Socio-Economic Impact Study Underway

Oskisko Mining has started looking at the impacts its proposed open-pit gold mine near Atikokan might have on existing services in the district.

The company projects up to two-thousand employees in the construction phase and five hundred in the mill.

Mark Bowler, a senior advisory, says a socio-economic impact study will identify potential challenges.

Bowler says having enough trained staff might be one of the early challenges.

Boise in Good Shape

There's some good news emerging from Boise's mill in International Falls.

Mill manager Bert Brown says the mill's is extremely stable, but still needs to work on getting costs down without the need for layoffs and production shutdowns.

Brown says the mill is also focused on improving safety with a goal of being incident free.

Chamber Elects Officers

The Fort France Chamber of Commerce has its slate of officers for the next year.

Mark Caron, of M.L. Caron Electric returns as President.

Caron says improving on the next year's Home and Leisure Show will be one of the main objectives for the Chamber.

Social Media Promoted to Businesss

Businesses in the Rainy River district are being encouraged to use social media more to attract customers.

Melissa Schenk of MS2 Productions says with a good on-line identify sites such as Facebook and Twitter can help businesses owners become remembered..

Schenk is in the Fort Frances this week to hold workshops.

Feds Blasted over Attawapiskat Stance

Some aboriginal leaders are blasting the Harper government for putting the Attawapiskat First Nation under third party management.

The Chiefs of Ontario say the government is not showing respect and support for residents of the northern Ontario reserve.

The government wants an accounting of the 90 million dollars it gave to Attawapiskat over the past five years.

Cell Phone Bill Goes to Committee

A bill designed to reduce sticker shock when Ontarians open their cellphone bills has passed second reading in the legislature.

The Liberal private member's bill would make the cost of using a cellphone more transparent, and clarify contracts so that customers know what they're paying for.

It now goes to committee for study.

Green Energy Change Shot Down

A proposal to restore the ability of municipalities to oppose green energy projects has been killed at Queen's Park.

The Liberals and NDP voted against the Conservative private member's bill to give municipalities more say over new wind and solar projects.