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Ontario Mining

Aboriginal institute trains mining industry workers – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 13, 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.

Seven Generations Education Institute is seeking to create a home grown workforce to position Aboriginal people in northwestern Ontario to take advantage of coming opportunities in the mining sector.

The Aboriginally run Treaty 3 organization, established in 1978, was the recipient of $5.2 million in federal funding last spring to provide training and real world experience to First Nation, Inuit and Métis participants.

The one-time grant funding will be spread out over 15 months. The money, which arrived last April through Ottawa’s Skills and Partnership Fund, is aimed at skill development of new workers coming into the mining sector and placing them in a position to fill vital support roles as development begins to unfold in the region.

“The goal is not to create miners,” said Brenda Cameron, project coordinator of the Mining Workforce Preparation Program for Seven Generations. “It’s to create a trained Aboriginal workforce where people can secure a job somewhere in the mining industry.

“You need people to staff the offices, build the mines, tradespeople, electricians, first responders and line cooks.” Those skills are also transferrable to other sectors as well.

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Sudbury mining deal worth $1.25 million – by Staff (Sudbury Star – August 13, 2014)

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

Sudbury Platinum Corporation has announced plans to purchase CaNickel Mining Company Limited’s 100% interest in the Aer-Kidd Project in Sudbury for $1.25 million.

“(Sudbury Platinum Corporation’s) interest in the Aer-Kidd Project has grown over a number of years as we continue to develop, pursue and evaluate (nickel, copper and platinum group metals) opportunities in the prolific Sudbury region,” company CEO Scott McLean said in a release.

“The targets that have been recently identified on the Aer-Kidd property are very compelling and have resulted in the company’s decision to purchase CaNickel’s interest.”

The Aer-Kidd property is located 20 km southwest of downtown Sudbury and covers a 1.4-km section of the Worthington Offset Dyke in an area with a rich mining history, dating back to the 1800s.

The property is close to Vale’s Totten Mine and KGHM’s Victoria Mine project. The Aer-Kidd property hosts the former producing Howland Pit, Robinson and Rosen mines, which were small deposits exposed at surface that were mined down to a maximum depth of 300 metres.

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Tsilhqot’in Nation case: What it means for resource development in Ontario – by Tracy A. Pratt and Neal J. Smitheman (Mining Markets – August 11, 2014)

http://www.miningmarkets.ca/

On June 26, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in the Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia case (2014 SCC 44). The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the British Columbia trial judge’s findings on Aboriginal title and granted Aboriginal title to 2% of the Tsilhqot’in Nation traditional territory. This is the first decision in Canada granting Aboriginal title.

Background

The Tsilhqot’in Nation commenced an action in British Columbia claiming, among other things, Aboriginal title to a large tract of land representing approximately 5% of its traditional territory. The Tsilhqot’in Nation was a semi-nomadic Aboriginal grouping of six bands which shared a common culture and history. The people of the Tsilhqot’in Nation lived in mountain villages. Within their traditional territory they hunted, trapped and collected roots and herbs. Approximately 200 Tsilhqot’in Nation members still live in the area.

After 339 days of trial over five years, and having heard voluminous evidence from Tsilhqot’in Nation elders, historians and other experts, the trial judge found that Aboriginal title was proven for 190,000 hectares. The trial judge ruled, however, that because the action was pleaded as an “all or nothing” proposition and Aboriginal title was not established over the entire claim area, the court could not make a declaration of Aboriginal title.

The British Court of Appeal overruled the trial judge by finding that the action was pleaded sufficiently to permit the court to declare Aboriginal title to less than the full area claimed. Unlike the trial judge, however, the appeal court found that Aboriginal title had not been established. The Supreme Court of Canada disagreed.

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Other players active in Ring – by Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal (August 10, 2014)

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

WHAT a difference a year makes. In 2013, Northwestern Ontario communities were giddy at the prospect of getting in on the tremendous economic opportunities connected to the Ring of Fire mining belt. Thunder Bay and Sudbury were fiercely competing to be the site of a processing facility while Greenstone and other centres were pitching themselves as logical transportation hubs.

Then the big player walked away. For a variety of reasons — provincial indecision, First Nations objections, competitors’ alternatives, falling commodity and stock prices — Cliffs Natural Resources ended its substantial exploration activities. A coup of sorts among shareholders put in place a new CEO who agreed to return Cliffs’ attention to its iron ore business which Thunder Bay area residents can see when they drive through northern Minnesota.

While Cliffs hasn’t abandoned its stake in the Ring’s massive chromite deposit other companies that remain active in the region are now getting all the attention.

Noront Resources has its eye on the region’s rich nickel deposits and has promoted an east-west transportation route linking mine sites with the CN main line and running past several First Nations which would stand to enjoy direct employment opportunities along with economic partnerships.

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Commentary: Road to Ring of Fire is paved with legal briefs – by Bill Gallagher (Northern Miner – August 8, 2014)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. Editor John Cumming MSc (Geol) is one of the country’s most well respected mining journalists.  jcumming@northernminer.com

Now that Cliffs Natural Resources has finally won a round in Ontario’s legal system, are they any closer to gaining access to their Ring of Fire chromite mother-lode?

Initially they lost a procedural ruling to Matawa First Nations over caribou studies. Then they lost two Mining Commission rulings to junior miner KWG Resources/CCC over who controls the right-of-way. That’s the only north-south route in — all of which is under mining claim to KWG/CCC.

But losing three in a row prompted Cliffs to up and leave:

“You can’t mine in the Ring of Fire if you can’t get materials in and product out … It’s hard for us to continue spending a pretty significant amount of money, month in and month out, on a project that the government has said we don’t have land for … I think we’re kind of going to be in the position of not being able to move forward if we don’t have land.” (Cliffs vice-president Bill Boor quoted in Northern Ontario Business, Sept. 26, 2013)

It was lack of legal access to the discovery site that drove Cliffs out; more so than lack of physical infrastructure. But now Cliffs’ luck might be changing on account of finally winning before the Divisional Court; in a ruling that allows them to apply for an easement along the top of KWG/CCC claims.

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Half a Loaf? Getting maximum value from the Ring of Fire – by Rick Millette (Northern Policy Institute – August 8, 2014)

http://northernpolicy.wordpress.com/

When I was a youngster, we had a neighbour who kept a jar of coins. When kids would visit, he’d offer the jar and say, “take as many as you like”. If you grabbed too many, your bulging fist wouldn’t make it through the neck of the jar. Lesson learned.

As the development of the Ring of Fire moves ahead, those involved will need to make complicated decisions on how much of the Ring’s wealth to keep in Ontario and how much to let go.

At this point, there are many scenarios of where the North’s chromite might end up. It’s certain that the raw ore will be reduced to concentrate at the mine sites, but after that, it’s a guess. When Cliffs Natural Resources was grabbing the headlines, the plan was to have the concentrate shipped to Sudbury to be turned into ferro chrome at a new smelter they would build in Capreol.

Right now, it’s debatable whether the Ring’s chromite will ever see an Ontario smelter due to provincial electrical costs. Quebec and Manitoba sell their power to industries for less than three cents per kilowatt hour (KWH), while Ontario’s rates are based on a spot market that is often double that.

Other than government intervention, there is nothing that would stop a company from shipping the chromite directly to another province or to another country. At the very least, northerners want the chromite smelted into ferro chrome in the North.

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Tailings ponds in northern Ontario considered safe, scientist says (CBC News Sudbury – August 07, 2014)

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

David Pearson says what happened in B.C. is unlikely to happen here

A tailings pond breach in central British Columbia this week is raising questions about how mine waste is being taken care of in northern Ontario.

The recent disaster at the Mount Polley Mine released billions of litres of wastewater into river systems. But, according to Laurentian University professor David Pearson, the tailings ponds here in the North often aren’t built at all.

They’re existing lakes or wetland — and that’s what makes them safer. “It’s not like a pond on a parking lot where a break would cause a massive flood,” Pearson said.

Even so, companies that want to mine in Ontario must prove they can rehabilitate a site or pay for a cleanup before they begin production. And the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines makes inspections every few years.

Former Glencore scientist Lisa Leger said Ontario has strict protocols to prevent what happened in B.C. “I was heavily involved in risk management and know that the companies will definitely listen to all the concerns.” But environmental groups like Mining Watch Canada remain skeptical that full-site rehabilitation after such a disaster is ever possible.

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Rodriguez would renew fight for resource revenues – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – August 7, 2014)

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

Some may call it an old idea. John Rodriguez calls it unfinished business.

The former Greater Sudbury mayor, who’s running again in the municipal election in October, said he’ll take up the fight once more to tackle the municipality’s $700-million infrastructure deficit by seeking “a fair share” of resource revenues.

Rodriguez made the announcement in front of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in Sudbury on Wednesday.

“It’s a question of justice, of fairness,” Rodriguez said. While the province receives royalties from the ores mined in Greater Sudbury – to the tune of $50 million in 2007, based on figures supplied by Rodriguez – the city does not.

Greater Sudbury does get 7.5 cents per tonne for gravel under the Aggregate Resources Act, while the province gets 13 cents.

“But for ores, we don’t get a penny,” Rodriguez said. “We have these major roads in the city – Lasalle Boulevard, Falconbridge Road, Cote Boulevard, (Municipal) Road 15, (Highway) 69 North — that are used as major routes for transporting ores from the mines to the smelters and refineries, yet we bear the cost of repairing these roads. You can set your clock by it, or your calendar. Every four or five years, we have to resurface the roads, but we don’t receive any royalties to help us offset the cost of repairing these roads.

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British firm reviews Sudbury mining project – by Staff (Sudbury Northern Life – August 06, 2014)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Study could lead to new spending on River Valley project

North West Capital Corp. has hired a British company to review its platinum group metals project east of Sudbury. In a release, Pacific North West said it the study could lead to new spending on the River Valley platinum group metals project.

British Columbia-based Pacific North West said it has hired SFA Oxford Limited to provide an independent strategic assessment of its River Valley platinum group metal project, near Sudbury.

SFA Oxford is a group of independent consulting analysts in mining, metals and commodities, with specialization in platinum group metals, including palladium – the main metal at River Valley.

Pacific North West said in a release its decision to hire SFA Oxford at this time “builds on the strong global fundamentals currently driving up the commodity price of palladium. Continuing production challenges in South Africa and rising tensions with Russia, the world’s two largest PGM (platinum group metal) producers, combined with soaring demand from the global automotive industry for auto catalysts (of which palladium is a key component) have all renewed interest in PGM projects in safe, secure mining jurisdictions like Canada.”

River Valley is located within 100 kilometres of Sudbury and is readily accessible via paved and gravel roads with settlements, power and rail all nearby.

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Cliffs’ boardroom shake-up presents buying opportunities for Canadian miners – by Peter Koven (National Post -August 5, 2014)

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

A boardroom shake-up at Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. has raised the likelihood that its international assets will hit the market, creating some intriguing buying opportunities for Canadian miners in their own backyard.

These assets include a large but troubled iron ore mine in Quebec, and a huge chromite deposit in Northern Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” that one company has already expressed interest in buying.

Cleveland-based Cliffs has been engaged in a vicious proxy war with hedge fund Casablanca Capital LP for the past six months. That battle ended in an apparently decisive victory for Casablanca last week, as the New York-based activist fund said it claimed six of the 11 seats on Cliffs’ board. Cliffs has not yet confirmed the final numbers.

Casablanca has been very open about its plans for Cliffs: It wants the company to focus on its core U.S. iron ore operations and look at divesting everything else, including assets in Canada and Australia.

The fund had plenty of shareholder support for this strategy, because Cliffs’ recent international forays have simply not worked out. In Canada, the company spent a staggering $4.9-billion in cash to buy the Bloom Lake iron ore mine in the 2011 takeover of Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd.

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One Ring of Fire approach to rule them all – by Andrew Reeves (CIM Magazine – August 2014)

http://www.cim.org/en.aspx

Ontario’s development corporation plan criticized in new reports

Almost everyone with a stake in the Ring of Fire wants to see development in the region move ahead. But when it comes to determining how to do that, the consensus evaporates. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has pledged to form a regional development corporation (Devco) to govern the Ring of Fire’s advancement within 60 days of taking office. But in recent weeks, alternative processes have been proposed that seek to put industry in the driver’s seat and help it take a more holistic approach towards environmental protection.

Last November, Ontario Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle announced a solution to break the logjam that had seized the region, which his government boasts holds a known mineral potential of $60 billion. Prompted by infrastructure squabbles between rival miners, Gravelle became convinced of the need to create a process to hear from First Nations, industry and government on how to proceed.

The Liberals proposed a not-for-profit Devco, which the government would lead, to set the pace and tone of development in the Ring of Fire and bring disparate voices to the negotiating table. The Ontario government would have control over the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of all infrastructure built. Consulting firm Deloitte was brought aboard last February to begin work on a technical infrastructure report and handle the legalese of forming a new governance structure. Deloitte will also be there to act as a neutral, third-party resource for all stakeholders in the Devco in case tempers flare or disagreements persist.

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Haileybury Park upgrade seeks mining industry support – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – July 28, 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.

The rock samples at RockWalk Park in Haileybury may be billions of years old, but even ancient boulders need a facelift once in a while.

A volunteer group dubbing itself the RockWalk Park Committee, along with Northern College, is eager to rejuvenate the park, which has suffered from neglect in recent years. The vision includes an $800,000 facelift, the addition of new features, and industry sponsorship to pay for it all.

Lending a hand to the effort is Ron Lauzon, owner of Picturesque Stone, who will contribute his experience and expertise creating precision-cut images into stone bricks, plaques and monuments. Lauzon sees the new RockWalk Park as a testament to the contributions of mining to the North and across Canada.

“We really want to help them bring this park and this information on the map as a tourist destination first and foremost,” he said. “And yet we want to bring all the history and culture of mining and everything that’s been done since mining began.”

The current park features massive boulders of various rock samples placed along a walkway, with interpretive signs explaining their significance to the Canadian mining landscape. Proposed additions include a new sign, a sundial made of drilling rods, a water feature composed of plow disks, a reflexology walking path, a Zen garden, and an outdoor fitness area.

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Airport/port authority possible for Ring of Fire – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – July 25, 2014)

http://www.wawataynews.ca/

A former deputy minister of Transport Canada recently recommended an airport/port transportation authority model for the Ring of Fire mineral development area.

“It would be at arms length from the government, it would have its own fiduciary financial responsibilities and management responsibilities,” said Nick Mulder, author of the Northern Policy Institute commentary: The Airport/Port Transportation Authority Model Is It Applicable for Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Development. “It would decide on the chair and the management team, it would finalize the plans for the road and railroad or whatever else is needed. It would finalize all the funding with the mining companies and transportation companies and private sector interests, pension funds, whatever.”

Mulder described his recommendation during his July 8 Northern Policy Institute speaker’s breakfast at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay, where he indicated the Ring of Fire infrastructure authority would not be involved in the social and economic infrastructure needs of the First Nation communities in northern Ontario.

“Those 40 or whatever number of communities there are have their own special needs,” Mulder said. “It isn’t up to a business-driven or market-driven kind of entity that I am recommending — they should decide on what kind of water or sewer or other kind of systems they need or local roads in the community or so on.”

Mulder said some of the monies required to finance the Ring of Fire road or railroad could come from the provincial government, but the majority should be raised in the marketplace or through the mining companies.

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Feeling the Ring of Fire’s Burn – by Jason Unrau (Unpublished – January 2014)

This unpublished article was originally written for Canadian Business Magazine in January 2014.

Black Thor, Big Daddy and Thunderbird, unearthed between 2007 and 2008, put a place called Ring of Fire on the mining map. Sounding more like comic book gods than incredible mineral discoveries – chromite their dominant feature and crucial for stainless steel manufacture – by the end of 2013 they had roused nearly one billion dollars to the exploration altar.

Frank Smeenk was among the group of six mining execs and geologists who discovered the Ring. Located deep inside Ontario’s north, its riches are vast enough for a century of mining, yet dispersed in a 5000 square km crescent of muskeg so remote, the place might as well be celestial.

“It’s inaccessible for all practical purposes, except by air, and to sell chrome you’ve got to get it to market and its steel mills of the world,” says Smeenk, CEO of KWG Resources, the plucky junior with a 30 per cent stake in Big Daddy, one of the biggest deposits of them all.

It was DeBeers’ quest for new diamond sources after the Second World War that eventually ushered the first mine into this corner of the James Bay Lowlands. But it was Asia’s insatiable economy, emerging fast and furious in the last decade, that turned sights toward the region’s metal potential.

While Ring of Fire is just 90 kilometres west of DeBeers’ Victor Mine, producing diamonds and mining metal are not analogous, says Smeenk, because “… you can put diamonds in your pocket and walk on the plane.”

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Noront appeals Ontario Mining Recorder ruling – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – July 24, 2014)

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Noront Resources, the proponent of what could possibly be one of the first projects to get off the ground in Ontario’s prospective Ring of Fire mining district, has launched an appeal to the province’s mining and lands commissioner to set aside the finding of the Provincial Mining Recorder that rival KWG Resources is the first to stake two 16-unit claims when they came open on the morning of June 17, 2011.

KWG on Wednesday said it was on Tuesday served with a notice of Noront’s appeal.

The two claims were next to the southern two claims of Fancamp Exploration’s Koper Lake claims, where KWG is assessing the economic potential of the Black Horse chromite deposit under an option agreement with Bold Ventures and Fancamp. Noront is developing the Eagle’s Nest nickel/copper/platinum/palladium deposit.

“Koper Lake is an important amphibious aircraft facility for the Ring of Fire and the area used for landing and docking is within the eastern boundary of these claims. In the past, our exploration crews have been blockaded there, or embargoed from landing there, or [have] been levied substantial landing fees,” said KWG president Frank Smeenk.

He stressed that the firm believed that this was a critical part of the area’s transportation assets and should be operated as a public facility, from which the concept sprang of a federally sponsored port authority.

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