Around the North

NEOnet and its regional partners are hosting a local innovation summit to provide specific input into Industry Canada's National Innovation Strategy.

With just weeks to go on the existing collective agreement, Falconbridge Kidd Creek workers in Timmins, CAW Local 599, will vote on a strike mandate Sept. 17 and 18.

Access to a competitive and innovative business environment is one of several themes to be discussed at the Northern Ontario Citizen Engagement Forum in Timmins in October.

The Kinross-Placer Dome Porcupine joint venture announced an aggressive $5.26-million diamond-drilling exploration program in their Timmins-Porcupine camp.

Fearing legal repercussions, Thunder Bay city council is back-peddling on its plans to retender a large water treatment plant contract.

The City of Greater Sudbury has established the legal framework that will allow them to move forward in the development of a wind farm. Late last week city councillors signed a deal with Toronto's Northland Power Inc. and Repower Wind Corp.

An official with the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital says that the construction of the city's new hospital and the announcement of the new medical school are already paying dividends.

North American Palladium announced an unscheduled temporary shutdown at its Lac des Iles palladium mine, 80 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay. The company says it has encountered operating disruptions with its primary ore crusher.

Home construction in the Sudbury market continued to sizzle in August, according to statistics released by the Canada Mortgage Housing Corp. The CMHC reported 34 new housing starts last month, more than double the units built during August 2001.

An eight-kilometre stretch of Municipal Road 35, which eventually becomes Highway 144, will receive $10 million worth of upgrades, jointly funded by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and the City of Greater Sudbury. Northland Engineering Ltd.