Mining

When it comes to modern-day mining , the pickaxe and shovel are out and robots and technology are in.

Eyeing up the Batchawana area north of Sault Ste. Marie , Superior Copper Corp. has identified the former Coppercorp Mine as a promising area for exploration, not because of what's been found there, but because of what hasn't.

For Ashley Scott of Sudbury 's Laurentian University , old mines are untapped sources of green energy. The professor and chemical engineer has the research to back up his ideas.

By 8:30 a.m. on the day of his presentation to members of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA), Michael MacFarlane had already been up for four hours and worked for three.

As Felix Lopes Jr. looks to steer his family-run company into new, expanded markets, he's thinking on an Olympic-sized scale. And the recent completion of a major fabrication project has put him at the top of the podium. Lopes Mechanical Inc.

The suspense is over. Cliffs Natural Resources has announced it will build its $1.85-billion chromite processing facility, which will process chromite ore from its Ring of Fire project, near the town of Capreol, located north of Sudbury .

Develop the North, park the south. That was on a popular button making the rounds at the Northwestern Ontario Mines and Minerals Symposium in Thunder Bay last month.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Ontario's Ring of Fire is “tremendously important” to Canada's resource base and has the potential to create huge development opportunities for the region and First Nations.

Red Lake's loss may be Thunder Bay 's gain. Power distribution issues in one of Canada's historic mining districts may force a Vancouver mining company to ship iron ore concentrate – and potential processing jobs – to Thunder Bay.

First Nation chiefs don't plan to sit on the sidelines without having a major say in how Far North mineral development unfolds in their territories.