Monday, July 13, 2009

Pacific Iron Ore Shoal Lake

Pacific Iron Ore has received the results from a study on its Seperation property in Northwestern Ontario.

The Separation Property consists of 21 unpatented mining claims and one mining lease.

The property is 70 kilometres north of Kenora and is located within the traditional land use area of the Whitedog First Nation.

The area has a history of precious metals exploration with work focusing on uranium and iron ore potential.

The company plans to complete its preliminary work and then seek a joint venture with the First Nation to further develop the property.

Fort Frances Abitibi

Abitibi Bowater dusted off the idled number 6 paper machine at its Fort Frances mill.

The paper machine was restarted so that tests could be run to see if the machine could be used to produce different types of paper.

If the machine can be used to make different products, the Fort Frances operation will be more viable down the road.

Mill Manager John Harrison says they're testing to see how heavy they can make the sheet of paper.

After this week, the #6 paper machine will be shut down again due to the continuing market conditions.

Everton Resources in Kenora

There's a new mining company setting up shop in the Kenora area.

Everton Resources has tentatively agreed to acquire all of Hays Lake Gold.

The Ottawa based company has options to acquire land in the Shoal Lake region.

The Shoal Lake area contains two identified gold deposits.

The deal between the two mining companies means Everton will exchange its shares for Hays Lake Gold equity under an agreed-upon formula.

Water Levels

Outflow from the Norman Dam into the Winnipeg River has been reduced once again.

The Lake of the Woods Control Board says it cutback outlfow to 850cubic meters per second yesterday, down from 1000 cubic meters.

As a result of the reduction, water levels on the Winnipeg River arestarting to drop.

The river is down about two feet below the dam and is expected to dropanother two feet in the
next week or so.

Lake of the Woods also has seen a drop in water levels, with the lakedown about four inches over the last seven days.

H1N1 Update

Northwestern Ontario is still considered one of the busiest regionsfor the H1N1 virus in the province.

The Ministry of Health updated statistics on the swine flu outbreakFriday afternoon and of the 175 new cases, 11 were located in the Northwestern Health Unit's catchment area.

There are now 60 confirmed H1n1 cases in the region, but all are considered mild

Hunting Fine

An Oshawa man faces a two thousand dollar fine for illegally huntingin northwestern Ontario.

The MNR says a calf moose had been killed along a logging road eastof Ear Falls this past fall.

A conservation officer encounted a hunting party in the area andafter a lenghthy investigation, it was determined the moose hadbeen shot while one of the hunters was standing in the road near an intersection.

Rodolfo Kovic has been fined 15 hundred dollars for careless huntingand 500 dollars for providing a false statement to a conservation officer.

Gravelle on new Ministry

The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines is getting ready totake over responsibility for some forestry issues later this year.

The premier announced the change last month, which will see forestrymove out the Ministry of Natural Resoures.

Michael Gravelle heads up Northern Development and says his ministrywill basically take over economic development issues surrounding forestry.

Gravelle suggests the MNR will still handle the regulatory aspects offorestry, such as issuing harvesting licences.

Osnaburgh First Nation

Another first nation community in northwestern Ontario is gettingfunding from the provincial government for a new community center.

New Osnaburgh, which is located south of Pickle Lake, will be gettinga million dollars from the
Northern Ontario Heritage Fund to build thefacility.

The community center will include a fitness room, a gymnasium,locker rooms, washrooms, meeting rooms, a kitchen as well asan office.

The community says the center will serve as a local gathering placefor both the young and old.

Fire Situation Update

The Kenora District has seen a couple of new forest fires over thepast couple of days.

The Ministry of Natural Resources says one of the blazes was locatedon an island near Sunset Channel on Lake of the Woods north of the Aulneau Peninsula.

Its believed the fire was human-caused, and the MNR is currently investigating.

Fire ranger crews are not actively battling the blaze, and instead willmonitor it for the time being.

Rafferty on Conservatives

Thunder Bay-Rainy River M-P John Rafferty is questioning the fairness of the infrastructure funding being handed out across the country.

Millions of dollars have been handed out to communities over the past several weeks.

But Rafferty says there's an impression Conservative ridings received far more money than areas being represented by other political parties.

Rafferty says the party is currently looking at the announcements to determine if these has been any bias.

Boil Water Advisory Lifted Again

Kenora residents can breathe a sigh of relief; Its finally safe to drink the tapwater in your home.

The Northwestern Health Unit has lifted the boil water advisory inthe City of Kenora, which had been in place since Thursday.

The boil water advisory was lifted on Sunday after the health unit determined there was no bacterial presence in the city's water supply.

The drinking water ban went into place after a second power bump resulted problems at the city's water treatment plant in Lakeside.

Missing Man found

The search for a missing man in northwestern Ontario is over.

Emergency response teams have found a man who was picked up by atornado that swept through a hunting and fishing resort in Ear Fallson Thursday.

Dennis Kinkaid of Ponca City, Oklahoma, was with two friends atthe Fisherman's Cove Resort in Ear Falls when the cabin the men werein was ripped from its foundation.

The cabin was tossed into the lake almost a kilometre away.

The bodies of Bernie Jackson and Stan Hollis, also from PoncaCity, were pulled from the water Friday.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada has classified last week's storm that lifted 2-cabins into a lake as an F-2 tornado.

Meteorologist Geoff Coulson says wind speeds reached upwards of 240 kilometres an hour during Thursday's tornado at Fisherman's Cove Resort.