Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 395

Wynne pushes Ring of Fire chiefs for decision on regional road – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – May 12, 2017)

May 11, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA – Premier Kathleen Wynne is warning fly-in First Nations in Northern Ontario they must quickly agree on the construction of a road into their region – one that would also serve mining interests in the so-called Ring of Fire – or she will negotiate unilaterally with those communities that want the project.

It has been three years since the Ontario government said it would spend up to $1-billion to create an all-season road that would make development possible in the massive cache of chromite and other minerals as it connects to some reserves that are not currently accessible by car.

But little progress has been made, in part because the First Nations do not agree among themselves on how to proceed and are concerned about losing jurisdictional rights in the process. Negotiations with provincial officials have not always been productive.

[Pasinex Resources] High Risk, High Reward – Reaping The Benefits – by Peter Kennedy (Stockhouse.com – May 10, 2017)

May 11, 2017

http://www.stockhouse.com/

Starting a junior exploration company is always a high risk venture, even for the most mining-savvy entrepreneurs. But it is a move that is paying off for Pasinex Resources Ltd. (CSE: C.PSE, PSXRF, Forum) CEO Steve Williams and the company’s financial backers.

Not only has Pasinex been able to get its high grade Turkish zinc mine into production without going through all the usual development and financing hoops, it has also ridden the bull market for zinc metal that many analysts say will continue for another couple of years.

After posting a profit of $826,906 or $0.01 per share in 2016, the company is quickly transforming itself into a mid-tier zinc producer and looking forward to discovering more metal in the vicinity of its flagship Pinargozu mine.

These were the top producing diamond mines in 2016 – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 9, 2017)

May 11, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

While diamond industry experts warn that demand is expected to outstrip supply as early as 2019, the largest mines keep producing the coveted rocks at full steam. Here are last year’s top 10 diamond mines in terms of output and value, based on data compiled by expert Paul Zimnisky.

1. Jwaneng, Botswana: Produced 11,975,000 carats, worth $2,347 million

Jwaneng, the richest diamond mine in the world, is located in south-central Botswana in the Naledi river valley of the Kalahari. It’s 2 kilometres across at its widest point and patrolled by colossal 300-tonne trucks that labour up the terraced slopes.

Nicknamed “the Prince of Mines”, Jwaneng was opened in 1982, as the diamond trade helped Botswana go from being one of the world’s poorest countries to one of Africa’s wealthiest.

First Nations actually want resource development — if paid activists would just get out of their way – by Cody Battershill (Financial Post – May 11, 017)

May 11, 2017

http://business.financialpost.com/

It’s always unsettling to see paid activist groups like Greenpeace pretending to speak for Canada’s indigenous peoples. Recent Canadian history has shown that non-indigenous activist groups should think twice before claiming to speak for indigenous populations. After all, indigenous people in this country are more than able to speak for themselves. And there’s no doubt their views are on the record.

Many First Nations have gone public recently in order to ensure their positions are known, especially as those positions relate to oil and gas development and the construction of pipelines. Here’s some of what the recent record reflects:

-Fully 174 First Nations in Canada — more than 25 per cent of all Canadian First Nations — produce oil and gas now or want to in the future.

-In British Columbia there is overwhelming majority support from all First Nations eligible for the Pacific Trail, Coastal GasLink, Prince Rupert Gas and West Coast Connector projects. In some cases, there is 100-per-cent support.

Ceremony marks 25th anniversary of Westray mine disaster in Nova Scotia – by Michael MacDonald (Toronto Star – May 10, 2017)

May 10, 2017

https://www.thestar.com/

There were 26 coal miners in the final hours of a four-day shift at the Westray mine in Plymouth, N.S., when a coal seam spit a jet of methane gas that somehow ignited. The explosion killed every man in the mine and tore off the metal roof at the pit entrance.

CANADIAN PRESS – NEW GLASGOW, N.S.—Twenty-five years after she lost her husband to one of Nova Scotia’s worst coal mining disasters, Darlene Dollimont-Svenson still finds it difficult talking about the life they once shared.

“He was a fabulous man, but I don’t know what to say about that because it’s 25 years later and you have all these memories, and one doesn’t really know if the memories are glorified fantasies or reality,” she said, drawing a deep breath and pausing.

Thirty-six-year-old Adonis Dollimont and 25 other miners were in the final hours of a four-day shift at the Westray mine in Plymouth, N.S., when a coal seam spit a jet of methane gas that somehow ignited.

[Nova Scotia Coal Mining] Westray tragedy to be marked, 25 years later: ‘Pure greed that took lives’ – by Michael MacDonald (Winnipeg Free Press – May 9, 2017)

May 9, 2017

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

NEW GLASGOW, N.S. – When the Westray coal mine opened in northern Nova Scotia in 1991, Glenn Martin was lucky enough to land a well-paying job underground that was supposed to last 15 years.

However, he soon learned the mine under Plymouth, N.S., was not a safe place to work. He promised himself he would quit as soon as he had earned enough money to put new siding on his home.

“That mine was a godsend to him,” said his brother, Allen. “He wanted to fix up his house. That was his main goal … But it didn’t take long for him to realize that things were not right.”

Worker safety still at risk 25 years after Westray tragedy – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – May 6, 2017)

May 8, 2017

https://www.thestar.com/

Though tougher laws were passed after the mining disaster, enforcement remains weak.

It was a couple of hours past midnight when Mike Piché walked through the portal to the Westray coal mine. His hard hat didn’t have a head lamp, so it was by flashlight that Piché scanned the surroundings, the sight of cigarette butts, the five-gallon pail lined with a plastic bag and fitted on top with a toilet seat, the coal dust that drifted shin high.

“It’s like stepping in talc,” Piché says of moving through the abundance of black dust that coated the tunnel that April morning, the dust that would explode weeks later, turning the Westray mine into a mortuary for 26 miners, and a permanent sepulchre for 11 of those men.

Piché had been leading an organizing drive for the United Steelworkers that spring 25 years ago. The accounts of production pressures and lax and even nonexistent safety standards at the Nova Scotia mine were legion. He remembers the meeting he had at Roy Feltmate’s place the evening of May 8.

B.C. Election 2017: NDP, Greens, Liberals agree mining is important, but must protect environment – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – May 7, 2017)

May 8, 2017

http://vancouversun.com/

When the earth-and-rock dam that held back millions of cubic metres of mine waste and effluent at Imperial Metal’s Mount Polley mine failed in 2014, it left the mining industry in B.C. and Canada shaken.

One of the largest dam failures in the world in the past 50 years, it sparked concern among the public, environmental groups and First Nations that aquatic life would be harmed, particularly salmon that use the Quesnel Lake system to spawn in the B.C. Interior. Studies on the effects of the spill are expected to last for years. In the aftermath of the spill — and heading into the May 9 election — the B.C. Liberals continue to be strong proponents of mining.

In their platform, the Liberals say they want to see eight new mines created by 2020, and point to new mines opened under their tenure and those under construction, including the $811-million Brucejack underground gold mine in northern B.C.

Cobalt deal gives investors another way to bet on Tesla – by Mark Burton (Globe and Mail/Bloomberg – May 8, 2017)

May 8, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

LONDON — Investors looking for a way to profit from surging demand for cobalt used in batteries for Tesla Inc. electric cars have had a hard time until now.

While futures prices for the metal are up about 130 per cent since the end of 2015, a lack of buyers and sellers on the market, the high cost of more than $50,000 (U.S.) a contract, and a dearth of listed miners specializing in cobalt has kept many investors away. Pala Investments Ltd. plans to change all that.

The Swiss mining fund, which began buying cobalt about a year ago in a bet on demand, plans to sell the metal to Toronto-listed Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. The Canadian firm, headed by Pala investment team managing director Anthony Milewski, plans to raise $200-million (Canadian) on the TSX Venture exchange (ticker KBLT) to purchase cobalt, including from the Zug-based fund.

Johnson Matthey approves of Nemaska Lithium’s first shipment – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – May 6, 2017)

May 8, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Project developer Nemaska Lithium has received the first C$2-million tranche of a C$3-million milestone payment for delivering the first shipment of lithium hydroxide to offtake partner Johnson Matthey Battery Materials (JMBM), the company said Friday.

Quebec City-based Nemaska now expects to receive the final C$1-million payment by JMBM once Nemaska delivers a second shipment of lithium hydroxide that meets JMBM’s final criteria.

Nemaska expects to send the final samples once the lithium hydroxide solution is processed through the crystalliser, which has been received at the Phase 1 plant and is being commissioned.

The Trump riddle: Did the president’s grandfather — or another Fred Trumpf — flip klondike claims? – by Maura Forrest (National Post – May 6, 2017)

May 8, 2017

http://news.nationalpost.com/

It was the summer of 1897, and word was beginning to filter south that there was gold up in the Klondike. Fred Trumpf got his foot in the door early. By the time the first prospectors landed in Seattle carrying the gold that launched the stampede, he’d already applied for a mining claim near Dawson City, in today’s Yukon Territory. His signature, “Fred Trumpf,” is still clearly visible on the original application, 120 years later.

By the looks of things, Trumpf wasn’t all that interested in digging for gold. On July 8, he split up his claim, which had cost him $15, and sold one half for $400. A few months later, he sold the other half for $2,000, equal to more than $50,000 today.

That September, he did it again — applied for a claim, split it up, and sold for a tidy profit. There’s no evidence he ever did any work on either claim. It’s widely known that Donald Trump’s grandfather — born Friedrich in Germany in 1869 — got his start by opening a gold rush hotel in the Yukon in 1898 and “mining the miners,” as Trump biographer Gwenda Blair put it.

Resource revenue sharing key to renewing nation-to-nation relationship – by Isador Day (Canadian Mining Journal – May 2017)

May 5, 2017

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

ISADORE DAY, Wiindawtegowinini, is Assembly of First Nations Ontario Regional Chief.

Ontario has the largest First Nation population in Canada and the most diverse and far-reaching population. The Caldwell First Nation is located at Point Pelee, the most southern tip of Canada. The Fort Severn First Nation is located on Hudson Bay and is the most northern community in all of Ontario.

Fort Severn was established as one of the very first trading posts in North America in 1689. Just a few decades later, the Mississauga Ojibwe began trading with the British and French on the shores of Lake Ontario. In fact, the trading post of Port Credit was partly built with the assistance of the Ojibwe.

This is where our nation-to-nation relationship began – through trade with the newcomers. When the newcomers arrived, we welcomed them with our hand in friendship. This is how treaties were formed; it is this hand in friendship and the friendship treaties – this is how Canada began.

Outfitters’ objections do not sway YESAB, which recommends mining road – by Philippe Morin (CBC News North – May 4, 2017)

May 5, 2017

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

Yukon assessor says hunting outfitters ‘only one component of economic activity’, cites project’s benefits

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) has recommended a new 65-kilometre mining road in central Yukon be approved, despite concerns about its potential impact on wildlife.

The road is proposed by B.C.-based ATAC Resources as necessary, to allow heavy machinery to reach the Tiger deposit on its Rau gold property north of Mayo. Right now, the property is accessed only by air, or over a frozen swampy trail. The new road would require eight bridges and 38 culverts over small streams and rivers. It would be intended to last 10 to 20 years.

YESAB’s recommendation, published Wednesday, is that the road be approved with a number of terms and conditions, meant to minimize impact on wildlife, and traditional hunting and trapping.

Glencore in talks to sell Peru, other mining royalties: sources – by Clara Denina and Nicole Mordant (Globe and Mail/Reuters – May 3, 2017)

May 4, 2017

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

LONDON and VANCOUVER – Mining-trading group Glencore Plc has hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to sell a portfolio of royalty assets, including one for the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru, four people familiar with the process have told Reuters.

The Antamina mine royalty makes up the bulk of the value of the package and could fetch up to $250-million, the sources said. The portfolio includes several much smaller royalties from other mines and exploration assets owned by Glencore around the world, they added.

It is not clear whether Glencore will sell 100 per cent of the royalties, which gives the owner the right to receive a percentage of production from a mining operation, or retain a stake in them.

K+S opens new potash mine; first new mine in Saskatchewan in more than 40 years – by Jennifer Graham (Saskatoon Star Phoenix – May 2, 2017)

May 4, 2017

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/

BETHUNE, Sask. — The first tonne of marketable potash is expected to be produced at the end of June from the first new mine in Saskatchewan in more than 40 years. After five years of construction, German fertilizer company K+S AG is opening the new mine near the village of Bethune, about 70 kilometres north of Regina.

“To tell you the truth, we made the investment decision at a time when prices were significantly higher,” Norbert Steiner, the CEO of K+S AG, said Tuesday at the opening ceremony. “But when you are on the road to build such a big plant, you are well advised that you continue the building of the plant until it is finished,” Norbert said.

“But still, we are of the opinion that the cost that we will have for the production of our products here in Saskatchewan will be significantly lower compared to the prices that we have right now in the industry and, therefore, we foresee that we have a positive (earnings before interest, taxes and amortization) already in 2018 and of course the better years will come afterwards.”