The NorMan Regional Parent Child Coalition (NRPCC) celebrated its new Flin Flon headquarters on Tuesday.
The grand opening at 78 Main Street (formerly Sturley’s) drew program staff, partners, parents and children for complimentary chili and bannock.
“Having their own space gives a home base where parents can come,” said Lisa Murdock of Healthy Child Manitoba Office in Winnipeg, which funds the NRPCC.
NRPCC works to promote healthy outcomes for children and families with a range of free programs, workshops and services focusing on kids up to the age of six.
Union displeased
Hudbay’s holiday pay policy is the latest bone of contention for striking members of IAM Local 1848.
IAM said Wednesday many members have asked Hudbay to pay out outstanding holidays to provide “some financial relief” since $150 a week in strike pay is “barely enough to survive.”
The union said it was told employees must maintain at least 80 hours of banked holidays.
“Some of our members haven’t even acquired 80 hours of holiday time yet,” IAM wrote on its website. “They aren’t entitled to any of it?”
IAM’s strike entered its 49th day today. The union has 180 members, consisting mostly of mechanics, machinists and pipefitters.
Charitable challenge
This means war – tug of war, that is.
The Flin Flon RCMP have challenged the Flin Flon Fire Department to a Canada Day tug of war in support of two local charities.
The public is welcome to attend as 10 police officers take on 10 firefighters in front of the fire hall on Wednesday, July 1 at 1 pm.
The victorious team will receive bragging rights, but the real winners will be the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank and the Women’s Resource Centre.
Both the RCMP and the fire department will make donations to those not-for-profit organizations. Spectators will also have the opportunity to add to the donation.
RCMP Sgt. Shayne Smith said he plans on challenging the fire department to a yearly tug of war, meaning more charities will benefit in the future – assuming, of course, the challenge is accepted!
New SPCA prez
The Flin Flon, Creighton and Area SPCA has a new president.
Erica Husberg, who had been a director on the SPCA board, took over the top position on Tuesday.
Husberg succeeds Debbie Hiebert, who stepped down as president but remains with the SPCA.
The SPCA is coming off a financially successful year, as the not-for-profit organization’s revenues exceeded the budget by nearly $13,000 in 2014.
At the group’s annual general meeting last month, treasurer Marg Bragg credited a near tripling of donations, the addition of the Fur Ball Social fundraiser and the collection of more adoption fees.
Drills turn
Callinex Mines announced this week it has received work permits for an upcoming second phase of drilling at its Pine Bay and Flin Flon projects near Flin Flon.
The Vancouver-based company plans to drill seven holes totalling at least 2,500 metres with the goal of discovering new volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralization rich in copper, zinc, gold and silver.
Callinex anticipates the drilling campaign will begin in July and be completed before the end of August.
The work permits are valid until March 31, 2016 and allow for up to 12 drilling locations over seven target areas, the company said.
The permits also allow for additional geophysical grids to be completed in select areas.
Callinex said it may seek to amend the permits to include additional drill locations or geophysical grids based on exploration results.
Better estimate
Alexandria Minerals Corp. has announced an updated guideline-compliant mineral resource estimate for its newly acquired Wim copper-gold property near Snow Lake.
Tonnage in the “indicated” category have increased 40 per cent while tonnage in the less reliable “inferred” category have gone up 64 per cent over estimates completed in 2008, Alexandria said.
“This is an excellent start for our involvement in this region,” Eric Owens, president and CEO of Alexandria, said in a news release issued last month. “These results show that Alexandria’s recent investment in these assets was a great transaction for its shareholders, and we look forward to seeing further growth on these properties.”
Indicated resources at Wim are now 3.90 million tonnes grading 1.71 per cent copper, 1.57 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 6.81 g/t silver and 0.26 per cent zinc, the company said.
Inferred resources are now 0.732 million tonnes grading 1.03 per cent copper, 1.76 g/t gold, 4.65 g/t silver and 0.37 per cent zinc, reports Alexandria.
About eight per cent of the resources consist of near-surface, pit-constrained resources that were not considered in the 2008 estimate, the company said, adding that these resources could potentially provide near-term cash flow in any future mining plan.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of information supplied by Alexandria.
Partial progress
A new report shows that while progress has been made in improving the socioeconomic status of Canada’s Aboriginals, there is much more work to be done.
The National Aboriginal Economic Development Board this week released The Aboriginal Economic Progress Report 2015, a 92-page document.
It showed that national median income for Aboriginals increased 24 per cent between 2005 and 2010 but was still 46 per cent lower than the non-Aboriginal median income.
The national employment rate for Aboriginals declined slightly from 53.7 per cent in 2006 to 52.1 per cent in 2011, the report found. During the same time period, non-Aboriginal employment dropped from 62.7 per cent to 61.2 per cent.
For Aboriginals living on reserve, the employment rate declined from 39 per cent in 2006 to 35.4 per cent in 2011, the report added.
The report put forth eight recommendations, many focusing on employment and job training.
The report was to be given to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister Bernard Valcourt on Wednesday, CBC reported.
