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Canada Mining – North of 60

NEWS RELEASE: NWT Diamond Mines Celebrate Milestones NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines – August 24, 2018)

http://www.miningnorth.com/

(Yellowknife, NT – August 24, 2018) The Northwest Territories (NWT) diamond mining industry celebrated two milestones this month, milestones gratefully acknowledged by northern government, Indigenous and industry leaders.

On August 9, Dominion Diamonds celebrated the 20th year of diamond mining at Ekati, the first diamond mine to have opened in Canada in 1998. An unexpected and initially unbelieved discovery of diamonds by geologists Chuck Fipke and Stu Blusson in 1991 proved that the ground they staked held significant deposits of jewellery grade diamonds.

In partnership with a major global mining corporation BHP-Billiton, they would see the new Ekati mine approved, constructed and producing high quality diamonds a short seven years later. The mine is owned and operated today by the Washington Group.

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The Unheralded Potential for Lithium Mining in the Northwest Territories (Investing News Network – August 21st, 2018)

Investing News Network

This Investing News Network article is sponsored by Equitorial Exploration TSXV:EXX

As the market for rechargeable batteries, electric cars and solar panels continues to expand, so does the market for one their instrumental materials: lithium.

As such, mining firms are searching the globe for economically viable lithium deposits to fulfill the burgeoning market deficiency and meet the explosive demand for the metal. Some companies are turning their efforts towards a jurisdiction historically associated with diamonds and gold, but with massive untapped potential for lithium extraction: the Northwest Territories (NWT).

The NWT’s latent potential for mineral production

Much of the history of mining in the NWT is in the southern region of the territory; the north remains one of the largest untapped mining areas in the entire world.

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NEWS RELEASE: Rio Tinto celebrates opening of new diamond pipe at Diavik (August 20, 2018)

http://www.riotinto.com/

YELLOWKNIFE, Aug. 20, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ – Rio Tinto today celebrated the opening of a fourth diamond pipe, known as A21, at the remote subarctic Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

The new open pit pipe will provide an important source of incremental supply over the next four years to sustain production levels at the Rio Tinto operated mine.

The Honourable Wally Schumann, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment with the Government of the Northwest Territories was guest of honour at the celebration attended by Indigenous community representatives, joint venture partners and Rio Tinto employees.

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Canada needs to focus on infrastructure in the North, Nunavut tells ministers’ conference – by Michelle Pucci (CBC News North – August 15, 2018)

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

Ministers responsible for energy and mining across Canada wrap up meetings in Iqaluit

Canada says it wants to increase mining and development in the North, as discussed at a conference in Iqaluit this week, but Nunavut is calling for better infrastructure to make it happen.

Ministers responsible for energy and mining from across the country met in Iqaluit for the Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference from Aug. 12 to 14.

Delegates from across Canada, except Ontario and Saskatchewan, came to an agreement that natural resources industries need to be more competitive globally while also considering environmental sustainability and ecosystems in the Arctic that are vulnerable to climate change.

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Yukon safe, possibly filled with treasure, unearthed in Gold Rush capital – by Tristin Hopper (National Post – August 15, 2018)

https://nationalpost.com/

A crew in Dawson City, Yukon, was digging what is delicately termed a “lifting station” — essentially, a pumping facility designed to move the community’s human waste from one place to another.

Until, an excavator struck something with a clang. “Two metres deep, they hit something hard and metallic,” said Mark Dauphinee, the town’s public works superintendent.

Digging up strange things is relatively common for Dawson City work crews. The community owes its existence to buried gold, of course, but the region is also home to a rich trove of Ice Age fossils. A uniquely pungent aroma wafting over a work site is often all that’s needed for crews to realize that they stumbled upon the long-buried carcass of a prehistoric horse.

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Agnico Eagle improves 2018 guidance, sees ‘enormous’ potential in Nunavut – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – July 26, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

Canadian gold major Agnico Eagle Mines has added 50 000 oz to its gold production guidance for 2018, after a strong operational performance from its mines during the June quarter.

The NYSE- and TSX-listed miner, which operates in Canada, Finland and Mexico, increased its guidance to 1.58-million ounces of gold, from 1.53-million previously estimated, after the second-quarter production came to 404 961 oz at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $921/oz.

The unit cost guidance for the full year remained unchanged, with total cash costs of between $625/oz and $675/oz and the AISC in a range of $890/oz to $940/oz.

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Industry upset by proposed changes to mining laws – by Palak Mangat (Whitehorse Daily Star – July 23, 2018)

http://www.whitehorsestar.com/

The territory is mulling amendments to the Quartz Mining Act that could allow First Nation governments greater control in who can enter into an area for staking, prospecting and mining purposes.

The possibility has raised some “alarm bells” with the Yukon Chamber of Mines. That’s according to Samson Hartland, the chamber’s executive director, who worries it could change the free-entry approach that the territory has long permitted.

Noting that a significant portion of his membership’s livelihoods depend on this, he told the Star today the amendments looks “like the potential erosion of that system as we know it.”

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Mining industry fears changes to legislation could end free entry staking in Yukon – by Nancy Thomson (CBC News Canada North – July 2, 2018)

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

Prospectors association worried changes to Quartz Mining Act will give rights exclusively to First Nations

The Yukon Prospectors Association and the Yukon Chamber of Mines fear that proposed amendments to the Quartz Mining Act will jeopardize “free entry” staking in the territory.

The Yukon Prospectors Association sent a letter to Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Ranj Pillai on July 18, revealing deep anxiety about the proposed changes.

In the letter obtained by the CBC, the association said the information it received from the government about the changes was vague, but that it believes the changes will give staking rights exclusively to First Nations, excluding everyone else. Currently, Yukon’s free entry system allows any prospector to enter onto public lands and explore for minerals.

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Agnico Eagle gets water licence for new Nunavut gold mine (Nunatsiaq News – July 18, 2018)

http://nunatsiaq.com/

Gold production at Whale Tail, near Baker Lake, set to start in fall of 2019

Agnico Eagle Mines can start construction at its Whale Tail gold deposit, following the federal government’s approval of its water licence on July 11. The green light comes following approval by the Nunavut Water Board.

Whale Tail is an open-pit gold deposit that’s part of the company’s Amaruq project. That’s a satellite deposit found 50 kilometres northwest of Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank mine, near the Kivalliq community of Baker Lake.

With a water licence now in hand, the company says it remains on schedule to begin production at Whale Tail next fall in 2019.

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INTERVIEW: Agnico’s Sean Boyd says Meliadine on track to produce in Q2 2019 – by Trish Saywell (Canadian Mining Journal – July 19, 2018)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Agnico Eagle Mines hosted a site visit in late June to its advanced-stage Meliadine gold project in Nunavut, which is expected to start production in the second quarter of 2019 — about three months sooner than initially planned.

Meliadine is Agnico’s largest gold deposit in terms of resources (3.1 million measured and indicated ounces and 2.7 million inferred ounces) and is expected to produce about 170,000 oz. gold in 2019 and about 385,000 oz. gold in 2020.

The high-grade project, 25 km from Rankin Inlet near the western shore of Hudson Bay, is part of a strategic operating platform that the gold miner is building in Nunavut, where its Meadowbank mine, 300 km west of Hudson Bay, is expected to produce 220,000 oz. gold this year, and where it is also developing Amaruq, a satellite deposit 50 km northwest of Meadowbank.

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Rejection of controversial project ‘a pretty hard blow,’ says Yukon miner (CBC News North – July 19, 2018)

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

Second application to mine claims near Judas Creek rejected for Yukon miner

Nicolai Goeppel said he’s ready to throw in the towel after his second attempt to operate a placer mine south of Whitehorse was rejected by the Yukon government. “I really don’t know if it’s worth putting any more money and time into it,” Goeppel said.

Goeppel’s initial application for a placer mine in the Judas Creek area was rejected by the government in 2016, largely because of a potential negative impact on the Carcross caribou herd.

His second application reduced the number of claims to be mined from 45 to 15, the period of mining was reduced from 10 years to five years, and the timing of the operations was adjusted to minimize impact on the caribou.

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De Beers Canada acquires Peregrine Diamonds, to take over Nunavut diamond project (CBC News North – July 19, 2018)

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

De Beers Canada says it plans to take over the company behind the Chidliak diamond mining project in Nunavut. In a Thursday morning news release, the corporation announced it has entered into an approximately $107 million agreement to acquire all outstanding securities of Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. at $0.24 per share.

Peregrine owns and operates the Chidliak diamond exploration project, located 120 kilometres northeast of Iqaluit on Baffin Island.

De Beers Canada, which is headquartered in Calgary, previously declined to invest in the project in 2013 after signing an option agreement with Peregrine the previous year. If it had agreed to the joint venture, it would have invested almost $60 million in Chidliak over five years, operating and having majority interest in the project.

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Fortune Minerals considers putting Saskatoon-area refinery plans on ice – by David Shield (CBC News Saskatoon – July 18, 2018)

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

Mining company says businesses are talking about buying ore concentrate straight from proposed mine in N.W.T.

Plans for a controversial refinery project in the RM of Corman Park may be deferred by Fortune Minerals.

For years, the company has been talking about building a mine in the Northwest Territories that could produce ore containing cobalt, gold, bismuth and copper suplhate. The concentrated ore would then be refined at a facility near Langham, Sask., 30 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

However, Fortune has now said those plans might be changing. “We’ve been approached by large mining and refining companies with interest in directly purchasing the concentrate that we’d produce in the Northwest Territories,” said spokesperson Troy Nazarewicz. If that happens, the refinery wouldn’t be immediately needed.

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N.W.T. premier says Tlicho should have known about Fortune Minerals court application – by Richard Gleeson (CBC News North – June 27, 2018)

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

Bob McLeod defends government’s decision to help settle negotiation over access road to NICO project

The premier of the Northwest Territories says his government did nothing wrong in applying to the courts to settle a negotiation between a mining company and the Tlicho government.

Bob McLeod was responding to the Tlicho government’s suggestion that the territorial government is siding with a junior mining company against the First Nation. “It seems a stretch to me,” he said during an interview Monday. “If you negotiate a process in a land-claim agreement, how can you impute motives? Any project that comes along, are they going to accuse us of siding with a mining proponent?”

Fortune Minerals wants to build a 49-kilometre road from the end of the proposed Tlicho all-season road to its NICO project. According to an affidavit from a government official, Fortune wrote to the government to say its attempt to negotiate an access agreement with the Tlicho to allow construction of the road has stalled.

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NEWS RELEASE: Royal Canadian Mint issues first coin minted of pure Nunavut gold


A celebration of the North from the coin’s design to its gold content

OTTAWA, June 26, 2018 /CNW/ – The Royal Canadian Mint is proud to issue its first collectible coin crafted entirely of Nunavut-sourced gold. Designed by Inuk artist Andrew Qappik, the reverse image highlights the walrus, ptarmigan, polar bear, bowhead whale and narwhal, all framed within the outline of a maple leaf. The beautifully crafted coin is available for purchase as of today.

In another innovation, the 1/10 oz. gold coin is struck on newly developed blanks that are thinner and wider than usual, yet with the same relief, allowing for a larger canvas for the Arctic-themed design. The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.

“In anticipation of Nunavut’s 20th anniversary, the Mint is very pleased to celebrate the beauty and talent that Nunavut and its people add to the Canadian fabric,” said the Mint’s Vice President of Sales Chris Carkner. “From the responsibly-mined gold, to the artist and his design, Canadians can be proud of this 100% Canadian coin.”

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