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Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications

Western Nunavut gold project’s greatest impact could be on caribou – by Jane George (Nunatsiaq News – April 26, 2016)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Final hearing for Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.’s Back River proposal underway in Cambridge Bay

CAMBRIDGE BAY — The health of caribou: that’s what a positive recommendation from the Nunavut Impact Review Board on the Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.‘s Back River gold mine project in western Nunavut could depend on.

Sabina’s scaled-down gold mining project, known as Hannigayok in Inuinnaqtun, is under environmental scrutiny at the final environmental hearing taking place before the NIRB in Cambridge Bay April 25 to April 30.

There would be no overlap with caribou during “sensitive” periods, Matthew Pickard, Sabina’s vice president for the environment and sustainability, said April 25.

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TMAC’s Nunavut gold mine moves closer to start-up in 2017 – by Jane George (Nuatsiaq News – April 25, 2016)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Doris North project breezes through regulatory hearings for expanded mine project

CAMBRIDGE BAY — In early 2017, Nunavut may welcome its second operating gold mine. But TMAC Resources Inc. still needs to learn if Nunavut regulators will allow it to operate an expanded Doris North gold project at Hope Bay over six years instead of two.

The company expects to receive a decision from the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Nunavut Water Board on the project certificate amendment by the end of May. “We don’t presume they will approve the amendment,” said Alex Buchan, TMAC’s director of community relations, after Nunavut Impact Review Board hearings held April 12 to April 14 in Cambridge Bay.

But, judging from the comments made during the hearings, there was little serious criticism of TMAC’s plans, with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association supporting the larger and longer-term gold mine project, located roughly 90 kilometres south of the western Nunavut town of Cambridge Bay on Inuit-owned land.

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Top Mining Minds: Ian Telfer, Goldcorp Inc. – by Mike Luft (Mining Feeds.com – April 21, 2016)

http://www.miningfeeds.com/

Those of us who work in the mining sector are probably well-aware of some of the big names in the industry. Names like Eike Batista, Robert Friedland, Lukas Lundin, and Frank Giustra. All mining executives who have not only enjoyed great success in the industry, but who have also seemed to be in the right place at the right time — and then made the most of it.

Chairman of Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG), Ian Telfer, would be another name to add to the list. Ian Telfer has spent more than thirty years in the mining business, building and leading a number of first-rate mining companies, all while experiencing gold’s ebb and flow from bull market to bear to bull again. Perhaps most importantly, Ian, along with his business partner, Frank Giustra, were prescient enough in 2001 to take advantage of the end of a deep gold bear market and the beginning of a gold bull run that lasted the next seven years.

Taking full advantage of this bull market, Ian would go on to form and lead a number of significant mining companies, like Wheaton River Minerals Inc. and Silver Wheaton Corp., and would also lead Goldcorp, first as its President and CEO, then as its Chairman, a role Ian continues to serve to this day.

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Ontario Minister talks up energy cost incentives for mines – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – April 22, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – The Ontario Government is working hard to make energy rates competitive for the Northern Ontario mining industry but they’re still not able to compete with the low electricity prices offered in Manitoba and Quebec.

Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli was speaking about that to the Timmins Chamber of Commerce on Thursday as he announced that two Northern mining companies are taking part in the Industrial Electricity Incentive (IEI) program.

Chiarelli announced that Alamos Gold Inc. which operates the Young-Davidson Mine at Matachewan and St. Andrews Goldfields Ltd., which operates near Matheson, are both signed up with the IEI Stream-3 program which provides for adjustable hydro rates.

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Criminal charge laid in gold mining death – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 22, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

A criminal charge against Detour Gold for the June 2015 death of a worker at its Cochrane mine validates United Steelworkers’ campaign for better enforcement of the Westray amendments to the Criminal Code, says a leader of the union.

Ontario Corporation 1909583, operating as Detour Gold Corp. of Toronto, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death in the June 3 death of Denis Millette, 52. Millette was repairing equipment at Detour Lake Mine when workers found him in medical distress. On-site personnel tended to Millette, but he perished. The investigation concluded he died of acute cyanide intoxication.

A first appearance in court on the criminal charge is scheduled for May 10 at the Ontario Court of Justice in Cochrane. USW Ontario director Marty Warren said he hopes the charge will be prosecuted as soon as possible. Detour Gold Mine is not unionized, Warren pointed out.

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Impact review board okays Nunavut mine pit expansion (Nunatsiaq News – April 21, 2016)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Meadowbank’s Vault Pit expansion expected to produce 400,000 tonnes of ore

The Nunavut Impact Review Board has given a green light to the expansion of an open mine pit at Agnico Eagle Mine Ltd.’s Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake.

Agnico Eagle first proposed in July 2014 to expand its current Vault Pit operation southwest into nearby Phaser Lake to form Phaser Pit and BB Phaser Pit. Vault Pit, located about eight kilometres northeast of Meadowbank’s main mine site, is one of three pits currently being mined on the Kivalliq site.

“After a thorough review of the potential eco-systemic and socio-economic impacts of the proposed project, the [NIRB] has concluded that the Vault Pit Expansion Project may proceed,” NIRB chair Elizabeth Copland said in an April 18 decision.

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The Ontario North is dotted with towns struggling to survive – by John R Hunt (North Bay Nugget – April 20, 2016)

http://www.nugget.ca/

First Nations people living in remote Northern Ontario communities are having a bad time. People are living in poor housing. Overcrowding, lack of employment, outbreaks of skin disease and mental health problems all add to depressing headlines.

There has been a lengthy inquest at Thunder Bay into the deaths of seven young people from northern reserves who went to the city to for an education. Five were found dead in a river. It is still not clear if they died from natural causes or were victims of foul play. Add the mysterious deaths of or disappearances of scores of aboriginal women and it is a sobering picture.

First Nations are getting some help and lots of advice. One of the most popular ideas is they should leave their isolated homes and move south. Former prime minister Jean Chretien said that sometimes First Nations should move to where the jobs are.

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[Canada steel] Sheehan co-chairs all-party steel caucus – by Elaine Della-Mattia (Sault Star – April 18, 2016)

http://www.saultstar.com/

Sault MP Terry Sheehan says he’s hoping Canadian steel producers will see some progress made soon that will offer them some relief to the issues that face them.

Sheehan is co-chairing an all party Parliamentary steel caucus with Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MP Bob Bratina.

The committee had its inaugural meeting last week and included the Canadian Steel Producers Association and steelmakers including Essar Steel Algoma, U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Evraz and Tenaris Tubes.

Essar Steel Algoma and U.S. Steel, based in Hamilton, Ont., are both in creditor protection and undergoing restructuring plans.

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Aboriginal youth join the FIFO family – by Virginia Heffernan (Mining Families Matter – April 2016)

http://www.miningfm.ca/

Mining is already the largest private sector employer of aboriginal people in Canada, and it’s poised to become even more diverse as companies implement programs to attract and retain aboriginals from the communities around their mines. About half of aboriginal people are under the age of 25 and mining is a greying industry, so it makes sense for companies to engage this local talent pool.

This month I spoke to Adele Faubert, Manager of Aboriginal Affairs for Goldcorp’s Musselwhite Mine in northwestern Ontario, about the mine’s Aboriginal Mining and Skilled Trades Entry Project (AMSTEP). It’s a five-month, 800-hour, FIFO training and work experience program, the first of its kind to take place at an active mine site in Canada. The students, ranging in age from 18 to 29 (some with children at home), train on a two-week on/two-week off rotation. The second class graduated in March.

Q: What was the motivation behind AMSTEP?

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Book details Cobalt’s rise to mining prominence – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – March 31, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A new book about the history of the Town of Cobalt takes an in-depth look at its role in shaping the Canadian mining industry and its underappreciated contributions to the country’s economy.

Cobalt: Canada’s Forgotten Silver Boom Town, written by Prof. Douglas Baldwin, is a 380-page illustrated account that’s been four decades in the making. Baldwin first visited Cobalt in 1975, while researching its history for the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Recreation.

His interest piqued, Baldwin wrote a half-dozen more articles and scholarly journals about Cobalt over the years until 2005, when, on the cusp of retirement from teaching, he responded to an ad seeking someone to research Cobalt’s history. Baldwin’s research continued until he had enough for the book.

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PoV: Leap Manifesto a threat to Sudbury, NDP – by Don MacDonald (Sudbury Star – April 13, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Don MacDonald is the editor of the Sudbury Star.

Members of the NDP from a certain generation used to rail against companies like the former Inco and Falconbridge. The old NDP firebrands would argue they treated their workers poorly and didn’t pay their fair share of taxes. Some — like former Nickel Belt MP John Rodriguez — called for Inco to be nationalized.

Nothing became of such talk. The NDP was no threat to win a federal election and besides, Steelworkers Local 6500 and Mine Mill Local 598 did a fine job negotiating good pay, benefits and pensions for Sudbury’s miners.

Provincial governments also brought in tougher safety and environment laws, and the people who ran the companies themselves seemed to have adopted a somewhat kinder and gentler approach to running things. And why not? Their companies still made billions in Sudbury.

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How China could finance a railroad into the Ring of Fire – by Jon Thompson (tbnewswatch.com – April 12, 2016)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

THUNDER BAY — China’s hunger for chromium combined with the capacity of its state-owned rail industry could be the recipe for the first route into the Ring of Fire.

A team of China Railway First Design Survey Institute engineers landed in Thunder Bay on Tuesday to survey the land between Nakina in Greenstone and the remote chromite deposit. “I think this is a really good project. It has a lot of potential,” said China Railway FSDI vice president Zhu Lizheng.

“This mining project, in its nature, I think, has two components. One is the chromite itself. The second one is the transportation of chromite. We’re here to try to solve that problem.”

Their observations from helicopters flying over the route Wednesday and Thursday will form the basis for the feasibility study the company will conduct over the next four months.

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KWG Resources and Chinese railway builders mean business in the Ring of Fire – by Frank Giorno (Timmins Today – April 11, 2016)

https://www.timminstoday.com/

Frank Smeenk the President and CEO of KWG Resources, one of three leading mining companies vying for opening up the mineral rich but inaccessible track in Northwestern Ontario known as the Ring of Fire, believes in finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

The intractable problem is how to get the Ring of Fire project, which has been stalled and seemingly gliding in reverse for the last four years, rolling and the minerals from this inaccessible and remote area of the province to a refinery and to end use markets.

This morning Smeenk, Doug Flett (KWG Chair of the Board) and Bruce Chapman (Vice President Corporate Communications) led a team of Chinese railway builders into a meeting with Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and International Trade to discuss the groups’ proposal for building a rail line from the McFauld’s Lake and Koper Lake areas where KWG’s Big Daddy chromite deposits are located to a CNR transcontinental railway track at Nakina.

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The unknown cost of green mining – by Crae Garrett (The Lawyers Weekly – April 15 2016)

http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/

Caution needed until impact of new environmental assessment processes becomes clear

During the current global business cycle, the Canadian mining sector has been very much at the forefront of the market volatility and resultant uncertainty. More recently, an additional element of change on the socio-political front looks set to add to that uncertainty, at least in the short to medium term.

The Canadian federal government has indicated it intends to introduce new environmental assessment processes for major projects.

While the vast majority of public commentary and press coverage has centered around how this may affect two major pipeline projects currently under consideration, and while there is not much detail available regarding what form these new processes will take, it is worth remembering that the scope of the underlying regulatory regime already in place that will likely provide the legal structure for the assessment process (the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act) also extends to major mining projects.

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Trudeau still has eyes on the Ring of Fire – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 8, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted that federal support in some form could be announced soon related to the stalled Ring of Fire mineral project.

Trudeau dropped that tidbit of information during a March 7 visit to Sudbury to announce long-awaited federal funds for Maley Drive, a critical arterial road infrastructure project that’s been 30 years in the making.

When asked by a reporter if an access road could be built into the remote mineral belt by this summer, Trudeau responded: “We know that the Ring of Fire means good jobs, means continuing development of the North in ways that hopefully will build the kind of sustained partnerships with Indigenous communities that have been too long absent from the economic growth landscape.”

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