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Gold and Silver

Former Yamana head Peter Marrone eyes emerging nations for next big venture in gold – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – September 12, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Shift to non-traditional mining locations required to give investors the high returns they expect, he says

After selling Yamana Gold Inc. in March, a company Peter Marrone founded two decades ago, some expected the 63-year-old mining executive to take up fishing since he had never played golf, or, at the very least, take some time off before his next business venture.

But barely weeks after selling Yamana for US$4.8 billion to Canadian mining rivals Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. and Pan American Silver Corp. in March, Marrone jumped at the opportunity to head a mining company with gold-producing assets in Mali, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia.

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Red Lake Camp keeps giving as Frank Giustra-backed explorer hits bonanza gold – by Henry Lazenby (Northern Miner – September 12, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Industry financier Frank Giustra’s first foray into gold exploration struck it big Tuesday, reporting bonanza gold grades of more than a kilogram per tonne at its Rowan property in the fabled Red Lake Camp of Ontario.

West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG; US-OTC: WRLGF) reported Tuesday that hole RLG-23-163B cut 70.8 grams gold per tonne over 8.3 meters, including a segment of 0.5-meter grading 1,120.19 grams gold per tonne.

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Back Roads Bill: Red Lake, gold country and other gems – by Bill Steer (Sudbury.com – September 9, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

This week Bill, as a tourist, takes us to Red Lake – like other Northern Ontario communities it has its share of gems

When you leave home and travel a short distance away from your usual routine you become a tourist. When you poke around you find interesting stops as you, yet again, visit another Northern Ontario community.

One example is Red Lake a long way to go almost at the end of the road. There is the natural and cultural heritage of the area, the real gems to be found and appreciated on the back roads and waters. There is more than a handful of “neat things” to discover.

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Northern Dynasty updates Pebble PEA, adds southern access route – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 6, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM)(NYSE: NAK) published on Wednesday an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Pebble copper project, which includes an infrastructure plan for a “southern route” access to the proposed mine in Alaska.

The Canadian miner said the independent technical report reviews cost and price estimates to reflect current economic volatility, providing production, financial and cost estimates for a proposed 20-year, 180,000 tonnes per day open pit operation.

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Miners’ hunt for copper takes Barrick to Pakistan’s western frontier – by Benjamin Parkin and Harry Dempsey (Financial Post/Financial Times – September 6, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Reko Diq adds uncertainty for investors, but Barrick is ‘no stranger to frontier jurisdictions’

For three decades, international mining companies have tussled with officials and locals over a patch of desert around an extinct volcano in Pakistan’s neglected, insurgent-prone western province of Balochistan.

Now, after resolving years of legal disputes, Barrick Gold Corp. wants to invest US$7 billion to revive the mining project Reko Diq, which experts believe contains one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of copper and gold.

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The Drift: Timmins remains a hidden gem for gold discoveries – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 30, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Junior mining companies insist Timmins camp has millions of ounces to be unearthed

Exploration players are bringing fresh eyes and are testing out new geological theories in making gold discoveries in an outlying area of the Timmins gold camp. The area east of Timmins, toward Matheson, has attracted a cluster of junior mining companies that might unlock the next generation of gold production in the camp for years to come.

Executives from three companies — GFG Resources, Moneta Gold and Onyx Gold — rounded up with this week for a 6ix webinar, hosted by Junior Resource Investing, that highlighted their activity and their approach to exploration in the East Timmins part of the camp.

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Conservation group concerned over renewed push to develop N.S. gold mine – by Anjuli Patil (CBC News Nova Scotia – August 27, 2023)

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

Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia says it is ‘fully committed’ to developing Cochrane Hill gold mine

A conservation group in Nova Scotia is raising concerns about plans to develop a gold mine in Guysborough County because of the site’s proximity to one of the province’s longest rivers.

Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Australia-based St Barbara Ltd., announced last week that it was “fully committed” to the Cochrane Hill project on the province’s Eastern Shore.

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Gold diggers in a cold sea – by Nancy MacDonald (Globe and Mail – August 26, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The wreck of S.S. Pacific was of B.C.’s worst maritime disasters, and while Canadians largely forgot it, these treasure hunters persisted for three decades till they hit paydirt. Now, their mission has just begun

When two childhood pals from Seattle began searching for the S.S. Pacific, which sank shortly after departing Victoria on the morning of Nov. 4, 1875, its exact co-ordinates had remained a mystery for more than a century.

Though not widely known, the wreck of the Pacific – a disaster that killed hundreds of people and sent millions of dollars of B.C. gold to the perpetual midnight of the ocean floor – remains the Northwest’s worst maritime disaster.

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Ginoogaming First Nation removes prospectors from lawsuit – by Gary Rinne (SN News Watch – August 24, 2023)

https://www.snnewswatch.com/

‘We have been stripped of our right to defend our livelihood in court,’ says Michael Malouf

GREENSTONE — A Geraldton-based prospector is upset after being removed from a lawsuit by Ginoogaming FIrst Nation over mineral exploration in its traditional territory.

The First Nation unexpectedly served a Notice of Discontinuance last month to halt its court case against Michael Malouf and another area prospector, while continuing the same action against the Ontario government.

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Brazil’s Criminal Groups Hamper Fight Against Illegal Mining in the Amazon – by Nelza Oliveira (Dialogo-Americas – August 23, 2023)

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Brazil’s largest criminal groups, the First Command of the Capital (PCC) and the Red Command (CV), have been working together with illegal miners in the Amazon, hampering government efforts to eradicate mining and contributing to increased violence in Brazil’s Yanomami reservation, the largest indigenous territory in the world and home to approximately 30,000 indigenous people.

The criminals provide heavy machinery and weapons to miners, acting as security guards at certain sites, and helping to transport mined gold out of the Amazon. They also run prostitution and narcotrafficking rings on Yanomami land.

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Mining the Northwest: West Red Lake Gold Mines taking a deep dive at the Madsen Mine – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 18, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Frank Giustra-backed upstart company more than a year away from Red Lake mine restart

Shane Williams and West Red Lake Gold Mines are in no big rush to put the dormant Madsen Mine back into production. The Vancouver gold company intends to take a methodical approach to set things right and deep dive into the deposit before resuming production at the shuttered underground mine, southwest of the town of Red Lake.

Months and months of underground drilling is on the docket to get a more accurate picture of the ore body and a better impression of the area’s geology, before they’ll even entertain the thought of a restart.

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The history of Real del Monte, Mexico’s little slice of Cornwall – by Diana Cooper-Richet (The Conversation – December 12, 2017)

https://theconversation.com/

Sitting at an altitude of 2,700 metres, Real del Monte is a pretty town in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. But with its architecture, heritage of silver mining and meat pasties, it is also a little slice of Cornwall, a region in the southwest of England.

The silver mines surrounding Real del Monte were the source of more than half the silver produced during the 300 years that Spain rule Mexico (1521–1821). By 1824, however, they were in bad condition, and were bought by a group of English investors.

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[Silver Mining History] Potosí and its Silver: The Beginnings of Globalization – by Kenneth Maxwell (SLD Info – December 13, 2020)

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A decade after the Spanish Conquistadores toppled the Inca Empire (1532-34), an indigenous Andean prospector, Diego Gualpa, in 1545, stumbled onto the richest silver deposit in the world on a high mountain of 4,800 meters (15,750 feet) in the eastern cordillera of the Bolivian Andes.

Here in the shadow of what the Spaniards called the “Cerro Rico” (“Rich Mountain”) at 4,000 meters (13,200 feet) a mining boom town quickly developed. By the end of the sixteenth century, it had become one of the largest and the highest cities in the world, and in 1561, Philip ll of Spain, decreed that it should be known as the “Villa Imperial de Potosí.”

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Canada’s newest mine is ready to rock in Dubreuilville – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 14, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Job openings available Argonaut Gold’s Magino Mine starts early production

Construction of the Magino open-pit mine, outside Dubreuilville, is completed and the operational ramp-up is underway. Argonaut Gold delivered that news in releasing its fiscal 2023 second quarter results on Aug. 11.

Though not yet in full commercial production, Magino produced 3,295 ounces during the quarter ending June 30. In a web conference call, the company said the focus is on commissioning activities as they fine-tune the processing mill to a “steady state,” said Marc Leduc, Argonaut’s chief operating officer.

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Ecuador’s Tense Vote Also Threatens to End Mining, Oil Projects – by Stephan Kueffner and James Attwood (Bloomberg News – August 15, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — While investors are focused on Ecuador’s tumultuous presidential election, two other measures on the ballot in the Aug. 20 vote will also shape the country’s financial future.

Ecuadorians are expected to vote in favor of referendums to order the closing of a major oil field and restrict gold and copper mining, potentially leaving the government with a large hole in its budget. The initiatives are taking place alongside a presidential race that was thrown into chaos last week when one of the leading candidates was assassinated while campaigning.

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