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.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
TMM Goldcorp Inc.’s proposed road west of Pelly Crossing could be bad for caribou, says YESAB
The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) is recommending against a proposed mining road in central Yukon, citing concerns about potential adverse effects on caribou in the area.
TMM Goldcorp Inc. first submitted the proposal for the Casino-Rude Project in March 2023. The road would be built in a forested area about 100 kilometres west of Pelly Crossing, Yukon, or 380 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse.
Premier and cabinet need to make clear N.W.T. is open for other kinds of mining and will ease investors’ way
Although it wasn’t much noticed in the rest of Canada, the Northwest Territories had an election last month. Worn down by a series of crises, people voted for change: about half of the MLAs-elect are new. They picked a hard time to get into government.
Compared to what’s coming next, COVID-19 and record-breaking wildfires might not look so bad. The territory’s diamond mining industry, which represents over a quarter of its GDP, is coming to its natural end. And as things stand there is no plan to replace it.
https://www.nnsl.com/
With approximately 165 million carats of diamonds still underground at the former Ekati diamond mine, its new owner, Burgundy Diamonds, is looking to extend the mine’s life by implementing a never-before tried method of kimberlite extraction.
“Not all of those (carats) will be recoverable. But even if we did get a big chunk of those carats, it potentially could extend the life of the asset for many, many years to come,” said Kim Truter, CEO of Burgundy Diamond Mines.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
New permit allows drilling within city limits, in an area near Mount Sima and Copper Haul Road
An mineral exploration company fined earlier this year for mining infractions at a site just outside Whitehorse has received a new permit to pursue more exploration in the city.
The Yukon government approved earlier this month a class 1 exploration permit allowing Gladiator Metals to do up to 10,000 metres of diamond drilling around the Whitehorse Copper Belt. The areas — Little and Middle Chief as well as the Arctic Chief area — are within city limits, close to Mount Sima and Copper Haul Road.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Agnico Eagle “surprised and disappointed” by board’s decision
The Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) says a proposal to extend Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine gold mine should not be allowed to proceed. Agnico Eagle’s proposal would have extended the mine’s life by 11 years, to 2043, and built an 11-turbine wind farm to power the mine.
In a 255-page document released late Friday, the NIRB said the mine, which opened in 2015 and is 25 kilometres from Rankin Inlet, should not expand at this time, “due to the considerable uncertainty of the potential for the proposal to have negative, lasting effects on caribou, and the uncertainty of cumulative effects.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Mining company can ship 6 million tonnes of ore annually until Dec. 31, 2024
Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. has been given the OK to ship more ore from its Mary River mine in Nunavut. The company can ship up to six million tonnes of ore per year until Dec. 31, 2024 — that’s up from 4.2 million tonnes per year.
Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal approved the plan following a recommendation from the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB). Baffinland has in past requested, and been approved for, similar such temporary increases.
https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/
With a successful summer construction and shipping season, B2Gold Corp. says its Back River gold project in Nunavut remains on pace to pour its first gold early in 2025. Upon the April completion of its acquisition of Sabina Gold & Silver Corp., which had already made significant progress on early development at Back River, B2Gold immediately invested the resources necessary to get the first mine on this district-scale gold property into production.
Goose, the most advanced project at Back River, is slated to produce 3.34 million oz of gold over 15 years of mining 18.7 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 5.97 grams per metric ton (3.6 million oz) gold.
https://www.nnsl.com/
The proposed lead-zinc mine at Pine Point is moving along as planned, according to the company behind the new project. Town council received an update during its council meeting on Oct. 30 from Andrew Williams, the environmental manager for Pine Point Mining Limited (PPML).
PPML is a joint venture between Osisko Metals and Appian Natural Resources Fund. Appian announced it had purchased a 60 per cent stake in the project for $100 million over four years this past February. Williams’ presentation to council indicated that the mine’s life is expected to be 12 years with construction scheduled to begin in late spring of 2028. Operations are expected to begin one year later and is set to last until 2040.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Session is meant to help people learn about long-term plans for toxic arsenic trioxide
An independent board meant to review the Giant Mine clean-up is holding an information session so people can learn more about long-term plans for the highly toxic arsenic trioxide buried underneath the mine site. The session will be held on the same evening as the territorial election.
The Giant Mine Oversight Board’s chair, David Livingstone, said the date for the meeting was set before wildfires led to the postponement of the election. He said it took four months to set up and would be impossible to reschedule easily.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
‘Fundamentally, if you want to grow the economy, you need to grow your population.’
The outlook was rather grim. “The recovery from the pandemic returns the economy to its pre-pandemic path of slow decline,” read this year’s budget documents for the Northwest Territories.
The budget goes on to list a raft of challenges: inflation, high interest rates, a shortage of workers, insufficient economic diversification, and the fast-approaching closure of the territory’s three diamond mines. This summer’s devastating wildfires and evacuations haven’t helped the situation.
https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/
Like many other northern regions, Canada’s North was settled because of its mineral resources. When the Canadian Dominion Government first purchased its arctic regions from the British Crown in the late 1800s, the Northwest Territories was seen as a vast stretch of cold, inhospitable land and was thus largely ignored at the time. However, due to the Klondike Gold Rush, the future of these northern lands would change forever. These days, a new rush has arisen, a white gold rush for lithium in Northwest Territories.
With the market for electric vehicles and battery storage technology predicted to skyrocket in coming years, demand for critical minerals continues to grow in turn. With this, lithium appears poised to recharge NWT’s exploration sector.
Executive fills in details of pledge mining company made in 2020
Agnico Eagle is donating $2.5 million to a children’s breakfast program and $2.25 million to Nunavut’s literacy council, a move the mining company called an investment in the territory’s youth. “We firmly believe that to leave a lasting and meaningful legacy in Nunavut, we must support and invest for the next generation,” said Martin Plante, the mining company’s Nunavut vice-president, on Sept. 28.
Plante announced the details for what the company calls its Inunnguiniq project — Inuktitut for “creating a whole human being” — during the closing gala of last week’s Kivalliq Trade Show.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Participants weigh importance of jobs in small communities with concerns about caribou
After almost a week of technical meetings, communities had their turn to speak at a final public hearing that could determine the future of Nunavut’s Meliadine gold mine, and therefore the entire region.
Agnico Eagle Mines is looking to expand Meliadine near Rankin Inlet, extending the mine’s life by 11 years until 2043 and building 11 wind turbines, among other changes.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
‘The value of Qamanirjuaq herd to Kivalliq Inuit cannot be underestimated’: NTI
The first few days of a final public hearing on a Nunavut mine’s proposal to extend its project heard repeated concerns about how those changes would affect caribou.
The answer to those concerns, for the most part, is unknown. That’s because the project includes a proposal to create a wind farm to power the mine, the first of its kind in Nunavut. Qamanirjuaq caribou in the Kivalliq, as hunters speaking at the hearing pointed out, have never encountered wind turbines.
