Around the North

Northern educators from Thunder Bay and Sudbury are this year's recipients of the Minister's Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Processing design improvements have resulted in higher recoveries of rare earth oxides, including neodymium, dysprosium and yttrium oxide, at Pele Mountain Resources' Eco Ridge Mine Rare Earths and Uranium Project in Elliot Lake.

Essar Steel Algoma has launched a $5-million Community Investment Fund, which will be used for corporate contributions to community charities, foundations and non-profit initiatives.

Revitalizing Thunder Bay is on the minds of the organizers of the city's inaugural TED conference in February. With a theme of Reinvention, the organizing committee of TEDxThunder Bay is searching for speakers to attend the Feb.

Resolute Forest Products (formerly AbitibiBowater) is scaling back paper production in Fort Frances while the company makes an acquisition move in Quebec.

Sioux Lookout intends to build a “blueprint for the future.” The northwestern Ontario municipality is putting together a strategic plan to guide the corporation over the next four years. A Nov.

The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce is adding five new directors for a three-year stint, starting Dec. 1.

Mining and mineral exploration is booming in Quebec with almost $3 billion invested in 2010. The province's Institut de la Statistique reported Nov. 22 that a record $2.92 billion was spent last year, up 43 per cent from 2009.

Peter Faggioni has been named general manager for Northern Ontario at TESC Integrated Construction Services. Faggioni took over the position as of Nov. 7, but will continue to serve as vice-president of business development.

A trio of Sault Ste. Marie businesses has been recognized for business excellence by Business Sault Ste. Marie, an offshoot of the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation.