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.

ATTAWAPISKAT, ONT. — At Micheline Okimaw’s White Wolf Inn, the most popular of the two motels in this remote James Bay reserve, visitors to town tend to cross paths. And in recent days, in Okimaw’s cozy confines, folks arrived trying to help the community with both its future and its past.

From the organization Mining Matters, a travelling “school of rock” in the person of Toronto teachers Barbara Green Parker, Janice Williams and Jenni Piette, came a high-energy presentation on earth sciences and how that field could lead to jobs for young people in projects like a nearby diamond mine.

From Angela Lafontaine, a member of the Moose Cree First Nation, survivor of her own difficult past, came help addressing long-standing wounds that have gone unhealed down generations and helped sabotage aboriginal aspirations.

For the Cree of Attawapiskat, each of those aims — hopeful futures, reconciled pain — is as necessary as the other. Read the rest of this entry »

This opinion piece is from the Ottawa Citizen: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/index.html

Re: What is going on at CIDA?, Jan. 19.

Ross Gallinger, Toronto Executive Director, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada

Elizabeth Payne’s recent opinion piece about the Canadian International Development Agency includes several references to development projects involving threeway partnerships between CIDA, NGOs and mining companies.

We disagree with the assertion that significant aid dollars are supporting the work of Canadian mining interests overseas and believe it’s an inaccurate characterization of Canadian exploration and development companies.

The three projects involving three-way partnerships between CIDA, NGOs and mining companies are initiatives over and above the corporate social responsibility work the companies are already doing at the mine sites. CIDA is not financing the corporate social responsibility programs of these companies.

Many critics of mineral exploration and development are quick to judge and quick to brandish those judgments on their websites and in the media. Industry’s side of the story rarely gets told, but we have a side and it deserves more airtime than it gets. Read the rest of this entry »

Stan Sudol is a Toronto, Canada-based communications consultant, mining columnist and blogger. stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

Biggest commodity super-cycle in the history of mankind

The future of mining has never been brighter, yet its image among the general population seems to have plunged lower than the famous Kidd Creek mine in Timmins, Ontario – the world’s deepest base metal operation. The largest rural to urban migration in the history of mankind is taking place in China. It has been often said, that China needs to build two cities the size of Toronto, Canada and Sydney, Australia to accommodate that growth, every year! Analysts estimate that China’s middle class is expanding so rapidly that it will soon overtake the current U.S. population of 312 million.

In October, 2011, the world’s population had passed the seven billion mark. India, Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and many other developing countries are following China and urbanizing and industrializing their economies. Mining experts feel that over the next 25 years, we will need to dig out of the ground as many minerals as consumed since the beginning of mankind.

One of the biggest concerns is a shortage of skilled workers. In the next decade half the mining workforce in Canada is eligible to retire and there are significant difficulties attracting and engaging the digital generation.
According to the Ottawa-based Mining Industry Human Resource Council’s 2011 hiring report, the industry will need to hire betwee 75,280 to 141,540 new workers in Canada depending on the state of the global economy by 2021. Similar labour shortage issues exisit in other western mining jurisdicitions like Australia and the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Stan Sudol gave the keynote address at the Ontario Prospectors Association’s 2011 Ontario Exploration & Geoscience Symposium – Sudbury, Ontario – November 8, 2011

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant and mining columnist. www.republicofmining.com stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

Check Against Delivery

Sudbury: The luckiest city in Canada

It’s always great to get back to my hometown.

Way back in 1977, I worked for Inco at their Clarabell Mill complex for a year before going to college. And in 1980, I was a summer student replacement worker at their Frood-Stobie mine.

So I will always be a “Sudbury boy” regardless of where I live.

Without a doubt, Sudbury is this country’s epicenter of mining.

In fact, the Sudbury Basin is the richest mineral district in North America and among the top three hardrock mining regions in the world.

Only South Africa’s Witwatersrand gold region, and their legendary Bushveld platinum complex, can match the concentration and expertise of underground mining here.

We are the luckiest city Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

For Immediate Release

Sept. 30, 2011

To read the complete report click here: Unearthing Possibilities

Canada’s position as the global leader in mineral exploration is at risk because of a human resources triple threat, according to a study released today by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the Mining Industry Human Resources (MiHR) Council.  

Unearthing Possibilities:  Human Resources Challenges and Opportunities in the Canadian Mineral Exploration Sector says Canada’s mineral exploration industry faces challenges on three critical fronts:  a lack of awareness about the exploration sector and its many related career opportunities; a thinning labour pool that is affecting companies’ recruitment efforts; and attrition that sees many versatile, multi-skilled professionals leave the sector in mid-career.

“The worldwide demand for skilled labour in this sector is constantly increasing and driving up the cost of human resources,” says Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans, PDAC president.  “We have to work harder to attract more Canadians to this industry.”

In an increasingly globalized economy that prizes highly educated, multi-skilled workers, Canada will continue to lose mineral exploration professionals and its decades-long number one ranking in mineral exploration may quickly change.  Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday March 9, 2011
 
A new miner is going to drill the ocean floor for nickel nodules.

Offshore oil and gas companies are about to be joined by a mining company extracting nickel and copper.

Stan Sudol is a blogger (RepublicOfMining.com) and mining industry watcher in Toronto he fills us in:

http://www.cbc.ca/morningnorth/past-episodes/2011/03/09/a-new-miner-is-going-to-drill-the-ocean-floor-for-nickel-nodules-mar-092011/

NationTalk is a Aboriginal newswire, employment, event and tender service located in Canada.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) represents the interests of the Canadian mineral exploration and development industry.

Glenn Nolan speaks with Nation Talk about his past experience as the Chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation, his background in the exploration and mining industry, his role at the PDAC, and the path to becoming the association’s first Aboriginal President in 2012.

Also discussed are the PDAC’s initiatives in support of Aboriginal affairs and the increase in Aboriginal participation in the industry. Other topics include the Skookum Jim Award which recognizes Aboriginal achievements in the mineral industry, and the many programs available across Canada that help to bridge the education gap and develop the skills needed to assist youth to pursue careers in exploration and mining.

Click here for interview: http://www.nationtalk.ca/modules/webshow/singlelink.php?lid=246

The PDAC, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and members of the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation (CMIF) were invited to provide federal, provincial and territorial mines ministers with views and recommendations regarding policy issues of importance to our industry. The CMIF members represent the majority of companies engaged in mineral exploration, mining, and processing – accounting for most of Canada’s production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical and thermal coal, potash and mined oil sands.

Tens of Billions of Dollars in New Investment – A Course of Action for Ministers

A Brief to the 68th Mines Ministers’ Conference, Kananaskis Submitted by the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation, July 2011

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC), the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the fifteen other mining-related associations that are members of the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation (CMIF) appreciate this opportunity to provide federal, provincial and territorial Mines Ministers with views and recommendations regarding policy issues of importance to our industry. The CMIF members represent the majority of companies engaged in mineral exploration, mining, and processing – accounting for most of Canada’s production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical and thermal coal, potash and mined oil sands.

1.0 OVERVIEW OF CANADA’S MINERALS INDUSTRY

The Canadian Economy

After seven years of strong performance from 2000 to 2007, a global recession took hold in late-2008 and served to reduce Canadian GDP by 2.5% through 2009. Mineral prices fell in most commodities, operations in mines and smelters were reduced and mineral exploration spending curtailed. However, global economic growth, again led by China, resumed in the final quarter of 2009 and has continued to be strong through 2010 and the first two quarters of 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) advocates to protect the interests of the Canadian mineral exploration industry and to ensure a robust mining sector in the most environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner possible. 

“If the mining industry is unwilling to talk about its achievements, how can we expect Canadians to understand and value it?” (PDAC President Scott Jobin-Bevans – April 12, 2011)

Good evening everybody.

I’d like to thank Darren Anderson for inviting me to the Calgary Mining Forum’s 20thanniversary. The first years of any organization’s life are the most challenging so M-E-G [Mineral Exploration Group] has reached a milestone.

I understand there’ll be some oil and gas folks here tonight so I’m please that MEG is helping two streams of geology maintain their connections.

Over the last 20 years, a number of the PDAC’s board members have come from MEG. Michael Marchand, president of Leeward Capital, was just elected for his third term at our convention last month. And MEG’s past president, Sherri Hodder, who shares my interest in student recruitment, is one of our newer directors, elected in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

(L to R) Laurence Golborne, Chile Minister of Mining, Special Achievement Award Winner; PDAC President, Scott Jobin-Bevans

For a video presentation about the Special Achivement Award, please go here: http://www.pdac.ca/pdac/programs/awards/award-winners-video-special.html

An award for special achievement is being given this year to Laurence Golborne, Mining Minister of Chile, for his management of the rescue operation that saved 33 miners who had been trapped underground for 69 days in the San José copper-gold mine.

An estimated one billion people around the world were riveted to screens on October 12, 2010, as, one by one, the miners were winched to the surface in a 21-inch wide bullet shaped capsule called Phoenix, following a rescue effort that had taken 51 days and is believed to be the deepest ever.

(L to R) Joe Hinzer, PDAC; Anglo American Exploration Team, Graham Brown, Vicente Irarrazaval, Graeme Lyall, William Robles, Juan Carlos Toro

For a video presentation about the Los Sulfatos discovery, please go here: http://www.pdac.ca/pdac/programs/awards/award-winners-video-thayer.html

This award, honouring the memory of one of Canada’s greatest mine finders, recognizes an individual or a team of explorationists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery anywhere in the world. 

An exploration team of Anglo American has been chosen to receive the 2011 Thayer Lindsley Award. The team is being recognized for its discovery of Los Sulfatos copper deposit in Chile, a world-class discovery with an inferred resource of 1,200 Mt @ 1.46% copper and 0.02% molybdenum and a potential resource of 4,000-5,000 Mt @ 0.8-1.0% copper.

The five team members include Graham Brown, group head of geosciences and exploration; Vicente Irarrazaval, regional head of exploration; Juan Carlos Toro, regional copper geologist; Graeme Lyall, senior resource geologist; and William Robles, senior geologist.

(L to R) Vice Chairman and CEO, Sean Boyd, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, Winner Viola R. MacMillan Award; Rodney Thomas, PDAC Second Vice-President

For a video presentation about Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, please go here: http://www.pdac.ca/pdac/programs/awards/award-winners-video-viola.html

This award is named in honour of the PDAC’s longest serving president and is given to a person or company demonstrating leadership in management and financing for the exploration and development of mineral resources.
 
Winner of this year’s Viola R. MacMillan Award is Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, a company that has developed into a world-class, multi-mine gold producer. An ambitious four-year mine-building program from 2006 on has transformed the company, creating exceptional value for shareholders, employees and host communities. Today Agnico-Eagle, which has been in operation for 53 years, has six operating gold mines in Canada, Finland and Mexico. Its gold reserves have increased significantly, and the company ranks among the top ten gold producers in the world, based on market capitalization.

(L to R) Phillip (Jerry) Asp, PDAC Skookum Jim Award Winner; Glenn Nolan, PDAC First Vice-President.

For a video documentary about Phillip (Jerry) Asp, please go here: http://www.pdac.ca/pdac/programs/awards/award-winners-video-skookum.html

Recipients of this award will have demonstrated exceptional achievement and/or service in an aboriginal-run service business for the Canadian mining industry or a Canadian aboriginal exploration or mining company, or have made a significant individual contribution to the mining industry.
 
Phillip (Jerry) Asp is this year’s winner of the Skookum Jim Award. Asp is being recognized for promoting mining’s benefits to aboriginal communities in British Columbia. A former Chief of the Tahltan Band Council, Asp established the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation to provide construction and maintenance services to northern BC mines. The company became the largest aboriginal-owned and operated heavy construction company in western Canada.

Jerry negotiated two mining impact and benefits agreements, the first for the Golden Bear mine that set the template for later Tahltan projects, and the second for the Eskay Creek mine. Jerry is a founding member of the National Indian Businessman’s Association and the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association, of which he serves as vice president. He was a major contributor to the award-winning Mining Information Toolkit for Aboriginal Communities.

(L to R) Edward Thompson, PDAC Former President and Chair of Awards Committee; Patricia Dillon, Distinguished Service Award Winner

For a video documentary of Mrs. Dillon, please go here: http://www.pdac.ca/pdac/programs/awards/award-winners-video-distinguished.html

This award recognizes an individual who has achieved one or more of the following: made a substantial contribution to mineral exploration and mining development over a number of years; given considerable time and effort to the PDAC; made outstanding contributions to the mineral industry in the field of finance, geology, geophysics, geochemistry research, or a related activity. 

Patricia Dillon is this year’s recipient of the PDAC’s Distinguished Service Award. Mrs. Dillon is being honoured for her many and exemplary contributions to the PDAC and to the Canadian mineral industry, especially to its education and human resources initiatives. Patricia served as a PDAC director for 15 years and as the association’s president from 2006 to 2008. She is also a past president of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum and is the only person to have been president of both associations.

Patricia has charted the course for PDAC Mining Matters, a highly successful educational program. She is a director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council, past-president of the Minerals and Economics Management Society, a director of the Ontario Mining Association, and past-chair of the Minerals and Metals Industry Sector Study Steering Committee, which oversaw research on human resource needs in Canada’s mineral industry.

(L to R) Stephen Letwin, IAMGOLD Corporation President and CEO; Tony Andrews, PDAC Executive Director

For a video documentary of IAMGOLD Corporation’s CSR program, please go here: http://www.pdac.ca/pdac/programs/awards/award-winners-video-environmental.html

This award honours an individual or organization demonstrating outstanding initiative, leadership and accomplishment in protecting and preserving the natural environment and/or in establishing good community relations during an exploration program or operation of a mine.

 The PDAC has selected IAMGOLD Corporation to receive the Environmental & Social Responsibility Award for the company’s commitment to excellence in environmental stewardship, community engagement, and health and safety, particularly during exploration. IAMGOLD has operating mines and exploration projects in West Africa, South America and Québec.

The company’s frameworks for health and safety management and sustainability are informed by international standards and good practices (including the PDAC’s e3 Plus) and are used to create performance criteria and measurable results for all of its operations. The company was the top extractive company and third overall in the 2010 Globe and Mail’s ranking of environmental and social and governance performance of Canada’s largest companies in the S&P/TSX 60 Index.