Ontario Government investment in skills training for Ring of Fire is welcome

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

The provincial government’s recent announcement of a $3.1 million investment to provide skills training and community governance and capacity building in six First Nations communities is welcome news. This investment will facilitate the participation of First Nations residents in Ring of Fire developments.

Training and development will include the areas of heavy equipment operation, pre-employment trades training and general educational development preparation. The six First Nations that will benefit from this investment include Webequie, Marten Falls, Eabametoong, Aroland, Neskantaga and Nibinamik.

“The Ontario Mining Association has been a long-time supporter of education and skills training in First Nations communities,” said OMA President Chris Hodgson. “According to a recent economic impact study by the University of Toronto Mining: Dynamic and Dependable for Ontario’s Future, Aboriginals comprise 9.7% of the industry’s workforce. This investment by government will better position First Nations residents to take advantage of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, which will arise as the Ring of Fire is developed.”

“Our government is continuing to invest in Ring of Fire communities to ensure they benefit fully from proposed mineral developments,” said Rick Bartolucci, Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines.

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NEWS RELEASE: Noront Announces Appointment of Interim Chief Executive Officer

January 21, 2013

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Jan. 21, 2013) – Noront Resources Ltd. (“Noront” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE:NOT) announced today that its board of directors received the resignation of Wes Hanson as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Noront. The Board has appointed Paul Parisotto to act as interim President and Chief Executive Officer and has begun a search to identify a permanent President and Chief Executive Officer. Ted Bassett has been appointed lead director during the period of Mr. Parisotto’s appointment as interim President and Chief Executive Officer.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Wes for his efforts and dedication at Noront over the past three years, and in particular, for leading the completion of a positive feasibility study in September 2012 of our Eagle’s Nest Project in the Ring of Fire. This puts the Company in a good position as it transitions into development with a focus on the financing and development of the Project and related infrastructure. All of us at Noront wish Mr. Hanson the best in his future endeavours” stated Paul Parisotto, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Hanson has agreed to continue to be available as a consultant to Noront.

About Noront: Noront Resources Ltd. is focused on development of the high-grade Eagle’s Nest nickel, copper, platinum and palladium deposit and the high-grade Blackbird chromite deposit, both of which are located in the James Bay lowlands of Ontario in an emerging metals camp known as the Ring of Fire.

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North Bay Chamber hears ONTC optimism – by Rob Learn (North Bay Nipissing.com – January, 17, 2013)

http://www.northbaynipissing.com/

NORTH BAY – Despite the gloom of the past 10 months around the future of Ontario Northland, the North Bay Chamber of Commerce heard an optimistic message.

Speaking at the Chamber’s regular Thursday, Jan. 10, meeting, a delegation working towards a new federal ownership model told the members they believe their proposal is the most viable so far.

“We’ve asked Minister (of Transportation Bob) Chiarelli, (Rick) Bartolucci (Minister of Northern Development and Mines), ‘Where’s the analysis you’ve done that shows the private sector does this better and that there isn’t any interest in the ONR as a whole?’ There hasn’t been a response, ” said Roy Hains.

Hains is the CEO of the fledgling Lower James Bay Lowlands Port Authority, started just months ago to assume, retain and develop the assets of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

“When you have something this big, this large and this long the private sector tends to looks at it for a year, if not a quarter,” said Hains, adding government ownership of assets like this have proven more stable and sustainable.

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Ring of Fire brings aboriginal issues to fore in Ontario Liberal leadership – by Teresa Smith (Ottawa Citizen – January 10, 2013)

 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/index.html

OTTAWA — Ontario’s Liberal leadership candidates seem to agree that provincial relations with First Nations — specifically figuring out how to divvy up the resources in the province’s northern “Ring of Fire” — should be a high priority in the coming months.

For the past month, aboriginal leaders supporting Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike have been demanding that Canada renew its “treaty relationship” with First Nations, and agree to share the wealth that comes from extracting natural resources found in their traditional territory.

In Ontario, however, the province is also a signatory to Treaty 9, which was signed in the early 20th century and covers 250,000 square miles of northern Ontario, including Attawapiskat and the Ring of Fire.

According to a former professor of political science who has been watching Canada’s relations with First Nations for 50 years, there can be no change to the treaty relationship unless the provincial government is at the table during discussions between aboriginal leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Peter Russell said Ontario’s government in the 1880s fought tooth and nail to be included in negotiations so it would have access to the vast land and resources, initially for trapping and logging.

Now, with the discovery of billions of dollars in mineral wealth in the ground around James Bay — Treaty 9 territory, which was supposed to be “shared” by the three treaty partners — the stakes are high.

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First Nations threaten to limit access to traditional lands – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – January 10, 2013)

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

Shibogama’s Margaret Kenequanash is warning the erosion of treaty rights will result in “very difficult” access to First Nations territory.

“Prime Minister Harper and his government can make all the legislation and impose funding cuts that will have devastating impacts and will erode our treaty rights,” said the executive director of Shibogama First Nations Council during the Nishnawbe Aski Nation Treaty Unity press conference, held on Dec. 21 in Thunder Bay. “This will not be recognized in our territory and will meet strong opposition without our free, prior and informed consent. And it will be very difficult to access our territory. All the prime minister is doing is removing his Majesty and his subjects’ access to our territory.”

Keneqauanash said the federal government’s move to vacate the treaty relationship leaves First Nations with no option but to use the resources within their territory to develop the future for their people without the involvement of government. “We are resilient people — we are survivors,” Kenequanash said. “We’ve been surviving for hundreds and hundreds of years. We will remain a strong nation.”

Kenequanash said the Shibogama chiefs support Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence on her hunger strike and demand a response from the prime minister on treaty issues.

“Bill C-45 (Jobs and Growth Act) is only one of many different pieces of legislation and policies that First Nations and tribal councils are contending with from the federal and provincial governments,” Kenequanash said.

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Chief Moonias vows to oppose Cliffs at all costs – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – January 10, 2013)

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias burst into the national media’s attention in the spring when he announced to the world that he would stop a bridge to the Ring of Fire from being built over the Attawapiskat River, by any means possible.

“They’re going to have to cross that river, and I told them if they want to cross that river, they’re going to have to kill me first. That’s how strongly I feel about my people’s rights here,” Moonias said in May.

Since then Neskantaga has become a thorn in the side of Cliffs Natural Resources, the mining giant that Moonias has pegged an “American mining bully.”

Moonias’ efforts have brought international attention to the First Nations fight to be consulted and accommodated on what may be the biggest development ever in northern Ontario. For those efforts he has earned Wawatay’s male newsmaker of the year.

The First Nation is making true its claim to use any means possible to oppose the Ring of Fire until proper consultation gets completed.

In May the chief sent a series of letters to the Ontario government, demanding consultation and expressing his concerns over Cliffs’ announcement that it was going ahead with its Ring of Fire chromite mine, along with a north-south highway and a smelter in Sudbury.

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Waiting on a business plan [Ontario Northland Transportation Commission] – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 8, 2013)

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.

Ontario Northland Transportation Commission

The unions proposing a plan to transfer ownership of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) to a new operating ‘port authority’ must submit a business plan to participate in the province’s divestment process, said a ministry spokeswoman.

Laura Blondeau said the ‘New Deal’ group must submit a qualified proposal of its capabilities to Infrastructure Ontario, something the government has yet to see, as of early December.

Blondeau said that was the message sent in an Oct. 31 meeting between Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci and Roy Hains, CEO of a proposed entity called the James Bay & Lowlands Ports Trustee Corp.

The ‘New Deal’ group is spearheaded by the General Chairperson’s Association, representing unionized employees at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC). Its ambitious plan is to transfer the ONTC’s assets, including the railroad, to a ‘port authority’ available under the Canada Marine Act.

The James Bay & Lowlands Ports Trustee Corp. proposal has been endorsed by KWG Resources, a chromite junior miner in the Ring of Fire, and Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Jay Aspin.

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Project Focus: Ring of Fire – by John Chadwick (International Mining – January 2013)

http://www.im-mining.com/

There is a very exciting new mining camp developing in Canada, John Chadwick reports

According to the Ontario Government, “The Ring of Fire is one of the most promising mineral development opportunities in
Ontario in almost a century. Located in Ontario’s Far North, current estimates suggest the multigenerational potential of chromite production,as well as significant production of nickel, copper and platinum.”

The projects will open up economic opportunities in an extremely remote and undeveloped area, an 80 km by 100 km swath of
muskeg, especially for local First Nations communities. Any new infrastructure (community, social, etc.) will further benefitlocal communities. The region will require significant investment in mine and processing infrastructure, the construction and operation of transportation infrastructure and the provision of energy. Rail and all-weather road options are currently being assessed for the transportation corridor.

The exploration and prospecting involves some 16,400 claim units, covering an area of 2,630 km2, with 21 companies currently holding claims in the Ring of Fire belt. The area of most intense exploration is about 20 km long running northeast from Noront’s Eagle 2 prospect to Spider-KWG’s McFauld’s #2. Discoveries include chromite, nickel, copper, zinc, gold and kimberlite.

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NEWS RELEASE: MacDonald Mines Readies Drill Program on Butler Property in ‘Ring of Fire,’ James Bay; Provides Background on Current Mining Exploration Environment

January 09, 2013 08:00 ET

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Jan. 9, 2013) – MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:BMK) (‘MacDonald’ or ‘the Company’) provides a mining industry update and an outline of its drill program scheduled for early 2013 to advance its potential VMS discovery at the highly prospective Butler 3 location (see Figure 3). The Butler property is located 36 kilometres west of Cliffs Natural Resources (‘Cliffs’) Big Daddy Chromite deposit (Click here for map).

Kirk McKinnon, President and CEO of MacDonald Mines comments, “As we enter 2013, MacDonald Mines believes it is important to provide a current backdrop for junior mining exploration companies. We find it extremely ironic that both the Prime Minister and the Ontario Premier have outlined natural resources as a prime catalyst for growth in the country and in the province of Ontario respectively. Specifically, Premier Dalton McGuinty outlined the James Bay Lowlands and Natural Resources as a prime catalyst for growth within the province. With this as a backdrop, we wonder why large trading institutions are allowed to impact junior mining stocks with high frequency trading (as profiled in the Financial Post, October 10, 2012 and the Huffington Post) and also receive trading credits from the TSX in return for placing bids.

We are aware high frequency trading is active in the United States but has been banned in some jurisdictions. It has less impact in the United States because of the sheer critical mass in the number of stocks and the number of shares in their trading jurisdictions. Compounding this, large Canadian national banks have certainly discouraged, and all but disallowed, any trading in junior mining stocks. This makes it extremely difficult for their clients to even consider these stocks as part of their overall portfolio or as opportunities for making money. We realize that exploration stocks are high risk and do require some expertise and insight on the part of shareholders but they can also play a role in a balanced portfolio where it constitutes a small percentage of the total investment.

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Theresa Spence’s hunger strike obscures the key First Nations issue: resource revenue sharing – by John Ivison (National Post – January 8, 2013)

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

There is hope for the future of relations between natives and non-natives in Canada. It is embodied in leaders like Glen Nolan, a former Cree chief from Northern Ontario, who is the president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

He doesn’t support the Idle No More movement because he says he’s never been idle. “There are too many examples of [native] individuals and communities who have broken away from the notion that government is there to look out for them,” he said.

Attempting to get at the truth involves abandoning stereotypes and clichés. That is hard when the subject matter conforms to easily attached labels, like Theresa Spence, the chief of another Cree community in Attawapiskat, who points the finger of blame at Ottawa with one hand, while extending the other for more handouts.

It is a welcome reminder when more sober voices like Mr. Nolan point out that many First Nations reject dependency on transfers from the federal government.

Mr. Nolan, now an executive with a junior mining company developing nickel and copper in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, said his time as chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation north of Wawa was characterized by building strong support networks to encourage education, work and business creation.

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Mining observer questions [Ring of Fire] Cliffs’ mine start-up date – by Thunder Bay CBC Radio (January 8, 2013)

 http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Ring of Fire project will likely be delayed for a variety of reasons, says industry watcher

A mining observer and blogger predicts chromite production in the Ring of Fire may not begin until as late as 2020.

Stan Sudol said he believes the fragile global economy — along with challenges related to infrastructure and First Nations communities — will slow development of the mineral zone. But there’s also an upside to a longer wait, he said.

“It gives us a little bit more time to decide exactly what type of transportation infrastructure would be the best for the Ring of Fire and how both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities could best take advantage of this enormous transformational opportunity,” Sudol said.

Cliffs Natural Resources, the biggest company operating in the Ring of Fire, currently has a target start date of 2016. “Cliffs initially said they’re looking at 2016, but then there were some reports of 2017,” Sudol said. “I think a safer bet would be 2019 [or] 2020.”

Chance of takeover

In an e-mail to CBC News, a spokesperson for Cliffs called Sudol’s prediction about the mine’s start-up timeline and the company’s potential as a takeover target “pure speculation” on his part.

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A map of the future [Northwestern Ontario/Ring of Fire] – economically speaking – by David Robinson (Northern Ontario Business – January 2013)

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. Dr. David Robinson is an economist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada.  drobinson@laurentian.ca

As minister of northern development and mines, Rick Bartolucci has published the most important development map of Northern Ontario. It isn’t a map of what he is doing, or even what he plans to do-this map shows what others have stopped doing. But with a bit of imagination the map also shows Northern Ontario’s future.

Strange to say, the map didn’t get into the Northern Growth Plan. Maybe the team that wrote the plan didn’t realize what they had. After all, why do we care where all the abandoned mines in Northern Ontario happen to be? It’s just one of the many neat maps available on the Ministry Northern Development and of Mines website.

It is the unsurprising information in this map that matters. The map shows that there are a lot of abandoned mines. We all knew that, although we probably didn’t know just how many. The map shows that mines tend to be found close to railroad lines and major highways. That isn’t very surprising either. The third, not very surprising but important fact, is there are only four abandoned mines in the northwest quarter of the province.

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Ring of Fire – Miles before we dig (Part 2 of 2) – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – January 7, 2013)

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

The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines estimates the value of the current known chromite deposits at US$50 billion over its 30-year lifespan. Noront Resources is developing a nickel/copper mine with a current 11-year lifespan.

The mineral deposit is “open at depth,” which means that even though official TSX regulations will not allow you to estimate the potential size of the orebody, most feel that mine will be in production for much longer.

The Ring of Fire mining camp will become bigger than the nickel mines of Voisey’s Bay, Nfld., and Raglan, Que. combined. It’s bigger than diamond deposits in the Northwest Territory or the uranium mining district in northern Saskatchewan.

We have just begun to explore this geologically rich mining region that will probably equal, if not exceed, the legendary trillion-dollar Sudbury basin. These developments, and potentially many more to follow, will significantly alleviate impoverished living conditions in the adjacent Aboriginal communities, as well as provide enormous economic benefits for the entire province.

But how are the First Nations going to build their capacity and take full advantage of these extraordinary job opportunities — and, most importantly, give their consent to sustainable development of their traditional territories — when many, if not most, of them are living in deplorable conditions?

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Accent: Ring of Fire – Miles to go before we dig [Part 1 of 2] – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – January 5, 2013)

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

It may be a cliche, but over the past six months, how things have changed and how they’ve stayed the same in the Ring of Fire.

There may be some ongoing activity or discussions behind the scenes, but without a doubt, the declining state of the global economy, First Nations issues and Ontario politics seem to have halted any progress on a variety of issues.

First let’s look at the fragile nature of the world economy. The U.S. is still struggling; Europe is worse, with skyrocketing unemployment rates in many countries; and China’s past double-digit expansion is gone. It is estimated that their economy will “only” grow 7% this year.

The price of commodities and the value of resource companies have plummeted. Many mining projects are being put on hold or cancelled, while layoff notices are being handed out. Funding for junior exploration companies — the source of future discoveries like the Ring of Fire — has become almost impossible to find, putting many on life support.

The stock price of Cliffs Natural Resources has plummeted from US$100 per share a year and a half ago to a little under US$30 recently.

Cliffs has publicly stated that they are looking for a partner to help develop their Northern Ontario chromite deposits. Recently, the company has put their Bloom Lake iron ore expansion project in Quebec’s Labrador Iron Trough on hold and stopped production at two of their U.S. iron ore mines.

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Male Newsmaker of the Year [Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias]- by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – January 3, 2013)

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias burst into the national media’s attention in the spring when he announced to the world that he would stop a bridge to the Ring of Fire from being built over the Attawapiskat River, by any means possible.

“They’re going to have to cross that river, and I told them if they want to cross that river, they’re going to have to kill me first. That’s how strongly I feel about my people’s rights here,” Moonias said in May.

Since then Neskantaga has become a thorn in the side of Cliffs Natural Resources, the mining giant that Moonias has pegged an “American mining bully.” Moonias’ efforts have brought international attention to the First Nations fight to be consulted and accommodated on what may be the biggest development ever in northern Ontario.

For those efforts he has earned Wawatay’s male newsmaker of the year. The First Nation is making true its claim to use any means possible to oppose the Ring of Fire until proper consultation gets completed.

In May the chief sent a series of letters to the Ontario government, demanding consultation and expressing his concerns over Cliffs’ announcement that it was going ahead with its Ring of Fire chromite mine, along with a north-south highway and a smelter in Sudbury.

Read more