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Mind Blast showcases local mining industry

Mining industry’s contributions to North Bay 'immense'

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North Bay’s Wikipedia page needs a bit of an update.

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Marilyn Spink, a principal and independent adviser with the GS Group, says while the page talks about military, health and education, there’s nary a word about the mining industry in this community.

“North Bay is home to some globally respected companies such as Cementation and the Redpath Group,” Spink, the keynote speaker at the opening of Mining Week in North Bay, said Monday.

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Altogether, there are at least 67 companies in the city that cater to the mining industry, with members and equipment circling the globe, Spink says.

“Mining touches on everything,” she says. “It’s important to the world. I often used to say of mining that if you can’t grow it, it has to be mined.

“But if you want to grow it, if you want to feed the world, you need mining.”

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And while events such as Mining Week and Monday’s opening event – the Mind Blast Showcase – are “preaching to the choir . . . they also offer a valuable insight to the community as to the importance of the mining industry.

For one thing, mines cannot simply find a patch of green space, extract the resources and move on.

The industry needs lawyers, accountants, environmental engineers, biologists and a whole raft of other professions which will never go down into a mine.

It also needs to work with everyone affected by the mine’s operations, particularly First Nations communities.

“The years of coming in, taking all the valuable minerals out and leaving again are long gone,” Spink says. “We need to mine responsibly.”

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And, she says, the mining companies have taken that message to heart over the years.

The Mining Week activity Monday was hosted by the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy – Northern Gateway Branch, and Canadore College at its Commerce Court Campus.

The ways mining has changed over the years was evident at the various booths, from Cementation to the GS Group, including Safesight Exploration.

That company uses drones to fly through the adits, stopes and drifts in an underground mine to produce 3-D maps to help mining companies decide future operations.

An adit is a horizontal tunnel leading into a mine’s workings. A stope is an excavation in the mine where miners extract the minerals from veins. A drift is a tunnel into the mine.

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Safesight is one of four companies offering drone services, and one of three currently operating in underground mines.

One of the greatest benefits of using drones, according to Lucas Tignanelli, is that “if it gets busted or a rock falls on the drone, there are no repercussions.”

They can also get into places where traditional methods of sending people in are not practical.

“We are able to scan places that were unthinkable before,” Tignanelli says.

North Bay’s Schauenburg Industries, which this year is marking its 50th year in the city, provides ventilation solutions which managing director Don Croteau says offers a “turnkey solution” to the issues facing an underground mine.

“Helping our clients breathe easier, one duct at a time,” is the company’s sales pitch.

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“You need ventilation for mining . . . and exhaust to get ride of the diesel fumes,” Croteau says.

In addition to working in mines, though, the company’s products have been and are being used in tunnelling operations in Toronto, such as for new subway lines.

It helps, he says, that the company’s founder chose a location that was within a few hours by road or rail.

“It’s a good, central location.”

The mining industry’s contributions to North Bay are “immense,” according to North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce president Peter Chirico.

“The number of companies and the number of engineers in North Bay (associated with the mining industry) contributes greatly to the economy and the business community,” he said.

He admits he can’t begin to estimate how many people work in the mining industry from North Bay, but says it’s “substantial.

“And those jobs are not just here. They reach every corner of the world,” he says.

“With those companies employing hundreds, thousands of people, the economic impact is great.”

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