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Manitoba Mining

Commentary: How to revive exploration in Manitoba – by Stephen Masson (Northern Miner – December 23, 2015)

http://www.northernminer.com/

Creation of vast parks would create “wilderness ghettos”

The opportunities related to mining and exploration are enormous in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but mineral exploration in these two provinces is decreasing, and our industry will need to see changes if we are to expect improvement.

Across the country, although there are some exceptions such as Fission Uranium’s uranium discovery in Saskatchewan and Balmoral Resources’ nickel find in Quebec, the lack of exploration activity by junior companies has resulted in a fall-off in discovery rates.

Without discoveries, mines rapidly approaching the end of their life will not be replaced, and our once-vibrant mining camps and towns will go into decline, and new mining camps will not be founded.

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First Nations, province co-operating in mining – by Martin Cash (Winnipeg Free Press – November 19, 2015)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

EFFORTS by the province and some Manitoba First Nations to work together in the mining industry are beginning to bear fruit.

Two years ago, the province established a mining council made up of representatives of First Nations, industry and government officials.

The goal was to help smooth what had been a rocky relationship between the provincial mining branch and exploration and development companies and the First Nations whose resource lands were being affected by mineral exploration and development.

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Vale to shut Manitoba nickel smelting, refining in 2018 – by Rod Nickel (Reuters U.S. – November 19, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

Nov 19 Brazilian miner Vale SA will close its nickel smelting and refining operations in the western Canadian province of Manitoba in 2018, but will continue mining and milling despite the plunge in the price of nickel, a company official said on Thursday.

Vale, the world’s biggest nickel producer, will cease smelting and refining in Thompson, Manitoba, once work is complete to allow it to produce and ship nickel concentrate from its mill, said Mark Scott, Vale’s director of mining and milling in Thompson.

Smelting and refining operations were originally scheduled for closure this year, until the company struck an agreement with workers and Canada’s environment department to keep them running until as late as 2019.

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Manitoba-Nunavut hydro link is economically viable: study – by Sarah Rogers (Nunatsiaq News – October 6, 2015)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Report calls for next study on $904-million electrical power network

A new study commissioned by the Kivalliq Inuit Association says a project connecting Nunavut’s Kivalliq region to Manitoba’s electrical power grid is economically viable, environmentally beneficial, and should move forward without delay.

The estimated cost of the project, which would extend transmission lines north from Churchill, Man. up the western Hudson Bay coast, is about $904 million, says the new scoping study, prepared for the KIA by engineering firm BBA Inc. and released last month.

But the study suggests the project would pay for itself over its estimated 40-year lifetime, delivering projected savings of $40 million a year by replacing fossil fuels from dirty, expensive diesel generators with cleaner hydroelectric power.

The report, called Hydroelectric Power from Manitoba to the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, says extending the electric power grid “would generation great socioeconomic and environmental benefits for the population of the Kivalliq region and the development of the mineral industry.”

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Aboriginal employment a focus for Hudbay – by Jonathon Naylor (Flin Flon Reminder – June 25, 2015)

http://www.thereminder.ca/

In 2013, at the height of the Idle No More protest movement, Hudbay found itself mired in controversy.

Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, a small native band based in Pukatawagan, declared the company in breach of treaty law by opening its Lalor and Reed mines near Snow Lake without First Nations consent.

The powers that be (and much of the public) sided with Hudbay and mining carried on as planned. The episode may have soured some First Nations people on Hudbay, but it hasn’t dampened the company’s enthusiasm for bringing more Aboriginals – perhaps a lot more – into the workforce.

“We find that building familiarity and understanding is what we need to accomplish,” says Rob Winton, vice-president, Manitoba Business Unit for Hudbay. “If you don’t work in a sector, you might know what it does in the broadest sense but not have much familiarity with all the aspects and details of it. I don’t think that’s unusual or unique to First Nations. But because we want to provide opportunity for Aboriginal people to be part of Hudbay, we’re trying to bridge that gap. We want them to see and believe that Hudbay is an option.”

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Manitoba Hudbay workers go on strike in Flin Flon and Snow Lake – by Staff (Canadian Press/Global News – May 4, 2015)

http://globalnews.ca/

FLIN FLON, Man. — Hudbay workers in Flin Flon and Snow Lake, Man., went on strike Saturday.

The union representing the workers announced Friday negotiations with the mining company had failed and they would go on strike Saturday at noon.

Hudbay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) confirmed in a news release that 180 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local No. 1848 began a strike at noon Saturday.

The striking workers represent about 12 per cent of Hudbay’s 1,460 person workforce in Manitoba, the company said.

The union has said members want changes in wages and pensions. It said 96 per cent of its members voted against an offer from the company last month. Hudbay said it has a contingency plan in place and expects its operations to continue.

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Flin Flon region remains key for growing Hudbay – by Jonathon Naylor (Flin Flon Reminder – April 28, 2015)

http://www.thereminder.ca/

As Hudbay commences a new chapter as a truly international company, David Garofalo is taken aback by the whispers of concern.

From Flin Flon and Snow Lake come worries that with his full-throttle expansion into Peru, and eventually the southern US, Garofalo is forsaking Hudbay’s traditional heartland in northern Manitoba.

“I’m surprised to hear it because when I was hired the first thing I did was put two mines into construction in Manitoba before we put any money into work anywhere else,” says Garofalo with a gentle laugh.

Those two mines, of course, are the massive Lalor mine near Snow Lake and its much smaller cousin, Reed mine, situated between Snow Lake and Flin Flon.

Between them the mines cost about $500 million and helped solidify Hudbay’s longer-term presence in northern Manitoba.

Hudbay is now working to expand known reserves at Lalor, its preeminent Manitoba asset, but the real wild card is Flin Flon’s 777 mine.

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Snow Lake return to mining would surprise resident – by Jonathon Naylor (Flin Flon Reminder – April 23, 2015)

http://www.thereminder.ca/

Hudbay has additional processing in mind, not mining, with its planned purchase of the long-idle New Britannia gold mine in Snow Lake.

The deal, worth as much as US$17.3 million, is expected to close next week, giving Hudbay a mill, a former mine and dozens of unsurveyed mineral claims.

Rob Winton, vice-president, Manitoba Business Unit for Hudbay, said the transaction adds potential flexibility to processing options at its Lalor mine near Snow Lake.

“The timing of this acquisition works well as the current Lalor mine plans [have] us accessing gold ore in future years,” he said. “Having the capability to maximize gold recovery of these ores is the opportunity this purchase presents.”

The purchase, announced late last week, will give Hudbay two Snow Lake area mills capable of serving Lalor: the Stall Lake concentrator and the New Britannia mill. That raises questions around the company’s previously announced plan to build a new state-of-the-art mill at Lalor.

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NEWS RELEASE: Mega Precious to be Acquired by Yamana Gold

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – April 24, 2015) – Mega Precious Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:MGP) (“Mega” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement (the “Agreement”) with Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX:YRI)(NYSE:AUY) (“Yamana”), whereby Yamana will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Mega under a plan of arrangement for consideration of 0.02092 of a Yamana share and cash of C$0.001 per Mega share, equivalent to C$0.10 per Mega share, based on the closing price of Yamana shares on the TSX on April 23, 2015. The total consideration to Mega shareholders is approximately C$17.5 million, based on the Company’s issued current and outstanding shares. Yamana has also agreed to purchase the outstanding convertible debentures held by Pacific Road Capital Resources Funds.

Mega’s board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction and recommends that Mega shareholders vote in favour of the arrangement. All of the directors and officers of Mega, as well as certain shareholders who collectively own approximately 22% of Mega’s issued and outstanding shares, have entered into support agreements with Yamana pursuant to which they have agreed, among other things, to support the transaction and vote their Mega shares in favour of the arrangement. Paradigm Capital Inc. has provided an opinion to Mega’s board that the consideration is fair, from a financial point of view, to Mega shareholders.

Benefits to Mega Shareholders:

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[Vale] Thompson miners safe after underground fire – by Lara Schroeder and Peter Chura (Global News – April 6, 2015)

http://globalnews.ca/

WINNIPEG – All of the miners who were stuck underground after a fire broke out in a Thompson, Man., nickel mine have safely returned to the surface.

The eight miners who were still waiting to be rescued Monday afternoon were safely pulled out by 1:25 p.m., mine owner Vale Inco said.

The fire trapped 39 miners in the Vale Inco nickel mine in Thompson, Man., Sunday night.

The 39 mine employees moved to “refuge stations” after a remotely operated piece of equipment called LHD (load-haul-dump) caught fire at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the company’s T1 mine, Vale spokesman Ryan Land said in a news release Monday.

Shanda Skode of Penticton, B.C., said her husband was trapped overnight and she wasn’t happy with the way the company handled the situation.

‘They called me six hours after he was supposed to be back on the surface,” she said. Her husband, who she preferred not to name, was supposed to surface at 5 p.m. CT Sunday, and she worried when he didn’t text her as usual and she couldn’t contact him.

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The Flin Flon copper deposit – by Correy Baldwin (CIM Magazine – June/July 2011)

Canada Vignettes: Flin Flon by Tina Horne, National Film Board of Canada

http://www.cim.org/en.aspx

In 1915, prospector Tom Creighton brought his prospecting team to the shores of Ross Lake, Manitoba, where he had found a promising ore deposit. The deposit would eventually come to support one of Canada’s most important and prosperous copper mines. However, when it came time to naming the property, Creighton’s mind was not on copper, but on the more glamorous gold – and adventure novels.

The site reminded him of a paperback adventure novel that he had come across earlier while on a portage – The Sunless City by British writer J. E. Preston Muddock. In the novel, a prospector named Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin pilots a submarine through a bottomless lake to a magical land where gold is so plentiful that it is used to pave the streets. Creighton named the site Flin Flon’s mine, shortening the name of the main character, and thereby sparing the future city of Flin Flon from having a more unusual title.

It was not copper but gold that originally brought people to the area. Two years earlier, Creighton was part of the team that discovered gold in the quartz veins of nearby Amisk Lake, also known as Beaver Lake. The resulting gold rush brought over a thousand men to the remote area, and the town of Beaver City sprung up.

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Future starts to look bright for mining companies – by Martin Cash (Winnipeg Free Press – February 10, 2015)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

THE ownership of two of the most promising mineral-exploration projects in the province continue to lay the groundwork for what they hope will eventually become producing mines.

Mega Precious Metals Inc. announced a 5,000-metre winter drill program at its Monument Bay gold and tungsten project, located about 60 kilometres northwest of Red Sucker Lake in northeastern Manitoba.

A company spokesperson said the exact capital investment in the program is not known but said this year’s drilling program is fully funded. The Thunder Bay-based company has about $4 million in its bank account.

The company has been laying the groundwork for a preliminary economic assessment of its gold deposit that currently sits at 2.1 million ounces measured and inferred.

Mega has a funding arrangement with Pacific Road Capital out of Australia. When milestones are met and both sides agree to the disbursements, the company could have as much as $40 million at its disposal. But with Mega’s current share price down at five cents, it’s likely too dilutive and not the right time for the next tranche from Pacific Road.

Farther west in northern Manitoba, Carlisle Goldfields is a little further along in the redevelopment of its gold mines near Lynn Lake, about 740 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

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NEWS RELEASE: Carlisle Signs Exploration Agreement With First Nation

TORONTO, Feb. 9, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Carlisle Goldfields Limited (“Carlisle” or the “Company”) (TSX:CGJ) is pleased to announce that it, together with its Lynn Lake Joint Venture (the “LLJV”) partner AuRico Gold Inc. (“AuRico”), has entered into a comprehensive Exploration Agreement (the “Agreement”) with the Marcel Colomb First Nation (“MCFN”) and the Marcel Colomb Development Corporation (“MCDC”).

The Agreement states that “…the MCFN is committed to principals of economic sustainability and growth for its members, environmental stewardship and self-determination in respect of MCFN lands and resources and wishes to establish a cooperative and respectful long-term relationship with both AuRico and Carlisle.” Further, “the LLJV recognizes and respects the Aboriginal and Treaty rights and interests of MCFN, together with their constitutional and other legal rights and desires to maintain open and friendly, cooperative, on-going communications and a positive working relationship,” and further that “this Exploration Agreement is not in derogation of abrogation of any inherent treaty, aboriginal, title or like right of MCFN.”

The Agreement also states that “…the parties agree that it is their common objective to assist MCDC and MCFN members to benefit from business opportunities associated with Exploration Activities undertaken by the LLJV…” and that…”assuming the Feasibility Study is positive, the Parties commit to make best efforts to develop an Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) consistent with this Exploration Agreement.”

Chief Andrew Colomb of the Marcel Colomb First Nation stated that “We are pleased to have signed this Agreement with Carlisle and AuRico. Carlisle has proven to be a supportive and engaged partner of the Marcel Colomb First Nation over the years.

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My Take on Snow Lake – by Marc Jackson (Thompson Citizen – December 24, 2014)

The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000.  editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Former Snow Lakers abound at mining convention

Walking the exhibition floor at the annual Manitoba Mining and Mineral Convention is just like old home week for a Snow Laker. A wide variety of people who have either lived here, or had extended visits, were around every corner, or in some cases working a booth on the convention centre’s massive exhibition floor.

This was indeed the case for several gents clustered on one of the central avenues of the floor looking to drum up interest in their “prospective” properties.

Dan Ziehlke, representing his company Strider Resources Ltd., was welcoming, conversational, and partaking in something he called “the miner’s breakfast” (a bag of popcorn from the kettle maker set up on the convention floor) when we happened upon him. Dan firmly believes – and he can back it up with the geology, prospecting and geochemical work – that he has another Nor-Acme type deposit on the east side of Wekusko.

Jim Parres was set up immediately to the left of Ziehlke and promoting his Jiminex Properties: Misehkow River near Pickle Lake; Northern Eagle near Hemlo; and the Parres and Parres Two near Osborne Lake.

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Editorial: Friendly Manitoba, slow Manitoba – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – December 10, 2014)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. Editor John Cumming MSc (Geol) is one of the country’s most well respected mining journalists.  jcumming@northernminer.com

One of the hottest topics on the sidelines of the recent Manitoba Mining and Minerals Convention in Winnipeg was the provincial lawsuit launched by two prospectors against the Manitoba government for allegedly failing in its “duty to consult” with the Manto Sipi Cree First Nation community near the duo’s mineral claims, which effectively ruined their business.

The statement of claim filed in October by Manitoba prospectors James Campbell in Winnipeg and Peter Dunlop in The Pas may stem from a bureaucratic nightmare that directly impacts only a handful of people, but it’s the kind of conflict that is becoming all too common across Manitoba and Canada.

For that reason, the plaintiffs say they have drawn sympathy and moral support from mining industry professionals and associations across Manitoba and beyond.

The lawsuit centres around Campbell and Dunlop’s Godslith lithium claims in the Gods Lake region of northeastern Manitoba. While the ground had seen earlier exploration by companies such as Inco, Dunlop staked the ground in 1988 and transferred it to Campbell in 2004, who in turn optioned it to Golden Virtue Resources (formerly named First Lithium Resources) in 2009.

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