Archive | Canada Mining

How microbes could help clean up Nova Scotia’s abandoned mines – by Emma Smith (CBC News Nova Scotia – August 6, 2020)

August 6, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution, Tailing Dams and Abandoned Mines

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

‘We want to develop a treatment that you would apply … that would block the arsenic and the mercury’

Researchers from three Maritime universities are hoping microbes collected from the bottom of a lake near an abandoned gold mine in Dartmouth, N.S., will provide a model for how to clean up contaminated sites across the province in a quicker and less-intrusive way.

Last May, a research team took a boat to the middle of Lake Charles, not far from the former Montague gold mine, where extensive mining took place from 1860 to about 1940.

They lowered a plastic tube 30 metres into the water and scooped up 200-year-old sediment, which provides a snapshot of the lake before, during and after the mine was in operation. Continue Reading →

Ottawa orders federal review of Alberta coal mine expansion – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – July 31, 2020)

July 31, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Coal

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ottawa will re-examine a major expansion planned for the Vista coal mine in Alberta, saying Thursday a federal environmental assessment is necessary given how much the project would increase the site’s size and production.

The existing Vista coal mine is nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, near the town of Hinton.

Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told The Globe and Mail the expansion project would have “significant” environmental effects that fall under federal jurisdiction, thus triggering the need for an assessment. Continue Reading →

Yukon’s Gold Rush-era system for staking mineral claims, explained – by Julien Gignac (The Narwhal – July 30, 2020)

July 31, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector

The Narwhal

Skeeter Wright has owned his densely wooded property in Whitehorse since the 1970s but, for the past two decades, he’s had to share it, in a sense, after a local company staked a piece of his land for mineral exploration.

It came as a surprise to Wright, who only learned about the claim from a neighbour at a community gathering some years ago.

The claim is still active and the company could choose to explore it one day — including the land outside his front window. Continue Reading →

What record high gold prices mean for mining companies in Canada — podcast – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 29, 2020)

July 31, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://financialpost.com/

Episode 65 of the Down to Business podcast from the Financial Post

The price of gold has entered new territory, passing the US$1,900 per ounce mark for the first time since 2011. Technical analysts say all signs suggest gold could continue to climb amidst a weak U.S. dollar, declining interest rates and a general sense of uncertainty about the economy.

This week on Down to Business, Sean Boyd, chief executive of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., Canada’s largest gold producer, discussed what it’s been like to run a gold company amidst a pandemic, but also record high prices. Continue Reading →

Agnico Eagle CEO sees more M&A among world’s biggest gold miners amid record-high bullion prices – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 31, 2020)

July 31, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Sean Boyd, the head of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., predicts there will be more deal-making among the world’s biggest gold companies over the next few years, given the recent rapid-fire increase in the price of bullion.

The price of gold recently hit new all-time highs of more than US$1,960 an ounce after the COVID-19 pandemic caused extraordinary dislocation in financial markets. Historically, investors have sought out gold as a safe haven investment during times of extreme uncertainty.

During the last great bull run in gold that ran from the early 2000s to late 2011, some of the world’s biggest gold miners, including Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp. Goldcorp Inc. and Kinross Gold Corp., struck blockbuster acquisitions – many of which ended up destroying billions in shareholder value. Continue Reading →

GOLD: Auryn to acquire Eastmain, create Canadian-focused Fury Gold (Canadian Mining Journal – July 30, 2020)

July 30, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

TORONTO – Auryn Resources is acquiring Eastmain Resources in an all-share deal valued at $121 million to create Fury Gold Mines. By mid-day on Thursday, Eastmain shares were up by 57% or 10¢, rising to 27.5¢.

“Fury Gold will combine the high-grade gold projects: Committee Bay in Nunavut, Homestake Ridge in B.C. and Eau Claire in Quebec, to offer investors a robust, Canadian, gold-focused exploration and development company,” Ivan Bebek, Auryn’s executive chairman and director, said in a release.

“Fury Gold will have the capability and access to capital to develop and finance Eau Claire,” added Laurie Curtis, Eastmain’s chairman. Continue Reading →

Transforming our understanding of how and where orebodies form – by Carl A. Williams (Northern Miner – July 30, 2020)

July 30, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles

Global mining news

Mining is a wealth-creation industry that produces the metals and minerals essential to every sector of our economy.

For instance, in 2018, Canada produced over 60 minerals and metals from almost 200 mines and 6,500 sand, gravel, and stone quarries valued at $47 billion, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Mineral exploration is at the front end of the mining industry, and the discovery of new orebodies is vital to meet the demands of a growing world population. However, finding new orebodies, particularly those rich enough to be developed into working mines, is hugely challenging. Continue Reading →

With deep pockets and long time horizons, China targets struggling Canadian gold companies – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 30, 2020)

July 30, 2020 in Asia Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Latin America Mining

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Chinese state-owned gold companies are going after some of the most troubled gold companies in Canada, betting that their deep pockets, cheaper access to capital and long time horizons will pay off.

In the past few months, Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. proposed a $323-million acquisition of Guyana Goldfields Inc., and Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd. offered to buy TMAC Resources Inc. for $207.4-million.

Both Toronto-based companies are among the most beaten-down assets in the Canadian gold sector, with Guyana long grappling with grade problems at its Aurora mine and TMAC struggling for years with an underperforming mill at its Doris mine in the Arctic. Continue Reading →

Gold rally, Chinese demand a boon to Canadian miners – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 30, 2020)

July 30, 2020 in Asia Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.mining.com/

Canada could see a wave of new gold deals and mines built in the coming months and years, thanks to strong bullion prices and improved demand for metals from China, EY analysts believe.

According to the consultancy’s Canadian Mining Eye index — which tracks the performance of 100 Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange mid-tier and junior mining companies with market capitalizations of between $240 million and $3.6 billion— local miners are likely to continue benefitting from gold’s upward trajectory.

Prices for the yellow metal increased by 11% in the March-June period this year after a 6% gain in the previous quarter. Continue Reading →

As gold hits all-time high, Canadian miners step back from its glare – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 28, 2020)

July 28, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Chastened by past missteps, the Canadian gold industry is swapping recklessness for conservatism, and eschewing expensive deal making in favour of dividends, as the price of bullion hits new all-time highs.

On Monday, gold futures traded north of US$1,940 an ounce for the first time, surpassing the previous record of US$1,920 set back in September, 2011. The most-traded August futures settled at US$1,931 an ounce.

The ultimate safe haven investment, gold over the past few months has benefited from unparalleled volatility in financial markets, as the coronavirus has spread around the world and governments attempt to stave off a global depression by injecting trillions in economic stimulus. Continue Reading →

Stop the regulatory pancaking – by Robert Lyman (Financial Post – July 28, 2020)

July 28, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://financialpost.com/

New regulations will only stall billion-dollar energy and transportation projects at precisely the time when economic stimulus is most needed

This month the federal government published new guidelines governing the environmental assessment of the climate effects of certain major projects, including all pipelines, electricity transmission lines, mines and metal mills, nuclear facilities, oil and gas production projects, hydro plants, airports and ports.

The guidelines prescribe how project proponents and the Canadian Impact Assessment Agency are to conduct a “strategic assessment of climate change.”

As a result, proponents will face a daunting set of information and process requirements at each phase of the impact assessment. Projects with a lifetime likely to extend beyond 2050 must provide a plan describing how they will achieve “net-zero emissions” by 2050. Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: B2Gold Announces the Launch of its Namibian Rhino Gold Bar Campaign in North America to Support the Conservation and Protection of the Critically Endangered Black Rhinos (July 28, 2020)

July 28, 2020 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility, Gold and Silver

VANCOUVER, BC, July 28, 2020 /CNW/ – B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO, NYSE AMERICAN: BTG, NSX: B2G) (“B2Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the launch of its Namibian Rhino Gold Bar campaign in North America to help support the conservation and protection of the critically endangered black rhinos, and the community-based rhino rangers and trackers who protect the rhinos, in Namibia, Southern Africa. This announcement coincides with the International Ranger Federation’s (“IRF”) World Ranger Day, which takes place annually on July 31.

World Ranger Day was established on the 15th anniversary of the founding of the IRF and has been observed globally since 2007. The day, which is promoted through the IRF’s Thin Green Line Foundation and sanctioned and supported by global members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, recognizes and celebrates rangers who are at the forefront of conservation efforts around the world by protecting natural and cultural resources. It also commemorates rangers that are injured or killed in the line of duty.

Due to poaching, driven by the illegal rhino horn trade, over 1,000 wild rhinos are killed for their horns in Africa each year. Continue Reading →

Bought deals for junior miners skyrocket as gold nears record high – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 27, 2020)

July 27, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s junior gold mining sector is on track for its best year for financing in nearly a decade as companies take advantage of soaring gold prices to load up on cash and advance long-delayed exploration and development projects.

Fuelled by a weak U.S. dollar and expectations of inflation, gold prices have raced higher in recent months, hitting US$1,900 an ounce on Friday, only about US$20 below the historic high in 2011.

This runup has allowed dozens of Canadian mining firms, long out of favour with investors, to tap equity markets in a wave of bought deals. Continue Reading →

Revival of North American economy will negate need for aluminum tariffs, Trudeau tells Trump – by James McCarten (Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – July 14, 2020)

July 14, 2020 in Aluminium/Bauxite, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, United States Mining

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged U.S. President Donald Trump to think twice Monday before imposing new tariffs on Canadian aluminum, saying the sector is emerging from the pandemic-induced production stance that prompted the White House to consider such measures in the first place.

Mr. Trudeau, who said in a news conference he had spoken to the U.S. President earlier in the day, told him that with the North American economy getting back up to speed, Canada’s aluminum smelters would soon be back producing value-added specialty products for the U.S. auto sector.

The spectre of new tariffs emerged last month after Canadian producers, unable to shut down production and with their usual customers hamstrung by the impact of COVID-19, were forced to make a more generic form of aluminum and ship it to warehouses in the U.S. Continue Reading →

‘Spectacular numbers’: As the price of gold rises above $1,800, miners eye expensive Canadian projects – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 14, 2020)

July 14, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://financialpost.com/

For years, Toronto-based Iamgold Corp. had been studying the cost of building its Côté mine in northeastern Ontario, but many shareholders often pushed back because of the high price tag associated with construction, estimated around $1.1 billion.

Last August, then-chief executive Stephen Letwin said construction costs made it “just a non-starter.” “I would say, the message has been loud and clear from our shareholders,” Letwin said during a conference call at that time. “We want smaller projects, less capital-intensive projects” than Côté.

Less than a year later, the project’s back on the table and looking more likely as the price of gold surges above US$1,800 per ounce — an altitude that has almost never been reached, save for about a roughly month-long period in 2011, when it hit an all-time high of US$1,917.90. Continue Reading →