https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Canada Nickel Company Inc. announced plans Thursday to build two large processing facilities near Timmins, Ont., whose output would be directed partly to North America’s rapidly growing market for electric vehicles.
The company said its wholly owned subsidiary, NetZero Metals Inc., intends to build a nickel-processing facility it described as North America’s largest, as well as a stainless-steel and alloy plant it said would be Canada’s biggest.
Falling prices hurting investor appetite and threaten to crush exploration
Miner Paul Cowley decided two years ago to shift his focus to lithium from gold when his company acquired the mineral rights for multiple small claims containing the light metal in central Alberta.
Given lithium’s skyrocketing prices and investors pouring money into companies associated with the metal needed to power electric-vehicle batteries, the chief executive of TSX Venture-listed Indigo Exploration Inc. thought it was the perfect time to make the move.
When Ellen Rice-Hogan discovered that someone had bought a mining claim under her farm, she was shocked. “There’s no mining around the Township of Low, Que., about 40 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, where she raises sheep and cattle.
“It was shocking, surprising, all of the above,” she said. “We’re a small community. The potential of this is huge and it’s going to have a huge negative impact, I feel, on our territory.” There is a boom in mining claims in Quebec as prospectors anticipate explosive demand for minerals used in electric batteries.
Approximately 60 kilometres north of Ottawa, a small Quebec municipality is taking a stand against mining exploration in the area. After hearing feedback from locals, the municipality of Low, Que., decided during a January 8th council meeting to support its population in resisting mining development.
The decision came after the municipality noticed a “proliferation of mining claims on private land as well as on public land, on the territory of the Municipality of the Township of Low and neighbouring municipalities,” council said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/
Provincial government rejected request for pause in 2022, won’t say if position has changed
First Nations leaders say they’ll up their protests and consider legal action if the Ontario government refuses to address their concerns with the province’s online system for staking mining claims. A 2018 move to digitize this process, which previously had prospectors physically hammer posts in the ground, has prompted an “unprecedented” and overwhelming surge in claims, the Chiefs of Ontario said last week.
The organization, which advocates for 133 First Nations province-wide, outlined demands for a one-year moratorium on new claims in a letter sent to provincial leaders.
https://www.globalminingreview.com/
White Cliff Minerals Limited has announced that it has received a positive conformity determination for its licences from the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) for the high-grade Coppermine project.
This critical regulatory approval marks a major step in the permitting process and allows the company to now appoint contractors for 2024 exploration initiatives and complete the logistical planning phase. This approval also ensures that any proposed activities align with regulatory expectations and underscores White Cliffs’ demonstrable commitment to responsible resource development with local, territorial, and federal stakeholders.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/
Today, anybody can make a mining claim on the Ontario government’s website as long as they have a few minutes, a computer and $50. The mineral claims process happens in an electronic heartbeat, and claims are marked on a digitized map.
The result is a flood of claims on First Nations territories, huge administrative pileups and frustration among First Nations that say they are not being consulted and have no capacity to deal with the sheer volume of mineral claims.
The Narwhal
Thousands of online mining claims are being made on the territories of First Nations without their consent — and often they aren’t even told about it
The notices usually pour in on Sunday. One by one, they pile up in the email inbox of Cat Lake First Nation Chief Russell Wesley, each one about a mining claim someone has staked on his community’s territory. Sometimes, he receives up to 20 in a single day.
As the nation’s main point of contact for mining companies, ideally he’d be able to review them — make sure that if prospectors were to come in and start searching for minerals on the sites, the claims wouldn’t overlap with sites that are culturally important to Cat Lake or used by members of the remote, fly-in community in northwestern Ontario for hunting or gathering medicines.
Falco Resources (TSXV: FPC) has entered into an operating license and indemnity agreement (OLIA) with Glencore Canada allowing Falco to use part of Glencore’s lands. Falco intends to develop and operate its wholly owned Horne 5 copper-zinc mine at Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
The agreement includes the creation of a technical committee consisting of two nominees from Glencore and two from Falco to ensure that operations of Glencore’s Horne copper smelter are not adversely affected. A similar strategic committee will also be created. Glencore will appoint one nominee to Falco’s board of directors.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/
Low, Que., calling for designation exempting land from exploration
A township in western Quebec is taking steps to prevent mineral exploration on its lands amid a big increase in recent claims in the Outaouais. At a meeting earlier this month, councillors for the Township of Low voted 5-1 in favour of supporting its population “in its resistance to mining development,” according to the resolution.
Low is located about 60 kilometres northwest of Ottawa. There’s currently “a proliferation of mining claims on private land as well as on public land,” according to the council.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
SPC Nickel posts maiden mineral estimate on West Graham Project
An emerging Sudbury nickel mining company has posted a first-time mineral estimate of its deposit in the Sudbury basin. SPC Nickel released a maiden estimate of its West Graham Project on Jan. 17, one of two deposits on its Lockerby East nickel and copper property in an area which has seen previous mining operations.
The company said in the news release that West Graham has the potential to be developed quickly as a low-cost, open-pit operation in its initial stages of mining. But with more exploration, West Graham has huge mineral upside at depth.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Alamos Gold (TSX: AGI; NYSE: AGI) announced on Monday that it will acquire Quebec-focused junior Orford Mining (TSXV: ORM) in an all-share transaction valuing the company at $24 million or 10¢ per share.
Alamos already owns 27.5% of the company’s shares. If the acquisition is approved by Orford shareholders at a meeting scheduled for March, they will receive 0.005588 of an Alamos share for each Orford share held.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Chiefs of Ontario resolution calls for year-long moratorium pending review
Indigenous leaders in Ontario are calling for a moratorium on the virtual staking of mining claims while they review the process to ensure that impacted First Nation communities are being properly consulted.
In a resolution passed last November during the organization’s annual fall assembly, the Chiefs of Ontario say the Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS) puts pressure on First Nations to participate in potential mineral development opportunities while also reducing the amount of land available for land claim settlements that are already underway.
Canada is the world leader in financing mineral exploration across the planet. It’s just that about 57 per cent of that money, or $10.5 billion in 2022, was invested abroad, David Olive writes.
It’s commonly assumed in Canada that we are laggards at critical mineral production. There are a couple of new approaches we could take in helping the world ease its critical mineral shortages.
They are a new continental “corridor” extending from Canada to Chile of critical mineral producers that share common values. And second, we need a new model of financing the junior mining companies that make up most of Canada’s mining sector, account for most mine discoveries — and are starved for capital. First, though, Canada is not, in fact, a laggard.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Terry Lynch began to notice unusual price movements in Power Nickel (TSXV: PNPN; US-OTC: PNPNF)’s stock (then called Chilean Metals) years ago. The shares consistently traded down at the end of the day, regardless of news, with late day trades often made anonymously.
Now the stock is stuck in a range of 25¢ to 30¢ — despite a recently released initial nickel-sulphide resource for the company’s optioned Nisk project in Quebec, and a staged deal with battery and defence supplier CVMR to fund engineering studies.
