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Sudbury Basin

NEWS RELEASE: CMIC and CEMI ensure the future of mining is CLEER with joint submission to the Federal Innovation Supercluster Initiative

Canada (July 21, 2017) – The Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) and the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) led a joint Letter of Intent (LOI) submission to the Federal Government’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative. Working on behalf of the mining industry, CEMI and CMIC proposed the creation of a clean resources supercluster called, CLEER (Clean, Low-energy, Effective, Engaged and Remediated). This CLEER supercluster will transform the mining sector’s productivity, performance, and competitiveness.

This will be achieved by tackling global challenges of water, energy, and environmental footprint, with bold targets of 50% reduction in each area by 2027. CLEER will engage the mining services and supply sector (MSS) and anchor mining companies, accelerate collaborative innovation, stimulate investments exceeding $5B, with the objective of growing SMEs, improving industry productivity, initiating export pathways, and creating more than 100,000 jobs.

In May, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, opened the application process for the Innovation Superclusters Initiative. The 2017 Federal budget has made $950 million available over five years, starting in 2017-18, to support a small number of business-led innovation superclusters that have the greatest potential to accelerate economic growth.

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Sudbury mine needed culture change: supervisor – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – July 21, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Shortly after Mark Aubrey arrived at First Nickel Inc.’s Lockerby Mine in 2012 to take on the job of operations manager, he had a big surprise waiting for him: a Ministry of Labour compliance order that highlighted numerous issues such as dust control and road building issues at the nickel and copper mine that needed addressing. That was when Aubrey said he realized a major culture shift was needed at the mine’s management level.

“We fixed the supervisor training,” Aubrey recalled. “That included spending time with our ground control people … every supervisor at one point or another, went through that process. I was happy with what we were able to put in place, the supervising guys, even health and safety guys, our safety people. We took the steps to put guidelines in place to keep us out of trouble with the Ministry of Labour.

“Again, it’s not doing it for the Ministry of Labour, but doing it for ourselves. There were individuals within the management group who didn’t share the same degree, the same importance, of how a worksite should be looked after. We took a leading role. We didn’t rely on someone else to hold our hand, so to speak.”

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Supervisor couldn’t track Sudbury mine’s ‘bump’ — trial – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – July 20, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The First Nickel Inc. shift supervisor on duty the night a fall of ground at the company’s Lockerby Mine that killed two men was aware there had been a major “bump” or movement of ground at the mine the preceding dayshift.

But, Wade Johnson said Wednesday, he had no idea where the bump had occurred because the mine captain who briefed the night shift team before they started work did not know either. That was because the ground control team had gone home for the day and because no microseismic monitoring charts were available to peruse and isolate the location of the bump, Johnson said.

“There should be a chart: we should know exactly where the bump was,” the veteran miner told the ongoing Ontario Court of Justice trial of First Nickel Inc. and Taurus Drilling. “When I worked at a mine in Lively, there was a refuge station you could see (the charts) and know where the bump was.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Advancing Mining Technology [Sudbury Norcat] (Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines – June 30, 2017)

Province Supporting Development of New Mining Products and Services

Ontario is supporting the development of new, innovative mining technologies and helping to create new jobs for residents in the Sudbury area by expanding a state-of-the-art research mine.

Glenn Thibeault, MPP for Sudbury, made the announcement on behalf of Minister of Northern Development and Mines Bill Mauro this morning at the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT) Underground Centre in Onaping, Ontario. The province is supporting the mine’s expansion through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC).

This operating mine provides mining companies with an active laboratory where they can develop and showcase their mining technology innovations. Upgrades will include improved ventilation and electrical systems that will enhance workers’ health and safety on the job.

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Cambrian College receives $2.1M research grant: A collaboration with mine business partners for the next five years – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 26, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The future is looking more secure for several innovation projects at Cambrian College in Sudbury with a large grant coming their way.

Cambrian Innovates, the applied research division at the college, and three mining industry partners will benefit from a $2.1-million grant aimed at supporting a five-year Mine Environmental Stewardship Initiative.

The grant is coming from the federal government’s National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) College and Community Innovation (CCI) program. The funds were secured through an Innovation Enhancement grant that will support a five-year Mine Environmental Stewardship Initiative.

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Arsenic to be removed from Sudbury’s Long Lake – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 24, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Residents of Long Lake will notice some extra activity around their shores in coming months — and next year, especially — but chances are they’ll welcome the temporary annoyance of noisy equipment over the lingering presence of a deadly poison.

A tender is going out this summer for reclamation work on the former Long Lake Gold site, which has been leaching arsenic into the southwest corner of the lake for years, with a contract to be awarded in the fall and the work apt to commence in earnest early in the new year.

Stephen Butcher, chair of Long Lake Stewardship, said it’s been a long wait for a remediation project to get the go-ahead but “we’re ecstatic it’s finally getting done.” It was Butcher’s stewardship group that first detected elevated levels of arsenic, which has been filtering down from old tailings deposits, through water testing done back in 2011.

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The world seeks Sudbury’s mining expertise – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 23, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Export forum brings supply companies and international investors together to talk

With over a century of mining supply expertise in Sudbury, companies and nations are turning to this region to help them develop their mining sectors, particularly Mexico, South America and the American Southwest.

To make it easier to connect, Ontario’s North Economic Development Corporation (ONEDC) played host to the Northern Ontario Exports Forum 2017 on June 22. The forum at the Holiday Inn allowed mining service supply companies to meet and get a better idea on export marketing, strategic planning, and the sales landscape in their own backyard and beyond.

“It’s an opportunity for the supply and service for mining to look at export opportunities,” said forum chair Tom Palangio, president of WipWare, and the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association.

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A breath of fresh air for deep mining: Century-old technology readapted to cool air in ultra-deep mines – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 22, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A new attraction on display at Dynamic Earth in Sudbury is bringing a century-old invention to the modern age with the aim reducing the costs of deep mining. The Hydraulic Air Compressor (HAC) demonstrator was unveiled at the tourist attraction with much fanfare on June 21.

The 100-foot-tall industrial scale system for testing and demonstrating air compression was installed in its own headframe in a former elevator shaft that used to be a part of Big Nickel Mine. “This project is going to do so much more than develop a new air circulation system, it’s going to rewrite the textbook on thermodynamics,” said project lead Dean Millar in an interview.

“This will make deep mining here in Sudbury, and ultimately the rest of the world safer, more cost efficient and greener.” The HAC Demonstrator project is a joint undertaking of a Sudbury research consortium involving the Ultra-Deep Mining Network (UDMN), MIRARCO Mining Innovation, Laurentian University, Electrale Innovation, Reasbeck Construction, Independent Electricity System Operator, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and Dynamic Earth.

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Memorial marks 1984 Falconbridge tragedy and all workplace deaths – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – June 20, 2017)

https://www.sudbury.com/

2015 death of Richard Pigeau at Nickel Rim South especially raw for speakers

On June 20, 1984, a seismic event measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale struck Falconbridge Mine, leading to the deaths of four miners — Sulo Korpela, Richard Chenier, Daniel Lavallee and Wayne St. Michel. Every year since the tragedy, Mine Mill Local 598/Unifor has held a Workers’ Memorial Day gathering on June 20.

This year’s service was held at the union’s campground on Richard Lake, and featured a long list of guest speakers, including politicians, union and company officials and labour community representatives.

Although specifically commemorating the 1984 Falconbridge mining disaster, the event also remembers other workers who have died at the company, which, as a result of several buyouts, now goes by the name Glencore. It also honours the lives of all those who have lost their lives due to on-the-job accidents or industrial disease in Sudbury and around the world.

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Noront looks for smelter landing spots in Sudbury, Timmins – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 20, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Nickel City puts “best foot forward” to host Ring of Fire chromite processor

Noront Resources’ search for a home for a potential ferrochrome smelter took them to Sudbury and Timmins in mid-June. The largest claim holder in the Ring of Fire recently tweeted photos of visits to the northeastern Ontario cities as part of a pan-Northern Ontario scan to find a suitable landing spot for a $600-million to $800-million processing plant.

Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay-Fort William First Nation are in the mix to host the facility which could be years away from construction given the slow pace of development talks between the Ontario government and First Nation communities in the James Bay region.

Greater Sudbury Development Corporation (GSDC) director Ian Wood said the plant could create “several hundred” construction and permanent jobs, but he remained cautious about heightening local expectations.

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[Ontario Mining] Sudbury’s Stobie Mine to take well-deserved ‘rest’ – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – May 31, 2017)

Frood-Stobie Complex (Vale Photo)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Stobie Mine was an important mine in Greater Sudbury’s mining history,
with an estimated 58,000 people working there over the years. During
the Second World War, the mine produced an estimated 40 per cent of the
Allied Forces’ nickel needs late in the war.

The final day of production at a 130-year-old mining complex in Sudbury on Tuesday was both a cause for celebration and a sombre moment to reflect. For 28-and-a-half-year loader /operator Wayne Beckerleg, it was the latter.

“I love this place,” said Beckerleg, who became emotional at times addressing a crowd of more than 350 co-workers, retirees, dignitaries and others at a press conference on the Stobie Mine property in New Sudbury. “We have always put our heads together, found ways to overcome, do a lot of risk analysis, found safer ways for people who came after us.

Frood-Stobie Complex supplied 40% of critical nickel supplies for Allies during World War Two. (1940s Inco Poster)

“Stobie Mine: it’s like no other mine. It’s like my second family home. You’re all like brothers and sisters here. I have enjoyed the friendships over the years … At one time, we were doing 10,000 tons of muck a day. It’d be down now. That’s real estate. That is the hand we are being dealt … You have my respect. I hope we will meet again. We will meet again.”

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Mine health, safety icons mourned – Staff (Sudbury Star – May 30, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Two men connected to the fight for better health and safety in Ontario’s mines are being remembered today.

France Gélinas, the NDP MPP for Nickel Belt, stood up in the provincial legislature on Monday to pay tribute to Jean Gagnon, who helped hundreds of fellow Sudbury miners and their survivors battle for compensation benefits, while advocating for the health and safety of workers and victims of industrial disease.

Gagnon died May 1 in Sturgeon Falls. He was 90.

“Jean dedicated over 60 years of his life fighting for health and safety and compensation for his fellow sintering plant workers and their families, all victims of an industrial disease that was only recognized because of his persistence and his determination,” Gelinas told the legislature.

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Sudbury Laurentian researcher gets key grant for work in biomining – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – May 29, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Laurentian University researcher Nadia Mykytczuk’s recent Early Researcher Award served as affirmation of the value of her work, as well as assurance that work will continue uninterrupted.

Mykytczuk, who works out of the Vale Living With Lakes Centre as Laurentian’s NOHFC Industrial Research Chair, received $140,000 from the provincial government to fund her project aimed at developing cost-effective, energy-efficient ways to recover metals and reduce environmental impacts from mine wastes using microbes.

“It’s excellent support, to apply for these very competitive grants and then to be a recipient means that I’m not only doing a good job at being a researcher, but that I’m actually standing out there and being able to get a competitive grant like this to support my early research,” Mykytczuk said.

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Cambrian gets $2.1M for mining initiative – by Staff (Sudbury Star – May 26, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury as mining’s ‘Silicon Valley’

Cambrian College’s applied research division, Cambrian Innovates, and local mining industry partners will benefit from a $2.1-million dollar investment from the federal government’s National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada College and Community Innovation program.

Nickel Belt MP Marc Serre and Sudbury’s Paul Lefebvre announced the funding on behalf of science minister Kirsty Duncan during a press conference at Cambrian on Thursday.

“Greater Sudbury has produced multiple integrated mineral processing facilities making it a region with the highest concentration of mining and mining associated activity in North America,” Lefebvre said in a statement. “Cambrian College’s work and this investment solidifies Sudbury’s place as a global mining leader.” The funds were secured through an innovation enhancement grant that will support a five-year Mine Environmental Stewardship Initiative.

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Vale to close nickel mine in Manitoba – by Staff (Sudbury Star – May 17, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale has announced plans to close another nickel mine in Canada. In an email to employees, Vale Manitoba Operations announced that the Birchtree Mine will shift to “care and maintenance” and no longer produce nickel starting Oct. 1, resulting in 150 unionized employees and staff being laid off and another 50 jobs also being affected.

According to union officials, moving to ‘care and maintenance’ means the power and water at the mine will not be shut down but production will cease. “As you know, the nickel market continues to be challenging as inventories remain high and the price remains at an historic low, with little sign of significant recovery in the near term,” said Mark Scott, head of the company’s Manitoba Operations in an email to employees on Monday.

“This reality has caused us to review every aspect of our business. As a result we have made the difficult decision to suspend operations at our Birchtree Mine and place it on care and maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2017.”

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