Closing Canada’s back door: Strategies to control our Arctic critical minerals – by Stephen Van Dine (MacDonald Laurier Institute – February 28, 2024)

Home

Stephen Van Dine writes that Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy not only fails to secure investment but also leaves Canada’s Arctic exposed to security risks.

Chinese balloons, ocean buoys, and ships of all shapes and sizes are navigating through our Arctic waters and over our lands. In response, the coast guards and militaries from both Canada and the United States are increasing their detection and response capability against China’s probes into North America. That response includes scrambling fighter jets to shoot down suspected Chinese spy balloons as was done in February 2023 over Yukon.

Today, there is another kind of Chinese incursion in the Canadian Arctic. This incursion is much less visible than balloons or buoys, and is something that the conventional military is ill-equipped to confront: the acquisition of junior mining companies.

Read more

First Nation warns of ‘ecocide’ as spring melt poses risk to tailings pond at Yukon mine site – by Julien Gignac (CBC News North – February 16, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Calling it an impending crisis, the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation says problems have been in plain sight

The Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation is warning spring melt could cause the tailings dam at the abandoned Mount Nansen mine in central Yukon to overflow or breach, and send a toxic slurry into the environment. The company managing the site, however, says a dam breach is unlikely — though it could be at risk of overflowing.

Little Salmon Carmacks Chief Nicole Tom calls it an emergency, and compared it to the 2014 Mount Polley mine disaster in B.C. that saw roughly 25 million cubic metres of water and tailings effluent flow into surrounding waterways. It was the largest tailings spill in Canadian history.

Read more

New mine at N.W.T.’s Pine Point still 6 years away, company says – by Carla Ulrich (CBC News North – February 9, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

It’s been almost 4 decades since the former mine at Pine Point was abandoned

There could be a new Pine Point mine operating in the N.W.T. in about six years, according to the company behind the project — and many South Slave residents are looking forward to it. There hasn’t been an operational lead and zinc mine at Pine Point in almost four decades when the former mine and neighbouring community closed down and were abandoned.

The site, located between Hay River and Fort Resolution., N.W.T., is currently in the development phase. Last winter, Osisko Metals completed a five-year drilling program on site to determine the mineral resources.

Read more

City of Whitehorse mulls mineral mining ban within municipal limits – by Katie Todd (CBC News North – February 6, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Council to debate 2 options next week: prohibit altogether, or require public input

The City of Whitehorse is considering a ban on mineral mining within city limits. The city is looking at proposed changes to its zoning bylaw, as well as the official community plan (OCP), to protect groundwater and reduce disturbance for residents.

One option is rewording both pieces of policy to prohibit mineral exploration and extraction within the entire city. Under current legislation, companies can’t stake new mining claims across most of Whitehorse. But the city’s planning services manager, Peter Duke, said there’s 72 historic claims, kept in good standing, that the city could issue a permit for.

Read more

White Cliff receives licence approval for Nunavut project – by Jane Bentham (Global Mining Review – January 30, 2024)

https://www.globalminingreview.com/

White Cliff Minerals Limited has announced that it has received a positive conformity determination for its licences from the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) for the high-grade Coppermine project.

This critical regulatory approval marks a major step in the permitting process and allows the company to now appoint contractors for 2024 exploration initiatives and complete the logistical planning phase. This approval also ensures that any proposed activities align with regulatory expectations and underscores White Cliffs’ demonstrable commitment to responsible resource development with local, territorial, and federal stakeholders.

Read more

Ukraine’s victory is a bulwark for Canada and NATO against future Russian aggression – by Marcus Kolga (Toronto Star – January 31, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Canada’s economy is larger than Russia’s and combined with our G7 allies, we have the resources to stand up to Putin’s petulant transnational bullying.

As we approach the third year of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the stakes for the security of Canada and our allies has never been higher. Ukraine’s victory is not just a moral imperative: it will prevent Vladimir Putin from expanding his current conflict beyond Ukraine.

In recent weeks, high-ranking allied military officials have sounded alarms about a looming military confrontation with Russia.

Read more

The fatal plane crash in the Northwest Territories this week was rare – but the journey to remote mines is always perilous – by Mike Hager, Niall McGee and Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – January 27, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

After a few months or years of working rotating shifts at the Diavik Diamond Mine, flying to the site can become routine.

Employees file into a twin-propeller plane, exchange small talk with the crew and then tend to put their earbuds in and try to catch some shut-eye before their shifts, says Sean Farmer, a pilot who until recently worked with Northwestern Air Lease Ltd. Mr. Farmer flew all over the North, including twice-monthly flights between Fort Smith, NWT, and the Diavik mine, about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.

Read more

FIRST READING: Canada signs over an area the size of Western Europe to Inuit control – Tristin Hopper (National Post – January 25, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

In ‘largest land transfer in Canadian history,’ Nunavut to now control oil, gas and mineral rights across two million square kilometres

Ottawa has just inked an agreement that constitutes the biggest land transfer in Canadian history — while ranking as one of the largest-ever examples of a government effectively returning territory to Indigenous control.

The Nunavut Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement has gone mostly unnoticed outside the Arctic. But the 239-page agreement — signed last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — takes roughly two million square kilometres of Crown land previously under federal control and transfers it to the Government of Nunavut.

Read more

Multiple fatalities reported in crash of plane carrying Rio Tinto mine workers – by Mike Hager and Xiao Xu (Globe and Mail – January 24, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A plane carrying workers to a Rio Tinto diamond mine in the Northwest Territories has crashed just above the border with Alberta, killing multiple passengers.

A spokesman for the multinational company did not say how many miners have died in the Tuesday morning crash but confirmed late that evening “a number of our people” were on a flight to the Diavik mine when it came down near the town of Fort Smith, where local authorities prepared the hospital to receive multiple wounded patients.

Read more

Nunavut premier full of hope as deal with Ottawa is signed – by Stepanie Taylor (Globe and Mail – January 19, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

As a child growing up in Canada’s northernmost community, P.J. Akeeagok wanted to be a water truck driver. In Grise Fiord, a community on Nunavut’s Ellesmere Island where just 145 people live as of the 2021 census, the water truck driver served as a role model who delivered an essential public service.

Mr. Akeeagok’s public-service instincts led him in a different direction: The 39-year-old is now the country’s youngest Premier, leading the federation’s youngest territory. And on Thursday, he inked his name to an agreement with the federal government that he hopes will open up more opportunities for coming generations.

Read more

Nunavut is about to sign a devolution deal. Here’s how it worked in the Yukon and N.W.T. – by Liny Lamberink (CBC News North – January 17, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Devolution — transferring responsibilities for land and resources — is unique to each Canadian territory

A final devolution agreement, transferring responsibilities for Crown land and natural resources from the federal government to the Nunavut government, is being signed in Iqaluit Thursday afternoon. The details of the milestone agreement aren’t being made public until the document is signed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

But there are some things we already know. The federal government has gradually transferred responsibility for things like health, education, social services, housing and airports to the three territories since the 1960s. Devolving the responsibility for land and resources in Nunavut, currently held by the federal Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, is the next step.

Read more

Burgundy enters Canadian diamond scene – by A.J. Roan (North of 60 Mining News – January 18, 2024)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Precious stone mines saw some shuffling in Canada’s North with Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd.’s acquisition of the Ekati diamond mine.

Already a 40% partner with North Arrow Minerals Inc. at the Naujaat diamond project in Nunavut, Burgundy closed its buyout of Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd. on July 4, which gave the Australian diamond company full ownership of the world-class Ekati Mine and significantly elevating its efforts to deliver high-end cut and polished diamonds mined in Canada’s Arctic to global markets.

Read more

Bigger Storm Copper brewing in Nunavut – by Shane Lasley North of 60 Mining News – January 18, 2024)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

It is hard to decide what to get more excited about at American West Metals Ltd.’s Storm Copper project in Nunavut – the abundance of near surface high-grade copper mineralization with the potential to be upgraded to a direct shipping ore, or the much larger yet still high-grade sediment-hosted copper orebody being unveiled under the zones being outlined on the surface.

Together, these zones on the Storm Copper project on Somerset Island in Canada’s Arctic offer a potential supply of the copper being demanded by a world transitioning to clean energy.

Read more

First Nation ‘encouraged’ by Yukon court ruling on flawed consultations over mine project (CBC News North – January 10, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Ross River Dena Council asked for judicial review of 2022 approval of Kudz Ze Kayah mine project

A Yukon Supreme Court decision about flawed consultations over a contentious mine project in Kaska traditional territory is being welcomed by First Nations, environmentalists, and the mining company involved.

In a ruling issued last week, Justice Suzanne Duncan found that the Crown largely met its duty to consult First Nations throughout the environmental assessment of the proposed Kudz Ze Kayah mine in southeast Yukon. However, she also found that the Crown failed to give proper consideration to a final, 48-page submission from the First Nations before giving the mine the green light.

Read more

Court hands partial victory to First Nations who say they weren’t properly consulted over Yukon mine project – by (CBC News – January 5, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/

Supreme Court finds the Crown did reasonably consult with Kaska, ‘in all respects but one’

A Yukon judge has handed a partial victory to First Nations who said they weren’t adequately consulted over a proposed mine project in Kaska territory in southeast Yukon.

But the court also found that the federal and territorial governments largely met their duty to consult throughout the environmental assessment process.

Read more