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Junior Exploration Sector

Power Metallic CEO sees ‘monster-size’ deposit at Nisk – by Frederic Tomesco (Northern Miner – April 10, 2025)

https://northernminer.com/

Power Metallic Mines’ Nisk polymetallic property is probably at least as large as Anglo American’s 44-million-tonne Sakatti copper-nickel-platinum project in Finland, CEO Terry Lynch said.

Nisk – which is located in Quebec’s James Bay region and includes deposits of copper, nickel, platinum-group metals, silver and gold – could even one day rival Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Voisey’s Bay mine for size, Lynch said Wednesday. Voisey’s Bay, which has been estimated to contain about 140 million tonnes, is Canada’s biggest nickel mine and one of the world’s largest.

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‘At Sudbury, we are nowhere near having found it all’ – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – March 18, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Magna Mining’s critical mineral transformation in the Sudbury Basin to create new wealth, jobs

From American President Donald Trump’s desire to take over Greenland and perhaps Canada, and his recent confrontation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as Premier Doug Ford’s determination to get Ring of Fire infrastructure built, the general public is now acutely aware of the strategic and geopolitical importance of critical minerals.

And yet, Canada’s largest critical mineral mining camp – the legendary Sudbury Basin, which has been in operation for slightly over 140 years and controlled by two of the world’s largest miners, Brazilian-based Vale and Swiss-owned Glencore – seems to have been largely ignored by the mainstream media.

Since both Vale and Glencore have historically controlled much of the land package in the region, few juniors have thrived.

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Canada exempts Paladin’s PLS from non-resident ownership policy (Mining Weekly – March 17, 2025)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Uranium miner and developer Paladin Energy has been granted an exemption from Canada’s Non-Resident Ownership Policy (NROP) for its Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium project in Saskatchewan. The exemption allows Paladin, which is listed on the ASX and TSX, to maintain a 100% controlling interest in PLS as it moves toward commercial production.

The exemption was secured in connection with Paladin’s acquisition of Fission Uranium, which was completed in late December.

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NexGold announces positive feasibility study update for Goliath gold complex – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – March 13, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

NexGold Mining announce potential positive outcomes as itworks towards the completion of its feasibility study for its Goliath gold complex located in the Wabigoon Greenstone belt in northwestern Ontario. NexGold Mining is a gold-focused company with assets in Canada and Alaska. The company expects the feasibility study in the second quarter of this year.

The Goliath gold complex project utilized a combination of open-pit and underground mining methods to extract gold ore. The company’s feasibility study is being prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

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Canadian miners flocking to the ASX – by Kristie Batten (Mining.com – March 6, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The Australian Securities Exchange is experiencing an influx of Canadian producers seeking dual listings. There has been a trickle of dual listings on the ASX since 2018,, but the trend has significantly accelerated following Canadian uranium developer NexGen Energy (TSX: NXE), adding an Australian listing in 2021.

Capstone Copper’s (TSX: CS) ASX listing in February 2024, however, seemed to have open the floodgates, with a further four Canadian mining companies initiating the listing process since.

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BC mineral exploration continues to slide – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – March 5, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Mining is a cornerstone of British Columbia’s economy – employing roughly 40,000 workers, paying C$1.1 billion ($760 million) in taxes, and contributing C$11.2 billion ($7.7 billion) to the province’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, the mineral exploration investments needed to advance the next generation of B.C. mines are on the decline.

Mineral exploration spending fell to $552 million in 2024. According to data collected by Ernst & Young for its annual British Columbia Mineral and Coal Exploration Survey, this marks the second consecutive year of declining mineral exploration.

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World’s biggest miners cut back on exploration investment – by Camilla Hodgson (Financial Times – March 9, 2025)

https://www.ft.com/

Reduction comes despite surge in spending on search for metals crucial to energy transition since 2020

The world’s biggest mining groups have cut back spending on exploration in the past two years as inflation, higher interest rates and lower commodity prices have stalled the market. That has come in spite of a flurry of spending this decade on the search for copper and lithium, metals crucial for the energy transition.

Total exploration spending fell for the second consecutive year in 2024, sliding 6 per cent to $12.5bn, after rising in the years following the pandemic, according to S&P Capital IQ. Yet investment in lithium exploration has risen every year since 2020, and had jumped 360 per cent to $1.1bn in 2024 compared with four years previously.

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Toronto exchange’s mining dominance under threat as explorers exit – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – March 03, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Toronto’s claim as the world’s top mining hub is under threat as exploration companies leave Canada and listings dwindle on the nation’s resource-heavy stock exchange.

Canada’s once-thriving mining industry is facing challenges to its decades-old model, in which explorers and developers woo investors with promises of mining breakthroughs and established producers feed on their success, swallowing them in lucrative takeovers. Industry consolidation has reduced head offices and eliminated listings, companies find it harder to attract investors, and government rules on foreign investment have become more restrictive.

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Despite record-high gold prices, mining exploration in Canada’s North declines – by Caitrin Pilkington (CBC News North – March 03, 2025)

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

High gold prices aren’t resulting in higher spending, report finds

For years, gold has been the focus of Canadian mining exploration spending: the financing that backs efforts to find, assess, and potentially develop mineral deposits into mines. These efforts have established Canada as a top gold producer worldwide.

And over the course of 2024, the price of gold shot up by 38 per cent, reaching historic heights. But a B.C. report says skyrocketing value didn’t necessarily lead to more investment last year – it found overall exploration spending in the province was down 14 per cent from 2023, and exploration spending targeting gold dropped by 24 per cent.

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‘Serious lack of details’ in [Canada Nickel] nickel mine proposal concerns group – by Andrew Autio (Timmins Daily Press – February 17, 2025)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Carbon capture process ‘encourages dangerous emissions,’ says Ontario Rivers Alliance

The Ontario Rivers Alliance has submitted its concerns regarding Canada Nickel Company’s Crawford Project to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC).

The proposed Crawford Project, located 43 kilometres north of Timmins, would see an open-pit nickel cobalt mine, as well as an on-site processing mill. The mine would be capable of producing up to 275,000 tonnes of ore per day, and the project is expected to last approximately 43 years.

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New claim-staking process an ‘existential’ threat to mining in B.C., lobby group warns – by Vaughn Palmer (Vancouver Sun – February 14, 2025)

https://vancouversun.com/

Government process adds months of consultation to process after 2023 court decision

VICTORIA — The NDP government’s new policy of consulting First Nations before registering mineral claims threatens the survival of the mining industry, says the Association for Mineral Exploration. The association issued the warning in a letter to Mines Minister Jagrup Brar as the province prepares to implement the new court-ordered consultation framework on March 26.

“The association and its board do not endorse the current mineral claims consultation framework,” association chair Trish Jacques wrote last week. “This is an existential crisis for our industry and has the potential to materially harm our members.

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CanAlaska Uranium posts top grade at West McArthur – by Blair McBride (Northern Miner – February 6, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

CanAlaska Uranium cut its highest grade intersection yet at the West McArthur project it holds in a joint venture with Cameco in northern Saskatchewan.

Hole WMA076-01 in the Pike zone cut 14.5 metres grading 12.2% uranium oxide (U3O8) from 790.1 metres depth, including 5 metres at 34.38% U3O8, CanAlaska reported Thursday. That result, among the first five holes completed in the company’s winter program, expands the Pike zone’s ultra-high grade footprint at the unconformity by at least 15 metres to the east.

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Will new claim staking rules put a chill on mineral exploration in B.C.? – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – Janaury 30, 2025)

https://www.biv.com/

First Nations likely to be deluged with claim referrals under upcoming Mineral Tenure Act changes

Twenty years ago, an NDP government triggered a flight of investment from mineral exploration and mining in B.C. that lasted more than a decade when, in 1993, it ring-fenced the massive undeveloped copper-cobalt Windy Craggy deposit with a new provincial park.

Windy Craggy, still a sore point for miners and prospectors in B.C., was invoked last week at the Association of Mineral Exploration (AME) Roundup conference during a technical panel discussion on the new rules coming for claim staking.

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Ford government looks to tweak mining claims in Ontario – by Charlie Pinkerton (The Trillium/Northern Ontario Business – January 24, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The province’s online claims system, which First Nations have argued allows violations of their rights, wouldn’t be impacted by the proposed changes

As it looks for ways to expedite the extraction of Ontario’s natural resources, the Ford government has proposed changes to how prospectors secure lands’ mining rights.

Draft regulatory changes published by the province’s Ministry of Mines last week would tweak certain requirements and timelines that a claimant to a property’s mining rights must meet before the government confirms their claim.

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B.C.’s new mineral claims rules criticized by those most affected – by Akshay Kulkarni (CBC News British Columbia – January 23, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

First Nations say B.C. isn’t meeting its obligations, while prospectors worry about delays

Prospectors wanting to make a mineral claim in B.C. will soon have to consult with local First Nations under new provincial rules. But neither First Nations representatives nor prospectors are happy with them, and a mining professor says the rules could leave some community members feeling left out.

First Nations say the development of a new consultation framework — which goes into effect March 26 — was rushed, and its drafting didn’t meet the province’s obligations to consult under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).

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