Around the North

Laurentian University officially installed its ninth president, Dominic Giroux, during the first spring convocation ceremony on June 2.

A Level 3 emergency was declared at Vale Inco's Copper Cliff facilities when a cloud of sulphuric acid mist escaped through the ventilation system during the commissioning of the acid plant on June 1. The emergency air horn sounded at 11:34 a.m.

Some of the country's top medical minds have named Dr. Rui Wang, Lakehead University's vice-president of research, as the 2008 recipient of the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CSPT) Pfizer Senior Scientist Award.

After years of effort, Apollo Gold has officially begun commercial production at its Black Fox open pit mine 64 kilometres east of Timmins. The company saw its first gold pour in the last week of May 2009, with 3,000 ounces of gold.

FNX Mining Company Inc. (FNX:TSX) reports that it is continuing its Sudbury mining operations. The company was considering shutting down operations during Vale Inco's eight-week summer shutdown, which began May 29.

Wayne Cormier couldn't think of a better way to finish his tenure as chairman of a Parry Sound advisory committee lobbying to establish a stand-alone campus of Canadore College in the Georgian Bay community.

North Bay's Holiday Inn has been branded as a Holiday Inn Express and Suites. Patrons will see a new sign and logo going up on their Seymour Street property as part of the hotel chain's $1 billion North American relaunch program.

More massive chromite deposits have been found in the Ring of Fire area by Noront Resources Ltd. after test results from 12 diamond drill-holes completed during the winter on the Blackbird chromite deposits. One hole intersected 21.

The Vale Inco Living with Lakes Centre at Laurentian has received $5.2 million from Industry Canada's Knowledge Infrastructure Program.

International representatives from academia and the mining industry swung through Sudbury from May 19-21 for updates and demonstrations of the Planning and Rapid Integrated Mine Optimization (PRIMO) research project.