(L to R) PIERRE LASSONDE, M.C. and Chairman, Franco-Nevada Corporation; JANET CARDING, Director & CEO, Royal Ontario Museum; KEVIN MACLEAN, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Sentry Investments; IAN TELFER, Chairman, Goldcorp Inc.; WILLIAM PUGLIESE, Chairman, IAMGOLD Corporation; PAMELA STRAND, President & CEO, Shear Minerals Ltd.; MICHAEL KENYON, Executive Chairman, Detour Gold Corporation; FEROZ ASHRAF, Executive Vice President, Office of the President, SNC-Lavalin; CLINTON NAUMAN, President & CEO, Alexco Resource Corp. - Keith Houghton Photography

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by the late Maurice R. Brown, former editor and publisher of The Northern Miner, as a way to recognize and honour the legendary mine finders and builders of a great Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988. For more information about the extraordinary individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, please go to their home website: http://mininghalloffame.ca/

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

2011 Canadian Mining Hall of Fame – Innovation and Wealth Creation

Like the commodity supercycle, he was back again to the delight of a “star-studded” mining crowd at the 23rd Mining Hall of Fame’s annual dinner and induction ceremony at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, held recently in Toronto. I am referring to that perennial funny man, Pierre Lassande, Chairman of Franco-Nevada Corporation, who kept the 800-plus guests in stitches with his master of ceremonies commentary.

“I don’t want you to think of yourself as an audience,” Mr. Lassande began. “Think of yourselves as trapped Chilean miners! I promise we’ll get you out of here by Easter.”

He was joined at the head table by some of the top CEOs of Canada’s mining sector including, Don Lindsay of Teck Resources, Aaron Regent of Barrick Gold, Tye Burt of Kinross Gold, Pamela Strand of Shear Mineral and Michael White of IBK Capital Corp., just to mention a few.

Mr. Lassonde continued about the top mining story of the year, if not decade, “For three months they captured a worldwide audience who learned more about mining than we could ever teach them in their life time. … One of them got into a bit of a pickle when both his wife and his mistress showed up on top. He was the only one who was glad to be half a mile underground!”

(L to R) RUSSELL HALLBAUER, President & CEO, Taseko Mines Limited; MICHAEL WHITE, President, IBK Capital Corp.; JULIE LASSONDE, Executive Chairman, Shear Minerals Ltd.; TYE BURT, President & CEO, Kinross Gold Corporation; Hon. BRIAN TOBIN, Executive Chairman and Acting President & CEO, Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines; SEAN BOYD, Vice-Chairman & CEO, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited; INGRID HIBBARD, President & CEO, Pelangio Exploration; AARON REGENT, President & CEO, Barrick Gold Corporation; DON LINDSAY, President & CEO, Teck Resources Limited; HOWARD STOCKFORD, Chairman of the Board of Directors, The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame - - Keith Houghton Photography

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

Michael Winship is a familiar name in Northern Ontario’s hard-rock fraternity

“It’s all about copper at Quadra FNX,” chief operating officer Michael Winship told a packed audience at a lunch presentation hosted by the CIM Toronto branch January 20th.

The red metal, a key indicator of global economic strength, has soared over the past few months from a low of US$2.85/pound in July 2010 to around US$4.35 in January. (It hit an all time low of about US$1.25 in December 2008 during the last recession.)

Winship provided an overview of future investments that the newly merged company will be making in the next few years to take advantage of the booming demand for copper.

In March of 2010, Vancouver-based Quadra Mining Ltd. and Sudbury-based FNX Mining Company Inc. announced a friendly merger that combined Quadra’s open pit and metallurgical expertise and FNX’s underground mining and exploration prowess.

Quadra FNX operates three open pit copper mines in Nevada, Arizona and northern Chile, while its three underground mines, Podelsky, Levack and McCreedy West, are located in the northern range of the Sudbury Basin. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Henderson is editor of Research Money.

“We are attempting to establish a centre of excellence that can compete in the R&D space and collaborate with centres in Brazil and Chile … Our mandate is to establish R&D and innovation excellence in Ontario and Canada by bringing industry money together with people doing research and who can commercialize the work.” – CEMI President and CEO Dr. Peter Kaiser

Boost to growing mining cluster
 
Sudbury’s quest to become a major centre of mining R&D received a significant boost with a decision by Rio Tinto to invest $10 million in a Centre for Underground Mine Construction (CUMC), the fifth and final centre in its global research network. The centre is part of Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future program as the British-Australian mining giant banks on innovation to transition from open pit to underground mining by developing deeper underground mines to meet soaring demand for minerals.

To be based at the Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), located at Sudbury’s Laurentian Univ, the Rio Tinto centre marks the first time a foreign-based multinational has committed to funding mining R&D through CEMI.

The decision may signal a reversal in Canada’s flagging reputation as an innovative mining nation — a status that has been threatened by a rash of foreign takeovers of some of Canada’s biggest mining enterprises. For instance, the former Falconbridge was acquired by Xstrata based in Zug Switzerland, while Inco was absorbed by Vale Ltd, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rio Tinto’s CUMC will be set up as a division of CEMI with a steering committee to direct R&D initiatives. Read the rest of this entry »

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

The Yukon Klondike

I have a small complaint about Canadian mining history or more importantly, our media coverage of past gold rushes. The Yukon Klondike gold rush of 1896-1899 seems to take all the glory – thanks to writers like Jack London, Robert W. Service and Canadian literary icon, Pierre Berton – while northern Ontario’s four globally significant gold/silver discoveries in the first half of the last century do not get the historical respect they deserve.

The initial Klondike discovery, on August 16, 1896, at a fish camp near the junction of the Yukon and Klondike rivers, is credited to George Carmack and his Tagish Indian brothers-in-law, Skookum Jim Mason and Dawson (Tagish) Charlie. Robert Henderson, a Nova Scotia prospector is credited as a cofounder, since it was on his advice that the discovery was made, however he made no money from the find.

At the height of the rush, Dawson City, the main staging town at the mouth of the Klondike River had a booming population of about 30,000 and was known as the most cosmopolitan city west of Winnipeg and north of Vancouver.  Due to its isolation, all the claims had been staked by the time most people finally arrived. Some of the most memorable photographs from the period show a thin line of thousands of people climbing the legendary Chilkoot Pass – the shortest but most difficult route to the goldfields – bringing the required year’s supply of food and living material.

Fortunes were made and lost in Dawson City’s “rip-roaring” frontier atmosphere where prostitutes were tolerated and nearly everyone was on the lookout for charlatans and con men. Many became rich just supplying services to the stampeders.  In total, about 12.5 million ounces of gold was produced during this short-lived rush that lasted for less than a decade. Read the rest of this entry »

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

As a child of Polish immigrants who came to Canada after the Second World War and settled in the nickel mining centre of Sudbury, Ontario, I witnessed the stable and prosperous life my parents had due to my father’s life-long employment at Inco Limited. In the mid-seventies, I also had the good fortune to work at Inco’s Clarabell Mill for one year before going to college and spent one summer underground at their Frood-Stobie Mine which help pay for my college education.

So I am always surprised about the bad press and demonization major mining companies receive about their activities in lesser-developed countries and am very concerned about Bill C-300, the proposed federal anti-mining legislation introduced by a Liberal backbencher.

Take for example Barrick Gold’s annual meeting to shareholders in Toronto last April where many protesters gathered to denounce the company’s activities in their home countries. Chairman Peter Munk, is a Hungarian-Jew who escaped his Nazi-occupied homeland in 1944 and immigrated to Canada after the Second World War where he founded Barrick in 1983. During his presentation to shareholders, he had a few choice comments about the anti-mining NGOs.

“By moving into these countries and developing their mines, we provide – way beyond the importance of money – we provide human dignity,” Peter Munk said. “We provide an opportunity for these people to earn their money, rather than hold out their hands and depend on charity.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

Toronto-based Business News Network (BNN) is a Canadian cable television specialty channel owned by CTVglobalmedia. BNN airs business and financial programming and analysis. You can’t go anywhere in Toronto’s financial district without seeing BNN broadcasting on television screens.

On September 17, 2010, BNN Anchor Reporter Andrew Bell, who hosts the very popular Commodities program visited Sudbury and broadcast four separate reports on the city’s globally significant mining sector.

The following description of the Commodities program comes from the BNN website: “From aluminum to zinc and everything in between, join BNN Tuesday through Friday for the latest insight into the hot world of commodities and the companies that produce them, including interviews with mineral and mining entrepreneurs from Canada and around the globe. Whether it’s a gold play in the Andes or a hot offshore oil prospect, BNN has you covered on commodities.”

I must confess that BNN reporter Andrew Bell did a terrific job of explaining the current status of Sudbury’s mining sector. Two key points that were highlighted are that Sudbury’s mining sector is world-class and will still be in operation for a least another hundred years and that the local mining supply and service sector has created thousands of well-paying, highly-skilled jobs that export their expertise throughout Canada and the world. A recent independent study overseen by the local Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) demonstrated that this sector created over 23,000 jobs and generated over $5.6 billion in gross sales in 2008.

Furthermore, many of the interviews were conducted on a beautiful green location overlooking Ramsey Lake which is located about 15 minutes from downtown Sudbury, helping overcome many of the negative images Canadians still have of the Mining Capital of Canada. The lake is the source of drinking water for much of the inner city.

However, it was Andrew Bell’s enthusiasm and excitment about reporting live from Sudbury that carried the four interviews. During his trip underground at the Quadra-FNX mine, he almost came across as a “kid in a candy store.” It’s gratifying to see someone from the Toronto media so excited about Sudbury and mining.

As Andrew Bell said on his BNN blog, “A definite highlight for me was the trip 2,000 feet underground to the Podolsky Mine run by Quadra FNX Mining. There, the walls sparkle with veins of ore so rich in metals, it crumbles in your fingers. …. Sudbury has unbeatable ore and a global-scale mining support sector and expertise perhaps the best anywhere in the world, but it has another important advantage: The ability to process ore using relatively little energy and producing relatively little carbon dioxide.”

After a year of depressing news from the region, his positive reports are greatly appreciated. I hope he comes back to Sudbury soon.

Links to the four reports from Sudbury follow:

BNN looks at Sudbury’s mining history and speaks to Randi Condie, retired Inco miner.

http://watch.bnn.ca/popular-videos/#clip349349

BNN gets a tour of Quadra FNX Mining’s Sudbury operations with the company’s CEO Paul Blythe.

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip349350

BNN looks at what the mines mean for Sudbury with Mayor John Rodriguez.

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip349365

BNN looks at how technology will change the future of the mining industry and what the future holds for Sudbury with Greg Baiden, professor, Laurentian University School of Engineering.

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip349367

Attention Readers: This column was originally published in 2004. A lot has changed and many new discoveries have been made. Is this list still accurate? Please send in your revised lists and reasons for the revisions and I will be happy to post them. In addtion, if someone can supply me with the top ten richest gold, zinc, iron ore, silver, copper, nickel etc. mining regions, I would post them as well. (The lists can only include currently operating mines.) Please note, unless you object, I will include your names.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

Mines that would make King Solomon happy

What is the richest mining camp in the world? Finding out where the most valuable deposits are and if any Canadian sites would make a top 10 list is not easy.

The main issue when identifying a top mineral-producing region or deposit is how big an area do you include? The term “mining camp” appears to be a distinctly Canadian definition that describes a small area. Most of the mining world defines mineralized areas as belts, basins, provinces and districts.

For the sake of this comparison, I have taken “journalistic license” with my boundary definitions that some geologists may disagree with. However, my reason for putting together the article was to put the value of northern Ontario’s mineral resources in a global context, so please tolerate this “apples and oranges” comparison.

This list does not include coal, industrial minerals or diamonds. It is graded by value of commercially extractable metals including historical production and known reserves. In addition, the deposits must still be in operation. Read the rest of this entry »

Metal Men Comic Cover

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

Ontario Place, the provincial government’s Toronto lakeshore tourist attraction has put out a formal request for innovative ideas from the private sector to help overhaul the 39-year old park. http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/rfi/index.html

“There is significant social, cultural, and economic value in revitalizing Ontario Place,” states a provincial government news release. “It also presents opportunities to explore projects related to education, culture and the arts, recreational activities and Green Energy initiatives to showcase all that Ontario has to offer.”

Ontario Place opened in May 1971 and featured a five pod pavilion complex, an open air forum, pedal boats, a marina, restaurants and the world’s first permanent IMAX theatre, the Cinesphere. During the 1970s, Ontario Place routinely drew roughly 2.5 million visitors a year. In 2009, only about one million visited the facility.

Iron Man Comic Cover

In 1980 the provincial government constructed an ambitious display to specifically feature northern Ontario. The display was known as Ontario North Now and consisted of seven concrete silos linked by walkways on the western short of the park. I remember visiting that popular pavilion and realizing that it was a great opportunity to educate urbanites about the North’s wildlife, resource industries and their enormous contributions to the provincial economy and in our daily lives. Unfortunately, Ontario North Now was closed down many years ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

On June 14, I had the pleasure of being invited onto TVO’s flagship current affairs program, The Agenda, for a one-on-one interview with host Steve Paikin.

The topic headline was: The Interview: Stan Sudol: Will the Strike Ever End?

It’s been almost one year since Vale workers went on strike in Sudbury, Port Colbourne and Voisey’s Bay NL. Northern Life columnist Stan Sudol will be here to tell us if there is any light at the end of the tunnel.

As the station’s website states, “TVO is Ontario’s public educational media organization and a trusted source of interactive educational content that informs, inspires, and stimulates curiosity and thought. TVO’s vision is to empower people to be engaged citizens of Ontario through educational media.” The Agenda has been described as a program that “presents in-depth analysis and intelligent debate on issues of concern in the rapidly changing world around us.” www.tvo.org

The program is archived below:

This article was originally published in the March 14, 2007 edition of Northern Life – Sudbury’s Community Newspaper. It is being posted for archival purposes.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

Patrick Moore, founding member and former president of Greenpeace, supports the mining sector. This is the same Patrick Moore, who, with his band of Rainbow Warriors forced the American and French governments to stop nuclear testing, shamed the Russians and Japanese to halt factory whaling and were a nightmare for Newfoundland sealers.

He lightheartedly quipped that all his life, he had been against many issues so he finally decided to be in favour of something. He stated the obvious fact that the world’s real needs for food, energy and building materials cannot be met without a growing mining sector. Moore gave an engaging luncheon speech at the Prospectors and Developers of Canada (PDAC) convention, last Wednesday that highlighted the many benefits the mining sector brings to impoverished lesser-developed countries around the world and the hypocrisy of many in the NGO environmental movements.

He mentioned that many of the environmental extremists who focus on greenhouse gasses and global warming are adamantly again nuclear energy and hydro-electric dams – the two sources of clean energy that can significantly help in solving these problems. During the past decade the mining industry has embraced many sound practices in water shed management, land restoration and pollution reduction that have significantly reduced their impact on the environment. In addition, sustainable mining initiatives in the social arena – the most challenging part of this new strategy – helps build up local capacity, through education, health care and economic diversification initiatives.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article was originally published in the March 7, 2007 edition of Northern Life – Sudbury’s Community Newspaper. It is being posted for archival purposes.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

South African premier plans to head to Sudbury while in Canada

Seventy-five years old and still going strong as ever. The annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, which got under way Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, is expecting to see almost 18,000 participants. Like the price of many of the metals its members are searching for, this is a new record high.

The organization was first founded in 1932, early in the Great Depression in order to fight some new provincial government regulation that was detrimental for struggling prospectors. Copper was then selling at four cents a pound (US), nickel was about 35 cents per pound, and gold could be bought for $20.67 per ounce. How things change and how they stay the same.

The March convention is the world’s premiere event for mineral exploration and development professionals. These include representatives of major and small to medium-sized junior exploration and mining companies, technical experts, government officials, prospectors, and mine financiers and investors, just to name a few of the participants.

This is the largest and sometimes one of the most “hard-drinking” and notorious conventions in Toronto. Twenty years ago, when it was still held at the Royal York Hotel, a mining promoter was murdered by an angry creditor. The longest reigning PDAC president, Viola MacMillan, was charged with insider trading during the infamous Windfall Scandal of 1964.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article was originally published in the March 12, 2006 edition of Northern Life – Sudbury’s Community Newspaper. It is being posted for archival purposes.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

The Prospectors and Developers Association promotes the exploration and development sectors of the Canadian mineral industry

The 74th annual PDAC (Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada) convention that ran from last Sunday to Wednesday was a smashing success, the biggest ever. It is the mining world’s version of the “Academy Awards” but spread over four days and with just as much networking, deal making and partying. PDAC is the largest gathering of mineral explorationists, developers, investors, bankers, financiers, analysts and government representatives in the world.

Established in 1932, the PDAC is a national not-for-profit organization that supports and promotes the exploration and development sectors of the Canadian mineral industry. There are about 1200 mining companies in Canada and almost 700 that are actively exploring worldwide on 3,500 projects. Canada is a global powerhouse in the mining sector and our expertise in many facets of the industry is well respected and in demand internationally.

Toronto’s stock exchange helps raise almost half of global venture capital for exploration and mining projects while about 65% of the world’s mining companies are listed here.

Read the rest of this entry »

(L to R) Vern Baker, FNX Mining Vice-President of Sudbury Operations; Dominic Giroux, President Laurentian University Photo by Northern Life Staff - Marg Seregelyi

This article is also available on the websites of Northern Life and Northern Ontario Business.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

Last Monday I attended a Laurentian University Next 50 Campaign event where two significant donations were made. Both FNX Mining Limited and Power Corporation of Canada each donated $1 million dollars to the university.

Power Corporation’s gift is earmarked towards graduate fellowships while FNX’s million dollars will be focused on mining programs.

In a press release, Terry MacGibbon, Chairman and CEO of FNX Mining Limited stated, “Laurentian is the go-to resource for research and employees for companies like FNX. This gift ensures Laurentian will be able to continue its tradition of training geologists and engineers with the knowledge and skills to hit the ground running when they enter the workforce.” 

(L to R) Vern Baker, FNX Vice-President, Sudbury Operations; Edward Nelles, LU Graduate Student; Harold Gibson, LU Director of Mineral Exploration Research Centre - Earth Sciences Department (Photo by Marg Seregelyi)

Leo DiCaprio on Cover of Vanity Fair Green Issue - April 2007

The mining sector is ignoring the green light at the end of the tunnel that is attached to a 100-tonne locomotive driven by the environmental movement.

The collision is going to be messy! It will impact the industry at a time when the voracious metal demands of China and India could bring enormous prosperity to isolated Aboriginal communities throughout northern Ontario.

This constant demonization of the mining sector by media-savvy NGOs is also affecting the recruitment of the next generation of workers the industry so desperately needs.

From the Academy award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth that stars Al Gore to Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio posing on the cover of Vanity Fair – photographed in the Arctic with a cute polar bear cub to highlight global warming – there is no doubt that environmental issues dominate society’s cultural and political agendas.

Unfortunately, the mining sins of the father are certainly coming back to haunt the sons!

Past industry practices that were detrimental to the environment are still highlighted by the anti-mining crowd today.

Yet, the reality of mining in the 21st century is quite the opposite. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was originally published in Northern Life on April 18, 2007

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant, who writes extensively about mining issues.(stan.sudol@republicofmining.com)

Sector fails at communicating aboriginal and green initiatives

The mining sector is ignoring the green light at the end of the tunnel that is attached to a 100-ton locomotive driven by the environmental movement. The collision is going to be messy. It will impact the industry at a time when the voracious metal demands of China and India could bring enormous prosperity to Canada’s northern and aboriginal communities as well as impoverished countries around the world.

There is no doubt that environmental issues dominate society’s cultural and political agendas.

On the political front, the new found commitment to environmentally green initiatives by the McGuinty and Harper governments spell enormous challenges for an industry that most urbanized Canadians still feel is a major source of habitat destruction and pollution.

Mining Sins

The mining sins of the father are certainly coming back to haunt the sons. Past industry practices that were detrimental to the environment are still highlighted by the anti-mining crowd. Yet, the reality of mining in the 21st century is quite the opposite. Read the rest of this entry »