Matichuk wants meeting with minister

Matichuk wants meeting with minister
By CAROL MULLIGAN THE SUDBURY STAR
Posted 2 hours ago

Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk has asked for a meeting with Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid as soon as possible to discuss what the city -- and the province -- can do to lower hydroelectricity rates to be more competitive to business.
Matichuk called for the meeting after a report last week that Cliffs Natural Resources was looking at a site near Capreol as a possible location for a smelter to process chromite mined in the Ring of Fire.
Cleveland-based Cliffs' chromite project involves the largest known North American chromite deposit, about 350 kilometres north of Nakina and 200 kilometres west of Hearst in Northern Ontario.
Bill Boor, president of Cliffs' Ferroalloys division, said last week that hydro rates could be the stumbling block to locating a smelter to process the ore in Ontario.

Matichuk said Tuesday the city is looking into "what we can and what we can't do" in terms of reducing hydro rates to make it feasible for Cliffs to build a smelter on a brownfield site about 25 kilometres from Capreol near an old iron ore mine.
If high hydro rates are hindering growth in Northern Ontario, "then we need to address that," Matichuk said on Tuesday.
Matichuk said she intends to involve all of city council in working to bring Cliffs to Sudbury.
"This is a project we need to do as a group as far as what do we need to do to get these people to come here," said Matichuk.
"The reality is, if the hydro rates are too high, it may not come to fruition," said Matichuk of the smelter being built near Capreol.
"So, I'm not getting overly excited about it until we can get some kind of " commitment from the province about energy rates, said the mayor.
Cliffs has said the smelter it will build will require a great deal of electricity.

"It is an arc furnace, so we're talking huge amounts of electricity here," said Matichuk. "We're not talking like running a house."
She has begun asking questions about what the city can do about lowering its hydro rates for a company like Cliffs, "and how feasible that is because if you're talking huge amounts of power, we still pay for part of that power when we produce power.
"So you can't just (say): "OK, here you go.' "
Still, the city does have "some flexibility," but council needs to know what exactly that is.
"We're going to do whatever it takes; however, realizing that the simple fact is that, if the hydro rates are prohibitive, we may not get this and that's just the way it is," said Matichuk.
Some other Ontario cities, such as Thunder Bay, are said to have been identified by Cliffs as possible locations for its smelter.
But Matichuk said she can't see any other Ontario municipality having an advantage over Sudbury when it comes to hydro rates.
Duguid said the Liberal gove r n m e nt of Premier Dalton McGuinty has established the Industrial Conservation Initiative to help industry cope with high hydro rates.
That plan offers cuts in rates of up to 25%, depending upon time of use.
Matichuk is looking into "if 25% is going to cut it or are we talking 50% here?
That means we're going to put our government in a situation where it's not even practical for them."
Council is looking for the meeting as soon as it can be arranged, said Matichuk.
"We're on it. We're on it."