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Newfoundland and Labrador Mining

Toxic Towns: Don’t hold your breath – by Malone Mullin (CBC News Interactives – November 28, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

In Baie Verte, N.L., a mine that once brought prosperity now symbolizes pain, suffering and death. Nobody knows how to get rid of it.

This is Part I of a three-part series on contaminated sites in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In Émile Zola’s 1885 novel Germinal, a French mining town, filled with families dependent on coal, is plotting a strike. It’s not an idyllic existence, living in 19th-century Montsou. Workers and their families sleep in shacks, eat mostly bread and rarely embrace leisure.

Eventually, they’re consumed by the massive beast whose tendrils reach deep underground. The mine, named Le Voreux, holds such sway over the townspeople’s lives that it transforms into a character in itself; figuratively speaking, by the end of the book, it eats its servants alive.

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Southwestern Newfoundland could be home to a high-grade deposit of highly in demand lithium – by Evan Careen (Saltwire.com – November 14, 2022)

https://www.saltwire.com/

Early test results are promising at the Kraken project near Burgeo

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — When people think mining in Newfoundland and Labrador, iron ore, nickel and, in recent years, gold, tend to come to mind.

Gold was actually what Tim Froude, CEO of Sokoman Minerals Corp., and his mining partners, Benton Resources Inc, were looking for at their Golden Hope project in southwestern Newfoundland when something else caught their eye. “We were flying along in a helicopter when we noticed a white outcrop in the distance, so we landed to take a look,” Froude said.

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COMMENTARY: Everything’s coming up minerals in Newfoundland and Labrador – by Larry Short (Saltwire.com – November 10, 2022)

https://www.saltwire.com/

I attended the Mineral Resource Review Conference held Nov. 1 to Nov. 4 in St. John’s and I have never been as optimistic about the financial future of Newfoundland and Labrador as I am now.

The conference is all about the rocks in Newfoundland and Labrador and how they could be, and are being, mined. There were 803 registered delegates plus gangs of assistants and enablers from exploration and mining companies, prospectors and suppliers.

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The new Atlantic Canada exploration boom – by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco (CIM Magazine – June 14, 2022)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Gold, clean-energy metals and even salt offer the promise of a bright future

Canada’s Atlantic region is experiencing a mining exploration rush the likes of which has not been seen in the area since the 1990s boom that followed the discovery of the nickel-bearing deposit at Newfoundland’s Voisey’s Bay. Once again, Newfoundland and Labrador is leading the way with more than 100,000 mineral claims staked in 2021 – the second largest annual claims total in the province’s history after 1995.

This time, the majority of exploration companies descending on the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are looking for gold instead of nickel. A handful of others, however, are not setting their sights on the precious metal but on critical minerals and metals that are vital for decarbonization of modern technologies.

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Marathon Gold receives mining leases for Newfoundland project – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 15, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Marathon Gold (TSX: MOZ) is one step closer to having its proposed Valentine open-pit gold mine in central Newfoundland fully permitted as it has received the mining leases for the project.

The province’s leases cover the development of the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits and have a term of 20 years.

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Eric Sprott makes his biggest bet yet on what he believes could be ‘the greatest gold discovery in the history of Canada’ – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 19, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

The billionaire, who was an early backer of what became one of the world’s largest gold miners, says this one is even bigger

Bay Street legend Eric Sprott, who became a billionaire betting on gold and silver, just made his biggest investment yet in a precious metals exploration company.

Last week, Sprott, the founder of asset manager Sprott Inc., announced that he had purchased $125.9 million of shares in New Found Gold Corp., an early stage exploration company that holds exclusive rights to a project in Newfoundland and Labrador that has yielded promising initial drill results but has no official mineral resource.

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As mining plans ramp up, Millertown hopes to grow with its new, golden neighbours – by Garrett Barry (CBC News Newfoundland Labrador – April 5, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Communities around Marathon Gold’s Valentine Lake project are preparing — and praying — for big changes in their region as the mining company takes the next steps toward construction of its open-pit mines.

The project passed a major environmental assessment process with the Newfoundland and Labrador government last month and hopes to bring contractors to the site to start building the mine’s infrastructure this summer.

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It’s a gold mine: Toronto company gets green light for central Newfoundland mining project – by Mike Moore (CBC Newfoundland Labrador – March 18, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Valentine gold project has been released from environmental assessment

The provincial government is giving the go-ahead to a proposed gold mine in central Newfoundland that is being touted as potentially the largest in Atlantic Canada and a “significant contributor” to the province’s economy.

Industry Minister Andrew Parsons made the announcement Thursday in the House of Assembly. “The Valentine gold project in central Newfoundland has been released from the provincial government’s environmental assessment and the project is approved to proceed,” Parsons said.

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How industry, Indigenous nations and provincial leaders forged a consensus in Labrador – by Jacques Poitras (CBC News New Brunswick – December 9, 2021)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

Former premier, Innu and Inuit officials say negotiating a deal is better than legal showdown

As the New Brunswick government and the Wolastoqey Nation prepare for what could be a decade-long legal battle over Aboriginal title, an alternative approach is continuing to unfold on the eastern edge of Atlantic Canada.

In Labrador this week, the owners of the Voisey’s Bay nickel mine have halted marine shipping to and from the mine, just as they do every year on Dec. 6. It’s part of an agreement to minimize the breaking up of winter ice by ships so that Inuit and Innu hunters can cross that ice to harvest in their traditional territories.

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Voisey’s Bay mine wins Miner of the Year – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – Noember 29, 2021)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The Newfoundland and Labrador Branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) has awarded Vale (NYSE: VALE) its Miner of the Year designation for Vale’s Voisey’s Bay nickel operation 30 km southwest of Nain, Labrador. The award was announced at the annual Mineral Resources Review on Nov. 25.

The Voisey’s Bay team has been working on the simultaneous development of two underground mines – Reid Brook and Eastern Deeps – while it continues to mine the Ovoid deposit with open pit methods.

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Vale shopping low-carbon N.L. nickel to burgeoning EV sector; with pledges to get greener – by Terry Roberts (CBC News Newfoundland-Labrador – November 8, 2021)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Company confirms it’s in talks with suppliers to electric vehicle market in effort to ‘grow our exposure’

Vale is aggressively promoting the low-carbon footprint of its mining and processing operations in Newfoundland and Labrador, with hopes of positioning its eastern Canadian operations as a preferred supplier to the burgeoning battery electric vehicle market.

The company is touting a third-party assessment of its N.L. operations that revealed nickel rounds produced in the province go to market at a substantially lower environmental cost than the industry standard.

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Friedland-backed Ivanhoe Electric funds South Voisey’s Bay survey – by Henry Lazenby (Nothern Miner – October 6, 2021)

Global mining news

Mining magnate Robert Friedland is looking to make another potentially massive base metals discovery about 80 kilometres south of his famous Voisey’s Bay find from 1993.

Friedland’s privately held US-based firm Ivanhoe Electric Inc. (IVNE) has put up funding to conduct a low-temperature superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) moving loop transient electromagnetic survey on the South Voisey’s Bay (SVB) nickel-copper-cobalt project in Labrador, Canada.

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Newfoundland and Labrador’s notable mining history carries on – by David Duval (Resource World – August 31, 2021)

https://resourceworld.com/

For an island that’s commonly referred to as “The Rock” it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that mining has played an important if sporadic role in the economic, social, and cultural history of the eastern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mining is one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest and oldest industries, and a major contributor to the economy of the province, especially in rural areas. More than 15 mineral commodities have been produced or mined in the province.

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Vale unlocks the next phase of Voisey’s Bay – by David Keating (Canadian Mining Journal – August 16, 2021)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The Labrador Aboriginal Training Partnership (LATP), an agreement between
Vale and the Labrador Inuit and Innu of Nunatsiavut, Nunatukavut and Innu
Nation has been instrumental for recruiting and training Aboriginal workers
from the region. Employment numbers from these Aboriginal groups at Voisey’s
Bay is touted as being 50% of the overall workforce.

One of the largest nickel deposits in the world has been given a new lease on life. Vale’s Voisey’s Bay property in northern Labrador, operating as an open pit mine since 2005, was nearing the end of its production life.

Instead, innovations in partnerships and technology will allow Vale to go underground and develop two new orebodies that will extend the life of Voisey’s Bay to 2034.

First ore production on the new underground phase of Vale’s Voisey’s Bay project was announced on June 11, with full production capacity slated to be reached by August.

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Voisey’s Bay underground expansion delivers first ore – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – June 14, 2021)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

June 11 marked the milestone first production of ore from the underground expansion project at the Voisey’s Bay nickel-cobalt mine owned by Vale SA (NYSE: VALE). The mine is located on the north cost of Labrador, about 35 km south of Nain, Nfld.

Underground production is expected to extend the life of the mine until at least 2032. Two separate deposits – Reid Brook and Eastern Deeps – have been developed. At peak production, they will produce 40,000 tonnes of nickel in concentrate yearly, or a processing rate of 2.6 million t/y.

The expansion also increases economic participation by the local Innu and Nunatsiavut Inuit communities. Indigenous employment has more than doubled to about 500 people. Sixty-five per cent of all procurement contract were awarded to indigenous-owned businesses.

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