Dave Canfield. Speaking to the Northwestern Ontario Regional Conference, Friday morning Canfield updated the delegates,

“Getting our communities up and running is critical,” added Canfield, sharing with the delegates that at the recent AMO meetings, that the provincial government is listening. “Premier Wynne was present for the entire hour,” added Canfield, explaining that was the first time that had happened”.

Energy remains a focus for NOMA. Canfield explained that in talks with OPA, most of the time the elected officials, and communities are right. Getting the needed power in the region, not just for mining, but for forestry is important.

Infrastructure funding is a success for the north. There was $100 million announced in the budget. Canfield explained that it might take a bit of time to get it going, but the groundwork has been done.

Forging a New Path – NAN Grand Chief Yesno

Nishnawbe-Aski Nation Grand Chief Harvey Yesno addressed the delegates. One of the goals is building permanant infrastructure into our communities. The Grand Chief spoke on how high costs for transportation and food is impacting the region.

Michael Gravelle on negotiations between mining companies and First Nations – interview by Markus Schwabe (CBC News Sudbury – October 2, 2014)

October 3, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/morningnorth/ We contacted the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Michael Gravelle, to talk about the difficulties in negotiations between mining companies and First Nation communities. Click here for the interview: http://www.cbc.ca/morningnorth/past-episodes/2014/10/02/michael-gravelle-on-negotiations-between-mining-companies-and-first-nations/

‘Nothing done’ on Ring of Fire: Horwath – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 29, 2014)

September 29, 2014

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

The Ontario Liberals may have won a majority in the June 12 election, but they don’t have a monopoly, says Andrea Horwath.

Ontario Liberals have failed Northern Ontarians time and time again — especially in their slowness to develop the Ring of Fire — and the Ontario New Democrats can capitalize on that, said the NDP leader.

Horwath spoke Sunday morning at NDP Northern Council 2014, a gathering of 60 or more MPPs, NDP candidates and party faithful.

New Democrats, herself included, made mistakes in the last election, but have four years to make up for them, especially if they focus on the values for which the party stands.

Ontario saw the “sad result” of Liberal inaction recently when Cliffs Natural Resources indicated it was looking to sell its assets in the Ring of Fire, Horwath told delegates.

“Instead of pulling out all the stops to build infrastructure, instead of getting revenue sharing agreements on track, instead of working with northerners, First Nations and industry partners to develop resources in the Ring of Fire, Premier Wynne’s government has taken a wait-and-see approach.”

Money for mine researchers in Sudbury – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 27, 2014)

September 29, 2014

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

Two Sudbury research organizations received almost $900,000 in funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. on Friday for projects that will make mining safer for workers and more economically viable.

About $784,000 will go to the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation to help develop a mobile canopy system that will make it safer for workers to tunnel into ore bodies and will almost triple the rate at which they do it.

Another $100,000 was announced for a diesel emission reductions research project being conducted by the Canadian Mining Industry Research Organization (CAMIRO) to test filters to protect miners from diesel fumes underground.

The funding was announced by Premier Kathleen Wynne in the Vale Cavern at Science North. Wynne said the two projects will help create and retain as many as 500 jobs, and pave the way for new mining operations that will create many more jobs in the long term.

She made the announcement the day after convening a full cabinet meeting at the Willet Green Miller Centre and attending at $1,750-a-plate dinner to boost the coffers of the Ontario Liberal Fund.

Wynne also attended a Franco-Ontarian Day ceremony on Thursday and jogged early Friday morning in the fog along the Jim Gordon Boardwalk, leading a group of students from Laurentian University, many of them members of the Young Liberals Association.

Wynne not worried about Cliffs pulling out of Ring – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 26, 2014)

September 26, 2014

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

Premier Kathleen Wynne isn’t wasting time worrying about Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources looking to possibly sell key assets in the Ring of Fire. Cliffs will make its own business decisions and the Government of Ontario doesn’t have any control over that, said Wynne.

“There are many companies that are interested in the development of the Ring of Fire and we are going to be working with all of those companies that are interested,” Wynne told reporters after a cabinet meeting Thursday at the Willet Green Miller Centre at Laurentian University.

At one time, Cliff had plans to open a chromite mine in the Ring of Fire, and ship the ore to a plant in Capreol for processing. That would have created as many as 600 jobs in the Sudbury area.

The premier and most members of her inner circle met at the session, at which ministers received mandate letters outlining the priorities for their ministries.

High on the priority list for Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle was developing the Ring of Fire, rich chromite deposits located 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

Northern Ontario mining projects need province’s support, analyst says (CBC News Sudbury – September 25, 2014)

September 26, 2014

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

A mining industry watcher says the provincial government should do more to help with First Nation consultation, and putting a cap on energy rates. Stan Sudol said recent changes to Ontario’s Mining Act have made negotiations between the industry and First Nation communities more complicated.

The Toronto-based communications consultant and mining policy analyst said that’s hurting the industry, because it’s delaying exploration projects, and increasing the cost. The onus is on the government to improve the negotiation process, Sudol added.

“The government needs to meet with the tribal councils across northern Ontario, along with junior mining companies, and let’s hammer out a blanket, uniform agreement that is good for everybody.” Unless something is done, junior mining companies and prospectors fear the consultation process could become more onerous, he said.

Ontario power costs too high

While the future of the Sudbury Basin mining camp looks promising, Sudol said he’s concerned about climbing power rates due to Ontario’s Green Energy Act.

State of the Basin: industry watcher Stan Sudol (CBC Morning North – September 25, 2014)

September 25, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury We wrap up our series on the state of mining and mineral exploration in Northeastern Ontario. We reached out to blogger [www.republicofmining.com] and mining industry watcher Stan Sudol for his thoughts on what the future holds. Listen audio (runs 7:55) We also have the full interview with Stan Sudol for you, a longer version …

Power grid connection for First Nations to save millions, report says – by Jody Porter (CBC News Sudbury – September 24, 2014)

September 24, 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay

Ontario Power Authority report says 21 First Nations to be taken off diesel, connected to grid

The Ontario Power Authority says getting 21 First Nations off diesel generation and onto the provincial power grid will save a billion dollars over the next 40 years. The draft Remote Community Connection Plan outlines the business case for building power lines in the remote north.

The report states: “The $1 billion cost savings reflects only the avoidable cost of diesel fuel and system expansion. It does not reflect the additional economic, societal, developmental and environmental benefits that would also arise from transmission connection of remote communities.”

The federal government would reap the majority of the savings, as it is currently the major source of funding for diesel generation in First Nations.

However, all electricity customers in Ontario would benefit through a reduction in the rural and remote subsidy portion of their bills, according to Power Authority planning analyst Stephanie Aldersley.

“By having transmission connection we’re reducing some of the need for that cost so that’s how Ontario customers stand to benefit from the connection,” she said. Aldersley said there could be additional cost savings if a proposed mining development in the area moves ahead, but the plan doesn’t rely on it.

Young workers lining up for lucrative, ‘hands-on’ mining jobs (CBC News Sudbury – September 24, 2014)

September 24, 2014

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

CEMI official says he’d like to see more young people from southern Ontario work in mining

Young people are turning to the mining and mineral exploration industry to land what they perceive is a well-paying job and a chance to do hands-on work.

The executive director at Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines said he’s noticed more students interested in mining and geology. “People increasingly are seeing it as a good job to get. As a wage sector, it’s much higher than a lot of other sectors,” Bruce Jago said.

The Mining Association of Canada reports mining is the highest paid industry of all industrial sectors in Canada. But the money isn’t all that young people are after. Just ask 22-year-old Julia Davis. “I said I will never become a geologist, it is so boring, until I worked in the actual field.”

Davis is currently working as a mine geologist near Matheson. She plans to earn her professional geoscientist accreditation in the hopes of carving out a long career in the mines. Paul Ricker spent years finding his passion and eventually received a mining engineering diploma at Cambrian College.

Now the 33-year-old is working as a geomatics technician in Sudbury. “You’re underground, you can touch the rock, you can see the machinery, and you can see the designs that you may have done up in the office,” he said. But jobs are limited for people like Ricker.

Nickel price drop to have minimal impact on suppliers – by Jonathan Migneault (Northern Ontario Business – September 23, 2014)

September 24, 2014

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.

A recent drop in the price of nickel should not have a major impact on Sudbury’s mining supply and services sector, said the executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association.

“Fluctuations in nickel prices don’t seem to alarm many of our guys,” said Dick DeStefano. “They just accept it as part of the process of working in the Sudbury area with nickel mines.”

The price of nickel was US$7.71 a pound Tuesday, after a drop from nearly $9 a pound in early September. DeStefano said many of his association’s members have learned to diversify, providing services and products for a variety of different mining companies.

Even if production at a mine slows, companies like Vale and Glencore still need to maintain their equipment and pay for many of the services on which they rely on a regular basis, DeStefano added. He said other issues have had a bigger impact on his sector.

“The biggest issue for our guys is that there’s such a lack of exploration going on,” DeStefano said. He said uncertainty around the Ring of Fire has also been like a “dark cloud” hanging over the mining supply and services sector.