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Canada Mining – North of 60

Nunavut Inuit call for public hearing on iron mine expansion – by Beth Brown (Nunatsiaq News – October 13, 2017)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association and the Hamlet of Pond Inlet have called on the Nunavut Planning Commission to hold a single in-person public hearing in the North Baffin community before the commission considers a land use plan amendment that would allow a new railway and winter shipping route to service the Mary River mine.

The call comes by way of public submissions made to the NPC after Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. submitted a proposed amendment to the land use plan, Aug. 31, for the second phase of its iron ore project.

The amendment asks to construct a 110-km railway along the route of the existing tote road between the mine and the Milne Inlet port and to allow winter icebreaking in Milne Inlet and Eclipse Sound so freight can be shipped in December, January and February.

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Faded Yukon Gold Rush Town, Population 20, Mines Its Weirdness – by Dan Levin (New York Times – October 15, 2017)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Mr. Tremblay began placer mining a few years ago, a passion he
admitted is stoked more by the thrill of discovery than the
prospect of striking it rich. “When you see gold rimmed along
the bottom of a pan,” he said, “it’s better than sex.”

KENO CITY, Yukon Territory — The journey to the heart of Yukon’s historic mineral wealth started with a question posed to a waitress at the aptly titled Gold Rush hotel in the territorial capital of Whitehorse: What’s the weirdest place in Yukon?

Her answer was a patch of pay dirt around 290 miles north, past endless forests of spruce and golden-leafed aspen, at the end of a gravel road known as the Silver Trail. There lies Keno City, a gold-rush-era relic with about a dozen full-time residents, tap water not fit for human consumption and two bars whose owners haven’t been on speaking terms for more than a decade.

Perched among hills rich in silver, zinc and lead, Keno City began as a Swedish prospector’s staked claim in 1919, its name inspired by a popular gambling game and intended to lure hearty fortune-seekers with the promise of an ore-laden metropolis in Canada’s frigid northern reaches.

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Hunters still oppose winter sealift and railway for Mary River mine near Pond Inlet, Nunavut – by Sara Frizzell (CBC News North – October 11, 2017)

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

For several years, Baffinland Iron Mines has been trying to get permission for a railway and an extended shipping season for its Mary River mine — it’s still trying and hunters in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, are still opposed.

The mining company’s most recent proposal to the Nunavut Planning Commission was closed for public comments at the beginning of October and respondents are still wary of both elements of the revised plan.

In this iteration, Baffinland is looking for approval to build an 110-kilometre railway along the existing roadway, which connects the mine site to the Milne Inlet port site. It was also looking to extend the shipping season through to February by icebreaking.

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Chief Isaac and the mass media – by Dorota Kupis (Yukon News – September 28, 2017)

The Yukon’s earliest newspapers frequently treated the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in poorly

The Klondike Gold Rush altered the lives of several Yukon First Nations. The most affected were the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, living near Dawson City. The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in came in contact with white people years before the gold rush. The first traders (Jack McQuesten, Frank Bonfield) arrived in their territories as early as 1874. Other than traders, early newcomers were missionaries and miners.

After gold was discovered on Rabbit Creek in 1896, enormous waves of white newcomers came to the Yukon. By 1898, about 40,000 people settled in Dawson City, the center of the Klondike Gold Rush, and the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in living in this area became a minority in their traditional territories.

The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who relocated to the little community of Moosehide, three kilometers downriver from the new town, had to adapt their lives to interact with the residents of Dawson City and miners working on the adjacent creeks.

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Plans for Yukon’s biggest mine delayed – by Chuck Tobin (Whitehorse Daily Star – September 25, 2017)

http://www.whitehorsestar.com/

Western Copper and Gold Corp. has indicated it will take a year longer to advance the proposal for its mammoth Casino mine project.

Western Copper and Gold Corp. has indicated it will take a year longer to advance the proposal for its mammoth Casino mine project. The company indicated Friday in a press release it is delaying the submission of the environmental and socio-economic statement until the end of 2018.

Western Copper and Gold was originally scheduled to submit the statement to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board by the end of this year.

Continuing work on the design of its tailings dam and pond, along with the time it will take the Yukon government to secure permits for improvements to the access road, are cited as the two factors behind the decision to delay the submission of the statement.

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Nunavut, mining company, link arms to improve Kivalliq quality of life – by Beth Brown (Nunatsiaq News – September 21, 2017)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

GN and AEM name 10 priority areas, but mention no budget to pay for it

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. wants to do more than just dig for gold in Nunavut. The multinational corporation, which operates mine sites in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Nunavut Sept. 20, pledging to collaborate with the territory on 10 high-profile “priority areas.”

Those areas are: health, education, training, economic development, infrastructure, housing, heritage resources, wildlife, public safety, and climate change. “None of those are directly mining related,” Agnico Eagle president Ammar Al-Joundi said during a media event at the Nunavut Legislative Assembly in Iqaluit.

But, they are areas that are “absolutely essential” to good mining in the long run, he said, calling the MOU and investment in Nunavummiut all part of the company’s business strategy. The MOU came with no budget or specific funding source. But a spokesperson for the mining company, Dale Coffin, said later that a working group will be struck to further the memorandum’s goals and that any related costs would be borne by Agnico Eagle or the GN.

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Yukon placer miners don’t dig the idea of higher gold royalty rates – by Nancy Thomson (CBC News North – September 21, 2017)

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

‘The impression that a placer miner has a room full of gold that they can roll in — just doesn’t exist’

The Klondike Placer Miners’ Association (KPMA) says modernizing the royalty rates for placer gold won’t help the Yukon government avoid budget deficits. About 35 placer miners presented their opinions to the territory’s financial advisory panel at a meeting this week in Dawson City.

The independent panel issued a draft report earlier this month, spelling out ways the government might balance its books in the future. One recommendation is to review taxation on mining with a possible increase on the royalty rate on placer gold operations.

But placer miners say their industry makes a valuable contribution to local economies — and should not be taxed further. KPMA president Mike McDougall says although miners pay only about 37 and a half cents tax per ounce of gold — a royalty rate that hasn’t changed in a century — they also pay business and personal income tax.

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Dominion Diamond investors OK $1.2B US sale to Washington Companies (CBC News North – September 19, 2017)

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

Shareholders expected to receive $14.25 US per share in cash when acquisition closes

The Canadian Press: The Canadian head office of Dominion Diamond is to remain in Calgary after its shareholders voted on Tuesday to approve its $1.2-billion US sale to Washington Companies.

Larry Simkins, president of the Montana-based acquirer, attended Dominion’s special meeting. He said afterwards it wouldn’t make sense to relocate the 100 employees of Dominion in Calgary after the head office was moved from Yellowknife earlier this year.

“It just moved here and the last thing we would do is uproot families and move them back to Yellowknife or some other place,” he said. Investors in the Northwest Territories diamond producer voted more than 99 per cent in favour of the deal announced in July.

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Northwest Territories Mining – The Drive Beyond Diamonds: Whati Road Could Deliver Polymetallic NICO Mine and More – by John Curran (Aboriginal Business Quarterly – Summer 2017)

For the entire issue: http://www.mirabelsmagazinecentral.com/Publication/Product/inukshuk-publishing/aboriginal-business-quarterly/summer-2017

There’s no denying the importance of the mining sector for the NWT’s economy, but at the same time this key industry has become completely dependent on a single commodity in recent times: Diamonds. Over the years, gold, lead, zinc, silver, tungsten, radium and many other minerals have been mined around the territory, but those days are currently in the rearview mirror. As the recent downturn has shown us, economic dependence on a single item plucked from the ground is never good – even something as lucrative as diamonds.

When prices for rough gems dropped a couple of years back and NWT mines were forced to trim operating costs, the territory has been suffering through the miners’ belt-tightening ever since. Despite the decline, diamond mining remains the dominant industry in the NWT.

“Resource projects, such as the diamond mines, provide the GNWT with a significant portion of corporate income tax, fuel tax, and property tax revenues and the projects’ employees provide payroll tax and personal income tax revenues,” said Andrew Livingstone, Senior GNWT Cabinet Communications Advisor. “Over the past three years, diamond mines contributed 41 per cent of the GNWT’s corporate income, fuel, property and payroll tax revenue.”

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ARCHIVES: The Murders In The Mine – by Katherine Laidlaw (Up Here.com – September 18, 2012)

http://uphere.ca/

Eighteen months on the picket line. Thirty-eight kilos of explosives. Nine men dead. 20 years passed.

It’s the story that made world news and changed a mining town forever. The Giant Mine strike stands as one of the longest and bloodiest in Canadian history, punctuated by one of the worst mass murders the country has ever seen. For those who lived through September 18, 1992, the scars have never healed. Here are their stories …

On May 22, 1992, a company called Royal Oak Mines Inc. locked out its workforce at Giant Mine in Yellowknife. The union, the local 4 chapter of the Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers, and management couldn’t reach a settlement. Before the strike, it was a good, if finite, time to be a gold miner.

The average worker at Giant was pulling in $77,000 a year, and those clocking overtime were making more than $100,000. But the strike got dirty quickly as rumours swirled of Royal Oak CEO Peggy Witte’s intent to break the union. One thing she did break was an unwritten labour rule in Canada: you don’t bring in replacement workers. No mining company had done that in 45 years. Nevada-born Witte flew them in by helicopter the next day.

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Don’t let Dawson City’s UNESCO debate pit miner against miner – by Stuart Schmidt (Yukon News – September 14, 2017)

Stuart Schmidt is the past president of the Klondike Placer Miners’ Association.

The nomination of Trondek-Klondike for UNESCO world heritage designation is a contentious subject and I am concerned that it is causing a rift within the membership of the Klondike Placer Miners’ Association (KPMA) and among the placer mining community at large. I would like to try to explain why I support the UNESCO nomination even though there may be no immediate or apparent benefit to gold miners or our organization.

I have not forgotten 2003 when the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans cancelled the Yukon Placer Authorization and we were faced with the prospect of most of us not being able to operate any longer or only being able to operate in a very limited fashion in only a few areas. I was truly grateful for all the people in the Yukon who came out and voiced their support for placer mining both in Dawson and across the territory.

I was and continue to be especially grateful to the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. They came out fully in support of all of us and they carry a lot of political clout. This I have not forgotten and to this day I feel indebted to them for their support during those challenging times.

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Long-awaited N.W.T. mining road through national park gets thumbs up from review board (CBC News North – September 14, 2017)

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

The much-anticipated all-season road to Canadian Zinc’s Prairie Creek mine passed its environmental assessment this week, more than five years after the Prairie Creek mine was approved in the heart of Nahanni National Park Reserve.

The Mackenzie Valley Review Board announced Tuesday it is recommending the project to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs for conditional approval. This week’s green light marks the end of a process that lasted more than three years. The nearby Nahanni Butte Dene Band grew impatient, and began construction on their own road to the mine.

However, the board’s support is contingent on the implementation of 16 measures it says will prevent “significant adverse impacts on the environment.” Among those measures: a road adapted for permafrost conditions, along with ongoing permafrost monitoring; wildlife monitoring that incorporates traditional knowledge; and the creation of an independent technical panel to ensure the road’s design protects people and the environment.

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Plan may spur ‘environmental fragmentation’: conservationist – by Emily Blake (Whitehorse Daily Star – September 11, 2017)

http://www.whitehorsestar.com/

Some environmental groups are expressing concerns about the Yukon Resource Gateway Project

Some environmental groups are expressing concerns about the Yukon Resource Gateway Project following a commitment of more than $360 million in federal and territorial funding. The project will see improved road access in the Dawson Range, located between Carmacks and Dawson City, and the Nahanni Range Road in southeast Yukon, both mineral-rich areas in the territory.

And while members of the mining industry and government are applauding the funding announcement, there are concerns about the lack of information on environmental impacts. “We’re not supportive of these projects until we get more information,” Lewis Rifkind, a mining analyst with the Yukon Conservation Society, told the Star last week.

“We’re opening up vast swaths of the Yukon to environmental fragmentation.” He worries about how the infrastructure project might affect woodland caribou. He said an extreme example of this is logging and oil and gas roads in Alberta, where the woodland caribou population has been reduced to around 7,000.

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Roads to Yukon resources: Feds, territory commit C$360 million to modernize Yukon mining roads – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – September 10, 2017)

http://www.petroleumnews.com/

Roads to some of Yukon’s richest mining districts are getting more than C$360 million in upgrades. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rolled out the plans to invest in modern transportation infrastructure during a visit to the territory on Sep. 2.

“Modern infrastructure is key to developing and properly managing the incredible natural resources we have at our fingertips,” Trudeau said. The prime minister pledged C$247.8 million to the Yukon Resource Gateway project, a program that will upgrade more than 650 kilometers of roads in the territory, and build or replace numerous bridges, culverts, and stream crossings in two minerals-rich regions of the Yukon.

“The Resource Gateway is one of the most significant projects ever undertaken in this territory and will have an incredibly positive impact on the Yukon economy,” said Yukon Premier Sandy Silver.

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Underground expansion could extend Ekati mine life by 7 years, says new report – by Melinda Trochu (CBC News North – September 8, 2017)

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

First diamond mine in the Northwest Territories could stay open until 2042

Further expansion of underground mining operations at the Ekati diamond mine could keep the mine in business until 2042, according to a preliminary economic assessment released by Dominion Diamond Corporation on Wednesday. Dominion operates the mine, and owns a controlling interest.

The Fox Deep project would expand the mine by developing an underground operation below the mined-out Fox open pit. It follows on the recently-approved Misery Deep project, which is already expected to expand the life of the mine from 2033 to 2035.

Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, says Yellowknifers should be doing a happy dance. “A year ago we thought that Ekati had a life to 2021,” says Hoefer. “And so with their work on other pipes and now adding Fox in they’ve created a very exciting future for the N.W.T.’s mining industry.”

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