Michael Atkins, president of Laurentian Media Group, announced the launch of a new international mining publication for the City of Greater Sudbury and surrounding areas. Six months in planning, the new publication - Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal - will be part of the Greater Sudbury Development Corp.’s (GSDC) mining cluster strategy.
With an initial press run of 5,000, the publication will be an international calling card for Sudbury’s mining products, services and research capacity.
The publication, a unit of Northern Ontario Business Ltd., has been developing its editorial mandate with a top team of editorial board advisors led by Laurentian University economics professor David Robinson.
The editorial advisory board includes: Robinson, Dennis Shannon, manager, mines and training, Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT); John Hood, dean, school of science, skills and technology, Cambrian College; David Pearson, professor of earth sciences, Laurentian University; Rachel Prudhomme, dean, technology, trades and business, Collège Boréal, Dick DeStefano, executive director of the Sudbury and Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA); and Greg Baiden, director, school of engineering, Laurentian University.
Norm Tollinsky, a past editor of both Northern Ontario Business and Northern Life, has been hired to edit the quarterly magazine, which will publish its first issue in March 2004.
The idea for the publication came about through discussions between Robinson (a regular columnist with Northern Ontario Business), Atkins and Laurentian Media Group staff nearly a year ago. The idea was to promote Sudbury’s fantastic mining skill sets to the country and to the world and broaden Sudbury’s reputation for nickel mining into an all-encompassing reputation for providing mining solutions globally.
A companion Web site, www.sudburyminingsolutions.com, to be launched at the same time as the magazine, will serve as a valuable source of information for the mining community.
According to Tollinsky, “the experience and expertise of the people who make up the Sudbury and area mining cluster will provide us with a wealth of stories to share with the international mining community. Everybody in the international mining community already knows about our reputation. This publication will greatly expand their knowledge of our capabilities.”
DeStefano said, “This is just what we need. We are in the process of organizing Sudbury suppliers and manufacturers into a powerful trade organization and this magazine is going to tell our story. It is tangible evidence of our power and will be a tool for many of our members in the region (which stretches from Timmins to North Bay and throughout Northern Ontario), who are already doing a lot of international business.”
“Our job is to help nurture the growth of Sudbury’s mining cluster,” said John Caruso, chairman of the board of directors of the GSDC, “and this publication will go a long way toward accomplishing that. We look forward to working with Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal in the future to help promote our business around the country and around the world.”
“The key for us,” said Patricia Mills, publisher of Northern Ontario Business, “will be to capture the excitement and competence of our people. Not everyone is aware of our international mining solution skills and this trade publication will tell that story.”
Laurentian Media, which was founded in Sudbury nearly 30 years ago, and currently publishes, Northern Life, Northern Ontario Business, and the Parry Sound North Star in Northern Ontario, is also in the trade and consumer magazine business in Toronto with such titles as Computerworld Canada, CIO Canada and SCOREGolf Magazine.
For more information, or to submit a story idea, call 705-673-5667 and ask for Norm Tollinsky (ntollinsky@sudburyminingsolutions.com), or for advertising information ask for Patricia Mills (pmills@nob.on.ca).
