Council OKs mining division
BRANDON WALKER
09/21/2010

Thunder Bay‘s Community Economic Development Commission will soon have a mining services division to assist companies working in the area.

“The CEDC‘s goal is to position Thunder Bay as a high profile mining service centre for Northwestern Ontario and the far North,” a corporate report to city council said.

Council supported the CEDC‘s request, allowing the commission to begin work to establish a dedicated mining services division that would work with mining companies to identify and help meet their needs.

Current councillors approved the proposal in principle, but it will be up to the council elected on Oct. 25 to approve the CEDC‘s budgetary requests.

The CEDC will “conduct a gap analysis of the (mining) supply chain in Thunder Bay and develop a strategy to establish Thunder Bay as a major mining services centre,” the report said.

The CEDC said a full-time project manager will be hired to work with a wide range of community and industry partners to “accelerate the growth of the tremendous opportunities that await the City of Thunder Bay in the mining sector.”

The CEDC would receive $125,000 in 2011 and $250,000 in 2012 for the division, if that budget is approved next year.

“What is the extra $125,000 in the second year for?” asked Coun. Frank Pullia.

CEDC chairman Ed Schmidtke said the $250,000 will cover the project manager‘s salary and other operating expenses.

“I‘d expect an initial amount of travel. If we‘re not going to hire staff for this person, it would be used to hire consultants to provide the necessary information,” Schmidtke said.

Coun. Iain Angus noted the province is in the process of hiring a facilitator. “Is there any duplication there?” he asked.

“The Ring of Fire co-ordinator that the province is hiring will be an expediter of provincial processes, such as the environmental processes, to make sure they are guided through as quickly as possible,” Schmidtke said. He said the local project manager would assist companies mining in Thunder Bay, in the Ring of Fire and elsewhere.

Schmidtke said the CEDC needs to act quickly because cities in Northeastern Ontario are going after benefits from Northwestern Ontario developments, such as the Ring of Fire.

“Our competition to the northeast, because of strikes, is very active in the field to pull as much . . . potential into the northeast as possible,” Schmidtke said.

Mayor Lynn Peterson asked Schmidtke to relate work the CEDC has done for the mining sector in Thunder Bay.

“The CEDC has certainly been active in the mining sector. We‘ve reached out to mining companies and we recently (put together a) mining services task force to tell us what they think our most important activities should be.

“They told us they were hoping we could find one person we can dedicate full time to helping the mining sector here,” Schmidtke said.