http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

An American company planning to invest $3.3 billion on a Northern Ontario mine and processing plant has waded into the latest front in a countrywide battle over environmental issues and aboriginal rights, a mining consultant says.
 
Lawyer and mining industry strategist Bill Gallagher said Ontario should have foreseen the confrontation brewing over land use in the province’s mineral-rich Ring of Fire region in the James Bay Lowlands.

The province announced last week that it reached an agreement in principle with Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources to build a chromite mine in the area about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, a road there and a processing facility near Sudbury.
 
But lawyers for the Neskantaga First Nation say the province may have broken the law by signing deals with Cliffs before consulting First Nations. In a letter written last week, solicitor Gregory McDade exhorts the province to “take no further steps to support this project until full discussion has been held with northern First Nations.”
 
Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias added that without thorough consultation on environmental and other issues, Cliffs would have to “kill me first” before accessing its mine site. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Ontario Association Member Cliffs Natural Resources has announced intentions to invest $3.3 billion to develop a chromite mine in the Ring of Fire area, a transportation corridor and a processing plant in Northern Ontario.  This could lead to more than 1,200 direct jobs over the anticipated 30 year life of the mine.

“Cliffs is pleased to be moving forward the proposed development of a mine in the Ring of Fire and a processing facility near Sudbury,” said Bill Boor, Senior Vice President Global Ferroalloys for Cliffs Natural Resources, based in Cleveland.  “These milestones bring us closer to opening the mine and starting production to meet the global demand for stainless steel.”

“Ontario is blessed with an abundance of natural resources at a time in history when the world is developing faster than ever and demanding these resources,” said Rick Bartolucci, Minister of Northern Development and Mines and MPP for Sudbury.  “We are taking advantage of this incredible opportunity in the Ring of Fire to further open up Northern Ontario by bringing thousands of jobs, new infrastructure and economic opportunities to cities, towns and First Nations communities.”

The Ring of Fire is a mineral rich and somewhat isolated area of Northern Ontario located about 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.  Read the rest of this entry »

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

All of Northern Ontario must benefit from plans to build a chromite mine and smelter says a group representing the North’s municipal leaders.

“We are pleased that a decision has been made concerning one of the jewels of the North,” Alan Spacek, president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, said in a release Tuesday.

“In a deal as big as this, the ‘devil is in the details.’ We want all communities to benefit from this mammoth find — First Nations, adjacent communities and communities right across the North.”

Last week, Cliffs Natural Resources said pending further studies, it would spend $3 billion to build a chromite mine in the Ring of Fire region of northwestern Ontario and ship the ore to be processed at a smelter in Capreol. Chromite is used to harden stainless steel, a key building component. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Provincial support of a north-south corridor for Ring of Fire mining resources has Noront Resources officials shaking their heads. “Right now we’re trying to get some clarity as to what that means,” company spokesman Paul Semple said Saturday.

Cliffs Natural Resources announced Wednesday that it would build a ferrochrome smelter near Sudbury, and that ore would be trucked south from the mine site along a $600-million all-weather road to Nakina. The provincial government said discussions would begin soon on the proposed road to run south from the Ring of Fire.

Noront’s preferred route for transporting base metals and other minerals from its Eagle’s Nest mining project is an east-west link with Pickle Lake and CN Railway in Savant Lake. It had the support of at least four First Nations in the north.

“We don’t know yet if that will affect our plans, or what. We’re trying to get a clearer picture of what it means,” Semple said. Read the rest of this entry »

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

WITH all the attention being given to the proposed Black Thor chromite mine there is a tendency to overlook the many other mining projects — existing and planned — throughout Northern Ontario. Cliffs Natural Resources’ project will surely be the biggest and the awarding of its processing plant to Sudbury set off a wave of discontent in competing communities here in the Northwest. In Thunder Bay, at least, it didn’t last long. One day after the dust settled on Cliffs’ decision, Thunder Bay and a group of partners launched an initiative to ensure they are ready to service, and take advantage of the many spinoffs from mining activity in the Ring of Fire and beyond.

 The City of Thunder Bay is developing a Mining Readiness Strategy to place itself and its partners at the centre of consideration for one of Ontario’s largest economic development opportunities.

 Together with Fort William and other First Nations, its own economic development corporation, the province and others in the region, Thunder Bay wants to make sure all mining interests are aware of the potential to include these entities in their plans and count on their ability to partner in the North’s new mining boom. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper and Brian MacLeod is the managing editor. brian.macleod@sunmedia.ca

When a mining project moves from pre-feasibility to the feasibility stage, it’s often done through a news release and follow-up interviews with the press. It’s a significant step, but not usually the whopper we saw this week when U.S. firm Cliffs Natural Resources made its announcement.

What made this one different is the size — $3.3 billion all told — and the announced location of a proposed $1.8-billion ferrochrome smelter in Sudbury to process material from the Ring of Fire chromite deposit in northwestern Ontario.

As well, Cliffs officials indicated they had come to an understanding with the province on the cost of power. And so we saw press conferences in Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Cleveland on Wednesday. While people in Greater Sudbury were happy, the Liberals took a beating elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Ontario’s air standards are among the most stringent in the world, so the Ministry of the Environment will have its eye on Cliffs Natural Resources as it develops its $3.3-billion Ring of Fire project.

That project includes a $1.8- billion ferrochrome processing plant to be built near Capreol. Mining projects such as Cliffs’ are subject to extensive environmental assessments both federally and provincially, says Environment ministry spokeswoman Kate Jordan.

Cliffs will have to receive “numerous” provincial approvals before moving forward with the project. Those environmental assessments will include identifying and predicting how the company can mitigate the environmental effects of these projects.

Cliffs will have to demonstrate that its smelter will meet all provincial minimum applicable standards, specifically related to chromium, said Jordan. The province has different standards for different types of chromium. Read the rest of this entry »

 http://www.wawataynews.ca/

First Nation leaders are threatening to pull support for mining in the Ring of Fire, after Cliffs Resources’ announced it plans to locate its chromite processing plant in Sudbury.
 
Cliffs announced on May 9 that the mining company will go ahead with the $3.3 billion Ring of Fire project, which includes the chromite mine east of Webequie, a transportation route running south from the mine site to connect to highway 17 near Aroland, and a ferrochrome processing plant in Sudbury.
 
The decision goes against the wishes of First Nations and municipal leaders in northwestern Ontario, who wanted to see the processing plant located in Greenstone.
 
“It’s obvious the province and Cliffs haven’t been listening to First Nations, and what their concerns and their aspirations are,” said Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose. “Today is a classic example of development going ahead without adequate consultation, input and consent from our First Nations.” Read the rest of this entry »

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-publishing business magazine in Canada.

TORONTO – Ontario will likely give Cliffs Natural Resources an exemption from the Mining Act to process a large amount of the chromite it takes out of the Ring of Fire offshore, Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested Thursday.

The New Democrats want as much of the ore as possible smelted and refined in Ontario, and say more processing facilities should be built to make sure the jobs stay in the province as well.

Cliffs announced Wednesday it plans to invest $3.3 billion to develop a chromite mine in the far north, a transportation corridor and a $1.8-billion smelter near Sudbury.

In the legislature, the NDP released testimony from Cliffs’ vice-president Bill Boor before a Commons committee in February showing the company plans to export up to 40 per cent of the chromite offshore for processing into a key ingredient of stainless steel. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Primed for the boom

When northwestern Ontario’s forest industry began taking a dive during the last decade, Grant Brodeur could see the writing on the wall. The CEO of Secure Store is now among more than 100 companies in the Thunder Bay area that have changed gears, restocked their parts rooms, and transitioned from catering exclusively to forestry over to the mining sector.
 
His company provides modular housing and logistical support for exploration and mining camp sites, serving clients such as Goldcorp-Musselwhite, Magma Metals and Osisko. Brodeur was displaying his services at the Northwestern Ontario Mines and Minerals Symposium in Thunder Bay in early April.
 
“Those skills are transferrable,” said Brodeur, who began working in Secure Store’s predecessor company, Broland Reforestation, as a tree planter. “Many of us have worked in fire suppression so we know emergency logistics and can set up in the middle of nowhere.” Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Regional business and political leaders continue to be disappointed by Cliffs’ decision to setup a processor in Sudbury, but say they look forward to other opportunities area mining could bring.

Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Harold Wilson said he shared a lot of the same concerns that First Nation and municipal leaders had Wednesday when Cliffs announced it would build a $1.8 billion ferrochrome processor near Sudbury.

He was also disappointed that the province made no announcements to coincide with the company’s $3.3 billion announcement that would also include an all-weather road north of Nakina.

“Show us where that’s going to be.  How is that going to link up to First Nations communities that can greatly benefit from that? How much are they (Ontario) investing into it and how can we turn that into other economic opportunities?” Wilson said. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/
 
First Nations involvment in Ring of Fire project will come after province and First Nations talk, Kathleen Wynne says
 
Ontario’s Minister of Aboriginal Affairs is asking First Nations near the Ring of Fire to be patient. First Nations leaders are upset Cliffs is locating its chromite smelter — and 450 jobs — in Sudbury, rather than in northwestern Ontario.

Kathleen Wynne said the mining project will benefit aboriginal communities, but she doesn’t have the details.
 
“Those have not been finalized,” she said. “We were not announcing those today because we couldn’t. There’s no way we could announce those today because we haven’t had the conversation with you.”
 
Wynne said she hopes First Nations and the province can sit down and have meaningful discussions, and not end up with a conflict. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Raymond Ferris thinks it might soon be time for action over the Ring of Fire. As Matawa’s Ring of Fire co-ordinator, Ferris said he was disappointed but not surprised by Cliffs Natural Resources’ decision to build a $1.8 billion ferrochrome processor near Sudbury instead of somewhere in Northwestern Ontario.

It’s the latest example of governments and industry moving ahead with initiatives without taking any First Nations recommendations into consideration he said.

“Whether the smelter was a good thing or not is something that we wanted to conduct as a study for ourselves so that our membership can be well informed then they can make a decision on their own,” Ferris said Thursday afternoon. “We never had that opportunity.”

Ferris said a smelter in the region could have had countless economic spinoffs for First Nations communities if they were tied to the grid. Communities around Lake Nipigon have everything from solar to wind projects that are just waiting to be tied to the hydro grid, something that could have happened with the arrival of the processor. Read the rest of this entry »

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

Representatives visit Sudbury

There were a lot of complicated factors, but Cliffs Natural Resources is confident that Sudbury is the right spot to build its ferrochrome smelter, the company’s president and CEO said.

Hot on the heels of its announcement on May 9, Cliffs representatives, including Joseph Carrabba, braved a thunderstorm en route from Toronto to Sudbury to pay a visit to the Nickel Capital.

It was a whirlwind tour, and while Cliffs representatives weren’t in town for very long, they “felt it most appropriate and respectful to be in the community and introduce ourselves to the mayor and everyone else who has been so helpful in the process just so people will be able to put a face to the name,” Carrabba said.

Cliffs received approval May 8 from its board to move into the feasibility stage. This move will see the eventual construction of a $1.8-billion ferrochrome processing plant north of Capreol, as well further work on the development of Cliffs’ Black Thor chromite deposit, an open-pit operation 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay that will eventually lead into an underground operation once it becomes necessary to extract the ore from greater depths. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Questions are being raised about how much taxpayers are on the hook for as a U.S. mining giant attempts to develop of an ecologically sensitive area in northern Ontario.

The Ontario government announced Wednesday it had reached an initial agreement with Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. to develop a chromite mine at the remote Ring of Fire region.

Cliffs is expected to invest $3.3 billion into building a mine, nearly 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, a smelter in the Sudbury area and a transportation corridor to move the ore between the two facilities.

Sources tell the Star the Liberal government is negotiating a deal on electricity subsidies in order to keep the smelter in the province. Also on the table is said to be construction of a transportation corridor to move the chromite south. On Thursday, Northern Development Minister Rick Bartolucci refused to talk about any possible subsidy. Read the rest of this entry »