Around the North

Elderly residents looking to stay in the Sudbury area found another reason to do so, June 30, when the municipal, provincial and federal governments jointly announced the official launch of a new $3.37-million affordable housing project.

Xstrata's proposed $40 billion merger with Anglo American may spur competing bids from Vale and China as rival miners compete for a deal to place them among the largest, according to Bloomberg sources.

United Steelworkers Local 6500 president John Fera stated in a release he is “fed up with the antics and negative business processes of their new third world employer, Vale. This is a company that only recognizes dollars – not people.

June 29 marks the start of another season for the Polar Bear Express, the summer excursion train that runs from Cochrane to Moosonee on the James Bay coast. This year, the train will operate every day except Saturday until Aug. 28.

Porter Airlines, which started flying the Thunder Bay-Toronto route this summer, is acquiring two Bombardier Aerospace Q400 aircraft. They are scheduled to arrive in spring 2010. Porter’s initial Q400 order is valued at over US$500 million.

Noront Resources Ltd. provided the an exploration update of their activities in the James Bay Lowlands area. For the year to date, Noront has completed 131 drill holes at it's 100-per-cent-owned Eagle One, Eagle Two and AT-12 properties.

Taking another step towards its proposed bioleaching facility, BacTech Mining Corporation has engaged the services of Picton-based MPI Drilling to begin a sonic drill program on the Castle Mine tailing near Gowganda.

For the first time since 2001, tourism spending in Canada has fallen for the third consecutive quarter, dropping by 1.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, according to a report released by Statistics Canada.

More and more students have been seeking out Northern College for fall 2009, driving up applications by 24 per cent so far.

The momentum for the Northern Ontario School of Architecture continues to build as backers of the project, affiliated with Laurentian University, received $701,000 from the Ontario government.