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Knock their socks off Alan! Wish I were there.....hope a poster is there!
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/sudbury-daystarter-news-weather-and-roads-info-for-thursday-1.3952846
RING OF FIRE: The president and CEO of Noront Resources is in Sudbury today talking about the massive mineral deposit in the James Bay lowlands known as the Ring of Fire. Alan Coutts will detail recent land acquisitions, exploration activity and work with First Nations
Essar strike talk 'not helpful to anyone,' judge says. Da Prat hopeful for favourable decision
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In a Toronto courtroom yesterday, Essar Steel Algoma Inc. indicated it will not seek a no-board report.
At least, it won't seek a no-board report before a scheduled court hearing on Feb. 7 decides whether the company is allowed to do so under federal insolvency law.
What's a no-board report?
Why is it important?
Provincial labour law requires union and management to use the government's conciliation services before engaging in a strike or lockout.
At any time after an initial meeting with the conciliator, either union or management may request a no-board report, indicating that differences can't be resolved and no conciliation board should be appointed.
A lockout or strike is legally possible on the seventeenth day after a no-board report is issued by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
Essar Steel Algoma's largest union, United Steelworkers Local 2251, became very concerned earlier this month when the company served notice that it may seek a no-board report and unilaterally impose contract terms some time late next month.
Local president Mike Da Prat told a series of emergency closed union meetings last week that the terms to be imposed include a 10 per cent wage reduction, elimination of cost of living increases, reduction of paid vacation and other cuts.
"If the company requests a no-board report, we have to take a strike vote," Da Prat told SooToday on Friday.
That kind of talk isn't sitting well with Justice Frank Newbould, the Superior Court judge presiding over Essar Algoma's restructuring proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.
"It is extremely unsettling to a restructuring process for union officials to be publicly discussing a possible strike," Newbould said yesterday.
"It is affecting the business of Algoma and that is not helpful to anyone, including the employees. I urge the parties to have meaningful negotiations of the issues surrounding a collective agreement and leave public discussion of the negotiations or threats of action out of it."
"The parties have agreed to toll the time until the motion is determined for an application for judicial review."
Outside the courtroom, Da Prat is now careful to avoid uttering the "s" word.
But he insists he has no choice but to communicate to his local's 2,100 members through news media like SooToday, because Essar Algoma is controlling access to in-plant bulletin boards and the corporate email system.
"The CEO has to approve anything on the intranet. Local 2251 has to use the media to communicate with its members in real time. We have no way of doing it any other way," Da Prat says.
The union usually has two or three months to organize for a labour disruption.
If the company obtains a no-board report, Local 2251 could get hardly a month to do all the things necessary to prepare for a strike: organizing special membership meetings and committees, meetings with police regarding permits, meetings with city staff regarding property boundaries, notifying residents of traffic issues, locating strike trailers and other infrastructure.
"We have to figure out how we're going to sign 2,100 checks a week. We have set up all the mechanics. We need to do what we need to do to be ready."
"At Local 2251, our last strike was in 1990. We've always co-operated and worked with the company to restructure. We're prepared to do it again," Da Prat tells SooToday.
This afternoon, Da Prat advised us that information regarding the negotiations will also be shared on the Local 2251 website.
Da Prat says he's optimistic for a favourable court decision on Feb. 7.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Sault Ste. Marie City Council approved an additional $50,000 retainer for the lawyers representing the city at Essar Steel Algoma's insolvency proceedings.
Essar owes the city more than $21 million in unpaid property taxes.
The city's legal department originally asked for an additional $75,000 on top of the $225,000 already spent trying to collect the taxes owed, but the amount was reduced after Ward 6 councillor Ross Romano introduced the following motion:
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A great role model for Ontario....
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-first-nations-mou-mining-agreement-1.3951691?cmp=rss
Yukon gov't, First Nations agree to 'one government' approach to mining
Memorandum of understanding called a 'momentous occasion' that re-sets relationship
CBC News Posted: Jan 25, 2017 3:34 PM CTLast Updated: Jan 25, 2017 3:34 PM CT
Yukon Mines Minister Ranj Pillai with Council of Yukon First Nations Grand Chief Peter Johnston signed the memorandum of understanding on Tuesday in Vancouver. (Nancy Thomson/CBC)
The Yukon government and 11 of the territory's First Nations are vowing to work together on a "one government approach" to Yukon's mining sector.
The territorial government and self-governing First Nations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday, at the AME Round Up in Vancouver. The MOU establishes a "government-to-government" relationship and commits the territory to working with First Nations on matters related to prospecting, exploration, mine production and closure and reclamation.
"We had made a commitment to the mining industry and First Nations that we could bring a different approach to the [mining] industry and the sector in the Yukon," said Mines Minister Ranj Pillai.
"We have a lot of trust that's just been put in us to re-set this. So we've got to get this right."
Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in chief, Roberta Joseph, likened the ongoing relationship between Yukon and its First Nations to a marriage that's been through a rocky patch.
'Yukon First Nations and the Yukon government are once again reconciling,' said Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in chief Roberta Joseph. (Nancy Thomson/CBC)
"It seemed with the last government, we were almost hitting the point of divorce at times. And after a long silent treatment, Yukon First Nations and the Yukon government are once again reconciling," she said.
"You have to work through the bad days in order to keep the good marriage going."
'A momentous occasion'
Premier Sandy Silver also spoke at the Vancouver event, saying the new agreement provides the basis for a "one government approach".
He said he's been talking to industry representatives and "everybody's been loving this concept."
Silver says it's better for mining companies to be able to get everyone together in the same room, "so the industry isn't talking to the territorial government, and then talking to the First Nations government.
"Everybody's in the same room — that's going to help the industry, it's going to help the environment, it's going to help the Yukon survive."
John Rudolph, from Whitehorse's Cobalt Construction, calls the new agreement "a momentous occasion" that bodes well for the territory.
"The bottom line is, for the health and well-being of Yukoners — whether they be First Nation or non-First Nation — we need development, we need wealth for our children for our grandchildren."
Tara Christie, CEO of Calgary-based Banyan Gold, agrees that the new relationship in Yukon sends a "really important signal" to the mining industry.
"If there's a strong relationship there, it makes it so much easier for industry to develop relationships and continue the conversation."
Since ice roads won't stay frozen, we need to get serious about building permanent roads in the far north
OPINION: More than 30 Ontario First Nations communities rely on winter ice roads to truck in everything from fuel to building supplies. Warm winters are jeopardizing that lifeline, and we need an alternative
The one thing that’s supposed to be reliable about Ontario’s far north is cold winters. But increasingly, warm spells in winter have delayed the opening of the ice roads that connect 31 remote First Nations communities spread across the bulk of the province’s north, from the shore of James Bay to the far northwest. This year, while grading and packing of snow and ice clearing has started in some locations, not a single one of the province's ice roads has opened to commercial traffic, and only half a dozen have opened for personal vehicle use. In the province’s northeast, the Wetum Road connecting the Moose Cree First Nation and other communities farther north to the provincial highway system won't open until next Monday at the earliest.
The ice roads are a crucial lifeline to communities physically cut off from the rest of the province most of the year. Climate change is coming for all of us, but in Canada it's hitting the north hardest, and that means Ontario is going to have to decide sometime in the near future whether the ice road network will be able to sustain the region in the 21st century.
It almost certainly won’t, and the province should start talking about what will replace it, and what that will cost.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler says the situation this winter is already dire, as fuel reserves in northern communities are running low.
“The weather reports today say it could be too warm for another week or so … The communities that still rely on diesel plan their fuel hauls for late January, but now that’s not happening,” Fiddler told TVO.org on Monday. “My own community of Muskrat Dam only has seven to eight days of fuel left, and I imagine that’s going to be the case for other communities.”
When diesel reserves run dry one of two things happens: either the power runs out, or the government starts sending diesel by plane – something that’s enormously expensive, and even more contingent on weather conditions.
Not everything can be flown up, however. Building supplies can only be moved by truck, and until the ice roads open to commercial traffic, projects across the north are on hold. “In Sandy Lake, they were planning to construct a new nursing station this year,” Fiddler says. “They need to move all of the materials up on the ice roads, so there’s a lot at stake here.”
Last year’s season on the Wetum Road lasted only 63 days — something remote First Nations expect to be a new permanent feature of life in the north. Winter roads are the only kind of surface route these communities have, and even in a good year they’re only open for a few months. Thanks to climate change, the good years are less and less frequent. Their access to the rest of the provincial economy, already tenuous, is becoming increasingly precarious along with the roads, making any kind of community planning more difficult.
The problem of the far north is a tough one for any government: 24,000 people, about 90 per cent of them Indigenous, are scattered across 45 million hectares, or 40 per cent of the province’s land area. Building infrastructure across such a large area, to serve a relatively small number of people, is something governments have historically balked at except when potential resource riches are involved.
But nobody is calling for a six-lane freeway to the shores of Hudson Bay, either. All-weather roads don’t even need asphalt, given the small traffic volumes: proposals to build a road up to James Bay rely on good old-fashioned gravel.
Fiddler has called for a summit on northern infrastructure — not just roads but energy, telecommunications, and other essential infrastructure networks.
Need any NorthAmerican ferrochrome Mr Trump?
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http://www.transcanada.com/5951.html
Media Advisory - 75 Per Cent of Keystone XL Pipe would be 'Made in North America'
Calgary, Alberta – February 17, 2012 – TransCanada Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada) confirmed today the vast majority of the pipe for Keystone XL would be manufactured in North America. In addition, the company intends to purchase approximately 90 per cent of all other goods for the $7.6 billion project from companies on the continent.
“Seventy-five per cent of the pipe used to build Keystone XL in the U.S. would come from North American mills, including half made by U.S. workers in Arkansas,” said Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada’s president, Energy and Oil Pipelines. “In addition, we have already sourced goods for the pipeline valued at approximately $800 million from U.S. manufacturers.”
Pourbaix points out that the American Iron and Steel Institute recently sent a letter to the U.S House of Representatives and Senate stating its support of Keystone XL, describing it as vital to the national economic recovery. The Institute’s member companies represent 80 per cent of both U.S. and North American steel capacity.
We estimate 821,000 tons of high strength line pipe will be used on the project in Canada and the U.S. TransCanada has estimated it will use 660,000 tons of steel for the U.S. portion of the Keystone XL pipeline. The following are the line pipe mills who are manufacturing the pipe:
- Welspun - Little Rock, Arkansas, USA 332,800 tons 50%
- Evraz – Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada 156,266 tons 24%
- ILVA – Italy 103,147 tons 16%
- Welspun - India 69,457 tons 10%
It is important to understand pipeline companies do not purchase raw steel. Rather, we purchase sophisticated manufactured products such as high strength steel pipe and pumps that are fabricated from steel and other metals. It is the responsibility of the manufacturers of these products to source the necessary raw materials and to produce a product that meets all relevant regulations, codes and our internal specifications.
There are a number of materials and equipment items containing steel that have not yet been contracted for, which would amount to approximately 35,000 tons of steel yet to be sourced. The major items are as follows:
- Houston lateral and Nebraska re-route - line pipe and associated materials such as fittings, valves, etc.
- Cushing, Oklahoma and Baker, Montana Terminals - steel will be required for the construction of tanks plus the steel required for the other materials related to the terminal such as tanks, piping, pumps.
- Pump stations - pumps, motors and other related materials such as valves, fittings, etc. to be added at each location in the U.S.
We anticipate that virtually all of the 35,000 tons of steel products described above will be purchased from North American mills and manufacturers. TransCanada has already entered into contracts to purchase over $800 million of finished pipe and other products from United States manufacturers for Keystone XL. We anticipate purchasing additional products from United States manufacturers as we complete procurement for the project.
Continued delays of approving Keystone XL are hindering the recovery of the U.S. economy. Oil producers and state governments in Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas whose oil has been heavily discounted relative to oil imported from OPEC are feeling the effects, along with Gulf Coast refiners who are forced to buy more expensive OPEC crude oil as a result of the ongoing debate over this pipeline.
With more than 60 years experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and oil pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada's network of wholly owned natural gas pipelines extends more than 57,000 kilometres (35,500 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent's largest providers of gas storage and related services with approximately 380 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns or has interests in over 10,800 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is developing one of North America's largest oil delivery systems. TransCanada's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. For more information visit: http://www.transcanada.com or check us out on Twitter @TransCanada.
FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION This publication contains certain information that is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties (such statements are usually accompanied by words such as “anticipate”, “expect”, “would” or other similar words). Forward-looking statements in this document are intended to provide TransCanada security holders and potential investors with information regarding TransCanada and its subsidiaries, including management’s assessment of TransCanada’s and its subsidiaries’ future financial and operation plans and outlook. All forward-looking statements reflect TransCanada’s beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. TransCanada undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information except as required by law. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results, refer to TransCanada’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis dated February 14, 2011 under TransCanada’s profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com and other reports filed by TransCanada with Canadian securities regulators and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The former Ontario premier, who is the lead negotiator for the Matawa First Nations, says negotiations with the government “are continuing and from my perspective, we’re making progress.”
Former Ontario premier Bob Rae says the provincial and federal governments have yet to really start putting their money where their mouth is on the Ring of Fire and its nearby First Nations.
Rae, now a senior partner at law firm Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP, is the lead negotiator for the Matawa First Nations group on the Ring of Fire. In a recent interview with QP Briefing, a still-optimistic Rae said both levels of government have put just “a bit” of funding into the mining region and its neighbouring communities.
“But neither one of them has … stepped up to the plate in the way in which we would like them to,” Rae said. “We’re still discussing how that can be done. I think it’s a dialogue that is really important to get things right. It’s really about making sure that we’ve got a willingness to act. And I think on the basis of the meetings that we’ve had … that willingness is clearly there.”
Premier Kathleen Wynne‘s Liberal government has a longstanding promise on the books to invest $1 billion into infrastructure for the Ring of Fire, which is located approximately 540 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. That money has yet to be spent, and the Ontario Liberals have long held out hope that the federal government would match that investment.
But the partnership has yet to materialize. The region also merited a single mention in the Wynne government’s throne speech last September, a vow to “continue to work with First Nations and other partners to move forward with greater access to the Ring of Fire and remote First Nation communities.”
The volatility of mineral prices has helped bog down development of the Ring of Fire, which has been estimated to hold $60 billion in chromite and other materials, as well as the potential to boost economic development in Northern Ontario. Those estimates, though, have been questioned recently, and media reports have suggested the federal government’s interest in the region may have waned.
Rae said the province’s interest hasn’t cooled, but that the federal Liberal government is definitely the more aloof of the two. “We’re trying to attract their attention in terms of infrastructure and broadband [Internet access],” he said. “And there are obviously clear implications for the federal government’s reconciliation agenda.”
At the provincial level, talks between the government and First Nations have been unfolding gradually since a regional framework agreement was struck in 2014. The framework is meant to guide further negotiations, in which former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci represents the province. Rae said he didn’t want to predict how long it would take for a new agreement to be struck.
“We’ve agreed not to bargain in public, but I think it’s fair to say that following the regional framework agreement, there’s a focus on conditions in the communities and what can be done, what the province can do to contribute to improving them,” Rae said. “A lot of people talk about the Ring of Fire as a mineral development, and from our perspective it’s really about the communities that are there, the people that live there, and how do we ensure that these projects actually improve the quality of life, improve the prospects for better education and better health care, and ensure that the First Nations have control over or are able to participate directly in how these developments evolve – that these are not things that simply happen to them, but they’re things that they have a say in controlling. ”
In the private sector, Noront Resources Ltd., the biggest remaining player in the Ring of Fire, sent out an update Tuesday warning progress on a joint infrastructure plan between it, the province, the federal government and First Nations may be slower in coming to fruition than earlier anticipated. The company does, however, claim the Ontario government is eyeing 2018 as a start date for construction (a provincial byelection slated to be held this year in Sault Ste. Marie may also re-stoke interest in the project).
Following another throne-speech promise, the Liberal government set up Ring of Fire Infrastructure Development Corp. in 2014 to bring in other partners and work out the necessary details to build roads and other needed transportation networks. However, no other partners have joined the province in the corporation – NDP MPP Michael Mantha once said that “besides four bureaucrats sitting at a table playing euchre by themselves, we see nothing.”
In the meantime, Noront has been pushing for east-west road access to the Ring of Fire (one of its competitors has flirted with the idea of Chinese-funded rail link). The company has also touted its multi-metal Eagle’s Nest mine as a good starting project for the area, but it has been slow going, with the environmental assessment terms of reference for the project only approved by the province in June 2015. No new developments have been announced since that date.
“Although progress is being made, this process intersects with discussions between the province and the Matawa Tribal Council at the Regional Framework Table that are taking longer than anticipated and that have the potential to delay the provincial government’s stated goal of having shovels in the ground by 2018,” said the mining company in a release. “The timing for development of the company’s Eagle’s Nest mine is tied to the delivery of the shared access all-season road, as previously stated.”
Noront said it would start meetings this month with the Neskantaga First Nation (a Matawa member), as well as focus on working with two other communities.
Rae said the focus for him and the chiefs is that these projects are being proposed on traditional First Nation territory.
“They are in the heart of territory that has not been developed before, and it’s really important to get the relationship right, and it’s very important to get the processes right so that we don’t have a repeat of mistakes that have been made in the past,” he said. “First Nations have been left on the margins of development in our history in Ontario, and the chiefs have been very clear that they don’t want that to happen again. People are not opposed to development, but they’re very insistent that it has to be done in a way that’s respectful of the need for a new partnership. That I think is at the heart of the discussion.”
In addition to the Crown’s duty to consult with First Nations on mining projects, Rae said there is also a spotlight on the conditions in the nearby communities and how their situation can be improved. That includes, he said, resolving the question of how First Nations would be involved in any environmental assessment process. Also to be resolved are discussions about transportation infrastructure, broadband access, revenue sharing and jurisdiction.
“But the dialogue has been very constructive. The negotiations are continuing and from my perspective, we’re making progress.”
UPDATE: The following is a statement from Ontario Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle:
“Ontario is working hard to lay important groundwork to drive smart, sustainable and collaborative development in the Ring of Fire. Leading development in an area of the province that has never seen development before is a complex undertaking. As we move forward, Ontario must be mindful of important aspects that impact proposed projects: market conditions, discussions with First Nations, and the need for the Government of Canada to partner with us on this project of national significance. We are working to strike a balance between environmental protection, resource development and socio-economic benefits for communities and all Ontarians. Currently, Ontario’s focus is to see progress on negotiations with Matawa member First Nations, transportation infrastructure, and community readiness. Ontario is also working with the federal government on planning and work on the ground in the Ring of Fire.
Investing in transportation infrastructure is vital. Ontario is actively doing the work necessary to move forward on infrastructure decisions in close collaboration with our key partners. We continue to work with communities on next steps on community access roads. And work on upgrading existing provincial highways that would serve as connectors for communities and industry began last year. To realize the potential of the Ring of Fire, people need to get in to work, and products need to get out to the global market. It is important that we make progress on decisions pertaining to proposed infrastructure corridors and that is why the Ontario government has committed up to $1 billion for strategic infrastructure in the Ring of Fire.
Our number one priority is to grow the economy and create jobs. Moving forward on the Ring of Fire is key and we’re actively doing the work necessary with Matawa First Nation communities, the federal government, and with industry partners to drive progress in the region.”