https://canadianminingjournal.com/
Canadian Mining Journal held its first Reimagine Mining Suppliers Symposium on Wednesday in partnership with Costmine, welcoming president and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL), Tony Makuch, as its keynote speaker.
Kirkland Lake is in the midst of one of the Canadian gold sector’s most important mergers in recent memory with Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), with Makuch soon to be CEO of the new Agnico Eagle.
The mega-merger of Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) and Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL; ASX: KLA) unveiled to the market on September 28 “makes a lot of strategic sense” but is likely to be the last blockbuster M&A deal by a major in the Canadian mining sector, according to Haywood Securities mining analyst Kerry Smith.
“Most of the big deals are done,” Smith says in an interview. “There are going to be acquisitions of assets by some of the mid-tiers—that’s what’s going to come next. I think we’ll see mid-tier mining companies buying single-asset development stage companies; companies like Rupert Resources, Moneta, and Belo Sun Mining and others — companies that are in super-easy jurisdictions to work in.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. plans to acquire Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. in an all-stock transaction that the companies say will create a “true Canadian mining champion,” but the deal garnered a lukewarm reception on Bay Street, with some investors questioning the strategic rationale.
Toronto-based Agnico said on Tuesday it intends to pay 0.7935 of its shares for each Kirkland share, or about 1 per cent higher than Kirkland’s average close over the 10-day period as of last Friday, essentially making it a nil-premium deal valued at more than $13-billion.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Agnico Eagle wants to build a gold and copper mine north of Larder Lake, near the Quebec border, and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada is inviting public feedback.
The agency said it has accepted the initial project description for the Upper Beaver Gold Project and wants the public and Indigenous groups to review the project description and provide comment. The agency will compile a summary of issues to present to the mining company.
Measured and Indicated(1)(2) (“M&I”) Mineral Resources increase 10,061,000 ounces or 216% from December 31, 2020 estimates to 14,718,000 ounces at June 30, 2021 (572.0 million tonnes (“MT”) at average grade of 0.80 grams per tonne (“g/t”))
TORONTO, Sept. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (“Kirkland Lake Gold” or the “Company”) (TSX:KL) (NYSE:KL) (ASX:KLA) today announced the release of new Mineral Resource estimates for the Detour Lake Mine (“Detour Lake”) as at June 30, 2021 (“Mid-Year 2021”).
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Gatling Exploration strikes partnership with Matachewan, Wahgoshig First Nations
A gold exploration company in the Kirkland Lake area has inked an exploration agreement with Matachewan and Wahgoshig First Nations.
Vancouver-based Gatling Exploration is working a gold property known as the Larder Project, 35 kilometres east of Kirkland Lake. The agreement sets out a framework for communication and a working relationship between the company and the First Nations.
One objective of this deal is to identify opportunities for Indigenous-owned businesses and members to participate in the company’s exploration activities, which may include training.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Massive exploration drilling at Detour Lake should lengthen mine’s longevity
Kirkland Lake Gold is sitting pretty to reach its 2020 gold production targets, thanks to a record second quarter.
In a July 12 news release, the Toronto gold miner said, collectively, its three operations at Macassa in Kirkland Lake; Detour Lake, north of Cochrane, and Fosterville in Australia, produced a total of 379,195 ounces, up 15 per cent from the same quarter last year and up 25 per cent from the first quarter this year.
Gold sales reached an average realized price of $1,814 per ounce. Up to the midway point of 2021, production totalled 682,042 ounces, a 3 per cent increase from the first half of 2020, reflecting higher production at Detour Lake and Macassa.
A new strategic partnership and equity investment by Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL; ASX: KLA) into Orefinders Resources (ORX: TSXV) and Mistango River Resources (CSE: MIS) will allow the two Canadian juniors to “unlock the full potential of their assets,” says Stephen Stewart, CEO of Orefinders and chairman of Mistango.
Under the proposed partnership agreement, Kirkland Lake Gold has acquired a 9.9% stake in each of the juniors. Additionally, Kirkland Lake will also have the option to acquire up to a 75% interest in specific projects under the companies’ portfolio of assets in exchange for a total combined $120 million investment.
This is the second high-profile investment that Orefinders and Mistango have received in the last year as billionaire investor, and former chairman of Kirkland Lake Gold, Eric Sprott has made four separate investments into the two companies over that period.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Gold miner takes ownership stake, sign option agreements with Orefinders Resources, Mistango River Resources
Kirkland Lake Gold has taken an ownership position in two gold exploration sister companies in the Kirkland Lake camp and is prepared to spend up to $120 million on exploration.
In what’s being framed as a strategic partnership and a potential joint venture opportunity, Kirkland Lake Gold is acquiring a 9.9 per cent interest in Orefinders Resources and Mistango River Resources. Both junior companies are under the direction of Stephen Stewart.
Orefinders is sending 24.4 million common shares Kirkland Lake Gold’s way in return for more than $2.4 million.
It has come to our attention that Kirkland Lake’s Town Council will, during their meeting on the afternoon of 20 April 2021, be voting on a proposal to divest the Town of the whole of the property containing the historic heritage building known as the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau and placing the future of the Museum of Northern History in jeopardy.
WHEREAS, the Museum of Northern History at the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau has been a part of the Kirkland Lake community for decades; AND,
WHEREAS, the Museum of Northern History at the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau is the cultural centre of the Town of Kirkland Lake, now acting as the single permanent hub of cultural identity and activity for the community and surrounding area; AND,
An accidental discovery of gold that helped establish one of Canada’s most valuable mining camps and important newspapers
When William Henry “Bill” Wright came across a visible gold vein in Kirkland Lake in 1911, he could not have known that the deposit he had just found would become one of Canada’s most prosperous mining camps, home to seven gold mines.
Wright was born in the English town of Sleaford in 1876. He worked as a butcher’s apprentice before joining the British army in 1897, serving both at home and abroad during the Second Boer War.
He came to Canada 10 years later, and worked odd jobs in northern Ontario before going to the Cobalt and Porcupine mining camps. Along with his brother-in-law Ed Hargreaves, Wright headed to the Kirkland Lake region, where prospectors had previously searched for gold. They spent much of their time hunting for food as well as searching for promising ground to stake.
In spite of the warnings that Northern Ontario would die “as soon as the ore runs out,” in my heart I always rejected that feeling of impermanence. The Pollyanna in me thinks there is still a bright future on the horizon.
In 1903, silver deposits were discovered in Cobalt. It was likely the most significant event in the history of Northern Ontario. At that time, the area was uninhabited wilderness.
By 1910, more than 3,000 men were employed in underground mining; the population of the town was 6,000 and nearby Haileybury had a population of 5,000. Depending on various sources, there were between 38 mines and/or 100 mines or mining companies in the Cobalt area.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Pandemic-related challenges faced by the Kirkland Lake Gold team in 2020 have left the big boss suitably impressed. In reflecting on the past year, president-CEO Tony Makuch was pleased with the “solid results” in gold production in releasing the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year results.
The Toronto-headquartered gold miner reported all three of its cornerstone mines at Macassa and Detour Lake in northeastern Ontario, and Fosterville in Australia, achieved their highest production rates in the last quarter of 2020.
“Looking at our operating performance, in many respects our team had its best year ever in 2020,” said Makuch in a Jan. 12 news release.
Kirkland Lake Gold views Timmins as an integral part of the company’s future according to its president and chief executive officer Tony Makuch.
Makuch, a native of Timmins, has more than 30 years of experience as a mining engineer. He joined KL Gold in July 2016. Before that, he was the CEO of Lake Shore Gold from 2008 until 2016, when it was acquired by Tahoe Resources.
This past week, he was the guest speaker for the latest edition of The State of Mining — a series of discussions hosted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce over the video conferencing platform Zoom.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
The Kirkland Lake area remains hot property for many junior miners drilling or acquiring property in the Abitibi region of northeastern Ontario. Meanwhile a cobalt plant developer is finetuning its strategy to bring a mothballed refinery back into production in the Temiskaming area.
Toronto’s Mistango River Resources started a 10,000-metres drilling campaign on its Kirkland West Project, just west of Kirkland Lake Gold’s Macassa Mine.
The plan is to explore multiple target areas on the property with the first holes going in near the former Baldwin Mine, where historical production yielded gold grades of 15 grams per tonne.
