As the minister for FedNor — the regional development organization for northern Ontario — Tony Clement was speaking to representatives at the annual convention of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

He said the government would work closely with First Nation communities to ensure they receive their share of the economic benefits. As well, he said the government would  implement efficient governance, environmental protection and consultation with First Nations.

The Ring of Fire, located approximately 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, is potentially the largest mining development in northern Ontario.

Image: By World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland (Annual Meeting of the New Champions Tianjin 2010) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
North America's single largest deposit of chromite, used in stainless steel, is found there, along with major deposits of nickel and copper.

Mining the region could create 5,000 jobs in the area with the estimated minerals worth about $30 to $50 billion.

Image: World Economic Forum, via Wikimedia Commons

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The Philippines' Mines and Geosciences Bureau said gold output declined 59% in the first half of the year, compared to the same period a year ago.

Gold is purchased by the country's central bank where the country imposes an excise tax of 2% on top of a creditable withholding tax of 10%.

The tax rate is driving away miners.

"Given the continuing high price of gold and the increasing number of small-scale mining areas, the decrease in gold purchases by the BSP clearly indicates that gold output is going to the black market and smuggling activities," said Ramon Jesus P. Paje, Environment Secretary in a statement.

Outside of gold metal output was down for nickel, copper, zinc and chromite.

The country was producing more iron ore and silver.

Philippine's new president recently enacted regulations clamping down on small miners.

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About two dozen non-unionized workers have walked off the job in a remote mining camp in northern Ontario — in an area known as the Ring of Fire — in protest of what they call unsafe conditions and unsatisfactory compensation.

The workers put out a statement late Sunday saying they had stopped working over the weekend.

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The report confirms that the samples collected from four bore holes of the Big Daddy chromite deposit are amenable to refining at relatively modest energy consumption resulting in high yields of refined ferro-chrome product. Analysis of the smelting results indicates that a reductant requirement of at least 19.5% Carbon equivalent is required to ensure optimum chromium recovery. The smelting is somewhat less sensitive to the flux addition rate, but 9% CaO equivalent is considered the safe minimum. Smelting temperatures of 1625-1650°C appear optimum for best results.

KWG Resources Inc. (KWG) is an exploration-stage company with properties in Ontario, Canada. KWG has two property groups: the chromite, nickel, base metal group and the diamond group held in a wholly owned subsidiary, Debuts Diamonds Inc. (DDI). During the year ended December 31, 2008, the exploration focus of KWG-Spider joint venture was the chromite occurrence.

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Proceeds from the placement will be used for feasibility studies on Noront's Eagle's Nest nickle-copper-palladium property and the Blackbird chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire poly-metallic mining district in northern Ontario, Canada.

"Baosteel’s investment in Noront provides the necessary funds to advance the feasibility study on both the Eagle’s Nest nickel, copper, PGE deposit and the Blackbird chromite deposits as well as allow Noront to maintain its project schedule with planned production from Eagle’s Nest commencing in 2015/2016," said Wes Hanson, Noront’s President and CEO. "This initial investment lays the groundwork for a long-term partnership that would provide key financial and technical support to Noront. This includes access to China's rapidly expanding stainless steel markets, knowledge in sales of concentrates and technical assistance with the processing of chromite for the production of ferrochrome."

For more details click on the full press release

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The PEA was commissioned by Montreal-based KWG Resources, which owns a 28% interest and a 1% net smelter royalty (NSR) in the deposit, located in the remote James Bay lowlands of northern Ontario. The company also has NSRs on the adjacent Black Thor and Black Label chromite deposits, and has the option to increase its interest in Big Daddy to 30%.

"The PEA results indicate the Big Daddy deposit, if developed, could provide compelling returns to the owners at present prices," said KWG President Frank Smeenk. "The estimated undiscounted cash flow per presently outstanding KWG share over the life of the project, from KWG's interest alone, is $2.97 per share."

The project as described in the PEA includes the development of a railway and power line to the site, an open pit mine and associated crushing plant and infrastructure. It is estimated that the pre-production construction would be completed over a 3-year time frame  and the open pit would produce a total of 25.35 million tonnes of indicated resources and 13.54 million tonnes of inferred resources of lump chromite mineralization, over a 16-year mine life.

To learn more click on the full press release

Image by KWG Resources Inc.

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Case in point: Vancouver-based Crazy Horse Resources and Mindoro Resources. The latter is hunting for nickel, cobalt, copper and gold. It’s intention: to build a mid-tier mining company right on China’s doorstep. Crazy Horse is working on its recently acquired Taysan copper-gold porphyry project, pushing a $3.5 million work program towards a scoping study and NI43-101 compliant resource estimate.

Chief Executive John Raadsma said during a recent conference in New Orleans that the Taysan copper project is a well drilled out project.

“We purchased (it) from Phelps Dodge when Phelps Dodge was purchased by Freeport [McMoRan Copper & Gold]. The Taysan copper project was considered non-strategic and Freeport has its hands full [with other projects] so we purchased the Taysan Project," he said.

Crazy Horse hopes to have its initial works program completed this month.

The bottom-line: The Philippine government is keen to develop its mining sector, a capital-intensive industry. It issued more than three dozen exploration permits last year, in a country where chromite, copper, gold, nickel, silver, manganese and magnetite sand can be found in economically feasible quantities ready for extraction.

The government has kicked out some 300 mineral production sharing agreements as well as four financial and technical assistance agreements over the past decade, according to ABS-CBNnews.com.

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