Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery – Page 115

Ring ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – March 12, 2013)

March 12, 2013

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

The federal minister responsible for Northern Ontario continues to promote the economic potential of the Ring of Fire. Tony Clement, minister for FedNor, told the Ontario Chamber of Commerce in Toronto the Ring of Fire could create as many as 5,000 new jobs in the region if fully developed.

“The Ring of Fire represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create jobs, and generate growth and long-term prosper ity for Northern Ontario and the nation,” Clement said in a release.

“As minister for FedNor and as the federal lead minister on this initiative, I welcome the opportunity to work with all levels of government, as well as First Nations and industry stakeholders to prepare and implement the collaborative economic development approaches for the region.”

The Ring of Fire, located about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, is potentially the largest mining development ever seen in Northern Ontario, Clement told chamber officials. The region has significant deposits of nickel and copper and represents North America’s single largest deposit of chromite, the main ingredient in stainless steel.

With mineral content worth an estimated $30 billion to $50 billion, the Ring of Fire could create up to 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in Northern Ontario alone.

‘Rubik’s cube’ of development outcomes to be solved mutually – Clement – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 12, 2013)

March 12, 2013

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Minister of the Canadian government’s economic development organisation for Northern Ontario (FedNor) Tony Clement was on Monday promoting the federal government’s commitment to bring together all role-players from the private and public sectors, including the First Nations, to map the way forward for developing the Ring of Fire.

Clement underscored the economic development potential of the Ring of Fire and reaffirmed the Harper government’s commitment to mining development in the region and within the country.

“It’s kind of like a ‘Rubik’s cube’ of public policy development and the sequencing of events. No one said it was simple. No one said that you could easily tie up all aspects in a nice neat bow.

“All aspects will be reiterative and in five or ten years from now there will be similar issues that we would have dealt with already, that will lead to economic development,” Clement said.

Clement was in recent weeks placed in charge of coordinating the federal government’s efforts to develop regulatory and public policies with regard to developing the minerals-rich north of Ontario.

Great potential [for Ring of Fire] – by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – March 11, 2013)

March 12, 2013

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Bob Rae says he’s been in talks with a regional First Nations council to work together on the Ring of Fire. But the interim Liberal leader couldn’t say exactly what his role would be.

“I don’t think it’s clear yet. I have had meetings with the Matawa tribal council. They’ve asked me to work with them,” Rae said in Thunder Bay Monday.

Matawa needs to discuss and negotiate with the province further before he could determine how he would work with them. But as an MP, Rae said he has already looked into the process of conflict of interest should he take on any sort of role after a new Liberal leader is chosen next month.

“I have begun the discussion but that’s not by any means completed yet,” he said. Rae spoke to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Monday at the Travelodge Airlane, saying the Ring of Fire has the potential to be as great or greater than mineral discoveries near Sudbury were 100 years ago.

While there is great prosperity to be had, Rae said development has to be done right. That means sustainability. “The environmental tests can’t be the tests of long ago days. They have to be stronger,” he said.

The Honourable Tony Clement Minister for FedNor – ONTARIO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE [RING OF FIRE] SPEECH (March 11, 2013)

March 11, 2013

This speech was given at the TMX Broadcast Centre, Gallery Room, The Exchange Tower, Toronto, Ontario.

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Thank you for that kind introduction. I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the Ontario Chamber of Commerce today.

The important role your organization plays as an advocate for small business and entrepreneurship in this province is second to none.

It is clear that you understand the value of the small business sector to the economic success of our nation. Let me assure you that the Harper Government shares your vision and determination that Ontario be a leading destination in the world to do business.

We appreciate your engagement with the upcoming budget and your targeted recommendations for spurring job creation, growth and investment in the province. We also appreciate your recognition of the significance of the Ring of Fire to Ontario’s long-term prosperity.

Your call that there be a federal lead on this incredibly important development was timely and prescient. You recognized that there needed to be not only federal leadership, but a coordinated, whole of government approach to what is a promising yet very complex opportunity.

And our government agrees. The Prime Minister understood the need to bring renewed impetus to this development. The promise and possibility of the Ring of Fire has been talked about for several years now. But the flames of excitement, quite honestly, had started to dampen and the Prime Minister realized it was time to add a little oxygen to the embers.

Bob Rae confirms interest in Ring of Fire negotiations once Liberal leadership term is over – by Michael Purvis (Sault Star – March 10, 2013)

March 11, 2013

http://www.saultstar.com/

Bob Rae says he is thinking about taking part in Ring of Fire negotiations between First Nations and the province of Ontario after he steps down as Liberal leader, but he said it is too early to speculate about what role he might play.

“I think it’s premature to start commenting on either what I’m going to do or what form the negotiation is going to take,” Rae told reporters during a fundraising stop in Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday. “It’s going to take a few weeks, perhaps even a little longer, for the province and the tribal council itself to agree on what that process will be. I won’t be involved in those discussions at all and I think once the process is established, then I think it might be a little easier to see whether there’s a role that I could play.”

News reports last week said Northern Ontario chiefs presented Rae as their lead negotiator to Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Rae confirmed Sunday he has talked to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commission “on a hypothetical basis” about taking part in negotiations over the massive mining deposit in the James Bay lowlands, as reports last week said, but he declined to offer his ethical take on getting involved. He said he doesn’t think the First Nations are a ‘special interest.’

Rae said he hopes to continue on as MP for Toronto Centre once the party elects a new leader on April 14.

Getting connected [Ring of Fire] – by Jeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – March 8, 2013)

March 11, 2013

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The debate to develop an all-weather road or a railway into the Ring of Fire doesn’t have the chief of Marten Falls First Nation worried.

Chief Eli Moonias and many other Matawa First Nation chiefs met with premier Kathleen Wynne in Toronto to discuss the Ring of Fire project. Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs David Zimmer also attended the meeting.

A recently released study favoured a railroad into the massive chromite deposit in the lower James Bay area instead of an all-weather access road. While rail would be a more significant initial investment, the study concluded it would be the cheaper long-term solution for shipping materials.

Moonias said it didn’t matter which one is built as long as there were access roads for the First Nation communities to use. “If they put in a railway I think we will be approaching it in the manner that we would be involved with it,” he said.

“If they are putting in the railway, we want to be assured that access roads will be built so we can get out of this isolation.”

Uncertainty dogs Ring of Fire stocks – by Peter Kennedy (Stockhouse.com – March 7, 2013)

March 8, 2013

http://www.stockhouse.com/

Chromite mines developed by Cliffs and others may feed Ontario’s mining services infrastructure, but transportation remains a big question mark. Who knew that chromite mining in the Ring of Fire region could one day be a major economic driver for Ontario?

“Ring of Fire is one of the most promising mineral development opportunities in Ontario in almost a century,’’ said George Ross, a deputy minister in Ontario’s Northern Development and Mines Ministry, during a speech to a mining conference in Toronto this week.

“Current estimates suggest multi-generational potential for chromite production as well as significant production for nickel, copper and platinum,” Ross said.

Chromite mined from the Ring of Fire, a remote part of northern Ontario, is expected to feed the province’s massive mining services and supply chain for many decades to come.

Extracted and then concentrated at source, it must be shipped by road or rail to processing facilities, likely in Sudbury, where it will be turned into Ferrochrome, a critical ingredient used to manufacture stainless steel.

If it all goes ahead, U.S. giant Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF, Stock Forum) could easily invest up to $3.3 billion in mining, transportation and processing facilities, producing 2.3 million tonnes of chromium in concentrates from its Black Thor project.

National chamber bullish on ‘Ring’- by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – March 8, 2013)

March 8, 2013

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

The Ring of Fire could mean for Northern Ontario what potash does for Saskatchewan, and the oil sands do for Alberta, the president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says.

“There are enormous opportunities. And if you look at Northern Ontario, for so long they’ve really been treated as second-class citizens in Ontario, with all of the focus being on the south. When you look now at the opportunity there is in the north, it’s just spectacular,” said Perrin Beatty, who spoke to QMI Agency during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto this week.

Located in the James Bay Lowlands, the Ring of Fire is a mineral-rich area in Northern Ontario, which, according to the Ministry of Northern Developments and Mines, is “one of the most promising mineral development opportunities in Ontario in almost a century.”

It has the largest amount of chromite — used to make stainless steel — ever found in North America. Cliffs Natural Resources is in the midst of developing a chromite mine in the Ring, and is in the early stages of the environmental assessment (EA) process. EAs are required for large or complex projects with the possibility of having significant effects on the environment.

Last year, Cliffs selected the Moose Mountain site north of Capreol as the location for its ferrochrome smelter. The smelter will create as many as 500 jobs locally.

Ring of Fire project has staggering hurdles to overcome, but progress on horizon – by Peter Koven (National Post – March 7, 2013)

March 8, 2013

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

TORONTO — When Noront Resources Ltd. blared the Johnny Cash song ‘Ring of Fire’ over and over at its annual meeting in Toronto in 2007, it felt like a giant party.

Only weeks earlier, Noront had made the first key mineral discovery in McFaulds Lake, a remote Northern Ontario region that was quickly nicknamed the Ring of Fire. Excitement about the find was at a fever pitch, and companies were staking land like crazy. No one could wait to find out what came next.

Fast-forward to this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference, and it is a different story. A session on the Ring of Fire drew a huge standing-room-only crowd on Wednesday, but with none of the euphoria of that Noront AGM. The session highlighted the staggering challenges that need to be overcome to get the region going: infrastructure, First Nations agreements, environmental compliance, transportation, and more.

“Our view is this goes beyond traditional mineral development activity,” said George Ross, Ontario’s deputy minister of northern development and mines. “There’s a lot of aspects to it.” The Ring of Fire is thought to hold as much as $50-billion worth of minerals, and is going to be North America’s first major source of chromite, used in the making of stainless steel. It is one of the most important mineral discoveries in Ontario’s history.

Make native groups partners [in Ring of Fire] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 7, 2013)

March 7, 2013

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

First Nations are cheering on development of the Ring of Fire, looking to its chromite-rich deposits as a way out of poverty.

But they are calling for — and have a right to expect — “quality consultation” with governments and companies about how First Nations can share in the mineral wealth located in the backyards, says Claude Gravelle.

The Nickel Belt New Democrat MP is hoping a Conservative MP, Treasury Board president Tony Clement, will move discussions with aboriginal people forward in his role as federal lead for the Ring of Fire.

First Nations want to “sit at the same tables” as government and industry, said Gravelle, who attended a morning session on the Ring of Fire on Wednesday at the annual convention of the Prospectors and Developments Association of Canada.

Representatives from First Nations near the ring and companies who will be mining there participated in the session.

There are enough riches in the Ring of Fire, located in the James Bay lowlands, to create economic benefits for all of Canada, said Gravelle, “and it will probably be a life-saver for First Nations.”

At the Wednesday session, First Nations chiefs called for treaties dating back to the late 1800s to be updated, the same way municipalities update their bylaws, said Gravelle.

Cash-hungry governments are digging into the mining boom – by Tasha Kheiriddin (iPolitics – March 5, 2013)

March 7, 2013

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

Welcome to the twenty-first century gold rush. Or lithium, chromite or iron: take your pick. This week the Toronto Convention Center turned into the set of Bonanza, as over 30,000 miners, prospectors and processers convened for the annual meeting and trade show of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), the largest such gathering in the world.

Not surprisingly, the political class turned out in force. The federal government dispatched forty Conservative MPs, its biggest contingent ever. Treasury Board President and Minister for FedNor Tony Clement kicked off the festivities Sunday night, speaking about the development of Northern Ontario’s “Ring of Fire”. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver gave the next morning’s keynote. Newly-minted Liberal Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne cut the ribbon on the Ontario Pavilion Monday, while Parti Quebecois Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellette held court at a Quebec reception the previous evening.

Ottawa, Ontario and Quebec all have high stakes in the lucrative mining game. The federal government wants to slay the deficit, stave off the threat of America’s fiscal cliff and boost international trade. Ontario and Quebec — both ‘have-not’ provinces — are grappling with the decline in their manufacturing sectors. Resource extraction could provide the ticket to prosperity for all — but it comes with a host of challenges.

Those include opposition by environmental movements and First Nations. It’s no accident that Premier Wynne opened her remarks by acknowledging that the conference was taking place on the territory of the Mississaugas of New Credit. The Ring of Fire, which boasts over 30,000 claims and could yield one fourth of the world’s chromite, affects First Nations like the Webequie and Marten Falls, who blockaded landing strips in the area in 2010.

Northern Ontario first nation chiefs seek Bob Rae as lead negotiator – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – March 06, 2013)

March 7, 2013

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.

When Bob Rae’s job as interim Leader of the federal Liberal party ends next month, chiefs in Northern Ontario say they expect him to be their voice at the negotiating tables when first nations and governments decide how to proceed on the potentially massive Ring of Fire development.

The native leaders were in Toronto on Wednesday to talk about the resource project with Premier Kathleen Wynne.

They asked Ms. Wynne to join them in launching community-driven talks about the exploration and exploitation of minerals, including chromite, nickle and copper, that have been found in the region west of James Bay – an enterprise that could last decades, creating thousands of jobs and huge wealth for the province.

“As nine first nations, at a regional level, we will appoint one senior negotiator who will report directly to our chiefs’ council,” the chiefs told Ms. Wynne in a statement prepared in advance of the meeting. “Subject to final arrangements and his acceptance, we plan to appoint Bob Rae to this position. We are asking you to appoint your own senior negotiator who will report directly to cabinet.”

Mr. Rae refused to discuss the matter on Wednesday.

NEWS RELEASE: KWG, BOLD VENTURES JOIN FORCES TO DRILL BLACK HORSE CHROMITE DISCOVERY TO DETERMINE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY

March 7, 2013

Toronto, Canada, February 4th, 2013 – KWG Resources Inc. (TSXV: KWG) announces that it has agreed to fund Bold Ventures Inc. (“Bold”) as the Operator to drill off the Black Horse chromite discovery, commencing with an initial program starting as soon as the transaction with Bold closes. The intent of the program is to determine whether this chromite ineralization occurs in sufficient quantity and quality to demonstrate the feasibility of mining it and transporting it to market by rail via the claims of KWG subsidiary Canada Chrome Corporation.

“The Black Horse discovery encountered 55 meters of 45% chromite, the richest drill core recovered in the Ring of Fire”, said KWG President Frank Smeenk. “There is compelling geological and geophysical evidence to suggest that this mineralization could be part of an extensive continuous emplacement. If this drilling program is able to confirm that, we would wish to be the first Canadian companies to develop markets for the Ring of Fire chromite by providing transportation over Canada Chrome Corporation’s contiguous claims.”

Bold recently concluded a four-stage option to acquire the Black Horse claims from Fancamp Exploration Ltd., subject to Fancamp retaining a price-variable gross metal royalty (the “Fancamp Option”). Under the terms of an agreement now concluded between KWG and Bold Ventures, KWG can acquire up to 80% of Bold’s interest in the Fancamp Option by funding 100% of Bold’s earn-in expenditures and option payments. The current program has budgeted $2 million to drill the chromite horizon. An additional $1 million has been budgeted to drill a contiguous possible nickel target.

Hudak attacks unions and [Ring of Fire] environmentalists – by Richard J. Brennan (Toronto Star – March 6, 2013)

March 6, 2013

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.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak is blaming unions and radical environmentalists for Ontario’s economic woes.

Unions and radical environmentalists are threatening Ontario’s economic progress, Tory Leader Tim Hudak says.

Hudak on Tuesday blamed unions — particularly public sector unions — for stalling Ontario’s economic recovery, and environmentalists for stalling development of the Ring of Fire, a vast northwestern Ontario mineral deposit.

“What the oilsands are to Alberta, what potash is to Saskatchewan, the Ring of Fire could be for the province of Ontario … it’s too bad that the Liberals seem to be captured by radical environmental groups,” Hudak told reporters at Queen’s Park.

Hudak said the Liberal government and the New Democrats are too busy listening to the unions and not the rest of Ontarians.

“The problem that we have is that we have public sector union bosses who are running the government right now. And they seem to have access to the front door to Kathleen Wynne as premier,” he said.

“I think it’s just unfortunate that the NDP and Liberals seem to be so singularly focused on appeasing the public sector union bosses, it’s causing a province to go bankrupt and it is costing us jobs. Nobody is going to invest in a province that has huge debts.”

Aboriginal training alliance formed to build skills in Ontario’s north – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 5, 2013)

March 5, 2013

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A memorandum of understanding (MoU) creating a new training alliance was on Monday inked at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC’s) yearly convention, paving the way for a skilled Aboriginal workforce to be trade-ready to contribute to the development and exploitation of the ‘Ring of Fire’ chromite belt, in the far-north of Ontario.

During the Aboriginal forum reception, the Matawa First Nations Management’s Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS), Toronto-based junior Noront Resources and the Confederation College of Applied Arts and Technology signed a MoU that would pave the way for the parties to work collaboratively to expand opportunities for the development of a “highly skilled Aboriginal workforce for mining activity” associated with Noront’s Eagle’s Nest project.

Signing of the five-year MoU followed on the heels of federal Industry Minister Tony Clement on Sunday pledging government’s full support to develop the remote Ring of Fire area, which was estimated to hold a resource of more than C$50-billion in minerals, as fast as possible.

Development of the remote region has, however, been slow owing to issues regarding First Nations’ involvement, environmental regulation and infrastructure.

“I can assure you that I am fully committed to working closely with these communities in the coming months and years, reaffirming our government’s commitment to collaborative and responsible resource development,” he told a gathering of journalists.