Archive | Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications

Chinese ownership of Nunavut’s resources stokes unease – by Derek Neary (Nunavut News – May 21, 2020)

May 22, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Asia Mining, Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver

https://nnsl.com/nunavut-news/

The Chinese stake in Nunavut’s minerals is about to grow, if approvals are granted, and that’s raising some eyebrows.

China’s government controls many Chinese mining companies, including Shandong Gold Mining, which is in line to buy Toronto-based TMAC Resources for $149 million (U.S.).

“There’s a long-running sort of latent fear of selling strategic resources to an entity which is controlled entirely, or in part, by the government of a competitor,” said Adam Lajeunesse, co-author of the 2017 book China’s Arctic Ambitions and What They Mean for Canada. Continue Reading →

Rubicon Minerals seeks to bury a dubious past: Red Lake mine developer suggests name change at upcoming shareholders meeting – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 19, 2020)

May 20, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining, Red Lake

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A Red Lake mine builder is pondering a name change. Shareholders of Rubicon Minerals will be asked to consider a new name for the company letterhead – Battle North Gold Corporation – at the June 22 annual general meeting.

The name of the proposed mine could also change from the Phoenix Gold Project to the Bateman Gold Project, the township where the development is located.

In a May 19 release, Rubicon said the name change provides a “fresh perspective” on the accomplishments made in over last three and a half years. Continue Reading →

Hemlo Explorers to put its stamp on the North Shore – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 15, 2020)

May 19, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Canadian Orebodies rebranding and gearing up for “aggressive field season” in 2020

A Toronto junior miner exploring for gold on the north shore of Lake Superior is rebranding to pay tribute to the vision of its late president.

Canadian Orebodies is changing its name to Hemlo Explorers, effective at the start of trading on the TSX Venture Exchange May 20.

“In changing our name to Hemlo Explorers Inc., we pay homage to the late Gordon McKinnon, the company’s founding president and CEO, and his father Don McKinnon, the company’s inaugural Chairman and co-discoverer of Hemlo,” said Fraser Laschinger, the company’s chief financial officer, in a May 15 statement. Continue Reading →

Quebec gold miner looks to process ore in Timmins: Monarch Gold studying Glencore’s Met Site for possible toll milling job – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 14, 2020)

May 14, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining, Quebec Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A Montreal gold mine developer is eyeballing Glencore’s Metallurgical Site (Met Site) near Timmins to process its ore.

Monarch Gold is bringing its Wasamac property in western Quebec into production and had been looking at toll milling options on both sides of the border.

In a May 14, Monarch announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Glencore Canada for the potential use of the Kidd concentrator to treat ore mined from the Wasamac deposit, 15 kilometres west of Rouyn-Noranda. Continue Reading →

China’s interest in western Nunavut gold mine is commercial: legal expert – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – May 13, 2020)

May 14, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Asia Mining, Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver

https://nunatsiaq.com/

The recent news that TMAC Resources Inc., a Canadian junior mining company in western Nunavut, wants to sell its Hope Bay gold mine to a huge Chinese mining company, Shandong Gold, has alarmed some Nunavut residents.

That’s understandable, but Shandong Gold, better known as SD Gold, just wants to make money, says Michael Byers, a legal scholar who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia and is is the author of “Who owns the Arctic?”

While general concerns about the probable sale of the mine to the Chinese-controlled company are justified, the Hope Bay acquisition looks more like a good business deal than a challenge to Canadian sovereignty, Byers said. Continue Reading →

Nunavut’s Hope Bay goldfields to be bought by China’s SD Gold – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – May 8, 2020)

May 11, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver

https://nunatsiaq.com/

TMAC Resources Inc., which owns the Hope Bay gold mine complex in western Nunavut, is poised to be bought up by a Chinese gold-mining giant.

The Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd., better known as SD Gold, is willing to pay $207.4 million for the western Nunavut mine. That’s $1.75 per share in cash, a price that is 4.2 per cent above Thursday’s closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

“We look forward to completion of the transaction and the opportunity to invest in the project for years to come as the generational potential of the camp is unlocked,” said Yumin Chen, chair of SD Gold. Continue Reading →

BUSINESS“The Battery of Choice” – Does the Future of Energy lie in Lithium Tech? – by Meghanne Uptigrove (Red Deer Todayville.com – May 6, 2020)

May 7, 2020 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Lithium

News

At the crossroads of technological development and clean energy innovation, interest in the lithium battery continues to gain traction across the global market.

Using the lightest metal on the periodic table, lithium batteries have massive potential in the fields of green technology and power generation and storage. With a large charging capacity and extended lifetime, lithium batteries have been increasingly regarded as a game-changing technology for a number of industries.

The University of Washington Clean Energy Institute identified Li-ion batteries as the “market leader in portable electronic devices”. The CEI also highlighted the importance of Li-ion tech in the clean energy conversation, as “much of the promise of Li-ion technology comes from their potential applications in battery-powered cars.” Continue Reading →

Base metals, gold exploration kicks into high gear, north of Timmins – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 6, 2020)

May 7, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Junior Exploration Sector, Nickel, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A junior mining startup company has raised more than $4.4 million to go exploring for base metals on its property near Timmins.

Growing investor interest in the fledgling exploration outfit and its Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide property, 40 kilometres north of the city, prompted Canada Nickel Company to upsize its flow-through share financing offering last month.

Helmed by renowned nickel developer Mark Selby, Canada Nickel is a spinoff of Noble Mineral Exploration, the latter being the owners of a sizeable swath of land, next to the Kidd Creek Mine Complex. Continue Reading →

Western Nunavut gold miner deals with fallout from COVID-19 pandemic – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – May 6, 2020)

May 7, 2020 in Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver

https://nunatsiaq.com/

For more than a month, under new COVID-19 restrictions, TMAC Resources Inc. has managed to operate its Hope Bay gold mine complex with reduced staff and operations.

Now the junior mining company has obtained some temporary relief from meeting its 2020 Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. exploration requirements due to the challenges in fielding exploration crews this year.

“Under this agreement, we are required to explore on tenured Inuit owned lands a minimum amount per hectare per year. This is just not logistically possible at this moment,” Alex Buchan, TMAC’s vice-president for corporate social responsibility, told Nunatsiaq News. Continue Reading →

Rockcliff makes new Nickel-PGE discovery at [Flin Flon, Manitoba] Tower property (Resource World – May 6, 2020)

May 7, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Copper, Manitoba Mining, Nickel

https://resourceworld.com/

Rockcliff Metals Corp. [RCLF-CSE; RO0-FSE; A2H60G-WKLN] has made a new high-grade nickel-PGE (platinum group element) discovery on its 100%-owned Tower property in the Snow Lake area of central Manitoba. This new discovery, termed the TGR nickel-PGE prospect, has returned significant assay results.

TGR is located only 600 metres south of the company’s high-grade, copper-rich Tower deposit. The TGR mineralization was discovered in a previously unexplored area and is associated with ultramafic rocks of the Thompson nickel belt (TNB).

The TNB is a world-class over-300-kilometre-long mining belt with over 60 years of production from high-grade nickel mines with associated copper and cobalt. Continue Reading →

Uranium workers in northern Sask. facing 25 per cent pay cut – by Michael Bramadat-Willcock (National Observer – April 22, 2020)

April 27, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Saskatchewan Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Hundreds of workers in northern Saskatchewan will be hit with a 25 per cent pay cut in May, as Cameco Corporation’s Cigar Lake mine and Orano Canada Inc.’s McClean Lake mill extend their production suspension past the four week period that was announced on March 23.

“The global challenges posed by this pandemic are not abating — in fact, they are deepening,” Cameco’s president and CEO Tim Gitzel said in a written statement.

Cameco Corporation is the world’s largest publicly traded producer of uranium and Orano Canada Inc. operates the mill where ore from Cigar Lake mine is processed. Continue Reading →

Nickel prices on a roller-coaster ride – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – April 25, 2020)

April 27, 2020 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Nickel Laterites, Ontario Mining

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

With so many factors at play around the world, the price of nickel is heading back up after looking to drop below the US $5 a pound mark just a few weeks ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic, of course, has shuttered economies and cut into global demand for nickel. At the same time, Indonesia has banned the export of nickel ore, which will tighten supplies and affect large nickel purchaser China.

On Friday, nickel closed at $5.50 a pound, close to the average world price of nickel in March, which was $5.40 a pound. About three months ago, however, nickel was selling for almost $6.50 a pound. Continue Reading →

Record gold production at the Sugar Zone Mine: Harte Gold working on post-COVID plan for mine restart – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 17, 2020)

April 24, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Harte Gold’s Sugar Zone Mine posted its best quarter of gold production in its short history. In releasing its first quarter results on April 17, the Toronto-based mid-tier miner said its now-mothballed White River operation recorded 8,597 ounces for the first three months of this year. That’s up seven per cent from last year’s fourth quarter and 42 per cent better than the third quarter.

The company mined 51,705 tonnes of ore during the quarter, yielding an average grade of 5.50 grams per tonne. Sugar Zone entered commercial production in early January 2019.

The pandemic pushed Harte into suspending mining operations in late March. Senior managers are working on a plan to resume operations once a restart decision is made. Continue Reading →

New high-grade gold discovery at Macassa Mine: Kirkland Lake Gold looking to expand its South Mine Complex – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 22, 2020)

April 23, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Kirkland Lake, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold has found a large “corridor” of high-grade gold, east of its Macassa Mine. The discovery is close to where construction is taking place on a new shaft in the town of Kirkland Lake.

In an April 22 news release, the Toronto-based mining company said this looks to be part of a new corridor of high-grade mineralization – about 700 metres long and 300 metres high – appears to provide an opportunity to expand its workhorse South Mine Complex to the east.

One of the drill holes yielded an eye-popping result of 141.1 grams of gold per tonne over a 2.4-metre length of core. While all exploration drilling at Macassa is currently on hold due to the pandemic, these latest results came from the last round of drilling and from reinterpreting some old drill data. Continue Reading →

Award-winning find for Sudbury lithium explorer – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 21, 2020)

April 21, 2020 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Junior Exploration Sector, Lithium, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A Sudbury lithium exploration company has been recognized by its peers as having an exceptional discovery in northwestern Ontario. Frontier Lithium received the Bernie Schnieders Award for Discovery of the Year for its Spark Pegmatite deposit, north of Red Lake. The Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association made the announcement on April 20.

The deposit is within the company’s Pakeagama Lake Pegamatite (PAK) project, 175 kilometres north of Red Lake, and covers a claims belt over 26,774 hectares near the Manitoba border.

After making the initial discovery in January 2019, two drill programs were completed last year before the company released the first resource estimate in early February of this year. Continue Reading →