Canada Mining – North of 60 – Page 29

Mining will drive double-digit economic growth in Nunavut this year: report – by John Thompson (Nunatsiaq News – July 11, 2019)

July 11, 2019

Nunavut’s mining boom will help the territory see enviable economic growth for the foreseeable future, according to a new forecast by the Conference Board of Canada.

But the report’s authors don’t expect this growth to make a big dent in the territory’s unemployment rate, which currently stands at nearly 2.5 times the national average.

“Most of the new jobs created in Nunavut’s mining industry will, unfortunately, go to non-residents as companies are forced to bring in workers from other parts of Canada due to a lack of specific mining skills within the resident population and to the remoteness of the mine sites,” the report states.

Diamond Producers Association battles diamond mining misconceptions – by D’Arcy Jenish (Northern Miner – July 4, 2019)

July 4, 2019

Northern Miner

Jean-Marc Lieberherr readily concedes that the industry he represents and speaks for – global diamond mining – has an image problem. “There are so many misconceptions about diamond mining,” says Lieberherr, chief executive ofﬁcer of the Belgium-based Diamond Producers Association.

“Issues from the 1990s, like conflict diamonds that funded several African civil wars, are real scars in the history of the industry.” Much has changed within the industry over the past 20 years.

In 2003, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution establishing the Kimberley Process Certiﬁcation Scheme, which aimed at preventing conflict diamonds from entering the mainstream rough diamond market. And by July 2013, some 54 participants from 81 countries had endorsed the Kimberley Process.

EDITORIAL: Road to resources a northern priority (Yellowknifer – June 20, 2019)

June 21, 2019

https://nnsl.com/yellowknifer/

Diamond mines are the bloodstream for the NWT and Yellowknife, a source of economic vitality in the wake of the gold rush that birthed this city in the first place.

For most of the community’s history, the main reason people have come here has been to make a living off the rocks. The Earth’s many valuable ores have supported abundant mining jobs for generations.

And one miner’s job generates many others in this thriving town: schoolteachers, shopkeepers, doctors and nurses. But the mines, and the city and the jobs, are in trouble.

[Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.] Mining company marks Nunavut opening with $1-million donation (Nunatsiaq News – June 20, 2019)

June 21, 2019

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. celebrated the launch of its new Nunavut gold mine with a community feast and the gift of $1 million to two non-profit organizations.

The company’s Meliadine gold mine, located about 25 kilometres north of Rankin Inlet, started commercial production last month.

To mark the occasion, Agnico Eagle hosted an event at Rankin Inlet’s community hall on Wednesday, June 19, enticing residents with hot air balloon rides and a chance to hold a bar of gold.

Baffinland’s expanded shipping proposal raises concerns at Iqaluit meeting – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – June 19, 2019)

June 21, 2019

https://nunatsiaq.com/

To help protect the area’s fish, birds, marine mammals and people, Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. should meet a “gold standard” when shipping from its north Baffin iron mine, delegates said during the second day of the Nunavut Impact Review Board’s three-day technical meeting on the company’s $900-million proposal to expand its Mary River mine.

After sessions looking at the use of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and cumulative effects assessments on Monday, attention on Tuesday turned largely to ice-breaking and shipping.

Baffinland plans to ship out 12 million tonnes of ore annually, increasing that amount later to 30 million tonnes. Several of the Inuit representatives around the table in Iqaluit’s Cadet Hall told how Baffinland’s shipping is already having an impact.

[Yellowknife NWT] A Giant’s Legacy: A look at cleanup plans for one of Canada’s most notorious abandoned mine sites (Canadian Mining Journal – June 1, 2019)

June 13, 2019

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The Giant mine, located just 5 km from the city centre of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, produced more than 7 million oz. of gold over its entire history, starting in the 1940s.

Through the ore roasting process, the mine also produced an enormous amount of highly toxic arsenic trioxide dust. When the owner of the mine went bankrupt in 1999, the cleanup of the site fell to the federal government.

If the project gets its water licence approved, full remediation could finally get under way in 2021 and be completed in 2030. CMJ spoke to Natalie Plato, deputy director for the Giant Mine Remediation Project in May about the site’s history and progress towards its remediation.

New discovery at Gahcho Kué mine could be good news for N.W.T., company bottom line – by Walter Strong (CBC News North – June 12, 2019)

June 13, 2019

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

The discovery of a new kimberlite pipe at the Gahcho Kué diamond mine could be good news for Mountain Province Diamonds and De Beers Canada, the co-owners of the mine, and for the Northwest Territories.

The diamond bearing, underground rock — named the Wilson kimberlite after Alice Evelyn Wilson, Canada’s first female geologist — is the first kimberlite discovery at Gahcho Kué in 20 years.

It is too soon to say if the new discovery will prove to be economically viable, but Mountain Province CEO Stuart Brown says drill sample results are promising.

Canada’s Northern mining future looks as glorious as our golden past – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – June 7, 2019)

June 7, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

Canada’s gold-mining spirit is still alive today, and doing extremely well in Nunavut

Around this time of year, half a century ago, 4,400 feet underground, as an apprentice miner I lugged heavy timbers around dark damp stopes to help tough-talking miners of every nationality drill for gold at the Kerr Addison mine in Virginiatown, 600 kilometres north of Toronto.

I got the job and “apprentice miner” title through the father of a girl I’d met — Claudia was her name — at school in Ottawa. As a native of east end Montreal, I had no idea that Canada was a gold-mining powerhouse.

Even today there is much to learn, including the fact that a few years before my summer job at the mine, Kerr Addison produced 500,000 ounces of gold a year — shipped by rail south to Montreal — and in 1962 it was the largest gold producer in the Western Hemisphere.

Agnico-Eagle may fly Mexican bullion to Canada to skirt Trump tariffs – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg/Financial Post – June 6, 2019)

June 7, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

The opportunities in Canada’s North are enormous, but the
country’s leaders need to have a conversation about how
committed they are to fund projects. … As global warming
makes the region more accessible, Canada would do well to
secure its sovereignty claims through its natural resources,
he said. “If we want to have a say on how the North develops,
and how the North is used and utilized, we’d better have a
presence there,” Boyd said. “And the best presence would be businesses.”

If push comes to shove, one of the world’s largest gold miners is prepared to do an end run around the U.S. should President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on Mexican goods bite.

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. currently produces about 300,000 ounces of gold in Mexico that it refines in the U.S., all of which would likely be subject to the proposed tariffs, Chief Executive Officer Sean Boyd said Wednesday. But he already knows how he’d respond to potential levies.

Agnico Eagle’s mine training program has its critics – by Avery Zingel (CBC News North – May 16, 2019)

May 16, 2019

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

A worker at Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank Mine in Nunavut says a training program designed to train Nunavummiut allows southern contractors to rise, while Inuit wait for training. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. operates the Meadowbank open-pit gold mine, north of Baker Lake and the Meliadine mine near Rankin Inlet.

CBC has agreed not to name the worker, who said he fears reprisal from the company. The man has been an employee with the company for over a decade, and said he has never been suspended.

The employee, who is not Inuit, said he is “fed up” with the treatment of his Inuit colleagues. The man said Inuit on his crew are overlooked for higher-paying positions and become frustrated when they are turned down for the training they need to advance.

Study indicates mine contamination not a big health issue for Yellowknifers – by Richard Gleeson (CBC News North – May 15, 2019)

May 15, 2019

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

The most comprehensive study undertaken on the concentration of mine contaminants in people living in the Yellowknife area shows contaminant levels similar to those found in Canadians generally.

“We don’t have any evidence or reason to be concerned about the immediate health effects that we see in other populations that have high levels, like India and Bangladesh,” said Dr. Laurie Chan, the University of Ottawa professor leading the study.

Researchers analyzed tongue swabs, toenail clippings and urine from 2,037 residents of Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah. They measured concentrations of arsenic, lead and cadmium. In adults, they found arsenic levels slightly lower than levels measured in Canadians generally. The levels in children were higher than in Canadian children generally, but not high enough to be a concern.

North: Sale of abandoned, contaminated mine site in Yukon gets go-ahead (CBC New North – May 7, 2019)

May 8, 2019

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

Yukon Supreme Court approves Alexco/JDS Group plan to purchase Mount Nansen mine site near Carmacks

A polluted mine site that was abandoned two decades ago and once called “an embarrassment to Canada” by a Yukon Supreme Court judge, may have a new owner to clean it up.

The federal government announced Monday that Alexco/JDS Group has been approved by the Yukon Supreme Court to purchase the Mount Nansen site near Carmacks, Yukon, and remediate the site within 10 years. The purchase price has not been made public.

The federal government would oversee and pay for the cleanup work, but Alexco/JDS will do the job and then own the site. It’s a similar arrangement to what the company has at Yukon’s Keno Hill district.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Canada’s claim to the Northwest Passage is ‘illegitimate’ – by Mike Blanchfield (Canadian Press/National Post – May 7, 2019)

May 7, 2019

https://nationalpost.com/

Pompeo’s statement is described as a ‘stunning rebuke’ of the 1988 Arctic Co-operation agreement reached by Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan

OTTAWA — Canada’s claim over the Northwest Passage is “illegitimate,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday in a major speech to the Arctic Council that Canadian experts called both provocative and frequently inaccurate.

Pompeo offered his characterization during a wide-ranging speech in Finland in which he also warned against China’s increased Arctic presence, saying it threatens North American security and could be harmful to the environment.

Pompeo reiterated long-held concerns about Russia’s military build-up in the Arctic and how that, too, is viewed as being counter to American security interests.

Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine mine set to start commercial production – by Jim Bell (Nunatsiaq News – May 1, 2019)

May 2, 2019

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Inuit orgs could rake in nearly half a billion from Agnico Eagle’s Kivalliq operations

Following the pouring of its first bar of gold last February, the Meliadine gold mine near Rankin Inlet will start commercial production this month, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. said last week in its financial statements for the first quarter of 2019.

The processing plant at Meliadine has already produced 17,582 “pre-commercial” ounces of gold. And by the end of this year, AEM hopes to produce about 230,000 ounces, the company said.

The long-awaited Meliadine mine, which cost more than $900 million in capital expenditures, is expected to require about 900 employees, at least 350 of whom will be Inuit. “Three underground mining areas are now in operation, with operations in a fourth area expected to commence in the second quarter of 2019,” the company said.