those top holdings by Blackrock sure look interesting...

ISHARES by Blackrock

TOP HOLDINGS (%)

FORTIS INC 22.36

BROOKFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS 18.66

EMERA INC 11.99

HYDRO ONE LTD 7.62

ALGONQUIN POWER UTILITIES CORP 6.87

BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE PARTNERS 6.18

CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD CLASS A 5.25

 ATCO LTD CLASS I 4.03

CAPITAL POWER CORP 3.17

NORTHLAND POWER INC 3.17

http://www.netnewsledger.com/2017/08/12/marten-falls-hosts-mining-symposium-ring-fire/

On Aug. 8 and 9, 2017, Marten Falls First Nation held the first of its kind Mining Symposium, in Thunder Bay, Ontario for its membership, the traditional land holders in the Ring of Fire

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/sagatay-transmission-lp-welcomes-algonquin-power--utilities-corp-as-a-partner-512073951.html

Great Lakes Power Distribution Inc

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/great-lakes-snags-brookfield-power-assets/article4194389/

http://www.saultstar.com/2009/10/10/great-lakes-power-sold

About the only asset it still owns in the Sault area is Lake Superior Power, a 110-MW natural gas-fired cogeneration facility on the St. Mary's River, that does not fall into The Fund's renewable power mandate.

Thursday, Brookfield Renewable Power Inc., corporate parent of Sault Ste. Marie-based GLP Distribution, sold the firm to FortisOntario Inc., a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., Canada's largest investor-owned distribution utility, in a $75 million transaction.

http://www.saultstar.com/2018/03/15/algoma-acquires-combined-heat-and-power-plant

 Algoma has acquired the former Lake Superior Power Plant to augment its power generating capacity.

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/industry-news/construction/watay-power-out-to-electrify-northern-communities-427502

Watay Power out to electrify Northern communities

A First Nations-owned transmission company is the Ontario government’s developer of choice to hook up remote communities in northwestern Ontario to the provincial power grid.

They’ve steadily grown their ownership base to 22 First Nation communities and skillfully recruited transmission specialists Fortis Ontario and RES Canada to join their consortium.

Construction begins in the spring of 2018 once all the necessary provincial approvals are in place, 

Kenequanash said the consortium remains open to presenting to, and connecting, new communities.

How their plan ties into natural resource development remains to be seen, she added.

“There’s always an option to fan out from Pickle Lake toward the Ring of Fire. Our business case does not necessarily include the Ring of Fire, but there is that option. If the communities decided to be part of that then they would be able to.”

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Look who bought some Fortis this month..Blackrock and our RBC buddies.

https://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/profile?s=FTS.PR.M:TOR

Brookfield’s Q3 letter to shareholders, (keep in mind Graphite electrodes are needed in Electric Arc Furnaces.;.shortage created a problem and Outokumpu had to raise prices for ferrochrome)

https://bam.brookfield.com/en/reports-and-filings/financial-reports/q32017-letter-to-shareholders

In 2015, we acquired a company called GrafTech, that makes graphite electrodes, for $1.25 billion. Graphite electrodes are a critical consumable with no known substitute that are used in steel mini-mills to conduct electricity in the melting of scrap metal and other raw materials for the production of steel.

The market was very weak in 2015 and 2016; we used this environment to restructure the company, exiting non-core businesses, shutting down capacity and improving plant productivity to achieve $100 million of annual operational improvements.

The market for graphite electrodes has since tightened dramatically and steel producers are experiencing electrode shortages. We are now running flat out and prices have increased over four times from the bottom. If prices hold at these levels for 2018, and as current contracts roll off, we should earn well in excess of our target return on our $855 million equity investment. This turnaround, while in the early stages, looks like it could be very successful for us.