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Canada Mining – North of 60

Canadian miner Nevsun Resources settles with African workers over case alleging human-rights abuses – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 29, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian base-metals miner Nevsun Resources Ltd. has reached a settlement with a trio of Eritrean workers who had sued the company for alleged human-rights abuses during the construction of a mine in the African country.

The development comes in the wake of a Supreme Court of Canada ruling earlier this year that Nevsun could be sued in Canada for alleged infractions abroad – a landmark decision that broadened liability for all Canadian corporations with international operations.

“This settlement speaks to the incredible courage of the mine workers who came forward with their horrific experiences,” Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada, said in a release.

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OPINION: The case for greater federal investments in northern mining infrastructure – by Brendan Marshall (Nunatsiaq News – October 23, 2020)

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Brendan Marshall is the vice-president for economic and northern affairs for the Mining Association of Canada.

The old expression “If it isn’t grown, it’s mined,” is taking on new meaning as the supply of minerals and metals critical to 21st century products takes on geopolitical importance.

As demand for mined materials continues to grow, there is increasing focus on what are referred to as “critical minerals”—vital in aerospace, defence, telecommunications, computing, and an array of clean and medical technologies such as solar panels, electric car batteries, ventilators and rapid testing kits.

Canada can play a larger role in this market, particularly given our leadership in sustainable mining practices and high environmental standards, and this opportunity is particularly relevant to mining in the North.

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Misgoverning the Canadian Arctic – by Sergiy Slipchenko (Excalibur – October 24, 2020)

https://excal.on.ca/

York University’s Community Newspaper

The Canadian Arctic region has been often overlooked by the federal government in favour of more populated provinces, despite the importance and potential it holds. In 2020, a year where the COVID-19 pandemic has taken precedence over every other issue, this is more true than ever.

The Canadian North has often been put aside in the national agenda despite making up 40 per cent of Canada and is home to more than 100,000 residents. While the federal government has done extensive extraction of raw materials in Northern Canada, it is far behind when it comes to developing communities, infrastructure, and defence in the region.

Professor Gabrielle A. Slowey, a political science professor at York, neatly summarized Canada’s ventures in the north.

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Mountain Province’s diamond output up despite virus disruptions – by Cecillia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 16, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Mountain Province Diamonds (TSX: MPVD), which holds a 49% stake in the remote Gahcho Kué mine, saw production at the operation jump by 30% during the third quarter from the previous three months as crews adjust to covid-19 protocols.

The company churned out a total of 9.88 million tonnes of ore and waste material in the three months to Sep. 30, compared to the 6.84 million tonnes mined during the second quarter of the year.

The figure, however, is about 16% lower than the 11.7 million tonnes the Northwest Territories diamond mine produced in the same period last year.

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Ottawa orders security review of Chinese state-owned Shandong’s bid for Canadian miner TMAC Resources – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 16, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ottawa is ordering a formal national security review of state-owned Chinese miner Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd.’s proposed acquisition of TMAC Resources Inc., injecting more uncertainty into a deal that had already generated a national debate about sovereignty in Canada’s Far North.

In May, Shandong proposed an all-cash acquisition of TMAC for $1.75 a share, valuing the Toronto-based junior gold miner at $207.4-million, or about 4 per cent more than its market price at the time. Shareholders of TMAC voted overwhelmingly in favour of the deal in June and it received regulatory approval in China.

The enhanced security review by the federal government, which comes at a time of increased tension between China and Canada, raises doubts about whether the transaction will be successful, and at the very least pushes out the timeline for it to close to the first quarter of next year.

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Slave Geological Province Corridor to go ahead after First Nation leaders pull brakes over summer (CBC News North – October 14, 2020)

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

The government of the Northwest Territories and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation have “reset” their relationship and have agreed to move forward with the $1.1-billion Slave Geological Province Corridor project.

The project in part would see a 413-kilometre, two-lane, all-season road built between mineral-rich areas northeast of Yellowknife and western Nunavut.

The idea is to create new economic opportunities that benefit both territories. The road would connect Nunavut to Canada’s highway system and link up to a potential deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean.

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Environmental, human rights questions shadow Hope Bay mine sale – by Derek Neary (Nunavut News – October 13, 2020)

https://nunavutnews.com/

TMAC Resources negotiated a mineral exploration agreement with land claims organization Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and a series of deals with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA), including a 20-year Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement in 2015.

“All those agreements will stay in place” if Shandong Gold Mining buys out TMAC Resources, said Alex Buchan, TMAC’s vice-president of corporate social responsibility.

Asked whether the change in ownership at the Kitikmeot’s Hope Bay gold mine would open the door to renegotiating the KIA’s agreements as the Qikiqtani Inuit Association did in 2018 with Baffinland Iron Mines and again earlier this year with an Inuit Certainty Agreement – commanding a rising royalty rate, more jobs and training and even daycare provisions for workers’ children – Buchan tapped the brakes on such an idea.

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Baffinland plans further expansion at Nunavut’s Mary River: report – by Jim Bell (Nunatsiaq News – October 14, 2020)

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. is likely planning a further expansion of its Mary River iron mine that would see iron ore shipments through its Milne Inlet port increase to 18 million tonnes a year.

That information is contained in a credit report on Baffinland, prepared by Moody’s Investors Service, dated June 2020 and obtained by Nunatsiaq News.

“Baffinland plans to expand the Mary River mine to a capacity of 18 Mtpa [18 million metric tons, or tonnes],” says the report, which repeatedly refers to a “Phase 3” expansion.

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Dominion Diamonds says the proposed sale of Ekati is off (CBC News North – October 9, 2020)

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

The owner of the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories says the proposed $166 million dollar sale of the mine to affiliates of the Washington Companies is off.

In a press release Friday Dominion Diamonds said it had stopped negotiations around the proposed sale of certain Dominion assets, including the Ekati mine.

In the press release Dominion said it has been advised that surety bond users and the purchaser reached an “impasse in negotiations” with no reasonable chance of reaching an agreement that is satisfactory to all parties before the deal was set to go before the courts for approval on Oct. 14.

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Diamonds found with gold in Canada’s Far North offer clues to Earth’s early history – by Michael Brown (Folio.ca – October 6, 2020)

https://www.folio.ca/

The presence of diamonds in an outcrop atop an unrealized gold deposit in Canada’s Far North mirrors the association found above the world’s richest gold mine, according to University of Alberta research that fills in blanks about the thermal conditions of Earth’s crust three billion years ago.

“The diamonds we have found so far are small and not economic, but they occur in ancient sediments that are an exact analog of the world’s biggest gold deposit—the Witwatersrand Goldfields of South Africa, which has produced more than 40 per cent of the gold ever mined on Earth,” said Graham Pearson, researcher in the Faculty of Science and Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Arctic Resources.

“Diamonds and gold are very strange bedfellows. They hardly ever appear in the same rock, so this new find may help to sweeten the attractiveness of the original gold discovery if we can find more diamonds.”

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More jobs, greater royalty payments attached to Hope Bay sale, company reps say – by Derek Neary (Nunavut News – October 5, 2020)

https://nunavutnews.com/

TMAC Resources is promoting the long-term advantages of selling its assets, including the Hope Bay gold mine, to China’s Shandong Gold Mining amid the unpredictability of Covid-19 and uncertainty over the federal government and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association’s stance on the pending transaction.

Several mine workers at Hope Bay tested positive for the coronavirus in late September and the company subsequently imposed a temporary travel embargo.

TMAC shareholders approved the $149 million (U.S.) sale to Shandong in June, but the Government of Canada still must decide whether a national security review is required.

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COVID-19 cases at Nunavut’s Hope Bay mine cast shadow on proposed sale to Shandong Gold – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – September 29, 2020)

https://nunatsiaq.com/

New coronavirus cases scuttle plans for joint site visit

Travel in and out of the Hope Bay gold mine in western Nunavut has halted, following nine new confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the site, says Jason Neal, president and CEO of TMAC Resources Inc.

Today there was to be a crew rotation of 130 workers out of the mine site to Yellowknife and Edmonton, and the arrival of 130 new workers to take their place.

The freeze on travel to the site has also prevented a visit by executives from TMAC and Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd., which is seeking to buy TMAC and its Hope Bay mine.

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Nunavut government may support TMAC-SD Gold sale, but with conditions – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – September 23, 2020)

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Nunavut wants to see commitment to respect previous agreements with Inuit

The Nunavut government has made a submission to federal reviewers now looking at the proposed sale of TMAC Resources Inc. to the Chinese-owned Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd.

But, speaking on Tuesday in the Nunavut legislature, Economic Development Minister David Akeeagok would not say whether the Government of Nunavut supported the proposed sale in its submission to the federal reviewers.

In response to questions from Gjoa Haven MLA Tony Akoak, he said he did not want to comment more because the federal government is still in the middle of its review process.

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Chinese gold miner’s Arctic ambitions face chill in Canada – by SHUJI NAKAYAMA and SHUNSUKE TABETA (Nikkei Asian Review – September 17, 2020)

https://asia.nikkei.com/

NEW YORK/BEIJING — As global competition for the Arctic’s rich resources grows, the proposed acquisition of a Canadian mining company by China’s Shandong Gold Group has emerged as a flashpoint in the countries’ deteriorating ties.

“We plan to become one of the world’s top five producers of gold by 2025,” Shandong Gold Chairman Chen Yumin said in August as he signed a strategic partnership with Bank of China. The deal provided the mining giant with a 30 billion yuan ($4.44 billion) credit line to help finance overseas acquisitions.

The state-owned miner supervised by Shandong Province has ties with the Chinese Communist Party dating to the Japanese occupation. It operates a large gold mine in Shandong and became China’s top producer of the metal in 2017.

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Igloolik leaders say Inuit face barriers in Nunavut mine environmental review – by Beth Brown (CBC News North – September 15, 2020)

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

A day and a half into meetings on a proposed expansion at Mary River Mine in Nunavut, community participants say they face barriers that limit the full participation of Inuit.

“Every intervener in this process has lawyers and advisers. We were the only ones that are lacking,” said Igloolik mayor Merlyn Recinos, adding that federal funding given to communities to help them hire specialists isn’t enough.

In response to Recinos, a representative from Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) said that applications from communities were not “robust” enough to justify the amount of participant funding they requested from the Treasury Board of Canada.

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